//------------------------------// // Dark in Her Reign // Story: Times Of Their Lives // by Emotional Flight //------------------------------// Dark In Her Reign (Dark, Adventure) Twilight could feel the stare of Nightmare Moon against her back as they traveled through the Everfree Forest. The cold air and dark trees made an oppressive atmosphere as they cast their shadow over her back. The glow of her oppressor’s horn made a spike of light, her aura surrounding Spike, who was wrapped in metal chains. She needed a plan. Twilight was sure that she could overpower the elder alicorn’s levitation spell around Spike with a teleport if she put enough power into it. Her magical signature was strong on Spike, so she could bypass the normal restrictions more easily than normal. Spike also had the page that let them travel back to the past. As long as she was fast enough, she could grab Spike and boot up the map before Nightmare Moon could do anything. The alicorn ahead of her let off a blast of magic at a fleeing timberwolf, the pulse tearing the animated pieces of wood to pieces. As they continued walking, her voice rang out through the trees. “How does it work?” Twilight’s eyes flickered back and forth for a moment before settling. “A pony from my time used a spell to travel back and change the past.” Nightmare Moon turned towards the table, looking down at the map. As she began to speak, Twilight began to let her horn glow faintly, letting her magic flow under the Nightmare’s and around Spike. “And now you will give this spell to me.” Twilight tightened her grip around Spike. “Not… happening!” she grunted, overloading Nightmare Moon’s spell with her own and teleporting Spike and herself forwards onto the map. Spike dug around in his backpack for the spell page, and grabbed it as quickly as he could, thrusting it forwards. Twilight’s magic wrapped around it. Nightmare Moon slammed into them. As the rings began to slide upwards around them, Twilight tried to push the elder alicorn out of the circle. Her back legs slammed against her opponent’s midriff, but she simply slammed into the force field on the outside of the map. Gravity was reversed, and the three of them were sucked up into the green light. ~{^}~ Twilight was spat out of the portal, Spike on her back. Without any preperation her wings flailed, and she slammed into a nearby cloud. The fluffy substance molded around her, and she flapped her wings in an attempt to steady herself. A bolt of green magic zipped past her, and she turned, slightly unsteadily, towards its source. It came from a floating unicorn across from her. Starlight grinned maliciously. “You ready to give up yet?” Twilight’s eyes widened, then hardened, and she teleported with a flash of purple light. Starlight blinked. “Or, you could just vanish, I guess.” She began to call out louder. “What are you, a chicken? Decided to run away once and for all?” Contrary from what she was expecting, Starlight was hit with a bolt of blue magic. The blast, which could normally take out a timberwolf, was softened slightly because of the buffer that her telekinesis provided. It still hit her like a speeding train, and her horn flickered out as she pinwheeled through the air. She landed on the tactile runway, her form grinding against the stones. She groaned, then looked up. A black Nightmare was descending from on high. ~{^}~ Twilight was flapping her wings as hard as she could, occasionally building up enough thaumic power for a teleport. She used them to their fullest extent, ripping through space like a speeding bullet. On her back, Spike gripped her fur with all he could, his backpack almost tearing off in the wind. Occasionally, he looked up at the sun, as if to remind himself that it was, in fact, still there. The wind rushed by the duo as Cloudsdale shrunk behind them and the shining light of Canterlot grew ever closer as they sped through the air like a flashing comet. ~{^}~ A younger Twilight watched through a window as a pulsing meteor flew into Canterlot before turning back to her egg. ~{^}~ Starlight dodged another blast of highly concentrated, amazingly controlled thaumic energy as it tore through the clouds around her. She put up a shield, and moulded a cloudwalking spell over her hooves before she landed on the next fluffy platform. Starlight wasn’t sure what had happened. Twilight wasn’t supposed to have brought back anyone else - the spell wasn’t designed to mesh the alternate universes, just create and destroy them as necessary. Why the spell could even bring back someone else was beyond her. Starlight shuddered. She knew the price of mixing timelines. She was going to fade. Her thought process was shattered as a horn nearby sung, and she twirled, flipping onto the next cloud as the thaumic energy missed her by inches. ~{^}~ Twilight, with Spike on her back, warped into the throne room of the Royal Palace with a loud bang and a flash bright enough to cause flashes in her viewer’s eyes. The gold trim and filigree burned with lavender for several moments after she had landed. She shook her head to try and get rid of the headache that came with magical exhaustion, and looked up. She picked up a hoof, and blackness curled around her vision. She looked around once, and seeing her mentor, at least in the past-future, gave a smile. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out. ~{^}~ Starlight puffed as she blasted the black alicorn with a burst of green magic. It was blocked by a blue shield that protected her opponent’s frame. She rolled as another beam of magic blasted past her fur, missing by barely an inch. Her hooves scrambled against the fluff, trying to get traction as she leaped over a mound. She ducked over the cloud layer, then under, upping her cloudwalking spell to allow her to walk upside down by causing her hooves to have a large opposing magnetic charge to the rain. She pressed herself against the cloud layer, trying to hide. Above her, she heard the black terror begin to speak. “So, you must be the time traveling unicorn I’ve heard so much about.” Starlight whimpered from her hiding spot, listening as the voice floated down from above her. The clouds around her began to darken. “I mean, most unicorns wouldn’t be able to put up a decent fight for more than a minute at most. You have lasted almost five.” Starlight pressed herself closer to the cold clouds, wetness seeping onto her fur. She could see her hoof beginning to disappear. “Ah well,” said the malicious voice. “Time to show yourself.” A wind began to rush by Starlight’s fur. ~{^}~ Princess Celestia blinked, trying to get the flash out of her eyes, as her horn began to hum. As the sparks abated, she looked down at the floor. What she was not expecting was an unconscious alicorn and a dragon arrayed on her floor. As the last petitioner for this session had just left the room, she glanced over at the other participants in court before starting to speak. “And what are you doing here?” Spike gave a nervous smile. “Time travel accident, Nightmare Moon in Cloudsdale?” Princess Celestia sat still for a moment. Then, with a charge of her horn, she disappeared in a flash of golden light. ~{^}~ The wind blew ferociously against the cloud city. Nightmare Moon laughed maniacally as the wind twirled around her, pushed together and apart using her wings, and augmented by her horn. The tactile surfaces were the first to go, their magic bindings tearing in the extreme weather. The cyclone whipped around the city at a frantic pace. Random Pegasi were blown away by the mounting pressure. Above them, the sky began to grow dim. A golden shine tore through the darkening night. ~{^}~ Princess Celestia slammed into Nightmare Moon with a vengeance, her horn glowing with a brilliant light as it released the thaumic buildup with a burning flame. The rudimentary shield her opponent had put up barely stopped the roaring beam as it flickered past it and into the other mare’s chest. The dark pony’s fur burned with white flame. “No, Celestia!” The mare’s hind hooves slammed into Celestia’s horn, and the energy flickered out for just a moment. The Nightmare took that moment reply with a beam of her own. Celestia barely managed a shield. “Luna! I know that you’re in there!” Celestia called out, desperate. “That… name… means… nothing!” Nightmare Moon pushed through her past sister’s shield, and Celestia flew back against the clouds. The moon began to rise into the sky, and the sun vanished into the aether. ~{^}~ Across the battlefield, an exhausted unicorn pulled herself to the top of a cloudy bluff, her hooves partially opaque. She looked down at the top. A cyan coated, rainbow maned filly and a yellow coated, pink maned filly looked back. Starlight blinked. Rainbow Dash looked up at her with a frown. “What’s happening, lady?” Starlight’s breath caught in her throat. “I… I don’t know.” ~{^}~ Fluttershy wasn’t quite sure what it was about the unicorn, but she seemed to be cracking at the seams. She had always been an observant filly, and what she observed now was that the unicorn across from her need her help. “Um… excuse me?” The small voice managed to catch the attention of the unicorn, despite the roaring winds. “If you don’t know… will you help us?” The unicorn looked down at her with a slightly crazed look in her eye. It began to gleam. “Hey Dash?” Rainbow blinked. “How do you-” “Catch.” She grabbed Fluttershy with her telekinesis, and she was tossed over the edge of the cloud. ~{^}~ Rainbow gasped. “What was-” “Go get her! You’ll know how!” The crazy unicorn leaped away. “I have an alicorn to help defeat!” ~{^}~ Nightmare Moon glared down at her celestial counterpart. “You don’t even know, do you.” Celestia looked up at her. “I don’t know what?” “Why I’m here.” Celestia coughed for a moment, held in place by her nemesis’s magic, her thaumic cords covered layered with her sister’s energy. “I know that… you won’t kill me.” “So sure of yourself, are you?” Nightmare Moon stuffed a hoof under her opponent’s chin. “You might want to reconsider.” Celestia grinned slightly. “I don’t think I’ll have to.” A green glow slammed into Nightmare Moon like the fires of Tartarus. ~{^}~ Rainbow had to go fast. She looked down at the form of her best friend, heading faster and faster towards the wind. Her yellow wings flailed helplessly as she pinwheeled through the air. Rainbow had to go fast. Her wings were a blur as she pushed one hoof forwards in the most streamlined position possible. Her face began to be pulled back in the oncoming wind. Rainbow had to go fast. A rainbow circle expanded outwards as she passed the speed of sound. ~{^}~ Nightmare Moon buckled under the pressure, her horn flickering. Celestia took advantage, and snapped out of the magical bindings. The green monster slammed Nightmare Moon with a magical blast. She pinwheeled in the cyclone, and her wings flowed outwards. Stars began to peek out in the sky. “You are not taking My Night away!” Her Night was lit up with the colors of the rainbow. ~{^}~ Starlight could feel the thaumic effects of the Rainboom on her horn, and she lashed out with the extra boost. Nightmare Moon screamed as their magics mingled. Their memories crossed- ~{^}~ Pain. Loneliness. In Memory. Past. Reworked. Equality. ~{^}~ Starlight moaned as her vision snapped back into focus. A small amount of blood trickled from her mouth as she glared down at the black alicorn, splayed on the ground. Starlight spat out a glob of blood onto her opponent’s coat, though it faded as soon as it came. “I… am not… a coward.” Her form faded away entirely into the wind, only the memory of her deed and the thaumic resonance on the cloud evidence that she had ever existed. ~{^}~ Spike looked down at Twilight. “Twilight?” He had watched her for the past five minutes, and her hooves were entirely gone. Spike’s own hands were gone as well. “I’m scared.” His torso began to disappear. “I’m scared, I’m so scared.” He shuddered. “Why did we ever follow her?” Twilight’s mane began to vanish. “What did we do to deserve this?” he whimpered. As he vanished into dust, the sparks of life of the two inhabitants of the empty throne room disappeared with a whispering light.