Chapter Six
Castle of Dawn Ruins
Grand Hall
Luna, Nightmare Moon, the fallen royal, now stood before us, weapon in hand. It was a sword of darkness- with smaller blades jutting out from the sides, and unnecessarily large. It was a formidable weapon, but hung passively at her side. She didn’t come off as angry or displeased, but she blocked the doorway clearly enough.
“So, you made it this far...” She said, sounding almost tired. “I’m impressed. However, I’m afraid I still can’t let you stand in my way. The Queen must fall.”
I was almost able to speak before Twilight burst in with a response. “We won’t be deterred. We’ll stop you here, and protect the Queen!”
She sighed. “Is that how you all feel?” Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie nodded after some hesitation. Applejack waited, seeming a bit conflicted.
“Ah, if I could ask something...” I said, stepping forward. “What exactly is it you plan to do? After removing the Queen, of course.”
“I have no such plans. I only know she must not be allowed to continue this madness.” She responded. Now if I can just...
“I don’t care! I will not allow you to even attempt an overthrow again!” Twilight exclaimed, once again ruining what I had going. “You will be stopped.”
Luna seemed almost disappointed at this. “Fine. If you’d rather die here than see a better world, I’ll be happy to oblige you.” She brought her sword to bear before her, then dashed forward towards the group. Dammit, Twilight! I thought, dropping the stone sphere and dodging away from the enemy, who flew past and landed near the other exit. She dashed over to the group, swinging in wide and wicked fast arcs, making dodging difficult.
I could see that I had lost my chance for diplomacy, and acted accordingly. I launched myself towards her, swinging my sword from behind. She blocked effortlessly, and we became locked in and endless series of swings-and-blocks, neither ever able to land a single hit. The others tried to attack at the same time, but she was able to block them in between. Her next attack came quicker than I could track it, and I was only able to provide a mediocre block, launched backward in the process.
I collided with a wall, and my vision swam for some time before I was able to pull myself to my feet again. Pinkie had attacked as well, using the same strange technique as before, matching each of Luna’s attacks and even managing to land a hit or two. However, so was Luna. She jumped back, flew forward, and delivered a strike so powerful Pinkie flew to the opposite wall, ramming it at full speed and falling unconscious.
Across the hall, I could see Fluttershy, trying to make an escape, possibly to find backup, possibly simply to avoid getting killed. I wasn’t about to stop her- she couldn’t fight anyway, and she’d be safer elsewhere. Unfortunately, Luna spun around, seeming to have known the whole time, and launched a ball of darkness her way. It hit her square in the chest, and she fell to the ground, out cold.
We have to get out of this. Our team is falling to pieces, and there’s no way we can beat her like this... Applejack jumped into the air while Luna’s back was turned, reaving through her armor with her axe. Luna turned and made short work of her, hitting her with the blunt edge of her weapon and launching her as well.
I blasted forward, flailing my weapon wildly at her. She continued to block, but I was gaining ground. She began to back up, having to act more quickly to parry my strikes. Soon I nearly had her against the wall. She jumped back, kicked off against the wall, and corkscrewed towards me. I attempted to block, but she changed direction when she was nearly upon me, hit me full force without barrier, and I fell.
She moved on to deal with Twilight, and while I tried to move, my wounds had accumulated for too long, and I found I could scarcely drag myself along at this point. Darkness swam at the edges of my vision, and the last thing I could make out clearly before I passed out from the pain was a large fireball, and Luna’s sword holding it back.
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Twilight’s most trusted spell, ArcFire, collected into a huge sphere, and as she brought her arms down, it flew towards Nightmare Moon full force. She brought up her blade to catch it, but even she had difficulty containing it. Wisps of fire licked at her sword, and flares illuminated her ashen armor. It brightened and exploded satisfyingly, sending the fallen royal reeling to the other side of the room.
She’s not experienced with magic, it seems. If we can get her weakened this way... Twilight thought. She looked around, looking for others who were still conscious. Rarity stood off to the side, gripping her rapier, panting and weakened. Their eyes met, and they nodded.
The two jumped together, and both began casting a spell, focusing the two in one point. ElThunder and Shine- an overpowering light, crackling with energy, began forming between them. It began to take shape, flattening and sharpening, and soon it resembled a giant, heavenly disc.
With a grunt from both, the spell shot forward, blindingly bright and ready to explode with pent-up power. Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but see it barreling towards her, and dodged out of the way just enough to avoid the brunt of the blast. It hit the corner of the castle, blasting the wall to pieces and sending a parapet crashing down in the center of the hall. Shrapnel from the castle and shockwaves from the spell buffeted the ebon armor, but when it rose, it blasted from its places among the rubble and simply swatted Rarity aside, causing her to collapse off to the side. Unconscious, or too battered to move, she now left Twilight to face Luna alone.
Neither slowed, neither backed down. Twilight launched spell after spell her way, alternating between thunder and fire with no discernible pattern, while they were all blocked or dodged. None possessed the power behind the last two, and they no longer fazed Nightmare Moon, who had grown impatient with the resilience of the party.
She cast a powerful dark spell on her own weapon, which now seemed to not only dwarf, but absorb the very light around it. She brought it down with both hands, and Twilight could do naught but fall back and raise her arms to soften the blow. She closed her eyes...
The sword collided with metal, and the darkness within darted away to various corners of the ruin. She opened her eyes, and saw, standing over her with spear dug into the earth, Pinkie. Blood from above covered her face, darkening her hair with its stain, but still she stood strong, teeth barred viciously. It transformed into a sarcastic grin, and she backflipped, grabbing Twilight’s arm and dashing for the exit.
As Luna attempted to stop them, a darkened figure dashed forward between them. It had the exact shape of Pinkie, and brandished a spear equally black, though made no noise, remained expressionless, and remained between Luna and the exit.
Pinkie continued to run, moving past all the remains of the city, and when they reached the bridge, she moved to the side and jumped. Twilight, who’s wounds had caught up with her, could find no energy to scream, and merely closed her eyes again and waited for the end. The two free-fell for a time, then abruptly collided with water.
They surfaced, and Pinkie dragged Twilight to shore. She looked around, taking stock of the new situation from the ground. At the bottom of the canyon, it seemed, was a river, and to the side there was a small gravelly shore. Pinkie returned to the waterfront from a bit further away, dragging behind her a shabby raft of driftwood.
She set it down and looked out thoughtfully. From above, a wispy shadow fell, disappearing as it reached Pinkie. “She’ll have to keep the others alive for now, but she won’t be able to follow us yet. We’ll need to take the river back to town if we’re gonna have any chance.”
Twilight sat up, shaking her head. “Pinkie, what are you talking about? What even happened back there, and how do you know this will lead back? And how did you know this was here to begin with?”
“I used to escape here when I was little, and the raft was kind of a way for me to pass the time hanging out here. I didn’t realize it was the same place when we passed it, but when I passed out, I saw it in a vision- the two locations lined up, and I knew we’d be alright if we jumped. As for what happened... I can’t say. I’ve always been almost a different person when things heat up, like that battle in the clearing, and... I don’t know, maybe there’s more to it. It was almost like that second person and I separated for a minute, and it covered us while we escaped.”
Twilight looked a bit skeptical at this. “I won’t even pretend I understand it myself. I always just trust my gut on things like that, and it always gets me through. Anyway, Luna’ll probably want to destroy the elements, but she won’t be able to unless they’re all there at once. And as it stands...” She reached into her pack, pulling forth one of the spheres, the one engraved with the yin-yang. “They aren’t. And unless she keeps the others as a bargaining chip, she knows she’ll never get this one back. Now we need to head for home, and get backup. No offense, but Dash was right- we were way undermanned.”
The two dragged the raft into the water, climbed aboard, and floated down the stream in silence.