//------------------------------// // Ch. 10: Next Dance, Hakuren // Story: Nothing Probably Goes on Forever Too // by TundraStanza //------------------------------// Get down I feel a feeling like I'm painfully spinning We sleep together in a wintry land. You hold me in your gaze and I hold you in mine. Make a promise for tomorrow. Chapter 10: Next Dance, Hakuren --- I stood in the middle of a white expanse. Half of me was wondering where I was. The other half felt content to just stand there. Neither would be appeased as another presence was shown within the empty space. Soon I could identify the white coated, blue maned alicorn. "Shirayuki," I stated without asking. She closed her lids over her green eyes as a large, single-panel, glass window passed in front of me. I could see Shirayuki's image in the glass. When the window moved aside, some other pony was in her place. It was an average pony-sized alicorn with a black coat and a dark purple mane. Wait, I thought, That's me! When the other pony opened her turquoise eyes, there was no doubt about it. This was... "Tundra?" I called in confusion. When I heard my voice, it wasn't my own. I lifted a hoof to my mouth in surprise. When I looked at my hoof, I noticed it was white. I could then see the outlines of evergreen armor attached to my chest. "What's going on?" I asked. Tundra (er, the one in front of me) closed her eyes and smiled sadly. The large window appeared again and slid in front of me. It left a second time, and the pony in front of me was now a Celestia-sized alicorn. Her slitted irises swam in the two shades of magenta that were her eyes. Contrary to Celestia's holy breeze, this one's mane floated on some unholy storm. Yet, she didn't look at me in hatred. All I saw in her eyes was an emptiness. I looked back at myself to see that my hooves had regained a shade of black. But the armor had changed colors to a midnight blue. "I'm... Nightmare Moon?" I pondered. My voice had changed again to sound like Tabitha St. Germain's darker tone. The Nightmare Sol in front of me suddenly burst into several light particles. What remained was a floating sword that looked just like the white katana Sode no Shirayuki. I couldn't feel my body and I couldn't move. The sword flew swiftly through my chest plate and into me. My breathing grew shallower. Idly, my gaze traveled along the blade to the hilt. A black hoof was curled around the hilt. I looked up and stared into the green eyes of a black mare wearing an evergreen helmet. When I blinked, I pulled my blade out of Nightmare Moon's chest. She faded away into the darkness with a soundless scream. --- I lifted my head and gasped in a huge breath. My entire coat was wet from the sweat-inducing dream. I looked around the room and noticed Spike and Twilight were still sound asleep. It was still dark, so I wasn't that surprised. I released a breath along with some of my earlier tension. Man, that was a crazy dream, I thought. I took a couple deep, steady breaths as I laid back down. --- "Rise and shine, my little pony," called a gentle voice. "Urgh... wha?" I grumbled in half-sleep, "Nicole Oliver?" "Close, but not quite," chimed in another voice. At this point, my half-awake eyes scanned my immediate vicinity to find the source of the voices. I was soon looking at the forms of two rather tall -- and somewhat intimidating -- beings. I think I took two double-takes. "Y-Your majesties!" I exclaimed. In my surprise, I ended up tripping over the covers of my bed and falling onto the floor. Great first impression, I thought to myself sarcastically. "Who's Nicole Oliver?" asked the taller of the two princesses as she turned to the slightly shorter one. "Oh, it's just your voice actress," answered the younger sister. Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow in confusion while I raised my eyes in shock. "How do you know about voice actresses, Princess Luna?" I asked as I slowly stood up. She gave the pony equivalent of shrugging one shoulder before saying, "When you blow up a computer to reveal its secrets, you tend to pick up a few things." Oh, right, I thought to myself, This is the universe that Firewall entered. So that means that she... wow. I couldn't begin to wrap my head around knowing everything the internet had to offer on a given day. My thoughts were interrupted when Twilight called from downstairs, "Tundra! I'm going out for a bit. Don't give the princesses too much trouble, okay?" On that note, I heard the sound of a door shutting. Don't give them much trouble? I thought, What happened to our bond of trust, Twi? My disappointed expression must have been showing because Celestia decided this was an opportune moment to giggle behind her hoof. "My faithful student tends to worry too much," she commented. She then assumed a slightly more serious expression before saying, "Anyway, I assume you know why we're here." "Er, kinda," I responded, "You want to discuss the fact that the Nightmare is now inside me." "That's not the only thing," piped in Luna, "But yes, that is the gist of it." "Out of curiosity, what does the Nightmare call itself now?" inquired the elder. "Shirayuki," I answered. Both princesses looked down as if sorting through their own thoughts. "Where have I heard that name before?" muttered the younger sister. "Would you..." Celestia paused as if trying to find the right wording, "mind calling her forth?" "Call it forth?" Luna turned to her, "Sister, isn't that dangerous?" "Well, I've seen a bit more of the series than you," I pointed out, "You ponies are pretty tough to be able to survive three versions of the Equestrian apocalypse." "Three?" echoed Luna. "It will be all right, Lulu," assured Celestia, "Go ahead, Tundra." "All right," I acknowledged, "but first I'm going to need a bit of space." I jumped off the bed-level floor and opened my wings to glide down to the more open second floor. "Stand back," I warned, "I don't want to poke your eyes out." Luckily, they got the message and remained where they were to observe. I reached out my right hoof and the katana was soon summoned in my grasp. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" I called. The sword became white as a long, white ribbon appeared on the end of the handle. My coat slowly turned white starting from the right hoof. This time, I could still feel my body, but I could tell it wasn't completely in my control. The evergreen garments attached themselves to me. My height increased to the average height of the princesses. As my transformation completed, the other two alicorns in the room glided down to the floor that I was standing. I drove the blade into the floor so that I would have both front hooves free. A feeling of guilt hit me in that moment and I looked down away from the princesses' stares. What's wrong? I thought. I... I have wronged these two so much, replied Shirayuki's thought-voice. As Celestia took a slow step forward, I felt my body move into a bowing state. "Your highness," said the delicate voice of the white snow. "There's no need for formalities," insisted the sun princess. "Celestia," said Shirayuki still in the bowing posture, "I have committed so many terrible deeds. I even lashed out against the two of you, forcing conflicts that never should have taken place." As the evergreen armored alicorn spilled her heart out, the princesses held their peace. "I stole the lives of other ponies in the absence of my own," she continued, "I even allied myself with the traitor of Equestria." She must mean that Harry Potter wannabe, I thought privately. "And now that I've done all of this," the snow white alicorn cried and then whispered, "All of this..." Through Shirayuki's tears, I could see Celestia and Luna listening expectantly. "Can I even claim the right to ask for your forgiveness?" she asked with a voice that sounded distraught. The sisters looked at each other, then back to Shirayuki, then back to each other. The elder leaned in close to whisper something to the younger. I couldn't hear what she said, but when she pulled back, Luna nodded in understanding. They started walking forward and I felt Shirayuki stand back up. When the princesses were right in front of her, they stopped advancing. "I will not forgive you," said Celestia flatly. My other half expected this and felt lowered her head in resignation. "I understand," she said quietly. "How can we forgive some pony that has done nothing wrong?" asked Luna rhetorically. Wait, what? I thought. Shirayuki raised her head in surprise. The princesses leaned forward and nuzzled either side of her. "But... but I..." stammered the wintry alicorn. "It was the Nightmare that committed those sins," clarified the elder sister, "Not our friend." Holy mood swings, Batman! I was not expecting that. Neither was Shirayuki, as she was left speechless. She felt compelled and returned the motion that the princesses had given to her. Tears ran down all of their eyes. I would have cried too except... well. It's kind of hard to produce tears as just a mind. So I opted for a sappy thought. This is so beautiful. Yes, replied Shirayuki's thoughts, it is very beautiful. --- The reunion of old friends was interrupted by a horrid, foreign moan echoing somewhere in the distance. What was that? I thought. "What was that noise?" relayed Shirayuki. "It... can't be..." stuttered Celestia. "Can't be what?" asked Shirayuki. "But there's no mistaking that sound," added Luna. "What is it?" Shirayuki turned to the younger sister. "Shirayuki," said the elder in a firmly gentle tone, "Stay here. Luna, we must go at once." "Right!" confirmed the moon princess. In a couple flashes, they had teleported out of the section of the library. What was that all about? I thought in concern and confusion. I don't know, answered Shirayuki's thought-voice, But we're going to find out. She retrieved the katana from the floor and opened her wings. She literally flew down the stairs to the first floor before bursting through the front doorway. I was surprised the wood didn't splinter upon impact. A few wing flaps away from the door, and we saw the source of the moaning noise. That. Is. A. Big. Monster. I thought mentally stepping on the words like broken glass. Remember what the Ursas looked like on the show? Now picture that star-skin look on a Timberwolf. Then picture that conglomerate creature as the size of two of Twilight's libraries on top of each other and as wide as three Sugarcube Corner bakeries. That's what we were looking at. I mentally twitched while Shirayuki's left eye took care of the physical twitch. It's strange that the first thing I thought about was how the ponies were going to need their houses insured. I watched several structures get smashed or smacked away by the giant wolf constellation, a Lupus. I had no idea how to deal with this thing. But someone else did. I didn't know how or where, but instincts of what felt like years of experience rushed through me in that instant. Shirayuki felt a sudden surge of energy and flew. Her wings led us toward the giant enemy. "So-me-no-Mai," she said as she held the blade to the right. Then, as she swung wide to the left, she shouted, "Tsukishiro!" A giant pillar of ice towered from the ground and seemed to drill right through the Lupus' rib area. At first, I thought it was a direct hit. However, as the ice tower crumbled, I could tell that the only thing that accomplished was making a much angrier, astral wolf. Said wolf used its paw in a backhand motion to knock Shirayuki in an aerial somersault. Something clicked in the back of my mind. Immediately, I assumed some control of Shirayuki's body (or was it still technically my body? I don't know.) and straightened my wings. This action slowed my backward, head-over-hoof spinning until I was just gliding through the air. I managed to direct us to the closest rooftop and stood on it. Man, I was going to feel that tomorrow. Shirayuki and I now had the full attention of the Lupus. That was good for the ponies working on evacuating the area. That was not so good for us. But then, I had an epiphany. Your powers, I aimed my thoughts to my other self, they resemble those of Rukia Kuchiki's. Within the course of a millisecond, she was able to read my memories to what I was specifying. I hope that's not your way of saying that we need an Ichigo Kurosaki equivalent, she thought back, because there isn't one around here. No, no, no, I thought defensively, I mean that I have an idea. I drove the white katana into the roof and held up both of my front hooves. (Don't ask how I kept my balance because I don't know either.) What are you doing? asked Shirayuki's thoughts. Look, you've got control of my mouth still, I thought to her, so you're going to have to say what I think verbally. What? she held her eyes in a position questioning if I was sane. Frankly I wasn't fully sure of that myself. Hey, I mentally smirked, have a little more faith in yourself. Shirayuki paused for a second. She sighed before saying, "Very well. I believe in you, Tundra." Get ready, my mind told her. The wolf was slowly advancing while crushing more houses. Shirayuki relayed my thoughts as I gave them to her: The one who reigns, mask of flesh, all creation, flap of wings The one who carries the title of human. In the name of truth and temperance Dig your claws into the wall of sinless dreams. That Lupus was pretty darn close. I'd say it was within about a football field distance. Hadou 33: Sokatsui! And even then, it still didn't know what hit it. A giant pulse of bluish-white fire exploded forth from in front of my hooves and exploded in the wolf's face. The Lupus grabbed its face in a paw and howled in pain. "Want some ice for that burn?" asked Shirayuki deadpan. I think my dry humor rubbed off on her. She regained control of the body and grabbed her sword. Four streams of what looked like snow and air started flowing like a reverse fountain toward Sode no Shirayuki's tip. "Tsugi-no-Mai," she said monotonously, "Hakuren!" What happened next, I can only describe as a wide, horizontal blast of ice racing towards the beast. What I saw was much more heart pounding than watching an anime character perform that technique. The Lupus was nearly engulfed by the resulting ice. This was the longest ten seconds of my life. Soon the ice cracked and broke away leaving only a few bloody traces of the monster that lay waste to Ponyville. Some ponies had found convenient hiding spots behind the buildings that were still standing. They were now coming out to see why things had suddenly become so silent. An unscheduled light snow was falling over the town today. We did it, I thought in a tired enthusiasm. "Yes," agreed Shirayuki. A sudden upward rush of air met her face. The mattress was gritty and uncomfortable that night.