Nightmare Moon and I had defeated Princess Celestia and the Mane Six, but before we could finalize our victory they had managed to escape. I learned that our victory had been coincidence, as the blast that took out Twilight could have hit me instead.
"Wha-bwa--
"I could have been killed!"
"Yes, that was a distinct possibility. Now cease thy prattling, I must ascertain where my sister has gone to."
Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, then lit her horn. I watched her for several moments, then realized she wasn't going to apologize for nearly killing me. I let out a sigh, then decided to guard her like I always did when she was busy. I watched for Secret Service Agents or anyone else that was stupid enough to interrupt my Queen, but I didn’t see anyone. I thought about putting up a shield just in case, but I didn't want to accidentally interfere with Nighty's magical scan. But the only things that moved were the leaves on the trees in the breeze.
"Ah sister, thou hast gotten careless in thine old age."
"Hmm?"
"I have found her. Quickly, to the air!"
The ebony mare launched herself into the sky, and I immediately followed. We zoomed over the White House lawn to the south, then soared over the park across the street. My Queen's callous behavior worried me, so as we approached the Washington Monument I pulled up to her right side. The gleeful grin on her muzzle didn't make me feel any better. But as I watched, her grin turned into a frown.
"What is it?"
"Mine sister is charging a spell of some sort, and I am uncertain as to its purpose. Nor if we shall be able to prevent her from casting it."
"Well, let's distract her. Maybe bombard her with rocks before we land?"
"Yessss. She is my sister, after all."
Huh?
Ah. Nighty can't attack and defend at the same time, so maybe Celestia will have the same problem. If we both attack her, she may drop whatever spell she's casting.
I could finally feel the tingle of a large spell being cast, so I knew that Celestia had to be close by. The Night Mare and I passed over some fancy buildings, rocketed over a river then sailed over a golf course. An instant later, I spied Celestia and the Bearers. They were standing in an empty field south of the golf course. The field was on the point of a peninsula; the waters of the Potomac River flowed around the field. The water line was lined with trees, which enclosed the grassy field and gave it a measure of privacy from anyone boating on the river. A cursory glance did not reveal any humans or cars nearby, but there was one small and empty road that curved past the field.
The ponies were clustered together in the middle of that field, which was a big mistake. Nightmare Moon and I could attack them all at the same time! I pulled magic to my hands, and let loose with a volley of magically-created boulders. I didn't even throw the rocks from my hands, I propelled them forward as fast as I could in my best imitation of a machine gun. But just before our attacks landed, a golden shield appeared to protect the ponies beneath it. The boulders hit and made a loud booming noise as they shattered on impact.
I drifted off to my right so that Nighty and I could attack from two different angles. When we were close enough, we stopped attacking and merely followed the boulders down to the ground. I landed hard on the grassy surface, one fist and knee in the sod anime-style. The turf all around had been torn up by the broken rocks that had exploded over Celestia's golden shield. The shield itself had taken quite a beating. Its glow was pulsing slightly, in a way that meant that the shield was weak and ready to crack. I stood up and resumed tossing boulders at the shield, in hopes of weakening it further. Nightmare Moon and I were focused on one goal: to distract Celestia and mess up her spell. If that didn't work, we wanted to break the shield and get inside before Celestia was done.
If our attacks had messed up Celestia's concentration, I couldn't see it. Celestia and the Bearers were right in front of me, standing behind the aforementioned shield. Celestia herself was pouring a large stream of golden magic into Twilight. Twilight was channeling that magic, and was sending a lot of lavender magic into the four other Bearers. If I had to guess, it looked like Celestia was providing the power and Twilight was controlling it. The Bearers themselves looked healthy, strong and clean; unlike the mess I had left them in. Rainbow Dash glanced over in my direction, then stuck her tongue out at me. That caused the other three to look over. Applejack and Rarity both frowned, while Pinkie smiled and waved a hoof. Twilight’s eyes were closed, and her face was creased in concentration. If she knew Nightmare Moon and I were there, she showed no sign. My attention was dragged back to the shield, which had finally begun to fragment. A spiderweb of cracks quickly spread all over the magical surface. This was a pattern I knew by heart: the shield was about to shatter, and nothing could stop that.
"NOW, TWILIGHT!"
A bright purple light exploded from inside the shield! The explosion demolished the magical dome, and flung sharp shards outward like an exploding grenade! I would have been impaled by those shards if I hadn't put up my own shield in time. When my eyes cleared a few seconds later, only Celestia remained. Nightmare Moon was standing on the other side of Celestia, opposite of me. I dropped my shield, and the golden shards stuck in it fell to the ground.
"What foolishness is this, sister? You knowest thou cannot escape me!"
"Not foolishness, sister--
While Nightmare Moon distracted Celestia, I tried a sneak attack on the Solar Goddess. My blast of paralyzing lightning arched all over the sun-kissed mare! But she simply absorbed the blast as if it were nothing. The snow-white mare turned to me and frowned, then returned her attention to her sister.
"Strategy. By the time you find us, we shall be ready for you. Goodbye."
In a flash of magic, Celestia disappeared. All that was left was a perfect circle of unmolested grass, and a bunch of torn-up grass and rocks surrounding it.
"CURSE YOU, SISTER!!!"
Nightmare Moon and I ran towards each other and met in the middle of the circle.
"Please, pray tell me that thou sawest something that can help us find them!"
"Uh, maybe. I saw that Celestia was channeling magic into Twilight, the bearer of Magic. And Twilight was sending that magic into the other Bearers."
"Truly? Why...
"Could it be?"
"What?"
"Hush, I must ascertain something."
The Mare in the Moon lit her horn, and fell silent for several moments.
"Aha! I know your tricks, sister!"
"What did you find?"
"An old spell, one that my sister's alchemists invented during my war with her. My spies managed to steal its secrets not long before my banishment, and I presume that my sister is still unaware of its theft. The caster creates a special teleportation spell, one that not only transports a pony but also sends a magical 'node' to the same destination. This node can then be used to send more ponies or items to the same location, or make it a simple task to retrieve the pony teleported at a later date."
"But I thought you said that teleporting over long distances was incredibly difficult?"
"Yes, and it is. But this spell was designed to overcome such an issue. With this spell, only the first teleportation is difficult. The magical node then places itself in a static orbit over the teleportation destination. So all a pony needs to do is use the node to teleport ponies or items to the same location.
"As I understand it, the marker computes the mathematics for the teleportation automatically. A pony merely needs to magically 'touch' the node, tells it what or whom to teleport, then feeds in enough magic. The node itself does the calculations and the actual teleportation.
"Ah yes, before I forget. Your paralyzing spell on Celestia was inspired. Alas, my sister is highly resistant to lightning attacks as you have discovered."
"Uh, thanks. Too bad it didn't work."
“Quite.
"It is clear to me that my sister's plan is to disperse the Elements and their current Bearers to parts unknown. We would then waste precious time tracking them down. With these magical nodes, she could have kept us flying all over the globe until she was ready to face us in battle. By that time, we would be exhausted and much easier to defeat. If we choose to ignore them, she would then gain the time to prepare and confront us at her leisure.
"However, I can easily track down the Bearers with these nodes. If all goes well, we shall have the Elements of Harmony in our hooves by nightfall!"
"Okay. Then what?"
"Is it not obvious?! We shall use the Elements to defeat my sister and her underlings!"
"Um, from what I remember the Elements are a purifying force and not a weapon."
"Art thou disaGREEING WITH ME?!"
"No need to shout. And no--"
"THOU SHALT OBEY ME!"
"Oh, so I'm just a minion now? All that stuff about being your adviser and your Captain was just a lie?!"
"Ah...er-- Rrr!
"Rrrrr.....
"Canst thou...trust my...JUDGEMENT...in this MATTER?"
"Yes, yes I can.
"But!
"Am I your minion, or your Captain?"
"Thou arrrrt...
"rrrrRrRrRrRrr....
"My...Captain.
"My Captain.
"As you have always been.
"I...thank thee, Captain. Ever since my Sister revealed herself, I have been experiencing difficulty with my self-control. If thou had not confronted me just now, I fear that my blood lust would have eventually consumed me."
"That's why I'm here with you. To help you stay on the right track."
I darted in to give the Night Mare a quick peck on the lips, and pretended not to notice the deep blush that stole across her cheeks.
"I will always be here for you, my Queen of the Night."
Nightmare Moon wore a wan smile on her muzzle as I spoke, but it quickly faded to a slight frown.
"Queen of the Damned, mayhaps."
"Nah, she's a crazy vampire from a completely different story. But that's not important right now. Don't we have some Elements to capture?"
"Hm? Ah, yes. Yes! I shall send thee forthwith!"
The Mare in the Moon lit her horn and began to study the remnants of Celestia and Twilight's spell.
"Now, let me see. Ah, there is one. Hm...the others are proving to be more elusive.
"I shall send you to this one location, while I attempt to locate the others. When you have retrieved the Element, return to the point you arrived at then signal me via the gem in your armor. I shall return you to this place once again. Art thou ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
"Excellent! I bid thee good hunting!"
The ebony mare blasted me with her magic spell, and I found myself tumbling through a tunnel of swirling colors. I couldn't decide if it looked more like a Star Wars hyperspace tunnel or a trip through time and space in the Tardis, but before I could decide on either one it was over. I was standing on a dirt road, with a field of green grass on either side of me. The grass waved lightly as a gentle wind blew by. I could see buildings off in the distance that made me think that I was on an old farm. Somewhere.
Where the heck am I?!