Princess Nightmare Moon took a deep breath. The chilly air in Canterlot’s high towers always reminded her of the old Canterlot. Or was it new Canterlot, considering its age? The previous iteration of the city had never stopped being cold. No matter how hard she had tried, fires and magic could not replace the sun or its light.
Of course, no wind swept through previous Canterlot either. It felt strange every time she went up here. The cold reminded her of dead Canterlot, yet the wind assured her it still lived.
She shook her head. She had come up here to get a better view, not to reminisce. She needed to focus.
She raised the bow. It felt so flimsy in her magic. She had chosen the strongest one in the armory, made out of hickory and strengthened with runes and spells. Yet it still felt so fragile. Many things in Canterlot felt that way. Being very old and very powerful required a lot of self control. Perhaps Celestia had the same problem, to a lesser degree.
She nocked the arrow. There was nothing for it. She couldn’t risk Tirek absorbing any of her spells, so this mundane weapon would have to do.
She took another breath. Magic swirled across the arrow, ensuring it would fly faster. Another spell laced across the string and bow, ensuring it would not break and would shoot smoothly. A final spell wrapped around her eyes, letting her see the hundreds of kilometers into Baltimare. She sighted him easily; Tirek was a large target. Now he only had to turn around. An arrow to the spine would kill him simply and instantly, no matter how much magic he had absorbed.
She needed to do this. Celestia’s plan was terrible. Twilight’s body would shatter if it tried to hold all of her magics, let alone Celestia’s and Cadance’s. Even if it didn’t, Twilight possessed no experience with such massive amounts of energy, let alone combat. Tirek would find Twilight eventually, and he would inevitably best her. Then it would be her old life all over again, a dead world with nothing but statues and the moon to keep Tirek company.
They would discover her lies no matter what. Twilight would reveal how her magic worked, given the chance. She had been faking incompetence for so long now, but it could not last. If her facade had expired, then she could at least keep Equestria safe.
In the distance, Tirek sucked the magic out of another pony. He laughed. The sound didn’t carry that far, of course, but she could imagine it from the way he looked. Smug, confident, sadistic. He grabbed another pony, and another. He laughed again.
Finally, he turned around, exposed the base of his skull.
Princess Nightmare Moon released the arrow. The air in front of her warped and bent as the arrow shot forward. A sonic boom trembled through Canterlot. It mixed with the sound of the bow breaking in half.
Even with all the spells, it took the arrow almost a full second to hit him. The arrow pushed aside clouds and trees as it traveled, leaving a blue and white streak in its wake.
It struck his spine perfectly. His hair covered the entry, but she saw the blood spurt out the other side. She could imagine the wet thunk it must have made, imagine the way he gurgled up blood as he tried to scream.
Magic began to leak out of his body along with the blood. He collapsed, and Princess Nightmare Moon let the vision spell fade.
She dropped the pieces of the bow and turned to the stairs. Now came the hard part; explaining herself to her sister.
o.O damn!
Nice shot Luna/Moon
Well, that doesn't sound entirely mundane, though I suppose by the time it reaches him, even if he absorbs the magic speed boost, he'll still be dealing with an arrow.
Damn! Why FiMF didn't notified me the sequel went up? If not for the story being featured, I would never know it exists.
Just how old is she? If she was allowed to grow in strength while on the moon she would only have about an extra 40 years since she killed Celestia. Unless NMM somehow absorbed Celestia's and then demented Luna's power.
How would a bow break after it is fired? It is in a more relaxed state then. Unless, you know, magic...
I am really interested where this power came from.
That was one hell of a shot.
5898573 I imagine it to be kind of like the long-range shot from the opening scene of Wanted
Take about "The shot heard around the world."
Well, I have now read the story description in long form. I don't think I can say I'm upset, though.
5897894 5898263 Well, she puts a spell on it to prevent it from breaking. Presumably the spell faded as the arrow was released and all the force acting on the bow snapped it.
OH
OH OOOH
OOOOOOOOOH
GET FUCKING REKT M8
MOM GET THE CAMERA
[insert more mlg memes here]
5905521 FUCKIN THREESIXTY NO SCOPE ACROSS THE MAP BITCH!!! MLG!!!!!
IT WAS LOVE
Essentially a magic powered compact railgun with a magic fueled ramjet projectile.
There are not enough MLG memes to really describe how rekt Tirek was the moment she let loose something that just put the bows Artemis and Apollo use to shame.
"Gotcha ya pot belly lard ass!" —Sniper from TF2
Finally starting to read this, after far too long.
A small note from a pedant who once practiced archery: If you want to maintain authentic language, one does not fire a bow. To fire a ranged weapon is a piece of language that came into use with guns; 'firearms', you see? In archery, one shoots a bow or looses an arrow.
7304490 Fixed. As a fellow pedant, I appreciate the note
This is not inexcusable Nightmare, you did what you had to do.
Sorry Princess, but if you're going to put so much magical force into an arrow that it travels hundreds of kilometres in one solitary second, breaking the sound barrier, then no bow will be able to stay in one piece after firing that thing.
That is, assuming that the bow still has to take the impact and provide the initial acceleration...
Anyway, this is looking to be a rather interesting story, especially considering the prequel and sequel. I look forward to it
7475953 Pretty sure they didn't have compound bows, since it was considered the strongest bow in the Canterlot armoury, presumably on of the most well-equipped in Equestria. Unless some cooky archer in some middle of nowhere town came up with one and hasn't patented or mass-produced it yet.
Did they even have mass production?
Ahh just like parasite.
Now she'll have to change her name AGAIN, to make it "Princess Artemis". Then again, Luna/Nightmare never strike me as particularly chaste.
OH MY GOD! NOSCOPE!
Yeeeeaaaaaah no, she pretty much kicked him up and down the landscape.
Well, so much for the cutie map. That kind of semi important thing that twilight and company need to stop Starlight Glimmer and solve friendship problems. But most ly stop Starlight Glimmer.
7813230
But wouldn't that mean that Starlight Glimmer would have no conduit to empower her time travel spell?
Also, what's a few dozen ponies living in a cult compared to a world destroyed? It's harsh but true. I don't like it either but it's better than some alternatives.
7921485 as would Starlight ever even get to the time fuckery part?
as far as I know, Twilight kicks his can all over the place, gets a super powerup, and a magical castle of untold power to act as a conduit if 'friendship'
If this never happened, and Tired just got one-uped by a bow to the back, then our favorite time manipulator would never be.
But them again...she was a time warper.
so what's to say she isn't still lurking around in the space time continuum.
Maybe she even watched the show once, saw that she got it right the first time,
then watched this, and found out she wold have just gotten a major time-block with NMM around.
Lol, I can imagine her doing a spit take while she watches Tirek get one shot.
5897894
This comment might come too late, but since I see nobody else having provided an answer: In the prequel NMM mentions to Luna how she tried countless iterations of trying to convince her to not attack Celestia, which means that NMM has asked Discord to send her back lots of times.
9010888
No, because she used the spells in the library, which all had limitations. Discord was the last resort.
5905521
9010888
More importantly, even if she could bail out after failing each time she is still however long she said she needed Discord to send her back older than Celestia thinks she is.
So, did the Nightmare not get purged when she got hit by the elements by the mane 6 in this world, or is she just calling herself Nightmare despite being purified?
11447357
Uh. Now that you've pointed it out, I imagine the Elements might've known that she wasn't actually intending to for real overthrow Celestia and so after sealing her on the Moon, instead of 'purging' her the Elements allowed her to keep the charade going. It's also possible, seeing as this is an AU that there wasn't anything to purge and Luna's appearance as Nightmare Moon was something that happened naturally as a result of the path she took along with changing her name.
Regardless, she's presumably identified as Nightmare Moon for longer than she has Princess Luna, so it's bound to stick.
Nice shot, Luna!
From behind, no less. None of that sissy 'fair play' malarkey when ponies are in danger!
Just two words needed: "Th'art Welcome."