S3 CH 25. Delay
Moondancer panted from exertion, her horn giving a small, tiny flicker of magic. How many more times could she teleport? Once? Twice? Not many. She was exhausted.
She really hoped Tirek had gotten far enough away by now. There was going to be an angry alicorn on his tail soon enough. She stared down Nightmare Moon, waiting for her to make her next move.
But, for once, the ruler wasn’t moving. She was just staring at her, standing and waiting. Annoyance on her face. Moondancer wondered when she’d finally make her move. The longer she took, the better. At least this way--
Wait, she wasn’t moving.
Moondancer realized a moment too quick and tried to leap aside, but was far too slow. A blast hit her in the back with such force she slammed into the ground and cracked the tile. She gasped for air, though every breath hurt. Oh. Yes. One of her leg were definitely broken. Possibly more than one. She suspected a few ribs were, too. Well, at least it wouldn’t hurt for long. The Nightmare Moon she had been watching faded away, the illusion disappearing.
She felt a hoof on her back. “So the student finally falls,” Nightmare Moon said with a light chuckle, the hoof not crushing her. Instead, it lightly stroked her back. “Fitting, in a way. You truly were the toughest challenge we’d faced so far. Ironically, nearly the weakest. But still, you tried and were almost a struggle. Not a threat, but slow and tedious. For that, our student, we will grant you one final score.” The hoof lifted. “D, for dead.”
“WAIT!” Twilight screamed.
“Hm?” Nightmare Moon asked.
“I’ll do it!” Twilight yelled. “Please, please stop. Don’t hurt her. Don’t!”
“She has risen against her ruler, a traitor,” Nightmare Moon said. “Yet you wish to pardon her?”
“Please,” Twilight begged. “I’ll do it. I’ll be willing. Please, stop. Don’t hurt her. Please.”
“D-don’t,” Moondancer yelled. “Don’t do this. Just please, let me--”
“No!” Twilight yelled. “Moondancer, you don’t need to do this! You can’t do this! You’re so much more important than you realize! Please, Nightmare Moon! I’ll do it! I’ll do whatever you wish! Just please, stop it.”
Nightmare Moon sighed, before giving a light chuckle. “Very well. While we do wish you wouldn’t make this so difficult, we will grant this wish.” Her hoof pulled away from Moondancer and the alicorn began to walk towards the trapped earth pony. She glanced back at Moondancer for only a moment, before sighing. “Do try to clean yourself up, student. You’ll be standing before two rulers, soon.” She then walked to stand before the crystals, looking up at Twilight. “Welcome, my dear bard. To eternity. You’ll see soon why this was a gift, not the punishment you seem so fearful of.” Magic swirled around her horn before she unleashed the beam of magic at the earth pony.
Moondancer stared at the ritual with horror. Again she had failed. Again she hadn’t been able to protect her friend. Tears started to fall from her eyes.
Always. Why did she always hurt the ponies she cared about? Her sister, her friends, her mentor, now her best friend. If only she could just do one thing right.
She wouldn’t. Not again. She wouldn’t stand idly by while those she cared about were hurt. Her horn sparked a bit. Just enough for a little more magic. Even if it took everything she had.
Moondancer teleported into the air, besides Twilight. She then cast her final spell, erecting a barrier around the two of them, just for a moment. Trying to stop it as best she could.
Nightmare Moon’s grin faded to a look of horror, her eyes going wide.
Then there was nothing but light.
------
Nightmare Moon stared, her eyes wide, her student and bard wrapped in the shifting magic. No. No no no. How… why? WHY?! Must her sister’s student ruin EVERYTHING? Must that unicorn destroy EVERYTHING she worked so hard for? She felt the fury growing inside her, but struggled to suppress it.
It was no matter. The barrier had crumbled and she could feel the spell taking effect. So what if Moondancer had delayed it? It didn’t matter. Her goal would, finally, be achieved. She would have a pony to serve as her confidant. To rule besides her. To keep her from making such errors again.
Moondancer, however, would live in the bottom of a deep, dark, terrible prison. Far from even the light of her moon. Her life would be spared as the bard wished, but her will, her freedom, would never.
The light began to fade and the two pony’s dropped to the ground.
A smile formed on her lips when she saw the horn on Twilight’s forehead. The wing at her right side. Finally. She was an alicorn. Dazed, confused, but an alicorn. She--
Then her eyes fell on Moondancer. More importantly, the wing on her left side. She was an alicorn as well? What? But that wasn’t… how was SHE worthy? Impossible. There should not have been…
Fresh horror washed over Nightmare Moon when she saw Twilight stir and groan, the pony rolling a bit on her side, revealing her right side. Which bore no wing. The alicorn’s horn glowed for a moment and she forced Moondancer over to reveal that she bore no wing on her right side.
Neither of them were an alicorn.
They were something else. Something inbetween. It hadn’t made an alicorn. It had made two half alicorns.
Impossible.
No. no no. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible. This was her one and only chance. Her opportunity to make Twilight hers, forever. To finally have a pony like her sister to stand by her, one who wouldn’t betray her. One who wouldn’t hurt her. One who wouldn’t steal everything from her.
Now she had lost it.
Thanks to Moondancer.
Her eyes turned to the unicorn, or whatever she was now, and a cold, merciless rage flooded her. Rage more powerful than she had ever even felt for her sister.
She grabbed Moondancer in her magic, a small, cruel smile forming on her lips.
“Huh?” Moondancer asked in a confused, disoriented tone.
Nightmare Moon slammed her down to the ground with such ferocity that she broke through the floor and those below, crashing through stone and wood, until she finally hit the very foundation of the castle. She then lifted her up, smiling at her with a mouth filled with fangs. “This will not be quick, dear student.”
Moondancer gave a soft, pathetic whimper.
“May your new ‘power’ allow you to survive long enough for me to draw some satisfaction in return for what you have taken from us,” Nightmare Moon said before she smashed the new ‘alicorn’ through a few walls, her weak screams echoing through the castle.
Twilight groaned, but she could only barely open her eyes. “S-stop…” Twilight begged.
Nightmare Moon ignored her. No longer. She had denied her rage for too long. Now there was no more need to deny herself. Now she would show this pony the true terror of her teacher. She would make an example of her. Perhaps, if she was lucky, the next time she decided to make an eternal companion, it would be enough to ensure nopony ever interfered.
------
Spike shoved open the door to the throne room and froze.
Twilight was on the ground, crawling desperately towards Nightmare Moon. The alicorn stood there, her horn aglow. A moment later something burst through the ceiling, only to crash to the ground of the throne room.
It took him a few moments to realize that it was Moondancer. She looked so hurt, so broken. Then she was soaring through the air again, slamming through a wall, only to come back into the room through a different hole in the wall, crashing to the ground.
Nightmare Moon was going to kill her. Didn’t she know that? Didn’t she care? Spike stared, terrified. He had to get a guard.
What guard could stop her? What guard would even try? He hadn’t even seen any on the way here. He hadn’t seen ANYPONY on the way here. He couldn’t let her do this, could he?
But he couldn’t stop her.
He watched as Twilight gripped the alicorn’s legs, lightly headbutting her legs. But Nightmare Moon didn’t seem to notice, or care. She picked up Moondancer and flung her again, giving an angry yell. He then noticed the tears going down the alicorn’s eyes. Was she really crying? How could she do this to somepony and then act as if she was sad about it?
Spike shook his head before running towards them. Maybe he couldn’t stop this, but he had to try. He dashed across the throne room, lunging through the air. Then he wrapped his claws around one of Nightmare Moon’s legs and bit her with all his might.
The alicorn let out a yelp, dropping Moondancer for the moment and then looking down. Her eyes narrowed on the dragon. “Et tu, dragon? Very well. We will deal with you later. For now, begone.”
Spike was gripped in magic and flung across the room so hard he left a small dent in the wall. Well, he supposed he should be grateful he wasn’t thrown through it, but it still hurt. He dropped to the ground and gave a low, pained groan. “Ow…”
------
“Let us go, Twilight,” Nightmare Moon said, turning her focus away from the barely moving dragon.
“Please, please stop,” Twilight pleaded before looking up at the alicorn. “You win, you’ve made your point. Please.”
“Our point?” Nightmare Moon asked. “Our point remains unmade. If it had been, this would not have happened. No.” Her eyes shifted to the broken, beaten form of Moondancer. She felt that unstoppable sadness welling inside her. That despair. “This will be our example of what we do to traitors. There will be no more mercy. No more kindness. No restraint on those who oppose us. The pain we feel is more powerful than you can imagine.” Her horn lit up and she lifted Moondancer into the air, before baring her teeth. She spread out the wounded pony’s wing. Another reminder of her failures, of her mercies, how they had all led to this moment. To losing so much. “Long ago we refrained from taking the wing from a pony who attacked us. Perhaps, had we done so then, now this would not have happened. We will not make the same mistake again.”
Moondancer gave a weak, pathetic scream when her wing was pulled taut, but it refused to come off no matter how hard it was tugged.
“Hm, it seems even a partial alicorn’s wings are difficult to just pull off,” Nightmare Moon said with a saddened sigh. “Let us see how it cuts, shall we?”
Suddenly a light, echoing clap went through the hall. Nightmare Moon’s gaze moved to the entrance way.
Towards Tirek. The centaur stood there, a smile on his face.
Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed and she tossed Moondancer against the wall, making her hit it with a sickening splat before her body dropped to the ground. “So you have returned to face us? Foalish. Or have you perhaps realized that opposing us is nonsense?”
“Indeed I have,” Tirek said before, to her great surprise, he knelt. “All hail Nightmare Moon, the true Queen of Equestria.”
Nightmare Moon went entirely still. Even through the rage, through the despair, the pain. Even through all of that his words shocked her like a bucket of ice water. “What?”
“All hail Nightmare Moon,” Tirek said.
“Explain yourself,” Nightmare Moon said, suspicion filling her voice. “Since when do you worship us?”
“Since I realized you, my queen, were correct,” Tirek said with a low, dark chuckle. “I was wrong.”
“We were… correct? In what way?” Nightmare Moon asked, searching for the trap.
“I believed ponies were weak. I believed them soft, caring. I believed they valued love and compassion, more than power,” Tirek said. “Most pathetically of all, I believed that the princess’ cared for and even, ugh, protected their ponies.”
Nightmare Moon froze, her eyes narrowing to slits. “You come here to mock us?”
“I come here to congratulate you,” Tirek said. “To swear obedience, my queen. I believed you like that Celestia. A pony so focused on being loved, cared for by her subjects, that she’d forgotten the only thing that truly mattered. Power. Control. Might.” He motioned to Moondancer. “The only thing that matters, has ever mattered, is the right to do as you please. To enforce your will on others. To force the world, your subjects, to serve you. To make them understand they are nothing but slaves before your will. I had believed you soft. But no, this has shown me the truth. You truly are the queen of all. A pony beyond compare. A pony who rightfully rules these lands, shattering all who dare oppose her.”
“We… we are not…” Nightmare Moon said softly, struggling to find an answer to those words. If he dared to question her, to object, she would have crushed him as well. But there was such praise to his words. Such pride. Such… delight. He spoke of such dark things as if they were good.
For the first time in what felt like days, she felt the rage of all that had happened get pushed away. Being tricked. Having her ponies stolen. Nearly losing them. Twilight. Moondancer. Even the dragon.
Only to finally see the true horror of what she had done. What she had become. Her eyes fell to Twilight then. She pulled back, freeing her hoof from the other pony.
Moondancer’s soft, pathetic cry drew her attention.
By the stars, what had she done? What had she become?
Was it not her job to protect her ponies? To save them? How could she do this? How could she right this?
There was no righting this, was there?
“Please, no more,” Twilight begged her. “Please…”
Nightmare Moon felt new tears welling in her eyes. She was a monster. How could she do this?
How many of her own ponies had she hurt?
Maybe she truly had deserved to be banished.
Her horn lit up and she bound all of them in her magic, teleporting them all away. Tirek to the dungeon. Moondancer to the hospital. Twilight and Spike to their room.
Nightmare Moon looked around at her castle, the many bloody holes. The destruction she had wrought. The dark crystals shattered.
Her empty, broken castle. Where she was alone.
Nightmare Moon sat down and finally let the tears overtake her, let the pain, the fury, let all of it envelop her.
This was who she was. This was what she was. Twilight would never stand by her side.
Because she would never, ever, ever deserve to be anything but alone again.
Nightmare Moon let out a scream, letting it all envelop her, overwhelm her and dowse her world in darkness, the only ones to watch her mourning her silent shades.
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Usually, it is the hero who convinces the villain their acts are evil and they should do good.
Instead, it is the being she hates telling her that what she's done is good that gets under her skin.
That was a genuinely good twist.
Nothing can knocked you for a loop like having the unrepentant villain approving of your actions.
the most terrible and dangerous "villain" is "the villain who thinks he is a hero".
11316335
Yeah. If Tirek comes out and is like 'Wow, you're amazing!' I think most people would be willing to take a second look at themselves. Hopefully.
11316379
Yuuuuup. It's a bit of a slap. XD
11316452
Definitely. Sad how often that can happen.
So, I think we can say that Nightmare is looking at herself, and realizing...
Realizing that she is ...
No Longer the Hero(ine) :-)
11317499
Oh my gosh... That was terrible. XD *Upvotes.*
I was honestly ready to give up on this story. It had become too dark for my tastes.
This chapter saved it.
Oh thank goodness. Thank goodness she realized. The irony of it being Tirek. I feel like it had to be purposeful - he always wanted to rule, and bowing to Nightmare Moon as hos superior wouldnt get that. The half alicorn thing ohhhh man!!! But twilight can do magic now!!! THIS IS SO INTERESTING
Hollow indeed, ain't it, Tirek?
Power for the sake of power will never fill an empty heart. Perhaps, and I dearly wish so, you'll find happiness in the correct road.
Damn, Tirek, cutting deep with that speech. Well done, intended or not.
MASTER MANIPULATOR INDEED JESUS CHRIST MAN. He went back to say that shit to go SAVE A GOD DAMN LIFE.
>One of the biggest issues of losing control of your temper, is while it can take seconds to destroy... it can take days, months or even years to repair what you break.
and sometimes...it can't be repaired at all