The Fall of a Tyrant
A few hours later, the doors of the town hall got smashed open. Entering was a visibly distraught and exhausted Sweetie Belle, her heart racing fast and sweat dripping from her forehead. “Your majesty!” she called out to the dark princess who was now sitting in a throne on the very balcony she had appeared on after returning. There weren't as many ponies in the town hall anymore now. Most had received permission to leave and only a few others, who apparently had been chosen to become the wicked night demon's servants, stayed. Nightmare Moon herself was not pleased about Sweetie Belle's loud arrival.
“Who dares to disturb my meal?” her voice thundered across the room and into Sweetie Belle's ears.
The filly did her best to stay brave. “I-I'm sorry to disturb you, princess, but there are two fillies who rebel against you! They said they want to destroy you!”
For a moment, Nightmare Moon's pupils became small, then she broke out in massive laughter, her pupils turning to slits in the same moment.
“Two fillies, destroying me, the demon of the night!” She pushed aside one of her servant ponies, who was busy with serving another dish to her, and climbed up on the table. “But I am amused by what you tell me, show me these two fillies, so I can laugh at their futile attempts to overthrow me!” She ignited her horn and stood in front of Sweetie Belle a second later, having teleported herself down.
Sweetie Belle did a step back. “F-Follow me, your majesty, I lead you right to them!” she said, turned around at the spot and began running.
On their way through the dark town, Sweetie Belle did not hear hoofsteps behind her and the only thing that told her that Nightmare Moon was following was a bodyless fog black as the night that flew after her. Sweetie Belle turned around to face the way ahead of her again and bit her lips, suddenly wearing a strained expression on her face.
As she and her scary follower had passed the borders of the Everfree Forest, Sweetie Belle turned around another time and called out to the dark entity. “We're almost here, your majesty!” she shouted, before she stopped in her tracks a few seconds later. Hoping that Nightmare Moon would turn back to her physical form, Sweetie Belle pointed between two trees with a generous amount of space between them. “They are over there!” she shouted behind her.“It's very dark, but they sit there behind a few bushes and plot your downfall.”
For a moment, Sweetie Belle was begging internally for everything to go as planned, then the relief happened as Nightmare Moon turned back into a compact mare. Slowly, she trotted towards the free space between the two trees, her posture menacing.
“Plotting inside of the Everfree Forest, I can see that these two fillies must be even more foolish than I thought they would be for believing that they can–“ A scream of surprise suddenly left Nightmare Moon's throat as the ground under her gave in and she fell into a pit.
Only slightly shaking her head for a moment, the tyrant rose back to her hooves and looked up the walls of the pit. They were uneven, but very high, it took her eyes a surprisingly long time until they had reached the hole she had fallen through. The exit of the pit was many times her size above her head and the pit was so dark that even if she would allow the sun to shine, it would be pitch-black in it.
“Your two fillies have prepared a nice surprise with this pit,” she commented on what had just happened to her. “But this is nothing that can stop me.” She snickered at the crude attempt of defeating her.
“Or just me!” Sweetie Belle's voice rang down to the trapped nightmare. She appeared at the edge of the pit and looked down at her, now wearing a defiant smile.
“Betrayal?” Nightmare Moon answered in slight disbelief. “Unexpected, to see a mindset like this in such a young foal, but still not enough to stop me!”
Nightmare Moon laughed, then she ignited her horn, ready to turn herself into fog again and to leave the pit to give the filly above her the punishment it deserved. The long, sharp horn protruding from a hole in her helmet merely produced a tiny spark, then the magic fizzled away like it had never been there. This second surprise finally let Nightmare Moon's heart beat faster. She shot a hate-filled glare up to Sweetie Belle, her pupils having been turned to slits again.
“Don't bother using your magic. You can't.” There was a victorious grin on Sweetie Belle's face now.
“What did you do?” Nightmare Moon asked her, a grin on her face to hide the slight insecurity that had risen in her.
“The bottom of the pit is full of rocks,” Sweetie Belle answered. “They are special rocks, they suppress and absorb your magic.”
“Magic-absorbing rocks.....” Nightmare Moon commented, not without a trace of an impressed undertone in her voice. “How does it come that a little foal like you is in the possession of such powerful things?” Her grin had become genuine again by now, the slight worry having already left her.
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Not me. But my big sister does. The sister you took away from me. She was making uniforms with fragments of the rocks in them, for the unicorn teams that will participate in the next Equestria Games. They prevent them from using their magic to cheat.” Her face grew a little darker. “Now she will be late because you imprisoned her.....”
“A very nice attempt for a foal,” Nightmare Moon replied, ignoring the rebuke thrown at her. “But there is one thing you have forgotten: I have wings!” Demonstratively, she unfolded her gigantic wings. She let this impression linger on Sweetie Belle for a moment, then began to fly out of the pit.
“Oh and do not worry about your sister..... You are going to see her again very soon!” she spoke as she hovered out of the pit in a menacingly slow speed.
Sweetie Belle's expression did not change and neither did she falter, as she looked into the devilish grin of the wicked alicorn that was flying towards her. She gulped a little, which was the only reaction of fear she showed and Nightmare Moon could not see it in the darkness above her. Slowly, Sweetie Belle lifted her head more and more, until the demon had flown out of the hole completely. Nightmare Moon and the filly stared at each other for a moment before the sinister mare began to speak again.
“Now it's time to reunite you with your sister!” she announced, flapping her wings again to fly towards Sweetie Belle.
The filly did a step backwards, a small shiver going through her body. “I-I can still stop you,” she said, surprisingly calm in sight of the threat in front of her.
Nightmare Moon stopped and deepened her grin, now hovering above the pit. “Stopping me, how? Your plan was nice for a filly, but it failed and now you are helpless!”
Sweetie Belle gulped again, but she did not draw her eyes from the alicorn and kept firmly standing at her position.
“W-What if..... What if I break your wings?” she asked, deadly earnest. Barely audible, two snaps could be heard from the surrounding trees, one of them just a split-second after the other.
“You said I have forgotten that you have wings..... But what if I break them? Then you're just going to fall back into the pit I've been digging and can't get out anymore.”
Condescendingly, Nightmare Moon smirked. “You? How amusing. But you made your princess curious, so explain me, how does a little filly like you want to break my wings?” Throwing her head back, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and broke into loud, mocking laughter. Her sight blocked by her own eyelids, Nightmare Moon did not see what was approaching her sides in a quick tempo now. Only as a sharp pain flashed through her wings, she realized the peril.
A loud, screeching pain left her throat as two nets made out rope and filled to the brim with heavy rocks, that came from both sides, flung against her wings and broke the bones in them. She shot her eyes open and gave Sweetie Belle a stare so deadly, that the filly felt like she would perish from it. Nonetheless, nothing happened, and before Nightmare Moon could try anything to get out of this predicament, she plummeted back into the pit and landed on the magic-absorbing rocks with a thud.
At the edge of the pit, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo appeared, joining Sweetie Belle's side. All three of them stared down at Nightmare Moon, their faces adorned with hatred and cold unforgiveness.
This time, it took Nightmare Moon longer to get back on her hooves, the massive pain coming from her wings weakening the dark alicorn. Shivering, she glared up at the three fillies who had shown such unexpected resistance. Her expression was full of hatred, but also disbelief.
“I said I am going to break your wings,” Sweetie Belle addressed the alicorn down below, now sounding amused herself. “Even though it technically were my friends who did it.”
She gave them a short glance and smiled, then looked down at the trapped tyrant again. All three fillies stretched out their chests, making themselves appear as big as possible to Nightmare Moon. It was not hard to see that they were filled with pride over their accomplishment. Yet, the hardest task was still lying ahead of them.
Snarling, Nightmare Moon shouted up to them. “What is it that you want to do now? You have trapped me inside here, but what now? Do you want to wait until I have starved to death? Do you want to drop another pile of rocks on my head?” She grinned, still feeling victorious. “If you are going to kill me, then you will kill Luna as well!”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We're not going to kill you or Princess Luna. We don't need to.” Turning to the left, she gave the two fillies at her side a nod of approval.
Scootaloo did a step forward, then looked straight into Nightmare Moon's eyes. “Try to break free, princess! We count on you, everypony in Ponyville does!”
Confusion washed over Nightmare Moon as she heard those words. Were they trying to cheer her on? Encouraging her to get out of this pit somehow, after they were the ones trapping her? She smiled. In the end, they were nothing but fillies, after all, and now they became afraid of her wrath. They sought mercy, but it was nothing she would grant them now, after all of this.
“Your change of mind comes too late, foals!” she shouted up at them. “Once I've freed myself from this ridiculous trap of yours, you shall not receive any forgiveness from your princess, no matter how much you beg!”
“We're not talking with you!” Scootaloo shot back an answer immediately as the mare had finished her sentence. “We only talk with Princess Luna!”
“Exactly!” Apple Bloom confirmed Scootaloo's words. “Wake up, Princess Luna! We know ya still inside there! And we read everythin' about the fight ya had with ya sister. It's not too late ta fix everythin'!”
Nightmare Moon's pupils turned to slits, as the realization of what they were trying came to her.
“NO!” she yelled up at them. “You cannot free her! Luna is under my control! Since she was born, I am inside of her and now that I am free, this body will be forever mine!”
The three fillies ignored her. “Don't listen to her, Princess Luna!” Sweetie Belle continued to reach out to the mare who was the true owner of the body in the pit. “Nightmare Moon could only break free because you started hating your sister, so you need to stop hating her!”
“How?” it rang out of Nightmare Moon's throat. “How shall we do this?” Dread began to spread in Nightmare Moon as she realized that it had not been her who spoke there. For a moment, the princess she had so successfully suppressed had regained control.
“Cease this immediately!” she shouted up at the three fillies in terror. In a desperate attempt, she ignited her horn to shoot spells at them, but like before, the magic fizzled away and got absorbed by the rocks under her.
“Think on the good times with her!” Scootaloo responded to Princess Luna's question. “You didn't always hate her, think on the time before you started to hate her!”
“Your princess has told you to stop, do I always resented her!” Nightmare Moon started another attempt to intervene, but mid-sentence, Luna regained control again, interrupting the demon. The true princess looked up at her three helpers, her face scrunched in pain. Occasionally, Nightmare Moon's countenance flashed up on it.
“We resent out sister since long before the hatred started. Celestia always had the company of our mutual subjects during her bright days, but we were forced to spend the dark nights in loneliness! We became jealous on our sister and this jealousy turned into the hatred we still finally be silent as your princess commands you!” Nightmare Moon gasped as she realized that the rest of her sentence had left her mouth again, instead of just being spoken in her mind. She was back in control.
“It's not like that anymore!” Scootaloo called out to Princess Luna again. “Many ponies appreciate the night today, they enjoy staying up late! We even have a holiday that happens only at night, now!”
Down below, nothing happened. Only Nightmare Moon reared her head, but there was no sign of Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon bared her teeth at them. “Luna is gone! She will be mine forever, there is nothing you can do!”
The three fillies looked at each other, their faces adorned with doubt and worry. “You need to fight her, Princess Luna!” they shouted down into the pit in unison then. “If you return, we will introduce you to a lot of ponies who love the night! Be strong!”
For a few more, agonizing moments, nothing happened, then Luna's face flickered up. “Who?” she asked. “Go and show us one pony who truly adores the night! They all hate it!”
“Enough! You will crawl back into the depths of my mind where you belong!” Nightmare Moon's voice rang out again. She needed enormous effort now to suppress Princess Luna's mind further, it could be seen in her face.
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, then nodded.
“We do!” they shouted down into the pit, utmost conviction in their combined voices.
Feeling her mind slipping again, Nightmare Moon shot them another glare.
“Stop this, you foul children, or I will tear your little bodies apart until nothing is left of you!” Her voice had become a roar now.
Ignoring the outspoken threat, the fillies continued trying to get through to Princess Luna.
“Ya can count on us, Princess Luna!” Apple Bloom reassured. “There's nothin' that I love more than campin' with mah big sister and we always stay up late when we do!”
“And I often practice stunts with my scooter until late at night!” Scootaloo added. “I don't like scary campfire stories, but I'm not afraid of the night!”
The face of the trapped night demon below them flickered once more and Princess Luna's face appeared again, though, it was only half of it this time. The other half still showed Nightmare Moon's countenance.
“Is this true?” Princess Luna asked them, but Nightmare Moon interferred quickly before the fillies could give an answer.
“Do not pay attention to them, they are liars! No one will ever truly appreciate the night, not unless it is eternal! And I am the only one who can bring eternal night!” The voice of the nightmare was panicking now, while Princess Luna's had been of a contrasting calm.
It was a grotesque view to the three fillies, seeing only one half of the alicorn's mouth moving, depending on who was speaking. Seeing how their strategy seemed to work, finally, Sweetie Belle jumped at the chance.
“And I help my big sister with the dresses she makes! She has to take a lot of night shifts, but I don't mind staying up that long to help her. And once we're finished, we always go on a night walk to relax. It's one of my favourite things to do!”
Under them, they witnessed how more of Nightmare Moon's face got replaced with Princess Luna's.
“No, you foolish fillies, what are you doing?!” Nightmare Moon started flapping her wings, only to get instantly reminded on it that they were broken. A painful scream escaping her throat, she collapsed again.
“Please fight her, Princess Luna, you can do it!” the three fillies appealed to the Princess of the Night again. “We all love the night, all three of us, and if you want, we're going to spend it with you!”
The transformation down below continued. “Do you promise?” the unmistaken voice of Princess Luna sounded up to them.
“We promise!” they shouted in response. “We are going to spend the nights with you and we show you many more ponies who enjoy the night!”
With this last reassurance spoken, everything happened fast. Nightmare Moon's face had been reduced to a tiny fraction and also the rest of the alicorn's body began to take the shape it last had a thousand years ago. Nightmare Moon reared up, in a last, desperate attempt to stay in control, but it was too late.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” she screamed in her defeat, then the scream suddenly stopped.
At the bottom of the pit, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle saw a different mare standing now; smaller and with a lightblue mane. No helmet was on her head and instead, a small, black crown adorned it. They gasped, almost unable to believe they had really succeeded with the seemingly impossible.
Princess Luna stared up at them, her face showing a mixture of pain and relief.
Before the three fillies could pat their backs, it dawned upon them that there was still one more problem to solve. The bottom of the pit was still filled with rocks that would absorb Princess Luna's magic and they had broken her wings, so she could not fly either. Before they could really start to ponder how to solve this last problem, though, they heard a voice speaking to them, a voice that did not belong to Princess Luna.
“You have succeeded, Element Bearers!”
All of a sudden, the sun rose up into the sky and the night around them disappeared. In a white, blinding light, Princess Celestia appeared.
Apple Bloom gasped. “Princess Celestia!” She bowed down in front of the princess and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed her example.
As Princess Celestia took in the whole scene in front of her; her younger sister freed from Nightmare Moon and trapped inside a deep pit and three fillies she had never seen before standing at its edge, she gasped as well. She managed to keep her regal composure, though, for the most part.
“I sensed that Nightmare Moon got defeated, but I was expecting to see Twilight Sparkle and her new friends here, together with the Elements of Harmony.....” she spoke in curiosity as she approached the trio of fillies. “What happened?”
Scootaloo stepped forward to explain. “Our sisters and three other mares fought Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, but they failed. The Elements are shattered now and all of them got imprisoned. We wanted to rescue them, so we took on Nightmare Moon on our own!”
Princess Celestia's eyes grew wide in surprise. “Is this true?” she asked, mystified.
“Mhm!” Scootaloo nodded and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle chimed in.
Now Princess Celestia nodded, too. “This was a very brave deed, my three fillies. But I am curious, how could you defeat Nightmare Moon all by yourself?” As she had reached the edge of the pit, though, she already received part of the answer just by looking into it.
“Magic absorbers,” she said, astounded. “What a clever and unexpected thing for three filiies to use.”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo answered, proudly. “We thought we would need something to prevent Nightmare Moon from teleporting out of the pit and Sweetie Belle's big sister had just the right thing! And.....” She paused and rubbed the back of her head. “And, uh, we're sort of, kinda, uh..... had to break her wings, just a little.....”
The three of them sported a sheepish grin and a collective squeak left their throats.
Before Princess Celestia could comment on this confession, Princess Luna looked up at her. “Sister,” she whispered. Her face was hard to interpret, there was no hatred in it anymore, but neither was it true sympathy.
Unfolding her wings, Celestia glided down the pit and landed right at the side of her young sister. She lowered herself down on the ground and looked at Luna invitingly.
“Climb on my back, Luna. There is a lot we have to talk about now.”
For a moment, Princess Luna hesitated, but realizing that there was no other way for her to leave the pit, she pushed her doubts away and did as her sister had told her.”
Gentle and careful, Princess Celestia flew out of the pit again. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle approached the princess they had just saved. Instead of looking happy, their ears were dropped and there was a bit of guilt in their faces.
“We're sorry for breaking your wings, Princess Luna,” Sweetie Belle spoke out an apology on behalf of all three of them.
Now, for the first time since she had been freed of the nightmare, Princess Luna smiled. “Do not worry about this. We know it was the only way and our wings will heal. Just don't forget the promise you gave us.”
The three fillies nodded. “Don't worry, we won't forget it!” Scootaloo assured her. “Once you have recovered, princess, we will come visiting you and do what we promised!”
Princess Celestia perked her ears on this, curiously. “What promise, Luna?” But as quickly as she had asked the question, as quickly she changed her mind. “Let us talk about all of this once we are back in Canterlot. Now we have a few more things to take care of.....”
She turned at the three heroines at her side. “I think we should go and free your sisters now. And for all the things you did, you reserve a reward.”
Having spoken these words, which caused broad grins to appear in the faces of her sister's saviours, Princess Celestia began to trot away from the pit, the three fillies following her closely.
On their way into the Everfree Forest to free their sisters and their allies, Apple Bloom poked Sweetie Belle. “Hey, ya were serious earlier when ya called Scootaloo and me ya friends?”
Sweetie Belle turned around at her and nodded. “Mhm. Yeah, I was, why not? You helped me and Scootaloo to defeat Nightmare Moon so we could rescue our sisters, I think this makes us automatically friends!”
Eagerly, Scootaloo agreed with her. “Sweetie's right. We did an amazing job and we should stay together, who knows what other great things we can do!”
“Great things?” Apple Bloom asked. “Like, takin' on another villain and fightin' it?”
“Who knows..... Maybe!” Scootaloo responded, grinning. “I have a feeling if we stay together, we can do everything!”
It was only for a moment that Apple Bloom pondered this, then she nodded. “Friends,” she said. At her side, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo flashed a smile.
“Friends!” the three fillies said at the same time and brought their hooves together for a hoofbump.
Having listened to their conversation, Princess Celestia gave them a knowing smile.
.
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Great work! And nice trick they had, sometimes, the simpelst are the best.
Looking forward to the sequel
Crusaderverse?
9186536
An alternate universe where Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle defeated Nightmare Moon and became Equestria's saviors instead of the Mane Six. One of the ideas for an own universe I have.
9186594
Well...yes, I understood that, but has it been made?
9191914
Not yet, no. I added it to the pile of ideas right after I wrote this story here. I want to become a much better author first before I tackle starting my own universe.
9192179
Aw...All right. I eagerly await your unique universe, good sir.
9196902
There are people who eagerly await an own universe, by me?
9196930
Yes, yes there is. I personally, feel that the Element of Loyalty should have backfired in the first place, because I don't think that Rainbow Dash deserves to be the Element of Loyalty. I mean, it's been five years since Rainbow Dash made Scootaloo her honorary little sister and yet Rainbow Dash STILL hasn't taught Scootaloo how to fly yet. Then there was the Gilda debacle in Season 1, and the Canterlot Wedding debacle in Season 2, as well as the Lesson Zero debacle in Season 2, and knocking Fluttershy off of that cloud and to her should-have-been death in the race to defend Fluttershy's honor in Flight Camp, and abandoning Gilda when she dropped out of Flight Camp, etc.
That was fantastic! Please make more of this Crusaderverse
9399687
Thanks for the comment and the fave.^^ I was in a rather bad mental condition when I wrote this, so it's not on my best level of writing. It's rushed, many of the dialogues are too unoriginal and boring and I'm not completely convinced of their strategy to defeat Nightmare Moon..... which might be because it is so rushed and not fleshed out enough.
I will probably write this scenario again in a better and longer form once I go and create this universe, but I'm glad you could still find some enjoyment in the story that gave birth to the idea for it.
A little silly the second part but I guess it will do, I wonder if they could do the same with Discord or King Sombra
9980900
They deceive Nightmare Moon with Sweetie pretending to be on her side, nullify her magic with magic-absorbing rocks, break her wings to keep her from flying and then help Luna to regain control of her body by encouraging her and lifting her spirits.
What exactly do you perceive as silly about this?
9980910
I guess more that silly is simple, and I'm surprised that Nightmare failed to that or that a group of fillies managed to not only make the plan but do it and Nightmare being defeated by it, I guess I was thinking Nightmare Moon could be more intelligent or something, or that she only need three fillies talking to Luna for her hold to disappear, not to say how they discovered about WHO is Luna and all that in a couple of hours
9980946
You should put more trust and faith in foals. Your perception of the second part being silly stems from it that you consider it as hardly possible that three fillies can do something like this, outsmarting and defeating a powerful tyrant like that. Children can be very strong, reliable and smart and they are capable of more things than what human society gives them credit for. Especially in Equestria.
9981000
I don't say it can't be, I for one know another similar story... I guess they can do it, but somehow it feels as if a big group of coincidences sometimes
9981373
Hardly a coincidence when they came up with the plan all by themselves and organized themselves everything they needed to execute it.
9981525
A coincidence that Nightmare decided to trust a filly or not just knock her for disturb her, or that she had fallen to the pit instead of evade, or they had the anti-magic, or that Nightmare could not get the hits in her wings like nothing or overpower the crystals with alicorn magic, or another coincidence that they managed to release the hold of Nightmare in Luna, if not, things could had gone bad
9981554
Calling everything that children manage to accomplish without the help of adults a "coincidence" is a horribly belittling thing to do.
That was a good story.
11053343
Thank you!