//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Twilight // Story: War of the Sun and the Moon // by Teal //------------------------------// I must retrieve the Elements of Harmony no matter what cause. I must do it or else Equestria is doomed. Those were the thoughts that were inside Twilight’s mind when she jumped into the swirl of magic of magic Nightmare Moon was creating before being teleported along with the Elements into another crumbling room within the castle. Reorienting herself and trying to figure out where she was, Twilight looked around the room to see nothing but the usual old and collapsed walls that were prevalent in this castle. But as she turned her gaze towards the far end of the room, a sense of horror and dread struck her. Standing on top of a platform and floating five of the stone orbs that represented the Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon let out a victorious laugh as she stared down at Twilight. Letting lose magical lightning as she stood there, the dark alicorn created an imposing and intimidating presence, as if trying to frighten Twilight. Indeed, it did have an effect on her as she felt her heart and hopes drop from such a sight. Clearly Nightmare Moon was a hundred times more powerful than a simple unicorn like her. Powerful magic and spells were all within Nightmare Moon’s access and although Twilight was well read on many types of spells herself, all her knowledge was nothing when compared to that of his adversary. But all hope rested on Twilight, since right now she was the only pony available to stop Nightmare Moon and her plans. So, despite the fear she felt and the natural urge to avoid destruction, she decided to fight on and face Nightmare Moon. For Equestria… She told herself, hoping to gain more confidence. For my friends, for the Princess, and for everypony… Gaining enough confidence and bravery, she got ready to make a charge, her horn glowing and ready to face the alicorn in battle. Seeing this, Nightmare Moon gave Twilight an unimpressed look as she stared at her. “You’re kidding… You’re kidding right?” But she wasn’t. Deep inside, Twilight could feel her heart race as adrenaline got into her system. So much was at stake right now and it all depended on her. Although pressure and the fright were certainly in her, but with hope and desperation, she went out and charged. Approaching Nightmare Moon at full speed, Twilight kept her horn glowing as her hooves took her as fast as they could towards the platform. Keeping her gaze forward, she could see that Nightmare Moon herself was also charging out to meet her. Seeing this, a small grin formed on her face as she had brought the alicorn to where she wanted. Getting closer to one another, Twilight and Nightmare Moon were just about to collide, when all of a sudden Twilight activated her magic and created a bright flash of light, as she teleported herself away from her enemy’s path and on top of the platform where Nightmare Moon left the Elements. Without wasting a second, Twilight immediately turned her attention towards the Elements, as she began casting as spell that would hopefully activate them. It would only be a moment before Nightmare Moon realized what she had done, and Twilight feared that the alicorn would be able to retaliate before she could finish her job. But before she could get her magic to touch the Elements, a terrible electrifying shock took hold of her body, propelling her off of the platform and onto the cold stone floor. The pain that hit Twilight seemed unbearable and bits of the electric magic still flowed through her body. Finding some strength to try and get up, she lifted her head towards the direction of the magic to see Nightmare Moon glaring at her with an annoyed look on her face. “A nice trick, but do you really think a simple trick like that could win you the day?” Feeling the mockery in her voice and not wanting to give up on the fight, Twilight aimed her horn at Nightmare Moon and shot out a ray of magic, a well-known paralyzing spell. But this ray of magic was simply deflected by Nightmare Moon, as she formed a protective bubble on herself. The retaliatory attack made by Nightmare Moon made Twilight wish that she did not fire the shot, as another painful shot of magical lightning hit her body, making her spasm out of control. Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the feeling she was experiencing. But with pain like the one she was receiving, the task was near impossible. Slowly opening her eyes and looking back towards Nightmare Moon, she could see that the dark alicorn was taking her time in approaching her. Then, moving her gaze away from her enemy and turning her head towards the Elements on the platform, Twilight began to contemplate on the possibility of casting the spell from afar. Maybe if I poured all my strength, I can activate the Elemen- Her thoughts were cut off, as another wave of pain hit her. As if knowing what she was thinking, Nightmare Moon fire another shot of magical lightning. “Now, now, haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” Nightmare Moon said as she got nearer to Twilight. But instead of stopping in front on Twilight, she instead continued until she was once more on top of the platform. Once there, she turned towards the lying unicorn and grinned. “Planning to wield the Elements of Harmony, when you’re clearly unprepared for such a task-” She said, as she shook her head. “-I admire the act, but I must say that it is quite foolish.” “You’ll never get away with this…” Twilight managed to choke out through the pain. “…you will fail.” “I do not think you are in a position to state such bold statements.” Nightmare Moon said. “Besides, how can I fail now, since I have already imprisoned Celestia and hold the Elements of Harmony?” “Somepny will stop you.” Twilight stated defiantly. “As long as those Elements exists, you can be defeated.” “Oh, you are quite right about that.” Nightmare Moon said, nodding her head. “But it’s a good thing that I already found a way to stop that from happening.” Then, in one great movement, Nightmare Moon raised her fore hooves and stomped it on the ground. The power of her hooves impacting could be felt throughout the room, as Twilight felt the floor under her shake. But her attention wasn’t focused on the floor, but instead on the Elements, which have shattered from the powerful action Nightmare Moon had created. As this happened, Twilight could feel all her hope disappear. As the Elements shattered in front of her, so did the chance defeating Nightmare Moon. No! She thought in grief. Not the Elements! Trying to move and do something to fix the Elements, Twilight squirmed on the floor, her shattered body only bringing pain with every movement. Feeling overpowered by the sensation, Twilight could feel tears run down her face and she let out a long cry. But her tears and crying were not solely from the pain she felt, but also from the defeat that was brought upon her. How could she have failed? How could she have let down everypony? Twilight was not a pony who often accepted failure and when failure did come to her, it always hit her like an avalanche. Failure of the past had always brought her self-esteem down, but now, this new failure had totally crushed her. I failed… I’m sorry, Princess Celestia, my friends, everypony… I failed… In the mist of her grieving state, Twilight failed to notice that Nightmare Moon was slowly approaching her once more. It wasn’t only till the dark alicorn was upon her did her took note nad looked up with tear soaked eyes. “Now…” Nightmare Moon said. “…it’s time to eliminate you, before you cause me anymore trouble.” With that, Twilight looked on as she saw Nightmare Moon’s hoof head straight for her face. If she used the same power she used earlier, then Twilight was sure that it would crush her face and kill her. In a moment like that, she felt time slow down as she let fear take over and watched the slowly approaching hoof. Helpless and unable to do anything to save herself, she screamed to the top of her lungs. She screamed till she shook awake, jumping in fear as she shot up to find herself in a cold and dark prison. Breathing heavily, she placed a hoof on her chest as she felt her heart race from fear. The nightmare had been too real, all too real. The pain, the fear, the grief, it felt amplified and realistic. If it weren’t for the fact that she woke up from it, Twilight would have believed that all that happened was real. And yet, it was real, at least a portion of it. The battle with Nightmare Moon, the loss of the Elements of Harmony, and their successive destruction under the alicorn’s hooves. All of that had happened. The only thing that didn’t happen was the death blow in which Nightmare Moon had planned to give her. No that did not happen... Instead of killing her and tossing her dead body aside, Nightmare Moon decided to spare her from death and instead chose to torture her with a lifelong imprisonment as she dwelled on her failure. The faith of Equestria had hang on the balance and it was up to her to save everpony. But all she did was fail. “I failed everypony…” She said out loud, a single tear running down her eye. Right now, she felt ashamed to hold the title of being the Princess’s personal student, since it didn’t seem she deserved it. “What would Princess Celestia think of me now?” “I would be proud of you.” Celestia said from behind Twilight, startling the unicorn as she immediately turned to face her mentor. “Like I said earlier, Twilight, you did your best and went farther than most ponies would. You got as far as anypony can go and I cannot begin to explain how proud I am of you. If what you told me earlier was correct, not only were you able to find new friends who voluntarily went out to help you, but you also found the Elements and dueled with Nightmare Moon.” “Yes…” Twilight said, still unsure and sad. “…but I failed, Princess. I failed to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Equestria. I also failed to protect my new friends, since they got captured too and were thrown somewhere in the dungeons here. They’re probably angry at me for letting them down.” “Now, Twilight…” Celestia said, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder which made Twilight flinch in pain. The soreness in her body was still there, an evidence to her defeat. “…not everypony wins in their first battle. What happened wasn’t a defeat, but merely a setback. Defeats only happen if you let setbacks stop you for good. And as for your friends, I doubt it if they are angry at you. True friends would never get angry for reasons like that. If anything, they might be worried about you.” “Do you really think so, Princess?” Twilight asked, a small spark of hope appearing in the sea of hopelessness within her. “I know so.” Celestia said. “In fact, why don’t you ask them yourself?” “Huh?” Twilight asked, confused as to what her mentor said. But as if to answer her question, a familiar sounding voice with a country accent called out to her through the wall from the cell next to theirs. “Heyya Twilight, glad to hear that you’re finally awake. How yah, holding up, sugarcube?” “Applejack?” Twilight said, surprised to hear her voice over here. “Oh yes, darling, we were so worried about you. We saw you when Nightmare Moon captured you and brought you to the dungeons and we were quite concerned about your health.” Anther voice, which Twilight assumed was Rarity, said. “Yeah, you looked pretty beat up, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash’s voice said. “Mhmm. That meanie, Nightmare Moon, hurt you real bad and I’m not going to stand for that. No one hurts my friends and gets away with it!” Twilight heard Pinkie Pie shout so loud that it seemed that the two were in the same room. “Girls…” Twilight said, her voice trialing as she became overcome with emotion. Despite the concern her friends were giving her, she felt like she didn’t deserve any of it. All of them had done something to show that they were worthy to be in this journey, while all she did was fail to stop Nightmare Moon. “…I’m sorry for bringing you here. If it weren’t for me, then you wouldn’t be in this situation.” “Sorry, there’s no need to be sorry.” Rarity said. “Yeah, Twilight, you didn’t do anything wrong. If there’s anypony who needs to be sorry, then it’s Nightmare Moon!” Rainbow Dash added. “But…but I was the one who failed to stop Nightmare Moon!” Twilight reminded. “Now, Twilight, don’t say such things.” Rarity said. “You went farther anypony expected you to go. Now, don’t think of such things as failure, like the Princess said, it only a setback.” “Yah!” Applejack said. “It’s only a setback, well get another chance to get back at her someday.” “And when that happens, we’ll be sure to be with you this time and not waiting outside the castle just to be caught by those minions of hers.” Rainbow Dash said, embarrassment in her voice as she described their capture. “Thanks girls, you really are the best friends a mare can have.” Twilight said, her heart filled with joy knowing that these friends of hers would support her no matter what. “But, before we can repay Nightmare Moon, we need to find a way out of here.” “Agreed.” The mares from the other cell said. But for a few moments later, an awkward silence took over before being broken Rainbow Dash asked: “But how do we plan on getting out of here. This place is pretty tough to break out off.” Nopony was sure, for nopony knew the answer. Looking around, Twilight could see that the walls were thick and strong. Despite the age and years of negligence, the naturally strong rock seemed like it could withstand anything. Meanwhile, the door of their cell looked just as formidable. Sheer force was obviously out of the question. So was magic, for she could sense the radiating magic on the walls of the cell and knew immediately that it was enchanted with some kind of spell that would inhibit anypony inside to use magic. Besides, if one can use magic to break free from here, then surely Princess Celestia would have done it already. Silence hang over both prison cells as Twilight, and everypony else, began contemplating plans on how to escape. But with little to limited options on how to conduct one, it seemed like getting out of these dungeons was impossible. “What’s that, Fluttershy?” Came Rainbow Dash’s voice, which broke through the momentary silence. “What do you mean you can hear something?” Then, pausing to address the others. “Hey, do any of you know what Fluttershy is talking about?” Keeping silent and focusing on the sounds of her surroundings, Twilight tried to figure out what her friend might be hearing. After a moment or two of listening, she soon heard sporadic sounds coming from above them. Although they were faint, the sounds that she could hear got louder and louder, slowly increasing as time went by. Soon, everypony else was hearing it too, as the ponies began to debate what could have caused the sound. “Do you think they’re having a party there?” Pinkie Pie asked, obvious disappointment in her voice. “Awww…they might be having a party without us.” “No.” Twilight said, having identified some of the sounds she was hearing. “That’s no party. It seems like those sounds are coming from unicorns casting spells and firing off magic.” “So what, those minions of Nightmare Moon are just firing off magic all willy nilly? How barbaric of them.” Rarity commented. “I think what we’re hearing is more than just a bunch of unicorns randomly firing their magic.” Twilight said, before returning her concentration back towards the outside sounds. By now, the sound of magic being cast was still evident, but a new and different sound now came in. Focusing on it, Twilight realized that it was a sound of somepony yelling, calling out something that she did not understand. But as the voice drew close and louder, she began picking up what was being said. “Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia, are you here?” Her head shot towards the direction of the door the moment she heard the loud call. From the volume of it, Twilight was sure that the one yelling was just by their door cell. But that wasn’t just the only things that peeked Twilight’s interest. The voice sounded all too familiar to Twilight and for a moment, she had to wonder if her hearing was deceiving her. But after hearing the voice call out once more, Twilight was certain on who it was, as she heard the call very clearly. With hope and joy in her heart, she began yelling as she called out to the pony. “Shining Armor!”