Chapter 20: Party Crashers
And then she said "He did that on porpoise!" Get it?"
Both Pinkie Pie and Coocoodrill started hollering with laughter at Pinkie's joke. Fancy Pants merely let out a chuckle, showing his amusement from the two ponies' antics as they all hung around the snack bar.
Around them were all the mares and stallions were now beginning to leave, most likely due to the noisy music that only a brown stallion with a ripped up tuxedo that was currently spinning on his head as well as doing somersaults and back flips. The two princesses were conversing with one another in some sort of anti sound barrier. Blueblood was just lying around near his aunts, tapping his hooves to the music.
Coocoodrill managed to stop laughing enough to complement his friend's joke. "Wow Pinkie! You actually make puns funny!" He then tossed a raspberry tart into his mouth.
"Thanks Cooks!" Pinkie Pie said as she put drank some more fruit punch from a mug. She then turned to Fancy Pants. "You know any good jokes?"
The formal stallion thought for a bit, but managed to come up with one that the two ponies would be able to understand without thinking too hard. "Alright I got one." He moved closer to the two ponies so they can only hear.
"So a stallion is loses all her precious bits in a court case and goes to the donut shop to drown away her worries. She cries out "All lawyers are scum!" as she gorges on donuts. The pony next to her says "Hey I find that offensive!" When she asks if he's a lawyers he then says "No I'm not. I'm scum!" Fancy Pants then took a small sip of punch from his glass.
Pinkie and Coocoo looked at one another then back at him trying to process the joke. Eventually, both just simultaneously said "I don't get it." And shrugged.
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Fifty-one Pegasus Mara, eleven Earth Mara and one Unicorn Mara were all on the roof planning their ambush. They all started to get ready for the ambush. The unicorn Mara began to stomp its hoof, signaling a countdown.
On the count of ten and nine, all the Mara paired up in groups of three. The Unicorn Mara had two Earth Mara on its team.
On the count of eight and seven, all the Mara picked a window to go through, whether normal, frosted or stained glass. The Unicorn's chose a stained glass window on the top of the roof. It knew from its last skirmish that an ambush was the way to go, but it needed a distraction from the others in order to get to the prey.
On the count of seven and six, the nightmarish abominations stretched their limbs and wings, ready to moved quickly and capture the princesses immediately.
At five and four, they all began snorting and stomping, readying themselves for a wild and intense battle. To take out a princess, they'd need to be at their toughest. The Earth Mara were driving themselves into an crazed frenzy while the sickening parody of a Unicorn stood stoically in deep focus.
But then at the count of three and two, the Unicorn Mara used its magic to lift the two adjacent earth Mara off the ground. The two Mara struggled as hard as they could, befuddled on why their partner was doing this. The Unicorn only narrowed its eyes at the stained glass window of Blueblood with malicious intent.
It then counted to one.
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Everypony in the party heard the loud crash of a window shattering. The music stopped as all the ponies saw two pitch black, pony shaped beings falling through a the stained glass picture of the prince. What baffled them more was that when they crashed to the ground, they became nothing more than a purple haze. Only Celestia, Luna, Pinkie Pie, Coocoodrill and Blueblood had any idea what they. The prince quickly ran and held behind the Princess of the moon tight, shivering in terror.
"Now is not the time to cower nephew." Luna stated struggling to get him off of her. "We must battle the servants of your insane father."
The unicorn stallion stopped trembling. "Now, now Auntie." As Luna looked towards her nephew confused, she saw that he replaced his frightened grimace with a malign smile. His eyes then became a pure orange color as his voice changed to sound like twenty Bluebloods speaking at once as it shook its head. "Don't talk about DADDY THAT WAY!" The pony then menacingly laughed as it teleported away with the princess of the night in front of the entire crowd in a bright orange light.
Nopony, especially Celestia, could believe what they just saw. Princess Luna was just taken away by some sick, twisted copy of the prince. Celestia stared at the spot where her sister once stood, wondering that if Blueblood was a Mara in disguise, how many more victims could there be? What if Twilight herself was taken? What if her brother had the depraved mind to take away a young filly? The princess's mind flood with these thoughts, causing her to go into a trance of fear.
After a few uneasy seconds, all the windows in the mansion broke as Pegasus Mara soared into the room. All of the noble ponies (including Fancy Pants) screamed in terror and began to run for the exit, escaping the grounds. Coocoodrill and Pinkie Pie immediately got into defensive positions as a few earth ponies leaped from the windows and landing on their hooves, ready to attack. The last one to enter was a Unicorn Mara, who merely floated down in a dark red aura.
All fifty the winged Mara flew towards the catatonic Celestia, dog piling her. The princess didn't even struggle. Six of the Earth Mara charged towards the pink mare and the green stallion.
One of the Mara tried to lunge at Pinkie Pie, but she ducked, causing it to crash into another Mara. When both Mara regained their senses, they saw two pink hooves hit their faces. They were both sent flying into a pillar as they turned into the purple haze. She then called out to her friend, slightly annoyed but trying to best cheery. "You know Cooks! This is the second worst party I've ever been to." A Mara charged straight at her, but she just head butted the creatures, causing to wince, go down to its knees and disappear.
"You don't say?" Coocoodrill jokingly commented as he sidestepped a charging enemy and grabbing its tail with his forehooves. He then spun around a couple of times to gain momentum. "I'm getting sick and tired of these thingamajigies too!" He then let go of the tail, sending it flying into two others, causing them all to vaporize.
As the crazed stallion took a breather, he saw two of the Earth Mara surrounding the party DJ. He began to recall one of the tips Fancy Pants said to him about speaking to DJ's.
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He and Fancy Pants were at the party's snack bar in Blueblood's radical home, with heavy metal being played in the background and all of the ponies in the house were bobbing their heads. Fancy Pants was wearing a shirt with a picture of a long maned Pegasus stallion with his fore hooves in the air and looking upwards in front of clouds obscuring the rising sun. The formal stallion's mane was fashion into red liberty spikes and he had a nose ring. Coocoodrill was listening intently to what the stallion had to say over the loud screaming of the music.
"So ya wanna impress the DJ eh?" Fancy Pants asked the green unicorn as he pointed to the DJ, who was dressed up as Mare-Do-Well.
Coocoodrill quickly nodded his head. Fancy Pants chuckled a bit. "Alight then. The awesomest tip aboot impressing DJ's is when they are…hypothetically in some kind of distress, you jumped in at the last second and rescue them. It's both shows how much of a bodacious stud and they dig it. Got that eh?"
Coocoodrill nodded once again with a stupid grin on his face. Fancy Pants nodded back as he summoned a chariot driven by one thousand burning phoenixes. He backflips onto the chariot and used the legendary Flaming Whip of Fire to steer the phoenixes into the black hole filled with electro beams in the sky. Coocoodrill shed a tear from his eye at such a glorious sight that all the alicorns of the past, present and yet to come sung to as he flew into the wormhole to slay all of the googly-eyed undead vampire minotaur weregiraffes of Alpha Centauri.
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Coocoodrill turned towards Pinkie Pie in a deep, brooding voice. "I gotta rescue that DJ. You help out the princess." Pinkie listened and ran towards the princess dog pile. Coocoodrill took a long, deep breath before he charged towards the two Mara threatening the DJ as he shouted his war cry in a highland accent.
"FOR INFINITE MUSIC REQUESTS!"
Both Mara stopped threatening the DJ and looked towards the charging unicorn utterly baffled by what he just said. Before they can react, Coocoo jumped over the mix table and split his hind legs, kicking both Mara in the face. Coocoodrill remembered seeing a move just like that in Mare-Do-Well issue #73, used against the vile Dr. Laserclaw and Haggis. The two Mara quickly recovered, but Coocoodrill bucked one of them through the wall, leaving a hole in its shape. He then uppercutted the other Mara straight in the chin as he jumped into the air while spinning, sending it through the ceiling. He got that move from Mare-Do-Well: The Troubling Twelve.
The white unicorn just watched in awe as the crazed pony landed on all four legs. She then remembered her manners and spoke to her rescuer. "Thanks champ."
Coocoodrill went on two legs, placing his forehooves by his sides in triumph. "Fear no more miss DJ. Just all in the day's work of THE ELEMENT OF RESPECT!" The outside wind blew through his hair and the light shined upon him as he smiled. She managed to control the urge to swoon at her stallion savior, but she did detect the slightest blush.
The green pony then got back on all fours and quickly asked a question to her. "So do I get infinite requests now?"
DJ PON-3 just looked at him from under her shades, bamboozled by such a question at a time like this. But she took another look at the stallion and relented. She gave him a playful punch in the forehoof. "Anything for you tough guy."
Coocoodrill did not get the flirtatiousness in her voice. He just merely hoofpumped in triumph of scoring infinite songs, hoping that Fancy Pants would be proud of this moment.
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Pinkie Pie was distracted by an Earth Mara on her way to the princess. She dodged a blow from the creature and bucked it in the face, knocking it back. It then just got up like a normal pony, irritating the mare.
"No fair!" She accused the monster as she dodged another attack. "You're supposed to turn all purply-poof and such!" She then felt her pinkie senses tingling and just managed to duck from the red blade emanating from the unicorn Mara horn. She then tripped the unicorn, flipped into the air and landed on it, but it didn't disappear. She then started to think about the problem.
"Hmmmmm? Now how can these two double meanie flanks keep getting up when the others disappear in like one hit? Is it…nah too predictable. Perhaps…No to cliché. Or maybe…that's not at all family friendly. Wait one second…a crowning moment of brilliance is about to appear in my mind. These two ponies were from the last conflict we battled along with that metal pony thing, Blu...but he's not really a bad guy and Trixie. But come to think of it, why is Trixie bad? And why does it sound somewhat cliché and drab? I seriously feel like I saw it coming. But anyways on my mental assumption, I think the longer these things stay out of the Dreamworld, the more realistically durable they get. I bet I totally nailed that, even when I'm dodging all these random attacks. Now what's with the shimmering light emanating from under that pile-ponie wannabes, going through every possible weak area of it?"
One second later, the bright light burst in a huge solar flash, sending all the Pegasus Mara flying, vaporizing soon after. The unicorn Mara noticed this and quickly grabbed the earth Mara, using it as a shield from the overwhelming radiance to save its own hide. Pinkie Pie, Coocoodrill and the DJ had to shut their eyes and turn the other cheek to avoid being blinded.
As the light subsided, everybody saw the princess standing tall. She had no visible injuries, but she had tears in her eyes and she stared at the last remaining Mara in anger. She was ready to send it back from whence it came.
The Mara was strangely unfazed by the alicorn's threatening glance. It then became affected by some kind of outside magic that gave it a mouth. It then moved slowly towards her, speaking in a voice Celestia hadn't heard in over a thousand years, but knew all too well.
"Hello dear, dear sister of the sun? How are you doing as of late?" It scoffed. "We haven't talked in ages."
Celestia stiffened up. "What do want…" She paused for a bit, but then continued. "…Cosmus?"
The Mara stopped for a bit, then let out an ear piercing shriek. Coocoodrill, Pinkie Pie and the DJ covered their ears from the painfully high pitched sound. Celestia didn't move a muscle as she watched intently as her brother once again continued to speak through the living puppet, now sounding like one thousand angry ponies all speaking in unison.
"DO NOT CALL ME BY THAT NAME SISTER! IT IS MY WEAKLING NAME! THE NAME WHEN I WAS JUST MERELY THE MIDDLE BROTHER OF TWO GLORIOUS, GIFTED GIRLS WHO HAD THE HUMONGUS HONOR OF RAISING THE SUN AND MOON, GETTING ALL THE GLORY AND ATTENTION AS I JUST SAT ON MY FLANK IN THE CASTLE, RESEARCHING THINGS THAT NOPONY IN THE RIGHT MIND WOULD EVER WANT TO READ ABOUT!"
"ENOUGH!" Celestia shouted out to her brother. She then spoke slowly and with completely unfazed rationality and sincerely. "Brother…you're job might not have been as necessary as mine or Luna, but it was just as memorable. You managed to make three more elements in order to stabilize the Everfree Forest, a land irreversibly twisted by chaos, showing mercy to all the creatures there. You managed to list down over one hundred thousand spells. You managed to find that special somepony before either of us even tried. And we still have yet to try. But most of all, you had a son and a…"
"I CARE NOT FOR MY ONLY CHILD!" The Mara took a breather to cool down and speak more rationally and less monstrous. "But to speak more gentlecoltly, I have no child."
Celestia was about to correct her brother, but she decided to leave her niece out of his clutches. The Mara made a little laugh. "Besides, he's in my stomach right now." It started to laugh even harder. "And just your luck I've got myself one of those Pure of Hearts I need so badly. She's on her way to my throne room as we speak." It waved a hoof to Celestia. "Goodbye sister! Hope to see you soon... in my belly."
The Mara then began to swell up like a balloon, to the point that it was touching the ceiling. Pinkie, DJ-PON-3 and Coocoodrill took cover behind the mix table while Celestia created a bright energy sphere to protect herself, not even flinching. The Mara blew up into the purple haze, blowing all the loose furniture away and making a loud booming sound. Screameater's laughs can still be heard as an echo for several seconds.
After the gust subsided, everypony noticed looked back and noticed Rarity rushing from the hallway, her mane and tail all messed up and her dress extremely wrinkled.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA! YOU'RE NEPHEW IS…!" She looked around the room, awestruck by how much damage there was. The tables were either turned over or destroyed, the pastries were all over the floor, the statures and paintings were completely broken. Rarity just overdramatically fainted.
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Screameater sat around on his throne as he played with a random molten hot rock, tossing it around in his tendrils like a ball. He was wondering if his brief message to his sister creep her out enough.
"Maybe I should have threatened her entire kingdom and say in deep dark description how I would constantly terrorize everypony in her land with Mara and such and have her slowly go insane from my evermore violent descriptions. Hindsight always gets me. Ah well! Always next time!"
As he was lost in thought, the large obsidian doors opened to reveal Trixie magically opening the door for Anvillain with Fluttershy still in the net. She then yawned and closed the door. As the golem walked into the room, Screameater could see that the pegasus mare was all out of tears to shed. The dark prince tossed the molten rock into the lava and flew to meet his new "guest".
"Well look who we have here?" Screameater softly said to the prisoner in a mocking manner. "A petite pegasus pony petrified of my mere presence on Phobos." He used his magic to teleport her out of the net and in front of him. She whimpered and curled into a little ball, not even looking at the alicorn standing over her.
Screameater merely tsk-tsked at this measly first impression. He brought her head up with a tendril in order to make her look directly at him. She tried to struggle from his clutches, but he had a firm grip.
"Now, now. Why the long face?" Screameater rhetorically questioned her with a slight snicker. "Get it?"
Fluttershy still refused to answer him. Screameater let out an exasperated snort and began to speak more seriously as he let go of her head.
"Alright little lady! Don't want to cooperate huh? Fine. I'm alright with it. I don't care who you are, what your profession is, who your friends are or your reason of existence. You're only here as a means to an end as far as I care. When I finally manage to absorb my sisters, believe me on one thing." He poked her side with a tendril. "You. Are. Next." He then brought all his tentacles back into his body. "I am going to tie you up, get some Mara to drag you into this very room, and as they play fitting music, I'm going to slowly absorb you into my body." He then brought his face to hers. "And you know what lies in my own stomach? Just a foot of muck, which will be your home for all eternity! Nopony would be able to save you! Not those Elements, not my siblings, and not even a thousand dragons! I sure hope you don't have many family or friends to weep about your loss. And hope to my dear, dear sisters that your don't have some stupid special somepony stallion savior coming after me to rescue you. Because if he or anypony else does, hypothetically speaking of course." He started to speak in his more monstrous voice. "I WILL MAKE SURE THAT THEY…"
His prisoner's eyes suddenly opened wide as she stared into his orange eyes. He shivered at her gaze, but he couldn't get himself to look away from her deep blue eyes. He then dropped to the ground with a grunt.
It was now Fluttershy's turn to talk. "LISTEN MEANIE! YOU NEVER…EVER INSULT ANYPONY AT ALL! IT MAKES ME MAD! NOW TAKE BACK EVERYTHING YOU SAID AND LET ME GO!"
"NEVER!" Screameater hissed in defiance. He then felt the full force of the stare and shrieked in agony.
"I SAID TAKE IT BACK AND…" She felt herself get picked up by the iron pony's hoof and she began to struggle. "LET ME GO!"
She began to look directly into Anvillain's ruby eyes for a good ten seconds as Screameater was shrieking and screeching otherworldly sounds on the floor. Anvillain just looked away slightly annoyed.
"Sorry little one. But you can't use that little move on artificial life." It covered her eyes with its other forehoof. "Just don't have many nerves to unnerve me." The construct then turned toward his master. "What do I do with her?"
Screameater slowly managed to get up and shake his head. He then growled in full rage. "Take her to her cell. And next time I see her, make sure she has a blindfold on." He then began to compose himself as he flew into the air. "But anyways, I sense my little sister around here so off I go." He then quickly flew out of the volcano to find the next ritual.
Anvillain left the room with the struggling mare. It walked all the way down to the dungeon. It opened the cell and tossed Fluttershy in. The golem then laughed at the helpless pony as it went back up the stairs.
Fluttershy just sat in her cell, lamenting her current situation. But then she realized something.
"If Screameater was affected by my stare, that means even he can be afraid."
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"WHAT HAS THOU DONE TO MY NEPHEW AND WHY CAN I NOT TELEPORT?"
Luna had the false Blueblood pinned to the side of a cliff. Immediately after she was teleported to Phobos, she kicked the Mara off of her and used her magic to slam him into the granite wall. The false "prince" was shaking and had a sheepish smile on his face, hoping that she wasn't going to send him back to his realm.
"ANSWER ME!"
"A-a-a-alright ma'am. No need to have a meltdown." He muttered before making a snarky comment. "I see you don't say "we" anymore. That's a benefit." He then began to answer the alicorn to avoid her wrath. "You can teleport anywhere you want on this island. But Screameater set up a spell to only allow people to teleport to the island, but not away." He let out a gulp. "That answers your questions right." He looked away.
Luna looked at the mockery of the prince disdainfully for ten seconds. She then slammed him into the wall three more times, making his sunglasses fall to the ground.
"NOT RADICAL! NOT RADICAL! NOT RADICAL!"
She then brought him so close to her face that they were touching horns. Her voice changed from a booming shout to a threatening whisper.
"I'm going to repeat myself and you are going to answer clearly." She hissed to the Mara. "Where. Is. Blueblood?"
"Blueblood" considered to be a smart aleck about the question, but he knew better than to insult an alicorn. He rolled his eyes and let out a groan. "Fine. He's been absorbed by your bro along with from what I've heard, a pegasus filly and a baby dragon." He then made a high pitched squeal as he tried to struggle from the princess's magic as she just stared at him with an intimidating glare. "Can you please let go of me now?"
Luna only growled.
"Pretty please?"
Luna tossed the copy of her nephew into the side of the mountain, giving him a bump so large it look like a second horn. She was disgusted by how her brother had no qualms about taking children from their homes. She was about to turn and try to send a message to her sister, but was interrupted by "Blueblood".
"Don't even bother." The Mara got up and put his now cracked sunglasses back on. "Screamy's canceled at telepathic communications on this island." He felt the large bump on his head, wincing in pain. "Congrats auntie." He then began to laugh a bit. "You turned me into a bicorn. Don't see that every day."
Luna turned back, enraged by the Mara's mockery. This only made him laugh louder.
"You should look into a mirror auntie. Your mad face is worth one thousand bits. No more, no less." He looked straight at her. "And I thought Nightmare Moon was the temperamental one."
Luna was flabbergasted, but still irritated. She moved back a bit. "How do you know about that?" She hated being reminded about her times of trying to create eternal night.
"Blueblood" snickered a bit. "Well that has been your name for a long while. In fact, I've played as you many times in nightmares a many. One of my favorite beings to take shape of was you. Everypony was terrified by your mere name. I was you like…twenty times a night." He then made a jokingly lamentful sigh. "I wish ponies were a little scared of you more often nowadays. I missed being you."
Luna defended herself from his words, but covered her face with her starry sky mane. "But I'm not that pony anymore." She looked away in shame. "I was only acting out like a little foal."
The Mara just rolled his eyes. "Boy did you lose your edge. No wonder only about…" He calculated in his mind for a second. "…five ponies a night are still horrified. Worse is that half the time, I don't even get to play you." He then gave her a sly grin. "But when I do, I make sure it's a full-fledged NIGHT TERROR!" He raised his forehooves into the air, proud of his previous work. "And I make sure I do an act those little fillies and colts remember forever." As he placed his hooves onto the ground, he looked towards the princess, inching a little closer. "Would you like to hear some of my lines?"
"ENOUGH!" Luna stomped the ground with her two front hooves with a neigh. She was furious how one "pony" could take so much pride in harming others and mocking a member of royalty of her past mistakes. Her horn began to glow and her eyes became pure white.
The Mara was once again floating in the air against his will. His grin was wiped off. "LEMME GO! LEMME GO!"
Luna did not listen to this monster's pleas as she continued using her magic. "YOU WILL BE SENT BACK FROM WHENCE YOU CAME THOU VILE…!"
"Hello sister."
Luna immediately lost her concentration and put down the Mara. She looked behind her to see her own brother only twenty feet away. The only thing she could say as the Mara teleported away was "Cosmus".
Her brother sprouted six tentacles from his back and he looked like he was going to lash out. She braced herself for his fury, getting into a defensive stance ready to fight. But to her surprise, he managed to control himself, but barely.
"Luna." He said through his teeth, rather annoyed. "I suggest you do not call me by that name, lest you suffer the wrath manifesting from the majority of my multi-millennium madness moping away from the mainland." He looked away in shame for a second. He remembered a thousand years ago, he found himself befriending a dark manticore, dating a lump of gold and using the Rope of Infinite Length as a trapeze; and these were all mild in comparison to other things he did during his time on Phobos. He didn't even want her to even see his journal.
Luna didn't lower her defenses. "Fine…Screameater. What is your reason to conquer Equestria? Why put so many at risk?"
Screameater just groaned, now having to say some exposition. "Well for starters, I really, really, really want to be king of Equestria and become the Primal Fear." He was about to laugh in triumph, but realized he forgot to say something. "Oh yeah, and also to spread ETERNAL NIGHTMARES!" He stood on his hind legs, spread his bat-like wings and began to laugh maniacally.
Luna was beginning to tire of her brother's antics. Slowly, some form of inky blackness came from under the princess's feet, slowly covering her entire body. She then summoned her old blue armor and slightly increased in size. Her blue helmet then appeared on her head and she got ready to battle her brother.
The alicorn stallion stopped laughing and looked towards his sister, noticing her transformation. Before having a panic attack though, he had an idea. "Why hello there Nightmare Moon."
She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Let me guess? You learned that from a little filly's nightmare?"
"You bet Nightmare Moon."
"My name is Luna Cosmus." The Mare of the Moon answered back, ready to attack at any sudden movement.
Screameater was getting increasingly frustrated. "I SAID DON'T…!" He then managed to reel his anger back once again, going back to his more gentlecoltly manner. "I mean…fair enough Luna. You use your name, I use mine." He then covered his mouth with a tendril and cleared his throat. "But anyways, I would like a make a proposition."
Luna/Nightmare Moon appeared to want to hear none of this. But she stayed motionless.
"In exchange for not being absorbed for my future perfection, you find me another princess to absorb in place of you." He moved closer to his sister until he was only ten feet away. "After that, how bout we split the land ninety-ten. With the ninety percent being my end of the deal of course." He then he moved right next to her, bringing a tendril over her shoulder. "Don't you think Duchess Luna sounds nice?"
Luna was disgusted by the offer. She quickly got away from his grasp with a teleportation spell to move several yards away. When she spoke to him once, she spoke slowly and made sure every word would seep into her fallen brother's brain as she aimed her horn towards him. "I will not be a part of your plan brother. You are a disgrace to Equestrian Royalty, your cruelty to every living thing is abhorrent, your mind is twisted, vile and unsalvageable…" Her brother looked as if he was agreeing with her, so she let out the ultimate insult. "…and I find your added alliterative appeal annoying."
Screameater was steaming mad now, his tentacles ready to grab his sister for the ritual. "I take OFFENSE TO THAT LAST ONE!"
The Mare of the Moon just brought up a forehoof with a cocky smile. "Alright. Then do as the ponies say nowadays..." She motioned her hoof for him to come closer. "…and bring it."
With a loud roar, Screameater summoned a gigantic skeleton of a bull elephant skeleton. He then signaled the elephant to charge at the princess. The undead animal stomped its forelegs and ran towards Luna, its tusks ready to devastate her.
Nightmare/Luna just stood there stoically as the elephant charged right through her and disappeared. She just shook her head and moved closer to her kin. "Your illusions will not work on me brother. Now release your prisoners."
Screameater just lashed out with all six of his tendrils, all of them heading towards her. She just teleported in a flash and reappeared next to him. Before he could react, she bucked him in the side, knocking him down with a thud.
She stood over him with a serious expression as he tried to get up. "Last chance. Release them."
Screameater just created a pitch black portal under him and sank into it. He then created another portal right behind her in an ambush. But before he can grab her, she just buck him back into his portal, coming through his first portal. She then used her magic to telekinetically throw him back into the portal. As he came back through the portal behind her, she just bucked him back through the first one before he could do anything. She then repeated the process over and over again as all he could do was repeating shout out "OW!"
After about fourteen cycles, Screameater managed to transform his right forehoof into a crab claw. As he got bucked for the fifteenth time in a row, he managed to stretch his limb to grab a hind leg, dragging her into the portal with her.
As they were sent flying in the air from the force of her own buck, Luna began to kick his face in order for him to let go. When he still didn't let go after three kicks and got his tendrils ready, she created a field of lightning all around her. Screameater had to relent and was sent flying from the shockwave over fifty feet away in the air.
Both winged unicorns began to flap their wings as the battle now became aerial. When Screameater could finally recover from the attack, he turned the tips of his tendrils into scorpion stingers, spreading them out and extending them all the way towards Luna. He grew more tendrils as extras just in case.
Princess Luna used a spell to create a radiant blue magical blade from her horn and began to dodge the stingers, cutting the tendril. When she cut them off one by one, the lost chunk turned into a strange inky liquid and fell to the earth. She began to fly towards her sibling as the tentacles regenerated their tips.
Screameater released used his next volley of stingers and when the other stingers regenerated, he flanked her with twelve stinging tendrils. He let out a snicker. She can't get out of this one.
But she just artfully dodged all of the attacks, cutting each one of the tentacles clean off two to three at a time. Finally, he felt one of them sting her, but then he heard a clinking sound, signaling that her armor protected her. She then chopped off the rest of the tendrils with little effort.
He withdrew his tendrils and with a dragon's roar, charged right at Luna. He managed to tackle the surprised alicorn mare and got ready to absorb her as she tried to struggle free. But then the dark lord saw her horn light up and released a flash of light into his eyes. As he was blinded, she managed to free herself from his absorption and used all her forelegs to kick her downwards.
As Screameater managed to stop his descent, she noticed that they were right above the Volcano of Hysteria. But as she saw Screameater beginning to regain his sight, she began to charge up one of her strongest spells. She didn't want to use this option, but it was the only way to stop him. As Screameater quickly flew towards her, her horn began a crackle blue lightning. She took a breath and quietly spoke what she thought might be the last words she will ever say to him.
"Goodbye brother. I am sorry it had to end this way."
As Screameater looked up, Luna activated her spell. All of a sudden, a huge beam of blue lightning shot out of her horn. The dark lord's eye's popped out of their sockets in terror as the beam engulfed him. He let out a high pitched monstrous shriek of agony and disbelief as he the spell hit him with thousands of volts of electricity. One minute later, the spell ended and Screameater tried to grab her one last time, but lost consciousness and fell from the sky.
Luna tried to rescue him from his fall, hoping to save the ponies inside him, along with possibly her brother. She dived downwards, trying to catch her falling brother. But even flying as fast as she could, Screameater plunged into the volcano and into the molten magma with a small splash.
When Luna landed in the throne room, she left her Nightmare Moon form and looked down into the lava in pity. Such a shame he had to go that. I just wish it could've ended differently. And you had to be so selfish and take three victims with…
She heard a three thuds from behind her. Two small ones and one big one. When she looked back, she saw Scootaloo, Spike and Blueblood alive and well but quite disoriented. When they looked up at her, they instantly smiled in relief and joy.
"You're back!" Luna exclaimed in joy as she patted the dragon and the filly on the head and hugged her nephew. As she was getting ready to teleport them all home, she heard wings flapping.
When she looked back, she saw not Screameater, but Cosmus she once truly knew. His black coat that looked like the starry night was singed and his mane was also messed up and the tip was on fire. He landed and began to stagger about as if he had no idea what happened all these years. As he fell over, Luna caught him in her hooves.
"Cosmus? Is that you?" Luna asked him, making sure this whole thing was genuine. She was in the same position one time and maybe, just maybe, her own brother wasn't any different. Perhaps his sanity can be saved.
Cosmus looked up to see her sister. He let out a chuckle as he felt her face. "Hey little sister. My, look how much you've grown." He began to visibly tear up as he felt his sister's cheek with a hoof. He let out a wracking cough.
"No!" Luna began to breathe harder as he felt him slipping away. "Not just when I got my brother back!"
Spike, Blueblood and Scootaloo rushed towards the weak stallion.
"I'm going to miss my life, my wife, my son." He desperately clung to his existence as he pointed towards Blueblood. "I wish…I got to know you."
Blueblood cried out in shame and despair, beginning to cry. "But you're an alicorn. I thought you can live forever!" He then began to sob. "PLEASE LIVE FOREVER!"
Cosmus made a weak smile as his limbs went limp. "I will son. Hopefully I'll be alive in your heart, my sister's heart, my other's sister's heart and I sure hope I'll be in the hearts of many more." He coughed once again, even worse than before, forcing him to speak more softly. "Thank you Luna for freeing me." His eyes began to close. "Remember me as a better pony." He let out one final breath and then lied in his sister's arms motionless.
Luna cried towards the night sky as she held her lifeless brother in her forehooves. She unleashed a flood of tears from her ducts, hating this bittersweet ending to a heroic battle. But as she sobbed for minutes on end, she realized something in her mind.
"Only my nephew is sobbing with me. But the filly and the dragon are not. But then again, why would my brother feel such a bond to somepony who absorbed him for their own gain? This just doesn't add up… Unless…"
Prince Blueblood, Scootaloo and Spike morphed into blobs of black goo and before the princess could react, all the globs lunged at her, becoming one bigger blob with her in the middle. "Cosmus" reopened his eyes and ended his shape changing spell. He then stood up on all four legs and magically lifted the inky blob to him. He then opened his mouth unnaturally wide and swallowed the goo whole. When he swallowed, he felt his next growth spurt occur. Within seconds, he grew about a foot higher.
"Sucker. Finally, my old size." He said to himself in sickening satisfaction as he admired his hooves and wings. As he was reveling in his new look, Trixie, "Blueblood" and Anvillain all frantically entered at once.
"Trixie heard screaming and came to make sure everything was okay!" She'd just woke up and still had bed head.
Screameater just looked at the three in annoyance and disbelief. He just rolled his eyes. "Ugh! Now you arrive to help me!" He rubbed his sore side with a batwing. He had no visible injuries, but getting hit around was no fun. He then mellowed out into apathy. "No matter, just got a new ritual." He let out a loud yawn. "Four down, two to go." He yawned once again. "I'm going to bed. Anvillain, keep an eye on the prisoner. Trixie, go back to bed. You…" He pointed to the Mara with a wing. "…don't get into any trouble."
All three minions nodded and their master pass and sleep for the rest of the night. "Blueblood" then turned to the mare.
"Can ya change my coat color to crimson?" He asked surprisingly politely. He remembered what he looked like as a Mara. Unlike the usual pitch-black, he remembered being crimson. He liked his body, but now he didn't need his disguise as much and though and little change would be cool.
Trixie just rolled her eyes and used her amulet to change his coat to crimson before teleporting back to bed. Anvillain went downstairs to keep guard of Fluttershy. The Mara admired his "Crimson Prince" look for a bit before deciding to assist the metal pony.
Yeah. He thought to himself. Crimson Prince. I like that.
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Luna was inside her brother's body now. Inside some kind of mushy, oozing void of space She looked around herself in anger and humiliation.
"How can I let myself fall for such tricks? Why didn't I just…"
Luna ended her assault of self shame prematurely when she saw a faint green light only about half a kilometer away. It faded for five seconds, and then appeared again. She quickly flew over to the source of the light.
When she got to it, she saw her nephew along with an orange filly she recognized from Nightmare Night and Spike. The filly and the dragon were on the prince's back as he lied down in the muck, not caring about his coat anymore. The little filly was trying to sleep while Spike just sat there, randomly breathing fire upwards out of boredom. He and Blueblood heard a sloshing sound and saw the Princess of the Night walking towards them. The two just looked at one another and then to her. They then spoke up at the same time with the same melancholic attitude.
"Welcome to the club."