In the Everfree Forest, 2 hours later….
Fluttershy POV:
She and her friends were walking down the trail leading up to the castle. Fluttershy made sure to stay close to the group as they traveled through the Everfree Forest. While she was afraid of the dark, she was mostly afraid of Nightmare Moon, who captured Princess Celestia and announced that Nighttime will last forever.
She shuddered as she remembered the moment, but her new friend Twilight Sparkle knew of a way to defeat her. However it was located within the abandoned castle within this forest.
She knew of this castle but followed Twilight through this trail as she didn't remember the trail she used to get over there herself. Back then, she was mainly focused on meeting who she now knew as Arthur and Queen Night Star.
Arthur and Queen Night Star….
Her eyes widen as she remembered that Queen Night Star and Arthur lived at the same castle. If Nightmare Moon was lurking in this forest like Steven Magnet had told them a while back, then both of them could be in trouble!
Her panicked look seemed to have given her away as Rainbow Dash looked at her in worry.
“You ok there Shy?”, Rainbow Dash asked. The others stopped walking as they heard her question and looked back at Fluttershy with worried looks.”If you’re scared we cou-“
“N-no!”, She squeaked, before blushing at her outburst. “Sorry…..it’s just that I’m worried about my friends in the castle….”
The group perked up hearing about this as they looked curious as to what she meant by that.
“What do you mean Fluttershy? Is there anypony living in the castle?”, Twilight asked, looking the most interested in the group.
“W-well it’s not a pony….”, Fluttershy replied.
“Is it one of ya’ critter friends?”, Applejack asked. Fluttershy thought for a moment before she shook her head again.
“Then what is it darling?”, Rarity asked. The others looked greatly intersected as to what she could have possibly befriended.
“W-well his name is Arthur.”, She told them, as she thought of a way to answer without telling them he’s an alien. She didn’t want to lie but she didn’t want Arthur to be feared. So she came up with a way to see him in a new light. “He’s from a very far away place but got lost so he is staying at the castle with another friend called Queen Night Star until he can find a way home. He asked me for help some time ago so I promised I would help him.”
Her friends looked sympathetic to his problem, as rarity spoke up.
"That's such a travisty! Nopony should be separated from their home!", Spoke Rarity, allowing the others speak their minds as well.
“I agree Rarity! Maybe after we defeat Nightmare Moon I could ask Princess Celestia to help him.”, Twilight offered.
“Well Ah could have him stay in our barn, It’s better than a broken castle. Though he’d have’ta work like everypony else.”, Applejack provided.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ll make a super-duper fun party for him as a welcome to Ponyville and help him not feel homesick!”, Pinkie Pie replied happily.
“I’ll show him my cool tricks to give him the best entertainment while he’s here! Bet he'll feel better after seeing some Wonderbolt material moves!”, Rainbow Dash replied smiling.
“And don’t forget about me darling! I’ll always be there to help him when he needs a good designer and has a fashion problem!”, Rarity piped up.
Fluttershy smiled as she looked at her friends in gratitude. “Thank you, all of you! I’m sure he’ll be super happy when he hears this.”
Her friends smiled as they cheered up. With renounced moral, Twilight spoke up, “Not to worry Fluttershy, now come on! We have an Alicorn to stop first!”
The girls nodded with determination set in their eyes as they continued their trek towards the castle. Now they had two reasons to be there now.
Meanwhile, in Arthur’s room….
Arthur POV:
I looked at the crystal shards I had collected from the ground. I had dropped them earlier in my fight with Nightmare Moon after I destroyed the crystal. They looked familiar, yet I do not know from where. It was hard to focus when the moon princess was still out there. Queen Night Star doubled patrols around the castle to find any evidence of her return back at the castle, but as of yet there have been no sightings. I’ve been placed as the first one to be notified of any sightings, as I’m the best chance to defeat her at her weakened form.
I look back down at the shards. Somehow they gave her more power, yet how? I sighed as I placed the shards into a drawer as I looked at the ceiling. If only I was quicker……Now we have to hope for the best.
I hear a shout as I rush outside my room. A guard comes scrambling towards me as I bent down to listen to him. He was gasping for air as he repeated what he shouted.
”She’s……She’s returned, but ponies have come too!”
My eyes widen in fear. Why are ponies here now?! It is too dangerous for them to be here! I calm myself as I make a plan in my head. I look at the guard and nod as I point towards the other end of the hallway to signify to tell the others. He nods as he continues his rush to tell the other guards, pacing himself in the process. I rush forward the other way as to reach these ponies before she gets to them first. My plan was to either scare them away if they mean harm or get them to go away through less scarier means. I hear chatter off towards the outside as I get closer to the front gate. One is all too familiar though.
’Fluttershy?! What is she doing here?!’, I thought to myself.
I watch through the closest window as to confirm her presence as I see 6 ponies cross the old bridge, with a purple pony with a satchel in the lead. I fly down through an opening in the ceiling as I land softly on the grassy ground in front of them. I made myself known as I let out a large BUZZ to get them to freeze. Almost all freeze exactly as planned as they see the sight of me. Almost all have varied signs of fear, but Fluttershy smiles as she trots forward.
“Flutter’s what are you doing?!”,The Rainbow haired Pegasus whispered loudly, being the closest one to her.
“What ghastly beast!”,The white unicorn yelled, stepping back as she saw me.
“What in tarnation?! What in Celestia’s plot is that?!”, The orange hatted pony shouted.
I frown (metaphorically) as I hear their comments. I look towards the purple one leading them as she looks the most afraid, however the pink one just seemed surprised. Fluttershy passes by them as the purple one tries to call her back, but to no avail.
Fluttershy looks up at me as she smiles. ”Hello Arthur!”
“THATS ARTHUR?!”, The purple pony shouts. All of them looked shocked as they hear my name.
I have a quizzical look at Fluttershy as she blushed and looked away. “I may have told them about you and your predicament…..sorry.”
I pat her on the head as I make a buzzing sound to show her it’s ok, and that she is forgiven. It was to be expected for her to do such a thing. She smiles as she moves her head to look at the others.”Don’t worry, he’s very friendly. Why don’t you all introduce yourselves to him?”
The others seemed to have gotten rid of their shock as they wander closer to me in newfound awe.
“That’s Arthur? Woah, he’s really big! My name’s Pinkie Pie! Could you lift a tree?! What’s your favorite color?! What is your favorite treat?!”, The pink one named Pinkie Pie questioned as she jumps around me. I had a hard time keeping up with her as the others start to introduce themselves.
“Dreadfully sorry for calling you a beast, darling. My name is Rarity, happy to make your acquaintance.”, The white unicorn now known as Rarity formally apologized.
“Howdy part’ner! Mighty sorry about the way I treated you, name’s Applejack!”, The now named Applejack told me as she smiled.
“Names Rainbow Dash! Fastest flier ever, and future Wonderbolt!”, Rainbow Dash said as she flew up and did a pose. Applejack gave her a look as Rainbow Dash replied with a 'What?', before landing back down on the grass once more.
"And my name is Twilight Sparkle. It's very nice to meet you Mr. Arthur.", Twilight Sparkle told me happily.
I nod to them all as I buzzed happily. They were confused as to why I didn’t respond before Fluttershy told them. “He can’t speak our language. However, he can write. Twilight, do you have any paper and ink he can borrow?”
“Couldn’t you tell us what he said, Flutters?”, Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy shook her head as she frowned a bit. ”I can’t understand him either. I tried one time but it’s like he’s speaking gibberish to me.”
Most of them looked shocked as they hear this revelation.
“That’s like the biggest shocking shocker ever!”, Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
“It was a pretty big shock for me too. His friend told me of his problem when we first met.”,Fluttershy told them, before her eyes widen in fear as she turned back to me. “Oh dear, I almost forgot! Is your friend ok? How about yourself?”
I looked at her for a moment before looking at Twilight and held my hand out for her to pass me some paper and some ink, so that I may explain myself. Twilight shook out of her previous shock and blushed in embarrassment. She apologized and handed me the paper from her satchel with her magic.
I nod to her in thanks as I grab them with my hands. I noticed for a moment of how interested Twilight was on how I grabbed them before focusing on what I needed to tell them.
It is wonderful to meet you all, as I've heard of most of you during my last pleasant conversation with Fluttershy. However this meeting couldn't have come at a worse timing. Queen Night Star and I are fine, however being known as Nightmare Moon still lurks around this castle, and is very dangerous. I had managed to fight her off and weakened her, but she can still be a threat. I would advise you all to turn around and LEAVE before you could be harmed.
They all read the paper I had written and shown to them as they all show varying signs of shock and surprise. Twilight Sparkle however, looked the most surprised.
"Y-you managed to fight off Nightmare Moon!?", She asked in shock as I nodded once more.
"Dude that's so awesome.....", I hear Rainbow Dash tell herself, getting an elbow to the ribs by Applejack in the process as I turn to face them.
"B-but we can't leave! We need to get the Elements of Harmony inside this castle to defeat her and free Princess Celestia!", Twilight shouts as she looks up to me, with a pleading look in her eyes.
I looked confused as to what she meant by “Elements of harmony”, and signalled her to explain.
"Oh! Sorry, you must have not known about them, but the Elements of Harmony are a collection of Artifacts that can defeat Nightmare Moon, like how they once did in the past. If we can get them, we could defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all!", Explained Twilight.
'If what she says is true, then it could possibly remove her corruption!', I thought to myself. I was essentially picking at straws here since for all I knew it could directly harm Nightmare Moon in the process, but any chance of removing the corruption quickly is something to take. I debated for a bit before I wrote out a quick message on the back of the paper as I showed it to them afterwards.
Fine, but on one condition. You all must stay by my side at all times. While I may not know what you are all capable of, I know all of you cannot fight her as of now. I’ll be beside you all to fight her if necessary. Is that understood?
Rainbow Dash frowns as she looks like she’s about to talk back but held her tongue once I looked at her. The others all nod as I hand the items back to Twilight. She thanks me before placing the items back in her satchel. I signal them to follow me as we go towards the front doors.
We all enter through the front entrance of the castle, and I quickly notice that there is no guards around. Was the message not delivered yet? Twilight led us to where she thought they may be located as we followed. It was silent as we walked, not even a single guard in any area that I looked. I began to feel as if we are being watched, as the others looked like they felt the same. Fluttershy stayed close to me as she looked the most afraid.
Soon we made it to a room that I have never seen before in my stay at the castle. To be frank, I never had spent any time to explore the castle further in the first place, so this was not surprising to say the least.
Anyways, there laid 5 gems on the floor ahead of us, left there as if someone had gathered them up in one spot. It was obviously a trap, I mean who could fall for that? Before I could even stop the others from moving forward, Twilight rushed to grab them. I buzzed loudly to stop her but she ignored me and grabbed them with her magic.
"Look girls!", Twilight said as she lifted the six up with her magic to show them to us. "Here they are! We can finally defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all with these in our hooves!"
Before anyone could react, a circle of purple fire surrounded her and the gems as they grew brighter with each second, until we all had to cover our eyes. As quickly as the light shown, it soon faded away as I looked back to Twilight's location, only to find her missing.
'Damn it! I knew it was a fuck'n trap! Now she's most likely in danger!', I thought. I looked down towards the other girls as I see them have a similar thought process, and soon started to panic.
"Oh no! Twilight's missing! What are we going to do!?", Shouted Pinkie Pie as she held her head with her hooves.
I raised my hands to calm them down as Rainbow Dash shouted out an idea.
"She's gotta be around here somewhere! C'mon, let's did her quickly before that jerk Nightmare Moon hurts her!" , She explained before she rushed out the room with a sudden burst of speed, with all the others following her as I tried to prevent them from going, yet to no avail.
I sighed to myself as I rubbed the upper half of my face. They truly make it hard to follow the rules I stated. I rush to follow them as they head deeper into the castle.
Nightmare Moon POV:
It had taken much of her remaining power to set up that trap, but now she had the brat in front of her. She had to separate them as they didn’t fall for any of her obstacles she made or created. It was even harder with the fact that returning to the castle had been a battle within itself. Those Star Spiders had been nothing but pests in her path, but she prevailed, having captured the pony she was looking for. The one that identified her at the “Summer Sun Celebration.” She hated that infernal name, another cover-up by her sister. But now she had a chance to return the favor on her “student”. She growled as Twilight stood up from the teleport, confused and afraid. She then spoke up from the shadows.
"So the Princess' student wishes to defeat me? You can do nothing of the sorts! I will reign supreme!", She spoke in a menacing tone, while keeping her voice lowered. She knew that the elements were useless in their current state. When she picked them out of their hiding spot that Celestia placed them in, they had no magic at all. She smiled as she looked at the reaction of her sister’s student. She may not know that yet, but a lesson will do good.
"Nightmare Moon! Your reign of darkness ends here!",yelled Twilight as she halted her movement to glare at the yellow cat-like eyes that glowed in the shadows. They pierced through the darkness as Nightmare Moon chuckled.
Twilight grabbed the elements off the ground as she held them in her magic in a circle. Yet when she did so, nothing occured. Twilight grew confused and panicked as she tried again and again, yet to no avail. She quickly noticed that there was only five in her magic as fear crawled in her skin.
Nightmare Moon relished the fear that emitted from the pony as she looked back at her with a mocking eye.
“Thy said our reign of darkness ends here, did you not? So what is the matter? Feline caught thy tongue?”,She replied with a chuckle.
Twilight shuddered as more fear poured out from her and fueled Nightmare Moon. She walked closer as Twilight stepped back. Each step she took, the pony before her stepped back in fear as she dropped the elements. She dropped her smile as she angrily stepped forward once more, showing how she felt about such reaction.
"Thy thinks one such as yourself could ever defeat me!? A pathetic welp with no power to one such as us!? The Elements are nothing! NOTHING!", She yelled, as she stomped forward, crushing the elements with her might as they shattered in her newfound anger.
"No!",Twilight yelled back as she saw her only hope crushed beneath her hooves.
”THE NIGHT SHALL LAST ETERNAL!”, She screamed in her Royal voice as she let go of her lasting anger. She knew she had won, there was nothing to stop her now. She panted slightly as she watched Twilight collapse sobbing quietly as she gave up.
She smiled to herself, this is what she wanted. A win. To show the world that she isn’t the little sister everyone can push aside and not care for. But why is it starting to feel bad?
Before she could reason with herself, she heard hooves of many others arriving, including the thudding gallop of another larger being. ’Faust Damn it! We led them right to our location! They must be her allies…..but who is making those loud ste-Oh no….’, She thought fearfully to herself.
Just as expected, the other five she had tried to separate had arrived at the front of the doorway, as well as one large bug. They gasped at the display of the situation, but mainly focused on their ally Twilight. However the larger figure behind them was more focused on her, as his glare made Nightmare Moon shudder slightly in fear.
‘WHAT?! THE BEAST TEAMED UP WITH THEM?! THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!’,Nightmare Moon mentally screamed. Her fear wasn’t noticed by the group but that didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that she was severely underpowered here.
“There you are! And there’s Nightmare Moon! Arthur sic’ her!”, The rainbow haired one yelled as she pointed to the Dark Alicorn. The yellow one seemed to glare slightly at the rainbow one before she worried more about her friend.
The beast seemed to furrow its brows more before complying and rushing to her with its fist ready to contact with her face.So she replied with the only way she could. Fighting back.
”THY SHALL NEVER DEFEAT ME!”, She yelled as she shot a blast at the beast, at least to move away from its incoming barrage of attacks. She wanted to make it seem that she had more power than she truly had, as she hoped it would make it back down. Who was she kidding? This was one of the fabled beasts of old! They never backed down.
The Buzzwole took the hit in stride as it continued to chase and attempt to attack her at every chance. Meanwhile the remaining group went to comfort Twilight.
Nightmare Moon tried to escape yet every time she came close to turning into her shadow form again the beast would get closer to hitting her, causing her to back off and strike back. She knew she was losing this battle, as her magic was depleting rapidly, no thanks to the damned crystal. It gave her power, but sucked up her own. Now she can do nothing but dodge until she can no longer do such.
General POV:
By this time the group had gathered themselves and watched the fight unfold. The unbridled rage of their ally shocked them, but they smiled knowing he was there to protect them. Nightmare Moon was losing, yet they had no way to stop her fully. Suddenly the sounds of a massive horde of insects was heard as Star Spiders of different sizes burst through the entranceway as the rushed into battle. Queen Night Star had arrived with reinforcements to keep her Mistress down.
All of them were shocked by the massive horde as many of them shuddered with disgust at the spiders. Fluttershy however, was glad to see another friend helping them.
“Something tells me that’s your other friend, was it not?”, asked Twilight.
Fluttershy nodded as she blushed in embarrassment. The girls laughed as they watched Nightmare Moon get overwhelmed by the attack employed by both Queen Night Star and Arthur. Twilight thought back at her friends and her actions as she came to a conclusion.
“It doesn’t matter how strong one can be, if we work together, then we can do anything! ”, Twilight spoke. As she continued to speak each of the shattered Elements glowed as they rosed from the ground and surrounded them with a multitude of colors. She continued to speak as each separate Element went to each figure that she believed they represented. Applejack for her Honesty. Fluttershy for her Kindness. Pinkie Pie for her Laughter. Rarity for her Generosity. Rainbow Dash for her Loyalty. And finally Twilight for her Magic.
As the lights grew brighter. Nightmare Moon took notice as she tried to struggle against the amassing army of bugs. She hollered and screamed in rage as they held her down. Queen Night Star looked at her with sadness before looking at Arthur, who held most of her down with his arms.
”My guards told me of what happened as soon as they identified your location. Are you sure this will work? What if they send her back trapped again?”
The Buzzwole looked at her as he showed some struggle holding the dark goddess down, but his eyes showed something else. Even if he didn’t speak, she knew what he was trying to say. She trusted him through thick and thin in this short time they were friends, and she will trust him now.
She ordered her guards to web the goddess down and fall back. She wasn’t going to risk her children anymore. As they quickly webbed her down, Arthur stayed behind and continued to hold her still. He wasn’t going to risk an escape of any kind. She watched as the light grew brighter and brighter as the ponies were lifted up in the air by the magic gathering around them. Harmony took control of their actions as a rainbow of colors started grow larger around them.
”Arthur get out of there!”,Queen Night Star screamed as he held the webbed goddess still as she continued to screech and struggle.
”WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!”, She screamed as she struggled more and more. Yet she couldn’t as the Swole Bug Pokemon held her down. Each of the pony’s eyes glowed as a beam formed and struck the two.
”NO! ARTHUR!”, Queen Night Star screamed as she tried to get closer, but her guard held her back for her safety. The beam glowed brighter and brighter, lighting up the entire room before everything turned white.