Atlas Strongest Tournament

by Bico

End Game: Nightmare

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 12: END GAME
ACT II: NIGHTMARE

"Twilight!" Spike screamed as he saw the tip of the moon's surface tap the forest in the distance. Tears streamed from his eyes as he imagined her grisly fate, crushed between the unimaginable weights of the heavenly body and the earth.

Shining Armor sprang in front of him, his horn flaring. Gritting his teeth as he pushed Spike back, he summoned his shield spell, turning the sky and Everfree Forest rosy. "Get back! That kind of impact is going to--!"

A loud boom reverberated through the shield, and the trees in front of the shield flattened as the clouds above it blew away like incense in a typhoon. Cracks began to spiderweb across the surface of the shield, but it held and the shock wave passed.

Spike gasped for air as he lay prone on the ground. Tears pricked his eyes. "T-Twilight... there's no way she..."

"She's alive!" Shining cut Spike off, his tone insistent. "And whatever thing is possessing her right now... we'll get it out of her. Destroy it!"

Spike choked back a sob and struggled to his knees. He stiffened as a soft, white foreleg wrapped around his shoulders.

"Darling." Rarity's voice was soft and obviously intended to be soothing, though there was a hollowness in it that stabbed at Spike. "You know our Twilight has been through a lot of things that would kill an ordinary unicorn. We must trust in our friend."

Spike looked to the large sphere perched gracefully upon the world, looming over them like a monolith. The glow that radiated from it increased for a brief moment, bathing the realm in gold before the satellite faded, leaving only its after-image burned into his vision. The dark sky brightened again as it reappeared in its former place, sinking slowly toward the horizon.

A burst of light from the east startled the crowd, and they looked toward what could only be the rising sun.

It was. Burning through the sky, a white-hot ball of flame flew over their heads, trailing an aura of the pastels of dawn. It hurtled toward the crater that lay on the other side of Everfree forest.

"Princess Celestia!" Spike said, his voice tight.

"Darling..." Rarity put her hoof on his shoulder, holding him gently back.

"Well?" Scootaloo said brusquely, brushing past the two. "We're going, right? If Princess Celestia's in such a hurry..."

"Eeyup," Applejack said, trotting toward the Everfree. "I reckon she knows somethin' we don't, and I'd like to find out what."

Spike looked back at Rarity, who gave him a quizzical look. She sighed and nodded. "Right. Let's go help our princess. All of our princesses."

---

"I live!" Princess Astraea burst from the rubble, her fur in disarray and blood trickling from every orifice. She panted heavily as she wobbled across the packed ground, her bones creaking and cracking threateningly. "Ha... haha... even the full force of the moon... cannot defeat... the princess of—"

Light and and sound blinded and deafened Astraea. For only the briefest of moments she could feel her skin melt and her bones turn to dust before her mind shut out the overwhelming sensations. Moments later she came back to reality, and the pain flooded back.

Astraea had to peel herself from solid rock, her flesh and bones mending with startling quickness. She froze as she looked up to see a black cloud billowing up and spreading out at the top. At the base of this mushroom was an alicorn bathed in light, her wings spread to display her full glory.

"Princess Celestia!" Astraea laughed as she cautiously approached her. "We meet at—"

Celestia charged, nostrils flaring. She was too fast to dodge, so Astraea merely braced herself for the coming impact. It never came. Instead, Celestia's silky neck pressed against Astraea's, and she nickered softly.

"I've waited so long for your return," Celestia said, her voice tinny and thick with sorrow. "For millennia I've waited, doing everything in my power to hasten your homecoming. And finally... I have my daughter back."

Astraea's face went slack. "You..." She creased her brow, a pained expression plain on her face. "I..." With a great shove, she snapped back at Celestia. "I am not your daughter!"

"But..." Celestia began.

"My mother was Eos, Princess of the Dawn," Astraea declared, turning her snout up. "You may possess her powers and even her memories, but you are naught but a crude simulacrum of an alicorn... an incestuous spawn of my mother and my uncle."

Celestia grimaced and stepped back. "That's... not how it is... I changed my name and my appearance, but..."

Astraea snorted and stalked forward. "Alicorns may be keen on changing their names, as my mother did when the Roamans named her 'Aurora,' but you're something else. There's a touch of Chaos in you... was it that insane fool, Endymion? How fitting. Mother ripped him apart and turned him into a patchwork abomination for his offense, and after he helped her and Aunt Selene defeat that mad centaur, too. I suppose he returned the favor to create you..."

"I am not..." Celestia began, her voice catching.

"I watched from the stars, Celestia." Astraea gave her a knowing grin. "Don't think that you can explain away anything to me..."

Celestia snarled. "I see Erebos has poisoned your mind too thoroughly to be reasonable. Fine. We shall find the truth together... with our horns!" A solar flare ripped out of Celestia's long, graceful spiral.

Astraea winked out of sight, letting the beam pass through where she'd been and strike far in the distance. She reappeared behind Celestia and stabbed at her with her horn, but she was parried when her foe turned in the blink of an eye.

"Impressive," Astraea hissed as she pushed against Celestia, earth buckling beneath her hooves. "But I have all of your faithful student's memories. You're not exactly in your prime anymore."

"It's true," Celestia admitted, bracing herself and giving no ground. "It's harder to control my own magic, nowadays. Why, if I were to use even half my full power, I could accidentally incinerate one of my little ponies." She glanced sidelong at their surroundings and her mouth turned up coyly. "It's a good thing there's nopony else here."

A flash of light blinded Astraea momentarily, and Celestia was gone. A moment later another beam of fiery magic lanced through her hastily erected shield, melting the earth into molten glass as it caused her skin to bubble and burst. A quick teleportation spell allowed her to escape from the beam and Celestia’s attention long enough to heal her burns.

Celestia was in motion the moment she caught wind of Astraea once more. Her eyes flashed with power and her form blurred. The ground beneath her buckled and the air rippled as she streaked toward Astraea. When they collided, a shockwave of such force resulted that a crater formed beneath their hooves large enough to form the foundation of the Two Sisters’ Palace.

Magic flew within the small space between both princesses as they struggled together. Astraea snarled and kicked at Celestia with a savage skill, while she countered with brutal solar magic, thousands of years of arcane knowledge guiding her horn. Even while Astraea’s magical experience was less than that of Celestia’s, however, she found a way to defend adequately against every move, all the while lashing out physically. Soon, Astraea was pushing Celestia back further and further, rocking her with every blow until she finally landed one pony of a haymaker, laying Celestia out.

Astraea laughed. “Your Light has upset the balance of Harmony for too long, Celestia.” She loomed over her defeated foe, grinning. “I will put an end to it, now, and tip the scales back to Darkness.” Her horn crackled with malicious power.

“You… you wouldn’t…” Celestia’s eyes widened and her breath came rapid and shallow. “My little ponies need me. They need the sun… You’ll destroy everypony…”

“I’m afraid you’ll be the only one enjoying the sun,” Astraea said, clucking her tongue. “For… the next thousand years, I suppose.”

“Even you don’t have that kind of power!” Celestia protested.

Astraea grinned. “No,” she admitted. Five dark stones floated out from behind her, encircling Celestia. “But these do.” She darkened the air with her magic and bright magic began to seep from Celestia’s body.

Lightning struck between the two alicorns, and an eruption of dirt obscured them from each other. The magic holding Celestia faltered and Astraea whirled. She spotted the interloper atop the edge of the moon-crater.

The new alicorn’s coat was jet black and she was clad in silver armor. Her mane flowed like a starry nebula. Crescent moon cutie marks shown on the light blue patches on her flanks. She glared down at them with a reptilian eye. Her laughter was low and harsh.

Princess Astraea recognized her immediately. “Nightmare Moon!”

“Sister…” Celestia said as she gazed up at the twisted form that she had once banished for a millennium. "Please... no..."

---

---

Nightmare Moon exploded into purple smoke and flowed down the crater, swirling like a tornado between Astraea and Celestia. The smoke quickly reconstituted, and Moon's slit eye looked down on her sister, a sneer now distorting her face. "You should just stay down."

Astraea's muscles relaxed as she saw her aunt poised threateningly over her prey. "I knew you would not resist Lord Erebos forever, Aunt Moon. But why do you interfere? I was ready to finish it."

Nightmare cackled again. "I will finish it, foalish filly."

Astraea huffed, but nodded in understanding. "Of course... what she did to you... I can see why."

"Yes," Moon said, opening her other eye. "What she did..." Luna's clear, round eye peered down at Celestia, in stark contrast to Moon's left. "That is why!" She turned and her Dark magic lashed Astraea across the face. Lightning arced from her horn and ran through Astraea's body, causing it to convulse in agony before Moon's dark grip slammed her back into the ground.

Astraea rolled to the side and sprang back to her hooves in time to parry a charge. She lashed out with burbling black magic, attempting to catch her slippery foe between nebulous jumps. Her calculating mind raced, stratagems considered and discarded in seconds as she bought time with wild attacks that kept her opponent on the wind. Her eyes lit up as she found the first spell she needed.

The temperature dropped suddenly as Moon was flying in her misty form. The cloud slowed and dropped to the ground, becoming thick and sluggish. Astraea then summoned a tornado, sending it tearing along the ground toward Moon.

Moon reformed, finding herself unable to move out of the way as her particles crystallized. In her physical form, however, she easily dodged the whirlwind and sent precise bolts of lightning hurtling toward her foe.

Astraea snorted and batted the electric spell away with a wing. She lowered her head and charged her aunt.

“You’re kidding,” Moon said with a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” She braced herself to turn, ready for the inevitable teleport.

Astraea instead cast a gravity spell, increasing Moon’s weight to prevent another dodge. She thrust her horn, piercing through Moon’s throat.

Moon looked shocked for a moment, but then grinned. “Maahahahahaha… was that all you had?” Where Astraea’s horn entered and exited her body, sparkling smoke seeped out as she turned to mist.

“Not at all,” Astraea said with a smirk. “You aren’t the only one who knows lightning spells.” With that declaration, the bright roots of light reached down from the sky, reaching for the tip of Astraea’s horn and finding Moon’s body an easy path to the earth’s embrace.

Moon convulsed as massive amperage burned through her half solid body. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her saliva foamed at the corners of her mouth. Sense abandoned her completely until she sank to the ground, feeling every nerve ringing and her muscles aching.

Astraea kicked Moon while she attempted to gather herself, chuckling humorlessly. “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? I, who defeated you when I was a mere mortal unicorn?” She snorted, turning back toward where she’d left Celestia. “You have only delayed the inevi—” She froze as she saw nothing but empty landscape.

“You—or rather, Twilight Sparkle—may have defeated me before,” Moon said, her voice cracked and dry. “But then she had something you do not…”

Whirling back around on Moon, Astraea spat out her next words. “Shut up, you nag!”

“And something Moon has, this day,” Celestia said from her place beside Moon. “By the way…”

Astraea didn’t wait for Celestia to finish. She growled and sprang at the two older princesses. She made it only a few centimeters before falling flat on her face, feeling as if a mountain had been dropped on her.

“You aren’t the only one who knows gravity spells,” Celestia finished, raising an eyebrow. “In fact, I believe I’m the one who taught them to you in both lives.”

Muscles strained as Astraea dragged herself forward. She shouted wordlessly as a gold magic circle sprang up around her, binding her completely.

Celestia’s horn shone bright with its gold magic as Moon’s cyan aura flared. They crossed their horns and let their power entwine, working toward a common purpose. The sun and the moon both rose to an apex in the sky, the moon passing in front of the sun and casting its dark shadow on Equestria. The shadow quickly narrowed, turning all within Celestia’s magic circle as black as onyx.

Astraea screamed as she and the very ground upon which she lay were ripped into the sky, contained within a column of darkness. Her body stretched and warped as warring gravity tried to pull her apart. The corona of the sun, however, soon seemed to travel along the forward-facing surface of the moon like a contracting ring until it became a bright point of light at its center. In an instant, the light replaced the darkness of the column, engulfing Astraea and the earth in its path completely.

When the spell dissipated and the moon and sun parted ways, Celestia and Moon found themselves collapsed on the ground, the former draped over the latter as if they were dolls tossed together into a closet by a careless foal.

“How long has it been since we last used the Eclipse Beam spell, Tia?” Moon murmured.

“It’s been a millennium or two,” Celestia responded.

Moon grunted. “I remember now why we don’t use it that often.”

“It is rather tiring, isn’t it?” Celestia said with a weak smile. “Let’s hope we don’t have to use it again for another thousand years.”

Moon groaned. “Assuming we live that long, anyway. Let’s hope Twilight Sparkle’s friends find us before she wakes up.”

“You think she survived that?” Celestia wondered.

Eyebrows raised, Moon looked back at her sister. “I think you would never be able to knowingly kill your own daughter and protégé.”

Celestia didn’t respond. Instead she relaxed, resting her drained body on her sister’s. After a long silence, Moon also decided that vigilance was useless at this point, given her complete inability to move or summon even a spark of magic. Her eyes, both of which had reverted back to those of Luna though her body remained encased in Darkness, closed and she fell into a light doze.

Both sisters were jolted from their snooze when an explosion erupted from the dark hole their attack had dug in the earth. Their eyes widened as they saw Astraea, coat dirty and gouged and face the picture of unhinged rage, pull herself out of what could only have been the depths of Tartaros.

“Well,” Moon said. “That was nice while it lasted.”

“Oh, Aunt Moon!” Astraea called, her voice wavering with something between fury and giddiness. “Incestuous mutant freak! Come out and play!” Her head cocked to the side and her eyes locked on them. “Oh, there you are.” She cackled and her horn began to glow. A rush of power burst from her and pushed the two sisters away, scattering them apart and slamming them into the side of the moon crater in the distance.

Astraea barked in frustration. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” She eyed the heaving bodies of her elders. “They’re still alive?” She summoned the five dark stones that pulsed with Darkness to her and approached Celestia. “I can still finish this…”

Celestia squirmed as she was lifted from the ground, but she was still weakened from the battle. Her magic began to pour out of her and into Astraea, who then began to shunt the corrupted energies into the stones. Soon, Celestia’s cutie mark faded, but Astraea didn’t stop.

“Please,” Celestia pleaded. “Stop. I… in spite of what you think… I am your mother. I remember when Astraeus and I created you. I remember watching you grow. I remember when you were locked away in the stars and the heartbreak that I felt. I remember spending the thousands of years between finding a way to bring you back… my little foal…”

Astraea merely increased the speed of her syphon, smirking a little as cracks began to form on Celestia’s flesh. In a final pull, Celestia’s body exploded and the stones returned to their owner.

“Sister, no!” Moon cried out, lurching on the ground. She glared menacingly at Astraea. “How could you? She was your mother, whatever you may think…”

“And she was your sister,” Astraea responded coolly. “I think you, of all ponies, should know exactly how I could.” She walked toward Moon, stride steady and gaze fixed in spite of her weariness. She brought the stones to bear and began to draw the magic out of her as well.

Moon shouted as she felt her powers leave her, her coat becoming slightly bluer as the splotches on her flank darkened. Her cutie mark began to fade as well as her colors returned to that of Luna’s. She stopped struggling as she felt even the energy to keep her heart pumping slipping away.

“Twilight, stop!”

Astraea did just that, shocked by the sound of her draconic offspring’s voice. She turned around to see him running down the crater toward her, flanked by a whole host of ponies and other creatures, including Twilight’s best friends. “Spike… you’re back!”

Spike came to a halt in front of Twilight. “Yeah… I came back. I couldn’t let anything happen to you.”

Astraea stared at him for a long moment, her face pinched. Then she laughed and turned back to Luna. “I appreciate your concern, Spike, but as you can see I have things quite under control.”

“That’s… that’s not what I meant!” Spike said, taking a step forward. “Listen, I’ve thought about some things on the way here.”

“... Have you?” Astraea wondered, pausing in her task.

Spike stared her down, his brow crinkled uneasily. “Yeah… listen… if there’s one pony I love more than any other, it’s you.”

Astraea looked at Spike. “Spike…”

“Even though Princess Celestia has been my guardian since you hatched me,” Spike said. “Let’s face it, you raised me for most of my life. Whether you created me or not, you’re the closest thing to a mother that I’ve ever had.”

The monochrome crystals wavered in midair. “This… this is a wonderful development, Spike.” Her mouth pulled back in a sharp toothed smile. “Does this mean you will join me?”

“I’ll always be there when you need me… Mom,” Spike said. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her neck, pressing his cheek against her.

Tears welled up in Astraea’s eyes. “S-Spike… I… never thought I would hear you call me that…”

“I hoped I would reach you, Twilight,” Spike said. “Because with all that Darkness inside you, I know there’s still a spark…”

Astraea stiffened. “What?” She looked down and saw a glow pulsing between them. The love and care welling up from deep within, she realized, wasn’t that of the ancient alicorn of the past, but that of the precocious unicorn she had once been.

Twilight’s five friends circled them, rainbow lights in their eyes as they tapped into their respective Elements. Light pulsed around them in time with the glow from Astraea and Spike, increasing in speed. Ribbons of color finally burst out of Astraea, five wrapping around her friends while one shot into the air like a signal flare.

The lights washed over the ponies’ bodies, wrapping them up like cocoons before leaving behind gleaming suits of armor. Applejack looked down in shock at the polished gold yoke embedded with a crystalline Element of Harmony. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, admired her crimson helm. Rarity regarded her own platinum shoes with interest while Fluttershy looked distinctly uncomfortable in the coppery body armor. Pinkie simply bounced, giggling, as she enjoyed the sound of her blue steel plates clacking.

The Elements upon the five’s chests lit up at that moment, and the sixth light fell back from the sky. As it struck Astraea and Spike, the other five fired their rainbow beams. The combined colors burned white at their conjunction like a small sun, the two figures at the center completely hidden within.

When the light faded, Spike still stood, alicorn firmly clutched in his arms. He opened his eyes to see dark fur, and his heart sank. After another moment, however, he saw it melt away, leaving the familiar lavender coat of the pony who raised him beneath. “Twilight!” He shouted, springing away to see her.

Twilight looked stunned, for while she had shrunk from the full size of Celestia, she remained at least as tall as Princess Cadance. Further, she was now clad in jade armor, with her magenta Element of Harmony embedded in not only her yoke, but also her helmet, boots, and body armor. She stared back at Spike and gasped. “What… what is that?”

Spike looked down at himself, and found that he was wearing a knightly armor similar to Twilight’s, right down to the Element of Harmony. “Huh… so Spike finally gets cool power armor and it’s a copy of Twilight’s.” He shrugged. “Typical.”

“Oh, never mind that,” Twilight said as she gathered Spike into a tight embrace. “I’m so glad you got rid of that crazy old pony.”

Spike grunted at the force of the hug, but then looked down at the inky blackness that had melted from Twilight, now spread out in the shape of a black six-pointed star on the ground. It slowly melted away, however, and he sighed. “Yeah… yeah, I guess I did.”

“You have done well, my little ponies,” a weary voice said. The owner was an alicorn about the size that Twilight had once been, with a rosy pink coat and a mane matching the shade of Fluttershy’s. Beside her stood Luna.

“Princess… Celestia?” Twilight said haltingly.

“You may call me Princess Eos,” she replied. “Though you are largely correct… I am… a piece of your Princess Celestia. I retain her memories.”

“She is my sister,” Luna affirmed. “As she once was.”

“You…” Twilight started. “I mean, I, uh…” She fidgeted in place as her mouth opened and closed without making any sound.

Eos shook her head with a wan smile. “Please, Twilight… no need to discuss it, now. There are others who need our attention.”

“What?” Twilight started before jerking her head back as some sort of bug flew in front of her face. “Gaah!” She swatted at it with her wing.

“Please, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” the bug said. It stopped in front of her, and it became obvious that it was, in fact, a small pony with dragonfly wings.

“Whoa, wait,” Twilight said. “What are you?”

“It’s a breezie!” Applejack exclaimed.

Fluttershy shook her head. “It’s much too big to be a breezie… but… it’s also too small to be a pony…”

“I don’t know what a breezie is, exactly,” the small, winged pony replied. It looked strangely familiar, with a cyan coat and rainbow mane. “But I’m sure not a full changeling anymore, either. I still look like a larva!”

“Quick question,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Not that I don’t appreciate the flattery, but why do you look like me?”

The strange changeling/breezie looked sheepish. “I was the one who took your form. I think it affected my metamorphosis. But… that’s not the only thing that affected it!”

Spike nodded. “That’s right. How are you even still alive, for one, and secondly, why aren’t you a changeling right now?”

“Come with me,” the creature said. “I’ll explain, but this may be a life or death situation!”

---

---

The group didn’t have to search for the half-buried cocoon of Princess Aurelia, still within the underground tower room, as it was surrounded by creatures similar to the changeling/breezie that had found them. The Elements of Harmony were ushered to the cocoon, which was partly black and partly rainbow colored.

“If the blast of Harmony really caused this divergent transformation in you,” Twilight said as she studied the cocoon. “Then it is possible that an additional application might help your princess free herself.” She nodded to her friends and they circled the cocoon. All seven began to glow, and their rainbow beams converged more gently than the first time. The rainbow color creeped across the shell, soon overtaking the blackness completely. Finally, crack appeared.

“Alright, everypony!” Twilight called. “That should be enough.”

The cocoon continued to split, and soon a gooey white mass appeared, pulling itself out. Wet, translucent wings spread out, drying in the sun. Finally, Aurelia’s pink and blue gossamer mane pulled free, which she tossed back, sighing with relief. Her crystal blue eyes found Spike’s and she smiled broadly. “My friend… I am so glad to see you, again.”

“Uh…” Spike blushed, his arms behind his back. “Yeah, good to see you, too, princess.” He cringed as he saw Scootaloo and Scales glare at him, and winced further at Rarity’s and Wavedancer’s more passive expressions. He didn’t want to think about how Ran Biao was looking at him.

Aurelia shakily stood at her full height, which was about that of a normal pony mare, though her proportions were closer to a fully realized alicorn. The other creatures swarmed around her, and she laughed merrily, like a mare who was seeing the dazzling sun for the first time.

---

---

To be concluded…

Comments

[DARKPHANTOM13]

Good to see an update for this story.

[Yami Vizzini]

Finally!

Not really clear on how Astraea managed to overpower Celestia in the space of a paragraph, but, eh, that's a clash of titans for you.

If Celestia has been reverted to somepony else she was eons ago, where does that leave Luna? Did she also undergo whatever hybridization that was (and is still in that form), or are they "equal" again?

[Bico]

5194901

No, Aurora absorbed Sol's essence to become Celestia, which did make her stronger than Luna, but before that all three siblings were around equal in power. Eos is Aurora's "immature" form, though it's also tied into the transition from the Classic gods' shift from Greek to Roman, so that form is weaker still. Luna is just one being, but the way I'm conceiving it is that alicorns can tap into the primordial gods; the personifications of Day, Night, Love, etc. and that's how they achieve their godlike full potentials. It's also where they get their wavy hair (spoilers). Celestia draws on Day while Luna draws on Night, but when she become Nightmare Moon, she's also drawing on Darkness, or Erebos. So Luna now draws on a little extra power, making her around equal to Celestia, while Eos is basically at Luna season 1 power. I'm thinking of writing something about Luna trying to reconnect with Night after her evil self is defeated, actually.

[Yami Vizzini]

5199597 And Eos will have to reconnect with Day similarly? Or is she stuck being the weaker one now?

[Bico]

5200579

Yeah, but that's for another story. For the immediate aftermath, she'll be nerfed, Then there's the issue of where Sol's essence ended up...

[Yami Vizzini]

5200606 What about Luna, with all the power Astraea drained from her- where is she on the scale now? Is she nerfed (temporarily or otherwise) too? (OK, I'm done now)

[Bico]

5203175

Luna didn't get quite that drained, so she'll naturally recover to her usual strength.