The Nightmare Wars

by GigaBowser

War Games

Chapter 10 - War Games

"The ponies of Equestria will never surrender! The sun shall rise!!"

If this poor soul had anything else to say, I would never know. He could only let out a single, breathless cry as his whole body was painted red. He fell to the ground and his lifeless eyes stared up at me. I stood with my hoof still in the air, blood dripping from the metallic claws attached to it. There was something to be said for Austrotian weaponry.

The rolling hills of Galvalon marked the perfect place for a thrilling battle. Metal clashed, war cries filled the air, and flesh was torn. The rebel forces occupied an admittedly strategic area behind some of the city walls. Though they fought valiantly, the number of them that had met my blades was only increasing.

Our forces had been engaged in Galvalon for some time. The rebels had outnumbered us five-to-three when I had arrived, but with me I had brought along a swarm of fresh recruits eager to taste blood. Even if they still felt they had a fighting chance against a larger opposing force, I saw that hope die away once I flew across the battlefield and dove into the fray.

It was almost becoming a fun little pastime for me. With my powerful magic flowing through the veins of my soldiers, the rebels didn't stand a chance in any battle unless they greatly outnumbered us. Despite this, I rather enjoyed entering the scuffle and personally ending a few worthless lives. It was so amusing to see the soldiers try to remain brave in the face of certain death.

I had been taking my time, flitting about to random soldiers and dealing with them individually. In the background, I could see my soldiers closing in and slowly overwhelming them. If the rebels did not receive reinforcements, then Galvalon would be ours.

I smirked as my claws tore through another soldier's throat. That was exactly what was going to happen. Of this I was certain.

I took a moment's pause and observed my valiant soldiers, flying forth without delay and brandishing silver weapons or even just their own fangs. I could hear the panicked cries of the rebels they downed, and the frantic orders of their commanders. It was always very enjoyable to watch the tide of battle turn.

And I took enjoyment wherever I could get it, if I were being honest. I could have been reigning much more death and destruction for these fools, slicing through the land like a malevolent storm. I could not do that, however, as part of my energy was being devoted towards my faithful servants of the night. It wasn't as fun, but I knew that it was the better course of action.

As one I could eventually win, but as a group we could swiftly conquer.

And so, as it were, the number of ponies I had slain was only slightly above average when compared to the rest of my troops, in the long run I would reap the reward.

A spear clattered against my shield, which was weak but completely invisible. It shattered, having done its job, and I turned my sights on the fool that had thrown it. I saw a jolt of fear course through his body, though he did his best to maintain his brave outward appearance.

"Ouch," I droned sarcastically.

The unicorn used his magic to quickly retrieve another spear and wasted no time in aiming it directly towards me. He prepared to charge.

I gave him a low chuckle. "For me? You shouldn't have."

His expression was priceless as he found his spear suddenly yanked from his grasp. Now within my own magic's grip, it began to move much faster than he could keep track of. It zipped around his immediate surroundings like a dragonfly, flying straight through the bodies of five of his comrades. He watched in shock as the soldiers fell to the ground compliments of his own spear, before I circled the weapon around and ended his life as well.

This was fun, but when was something interesting going to happen? I didn't even get a chance to strike the next pony I had set my sights on. Before either of us knew what had happened, one of my soldiers crashed into him like a diving hawk and sunk his teeth into the rebel's neck.

My soldiers were pushing back this division of the rebel army and slowly dwindling their numbers. I saw many wounded, yet still alive, soldiers being taken behind the city walls. Whether through death or injury, their fighting forces were vastly shrinking and it wouldn't take long at this rate for Galvalon to be ours.

I knew that one of two things would happen before long. My enemy was predictable.

I tussled with a couple more enemy soldiers, having fun with the way I dealt with them. After taking an earth pony to the air and tossing him back to the ground at a terminal velocity, I found myself with a bird's eye view of the battlefield. While picking out my next target, I noticed something peculiar about the rebel soldiers back behind the city walls, as well as a few struggling out on the field. Most of them had begun to glow a brilliant golden colour.

I grinned in anticipation. Looks like it was option two.

My soldiers below organized themselves and prepared for the next stage. I watched as enemy soldiers who had retreated or were in the process of doing so turned and charged forth once again, their minor injuries healed. I saw ponies standing up who moments before could do nothing more than lie and groan. For those who were not dead, the damage was being undone.

I remained stationary in the sky, ready for what would come next. I counted the seconds in my head. When I reached the appropriate number, my arcane sword flashed into existence next to my head, blocking the sudden strike from its counterpart. I pushed my blade down, absorbing the momentum and using it to redirect my foe around me. A quick flap of my wings, and the two of us were facing one another. The opposing sword came towards me once again so I raised my own to block appropriately, a wonderfully loud sound resonating across the entire battlefield.

Celestia glared at me, while I simply gave her a confident smile. The two of us separated and hovered in the air for a brief moment, staring in silence at one another. The pure hate she radiated towards me was simply delicious.

I could not even get out a friendly greeting before she began relentlessly trying to attack me.

She appeared rather unkempt, because I knew that she had barely had a moment's rest over the past few weeks. I had made sure of that. This little game of ours was progressing just the way I wanted it to, and I was taking slow steps forwards.

Our war waged on below the glory of the moon. While before it had been a waste of time and energy for her, now Celestia did not have the time nor energy to raise the sun. This war would be fought by my rules alone.

She attacked with unbridled fury, the air aglow with her numerous offensive spells. I simply kept my focus and blocked them all, remaining unharmed as we danced through the sky. I saw the look on her face and it filled me with satisfaction.

As the days of conflict rolled on, the strength of either side continued to rise until we found ourselves at what was essentially a stalemate. Each side headed by an all-powerful alicorn who was more than capable of supporting and empowering their troops. Each small advantage was quickly crushed by an opposing advantage.

I, however, knew that it was not a true stalemate. Celestia was too foolish to realize it, but things were progressing exactly as I had planned.

Celestia's weaknesses were so easy to exploit. Even if I could not defeat her in battle, which I was certain I could, I would easily be able to defeat her in other ways. Now, the emotions I could see behind her tired eyes told me more than she ever could with words or actions. I was making her suffer.

Celestia and I had different approaches to war. To put it in the simplest terms, I was offense and she was defense. It had taken me very little time to figure out how to exploit this. You see, while her army may have been sturdier and more resistant to casualties, the forces of the night were everywhere and I was constantly creating new recruits. Our onslaught was constant and unyielding, preventing the rebels from making any sort of progress.

When my soldiers fell in battle, there were always more to follow. The loss of such valiant ponies was truly unfortunate, but what they had accomplished in life would always contribute to our greater goal. As I have stated before, casualty is an inevitability of war. I knew this, and they knew this. To fall in battle like this was what truly made these soldiers loyal, and I applauded every one of them.

To Celestia, however, every life was precious and worth saving. So much of her time was wasted with saving the lives of her little rebels. Some of them were injured so much that she would simply not have the time to make them healthy enough to fight, but she tended to them anyway. This weakness was my tool, and I used it in a number of ways. Her compassion and care was her greatest flaw and would ultimately be her downfall.

As we continued to trade blows in the sky, I repeatedly managed to draw blood while she only managed a few small strikes at me. Just like always. A sound in the distance caught my attention. When it was safe to do so, I looked towards the horizon. There, I saw a rather large group of golden-clad soldiers rushing towards Galvalon as quickly as they could.

I smirked. So predictable.

Celestia's spear missed my head by inches, so I tucked and rolled out of the way. "Having fun?" I taunted her.

"I have no words for you!" she spat, "I will kill you, monster!"

"Now, that was rude." I left myself vulnerable for just enough time to grab her spear with my own magic and fling it back at her faster than she could react. With her unable to bring up a shield spell in time, the spear embedded itself into her torso.

She grunted in pain but used her magic to make the spear vanish, leaving only a gaping wound. What followed was a vengeful flurry of offensive spells that I had to spend my time blocking. I waited patiently until there was a small opening, at which point I deftly twirled through the air and kicked her from above. She was sent sailing towards the ground momentarily before she could correct herself.

"How much abuse must you take before you give up?" I shouted to her once she alighted at my altitude once more.

"I will never surrender! Galvalon will not fall to your foul, demonic creatures!"

She summoned about ten more spears and quickly lanced them directly at me. Most of them I blocked with small, focused shield spells. However, I caught two of them in my magic's grip. Without taking my eyes off of her, I flung them both at precise angles towards the ground below. The dying shouts of two rebel ponies rang out simultaneously as the spears cut through their fragile bodies.

Immediately, a look of horror and disgust flashed across Celestia's face. I merely smirked at her.

She charged at me but I quickly zipped behind her. While she corrected herself, I coursed a large amount of magic through my horn. I cast the spell out, enveloping every one of my soldiers on the battlefield and imbuing them with a hint of my strength. Stronger they were now than before, and much more difficult to take down.

Celestia looked ready to charge once again. I simply winked at her and then teleported away.

…

I reappeared amidst chaos. In the wake of my teleportation spell, masked with charms to prevent anypony from following me, I was now at the main point of conflict. Where the fighting had all started, and where it continued to this day.

With Canterlot Mountain standing tall in the distance, I hovered above the largest battle of this entire war. The majority of my forces were concentrated here, pushing back against the steadfast opposition of the rebellion in our attempts to reach Pegassaly.

I had been here not too long ago, and I grinned at the progress that had been made.

As I had expected, not only had our forces gained more ground to the north, but the opposing army seemed a fraction smaller than before. I knew exactly where these missing soldiers had disappeared to, since I had just been there myself.

Celestia was such a blind fool. She had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't sure how many times by now I had arrived at the one of the smaller skirmishes in the various cities to cause mayhem and trouble. Expectedly, Celestia would arrive with a contingent of reinforcements for driving my soldiers back. Sometimes they managed to succeed.

What was important, however, was that each time soldiers were called away to aid in other battles, it weakened the rebels' main front. I grinned as I watched the bloodbath taking place below me. Slowly but surely, my creatures of the night were slaughtering the ponies that were here. Their numbers were gradually being decreased as we littered the ground with their corpses.

I could see Pegassaly. The hastily but heavily fortified city could now be seen from my army's position on the battlefield, whereas it could not have been seen before. That was just how much closer we were getting. Our army would descend upon Pegassaly and make it ours, quelling this rebellion at its strongest point.

I wanted to kill Celestia. So bad was the desire to hunt her down and maim her in the most brutal way possible. However, I had managed to convince myself that what we were doing was the smarter option. Too many mistakes had been made in the past by rash decisions, so it was time to play the tactical game.

I saw the eyes of many rebels look to the skies to see me. Many seemed nervous, but each one of them had a certain bravery behind their eyes. I knew that Celestia was imbuing each and every one of them with an ounce of her power, just as I was for my own soldiers. They were a tougher batch to defeat at this point, but that only made the game more interesting.

Celestia would no doubt return here from Galvalon before long. I had been hovering motionlessly in the air for quite a while. I watched as a group of my soldiers surrounded a hapless pegasus and swarmed him. Two of them bit down on his wings and tried to pry them off. Elsewhere, one of my soldiers had used his spear to successfully disarm a stallion with a sword. Once on the ground, another of my soldiers ended his life with a swipe of Austrotian claws.

A rather powerful looking spell started to lance through the air directly towards me. It looked lethal, but I lazily dodged out of the way of its slow trajectory. A cursory glance down revealed a group of defiant looking unicorns glaring up at me.

I let out a loud, echoing laugh. No doubt, the entire battlefield could hear me. A black, fiery aura surrounded me, growing larger with every second. Soon, I was a chaotic fireball burning in the sky. I could see a large percentage of the opposing army fall back slightly and take up defensive positions.

With a simple twist of my head, the fiery aura disappeared. A split second later, it reappeared surrounding those unicorns that had dared to fire a spell at me. Their excruciating screams were the last thing I heard before I departed.

…

Weeks passed and the battle continued to wage on.

My hooves were soaked with blood. Not literally, of course. What I mean is that we were winning. Rebels were dying, and the swarms of bats refused to stop. The reign of the night continued to stand strong.

Celestia's forces were no pushovers, however. In fact, they seemed to slowly be getting stronger. We had gotten so much closer to Pegassaly, but progress had finally slowed until it seemed we had once more reached a stalemate. It was as if their army was suddenly filled with a great deal of determination. Those ponies sickened me. Curse every one of their souls. Do they really think they can save this land?

Small cities were being taken back by the rebels. We had lost Galvalon again. It had never reached a point where those fools were winning, but they had suddenly stepped up their game somehow and it was frustrating.

I was prepared to be patient, but my patience was beginning to wear thin. This ridiculous game had been going on long enough. It was fun toying with these fools, but I knew that they could not last much longer. Soon their army would dwindle down to nothing and Celestia would draw her final breath.

I was standing on the tallest tower of Canterlot Castle. The impenetrable barrier still surrounded the stronghold, though it was rare if there was anypony in the city to even see it. In the distance, Canterlot Mountain remained strong against the mayhem of war.

Another cycle of the night had arrived, and with it brought the promise of more fighting, more bloodshed, and more death.

If these rebels wanted to truly fight back, then they would regret the decision to take up arms against us. That night, I had planned to make a concentrated strike and wipe out a huge chunk of their numbers. Clearly, our message was not getting through to them.

I took to the air gracefully, opening a small hole in the barrier to pass through. Rising to the air with me was a dark, jet-black cloudy mass. It swirled around me like a chaotic aura, following me through the opening in the barrier and spreading out into the night sky. The swarm of bats, at least one thousand of them, encircled me like a raging storm cloud. They followed my movements like moths to a flame, drawn as they were to the glory of the night.

I grinned before alighting my horn with powerful magic. As I cast the familiar spell, I found myself wondering just how Celestia still thought she could win.

For a short time, the city was unfortunately lit up like the light of day. Such was the burning intensity of my magic as it spread out and encased each and every bat. It was a powerful strain on my body, and especially my horn, but it mattered not in the abandoned city of Canterlot. This was the true might of Nightmare Moon, more powerful than any other alicorn before her.

When the blinding flash finally faded, I was left panting for just a few minutes. I was still surrounded by my thousand comrades. The swarm was a lot larger, however, on account of their newfound size. A thousand ponies, transformed from the bats, now hovered around me on their glorious, leathery wings. Their eyes glowed in the darkness of the night, each one staring at me and awaiting orders from their glorious leader.

I couldn't help but laugh. Celestia was losing her mind, going mad with grief as I slaughtered more and more of her forces. I, on the other hoof, now had one thousand new recruits to replace however many I had unfortunately lost. True, I mourned the loss of such valiant creatures. That mattered not, however, in the midst of war.

With one more incredibly bright flash, the entire group was teleported all the way to the top of Canterlot Mountain. I crouched behind a curve in the mountainside, the swarm of ponies staying low to the ground behind me and hidden in the shadows. Two spells of such intense magnitude did, unfortunately, require me to rest. I used this time to observe the situation below.

The battle on the main front was far enough away that no normal pony would be able to see more than a mass of indistinguishable bodies. I could see everything in the finest detail, however. We still remained three quarters of the distance from Canterlot Mountain to Pegassaly, fighting against golden clad ponies who seemingly refused to be defeated. As I watched, I saw an equal number of rebels and my own ponies get struck down.

Celestia was playing all of her cards. She was clearly feeding more of her own magic into her troops. I smirked. That would only make her weaker.

I signalled a single one of my soldiers and gave him a silent direction. He saluted and quickly darted off to the west. I waited a little while longer, regaining my strength up to its maximum, until finally it was time to make our move.

I spread my wings and leapt into the air, sailing down the mountain in a controlled freefall. I heard the excited clicks and cries of my soldiers flying behind me. A black waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain, bringing the promise of death.

As we reached near the bottom of the mountain, after many of the rebels had no doubt seen us, a sound suddenly rang through the air. Four loud, ominous chimes of a church bell echoed across the land.

With our speed, we cut across the land in a fairly short amount of time. I purposefully held back, letting my swarms of fresh recruits dash ahead and aid in the slaughter of these pitiful rebels. It was like a flock of vultures descending upon a dying animal. The rebel forces soon found themselves overwhelmed by soldiers of the night. The sounds of their desperate fighting reached my ears.

I saw weapons fly as I approached the skirmish. Blood sailed through the air as I saw pony after pony sent to the ground, their bodies torn apart. I grinned in satisfaction, watching the punishment that these loathsome rebels deserved.

Much of the opposing army had seen me flying through the air towards them like an approaching storm. Some of them even smartly began to retreat behind their own lines; that is if my soldiers didn't strike them down first.

Celestia was nowhere to be seen this time. Usually, upon a new advancement towards the main front, she could be seen assisting in the battle or performing healing duties behind their lines. Now, however, she was apparently elsewhere.

Pity. I had hoped that tonight might be the night I would manage to rend her throat in two.

Some rebel pegasi, high in the air and on the outskirts of the battlefield, met me as I approached. Some bravely tried to attack, while others cowered and tried to flee. The result was the same in either case. I latched onto each one as I passed by, twirling them around me to pick up momentum and then launching them towards the ground fast enough that they did not have a chance to recover before impacting.

I loved the sound of their screams. The sound of rebel blood being spilled. The sound of defiant spirit being crushed. These ponies were not fit to inhabit my new world.

I sailed over the top of my amassed forces, casting a menacing shadow in the moon's light. Normally at this point, I would have dipped down into the heart of the battle and started ending some rebel lives. It was a fun game that I enjoyed playing, whether in this battle or elsewhere. With my energy funneled into my innumerous troops, it was sometimes the best I could do.

Not tonight, however. I had decided it was time to make a bigger statement.

I sailed further ahead through the air until I was beyond the enemy lines, hovering directly above the collection of rebels. They stared up at me with a mix of emotions. Some were terrified, while others were furious and defiant.

I smirked at them, chuckling loudly as a black aura started to form around me. My horn lit up with brilliant silver magic, building in intensity until a large silver sphere had formed within seconds. It took the fools on the ground far too long to realize what was happening.

By the time they started to scatter, the immense sphere of concentrated offensive magic was ready, dangling off the tip of my horn and just waiting to be unleashed. With a triumphant laugh, I twirled my head around and tossed the sphere to the ground, directly into the heart of the rebel army. Those directly below it had barely had a chance to take five steps. Escape was impossible.

I watched, satisfaction on my lips, as the sphere descended from the sky towards those doomed souls below. That satisfaction immediately vanished when the sphere exploded into a shimmering display of sparkling magic far too soon. It dissipated quickly, revealing unharmed rebels on the ground. I scowled.

Escape had been impossible, but it was unnecessary when Celestia intervened like that.

She remained there in the air for a moment, perfectly still and hovering. The last sparkling remnants of my magic attack drifted from her horn like the wake of a ship. I noticed that her horn wasn't even glowing. She hadn't shielded my attack, she had cut right through it. Now in the aftermath, she had this rather dramatic pose that, I must admit, looked like it had come straight from the oils of a striking painting.

I was definitely surprised by what I saw. Celestia didn't have a scratch on her, despite having skewered through offensive alicorn magic with just her horn. Her expression exuded just as much intimidation as the rest of her body language. Her teeth were grit, she was scowling, and there was an unquenchable fire burning behind her eyes. The way she breathed heavily, almost as if she were panting, was a clear sign of the rage that was coursing through her like an angry ocean.

What was most important was that she didn't look tired or hindered at all, which meant I had to move right now!

Celestia's arcane sword missed my head by a hair's breadth, nearly taking off a chunk of one of my ears. I scowled at her as I shifted back into a more favourable position.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with sharp things?" I called to her with a smirk.

She dove for me again, lancing her sword which I dodged. She twirled around and brought her sword about, nearly catching me on the upswing. When I dodged that as well, I next caught sight of her horn glowing. Three luminous yellow daggers shimmered into existence and suddenly found themselves sailing through the air directly towards me. I was forced to deflect them with shield spells.

Either I had hit a nerve, or Celestia had made the decision to make a bigger statement as well.

"Mere child's play," I taunted as I teleported to her side. Once I had her attention and her defenses were aimed in that direction, I quickly teleported again to her opposite side and fired a short beam of magic. She caught my movements just in time, though she could only move the mere centimetres far enough to have my magic impact her armour instead of her exposed flesh.

She seethed in pain, still. The armour was no doubt burning hot where I had struck it.

Celestia dove towards me again, her sword poised to strike. I deftly moved away, summoning an arcane spear to lance directly at her. While she was blocking it, I fired more offensive spells. To my surprise, she was still able to block them all.

I dove in for another attack, which she evaded. Then, suddenly, I found myself surrounded. At least a hundred glowing golden daggers had encircled me like a globe, aimed directly at me. With a flick of Celestia's head, they all plunged directly into the centre. They clinked off one another at the spot where I had been less than a millisecond ago before teleporting.

"Are these your attacks, or cheap parlour tricks?" I called to her.

She responded by tossing a golden spear at me.

"Rude…Not even going to say 'hello'?"

Celestia screamed in rage as she shot through the air towards me. "Foul creature of Tartarus, I shall end you!!"

Thus the duel was truly on as we zipped through the air faster than one could see.

"Enough of these games, Celestia!" I shouted, changing my tone, "Surrender now and some of your precious day-rats might survive."

Celestia shouted in fury and thrust at least six glowing weapons my way. I was getting her angry.

"You cannot win this war!" I continued, "Your determination is admirable, but not once have you been on the winning side! My children eat away at you piece by piece until nothing will remain. Is that really what you want?"

"Genocidal fiend!" she spat, "You have destroyed everything I worked so hard for!"

That made me pause and raise an eyebrow. "Everything you worked so hard for, is it? Is that how it is now?"

She screamed and charged straight into me, actually managing to briefly catch me off guard and tackle me through the air a short ways before I could teleport away.

"Taunt me further and you shall burn!" she exclaimed, "She worked hard too, but she's gone now!"

As she shouted at me, glaring with untempered fury, I realized something important. Celestia wasn't crying. She had just mentioned her dear sister, admitting the fact that she was as good as dead, and there wasn't a single tear in her eye. As the alicorn struck out at me once again, screaming in fury and using a strong combination of magic and weaponry, I really had to work to prevent her from injuring me.

Celestia was out for blood. There wasn't an ounce of hesitation within her any more. Not even the memory of her sister was holding her back; Celestia was ready to kill me.

I teleported a moderate distance away, giving myself a brief moment to prepare. Spells built within my horn, ready to be cast when I needed them, and three silver arcane swords appeared.

"Very well," I said, just loud enough for her to hear over the din of noise but still in a fairly low tone, "If you wish to try your skill, I invite you to go right ahead." The swords moved into position. "You'll only die that much faster."

"I refuse to let Equestria die like this!" Celestia shouted, passion in her voice, "Whether I live or not, I will defeat you and save this land from the evil of your ways! Soon, the sun will rise once more and you will be nothing but a forgotten memory."

I started to chuckle. "Oh ho ho, Celestia…Very soon, 'Princess of the Sun', you will turn to me and pray. It will truly be a sight to behold as the life drains from your eyes."

Seconds later, a blindingly bright silver sphere appeared next to the other alicorn and struck her in the torso. A piece of her armour simply vanished, leaving a deep burn in her flesh. Celestia cried out in pain, but kept her furious eyes locked on me.

And so, the two of us danced through the sky. Not since that first battle so long ago at the castle had the two of us poured so much effort into destroying one another. The sky was alight with magic of all kinds, zipping through the air as it sought to cripple and maim one of us. Silver and gold-coloured arcane weapons clashed, sending sparks to the ground below.

Poor Celestia still only had the magical capacity to wield one arcane sword. If I could break it, then I would have the upper hoof.

Interestingly, though, it seemed as if neither of us had the upper hoof. We appeared to be equally matched. Yes, something had changed inside of Celestia. She was a different pony now, Tartarus-bent on murdering me. I could see it in her eyes. She wanted my blood on her hooves.

Pieces of armour fell away. Scratches and abrasions appeared, slowly growing more intense as we managed to score hits off of one another. As always, Celestia lost more blood than I did, although some of mine did spill.

I laughed in victory as I sent a bolt of electricity down, striking Celestia square in the back while she was below me. I couldn't stop grinning. Every blow against her filled me with indescribable mirth. All I could picture was her falling to the ground in defeat.

As I looked down at her damaged form, however, I was also reminded of what else was occurring by the sight of the battle below. My army had made no headway whilst we had been here. Those damned rebels were putting up a fight, and it seemed that they couldn't advance.

I effortlessly blocked Celestia's counterattack and furrowed my brow. I had lost focus once again. Now was not the time to focus on killing Celestia, but rather to win the war. My troops needed my help.

I decided it was time for the old song and dance again. The two of us twirled through the air, striking at and dodging one another. During the confusion, however, I quickly vanished in a teleport and then covered my tracks.

I was now in Palermino. It was time to turn the battle here.

Over time, Palermino had mostly fallen to the rebels, though my troops remained to fight. Some of them, I knew, were hiding away. They were waiting for my return. Now that I was here, my magic would flow through them, healing their wounds and raising our numbers in this skirmish once more. With myself there as well to cause death and mayhem, it would only be a matter of time before Celestia diverted more troops from her front line to assist here.

Thus weakening the main bulk of their army, and thus allowing us one more step closer to Pegassaly.

I gasped in shock as something heavy suddenly impacted me from the side, nearly sending me tumbling to the ground. As I righted myself, and threw up shields as a precaution, I scanned the air for the perpetrator.

To my utter disbelief, I saw Celestia hovering just above me a short distance away.

For the first time in a while, I was stunned. How had she managed to follow me? Just as I had always done in the past, I had cast a spell to cloak the trail of my teleportation spell so that I could not be tracked. Had she just blindly guessed? Or had she figured out some devious trick of her own?

"You cannot flee this time, monster!" Celestia proclaimed.

"Silence!" I shouted as I rammed straight towards her, brandishing all three of my swords and aiming each one of them at her heart.

She teleported a short distance away, but I followed her. This was different now. My tried and true method of attack was far less useful if Celestia could somehow track my movements. She would dare not follow me back to Canterlot Castle, where she would be slaughtered on the spot, but anywhere else she would be sure to follow. For this, I had no plan of action.

I swung fiercely at her, using a myriad of magic spells to try and slow her down. Perhaps it was time to do a little more damage to Celestia after all.

The battle in Palermino continued below us unnoticed as the two of us dueled in the sky. I focused myself, putting more effort and energy into the attack. Celestia, though, seemed even more bloodthirsty than before. I found myself straining to properly block all of her strikes.

I hit her square in the chest with a concentrated energy beam, causing her to cry out and curse as her fur sizzled slightly. She took the attack in stride, however, looping around as if I hadn't even hit her. She cast a series of spells at me as well, and managed to slice painfully into my side with her sword while I was blocking them.

"Grrr…" I growled, glaring at her, "Why won't you just die?!"

We circled around and darted back and forth, trading blows against shields. She swiped at me, I cast a fireball at her, she tried to cripple my wings, I tried to hack off her leg. It was a dizzying sight to behold.

I darted across the sky and fired another powerful lightning bolt directly at her. It just barely managed to miss, with Celestia twirling out of the way like an acrobat. What I did not expect was for her to continue this twirling dive until she was right up next to me. Her horn was alit and she was surrounded by a thin but white-hot layer of flame.

My eyes shot open momentarily as I pulled up a powerful shield spell to block her lancing strike, while also making sure to make it flame-retardant. Her momentum died, as did her flame spell, leaving her faltering in the air next to me. The powerful shield had left me just as flummoxed and unprepared as she was. With no time to think of something fancy or build another spell, I did the first thing that came to mind.

I reared my hoof back and then punched her right in the face.

She shouted out in pain as the tumbled away from me in the sky, a fresh red welt appearing on her cheek. She had her teeth grit and I could hear her low groaning. I couldn't help but laugh. You have no idea how cathartic that had felt!

Celestia spit blood and possibly a tooth, staring up at me with dark eyes. I can safely say that I do not think any living creature on this Earth has ever seen the Princess of the Sun so vehemently angry before. Perhaps I should consider myself lucky.

"Had enough?"

"This cannot continue…" she spoke, though she sounded somewhat slurred. Looks like I had hit her jaw as well. "You're killing the land…Ponykind will be no more if I do not destroy you…"

I chuckled unamusedly. "Spare me your theatrics."

Without wasting another moment, I quickly poured as much magic into my horn as possible. The blazing dark aura that surrounded me caused her to flinch back in surprise. Her own horn started glowing golden as well, but it was too late to stop my attack. From my horn lanced a blinding and powerful beam of pure energy. In the distance, I saw it sear the top right off of a tree.

Of course Celestia had managed to dodge it and was now sailing towards me with her arcane sword aimed for my throat.

Though I grunted in exertion as I raised one of my swords to block, I also rolled my eyes. This was beginning to get old. I took a quick glance around, trying to decide how to make this interesting.

Below, I noticed that the battle of Palermo was still going on, undisturbed, and I grinned. Perfect…

I continued my little 'dance' through the air with Celestia, focusing on using my swords to block, parry and strike. My horn glowed brightly the entire time, and I could see Celestia watching me warily. I knew that she was mentally preparing herself for whatever magical attack I would fire at her next.

Foolish Celestia. She never saw it coming.

After blocking a powerful strike and using the momentum to push myself a fair distance away from her, I released the spell from my horn. I saw her throw up all kinds of shields, but no magic touched her whatsoever. Her eyes grew wide as she saw what was happening behind me, however.

Precisely 30 distinct bolts of lightning struck down from invisible points in the sky. They traveled blindingly fast to the ground below, each one striking a rebel soldier and reducing them to dust before they even had a chance to scream.

The two of us stared silently at each other for a moment. I gave her a wicked grin, while she simply looked sick to her stomach.

She appeared next to me in less than the blink of an eye. The air was pierced by Celestia's guttural cry of rage. Hooves and swords flew about faster than could be seen, forcing all of my concentration to keep up my defences. I tried to dance away from her, but she kept on me. She had the look of a ravenous carnivore.

She had the eyes of a wild beast.

She swung wildly and without abandon with her sword, forcing myself to constantly block with mine. She even managed to knock one away, where it went spiralling to the ground below. She sliced and stabbed, managing to clink against my armour a few times.

I kept my cool through this onslaught of attack, keeping my eyes wide for openings to attack. My swords lashed out a few times, but for the most part she had me on the defensive. She was going wild, fuelled by an unstoppable fury. It was almost awe-inspiring in a strange way.

Swords clashed in the sky, creating a huge spark. I pushed off and twirled away through the sky, but Celestia mirrored my actions and met up with me once again. She slashed at me ten times without stopping, and I just managed to block them all. I pulled up a powerful shield to try and defer her, but she thrust her sword right into the centre of it while her horn glowed even brighter. A second later, the shield shattered.

Hints of worry finally started to appear. My smirk was gone. I was forced to remind myself who I was dealing with here. This was the only other alicorn in the world. While still less powerful than I, this alicorn was no longer shackled by concern for her kin. Now, I had pushed her farther than ever before.

A sudden, powerful kinetic shockwave was what finally caught me by surprise. I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I tumbled back through the air. My sense of direction had been completely shot, and I lost track of where my other two swords were.

It didn't matter. Less than a second later I heard another animalistic war cry and Celestia's heavy form slammed into me. While I was recoiling through the air, I felt the tip of her arcane sword strike. She slashed upwards once, striking my shoulder and scarring my cheek, and then slashed downwards across my midsection. Fresh pain rippled through my body, unlike I had felt in a long time, and I lost control of my wings and fell towards the ground.

I regained my senses and focused on righting myself before I impacted the Earth, but I never got the chance. A strained, gurgling cry escaped my lips as Celestia's sword, flung downwards through the air, struck me and embedded itself into my upper chest. It sunk through the area just below my shoulder, sliced through bones, and erupted out from behind my shoulder blade. I landed on the ground in a painful heap on my back, the tip of the sword further embedding itself in the ground.

I let out a gasping cough, blood spewing from my mouth. The pain in my entire left side was indescribable, and I couldn't even feel my left hoof. Celestia's sword, being arcane in nature, burned my insides upon contact.

I growled, more blood leaking from my mouth and splattering all over my chin, as I raised my head and gazed skyward. I saw Celestia hovering up there, staring back down at me. She was panting; her energy so depleted from her berserk attack that she couldn't even follow up now. Her eyes, however, showed a dark satisfaction.

I found myself silent for a moment, just staring. I reflected on what Celestia had just done to me. There was a sword essentially nailing me to the ground below. I couldn't quite believe it, but she had actually gotten me. I let out a few more bloody coughs, glaring at that damned alicorn.

She started to fly down towards me, so I quickly dug into whatever magical reserves I could still access and flung her own sword back at her. Damn it hurt when I pulled it out, but she fumbled in the air to catch it. That managed to stop her once again, leaving her panting and staring down at her foe with the gaping wound.

And then I grinned. A bloody grin that made Celestia jerk back slightly. I started laughing. It began as a quiet chuckle that slowly grew in volume until I was unashamedly cackling like a mad pony. My entire upper half was soaked from the blood of my wound, and blood was still pouring like a river do turnfrom my mouth, but still I laughed.

When she started diving towards me again, I quickly teleported away.

Now back in the safety of Canterlot Castle, I appeared in the throne room in a collapsed heap. Night soldiers quickly flocked to my side when they saw me, worried expressions on all of their faces. Some shouted orders for first aid, while others simply tried to help me sit up.

And still I was laughing. My horn glowed as a healing spell began. I had taken fairly heavy damage, so the process would be slow. I didn't care, though. All I could do was laugh.

My soldiers would later tell me that they saw a dark glint in my eye. A strange, frightening look that none of them had ever seen before. I believe them.

"You're such a damn fool, Celestia…" I muttered darkly once I had finally stopped laughing, "I hope you enjoy your petty victory…"

I was now in a sitting position, painting the blue carpet below me a deep crimson red. I grinned as thoughts danced through my head. Exciting thoughts. Thrilling ones! Another low chuckle escaped my throat as I stared straight ahead at nothing.

"You're going to regret that, Celestia…" I whispered.

Soldiers, my family, flocked around me and started wrapping my wounds. I could have told them they needn't have bothered because my healing spell would mend the wounds within hours, but I simply let them work. My mind was elsewhere.

"These wars have gone on long enough…Since you still choose to stand in my way, then there is only one fate for you and your precious ponies." My grin only grew wider.

"…It's time to say 'goodnight', Celestia. When next we meet, none of you shall survive the night."

Author's Note:

Songs Referenced in this Chapter:
Soldiers of the Night - by SlyphStorm
Luna's Swing - by µThunder & FritzyBeat
Please click the links and support these artists! ^_^

Comments

[LunaAlpha]

The best stories ever!

[Angelic Salamander]

Surprised there are so few comments on here. This is a decent story and I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’m still wondering how everything is resolved without the use of the elements but I like it for being a plausible alternate reality.

Thumbs up from me