Part III ~ The Impossible Choice
~ April 22nd, 1020 ME ~
‘3:17am‘
As soon as the horns sounded the entire castle was moving better than a well-oiled machine. It was loud enough to wake ponies miles away. Guards in the city below cleared the streets, ponies stationed on the wall pulled out ranged weaponry, and loaded chariots were prepared to take off. The solar and lunar guard were divided into their individual platoons led by a complex chain all reporting back to commander Storm who reported to the princesses directly. Despite how early in the morning it was, not one pony on duty was sitting down.
The one guy who couldn't figure out where to fit into everything since returning back from being held captive was Blazing. Unlike the ones who couldn't fight due to injury, Blazing hadn't been setback in that way. Reverting back to human meant that he was without magic, and while that had never made him helpless before, he wasn't sure he could do much more than watch from the castle windows now, Spike standing behind him. The one weapon that he had was some of Twilight's enchantment research that had been brought to Canterlot from Ponyville. Spike had actually recommended trying to arm ponies with some of it after he had used the mana blaster and invisibility to fight the Timberwolves.
The Elements of Harmony were on standby to find an opening to blast Tirek with the elements if and when he showed himself. Keeping him from getting more powerful was essential, a lesson they had learned well last time they dealt with him. Not to be outdone, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were also strapping on their royal armor as they would be leading their ponies from the front lines.
The first wave of the enemy was approaching from the southwest, the changeling swarm raining down on the city.
The closer they got to the ground the more projectiles began to be exchanged, magic and arrows pelting either side.
"Don't give them an easy target!" The Earth ponies on the walls had shields angled upward and Pegasi and Unicorns served as archers trying to remain behind cover. Meanwhile, Nightshade was leading the 1st-3rd platoon of the lunar guard into position as a second line to meet the changelings that were beginning to land. The west-most market square in Canterlot was staged for an epic battle and Nightshade, having survived the first battle of Ponyville, was going to lead her troops to victory. Hopefully...
In the center of the swarm, a large group of changelings split off from the rest of the hive. Chrysalis was leading them. Their target? It was the field of chariots preparing to take off from the castle, very near to where the royal sisters were.
The dark cloudless night suddenly seemed to get darker and colder. Shadows and black tendrils wrapped themselves around the perimeter of the city walls. Black crystals jutted out from the ground wherever the darkness touched.
The darkness permeated in a way that sapped hope and replaced it with immeasurable doubts and fears. Not to be outdone by Chrysalis, Sombra made his grand entrance by blasting a hole in the east wall completely collapsing a small section of it.
With all of this taking place rather simultaneously the Elements of Harmony could see from the castle's high vantage point that the city would be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer power of their enemies without putting their plans into motion.
Rainbow Dash desperately wanted to take off and smash Sombra into the next year, but they were to wait and she wouldn’t let her friends down. Twilight gave directions to Dust Bowl (Celestia's changeling spy) to relay to Storm. “Sombra has breached the eastern gate. Send the special forces of the solar guard and begin operation Suppressant.”
“At once your Majesty!” Dust disappeared in a green flash. It had been surprising for Twilight to learn that Celestia had recruited changelings from other hives, but the fact that some of them had developed the skill of teleportation was even more surprising. Receiving more love had been a catalyst for more magic development in some of the changeling drones. Now it was just Tirek and The Nightmare missing for the entire chess board to be set. The enemies of Equestria had taken the first moves making them the white pieces. The black pieces, while developing slower, were being careful not to overdevelop and fall to the invaders. They didn't have to wait long.
"There!" Applejack shouted, pointing a hoof towards where the train tracks entered the city.
Tirek was approaching Canterlot, about half the size as the last time Twilight battled him. Above his head a fireball glowed red hot, and in his magical grasp stones floated around ready to be hurled at anything. "Gather close." Twilight teleported her friends to the Canterlot train station on the edge of town, which was about a half mile from where Tirek was currently galloping. The six mares formed a line staring straight at the charging centaur. While the air was mostly serious, Pinkie Pie put on a goofy grin when she spotted what had appeared under Tirek's hooves. Just as he was beginning to unleash his first bombardment of projectiles, Tirek stepped on a section of railroad that wasn't made out of wood. The track had a disguised segment that in reality was a pitfall. 20 feet down, At the bottom of the trap was a pile of poison joke. Twilight invoked a spell she had only used one other time. Thanks to the research of Starswirl the Bearded, the friends were sent back in time approximately two hours, to when they had set up the trap.
"Mah goodness is that a little disorienting." Applejack said.
"Alright girls let's get moving," said Twilight.
"Digging a hole is not exactly my forte darling, but I suppose if that is what we did in the past..." Rarity voice faded off at the end.
"Well, we knew we were going to have to catch Tirek somehow and Fluttershy already packed some poison joke. Race you to the spot Applejack!" Rainbow dash yelled over her shoulder as she took off towards where the pitfall had been.
"Oh yer on!"
One dug hole later and a lot of detail work by Rarity to make it look just right, and the trap was set. Now all they had to do was return to their timeline and blast Tirek, who was going to fall for their pitfall, literally.
After returning to the present, they quickly circled around the hole preparing to use the elements. "Tirek, who had been turned pink and had the voice of a 6th grade girl, wasn't impressed. "You think you can beat me that easily? With a little bit of a joke?!"
"Quickly girls" Twilight insisted. They began to float in the air, the elements appearing around their necks and a glow coming off their fur.
"I have lived for over a thousand years! You're not going to win like that! The power of harmony can't even hit a moving target!" Despite his squeaky voice, Tirek still managed to laugh in a condescending way as he hurled himself out of the hole in one swift jump and began to run the remaining distance to hide behind the Canterlot wall all before the elements had completed powering up. Evidently the poison joke hadn't taken away any of the strength or speed he had obtained from stealing ponies' magic. After allowing the elements to return to normal, Tirek stepped around the corner launching an orange and red blast of magic back at the girls, having charged up another fireball. Twilight deflected it with a shield as her friends advanced back towards where Tirek had gone.
Rainbow Dash took to the air, leaving a rainbow contrail behind her as she started to arc around Tirek, attempting to get behind him. Plan B was always to use numbers to their advantage, and getting into Tirek's blind spots would be a good start. The other girls also spread out in a way that served to annoy the self-proclaimed Lord, but didn't seem to make him struggle. Tirek reared up and stomped his hooves on the ground hard enough to make a miniature earthquake and throw the advancing mares off balance. Rainbow Dash wasn't slowed as she flew in to get a hit on the back side of his head, but he was one step ahead. As soon as Rainbow got close, a wave of magic surged in an ark around Tirek. The blast expanded outward with a force that slammed all five mares to the ground.
Wait five mares? Twilight appeared beside Tirek, having deflected his attack and teleported shortly after. She followed up with a charged attack from her horn that hit its mark on Tirek's side. He somehow managed to stay on his hooves, but he still slid several meters and had a burn where the attack had hit. Despite the blow he had a ridiculous grin on his pearly white teeth as if he was thoroughly enjoying every second of the exchange. It looked pretty silly coming from the pink centaur that sounded like a filly, but there was no time for any of them to let their guard down. The battle had only just begun.
Luna was not having a good time. While this was to be expected when one goes to battle, she had barely begun leading troops from the castle towards Chrysalis when she heard a wispy female voice in her head that she knew all too well. A shiver went down her spine and her fur stood on end. "Hello my dear Princess of the moon. Are you ready to reconsider my offer about bringing eternal night again?" The Nightmare could be hiding anywhere in the darkness, but Luna knew she was close. While the spirit was less powerful without a host, the Nightmare could not be underestimated.
"Sister, the Nightmare is here. I'm afraid this is where we must split ways. We have a battle with the Nightmare left unfinished." Celestia didn't look too pleased about this development, especially since Luna was planning to try and deal with the Nightmare on her own again, but she relented.
"May your victory be swift Lu Lu, I can't lose you again!"
"We will be right back before you even notice our absence. After all, we are better together and I'm continually happy to be reminded of this truth. The Moon needs her Sun." Luna switched between old and new speech and with the conclusion of her heartfelt statement she veered off to the right. She could feel the Nightmares' presence having been accustomed to its magic over the last thousand years. Landing in a park a little west of the magical school for gifted unicorns, Luna called out into the open air. "Stop hiding as if I can't feel your presence. There will be no eternal night and justice will be served for your violent deeds! My sister makes a far better companion than the lies you spoke into my ear."
"Vengeful as ever I see, Luna. Are you sure you don't want to get back at your sister for all the attention her day gets and the neglect of your night?"
"Our mind is made up!"
"Very well then. I will continue with my plan. It's too bad really, you really did have some potential, but I'll settle for manipulating Tirek to do my bidding, and making you my permanent host!"
Luna didn't have much time to process what the Nightmare had said as a black and blue mist surged toward her, and she barely had enough time to put up a shield. Only a problem became quickly apparent. The mist passed directly through the shield. Luna's body began to glow as if she was taking a limiter off her magic. Her eyes shone like stars and her mane became a colorful purple and blue ethereal color. The light from her body exposed the form of a mare that appeared to be made out of clouds in the midst of the mist. She wasn't exactly "physical", but she wasn't entirely metaphysical either. Some things would interact with the Nightmare physically and others magically.
Luna raised her wings and quickly brought them together, unleashing a torrent of winds buying herself time by creating distance between herself and the misty form of the Nightmare. While she was pretty out of practice with high grade spells, she knew this battle would call for a few. Luna began to cast a magical plane manipulation spell that made mana move slower in a select region, slowing her opponent down even more since the Nightmare moved through magical fields. Not to be outdone, the mist around the Nightmare seemed to begin to spark with energy. An arc of lightning began to form around the circumference of the mist, and it shot towards Luna, making her lose concentration on her spell as she sidestepped to dodge. The Nightmare quickly followed up by summoning a thick fog from the dew on the grass in the park. Luna knew all too well that this was just like the fog that had been created over the rope bridge when she had gone off to the castle of the two sisters.
Quickly, Luna created another gust to blow away the fog, but she had lost sight of her foe. Taking a moment to sense the magic field around herself again she felt the Nightmare to her left... but wait... she felt like something was on the right too. Somehow Timberwolves were in the middle of Canterlot and Luna was no longer fighting one on one. The Queen of the monsters had summoned her loyal dogs. Luna was keeping her cool, as composure would make her victory more assured, but it was hard when the Nightmare threw the occasional vocal jab at her.
"As they say... All is fair in love and war!" The Nightmare laughed clearly enjoying tormenting Luna, all the while summoning more Timberwolves from behind trees in the park.
Luna was now more than ready to show the Nightmare what was fair. It was time to release the pent-up frustrations of the last thousand years. It was time for Luna to teach the Nightmare that fairness would put an end to her lies and tricks for good.