I was very unhappy about the situation I had been placed in. Both Pinkie Pie and I were standing not too far away from the evil Nightmare Moon. I was starting in a very unfavorable position. Her powers were being boosted from the sakuradite in the area, maybe even from the whole world. I doubted I could match her in power before she tapped into that so I knew I had no chance against her powered up form.
"So, the minor interloper returns," Nightmare Moon stated almost haughtily, "and during my public address no less."
I whipped around to notice the two cameras standing behind me. One was pointing at her and the other was pointing at Pinkie and me.
"So everybody is watching this right now?" I asked as I felt a sinking feeling start to come over me.
"Indeed. Though now it is to be a public execution."
...Well, fuck. She was going to kill me on top of things. I was being broadcast to everyone out there. There was no way that anybody important was missing this. That meant that all of the important characters of the story on this side of whatever was separating the two worlds were now watching this situation with great interest.
This was unsalvageable in my mind. It was so bad in my head that I almost missed the mist coming from Nightmare Moon because of that. So, I pretty much snapped. If I had no way to avoid it, then I would just have to break the whole thing spectacularly; consequences be damned.
I pushed my hand into Pinkie's mane and pulled out a small round object.
"Ninja vanish!" I yelled before tossing it to the ground.
The orb erupted into a large plume of smoke that quickly spread out and concealed the area. I quickly teleported us, after turning us invisible, to another part of the room. When the smoke cleared, we stayed where we were as it showed we were no longer there. You could see the anger on Nightmare Moon's face as her eyes turned pure white.
"Find them! Now!"
As some of the ponies started looking, I decided to just not give a shit anymore. I was pissed and Nightmare Moon was a plenty deserving target. A straight attack would be suicidal so I'd have to go for psychological. I quickly cast an illusionary voice projection spell over the whole room and started in.
"What's the matter Nightmare Moon?" I said a bit darkly. "Not liking anything that doesn't go your way?"
"You will show yourself you wild pony!"
I let out a nice dark chuckle. I kept up the dark tone since I wanted to feel menacing even if I didn't actually come across that way to anyone else. My laugh was damn good though.
"Or what? You already threatened to kill us. It doesn't get much worse than that. I think I'll stay hidden thank you very much."
"HOW DARE YOU DEFY EMPRESS NIGHTMARE MOON!"
"So feisty! Too bad you weren't like this when you were banished from Equestria."
"YOU WILL STAY YOUR TONGUE ABOUT THINGS YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!"
I gave a throaty chuckle at that.
"Oh really? You were banished to the moon by Celestia for a thousand years and right after you get free what happened then?"
"SILENCE!"
"You were bansihed yet again by six ordinary ponies! Even your other half rejected you! That's what this is all about! The ponies relishing Celestia's daytime while they ignored and slept through your carefully crafted night. Everything you've done has been over simple. Petty. Jealousy!"
At that, Nightmare Moon raised both of her forelegs and stomped on the floor in front of her throne. From the newly cracked floor an invisible shockwave blew out into the room in somewhat of a straight line. This unfortunately tore a swath through most of the ponies present that were unlucky enough to be in the way. Pinkie and I were close enough to the back and side that it didn't affect us much. It also wasn't effective enough to get me to stop.
"Sounds like I understood plenty. You changed all of these people into ponies just for your sick gratification. You just want them to worship your night. How utterly despicable."
Yeah, she was frothing mad. She couldn't stop me from talking and was too mad to think about any alternatives. For someone who had been around for millennia, she behaved pretty much like a child.
"Well, I think I've broken that image you were portraying fairly well. I'd love to beat you myself, but that's not my place. Don't you worry though. Every nightmare ends when you wake up."
I was going to end it there, but I remembered something.
"Oh and if that camera is still on I have a message for Euphiemia. Your knight is still alive."
Yeah, it wasn't really necessary. She was just too nice of a person to have to suffer like that. She had really bad luck for a while now and losing everyone she cared about probably devastated her. A little good news could really help.
"Hope to see you never again!" I yelled before teleporting away with Pinkie.
Even when I teleported us to that street I met Ohgi at I could hear the angry, ear-piercing yell of frustration she unleashed.
"Wow, that was pretty mean," Pinkie stated.
"She's the reason that no one smiles. I'd say it's well deserved. But that's not doing anything right now. We need to seal that rift. I do not need to have something like that happen again."
Yeah, saying that probably meant it would happen now, but I was still a bit too miffed about what occurred with Nightmare Moon to care.
"I still wish there was something we could do to cheer everypony up. Just seeing all those sad faces is making me sad."
"I wish there was Pinkie. For most of them only the thought of becoming human or the end of Nightmare Moon's tyranny could possibly make them happy."
"Well why not try to do that? If it would make them happy then why not try?"
"Because I'm not powerful enough to do it. Only the Elements of Harmony and probably some combination of Geass and the human spirit are capable of defeating her once and for all."
"Well what about turning them back into humans? You did that to Ponyville before."
"They would just turn back after we left. I would just be giving them false hope. That could really make things worse."
"But what if-"
Pinkie was cut off as a pony accidentally ran into her. Our fault really as we were still invisible in the street. I was honestly surprised no one had already run into us as while it wasn't busy there were quite a few ponies walking about. I took a moment to teleport us into a nearby alley away from the now confused pony.
"It does pain me to see this many miserable peo- pon- folks, but it won't last. They won't even have a chance at being happy if we don't close that rift."
"Oh alright," she said dejectedly while staring into my eyes.
Fuck. As I saw this I thought about how concerned I was getting for Pinkie. She was starting to fall back into the state I found her in here last time. Depressed Pinkie is a bad thing. I meant that both practically and emotionally. Those eyes almost boring into me were the last straw that I didn't even know was there.
"Ahhh fine! I'll see about turning some of them human!"
"You will?" she said perking up.
"Yeah. Let's go somewhere else though."
As we started moving along I tried contemplating how bad of an idea that was. We'd be visible. We'd be calling attention to ourselves. I mentioned the false hope part already. None of it seemed like a good idea and yet I was doing it anyway. Why? In hindsight, I bet it was because of Pinkie. Almost definitely it was Pinkie. It was me being a sucker for girls again. It was the only illogical fact I could make sense of. It was probably under the section of 'don't make girls cry'.
The two of us made it to an area still being rebuilt and stopped there. I did my little flare trick and appeared as my pony self alongside Pinkie. It was more for attention grabbing than anything else. I stuck with my color scheme as well since subtlety was now pointless. It all still got the desired effect. Several dozen ponies trotted up to ask us about several different things. Was I the one on t.v.? How did I perform those feats? Was Nightmare Moon truly beatable?
Well, I didn't get to answer any of those questions because I had missed the two guard ponies nearby that immediately came after us.
"Halt! In the name of the Empress!"
"You mean the bitch in charge?" I quipped.
Oooh, they did not like that. The crowd held them up unintentionally just long enough for me to try a demonstration. I teleported behind the two guards as the crowd parted just enough for them. A fake plume of fire and everyone was now looking at me with slacked jaws. The reason for it was that I had dropped my illusion and now looked like my normal human self. I sneered for a second and balled up my fist while cloaking it in magic.
"It's clobbering time!"
A punch and a backhand to each guard respectively and I was no longer in danger... Well, no longer in danger from them. The crowd that rushed me? Not so much. At showing them a human in their midst any rational thoughts pretty much devolved into questions or demands about my human appearance. By then, I had had enough. I raised my hand, snapped my fingers, and froze everyone in place; even Pinkie unintentionally.
"Alright everyone listen up!" I yelled at the hundred or so ponies around me. "This is only temporary. I can turn you human. However! It isn't permanent! It'll last for a short while and it will come undone on it's own at random! Also, you'll probably remain naked unless you have clothes handy! I can't stay long either or more guards will come for me. Or worse..."
The ponies present all understood as I could see them shudder.
"Don't lose hope! When Nightmare Moon is defeated I can guarantee that you will return to human form for if she is the cause then her downfall will be the catalyst for your harmony!"
Yeah, I'm not good with words in public. Wait I managed to give a short speech in public ad not get nervous at all. That's a big ass flag for me. I could probably hand wave the other stuff because being angry earlier would override my stage fright. This was a different story altogether. I couldn't mull it over at that time, though, because I needed to be confident in front of the ponies who, I... still had frozen. Another snap and that was fixed. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. Some trepidation mixed with a bit of hope was pretty much what I got out of the faces in the crowd. I guess I should have expected I effectively froze the lot of them. Ain't hindsight awesome?
"Wow, you're a terrible salesperson aren't you?" Pinkie stated.
"I'm good at empathizing with the people nearby not giving them inspirational speeches," I bit back teasingly. "They want to be human again, but the way I'm offering it plus that show of power is making them rethink it a bit. It's not like they know if I'm better or not. Scaring them isn't going to help me any."
"Maybe you shouldn't sound so gloomy when you talk to them. You sound like you're reading the label on cough medicine. That isn't going to make anypony happy."
There were a few murmurs in the crowd, but I couldn't hear them. They had dispersed some so it was more around forty or so ponies now. That didn't matter as I could feel the beginnings of random song magic in the area. With Pinkie there, I already knew it would be her so I teleported a fair distance away and hoped I wouldn't get caught up in it. The music began and was uplifting with a hint of somberness to it. Not a bad situational tune really.
"I know you all are sad all day,
Wishing the bad would just go away,
You need to see that things aren't so blue,
And that's what Pinkie will help you doooo!
Here and there and everywhere,
You can find someone who can help you care,
Just look inside and you will see,
The joy that can help you set your hear freeeee!
We all can make a big difference,
Just as sure as my Pinkie Sense,
Find someone to share that light inside,
And show them all you don't have to hiiiide!
Why not leeend a haaand?
Help everyone to understand,
They're noooot alooone,
All our light inside will be shoooone!"
By the end of the first chorus she had managed to regrow the size of the crowd well past the original tally. They were coming out of the woodwork everywhere. Most surprising of all was how I spotted a few of the cult ponies in the crowd as well. Still, none of them were smiling yet as pinkie launched into the second part.
"All around you, you can find,
Someone alone I doubt would mind,
Some joy to touch their fragile heart,
Why not be the one to make that start?
Even without the warm sunshine,
Show everyone you'll be just fine,
Let your heart come shining through,
And all your new friends will help you too!
Let no one say it can't be done,
This feeling is inside everyone,
Now everyone out there will see,
That happiness that can set you freeeeee!
Why not leeend a haaand?
Help everyone to understand,
They're noooot alooone,
All our light inside will be shoooone!"
Holy shit. There were thousands of ponies out there now. All I could see up and down the street and even on the few ruined buildings were the smiling faces of ponies enjoying the song. Happy smiling faces just like she wanted.
"Now look around, now you can see,
That bright light shining from you and meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
On that long note was the most spectacular sight. The sun, which was blocked out by Nightmare Moon for months, actually pierced the canopy and shone down on everyone around. Imagery at its best right there. Pinkie lifting her front hooves into the air with the sun just then breaking through so fast that it felt like someone had swatted it aside so it could shine down on everyone. That scene brought a tear to my eye; which was helpful because I wasn't sure if I could cry anymore.
"Now you've leeent a haaand,
You've helped everyone understand,
They're noooot alooone,
All our our light inside is now shown!"
I thought it was done, but instead everyone joined in on a second chorus.
"Now you've leeent a haaand,
You've helped everyone understand,
They're noooot alooone,
All out light inside is now shoooooown!"
Well, damn. She did it. Even as the sun started disappearing back behind the canopy you could tell that the atmosphere had shifted into a more positive tone. It was most definitely nice to see something other than the subdued despair that was rampant in most of them. I waited as Pinkie chatted a little with some of the ponies before turning invisible and teleporting to her side.
"And that's why Mr. and Mrs. Cake don't have anypony else working there!" Pinkie said finishing up what was probably a story I would've liked to hear if the laughter was any indication.
"Pinkie, we need to go."
"Awww."
"Gotta save the world Pinkie."
Almost went Pinkie and The Brain there to be completely honest with you.
"Fine."
She looked back to the confused ponies who were hearing disembodied voices.
"I have to go now. My friend and I have to go stop the end of the world! But don't let that keep you from having a splendifferous day!"
I looked around for an out of the way spot before teleporting the two of us away from the crowd. It was time to get back to work.