Stallions of Harmony - Longest Night

by Jetto


18. Willpower and determination

A legend tells the story of a young hero, as he went on an journey to save his kingdom from evil. Along the way, he encountered countless adventures. He met ponies from different places, some were kind and gentle folk that helped him get through, other were malicious and greedy, ready to stop him. There were majestic places, full of rich flora and fauna not yet discovered and there were barren wastelands, full of dangers.
The hero was not alone on his journey, not for long at least. Along the way he was joined by various companions, all bringing unique talents hero did not possess, and friendship, which he soon learned was valuable more then power his enemies had. Eventually, his party faced the evil right in its core and after a long, painful and dangerous battle, they emerged victorious, once again bringing back peace and safety to the lands. They were awarded greatly with fame, fortune and lands, but the hero refused any of it, his grand prize being the adventure itself and friends he made.

Which legend was that, some might ask? The answer is, most of them, all coming from the same events that happened in the early past long forgotten. Only a grain of the original story remains, the rest was later added by traveling minstrels, changing it more and more until the story we know today was no longer the history, just fiction.

Prince Blueblood wondered, did the original hero really win the fight with evil? Or was he defeated and some other force brought the peace to the land? Or the forces of evil were just misunderstood, benevolent forces and hero was an insane maniac, rebelling against a new world order? Who knew, maybe thousands of years ago there was no sun, only darkness, until some unknown force appeared and...

"ARRGHHH!" he growled and shook his head "These are all lies! Stop it! Stop showing me these images! I won't be fooled by your tricks!"

"Tricks? And why would I do that?"

Prince had no idea how much time has passed since he was brought here. Here being the inside ruins of the old castle, right in the middle of the Everfree forest. His vision was blurred and could hardly tell what was around or where he was placed. All he could gather, was that it was a fairly large room on the top of the castle. The ceiling was long gone, allowing the moon to shine above and illuminate the debris of this once glorious place. Was this the old throne room?

"Why would I tell lies to a weak, helpless pony like you?"

He could not move. His hooves were restrained to the cobblestone floor with very thick, dark mist, rendering him completely immobile. He couldn't tell why, but his horn wasn't working either, as if it wasn't even there anymore to begin with.

"Why am I here?" he asked with a tired voice "Just kill me and get this over with!"

Nightmare Moon smiled subtlety as she walked towards Prince and looked him deep into his eyes. Try as he might, he could not find enough will to avert his gaze.
"I could end your pitiful, miserable little life right here and now."

Blueblood gulped "What's stopping you?"

She laughed "Because you asked me to spare you before!"

"That was a trick and you know it!"

"Maybe it was. I did give you all chance to surrender and join me, yet I was met with anger and resentment. They spit on my acts of generosity and called me a monster!"

There was a small pause, during which they still looked each other in the eyes. She coughed and continued.
"But you were different. Compared to them, you were... weak. Out of place. Broken. Alone. With nothing to keep you going, except a strong desire to be loved again by somepony who threw you away like a trash, once she realized you are not a perfect little toy she always wanted."

His eyes widened. He knew that she could read his mind, but he didn't realize how deep she went, until it was too late to deny her.

"She openly admitted that she tricked you into becoming somepony else, never once accepting you as you were, merely tolerating your existence, until you became... him!"

His eyes twitched. Memories from that faithful night were brought back again, culminating in a moment of his greatest regret. Now that he thought about it, he cared less and less about that night in particular, realizing that he went into the forest solely to apologize for... what exactly?

"But it's not just her, who treated you unfairly. Think about your life, what have you done wrong? What are your crimes?
Was it your crime, that you left your mother and father to die, as you ran for your life?
Was it your crime, that you put your trust in a charismatic, backstabbing thief?
Was it your fault, that your idol and parent figure was taken away?
Or perhaps, you blame yourself for your companions untimely demise?"

Prince could not answer. He looked down on the floor, not sure what to think about anymore. Was she messing with his head? Was this just a spell? Or was she actually opening his eyes for the first time in his life?

"But what they truly despise about you, is their very own jealousy! Think about who you are.
A university dropout, yet already mastered one of the most advanced spells in existence!
A coward and weakling, yet one who entered and survived Everfree forest.
A loner, yet one who can lead a group of five ragtag morons without killing each other.
A buffoon, yet who was the one who recognized me first? And found about the only way to stop me? Speaking of which..."

Prince raised his head and looked at Nightmare Moon levitating several objects right into his eyes, before she dropped them on the cobblestone before him. He squinted to see these objects, which turned out of be a set of five stone balls roughly the size of a bowling ball. There were some markings on them he couldn't recognize, but his eyes widened once he realized what he was looking at.

"Yes, my little pony, this is exactly what you think it is."

He gulped and opened his mouth, slowly muttering what must have been the moment his hope broke altogether, when it was supposed to be the other way around.

"Elements of harmony!"


"PONY NO WIN! ME STRONG! PONY WEAK!"

Shining Armor squinted, but ultimately ignored his throbbing head. It was nothing. For most regular ponies, repeated strikes from long, strong vines would prove fatal or at least very painful, but his shields were designed to survive more than that. Each hit felt like nail hammered into different parts of his skull, but for now that was all he could do. He couldn't move in this state, as then he would have to concentrate on moving the barrier along with him, which would decrease its effective hardness, a handicap he could not allow himself now. He could cancel it and just dodge with his hooves alone, but this was much too risky and a single hit would break several of his bones. And as stupid as the giant cabbage monster was, he doubted it would fall for the same trick twice.

"PONY STOP FIGHT AND LET ME EAT PONY!"

He was seriously out of options and not liking it at all. Fighting it head on was out of question, he'd be gobbled in a second. And he couldn't even free his companions. Just walking to them was dangerous enough, then setting another barrier would take a lot of energy, then he'd have to concentrate on cutting the vines, which were connected to the monster anyway, so it could use them to attack. Not to mention that it could just crush his friends altogether, if it wanted.

Shining Armor was a royal guard. As a member of a larger military unit, he was trained to work best as a part of a synchronized team. His role was mostly to garner attention and protect, while others did the dirty work, rarely joining the actual fight.

Royal Guard Academy often organized mock team battles of three pony team. He, Fire Strike and Silver Sword were among the best, complementing each other with their special talents.
Fire Strike, despite his rash behavior and 'in your face' mentality, was a very talented battle mage, with his specialty being, what else, setting things on fire. His casting time was longer then most battle mages, so he relied on his team to cover him when he did so.
Silver Sword on the other hand, despite his calm and collected style and cheerful personality, was a master close combatant, very fast and efficient, but relatively fragile.

Their team fight consisted of Fire Strike starting a spell, provoking others to concentrate their efforts on him, which prompted Shining Armor to protect him. And while they were busy on one front, Silver Sword snuck behind enemy lines and took out their weakest link. By the time enemy team realized what was going on, their biggest problem was a giant fireball flying their way.
That formation was later introduced as a new standard under the name 'Shining Silver Strike", or 'ThreeS' in short. Sadly, it required a specialized set of members to pull it of, limiting it to exactly one team on the roster that utilized it with any degree of success.

Shining Armor wondered how things would've gone, if they were around.


"Wow, Shiny never mentioned he had an entire formation named after him!" said Twilight Sparkle, putting a straw in an apple juice box, before taking a sip.

"Named after all three of us, if you don't mind," added Silver Sword "but we're not really supposed to brag about it. And really, it's a simple tactic that just makes sense and uses our respective special talents."

Twilight Sparkle's team, consisting of herself and her two friends, Sunset Shimmer and Moondancer, failed their own mission and aborted any other attempts to leave the city. Canterlot was closed of and even if it wasn't, the three realized there was nothing they could do, so reluctantly chose to stay. They did not, however, taken a shelter and instead waited outside for the sun to come out, however long was that going to take. Silver Sword and Fire Strike rolled their eyes, but didn't feel like forcing them back to dorms, so they kept them company instead. As it happened, they had cookies and plenty of juice boxes with them, happily sharing them with two stallions.

"Shiny sounds even more awesome then I thought," said Moondancer, as she blushed lightly "hot, nice AND tough, he could protect me any day."

"What did I said about fantasizing about my brother?"

Fire Strike snorted in between sipping his juice "Yeah, good luck with that."

Moondancer pouted "Just because I failed to seduce him a few times..."

"'Few hundred'." added Sunset Shimmer.

"...doesn't mean he won't be mine! You hear that? MINE! ONLY MINE! BWAHAHAHA!"

Sunset Shimmer turned to two guards "And they say I'm the evil one."

"Again, stop fantasizing about my brother!"

Two stallions looked at each other, both smiling wide and barely holding up the laughter.
"Oh trust me, it's not your fault he doesn't chase your tail," said Silver Sword "it's just that, Shining Armor doesn't have a... thing."

Moondancer put a hoof to her chin and thought.
"He's castrated?" she asked confused, making both Fire Strike and Sunset Shimmer spit-take on their juices.

"No, not 'that' thing," replied Silver Sword, laughing "he's just not interested in mares, that's all."

"He's gay?"

"I wish..." Silver Sword gasped and looked down the road. There was a short pause, as nopony was sure how to react "He's just not interested, at all. Right now he's married to his job. I imagine his suspension must have felt like a divorce."

"Yeah, no kidding," Twilight nodded "I've never seen him that down before."

"Back in the academy he was a one dang popular stud!" said Silver Sword, making Fire Strike grumble out of jealousy "He got hit on by mares all the time! Every single break, he received love letters, invitations, hints, flirts. And he turned them all down."

"Seriously," added Fire Strike "dude broke more hearts then Princess Celestia!"

Twilight raised her eyebrow. She didn't remember Shiny ever talking anything about other mares, now that she thought about it. He mentioned something about guys sending him joke love letters or girls mocking him on the hallways, but he ignored them completely until one day it stopped, though he wasn't sure why. Probably they got bored of it.

"It stopped," Silver Sword continued "once a rumor spread around, that apparently he got himself a fillyfriend."
Three pairs of ears perked at that information. Even Sunset, who for the love of her could not figure out what all of Canterlot's mares saw in him, was intrigued.
"Some mare saw him at Joe's Place, hanging out with, and I quote, not my words," Silver Sword coughed and slowly but surely said "'some really nice flanked, purple unicorn cutie'."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin and thought.
"Hmm, I don't remember Shiny dating anypony. I mean, he would've told me... about... some...pony...ah!"

Her horn fizzled out, dropping magically held juice box onto the ground. Eventually, her brain finally froze along with the rest of her body, leaving only her twitching eye and a giant blush as only signs of being still alive.

Moondancer waved a hoof before her face.
"I think she's broken."

Sunset Shimmer mumbled under he nose "Her flank's not that great..."


"B-but..." Prince Blueblood muttered, as he looked at five stone balls in front of him, not sure what to say or ask. He expected something...different. A spell book, maybe.

"If you wish to ask where the sixth element is," Nightmare Moon moved closer to him and raised his chin with her hoof, so he could look her deep into eyes "it's gone for good. Destroyed exactly one thousand ago, back when Celestia used them to banish me. And without it, the rest lose any magical properties and become just dumb, useless rocks." as an emphasis, she kicked one of them, sending it rolling down the stairs and into the wall.

Prince stopped thinking. With all his companions dead, Princess gone, trapped inside enemy lair, with his last hope turning out to be a complete dud, he was left with nothing else. Probably dying alone, achieving a grand total of 'not a bucking thing' in his life, failing everything, everypony and then some.

"Kill me."

"No," she answered coldly "I already told you, I have different plans for you. I told you that, did I not?"

Prince thought for a moment. It wasn't hard to figure out what she could want from him, considering the circumstances "You want me to join you,” Prince looked at her carefully. She nodded, yet her face was unreadable at this moment, as she patiently waited for his reply.
"Why me?"

Nightmare Moon sighed deeply and smiled lightly.
"Because we're alike," she answered, prompting Prince to snort, which she ignored "You have a potential to become somepony great, better and more powerful than Celestia would ever dream. Yet all your life was filled with misery, tragedies you had no influence over and ponies that used and discarded you like a tool once you outlived your usefulness.”

Prince stood and listened in silence.

"I know your pain, for I suffered the same. That's why I'm offering you a chance."

Her horn once again glowed, which created a dark mist that flew right beside her and slowly form into a solid, tangible shape, that of a large, purple framed mirror.
Prince hesitated and turned his gaze away, but deciding it was pointless to resist right now, he looked into his own reflection. Or at least, that's what he expected to see.

The stallion on the other side looked at him with smug, victorious smile, with burning red eyes that despised and looked down on anything he witnessed, and rightfully so. He was at least one hoof taller than him, his entire coat- pitch black, aside from long, silver horseshoes and chestplate. His mane was shiny silver, flowing freely like an aurora.
If he saw this image anywhere else, he would never recognize himself in it, except if it wasn't for the same, albeit darker and larger, compass rose cutie mark.

"You can see him clearly, can't you?" asked Nightmare Moon "Can you feel his power? His presence? His elegance? That is not you, my little pony. But he could be."

Prince Blueblood couldn't take his gaze away from the reflection. On one hoof, it was intimidating, fearsome and vicious, but at the same time, grand. So powerful. So... tempting.

"With a little push, even a little prince such as you, could become..." she walked to and reached his head, only to whisper.

"...a king!"


He tried. Shining Armor really did everything he could to think of a good solution to a giant vegetable problem, but he had to face it- he wasn't the brightest pony, especially not under the pressure. Usually it was Silver Sword who came up with any plans and if he wasn't around, there were usually others ready to guide him. Currently, his only companions were in much worse positions and unless they somehow freed themselves, they were even less qualified then he was.
Which left him with one last plan.

"I am Shining Armor, a Royal Guard of Equestria. In the name of Equestrian law as written by Princess Celestia, I order you to surrender and release your prisoners, NOW!"

Silence. The cabbage monster stopped attacking and opened its maw, but couldn't muster a single word. It eventually snorted and exploded in a fit of laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! PONY NO ORDER ME! PONY BE FOOD! FOOD BE EAT"

Shining Armor's eye twitched. He had little hopes of this ever working, but was still hoping for a miracle. He hated the alternative.
"This is your last chance. Please, give up now and I promise that you will be--" a vine hitting his shield interrupted him.

"PONY SILENT! PONY GIVE UP AND LET ME EAT PONY!"


"There was that one time," said Silver Sword in the middle of a cookie, gathering others attention. He looked at Fire Strike "remember the 'Hammer incident'?"

Judging from the shudder that went through Fire Strike's skin, he did. Red stallion put away his cookie back to the box and looked at the ground with a terrified gazed.
"So much blood... We had nightmares for weeks!"

Three mares instantly gulped. With a name like 'Hammer incident' mentioned alongside large quantities of blood, their imaginations went wild in many different directions. And even normally lewd mind of Moondancer was far away from any kind of pleasures.

"So, remember those mock battles I talked about? And how we were winning with our formation?" he was met with reluctant nods "There was this one time, when our enemies saw through it and let's just say that everything went completely wrong..."


This was wrong on so many levels. So cliche as well, giving in to your dark side, turning evil due to villains temptation. He saw that one in any trashy novel he read and it was as unbearable and unbelievable no matter how many times he saw it. Now that he was in their horseshoes, he wasn't feeling all that brave. All sorts of conflicting thoughts flew through his mind right now. On one hoof, this was madness, giving in to the dark side, especially one committed to eliminating the day in favor of eternal night, was crazy and stupid beyond comprehension. Not to mention, this was the same pony (if she could even be called that anymore) that took out Celestia, turned royal guards to stone and just recently killed his companions out of cold blood. There was no way anypony sane would ever side with her.

But really, was it such a bad idea? What choice does he have? There is no defeating her, unless a miracle happens, which he was sure he just ran out of long ago. Dying here won't achieve anything for anypony, not that she would let him just die anyway. But if he decided to join, of his own free will, if a bit hesitant, what then? So much has changed over one thousand years, even somepony as powerful as her would be overwhelmed by the new age, she could use somepony more familiar with modern times as an adviser. And who knows, maybe he could overthrow her eventually and bring back the world to its proper order? She would surely watch her back around him, but that's something to work on later.

And maybe, just maybe, she's not that bad at all? Maybe the world under Nightmare Moon will prove to be a good place to live in? Sure, you need sun for growing vegetation, but maybe she has ways around it? After all, ancient magic was capable of miracles beyond comprehension.

“Are you ready to answer?”

Prince opened his mouth, but shook his head instead. She was messing with him, he knew it, but couldn't quite shake it off. Every time he even considered giving in and joining her side, the same flash repeated in his mind, where five stallions whom he learned to appreciate more over last few days, fell to their deaths. Why couldn't she just turn them to stone and use them as bargaining chip against him?

He gasped. His eyes opened widely at the sudden realization. 'Why' indeed, it was actually a very good question. He looked at Nightmare Moon, who still observed him with patient look, no emotions at all, no signs of a mood change.
Prince Blueblood did something he hasn't made in a very, very long time, at least not honestly.

He smiled.


“I'm giving you one last warning!” Shining Armor yelled through his teeth, not bothering to mask his anger anymore “Release us, or else!”

He was met with similar reaction as before. He squinted after getting his shield whipped a few more times.
“ME TIRED OF PONY! PONY STOP RESIST!”

Shining Armor ignored the throbbing pain in his head. He quite frankly got used to it by now. His eyes closed and he took a very deep breath, put a hoof to his chest, then slowly ran it outwards, exhaling it along with the anger. The only thing in his lungs right now, was determination.

“You want to eat me?” his horn dissipated the glow, along with the shield it held up “THEN COME AND GET ME!”

Four trapped ponies shouted, warned him, begged him to stop, but he listened to nopony, when he charged right at the beast.


“See, there was this guy in our class who, for some inexplicable reason, chose Shining Armor to be his number one rival. His name was 'Crystal Hammer'. A very obnoxious fellow, kept trying to one up Shiny in everything, sometimes to a very unhealthy degree.”

Twilight nodded “Yes, I know the type. Can be really annoying.”

Sunset Shimmer was in the middle of opening another pack of chocolate chip cookies, when she shuddered and noticed two mares glaring at her “What? Do I have something on my face?” she inspected her face, looking for cookie crust that wasn't there to begin with. Her friends rolled their eyes and allowed Silver Sword to continue.

“So when he heard about mock battles, he devised a formation of his own, which completely crushed us on every point. Long story short, me and Fire Strike were out very fast, leaving only Shining Armor, all battered up and bruised at the mercy of three other recruits.”

Twilight gulped “What happened then?”

Fire Strike sighed “Normally, he'd be beaten to pulp and lose, no biggie, it's just a training. But Hammer wanted satisfaction, so he went further. And he went a bit too far...”


“Why did you kill them?”

Nightmare Moon sighed deeply and rolled her eyes.
“I already told you. They were in the way and refused to join my side. They had to be eliminated, before they became a danger.”

Prince waited a moment, looking at her. His eyes closed, as he donned a subtle smile of confidence.
“Let me rephrase the question,” Prince raised his head and looked her in the eyes “Why did you kill them, instead of turning them into stone?”

Nightmare Moon's mouth opened, but she didn't spoke, as if she really was considered her next answer.

“Don't tell me you can't, because you did just that when you first appeared, against a bunch of trained guards, no less. And just today, you said you can turn them back, which I assume you didn't lie about.”

She marched a brew “What's your point?”

“My point,” he started “is that I would've been much more cooperative if you held them hostage and you know it.”

“I still don't see your point.”

“It got me thinking. First of all, you bested Celestia, yet it's been two days and what did you do in that time? Nothing! Waited patiently here... for me. Instead of conquering Equestria, city by city, gathering armies of followers, like a real conqueror should.”

“What are you...”

“Also,” he interrupted “for somepony with supposedly unlimited magical power, you're not doing all that much. These bindings,” he pointed at his hooves, still covered in dark, sticky mist “while strong, are also fairly low cost, same as the ones you used to immobilize my companions. And those images in my head- basic level hypnotics, nowadays mostly banned, but easy if you know what to do. It's as if you refuse to use your more powerful spells.”

Nightmare Moon's face turned to a frown, which in turn made Blueblood's smug smile even wider.
“This is preposterous! What sort of proof do you have?”

“I'm glad you asked. My first proof, was your refusal to use petrification spell, which I imagine requires a rather large amount of mana, that you recklessly depleted back in Ponyville and had to take it easy for some time.”

She snorted and almost growled at Prince.
“That's not a proof at all!”

“Then I have one more you cannot deny and you just confirmed it for me. Do you know what that is?”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes and thought. Her eyes shot wide open at the realization of her own mistake.

“You're not reading my mind anymore!”


No amount of warnings could stop Shining Armor, now that his eyes were fixed on a single target and one objective. He knew clearly how bad of an idea it was and how one slip-up could mean the end. But it was still much better then waiting and tiring himself out by standing in one place. And all things considered, for a unicorn, a tribe that was said to be the least physically capable, Shining's muscles were developed far beyond what many earth ponies achieve during their lifetimes and his agility he displayed while avoiding one vine after the other, would make many professional pegasi fliers jealous.

The cabbage monster was clearly not expecting this much resistance, growing more confused with each missed strike to the point of tangling his own appendages with each other. This gave Shining Armor just enough time and room to buck right into monster's belly.
The amount of power, amplified by the speed of a gallop would surely turn any normal buck into a powerful weapon, capable of breaking rocks and falling down trees... yet it harmlessly bounced of the elastic hide of a giant vegetable.

“THAT ALL? PONY PUNY!”

Shining Armor cursed and jumped back, only now allowing himself a short break while monster worked on unwrapping his hands from themselves.

“So much for that plan...” he looked at the cabbage monster, analyzing it's body a bit closer. In situations like these, he was told to look for weak points and concentrate all his efforts on doing all the damage on them, hoping the enemy will surrender once it's on a disadvantage. That said, this was a giant cabbage with teeth, there weren't any weaknesses exposed or even implied. Except maybe one...

“I wanna see you eat us without those teeth of yours!”

“HUH? WHAT PONY SAY?”

“Grit your teeth,” said Shining Armor, lowering his head and stomping the ground, readying himself for another charge “because I'll BREAK THEM ALL!”

He rushed forward once again. The monster panicked, still struggling to free his appendages from themselves. Shining Armor used the tangled up vines as a ramp and jumped into the air, readying his hoof up in the air for the greatest strike ever, mimicking the one he used on “Dream Tyrantlestia”.
The monster, however, smiled. Right before the hoof struck, it opened it's mouth wide and shoot it's tongue at the unicorn, wrapping it around him while he couldn't do anything to dodge it. Shining tried to force himself out of it, but just like before it proved to be completely pointless, as the monster instantly pulled him inside.

GULP!

Four ponies once again gasped, as they witnessed their companion get swallowed alive on their very own eyes. The monster, once his vines were all free, patted itself on its belly.

“MMMM, DELICIOUS!”


“Shiny was just lying there, completely broken and helpless, when Crystal Hammer walks to him and does the worst thing one could imagine.”

There was a slight pause, mostly to let other three mares work their imaginations. And one was working a little too much, as Moondancer raised her hoof and opened her mouth, but after a while decided against it, much to her friends relief.

“He said, and once again I quote, not my words:”

'Say, Shining Dolt...'

“He did not just call him 'dolt',” Sunset Shimmer snorted “what is he, five?”

'...I met your little sister yesterday. Nice flanks. She gave me a better look for free,'

“Oh no, he didn't!” said Moondancer.

'...and she let us plow her for a bit.'

Silence. Complete and utter silence befall all the gathered ponies. Silver Sword shrugged.
“I think you can imagine what happened next.”

“So... much... blood!” said Fire Strike, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“I'M NOT LIKE THAT!” lamented Twilight “THOSE ARE LIES!”

“We know, sweetie,” Moondancer patted her on the back “that sounds more like something I would've done, not you,” short pause “except that bit part. My folks are plenty rich, I don't need money.”

Twilight slowly turned towards smiling Moondancer, quite possibly the only pony in existence who wasn't afraid to admit to her slutty side in a casual conversation during the end of the times.

“Come to think of it, that could have been me back then,” she raised a hoof to her chin, thinking, attracting everyponies attention “I'm terrible with names. Did he have a blue mallet as a cutie mark? Because there was one guy like that, he bought me a drink during Happy Hours for one bit. Did he even tell me his name?”

She received no answers, only blank stares.


After the initial shock, Nightmare Moon shook her head and tried to calm down. It might be so, that one pony actually figured out some of her secrets. So what? He was still just a nopony, he couldn't do anything and had nothing or nopony to help him.

"That changes nothing," she said "you are still at my mercy, alone, while Celestia is no more. She proved to be a bigger problem then I predicted, but so what? The outcome remains the same."

"Mercy? HA!" Prince laughed loudly "Oh please, you expect me to believe that? At this point you're not fooling me, but only yourself."

"What?"

"See, along the way here, me and my... team, we had an encounter with a certain ghost, that attacked us in our dreams. Everypony managed to fight it of with their willpower alone. Except me," there was a small pause. Prince noticed Nightmare Moon watching him carefully, patiently awaiting his story. Still not reading him, good.

"You see, a good Doctor told me that the best way to fight any sort of corruption, is to find hope, something or somepony dear to you, then cling to them tightly, use them as your anchor to sanity. I had no such thing, or so I used to believe, so I had to be saved by them..."

"FOOL!" Nightmare Moon stomped the ground, shaking the elements away "If you realize this much, how do you not see that right now, you have even less?"

"Maybe. I had nopony to cling onto. No parents, my family hated me, I have no friends..."

"...and the only ponies who cared about you are gone."

"Yeah about that," he smiled at her face "she was like a mother to me. Me, the most despicable, snobbish, idiotic, unsympathetic piece of trash to ever exist, but she loved me anyway, which I took for granted. She wanted to be a mother to me, she wanted me to be her son... but what do YOU want?"

Silence. Nightmare Moon looked baffled, as Prince Blueblood asked her a simple question. She knew the answers and wasn't afraid to admit her desires... yet she couldn't speak and she couldn't figure out why.

"And don't give me that 'we're alike' or 'you have potential' crap, because we both know that you don't actually want me," he looked her deep into eyes and smiled "you NEED me!"

"P-preposterous!'

"Question then: how do you break a pony, said to be unbreakable?" he asked. She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak, so he answered instead "By taking away something precious, that one little, pathetic thing most important to her..."

"Stop it!"

"...something like, say, the last family member she had any sort of--"

SLAP!

He stopped talking, not because he was just smacked right in his face, which he was quite used to by now, not because it hurt like all hell, no more then few hits he had received earlier, but because his mouth was filled of blood. He spit it out, smiling maniacally as his theory was no longer that, but a fact. He needed no more proof.

"Hit the nerve, huh?" he asked, wishing he could actually move his hooves to massage his red cheeks "Go on, strike me again, but this time put some actual effort into it. I wanna see where this is going!"

Despite her anger, Nightmare Moon stopped herself from any further show of violence. She breathed heavily, desperately trying to stay calm or at least hide it, but deep inside she knew it was too late for that. He knew. Somehow, he figured it out.

"She's still alive!" he announced happily "I don't know where she is and what you've done to her, but she's still there, fighting. That's why you conserve your energy, why you hide in the woods and why you tempted me to join you. Because she will not give up, so long as her last hope is still there. And if she picked me as her hope, then I will do the same for her! Together, nothing will break us. Not. Even. YOU!"


They long learned that no matter the struggle, they would not achieve anything other then tiring themselves out and wasting time and precious energy. Thunderlane cared not for that fact, not after witnessing his new friend getting eaten alive by a vegetable.

"LET ME OUT, I'LL KILL YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

If the cabbage monster cared in the slightest, he gave no indication of it, allowing itself to burp and massage it's tummy with its vines.

"GOOD PONY. NOW ME EAT MORE TASTY PONY!"

"Then come on, ugly face!" Thunderlane taunted it "Eat me next! I'll make sure you choke on my bones!"

"Thunderlane, stop taunting him!" yelled Soarin "We're in enough trouble as it is!"

"Not that It'll change anything," added Doctor, still desperately trying his best to find a way out.

"Nope!" said Big Macintosh, also struggling to release himself, with no success at all. If only Shining dropped the knife a bit closer.

"HMM, NOISY PONY ANNOY ME. ME EAT NOISY PONY, SO NOISY PO--..." it burped again "...NOISY PO--" and again, this time louder. It started massaging it's stomach more and more, as it's face soured "...ME NO FEEL GOOD! ME TUMMY HURRRPPP---"

Four stallions looked curiously, a little bit scared, as the cabbage monster slowly, but surely, grew in size, his stomach gaining a few sizes, then even more, as it held it's body and moved it's jaw around without words, too stuffed to actually say a thing, inflating like a balloon. Soon enough, it grew twice, then three times it's size and it's vines started shaking uncontrollably, loosening up around the stallions, but they couldn't react to that, much too busy looking at the monster, twitching from the pain, until it slowly started cracking up and then...

POP!

They closed their eyes and looked away, trying to avoid getting hit by the slimy intestines, flying around after exploding from the inside, in one of the most painful ways to die they could think of. Once covered by green goop and leaves, they finally allowed themselves to look back at the place where once a big monster stood. Now there was only one thing called a monster, and only metaphorically. His horn fizzled out, turning the giant purple shield off. He looked around the mess he made.

"BUCK!" Shining stomped the ground, with face full of anger. And tears.


"So," Sunset Shimmer started "basically he beat up all three of them to save his sister's honor?"

Silver Sword nodded "That's the gist of it, yes,"

"Pfft, another story of how perfect that guy is," Sunset rolled her eyes and got back to chomping her half eaten cookie, mumbling under her nose "family full of perfections, that's what they are."

"He would've been perfect," Moondancer admitted "if he was a bit easier to do."

Twilight decided to ignore Moondancer once again.
"How bad was it?"

"Four days of intensive care, a little more and they would've been handicapped for the rest of their lives." answered Fire Strike. Once again, three mares went into silence. For a short while at least.

"Don't you get, you know," Sunset started "thrown out, or suspended for that?"

"Normally, yes," said Fire Strike "But in his case, it was a bit more complicated..."

"You see, after the fact, when he was summoned to the Captain's for reprimands, he just... resigned from guard altogether."

That bit of revelation was met with a long, awkward silence. Three brains slowly registered the last sentence, before stopping on their tracks entirely.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT?!?!!?"

Silver Sword could hear the echo and ringing in his ears for a good ten more seconds, but he could only blame himself for that.
"Ladies, please, it's still police hour..."

"No, don't you 'ladies' us," Twilight rushed towards him and poked her hoof on his chest "Shining Armor loves being a guard more then anything in his life, what do you mean 'resigned'?"

"By that," he stepped back to recover precious personal space "I mean that he wouldn't be one anymore... if we didn't snap him out of it."

"I had to punch him, TWICE!" added Fire Strike, hiding a smug, proud smile.

"Ok, seriously," Sunset Shimmer chimed in "what kind of friends punch each other?"

"It's a 'manly friendship' thing," answered Moondancer, putting a hoof at Sunset's back "Just roll with it."

Fire Strike leaned to Silver Sword and whispered "Should we remind her who slapped Twilight Sparkle just few minutes ago?"

Silver Sword rolled his eyes and continued with his story.
"He reasoned that if anything like this happened on his duty, ponies could get really hurt or worse, and that he didn't deserve to protect others, that others should be protected FROM him. It took both of us AND Captain Blitz Shield to get him out of it. He was supposed to get suspension, but Captain feared it might have made things worse, so instead he settled on three months of community service and weekly therapy sessions for the rest of the training. But even then, he felt like crap."

Twilight hummed. She thought she knew her brother inside out, that there wasn't anything he didn't show when she was around. The closest she ever saw him to actual anger, was the day he got his cutie mark and even that was tame by comparison to this. There was a time period when Shining didn't show up at their usual meetings, but she just shrugged it away as him being too busy with training. Was that why he avoided her for so long?

"So, what was the point of this story?" asked Sunset Shimmer "That Shining Armor is an unstoppable rage beast when enraged? Because that doesn't make me feel any better."

"There's a common misconception about him," explained Silver Sword "that he's a completely incompetent guy that never uses his brain. That's not exactly true."

"Could have fooled me..." Sunset snorted. Her retort was met with a jab in the chest by two mares, whose opinions of Shining Armor was significantly higher.

"He usually has a way for any problem, no matter how dire and dangerous. It's just that, most of these plans involve a somepony, or something, getting hurt or damaged, badly, so he tries to find another way. And when he's too stressed out and without options, he panics and does something reckless."

"Like punch random nobles on the street?" asked Sunset Shimmer, once again met with evil glares. She shrugged "What? We all know it happened!"

"So basically," Fire Strike summer up "he is an idiot and a big softie. But more then that, he's a warrior at heart."

After letting that sink in for a moment, Moondancer smiled.
"Just for the record, that doesn't make him sound any less attractive."

Massive groan ensued.
"Stop fantasizing about my/her brother!"


Four entangled stallions managed to finally free themselves of the vines, now that the thing it belonged to was, well, not a problem anymore. Their coats were covered in green, smelly muck, but it didn't seem poisonous or dangerous by itself, so they shrugged it away as a problem that would go away with a single shower.
Once they stood up on all fours, they looked at Shining Armor, still standing still in center of what was once a giant, cabbage monster, surrounded by vegetable remains, slime and what could be parts of a stomach, all only slightly less disturbing then a flesh and blood corpses. The unicorn in question was no less messy then his companions- his mane in particular was wet and slimy, covering his eyes, as he looked deep into the ground, not moving.
Big Macintosh walked to him and shook his back.

"You okay?" he asked gently, receiving no answer. He looked at the other ponies who just gathered. They all shrugged and couldn't quite decide how to approach him, as he stood there. They could hear his heavy breathing. He was shaking too.

"I messed up..." he said suddenly, scaring others "...I couldn't find a way..."

Soarin looked at the unicorn, gulped and moved closer.
"What do you mean? We're free, thanks to you. You don't look good, are you hurt?"

"I-I tried..." Shining stuttered "...I warned it, I-I... I didn't mean to..."

"Shining, that was a giant, evil carnivorous cabbage (that's something I never thought I'll say)!" said Thunderlane "It tried to eat us all!"

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE TO TAKE A LIFE!"

They went silent, not quite sure what to say right now. Shining Armor stood in the middle of the web, surrounded by green guts and his friends, who barely avoided getting eaten. He knew it was a good call, that if he didn't do anything they would all die a horrible death and that any of his superiors would accept and approve of it in most cases. But that still didn't take away the fact, that there was once a giant, talking, sentient creature, but there is no more and it's his fault. Because he couldn't think of anything better. His train of thought was stopped when a big, red hoof reached his face.

SMACK!

“What did Ah tell ya about foolin' around?”

Shining couldn't talk. He was much too busy massaging his swollen, red cheek. He completely forgot what it felt like to be actually punched directly, especially by somepony as strong as Big Macintosh. No, scratch that- it wasn't even half of his strength, otherwise his head would explode into pieces.

“If ya wanna whine an' wallow in self pity, be mah guest, but, before ya do that,” said Macintosh, pointing up “there's more thing's we ought a do first.”

Shining Armor looked at Mac for a while, before sighing in defeat. There was no arguing it, their mission was far from over. He wiped the tears and nodded, forcing a weak smile of determination. The one thing not gone from his face at all.


She made a mistake. Somehow, somewhere, she did something wrong, but for the love of her, she couldn't figure it out. How did the situation reversed itself so quickly, from his despair and her triumph, into the exact opposite. He did not fear her anymore, nor death or even pain. This made things considerably harder, but she wasn't going to give up either way.
Nightmare Moon once again glowed her horn, betting everything she had on one last spell. He complained that she was holding back, did he not? Now was the time to show what happens when she holds no punches. She walked to Blueblood, who, looking deep into her glowing, black eyes, slowly faded the smile away, as she bent over him and touched his horn with hers.

Prince had to summon all of his will just to stop himself from screaming. The pain he felt was unimaginable, way past the point of needless or sledgehammer pounding the brain, this was a completely different level. If his hooves weren't glued via the black energy, he would've fell on his knees. Just a little more and he would probably faint, but she had none of it, striking him with mental bolts strong enough to make him remember and dread more, but not enough to destroy his mind directly. That wasn't her plan.

“I don't know why everypony keeps on refusing my generous offers,” she said in between the blasts “but if you won't join me by yourself, then I'll get your feeble little mind by force!”

She struck him with another mental bolt, which he once again had to hold in himself and bear it within himself. More bolts, more pain. He once heard that once you're struck a few times by telepathic strikes, you build up natural defense and they stop hurting altogether. Yet another legend, completely busted. But he wasn't going to give up, it just wasn't an option anymore. Not after all he's been through, not after all these sacrifices.

“Don't you realize the position you are in? I offered you a place where you could belong. Where everypony accepts you, where nopony dares to ignore you and all your hard work, the place where you can be...”

“...just like you?”

She froze. Her mouth opened and closed many times, but no words came out of it. Prince was glad for that, as he was covered in sweat, desperately longing for breath and few moments of rest, as she started her monologue.

“I gave them everything,” she said “beautiful night, glowing stars that illuminated the sky, constellations that helped them find the way, the government that dealt with their problems. I personally guarded their dreams from nightmares and they knew it. And yet, there was no gratitude. No respect. No acceptance I so desired, just fear. Instead, they gathered around Celestia, like a bunch of moths to a light, blinded by her radiance.”

“So instead you chose to destroy everything?” Blueblood interrupted “Yes, that seems like a mature reaction.”

“BE SILENT!” she stomped the ground for the emphasis “You have no idea what I've been through, so don't you dare judge me!”

“True. But unlike me, you gave up.”

Her eyes widened “What?”

“And now you're jealous, because there is a little, puny pony before you, who despite all he's been through, still has more courage to carry on then you ever did!

This was the end of all reason. Nightmare Moon heard enough and wanted no more of this, so she continued with the mental assaults, this time twice stronger and more vicious, damn all reason to hell, if Celestia breaks loose, it'll be a problem for later. This pony was worse then those who feared and opposed her. He was insulting her by sheer existence. So similar, so much alike, yet rotten to the core, far worse then anypony she ever knew. He dared bring hope for her, somepony who understood her, who shared her pain and could offer her companionship she always longed for, then broke it almost instantly. There was no place for him.

Prince Blueblood hit a few nerves of Nightmare Moon today, but this one must have hurt a lot more then any of the previous ones combined, as she let loose on all the most painful spells that went over his imagination. Still not ready to give up, he braced himself and wished for a little something to calm him down even a little, to help ease the pain, to make it go away or at least slow it down just a bit.
He finally gave in and let out a loud, painful scream get out of his lungs, filling the castle ruins with echo of his own misery he was no longer able to contain. He couldn't take this anymore, it was too much. It...

SMASH!

...it stopped. Prince Blueblood was finally free from the spell and was allowed a longer breather. He lowered his head to the ground and waited for his heartbeats to calm down, the blood to return to his vessels and his eyes to concentrate on anything more then looking at sweat drops, dripping from his forehead unto the cobblestone. It took him a few more seconds to even realize that she wasn't torturing him anymore, so he slowly rose his head and looked at her. Nightmare Moon turned away from Blueblood and was now concentrated on a wall, or lack of one, where now the only thing visible was gray dust flying over debris. In the mist of dust, few silhouettes appeared and slowly walked out of it, showing themselves.

“You? But how?” Nightmare Moon asked, baffled.

Prince cursed his eyes for lying to him outright. Then he thought it was his mind, showing him pictures just to mess with him even more, but moment after moment, he had less things to blame for his new, impossible visions. He he didn't even notice, or cared, when his eyes started tearing up like never before. The pain was long gone, instead replaced by a great warmth.

The white coated unicorn, leading a group of several others, walked forward.
“NIIIIGHTMAAAAREEE MOOOOON!” Shining Armor yelled, catching attention of black alicorn “We... would like... to have a few words... with you!”