The Adventures of the Elementals

by AutoKnight01

The Battle of Ponyville (Part 4)

I know its practically been forever but I’m still here dammit! I only own my OC’s and the plot of this here story. Everything else is property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust! Enjoy and don’t forget to comment below!

The Adventures of the Elementals

Chapter 38 – The Battle of Ponyville (Part 4)

There he was. Right in front of them. Like some miracle sent from the gods themselves, Master Hitashi Ma had finally shown his face to his student and his family. After so many years, his looks hadn’t changed one bit. He was still wearing that same raggedy old cloak. His long beard looked like it hadn’t been touched in quite a while. The wrinkles on his face obviously showed his age. He looked almost as old as Granny Smith, which caused Applejack to wonder how this old stallion was so energized.

Inside, Pyro was beaming. But in the presence of his master, he showed nothing but formality. He stood bipedal and put his hooves together, bowing to the elder stallion. His other five siblings followed suit, having their own respect for him. Shining Armor and the Elements of Harmony just stood there gawking at the elderly pony not even sure of what to say. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were just reeling that this old pony just saved them from Nightmare Moon. From the look of his face, he looked to be just as old as Granny Smith, if not older than that. If he’s so old than how is he so strong?

“My master.” The fire mover said.

“We’re so happy to see you again, Master Ma.” Cryo added.

“And I you.” Master Ma said back as he looked to the elements of harmony. “Ahhhh Miss Sparkle. It really is quite lovely to meet you and your friends. I had hoped it would have been under less dire circumstances.”

Twilight just stood here extending a hoof out to the master of her partner.

“It’s a great pleasure to finally meet you as well.” She said quickly before she noticed something he said to her. “Wait a minute. How do you know who I am?”

“I know quite a bit more than you think, young one.” The elder stallion replied. “I keep in touch every so often with your teacher to chat. She speaks quite highly of you.”

Pyro opened his mouth.

“And no I never told her where I was.” Master Ma stopped him. “Even to the highest of authorities I worked hard to make sure my location was kept a guarded secret.”

“But Master all I wish is to know why. If you were here the whole time, why not help us?”

“I could not get in your way, Pyro. I had taught you nearly everything I could. But after the death of your mother, you were set in your mind, convinced you were alone in the world. I told you to seek out the other five symbol carriers to show you that you were indeed not. And I had hoped along the path in your journey, you would bond over your similarities and much more. Were my hopes misplaced?”

All of this sounded like a very familiar story. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Shining Armor all continued to look back and forth between Pyro and Twilight. The two partners of Agni seemed to have more in common than they had believed.

“Wow…..that’s….almost scary how similar that is to how you met us.” Applejack said to the unicorn.

“Yeah……” Twilight could barely speak.

“Uh oh.” Cryo muttered. “Everypony, watch out. She’s getting back up.”

And just like that all of them had remembered where they were. In the middle of a battle with the dark alicorn that threatened to tear their home apart. Slower than she would’ve preferred, Nightmare got back onto four hooves scowling at the pile of ponies that dared stand in her way. Twelve of the reincarnations alone were annoying. Having the royal captain there was just gravy. But now in comes Master Ma with his unique abilities. All fourteen ponies stared down at the alicorn, ready for anything. This was going to make things difficult. Though no match for her alone, she knew as a group they were no laughing matter. She had to split them up. She looked around for anything. Anything she could use against them. Then she saw it. She saw something that could turn the battle in her favor. With a cocky smirk, she looked to the group, her horn glowing.

“Tell me, Miss Sparkle. Are you entirely sure that you have evacuated the entire town?”

To Twilight and everypony else this seemed like a stupid question.

“What-ofcourse we did!” Rarity shouted with emphasis on the “course”.

“This town is empty, Nightmare Moon. It’s just you and us. Though that will soon change. Believe me.” Agua growled.

“Actually water boy, that’s the one thing you and I can agree one. But let me ask you one more question.” At this, her smirk just grew. “When did the lights in that tree turn on?”

Lights? Tree? What was she talking about? It had to be some sort of stupid trick just to take their guard down. When she turned her head to the right to look, some of the others followed. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy actually. And when they saw what Nightmare saw, they gasped.

“What? What is it?”

Then Twilight turned to look and like the others, she gasped. What she saw was her home at the Golden Oaks Library. And the lights were turned on inside.

“So, there IS somepony else here. It looks like you forgot one.” Nightmare Moon taunted.

“Twilight what is she talking about?” Pyro asked. “Luna and Celestia said they got everypony.”

“They did…..” Twilight was at a loss. She couldn’t believe she could be this stupid. “Every……pony.”

She put a bit more oomph on the last “pony” she spoke. As if to mean there was something else there. Then it slowly dawned on every single one of them. The six elements of harmony gave an order to someone before they all charged out into the streets.

"Spike, I want you to go down to the basement, lock the door, and stay there until we come get you. Things are about to get very dangerous."

“That means there’s somepony, or someTHING rather, left to save.” Her horn had grown brighter. Now with everypony looking at the library this was her chance.

With a loud yell, she threw her head forward and cast a spell. Out of her horn, a creature began to form. Another Shadowmare, but this time it was gonna be a big one. Master Ma rushed forward to try and stop her but then another flash and wave of power emanated and knocked the stallion back. The creature had emerged. In the shape of an Ursa Major but only a fraction of the size, though still gigantic, the shadow ursa major roared its first roar and looked to its master for orders.

“Destroy that library. And all who dwell inside it.”

Like an obedient slave, the ursa headed off in the direction of the tree.

“NO! SPIKEY WIKEY!” Rarity cried out in fear.

“GO!” Master Ma barked to all of them. “Save your friend!”

“No need to tell us twice!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. “C’mon! We gotta save Spike!”

They all sprinted like mad towards the ursa save for one. Pyro remained behind, wishing to stay beside his master. But that wish was quickly dispatched.

“You go and help your friends, Pyro. I will deal with Nightmare Moon.” Master Ma commanded.

“By yourself? Master, you can’t!” the red unicorn said back.

“I have to agree with your student, old timer.” Nightmare taunted. “With your weathered age I highly doubt you are-“

*THUD*

She was cut off with reflexes abnormal for a pony of this sort of age, Master Ma slammed his hoof into the ground and upon contact, the ground in front of Nightmare Moon cracked open and pillar of rock shot out, impacting her chest. Sprawling across the ground, Nightmare was then stopped by a strong gust of wind which propelled her back to the elderly stallion who was now charging her on all fours. When he was in range, he leapt using another bout of wind under his rear hooves while his front ones were spread out. The water puddles from the streets began to ripple before they answered their summons and flew to the stallion in midair. The water hit his hooves and formed a tight rope around Nightmare’s neck as he got close enough and then pulled. He pulled hard and swung Nightmare down harshly into the ground before jumping back and taking a fighting stance on his two back hooves.

Pyro couldn’t move. This was impossible. It had to be. His jaw was nearly hitting the floor after that little display of power from his master.

“Master….you…you’re a….wha?”

“I am sorry I never told you.” Master Ma said. “But I am what is called a hexibus, Pyro.”

“A hexibus?” Pyro repeated. “I thought they were just a legend.”

“They are very real, Pyro. I will tell you about it later. Right now Spike needs you. Now go!”

He stood there trying to make his muscles move but could not find the power to do it. On one hoof he knew he was right but on the other, he just found out his master, who he once thought was just a non-mover, it turns out he can move all six of them without even breaking a sweat. There were so many questions racing around in his head he couldn’t see clearly enough to realize what was even going on anymore.

"Do as I say, Pyro!"

Though the loud voice of his demanding master seemed to do the trick.

"Y-yes, Master."

With that, Pyro dashed off after his friends and that only left the elder Alamantian and the dark alicorn to stare each other down, the latter getting back up to her hooves, snarling.

“I have heard stories about you. Master Hitashi Ma. Hails from the Ember Tribe of old and was granted the powers of all six elements at a young age. It will be an absolute pleasure to not only destroy the elements of harmony, but also you.”

Master Ma’s hooves dug deeper into the ground.

“Do not assume that I intend to simply let that happen, Nightmare.” He said back calmly.

“I would expect nothing less.”

Then they charged.

The giant shadow ursa was closing in on its target. The Golden Oaks library was sitting right in front of it, just waiting to be hit with an attack. While the thing had a goal to accomplish, it was constantly being pushed back every little bit by the ponies that stood in its way. A lasso made its way around the right leg of the creature and it was pulled harshly back stopping its movement forward. It looked back to see two earth ponies, one yellow, and the other one orange, both pulling at it.

While Applejack and Terra had it in place, the others got to work on trying to hit it. Shining Armor and Twilight both used their magic to blast the thing with the strongest energy bolts they could conjure from the front side. Rainbow’s punches and kicks were full of effort but they had no effect on the shadow ursa’s thick head. Then the Almantians all took their turn, save for Terra who was still with Applejack holding the rope. One by one, all of them unleashed the strongest blast they had of their respective element. Pyro lit up his hooves and flew up to meet the creature at its center and then threw out his two front hooves. Torrents of flames gushed out of his hooves and made the ursa roar upon contact.

When he was done, Cryo came skating in on a path of ice with Pinkie Pie holding on tight around his back. At the end of his path, Cryo made a ramp and both he and Pinkie jumped off. With her party cannon firmly in her grasp, Cryo took hold as well in mid air and started to channel his power through it. Then the cannon fired and along with a bunch of party goods, confetti, and cake batter, they all froze on contact covering the thing’s entire chest with ice.

As they both made their way clear of it on a new ice path, Typhoon took her turn, using her wind moving to carry Agua and Gem at her sides. When she was in range, the blasted them each ahead of her with a strong gust to attack. Agua went first. With some water he gathered from the ground, he gave a cry of power as he flung it towards the creature with every ounce of strength he could. It impacted the ice covering its chest and broke through, causing the ursa to step back. As Rarity caught him with her magic, Gem took her own turn. Focusing hard on bringing her power forth and hoping to not cause herself any harm in the process, she launched her attack and hit the ursa on the head with a heavy bolt of plasma. A few bolts came back in her direction but her partner was fast enough to catch her and get her out of the way before they hit.

Then it came Typhoon’s turn to finish it while it was dazed from the plasma strike. Raising her hooves to the floor, she gathered the air around her body and called upon it. Slowly it began to whirl around her body and became focused in between her front hooves. After she took a bit more time to charge it, she unleashed it. And a heavy torrent of wind blasted out and hit the fake ursa in its center, sending it sliding back and falling down onto its own back side.

“WOOO-WEEEE! Ah think we got it!” Applejack cried victoriously as the dust cleared from the impact.

But they hadn’t. As hard as they had hit it, the shadow ursa was still intact. And now it was getting back up with its gazed still focused on the library.

“Nope! We didn’t!” Shining Armor shouted. “Damn what does it take to destroy this thing?! All the other ones poofed with barely any effort!”

“It’s bound to give out at some point if we keep on hitting it.” Cryo said as he touched back to the ground with Pinkie.

Twilight was in a state of panic. Right now this thing only had one goal: destroy the library. And Spike was still inside.

“I’m going to get Spike out!” Twilight cried and turned heading for the front door.

She burst through it and looked around. The front room was empty. While the others back outside kept trying to attack the ursa, she looked all around the upper levels of the library and found no sign of her number one assistant. Then she went down to the basement hoping to find him where she had told him to stay. And sure enough, when the door opened up, there he was on the other side, curled up into a ball underneath one of her research tables.

“Spike!”

“T-twilight?”

As soon as they saw each other, the two of them embraced tightly for a brief second before the lavender unicorn stared at him with a small glare.

“I told you to stay down here. Why did you go upstairs?”

“I didn’t hear anything for a while so I thought it was all over but then I heard all the explosions. Then….I saw them through the window.”

When he said the last part of that sentence, Twilight could tell right away who he was talking about.

“Is it true, Twilight? Pyro, Terra, Agua, they’re all alive?”

Now a smile grazed her face as she looked down at the dragon and replied with a small nod.

“Yes. It was all just a plan to force Nightmare Moon into a position where we can beat her once and for all.”

“Is it working?” he asked wanting to know.

That was a lot more complicated a question then Twilight initially thought it would be. The fight was still going on and it was entirely unclear who was winning.

“I don’t know. But Spike, we have to get you out of here. There’s a giant monster Nightmare Moon created and it’s bent on destroying the library.”

“Okay. I don’t wanna be anywhere near that mess. So where am I gonna go?”

And just like that, Twilight smacked herself both figuratively AND literally for forgetting one crucial detail for getting Spike somewhere safe. The field surrounding Ponyville rendered all forms of escape impossible. They were trapped.

“Um….uh……”

Twilight was in a panic. Then she heard a loud boom outside which only caused her to panic even more. There had to be something. Just something that would work.

“Twilight?”

“I don’t know! Ponyville is locked down and nothing or nopony can get out of it now! If only the princesses…….wait. THAT’S IT!”

The whole room turned upside down with a flash of her horn in search of two specific items. With luck there was s scroll and quill pen down there. Writing with haste, she began to write a letter.

*CANTERLOT*

The main hall of Canterlot Castle was still filled with ponies who wanted answers. When they had first arrived, Celestia had briefly explained the situation to calm them down. IT had worked but now that a few minutes had gone by, they wanted details. And now Princess Celestia was fully ready to give them what they so desired. She sat in her throne was as calm a demeanor as she could present and began to address her subjects.

“The threat in Ponyville is being taken care of I promise you. Not only are the Elements of Harmony down there, along with a very capable royal guard captain, but the six Alamantians who had recently been residing there are also fighting against Nightmare Moon.”

The entire hall erupted into a mix of confusion, joy, and rage at heard this news.

“But your highness!” A certain gray cellist pony raised her hoof. “The Alamantians were announced dead. How is it they are alive now?”

Bowing her head, Celestia spoke.

“My little pony, the Alamantians and I had a plan in motion in order to lure Nightmare Moon out into the open to give us a clear shot. In order for that plan to work, we needed to fake their deaths to convince Nightmare she had the advantage. So they were never really dead as you believed. But rather part of a strategy that will give us a chance to win.”

Octavia was both overjoyed and enraged at this. In the time span of only a few seconds it felt like she was constantly going back and forth between two. She may not have been sure how to feel but she did know one thing. If he was successful, Cryo and she were going to have a long talk about the lie he told her.

“So you lied to everypony?! Even the elements of harmony?!” Another pony called out.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Open up the room for a few questions to be answered and try to maybe put some concerns ahead. Celestia didn’t take into account that some answers may be misconstrued and spread throughout the public. She had to make sure the words that exited her mouth next would put her in a good light.

“To be perfectly clear, yes. I did lie. I lied to my ever so faithful student which caused her to look at me with a stare that I will never forget. I hurt her.”

A few of the townsponies such as Roseluck and Cheerilee frowned a bit more thinking about that.

“I hurt the other elements as well because of this. They may never look at me the same way again after all of the pain I put them through. But what’s done is done. Our new Alamantian friends are down there in Ponyville along with seven other brave ponies, all of them putting their lives on the line to save this world from an evil being which has very much overstayed her welcome.”

“How do we know they can do it?! What if they aren’t strong enough?!”A stallion cried.

“I detest such a notion!” Luna said a bit louder then she probably should have as she joined her sister. “The elements of harmony have proven time and time again that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Combine that with the strength and abilities over nature the Alamantians possess and anypony would be a fool to cross paths with them.”

“My sister is right.” Celestia nodded. “The power of friendship and magic are what fuels the elements of harmony. In their time here, however short it has been, the element bearers and the Alamantians have proven that their newfound bonds are nothing short of incredible. As long as all of them are together we can-”

The solar princess was cut off when a scroll materialized in front of her face and dropped to her hooves. The look she and her sister shared was one of confusion. There was only one way a scroll came to her in that fashion. With haste, Celestia grabbed the scroll with her magic and unraveled it to read the entry inside. When she was finished, she turned to her sister, speaking so that only the two of them could hear.

“I will remain here and continue talking to them, dear sister. I need you to go back to Ponyville. Spike was accidentally left behind. Go to Ponyville, grab him, and return immediately.”

Nodding, Luna went off and out of sight without a word. When there was no other eyes locked onto her, her horn began to glow and a white hole in space tore open in front of her.

*PONYVILLE*

“Please let them get it. Please let them get it. Please let them get it.”

Twilight kept muttering that over and over while she held Spike close to her. The loud noises from outside making her more and more anxious and worried, hoping her friends could hold them off. Various booms and cracks of thunder sounded off as one attack after another shook the place causing various items to fall off the shelves and tables down in the basement.

Spike was being held tightly through all of this by the unicorn of magic. Inside she was mentally slapping herself over and over again wondering how she had been so stupid as to forget Spike was still inside the house. What kind of pony does that to a being that she considers her number one assistant on top of being her friend?

Those thoughts, though strong, were put on hold the moment she saw a blue flash of magic right before her eyes, momentarily blinding both her and the drake. Before her now stood the princess of the night, looking down upon the two with an unreadable expression. A portal back to Canterlot castle stood right behind her glowing in a swirling vortex of light. Twilight took a huge sigh of relief upon the sight of the alicorn before her. Her head then turned to her assistant.

“Spike, go with Luna. You’ll be safer there.”

“But….but what about you?” He asked back still nervous about the whole thing.

“Worry not, young Spike.” Luna rested a hoof on his shoulder. “The situation is perfectly handled in hers and the others hooves.”

It wasn’t a lot to comfort the drake but it seemed to do the trick. With one last hug and bid of good luck, Spike hopped through the portal.

*CANTERLOT*

Whoever said pleasing the masses was easy, Celestia felt like slugging that pony right now. As she kept that little fantasy buried deep in her mind, she continued to try her hardest to answer the questions of the Ponyville residents currently cramped up in her throne room, as well as keep them calm. But in only a few more seconds, her sister would return to help her. Just a matter of moments now, she thought. In the corner of her eye she saw another flash of light, signaling a magical arrival. Turning her head, she noticed Spike come into view.

Just Spike. Nopony else was with him.

Excusing herself once more, she sat up from her throne and approached the baby dragon with concern and worry filling her up like a cup to a faucet.

“Where is Luna?” She immediately asked.

The question was so direct Spike quite wasn’t sure how to answer. He just hopped in the portal and expected to Luna to follow him. Instead it vanished before anypony else could follow.

“Um….well…..you see…..uh….” Spike stammered to think of any answer that could please the princess of the sun but ultimately failed.

That only confirmed her worries even more. She rushed to the window and looked down the mountain to view Ponyville covered in their magical containment field.

“Luna………..what are you doing?”

*PONYVILLE*

“Princess Luna………..what are you doing?”

Luna had just closed the portal right after Spike hopped into it. The action left Twilight stunned. Just what was the lunar princess up to?

“Twilight Sparkle,” She started as she turned back around, removing her regalia from her body. “I have been waiting for this chance for a very long time.”

Again, all that did was confuse the poor unicorn.

Back outside things were not going so well. Shining Armor and the others were struggling to keep the shadow beast at bay and away from the library. While deeper in the town, Master Ma had his own chore to deal with keeping Nightmare Moon busy. It was difficult to say who had the harder task to deal with. On one hoof, giant shadow beast. On the other, psycho alicorn bent on world domination. And Master Ma, even with the power of all six elements at his command, was having a hard time keeping up with her.

He slid back on the ground, shielding himself from a blast of dark magic using a plasma shield construct. When the shot died down, so did his shield. He didn’t show any signs of weakness. He refused to in the eyes of this pony.

“You are a bigger fool than those kids.” Nightmare said. “You have the power of all six elements. You can just destroy me right here right now. Yet you don’t.”

Master Ma skated forward on a path of ice and jumped when he created a ramp. When he was airborne, he spun around and threw his hooves in Nightmare’s direction. A strong gust of wind overtook her balance and sent her sliding across the ground.

“The gods did not give me these powers so I could defeat you, Nightmare. That is not my purpose. My purpose is to watch over the twelve chosen ones. To make sure they were trained enough and ready to fight you.”

"Well then let's give the kiddies a little test then, shall we?" Standing back up, Nightmare Moon turned back to her made up ursa major. “My creature! Forget the library! Kill the ponies! All of them!”

And just like that it shifted. The ursa stopped trying to break for the tree and turned right around, roaring at the puny ponies in front of it.

“Oh that’s not what you want.” Terra muttered.

“SPLIT UP!!” Shining Armor yelled.

And split up they did. All thirteen of them ran off in different directions to avoid the huge fist the shadow ursa was bring down upon them. The ground in front of the library was now indented with a huge crater in front of the door. Up in the sky, Pyro and Rainbow Dash were looking for any sort of weakness this thing could have had. And so far they had come up with nothing.

“RRRRGGGHH! What are we supposed to do?! Nothing works on this thing! We tried burning it, zapping it, and it’s still going!” Rainbow called to the flying unicorn.

“Not even my spade is sharp enough to pierce that thing.” Pyro commented back to her. “There has to be some sort of weakness.”

That really came to the shock of all of them. That this ursa made of shadows was too hard to be pierced. Usually their bladed weapons just sliced right through the normal Shadowmares. Even Cryo’s tonfa, made entirely of blunt wood, were enough to make them burst. But this was nothing.

That’s when an idea hit Rainbow Dash. The blades worked because the Shadowmares were smaller. And if this thing was a giant……

Looking down, her eyes immediately found the yellow pony of the earth hurdling rocks as if they were as light as cupcakes.

“Pyro! We gotta get it to fall down!”

“What?!”

The red unicorn must have thought he had heard something nuts. Did she just say-

“We have to make it fall flat on its face!”

“And possibly the library too! Are you insane?!”

“Pyro, please! You gotta trust me on this! I have an idea!”

Ever since coming to Ponyville Pyro’s interaction with Rainbow Dash was very limited. Because of that he knew very little about her. This “idea” she had in her head was not helping him see her in a good light. Causing the beast to fall and possibly damage anything or anypony around it? What was she thinking?

He was about to object her plan but then he heard the sounds of his siblings and friends down below struggling to keep away from it. It was stomping on the ground trying to squash the earth ponies and unicorns like bugs. And it was swatting at the air trying to take out Typhoon and Fluttershy. Then he saw Twilight, his partner just exiting the library to rejoin the fight, blasting magical bolts of energy at the ursa trying to push it back.

They couldn’t keep this up forever. Looking back to Dash, he sighed, then nodded.

“What do we do?”

All she did was smirk. And Pyro suddenly grew a lot more nervous.

Down on the ground, yelling was had. So much yelling between all of them to try and figure something out. None of them had any clue how to stop this thing. Cryo had tried freezing its feet to the ground but it was easily broken. Agua tried whipping it in its “Special region” But this beast did not have any such packaging.

“What are we supposed to do?!” Applejack cried. “We can’t keep dodging ferever!”

Pinkie wanted to answer, but all she did was look up and gasp at what she saw.

“INCOMING!”

Even though they didn’t have a lot of time to stand still, the others still managed to follow her hoof pointing to the sky. Underneath the white glowing dome, were two streaks bee lining right for them. One a rainbow, and one fire.

“Pyro? Rainbow?” Gem wondered.

“What are they doing?” Fluttershy muttered.

Hearing that made her nearby partner wonder that herself. The telepathic mare briefly dived into their heads and quickly found their plan. It was crazy, but maybe just enough to actually kill this thing.

“Terra! Get ready!” Typhoon called to her sister.

“Wait. What?!” Terra shouted back. “Ty! What’s going on?!”

There was no response. Just the sounds of two fast flying ponies zooming over her head and headed right for the giant ursa’s legs. The thud could be heard when they both made impact and it sounded painful to the both of them. Though almost literally head splitting, it was enough to do what they set out for. The shadow ursa wobbled and then began to fall forwards, right towards Terra.

“SPIKES, TERRA! SPIKES!!!!”

The call of her wind moving sister reached her ears just in time. As it began to speed up in its descent, Terra looked back up at the ursa with a smirk and dug all four of her hooves into the dirt. Then she launched herself forward and ran. All the while she began to yell, gathering every bit of her geokinetic power she could spare without the aid of her goddess. When the time seemed right, she jumped.

She jumped high crying out in power as she came back down and slammed her two front legs down into the ground with all her might. It sounded like a bomb was set off right in front of her as the earth cracked at her hooves. Not even a second had passed before her power rose up, quite literally. Two gigantic cone shaped spikes with sharp points erupted from the dirt and stood almost as tall as the library tree itself.

The moment those spikes shot up, they hit their target. The ursa fell right onto them, impaling it before it could even reach the ground. For a brief moment, it rested there. Stuck in its position with the two giant spikes lodged inside it. Then like every shadow beast, it vaporized into a puff of black smoke before vanishing for good.

With the beast now gone for good, Terra used her power again to make the spikes sink back down and smooth the ground over again as if they were never there to begin with.

“Whew…..that was….a lot….”

The mare of earth panted heavily as she fell off balance a bit. Applejack was quick to support her though and joined the others in complimenting her show of power just now. Pyro and Rainbow meanwhile were recollecting themselves and rubbing their heads after they had just rammed into the beast’s legs. They were about to join their friends but another boom drew their attention away. A splash of water could be seen rising into the air above the rooftops along with a wave of dark energy.

“Master.” The fiery unicorn muttered.

“Go. We’ll catch up to you.” Rainbow Dash pretty much ordered.

With a nod, Pyro turned and ran back into the streets of Ponyville to rejoin his master.

Minutes ago while the shadow ursa was still being dealt with Master Ma had his hooves full fighting with the alicorn of darkness. While in combat, he was not only trying to attack Nightmare, but also doing his best to ensure the buildings around him received minimal damage. And that was easier said than done. The attacks were launched with such ferocity, deflecting them or containing them was a struggle. And then he had to ensure his own attacks landed their target every single time. Otherwise who knows what he may hit. Some innocent pony’s home or business. It was a stalemate that he couldn’t stand up to forever and he knew it. In a confined space, against an enemy who cared nothing about the destruction of everything around her, the odds were not in his favor.

But that never stopped him before. In his old age, Master Ma had seen quite a few things, fought against bigger enemies. He was confident in his abilities and stood once more in a fighting stance ready to face the nightmare herself.

“Why don’t you give it up already?” Nightmare goaded. “You must surely know by now your fighting is useless. It’s only a matter of time before Equestria, AND your home, is subjugated underneath my hooves.”

“That time will never come to pass.” Master Ma growled as one of his hooves lit on fire. “You may have everypony else fooled with that Nightmare Moon guise but I know the truth.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed at the old stallion. There was no way.

“I know your name underneath that shell. And I know what you did to your own people.”

How? That was the question being asked inside Nightmare’s head. How could he have possibly known that secret? She had worked hard to ensure nopony ever saw a glimpse of her true form. Like the fire on the tip of her opponent’s hoof, her temper grew hotter.

“Well then I guess I’ll just have to bury you along with that secret.”

Her horn flared to life once more and she prepared to launch yet another devastating blast. And once again Master Ma was getting ready to intercept it with another counterattack. A blast of blue magic coming from seemingly nowhere and hitting Nightmare in the side, knocking her through the front door of the nearby Quills and Sofas shop, was not the counterattack he was planning.

The fire on his hoof tip now extinguished, the hexibus looked around and saw the magic’s owner walking out from the shadows and into clear view, with a satisfied smirk on her face. That smirk changed to immense surprise when she turned and saw the pony that Nightmare was fighting. The elder stallion shared a similar expression as he felt like he had seen her for the first time in a thousand years.

“Luna?”

“Is….is that you, Hitashi?”

Slowly the two ponies approached each other; still keeping their eyes deadlocked on the other, until there was no more than a hoof length apart.

“It IS you, Hitashi.” Luna seemed on the verge of tears.

“Luna, my friend. You have gotten quite a bit taller since I last saw you.” The elderly stallion jested.

“Ha! I wish I could say the same about you.” She quipped back.

“How touching.”

The third voice made them remember just where they were as they turned to the busted door.

“Now may not be the time for a tearful moment.” Master Ma advised.

Nodding in agreement, Luna arranged herself and glared at her former self coming out of that door.

“Well, well, well. Princess Luna. What a reunion this is.”

Luna said nothing. She just continued glaring at the entity that was once her own self with a burning rage.

“What? Jealous of my power now? You should be. My new partner and I have achieved a level of power you could only dream of.”

The taunting went on, and all Luna did was stand there, staring at the pony of nightmares with narrow eyes. This was her chance. She never thought an opportunity like this would come but her she was. A chance to fight Nightmare Moon herself, and make right for her own past evil deeds.

“Dreams are my territory, Nightmare Moon.” The lunar alicorn said. “And I will help ensure my subjects will forever dream peacefully by getting rid of you.”

Standing on her hind hooves, Luna’s front legs waved gracefully as she used her hydrokinesis to summon enough groupings of water from the nearby creak to flow to her. Two large columns gathered around her drawn together hooves before she threw them out, creating two large tendrils of water floating above the ground.

The sight did nothing to intimidate the nightmare pony. Instead she laughed again and used her dark magic to summon yet another large blade forged by shadows.

“Killing you on top of these others will be the best dessert ever.” She mocked.

And just like that it all re-commenced with the odds as two on one. Luna was the first to strike, using her abilities to lash her right side water tendril at the dark alicorn. Nightmare had hopped out of the way and tried to take to the sky but Luna’s left tendril would not allow her. It wrapped around her hind hooves and pulled back with a solid hold. This gave Master Ma an easy shot as he swiftly charged up some plasma energy and unleashed it on a powerful bolt of lightning. Nightmare just barely reacted in time to throw a shield spell up to block the bolt but was not fast enough to avoid, nor block the pillar of ground that erupted right underneath her and nailed her in the stomach. Using the momentum from the hit, Luna swung her hoof, still holding Nightmare with her water tendril, and slammed Nightmare into the ground once. Then again. And a third time for good measure.

After the third one, Luna lashed out her other tendril which was still hanging free on her hoof but it was slashed into mist by the dark alicorn’s shadow blade, being held and swung by her magical grip. Luna tried to pull back with her left hoof but Nightmare’s blade slashed at her center, causing the alicorn of the moon to dodge it and lose her grip on her counterpart. While she was offbalance, Nightmare threw another slash but it was blocked by a small pillar of rock that erupted from the ground in front her. Master Ma then came in and performed a roundhouse kick on the pillar, causing a section of it to break away and fly towards Nightmare. At such close range, the dark pony had no time to dodge. That one block of rock hit her square in the stomach causing her to double over. While bent down, another column of ground burst out from the surface and nailed her right in the head. She was sent skyward and the princess followed with her wings. A vortex of wind began to swirl around Master Ma’s lower body as the controlled current began to carry the elder fighter up into the sky to follow the two alicorns.

A few out of control somersaults later, Nightmare spread her wings and gained control over herself, hovering in the air above the houses of Ponyville. She looked in one direction and saw Luna there with her wings flapping and a column of water above her head ready at waiting. In the other direction there was Master Ma being held aloft by a controlled whirlwind/ his left hoof was alit with flames, and the other was sparking with plasma.

“You two can put up a good fight. You’re only delaying the inevitable.” The dark alicorn said as she began to summon more dark magic through her horn.

She got no response in words from her two opponents. Rather they just stayed in their places, waiting for her to make a move. Nightmare was doing the same. It was the basic rule of fighting. Never try to be the one to make the first move. That thought was sent away as she felt her back becoming hotter. Turning around she tried to react but the red stallion of fire had closed in on her too fast. With a front flip and his rear hooves extended, Pyro slammed then into the top of Nightmare’s head, sending her careening downwards towards the streets of Ponyville, where she collided harshly.

“The shadow ursa has been taken care of, master.” He said to the elder stallion. “The others are en route to help.”

“Well done, Pyro.” Master Ma nodded. “With all of you together, the time has come to end this.”

“Then let us end it quickly.” Luna agreed. “My sister and I can only hold off on raising the sun for so lo-GYUH!”

Her sentence was interrupted when a tendril of dark magic shot up from the ground and wrapped around Luna’s body.

“Your highness!” Pyro tried to move in to help.

Instead he got caught in his own tendril and Master Ma was not far behind. At once, all three of them were pulled down to the ground by Nightmare who was rising from her spot on the ground with an angry look that could kill. Luna thudded harshly into the ground and was immediately knocked unconscious. Master Ma too hit the surface hard but still held onto being awake, groaning in pain. The only one who didn’t make ground was Pyro. Nightmare had enough. Since he was one of the ponies so crucial in ending her, he would be the first to go.

Pyro tried to use his horn to teleport himself out, but another tendril lashed out and caught the appendage on his head, stopping the flow of magic. He was trapped. All he could do was squirm against the grip of the dark tendrils which did absolutely nothing. From the distance, Nightmare got back up to her hooves all the way and formed a series of five small spikes with her dark magic. All of them pointed right at the young unicorn.

“Goodbye.”

With that one word, Nightmare waved her hooves and sent the spikes flying towards Pyro at blinding speed. The red unicorn stallion closed his eyes not wanting to feel the cold breath of death at such a young age like so many back home.

3…..2…..1

The spikes pierced the stallion’s skin and went all the way through his chest and stomach. Blood ran down his body and dripped into a buddle beneath his hooves. With his lungs now punctured, he could only gasp for air. The other elements gasped in horror at the sight.

But Pyro felt no pain. When he opened up his eyes and looked down at himself, he found that he was fine. When he looked up, he began to choke.

He was greeted to the sight of his master, struggling to breathe and blood leaking out of his mouth. All three spikes were wedged into his body like it was some kind of cruel execution. Immediately silent tears began to fall from Pyro’s eyes as he watched the life of his mentor leave his body as his blood spilled out of his veins.

“My purpose…has been served.” The old pony breathed out his last words.

“No…” Pyro barely was able to say anything.

Nightmare groaned in disgust. The old pony had made her miss her intended target. With a wave of her hoof, the spikes in Master Ma’s body vanished and Nightmare threw him aside like he was a piece of trash. His student’s eyes followed as more tears streamed down his cheeks in silent disbelief. Thudding unceremoniously into the dirt, the hexibus rolled onto his back, his eyes wide open and looking skyward.

“Please…..not again.” He murmured.

His pleas had fallen on deaf ears. Master Ma laid there in his spot on the street and let the blood pour out of his body as he took his final exhale. His chest heaved one final time and then he lay there. Absolutely still and his eyes still open. Only now they were devoid of any life. All the while Pyro’s tear output had maxed out as he forced to watch his mentor in his final painful moments.

“MASTEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

His voice carried throughout the whole town, allowing everypony else closing in on their location to hear him, and a certain telepathic pegasus to grasp her head in pain. Not only did she hear his actual yell, but also the cries in his mind.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

“It sounded like Pyro!” Gem answered her partner. “He must be hurt!”

As they turned the last corner, all of them prepared to fight again as they saw Pyro being held aloft by Nightmare Moon’s magic.

“Well then let’s get in there and-”

With a loud uncharacteristic gasp, Terra slid to a stop as her eyes caught the vision of a body nearby bleeding into the street of Ponyville.

“Terra? What’s wrong with ya?” Applejack asked, concerned for the sudden change in her partner’s attitude.

When she didn’t answer, Applejack, and everypony else around her followed her gaze and upon seeing what she saw, they too had the same reaction: pure terror and disbelief.

“By Poseidon’s beard. No.” Agua whispered.

Just muttering the world no or anything at this point wouldn’t do anything. Typhoon used to telepathy to search for any sort of brainwave activity within the still stallion but found no trace. Her eyes began to leak with tears, as did Gem’s Terra’s and Cryo’s. Agua was trying his best to hold them back but it looked like he was failing.

The harmony bearers, having never faced a casualty before in their adventures, were speechless. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Nopony was supposed to die. They were just supposed to defeat the bad guy and then go home like the other times before. Right? Why was this time so different?

“This can’t be happenin’.” Applejack muttered.

“He’s….he’s dead? No…no he can’t be right? He’s just faking. Like you guys were! Right?!” Rainbow Dash frantically asked.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!”

Immediately their attention was drawn back the pony currently being held by Nightmare Moon. And now it looked like she was struggling to do so as small bouts of fire were beginning to erupt around the wailing stallion’s body.

“Pyro?!” Twilight cried out for her partner but got no reply.

“What….is this?!” Nightmare shouted.

Nopony could answer her but one. And that one pink pegasus’ pupils shrank down to mere pinpricks as a memory from years ago began to playback inside her head. That scream. That pain. That sheer agony. She had heard it once before. It could only mean one thing. It was about to get very, very, VERY hot.

“EVERYPONY RUN!!!!!”

“What wha-?”

The captain of the guard couldn’t even finish before Typhoon chomped down on his tail and dragged him to a nearby gap between two buildings. The other ponies soon followed but they were confused beyond belief. Not to mention still saddened and terrified by the loss of Master Ma.

“Why are we hiding?!” Rarity shouted at Typhoon.

“YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”

“Zat’s why.” She replied fearfully as she looked around the corner at her struggling brother.

“Wait look!” Shining Armor pointed.

They all followed his hoof and they saw something they had seen twice before already this night. Pyro’s cutie mark was beginning to glow white, as well as his eyes.

“Alright! He’s glowing! This is what we need right now, right?!” Pinkie shouted triumphantly.

“No!” Typhoon shouted back. “Something ees very wrong.”

Twilight too had to agree. It was only Pyro who was glowing. How come she wasn’t too? And why did it look like Pyro’s entire body was starting to become surrounded in flames?

“I’ve felt zis pain from heem before…..een hees deepest and darkest memory.” The telepath warned with dread.

It was right here Twilight went stiff. She knew what memory she was referring to. And only then did it make sense. Right here, right then and there, that deep dark memory, he had just been forced to go through it all over again. Pyro’s emotions were running wild like the element he’s supposed to control. But at this moment, he had absolutely none of it.

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Everypony brought their hooves to their eyes and Nightmare lost her grip on the stallion as from his body, an explosion erupted and a gigantic pillar of fire screamed into the sky.

Comments

[shenadri]

It's Alive!!!!

[sonicx]

so when's the next update gona be another year maybe more??