//------------------------------// // Plans Gone Awry // Story: Bound By Spades // by NewToThis //------------------------------// Nightmare cackled into the sky as her magic swirled around her. She had won, the elements lay in shards at her hooves, the bearers all wore looks of worry and fear, and even the unicorn who had found the elements had a faraway look in her eyes. All was going according to plan, she would end the bearers then and there and eternal night would be that much closer as a result. That is, if she weren’t on the floor coughing and gasping for air wondering what had the audacity hit her. She started to glance around the room but her eyes found the culprit almost immediately. “You should really pick on someone your own size.” It said with a growing smirk. Rage and confusion filled her mind when her eyes met the eyes of the creature she had fought earlier. ‘How is it still alive!?’ she roared in her mind. She worked her way back up to her hooves with a scowl on her face and murderous intent in her mind. “You,” she hissed, “You’re supposed to be dead!” and with a rage filled roar she launched herself at him. The creature launched itself at her simultaneously, with a yell its arm was engulfed by flame. She stopped mid-charge as she was taken by surprise from the sudden appearance of the flames. The creature smirked and let the flames fly with a shout. “HIKEN!” (FIREFIST) Nightmare barely had time to register the creatures shout as a giant fireball was sent hurdling her way. With a scowl she threw up a barrier wall between the fireball and herself, and to her surprise the force of the explosion broke her barrier. She threw up a second barrier around herself to guard against the shockwave that followed. ‘Tis a bigger problem than I gave him credit for. If he’s capable of this much force, we should end him before he becomes a bigger pain in our side.’ As the smoke began to clear she stood tall with a smirk on her face. Once his gaze met hers his eyes narrowed in response and she began to laugh, “Didst thou really think such a pathetic attempt would truly harm us?! If thou were capable of such feats, why had thou not used them against us before?! Didst thou believe we were inferior in power?!” She snarled. “Thou shalt meet your end along with these pretend bearers! NOW DIE!” Nightmare pointed her horn at the creature and channeled as much of her magical power as she could, ‘Either way we will rid ourselves of one of our problems! If he moves our magic will hit the six ponies behind him. If he doesn’t then he forfeits his life!’ She screamed internally. The blast left her horn and even she was forced to steady herself because of the recoil of such an attack. The magic launched towards her opponent and Nightmare could only smile as he took a defensive stance before the magic exploded into a bright light. Twilight and her friends were forced to cover their eyes as the immense light from the magic blast seemed to get to bright for their eyes. With her head still lowered she swiveled her ears trying to figure out who was left standing. Much to her dismay it was dead quiet, aside from the breathing of her friends and a crackling sound, there were no cheers that came from either side. As much as she hated the idea she slowly opened her eyes and gazed at the two combatants still staring each other down. She turned her gaze towards Nightmare Moon to see a quickly faltering smile on her face. Her eyes shifted to the creature that had stood in the way of the blast and widened in horror as she looked at the flaming hole in the creature’s torso. “W-why didn’t you m-move?” she asked quietly trying to find her voice. Ace stood stock still staring ahead at Nightmare, “I figured I was more likely to survive that then you and your friends.” They all stared on in shock as the flaming hole closed itself and left no mark to show that it was ever there in the first place. Ace kept his eyes on Nightmare as he stood up straight. “H-how did you do that?” The purple unicorn asked with disbelief clear in her voice. “No time to talk about that now, get your head in the game kid you’re still in danger. Take your friends and go back home, I’ll deal with this.” It said with a tone of finality in its voice. “N-no! We can’t! As the wielders of the elements it’s our responsibility to fight against the evils that threaten the land!” The purple unicorn replied without hesitation. “The elements are the best option against Nightmare Moon!” “Heh, Twilight dear, maybe it’s best not to argue with a creature that not only survived one encounter with Nightmare but also seemed to shrug off a hole in its chest.” Said the white unicorn with a hint of fear in her voice. “If you ask me he’s definitely a bigger threat than Nightmare.” The rainbow maned Pegasus whispered a bit to loud while glaring at Ace. “Well ah think we should only take one problem we can handle at a time. We have our hooves full with Nightmare, we really shouldn’t be picking a fight with somepony that is helping with that problem.” Said the orange pony. “C’mon guys if we keep talking they’ll never start the fight! I wanna see if he knows how to use haki.” Said the pink one with a bag of popcorn ignoring the looks her friends were giving her. “Well with the peanut gallery out of the way we can get down to business. Why do you want to plunge the world into an eternal night Nightmare Moon?” Ace asked thinking of how he was going to go about this fight. ‘If that hit was her best then I have nothing to worry about. But the fact that I still felt some of that puts her strength around the level of the mera mera no mi.’ “We don’t have to explain our actions to one such as thee. Our motives are our own, but thou have impressed us. Thine strength is greater than we first assumed, so we have an offer for you.” Ace’s head lowered enough for his hat to hide his eyes, something felt oddly familiar about the situation he found himself in. Nightmare ended with a dangerous smile, “Join us. Thou could lead our armies into battle against our sister. Nothing would stand in our way!” “Your sister huh?” Ace said in an even tone filled with cold fury. Memories of the battle with Blackbeard still fresh in his mind. “You’re out of your mind.” Nightmare let out a low growl at his response as her smile faltered. “Do you have any idea how important family is?” His thoughts floating to Luffy, and darker thoughts of Sabo. “Tch, fool. We would have been unstoppable. Nevertheless, if thou doesn’t stand with us, then thou are against us.” With her piece said Ace felt something hit him in the stomach faster than he could register what it could’ve been. The force of the blow sent him hurtling through the castle wall and into the ground outside of the castle. With a grunt Ace picked himself up from the crater his body had made, stretching his limbs and rolling his shoulders. In a flash of blue Nightmare stood before him with a silver and blue blade levitating in the air beside her. She lunged at him at a speed Ace almost couldn’t register, had he not stepped to the side Nightmare’s sword would’ve cleaved him in two, for whatever danger that meant to a logia. He retaliated with a swipe of his arm as a wave of fire flew out from it. Nightmare took to the skies to dodge the flames and shot more bolts at him. Ace dodged each bolt that she threw at him with ease, he rolled to the side of the last bolt and into a position on one knee with his arms close to his sides. He pointed the index and middle fingers towards Nightmare and said, “My turn.” “HIGAN!” (FIREGUN) With a shout fire erupted from his fingertips in dual bursts. The fire bullets flew at Nightmare and she had to fly her best to dodge them all, he kept up the attack not letting Nightmare take a breather until he caught movement in the corner of his sight and rolled forward snapping his head at what moved. It was a midnight blue sword that shared the visual attributes of Nightmare’s mane. Ace had been about to roll out of the way again as the sword flew towards him but to is confusion he couldn’t move. He looked at himself and noticed he was covered in the same blue aura that the levitating sword Nightmare used earlier had. As the sword flew at him it split into three exact copies and each flew into a different direction, the original flew upwards while the other two flew to the sides. After they had reached a certain distance all three turned simultaneously and sped at Ace easily going twice as fast as the original had the first time around. With her swords closing in on him and her seeing no way for him to escape Nightmare let out a laugh that echoed across the night as the three swords pierced Ace’s body. Ace smirked however when he heard Nightmares laugh die in her throat. Where the swords protruded there was no blood, the only thing at the entrance and exit wounds were flames that licked at the air, and a smirk on Ace’s face when they made eye contact. She growled and flew down towards him, “Tis our turn to have our question answered, what are you?” She asked in a tone Ace considered soft for her. “I am the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates,” He said with pride in his voice, “Portgas D. Ace.” “Thou are not a normal being, how can thou have such powers. How have we not harmed thee?!” Nightmare asked with a bit more anger behind her voice. Before Nightmare could get her answer she was forced to leap back as Ace’s entire form erupted into flames. Nightmare took to the skies and eyed Ace from the air. Ace’s show of force had surprised Nightmare enough for her concentration to be broken. Ace was finally free of Nightmare’s hold. The fire around Ace concentrated on both his arms as he stared up at Nightmare with a smirk on his face. “Here I thought you wanted a serious fight, but all you’re doing is flying away. So how about we take care of that small problem.” Ace pulled both arms back then flung them forward. “SHINKA: SHIRANUI!” (SAINT ELMO’S FIRE) Twin flame lances shot out from Ace’s arms and the shock on Nightmare’s face was all Ace needed to know that she wouldn’t be able to stop them as they pierced both her wings. With a pained shout she spiraled to the ground and hit the ground hard on her side. Once Nightmare had gotten back to her hooves she flared her wings on instinct and was met with instant pain. She growled and glared at Ace, while her flight might not have been her biggest advantage it certainly had helped out against his faster attacks. Silently cursing herself for that moment where she let her emotions get the best of her, she slowly lowered her wings and rested them by her sides while she tried to heal the damage with what little medical magic she knew. The two glared at each other again before Nightmare decided on what course of action she would take. Twilight and her friends were forced to cover their faces again as more dust and rubble was kicked up from where the creature was blasted through the walls of the old castle. They all opened their eyes simultaneously and as they did all their gazes met with a smiling Nightmare’s gaze. “As soon as we have dealt with that nuisance we’ll be back for you bearers. Now sit still like good little ponies.” As Nightmare finished she teleported away in a blue flash. “Are you girls all ok?” Twilight asked her friends. “We’re fine Twi, but come on we gotta hurry and stop those two before they take the fight to Ponyville!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “No, we’re not fine Rainbow. Poor Fluttershy hasn’t moved since that critter had a hole blasted through it. We are not goin’ head first into a situation too dangerous if it can be avoided.” AJ stated with a bit of heat in her voice. “Girls please while I’m sure that that… umm… creature is dangerous, he seemed to be on our side. He did fight Nightmare Moon once before evidently and he seems to be holding her at bay even now.” Rarity said as she walked over to the new hole made by the creature’s abrupt exit. Pinkie had been standing there watching the fight since the hole was made, “You guys we have to help him, if we help him then maybe he’ll see that not all ponies are bad. If his first contact was Nightmare Moon he might get the wrong idea about us. I also wanna make another new friend.” Pinkie said as she finished with a squee. “As much as I’d like to repay him the favor for saving our lives by fighting alongside him he was right. As we are now we don’t stand a chance against Nightmare Moon.” Twilight stated dejectedly. “When he first told us to leave you said we couldn’t because we were the bearers of the elements and Nightmare has been calling us the bearers as long as we’ve been in the castle.” Rainbow said, “So if it’s true can we wield the elements and join the fight?” “I suppose we could but the elements are still in shards and scattered all over the place thanks to the shockwave from his fireball. If we can gather them then I should be able to do what needs to be done to activate them.” With Twilights explanation they began to search for the shards under rubble and everything that looked like it could’ve been upturned in the fight. While everyone else was searching Pinkie still stood at the wall watching the fight between the creature and Nightmare, Nightmare was flying around and the creature was shooting fire at her. Despite the provided entertainment Pinkie left the wall and turned towards her friends to find them all kicking around rubble and rocks looking for something. All except for one shy yellow Pegasus, now Pinkie knew how easy Fluttershy was to spook and considering what had just gone down in the room not too long ago she knew Shy must’ve been scared something fierce. So naturally uncharacteristic on Pinkie she walked up to the butter yellow Pegasus and talked to her in a quiet tone. “Hey Fluttershy, you’re not hurt are you?” Fluttershy only responded with a shake of her head. “That’s a relief, I dunno what I’d do if my friends got hurt. You must have been real scared when the explosion went off, but it’s ok. He was trying to protect us from Nightmare Moon, he even went as far as taking that direct hit that left a hole in his chest.” Not a second after the words left Pinkie’s mouth was Fluttershy holding on to her crying her eyes out on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, hey it’s ok Fluttershy. He’s on our side, he’s going to be one of our closest friends, I can guarantee it.” “I-it was s-s-so scary!” Fluttershy said between sobs, “F-first w-we had to d-deal with Nightmare M-Moon, then he threw that f-fire and the e-explosion was s-so strong.” Pinkie let Fluttershy be as she lightly patted her on the back, being a sympathetic ear for her friend. “Then N-Nightmare shot a h-hole through him.” Fluttershy said almost to quietly for even Pinkie to hear her. “It’s ok Fluttershy, you know he didn’t mean to scare you, besides if you stayed scared of him you’d miss out on all the crazy adventures we’re going to have.” After a few minutes Fluttershy’s sobs had stopped and her breathing returned to normal, “There you go,” said Pinkie as she let her hooves fall, “Now how about we go help the rest of the girls look for the element shards.” Fluttershy nodded in response as a small smile creased her face. After a few more minutes of searching Twilight let out a triumphant sigh as she had all the pieces before her. “Ok, now that we have all the pieces all I should have to do is state how we embody the elements. Applejack, you reassured me that I would be fine despite how scared I was when you told me to let go on that cliff, you represent the element of honesty.” With that, AJ started floating a bit off the ground as some of the element shards began to float around her with an orange glow. “Fluttershy, when the manticore attacked us you were the only one able to stop it, you tamed it not with violence but with compassion, you represent the spirit of kindness.” Fluttershy was next to float in place as pink shards surrounded her. “Pinkie Pie, in the forest that had us all scared and running around you were the only one to banish the fear by giggling in the face of danger, you represent the spirit of laughter.” Pinkie started to float as light blue element shards started circling her. “Rarity, you were able to calm down the sea serpent at the cost of your own tail, you represent the spirit of generosity.” Rarity began to float as well surrounded by purple shards. “Rainbow Dash, even with one of your heart’s desires on the line you still chose to stand by your friends, you represent the spirit of loyalty.” Rainbow floated up just like all her other friends surrounded by red shards. “It was thanks to the five of you that we were able to make it this far.” “But Twilight, what about the sixth element?” Asked Rarity. “Yeah and what about the spark?” Rainbow continued. Twilight slowly shook her head at her friends with a smile on her face. “It was a different kind of spark, I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared for you all. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you are all my friends. You see when the elements are ignited by the spark that resides in all our hearts it creates the sixth element, the element of magic.” Finally, Twilight started to float but instead of shards a blinding light came from beneath her horn. When the light faded all six ponies had all four hooves on the ground and had donned necklaces with shining jewels at the center with the exception of Twilight. Twilight wore a crown with a purple star at the center. “Is everypony ok?” Applejack asked as soon as she could see again. As everypony began to look themselves over they all began to notice their new necklaces, and Rarity was ecstatic that her tail had regrown. All the girl’s attentions were taken from them as they saw a giant ball of fire appear in the field where Nightmare had blasted the creature through, in that instant all the girls wore faces of determination that ranged with excitement, fear, joy, and even more determination. With all their minds set they rushed to the field to return the favor to the creature that had helped them. “Tell us Ace, why must thee fight against us? Tis obvious this isn’t your natural realm? Why fight for it when thou has no stake to claim here?” Nightmare asked biding time for a new plan to come to mind. Ace narrowed his eyes at Nightmare as he crossed his arms in front of him. “You’re right, this may not be my realm, as you put it, but that won’t stop me from doing what must be done. Right now getting back to my home may be top priority but even I can tell that you’re up to no good. I may be a pirate but I still have morals and I couldn’t just stand by and watch you kill those six ponies.” As Ace finished this bit he lowered his head enough for his hat to cover his eyes before he started again, “And this reason for wanting to defeat your sister, I get the feeling this isn’t some friendly spar.” Ace said quietly despite the rage he felt festering inside. “Now in my opinion family is one of the very few things I’m willing to lay my life down for, yet here you are willing to kill your sister without hesitation.” Ace picked up his head enough to glare into the eyes of Nightmare. “That alone is reason enough for me to intervene.” Before either could get another word in they were interrupted by six ponies, each one with a new adornment. Nightmare knew she was in trouble, between the Elements and Ace her chances had gotten a lot slimmer. Despite how much she hated the idea a tactical retreat seemed her best option at the moment. “Nightmare Moon!” Shouted Twilight, “It’s over, we have the elements. Just give up.” Nightmare let out a cackle as her horn lit up, “Don’t think this is over.” Nightmare told the elements, “Either of you.” She added as she glanced back at Ace. The light from her horn shown brighter and brighter until all the ponies and the one human were forced to shield their eyes, with a cackle and a pop Nightmare was gone. Her laugh still echoed in the night as the moon began its descent far faster than it had any right to. As the moon set and the sun rose, it shown with an immense light as another pony seemed to come out of the sun. It landed in front of the six ponies and human, but with slight confusion on its face it spoke, “Twilight, I see that you and your friends now bear the Elements of Harmony. While this is marvelous news I have to ask, what happened to Nightmare Moon?” Twilight and the other ponies had been bowing since the appearance of the other pony. When she was addressed Twilight lifted her head with slight disappointment in her face, “I’m sorry Princess Celestia but Nightmare Moon teleported before we could try to use the elements on her.” Celestia frowned at the news but it was gone as soon as it appeared, “While that is unfortunate, at least now we have the elements and will be ready when she reappears. Now for my second question, what is this creature that stands behind you and your friends?” This time Twilight’s face took a look of curiosity as she glanced back at him. “We aren’t sure, but without his help Nightmare would have beaten us before we could have reactivated the elements.” Celestia turned a thoughtful stare towards him and muttered, “I see.”