//------------------------------// // Part: 18: Let's Rumble // Story: A Different Sunset // by Evowizard25 //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon had never been so excited before. In all her years, this had to be her happiest moment and to top it all off, her nagging, attention grabbing, beast of a sister wasn’t here to spoil it for her. She was practically bobbing up and down in glee. A never ending mirthful smile was kept on her face. There wasn’t anything that could soil her mood. “Someone seems happy,” Spike spoke up. “What, did a tree fall on a puppy?” Besides him. Nightmare frowned. ‘It’s at times like these that I wonder why I keep prisoners alive for so long…oh yeah. I love to see them lose all hope before I devour their soul. It’s so funny and delectable that way.’ She would take great pleasure in doing the same with this wretch. “Do you believe yourself to be a jester?” She turned towards the dragon. “Sometimes,” Spike chuckled. “I am….” Nightmare quickly wrapped a tendril around his snout, closing it. “Not another word. I will not have your filthy tongue spoiling my glory. I swear to you, dragon. I will rid this world of your ilk and I shall laugh. I will laugh for eons about the demise of you insipid reptiles.” Spike glared at her and tried to say something. It came out as just harsh mumbles. Nightmare chuckled and released him. “Come on, smile. It’s not everyday you gaze upon the dawn of a new age.” “You know, it’s kind of ironic you call it ‘dawn’ when it’s just everlasting night. Doesn’t that imply the night’s going to end?” “It was figurative,” Nightmare growled. “I would think a dragon, who thrived in my sister’s bossum, would know the difference. Of course, once again my sister’s intelligence disappoints me.” When Spike returned the growl, she giggled. “Oh, you are so easy to ire. I’ll almost miss having you around when this is over….” She slid a tendril around his neck and tightened. Spike gagged and wheezed as he fought for breath. “Almost.” Nightmare Moon released him. “This bores me. One can only choke a dragon so many times. I will be back shortly. In the meantime, why don’t you ponder what I’m going to do to your family? I was thinking flaying them, but I’m up for suggestions.” “Here’s one,” Spike spat. “Go to Tartarus.” “Been there, done that,” Nightmare chuckled. “Well, ta-ta for now.” She then floated out of the room, giving the dragon one last mocking wink. As she made her way to the Elements, she gazed upon her troops. They marched in unison, polished weapons and armor, stood at ease. Each and every one of them, saluted her as she passed. She would have preferred them to grovel, but time was at the essence. Nightmare couldn’t afford them groveling now. ‘That would wait for later.’ Now, all they had to do was fight. Fight not for themselves, or for Equestria, but for her. That made her smile. Ponies that were willing to fight and even die for her. Such things were only the stuff of fairy tales when she was a child. Now they were a reality. She was going to become supreme ruler of this world. Her belly would fill daily with the souls of thousands…So Nightmare gave out a squeal of delight that no doubt would have made most snickering or awwwing if they saw it…and didn’t know a thing about her and why she was doing it. Nightmare Moon was so happy! She just imagined a world of never-ending darkness. Where everyone did as she asked and…treated her with respect. ‘I’m the one they should adore. I’m the prettiest, most powerful god that has ever lived. Why could they not see that? No matter, they’ll pay. They will all pay.’ She glanced at a vacant spot over the old throne. ‘That would make for an excellent spot for Tia’s head.’ “My lady,” Apostle’s voice jostled her out of her reverie. “I wish to speak with you for a moment.” “Whatever you wish to say can wait,” Nightmare brushed his thoughts aside. “I am in no mood to deal with any strife. I am content as is…unless you wish to tell me something splendid. Has my dear ‘sister’ perished? I had wished to torture her for the next thousand years before I severed her head. Oh well.” “Your Highness, that infernal mare still lives. Barely, but she still draws breath.” “And there you go souring my mood. I told you not to come to me with any news.” “No you didn’t, Your Highness.” Apostle gave his goddess his best deadpan stare. “But that does not matter. I wished to discuss something with you.” “Then speak and be done with it,” Nightmare snorted. “I am a busy goddess.” “I don’t think we should resurrect you just yet.” Nightmare stared at him for the longest time. “What?” “Your Highness, forgive my ill sounding words. I wish more than any other to once again look upon the beauty of your true form. However, I feel as if we should be wary. When the planets first align, no doubt the power will be unstable. We have no way of knowing what it will do to you.” Nightmare scowled, her voice filled with poison. “You think a little unstable magic will conquer me? Me, Nightmare Moon, the slayer of the mighty Flamespyre and his clan of the supposed greatest dragons of his age. The mare who single hoofedly best Chrysalis, the queen of the retched changelings. It was I who led the army and destroyed New Gallopfrey. It was I who stormed the streets of Canterlot and bled my sister dry. I can handle anything the world has to throw at me. I had thought you knew better, Apostle.” “I do. It’s just….” Apostle’s voice wavered. “It’s just….” He looked up at her with teary eyes. “I can’t lose you again, Your Highness. The pain of one loss was hard. The pain of another would destroy me. You made me what I am this day. You gave me purpose. Without you, I am nothing. Please, let us wait. There are none that can stand up to us. We can…” “SILENCE!” Nightmare’s Royal Canterlot Voice shook the entire castle. “Do you think you have the authority to tell me what to do? That I should listen to a sniveling coward?” “No…” Apostle bowed his head. “Exactly,” Nightmare cooled her anger and gently lifted his face with a tendril to gaze upon it. “I am touched by your concern, my dear little pony. You have always been my favored and that will not change. You must remember that I am still a goddess and above your comprehension.” “Of course, My Liege.” Apostle nodded as her tendril floated away. “I am sorry I have brought my lowly troubles to your attention.” He bowed. “Forgive me.” “No, I should be thankful. If only the rest of our kind would actually take the time to think of the night with such reverence, perhaps we would not need to spill there blood.” Nightmare sighed. “But that is how it has to be.” “And we shall spill the blood of those sun touched fools,” Apostle grinned. “They will know the glory of the night.” “Yes they will, my little apprentice,” Nightmare chuckled. “Yes they will.” Nightmare gazed down at her favored warrior. ‘After all these years, I still remember how I found him. He was such a cute little colt.’ “Now, my little pony, how about we check upon our machine. Perhaps we may have missed something.” Apostle brightened up instantly. “Of course, Your Highness. The calibrations and settings need to be maintained. They are stable, but it is the conductors and the power source themselves that worry me. With a little tweaking, and a soul or two, I think we can perfect it before your resurrection. I even have a few schematics ready for your approval.” Nightmare laughed. “What would I ever do without you?” “Survive and thrive, Your Highness.” Apostle grinned. “Like you always have, but chagrinned with far too many incompetent servants.” He conjured up a few papers. “Now, I was thinking about your new castle. Obviously, we must have one to match your grandeur. Canterlot simply does not hold up when one thinks about it. No, you deserve far better and I have a few designs in mind.” Nightmare nuzzled him. “And I would love to hear it. You have grown up so well, Apostle. I hardly recognize the same colt who had broken into my own personal chamber to steal my jewelry.” Apostle beamed. “There are no spells I can’t bypass, Your Highness.” _______________________________________________________________ “How the hay does that thing stay in the air?” Lightning couldn’t help but call out to her friend as she flew beside the strange contraption. As all pegasi, she saw anything else in the air as competition. Pegasi loved to be the masters of the air and nothing could challenge them. ‘And nothing ever will.’ Lightning gloated. Quickfix smiled. Her horn was lit in a hue of magic. “It flies on pure ingenuity…and this thing they call oil. Honestly, it just looks like black crud to me.” “Well it all seems like crud to me,” Lightning snorted, sneering at the machine. It just felt wrong to her. It was a hunk of metal and it was flying no problem. “I mean, it isn’t even flying. It’s faking it.” “How the hay do ya fake flyin’?” Quickfix growled, shaking her fist. “Ya can’t, ah tells ya. This machine is the real deal, bird brain.” “Well I say it isn’t, pin head.” Lightning shot back. Pin head was just as derogative a name to a unicorn as bird brain was too a Pegasus. “Why ah outa….” Quickfix snorted and made a step towards the Pegasus…before she was pulled back from the edge by some of the goblins. “Thanks…kind of got stupid there fer a moment.” “Yeah…” Lightning sighed and scratched the back of her head nervously. ‘Oh yeah, be a jerk and nearly cause one of your friends to fall to their deaths…I so would have caught her, but still.’ “Sorry about the pin head comment.” “And sorry fer callin’ ya a bird brain,” Quickfix chuckled. “We really are sprung up too tight, aren’t we?” “Yeah,” Lightning smirked. “But don’t you worry. We’re going to unwind some serious butt whooping on those cultists soon enough. They’ll be crying home to their mommies in no time.” “Eh,” Quickfix shrugged. “Ah’d prefer a good ol’ fashioned kill and be done with it kind of approach, but that’s just me.” “You really hate them, don’t you?” Quickfix returned Lightning’s question with a deadpan gaze. “Ah’m from the north. We don’t buck around, especially with their kind.” “Well, have you actually killed someone before?” Lightning had to ask. “Errrr…” Quickfix shuffled about nervously. “No. Ah’ve killed a few critters tryin’ to eat me, but nothin’ sapient.” “Well,” Nes, the goblin girl, spoke up. “Thank the stars that’s so. I think it’d be awkward if we were traveling with a stone cold killer.” “Don’t be so relieved yet,” Kur fiddled with his pistols. “The night’s still young and this little goblin has a bone to pick.” He checked the sights. “Someone’s dying tonight and it isn’t going to be me.” “You know,” Mgut spoke up from the pilot’s seat. “I don’t see why we need any of that. This baby’s got enough rockets to blast all of those wretches to kingdom come.” “Hopefully, we won’t need to use a lot of it,” Xed answered. “Oh, but I do hope so,” Lightning called to him. “Let’s throw the best ‘Sumter’s Day’ ever.” “Sumter?” Nurt spoke up questioningly. “He was a commander of one of Equestria’s south eastern brigades,” Quickfix explained. “About six hundred years ago, a large force of Diamond Dogs tried to invade Equestria. We are a tough country, but we weren’t ready fer war right there. We’d have won, but they’d be able to sack some major towns and cities in the area. Sumter’s fort was the only thin’ in between us an’ them. So, the Dogs bombarded it fer a straight week. There was nothin’ but shells flyin’ and explosions. After, the Dogs thought they’d won, so the stupid mutts marched on…That is until Sumter popped back up with his troops an’ gave ‘em Tartarus.” She chuckled. “So, in honor of him, an’ savin’ our butts, we made a holiday in his name. It aint a universal one, mostly just celebrated down in southern parts of the nation.” “Well, I think it’s an awesome holiday.” Lightning quipped. “My parents would always take me to see the fireworks over Sumter’s memorial. It’s fantastic.” “Ah’ve heard,” Quickfix nodded. “Maybe ah’ll go this year an’ see it fer myself.” “You can count us in,” Xed added. “As touching as this is,” Mgut cut in. “I’ve been meaning to ask something….Why is this helicopter so quiet?” Quickfix tapped her lit horn. “Ah’m cuttin’ it out so we don’t tip ‘em off that we’re comin’. That and a weak deflector shield. Once the battle gets a goin’, ah’ll cut it off and focus on the shield.” “Wait,” Lightning put her hooves up. “You know shield spells? Aren’t those incredibly tricky to perform?” “Ah’m an engineer,” Quickfix smirked. “Tricky stuff is my business.” Before anything else could be said, the group found themselves at the edge of a large, roofless room. Inside were dozens upon dozens of Nightmare soldiers, not to mention…. “The Elements of Harmony!” Lightning burst out, pointing at them. The cultists turned their heads to them. “Intruders!” Some of them yelled. Quickfix and the goblins glared at Lightning, who smiled sheepishly. “Yeah…my bad.” Lightning said. “Alright,” Quickfix’s magic surged and the loud rumbling of the helicopter returned. Black bolts of magic and arrows smacked into the shield. She grit her teeth as she fought off the small surges of pain in her horn and kept the barrier from breaking. Lightning had to dodge the old fashioned way and swerved and fluttered about the projectiles. “Okay, do you guys have a plan?” “Yeah,” Mgut pulled the helicopter away from the edge and Lightning followed. That gave them a small breather, but then that reprieve was tarnished when several enemy pegasi flew up after them. “You want to play? We’ll play.” To Lightning’s surprise, several of the metal tubes around the helicopter shot forward like rockets. The pegasi were confused for a second by the machine and the rockets, before said rockets exploded. There’s a thing you should know about goblin explosives. They are extremely volatile and quite large. Some of them were hit directly by shrapnel, or blown apart in the fiery blast, while others were scorched and fell to the ground. The nightmare pegasi screamed in confusion and the group split up. Lightning had to admit to herself that that was pretty cool. She smirked as she noticed some of a small group try to divebomb her. “My turn.” With a mighty flap, Lightning shot right through the group, scattering them with a large gust of wind. She dive-bombed one, smacking into his back sending him to the ground and then bucked one that came up behind her.  With a perfect looped de loop, she came up and punched another Pegasus mare with a uppercut. “Oh, I am so owning you guys.” _____________________________________________________________________________ Nurse Redheart, leading member of the Orders Hospitaller in Ponyville, had never before been so determined to whip up a concoction before. She had thanked Celestia’s holy sun that she was clever enough to take some of the Poison Joke with her. So here she was, sitting atop a sphinx’s back, crushing the plant leaves with a wooden ladle. She had drowned out Pizzelle’s long winded speeches long ago. While she had nothing against them, and no stranger to long speeches herself, she had to focus. The concoction had to be perfect if this plan of hers was going to work. “I do beg your pardon,” Arkarkhentkats piped up. “But what are you doing on my back?” “Possibly?” Redheart answered as she finished stirring. She quickly put the ladle into a plastic bag and then into her bags. “Victory.” “Oh….” Arkarkhentkats rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that explains everything.” “I very much don’t appreciate you taking that tone with Redheart,” Pizzelle spoke up. “She has done nothing but be courteous to you, not to mention everypony else in Ponyville. You couldn’t find a nicer nurse, even if you tried. I should know.” “Why, thank you.” Redheart blushed under the praise. ‘I’m sure she could. I’m nothing special.’ “It’s true,” Coco added. “You’re really nice and supportive. I don’t know what I’d do if you hadn’t fixed my leg that one time.” She shivered at the thought. Redheart frowned, but said nothing. She just continued on with her work, but she remembered exactly what Coco had referred to. Her mother, Upper Crust, had come to town. She was a very vigorous, military mare. So, she tried to get Coco fit. During one of Coco’s exercises, she broke her leg pretty badly. Redheart would say it was mangled. She had wanted to speak out against Upper, but that mare was one of Equestria’s leading Field Marshals. There was nothing she could do. Past experiences aside, she poured the last of the liquid ingredients together, closed the lids, and shook them. To her glee, they all turned dark blue. “And wa-la, it’s done.” “Great,” Pizzelle smiled, before her face turned puzzled. “What is?” “Oh you’ll see,” Redheart smirked. Just then, they all came to a stop. They could clearly hear the sounds of armor cantering around and the grunts and mutters of ponies right around the corner. “Arkarkhentkats,” Redheart spoke up in a whisper. The sphinx lowered her body, so that she could get off. “How well can you blow?” “My race can cause great sandstorms with nary a single breath,” Arkarkhentkats answered. “Why do you ask?” “When I throw these bottles, I want you to blow the fumes.” Redheart explained. “These are potent Poison Joke gas bombs. The army uses them occasionally for non-violent raids on riots and such. They’ll be on the ground, laughing in no time…or punching each other’s daylights out. Which ever come really.” “Sounds good to me,” Arkarkhentkats smirked. “Just tell me when you’re ready.” Redheart took a minute to breath and calm her nerves. “Alright…NOW!” She jumped around the corner and threw the jars right at the cultists’ hooves. A haze of dark blue rose up from the ruin. Arkarkhentkats came up from behind and with one breath, sent the fumes out through the entire room. The warriors coughed and wheezed as the fog brushed over them…Then they started laughing. Some of them feel to the floor, others started shouting about creatures, or even kicking one another. ‘Well, this is going smoothly,’ Redheart smirked. ‘Now we just need to get to the Elements. I can hopefully get Arkarkhentkats to blow away the fog. I’d have to wait a moment, however, so the fog can have time to dissipate enough for that. It’s a good thing I carry some Poison Joke antidote just in case. I do so hope the others are doing well.’