Chapter 10: Reuniting With an Old Friend
"There it is!" cried the lavender unicorn. "The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony -- we made it!" She broke into a full gallop for the bridge.
"Twilight," called Applejack, "wait for us!" The Apple mare and the other four followed their leader.
Twilight, thought Nightmare Moon. At last I know my enemy's name. The better for my magics to bite!
At last I know the name of the little stargazer, thought the Moon Princess, remembering the filly standing on her balcony and looking up at the night sky with wondering eyes. Must she and I be enemies?
For a moment the Princess reeled before the sudden duality of her thoughts, before the Nightmare managed to regain control of herself.
"We're almost there!" said Twilight happily, looking back at her friends as she reached the stone pillars from which hung the bridge. "Whoa-ohh!' she cried in dismay as her front hooves fell on thin air where the broken bridge should have been. She recovered quickly, digging in her back hooves, but that was not enough to keep her from going over.
Yes! exulted the Nightmare, for a moment.
There was a flash of rainbow. The blue pegasus had Twilight by the tail, quickly dragging the lavender mage back up to safety. "What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" asked Rainbow.
Yes! thought the Moon Princess in relief. She saved her!
Failure! scorned the Nightmare. A missed chance!
Killing anypony here wasn't part of the plan. And if they'd saved her the same way that they did on the cliff road, they might have all wound up on the bottom -- who knows what would have happened then? They might have even attuned directly with the Tree itself! It sounded plausible.
Pinkie Pie looked down into the misty abyss. "Now what?" she said, whining like a little filly frustrated by the withdrawal of some promised treat.
Rainbow gave her pink friend a sidelong glance. "Duh," she said, fluttering her wings, then taking off.
"Oh yeah!" realized Pinkie.
Rainbow did a perfect dive into the mists. In an instant she had the broken end of the bridge. With powerful wingbeats she climbed the other side of the canyon, quickly attaching one of the guy ropes..
She was unaware of the small cloud of shimmering plasma which followed her out of the mists.
"Rainbow," Nightmare Moon called, in a voice slightly distorted from her own. Forced to change it slightly to avoid being instantly recognized by the blue pegasus, she realized that she sounded a lot like Moondreamer. Well why not? If this is Dashie, that tone will only aid my geas!
Rainbow gasped in surprise and dropped the last rope. She looked around, searching for the speaker, and seeing nothing.
The Moon Princess, an ultraviolet-toned mist, rose from the canyon and drifted past the feet of the blue pegasus.
"Who's there?" challenged the pegasus.
"Rainbow," the Princess repeated.
The blue pegasus reared on her hind legs, wings flaring, and made boxing motions towards what she guessed was the source of the voice. "I ain't scared a'you!" she said defiantly. Seeing no one there, she whirled and faced on the opposite direction. "Show yourself!"
It is Dashie! the Moon Princess thought happily. The brashness, the bravado -- the hint of fear which she would die rather than let her foe see -- it's him! Her. The lifescent was now overwhelming in her soul, and in a thousand subtle ways it said Dash Firehooves.
She might have lost herself in the warm sensation, but she had a labor to perform.
"We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flier in Equestria," said the Moon Princess, slowly applying and then increasing the power of her geas.
"Who?" Rainbow asked.
With all his arrogance, he was always thrown for a loop by unsolicited praise, reflected the Princess. She's the same.
"Why," laughed Nightmare Moon, "you. Of course."
The geas closed around the blue pegasus.
"Really?" Rainbow asked, almost squealing with delight. "I mean ..." she gathered her composure. "Oh yeah. Me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? Cause, I've been trying to get into that group for, like, ever ..."
Geases are most effective when subtle. Simply trying to seize control of Rainbow's mind would have engaged all her mental defenses, possibly enabling her to shake free and fly back to her friends before the Nightmare could have reacted. Nightmare Moon was mostly just suppressing Rainbow's natural suspicion of being addressed in such a fashion by a disembodied voice before an abandoned castle. Aside from that, Rainbow's own desire for glory was doing most of the work. "Work with the subject's wishes, not against them," the Moon Princess remembered someone -- her sister? -- telling her. She's a selfish monster, she thought, but she certainly understands spellcasting.
"No, Rainbow Dash," said Nightmare Moon, coalescing into her new form -- three forms -- in the nearby mists. The fact that 'Dash' actually was Dashie's last name in this life had come to her across their strengthening mind-link.
"We want you to join us."
The three pegasi whose form she had assumed -- the main one a mare, flanked by two stallions created from memories of her own Guardsponies -- galloped out of the mist. They were clad in the purple and yellow lightning-bolt livery one of her real Guards units had worn, complete with purple and yellow goggles for speed-flying. Their insignias were winged skulls.
"The Shadowbolts!"
Rainbow Dash frowned slightly. There was something not quite right about this, or them.
"We are the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest ..." boasted Nightmare Moon.
Technically true, thought the Moon Princess, since the abandonment of the Castle means that we are the only aerial team in the Everfree Forest, save perhaps for some woods rangers.
"... And soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria!"
Glory, she put into her geas. To be a Shadowbolt would be glorious ... Dangle the bait ...
"But first ..." Nightmare Moon said, bringing her face close to Rainbow's, looking into her big purple-red eyes, "we need a captain!" She darted off, trailing paramagnetism on the brain's own operating frequencies, began circling the blue pegasus.
Rainbow grinned in utter delight.
"The most magnificent --" said Nightmare Moon, completing the first circle,
"Yep," agreed Rainbow
"Swiftest --" The Moon Princess crossed over her own path, began to draw the invisible magical net more tightly around her subject.
"Yes," affirmed Rainbow.
"Bravest flyer in all the land," Nightmare Moon's hold on her was now almost complete.
"Yes," laughed Rainbow, smiling happily. "It's all true!"
"We need ..." the Moon Princess cried in what was almost the Royal Canterlot Voice, then dipped her mouth down to whisper the final word almost lovingly in Dashie's ear, "You."
"Woo-hoo!" shouted Rainbow Dash, leaping straight up three body lengths, "Sign me up!"
Dashie's mine, thought the Princess.
Something flared within the net.
"Just one thing," the blue pegasus said, darting over to the unfastened rope. "Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal."
What? Her previous mission should have become meaningless to her! What went wrong? Nightmare Moon swooped over to confront Rainbow at the bridge.
"No!" she cried in barely controlled rage. "It's them -- or us!"
Rainbow Dash cringed back from the anger of the Moon Princess. Her face bore a look of hurt ... of betrayal?
I'm acting in contrast to her ideals, her expectations, thought Nightmare Moon. I'm losing her! She could feel a psychic energy building within the blue pegasus, beating against the strands of the geas.
"Rainbow!" called Twilight across the abyss. "What's taking so long?" Her voice was tinged with concern. Suddenly she noticed the three strange pegasi. "Oh, no," she said, then called louder. "Rainbow!"
The energy flared brighter within Rainbow Dash. The strands began to stress before its force ...
Nightmare Moon saw that in a moment she would entirely lose her captive. Meddling mage! she thought, scowling at the lavender unicorn. Luckily, this is easily handled.
She raised the mists. Impenetrable fogs blocked the view of the other side of the canyon. A simple additional twist, and their density was such that they directly interfered with equine vocal frequencies.
"Don't listen to --" Twilight started to say, and then her voice vanished, muffled by the cloud.
Nightmare Moon returned her attention to Rainbow Dash, who stood trembling in the throes of an internal struggle.
"Well ...?" she asked.
"You," said Rainbow Dash softly.
Did she dare hope it? Was there recognition of her from Dashie, as well? The Moon Princess grinned in happy triumph, wings flaring.
"Thank you!" Rainbow said, putting her own face close to that of the Princess. "For the offer, I mean."
The Moon Princess gaped in dismay.
Rainbow tied the rope off tight.
"But ..." Rainbow launched herself above the pillars, hovered in midair, "I'm afraid I have to say 'no.'" Loyalty flared brightly around her.
Of course, thought the Princess. My own old Element. I should have known. And how could I have expected Dashie, of all ponies, to ever betray his friends?
She remembered Dash Firehooves, the bright soul that shone through all his arrogant, glory-seeking ways. She remembered his indomitable courage, his unbreakable loyalty, his willingness to sacrifice anything for his friends.
Yo, Joe, she mentally saluted him, in the manner of Dashie's old special-forces unit.
She smiled sadly.
You're not the one who has changed, she thought. I've had to adapt to an imperfect world, had to compromise myself -- but you've stayed pure. Please don't make me kill you.
The Nightmare scowled. This mawkishness gets me nowhere, she told herself, and they are crossing the bridge now. There is little time left.
She became vapor and wafted away.
I will win the final battle.
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I like this chapter with its view of the Nightmare's and Luna's thoughts as she -- they? -- try to seduce Dash over to her side. Only to fail utterly, showing once again that the Nightmare simply cannot understand anyone not motivated by utter selfishness.
And oh this line: Yo, Joe, she mentally saluted him, in the manner of Dashie's old special-forces unit.
Heh-heh! Did you ever hear the old story about how one of the GI Joes, Shipwreck the sailor, was supposed to meet the original ponies while drunk, in a scene that would end with him smashing his bottle and taking the oath?
3668058
Fixed the html, thank you
3667601
She comes close, though ... mostly because Moondreamer deeply understood Dashie. But then, Moondreamer's the aspect of Luna perhaps least understood by the Nightshadow, because Moondreamer was motivated by the desire for knowledge, not domination -- not even to the extent Princess Luna was so moved. The Nightshadow has little hold on Moondreamer, save brute-force control.
Hmm, I think some people have done human Joes in Equestria type fanfics. And I think that Shipwreck's reaction to any generation of the Ponies would have been hilarious
3668255 The Joes in Equestria? If it's the classic Joes, meaning the ones from the 80's that I grew up with, I'd love to see them. Especially if Cobra is also there to help the villains.
3667601
One interesting thing about the dynamics of the Mane Six is that, to the extent that they evolve into a paramilitary team with Twilight Sparkle as commanding officer (she's also an aristocratic scholar who in many ways could be an East Asian archetypical character), it's Applejack who becomes the top NCO (she's in charge whenever Twilight's not there and she usually has the common sense to figure out how to achieve what Twilight asks), and Rainbow Dash who becomes the "Lancer" -- she's the most rebellious member of the Mane Six in the sense of being willing to directly challenge Twilight's plans or Applejack's execution of these plans. She'd logically be the one you'd expect to betray them, save that she is also incredibly loyal, and not just in the sense of it being her element. The only way, really, to detach her from the team is to either make the team reject her loyalty, or give her a Sadistic Choice between two loyalties (as Discord did in the Season Two opener).
3668285
Oh, of course Cobra would have to be there -- it's the obvious reason why the Joes would show up.
Though in Chapter 10 I was thinking more of the unit which Amareica organizes against VIPRA, front organization for the survivors of Tirek's race ... or something like that.
I'm adoring the duality of Luna's thoughts here. She's really coming apart at the seams now. The shadows never really had much of a chance, did they?
This is great. :D
I have to remark once again (as I've often done in other contexts) on my delight at finding the popularity of the word geas--a term I first encountered in high school in the early 70s when I checked out a book entitled Irish Fairy and Folk Tales (edited by William Butler Yeats) from my high school library. It occurs in a pre-Xian Druidic tale (which ironically includes a talking pony) and seems to refer, not to any magical spell of any kind, but some kind of binding obligation.
I suppose its current popularity stems from its use in Japanese anime?
7205085
D&D is more likely, it's long been the arcane spell that is used to force someone to undertake a task.
Luna would've had to use a mind spell to even have a chance of tempting the Element of Loyalty to abandon her friends.
8239267
Yes. Nightmare Moon is trying to seduce Loyalty away from her duty, and that's not possible. The way to defeat Loyalty is by trickery, or even better presenting conflicting duties. That's how Discord beat Dashie later on.