The cover of darkness - BRING_back_the_SUN
A few minutes ago...
Time to get some answers.
The royal sky-chariot had been landed in the small field behind the town hall. Twilight couldn't see the two guardsponies who were supposed to be pulling the chariot, so Celestia must have sent them away already. The royal mare herself, however, was standing next to her chariot, eyes on the moon.
"Princess!"
"Twilight?!" The white furred alicorn with a mane like an aurora jerked backward, obviously startled. Twilight did not consider this a good start. "Twilight, what are you doing here?"
"Princess, I need to talk to you about Nightmare Moon." Twilight said, dead serious.
Celestia blinked as the other mares followed Twilight into the clearing, standing respectfully off to one side. "And who are these ponies, Twilight?" Surprise wearing off, the princess gave a knowing smile. "Did you make some friends after all?"
Twilight stomped her hoof. "Princess!"
Celestia's smile waned, and she sighed. "Twilight, you shouldn't worry about Nightmare Moon."
"Indeed. After all, I'm already here."
In the shadow of Town Hall, two slitted pupils glowed in the dark.
Twilight whinnied in surprise. Celestia's eyes grew wide. The other ponies in the clearing took a fearful step back.
Smoothly trotting out of the shadows, the pitch-black alicorn emerged into the moonlight, her translucent mane shimmering like a field of stars, sharp teeth visible in her arrogant smile. "Hello, dear sister..."
Six pony heads swung over to stare at Celestia, who swallowed. "Luna..."
The other alicorn's eyes narrowed.
Faster than anypony could react, Nightmare Moon's body was enveloped in a bright flash, and the pony was gone, reappearing with an identical flash behind and to the right of her sister. Celestia froze as she felt the point of a horn jab into her neck, her own horn pointed the wrong way.
"There is no Luna." Nightmare Moon whispered softly. "I am..." The black alicorn's horn glowed bright with magic. "...NIGHTMARE MOON!"
The other ponies all shielded their eyes as the magic grew in brightness to the point of being blinding. Then, with a -boom- noise, the light was gone. The six looked afresh at the scene to find Celestia missing, and Nightmare Moon looking smugly up at the moon. Had they looked themselves, they would have found that once more the moon bore a symbolised mare's face upon it's surface. They didn't, because their eyes were locked on the mare who had, in one attack, just defeated the greatest pony they knew.
"You should have kept your eyes on the moon, Celie." Nightmare Moon spoke softly.
She didn't even twitch as a beam of purple magic crashed into the mist-cloud that had moved to intercept it. She turned, smirking, to see Twilight huffing in exhaustion, her horn still smoking with power.
Her attempt would have appeared more heroic had the unicorn's knees not been shaking.
"I wonder if you realise that you have just attacked your new queen..." Nightmare Moon mused out loud.
"Bring her back." Twilight's voice shook. "Bring her back, or - !"
"I don't think you heard me."
The black figure of Nightmare Moon was dissolving, breaking apart into purple mist. It began to fill the clearing, lights shining inside it that made it look like a field of stars.
"I am your queen, now. You will bow to me, or you will pay."
A ripple seemed to pass through the mist, then all at once it rushed toward Twilight like a wave on the ocean.
Twilight's eyes widened, her throat going completely dry. For all her talent and memorised knowledge, only one thought was going through her head: The monster that casually defeated the Princess is now coming for me. All of the spells that might save her seemed to be floating just out of reach. Twilight couldn't blink, couldn't breathe, through the stifling certainty that she was going to die.
And as the magical mist rushed towards her from the front, a well-worn, coarse hemp rope flew through the air from the side. The breath in Twilight's chest was jerked out of her as that rope wrapped itself around the thick muscles at the base of her neck and dragged her off stage right. The mist barely hit her left hind-hoof, knocking Twilight into a spin just before she slammed into her farmpony rescuer.
Instead of a pony, the wave of Nightmare Mist encountered the back wall of the Town Hall, seeping into it rapidly.
Dizzily getting to her hooves, Twilight became vaguely aware that Satin was yelling something.
With a deft movement, Applejack removed the lasso from around Twilight's barrel. "She's sayin' she knows where we can get help!"
The wooden panels of the hall cracked, then shattered. As the wooden debris fell to the ground, the Nightmare Mist emerged from the breaks in the material.
A blue magic aura appeared around Twilight, lifting her in the air like a sack of potatoes. "I'm agreeing to this plan on Twilight's behalf! Run!" Cried the other unicorn in the clearing.
And so, the four-legged friends galloped away, the mist sweeping after them.
There was a walled-off section of Academy City known as the School Garden. It consisted of five elite girls’ schools with tuition fees so high that the whole area had acquired a kind of mystique about it. When you added in that the schools only taught mid-to-high level espers, any girl attending a School Garden school was thought of as almost nobility to the rest of the city.
One such school was Tokiwadai Middle School.
Tokiwadai had two dormitories: one near the school, and the other outside School Garden altogether. (According to rumour, this was so they could house two Level 5’s without losing a dorm building in the inevitable catfight.)
In this second dorm, nobody was up and about. As it was the dead of night, everyone was, quite naturally, asleep. Well, one of the girls was out working late at night, but all those remaining were deep in dreamland.
It was that girl’s roommate, in fact, who was then woken by her phone ringing.
With a sleepy murmur, the young girl stuck an arm out from under the covers to answer the ringing of the mobile. <Hello…?>
<Misaka! HELP!>
With a jolt of adrenalin, the brown-haired girl was suddenly wide awake. <Saten?! What’s going on!?>
<We’re at the park at the top of District 7! Hel->
With a click, the call suddenly ended.
The middle school girl took the phone away from her ears and stared at it. <Saten…?>
On the other end of the line, Saten also stared down at her phone.
Or, rather, at the remains of her phone. An unnatural mist that had swelled up out of the same hole she had just emerged from. It surrounded both her fingers and the shattered pieces of electronics. Just now, that mist had seeped into her phone and it had broken apart like a jigsaw puzzle.
“My, things really have changed while I was away, haven’t they? What is that, some manner of communication talisman?”
A woman strode out of the mist – or did she form out of it? The woman was tall, even for a foreigner. She wore incomplete, dark purple plate armour over a long black dress. She had pale blue eyes filled with dark amusement. Most distinguishably of all, however, was her hair: it was pitch black, and full of small points of light that made it look like the night sky. It waved impossibly in an unfelt wind.
At the sight of her, the five girls who had emerged with Saten all took a step back. The one with blond hair seemed to be fidgeting with her overalls; the girl with purple curls was shaking uncontrollably; her companion with the pink stripe in her hair had her eyes darting all over the place, trying to take everything in; while the two with plain pink hair simply clinged to each other.
Kuroko was thoroughly confused by now. She’d returned Rainbow to where she wanted to go, but instead of one less weirdo, she’d gotten six more. And, of course, there was the mystery of why Saten was with them. On the other hand, what seemed to be an esper with Hydrokinesis was clearly making these girls feel threatened, and had already destroyed Saten’s phone. She moved to stand in front of the other Academy City resident.
“I am Shirai Kuroko, a member of Judgement. You are under arrest for destruction of property. Please, do not resist or I will be unable to guarantee your safety.” Kuroko made sure to speak in English, like the woman had. Why an esper would be speaking English, she didn't know, but tonight had just been weird. She pulled down her Judgement armband so the Hydrokinetic could see it.
The woman stopped, several meters from any of the girls. An almost kind smile played on her lips.
“Shut up.”
Kuroko let her hand drop, her eyes narrowing at the hostile response.
“Girl, do you not know who I am? I am Nightmare Moon, ruler over Eternal Night; not some cretin to be ordered around by schoolchildren!”
One hand was thrust out toward the Judgement member; following it, the mist that surrounded her rushed forwards. Saten remembered how that mist had broken a wall to splinters, and her eyes grew wide at the approaching attack. One of the other girls coved her eyes with a frightened squeal.
…
…
“-Herk- Fluttershy, who is this loser?”
The pink-haired girl in question lifted her hands from her eyes.
The deadly mist had been halted before it could reach Saten and Kuroko by none other than Rainbow Dash, her arms spread out wide as though she was halting a giant pillow rather than a collection of water vapour. That said, her arms were shaking with the strain.
“What.” Nightmare Moon spat flatly, head tilted upwards.
“Heh. Lady, this is -grunt- mist. You know, the hard-to-see, low-lying kind of cloud? I work with this kinda stuff every -gasp- day.” A bead of sweat rolled down from Rainbow's trademark hair, her exertions clear in her speech. Every muscle she had was visibly straining. Even the plastic wings on her back were fully extended, and seemed to be shaking slightly.
Nightmare Moon tilted her head up slightly, appraising the girl holding back her attack. She clenched the fist on her extended arm.
Then, several things happened very quickly, one after the other.
First, pink hair mixed with pink hair as one of the Americans tackled the other, shouting “Twitchy-twitch!”
Second, Nightmare Moon abruptly swung her fist out to the side, and her mist followed her gesture, spearing through where the two girls had been a mere split-second before. Rainbow suddenly tumbled forward as the face of the mist she was holding onto lost all force behind it, the water vapour now heading sideways instead of forwards.
Third, Kuroko silently teleported into Nightmare Moon's blind spot, directly behind her. With well-practiced movement, Kuroko extended her arm out to palm strike her target in the small of her back. Caught off guard, the woman stumbled, allowing Kuroko to reach out and touch her once more, this time applying her Ability as she did so. Nightmare Moon was instantaneously flipped around so that her body was upside-down, facing the Judgement member who had attacked her.
Kuroko's hands dropped down to the belts of metal spikes hidden on her upper thighs. This was more familiar to her – find a troublemaker, drop them and use teleportation to 'nail' them to the ground. She'd have the whole thing wrapped up…
...
Why wasn't this woman falling?
Rather than succumb to gravitational attraction, Nightmare Moon's body was quickly breaking apart into the very mist she commanded, her cold eyes being the only feature not blurred into particulate. The length of mist that was her arm swung forwards again, and Kuroko teleported out in a panic.
Fluttershy, having picked herself up off the ground, saw where the mist was headed now that Kuroko was out of the way. “Twilight!”
The girl in question had seen it as well. She adjusted her stance, extended her arms, and conjured a purple energy field that the Nightmare Mist splashed out against. Kuroko reappeared behind Fluttershy, sparing only a quick glance at the forcefield as she grabbed Fluttershy and Pinkie. Silently, she teleported the three of them away.
Twilight grunted in exertion, her shield already forming cracks. Rainbow wasn't slacking off either, grabbing the mist from behind and pulling. At some point, both realised distractingly, the number of people in the park had dropped to four – the two of them, Nightmare Moon, and Rarity.
Even that small distraction meant that Rainbow was caught doubly off guard when Nightmare Moon decided to demonstrate that she was perfectly capable of sending her mist in two directions at once; the weather-mage was slammed into a tree as the mist she was pulling on abruptly starting pushing back. An alarming cracking noise came from the tree and magician both, and Rainbow's mouth was knocked open, spattering the grass in front of her with blood.
Kuroko reappeared briefly, grabbed the fashionably-dressed bystander, grimaced at the situation, but teleported out again.
Twilight's mouth also twisted into a distressed frown. Rainbow's magic was preventing the mist from entering her body, but it did nothing to stop the mist from crushing her. At this rate, Rainbow would end up looking like brightly coloured tomato paste.
She literally had a split-second to think of something, anything, to make Nightmare Moon let go. “Luna!” Twilight yelled the first thing that came to mind, remembering what the Princess had called Nightmare Moon. “Your sister hates your guts!”
To Twilight's actual surprise, the Nightmare Mist halted completely, a ripple seeming to pass through it. In the centre of the mist, Nightmare Moon reformed, quivering with rage.
Twilight swallowed dryly at the death promised in her eyes.
Rainbow fell to the ground as the Nightmare Mist gathered around its owner.
“Why - “ Nightmare Moon spat. “ - would I care about what she thought of me?”
As she watched Nightmare Mist gather for her doom, Twilight wondered that exact thing.
Then, Kuroko was there.
Then, the two of them were watching Nightmare Moon from behind as she blasted an innocent tree to splinters, Rainbow heaving beside them.
Then, Nightmare Moon was alone in the park.
In a dimly lit tunnel, a splashing noise attracted the attention of the girls huddled on the concrete shore.
“Ack!” Twilight shouted in surprise, Rainbow making a similar noise. “Where are we?!”
“Sewer system.” Kuroko informed them matter-of-factly as she reached for her phone.
“We're WHERE?! Ew-ew-ew!” Rainbow yelled, splashing around frantically in the knee-deep liquid. Saten and the other girls reached down to pull them out of the water.
Twilight frowned. “Aren't you injured?”
Rainbow seemed to remember this shortly after as well, if the pained noises she made while being manhandled were any indication.
Kuroko made a face at her phone, rolling out it's flexible touch-screen. “This is Academy City, the sewer treatment is decentralised. There are filters and UV lights everywhere, and the water is full of engineered bacteria. You could probably drink from this stream should you so choose.” She said, nose ever so slightly in the air.
Rainbow gave Kuroko a filthy look. Ironic, given how she had managed to soak her skirt in sewer water.
“Now then,” the Judgement officer began, thumbs typing on the small touchscreen. “who was that woman attacking you?”
“That was Nightmare Moon.” Twilight explained, putting on her serious face. “She's a sorceress from a thousand years ago who was sealed away due to her great evil. If she is not stopped soon, then everywhere will feel the wrath of her Eternal Night!”
Kuroko looked up from her phone to stare blankly at Twilight for several moments. Then, she turned to Saten. <So, who was that woman attacking you?>
While Twilight switched modes to 'offended', Saten responded, sounding uncertain. <Well, she did say her name was Nightmare Moon… but I don't know much more than that...>
<Little girl say what?> The farmgirl's broken Japanese broke into the conversation, slightly startling Kuroko. She continued on, ignoring that Saten wasn't much shorter then she was. <Saten knew more about Moon than us did!>
<Huh? No, that's not right! You guys were the one who told me about her!>
Kuroko pinched her nose. “Fine.” Saten looked over, slightly surprised to hear the esper leaving her on the other side of the language barrier. “Forget who she is – who are you?”
Twilight hesitated for a split-second. She could feel what could only be Nightmare Moon's magic flaring brightly overhead. “My name's Twilight Sparkle.” She climbed up onto the artificial bank and started wringing her skirt out.
Kuroko gave her a look that said 'I'm not American and even I know that's not a real name', in a rather snobbish tone of voice for a facial expression.
“I'm Fluttershy.” One of the pink-haired girls squeaked, the one with the yellow sweater.
“You already met me.” Rainbow pointed out, offended someone could possibly have forgotten her.
“Pinkie Pie!” The other pink-haired girl bounced.
“I'm Rarity, and may I say it is a pleasure to meet you… although the circumstances could be less… trying...” The second-last foreigner introduced herself, smiling at Kuroko and then cringing at the dampness on her dress.
“And ah'm - “
“Applejack!” Pinkie Pie interrupted the last of the Americans.
“Applejack?” 'Applejack' blinked at the other girl. “Ah'm named after ah brandy?”
“Yeperuni!”
The farmgirl turned back to the esper. “Apparently ah'm Applejack.” She shrugged.
Kuroko pinched the bridge of her nose. She'd bet her pigtails those were pseudonyms, which would make the inevitable stack of paperwork even larger. “And you are from…?”
“Humansville.” The six Americans echoed together.
Kuroko sighed deeply. “Look, if you didn't want to tell me where you are from, you could have just said so.”
“Humansville is a real place.” Rarity said with exasperation born of endless repetitions. “It's in Missouri.”
“Don't expect a Japanese girl like me to know what is or isn't a real place in the land of the free.” Kuroko replied. There was something very odd about what had just been said, but Kuroko was too busy with her typing to properly notice it. She moved her phone's screen closer to her face, frowning at what she read there. “Drat.”
<Something the matter?> Saten asked, hoping not to be left out again.
Kuroko tapped her phone with the back of one hand. <Uiharu isn't waking up, so I've been trying to get Anti-Skill's support against miss morning dew up there. But I'm being ignored as lower priority.>
<Eh? Lower priority to what?> Saten asked, slightly concerned. Applejack once again found herself in the role as translator, quietly convening what was being said as best she could.
Kuroko squinted at the small screen. <Apparently there's some high-level esper trashing buildings with...> Her voice trailed off as she fully read the report summery. Ah, right. She was running into a known problem with the system. Sometimes, two different reports about the same incident, both written as though they were the 'first' report, and submitted at the same time wouldn't be recognised as redundant.
There was a loud, deep noise from above, the kind of sound that came from huge amounts of earth being moved apart. If you listened carefully, you could also hear the sharper sound of concrete cracking.
Kuroko folded up her phone and put it away. <...with Hydrokinesis.> She finished.
The grinding sound of soil and earth greatly intensified in volume, and cracks visibly began to form in the concrete ceiling. A mist with points of light within seeped through the cracks. Small flecks rained down from the ceiling, and the water below began to ripple. The eight girls backed away from the cracking roof as the dim maintenance lighting failed.
With one final burst of noise, a great chunk of the roof was ripped off, revealing Nightmare Moon floating in the air above.
“Found you.” She grinned, revealing teeth far sharper than was normal for a human being.
Kuroko vanished, reappearing above and behind Nightmare Moon.
The woman in question simply grinned wider. She turned her head just enough to see her Nightmare Mist swat the teleporter out of the air and into the sewer water below. “FOOL!” She bellowed.
Twilight didn't wait for her next move. Of the other girls down here, only Rainbow had a chance of avoiding Nightmare's attacks. She extended her hands again, producing the same purple field of force as before.
Nightmare Moon looked simultaneously offended and disappointed. She gestured her mist down into Twilight's shield spell, and the vapour cloud formed into a wedge. Twilight’s face grew panicked and, with one blow, Nightmare Mist shattered her defence.
Having just painfully re-emerged from underwater, Kuroko tried to analyse Nightmare Moon's power. I still think she's a hydrokinetic, which would mean that that attack of hers is leveraging the same principles as a high-pressure water cutter. But is it possible to break apart like she did and retain your intelligence? ...no. Our real attacker must be hidden nearby, and we're facing some kind of water-puppet.
The shattered remains of her shield spell fading, Twilight tried desperately to think of what spells Nightmare Moon could be using. That attack spell of hers is probably based on the symbolism of water wearing away the mountains. But she turned into her own mist… is she drawing on the power of Dracula? No, that book was written eight centuries after she was sealed away…
Nightmare Moon clenched her fist, recalling her mist to her. Twilight did not have the time or the concentration to put another shield up, so Rainbow snapped her wings open wide. However, her attempt at take-off was thwarted when Pinkie Pie tackled her from behind. Rainbow turned, her face demanding an explanation, but she just stared in shock at Pinkie's face. The perpetually cheerful face had fear-filled tears leaking out, and it jerked back and forth unnaturally as if to shout 'NO'.
The Nightmare Mist collected together, forming a small sphere of dense cloud. Nightmare Moon's lips twisted into an arrogant smirk once again, and she moved the sphere behind her as if to throw it.
It promptly disappeared with a loud hissing noise.
…
…
The girls huddled on the concrete stared in confusion. Nightmare Moon moved to examine her now empty hand, her face expressionless. Kuroko stood up fully out of the sewer water, shivering slightly in the cool night air.
<Hey, old lady. Just who's friends do you think you're attacking there?>
Saten and Kuroko's faces brightened immensely. <Misaka!> <Sissy!>
A blob of brown hair leaned over the ledge to look down. <Kuroko? I know your mind is filthy, but taking a bath in the sewer isn't going to make it any cleaner.>
As Kuroko turned crimson and began to stammer out rushed denials, Nightmare Moon turned to glare daggers at the new arrival, crossing her arms. "I grow weary of these constant interruptions."
Misaka blinked at the unexpected language, then she cocked her head to the side, an arrogant smile of her own appearing. "Well, just crawl back under the rock you emerged from. I guarantee, no one's going to bother you there."
Nightmare Moon pulled her fist in towards herself, and the top of the sewer water turned to vapour. It floated up towards her, turning from normal mist to the star-filled blackness that was Nightmare Mist. "Do you not know to whom you speak?"
A spark jumped between Misaka's bangs. "Do you?"
"I am slightly curious." Nightmare Moon admitted. "That was you who destroyed my Nightmare Mist, was it not?"
"That's what you call it? What are you, some low-budget anime villain? If you expect me to put on pink spandex and fight you, you'll be going to the hospital disappointed."
"Answer me."
"Whatever." Misaka brushed one of her bangs out of her face. "I'm guessing the only form you can control that water in is mist, right? So all I need to do is change it into another form... say, turning it to steam by bombarding it with microwaves."
Most people would not think of such a technique as being possible for an Electromaster. Misaka was slightly miffed that people thought her power was limited to just lightning and railguns. Light and radio waves were electro-magnetic waves, after all.
It was somewhat surreal for the girls down in the sewer. Whenever Nightmare Moon had been before them, there had been this sense of imminent peril that seemed to had drained away now: her focus was entirely on the new arrival.
"Was this the help Saten knew how to get?" Twilight muttered to herself. Not particularly quietly, though - Kuroko heard her.
<Saten!> She growled at her friend's friend. <Did you bring Sissy to this fight on purpose?!>
Saten flinched under Kuroko's glare. <What? I was scared!>
<Sissy isn't some knight who'll make the monsters go away! That's Judgement's job!>
"Not to interrupt you dears, but could we please talk about this after we exit this sewer?" Rarity interrupted.
Twilight looked around - they made a fine sight; eight girls in damp clothing at the floor of a tunnel exposed to the sky. And that wasn't even considering the face that they were down here and the danger was up there - yes it was Nightmare Moon, but at the moment everybody seemed to be hoping this other girl (who didn't look any older than middle school age) could take her on her own. Twilight felt that was being really lazy. Not only that, it was also risky, and unfair to the other girl. Well, Twilight wasn't going to just stand there and look on, that's for sure.
...although, she would have to get out of the sewer first.
Kuroko sighed and resigned herself to taxi service for the night. Rainbow rolled her joints, wincing as the pain she received for her trouble. She didn't think she'd broken anything in her collision with the tree earlier, but she was definitely hurt somehow going by the pain. She moved closer to Twilight to see if the new girl knew any healing spells.
Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon was doing something new - she raised up her cupped hands as though she was scooping something out of the air. More dark clouds pulled themselves out of the ground and formed themselves into the outlines of horses, the spots where their eyes would be a faint light, just like the 'stars' on her normal attack mist.
Misaka rolled her eyes. "I already told you, I just - " She pointed her palm at the horse-shaped clouds, sparks jumping between her fingers as she filled the air with invisible microwaves. He eyes widened as, unexpectedly, nothing happened. "It didn't work?! ...wait; that's not mist, it's smoke!"
"Shadowbolts!" Nightmare Moon crowed. "Your queen commands you - destroy that girl!"
The clouds of black ash that were apparently called Shadowbolts condensed, the black material compressing to form a solid-looking surface. After a few seconds of this the Shadowbolts could hardly be distinguished from real horses, but that they retained the colour of ash. The Shadowbolts put real-looking hooves to the ground, charging Misaka.
Incidentally, Kuroko had finished teleporting Saten and Rarity up to the surface just in time to hear Nightmare Moon's attack cry. She looked up, startled, as the smoke-horses charged her roommate. She had deliberately teleported her passengers to the other side of the exposed crevice that was the sewer, but she could still see her Sissy's eyes narrow again from here.
Misaka lifted her own arm out, palm down, forming arcs of lightning as she drew her own dark cloud from the ground - a mass of magnetically-controlled Iron Sand particles. As the Shadowbolts drew near, she gestured out harshly, and the storm of tiny metal pieces ripped through the phantoms, reducing them to smoke once again. Nightmare Moon shifted her arms as though pulling the strings of puppets, and the smoke began to re-form into equine form even as the Iron Sand storm tore them apart again.
Applejack, having gotten a lift from a pained-looking Rainbow, stared, slightly faintly, as the Electric Shock Princess went hammer and tongs with the Queen of Eternal Night. "So, ah... jus' for the record, who is tha' gal again?"
Kuroko reappeared in the sewer, taking a moment to blink at Twilight, who had chosen to climb out of the hole in the ground by hand. "That 'gal' is Misaka Mikoto, the third-ranked esper in Academy City, the strongest Electromaster in the whole world!"
Thunder boomed as lightning flashed between the two combatants. "Where in the physics textbook does it say you can block lightning with water vapour?!" Yelled Misaka.
"Have you never seen a thundercloud, girl?!" Nightmare Moon taunted back.
Kuroko teleported Pinkie and Fluttershy up to the surface, looking with slight worry as both fighters tried to counter all of the other's attacks at once. ...and she really shouldn't be having this much trouble in a fight.
"Shouldn't you be helping her?" Twilight grunted as she heaved herself onto the flat ground. Getting a good look at the surface again, she blinked. While everyone else's attention was locked on the fight, she saw the devastated state the park was in. When they had all disappeared underground Nightmare Moon seemed to have torn everything up looking for them - there were barely any trees in the park left standing, and even the nearby buildings had had their facing walls ripped to pieces. That'll be the cause of those reports Kuroko was reading...
And... hang on. Was the horizon getting lighter?
"Sissy? No." Kuroko sighed, clearly unhappy about the situation. "With the way the battle is now, going near them will just get you blasted. Probably by accident."
"Heh. You're not bad, old hag." Misaka said with a fierce smile. The air all around her was full of Iron Sand, sparking furiously whenever it crossed paths with the microwaves Misaka was using to keep the Nightmare Mist off her.
"And you are an insolent brat." Nightmare Moon muttered, almost absently. Reforming her Shadowbolts for attack and her Nightmare Mist for defence was occupying her mind right now.
"I'm taking everything you've got!"
"Indeed, you are." For once, Nightmare Moon did not sound arrogant or condescending. "Though, I wonder, how you will deal with my Tantabus?"
"Huh?" The #3 made a confused noise at the strange question. "First of all, it's pronounced 'Tantibus'," Misaka said, recalling her Latin lessons. "and I don't see anything here that could be called a 'nightmare'."
"Don't you?" Nightmare Moon's arrogance had returned in full force.
Misaka blinked, eyes darting furiously as she tried to see what her opponent had up her sleeve. Her eyes suddenly focused at a point of the edge of the park. "Kuroko! Don't!"
Kuroko, who was on the other side of the park from where Misaka was looking, had an intense sinking feeling.
"Kuroko!" Misaka cried. Lightning arcs from her hands, blasting one of the few remaining trees to splinters. "You leave her alone!"
The reprieve of Misaka's arrival had changed into a lead weight in the guts of those watching. The #3's eyes were clearly tracking movement that didn't exist, her body jerking around dodging the attacks of shadows. There was no doubt - the Ace of Tokiwadai's senses had become disconnected from reality.
Normally Kuroko would be delighted to hear the object of her affections worried about her, but right now she was too worried about Misaka. Sissy's electro-barrier isn't activating, so it isn't her brain being affected... is Nightmare Moon using the water droplets as prisms to alter the light entering her eyes? This was bad. This was really bad. Theoretically, a skilled enough Hydrokinetic could use water to dampen outside noise and create new sounds, so shouting at Misaka was probably a waste of time.
Twilight, on the other hand, had noticed another problem. While she's busy fighting phantoms, her defence is slacking against Nightmare Moon!
But...
Nightmare Moon wasn't pressing the attack. Indeed, she even seemed to have called off her Shadowbolts; the ash-horses merely floating in the air. Tilting her head back, the armour-clad woman let out a deep, booming peal of laughter. For several seconds, she was content to watch the Electromaster unload attacks into imaginary opponents.
It was when Misaka reached into her pocket, pulling out a small coin, that Kuroko took action. Teleporting to her Sissy's side (close enough to avoid the dangerous Iron Sand storm), Kuroko extend out her palm with considerably more care than she had against Nightmare Moon. Instead of teleporting her so that she fell on her head, Kuroko simply teleported her roommate so that she was facing the other way. Assuming this is an optical illusion, all I need to do is change Sissy's viewpoint in a way the illusionist can't predict!
And yet...
"What do you think that will accomplish, you fool?!" Nightmare Moon cried.
Electrical sparks gathered into Misaka's hand, and she swiped the dangerous appendage through the air.
Putting her practice at dodging her roommate's electrocution to practical use for the first time, Kuroko teleported back to the rest of the girls, face twisted in frustration. That didn't work! Have I made a wrong assumption somewhere? She thought, immediately followed by: What is taking Anti-Skill so long?!
Twilight quickly glanced at the others, thinking about what she knew they could do. Pinkie no, Rainbow no, Saten no (unless she was rather stupidly hiding some powerful ability), Fluttershy no, Applejack heck no, Rarity no. With Kuroko having just failed, that left her as the only one who might be able to turn the situation around. Twilight took a deep breath, converting as much of her Life Force into Mana as she dared.
Nightmare Moon glanced over at the beginnings of a spell, her cruel smile once again on display. With her right index finger she drew a tiny circle in the air. The illusions Misaka was currently fighting seemed to follow that gesture, because Misaka began to turn in order to continue 'fighting' them.
Twilight's eyes widened, and with new urgency she focused her magic into her hands.
Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie's whole body was wracked with an enormous spasm, which ended up shoving Rainbow Dash forward. Her arms spinning like a pinwheel, trying not to fall over, the weather-mage stumbled forward in front of Twilight. By amazing coincidence, this meant that when Misaka threw a bolt of lightning their way, Rainbow caught it as though it was a stick and not ionised air just by flailing her arms around. Hand full of electricity, Rainbow lost the fight to stay upright and toppled over.
One shot. Twilight told herself, trying not to think about how Pinkie's random and Rainbow's weather magic was the only reason she wasn't charcoal right now. I have to do this in one shot.
Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow, as though daring Twilight to try something. Twilight remembered all too well about the Nightmare Mist that would spring up to protect her in an instant.
So, as she thrust her arm out, projecting a beam of purple energy, she aimed for Misaka instead.
Saten gasped out loud, and Nightmare Moon actually looked surprised. The Electromaster, unable to see the attack coming, was hit full-on and blown clear off her feet. With a loud -thump-, Misaka fell to the ground and did not get back up.
Dead silence rang out in the devastated park.
Nightmare Moon broke it by laughing, louder and filled with more cruel delight then before. "I see, I see! So that's your answer, is it?"
"Why would you do that?!" Kuroko hissed furiously. She twitched, thick metallic nails appearing in her hands, but she stayed put with a glance at Nightmare Moon, who was still radiating amusement.
"She's better off unconscious than attacking us!" Twilight hissed back, keeping her eyes on Nightmare Moon. Unlike Misaka, she didn't have a way to easily bypass the Nightmare Mist, and its wielder was still standing...
"She was an interesting foe." Nightmare Moon said. "But no match for the Queen of Eternal Night."
"I don't know." Twilight replied, struggling to keep her voice even. "I'm not sure that amounts to much."
The Shadowbolts, content to simply hang in the air, suddenly turned to face the group of young girls. Large amounts of Nightmare Mist gathered behind it's wielder, who's smirk gained a dangerous tint. "Do you want those to be your last words?"
"Well, it's just that..." Twilight couldn't believe she hadn't already noticed. "How can you be the queen of Eternal Night if the sun is rising?"
She couldn't have timed it any better.
Bright yellow shafts of sunlight peaked over the Academy City skyline. One fell near Misaka, causing the nearby Shadowbolts to flinch away.
And Nightmare Moon...
She looked as though she had gone outside to find the sky bubblegum pink. She blinked stupidly as the sun continued its way over the horizon.
Gaining courage from the surprise of her enemy, Twilight stepped forward. "That's right. Night doesn't last forever. And neither will you!"
Nightmare Moon completely ignored Twilight in favour of watching the sky. "But I already... didn't I?" She looked down at her hands as though inspecting them for defects. "Well, it doesn't matter."
With those words, Nightmare Moon snapped her fingers.
And the Sun disappeared.
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6929663 Please note that my comment was made before I binge watched all of it. ALL OF IT.
Me too, and I can't wait
This is really well written I am surprised it doesn't have more likes.
... For once I can't think of anything to say to describe this chapter, other than say it was awesome, but that doesn't do it justice. It is that good. I give it
a full mane six!
Love the story so far! Can't wait until Roman comes in!
6983684
...
The only 'Roman' I know in A Certain Fictional Universe is the Roman Catholic Church. I'm pretty sure that's not an MLP character either. Did you mistype?
6983983
80% sure it's against site policy to link to the scanlation sites. My sibling is actually buying the official translations, so... I read it in the future! HA!
6984964
-Sorry, I was using my phone when I was making this comment and it really messed it up. I meant to say Toma, sorry.
9734028
...I made the then/than mistake a few times, haven't I?
Oooh! Pink Sky, and then snapping fingers! Great Discord ref!
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Typo:
summery > summary