//------------------------------// // The conclusion, part 2 // Story: My Little Staring Contest: Alicorns can stare for a very long time // by CosmicAfro //------------------------------// This was it: her final assault. Each light bounce of her hoofstep further damaged what was left of her remaining fortitude. One could say she was walking towards Nightstare Moon, but it was really more comparable to pony who had too much to drink. While it was true that she wasn’t physically damaged (outside of her corneas being on metaphysical fire), the same could not be said for her mind. “Why do you approach me? Unless, of course, you’re ready to concede defeat by bowing down to me,” the alicorn of night allowed herself an arrogant scoff at her sister and her rapidly declining resistance. Celestia knew that speaking wasn’t the best option at the moment; one misaligned face crease and the fight was over, and she knew it all too well. Yet she was an adamant mare, so she struggled bravely onwards. “Now, really? What could possibly be your plan here Celestia?” Nightstare Moon spoke slightly hurriedly as she noticed a strange sense of vigor… no that wasn’t the word… enthusiasm emanating from her sister. She hesitantly walked backwards one step. One wing, white as freshly laid snow, extended from the princess’s body. A feather, no larger than that of the average quill for unicorn writers, drooped lazily until caught by an extended golden-clad hoof. She lifted it into her mouth and bit on the tip, letting only the soft and airy side protrude. “A feather? That’s your plan? What could you possibly hope to achieve with such a meaningless object?” she inquired, backtracking further with the slightest hint of fear tingling in the back of her voice, anticipating even as she asked. Celestia took a large step forward, as if delivering some great speech, and was now at the half-way point between the two. Nightstare Moon, realizing this, dashed to the nearby curtains and pulled them apart, letting a grand flow of light into the room, and more importantly into the solar alicorn’s face. It had no visible effect on the bedraggled mare; it was probable that she was losing all feeling in that side of her face. The irony was not lost on her that she had just made an attempt to use the sun’s light to vanquish the diety with complete power of said ball of boiling gas; coincidentally, this went against her own philosophies of night, but she continued opening more, just the same. Again, it failed to produce any effect. By the time she had finished, half of the room was unreasonably bright. The other half she wouldn’t dare approach; that would mean confronting her. Nightstare Moon was on the bright side, her sister in the dark. Celestia quickened her pace, taking more imposing steps towards her nemesis, squinting as she went. “C-Celestia? What has become of you… doesn’t that hurt?” “Yes,” she spoke through gritted teeth, once again ignoring her physical limitations, “it hurts more than the time we set Equestria free from the reign of Chaos. As you may remember from our days of fighting Discord, using more than one element of harmony at a time was not free of consequence. However, what would hurt more is if I let myself lose my own stake and sacrificed the reputation of innocent ponies to a sister who couldn’t merely say no to desire over a simple morsel of Bliss. “With this feather, an object that was once a part of me as an extension of my own body, I will end this fight. Through this pain, I will obtain victory and decree your punishment. If you really cared, we would have ended this petty squabble days ago.” “Wait what?” “But how am I to suspect you didn’t have ulterior motives this entire time after seeing me in this much agony?” “Oh, so you thought I was serious about the whole deposing you and making you and Twilight kiss thing.... well, that’s awkward.” “Unlike you, I keep my promises, especially to my relatives and to my kingdom. Nightstare Moon, prepare to meet your defeat!” At the bottom of her closed eyelid, a stream of tears formed. Not closing her eye while speaking that much was like pouring hot water onto a sunburn while in the middle of a sauna. On the sun. What came next was undeniably worse. Like a tiger, she jumped into the air, forelegs stretched out as far as possible in a pouncing formation, and lunged the feather at her solar opposite. Nightstare Moon sidestepped to avoid the oncoming assault, but it was so sudden that her joints locked up in tension. She finally knew what was going to happen next. If there was one thing her sister knew from their foalhood together, it was her ticklish spots. And she… was quite ticklish. Her own body convulsed as Celestia’s plumage swathed across her neck, sending jitters and spasms to her face. One eye had to close, there was no other way. “Pl-please Celestia I –ha ha- can’t t-take it!” she said in half giggle, half terror. But, the onslaught refused to cease. Celestia moved down to the bottom of her sister’s hooves, the second most ticklish place of all. Nightstare Moon couldn’t help but have laugh after laugh forcibly escape her mouth, all while attempting to stay in the fight. If Celestia kept it up for even a few more seconds, that would be it. So, she fought back too, quickly plucking one of her own from her jet-black wing and counter attacking. Like swords, they wielded their mouth weapons with valor and courage, scanning for weak spots in the opposing’s defenses. Nightstare Moon would assault one spot, only to be tickled double in return. The door to the great dining room opened and a servant walked in to find the two going at it with feverish haste. He wondered where the referee was… but then he realized that if he found him this glorious fight would end. Seeing as it was, for the most part, harmless, he just stood there, cheering on the both of them. ___ By the time they stopped, it was eighteen minutes into the battle. Celestia only had one stroke of energy left which was on par with her sister’s. She knew what had to be accomplished. With an all-powerful leap of super intense ticklish justice, the solar alicorn in all of her great glory tackled her relative and tickled right under her chin! Or, so was her intentions. Knowing she might have tried to engage in such a noble and valiant manner, Nightstare Moon ducked and used her own weapon to attack. With laser point accuracy, she hit her sister’s chin at the exact most sensitive spot. “No! No!” Celestia screamed in terror, “this wasn’t supoosed to be how it ended!” “Unfortunately for you, this is how it shall end.” She couldn’t help it, it was inevitable. Her royal eye, the one proclaimed to have the will of the sun and stronger than the moon, shut. Nightstare Moon… had won.