Chapter 19 - Nightmare
Nightmare
"Be careful." Dusk Shine said, stretching one of his hooves to step on the suspension bridge in front of him. A precarious wooden bridge that crossed a huge cliff that cut the road. "It'll be dangerous if we all crossed at the same time, I think the best thing is for me to go first to see if-"
Dusk couldn't finish speaking as the bridge began to wobble while he heard the sounds of 'Boing! -Boing!' that passed by him. As he watched, Dusk realized that Pinkie Pie had ignored his warning and had begun to cross the bridge quietly, with her characteristic jumps as she went.
"Ah'd say the bridge looks pretty sturdy." Applejack said smiling, approaching Dusk's side as she watched Pinkie Pie casually cross the bridge.
"Also some of us can fly, genius! Stop worrying so much." Added Rainbow Dash with a proud smile, fluttering across Dusk before flying to the other side of the cliff.
Following Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy also started across the bridge, while Dusk remained motionless standing in front of the ravine, with his cheeks slightly flushed in the shame of knowing that his act of chivalry had been wasted. That made him remember again how useless he felt, something that the mares would surely have refuted if they could read Dusk's thoughts, but since they couldn't and he kept those thoughts quiet, the lavender unicorn was self-convinced more and more every second that his presence in this rescue party was unnecessary, that is, he had entered the forest on his own, but he wouldn’t have lasted long if it weren’t for the help or advice that those mares had given him, besides all of them had shown their great virtues and strengths, unlike him, who couldn't think about what his great contribution to the group had been, after all his only great achievement until that moment had been facing Nightmare Moon, even that was losing value at his trial, since she only defended herself from Dusk's attack. Maybe she wouldn't have done anything if Dusk hadn't attacked her! He had let her escape too! All this made him think that maybe the five mares had been better without him from the beginning. That was what Dusk could not get out of his head since everyone had finally gathered and had continued on their way, the way in which Dusk hoped to prove to the mares that he was worthy to be with them in order to be worthy of their friendship, however, to everyone's good fortune, they had not been in danger again all the way, which was definitely a relief, but it had prevented Dusk from showing his value as a pony in front of the others.
Finally, Dusk sighed and followed the footsteps of the mares across the bridge, watching how calm they were compared to him, who expected the worst at any time, attentive to any sense of danger. While walking on the bridge, Dusk realized more and more about the fact that the mares seemed to be much more relaxed than him, probably because of having gone through so many dangers and problems without major consequences besides that a cut tail, to see them talking to each other gave Dusk the feeling that being all together seemed that all had calmed down between them.
"I guess now they're like that because they're all reunited... because... they're all friends..." Dusk thought with melancholy. "I wonder... If I'll feel that way when I become their friend..." Dusk thought, remembering that he had not yet asked the mares if they finally wanted to be friends with him or not, something that made his eyes shine for a second, a glow that disappeared instantly when Dusk lowered his head depressed, putting a sad smile on his face, while in his head the thoughts were back that he was not worthy to be with those splendid mares, much less their friendship.
"No... after everything I've done, why would ponies like them want to be friends with someone like me...?" Dusk finished sadly.
Once he finished crossing the bridge, Dusk raised his eyes to look again at the mares, who had stopped and looked ahead, Dusk raised his eyes a little more to see where they looked and put on the same expression of amazement seeing that they had finally reached their destination. When the fog cleared the six ponies saw that in front of them was a huge ancient castle, with many of its high walls destroyed or eroded, like its roof, with several vines and trees growing between the walls, confirming that this place had been abandoned to its fate many, many years ago, what once was probably a huge and glorious castle, was now only forgotten and gloomy ruins.
"Well, come on!" Rainbow Dash said with determination, pulling everyone out of their thoughts, looking at her companions to instill the necessary courage before entering the castle.
The five mares put the same face of determination and prepared to advance, but instantly a flash that appeared in front of them stopped them, it was Dusk Shine, who, listening to Rainbow Dash and seeing that the mares were preparing to move forward, teleported in front of them to stop them.
"Stop!" Dusk said looking seriously at the mares. He understood that the mares would be calm before the situation they would face after having crossed the forest without incident, they were all together to give each other confidence, which was good for the group morale, but Dusk could not allow overconfidence in themselves to make them lose sight of the real danger they would face.
"I know that everyone was able to overcome the different obstacle that she faced in the forest, what I don't want is for you to be overconfident.” While Dusk was talking, he continued to see the faces of the mares, who seemed not to fully grasp what he was referring to, their faces showed not a shred of fear at what they were about to face. "I see it on your faces, a look of great confidence, don't let your achievements cloud your judgment, this is still life or death."
"But we have you, right?" Pinkie Pie said smiling.
At the comment of Pinkie Pie, Dusk was disorientated, wearing a look of confusion, what the mares took advantage of to continue advancing towards the castle, smiling as they passed by his side. No mare said anything else, but they all thought the same thing that Pinkie Pie had said out loud, the truth was that indeed they were calm before facing one of the most powerful and evil beings that existed in Equestria, but that tranquility wasn't because they had an excess of confidence in themselves for having overcome certain obstacles on the road, as Dusk had interpreted it, no, the truth was that their confidence came from being accompanied by Dusk. Each one had fear inside, they knew it was a difficult situation, but in every situation they had faced, Dusk had been with them to give them security and support, even if Dusk didn't realize it, HE was the cause of their tranquility and confidence, for during the journey, whenever the confidence of any of the mares began to waver, it only took that mare to give Dusk a quick look so that her heart would calm down and feel safe.
As soon as Dusk turned to walk again and reach the mares, for a second the idea that it was he who was giving the mares confidence went through his head.
"That can't be... who would trust me...?" Dusk thought sadly, discarding the idea immediately, his own insecurity prevented him from seeing his virtues and contributions to the group.
Finally, the six ponies arrived in front of the enormous gates of the old castle, which miraculously had withstood better compared to several of the stone walls of the castle.
"Listen... I'll face Nightmare Moon alone." Dusk said seriously, again facing the mares. Instantly Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to complain but Dusk stopped her, pointing a hoof at his own horn. "I'm the only one who can face Nightmare Moon's magic, plus you have a much more important job. Remember that this is a rescue mission first of all, so while I distract Nightmare Moon you should look for the princess, she's the priority."
The mares listened to what Dusk said, but their faces obviously showed that they were not satisfied with the plan and that they were worried.
"If you find the princess she can face Nightmare Moon to banish her again, after all, she did it once." Dusk added when he saw the concern in the mares' faces, knowing that they cared about his safety. "Besides, I've already faced Nightmare Moon once, with some luck she'll still be weak."
That didn't completely stop the mares, however, no one had another plan. Besides, although it hurt to admit it, what Dusk had said was true, Nightmare Moon was a powerful alicorn that had a skillful use of magic, a field in which none of the mares could compete, not even Rarity, who although being a unicorn, didn't have even a shred of power or magical ability that Dusk had.
That was how they all finally nodded and Dusk slowly pushed the castle door open. Once inside, everyone was surprised by how huge it was, a main hall that even seemed to be bigger than the current royal castle in Canterlot, with large portals on the side walls that invited to go through a huge number of interior rooms to which the main corridor was connected, however, what most caught Dusk's attention were two large banners that hung at the end of the corridor, in front of the stairs that connected to the upper floors, banners that despite the weather and the prevailing inclemency, had been kept in good condition. Both banners showed the figure of an alicorn, one was white, on a golden background, under a huge sun, symbolizing the day; the other was a light blue alicorn, with a dark blue background, which was under a large moon with stars, obviously symbolizing the night.
"What beautiful banners." Said Rarity, who had also focused her sights on the banners, pulling Dusk from his thoughts. "Do they symbolize princess Celestia taking care of the ponies in the day and in the night?"
"No... the one under the sun is Princess Celestia..." Dusk answered almost in a whisper, focusing his eyes on the blue banner as he remembered when the princess had told him about her dead sister. Then he remembered all the theories that he had put together about the relationship between the story of 'The Mare on the Moon' and the appearance of the evil that was repelled thanks to the elements of harmony that appeared in the history books, a theory that he hadn't been able to verify due to all that had happened, but with everything that happened it was obvious that everything was more than a theory and that the story of 'The Mare on the Moon' had always been about Nightmare Moon, what only implied one thing, something that only at that moment had real weight... it was Nightmare Moon that attacked Equestria a thousand years ago and had killed Princess Luna... and if she had already killed once, nothing prevented her from doing it now.
"Please, let the princess be fine!" Dusk thought as an anguish grew in his heart.
"An' what do we do now? Where're we going? "Applejack asked, approaching Dusk.
Dusk looked at her and then started to turn his head to see the different corridors while trying to think of the best course of action to take. The truth was that the first thing Dusk had thought when he opened the castle doors was that they would be immediately attacked by Nightmare Moon, however, they were now in the middle of the castle's great hall and there were no signs of the dark mare. The next thing he thought was to use his magic to find any magical trace and know where Nightmare Moon or the princess was, but that would definitely alert Nightmare Moon if she still did not know they were there, and if possible, the best option was to attack her while she was unprepared. Finally, there was a third and more terrible option, which was that Nightmare Moon already knew that they were there and that right now all of them had fallen into a huge trap without even knowing it.
"W-What's that...?" Fluttershy said suddenly, scared, looking into one of the corridors.
As soon as everyone saw where Fluttershy was looking, they saw that a small, distant light was visible in one of the side corridors of the castle. Dusk tensed to realize that it seemed that unfortunately, the third option he had thought was the right one, it was as if Nightmare Moon was leading them into a trap. Dusk couldn't take anything lightly, he had already seen how cunning and clever Nightmare Moon was, he couldn't play along, but what other option did he have!? Without knowing which part of the castle to go to rescue the princess, the only option was to go where the light was guiding them. Finally, Dusk swallowed hard, resigned to not being able to do anything else.
"Stay close to me." Dusk said seriously, advancing decisively towards the corridor through which the light could be seen, followed very closely by the five mares, who clung to Dusk walking behind him.
"What if it's another illusion?" Applejack asked in a whisper, who had already suffered enough with the illusions he had seen in the forest.
"Do not worry, I do not think she'll attack us with illusions again. Nightmare Moon is definitely good at that kind of magic, but while we're attentive she cannot make us fall for it again so easily." Dusk answered with confidence, as he had also thought about that possibility, but now that he had his guard up, he was sure that Nightmare Moon wouldn't be able to charm him so easily.
The six ponies began to walk down the dark corridor, only guided by the distant light that was visible at the end of this, a short walk until the light went out slowly just as they reached the end of the hallway. When the light went out completely, they could still see the end of the corridor, because this was connected to a room where the roof was destroyed and therefore the moonlight illuminated clearly.
The first one to look into the hall was Dusk, who immediately looked around, thinking that as soon as they crossed the portal of that room, something would fall on them or catch them like a trap, but nothing happened. Once Dusk was sure nothing would catch him, he began to enter the room, followed by the five mares, however, he did not manage to take two steps until he stopped abruptly when he noticed something... in the middle of the room was a large stone structure, and at the foot of it was lying on the ground a huge white pony that Dusk immediately recognized, it was Princess Celestia, she was totally immobile, as if he were sleeping, or something worse...
"No no! Please, no! "Dusk began to say in total anguish, running immediately to where his teacher was lying, shouting to himself that the princess must be alive to give him courage and hope since the anguish he felt seeing his beloved teacher in that state squeezed his heart tight.
As soon as Dusk got to the princess, he bent down and touched the princess's face, with his trembling hoof moved the hair that covered the princess's face, the colorful mane of the princess that always seemed to have a life of it's own, with its particular ethereal form, this time it did not move, like the princess, who didn't even react or open her eyes to Dusk's touch.
"P-Princess." Dusk said with effort as his anguish made even his throat tense and it was difficult for him to speak. Dusk had never been as afraid as he was at that moment.
Dusk ducked his head and put his ear close to the princess's chest, where he knew her heart should be. While Dusk expected to hear her heartbeat, he felt as if time had stopped, for more and more than expected, he wasn't able to hear a heartbeat. Dusk's eyes, which were tightly closed, began to shed a couple of tears when they suddenly opened after hearing a faint 'ba-dum!' coming from Celestia's chest. Dusk let out a smile of relief as he breathed again, having inadvertently been holding his breath due to the moment's tenseness.
"She's alive... but she's very weak." Dusk said in a whisper, lifting his head from his teacher's chest.
As if it had been a signal, suddenly the princess came back to life, coughing with much effort.
"Coff! Coff...! Dusk...?" The princess said, not sure if her eyes showed the truth since she was so weak she could barely see Dusk's silhouette right in front of her.
"That's right... you're safe now." Dusk said approaching the princess, who still didn't move, so she wouldn't have to try harder by talking. "Don't talk, just rest."
"She... took away my magic... and my life force..." The princess said making an effort to speak because she had many things to tell Dusk as soon as possible. "She... used dark magic on me... demonic magic..."
That startled Dusk, who immediately had a shiver as anger began to grow in him, because he realized that what he had thought before was true, Nightmare Moon was willing to kill, the greatest taboo that existed, and when Dusk realized how close he was to losing his beloved teacher, a terrible fear began to fill his heart mixed with a thirst for revenge.
"You must... use the elements of harmony... it's... the only way to stop her..." Celestia continued speaking, making a tremendous effort to stay conscious because what she had to say to Dusk was of vital importance.
"The elements of harmony? B-But I don't know where they are, or how they look, much less know how to use them." Dusk said again anguished, since he had read something about the elements of harmony and how they had served to save Equestria from what he now knew had was the threat of Nightmare Moon, but now they were in the lion's mouth, they didn't have time to look for those elements even if he had known how to use them.
"There are five elements... virtues that ponies must have... to maintain harmony in this world... And a sixth element... connects them..." The princess continued speaking as if she couldn't hear what Dusk had just told her. "You must... it's... your destiny..."
At that moment the princess lowered her head and lost consciousness for a second, but her willpower made her wake up immediately, she had to make one last effort, there was one last thing she needed to tell Dusk.
"Demonic magic is a double-edged sword..." Celestia said trying to focus her eyes on Dusk while doing her best to stay conscious. "She read my memories, thoughts, and feelings... but I also saw hers... Dusk... there is still goodness in her..."
At that point, Dusk opened his eyes in surprise, had he heard right? Did the princess still believe that there was kindness in an evil being like Nightmare Moon? Even after how she had left her!?
"She said she would kill me... but she never did it... She had many opportunities to kill me tonight... but she didn't..." The princess's eyes began to close as exhaustion finally won the battle and she began to lose consciousness, but with the last of her strength, she said what left Dusk perplexed and confused, more than all she had said before. "Please... save my sister..."
"Princess!" Dusk shouted worried to see that the princess had fallen unconscious.
Dusk quickly put a hoof on the chest of his teacher to check that she was still alive, he breathed a sigh of relief to see that she was still alive, even her heartbeat seemed to have normalized, however it was obvious that she had no strength, something logical if what she had said was true and Nightmare Moon had taken away most of her magic and life force, but then... Why did the princess try so hard to spend her last strength to tell Dusk about the elements of the harmony and the dark magic of Nightmare Moon? And what about his destiny... The princess knew that he didn't believe in things like destiny! Why spend her last strength in saying something so useless? And finally, what the princess had said about her sister... Had it been only one last delirium? After all, her sister had died a thousand years ago, a victim of that cruel creature called Nightmare Moon.
"Dusk... Is the princess okay?" Fluttershy said suddenly, pulling Dusk out of his thoughts. Both she and the other mares had approached Dusk when they saw him running, but they had given him some space to see that he was talking to the princess, and it really affected them to see in that state their princess, the most majestic figure of Equestria, which everyone knew and loved from childhood, was now helpless, almost dying, in front of them.
"Yes... I think she just needs rest and a magic recharge." Dusk answered trying to smile to calm the mares, he saw that they expressed a lot of fear for their princess. Although Dusk said that, the truth was that what he had said was only to try to reassure them and himself, he knew that if there was demonic magic involved, no one could take for granted that a rest was really the only thing that the princess would need to recover completely. "The best thing is to take this opportunity and take her as soon as possible to a safe place."
The mares approached the body of the princess to help Dusk to lift or help in any way, all except Pinkie Pie, who stood motionless while her tail vibrated, then she looked at her tail and then looked at the stone structure that had behind Dusk, next to the princess.
"My Pinkie Sense?" Pinkie Pie thought confused, completely understanding the signals that her body sent her, but always paying attention to them.
"Dusk... What's that?" Pinkie Pie finally asked, pointing at the big stone pedestal with her hoof.
Pinkie Pie's question annoyed Dusk a little, as he had just said that they should focus on quickly escaping from that place to save the princess, but involuntarily he turned and saw the huge pedestal that was in the middle of the room and which he hadn't paid attention to, since he had focused on helping the princess. Seeing it, Dusk's annoyance immediately gave way to curiosity, since now that he saw it better, that pedestal was truly quite peculiar, it was very big, with a huge ball in the center, and five stone arms that held five stone spheres with different markings on them, it also seemed that the spheres were of a different stone from the rest of the pedestal, maybe they were even another material entirely, Dusk wasn't sure, he could only see that indeed those five spheres looked very particular... Five spheres... Five...
"It's impossible... what am I thinking!?" Dusk thought immediately discarding a silly idea that came to mind, something too absurd to be true, that is, it was impossible that those powerful magical elements of which he had read recently were now right in front of him. "A logical and statistical improbability, it's impossible!"
"It's nothing, it's just... a decorative pedestal?" Dusk said turning to see Pinkie Pie but immediately turning to look at the pedestal again.
Dusk's thoughts were still in conflict without wanting to give in to the possibility that what was in front of him could actually be just what he needed at that moment, but his memories made him see that he had not only read about the elements of harmony that day, the princess had also tried to mention them for some reason before fainting, she also mentioned that about destiny... No! It's absurd! He couldn't believe in something like that! But it was also true that all that night he had been through a lot of situations that had been joining up to make it seem like everything that was happening was more than just luck, starting with the appearance of him in Ponyville and that he was the one who discovered at the last minute the truth about the story of 'The Mare in the Moon'! Then... what about if that was another huge stroke of luck right front him? Well, in any case, Dusk preferred to call it luck rather than destiny.
Dusk walked slowly to the pedestal and saw that there was a small plaque in the center. He brought his face closer and read it:
"The magic of harmony is an ancient and powerful magic.
Five elements are required to be able to use it, but without the sixth element, nothing can be achieved.
Each element represents ONE SOMETHING. All together they represent a WHOLE.
With the five elements present, a spark will shine and make the sixth element reveal itself.
Only the worthy can take the elements, only the worthy can use the true magic of harmony."
"It's... amazing... They really are the elements of harmony!" Dusk said almost crying after reading the inscription on the plaque. "I can't believe it!"
"The elements of harmony?" Rarity asked, confused by Dusk's sudden excitement.
"They are ancient, very powerful magical elements, in fact, it seems that the princess used these elements a thousand years ago to banish Nightmare Moon! If we can use them we can save Equestria!" Dusk responded excitedly, because finding something so important, an object lost in history, and finding it right at such a critical moment, it was no wonder.
"But..." Dusk added quickly, speaking to himself, with a more serious face, looking at the plaque again. "I'm worried that it says that only the worthy can take the elements... Does that mean that if the elements don't find you worthy, you can't touch them? If so... How can we be sure we can take them? It's a huge risk, it can be dangerous... I would say-"
Dusk stopped talking as he looked to his side and saw with complete disbelief that Pinkie Pie was standing next to him, holding one of the spheres that were supposedly the elements of harmony. Dusk was completely stunned until he regained his sanity.
"H-How did you take it? Did anything happen to you!?" Dusk asked in total surprise, from what he had read if the elements of harmony were indeed ancient and powerful magic, it was very likely that what the plaque said was true and not everyone could touch them.
"Well... I felt a tickle when I took it." Pinkie Pie answered, looking at the sphere between her hooves. "But I didn't feel anything else, hmm... although thinking about it, I felt something else before taking it... a feeling that told me I needed to take this sphere here and now."
"If that was true and everything that the plaque said was real... So it meant that the elements of harmony had found Pinkie Pie worthy...?" Dusk wondered, still surprised by Pinkie Pie's impulsive act.
"Yeah... I feel something similar." Rainbow Dash said suddenly, who was flying over another of the pedestal spheres and was lifting it up.
Before the total surprise of Dusk, not only Rainbow Dash had approached the pedestal to also take one of the five spheres, but Fluttershy had done the same, like Rarity who had lowered another of the spheres with her magic, and Applejack that had taken the last one by jumping and grabbing it between her hooves.
"They're very beautiful despite being simple rocks... Do you think they are made of a special mineral?" Rarity asked as she left the stone sphere next to Pinkie Pie's.
"I don't know why, but... I had the need to take it..." Fluttershy said somewhat embarrassed, also leaving aside the sphere she had taken.
"What are those symbols on them?" Applejack said as she and Rainbow Dash put the last two spheres next to each other, on the floor in front of Dusk.
"Hehe... in your hooves all of you have just taken one of the most powerful magical elements of Equestria and all of you act as if nothing... hehe..." Dusk said with a nervous giggle, surprised but happy with what he had just witnessed.
"There is no doubt... all of them are definitely worthy of taking them. As I thought, these mares really are special..." Dusk thought smilingly, again rejoicing at having had the luck to meet those great ponies.
For a second Dusk stared with a smile at the mares, but quickly realized the stupid face he had on and shook his head to leave his daydreams, however, in that second he looked at them with a smile, it was enough for the five mares to blush slightly.
"Now what?" Applejack asked quickly, making the same gesture as Dusk to get out of her thoughts since there were some things that she felt for Dusk, but that she didn't want or couldn't recognize them for the moment, less in a moment as inappropriate as that.
Dusk glanced back at the princess, who was still unconscious, then looked back at the elements of harmony and bit his lip as he thought.
"We definitely need to take the princess to a better place, but in front of me I have a unique opportunity, I have the elements of harmony!" Dusk thought quickly. "If I manage to release their power, I'll be able to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Equestria, which is of vital importance, since the only one who could face her, Princess Celestia, is not in a position to do so now."
"Stand aside and protect the princess." Dusk said the mares while he still seeing the elements in front of him as his horn began to shine. "I'm not sure what will happen."
Seeing Dusk's determined look, the mares immediately left his side and stood next to the princess, a few steps away from Dusk. Meanwhile, Dusk continued to shine his horn, without performing any magic yet, waiting tensely for his idea to work.
"We still need the sixth element... and for it to appear it requires a sparkle to shine..." Dusk said to himself as he made his horn shine brighter and brighter, still not daring to use it on the elements, only charging his horn with magic to make it shine.
"Heh... it's even funny that the plaque says 'SHINE' just when my name is Dusk 'SHINE'..." Dusk thought for a second, but obviously discarded that thought immediately, after all, he wasn't anyone special, he was just a common pony without friends, a simple colt that would go unnoticed among so many other forgotten names in history. No, definitely the plaque had to refer to something more concrete, because if it was a magic weapon, it definitely had to work with magic to activate, besides the plaque said that each element represented something, and if he had to guess at that precise moment, Dusk would have bet everything to say that the sixth element referred to'Magic', after all, the five elements needed to be connected by some means, and the plaque said implicitly: 'a spark will shine', that could only mean 'Magic of light'', for that reason Dusk thought that the necessary thing was to illuminate with his light the elements of the harmony in order to release their power.
While Dusk remained focused, with his eyes closed, still gathering magic light in his horn, a shadow appeared from the ceiling and swiftly circled Dusk.
"DUSK!!" The five mares shouted to alert Dusk, something Dusk couldn't hear since he was still concentrating on gathering his magic, and the shadow, like a great wall, preventing the screams from alerting Dusk what happened in his environment.
"Dusk!" Dusk thought he was listening for a second, but still, he didn't open his eyes. Someone had called him, had it been a scream?
"Dusk." Dusk heard again, but this time he was sure it wasn't a scream. Finally, the unicorn opened his eyes.
When Dusk opened his eyes, he was completely confused for a second. He was no longer in a dark and destroyed castle, now he was in an illuminated and beautiful castle, very similar to Canterlot's castle, with the difference that the walls and floor were color dark blue in different shades, with beautiful tapestries on the walls; but that definitely was not what most caught Dusk's attention, but what did was that now in front of him there was a crowd of ponies, everyone looking at him and applauding him, as if they were celebrating something. It was then that Dusk realized that he was dressed in a very elegant blue armor, and he was sitting on a great throne.
"This... What is this...? I... I was somewhere else... Isn't it?" Dusk began to say in a whisper, holding his head, he had some kind of a headache. Dusk would have sworn that a few moments ago he was in a completely different place, but it could not be... He tried to remember something but it was as if he could not remember correctly anything of his life.
"Dusk, are you okay?" The same voice that Dusk had heard a few moments ago spoke again.
Then Dusk turned and saw that there was another seat next to his throne, another throne, and in this sat a beautiful mare, tall and thin, dark blue coat and beautiful dark cyan eyes, with a blue mane that waved and shone like the night sky, besides she had great wings gathered on her body and a longhorn on her forehead. Definitely, she was a beautiful vision, however, what most caught Dusk's attention was the beautiful smile that that alicorn was giving him, that made him fall in love instantly.
"I've been calling you all this time, honey, is something wrong?" The beautiful mare said.
"I... yes... I'm sorry, I feel dizzy, that's all." Dusk answered trying to calm down, after all, everything he had thought was absurd. Why would he want to be somewhere else? He was right where he wanted to be, safe and secure, surrounded by ponies who admired and loved him, he was married to the most beautiful mare, both reigning with love and wisdom.
"Do you want to rest, honey? I don't want my prince to get sick." The blue alicorn said, taking Dusk's hoof affectionately and kissing him on his cheek.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." Dusk said looking at his partner's beautiful eyes, he wanted to scream of joy, he really loved that mare. "It's an important occasion, I can't miss it."
After saying that, the trumpets sounded and the audience split in two to clear the corridor while the castle doors opened. Both Dusk and his wife stood up, smiled at each other and waited while they saw what was coming through the doors, which was precisely what called them to that ceremony. While waiting, Dusk saw out of the corner of his eye that in the first row of the audience is his faithful brother Spike, dressed very elegant, smiling, and next to him were his parents and other ponies that Dusk valued in his life, it seemed that everyone who cared Dusk was there, but he soon realized that some were missing... Then Dusk looked towards the window and saw that it was night, something he had not noticed because of the brightness of the room.
"How long has the sun not risen?" Dusk asked in a whisper.
"Well, we are the king and queen of the night, this is our reign, everyone loves the night, OUR night! No one is missing something as useless as the sun." The blue mare said, looking at Dusk with a beautiful smile, a smile that was enough to erase Dusk's doubts.
"You're right, my love." Dusk replied smiling, forgetting again what his mind was struggling to remember.
"But... there's still someone else... I... I remember five ponies that-" Dusk said with effort as he tried to remember, but he was interrupted by the voice of his beloved.
"Honey, they're here." The blue mare said with joy.
Then Dusk looked forward and saw that five beautiful mares were walking along the corridor: Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, each holding a stone sphere, each one smiling as they approached Dusk and his wife. Seeing the five mares, Dusk breathed a sigh of relief as his heart calmed, finally erasing with it all the doubts Dusk had, after all, if they five were all right, everything was fine.
As the five mares approached, they deposited the elements of harmony in front of him and smiled at him. Dusk smiled back and wanted to get closer to talk to them, but he stopped when he saw the five mares recoiling and bowing deeply.
"It is an honor to serve you, your majesty." The five mares said as they bowed.
That made a chill run down Dusk's spine and he immediately stopped smiling.
"This... this isn't right..." Dusk said in an almost inaudible whisper.
"Honey, can you pass me the elements now?" The beautiful blue mare said, still smiling tenderly.
"This isn't right..." Dusk kept repeating, holding his head, already speaking in an audible tone of voice.
"What did you say, honey? Everything is fine! You have everything you need, everything you want, you have a kingdom, servants, power, respect, you are loved by everyone, you have me!" The blue mare said staring at Dusk.
"This... This isn't real?" Dusk said as his brain for the first time managed to touch the truth and slowly emerge from the illusion.
The blue mare looked worried for a second, but then she stood in front of Dusk, gave him a warm and quick kiss on the lips and looked at him tenderly, although her pupils no longer shone as before.
"And if it weren't real... We can make it real! You just have to want it!" The blue mare said looking penetratingly at Dusk, widening her smile even more, almost making it seem unreal.
"I... I don't want servants..." Dusk said with great effort, while his brain kept fighting to see the truth. "I... I want friends."
"Friends... Eh?" The blue mare said lowering her head. "Hehe..."
"HOW STUPID!!" The blue mare shouted raising her head, showing that now she had only half of the beautiful face that Dusk had just seen, the other half of her face had broken, like a mask, showing a black skin, with wicked and sharp eyes, and some big fangs.
Then everything Dusk saw around him cracked as if it were a crystal, and Dusk finally came back to reality. That's how Dusk's mind stopped being cloudy and he quickly remembered where he was and what he was doing.
Nightmare Moon used her magic to take Dusk's neck and squeezed it tightly while holding him in the air.
"I could finish you off in an instant, but since you dared to make fun of my illusion magic, I decided to play with you a bit." Nightmare Moon said bringing her face close to Dusks. "Even so you surprised me again, you managed to overcome my illusions again, you're really an interesting pony." After saying that Nightmare Moon stuck her tongue out and licked Dusk's face. "You could have everything, rule by my side, be a true king..."
"I... I would never wed a murderer..." Dusk said looking with hate at Nightmare Moon. "You... you wanted to kill the princess... You... killed Princess Luna..."
For a second Nightmare Moon was surprised at the comment of Dusk, but then she laughed evilly.
"Bwahaha! So that's what you think happened?? Hahaha... Well, yes, I guess I killed the old Luna, hahaha." Nightmare Moon mocked.
"And still... the princess wanted to save you..." Dusk said angrily as he used his magic in a double spell, to charge a magical attack while using an illusion spell to hide that his horn was shining.
"Celestia never cared for me! Don't talk about things you don't understand!" Nightmare Moon shouted, looking furious at Dusk. "The only reason to leave her alive is for her to see how I destroy everything she has built!"
"I won't let you!" Dusk said in a scream, finally releasing his magic with all his rage to attack Nightmare Moon. Dusk waited for some magical explosion, but nothing happened, his horn had not cast magic.
"Enough of these games!" Nightmare Moon suddenly added, changing her attitude. Then she lit her horn and her magic hit Dusk hard, making him fly to the other end of the room.
"DUSK!!" The five mares who were standing next to the princess shouted loudly.
The time Dusk had spent in the illusion had not been the same as in real time, where the only thing the mares saw was the huge shadow surrounding Dusk, and the next second they saw how the shadow disappeared and how Nightmare Moon had appeared holding Dusk's neck before sending him to fly.
"Do you think I couldn't see your illusion to hide that you were charging magic in your horn!? I'm Nightmare Moon! The master of illusions!" Nightmare Moon yelled laughing as she mocked Dusk. "Don't let the fact of having escaped one of my illusions or hitting me when I was weak go to your head, I'm hundreds of times more powerful than you! You are nothing but an insect to me! Bwahaha!"
In the distance, Dusk started to get up, with great pain in his chest where he had been hit. While the five mares looked both ways, not knowing whether to attack Nightmare Moon, run to help Dusk or continue to the side of the princess to protect her from any attack.
Nightmare Moon looked down to see the stone spheres that were now in front of her hooves, then she smiled with satisfaction and looked up again to see Dusk.
"It was hard to guess what Celestia was thinking, but I was finally able to break her will and see into her mind." Nightmare Moon said smiling with satisfaction. "She thought maybe you and these mares that accompanied you could take and use the elements of harmony. You don't know how I made fun of her after knowing that this was her great plan, her last hope! Hahaha! Definitely, inferior beings like you could never be worthy of possessing something as valuable as the elements of harmony. Hahaha!" The dark mare laughed loudly before suddenly stopping laughing and watching Dusk and the mares with contempt. "However, in spite of how absurd it sounded, I decided to wait and see if what that fool Celestia thought could become true... It was an unpleasant surprise to see that the magic that prevented Celestia or me from taking the elements finally it will not affect insects like you. And everything would have worked out according to Celestia's plans if it were not because now I have the elements in front of me, and not you."
"Thank you for removing the elements from the pedestal for me." Nightmare Moon added smiling evilly as her horn began to shine, causing the five spheres in front of her to start shining and trembling. "Now I can use them and become more powerful than-"
Nightmare Moon's speech was interrupted by a powerful beam of light and energy that shot out of the elements after they shone and sparked, hitting the dark mare's chest hard and straight, causing her to fly to the other end of the room due to the impact. While Nightmare Moon was flying around the room, before falling, only one thought crossed her mind: Why did the same thing happen again!? The elements were no longer on the pedestal! The spell that prevented me from taking them must have been broken! The elements of harmony are simple magical objects! They have no conscience! It is impossible that what Celestia said was true and the elements really chose those ordinary ponies!! They can't be worthy of that!!
The six ponies watched in amazement as the stone spheres had reacted on their own and they had thrown a beaten beam at Nightmare Moon, none of them had expected that, so they were only shocked to see what happened, however, Dusk shook quickly the surprise and came running to the elements of harmony, he couldn't miss that opportunity. While Dusk was running, Nightmare Moon began to slowly rise from where she had fallen, with great pain throughout her body.
"I must use the elements! The sixth element must be the magic! I'll be the nexus to use them!!" Dusk thought once he arrived in front of the stone spheres. Then Dusk began to shine his horn to use his magic of light in the spheres. This time he would not charge magic on his horn, there was no time for that, now he would just surround the spheres with his magic quickly.
Nightmare Moon finally got up completely and looked up.
"No..." Nightmare Moon said in a whisper, totally scared of what she saw.
In the center of the room, Dusk was using his magic in the elements of harmony, and just as it had happened with Nightmare Moon, the stone spheres shone and began to tremble, but this time they also began to levitate while their shines became more intense, making the room in which they were was lighting more and more.
"Not again... No!" Nightmare Moon yelled, totally frightened.
"You weren't worthy to use the elements of harmony." Dusk said after hearing the cries of Nightmare Moon and seeing her face of fear, all while his horn lit up more and more and his heart filled with confidence. "A black-hearted mare like you will never be able-"
Suddenly Dusk stopped speaking when feeling a magical instability, then he looked up and saw that the stone spheres were throwing sparks, just as they had when Nightmare Moon tried to use them. Then, in the same way as before, a powerful beam shot out of the spheres in the direction of Dusk, while he, who had already seen what that reaction meant, instinctively moved to the side to avoid the beam, something he couldn't avoid completely, he only managed to get the lightning strike him at a different angle, causing him flying out to the side instead of flying off to the other end of the room, causing Dusk to hit himself with great speed against the enormous pedestal of stone, falling right next to the mares.
"DUSK!!" The five mares shouted in horror after seeing how hard Dusk hit the pedestal, immediately approaching him.
"Dusk! Please answer!" Fluttershy said scared, touching Dusk's cheek softly to see if Dusk was alive and/or conscious, as his eyes were closed.
Dusk slowly opened his eyes and saw the blurry figures of the mares. The blow had not been fatal, but it had definitely been strong, and adding this to the previous attack of Nightmare Moon, Dusk's body was very sore and tired.
"BWAHAHA! Did you say that I was not worthy? Did you say that I have a black heart? Well, if that's true, then your heart must be as black as mine! Bwahaha!" Nightmare Moon mocked, who had teleported to appear in front of the stone spheres, which just fell to the side of where the six ponies were gathered.
"Well, now I can touch them but I can't use them..." Nightmare Moon said looking with disgust at the stone spheres in front of her. Then the dark mare looked up to look directly at Dusk Shine while grinning evilly. "Then they're useless!" Nightmare Moon finished saying as she lifted one of her hooves.
"NOOO!" Dusk yelled, reading Nightmare Moon's mind and knowing what she would do. But the scream was useless, Nightmare Moon stomped on one of the stone spheres, causing this and the other four spheres to break into hundreds of pieces.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Nightmare Moon mocked, laughing with all her strength as hope disappeared from Dusk's heart, leaving him completely desolate, just waiting to wake up from that terrible nightmare.
# End of Chapter 19
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Interesting chapter again. Especially with how Luna was essentially trying to seduce him to her side!
I really hope that attitude will stay even after this whole Episode is over! Celestia certainly would approve! That masterful shipper! 
8975972
haha, well, we'll see later what will be the relationship of Luna with Dusk =D
I'm glad you liked the chapter :)
thanks for comment :)
No, Dusk... I AM Princess Luna...
... I'll take my leave now...
9281494
=P only missing that Nightmare Moon was asthmatic so that the scene was more similar xD haha
thanks for comment :)
soon more chapters ;)
8975972
This is exactly what I'm hoping for.
Wow, Luna would do anything for her beloved dusk.
10987795
haha so it seems. Although at that time she was Nightmare Moon.
Maybe there was a latent desire hidden hahaha
"THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!"
11158520
we'll find out soon
I like how this refers to both Twilights lol
11405386
yep, it's actually something important for the future of the plot
Hologram Twilight from Season Onward: Bet?
11530604
haha we'll see what happens
I’m starting to wonder who Dusk’s old friend was. Moondancer? Cadence? Shining Armor/Shield? Or maybe somepony else?
11623008
We'll have to wait to find out
Just saying but the translation could be better
11659263
Yes, I know
Unfortunately English is not my native language.
There were several people who offered to help, but the results could have been better
If you find any bugs, feel free to let me know
And luckily, from the middle of the story onwards, there was someone who helped me better and the chapters feel more fluid writing