//------------------------------// // The Mooning of Heroes // Story: The Ballad of Sir Spike de Draco // by Zay-el //------------------------------// Describing the first minute following the unexpected arrival, or rather re-emergence of the dark mare would have put even the toughest scribes to the test. Celestia's finest bards, who had honed their skills in countless epic sing-offs, the string of their lutes sharp as razors, would have found themselves tone-deaf and with stiff hooves. This was a kind of situation that would have driven a whole literature college to mass suicide from the loss of honor, as they surely would have failed to adequately chronicle what occurred here. As such, this version will merely try to replicate it as best as possible. Several sources had been consulted and many minds were thoroughly rummaged through for the most meager bits of information regarding Ponyville's reaction to this ancient being's return. No pony was hurt during this gathering of data. Really, we're not kidding here. Enjoy and may these forward your studies about this doubtlessly stressful moment in pony history. Panic, panic, run, shout, scream, party, hay, evil, what, magic, what, no, flee, muffin. Thank you. "SEIZE THE WITCH!" the mayor mare found her voice first and did what seemed to be the most sensible thing, right before the 'running like scared fillies' option. Not that some didn't take that option immediate, bolting towards the entrance like no tomorrow. Being an earth pony and a particularly ancient breed of that has rendered her somewhat less accepting of a couple of things though. Magic wasn't exactly one of her favorite things in the universe, though most of the times she begrudgingly took no offense to any of the town's residents using its boons, especially after the third rejection from Celestia about organizing a nation-wide witch-hunt. Neither of which would have involved her, of course. The Sun Goddess was supreme, she was only against the heathen heretics who defiled her holy magic by using it for their own wicked and selfish purposes. Under the carefully balanced layers of fear, confusion, anger, terror and horror, she was almost a bit happy she would finally indulge in what she knew had been her family's favorite pastime for generations now. She made a mental note to have the townsfolk start collecting firewood, once the witch has been apprehended. Three colts from Celestia's Royal Guard rose to battle immediately, taking off into the air to bring the unknown intruder to swift justice. The mare readied herself, only to find them flying into just about every direction possible, instead of concentrating on her. The explosive growth of hair on their faces left them almost completely blind, though as fierce as they could be. "Found you!" one of them cried, only to tackle a huge roll of decorative fabric, making a certain white unicorn amongst the crowd hiss lightly in pain. The rest followed the voice of the first and dived in for the capture, only to end up fighting their own colleague. The dark alicorn continued watching them for a couple of seconds, not quite impressed by the show. Eventually, she grew bored and sighed, all the while raising a hoof and pointing it at them. A bolt of lightning struck down from above them, quickly separating the three and sending them hurtling back towards the ground. "Disgraceful...I'm gone for a mere thousand years and everypony has dived off the edge of sanity." she spoke up again, her voice icy and dripping with mockery. She slammed a hoof down upon the balcony, another bolt of lightning emphasizing her words. "No doubt the sun has fried your petty little brains..." Sir Spike looked up, his vision slightly blurred from the amount of cider coursing through his veins. He growled at himself and tensed his body, briefly focusing only on himself, instead of the situation. He soon felt the alcohol leaving his system, his body downright absorbing and neutralizing the normally kindly greeted substance. Having willed himself to sobriety, he glanced up again, only for his initial frown to slowly turn into a grin instead. Sure enough, above him stood the evil rule of nights, whom Twilight had been talking about all day long, but his mind couldn't help, but put that fact aside. All he could concentrate on was the beautiful black coat, the mist-like mane flowing freely around the lithe frame of the alicorn and a pair of piercing emerald eyes, shaped almost like a dragon's. "Hmm...not what I expected, but who am I to complain?" he quietly remarked to himself, lightly stroking his jaw. She watched the people of Ponyville as they slowly inched backwards, scared witless of her. The unknown alicorn couldn't help but smirk to that, though some annoyance was mixed into her amusement as well. She has already had her fun, ambushing and banishing her sister into the Sun, letting her have a taste of her own medicine. However, there was still the issue of these ponies at hand now. "Apparently a mere millenia is enough for people to forget." she mused, walking right up to the edge of the balcony. "Is there no one here who remembers then?" she continued. Her mane convulsed for a moment, the edge of it making a noise similar to the crack of a whip. "Has no one seen the signs, or heard of the legend? Are you so oblivious to your own history?" her voice was getting angrier by now. "Not everyone." Twilight called out, grabbing her attention right away as the young unicorn trotted out from behind the curtain, joining up by Sir Spike's side. "I've seen the signs and identified you. I know who you are, why you're here, what you are and everything else I could possibly learn of you." she announced, taking a defiant stand. "Is that so?" the mare gazed upon the squire, her emerald eyes glinting with malice. "Who am I then, little filly? Who stands before you undeserving whelps?" "You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon!" the unicorn answered right away, eliciting a gasp from just about everyone. Most had begun to realize this for themselves, storybooks and evenings by the fireplace coming to their minds as they remembered hearing about her legend. "Well, well, seems like someone has done their history lesson after all." Nightmare Moon's voice softened up slightly, though the tone of it still didn't promise much good for them, especially as she rose to her hind hooves. "I am indeed the Mare in the Moon, though as you may see, that name no longer applies to me. A thousand years have passed since my imprisonment and now I've been unleashed! Tremble and bow before me, as I shall-" "-bring about eternal night upon us all!" Twilight finished for her, breaking her glorious announcement with her unconscious desire to prove just how prepared she was of this subject. Spike couldn't help smiling as Nightmare Moon seemed to freeze in the air, dumbstruck. "Yes...that is exactly why I'm here." the mare spoke up again after a bit of a delay, lowering her front hooves back upon the balcony again. An awkward silence began to grow as the new evil overlord of Equestria actually found herself struggling on how to continue her speech, now that Twilight had interrupted her in such a rude manner. "Yes, eternal night, that is indeed a suitable punishment for you all." she finally spoke up again, her voice gaining power. Soon, her eyes were glowing once more, her amusement surfacing again as well. "And none of that infernal sunlight either-" "-as you have banished the Princess to the Sun, so she can't raise the sun." the unicorn simply couldn't shut up, though the dragon knight next to her didn't seem like he wanted to encourage her to do so, either. The dark mare only seemed to become more beautiful with every moment, especially as she was getting angry. "I see you've really done your research..." Nightmare Moon remarked, tapping the floor of the balcony with a slight impatience. Twilight was proving to be both fascinating and highly annoying. At this point, she couldn't decide whether to kill her, or offer her a place in her ranks. Knowledgeable minions were quite hard to acquire in this day and age, but they always carried a risk in suddenly turning against their mistress. Still, she regarded it as an option at least. "I've read every possible book that exists about you." she proclaimed and smiled proudly, even before this so much more powerful enemy. The draic knight standing next to her felt rather proud though, seeing his influence rubbing off on her finally. "I know everything there is to know about you." "I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment, or a threat..." Nightmare Moon mused, glaring down from the balcony. She briefly looked over the rest of the townsfolk, finding it rather weird they hadn't even tried to escape, nor blown up into a panicked rampage. She could swear ponies a thousand years ago were smarter than this. She returned her attention to the lavender unicorn soon enough though, not bothering with the rest of the litter, if they were truly made of such dumb material. She flinched slightly, as it finally dawned upon her though. "But of course!" she chuckled, this time succeeding in getting Twilight nervous. "You have to forgive me for not noticing you right away, but you've never revealed your face, nor true voice to me." "...huh?" the unicorn mumbled, about as confused as one could be. She glanced up at Spike, but the knight looked more or less enamored rather than confused, so there was no help there. "Might I be mistaken? No, it has to be you." Nightmare Moon looked around, not seeing a single soul about who might fit the bill of whom she sought to find. Not the raging mayor mare, nor the gray pegasus looking in several directions at the same time with just two eyes and definitely not the brown earth pony with the ruffled mane, heading straight towards a blue box-like object near the door, which she was confident had not been there a minute ago. Then again, after what she'd seen of the townsfolk so far, she dared not make any predictions or assumptions anymore. She wasn't asking for much, just a praise, or perhaps a frightened shriek, but not, they all had to stand around like a bunch of newborn foals and fillies, gazing at her like she was some old relative, instead of the fearful ruler of the night sky. Only looks that were even marginally different had been that hulk of a dragon's and although they were flattering to say the very least bit, they weren't exactly perfect replacements for the signs of fright she had aimed to cause. "...anyway." the dark mare cleared her throat, annoyed by the awkward silence constantly dropping in the town hall. She was beginning to think she had done Celestia a favor by banishing her to the Sun. "Did you honestly think I just guessed that the Summer Sun Celebration would be held here? I had an inside mare, a pony who by means of ancient magics aided my plans and has offered her undying servitude." The citizens of Ponyville each glanced at each other in outright confusion, mixed with a bit of suspicion. Sure, they were all friends for the most part and had known each other for quite a few years, but that never meant they fully trusted each other. Any one of them could have had an agenda, or perhaps a complex goal with which Nightmare Moon could assist them. Some eyed the Cakes, as they had repeatedly stated Sugarcube Corner has been experiencing some troubles since Rarity had decided that larger dresses would come with larger price-tags. Others were keeping their eyes on the Apple Family, thinking they were no longer satisfied with having monopoly over just apples. Another few were looking at some of the younger fillies on the other hand, thinking they might have been trying to acquire an 'accomplice of evil' cutie mark. Out of all of them though, the mayor was without a doubt the most efficient. She just kept circling around and growling at everyone within a fifteen-foot radius. Witches,they're all witches, she thought. How this fact managed to elude her up till now, was perplexing indeed. Nightmare Moon let a single hoof travel down from the top of her head to the chin, during which she had counted to ten, drew up three different spells and had possibly come up with an answer to several unsolved mathematical theories of her time, all the while trying to find reasons not to simply do away with the whole bunch of them. "I shall await the moment you reveal yourself to me." she called out finally, silencing the whispering, grumbling ponies. "Until my glorious coronation ponies, good night!" She closed her eyes, her mist-like mane swirling around to slowly envelop her entire body. The townspeople watched with dread as she promptly evaporated, streaking through the hall in a swift dark-blue stream. Immediately, she was overwhelmed with a fascinating sense of freedom, now she was back and has already disposed of her sister. "Hey, get back here!" She was already out by the time she heard the call, enjoying the soft breeze of the night. Considering how the guards hardly posed any threat to her, she stopped to see who dared follow her, deciding to entertain her pursuer just a bit. At least whoever this pony was, she had more guts than those empty-eyed braindead zombies inside. A rainbow blur darted out of the Town Hall, speeding straight towards her. Nightmare Moon couldn't help smirking as she materialized again, lazily flapping her wings to keep herself in the air. It's been ages since she had properly used them for anything. The feeling was strange and welcoming at the same time. The pegasus stopped close to her, the bravery she held before faltering just a tiny bit. She knew Celestia's life could very well be on the line, but being this close to the alicorn made her downright shiver. She'd faced off against a couple of things larger than her before, especially due to her headstrong nature, but Nightmare Moons mere presence emanated power beyond anything she'd seen so far. "Ah, it's you!" the alicorn's initially rather vicious smirk eased up into a smile instead, though it was no less creepy from a figure as dark as her. "Yeah, it's me alright! Where did you take the prin-wait...you know me?" Rainbow Dash didn't often find herself having to stop in the middle of a boast like this, but the situation called for it. "Of course." Nightmare Moon mused, adjusting herself to fly a few lazy circles around the cyan pegasus. "You and I had met just a few hours ago, don't you remember?" she asked, though she knew perfectly well there was no way she could have seen her clearly. "Let me give you a hint then...there was no one else on that moon, but me." "So...I did see you then!" she exclaimed, a bit confused, but also intrigued. It wasn't everyday she could meet a pony from space, even if she did indeed disrupt the Summer Sun Celebration, kidnapped their princess and basically threatened everyone with eternal night. Still, space pony! "Indeed you have." the alicorn mused, finally stopping before Rainbow Dash again, though almost uncomfortably close. She had half her mind to raise a hoof in defense already, in case Nightmare Moon attempted to pull a fast one on her. "You were the first pony I've seen in a thousand years. Not even my unseen mare-servant has revealed herself to me yet. Come to think of it, what is your name?" "Mine? I'm Rainbow Dash." the speedy pegasus replied, rubbing her head a tiny bit. Nightmare Moon's behavior was somewhere between alarming and just downright creepy, especially since she had little to no conceivable reason to be this friendly with her. "Hey, don't try to change the subject here!" she quickly piped up again, remembering her mission. "Where's the princess?" "I'm afraid your princess is in another land." she purred with hardly hidden satisfaction. "And that leaves me as your new ruler, of course. I shall rule this land of eternal night with an iron hoof. Though you have little to fear, Rainbow Dash..." The pegasus lurched back a little as the alicorn towered over her, the dark wings falling over her. The mist-like mane she possessed coursed around as if trying to envelop Dash in its ethereal embrace. She fell silent and almost fully still as Celestia's kidnapper leaned close, her wings keeping her in the air purely by instinct. Her first thought, however unlikely, was that she wanted to stab her through the head with her horn. "You were the first living being I had laid my eyes upon in a dreadfully long millenia." Nightmare Moon's voice lowered into something of a whisper, her emerald eyes scanning her to the very soul. She leaned even closer, their noses almost touching, igniting quite a number of warning signs for the pegasus. "One cannot help, but appreciate the beauty of that...and you, my little pony, have much of that quality indeed. Your new princess can offer you a delightfully comfortable position, if you're willing to swear your loyalty to me." she continued, taking note of the commotion coming from the Town Hall. It seemed like Ponyville had finally figured out what just happened. "I may be the mistress of the dark, but I'm not cruel, not without good reason. If you listen to my word, you may find the night to be pleasantly...warm." she whispered the last few words almost right into Rainbow Dash's ears. Before the bewildered and just about completely stunned pegasus could have uttered a single word though, she disappeared as quickly as she had back inside, only the end of the fine mist reminding her of what had happened. It came as no surprise that she had little to no idea how to react to all of this, though her mind balanced it between 'interesting' and 'terribly creepy and messed up'. She felt lucky no one had seen her though, as this would have been quite difficult to explain. Rainbow wiped a bit of sweat off her brow, only to have her sight be drawn to the Town Hall once again. She saw two figures leaving in a rather hurried pace. Although the pony was a little harder to identify at first in the dark, the huge armored beast next to it wasn't exactly the most subtle companion. "Where's she going?" the pegasus wondered, getting rather suspicious. "Sir, may I ask what you're doing?" Twilight called out, hearing rummaging noises from the other room. The two had returned to the library right after they managed to fight themselves through the stunned ponies. The unicorn still wondered what had come over her that pushed her to stand up to Nightmare Moon for a couple of moments like that, but she rather wished it didn't happen again. Not that she didn't like emphasizing her intelligence to, but it was probably not the best idea to do that before an evil alicorn, who had just managed to banish the immortal Sun Empress to her namesake. "I'm suiting up for battle, squire." came the call, along with a sword spinning through the door and nearly sawing her horn clean off. "Careful!" she called, having to step aside as a two-bladed axe quickly followed it, embedding itself in the nearest bookshelf. "Why do they always have to pack the fine stuff to the bottom?" Sir Spike grumbled to himself, his squire just watching with a soft sigh as the first two weapons weren't left to wallow in loneliness and were soon joined by half a dozen of throwing knives, a lance, a cannon, a double-barreled cannon and a box of rusty nails. "Just hurry up sir, please." the unicorn begged. "We need to look through the archives to find some information on the Elements of Harmony." "And just what ARE the Elements of Harmony?" a loud noise stopped her from elaborating upon the subject, a cyan entity swopping right to her face, pointing hooves at her. "And how did you know about Nightmare Moon? Are you a spy?" The offending pegasus was immediately removed from her sight though, hurled across half the room even as Applejack pulled her back by the tail. "Someone's gonna smack you, if you keep getting in 'em faces like that." the earth pony called. "We got no proof she's a spy." "Indeed." Pinkie Pie mused with a very enigmatic expression on her face. Twilight was less bothered by the fact they were all in here and much more about how they got in without her knowledge. Apparently the door was about as secure as a hole in the wall. "If I were a spy, I surely wouldn't go around showing off my knowledge about my employer." "Thanks, Pinkie." the unicorn sighed, happy that at least someone wasn't about to jump to conclusions. "Then again, maybe that's exactly what I'd do." the pink pony continued, raising a brow. She tilted her head slightly, letting the flying crowbar pass by without obstruction. "Being obnoxious is a perfect way of throwing any potential investigator off. They'd think I'm too stupid to be an accomplice. Or maybe I'd be a double agent, working for both sides? So many possibilities." "Bottom line, she ain't no spy till she does anything spy-ish." Applejack ended this part of the argument with a stern look, all the while bucking an incoming hammer aside. "Sorry!" came the call from the storage room right away. "But she sure knows what's goin' on," she spoke up again, turning towards their new librarian. "Dontcha Twilight?" "Yes." the unicorn nodded, seeing no reason to hide this from them. "I've read about Nightmare Moon and her return as well. Supposedly, the only things that can stop her are the mystical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony." "We don't really know what they are though." the dragon's voice had come from the other room again, but as no weapon followed his words, it was safe to assume he was either out of ammo, or had found what he had been looking for. Twilight suspected the former as she'd never encountered a situation in which Spike had run out of weapons. It was just a matter of taking something from his surroundings and turning it into an armament then. "-nor what they look like. They're a complete mystery." "Elements of Harmony, Handbook for the Illiterate." Pinkie called out, picking a rather old-looking tome off the nearest bookshelf, as if she'd just been waiting for the cue. "That's...wait...h-how did you find that?" the unicorn could barely even utter the words, completely baffled. "I haven't been able to find anything!" "Silly, you just don't know the system yet. It was under 'M' for 'Magic stuff'. Everything else goes to 'U', as in 'Other'. "Who would make up a system like that?" "The librarian before you, of course." the earth pony chuckled, her laugh containing the kind of humor Twilight would have expected even a funeral committee would have frowned upon for being too dark. "Poor Miss Scroll. She was such a nice old lady...till she went crazy and claimed that one of her books was actually her child and demanded we call it Ink Blot." "That's...lovely..." the unicorn remarked, though she found it a bit unsettling Pinkie felt like she absolutely had to share this with her. "It's alright. We're kinda used to it anyway. It's not like the pony before her didn't do the same thing." Pinkie shrugged, while the others seemed to feel rather uneasy. Sure, this was all public knowledge, but there was little point in spreading it. "Why? What did she do?" "Well, lets just say you best not look around in the basement." she giggled once again, succeeding rather nicely at making Twilight seriously reconsider sleeping outside from now on. "I'm sure you won't go crazy like they had, after all, why would you?" she brushed her hair aside for a moment, revealing both eyes for a change, not that it made her any less intimidating. "...right. Can I just see that book?" "Here ya go." Applejack quickly pried it from Pinkie Pie's hooves and passed it over to Twilight, before the pony would share any more of Ponyville's horror stories. There was a time and place for these, which normally would have been never and nowhere, but especially not while they had an all-too-real nightmare to deal with anyway! "Thanks." Twilight's horn flared up and the book rose into the air, pages flipping rapidly thanks to her magic. "The Elements of Harmony consist of five-" she paused, her jaw dropping slightly. "Five what? Go on Twilight, why did you—oh my!" Rarity gasped, the others quickly following their example. Sir Spike de Draco, proud knight of Celestia, stepped out of the storage room, his appearance just about stunning everyone in the room. Contrary to even Twilight's expectations, the dragon had chosen a suit of armor most unexpected, concerning the current situation. The drake had apparently decided he required an advanced attire of protection, which could seem slightly unconventional to the casual onlooker, but carried strategic importance nonetheless. A suit. Granted, it was indeed a very elegant black suit straight from Canterlot. Any designer would have gushed over its exquisite texture and the hefty price-tag it carried also made sure only those who were very keen on living on stale bread for the next five years would pick it up. But for all intents and purposes, it was still just a suit. "Sir?" Twilight finally blurted out, shaking her head in hopes that this was just a cruel optical illusion. "Pardon the question, but why are you wearing that?" "One must always prepare properly for every encounter." the knight explained, brushing off a tiny speck of dust from his shoulder. "I've found this to be the most suitable defense against Nightmare Moon." he added, not taking note of the ensemble cringe to the pun. Rarity inched closer eventually and began to circle around him, her eyes wide as plates. Until now, she had thought it was impossible to create a suit for a dragon, considering their scales, spiky appendages and all other pointy parts. It was truly a magnificent work of fashion-art and she was determined to learn as much from it as possible. "With all due respect, you cannot be serious!" his squire complained, trying not to facehoof furiously. It was rather rare for her to get this worked up about his sometimes odd choices concerning upcoming battles, but this was really over the line. "You cannot expect me to just let you go ahead and fight an all-powerful alicorn in just a suit! That's absurd and—is that champagne?" "Chardonnay, actually." the dragon mused, raising the bottle in his hand slightly, further baffling his young scribe. One could almost hear the little, but elaborate piece of clockwork running in her head, desperately screaming for a drop of oil. "No. No, no, absolutely not!" she shook her head in protest, finally putting it all together. "No, how could you even—no! Just no, you can't, seriously, you just can't!" "But-" "No!" she cried, leaving the words stuck in his throat. "Please, with the utmost respect, adoration and gratitude I have for you, I humbly with to say that if you take a single step out of this library in that, I will personally make sure Princess Celestia gets to know all about your little adventures you might have neglected to inform her of." "You wouldn't-" "All of them. Including Nightmare Moon and to the very last tiny detail." she stomped down, emphasizing her words. The two gazed at each other for a couple of moments, before the dragon finally sighed. "...very well, squire." he nodded. Defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, especially when it had come from someone's closest allies, but she had all the cards this time around. A knight knew when a fight was lost. A loud, uncomfortable noise echoed through the library as the drake literally tore his suit off with one firm pull, revealing the familiar set of armor he had underneath all along. He leaned down and passed the bottle of champagne to Rarity, who definitely looked like she needed it, her face noticeably pale even through her already white coat. "Why in the hay-" Applejack began, only to see Twilight shaking her head slightly. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy carefully towed off a near-hysteric Rarity, who was loudly shrieking about transgressions and unholy crimes against long-forgotten deities of fashion "Don't ask. You wouldn't find any logic in the answer. It's knight-thing, just roll with it." she said, as she has already had this conversation before. It had led nowhere. "I swear to you, if he could remove his scales, he'd have armor underneath them as well." The unicorn stepped forwards and levitated the book she had sought up to eye-level again, tired already from all the commotion. Rarity's restraints were now backed up by Pinkie Pie as well, leaving her, Applejack and Sir Spike to finally find a method in all this madness, or rather yet, a solution even. "So, the Elements of Harmony..."