19- The Nemesis of All
The rain began to pick up outside, clattering along the ground in buckets as the storm raged on, but for a single moment, all inside the great castle's throne room was still. Two swords were held at the ready by two knights of oblivion and platinum, facing with eyes locked. Two souls: one a fearsome, terrible demon, corrupted by the vast power she commanded, the other a mortal who rejected power for her humanity. One fought with overbearing strength and the other with precision and grace. One sought revenge, the other reparation. One wrought destruction, the other restoration.
Two souls, each one the fundamental antithesis of the other.
Two souls that could not hope to coexist peacefully.
The moment passed, and they collided.
Nightmare Moon launched into a dashing attack too swift for Celestia to evade. With her sword fully outstretched, the wicked demon knight glided across the floor of the throne room with a mighty flap of her wings, creating a single stinging point with which to catch her target in the next second. The movement was a blur, but Celestia rotated her wrists, pushing on one end of her sword's handle and pulling on the other, swiping her blade around in a quick, determined motion.
She braced herself, absorbing all of Nightmare Moon's momentum as their swords slid to a halt against each other. Celestia couldn't match the raw physical strength of her corrupted sister, but the angle and point at which their blades touched offered her a far greater balance advantage. On top of that, she kept her back stable and upright, offering herself more than enough rotation to force Nightmare Moon away, who conversely leaned far too strongly into her attack.
The demon's giant sword shifted away, but quickly cut back around for more. Celestia met a horizontal strike with a perfectly vertical block, and while she recoiled, Nightmare Moon circled her weapon behind her and swung it again from the opposite side. With less than a second of delay, Celestia leaned back and watched the blade pass over her, seeing her own tense face in its reflection before arching her back further and catching her balance on a hand.
Putting all of her weight there, she pulled her sword in flat towards her chest and let her feet leave the ground while firing off both of her boot mounted pistols. A curved line of bullets shot up at Nightmare Moon following the radius made by Celestia's feet, blasting her damaged chest plate and exposed face as the elder sister performed her evasive technique. Maintaining her flow, Celestia pushed off the ground, launching into an aerial flip that landed her outside of her younger sister's reach.
The bullets in her face of minimal concern, Nightmare Moon quickly refocused on Celestia. She began to imbue her immense power into her weapon, causing it to radiate with bright blue magic as she watched her sister come back into a fighting stance.
Something Celestia noticed in that moment was Nightmare Moon's sword. Its surface was a metallic grey color, not pitch black. The handle was familiar, a long two handed grip with a moon shaped crossguard, but it had a curve in it that didn't line up with its oversized blade. The reason was obvious, Celestia figured that Nightmare Moon's original sword got damaged somehow, and she had a new blade put on the old handle. This was, however, a glaring point of weakness—Celestia's smaller sword had superior balance.
"May I ask what happened to your sword, sister?" Celestia kept her tone flat as she studied Nightmare Moon's movements. After the brief sword exchange, the two were eyeing each other up, trying to predict what the other might do next.
"I have been using it," she replied, her voice filing the room despite only answering a simple question. "Unlike yours, whose blade is now shaper than its wielder."
"I think you'll find I still have my edge."
With a grunt of exertion, Nightmare Moon charged forward again and as she swung her sword the magic within trailed behind it, leaving a scorching hot path wherever the blade was led. Opting to lean and step out of the way, Celestia's hair was blown back, the heated air quickly dispersing in her face as she waited for her moment to counter.
An angled downward slice came in and Celestia mirrored the cut, meeting her sword at a tight angle, Celestia's strong end right in the center of Nightmare Moon's, and with the same downward momentum. The opposing forces shoved their swords away, each of them recoiling with their arms high over their heads, and then again they brought them down in the same way.
The sword clashes were loud, ringing, and distinct, the magical heat from Nightmare Moon's weapon blowing both of their hair back as they repeated these heavy strikes, waiting for the other to slip up. It was a game of strength, who could apply the most in the right spot. There was something else though, Celestia saw Nightmare Moon's blade edge very gradually chipping away under the repeated blows. Perhaps its integrity wasn't up to par, and with the right amount of force it could be broken.
One more time, Celestia hammered down on the flat of her sister's blade, finally forcing the weapon down towards the floor. A long scrape was put in it, and the magical charge contained within it escaped, bursting out in a flash of color as its wielder was left open to attack. Celestia swung down on her hard, biting into the demon's already dented shoulder armor and breaking through it, digging against the chainmail beneath. Another blow opened up a portion of Nightmare Moon's body armor, Celestia's ancient blade forcing apart the plating on her side with raw impact force.
Fighting an armored opponent with a cutting weapon was normally ill-advised, but Celestia was not using it to cut. All the sword's magic did in this state was increase its durability and amplify its force so when Celestia applied it correctly it became a semi-effective clubbing weapon.
Nightmare Moon staggered back as her armor sustained more damage, severely thrown off balance, but she held a gauntleted hand up as Celestia stabbed for the hole in her breastplate, catching the smaller weapon by the blade. Shifting her other shoulder forward, Celestia took one hand from her grip and punched one of her handguns through the broken steel instead.
Stunned, Nightmare Moon recoiled repeatedly in place as her older sister filled her chest with bullets, her pride scarred as she was subjected to direct damage from the most trivial of weapons. Breaking free of her daze, her hand released Celestia's sword, then closed into a fist again as she whipped her arm forward into a punch.
Celestia couldn't avoid the hit, the impact sent her back and spun her vision, but she caught herself at the foot of a staircase leading up to an interior balcony overlooking the thrones. The path circled around into another staircase going down along the throne room's opposite wall, the gap between them containing the stairs that led out of the throne room entirely.
Stepping back to retreat up the stairs, Celestia felt her body weaken. That one hit took a lot out of her. Stumbling, she watched Nightmare Moon stride forward. Even if she could match her in strength and speed, follow every move and attack at every opportunity, Celestia simply couldn't take a hit like her wicked sister could. Any slip up worse than the one she just made might spell her end. No less than perfection would do.
Magic pulsed around Nightmare Moon, and several dozen swords of blue light appeared in the air behind her, each one pointed at the same target. Now forced to keep moving, Celestia turned and ran up the steps, weaving around the swords as they came flying at her and stuck into the stairs near her feet. Nightmare Moon kept her steady walking pace, effortlessly pressing the assault of summoned swords.
With a flap of her wings, Nightmare Moon leapt from the bottom of the staircase, landing just behind Celestia as she reached the top. Turning to face her, Celestia barely stopped the demon's sword from taking her shoulder off, blocking at a less than ideal angle. Both hands on her sword, she did her best to meet the demon blade to blade, but found herself struggling to wield her blade with the same flawlessness as before. She was giving up much more ground as Nightmare Moon kept her attack up, constantly readjusting her footing just to not get knocked over by every attack.
A malicious grin formed on Nightmare Moon's face as she sensed Celestia's resistance was beginning to fade. Her older sister sidestepped out of the way of one swing and redirected another, but avoided a locking blades completely. She was gradually wearing out, but the power of the Sister of Light combined with her own gave Nightmare Moon the energy to keep fighting through any injury. A well placed whack against Celestia's sword, and Nightmare Moon nearly dropped her to the floor. As Celestia stumbled, Nightmare Moon reached out a hand and caught her by the head.
"What ails you, dearest sister? Do you grow tired?" Her grin widened, splitting across her face as she held Celestia high over her and proceeded to slam her into the ground at her feet. "Perhaps you should lie down!"
Celestia's back ached from the impact and all of the breath was ejected from her lungs. She lost her grip on her sword, only able to focus on keeping her eyes open.
"Lie down and rest..." Above her, Celestia saw her sister towering over her, huge sword raised with its blade pointed down, moments away from nailing her to the floor. "Rest for eternity!"
Taking in a deep breath, she wriggled in place, generating enough force to roll herself just as the sword pierced through the floor. Letting the breath out, she twisted herself up to her feet, summoning her pistols as Nightmare Moon reclaimed her weapon.
With all her might, she kicked into the demon, firing off her bootgun and knocking her away from the sword. Nightmare Moon's magic pulsed again, forgoing the sword completely. She surrounded herself with summoned swords orbiting her body as her feet carried her forward into another punch. Her size forced her to punch down, and Celestia was able to jump to the side and pelt her with more bullets.
Each of the summoned swords around Nightmare Moon's body was an obstacle for Celestia to follow, spreading her already fleeting focus thin as she moved around the oncoming punches and kicks. She got shots in wherever she could, but the damage done just wasn't enough. The demon's magic pulsed again, and from above her shoulders two sweeping heat beams swiped across the ground in alternating rhythm with her physical attacks. They tracked in directions opposite of her movement, creating even more narrow pockets of space for Celestia to dodge through.
Nightmare Moon threw out a high roundhouse kick as Celestia jumped over a beam attack, hoping to catch her in the air, but Celestia brought her legs in close to her chest and kicked her feet off of the demon's leg. Nightmare Moon's balance was disrupted, and Celestia catapulted over her head, landing behind her to take her sword back.
As soon as it was in her hands, more summoned light swords streaked at her, and she was forced to pivot in place and cut through them as they came. Nightmare Moon approached slowly, firing sword after sword with no needed physical input, and then fired her heat beams at Celestia as well. She angled them purposefully, stopping any kind of approach Celestia might make while also forcing the weakening demon hunter to dance and jump through even more flaming hoops.
It was too much, Celestia couldn't keep this up for much longer. She needed something to give her an out, but the only thing she could see was Nightmare Moon's approaching form. There, though, between them was Nightmare Moon's oversized greatsword, sticking up from the ground with its crossguard level with her chest. A last-ditch plan occurred in her mind and she jumped for it, ducking behind it and finding that it stopped all of its owner's projectiles. She then put her own sword away, and with both hands, pulled the incredibly massive weapon free and did her best to steadily ready it before herself.
"Ridiculous," Nightmare Moon said, ceasing her other attacks to create a black sphere of dense energy between her palms, crackling with unfiltered power, adding more and more to it until its diameter grew wide as her shoulders. A condescending look in her eyes, Nightmare Moon thrust her palm forward, forcing incredible velocity upon it as it rocketed forth to smite her sister. As the tightly packed sphere of lightless magic grew close, Celestia braced herself.
With great effort, Celestia heaved the demon sword around in an arc, cutting into the energy sphere right before it hit her. She didn't stop its motion though, it kept pressing against the sword, violent sparks of arcane power igniting against each other while Celestia struggled to keep the blade steady. Her entire body shaking, she gave everything she could to keep the rapidly vibrating sword held in place, her injured back and shoulders screaming out for her to give in, accept this loss so her struggle could end, but she refused. Slowly, the sphere began to shrink, the demon sword was absorbing its power, but as the glowing power radiated through it, it started to smolder and bend. It couldn't handle the energy, and in a ear-shattering blast of light and heat, it gave out.
The explosion coincided with lightning outside. Nightmare Moon's oversized weapon finally shattered into a million tiny fragments, the sudden decompression of immeasurable power launching its handle back towards the thrones and Celestia along with it. She landed painfully on her face in the floor's central circle, her own sword and firearms scattering too far away to reach as she failed to right herself. A swarm of light swords appeared directly above her, hanging down and ready to drop. More appeared in an orbiting ring around her, honing in on her body as they too prepared to strike.
Nightmare Moon jumped to Celestia's level, gazing triumphantly upon her sister defeated.
"Hark, 'Tia!" Victorious, Nightmare Moon bellowed in diabolical excitement, revelling in seeing Celestia on her hands and knees. "Raise thine eyes and gaze upon her who truly is the greater of sisters! Or perhaps thou wouldst prefer'th a mirror? To gaze upon the face of the littl'r one?"
Celestia weakly rose her head, tired beyond belief and sore all over. "You don't want this..."
"Nay. I do." At that, the dozens of light swords surrounding Celestia all fell in at the exact same time, slicing and tearing and piercing her skin, but none of them actively striking through her. She cried out, writhing in pain as a hundred cuts opened on her arms, legs and back, shredding her clothes to pieces in the process. The swords stuck up out of the ground, pinning her in place, rendering her unable to move without the threat of further lacerating herself. "For sentencing me to a thousand years of isolation, to see you suffer is indeed the only thing I desire..."
Blood began to dampen her skin as Celestia fidgeted, trying to hold still while her senses were constantly under assault. As Nightmare Moon finally stood over her, the summoned swords faded, and immediately she felt the demon's rough hand lifting her to her feet.
"We were supposed to protect this world," Celestia managed, her throat becoming tight. "Our powers were meant to be used together..."
"But you rejected yours!" Nightmare Moon's heat beams fired off into Celestia's front, searing across her stomach in a crossed pattern. Her bare skin sizzled to the scorching thin flame slowly dragging across her body, but as her reflexes forced her to convulse in pain, she was held still by her sister's inhuman hand. It was unbearable, and Celestia screamed out again. "Speak not to me about intention when you purposefully betrayed it!"
"You threatened our balance..." Celestia replied through fast, painful breaths. Another pair of burning cuts were made across Celestia's back, and after forcing her to remain beneath the flesh-melting rays, Nightmare Moon allowed her to collapse. "Ngh... You threatened the world!"
"Indeed, you did nothing until I forced your hand!" When Celestia tried to move, Nightmare Moon's heavy metal boot came down hard on her back, crushing her into the floor until she was still. "And delivered now is your only reward. Watch as the world you love crumbles by the hand of the sister you never did!"
Through the excruciating pain, Celestia felt a wave of disbelief strike her over the head like a warhammer. Never did? No, she had always loved her sister. When things were easy, when things were tough, when they saved the world together and when they lived in peace. The love for the only family Celestia had left is what drove her every action, even when she had to be banished. Especially when she had to be banished. Even now as a twisted, horrifying monster, Celestia still had nothing but love in her heart for her dearest, little sister.
"I... always... loved you."
"LIAR!" Nightmare Moon stomped against Celestia again, a pained resentment in her voice as some chord was stuck within her. She was no longer gloating of her victory, now instead taking out anger on her defeated opponent. "If not a liar, then a fool! Your negligence was evident enough, in failure as both guardian and sibling!"
Being taken tightly by the neck, Celestia was lifted up to meet Nightmare Moon's eyes, the rest of her dangling beneath the demon's iron grip. Hearing Nightmare Moon's words, Celestia found herself faced with an undeniable revelation. What she mistook for stoic responsibility was in truth conceit, and because of it she let her beloved sister become something utterly evil. Her selfish inaction was no more excusable than her sister's selfish reaction, and now nothing remained of Nightmare Moon but pure, remorseless evil.
"I am a fool then." Celestia's voice carried the despair of her realization, her total defeat, both in battle and in conversation. And as she always had, she resigned herself to powerlessness. "I was too scared, too self-concerned... I should've done more, anything more. Anything but silently allow you to suffer. I... I've failed you."
"Of that matter, we are agreed," Nightmare Moon replied in her dark tone, but shortly after her expression became momentarily straight, eyes widening. Her grip didn't tighten, but it didn't become softer either. Celestia knew the look, some striking thought entered her sister's mind, a thought so striking that she just had to ponder it. It was like all of the self-righteous hatred she propped herself up on had suddenly been kicked out from beneath her. It frustrated her, whatever it was, bothered her, annoyed her, but she was thinking about it.
After a moment, she spoke. There was much less malice in her tone, but she still looked directly into Celestia's eyes with the same intensity. "Before I end your miserable existence, have you a last request?"
Celestia blinked. A mercy, extended to her? After owning up to the actions that led to Nightmare Moon's creation, the demon was offering her a single hearing? There was nothing she could say to save herself now, but perhaps that was the point. Perhaps the demon just wanted one last chance to laugh in her older sister's face before ending her. A moment later, she would have her reply.
"I understand what I did to cause your pain..." Celestia began, her tone more certain than it ever had been. "And all I can ask is that you forgive me. Not for my sake, but for your own. Because if you do, even if you do kill me now, there might be a day where you don't have to hurt because of me."
Then, after a moment of consideration, Nightmare Moon's face turned back into a vile scowl.
"Pathetic!" Her tone darkened, her fist tightly closing around her sister's throat, flushing her face with red and making her gasp for breath. "Arrogant fool! You truly believe yourself to have representation in my court of thought after inciting so much of my suffering? There are no strings in my heart for you to tug upon, sister! You've already torn it out."
Celestia's hands scrambled, pulling at the tightening grip around her throat in a futile effort to break free. Her eyes began to water and her head became hazy as circulation was cut off, but she still managed to croak out one last thing.
"For me, then, Luna..." Celestia choked, speaking her sister's true name with the last of her raspy breath. "Forgive me..."
"For you, it is too late. Luna is dead."
And from the bottom of her resentful and hate-filled heart, Nightmare Moon gave her venomous farewell as she squeezed out the scarce remains of her sister's life.
"Dream sweetly, sister. Good night."
-----
Twilight's mind was deafeningly quiet as she climbed the wide spiral staircase to the castle's throne room. She could hear the sounds of fighting above her; the clanging of swords, blasts and zaps of magic firing off, and then screaming. Celestia screaming. Twilight hurried her pace. If Nightmare Moon got Celestia's sword, it was all over.
As she climbed though, she couldn't ignore the audible silence amongst her thoughts. She had all five of the Elements of Harmony, and each manifested demon actively present in her mind. Given the rest of her time with these demons, Twilight at least expected them to be talking amongst themselves, if not to her, but they said nothing. They were definitely there watching her, Twilight wasn't suppressing any of them. It was... unsettling.
Twilight climbed up each of the stone steps as quickly as she could move her feet, regretting that she never fixed the balance problem her hoverboard had going over stairs. Running would have to do.
But she was running in silence, and in that silence her mind wandered. She was trying not to think about her battle with Sunset. It was emotionally exhausting, especially upon realising Sunset's intent to keep her safe. Truthfully, she didn't want their friendship to end, but Sunset wasn't strong enough to carry this burden.
A signal came through Twilight's communicator. It was Spike. Sparing just a moment of pause, she stopped her ascent to answer him.
"Spike?"
"Twilight..." Spike's voice was a faint, mechanical whisper. "I couldn't stop Starlight, but I tried..."
"Spike..." Twilight's voice fell. She never meant for this, Spike was just supposed to be a deterrent. Twilight knew Starlight would blow right through him, but was hoping that she wouldn't be able to commit to it. Why couldn't Starlight have just gone home? "I'm so, so sorry..."
Starlight, Sunset, all of her friends, even Celestia, and now Spike. She was hurting everyone that was close to her, but now she had her power. Her ends were about to be achieved, but she started to wonder how justified they'd truly be.
"Put yourself in standby mode, Spike," Twilight said. "Shut all primary processes off if you have to. If I make it out of this, I'm coming to find you."
Spike didn't respond, and his signal went dead. Twilight hoped he was just following her instruction, but the harrowing possibility of her loyal assistant being beyond repair was blatantly obstructing her thoughts. She was hurting everyone she cared for. Too much for her to handle, she too shut her thoughts off. Continuing her race upwards, she finally reached the top of the curved stairs, hanging a right and going up the final flight of steps that led straight to the throne room.
At the far end of the large round room, Twilight entered a grim scene of a monstrously huge Nightmare Moon, body surging and swelling with power, her fist tightly closed around Celestia's throat, her nearly naked body bleeding, burned, and bruised.
Hand shooting to her katana's grip, Twilight charged her power into the weapon, and then promptly drew it in full. As it came out, a thin line of her purple energy was thrown from her sword, slicing all the way across the room from the stairs and perfectly across Nightmare Moon's wrist.
Her metal gauntlet was sliced like butter at the forearm, and Nightmare Moon roared in pain, reflexively dropping Celestia and searching for the new threat.
"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight shouted, approaching the demon with her sword drawn. "This is it!"
When her eyes met Twilight's, Nightmare Moon let out a sinister laugh. "Ah, Celestia's disciple. Come to challenge me on behalf of your master?"
"You got that right," Twilight said, glaring at the demon. Now was the time to use the Elements of Harmony, but when she called upon their power, she was met with no response. What was she doing wrong? It didn't matter, she could figure it out, but she needed to keep Nightmare Moon busy. Drawing upon her own power, her purple magic began to radiate from her. She charged forward, running headfirst into this decisive, final battle.
As Twilight approached, the demon stood her ground, summoning swords, heat beams, and a sphere of dark energy to throw at the younger demon hunter. Twilight leapt past the sweeping beams, danced between flying swords, and slid down beneath the dark sphere, letting it pass over and explode behind her, all while her own magic swirled around her.
When Twilight was right in front of Nightmare Moon, she jumped, magic flashing around her as she took the form of her Inner Demon once again and drove her flaming blade right through the demon knight's heart. Recoiling in pain, Nightmare Moon sunk a powerful fist into Twilight's chest, sending the furious purple demon girl skipping across the hard, stone floor like a rock on a lake. The katana still pierced through Nightmare Moon's chest, but its flame died down as its owner was parted.
Twilight wasn't out of the fight. She called on the demons of her friends again, asking them why they refused to answer her. No response. Pounding the floor with a hand and standing again, she drew her pistols, demonic energy flowing through them as she lit up Nightmare Moon with gunshots. Nightmare Moon threateningly strode towards her, stopping every bullet fired with nothing but her outstretched hand.
Twilight tried to go into her Demon Reflex, but as she did, Nightmare Moon was suddenly right in front of her, grabbing her by the leg and flinging her off back towards the thrones. Crashing into the ground without her guns, she rolled to the side and caught herself, then pushed herself up to stand. She reached out with her mind and grabbed her demons, screamed at them, forced them to even just manifest as individual weapons. Finally, they appeared, purely at Twilight's will, each one a different colored orb of energy circling around her.
Nightmare Moon's eyes widened fearfully, realising what Twilight had, and with heavy footsteps shaking the floor, she sprinted to stop her.
"It's over!" Twilight declared, each orb spinning around her, orbiting her faster and faster until they became a blur of colored energy. Mixing with Twilight's own demonic power, the energy shot forward as a massive beam of pure white light, devoid of any color they had before. Twilight poured her power into this beam, all of the power she had, every ounce she'd acquired since her banishment from the Order. Since her final test from Celestia. Since the first night her Inner Demon ever took control of her body. Now, she was the one in control, she was using the Elements of Harmony to defeat the Sister of Darkness.
As the beam struck Nightmare Moon, she was shoved back, the light blinding her and burning against her body, but she held both arms up and dug her feet into the ground. Twilight kept the beam held strong, but eventually Nightmare Moon took a step forward. A few seconds passed, and she took another. Gradually, the Dark Sister's shadow grew longer and longer as she neared the harmonic light. The beam was hurting her, but it wasn't working quickly enough.
In horror, Twilight realised that it wouldn't be enough.
Nightmare Moon was a mere twenty feet from her when the harmonic blast ended, and Twilight reverted back to her human form. The demon just smiled, her fear long since evaporated.
"They... didn't work..." Twilight said, power completely drained. "But..."
Another evil and victorious laugh left Nightmare Moon's lips. "Ha! What a failure! To what troubles did you go to secure the Elements of Harmony?"
"I..." Twilight started, frozen in disbelief. "I gave up everything..."
"And yet, it was not enough." Nightmare Moon gripped Twilight's blade, pulling it out of her chest and tossing it aside. "You are not enough."
She couldn't believe this. The Elements of Harmony were supposedly the very powers that defeated Nightmare Moon before. Why didn't they work now? Why wasn't anything working? As Nightmare Moon made her final approach, Twilight fell to her knees and cursed it all, tears beginning to line her eyes at the fact that she was about to die having destroyed everything she valued in life. Seeing Celestia's unmoving body not far away cemented this feeling.
But as she lamented into the ground, she felt a soft tug on her neck. Her magic tracker fell from beneath her shirt, and was dangling down in front of her face. Maybe... Maybe this small purple device that she used to steal from her friends could also steal from Nightmare Moon. As she stared at it, one of the lights flashed, pointing directly to the demon. If she could just get close enough...
She looked up, a new determination filling her eyes as she sprinted towards Nightmare Moon.
Scoffing, the demon shook her head. "You can't be serious..."
Twilight held the tracker outstretched, flipping it open and holding it right up to Nightmare Moon's broken chestplate, and immediately it began to suck swirls of gold and blue energies from the demon's open heart. Unable to fight against the device targeting her, Nightmare Moon only struggled against it, trying to pull away as her magic left her. Twilight held strong, gripping the device with both hands as she pulled Nightmare Moon towards it.
But it too would fail. The device emitted a high pitch beeping, began to spark and smoke, unable to contain the deep ocean of magic within Nightmare Moon. And with yet another triumphant grin, Nightmare Moon reached out and yanked Twilight's tracker from her, crushing it in her hand and letting it fall to the floor.
"Clever, clever..." Nightmare Moon said. "But shady tricks are no replacement for strength!"
Twilight then felt Nightmare Moon's boot kicking her back to where she started, and as she was laid out on the floor yet again, she decided to just stay there as Nightmare Moon continued to speak.
"I should thank you for delivering these Elements to me at little expense to myself," she said. "Everything is now in place to begin this world's end. To reclaim my true power."
The orbs floating around Twilight fell fully away from her, each one settling into a spot in the room's central circle on each of the points of the star drawn there. Watching, pleased the marks on the floor began to light up, Nightmare Moon gave a grim smile of certainty, certainty that she would rule this new world.
"The final judgement draweth nigh."
-----
"Hey!"
Starlight ran into the destroyed hallway, seeing a crumpled mess of yellow leather and red hair lying out in pummeling rain. It was the other demon hunter, the one stayed behind to save her. Her body was limp, and there was a big cut in the back of her jacket, but when Starlight reached down to help her up she was pushed away.
"You..." Sunset looked up at the cyborg, content to stay in her place on the ground. "Made it this far, huh? Well there's nothing here."
"Huh?" Starlight asked. "Come on, get up, we still have a demon to kill..."
Sunset shook her head, closing her eyes. "Twilight just went in there, and the door sealed behind her. Nightmare Moon might have this one in the bag."
"What? We have to get in there, then! We can put everything aside until we take out that demon-"
"You don't understand..." Picking herself up, Sunset looked Starlight in the eye. This was the first time she'd seen the older demon hunter genuinely frustrated at something. "Twilight has everything she needs to beat Nightmare Moon, but she doesn't get it- That magic isn't going to work with her because she's been doing everything she can to force all of our friends away! She can't control them all. And even if she does kill Nightmare Moon, she's gonna become something worse..."
"I know, that's why we need to stop her," Starlight said. Narrowing her eyes into a momentary distrust, she added, "Unless you still think I need work."
Before Sunset could think to say anything else, those words resonated with what she had just said about Twilight. About forcing all of her friends away. Sunset had been doing just that, to protect them, but... she hadn't accepted help from anyone either, and used her friends' magic to her own ends. Maybe Sunset was the one who needed work after all.
She composed herself, resuming her calm demeanor as she reevaluated Starlight. "Look, maybe I didn't give you enough credit before. If you've made it this far, you can obviously look out for yourself. What was your name again?"
"Starlight Glimmer," she replied.
"That's a nice name. I'm Sunset."
"Thanks, Sunset." Starlight gave a small, appreciative smile, but it turned to confusion as they approached the sealed door, coming out of the rain beneath a portion of the roof that still held strong. "How are we gonna get through that door, though?"
The sound of footsteps behind them alerted them both.
Flash Sentry ran down the broken hall, wearing a new, brown jacket, a rocket launcher held up over one shoulder and a machine gun slung from a strap beneath the other. He slowed, surprised to find two demon hunters there.
"Hey, there's your ex."
"Flash?" Sunset said, confused. "Dude, where'd you get a bazooka?"
"Long story," he said, looking up at the tower before them. "This is where the battle is going down, right?"
"Yeah, but Twilight beat us here," Starlight said. "The door's locked."
"Twilight... Who's side is she on?" Flash asked. Out of the three of them, he was the only one that didn't have direct involvement with her.
Sunset frowned. "Her own side, unfortunately. Also a long story."
Nodding, Flash turned to Starlight. "What about Spike?"
Starlight looked away. "I had to take him out. Twilight turned him on me."
Flash gave a disappointed look, but it didn't stay there for long. "Right. So... I gotta get in there."
"Yeah, join the club," Sunset said. Not dismissively, but in a casual, grumbling way. "We need to figure out how to get past this door. It unlocks with magic, but I'm thinking we might be able to knock it down..."
Flash shifted the launcher over his shoulder. "Think a rocket might do the trick? Of course, if I'm not getting in your way..."
Looking down, Sunset sighed. She'd just decided she was going to do better about not pushing her friends away, but Flash was different. He was just a human, getting involved with demons that were way out of his league. But, he'd made it this far too...
"Go right ahead." Sunset said.
"Actually..." Starlight eyed the door, charging energy into her mechanical hand. It glowed a soft teal color as she built up two power cells worth of energy, then discharged it all as she drove her fist right into the center, not breaking it, but sending cracks along the small impact crater she made. "Hit it right there."
With the others standing back, Flash raised the rocket launcher up over his shoulder and lined its sight up on the crack Starlight made.
He pulled the trigger, and in the next moment a rocket shot across the hallway, causing an explosion that engulfed the immediate area in smoke.
"No way," Sunset said, watching the smoke clear and seeing that the door was now blown in, broken into several pieces that now lie on the floor inside. "There's no way that worked. So where did you get the bazooka?"
"Secret underground demon research lab."
"It really is a long story," Starlight explained.
"Uh, right. Let's finish this, then."
Then, uncertain of their ultimate fates, the three demon hunters entered the castle's main tower and began to climb up the round, winding staircase they found inside, and as they did, they saw arcane designs begin to light up the tower's empty and open ground floor. Above them, a similar pattern shone down from the ceiling, coming from what surely was the throne room.
-----
Selene made her way up the spiral staircase as fast as she could. From the basement, it was quite a ways up, but they were already inside the main tower. With the Tantibus under control and Discord and Sombra right behind her, she had everything she needed to take on Nightmare Moon herself. The other demon hunters were at play here too, hopefully she could reach the throne room before any of them got hurt. Or even worse, before her sister got hurt. Having to fight Celestia before wasn't easy, and she ultimately resigned to holding back rather than fighting aggressively to avoid either of them getting injured. Nightmare Moon would get no such pleasantry.
"Sounds like things are getting spicy up there..." Discord said, hearing the prolonged blast of a beam of magic firing above them.
"Someone's beaten us here," Selene said, pushing herself to go as fast as she could.
"Here, allow me~" Discord snapped his paws, and Selene's world was inverted. She fell, but she fell up, landing on the bottom of the staircase above her. Sombra fell with her, giving Discord a death glare as he scrambled to find his balance. Catching Selene on his back, Sombra melted into the rough stone of the staircase's bottom curve, letting the flipped gravity pull them downward towards their destination, the bottom (top) of the chamber.
They moved much faster, able to build momentum and quickly zip up to the top (bottom). They fell upward into the open space, but then Discord promptly flipped them back around, allowing them to land unharmed at the base of steps leading straight up into the throne room. These steps were shorter, but steeper, and as they climbed the three saw Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony, ready to use their power to open up the gate to the demon realm.
Nightmare Moon, holding Celestia's sword, raised it above the center of the circle, about to drive it through her sister and place it into position to open the portal to the demon realm in full.
"No..." Selene muttered, fearing that she might be too late. Jumping atop Sombra again, she pushed the demon unicorn to a full gallop, riding across the room at top speed to stop Nightmare Moon from ending both her sister and the world. Three of Discord's bow missiles flew overhead, all blasting the Dark Sister and causing her to drop the sword in surprise. By the time the demon knight turned to look, Selene jumped off of Sombra, letting momentum carry her forward and into her hollow altar, drawing the Tantibus's form into a giant, ethereal fist of vengeance.
"Not my sister, monster!" She cried, as she soared through the air with her fist cocked back.
Following the motions of Selene's hand, the Tantibus fist collided with Nightmare Moon's face, slamming into her like a bus and sending her on a spinning launch into the thrones. The aged, royal seating scattered to the sides as her heavy form crashed into them, and the thoroughly stunned demon spilled out upside down, with her head hanging off the side of the steps to the throne.
Twilight, defeated off to the side, looked up. "Selene..."
"Stay down, Twilight Sparkle."
Looking down at the circle's center, Selene saw Celestia's body completely still, nude and horribly injured. Her fists tightened, and she felt a fury very unbecoming of her calm, contemplative nature build within her.
"That power..." Nightmare Moon rolled over, bringing herself to a kneel as she faced her human half properly. Even at full power, that hit knocked all of her breath out. She felt it. Enraged, Nightmare Moon raised her voice, uncertain how her domination could so suddenly be in question. "What is this?!"
At long last she was at the precipice of her fate, staring at her own distorted reflection, ready to destroy it, or be destroyed by it. One way or another, she would confront this manifestation of her every sin, and she would have her end. Matching Nightmare Moon's, Selene's hair became a flowing, spacey void, and as she cracked her knuckles, her power flared, left fist in her right palm, then her right into her left. Behind her, the giant, projected arms of the Tantibus did the same as she gave her reflection an answer, casting a gaze deep into the demon's eyes that fully conveyed her unwavering resolve.
"Your worst nightmare."
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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nice work.
10297158
Thank you! I'm glad you've been with the story to this point and I can only hope you stay to enjoy its conclusion.
Discord: Selene, this isn't gonna work.
Selene: What? We are winning!
Discord: You and Nightmare Moon are two parts of a whole. Even if you kill her, that will only kill yourself.
Selene: My death is a fair price to-
Discord: No, is not. If you die then your sister will fall into despair and become a worse Demon that Nightmare Moon ever was! All the Earth will become a ranging inferno!
This has been a fun read so far. Plenty of action and drama. Keep up the great work.
Sooooo anyone else gonna say it ok * KICK YOUR OWN ARSE AND MAKE YOURSELF SAY SORRY (Joking but if there both the same then she would effectively be kicking her own arse)