//------------------------------// // Attack // Story: The Fall of Nightmare Shadow // by Silver Inkwell //------------------------------// And with that said they started to attack each other while the rest of the other ponies watched in horror at the event. They didn’t know what to do now just as much as the chess game since they had all watched that with great intensity and silence, even Pinkie Pie too. And now they stood watching this scene unfold before them and gazed at them with wonder and awe as they battled. “Do something!” Star Swirl said, “Attack! Help her! Don’t just stand there!” And with that said they all started to leap into action, literally in some cases. Pinkie Pie pulled out her party canon, Applejack actually leapt into action, Rarity tried to use her magic to blast him, but Fluttershy, she just tried to hide in a corner away from the action, the princesses all flew at him trying to use their magic spells to blast him too, and Quentin looked like he was considering some plans within his head for he had a look of very deep contemplation on his face, and Chris just stood there not knowing what to do to help out exactly. If one looked at the scene right then at that moment they would have to see it in slow motion in order to see what fully was happening and going on. But despite all that was going on Nightmare Shadow dodged all the attacks very easily enough and then he yawned as he deflected the spells away from him. However Fluttershy and Chris still stood not knowing what to do, but after a few wise and kind words from Star Swirl they actually did know what to do now. “Fluttershy,” Star Swirl said, “Call the animals to help us out please.” “But I don’t want them to get hurt,” she said very nervously trying to hide. “And what happens if they do get hurt, what will I say, what will I do?” “Fluttershy, please help us out, you have more strength and power than you know, but the only way to use it is if you are willing to access it at last.” She whined very nervously with fear and said, “Alright, I’ll help out, but there aren’t any animals around here so I don’t really know how I can help out now.” And with that said she very nervously and slowly approached the fighting in the middle and center of the room, but Chris still stood still. “Chris, I have an idea for you,” Star Swirl said rushing over to him and then whispering very softly and close into his ear, “Change into other ponies to try to distract and confuse him, and try to get close to attack him, please.” And with that said Chris tried to do so as he got closer to Nightmare Shadow. However no matter what they all tried to do together they failed many times no matter what they tried to do, magic, distractions, physical attacks, none of it worked, he deflected the magic easily away enough and could fight just as well and even better than some in fact, and he could fight and block magic at the same time, and he saw through any distraction before it even came close to him, “I see that you have a changeling here,” he said, “How very nice.” And with that said he tried to cast a spell on Chris, but it was blocked by either Twilight or Star Swirl or Quentin or Celestia or Luna or Rarity every time. “ENOUGH!” Nightmare Shadow said flinging every pony in the room back after their many failed attempts, “I grow tired and bored of this silly game now.” “Why did you invite us here if you knew that you would only grow bored and tired of us? Why invite us here right now? Why do you dare challenge us? What are you trying to hide from us exactly? What do you want?” Celestia said. “What I want is to keep a promise, Luna must be returned to her former real and true self, but despite all my attempts on her in my castle, I still failed. She still resisted me, she resisted just like what you are trying to do right now. But if there is still one thing that I don’t know or understand about you it is this, it is why you still continue to fight even if you know that you will lose in the end, even if you know that you will lose something in the end you will still fight for what you believe in, and I actually have to question why that is so.” “Because if we do not fight for something than what is there to fight for?” Celestia said, “If we have nothing to believe in, how will we ever have faith?” “That actually makes sense,” Nightmare Shadow said, “But it is still so very stupid of you, and for that you will pay a very dear heavy price indeed.” And with that said he pulled out something very familiar to Twilight and the princesses, but not to all the others, “I had hoped not to use this,” he said raising it high above his head so that all of them could see it very clearly, “But you leave me no choice, there is no other way now that I can get what I want.” And with that said Luna started to back away in fear, “No… not that… not again… please no,” she said trying very desperately in vain to get away. “Is that what I think it is?” Twilight said pointing at it in fear, shock, surprise, and horror too, for what he held was a dark red broken unicorn horn. “Oh yes it is,” he said, “This is the horn of King Sombra himself, and while you may have defeated him Twilight Sparkle, you still neglected to try to find any race evidence of him, but I did, and guess what, I finally did find something eventually after much searching for it, and you wouldn’t believe or have any idea of how much actual power this holds even if it is dark, but I can control it. I know how to, and I also know that this does quite well in the matters of mind control and manipulation, so now I must ask this, how can you fight me when you will be so very busy fighting one of your very dear close friends?” And with that said he slowly approached Luna easily dodging all the vain attacks whether it be physical or magical as they tried to block his way to her. “Hello again,” he said, “You know of its power, and you also know what it can do, don’t you? After all, why would you shake and tremble in fear if you did not?” he said very casually moving the horn up to her neck. “I do,” she said very nervously with fear, “But please, don’t do this to me, not again, don’t use it, it hurts so much whenever you try to use it on me.” “I know that,” he said, “And I’m sorry for the pain that I caused you, but it was the only way that I could get to you, but it never worked, but now at the height and peak of my power I think that it might just actually work now.” “And what if it doesn’t? What will you do then?” she said. “Well I think that you already know that, after all, I did say that if you left my castle that I would consider you my enemy and that you would pay for your treachery, but now your friends will also pay, and they will finally see the real and true version and image of yourself that I have seen on the moon.” “But that was so very long ago, I’m different now, I have changed.” “Yes, you have, but only because others changed you with magic, and I can do the same to you again, but this time you will be restored to your true self and then you will finally have your real power, isn’t that you wanted from me? For us to always be together ruling a kingdom of darkness and shadow “That was then, this is now, things have changed, but you can’t seem to accept that, and it is only those that can accept change that can ever really improve.” “I can accept change, it is you that cannot really ever accept it at all.” “How dare you accuse us of not accepting change?” Celestia said. “Aren’t you the one who wants things to stay the same in your kingdom?” “Only so that things are easy, and no other reason.” “Oh I think that there are plenty of reasons for this,” he said calmly. “And what could they possibly be?” she said. “You know full well, but I will still say so that they will know. One is that there is no rebellion, and another is because you like the power that you have.” “If you really think that then you know nothing about my past at all.” “Don’t I? I know that you defeated Discord and banished your sister to the moon just because she was jealous of you and tried to take her rightful place, that’s just harsh, but you’re not as strong as you might think that she is.” “I’m much stronger than you might think I am,” Celestia said, “And besides, it is not just me, I have my friends, and we can defeat you together.” “You have nothing on me, I have an army of darkness and shadow behind me, one that will spread fear and chaos across the whole entire land.” “We have a Fluttershy,” Star Swirl said. And with that said every pony turned to him, “What?” he said. “What I think you meant to say is that we have something even more powerful than anything that you claim to have, we have the magic of friendship.” “Oh yes, the ‘magic of friendship’, how great and powerful,” he said very sarcastically, “But go ahead, try your magic on me, I’m ready.” “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Celestia said, “You want us to attack you?” “Yes,” he said, “Use your elements against me, I want to reveal my wild card that I have in my deck of cards, I think that it will shock and surprise you.” “I know that you’re hiding something, but I don’t know what it is,” Celestia said, “But I will humor you nonetheless, you can attack him now.” And with that said the Main 6 nodded and stood together in a circle uniting their hoofs as they slowly raised off of the ground as powerful magic enveloped them, and then together they blasted their magic at Nightmare Shadow. There was no possible way that he could have dodged the magic, or one that he could ever deflect it, but somehow he did as a shield of black and red and green suddenly formed around him the instant that it got too close to him. And then once they stopped blasting him with their magic out of both shock and surprise he took a deep heavy yawn, “Is that honestly the best that you have? To be quite honest and frank with you, I am very disappointed.” “How is this possible?” Celestia said, “This cannot be, this is impossible!” “Nothing is impossible princess, you should know that by now, it’s just a matter of probability and plausibility, and let me assure you that this is both. For you see I knew that you would use your classic moves against me soon enough eventually, but how to stop it, I thought to myself, and then I found my answer, have a source of power equal to theirs, but where to find one, I thought again, and then that answer came with your friend Star Swirl over there. For you see many years ago he found something very powerful and dark, something that should have been left where it was, but he took it for himself so that he could study and examine it. But over time he eventually lost one of them and knew that he could no longer keep them and so he hid them in the cold icy frozen lands of the north. And he hid them quite well if I might and must add, but he couldn’t hide them away from my sight and gaze forever, and so I eventually found all of them, and that is what is protecting me now. But what are they exactly? I’m glad that you asked, behold the long lost and forgotten Elements of Chaos,” he said holding up six gems. Every pony gasped at this in shock and surprise, there was no way that there could ever be such a thing as the Elements of Chaos, right? “I don’t blame you for your shock, I was surprised too, I thought they were myth and legend too, but I unlike you, actually tried to find them. And even though most were in vain, this one was not in the end. But in case you were wondering how or why this is possible at all, well, let me tell you, for every action there is a reaction, for one side of a coin there is another, for one win or gain there is a cost even if not to you but others instead, for every cost there can be reward, for light there is darkness and shadow, and for order and harmony, well there’s chaos of course. For you see everything in life has its opposites, even I do. The only trick to matching something else is to be equal in power to it. And just one of these alone can match all the strength and power of yours. In fact I think that you are already familiar with this one,” he said holding up the Alicorn Amulet, the one that Trixie had worn when battling Twilight. “The Alicorn Amulet, such a deceptive yet so much accurate name, for within this stone it holds the power of an alicorn, one that was betrayed of course. For you see if Trixie had the real gem of power, well Twilight could never have won against her alone, and she probably would be doing whatever by now. But me, I do have the real gem of power, and for that you should worry a lot.” And with that said he put on the Alicorn Amulet over his head and latched on his neck and then put the others back in his armor that he wore now. “I only need one to match you, but to defeat you I think that I will need all of them plus a very special some pony to help me rule the kingdom together.” “NEVER!” Luna said, “I WILL NEVER JOIN YOUR CAUSE YOU STUPID FOOL!” He growled in anger at this and then shouted, “YOU DARE CALL ME A FOOL? IT IS YOU THAT IS THE FOOL! BUT TO PROVE JUST HOW FOOLISH YOU REALLY ARE I WILL ADD TWO MEMBERS TO YOUR GROUP TO BATTLE ME! AND THEN WHEN YOU ALL LOSE WE WILL SEE WHO THE REAL FOOL IS!” And with that said he cast a spell and suddenly Princess Cadence and her brother Shining Armor were there even if they seemed confused and lost. “Cadence?” Twilight said trying not to cry, “Is that really you?” “It is,” Cadence said walking over to her and putting a hoof on her shoulder, “But in case you have any doubts about me, let us do it.” And with that said they both did their little classic dance that we all love and adore (or at least most do, I’m sure there are those that hate it somehow). ♪ Sunshine, sunshine, ladybug’s awake, clasp your hooves and do a little shake. ♪ “How so very sweet and adorable, and horrible,” Nightmare Shadow said. “It is not that horrible,” Twilight said walking over to her brother, “And I’m very glad to see you too, but how did he manage to take control anyways?” “By using my gems of course,” Nightmare Shadow responded to her. “Yes,” Shining Armor said, “He overwhelmed us within minutes and we were completely helpless to do anything and then he trapped us somewhere deep and dark, we couldn’t see anything at all, but now I’m out at least.” “Not for very long,” Nightmare Shadow said, “But still, cherish what you have. That is a very good thing to do since you won’t have much left to cherish soon enough, for soon my plan will be complete, and darkness and shadow and fear will rule all of Equestria, and then you will all finally bow before me or die if you do not wish to do so. That will be the end result of this little tiny game. But let me do try to warn you about this one thing, should you succeed in your goal and quest of defeating me then eleven shall die, think about that, eleven innocent ponies will die tonight if you do not surrender to my will now.” “What do you mean by that exactly? You can’t do anything until the solstice, and besides, no pony will die if I can help it,” Celestia said very angrily. “Oh, I’m sorry, let me explain, I put a spell on this kingdom so that time would flow very differently, so while you were talking away for as long as you have many weeks have passed in the real world, and now I no longer need the spell.” And with that said he clapped his hooves and suddenly the dark cloud that had surrounded the whole entire kingdom dropped down to reveal the winter moon, “In fact it is almost midnight of the new day, or rather night I suppose.” “You may have used a time spell,” Celestia said, “But I sensed one as soon as I entered and I knew that I had to do something, and I also knew that I forgot one pony to invite to our team in our rush to defeat you and leave, but I sent a letter to him and if he’s read it by now then he should be here by now.” “And I am,” a very familiar voice said, “Did you doubt that I would come?” “Since you’re a royal guard I will say no,” Celestia said with a smile. And with that Flash Sentry grinned, “Good, I was worried there for a second.” And then Twilight ran over to him and hugged him, “I’m glad to see that you’re here,” she said, “We need all the help that we can get against him. And I’m also glad that we didn’t just bump into each other again.” “I know,” he said, “Maybe we should bump into each other now?” “Please,” Star Swirl said, “Don’t make this love any more cliché than it needs to be, and while I may not be against you two, many fans still are.” “Huh?” they both said in some slight confusion at this very strange comment. “Oh you know what, never mind now, let’s just defeat him, shall we?” And with that said every pony gathered around Star Swirl in a circle. “Equestrians,” he said, “Let’s assemble! For tonight we dine in hell and drink the blood of our enemy!” And with that said very pony shouted a very loud cry except for Fluttershy who looked like she was ready to throw up instead. “OH COME ON!” Star Swirl said, “That was just a metaphor, okay? We’re not really going to dine on his blood because that would just be plain gross, stupid and crazy, and I don’t think any of that quite match that combination.” “I might!” Pinkie Pie said jumping up and down with glee and joy. “No Pinkie Pie, you don’t, you’re just strange and unusual, a bit more than ‘normal’ though, and you’re also very odd and mysterious too I think.” “Well duh!” she said, “I mean no pony else knows that they’re being watched by millions of fans worldwide, but I do, and that’s the greatest secret ever!” And with that said Star Swirl turned to the screen and temporarily paused time, “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “This has been your appointed fourth wall break through as commanded and written by the author, you’re welcome, and now if you don’t mind I’ll actually get back to the story now.” And with that said he clapped his hooves together and time went on as it did before, which was normally by the way. “If you honestly think that you can defeat me then you really are fools, and by the way, you can’t protect or prevent lives from being taken tonight Celestia, even if you tried to.” “But I will still try, and that counts for something in the very end.” “Only if what you try is for something truly great and glorious and not just something that you believe is that way, which is exactly your case by the way.” “You really do have an interesting mind complex Nightmare Shadow,” Celestia said, “You say one thing and then another and act completely different.” “That is only because I do not wish to reveal my true self before the end, which you ponies have already done, but enough talking, I grow tired and bored of this, midnight is here and there is no way that you could ever possibly stop or defeat me, and once I have taken on my new shape and from I will no longer need this body and therefore I will no longer be connected to Luna anymore.” And with that said suddenly Luna knew how to defeat him, but she was still being held in place by his magic even though he had let her go from his grasp while he had held the broken horn of King Sombra at her neck, it was a very good thing that he got distracted from all the dialogue taking place, but now he held her with the horn at her neck once more again, but she now knew that this was a bluff, he wouldn’t kill her yet, not before midnight at least, but after midnight he could do anything that he wanted to, even kill or change her. “Sister,” she said, “I know how to defeat him, but you have to trust me on this, don’t doubt anything I say or otherwise we will fail, do you understand?” “Yes my sister,” Celestia said, “I am ready, what is it that must be done now?” Luna tried to speak out but before she could both her voice and mind were cut off from Star Swirl and Celestia and every pony else just in case, but before she was trapped with his very powerful dark magic they did manage to hear some last final words from her that were cut off short due to the magic, “He’s bluffing, he wouldn’t ever really kill me, well at least not before midnight, but you have to take the horn of King Sombra from him and…” And with that said Star Swirl and Celestia looked at each other in some slight confusion, “Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?” Celestia said. “Me? I thought that you were the one that knew your sister the best.” “Look,” she said, “We just need to figure out what she meant, okay?” “Alright, fine then, how do you suggest that we should do this then?” “I suggest that we go about this in a calm orderly fashion and style.” “That sounds just like what a fire safety warning hazard would say.” “It is?” she said, “How very odd, strange, unusual, and curious too.” “Look, we don’t have time for talking this out, we need action now.” “I have to agree with Star Swirl on this,” Twilight said. “Me too,” Rainbow Dash said, “Get back in the fight and battle.” “Look,” Star Swirl said, “Whatever your sister meant to say to us, we can either figure it out later or we just hope that she can do it alone without any help at all, me personally, I’m leaning more heavily towards the second option because of many various random reasons that mostly involve visions of the future.” “Alright, fine then, let us hope and pray that she may do so.” And with that said they took off to fight him so that they could distract him and give Luna enough time to enact whatever plan that she had in mind. Meanwhile Luna was trying desperately in vain to escape, but the bonds and strength of the dark magic was just too strong for her and he smiled as he held the horn closer to her, “For so long I resisted its call to use its full power and force on you, even at your very worst pain I never did that, but now I think that is well quite past time that I should, so goodbye Luna, and hello my teacher.” And with that said he very slowly lowered the horn to her head, but before it could touch the very top of it she very quickly knocked it out of his hoof. “WHAT?” he said with shock and surprise bringing it back as it fell to the ground with his magic before it could even hit the ground even, “YOU THINK THAT THIS CAN STOP ME? WELL THEN, YOU’RE SO VERY WRONG!” And with that said he tried to lower it to her head but she resisted both with her magic powers and spells and her natural strength too as well. But she couldn’t stop it, so instead she didn’t try to, instead she smiled and the pulled the horn in towards her heart. “Wait, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he said very loudly trying to pull now, but it was too late for that, she had tricked him and the dagger was too close to her heart before he tried to pull back, and so it was that right before it pierced it that he had to use a magic spell to teleport it away from both her and him since he couldn’t stop either of them from using it. “There,” he said, “Now neither of us can use it, so you lose I guess.” “I haven’t lost yet,” she said reaching for the horn breaking the spell over it and then plunging it deep into his chest as black (and not the typical red) blood started to pour out from his heart. He looked at this sight and then lowering himself down to the ground (since Luna had attacked him by flying) he took a few steps backwards trying to maintain his balance as he slowly lost life. “I feel… cold,” he said just as he fell over and then died on the ground. And with that every pony let a great cry as they shouted with great joy at this defeat and for the first time ever Luna didn’t feel scared, she felt very proud instead. But Star Swirl on the other hoof, he still felt like something was still very wrong here, but he didn’t know what, but that’s when he figured it out. I’m in a dream, he thought, but now my own, but if I am not in my own then who’s dream am I in, and why? But then he remembered, he escaped from his dream after he defeated Nightmare Shadow but then also realized there that he was in a dream, and he wondered if Luna could be in a dream too and if she would recognize it, but in his haste he had forgotten to cast a spell in order to remember the past events and not forget, this time however, he did make sure to do that, and then he cried out to Luna trying to wake her up now. “LUNA!” he said “THIS IS A DREAM! LOOK AROUND YOU? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THIS IS REAL OR THAT THIS COULD EVER POSSIBLY HAPPEN? WAKE UP! THIS ISN’T REAL AND YOUR FRIENDS NEED YOU RIGHT NO!” And with that said Luna looked around in some slight confusion, “A dream?” she said uncertain of this. “Don’t be ridiculous or silly, this isn’t a dream, it’s better than that, this is real, so real that I think that my sister deserves to rule the whole entire kingdom alone without my help, and she can have whatever kind on nights and days she wants, long and short, so well done my sister.” Luna then looked at her once she said this, “Now I know that this is a dream, you would never really say that or give me this, and now I also know that this is just a trick of my enemy even if I do not know how or why this is so exactly. But if he can hear me, know this, I’m coming for you, we all are now.” And with that said Luna swung her hoof at Celestia and once it made contact the dream instantly shattered into pieces as each image of each pony started to break the moment that she did make contact. And then once the dream was broken they were now standing in the dreamscape. “Come on,” Star Swirl said, “Let’s go wake up the others, I’m sure that they are living their best moments too,” and with that said they both went into every other dream that there was. The other dreams were similar to theirs in some way, but not exact, in each case the scene of the Elements of Chaos and Nightmare Shadow trapping Luna with magic and threatening her life were all the same (more or less), but for each respective pony that they visited each time they saw themselves as standing victorious on the battlefield with much glory and praise too. In Celestia’s case there was also a sensitive reunion moment, and there were also sensitive moments with the others, but in Pinkie Pie’s strange mysterious unusual case she didn’t win against him, she just threw parties instead. And in each case they had to convince each pony that they were in a dream, and it took a really very long time, but eventually they did have every pony in the dreamscape to talk. “Okay,” Star Swirl said, “You all just escaped a dream so I’ll understand your confusion, dreams don’t make sense exactly at all after all, but do know this, we may wake up, but it might be in yet another dream.” They all groaned at this, “What do you mean by that?” Twilight said. “Well when we were in our dreams we were all living the moments that we wished that we could to be happy, but I also remember that Nightmare Shadow said that we would right before we went into these dreams, and I don’t know he managed to do this just yet, but I do know that this probably isn’t the end to his trickery that he has in store for us, there still can be yet more to face. And if we are to face it we must be ready, I have cast a spell on you just right now at this very moment so that you’ll remember this and not forget, because forgetting would be very bad for all of us. But do be warned that some events in our dreams may have actually happened like Luna getting trapped and also the Elements of Chaos, and I only say this because each time this theme, this aspect, this idea, it kept repeating itself over again exactly in each dream.” “So wait, you’re basically saying that our bodies might be fast asleep right now unable to help Luna out, that we can’t?” Twilight said. “Yeah, and that we’re also missing all the cool totally amazing and awesome action stuff?” Rainbow Dash said kicking her hood to demonstrate this. “Yes, that is exactly what I am saying somehow, but come on now every pony, wake up, we need to do this for the good of Equestria, SO WAKE UP!” And with that said every pony did and then they soon saw themselves still sitting at the table, “Ah,” Star Swirl said, “I remember now, it was the food and drink, he said to have it or that he would kill us instantly, that must be the explanation, but as to why we are still at the table, I don’t really know why.” “You don’t think this could be a dream, do you?’ the rest said. “Honestly, I don’t know, it could be, but let’s find out and see.” And with said they turned their heads to the sound of hooves slow clapping, “Well done, I didn’t expect you to escape the dream so quickly, so well done indeed, but it still does not matter since midnight is almost here now.” “Wait, did we sleep for three weeks?” Rainbow Dash and Twilight said. “Oh don’t be ridiculous or silly, of course not, I just made time in the kingdom flow differently while you took a very short little nap, that’s all that I did.” “And how do we know that this isn’t a dream or another trick?” Star Swirl said. “You don’t,” he said, “But even if it was a dream, how will you escape now?” “Simple,” Star Swirl said, “With Luna’s might and power, attack him now!” And with that said she blasted him with a spell that would destroy him if he was a dream creature, and when it did hit him he crumbled into dust. “I guess that this was a dream after all,” Star Swirl said, “But luckily enough for us you know that spell, right? I mean how cool and amazing is that?” “Almost as much as me,” Rainbow Dash said. And with that said every pony sighed and then they all closed their eyes and woke up again to see that the whole entire Crystal Empire was black now. Everything had changed because darkness and fear and shadow and chaos and hate had now taken over the place, and that was only because of one reason, Nightmare Shadow stood on his throne in his armor wearing the crown of a king, “You’re too late,” he said, “You failed to stop me and now it’s too late, welcome to the future though, I hope that you like it and enjoy this before I kill you, because you’re not going to get that much time to spend here.” And with that said he started to laugh in a very cold cruel way. “Yeah,” Star Swirl said, “This is still definitely a dream.” And with that said Luna blasted the image of him into dust. “Do you think that this was the last layer?” she said wiping the dust off of her face and trying to clean herself up from all the dirt and grime. (Rarity was also trying to do the same thing as well too.) “I hope so, it would be very difficult even for him to upkeep the strength and power of more than three layers of dream just as you do, and despite what other supernatural elements and powers that he has, he still does not have more power than that which you have in the dreamscape or with the darkness and shadows and the night sky and stars. He just uses smoke and mirrors and tricks and illusions to keep us distracted and very far away from what he wants, he leads us in circles around an endless maze and he thinks that he can control out pieces and pull our strings so that his plan may fit together just like a puzzle. But the way he does it makes it not fun, and I don’t like ponies who play mind games and tricks on other ponies that aren’t fun.” “I fully agree with what you just said,” Luna said. And with that said they all closed their eyes and woke up once more again. “OH COME ON!” Nightmare Shadow said when he saw them wake up, “YOU PONIES CAN ALWAYS SEEM TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE WHEN LEAST EXPECTED, BUT I REALLY HAVE TO START QUESTIONING WHY AND HOW!” “Because you do not understand the basic principles and morals of books,” both Twilight and Star Swirl said, “And if you actually read you would know that by now, but I guess that you never bothered to do that when you got back. Instead you decided to try to reclaim a lost empire and kingdom, how so very stupid and foolish of you, and for that you will now pay very dearly.” “HOW DARE YOU?” he said, “HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT I AM STUPID AND FOOLISH WHEN IT IS YOU THAT IS THE REAL TRUE FOOL HERE!” “The only fool is the one that does not learn their lessons whether by their own will or not or by the admission of ignorance instead,” Star Swirl said. “I really hate it when other ponies try to use pieces of logic and wisdom on me,” Nightmare Shadow said growling, “And that means that I really hate you now.” And with that said he started to attack them while Luna tried desperately in vain to try to escape her prison… again. “You know you shouldn’t have ever eaten the food that I said you should eat,” he said attacking Star Swirl and Twilight and Celestia and all the other ponies at once, “I mean don’t you know anything about classic villain movie clichés?” “Oh I do,” Star Swirl said, “And the ‘something is in the food or drink’ cliché is so very old, like really old, I mean I would have to be stupid not to see that it wasn’t coming at me and us from a mile away, and I’m not stupid, or at least not by any known standard tests that ponies have invented so far now. But the real question is this, did you really think that I could ever possibly be that stupid? I knew that there was something in it, just not what exactly.” “Yeah well luckily enough for you it wasn’t poison, if it was you would be dead by now, but come now, please tell me what tipped you off that it was a dream first? What gave you the first clue or hint in there anyways exactly?” “This did,” he said pulling out a single white perfect pearl that was not flawed or scratched or damaged in any way, “In reality it is just fine, but in a dream, there is always fault with it, I put a spell on it to always make it that way.” “Clever, but sadly enough not smart or wise enough against me.” And with that said they continued to fight on.