//------------------------------//
// Confrontation 
// Story: Embracing the Night 
// by NightInk 
//------------------------------//

	Ok, so remember I said that in the hospital after only half turning into a pony and then changing back that was the most intense pain ever? Yeah, I was lying. Having a swirling rainbow made of pure friendship and magic dropped on you from the goddamn sky and magically incinerating magical death-spawns that are trying to attach to your very soul from the inside of your body is. All that I can clearly remember is bright light, colors and searing pain. I can’t even tell you how much time passed. Luna tells me it was only about a minute, but it felt like at least a half hour. I realized that Discord had gone through this twice before, and Luna had taken this heat too. The rainbow died off in a small explosion, and the light mercifully faded away. Unfortunately, I wasn’t out of the woods yet. The others were, but I wasn’t.
That feeling of having each bone selectively broken and changed came back. Something was happening with my legs, but this time they weren’t just changing. They were growing. The bones and joints were turning into those of a pony, but a larger pony than Twilight or Fluttershy or even AJ, who was a little bigger than the others. Since I wasn’t wrapped up in magical fiber or unconscious this time, I could see the changes happening. The area glowed with a pure, bright, white light while changing. Luna was right, I was a forest-y green color, and once my tail showed up it was a shiny gold. Gold, ok, yeah, it’s a good color. But it was shiny! It sparkled like it wasn’t a normal tail. 
As the change got to the bottom of my ribcage, it wavered a bit, like when Celestia tried to change me. But only for a second, then it shone all the fiercer and continued, and that’s where things got really weird. It felt like my first couple ribs didn’t just move and grow, but split I half first. Then I realized that they had. The top halves of the bones grew straight outward, and rather than developing fur on the new skin, they grew feathers. At that moment, I just figured Luna had been wrong, and that I was supposed to be a pegasus. But when the change reached my head, the frontal bone of my skull grew the horn of a unicorn. Holy crap, I was an alicorn!!
I stood up and found myself just as tall as I had been before, but far more powerful. There was a new power in my muscles that had never been there before. I flared my wings once and a strong gust blew away the leaves and dead grass left on the ground. Everyone just stared for a moment, excluding Rarity, who passed out. Even Pinkie Pie was speechless, for once. I took a few shaky steps, but didn’t go far. I felt like I was going to be sick. I fell backwards into a sitting position with a heavy thud. Luna began to approach, very slowly at first, but quickly sped up to help hold me up.
“Oh, gods, how can this be? Only royalty has ever been blessed with the power of an alicorn. And yours wasn’t any kind of political family on earth, and even if it was, this wouldn’t have happened, most likely. What… what’s going on?” I could tell even through the haze that she was scared. Way more scared than me, to be honest. This could explain a lot, like why I didn’t change when I first came to Equestria, and why Celestia hadn’t been able to easily change me. The Elements of Harmony were just powerful enough to fuel my change. And, if I were really reaching, it could explain why Nightmare Moon seemed to think I could be some kind of hero. As I tried to think, I became aware that Luna was still talking. “You had the intelligence to be a unicorn, but to be honest I didn’t think you did to be an alicorn. And you didn’t have any flight experience or training. You didn’t have any pilots in your family, did you?
“Well, see, my dad was a pilot when he was young. Flew for his dads mine. Used to patch his plane with duct tape. But my wings aren’t made of or covered in duct tape, so I don’t think I took after him so much.” I tried to stand up again, but I was a little shaky. Luna stood and helped me stay upright, but I was going to need to be able to walk and stand up if I was going to be any help at all.
“Well, shoot,” AppleJack finally piped up. “How about that. Ya’ll sure are something, being one of them all-powerful Albert-corn ponies disguised as a bipedal weirdo.”
“AppleJack!” a now fully conscious Rarity cried. “Show some respect for him! He’s not a bipedal freak-”
“Fracas!!” Pinkie corrected. “Oh, wait,” she thought for a second. “Um, I’m sorry, can I get the line, please?” While she tried to figure out the right word, the rest of us kept talking.
“Well, he’s not a bi-pe… A bow-pedal… a two legged anything anymore!” RainbowDash threw in. “He’s a princess! Wait, well, he’s a guy princess thing, but still! This is awesome!! Now we can totally kick Nightmare Moon’s tail all the way back to the moon!! Whoo!” she finished with an air-hoof.
“But... Umm… isn’t he a brand new alicorn? Because that’s kind of like a baby alicorn… um, no offense,” Fluttershy whispered.
I laughed as best I could. “It’s ok, Fluttershy. In a sense I am a baby alicorn, but Rainbow is right too. I can’t afford to sit here and let you guys run into this alone. Besides, Nightmare Moon seemed to think that I was going to help defeat her. I need to go with you guys.” I took a few steps, and it was coming a little easier. I guess that the body comes with a little bit of a built in owner’s manual. I tried using my magic a little bit and accidentally threw RainbowDash about a mile straight up, a trail of silvery magic flying after her. “Well, I think that I’ll have to figure out another way to fight using my magic, since I don’t know how to use it delicately.”
“Ooh! I know!” Twilight suddenly became very excited. “There is a kind of magic where you can basically make your own constructs out of pure magic. Not summon normal objects, but create your own. Like making magical constructs. They’re somewhat difficult to initially create, but easy to maintain and incredibly easy to control. They respond to simple thought and instinct.”
“Yeah, and I’ll give you the basics of flying while we’re at it!” RD was getting more pumped up by the minute.

[center[b...]]


Really, just sitting here and listening to the basics of magical constructs and flying is boring, so I’ll save you that. Suffice it to say, I was a fast learner and RD was able to teach me a few maneuvers while we were at it, and I got a handle on making whatever I wanted with pure magic pretty easily. During the train ride back to Canterlot, Luna and I sat in the back, apart from the others. We talked quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear and get nervous.
“So, do you know why I was chosen to be a ‘hero‘?” I was still a little unclear on that point, and still didn’t know if I could do much.
“Well, I don’t know," she sighed, her head drooping slightly. “I mean, you don’t bear an Element of Harmony, you didn’t have magic or wings until they were given to you by the Elements, and you hadn’t even ever been to Equestria. If Nightmare Moon hadn’t brought you here, she could have just attacked and never worried about you. Nothing seems to make sense anymore.”
It was just then that the sun disappeared. It hadn’t been setting; it wasn’t even too late in the day. It just went in a matter of seconds. “No…” Luna gasped. “That means Celestia has fallen… We’re the only hope that’s left.” She couldn’t bring herself to say anymore.
I awkwardly put a hoof around her shoulder. “Hey, everything is going to be fine. We have the Elements, remember? We’ll be able to beat her, and Celestia will be fine. Nightmare Moon probably banished her to the sun in a sick version of revenge, but really that’s where she’s going to be safest. Once we win, Celestia will be freed and everything will return to normal.” She looked at me with a look that said ‘you’re just trying to cheer me up and I know it, but thanks anyways.’ “Here,” I added. “Why don’t you put the moon and stars up? That way it shows that one sister is still fighting.”
She nodded, and her horn began to glow. She traced the path the moon would take that night, and then sent it on its way. We put the stars up together, and this time I actually put a few up myself, with her teaching me how to place them. It calmed her nerves, and by the time we were done the train was arriving in the city.
But it wasn’t the same city we had left. The battle had left its mark on the buildings and streets. There wasn’t anypony on the streets like there usually were, even at night. There were scorched marks on the ground where shots had missed their marks and buildings that were only half standing. Street lights were bent or broken and laying on the ground and the air was deathly silent. Each step we took echoed eerily through the dead alleyways and roads we passed. From where we were, the castle looked to be in decent shape, but it was dark and far away.
As we approached the gates, Nightmare Moons haunting laughter began to creep from the shadows. It was everywhere at once, but she herself was nowhere to be seen. RainbowDash plucked up some of her famous bravery and called out, “Come on out! What are ya, chicken? Can’t even show your face to us?”
This prompted the laughter to grow even louder, and Nightmare Moons voice drifted to us. “Oh, you silly little foals. You think that since you accidentally turned your idiot human friend into his alicorn form, you have a chance against me?” Something was strange about the sound of her voice. It didn’t seem quite as confident this time around. And almost seemed to be concentrating into a certain area as she talked, but there was a fog gathering that was blocking our sight.
“He’s still clueless as to the true power he could unleash if only he dared to search his abilities.” Yeah, it was definitely getting louder in a certain area, but I couldn’t pinpoint where. “In fact, none of you really know just what the Elements of Harmony are capable of; you just use them to zap the occasional perceived threat away so that you don’t have to deal with any kind of change.” It almost feels as if it’s coming from… Behind us!!
Without looking, I made a giant hammer out of concentrated magic and swung blindly behind our group. Luck was on my side, and I made full contact with her midsection just as she materialized behind us. With her concentration broken, the fog around us lifted and we saw her fly ten feet off to the side. “Damn,” I muttered. “I didn’t think that was going to work.”
It’s safe to say Nightmare Moon didn’t expect it either. When she stood back up, she was muttering all manner of curses that I didn’t even think existed in Equestria. Her horn glowed brightly with pure malice there was barely enough time to throw up a shield before a powerful bolt shot from her horn. It was a good thing Luna put up a barrier as well, because mine barely held up under the terrific force of the bolt. Nightmare Moon let out a bellow and totally tore loose. Any kind of medieval weapon or pain inducer you could think of was thrown towards us. While Luna kept up her protective shield, I threw my own barrage back at Nightmare Moon’s constructs. Anything I couldn’t hit or knock out of the air, Luna was able to deflect with her shield. After just thirty seconds of unbridled fury, Nightmare Moon’s attacks just stopped. She stood up straight and looked at us curiously, like we had surprised her by even holding up that long. She didn’t really move, just looked us over with that impressed look. 
We actually stood there long enough that Luna and I took down our defenses. I was feeling cocky and flippant again, so I made the first move. “Was that it? Can we raise the sun and all go home now?”
Nightmare Moon gave a small chuckle and called back, “Well, I wonder if we can talk for a little bit instead of this foolish fighting. We’re both reasonable ponies, now, aren’t we? I mean, what harm can that do?”
“I may be foolish, but I’m not dumb!” I yelled. “If I walk over there, I’m walking into a trap and I know it! Say what you have to say from there!”
“Huh, you may not be as dull as I once thought,” she mused. “Well, if you’re so smart, then surely you must be able to see the beauty of an eternal night!”
“Well, I will give you that,” I said. Luna looked at me like I had lost my mind. “What?” I asked. “I’m serious. Eternal night would be really pretty! I mean, the stars would be up all the time, and the moon’s phases would be a gradual change, not the all of a sudden, ‘hey the moon changed’ feeling we get as things are now.”
“HA! Yes! So you are willing to come fight with me!” Nightmare Moon cheered.
“Ah, ah, ah! I said it would be pretty, and that comes with certain stipulations. I  think it would be a beautiful sight if it was made by the someone I love, who made this beautiful night,” I added, enjoying Nightmare Moon’s sigh of disgust, the ‘aww’s from the six standing behind us, and Luna blushing and smiling in the corner of my eye. “Sorry, that was probably too soon,” I muttered to her, “But I‘m gonna die, so, you know.” I heard her hold back a sob or something at that. I turned my attention back to Nightmare Moon “Also, though it may be beautiful, it wouldn’t be healthy. Plants, animals, and ponies all need sunlight to live. If we didn’t have that, then there would be no one left to enjoy the beauty of your night. So while I agree it would be beautiful, I can’t allow it.” I finished with a more defensive stance. I knew she was going to attack soon after that.
I was right, but not in the way I was thinking. Rather than an all-out offensive against the group, Nightmare Moon summoned a protective shield around she and I. the others all cried out and tried to get in, but Nightmare Moon kept adding layer after layer to it until it was about 20 layers of shielding all compacted and folded into an inch and a half thick barrier. It was just the two of us now, and one of us wouldn’t be coming out.