"LIVE!" Ralph shouted out one last time, all the power and prayers focused into the hammer as he swung it, desperate to save the one he cared for the most. The hammer shattered explosively on impact, as did the anti-viral program...and Moony erupted in darkness and light.
Everyone pulled back in shock as all readings went haywire, and Stan's laptop started sparking as it struggled to contain the data being processed as pure magic flowed unfettered. A black sphere coalesced, swirling with white and brown as it shaped before solidifying into solid darkness. Wicked laughter echoed as the sphere broke apart, and Nightmare Moon stepped forth in all her glory.
Standing nearly Ralph's height, she gazed down imposingly as her mane and tail swirled in star speckled fog, as though a piece of the night sky were affixed to her head and rear. Her armor shone with the black of eternal night, with her horn spiraling through her helmet. "I...LIVE!" she proclaimed as lightning flashed in the real world.
"She's alive!" Dr. Wily cackled. "She's ALIVE!" As everyone turned to stare at him, he raised an eyebrow. "What? I'd have lost my mad scientist's certification if I didn't say it."
Nightmare Moon couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Doctor," she gasped out, then winced. "Hurts to laugh. Feels like I've been hammered in the chest for about three days or so."
"It was only an hour!" Ralph countered defensively, then pulled her into a tight hug. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you..."
Smiling softly, she wrapped her wings around him, surprising everyone as she was actually able to complete the embrace in this way. "How could you lose me...when that's your worst nightmare?"
Hysterical laughter swept through the sprites and their caretaker, desperate with the relief that their hero, their baby, their star had survived.
A few hours later, Zero was able to come back into the arcade, Wily having finished creating the program to keep his viral nature in check so he wouldn't infect anyone or anything within the arcade. He had hoped to completely restore Zero's original coding and form, but it proved impossible. Instead, he edited Marvel vs Capcom 3's code to take into account that Zero no longer had a right hand to punch with.
Zero and Nightmare Moon had both decided to test their new forms out against each other, sparring with the game. Zero's new form moved much faster than his added bulk should have allowed for, and he was actually able to keep up with both Nightmare Moon's own speed and flight and her mist teleportation. Her combat prowess had also increased, however, and Zero was hard pressed to defend himself.
Everyone was gathered to watch this, cheering them both on as the story of the changes was passed back and forth amongst the sprites. Felix held Tara on his shoulders for a better view, while Calhoun held him on her shoulders for the same purpose. Many of those watching were cheering for one fighter or the other, and many sprites had actually laid wagers on the outcome. The festive spirit was quite high, and everyone was looking forward to two days hence when the arcade would open again.
Almost everyone.
As Wily watched the battle go on, he was looking at his readings, and he wasn't entirely pleased with what he was seeing. While it was true that both Zero and Nightmare Moon had made a full recovery from their respective ordeals, the changes they had experienced were somewhat concerning.
Zero's boost in power wasn't that visible within the arcade, but on the net he was now practically a god. His viral nature allowed him to interface with any program he came across, even rewrite it to a certain extent if he so chose. Viruses and other hostile programs had no defense against his beam saber, and he truly enjoyed fighting them. Not only that, but his viral code rendered him immune to foreign viral codes, making him the ideal defender for the arcade. With him in place, the arcade didn't really need the rest of the anti-viral squad anymore.
But the real concern was Nightmare Moon. Wily had determined when he'd first read her code as a tiny foal that she would have three stages of growth. She had plainly entered the third and final stage, and the worlds within the games had a hard time containing her power if she wielded too much. Of course, she seemed to sense this and restricted how much power she wielded at a time to keep from breaking anything or anyone...but it was plain to Wily that she was itching to see just how much power she actually had now, and what it could do. She had been talking about exploring the net while the arcade was closed, teamed up with Zero and a few others for an adventure.
In terms of cyberspace as a whole and the world beyond that, Litwak's arcade was a very small pond. Wily sighed as he realized that, in this third stage, Nightmare Moon had outgrown it.
As much as they all loved her, cared for her, cherished her, and wanted to be with her forever...it would be cruel in the extreme to keep her in the arcade at this point. She needed to move beyond the arcade. She needed to move beyond the world as they knew it.
She needed to go home.
Closing his data reader, Wily pushed those thoughts aside. Time enough for those thoughts tomorrow. For now, he had every right to join in the festivities. Managing to smile, he cheered as Zero managed to get under Nightmare Moon's guard and open a gash in her armor with his beam sword. "That's it son!" he shouted. "Show her what a Wily can do!"
"Magic trumps science!" Ralph shouted in encouragement as Nightmare Moon healed her armor, blocked the next strike with her horn, and spun into a double hind leg kick, each hoof striking where the boob lights weren't anymore. The cheering as the sparring session grew more intense was deafening.
Stan, meanwhile, was recording the fight to make into a commercial for the arcade. That was the kind of advertising that would bring in the heavy players. Maybe he'd even get a few tournaments going.
As night cast her dark blanket over the arcade, Ralph turned in under the stars of Niceland, his head rested against a pillow of bricks. Curled up beside him, Moony's breathing was slow and steady as he gently stroked her back. All was as it should be, for however long that would last.
He could tell that Moony was at her full strength, and it wouldn't be long before she had to return from whence she came...to somewhere he couldn't follow. But he refused to let those shadows cloud his horizon. He was determined to spend every moment they had left together making happy memories.
And when the time came, he would send her off with a smile.
"Good night, Moony," he whispered softly.
...
...
...
You forgot something.
Dawwwww...
Loving this.
please please please tell me the sprites can follow her to equestria
Yes!
Rythian would agree.
Loved the update! Keep up the great work!
I sense great feels on the horizon.
YES !!!!!!!
I was so afraid i was
1. Forgot to capitalise.
sorry but kittin is unavailable at the moment *a loud"DAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" is heard in the other room* and will be for the foreseeable futcher
I'm waiting with a box of tissues for when she's sent home to Equestria.
-ThePortalPonies
A fantastic chapter. Well done.
There will be a way to allow the sprites to go Equestria-side, it WILL be found... and exploited.
*Looks author straight in the eye* Won't it, Tatsurou?
That is so totally what would happen if they animated all those characters together.
I couldn't help but laugh villainously. That was too perfect and epic.
~Melly~
6265623 like Ralph said...Magic trumps Science...she is Nightmare Moon, Queen of the Night, and an Alicorn. only one being could possibly stand against her.
u talking about me?
ACK! PINKIE PIE!!!
I would chuckle if I ever saw Zero and Moony spar Battle Network style. As in 6x3 panels and everything.
...Kinda makes me sad Zero.EXE never showed up in the games after Network Transmission. Huge missed opportunity with Iris, Colonel and Wily.
6266103
I know what you mean on both counts.
Can you imagine him as a bonus boss and Link Navi in the later games?
6266158
And then Zero sees the Z Saber chip in 4/5 and wonders how the hell Lan got that.
You have a mad scientist certification? Neat. Also, Nightmare Moon is at full power again!
That was a terrible pun.
Huh, that's, actually pretty interesting.
Right, I think I can see where this is going.
I figured as much.
Daaw...
I wonder what would happen if moony met luna....or celestia probably discord
images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fth04.deviantart.net%2Ffs70%2FPRE%2Fi%2F2014%2F287%2F7%2F8%2Fmagic_vs_science_by_combatkaiser-d82vydr.jpg&f=1
She lives! :D
She lives! hahahahaha! awesome job, awesome job on this mate! :D
Awww, it's almost over??? Well, Moony will just have to go to Button Mash's supplier and get the games imported to Equestria. Plus, she'd run an awesome arcade. I can just picture her groaning as Gamer Luna wins tons of prizes from the crane games and deciding since she's evil she can kick out ponies she doesn't like who are ruining the fun for others... I'm looking at you Diamond Tiara!!!!!
Annnnnnnnnd REBOOT!!!!!!!!!
New chapter please.
The parting will be so sad when it comes.
Good work.
6266158
Although, when you think about it, Battle Network Protoman was kind of already a mix between Zero and classic Protoman.
6267229
True.
6176903
6176589
Heh.. love the Life Sword Combo, its my favorite attack
They will go on the web, find out about Bronies and where she came from. And then she will be scarred forever by a Nightmare Moon x Chrysalis clopfic. The end.
Till My Little Pwny. That shit be CRA-CRA!
Wait, Tat, will this count to MLPwny?
I knew she would live. Everyone would have fought for the chance to kill Tatsurou if he killed her off. I just joined the "live" thing last chapter cause I could.
So Zero is pretty much just a couple steps away from being the singularity now? Dang, what kind of virus did he absorb?! Stuxnet?
You know, you're going to have to do one huge crossover eventually, Avengers style. Have a big team up of all these OP displaced ponies.
6266594 Oh, but magic is merely science you have yet to understand.
Clearly, this means that the Princess's science is superior to yours.
6268122 That depends. Does she know how it works? No? Then it remains magic and not science.
Waiting to see how Moony goes home, and happy at the reality used for the games is the Toy Story one. Woody and Buz in the game. You Are A Sprite. I can assure you sir that I am a Solar Cola man.
You know how you get all the games to work together? Use the emulators to work out conversion routines to common standards in scaling etc, turning pixel to spherical vector, then converting back to pixel for each game. the best place to start this work is in the 8 bit days, and Lemmings.
Its a pity that Elite 2:Frontier wasnt a cabinet. Or a new true open world. But, I dont think Ive heard of anyone else working on a fully extensive procedural generation game, where its not worlds, its not galaxies, or universes, or realities, its all possible variations of all physical laws over all time and realities.
Somewhere in there, not only is Equestria, but there is Earth.
I wonder if I should go down the 100 machine arcade this weekend. For old times sake.
I have a bad feeling that maybe but just maybe nightmare will return to equestria and eill be seen as a villian and she will repeat the villian code
Wow, she didn't get much time in the second stage did she? Lol
6268570
She knows how it works to some degree, otherwise she would not be able to use it. Whether she knows it subconsciously or consciously.
Either way, Science = Magic as Magic = Science
You really like turning characters into foals. I love it
6274629 I'm pretty sure x = x. It's all science, even if you call it magic. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
6268122 no, it's not.
Though I do feel happy for moony, GODDAMMIT! NOW SHE'S NOWHERE NEER AS ADROABLE AS SHE ONCE WAS!!!!
I love fic's that give nightmare moon a more positive vibe so that she is loveable and awesome. Great job so far
Nightmare Moon couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Doctor," she gasped out, then winced. "Hurts to laugh. Feels like I've been hammered in the chest for about three days or so."
"It was only an hour!" Ralph countered defensively, then pulled her into a tight hug. "I was so afraid I was going to lose you..."
Oh Ralph Moony was referring to how long it for this chapter to be uploaded
Ralph: Oh. That makes sense
HI!
Pinkie your not supposed to show up yet wait for Moony to return to Equestria for your appearance now please get back in the story.
But the story is complete.
Please Pinkie?
Okay bye Ralphy!
Ralph: Uh who was that?
Well Ralph that was Pinkie Pie one of the Elements of Harmony.
Ralph: You mean like what Litwak has typed up on his computer for an idea for a game script for Moony's game?
Yes i do Ralph Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter.
6315120
There is a magic in science and a science in magic. Duh (I am an anti hero and that is good, ... I can’t make this work.
Man I’m staring to love this author. Maybe I have an idea for two games Skylanders and Fall of Cybertron well before and after Grimlock shuts down the spacebridge (which the dad will be him). Maybe the one he will protect would be flurry heart and I know this is a little rushed but I am so excited for reading these stories. As for the Skylanders one maybe Silverstream where she gets in the care of a certain Gillman who never had the chance to be a parent due to those damn pirates who took his love. Now oh ho ho ho I have A LOT I MEAN GABBY AND SACKBOY, TIREK AND DOOMGUY, STITCH AND GALLUS, EMMET AND OCELLUS, STEVE AND EMBER. MAN I HAVE SO MANY I CANT EVEN-
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