Prologue: An Unforeseen Event

In an unknown world far off from Equestria, a battle was being ensued against two entities, one of heavenly light, and one of demonic darkness and as the battles got longer, the more disastrous the battleground became. Thunderclouds roared throughout the battle, planets being destroyed, and disasters happening everywhere.

"This ends now, I shall send you back to where you came," said a mysterious voice.

"If its hell, then I'd be glad to be there, you good-for-nothing angelic entity!!!" said another mysterious voice.

After they exchanged their hatred towards each other, they continued their endless battle, both are exhausted and are resorting to their best and most powerful magics.

"Suffer and die, your God cannot protect you."

"My God will always be there for me, you do not have the right to judge him, begone, hellspawn."

Both cast their magics at each other and collided with immeasurable power being even with one other and keep their footing from the recoil from their magic. As they continue, their magics are about to explode with them along, and noticing that their magics are about to cause one, try to go away from it but to no avail. They get caught in it and are gone in an instant after the event ended.

"What the? Where did they go?"

"I can't seem to locate them. Please tell they didn't die, I don't want to think about that."

"No, I don't think so. He isn't so easy to defeat even in that explosion. I just pray that he is somewhere safe."

"I just hope you're right, you are his son."

???
Somewhere around October 20

"Ugh, my heads hurt, I wasn't expecting our magic to cause a huge explosion like that. Where am I?" the mysterious fellow couldn't see anything throughout this forest making him feel lost in the forest. As he walks through, everything he sees was harder to see, even a simple tree was difficult to see in this place. He uses a illumination spell to light the dark forest and keeps on tredding through. He notices some water and tries to drink some water when he noticed that he has hooves instead of hands. "What the? How come I have hooves?" He looks at the water and sees that he is a pony. "Holy, I'm a pony with wings and a horn, how come I'm a pony with those features? Maybe this place must have turned me into a pony, it seems possible as multiple worlds that I have been has either good, bad, or just weird benefits. As he ponders about his current state of being, he is beginning to have an unusual feeling that he was here before, "Why does this place seem so familiar?" The mysterious person walks through the forest wondering where to go. With each passing second he is adjusting to the new body and checks each of its features. Along the way, he sees a house. It looked like it came from a tribal land wondering if he can get some anwsers as to what just happened, "Finally, maybe I can get some answers from whoever is living here. He knocks on the door and finds a zebra opening the door.

Zecora was surprised to see a pony wandering the Everfree Forest especially at the night where the monsters living in here roam freely, none the less, she's curious as to who this pony is. "Hello, stranger, I ask to you, why are you wandering the Everfree Forest at night when you know that wild creatures roam freely at this time?"

"Well, I am, uh, just wandering i guess, I am Nicolas, and you are? (Wild creatures roaming the place at night, now where have I heard of that before?)" She answered one of his questions and that was where he is, in the Everfree Forest, that sounded less intimidating then what he had in mind and also sounded familiar.

"I am Zecora, please come in." She opens the door for him. When he enters, she is surprised that he is an alicorn. Nicolas comes in awe to find lots of unique items he never seened before and yet wonders why they look so familiar to him.

"Thank you Zecora, tell me, where am I, I need to know where I am at and how did I get here." Nicolas was desperate to find out where he is and what has caused him to be in this form.

"You do not know where you are? You are in Equestria, my darling, how could you have not known where you are, unless you are from a different world?" Zecora was curious about this pony more from the answer, but what made her more curious is that he is an alicorn that doesn't know where he is at.

"Yes, I am from a different world and I'm wondering how did I get... Wait, did you say, Equestria?" Nicolas asked just in case if he heard it wrong as that name sounded too familiar with his mind thinking about it.

"Yes, I said Equestria, what about it?"

"Equestria, Equestria, Equestria," Nicolas was trying so hard to remember that name then it struck him, "...WHAT!?! I'm in the EQUESTRIA? The one place where a war between the alicorns and the chaosbringers almost made them go extinct and only two alicorns fillies survived the ordeal?!?"

"Yes, why does that shock you and how did you know about the war when you said you were from a different world?" Zecora was more curious now from that sudden outburst and the fact that he knows about the war.

"Because I was in that war," Nicolas was shocked to be at the one place he never got to visit in over 5 millennia. He wonders what kind of changes happened to this glorious country that he tried to protect. "Zecora, tell me, what happened during my absence from that war to now."

Zecora was also shocked that this alicorn was in that war and survived it yet not knowing what had happen after that war, unfortunately, her knowledge of the past was empty as she never red books about the past, "I'm sorry, but I cannot help you on that, my knowledge of the past is blank and I was never at that time where you came from."

"Oh, that's okay, I wonder how Celestia and Luna are doing after that war, they must so devastated after the loss of their parents." Nicolas mourns from the fact that he never got to see the two young fillies in a long time. "Tell me, are they still alive?"

"Yes, they are still alive, in fact, they rule Equestria and control the sun and the moon together."

"Really? I'm so glad to hear that, but that tells me..."

"Yes, exactly what you are thinking, you and the princesses are the last pure ones of the alicorn race."

"Oh, that was to be expected." Nicolas feels like a dark cloud was over him after so many bretheren lost their life trying to protect their land, and to the fact that both Celestia and Luna's parents, King Terra and Queen Aethena, died but he was happy that both the fillies, or should he say, princesses are alive.

"Come now, it is getting tiring, we should be getting to bed so you can see them once again."

Yeah, that would be great." Nicolas falls into a deep sleep though one thing still lingers in his mind where is his nemesis and if he is here when will he strike, as of right now all he can think was seeing them once again for old times.

Unbeknownst to Nicolas, his nemesis is in the land of Equestria finding this land to be much more promising for wanton destruction; however, he does not like the form he is given right now, "Looks like the spell affected me as well, damn it, I look ridiculous with this form, I look like something from a kids show. Forget that, I have some planning to do to this soon-to-be-not-so-peaceful place, Nicolas. I know you are here, you cannot hide forever." The demon then disappears into the cold and dark night.

Zecora's house
October 21

Nicolas wakes up and smells a somewhat nice smell that permeates the house and notices Zecora doing something with her cauldron, then after that is trying something. Curious he askes what she is cooking and what is she looking for, "Good morning Zecora, what are you making and looking for today?"

"Good morning, I am trying to find the Seed of Truth, a friend of mine asked me to make a, how should I say this, a 'cure' for one pony in Ponyville."

"Why, what caused it to be sick and what kind of disease does it have?"

"The 'it' is a filly named Apple Bloom, and she has cutie pox."

"Cutie pox? I thought that disease was extinct?" Nicolas know all the diseases and infections in Equestria, thanks to Zecora for bringing back his memory in a flash, and was right about the cutie pox. How did a filly get cutie pox?

"Yes, well, apparently, she received it when she made a potion of her own that allowed her to get her cutie mark using a flower I was planning to use for this potion, but the potion she made gave her more cutie marks resulting in her having more than one cutie mark."

"That makes sense, but one thing makes me wonder, why does she want her cutie mark now? Couldn't she wait until she finds her special talent?"

"She was very impatient. She wanted that cutie mark more than ever, because if I recall correctly. She and two of her friends are always bullied by two other fillies."

"Wow, I can understand that, well, if I get the chance, maybe I should meet them, just for some inspiration."

"That is not a bad idea. By the way, aren't you planning to go visit the princesses now?"

"I do plan to, but not yet. I want to time it right if you know what I mean."

"I see what you mean, good luck on your visit to them." Zecora was beginning to like Nicolas's personality but put it aside so she can concentrate on making this concoction for herself, then deliver the Seed of Truth to Apple Bloom.

"Thanks Zecora, good luck on finding that seed." Nicolas goes out into the opening and takes a deep breathe and flies to the grand city where the princesses are at, Canterlot. As he was about to fly, he feels an evil presence on Equestria, the presence was something he recognized all too well, his nemesis is on Equestria, but he can tell he was tired from their last battle, he was thinking to himself, "So you too huh? Well I'm not gonna hold back on you next time we meet, next time it's going to be a fight to the death." Nicolas flies out of the Everfree Forest and heads to Canterlot to reminisce with them, this time, for good times.

Before he flew, Zecora manage to get his attention before he got too far, "Nicolas, before you go I need your assistance."

Nicolas flies back down to her house, "Yes, what is it? Does it have to do with that potion you're brewing?"

"No, it is not that, did you not say that you want to see the three I mentioned about?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"I manage to find the seed and was planning to go untiI I remembered this. Do you want to see them while I deliver the seed? It might be a good time to meet them all."

Nicolas never thought about that at all, this may be a good time to catch up with what's going on, "You know what, that isn't a bad idea, might be a good time to meet the young fillies."

"Yes, it would be a perfect opportunity for you."

"Are there any colts with that group? Because I haven't seen one in a long while, a colt, haha, how long has it been since I last saw one?"

"Well, you were gone for a long time, but never mind that, let us meet Apple Bloom. I hope the cutie pox hasn't gotten worse for her."

"Agreed, let us make haste." Nicolas and Zecora head out of the Everfree Forest and head for Ponyville. Along the way, Nicolas casts an invisibility spell on himself so that the citizens don't see him. They see her galloping wondering what she was galloping for. They see Apple Bloom along the way and Nicolas is shocked to see this poor filly with the cutie pox, "Zecora, will that seed work on her?"

"I am not so certain that it will, but we must give it a try." She looks at Apple Bloom and notice that the cutie pox was getting worse, "Apple Bloom, in order to be cured of the cutie pox, you must tell the truth. This seed grows only when the people there are telling the truth, it may cure the cutie pox you have."

Apple Bloom did not want to tell the truth, but with passing moment a new cutie mark appeared. She was getting tired from doing all of the things, she had to do it even it means being laughed at by those two bullies, "I took the Heart's Desire and used it to conjure up that potion I made." The seed began to grow but it needed more truthful answers in order to bloom. "I also stole the Heart's Desire without asking your permission," The seed had but one more truth needed in order for it to bloom then out of nowhere.

Pinkie Pie decided to tell the truth as well, though she was wondering why she had to do it, "I did a lot of things I think that are bad," PInkie Pie said a lot of things that made Nicolas almost faint at hearing all of them, "And that all of the things that I kept *squee*" Pinkie Pie hopped back to Sugarcube Corner in a happy manner.

The seed finally bloomed into a wonderful flower. After that she ate the flower quickly and it did what it was supposed to do, it cured her of cutie pox, "Yay! The cutie pox is gone. Sorry Zecora, I wanted the cutie mark so badly, I decided to make a potion of my own that would allowed me to get a cutie mark using the Heart's Desire you mentioned about, I'm really sorry."

Applejack was very pleased that she managed to see her sister in good condition after that, "Now, it's all right, but like I said, you'll find out what your special talent is sooner, okay sugar?"

"Yes, Applejack, and I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused Twilight."

"It's nothing to worry about. I'm just glad that the cutie pox is gone. Well, I'll be helping Applejack with the apples of hers so please try not to be a burden okay?"

"Okay, Zecora, can you forgive me for what I did?"

"It is all right, but now you must be cautious about what you make. You deserve a punishment for this, Nicolas, what kind of punishment should she receive?"

Apple Bloom was confused about who Zecora was talking to, "Uh, Zecora who are you talking to? Ah don't see anyone else but you."

Zecora turns around to find Nicolas gone, "Nicolas, tell me you did not use an invisibility spell on yourself."

"Yeah I did. I only did it because I was worried that the citizens might be shocked to see another alicorn besides the Royal Sisters."

"Yes, I see your point."

"By the way, who was those three with Apple Bloom? I manage to get their names, but I want to know them a little bit more."

"Those three you will meet again. That I am sure of."

Apple Bloom was so baffled right now with Zecora. She was talking to something but wasn't so sure who or what she was talking to, in fact, it was driving her nuts just seeing this, "ZECORA, who are you talking to!?!"

"Zecora jumped a little from that sudden outburst, "Sorry Apple Bloom, I forgot about you, let us move to a different location for now. Do you have any ideas where it would be a good spot for us to talk?"

Apple Bloom was thinking of a good place then she remembered the CMC clubhouse, "Oh, we can go to the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, it should be a good place to talk."

"Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Nicolas asked Zecora about it.

"Oh, well, that is hard for me to describe. It would be better for you to learn it from Apple Bloom and her friends." Zecora and Nicolas follows Apple Bloom to the clubhouse. With each passing minute, Nicolas sees the changes that happened to Equestria while he was gone until they have reached their destination.

"We're here." Apple Bloom calls to the other cutie mark crusaders that are in the clubhouse.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hear Apple Bloom from outside and head outside to meet her. "Yo, Apple Bloom, what took you so long?"

"Yeah, what took you so long? I had to deal with Scootaloo's chatter about her time with Rainbow Dash, it was getting rather annoying."

"Hey, at least I actually had something to talk about compared to last time we were together." Scootaloo countered the argument back from Sweetie Belle, "By the way, why is Zecora with you?"

"She wanted to talk with me alone, is it all right that they listen with me?"

"It is all right. Come now, let us head inside so no one can see and hear what I wish to talk about." Zecora heads inside the CMC's clubhouse. As she closes the door and all the windows, she began to talk again to Nicolas though to the CMC, it feels like she is talking to herself, "Nicolas, you can be visible again if you wish to."

All three are confused at who Zecora was talking to at the moment wondering, was she going a little crazy today?

"All right then." Nicolas reveals himself to the CMC, all the while are they in awe to see another alicorn besides the princesses and someone they know.

"Wow, that is so cool, another alicorn." Scootaloo was practically jumping up and down seeing Nicolas.

"That is something, where did you come from?" Sweetie Belle just couldn't hold back the question that was popping up in her mind

"Yeah, where did you come from, are you another student to the princess?"

"A student to another princess? Oh, you must be talking about my old students princess Celestia and Luna."

The CMC was shocked to hear that they had a mentor before. Sweetie Belle was the first one to ask about this, "YOU, you were the mentor to the Royal Sisters?"

Nicolas can tell from this young filly that she was desperate to know if he was right or not, he was happy to see ones reaction from this statement, "Yes, I am a former mentor to Celestia and Luna. I had been gone from this glorious world for almost 5000 years ever since the war that almost brought the alicorn race to extinction."

They almost fainted after hearing that from an alicorn, "5000 YEARS!?!" All three were again, surprised to hear that. "That is so awesome, can you tell us what you were doing after all those years being gone?"

"Woah, hold it. I can't tell you girls all of that."

"AW." all of them were sad about it, but putted it behind for now, "Well can we tell you about what we do?"

Nicolas did wanted to know what they were doing when he heard it, "Cutie mark crusaders"? He was tempted to know that much about it, "Yes, I'd like to know about what you do."

All of them were happy that they get to someone what they do, but first they had to get two other members that were missing from this, "Sure, just let us get Nyx and Twist okay?"

"Sure, I'll be waiting."

The CMC left the house and went in search of Nyx and Twist with haste.

While they were at it, Nicolas got the chance to talk about the punishment that Zecora had in mind, "So Zecora, what was the punishment you had in mind for Apple Bloom. I mean if you have one in mind."

Zecora was deciding about that was unsure if these are good enough, "I thought of two, which do you think is right for her? Let her do chores for Applejack, or help me out all day without rest?"

"Why are you asking me about this? You are the one deciding, you go which one is best."

After lots of thinking about it, she got a good punishment for Apple Bloom. Not too hard or too tiring for Applebloom to do, "I've got the perfect one for her, now all we have to do is wait for them."

After what seems like hours passed, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo finally return with their friends Nyx and Twist, "Got them here, now we can start telling you what we do."

"What took you girls so long to find them?" When Nicolas sees Nyx for the first time, he was flabbergasted. An alicorn that has a color scheme similar to Luna, right in front of his eyes, "An alicorn with her colors, my word."

"Well, apparently, they had something important to do with their parents so they told us that they can do it by almost sundown and they Pinkie promised us."

When Nyx enters and sees another alicorn besides the two sisters, he was surprised to see him. He was more shocked then any of the CMC members. Without even thinking about it, he asks straight away, "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Nicolas was still frozen over a young alicorn colt. He heard the question from Nyx over time, "Uh, what, oh sorry there. My name is Nicolas and I'm from the old city of Canterlot, well used to. All the sudden changes from the time I was gone for 4000 years has made me miss out on a lot of events if you what I mean." Nicolas is still surprised that an alicorn colt is living. Did Celestia or Luna married someone that is or isn't an alicorn and made this colt? No, that cannot be the right answer, this colt has magical strength equal to someone he knows. Perhaps, once he grows up to be an adult alicorn, he will find out the answer himself. "Oh right, now that you have everyone here, tell me what are the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders's goal?"

"What do the Cutie Mark Crusaders do? Well, what do you think?" Apple Bloom started things off with a question back at Nicolas.

"What we do is something that everyone should know." Scootaloo came in after Applebloom for their answer to Nicolas.

Sweetie Belle came in after Scootaloo finished her line they were practicing for, "It's for every blank flank who wants them now." All three were very worried for both Twist and Nyx as they never got the chance to memorize their lines for this moment.

Twist never got the chance to memorize her line for this introduction to the Cutie Mark Crusaders due to the fact that she was very busy with all of her stuff and she just recently became a Cutie Mark Crusader after the events leading up to Nyx's transformation back into a colt, she decided to come up with her own lines for this, "For all the blank flanks all around the world, we are here to help them."

It was Nyx's turn to do the last hurrah and she was struggling about what to say. She was desperate to think of a line that would fit well with their motto right now, then Nyx remembers how the line went even though she only had about 3 seconds to look at the whole thing, "And for everyone who does have a cutie mark, we will help them so long as they are a member."

All of the CMC members synchronized after Nyx, "We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom was glad that they manage to get that right on their first try. She sees Ruby from her window even though it was closed and waves hi at her. Ruby waves back at her and leaves the clubhouse back to the Everfree Forest.

Though Nicolas was happy with the CMC's performance, he cannot shake off the feeling that, for some odd reason, he felt that something ethereal was around this house. When he looks at one of the closed windows, he notices a ghost of a young filly waving hi back Apple Bloom, then leaves the clubhouse leaving all the sense of residual energy coming off of her. He wonders who or what that filly is. He draws his attention back to the CMC's performance, "Excellent you five, that was magnificent."

All of them are happy to hear that from Nicolas even though they don't know him by a long shot, "Thank you sir, did you get what we do?"

"Yes, Apple Bloom and I have to say, that has to be something worth doing. I hope that the three of you get your cutie marks. As for Twist and Nyx, congrats on getting your cutie marks."

"Thank you, is there anything else you wanna tell us?"

"Yes, I almost forgot to tell you five something. Don't tell your parents that you saw me."

"Why not?" all of them synchronized.

"I want to meet them personally and I don't want rumors to spread that another alicorn beside the princesses and Nyx here is walking around, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, we get it now. We promise. No wait, we Pinkie promise, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What was that? A Pinkie promise? If so, where did you learn that from?"

"Like what the name suggests, we learned it from Pinkie Pie. We never ever break a Pinkie promise, its like the number one rule for this kind of promise."

"Oh, well that figures, anyway good night, Apple Bloom you are staying. Me and Zecora want to talk to you."

"Aw, well good night girls." The other CMC members left the clubhouse saying their goodbyes to her. Apple Bloom was scared to hear what was coming from Zecora, "So, what is my punishment?"

"You will be getting no punishment from me today."

"Huh, why not? Ah took the Heart's Desire without your permission. Ah should be punished for it."

"Now, hold on there Apple Bloom, there is no reason to hurt yourself like that. You told the truth and that what's all that matters, okay? Telling the truth is harder to do than not telling it. I went through that same situation before and trust me it was difficult to tell the truth. That is the reason why you do not need a punishment today."

"Really, thanks. Oh is there anything you wanted to ask?"

"Yes, may I rest here just for today?" Nicolas was getting sleepy just from staying up for that long.

"Sure, you can rest here for the night."

"Thank you Apple Bloom, have a good nights rest."

"You too, Mr. Nicolas." Apple Bloom left in a gallop back to home.

"Well, guess I don't have to stay with you Zecora, good night."

"As to you, have a good night sleep." Zecora walks back to her house in a calm manner even though in the nighttime, creatures that are ferocious come out in the night most often.

Inside Ifrit's Volcano
10:00 P.M.

As Nicolas fell into a deep sleep, his enemy was preparing for his attack on Equestria, "Ah, the warmth from the volcano should help me warm up. I hate the cold, not to the point where I would curse to the sky." He scurried through all of the history books he can find about this world and finds some intriguing information, "Oh, apparently, a war broke out between the alicorns (whatever that's supposed to means) and," When he continues to the monsters that the alicorns were fighting, he was put in a devilish mood of happiness, "Oh, the chaosbringers. I like the sound of that name. They must have caused some sweet chaos. I can't wait to resurrect them back for their graves, Nicolas, you are going to be in for a surprise by the time I strike this pathetic world." When he goes deeper into the books he finds more information involving the six, "Huh? Who are these six?" He notices the trinkets that they are holding and looks deeper into the book. When he finds them, the name of these things almost made him gag, "Elements of Harmony? Bah, just the word harmony is enough to make me sick. How come almost every world that I fight him in, they always have something that help him evolve? Even worse now I might have to deal with these six if he ever joins them. Ugh, this is going to be much to be much more difficult then what I had in mind."

In the CMC's clubhouse
7:00 A.M.

"*Yawns* wow that was a good sleep I had." Nicolas goes out and breathes in the fresh air. Nicolas still wonders who was that spirit that was at the clubhouse from last night. Maybe he might get the chance to ask Apple Bloom and Applejack who that spirit was but as of right now, he wants to visit his two most beloved students of his. He flies off into the clear blue sky not knowing that dangers await of his enemy's return.

Chapter 1: Old Times

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Chapter 1: Old Times

Flying across Ponyville, Nicolas was delighted to see that the world was at peace for now, all the young fillies and colts going to school, everypony being happy at times, and for the first time in over 5 millennia, he gets to finally see his two most favorite princesses; however, he still hasn't forgotten the possibility that his nemesis is here, it seems unlikely but due to the fact that he was also caught in that explosion, he may have also been transported to Equestria, so he was on high alert should he strike. Nicolas sees Canterlot from the distance, and by god, he is surprised that Canterlot has gotten a drastic change from the last time he was here, unless this is the new Canterlot, Nicolas is gonna have to try to get to the new changes done during his absence. As he is about to enter the city, two guards block his entrance to the inner sanctum.

The guards notice Nicolas and step in front of the gate, "Halt, who goes there?" when they look who is coming, they notice that it was an alicorn. At first sight they were a little surprised but regained their composure. Wondering who this mysterious alicorn is, they ask him what is his name, "Halt, I ask you, what is your name?"

Nicolas notices that they are being cautious around him which he can understand, "Do not worry, guards, for it is I, Nicolas, Guardian of the Universe."

The guards first wondered who he was then over time they find out who he is. They are utterly shocked to find Nicolas, supposedly the last sole surviving alicorn from the alicorn war alive and healthy, they had learned of him during their sessions with the princesses when they asked who their mentor is. The reason why he was given the title 'Guardian of the Universe' was because he has more knowledge of the whole universe than anyone else known to Equestria and he is willing to protect any world that's in danger even at the cost of his life, "My apologies my prince, it has been a while since we have last seen you alive, please enter."

The guards move out of the way for him to enter. When he enters, he feels like he is from a different era of time, the buildings look extravagant, the people well-dressed, and the castle still looking as grand as ever. When all the people notice him, they are in shock to find another alicorn beside the two princesses and Nyx, people surround around him asking him numerous questions. He forgot that he was gone for such a long time, that he should have expected this coming. Guards come in to separate him from the cheering people so he can walk to the castle without obstacles in the way.

In the castle, both Celestia and Luna hear the people making an uproar about something making them curious as to what's going on. As they are wondering, a guard comes in to give the message.

"Your Majesties, I have great news to share with you."

"You may speak, tell us, what is going on out there?" Celestia looks at Luna wondering if she knows what's going on out there. Luna nods no as she does not know the answer.

"It is someone important to you, he has returned from his 5000 year absence."

Luna and Celestia are shocked that someone they know has returned, but they still wonder who it is. No one they know has been gone for 5000 years, "Tell us, who has returned from his eternal absence?" Luna said with great concern if the person the guard they're talking about is either good or evil.

"It is the 'Guardian of the Universe', Your Majesties."

Luna and Celestia look at each other in, again, still wondering who this 'Guardian of the Universe' is. "Let him enter, we wish to speak with him."

"As you wish." The guard leaves to get Nicolas into the royal hall, "Your Honor, she wishes to speak with you."

"Alright, show me to the royal hall." the guard takes him to the royal hall. While he was heading to the royal hall he noticed a chamber that he never seened before, "Stand your ground guard, I wish to see this," the guard stands still for now. Nicolas goes into the chamber, for some reason, he gets a sense of melancholy and feels a little sad upon entering the chamber. He was baffled as to why he was sad all of a sudden, "(Why am I sad? Was this chamber made for someone special?)" Nicolas was curious about this, but he putted it behind for now and heads for the royal hall losing that sense of melancholy from that chamber. The doors open widely and at first sight, he sees them at their adult age. He gets to finally speak with the two princesses. "Hello, Celestia and Luna. How long has it been since I last spoken my two most favorite princesses?" He walks a few steps getting ready to embrace them but stops to remember that they are not fillies anymore. "Whoops, haha, old habits die hard."

Both princesses look at him with wonder and something triggered their brains. The moment that happened, they are shocked to find out that their long lost uncle and mentor of their parents has returned from his long voyage of his, but are happy at the same time to see him at last, "It is all right, I am just glad that you are as healthy as ever, uncle." Celestia gets a little teary-eyed but holds back the tears

Luna on the other hand didn't hold back the tears and embraced him, "Uncle, how long has it been since we last saw each other?" Luna backs away from him and wipes the tears away.

Nicolas can tell that both are happy to see him making him much more happier, "A long time I guess, how goes the royal duties, I notice you can also control the sun and the moon thanks to your cutie marks?"

They look at their cutie marks with glee, "Yes, we discovered our special talents when Equestria was on the brink of separation, by that time we became rulers of this land," Celestia was delighted to tell him all the events that happened after he was gone, "Uncle, may we please tell you the events that happened while you were gone?"

"Of course, tell me everything that happened while I was gone, I wish to know everything." Nicolas was ready to discover what had happened after 5 millennia of being away from the world he sweared to protect.

"Alright then, do you wish to start off my sister?"

"No, you start off Tia, I am not in a mood to tell the whole story."

"If you say so sister of mine. Now where to start?"

Inside Canterlot Castle
October 23, 7:30 A.M

As you already know, we were coronated and became princesses of Equestria. At that time, we were still fillies at the time and the three commanders of each race began to teach us things. After the training, we began to build out city at the Everfree Forest, they were some drawbacks to the construction but other wise it was a success. We began the day doing, you know what, haha. At that time the ponies everywhere were living in peace, but not always does the peace last forever. As we were building more cities, chaos happened everywhere we went, we managed to discover who did all of these. Our nemesis, a draconequus named Discord, who was the spirit of chaos and disharmony, was causing all the chaos around Equestria, we tried to stop him, but to no avail. That's when we discovered the Elements of Harmony, ancient relics that gave immeasurable power to those ponies who represent the traits bought by the Elements: Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, and last but not least, the strongest of all of them, Magic. We found the Elements under our castle where we found the Tree of Harmony, after we found them we went face to face with Discord. He wasn't surprised about us returning and did a little shenanigan on me. He had my tail in his hands.

Luna was trying to hold back her laughter, but to no avail, "Hahaha, truth be told, I find that funny even though he was the embodiment of chaos." Luna couldn't hold back her laughter from that day.

"Sister!" Celestia was a little surprised to hear that from Luna, then Nicolas came in and laughed to.

"*Laughs hard* oh I am so sorry Celestia, its just I find that very hilarious." He falls on his back and laughs to his heart content.

Celestia was a little embarrassed about it then after much thought laughed as well, "I guess it was kinda funny."

All three laughed until their they stopped, "Okay, again, I am so sorry about that. Please continue where you left off."

"All right then, we used the Elements on him to petrify him in his stone prison. At first, he was laughing from seeing our expressions when we were trying to cast it on him. After that, we petrified him and ever since that day things have been going well." Celestia was still a little embarrassed from that, but putted it behind for now so she can continue the story.

After that, peace was beginning to return back to Equestria, we controlled the moon and the sun still to bring them happiness; however, Luna's jealousy began to grew. Day by day, our people enjoyed the day, but at the night, they went into a deep sleep, my sister could not contain her jealousy and began to transform into Nightmare Moon, an entity where my sister's jealousy took over her mind. I tried to stop her, but I didn't want to hurt because she was my sister. After she blasted me with her magic, I had no choice, but to use the Elements of Harmony, to banish her into the moon for 1000 years, I was saddened by a loss of such a good sister, but I had to put that behind me. I decided to control both the moon and the sun so that they can have their days and nights leaving me to be alone without my beloved sister.

Years after that, I manage to find myself a pupil that I can train, her name, was Twilight Sparkle. When I found her trying to cast a spell where she had to hatch a dragon egg, she tried everything she knew to her knowledge, but to no avail, until something amazing happened. If I recall right, a magic surge happened to Twilight that, not only hatched the baby dragon egg but made it grew quickly into an adult dragon, made all the teachers there float, and made her parents into plants, only when I touched her and she saw me did the surge stop, I was surprised to see that a filly like her was able to do all that, and I asked to be my protege, she looked at her parents and they nodded yes as they are proud of her, she accepted. I wasn't sure what to do after I got her as an apprentice, but I taught her all that I know from my parents.

"Hey Celestia, would this 'Twilight Sparkle' be a unicorn that is purple and owns a library?"

"Yes, do you know her?"

"Not a lot, just only heard and seen her. Nothing else but that."

"Really, maybe once this is over, I can arrange a meeting so you can meet her."

"I would like that. Please continue."

As I was, she was reaching adult age and I was getting ready to meet her when she delivered me a message via by dragon's breath. Oh I almost forgot, that dragon of hers she hatched ended up being her loyal servant, she named him Spike and I was okay with the name. I enchanted his fire breath to send me letters should Twilight wish to tell me something. The letter she gave me said this.

My Dearest Teacher,

My continuing studies of pony magic has led me to discover that we are on a brink of disaster, that something really bad is going to happen. For you see, the mystical mare on the moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night. Something must be done to be sure that this terrible prophecy does not come true, I await your quick response.

Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle

I already realized that 'she' was coming back, but I wasn't so sure what to do due to the fact that the Elements do not work for me anymore, then, an idea struck, I sent a letter back to Twilight Sparkle telling her to make some friends. By doing that, she can find the five other ponies that would represent the Elements of Harmony. She was reluctant at first, but she did it regardless anyway. Along the way, she met five ponies that would represent the five Elements: Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Honesty, and Generosity, their names are in order from the Elements, Rainbow Dash, Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie for short, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, all of them end up activating the sixth, strongest, and hidden Element found in my student, Twilight Sparkle, Magic. When they activated the full potential of the Elements, they shoot a rainbow-colored magic of some sort at Nightmare Moon, defeating and returning her back as Princess Luna in the process. When I saw them transform my sister back, I decided to come into the old castle of ours and greet them, I got to my sister and see if she would like to rule by my side again. She was happy to be by my side again, after that, Twilight was sad to leave her friends now that she has some. I decided to give another mission and that was to write back with letters telling me lessons about the Magic of Friendship she learned during her time in Ponyville.

After all that it seems that peace came once again; however, as I expected, it didn't last long. Our nemesis, Discord seems to have broken out of his stone chamber and threatened to bring eternal chaos again. Due to the fact that me and Luna were not connected to the Elements of Harmony, his stone prison was breaking. I told the six to come to my castle so they can get the Elements from the chest I made, what I didn't expect was that he took the Elements and hid them. We had a little conversation with him, he was in the glass windows preventing me from hitting him. I asked him where did he hid them and he told us the answer in a riddle of his.

This is what Discord said, "Retreive your missing Elements, just makes sense in this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan, then find your Elements back where you began."

I wasn't so sure where he hid the Elements, but Twilight beat me to it. She said that they are in the labyrinth, I wasn't so sure if that was the right answer but I accepted her judgement and they went to the labyrinth. By the time they made it there, Discord separated them from each other while also removing their horns and wings. He was toying with them one by one hypnotizing them to be their opposites. I was able to tell that they were being their opposites because even though I cannot use the Elements, I can sense when they are in trouble. She managed to find the Elements in the book where it told about the Elements; however, she was furious at her friends for being jerks. She putted all of the Elements on the five there with the exception of Rainbow Dash due to her abandoning her quest to get the Elements. She tried to perform the spell, but without Rainbow Dash's element, loyalty, the spell failed and they separate from each other resulting her becoming dull in color like her friends. By the time Discord got to Twilight, I was wondering how to get to Twilight before it became permanent, then I remembered her letters to me and I sent all of her letters back.

Luna used a telepathy spell on me to talk to me, "Technically, it was me that sent all of those letters back to Twilight. She wasn't able to do that."

"Why not Luna, and why are we talking telepathically?"

"I did not want my sister to know this, but, before Twilight became dull in color, Tia here transformed into a young filly no thanks to Discord's magic."

"Really? That's a surprise, then how come you didn't become affected by Discord's magic? Were you unaffected by it?"

"No, he didn't affect me because he wanted me to be Nightmare Moon again, in which he almost succeeded doing that."

"I see, so you fought your jealousy when that transformation happened and after that, tried to find a way to get to Twilight without letting Discord know that you are still yourself. Am I getting all of this right?"

"Yes, you are getting all of this right. The reason that she doesn't remember this is because she, like I said before, was a filly and had a filly's mind so she doesn't remember me doing all of this."

"I see, good job on doing it for her."

"It was my pleasure, now let us return back to my sister's story."

Both looked back at her thankfully not noticing that they were talking telepathically to each other.

Noticing that she was reinvigorated with the magic of friendship, she was able to free all of them from their hypnotized state using a memory spell to give them back all their memories. After she managed to get all of them together again, she tried the spell, this time, with success and turned Discord, again, to stone.

After that, peace was, once again, returning to its former glory until, again, things did not go as planned. My student, Twilight Sparkle was ponynapped by unknown people. As I was having trouble finding her, one of the guards manage to find her and the secret group performing a spell I don't even know about. As they were close to completing the spell, I interrupted it and the spell was broken. I wasn't so sure what was that spell suppose but from the looks on the center of the spell circle, it looked like it needed my student's blood.

"Wait, let me get this straight, that spell they were trying to perform. It requires her blood, why not anybody elses?"

"We do not know. We never knew what that spell actually does. Sorry, shall I continue?"

"Please."

All of the guards came in and took all of the people and took all of them to prison, we weren't able to find their leader unfortunately from all of the commotion. At least we manage to rescue my faithful student from them. After that, nothing has happened after that. We went to a school play that Ms. Cheerilee decided to hold, and the last one that played was outstanding. We saw a colt that not only did his performance of Nightmare Moon well, but also sounded like her. After that, we decided to return back to Canterlot and rest up for the night. During the night, a sudden burst of arcane energy came bursting from our old castle, the presence of that magic was all too familiar for me, but I also felt my sister's presence here too. When I looked at it, something made me wonder if that Nyx, who was supposedly Twilight's cousin, that came from the school play was indeed Nightmare Moon, but he acted too nice to be Nightmare Moon let alone be her. I decided to visit an old friend of mine by the name of Spell Nexus. He taught at the School of Gifted Unicorns and was a very talented unicorn there. I hoped that he can hopefully lift the weight off my shoulders. He did that by telling me that he has a spell that can look deep into the mind and soul but he would need Nyx in order to do it.

"Hold on, you know that I've studied otherworldly magics. That kind of magic I happen to know where to learn it, but for a unicorn to learn would be impossible. Haven't you thought just for a second where, when, or how did he learn it?"

"I did, but I was too tired from the incident and from multiple nightmares that involved Nyx transforming into Nightmare Moon."

"I see then, please continue."

Thank you, as I was, we were planning to get Nyx from Twilight as he was needed to see so I can rest myself at last knowing whether he is Nightmare Moon or not. However, when I asked her how Twilight treated Nyx, the answer was something I had not dared. I told her everything I wanted to do with him, but she was reluctant to do it due to her bond with the little colt. I tried my best to persuade her to give me Nyx, but she wouldn't. I had no choice but to tell her the whole story of why I needed her at once. Once she heard my side of this, she too wanted to know as well but tried to putted it aside as Nyx was doing the opposite of what Nightmare Moon would do. Trying not to break their bond, I promised her that if Nyx doesn't have any trace of Nightmare Moon within his soul, I would return him back to Twilight. When she asked me what I would do to him when there are some residual presence of Nightmare Moon within him, I wasn't so sure how to answer this. She knew what I would do to him if there are some energy of Nightmare Moon within Nyx and tried to stop me from doing, but in the end, I broke down from it. She saw a tear coming from my eyes, this was the first time she ever saw me get welled-up in tears. She decided to give me Nyx in return that I keep the promise I gave to her. I did, but when I tried to get him out with me, he was trying to return to Twilight as hard as possible. When he shouted the one word that I never would have expected from him, It broke my heart just for taking a child from a mother. "MOMMY!!!" That word putted me in shambles. I wanted to do this as fast as possible so I manage to bring him to Spell Nexus and asked him if this spell would work, and he said yes. I had a sense of hope that all of my worries may finally fade away once this spell was performed. Spell Nexus asked me to channel all of my energy into the spell as this spell required my magic to activate it. I did as he asked and casted all of my magic on it. As the spell began to get stronger, I noticed that this spell felt like the exact same spell that I interrupted and I also noticed over time that the pillars of magic became a blood-red color. I tried to stop myself but to no avail. The spell was completed and within the center where the magic was most concentrated, Nyx had finally transformed himself into what I had feared most, Nightmare Moon. Twilight came to where the spell was completed was too late as Nyx has now become Nightmare Moon. As she was talking to the citizens, they teleported out of the city and disappeared without a trace. I was so ashamed to look at Twilight that I returned to Canterlot to tell everyone the news.

Nicolas was in utter shock to hear that the princess of the sun would be welled-up tears from that incident. He actually has had that same experience happen to him before so he can understand why she was welled-up in tears from that, "Wow, this is something. That must have hit your heart hard. I can understand that because a similar problem like has happened to me before."

"Really uncle? Could you tell us about that?"

"Sorry, but it's too painful for me to delve into at the time. I'd rather not remember it right now."

"Well, shall I continue then uncle?"

"Please continue with the event."

Thank you, I didn't tell everyone that Nightmare Moon has returned because it would cause the people to panic and that was a situation I do not want to go to at the time. I did tell the people in the castle about her return and they were on high alert. All of the guards went on the search for Nightmare Moon and their hideout, but to no avail. After what seems like days looking for her, we almost had given up the search for her until she appeared right in front of me. We had a little chat, but with each time I talked about herself, she went into a rage. Then we went into a fight, we shared blows with each other. I did noticed that she was holding back. After she managed to lay only a cut on me, she got me in a death hold. She could have easily killed me there in the spot, but for some reason doesn't go for the kill and instead banishes me to the sun so I can feel what it feels like to be banished for a 1000 years. She did exactly that and I was banished.

"She banished you into the sun?"

"Yes, she did, after that Luna came in to try to stop her."

"Yes, now it's my turn to tell my part of the story."

After that, I see her in our throne room looking a little confused. I came in to fight her even though I know I have a disadvantage against her as I was weak against while she was ever so strong. We talked about what she did to my sister and was surprised to hear what she did to my sister. Instead of killing my sister, she banished her to the sun. Something tells me that the Nyx we know may still be inside there. I tried to persuade her while fighting her at the same time. I almost gotten into her but unfortunately, she bested me and got me in a death hold as well. The same thing happened to my sister, she was wondering whether to kill her or not. Instead, she did the exact same thing she did to Tia here. She banished me into the moon. After that we do not remember anything else after that.

Inside Canterlot Castle
October 23, 8:00 A.M

"And that's all the events you missed out during your absence. If you wish to know the rest of the events that happened while we were banished, you are gonna have to ask my faithful student." Celestia was finally finished with the story, she was tired from retelling all the events like that. Then she remembered another event but just didn't wanted to talk about it due to it possibly hurting Luna.

Nicolas was shocked about all the events that happened while he was gone, "I plan to and wow, I'm surprised. I wished I was there to see all the events and help those six out, it would have been good to help them out. By the way, I have a question for you two."

"What is it?" Luna asked first because she noticed Celestia was tired from telling all those events.

"I noticed a chamber with three windows that fortell a story, what was that chamber all about?" Nicolas asked because when he first entered it, he felt sad all of a sudden, like a really wonderful friend was dead.

Luna knows what he meant and went into a depressed state after a loss of such a good friend.

Nicolas notices that Luna went into a depressed state and wondered what was troubling her after he mentioned about that chamber, "My my, what has gotten into you, Luna? You go depressed in a matter of seconds after I mentioned that chamber."

Celestia wasn't expecting him to bring it up so she decided to answer that question for him, "That chamber there was a memorial to a young filly and a friend of ours, her name was Snowdrop." Celestia was also saddened over that loss but she continued the story, "She was the filly who showed us the first falling snow star, she was blind so she couldn't see the stars like she wished to, but she can hear the twinkling stars. That's what caused her to make that snow star now known as a snowflake."

Nicolas understood why Luna was sad over that now, a loss of such a good friend who can understand her worries can be hard to put behind, "I see, well, I will be going to Snowdrop's chamber and give her my blessings." Nicolas wanted to bring closure to their friend.

"Thank you, I know you well enough that you respect those who died with good lives." Celestia tries to cheer Luna back to her normal self.

"Alright, it is good to see you again, I feel happy to see you two happy even after the war with the chaosbringers." Nicolas goes out of the royal hall and into Snowdrop's chamber feeling sad once again, this time, with a good idea of what this represents. Snowdrop, a young filly who is blind and yet can hear very well that created the first snowflake. That is the best gift that any, if any, pony can bestow to Equestria, "Snowdrop, can you hear me? If you can, please accept my blessings and rest in peace for you had led a good life." Nicolas kneels before the chamber and starts to pray to his God about Snowdrop. As he finishes his prayer, and does the cross, he started to sing a song then remembers something, "Oh man, I almost forgot that I sing well, yet people say I sound like a girl, haha. Oh well, I can't help it. Thank goodness I learned a spell that would be able to change my voice, this is a good way to put her to rest." He starts to sing a song he thought of for her in a matter of seconds.

"You cannot see
but your heart is pure
I know you feel trapped
In a dark world
Some brush you off
and call you weak
but your name is snowdrop
and one day they'll see"

"If you hold fast and stand strong you'll discover who you are
If you listen to the world at night you can hear the twinkling stars
If you use love to guide your heart you are bound to go far
You have the power to change the world being uniquely who you are"

After that phrase, he started to cry over such a loss of a good friend for Luna, but he held back the tears and continued to sing. He wanted to put the little filly's heart to rest with his God and he just thought of this song he made just for Snowdrop.

By the time he ended the song he started to swell into tears, he couldn't shrug it off the feeling of such a good friend even though he never met her. He thought about her for awhile, he stayed there longer then what he had in mind and thought of something he can do to allow Luna to see her young friend once again, then, something hit him. He could use the one spell he learned from another world that allowed him to resurrect those that have good intentions, and a love so strong, it can never break no matter the hardships, but doing that, he would break the laws of nature doing it. Seeing Luna's expression on her face when Snowdrop was mentioned though, he decided to do it when the time is right, "Snowdrop, can you hear me? If you can, someday, you will walk with Luna and Celestia once again, and you will create the winter snowflakes once again." After those last words, he left the chamber with a smile on his face.

Celestia notices Nicolas come out of the chamber and asked, "Well, were you able to bring her the peace and closure she desired?" Celestia wondered about it because he stayed in there longer than what she had in mind.

Luna manage to hear the song from the royal hall from Snowdrop's chamber and made her happy that Nicolas did that just for someone he never knew and for Luna herself.

"Yes, I think I bought her the peace she desired, now shall we go to Ponyville so I can meet the six you told me about?" Nicolas was excited to see them and thank them for protecting Equestria while he was gone.

"Yes, let us take the royal chariot there." Celestia takes Nicolas to the royal chariot and head to Ponyville to see them again.

"Before we do that, you might want to deliver a letter to her telling her that we are coming."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about that." Celestia teleports back into her room and writes a letter to Twilight.

Nicolas goes back into town and goes into a bakery and orders some cloud cake while she was writing the letter. He remembers that Celestia loved cloud cake. He decided to try it just to see how good it actually is.

Library
Oct. 23 10:00 A.M.

Twilight was arranging all of the books there are in alphabetical order due to 'someone' messing up the place again, "Spike, are you done on your side?"

"Calm down Twilight, I got this." Spike tries to put the last book back at its original spot until one slip-up made the whole bookshelf fall down, "Haha, oopsies."

"*Sighs* sometimes I wonder why I have you as my number one assistant." She puts all of the books that Spike dropped in order, "There, now will you please stop trashing the place?"

"Sorry Twilight, I'm still getting use to having Nyx as a sorta of a brother for me."

"I know Spike, I'm still adjusting to being his mom now after all of that ordeal, but it looks like this may go well."

"Yeah." Spike puffed his mouth and out came a letter from Princess Celestia.

Twilight picked it up and red the message,

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am to tell, you that I am meeting you and the rest of your friends by around 2:00 P.M. along side a friend of mine whom I wish to talk about with you six. I hope that you are prepared to meet me for this.

Your Royal Highness,
Princess Celestia

After Twilight was done reading the letter, she gets a mental breakdown like when she did the 'Want it, Need it' spell on, "Oh my gosh, I did not know she was coming right now." Twilight was scurrying around the place in a panic checking if everywhere was clean for the princess's arrival.

"Twilight, what's gotten into you? You look like you are freaking about over something."

"Spike, the princess is coming at 2:00 P.M. today along side a friend of hers, what do you think why I'm freaking out!?" Twilight was checking the same places over and over again just in case if everything was spiffy, then turned her attention to Spike, "Spike, can you get Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie here? Because she wants to talk to all of us!"

"Calm down, I'll go get them. Just be a little patient, okay?" Spike leaves the library to get the others as fast as he could before Twilight goes completely bonkers. He firsts heads into the Carousel Boutique to get Rarity, "Rarity are you here?"

"Just a minute." Rarity was about to finish her dress that one of the townspeople asked for her to make, "And done, now what is it that you wanted Spike?"

"Princess Celestia is coming at 2:00 P.M. at the library along side a friend of hers. You coming or what?"

"Why of course, my dear. Just let me get my things. I'll be there as fast as possible, I don't want to miss it one bit." Rarity was hiding her excitement for seeing the princess again.

"All right, I'm going to get the others. Be at the library by 2:00 P.M., okay bye." Spike leaves the shop and heads for Fluttershy's cottage, "Fluttershy, are you here?" Spike looks around the place only to find her on the ceiling, "Fluttershy, why are you on the ceiling?"

Fluttershy flies back down gently, "Oh, I'm sorry. Its just that you scared when you suddenly opened the door. What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Its Princess Celestia, she's coming at 2:00 P.M. at the library and she wants all of us to be there. You coming?"

"Of course, I can't wait to speak to her again."

"All right, well gotta get the others, bye." Spike leaves at full speed to Sweet Apple Acres where he finds Applejack bucking apple trees to no end, "Hey Applejack!"

Applejack hears Spike from a distance and waves hi at him, "Howdy Spike, what are ya doing here?"

"I came here to tell you that Princess Celestia is coming to the library at 2:00 P.M., you coming or what?"

"Well, of course Ah'll come, let me just buck these last few apple trees and then Ah'll be on my way."

"All right, good luck." Spike was getting tired from getting all of them but he had to so Twilight won't scream at him for not getting them. He sees Sugercube Corner and plans to get Pinkie Pie until Rainbow Dash came out of nowhere and crashed on him.

"Whoops, sorry Spike. Didn't see you there." Rainbow got off Spike and helped him stand up.

Spike was still in pain from that, but at least he doesn't have to chase Rainbow Dash now that he is here, "Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia is coming at the library at 2:00 P.M., are you coming or what?"

"Of course I'll come, meet you there okay?"

"All right, I just need to get Pinkie Pie and that should be all of them."

"All right, good luck." Rainbow Dash leaves for the library at blazing speeds.

Spike was so tired from all of this, but he was so close to Sugarcube Corner that he decided to continue it. He walks slowly to Sugarcube Corner. By the time he got to the door, Pinkie Pie was waiting for him already, "Hi Spike, what is it that you want to tell me so badly?"

"Princess Celestia, *gasps* is coming to *gasps* to the library at 2:00 P.M. along side a friend, *gasps* are you coming?" Spike was so tired from all; the running that he almost fainted while talking.

"Of course silly, I'll carry you." Pinkie carries Spike on her back and they hop off to the library.

At the library, Twilight was still freaking out that Spike hasn't return from his trip. She wonders if Spike failed in getting them on time and almost goes into crazy mode until Pinkie Pie arrives with Spike on her back. "Hi Twilight, I came here as fast as I can. I think the others got the message from Spike."

"Oh thank goodness, so it looks like Spike tire himself out to the bone." Twilight was relieved that Spike was able to do it, but was a little sad to see him over exert himself for this. He puts him in bed and lets him rest for the day. While at it, Twilight wonders what Nyx was doing while all of this commotion was happening. Whatever it is, she just hopes that she doesn't hurt herself or any other pony with her friends.

Over time, the rest of the group finally made it to the library and wondered why Princess Celestia wanted to see them at this time of the day. Rarity was the first one to break the silence, "What do you guys think she wants to talk about? I know that she said its just that she wants to meet her friend, but who do you think is he or she?"

"Not so sure, Ah'm not so sure y'all know anything 'bout this pony?"

All synchronized for this part, "Nope, not a clue."

"Well, Ah'll be beat, we got no idea who this pony is."

"I agree, wonder what's taking them so long."

"We'll I don't want to stay here forever, wanna do something while we wait?" Rainbow Dash was very bored from waiting this long for the princess.

"Sure, why not." All of them were getting bored of waiting as well.

Canterlot
Oct. 23, 1:30 P.M.

Nicolas was enjoying the cloud cake he had from the chef and all of its contents, no wonder why Celestia loves this cake so much that she would go unladylike of her to eat it. After he was done with the delicious cloud cake, he checks the time and notices that they were getting late. He goes into the royal chariot where he finds Celestia waiting, "Sorry it took me awhile, just took a bite of that sweet, delicious, cloud cake. No wonder why it's your favorite dessert."

"It is okay, shall we go then?" Celestia tells the pegasi to get ready to go.

"Yes, I finally get the chance to meet them." Both of them went to Ponyville in the chariot.

Chapter 2: Meeting the Mane 6

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Chapter 2: Meeting the Mane 6

Ponyville
October 26, 2:00 P.M.

The chariot lands at Ponyville exactly 2:00 P.M. sharp. Nicolas was having good memories of this place flowing through his mind taking in all the fun times he had with Celestia and Luna here before Ponyville was built here, "So this is Ponyville huh, been awhile since I was last here. This use to be the place we would play each other." All of his old days here were outstanding, but now that it has made some changes to itself, he has to get use to the changes around the place.

"Yes, this is Ponyville, I told them to meet me at the library here, so they should be there. Let us go then," Celestia walks with Nicolas to the library. As they are passing by, the people bow down to Celestia as they would normally do to someone of royalty, but they were wondering about the other alicorn following her, "We're here, I wonder how Twilight is doing?"

"I have a strange feeling that things aren't going so well for her."

"How can you be so certain?" Celestia was concerned about what Nicolas just said about Twilight.

"Yeah, just get inside and you will see." Nicolas was making a somewhat funny joke when he said that, but he was serious about her having a bad time.

When Celestia was about to go inside, she can hear a ruckus going on in the library making her wonder if she is freaking out that she is coming on short notice. She enters the library and a pile of books were about to fall on her until Nicolas stopped the falling books with his levitation spell and putted them back where they came from in alphabetical order.

Twilight and the other six notices Celestia momentarily and bow to her. Twilight was the first one to speak, "Sorry Princess, we got a little bored from waiting for you. So where is your friend?"

"He is here, but what were you six doing while you were waiting?"

Applejack answered for her, "We were playing a game and Twilight went mad when someone here got into her nerves and she went a little bonkers, she told us about it as well, but, uh, we were all late y'all."

Rainbow Dash countered Applejack's argument, "Hey, it wasn't my fault that you almost bucked me in the face."

"That was because you were cheating, Rainbow Dash." Both of them look at each other coldly.

Nicolas was wondering he should leave them now or just wait until they settle their ordeal.

Rarity came in to answer, "Honestly, sometimes you two just fight sometimes to settle your differences. Sorry there, oh yes, we were surprised that you would want to hold a meeting at this hour, what is it all about? Do we get the chance to go to Canterlot, are you asking us to do something important? Tell us, please."

All of the others were a little embarrassed about all of this, well, with the exception of Pinkie, but either way, are excited to see Nicolas even though the library was about to crumble.

Celestia can tell that they were having a lot of trouble like Nicolas said but decided to put that behind for now, "It is all right my dear students. As you already know, an old friend of mine has returned and I wish to show you six him."

Rainbow was probably the most excited after hearing that and asked even though this question never came to her mind, "Oh, that is awesome, who is it, is he a pegesus 'cause if he is, I got myself a new flying buddy."

"Oh Rainbow, sorry for that, but is he a unicorn? If he is, I'd like to know what it learned." Twilight wanted to know as well, but something made her wonder, "By the way, I red the letter you sent, you really sure that he was gone for 5000 years?"

Hearing that made everyone shocked, a pony that is 5000 years old, that's older than Celestia or Luna. Twilight can guess the race that he is, "With that kind of age, I can guess that he is an alicorn like you?"

"Yes, my student, he is an alicorn, a very powerful and intelligent one as a matter of fact."

Just hearing the word "intelligent" made Twilight all the more excited to see him.

"All right then. Uncle, please come in, they would like to see you."

All of the ponies freaked out when they heard "uncle", "Wait, so if I heard correctly, he's a family member of yours?!"

"That is so cool, someone that's older than the princess here, and a lost family member, I can't wait to see him!" Rainbow couldn't hold the excitement for him

All the others wanted to see so badly, Nicolas was a little surprised to have this much attention to him. He doesn't like to get too much attention, and if he did get that much attention, he would be sweating like crazy. He decided to put it behind and meet them. As he enters, all of the ponies are in awe to see a majestic pony like him alive, most notably, Rarity. "Hello, good to see you all especially you, Twilight Sparkle."

All, again, are in sheer awe over Nicolas, they had so many questions to ask him, but they putted them on hold. Rainbow was about to introduce herself when Pinkie Pie came in, "Oh, hello, my name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short if you like that, oh a new friend, tell me, what's your name? Do you like cupcakes? Have you been to Sugarcube Corner? Did you see the Everfree Forest? Have you taught princess Celestia and Luna before? Oh, so many questions, I can hardly pick which one to ask, haha."

"Okay, that was weird, alright I can answer your questions at your pace. *deep breathes* My name is Nicolas, I like cupcakes, I have never been to Sugarcube Corner before, I have seen the Everfree Forest before, and yes I have trained the two princesses before when they were just fillies." Nicolas was a bit surprised that Pinkie can say all that fast in one sentense, but, then again, he has seen more than one person do that before.

Applejack gets hold of his hand and shakes it like what she did when she first met Twilight, "Well howdy there, my names Applejack, and at Sweet Apple Acres, we make and grow the best apples in all of Equestria, we make the most delicious apple fritters, pies, juices, etc. if you know what Ah mean." She stops the hand shaking afterwards and gives Nicolas an apple pie.

Rarity was a little disgusted at Applejack for that, "Well if you be so kindly, dear Applejack, sorry about that there. My name is Rarity and I create dresses and suits for everyone in Ponyville. I always try to make them to perfection so my guest can be happy with the dress or suit they receive from me, haha."

Rainbow was finally ready to introduce when Twilight interrupted his introduction, "Uh hello, haha, excuse me, *breathes*. My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you already know that, I love to read and study, I have always trained on pony magics with Princess Celestia, and I have but one question, can you tell me all the things you know about?" Twilight was a little embarassed about it but had to put the introductions aside.

Nicolas was happy to know that her student was a learner like himself. "I would like to tell you all of the things I know Twilight but right now, can it be put on hold?"

"Oh, sure. You got all the time in the world to tell me all the stuff you have." Twilight was hiding her excitement when he said yes to her question.

He noticed Fluttershy and asks her, "Hello ma'am, my name is Nicolas, what is your name?"

Rainbow was getting really bored waiting for her turn and was about to go crazy until Twilight stops him from going mad.

Fluttershy was scared of seeing the new person. She was trying to avoid saying introductions, but since he found her, she decided to try to introduce herself. "Um, my name's Fluttershy."

Nicolas wasn't able to hear her right, "I'm sorry, could you speak up?"

"Um, my name is Fluttershy."

Nicolas still unable to hear her can probably tell that she was shy about this so he tries to comfort her, "I'm sorry to burden you, but you must speak louder. Please, I wish to know you well, if not, I can just leave."

Hearing that, Rainbow did not want him to leave so he tries to get Fluttershy to speak up, "COME ON, Fluttershy, speak louder so we can get this over with, I am getting tired of waiting."

"Rainbow!!!" Twilight was surprised that she could do that, then again, she does that all the time when she gets impatient. She was thankful that Nyx was at the CMC clubhouse at the time.

"Well, I'm sorry, it's that you guys keep on interrupting my intro and I had to wait until you girls got your intros done, and now we're stuck with Fluttershy doing what she does when she meet new people."

Nicolas can tell Rainbow well enough that although she is loyal to her friends, she can be somewhat of a bother, but she was right about one thing, he wanted to know Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, please continue your intro, that way, Rainbow here, can finally get to her introduction."

Fluttershy was feeling a little happy that this pony was a nice person so she tries to introduce herself once more, "Um, hello, my name's Fluttershy, I love animals and I take care of them."

Nicolas was relieved that she managed to introduce herself, now all that remains is Rainbow Dash, "All right, thank you Fluttershy. Now, you can get to your intro Rainbow."

Knock Knock

"Aw, who could that be?" Rainbow was getting really irritated from something interrupted him when he was about to give his speech.

The doors opens and enter Nyx, "Hi? I didn't expect everyone to be here."

"Hello Nyx, we're in a middle of a meeting right now, can you go upstairs for now?"

"Okay, hi Nicolas. How was your day?"

That probably shocked again all of them and especially Twilight, "Nyx, since when did you know Nicolas?"

"I can answer for him, but on another time, Rainbow Dash here is getting really impatient."

"Oh okay, I'll be upstairs then."

"All right then."

With Nyx heading upstairs, Rainbow was able to get her speech going, "Finally, My name's Rainbow Dash. I love to race against anyone and I'm the best flier in all of Ponyville, heck, probably the best flier in all of Equestria, I doubt you could beat me in a race. Oh I almost forgot that I love the Wonderbolts, they are the best flier squad I know of and I can wait to meet and train with them."

"Wait? Is that a challenge I hear?" Nicolas was getting pumped to hear that coming from the 'Best Flier' in all of Ponyville.

Twilight pulled Rainbow from the air, "Rainbow, are you crazy, you're going against a prince here, I don't know if you can beat him in a one-on-one race even if he does it fair."

"No, I'm not crazy, and yes, that was a challenge. I challenge you to a race on the skies to see which one of us is worthy of being called the 'Best Flier' which is me."

"Really, you're really sure you want to face against me?"

"Yeah, I am, are you?"

"Heck yes I am, you are on Rainbow Dash." Nicolas was getting even more excited to have a challenge. It had been awhile since he last had one.

Twilight and all the others cannot believe that this is actually happening right in front of them, a race to determine which one of them deserves the title of "Best Flier", Pinkie Pie on the other hand was excited about the race at hand.

"All right then, prince, where do you wish to race?"

"You're asking me where the race should be held? Alright then. Let's see, how about from here to Canterlot Castle on October 27, is that good enough of a challenge for you?"

"Heck yeah, you are so on." Rainbow Dash opens the door and flies out of the library with confidence in herself.

Celestia was a little surprised that the greetings went a little well than what she had in mind, "Well, that went a little better then expected, uncle, I shall return to Canterlot Castle. I hope you get along well with them."

"Do not worry, we shall get along pretty well."

Celestia leaves them alone with each other, "Haha, that's what I expected from the 'Guardian of the Universe', wonder how this race is going to affect my meeting I had schedule for tommorow." Celestia leaves on her chariot for Canterlot.

Library
October 26, 7:00 P.M.

"Thanks for helping us out, hey, I am so sorry about Rainbow Dash, I told her not to be boastful about it." Twilight was agitated that Rainbow Dash did something she told him not to do.

"Yeah, sorry about that y'all, but you know her, once she starts talking about, there ain't no going back from that." Applejack was having trouble trying to put these heavy books back to where they came from, "Ugh, Rarity, aren't you gonna apologize to the prince here?"

Rarity was very busy putting all of them back and making them all spiffy while at it, "Huh, what, oh sorry there. Yes, I am very sorry about her, she tends to get a little competitive like that at times."

"A little!?" Twilight was still mad at Rainbow Dash for that sudden outburst.

"Okay, she is very competitive, but that doesn't worry you right, sir?

Nicolas was able to put all of the books on his side, easily, neatly, and made them clean in one casting of a spell, "No, that doesn't worry me at all, in fact, I'd like a competition against her."

"Oh thank goodness, I thought she ruined it for you."

"No, she didn't ruin it for me, she just doubled the fun for me that's for certain."

"Really, you're different from other alicorns I know of, being high and mighty and all, haha."

"Everyone says that a lot about me, so I can understand where you are getting. By the way, didn't you say you wanted me to tell you all the things I know?"

"YES, I did, could you please tell me about it?"

"No, not now, after the race with Rainbow, then I can tell all of you about all the things I know of, okay Twilight?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick my cupcake in my eye."

Nicolas was very baffled by that weird promise then remembered that was a Pinkie premise. He knows about it no thanks to the CMC but tries to act dumb, "Uh, what kind of promise is that?"

"That's a Pinkie promise, it's a promise made up by Pinkie Pie, Applejack broke it once, and what happened when she broke it. *shudders* Trust me, you do not want to break a Pinkie promise."

Nicolas was very baffled but from the sight of Twilight shuddering there, he doesn't want to know what would happen if he broke it, "Okay let me try it. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick my cupcake in my eye. Did I get it right?"

"Yeah, you got it there. All right don't break it, or else Pinkie will chase you to no end *shudders*."

"Why do you always shudder whenever you mention about it?" Nicolas couldn't shake off what all of that was suppose to mean. He might regret asking that question already.

"I really don't want to talk about it. Please, don't let me bring it up."

"Well, we're done, we're going to head back now."

"Have a good nights sleep Twilight."

"Aw, but I want to *yawns* keep on going."

"I think Pinkie deserves some sleep today, here I'll carry you." Fluttershy carries her out of the library back to Sugarcube Corner, "Have a good nights sleep Twilight."

"Good night to you all."

"You have really good friends Twilight.

"Thanks Nicolas, you might make a good family member of mine if you were one."

"How thoughtful of you. Oh, Twilight, Celestia told me all of the events that happened while I was gone and I wanted to say thank you. If you weren't there for me, I don't know if Celestia or Luna would be able to hold them off. I know they are strong, but even someone that strong has its limits"

Twilight was feeling a little happy to hear that from someone of royalty like Nicolas, but after a few seconds, something got to her. Did Celestia tell him all of the events that happened? She decided to ask him just in case if she did tell him all of it, "Did Princess Celestia tell you all of the events?"

"Yes, including the one involving your daughter, Nyx. She told me that you can finish off where she left off."

Twilight was a little shocked to know that Princess Celestia told him everything. He did mention that she left out some parts of her story, probably where she and Luna was banished to the moon. She decided to continue the story from there, "Yes, I'll continue the story from where she left off."

"Please, tell me."

While the guards and the princesses were looking for their secret hideout, I had already found it thanks to one of the member's locket. He was a butler of Spell Nexus, I don't remember his name but thanks to his locket, I manage to find the secret hideout. I sneaked around the place to find Nyx, well Nightmare Moon, and see if I can talk to her. I teleported around the secret castle from place to place avoiding some guards until I found what seems to be her bedroom. I got a mental image of it and teleported into the bedroom hoping to find her; however, she was not there. I was about to leave until I heard a voice, Spell Nexus's voice to be exact and hided. I saw him coming in and I thought that he was captured too. They took him down to what I thought they would take anyone to, the dungeon. I followed him and the guards. Only did they leave that I tried to rescue him, what I didn't had in mind was that he was working for Nightmare Moon and he knocked me out cold.

"YOU WENT IN ALONE!?" Nicolas wasn't seething with anger like he would be, instead he was utterly lost and baffled after what Twilight did. It was suicide to do something like that alone even if you are adept at magic, "Are you crazy Twilight, even I know how suicidal that would be to do that. Couldn't you have told the princesses that you found their hideout?"

"I know, but I just wanted to talk to her and see if I can get through to Nyx. If I did tell the princesses about this, they might have banished her and I'd never get the chance to talk to her." Twilight was in tears. She did not want to lose her no matter and would do anything to protect her even if she must fight against the princesses to protect him.

Now Nicolas can see what Celestia meant by their bond, this isn't a bond of a friend. This is a bond of a beloved family member, a dearly beloved, "I see now why Celestia was put in tears from this. Sorry if this is hurting you, you can stop now."

"No, the princesses left off where she was and I want to finish it." Twilight wiped the tears away and continued the story.

"You are very determined, I will acknowledge that."

I was in the dungeon, they did every kind of torture on me to make me talk but I refused to give in to the Children of Nightmare. They decided to show me to Nightmare Moon and once they did show me to her, they left by order of Nightmare Moon. I tried to persuade her to return back to me, but those were futile as she actually hated me for what I did with her and I couldn't bear to see her mad. I told her the truth about everything that has happened ever since that time and she was reluctant to believe in these stories. After that, she called Spell Nexus and told him to put me in the dungeon; however, she told him that I was to be healed in good condition, fed, be given good comfort, and given water. Spell Nexus was reluctant at first, but overtime did what she asked.

"So it looked like there is some part of Nyx still in there. That must made you happy to hear that huh?"

"Yes, it did made me happy, but not Spell Nexus."

I wasn't sure how long I was in the dungeon but over time, I heard three voices. Voices that I, all too well, recognize. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom came in the dungeon within my jail cell. I can tell from the look on Spell Nexus that he was not liking what was happening to Nightmare Moon and left in rage. I received a letter from Nyx telling me about why they were here.

"Wait, those three fillies were in the dungeon with you?! Holy moly, I really wished I was there to help you out Twilight, but it looks like you managed to take care of them well. And it looks like Nyx was coming back as well."

"Yes, but I was shocked to see them there. They told me why they did it and it made me happy to see that his friends cared for her still even as Nightmare Moon.

"Oh really, why did they come there then?" Nicolas couldn't hold the feeling that they didn't come to the castle just for them to reminisce.

"They told that they wanted to talk with him just for old time and also gave her a CMC cape they made. They made that as a gift to her. Can we return back to where we left off?"

"Okay, please continue."

I was proud to hear that from her and I had a sense of hope that she was still in there. After they released the three fillies back to their parents, Spell Nexus came to the dungeon enraged telling me that I was the cause of her not acting like what the real Nightmare Moon should be. I was happy to see that Nyx was doing nice after all. Spell Nexus was literally seething with anger when I said that she was doing something nice, then he had a sudden change of expression. That made me scared. He came at me and did something I wasn't so sure what was going on. An eerie cloud of smoke came out of his mouth and went into my mouth. I wasn't what was going on, but after that I lost all sense of what was happening around me. By the time I manage to get my mind to clear, I saw Nyx in front of me in the Canterlot Castle with a serious injury. She told me everything that happened while I was supposedly hypnotized. I was shocked to hear that I gave her that injury and that Spell Nexus did that to me. I felt saddened over it, but Nyx cheered me back up. She told me that she had something else to finish and flew off back into her Nigh Stone Castle.

"Interesting, well I think I can get the rest of the story down unless you want Nyx to continue where you left off."

Twilight did not want him to tell his side of the story but Nyx came and did it for his mother, "It's all right, I can do this. I'll go tell my part of the story."

"Good, tell me what you were doing at that time."

Where do I start? Oh yeah, I went back into the castle and sought to see Spell Nexus. He came and I asked him to see if he would like my 'blessings' once more. He gladly accepted it and I did what I needed to do. I used my mane to see within his brain like what I did with my mother and saw a huge splotch of that cloud thing. Except that it actually linked itself into the brain. I tried to pull it off of his brain but it was resisting me. I decided to use some magic and manage to pull it off the brain. By the time it was out of the body and out into the open, I felt it. The rage, the hatred, the jealousy, everything about Nightmare Moon within that cloud of smoke. It was the one part that was missing. I was wondering what to do with it, if I let it go into me, I could finally complete myself and become Nightmare Moon. Without thinking about it, I was about to be complete myself until my mind became clear and I stepped away from it. I yelled at the emotions of Nightmare Moon and I attacked it with an arcane lightning spell; however, as it was a part of me, I felt the pain it was feeling. With each lightning bolt I shot at it the pain felt much worse with each hit. The last one was the strongest one I have ever casted no thanks to the magic surge I had. After that, things went to normal for the time being.

"I see, I actually expected that to happen when you were telling me your side of the story. I wasn't so sure whether I was true or not. You are a very special filly Nyx and I am proud to say that."

Nyx was glad to hear that from another alicorn besides the two Royal Sisters, "Thank you sir, may I please continue?"

"Yes, you may continue."

After that last lightning bolt, I secluded myself from Equestria. If they saw me, they might run from me in fear and I would not want that, that is, until a zebra named Zecora came to my castle. She told me about the animals going on the rampage now that the two princesses are gone. As the spell takes awhile for them to be released, I had to go into Ponyville to save them. I manage to hold off most of the creatures, some I had help from the six you met now. I used a spell that allowed me to make multiple versions of myself; however, because of that spell, I was weaker and more prone to actually killing myself as I also spliced all of my power into each duplicate. After all of my duplicates manage to get all of them back into the Everfree Forest, we rejoined and what my mother saw was serious. I gained fatal injuries from all of the monsters I tried to bring back, then a howl came. It came from a Lupis Major, and it was getting ready to eat all of the citizens of Ponyville. I tried to stop it, but I was too weak from all the injuries I received. Out of nowhere, Twilight came in to try to protect me. I knew what she was doing was suicidal as she was not strong enough to defeat a Lupis Major. I used a teleportation spell on all of the citizens and teleported them all to my castle leaving me to deal with the ferocious beast. I was on the ground when he pounced on me and I was left with only one option to kill it, I used the lightning spell on it. After that intense spell hit the Lupis Major it received a minor wound, but it was strong enough for it to retreat back into the Everfree Forest. I was so injured from the beasts and that lightning. I slowly limped all the way to my castle. All of the citizens were there, I fell to the ground from overexerting myself. My mother came to my side and tried to persuade all the other ponies to help me. All of them were reluctant to help me and my mother at first, but over time, they decided to help me and all the other citizens that are injured from the rampage. After what seems like forever from recovering from my injuries, I manage to see my mother there with me. We talked with each and I was trying to hold back my emotions. I tried to hold back my emotions, but to no avail, I wept alongside Twilight and told her how sorry I was and how guilty I felt after what I had done to her. She forgave me after that ordeal and I was happy. She asked me if I was able to release the two princesses from their banishment. I was able to and we saw them. They were mad at me even though they don't look mad at me and was wondering what to do with me as a punishment. Twilight came in to protect me from the punishment that I was being taken upon. I stepped in front of her and I told them that I would take the punishment because I deserved it for what I did. They were planning to do it but they needed everyone's opinion for this. So Princess Luna left to talk to the five and see what they want to do with me. Princess Celestia stayed behind and helped me recover alongside Twilight for the rest of the time waiting for the answer that Princess Luna was getting. After what seems like days, they called me in and I was met with the two princesses alone. They asked me who I was, if I was Nyx or Nightmare Moon. I answered to them that I was neither Nightmare Moon or Nyx. I had Nightmare Moon's strength, but I also had Nyx's heart and mind. After that, Luna did a spell on me that I wasn't so sure what was happening to me. Twilight came in and saw me. She was shocked that I was in my young form and asked how did they do this to me. They didn't answer that question though with good reasons why. They told me what my punishment was and I was a little happy to hear it. My punishment was that Twilight take care of me and keep an eye on me. Twilight was wondering if this was a joke and they answered "No" to her. She was so delighted to have me back that I embraced back as well. After that we went back home and I went to rest.

"And that is my story as of today. There are other things after those events were over I want to talk about but I wanna put them on hold for now."

"It is all right Nyx." Nicolas was getting welled-up in tears from hearing this story, he was actually a little embarrassed to let them see him cry, "Sorry, it's just that this is a touching story you finished up you two. I wished I had that kind of bond with my family before I was gone. I'm just glad to see that you two are living together nicely."

"It's okay Nicolas, I can understand where you are going. It is getting a little late, we should be getting to bed."

"Agreed, may I sleep here for today Twilight? I got nowhere else to go for sleep."

"Of course, come on, I'll show you to your bed." Twilight took Nicolas and showed him the bed that he may sleep in, "Here's your bed for today, you can use it as much as you want."

"Thank you, good night Twilight and Nyx." Nicolas gets tucked in bed and goes into a deep sleep.

"Good night." Both Twilight and Nyx head for their beds and go into their deep sleep.

Inside Ifrit's Volcano
October 26, 12:00 P.M.

Within the semi-active volcano found, Nicolas's nemesis was preparing for the destruction of Equestria; however, he needed an army to destroy this world on a universal scale until he discovers some history about Equestria's past, "Chaosbringers? There is something worth putting into my army, Nicolas, once I strike on this pathetic world, you and your precious 'God' will feel my wrath. *evil laughter*. Wait a minute, didn't I know and said about this already? Damn it, I can't believe I forgotten about it." He prepared a resurrection spell of his own and wondered what to do with them once they are revived from their graves.

Library
October 27, 8:00 A.M.

"*Yawns*. Wow, that was a good night sleep, wonder if the race track is ready." Nicolas goes out of the library and stretches out his body. He sees that Spike made breakfast for everyone, "Nice job Spike, I'm surprised you can cook at that age."

"Thanks, guessing the princesses told you about me?"

Nicolas nodded and heads into the dining room to eat some of Spike's cooking. He didn't expect them to actually be delicious on first bite. Spike sure is Twilight's number one assistant. After he was done eating he went into the restroom to brush his teeth. After that, he goes to find the race track. Searching high and low, he has no luck finding the race track.

"Hey Nicolas." Rainbow Dash waves hi to him.

"Oh, hello. Where is the race track, Rainbow?"

"You're kidding me right? It's on the clouds above us." Rainbow Dash shows Nicolas the track he prepared for them, "I had a little help preparing the course for this awesome race between you and I. Are you ready to do this, because a lot of people from both Canterlot and Ponyville are waiting for us at Canterlot Castle."

Nicolas flew up to the race track. He was a little surprised that it was well made and planned out, probably from Twilight's design of the race. He was getting himself psyche for this, he would get to see how fast she flies throughout the course and how well she prepared for this moment, "Of course, I was getting myself psyched for this." Nicolas and Rainbow are at their starting position getting ready to go.

Fluttershy was raising the flag telling them that it was almost time to go, "On your mark."

"Get set." Fluttershy stands tall and raises the flag up high. "GO!!!" Fluttershy gets spunned around like crazy until she regains her compomsure and watches the two go at their destination.

On Twilight's hot air balloon, Pinkie Pie and Spike are doing the announcement of the race, "Hello, people of Canterlot and Ponyville, this is Pinkie Pie speaking along with my right-hand dragon, Spike, tell me Spike, who do you think is going to win?"

"I honestly don't know who is going to win, both are going at it equal in speed and versatility, and I can't seem to keep track of where they are at."

"Oh I can, right now they are over the Everfree Forest, and are blazing through the forest like crazy."

"But they are not going through the forest, right?"

"Nope, just wanted to say that, don't ask me why, I just red it in the script."

"Script? What script, you know what, never mind."

Both had already past the halfway point and reaching Canterlot Castle almost in a blink of an eye. As they were getting closer and closer, both had broken the sound barrier, both, creating their version of the famous Sonic Rainboom at the process. except that Nicolas's version of it was that of a beautiful star. Both of them made everyone go in awe as they look at it. Rainbow Dash has never went into sonic speed longer than before. Normally, she would go a little fast, so that she at least was ahead of the other racers, but with Nicolas able to catch up to her as they both broke the sound barrier, she obviously needed some training for staying in the sonic speed long enough that she doesn't falter from it. Both were neck and neck with one another reaching to the goal fasting then what they had in mind. As they reached the finish line, both tied with each other. At that time that they finished the race, Nicolas felt his enemy's presence around Canterlot, "No, please tell me that you're not here."

"Hey Nicolas, you were awesome out there. I can't believe you actually caught up with me. I went to that kind of speed before, but I never thought that I would struggle trying to keep my form in place after that awesome Sonic Rainboom of yours. I didn't expect anyone to actually perform that besides me and yours isn't even a rainbow."

"Oh what, oh sorry, yeah. That was awesome, I learned that from a friend of mine. I'd like to call him the 'Blue Blur' at times. You know what I mean right?"

"I think so, you think I'll get the chance to meet the 'Blue Blur', whoever he is?"

"You might if I get him to come here. He is very hard to convince at times."

"All right, well at least we who gets the title of 'Best Flier'. That would be me."

"You are still rejecting that, aren't you. Oh well, the title does fit you well I guess."

"Thanks, say, aren't gonna tell Twilight all of the things she wanted to know about?"

Oh yes, I almost forgot about that. Well, good bye Rainbow Dash."

"Good luck to you too." Rainbow Dash leaves for Ponyville to check on Scootaloo and her friends just in case if they have to something do extreme.

After that whole ordeal, he goes to the library and enters the building only to find Twilight a little busy today, "Twilight, I see that you are busy today. What has gotten you to be a little, well, rushed?"

"Sorry Nicolas, it's just that things have gotten a little crazy today. If you were here to tell me those things, can it be put on hold just for today?"

"Sure, I was planning to talk all of the citizens anyway. Good luck on whatever you are doing." Nicolas leaves the library and planned to head to Sweet Apple Acres.

As he was about to go there, Ifrit's Volcano suddenly erupted and at the top of the volcano, Nicolas's enemy has finally shown his face, "Ah, finally, time to bring this pathetic world the destruction it deserves."

"You!!!" Nicolas was surprised to see him at this time, "Oni, what are you doing!?!"

"Like what I love to do, bring the chaos to all the worlds. *evil laughter*"

Chapter 3: Equestria on the Line

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Chapter 3: Equestria on the Line

Ponyville
Oct. 27, 12:00 A.M.

"You, I knew you were here all this time!" Nicolas was getting ready to strike at him right now, he stops himself however just for him to not get himself on edge, "What are you doing here, you planning to bring destruction like what you always do from all the 98 battles we had?"

"Ah, how good is it to see you, and yes as always." He looks around the world, this world was so peaceful, it made him sick just looking at it, "So this is the peaceful Equestria huh, well it won't be so-peaceful anymore now that I am here. I have to thank you Nicolas, had you not use your magic on my own, I would had not find a good world to destroy."

"Why you, you are the one reason why everywhere I go, the world we face in ends up almost being destroyed." Nicolas couldn't hold out his anger and went berserk, "I am going to make you suffer, I swear it, you good-for-nothing demon!"

Oni noticing that Nicolas just yelled at him, went a little happy from hearing that from someone who was always calm even in dire situations, "Oh, did I hit a nerve right there? I haven't heard you scream at someone like me in a long time."

Celestia came in to see what was going on until he sees his uncle and an unknown enemy staring down at each other, "Nicolas, who is this pony and what is he doing?!?"

He looks at Celestia, "Celestia, get out of here. Run for your life, head back to the Canterlot, create a barrier around it as fast as possible before Oni gets you!"

In Ponyville, the ponies were panicking from the sudden eruption. Everyone was trying to get away from the eruption, but with little success. Twilight was trying to calm the panicking people, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't calm the people, "People, listen to me." The ponies are running around in a frenzy and weren't able to hear Twilight when the volcano erupted again all of a sudden.

Pinkie Pie pulls out her big megaphone and screams at her loudest, "Hey all of you ponies!!!" The ponies stopped to listen to Pinkie Pie but are still scared from it, "Thank you, Twilight wishes to speak right now, take it away Twilight."

"Thanks Pinkie, people, all of you head to Canterlot so you can be protected by the barrier that the princesses made. GO, GO, GO!" All ponies ran all the way to Canterlot and as fast as their tired legs can go and into the protective barrier. "Finally, where is Nicolas, Applejack?"

"He's right there looking at... Who is that fella?" Applejack points at Oni.

"Who is that?" Rainbow was utterly confused to see someone on top of an erupting volcano, "Whoever he is, I'm going to rescue him. It's not good to be near that volcano."

Nicolas heard him from where he's at, "No Rainbow Dash, don't get near him!" Nicolas stops Rainbow from getting too close to Oni before he got burned.

"What are you doing Nicolas, we got to save him!"

"No, you don't want to, he is my nemesis, the one enemy that I've been keeping secret from all of you." Nicolas tells them all of Oni.

"Why how thoughtful of you Nicolas, you haven't told them about me because you were worried that they would kill themselves if they tried to defy me." Oni knew he hit his soft spot there.

Celestia was almost shocked that he has been a secret from them all this time, "Is that true uncle? Have you been keeping a secret from us?"

"Yes, Celestia, that is true. If I had told you about him, you would have gone against him without a second thought, I'm sorry that I kept this secret from you." Nicolas was saddened that he kept a big secret from them.

All of the ponies were shocked about that, but despite that, they forgave him for it, "It's all right pardner, you were right about it. If you did tell us that, we wouldn't have thought about it and went straight for him." Applejack was happy about something that wasn't going to hurt them.

"Yes, I agree with her for once, had you tell us that, we would have faced against him without a second thought." Rarity came in after Appejack.

"It's all right Nicolas, I can understand you keeping a secret like that. Right now though, we got to take care of him, uh, what was his name again?" Twilight was a little embarrassed about asking that question.

"Well, if it isn't the bumbling six "Elements", how do you little pathetic one ever defeated villains that planned to bring chaos with those stupid trinkets?" Oni was a little amazed that six ponies could defeat two villains with those things.

"Hey, these 'things' are what's gonna bring you a lot of pain, you big meanie." Fluttershy went assertive there because he was killing all of her beloved friends though she was a little surprised that she went assertive there.

"That's right, the Elements of Harmony will surely bring you down." Twilight gets ready to cast the spell. All of her friends get in their positions and grants her the power to cast it. By the time the spell was complete, she shoots the magic at Oni.

"*Yawns* pathetic." Oni shrugs it off like it was nothing although it did hurt somewhat.

"What in tarnation?!? Are my eyes just playing tricks on me?!?"

"He just shrugged off the Elements there like there were nothing!?!" Twilight was utterly shocked to see that someone for the first time in Equestrian history, would be unaffected by the Elements of Harmony.

"Is that it, is that what the "Elements" are capable of? Honestly that was weak compared to Nicolas and he has much more power than those trinkets all together." Oni looks at Nicolas with some joy from all of this, "Now, are you ready to take down this army I resurrected from the past?"

"What resurrected army?" Nicolas was baffled by what he meant but after much thought, he was beginning to dread the idea, "Wait, don't tell me." Nicolas was starting to not like this situation at hand.

"Yes, I resurrected the one race that took down the alicorn race in that war. GO NOW, bring this world the destruction it deserves!"

Chaosbringers pop out from the top of the volcano and were coming heading towards Canterlot as their first target of their pain and insurrection.

Nicolas teleported to the six from the hill overlooking the city, "All of you, get all of the citizens to safety. The sooner we get this done the less casualties we'll have." Nicolas leaves the six and planned to head straight into the charging army.

"Nicolas, what are you doing!?! You can't beat all of them alone, that's suicide!" Twilight tried to stop him but no avail. There was no way of stopping him from doing his duty.

"She's right, get away from there!!!"

"Get everyone to safety, worry about me later. Just go!!!" Nicolas calls his sword hoping that it would respond despite how far way he is from it, The Heaven's Light responded and magically appeared right in front of him, "Ah, how long has it been since I last held you?" Nicolas grabs hold of the sword telekinetically and began to charge at them not thinking of the dangers of doing this alone, "All right you chaosbringers, come at me you good-for-nothing son-of-a-mother bucking ditches!!! *screams loudly*" Nicolas charges and strikes on the first one and the others behind it and went on a rampage against these killers.

All of the others did what Nicolas asked and took all of the citizens to Canterlot as fast as they could. They manage to calm the people down and taken them all the way to Canterlot where Princess Celestia was creating a barrier that protected the citizens from harm. As they were going into the barrier, all of the six look back at Nicolas and are met with mixed results, "Hoowee, look at Nicolas go." They see him mowing the whole army alone which so much speed, strength, and magic combined, it made almost every one of them jealous.

"How is it possible for him to do this?" Twilight was trying to process all of what was happening at the battlefield. Nicolas was defeating each and every one of those things single-handedly.

"That is my uncle there." Princess Celestia came to them and told them what was the cause of his immense strength, "This is why me and Luna admired him so much. He fights with so much honor, he is willing to go beyond his limits to protect those he cares about, even at the cost of his life. That's why the whole alicorn race gave him the title, 'Guardian of the Universe', because not is he only intelligent, he is also fast, strong, and otherworldly. That was why he came to us, he thought that we can leave off where he left off once he either left or died. This is why friendship is magic." Celestia finishes the barrier and enters inside to calm the citizens down.

All of them are wondering what to do that may benefit from this fight then Rainbow Dash responded with something that they did not had in mind, "Well, we can't just stay behind and let him do that all alone." Rainbow was the most jealous of Nicolas. He never thought that his absence in Equestria would allow him to have this much strength in him.

"He's right y'all, we should help him."

"I don't know, it seems dangerous. I think it would be best if we stayed behind. Twilight what do you think?" Fluttershy did not want to go into the battlefield with those chaosbringers out there.

All of them were looking at Twilight who was still processing all of this going on with Nicolas, "We have to help, I know we may be weak compared to his nemesis, Oni. But we can still do our best to protect Equestria. I think that is what Nicolas is teaching us right now while he is battling those." Twilight was waiting for the responses for the others if they agree with her or not.

"Well, Ah'm coming with ya Twilight. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for our friendship."

"I'll come along as well, I could do something else for once that had a little fighting shall I say."

"Count me in, I can't wait to bash some chaos heads."

"Oh, count me in. It's not fun if I was left out of this."

"Fluttershy, are you in or not?" Twilight and the others are looking at her.

Within her conscious mind, she was arguing whether or not she wants to be a part of the fight. Her opposite, Fluttercruel, who was made after what Discord did to her, was trying to persuade her to join in the fight, "Come on Fluttershy, imagine what you are doing right now. You are fighting with him and protecting Equestria at the same time. Do you want this world to die by him? I don't like to be the bystander you know."

"I know, but I'm just not strong enough to help them. I'm too weak to even help them. What can I do to help them, please tell me?" Fluttershy was really perplexed at what to do. She was a burden before when she tried to take in all of the negative emotions from everyone. She got yelled at from the two princesses who had good reasons to yell at her and she didn't want to be a burden again.

"Fight with them. Even if you are weak, even if you are a burden. You are doing something that only a few can dream of. I mean, you manage to give me a purpose when I first came to life by Discord. Do you get where I'm going Fluttershy?" Fluttercruel couldn't believe that she was doing something that would affect Equestria.

"Yes," Fluttershy began to brighten up from the conversation with her opposite, "I think I do, thank you."

"Eh it was no problem, now get out there and help them out." Fluttercruel disappeared for now and went to rest leaving Fluttershy to tell her answer to the others.

When Fluttershy went back into reality, she sees the others eyeing her noticing that they were waiting for her answer, "Twilight, I am going to help. I may be weak, but at least I can try do something for Equestria."

Twilight was a little shocked to find out her answer was a yes, but nonetheless was very proud of her, "Thank you Fluttershy, now we don't have a lot of time. Let's go help Nicolas!"

All of the five yelled, "Yeah!!" and off they went into the battlefield.

Celestia and Luna see that the six are heading towards the battle zone and are pondering what they should do, "What shall we do sister?"

"We stay behind, we have to calm the citizens down while they are helping Nicolas. Once we are done with our duty, then we can help them out. Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes, Tia, I think it would be good. I just hope that they can do it."

"I know they can, we just have to believe in them." Celestia and Luna head out again and try to calm the citizens down again.

While at the battlefield, Nicolas was beating every one of these back to where to their graves. Over time, he is getting himself more tired and it may cost him. He wished that he had some of his friends with him at the time of that explosion so that he wouldn't have to this alone. Then he sees some magic going on around him and thought that his friends arrived only to find the six there, "What are you doing!?! You are gonna get yourself killed!"

"We know that, and we don't care about that right now. We're here to help and we'll this together. Is that a good enough answer for you Nicolas?" Twilight was putting her serious attitude on the battle.

"Well, can't say I can argue with that. Thank you, all of you. You truly are the best ponies that a stallion like me can have. Enough chitchatting, let's get this going." He has been wanting to say this ever since the war, "For Equestria!!!" It felt good to Nicolas to finally say that so that he can put the memory of the war into the past.

All of them charged straight for the army and went all-out. Nicolas strikes at them with an energy wave emitted from his sword, hitting all within its range.

Twilight was charging up a spell that might take care of all of them but it needed some time to be ready to cast, "Hey girls and guy, can you hold them off away from me? I'm gonna try to cast the spell but I need time."

"We got your back Twilight." Rainbow Dash punched each one on their heads as she was flying at fast speeds making her hard to get. After all of that, she went high above the sky and went down at full speed. She did a Sonic Rainboom on the army and it managed to get a chunk of them blown sky high.

Applejack was bucking all of these chaosbringers down one by one. With each kill, she was keeping track of the kill count as Rainbow Dash had made a bet on her that she would get the most kills, guess even when the world is at stake, you can have your fun still, "Hey Rainbow Dash, how many beat downs did you get?"

"I got 100 and counting, how about you?"

"101, bet you can't beat me?"

"Oh you are so on Applejack." Rainbow Dash and Applejack putted more effort into the beat downs along the rest of the others.

Rarity was fighting them all karate style and isn't holding back making Nicolas a little surprised to see that. Rarity was a little excited to do all of this but at the same time tried to make herself still look nice.

Pinkie was doing what she does best, doing random things that either hurt them or just made them run away. Pinkie had been at her crazy side multiple times when they started to get to her though not to the point where she goes bonkers. She was breaking logic more often than Discord did making Nicolas wonder if she is always like this whenever she was around.

Fluttershy also wasn't holding back either and was being assertive. This is probably the only time she might do this ever in her life but it was worth it for she was doing everything to protect her friends like what Fluttercruel said.

Twilight was almost finished charging her spell when almost all of the chaos bringers were coming at her. She can't do anything at this state, if she tried to anything, the spell will falter and it would leave her vulnerable. As she was about to move out of the way. Nicolas came in and did a spell that pushed them back from Twilight, "Thanks for coming in, if you hadn't done that. Well, I don't want to think about it."

"No worries, are you done with that spell of yours?" Nicolas was really tired from all of the fighting with these chaosbringers and the others weren't faring so good as well.

"Almost, just give me a few more minutes."

"All right, just please hurry. I don't know how long we can keep this up." Nicolas returns his attention back into the army and goes in. As she was almost complete with her spell, the others were getting more and more tired with passing second. Nicolas noticed everyone was getting tired and really wished that his friends came. As more were coming on the way, he was beginning to notice that this attempt at killing all of them was close to being futile.

As all were beginning to get extremely tired, a portal come out of nowhere in the middle of the battlefield.

"What is that?!" Twilight almost lost her concentration upon seeing the portal pop out of nowhere. When she regained her concentration, she see other ponies come out of the portal all looking a little odd looking making her if they were good or bad.

The portal disappears from behind them, "We're here Nicolas and what the buck?! Wait, did I just say buck?" One of the mysterious people takes notices of all the chaosbringers and that they are ponies alongside Nicolas. He creates a barrier around them for now so that they don't attack them.

Nicolas was relieved to see his friends here though he wasn't expecting them to come at this time, "Hey guys, come to me guys. You guys look hilarious as ponies."

They all go to where Nicolas was and the six went into the barrier for now so they can get a breather from the fight.

"Nicolas, what in blazes in going on here?!"

"As much as I like to talk about this, right now, action speak louder than words Quintin."

Quintin is a necromancer. He was once a very talented magician in his home, and was very praised by the townspeople. Unfortunately, these things did not last long for him. He discovers some ancient books within the restricted area of his academy and decided to learn them. However, these kind of spell corrupted him preventing him from going on ahead of his studies as they were dark magics. That did not stop him. Somehow the spells wasn't able to corrupt him. He is able to cast powerful dark magics of all kinds though he uses these only if it is absolutely needed, "Guess that is true, but after this, you have a lot of explaining to do." All of Nicolas's friends was agreeing to this.

"All right, don't put pressure on me now. Twilight, how far are you from completing that spell?"

"Almost ready, just hold them off for just a few more minutes."

"All right then, let's do this!" Nicolas casts a healing spell on himself and all of his allies. He looks at the chaosbringers coming at them, "Come at me you idiots!" Nicolas charges at them with his friends and begins their onslaught.

Oni was not expecting Nicolas's friends to come to this world, but even that was futile. His spell was resurrecting the chaosbringers faster then they could defeat them. All he had to do was watch this battle and see how this will go now that he has his friends with him now.

While fighting them, he needed someone to protect Twilight, then Rosette came up to mind, "Rosette, can you protect Twilight for me? I want someone to protect her while she is preparing her spell."

"Which one is Twilight?" She casts around herself a shield made out of thorns, that way, she would be protected and hurting the army at the same time. Rosette is a shaman and brother to Quintin. She recently discovered about what happened to Quintin and was trying to find an antidote to his corruption, with no success. His brother said that he is fine and Rosette begins to believe what he said. She still continues to find a cure for him so that he can finally graduate from his favorite academy.

"The purple pony at the back." She is charging up a spell and I need someone to protect her."

"All right then." Rosette runs towards where Twilight is at, along the way beating up multiple chaosbringers down. She manages to get to Twilight before anymore of them came to her, "Hey need some protecting or can you handle yourself?"

"I can handle myself fine, but I can't do anything with me charging this spell."

She smacks one of them away with her staff from her as Twilight was talking, "I see, I got your back then."

"Thank you, uh your name is Rosette right?"

"Yes, it is, let's talk later until this whole ordeal is done okay?"

"Agreed."

While Rosette was protecting Twilight from them, at the battlefield, more were coming at a very fast rate trying to get to Canterlot. Dova was helping Fluttershy out with the best of her efforts, Shine was casting fire magics to keep the enemies at bay while Rainbow Dash performed more Sonic Rainbooms, and Eagle with Applejack were mowing each one of them.

Shine, Eagle, and Dova were known to Nicolas as the Bird Triplets because their specialty and personality represent the birds they love. Dova represented the dove, a symbol of peace to most people. She normally doesn't fight. Instead, she likes to talk it out, but under certain conditions, she either calls in her brother or sister to stop the conflict or she goes into the fight which is extremely rare of her to do. Eagle was a fighter using skill before sheer power, alongside him he has a very loyal hawk he just calls Hawk, and Shine is the most unique among them. She carries within her soul a full-grown phoenix, this allows her to cast powerful fire magics even though she never learned them herself and pull off miracles though she doesn't show them off to the public.

"How are you holding off Dova, I'm a little surprised that you would actually fight like that," Shine casted a fire spell that caused a somewhat small eruption below them burning them to ashes.

"I am fine Shine, thank you for the concern," Dova punches one of the chaosbringers so hard that it literally became a rocket to the moon, "Never knew I could do that, how is Eagle doing?"

"I'm fine here, worry about yourselves first," Eagle flew above the enemies and delivered a powerful punch to the ground that created multiple stone pillars around him causing others caught by them to be launched in the air. Hawk took care of the enemies that were suspended in the air.

"Twilight, please tell me you have enough energy now."

Twilight was able to finally gain enough of her magic to cast the spell, "All right, I got enough energy to cast it!"

"Finally, then I can do this then." Nicolas teleports everyone that was in the battlefield behind her and also begins casting a spell though his way was a little otherworldly. He was chanting unusual words that made no sense to the six except for his friends which they recognize the spell from hearing his chanting.

"Are you sure that is a good idea to use that spell especially at the state you are in? It might drain away all of the magic you have."

"I know it is risky using this spell Dova, but we need to kill them fast."

"I see, all right then."

Twilight and the others were confused what he was doing but they were running out of options at the moment and decided to let him do it.

Nicolas rose up into the air flapping his wings gathering ethereal energies to his horn. With each passing second, the army was drawing closer to them making everyone worried how long this was taking. When they were getting themselves ready for the army, Nicolas gained enough of it to blast the whole army away. He casted the spell and for the moment nothing happened.

"Uh, Nicolas, nothing's happening."

"Look up and you will see."

All of them look up to see above the sky was what looked like a beam flying through the sky. That beam of pure energy passed through the battlefield. The moment all of it passed through, an explosion of almost gargantuan size overwhelmed all of the battlefield destroying all the chaosbringers that got caught in the blast.

"That, is so COOL!" Rainbow Dash was taking in the explosion at the moment, in fact everyone was taking what just happened.

Twilight was the most shocked out of all of them, she never thought to see a spell that would have so much destructive power while at the same time, not cause any massive collateral damage to Equestria. She regained her composure and casted her spell directly at Oni while the explosion was still going.

Oni created a dark barrier around himself when the beam made first contact to the ground, by the times spell was almost done, he notices one coming towards him and dodges it swiftly, "Nice try, but you are going to have to try something better than that."

"Did you really think the spell was meant for you?" Twilight almost fainted from all of that due to that spell using up almost all of her magic to cast it.

"What?" Oni turns around and notices that Twilight's spell had interrupted his ritual preventing anymore resurrection of them.

"Phew, never knew that took a lot out of me." She was really wobbly from using all of her magic up after that.

"It's all right, you manage to stop the revival process, but that still leaves one pony left." He looks directly at Oni, his eyes filled with rage, "You got nothing up on your sleeve? All that's left is you Oni. What else do you got?" Nicolas was breathing heavily from all of the fighting.

He turns around and sees his eyes, that satisfied him enough as of today, "Oh nothing at all, if you want to face me I suggest you get back into good condition. It's not fair to fight you if you are tired. I may be a demon, but at least I still have a shred of mercy for you. Have fun with the victory you received for now." Oni disappeared into the smoke that the volcano spewed and was gone without a trace.

"Wow, I can't believe we won this fight." Twilight was utterly shocked that they won what seemed to be an impossible fight. She almost fell to her knees from being exhausted after the ordeal.

"Come on, we should tell everyone the news and head over to the hospital. We are going to need it."

"Agreed."

Nicolas was trying to carry all of them with a levitation spell and try to teleport all of them to the Canterlot hospital, unfortunately he was close to fainting after that last spell.

"Here, let me help you, I'll take them all back."

"Thank you Quintin, where is my son?"

"He is fine, we left him back at our world just for safety. We might bring him to this world if we ever got the time. That okay with you good Nicolas?"

"Yeah, thanks." Nicolas succumbs to his injuries and goes unconscious right in the middle of the battlefield.

Canterlot Hospital
Oct. 28, 6:00 A.M.

When he wakes up from his sleep, he finds himself in the hospital on a bed. He wonders where his friends are while he was here but had to put it on hold for now so that he can recover for the next fight against Oni. Alongside him was his son, "Why hello there, surprised to see me banged up like this?"

"A little bit, I feel weird dad, being a pony now."

"No worries Brave, you'll get use to it over time." Brave was a son that he adopted from his world. He found him at his front door as a little infant, he looked around if his parents lost him or something. He couldn't leave him behind and decided to take care of him until he can find his parents. When he went to the hospital to see if they know of this infant's parents, his answer was something he did not expect. His parents died of old age, they left a death note telling anyone about the little infant. Nicolas red the letter and was saddened over this little baby's loss. He decided to take care of him as a father. Over time, when he was around a toddler's age, he decided to give him a name. He pondered for a bit as there were not a lot of unique names, then one came up for him. He named him Brave and he responded back by saying, "I love you, dad," Nicolas has not had any children before him. He never felt what it felt like to actually have a family of his own until Brave came. He smiled upon the idea and was happy to call Brave his son.

"Okay, dad, I was catching up with my sword training you taught me."

"Really? I'd like to see the result of your training when I'm out of this hospital bed."

"Great!"

At Canterlot Castle, all of Nicolas's friends are there seeing and talking to the two princesses. Alongside them, Twilight and her friends are also there as well.

"I thank you for protecting Equestria, had you not appear at our most dire moment, the battle would have ended differently." Celestia was still a little baffled from their sudden appearance after what Twilight told her everything, but nonetheless, she was a little glad that they came in time.

"Hey, it is all right, we did what we do a lot nowadays. By the way, we never got your names, who are you eight, and where are we?"

"Ah, it seems we forgot to introduce ourselves. Very well, Twilight, do you wish to start things off?"

"Sure, my name's Twilight Sparkle. I am adept at unicorn magic and I am a student to Princess Celestia."

"The name's Rainbow Dash if you guys are wondering. I love to fly fast and I have a dream to be a part of the Wonderbolts, the best flying group known to ever exist!"

"Howdy there, My name's Applejack and Ah love to buck apples. It's my families's lifestyle."

"Why hello there, I am Rarity, and I love to makes dresses for my clients, perhaps I could make fine dresses for you ponies if you wouldn't mind that is."

They were not expecting her to ask straight away but at the same time it might be worthwhile to let her do it, "Sure, we don't mind."

Rarity was getting a little jittery from their answer, she couldn't wait to do their dresses right after their introductions are done.

"Hello all fillies and colts, Pinkie Pie here. Hey, I have a lot of questions for you. Where did you come from? Did you know Nicolas before when he was here? Did you know that Rainbow Dash became a little filly when she..."

"Pinkie! Now is not a good time to bring it up!" Fluttershy screamed back at her though it was still quiet to some people. She almost welled-up in tears after Pinkie Pie almost accidently bought up that incident. "I'm sorry, I'm Fluttershy and I love to take care of animals."

Celestia did not notice Fluttershy getting welled-up in tears before hand until Pinkie almost accidently bought that up, she was a little happy that she was able to hold back the tears there, "Thank you my subjects, now to us, I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister Princess Luna, we both rule Equestria before at a fillies age."

"By fillies age? You mean you ruled this at an infant or teenager age?"

"Here, let me help brother, I looked into the history of this place before we got here anyway." She was recalling how old was a filly when she red that history book that Twilight gave to them, "By fillies age, they meant that ruled this world or country between infant and teenager age. Does that answer your question Quintin?"

"Yeah it does, and wow I am impressed."

"Well, of course, you can be easy to please sometimes."

Quintin heard that from Rosette and can tell that was a pun there making him a little mad there, "Sometimes I wonder if you are trying to troll me or something sister."

"Well, you can't tell can you? *squee*"

"Can we get back to our introductions you two? Sometimes I wonder how come you two are siblings."

"True, back to who we are, I am Quintin. I am a necromancer, a mage that studies in the dark arts of magic though I use these spells only if needed, and this is my sister Rosette."

"Thank you brother, as he said before, I am Rosette. I am a shaman, I control nature around me and I am a supporter for allies that are in the frontlines as I can also heal too. Now to the Bird Triplets. You good with the forms you are in?"

"Yes I guess, I am Dova. I don't really like to fight at times unless it is absolutely needed. I like to talk things out instead at times, but if it doesn't work out that way, I either call my sister Shine or my brother Eagle to help me out or I stop the fight myself though me stopping a fight is rare for anyone to see."

"Right, it sure is rare to see her stop it herself, but any of you saw how she can handle herself, right? Anyway, I'm Eagle. I like to hunt things though I don't kill them. Whenever I manage to get my hunt, I always let them go, depending on who or what it is."

"Well that is very nice of you Eagle, well, guess that just leaves me. I'm Shine and I'm the eldest of the three of us. We may not look alike, but we love each other to no end. Due to the fact that we love birds, I came up with the idea of calling ourselves the Bird Triplets as we love to represent the birds we adore the most. I'm a little unique from the two because within my soul, a soul of a phoenix is in me.

Hearing that made every pony go excited and a little baffled especially Twilight, "Correct me if I am wrong, but did you say that you have a soul of a phoenix within your body of yours?"

"Yes, I did Twilight, what does it not surprise you there. I see a phoenix there so I expected that it wouldn't surprise all of you."

"Well, maybe it wouldn't be if we didn't know that you actually had a soul of one inside you. That's what surprised us." Twilight answered why it surprised all of them, even the princesses were a little confused as to how that is even possible to have a soul of a phoenix within a ponies body.

"May we ask as to how do you have a soul of a phoenix within your body?" Celestia got Twilight there as she was about to ask that question to Shine.

"That's a long story, I'll see if I can make it simple enough for you to understand." None of her friends has ever asked her about it before. She never knew how she got it before, she just guessed that this kind of soul was like a sort of of a bloodline thing. Pondering on what to say about this, she had absolutely no idea on how to answer this question, "I am sorry, but I have no idea how to answer that question. Even I have no idea how I got it in the first place."

"You... don't? How long have you not known the origins of that magic of yours?" Celestia was a little surprised that Shine has not known its origins for a long time, "Perhaps we should look into that once this is all over."

"I'd like that actually, well now that introductions are aside, can any of you take us on a tour. I know that this place is in dire trouble, but we need to get use to the land here."

"Agreed, can any of you take them so that they can get accustomed to Equestria?"

They look at each other wondering who would be willing to do it, then suddenly...

"Oh pick me, pick me, I want to tour them! Please narrator, oh please?"

"Pinkie, what in tarnation are you talking about?"

"The author was about to say who was going to tour them, then I rose my hoof up high into the air hoping to get called on."

"Pinkie, what are you talking about?" Twilight was utterly baffled by what Pinkie Pie was talking about.

"You girls wouldn't understand it anyway, only I can, whee!"

"Pinkie, you are so RANDOM at times you know that?"

"Teehee, I know silly, I'll show you guys and girls on a tour." Pinkie then bounced off out of the Canterlot Castle, what the heck Pinkie Pie, you had to break the fourth wall just to interrupt me?

"What was that all about? She went a little crazy there like she can see something that we can't. Am I right or am I wrong?"

"Yeah, that's Pinkie Pie for you. You might want to follow her if I were you."

"Okay then. Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. He's been through tougher situation then this before." All of Nicolas's friends leave the castle to follow Pinkie Pie on their probably crazy tour.

As I was saying before Pinkie interrupted me there, she waits for the other at the front doors before she left the castle. As she waited for what seemed like hours, they finally came out of the castle doors, "Finally, what took you guys so long? You guys should have been out like hours ago!"

Looking at each other baffled by trying to understand what she was talking about, they were more concerned whether she was like this all the time or she was getting on her crazy side, "Uh, it was one minute Pinkie, are you going to take us on the tour or what?" Noticing that Pinkie was reading something unusual, all looked at each other first wondering what she was reading, then one of them asked, "Pinkie, what are you reading?"

Pinkie was a little distracted from reading the thing, but she heard the question during her skimming through it, "Huh, oh this? It's a script."

"A script? You mean those papers that tell you the next scene or something like that?" All again looked at each other wondering why she has one in her hoof.

"Yep-a-roo, I was reading it wondering what to do next. It says that I am suppose to hop all the way to Ponyville while all of you are following me. Oh, and one of you asks, 'Should we follow her' and the other says, 'Yes, we should'. All right then, catch me if you can!" Pinkie hops off fast again to Ponyville.

All wondered what to do with her, Dova was the first to break the confusion "Should we follow her?"

"Yes, we should." All agreed to follow her. At first they don't realize about the script, but at that time the information was in their heads, it just came to them that they did exactly what that script was written for them, Quintin being the most confused of them all, "What the bucking hay? How does she do that?" They follow her regardless of what just happened in a gallop.

Canterlot Castle
Oct, 28, 6:45 A.M.

Back at Canterlot Castle, the others that stayed behind had begun to have doubts in their minds especially of those concerning the Elements of Harmony. When they have used them on Oni, what they got was something that they did not expect. Twilight wondered what to do now, if the Elements can not harm him, then what else can they do? Without them, Equestria was surely doomed to meet an inevitable fate. Then something got to Twilight, she wondered if Nicolas knows of a way that they can do to actually beat him. With him resting however, the only other ponies that might know about him would be the Royal Sisters, "Princess Celestia, I have a question."

Celestia was drifting off with Luna pondering what to do with the situation at hand, she only heard the question when Luna stopped their chat, "Oh, sorry about that, what was the question you asked again Twilight?"

"I was wondering if you two know anything about your 'uncle' you said." One of Twilight's doubts was if Nicolas was actually their uncle, she can at least trust him after what happened.

"Yes we do, why? Are you beginning to doubt that he is our uncle?" Celestia heard when she said 'uncle' meaning that she has something that is bothering her presumably about her uncle.

"Sorry if you think that way, it's just that you haven't told about him yet. Can you please tell us about him?" Noticing that both Celestia and Luna cringed a little made her think if they really knew about him or they were just making it up.

"She is right, perhaps you can tell his whole life if you can that is." All the others help out Twilight and try to pry the information out of the princesses even though that this is going against what they do.

Both princesses begun to notice that they can not keep what they were hiding from them, "I am sorry, but we can not."

"WHAT?! Why not?" said Twilight from fuming a little bit from their answer.

Noticing that Twilight was getting a little enraged, she decided to take off where Celestia was, "I'll take over this conversation. Why won't you check on our uncle Tia?"

Celestia, sighing a breath of relief, decided to do as what Luna asked, "Yes, thank you sister." Celestia leaves the royal hall and heads to the Canterlot Hospital leaving her behind to finish where she left off. Hoping that she can fare better than herself, she spreads her wings and flies off.

Luna sees her fly off and returns her attention back towards the five, "Now, about our uncle." Luna was holding back her rage when Twilight asked about him, but she can understand her doubts as they have never delved into his personal life before, "Now, back to where we left off. Twilight, that was highly disrespectful of you, I should have seen better coming from the student of Tia."

Twilight knew she was going to regret doing what she did, but she wanted to know about him. Apparently, so do the others, "I'm sorry about it Princess Luna, it's just that we haven't heard of his personal life that badIy, sorry if we disrespected the both of you."

"It is all right, unfortunately, we still can not answer your question Twilight Sparkle."

"Sorry if Ah am interrupting, but why not sugarcube?"

"Because we do not know of his personal life."

"What? How come you don't know of his life, he should have told you about his life when you were fillies, right?" Said Twilight in utter disbelief.

"True, but he didn't because he himself said that bringing it up brings back bad memories of his past."

Twilight was in utter disbelief, but she needed to know about his life. If he doesn't tell them anything about his personal life, they may never know how to beat Oni. Luna did bring up a good argument against doing what she was planning to do, bringing his past up may hurt him spiritually. She was not so sure on what to do now, should she ask him about or just stay silent about it? Her head was hurting from too much thinking.

While Twilight was thinking about what to do, the others have begun to notice that the Sun was going down meaning that Celestia was getting ready to go to sleep, Luna flies upward to the tallest tower and begins to rise the moon to its position after the sun has emitted a wonderful sunset and goes to its slumber. Luna flies back into the throne room and sees Celestia back a little tired from whatever she was doing, "Hello sister, how was the time with uncle going?" Luna wondered if he was doing fine despite that she couldn't have gone herself to check it out.

"Fine sister *yawns* just sleepy I guess, he fully recovered from all of his injuries even the one that are considered fatal to us. Apparently he is training with his son at the moment"

Hearing that made Luna wonder how was he able to recover very fast. Sure he was an alicorn, but no alicorn was able to heal fast and in a single day at that. She did not want to forget that now it was nighttime, "Perhaps all of you should head back home and get some sleep?"

The others nodded and waved bye to Luna leaving all but Twilight still pondering on what to do when she gets the chance to finally speak with him.

Luna walks up to Twilight and shakes her a little bit to snap her back into reality. After she snaps back, she can concur that she was still thinking on what to do with her question, "Are you still pondering about his personal life?"

Twilight was put in a situation where what she says may affect her, "Yes I still am. Princess Luna tell me, is it okay that I can ask Nicolas about his personal life?"

Luna never expected this kind of question coming from her. She was thinking how to answer this kind of question, after all, she too wondered about it but not too deeply compared to Twilight, "I do not know how to answer this, but as time passes, it is up to you to decide whether or not to ask him." Luna knows all too well what happens when you ask someone of their life and they do not want to bring it up. When doing something like that, results would either be good or bad depending on the situation and most of the time, it goes bad. In this case, if she were to ask Nicolas about it, what could come to be would be either him going to a state of anger and depression or in her case, him becoming corrupted and that was the worst part that no one wants. She had to tell her what would happen if she would do this, "Be warned, however Twilight Sparkle, the answer you get may be grizzly even for you and you may cause a psychological break within his heart."

Twilight understood every word of Luna and nodded at her. She begins to cast her teleport spell on herself as she gets a mental image of the library. As she was in full concentration, she casts the spell and she is in the library within a moments notice. She goes upstairs to her bed when she sees Nyx sleeping with Spike on the bed. She was happy to see her okay, but the weight of that one question continued to get her, should she ask him of his personal life or just stay absolutely silent? Pondering on it too much, she just decides to get some sleep and think about it later. She looks out her window and sees the bright stars on the night sky. Seeing them made her relax and helped her lull into a deep sleep.

Library
Oct. 29, 6:00 A.M.

"Twilight? Come on its me Spike." Spike shook Twilight gently, but was content in her sleep.

"Come on. Hey Pinkie, do you have that megaphone of yours?"

"Yep-a-roo." Pinkie Pie pulls out her megaphone from thin air and gives it to Spike who was wondering how she was able to pull it out of thin air.

"Thanks." Spike takes a deep breath and screams at his loudest, "TWILIGHT!"

Twilight woke up and jumped from that loud scream. When she opens her eyes and sees both Spike and Pinkie, she was a little agitated that they woke her from such a good sleep, "What was that for!?"

Spike got a little scared from that. He regained his composure and told her everything at the moment, "You were asleep for a long time. Nyx was worried about you and came to me and told me about you. So I came to check on you. Princess Luna also sent a letter personally for you." Spike hands her Luna's letter.

Twilight takes the letter from Spike and reads it,

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

My sister Celestia went on a meeting and decided to put me in charge of keeping an eye on Canterlot Castle. My uncle, Nicolas and his friends are helping me out and are training the guards at the moment. I was thinking that perhaps you and your friends might come to the castle and come train with us too if you don't mind that is. We have not forgotten the threat looming over us and decided to go train. I might also need more help to keep an eye on the people. If you have the time, please do come.

Sincerely,
Princess Luna

After Twilight was done reading Luna's letter, she put the letter down gently and looked at Spike with a burning intention in her eyes, "Spike, Pinkie, get everyone. We are going to Canterlot Castle."

Spike and Pinkie salute Twilight and runs off to get the others though Pinkie returned back to ask something, "Oh, why are we returning to Canterlot?"

Twilight told Pinkie everything from what was red from Princess Luna's letter. After that Pinkie left in a hurry to get the others.

Train Station
Oct. 29, 6:30 A.M.

Twilight was waiting at the train station hoping that Pinkie and Spike manage to get the others. When she sees them coming with the others, she runs up to them and asks them if they know why they are going to the castle. All nodded yes, but some were confused why though leaving Twilight to tell them everything, "All right then, but lets do it in the train. We don't want to be late." At the time she said that, a crystal train came to the station. Twilight recognizes the train that just came and was almost in a jittery mode when both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence came out of the train, "Cadence!"

Both run to each other and did their thing, "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake *laughs* Twilight, its good to see you."

"Its good to see you too, what are you two doing here?" asked Twilight who couldn't put the question aside.

"We were called by Princess Luna and we were planning to go when she also mentioned that you were coming too." Shining Armor answered.

"Well what do you know, looks like yer going to talk with her too Ah presume?"

"Of course, come on get in the train."

All of them go into the train and they leave for Canterlot. While they were getting there, Twilight decide to tell her everything about this visit. By the time she was done with the speech, all her friends look at each other in concern then they look at her nodding yes. They pass the gates and enter the Canterlot station. When they are out of the train, they see Nicolas and friends waiting for them.

"Welcome everyone, ready to start training or do you need to do some preparing?"

"We are all good here and are ready to go right girls?"

All nodded yes and followed Nicolas to the castle grounds. Along the way, every guard that was training were taking it seriously with Nicolas's friends almost to the point of fainting. When they reach the throne room, Luna greeted them with a serious attitude that suddenly went into a happy mood, "Greetings, you all know why we are here right?" All nodded making it easy on Luna, "Good, the guards are taking their training seriously after what happened not too long ago and I decided that it'd be best if we train as well. My uncle will be helping me with my training and your training as well. Be warned that his training is very strict, so do not hold back on him."

All agreed to this idea and were getting a little excited. Twilight was probably the most excited to finally learn all the spells from Nicolas himself.

Nicolas was pleased with their determination and gets ready a teleport spell. As he gets the image of his location, he casts the spell on everypony and goes to his spot of training, one that was known only to Nicolas, "Everyone, welcome to my training zone, Gaia Falls."
When they open their eyes from the teleport, what they see was something of unnatural beauty. The training spot was beautiful from the rivers that were running, to the wonderful scenery shown here, and finally to the roaring falls. All, even Luna, were in awe at its glorious sight, "This area was secluded from everything and was never found by anypony. Only I know of its location and it has become my favorite spot to train physically and mentally. Good to see that the place hasn't lost its beauty." He pulls out his sword and looks sternly at the others who they notice it, "Get ready, here comes the first part of my training where I check your physical strength including you unicorns." Nicolas charges at them and begins the training.

The others also charge at him meeting him head on. The impact from him made them all knock back and they get ready their battle stance. Applejack takes first shot at Nicolas and tries to hit him.

Nicolas dodges it with fast agility and hits Applejack full force on the stomach knocking her back. Nicolas then gets ready to jump up into the air and goes down like a meteor.

The others dodge the initial hit and the stone pillars barely. Applejack gets back from the punch and charges at him again. Rainbow Dash does the same idea and follows her lead. Twilight and Rarity were about to get ready their spells until Nicolas come at them.

Nicolas grabs the two unicorns and tosses them at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, No magic you two, you are going to have to adapt to this." Nicolas casts a spell that disables both the unicorn and the pegasi's special abilities canceling out Twilight and Rarity's magics to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's flight.

When all tried to either fly or cast their magics, theNicolas casts a spell that disables both the unicorn and the pegasi's special abilities canceling out Twilight and Rarity's magics to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's flight.

When the four tried to either fly or cast their magics, their horns or wings were not responding making them wonder how was he able to do this, "Nicolas, how did you to this?"

"I'll talk about it later." Nicolas noticing that Fluttershy was hiding from all of this, uses a levitation spell to pull her out of her hiding spot, bringing her out in the opening, "Come on, I know that you are shy and all, but if you don't do this, it's going be a lot harder for you to defend yourself."

Fluttershy understood what he meant, but as always she was scared to face him head on. She wanted to be a part of this, but her gentle side was preventing her from actually fighting him. Her cruel side was trying again to help boost her morality, but compared to last time, she was failing to do this.

Nicolas was having trouble trying to convince her to actually fight, even pointing out the obvious of her friends being killed wasn't enough to put her in her serious mode. Luna and the others tried their best as well to convince her, but it wasn't enough to get up on her own. Nicolas was wondering if she can even do this. Deciding to stop the training for now, he told everyone to return back home for now.
Nicolas casts a teleport spell on each one of them returning them back to their homes.

At this moment everyone except Twilight was back at their homes, Twilight was still pondering whether to ask him the question or not. Shaking it off, she decided to ask him the question though she may end up regretting asking it, "Hey Nicolas, I have a question for you."

"Hmm? What is it?" He noticed that Twilight sounded a little scared, he was betting that she was waiting for the right moment to ask this one question when no one else was around making him a little worried about what it is.

"I was wondering, what was your life like when you were just a colt?"

Nicolas almost was put into a 'rigor mortis' state upon hearing that question, one that he dreaded to answer, "Twilight, please don't ask me that question. I don't want to answer it at the moment."

Twilight expected this to happen like what happened when she ran into Trixie during what was supposedly a murder crime against Rainbow Dash. She ran into her when she was trying to get a part of a letter from Sonata within Fluttershy's cottage. When she ran into Trixie, she did not know she had the otherworldly magic that allowed her to see these weird "psyche locks". She saw only red locks at times, but when it was on Trixie, instead of red locks, they were black locks. Upon seeing them made Twilight all of a sudden sad and depressed even though she wasn't thinking of anything that was tragic at all. What was different from that one was that she doesn't know if those black locks would surround him like with Trixie due to the fact that the magic wore off. From the tone of the voice, however, she can tell that even without that magic ability, black locks are surrounding him meaning that once she breaks all of them, what will happen next, she did not know, "Please, tell me. What happened at that time of your life? I need to know."

"You don't need to know about it. Why do you need to know it?" Nicolas was trying to not snap at this moment. He knew that Twilight will keep on asking until she gets the answer and it was affecting Nicolas like a raging tempest. The last time someone asked him that question multiple times, the person was nothing but a blood splatter on a wall and he did not want the same thing to happen to Twilight.

"Please Nicolas, we need, I need to know about it. Please?"

"Twilight, shut up. Don't ask me this again."

Twilight was getting very scared from that statement said to her, but she's already at the point of no return, "I'm going to keep on asking it until I get the answer. Please Nicolas."

"I am not going to repeat myself, don't ask me that question."

"I'm sorry, but no. I need to know it now."

"Shut up and leave me be. There are some things that even a powerful unicorn like you would not want to know." Nicolas's patience was getting thin and his hatred was starting to grow rapidly. Trying to hold it back was getting more futile with her asking the same question still.

"I can handle it, even if it's to the point where it goes to an apocalyptic world. Please answer my question."

"SHUT UP."

Those two words sent chills down Twilight's spine, she was starting to ponder now. Should she stop it here or ask that question one last time. She decided to ask it one last time and braces herself for the worst, "I'm asking this one last time, what happened in your personal life?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Nicolas couldn't hold that anger back anymore and charged at Twilight with all of his force bashing her at a nearby rock slab.

At that moment, she was trying to cast a spell to freeze, but he moved so fast, she couldn't get a second of preparing it. When she made impact on the rock, the force almost broke all of her bones and organs within her body. She began to cough up blood out of her mouth staining the pleasant grass of Gaia Falls. She was dazed, nearly losing all of her strength to continue. When she looked at Nicolas, what she saw was seared into her memories forever. A dark aura was surrounding Nicolas making her feel sick just being around is, his wings have gotten a drastic change making the impression of a fallen angel with feathers made literally out of blood, his horn looked like that of an unusual cactus, his mane and tail are a deep blood-red even bearing a halo that was blood-red, his fur color changed from an elegant light blue to a ghastly white, and his cutie mark was different. When she first saw his cutie mark, the cutie mark was a cross with three wings protruding on each side, around it were lots of what looked like stars. Now it appeared to be that of a halo that looks likes it is bleeding that is also emitting a dark aura. What scared her the most were his eyes. The pupils were black and the color red replaced the white surrounding the pupil, staring at her very soul with nothing but rage, sorrow, and many other negative emotions. She tried her best to get out of the death grip of his, but it was useless, everything inside her body was broken and she lost all hope of escaping it. She managed to utter her last words before going unconscious, "Nicolas, please forgive me for what I did to you."

Those last words manage to get to Nicolas and he snapped back into reality. When he saw Twilight all broken and he himself in his current state, all of his memories of his past life were coming back to him from the brutal murder of his parents, to him mercilessly killing all who killed his parents, and finally to his suicide. He looks at his hooves and sees blood on them making him trying to forget everything that happened now. He reverted back into his original form and looked at Twilight again. He checked if there was a pulse. There was and he carried Twilight on his back. He casted a teleport spell to the hospital and screamed with all of his strength, "Someone help Twilight!"

Doctors notices the mauled Twilight and carry her to the emergency room as fast they can. At this time, Twilight regained consciousness and saw Nicolas with the doctors, she poked him to try to get his attention.

Nicolas felt the poke and sees Twilight alive at the very least, "You are going to be okay, the doctors will get you fixed in no time." Nicolas began to doubt his promise there to Twilight.

Twilight heard his vague promise and smiled a little bit from that. After that she went into a coma and nothing else happened.

Nicolas was panicking at this moment as the doctors take her to the emergency room. They begun the surgical process and were met with almost unimaginable damage to every single body part. They were beginning to doubt they can save her in time, but at the very least, tried to do the best they can. Nicolas looks through the window watching the surgery take place. He decided to call for them so that they can have a meeting inside the Canterlot Castle throne room. He writes a letter and does a duplication spell to make enough for everyone. He sends them to everyone leaving him to wonder how is he going to tell them what happened.

Canterlot Castle Throne Room
Oct. 29 8:30 A.M.

Nicolas was walking in circles while waiting for the others to come. He wasn't so sure how to put this lightly on them considering that he almost caused her death. When the others arrive into the throne, he stopped dead in his tracks. He noticed that two ponies he never seen came through alongside the princesses making him wonder if they are who he thinks they are, "Hello there, are you by any chance, Twilight's mother and father? Both nod at Nicolas making him much more worried now then ever.

With everyone here, Celestia, who came back from the meeting, decided to starts things off with a question, "Uncle, what is the reason for this unexpected meeting?"

"This meeting here, *deep breathes* it involves Twilight. She is at the hospital at the moment."

"Why is she at the hospital darling?"

Nicolas was afraid to answer the question especially that quickly. In the end, he couldn't bear to think about and told them why she was there, "She is on the hospital taking surgery at the moment." When all of them heard it, there was mixed emotions going on the room. Her parents were the one thing Nicolas did not wish to see, he turned around to not look at them as they were crying about their daughter.

Celestia could not fathom as to who was stupid enough to brutally murder her own star pupil, she was trying to contain her rage and was doing it well. She asks Nicolas on who was responsible for this, "Uncle, who was responsible for this!?"

Nicolas was hoping that no one would ask that one question. He was beginning to well up in tears, he held back the tears in his eyes and regretfully told her the answer, "It... was... me... Celestia."

Chapter 4: Pride of the Angel

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Chapter 4: Pride of the Angel

Canterlot Castle Throne Room
Oct. 29 9:00 A.M.

"You did what!?" Celestia couldn't believe what she just heard, her uncle was the person responsible for Twilight to be in the hospital. She couldn't believe that her own uncle was responsible for what happened to Twilight.

Luna was trying to hold back Twilight's parents from going berserk on Nicolas, but she was beginning to wonder why he did it. Nevertheless, she was struggling to keep her parents on bay.

The others couldn't believe him either and were ranting at him and to Nicolas, it was very painful to him, "Why in tarnation would you do something like that to her?!"

"Yeah, why would you do something like that to her?!"

"Girls." Nicolas was trying to tell them why but he kept on getting interrupted by their ranting over and over again.

"Please tell us why you did it."

"Why did you do it?"

Their ranting was getting out of hand and it was getting Nicolas a little agitated, but when it got to the point where it was going beyond his point of reasoning, he snapped right where he was, "SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!" That there silenced almost everyone in the throne room. Not only that, they were scared from seeing the eyes and the blood red aura. Nicolas reverted back to normal and took a deep breath, "Now you see it." Nicolas was being calm throughout this but was a little enraged, "Listen, what I did was wrong, I understand that." Nicolas showed the form once again but this time in full effect. The wings showed only his bones revealing from what the others described as feathers made out of blood, a blood-red halo appears, the horn had a red aura surrounding it, the mane and tail become blood-red as well, his fur goes from a light-brown to white and the cutie mark darkened, "But I wasn't in control of myself at the time I attacked her." His voice was deeper then normal, but it was still him talking to them, "This form only kicks in when I received multiple fatal injuries or when my anger rises at its peak." Nicolas reverts back to his normal self and calmly looks at them, "I am deeply sorry for hurting her, but as I said before, I wasn't in control of my actions. That and also..." At this moment, memories of his past life resurfaced and a few bits of tears fell down his face.

All the others felt sad for Nicolas and tried to comfort him. Celestia and Luna forgave him and decided to leave them be. Both leave the throne and went to the hospital to check on Twilight.

Canterlot Hospital
Oct. 29 9:15 A.M.

When both princesses enter the room where Twilight was in, they see her in good condition reading what seems to look like a "Daring Do" book. They ask the doctors if they can enter the room. The doctors nodded and both of them enter the room. As they enter, Twilight notices and closes the book. Both Celestia and Luna are delighted to see her in good condition, "Hello Twilight, I see that you are making a fast recovery, am I right?"

"Yes, you're right." Twilight puts the book back where it was and returns her attention at the two princesses, "So what brings you here?"

"We came in just to check. Twilight, there is something that has been bothering me. Why did you keep on asking out uncle that question. The one involving his personal life?"

Twilight was hoping that Princess Celestia wouldn't ask that question but since it came, she had to answer it anyway, "Well, it's hard for me to answer, but I wanted to know about it so badly."

Luna was not surprised about this, but she was a little shocked she would go this far to find out his personal life. Besides that, she has nothing to say that involves Nicolas at the moment, "I expect that will be able to walk by tomorrow? You want your daughter to know you that you are in the hospital?"

Twilight brightened up from that response. She nodded yes and went back into reading the book. Doctors come in and tell that she will be able to walk by tomorrow like what the princesses said making her glad. She was really worried that she wasn't able to make it and thought she was actually gonna die. She actually wondered what death would feel like and seeing it up close, she wished she never thought about it. She returns back to the book and reads it with glee.

With Twilight being okay and happy to see Luna leaves and returns back to the castle. Celestia on the other hand had one more question in mind for Twilight, this one being a little personal, "Twilight, were you able to get anything out of Nicolas of his personal life?"

"No I didn't and I don't want to remember it." Twilight doesn't want to recall it ever again, the first time upon seeing his dark side scarred her very life making her scared of making him mad. She was shaking with fear from just remembering it, "Princess Celestia, do you think that Nicolas will forgive me if I apologized?"

"It is worth a try." With that said, she leaves the hospital and out of Twilight's room. When she goes out she sees some cloud cake. Wanting some cloud cake for a long time, she goes to the baker and asks for a while cloud cake. The baker agrees to this and goes to making the cake.

Canterlot Castle
Oct. 29 9:30 A.M.

At Canterlot Castle, Nicolas goes out of the throne room into the garden for some fresh air after all of this. He hopes that Twilight will be able to recover from her injuries and apologize to her for what happened. After some good air flowing, he decided that now may be a good time to build a house. He hasn't forgotten about Oni, but he takes his time, why not use this time to build one now? He teleports to Gaia Falls and starts building his house there for the beautiful scenery. While he was building his house, he was wondering how he is going to make Fluttershy fight. She has done it before, but only because of the situation at hand. After much thought, he has this idea that may work but it all depends if it even works.

While he was building his house, the others began their own training from Shining Armor and Cadence practicing their defensive spells, to Applejack bucking more apples with much more speed and strength, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash for speed, Rarity and Nyx just in case for magical strength, and Pinkie doing whatever she does for training. Twilight was still in the hospital at the moment, but was also practicing her spells as well. During much of their training, someone from within the shadows of another town seeks revenge on someone. She manages to find a rare artifact that grants the wearer almost unimaginable power. With that out of the way, she returns to Ponyville to settle the score.

After hours of building the house from the design to the exterior and interior, he manages to make his house. Noticing that it was getting nighttime he decided to put the furniture on later and heads to sleep. He still wonders if Twilight is the one to forgive so easily with his mind running crazy, he tries to calm down and puts himself into a deep sleep.

While everyone was asleep, deep within the ruins of the old Canterlot Castle, Oni looks around the castle and checks every locations while discovering a few secrets along the way. While the castle was broken down from it being left behind, Oni saw it as a perfect place to begin his true destruction. He goes into the library first to do some research on the world once again to be certain that he did not miss a single important, historical detail about Equestria.

Ponyville
Oct. 30 7:36 A.M.

Twilight was checked out of the hospital after one good night's rest. She returned to Ponyville by teleporting to the library, thereby hoping not to awaken anypony else that are still sleeping. She did it in pristine condition and decided to check on what was going on after her time in the hospital. She looks around the house and sees Nyx and Spike sleeping peacefully making her happy that Spike was able to take care of her. She goes outside to see her friends and notice that the sky was being blocked by storm clouds. She doesn't recall there to be a scheduled rainstorm. When she walks to the town hall, what she finds almost shocks her, "Trixie, is that you?"

Trixie was toying with the citizens at the time Twilight was still resting in the hospital. When she heard her nemesis's voice, she turns around and sees her making a somewhat devilish grin upon seeing her, "Hello, Twilight Sparkle."

Gaia Falls
Oct. 30 7:43 A.M.

Nicolas wakes out of his bed all ready to meet Twilight again. As he was prepping himself for a visit to Ponyville as he heard that Twilight has checked out of the hospital, he senses a disturbance in the weather. He looks out of his window and notices a storm appearing only above Ponyville. He can tell the difference between a magic-caused storm and a normal storm and what he was looking at was a magic-induced storm. What was different from the others he felt was that this one he can feel the emotion of the spellcaster. The clouds were filled with jealousy, hate, and some negatives emotions making Nicolas worried. If Twilight were to fight this pony, it would not be a good idea as she is not in a good condition to fight and that, from the looks of things, she was strong, very strong. He gets ready a teleportation spell and tries to get a mental image of Ponyville. For some reason, he was struggling to get a mental image of Ponyville telling him that something was obscuring it. He tries for the closet thing to Ponyville and teleports to Fluttershy's cottage. Upon teleporting to her cottage, he sees the problem. A magical bubble was preventing him from getting a mental image of his destination and it prevented anyone from going in or out. He goes near the bubble and tries to see if there were any weak spots on it. As he was looking for one, he sees Twilight out of the bubble looking a little sullen, he calls for his name, "Twilight!"

Twilight heard Nicolas and upon seeing him, runs to him in glee, "Nicolas!"

"Twilight, what is going on? What's with this force field?" Nicolas looked at the bubble concerned about what was going on.

"I'll tell you about it later, I need to go to Zecora's house. Do you know her?"

"Yes, but why do you need to go to her?"

"Someone I never saw in a long time came back and was toying with the citizens."

"Who was this pony?" Nicolas wanted to know who he or she was.

"Her name is Trixie. She was a magician that came to Ponyville months ago. She's boastful and arrogant and tried to prove that she can do better. Some colts accidently bought a Ursa Minor into town to prove that Trixie was the better one. Of course, things did not go so well, so I had to take care of it."

"And were you able to put the Ursa Minor back to its place?" Nicolas was wondering if she was able to do what he was thinking.

"I did, she wasn't happy about it though. She left Ponyville and it has been awhile since I last seen her. I didn't expect her to get this strong after some time. She managed to turn two ponies into an elder and into a colt and that was high level magic that I saw there..."

Nicolas was listening to every word that Twilight was saying getting more information about this Trixie, but what got him the most was the neckless that this 'Trixie' was wearing, "Twilight, not to change the subject, but can you give me the description of this necklace that she is wearing?"

Twilight nodded and gave an accurate description of the necklace that she was wearing. To Twilight, the thing looked very familiar, but she wasn't able to get the idea on what it is.

Upon hearing the description of the necklace, Nicolas knew what was going on with Trixie getting an almost sudden magical strength boost as he has seen that object before, "I see, I think I have the answer as to how she has immense strength."

Twilight was getting a little giddy from hearing that able to find out what caused the immense strength, "Great, what caused it?"

"We'll have to talk about it later, why won't we get to Zecora's hut for now, that okay?"

Twilight nods and both went into Zecora's house hoping to see if she can teach Twilight anything that might help. After going through the forest without running into something, they see Zecora's hut. Twilight knocks on the door.

Zecora goes to the door and notices both Nicolas and Twilight. She notices that Twilight was looking a little desperate. She moves out of the way allowing them to enter. As they enter, she asked Twilight what was bothering her, "Come now. What is bothering you?"

Twilight looked at Zecora, "Zecora, is it possible for you to teach me anything that could help me?"

Zecora was a little baffled from her question, but at the very least could be able to teach her something, "I do not know if so, but perhaps I can try."

Nicolas was thinking about Trixie and how did she get her hands on the amulet. Upon remembering the amulet, he pokes Twilight shoulders to get her attention, "Twilight, do you still want to know what is giving her the immense strength she has now?"

Twilight was again getting a little giddy from able to find out what gave her this sudden strength, "Sure, what is it?"

"It's the necklace. From the description you gave me, it sounds like she has the Alicorn Amulet."

Upon hearing those two words, Twilight's mind went alert, "What!? No wonder why it looked so familiar."

Nicolas was trying to understand what Twilight just said, "Wait, you've heard of it before?"

"Yes, I was reading books about it when I was just a filly."

Nicolas couldn't but laugh a little from her answer, "Wow, even as a filly, you like to learn. I get to learn something new everyday." Nicolas managed to calm back down from all of the laughing but the idea still made him laugh, "Never mind that, Twilight, I think it's about time I taught you every spell I know of."

Twilight almost jumped at the sound of hearing what Nicolas just offered. She finally gets the chance to learn all the spells that he has to offer. She nodded yes in excitement hoping to see them all.

"Sorry on this short visit Zecora, but I got it from here."

Zecora nodded back at Nicolas, "You are the alicorn. You have more knowledge then I do, go make her proud."

With that said, Nicolas teleports themselves at Gaia Falls where she noticed that he built a house, "Twilight, focus, what I am about to teach are spells known to many multiple worlds I have visited. So expect this to be a grueling training exercise for you. Now watch what I do and see if you can do the same." Twilight nodded and the training began. Throughout the hours there, Nicolas teaches Twilight all kinds of spells from time-based spells, to elemental spells, and even to the forbidden spells that very few know. This is probably the first time he has ever taught someone else besides Luna and Celestia all the spells he knows. He feels like a master now, teaching his students all of what he has learned from his past life. With all that said, he teaches her first some of the most of the most basic spells he knows, then goes ahead into the advanced spells. When he gets to his last spell, he stops there and takes a break from it, "Twilight, I think that's enough spells for you to get even with her."

"You think so?" Twilight was a little worried about what will happen when she fights Trixie again.

"I know so. By the way, do you recognize these?" Nicolas pulls something out of an unusual chest that looked familiar. What he pulls out are what she didn't expect, the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight was shocked to see that Nicolas has a hold of the Elements of Harmony, "Where did you get them?!"

"Celestia had them hidden away in case anyone tried to take them. She decided that it would be safer if she gave them to me since only I know where Gaia Falls is. Tell me honestly, do you think I represent all of them really well?" Nicolas knew he represented them well but he wanted a reassuring answer from someone he knows and trust. He wanted to see if he can unleash the hidden power within the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight wasn't so sure how to answer the question, but seeing him do all the things that represent each one of them, she can be honest. Nicolas definitely represents each one of them well especially the Element of Magic, "Yes Nicolas you represent each one of them well."

Nicolas was happy to hear that from Twilight and did something Twilight wasn't expecting. Nicolas hugged Twilight like that of a family member and also embraced her. Twilight was trying to understand why he just did it but she hugged back as well. She almost went into tears, she was guessing that this was sorry for what happened to her when she asked the question about his personal life. As they embraced each other, something made Nicolas feel rather uncomfortable. The heat around the falls was palpable and seemingly felt like it was around him, or rather in front of him. He noticed that Twilight was exhibiting some heat from her body and it was sorta burning at the moment, "Uh Twilight, you can let go now..."

She did not what he said only continued to extend the embrace. It's only when Twilight gets a whiff of burnt fur that she notices the she was burning onto the fur. She backed away slowly blushing a bit much for that prolonged hug.

Nicolas was trying to understand what just happened there when his fur got singed. For a few seconds, he was silent making Twilight wonder what was going on in his head until it clicked on him as to why he felt the heat. He never imagine that the student of Celestia was a fire elemental, "Never thought to realize that I'm training a fire elemental or in my case a pyrokinetic."He was reeling a bit from seeing one in a long while and coming from the student, he wasn't surprise that she would represent fire. He returns to his serious face and returns back to the event at hand, "Never mind that, Twilight, you have to fight Trixie. I think the training is enough for you to go against her. Also, keep this our secret, I don't want our friends to find out about this now."

"I don't think I can keep it a secret..."

"Why?" Nicolas asked.

"Because my friends already now about this?" Twilight laughed weakly from telling him. Nicolas laughed as well, but was much heartier than Twilight, "If your friends already know about this than I don't need to worry than!" Twilight was a little silent from that exchange. Nicolas changed the subject and allowed Twilight the honor of teleporting him. She nodded in agreement and casted a teleport spell on Ponyville. Normally she wouldn't be able to teleport into the city when the force field was in effect , in this case, Nicolas casted a spell dampener on the field allowing her to enter.

While Twilight was prepping herself for the fight with Trixie, Nicolas went on ahead invisible and checks on what Trixie was doing. He sees her toying with some of the ponies making him a little mad. Then again, it isn't her fault for wearing the Alicorn Amulet. While it does give untold amounts of magical power, whoever wears it becomes corrupted and the only way for it to be removed was for the wearer to remove it his or herself. He was mad at her for using this item just for get revenge on, yet felt a bit of sympathy for her. She was so consumed by jealousy that it drove her to do this, honestly for Nicolas maybe he may help Trixie. but as of right now, priorities come first.

Twilight was about to go out it but out of nowhere she sees Nyx out there and from the looks of it with the CMCs looking like they were bringing Trixie food and looking tired to add that. Seeing that she would go this far as to use children for servants and keep on using until they reach them tired made her more mad, "Oh no, Trixie, why would you do that to them? You are going to be sorry for that, especially for what you are doing to my Nyx."

Nicolas noticing what was going on with the little fillies was also fuming as well. Recalling that it was not her fault but the Alicorn Amulet, he takes a few deep breathes to calm himself down before going into a rampage. When he sees the CMCs leave, he decided to check on them while Twilight does what she needs to do. He signals Twilight telling her that he was going to check on the CMC.

Twilight notices him and nods leaving her to what she needed to do. She steps out of the corridors and meets Trixie face to face not wavering from her or the amulet.

Trixie was looking at the food they bought to her, when upon noticing that Twilight was right in front of her, wondered how she was able to enter Ponyville even with the force field in effect. Nevertheless, she was delighted to see her ready to embarrass her once again, "Hello Twilight Sparkle. Ready to lose again by me?" Trixie was enjoying every moment to do this once again in front of her friends.

Twilight recalled the first time that they faced each other. When they did their magic duel, she was using high-level spells that were almost impossible to learn unless you were an able unicorn. Now she was aware on what gave her this immense skill and from her perspective, she thinks she has gone even with Trixie now that she has otherworldly spells not known in Equestria and to her, "Yes, but this time, you are going to lose."

Hearing that from her nemesis almost made her laugh, "Haha, you? Defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie? As if, I'd like to see you try." She gets into position and stares at Twilight who was helping the citizens get back on their feet. While she managed to helped them get back on their hooves, she looked at Trixie who was waiting patiently for her nemesis.

"With pleasure!" As that was said, everypony in Ponyville was coming to the town hall to watch the duel once again hoping to see Twilight win. Her friends came from the sidelines and were cheering for her making her much more determined. As they stare each other watching each others moves, Trixie makes the first move and shoots a magic beam at Twilight. Hoping that her training paid off, she casts a barrier around herself and it reflects the spell from her to Trixie.

Trixie narrowly dodges her own spell and was utterly shocked to see what just happened. Her spell reflected by a simple barrier?

Twilight was almost jittery from actually doing it right. All the other ponies go "Oooohhh" from seeing what just happened and it made Trixie all the while more jealous. Twilight dispels the barrier for now and smiles, "Now what do you have to say for yourself?"

Trixie wasn't so sure what to say, but she was more mad at what she just and went into the offensive and shoots another beam from her horn.

Twilight this time dodges it and chants something that baffled Trixie. She manages to complete the incantation and casted a fire spell regardless if was not in her fire form on Trixie.

Trixie notices the spell being casted and dodges it. She was being shocked again at seeing an fire spell being done even if she wasn't in her form, "H-how are you able to do that?!"

Twilight was expecting something like that from her and decided to go as she planned. She shows off her Element of Magic at Trixie, "This is what is giving me that strong boost. You aren't the only one that has something that uses something to boost their magical strength. We're even now, want to keep on fighting or quit?"

Trixie was at the verge of literally ripping Twilight apart as she was getting enraged. She releases one of her spell this time powered up from a magic surge.

Twilight noticed that her spells were now getting powered up from magic surges and was on the defense dodging them while casting spells back at her. Trixie too was doing the exact same thing dodging and casting spells back at her. While this was going on, Nicolas checked on the CMC just in case they weren't in pain or of anything like that. He looks around trying to find them without alerting Trixie of his presense. For a while, he was beginning to lose hope of finding them until he hears talking and from the sound of it, it was coming from the CMC clubhouse. He finds the clubhouse almost looking a little barren making him very worried about them. When he knocks on their door just to be certain that they are there, the CMC open their door and much to their surprise, it was Nicolas who was knocking.

They embraced Nicolas full of excitement upon seeing him, "Oh thank goodness, you're here! We thought you were gone with Twilight."

Hearing that from the CMC made him wonder, "Wait, what do you mean? You saw me with Twilight outside of the force field?"

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle nodded their heads in a no fashion, "No, Nyx did. She was crying from seeing her leave Ponyville. We tried to cheer her up by telling that she will come back, it worked but only for the moment. When we saw Twilight coming out of nowhere, Nyx was so happy to see her."

"I see. Where is Nyx by the way?" Nicolas only saw the three in their clubhouse making him very worried about her.

The three looked at each other in confusion, then after much thought, had a suggestion, "Maybe she went to where the mean Trixie and Twilight are fighting at?"

"I hope you're right. You three go on ahead I'll catch up with you." As the three left the clubhouse, he looks upon the house and sees pictures of what he believes to be every event that happened while he was gone from Equestria. He looks upon each of the pictures showcasing what happened during those times. From the first talent show with just the three, to the field trip, and finally to the second talent show with Nyx in it this time. He was delighted to see all of these wonderful memories of the CMC and of the six. He leaves the clubhouse at goes to the city hall. Upon leaving the house, he hears a faint sound that sounded like his name.

"Nicolas."

It was quiet from where he was, but it was loud enough for him to hear. He wonders who was calling his name, but ignores it for now and continues his slow walk to the city hall.

"Nicolas."

Again he his name being called on, but it was a little louder and it has a distinguishing voice that almost sounded familiar. Ignoring it once again, he speeds up the pace and jogs to city hall.

"Nicolas."

Once again he hears it, but this time he recognized it all too well. It sounded like one of his deceased siblings Euria. At first, he was trying to be sure that he was just imagining what he was hearing making sure that he didn't touch anything that could cause this or that he was being dizzy. For some time, he was trying to forget what he just heard, but upon hearing his name being called one last time with her voice, he decided to ask just out of curiousity, "Sister, is that really you I hear?"

Upon asking that question, she answered it and asked her own question, "Yes, it's me. How are you brother?"

Hearing her made him almost break down, but he's been through enough of those for today, "Honestly, I have no idea hearing your voice and all, haha." Hearing her laugh made him very glad to hear one of his siblings voice, but one thing was making him wonder, "Euria, how are you still alive? I though you died alongside mother and father."

She wasn't so sure either how was she still alive, but that didn't matter at the least, "To be honest, I don't know. I've got no idea where I am and to be honest it doesn't matter to me so long as I get to hear your voice."

That made him almost blush out of embarrassment after hearing that from her, "Thanks, sorry but I got to help somepony, I mean someone."

That almost got her into confusion, "Did you say somepony. Have you forgotten how to speak correctly brother?"

"No, its not that. The place I'm in is full of ponies, rarely do I see other kinds of animals that talks especially mythical creatures."

"I see, well whoever you have to help, go help it out. You are always the kind of person to help out."

"Thanks sister, it is very good to hear your voice once again." Nicolas goes in a gallop making haste and heads to Ponyville.

At Ponyville, the two unicorns are continuing their duel with what looks like no end in sight. Twilight and Trixie were getting tired from casting one spell after another as they were getting more and more weaker. Nyx appears from the crowd cheering Twilight onward alongside the CMC. That gave a boost in her determination and continued the fight until they were depleted of their magic. Trixie wasn't able to hit her at all for the duration of the duel. It was making her more mad and close to actually using forbidden spells that she dared not to use. As the heated battle continued, Trixie's patience was getting thin. She stopped still in her place looking malevolently at Twilight and smiling. Twilight made eye contact with her said nemesis not looking away from her sight.

"You'll fight me Sparkle." Trixie demanded, not loosing the evil grin on her face. "Unless you want more blood on your hooves that is." Twilight's eyes widened, suddenly realizing how far off the deep end Trixie was. "I see now." Twilight spoke softly, "What a shame. I didn't think even you could stoop that low. Is that really how it is?" Trixie didn't answer her, she simply continued to stare a hole through Twilight, still malevolently smiling at her. "Answer me!" Twilight shout at her, "Do you let yourself be a slave over something like this?" Rather than giving Twilight a response, Trixie's horn began to glow with the red magic. Not taking her eyes off her foe for a moment, released her magical energy at a group of ponies that gathered around the two of them. As several of them were thrown around screaming, Twilight looked over to the knocked around group, a look of sheer disbelief now on her face. She was all right that the majority of them weren't young fillies and colts, but she was still in disbelief after seeing what she did. "Tell me," Trixie said, finally speaking up. "Is it slavery that will assist you getting what you want?" With the dust blowing past her from the burst of power, Trixie lifted her face up, now baring her teeth in that sinister smile she was giving Twilight.

Twilight was still looking at what Trixie did. All those ponies were now hurt or worse. And Why? Because Trixiecouldn't back that grudge even after what happened? As she looked on, Twilight began clenching her teeth. Her once concerned look now slowly being replaced with an angered one. She slowly turned her face back to Trixie, who was still giving her that upturned evil look. Where as Twilight was above being lured into confrontation once again, she couldn't allow any more ponies to be hurt because of her nemesis doing anything cold-hearted even for her. She continued to give Trixie a death stare, the blue unicorn still sizing her up.

Twilight's horn came to life, a gentle aura now surrounding it. At the sight, Trixie slowly lowered her head back down. It took a little prodding, but she was finally going to get her rival to react.

"No Twilight." Spike said, suddenly stepping in from the side. "You can't. If you fight her, you'll be doing exactly what she wants. You'll be no better than she is."

"Tell me, Trixie," Twilight said to her, completely ignoring Spike's words, "I know that amulet you're wearing has been making you act like this. So is that why your so avid about this battle, or is this just the same old routine of you needing to prove you're better than everyone?"

As expected, Trixie gave no answer. She simply continued her sadistic stare at the unicorn she faced.

"Does it really matter?" Rarity questioned from the side.

"Maybe not to you," Trixie answered the white unicorn. "But to a true unicorn it matters greatly. And you know as well as I do Sparkle. I have been waiting for the day to give you a taste of what a true magician can do. And I will not miss this opportunity."

Twilight and Trixie again stared at each other for a few moments. Their brows both furrowed. Trixie still wearing her smile, but Twilight had a very serious look on her face.

"Who are you?" Spike said to Trixie, "Don't you realize that ponies lives matter more than you meaningless grudge?"

At his words, Trixie's smile quickly contorted into an angry scowl. "Meaningless, huh!?!" she shouted. Spike took a prominent step back, knowing he had invoked the mare's wrath. "And what do you know of meaningless!?!" Trixie shouted again. The magic aura in her horn came back, this time so powerful that it caused a shock wave, sending dirt and other debris flying everywhere. Despite having loss most of her strength from the fight, the Alicorn Amulet amplified her magic reserves to immeasurable levels. Many of the on lookers shielded their eyes from the sudden kick up of dust. All except one. Twilight Sparkle still maintained her composure.

Spike took his arm away from his eyes, noticing the magical aura now surrounded Trixie's entire body. And that scowl was still plastered on her face.

"Spend all of that being ridiculed and looked down upon by others!" Trixie said, resuming where she left off, the aura now slowly fading from her body. "Watch all that you had dwindle away until there's nothing left. And then tell me what has more meaning to you than your ability! I have in me the power of a true unicorn, she is nothing but a joke. Yet I watched her surpass me in power! My reputation, completely destroyed!"

Trixie took a short pause, getting her breath back. "Sh-She's even saved my life as if I were a helpless foal. She has tarnished my name... And her dues... Will. Be. Paid." Nicolas was hearing all of what she said the moment she stopped the battle and hearing what her life from Trixie, he now had his reasons to feel sympathetic for Twilight's rival. He realizes that Trixie has now went beyond the point of reasoning as her hatred grew and the amulet amplifying that said hatred. From where she was, without hesitation, she began chanting up a forbidden spell not before binding her foe in place. Twilight was caught in the binding spell and was unable to perform any action at all. Everypony saw this and tried to stop Trixie from casting the spell, however, it was already too late as she gained enough magic to cast it. As she finished her chant, she casted the spell at Twilight with not a care of her pathetic life. With each second passing by, the blast got closer and closer looking like she was actually going to die right in front of everypony. Her life was beginning to flash before her eyes thinking she was going to face death. She closed them realizing that she had no hope of surviving and accepted her fate. When the blast got within point-blank range, Nicolas teleported in front of the spell with his sword unsheathed and blocked it. Twilight opened her eyes and sees him blocking the Spell Trixie conjured up, "Twilight, it's too early for you to accept death. No pony is going to die prematurely while I'm here!" Trixie noticing that the spell has been stopped wondered who was blocking it. She amplified the spell hoping to decimate both Twilight and whoever was blocking the spell. Nicolas, noticing that the spell was getting stronger each second, decided to deflect it and launched it upward. The spell headed up towards the sky. It hit the force field upon making contact with it destroying it in the process. Trixie saw the spell go upward. It amazed and shocked her to that one pony alone somehow managed to deflect that. When looked at where Twilight, she face suddenly changed from a malicious smile she had to a fear unlike any other on any pony.

Nicolas tries to release the binding spell on Twilight, happy to see her at least alive, "Sorry I got late there. I got a little carried away." He waves at the CMC and tells them to stay put. They responded leaving Twilight and Trixie injured from the long fight. While releasing Twilight, Nicolas looked at Trixie who was in fear upon seeing him for the first time, "So you are Trixie? Honestly, it feel a little silly fighting against you."

Trixie never saw him before in her life, but seeing that he was able to deflect that blast away made her a little worried. Not only that, but he is an alicorn making her even more worried, "W-who are you?"

"A friend, that's all you need to know. Using forbidden spells on your part? That I would consider cheating on my standards." Nicolas was never fond of using any arcane magic as he knew the consequences of using just one of them. "You know you can't fight in the condition you are in."

He was right about it, fighting him would be meaningless as she was at her breaking point and she was in no condition to fight. She was about to quit out until she sees that a magical aura was surrounding both Twilight and Trixie. After that, Trixie notices that she wasn't in pain anymore. She wondered what and why did the alicorn do what she was thinking, "What did you do?"

Twilight was fully recovered from the fight as well. She makes a guess that Nicolas used a healing spell to heal them, but why he also did it on Trixie, she wanted to know, "I know you healed me, but why Trixie as well?"

"Because this is your fight Twilight, not mine. She is all yours. No worries, I'm here to keep an eye on her should she do something sneaky." Nicolas gives a reassuring nod to Twilight, "Trixie, your fight against Twilight still continues, I healed you because it is not fair for the both of you to fight in your condition." Nicolas walks up to the City Hall stairway. He looks at the both of them and continues, "This fight will have a victor, but it is up to the skill of the pony at hand. Trixie, are you ready?"

Trixie was wondering what was going on with this alicorn, healing her and allowing the fight to continue. He was an unusual alicorn, yet at the same time, she couldn't pass up this opportunity to finally defeat Twilight once again, "Trixie was born ready."

Nicolas turns to look at Twilight looking battle ready as ever. He was proud to train her. Now he gets to know if his training with her paid off, "Twilight are you ready?"

Twilight ensued a battle stance the moment he asked her that, "Ready to go."

"Okay then, this is it. Ready..." At this time, everypony was hoping that Twilight would be able to win. They cheer for Twilight with the best of their efforts and watched, "Begin!"

Twilight was the first to strike. She casts a beam strong enough to sting a Ursa Major at the time right on Trixie while also casting a defensive spell on herself.

Trixie sidesteps from the incoming beam and upon noticing that she was casting as defensive spell when she shot that beam, shoot an energy ball upwards into the sky. The ball splits apart upon reaching its peak and showers on the battlefield.

Twilight looks up and notices that the ball of enerby that she made was splitting into multiple tiny versions of itself. She manages to create the barrier only for it to falter upon making contact of just one of them. Seeing that, she tries to dodge all of the incoming energy balls.

Trixie sees an opportunity and begins charging while saying some incantation of some kind. This spell she learned by herself was one of Trixie's personal favorites as it was her families's own idea of a spell circle which she implimented into her own spell. She was the only who made and perfected the spell. It required mass amounts of magic that only unicorns who specialize in magic have. With the Alicorn Amulet's power combining with her own, it was powerful enough to leave a hole in the mountain. She manages to get enough of her magic to make a spell circle in the air and putting all of her magic in it. She puts her horn on the circle and begins concentrating on pouring all of her magic in the circle.

Twilight was dodging all of the energy balls that were falling on her. As it begun to stop, she notices that Trixie was preparing a spell she never saw before. She wondered within the short time she had what kind of spell that Trixie was using. She does see something about her spell that was similar to spell that require a spell circle. She too also weaves a spell circle except the spell circle of hers was using the power of the Elements of Harmony. Six small circles surrounded another circle bearing her cutie mark. The others beared the cutie marks of her friends as well including Nicolas. As her spell circle was near completion, she also pours all of her magic in the circle.

Both were done with their spell circle and looked at each other one last time before finally with the last bit of magic they have, they shoot an enormous beam of pure energy from their spell circles. The beams make contact and created a big sphere of energy where the two made contact. Nicolas manages to teleport everypony a few feet away from the sphere and looks upon the sphere in awe. Never had he seen such raw power from two very determined and powerful unicorns. Seeing that the beams was powered from the respective choice of relic, Nicolas begins to wonder if Trixie does have something she actually fights for. Twilight's powered up by the Elements of Harmony. Trixie's powered up with the Alicorn Amulet. There was no way that Trixie was able to do this without something for her to fight for. He begins to notice that the corruption that was within Trixie was beginning to fade from her. The red aura that had once surrounded her horn was gradually returning back to her color. He begins to see now what was pushing Trixie to her limit if the corruption of the Alicorn Amulet had left her.

Both were giving their all at what could possibly be their last fight. Trixie pours more of her magic into the spell circle, giving her a slight boost to the beam. Twilight also does the same thing to her spell circle, putting themselves back at their original location of contact. Both kept on pouring the magics on the spell circle continuing the fight. As they were putting more of their energy into the beam, the sphere that was made when their magics was getting slightly bigger and bigger.

Nicolas notices that sphere was getting bigger. He shrugged it off at first, but upon remembering that last time something like this happen, it was clear that if they keep on continue doing this or if one runs out of energy to best the other, anyone else caught in the explosion or the beam could die. He tries to stop them from continuing to pour in all of their energy into the attack, but they were so concentrated on defeating the other, it wouldn't work regardless of what he does. He doesn't want history to repeat itself on something else, so he decided to try something desperate. It was very risky because if he doesn't time it right, the explosion will either kill them all or transport all of the residents into unknown areas. He had to time his spell right or it will be the end of Ponyville.

Trixie and Twilight continued pouring their magic into the beams none besting the other. They were beginning to wear out from using almost all of their energy into their last attack. Twilight begins to notice that the fight was going beyond from a simple magic duel. It was something personal for the both of them and she was now beginning to see the seriousness being put in this single fight. Trixie was now beginning to see the true strength of her adversary, she begins to wonder now throughout this fight what gave her the amount of magical strength she has now. She was thinking that perhaps she was fighting for her friends, like how she herself was fighting for her family. As they continued, the sphere began to almost unbelievable size making the two unicorns very worried, they stopped pouring magic into the spell, but it was already too late for them as the sphere almost instantly exploded covering much of Ponyville.

Nicolas casted the absorption spell before the explosion was too much and absorbed all of it. The energy of the explosion was almost too much for his physical body to take, but he manages to turn all of the excess energy into a condensed sphere. He looks at the sphere once admiring the beauty of the multiple colors swirling in it. He throws the sphere into sky high enough for the explosion to not be able to make contact with any city including Cloudsdale. The moment the sphere was almost in space, Nicolas detonated the sphere creating an extravagant, beautiful, multi-colored explosion that made everypony who saw it go in awe. When the explosion come to pass, he walks to the two unicorns who were incapable of casting any spell. He first looks at Twilight, then Trixie, and finally looks upon the residents of Ponyville and now was ready to declare the winner of the magic duel, "This magic was beyond simple. It was a testment to what it feels like to see two powerful unicorns fight to the death. I declare the winner to be..." Everypony was holding their breaths hoping that the winner was Twilight, "TWILIGHT!" Everypony cheered for Twilight had bested Trixie once again.

Trixie was looking upon Twilight and her friends as they were cheering for her victory against her. She was about to fume, yet at the same time, was delighted for unknown reasons to have a fight like this once again. She takes off the Alicorn Amulet and gives to Nicolas who notices that he was being given the amulet, "Thank you, but I don't need this anymore." With that said, she leaves Ponyville holding her shame and joy inside her body.

Nicolas was happy to see her gone, but at the same time, he felt very sad for her. He never saw anyway filled with so much grief, it must be hurting her pride. He decided to follow her once he gets Twilight to the library. After helping the CMC and the five get Twilight to the library and seeing that Nyx and Spike were taking care of her just fine, he decided to find Trixie and see if he can reawaken her pride back up. He sees Trixie heading into her carriage all solemn and closes her door slowly. He wonders if it was a good time to talk some sense into her, but now is better than later. He gets near the door and knocks on it. For a few seconds, she wasn't responding at all making him wonder if her pride was that broken. He opens the door only to see her on her bed. He checks if she was fine, from the look of her, she wasn't at all fine. He decided to leave a letter behind should she want to see him. He writes a letter and leaves it on Trixie's desk hoping that it might persuade her to come. After that, noticing that it was getting night, decided to get some sleep. He casts a teleport spell to Gaia Falls and enters his home soundly asleep.

Trixie's Carriage
Oct. 31 6:00 A.M.

Trixie wakes up feeling very depressed now that she know that she isn't the Great and Powerful anymore, she just wanted to be alone in her carriage. When she goes to her desk to clean herself up, she notices a letter that was for her. She opens the letter and sees that it was empty. She felt even more depressed upon seeing a blank letter, but upon closer examination of the letter she sees some unusual words etched on it. As she red the words out loud, the letter reacted and a force field surrounded her and was teleported to an unusual place, "Where am I?"

Nicolas sees Trixie from his windows and smiles to see that she red the letter. He goes down the stairs and meets her again, "Hello Trixie."

Trixie sees Nicolas and backs away from him a bit afraid to get the punishment from an alicorn. She was losing hope as he was getting closer to her until she runs into an obstacle blocking her way. She braces for the punishment that was coming at her.

Seeing her get scared made him back up a little bit from her. As she sees that she was not getting punished, he went to her once again, this time telling her, "Trixie. Why I brought you here is not to punish you, but to train you."

Hearing that from him made her mad blurting out questions that she didn't expect, "Why do I need to be trained!? Why did you come to Twilight's aid?! Who are you even!?" She closed her mouth shut and was wondering about him now.

Nicolas was expecting that from someone that was boastful, but nonetheless decided to answer her questions, "Trixie, what you were doing was wrong, I could banish you to the moon if I desired..."

That right there made her very scared. She didn't want to be banished from Equestria, no less the moon.

Nicolas takes a deep breath and continues, "But I don't want to because a grudge like yours can affect the person. Secondly, why I want to train you is because of three things. One, I was the one that trained Twilight those spells."

"You were the one that taught her those spells?" Trixie was surprised to see someone that actually had the skills to cast elemental spells like that though she shouldn't have seen that coming from an alicorn.

"Two, you have hidden potential within you, you just don't realize it. And three, there is an evil much worse than anything anypony faced here and I need all the help I can get." Nicolas hoped that answers some of her questions then remembered one more question she asked, "Oh, and by the way, my name is Nicolas."

Trixie was trying to process what he was saying. Being taught by Twilight's teacher was something she couldn't pass especially seeing those spell she saw during the fight with her. A new threat unraveling on Equestria that is worse than Nightmare Moon or Discord, that was scary to think about. As much as she hates the citizens there, she loves Equestria, especially her family as they care for her. She decided to do what she wanted all her life, be the unicorn that could stand out from the rest of them. She stands strong and accepts Nicolas offer.

Hearing that made him very happy. He was able to reawaken her pride once more and now he has two students on count. He sends a letter to Twilight telling to come to Gaia Falls.

A few seconds later, she teleports in and sees Trixie next to her, "Nicolas, why is Trixie here?"

"Twilight, you got yourself a classmate. Do not worry, I told everything that has happened. She wants to learn as well, is that fine with you?" Nicolas was hoping that making this decision would help Twilight to get along with Trixie as well.

Twilight smiled and nodded yes to Nicolas. She walks up to Trixie telling her how sorry she was at breaking her pride. Trixie was scoffing it at first, then seeing herself smile, she hugged Twilight in friendship. Twilight hugged her back feeling happy to be friends at the very least with Trixie then enemies. They stepped back from each other and looked at Nicolas who was being patient.

"Well, now that this is aside, let us get to the harder spells shall we?" For what seemed like forever, the two unicorns were training vigorously with Nicolas learning more spells each minute. Not only they were being trained mentally, but they were also trained physically because as it was stated by Nicolas, unicorns may be strong in magic, but there are certain locations where magic is disabled leaving it up to their physical strength which unicorns lack in. They never thought that being trained physically was much more harder then training on the magical aspect of it. Despite that, they were able to have considerable physical strength and almost enough magical strength that it was almost in par with the Royal Sisters. Seeing that they are getting along made him happy to see the two unicorns like this. Noticing that it was getting nighttime, he was about to go to sleep until something made him wonder, "Twilight, what is today's date?"

Twilight was wondering what was today's date the moment he asked that question. After a few seconds pass, it clicked on her, "Oh my goodness, today is Nightmare Night! I forgotten all about it!"

Nicolas was wondering what was Nightmare Night now that he heard it. The date and the time made him realize that Nightmare Night is their version of Halloween, something he celebrated at his own home world. Halloween was considered his favorite holiday to celebrate, next to Christmas which if he recalls, it's called Hearth's Warming Eve which works well, "Well, now that is something worth celebrating, why won't the two of you return back to Ponyville while I get dressed for it?"

"Sounds like a good idea, Trixie wanna come?" Twilight teleported them to the library. While she was getting her Star Swirl the Bearded costume, she was waiting for Trixie's answer.

"Trixie doesn't want to celebrate, not after what happened yesterday, but if Trixie must. What costume do you want Trixie to wear?" Trixie was wondering what to wear now that Twilight was wearing her Star Swirl the Bearded costume.

"To be honest, I don't know. What do you think is best Trixie?" While Twilight was still looking for costumes for Trixie, Spike and Nyx see Trixie in the library. They were going to attack her and kick her out until Twilight intervened, "Stop, it's all right. She changed."

Spike and Nyx hardly believe her story, "Yeah right, what if she is just doing this just to get to you?"

"Don't worry, she won't get me. Nicolas managed to talk through to her and she has changed for the better. In fact we managed to get along quite well." Twilight went back into looking for a costume for Trixie to wear. She was limited on costume since the Star Swirled the Bearded costume was all she had, the rest were when she wore them at a young age. When she went back, she sees Trixie wearing her magician's hat and cape, "Is that all you are gonna wear for Nightmare Night?"

"It is the only decent costume Trixie can find."

"I guess it is true. All right then, we are set. Nyx did you and Spike find a good costume to wear?"

Nyx comes wearing one of her costumes when she was young, it was also Star Swirl the Bearded but a fillies size, "Do I look nice as Star Swirl the Bearded?"

"Of course you do." Twilight looked at Trixie who was looking at herself with a mirror.

Trixie was wondering if this was okay to wear, it reminded her too much of her boastful self. She then recalled she had this as a gift from her family when she enrolled in Magic School. This was a reminder of her beloved family, as much as she wanted to throw it away, she decided to keep it because of her family and Twilight that she was proud to be a friend to the alicorn. She looks at the three and upon seeing Nyx's costume almost made her laugh, "Its like I'm seeing a filly version of Star Swirl the Bearded."

Hearing that from someone that banished her mother almost made her go on a rampage but at the same time, it was kinda funny thinking of a filly version of Star Swirl, "Thanks, I guess."

"Well, now that everyone is dressed for Nightmare Night, lets go outside." Twilight takes Nyx with her outside alongside Spike who of course, was wearing a dragon costume which Trixie couldn't help but laugh from seeing it.

When they head outside, everypony was enjoying in the festivities. The same thing was happening like last Nightmare Night except that Princess Luna was there to enjoy the festivities. With that said, Twilight shows Nyx to the CMC and allowed her to play with them so long as she was with them. She returns back with Trixie watching the pumpkin catapults where Luna was acing it the most. Twilight was enjoying seeing Trixie like this, though it was going to take a while for her other friends to accept her as she is. Noticing that Nicolas wasn't here yet, she wondered where is he, "Trixie, have you realized that Nicolas isn't here yet?"

Trixie was still looking at Luna who was going away from the catapults to meet Pipsqueak. She has never met one of the princesses before and up close before and seeing Luna up close and personal almost made her night very grand. Upon her going away her view, she heard Twilight's question though only a little bit of it, "Hmm? What is it Twilight?"

"Trixie, have you noticed that Nicolas isn't here yet?" Twilight looks around Ponyville wondering where he is.

Trixie looks around Ponyville and also sees that he wasn't around at all, "Trixie agrees with you there, where is Nicolas?" As that was asked, suddenly some clouds began to form above Ponyville. Both Twilight and Trixie looked at each other confused. The weather ponies didn't say that it was going to be rainy tonight. As it begun to rain, what both notice about the raindrops is that instead of the normal sorta clear water, it was red and it looked like blood.

"What in the world? Blood rain? What is going on with the weather?!" Twiiight was trying to think of a solution as to the scary weather. Then out of nowhere, a figure in a dark cloak appeared in the town hall. Everyone saw the mysterious pony and were questioning his timing of the unusual weather. As more begun to rise, the mysterious pony rises up into the with a pose strikingly similar to that of Trixie and stops the blood rain. He removes his cloak and revealed himself. Twilight recognized who the pony was and his costume was bringing back bad memories of that incident.

Nicolas revealed himself in his dark form, he decided to use this as a Nightmare Night costume as he does this a lot of times in his world. He comes down the stairs almost eeriely and greets the mayor, "Hello Mayor. How is Nightmare Night going? Surely all of you aren't scared to see me like this right?" He sees the citizens being very scared upon seeing him. He wondered if his entry was a little too drastic or a little too scary.

The CMC got a different opinion on him however as they were in awe at seeing his form, "Oh my goodness, you look awesome Nicolas."

Hearing that from the little fillies made him happy to hear that, "Thanks, you four sure are brave to come up to me like this."

"We know. *squee* Come on, can you show something that is awesome so we can make this the best Nightmare Night ever. The blood rain was cool, but it was a little scary." The CMC couldn't hold their excitement, they wanted to see Nicolas do something outstanding.

Nicolas was wondering what to do at this time. He had an idea, but with the people really scared of him now, he needed help to ensure that they were safe, "Hey, do you girls think you can help everyone here get back on their feet? I need them to know that there is no worry."

The CMC nodded and went off to do their thing. Nicolas took a deep breath and walks around the town. Upon getting to some of the sections of Ponyville, he sees Twilight and Trixie next to each other. He walks up to them and shakes them just to be certain that they weren't scared.

Twilight looked up to see Nicolas in his dark form although looking happy compared to last time, "Nicolas, you there?

"Yes, why do you ask?" He helps both Twilight and Trixie get back on their hooves and cleans up their costumes for them.

"Remember the last time you were in that form?" said Twilight bringing up what happened last time.

"Oh, that. No worries, I have control over it, I only lose it when I get really injured or really agitated."

"I see. Well I heard what the CMC said. What do you think you want to do?"

Nicolas was wondering about it. He has a lot of things he can do to impress the ponies here, but it was hard to choose which one was best for them, "To be honest, I don't know."

Luna was walking around looking for something to do when she saw Nicolas in that state. At first, she was getting worried that he went into a rage or something of that catagory. Over time, she noticed that he was laughing in that form and in a good way. She decided to go up to him just in case that he wasn't corrupted, "Hello uncle, how are you feeling?"

Nicolas turned around to see Luna all happy to be in the festivities and a little surprised to see him at this state. Considering that the holiday was suppose to represent her, he would have expected Luna to enjoy Nightmare Night, "Good, how about you?"

"It is going well. To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to show up especially in the state you are in, I honestly thought that you were going to, *ahem*, 'blow a fuse.'" Luna couldn't help but put that pun out there though she thought she executed it poorly.

Nicolas was getting where Luna was trying to get there, "I see where you are going Luna." Now that Luna was here, he was at least happy to celebrate it with one of his former students. He notices that most of the citizens have calm down for the most after that blood rain. Thinking on what to do for Nightmare Night, he had a brilliant idea that might be perfect, "Twilight, Trixie, Luna. I got myself an idea." Upon hearing that, all three listen to what he has to say. After discussing it to the three, they wondered if it was all right. All looked at each other and agreed to it. They set up the stage for the grand finale for Nightmare Night while calling all of the citizens to the city hall. While everyone was gathering to the stage, Nicolas looked around to see if there an able ponies that want to join in the fun. The only people that wanted to be a part of Nicolas's idea were the CMC and the seven as well as Luna. Twilight was having trouble trying to make her friends accept Trixie for who she is now. Nicolas comes and tries to describe all of the details that Twilight may have missed from her conversation with them. By the time he finishes the speech, they gave it a second thought and decided to trust her for now. As they were prepping themselves, Nicolas goes out into the stage and begins his part of the play, "Thank you all for coming to the stage, sorry if my sudden surprise scared most of you. As you may have already know, I will be hosting a play for you. It's not based on Nightmare Night, but the meaning of friendship. Here, you will hear the grand tale of a fairy from another world that embarked on a quest to not only save her friends but her own world as well." Nicolas leaves the stage and begins the narrating.

Twilight makes her appearance as one of those fairies.

"There was once a fairy by the name of Lip. Known as the fairy of flowers, she was a bit tomboyish yet cared for her friends. When she heard that monsters have begun to cause destruction to their home world of Popple, it was up to her to free her friends and defeat the imminent threat."

Twilight says her line and begins her part by heading for the cloud floating in the air. Nicolas used some of his magic to create the effects for the whole play. "The first of the fairies she has to rescue was the Fairy of Wind, Windy." Rainbow Dash appeared above the cloud looking down at Twilight, "Windy is good friends with Lip and is sometimes mischievous. For her, she is good to everything in the sky." Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight sternly looked at each other as they were beginning for a fight. One of Nicolas's points was that in this play, the fairy Lip has to fight her fairy friends to free them from someone's control, "But with her being under someone's control, Lip had no choice but to fight all of her friends as it was the only way to free them from the control." The fight began as both charged at each other. Nicolas began the fight with a flash as they saw the both of them not holding back on each other. Everypony was in awe when seeing the intensity of the fight. The whole crowd was cheering for Twilight as she was beating Rainbow Dash. As the fight came to a close, Rainbow Dash managed to regain her composure realizing how much she was having fun for begin a part of this play. Twilight helped Rainbow Dash get back to her feet.

"Lip has managed to defeat Windy and freed her from the control. With one of her friends freed, she goes with Windy to rescue the next fairy." Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight walked over a rainbow and jumped into the next area, "The next fairy was the user of ice," Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere and surprised both Rainbow Dash and Twilight, "As the Fairy of Ice, Sherbet may look cold-hearted, but she was just a calm and sweet child." Pinkie prepped up her party cannon. Her cannon was encased in ice to look like she was using an ice spell, "Windy comes in and takes Lip's place for the fight. Lip allows it and the fight between the wind fairy and ice fairy began." Both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie begin again with a bang as both did their respective moves, no thanks to Nicolas's magic. Again, the fight was intense as expected, however, unlike the last one, this one was much more erratic as both of them caused more craziness. As the fight drew to a close, Pinkie was hopping around all happily to enjoy this.

"Windy has managed to defeat Sherbet, freeing her from the control." Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie with a smile. Pinkie also did the same thing back to Rainbow Dash. Twilight pokes and tells them to concentrate on the play at hand. Both nodded and looked at the crowd who were almost on edge as to what was going to happen once they freed them. As the play continued, the fights began to get more and more intense. The fight with Pinkie and Fluttershy as Thiana, Fairy of Nature, was a surprising fight for the crowd, as they never expected the gentle Fluttershy to be a good fighter. The next fight, where both Fluttershy and Rarity, who was Ruby, the Fairy of Jewels was hectic. They also never expected Rarity fight that well, although she fought with a bit more grace then the others. The next fight was a bit of a shocker for everypony, Rarity was going against Princess Cadence, who was role-playing as Elias, Fairy of Water. While the idea of her controlling water wasn't right, the personality and characteristics of Elias were perfect for the Princess of Love. The next fight again almost shocked everypony. Applejack was roleplaying as Flare, Fairy of Fire. The idea of her making fire almost sounded amazing for the whole crowd, especially her family as they look up to her. Both Cadence and Applejack putted up a majestic show as the opposites of one another showed a dazzling array of awe and wonder. Next came Shining Armor who was role-playing as Neris, Fairy of the Sea. While not much of a singer and water user, being a friend to Elias was the one idea that fitted him for this role as Cadence was playing as Elias. After both Shining Armor and Applejack putted up another show of grandness, what came after was a no brainer. As everypony has access to the script to the play, they expected Princess Luna to play the part of Selene, the Fairy of the Moon, and she indeed play the part well. Shining Armor was a little hesitant to fight the Princess of the Night, but after a morale boost from her sister, Twilight, he became ready to fight the princess. At the last moments of beating her, Shining Armor felt a little proud of beating her, but went back to the play at hand and helped her back up.

"Lip has managed to free all of her friends, however, the monsters were still wreaking havoc over the world of Popple. As all looked at each other, all decided to head to the one place they never checked. Lip takes all of them and heads into Death Mountain." The name itself sent chills down everypony as they begin to wonder what kind of monsters lurked inside the mountain, "As Lip made entry into the mountain, she and company encountered the first monster causing havoc. A Phoenix who had a temperament with the fairies who escaped the spell." The way the Phoenix looked made the crowd scared. Compare to other phoenixes they saw, this one was more intimidating. Nicolas was paying off with his magic as the first three monsters were made by him. While they were illusions, they can still hurt them thus they literally had to fight to the best of their abilities. Luna made the first stand against the Phoenix who managed to speak to them. Nicolas was doing the voice of both the Phoenix and the next monster once he was defeated. The fight began and it almost made everypony silent. Luna was using magic beyond what everypony saw as she was actually having trouble beating this illusion. As the fight began to get more intense, Luna was able to deliver the finishing blow on the Phoenix and the beast disappeared from sight never to be seen again. Luna was barely able to stand up from that fight. Nicolas came in invisible to the crowd and healed her. Luna was a bit surprised to see he putted that much effort into those illusions. Nicolas scratched his head in embarrassment after realizing how much power he put into those illusions. Nevertheless, he continued the play with no worries. As Twilight and company continued the walk, the next enemy shows itself, and to Spike, it didn't feel right to him. A Dragon appears in front of them with his fangs bared. Luna was planning to take the stand again, but Fluttershy stopped her and decided to do this fight. Luna was hesitant to allow her, but after seeing her fight with Pinkie, she allowed her to do it. Fluttershy looked at the Dragon who was looking at her, with a craving for her. The fight begins with the Dragon breathing fire at her. Fluttershy dodged the incoming fire and went straight into the beast. Normally, she would try to calm the beast down, but knowing that this one was an illusion, she didn't mind actually fighting one for once. The ordeal grew more and more intense as both opponents were equal to one another. At the last second, Fluttershy was able to hit the final blow defeating the Dragon and making him disappear from the play. Fluttershy was breathing heavily from the match, but was okay from it. The whole crowd was literally on the edge of their seats as they were reaching what they thought was the true mastermind to the destruction of the world.

As the group finally reached the end of the mountain, the ground below them began to darken as if somepony was coming to meet them and to their surprise, that somepony was humongous, "At last, the fairies have reached the mastermind to the cause of Popple's demise." That said thing very much made almost everyone shiver just from seeing the monstrosity, "I am the Demon King Thanatos! I am impressed. You managed to beat both the Phoenix and the Dragon, but now you must stand against me!" As the crowd was wondering who was going to fight the Demon King, Rainbow Dash decided to make the fight against him. Trixie who was watching this from the crowd, thought that Rainbow Dash was going crazy. But she remembered that anything she finds a good challenge, she would rise up to it. All she could do was watch as to how the fight would go. Rainbow Dash and Thanatos looked at each other sternly until Rainbow Dash made the first move. The moment the fight began, everypony was literally hoping that she might win. They red the script and know that, but seeing the whole fight made them forget about it. Each time they try to land hit on them, they would always counter each other. The last few moments of the fight ended in victory as Rainbow Dash was able to land the finishing blow on him. As the Demon King vanished from sight, everypony thought that the show was over. That is, until some petals were falling from above the mountain. The crowd was wondering what was going on as this was never written in the script they were given.

The group, however, knew what was going on and continued with the play. They looked around the place and another being appeared where Thanatos was standing. To the crowd, they thought that this thing was the true mastermind and the moment she talked, it all made sense to them, "I am the Goddess Cordelia! You shall not proceed any further! Turn back, turn back now and I will let you live." Within that time, the whole crowd knew that this one last fight would determine the fate of Popple but they also wondered who was role-playing as this Goddess? Even though all of this was a play, everypony was on the edge of the seat wondering how this last battle will go. Twilight decided to go and face her as she was main fairy of the group. The group didn't object to her and let her do the final part. Both the Goddess and Twilight looked at each other as both are waiting for the right moment to strike. Everypony was almost antsy on wondering who was going to deliver the first blow. As time was passing, Twilight made the first move. What resulted from this fight was a grand show of epic proportion. Just all the effects from the group and Nicolas made everypony go in awe. As the last few minutes of the fight reached beyond a simple play, it became clear that it was close to the epic finish. The last moment, both the Goddess and Twilight both delivered their final hits. As the last petal fell, before the Goddess went down, she said something that befuddled them, "I was defeated. I am happy now… I was able to meet fairies stronger than I. We'll meet again." She then disappeared leaving no trace. The whole group left Death Mountain as it begun to return back to its normal mountain and the flower that held the fairies bloomed. The whole was just about to celebrate until Twilight noticed someone coming, "Hold on a second! Someone is coming here!" That person was Cordelia, who kept her promise when she said that 'We'll meet again,' "Oooh! Cordelia! Do you still want to fight us?" At that moment, Cordelia begun to laugh befuddling all of them. She revealed herself and to everyponies surprise, the pony role-playing her was Princess Celestia, "You did truly well!" The group was almost in shock having not expected her to role-play. Still they continued with the play with Twilight starting the conversation, "Ah! Mother!" Everypony went almost silent after hearing those words. The others said their lines finishing off with Cadence asking a question, "Why are you here Queen?"

Celestia having surprised nearly the whole city of Ponyville answered Cadence's question, "All the monsters were illusions I created. I merely tested your strength…I needed to see if you could govern the new world."

"A test?" said Fluttershy who was looking at everypony.

"New world?" asked Applejack.

"What do you mean?" Cadence asked.

Celestia answered in a royal tone unlike Luna's, "In the future, a new generation shall give shape to a new world."

"We will create the new world!" said Shining Armor.

"At last, out time has come!" said Rarity.

Luna said her part almost in her royal voice, "Yes, we will all shape this world."

Celestia once she said her part, realizes the many wonderful things that this world, Popple, shares with Equestria, "This world's new Queen shall be… the Fairy of Flowers! You, Lip!"

Twilight comes out of hiding within the group having a surprised face, "Me? I'm the Queen?"

Celestia began to see the story of this whole play. From the intense trial, to the monsters lurking, and finally to picking the new queen, she begun to see that maybe someday, she might try something like this to Twilight only not so grueling of an adventure, "From now on, you shall lead."

At this moment, everypony was finishing their lines all about supporting the new Queen, "Give it your best, Lip!"

Pinkie being the energetic pony said this with a joyful tone, "You have my support."

Fluttershy went to Twilight's right side saying this, "I'll do my best!"

Applejack did the same thing although went to her left, "I'll do my best as well!"

"We'll all do our best!" said Cadence as she went next to Applejack.

"Yeah Lip, have confidence." Saying that to her little sister almost putted Shining Armor in tears having remembering the time they celebrated with each other at their youth.

"Let's create this new world." Rarity was wondering what Popple did look like when she said her line. After all of this, she began to think that maybe it went through a lot of changes.

"Yes Lip! We will!" said Luna having seeing the enjoyment of being a part of the play herself.

With all the lines said from her friends, say said her final lines with confidence, "Yes… We're not afraid of anything. We will protect the new world. Hehe, I'm the Queen!" As she finished her line, the curtains close ending the play. The whole crowd cheered loudly for having seen such a wondering play. As the curtains open once again, the crowd got to see the actors who participated in this play. As the roaring crowd cheered for them, they bowed down having done their part. Twilight who was leading the bow went forward to tell them something of importance, "We thank you all for coming here, but don't cheer loudly for us, save it for the stallion who wrote this play." As she said that, Nicolas comes out of hiding and shows himself in his normal state looking at the big crowd, "Give a round of applause to the stallion himself, Nicolas!" The crowd gave a deafening cheer for Nicolas. He bowed down having not get this loud of a cheer. The only time this ever happen was… never. Nicolas almost wanted to hug the whole crowd but in the end, the whole group did their best as well.

Chapter 5: Into the Unknown

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Chapter 5: Into the Unknown

Gaia Falls
Oct 31 11:00 P.M.

After what Nicolas described his best night ever, he returns back to his home and was about to head back to sleep until he remembered something of vital importance. He looks into the chest that held the Elements of Harmony just in case if anyone took them. They were still in the exact spot where they were. He breathes a sight of relief and looks around the house trying to think on what to do next. He wasn't tired yet so he decided to something until it was 12:00. He wondered on what to do at this time, then recalling the play of those fairies, he decided to draw them out. While getting the supplies for the drawing, he couldn't fathom on where Oni is now. He hasn't done a thing yet and that was making him very worried as he doesn't take this long to strike at a world. He putted it behind for now and went on drawing the portraits. Considering the number of fairies there are, he decided to draw the one fairy that made the most impact on the citizens of Ponyville. He gets some pencils, pens, and some coloring pencils to draw her out. About thirty minutes into the painting, he hears someone knocking at the door. Nicolas was wondering who would come here at this time, regardless he checks on who was there then recalls that only the six, the royal members and Trixie know what it looks like and can teleport here so he was expecting one of them. To his surprise, who he saw was someone he was wondering ever since he first seen her, "Hello? Aren't you Apple Bloom's friend?" The mysterious filly nodded and went in the house without his permission. When she went inside, he felt the exact ethereal presense when she first showed up in the clubhouse making her appearance and timing no coincidence. He decided to follow the filly and sees what she was doing here. The little filly looks at each room looking like she was looking for something. When they made it to the art room, she sees the unfinished portrait. She walks up to it and points at it meaning she is wondering on what it is, "Are you wondering what is that?" The filly nodded in an almost excited way, "All right then, right now it's an unfinished portrait of someone I thought about. Its still in its early stages, but once I'm done, I'm hanging it up. Were you able to get all of that?" She nodded and looked at it once again for a few seconds, then left for the front door.

As she was leaving, she looked at Nicolas one last time and said something that almost made Nicolas wonder on how and why Apple Bloom befriended her, "My name is Ruby. Apple Bloom told me all about you and I wanted to see you personally so I came to this place. It was great knowing you." After that, she left his premises and disappeared into the Everfree Forest with a smile on her face.

Nicolas wondered what just happened, was he imagining it? He thinks about it, then nods no as he wasn't imagining it. The spiritual energy that she was giving off proved she was a real ghost, but what him wonder was that she was a filly. What happened to her, did she die of a natural cause or did someone murder her? The murdering seemed to be unlikely, but her ethereal energy told him otherwise. It felt like she was joyful yet sad at the same time putting the murder highest on his plausible things. Though she was gone, her presense can still be felt in the house meaning that she was here before. While he returns back to the portrait, he was thinking about who was cold-hearted enough to kill a young filly like Ruby. She never deserves death at a young age and was bent on finding out who did it. For now, that had to wait as he was getting the last finishing touches on the portrait, "Poor Ruby. Perhaps I should make another portrait for her." Nicolas gets the other coloring pencils and decided to make one just for Ruby. He gets on its early stages and multitasks on both of his portraits.

Gaia Falls
Nov. 1 5:57 A.M.

When Nicolas wakes from doing the portraits for so long, he see that one of the two portraits is done. He was a little saddened that he wasn't to able finish the Ruby portrait, but otherwise was proud he was able to draw the other one well despite its simplicity.

He wondered how she was doing considering he hasn't seen her in a long time. With one of the portraits done, he gets to the Ruby portrait. With more details being added to Ruby, she actually looked very cute for a filly. He takes a break from the painting and decided to go out and take a breather. While heading out, seeing the Everfree Forest made him wonder about Ruby. Pondering on what was going on with her, she decided to make a visit to Sweet Apple Acres to ask a certain filly some questions. He was about to cast a teleport spell to Sweet Apple Acres until he sees Ruby once again. Ruby was waving at him either as her saying hi or asking him to come. She goes into the Everfree Forest making Nicolas tempted to follow her as well. After much thought, he decided to follow Ruby into the forest and try to see where she is going. When he entered the forest, something about the place felt a little different, it was dark like as usual, but the atmosphere in the place felt a little dreadful, eerie, and melancholic. It was almost like the forest wants to actually trap you inside with no hope of escape. With each second following Ruby, he was thinking that he probably regretted making this decision. As he reached almost to Zecora's house, he lost sight of her in the dark forest, "Great, I knew I was going to regret this." As he wandered off looking for her, he was about to teleport out of here until something caught his attention. He sees a town that was on the border of the Everfree Forest. Nicolas walks into the town and was looking at the city dumbstruck by what he just found.

"Well hello there, welcome to Sunny Town!"

Hearing that, he looks to the left to find a stallion smiling a little awkwardly, "Um, thank you kind sir, but who are you exactly?"

"Ah, allow me to introduce myself, I am Grey Hoof, party planner extraordinaire! You've arrived just in time actually, the party just started! Make yourself right at home, feel free to help yourself to anything."

"A party?" With him mentioning that, it wouldn't be a surprise if Pinkie was around the place.

"Why yes! Today we're celebrating the town's founding anniversary. You're more than welcome to join in the party. Have some food and drinks, enjoy yourself!" Grey Hoof never broke his smile during the conversation weirding out Nicolas a bit there. He has seen Pinkie do that before, but only on rare occasions.

When he trodded away from Nicolas to a stool, Nicolas notices that on the stallion's flank; he doesn't have a cutie mark! Many questions were buzzing through his head upon noticing that, but it was driving Nicolas a little crazy there. "Okay, so this place is called Sunny Town. This is very odd." Nicolas finds this place a bit unusual, since when was there ever a town in the Everfree Forest? He decided to look into the town. He notices that on everypony that they do not have their cutie marks. Normally, they should have found their cutie marks when they were just fillies but seeing everypony having no cutie marks made him question why they do not have cutie marks. He will regret going deeper into the town not knowing of the dark secrets that this town has in store for him.

Sweet Apple Acres
Nov. 1 6:11 A.M.

While Nicolas was checking out the town in the Everfree Forest, at Sweet Apple Acres, the whole Apple family was doing their jobs as usual, from Applejack bucking trees, to Big Macintosh bringing a cart load of applesa, and Granny Smith doing her thing. Apple Bloom was in the barn with the CMC doing whatever thay can do to get their cutie marks. They were thinking of things that they could do from ziplining, to wrestling, and a bunch of other stuff. Apple Bloom looked into the distance of the Everfree Forest wondering how Ruby was doing.

As she was staring into the day, Scootaloo made the first idea of what they can do, "Oh, how about we do some magic tricks for our cutie marks? We can learn some from, uh, Qunitis, Quitid, uh how do you pronounce his name?"

"It's pronounce Quintin. You get it Scootaloo? Q-U-I-N-T-I-N, Quintin." said Sweetie Belle in a agitated tone.

"Sheesh, Sweetie, you didn't have to go all fussy on me."

"Well I had too because you kept on forgeting his name! Every time we try to talk with him, you always forget his name."

"Well it's not my fault that he has a hard name to remember or say."

"Are you sure? it wans't hard for me the first time I said his name."

"Well, maybe not for you or Sweetie Nyx, but it sure is hard for me. Apple Bloom, do you have trouble trying to say his name?' All three turn to look at Apple Bloom doing what she did yesterday, looking out of the window and into the Everfree Forest entrance.

Apple Bloom heard Scootaloo's question though only a part of it while she was staring at the entrance, "Huh, oh sorry Scoots, what was yer question?"

"How come you always stare at the Everfree Forest entrance, it's been bugging ever since you started doing that." said Scootaloo concerned

"I actually agree with her for once, why have you been doing that?"

Nyx was being silent for the moment not trying to hurt her, but eventually her curiousity got to her as well, "True, why have tyou been doing that?"

Apple Bloom was hoping that she wouldn't get noticed when she was doing these meeting with them, but since they asked she had a decision to make. Should she tell them it now or never bring it up. She still have nightmares involving Sunnytown when she was there, she was hoping not to recall it once again. She looks at her friends who were concerned for the little filly. She decided to tell them it just so they know what was going with her head, "Ah can't tell you everything, but Ah guess Ah'll have to then." All of them huddle up on her bed ready to listen to what she has to say, "Now while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were doing things, I was going to return back home when I saw Twilight coming..."

Sunny Town
Nov. 1 6:21 A.M.

While Apple Bloom was retelling the horrifying events she had of it, back at Sunny Town, Nicolas was checking out the residents and the town itself. He notices that all of the ponies living here did not have their cutie marks and were Earth ponies only. As he looked around, he sees some of them looked like they were living the peaceful life, enjoying their time here. Nicolas was fairly concerned about the residents here having asked if they know what was going on outside the city and their answer being the same, nodding no. As he looks deeper into the town he notices another way out and decided to check it out. He also noticed a filly about the same age as Apple Bloom, she looked a little distressed so he decides to come to her and ask, "Hello, and who are you?"

She noticed Nicolas in here and was trying to get him out of here though she has mange to mention her name, "M-Mitta. Please you have to get out of here."

"Woah, hold it." He stops Mitta in her tracks, "I haven't even introduce myself. My name is Nicolas, nice to meet you Mitta. Tell me, what are you trying to do and do you happen to know somepony by the name of Ruby?"

"You... You know her?" Mitta asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I have, I was trying to follow her but I got lost and well here I am. Why are you shocked?"

"I-I'm Ruby's best friend."

Hearing that made him almost jump, how is she still alive and well when Ruby is dead? "Mitta, are you sure? I am not trying to be judgemental here."

Mitta nodded and went back into doing what she was doing, "Please sir, you must leave this place, it is not safe here."

Nicolas was a little concerned about this place now if she was doing this to either keep her away or protect her from something. Seeing another dirt path out of the town, Nicolas stood up, pushed Mitta out of the way and went into the area.

"Please, don't go in there!"

Nicolas turned around and looked at her with a smile, "Don't worry about me, worry about me later once I find Ruby." With that said he leaves brandishing off his wings and horn to Mitta.

Mitta sees that the pony she was trying to persuade to leave is an alicorn, she was thinking that he was going to kill himself, but at the same time, she also trusted him if he knew Ruby. Nevertheless she prayed that what he finds out, he will be able to forever maybe put them to rest at last and also prayed for his safety. She then disappears into the night.

He continues onward the dirt path entering a new area. As he enters, he sees Ruby going up north into an abandon house. He follows her into the door only to find out that it's locked, "Locked, great." Nicolas lookes around the house to see if he can find a key to this house when he discovers a well. He looks inside the well and notices a key at the bottom of the well. He uses a levitation spell and pulls the key out of the well. He goes to the door and unlocks it now able to enter inside the house. When he enters the house, he sees that the house was just one big room and it looked barren. As he looks around the empty house, he sees a fireplace that looked out of place. Curious why it was there, he checks it out not noticing anything at the moment, "Nothing here. Nothing but a..." What Nicolas finds will be seared into his mind forever scarring his life, "No... no, no, no, no, NO! What the bucking hay!?" He finds a filly skeleton that looked like it was executed in the most horrendous way possible making him almost sick just looking at it. He wonders who this filly was while trying to get use to the grizzly sight of a pony skeleton. After much thought about the skeleton, there was only one filly he knows that died and it almost made him reach his breaking point, "R-Ruby? N-no, this can't be Ruby. It just can't." Nicolas was trying desperately to deny his claim, but as much as he hates to say it, he has to admit the facts he bought up. This was Ruby's skeleton buried in the fireplace. He was trying to process why such a wonderful filly like Ruby deserved a death like this. He looked at the skeleton once again thinking of all the answer as to why she deserved this. None came and he desperately was trying to cope with what he was seeing.. He couldn't take it anymore looking at her remains and left the house in a hurry. He had to tell some of the ponies there about what he just saw, anypony that might listen to him even if they ignored him. He slows down on the curve of the road noticing that the lanterns there were off and all that was there was unpenatrable darkness. How could anypony be able to turn off all of those lights that fast while he was in the house? Regardless, he goes in the town albeit a little slowly. As he reached the town, he comes to a complete halt. The town was deserted, every building looked like they collapsed riddling with rot, the grass now looking dead, a lot of mud patches here and there and the darkness of the Everfree Forest returning back. He stood there absolutely still noticing that the whole was absolutely quiet, perhaps a bit too quiet. He slowly trods forward avoiding the mud patches following the path trying to see if anypony was here. He looks into one of the dilapidated building, nothing but rubble everywhere.

Then he hears a sudden growl and a frightening voice shattering the silence, "There was no other way... She would have infected the whole town... We couldn't have that.

Nicolas looks around the place, trying to find who or what said that where he was standing, but no pony was around him, "Where did that voice come from and what did it mean?" He continued forward the forsaken city. With each step and passing second, he begins to fear what was going on. Did Apple Bloom went through the same ordeal like he was doing right now? If so, how was she able to escape what was coming to him? As he was walking, he hears another noise. It sounded like roots tearing apart from one another. He turns to the direction of where the sound was coming from realizing that it was on the same one where one of the ponies he asked was. He tries to recall the name of that pony only getting a slight idea of what his name was, "Three Leaf was his name I think?" He gets closer and closer to the source of the noise not knowing where or what was coming to him. He stops dead in his tracks as a grime-covered hoof erupted from where one of the ponies stood pulling out of the ground a macabre figure of bones, sinew, and rot. He wanted to teleport out of here, but for some unknown reason, his magic wasn't functioning right making it completely useless to teleport out of here.

As it emerged from the ground, the figure took a shape of that of a pony, only it wasn't what it was. It shambled forward with a lurching motion stopping a few feet away from where the alicorn was standing. The creature looked at Nicolas, staring at him with empty eye sockets. A red light was emiting from the dead pony's body as it was raising its vagant skull and was speaking, The curse mark... it befell her this very night" The zombie spoke with a unnatural echo in its voice.

Noticing that the "curse mark" was referring to the cutie marks, he almost went into a fury after what he saw at the house, "You killed a young, innocent filly like Ruby just for her cutie mark!? You ponies are monsters for doing something like that to her!"

She had the mark! ... She had to go!"

"Go where?! Into the hellish world that is here now!? She didn't deserve to die like that!" Nicolas yelled at the zombie pony with all of his anger. These ponies were utterly disgusting, killing somepony innocent like her just for her cutie mark!? They deserved this fate no matter what the consequences. Another zombie pony voice from behind broke the silence.

You... You have the curse mark! You must be gone! You will infect us ALL! The zombie pony charges straight at Nicolas without notice.

Nicolas dodges the charging zombie barely and kicks it in the face. Upon contact of the zombie, Nicolas felt a little dizzy from hitting it. He returns back to his senses and sees that the whole town was out to get him. He gallops for his life back into the entrance. As he was galloping, more were on the chase making his escape much more harder. He punches each zombie coming in front trying to make to the exit. With each punch, he was getting more and more dizzy. He begins to realize that the red light they are emitting takes away some life energy with each hit. Hitting them would be suicide so he decided to avoid hitting them and continue running away from them. As he finally reaches the entrance of Sunny Town, he was getting flashbacks of someone's elses perspective, one that was all too recognizable. It was Ruby's. He sees all of her memories in chronological order from her birth, to her playing with Mitta, to... Nicolas skids to a complete halt far enough from the zombies that are on the chase. The last memory of her's involved her death. The memory was so vivid, it was like that he was watching the young filly's death, something he wished he dare not do, "Stop, don't do that." He couldn't bare to watch the memory, but he couldn't escape it either. With each passing moment, the zombies were getting to him closer and closer while Nicolas was watching the horrific death of Ruby. Nicolas was trying to not watch it but he couldn't avert his eyes from the death, that is until he hears what they when they start the execution,

"Forgive us for our dark deeds."

Forgive them? Why would he want to forgive them? He returns back to his senses and sees the zombies coming closer, he goes in a gallop while thinking about what they said. Forgive them, he wouldn't want to after seeing the execution, but as questions rise, he begins to see why would he want to. They didn't know what cutie marks are and thought they were a curse, and so fear was beginning to rise in Sunny Town. When fear gets to everyone, they don't think rationally well and sometimes go to the extremes. Nicolas was making this guess a very plausible thing from all of Ruby's memories. As that was done, he notices a red glow nearby. He stops and looks around to see if they surrounded him. They were not and it looked like they stopped chasing him for the moment. He still sees the red glow coming somewhere and looks again. Noticing that the red glow was coming from below, he looks down and sees that the red glow was coming from his own body. He almost freaks out upon seeing it wondering what was going on. He looks at it for a moment and grudgingly touches it. The moment he touched it, he felt bones and some dead flesh. He realizes now that he was being zombified. One of the zombie ponies he punched must have transfered the effect to him and it was slowly spreading on his body. He has been through these kinds of situation and narrowly escaped them, but this one was a do or die situation meaning that he has to find a cure fast. He hears some growling from the distance. He turns around to see that they are still on the pursuit for him and runs for his very life. He tries teleporting out of here but his magic was being disrupted by the zombies and the zombification process itself. He was running out of options here and needed help desperately. He looks in his sack he bought with him and finds only some pencils and a letter. He begins writing in the letter hoping that someone will receive the letter. His magic comes back to him but for only a few seconds. He casts the spell and prayed that the spell would work. It did, and the letter was sent. Nicolas turns around and sees them still on the pursuit. He looks at his legs and sees that the condition was getting worse with each passing minute. He was beginning to lose hope, that he might not make it out of this alive, but he continues galloping away from the zombies hoping that whoever he sent the letter to will be able to save him before it was too late.

Library
Nov. 1 6:35 A.M.

Twilight was fixing up the library with Nyx and Spike at the time. She was rearranging the books into ABC order again with new books being commissioned a lot nowadays. Nyx was helping Spike with the rearranging only getting into the higher shelves that Spike can't reach. While they were doing it, somepony was knocking at the door stopping Twilight at the moment, "Coming! You tow think you can handle this?"

"No worries, me, Nyx, and Owloicious got this, you go on Twilight."

"All right Spike, I'm trusting my number one assistant for this." She goes to the door and opens the door. She sees Applejack going a little paranoid upon seeing her reminding of her first time going very paranoid, "Applejack? What do you need? You look like you are going bonkers."

Applejack didn't answer her question. She grabbed her hoof and took her, galloping straight into Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight was trying to catch up with the speedy farmer but was failing at it constantly tripping on things at time. As she was trying to regain her footing. Applejack came to a complete halt and accidentally flung Twilight to the side of the barn. She went splat on the wall slowly sliding down the wall. As she regains consciousness, she that the others were here as well, "Applejack? What is this all about?" The others were concerned as well, wondering what has gotten her into a frenzy today.

"Sorry about pulling y'all out of your time, but this is an emergency." She pulls out a letter out of her bag and shows it to everyone, "I just receive this letter from Nicolas and he needs help badly!"

All looked at each other wondering about the letter, Twilight looked at the letter checking if it was from Nicolas. From the handwriting, to the type of paper being used, this was definitely his letter, "Okay, it is his letter all right, but what does he need that needs all of us?"

Applejack was going a little crazy now more than ever wanting to get to the forest as fast as possible, "There isn't any time to explain! C'mon y'all just follow me and Ah'll tell you along the way." She goes into a full sprint heading towards who know where. The others followed her as well trying to keep up with Applejack.

Twilight was wondering what was going on with Applejack, "Applejack, what has gotten into you? You like you are on a frenzy today."

Applejack did not heeded her words as she was trying to speed up a bit desperately trying to get there.

Twilight goes to a complete halt, "Applejack, you better tell us straight what is going on. Otherwise I am not leaving this spot."

Applejack heard those that time and goes back, "Twilight, I ain't got all day, Nicolas is in dire trouble and he needs help NOW!" She pulls out the letter and gives it to Twilight, "You can read that out loud so that everypony here can understand what the hay is going on. Right now, we need to save him!" Applejack goes into a gallop again, this time with everypony catching up to her.

Twilight opens up the letter and reads it out loud as Applejack suggested while she was running,

To any pony who has this letter,

Time is running out on me. At the moment I am running away from what I can only describe as dead ponies. I do not know what became of these "zombies" but it looks like what happened to them is simple in logic. A curse was inflicted upon a town called Sunny Town where the ponies there are the zombie ponies that are chasing me. Reason they became zombies, I do not know, however, it all comes down what they fear and that is a cutie mark. The townsponies had no idea what a cutie mark was at first and were terrified upon first sight of it. They killed, I mean, executed two ponies that manage to get their cutie marks, one stallion named Gladstone and the other was a little filly by the name of Ruby. I found and befriended Ruby who was a ghost at this time and was following her until I got in the Everfree Forest. I was about to teleport out when I saw the town I mentioned, Sunny Town. It looked fine and a little suspicious so I was investigating why a town was here on the border of the Everfree Forest. As I got deeper into the town, I saw Ruby again and followed her into a house. It was locked, so I had to find a key. I found it in a well and using that key I unlocked the house and went inside. It was empty and it looked barren. I searched around the house finding nothing. I see a fireplace and looked into the ashes finding nothing at first until I found something that almost made me sick upon seeing it.

Upon reading that part, all of them were fearing what Nicolas found in the fireplace. Twilight was dismissing the zombie and the curse at first, but when it got to the town, the deaths of the two, the fear of the cutie marks, and now to what Nicolas founded. She was now beginning to believe what the letter was trying to say and she didn't believe in the supernatural like curses so she couldn't believe it until she actually sees it. While galloping to the Everfree Forest, she was tempted and scared to read the rest of this letter to everypony here, but reluctantly she red the part where where Nicolas found something and at that moment, all were in shock to hear what he found.

It was a filly skeleton. I was utterly in fear of what I had just discovered. I was wondering who this was and the only pony that came up in mind was Ruby. I was trying to be certain that it wasn't true, but with seeing her ghost and seeing what just happened, I knew it had to be true. I ran back to town, I wanted to tell somepony, anypony what I just saw, even if they don't believe me. When I got to the town. The place now looked like it was destroyed, dilapidated by nature itself. While going through the ruins of Sunny Town, right in front of me coming out of the ground were those zombies. They were gruesome as they looked, one charged at me and I kicked it off. I ran away from them as fast as possible, however, the one zombie I kicked has affected me. I am having the effect of zombification. Through all of this, I am still on the run from them and probably at my last minutes of my life if these zombies get me, or if the zombification process completes. Please, any pony who has this, save me before it's too late.

After finishing that last part, the ponies now go in full sprint and pray to Celestia that it isn't too late to save him. They see the Everfree Forest from the distance and pick up the pace again. They enter the forest without a second thought of the risks at hand and disappear from sight.

Nicolas was tired from running from the zombies and the process was almost complete. The curse was affecting him much faster, half of his body being just flesh and bone. Nicolas was losing hope fast and really thought that he was going to be a zombie. He was still running as fast as he can hoping that his prayers come true. The curse was spreading like wildfire and it was really beginning to affect Nicolas not just physically, but now mentally. He was beginning to hallucinate seeing what looks like spirits walking around the forest. He shakes it off and continues the run.

Twilight and the others were searching for him desperately going as far as they can. Twilight casted an illumination spell and made the forest brighter. With the light, they search for him faster, but were still unable to find him. Applejack was beginning to see that this may be a loss cause and was about to accept that he was gone, "Ah don't want to believe it, but Ah think we're too late."

Twilight didn't want to believe it either, but as they kept on searching, they were no signs of him anywhere in this dense forest. She didn't want to lose hope, not now, until they find him. Just as they were about to return back to the entrance, they notice a red glow coming from a distance. It was coming at their direction and it was coming fast. They braced themselves for whoever they were facing. When it finally came out of the shadows, to their surprise, it was Nicolas, "Nicolas, what is happening to you!?" They look at his body and it almost made them sick, Rarity on the other hand went away from the sight and barfed.

Nicolas was so happy to see that someone manage to receive his letter, but he wasn't in a good condition to talk. He tries to stand up, but falters and falls. Rainbow Dash and Applejack carried Nicolas on their backs, "Thanks you six. Sorry you had to see this Rarity."

"N-no problem d-dear, i-it's just..." Rarity again looks away from the sight and hurls.

Nicolas felt sorry for Rarity. He was struggling to fight back the curse as he was losing his strgenth rapidly. He hears some growling from the distance, his mind beginning to flare up, "R-run all of you now!"

They were wondering what he was talking about until they too hear some growling from where they were. They turned around to see actuall zombies coming at them. Twilight was shocked to see actual zombies right in front of her eyes tring to process what she was seeing.

In the midst of her shock, Applejack grabbed her by the hoof and went on a dash for the entrance. The others notice them and freak out running away from them avoiding some of the zombies that were in front of them. They ran and ran trying to get to the entrance before the zombification gets to Nicolas's head. Zombies were now running as well trying to catch up to them. As they see the light of the entrance fillling them with hope that they might escape, a groupof zombies blocked the path looking like they were ready to fight. Applejack was about to headbutt the zombies to kingdom come when she remembers that touching them will result in them infecting you. She couldn't jump with Nicolas on her back, she decided to try to go around the zombie with the minimal amount of space left. She barely manages to dodge the menacing things and makes it out of the Everfree Forest. The others manage to come out as well barely dodging the zombie's touch leaving them in the forest. They did not want to leave the place as they were forever trapped in the place, they return back to the now broken Sunny Town never to be seen again. They breath a sigh of relief that they manage to escape them. They look back at Nicolas and sees that his condition was worsening. The zombification was already reaching his neck and was soon going to cover his whole head. Applejack although tired from running tells Twilight to teleport them to the Canterlot Castle. Twilight nods and teleports all of them to the Canterlot Castle. Applejack screamed out loud to get the princesses's attention.

They hear Applejack's scream and wondered what she needed at this time. They come down to see what she needed and are shocked to see their uncle being zombified. Celestia casts a protective bubble around his head. The zombification stopped once it got to his head. Celestia was barely holding on to her breath when she casted the spell. They take him to their bedroom and put him to rest. Celestia looks at Luna and then leaves leaving her to watch Nicolas. She returns back to the throne room with the six and was wondering what was going on with Nicolas so she asks the six, "You six have a lot of explaining to do, first question, what has happen to my uncle? I have never seen an illness like this befallen on my uncle before."

All of them looked at each other wondering who was going to answer her question, Twilight stepped up and answered her question, "To be honest, I have no idea how to answer the question princess." She pulls out from her bag Nicolas's letter and gave it to Celestia, "This might answer most of your questions."

Celestia takes the letter from Twilight's hoof and reads the letter. As she red the letter, she reads things that made her uncomfortable and were explicitly detailed. From the details of what happened to him, to the death of two innocent ponies who died just for their cutie marks, and to the zombie ponies and the curse itself were frightening to her. Everything written in the letter were questionable when he first wrote as she would have thought about it as a joke, but seeing it her uncle have the curse aflicted on him changed all that. She believed in the supernatural before, but not to an extent like this, "This letter has answered most of my questions, but not all of them." Celestia puts the letter aside and looks sternly at the six, "Tell me, what was he doing there? So far I only know that he was following a filly by the name of Ruby."

The five looked at Applejack who, noticing that all of them were looking at her, was a little baffled why they were looking at her like that. The way they looked at her made her very worried and after a thought process of elimination, realized where she was going with this, "Oh no, Ah am not telling. Ah don't even know why he went there."

"Come on Applejack, you red the letter first and the way you freaked out when you heard me saying that 'I am going nowhere' tells me that you are hiding something."

Applejack putted her hat down in front of her face and was wondering what to do now that she got right into it. It was hurting Applejack's brain just thinking on what to do now that Twilight hit her right on the spot. She pulled her hat back on and went on telling why she freaked out, "All right Ah'll tell ya, but you are probably not gonna believe me Twi."

"After seeing it all? I think believing in it is the least of my worries." said Twilight in a very bewildering yet calm voice.

"All righty then, where do Ah start?" Applejack retold the story that Apple Bloom telling was telling to her friends both while far away from each other, synchronizing with each other all in detail as to what happened while Apple Bloom was there.

Meanwhile, at Celestia's bedroom, Luna was watching Nicolas. She sees that the curse has stop spreading for the mement thanks to Celestia casting that spell on his head. It at least stopped the fast spreading for now. Luna was deeply worried if he was going to make it. The curse had already made its way to his neck while he was running from those "zombies" and it looked like it was getting worse little by little. She prayed that he may still live through this. She was beginning to grow a little tired from keeping an eye him and wanted to get some sleep just for a few seconds, but she had to stay awake foe the moment. She looks around the bedroom and checks out her bookshelf in case if she had any good books to read to keep herself awake, "Magic books, story books, grimoires, nothing interesting here."

As she was rummaging through the books, Nicolas wakes up from his coma. He was dizzy from the zombification and was trying to shake off the dizziness. He looks from where Luna was. He tries to call her but all he could ever do was take deep breathes as he wasn't able to speak. His magic was still being disrupted and can only telekinetically get a hold of a simple paper and a pencil, everything else was as heavy as a ton in his current state.

Luna turns around to see Nicolas breathing and trying to get something using magic. She grabs a hold of them and gives them to Nicolas. She was happy to see that he was still breathing from the incident and alive as well if she were to ignore the zombified body, "Hello uncle, how are you feeling?" Nicolas nodded no back to her. He uses his magic to write out what he wanted to say to her. Luna looks at the paper and reads, "Not so good, I am afraid. This is the worst kind of situation to be in, but otherwise I am fine. Tell me Luna, what were you doing rummaging through Celestia's books?" Luna's face reddened a little bit, "I was just looking for a book. I have to keep an eye on you and I wanted something to read because, well, it is not my kind of thing to just stand around and simply watch." She sees Nicolas move in a motion that made her guess that he was laughing a little bit if not for his zombified body. Nicolas writes something else on the paper. he puts the pencil down and shows it to her, "Do you want to suggest a book for you?" Luna looks at him and nods.

Nicolas tries to get a mental image of the book he desired to bring. It was tedious, but he manages to teleport the book in front of him. He gives the book to Luna who was wondering what kind of book did he get. He gets the paper and writes one last time before he decides to get some sleep.

Luna looks at the book while Nicolas was writing and sees that it looked nothing she or her sister ever saw, in fact, it looked otherworldly. She looks at Nicolas once again to see that he manages to write out what he wanted to say. She reads and now sees what the book is, "It's a very good book of mine, remember the tale I said at Nightmare Night? Well, this is the story itself in full detail."

Luna was a little giddy to get to read something a little more interesting then those old history books. She goes to where Celestia sits normally for reading and checks the contents first. Last time someone gave her a book, it was Pinkie Pie, and when she opened it, what she got was a party blast to her face. She didn't want that to happen again even if it was a little surprising to her. Not seeing a little speck of what would be Pinkie's charades, she opened and upon seeing that it is a normal book, goes to read the story.

Nicolas was recuperating well upon noticing that the curse was wearing off little by little. Seeing Luna read in a little bit of excitement reminded him of his young age when he was bookworm like Twilight. He smiles and dozes off into a deep sleep.

Everfree Temple
Nov. 1 7:24 A.M.

While everyone was taking a moment to rest up, Oni caught up with the history of Equestria and goes to redecorating the old temple. While he was at it, he sees what looked like an abandoned chamber. He goes down to see what this chamber was. He arrives at the entrance and sees that it was locked. He ponders on what it is for a moment and decided to just leave it be. He jumps back where he was and continues. With the asthetic changes done, he gets to the inside and turns it into a maze. He checks if everything was ready. Checking every spot if any detail was missing, he goes to check even his secret areas. Seeing that the place was done. He begins to cast a spell that made the castle float up little by little until it was off the ground and floating in midair. The castle didn't reach to the top of the sky yet as it was taking a lot of his magic to do it. As time passes, he was deciding on when to show himself once again. He goes into the top of the temple. He takes a break from the spell casting and rests for now until tommorow when the hour of armageddon begins.

Chapter 6: Infiltrating the Fortress

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Chapter 6: Infiltrating the Fortress

Canterlot Castle
Nov. 1 7:30 A.M.

Applejack was finishing her story with the five and Celestia looking now much more concerned about Nicolas, "And that is all Ah got to say. Did y'all get the idea what is going on?" All looked at each other and nodded back at Applejack. She breathed a sigh of relief that at least they were able to understand where she was going.

Twilight was a little shocked to hear that from Applejack. She wasn't expecting that to happen to Apple Bloom when she left her. It was something that she would want to put behind for now yet Twilight couldn't fathom on how much did Apple Bloom had to go through. She wanted to apologize her when she got the chance.

Celestia was pleased with what they did for Nicolas. She decided to check up on the two while the others talk it out with each other, "All right then, I will be leaving you six be to choeck on Nicolas. I will call you back once I'm done." Celestia leaves the throne room and walks through the hall into her bedroom. She takes a little peek through the door. She sees that Luna is reading something out of the ordinary. She knocks on the door and enters, "Good day, Luna. How are you doing with uncle?" She looks at Nicolas to see that he was healing well from the curse albeit slowly. She breathes a sigh of relief that they were able to stop it at the moment.

Luna was into the book so much that she wasn't heeding what Celestia asked. She continues on reading the book until she stops at a chapter. She puts the book down on the table and stands up, "I'm sorry there sister, but what did you ask me?"

Celestia was expecting that from her considering that she was reading it fast and with excitement, "I asked if you are doing okay with out uncle." She gives her good smile to Luna and looks back at Nicolas.

Luna was feeling a little uneasy being around the both of them, but they were family after all, "I was fine with our uncle. I take that you are taking my shift?"

"Yes, Luna, I will keep watch of him. You can talk with them if you desire." Celestia sat down on her chair and decided to read what Luna was reading. Now that she was looking at the book, she begun to notice that it wasn't one of her books. Curious on where did Luna get this book, she ponders for a few seconds and decided to ask Luna about it, "Luna, where did you get this book?"

Luna stopped to turn around looking at the book Celestia mentioned about, "Oh, that was from our uncle. He bought the book by using a spell. You can read it sister if you wish to. It is a good book." She leaves the bedroom and walks to the throne room hoping to get the chance to talk with them in they haven't left.

Celestia was a little baffled by what Luna said, curiousity getting the better of her, she decided to read the book. She opened the book and notices a few things that Celestia wonder. Within the front of the book are pictures of things she never saw before. They looked young from their looks, but despite their looks, they seem to be old like Celestia and Luna. They also looked unique from one another assuming that each of them represent what they are. In fact, six of them remind her of the six bearers. She was wondering if it was a coincidence to see this, but nonetheless went on to read the book.

Luna walked to the throne room checking on other things while she was getting there. From the guards that are stationed here, to the garden, and finally to Snowdrop's chamber, everything was looking good for the day. She stops right in front of the throne room doors only to hear what sounds like fighting going on inside. She opens the door with great force and sees that the six are fighting amongs themselves. She stops all of them with a spell that binds them in their place.

The six notice that they are not able to move for some reason. They look around the room and notice Luna casting. They were a little confused as to why she did that at the time. Twilight was wondered what kind of spell was she using yet at the same time also wondering why she did it in the first place, "Um, princess, why did you stop us?"

Luna notices the tone in Twilight's voice making her wonder as well what were they doing, "I should be asking you Twilight, what are you doing fighting amongst yourselves?"

The six looked at each other in confusion wondering on what she meant. Twilight had an idea where Luna was getting, "You mean what we were doing in here? Well, that is kinda hard to explain."

"I am listening." Luna said with a serious tone in her voice. She releases them from the spell allowing them to move out of their uncomfortable positions.

Twilight moved parts of her body to adjust herself back to normal. As that was done, she takes a deep breath, "Um where do I start? Well, I guess I can start on where Rainbow Dash suggested that we do a little 'roughhousing'"

"Hey, I was bored there, and secondly, haven't all of you notice that 'he' hasn't done anything yet ever since out first fight against him?"

They look at each other noticing that Rainbow Dash was right there. They did wonder how, why, and when Oni was gonna strike the moment that Rainbow Dash bought it up. No one remembers how long ago did the fight take place, but it is very suspious for somepony to take that much time to prepare. Knowing that made them very worried at the time. What was going to make this fight a little harder is that Nicolas is out of the fight for the time being. His friends could help, but they seem to have trouble dealing with the demon themselves and they were busy training themselves and others that could fight leaving the princesses and the six to fight him. Twilight has done a bit of studying and training on her part during the time. With new spells learned by Nicolas she was able to hold possibly anything at her state.

Luna was beginning to see what was going when Rainbow Dash interrupted Twilight there, with good reasons to add. Luna then wondered what was the best course of action should he strike. She looked at the six again, "I see that Rainbow Dash does bring up a good point here. Twilight what do you think is the best course of action if he were to strike?"

"Wait you're asking me?" Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing, no less from Luna herself, "I thought you were making the plan."

"I am, I just want to hear your side and see if it is at least similar to my idea." Luna said being patience with Twilight.

"Um, okay then." Twilight ponders on what is the best course of action. Many ideas came up, some of them were a little reckless, putting others that can not fight in the danger was never a good idea. She was limited at the moment thinking very hard on what could they do. An idea struck and it was probably a good idea, "I got one, how about the six of us go ahead where Oni could possibly be hiding and we could preemtively strike at him? Does that sound good, I'm sorta running out of ideas. There might be a better one, but that's all I have." Most of them were in disagreement from the moment she bought it up, Luna on the other hand was the only one to agree to this.

The others were surprised to hear that Luna actually agreed to her idea. They were going to rant on her until they momentarily realized that they were yelling at the moon princess. They settled down for the moment, though they still asked why she agreed to this, "Princess, why do you agree on this? Cause to be honest, that is crazy there."

Luna explained as to why she agreed to this, "It is simple in logic, even with my uncle out of the fight, you six are able to possibly stand against him. I've begun to notice that the Elements of Harmony were drastically improved."

Upon Twilight hearing that, she was wondering if Nicolas ever told her about what happened after the fight with Trixie, "Um, princess, I have a question. When did you know about the Elements gaining a sudden boost of power? Did Nicolas ever tell you about it?"

Luna nodded no from the last question and answered the rest, "My sister and I are still connected to the Elements of Harmony, we may not be able to use them, but we can still feel what happens to them. In fact, that suden surge of energy from the Elements of Harmony did something to you and my uncle didn't it?" Twilight was shocked to hear that from her, she was now wondering what to do after that question. Luna notices the sudden facial expression from Twilight hinting at something did happen to them, "Well, are you going to tell us or not? You can not hide it Twilight Sparkle." Luna was firm on what she said and looked at her with curiousity.

Twilight was trying to think of a way to hide what both Nicolas and herself discovered, but with everypony eyeing her, she was running out of options at the moment, "All right, you got me." As Twilight said that, Nicolas comes in, his body still looking like a zombie though half of his body was cured from the curse. Twilight was wondering now what his reaction now that he knows what happened. She apologizes for in case she hurted his feelings, "Nicolas, I'm so sorry about this."

He raises a hoof to her mouth silencing her for the moment, "Don't worry, Celestia told me about it, you didn't break the promise we made." Nicolas goes into the center point of the throne room. He waves for Twilight to come near him. She responds and goes near him, "Now, I'll show what we discovered." He pulls out from his bag the seventh element. The five and Luna were dumbfounded by what he showed them.

Celestia had already expected this when she felt the sudden surge of energy from the Elements, but he said that wasn't what they had discovered, whatever they discovered, she is about to find out now.

Nicolas also pulled out the rest of the Elements of Harmony from his bag. He concentrated some of his magic on his Element and manages to release some of the power that the Elements were hiding. The Elements reacted and surrounded Twilight only. Due to the zombification he can not transform at the moment. The Elements start taking some of the energy from the other six bearers and fuse it with the magic within the Elements. After that, they begin to spin around Twilight at an alarming rate. The moment the rainbow aura surrounded Twilight, some of the physical changes happened already. Twilight's mane and tail turn into fire and she gains fire wings alongside her fur turning white like Rarity's coat. After the aura disappears and Twilight shows off her tranformation to the Royal Sisters and her friends, they realize that what they discovered proved almost too much for them to take in.

Celestia was the most shocked yet proudest of the others. She had envisioned her to be that special somepony that would defy all odds the moment she became her student. Seeing what she became now proved what she believed was true. Celestia looks on Twilight with delight on what she has acheived.

Nicolas looked first at Twilight from the transformation, and then to her friends who look upon her in awe. They run up to her in joy and scream cheers from seeing what Twilight now can do. Four of them were glad that she was able to pull this off at the moment. Rainbow Dash was the most jealous. She wanted one like hers only in her idea, and she was getting a little giddy from the idea. Nicolas couldn't help but chuckle a bit from Rainbow Dash, "Don't worry, all of you will have your own form like Twilight, but for now, you are gonna have to discover it yourself." They all looked at each other, jumping with excitement that they might be able to unlock their hiddden potential. As he was watching them jumping with joy, his body began to weaken again from the curse. Luna grabs him on the shoulder and helps support him, "Thank you Luna, guess I still haven't fully recovered from the zombification yet." Nicolas with the aid of Luna walks to the garden and allows himself to get a breather. Part of the curse was wearing off now making half of his body not zombified. He still would need to rest until the curse wore off. At that time, he returns back to the throne room only to find out that they already left. He smiled and was about to go back into Celestia's bedroom until he sees Snowdrop's chamber again. He decided that now would be a good time to do some praying. He goes into the chamber and kneels silently praying to himself.

Golden Oaks Library
Nov. 1 8:30 A.M.

Back at Ponyville, Twilight and the others returned back into their homes hoping to get some gear ready should Oni strike. While Twilight was prepping, she begun to notice that Trixie wasn't around the library. She stops to look for her. She looks around the library from the kitchen where she sees Spike cooking some food. She smiles to him and leaves him be. She goes upstairs and finds her at the balcony looking up at the sky. She walks up to her to check if she was okay. She notices that she was admiring a rainbow that was recently made from Cloudsdale. She goes next to her and also looks at the rainbow as well.

Trixie turns to the right and jumped upon noticing Twilight was next to her. She didn't overreact from seeing her, but it did give her a scare. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself and decided to chat, "Hello Twilight, how are you doing at the moment?" She returns her gaze back at the rainbow.

Twilight was a little speechless from the beauty of the rainbow, but did mange to at least answer Trixie's question, "Oh I'm good, how about you?" Twilight looks at Trixie who was looking a little sullen.

"Trixie has been wondering. Do you really believe in Trixie that much?" She avert her eyes back at Twilight who was baffled by what she meant.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight in confusion.

"Trixie was wondering why you started to trust me as a friend now. It has been bothering Trixie." Trixie went off the balcony and into the library to see if there was a book to read.

Twilight followed her wondering why would she ask that question. She answered her in a way that made Trixie almost shed a tear upon hearing it, "It's.. well... It's because like what Nicolas said, you are fighting for something you love. It shows me that there is something out there that you care for, that you would give your life away to protect them. Personally, it's the same for me as well I guess." Twilight goes into the kitchen to check on Spike to see if he was going well with the cooking.

Trixie was now pondering on what she really desired now that Twilight mentioned it. What does she want? All her life, she wanted to be the best of all the unicorns, even her family supported her from behind. Now, with newfound knowledge on not only Twilight, but Nicolas as well, she was ever more confused on what she truly desired. She putted the questions behind for now.

Ponyville
Nov. 1 10:24 A.M.

Everyone was doing their daily thing and training as well as time went on. Applejack had asked Big Macintosh to time her while she was bucking as this was her way of training. Rainbow was helping Fluttershy with her speed though it was not going so well. Fluttershy was trying to catch up with her speedy friend at times and although she has manage to catch up to her, Rainbow Dash would hasten her pace so that she would be ahead of her again. Shine, Dova, and Eagle were with the two pegasi with their training and since has then supported Fluttershy throughout the training. They manage to get accoustomed with their wings and also manage to at least able to match Rainbow Dash's normal speed. Rarity was with Rosette and Quintin for the magic training. She was adapting well with their magics although she was uncomfortable with Quintin's dark magics. Twilight and Trixie continued their training with Nicolas on his magics. Pinkie was doing something she considers training to her, though to her friends, they thought she was just doing crazy stuff. All continued their training for what seemed like forever continuing to cover each others weaknesses and boosting their strength up to their limits. Nicolas was taking a breather from the training and continued his painting of Ruby. With each passing second, he was putting more detail into the young filly alongside her friend Mitta who he just recently drew next to Ruby. He begins to wonder not if but when would Oni begin his assault. Considering how many days have without incident of him, he bets that tommorow will be his time of attack. He looks at his own body wondering how fast can he recover from the curse when that day comes. As nighttime falls, everypony heads back to their homes and sleeps for the night. Nicolas was also planning to get to bed until he feels a familiar presense around his home. He goes out to check on what it was and sees nothing. He shakes the feeling off for the time and returns back into his bedroom and goes into a deep sleep.

???
Nov. 2 8:57 A.M.

Nicolas was running as fast as he can from whatever he was running from. As he turns around to get a better look he sees his friends being consumed by an unusual manifestation. He stops and runs back to them to try to stop whatever it was from taking over them. Every time he tried to stop it, he would end in a failure. They would deliver a heart-breaking scream and plea for his help. He kept on trying to help them escape the things grasp, but no matter how hard he tried, they would slip through his hoof and eventually succumb to the darkness. Time and time again, he tries to rescue all of the ponies that were grabbed by it only for him to fail every time. He tries one last time on the last pony that was resisting. He makes to the last pony, it was Twilight and she was in full fear of the entity taking over her body. Hr tries to save her again, only ending in failure. Twilight delivers a heart-breaking scream loud enough to be heard a kilometer away. Seeing that he wasn't able to stop it and now it was trying to take him in its grasp, he runs for his dear life. With each passing second, the manifestation was getting closer and closer to Nicolas getting ready to take the fearful alicorn. Nicolas sees a light from the distance praying that he might be able to make it out alive, however, the manifestation manages to get ahead of the speedy alicorn and blocked his only way out. Nicolas turned around fast to try to escape it again only to realize that it surrounded him. He tries to fly out only for it to stop him in his escape. He looks around the wall of the thing hoping to find a way out or find a weakness in it. As he was looking desperately for a way out, the manifestation began to grab hid his hind foot and slowly pull him into a hole. He manages to pull this hind hoof off the thing only for it to grab all four legs. It pulls the panicking alicorn in managing to cover most of his body leaving his upper body remaining for the hopeless struggle that Nicolas was going against. He tries to cast magic on the thing, again, only increasing its speed once again. As it manages to get up to his neck, Nicolas was now panicking much more than ever trying to find a way to remove the malicious entity. As it finally covers much of his face, he takes one last look into the sky before his vision became completely blacked out by darkness. The alicorn was floating in a dark realm with his body covered by the malign entity. The entity takes control his body and moves it to get adjusted to the new body. Once it got adjusted to the body, it finally opened his eyes to reveal a demon's eyes, a red pupil with black surrounding the pupil.. Nicolas wakes from the nightmare screaming. He takes a few deep breathes from the haunting nightmare pondering on what and why did that nightmare occur. He looks at his body and sees that the curse was almost gone. Half of his body was still zombified, but was slowly fading. He wonders what the nightmare was all about. He has never had a nightmare that felt so real that he felt like he was actually succumbing to whatever was trying to take over his body. He decides to walk outside and breath in some fresh air to get the horrible dream out of his head. Dreams like that can only make him think of one thing, was it a premonition dream? As he was about to head outside, a letter popped out of thin air presumably from Spike. He picks up the letter and reads the contents.

Dear Nicolas

Come at the Canterlot Castle right away, your nemesis just struck the city from out of nowhere. All the citizens of Canterlot are okay. We manage to find out his location and are waiting for you to begin the meeting.

Sincerely,
Celestia

Nicolas red it just to be certain that he wasn't imagining it. After one thorough reading of the letter, he teleports from his house to Canterlot. Upon teleporting to Canterlot, the grand city was almost in utter ruins. Building have been partially destroyed, the castle looking dilapidated, and the citizens going on a panic from the attack. Nicolas gallops to the castle hoping that they are all right. Throughout the castle, most of the rooms were safe from the sudden attack by Oni. When he enters the throne room, everypony there including the two sisters were all right, "Sorry everypony, I didn't expect him to suddenly attack the city at this time."

Everypony looked at each other and smiled back at him. That made Nicolas feel a little better. Celestia stands up from her throne, "All right now that everypony is here, we can begin the meeting." Celestia pulls out the map of Equestria and pinpoints the location of Oni's new hideout, "I believe me and my sister manage to find Oni's new hideout right here." She points with her horn where she possibly found his hideout. Her horn was over the Everfree Forest but the tip of horn was on the old castle that both Celestia and Luna originally ruled on. Many looked at each other wondering whether she was right or not. Celestia casts a spell of the old castle of once she knows, "This was how it orginally looked like..." Celestia shows them now what it looks like, "Before he transformed it into a flying fortress." Celestia dispels it seeing everyponies's reaction to the new castle, "We recently discovered this fortress during his raid on Canterlot while we were gone. Thankfully, Twilight and her friends were there. Had they not been there, I wasn't so sure if Canterlot would still be able to stand." Celestia gives them a thank you gesture.

Everypony looked at the six and also congradulated them. Nicolas looks at the fortress that Celestia discovered. He was studying where all entrances and possible exits are. As expected from his nemesis, there was only one entrance and that was also their only was out. No windows, gates, anything that could be a way of escape was noticable but the obvious. As Nicolas was still studying the castle, everypony wondered who was going to go enter the fortress. Everypony was suggesting that the six would go enter the fortress. Hearing that from everypony made Nicolas go on the alert, "Wait, haven't you notice the outside of the fortress yet?" All looked at in confusion wondering what he meant. Nicolas turned the castle to the frontal view of the castle pointing at the only entrance available, "Notice that there is only one entrance? I faced Oni enough times to know that this fortress is probably a trap itself."

All looked at the entrance beginning to understanding where Nicolas was going. Though they understood what was at risk, the six were determined to infiltrate the fortress and stop him, "Nicolas, I know that you are worried about us, but I think that we are able to do this." Twilight looked back at her friends who were eager to get their hooves on Oni.

Nicolas looks at the eager bearers who looked like they were going to be on a frenzy if he should continue to hold them. He pondered about it for a few seconds, then looked at them with a smile, "All right then, I guess I can't keep you here for long. Please be careful though, I'll try to come with you as soon as this curse wears off because you are dealing with a enemy you have no history of." Nicolas shows them telepathically what happened through all the battle they had with each other.

As the six was watching all of the battles waged, they now begin to realize that once the fight starts, there was no going back. As the flashbacl of all the battles ended, they looked at each other one last time before looking at Nicolas who was worried for their safety. They bow to Nicolas as a sign of them leaving and Twilight teleports them all to the entrance of the castle.

Nicolas was deeply worried about them. Despite that, he putted in a lot of his faith on them succeeding on this quest. With that, he goes into the garden and watches them.

As they manage to teleport in front of the fortress, the fortress goes into full alert and resurrects chaosbringers to strike on the six. The six charge at the charging chaosbringers and fight to the bitter end. Twilight was casting multiple spells from time-inflicting spell, to damaging, and to support spells on the malign entities and her friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were teaming up pummeling the fiends down one by one while still having their fun competition, "How many did you get Applejack?"

"I got 125 and counting..." Applejack bucks a chaosbringer on the chin breaking the skull and launching it into the air, "How about you?"

"126, hah I'm one ahead of you." Rainbow goes sky high and does a Sonic Rainboom within close proximity of the ground making a rainbow explosion, "Now I got 150 and counting."

"Oh no, you are not gonna me Rainbow." Applejack hastens herself and continues hitting them while charging like a bull.

Rarity and Fluttershy teamed up as well using diverse tactics. Rarity was bringing gems from beneath the feet of the entities and launched them upward hitting them directly below the torso. Fluttershy was carrying Rarity while at the same time doing some aerodynamic shuffiling on some of the fiends that have no wings launching them high up into the air leaving Rainbow Dash to hit them while they are stranded in the air.

Pinkie Pie was helping everypony at random times doing things that almost broke reality. From pummeling enemies with what looks like a hammer twice the size of Celestia, to dancing around the chaosbringers wiht portals bought up by Twilight just to distract them, to calling multiple versions of herself with just a whistle. At one time, Pinkie grabbed Twilight from behind and carried her like a spear. She pointed her horn at the charging enemy and spun Twilight's tail like a wheel and shot multiple magical shots from her horn. She putted her down and continued her way of offense. She was almost an equivelent to Discord, maybe exceeding beyond his normal powers.

Twilight was casting support spell on her friends as well as herself easing the battle a bit. She has done on certain occasions healing spells to cure her friends. She never thought that she would be fighting something beyond Celestia's strength. He could resurrect these ancient beings and even the two princesses can't do a resurrection spell of that caliber. She was now wondering if they can beat him with one element short. She putted these thought behinds and continued her barrage of spells.

While the six were continuing the charge on the fortress, Celestia and Luna were preparing themselves for the worse should it come. Alongside Nicolas's friends, they casted a barrier strong enough to hold off a meteor shower. As they make ready themselves, Nicolas looked at himself noticing that the curse was almost gone. He prayed that once the curse finally wears off he can assist the six bearers. For now, he helped his friends and his former students with preparing the defence of the city.

Trixie was watching from the castle's spire the entire fight happening above the Everfree Forest. She was now wondering ever more on what to do now. She helped with training some of the guards with what Nicolas taught her. She had hoped to join in with Twilight on the assault of the fortress. She still has the hope of them surviving within her heart, but at the moment continued watching the battle with renewed hope.

Continuing their charge, the bearers were making a slow and steady progress almost making it to the center of the fortress. They continued beating the chaosbringers down while Twilight dispeled the resurrection circles placed all over the castle. As they were getting closer and closer to the main room, more chaosbringers were charging, and from the looks on them, they evolved from the immense power given to them by Oni. They beared fangs and wings from Oni himself and can now cast powerful dark magics. One of the chaosbringers begins casting and shoots a dense beam of dark energy at Twilight. Twilight casted a barrier in time before it made direct contact on her.

Rainbow Dash went first into the new chaosbringers only to get almost shot down by another one of those beams. She stayed behind Twilight for the moment to ponder on what to do even though she wasn't the smartest of them all.

Applejack went into the chaosbringers dodging the beams with near close calls when one of them almost touches her body. She gets close enough and delivers a powerful uppercut into the jaw on one of them launching it into the air.

Rarity saw an opportunity and casted a gemstorm from below the enemy. Some were able to block the intiial hit before it was complete, others were not so lucky and were hit with a barrage of sharp gems. Rarity decided to go into the frontlines and charges at the fiends. Fluttershy followed from behind and grabbed her on the frontal hooves lifting her into the air. Rarity telepathically gets some gems from her bags and shoots them at the entities hitting one of them directly on the head.

Twilight dispels the barrier and also follow Applejack's lead. She casts an ice spell creating an ice shard from below piercing the soon-to-be-dead chaosbringer. Rainbow Dash flew above one of the chaosbringers and grabbed the malicious thing. She tosses the entity into a wall breaking it from teh sheer impact and making it fall from high up with its wings broken.

Pinkie manages to do her thing and gets her party cannon out of her bag. She fills it up with presents that are booby-trapped and fires them at the remaining chaosbringers. When the presents were in close proximity of their bodies, Pinkie popped out of one of the presents and throws a pie at their face blinding them. She then proceeds to pull them into the present where sounds of a machine and drills were heard inside the present. The others looked at the present as it was sparadically moving around the one spot where it landed. As the present comes to a complete halt, Pinkie pops out of the present covered in blood.

Twilight casts a water spell to clean her of the blood that was covering her. All wondered what she was doing inside the present when she popped out, but at the moment decided to leave it behind their heads and continue their march. As they see some lights in the main room, more of them popped out of nowhere this time with drastic changes. They now looked like complete hellspawns in the image of Oni. They all casted spells on the six bearers.

All of them dodged the dark explosion targeted on them. Twilight casted a fire spell on them only for it to be completely nullified. Rarity tried to telepathically carry her gems, but her magic was not functioning right. Both looked at the demon spawns and noticed that one of them was nullifying both Rarity's and Twilight's magic leaving them to rely on their physical strength. Thankfully, for Twilight she trained on the physical strength so she could handle herself. Rarity on the other hand was almost completely defenceless, she did take lessons in karate when she was in Ponyville, but she still did not have an earth ponies strength's. Fluttershy supported Rarity with her flight and went straight with Rarity on the hellspawns.

Rainbow Dash tried to grab them from above but they were able to notice her without looking at her and shot a magical beam at her. Rainbow Dash barely dodged the incoming barrages of dark beams. She retreated behind Applejack who went galloping straight into the chaosbringers. Rainbow Dash followed her lead and went charging behind her. Both dodged the numerous beams launched from two of the demons.

Twilight was able to go even wwith one of them in combat but even she wasn't able to handle with two of them coming at her. She braces herself until Pinkie popped out of nowhere and hitted one of the chaosbringers leaving Twilight with the one that was disabling magic. She went galloping and rammed herself into the fiend stopping the magic that jammed theirs.

Noticing that her magic was back, Rarity pulled out her gems from her bags and telepathically shot them at the two that were shooting at them. Both dodged the gems being shot at them but were not expecting a barrage of them being shot. They get caught in the gemstorm. With the gems being sharp, some parts of their skin was being scratched. The barrage stopped and they were covered in wounds almost deep to the bone. With one last effort, Fluttershy tosses Rarity into the two wounded demons with full force, making Rarity a literal harpoon. She pierces through one of them so fast that no blood was on her the moment that she landed. The first one falls to the ground and disappears leaving behind a black cloud of dark energy. Fluttershy flies fast and delivers a powerful punch to the chest so hard that it launched the hellspawn right through multiple walls and finally becoming a black smoke cloud upon hitting the outer wall.

Rainbow Dash also flies fast and headbutts one of the remaining four chaosbringers. She breaks through the ceiling and continues rising high into the sky until she performs a Sonic Rainboom on the spawn itself. The demon instantenously became a black smoke as soon as the Sonic Rainboom was done.

Applejack also does the same thing as Rainbow Dash except after her headbutt, she delivers a kick on the face of the entity launching it right through where Fluttershy made the hole. Upon seeing daylight, the hellspawn turns into a black cloud leaving nothing behind.

Twilight now noticing that her magic was back telepactically carries the demon into the air. When it was high enough, she pulled the entity down into her hoof breaking the skull upon contact.

Pinkie grabbed the last one who was struggling to get out of the pink pony's grip. She tosses it into one of her unopened presents and enters it as well. As that was done, nothing outside the present was happening. No sound, no movement, nothing happened whatsoever making the others worried about Pinkie Pie. At the last second, the present opens coming out of it was a black smoke cloud and Pinkie wearing a gas mask. She takes off the gas mask and puts it in her bag. She looks at the others endearingly with a devious smile on her face. The devious smile made them cringe a little making them wonder what she was doing in the present. Nervertheless, they continued onward until they finally made it into the main room of the giant fortress. They see Oni messing with what looks like a skeleton of a pony.

Oni noticing that they finally made it into the fortress dropped the pony skeleton and looked at them with a devilish smile, "Why hello there my little Elements of Harmony. How was my fortress going? Did you have trouble getting here?" He couldn't help but chuckle a little bit from that hello.

Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof down getting ready to hit the demon, "No, it wasn't so hard. In fact..." She begins her charge, "I'm gonna smack that pony face." As she almost was in close proximity of Oni, she punches only to find a barrier surrounding Oni. She tried with brute force to break through the force field, but she gets pushed back by an unknown force.

Twilight tried to dispel the barrier around Oni, but her spell was failing to remove the barrier.

"Ah ah ah, you are not going to do that." Oni casts a spell that canceled all of the ponies specialties, from unicorn magic, to flight, and to the earth ponies's strength. As Oni was done with the spell, they begun to notice that they weren't able to their specialties. Oni then calls upon more choasbringers. They tried to run away from them, but Oni made preparations should they try to escape. He seals the door with an unbreakable magic. The chaosbringers manage to bind the six constricting them with their own bodies. Oni watches as they were strugglionh to escape their bonds, "It's no use trying to struggle out of those, you'll just end up making it tighter on yourself." Oni makes the bonds go tighter on them making them almost choke on the bonds. He loosen the bonds a bit and continues where he left off on his speech, "Now, where was I? Ah yes, now I remember." Oni stands from where he was and walks up to the ponies, "You six were very easy to almost make unconscious upon my first battle with you although these 'chaosbringers' did most of my work." Oni looks at each one of them. They glared at him making him a little satisfied, "Now question, where is Nicolas? He should have been with you six. Oh don't tell, he was afflicted with a zombification curse." Oni uttered a deep but happy laugh upon remembering about it.

"How did you know about it, we never told anyone about it!" asked Twilight in disbelief.

"Oh come now, are you that stupid? I red your minds upon you entering my fortress. I was a little surprised to see that he was afflicted with a curse like that. That must be a very strong curse if it were to do that to an angel." Oni returns to where he was sitting, "Now let us play a game shall we?" Oni opens a portal from below the six bearers and they fall inside the portals uttering a scream. Oni was going to delight himself once they make it to the dungeons. At that time, he would be able to do what he had planned to do once he saw them in the books. He enters a portal he made into the dungeons with a demonic smile.

Chapter 7: Corruption of the Mind

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Chapter 7: Corruption of the Mind

Fortress Dungeon
Nov 2, 11:46 A.M.

"Ugh, is everypony here?" Twilight manages to stands up from them crashing on the floor. When she manages to get up, everything around was silent. She was beginning to get worried when they don't call back. She calls them again, "Applejack? Rarity? Pinkie? Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash!?" Her calls echo through the dungeon, but they still do not respond back making her very worried. She illuminates the dungeon she is in and discovers that she is in a dungeon cell. She tries to break out of the cell with little success. Pondering on how to escape, the dungeon doors open by themselves. She was wondering why did the doors open much to her shock, but nonetheless exits the dungeon cell and searches for her friends. She hoped that they are safe and can meet up with each other, but unbeknownst to her, Oni has plans for the remaining five.

Applejack manages to regain her consciousness when they went into the portal. She gets and looks around to see if anypony was with her. She wasn't able to see anything through the pitch darkness. She tries using her sense of touch to find something that might be able to help. After some stumbling around the cell, she feels something on her hoof. She manages to pick it up with her mouth. Whatever she grabbed on, she might be able to use it as a torch. For a few seconds, she tries to find a match to light whatever she was holding with little luck. After what seemed like an hour lurking in the darkness the thing she was holding onto emitted an eerie green light. She was at least happy that the thing was able to glow without all the hassle of finding a match. When she turns around, the dungeon doors open. She goes out of the doors looking both ways debating on where to go. She goes to the left hopefully finding anypony while she is walking to unknown areas.

Rarity stands up from the collision she had to ordeal from the portal. She looks around and sees absolute darkness. She illuminates the place and see that she was in a dungeon cell. Normally she would freak out a bit from the unsanitary conditions that the dungeons have, but didn't because for some reason, the dungeon was clean. She goes to the door pondering on what to do. The doors opens suprisingly fast making her back up a bit from the sudden opening. She goes out of the cell and looks around. She tries to call for them by yelling their names out. Even with the echo going through, no pony responded back. She walks through the gigantic, everexpanding dungeons hoping to find something that might help her.

Rainbow Dash was among the only pony that was able to avoid crashing on the ground. She looks around the cell and sees a light from a distance. She walks there and sees that it was a torch. She grabs the torch and using the torch tries to find a way out. She finds the cell doors open already. She goes out and sees that the dungeon was a big maze. The size of the maze reminded her too much of what happened with Discord. She shrugs off the memory and continues walking through the dungeon.

Pinkie manages to regain consciousness in a matter of seconds after they landed. She looks and sees only pitch blackness. She was use to dark places like this and continued to hop forward accidently running into the cell doors while trying to go forward. She looks around the cell and sees a torch from the distance and hops over there to grab it. As soon as she grabs it, the dungeon doors open. Pinkie looks at the doors not thinking of what was beyond them and continues forward.

Fluttershy woke up from the incident only to see pitch darkness. She was about to scream her lungs out, but regained control of herself. She looks around the cell hopefully to find a light source. She sees a light from the distance and slowly walks over there. She sees the torch and grabs it. Like what happen with Pinkie, the moment she grabbed the torch, the doors opened suddenly. The big bang the doors emitted scared Fluttershy a little bit. She leaves the cell noticing that no one but her was there. She looks forward and sees four ways she can go. She ponders on where to go then decided to take the middle path not knowing what awaits her.

Oni was watching the ponies hopelessly wander through the mass dungeon. He specifically made it a maze so that it would be hard for them to actually find each other. He looks at one of the ponies and sees that she was heading to a dead end. Oni heads to where the dead end was to meet her face to face.

Applejack was looking around her hopefully finding any secrets that she may have missed. If there were any secrets, they were hidden very well. She continues forward until she runs into a dead end, "*sighs* Dead end." She was about to turn around until she heard something. She turns back to the wall only to see that it wasn't there anymore. She was baffled by that and though she might regret it, she continues forward. As soon as she passes through, the wall behind her closed. She reacted and tried to kick it out of her way. The wall was hard as metal. She scratches her head in confusion as to what was going on. She turns and looks directly into Oni's eyes. She jumped back a bit from the sudden surprise. She regains her composure and looks sternly at the demon. Upon trying to attack him, her feet weren't able to move. As she looked down she notices that she was binded on the spot where she was. She tries to struggle out of the bind only for it to fail. She stops and looks at Oni again.

"Well, looks like you are in a predicament." Oni walks closer to the cowgirl pony giving her the look again. She looks away from his eyes trying to avoid eye contact. Oni grabs her chin and pulls it to his direction, "Now, what am I going to with you?" Oni lets go of Applejack and walks back to where he was with his back turned.

Applejack wanted to pound the fella's skull, but with her hooves binded, she couldn't do a thing to him. She was furious about what he did, seperating her from her friends, "Y'all better me what happened to them, or so help me once get out of this Ah'll knock your skull out." Applejack was trying very hard to get out of the bind with little success.

Oni mockingly laughed at the threat he was given, "My my, you sure are a stubborn one..." He looks at her once again and begins to cast a spell on her, "But it's futile to try to escape." He casts a spell on her knocking her out cold and putting her into a deep sleep. He then walks slowly to her and proceeds to touch Applejack's head. She manages to link his mind to her's beginning what he desired to do on them.

Sweet Apple Acres
Nov 2, 11:56 A.M.

Applejack wakes up from her dream and notices that she is in Sweet Apple Acres. She gets out of her bed and sees her brother and sister playing on the field. She heads outside and upon stepping on the ground, everything began to change drastically. Her brother and little sister weren't where they were and the farm looked abandoned. She went into panic mode wondering as to what was going on. Out of the shadows came Oni who was smiling menacingly, "What did you do to my kinfolk?! Where are my siblings!?" Applejack went charging into Oni only for her to go through him.

Oni laughed at her. He was enjoying the pony's futile attempts to hit him. When she eventually realizes that she cannot hit him. He pulls out a filly skeleton out from his pocket and show it to Applejack, "See this skeleton?" Oni tosses the skeleton within close proximity to her legs, "It's your beloved grandmother Granny Smith."

Upon hearing that from Oni, Applejack was in utter shock as to what she was seeing. She tries to shake it off praying to Celestia that what she was looking at wasn't her beloved grandma. She quivered in fear after seeing what she was looking at.

Oni was enjoying every moment of her suffering like this. He pulls out another skeleton and tosses it at Applejack again, "There's your brother Big Macintosh..." He pulls one more thing from his pocket. He takes out a decapitated head of her sister and show it to Applejack.

Whe Applejack sees Apple Bloom's decapitated head in front of her, she was literally in tears. She was trying to convince herself that this was just a dream. She tries everything to believe that it wasn't true, but the nightmare was unbearable to her. She looks at Oni trying to hold the tears.

Oni notices the expression in her face. It was almost priceless seeing her face. It was full of anguish, sadness, almost all the negative emotions he can think of. It felt satisfying to see the pain, the misery, the thrill of seeing hie enemies's face. He looks back at her smiling with excitement, "Aw, what's the matter? Are you too scared to fight me now?" Oni was chuckling from the sheer amount of joy he was having, "You are pathetic, you are not a brave pony, you are a coward. A lonely, backstabbing coward," Oni looks at her one last time before he leaves her to her 'dead' family. He couldn't help but laugh one last time as he left although he wished that she putted up a better fight. He would have much more fun poking at everything she holds dear. He hoped that the others would put up a fair fight against their worst nightmares.

Applejack looked at her 'dead' family members. She was into so much shock and sadness that she wasn't thinking straight at all only able to utter a few words, "Why... Why did this have to happen to me!?" She uttered a heart-breaking scream while holding her beloved sister's decapitated skull to her chest. She let the tears run freely while again still holding her little sister's skull.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov 2, 12:04 A.M.

When Oni let go of his hold on Applejack's skull. He begins to like what he was doing. At this time, Applejack has gained drastic changes from herself. Her fur coat was a slight darker tone of her original fur color. When she opened her eyes, Oni was overjoyed at the new Applejack. Her eyes have green shadow flames, her feet changed to a black color and within her Element, the spirit of Applejack was entombed by her own Element. Oni was happy to see that he managed to corrupt one of the bearers. Now all that remained are the other five, "One down, five more to go." Oni creates a portal and tells Applejack to enter. She obeyed his command and entered the portal back into his throne room. He uses the walls to check on the other ponies that were hopelessly wandering around the dungeon. Four of them were getting lucky so far into not running into a dead end. However, he notices that the gem lover, Rarity, was heading into a dead end. He heads to that dead end and waits for his quarry to come.

Rarity was beginning to not like the predicament she was in. She had hoped not to be in this situation, but she was in it and there was no hope of getting out of it. She continues and sees a dead end. She was fuming a bit from running into a dead end, but upon closer examination of the wall, the wall disappeared and she was able to see what they were trying to defeat. Within a few meters away from her was Oni who was glancing at her with those soul-piercing eyes. She enters the room and hears a slam. She turns around and see that the entrance behind her was closed. Looking back Oni, she begins to telekinetically shoot gems from her bag.

Oni sidesteps each one of the gems being shot at him, "Really? Is that the best you can do?" Oni begins to move in on Rarity in almost in a blink of an eye.

Rarity manages to create a jewel barrier around herself before he could make contact. She makes the barrier create spikes around her and shoot those spikes at him as well. She looks through her peeping hole only for her to make eye contact with Oni's eyes. Rarity manages to look away from the eyes.

Oni dodges each shot of those gems while trying to find a way to remove the barrier around her. He manages to create a clone of himself with some magic and let's the clone take all the hits while he himeself becomes invisible. The gems hit the clone directly leaving behind a blood splatter on the wall. Now he waits for his quarry to remove the barrier waiting patiently like a hunter.

Rarity heard those gems made contact with the demon. She looks through her peephole just in case to check out if he was truly defeated. She looks through and sees a blood splatter on the wall. She dispels the barrier and sees Oni's clone believing that she bested the demon.

Oni sees that she hasn't noticed that the Oni she killed was a clone. He uses the opportunity to grab on the skull of Rarity. He dispels the invisibility spell upon getting close to her and grabs her head. Rarity was in shock when she saw him. She didn't have enough time to react and got caught in the demon's grip. Now Oni manages to make a link once again with Rarity's mind once again spreading his corruption.

Carousel Boutique
Nov. 2, 12:12 A.M.

Just like Applejack's, Rarity wakes up from her slumber on a design sheet that looked unfinished. She takes a look at the unfinished piece and realized it was one of the designs she scrapped. She looks at it for a minute, then leaves the table only for her to hear something out of place. She turns around and notices that the table disappeared from where it was and what was left from it was a black paper. She goes next to the thing not knowing what was going to happen and picks up the paper. She looks at the thing and sees nothing of importance on it, but upon closer examination of the paper, she sees something that almost made her puke right on it. She sees what would have been a zombified Nicolas. She tosses the paper away from her and tries to regain her composure. She looks at the paper again and sees that the paper was starting to move on its own. It was moving eeriely moving in to get closer to Rarity. Rarity went to the door and tried to escape. The moment she opened the door, she almost fell into a black abyss surrounding the boutique. She closes the door and looks at the paper to see that it was now became white with red markings on it. She wanted to stay away from the paper not wanting to read what it said, but her curiosity got the better of her and decided to read the paper. When she picks it up and reads what was written on it, it almost made her want to jump into the black abyss.

You're Next

Oni comes out from one of the closets in the boutique. He was being delighted in scaring her hoping that she might fare better then the last pony, "Well, were you scared?" Oni pulls out her gala dress and looks at it. The design, the beauty, the way it was done made Oni sick upon looking at it, "This was I believe to be your most favorite dress if I presume?"

Rarity was in a state of fear wanting to stop him from ripping her most precious as it reminded her too much of her first trip to the Grand Galloping Gala, "No, please don't shred that dress! That dress is important to me!"

"Oh really, well in that case..." Oni gets a torch from his pocket and brings it within close proximity of the dress not wanting to burn it yet, "I might burn it then." Rarity uttered a strong 'NO' and charged at Oni who sidesteped out of the angry unicorn's way. Oni putted the torch closer to the dress making Rarity more furious about not wanting to destroy it. She tried numerous times to stop the demon from burning the dress from charging at the monstrosity to casting even the dark magics taught by Quintin to prevent him from doing it. Oni was enjoying her anger, it felt satisfying to him. He decided to not wait any longer and burns the dress.

Rarity now was into an almost berserk state not thinking rationally at all, only wanting to hurt the fiend for burning the dress up. When she went to deliver the last charge at him, she manages to make direct contact with him lodged in her horn. When she looks at what was presumably Oni, what she saw momentarily scarred her life. Her horn was not lodged in who she was targeting, but her own little sister Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle was in shock from seeing that her own sister would do that to her. Rarity pulled out her horn and noticed that it hit her heart putting her in complete shock. She tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault, that she didn't want to do that to her. Sweetie wanted to believe her, but she succumbed to her injuries and dropped onto Rarity's hooves with a sullen expression on her face. Rarity was trying to not believe what she just did, but with everything she just witnessed herself, she went to the verge of tears.

Oni appears next to her reveling in the intense sadness that she was showing, "Aw, you killed your own sister. How delightful." Oni walked to where she met her eyes looking instead at the 'dead' corpse of her sister.

Rarity wouldn't look at the atrocity and uttered only a few words to him that made her realize that she was on the verge of going suicidal, "Buck you."

Upon hearing that from the generous Rarity, Oni realized that he struck a nerve on her. He was now seeing the anger on her face and it made Oni more anxious to inflict more pain on her, however, he decided to leave them alone, "Well, I didn't expect that from the genorous Rarity, but I'll leave you with your 'beloved' sister." Oni leaves out through the black abyss and continues walking through until he was out of Rarity's line of sight.

Rarity was left alone with her dead sister who was in her hooves. She wanted to not let this happen to her, but she was killed by her own sister making her feel guilty beyond words. She decided to do something that might make Twilight go absolutely rant on the 'Don't do this' ordeal. She goes upstairs and puts her sister down on her bed gently and begins to search for what she desired. She looks around the boutique trying to find something that may help ease her pain. When she enters the kitchen, she sees what she was looking for, a knife. She picks it up and goes to walk upstairs slowly. She sits next to Sweetie and contemplates on what she just did, "Sweetie Belle, you are the best sister I ever had. Nothing will ever change that." She then proceeds to stab herself on the heart with the knife. She pulls out the knife out seeing it cloaked with her blood. Before she falls next to her sister, she looks at her one last time. Her sister looked like she was at peace, she smiled and dies right next to sister with her foreleg over her sister.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov 2, 12:24 A.M.

Oni wasn't expecting her to have commited suicide when he entered her mind and played with it, but nonetheless was happy to have seen that. He was at least a little glad that she did putted up more of a challenge to corrupt than the bearer of the Element of Honesty. Oni steps away from her and sees that the transformation was already done. She gained a shadow flame from her purple, purple to be exact. Her feet became a little black. Her spirit was as usual, trapped inside her Element. Oni did begin to wonder why their spirits were trapped inside the Elements, but nonetheless was happy that they can still see through their Element. He creates a portal for Rarity to enter while he uses the wall to see if there is anypony heading for a dead end. Only Rainbow Dash was close to heading to a dead end. Considering that she represents loyalty, he has a few ideas on what to do. He heads to the dead end and waits for Rainbow Dash.

"Ugh, this is sssssoooooo boring," was all Rainbow Dash could say. She was in the dungeon for no one knows how long. She's been through many paths not finding a single path that leads out of the dungeon or finding her friends while looking for an exit. She did plan to just simply fly out of the dungeon, but the walls reach all the way to the ceiling preventing her from taking the easy way out, "Why do the bad guys always take out the easy way?" She kept on continuing despite her boredom trying to find the one way out of the dungeon. She goes through what she considers her last path and continues until she hits a dead end, "Aw come on! A dead end!?" Rainbow Dash takes a breather and decides to take a rest. She lays down on the floor and takes a nap hoping that someone else finds her here.

Oni wasn't expecting sompony to doze off in a dangerous place like his dungeon, especially somepony who has a lot of energy to actually take some time to slumber, "Huh, she just made this a little easier." Oni sneaks up on the pegasus slowly hoping to not alert her of his presense. Whenever Oni got closer and closer to the sleeping pegasus, his mind begins to alert him that something might go wrong should he mess this up and he was indeed worried about messing up. As he got within arms length of the pony, he begins to wonder if he should carry her into the room. Momentarily after thinking about how to carry him, he smacks his head for not realizing that he can just telekinetically carry her from where he was before. Nevertheless, he levitates her inside the room wothout a single sound being made. As soon as the pegasus was inside the room, Oni closed the door silently. To his surprise, the pegasus woke up unexpectedly and struggled to get out of the telekinesis. It was easy for Oni to keep hold, but the pony was struggling hard making it harder for him to concentrate. The moment he got to the center of the room, he lost his concentration and released the bearer.

Rainbow Dash flew up high to avoid getting grabbed on. She has an advantage over Oni from the fact that he is at least a part of the unicorn species while Rainbow Dash was a pegasus. Though she can't avoid the telekinesis, she was fast enough to prevent him from concentrating too hard on just the telekinesis. She begins the assault on Oni by first trying to gain some speed over the demon by ramming into him while dodging his spells.

Oni tried to get enough concentration to hit the fast pegasus, but with each time she tries to ram onto him, he has to stop concentrating and dodge her preventing him from doing any spell, "Annoying, pesky little cunt." Oni creates a rock barrier with a stomp hopefully making her run into the wall.

Rainbow Dash wasn't expecting the wall like that to appear with just a stomp, but she manages to avoid it with a sharp turn upward. Now knowing that Oni can do other things that don't require his magic, she goes into full alert and tries to hit him while avoiding anything that might harm her. As she was trying to hit him and avoid all of his traps and moves, she manages to gain some speed and momentum to do the Sonic Rainboom. As she was debating whether to do it or not, the demon almost grabbed her by the foot when she was thinking about it. She decided to do it despite knowing the risks of performing a Sonic Rainboom within a building as the sheer force may break the whole dungeon. She ascends up high where she almost made contact with the ceiling and descends downward at increasing speeds while locking on to her target.

Oni begins to notice that upon her making contact with the ceiling, that she was going to do something reckless yet powerful enough to actually hurt him. Within the time he has, he manages to create a barrier around before the rainbow pony strikes at him. As he was close to completing the spell, Rainbow Dash made contact with the ground and did a Sonic Rainboom within close proximity of the ground creating a rainbow-colored explosion. Everypony within the fortress felt the ground shaking from the explosion making them wonder if Rainbow Dash was fighting Oni or she was being reckless. Regardless, all of them decided to follow their instincts and pursued to the epicenter where that explosion.

As the smoke begins to clear, Rainbow Dash was heavily injured from doing the Sonic Rainboom that close to the ground. She slowly limps to the wall where she recalls the door closing and takes a breather there. She sits down and takes a look at the smoke. She wonders if she had beaten him. No one would have been able to survive an explosion that close even with a barrier around them. She was about to walk out until something within the smoke gets her atttention. When the smokes clears, she goes into shock.

Oni was completely unfazed from the explosion no thanks to the barrier although it did left him with a severe burn on one of his hooves. Nonetheless, he was able to shrug the explosion as nothing, "I have to admit, that was a bold move there." Oni concentrates on putting all of his dark energy into healing the severe burn, "Had I not made that barrier in time, I would have been burned and be nothing but an ash waiting to be blown away." As Oni manages to heal the burn slowly, the injured pegasus tried to stand up and run, but she was too weak to even move whatsoever giving Oni an easy chance to begin his corruption. Oni walks slowly up to the pony as she was trying desperately to get up and run.

As he was within arms range of Rainbow Dash, she begins to lose some hope of escaping. She decided to brace herself for whatever Oni was planning to, "Go on. Do your worst." Rainbow Dash said in utter digust to Oni

"Oh I will, you on the other hoff are going to regret saying that to me." Oni slowly brings his hoof over her head and makes contact on her head. Rainbow Dash was utterly dazed upon contact. Oni starts to look for her deepest fears through her head and finds what he was looking for. Now he begins the torture within her head.

Cloudsdale
Nov. 2 12:41 A.M.

Rainbow Dash wakes up from her coma and sees that she was in Cloudsdale. What she wasn't expecting was that Cloudsdale was in complete ruins. She stands up and walks around the now burning city in the sky. As she looks around the city, she sees many things that make her queasy. As she continues, she sees dead pegasi everywhere. The way thay are killed was almost indescribable to her. One of them looked to be Cloudchaser, her whole body was singed. The next one happen to be Flitter whose head looked like it was about to explode. Every time Rainbow Dash looked at the corpses of many of the pegasi, she was close to doing projectile vomiting as every corpse was worse then the last one. What seemed like forever, she felt like she was walking into a graveyard that held too many things to look at. At the end of it all was nothing but what was suppose to be a wasteland heading into nowhere. She sees Oni who was holding onto something. As she was getting closer, memories of her friends were coming to her, each ended with a grostesque sight of them beated mutilated by this monstrosity. She wanted all to go away, she knew she was supposedly the bravest of them all, but even she has a limit.

Oni never thought her worst fear was seeing her friends and all the pegasi in Cloudsdale die in the most gresome way possible. At the very least, he was enjoying the torment he was giving to her. She was expecting this fear to be bought with the purple unicorn, but not this one. This made tormenting her much more enjoyable, "How does it feel to see your friends die and all your kinfolk die by my han... er, hooves?" Oni was starting to really miss his human body already.

Rainbow Dash didn't answer his question back. She only manages to deliver a weak punch to his abdomen. After that she falls unconscious. Her life flashed before her eyes, memories of her friends and he numerous adventures they had. They felt so surreal that she wanted to be a part of it and just begone of this nightmare. After what felt like forever, her eyes close and she goes into a deep sleep.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov. 2 12:50 A.M.

"Tsk, yours was a little too short for my taste." Oni takes his hoof off the pegasus and looks at his transformation into the darkness, "But all's well, it ends well." Rainbow Dash's eyes gain an orange shadow flame. Her rainbow mane has a shade of black at the end of both her mane and tail, and her feet and wings was patterned from a deep red colorto orange and finally creating a flame-like pattern with her feet having black shoes. Best of all, like Applejack's and Rarity's, her spirit was trapped inside her Element preventing her from ever taking control of her body again. He creates a portal for her to enter and upon doing that, he hears footsteps coming from where Rainbow Dash just entered from. She goes to check and sees that Pinkie Pie was coming this way. Oni was confused with this one the most. How was she able to not be scared of anything, why is she always in a happy mood, and what does she do to be joyful. Those questions always ring through Oni's brain everytime this pony came up in mind. She is probably one of the few ponies he might actually have trouble trying to corrupt.

Pinkie Pie was hoping happily as usual trying to find a way out of the maze to which she considers fun. As she was wandering around aimlessly, she begins to wonder if the maze was moving on its own or that she was just imagining things. She takes a look around where she was standing and begins to turn to where Rainbow Dash went.

Oni sees her coming and sets everything up for her arrival. As she was getting closer to the dead end, he looks back and begins to notice that things might actually get more interesting with the hyperactive pony so long as she doesn't know this ahead of time.

Pinkie continues forward of the same path where Rainbow Dash went into not knowing that Oni was waiting for her. As she reaches the dead end, she pokes around the wall endlessly trying to find something intriguing. As she poked one last time, the walls open themselves granting her to a new room. She hops over to the center of the room and stops there.

As the wall closes behind her, Oni appears right next to her ready to grab Pinkie's head. Much to his surprise, Pinkie narrowly avoided the demon's touch. Oni casts a binding spell on her to prevent her from escaping him. Again to his surprise, she also dodges the spell. Oni was beginning to see that this one was indeed going to be a hard one to get his hooves on.

Thanks to her Pinkie Sense, she avoided two things from the demon. She turns around and sees that he was preparing a spell. She throws one of her presents towards Oni.

Oni dodges the present, "What the... Really?" As he looked at the present, he returns his gaze back at where he last saw Pinkie and see that she disappeared, "What in blazes!? Where did she go!?" As he looked around trying to find Pinkie, he looks at the present again. He notices that the present was moving slightly, he opens the present and out popped Pinkie as she delivers a solid hit to his face. The force from that punch was strong enough to push him close to the wall. Oni regain his composure, shocked to see that she was able to pop out of the present and hit him directly. Oni went on the defensive now knowing of what this pony was capable of. He was starting to like the idea of corrupting her as those kinds of techniques may prove her to be a worthy adversary and ally to Oni.

Pinkie was very excited to start this battle with a bang. Now she starts to go on the offensive by pulling out her party cannon from her bag. She fills it up with ammo and begins firing it at Oni.

Oni dodges each one of those presents each one of them having a different effect from the last one. One of the presents he dodged made an explosion strong enough to probably wake up someone from a mile away.

Pinkie Pie changes tactics and shoves herself into the cannon. As all the presents begin to decline in number, Pinkie pulls the trigger from her cannon and fires straight into Oni.

Oni hears another boom sound from the cannon. When he looks into the direction of the cannon he notices that Pinkie launched herself with the cannon. Oni creates a rock barrier in the hopes that it is strong enough to stop it. He then preceeds to create multiple versions of himself hopefully to baffle the pony.

As Pinkie manages to break the wall Oni created. She goes to a complete halt and notices that Oni wasn't behind the wall he made. As she looked around herself, she sees multiple versions of Oni. As she has been through this situation before back at the wedding, her Pinkie Sense manage to improve throughout her life. Her Pinkie Sense reacts upon the first of many Onis trying to strike at the pony. She ducks under the illusion of Oni and delivers a punch at the abdomen. As the others come at her simultaneously, she preps herself and begins firing off some confetti she got from her bag, blinding a few of them in the process. She moves away from them and begins her barrage. She places mines disguised as presents around the whole room. She enters one of the presents and closes it. One of the Onis come within close proximity of the mine and upon making contact with the mine, explodes with the present turning into smoke. Pinkie sees that through one of the presents and notices another coming to the one she is in. As that Oni opens it, it was met with a knife on its throat resulting in it going into smoke. Pinkie then went into a different present and reshuffled the other presents.

Oni was beginning to see the enjoyment in torturing and making her one of his slaves. While she was annoying to deal at the moment, corrupting her made this worth it. He did begin to wonder what was her worst fear. It might be something that may baffle him once he finds out. He told one of his clones to open one of the presents. That clone opens the one in the center of the room. As he opened it, he got pulled in the present by a powerful force. As he forcefully entered the persent, it closed and begun to move wildly. The real Oni wondered what was going on inside the present. The moment the present opened, smoke came out of the present. Oni was beginning to get really annoyed now and decided to cancel the clone spell.

When Pinkie saw that he was canceling his clone spell, she did not hesitate to strike at the demon. She popped out from the present behind him and went for the finishing blow.

Oni grabbed the pony right behind him. He smirked as he finally managed to get the slippery pony, "Thought you could attack me from behind." Oni gets his hoof close to her forehead as the poor soul was struggling to get out of the grip, "Sorry there, I've seen that trick numerous times for me to develop a keen sense of when somepony is gonna attack me from behind." Oni puts his hoof on her head, beginning the corruption. As he was beginning, the hyperactive pony was actually trying to resist his spell. This was indeed one of the few cases where someone, or somepony, was strong enough to resist the spell. He has had this happen before, but it wasn't long before he manages to get to Pinkie's deepest fears.

Sugarcube Corner
Nov. 2 1:02 P.M.

Pinkie awakens herself strapped on what appears to be a table. Next to the table are an assortment of tools. As she looked around herself trying to find out where she was, a bright light was emitting blinding her for a few moments. The light toned itself down revealing Oni right in front of her face. Pinkie struggled trying to get out of what was coming to her, however, the straps were too strong for her to escape.

Oni was enjoying her useless struggle. When he first looked into her mind trying to find her deepest fear, it was shocking to see that she has almost no fear whatsoever. As he continued getting deeper into her brain, he begins to notice that she has a big secret that made Oni almost a little wheezy and almost joyful at the same time. He decided to relive the secret she was hiding to her, "Why hello there Pinkie. Look around, know where you are and what you are strapped on?" Oni turns the light on at full strength allowing her to see the decapitated heads of her friends on the wall. Pinkie was in utter shock to see that happen to her friends and begun to realize that he was going to relive what she was hiding ever since she went into that state. She tried again to struggled out of the table, but the straps kept on getting tighter and tighter restricting her of movement.

Oni begins the torment by making an incision on the abdomen. As he was doing it, Pinkie's muffled screams echoed through the room. To Oni, it felt satisfying to do something like this to a pony. He stops making the incision as soon as he reached the lower parts of her body, "How does it feel to have that same torment you did to ponies to you?"

Pinkie was only able to say a few muffled words to him. She was trying to not shed a single tear from the pain she was feeling yet she knows this was just the beginning.

Oni noticed that she wasn't struggling at the moment. He wondered if she passed out already or she already realized that it was useless to struggle. Regardless, he did not want to let it end that easily, "Aw, don't fade out on me yet Pinkie." He makes another incision on her cutie mark. From that moment, Pinkie was woken from the pain and struggled to try to get out of the straps. Oni was reveling from all of this. Who knew a pony could get this maniacal to another? He did begin to wonder if he wanted to go further into the fun by going to rip open the incision he made on her abdomen so he can relish the organs of the pony. He decided to not go that far as that would distract him from his true goal. He stops making the cut on her cutie mark and sees that the pony was unconscious. Oni was very disappointed that this pony fell unconscious quickly like Rainbow Dash, but he didn't care at all.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov. 2 1:16 P.M.

Oni was enjoying every minute of torturing these ponies into corrupting. He'd never thought he would have this much fun doing all of this. Keeping track, he counted four he manage to corrupt so far leaving Twilight and Fluttershy as the last two he needs to finish. He looks at Pinkie and sees that her evolution transformation had already finished. She too had the shadow except it was blue like her eye. Her feet had became a slight darker tone of her coat, and of course, her spirit was trapped inside her Element. He creates a portal to the main room for her to enter. As she entered into the portal, he hears Fluttershy coming and from the sound of her, she sounded a bit scared. He goes to where Fluttershy was and waits for his prey to come.

Fluttershy was trying to hold herself together from the dungeon. Everytime she ran into something by accident, she was so close to screaming out loud. She continued flying through the dungeon hoping to find something that may help her. Despite her best efforts for finding the exit each way she goes, she feels like she is going around in circles. She was beginning to lose some hope when she reached a dead end. She laid down for now and dozed off hoping to get some things off her head. As she was close to dozing she hears an unusual sound coming from behind her. She wakes up and turns around to see the wall gone. She enters it despite her otherself telling that something seemed off there. As she passes where the wall supposedly was, the entrance shuts itself behind. The sheer booming sound it emitted made her jump a bit. She looks around the room she was in and saw absolutely nothing at the moment except a small candle. She was wondering whether she made a mistake to enter it or not. She goes to where the candle was expecting it to be nothing but a candle. As she was within the heat and light of the candle, the candle's orange color it emitted became a deep black color. Fluttershy stepped away from the candle as the shadow it made became a manifestation of her animal friends.

Oni comes out of the darkness and into the light of the black candle. He loooks at the manifestations of her beloved friends and looks back at Fluttershy, who was in deep fear of him, "Well, well, if it isn't Miss Fluttershy. How are you my fine vessel?" Oni transformed the manifestation into demonic entities. With only a thought while looking at her, the demonspawns attack the pony while it was traumatized.

Fluttershy stood there scared of the monsters that were going to attack. Oni was expecting this to probably be an easy thing compared to the others until she sees her do something unexpected.

Fluttershy kicked a demon with enough strength to break the bones in it. The recoil from the kick sended the monster skyhigh hitting the ceiling breaking more of the monster's bones. Fluttershy was for the first time not holding back on a fight using speed equal to Rainbow Dash's and strength almost close to Applejack's.

Oni was almost in utter shock to see somepony that is very timid and gentle be able to do all the feats he saw. Nevertheless, he summons more demons and orders all of them to attack Fluttershy. As they went into the attack, Oni hid himself while keeping them coming at her.

Fluttershy went into a counteroffensive stance, waiting for them to come at her. One of them tries to attack her from above, however, Fluttershy goes upward to the demon and delivered a powerful uppercut to its chin breaking its skull. Another one tried to attack her from behind. She meets the oncoming demon by kicking it on the face. Every moment when a demon tried to attack her, she would counter back, breaking a few bones in the process. Fluttershy kept up with the barrage of demons defeating them one by one. With time passing by, she begun to notice that they would continue to come until she reached her limit. She stopped and flew upward into the air. The demons possessed no wings on them allowing Fluttershy to take a moment to recover. Fluttershy was a little surprised to tap into her inner self and allow it to manifest her, yet at the same time, she had to do it. She soucts the area trying to find the elusive beast. As soon as she manages to recover, she hears a sound coming from behind. She turns around and sees Oni coming at her. She tried to dodge the demon but he managed to get her before she could dodge fast enough. She was pinned down with him looking coldly at her.

As Fluttershy was desperately struggling to get out of the fiend's hold, Oni puts his hoof on her without hesitation and begins to search through her mind. While he was trying to, he begun to notice that someone was trying to prevent him from getting any deeper. He decided to project his soul into Fluttershy and see what was preventing him from getting any deeper into her thoughts. He manages to insert his soul into Fluttershy and sees that another Fluttershy was blocking passage to her mind, "Another Fluttershy? There's no way she has a doppelganger in her pathetic body?"

The mysterious pony reacted to that in rage considering what he was doing, "Hey back off there. No one enters her mind without passing through me!" This version began to ready herself.

Oni was more baffled as to what was going on. With time, he begins to see what was blocking her way, "Ah now I see. You must be that twin that Fluttershy mentioned about. Fluttercruel, I presume? I though you two seperated from each other?"

Fluttercruel didn't listen to what Oni and only responded back to his question he asked, "We did, but that doesn't we aren't spiritually seperated. While we seperated physically, our spirit is still the same. So if anypony, I repeat, anypony tries to threaten Fluttershy and tries to enter her mind..." Fluttercruel stomps her foot on the ground with courage trying to prove her point, "They are going to be in a world of hurting!" Fluttercruel moved at blinding speeds and closed in on Oni very quickly.

Oni meets with the unexpected pony by creating a barrier just in time before she delivered a full-powered punch. Oni dispels the barrier and counterattacks the manifestation.

Fluttercruel blocks the oncoming hit, but the sheer force of the hit send her flying back to her mind. Her forelegs were in a lot of pain and she barely was able to keep them up, but she shruged off the pain and healed herself. Due to her being in the mind, she can perform feats that pegasi normally can't like using magic. She manages to regain her feeling in her arms and decided to use her terrain to her advantage. She imagines a dragon and tells the dragon to attack the demon.

Oni stood still while the dragon was charging at him. As it was within close proximity of the demon, Oni creates chains from his thoughts and wraps them around the dragon. As the chains manage to complete wrap it, he uses his magic to make it tighter on the beast hoping to make it suffocate. While he was at it, he creates more chains and points to their target. The chains move to towards Fluttercruel and try to bind her in place.

Fluttercruel runs from the chains trying to put some distance from them. She creates some walls to stop them from getting her, however, that proved futile as they were able to slip through the wall still stalking their target. Fluttercruel ascended hoping that they can't reach her up in the air. She sees them still chasing her and begins to fly away from them. She picked up speed and manages to get away from them. When she looks forward, she gets caught in the chains as they bind her preventing escape. She tries to get out of the chains only for them to get tighter as she tried to struggled.

Oni walks up to her, "Aw, well now that your out of the way, let's find out her deepest fear and secret shall we?" Oni goes ahead leaving Fluttercruel behind and enters the gateway to her deepest secrets.

Everfree Forest
Nov. 2 1:24 P.M.

Fluttershy wakes up a little dazed wondering where she was at the time. As her vision begins to recover from being a little blurry, she makes out some figures that looked familiar to her. She momentarily shakes her head to shake off the dizziness. When her vision returns back to normal, she goes into a petrified state of fear. The zombies from Sunny Town were looking at her with hate. They remember her from the Gaia incident that they could never forgive her for what she did after abandoning them. They went to show their hatred to her by trying to make her become one of them. Fluttershy without hesitation began to runaway from them. She wanted no part of what they were going to her and wanted out of this terrible nightmare. She went south away from where she believes was Sunny Town. Each turn she makes trying to get away from them, a zombie would be where she was blocking her way of escape.

Oni was enjoying the futile attempt from running away from the zombies. He'd never expected zombies to actually exist or even be mentioned in a place Like Equestria or that Fluttershy somehow became a princess to try to take away their pain. Now thinking about Fluttershy taking the pain away, that would have been too much for anyone to deal with, good or bad. Nevertheless, all he had to do was watch the show until Fluttershy makes for the cave he made just for her.

Fluttershy was running as fast as her legs can from her once-faithful servants. With each turn that seems to lead out of the Everfree Forest, they would always be one step ahead of her and block the exit preventing escape. Her legs were beginning to lose their strength to continue running and she was running out of options at the moment. She manages to find a clearing in teh Everfree Forest and heads into the clearing. As she makes her way into the clearing, the zombies now hasten themselves and try to get her. Fluttershy also picks up the pace and with all of her energy begins a gallop. From the distance, she sees a cave opening. Hoping that it will either lead her out of the Everfree Forest or at least hide her from the zombies, she races for the cave at full speed.

Oni was expecting her to foolishly try to enter the cave he made just for her. Oni teleports into the cave and waits for his prey to come. He does begin to ponder once again why would one pony like her would try to take in all the pain so that no one else but her can feel the pain. To Oni, that sounded ironic, suicidal, and absolutely crazy. No one would want to ordeal that much pain, heck, even an insane massochist wouldn't want all that to himself because in the end, all that pain would get the better of you.

Fluttershy was picking up the pace once again. As she turns around, a surge of zombies were coming to get her for betraying them after what they did for her. Fluttershy wouldn't care about them anymore even if they justed wanted to be friends, she just wanted out of this horrific nightmare. As she looks forward, zombies were again blocking the only path out of here. With full momentum, she hops over the zombies and flies over to the entrance where a cave-in occured blocking the entrance preventing the zombies from entering, Fluttershy was breathing fast trying to calm herself down after narrowly escaping an army of zombies. She turned around and begin to see a single light emulating from the cave. With a morbid curiousity, she walks to where the light slowly. She was beginning to fear what she was doing as each step she takes feels like you are walking to your inevitable doom. As she gets within close proximity of the light, it begins to emit a bright white glow and lighted the whole cave. She covered her eyes from the incoming flash. As the flash begins to fade, she looks around the cave and stops cold. She was looking at her past memories of her rule when she ruled Equestria as Princess Gaia. She wanted to not remember the pain, the suffering she went to ordeal at the time and looked away from them, but each time she tried to look away from the pics, more pics showcasing her rule popped everywhere she looked at. She shook her head, trying to shake off the memories once again. At the last memory of her, she sees the one pic that made her fear why she wanted to not remember it. The memory where she was a literal skeleton pony inside the monster's heart. She looked away from it and begins to get a straneg feeling. When she looks on her feet, she screams in fear. She was turning into the same thing that once pumped the monstrosity's heart. She wanted no part of the thing, but with each passing second, her whole body was beginning to rot away revealing only bones.

Oni pops in to see the result. Normally, he would love to be a part of what was going on, but her fear was beginning to consume her making this enjoyable to just simply watch, "Well, how does it feel to return back to what you once were, Princess Gaia?"

Fluttershy wasn't able to say a single as the process was already done. She found herself inside the fiend's heart and begins to lose all consciousness. The monster once again springs to life as it begins to rise from its grave. Fluttershy was all but a husk of the monster's heart as her consciousness was slowly being drained from her. All she could do was fall into a comatose state and be done with the nightmare. She goes unconscious and the monster begins its march to destroy all of Equestria.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov. 2 1:43 P.M.

Oni takes his hoof off of her head and takes a step back. With the corruption now done, her transformation had already taken its course. Her wings from the tip to the base became steeped in a dark pink coloring, she gains a pink shadow eyelining, her mane and tail have a black coloring at the end and her feet were dark pink as well. Of course, her spirit was trapped inside her own Element leaving just one more Element to corrupt. Oni creats a portal for Fluttershy to enter. As she enters, he hears footsteps telling him that the last bearer has finally arrived. He removes the walls that created the maze revealing himself to Twilight.

Twilight noticed that the walls went down in a blink of an eye. As they went into the ground, she doesn't see her friends anywhere. She was only able to see the fiend right in front of her giving her an impression that he did something to them. Witha buyrning hatred as to what happened to her friends, she boldly demanded what happened to her friends, "Oni! What happened to my friends! Where are they!?"

"That's a rather bold command there, Twilight Sparkle, I could just stand here and let you find out yourself." said the malicious entity.

Twilight was fuming from that answer. She wanted to know what happened to her friends and she wanted to know it now. With a hefty stomp, she demands once more about her friends's fates, "Oni, I won't hesitate to fight you if you don't answer my question. Tell me, what happened to my friends!?"

Oni was enjoying poking at her. He knew she would be one to anger easily if done right and he made her mad. He couldn't wait to get right to the point, "If you want to know so badly, I'll gladly show you them. Come out my servants."

"Servants? They would never serve someone cold-hearted like you!" Twilight would not believe even if it were to be true.

"Oh, but they are. In fact you might like the new looks I gave to them." Oni creates a portal allowing the five to come out of the portal.

When Twilight sees her friends in the state they were in, she was petrified in shock and fear as to what just happened to them. She didn't want ot believe what she was looking at, but she couldn't deny it either. Her friends and their Elements were corrupted right to their heart and soul. She even manages to see their spirits trapped inside their own Elements. She was trying to not believe what she is looking, yet she couldn't deny what she witnessed.

Oni was enjoying the shocked look on Twilight's face when she sees her friends corrupted. He creates a portal for them and orders them to wait for him in the throne room. They obeyed and entered the portal. He closes it leaving Twilight and Oni in the single giant room, "Well, how do you like the new looks on your friends?"

Twilight was silent and couldn't speak for a few seconds. When she snapped back into reality, she was fuming with rage after what she just saw. For the time, she could only think of brutally beating the daylights out of Oni. With a newfound reason as to why she needed to finally defeat him, she takes a battle stance and sternly looks at him, "How dare you do that to my friends." Her rage begins to peak and so did her hatred for the demon, "HOW DARE YOU!?" Twilight uttered a scream and charged at him with all of her might.

Oni was going to enjoy toying with her. He dodges the mad Twilight by simply sidesteping and tripping her in the process. Twilight manage to get up from that and went berserk not thinking rationally, only thinking of banishing him somewhere where he can not do anymore irreparrable harm. Twilight was going to charge at him again until something hit her. She stopped and realize that she was messing with her head. She knows that what she saw was true, no doubt about that, but she manages to regain her control and calmly stands against Oni, "What you did was impressive, but I'm not falling for the same trick again." She gets into a battle-ready stance waiting for Oni to make the first strike.

Oni was wondering what she was doing at first. When she gave him the look of determination, Oni was beginning to get the idea. He never had a fight before against any of them. He only used some defense tactics, but to fight someone that is said to have the strongest Element of them all, Oni felt like there might not be another opportunity like this again. Oni gets himself into a battle stance as well. Both look at each other waiting for them to make the first move. As what felt like hours past, both made their first move against each other determined to settle this fight once and for all.

Twilight charged at the demon with her horn blazing with magic as she got closer to him. Oni tried to land a punch on her when both were within close proximity of each other, Twilight however, dodged the incoming hit and counterattacked with a magic beam from her horn.

Oni teleports out of its line of sight and goes behind Twilight hoping to grab the bearer's head to end this quickly. Twilight anticipated it and created a barrier around. Twilight turns around at blazing speeds and manages to deliver a swift, single punch to the demon's groin. The force of the punch was strong enough to recoil herself a few distance from the fiend.

Oni managed to regain his balance from the initial hit clutching his groin in agony. He never thought that she was really putting her best effort to end this. With a renewed interest to corrupt her, he boosts himself up by releasing all of the strength he was holding back. With each passing second, he was gaining some drastic changes. His wings now have boney protusions coming out of them, his whole body becomes red as the colors of what hell looked like, his hooves are now demon claws and he gains a size increase to that of an alicorn.

Twilight seeing the transformation and feeling the immense strength he was holding back also transform into her ascended state. The Elements that once held the spirits of her friends begin to glow along her own.

Canterlot Castle
Nov. 2 2:09 P.M.

Nicolas was outside of the castle looking at the floating fortress. He was praying with all of his heart that they can succeed at the fight against his nemesis. As he looked at the fortress, he noticed a glow coming from his bag. He opens it and notices that the Element of Forgiveness was beginning to glow. The bright light that emitted from the Element begun to heal the curse that was afflicting Nicolas ever since the Everfree Forest incident. Noticing that it was healing him, he was beginning to feel better about the healing effect but did begin to wonder why was it glowing this brightly. After looking at the castle in the sky once again, he begun to realize that Twilight was tapping into the hidden strength of the Elements. Feeling very worried about this, he knew that what was going on in the castle was going to determine that fate of Equestria. He holds on to his Element and with all of his heart and soul gives Twilight the strength she needs to defeat him, "Twilight, with all of my heart and soul, I grant you all of my strength to defeat Oni. Please win this one for everypony here." He holds the Element high up into the air and sends all of his knowledge, strength, and magic into Twilight.

Fortress Dungeon
Nov. 2 2:11 P.M.

Twilight and Oni have managed to reach their next form exceeding both their expectations. Seeing their current states made Oni remember the times he fought against Nicolas every time he went into this state. He knew that utter chaos was going to ensue not just here but everywhere the moment they begin the fight. Without hesitation, both of them go for each other and begin their attack. Oni dodges some of Twilight punches from the ground. He backs away a bit and casts some dark spheres at Twilight who was charging at him. The moment they were within close proximity of Twilight, Oni made them explode hoping to get her.

Twilight having anticipated all of this created a magic barrier allowing her to not get damaged by the explosions. When Twilight gets close enough to hit Oni, he teleports out of her way. Twilight looks around to find nothing at the moment. When she looks up, she sees Oni suspended in the air staring down at her. Twilight fires a condense beam of magic at him. Oni teleports out of the way again outside of the castle. Twilight soon follows and the battle continues outside of the castle.

Outside of the castle, everypony from Ponyville sees the battle ensued over their heads. Twilight was casting multiple fire spells at Oni while dodging and trying to get close to him to try ti make a direct hit. Oni tried also to get a little physical with her. Though he has manage to do it a few times, she too also dodged them as well. With everyponies hopes pinned on Twilight, they prayed with all their hearts that she will succeed in defeating him. Twilight teleported a few times to try to get to him. So far, she has only manage to get some clean hits on him and a few spells manage to get him as well.

Oni was getting really agitated that she has been getting even with him. He'd never thought that somepony like Twilight would actually pose such a problem before it started. He probably should have gone and went for the head when she was berserk before this happened. Oni had just enough of this pnoy and went full on the offensive. He creates multiple copies of himself. While he was making copies of himself, those copies went in and charged at her.

Twilight went into a counteroffensive stance and hit back each and every one of those copies. With a surge of them coming of at all directions, she went back into the room hopefully to lure them all to where she was going. The idea was working and all of them were chasing her. As she made it to the room, she concentrated her magic into the horn and released a full-powered beam at them disintegrating them in almost an instant.

Oni saw a golden opportunity and teleported next to Twilight. Twilight heard the sound and tried to escape him, but proved futile as he has a grip on her forehead. Oni tried to do begin the corruption spell, but Twilight in her current state was resisting very well. Inside her mind, her subconsciousness was fighting back the corruption. Twilight would not want ot be a part of his plan without putting up a fight. Oni tried putting more of his energy and magic into making the spell stronger, but Twilight was also trying ever more harder to resist him. When Oni used up all of his excess power into the spell, he almost went into a comatose state from all the energy he used. With one last push, he used all his surplus energy and finally made pass her subconsciousness. Twilight was now in his hooves to corrupt, now that last bearer shall be consumed in the darkness.

Canterlot
Nov. 2 2:17 P.M.

Twilight awoken to find herself in a destroyed Canterlot. She shakes her head off wondering if what she was looking at was just a dream. She goes forward to see that the citizens are dead where they were. This almost made Twilight sick upon looking at, but she pressed on hoping to go outside of the Canterlot walls. When she made it outside the Canterlot walls, what she sees almost puts her in complete shock. Equestria now looks like an apocalyptic wasteland. The places where the towns used to be were now scorched to ashes. The whole Everfree Forest now looks like a dead yet haunted forest waiting to trap you. Ponyville where it originally has been was know a center of slavery. Her friends were there being tortured to do the fiend's biding and the young fillies and colts were forced to push a cog machine that powers up what seems to look like a device. Twilight was shocked that he was cruel enough to do this to them, even young ponies. This kind of cruelty was beyond word that even Twilight can't begin to think of.

Oni appeared behind Twilight who was gazing at the broken Equestria, "Well, how do you like the new Equestria? Quite fitting for me, don't you think?"

Twilight was holding back her grief for what he done, but she never held back her hatred. She turns around and tries to hit the fiend only for her to hit an illusion of him. As that illusion disappeared into the air, his voice began to ring in her head, "You're pathetic..." Twilight held her head trying to shake this off. She wasn't useless, she cared about her her friends more than ever. She returned her gaze back into the slave town and made a solumn promise to them, "I promise, I'll get you free."

"Aw, how noble of you to help your friends. Too bad that they lost their faith in you." Oni popped up in front of her and looks at her with glee with this kind of fear.

"Shut up, they haven't lost their faith in me!" Twilight charged to the monster once again hitting an illusion of him.

Oni was very much enjoying this. However, to really make her crack, he was saving the best for last should things become more interesting for him, "Are you sure? Tell me then, how can you tell if they haven't lost their faith in you?"

"I... I." Twilight wasn't so sure how to answer the question. She knows that they haven't lost it, but to answer it was something she never actually thought about.

"You must have seen it by now. The blind loyalty, the mysteries, all the questions you have are yet unanswered." Oni reveals himself next to Twilight and whispered something that made Twilight almost snapped, "Don't you think that maybe Celestia is just using you?"

Twilight tried to hit the malicious demon again, only again for her to hit an illusion. She was beginning to get annoyed of these illusions and Oni himself. With time, her anger almost reached its peak and she wanted no more than to get her hooves on him, "Show yourself Oni!"

"Another bold command there, but if you insist…" Oni reveals himself to Twilight. The temperament on Twilight's face made this much more enjoyable for him. "Well, I'm right here. What do you hopelessly plan to do?"

Twilight charged some magic and tried to fire a beam of magic at him, but for unknown reasons, she wasn't able to do it. She looked at the demon confused as to what was going on with her, "W-what did you do to me?"

"Oh that's easy, I disabled your magic. Probably should've done that on you the first time, but oh well." Oni turns around looking at the destroyed Everfree Forest. He begins to see that he might be getting to her, but there was one last thing he wanted to try one last attempt to make her break, "By the way, haven't you wondered where your daughter is?"

Twilight almost froze up upon hearing that question, "H-how did you know I have a daughter?"

"I red your mind, so I know almost all of your personal things." Oni turns around and gives a cold stare to Twilight who was now in fear of what he did to Nyx, "You probably realized that she's not there at the enslavement camp, right?"

Twilight was only able to nod to the answer as she was beginning to dread and fear what Oni has done to Nyx.

"Well, to put simply, she is under, oh how should I say, banishment?" Oni points his hoof at the moon where a silouette of a pony was found.

When Twilight sees the silouette, she froze in utter shock that she almost fell unconscious in a matter of seconds. Oni had banished her own daughter to the moon. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She stood still in shook, trying to not believe what she just saw, "No, no, I… I refuse to accept this." She tried to not believe that he would banish a young pony like Nyx into the moon, but every moment she keeps on denying it, the feeling gets worse, "Y-You wouldn't do that. No one is that cruel."

"Ah, but I did. Remember, she is an alicorn, if she were to ever grow into a grown alicorn, she would have been a threat to me. So I banished her to the moon, quite fitting don't you think?" Oni could see that he was able to get a permanent scar on her. Now all he had to do was wait until the moment he was waiting for.

Twilight went down to her knees crying for the merciful release of this horrifying nightmare. The wish she so desired now was not within her grasp as she continued weeping for the ill fate of her beloved daughter. At the last moments of her nightmare, she uttered a loud scream that was loud enough to be heard a mile away before surrounding herself in a magic barrier that prevented her from escaping her own Element. With that last scream, she fell unconscious and fell into the deep nightmare.

Canterlot Castle
Nov. 2 2:29 P.M.

Nicolas was very worried about them as each second passed. He was finally cured of the curse thanks to the Element of Forgiveness, but even that didn't help relieve his worries about the others. In fact, it only made his worries esculate. The Elements only emit a bright light if certain circumstances were met. One of them being Twilight able to transform. As he gazed at the floating fortress, he begins to get this bad feeling about what was going on up there. He pulls out his Element and begins to notice something that made his heart fall to the pits of his stomach. The Element's bright blue color became dull almost becoming black as the shadows. Seeing that made him realize that what he saw in his dream just became true. The bearers became corrupted with the dark energy of Oni. Almost without a warning, he putted his Element inside his bag and flew at almost unspeakable speeds heading to the fortress. Both Celestia and Luna notice that he took off instantly heading for the fortress. They get worried about him when they also get that bad feeling that Nicolas had and soon follow him as well though not as fast as he was. Nicolas was in dire worrries now, he was the only one equal to Oni now and the only one standing between the life and death of Equestria. Building up momentum, he quickens himself and races to the vast island in the sky.

Chapter 8: A Saint's Devotion

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Chapter 8: A Saint's Devotion

Castle of the Two Sisters
Nov. 2 2:30 P.M.

Nicolas managed to make it into the fortress gates without anything slowing him down. He rushes in the fortress and prays that even when they are corrupted, he can save them from the darkness in time before it becomes permanent.

Oni manages to bring the six bearers into the throne room where hopefully Nicolas will come into. He orders them to hide for now and waits until he shows up. Already, he felt his presence within the fortress. Oni knows that things might get very interesting once he gets here.

Nicolas enters the fortress with ease having no guards or anything for that matter protecting. He begins to wonder why there seems to be no guards at this time. He knows that Oni isn't that idiotic to not place at least some form of protection inside and outside the fortress. He was beginning to see that he was walking into a trap, "Figures that Oni would set one up for me." With a cautious mind going into play, he walks through remaining vigilant of the situation at hand. With each passing step, he looks aorund the place to see if there were any changes from the Castle of the Two Sisters itself. So far, there were no dramatic changes from the way into the throne room. Nicolas was beginning to get tense as he was close to the throne, what was going to happen once he gets there? With a deep breath, he takes one step into the throne room and was meeted with Oni right in the center of the room, "So, again we meet under these circumstances. Surprised you took a new look, last time I checked you were ponified."

Oni didn't listen to that last remark waiting only for his entry, "Well, being in that form really was uncomfortable for the time being." Oni turns around both staring at each other not flinching at the sight of the enemy, "What brings you here?"

"You already know Oni." Nicolas averts his gaze looking around the throne if any traps were to be noted. Seeing no changes in the throne room either, he asks straight away what was bothering him, "Did you do what I think you did to the six that came before me?"

Oni chuckled at the sudden question he bought up. He'd probably guessed from the tone that he was worried about his 'friends' and their current condition. He couldn't wait to see his reaction once he finds out, "You're the smart one, you should already know by now?"

His body suddenly went cold as ice from the answer, "So you did do it."

"What else do you think? I'll prove it to you in case you are trying to deny it." Oni calls them forth to his location. They all respond to their master's command and went there in almost a blink of an eye, "Well, how do you like the new looks they have?"

Nicolas was silent for a moment when seeing their corrupted state. He did not have a single word to describe the sight of them. All he wanted now more than ever was to free them from this corruption. Upon noticing their Elements, he sees their spirits trapped inside them. All of them were inhibiting their own Elements. Nicolas realizes that these six lost their spirits and the Elements reacted by taking in their spirits before they were gone from existance. Nicolas sees what he has to do to free them. He takes a deep breath and sternly looks at Oni.

Oni was baffled with the stern look. When he sees Nicolas enter his battle-ready stance, he realizes what he wanted to do. He smiled with glee that among all the things he might try, he would actually fight his own 'friends', "You really want to fight against your own 'friends?'" Oni was a bit surprised that he would go against his anyone he calls a friend. After much thought, he went on ahead and gave him what he wanted, "Fine, have it your way." Oni disappears into the unknown leaving the seven with each other.

Nicolas looks at each one of them eyeing one another. As what felt likes minutes passed all were looking at each other trying to wait for the first move. Having had enough of the waiting game, the six made the first move and went straight for Nicolas. Nicolas teleports out of the way and behind them. He delivers a horizontal slash from behind at almost blinding speed. The six narrowly dodged the incoming hit and decided to split up for the moment. Twilight casts a dark energy beam from her horn. Nicolas creates a barrier protecting him from the incoming attack. While he was channeling his magic into keeping the barrier up and running, Rainbow Dash flew above his head and went charging at him. Nicolas hears the slight changes in wind speeds and upon looking up sees Rainbow Dash charging at him. He dissipates his barrier and teleports out of the way. Upon making contact with the ground, Rainbow Dash created a rainbow-colored explosion that shook the foundation of the Castle. Nicolas went outside of the castle hoping to lure them out here. With more space to fight in, he might be able to put them down without hurting them though it was unlikely.

Oni who was at the pinnacle noticed Nicolas within the outskirts of the castle. Having seeing what was going to happen after the explosion he heard from within, he went on ahead and drew the spell circles.

Nicolas notices Rainbow Dash coming at him and nearly avoided a collision with him. He turns around and sees that others charging at him. He dodged each of their incoming attacks barely a few inches off contact. As he turned around he sees them readying themselves for another attack. Nicolas braced himself waiting for their attack. Twilight teleported all of them behind Nicolas as they try to pounce on him. Nicolas meets with the incoming hit by levitating his sword in front of them. They reacted and again split up. Nicolas looks around wondering where they went until he gets hit by a beam from out of nowhere. When he recovers from the hit he looks at the direction where the beam was shoot and sees Twilight and Rarity prioritizing on casting just magic. Nicolas looks and sees the other two pegasi coming at him at blinding speeds. Nicolas teleports out of the way only for him to get tackled by Applejack who was on the ground. The recoil from the tackle sent him almost crashing into the walls. Nicolas barely recovered from the tackle as he made contact with the wall and vacated a gravity spell around him allowing him to stand on the wall. Nicolas begins to channel some of his energy and casts a fire spell on Applejack. She dodged the spell and then slammed the ground splitting the earth below Applejack was only for him to see a present launched at him. The present hit him in the face almost making him unconscious. When he regains consciousness, he notices a beam being shoot at him. As he had no time to react, the beam made direct contact managing to almost burn right through his body. As the beam dissipated, Nicolas was breathing heavily from the hit. He tries to get up from the blast, but went back down as Fluttershy hit him on the back. Nicolas slammed into the ground and was reeling in from the pain. He tries to get up again, but falls down as the pain was too much for him. As he looked at the six who were laughing at him, Nicolas realized the futility of saving his friends. However, he wasn't gonna give up on this fight. He gets up ignoring the excruciating pain and with the last of his energy, casts his strongest spell on them. As he channels his magic into the horn, the six watch him at first, then without hesitation, attack him. Nicolas creates a barrier just in time before the initial hits. As the spell was done, he casts the spell on the whole castle itself. A white stream of magic was descending on the fortress from above. As the energy went through, the stream reacted from contact and exploded leaving a blinding white explosion.

Celestia and Luna were following Nicolas but weren't able to catch up to him fast enough. As they neared the castle, Luna noticed a white stream from above the castle and stopped Celestia. Celestia was very worried about him, but was curious as to why Luna stopped her, "Sister, why did you stop me?"

"Look up there." Luna points to the beam descending upon the castle. Both looked upon the stream as it passes through the castle. The magic exploded once it made contact with the castle blinding the both of them. For what felt like days, the blinding explosion intensified leaving the whole Equestria in an almost everlasting white flash. Once the explosion wore off, ponies began to question what that explosion was including the two princesses who were worried as to what was going on at the castle.

As the explosion ended, Nicolas fainted from using up all of his magic and of his injuries. Nicolas looked at the six with a broken heart as he was not able to save his friends. With his vision fading, all he could do was watch as life slowly drifted from him while they looked down at him cruelly.

Seeing that explosion made Oni realize that Nicolas resorted to using one of many of his best spells. He looked down at the front entrance to see him there unconscious. Oni was almost in shock to see him actually unconscious. Among all the fights to ever occur against each other, he wasn't involved in this one fight. That made Oni a bit annoyed that he wasn't the one to finish him off. When he see that there was a speck of life within the alicorn, Oni was smiling that he still would get the chance to do it, but how to end it was his question. After pondering about it, he came up with the perfect solution to end the angel's life. Oni calls the others and orders them to head inside the main room of the castle to prepare from the last act upon him. They obeyed and went inside. Oni looks upon the incomplete spell circle wondering whether to complete it or not. He decided to do it later and concentrate on giving the pain to his nemesis he wanted in a long time. With that done, he enters the main room prepping everything for the final outcome.

Celestia and Luna were able to recover from the explosion. As their vision began to return back to them, they slowly begin to realize that their uncle could be in dire trouble. As they begun to hasten themselves, they hear within Canterlot some of the ponies there panicking from seeing the explosion. They wanted head to the castle to help their uncle, but the panicking citizens was going to prevent them from helping him out. They head back to Canterlot hopefully to calm down fast enough for them to still get there fast. They begin to pray that what was going on inside the castle was helping their uncle. They'll soon realize what goes inside the castle isn't what they desired.

Castle of the Two Sisters
Nov. 2 5:34 P.M.

Nicolas's vision was a little blurry, but he was able to still see somewhat. He tried to move his body but for unknown reasons, wasn't able too. All of his senses were also going bizarre as he couldn't hear or feel anything. Nicolas wasn't able to fully understand what they were talking as he can hardly see their mouths moving. He was able to hear a laugh within their conversation. Nicolas knows well enough from Oni that a laugh from him is never a good thing especially if he sounds almost happy to do it, even though he has heard him laugh too many times. Nicolas was only able to make out one word, and hearing it almost made him faint, "Crucifixion." To actually go through it all was something Nicolas does not want to do. Even if were to avoid that fate, how was he able to escape if he is heavily injured? He wanted out of this room yet can't if his body can't respond. Nicolas was hoping that whatever Celestia and Luna are doing, they can get here fast or he is done for.

Canterlot
Nov. 2 6:46 P.M.

Calming the citizens was harder and much longer than they expected. The citizens were almost on a frenzy scattering everywhere in Canterlot. Even inside the castle the ponies were panicking from what that explosion was. Both Celestia and Luna split up, both doing half of the city they desired to calm down. For almost the whole night, both princesses managed to calm down all the citizens from the explosion and persuaded them to go to sleep. Having not noticed that it was nighttime for them, they decided to slumber and leave the princesses be. Now that the citizens were finally calmed down, the princesses can finally head into the castle. They could teleport there, but they decided to conserve their magic until they get there. They fly with great haste and went off hoping that they can save their uncle and the bearers, if they even can.

Castle of the Two Sisters
Nov. 2 12:42 P.M.

Nicolas fully recovered from his injuries and was awoken by a sound. He wakes up to find himself strapped on to a cross. He looks around to find Oni and the six looking down at him. Having realized that he going through the crucifixion, Nicolas tried to struggle out of the straps. Oni, seeing the attempt, was almost silent at that time, only giving away a snigger. He was enjoying this too much, he wanted to see his face of anguish once he begins, "Well, good to see you full recovered Nicolas. It wouldn't be fun if I were to do it with you not fully aware of what was going on." Nicolas became silent not giving in to what he says. He begins to see that escaping this may prove much more challenging. Having fully recovered, he tried to cast some magic to teleport out. Oni noticed him trying to teleport out. Having taking a step ahead, he disabled his magics to prevent him from escaping, "Nice try, but I disabled your magic." Nicolas begins to lose some hope of preventing the crucifixion. As he gazes at the six, all he could do was watch now as the event unfolds right in front of him, "Well, now that you stopped resisting, shall we continue?" Oni heads out of the room to get the nails. Nicolas tries once again to brake free from the shackles, but they were bound to the cross tighter than usual. He looks at them and notices that they were also enchanted with a spell to make them indestructible. Hearing the footsteps of Oni, Nicolas decided to go through this even if it does cost him his life. He's been through so many life-or-death situations, he gets the feeling like this one may finally put him at death's door. He looks through one of the many windows to see the beautiful array of constellations. Nicolas smiles seeing it only for it to go away as soon as Oni enters. He comes back in with nails and a hammer ready, "Not gonna say any last words?" Nicolas was silent not uttering a single word to him. Oni had expected some resistance like this. Nonetheless, he would rather do it now then later. Oni heads to the left side of the cross telling the others to head to the right and bottom of the cross. As they get into position, Oni begins by hammering down the nails through the hoof. The pain was so excruciating that Nicolas almost wanted to scream for mercy. He kept his mouth shut however not giving in to Oni's one desire. Oni hammers it down harder as it pierces through the hoof. The nail finally makes through it and exit out from the wooden cross. Nicolas's right side was bleeding badly dripping from the cross and onto the floor. Oni tells the bearers as what he did and all proceed as directed. With all of them going at it simultaneously, the pain was almost unbearable to him. Every second of the agony, Nicolas endured pain beyond his imagination. Even alicorns have their limit on how much punishment they can take and this was too much for him. As they finish hammering down the nails, he was losing copious amounts of blood and losing consciousness faster than he expected. Oni tells them to bring the cross somewhere where everypony can see him die. They obeyed and brought him to the front entrance. As they look upon the slowly dying alicorn, Nicolas manages to say his last few words to them before his untimely death, "My… friends. I'm very… sorry to have failed… you… Please… return… to the… the… the… l…i…g…h…t." As he finishes, Nicolas begins to lose all his consciousness and looking at the rising sun, smiles and closes his eyes. Those last words manages to ignite the spirits trapped inside the Elements and they fight the darkness to regain control over their bodies.

As the Elements glow an illuminating rainbow, the darkness that once held them released their grip on them and dissipated into ashes. The bearers regain control over their bodies wondering what happened to them. Shaking off the dizziness, they look up to see their friend hanging on the cross. Realizing what happened, they immediately pull out the nails that held him on the cross and caught him as he fell to the earth. Noticing that he lost consciousness, the bearers try everyday possible to bring him back. They patched up the wounds he sustained from the nails, managed to return some of the blood he lost, and stop the blood loss. They were praying that he had within him at least a glimpse of life.

Both Celestia and Luna made it to the castle only to find what they feared to be true. They see the six holding Nicolas on their arms. They come down looking upon him. The six did not respond to the princesses and only look at him hoping that he lives through it. The two princesses survey the conditions he's under wondering if he has a chance to live. The chances were getting slim. The flowing mane and tail have almost begun to stop and part of his body was getting limp. Celestia fearing that she was going to lose another loved one, puts her head on his heart checking if there was a pulse. Nicolas's heartbeat was slowing down little by little until it completely stopped. Celestia, realizing that his heart was failing, tries to jumpstart the heart again. Everypony saw this and assisted in any way possible to jumpstart his heart. Each failed attempt to jumpstart his heart made the slowly realize that they may not be able to save him. All tried to deny that he was truly dead, but their minds otherwise were thinking differently. As they looked upon the alicorn, his body begins to fade. All of them panic at seeing this phenomenon and try to grab a hold of him, but their hooves go through his body. As the body begins to get less visible, they hear a voice within their heads. They slowly realize that the voice was Nicolas, "Do not worry about me, I will return someday. For now, all of you must complete the task at hand, do it for me…" After that, the body disappears from the world leaving behind the Element of Forgiveness.

Seeing a dead alicorn right in front of her, especially one so wise and gentle, and hearing what he said to them, made Twilight realizes that beating Oni now has a bigger purpose then just saving Equestria, "Come on girls, we still have unfinished business with him." Twilight looks upon her friends who stand up not fearing what they were facing against. Twilight picks the Element of Forgiveness and gives it to the princesses. The princesses look upon the Element wondering about it. They decided to decline the offer, "We can understand very well Twilight, but you keep it." Celestia gives it back to Twilight, "The six of you have better use of it than us." Both Celestia and Luna stood up looking at the spire of the castle. The spire was covered with an eerie-looking could covering much of the castle. As they turn their attention back to the six, they left already for the spire, "Shouldn't we help them sister?"

"We will, only when the need is most dire. Is that okay sister?"

Luna nodded looking back at the pinnacle of the castle, "How long do you think we have?"

"That will depend. Let us hope that they can do it."

Twilight and friends ascend to the top not stoping until they made it. While they were climbing the castle, at the spire, Oni managed to complete his spell. This was his very first time actually using the spell, many times he tried to complete and always it was stopped abruptly him Nicolas and his friends. Now with it finally completed, he can now do what he desired for so long, "Finally, it's about time I finally turn a world into an apocalypse."

Twilight and friends finally made it to the top hearing what he said, "Not on our watch!"

Oni was rather a bit annoyed at them for not finishing it before they were freed. He does give them some credit, not giving up even after what happened, "Tch, so you made it. I might give you some credit here and now, but you're too late!" As he said that, the spell had become active and shot a beam towards the sky. The others covered their eyes from the blinding sight. As the beam made contact with one of many clouds, it split at multiple directions hitting several areas. At those areas, demons from his world had begun to spawn spreading the chaos at those areas. Having expected this to happened, Nicolas had planned ahead and put each of his friends at different locations where they may spawn. All of his friends heard the dreadful news of his death and went on protecting the citizens from them. At the spire, Oni looked at them with a morbid look on his face, "Welcome to the end of your world."

All of them wanted to beat the living daylights out of him for killing a good friend. They each looked at each other and having shared some nods, they wore the Elements and leaped at Oni.

"Pathetic." Oni creates a dark barrier around himself preventing them from touching him. To his dismay, the Elements became active and dispelled his barrier. Without any time to realize what just happened, he was hit full force from the Elements. He was pushed back from the recoil almost into the beam. He had begun to realize that the Elements had changed drastically from the last time they used it, "No, it is not possible to hurt me with those… How did it hurt me?"

"That's because we gotten a lot stronger the last time we met." Twilight pulled out the forgotten Element and showed it to Oni, "This once belong to your enemy. The one alicorn we understood just like Celestia and Luna." Twilight putted it back where it was and returned her gaze back to her. Having gotten this far, it seems like they could finally beat him.

That is, until, he reveals one last trick that surprised them all, "Not yet, I'm gotten too far to be stopped!" Oni pulls out a dagger and stabs himself at the heart. Everypony was almost in shock and confused as to why he did that. When he pulled out the dagger, the blood from the dagger begins to react and surrounds Oni. Within the blood vortex, Oni physical body was changing, his hooves became claws, his horn now split into two and became demonic, and his wings have bony protrusions. His whole body now has become that of a demon. As the blood vortex disappeared, his true form was revealed to the bearers and seeing it made them go into a state of fear. For the first time in their life, to see a demon up close and personal made them paralyzed with fear. They may have faced villains beyond their calling but to face a demon is something they never expected, "Haha, you're all paralyzed with fear. You've never faced a real demon before haven't you?" They were all silent walking a few steps away from the monstrosity that was Oni. Oni walked closer to them while they were walking back further and further from him until they reached the edge of the castle spire. They looked back at Oni who was over their heads. As they couldn't move at all, they begun to realize that they may actually feel death, "Say your prayers for it will be your last words you say." Oni goes to deliver a strike above them and all of them brace themselves for it.

"Do not give up! Not when you are this far!" Twilight rose her head first when a barrier surrounded them blocking Oni's attack and pushed him back. All the others react from that and see two ponies, one of them was a unicorn and the other was their dead alicorn friend. They look back at them and give a vote of confidence, "Don't worry about me girls, death has no grip on an angel itself." Nicolas smiles at them reassuring that they can beat them. The other unicorn however had a different view of that, "Please big brother, if it weren't for your angelic blood, you would have faced death there." Nicolas was a little urked from that but it was true anyway, "Come on Euria my sister, you don't have to be like that you know, haha."

Everypony was trying to process what was going on especially Oni who he witnessed his death, "Hold on, Nicolas we saw you die and then you faded from existence. What's going on here!?"

Nicolas laughed a bit from the sudden question but at the same time he was still serious about this battle, "Never mind about that, all of you are our best hope."

"What do you mean!?" We have no chance against him! Even the Elements seem to have little to no effect on him!"

"You may want to listen to her, they have no effect on me since they have never faced such a monster before."

"Maybe, but there is something else that we can do." Nicolas and Euria look at them and begin channeling all of their energies. They begin to glow as their magic enters the six bearers. As they were transferring all of their magic into them, the six begin to feel the energies flowing within their bodies. With time, their bodies become surrounded with a rainbow and ascended high into the sky as their bodies begins to produce many physical changes.

Each one of their manes and tails became flowing like that of Celestia and Luna having their own motifs. Pinkie's changing shape like a cloud compared to the usual flow, Rarity's sparkling like the many jewels she has, Fluttershy's having some flowers on her, Rainbow Dash having the normal mane but flowing and extending, Applejack with her mane and tail set ablaze, and finally to Twilight whose mane and tail were like that of the sunset. They also gained some wings and horns depending on their race. For Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, they gain horns. For Rarity and Twilight, they gain the ability of flight like the pegasi. And finally for Pinkie and Applejack, they received both horn and wings. As the transformation ended, they flew right down to the castle falling like a shooting star.

Landing perfectly well, they look at themselves to see what happened to themselves with shocking results, "W…Wha…What just happened to us?" Oni was more shocked at what he is looking at than the six themselves.

Nicolas and Euria both looked at each other noting on what they did, then responded to the question that Twilight asked, "Can you see what happened yourself?" They laughed a bit having asked a silly question like that.

Twilight and friends realized that they became alicorns. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were almost ecstatic upon seeing that they were alicorns, the others had mixed feelings about the transformation. Twilight was wondering how would Celestia react seeing in her current form. As much as they were pondering about this, they suddenly remembered the current crisis at hand and looked at Oni who was charging at them. They weren't so sure on what to do to meet with the incoming attack. Then, Rainbow Dash went in front of him and rained lightning bolts from the sky surprising even herself, "Woah, did…did I do that!?" Rainbow was so shocked about what she that the others begun to gain a significant idea on the new powers they were gifted. They looked at the brother and sister who were smiling at what they did. Twilight, still baffled at what happened asked Nicolas and Euria what they did, "Could you two please explain what you did to us?!"

Before Nicolas could talk about it, he casted a time spell pausing the whole Equestria and those caught in it except themselves and the six, "We transferred about half of our power to you. We are very strong but even we have our limits, so the best thing we decided was to give what we said before, half of our energy to you. As a result, this transformation occurred." Nicolas looked upon the sky seeing the many constellations. Having expected this to happen, he was determined that they will finish where he left off. He looks back at them noticing that his spell was wearing off quickly. Having not enough time to finish what he was going to say, he tells them very quickly what he wished to say, "Can you finish Oni for me?"

They all looked at each other with a determined look on their faces. With the power they were given from Nicolas and Euria, they were more then happy to do it for them, "We can, just be ready to return once this is all over, okay?"

Nicolas was happy to hear that from them. All he could do was watch on and hope that they can do well, "Of course I'll come back, now go for it all of you." Nicolas walks back and disappears along with Euria and lets the six do what they were born to do. He also dispels his spell and resumes all time allowing everypony to move once again. As time slowly returns back to normal, the six look upon the demon who, realizing what happened, looks at them and begins the fight to the bitter end.

The six dodge his charge and begin their assault. Having already gain most of the knowledge of many spells thanks to Nicolas, the six have access to many tricks and spells that they are accustomed too. While in the middle of dodging, Rainbow Dash once again rained down lightning on Oni hoping to get while he was still charging. Oni anticipated it and dodged it as well. With them being alicorns now, Oni now decided to cast his own spells. Oni created a spell circle instantly from below one of them. He raises his claws and a pillar of darkness was released from it. Twilight teleported out of the way and counterattacked with a beam. Oni created a barrier reflecting it into the sky and also countered attacked as well. Applejack went right in front of Twilight and stomped the ground making a rock wall. As it was holding off the attack, Pinkie went behind him and pulled out her cannon and went in it. She launched herself right onto Oni. A direct hit and he was sent flying before he recovered from the hit. Oni made multiple copies of himself and all simultaneously attacked them. The real Oni, however, hid among the shadows and channeled some of his darkness into his palms. While the alicorns fended off each horde of himself that were coming at them, Oni slowly managed to channel enough of his energy into his hands. As they finished the rest of the horde, Oni finished his spell and slammed the sphere onto the ground. The sphere grew ever so larger when it made contact with the ground and almost engulfed the whole castle. Twilight created a barrier around herself to protect herself from it while the others fled from the sphere. When the sphere stopped growing, the five tried to enter it. As they made contact with the sphere, they were pushed back by an unseen force. This made them annoyed, but over time they begun to realize that not everypony went out of the radius of the sphere. While they trying to find anyway into the sphere, Twilight dispelled her barrier wondering where she was. Inside the sphere was nothing but pitch-black darkness and it was hard to where she was going. When she tried to do an illumination spell, the spell got disrupted preventing her from emitting anything that shines. When she begun to wander aimlessly looking for a way out, Oni appears in front of her. She reacted despite not being able to see him. She wondered where her friends were wondering if they can make it. She used telepathy to speak with her friends who were struggling to get inside the sphere, "Hello? Can you guys hear me? Please respond!"

The five hear Twilight in their heads. The four were freaking out a bit from hearing her inside their heads, Rarity on the other side didn't mind as she learned this spell before just never used it in her life, "Calm down you four, it's just telepathy, don't freak out over it." Everypony being baffled was expected, "I'll talk about it later. Let's just hear what Twilight has to say. Twilight, we are here, we're having trouble entering the sphere darling. What is wrong on your part?"

"You girls can't enter? That's a problem, that's means I have to face Oni alone." Twilight was worried if she can handle Oni alone. Even with the strength of an alicorn, she was not fond of fighting her battles on her own especially those who are powerful beyond comprehension. Sure she has done some from time to time, but for the most part, she had her friends to support her back. To actually face something that doesn't even exist in Equestria when the whole world is on the line, it putted a lot of pressure on her.

The five friends hear only silence from Twilight making them wonder if she was getting worried. Considering the situation she was in, it's no surprise that she would get worried. They decided to give her some morale support even if it's only a little, "Twilight, don't give up yet. You can do it, you just need the confidence to do it."

Despite it being only a few words, it added a boost of confidence to her to continue the fight against Oni, "Thanks girls. Guess I'll try to do this alone."

The five were happy to hear that from her but were wondering what to do if they can't help Twilight. Rainbow Dash suggested an idea and to her surprise, it was the first smart thing that she said, "How about we assist Nicolas's friends that are scattered on the five major towns?" The five looked at each other wondering if this was okay. They decided that this would be best for now, "Okay, if everypony is ready now, we can go now. I call Cloudsdale."

"Canterlot for me, you all could probably can guess." The four didn't mind and just shrugged at the answer.

"I call Appleloosa, I need to see Braeburn and see if he can do anything along with the buffalo."

"I'll stay at Ponyville, it's my home and I want to keep it safe. I know it's kinky isn't it? One time I went…"

"Um Pinkie, I think we get the idea. I'll go with you Pinkie, you don't mind right?"

"Uh huh, I'll like some help at least."

The five looked at each other one last time and after they nodder, they split up into their destination. While they were heading to their location, inside the sphere, Twilight was staring face to face with the demon himself wondering what to do. Oni noting her, decided to tell her one last thing before the real fight begins, "I know you're wondering what I might do before we fight, I'll tell you it but only because you're going to face oblivion once I finish the sphere." Oni putted another sphere on his palms and fused it with the other sphere. The result made the sphere expand covering much of the old castle and inside the sphere, the two teleported somewhere Twilight doesn't know. The fight against Oni was heading for its climax.

Chapter 9: Dawn of the End

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Chapter 9: Dawn of the End

Twilight wakes herself in a middle of a forest. Wondering where she was, she walks through the forest hoping to find the way out. After only a few steps, the forest disappears and reveals where she truly was. She was in an apocalyptic world where the water itself was gone and replaced with blood, lava flowing through the entire field along with countless volcanic explosion, the forests beyond here were distorting and were dead, and there no signs of life anywhere, just the demons Oni summons forth. Twilight realizes that her fight was now within Oni's territory. Oni appeared, "Welcome Twilight to hell. To be honest I never bought anyone here. This is the first time I've done this." Oni looks upon the alicorn and unsheathe his scythe. Twilight prepares herself until a weapon appeared from out of nowhere. Nicolas's sword, The Heaven's Light, appeared in front of her bearing a message, "You are worthy of wielding this sword. Grab it and my power shall be granted." She wondered what it meant, but she grabbed it anyway with her telekinesis and goes into a battle stance. Suddenly, power surged through her granting powers of many seraphims. Oni seeing this, didn't hesitate and attack her while she was taking in the power. Twilight blocked the incoming attack and begins attacking Oni. With the newfound strength, she slashes away at Oni while blocks as well. As both weapons collide, the battle that will determine the fate of Equestria has begun.

While Twilight and Oni were fighting, the others helped Nicolas's friends defend the numerous demons spawning from hell. With each one of them taking five of the major cities, it would be long they end being tired and outnumbered. But despite that, they fought back not holding back anything.

At Ponyville, where Fluttershy and Pinkie were with Quintin and Rosette, defended the many citizens who were supporting the four. Rosette set vines everyone to squeeze the life out of the demons hoping to return them back. Quintin casted a barrage of spells at them from explosions to creating a dark pillar that extinguishes life within it. Pinkie and Fluttershy was within the charging armada beating down many of Oni's hellspawns. Rosette set up thorn shields around them activating them only when too many of them are around them. Pinkie, thanks to Nicolas, was casting spells that were beyond comprehension from creating miniature black holes strong enough to suck a part of the armada, to literally breaking a part of the universe only for a short duration. Fluttershy though used her animals and empowered them accordingly. For the bear, she gave it immense strength enough to shake Equestria. Many of her animal friends each gave it their all for their home.

At Clousdale, Rainbow Dash was shooting down lightning and calling upon severe winds to blow them all down. Most of the lightning bolts stunned them allowing for the winds to blow them away. Rainbow Dash along with the Bird Triplets, Eagle, Shine, and Dova, each had their share of the seemingly never-ending army. The two of the triplets, attacked the army head-on doing hit-and-run tactics hoping to lure them to Dova. Dova responded to them by healing the three who were fighting and doing many spells hitting enemies in a large group.

At Canterlot, Rarity was using many jewels buried underneath the city to cut through the enemy lines, each sharpened to a keen edge. Brave rode along some of the gems to do an overhead attack on the demons. He unsheathes his sword and slash at the many demons all the while defending himself. Rarity made jewel barriers around Brave sometimes to protect him. When it was time, she would make spikes come out from the shield and pierce the demons while Brave was attacking them with haste.

With the help of the Appleloosans and the Buffalo nation, Applejack fought against the incoming army. The Appleloosans with Braeburn as leader shoot barrels full of live ammunition to weaken the enemy. They never had these kinds of barrels until Applejack teleported some to the city. Applejack empowered herself and others around her with magic. She goes high up into the sky and slams the ground creating a ravine swallowing some of the demons. The Buffalos charged at them with the horns cleaved to pierce the skin. Each one managed to make a line of dead demons. Applejack dispels the ravine and continues the assault.

Back at the deaths of Hell, Twilight and Oni continued their vicious fight. Twilight shoot a magic beam at Oni. Oni deflected it barely with his scythe and did a downward slash at Twilight. She teleported out of the way and behind him slashing at him. Oni's wings take the hit and although hurt, shake of the pain. Oni creates a dark spell below Twilight and casts it while attacking her. Twilight barely dodged both Oni's spell and his scythe. She counter attacked with a meteor falling down on the battlefield. Both Oni and Twilight teleported out of the meteor's way. It crashes and creates an explosion shaking the battlefield. During the explosion, Twilight and Oni continued the fight within it ignoring the intense heat. Each time they get at each other, it would be their weapons clashing constantly. They tried constantly to get an opening for the finishing blow. When the explosion ended, both looked at each other hoping to settle this quickly, however, with their powers almost equal, the fight will take longer than expected, "So Oni, are you ready to face the fact that you can't beat me again?"

Oni can tell that she wasn't joking, whatever happened with her to reach the new power, it was enough to rival his own, "I don't know what Nicolas did to you, but I must admit, it is rather impressive." Oni created a black hole above them deciding to settle this once and for all. It was risky as this may end him as well, but too much time was wasted during his entrance here "This black hole is where I was sealed, if either one of us gets sucked into the black hole, this place will be the last thing we'll ever see. Now Twilight, welcome, to the endgame." Oni charged at her and performed an upward slash hoping to end it right now.

Twilight dodged the incoming attack and shoot a wave of energy from the sword. The wave made a direct hit and launched him into the air. Twilight chases him and tries to settle this quickly, but Oni anticipated this and countered her. She got caught and took a direct hit almost sending her into the black hole. She regains her balance midair and before knowing she was being sucked into the black hole. She teleported out of range before she could be sealed away forever. Twilight was looking around trying to find Oni. She felt the ground shake and dodged the unexpected attack. Twilight casted a fire spell on him hoping to avert his attention. After the intense fire ended, she turned invisible and ran away for now hoping to heal her injuries.

Oni was blinded from the fire that Twilight created. As he regained his sight, he sees that Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Seeing this tactic before, he was going to bet that she is trying to heal herself and keep some distance from him. This idea would be futile though because even should she be able to hide, in here, there was no hope of healing as healing spells do not function here, "Trying to keep some distance are you?" Oni went up into the air while keeping a safe distance from the black hole he created, "No matter what you try, you will feel death's embrace. So come on out of hiding!" Oni began the search for Twilight on ground and the air.

Twilight was hiding in the forest breathing heavily from running. She tried to heal herself but realization came to her when she found out that she can't heal herself in this place. Twilight was in trouble, without healing herself, she is much more vulnerable and unable to react fast before Oni makes move. Running out of options at the moment she had to end this battle quickly by sending him to the black hole and seal him away for good. She waited for the right moment for her to strike at her unexpected adversary. While waiting, she gets telepathic messages from her friends and their tone made her worried about the battle outside of here, "Twilight, can you hear us!? We're in big trouble here!"

Back at Equestria, the five alicorns were desperately holding their ground with Nicolas's friends, however, the demons were coming back faster than they can defeat them. It is to the point where they may end up being overrun with demons. Even with the many ponies assisting them, the fight was going to end up being a loss of many innocent lives, "These things are coming back faster than we kill them! I think we're going to end up being outnumbered here! Twilight, I know you're doing your fight but do something about this or else we're going down!"

Twilight was now feeling the pressure. Not only does she have to deal with Oni himself, but the outside threat as well. With not a lot of time at her side, she decided to deal with the threat at Equestria first. She casted an invisible spell on herself and tries to find hotspots where the demons might spawn at.

Oni was slightly annoyed that she was hiding from his line of sight. If he had learned anything from his many battles against Nicolas, it's that with friends, they can message each other despite the distance what goes on at two separate battlefields. He stayed at the seal where the demons enter. The one seal splits itself at her world into five separates gates targeting the most important cities. Destroying the seal would hinder all of his progress he made at Equestria.

Twilight sees the seal where her friends said that the demons were coming from. She was troubled about many things going on here. Oni was there to keep guard along with the incoming armada of demons. Considering how far the fight was going, she wasn't surprised that he would try to keep it safe from her. Still concealed in her spell, she cautiously went close to the seal hoping to close it. One problem to that is that she never learned anything about arcane magics especially of different worlds. She was worried that one slip-up could spell disaster to Equestria. As she got close to the seal, she felt the demonic energies emanating from it. The vile energies made her dizzy and almost lost her concentration. Everytime she got close to the seal hoping to close it, she had to back away from it as the energies were unbearable and it made her lose concentration. She looked at Oni wondering if he has noticed her yet. Oni was too busy looking for her allowing her to try once again to seal it. She slowly approached the seal not losing sight of it or Oni himself. As she was within her hoof, the energies began to overwhelm her as she tried to seal it. She tried to resist the energies as it slowly encroached her body. With each passing second, the energies slowly showed her flashbacks not belonging to her. The sight of these flashbacks made her cringe seeing each one of them individually. From the brutal murders from the many worlds that Nicolas and Oni fought in, to other crimes she never seen in her life, it made her cringer upon each one. One of the flashbacks however, showcased something she had asked before to Nicolas, what happened in his childhood.

Most of the details were blurred out, but from what she was seeing, his childhood happened while he was in a middle of a war. As the flashback continued showing her the capture of his parents. What she saw next made her understood why Nicolas didn't tell her about his past and made her shiver with all the gory details. She witnessed the execution of Nicolas's parents and the brutal killing of those said executioners by Nicolas himself. As the flashback ended at the screams of those dead, she reacted and touched the seal and said chanted words taught from Nicolas and managed to destroy the seal. Oni heard those same chants and seeing Twilight tried to stop her from breaking it. Twilight looked upon him, seeing the glint of steel from his scythe reacted and with the last bit of magic she teleported out of the hellish nightmare.

"No!" yelled Oni as he wasn't able to slice the alicorn's head off in time. He turns around and sees the seal breaking upon itself as all demons who entered it were forced to be called back. Everypony was cheering as all the demons were called back in a tornado of fire and everything was being restored almost instantly after the tornado disappears. However, not everypony knows that the fight is not over. The princesses and the bearers know well that the fight is far from over as they waited for the return of Twilight. As minutes passed, they begun to worry for the unicorn as she has not appeared from the ashes. The bearers decided to go to the old castle to check if she was there. With simple though of its location, each bearer teleported to the said location even though they never knew how to teleport, they didn't care about it. Each one makes it there and sees Twilight bruised up from her fight. They ran to her and embraced her with hugs delighted to see their friends once again, Twilight was reeling from the sudden pain but she didn't mind the embrace from her friends, "Can you girls loosen up a bit, injured unicorn here or alicorn as I am at the moment." They all backed from her somewhat embarrassed that they ruled out the possibility of her being injured. Twilight chuckled a bit from it, but suddenly changed expressions to a very serious attitude upon remembering the fight. She tried to stand up but fell down from the numerous injuries she received from that fight. Her friends assist her and upon seeing her attitude made them see that the fight was not over yet. Rainbow was the first one to respond to the realization, "He's still around isn't he?" Twilight nodded much to her dismay. Rarity used her magic and putted her on Applejack's back, "So we still have an unfinished business to attend to. This is quite a predicament, don't you think?" All were silent from her question but did understand what she means. They head back to the Canterlot Castle hoping end this charade now.

Back at the Underworld, Oni was now bent on getting that alicorn's head off himself when he meets with his old enemy face to face. He was stunned to see him back so early. However, to have come back now was better than nothing for he would enjoy fighting someone of his strength and of similarity than an unknown enemy, "So… It comes to this again."

Nicolas teleports the both of them into a separate location ready to settle this. As they reached their destination, Nicolas and Oni backed themselves up a bit. Oni wondered where was at. Nicolas unsheathes his sword and points it at his face a certain distance from him. Oni sees this and he too called upon his axe and points at him. Both stared at each other not wavering from the sight of their enemy. Each passing second, as numerous petals begin to fall from an empty space and be blown by the unseen wind touching the ground, their current form began to change slowly returning them back into their original forms. Two petals fall down slowly on their weapons as they returned back into their true forms. As the petals begin to touch upon both weapons, they move back and clash against each other. Each hit of their weapons shakes the very battle they are in.

Back at Equestria, those said hits are felt through small aftershocks. Though not noticeable, over time, everypony begins to notice them and a sense of panic was beginning to overwhelm them. The alicorns went to the castle bringing Twilight with them. As they fly to Canterlot, they wondered where these aftershocks were coming from. At first they though it was the after effects of that tornado, but they dismissed that quickly. As they make it to Canterlot, they feel the energy that once enveloped them left their body returning back into their original form. They carried her into the hospital where doctors take her in and try to recuperate her. The five went with her to see that Celestia and Luna were there waiting for them. As doctors putted Twilight in the same bed she was in, Celestia talks with the five outside, "I see that my student is doing fine. Thank the heavens." The five could only be happy from hearing that response from her, "I even saw a glimpse of the six of you as alicorns, I'd never thought that my uncle had the strength to do that." They had no idea how to respond to that either but to actually be one, it felt so satisfying to them. Aftershocks still ravage Equestria worrying both Celestia and Luna. They wondered what to do with these aftershocks and after much though decided to check out Equestria to see if there was something that was causing it.

At the unknown world, Nicolas and Oni were trying many times to get the finishing blow. With each anticipation of them getting there, it slips within their grasp until no more. They clashed again and the recoil from that sender them flying. Nicolas regains balance and chanted hoping to end this quickly. Oni did the same thing and chanted as well. As they finished their chanting they casted their spells immediately on each other. The spells collided struggling to beat the other. The collision of the spells was beginning to be a repeat of what happened, but this time, Nicolas wanted to end this now. He powered up himself and poured all of his strength into the spell. It begins to work as the spell begins to push away at Oni. Oni tries to power up but can't from being too tired from the last fight. He loses the struggle and dodges the spell narrowly before it hit him. As he was breathing heavily, he sees a seal under him. Realization came to him when he was being sealed away again by Nicolas who was chanting. He tried to get but his whole body couldn't move at all, "So this is how it ends again, you sealing me forever." Oni chuckled from this repeat, "But no matter how times you do this, I will always return." Nicolas looked at him not wavering from his nemesis, "And you know as well as I do that I'll always be ready when you escape." He chanted the last words formed his seal and Oni begins to fade from existence, "Heh, couldn't have said it myself." Oni returns back to where he was originally sealed and finally the fight was over for now. Nicolas begins to wonder if there will ever be a day where all these useless conflicts will ever come to an end. He knows there is a way to end this but until the time comes all he can do is wait. Nicolas teleports out of the dimension and into Canterlot. No one was there yet considering the ruckus going on. He reverted back into his ponysona of himself and walked out of the Canterlot Castle doors and begins checking on the innocents while walking to the hospital.

As the citizens from many cities began to calm down and rejoice, everything became nothing but memory never to be remembered. In the Canterlot hospital, where Twilight's friends are, they were chatting about this experience and how it felt. They giggled and scowled during the whole conversation while the princesses were checking. As they continued on, the two sisters returned having been worrying for nothing. The six laughed to their heart's content from them being worried too much. They laughed a little but nonetheless decided to join their chat. As they chatted about many things, a knock was heard at the door. Celestia opens the door and sees that Nicolas was at the door. She backed away from him much to her surprise, the others however, embraced him happy to see him alive. Nicolas returned the favor and gave a squeezing hug. The five hugging him were gasping for air as they struggled to brake free of his hold. Nicolas ,seeing what they were doing, releases them, blushing after that embarrassing moment. Having regained his composure, he returns his attention back at the six who were resting from the battles, "It's good to see you six faring well. Comparing that to me though…" Nicolas couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "Sorry, I'm just glad to see you girls well."
The six were happy to hear that from him, "We're just happy to see you again." Nicolas smiles warmly to them. Nicolas calls Luna and Celestia and tells them to begin the rebuilding of Equestria. They obliged and went off. Nicolas having seen that the fight was over for now helped as well in the reconstruction of Equestria. Seeing that this world is need of some assisting he decided to stay here and continue until the job is done. With that, he looks at the beautiful night sky one last time and disappears into the unknown.

Neo Fantasia: Rise of a New Evil

by PrinceUniversa

Prologue: An Unforeseen Event

Chapter 1: Old Times

Chapter 2: Meeting the Mane 6

Chapter 3: Equestria on the Line

Chapter 4: Pride of the Angel

Chapter 5: Into the Unknown

Chapter 6: Infiltrating the Fortress

Chapter 7: Corruption of the Mind

Chapter 8: A Saint's Devotion

Chapter 9: Dawn of the End