The prince of storms Chapter 10: The 'Holy Crusade' of Mama Luna Part 2.
Ponyville – Twilight's Library -
"Can we please go to bed, Twi? I beg you..." Spike pleaded from behind the stack of books he was cataloguing.
"Sigh! Fine, just because otherwise everypony will say that I am making you work too much..." Twilight conceded sighing as she rolled the scroll she was writing on.
"Yay..." the small dragon said in tired elation.
"Can you continue for me?" the purple Unicorn asked to the exact copy of herself standing at her left.
"Yup! No problem, Boss!" the clone answered cheerfully.
"Uhm! This ones acts similar to Pinkie, I need to write this down...'The clones appear to develop quirks in their psyche one time out of ten, this along questions about enlarging energy reserves to summon more than one should be addressed with the Prince at its earliest'..." Twilight muttered as she jotted down a new detail about her new spell.
"Books! Books! Books!" the Twi-clone sang happily as she moved back each tome to its place on the shelves.
"Are you sure you want to summon more than one, Twi? I am already finding a single copy of you creepy..." Spike muttered.
"Maelstrom may be able to summon tens of thousands of them, but I aim at calling only ten, like that I would be able to get free time for my researches while the clones take care of keeping the Library in check." Twilight answered while still studying the copy of herself.
With a loud crash a body fell through the ceiling dispelling the clone in a burst of smoke making both dragon and Unicorn shriek in surprise.
"P-P-Princess Celestia!" Twilight screamed in fright at seeing the wounds covering the Alicorn's body.
"E-Elements! The Elements!" the Princess said with a frantic voice.
"Your wing is broken, your Highness! What happened?" the other asked with a pale face.
"Nightmare...Nightmare Moon is back!" Celestia answered as she forced herself to stand only to collapse on Twilight making the girl groan to keep her standing.
"She attacked you?" she asked.
"No...I-It was Nightmare King...the corrupted form of my nephew..." the Sun Alicorn answered with a broken voice and sobbing tone.
"She corrupted the Prince?" Twilight asked.
"She turned him into a monster..." the Alicorn answered as the Blood-lust of the Jinchuuriki of Konoha in his six-tailed form covered the whole town.
"HE IS HERE!" Celestia shrieked as the door of the library went torn-off from its hinges to let a smug-looking Nightmare Moon trot inside accompanied by the corrupted shinobi.
"So you were hiding here, why am I not surprised?" the Corrupted Princess asked mockingly.
"M-M-Maelstrom?" Twilight muttered with wide eyes.
"Grrrr!" the Jinchuuriki answered with a soft growl.
"Oh, yes...the Element of Magic...one of the hussies trying to take away our beloved heir." Moon answered snarling.
"I thought the Elements had destroyed you!" the young Unicorn said.
"Oooh! Those pretty gems removed us for a little time, yes. But we were still there in wait, waiting for the right moment to reclaim what was rightfully us to take!" the Alicorn answered with a pleased smirk.
"...I see...the Corruption was only put to sleep, in a thousand years that stuff had got too deep for a single shot to completely remove it..." Twilight muttered.
"Clever." Nightmare King said snorting.
"Control your instincts, she is not worthy of you!" Nightmare Moon snapped angrily.
"Jealous?" Twilight said smirking.
"Twi!?" Spike hissed while hiding behind one of the tables.
"Tch! A mere tactic like that won't work, Twilight Sparkle! I know who holds the heart of my son in her hoof, and that is not you!" Nightmare Moon answered nonplussed.
"You sure? Dash is a nice contender for his affections...well, I don't want to seem full of myself, but me and the others too are climbing pretty up ourselves." Twilight answered as she kept inching towards one of the windows while dragging Celestia with her.
"What are you doing?" Celestia muttered.
"Trying to anger her enough to not notice me moving closer to the window to try and escape." she answered.
"She is trying something, KILL HER!" the Moon Alicorn ordered.
"GRAAAAAAAAAH!" Nightmare King roared as he prepared to pounce on the two.
"Then again I underestimated the fact she has a warrior with her! RUN!" the purple Unicorn yelled as she and the Princess had barely the time to jump through the glass to evade the Prince's attack.
"I'll go call the others, Twi!" Spike said as he hurried away.
"Can you raise a shield?" Celestia asked as she weakly stood by Twilight's side.
"Yes." she answered.
"Can it stop a fully powered Tailed Beast Bomb?" the Princess asked worried.
"What is that?"
"One of the strongest attacks of somepony holding a Biju, a tailed beast, inside...and he has the strongest one sealed in his body..." the Sun Alicorn said as both corrupted ponies calmly walked outside towards them.
"I already know that." Twilight answered.
"Then you should know how destructive my baby can be. Why don't you give her a demonstration, my beloved?" Nightmare Moon said.
"BIJU DAMA!" The Corrupted Maelstrom roared as the colossal beam of energy went shot-out of his mouth.
"WOOZA! WHAT THE HAY IS THAT?!" a known voice shrieked as a long silhouette appeared before the two.
"Discord?!" Celestia said with wide eyes while watching the Draconequus 'grab' the attack to force it upward making it explode high in the sky and still shocking Ponyville enough to not let a single window un-exploded and even uprooting several trees.
"Felt some Chaotic energy here and got curious...are those two Lulu and Maelly?" Discord asked while still blowing on his heavily-burned hands.
"Something happened and Luna returned into being Nightmare Moon, she then must have corrupted Maelstrom." Celestia answered.
"...Uhm!...I see...that's risky..." the Draconequus muttered while looking at the Prince with narrowed eyes.
"What?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing important for now. I know that I can't help you dealing with this." he answered.
"Why? You can't revert the Corruption?" Celestia asked, shocked at feeling her wounds simply disappear.
"If I do that the 'Lesson' won't stick...Luna needs to learn that bottling her feelings and self-doubts is not safe for her or anybody else, if the last shreds of Corruption could spread once again was all because she secretly wanted Nightmare Moon to be back, to be the 'free woman' she felt like under the Corruption...the fact that she dragged her son in this is a proof that she just feared his abandonment and wanted him as close and 'Hers' as possible. No, she needs to see what she had done and its consequences to understand, hopefully after this she'll learn to be more honest with herself and finally abandon Nightmare Moon once and for all." Discord answered shaking his head.
"Then what will you do?" Twilight asked.
"I'll give a little hand as it is still one of my play-mates we are talking about, I don't know where to find another prankster if the Prince here gets banished. I'll just stop Ponyville from getting damaged and call here the other Element Bearers. Then it will be up to you others to resolve this, try to get through Luna before using the Elements, this is all her doing, without her own will secretly aiding it the Corruption this time wouldn't have been able to take over." the Draconequus answered as a faint glow covered the houses around them while he himself moved to sit calmly on a near rooftop to watch.
"And Maelstrom?"
"Don't worry about that. You have Luna to worry about." Discord answered unconcerned as he snapped his fingers making Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ, Pinkie Pie and Spike appear near the group.
"Thanks, we would have wasted time getting here." Spike said as he and the others got back on their feet after the landing.
"Mael..." Dash whimpered at seeing the transformed Prince looking at her without signs of recognising her.
"Even the Draconequus has abandoned you, it should speak you volumes about your chances of winning," Nightmare Moon said laughing.
"We still have the Elements on our side, you abomination! I will free my sister and my nephew, even if it will cost me my life!" Celestia answered in determination.
"Dash..." Maelstrom growled.
"You want to play with her? Why not! Go and destroy her, she was the one to cause us to grow apart trying to interfere with our perfect life together! Kill her and then return to me, okay?" the Corrupted Princess answered kissing her son's cheek lovingly.
"Yes." he answered opening his wings wide and readying himself for a sprint.
"DASH!" AJ yelled in horror.
"It's okay...it's okay. If he focuses on me you others won't be able to use the Elements, but at least Nightmare Moon won't have him backing her up." the cyan Pegasus said biting-back her tears.
"Then me and the others will keep him occupied." a new voiced said.
"BROTHER!" Twilight gasped in shock.
"As soon as Princess Celestia got attacked me and few others went to investigate and managed to over-hear Nightmare Moon talk about coming here, then I assembled as many soldiers as I could and came here with our fastest ship..." Shining Armour answered.
"I brought them here then myself. They were being too slow." Discord added.
"We will fight the Prince and leave Princess Luna to you others." Shining added.
"NO!" Twilight yelled.
"She is the one that Corrupted him, right? She has him as her puppet, if you save her then she will then be able to calm him down long enough for the Elements to purify him as well. Just be fast, I don't know how long we will last, his abilities as shinobi have not been discovered fully so we will be battling an Alicorn with extra powers we know nothing about." the Captain answered shaking his head.
"It doesn't matter how many ponies you amass, you all will fail. But please, do wave plan after plan so that me and my son we will be able to tear them to pieces along your weak Hope! NIGHTMARE KING! DESTROY THEM!" the Dark Mare ordered making the berserk Jinchuuriki fly forward with enough power to destroy the street behind himself.
"SHIELD UP! LAYERS!" Shining Armour yelled as more than two dozens horns flared-up to create a layered bubble around the group.
"GRAAAAAH!" Maelstrom bellowed as he moved through the barrier like a bullet of howling red energy with a sound similar to breaking glass making the group scatter but nailing both Shining and Dash in his charge blowing both back.
"DASH/SHINING!" Celestia and the others screamed.
"Join Captain Shining! Me and the others will deal with her!" the Sun Alicorn ordered making the various soldiers hurry to intercept the Prince.
"While the kids play, what about finishing our old issues, sister?" Nightmare Moon asked amused.
"This time I'll be sure to completely eradicate every trace of you from Luna's mind!" Celestia replied snarling.
"THEN COME AND GET ME!" the Dark Alicorn said in glee as a wide wave of darkness shot-out of her horn making Princess and remaining Elements scatter.
With Shining Armour, Dash and the Royal Guards -
The Transformed Alicorn was silently hovering above the group with his luminous eyes reduced to thin slits as Dash and Shining huddled together to prepare.
"You are his main target, Dash...but you and the other Elements are also the ones that should know him better, what can you tell us about him?" Shining asked.
"In this state? He is using the power of a creature the humans sealed in him years ago, since the beast could not be stopped by any other means they needed to imprison it somewhere it wouldn't have been able to make damages from...that place is his body." Dash answered.
"What kind of power is that then?" a near Unicorn asked.
"You are?"
"Blessed Horn, I am the Magical expert of my squad." he answered.
"That's Human Magic, relying on an energy called 'Chakra'. I am not Twilight so I don't know hay about the details; but I know this, in that state he has nigh-infinite Stamina, an almost impenetrable skin..."
"Define impenetrable, please." Shining asked.
"He told me that last time he got like that, before he and the creature inside him became friends, a sword said to be able to cut through everything failed to even scratch him, and now he is using even more power than THAT particular fight." Dash answered.
"So an hard shell...attack power?" Blessed Horn asked worried.
"He and the others like him were considered back in that world as 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'...able to erase whole Villages from maps and reshape lands in their rage." the Pegasus said grimacing.
"And he has one of those things backing his Alicorn Magic?!" the Unicorn shrieked.
"He has the strongest of them all inside actually..."
"...this is not good." Shining said in dismay.
"INCOMING!" a Pegasus yelled moving up in the air to evade the attack.
"Restraining spells!" Shining ordered as 'ropes' of magic circled wings, legs and muzzle of the Jinchuuriki forcing him to stay on the ground.
"WIND!" a Pegasus Captain ordered as she and several others started flying in circle around the Corrupted Prince.
"What are they doing?" Dash asked.
"They are forcing the wind to move down-ward as strong as they can to push him on the ground and stop him from flying, now GO! Join my sister and stop Nightmare Moon! We'll try to buy you others as much time we can!" Twilight's brother answered with a strained voice.
"I CAN'T HOLD HIM!" a soldier said in despair as his horn was starting to lose luminosity.
"MOVE, DASH!" Shining bellowed.
"I-I am going!" the cyan Pegasus answered hurrying away.
"GRAAAAAH!" Nightmare King roared as he broke free in an explosion of dark-red energy launching the flying ponies above him far away from him.
"I GOT HIM!" a big earth pony soldier yelled as he pounced on Maelstrom together with his two companions to tie him up.
"If Unicorn's Magic didn't work and Pegasus' Weather Magic didn't stick, then let's see if brute strength from earth ponies have any effect!" the Captain of the 'Earth Squad' said in pride as other bulky stallions dog-piled the Corrupted Prince.
"Captain Boulder, we need to work together in this." Shining said with narrowed eyes as him an the others regrouped.
"I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING, CAPTAIN SHINING! I don't need help in deciding how to-"
"OUT OF MY WAY!" Maelstrom yelled as he blew away ropes and ponies making both fall down around him, glaring at Captain Boulder with smouldering rage.
"...Help?" the earth pony asked with a squeaky voice.
"Regroup and assault! We are going to tire him out! Attack him from afar and then get out of dodge for the others to have a free shot, we are going to use an 'Hit-and-run' tactic!" Shining answered.
"You want somepony with infinite Stamina to get tired?" the Pegasus Captain asked in disbelief.
"Is the only plan I can come up with, until somepony one of you others gets a miraculous brain-wave I don't know how to treat this..." he answered.
"It's something at least, Soldiers! You heard the Captain! Onwards!" Boulder answered as he and the others charged forward to circle the Prince.
With Celestia and the Elements of Harmony -
While the assembled soldiers kept battling with all their power to keep the Jinchuuriki occupied and not help Nightmare Moon, the Sun Alicorn and the young mares with her kept trying to use the power of the Elements on Luna to save her once again.
The problem was that last time the Corrupted Princess was using most of her powers to keep Celestia confined on the Sun, but now she had her whole Magical Core focusing on fighting the group only.
"Nnnngh!" the Sun Alicorn groaned as her shield kept being rattled mercilessly by Luna's beam.
"We need to attack her now that she is distracted!" Twilight said.
"As if I forgot about you others." the Moon Alicorn said smirking.
"What the hay!?" AJ gasped as something impacted with her body.
"Before coming here I took the time to charm some shadows, do they look familiar?" she asked mockingly.
"HI!" a distorted version of Pinkie's voice said giggling.
In front of each Element bearer was now standing a copy of themselves, the only difference was that the copies were only 'coloured' in shades of grey and had shining red eyes.
"Copies?" Rarity said with wide eyes.
"Better versions I think is the better term, dear. As I would have never kept my mane like that in a situation like this!" Shadow-Rarity answered haughtily.
"Mistress Nightmare Moon wants you gone! So we'll have to attack, sorrrrry!" Shadow-Pinky said waving at the original pink pony.
"That is not very nice." Pinkie answered pouting.
"Why you are doing this?" Dash asked in anger.
"To remove every obstacle between MY Reign and me!" Luna answered dodging Celestia's spell and flaring-up her horn.
In answer to that attack of her sister a whole chunk of the street got uprooted and thrown back at the Sun Alicorn that countered by blasting an hole in the wide slab of rock to fly through it to tackle the Corrupted Alicorn.
"Destroy those copies! I will deal with Luna!" the Princess ordered as she pounced on her sister to pin her down.
"DESTROY THE ELEMENTS! DO THAT AND I'LL LET YOU TAKE THEIR PLACE! Fail and you all will cease to exist!" Nightmare Moon ordered as she pushed the Sun Alicorn away and started a new 'Beam War' with Celestia while exchanging bullets of condensed Magic in a long series of explosions.
"I think I'll enjoy taking your life, I bet Mistress will even let me take the lead of the Wonderbolts if I do a good job." Shadow-Dash said excited.
"And Maelstrom? Do you think he will just love you if you take my place?" Dash answered opening her wings wide.
"The Prince? He belongs to Mistress! They will live happily together and nopony will interfere in their lives ever again!" the copy answered snarling as both took fly.
"Saying it like that...it sounds wrong in soo many ways..." AJ answered grimacing.
"And what's wrong in tha'? Ya're just an empty head, apple girl!" Shadow-Applejack answered laughing.
"Empty head?! I'm so goin' ta buck ya so hard ya won't ever remember to ever have teeth!" AJ answered as she pounced on her copy in a furious brawl.
"And you? Will you fight, or just stay and watch, coward?" Shadow-Fluttershy asked with narrowed eyes.
"I-I will help my friends!" the real Fluttershy answered determined.
Not too far away -
"YOU ARE THE COPY!" Pinkie yelled as she threw an apple-pie to Shadow-Pinkie.
"No! You are the copy!" the grey mare answered with a childish whine while throwing her own pie at the other.
"NO, YOU!"
"NO, YOU!"
"FAKER!" Pinkie said pouting.
"You are ten thousand times more fake than me!" Shadow-Pinkie replied.
"And you are an infinite times more fake than me!"
"And you infinite plus one!"
"ARGH!" Pinkie answered as if physically hit by the words.
Meanwhile this was happening both Twilight and Shadow-Twilight were shooting each-other with bullets of Magic, but while the real Unicorn tried to spare power and sporadically using restraining spells, the Copy kept pelting the Original with a rapid salvo of apparently-destructive spells as holes kept opening in the terrain whenever they went dodged.
"Stop running, coward! You are a shame to Magic acting like that!" Shadow-Twilight hissed as her spell lifted several rocks to throw them to the purple pony.
"I am devising a plan actually," Twilight muttered as she erected a rapid shield to stop the rocks before running through the streets to hide behind a small group of bushes.
"Okay, think! Luna can't have just 'charmed' some shadows, she must be keeping them 'fed' with her own Magic, I personally can't cast that rapidly or so many spells in rapid succession without even an hint of fatigue...it means that while they are 'copies' of us in personality...the power comes from Nightmare Moon..." she muttered watching as two streams of light, one rainbow-coloured and one completely black, kept streaking in the sky at ludicrous speed only to briefly meet half-way in small explosions of sparks whenever Dash or her own copy moved to kick the other.
"Her ability at Magic Manipulation is incredible...doing all this while going hoof-to-hoof with Celestia at the same time shows an astounding talent and magical reserves...but how to counter this?" the unicorn said in dismay.
"By admitting defeat of course! Nopony can defeat Mistress, she is just too perfect!" Shadow-Twilight answered from her position on a near wall.
"ARGH!" the young mare barely had the time to dodge before a new spell could hit her, the attack drilling a deep hole on the ground.
"You think she is just 'too perfect'...I GOT IT! I need Rarity's help." Twilight said as her horn lighted-up for an instant as she ran away.
"COME BACK HERE!" the copy of the Unicorn yelled as she gave chase.
With Celestia -
"This is going too far, Nightmare Moon! Stop this foolishness!" the Sun Alicorn said as her shield finally gave-in under the continue assault.
"NEVER! I shall rule on this land!" Luna answered as she managed, to Discord and Celestia's shock, to lift a whole house with her powers to throw it at her sister.
"Okay! I had not thought she could do THAT!" the Draconequus said in disbelief as he moved away to evade the huge 'bullet'.
"ARGH!" Celestia cried in pain as she was forced to block the construction from falling down but leaving her side open for Luna to hit her.
"You made a mistake, sister. And that was thinking I was not ready to do everything in my power to achieve my goal!" the Moon Alicorn said as she walked closer to the downed Princess with an expression of utter distaste on her face.
"Why? Why you did this?" Celestia asked with a sobbing voice.
"You others forced me, you all are just waiting for the right occasion to take away everything I hold dear! My throne of night, the love of my subjects, my wonderful starry sky fruit of countless hours of work...and most of all...my son, the ONLY thing I have left of the only pony I ever loved and the only thing left of my family. I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Luna said in blind fury as she prepared a small sphere of condensed Magic on the tip of her horn.
"L-Luna!" Celestia gasped with wide eyes.
"Farewell, sister. When you'll reach the heavens, tell Storm that I am sorry that he had to waste his life for a land of ingrates...but to rest assured that once done here everypony will remember and honour his sacrifice WHENEVER THEY WANT IT OR NOT!" Luna yelled as the spell was about to leave her horn.
"INCEST!? I KNEW IT!" Rarity yelled gasping.
"What?!" both Princesses said at the same time.
"I swear! Why do you think she is doing all this otherwise?" Twilight answered stage-whispering.
"You sure?" Shadow-Rarity asked enraptured, the three Unicorns holding Shadow-Twilight tied-down and gagged to not interrupt the discussion.
"No way! Princess Luna wants to...to mate with Maelstrom? Her son?" Rarity asked again, by now both copies and real Element Bearers had stopped fighting to listen that shocking revelation.
"Why do you think she is doing this otherwise? As soon as Dash started dating the Prince Princess Luna started this whole crusade of hers against our friend, and now Nightmare Moon has returned because feeding on her negative thoughts, and since Maelstrom seems to be the driving force...and you saw how she looks at him and how happy she is to kiss his cheek." Twilight answered nodding.
She had seen the Copies react like the Originals, so she hoped that Shadow-Rarity would have been as big a gossip than the real one, and she was luckily right, and seeing that Luna and Celestia too were listening then she could also hope that it would distract Nightmare Moon enough to have her control falter and make the Copies easier to defeat.
"What's wrong in that? Mistress is such a wonderful mare that she of course needs the best Stallion around to satisfy her, and if the Prince is indeed the epitome of studliness then it stands to reason that the two are of course fated to be a couple!" Shadow-Fluttershy said nonplussed.
"Bingo!" Twilight thought in triumph, pleased by the blind fanatic loyalty of the Copies' programming acting like she planned.
"LUNA!" Celestia said scandalized.
"I-I-I don't know what t-t-those p-pests are talking about..." Nightmare Moon stuttered with a red face.
"LIAR! You-you...you are lusting after your own flesh and blood! Now I see why you were so against the idea of him seeking a mare-friend!" the Sun Alicorn said catching with the corner of her eye the wink Twilight sent her.
"I-I am not...and even then, what if I am? You have no say in my romantic life!" Luna said stomping down with her hoof.
"That's sick! You can't seriously think that!" AJ said grimacing in disgust.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO CONFIRM THAT! I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH MY SON!" Luna shrieked.
"YES YOU ARE! JUST ADMIT IT! YOU WISH TO MATE WITH HIM!" Celestia yelled in answer.
"YOU WHAT?!" to her shock Maelstrom could be heard scream in horror.
"Oh...my...gosh..." Shining said with a green face.
"I...You...I mean...AAAAAAAARGH!" Nightmare Moon roare in answer, now with her face deep-red in both embarrassment and anger.
"THAT'S IT! EVERYPONY DIES!" the Moon Alicorn yelled in absolute rage as an huge sphere of dark Magic rapidly went amassed on her horn.
"I won't have to justify anything if there is nopony around to ask questions!" she said with crazed eyes.
"NOW!" Twilight said as her horn and Rarity's flared to life at the same time.
"What are you..." the two copies had the time to asks before twin bolts of Magic dispelled them.
"Nightmare Moon no longer is powering them! Dispel your copies and join us, we need the Elements now!" the purple Unicorn yelled.
"GOT IT!" AJ answered using the momentary 'wavering' or her copy to buck Shadow-AJ's head clear off her neck making the fake mare disappear.
"BOOYA!" Dash said in victory as she dispatched her Copy to rapidly join the others.
"TOO LATE! THIS IS THE END!" Luna yelled as the giant sphere kept growing.
"STOP HER!" Celestia said as she charged her own Magic to try and destroy the sphere.
"Nightmare King! KILL THEM!" the Corrupted mare ordered.
"Biju Dama!" the Prince roared shooting a small bullet of Chakra destroying the sphere of Dark Magic throwing the Alicorn back with the backlash of her spell failing.
"WHAT?!" She yelled in disbelief.
"ELEMENTS! NOW!" the Jinchuuriki ordered.
"SHOOT HER!" Discord added.
"You'll explain later. NOW, GIRLS!" Twilight said as her Elements and the others gathered power.
"NOW!" Celestia said as her Magic restrained Nightmare Moon.
"NOOOOOOO!" the Moon Alicorn yelled in despair as the multi-coloured light caught her fully.
"Sigh! It's over..." Maelstrom said sighing as the form of Luna was seen fall on the ground unconscious once again back in her normal form.
"You okay?" Discord asked.
"Eh! It hurts a little, but from a forced transformation it was expected." the Prince answered shrugging.
"You are...in control?" Dash asked uncertain.
"Managed to snap out of it an instant before shooting that Biju Dama towards Twi-chan and Aunt Celestia...sorry if I couldn't stop that from happening." he answered looking down.
"I understand, don't worry. But how did you free yourself?" Celestia asked.
"That stuff Mother used was pretty much 'Negative Emotions' condensed, Kurama simply ate it and absorbed it, doing it slowly to not get corrupted himself. That's why it took time for me to return myself." he answered.
In the Seal -
A giant nine-tailed Fox with a comically-huge bloated belly could be seen pass a toothpick through his fangs with a pleased smile on his face.
"BUUUUUURP! Delicious...Nap Time!" the Biju burped loudly before conceding himself a nice nap to digest his snack.
Real world -
"You knew he was in control, that's why you said that we should have focused on Luna alone, right?" Celestia asked.
"Yes, he was playing a dangerous game, that's why I brought here the guards, like that he would have had a good-enough excuse to not join the fight." Discord answered nodding as he repaired the damages to Ponyville himself.
"Then why you didn't act sooner?" Rarity asked while looking at the Prince with narrowed eyes.
"He was waiting for the right moment, it took time for him to snap-out of Nightmare Moon's control, had he choose a bad moment she could have reinforced it before we had time to save Princess Luna." Twilight said.
"Exactly...sorry if I fought you all, I had to make it believable." he said sheepishly.
"I was wondering why we were still standing after some attacks of yours or why you kept missing us so widely..." Captain Boulder muttered in surprise.
"Are you scared?" Maelstrom asked Dash.
"I was...a little." she admitted while moving closer.
"Don't touch me!" he said in alarm.
"I do not believe you to be a monster!" the Pegasus said immediately.
"Eh!? Not that, silly! It's just that my skin is kind of corrosive now for somepony like you, let me transform back before touching!" he answered chuckling.
"Oh..."
"Nnnhg...what happened?" Luna said groaning as she finally woke-up.
"Well, sister...you..." Celestia tried saying before the other Alicorn looked around herself grimacing.
"I am hopeless." the Moon Princess muttered sobbing.
"Can we...talk about this later?...I really need a Medic now..." Maelstrom pleaded with a strained voice.
"Why? Are you wounded?" Fluttershy asked worried.
"No...if this form is forced it kinds of put a big strain on the body...sorry but I need to turn back...just don't be scared." he answered as he rapidly returned to normalcy, making every pony looking at him blanch at his state.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Luna screamed at the top of he lungs at seeing the male's Alicorn body being covered in burning marks everywhere and with some so heavy to have whole sections where the muscles under the skin could clearly be seen.
"Eh...I asked you to not get scared..." Maelstrom said smirking before collapsing on the floor.
A week later – Ponyville – Hospital -
A sobbing wreck was what remained of Luna after a whole week of hospitalization of her son; even the news that thanks to a combined effort of Celestia, the Element Bearers and the various guards present during the fight now everyone thought that some mysterious creature had took the appearance of Nightmare Moon and just kidnapped the real Moon Princess before Corrupting the Prince was consoling her.
"Put me back on the Moon, Celly! Put me back there!" she asked between sobs
"Stop saying such a thing, sister." Celestia said gently.
"I destroy everything I touch, every pony I love is destined to die because of me...I can't stay with other ponies, I am not worthy of it!" she replied in despair.
"Princess..." Fluttershy said with a sad expression.
"I am a monster..." Luna muttered hiccuping.
"OH FOR GOODNESS' SAKE! Will you stop the pity party? I DON'T HATE YOU!" Maelstrom answered with a tired yell.
It had took the Prince just a day to wake-up and discover he had been covered in several layers of bandages by (as he was later told) several squads of Medics as no-one could finish bandaging him without getting sick by the level of damage he had been subjected to.
And although at the beginning Pinkie Pie, Spike and Dash had managed to light the mood by christening him 'Pharaoh Meally' thanks to his mummy-like appearances, now he was once again trying to have Luna understand that he was not hating her for what happened.
"But I turned you into a monster!" the mare answered nuzzling him.
"You were not yourself...sure I don't like having you others see the 'Bad Side' of being a Jinchuuriki, but it's not like I could pretend that to never come up. But it is not your fault." he answered sighing.
"That's what somepony like you looks like when they loses control?" Fluttershy asked.
"Not exactly, that is a form a Jinchuuriki can take voluntarily, and if the Vessel and the Biju are willing to cooperate the thing is not as damaging as it was for me, but both this time and the ones back in my past, it all happened against my will; Once when Kurama tried to influence me into breaking the Seal and now with Nightmare Moon and her Corruption."
"I am sorry!" Luna said distraught.
"Me too, brat. For those times..." Kurama added sheepishly.
"That's okay! A week or two and I'll be fine." Maelstrom answered.
"Then sister, please take care of him..."
"For the love of Harmony, Luna! I am not going to banish you on the Moon again!" Celestia answered groaning.
"I can't put myself there, I would be tempted to come down then; I NEED to be banished there!" the Moon Alicorn answered.
"Then it means that you don't want to go there, Princess! It means that you want to remain here!" Twilight said.
"But then I will hurt everypony!" Luna answered.
"Sigh! Fine...I'll ask to A and Killer Bee if we can use the 'Falls of Truth' so I will help you deal once and for all with your doubts." Maelstrom said shaking his head...or trying too no matter the bandages.
"Falls of Truth?" Dash asked curious.
"A special waterfall that can be found on a place called 'Island Turtle', the waterfall itself is peculiar in that by sitting on the platform at its base and concentrating, the person...pony is transported into their mind. Once there, the waterfall becomes a mirror which reflects one's true self. This is the first step in the training regime to control the tailed beast. But dealing with her Inner Self and eventual Inner Darkness should help her defeating it for good so to stop Nightmare Moon from coming out again." Maelstrom answered.
"And you think I can do this?" the Moon Princess said uncertain.
"I'll be there with you the whole time." he answered smiling.
"We will be with you, all of us." Celestia said making the other girls nod.
"Please don't leave, I know how it feels to know you have a mother but being unable to spend time with her, it's painful." Dash asked.
"How do you know?" Luna asked back.
"I was born from the 'Law of Refusal'...my mother was not exactly expecting to have me out of her one-night-stand with my almost-married father she just wanted to sleep with at least once." she answered looking down.
"Sigh!...That's why I insisted to have that half-forgotten law being removed, it only caused pain whenever invoked, but at the time it was a necessary evil to ingest willingly...I am sorry you had to suffer from it." the Moon Princess answered.
"Can I stay with him, your Highness? I want to build a family with him one day...one where the parents are there and love the colts and fillies with all their heart..." Dash asked with a pleading tone.
"No..."
"WHY?!" everyone else asked shocked.
"Let me finish, you brutes." Luna said with a sad smile, surprising Dash by hugging her.
"Uuuuh..." the girl moaned with watering eyes.
"Do you feel it? This is the hug of a Mother; I said no because you don't need to 'create' a family with my son if me and him are ready to accept you in our little circle...is this good enough?" she asked kissing the Pegasus' forehead.
"Uuuuh!" with that the last vestiges of control flew out of the window and Dash broke-down into sobs as she hugged the Moon Alicorn with all her strength while burying her face in the older mare's shoulder.
"Dash." Fluttershy said with a small smile as she watched the scene.
"Ya got the family ya wanted, sugarcube, don't waste this chance." AJ said grinning.
"I am enlarging the invitation to you others as well..." Luna added sighing.
"WHAT?!"
"I guess my sister is Finally accepting this whole 'herd' idea, am I right?" Celestia said smirking.
"If I have to...but I am just giving it the famous 'benefit of the doubt' actually, I am still going to say that more than a mare dating my baby stallion is a bad idea...even just for my blood pressure." Luna said grumbling.
That at least had the effect to finally defuse the situation completely as between the giggles of the girls and the thundering laugh of Maelstrom and Celestia the room went filled by laughter.
"Thank you, your Highness." Dash said grateful.
"Yes, Princess Luna. Thank you." Twilight said as she and the other girls gave a grateful bow to the Alicorn.
"That's a problem less for you all, Maelly. Now you and your mother just need to face those Falls of Truth and close this chapter of our lives completely." Rarity said relieved.
"Why don't you join? Doing that would prevent you others from falling into Corruption yourselves. And a burden weights less if shared between friends." Maelstrom offered.
"Maybe we all should, as a Test to ourselves." Celestia answered nodding.
"I won't do it if you don't mind...if I come in that world I will just pay a visit to the Author of Icha-Icha and ask for an autograph, I don't want to meet the supposed 'True Discord'." Discord said snorting as his silhouette appeared on the heart-rate machine.
"Only you would boast about reading that garbage so openly." Luna said grimacing.
"HOY! Those are very good books!" the Draconequus answered indignant.
"Maelstrom...sorry if I ask..." the Moon Alicorn said.
"Yes?"
"You ARE still Virgin, right? She has not seduced you, right?" she asked worried.
"HOY! I am not a scarlet mare, thank you!" Dash said offended.
"No, mother. We are still waiting for the proper moment to do it." he said rolling his eyes.
"...She can live a thousand years without being an Alicorn?" Luna asked surprised.
"MOM!/LUNA!" both Sun and Wind Alicorns yelled at the same time in exasperation.
"What?" she said dumbfounded.
"A thousand years?" Dash asked snorting.
"Yes! It's the proper time I think a couple of ponies containing my beloved son should wait before consummating...a thousand years after getting married of course. Otherwise he would be too young for that." Luna answered sticking her nose up in the air.
"And what if I wanted us to do it as soon as he comes out of the Hospital to celebrate his being still alive and finally becoming each other's one and only?" Dash asked with narrowed eyes.
"DASH!" a very red-faced Maelstrom yelled in embarrassment.
"WHAT?! Are you crazy? NEVER!" Luna shrieked in rage.
"You can't stop us from doing it!" the Cyan Pegasus replied crossing her hooves.
"YES I VERY WELL CAN! SISTER! Help me banish this hussy on the Moon! No! Better yet, ALL OF THEM!" Luna roared.
"Why us too?" Pinkie asked.
"I SAW YOUR DREAMS! I saw every single dirty fantasy you all (except Miss Rarity here that is indeed a True Lady even when dreaming, I must admit) were having regarding my son! Especially the disgusting, kinky garbage I saw in Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy's Dreams...you two above all of them are the most depraved, disgusting ponies I ever had the misfortune to dream-walk in!" Luna replied with a furious hissing.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" the Prince said with wide eyes.
"Those were private dreams, your Highness..." Fluttershy muttered looking down with an atomic blush on her face.
"Not when you two plan of using blindfolds, chokers, whips and handcuffs on him or have him use those things on yourselves..." the Alicorn answered growling making the two mares wish the earth to just open and swallow them whole to hide their embarrassment.
"...OW! Please stop! The bandages are too tight around the legs!" Maelstrom moaned in agony finally breaking the stupefied silence that had fell on the room while everyone kept looking at Twilight and Fluttershy with bulged-out eyes.
"Too tight...MAELSTROM!" Luna said scandalized.
"I am still an healthy male in his hormonal prime, damn it!" he answered groaning.
"We can try those as well if you want..." Dash muttered blushing.
"AAAAARGH!" Luna's roar shocked the whole Hospital at that.
"Was escaping the Sun a good idea? I had the perfect excuse to escape this madness but NOO! I had to come back after Nightmare Moon was defeated the first time..." Celestia said with a groan of dismay.
"Speak for yourself, I am finding this hilarious." Discord said while watching amused the screaming contest between Luna and Dash.
"Oh, do shut up, you mis-matched lizard!" the Sun Alicorn answered in defeat.
Omake (Not influencing the Plot) – the WORST POSSIBLE way to discover a secret -
Ponyville – Carousel Boutique -
Maelstrom was waiting for Rarity to open the door, he had a serious trouble he needed his friend's help to resolve and he knew he could not ask the other girls about, especially since the whole 'Herd' was the main component of his troubles.
How do you celebrate the anniversary of the birth of something like that? It was not a single girlfriend he had to make happy, but a whole group of it! How can a man, with admittedly limited experience in that sort of things, hope to come out alive?!
Hence why he was desperate enough to discreetly pick the lock to enter, because he knew she was inside and he desperately need her help consequences be damned!
"EEEEP!"
HE WILL RESPECT THE CONSEQUENCES! DEAR GOD ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
"OH, MY GOD!" He yelled with bulged-out eyes as soon as he saw her.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? THE DOOR WAS LOCKED!" Rarity shrieked.
"WHO THE FUCK CARES ABOUT THE DOOR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he yelled back.
"I-I-It's not what it looks like!" she tried saying.
"...So you are not wearing a leather corset, mask and stiletto heels..." Maelstrom said slowly.
"Ehm!"
"You have not a riding crop, a burning candle and a paddle with blunt spikes held in the air by your Magic..." he continued saying backing away towards the door.
"You see...the thing is that...It was all because we were curious and...you know how things develop sometimes when somepony gets carried-away..." the Fashionista stammered lamely.
"...And that's definitely not Spike the one I am watching dangling from the ceiling with manacles around his hands and a ball-gag in his mouth...and those on his ass are certainly not whipping marks..." the Alicorn said as if never interrupted.
"Nhhh-Nhh!" Spike 'answered' nodding.
"Please don't get the wrong idea..." Rarity pleaded ashamed.
"No-no! I think I am getting just the 'right' idea about this...now I think I have to pay Big Mac a visit, to him and his reserves of cider. I'll stop drinking only when certain that I won't even remember my own name...at least I hope you came up with a safe word..." Maelstrom answered as he hurried out slamming the door closed behind himself.
"...I am never felt such shame in my life..." Rarity muttered looking down.
"Ehe Deidher!" Spike said groaning (Trans: "Me Neither!").
The next day it will be a VERY shy Rarity the one that will ask Maelstrom to keep the secret, especially from Twilight, gaining in answer a terrifying glare and a threat to her life if she or the small dragon EVER mention the incident again, forcing both to swear on their lives to never recall memories the Jinchuuriki and the Biju had already buried in the deepest recesses of their minds.
"At least give me a corset for the girls too, at least I will be able to switch the horrifying spectacle I saw with something nicer..." he then muttered in dismay.
She had not the strength to refuse him at that, even just to 'Buy' his silence, she did have an image as a proper lady to defend after all...