The Last Crusade

by Scribblestick

Pursuit

Pursuit

Scootaloo, Gilda, and a few other griffon soldiers pushed the storm clouds into position and unleashed their fury. The lightning struck several dozen Shadowbolts, both in the air and on the ground. “Good plan,” Gilda said.

“Thanks,” Scootaloo replied. “You can tell me more about it later.”

Gilda nodded and leapt into the fray. Scootaloo took a moment to catch her breath. The battle was more even, but the ponies were still outnumbered. She caught sight of Chrysalis, whose attacks were beginning to lose their strength. Despite her injuries, Nightmare Moon was beginning to overpower the changeling queen. Scootaloo knew she had to do something to even the odds, and fast.

Glancing around to make sure nopony was coming toward her, she reached for the blowpipe on her foreleg and raised it to her lips. She was a little farther away than she would have liked, but she was confident she’d be able to hit Nightmare Moon at this distance. She took careful aim and—

“Ahh!”

A Shadowbolt hit her from above just as she exhaled, causing her dart to fly wildly into the air. Scootaloo rolled and smashed her front hoof into the Shadowbolt’s face, throwing her off the cloud and onto the ground below. She turned, wide-eyed, to see where her dart had landed. To her horror, the dart had missed Nightmare Moon completely and found a place in another pony’s neck—or more accurately, a changeling queen’s.

Chrysalis’s disguise disappeared almost immediately, and the changeling queen fell to her knees, breathing deeply. “Pull back!” Nightmare Moon shouted. Immediately, the Shadowbolts retreated several paces, and the ponies began panting to catch their breath. “What is this?”

Chrysalis smirked. “Not what you were expecting, your highness?”

Nightmare Moon scowled. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re about to regret attacking my kingdom!”

A bolt of lightning shout out of her horn just as a while unicorn threw herself in front of Chrysalis and raised a magical shield. The lightning bolt shattered the defense but missed both Chrysalis and Sweetie Belle completely. “Stay back!” Sweetie shouted.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my renegade student,” Nightmare Moon said. “I see your barrier spell is just as weak as always.”

“Back off,” Sweetie Belle growled, her horn glowing bright.

“Very well,” Nightmare Moon said. “I’ll leave this abomination to die at the hooves of my soldiers. You, however, I will deal with personally.” A second lightning bolt lanced forward, knocking Sweetie Belle off her hooves. “Destroy them,” Nightmare Moon barked at her army as she wrapped Sweetie Belle’s limp body in her magic and took to the skies. “Let this battle be remembered as the end of Equestria’s uprisings!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo cried, but half a dozen Shadowbolts converged on her before she could give chase. Scootaloo launched herself off the cloud and rammed one of her assailants, knocking her out cold. A second she dispatched with a well-placed punch before two more slammed into her sides, sending her spiraling out of control. A pair of griffon soldiers took out the rest while Scootaloo righted herself. Nightmare Moon was but a speck in the distance. “Sweetie Belle!”

“Yelling won’t help her,” Gilda shouted over the roar of battle. “Come on, let’s go!”

“But the battle,” Scootaloo said.

“Glade can handle it,” Gilda replied. “The whole point of this battle is to take down Nightmare Moon, and we’re not going to do that from here.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Gunsmoke!” she called. “Take charge!” The deputy nodded. Scootaloo and Gilda pumped their wings and rose above the battle without being followed. “All right, let’s go.”

The griffon and pegasus shot through the night. The sounds of battle faded behind them, leaving their ears filled with the rush of wind and the sound of their own ragged breathing. “I think we’re gaining on her,” Gilda gasped as both Canterlot and Nightmare Moon grew larger.

“Not fast enough,” Scootaloo answered, straining her wings despite her burning lungs and muscles. “Plan?”

“Ram her,” Gilda said.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“Catch her.”

“Potion? Dart?”

“Can’t breathe,” Gilda answered.

The two flew wordlessly for a minute or two. Nightmare Moon entered the city just before they did, and as they drew nearer, Scootaloo’s spirits began to rise. “She’s weak,” she muttered. “I think she’s slowing down.”

“No kidding,” Gilda snapped. “I’ll hit her from the side. Be ready to catch Sweetie Belle when she falls.”

Scootaloo didn’t have the strength to argue, and her years at the Nest had trained her to follow Gilda’s lead. Gilda flew up and to the left while Scootaloo slipped down and to the right. The pegasus kept a close eye on both the alicorn and the griffon as she positioned herself below and just behind Sweetie Belle, who still hung limply in Nightmare Moon’s magic. Scootaloo caught Gilda’s eye and gave her a slight nod. Gilda’s eyes narrowed, and she dove.

Nightmare Moon screamed as Gilda crashed into her back and dragged her toward the ground. The aura around Sweetie Belle disappeared. Scootaloo put on a burst of speed and caught her unconscious friend several feet above Canterlot’s snow-covered streets. The pegasus glided to the ground and landed just in front of the palace a little more roughly than she would have liked. “Sweetie Belle,” she said. “Can you hear me?”

Sweetie Belle moaned something, but a crash across the frozen moat drowned out whatever she tried to say. Gilda and Nightmare Moon tumbled out of a building covered in drywall and dust. Nightmare Moon rolled to her hooves and pointed her horn at the griffon. Her body was covered in scrapes, and one of her wings hung limply at her side, blood flowing from a deep gash at its base. The dark mare kicked Gilda in the side and ran towards the palace. “Hang on, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said. “She’s coming this way.”

Nightmare Moon reached the drawbridge just before Gilda leapt at her with her metal-clawed talons outstretched. The dark mare let out a feral growl as Gilda’s claws pierced her flank and whirled around, throwing Gilda halfway across the bridge. “I’ve had enough of you!” Nightmare Moon screeched.

“Then let me put you out of your misery!” Gilda shouted as she lunged forward. The aura around Nightmare Moon’s horn burst to life, and a moment later, Gilda was thrown from her feet with a flash of lightning. She flew through the air and slammed into the castle wall before falling to the ground, eyes closed and feathers smoldering.

“Gilda!” Scootaloo cried, but she had not time to help her friend. Nightmare Moon was stalking towards her, a mad gleam in her eye.

“Step aside if you value your life,” the dark mare growled.

“I won’t let you take Sweetie Belle or Gilda,” Scootaloo replied, taking a defensive stance in front of Sweetie Belle, who was just beginning to stir.

“I’ve defeated armies of pegasi stronger than you, you little foal,” Nightmare Moon snarled. “Get out of my way!”

“Never!” Scootaloo yelled. “Your reign ends now!”

“I am your princess!” Nightmare Moon’s voice shook Scootaloo’s bones, but she held her ground. “I command you to stand aside!”

“You’re not my princess,” Scootaloo said. “Long live Celestia!”

Nightmare Moon let out an unearthly scream and charged. Scootaloo galloped forward as well, watching carefully for the right moment to dodge. She knew hitting the alicorn head-on was suicide; even if the horn didn’t impale her, the alicorn’s size guaranteed Scootaloo would the thrown from her hooves. She waited until the last second before diving to the side, taking a swipe with her hoof as she sailed past the dark mare. Her hoof found Nightmare Moon’s left shoulder just below her breastplate and dug in. The impact sent a jolt of pain through her leg, and she collapsed to the snow, her head threatening to explode.

“Curse you!” Nightmare Moon screamed. Through her blurry vision, Scootaloo could see the alicorn limping on her injured leg. “I’ll destroy every last pony in your pathetic army!”

Scootaloo shook her head to clear the fog. “T-try all you want,” she stammered. “You might be powerful, but one day, you’ll meet your end.”

Nightmare Moon smirked. “There is no day here,” she said, “and there never will be.”

“Whatever.”

It was by no means her best comeback, but it got under Nightmare Moon’s skin just the same. “I know one thing for certain,” she said as her horn began to glow. “If by some miracle I am overthrown, you won’t be alive to see it.”

Scootaloo could push her body no further. She stumbled to her hooves and faced the dark mare with a look of defiant resolution. Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes, and Scootaloo closed hers. I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I tried.

Comments

[Xaldon Ajide]

she neglected to pay attention to chrysalis. that is the first thing you do in a real battle. you never disregard an enemy especially one as powerful as the changeling queen.