Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Escalate

Nightmare Moon reappeared. She looked around in confusion, and quickly realised her spell had not taken her as far as she'd meant it to. Quickly enough to block off a large portion of the torrent of magical sparks pouring towards her from Twilight's spell, which had never stopped firing. Some still got through, leaving holes in her side that spilled her blood on the crystal below her.

She was standing on the bottom part of the cut off section of the central tower, held afloat in the air entirely by one of Twilight's previous spells. Twilight reached her with blinding speed, not with teleportation or even regular flight but by accelerating her own body with her magic. In that brief instant before their confrontation resumed, Nightmare Moon had time to realise it had been another one of Twilight's spells that had stopped her teleportation from going far. Had the alicorn already been casting that, knowing she would react as she had, or had it been done in response to her attempt at escaping, somehow quickly enough to still catch her? Both alternatives seemed nearly impossible, and yet so should have been the sheer output of power Twilight was dishing out on her.

The two clashed again. The flow of Twilight's spells against Nightmare Moon's shields, their horns locked against each other separated by layers of magic so thick and dense they warped space around them and burnt through the air, leaving it tasting like iron. Twilight had outright tried to ram into her, and if Nightmare Moon hadn't seen it coming and answered similarly she would have been blown through.

She knew she couldn't afford to just keep trying to defend herself, at that point. Twilight was growing too aggressive in ways that would only make the situation worse, throwing spell after spell at her with no regards or restraint, allowing her to continue was not a viable strategy. She was still an inexperienced fighter, if unreasonably powerful, it was by exploiting her mistakes that Nightmare Moon would have a chance to win. But those mistakes wouldn't present themselves unless she properly confronted Twilight. She had been sticking to a defensive approach, trying to heal out the wounds Luna had left, but no more. She could beat Twilight in a proper confrontation, and so she would.

As their horns separated and the built up magic between them flared out into an expanding jagged ring of blue and gold, Nightmare Moon dug her hooves in and swung her neck forward, another spell ready on her horn. It did mean more of Twilight's magic got through her shields, but she could heal from those wounds. Twilight saw her coming and again sent out a wave of energy, and the two spells collided with a loud clang that pushed both alicorns back. Again, Nightmare Moon was quick to ready another strike.

She didn't get a chance to properly deliver it, or have it met by Twilight's own. Faster than she could react, lightning in wide and repeated bursts struck down on her from the sky. Nightmare Moon screamed, until her throat was shredded by Twilight's magic as the alicorn advanced on her and stabbed into her torso with a long spear of magic like a needle the length of a leg made out of pure sizzling power.

Comments

[Speckle]

....hang on.
This is almost starting to sound like States of Matter.
....almost.

[Saix]

I hope that Twilight's horn doesn't explode by the end of this.