Anon's vision doubled and he let out a scream, falling down on his back. The pain was unreal. He looked around and could see the demon, mere feet in front of him, his arm in its clutches. The water fairy! He had to get the water fairy! He reached around for the blue statue. As he pulled it out the demon slapped it away, letting it fall into the depths below.
"No!" Anon yelled
He felt weak. He was bleeding out fast. This was really it. This was really where he was going to die. His entire life flashed before his eyes. He was suddenly filled with a sense of peace. Clover was wrong. He closed his eyes and lay against the coffin. He felt happy. No more obligations. No more saving the world. No more magic. Just peace. His mind began to grow foggy. What was he even here in the first place for? It didn't matter. Surely someone more capable than he would rise to the challenge.
As his consciousness slowly receded he had one final thought. Sunset Shimmer. It hit him like a freight train. His eyes shot open. He was going to live! His body began to fill with emerald green light. His blood rose from the ground, coalescing and flowing into his arm. It quickly hardened into a brand new arm. He couldn't believe it. He did it. He preformed life magic. The demon took its staff and ran it through his stomach. It was strange. He felt no fear. No pain. He grabbed the staff and once again summoned the great light. The staff began to turn into a garden of plants and moss that creeped up the demon's arm. No matter how much it tried, it couldn't pull away. Anon got a look of determination, looking at it directly in the face with a glare.
"Disappear." he said
The demon struggled as the plant life slowly consumed it, eventually reducing it to dust. Anon pulled the staff from his stomach as though it were nothing, healing it in one fell swoop with his hand. This power felt incredible. His body was oozing with energy and life, he felt as though he could move mountains. If he could harness this power fully he could win. He knew he could.
As he got to his feet he noticed every spot his limbs touched grew with plant life. Life magic was overflowing within him, so much so he could hardly control it. But he had a job to do. He could admire his newfound powers later. He removed the coffin lid to find the coffin completely empty.
Outside the crypt, Anon's team were in dire straights. Flitter was the only one left standing. She'd cast a strong barrier around her fallen comrades, but she was tiring fast. Fending off opponents this strong wasn't easy, even for a mage as experienced as she was. Nightmare merely laughed, enjoying the spectacle.
"My, my. You seem to be getting a bit tired. I wonder how Clover's Successor is doing? You think he's even alive?"
"Of course he-" flittered said between her panting "Is. He won't... fail us."
Flim slammed his paw into the barrier again
"Strong one this girl." he said in a gnarled, beastly voice "Can I eat them when she finally fails?"
"Share with your brother." Nightmare said
Flam began to throw a volley of high speed punched at the barrier as well
"I can almost taste the blood from here."
Flitters arms began to shake from the strain. The color had drained from her face. She was fading fast.
"Anon." she pleaded "Please hurry."
Anon looked to wear the demon was when he entered. Maybe the blade really was down there. As he walked he noticed his senses were enhanced. Everything felt ten times as intense as it did previously. He didn't even need the torches to see anymore. It was like daylight. He ran to the other side of the bridge. Even his physical strength had improved. He was running at twice the speed he normally did. He came into another long hallway to find another room hidden behind a cast iron gate. He pushed it open and looked in awe. It was like a nature sanctuary. It was a long square room with a lake its center. There were flowers, trees and bushes along every wall of all different shapes and types. Animals frolicked freely along the boundaries.
At the far end of the pound was a deer looking straight at him. It was tall long lines of its fur glowed a bright green. In its mouth it held the sword wrapped in tarp, the same one from the memory. Anon slowly approached the pond.
"Excuse me, mr. deer. I'm going to need the sword. My friend is very sick and only that blade can cure her. I'm Clover the Clever's Successor if that means anything."
The deer looked at him quizzically. It put the sword down and stepped on it with its hoof to keep it in place.
"Your crest means little to me, human." it said in a stern masculine voice "Clover the Clever entrusted us with the sanctuary to keep the sword from human hands. We are bound by that oath."
"If you don't give it to me the whole world will be destroyed. Nightmare Moon has returned."
"And if you take the sword from this place our world will be destroyed sooner than that."
"What do you mean?"
"The magic this blade exudes is the only thing keeping out sanctuary alive. If it leaves this room all plant life will cease, with us following soon after."
"I can fix that. Look."
Anon put his hand on one of the trees, letting it grow twice it's size
"I've finally figured out life magic."
"Very amusing, human. But that won't be enough to sustain life here. As soon as you leave the magic you just used will fade as well."
Anon sat on the ground
"There must be a way for both of us to leave here happily."
One of the butterflies landed on his shoulder
"There is one way." it said in a squeaky child voice "You have a mana stone! If you fill that with your magic it will be able to sustain us for a while. But you'd have to return the sword at some point."
"Is that acceptable to you? I give you my word that I will return the sword once Nightmare Moon is slain. She'll be at full power in a month's time. So I'll return it to you by the end of that battle."
The deer stared at him a long while
"I am trusting you with my and all of our lives human. If you are indeed the one Clover chose to succeed her, I will treat your word as hers. Please do not betray that trust."
"I won't."
Anon took out the mana stone sunset gave him and began to thread magic into it. Within just a few seconds it was so full it nearly cracked.
"Here. It's completely full."
The deer took the sword in it's mouth and tossed it to him while an owl cam and snatched the stone from his palm
"Thank you. I promise you won't regret this. I'll return it as soon as I'm able."
Anon turned around before the deer shouted at him
"Wait!"
"Yes?"
"I can sense it. Your friends are in trouble, beset by forces far stronger than they. You'll need help."
Two bears emerged from behind the trees
"Please allow them to assist you."
"Thank you. I appreciate the trust."
Anon ran back out into the crypt, the bears in tow. They were back to the surface within minutes. Flitter was barely hanging on by a thread.
"Oh, Anon." she whispered "Thank god."
She fainted before another word. Nightmare Moon chuckled.
"Well, well, well." she laughed "Those are two faces I didn't think I'd ever see again. Just how long has it been Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger?"
"A few thousand years." the bear on the right said "Missed us much?"
"Not particularly. As you can see, I've made quite a few strides since I used you as guinea pigs. I even created a vampire soon after that."
"Allow us to return the favor." the bear said "Ready, Sky?"
"Ready, Vapor."
"Anon we'll take care of her too goons. You go ahead and fight Nightmare."
Anon slowly removed the cloth revealing a long claymore with a glowing yellow blade.
"As you wish."
Coloratura sat beside Bonbon. She'd been coming once each week. She knew she was unconscious but it just felt wrong to have no one by her side. It was a nice quiet place to study to boot. As Coloratura began to take notes on her textbook explaining intermediate hypnotism music, a large flash of golden light filled the room. She put the book down only to see Bonbon sit up, as healthy as the day she was born. She got tears in her eyes.
"He did it! He actually did it!"
Bonbon look confused
"What happened?"
"When you went in to save Anon at the lake you got an extreme case of mana sickness. Some sort of curse by the lake. Of course there was no way to cure you. So Anon, Lyra, and a few others went to retrieve Excalibur so he could use a wish to save you."
Bonbon look at her hands
"He what?" Bonbon said "That idiot! Lyra must have gotten into his head!"
"What do you mean?"
"If he was going to use something as powerful as a wish granted by Excalibur he should've used it to defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all, not save me!" she said angrily "How long have I been out?"
"A while. There's a lot you need to be caught up on."
Back in the other realm, Anon prepared for his fight with Nightmare. She looked down at him sternly. Anon slowly walked next to Flitter and placed his hand on her back. The group was bathed in green light and just like that, they were healed. Nightmare's eyes widened. She lifted her hand up and snapped her fingers.
"Flim. Flam. We're going."
"What!?" Flim said "But I was just about to eat them."
"Come with me or stay and die. I won't ask again."
"Oh no you don't!" Anon yelled, racing forward with sword in hand
As he swung the sword to meet her head, Nightmare took out her wand and stopped him dead in his tracks.
"As much as I'd love to fight you here and now, the time is not yet right. But don't worry," she chuckled "I won't leave you wanting."
Her lips met his and a sour taste filled his mouth
"You can thank me for my little parting gift during our next, and certainly last, encounter. Farewell for now."
A portal opened beside Nightmare Moon and both she and her henchmen followed through it. Once it closed, Anon fell to the ground, coughing and wheezing.
"What the hell did she do to me?"
Rarity put her hand on his shoulder
"We'll have to find out later. We just kicked the hornets nest."
Anon lifted up his head. The monsters were no trained up him and his group. And they were hungry.