Moonlight was standing in front of the girls, menacingly. Earlier, like Grogar and the other villains, he kept a close eye on the fight between Sunny and the heroes. When the fight began, Tirek and Sombra were excited while Chrysalis was jubilating. Tirek couldn’t hold his joy when Applejack got taken down, remembering too well his humiliating fight. Her fight against Rarity had Sombra on his nerves, but smiled when Sunny turned the tide on her favor. When he saw Sunset and Twilight power-up into their most powerful form, Moonlight got a bad feeling.
“This is over for her” said Moonlight. “There’s no way Sunny can defeat both of them...Let me jump in!!”
But after he said those words, he saw Sunny swallow a red shiny gem. Grogar and him recognized the Philosopher’s stone.
“What?!” asked Moonlight. “How did she get it?!!”
“That gem was under your watch, Moonlight!” said Grogar, trying not to get angry.
“I don’t understand...” said Moonlight. “It was with me at all time, how could it got into her hands?”
“It doesn’t matter” said Grogar. “There is a spell that can remove the gem from her body, but you have to do it before she dies...”
“Me?” asked Moonlight. “I’m not sure if i can!”
“You can” answered Grogar. “I think it’s time i reveal the truth about your abilities and powers. You were born with the unique ability to use any type of magic and cast any spell you want. I made you believe you had Umbrum and Windigo blood, but that’s not true. You just naturally learned to use their magic.”
“Any magic, you said?” asked Moonlight. “Like, i could use even the all-powerful Chaos magic?”
“Yes” answered Grogar. “But you need to acquire it from a Draconequus first.”
“However” said Discord. “I must warn you about the side effect of our magic on non-draconequus creatures.”
“Tell me” said Moonlight.
“Very well” said Discord. “First, if you’re compatible with it, there is no danger for you to wield Chaos magic. This is as long as you don’t use it. However, when you do use it, be warned: You’re gonna, quite literally, become braindead if you use it faster than your body and mind can recover from it. "
“How much is too much?” asked Moonlight.
“It depend on the level of reality warping you’re using” answered Discord. “If you use it on a minor scale and only occasionally, it should take many decades to destroy yourself.”
“In this logic” said Moonlight “If i use it to warp reality on an Universal/Dimensional, or on Multiversal level at most, how long would it take to destroy me?”
“On an dimensional/universal level? You only have for a few minutes” answered Discord. “Multiversal? You only have for a few seconds before you get erased from existence...”
“Good to know” said Moonlight. “Anyway, Grogar, what’s the spell to remove the stone?”
Grogar gave him a magic book.
“Page 56” he said. “You can keep the book”
He also gave him the Alicorn Amulet.
“Why?” asked Moonlight.
“You’ll need it for your fight against those girls” answered Grogar. “The Alicorn Amulet will greatly boost the power of all your spells. Combined with your ability to wield any type of magic and thus, cast any spell, you’ll be almost unstoppable. You should go now, the gem will soon kill Sunny...”
Moonlight opened a portal and disappeared through it and reappeared not far from the girls’ location. There, he waited until Sunny fell toward the ground and grabbed her middair, leading to this exact moment. He was about to teach them a lesson they would not forget.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about him” said Sunset.
Moonlight started the fight by using his ice magic, mixed with Windigo magic and amplified tenfold by the Alicorn Amulet, to turn the area into a frozen wasteland.
“You’ll understand very soon” said Moonlight. “Twin Ice Dragons!!”
Two serpentine dragons made of white ice appeared from the icy ground. They were each almost 30 meters long and turning around Moonlight. This one sent both attacking the girl at the same time. Rarity diced one with her cutting disks and Applejack shattered the other into pieces with one punch.
“Not even impressed” said Applejack.
Moonlight smiled, and Rarity understood why when the ice dragons reassembled themselves.
“How?” asked Fluttershy.
“Living Ice Magic” Answered Moonlight.
“I’ve heard of it” said Sunset. “This is a forbidden magic...Because it require the users to infuse their own vital energy to give life to their ice creations.”
“I see you’ve done research” said Moonlight. “But my form of Living Ice magic has no flaw. Why? Because i’m the one who perfected it.”
“How?” asked Twilight.
“By mixing it with Windigo magic, of course!!” answered Moonlight. “And it just so happen that i can use Windigo magic as well!!”
“No way” said Sunset. “That magic is unique and proper to the Windigos”
“True, but there is a reason” answered Moonlight. “I was born with the unique ability to wield and use any and every type of magic!!”
Sunset looked at her geode
“Yes, even that magic” said Moonlight. “But i would need to wield the Elements of Harmony to use their magic.”
“It doesn’t explain why you can use Windigo magic!” said Sunset. “A form of magic proper to the Windigos themselves!!”
“You’re right” said Moonlight. “To use a form of magic proper to a race of creature, like the Windigos, for example, i have to steal it from said race of creature. It’s as simple as that!!”
“So, you stole the magic of a Windigo?” asked Sunset.
“And made it my own” answered Moonlight.
“So...if you stole the magic of a Draconequus...” said Sunset. “You should theorically be able to use...Chaos magic...”
“That’s right, darling” said Moonlight. “But there is a downside to use a magic unique to one species. Using Windigo magic too much or for too long slowly freeze my body.”
“What would be the side effects of using Chaos magic?” asked Fluttershy, curious.
“Well, i would literally lose my mind, sweetheart” answered Moonlight, with a grin. “However, wearing the Alicorn Amulet protect me from any downsides. Up to a certain point, since the Amulet corrupt the judgement of the wearer over time. I will be honest with you, i never go on the offensive, never, but i’m making an exception this time...”
Moonlight added a dozen of ice golem to the battlefield. Although they were easy to destroy, the ice creations would always rebuild themselves.
“Attacking us non-stop, that’s your plan?” asked Sunset, who was getting tired of smashing the ice creations again and again.
“Like i said earlier” said Moonlight. “I don’t usually fight like that, but i want you to suffer for what you did to my sister!!”
“You’re the one who begged us to stop her rampage!!” said Twilight.
“True, but what kind of brother would i be if i just let what you did to her unpunished?!!!” said Moonlight.
Rainbow Dash had been able to get pass the ice monsters and punched Moonlight in the face at high speed, repetively. Moonlight instinctively went to grab her necklace, but ended up grabbing her right boob by accident. Moonlight looked at Rainbow Dash, who was confused and blushing and realized he was touching her breast. An awkward silence that lasted many seconds took place.
“No doubt, you’re clearly the athletic type...” he said. “My favorite type of girls, by the way...I like them fla...”
Applejack got mad and punched Moonlight so hard he flew hundred of meters back. Rainbow Dash was still confused by what Moonlight just said to her.
“Are you alright?” asked Applejack to her friend.
She came back to her senses and looked at Applejack.
“Of course” she said. “Wait, were’s my necklace!!”
“Aw crap...” said Applejack.
Moonlight suddenly grabbed her by the leg and dragged her in the snow at superspeed, going back and forth. She didn’t let herself be at his mercy for long, though. She slammed the icy ground with her fist, causing a small earthquake that made Moonlight lose balance. She got up and grabbed him. Holding him firmly, she took the necklace back from him and threw it to Rainbow Dash. Moonlight turned into a shadow mist and got free from Applejack’s grip.
“What the?” she asked.
Pissed off, Moonlight took his physical form back and sucker punched her in the stomach. As she was going to it him again, he once again turned into a shadow mist.
“That magic!!” said Rarity. “It’s the same magic that Sombra used!!”
“So, he also got his hand of the magic of an Umbrum!!” said Sunset.
“Playtime is over!!” shouted Moonlight.
The ice started turning black, like Sombra’s shadow crystals. Moonlight called back his ice creatures and took his physical form back.
“I present you another version of my ice magic!!” he said, smiling like a madman. “I call it Black Ice!! It combine Umbrum magic and ice magic!! And...There’s more!!”
Moonlight created magic copies of the girls. They were made of a black-colored ice similar in texture to Sombra’s shadow crystals.
“You combined Living Ice to your Black Ice?” asked Sunset.
“That’s right!!” he answered. “Living Black Ice magic!!”
“Be careful, girls!!” said Twilight. “His Black Ice must have the same properties than Sombra’s magic!!”
Moonlight sent his ice soldiers attack the girls. Applejack went to punch her ice clone, who blocked it with it’s arms. The clone was knocked back but hold still. Applejack looked at her fist and saw it was covered of black crystals. She didn’t mind though, since she was wearing gloves, having learned from her fight against Sombra.
“And we know how to defend against it!!” said Applejack, throwing her corrupted glove away.
Everyone were fighting their clones. Sunset told her friends to lend her their magic so she could transform. They gathered close to Rarity, who made a dome to keep the clones at bay. Without wasting time, they shared their magic with Sunset, who powered up into her Daydream form. Sunset then vaporized the clones one after another and all the corruption in a large area. Moonlight knew he needed to step up his game and open a fancy looking magic grimoire.
“Chrono Stasis!!!” shouted Moonlight.
Immediately, time stopped for everyone on the planet and in the Universe, Except Moonlight, who casted the spell and Discord, Cosmos and Sunset Shimmer, who were not affected. He was rather disappointed to see her not affected.
“Let me guess” said Sunset. “You stopped time so you could steal our necklaces and use their magic against us. Luckily for us, i was not affected by your spell.”
“It was my plan, indeed” said Moonlight. “But it would have been too easy if it worked.”
He unfroze time and looked in the book for another spell. He found an interesting one and casted it. A dozen of clones of himself appeared to his side and using another spell, casted a barrier around himself. Sunset made quick work of them with a couple magic beams.
“Just give up” said Sunset. “You can’t match me, even with the Alicorn Amulet.”
She blasted the barrier with a beam, but her attack got absorbed.
“You were saying?” asked Moonlight. “Don’t underestimate me!!!”
He created a magic Black Hole between him and the girls. Protected by his barrier, Moonlight wasn’t being pulled in, but the heroes were. Quick-witted, Sunset used her magic to shut down the Black Hole. Moonlight made another one, much bigger, that Sunset shutted down as well, albeit with more difficulty.
“You’ll eventually get out of energy” said Moonlight. “I won’t as long as i have this on my neck.”
”He’s right” thought Sunset. ”Countering his spells is draining my magic fast”
Twilight joined her after turning into Midnight Sparkle. Sunset felt her magic being replenished.
“We won’t let you run out of magic!!” said Rainbow Dash.
Sunset thanked them. Moonlight knew his chances of winning were thin against the two of them.
”I should retreat” he thought. ”But i have to avenge Sunny...There must be a spell that would power me up!!”
Moonlight looked in the spellbook for a transformation spell but found none that would help him. Then, he looked for a summoning spell. One of them would summon the Grim Reaper, who would make a deal with the one who summoned him. In exchange for unlimited stamina, immortality and very powerful soul/necromantic powers, Moonlight would have to do work for her, over the course of a thousand years, during which he would be bound to her by a contract. The last thing about that deal was that once the contract would be completed, Death would reap his soul personally. As he was going to summon Death, he had a moment of hesitation. He wanted to make the girls pay for what they did to his sister, but he remembered he was mostly to blame for it. Also, he realized he was about to do exactly what his sister did earlier, which made him think further about doing it. Then he decided it was better to just give up, so Moonlight closed his grimoire, and removed the Alicorn Amulet from his neck to put it in it’s box. He let out a loud sigh and undid the barrier protecting him.
“I’m smart enough to know when i should quit” he said to the girls. “I’m the one who put her through this, all because i didn’t have the will to subdue her myself.”
Sunset went back to her normal form, followed by Twilight. Moonlight opened a portal with a portal key and waved his hand at Rainbow Dash.
“See yah!” he said.
Then he left, leaving the girls alone. He was welcomed by a disappointed Grogar at his arrival.
“I know, i disobeyed...” said Moonlight. “I was just furious about those girls for forcing Sunny do use such a radical method. But then, Sunset revealed me something that made me mad at Cosmos: She’s the one who gave Sunny the Philosopher’s stone, when she asked for it mentally. Sunset was able to hear her say that. Upon learning that, i got even more angry, but this time, at myself for allowing this to happen in the first place. All that anger was too much and i needed to vent it on someone, and the Alicorn Amulet didn’t really helped at all. I was even about to make a deal with Death at some point, to take them down...But...then i remembered i caused that to happen by bringing her to Canterlot in the first place. I also realized that Cosmos would have never got her paws on the Philosopher’s stone if i had done my job perfectly. I just realized i was about to do something stupid for something i was the only responsible of and reason took over my anger”
Grogar was about to leave.
“Sunny is at the infirmary” he said.
Then he left. Moonlight headed for the infirmary immediately. When he entered, he instinctively moved to the left, to avoid being hit by a projectile. But Sunny was too depressed to even get mad at anyone.
“Why are you still at the infirmary?” asked Moonlight. “Couldn’t Discord just heal you with a finger snap?”
“Grogar ordered him and everyone else not to” she answered. “I could kill myself and ressurect 5 seconds later, good as new, but...”
“But what?” asked Moonlight.
“I can’t anymore” Answered Sunny. “I think it’s time i told you what Grogar revealed about myself.”