//------------------------------// // Night Falls // Story: The Darkest Hour // by Anemptyshell //------------------------------// A die to be cast, in lo of life, a chance to live, a chance to die. Not I a poet, not but frozen to see what the world has been and what the world can be. A gentle push in a land anew, At what cost will they, and what can they do? Stakes are made, so stand no fence. Up is down, and what is sense? A spark and shadows a duel in the twilight, dawn anew, or endless midnight. As expected, there she was, as clear and unambiguous as any nigh-unstoppable tyrants with the power to control the heavens above could be. Nightmare Moon sat atop her throne. She lazily slapped away a stray smoke trail from one of the nearby candelabras. She was smiling, the same toothy grin I'd seen often in my meetings with her. A shark among guppies, she bit and gnashed at the slightest inconvenience. She barely noted the doors swinging wide. The throneroom was barren, not a servant or guard to be seen. I found it hard to look directly at Nightmare, the mere sight of her sending every instinctual cry for retreat possible.  "So this is what became of Luna, a delinquent farce of a monster. A lie one tells herself to seem a fraction as fierce as one wishes you were. Pitiful to think once upon a time, I saw you as a respectable ruler. A shame, truly." Sombra was off. He'd not so much as flinched. He marched in as if he owned the place. The rest of us were left stunned by his words. The Nightmare had taken note as well. She looked at Sombra and laughed. A maniacal cackle that seemed to rock her in place.  "So, the infamous King of the north wishes to throw stones. Was it not I and my foolish sister who you tossed you from time itself? If memory serves, you were hardly the pinnacle of kindness and peace. Yet you dare look down on me?" "I do." A moment of silence. Neither ruler blinked. Neither relented, to begin with. Two immovable objects, a compromise was never an option, not that anyone present would have considered such a choice.  "You even returned my wayward servants. How generous, oh King of Crystal." Sabre stepped forward. You could see his knees nearly buckle as he pulled himself from the deep seeded dread that the rest of us shared. The King smirked as the Element of Loyalty refused to submit. "We are no servants of yours." Sabre's voice only quivered once. But he did not retreat. Instead, with courage and against all common sense, Sabre joined Sombra.  "Silly little guard. I can smell your fear, little pony. Do you believe you're brave? You are as weak now as you ever were." Nightmare loomed forward on her throne and glared down at Sabre. I went to move forward to join my friends. It seemed I was a second too late. As another set of echoed hoof steps pierced the silence. "You truly have lost all sense, haven't you? First, you send my cousin to chase us to the ends of Equis. Then you claim to know our hearts. I doubt you know even yours anymore, parasite." Blueblood said.  His Voice carried well in the long chamber. He'd barely spoken above conversational volume, yet there was no chance he was unheard. He calmly, if shakily, strode forward and stood beside Sabre, who relaxed if only a bit in response.  "The solar recluse wishes to play hero as well? You did best hiding in your little workshop. If you'd just hidden away, I'd had no need to end you. That time has sadly passed. You will all suffer for your arrogance." "Arrogance, you're kidding, right? Even if you're not, you're a bad joke all the same. A beast wearing a crown is still a beast all the same." Spade was off. He took guard opposite Sabre's place beside Sombra. He clopped forward, a dry smile on his lips. He met Nightmare's gaze with his own reserved stare. "Who dares?" Nightmare asked.  "We do. Haven't you been paying attention?" Bright Pitch asked. He sidled up beside Spade, wings flared as he smiled at his former ruler. "Know your place Thestral. You belong to me. As you have since your conception. This game of pretend ends tonight." It seemed with each pony to oppose her, the more Nightmare's mood fell. She was no longer grinning. No, now she hissed and sneered like a captured predator. All fang, with no power to frighten any but the frail and dumb.  "That is not how ruling works. Nobody belongs to you, as nobody belongs to My Queen. We serve because we adore the Mother of our Hive. A Hive that accepts anyone who wishes to live free. You are nothing but a monster, playing pretend. A liar, a fake." I think Nightmare Moon was less surprised than the rest of our party was. Even Sombra seemed taken aback by Thorax's declaration. The ordinarily timid Changeling looked no more like a Captain of his Hive than he did at that moment. He stood tall, unblinking, fangs bared. I was the last to move. Though I was hardly needed. Six lights glowed, casting away the shadows and fear. Nightmare Moon could feel it, too, the changing tides.  "So it seems my visions were true. A set of supposed saviors. Ones who believed they could wield the Elements of Harmony. If you believe you can usurp my throne, then, by all means, come and take it. Cast your power forth and summon the waiting Elements. Don't be shy." Nightmare Moon now stood, a shadow cast over the hall and left none free of her darkness. I could feel it in the back of my mind. A sudden urge. A simple impulse. I couldn't tell why, but the longer I focused on it, the stronger it grew. I stepped to the side and let the shadows consume me.  "I'm waiting." Nightmare said.  The others looked to Sombra. His horn glowed as he reached out into the world around him. The aura of his horn expanded, then, as suddenly as the light had started, it sparked and died. The others blinked and looked around.  "Oh, is that all? Perhaps you were not as chosen as you thought." Nightmare said with a furious beat of her wings. Her grin was back as she stepped from her dais. "What's wrong?" Bright asked. "It seems we've missed something," Blue whispered.  "Wait, where's Star?" Thorax asked.  Sabre looked behind himself and found that where I'd been was now distinctly lacking one to turn back to.  "Where?" Sabre asked.  "Do you yield little foals? Do you see now this whole affair was a testament to redundancy? A battle of attrition, I was always destined to win." Nightmare's horn glowed. The beacon of bright blue energy crackled and hissed in the air. Everyone's attention returned to the queen. Sombra growled and pulled a barrier forth. Nightmare barely noticed. A single bolt of mana struck Sombra's wall. The wall shuttered but held. Nightmare hmphed and fired a second bolt, then a third. With each, the wall shook and rattled, pulsed, and blinked. Sombra's horn flared as he poured more and more energy into his shield. Blueblood also cursed and ran his lesser power into the protective spell.  "Pitiful children, the only fakes here are the six of you lowly insects. Now bow!" "I bow to none," Sombra said through gritted teeth. Even with Blueblood's help, his shield was barely holding. While Nightmare hardly seemed aware of the spells she was casting. She was too busy smugly declaring her victory.  Sombra pushed forward with his magic inch by inch, and the shield slid across the masonry. He leered up at his foe. Thorax added his meager magic to the barrier following Blueblood's lead. The other less magically endowed followed the three spellcasters, never giving an inch. They stood side by side with the struggling trio. A unified front, even if the Elements hadn't been drawn from wherever they were hidden.  "We're not giving up," Sabre shouted.  "You haven't won yet," Bright said.  Nightmare scoffed and waved a hoof in their general direction.  "The delusional battle cry of the dead. You are not the first to oppose us." "That's the difference, though. Some oppose, and we defy. That's the very reason you stayed tucked away in your palace. You'd have no need to hide if we weren't a threat." Blueblood spat. A trickle of blood ran down his nose. If he noticed, he made no show of it. The others weren't much better. Thorax wasn't a strong mage to start, and Sombra was a master of his craft, but he was still a unicorn taking on an Alicorn. The difference was not imagined. But the three did not stop. Inch by inch, they pushed on.  "And soon, your defiance will give way to regret and agony as you die by my hoof. I am the very Night itself. As the sky above, my rule will be eternal." Light flashed behind Nightmare Moon as she laughed. A laugh that could be heard across the castle ground and deeper into the Everfree itself. All but forgotten, I couldn't help but smile right alongside her. The impulse ticked away in the back of my head. Every second drew me closer to my goal. It was a matter of seconds, and my whole body buzzed with unkempt tension.  I could almost hear the Voice. They edged me on. They laughed and brushed aside Nightmare's design like a fire to the page. It would burn away her power, her smug condescension. It would leave nothing behind. The shadows had all but consumed my vision. That left only the dark and the Nightmare.  The shield cracked lines, spindling out as Nightmare increased the volume of her spells. The bolts became a beam as it pushed and sparked against Sombra's barrier. Sombra foamed at the mouth as everything begins to give. Sabre pressed himself to Sombra's side, halting the King's slow pace backward.  "Give no ground," Sabre said as Spade and Bright assisted Thorax and Blueblood. Even with the six pressing against, Nightmare's spell, the shield was shattering faster than energy could be added to repair it.  "It's over!"  Nightmare raised herself to her back hooves and delivered a heavy stomp. The room shook beneath her might. No sooner had she spoken than the shield dissipated, and the six stallions were thrown about the floor, dazed and confused.  "Not yet," Sabre said shakily, rising to his hooves.  "You poor, sad, little colt. Let us put you to rest." Nightmare's horn bloomed. The spell fired but never reached its mark. Instead, between Nightmare Moon and her prey. I stood, and my entire body hummed with the vibrations of the spell that slammed into my chest. I couldn't feel the impact, but the sudden lurch of my body foretold a direct blow. Then there was the blood. I hacked up a wad of dark ichor that painted a darker contrast to the dull blueish grey of the stone.  The room was silent. One by one, as the others came to, they noted my slouched form. Then they noticed the blood. My vision swam, and my heart pounded in my ears. I felt cold, my fur stood on end, and the whole world danced beneath my hooves.  I looked up as best I could. There were a dozen slipping-and-sliding Nightmares to look at, but I did my best. I grinned like mad, my fangs glistening in strings of yet unshed blood. Nightmare looked to me, then past me at the still-standing and unmarred Sabre.  "My my, a touching sacrifice. If ultimately pointless." I chuckled, then giggled, then laughed. I threw back my head, and for all I had, I laughed. I didn't see Nightmare's reaction, Sabre's, or anyone else's. My muzzle to the sky, my body shook as blood and spittle flew from my maw.  "How sad, the poor thing has gone mad from fright and blood loss," Nightmare Moon tsked and aimed her horn once more at me.  I shook my head as my laughter calmed. As Ngithmare prepared her Coup de grâce. "You don't get it, do you?" Nightmare's brow rose, but her spell continued to charge. "Get what, the ramblings of a dying stallion? "A spark, just a spark." Nightmare's spell fired, and everything went white.  I expected pain or to be blown off my hooves. I even wondered if my life would flash before my eyes. Or, maybe the shadows would consume me. The Voice could always have been God or Death or something. They said we might meet. But, none of the above. I could barely stand. My body was racked with shakes. I could still hear my heart pounding. When the light faded, I was staring up at Her Royalness Nightmare Moon. She wasn't smiling anymore. She was frowning, frowning as hard as she could, so hard that she'd bit her lip with one of her fangs. I'm surprised I didn't do that more often. It must be a size thing.  The next thing I noticed was something standing ahead and to the side of me. That and the tinted glow that separated Nightmare Moon and me. I took to a coughing fit as I tried to focus on the body to my side.  "Sombra?" I asked.  Sombra didn't look back. He didn't need to. The fury on his face was frightful even from my side of things. The aura that his horn emitted was so thick that his horn itself was unseen. I shook my head. The impulse was gone, at least. I bet the Voice did that, somehow.  "How dare you," Sombra said between grit teeth. Now, if only he bit himself, we'd all have red fangs. I tried to laugh, only to fall into another coughing fit. Sombra wasn't looking at Nightmare Moon anymore. I gulped. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was? This was not your fight. How dare you think you can just die on me." I blinked. "Huh?" Sombra's eyes began to glow. It wasn't the red and greens from when we met. The light was a hypnotic white. As if the sclera had consumed the rest of the eye and then turned on the night light. I held up a hoof to block the light.  "No!" Nightmare yelled.  Sombra paid her no mind as she fired spell after spell as Sombra's shield. "Did you think any of us would just let you die? Did you believe you mattered so little?" "I—" "Reckless." Sabre said from behind us. "Unthinkable," Blueblood added.    "Clueless," Spade said.  "Stupid," Bright cheered.  "Selfish," Thorax finished.  "Why won't you just die!" Nightmare roared. She'd begun stomping, yelling, and firing spells indiscriminately in all directions. The room shook, the windows exploded outward, and rock and mortar crumbled away.  "Once more." Sombra stood tall. The light that had overtaken his eyes spread and exploded around us. Sombra began to float slowly. He rose, and as I tried to follow, I noted the others doing the same. The six were pulled toward each other. Six lights shining as one.  "No! No! No!." Nightmare's laments were lost to the scene before me.  One by one, each stallion found an armor piece, with a gem in its center form around their chests. The jewels took various shapes, each distinctly their own. The look of awe on the others was amusing. Everyone but Sombra, who was trying his best to look fierce. This was it, wasn't it? This was them, the Elements of Harmony. This is where it all led. the trails of blood that speckled my face mixed with tears. I don't remember crying, but the tears came all the same. The warm trickle down my muzzle made me smile all the harder.     "Woah." It was all I could manage. Then there was light, a lot of light. The world was consumed by a rainbow of energy. It twisted high into the rafters. A warm ray of power, as gentle as a breeze and as boundless as the seas. It overflowed with emotions and left me with a joy I could not relay in words alone. I simply knew it, and it knew me.  Then it started to burn. My entire body convulsed. I gagged and sputtered. I would have screamed if my mouth wasn't busy ejecting a putrid stream of dark slime. The shadows were pulled along with it. I never felt myself fall. Even as the shadows flew free from every orifice they could. All of it directed out from a hole Nightmare had made in the ceiling. When the light faded, and the shadows disappeared, I felt something inside break. Then everything went dark.  A voice to lead through means unknown, a wink and whisper from a distant stone. To save a life, to save one more, Harmony doth cry and opened a door. Night doth wane, but a bard I am not. Order restored through the machinations of… "What a show, Little Star."