//------------------------------// // Return of a Nightmare Part 2 // Story: Elements of the heart // by Saro0fdemonz //------------------------------// She panted heavily as she ran, looking for Nyx. She had heard the young Alicorn scream and knew she needed help. Twilight had tried to make Luna stay in bed but the Alicorn had found a way to follow her anyway. The two stopped, seeing a massive swirling vortex of heartless. As they ran towards it a bright light began to shine through, heartless vanishing as the light touched them. Soon it became too bright for them to watch, Luna shielding them with her wing. The light faded and Luna lowered her wing, shocked at what she saw. Before the two of them stood an Alicorn, steam rose from its body and magic danced in the air around it. The Alicorn smiled at them before suddenly glowing brightly and changing into Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. The three friends looked at themselves and then each other and started laughing, grabbing hold of one another. They pulled away from one another, staring at the ground in front of them. There sat three blades, Scootaloo's half heart and Sweetie Belle's half sat next to each other, while a third sat before Applebloom. The hilt had a dark green apple shaped guard around it, the blade short and red. Applebloom lifted it, the blade vanishing. "Ah think ah'm ready now." She said with a grin. ------ Nyx collapsed, her vision blurred. She felt something around her and realized it was Riku. Slowly her vision returned and she found herself looking up into his eyes as he held her. "Riku?" she asked softly, gasping from a sudden splitting headache. "Nyx...that was so stupid..." "Not as stupid as you jumping in front of that sword" he chuckled a little and shook his head. "Thank you..." he said softly. She sighed and sat up, the bandages falling from her wings. She glanced back at them to find that the burns were gone and it didn't hurt when she moved them. "My wings..." "I healed them." he said with a smile. "Your wound!" she looked at him and he chuckled "All healed up, thanks to you. I don't know how you found your way there but...thanks Nyx. I can't really say it enough." He stood, the blood having dried on his cloak and cracking as he moved. "Don't let Rarity see your cloak like that. She'd throw a fit and make you a new one and cover it in Onyx and rubies" Nyx joked. Riku raised an eyebrow and Nyx sighed, remembering Riku hadn't exactly met Rarity. "So...are you going to stay Riku?" he looked around, his Keyblade appearing and nodded. "Someone has to protect you after all." he joked. She shook her head and sighed. "RIKU!" Riku gasped as three ponies tackled him to the ground. Nyx giggled as the three friends all tried to talk at once. "You're stayin put Riku, ya can't just up and leave us again" Goofy said, keeping him pinned. "That's right, we're your friends Riku and we want to help!" Sora added. "GUYS!" Riku yelled, making them stop. "I'm not leaving." Riku looked over at Nyx. "I'm not leaving..." ------ "BACK! GIT BACK!" The stallion yelled at the wall of heartless, pushing it back with all his might. He spun and bent his forehooves, throwing his hind legs out and smashing his hind-hooves into the heartless, making the wall inch backwards. Again and again he kicked at it. The heartless rose up above him, forming one massive heartless, Macintosh panted and stared down the hulking creature, rearing up on his hind hooves. Suddenly the heartless vanished, leaving Big Macintosh standing there confused. He looked around, making sure it wasn't sneaking around him. There was nothing, just the empty room. He started to laugh, realizing how foalish he had been, taking such a thing on by himself. But it had run, or at least it was gone for now. All that mattered to him right now was that Fluttershy was ok as he turned and ran in the direction the nurses had gone. ------ Slowly the massive doors to her throne room opened, Pinkie Pie poking her head inside and bouncing her way in, behind her was Braeburn, carrying the unconscious nightmare moon. Celestia stared in shock at the scene as Braeburn lowered the injured Alicorn to the floor in front of the Princess. Slowly Nightmare began to stir, a swift kick from Pinkie Pie knocking her back out. "But...how..." was all Celestia managed to say. Pinkie shrugged. "Me and Braesy saw that she was hurt when she flew over us so he launched me out of my party cannon and I flew through the air, it was so amazing! It was like having wings, but I couldn't really fly, although it would be nice to fly." "Pinks, yer ramblin." Braeburn said softly. "Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, she was already hurt when we spotted her, so we just knocked her out." "Actually princess, Pinkie here did most of th' work. Ah jus pushed the button..." "Pinkie Pie, find the others, I will gather the Elements. I do not know how this monster has been reborn, but we must be rid of her before she can regain her powers."Pinkie Pie saluted. "Okie Dokie Lokie Princess" "Braeburn, I ask that you stay here and watch Nightmare Moon." "and if she wakes up just use those big strong hooves of yours and crack her upside the noggin, mmk Braesy?" Pinkie said beside him. He stammered a bit and nodded, forcing his eyes away from Pinkie Pie as the mare made her way out of the throne room to find her friends. "I knew we would have trouble dealing with the heartless...but for Nightmare Moon to have returned..." Celestia sighed "Though I am amazed you and Pinkie Pie were able to subdue her like this. The previous Nightmare Moon easily bested myself and My sister. And before that only the Elements stood a chance against her." "Well it's like Pinks said Princess, when we saw her she was already busted up pretty bad." "I see...then there is someone more powerful than Nightmare Moon on our side." Celestia stood and walked over to one of the many curtains that made their way down the walls of her throne room. It was surrounded by her magic and pulled aside, revealing a lock on the wall behind the curtain. Celestia slid her horn into the lock, a loud CHINK echoing throughout the throne room. Slowly the wall split open, revealing a box inside. Celestia lifted the box and set it down at her side as she made her way back to Nightmare Moon "What bothers me is I cannot figure out how this could be possible. Every last bit of Nightmare Moons' essence was destroyed by Nyx." "Perhaps I can be of assistance." a cloaked figure said as it came out of a black hole in the air. Braeburn spun, his stance wide as he glared at the cloaked figure. "You see, Nightmare Moon is and always has been, a Heartless." the man grinned and snapped his fingers, flames surrounding them. ------ She sighed in relief as they finally caught sight of Nyx. The young Alicorn sat beside the cloaked figure Twilight had yelled at before. Sora and his friends sat in front of them. Twilight couldn't tell what they were talking about and in that moment she didn't care. She ran to Nyx's side, frantically checking if she was hurt. "Mom, I'm alright" Nyx said, hugging the panicking Unicorn. Luna joined them in their circle "It would appear you've been through a great battle." Luna said to the cloaked figure, noticing the blood dried to his cloak. "I suppose you could put it like that." Twilight looked at the figure, realizing she had never seen such a creature before. "What...are you?" she asked out of curiosity. "He's a human. He and Sora come from the same world." Nyx explained with a small smile. "And I'm here to help, I don't mean any harm to your daughter." Riku said, raising his hands in the air to show he was harmless. He didn't want a repeat of their first encounter. "You're the one that ripped off Trixie's horn!" Twilight realized. "Yea...it didn't work out like I had thought it would. She came back completely healed and as Nightmare Moon no less. She escaped before we could finish her off." "OHHHHHHHHH So YOU beat up that big meany!" Pinkie said from beside them. "Pinkie? how did you...nevermind. You saw Nightmare Moon?" Pinkie pie nodded. "yep, me and Braesy knocked her out and took her to the Princess. She told me that I need to go get everypony so we can use the elements and stop nightmare moon before she gets her powers back cause if she got her powers back she might beat us up really badly and that wouldn't be very nice." Pinkie pouted "Big meany...Anyway we need to get everypony and get back to the Princess." "Alright, we'll split up and search for the others." Riku cleared his throat and waved his hand, small orbs of black appearing in the air. In one they could see Fluttershy in some sort of panic room. In another they spotted Rainbow Dash and Applejack headed in their direction. The last caught their eye though, it was Rarity. ------ Spike ran, his body aching and screaming for him to stop, but he couldn't stop. He had to get to Rarity, he had to save her. His body was ready to give out and still he continued onward. He had lost sight of the heartless that had taken Rarity, but he could still smell the mare. Her special mix of perfume found its way into his mind and he turned down a path in the forest. I'm getting close...I can feel it... he thought to himself. He spotted a cave in the distance and smiled. Rarity had to be inside that cave! He ran forward, his pain forgotten. As he neared the mouth of the cave a terrible screeching sound reached his ears. Tons of bats flying out of the cave and circling him. It took him a moment to realize that they were heartless as they swooped down to strike him. Spike let loose a burst of flame, though in his current exhausted state it was weak and only managed to scare off a few of the bats. Spike tried to charge into the cave, a hulking heartless smashing him back with its massive fist. "OH COME ON!" he screamed in frustration. He gasped, his eyes wide as he saw Rarity slung over the beasts shoulder. He sprang back to his feet, growling loudly. "Let.Her.Go." Spike said quietly. The heartless merely stared back at him, saying nothing. "Fine, you wanna do this the hard way, we'll do it the hard way." Spike roared and charged the heartless, the bats swooping down and slamming into him, flinging him into a tree, grabbing hold of his arms and legs and holding him against the tree. The heartless carrying Rarity pulled a massive sword from his back, pointing it at Spike. The dragon continued to growl, jets of flame desperately reaching for the heartless, too weak to make it more than an inch or so past his own face. Spike hung his head, too weak to break free of the heartless holding him and too weak to save Rarity. "I'm sorry Rarity..." the unicorn began to stir and gasped, kicking and screaming at the heartless. "You big dumb brute! I demand you let me go this instant!" At the sound of her voice Spike raised his head, breathing in deeply and letting a burst of flame fly forward, using all of his strength, he willed it to smash into the heartless, grinning as it hit. The heartless dropped Rarity, the unicorn complaining about her coat getting dirty. For a moment the flames burned brightly and it seemed they would easily consume the heartless. But after a moment of stumbling the flames vanished. Spike stared at it with wide eyes as it lifted its blade. "RARITY! RUN!" Spike yelled. Rarity turned her head and gasped. "S...Spike?!" "RUN!" he screamed again, pulling at the heartless that held him. Rarity shook her head "NO! I won't leave you Spike, not after you came to rescue me!" Spike struggled and realized he would not be able to break free. "I'm sorry Rarity..." "You have nothing to be sorry for darling. Now just let me get rid of these pesky bats." Rarity's horn began to glow dimly, her back turned to the beast with the sword. A few of the bats holding him caught fire but continued to hold on to him. The beast, now aware of the situation charged toward them. "Rarity, you need to run, now!" "I WON'T!" Spike shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry Rarity..." spike snapped his claws and the mare vanished. He grunted in pain with the effort it took to cast the spell, his head spinning and blood dripping from his nose. He raised his head in time to see the sword as it slammed into the softness of his stomach, pinning him to the tree. Spike barely felt any pain, his body was already numb. He stared down at the blade as his vision blurred, smiling to himself. He had managed to save Rarity... ------ "NO!" Rarity screamed as she appeared in front of her friends. Tears stung her eyes as she slammed her hooves into the ground in frustration. Rarity sank to the ground, loud sobs shaking her body back and forth. Twilight rushed to her side. "Rarity! are you alright? How did you get back here? Did you learn the teleportation spell?" Twilight asked, trying to help the Unicorn up onto her hooves. Nyx looked around. "Rarity...wheres Spike?" The Unicorn shook her head, silence falling over them. Nyx turned to Riku who nodded. In front of Riku another black orb appeared, revealing an image none of them wanted to see. It was of Spike, a massive black sword pinning him to a tree. Riku quickly destroyed the orb before anyone could see, but Twilight had seen it. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of her closest friend...gone... "He's alive." Riku said quietly. Twilight looked up at him. "But barely. You go get the others, I'll get Spike." Riku told them. Luna nodded, comforting Twilight. "No, I'm coming with you." Nyx said, her gaze daring him to say otherwise. He grinned and behind him a corridor opened. "Shall we?" he joked. Nyx took a slow breath and followed Riku through the hole in the air. "Ya'll heard that didn't ya Rarity? He's alive and they are gonna bring him back. But right now we need yer help. Nightmare Moon is back and we gotta use th' elements again. We can't do it without ya Rarity." The unicorn sobbed quietly, her friends helping her stand. "Y...You're right Girls...I just feel so useless right now. My dear darling Spike risked everything to save me from those horrid creatures and all I could do was get in his way...Now because of me he could be...could be..." Rarity couldn't finish the sentence, tears welling up in her eyes once more. "Rarity, listen. Spike is fine, you heard the guy, now come on, we've got Nightmare butt to kick!" Rainbow said, trying to calm her ------ The walk through the corridor seemed to last for ages, the two walking beside one another. "So this is what it's like in here..." Nyx said quietly. It looked beautiful compared to its entrance. Bright colors filled the air around them. "It's usually darker than this." Riku commented, a bright light ahead of them. "Usually?" she asked and he grinned "Yea, but I didn't have my light before now." He stepped through the light at the end and she smiled, following after. They appeared beside the tree Spike was held against, Nyx feeling bile rise up in her throat. Riku grabbed the blade that held the dragon, ripping it free of his body. The dragon slumped forward into Riku's arm. "ugh...Rarity..." "She's safe." Riku said gently, laying spike on his back. The dragon grinned and closed his eyes. "Spike...come on Spike you've gotta stay awake." Nyx shook him gently. The dragon had been like a big brother to her. It hurt seeing him like this. Nyx closed her eyes, trying to heal him but her magic was thrown aside as it touched him. "He's a dragon Nyx. Only extremely powerful magic will work on him." Nyx shook her head, cradling Spike and trying to think. "There is nothing we can do? what about that spell you used on me?" "I can try it, but I don't think it will work Nyx." Riku sat on Spikes other side, resting a hand over the wound in the dragons' stomach. Before he could cast the spell a massive heartless came rushing toward them. Nyx gasped and Riku stood quickly, throwing his Keyblade through the creatures' stomach. In an instant it was over. The beast toppled over, fading away, a heart drifting into the air and vanishing. Riku's Keyblade vanished and he turned his attention back to Spike. Nyx heard the sound of bells again, green sparks of magic running across the young dragons' body. They reached the wound and stopped, Nyx staring in disbelief. "I'm sorry Nyx...our magic isn't powerful enough to save him." "Well we have to do something! We can't let him die!" Nyx's ear twitched at the sound of screeching, a swarm of heartless bats flying toward them. Riku stood, ready to face them down. Before he could a massive flame flew through them, setting them ablaze. "Wow Riku...what kind of spell was that?" "that...wasn't me..." he said, watching as the flame turned in the air, charging back through the heartless. It took it only moments to destroy the heartless and slowly drift toward them. Nyx gasped as she got a good look at it. "Peewee?" she asked. The flames faded and the bird landed beside her. "Peewee? that thing is huge." "No, his name is Pee-wee, he was Spikes pet Phoenix. But Spike let it go back to its family." the Phoenix hopped over to Spike, lowering its head near the wound. It blinked a few tears into the wound which began to sizzle and close. Spike gasped and took in a massive gulp of air, coughing and holding his chest. "Phoenix tears..." Riku said in surprise. Spike held his head as he sat up, smiling at the bird. "Pee-wee!" he hugged the bird and laughed, noticing Nyx and Riku. "Spike you idiot." Nyx said, hugging him tightly. Spike chuckled a little and wrapped an arm around her. "Come on, we've gotta get back. Rarity is a mess without you." ------ The door began to creak open, Fluttershy pushing to her hooves and keeping her gaze on the door. If any heartless made their way inside they would be hit by the full force of The Stare. Tears stung the mares' eyes as Big Macintosh walked into the room. He had a few scratches but was, for the most part, unharmed. Fluttershy ran to him, sobbing as she flung her hooves around his neck. Macintosh lowered his head, rubbing his cheek against hers. "It's alright Flutter, their gone." "y...you beat back all of them?" "Well not all of em. Ah gave them a run fer their bits and then they ran." Fluttershy smiled, holding him tightly. "I was so worried...please don't do that again..." "Ah can't make no promises Flutter, ah've got t' protect what I care 'bout after all." he grinned, kissing the mare. She blushed bright red and slowly let go of him. "W...We should get to the Princess. If there are heartless in the castle that will be the safest place to go." Macintosh nodded and surprised the pegasus by lifting her onto his back. She squeaked and wrapped her hooves around his neck. "Can't have ya walkin and hurtin yerself Flutter." She sighed a little and nuzzled his neck. Macintosh leading the nurses back to safety, making sure the heartless were truly gone. They slowly made their way back into the room. Big Macintosh peered around the corner, finding a bunch of panicking ponies in the room. "Over here!" Macintosh called out to them, relief flooding over the crowd of ponies as Macintosh came out with the others behind him, Fluttershy still on his back. "Oh my goodness Rarity, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, noticing her red puffy eyes. "I...I'll be fine darling. What about you and Big Macintosh, you weren't hurt were you?" Fluttershy shook her head, nuzzling Macintosh's neck. "Mackie protected us." The stallion chuckled a little. "T' be perfectly honest ah didn't do much. Those darn things up and ran off after a few kicks." Fluttershy squeaked in surprise as a hole opened in the air beside them. Through the hole came Nyx and Riku, Spike following behind them, a tall bird resting on his back. "SPIKE!" Rarity threw herself at the dragon, tears streaming down her cheeks. She tried to speak but only nonsense spewed forth. Spike wrapped an arm around the Unicorn as she buried her face in his neck. "Come on Rarity, if you keep this up your gonna mess up your mane" he joked. Rarity glared at him for a moment and he changed his tone. "I'm sorry Rarity, but it would've taken too long t.." Spike stopped in surprise as Rarity kissed him. "Don't. Do. that. Ever. Again." With each word she jabbed her hoof into his chest. Spike stammered for a moment and nodded. Nyx and Luna gasped in pain, holding their heads. "Whats wrong?!" Twilight asked, both unable to answer her. Finally Luna, her breath coming in slow ragged gasps, managed to speak. "Celestia..." ------ The stallion panted heavily, patches of his coat burned away. Steam rose from his body, his legs shaking a bit as he stared down the cloaked figure. The man vanished for a moment, smashing his arm across the stallions' neck, sending him flying through one of the columns in the room, knocking him out cold. Celestia glared at the cloaked figure as he advanced on her. "Now my dear Princess, you will give me what I came for." "I will give you nothing." Her horn began to glow and he quickly grabbed hold of it. The Alicorns' eyes widened as she realized what the man intended to do. "The Elements, you will give them to me or I will take them." he began squeezing her horn and she gasped as pain shot through her body. Even with all her power she couldn't face down this man. His grip on her horn kept her from using her magic and any sudden movement could end in him snapping it off. "You will never have the Elements." Celestia said with more courage than she had in that moment. He squeezed her horn and Celestia swore she could hear it crack, her knees shaking as she struggled against the pain. A Pink blur flew through the air, smashing into the cloaked figure with enough force to send him flying through the wall on the opposite side of the room. Celestia sighed in relief as her sister came running into the room, followed by Twilight and her friends. The cloaked figure appeared in the room once more, rubbing his cheek and glaring at Pinkie Pie. "You will pay dearly for that." "I don't think so meany, besides I don't have any bits today." The figure rushed toward her only to be tackled by Braeburn. blood trailed down the Stallions head as he panted and glared at the figure. "Don't ya'll dare touch her!" He yelled. "Braesy..." Pinkie hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes. "You're really hurt Braesy, we can handle this mean jerkpants." "Sorry Pinks, but ah can't sit back and watch ya fight this creep." Pinkie nodded and turned her attention back to the figure as it slowly stood, his vision blurred as his head spun. His gaze fell on Riku. "You! Recruit! Handle these pathetic creatures, now!" He screamed at Riku. Riku blinked, realizing the man thought he was actually an organization member from his cloak. Riku just stood there, staring at the man. "Useless idiot!" the man rushed for Riku, knocked back by a bolt of magical energy from Nyx. Smoke rose from his cloak where the bolt had struck him. Riku held out his hand, his Keyblade appearing. "Now, what is this about recruits?" Riku asked. Sora walked up on his other side, his Keyblade appearing. Pinkie Pie and the others surrounded him, the crusaders pulling out their own Keyblades as well as the pink party pony herself. "Well THIS is interesting. Tell me, do all of you possess these blades?" no one answered him and he scoffed. "Pity." He vanished into a dark portal, Riku cursing as he was too slow to stop him. Half the ponies in the room collapsed in relief and exhaustion. Riku however kept his eyes on the empty spot in the air, Luna and Twilight rushing to Celestia, finding that besides an emotional scar she was otherwise unharmed. "Braeburn, you risked you're life to defend me against that creature. Even after suffering such horrible injuries you still protected Pinkie Pie. I cannot let such a noble act go without reward." "Aw...well, it weren't nuthin Princess. Any stallion in my hooves woulda done th' same" Braeburn said with a sheepish grin, Pinkie Pie nuzzled his neck. The gentle moment was broken by the sound of hooves behind them. A dazed nightmare was trying to stand, a swift kick from Pinkie Pie knocking her back to the floor. Nopony was surprised that Pinkie was the first to react or that she had somehow moved from her spot near Braeburn over to Nightmare Moon before any of them could blink. "Let's handle the current situation before handing out rewards sister." Luna said, lifting the Elements with her magic. Carefully she sat each respective Element upon the pony it belonged to. Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, Honesty, Loyalty, and finally Magic. The six surrounded Nightmare Moon, Twilight calling out to her magic, her eyes turning bright white. one by one each pony in the circle adopted the same eyes, their respective element glowing as they began to float around Nightmare Moon. A massive rainbow collided with the unconscious Alicorn, shaking the entire castle. The six ponies shook themselves, dazed from using the Elements power. Where Nightmare Moon once sat there was now Trixie, without her horn or the wings she had acquired during her first attack on them. "The poor thing..." Celestia said softly. "Poor thing?! She tried to kill us! She almost did!" Nyx yelled in anger. "No Nyx. What attacked you was not Trixie. it was the darkness in her heart, awakened by that creature." "She's right Nyx..." Riku said quietly, his head down. He knew better than anyone how powerful that darkness was. "Is there anything you can do for her sister?" Luna asked. Celestia shook her head. "Sadly I cannot." Trixie began to stir, looking around in fear at the ponies that surrounded her. She looked at herself, seeing her wings were gone, that she was herself again. Slowly she reached up, finding her horn was still broken, tears burst forth and she curled up into a ball. Nyx watched as Riku sat beside the bawling unicorn. "This is my fault." he said softly. He gently placed his hand against the Unicorns broken horn, darkness swirling around his arm and flooding into the cracks. Slowly the horn began to reform, Trixie squirming in discomfort. It took only moments for the horn to take back its old shape. Trixie shook with silent sobs, reaching up to touch her horn with a hoof. It was smaller than it had been before, but it was there and intact. She looked up at Riku, at a loss for words, but her gratitude shone in her eyes. Riku merely nodded, helping the mare to her hooves. "Trixie had thought...after what Trixie had done..." "You were not yourself Trixie. You were swallowed by the darkness in your heart and are not responsible for the actions you took. Though I will be keeping an eye on you." Celestia said to the Unicorn. Twilight began removing her Element but the Princess shook her head. "Hold onto them my little ponies. The time to use them again is drawing near and keeping them all together like this has become far too dangerous now. Tonight, rest and recover. We will begin the preparations tomorrow."