Nightwing was confused. There was something boiling inside his gut. He felt...something. He couldn't explain the feeling. It felt like...anger. Anger towards Moonstone, but also...sadness towards the Pegasus. He didn't know why he felt these emotions. He didn't know the Pegasus. He didn't have any reason to help him.
Then why was he feeling this way? These questions wandered through Nightwing as he watched the Pegasuses body fall. His heart tossed back into the hole it had been pulled out from. The pink flames that once covered his body began to be extinguished. Revealing his Red spiky mane, and cold dead eyes.
"Empyrion, there should be no more interferences." Moonstone said, not even caring about the pony's life she had taken. "Target Equestria and destroy it at once-"
Ding
The elevator doors were busted down from their slides, flying forward before hitting the floor, startling both Nightwing and Moonstone.
"Nightwing my love I've come to save you!" Cheese sandwich shouted as he exited the elevator. "Finally, twenty fourth time was the charm."
"Cheese...sandwich? Wait. How do I know that pony's name?" Nightwing wondered.
"You." Moonstone addressed Cheese. "How are you alive? I thought Comet Tail killed you?"
"Comet Tail. A unicorn. I feel like...I feel like I should know him." Nightwing said.
"No. You told Comet Tail to get rid of me, that you had 'no need for my mischief'." Cheese repeated. "Anywho, on a separate note." Cheese paused looking up at Nightwing. "Why are you letting this girl boss you around friend? The Nightwing I know wouldn't let someone like her," Cheese pointed to Moonstone. "To boss you around and give you orders. Come on, show me that rebel spirit you have."
"Don't bother." Moonstone said. "He can't hear you, he can only hear my voice."
Cheese was about to retort with a really funny quip, but his eyes laid on Lightning. Motionless and not looking very alive. Cheese zipped over to Lightning, a smile on his face. "What do you think your doing ya lazy bum." Cheese joked. "Sleeping on the job like that, can't you see that Nightwing needs our help?"
Then he saw it. The heart that had once beat with a raging spirit, was now quietly resting in a hole in Lightning's chest. He stared at the corpse. It was kinda ironic really, Lightning was someone who was as hot as a lightning bolt yet here he was, his body ice cold. "Are you sick or something Nightwing?" Cheese asked, not averting his eyes from Lightning. "How could you just sit there and watch Lightning Strike get killed. Did you feel nothing for him? Sure he wasn't there for you when you were young but he came all this way to save you. And you just stood there and watched him die. Well then, if think I'm gonna let you just sit there and watch me die. Then I've got a surprise for you-"
Cheese went silent. He could no longer speak due to his entire body turned to stone.
"I've grown tired of your useless words." Moonstone said, blue aura swords appearing beside her.
'Lightning Strike...my...my friend?' Nightwing thought. His mind in complete pain, he knew the Pony's name but he didn't know why. Who was he, who was the pony? The answer was in his head, trying to force its way to the surface. But it was stuck, sandwiched between his mind and skull. Until it popped.
"Moonstone." Nightwing's voice came from the Crystal
"Yes what is it Empyrion?" Moonstone asked.
"I think you've forgotten my name. Nightwing stated.
Moonstone stopped. Her head slowly turned to the Master Crystal, her eyes instantly widened. Cracks began to form on the Crystal "See, my name isn't Empyrion. It's Nightwing!" the Crystal glowed intensely, blinding Moonstone.
And then it shattered. Scattering into multiple pieces of broken Crystal.
When Moonstone had looked back to where the Master Crystal once she was shocked once more. What stood before her was Nightwing, and behind him was a blue aura Wolf that was five times bigger than Nightwing. It growled at the sight of Moonstone, who regained her composure and smiled.
"Well well, you are a quick learner. I didn't think that you'd be able to summon your Night howler so quickly." Moonstone said, only to receive a glare from Nightwing. "What? Do you think that I should be afraid of you? Please, we both know you won't kill me."
"Let's test your theory shall we?" Nightwing responded.
The atmosphere was tense. To tense, way to tense. The tension was to tense for anyone to handle. One wrong move could result in complete defeat. Starlight knew this, she knew of the risks that were present. But what choice did she have, if she didn't move then she'd lose. With a sigh she used her magic and moved.
"And that's checkmate." Twilight smiled triumphantly, her rook slid across the board and captured Starlight's queen.
Starlight looked over each possibility her king could move. Sure enough it was Checkmate. With a sigh Starlight tapped her king, knocking it down. "I don't get it, I took away your Rook and Queen. Yet you still beat me."
"That's because you sacrificed your pieces to try and win, when I used my pawns to bring back my important pieces." Twilight explained.
After a drainage of magic between the Alicorn and unicorn Starlight proposed a battle of wits to decide who would be the victor. Twilight accepted the challenge and beat Starlight.
"But that doesn't make sense. In chess you are the one in control, you order your pieces and they do as you say. You sacrifice the weak so that the strong may grow." Starlight said.
Twilight shook her head. "Your thinking about it all wrong, while it is true that pawns are the weakest, they can become the strongest. Just because their weak doesn't mean their useless. Every piece has its importance, you just have to find it."
"That's not what I was told." Starlight muttered.
"And just who told you that?" Twilight asked.
"I can't say. But she is our leader, she promised me a world where the strong would rise against the weak, and that I could be apart of that world if I joined her."
"A world were only the strong live is wrong. We're are all equal, pony or not. It doesn't matter if we seem different from each other. Because we all have a place in this world." Twilight said.
"And what? You want me to come with you and join your world? What makes you think that I would even want to be apart of such a world? What could I gain?" Starlight asked.
Twilight rubbed her chin, thinking long and hard about her answer. "Friendship." Twilight answered.
"Friendship?" Starlight asked. Twilight nodded. "You sound like a cheesy superhero right now, you know that right?"
"Cheesy or not it's the truth. Equestria is full of friendship. Ponies smiling, playing, loving one another. Why wouldn't you want to be apart of that?" Twilight asked. Starlight looked away from twilight. "Your afraid. Your afraid of opening your heart because it was broken before."
"Shut up. You don't know any-eep!" Starlight yelped.
Twilight had closed the distance between her and Starlight, embracing her in a hug. "It's okay, I promise that your heart will never be broken again."
Starlight wanted to push away, part of her wanted to call her a number of racial slurs. But she found her hooves wrapping around Twilight. Tears began to roll down her eyes, she buried her face in Twilight's chest, hoping that Twilight wouldn't see her crying.
"There there." Twilight patted Statlight's head. "It's okay, tell me everything from the beginning."
starlight whipped away some of her tears and nodded. As she began her tale the two weren't aware that a certain deer was listening in.
The Night howler roared with rage in its voice. It charge towards Moonstone who created a bubble Sheila around her. The Night howler pounded and snapped against the shield. Till it broke through. The shield shattered like glass, the Night howler opened its jaws ready to snap Moonstone in half. Only for Moonstone to vanish before the Night howler could feast on his prey.
Moonstone appeared behind Nightwing. Hoping that she might've been able to knock him unconscious. Nightwing knew that Moonstone was behind him, and whirled around. Punching Moonstone in the face.
"I'll take that back thank you very much." Nightwing said, grabbing his complex Crystal out of Moonstone's hooves.
Moonstone landed on her hooves skidding across the floor. Once she had come to a stop the Night howler leaped into the air towards Moonstone. Who then vanished.
Nightwing put on his Crystal and used Shadow stalking. Moonstone and Nightwing appeared, both had summoned an aura sword. The two swords clashed, pushing against the other. The two leaped back from the other. Nightwing summoned five other swords which sailed towards Moonstone. Moonstone summoned five other swords of her own. The swords met and began clashing with the other, striking and blocking.
"Face it Nightwing, you can't beat me. We are both equally matched in magic." Moonstone stated.
Nightwing responded by firing a laser through her left foreleg, a small hole appeared in its place. "Magic? Yes. Smarts. You wish."
Moonstone growled, ignoring the pain. Her Crystal glowed brightly, then it unleashed a powerful laser. Nightwing did the same. The two beams collided, stuck in a constant struggle of pushing the other back.
There was a growl behind moonstone, she turned around to see the Night howler heading towards her. She moved her Crystal to where the beam sliced the Night howler in half. But in doing so she had left herself open.
A sharp pain came from Moonstone's left hoof. She roared in pain as she tried to grab her hoof. But there was nothing there. Then it dawned on her, she gazed to her left. Her missing hoof with her complex Crystal on the ground before her. It became obvious as to what happened.
Nightwing's night howler charged towards Moonstone, who would then destroy it with her beam. Leaving her open Nightwing used his beam to cut her left hoof off. And since her Crystal was connected to her left hoof she was unable to use magic.
Which meant that she was unable to stop Nightwing from driving a sword through her chest. Which he did so with gusto. Moonstone coughed up blood, which she spat on Nightwing's face. She smiled, "You won't kill me." She chuckled, gurgling some of the blood in her throat. "I know you...you don't kill."
Nightwing looked Moonstone dead in the eye. "Your already dead." He said. Two other swords appeared, and struck her through the heart.
The white part of her eyes turned black, her body turning to ashes like a paper thrown into a flame. She was no longer alive, her body void of her soul. With her body disintegrated Nightwing stood back, gazing at the pile of ash that was once a living creature.
No. She wasn't alive. She was nothing but a walking corpse. A zombie. Something that should've never existed. With a sigh Nightwing walked to the Complex crystal that laid on a pile of ash. He picked it up and stared at. Lost in thought at what might've happened.
A strange sensation shot through Mortem. He looked puzzled for a minute, before he realized what it was. With a sigh he raised his hoof. "Stop." He said flatly, black aura surrounding Ranger, Thorn, and Pinkie. "It seems as though Moonstone has died. Very well then." He turned to the three ponies who were suspended in air. "The victory is yours, I'll be taking my leave now."
With that Mortem disappeared as a black flash lit the room. The doe that had been fighting the group of three turned to ashes and the Black aura that held then vanished.
The three fell to the ground in a confused state. Well, two of them were confused. Thorn was angry.
"You coward! Get back here and take you death like a Stallion!" Thorn shouted to where Mortem disappeared.
"Um...doesn't your religion teach you to kind and peaceful?" Ranger asked.
Thorn took a deep breath and a moment to collect his thoughts. "Your right, I'm sorry. That was very wrong of me."
"We should go regroup with the others." Pinkie suggested.
"How are gonna do that? We all spit up remember, they could be anywhere." Ranger added.
"Don't worry, I can find them all with an easy message. But to do so were gonna have to go outside." Pinkie said, bouncing her way towards the exit.
"So Devourer, care to tell me what this so called 'hatred towards my host' is all about?" Flash asked, dodging Comet Tails strike.
"Now where would the fun be if I told you? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep you in the dark?" Comet Tail asked, a hoof colliding with his face.
"I don't care for whatever it is ya two are talking about." Applejack said, ramming her hoof in Comet's face. "What I want to know is what did ya do to Lightning?"
Comet Tail, not fazed in the slightest by Applejack's punch, turned his head to face her. His red eyes boring into hers. His horn glowed red and black, three black tendrils grew from his sides and arched up. They struck at Applejack.
And they would've hit two had Flash not teleported her next to him. "If you want to know what happened to the Element of Scorch I'm afraid neither he nor I will be able to give you an answer. I know that he was teleported in front of that cannon. But his power disappeared."
"Wait...what cannon?" Applejack asked.
"Oh you know, the big cannon right there." Flash pointed to the absolutely massive tube that was far away from them.
"How long has that been there?"
Flash stared at Applejack with a dumbfounded look, his mouth slightly opened. "Your...your joking right? You mean to tell me that you never noticed that?"
"Well, not really no."
"What do you mean no?! How could you miss something like that?! It's a giant massive cannon that's been sending earth...moonquakes throughout the entire moon!"
"Well maybe I was to busy dealing with him ta notice!" Applejack shouted back at Flash.
"You mean to tell me that you were so busy fighting him that you didn't notice a quake capable of tearing down a city?!"
"Well I'm sorry if I didn't notice it! But just because I didn't notice something doesn't mean you have to get all hostile over it!"
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! WILL YOU TWO JUST SCREW EACH OTHER AND BE DONE WITH IT!!!" Comet Tail shouted at Flash and Applejack. "I have had enough of this. I will end this battle here and now!"
"Correction. I will be the one to end this battle."
From out of nowhere, Mortem appeared. He had a somewhat disappointed expression on his face.
Comet Tail glared at the pony before him. "What are you doing her Mortem?" He demanded. "Move or I might accidentally kill you."
"Do not try to threaten me with empty words." Mortem shot back. "Moonstone has failed. And Starlight has been turned to the enemy's side. The mission has failed, so we are leaving."
"What!?" Comet Tail shouted in rage. "I'm not going to take orders from you. I will ask you one last time. Move or I will-"
"Atlas."
Comet Tail was unable to finish. His eyes rolled back into his head and his body became limp. He fell to ground with a thud.
"Like I said before, do not threaten me with empty words." Mortem repeated. His magic picked up Comet Tail and the two disappeared.
"Well...I guess we should go find the others." Flash said flatly, walking away.
"Wait what?! Ya mean we're jus' going to ignore what jus' happened?" Applejack asked.
Flash looked back to Applejack. "What more can we do? That one guy....., Mortem I think his was, he said that their mission had failed. So they've all left and now we have to leave." Flash said. His eyes and mane returning back to normal.
And was immediately tackled by a yellow blur.
"Foul demon! Let go of my brother at once!" Fluttershy yelled at Flash, her hooves clamped down on his throat.
"Sis...please...get off...your...choking me." Flash wheezed.
"Oh...sorry Flash. I thought you were...you know, possessed." Fluttershy slightly chuckled, getting off of Flash. Before glaring at him. "I'm still mad that you knocked me out for no reason. Where is Comet Tail anyways?"
"He left...I don't know where but he gone." Flash answered. "Come on we have to go find the others."
Flash froze.
Fluttershy froze
Applejack froze
Everything froze
Soarin and Rainbow Dash racing down a hallway. Completely frozen as though they were encased in ice.
Rarity and Silver Platter, in the the middle of a conversation. Were frozen was though they had been encased in ice.
Pinkie pie in mid air, a smile on her face without a care in the world along with Thorn and Ranger behind her, were frozen as well.
Twilight hugging a crying Starlight in her hooves was also frozen.
And Nightwing. Clutching the dead corpse of Lightning Strike with tears in his eyes, frozen in both time and space.
All that rested on the moon had become still. Frozen in both time and space. It stood, unable to move and unable to stop what was about to happen.
A red and orange vertical crack formed in front of the moon. A crack of equal size compared to the moon. A crack in space in time. Then the moon began to move. Slowly it shifted towards the crack. As if it was being pulled towards it by a leash. Only for it to stop once more.
Another crack formed, one that was blue. The moon began to be pulled towards the blue crack. As the moon got closer to the blue crack it began to open like a mouth. It wasn't long until the blue crack swallowed the moon. When it had done so the blue crack began to close. As did the red and orange one.
Until the two cracks closed.
And time started once again.
Those that inhabited the earth filled it with cries. Each full of panic and fear. While each voice was different. They were all centered around one thing.
The moon was gone.
And no one knew how or why it had happened.