Twilight threw herself at the siblings, followed by Orion. The pegasi in the hug wrapped their wings around the hug while Lilly stood awkwardly to the side. Seeing this, Twilight decided to open the hug to allow Lilly to join in and called her with a hoof motion. The group stayed in the hug for a few minutes before parting.
"My, my, Twilight, you haven't aged a day since I last saw you!...and...That was a thousand years ago." Pisces deadpanned.
"Oh...yes about that, I um...was stuck in someplace similar to limbo...or maybe I just time traveled...I don't really know."
"Well that just sounded like lazy writing..." Aries murmured underneath his breath.
"What?" Twilight asked him.
"What?" He repeated "...Oh yeah! Um...I would ask how you've been but I guess I kind off already know." He looked downcast before piping back up with a determined smile. "But we get to kick monster ass again-!"
Pisces used her wing to give her brother a quick slap. "What Aries meant to say was...you know how insensitive he can get, we're here for you and ready to fight alongside you once more!"
"Yeah! So let's get to it shall we? We can't just ait around while uuuh...Princess Luna continues to...you know." Aries smiled sheepishly and shrunk under the intensified glare Pisces shot him. "I should shut up now." He muttered.
"Actually, I was hoping we could use this airship to continue, I have to rest my wings...And my magic." Responded Twilight.
"Of course! You must be so tired! Come with me, I'll take care of you!"
"Thank you Pisces, but I don't-"
"Nonsense Twilight! I can't let you go tired like this, you too um...Miss?..."
"Lilly, you can just call me Lilly."
"Right, Lilly come with me and help me drag Twilight. Orion, would you mind telling Aries were we're going?'' Pisces asked while she and Lilly pushed a protesting Twilight to the door while a pirate mare opened the door.
"Sure thing, so 'lil A -" The door was shot behind them and Twilight didn't get to hear the rest of the phrase.
Pisces led them through the wooden halls lit by small light blue crystals for about five minutes before stopping before a medium sized door. She opened it to reveal a pretty modest spa, it had a bathtub to the right and a little waiting area to the left. Next to the tub was a shelve with a lot of flasks of what Twilight thought were bathing or healing supplies. The room was lit with a big orange crystal that hung from the centre of the roof.
Pisces led Twilight and Lilly to the couches and started filling it up wit warm water. "Do you want some tea?" She asked.
"That's a yes from me, how about you Lilly?" Twilight regarded her friend.
"Yes, I'd love some! If it isn't a problem."
"Of course not dear! Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine." She said as she searched through a cabinet for leaves.
"Do you mind if I have a look at your ingredients?" Lilly asked while she made her way towards the shelves. Her eyes skimming curiously around.
"Go ahead. I never really got around to understanding them, never was any good with herbs and such. I usually have one of my pirates to help me get what I need." Pisces curiously peeped her head up from behind the cabinet, the funny sight causing Twilight try and fight back a giggle.
"Well, I'm a herbalist. Not professionally...but my mother taught me everything she knew before I was banished from the town. And-" Lilly gasped "No way you have blue-rose petals?!" She gushed and opened the flask. "These are so rare! I've never seen one in my life! Just heard legends on them! My mom and I used to dream about being the first thestrals to ever manage to brew a potion with these!"
"Well then, keep them. Actually, feel free to grab any you want, I won't need them so it's ok. Who knows maybe you'll be able to achieve your dream"
Twilight's eyes widened as she felt a sudden gush of wind fly past her. She turned around in time to see Lilly tackling Pisces to the ground in a hug like an excited little filly.
"Oh thank you, thank you thaaaank yooouuuu!" She cried out causing Twilight to chuckle a bit at the scene. Lilly then leapt from there and onto the shelves examining the contents of each one and putting the once she found interesting in her saddle bags.
Three minutes later she was still going at it, ignoring the tea and the bemused looks she was getting from the other mares in the room. Then, Twilight noticed the tub was filled about half way and turned to point it out to Pisces who had yet to notice it.
"Pisces, I think the water is ready."
"Hmm, you're right, I'll turn it off." Pisces walked towards the tub to do just that and Twilight decide to go rouse Lilly from her daydreams.
"Lilly, the bath is ready. Let's go relax our wings for a while and then you can go back to raiding the shelves.''
Lilly's cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she huffed. "I haven't raided it! Besides if I hadn't gone though it I wouldn't have found this!" she said as she showed a flask containing a peculiar yellow powder.
"I-I-Ah...Pardon me Lilly but I can't help but feel that I'm supposed to know what that is." Twilight deadpanned.
"Figured you wouldn't know. But this powder is a mashed up manticore tooth.'' She said a matter of factly, although Twilight had to suppress a gag at the thought of a tooth being ripped out and mashed into powder. "Manticores-"
"Have a magical properties to their teeth that relax the muscles of their prey. That's how they manage to fight and eat very large and strong animals. One tooth of them has enough magic to sedate a pony." Pisces interrupted, seemingly catching on faster than Twilight.
"Exactly! And so, if mashed in a certain way, just a few scoops on a filled bathtub can help relax muscles a great deal."Lilly carefully took the cap of the flask and grabbed a small plate which she placed on the edge of the tub. Then she gently served a bit of the powder before letting it fall into the water which started to fizzle and pop. "We're going to have to wait a feeeew moments so it can finish dissolving-Ah! It's done."
Pisces and Lilly stepped in without hesitating but Twilight just stood there staring at the water.
"Princess, what's wrong?" Lilly asked in concern.
"Yes Twilight are you ok-OooooOh. Didn't you overcome your fear of teeth?" Pisces asked.
"Y-Yes...But it still irks me...And also, I'm not afraid of teeth that's just ridiculous I'm just...not comfortable with a single tooth laying around." Twilight took in a deep breath and stepped into the water and instantly felt her muscles relax. "Actually, this isn't that bad." She said and the three relaxed.
"Oh please Sanguine, tell me, how is this not that bad?" Nocte deadpanned. "We just lost sight of the Princess."
"Buuut we did see which way she went, North East!" She retorted.
"Oh yes, because she can't change direction when she wants."
After that, the conversation fell as the group of thestrals flew above the green hills near Canterhorn mountain. They left Nocte to sulk as they were about to pass Canterhorn, he caught a blur in the left corner of his eye. Reacting quickly he changed course towards the mountain to stalk the blur.
Upon a closer look Nocte made out the equine form of Nightmare Moon. He gulped, he didn't want to risk being seen by her, so he walked back into the mountain pushing his team along. He waited there for what felt like an eternity, his sweat tainting his dark blue coat, until she was out of sight. He gave a relieved sigh before looking back to his team.
"We'll follow her, she must know were the Princess is." He figure and opened his wings to do just that but a voice from behind stopped him and made him falter almost falling from the mountain.
"And how to you plan to do that, brother?" The voice was deep and almost predatory.
"Noctis?!'' He looked up behind his teammates to see another-and bigger- group of thestrals wearing armor looking down at them with amber eyes from on top a rock. Noctis, the leader was different from the rest, his eyes were blue but had an intimidating glow to them, his coat was blood red, his mane and tale were lavender and the thing that distinguished him the most was a big scar that ran down from above his left eye down to his jaw.
''That's Vice-Commander Noctis to you!'' Noctis boasted. "What are you doing here, Her Majesty prohibited you from putting a hoof on Canterhorn. She thinks you a failure of a Commander." He taunted.
"But she apparently thinks you to be Vice-Commander material?" Nocte scoffed "Please, if that were so she would've given you the Commander rank, like me. Who is the new Commander anyways?"
Noctis, as well as some of the thestrals visibly became madder. "Some sunpony unicorn that used to be a Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Guard. His name is Nightlash I believe."
"Surprising name for a sunpony but I, unlike you, trust Her Majesty's wishes. Now if you don't mind Vice-Commander Noctis, we'll be on our wa-" He started to walk away with his group only to be blocked by two wings being brought up by his brother's thestrals.
"No, no, no my der brother. I've got my orders, 'Don't let them near Canterhorn, if they do make sure Her Majesty doesn't see them ever again, at any means.' I can't simply let you go, brother."
"So what, now you're taking orders from a sunpony? We're brothers you wouldn't kill me, we're family, and family is sacred!"
"Yeah, yeah, you don't need to repeat what the Elders thought us. Listen, don't try to shame me out of killing you, we both know I never believed in that horseapples. Now," He flashed his golden hoof-claws at him. "How about we get you a similar scar."
Nocte turned to his group and gulped. "Guys...FLY!" He jumped over the two wings blocking him and shot up to the sky, followed by his group and his brother.
He felt a gush of wind behind, him and rolled to the side, moments later his brother tackled the air where he was. Then Nocte tackled him, pushing him aside and making him falter. Noctis recovered and went to slash at Nocte who barely blocked it with his own claws, Noctis kicked Nocte straight in the gut causing him to gape as the air got kicked out of him. He started falling while trying to regain his breath, he saw his brother flying down towards him to give the finishing blow when Willowshade tackled him aside before rescuing Nocte from falling to his death.
"C'mon Captain we need to go!" Nocte took a deep breath to regain some oxygen before flying off Willowshade's grab.
"Thanks Willow.'' He turned to look at his fleeing squad. "Let's go! Full speed ahead everypony!"
Twilight slowly opened her eyes when someone knocked on the bathroom's door. Pisces raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Hmm that's strange, we shouldn't arrive in Fillydelphia for another hour." She commented to Twilight and Lilly before turning to the door. "Yes, what is it?"
"Captain, it's me, Brightport. There's something you need to see." Came back the muffled reply from behind the door.
"Interesting...I'll go as well, just in case." Twilight added, being the first to get up. She took one of the towels that hung nearby and used it to dry the excess water of her mane and coat, even though they still remained a little soaked. She turned around to see Pisces doing the same, albeit more effectively. "Brightport," Twilight called out, getting a small 'yes your highness' response in return. "Where is this thing?"
"Well, we first saw it around five minutes ago before we turned and changed course towards Fillydelphia. The object has been following us for a while. Sir Orion and First Attendant Aries told me to get you."
'Huh, it may be serious.' Twilight thought. "Alright we're going." She turned to look at her friends, Pisces was looking at her while Lilly was placing the flasks she had chosen beforehoof into her saddle bags. "Lilly you coming?"
The thestral looked at her with a rushed smile. "Yeah, I'll catch up just need to finish fitting these in.''
"Alright, Lilly let's go!' Twilight opened te door with her magic allowing them to exit. They retraced their previous steps until they reached the bridge of the airship.
Twilight trotted towards the backside of the ship where she saw Aries and Orion. What was different is that Aries wore his moonsilver hoof-claws and the standard golden council chest piece albeit it expanded into a leather body suit with iron pads, while Orion had his bow at the ready, aimed at the floor next to him, with his gaze unwavering to the sky before them. Twilight could see the determination in their eyes but also, buried in their depts could see...regret? She shook her head to erase the idea before making her way next to them.
"What is it?" She asked.
Orion visibly winced and looked at her with a calculating gaze. "Um...How do I say this...W-Well you see-"
"An evil Princess Luna is flying our way with a murderous glare, and let's be honest she's probably fantasizing on how to kill us.'' Aries tried to hide the worry in his voice, though he failed miserably.
"Aries! Maybe you should me more gentle?" Orion asked rhetorically.
"Orion, It's no like she's a thousand and twenty something years old. She needs cold hard honesty." He defended his point. "Something you should really learn. Maybe it's time for you to tell h-"
"Aries!" Pisces called back, catching up to them after being delayed when she started giving orders to hopefully loose whatever it was that was following them. "What is it?" It was then they all noticed the appalled Twilight.
'M-Mom?!' Twilight could feel her legs shaking, mentally cursing her weakness. She went to voice her thoughts but found that there was a lump in her throat. A sudden sense of dread and guilt crept up her heart and-
Thump, Thump
That was knew for Twilight, she could hear her heartbeat thumping in her ear and it was...irritating.
"Twilig-...'' A voice called out but trailed off. "Twiligh-..." Again but now it was slightly louder. "TWILIGHT!" The mare in question jumped as she gaped for air she hadn't realize she lacked. It was now she realized that her friends, even Lilly were huddled up around her.
"W-What? Uh...Wait...M-M-...Nightmare Moon is h-here?! N-Now!?'' Her eyes darted to the equine form now closely trailing behind.
"Twilight are you ok?" Asked an extremely worried Aries. "It's not really like you to stutter. Specially before a foe."
"Aries, those foes weren't her mother, maybe be more kind?'' Pisces deadpanned.
"I'm so sorry Twilight I didn't mean to-''
"I-I need to prepare! S-She's too close! Stall for me I'll be back!" Twilight started to gallop towards the bathhouse where she had foolishly left her sword, tiara, and armor. Although she managed to hear Orion take control of the situation.
"Pisces, quick follow her! Aries, try to slow Nightmare Moon down, be careful not to hurt her. Lilly, take this." He handed her a mirror. "Reflect the moonlight onto Nightmare's eyes. I'll get a shield around the airship to protect it."
Twilight reached the bathhouse and she threw on her sword and saddle bags. Then she reached for her golden chest piece, it was now she noticed she was the only one who hadn't customized it. She then placed on her tiara with her Element of Harmony neatly perched on top it. She looked herself in the mirror and for a moment she could have sworn she saw cat-like eyes staring back at her.
"Twilight! Don't run off like that- and what are you staring at?'' Pisces approached the trembling mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, you may be a princess but you don't have to be a fortress around us. As your friends we'll be here, always. Talk to us."
Twilight felt a tear go down her cheek. ''Pisces, I can't do this. I've fought against countless foes but never something...Somepony close to me! H-How am I supposed to fight my mom? I just can't...Believe me I tried to fight her back at the castle but it was futile...I failed and now we're stuck in this mess because of ME!" She stomped the ground with one of her front hooves, the impact creating a crack on the polished wooden floor. "Sorry."
"Hey, it's ok. Sometimes a little force is needed to let out all the emotion." she said as she grabbed Twilight into a hug. "You know, I remember somepony telling something while I the mist of our snowball wars: 'You can't let the result of one battle dictate the result of your war.' It's time I return that same advice to you." Twilight felt herself returning the hug, feeling much better after telling her fears to Pisces. "You can't let your fear of the results prevent you from trying, you must always have hope, because in the end, that's the only thing that saves us from despair."
Pulling away from the hug, Twilight gave Pisces a grateful smile. "Thanks Pisces." She felt a small spark light up within her and saw a similar spark in Pisces eye. Soon enough Pisces' golden chest piece appeared as well as a rectangular war hammer and a familiar pink gem. "The Element of Kindness!" Twilight wondered at loud. Then the Element fused with the chest piece that put itself on around Pisces.
Pisces grabbed the hammer and her chest piece started glowing, slowly encasing her in a golden set of heavy armor. "Good to know the enchantments still work. Are you ready Twilight?"
Twilight smirked, rubbing of a tear with her hoof and looking at the huge orange crystal that served as the room's light source. "Not quite yet...do you mind if I take this?"
Pisces gave her just a quick worried glance before her expression softened. "Go for it.''
Orion was keeping the shield up, but he was increasingly struggling against Nightmare's magic blows. They had started shortly after Twilight and Pisces had gone under the deck and they hadn't stopped since.
Then Orion felt the magical surge he felt whenever somepony used crystal magic in his proximity. Knowing that the only one in the airship with such an ability was Twilight he tensed up more. He needed her to stop, his adoptive mother, Princess Luna, had asked him...More like begged him not to let her use the crystal magic she processed.
But as it seemed he couldn't keep his promise and Twilight was taking full advantage of that fact. He cursed under his breath as another beam hit his shield looking up just in time to see Aries sent flying into his shield. Luckily he managed to open up a small hole for him to pass through without getting hurt.
"Bring me as many unicorns as you can." Orion ordered him. After a quick salute he went into the captains cabin and the ship was filled with his voice.
"Attention all unicorns. Report to the stern of the ship as quickly as you can!'' The order was followed up with the sounds of hooves approaching.
"I need to refrain from casting the shield so-" Orion groaned as another beam hit the shield. "-So I'll need every capable unicorn to create another shield level under mine! Anypony who can't use your magic to power you comrade's spells!" The order was met with a unified salute and the unicorn pirates gathered magic to their horns as a shield of different hues was draped over the airship, following that, Orion let go of his spell letting the unicorns take the blows.
'Twilight, for both of your sakes I hope you know what you're doing'
"Alright Pisces, care to pass me my crown? Ooh! And another chunk, please." Twilight asked as she placed her front hooves on small chunks of the orange crystals. She channeled her magic through her horn and towards the crystal and it slowly began to crawl up her hoof, becoming hoof-guards.
The rest of her body was draped in crystal armor. Her original golden chest plate now had crystal extensions that reached her sides. There were to holes for her wings, which also had crystal plates on the main feathers expertly cut to allow full mobility.
"Sure thing Twi." Pisces then paused and looked at it. "Are you sure you want to...change it?"
"I won't 'change it' completely, I can always take the crystals off later using magic." She levitated the crown in front of her and cut small diamond shaped crystals from the chunk and stuck them to the sides. They slowly started to creep down the sides creating a crown like helmet that flow upwards where her jaw would be. "What do you think?"
Pisces narrowed her eyes as if inspecting it then smiled. "Looka great, now-" She was interrupted by a loud bang and the ship shaking making them falter.
"Well, let's get going before...Mom decides to destroy us." Twilight put on her crown/helmet and chuckled quietly Long live the Queen! She rolled her eyes at her thoughts and followed Pisces out onto the deck.
What she saw shocked her to say the least. Most of the unicorns were out cold, they had small puffs of dark blue smoke coming out of their whole bodies, one sniff confirmed to Twilight that it was dark magic. Orion was struggling to keep up a shield to protect himself from the same dark magic as the other unicorns. The pegasi were dodging and taking jabs at Nightmare Moon, the ones who were hit were rendered unconscious, while their comrades dove in to save them and threw them unto the deck. The earthponies grabbed the falling pegasi, some tried to tend to the others while some made repairs to the deck and sails.
Twilight drew her sword and galloped towards Orion. With one powerful cut, she cut the dark magic in half. She lit her horn and the magic was turned to a mulberry colored crystals, trapping it inside. She went and extended a hoof to Orion who had fallen on his flanks from the effort of holding a shield against dark magic for so long.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah." Then they looked back out to the battlefield. "Nightmare Moon is being distracted by the pegasi. The unicorns had begun a shield wall but it didn't last under her assault. I tried to stall until you got here."
"Thanks Orion" Twilight answered with a small smile and then pondered the battlefield again. "Get the ship back in order and to full speed." She addressed Pisces and Orion. ''I'll stall for as much time as I can."
"Are you mad?! Let at least one of us help you-" Orion tried but was interrupted by Twilight.
"No!" Then she grew mindful of her tone and continued in a much softer voice. "I won't let any of you get hurt. Don't worry about me, this time I don't plan to hold back." She said with finality, galloping and dramatically jumping overboard before flapping her wings and flying towards the Nightmare. Or, I hope I don't hold back... Twilight thought with a gulp.
Taking in a deep breath she ordered at the fast approaching pegasi. "Retreat to the ship!" Then she threw her blade at Nightmare Moon who barely dodged it. Aries and Lilly stopped next to her, hesitating, silently asking if they should follow the order, one reassuring look from Twilight was all that it took to get them hurrying back to the ship.
Twilight dove in after her sword and grabbed it with telekinetic grab before pulling, hoping to meet at the half way point. She looked up in time to see Nightmare descending on her with her own blade. Twilight rolled to the side while bringing her sword up in time to parry Nightmare's.
"Well look who it is! The traitor of a princess. And in crystal armor no less, why, Luna would be soo proud!" Nightmare Moon mocked, going in for another slash.
"Does it really surprise you to see yourself?" Twilight retorted, creating a shield to block the incoming blade and bringing down her own to throw it to the side before causing her shield to 'explode' in a wave of pure mana, pushing the Nightmare back. "Oh, where are my manners! Thank you so much! It didn't take much work to get it done, only a few crystal chunks."
Nightmare shot a beam of pure energy at Twilight, which she dodged with a loopie-loop in the air. "I learned this trick from your Commander." Twilight commented before blasting Nightmare Moon to the ground. In response, Nightmare created a shield to stop the beam, and with a powerful flap of her wings dove out of the way.
Nightmare turned to a cloud of smoke and dashed towards Twilight, it re-formed itself before unlashing another beam. Twilight, teleported behind Nightmare Moon and stabbed her left with her sword. Nightmare let out a wale similar to that of a wounded Timberwolf and then growled.
Sorry Mom! Twilight winced at the thought of that being her mother's body she just stabbed but a sharp pain on her unexposed fore-hooves shot her back to reality. She looked to see Nightmare Moon's blade cut a medium sized gash on her coat, the dark red blood staining her lavender coat. Twilight brought up her sword and parried Nightmare's blade away before it could do more damage.
They both flew backwards, creating a big gap between both of them. That was a mistake on your part. Twilight mused as she suddenly seemed to stand on the air, levitating her sword above her head so that the tip was facing the sky she mentally chanted.
'Oh stars of the heavens, heed my call
Come and help me achieve my goals!
Come forth my starbeasts Canines!
So that this threat ends tonight!'
Once she finished, her eyes glowed white and so did her sword. Soon enough if one looked closely at the sky, they could make out two dog like figures running to earth from the sky at great speeds. Twilight shot another beam at Nightmare Moon to gain her attention once more. Nightmare ducked as the beam barely scrapped her and retaliated with one of her own. Twilight moved to the right in time but the gash on her fore hoof made the mouvement a pain.
She snapped her wings close and dove towards the ground followed by an angry Nightmare. When she was sure that Nightmare was right on her tail and the ground close she opened her wings and copied the move she had seen the thestrals that were chasing her use. She propelled herself upward and loopie-looped on top of Nightmare, using her momentum and strength to push her against the ground with a crash.
The wolves arrived next to her in that moment. They were big, Twilight came up to their knees, they were translucent, one pink and another purple, both with sparkling coats and a big white stars on their foreheads. The pink on put his paw on Nightmare, trapping her beneath it so Twilight could move away.
Twilight walked around to face Nightmare, panting from the battle. "Why are you here?" She asked her.
Nightmare glared up ahead, lighting her horn with magic ready to blast them away but Twilight took control of it and dispelled any spell. "Do you really think that's going to stop ME?" Nightmare spat. "You insult me daughter."
"Humor me." Twilight glared back. "Wouldn't you want to lull me into a false sense of security? Now, humor me again. Why are you here?"
Nightmare huffed. "Well I came to take care of those pirates you helped. But also supervise a certain job in Fillydelphia." She smirked evilly.
Twilight felt panic creeping up her. "What job?" She asked struggling to keep her voice composed.
"Hmm...Is this fear I see daughter dearest?" She taunted.
"Answer the question!'' Twilight glared down at her stomping th ground with her hoof, flinching when it turned out to be her injured hoof. Nightmare just glared up at her without saying anything. "You're stalling." The realization hit Twilight like a bag of bricks.
"Yes, and I believe-" Nightmare shattered Twilight's control off her magic causing the latter to be pushed back gaping at the wild magic power. "-that I must get going, since let's face it, you won't get there in time. Oooh by the way! I think my acquaintance will love to say hi to Andromeda for you." Then she summoned a dome of mana and let it expand outward, pushing Twilight into a tree and dissolving the wolves into stardust which ascended back to the skies. The pulse of the wave nocked down the surrounding trees with powerful cracks. Nightmare looked down at Twilight with an arrogant smirk.
"You won't get away with this." Twilight managed to spit out between gasps, trying to get air back in her lungs.
"So cliche!" Nightmare rolled her eyes at Twilight before flying away.
Twilight couldn't really make out much from her spot against the tree, only the dark indigo of the night sky. Then there was a flash of teal light from where the airship was supposed to be. Twilight gasped and she found the strength to get up and fly.
Nearing the ship, she saw the whole crew walking toward her friends menacingly in trance-like motions with neon teal smoke coming out of their eyes. Twilight flapped her wings faster when she saw the unicorns flash their horns and her friends fell unconscious to the deck. Twilight narrowed her eyes and readied herself for her stunt.
When she was in a good position above the deckline she made a final flap and pushed herself down, opening her wings to glide. She lit her horn just in time and pushed the crew back before she touched deck, she then used her magic to grab her friends and levitate them behind her. Once her front hooves touched the wooden surface of the deck her wings shot upwards and she kicked up with her back hooves, doing a fly-by.
She breathed sigh of relief when she saw her friend's chests gently rising and falling to their breathing. She slowly found her wings were starting to grow incredibly tired so she just glided down to the hills, softly landing and beginning to gallop towards Fillydelphia.
She sighed tiredly ''This is literally and figuratively going to be a looooooong night."