Princess Luna took a step back, bracing herself even as she summoned a pair of swords that for all intents looked like solid moonlight. “What does thou want, shadow? Why remain in this world?”
The Nightmare chuckled even as she began moving to her left. “What do I want? I want what I’ve always wanted... the world. A land of eternal shadows and eternal night. A home for every shade who would then follow me. A physical form for every being, for every demon within the dark realm. In short... EVERYTHING!”
“Well, ya ain’t gonna find it here,” declared Big Mac. “Ya done tried once, a thousand years ago and wound up on the moon fer yer troubles. Ah’d recommend ya call this off now and go home, peaceful-like, before we kick ya from here ta Tartarus.”
Plunder laughed at the red-furred alicorn. “Well look what we have here. Some, hick farmer dressed up like a prince. Go home, little pony. Go home and play dress-up with your friends. Make them believe you are more than you really are.”
Luna bristled at the Nightmare’s comments. “Thou dares much, speaking to my intended in such a manner. He is a prince of the hoof, of the horn and of the wing. Within him lies a nobility beyond thy knowledge and a courage that will burn you if you challenge him. Do as he commands. Depart this world and nevermore return.”
The vine covered creature stopped and faced Luna, smiling wickedly. “You’ve changed, oh Princess of Dreams! For a thousand years you were a simpering and whining child. Crying over your cursed life as my host. Struggling uselessly to overcome me” The shadow creature rippled as more and more tendrils added themselves to her form. Her expression became one of suppressed anger. “Oh how I hated every tear you shed, every piercing regret and moment of self-pity you pushed into my mind, hoping to break the bond I forged with thee. But now! Now you show me power, you show me strength. Had you but given me your favor when we first returned I could have easily brought down those children and their elements. Is love truly so strong as to take a mewling foal and make of her an avenging angel?”
Luna snorted, a frosty mist exploding from her nostrils. “Love is what it is. It’s something you will never know, something you can never take from another. Now begone! Return to thy shadow realm before I rend you from your new host and cast you into the pit myself.”
“No,” the Nightmare replied. “I think not.”
Two tendrils shot out from the demon alicorn, one reaching for Big Mac, the other for Luna. Each responded instantly. The red-furred stallion slammed both of his fore hooves into the ground, his horn glowing green. A wall of rock and earth sprang up between the Nightmare and him, blocking the attack. Luna telekinetically swung both swords, shredding the vine as it reached for her throat.
A third sword appeared out of the ether, lining up with a series of spinning, silver circles that stretched between Luna and the Nightmare. There was a brief flash and the sword flew across the room, impaling the giant alicorn through the chest.
Instead of falling however, the creature simply laughed, then pulled the sword out of its chest. She held it for a moment, then blew on it causing it to disintegrate like a cloud of sparkling ash. The creature whirled, striking at Big Mac’s wall with both back hooves, shattering it into a cloud of dust and debris.
“Well,” the red-furred stallion muttered glancing quickly at Luna, “that didn’t quite work as expected.” An instant later another tendril leapt from the monster and wrapped itself around Big Mac’s throat. The prince forced his head down and touched his horn to the vine. There was the sound of sizzling and the coil disintegrated before it even had a chance to tighten.
“Just a word fer future reference,” the stallion said. “Ah don’t like weeds!” Both his horn and forehooves glowed as again the floor erupted, this time in the form of a massive spike that drove through the creature, but it didn’t stop there. A dozen more spears slammed upward, piercing the plant from a dozen different directions. Each acted like a sailor’s marlin spike, prying the tendrils apart, and like a knot in a rope, weakening its overall structure until loops and segments of vine began to come undone. The magic came easily to him because removing knots from rope was a task he had grown up doing on the farm.
The monster’s alicorn form began to collapse in on itself. The individual parts of the plant reached for the two lovers. Big Mac looked at Luna. “Can y’all hold that thing off fer a couple o’ minutes?”
“With pleasure,” the princess responded. She then conjured a scythe of moonlight and began slashing at the creature’s tendrils vigorously, forcing them back several feet.
The stallion backed away from the fight moving towards the Tree of Harmony. Using his magic, he lifted the wicker saddlebags from his back and up-ended them, spilling their contents across the cavern floor. Using his own telekinesis, he scooped up the ornate box that had been at the bottom of one of the baskets and opened it. He quickly and precisely lifted each Element of Harmony from the box and began to place them in their proper position on the tree.
He had completed the first four, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Honesty, when the Nightmare became aware of what he was doing. Screaming in rage, she struck out with her vines threatening to unbind her alicorn form. Luna scythed through more than two dozen of the vines even as one of them grabbed her around the throat. Before she could react the monster hurled her against the caverns’ nearest wall, stunning her for a moment.
The alicorn princess lay there for a moment, shaking her head to clear it. As she looked up she saw one of the creature’s tendrils harden into a rigid spear and drive itself through the back of Big Mac’s shoulder blades, exiting with a gush of blood from his throat. He staggered, but remained standing because the vine that had impaled him was partially supporting his weight.
“NOOOOOOOO!” screamed Luna. In an instant she was on her hooves whirling to face the creature. Rage twisted her features and washed through her mind; a kind of rage she had not felt for over a thousand years. Her physical form changed as she once more turned into the Nightmare. Her eyes become a solid bluish-white with streams of blue energy flowing like waves from them. All warmth, all caring had vanished to be replaced by the icy coldness of night. No longer was she the Princess of Dreams. In an instant she became Luna, Princess of Nightmares. The moon’s light streamed from every part of her form and she channeled it all against her foe.
“THOU CLAIMS TO BE THE NIGHTMARE, BUT AT THY CORE THOU ARE BUT A THIEF. THOU STOLE MY BODY, MY FORM, BUT THOU ARE NOT ME. THERE IS BUT ONE NIGHTMARE IN THIS REALM AND I NAME THEE FOR WHO THOU ARE, A THIEF, A PLUNDERER... AND I WOULD HAVE THEE GONE FROM MY SIGHT!”
The Nightmare let the monster have it all. All the rage and fear of seeing her love so grievously hurt. An entire millennium’s worth of the loneliness she’d felt at having been separated from her sister. A thousand years of pain, helplessness, torture, sorrow, imprisonment and struggle; it all focused itself into a single, bright thread of moonlight. She hurled that light through her opponent’s forehead, unbinding everything the Plunderer had become.
In a last moment of bright clarity the monster realized how badly she’d under estimated the Princess. This was no simpering foal she faced, no foolishly jealous mare whom she had once taken and enslaved through guile and surprise. It was an elemental force of nature and of will, against which she’d never really had a chance. A wail of anguish filled the cavern and the creature disintegrated into dust.
Silence descended upon the chamber, broken finally by a choking gasp from Big Mac as he slowly collapsed to his knees. Princess Luna turned and raced over to him, letting go her Nightmare form even as she knelt beside the stallion.
“No, no, no, no...” she muttered over and over as she tried to recall every bit of healing magic she knew. She nuzzled his head, and the stallion opened his eyes, taking a ragged, incomplete breath of air. He coughed and blood trickled from his lips.
“Help... me. We need... need ta finish. Put... puttin’ the Elements... back. He weakly reached out with his magic, trying to lift one of the Elements into the tree, but he couldn’t.
Tears came to Luna’s eyes. “Shhh, quiet now my love... please, please rest while I heal thee.” Her horn began softly glowing.
Big Mac weakly shook his head. “Nnnope! Gotta... put these back...” He insisted. Luna simply nodded, then took the last two Elements from the box and carefully placed them on the tree.
“This... too,” the stallion croaked weakly, tapping at his collar with his forehoof.
Lifting his collar from around his neck, Luna carefully removed the last Element from where it was hidden. Blood dripped from the leather and wood as she set aside. She looked up at the tree, then placed the small green apple-shaped gem in a spot that had appeared in its crook. There was an abrupt flare of light as the tree received the last of the Elements.
The princess cast a small shield spell to prevent Big Mac and herself from being blinded by the intense light. It continued for almost a full minute, then faded. When Luna was finally able to open her eyes she saw the cavern now gleamed in the light of a fully renewed Tree of Harmony.
Seeing the tree for the first time in more than a thousand years Luna could not help but to feel humbled. The tree possessed more power than any other living thing in all of Equis. Staring at it, her eyes glazed over and her mind lost focus on the world around her. She thought she heard a voice echoing somewhere within her mind.
“It is good to see you again, Princess Luna. It has been much too long since we talked.”
“Who?”
“Come now... think back to our first meeting, when I loaned you and your sister the power to save your kingdom. I know that you forgot I had spoken to you then. Don’t tell me you also forgot my name.”
Luna dug deep within her memory, trying to remember details about the Elements of Harmony and the search she and Celestia had made for them. “Arual,” she said finally. “Your name is Arual.”
There was a soft chuckling like the sound of a breeze through the leaves. “Now, was that really so hard?”
Luna swallowed at the lump of fear that had formed in her throat. The Princess had not anticipated facing the Tree of Harmony so soon or so directly. She looked at the tree and bowed her head, her horn touching the ground. “I would humbly beseech your forgiveness, Arual. I and my sister failed you. We forgot our promise to return that which you loaned us so long ago.
“I understand the need you faced and the events which followed. When one loans something to a child, it is with the awareness that the child might accidently forget promises made. Fear not, thou art forgiven. It is the least I can do, seeing as thou has already been punished for thy neglect and misuse of my gifts.”
“Punished?”
”A thousand year banishment to the moon and a loss of your affinity for the Elements. I would say that renders all debts level. I must admit it seems ironic that even as I forgive you, I owe your betrothed yet again for returning the Elements when I had most need of them, as he did in that other world.”
“Yes... He nearly drove Tia and me insane insisting that...” Luna abruptly stopped and her eyes went wide as both panic and guilt washed over her. “BIG MAC... No he’s hurt! I have to help him. How could I have forgotten...?”
“Ya called,” the stallion’s voice abruptly resonated through her thoughts. She suddenly felt his strong and calm presence within her mind and her panic faded.
“Thou art alright?” Luna frantically thought towards her intended.
“Eeeyup! Aural healed me while ya was distracted talking with her. Though Ah suspect Ah’ll be feeling this when Ah finally wake up.”
“Wake up?”
“Yes... I placed him into a healing sleep so his body and mind can recover from the wounds he sustained helping me.”
“But how...?” Luna paused for a moment. “He’s asleep! He must be talking to us in his dreams.”
“And you being the Princess of Dreams can hear him.”
“Eeeyup,” the stallion chuckled.
“You just now said that we returned the Elements at the moment you most needed them,” Luna observed.
“The Plunderer was driven from your body almost two years ago. In the instant of her banishment she discovered Discord’s vines against which I have been struggling for several hundred years. Because they are a living entity, she was able to possess them, which at first helped me tremendously. Unfortunately, as she gained strength, she also learned how to use the chaos magic within the vines to draw my own magic to her.”
“Was that how she was able ta take on that alicorn shape?” Big Mac asked.
”Yes,” replied Aural. “Had you not returned my magic and defeated her, I would not have been able to hold out very much longer.”
Luna looked at Big Mac then faced Arual once more. “When last my sister and I faced that kind of magic, it took the Elements of Harmony to defeat it. I am a little curious as to how I was able to defeat the Nightmare alone.”
“Alicorn magic is much greater than most realize. The Nightmare and the Daybreaker are the most powerful extensions of what you could become. Both you and Celestia know this instinctively, which is why you both wisely limit how much power you allow yourselves to use. Additionally, you try to use your power with as little emotion as possible. Such was not the case here, thus the Plunderer was driven away.”
Princess Luna glanced over at Big Mac, who immediately stepped up and lay one of his forehooves across her shoulder, drawing her into a hug. She smiled in response. The stallion then looked up at Arual. “Y’all said this Plunderer was driven away. Ain’t she destroyed?”
“Unfortunately, no! The plunder vines have had hundreds of years to grow secretly throughout the region, buried deep underground. Luna did hurt her, badly, but she was able to escape along the root system to who knows where. I am very much afraid you haven’t heard the last of the Plunderer. She will however need a considerable amount of time to regather her power, and thanks to you I can easily drive her off should she ever try again to seize control of me.”
“Fair enough,” replied Big Mac, yawning.
“It looks as if we need to end this dream for now so you can get some honest rest,” Luna observed.
“But Ah ain’t tired... much.” The Princess of Dreams responded by tapping her horn gently across the stallion’s. There was a brief shower of golden dust and Big Mac was sound asleep. Luna looked at Arual.
“With the Plunderer on the loose, how shall we fight it?” asked the Princess.
“I can sense you are worried about the elements. Fear not. I shall employ the same solution here as I did in the world your fiancé thinks of as Neverwere. I shall gift each bearer a shard of the element they represent. Weave these into necklaces and should the need arise, they will be able to tap directly into my power for a short period of time, provided they do so as one.”
“I and my sister thank-thee for thy most profound gift.”
“Indeed... You shall have need of it. Use it wisely and well.”
Luna’s eyes became unglazed as she was once more aware of the world around her. The Tree of Harmony stood silently above her, vibrantly alive with power. At its base sat the box which had contained the original Elements. Opening it, the Princess saw seven small shards, carefully lined up, patiently awaiting the necklaces they would soon adorn.
Closing it, Luna looked towards her betrothed. As promised, his wounds were healed though he still lay in a small puddle of dried blood. He snorted, breathing quietly and easily as one does when in a deep sleep.
Luna used her magic to gently clean her lover off, cleansing the last traces of his blood from the cavern. As she worked she noticed the air was filled with the slowly fading smell of burnt wood and a number of ashen tendrils of plunder vine trailed along the chamber floor. The Princess quietly lay her sleeping prince back down and smiled to herself in satisfaction. For a thousand years she’d been dominated by that creature, dreaming of the day when she would be truly free. Now, she was.
“Take that, you bitch!” she whispered.
Gathering the remnants of their planned picnic, Luna carefully set out what they had brought, then waited patiently for Big Mac to awaken. Her sister had promised to oversee the moonrise if their “mission” went longer than anticipated, so her mind was clear and she quietly meditated in the aura of the tree. It wasn’t too long before the alicorn prince groaned, then stiffly sat up.
“Anypony git the number o’ that oxcart that hit me?”
Luna laughed softly. “Not to worry, love. That particular oxcart went over a cliff and can’t hurt you again.
The stallion looked around, taking in the tree, the cavern and the picnic lunch that was laid out before them. “Ah had a dream...” He paused for a moment then smiled, remembering. “Y’all got ta talk with Aural. We won, didn’t we?”
“That we did,” the princess replied, leaning in and kissing Big Mac. He happily returned the kiss. Breaking away, Luna looked at the stallion and smiled. “I don’t know about you, but I feel just a tad hungry. Shall we enjoy our luncheon before going home?”
The prince looked at Luna and smiled. “Eeeyup! Though Ah don’t know what we’re gonna do about dessert. It looks like the apple tarts Ah made got a might smushed.”
“Oh, I can think of a few ideas,” the Princess of the Night replied, a coquettish smile framing her face. They leaned close to each other intending to kiss, but were interrupted by the soft sound of a plop. Looking up, they saw that a small, white fruit had dropped from a branch of the tree and was rolling, quite willfully, towards them. It came to a stop in the middle of the blanket between them, glistening like a star.
The two lovers looked at each other and laughed.