"Do not do this, Moonshade! I know you are not evil! You do not have to follow Nightmare Moon's path!” She begs one last time, just before a black bolt whizzes towards her, which she barely blocks with a shield. Seeing that trying to reason with me will not work, she fires off a volley of her own, the lavender shots are deflected by the scythe’s blade.
"Come on, bearer of the Element of Magic, show me your true power. The power that granted you your element. If I'm going to beat you, I want to face you at your best." I mockingly laugh at her feeble attack and rushes in, my scythe held behind me in a ready to strike position.
"I do not want to hurt you, Moonshade. I know that deep down you're a good pony." Twilight continues to plead as she blocks the weapon with another shield as the hooked blade comes down before going on the offensive, another quartet of bolts are fired at me at point blank range followed by an entanglement spell. As the bolts bounce off my armor harmlessly the entangling spell hits, trapping my hooves to the ground in a thick pile of goo.
"Please, I know you can do better than that, Twilight Sparkle. Or do you still refuse to take this fight seriously?” Laughing, my horn is encased in a black aura and thick tendrils of shadow rise up swiftly from below, taking her by surprise.
The tendrils hold her in place while I quickly work to dispel her trap. "So naive, Element Bearer, trying to appeal to my better nature? Won't work." As soon as I am freed, I jump back away and with another burst of magic the tendrils explode around her, sending millions of tiny needles in all directions, even towards the trapped unicorn.
"You have no idea what kind of terrible things will happen if Nightmare succeeds, nor the disruption her eternal night can cause!" With a chuckle I notice a shimmering shield surrounding her, though judging by some of the cuts she gained she wasn’t completely successful at protecting herself. "Do not make me hurt you, Moonshade. Please!”
Without answering I teleport under her and kick with all four hooves as hard as I can into her belly and chest. "I told you Twilight, it won't work." As she stands there, wheezing I magically grasp her tail and flings her up towards the ceiling as hard as I can.
Before she makes impact she teleports in a flash, landing behind me. The second she reappears her horn charges up again. This time she hurls sharp, crystal like shards towards me, catching me off guard. The sting of gashes opening up on what is exposed of my legs and cheeks brings a smile to my muzzle before I turn to face her.
With another flash she disappears, again teleporting someplace. All of a sudden I find myself encased in a violet sphere that suppresses me from using any kind of offensive magic. Unfortunately for her, her next step triggered another trap, causing her to break her concentration on the containment sphere as she teleports again.
From above a stream of magic shoots down, the pressure driving me to my front knees while I shield myself from the attack.
"Finally, starting to take this serious. Good." Laughing I again charge at her, only to meld into the floor. Reappearing behind the unicorn my scythe is poised for a perfect beheading strike, which Nightmare Moon laughs at as time seems to slow down. I can see the terror in my opponent’s widened eyes and can only imagine what Princess Celestia must be thinking.
Suddenly, a bright flash breaks through from the ceiling and I find a golden halberd blocking the Scythe's path. Standing off to my side is the sun princess herself, her wings unfurled and her horn glowing. This changes things, but it should not be long for the finale. “Moonshade, as princess I demand you drop your weapon and stand down. Surrender yourself and the courts may be merciful to you.” The authority and command in her voice is unmistakable as she approaches.
“Sister, so good to see you, in a sense. You and I have some unfinished business.” The shadowy form of Nightmare Moon rises above the bound Luna, nearly encasing her. “However, thanks to my faithful student, the outcome will be much different!”
A golden beam rockets towards the gaseous Nightmare, only to bounce off of a shield. “ENOUGH OF THIS!” As her eyes turn white a burst of golden energy radiates from the alicorn, heating the space around us along with destroying the barrier holding Twilight's friends in place. The shield protecting Nightmare and Luna on the other hoof is still intact.
With a flap of her wings Celestia takes off, flying towards her sister frantically as I’m now faced with all six of the Element headers, their jewels displayed as they form a semicircle around me. “Give up, Moonshade. No matter how powerful you are, no matter how much magic you know, you will never be able to defeat the magic of friendship!”
My laugh begins as a silent chuckle but soon evolves into a loud, body shaking laugh. I can sense how nervous the six before me are getting. I can almost feel them backing up a few steps as one of them speaks up. “Sugarcube, Ah don' think she is listenin’ ta ya.”
“Oh, I am listening, farm trash. I was laughing at how ridiculous your 'leader’ sounded. But if you want, we can finish this soon.” My front legs part as I lower myself a little, my eyes glow a bright red as purple smoke wisps from my eyes. All around me a circle of multiple tendrils appear, writhing eagerly. “Bring it on if you think you can beat me!”
From my new position, I risk a glance upwards, and the full moon has finally reached its peak. The sounds of Luna’s screaming draws the attention of all eight of us. My laughter joins in, mixing with the screams as the dark blue alicorn is lifted up into the air as a black mass swirls around her. NOW!
Taking advantage of the distraction, the forward six tentacles twist and combine into one as it shoots towards the gathered mares before me. In response the Elements activate, fighting back against the shadows, blackness mixes with the six colored rainbow as they fight for supremacy.
Dropping the assault, I teleport onto the ruined dais, the multi- colored stream barrels to me. A shield blocks me the constant attack, streams of colors reflect in multiple directions as I force myself to cast another, more powerful spell while holding the shield up.
As I power through the strain of maintaining two very powerful spells I can feel my energy rapidly deplete as perspiration beads on my forehead and my knees buckle. I knew this would take a toll on me, but not this bad. The spell is finally ready to be released, and with a flare of effort my shadowy shield mixes in with the now formed dome made of the combined power of the Elements.
Guiding the dome I force it to expand outwards, eventually covering the entire room. The bright, swirling colors makes seeing things nearly impossible, so I have to have faith that my second spell hits my target in a blind, wild shot. I drown out the confused shouting of not just the Element yielders but also from the solar regent as an explosion happens, centered on me and washes everything in pure witness, only my sense of hearing alerts me to the sounds of bodies hitting various walls. Even my own impact registers, but barely, as my eyes are squeezed tight.
Multiple groans can be heard as ponies begin to stir as I am left on my side, unable to move anything but my mouth, my magical reserves are also fully depleted, so using magic is also out of the question. In the distance I can see five blurry shapes. Orange, white, blue, yellow and pink surrounds a white, larger mass that remains motionless. Above me a very distraught unicorn looms, her voice frantic. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”
“She freed me, that is what she did.” Another shape, this one dark but unmistakably an alicorn stands opposite Twilight, towering over me as the smoke around her slowly dissipates. Twilight backs away from the mare, her ears flattened against her skull as she lowers her head, clearly afraid. “And for that I thank you, my daughter.” Darkness overtakes me as I try to smile back.
Finally, it is over. I just hope I have made the right choice.
6261001 I liked the Nova series alot, and I'm thinkin either she's part other magical creature that deals with fire, the fire entity is a very unique family trait, or something happened in her past that ended up with her becoming host to a fire entity are my three main guesses.
And while in this part to Moonshade's story I'd agree they won't get along I am currently working on a sequel to this story, right now got 20 pages done on my word doc and I started it last Saturday.
When I started comin up with background ideas for this character something made me think of Gara of the Desert from Naruto and tried to go mostly for his attitude pre battle with Naruto.
Just curious which part of the time in the fair was your favorite?
6264359 yea, I didn't plan on adding the tunnel, it just happened, its my favorite scene as well.
Okay, I'm gonna be honest. The end is a bit of a let down. Has a lot less to do with the side she chose and far more with the way it's set out. The story was quite literally anti-climatic. It goes straight from the climax to the end. No one knows what happened between those two point, or so they say at least. I know there is the possibility that you could, and most likely are, going to elaborate in the sequel as to what happened. Though I do feel like Moonshade knows full well what happened. She's been unconscious for a year, and has just come to a day earlier, yet she seems comfortable where she is. She doesn't seem to question what happen in the year she's been out, instead she simply wakes up and goes to night court with her mother. Yes, she did wake up the day earlier, but one day doesn't seem like enough time to explain the events of a year, or even come to terms with a new life like she has. Which is why I think she knows something else, because she must have woken up at some point earlier in the year and come to terms with everything listed above.
Getting back onto the subject of the story, all in all it was a good story. Of course there were a few parts that could be improved and elaborated on, but all stories have those. Anyways, it was a pleasure to read. Until next time,
-Sphinx
6267230 Actually I tried in the end to get to where she's just numb and exhausted over everything, nothing at that point has sunk in to affect her much.
6383935 I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, lets see if you can find some of the answers on your own once you finish, whisper me if you can or don't have all the answers
Also should note that the end of the prologue takes place after season 3 and chapter 1 takes place after season 4.
One year later and just now they're talking about it? Was Moonshade out for that whole year? I wouldn't put it past her, she does seem to get knocked out a lot.
It wasn't her fault because she was being manipulated by Nightmare Moon and/or Sombra and now they're... dead or gone? Moonshade seemed adamant about Luna and Celestia being the liars in this situation, and is only now repentant after having woken up.
And I do believe
6267230
sums up how I feel about the rest of this ending. Onto the sequel!
*Leans forward to edge of seat* *Finishes reading* Well... that was... disappointing...
6267230
Yup, that's exactly my thoughts.
6591457 thank you, I'might glad you enjoyed it and hope you enjoy the rest as well
Hopefully she freed Luna or everything is about to go pear shaped.
Moonshade learned nothing. She is still a slave to Nightmare Moon. I would have hated her going to Celestia and Luna, but she could have actually tried to be her own person, her own master instead of being a servant.