Chapter 7
I own nothing!
Far up in the mountains stood Canterlot Castle. It was late afternoon and the sun would set soon. Through the chaos of daily life in the Canterlot Castle, like the daily rants of Prince Blueblood or one of Discords many shenanigans, there in the center slept the princess of the night, Luna. But today she wasn’t having the best of sleep. She turned and flipped in her bed. She, the Princess of the night and dreams was having a nightmare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was nothing but Fog. Black, black fog. Luna stumbled through the chaotic void in confusion. Occasionally a silent strike of lightning would break the darkness.
“What is this place?” she asked herself. Luna attempted to fly but failed spectacularly. She rubbed her head from the fall and took a look around. “Hello?!” she called out. A few silent moments past.
“Heheheheha!” A deep laugh reverberated through the thick fog.
Luna turned around frantically. “Who goes there!?”
The laughing died down. A voice however filled its place. “Oh, I think you know who I am.” the voice said.
Luna turned around to the source of the voice. Lo and behold, there stood an alicorn. This alicorn was as tall as Luna, with black fur and dark blue armor. It was someone Luna knew very well.
“Nightmare Moon?!” Luna exclaimed charging her horn in anger. “Why are you here!?”
Nightmare Moon maniacally giggled. “Oh Luna did you think I would face you without proper means of protection?” she said tauntingly. A strand of Nightmare Moon’s hair pulled something from the Darkness. It was a small blue filly. It was someone precious to Luna’s past. Snowdrop. “Now, why don't we all calm down, Lulu”
Luna dissipated her horns charge. She looked over to the form of Snowdrop. She was conscious, but just barely. She was desperately trying to push away the tight grip of Nightmare Moon. “So you are the disturbance I have felt!” Luna yelled. “Disturbing the souls of the dead? Ones who should have gone on to the Fields?”
Nightmare Moon smirked. “What? Me? No no little Lulu, this is far from my doing.” She said tauntingly. “I just wanted to show you” - Nightmare Moon carried Snowdrop forwards - “The one pony you hurt the most. The one that you abandoned. The one that’s been tortured every day since then.”
Snowdrop coughed several times, “Luna… Help. Me,”
“So what do you have to say-?”
Nightmare Moon was interrupted by a large flash of light and noise. While Nightmare Moon had given her victory ramble Luna had grown extremely angry. Now she had let loose, Royal Canterlot Voice style.
“YOU DARE COME UPON MY DOMAIN? IN A REALM OF MY CONTROL!” Luna screamed rising from her spot on the ground. Nightmare Moon stood there in shock of Luna’s outburst. “I HAVE BEEN TORTURED ENOUGH BY YOUR EVIL, BY YOUR LEGACY! NOW IS THE TIME I TAKE BACK MY PLACE! WHERE I AM GOD!”
A large sphere of black and white energy grew above Luna’s horn. In one huge sweeping motion she blasted the sphere towards Nightmare Moon. At that point Nightmare Moon broke from her shock induced trance and lifted a shield, her face still filled with the expression of confusion at Luna’s outburst. When the blast however reached the shield it didn't stop dead in its tracks and dissipate, instead it continued to push against the large shield. Cracks then began to form in her defense.
“No.” Nightmare Moon called out frantically. The shield then gave in fully. “NNNOOOO!”
Luna’s blast vaporized Nightmare Moon instantly, leaving nothing. Not even the armor remained. Luna wiped a bit of sweat off her brow before walking over to where the Nightmare had stood. In the crater however laid the form of Snowdrop. Luna ran to her side and attempted tend to her. Luna knelt by her side and carefully attempted to pick her up.
“Dear Snowdrop, please don’t go.” Luna cooed.
The form of Snowdrop attempted to croak out words. “Th-th-than” At that point Snowdrop stopped. Her breathing ceased and her eyes closed. Luna could only stare as it happened.
“Please! Don’t go, Snowdrop! You can’t die again! Don’t go!” Luna screamed. Tears dripped from her eyes and fell to ground. “P-please. Don’t go. N-not again.”
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Operation Harmony Fruit was officially in action. After the mandatory… cuddle, Nyx had left the sleepy filly for the day. When she finally got to the portal, she was transported home and saw only five minutes had past. With her things packed she strung her saddle bag on her back and began her journey. Nyx snuck out of the library and towards the Everfree. After sneaking past Sugarcube Corner she sprinted towards the entrance to the Everfree. There she stood by Fluttershy’s Cottage. She didn’t need to worry about Fluttershy; she was at Canterlot helping Discord with another infection of Green skin disease.
"Well, here we go, I guess this is it." Nyx thought to herself. Her mind was racing through a maze of conflicting emotions. Hope, fear, anxiety, and determination. She had a feeling of apprehension for the dangers that were an unfortunate part of the journey into the Everfree. And the ever approaching bittersweet realization that the closer she got to freeing Snowdrop, the closer Snowdrop’s departure from Nyx's life approached. It was amazing how quickly Snowdrop had become such a large part of her life. And now, if she succeeded, she would have to send Snowdrop onto the Fields. Where Immortals like Nyx could not follow.
A common misconception is that Immortals had conquered death, tamed it. But instead the reverse is true. Immortals themselves were controlled by death. For while two mortals who fall in love may be assured that one day they shall be reunited in the Fields, an immortal has a far worse heartache. Trapped in the temporary and secular world of Equestria, Immortals could hold very few ponies dear. For if an Immortal fell in love with a mortal, the mortal’s death became a final separation. Immortals hadn’t conquered death, They simply let death take everyone else. Despite this Nyx had a duty. She promised herself that she would protect ponies, Especially ones she loved. Nyx readied herself. "This will be far from easy. But hopefully everything goes according to plan."” Nyx began to walk into the entrance of the Everfree.
The foliage had begun to calm down over the years, beginning to return to the standard in Equestria. Celestia had said it was the effect of the Tree of Harmony starting to take back the forest.
“Maybe the forest will become safe in a few years.” Nyx thought walking through the path. The sun was slowly dipping under the tree horizon, It would probably only be up for another half an hour.
Nyx walked for some time before reaching a divide in the road. To the right lead to Zecora’s while the left led onwards.
A low rumbling began however, shaking the ground violently, almost causing Nyx to fall over. “What the hay is going!?” Nyx exclaimed. The rumbling soon stopped. She looked through the foliage above but saw no sign of where the mini-earthquake had come from. When no aftershock came, Nyx breathed a sigh of relief. “What was that?” she thought, “There’s something out here. Something different. Random earthquakes aren't exactly part of the Everfree.” Nyx considered heading back, but then she remembered what she was here for, who she was here for. Nyx trudged on. She hoped this would go better than it started.
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Nyx had trudged for a good hour through the Everfree. The sun had already set so the only light in the forest was Nyx’s horn. Passing the sludge lake was a bit hard, with that alligator skeleton in the way and all. The deeper and deeper Nyx walked into the forest the creepier and more dangerous it got. Soon Nyx had reached an area where nearly all the trees were black and covered in thorns.
“What’s wrong with these trees?” Nyx asked herself rubbing her hoof against the bark with its rubber like qualities. A rustling from behind caught Nyx’s attention. When she turned to the source however nothing was there. Another rustling made Nyx turn the opposite way. Again nothing. When she began to walk again however she tripped over something. Nyx turned her head to see vines beginning to wrap around her hooves. She attempted to kick them off but then they tightened around her hind and front legs. “Hey! Let me go!”
The vines however ignored her and proceeded to lift her off the ground, legs up. Nyx pulled against the vines but they were too strong. Nyx stopped struggled and further observed the vines. There black and tough with metal like thorns all over them. Nyx gasped as she realized what the vines were.
“Plunder vines?!” she exclaimed. Several more vines from the sides of the pathway began to move. “What are these doing here?” Several more vines came from the path and wrapped around her torso, their thorns digging into her side. Nyx attempted to charge up her horn but other vines came in and broke her concentration by wrapping around her horn. More and more vines began to wrap around Nyx before her body was almost unviewable. Underneath the vines, Nyx’s mind was racing. “Where did Plunder vines come from?! Those were destroyed over a year ago!” The vines began to pull tighter choking Nyx.
“These things are- Gagh! - choking me” She thought, “I need to get out of -Ack!- this! If I die nopony can save -Geh! - SNOWDROP!” with that last thought a small portion of Nyx’s magic bursted out and weakened the vines’ grip. Nyx proceeded to use her hoof to push up against the wall of the cocoon that had formed. “I won’t be done here. I’m got to finish this!”
Nyx’s horn charged up and sent a small opal blast of energy towards the one side of the small, but like a strong magic pen laser on paper it only helped to cause a bit of smoke to form. “A simple energy beam, it’s got to work. Come on…” Nyx’s beam grew in power as a small light filled the chamber. Nyx ignored this however and after a few second successfully cut through vines.
“Yes!” she exclaimed. Nyx began turning her head causing the beam to cut other parts of the vine. When the beam had cut a majority of the vines that entangled Nyx she sent a small blast to blow off the top of the cocoon. Nyx proceeded to squirm out of the entanglement and to pop out. The moment she was free she shakily took to the air.
Nyx had often said she needed proper flying lessons, she wasn’t joking earlier, she was a bad flyer. As Nightmare Moon she had flown well enough but that knowledge left her along with all of Moon’s power. Almost immediately she collided with tree nearest to the vines. Nyx in a leap of fear glided to the next tree over and then the next. She looked back to see the vines slowly begin to crawl back into the forest. Waiting for their next victim.
“I’ll deal with that later. Right now I gotta continue on.” Nyx glided to the ground and continued on walking, what she hadn’t noticed is that her Cutie mark at that point has stopped glowing.
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Nyx was beginning to worry. It had been hours and she still wasn’t close to the Tree of Harmony. “The tree is right behind the old castle! It took like, half an hour for me and mom to get there when we went to research the Safe of Harmony!” She exclaimed stopping in her tracks. Nyx fell back on her haunches and sighed. “A single path and I still get lost. That’s got to be a record. “
Nyx sat there for a few minutes and contemplated her situation. She was currently in the extremely dangerous Everfree forest in an attempt to retrieve a fruit from a magic tree to save a filly that’s been dead for over a thousand years while having to deal with her growing crush on said filly.
“Yup. Sounds just as crazy inside as it is outside” she said. A low buzzing began to enter the hearing range of Nyx’s ears. Nyx lifted her head and turned to the left and right. Nothing. The buzzing began to increase in volume. Nyx stood up and looked all around for the source of the noise. It was if it were omnipresent. Nyx attempted to ignore the noise, but soon it reached an irritating level. She pulled out two books from her bag and attempted to cover her ears but it was useless. Finally Nyx succeeded in a weak shield spell providing some protection from the noise. Nyx looked around again and still didn't see the source of the noise.
“What the hay is that?!” She questioned. Nyx couldn't answer her question as the earthquake from earlier returned. This time in full force knocking Nyx to the ground. When the shaking stopped, Nyx opened her eyes to the sight something over the tree line. Over in the distance a large multi-colored mass stood. The source of noise.
“Parasprites?!” she shouted, “What are all these parasprites doing here!” Nyx diverted from the path and shot through the tree line. About forty feet in, Nyx reached a large clearing. A swarm of parasprites towered over her, nearly 20 feet tall. The clearing was filled with a few half eaten tree stumps and the occasional fish carcass. “What’s going on with the parasprites? Why are there so many of them? Don’t they have any predators?”
Before Nyx could continue asking these inquiring questions, however, a small group of the bugs broke away from the group. There were a good thirty of them. The parasprites began to dive bomb towards Nyx, luckily she noticed and ran away just in time. “Gah!” - Nyx began running in the opposite direction - “I gotta get out of here before I become bug food!”
Nyx bolted back into the tree line taking a sharp turn to the right before entering causing the parasprites to be lodged into a tree trunk. Nyx skidded to a stop. She slowly sneaked back to the tree line and observed the giant swarm. The congregation of them was so thick that Nyx couldn't even see to the other side of it. The hundreds of colours were almost psychedelic in nature.
“I can’t just leave these here. If they head towards Ponyville it could be a disaster!“ she thought, “But what could I do? It’s not like I have a marching band in my bag, and I can’t just run in and disperse them, they’ll turn me into a late night snack!”
Nyx observed the swarm before an idea came to her, “Maybe I don’t have to run in to disperse them. Maybe I can just scare them.” Nyx charged up her horn and sent a small blast into the swarm. The blast exploded midair and sent out a loud boom and shockwave. A few parasprites flew off but most ignored the loud noise. Nyx growled in frustration before sending out several other blasts into the swarm. Nothing. “What could keep those things here after a Clever Combustion spell? Those things are used as fireworks!” Nyx thought. “Maybe I can distract them?” Nyx ran out of the woods and began waving a hoof in the air. “Hey! Dumb bugs! Bet you can’t catch me!” She yelled before running towards the trees.
Several dozen of the bugs took heed and separated from the group. “It’s not a lot, but it’s a start.” Nyx thought. Nyx stopped just short of the trees and quickly turned towards the stampede of bugs. Nyx charged up her horn sent another ‘Clever Combustion’ beam towards the parasprites. The cloud of bugs however opened an opening for the beam to pass through harmlessly.
“Oh, Horse-apples!” Nyx called before running head first into the forest. The small swarm elected to return to the large group. Nyx peaked her head out of a bush to view the swarm. “Well, that was pointless!” Nyx thought, “Why can’t these things just teleport away!” A spark of inspiration hit Nyx. “Teleport! That’s it! I’ll just teleport the parasprites— wait… I’ve never teleported before.”
Nyx looked up at the huge swarm. She furrowed her brow. “Even then I've got to try.” she thought with determination. Nyx climbed from the bush and stood in front of the swarm. “All right just do what the books say”, Nyx searched her mind for what she had read up on teleportation spells, “Alright, there are three main types of Teleportation spells. Clover the Clever’s version is a level three spell and is the easiest but it can only teleport me, so that no good. Gandhay’s version only level two but is impossible without an Arcane construct on the other side, so unless I dump these things on Canterlot, that won’t work either. All I've got left is Dumblehooves’ version, It’s a level six spell with two subclass spells so it’s the hardest one, but that’s all I can do” Nyx widened her legs and let a small amount of raw magic into her horn.
“Step 1. Concentrate on your destination. My old castle is good, there’s nothing there for these things to eat so they should just disperse. Step 2. Concentrate on your target.” Nyx store strainingly at the swarm, attempting to capture each detail. “Alright that g-good. Step 3. Use your magic to force the objects to be moved together.” Nyx closed her mind and began straining her magic. A small aura began to form around the swarm. However as soon as the aura formed, it vanished in a pop. Nyx collapsed to the ground panting heavily in tiredness. “No good” she thought. Nyx stood up, albeit shakingly. “Come on I've got to do this.”
“Step 1. Concentrate on where you want to go.” The old Nightmare castle appeared to Nyx’s mind.
“Step 2. Concentrate on what’s gonna teleport.” The swarm’s image stood in the Nyx’s mind.
“Step 3. Use your magic to push them together.” Nyx began to feel extreme exhaustion as her aura much stronger this time began to section off the swarm into different bubbles.
“Yes!” she thought. Unfortunately at this point her concentration was broken and the aura collapsed before tearing apart, leaving only a few pieces of magic fabric that quickly dissolved. At that point Nyx collapsed on her side in exhaustion. “Why -pant- won’t -pant- it -pant- work!” Nyx said exasperated. Nyx head was spinning in pain. Images of the destruction caused by parasprites spun with garbled memories.
The bush she was born in. Her first day of school. Saving her mom from death. Hearth Warming in Canterlot. The mirror to Limbo. Snowdrop.
“I know this time that you're trying your best…” The voice of Snowdrop rang through Nyx’s mind, “...to save me. To help me.”
Meeting Snowdrop. Bringing her to the portal. Nyx’s visits. The times Nyx comforted her. The nights together.
“It-it’s g-got to w-work” Nyx said slowly getting to her hooves. Her exhaustion was explicitly obvious; it showed in the way she stood up. Her legs wobbled worse then Pinkie on a sugar high. “It’s g-got to. I've g-got to try!”
Nyx stood tall, steadying herself, and closed her eyes tight. The world fell silent, leaving Nyx to her thoughts.
“Concentrate on your destination”, a crystal clear image of the castle appeared to Nyx.
“Concentrate on the objects to be moved”, the swarm stood silent in her mind. A dim light shined through her eyes lids. Nyx ignored it.
“Force them together with magic…” With that thought Nyx opened her eyes to view her work. The swarm was contained in a deep opal aura, that segmented cutting off each part of the swarm from the other. The dim light from seconds ago began to glow brighter but Nyx continued to ignore it.
“Finally, use your magic to push the target to the destination.” A section of swarm disappeared in a flash of opal. Then another. Soon two or three of them began to disappear. Finally only one section remained. It contained a single small parasprite that had a look of confusion on its face. Before it could say ‘buzz’ the bug disappeared in a flash. “Y-yes.” Nyx thought before she began to stumble to her right side. She was panting heavily and had a pounding pain in her horn. After a few moments Nyx noticed something. A glowing.
“W-what?” Nyx turned to her flank. There she saw her Cutie mark. Glowing. It gave off an opal glow in a strong shine. The light seemed to dance up and down like the Crystal Empire’s Aurora Borealis. “What’s going on? Why is my C-cutie mark glowing? Didn’t I see this earlier! At the vines!” Before Nyx could finish thinking, her Cutie mark stopped glowing. It was if all the light had been sucked in by a miniature black hole.
“W-what!?” Nyx wheezed, tapping her flank repeatedly, in an attempt to get it started again. “This is just getting crazy! Glowing Cutie marks and random earthquakes! Did Discord go sleep chaos-ing!” Nyx turned her head forward again. However she probably shouldn’t have. Where the parasprites had been, all there remained was a bloody mess. And not in the Trottingham manner. There in that forest clearing was the rotten and half eaten corpse of a manticore. It was bloody and had most of its limbs missing but it was definitely a Manticore. Unless of course a dragon, a lion, and a giant scorpion, all died in the same spot in the forest. “Ugh— I’m going to be sick.”
Nyx turned her head to view the rest of the clearing. It was mostly empty with only a few bushes rustling in the wind. When the wind stopped however, the bushes continued to shake lightly. A few small forms began to exit out from the bushes’ edge. Nyx was startled by the sudden movement and charged up her horn, although her magic was very weak. When the creatures fully crawled out however, Nyx lowered the charge of her horn. It was just a few forest animals. A few rabbits, some mice, and even a squirrel. Despite a look of fear on their faces Nyx could see one emotion. Loss. The message they transmitted was clear.
“This… This was where your home was? Wasn’t it?” Nyx said weakly. The animals stood there frozen although a few nodded slowly, it was like they understood her. “Well we can’t have that! Can we?!” Nyx turned to the half eaten manticore. A small weak and puttering charge surrounded her horn. “Alright transmutation spells, transmutation spells, what do I know! We have Star Swirl’s Degree six transmutation ruins. Those won’t work without chalk or the ruin design. We’ve got Dr. Sidrat’s Level one Transmutation Jujitsu. I need fingers for that so… yeah. Oh! Tier Xi’s Level three Thaumaturgic Transmutation! That’ll work. That’s going to take a bit more out of me though…” Nyx looked over to the animals by the bushes, with their deep dark eyes and helpless expressions. “Ugh… The things I do for love.” A small beam of white and green energy shot from Nyx’s horn. The beam split into its two individual colors and began to intertwine the corpse. Slowly the Manticore corpse began to morph and change, soon it seemed to begin to blend in with the ground itself. When Nyx’s horn energy cut out the corpse was gone. All that remained was a large lump in the ground with a few rocks and a log next to it. Nyx fell back on her haunches panting as the few animals cheerfully ran up to their new home. “I c-can’t k-keep doing this. I’m g-going to c-cause myself to p-pass out. What’s next! Am I gonna fight a d-dragon!”
No sooner did Nyx finish that thought before the ground began to shake again. The animals ran into the log Nyx had transmutated for protection. This time the earth shook far more violently. “N-n-n-Not a-a-a-again!” Nyx yelled. The violent shaking threw Nyx to the ground. Nyx closed her eyes tight and placed her hooves over her head in defense. Nyx heard several branches fall to ground. And even a tree or two. When the shaking stopped Nyx slowly got up. She removed her hooves from her head and sat up on her haunches. Finally Nyx opened her eyes and surveyed the damage. A few trees had been uprooted and debris was everywhere. A looming shape was evident over the tree tops. It was a deep blue shape, almost unnoticeable if not for the several glowing spots on the shape’s body.
“Wait… Large, Blue, Glowing spots. That can’t be… No, It can’t-” Nyx’s frantic chain of thoughts was cut off however by a short tremor only lasting a second or two. The shape by the tree tops began to move. It began to change shape. No, it began to rise. The form stood up, slowly and groggily, but fast enough so it remained intimidating. Piles of dirt and dust slid down the form’s back as if it were partially underground. Two appendages, arms, rose from the creatures sides and stretched out. Finally a head moved up slowly, smacking its lips in sleepiness. The creature’s identity was now obvious.
“A-an U-ursa M-major” Nyx breathed out in fear. She feared it would be her last.
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OOOoohh the things Nyx does for love.
Well, it wasn't a dragon.
that sounds more like an ursa minor to me because aren't majors purple
NYX! JUST TELEPORT YOURSELF TO THE TREE!
The transformation jutsu thing is a Naruto reference
3880165 she hasent had experience of teleporting till the parasprites and was too weak after wards to finish the trip.
3880253 Ding!-Ding!-Ding! That 1 out of a number of references i haven't counted !
You sir win a pony of any choice
3879072
What? What blue? it doesn't say blue.
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/liarjack_animated__gif_by_kyrospawn-d4ao49a.gif
3878928 did you get the refrence?
3880267 OOH OOH!!CAN IT BE BlueBlood
I will Take Him to my basement where all the knives are
3880318
Here you go!
fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/54358.jpg?1349064079
3880293 Courage the Cowardly Dog
3880931 Ding!-Ding!-Ding! That another out of a number of references i haven't counted !
You sir win a pony of any choice!
3882575 Derpy
Plunder Vines!? The Tree of Harmony eradicated them!
3883655 fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/141/4/7/be_happy_be_derpy_by_hitmanlovely-d3gwlqa.png
Here you go!
3884565
Don't know what to tell you. The tree destroyed the vine that were connected tot each other. Maybe these ones got disconnected fr the bunch?
i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/006/039/shrugging-pinkie-pie.png
At that point I suspected this would take a rather, erm, different turn.
It appears the proof reader believed the same as after this point the chapter is littered with mistakes.
There were too many to count, but otherwise this was an enjoyable read.
Nyx is definitely having her abilities tested in this chapter and I especially like how you did the introduction of the Ursa.
Finally...
Can't tell if intentional...
Edit:
I'll definitely have to remember "Dumblehooves" for later use.
--Sollace
I've only read up to Chapter 3 so far, but I wanna say, I love how this story's developing! :D
"good job Nyx, tellaport those para sprites closer to ponyvill." I said, hevy on the sarcasm.
3921866 your spelling is cringe worthy
I only got the Naruto one this time, I might have gotten more actually, but the Naruto thing is the only one I remembered at the end.
So is Dumblehooves a reference to Dumbledore?
xD