Death, Sacrifice, and the man in blue

by MrTyrannousaurusX

Chapter 12: Demons of the night

Gary’s heart ceased. His eyes went wide. For a split second, Gary regretted ever crossing the man to begin with. Or whatever Levi was. Man, God, some otherworldly being, there was no way Levi was a regular human. Not anymore at least. The very instant his hands trailing with a white flame from his fingertips hit the ground, an ear-splitting, skull crushing boom shook the corridor. It was like God’s wrath rained down on the earth, shaking Equestria to its very core. A ring of pearl white flame swelled around him and flew out, singeing a coal black ring on everything around him. The walls and pillars around them trembled like a man in freezing cold, wobbling and threatening to fall from where they stood. Chandeliers dropped from the ceiling and crashed against the ground, its once lit candles providing a sense of calm to the hall now dead once again, their freshly melted wax creating lines on the floor as they rolled. The one who suffered most from the blast was Gary, the man who had caused the eruption in the first place.

He went from standing tall and imposing on his feet one moment to smashing barbarically into a wall like a hammer to a nail. His gun flew from his hand and followed him all the way back until he struck the wall headfirst with a sickening crunch like dry spaghetti being cracked. An apple red splatter adorned the wall like someone had been shot right in front of it but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Gary went from intimidating with Levi and Rainbow’s lives gripped tight in his hands, to dead on the floor, where he belonged. Hell. He slid down and landed on his rear slouched low against the wall. His head continued to drip and paint the wall with his viscera like an open can of soup. His jaw hung slack like a man in the gallows. His head was slumped over to the right and his amber eyes, once piercing your soul like a spear, now dead and lifeless. Cold as ice as they remained open and glassy with a stare that stretched for miles.

Gary’s GMC, his beloved truck that he loved like it was his son, paid the price exactly like its owner did. The vehicle was mercilessly thrown in the air and collided with the wall on its right roof first. The car completely crushed from the roof almost all the way to the bottom like it was forced through a compactor. Rainbow had shut her eyes just in time to shield her eyes from the ring of fire which flew at her at mach speed, fortunately barely missing her and flying just a few inches above her, leaving a few of her cyan hairs burned in its wake. She winced at the sharp, penetrating sound of the windows and windshield of the truck being crushed relentlessly. She watched as shards of glass big and small, sharp and dull, rain down onto the floor under the destroyed carcass of the GMC. She watched the covers of the headlights be completely wiped from existence, leaving nothing behind but a hollow destroyed socket where a powerful lightbulb once sat. The exoskeleton of the car became nothing more than a wrinkled desecrated mess of metal that formed together to become one hunk of destruction. The tires of the car were the only thing spared from the ruination, sitting helplessly as the rest of the car was shattered to bits and pieces.

The car scraped against the wall and created a shower of sparks as it slid down and landed on the floor with the obliterated roof against the wall. Multiple streams of smoke rose through the cracks in the metal of what remained of the hood. The engine made little to no sound, only smoked to remind Rainbow barely hanging onto life. She felt satisfied that the car used to imprison her, while only for a short time, was now nothing more than a bad memory. Looking at the wrecked blight of what was once a shiny GMC filled her with relief that the monster who took her couldn’t hurt anyone again.

Levi’s body trembled uncontrollably as he remained on his hands and knees on the cold floor, now with two deep craters holding his miraculously fine hands decorating it. His heart palpitated as his lungs screamed for air, not satisfied enough with the painfully deep breaths he was sucking through his esophagus. Sweat ran down his forehead like a derby, each bullet racing to see which one could get to the bottom first. However, none of them did, as Levi reached an almost ungovernable hand slowly and with effort to swipe the back of it across his forehead. He allowed it to fall back into the bowls in the stone he had unprecedentedly created, his palms finding an odd sense of comfort in the small pebbles and shards of rock that dug into them. The god-like almost seraphic feeling that coursed through his veins left just as quickly as it entered, leaving Levi to feel the effects of exerting..whatever he had exerted out of him.

His entire body, every last inch, was burning with an almost searing pain. The armpits and back section of his shirt dampened with sweat in the blink of an eye. His bones felt like they were going to snap in two with one wrong move. His muscles begged for mercy from the unrelenting pain, but mercy never came, leaving them to pulsate in agony as the wake from the shockwave lingered. Above every other pain and aliment he was experiencing, nothing was more unbearable than the pain ravaging his brain like an aggressive cancer. It throbbed and drummed with an intense pain like he had been shot in the head more times than he could count. As a matter of fact, he’d rather be shot in the head than deal with this unyielding pain any longer, but he knew he couldn’t. All he could do was sit there and grit his teeth as he recovered from whatever godly power he had unleashed on everything around him.

After what felt like hours of Rainbow squirming in her restraints and Levi taking deep, body-wracking breaths, he decided to break the awful silence that persisted after the almost deafening sound. “Rainb-” He immediately regretted his choice as his lungs felt like they were on fire the second his words left his mouth. The flame that roared in his chest traveled all the way up his throat and left his mouth in the form of a raw, painful coughing fit. Crimson dots painted the floor under him as they escaped the confines of his mouth.

“Rainb-” Another coughing fit added to the growing pool of red below him, “Rainbow!” he finally managed to yell in a raspy, gravely voice after several agonizing seconds. A muffled shout was the only response he received, turning his head causing waves of pain to lay waste to his brain and neck. His bloodshot and blurry eyes met Rainbow’s as she writhed and wriggled on the ground helplessly, the same pleading look in her eyes that she did at the very beginning.

He knew he had to help her. He wanted to. Every bone in his body cheered him on trying to get him to stand, but his screaming nerves didn’t allow it. He felt tears pricking his eyes from the sheer amount of torture the godly feeling abandoned him with. As much as he dreaded the concept of standing and going over to help Rainbow despite how much he wanted to, he needed to do it. He didn’t kill a man for no reason after all.

His fingers slowly scraped against the bottom of the craters he created and formed a first, digging his knuckles into the stone and shutting his eyes tight as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. As he sucked in one last deep breath and gritted his teeth, he used all of the strength he had left to push himself off the ground. His heart began to slam in his chest like a snare drum as his skeleton cried out in agony, begging for him to go back down and relieve himself of this pain, but Levi knew he couldn’t. Rainbow was counting on him, and he could not let her down. He had gone through too much pain to save her and he wasn’t gonna stop now. Not like this. His arms that were as fragile as brittle twigs shook like wiggling jelly as he continued to push up the weight of his pain-stricken body. A guttural scream escaped his lungs, causing even more almost unbearable pain to erupt in his throat and lungs like a volcano. No word in the English language couldn’t describe what he was feeling right now. His nerves felt as though they were being scorched relentlessly with a blowtorch. His bones felt like he had been brutally assaulted with a sledgehammer and barely made it out alive. Levi wanted to die, for someone to relieve him of this pain, but he saw no end in sight.

Nonetheless, he continued his callous struggle to stand, and managed to slip one foot underneath him. With all of the remaining strength in his body that wasn’t sapped out of him from the pain, he pushed himself off the ground with his leg wobbling like it's never wobbled before. The pain didn’t end but instead persisted. Just as Levi thought his suffering couldn’t get any worse, it somehow managed to get worse. After Levi was able to stand on his own two shaky feet connected to trembling legs, he felt a small amount of the pain rocketing through his body dissolve. He stood there still for what felt like hours, mustering up the courage to take a step fearing he might fall and the process would start all the way back over. Not to mention the risk of his bones shattering to dust the second they hit the floor, while realistically it was unlikely, he didn’t wanna take the chance of worsening his already awful situation.

He turned his quivering body over to face the tied and gagged pegasus, bravely moving his foot a full step in front of him and gently laid it on the ground before he put his weight down onto him. Lightning bolts of pain shot through his leg, his teeth gritted hard in response. His body screamed for him to stop, begging him to just fall back down to the ground where the pain was less severe. Determination drowned out the intrusive demands, being the only light he could see at the end of the dark tunnel full of agony. He repeated the process. Placing his foot flat on the ground. Biting the bullet as he put pressure down onto it and moved forward. So on and so forth. He stopped inches away from Rainbow Dash who looked up at him with a pleading look in her eyes. Slowly, he fought through the pain like a soldier as he bent down on one knee, reaching his tremulous arm behind him and slipping his fingers into the flap of his back pocket. His hand reappeared with his digits wrapped around his matte black switchblade.

The blade shot out like an arrow out of a crossbow with a satisfying shink! He reached down and grabbed a hold of the ropes which restricted her hooves unforgivingly, gently pushing her wing out of the way before lowering the blade down under it. He moved it back and forth in a sawing motion on the old rope that looked like it was pulled straight off a well. The several much smaller ropes that threaded like two snakes weaving in and out of each other's paths stood no match for his blade. After a few more seconds of the pain-inducing severing, Rainbow’s hooves were finally free from the constraints they were once forced into. A fresh, raw apple red ring rang around each of her back hooves, the threads creating a design into her skin like a french braid.

The sound of the last of her binds snapping apart delighted the rainbow haired pony’s ears as they went from drooped against her head to pricked up. Before Rainbow could, Levi’s hand jumped to the duct tape fastened strongly over her features and grabbed the corner that folded out like a dog eared page. Like a band-aid, the man ripped the white tarp-like material from her mouth, much to the displeasure of her senses. Rainbow saw a deal of her cyan hairs that once belonged to the skin around her mouth, now stolen property of the duct tape. Her savior's green eyes softened as he looked into her magenta ones, not knowing how to express how thankful she was for the hoops he jumped through to save her. The whole time she was watching Levi and Gary fight like starving lions over the last food in the prairie, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat appreciated by his actions. Granted, she had wonderful friends in Ponyville that have helped her out and stuck by her side through thick and thin. However, this was the most dedication to helping someone she had ever seen from one of her friends. Even another pony in general. Levi was getting beaten, slammed, a gun pressed against his head, all for one sole purpose. To save her. She couldn’t help but smile at that.

“R-Rainbow! Are you okay!” Levi exclaimed, taking her face in his hands and feeling her soft mane envelop his fingertips. She was caught off guard by the sudden touch but, weirdly enough, found some comfort from his warm palms pressing against her cheeks. She stared into his eyes with a relieved and grateful look, hoping he’d notice her wordless sign of gratitude and accept it. Judging by the small grin that began to form from the corner of his lips, he had received it fully. She snapped out of her trance and almost forgot the man was expecting a response from her.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” She stammered, “Are you okay?” It was a great question considering the treatment Gary gave the man just meer minutes before this. A dark purple blotch stained his otherwise blemishless cheek. His eyes, while soft as he gazed into Rainbow’s, were tired and exhausted. It was like years had passed since he had ever made eye contact with her, she felt like she was looking at a stranger for a brief moment. His green eyes were usually vibrant and full of energy, ready to do whatever task or problem was thrown in front of him. Now, he had tackled the biggest problem he had faced in Equestria up to that point, and he looked like he’d have to hibernate for like for the energy he once had to replenish.

“Mostly,” He responded, continuing to speak despite the strong pain in his teeth every time they collided when he spoke telling him the contrary. “Listen to me Rainbow,” he continued, gently stroking her soft cheek with his thumb reassuringly. He left a barely noticeable red belt on her cyan coat, feeling disgusted that the demon’s blood still lingered on him like it was a parasite. To Levi, it was exactly that. “Don’t tell Twilight what you saw, alright? As a matter of fact, don’t tell anyone without asking me okay? I don’t want everyone knowing about this”

“Why not?”

“Just..don’t, alright? Can you do that?”

Rainbow simply nodded in response. The comfy warmth of his hand left her cheek, leaving her feeling a sense of want for his touch, something she never thought she’d feel in a million years towards Levi. Or any human for that matter, not like she had met any humans before him.

Levi stood up with less pain than last time and really took the time to look around the room at the mess he made with his…whatever he did was called. His eyes wandered over the coal black band that was burned into every wall around them, amazed how it continued to smoke and sizzle despite it being almost minutes since the blast. However, there was one except for the black band that stained the bricks around them, and it was the one where Gary’s corpse rested against. Levi’s face went from normal and emotionless, to a fierce scowl with a deep rooted resentment hidden behind his eyes.

On the center of his shirt in the center of his torso was the dark and smoking circle that blemished the walls to his left and right, him being the only thing sparing the bricks he smashed into from the same fate. It was burned completely down to his raw and slightly cooked flesh. His turquoise button down shirt and white tank didn’t stand a chance against the wrath of the white fire. The sickly sweet smell of roasted flesh awakened and invaded his nostrils as he continued to glare daggers at the black haired man’s cold dead eyes. The amber color in his irises dulled ever so slightly, serving as a reminder for Levi that Gary was in fact dead. Permanently this time. For the first time in his life, he was glad that someone had died. People in his life, friends and family alike, have come and gone. Some died tragic sudden deaths right in front of his eyes. Some left the land of the living in more peaceful ways. Gary’s demise was the furthest thing from peaceful, despite how wrong it seemed, Levi liked it like that. A violent end to an equally violent man, very fitting.

BANG! BANG!

Levi and Rainbow’s eyes snapped on to the coal black double doors at the end of the hallway where the thunderous pounding came from, watching as the wood was pushed inwards with every blow from the other side. The sound echoed through the colossal corridor and bounced off the walls stained with the ring of ash.

“LEVI!” A muffled voice screamed from the opposite side of the coal black wood, a voice that belonged to a particular unicorn. Levi’s legs prepared to rush towards the door like his life depended on it, but before he had the chance, the very same doors blew open with a surprisingly strong force. The entrance exploded agape, slamming against the stone walls next to it and chipping the rock that formed the bricks, a very faint sound of shards of foundation hitting the ground followed. Standing in the now expanded doorway stood the ragtag group of ponies, each of them with a different level of relief painting their faces, but none more so than Twilight. Her face was decorated with a look of solace that drowned out the rest of her friend’s mugs. Ever since she heard the boom and then the dreadful silence that came after, excluding the occasional worrisome howl of pain, she assumed the absolute worst. She couldn’t imagine the horror Nightmare Moon was putting Levi and Rainbow through, but when the door came flying open, all of her worries washed out of her and in its place was a very comforting feeling of relief that flowed through her body. In her peripheral vision, she saw the bloodied and burned corpse of Gary slouched against the wall that made her stomach churn and the wrecked ruins of what was once a car leaning against the wall. She felt a faint sense of confusion upon seeing the complicated contraption, her eyes studying each individual pipe and part that made the machine what it was. It was hard to decipher what certain parts were. Their present twisted and mangled states made it almost impossible to even have an idea of what it used to be. However, Twilight had all the time in the world to analyze it to her heart's content. Right now, the only thing she had to worry about was reuniting with her friend after what felt like hours of being separated. Levi felt a smile form on his features as he heard Twilight's hooves clicking against the ground as she ran, finally together at last.

CRACK!

CRACK!

CRASH!

A jet black door exploded inward and broke clean from its hinges as they clinged against the ground like silverware. The wood struck the ground loudly as a cloud of dust attacked their senses, thrusting the group into a relentless coughing fit. When the smoke cleared and granted their eye access to the room, a wave of relief washed over them at the marvelous sight that sat in the dead center of the room. A decent sized pyramid sat in between two stone discs, sat in the middle of the room. A stone pedestal with a ring of stone in the middle of the pedestal with a design on it that looked like a snake moving in a rectangular pattern rested on top of the pinnacle stone disc. On top of it sat a large, cracked stone ball with a thick and tangled mess of brush and vine sitting on top of it like a messy head of hair. Long, small, paper thin branches with small leaves sprouting from the wood grew from the bottom of the pedestal and snaked their way all the way to the top of the stone ball, getting lost in the maze of foliage resting atop the stone sphere. Branching off from the pedestal the ball sat on were seven long and small arms that extended in every direction that stretched from above and below the intricately crafted ring of stone. Connected to the end of each arm was a normal sized stone plate where five sedentary stone balls that were perfect in shape and were barely bigger than a soccer ball rested in each of them. Each of the balls had a unique shape chiseled into the front, a diamond with rigid edges, a circle with sharp corners like it was carved out of a block of gemstone, and a perfect triangle were just to name a few.

Levi’s eyes grew wide in awe at the very unique looking structure, his amazement only growing as they all filed in through the doorway to get a better view of the foundation.

“Woah..” Breathed Rarity in astonishment as she gazed upon the work of art in front of her. Despite her very high standards about what is considered good and bad, the white unicorn thought the stone construction was stupendous.

The room the edifice of stone sat in could barely even be considered a room, it was more of a corridor that sat in ruins with the entire roof missing like it had been ripped off viciously, taking chunks of the top of the walls with it. The pillars were cracked and looked significantly older than the ones in the previous corridor, with the same long and paper thin branches overtaking them like a plague. They were small brown veins that ran up and curved around the pillar like a serpent. Two pillars in particular were missing the top and the complete upper half of them like they had been maliciously torn away right where they stood. All of the glass in the windows was gone, leaving only a few sharp pieces sticking out from the wall that served as the edges of the window, granting a full uncensored view of the sinister looking pitch black trees that stood outside. The branches invaded the aperture with their long, twisted appendages, painting a menacing picture in the empty window frame. The black metal bars of it formed a shape similar to a goat head that ran all the way and met the bottom of the border. A brilliant moonlight casted down onto the room, basking it in its inviting beautiful white radiance.

“Wow..” It was now Levi’s turn to breathe his own words of awe at the sight, filled with an odd sense of triumph despite not knowing what was before his eyes. At the point he was at, anything other than another long gloomy hallway to lumber through was a win in his book.

Levi and the rest of the group walked in unison closer to the stone erection vitiated by the long irksome branches covering it almost top to bottom. The moon shined its dazzling light down onto the foundation, causing it to glow beautifully like it had been bestowed upon them by some higher being. While still dumbfounded by the almost flawless architecture of the exquisite structure, he really had no idea what to make of it. He hoped with all of his heart it was the highly anticipated Elements of Harmony that Levi and Rainbow practically almost died to get to. At the same time, it didn’t look like they would be elements of anything. They looked more like an ancient artifact you’d find inside of a pyramid, serving a purpose to the long gone people who constructed it but no purpose at all to the modern age. Then again, it looked way too convoluted in design to be just an artifact meant to sit there. These better be the Elements, Levi thought as he eyed the edifice up and down for what felt like the hundredth time, Erm..I hope

“Ain’t this what you’ve been lookin’ for Twilight?” Applejack’s voice chimed in, filling the silence with the pleasing sound of her voice.

Twilight walked through and ahead of the line of ponies that stood in front of the formation, planting her hooves in the ground right in front of it with a huge grin adorning her face. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest when she got a good look at the configuration of stone, relief washed over her like water from a spring cleansing her, relieving her of all other negative emotions in that moment.

“The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight proclaimed with excitement and triumph lacing her voice. Levi’s heart was injected with a strong sense of victory, bringing a feeling of great ease at the fact the nightmare they were thrown into was coming to an end. The only two pegasus exchanged a quick nod before flaring their wings and leaping high in the air. Their feathered appendages flapped gracefully as they both hovered over to one of the arms, grabbing a hold of the stone ball with both hooves. One by one, the winged ponies slowly delivered the stone spheres down to Twilight who was standing eagerly a foot or so in front of the structure and ahead of the line of ponies. In a way, she felt slightly nervous about using the Elements of Harmony all by herself, and rightfully so. The stories she heard about in the book she read right before Nightmare’s grand entrance about how both of the Princesses had used the Elements’ power to do almost inconceivable things. Imprisoning people in stone. Banishing ponies to the moon. After all, they were the most powerful thing in all of Equestria, but Twilight still couldn’t wrap her head around the things they were capable of, and how the most formidable weapon in the entirety of Equestria is gonna be right at her hooves. Each of the spheres rasped as the pegasus’ moved from their plates, the place they sat for longer than any of them had been alive.

“Careful..careful” Twilight said with emphasis as the rainbow haired pegasus lowered the fifth and final stone ball right in front of her, making sure to put great care as she placed the sphere gently on the floor. She landed on the cold ground with a soft thud, icepicks shot up through her arms and legs at the sudden change in temperature in the bottom of her hooves. The ball scraped against the ground as it rolled barely a centimeter forward closer to the unicorn as if to beckon her towards its incomprehensible powers.

Twilight looked down at the cluster of artifacts full of pure power in front of her. This was it. The Elements of Harmony. She had finally found them. But there was one problem that Twilight had blocked out of her mind all the way up until that moment, she barely knew anything about how to actually use them. The gravity of Twilight's situation began to set in and fast. The fate of Equestria was in her hands. It was all up to her to defeat Nightmare and rescue Equestria from eternal darkness. The more and more she looked at the meaningless looking spheres arranged in a circle in front of her, the more and more worrisome thoughts that swam in and clouded her mind, making her feel like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. In a way, it was.

Levi walked forward a couple steps and stood side by side with his lilac companion, looking down in utter disbelief at the Elements that sat on the stone in front of the two. Even though they were the real deal, they looked completely unmeaning, it was almost like they didn’t even know how powerful they were. In any other circumstance, Levi would’ve thought they were just some artifact at a museum or something he’d see on TV. They were anything but just “some artifact”, they were the Elements of Harmony, the thing they had all risked their lives to get to. He glanced over his shoulder at the line of ponies behind him, the ones who he had been stuck to like a fly to a flytrap for the entirety of the journey thus far. He looked at the violet stump protruding from Rarity’s dock that was once a tail, now just a husk of the beauty that once grew, but was also a symbol of her generosity towards the serpent she had never met in her life. His eyes met the vibrant pink of Fluttershy’s mane as it ever so slightly glistened from the Manticore’s saliva after she relieved it from its pain at the hands of the thorn in its foot. Despite how off-putting and repellent it was that another animal's spit made her hair shine, it still looked delightful with the moonlight shining onto it combined with the friendly smile that accompanied her features. Lastly, he glanced over at Rainbow Dash, her magenta eyes met his green ones. Rainbow easily suffered the most out of the seven of them by a mile, and Levi felt terrible for her. He felt as if it was his fault Rainbow had been kidnapped and had a gun to her head all because of Gary, someone that Nightmare Moon had brought back from the dead just to torment him. It was no surprise to either of them that Nightmare had roped Rainbow into Levi’s living nightmare as well.

Pinkie was the first to disband from the uniform line behind the man and the lilac unicorn, taking her place behind one of the five spheres circled on the ground in front of them with the remaining ponies following her lead.

“One, two, three, four,” Pinkie counted while pointing at each ball, her voice being unnecessarily louder than it needed to be, “There’s only five!”

“Where’re the other two?” Rainbow chimed, slowing her wings to a stop as her hooves hit the ground.

Twilight lowered her head just a few inches above the ground and examined the stone ball she was effectively assigned to, furrowing her eyebrows at the crudely chiseled square carved into it like it was staring back at her. “The book said, when the five are present a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed”

“Now just what in the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack interjected, raising an eyebrow at the lilac pony.

“I’m not sure,” Replied the unicorn, “But I think I have an idea”

“What’s that?” Levi asked, inserting himself into the conversation.

“You’ll see, but I need you all to stand back. I don’t know what will happen” Twilight responded, putting emphasis on the order she delivered to them. She knitted her eyebrows closely together and laid down, the moment the sub-zero floor came into contact with Twilight’s stomach, she winced as a razor sharp, painful stinging shot through her nerves like a bullet. She winced at the extremely unpleasant feeling and raised her belly up a bit to alleviate the feeling but, much to her displeasure, the affliction persisted. As she fully lowered her midsection down onto the cold stone, the ponies who remained in the room heeded Twilight’s words and cautiously backed away from the unicorn as she closed her eyes in preparation, finding it exponentially easier to focus her magic in the comfort of darkness. Applejack trotted over and through the doorless door frame and heard the repulsive crunch of the carpet as soon as she stepped onto it, reminding her of how rundown and awful the castle was.

“Come on now y’all, she needs to concentrate” The ponies trotted hastily over to the rug Applejack stood on right as a purple aura began to glow and wave around Twilight’s horn and a faint glimmering sound came from it. Levi was a far cry from how eager his comrades were to vacate, as a matter of fact, he didn’t want to leave at all. His mind raced with the amount of possibilities that could happen alone in a castle where a threat like Nightmare Moon could be around any corner. Laying down in the inky black behind her eyelids, devoting all of her focus and attention to her magic, it was practically open season for the alicorn. Levi wanted to be there and essentially be her bodyguard if Nightmare decided to rear her ugly head once again and strike. Levi didn’t feel the want to protect her, he felt the need to protect her. The same feeling that ignited to life inside of him when he saw Gary yank Rainbow out of the back of his truck. Seeing how helpless she was as he shoved the barrel of his pistol into her head. He could only imagine how she felt. The sight of the pain in her eyes. How they begged Levi to save her. He didn’t want to see Twilight plead the very same way, he wanted to be in that room and be willing to flip the switch at a moment's notice if a problem arose. Levi shifted his posture, spreading his feet apart and unbuttoning the royal blue gauntlet button on his similarly colored sleeve and began to roll.

His once hidden blood stained forearms revealed themselves once again, meeting the stabbing and unforgiving temperature in the castle for the very first time. He took a deep breath and slipped his almost numb fingers into his back pocket, snaking them around his concealed weapon before pulling it out, flipping it in his fingers before allowing his arm to fall to his side. He furrowed his brows and flattened out his wrinkling shirt against his midsection. Flipping his uneven collar up and down and straightening it. He reached his free hand up to adjust the top two buttons but found only one was there. Lastly, he slipped off his hat and shook it a few times before slipping it back on his head like a glove, concealing the dirty and tousled mess living on top of his head that he called hair. Levi could feel Applejack and the rest of the group's eyes burning into the back of his head. He looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with Applejack, her emerald irises silently beckoning him over to the outside of the sojourn, but Levi’s similarly colored ones gave her an answer she wasn’t looking for. Finding that her look clearly wasn’t enough to show the man, she waved her hoof over her shoulder like an owner trying to signal their dog over to them. The only response Levi gave her was a small, slow, and deep nod where his chin almost touched the exposed white t-shirt covering his chest.

Before Applejack could make it any more obvious what she wanted, the man had already turned his attention back to the unicorn sitting in front of the circle of stone balls. The glimmering sound arising from her horn slowly grew louder and louder, in turn becoming more and more shrill and unpleasant to her ears. The aura surrounding her horn grew brighter with each passing second. She shut her eyes tighter, feeling all the magic she was burning beginning to take its toll on her body. Her heart picked up pace with desperation and anxiety, her already nervous mind being made worse by the lack of anything interesting, or anything at all happening to the Elements. She bit down hard on her bottom lip nervously to the point where she feared she may draw blood. The aura around her horn began to blaze a light purple color like a cracked open lightbulb that was still on. She felt a bead of sweat begin to trickle down her forehead, making her even more fearful that the amount of energy she dumped into the Elements was going to be in vain.

Just then, a quiet barely audible wisping sound pierced through the otherwise empty air on the right side of him. On high alert, he whipped his head over to the source of the intrusive noise, only to find a semi-thin stream of the blue sparkling smoke peeking its head from around one of the pillars that still stood tall and complete. He flipped the handle of his blade in his hand and pressed his thumb down forcefully on the button, sending the blade shooting out like a lion pouncing on its prey. Suddenly, the rope of black and blue soared through the air like a spear and landed inches away from the lilac unicorn who’s struggle to produce any sort of reaction from the Elements continued. It was as if the sound of Levi’s shoe scraping against the floor was Nightmare’s cue to strike. The sparkling cord got dangerously close to the ground and began flying at an incomprehensible speed around the circle of stone spheres like a serpent who had suddenly grown wings. Just as quickly as it had started, it got rampantly worse in just a few moments.

The stream that spun around became nothing more than a black and blue blur that ran in circles around the circle of spheres without even a hint at stopping anytime soon. In the blink of an eye, the color turned to a deep and rich navy blue and grew in size, significantly expanded in height. Levi watched in utter disbelief as the cable of smoke transformed into a tornado that swallowed the Elements whole like a starving whale, lifting them off the ground and twirling them around in its unrelenting grip. The Elements became one with the tornado, fading in and out of view and bouncing in and out of the maw of the twister. Levi’s eyes snapped onto the unicorn who still sat there with her horn blazing brighter than ever before. The panic kindling inside him expelled through his mouth in the form of one word he cried out frantically, “TWILIGHT!”

The lilac pony began to open up her eyes at the sound of her name, and through the sliver she could see between her eyelids, she was met with the dread-inducing sight of the navy blue tornado spinning violently just centimeters in front of her face. Her eyes shot open fully almost instantly. A squall of shock and surprise escaped her lungs. She jumped in fright and landed on her back, kicking her hooves and scurrying away as fast as she could from the remorseless twister. Her back was at the mercy of the ice cold ground who, unsurprisingly, showed no remorse to the unicorn's skin, sending a stinging pain shooting down her back. Twilight could hear Levi’s frantic footsteps as his feet pounded against the ground like an angry rhino towards her over the strident howling of the wind as it spun with no sign of stopping. The bangs of her mane whipped against her eyes as they blew with the tornado that swirled around unceasing, taking the Elements of Harmony along with it for the wild, terrifying ride. All of a sudden, panic began to course through her veins when she saw the very same Element she had been focusing in front of bob in view before being sucked back into the blue abyss of the tornado. This was it. Now the fate of Equestria was truly up to her. She had to secure the Elements at all costs, and the cost she had to pay was in the form of the navy blue tornado that continued its angry assault on the room.

She had a choice to make at that moment and she needed to make it fast. She could either sit there and watch as the only weapons against Nightmare Moon get pilfered, or fight her fears and try her damndest to get the Elements back. No matter the cost. Time seemed to slow, she glanced behind her over her shoulder and watched Levi run like his life depended on it towards her. She watched in slow motion as her friends slowly began to pile into the room through the doorway that was clearly not meant for what they were doing. She saw a mess of pink, orange, and cyan as the ponies who belonged to that color all attempted to bulldoze their way into the room. All it did was cause a traffic jam in the entryway that clearly wasn’t going to be fixed anytime soon. She turned her head back around and faced the behemoth of blue that towered over her. She saw the cracks in between the smoke, once again seeing the sparkles that were infamously associated with Nightmare Moon’s sentient gas. The blue and black colors reemerged from the tornado, in between the wedges and slivers that granted her eyes access to the inside of the twister, she saw the Elements fly helplessly around in circles like bowling balls in a whirlpool. She felt sweat trail down her face from her forehead once more, this time being a bullet instead of a small bead. She felt the warm trail the droplet left as it ran down her forehead and dripped off of her eyelid. Her breathing became deep and riddled with every anxiety she could think of. The stress of the situation was crashing down onto her all in the few seconds that were hers in her sluggish interpretation of time. She thought about what would happen if she did jump after the Elements, would she die? It’s likely. If the tornado behaved normally and wasn’t another trap by Nightmare then she would be smashed to pieces by the spheres caught in its unforgiving whirlwind.

She tried to calculate the odds of her survival, but her mind was swirling too fast and was choked full of every worrisome thought that her panicked brain could think of. Usually, she’d have no trouble at all evaluating something like this. Well not like this necessarily, but in any situation where she had to. Now, even the thought of trying to calibrate the odds of anything seemed monumental. She couldn’t calm herself down enough to think straight. She threw the thought away into the chasm of useless ideas in her head. The almost unbearable pressure of the situation she was thrusted into was almost constricting like an anaconda wrapping itself around her throat. Time was running out. She needed to make a decision as soon as possible. The deadline was approaching fast. She could see the tornado visibly begin to shrink in size, considering how her perception of time had been slowed, the fact she was visibly seeing it diminish was concerning. She watched as the cracks in between the navy blue began to appear less and less. The twister grew smaller and smaller. The realization hit her hard that she had no other choice but to jump in after them.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she knitted her brows before she quickly got on her hooves. She cocked her knees back and did what Levi and her friends could’ve never expected. She had lept gracefully from the comfort of the ground and was now flying freely through the air. Her mane, which usually cascaded over her neck, was now flapping through the air like a purple and violet flag. She saw the navy blue goliath grow closer and closer to her. She threw her hooves in front of her face, preparing for the possibly disastrous consequences of the action she put no thought into before doing. “TWILIGHT! NO!” The sound of Levi’s frantic shouting was barely audible over the ear-piercing roaring of the tornado that ravaged her ears. She threw her hooves over her face as she felt herself get picked up by the iron grip of the wind. Levi picked up his pace and sprinted as hard as he could until his heart felt like it was about to explode. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach, his running ceased, but most of all, confusion plagued his mind at what he witnessed just moments later.

In the blink of an eye, the tornado was gone. Disappeared into thin air. No over the top scene of the tornado winding down to an eventual stop. No nothing. The twister had just vanished as quickly as it appeared. They looked down at the spot where the whirlwind had stood dormant as it sucked both the unicorn and the Elements in his inescapable grasp. Once again, nothing. No Elements. No marks. No proof the tornado was even there. The only thing left were pebbles of disturbed sediment and bits and pieces of the floor that were ripped up and scattered across the ground with the lilac unicorn nowhere to be seen. Levi felt dread slowly overtake him as his mind raced about what Nightmare Moon could do to her. Now, she was truly at the mercy of the black alicorn. His face melted into a look of intense worry as the sound of thunderous roar of a storm cloud boomed from the distance. As a cloud almost as black as the night sky it moved through rolled in right above them, the urge to protect kindled in his heart once again. A scintillating light as white as the heavens flashed brightly in his peripheral vision. He whipped his head to the source of the fulguration and saw a tall rectangular building formed out of coal black bricks that looked almost as old as time. Like most of the castle, the walls and roof had been nearly completely conquered by long ugly vines, completely defiling the almost painting-like image the tower had. All that remained of the upper half that used to be there were bits and pieces of stone that jutted out of the roof like sore thumbs. He furrowed his brows at the two windows that sat side by side on the left and right wall, showing a teaser for the chaos that sat inside of the tower.

Erratically flashing out of the windows like an out of control camera was an intense almost blinding white light. More and more stygian clouds moved in, prohibiting any moonlight from penetrating them and masking the castle and its inhabitants in a rich darkness. Another booming clap of thunder rang through the air as a lightning bolt shot down from the sky onto whatever poor piece of land the cloud chose for its wrath. Levi knew without a doubt that Twilight was being held in the steeple he was laying his eyes on. There it was again. The urge to protect. Now, it was more than just a kindling feeling, it was now a burning hot fire raging in his heart that needed to be satiated, and there was only one way how. Levi’s head zipped over to the doorway on his right that led to a staircase outside of the walls of the castle. He could almost feel the cold and gloomy air dashing goosebumps across his skin, the hairs rising on the back of his neck as he burned rubber all the way to Twilight. Adrenaline began to flow through his veins like a raging river. His already speeding heart somehow managed to increase. His feet fought to be free from the confines of standing. With a determined look painted on his face, he unshackled his legs pumping with eagerness and broke into a sprint aimed right at the doorway.

“Follow me!” He called out, hearing his voice bounce off the walls and back to him. As he left the doorway and his feet hit the first stair at the peak of the staircase, the sound of several pairs of hoofsteps clicking against the ground as they sprinted reverberated off what remained of the walls and eventually to Levi’s ears. He felt the freezing fingers of the night air wrap themselves around his exposed forearms, chilling him down to his bones. His denim jeans did not help the situation either, only contributing to the problem by practically turning to ice sheets that laid against the skin on his legs. Despite the discomfort that silently beckoned him to turn around, he persisted, continued to bomb down the stairs and more determined than ever to save his unicorn friend. Probably more than every pony in the group at that moment.

POOF!

Out of thin air, a bright white ball of light spawned from nowhere and grew to the size of a beach ball in just a split second before exploding, engulfing the room in a cloud of thick purple smoke that allowed nothing to be seen inside of it. Twilight dropped stomach first onto the much colder floor than before, immediately being thrusted into a coughing fit from the violet smog that invaded her lungs. When she opened her eyes, just like when she saw the tornado, they shot open as wide as they could go immediately. The room had many striking similarities to the corridor she was in just moments before. Pillars lay in ruins, some toppled over and riddled top to bottom with cracks and splits. The beautifully carved stone was now a shell of its former self. Now nothing more than a colossal wreck that’s overtaken by the overbearing force of nature. The pillars that remained standing had lengthy, hideous roots growing out from between the cracks in the stone like weeds on a sidewalk. The floor was also in a much worse condition than the previous one, large crude chunks of rock that once belonged to the ceiling now sat glumly on the floor, serving as a decoration that wasn’t supposed to be there. However, the one thing starkly different about the room was practically screaming in Twilight’s face, and that thing was a small pedestal in the front of the room in front of a large window frame. The frame was an oversized black metal chess board that lacked the key thing that made it a window, the window itself.

Standing on the pedestal was the alicorn who had caused all the trouble that led to the magnum opus that was coming any second, Nightmare Moon. Her blue and sparkling mane and tail waved rhythmically like it was breathing. Her aquamarine eyes pierced like knives into her, sending a sword of dread and fear stabbing into her heart. Her pitch black wings were erected high in the air, her feathers being illuminated by the last remaining bit of moonlight that shone down from behind the blockade of storm clouds. The five elements circled agonizingly slow around her like a halo of grey bowling balls as if to taunt Twilight even more than she already had.

Nightmare’s bone chilling cackle and the rumbling of the restless thunder outside rang through the otherwise dead silent corridor. She turned her body to face the stunned unicorn, delighting in the intimidating metallic sound of her metal hoof coverings hitting the ground, and stretching out her coal black wings fully on both sides of her. Lightning struck down on the earth accompanied by the angry roar of thunder, illuminating the alicorn’s form fully and casting a shadow down onto Twilight who gave a shocked gasp in response as her eyes grew wider than dinner plates. She scampered to her feet and the shock melted from her face and was replaced by a flaming hot anger that blossomed in her eyes. She pointed her head down to the ground like a rhino ready to charge and her face twisted into a snarl like an angry dog while simultaneously stamping her hoof down and scraping it back against the ground. Nightmare looked at the lilac pony with an odd sense of confusion, not believing the unicorn could be serious. She was staring down the alicorn who had the most powerful weapons and the fate of Equestria in her hands, and Twilight stood there with nothing, just the blazing acrimony displayed on her features as she refused to back down from Nightmare’s puzzled glare.

“You’re kidding,” Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed in response and a magenta aura formed around her horn, “You’re kidding, right?”

Twilight was anything but kidding. This fact was cemented further when the aura turned into an intense magenta glow that blazed, lighting up almost the complete half of the corridor she stood in. The radiant light beaming from her horn splashed onto the two pillars she stood in between. That wouldn’t last long as right after her horn flared with color, she began to charge like a furious bull towards the stone stage that Nightmare stood on. It took a few seconds for Nightmare to process the display of sheer arrogance in front of her like she was running just to entertain her. Nonetheless, Nightmare wouldn’t decline an opportunity to vanquish her adversary in the easiest way possible. A sinister toothy grin spread across her face, allowing her razor sharp canines to peek out from behind her lips. Gracefully yet still fear-inducing, Nightmare dropped the Elements onto the stage and leaped from it like a tiger pouncing on its prey.

Her hooves clanked against the ground as she jumped into a sprint the second they hit the floor. Her wings were extended out from her sides like black airplane wings, her feathers gently blowing with the wind as she charged at her foe that only came closer and closer to her. Her grin widened into a menacing smile that reflected the light from Twilight’s horn back at her as it glowed brighter and brighter, acting as the only light source that corridor had seen in years. Her blazing gleam illuminated every crack and blemish that stained the walls and pillars she passed, shining onto one of the many ugly roots that protruded from the ground and brightening its repulsive sand color. Her hooves continued to pound the ground. The metallic clinking never ceased. And Nightmare’s eagerness grew stronger and stronger the closer and closer she got to the unicorn. She licked her lips in anticipation as the beam from Twilight’s horn continued to get brighter and brighter. When the two ponies were just mere feet away from each other, Twilight’s horn was completely enveloped in the light which had turned into an almost blinding white ball of luminescence. Nightmare’s eyelids naturally closed slightly from the light burning her retinas like a lamp shining directly into her face, but nonetheless, she continued her stampede to the unicorn, ready to sink her teeth into her for even daring to challenge her.

Only inches separated them. Nightmare’s avidity was reaching its peak. A black aura formed around her already dark horn and she opened her mouth wide, allowing Twilight to see her sword-like fangs that were ready to dig into her skin. She cocked her head back. Her heart picked up speed. She shot her head forward like a slingshot, her eyes closed unwillingly, and she clamped her jaws down onto…the air? Nightmare opened her eyelids, only to find the space that was once occupied by the unicorn was empty. She skidded to a stop and whipped her head around with her mane flowing behind it like a flagpole on a mast and her eyebrows knitted together like it was second nature at the stage. Anger caught fire in her heart when she saw a particular lilac unicorn standing right in front of the newly dropped Elements that were practically free for the taking. Her aquamarine eyes drilled into the back of her head as a scowl formed on her face.

“Just one spark!” She heard the pony plead as she kept her head bent down, her horn growing brightly and illuminating the Elements, which only added fuel to the flame of rage growing in her heart. “Come on..come on…” Nightmare had decided right then and there that playing with her food was no longer going to be an option. She stamped her hooves on the ground before the navy blue tornado reared its ugly head once more, completely enveloping her in its spinning clutches before jumping almost to the ceiling. With Nightmare now possessing the twister that never ceased its dizzying twirling, she soared through the air and dove like a spear into the ground right in front of the struggling unicorn. A hissing sound pierced Twilight’s ears as purple smoke engulfed the small portion of the stage she chose to make her grand entrance on. The smog dissipated after a mere few moments and in its place stood the imposing alicorn. She looked down at the lilac pony almost at her feet, watching as her magic formed a violet ring around each of the Elements. Nightmare wiped the smirk off her face that formed as she watched Twilight think she could defeat her, Nightmare Moon decided to squash her hopes like the insignificant insects that they were by shooting a jet black beam of magic a few inches in front of Twilight.

BOOM!

The unicorn was shot from where she sat and rocketed down the corridor before her back finally met the ground, saving her from the turbulent trip Nightmare had sent her on. The black alicorn watched in satisfaction as the unicorn slid on her back even further down the hall, this time, allowing her toothy grin to stay on her face rather than rid her features of it. Nightmare looked down at the Elements, expecting them to revert back to how they were just seconds before, but found the almost pink ring remained, Electric popping and snapping came from the stone spheres as small volts of electricity zapped the other stone balls.

“NO!” Nightmare thundered in anger and disbelief, raising her hoof high near her chest like the Elements were covered in poison.

It was now Twilight’s turn to shoot a satisfied grin at the black alicorn as she rose to her feet, the sound of Nightmare’s endless lamenting being music to her ears. The electric crackling and snapping grew louder as bolts of electricity connected each of the balls together in a magic ring of energy that flowed through each of the spheres. Long strands of levin jumped from one stone ball to the other, zapping and cracking loudly as they did so, only adding fuel to the growing grin of triumph painting Twilight’s face.The light pink auras around the Elements amplified and glowed bright right into Nightmare’s seething face. Her mouth twisted into a scornful scowl as her lamenting refused to cease, only growing louder and more incessant as the Elements didn’t show any hint of stopping anytime soon. Twilight felt a sense of victory be pumped through her veins like a hose increasing its pressure with each spark or crackle the spheres produced, a rampantly better feeling than the fear that coursed through her veins just mere moments before. Nightmare’s panicked mind ran like a race horse in circles as she tried to wrack her brain for some sort of spell or magic that could reverse what was happening, any way at all to fix the plan that was briskly falling apart right before her eyes. The fierce glowing rings encompassing each of the balls reflected in the pools of anger and devastation in her aquamarine eyes. For a second, Nightmare had begun to come to terms with the fact that she had lost to Twilight and that she would save Equestria after all, despite her best efforts. However, the feeling of triumph that was slowly kindling to life in her heart was short-lived and the panic that flowed faster than Nightmare’s own blood dissipated like it had never even existed. The bright pink glowing rings enveloping the Elements had swiftly disappeared in the blink of an eye. The snapping and crackling fell dead. And the jubilation that was igniting inside of her was snuffed instantly. The same couldn’t be said for Nightmare Moon, who’s heart roared with glee inside of her chest at the sight of her adversaries' hope being stamped out right in front of her.

A loud gasp escaped Twilight’s lung that sounded like it had been years in the making, a surprised and dumbfounded voice spoke afterwards, “But where’s the sixth element!”

The black alicorn couldn’t have been bothered to listen to the ending of Twilight’s reaction as her maniac, booming cackling quickly overpowered her voice and drowned out every other sound. Her wings as black as the night sky rose towered in the air above her as she reared as high as she could. Her laughing, which was bordering on psychotic, showed no sign of stopping, even as she brought her hooves down with unimaginable strength down onto the stage. A gunshot-like sound boomed through the corridor, followed by the sound of shattering glass, but it was anything but glass that had been destroyed by Nightmare.

Twilight watched in shock and devastation as the stone balls jumped in the air from the force before completely shattering into hundreds of clear crystal shards, both big and small, that rained down onto the stairs leading to the pedestal. Her jaw almost hit the floor. The bits and pieces of the most powerful weapons in Equestria showered onto the stone floor, Twilight's eyes followed them on their journey through the air until they eventually collided with the foundations of the hall. The shrill noise of fragments and splinters of glass beating down onto the ground rang painfully in Twilight’s ears as she struggled to fathom what she had just seen. Before she could comprehend it, the alicorn behind all of it cut her voice through her thoughts like a sword, “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me!”

Despite everything, she was right. Twilight did really think she could defeat her. Twilight tried to keep the small flame of hope in her heart alive, but it was extinguished as soon as she laid her eyes on the only way to defeat her was showered down onto the stairs, the moonlight causing them to glisten beautifully. Twilight’s head fell in shame along with the rest of her body, colliding with the floor which chilled her down to the bone, but her shame drowned out any other feeling in that moment. There was nothing she could do now. The reality of the situation hit her like a freight train, only amplifying her guilt.

“Now you will never see your Princess or your precious sun ever again!” Her mind immediately flashed back to Princess Celestia, imagining how ashamed she would be that she allowed Equestria to be brought to its knees by Nightmare Moon.

“The night will last..FOREVER!” She thundered, her wings shooting out to the sides of her once again. Her mane and tail flowed from the mass that formed her hair and streamed to the ceiling like a sparkling blue river. From the runnel of color spewed into the air was a large swirling navy blue behemoth of cloud that swirled into a hurricane above her, a hurricane that didn’t move. Her maniac cackling rang through the hall once again as a booming clap of lightning erupted from outside of the castle. Twilight looked at the alicorn on the pedestal with a crushed look on her face, shame filling the pools inside of her purple orbs. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. The gravity of the situation came crashing down onto her like a tidal wave. Hopelessness filled the void in her once hopeful heart. This was it. The end. She was never going to see the sun again. Equestria as she knew it was practically finished. There was no way ponykind would survive in eternal darkness.

Celestia..I’m sorry..I’m so, so sorry…I failed you… As Twilight wallowed in the sorrow that brewed inside her mind, a sound could be heard from behind her that lit the dead flame of hope in her heart back to her life. The sound of a voice, a very familiar voice, echoing from the spiraling staircase at the beginning of the corridor behind her. To be more specific, a collection of voices that echoed from the stairs, but there was one that stood out the most from all of them. Levi’s.

“Twilight!” He called, “Twilight we’re coming!”

His voice was like music to her ears combined with the equally as pleasant voice of Rarity which bounced off the walls alongside his. She whipped her head around, watching as the shadows of the group of six danced on the bricks as they made their way hastily up the stairs to Twilight.

In that very moment, it was like every doubt and inhibition that night had been resolved by the series of sounds coming from the staircase. Not exactly the noises themselves, but the owners of the noises, her friends. Never in a million years would she have admitted the flame of hope in her heart would be reignited back to life from her friends, but yet, here she was, standing there with relief flowing through her with a newfound feeling of confidence flowing through her upon hearing her friends. Her heart felt a very specific way but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was. What she did know was it was a very, very new feeling. Something she had never even thought of feeling in her entire life. It felt so…surreal? Otherworldly? Bizarre? She couldn’t think of a word to accurately describe the emotion coursing through her, but there was one thing she knew for certain, she had found the key to defeating Nightmare Moon once and for all. Her eyes turned to dinner plates. A small, quiet qasp escaped her lungs. Now, the small flame of hope was no longer just a flame, it was now a raging fire encasing her heart. Her look of hopelessness melted away and in its place was a look of triumph that Nightmare could almost see as the unicorn turned her head slightly to exclaim over her shoulder at her.

“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong!” Twilight fully turned her body to face the alicorn who thought she had conquered the world, the lilac pony was about to show her that was the furthest thing from the truth. The footsteps at the stairs quickened as confusion blossomed inside of Nightmare at what she could possibly be talking about. She had won. What was there to be wrong about?

“Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!” Immediately after, like she had somehow summoned them from thin air, the entire group including a panting Levi stood behind her, all shooting searing hot glares right into Nightmare’s widened aquamarine eyes. Her turquoise orbs were quick to flood with confusion and a slight panic when she heard a faint jingling sound at her hooves like a wind chime on a windy day. The mess of what little remained of the Elements of Harmony at her hooves began to shake as handfuls of large shards donned a fresh, vibrant colored aura. Nightmare watched in disbelief as several handfuls of fragments of the Elements gained a brightly colored border, orange and pink shards trembled on the ground like fall leaves before rising from the cold floor. Cyan and purple borders rose from the ground and sat idly in the air surrounding her head as if to taunt her, mocking her with every rhythmic bob they took.

“What?” She thought out loud, the confusion in her voice being made very clear as her eyes snapped onto each crystal hovering around her. Her hooves clanked against the ground as she backed up a few steps in surprise, having no clue what Twilight and her comrades had done to hinder her plan so badly.

“Applejack!” Twilight proclaimed. Suddenly, all of the eyes in the room, including Nightmare’s, had been shifted to her in a split second. “Who had reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the element of honesty!”

Nightmare jumped ever so slightly in surprise as the shards with a lively orange glowing border suddenly soared through the air towards the blonde pony who was caught off guard by the sudden barrage of crystals. The bits and pieces of what used to be the Element of Honesty quickly surrounded the orange earth pony, circling around her body like a hula hoop. The borders around the crystals shined brighter than ever while they spun around Applejack, reflecting in her emerald eyes as she looked down at them in awe. Rarity lifted her hoof up in surprise at the dazzling ring of shards that surrounded the blonde in the blink of an eye, marveling at how beautifully they glittered underneath the soft blanket of moonlight that casted down right on top of them.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight declared once again, setting up the shy yellow pegasus to be the next center of attention. “Who tamed the Manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of kindness!” A cluster of crystals with a glowing, sun yellow border tore whistled through the air with unimaginable speed. The rightfully frightened pony jerked away from the hail of shards flying at her and threw her hooves over her face briefly before removing them, looking at the vibrant glowing crystals that formed a ring around her body. A gasp that only she could hear escaped her lungs as the attention grabbing crystals shined in her cyan orbs.

“Pinkie Pie! Who banished fear by giggling in the face of fear, represents the spirit of laughter!” Nightmare watched in dismay as yet another handful of crystals, this time donning a vigorous pink border, flew through the air towards the similarly colored pony they belonged to. A huge, adorable smile painted her face simultaneously leaping high in the air like a puppy ready to play right as the shards surrounded her.

“Rarity! Who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of generosity!” A lively purple border surrounded the shards which soared through the air towards the unicorn. Rarity looked down at the crystals that hovered in circles around her body with a modest look, but her eyes told a different story, with pride pooling in her dark blue orbs at the achievement

“And Rainbow Dash! Who did everything in her power to get back to her friends, represents the spirit of loyalty!” Levi watched with a small grin plastered on his face as a volley of shards with the edges glowing a brilliant cyan color flew towards the deserving pegasus. After the nerve wracking night Rainbow had in the night in the castle, she truly deserved to be given the honor of being an Element of Harmony. His grin grew wider as he glanced at the proud and excited look painted on Rainbow’s face. She truly did deserve it.

“The spirit of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” Exclaimed the unicorn, who simultaneously shot a triumphant glare into the eyes of the shocked alicorn. Nightmare’s eyes darted to each pony who stood before her, already feeling the beads of nervous sweat that haven’t even formed yet running down her face.

“You still don’t have the other two elements!” She exclaimed frantically, shooting her wings out to the side in a last ditch effort to intimidate the ponies, but the group of seven were way past the point of being fearful of Nightmare. In fact, they practically had Nightmare Moon on her knees. There was no way she could bounce back from this. “The spark didn’t work!”

“But it did!” Twilight quickly rebutted. She turned around to face her friends before she spoke again, “I felt it the very moment I realized I was happy to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you”. The group could hear the emotion spilling out in the words she spoke, feeling the way they poured out of her heart like a geyser, a very emotion filled geyser. She made sure to make eye contact with each of her friends and gave a soft look of appreciation to each of them. Each of them were given their own dose of reverence from the unicorn's gaze, delighting in how their hearts threatened to skip a beat from the thoughtfulness and sincerity that spilled from her mouth and gracefully traveled into their ears.

“What I realized was..” Twilight continued, stopping her constant shifting of eye meeting and stopping at Levi’s comforting green ones. Despite the pain he suffered and the way his body ached as he stood there, he still managed to put on a smile that could light up a whole room, and it almost did. His grin warmed Twilight’s heart like a fireplace on a cold winter night. Like she was sitting right in front of an open flame of pleasure with its positive energy radiating from the blaze like the smoke that billowed out of it. Levi gave the lilac pony a deep nod, the very same nod he gave Applejack when he insisted on staying in the room to protect Twilight. A nod that topped off the courage she needed. A tear trailed down her cheek as she fought back a sniffle, her voice threatening to break like a cracked window while she spoke, “That you all…are my friends!”

She spun around to stare down Nightmare Moon as she glared down at the seven in disbelief. Before she could even think about opening her mouth to refute, a sudden almost blinding burst of light exploded from high in the air above them, sending thin rays shooting out in all directions like shrapnel from a hand grenade. The streams of light painted the drab and gloomy bricks on all sides of them, adding some vivacity to the walls that brightened the mood ever so slightly. Way above them was a stone ball that was the producer of the sudden light, or more specifically, another Element of Harmony. Levi’s eyes instinctively locked onto it but were immediately deterred away and punished with a wince by its brilliant irradiant light. The narrow lines of fluorescence that discharged from the sphere seemed to rotate and almost spin like an oversized disco ball that nearly lit up the entire corridor. On the front of the unanticipated Element was a beautifully chiseled star that had little to no blemishes, he could almost feel the love and passion radiating from its glaring rays.

The stone orb grew brighter as it flew down right above Twilight’s head. Levi threw his arm over his eyes and clenched his jaw from the searing luster that assaulted his green irises. Nightmare did the same, hiding her face behind one of her wings as she struggled to keep her eyes open from her body begging her to shut them. Instead, she kept a small slit so her aquamarine optics could attempt to make out what was happening through the chinks in between her feathers where light continued to invade from. The ponies however had a completely different reaction to the sight denying light, surprisingly staring at it in awe as if it wasn’t attacking their senses with every moment they gawked. Levi was amazed how the ponies could gape at the ball of brazen shine that threatened to tear their sight away from them without even a flinch, just standing there continuing to stare like there was nothing wrong at all. Levi realized right then there was clearly a lot he didn’t know about ponies, a lot.

“You see Nightmare Moon,” Twilight’s voice chimed over the faint but somehow pain inducing ringing from the shining Element, “When all of the Elements are ignited by the..uh..the spark that resides in the heart of us all. It creates the sixth element.”

The pain in Levi’s eyes began to subside as they simultaneously grew used to the utter blaze that once battered his senses, releasing his arm from his face and finally being able to get a good look at the possibly historical event unfolding right before him. Twilight stared down Nightmare triumphantly who, unlike Levi, still had her wing shielding her from the gleam that pummeled her eyesight, a look of sheer discomfort painted on her features that could barely be seen behind her winged appendage. The other five looked completely unphased by the dazzle that looked as though it was beating like a heart right above the unicorn's head.

“The element of..MAGIC!” Nightmare released her wing from her face just in time for her eyes full of disbelief to witness the Element implode in an explosion of white light that enveloped the entire room for a brief second. Levi was almost knocked to the ground by the sudden restriction of one of his senses that were completely enveloped in the lily white light. An almost electronic-like buzzing sound also came with the eruption that didn’t spare Levi’s ears from its incessant sound like a calvary of bees invading his ears. When the light dissolved after a very brief moment, the sight that the man was greeted to looked utterly jaw-dropping to him, but dread inducing to the black alicorn. All of the shards that formed a ring around each of the ponies, excluding Twilight, were all sucked into the center of every one of their necks. What it transformed into was a golden necklace with a small colored pendant that Levi couldn’t make out from where he was standing, but he knew it must’ve been magnificent if it was born from…whatever this display of power was. All of them had been raised high in the air as a brilliant shining white light formed a border around them, highlighting their features and blowing their manes and tails in a wind that Levi couldn’t feel or might not have even been there. A huge smile filled to the brim with pride and a sense of victory adorned each of their faces, almost making Levi feel a little proud just by witnessing it. The one that received arguably the most prestigious piece of jewelry out of the six of them was Twilight Sparkle, the new Element of Magic, who now had a gorgeous golden crown with a purple gemstone star almost identical to her cutie mark at the top of it. Light reflected from their necklaces and headpieces alike and back onto the walls, creating an almost painting-like image onto the coal black bricks, but also into Nightmare’s eyes which had dubiety pooling in them. Even attempting to fathom what was unraveling in front of her was a daunting task. She had no idea what to make of any of it. However, she wouldn’t need anymore time to comprehend or think, because the end of Nightmare Moon was speeding right towards her. Despite how bad she wanted to deny it, deep inside of her, she knew the end was coming and fast. She couldn’t swallow her deep rooted arrogance and accept it. As the ponies levitated much closer together and a mechanical of a colossal lazer preparing to fire filled her ears, she was going to have to accept it whether she liked it or not.

When the machine-like sound reached its climax, a sheeny white fulgurating exploded from the cluster of ponies with the sound of an exploding firework. They were immediately entombed in a large globe of bright white light that only allowed their black silhouettes to be seen. While levitating in a cluster high above the ground, their chests were puffed out and their arms were pointing behind them like they were being held back by a mighty force. Applejack’s ponytail was whipping out in the hurricane that was affecting them inside the dome of light like an angry snake being held by his tail. Through the blinding sheet of white, Levi could make out a bright glowing red apple carved out of gemstone on her neck that shined like a star in a blank night sky. He saw the blazing pink balloon pendant that adorned Pinkie. The gleaming star on the top of Twilight’s crown. The red lightning bolt decorating Rainbow that cut through the globe of light they were encased in. Despite how uncomfortable it was to look at, the sight seemed very pleasing for the eyes. The combination of different colors blended beautifully with the vault of snow white radiance, but nothing was more gorgeous than the two beams of rainbow that spewed out from the top like multi-colored rivers shooting out of a geyser.

The duo of anacondas bursting with color shot out from the orb of white and swirled in the air, overlapping each other like a french braid and the ends growing closer together. Levi noticed that both of the streams had different colors of the rainbow as if they had been split apart and were now two different entities. One had red, orange, and yellow, while the other had green, purple, and blue. As they whirled high into the air and almost reached the ceiling, the two ends which had bright milky white stars that burned like there was no tomorrow finally collided. The reunion of the two tails of the rainbow was as if it was hundreds of years in the making and when they ultimately clashed, a loud boom threatened to shake the corridor and almost knocked Levi down to the ground for the second time in the past few minutes. The celestial orbs at the end of the creeks of rainbow flowing, formed one shining gleaming star that was responsible for the roar moments before. What was born from it was a colossal multi-colored arch that finally had every color of the rainbow at last.

It spilled down from the spheroid sitting high and mighty above Nightmare and was rushing right towards her at fear inducing speeds. Nightmare’s eyes widened in panic as she jumped a few steps back before being locked in place by the distress caused by her impending defeat at the hands of the prismatic behemoth hurtling towards her. Her hooves were encased in concrete and refused to budge despite how fierce her body was in begging them to do so, her limbs spurned their requests, instead forcing Nightmare to stand there helplessly as her inevitable possible demise came at her at velocious speeds. Her wings shot out from her sides for the final time, but not in an effort to intimidate anyone, but from the fear they brought crashing down onto her like the heavens above were raining judgment down onto her in the form of an innocent looking rainbow. Right when the arch of colors was mere inches away from connecting with the stage, her hooves were released from the shackles of panic and granted her movement once again. By that point, it was far too late to do anything to stop what was about to happen. Dread, alarm, and desolation brewed inside of her to form a bubbling sinister concoction that was poured all over her heart, enveloping her in a cocoon of vile emotions.

The ground she stood on shook and trembled before the might of the multi-colored arch crashing down onto it. The alicorn struggled to keep her balance for a brief moment and planted her hooves firmly into the ground with a loud clunk like her hoof was made entirely out of metal. However, her surprise from the floor beneath her quivering faded and was replaced with dread and misery once a large serpent of every color in the rainbow shot out from the ground where the arch had hit. The ribbon of coloration swiftly circled completely around Nightmare, wrapping its odd warmth around her like long heated tendrils. The band of color swirled around her entire body but left big gaps in between the top and bottom of it, allowing Levi to see inside the twister that was forming with Nightmare Moon trapped inside like a rat in a cage. Nightmare reared as high as she could in the air while howling out in lament, crying whatever words of despair she could muster in that moment. Unbridled and unrestrained panic flowed through her veins faster than her blood as she flapped her wings desperately, sending coal black feathers flying off in every direction and being sucked in by the merciless whirlwind.

After a few more seconds of hearing Nightmare’s raw emotion attempting to form into coherent words, the polychromatic ribbon had twirled around her faster and faster like an anaconda chasing its prey and had formed into a full blown tornado. The rainbow twister completely covered any gap or slit that the band once had, allowing nothing to be seen of the alicorn except for the tip of her horn that protruded from the top of the whirlwind. Despite knowing that she was completely finished and there was no winning for her, Nightmare continued to screech all of her laments and words of grief up into the air, somehow drowning out the almost deafening sound of the wind rushing around her at mach speed. The twister got even taller and wider and, somehow, louder, all the while the six ponies sat in the orb of white shine still channeling their energy into the rainbow arch. Just then, a mechanical buzzing sound ravaged his eardrums and sent Levi’s hands flying to cover his ears and protect them from the noise that attacked them. He flinched and clenched his jaw as pain rocketed through his head like someone had poured molten lava straight into his ear canal. His head buzzed like it had suddenly been occupied by a colony of bees. Before he could react to it, the buzzing suddenly skyrocketed to ear-piercing volumes, causing Levi to fear his skull was going to split in two from the amplification. Suddenly, like something out of a horror movie, Levi’s vision along with every inch of the corridor exploded in a fierce white light that completely robbed him of one of his senses. The buzzing only grew louder. His head roared in pain. Disorientation claimed him. The last thing Levi was able to hear was a thunderous nuclear level explosion throwing him off his feet and tearing his ears to shreds.

BOOM!