Episode 4: Shadow Games
Long ago in a distant land, I, Nightmare Moon, the shape shifting mistress of darkness unleashed a never-ending night! But, a foalish pony warrior, wielding a magic stone stepped forth to oppose me! Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung her into the future, where my darkness is law! Now the foal seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Nightmare Moon!
Samurai Twilight
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro studios
Samurai Jack belongs to Cartoon Network
Episode 4: Shadow Games
Nightmare Moon, the Mistress of Misfortune, the Dealer of Darkness and Queen of Calamity, the bringer of night, commander of the multitudinous shadow armies, who singlehoofedly wiped out the gibbering hordes of feralbeasts and brought the world to its knees, had met her match.
She sat glowering on her ebon throne, very purposefully not looking in the direction of her frustrating but worthy foe. In turn, her enemy, at this point lucky to not have been blasted into its constituent atoms, stood on a simple stand, displaying a test pattern. For the better part of an hour, the widescreen television had resisted all efforts to be properly integrated into the throne room’s scrying pool.
A six legged half-pony mare entered the room from one of the many discreet side passages usually used by servants. A former club dancer going by the stage name ‘Spanglehoof’, her given name was in actuality Moondancer, and she carried a large bowl of popcorn in with her. She frowned when she saw the test pattern on the screen.
“Still haven’t gotten it to work?” She set the bowl down and went around behind the screen. After a few moments of muffled grunting and swearing she clicked something into place, and the test pattern vanished, to be replaced by a blurred, indistinct image.
Nightmare Moon sat up in surprise. “How did you do that?”
Moondancer carefully shuffled her six legs around a stool and sat down on it. “You had the cables plugged in backwards.”
“Which-“
“All of them.” The half-pony mare picked up a remote with one hoof and pushed a few buttons on it with another. The picture quality adamantly refused to improve, however, so she turned to the alicorn on the throne and shrugged.
Nightmare Moon grumbled under her breath threateningly but sharpened the image with a burst of magic. Moondancer had shown up in her palace one day to deliver news of one of Nightmare Moon’s greatest foe’s return, and had stuck around ever since. Technically the Queen of Calamity hadn’t dismissed her yet, and the sheer audacity required to hang around the palace of the most powerful being on the planet, treating it like one’s own home was impressive to say the least. For now she was tolerated, and given run of most of the palace. Besides, her presence served as a distraction from the humiliating loss of a drone swarm days earlier. Nightmare Moon reassured herself that she was still in control of her life and turned her attention to the screen.
Moondancer was flipping through various locations in the world as if she were surfing television channels, passing scenes of incredible devastation, awe-inspiring landscapes, bustling cities and a monkey scratching itself. Nightmare Moon snorted in irritation and levitated the remote away from her. The mortal mare grumbled, but let the goddess have her way.
A scene that flashed by caused her to stop abruptly and choke with rage. Flipping back through channels she found the sight of two ponies walking along a dirt road, a purple unicorn and an orange earth pony. The Dealer of Darkness clenched her teeth and growled before suddenly becoming calm. With a malicious grin she brought a communicator up from behind the throne. “Now that I know where those pretentious little FOALS are, I can send them a greeting party!”
Moondancer stuffed a hooffull of popcorn into her mouth and turned up the volume.
“Ok, so no secret identities or uniforms, but how ‘bout a team name? Somethin’ cool ta make us sound inspirin’!” Applejack had become temporarily lost in a world of ideas, and failed to notice Twilight’s exasperated stare. “An’ to intimidate our enemies!”
“I really, really don’t think that’s necessary.” Twilight had hoped that Applejack’s enthusiasm for the idea of being wandering fighters for good would be sated by action, but for the past few days they had been left with nothing to do but walk and talk, and the earth pony could do both without tiring.
“Ah suppose yer right.” Applejack didn’t look completely convinced. “Better ta’ let our actions speak fer themselves, right?”
“Something like that.” Twilight rolled her eyes and continued walking. A distant rumble from overhead caught her attention, and she looked up. High above her a dark triangular shape flew through the sky, a white trail of vapor behind it. As it passed overhead an oblong bundle detached from its underside and began to fall. The two ponies scrambled backwards as the teardrop shaped metal thing slammed into the ground at rock-shattering speeds, throwing up a huge cloud of debris.
As the dust settled, the object unfolded like a sinister metallic flower bud and a massive humanoid figure easily twice the height of a pony encased in heavy plates of ceramic and metal armor stomped out. It unslung a thick-barreled rifle from behind its back and spoke in a loud voice distorted by a speaker grille. “ARE YOU THE PONY KNOWN AS TWILIGHT SPARKLE?”
Twilight winced and nodded. The figure turned to Applejack. “AND ARE YOU THE PONY KNOWN AS APPLEJACK?”
Applejack grinned despite the pain from the giant’s loud voice. “I shore am!” She turned to Twilight. “Told ya we shoulda come up with a team name by now, then he’d only have ta ask once!”
The armored figure hefted his gun. “I HAVE BEEN SENT BY NIGHTMARE MOON TO BRING AN END TO THE PETTY ANNOYANCE YOU HAVE CAUSED HER.” He took aim at Applejack. “PREPARE TO BE-“
He was cut off as Twilight ripped the gun from his hands with her telekinesis and smacked him in the face with it. Applejack turned around and bucked him hard in the groin, causing a raucous clang when her hooves collided with his armor. The giant laughed. “YOUR PETTY ATTACKS CANNOT-“
Twilight interrupted him again by swinging the gun in a wide arc to strike the side of his helmet with a resounding crash. She continued to hit him, ringing his suit like a badly tuned bell. He groaned and staggered, giving Applejack the opportunity to join in by kicking him in rapid succession. The armored man fell back under the assault, retreating into his drop pod. With a final incoherent shout he closed it up around himself, locking his assailants out.
Applejack and Twilight stared at the metal pod for a moment, and then looked at each other. They both started to giggle, then nearly fell over as the laughter overtook them. After a moment to regain their composure, they continued down the road.
Nightmare Moon seethed with rage upon her throne, cursing the mercenary’s incompetence. The pitiful foal, allowing himself to be defeated so easily! She was definitely never going to hire him again. Moondancer tossed a kernel of popcorn up into the air, and before she could catch it in her mouth the Mistress of Misfortune had snatched it away, chewing on it as if she had a personal grudge.
“Send in the next bounty hunter!”
Applejack and Twilight had made little progress down the road before they were interrupted again, this time by a crackle of energy and five bright lights flashing into existence before winking out just as quickly as they had appeared. In their wake they left five humanoid creatures in brightly colored matching bodysuits riding atop hovering vehicles. There was a strange, flimsy quality about the vehicles, as well as the helmets they wore, almost as if they had been made from cheap material solely for the purpose of appearances.
The five figures leapt from their mechanical mounts and struck ridiculous poses, forming up behind the one in red, who put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. The ones in pink and yellow crouched beside him, arms pointing up in the air, and the two in green and blue leaned out from behind the one in red, arms pointing outward. Both ponies stared at them blankly.
The figure in red was the first to break the silence. “We are Wonder Team Phantom Five! The most elite team of bounty hunters in all the world!” He continued to boast of his and the team’s accomplishments, while Applejack turned to Twilight.
“See, ah told ya we need a team name. These guys have one!” She nodded to the one in red, ostensibly the leader. “But this one shore does need ta SHUT UP!” She punctuated the last words with a swift kick to the man’s groin. He doubled over and fell to the ground with a whimper. “Seriously sugar cube, you talk too much.”
The man in yellow leapt forward. “How dare you assault our leader while he was giving his speech!”
Any further objections were flattened as Twilight lifted the woman in pink and used her as a bludgeon to knock him over. The unicorn dropped the girl into a tangled heap with the yellow warrior and turned in time to see Applejack kick one of the vehicles into the man in green, bowling him over and wreaking the machine. The last of the team, a thin man in blue, looked at his fallen comrades and then up at the two ponies who had effortlessly defeated them. A dark stain spread across his pants, and both ponies grimaced.
“If ya sit down real quiet like an’ don’t git up until ya can’t see us no more we might let ya off with just losin’ yer dignity.” Applejack winked to the humiliated warrior. He complied, and shuddered as the pair walked by him and down the road.
Applejack managed to hold her laughter back long enough to make a dignified exit before breaking down into hearty guffaws. Twilight wasn’t quite as amused, but chuckled nonetheless.
Nightmare Moon had switched from swearing under her breath to beating her head against the wall in frustration sometime during the extremely one-sided fight, which left Moondancer in control of the royal hotline to anything-the-glorious-monarch-may-desire. She had already ordered a pizza, two containers of ice cream and an old Equestrian romantic comedy. As an afterthought she hired another mercenary to go after Twilight Sparkle. It would provide some entertainment while she waited for the rest of her order to arrive.
From the vantage point of a smooth hilltop crested by the road Applejack and Twilight could see a small town, little more than a handful of buildings surrounded by a wall built up around a crossroads. It was still some ways off, but if they kept up a reasonable pace they could reach it by sundown. Twilight doubted they would make it without interruption, two spontaneous bounty hunter attacks in such a short time was highly suspect.
She was proven correct when she suddenly found herself nose to nose with what could only be described as a rat man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was grinning from ear to ear, revealing a mouth full of yellowed, pointy teeth, and his eyes had a manic light to them. He began to chuckle, mad giggles spasming past his lips.
Twilight backed away nervously. “Um, can I help you…?”
“Look out, Twi!” Applejack shouted as the rat man brought up a pair of crossbows held in his fleshy forepaws. Twilight leapt to the side and scrambled for the scant cover provided by a convenient shrub. Applejack dove the other way and hid behind a half-buried boulder.
The rat man unleashed a storm of needle thin darts from his weapons, his insane laughter and constant twitching reducing his aim to abysmal at best. This didn’t seem to bother him at all; on the contrary, his lack of success seemed to drive him to greater spasms of uncontrolled firing.
From the relative safety of her hiding place, Applejack called out to Twilight. “What’re we gonna do ‘bout this one, Twi?”
“I’m open to suggestions!” Twilight cringed as a dart rattled the brush in front of her.
The hail of darts ceased abruptly, and the rat man spoke in a high-pitched squeak. “Aha! I’ve caught you now! Can’t get away from me so easily this time!”
Twilight cautiously pushed a branch aside and peered out at her assailant. He was staring down the end of his nose, gripping his whiskers with a shaking paw. His comments seemed to be directed at his own snout, rather than either of the ponies. His face twitched and his eyes bulged slightly, confirming Twilight’s suspicions that he was completely and utterly insane.
“I know you’ve been following me! I’ve seen it, out of the corner of my eyes! And now I’ve finally caught you in the act!” He giggled and hopped from one foot to the other. “Caught you caught you caught you, heheheheheHEHEHEHEEEEEEE!” His laughter rose to an excited squeal and he started to dance.
Twilight leaned out from behind the bush and nodded to Applejack who was peeking over the rock she had hidden behind. They quietly snuck off, leaving the gleeful rat alone with his whiskers. Once they were a safe distance away Applejack let out a nervous laugh. “Ah thought we weren’t gonna make it for a moment back there. Good thing that rat feller had such a case ‘o the crazies.”
“Yeah…” Twilight frowned in consternation. “But all these attacks so quickly has me worried.”
“Ya mean it’s not normal?” Applejack tilted her head. “Ah kinda figured it came with the whole travelin’ hero deal.”
“Not usually.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s not like I have a whole lot of experience with this, but I’m pretty sure these events are anomalous.”
“Huh, well, Ah am enjoyin’ mahself today, but Ah suppose it’d get ta be annoyin’ after a while.” Applejack shrugged and continued on “We’d best be getting’ a move on if we want ta reach that town by nightfall.”
“Right.” Twilight glanced at the setting sun, keenly aware that Nightmare Moon must be the one behind the assassins. They had avoided trouble for the most part up until now, but it seemed that their enemy had caught up to them at last. She desperately hoped she had the strength to defeat the empress of night a second time.
Nightmare Moon turned away from the sizeable dent she had worn in the palace wall and glared at the pizza delivery robot. It had not been programmed with the capacity for fear, but it was feeling it nonetheless. Moondancer came to its rescue, accepting the pizza from its outstretched hands and tipping generously with money she had appropriated from the treasury. Nightmare Moon transferred her terrible gaze to the six legged half-pony, but it was ignored in favor of scarfing down the first slice.
In swift progression more couriers arrived, bearing ice cream, a selection of lavishly jeweled spoons and a carefully preserved movie disc from Equestria’s history. Nightmare Moon passed annoyance, frustration and into acceptance as quickly as they entered, deposited their deliveries and left. She took a seat on her throne and levitated a tub of ice cream and a slice of pizza from where Moondancer had left them. She had barely taken a bit of the pizza when she saw the latest mercenary ignore his targets in favor of shouting at his own whiskers.
Moondancer dove to save the ice cream as it fell to the floor, abandoned by Nightmare Moon as she teleported from the room.
Applejack and Twilight looked up at the sky in consternation as dark clouds heavy with the promise of doom rolled in, crashing in to one another with inexorable force. Purple lightning shot between them and waves of thunder crashed over them like waves breaking on a cliff. A vast swath of the sky vanished, replaced by a black void of starless night. As the light faded in the face of this behemoth shadow, the land itself seemed to shrink back, trees and hills crouching low as if to avoid this doom. The rolling night finally opened wide enough to reveal the cold, pale face of the moon, the dead light it shed only serving to highlight the darkness and deepen the shadows.
This ominous showing was only the prelude to the main event however, as the clouds were torn apart, rent by some invisible hand, or hoof. It was from these gaping wounds in the sky that a liquid shade flowed, twisting and undulating into patters that made the eyes ache and the mind recoil in horror. Great drops like tar splashed to the ground and oozed together, flowing up into the shape of a tall and stately mare, both horned and winged; her form so dark it could only be seen as a void against all else. Two eyes, pupils slitted like those of a great dragon’s, irises a green deeper than the purest emeralds flicked open contemptuously, daring the world to show the least bit of ingratitude for the privilege of being beheld by their cruel gaze.
As her ebon form gained definition, Nightmare Moon, the Mistress of Misfortune, the Dealer of Darkness, the Queen of Calamity, addressed the unicorn who stood defiantly before her. “FOALISH pony warrior! For too long you have been a irritant to my otherwise-“ She was interrupted by Applejack clearing her throat. She turned to glare at the earth pony. “What.”
“Howdy, mah name’s Applejack.” Said Applejack.
“I know who you are.” Nightmare Moon turned back to Twilight. “As I was saying- FOALISH-“
“Ah just wanted ta make sure Ah’m gettin’ the recognition Ah deserve.” Applejack interrupted again.
Nightmare Moon seethed. “If you are quite done…”
“Ah’m a member of the Apple family, in case ya couldn’t tell.” The earth pony continued unabashed. “You know, the last group ‘a ponies to stand against ya.”
“I am well aware of-“
“An’ who kicked the collective flank of yer robot army with some timely assistance from Twilight Sparkle.” Applejack seemed partially oblivious to everything around her as she spoke. “An’ now we’ve beaten yer goons an’ you have no choice but ta take care o’ things yerself!” She grinned cheekily. “Oh yeah, an’ Ah’m bein’ a distraction.”
“WHAT?!” Nightmare Moon whirled, suddenly acutely aware she had lost track of the other pony. A burst of magic from above caught her attention, and she looked up to see that Twilight had teleported high up into the air, and was now falling towards her.
The unicorn had her elemental stone out and levitated in front of her, magic flowing through it to form a triangular blade of radiant golden light around her. She charged straight down at Nightmare Moon, running as if the air beneath her hooves was solid ground. With a cruel laugh, the dark goddess swatted Twilight aside with contemptuous ease, sending her crashing to the ground amidst the shards of her failed spell. Applejack leapt forward to attack, but her kick collided with what felt like a stone wall, her hooves clashing against a shimmering barrier.
“FOALS!” Nightmare Moon reared triumphantly. “I have not spent the past thousand years idle! I have been exploiting this world’s resources and gathering power! While you skipped the years and did not change, I have only become stronger! You have no hope of victory now, especially since you lack the other Elements of Harmony!”
Twilight’s ears perked up. That sounded familiar, and incredibly important. If she could get Nightmare Moon to divulge more information, then perhaps she could counter the gap in power. Of course they key was to keep her talking without giving away the fact that she didn’t know what she was talking about. Twilight gritted her teeth and threw herself at winged unicorn, conjuring spears of light. “Maybe we do have them, and we’re just holding back! Did you consider that?”
Nightmare Moon snorted. “Oh yes, the two of you went out and retrieved all five of the missing Elements in the past week. Pull the other leg, it has bells on.” She brought a guillotine blade of shadow down on Twilight’s spears, shattering them and causing the unicorn to run into the flat of the blade face-first.
Applejack tried another kick, but Nightmare Moon seemed to be able to block them without even trying. “Ah’m just wastin’ mah time, aren’t Ah?”
“Indeed you are, FOAL! Your paltry strength is nothing before me!” Flicking her tail like a shadowy whip, she flung the earth pony away. “No mere physical attack can harm me!”
“...only the powerful light magic of the Elements can.” Twilight said, shaking dirt from her mane as she stood. “And that’s why,” She created a suit of armor from magic around herself. “You’ve been avoiding letting my touch you. Because for all your power there’s still something greater!” She charged straight at Nightmare Moon, horn glowing as she readied another spell.
Nightmare Moon threw a wall of dark spines between herself and Twilight, wicked thorns the size of sword blades. With a brief flash, the young unicorn vanished, and reappeared behind her opponent. Charging forward again, she closed the distance between them faster than any spell could be cast. Nightmare Moon’s body shifted, flowing around Twilight in an attempt to avoid coming in contact with the glowing armor that surrounded her. The purple unicorn relaxed her control on the magic, and the protective barriers flew outward with a crack of thunder. The fel goddess howled in pain as beams of light lanced through her.
Swirling into the air on a column of darkness, Nightmare Moon’s rage boiled through the air. Great bolts of purple lightning arced from her horn to scorch the ground and shatter stones, throwing around clouds of dangerous debris. “FOALS! THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH! I SHALL FINISH YOU, AND RID MY EQUESTRIA OF YOUR PRESENCE!” A shard of darkness so pure it glowed with negative light began to form at the tip of her horn; a spell so intense that it created a howling maelstrom of power around it. The wind whipped at Applejack and Twilight’s hair, tugging at them as if to draw them in.
“THIS ENDS HERE!” The fragment of power cracked, and the crack continued into the air around it, a tortured shriek accompanying it. “BEHOLD THE WRATH OF THE PIT OF HATE!” A wave of silence rang out, washing out all sound as a pulsing mass of warped magic burst forth, half-formed eyes filled with gibbering mouths sliding into view before vanishing as quickly as they came. Great jagged pillars of shadow stabbed down to the ground before exploding, tearing deep rents in the earth. Blasts of lightning and spheres of balefire filled the air, falling in a deadly hail.
The spell exhausted itself, and Nightmare Moon looked down on the ruined land beneath her. A smoking tableau of craters and ash, she nodded in satisfaction. Nopony could have survived that, even with the protection afforded by one of the Elements of Harmony. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to check.
She was distracted by a discreet ring of phantom chimes in her ears, the sound of one of her underlings contacting her. Turning away from the destruction she had wrought, she opened a window of magic through which she could see a bespectacled, pale human man, his frail body supported by a mechanical harness. He spoke haltingly. “Ah, my mistress, I have called, you because of an important, yes, an important matter.”
“Get on with it.” Nightmare Moon said. “I don’t have time to listen to your prattling, Schreber.”
“Ah, yes, yes my mistress.” The man adjusted his spectacles. “There has been, a breakthrough in our most ambitious, our most ambitious project.” He allowed a faint smile to cross his face. “I believe, you may wish, to see it for, yourself.”
A final glance down at the ground confirmed that nothing appeared to be moving. “Very well then.” The Mistress of Misfortune’s horn glowed as she prepared to leave. “My business is finished here anyways.”
It was some time before anything stirred within the area devastated by Nightmare Moon’s power. A soot covered pony’s head emerged from one of the deeper craters, accompanied by a loud chorus of coughs. Shaking dust and ash from her mane, she groaned and hauled herself over the crater’s lip.
“Are we dead yet?” she moaned.
“That” a voice replied from below “is a distinct possibility.”
Applejack sighed and stuck a hoof back down into the crater. Twilight reached up and took hold of the proffered leg, and tried to climb up. The earth pony slid along the loose ground and back over the edge of the crater, dropping down onto her unicorn friend. They lay in the cloud of debris kicked up by their fall, coughing and sneezing.
“Maybe we should just try later.” Twilight said.
Next time, on Samurai Twilight:
The rush of wind in her mane, the blood singing in her veins, truly, this was what it meant to be alive. If only she could bottle that feeling, and hold on to it forever. Or maybe sell it at a good price. Yeah, that could work…
A flash of light and the crack of an ionized bolt shooting past her broke her from her reverie, reminding her that she really ought to get a move on. The Hunt waited for nothing, once it was started, you ran, and you didn’t stop if you wanted to hold on to that sensation of living…
Episode 5: The Hunt
A/N: Hey everypony, sorry this chapter took me so long. My computer completely died on me, forcing me to use a much less reliable backup. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and get chapter 5 out soon. Thanks for reading!
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I like how incompetent the mercs were =D Keep up the good work!
♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪
You inspire me to continue my fanfic! too bad im not that good at writing xD
2879
Wow, I'm glad to hear I've inspired someone! Don't worry if your writing needs improvement, it takes practice and time, and you'll learn a lot by trying. Keep at it, and never give up!
I never watched Samurai Jack, but this is just magnetizing. Amazing. More synonyms for awesome.
3745
I really don't know how I did that, or how it made it past my prereaders. Not to worry Apple Bloom, your name has been corrected!
5 Star rating from 10 people? I have good hopes for this!
I'm guessing with that level of incompetence, it was either a Pretty Marine or a Lamentor.
Woot loving this, was that last merc Twitch for lol?