Avatar: The Last Alicorn. Book 3: Unicorn

by Jeweled Pen


Chapter 48: The End

Nightmare Moon chuckled as the group of ponies moved closer. “Do you really believe you can defeat me, Avatar? A few fancy pieces of jewelry aren't enough. Besides, there are only six of you.”

Twilight gave a quick nod. “Yes, these 'fancy pieces of jewelry' are more than enough to crush you,” she said as she stepped forward.

“Mother, give up this madness!” Rarity yelled, shaking her head. “Do you realize what you're doing, how much destruction you're causing? Why? So you can get a bit of glory? Please, just surrender so we can end this. None of us want to hurt you.”

“Be silent, traitor,” the ruler snapped. “I have nothing to discuss with one of your kind. Soon, Discord's power will be in my control and the first thing I will do is eliminate all of you. You're no daughter of mine.” The words were at a normal volume, but they seemed to echo as if she had yelled them.

The princess cringed and lowered her eyes. “M-mother. All I wanted. All I ever wanted was to make you happy.” She dug a hoof into the ground. “The real you. The one who raised me. Not this... cold, calculating, destructive thing you've become. I want my mother back.”

Nightmare Moon merely chuckled. “Really? Is that what you want? I am right here, little daughter. The same as I've always been. Yet you come at me with the help of four lesser ponies, one of them a cripple.” Her eyes narrowed on Rainbow. “A shame I didn't kill you when I had the chance. My poisons should have finished the job.”

Rainbow hmphed. “They might have, but your sister made sure to stop them. She was a far bet--”

“Don't you mention my pathetic sister to me!” Nightmare roared, her eyes narrowing as her voice raised. “It is I who have conquered the world, who will lead our nation to its glorious domination! Not my pathetic sister!”

Rarity growled and stomped a hoof down. “Celestia never wanted to oppose you, mother. She just wanted her good sister back, the one she loved and cared for. The one who would have been a good, kind ruler. Not this... this thing you've become. She would have been a far better ruler than you are now.”

“I AM THE RULER!” Nightmare Moon yelled. She lifted her hoof and the water turned a dark purple. It lanced out at the ponies.

Twilight merely waved a hoof and the water evaporated in a wall of flame. The fires died a second later and she stepped forward. “Enough, Nightmare Moon. This is over now.” Her crown began to glow with all the colors of the rainbow, drawn from the other elements. A moment later she thrust her head forward and a radiating rainbow of magic swirled forward and enveloped the mare.

“NO!” Nightmare Moon screamed, struggling against the magic. “I will not fall! I am the ruler! I am the master! I will not be defeated! NOOOOOOO!”

Twilight didn't stop, her hooves swirling as the magic circled around the mare. Then it was gone. Nightmare Moon was on her knees, her armor scattered on the ground in pieces. Her coat had changed from the black into a indigo. Her mane had grown slightly smaller as well. However, the most stunning change was how much smaller and gentler curved she, herself, had become. Now only slightly larger than Rarity.

The princess gulped and stepped forward. “M-mother?” She took a soft, deep breath. “L-Luna?”

The elder mare groaned. “Don't... don't call me that...”

Rarity stepped forward faster. “M-mother? Is that--”

“Don't call me that! I am Nightmare Moon! Ruler of the Water Nation!” The mare rose to her hooves and gathered the water from the ground, forming poisonous spikes of ice. Before the others could stop her, the poisonous liquid lanced out at her daughter.

Rarity closed her eyes and waited for the painful blow. But it never came. After a few moments she opened her eyes. The ice hovered a few inches in front of her. Luna was staring at her intently, though her whole body was shaking.

“Mother?”

“I... I am Nightmare Moon. I rule this nation, nopony else. S-stay back. I will kill you.”

Rarity slowly stepped forward, towards the ice. They moved aside as she walked, pulling back. She smiled and didn't stop until she was directly in front of her mother. She then lunged forward and hugged her. “O-oh mother... y-you're... you're back.”

“S-stop this! I will end all of you, let me go!” the ruler yelled.

Twilight stared and smiled. Nightmare Moon seemed almost completely different now. While, appearance wise, only a little had technically changed, everything had. Where before her movements and gestures gave off an air of death and destruction, as if she could strike you down in a moment. Now, though? The mare gave off the same feelings as a newborn puppy. Even her voice was filled with emotion and nowhere near as cold and calculating as it had once been. Even when she yelled it seemed softer than a whisper from her old form.

“N-no you won't. I'm your daughter and you're my mother. You'll... never strike at me again. You're free. He has no control over you anymore...”

“Nopony ever did! I am the ruler! Let me go, you foal!”

“Is... is it over then?” Applejack asked softly.

“I... I think so. Now it's just clean up.” Her horn glowed for a moment before she tapped the ground. The dome split down the middle and separated. She let out a shriek and thrust a hoof forward, barely making a wall of stone in time to save Rarity and her mother from the shards of ice.

“Aw, what a shame. I was hoping I could end this in one swift attack,” a cloaked pony said. The hood was lowered, revealing her blue coat and white and blue striped mane. Her eyes glowed purple and around her neck was an amulet with a red gem, with a red and black unicorn head and wings sticking out.

Pinkie gasped. “I-it was you! You were the one messing with everything! You're why I couldn't keep peeping ahead!”

“Trixie... how?” Twilight asked, staring at the mare.

“Oh, it wasn't easy,” the unicorn said with a chuckle. “Discord had to pull quite a few strings for me to get this and... mess with your little story. But, then again, nothing worth doing in this world is easy. Did you enjoy my alterations?” Her eyes glowed an even darker purple as her cloak was torn from her back. Dark purple wings had formed on her back, giving her the appearance of an alicorn. They were transparent and made of pure magic.

Twilight took a step back. “Y-you're... you...”

“Of course. You didn't think it would be so easy, did you?” Trixie motioned back towards the inside of the building. Dozens of unicorns had formed three circles around each other. In the center a large block of stone was resting, covered in purple ruins. “Defeating Nightmare Moon was just the beginning.”

“W-what are you speaking of?” Luna asked indignantly. “You are one of my soldiers, how dare you--”

“I haven't been one of your soldiers in a long time,” Trixie said with another chuckle before narrowing her eyes on the alicorn. “You've lost, Twilight. I hold the alicorn amulet. You can't hope to defeat me.”

Twilight blinked and then chuckled. “Really? You think the alicorn amulet can stop us? I mean... well, it's supposedly nice and all, but all it would do is give me the power to fight with a lot of extra power. I have that from the elements. What could it have possibly done?”

The blue mare's grin just got wider as she turned to Fluttershy. “It might have made it so one pony didn't have to give up her powers to save your life.”

The pegasus cringed and Twilight gasped. “H-how did you know about that?”

Pinkie shrieked. “Y-you! You were the one ruining everything! I knew something was wrong, I knew it!”

“Indeed,” Trixie said with another laugh. “Oh ho ho ho ho! You really shouldn't have kept peeping ahead. You gave him ideas.”

The pink mare gasped, her eyes going wide. “W-what? How... how do you know about any of that?”

“Isn't it obvious, little pony?” Trixie asked with the most malevolent of grins. “I died. I now know everything. Or, well, most of everything. Honestly, I can't follow it all too well, he said it had something to do with... lateral thinking? Outer thinking? It matters not. Now I am in control! Ah hah hah hah hah!”

“Why do you keep changing your laugh?” Rainbow asked with annoyance.

“Because I've been running around and having to hide who I am for so long you don't even know! Now that I finally get a chance to be out and about I will find the best laugh imaginable for my new position! Eee hee hee hee! Ugh, no.”

“New position? And what exactly is that supposed to be?” Twilight asked, stomping her hooves.

“Why, is it not obvious? As the pony to release Discord from his prison, I will become the ruler of the world! Oh hoh hoh hoh! Oh, I like that one.”

“Release? Well, I think you're forgetting one thing,” the alicorn said with a grin as her element began to glow.

“Oh? And what, pray tell, is that?” Trixie asked, moving a hoof up to her mouth as if to stifle a yawn.

Twilight aimed a hoof at her as her horn glowed purple. “We still have the elements!” Rarity was teleported besides her friends and the five necklaces shot out beams of light, enveloping the alicorn's crown. The beam then focused and shot at the blue unicorn.

“I didn't forget,” Trixie said as the beam flew at her. Her amulet glowed a dark red. Rarity let out a scream as her element cracked, black mist oozing out and enveloping the beam. It tinted it darker as it struck Trixie. She quickly turned to the left and the beam shot past her, striking the stone in the middle of the circle. For a moment there was silence, then a dark, green light shot up from the stone into the sky. The blue mare gasped for air, but soon burst into laughter. “It... it worked! Hah! I knew it would work!”

Twilight stared for a few moments before turning back to Rarity. “A-are you okay? What happened-- Rarity! Y-your element!”

The princess was on her knees, her element completely black. Cracks had formed all along it. She slowly got to her hooves and looked down. “I-I don't know. How... what happened?”

Trixie laughed even louder. “Cower before my awesome might! Oh hoh hoh hoh! Yes, perfect laugh.” She snorted and waved a hoof. “To think, Discord wanted me to do this annoying ritual myself. Far easier just to make the lot of you finish it for me.”

Twilight blinked, then looked up. The green glow was gone, the world was dark once again. She looked from left to right, before turning to the stone pillar. The runes were gone. A grin slowly formed on her lips. “You failed, Trixie. Whatever you did destroyed Discord. He's gone. His power is gone.” She stepped forward. “We won.”

Trixie blinked a few times and looked back to the circle of ponies. They were laying on the ground, unconscious. “Err... get up? Summon Discord? Oh... that's not good.”

“I don't know what you did, Trixie. Frankly I don't understand how you even survived any of this. But you've lost. Discord is--”

Eh heh heh heh heh heh.” Lightning crackled in the sky overhead as clouds swirled in a massive circle.

Twilight took a step back. “W-what? What's that?”

Ah hah hah hah hah!” The stone exploded, clouding the room in a thick layer of dust and hiding the source of the laughter from view.

“N-no, impossible. You can't, we... we...” Twilight's ears lowered as she stared into the dust. “We... we...”

They'd failed.