------------------------------------------------------------Earlier -------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What. The. FUCK."
Nick could only stare in a combination of horror and fascination at the remains of the Castle of The Two Sisters. When he saw the condition of the stone path, he'd figured that it had been a few months- five to six years at the most- since being turned to stone. After all, it was hard to tell how much time has passed after being petrified.
This, however, was nothing like he was expecting. It was proof that he'd been gone for more than just a few measly years. Each step closer made that fact clear and slowly added to the growing sense of panic. 'T-this isn't possible. No way I've been gone that long. This'll be some prank that Cel and Luna set up...it has to be...
Inside of his pocket, a pin flared to life and started to send a small pulse of energy throughout Nick's body. The closer he got to the castle, the stronger it became. He finally noticed after a particularly strong one was let loose; temporarily pulling him out of the previously growing sense of despair.
"Noise? Here? But..... "
Reaching into his pocket, Nick pulled out the pin that had grabbed his attention. It was simply designed: a black background with a white, oddly shaped skull; as he stared at it in confusion, it continued to pulse in his hand like a steady heartbeat.
"Let's see if I remember how to do this.... "
Closing his eyes, he started to take deep and steady breaths, while clearing his mind of any stray thoughts. It took a few tries, but before long, his breathing had synchronized with the pin's pulse and he could activate its ability. Within his mind, he began to spread his awareness and quickly picked up on stray bits of noise floating around.
What caught his attention, was a large, blue noise symbol, shaped like an Alicorn's skull that was sitting in the center of the castle. In shock, he pulled his mind back and opened his eyes, staring at the ruins in disbelief. There was only one pony, or rather goddess, who had that signature and was corrupted by the noise.
"Luna.... she's still crazy huh."
A small smirk grew before Nick started to run towards the castle. Even though it pained him to know she was still corrupted, he had a chance to fix the problem once more. After that, the two of them could go to Celestia and get answers, especially why he'd been left as a statue for so long.
As he checked the ruins for any of the old entrances to the inner rooms, his body shivered from a small wave of magic being sent throughout the castle grounds. It reminded him of the Elements of Harmony, but slightly forced; that was enough to tell him that there couldn't be any more time wasted.
"Hope I've still got it, " Nick grumbled. Stretching for a minute, he took a deep breath and began to run towards a pile of stones before jumping unto them, then launching himself towards some broken ledges. As he flew in the air, he prayed he would make it, and he did; his upper body slamming into the ledge itself, while the rest hung in the air.
"Note to self- no fancy tricks after being stoned," he wheezed. Once he'd gotten his breath back, he continued running and jumping around the ruins, slowly getting more flexible and oriented with each jump. After a few minutes of making his way though, Nick stopped and grabbed his pin once more to focus in on the location of Luna.
Noticing that she was not too far from where he was, he opened his eyes and spotted a glass window right where he needed to go.
"Oh man, it's too good to pass up. Here we go!"
With a grin, he ran to the window and jumped, intent on making a crazy entrance.
------------------------------------------------------------Current Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nick stepped away from the broken glass and kept his eyes on Nightmare.
"Jeez, you're still wearing all that armor? Is it REALLY necessary? I mean, come on, that thing's gotta mess with all your fur."
Hearing the mockery in his voice brought the fallen goddesses out of her stupor. With an animalistic snarl, she leapt forward and swiped at him, intent on crushing him where he stood.
He snickered and simply stepped to the side, as he started to pull pins from his pocket. Once he had a handful, he clipped them to his collar and flexed his hand to make sure that they would respond. "Just like old times, eh nighty?"
Nightmare Moon clenched her jaw in irritation; she hadn't expected to deal with Nick after all this time. After all, most mortals would've died from the lethal spells she cast, much less even be alive after all this time. "How?! You should be dead by now! It's been over one-thousand years since we last fought!"
That made him pause for a moment; the pain inflicted by her statement was clear in his face. The hesitation was all she needed, and taking advantage of it, she threw him to the room's back wall.
Twilight finally moved when she heard him grunt in pain. Running over to him, she tried to check for injuries he might've received. "A-are you ok? You didn't break anything, did you?"
He gently pushed her away and pushed himself up and off the ground. "Nah, it takes a bit more than that to hurt me. Besides, shouldn't you be focusing on those elements?" Before she could respond, she was grabbed in one of his arms and pulled in close.
"What are you-" the question was cut off by the sound of an explosion right by her ear and the sensation of air blasting around them. When Twilight was finally able to pull away, she saw the remains of the stonework in front of her and an even angrier Nightmare Moon.
"Get to it!" Nick yelled at her, as he threw himself at the goddess. Swinging his arm at her, a line of flame surged into existence started to burn everything within its path. A shadow rose from between the cracks of the ground and stretched over the flame, before dropping and smothering it in response; once the fire was gone, it rose and thrust towards Nick like a cobra.
The two fought each other, trading blows through fire, shadows and loose pieces of stone flying through the air. Twilight could only stare in awe at the skill of the two fighters, before she could remember what she had to do. Scrambling around, she attempted to grab the stone orbs, only to be thrown back by a shockwave of magical energy and shadow.
"NAY! IF THOU SHALL STAND IN THE WAY, THEN THOU MUST FIGHT ON AN EVEN FIELD!"
The orbs were cloaked in shadow before the sounds of stone being crushed filled the air. The shattered remains of the Elements fell to the floor, and with it, a shout of rage filled the air.
A massive chunk of stonework lifted into the air and was flung at Nightmare, who barely got out of its way. As Twilight whimpered in horror, Nick raised his hand once more with an expression of complete fury.
Stones began to raise and fly towards the goddess; each one varying in size and picking up speed with each piece. Nightmare Moon's expression became worried as she continued to dodge each piece; before long, some of them started to clip her body, and her breath grew short.
"This - is impossible. THOU should be - straining to use - this much magic!"
Everything was interrupted when the room's doors burst open, and the five mares (plus Spike), stumbled inside.
Applejack glanced at Twilight, Nightmare Moon, then Nick before scratching her head.
"What tha' hay?"