Medievil: Equestrian Adventure

by Theblondeknight

Chapter 4: Nightmare

Nightmare Lair: It's a little known fact that Nightmare Moon is actually quite recognized for her highly rated evil lairs, and has won many awards from Villain's Monthly Magazine for her lair designs

While Princess Celestia finalized the preparations to take the mane six and Dan to Nightmare Moon, the group had some time to themselves, each spending it in a different way.

Rainbow spent her time resting and keeping herself prepared by patrolling the skies above Ponyville. Applejack spent the time with her family, leaving the farm in Big Mac's hooves entirely and preparing to leave for the quest she was going to take to find Nightmare Moon and end the disastrous events that had scorned Equestria for the past several days. Pinkie was hard at work keeping morale at a satisfactory level, and though the recapturing of the town did aid her efforts greatly, she was constantly doing something to make the citizens feel better and safer. Fluttershy looked after the animals and prepared them to the best of her ability for her absence and the ensuing trouble that might occur during the crisis (and they returned the favor, doing their best to help her through the coming trouble); ever the selfless pony, she also spent the little time she had left in the currently understaffed hospital, caring for those injured in the brief occupation. Twilight was going through the library and spending her time with Spike in preparation of her own for the upcoming confrontation, picking out useful spells and planning out options of escape or attack in case the situation escalated too quickly.

Rarity used the time she had to be with her sister, striking up an interesting conversation with young Sweetie Belle, who was as oblivious to the zombie apocalypse as Applebloom, but well acquainted with the boiler guard exploits, having been taken captive in the town hall. They were talking out in the country, not too far from the shops and establishments, but well enough out of the way to be considered "outside of town".

"Well, in any event, I'm quite relieved to know that you're safe after what happened...I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you," Rarity told her sister, finishing up the topic of Sweetie Belle's time in captivity as the evening began to take shape, an orange hue lighting up the sky.

"I guess you were on a mission for the Princess, so it's okay, but I still don't want you to leave Ponyville again. What if the metal men come back?"

"Don't worry dear, the Equestrian Guards may be stretched thin, but they sent reinforcements into town a few hours ago, and besides, this time we'll be ready for them," Rarity assured.

"But I thought we were prepared last time. Didn't a wave of zombies attack the town before the metal men?" Sweetie asked nonchalantly, and making her older sister's eyes go wide at the remark.

"What? Who in Equestria told you a thing like that?" Rarity questioned, trying to sound as if it was completely false and like a concerned mother at the same time.

"It's all over town, Rarity. Ponies are talking...and us fillies are scared...like...really scared," Sweetie answered and hugged her sister close, and Rarity, having accepted her sister's deep perception of the situation, returned the affection and did her best to sooth the young unicorn.

"You don't have to worry about the metal men from coming back and you certainly don't have to worry about any zombies coming to eat your brain."

"What? Eat my brain?" Sweetie asked in alarm, being confused, disgusted, and fearful all at once.

"Erm, never mind about that dear, none of it matters, because my friends and I are going to stop it all. We're going to confront the villain who's done all this and make peace again."

"And you'll come back okay, and before anything else bad happens?"

"Of course we will, because we've faced tough foes before and won, and we have an expert to help us defeat the zombie threat. He's done it before in his homeland, and has come to help us do it in ours," Rarity told her sister about Dan, unsure if Sweetie knew him as well as some other ponies had gotten to.

"That's him, isn't it?" Sweetie inquired as the armored figure of Sir Dan came into view from the horizon.

Dan had been spending his time poking around the supplies and equipment the boiler guards brought with them. He was able to find another shield, a better, silver one, and also found a longbow with a decent supply of arrows. He was becoming more and more suspicious of the events behind the catastrophe, and met with Princess Celestia briefly to discuss the possibility of another person from Gallowmere being brought to Equestria. Celestia noted that while she did sense a great spell being used to bring Dan to the land, she did not feel anything like it since, or even before, she dropped off the Element users at the library.

"That's right, he's the one who helped us save the town, too. Would you like to meet him?"

Sweetie Belle looked at the knight for a moment and watched him act before looking up at her sister and smiling brightly. Rarity called Dan over, and upon seeing Sweetie Belle, the dashing hero of Gallowmere put on his best smile.

"Sweetie Belle, this is Sir Daniel Fortesque," Rarity introduced the skeletal visitor with a smile. Dan waved back, still smiling merrily.

"Hello there."

Sweetie Belle was a bit taken aback by the contrast of a figure that outwardly was strange and imposing, but acted so kind and goofy. "Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Dan replied, putting on a courtly mannerism and bowing before Sweetie Belle as if she were a Queen, causing the filly to laugh and move closer towards Dan, causing the Gallowmerean figure to smile a bit wider.

"Where are you from? I've never seen anyone like you before," Sweetie asked the figure, peering closely at the sword by his side.

"I'm from a far off land called Gallowmere."

"What's it like, does everyone look like you there?"

"Erm, not exactly, I had...an accident...a while back," Dan explained and shrugged, smiling, trying not to say too much or scare the young unicorn who had taken an interest in him.

"Yeah, i guess that's kind of obvious," Sweetie told him as if he had just told her that stallions end up having relationships with mares.

"What do you mean?" Dan asked quickly, and perhaps a little bit distraughtly, as if it weren't as obvious as it actually was.

"Well just look at you...you don't exactly have normal looking feet," Sweetie told him, trying to be gentle about the remark, yet saying with no hesitation whatsoever.

Dan peered down at his feet. The Fortesque family had a few well known characteristics, among a particular brand of general cowardice and being prone to sea sickness, they were also plagued by a slightly larger than normal foot size.

"Well...something like that," Dan replied with an awkward chuckle.

"So you're an expert zombie killer? That's so cool..." Sweetie Belle was acting more like her old self with each passing minute, much to the delight of Rarity, who continued to silently watch the interaction between the two.

"I've dealt with a few zombies in my day, no big deal," Dan told her proudly, posing in a heroic manner, head lifted towards the sky nobly.

"So you aren't afraid at all," She asked, prompting Dan to shake his head in a negative reply as she went on, "Not even a little afraid that some massive horde of zombies will surround you, tear all your limbs away, drag you around and trample you as you desperately try to escape their evil clutches knowing that you're totally doomed and will meet a terrifying and wretched fate," She went on, Dan's expression becoming quite unnerved now, and his posture falling into a protective slouch, "Not even a little, teensy bit?"

Dan looked around for a moment as the stars began to show in the sky, turning back to Sweetie Belle thereafter and shaking his head again in a much more unsure but still clear reply, not that Sweetie really noticed. Rarity, on the other hoof, was rendered aghast by her sister's language and forced her way into the conversation immediately.

"Sweetie Belle! Why don't you and Scootaloo go and get ready to spend the night with the Apples now, it's getting dark after all," Rarity suggested in more of a command than an actual suggestion.

"Huh? Oh, yeah...OK...well, nice meeting you Dan, see you later," She bade farewell to Daniel and went over to her sister for another hug, "Hurry back Rarity, we'll be waiting for you to save Equestria." Sweetie scampered off towards town and left the visiting hero alone with Rarity, who quickly seized the opportunity to make amends for her sibling's behavior.

"I'm quite sorry about that, she just gets a bit carried away sometimes," she told him with a giggle, "fillies say the darndest things."

Dan looked away for a moment, almost as if he were on stage and now looking out at the audience, a brief look of sardonic bewilderment and just as brief legitimate annoyance on his face. Rarity continued to stare at him with a coy smile. Dan immediately dropped the issue, if it could even be called that, and went about his business after telling Rarity that Princess Celestia was going to take them to Nightmare Moon one hour after the moon rose.

Dan continued upon his own little adventure in the country outskirts of Ponyville, retrieving the map he had obtained from the boiler guard supply station. As it happens, the boiler guard commanders took a few special supply crates out of town and set them in a secret cache only shown by the map Dan now possessed. He wasn't sure what he would find, but it was a relatively simple journey and not very far off from where Rarity and Sweetie Belle were talking before he came along.

He found the small river he was looking for and followed it down a ways. After arriving at the six stones arranged in the pattern shown on the map, he lifted up one to find the hole that took him underground. He did not know the specifications of the chance discovery of the cavern, but he had to admit it was an excellent place for hiding valuables. The sound of the river running on the other side of a foot or two of dirt made Dan a bit anxious, but he felt better when he found three black crates tightly sealed and sitting alone in near complete darkness; a single torch was the only source of light in the confined supply cache.

He unsheathed his short sword and used it to pry open the first box. It contained mostly spare parts for the boiler guards, a sort of mechanical medical kit. Nothing special, really, but it would probably be best to destroy it, or maybe see if the ponies could salvage it in any way, for Dan could not.

The second crate was a bit easier to break into, and as expected, wasn't particularly helpful. It held ammunition for the guards, no doubt a secret reserve stash for emergencies. Perhaps if Dan was able to use their upgrades as some sort of weapon the ammunition would be useful, but it was really almost, if not more, worthless to him, and probably the ponies as well, than the spare parts.

Lucky number three was next. Inside lay a collection of instructions written out to the highest ranked guard. This invasion had been planned for longer than Dan had ever imagined. He snatched up several of the instructions, eager to show them to Celestia and see what she could make of them; Dan was unable to determine whom they were written by. The best find, however, was tucked away with the various written instructions. It was a Star Rune Key, but where it belonged was a total mystery. There was no mention of it in any of the written texts, and no accompanying letter or instructions with the rune itself. Dan was definitely going to be keeping that.

With all three crates checked out, Dan exited with the valuables, sealing the cache back up and hurrying back to Ponyville. Once there he informed a guard captain of the cache and handed him the map. With that out of the way, he was off to the library to rejoin the others and the Princess.

...

The plan had been set and the group was making the final leg of the journey to Nightmare Moon. Celestia had uncovered her lair with a specific spell that made little sense to Dan, but fortunately, he had no reason or desire to learn the finer mechanics of advanced spells. In any case, it had been revealed that the villain was housing in a labyrinth of caverns under the mountain borders of the frozen north. Celestia noted that the caverns were once in the service of a particular villain of the lost Crystal Empire, some dark king of some sort.

The train could only take them so far, and the ponies had brought along a few winter items in case the layout of the caves was affected by the nearby freeze. Dan opted to go without any such winter garb, perhaps at his own misfortune.

The entrance to her cavern citadel began with a long climb upwards. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew ahead of the group and scouted out the area, even helping the others up to ledges to rest periodically. It wasn't a fast moving process, but they were getting close as the darkness of night was coming to a climax and dark, storm clouds gathered overhead.

"How close are we Rainbow?" Twilight asked in a slightly quieted tone, not wanting to start any kind of avalanche or similar disaster.

"There's an opening into one of the caves a good 30 more feet or so, you guys are almost there," Fluttershy sweetly responded before Rainbow could make a crack or comment about the group being slow.

"OK, everypony remember, we're sticking together and we won't nothing happen to each other as long as we all do our part," Applejack encouraged as Rainbow shot a discreet look towards Rarity and Fluttershy.

"That's right, we're a team and we can do anything if we stick together," Twilight added as she wiped away a drop of sweat from her brow.

"Let's go!" Pinkie happily shouted, breaking the 'no loud noises' rule and attracting annoyed and angered looks from the others. She smiled bashfully and tried again in a whisper-shout, getting an approving nod from Twilight and a wink from Rarity.

"Umm, Sir Dan, are you doing okay?" Fluttershy asked in gentle concern as she descended down to where Dan was set in place, a good 9 feet or so below everypony else.

Dan shook his head as he struggled to maintain on his grip of the frozen mountainside. The ponies made it look so easy, and Dan's only saving grace was the rope tied to each non-pegasi member of the team. He tried grabbing into the ice, but his bony hands weren't so adept at it. His grip slipped and he scrambled to get it back, but wound up knocking his skull into the sheet of ice before him with a thud.

"Oh my, I wish you'd told me you had gotten to the thick sheet of ice, I would have carried you up like everypony else," Fluttershy told him as she grabbed onto one arm while Rainbow flew down to grab the other, after all, Dan was quite a different weight than the average pony. They let him down right behind the others and he thanked them, continuing along after a brief moment to rub his throbbing head.

The rest of the trip up was spent in silence. The wind picked up and the atmosphere of the mountain became grim as a deeper chill set in. Rainbow made it to the entrance first, with Fluttershy arriving soon after with Twilight and Pinkie. They stared down the dark path and Twilight lit up her horn as Rarity, Applejack, and Dan climbed up a few seconds later.

The path was not very wide and the walls were ridden with frost patches and sharp rocks that protruded as festering wounds. The cool air of the mountain was replaced by the damp ambience of the caverns. And so they continued in that fashion, lost in the dark void in the mountain, wandering the lone path, always on edge for the great enemy that lurked within the shadows that surrounded them.

Finally they came to a fork in the path, and none knew which path was the wiser choice.

"Well, we have to pick...right or left?" Twilight asked after no one said anything.

"Well, you're leading, so you pick one," Applejack replied.

"Well, fine then...left," Twilight chose and began to tread down the left path, which seemed to be less dark, but more frost coated the walls and the ground was beginning to get more slippery. No distinguishable noises, save the ones they were making, could be heard.

The ponies had already put on their Elements and Dan's sword and silver shield were ready. They inched along as the path began to get slimmer and slimmer, to the point where everyone was having a little difficulty moving about. By the time Dan, being at the very end of the single filed group, could barely see his own skeletal arms in front of him, Twilight let out a screech and disappeared, Fluttershy following suit, then Pinkie and Rainbow, and it was apparent that they had fallen into a pit. Rarity managed to keep her ground, as did Applejack and naturally Dan as well.

Their fallen comrades were now out of sight, and thankfully, Rarity was able to light her horn, though it was not a big a light as Twilight's.

"Well this is a bit of a problem," The elegant unicorn anxiously noted as they realized the gap was quite large. Still, they weren't ready to commit to jumping, for it could be that the others had landed in some sort of trap...or maybe even worse than that.

"Well, I think I can make the jump, don't know about you two though," Applejack said, measuring the gap before them.

Dan scratched the side of his head and looked at Rarity with unease, who gave a similar look back.

"Well, let me go see what I can find. I'll be back in a sec," AJ told them and directed them back a little so she could get a sort of running start. With a narrow look in her eye and a loud exhale through her nose, Applejack made the leap and landed firmly on the other side, smiling proudly at the other two after doing so, and heading off a ways into the darkness.

"So much for sticking together..." Dan mused, procuring an agreeing nod from Rarity.

After a moment away Applejack felt her way back into the small light Rarity was producing from the other side of the breach, a look of disappointment on her face.

"Well, near as I can tell, there's a whole bunch more tunnels in that direction, so I don't know what we're gonna do now," She told the other two and looked back down the path with uncertainty.

"We haven't gotten any sign of the others, and I'm sure Rainbow and Fluttershy would have flown back up if they could. I think we better take one of the tunnels up ahead," Rarity replied.

"Don't suppose you know a flying spell?" Dan asked Rarity as he looked down the dark drop.

"Maybe y'all don't need one," Applejack spoke up after a moment of thought, and went back into the darkness for a few seconds. She came back with a large crystal shard of some kind.

"Rarity," the earth pony said after tossing it over, "can you use your magic to stick into the wall?"

"Well, let's see," She responded and levitated the crystal up, shoving it into the frosted wall and gnashing her teeth together, finally managing to pry the shard into the stone wall.

"Great! Now just use this to swing across," Applejack replied and threw the end of her lasso around the shard, pulling on it to make sure it would stay in place. Then she swung the other end over to Dan, who caught it and grabbed a hold of Rarity, shocked at just how heavy she was and nearly dropping her.

Quickly regaining his bearings, he held her with one arm and swung across the chasm with the other. He managed to get Rarity to the other side with no trouble, but his own body hit the other side and he was caught and helped up by Applejack, and Rarity, a couple seconds later.

Applejack grabbed her lasso and put it away in her saddlebag, following Rarity and Dan into the next part of the cave; she wasn't kidding when she said many passages awaited them on the other side.

The group looked at themselves with uneasiness and took the nearest path, which wound downwards, almost like a staircase. After a good half a minute of that, they reached a bottom and found a large, somewhat frozen floor at the end of a small transitionary path.

Rarity took one step forward and nearly slid all the way down, being caught by Applejack and Dan. The knight motioned for silence and caution, taking a step forward. He steadied himself and took another, promptly sliding all the way down the path and falling off and into the bottom of the chamber, a dark figure standing at the other end and facing away from the Gallowmerean knight.

The two sat in the middle of the "inner chamber" which was naturally lowered into the ground, while the "outer chamber" where Rarity and Applejack remained sat at the same level as the end of the staircase, and formed a circle around the inner chamber.

"So you've come to join your companions have you?" Nightmare Moon taunted and laughed before actually facing Dan, her expression then becoming one of shock and disbelief before evolving into a hate filled glance of disdain.

"Dan! Watch out!" Rainbow called out from above, she and the others having been trapped in a magic-proof, metal cage that sat imbedded in the rock after their fall.

"So...it's you...I never imagined you'd actually come here," Nightmare Moon noted and stepped towards Dan, who raised his shield and sword and looked overwhelmed.

Nightmare Moon fired several blasts of her magic at Dan, who rolled forward to block the first and used his shield to avoid injury from the second and third ones. She was a powerful foe, and even blocking two of her attacks nearly threw Dan to the ground. Dan ran around her, trying to avoid the many blasts she launched at him, only blocking when he was unable to dodge or evade. While Nightmare Moon continued the assault and gradually grew annoyed over the situation, Rarity and Applejack did their best to quickly but quietly free their friends from the cage, which sat to the right of the path into the chamber.

"Cease your struggle weak one, and give in to my power!" Nightmare Moon shouted as Applejack and Rarity began to work on the cage.

When switching direction jumping around the blasts grew to be too predictable, Dan had no choice but to mount some kind of offensive to buy the ponies more time. With a sudden stop in the middle of one last mad dash, Dan took a few steps forward and jumped into a roll and swung his sword at the villain, who flew up into the air to avoid the strike, sending another blast down at Dan. Dan promptly dove forward again and staggered back as the blast turned to blue flame upon impact, searing the ground around it.

While avoiding another volley of attacks Dan sheathed his sword and drew his last few daggers, throwing them each with speed and a mild level of power, but all were blocked and bounced away by the magic dome Nightmare Moon erected around herself.

"Fool! You cannot defeat me alone," She mocked and swooped down, knocking him down and leaving him vulnerable for one last magic attack. Nightmare Moon laughed as her horn ran with power and a blast was shot down as the dazed knight.

Just before it hit him, the magic blast was knocked away by a more familiar purple one. Dan had succeeded, though just barely. Twilight and the other former captives escaped the cage and the group gathered around the ledge, watching Nightmare Moon's look of slight bewilderment from above. Dan was able to get to his feet again when the villain smirked and lit up her eyes with a dark glow.

"Windigos of the mountain, I command thee!" At the utterance of their master's command several windigo spirits rushed speedily through the cavern walls and lunged for the ponies while Nightmare Moon turned her attention back to Dan.

Twilight managed to assemble a magic shield to protect the group, but the power of the spirits left the inner chamber below sealed off by thick ice covers. Dan was on his own for now.

Rainbow daringly flew up and met one of the creatures head on, crashing down onto the ground again with a chill running deep in her body. Fluttershy hurried over to attend to Rainbow as Twilight fired a shot into the face of another windigo, and it was off set, but far from beaten by the attack. At the same time, another windigo lunged at Twilight from behind, and Applejack was barely able to lasso her friend away in time.

Twilight gave a quick thanks and fired several more magical blasts at the creatures, angering them further. Two of the three creatures phased into the ground and trapped their opponent's hooves in an ice trap, leaving the third free to charge down at them. Twilight used a spell to generate heat and drive the two windigos away, freeing them, but she was unable to create a shield in time, yelling for everypony to get away.

All of them were able to get away fast enough except Rarity, who was partially frozen in place by the power of the windigo. Applejack worked on freeing her as Twilight continued to attack the windigos, with Pinkie planting her party canon in the ground and helping. Upon firing the cannon at one of the creatures it immediately recoiled from whatever magical upgrade Zecora had given to it during Pinkie's stay Rarity and Fluttershy in the Everfree.

Rainbow whipped herself back into action, flying up into a dog fight with the windigos, being careful not to ram into them like last time and doing her best to lead them into an attack from Twilight or Pinkie, who sustained their long range attacks; Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were ready to support their friends if the need arose. For now, it seemed as if the ponies were actually winning.

Dan could barely keep up the dodging as Nightmare Moon maintained the offensive. Another particularly nasty blast forced Dan to bring his shield up and absorb the magic, but he took the power of the blast, and was launched back a good few feet. Nightmare Moon flew up and dashed down, throwing another magic blast down onto Dan, who blocked with the shield again. Dan remained in place, though he was compressed into the cracking rock, and completely stomped through it when Nightmare Moon landed on his shield, sending him crashing through to another floor below the inner chamber.

Another mocking laugh later, Nightmare Moon descended into the shadows below, unsure of where Dan had gone and hidden. She calmly but carefully walked around, firing random blasts into random locations in the chance of hitting Dan or at least forcing him to reveal himself. The process continued for a minute or two before Dan pounced out from behind her and cut her open with a clean slice near where her wing attached to her body, causing her cry out in pain and sheer amazement that he was able to do such a thing.

Empowered by pain, Nightmare Moon shot Dan back and pinned him against the floor with her magic. Blood dripped from her side and splattered onto the floor as she breathed in and out more with her mouth than nose. Dan struggled to get up but it was futile and a horrified look come across his face as Nightmare Moon's eyes turned white and her horn lit up with a tremendous amount of power. She was no longer concerned with killing him; she was going to completely vaporize him.

She let her grip on him go just as she began to fire, allowing him to get free in exchange for added power in the blast. Dan's silver shield was metal and much stronger than his previous, but it shattered from the force of her blast and he was rocketed into the ground and then back up again, flipping over and rolling around several times. His vision became blurry and all sound distorted as a loud ringing noise blared in his long dead eardrums.

When he actually managed to remember who he was and what he was doing, Nightmare Moon was standing over him, smiling wickedly and preparing another, game ending attack. His sword was out of reach and she had completely overpowered him. She had won, and for the second time in his adventures, Dan faced the reality of an impending death.

"And to think a prophecy was forged of such a failed warrior...cease existence; join the dust," She spitefully taunted and glared with utter malice at the knight.

And the very second before she let the last magic attack go, her eyes went wide, her horn began to sear itself, and her scream rang out as a backfired blast shot her onto the floor a foot or two away, and blood ran from her nose and one of her eyes. Dan seized the chance, rolling over to his sword and grasping it nervously before speedily turning to face the villain, but she was still on the ground, completely still.

"Unthinkable...of all the times to suffer such a fate..." She mumbled to herself and looked at Dan with pure amazement, as if he had sprouted angel wings and had destroyed the sun itself.

Dan kept himself ready for a moment more before giving in and stumbling down onto the ground as well, still keeping his sword ready.

"Never before have my emotions forced me to fail a spell....how could a wound from such a weak creature force my failure...it is impossible!" Dan smiled weakly at the comment and tried to get back onto his feet, failing however, and falling right back down.

Nightmare Moon panted in both pain and frustration as she was able to tear herself off the floor and stand up again, ready to continue the fight,blood still dripping from her face and side, "Very well...let us see if you can actually defeat me!"

The mane six were feeling the effects of fatigue set in as the windigos continued their barrage of attacks, always shying away when their doom became close to reality. Slowly they wore down the ponies, especially Twilight, who was about ready to drop in exhaustion.

In a combined effort, the spirits managed to completely trap both Fluttershy and Applejack in thick, ice slabs, though Twilight was able to shield herself and Pinkie, while Rarity was snatched by Rainbow. When she was set down, Rarity did her best to thaw the other two while the remaining three fended off the windigos as long as they could. The magic blasts and cannon shots were skillfully evaded by the ice spirits and the three once again combined efforts, creating a collective swarm that circled the group overhead.

After several vain attempts to stop them, one of the windigos shot down and possessed Rarity while she was off guard helping AJ and Fluttershy. Twilight caught sight of the move and created another shield as the now possessed Rarity fired several icy blasts at them.

Rainbow continued the dogfight, but without the support of Pinkie and Twilight, was quickly caught between the two windigos and frozen in a block of ice that fell to the ground with a loud crash. Twilight felt her legs burn as the power it took to keep the spell active took its toll, and Pinkie looked worried now that it was only them two.

"Twilight?" She called out nervously as the attacks rained down and the shield's light flickered.

"Pinkie...I'm sorry!" Twilight screamed with tears running down her face as the windigo spirits overpowered her, shattering her magical shield and knocking her down. The third windigo left Rarity's body frozen as it came out and circled the final two with its brethren.

In one last attempt, Pinkie grabbed Twilight's near unconscious body and drew close to their frozen friends. She shut her eyes and bowed her head as a white, frost orb enveloped the entire area where the windigos circled overhead. The winds howled and visibility dropped to zero as the windigos went in for the final blow.

The ground rumbled and the stone walls split open at the enormous power being released. In the final seconds almost all sound ceased and the only sound that could be heard was the heartbeat of each pony, thumping nervously as the battle's climax came. In an instant it was over, and the ice coatings that blocked off Nightmare Moon and Dan splintered and broke. The windigos cried out in a horrified howl and burnt up, their physical forms having been corrupted by the power of the Elements. The ice that trapped Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity had seemingly ceased to exist, and they were thawed out without any indication of having ever been trapped.

Twilight had been renewed, to a degree, and stood up slowly after realizing the battle was over. The ponies were all hurt on some level, but the windigos were no more, and all that remained now was to go help Dan fight Nightmare Moon, a task far easier said than done.

...

Dan and Nightmare Moon circled around each other, carefully keeping within the established rhythm of the pre-battle ritual. Both were surprisingly worn down in a relatively short amount of battle time. His shield was gone, but Dan kept his sword ready to strike.

Finally Nightmare Moon made the first move and fired a magical blast that Dan was able to duck under, allowing himself to get closer. Several more fired blasts caused Dan to jump to the side and bring his only available tool, his sword, up to block, and it surprisingly held together and was not shot away from his hand after blocking the blast. She was getting weaker, but then again, he was almost ready to fall down himself.

Never-the-less, he charged towards her with his sword held high and brought it down fiercely, barely missing his mark as NIghtmare Moon jumped back a ways. At this point he figured that she was too weak to use anything more advanced than a simple magic blast, because she fired another shot at him, and once more he blocked with his sword.

Now she was on the evasive, flying in short spurts away from him and doing her best to avoid his sword. After a moment of the sword strategy proved futile, he drew his new longbow and fired several arrows at the villain, who was not able to dodge the last two, which struck her in the left, front hoof and the upper chest, near her neck.

She fell to her knees and looked down at the ground in confusion and pain. She wondered exactly how this pitiful creature had defeated her in battle and avoided death as many times as he did. He held another arrow back, ready to let it fly before speaking up.

"Do you yield?" he asked, shaking, but holding the arrow stiffly in place.

"Yield...me...yield?" Nightmare Moon asked before letting out a genuine, hearty laugh and using a surprise spell to knock Dan back onto the ground and spread blue flame all around him. "You have underestimated me, fool."

Although she grimaced thereafter, she was still strong enough to end it all and prepared to do so with a small, concentrated blast aimed at his skull, but then another voice rang out.

"Stop right there, Nightmare Moon! Don't you dare attack him!" Rainbow Dash commanded as the mane six descended into the pit with them, surrounding her and forcing her grunt and remove the blue flames of her magic.

"If you're behind this spell of undead reanimation then you have to stop it, now!" Twilight told the villain who quietly laughed at the comment as she pulled out the arrows.

"I have done no such thing, and I do not know who has," She retorted flatly, seemingly not very worried about the situation.

"We have the Elements, we can stop you once and for all!" Rarity spoke up in an act of boldness that surprised Dan a little as he was helped up by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

"Clearly, but that would be futile, especially with what I can give you."

"And what exactly could you give us?" Applejack asked, eyeing Nightmare Moon as if trying to decipher whether any of her words where a lie or the truth.

"I can lend you help against these undead creatures. After all, I am in relative danger as well, especially if you and Celestia's forces fail. I can be a great help to you, didn't I match your so called expert and nearly defeat him?"

"How do you know about Dan?" Rainbow questioned impatiently and in annoyance.

"Hmph. Either Celestia likes keeping things from you, or she really hasn't heard of the prophecy."

"What prophecy? What are you talking about?" Twilight demanded and got closer to the villain, lighting up her horn as if in a challenge, to which Nightmare Moon smiled and licked her lips.

"Such things should be seen, not heard. Follow me," Nightmare Moon told the ponies and Dan, who followed her down an adjacent tunnel and into a small room with little light in it at all.

Using her magic, she ignited a small, hovering cloud-like object and it began to shine brightly before displaying many images.

A new voice was heard running through their heads as images of Equestria as it was long ago flashed into view.

And it shall be in days long away, that one shall come to this new land that will decide its fate for many centuries, and his exploits will help lead Equestria into the final battle many centuries after that. This figure alone will be responsible for the deaths of many or the long lives of all. This figure alone holds the power to alter the course of destiny, if he so chooses. This figure will become a defender and hero of another realm before coming here and bestowing upon us judgement.

At that moment, a new vision popped into sight. It was a statue. A statue of Sir Daniel Fortesque, to be exact. He was standing tall, and his sword was stuck into the ground. On the right side, the side with his eye, ponies frolicked in the sun and pranced happily around as peace was known by all. On the left side, the one without an eye, the land was dark and ash filled the air, and the statue itself was cracked and chipped in many places; death and destruction accompanied the corpses of ponies on that side.

If he succeeds, then his choice will become reality, and if he fails, then the opposition of his choice will come to pass. Good or evil, living or dead, all hail Sir Daniel Fortesque, keeper of Equestria's fate. Hail! Hail! Hail!

With that, the visions ended, and the ponies all grew quiet, and looked to Dan, who stood motionlessly and stared off into space. Nightmare Moon let them all do as the pleased for a moment before speaking up.

"Well, now do you understand the immense opportunities and dangers of the situation? I almost killed him and brought about the fate of Equestria for the next many centuries. If I were to join you, then I could aid you in your quest...but of course I would require a few things in return."

They all remained quiet for a moment before Twilight took it upon herself to speak up: "And what exactly do you want?"

"In exchange for aiding you, I must have your word that the Elements of Harmony will not be used against at any time, present or future. In addition, I want at least half the spoils of this war for myself. Do we have an agreement?"

"I don't know if I can make that deal with you...you need to talk with Princess Celestia and work things-" Twilight told her, but was interrupted.

"No. Celestia is not here, you are. Make a decision, and do hurry, before I summon something else to fight you."

Twilight looked stunned and sought help in her friends, none of whom could give any. She looked back at Nightmare Moon, who was impatiently awaiting the reply. Before she said anything, Dan went over and nodded to her, looking over to the villain who relished in Twilight's reply.

"We have a deal. No Elements and half the spoils of the war, but if you go back on this deal, then all bets are off, and we will use the Elements on you!"

"Fair enough, now...let us go and see Celestia. I would very much love to see her face upon catching sight of me..."

Despite all the training, all the mighty battle simulations, with all the gloriously fake blood splattered across the old, rusty armor they give you back in Knights Training 101 back in Gallowmere, I could have never been well enough prepared for what I heard today. Evidently these ponies have some sort of lingering system of prophecies and what not, a whole family trade of psychics and fortune tellers if you will, that predict all the crazy things that go on in this land, and I was slated to be some kind of national hero that changed their future. Mum always said you could fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but being singled out as a legendary figure from another world? Whomever created this was clearly intoxicated or made a living as a comedian. You'd think that in a land like this, clearer and better laws would be put into place to weed out those types...but then they'd probably like being weeded out. Well this is all crazy, and you can go ahead and shoot out my other eye if I'm not completely lost with all this. Whatever happened to the days when it was as simple as being reanimated, going through waves of crazy opponents and supernatural opposition, and finally stopping mad sorcerers with excessive egos and fashion problems? I tell you the times are a changing. Nightmare Moon isn't the culprit, it turns out, and doesn't know who was behind it. My theory stands; Fortesque one, Equestrian Royalty zilch. We await our next move now that the cad has swindled her way into our merry band. Cor, what a mad day!