Nightmare Moon had teleported out of the line of fire and appeared on a small looking platform at the other side of a giant gap in the middle of the ceiling. With a set of interested looking eyes did she glanced over to the demoness, awaiting and wanting to know just what would be happening next. Silence was maintained by her when she narrowed her eyes a little bit. But the magical abilities that she had were still carried firm.
The body charged itself up completely up to the point where all of her powers were surging through her veins. The unicorn had only one trigger required to release all of the magic at once. The unicorn had become a lot more dangerous as the massive amounts of dark magic were flowing freely through her. The corruption of the actual Twilight Sparkle had initiated without Moon even knowing. She was just preparing herself for the fight that would soon to be followed.
Sunset Shimmer on the other end just moved around on her spot while there seemed to be a rhythm in the tremors. Almost as if something massive was constantly bashing itself against the floor beneath her. She wanted to teleport away just so badly, but with her broken wings was the flow of magic broken as well.
The demoness was quite literally stuck on her spot and she had a look towards Nightmare Moon. Not a single word was shared between the two of them but they looked one another just so deep in the eyes. Deep exhales were given off by the pair of them as they wanted to just recollect themselves from the battle.
Yet the anticipation of the events to come made the demoness worry a lot. She could have expected anything and everything to have been hit her way. Though not even her wildest of dreams could ever have anticipated what would happen next. Nothing in her mind could have prepared her for the revelations that were about to be made as the floor beneath her hooves cracked.
More and more cracks appeared beneath them and every step that she took even caused more. Sunset became frightened and rightfully so. The demoness was literally losing her footing because of the little fact that she couldn’t fly anymore. Not to mention that she couldn’t just teleport away either. The glances shared between the devil and her were never broken. It almost made it seem as if Sunset wanted that Nightmare Moon would watch to the events to come.
Whatever events were to come to begin with, the demoness looked straight in the eyes of the devil and was countered by a set of ice cold eyes. Eyes that told her that whatever would have happened, Nightmare Moon didn’t care about one bit. But within the eyes of Sunset Shimmer there was a fire to be found. The internal flame that never seemed to have been able to be eradicated from her very soul.
It amazed Nightmare Moon actually just how much stamina and how much energy the demoness happened to be. Their battle had been going on for hours on end. Even within the time distortion going on, it still felt like hours had gone by for the both of them. Whether it actually were hours was unknown and best left untold for everypony’s sake.
But the cracks beneath the hooves of Sunset told the devil another thing. The very fact that there was another force that was able to move through the distortion in time. But what kind of force was able to do such a thing? It was a question that needed answering, and the answer for it came sooner than either of them would have liked. The time was there to discover what was crashing against the ceiling of the throne room and what remained hidden beneath the floor.
The ground underneath the hooves of Sunset Shimmer finally gave away. Her natural response was that she spread her wings and tried to flap them. Though the issue happened to be that everything went sore. The broken bones and tense muscles allowed for some movement, but by far not enough for her to get airborne.
The next thing that happened was a yell of pain that was released by the demoness when she disappeared in something. Something had shot up from the floor and literally consumed the dark being. Nightmare Moon could only watch in terror as even she did a step back.
The eyes of the devil herself went wide as she watched what came out of the hole. The floor crumbled even further as a massive, scaled, lizard like body rose up from the floor. “Im-Impossible!” the mare exclaimed quietly to herself.
The first time in a very, very long time did she remember how it felt to be scared of something. The very thing that crawled out of the hole was something that she hadn’t seen in millennia’s. Nightmare Moon was looking at a thing that was thought to have gone extinct for such a long time.
She was looking straight at a dragon that had a big enough maw to swallow an anthrony up whole. It’s two powerful legs carried the body up upon the floor whereas the arms were spread gently. The head turned over into the direction of Nightmare Moon and their eyes met up.
The devil herself couldn’t believe what she saw and didn’t even wanted to believe it. For she had always deemed the facts as unbelievable and unreal. Yet there it was, right before her before her very eyes. A gulp was given off when the smoke came through the nostrils of the beast.
“D-Dragon,” was the one word with which she could describe the being. The devil had to turn her glance away from the beast in order not to be captivated by it too much. But she could hear the sounds of spreading wings. The ground beneath the massive clawed feet of the scaled lizard gave away. The damage done to the floor was more than enough to make it shatter.
So the only thing that could have been done by the beast was to take for the skies. Once it had taken off could Nightmare Moon look again at the beast. She took every single detail of the beast to her as she wanted to see just what kind of dragon it was.
The last dragon was rumored to have been slain by a great warrior in times long gone by. Could it have been possible that they forgot one of the beasts which remained dormant through time itself? And why could it move through the time distortion to begin with? The purple scales and the green spikes as well as skin between the wings should have been a clear indication for the devil.
Though she had no memory of the beast.
The dragon held the demoness firm in its mouth whereas she tried to make an escape. Sunset tried everything in her might to escape the maw of the giant beast as being swallowed by it was about the last thing she wanted. Becoming dragon dinner wasn’t exactly at the top of her list. It was actually better that the cries of true sadness couldn’t be heard outside of the dragon’s mouth, because the demoness felt that she was about to truly die.
She was stuck in the maw of a beast that was supposed to have gone extinct millenniums ago. Nor did she have a way that she could make her escape to. Even if she managed to somehow get out of the maw, it meant that she had two enemies fighting over her and against her. The dragon would have been the new addition to the troubles that she was going through.
Fighting Nightmare Moon alone had almost drained her from every last bit of energy that she had. She couldn’t even have imagined if there was a dragon as well thrown into the mix. The fingers of the demoness coiled up around two of the razor sharp fangs that the dragon had in the hope so not to be swallowed of coiled up by the tongue.
It was a faint attempt at postponing the inevitable. Death would eventually come for all and her clock was chiming. The last hour of Sunset’s reign in freedom had initiated. “I’ll never forgive any of you!” the demoness shouted through her pouring tears.
Nightmare Moon on the other hand kept on looking over to the events as they were playing out. She had gotten a strange interest in seeing just what the massive being had planned out for the demoness. Perhaps it was the cutting edge that she needed in order to get the essence back. Finally there was an opportunity that she could have used with her, instead of it being used against her.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” the mare chuckled while she looked over to the dragon again. The creature made a troubling revelation to her though. The very scales that it carried gave away perhaps the one thing that she didn’t wanted to see in any dragon.
The eyes of Nightmare Twilight went wide before she gently shook her head. Nothing could have been said during the events to come. The vocal box of the devil was silenced by a force that was even greater than her. And that force was the sheer awesome presence of the dragon alone.
Just how the creature hovered in the air like that was already troubling enough to the devil, but she had to keep on watching. She had to see what would be happening to her enemy. She wanted to see what was going on actually, no matter how gruesome it would have become.
When the purple scales lifted up just a little bit, they all revealed the fiery color that could be clearly seen beneath them. Nightmare Moon instantly realized the facts as they were and she wasn’t all too happy about it. Fires would be released as fire would have been fought with fire once more.
Except there was one little change to the whole plan. Sunset possessed a magical fire, the dragon had his own heart. Rumors of old spoke about the best sources of fire happened to be the heart of a dragon itself. The fires that were created by such beasts was powerful enough to lay complete cities in complete ashes and still rage on for days without end.
The sheer amount of heat that those flames could have produced was enough to make solid rocks go liquid in a matter of seconds. Nightmare Moon had to do a couple of steps backwards to make sure she had some kind of quick getaway. With her hooves she constantly felt whether or not she was already at the edge of the roof before almost falling down.
Another gentle step was made forward as she realized that she had to stay put. Whatever would be happening next, she had a front row seat for it. Another gulp was given off by the devil as she continued to watch the events. The events that most likely would have been changing the course of not just their battle, but the entire course of history.
Just one single moment in time, just one second in time itself would have caused so much destruction, so much death and so many debts just settled. Rumors often spoke about things changing on the fly. They were literally experiencing the matter as it was.
Finally had the dragon been ready and he could do whatever needed to be done. The dragon took then a deep inhale through his nostrils before he rose his head up. Which allowed Sunset Shimmer to literally hang at two of the many teeth that the beast carried. She dared to look straight down the massive throat of the beast and noticed the orange light at the bottom of it.
She instantly realized what was going to happen and the only thing that she could have done was to remain silent. There was no way out of the place and she knew it. So only the peace with her essence could have been made. Whether the dragon worked for Nightmare Moon or was a force of its own was unknown to her.
Not that she cared too much about it to begin with either. Death had come to her and the last thing she saw was the orange flow filling the throat. Only to then send screams of true agony out into the world.
Screams of pain and agony that could even have been heard by Nightmare Moon herself. The devil watched over the scene as it happened in silence. There was no remorse visible upon her face but with an interested glance in her eyes. Something had triggered her attention though. The devil would have been able to snatch what she wanted for all that time, in just a matter of seconds.
The fires of the dragon kept on going while he curled up his lips. The beast allowed to the fires to escape through his teeth but let the demoness be stuck firm in-between them. There was no way out in any physical form for the Dark Witch. The one that dared to defy Nightmare Moon herself had been submitted down to her knees.
The fires inside of the mouth silenced the screams of the demoness. The body was consumed by the flames that were brought out and she died literally in the mouth of the dragon. But the fact remained that she still was a Dark Witch. And those beings never truly died. Their bodies could have been destroyed and shattered, but their essence continued to live on. Waiting in patience for a new body to be formed over time itself. That would have happened to Sunset as well. But only if Nightmare Moon wouldn’t intervene with it all.
Only once the flames died down from the scales did the coloring of the dragon returned to their more dominant purple. Soon enough did the maw turn normal as well and he lowered his head again. The eyes were granted a straight view upon the world as his serpent like neck made another ‘s’-shape. But the lips were still curled up.
The lips of the dragon were still curled up in order to reveal the massive fangs he carried. Yet that also gave way for the essence of the demoness to be floating away. Which was exactly the thing that it did. Naturally it tried to take over the dragon at first, but his own essence was ancient and unable to be conquered by any force of dark magic.
There wouldn’t have been a place big enough in the heart of the dragon that could have stored his soul. If anything, the essence of the demoness would have been the thing that would be stored somewhere inside of him.
No, it was better for Sunset Shimmer to leave the dragon be. She floated away from him as if it was nothing. The sheer amount of orange coloring that took over were a clear indication to Nightmare Moon that Sunset Shimmer had died. She had died in the mouth of the dragon.
A dragon that didn’t even look at the essence of the demoness when he spat out whatever remained of her. Only a series of bones were removed from his mouth and they clattered down to the ground. There they would just have shattered into thousands of little pieces and fine dust. Dust that would have been picked up by the wind as soon as time would tick again.
The demoness was history. Sunset Shimmer’s reign in the woods of Everfree had come to a fiery end after who knew how many years. Nightmare Moon noticed that fact as it was and realized what could be done. She could leave the body of Twilight and merge herself with Sunset’s essence to make another physical body for her.
It had to be done given the fact how her own centipede husk was still somewhere in the woods of White Tails and locked against a tree. It was the only thing that could have been done in order to get what she had been wanting for so long. The devil had to separate herself from the soothsayer. It was the only way in which it could happen.
The devil nodded one time firm with Twilight’s head before she released all of the systems that she operated. Just like that she released control over Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn soothsayer’s own soul had to crawl out of the cocoon it was stuffed in and regain control.
Though when the devil left the body of the unicorn, she did something that wasn’t intentional. The essence of Nightmare Moon gave a kick to the body of Twilight in order to set herself off into the skies. But that kick had one nasty side effect that was unforeseen. It managed to send the body of Twilight off the little platform and down the tower.
The body of Twilight was falling down the side of the tower while the unicorn’s soul was still stuffed away. The body had turned into an empty husk for anything to be taken just like that. Twilight’s very own fate could have been written in stone there and then, as she could have been the only casualty that the company of mares had to endure if the odds weren’t in her favor.
Yet the dragon was still there. He was watching over everything that happened and he had a strange but strong bond with the unicorn. His eyes followed the essence of Nightmare Moon going up to that of Sunset Shimmer, but he felt that something was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong but he couldn’t see what it was, not yet at least.
The eyes of the dragon then glanced to the edge where Nightmare Twilight used to stand. Instantly he remembered the facts as they were and widened his eyes. “No,” the deep voice of the dragon spoke before he gave a couple of powerful flaps with his wings.
The quest to safe Twilight Sparkle –the real one– was initiated and he soared over to the edge and then down the sides of the tower. Luck was on his side when he caught her in his eyes. But she was dangerously close to the ground already. Fears took over the dragon moments before he could only have increased his own speed.
The hands of the beast reached out in order to grab her. His eyes were almost tearing up as he didn’t wanted to lose the mare. Under no circumstances would he have allowed him to make such a great mistake or offer. The unicorn had to live in his eyes one way or the other. Whatever would have taken it to get to her, he would have taken it.
The fingers of the dragon felt that they were coiling up around something as he closed his eyes. There was no escape from the ground that was laying beneath them. Either way would they have just crashed right into it. Yet that didn’t mean that the beast had to make her suffer.
The wings of the dragon were tucked against his body and he then rolled over. In the hope that it would have been his back that met the ground first. Both of the hands formed a protective shell around the unicorn while he braced himself for impact.
Any second could the massive smack against the ground have been send shocking through him. And any second was right there. With a deafening crash did the dragon crash against the ground while moving tons and tons of dirt with him. Twilight was his main concern though. She was thrown all over the place in his hands, but never enough for bones to be broken.
~~~~
With a massive shock was the connection between her and the crystal orb broken. Twilight leaned back in the chair while she began to breathe deep in fear. The sights that she was granted by the crystal orb had revealed a little bit more than that she would have liked originally. The unicorn panted for her breath while she looked around the place.
The light of the sun was finally cast within the windows again and warmed the place up. But there still was that feeling of emptiness going through her. Something wasn’t right and Twilight had figured out exactly what it was. “I, I can’t, I can’t believe it,” she spoke to herself through the gasps for air. She closed her eyes for a moment as the head was dropped even further backwards.
Words were mumbled by the unicorn and she just couldn’t believe what had happened to her. The frightened thoughts that she carried before all had changed to thoughts of anger. She wouldn’t have taken it lightly that Nightmare Moon had just taken over her body like that. Payback was the thing that needed to happen in one way or the other.
One way or the other would Twilight have discovered a way to just get back to the devil herself. Even if it meant that she had to go to the deepest circle of Tartarus herself in order to do it. She would have her revenge on the devil no matter what. But that wasn’t the only thing that was on her mind. She was still there.
Twilight was still in the office of the head soothsayer and left the chair for what it is. The unicorn just began to wander through the room with her hands behind her back. Countless thoughts were rushed through her mind while she crunched on each of them. There were just so many possibilities on everything in the moment.
She had seen all the way up to the point where Nightmare Moon had left her body. She didn’t knew where her body truly happened to be from that moment on. But the shock that woke her up must have been something that would indicate it. A deep huff went through her nostrils as she glanced quickly over the orb again.
What happened next was something that she didn’t had expected to do. There was a strange and little smile that came to her face. A genuine smile of actual happiness formed itself across her lips. A smile that was maintained for a little bit of time. “Oh that I may live to see this happening,” said Twilight to herself when the puzzle pieces all fell upon their rightful place.
Everything just became clear to her when she glanced out of the window. She glanced into what was thought to be the sun itself, but that never shone with the strength of light that came in the room. The unicorn continued to smile like the mad fool she was. “Everything comes to pieces now,” she said to herself, “the darkness, the guard, the emptiness.”
The unicorn shook her head a little bit from side to side. The place where she was, was her own body. Her very own soul had created the possible safest place for the unicorn to be. Which happened to be no other place then the castle of Canterlot. From there outwards had the soul tried to fight off the darkness that was invading her essence. “I wrote those words on the scrolls. Heh, oh that’s just clever indeed,” said Twilight to herself before she shook her head once again.
As wonderful as it all seemed to be sounding as equally mad it did too. The mare turned her attention back to the orb with a curious expression clearly visible upon her face. She was still there and not back on the tower in Everfree. Which meant that her soul hadn’t taken over the body yet. Which in return stood equal to the fact that any dark entity could just as easily had taken her over once more.
Another hostile takeover by some kind of dark force was just about the last thing where Twilight was hoping for. So all she could do was to figure out a way to regain said control over her body. Which meant that she kept on gazing over the orb. “Can it be, that easy?” she asked to herself.
The unicorn shook her head as a direct response. Nothing in her life had ever come that easily, so why would the taking back of her body be? But perhaps the goddesses would have been kind to the mare for a change and just give her the chance to do what was needed. Though Twilight didn’t actually believe in the facts as they were.
“It can’t be. It just, can’t,” she mumbled to herself. Her eyes were seemingly mesmerized by the crystal orb. If she didn’t know any better, it almost seemed as if it was calling her out. It spoke her name in faint whispers through the air. It was lurking her, taunting her, seducing her.
The eyes of Twilight had a difficult time to be torn away from the thing. Which resulted in the fact that she gave into it. The calling of the orb was too strong to be fought again in her eyes. And only one thing could actually have done in order to set her curiosity straight.
The unicorn once again approached the chair and took place within it. The chair was set firm against the desk before the eyes were closed for a moment. “Celestia and Luna, goddesses of the sun and moon, please give me the strength for this,” she whispered as a last little prayer. Nothing was certain about the events that would follow, as they were never done by her before.
The unicorn placed her hand once more upon the orb and held her eyes closed. She charged her hand in the raspberry magical aura and felt the tingles that were exchanged. The different kinds of arcane powers tingled through her fingers and she wanted to stop. But there was no way it could be stopped then.
Twilight Sparkle had to say the words she wanted in order to have the orb do what she wanted. The words had to be spoken, the words of that what she wanted most. The mare held her eyes shut while more magic collected itself between her hand and the orb.
Only three words would have been repeated inside of her mind. The soothsayer tried to make sense out of the whole situation. Three words would have been hammered against her skull, up to the point where she had to speak them in a bellow.
Lashes of arcane powers were given off by both her hand and the crystal orb while the mare winched in pain. The massive amounts of magic that were exchanged between her and the object almost seemed to have gotten unbearable for her. The words of her mind had to be spoken if she wanted to stand any chance.
Finally were the three words bellowed through the office. Three simple words that probably had the biggest meaning for the mare in the moment. “Assuming, direct, control!” she shouted before a yell of pain followed suit.
~~~~
The dragon opened his eyes again and felt the pain that was aching through his back. But Twilight seemed to have been safe from everything. That fact alone caused him to be massively relieved about everything. The massive beast then got back up in the time distortion while the mare regained her mulberry skin color.
The changes that had happened thanks to Nightmare Moon’s presence had reverted as the essence had faded away. Which meant that the normal Twilight Sparkle had returned, or at least that he hoped. For the unicorn was still out of the count. “Rest now, my old friend. Come back to knowledge, at your own pace,” the beast spoke in a low but well-meant tone towards her body.
His eyes then looked up towards the tower and knew there still was business that needed to be settled. The devil herself was still up there so he spread his wings once more. Three little orb of green fire appeared around his hand and the unicorn who laid in the palm. Protection would be given to her until she would have woken up again.
The dragon had one target in his eyes that still needed to be dealt with. Perhaps it was just plain old stupidity that allowed him to bring the unicorn up with him. But in the moment he didn’t care. All he cared for was her safety which was actually ensured. Next to that he wanted to see the devil burn or be retreated back to her home.
The creature soared back up the tower of the castle once more and appeared almost like a beast of ponytales above it. With his wings fully spread out and the serpents neck looking right at the essence of the two dark entities, it almost seemed as if he had a personal vendetta with and against them. Yet he knew he had to keep Nightmare Moon busy for the moment. If she had been able to merge with Sunset were the consequences not to be overseen.
The claws of his hand were opened and the three orbs guided the unconscious Twilight Sparkle down to the floor again. There she would just be brought and laid down on her back. It was perhaps the safest spot for her to be when the dragon watched over the devil. With his wings still flapping was he presented a sight that couldn’t be believed.
The worst nightmares of the dragon had come true. Yet the silence was maintained by the creature. Only a deep growl managed to near silently leave his throat while the dark entities had turned into one. Though what was worse of all was the fact that Nightmare Moon had been building a body for herself again.
With the essence of both herself and Sunset had she allowed to carve a new body that revealed how the devil actually looked. Another growl was released by the dragon as he sharpened his claws. The battle between the true form of the devil and the devil of old, was about to commence.
But Nightmare Moon just chuckled up towards the dragon. She almost deemed it that the beast was no match for her. And she happened to be right in a slight manner of the words. The true form of the devilish mare was revealed to him. Which included the attire and kind of being she actually happened to have been in all those thousands of years.
An alicorn anthrony levitated in the air that had a skin as black as charcoal. The wings flapped constant which ruffled up the foggy hair she carried. But the most striking factor had to be the fact that she wore pieces of armor. Thick armor that seemed to have been carved out of diamonds themselves and brought a lighter shade of blue to the color pallet.
That was the true Nightmare Moon right there. For she rose up one of her hands and held another orb of dark magic within her fingers, who carried nails that were about half the size of them. “Bring it,” she just taunted to the dragon.
The eyelids of the unicorn soothsayer began to tremble. In the moment she shocked up from the floor and looked around. The green shield that was supposed to protect her faded away and she had a look around. Blinks were made by her before she turned to the battle that was raging on.
She saw how Nightmare Moon almost stood triumphal over a near exhausted dragon. She couldn’t have won already, not from against such a beast of power. But then again it did happened to be the devil against a beast of old.
Twilight wouldn’t stand for it. Not after what had been done to her earlier. The unicorn began to charge up every bit of magic that she could have called upon. Her hands and horn were all coated within the aura as arguably one of the biggest orbs of magical fire were created. A massive orb that hovered before the soothsayer and seemed to have been aimed to Nightmare Moon.
The devil herself couldn’t speak a word as she caught the fires in her eyes. Only a couple of words managed to get out of her mouth. Words spoken in a tone of utter disbelief. “She’s back!”
The dragon then turned his head into the direction of Twilight and curled his lips up to form a smile. “Oh she is, and she doesn’t look happy.” He then focused his attention back to the devil herself. “The hours of your reign are over, Dark Witch…”