Chapter 8: Storm Tide
Chapter 8
The cowpony had actually given her a surprising amount of trouble.
I hate pain, the Nightmare seethed, I hate injury, and I hate this meat body!
Celestia was a demigoddess for sure, but even alicorns perspired, digested, excreted. I inhabit the most perfect creature ever made, and still have fluids coming out of every orifice. It was enough to make her sick to her stomach, which just reminded her that she even had a stomach in the first place.
In fact, the only thing that made her feel even slightly better was how well everything was going for her overall. As soon as she reduced this annoying insect to another stain on the floor, she would be close to total victory.
"Time to die," whispered Nightmare Sun, and she brought the lava spheres together with a star-burst splash of molten rock, crushing the earth pony to cinders.
Now where is that purple unicorn? she thought, scanning the room with her telekinetic feelers. Ah, there you are. A small pony body, under the staircase. Prone, unmoving, Twilight had apparently succumbed to shock. It would be a trifle to kill her now.
Don't forget the other one, Nightmare reminded herself. She swept her feelers around the hall, into each window and nook, but the yellow pegasus was nowhere to be found. Those blasted magic dampeners, the Nightmare remembered suddenly. What if she gathers them up somehow? Those things are far too powerful to leave to chance. But locating the dampeners themselves would prove difficult, since they were invisible to her sensors. Better just to find the pegasus and pull her little wings off.
A sputtering of purple light emitted suddenly from beneath the staircase, and Twilight teleported ten feet. Her horn produced another raw set of sparks, but she only managed to warp six feet this time.
That coward pegasus has probably already run away, thought Nightmare. And I've waited too long for this.
"Remarkable," said the alicorn, walking over to Twilight and shaking her head. "Barely enough magic left to light a candle-- barely conscious even-- and here you are still trying to escape."
"You know," came a voice from behind the Nightmare, "she never did quit a thing in her life."
The alicorn turned around in surprise, catching a glimpse of Spike's reptilian eyes flaring green, toothy dragon's-maw opening, the bright flash of atomic fire. Then Nightmare Sun was engulfed in a brilliant emerald jet of super-heated plasma. It seared her flesh off, disintegrating skin and muscle in seconds, boiling her alive. She screamed into the inferno, rearing and sliding backwards on two hooves, throwing her wings out to maintain balance. The jet of flame roared brighter and brighter, and the Nightmare felt her bones cracking and splitting in the cosmic heat, felt her face vaporize.
At last, the energy stream petered out. Nightmare Sun skidded to a halt, smoke billowing from her body. She landed back down onto her front hooves and snorted. Already, the alicorn's muscles were knitting back together, organs reforming, reshaping, feathers erupting from newly-grown skin. Within ten seconds, she was completely unharmed.
But what an attack! she thought. "I guess you do have hellfire after all."
"Oh, that was just my warning shot."
A piercing roar accompanied Spike's steel-hard claws as he leaped for her. The Nightmare danced aside, and Spike's flurry of attacks slid along the surface of an invisible forcefield. He carved huge furrows in the floor, tiles shattering, but he couldn't connect with the alicorn. Spike changed tactics, spinning around the other way with a tail sweep of such force that it created a visible pneumatic shock-wave. But the blast simply reflected off of her shield and back onto him, sending him skidding away. He circled her for a second, then back-flipped thirty feet off the ground, landing upside-down against the side of a column, claws digging into the stone.
Oh, here comes the high attack now, the Nightmare thought with some amusement. She had known many dragons in her time, and Spike fought with attributes of both dragon and pony styles. He was such a fascinating specimen that she almost regretted having to kill him.
The dragon took a deep breath and launched another compressed beam of radioactive fire at her. This time the Nightmare was ready. She dodged backwards, paused, then dodged again, using her shield to deflect whatever portion of the plasma fire still managed to find her. The stone underneath her hooves boiled and cracked, but she dodged over and over with agile grace and alighted on an undamaged piece of floor each time. Finally, the searing jet burned itself out and Spike nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
"My turn," said the Nightmare. She formed her telekinesis into a huge invisible hammer, and brought it crashing down on Spike. The dragon was caught in mid-leap and smashed down into the tiles like a wall had fallen on him. He pushed himself up to standing again, bits of tile and mortar crumbling from his furious reptilian visage, and charged forward. The Nightmare raised the hammer again, aiming at Twilight Sparkle this time.
"No!" shouted Spike, changing directions, running for his unicorn sister. He knew he would never get there in time.
But Nightmare's attack was only a feint. With four distinct whipping noises, invisible chains that had been sneaking up on the dragon suddenly shot forward like cobras, wrapping around Spike's neck and hauling him backwards, flailing into the air. She constricted her magic around his vulnerable throat. Try as he may, he couldn't get his claws beneath the chains. Tighter and tighter she pulled, breaking the scales around his neck until he bled through them. She could feel his diamond-hard vertebrae buckling, the cartilage of his throat a hair's breadth away from crunching like celery.
The Nightmare held him like that for about twenty seconds, until his eyes were quite glassy and he had stopped kicking. Then she released the pressure, and Spike collapsed down to the floor, clutching his neck with both claws and taking desperate, wheezing breaths.
"You shouldn't have come here," she said. "I might have let you run, if you'd been wise enough to do so. It's really too bad you got caught up in all of this in the first place. This is all Luna's baggage you're carrying tonight. I usually have no beef with dragons."
"You don't say," croaked Spike.
"I do. You are truly awesome creatures-- savage and pure, like myself. Even you Spike, and you're just a pup."
"Thanks, I guess. Since I'm so 'savage and pure,' do you mind if I ask you one last question?"
"Ask."
Spike rubbed his throat painfully. "Why did you do this to yourself?"
The Nightmare looked at him.
"You have a pony soul," said Spike. His third eyelids flicked over green dragon irises, slitted pupils dilating and contracting. "Inside. You... you're a pony. Or you were at one time. So, why did you do this to yourself?"
The Nightmare lifted her eyebrows. "Eternal life, of course. What else is there? Without eternal life, all other goals are pointless. Nothing you do lasts forever."
"But you're a shadow of yourself," said Spike. "A ghost. You're not blessed with eternal life, you're doomed to it."
"I've seen things in my time, dragon, that would change your mind. Did you know that the soul is destroyed when the body dies? Think about it. There is nothing on the other side. Only the void, and nopony exists in the void."
Spike shook his head. "No. That can't be true."
"I have seen it!" she said, slamming a hoof down like a meteor. "It is null. Zero. We do not rejoin loved ones, there is no heavenly paradise. All living things just wink out, forever. This," she waved a hoof around them, "this is all there is. I was here before Celestia, before Discord, before the Three Tribes even, and I'm never leaving. Do you understand? Never!"
"That's insane," said Spike. "You're insane."
"Your opinion will matter very little after you're dead," said the Nightmare with a shrug. "Consider that your final lesson from dear, sweet Princess Celestia." Her horn ignited like a firework, magic roaring from its length. "Now as I've said, I like you, Spike, so I'm going to kill you quickly. A blow to the head, a crushed skull, yes? Nopony can say I'm without mercy. Twilight, on the other hand..." Her voice became a low growl. "Twilight Sparkle has gone to great lengths to rub me the wrong way tonight. Plus, I owe her from before. Ohhh, yes I do. So for Twilight, I think, something a little more fun. Shall we say... drawing and quartering? I think that's appropriate for treason."
Twilight Sparkle jerked into the air like a marionette, all four legs pulling taut. Her joints locked outwards and began to stretch. "All around the mulberry bush," the Nightmare singsonged. "the monkey chased the weasel..."
"Now!" screamed Spike.
Something darted behind Nightmare Sun, light and quick as a butterfly. A heavy sash, strung with six crystal orbs, fell straight down around the alicorn's neck, pulling tight like a noose.
Nightmare Sun screamed in rage, turning around and bucking out with a powerful back-hoof. Fluttershy tried to dodge, but caught a glancing blow across her shoulder, spinning backwards across the science hall and crashing into the Saddlesaurus Rex skeleton. She slid to the ground as the massive structure collapsed on top of her in an avalanche of stone, steel, and dust.
It was too late for the Nightmare, however. The orbs were already doing their job: all outward expressions of her magic suddenly became sublimated, equalized, drained away. She yanked desperately at the pink sash, but it wouldn't break. Is this... hair?? The pegasus strung the orbs with her own mane?? Pony hair would never break, it could only be cut. She bared her teeth to bite through it, but even as she did, a sensation of intense cold assaulted her legs. She dropped clumsily to her knees.
She was wading in a pool of black, liquid smoke. It curled up from beneath the floor panels, surrounding her, clinging to her skin and leeching her body heat away. The invincible, immortal alicorn began to shiver. She tried to leap away, but the smoke grew solid like swamp mud and sucked her legs back into its depths. Flapping her wings madly did nothing as the orbs pulled her flight aura out of alignment and she nearly toppled over onto her side in the shifting morass. She grew weaker and weaker, colder and colder.
The liquid smoke coalesced before her into a demonic pegasus with golden eyes and bat-wings.
"Cinnamon Oatmeal," said the alicorn. "This isn't the end, I hope you know."
"It is for you, Nightmare," he said in voice like cold iron. Then his head snapped forward, his fangs sank into the alicorn's neck, and he drank deeply of her immortal lifeblood.
"See you soon," she whispered in his ear, and then everything went black.
* * *
Can't breathe. Can't see.
Oh goddess, oh goddess, Celestia, I'm buried alive.
Please help me... I don't want to die like this...
A loud crack, a splitting, a crumbling, a sliver of light slicing through the darkness. A hoof reaching out to her. Fluttershy grabbed onto it and crawled from the jaws of death.
"You are one lucky pegasus, lemme tell you," said Purple Heart, helping her extricate herself from the Saddlesaurus Rex skull. The monstrous head was all that had survived the collapse of the display intact. It had come down directly upon Fluttershy, mandibles open, ironically shielding her from the rest of the falling rubble.
"Nothing about any of this feels very lucky," she said, dusting herself off.
The Night Guard medic leaned in to examine where the Nightmare had kicked Fluttershy. His eyes flashed gold, and she got the strangest sensation he was peering into her shoulder. "Looks like the joint is good to go," he said. "I ain't seen too many ponies take a buck like that and just get up like you did."
"It's sore, but I don't think I'm injured," said Fluttershy, rotating the joint and flapping the corresponding wing a little. "I kind of spun away when she hit me."
"Well it was one hay of a brave move," said Purple Heart. "You saved all of us."
"I couldn't let her hurt Twilight."
Spike called over from across the hall: "Fluttershy, are you okay?"
"I think so," she called back.
"She's fine," said Purple Heart. "Commander?"
The Night Guard leader considered the unconscious, white alicorn laying on the ground before him. "I'm unharmed. And the Nightmare is down and out, finally. Of course, we have a new problem now: what do we do with her?"
"I much prefer that problem to the one where we were all about to die," said Spike.
"Oh my gosh, Applejack!" cried Fluttershy. She flapped her way up into the second floor landing. The lava orb had cooled into a smoldering mound of tar and ash. There was no possible way the cowpony had survived. Fluttershy covered her mouth with a hoof and her eyes filled with tears.
Purple Heart alighted on the scorched carpeting next her. "Hey, Commander," he said over his shoulder, "I think it's cooled off enough by now."
"Get them out of there," said the Night Guard leader.
"Yes, sir."
Purple Heart strode over and started kicking the mounds of rock and ash away. After a second, Fluttershy joined him. They quickly reached the bottom of the debris pile.
Applejack and another Night Guard pegasus lay in the burned crater. They had both been petrified into black-diamond statues.
"Lookin' good, Commander," reported Purple Heart. "Thawing them out asap." He yanked the stopper from a test tube and sprinkled the contents all over the two statues. The diamond cracked and split, eerie blue light shining through from the inside. The fairy-fire grew more and more intense, until a hot wind pushed Fluttershy back, and both she and Purple Heart had to jump away, spreading their wings to steady themselves.
The blue fire burned out after ten seconds. Then slowly, two pairs of eyes blinked themselves open.
"What... in... tarnation," said Applejack weakly, turning over and shaking off the thick coating of ash.
"Applejack!" cried Fluttershy, and she bowled into the cowpony, holding her in an embrace as tears poured from her eyes. "I thought... I thought you were...!"
"You mean, I'm not?" said Applejack, patting herself down. "Well ain't that the bees knees! I thought I was a crispy-fritter for sure."
The other ash-covered pony clambered up his hooves and stretched his bat-wings out, flapping the dust from them. He was huge-- close to Spike's size. "You have me to thank for your continued living," he said in a thick Stalliongrad accent. "You are lucky that Chyornyj Slon is fast as Chyornyj Slon is strong." He offered her a hoof.
"Chee-yornee-what-now?" said Applejack, accepting and hauling herself up to standing.
"It means Black Elephant," said the Night Guard Leader. "And the big lug is right. His timing had to be perfect, so as not to tip the Nightmare that her attack had failed."
"Well, then thank you kindly," said Applejack. "You even managed to save my hat, and you can't possibly know how much that means to me."
"Hopefully not as much as your life," said the Black Elephant.
Fluttershy turned to the Night Guard leader. "What is your name? We can't just call you Commander."
"My name is Cinnamon Oatmeal," he said. "And it is a pleasure to meet all of you, although it could definitely be under better circumstances. Spike, we already know, because of his work with our Princess Luna."
"Boy, am I glad to see you guys," said Spike.
Applejack turned to Cinnamon Oatmeal. "No offense intended, partner, but that's not quite the name I expected."
This got a smile out of him. "I did not always look like this, you know."
"Twilight!" said Spike, suddenly.
They all turned to see Twilight Sparkle struggling to sit up. Spike rushed to help her, cradling the little unicorn in his arms. Everypony converged in the center of the hall. Fluttershy returned to patching up Twilight's wounds, winding the gauze around the ugly burns on her shoulder. Purple Heart bent down to assist her.
"Aw, jeez," said the Night Guard medic, eyes flashing gold. "Temporal bends."
"You think that's what it is?" said Fluttershy. Purple Heart nodded grimly.
"Luna? Where is Luna??" said Twilight, still in a daze, struggling even harder to sit up.
"Princess Luna is okay," said the Night Guard leader. "We had our fourth member, Slim-to-None secret her back into the medical facility during the fight."
"So, she's still in the building?" said Fluttershy. "I hope Slim-to-None has sufficient medical training."
"Actually, we brought in a specialist from the castle. He's agreed to keep everything hush-hush for now. Do you know Doctor Stables?"
"I do," said Twilight, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"How long until you can move your legs, Twi?" asked Applejack.
"That's not how it works," said Twilight. "The damage is..." she took a deep breath. "It's probably permanent."
"What... but that's...!" Applejack snorted, loud and furious, and stormed away. The cowpony's eyes blazed with anger as she strode over towards the unconscious Nightmare, looking like she wanted to pound the alicorn into pulp.
Cinnamon Oatmeal was beside her immediately, placing his hoof on hers. "No, Applejack. Celestia will feel it, too."
"But the Nightmare told us that Celestia was dead," said Applejack, yanking her hoof away.
Cinnamon Oatmeal shook his head, his golden eyes glimmering in the torchlight. "Celestia is alive. She is still in there, although the Nightmare has imprisoned her inside of her own mind. The Princess can still see and hear and feel everything, but she is helpless to do anything about it."
"How horrible!" gasped Fluttershy.
"Actually," said Spike, "that's good news. It means that all we have to do is figure out how to get the Nightmare's soul out of her, and we can save the Princess!"
"It should be possible," said Cinnamon Oatmeal. "But it will not be easy. I was naive to think that the events of the first Nightmare Night could not repeat themselves again. In fact, we were extraordinarily lucky that these crystal orbs were here. I for one thought it was impossible to power-sink an alicorn."
"It's the synergy," said Twilight. "They grow exponentially stronger in proximity to each other. In ancient times, it was illegal to have more than one of those things in any given room. Most of them were eventually destroyed by fearful unicorns. That there just might be every single magic dampener left in the entire world."
"But wait," said Fluttershy to Cinnamon Oatmeal, "I saw you turn into smoke when you were right next to the orbs. Wasn't that magic?"
"Negative magic," said Spike leaning forward. "Am I right?"
The Night Guard leader regarded him with a cool gaze. "Yes, you are correct: we use negative magic. You can imagine why that's not public knowledge, though. We have enough PR headaches as it is."
"I know just what you mean," said Spike.
"Negative magic...," said Twilight. "So, you guys are....?"
"Dead," said Purple Heart. "Technically."
"Fascinating," said Twilight.
"Um," asked Fluttershy, "I'm so glad to see everypony getting along finally, but how much time do you think we have before they find us here?"
"Not long," said Cinnamon Oatmeal. "In case anypony missed it, we've made a hay of a racket. The Royal Guard ought to be knocking on the door any minute now."
"I can't wait," said Spike.
An object suddenly smashed through one of the windows up near the roof of the science hall. It careened overhead as everypony ran out from under the falling glass. Spike threw his body over Twilight and the shards bounced off his scales harmlessly.
The flying object slammed against the wall, got caught up in a floor-to-ceiling tapestry, and tumbled all the way down to the tiles, completely wrapped up in cloth. The Night Guards immediately moved to surround the thrashing silhouette, looking poised to attack.
"Hey!" said Applejack, running forward. "Listen!"
"Wheee," said a weak voice inside the huge tapestry. "Let's do that again!"
The Night Guards leaned in and each took a corner of the fabric in their teeth. Then, in perfect sync with each other, they leaped back and tore the tapestry to pieces, freeing Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie from the endless yards of cloth.
Dash was up on her hooves in an instant, putting up her dukes and snorting steam from both nostrils. "More of you lunkheads?" she growled. "C'mon then, c'mon, let's do this!"
"Whoah, there sugarcube," said Applejack, cantering up and standing between Dash and the Night Guards. "These guys are on our side. Take it easy." She had to bob and weave to keep Dash looking at her and not at the dark pegasi behind her. "Are you listenin' to me?"
Dash collapsed back onto her haunches, weariness suddenly coming to full light. "Okay, good. Tired. Pinkie Pie," she said, "needs help."
"Hi, g-g-g-guys," shivered Pinkie Pie, "long t-t-time no see." She looked cheerful as ever, despite the fact that her lips were about as blue as her eyes.
"Go," said Twilight to Spike. The dragon nodded, lumbered over and swept Pinkie up into his arms.
"Oh, my Celestia," she breathed. "You're so warm."
"Spike," said Dash.
The dragon looked up. "Dash, I--" he started.
"--did what you had to do," said Dash. She looked down at her hooves. "I get that now."
Everypony was silent for a second. Then Twilight said: "Where is Rarity?"
"I tried to get us all out of there," said Dash. "I did everything I could. But the Guard Captain zapped her away right out of my hooves. She's probably at the castle now getting waterboarded or something." She kicked a rock off into the darkness and slammed a hoof on the ground.
"And there was this crazy pony who was like zooom with a wire on her ankle!" said Pinkie. "He grabbed Dashie's wings and was all 'pull over!' He said, 'You made me lose my glasses, missy!' Then Dashie was like spinnn, and he almost fell off, but then he went smack! With paper. Then he was like, 'I'm outta here! Whoosh!' and he feeeeeeell into the lake! And what happened to Fluttershy's hair? I kind of like it short like that, actually."
"Wait a second, did you say a pony with glasses??" said Twilight. "Did he have a white mane??"
"He did," said Pinkie. "Isn't that silly?"
"Yes," said Twilight in a dark tone. "Really silly. Dash, why don't you come over here for a second."
* * *
"The University?" said Shield Banner. His horn dimmed as he turned his magic off.
Rarity sat in a heap before him, staring at the stone floor. Her face was wet with tears.
"Yeah," Spitfire said from over Shield Banner's shoulder. "Private security notified Ponyville Police, who sent the information directly up the chain. Sir, it can't be coincidence: a disturbance like this has to be our ponies."
"Well," said Shield Banner, taking a deep breath and wiping his hooves and forehead with a towel, "it's nice to see that the national security apparatus is working for a change." He looked over at the defeated Rarity. "Now that I know where to find the conspirators, I have something else special planned for this one." Shield Banner whistled to the door guards, who swept in and picked the limp, white unicorn up, dragging her away.
"What did you do to her?" asked Spitfire, once they were gone.
"Nothing physical," Shield Banner assured her. "Yet. I was just taking a little peek inside her mind."
Spitfire paused for half a second, then said, "You could get in big trouble for that, sir."
"If a law prevents us from rescuing Princess Celestia," said Shield Banner, "then for the perseverance of the kingdom, it must be suspended."
"Something tells me that Celestia would rather you not break her laws, even to save her life."
"Don't be so sure. She seemed... different tonight," said Shield Banner. "It was as if she'd come around to a view of things more consistent with my own, to be honest. Luna's apparent death was... a wake up call, perhaps."
He turned back to Spitfire. "At any rate, whatever she may or may not disapprove of, it's not her decision to make. We have to save her, at any cost. Do you understand? This isn't about morality, or honor. The alicorns are everything. They are Equestria. They are all that stand between us and a planet full of monsters that would love nothing better than to kill us and eat us and steal our land and our magic."
Spitfire arched an eyebrow. "That's maybe an extreme way of putting it, sir..."
"Do you think that griffons are afraid of ponies, Spitfire?" he asked. "Do you think dragons are? How about Discord, or all the various 'Discords' still out there? It is called the Princesses' Peace for a reason. Without an alicorn, Equestria is low-hanging fruit. So, yes, Spitfire, I will stop at absolutely nothing to save her and Luna, too, if I can. Now do you have a problem with that?"
Spitfire looked at him, her eyes steady and calculating.
Shield Banner raised his eyebrows. "Well?"
"No, sir," she said. "None at all."
"I knew I could count on you, Wing Leader," said Shield Banner. "Take your team south and scout the area around the University, but don't engage. Wait for my guard column to arrive. We'll take the place in force after that. Dismissed."
Spitfire headed out to the balcony, into the wind and the rain, and leaped into the stormy sky. I agree with him, she thought as she flew. Celestia help me, but I agree with him.
* * *
"Well, I've gone over your cutie-mark with a dozen different scans," said Twilight Sparkle with a frown, "and it looks clear to me."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Who knows, then. I'll tell you right away if it starts glowing or something weird."
"Yes," said Twilight, still not convinced by her own readings. "Please do."
"What now?" asked Applejack.
"We need to secure this building however we can," said Twilight. "Once Luna wakes up, she can order the Royal Guard off our backs. Then we can go retrieve the Elements of Harmony and research on how to deal with the Nightmare. But our safety must be the priority right now because only we know the truth."
"She's right," said Cinnamon Oatmeal, turning to his stallions. "We have to make this building impregnable before Shield Banner gets here."
"Chyornyj Slon will die to protect Princesses," said the Black Elephant. "But boarded-up windows are good first step."
"Wait a second," said Fluttershy. "Shield Banner? Did you say Shield Banner!?"
"Yes," said Spike. "That's the overzealous bonehead who has been hunting us down all night. Why?"
"Um," said Fluttershy in a very, very small voice, "no reason."
They set to work on the first line of defenses, stringing tripwires and building barricades. The Night Guards found a medical stretcher and bound the alicorn to it. Cinnamon Oatmeal had been exsanguinating her at regular intervals for a while now, which had worked to keep her more-or-less sedated, although now and then, the Nightmare would mumble in her sleep and give them all a tense moment.
"How long can you keep her like that?" asked Spike.
"Honestly," said Cinnamon Oatmeal, "I don't know."
They worked in silence for a while. The Night Guard had brought a number of chemical and magical explosives with them, and rigging them up was a relatively easy if grim task after moving all the timber and rock.
"Look," said Spike at last, "why doesn't Cinnamon Oatmeal just ask Shield Banner to stand down?"
The Commander let out a clipped laugh. "You have any idea how loony that sounds?"
"In Soviet Equestria," said Pinkie Pie, "Oatmeal asks if you're crazy."
"You have been to Stalliongrad?" asked the Black Elephant.
"Don't mind her," said Twilight to the rest of them. "She's the 'joy and the laughter.'"
Cinnamon nodded knowingly. "Well, the Guard Captain and I are on pretty poor terms, I'm afraid. Shield Banner is very traditional. He's never been happy with the idea of the Night Guard. And since he considers us predisposed to evil already, it won't be a stretch to lump us in with the 'traitors.' I wouldn't put it past him to try to arrest me just for having talked to you ponies."
"Well, what choice do we have?" asked Spike with outspread claws. "We can't prove to the Royal Guard that Celestia is possessed! Not before sunrise, anyway."
"What happens at sunrise?" asked Twilight.
"I don't know," said Spike. "Do you??"
They all looked around at each other, then over at the white alicorn.
"No," said Twilight. "But probably nothing good."
"I will approach him if it comes down to it," said Cinnamon Oatmeal, "but for now, I recommend that we wait for Luna. Stables is already in the procedure now. Once the horn is reattached, the Princess's alicorn regeneration should handle the rest, although it will be months before she's at full health again."
"Okay," said Fluttershy. "I'd like to explore the rest of the building to see if there's anything we can use."
"Good idea," said Twilight. "Take Dash with you as backup. Applejack, you set up watch at the front entrance. Pinkie, stay here-- we'll need your help if the police decide to attack before the guard arrives."
"Slon, go with Applejack," said Cinnamon. "Purple Heart with Dash and Fluttershy. Don't get lost, you guys."
"You can count on Corporal Pinkie Pie, sir!" said Pinkie with a salute. She was wearing a green army helmet that had apparently appeared out of nowhere. "Oh, and I found this while we were cleaning up." The pink earth pony pulled out a glimmering gold crown inset with a purple gem. The Element of Magic.
"Where is she keeping these items?" asked the Black Elephant.
"We've learned to stop asking questions like that," said Spike.
"Pinkie, thank you!" exclaimed Twilight, accepting the artifact to inspect it. "Totally undamaged, of course. Although it'll be another hour or two before its charge returns." She took a deep breath and looked around at the group. "We have to hold out until Luna is awake or it's going to be our word against the Nightmare's all over again. So, let's get to work everypony. We can't have much time left."
"It'll be enough," said Applejack confidently.
"You always say that," scoffed Dash.
Applejack tipped her hat. "And I haven't been wrong yet!"
END OF PART 1
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Picture Credits
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This was originally the second half of Chapter 7, but I wanted to wait for my prereaders to hack it apart before I published it. I was waiting until Saturday to update on EqD, but I'm giving my FimFiction audience a 48 hour sneak preview. Enjoy the story!
yay privilege!
Thanks man.
Woohoo Applejack!
I'm loving the night guard ponies, they are great. Except for Chyornyj Slon, who is awesome.
4:30 on dot only 3:30 to sleep and a 24/7 on storys to go /)
(\...>.<
"In Soviet Russia, Oatmeal asks if you're crazy."
I was hoping for a pun like that.
Dammit! I got the DLC, but all it does is change the color of the text!
Draconic abilities! YEEEE
I love the night guard
All your token "evil" traits and abilities used for good. Bat-winged glowing-cat-eyed ghoul ponies with black magic, ME GUSTA.
Magic Dampers work on a goddess?
Seems weird, but whatever.
Oh come on, Twilight, you can use telekinesis to power your own limbs. Shouldn't be too difficult. Try out Fly Without Wings too, 100 mana with a yearlong cooldown but totally worth it.
Fluttershy must be made of iron
Great trait to have though. It's always the quiet ones...
I don't get it, did Dispell Tracking work? The agent's got pretty high levels in that spell...
Still waiting on the animal allies.
Actually, if the Nightmare can break through the dampers I'd actually like to see the Griffons and Dragons going to war. Goddess doesn't seem powerful enough to warrant a Discord Breakout quest.
This isn't on-disc DLC, is it...?
"In Soviet Equestria," said Pinkie Pie, "Oatmeal asks if you're crazy."
You, sir, are a brilliant, brilliant man. I don't remember if I said this before, but I love your ideas on how magic works. The multi-dimensional mechanics of unicorn horns, and the horns being the source of Alicorns' immortality, pegasus flight auras, magic suppressing artifacts only available to the Equestrian Secret Services, etc.. Most fanfics just use established ideas to tell new stories, but the ideas in this fanfic are either new to me, or presented to me in new ways, and it's all just so fresh to read about.
DLC?
arch.413chan.net/shut_up_amd_money_take_my-(n1300896078157).jpg
[Edit: Deleted due to original pic sources being removed.]
You got me there when the Nightmare slammed Applejack with those lava orbs.
I wouldn't put it past you to kill one of the Mane Six in this, if that's where the story went!
Moar please? Please?! PLEASE?!?!
img.ponibooru.org/_images/24ad18e61084fbf5d6a0f5a5f06827e7/93907%20-%20animated%20celestia%20hoof_kissing%20hooves%20kissing%20rarity.gif
Pls?
MOAR please?
I'm really loving this story! Can't wait for the next chapter!
"In Soviet Russia, Oatmeal asks if you're crazy." ...this though, this made my day
cant twi just heal herself with her own magic?
Excellent work. Looking forward to more.
Give me a DLC or I will become your Nightmare.
So next chapter is the last if I recall what you told me correctly? Ugh...how long until then? I really want to see how this pans out.
356918 Twi is just about out of mana right now, hence her inability to teleport. Also, unicorns can't heal themselves, only alicorns.
HAHAAHAH YES!! I cannot even begin to explain whats going on in my head right now
!!! Thinking that Applejack had died, then suddenly seeing her alive because of the night guard
?!!? Twas insane, loved every sentance of it! I eagerly await the last stand. Your writing style is so awesome!!! keep it up!! 
!!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On a side note:
MFW Pinkie Pie + Twilight Sparkle = Functional Magic Gatling Gun.
Edit: Updated with different edited video.
358560
they can drink Zebra Potions of Health though
can Twilight use telekinesis to power her limbs for walking? maybe use Power Drain on the princess and use the energy to walk and stuff.
..............OMG THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!
I absolutely, positively, LOVE your writing darling!
Write like the wind!!!
355328
wait, i'm new here by DLC does that mean i have to pay to keep reading? that's completely counter-intuitive to the reason i'm reading this.
I need to read but i'm broke. i need more!!!
368001 No, you don't have to pay, silly!
This story is free and it will always be free. I was actually just making fun of Mass Effect 3 with that DLC joke. Chapter 9 is in the works right now, but it won't be ready for a couple of weeks thanks to schoolwork.
Okay. Thank you very much. I actually panicked because of it's similarity to mass effect 3, and the fact that I've got to pay for that
. Love your work. 
May the wind always be at your back.
363805 I don't think unicorns can use their own telekinesis on themselves. Zecora will not be featuring in this, I think, although I would like for her to be in a future story.
358574 364956 357712 357973 358154 357167 356382 356504 Thank you so much for your encouragement. How can I go wrong with ponies like you cheering me on?
356207
I loled hard at that.
Anyways, epic stuff as always man. I dig that the Night Guard are undead. The Russian reversal was great too. I'm curious to see if there's any ill effects of Leaching the nightmare like that tho...
I'm just looking forward to the next chapter myself in the hope we get some Epic Luna Time!
358895
YEEEEEEAH
368096
It's called TEAMWORK: Blind pony walks, Lame pony sees; if/when Rarity gets out with her own body tortured halfway to death, she and Twi can do the puppet TK on each other
...and THEN go and torture the agent and Shield Banner COMPLETELY to death
/sarcasm
actually, I don't think we've seen any Stare use yet; looking forward to that
. Song/Chant from Pinkie would be useful too. Upcoming fight scenes yay 
I'm rather liking this. I don't know if I'll be faving it yet (give me time, this is srs bsns), but this is a treat to read.
Wow... a "return of the Nightmare" story that actually looks like it might come to a reasonable conclusion in a reasonable amount of time!
The kudos have been doubled! (assuming you pull it off, anyway)
I kind of went into this with a highly skeptical outlook thinking that I probably wouldn't enjoy it, and MUCH to my surprise this is one bonafide AWESOME piece o' work!
Best chapter yet. You should be proud.
374849 Thank you!! I have enjoyed a lot of excellent pony fics and I am elated to be able to contribute to the community in whatever small way I can.
All of my yes!!!
Just finished in the Great Fimfiction Hack of 2012, and even with the distracty bits, this was excellent!
The Secret Police thing frankly unnerves me. That has nasty dark implications.
Excellent work, looking forward to Chap 9, which I'm told is the final chapter?
Sparkler what now
Aww, EqD said this had updated. Also, the site wide April 1st prank is hilarious. The new banner is actually kind of cool, except for the "And Zoidberg" implication that My Little Dashie isn't one of my favorite fanfics. I'll forgive you Nyx, because you are so adorable.
391463 I'd like to think the Secret Police are more for ferreting out griffons and other international spies. And in case you're wondering how a griffon could blend into pony society, a wizard did it.
Looking forward to next chapter.
Must... read... MOAR!!
I can't wait for more of this... this is kinda like what I have in mind for a story of my own, though I didn't feature the night guard or anything like that... and I haven't covered magic yet.
It hurts my mind sometimes to think about it.
awsome cover by the way
441405 thanks
Very well-written, balanced, combat-intense story with good emotional backdrop, plot, history, good fighting scenes, everything makes sense, and some comic relief thrown in there too...
Making of a very well-developed, and solid story here.
It does have a good degree of epicness to it, so you get points for that as well.
My only gripe is that it's not finished yet!
Please continue!
Silver out!
come on i check dis story every week on EQD on wit the storry darling
607882 You are so kind to say so! Chapter 9 is almost done, another week at the most so that my editors can rip it up. But now that my horrible, horrible school year is FINALLY over, I intend to start writing much faster for summer break.
518375 Thank you for your wonderful compliment. I will have Chapter 9 done within a week. Have a great day!
614655
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvD4OIswDcQ
TOP SERCRET= Rel to GUESS
Decrypting Now...
Let's get this briefing started!
My forces are awaiting chapter 9.
The Karalian 2nd. and 3rd. Infantry Battalions are completing preparations for an assault on Chapter 9.
The 1st Armored Battalion is busy fighting through Cloudy Skies "Within and Without" right now and are unable to be recalled.
Silver, your fighter squadron will provide top cover for the infantry as they complete their attacks.
We are expected poor weather conditions and heavy resistance from Chapter 9's defense forces.
However, we believe you can complete the attack and still have time to write your own fic.
Good luck, and please don't fail us Silver!
-End Transmission
-Reencypting Now...
!@%*&()_+}}|{":?><?
""::',/.';\[]-=!@````~~~
Silver out!
619314 ACE COMBAT 5!!!!!!!