//------------------------------// // The Moon Sets Forever (Part 2) // Story: The Night's Knight // by The Dragon Warlock //------------------------------// Luna got up from the floor, after she was laid there by the pony she loved. No… by the Nightmare that had taken over the pony she loved. “No…” She trailed off and her eyes turned moist as she stood next to a horrified Celestia. “Pip.” “I am not Pip,” the stallion spoke in a voice that was a mixture of the original’s and of Nightmare’s. “I’m taking over this one here, since you’re too stupid and useless for me now.” Twilight glowered at the stallion. “Let go of him Nightmare!” She demanded from the dark stallion, as her friends joined her. “Like I’m going to listen to you?” “Nightmare,” Celestia spoke, narrowing her eyes at the possesed Pip. “Release Pip from your hold, or you shall pay the price!” Nightmare actually laughed at Celestia’s threat. “What you going to do? Banish this stallion or kill him?” Nightmare asked rhetorically as he sneered. “I should really thank you, if it weren’t for you none of this would have ever happened.” Nightmare continued to speak, seeing Celestia flinch at the realization of her actions. “I mean, you say you want to do good for your sister and your ponies. But in the end, all you do is wreck their lives… you’re ever worse than I am you--” “I’ve had enough of this!” Rainbow suddenly soared towards Nightmare, reading to tackle him to the ground. She was just an inch away when she froze, and Nightmare lifted his hoof and smirked at the cyan mare. “Careful, little pony.” A hoof connected to Rainbow’s head, sending her flying backwards towards the wall. She crashed into it, with her landing on the ground as she groaned. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy shouted out to her lover and rushed off towards her, holding Rainbow in her hooves as she started crying and tending to her. Twilight gasped and clenched her teeth to the Nightmare, glaring at him with as much distaste as she could. “You monster!” She then used her magic to craft a spear out of thin air and charged towards the Nightmare. “So you’re looking for a fight too? You never learn.” “Well you’re going to learn to never hurt my friends, the hard way!” Twilight sprinted towards the new Nightmare Moon with her spear at the ready. As she got within inches of her though, the stallion sighed and his horn glowed. Before Twilight could react, a blue shield formed around Nightmare and she slammed into it. “Really now Twilight,” he sneered. “I expected much better intelligence from Princess Celestia’s prized student.” The lavender alicorn groaned a little, but shook off the sudden impact. “Then I’ll give you everything and much more!” She shouted. Twilight’s horn glowed once more and shot out a fireball from it. The spell hit Nightmare's shield and broke it instantly, but he quickly teleported away before any of the flames touched him. Twilight looked around apprehensively for any sign of the black stallion, along with her friends as well. Big Macintosh suddenly saw something in the corner of his eyes. Creeping towards his wife was a cloud of blue mist that looked familiar. “Twilight, behind ya!” He shouted. She turned around and gasped to see the blue mist surrounding her. She jumped out of the way before it could engulf her completely. The mist formed back together to reveal an irritated Nightmare Moon. “Give up already Sparkle!” He spat. “You couldn’t defeat me when I came back from exile and you can’t defeat me-” “HOW ABOUT ME THEN!?” Nightmare turned to the sound of the pony speaking, but was met with two swift orange hind legs to her face that made him stumble back a little and grunt in pain. Applejack grinned to herself as she blew her two hind legs. “How about you give up before I really show ya what I’m made of?” She inquired. Nightmare looked back at the orange pony with a death stare at her and sprinted at her. She attempted to run off, but the black stallion caught up to her before she could turn around. He grabbed Applejack by the neck and threw her towards the wall. The farmer pony crashed into it and moaned as she laid on the ground. Celestia was awestruck. “I don’t get it,” she said. “Alicorns are generally strong in flying, magic, and strength, but nothing like what I’m seeing. How can Nightmare be this physically strong?” Stealth suddenly felt something click in his mind. “Oh no . . .” he muttered. “That’s right,” Nightmare replied, grinning as he flexed his muscles. “This strapping young stallion’s muscles are quite at their peak. He must’ve been working out quite a lot. Even if he wasn’t blessed with me, he could have seriously injured your sorry flank for all the things you put him through,” Nightmare sneered at Celestia, who was staring in shock at Nightmare. Celesta looked down on her sister Luna, whose eyes were moist from seeing Pip like this. “Is this true Luna?” She asked Luna, and only received a nod from her. With Nightmare looking at the horrified faces of the Royal Sisters, Twilight took her chance and sneaked behind Nightmare. She was preparing a spell she had never thought of using on a pony, much less the love of Luna. “Forgive me Pip.” Before Nightmare could respond to Twilight’s words, a surge of lightning escaped from her horn and was sent directly to Nightmare. Electricity started dancing around Nightmare’s body, sending him into a frenzy of agony and pain. Luna gasped and looked to Twilight, new set of tears running down from her cheeks as she glared. “Twilight! What are you doing?!” Twilight could not answer, but she knew whatever answer she gave would not suffice Luna. Twilight felt extremely guilty as she was hurting this stallion more, when in fact he never deserved any of this pain. “Luna… help me…” What came from Nightmare’s mouth was not his voice, but rather Pip’s. Pip’s eyes also returned but the attack on him would not stop. “Pip!” “Luna! Don’t be fooled!” Celestia pleaded, knowing that this was most likely a trap to lure Luna. Luna did not listen to her sister, no sound came into her ears as she stared directly at her Pippy’s eyes. She furrowed her brow and immediately channeled her magic and her eyes started glowing brightly. “Luna!” It was too late though as Luna put up a shield in front of Nightmare Moon. The electricity from Twilight’s horn danced around the dome and started to go off in other directions. Spike instinctively put his wings around Rarity as she held onto him tightly. Fluttershy pulled Rainbow behind a fallen piece of ceiling slab. Big Macintosh grabbed his sister and Pinkie and shielded them. Celestia put up a small dome around her and Stealth as the bolts of lightning danced aimlessly. Twilight saw what was happening and broke off her concentration on the spell immediately. “Princess Luna! Forgive me, but what are you thinking!?” Shouted the lavender alicorn. “You can’t do this to my Pippy!” She shot back. “Somewhere inside this stallion is Pipsqueak and I won’t let you hurt him!” “Luna, you have to understand that Twilight doesn’t like doing this as well,” said Celestia as she lowered her shield. “Nightmare Moon is tricking you with the same tactics that was used against Pip earlier.” “But he’s not truly Nightmare Moon! I know he’s in there and he needs me more than ever!” “Princess Luna, I know you feel hurt about this,” said Twilight. “I promise you that once I incapacitate Nightmare with that spell I was using, we can use the Spirit Split spell to get rid of her for good. I know this is painful for you, but give me some time and after this is over, you don’t have to worry about him being in pain any more.” “Oh, I assure you Twilight, there will be more pain for all of you.” The group looked up in horror to see Nightmare standing up and holding Starswirl the Bearded’s book. A loud ripping noise rang out as the black stallion levitated a page of the book. Twilight gasped as she saw what the page was. “That’s the Spirit Split spell!” “Correction. . .” Nightmare’s horn glowed again and the page was engulfed in flames. In a matter of seconds, the page turned to ashes in front of the group’s eyes. “It was the Spirit Split spell.” “You . . . you . . .” Twilight seethed. “You and your friends are done interfering in this,” said Nightmare. “I think it’s time all of you should see the fall of your rulers by my hoof.” “Not if I have anything to-” Before Twilight could finish her sentence, a field started to envelop around the bodies of all the ponies except Celestia and Luna. Unable to move, they were powerless as Nightmare started advancing to the princesses. “Now then, where were we?” Celestia seethed in rage as Nightmare approach. “Let them go at once!” Nightmare merely tilted his head and started cackling in laughter. “You think I’m gonna listen to a mare like you?” “What you seek isn’t Pip! It’s me!” Luna shouted out as she stood before her sister. “Take me and release Pip.” “Hmmm…” Nightmare tapped his chin with his hoof in thought, scrunching his lips. “Nah! Sorry, but this body is a lot fresher and has more potential!” Luna and Celestia looked to each, nodding before charging towards Nightmare. “Now that’s more like it!” Celestia used her magic to summon a mace and used all her power to slam in where Nightmare was standing. He dodged the attack, and the mace collided with the floor emitting a powerful tremor that soon broke the floor as earth starting rising from the spot. Luna screamed and used her magic to send Nightmare crashing into the opposite wall, sending him flying through to another room. When Nightmare finally got out of the debris, he was just smiling and laughing. “That’s it! Let’s play some more!” With that said, Nightmare channeled his magic to create a shadow that spread around himself. and soon the shadow was shooting out spears of darkness to the princesses who were bracing themselves. “Kiss yourselves goodbye!” Celestia casted a shield around herself and the others just in time, as spears started to collide with the shield. It was working, but only for a little while until cracks started forming. “Sister!” “Luna be quiet! I can only hold the barrier for so long!” “Come on Celestia! For somepony who’s supposed to be one of the bravest leaders in Equestria, you sure are acting like a coward!” Nightmare’s barrage increased more as bolts of lightning pounded against the dome. “Tia, he’s right, we can’t stay here forever!” Shouted Luna. “What can we do now!?” Celestia could hear the shield starting to crack and looked around desperately. “There’s only thing to do sister!” Before Luna could ask, Celestia broke her concentration on the shield and her horn glowed for a brief moment as the dome finally shattered. Nightmare Moon smiled victoriously as his magic blasted around the area both princesses were at. His horn dimmed out as he felt the continuous bolts of lightning most likely left them dead. But as the dust settled, Nightmare saw no sign of Luna nor Celestia. “Where’d they go!?” He demanded. “There’s no way they could’ve survived that!” “We beg to differ.” Nightmare turned around and was met by a lightning bolt that hit him in the chest. He let out a grunt of pain as he staggered back a little. Before he could regain his bearings, Celestia charged at him and tackled him to the ground, which caused a thunderous crack to sound out. Nightmare punched Celestia in the face and pushed her off, but he once again found himself overwhelmed with Luna using her magic to shoot out an ice bolt. He ducked out of the way, but the spell managed to freeze part of his leg and was slowed down. As both princesses closed in on Nightmare, the black stallion’s eyes narrowed and he snorted in anger. “ENOUGH OF THIS!” He boomed. He used his magic to create a shockwave that sent Luna and Celestia flying back against the wall. They both hit the ground and groaned a little as they raised their heads up to see Nightmare’s horn glowing. Black smoke started to form next to the stallion that got bigger and bigger with each passing second. “Luna, look!” Cried out Celestia. The blue alicorn gasped as she saw a black hoof start to form out of the smoke. Then there was a head, wings, a horn, and a tail. Both princesses’ jaws nearly dropped as the smoke vanished and saw none other than another Nightmare Moon that looked exactly the same as the one they were fighting. Both Nightmares’ looked at each other and then at Celestia and Luna. “How did you say it Luna?” Asked one Nightmare. “The fun has been doubled? Well now . . .” “The nightmare’s been doubled!” They both shouted in unison. Before Celestia or Luna could respond, both versions of Nightmare attacked the sisters before them. Celestia had to face the Nightmare Moon replica and Luna was fighting against Nightmare possessing Pip. Both Nightmares were merciless in their attacks, not giving any chance for their opponents to fight back. With the battle going on, the Elements of Harmony could only watch as the fight continued between the godlike beings. Celestia lowered her shield just for the moment, hoping to eliminate the replica before her with her magic. Once her shield was gone she charged her horn to ready an attack, but she was too slow. The replica immediately shot a burst of darkness towards the princess, sending her flying with a yelp as she landed on her back. “Sister!” Luna shouted out, trying to reach Celestia. “Pay attention to your opponent!” Luna’s ears perked and Nightmare appeared before her, using his magic to injure her with dark lightning as Luna shouted out in pain. “Princess!” Twilight called out to Luna, wishing she could do more for them. She hated feeling this helpless in times such as these. Luna tried to stand up but immediately a hoof landed on hers, sending her in agony as she started to cry. She looked up to see Nightmare looking down her with malice, snickering at the helpless alicorn beneath him. “Time to say goodnight.” “Please. . . Pip, you must fight it. . .” “I’m sorry Luna, but he will never hear you.” With that, Nightmare charged his horn with magic. Dark magic started to gather and condense, becoming darker with each moment. Luna could hear Celestia calling out to her and could hear the other ponies shouting out her name. The princess merely closed her eyes, awaiting the inevitable. But it never came. “N . . . NO! I . . . I won’t let you do this to her!” Luna’s ears perked up as she recognized the voice. She opened her eyes to see Nightmare Moon thrashing around like he was being lassoed and was holding his head. Everypony in the room, with the exception of Celestia since the phantom Nightmare was still fighting her, watched in awe as the real dark alicorn groaned in agony. He raised his head slowly and opened his eyes to reveal not the catlike irises, but the reddish brown eyes that were Pipsqueak’s true eyes. “Pippy?” Asked Luna in awe. “Luna . . . I’ve got little time to talk to you,” he said in a strained voice. “There’s one thing I need to tell you, something that should help you figure out how to save me.” “What is it, my love?” “Just like how I followed my dream to become a Night Guard, you must follow your dream of being with me forever.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Pippy, what does that have to do with anything?” “Think about it Luna,” he said. “You’ve seen many ponies have dreams for stuff they wish to achieve. Now you must follow your own dream and find a way to really make it come true.” “How can dreams save you though?” “Tell me Luna, when do you see somepony’s dreams about wanting something?” The dark blue alicorn pondered for a moment before the gears in her head turned and she gasped. “Pip, if we weren’t in mortal peril right now, I’d kiss you for being so clever,” she said. Luna then turned to her sister. “Tia, I know how to save Pippy!” “And I finally got this spirit!” She called back. Her horn shot out a large white beam of light at the vulnerable phantom Nightmare Moon. The beam hit him directly in the chest and he let out a painful roar as his body started to crack. A few seconds later, a mirror shattering sound echoed across the hallway as the fake Nightmare was destroyed and little white lights rained down. Celestia turned back to her sister, with a satisfied smile on her face. “Now what’s the plan Luna?” Luna sighed and slumped her shoulders. “I need to take a nap.” Applejack’s jaw dropped upon hearing this and immediately shut as she scowled. “Now’s not the time to go sleeping Princess!” “I have to agree with Applejack here Luna!” Celestia chimed in, yet upon seeing Luna’s face she remained silent. “If I sleep now and enter Pip’s dream, I might be able to save him,” Luna stated as she looked to the Nightmare. “This is the only thing I can do right now.” “But Princess!” Rainbow objected, her eyes widened from hearing the crazy idea. “What about us here?! Surely you’re not planning on leaving us alone to fight Nightmare.” “Rainbow,” Luna began, gulping as she furrowed her brow. “I will be fighting with you, just not physically. In dreams, I am the strongest.” “But-” “Luna’s right,” Celestia interrupted Rainbow, looking down on her sister. “We’ll buy you all the time you need Luna,” Celestia then nuzzled her sister softly with her eyes becoming moist. “Just come back to me safely.” “Sister…” Celestia raised her head and looked to Nightmare, with Pip regaining some control. “Celestia, whatever you do, it better be--” Pip screamed as he covered his head with his hooves and fell to the ground. He rose up again, his eyes and voice returning to Nightmare’s. “That was annoying!” He then looked to Celestia and grinned. “Shall we continue? I’m eager to end you right now.” “The only thing that is ending is you!” Celestia retorted and used her magic to attack Nightmare, covering her sister. “Luna, do it!” “Yes!” Luna immediately closed her eyes and channeled her magic. Her horn started to glow and a small dome surrounded her, protecting her from Nightmare’s grasp. It then dimly faded until it finally stopped. When it did however, she fell to the ground with her mouth opened slightly. Luna was now asleep. “Captain Armor, sir!” The white unicorn gasped as he was recovering from using more of his magic up. “Report sergeant,” he said. “Sir, despite our best efforts and using your tactics, we’ve lost over half our men now,” he said. “In fact, we just learned that the pegasus guards under Nightmare’s control managed to take out Captain Spitfire, along with a couple more Wonderbolts with her. Lieutenant Soarin and only a small number of Wonderbolts are left now. Sir, I know you don’t want to do it, but we need to-” “You say that word,” scolded Shining Armor, “and I’ll make sure you’re discharged from the military after this.” “But sir-” “But nothing!” Shining heard a yelling noise and turned to use his magic to fire out a spell that sent the corrupted guard flying back. The white unicorn got up and snorted. “We need to give Twily more time and if we’ve got to fight until our last soldier falls, then we’ll do so.” He picked up one of the enchanted crossbows and his eyes narrowed. “Now let’s go men! Twily and all of Equestria need us more than ever!” With that, he galloped towards a group of ponies fighting, along with several guards around him. Luna’s first sight upon entering the dream realm was nothing but darkness. “Great . . . nopony’s asleep yet because of Nightmare Moon. That and I’m sure ponies everywhere want to know why the sun set so early.” Wasting no time, Luna’s horn lit up and a light shined against the darkness surrounding her. Billowing black clouds could be seen coming from a single direction. Luna followed the path of the clouds with caution. It wasn’t until she came upon the sight of lightning flashing that there was a swirling cloud in front of her that it made Luna gasp. She hesitantly raised a hoof and pressed it against the cloud. She felt a painful electrical shock that coursed through her body and yelped in pain. She backed up and distinctly heard the sound of somepony snickering sinisterly. Luna groaned as she got up and looked at the menacing swirl, with flashes of lightning being seen around it. “Nightmare,” she said with anger in her voice. “You’ve made your last bad dream.” Her eyes narrowed as she focused on the dark cloud. Diving into the dark cloud, Luna was greeted with a barrage of lightning bolts and the cackling laughter of Nightmare Moon. She did not care though, she only cared about saving Pip and getting out of here with him safe in her hooves. As the thunder continued to rain down on Luna’s body, her vision started going as she was sustaining more and more injuries. Her wings started to sizzle and burn marks were beginning to appear on her coat. Luna squinted her eyes to better her sight, seeing a small ray of light in the distance. She smiled triumphantly and flapped her wings harder, gaining speed at an alarming rate. The light started to grow in the distance, until it blinded her eyes. Luna had to close them, though the warmth reacted well to her touch as a secondary guide for her. Once the light had subsided, Luna was out of the storm. She opened her eyes to see that she was inside a dark room, with one pony in the centre. She narrowed her eyes and gasped. It was Pip. Her Pip. She rushed towards him, falling down on her knees as she scooped him up in her embrace. When she did though, she was horrified by what she saw. Pip was covered in scratches and bruises were present on him too. His eyes were blackened and his lips were dried up. All his legs appeared to be broken along with his mane and coat being burned. “He looks good doesn’t he?” Luna’s head rocketed upwards, seeing Nightmare Moon canter towards the pair maliciously. “You!” Luna snarked out with clenched teeth. “What did you do to him?!” “Nothing, it was all you… no wait, it was Celestia and her friends hurting him so bad on the outside.” “You lie!” Nightmare Moon sneered at Luna. “You saw it yourself, how much Celestia was hurting Pip when you were awake. If only you could see him now.” Nightmare smiled as she laughed. “Oh wait! You are seeing him now for what he really is!” Luna started tearing up as she glared at Nightmare Moon, who was still making her way to Luna. “You know it wasn’t very smart of you to come into his mind, much less his dream,” she said. “You leaving your body to come to Pip’s rescue has left you extremely vulnerable.” “I’m strong enough to fight you and save him from your grasp!” “You forgot one thing though Luna,” chimed Nightmare. “If you’re killed in the Dream Realm, your mind will shatter and you will be all but brain dead. Don’t worry though, I’ll make good use of your body. I’ll turn you into an obedient servant to me once I have full control of Pip.” “Like Tartarus that’s going to happen!” Luna shouted. Her horn charged up and shot out a flurry of magical arrows down upon the dark spirit. Nightmare yawned in a mocking matter and teleported away before the arrows hit her. Luna looked around, waiting to see where the black stallion would appear. “Luna . . . look out!” Pip’s voice croaked. She turned around and narrowly avoided a hoof aimed for her head. She attempted to tackle Nightmare Moon to the ground, but he grabbed her by the neck and raised her off the ground. He then slammed her to the ground and kicked her in the head. Nightmare, seeing Luna twitch and groan in pain, smiled in satisfaction before turning to Pip. “So you’re still alive, huh?” The spotted stallion struggled to get up, but his legs were in too much pain to stand up. He looked at Nightmare with a cold glare. “As long as I can breathe and have the will . . . I’ll still fight and I won’t stop until you’re finally destroyed.” “Now isn’t that cute? A desperate stallion fighting to delay the inevitable of what’s to come. You’re just as delusional as Luna here.” “Luna has a heart and everypony loves her,” spat Pip. “If anything, you’re the one delaying what’s going to happen to you. You will be defeated again and you will never hurt anypony ever again.” Nightmare’s smirk faded into a scowl and his horn glowed. “Let me end your babbling nonsense then you little-” Before his spell shot out, Nightmare a deep searing pain all over him. He looked at his side to see he was on fire and panicked. The black alicorn screamed as he fell to the floor and rolled around to desperately put out the fire. Pip looked up to see Luna was standing up, albeit she was staggering a little, and was coming towards him. She lowered her head upon his and her horn shined brightly. Pip felt the pain around his body fading away slowly. The cuts and scratches on him were patching up and the bruises on him became smaller and smaller. The feeling in his legs also returned as he slowly moved them and felt their strength return. Luna’s horn stopped glowing and looked at her lover, who was slowly getting up and trying to regain his bearings. “Are you alright Pippy?” “Better now that you’re here Lulu,” he said as he stood on his shaking legs, but straightened himself up. He gave Luna a soft kiss on the lips. “Now, we need to take care of that.” Pip pointed to Nightmare who was getting up from the ground after ridding of the flames. “Both of you will perish here today, and night eternal shall reign!” Nightmare shouted out, focusing his magic again. A pool of shadow started forming and a replica was starting to form of the Nightmare. “Oh no you don’t, you wench!” Luna charged towards Nightmare and interrupted the spell Nightmare was casting, the shadow dissipating immediately. Nightmare groaned as he backed away from Luna’s charge. “You will be the first to die, then that little runt of yours!” “Guess again!” Turning around to face the source of the words spoken, Nightmare was greeted by a mighty buck to his face. He flinched as was sent flying backwards. Before he could react, Luna used her magic to slam Nightmare to the floor beneath him. When his body slammed into the floor, a tremor followed as he landed hard on the ground below. Getting up from the rubble, Nightmare glared at Luna who was now flying above him. “Why you ungrateful, little bitch!” Nightmare growled at her, using his magic to send beams of magic towards the princess. They all missed as Nightmare sent barrages at her. When he started unfurling his wings, Pip appeared before him again. Nightmare backed away. “How do you move so fast?!” “My dream, my rules!” With that, Pip tackled Nightmare to the ground and started punching him with a fury of hooves. What was shocking was the speed Pip was executing his punches at. It was comparable to the speed of sound he was punching Nightmare at. Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed as he felt the anger and frustration building up inside him. He let out a deafening roar that caused Pip and Luna to cover their ears in protection. “THAT’S ENOUGH!” He screeched. A black shockwave formed around Nightmare and exploded, causing Luna and Pip to be sent flying to the ground. The black alicorn panted and gritted his teeth as he slowly trotted over to them, with each hoofstep booming in his wake. “You forgot one thing in your recklessness Luna!” Barked Nightmare. “You aren’t the only one who’s powerful in dreams. You may be strong, but the power of darkness and shadows is where I am strongest.” He positioned himself into a fighting stance and his horn glowed. “Just to show you a demonstration, allow me to end your feeble resistance. “ARGH!” Pip cried out. Luna turned around to see a large, black tentacle wrap itself around her love’s waistline. The spotted stallion tried punching it, but it had no effect on it. “Better keep your eyes on me Luna.” The night princess turned to see, what appeared to be, a thousand spears raining down upon her. She instinctively used her magic to create a barrier and could hear the spears cracking and shattering around her shield. At the same time, she could see her own dome cracking slowly under the pressure. “Come on Luna, what’s the matter? Can’t handle the stress? No wonder you’re so weak and pathetic!” Pip heard the insult and felt rage course through his body. He bit the tentacle, which caused it to wince in pain and release his hold on him. The spotted stallion galloped over towards Nightmare Moon, who was laughing coldly. “Let’s see you handle this!” He seethed. Nightmare turned and was greeted with a hoof to his face. His horn stopped glowing, making the black spears cease their assault. He tried to use his magic to teleport, but Pip grabbed his head and butted it against his own. The black alicorn groaned as his head was pounding. Pip once again charged at him and tackled Nightmare to the ground. In a panic, Nightmare’s horn glowed and shot out a bolt of lightning, which hit Pip in the chest. The spotted stallion’s eyes went wide as he fell to the ground and moaned in agony. Nightmare’s panic waned as he felt Pip’s weight lift off him. He smirked and his his horn glowed again. “Pippy!” Luna cried out and galloped over. Suddenly, she felt something wrap around her. Luna looked to see another tentacle wrap itself around her. It then raised her to the air and slammed her down hard. The blue alicorn groaned as she felt pain coursing through her body. She could barely see in the corner of her eye Pip was too being held by a tentacle. “It’s all over now.” Nightmare snickered, holding the pair in the tentacles and squeezing the life out of them. Hearing Luna screaming out in pain, Nightmare cackled as he slammed the princess to the ground. Nightmare lifted the princess up again and brought her closer to look him in the eye. “Now you see how useless you are without me Luna!” Luna glared at the abomination before her and spat in Nightmare face. “You sicken me, you monster!” Nightmare merely wiped his face and landed a blow to her face with his hoof. “Mind your manners you fool.” “Leave her alone you gelding!” Hearing those words, Nightmare turned to Pip who was struggling to break free of tentacle’s hold over him. “Ah, almost forgot about you.” Nightmare casually trotted towards Pip, bringing the earth pony closer to him. He then gave Pip the same punch he gave Luna in the jaw, repeating the action as he spoke. “You. Don’t. Intervere. When. I’m. Talking. To. Somepony!” When Nightmare was finished, Pip was banged up badly as his face was swollen and bloody. “Why don’t I show you what’s going on outside?” Nightmare asked rhetorically and used his magic to form a screen in the space above. When the screen widened, moving images of the outside world was shown. Luna gasped when she saw her sister Celestia. Celestia looked even worse than when Luna first entered Pip’s dream; her coat was bloodied and burned, her mane lost its ethereal quality and she was breathing heavily as she was sweating bullets. The others were on the ground defeated as the Nightmare was busy fighting Celestia. “My my, what a useless princess she is… without anypony to carry her around, she can’t properly live at all. Let alone defend herself.” “When I get free of your grasp, I’ll-” “You’ll what?” Mocked Nightmare. “You can’t break free of my grasp and I wouldn’t even try to use magic if I were you. The shadows are everywhere around here and they’d catch you the moment you teleport somewhere.” Luna looked down in defeat as any remaining hope in her ebbed. “Now, let’s show you your so called army of Equestria,” said Nightmare. “Maybe they’re doing better than you and your pathetic excuse of a sister.” The image swirled around and became blurry for a moment. The screen stopped moving as it showed the outskirts of Canterlot, but the sight before Luna only made her feel worse. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were fighting with all their might, but saw the soldiers fighting besides them being overrun and were desperately trying to fight back. Nightmare let out another sinister chuckle. “Well it seems as if not only did you fail Luna, but your sister and those who tried to fight against me. Don’t worry though, your life and that of your friends will be safe. After all, you all will make excellent obedient, mindless slaves once I use my powers on all of you to bend each of you to my will.” “Never . . .” slurred a voice. Luna turned to see Pip was waking up and had a glare on his face. “Pippy, don’t try and provoke her any more,” she warned. “That’s the smartest thing you’ve said Luna,” said Nightmare. He then turned to Pip. “You’ve got nowhere to go anymore you fool. It’s useless to resist the inevitable and there’s no hope for you all anymore. I control everything around you now and can do anything I want to without you meddling. Your body, your strength, agility, mind, and wildest dreams are all mind now to use.” Luna suddenly felt something click on her mind from that last statement. Dreams . . . I think I’ve got how to turn this all around now. She turned to her coltfriend. “Pip, I need you to listen me very carefully.” The spotted stallion wheezed heavily as he turned slowly towards the blue alicorn. “What is it my love?” He whispered. “There’s one chance to stop this before it’s too late,” she said. “You are still in control of one thing we’re in right now, your dreams.” “What do you mean?” “Pippy, you and I are in the Dream Realm, your Dream Realm to be more specific. You have all the power you want right here. You can make yourself stronger and faster than Nightmare Moon.” “But how?” “Concentrate on what you want to be,” she responded. “Imagine yourself more powerful than Nightmare Moon and use your power to finally end this.” Pip gave a weary nod and said, “I’ll . . . I’ll try.” He closed his eyes in concentration and focused what little strength he had to think. Slowly, images started popping up inside his head, more specifically the area he, Luna, and Nightmare Moon were in, but they were all so blurry and unrecognizable, that it looked like somepony spilled or smeared something on the floor. The black alicorn let out a cold laugh. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do you two, but it seems your plan has failed,” he said in a mocking tone. “Guess I might as well end your suffering now.” Luna felt the tentacle around her tighten and her body was crying out in protest. “Pipsqueak, hurry!” She yelled in agony. “I can’t hold out much longer!” The spotted stallion tried to clear the images around him, but they were still unclear blobs. The gears inside his head felt like they were working overtime as he tried to desperately clear his head. “AHHH!” Pip opened his eyes to see Luna’s hoof flailing around as she was completely wrapped around the tentacle. He could see her eyes looking into his own with a look of panic in them, along with tears building up in them. As he saw her tears build up, Pip felt a surge of anger burning up inside him. His weariness almost instantly went away as his rage grew. The pain from his wounds were ignored as his muscles tensed up. He closed his eyes again to concentrate and this time, the images inside his mind cleared up. The blobs surrounding him, Luna, and Nightmare Moon took form and glowed brightly. One blob became a large suit of pearly white armor, while another became a giant sword, and a third one took the form of a pristine pearly white helmet. The objects glowed so brightly, Pip had to shield his eyes before going blind. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?” Boomed Nightmare Moon. Almost as quickly as he asked, he was given an answer as the objects around Pip shot out a beam of light and went directly to the spotted stallion. Pip couldn’t tell what was happening, but he felt his whole body tingle and the pain he suffered slowly went away. All of a sudden, he felt something weigh him down and his vision was a little obscured. The brightness slowly died down around Pip and everything soon became nearly completely dark again. Nightmare Moon could only look with bewilderment. “What was the point of that?” He asked. All of a sudden, the light shined again and the tentacle around Pip collapsed to the ground. A pony fell to the ground, carrying a sword in his mouth and was covered in the same looking armor as seen before. The pony raised his head to reveal none other than Pipsqueak, whose eyes were looked like they had flames in them. “How did you-!?” Pip ignored Nightmare’s question as he saw the tentacle holding Luna and charged toward it. “Oh, not you don’t!” Nightmare’s horn glowed, causing more tentacles to pop out of the shadows and go after the spotted stallion. Pip dodged some of the shadowy tentacles, but as he came up towards Luna, he jumped on a few of them. He kept going up until finally, he came on level with where the princess of the night was held. He made a large leap and raised his sword against the tentacle and brought it down upon it. The sword hit the mark directly and was sliced into two, causing it to writhe in pain and disappear. Pip saw the cocoon like tentacle that was holding Luna fall to the ground and hit it with a loud THUD. He quickly galloped down again, hoping across the tentacles, but he was suddenly hit by a bolt of lightning and was sent falling to the ground. He hit the floor hard and could feel his right side hurt from the pain. The spotted stallion then heard the sound of somepony laughing coldly and instantly recognized the voice. “You really think you’re invincible Pipsqueak?” Mocked Nightmare Moon. “It seems you have remembered that in your dreams, you can pretty much do everything, but I am just as powerful in dreams as well.” “You forget though Nightmare,” said Pip. “It’s my mind, my dreams, my rules. I’m going to show you who rules here and make you learn your lesson the hard way.” “I’d like to see you tr-AHH!” Nightmare staggered a bit as he felt something like fire hit him. He looked to his side to see Luna uncovered herself from the tentacles and her horn was sizzling a little. “You ignorant child! When I’m done with you, I’ll-” Nightmare had no time to finish that statement as a hoof suddenly slammed right into his right cheek, causing him to cry out in pain and his head hurt. The dark alicorn slowly regained his bearings and looked to see Pipsqueak with his hoof raised. “What did you say earlier Nightmare?” He asked. “Oh yeah, better keep your eyes on me.” Pip galloped towards Nightmare again and drew out his sword from his back. The black alicorn quickly shot out a few energy beams at his opponent, but the spotted stallion narrowly dodged the attacks. When he saw Pip raising his sword, Nightmare quickly put up a small shield barrier to protect him before teleporting away. The knight looked around frantically for any sign of the demonic spirit, but there was no sign of him. Just above him, Nightmare stared down at the spotted stallion. “Now it’s time to put you out of your misery,” he spat. He positioned himself and flew towards his target like a rocket. Princess Luna, who was still reeling from what happened to her, regained her bearings and saw Pip not too far from her. However, she caught sight of Nightmare approaching him at a fast pace and panicked. “PIP! ABOVE YOU!” She boomed in her Royal Canterlot Voice. The spotted stallion looked up and saw Nightmare smiling demonically at him. He galloped out of the way, but raised his sword up in the process. He turned back to see Nightmare had changed direction, but was still dive bombing towards him. “Perfect,” he muttered to himself. Pip raised his sword and waited until Nightmare was mere inches away from him before bringing down his sword, hoping he’d get a strike on the black alicorn. “AAAHHH!!!” Screamed Nightmare. Pip felt a little blood hit him and saw some feathers fall to the ground as well. He could see a small trail of blood and saw that it was coming from Nightmare Moon. The alicorn was flying erratically and could feel a sharp pain in his left wing. He tried to land carefully, but he was going so fast, that he crashed into the ground and skidded across it for a couple of seconds before coming to a stop. Nightmare groaned as he got up and could still feel the pain in his wing. He then looked at it and saw, to his horror, the wing was all but severed completely and blood was pouring out of it. He looked over to Pip and his eyes turned red. “HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!?” He barked. “I wanted us to be on even ground. Since I can’t fly, you can’t as well.” Nightmare’s furious expression changed to that of a smug one. “Ah, but you forget that I have magic as well. So I still have the edge over you.” “We’ll see about that.” “No, we will settle this NOW!” Nightmare’s horn glowed and the sound of electricity humming and crackling echoed throughout the room. A large black orb formed on his horn and he looked at Pip with a menacing smile. “Don’t worry Pip, you and Luna there will be together in Tartarus forever! I’ll send you both on a one way ticket there!” Nightmare could feel the orb was almost ready and prepared to fire it. “IT SHALL BE YOU IN TARTARUS, YOU FOUL DEMON!” A voice boomed. Nightmare Moon turned quickly to see Luna was back on all fours and her horn was glowing brightly. Before he could react, the princess shot out what looked like a large white disc and was headed for the black alicorn. Out of instinct, Nightmare ducked to avoid the disc and chuckled to himself. “Is that really the best you got Luna? A disc of light will kill me?” “No . . . but it will kill one part of you.” “What do you mean by-” BZZZT!!! Nightmare stopped speaking and his facial expression changed to one of complete shock. He could feel a deep, searing pain pound in his head. “AAAHHH!!!” He screamed as he held his head. He frantically grasped his hooves around the source of the pain, but as he did, he quickly realized something wasn’t there. “Looking for this?” The dark alicorn saw Luna holding none other than his severed horn, rendering him unable to use his magic. “Now, you and Pippy are both even.” Nightmare started panting heavily as the rage and ferocity inside him built up. He looked at Luna with eyes that look like they can shoot out daggers. The blue alicorn felt the fur on her back stick up and stepped back a little to give herself room. As she did though, Nightmare pounced at her with catlike reflexes and put both hooves around her neck. Luna tried to gasp for air and flailed around, but Nightmare put more pressure on her and stared at the princess with a scowl. “I. WILL. NOT. BE. BEATEN. BY. YOU!” He boomed. “YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS COLTFRIEND WILL KNOW TRUE SUFFERING ONCE I’M DONE WITH BOTH OF YOU!” “You won’t be causing anymore suffering!” Nightmare jerked his head and was met by a hoof connecting harshly to his face. He staggered back a little and his grip on Luna was ceased. The black alicorn looked up to see Pipsqueak standing near Luna and holding him. “You . . . you insolent foal! I’ve had enough of your meddling!” He charged towards the spotted stallion, but unlike before where Pip barely dodged the attacks, this one caught him off guard and he sent him to ground. Pip tried to fight off Nightmare Moon, but the black alicorn removed the helmet he had on him and started going after his face. His hooves connected punch after punch to Pip’s face and grinned sinisterly. Desperately, the spotted stallion saw his sword nearby and tried to grab it. Nightmare, however, saw this and quickly picked it up and threw it off to the side. Luna coughed and hacked as she got up, but she heard a clanking sound and saw the sword was right in front of her. She looked up to see Nightmare was overpowering Pip and then back at the sword. Something inside her head suddenly clicked and she smiled to herself. She lowered her head and said to herself, “Don’t worry Pippy, you’ve still got me.” Her horn glowed and the sword started to glow a white light. Nightmare laughed coldly as he stopped beating up Pipsqueak. “You never had a chance against me. It doesn’t matter if I don’t have magic or can fly, I still have enough strength to beat you.” “It doesn’t matter though,” said Pip. “You can have all those things and as long as I can fight, I will beat you.” “Delusional even towards the very end. You’re a pathetic pony who never had a chance against me, much less a chance with Luna.” Pip tried to fight back again, but Nightmare put a hoof around his neck and started choking him. He was starting to lose sight and everything became blurry to him. The sound of Nightmare’s laughs became quieter as everything became pitch black. CLANG! The spotted stallion heard something loud land near him and rolled his eyes to see his sword was there, but was glowing a bright white light on its blade. “Pippy! Grab the sword and finish him! That spell I put on there should help finish the job.” Luna shouted. “NO!” Nightmare put more force on Pip’s neck and tried to stop him. The spotted stallion, with a sense of urgency, used his free hoof to slowly inch his way towards the sword. With each attempt though, he could feel Nightmare’s hold on him get tighter and was losing strength. “You can’t do this!” Screamed Nightmare. “I’ve come too far now to fail!” He slammed his head into Pip, causing him to grunt in pain and his breathing movement slowly died down. “Any last words before I put you out of your misery?” He asked Pip. The spotted stallion mustered up his remaining strength and nodded. “What is it then?” Nightmare asked with a smug expression on him. Pip gritted his teeth and said, “You . . . have failed.” He used his remaining strength to stretch his hoof and grabbed the sword’s handle. Pip raised the hoof holding the sword and plunged it right into Nightmare Moon’s chest. The black alicorn’s eyes shot wide open and his jaw dropped. He stepped back and placed one of his hooves around where the sword was. “No . . . no . . .” He lowered his head shook for a few seconds before raising his head and bellowing, “NNNOOO!!!” Cracks started forming on Nightmare’s body, each one having a small beam of light showing in each of them. As the black alicorn screamed in panic and staggered back, more cracks appeared. Eventually, Nightmare fell to the ground and held his head as his whole body failed him and couldn’t move. “THIS CAN’T BE! AAAHHH!!!” Nightmare let out one last scream as his whole body exploded. Pipsqueak and Luna covered their eyes as the brightness blinded them for a few seconds. As soon as it died out, they both lowered their hooves to see little purple flames rain down upon them. As each one approached the floor however, they all went out one by one, all except one. One lonely flame landed on the ground near Pipsqueak, who could’ve sworn he heard somepony laughing faintly. Not wanting to take the chance, he raised his hoof and firmly stomped on the flame, causing what sounded like somepony to scream faintly as well. “It’s . . . it’s all over,” he said. Pip was about to fall to the ground, but he was caught by somepony. He looked up to see Princess Luna looking at him. “Thank you, Lulu.” “Save your strength Pippy,” she said. “You’re a little hurt, but it’s over now.” “What’s going to happen now.” “We wake up is what happens. With Nightmare Moon gone, you now have control of your body again. In fact, I’d say you’d wake up right-” Before Luna could finish, Pipsqueak was blinded by a bright light and everything became a blur to him. “It’s all over now Celestia!” The white alicorn panted heavily and was barely holding her own against Nightmare Pip. “You won’t get away with this,” she spat. “Oh, I think I already have you-” He stopped speaking and his whole body froze. Suddenly, Nightmare collapsed to the ground and let out a scream. His whole body was covered in a white smoke. Nightmare’s screams slowly died down and became whimpers of pain. Celestia, Spike, Stealth, and the Elements of Harmony watched in awe and caution as they saw what was happening. Eventually, the whimpering stopped, there was no movement, and the room fell into complete silence. Celestia cautiously approached the white smoke and reached out with a hoof to see what became of Pip. As she reached out, the fog cleared out and the white alicorn saw to her delight a familiar brown spot and white fur on the pony. She cleared out the rest of the white fog and smiled to see Pipsqueak was lying on the ground unconscious. She turned to the others and said, “It’s Philip! Luna did it!” The stasis field around the Elements of Harmony, Spike, and Stealth shattered and the group cheered happily. Big Mac and Twilight hugged each other and shared a small kiss with one another. Spike and Rarity cuddled up next to themselves and held each other closely. Fluttershy, in a bit of shockness to the others, tackled Rainbow to the ground and pulled her into a deep kiss, which made the blue pegasus’ eyes widen and her face blushed. Princess Celestia let out a sigh of relief when she suddenly felt somepony embrace her and looked down to see Stealth Sneak on her leg. “Well done Princess Celestia,” he said. “I knew you could buy your sister the time she needed.” “I don’t think it’s me you should be thanking,” she said. “This brave stallion here should be the one we should all be thanking.” “I just hope he made it out okay.” “Me too Stealth, me too. After everything he’s done, I want to finally let him be happy.” Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were pressed against each other back to back. They watched the last of their guards fall to Nightmare’s guards and were closing in on them. “Cadence, I’m sorry it had to end like this,” said Shining Armor. “We bought Twily and her friends as much time as we could, but we failed.” “Don’t be sad, Mi Amor,” said the pink alicorn. “We did our best and we’ll find a way to escape Nightmare Moon before she turns us into mindless slaves.” “I hope so, for our sake.” Both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were tackled to the ground and pinned by Nightmare’s soldiers. Their captors looked at their prisoners with angry expressions on them. “Take them away at . . . at . . .” The guard giving the orders suddenly felt dizzy and held his head in pain. The sounds of groaning echoed across the battlefield as all of Nightmare’s troops fell to the ground and held their heads in pain. Shining Armor noticed a purple mist coming out of each guard’s head, which went into the night sky and disappeared. “Shining . . . they did it!” Cadence said joyfully. “Nightmare Moon’s spell is broken now!” The white unicorn hugged his wife briefly and laughed to himself. “I knew they’d pull it in the end. I think that maybe that Pipsqueak guard did it as well for Princess Luna’s sake.” “General Armor!” Both he and Cadence turned to see Soarin carrying Spitfire on his back and had two Wonderbolts by his side. “Lieutenant, good to see you made it out,” said Shining. “Are you and those two Wonderbolts all that’s left?” “Yes sir. I managed to save Captain Spitfire here before she and the other Wonderbolts could be taken away to the castle. Unfortunately, she’s got several cuts and what looks like a sprained wing. We need medical attention for her and all the guards here.” “Ugh . . . what happened to me?” A voice moaned. Everywhere across the battlefield, Shining Armor, Cadence, Soarin, and the Wonderbolts looked around to see everypony was regaining conscious slowly. Some guards couldn’t get up while others slowly got to their legs and looked around in wonder. The group could hear the soldiers muttering questions to themselves such as “How did I get here?” to “What’s going on?”. “General Armor,” one guard said. “Have . . . have we finally done it?” The white unicorn smiled to himself and said, “Yes Sergeant, yes we did.” He then gave a stern look and said in a commanding tone. “Now then, we’ll begin rounding up the injured and look for some of our healers. Hopefully they aren’t injured themselves.” “YES GENERAL!” The group called out and saluted. Inside one of the castle’s corridors, Princess Celestia and everypony around her gathered to check on Princess Luna, who was still asleep and the dome around her was still active. “You don’t think she didn’t make it, do you Princess?” Asked Twilight in a worried tone. “I mean . . . I don’t mean to scare you or anything.” “It’s okay Twilight,” said the white alicorn. “I don’t know what happened in Pip’s mind, but if my sister didn’t make it, I could never forgive myself for what I put her through. I’d . . . I’d call myself the worst sister anypony ever had.” The whole group gasped as Celestia let out a few tears and lowered her head. “Don’t worry Princess,” said Stealth. “If it does come to that, we won’t blame you. Your sister wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for her sacrifice to save Equestria.” “I know that Stealth, but-” “Uggh . . .” The whole room fell silent and all eyes were on the blue alicorn. She began moving her legs slowly and her eyes slowly opened. At first, everything was a mishmash blob and couldn’t distinguish between what she was looking at. The little dome shield around her shattered, allowing Luna to stretch a little and look around. With each passing second, Luna regained more consciousness and her vision became less blurry until she could make out one of the blobs a white alicorn. “Sis . . . sister?” She asked in a small voice. Princess Celestia smile quivered and a few tears fell out of her eyes. “Luna!” She shouted and embraced her. “Oh Luna, I’m so happy you're okay. You have no idea how scared I was . . . how scared everypony here was for you.” “I’m . . . I’m happy to see you to Tia,” she said as she returned the hug. “But where’s Pippy? Is he alright?” “He’s over there Luna,” said Twilight. “He’s unconscious, but he’s been turned back to normal.” Luna slowly and steadily got back on all fours, albeit her legs were still shaking violently. She walked over to the spotted stallion, with help from Celestia and Twilight, and looked at him with a worried look. “Pippy . . . please . . . wake up for my sake.” The spotted stallion slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Princess Luna looking at him. Her worried expression changed to one of delight and pulled him in for a hug. “ACK! Luna, not so tight please,” he pleaded. The blue alicorn quickly loosened up and smiled bashfully. “Sorry Pip, I was just so relieved to see you’re okay.” “Luna . . . I want to say something to you,” said Pip. “What is it?” He pulled her into a deep kiss which at first caught her off guard, but she quickly returned it. The other ponies looked at the two of them with happy expressions on their faces. Even Princess Celestia couldn’t help but shed a tear of joy for her sister and her coltfriend. Pinkie, on the other hoof, burst into tears over it. Pip finally broke the kiss after a couple of seconds and smiled at his lover. “Thank you, for all your help.” “Anything for you Pippy,” she said. “Are you truly alright though?” “I . . . I don’t think I can,” the spotted stallion said. “I think when your sister fought me, it must’ve really worn me out.” Luna turned towards Celestia. “Sister, where are the Royal Medics?” She inquired. “They’re being held in the underground bunker along with all other civilian staff members.” She looked at Twilight and said, “My faithful student, since you know the way around this castle, I’m sure you know where the bunkers are, correct?” The lilac alicorn nodded. “Good, head there and inform everypony the danger is over and get two of the medics here to help Pipsqueak here.” Twilight bowed in respect and took off. “We better go see if anypony else here needs help,” said Spike. “I think I remember seeing a few unconscious guards around here.” The whole group nodded and muttered agreements amongst each other. “Go then,” said Luna, “Pippy and I will be safe here.” “Let me at least do something before I go help the guards,” said Celestia. She looked out a window, specifically towards the moon, and her horn glowed. Slowly, it went down and disappeared behind a mountain. Then, she turned her attention to another window and another mountain. Her horn glowed again and this time, the sky became orange at first, then it turned completely blue. A bright light filled the room and shined upon both Pipsqueak and Luna. “That’s the most beautiful sunrise I’ve seen in a long time,” said Pip. Luna nodded in agreement and said, “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” As much as they both loved nighttime, the stars in the sky, and the moon, the sight of the sun not only brought promise of a new day, but also a new beginning to their love lives with each other.