Flying High

by arglefumph

A Nightmare Ends

The Summer Solstice that year was Monday, June 21st at 7:49 PM.

Princess Celestia looked over the group of ponies gathered on the open lawn of Canterlot Castle. As the Element of Magic, Trixie was the unofficial leader of the group, and the blue unicorn was standing in front of the others. For a brief moment, Princess Celestia considered not raising the moon that day, but then she nodded to Trixie.

"Is everypony ready?" Princess Celestia asked. She unfurled her wings and flew into the sky. Using her magic, Celestia lowered the sun. Everything was cast in shadows for a few seconds, before Celestia raised the full moon. The Royal Princess landed back on the ground, about ten feet away from the others.

Almost immediately, a dark purplish-black beam of light came shooting out of the moon, as if a giant spotlight had been set up. Pinkie started jabbering about how it looked like a lunar slide, while black mist traveled through the light and formed a dark cloud near the ground.

"Do we attack now?" Trixie asked.

"No," Celestia said with a hardened gaze. "Wait until they arrive."

It took ten seconds for the mist to materialize into the form of two dark alicorns. Under the light of the full moon, Nightmare Moon looked even more frightening than usual. She threw her head backwards and glared superciliously at Celestia.

"A thousand years ago, you banished me to the moon. Tonight, I shall have my vengeance."

"We do not have to fight," Celestia said. "Please, return my sister to me, and I will let you leave in peace."

Nightmare Moon laughed boldly. "Your attempts to pacify me are as ridiculous as your new manestyle," she said. "Nothing save your death will sate my appetite! I will destroy your new capital city and build my throne upon your corpse! Eternal night shall blanket the land, and the sun will be nothing more than a distant memory!"

"Do not be so confident," Celestia said. "Good always triumphs over evil."

"Then let the battle begin, O pestilential Celestia," Nightmare Moon said. She darted forward with her head hung low, in an attempt to stab Celestia's heart with her horn. Celestia quickly dodged to the left, and Nightmare Moon's horn grazed her side.

Celestia hit Nightmare Moon in the head with her wing, then she quickly spun around so she could kick Nightmare Moon with her two hind legs. Nightmare Moon managed to rear up in time, and she smashed her front hooves down on Celestia's back hooves. Celestia let out a minor whimper of pain.

Nightmare Moon grinned, a half second before Celestia's large, multi-colored tail completely enveloped her head. Unable to see, Nightmare Moon sputtered and tried to back away, to no avail. Celestia's hair forcibly grabbed Nightmare's head, lifted her up a half-foot, then threw her to the ground.

Growling, Nightmare Moon got back up and attempted to kick Celestia with her right hoof. Celestia blocked three hits, then dodged when Nightmare followed up with a left-hooved uppercut. Spinning in a circle, Nightmare jumped backwards five feet and extended her left wing. Her horn glowed, as a feather shot out of her wing and towards Celestia's face. The fast-moving feather grazed Celestia's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.

"The feather dart spell," Celestia said. "I haven't seen that in centuries."

"Is that so?" Nightmare asked. "Then let me show you again."

Nightmare cast her own variation of the spell, which caused thirty of her feathers to stand out straight. Celestia's eyes widened, as all thirty feathers flew at once. Quickly casting a teleportation spell, Celestia disappeared from their line of fire and reappeared ten feet in the air. She shot a yellow beam of light at Nightmare Moon, which created a small crater when Nightmare rolled out of the way.

Nightmare flew up to fight Celestia, but the elder alicorn was prepared. She turned to the side, and her sun-shaped cutie grew in size. It flew off of her flank and went straight to Nightmare's eyes, momentarily blinding and confusing her. Celestia flew to Nightmare Moon and smashed her from above.

Nightmare fell downwards, but before she smashed into the ground, she spread out her wings and caught herself. Her hair spread out, and silver sparkles appeared in it. The sparkles took on the shape of stars, which formed a net that she threw at Celestia. Celestia dodged, but her left hind left got stuck, allowing Nightmare to get three good hits in before Celestia threw a powerful burning spell at her chest.

In the past, Celestia had used that particular burning spell to kill a usurper seapony. Instead of killing Nightmare Moon, all it did was singe the dark monster.

All those attacks, and I've barely even hurt her, Celestia thought grimly. If only the moon wasn't giving her so much power right now!

---

While Nightmare Moon dueled with Princess Celestia, the dark alicorn Twilight walked towards the group from Ponyville. She tried to look calm, but inside, she was nervous. She knew she would only have one good opportunity to use Discord's spell.

"Stop right there!" Trixie commanded. "Surrender now, or we'll use the Elements of Harmony on you!"

Twilight looked at her former friends, one by one. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were wearing looks of grim determination, while Trixie was scowling. Fluttershy was hiding behind Pinkie Pie, and Rarity looked somewhat scared.

Bingo, Twilight thought. She smirked, then put on her best apologetic face. "I'm so sorry, Rarity."

"What?" Rarity asked, surprised to be addressed by her enemy.

"I'm sorry that my brother decided to leave you for Cadance," Twilight said. "You deserve better than that."

Rarity frowned. When the six ponies had arrived in the palace that day, she noticed that Shining Armor was a tad more comfortable around Princess Cadance than Rarity would have preferred. But that didn't mean the two of them were—he was just doing his duty as a royal guard—Shining's relationship with Cadance was purely platonic...right?

"The Element of Loyalty, getting dumped by her coltfriend," Twilight said with buttery words. "Oh, the irony is heartbreaking. Poor, poor Rarity."

Rarity slumped on the ground, and her body took on a grayish hue. Trixie noticed that Twilight's horn was softly glowing, and she correctly guessed what was happening.

"She's trying to cast some sort of spell on us!" Trixie blurted out. "Don't listen to her! Quick, use the elements!"

"R-right!" Rainbow Dash said. She and the others focused on their respective Elements and a magical glow surrounded them. Rarity tried to contribute to the group's effort, but she was too distracted by thoughts of Shining Armor with Princess Cadance.

Twilight conjured a shield and watched in apprehension as the colors of the rainbow appeared on her opponents, one by one.

Reddish pink came from Pinkie Pie's crazy mane. Orange and yellow came out of Applejack and Fluttershy's bodies. Green came from a streak in Rainbow Dash's mane, followed by the light blue of Trixie's coat. But the pattern stopped with Rarity. Her hair gave off a dark gray color, instead of the deep purple that it was supposed to.

The colors swirled about, surrounding Trixie. Her horn glowed, and all the colors seemed to get sucked into a large ball, at the top of Trixie's horn. Trixie opened her empty eyes and threw the full attack directly at Twilight.

An explosion of color hit Twilight, and everypony was momentarily blinded. A bright circle of light surrounded the alicorn, so that nothing could be seen of her, besides her dark silhouette. Twilight struggled to maintain her shielding spell, and with a scream of anger, she created a small explosion as she shot her shield outwards.

When the light subsided, Twilight was still standing. She panted heavily, and the left side of her body seemed bruised. Other than that, the attack seemed to have had no effect on her.

"YOU FOOLS!" Twilight shouted. "How dare you attack me?! I shall see your brittle bones rot on the graves of your mourning families!"

"Again!" Trixie said. "We must—"

"DIE!" Twilight shot out a beam of energy towards the others. The ground exploded under Trixie's hooves, sending the blue unicorn flying. She landed on the ground nearby, unconscious, and blood trickled down her leg.

Twilight let out a growl of anger, then allowed herself to relax a bit. Without their leader, the Elements of Harmony could never hurt her. Still, that attack had been too close for comfort. If Rarity hadn't been Discorded...

"Ha!" Twilight said. "Who's the more powerful student now, Trixie?! I always knew you were a big fake when it comes to magic!"

The five remaining ponies all looked worried at each other. "Wha-what do we do now?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash looked up. One of their emergency back-up plans was to have Princess Celestia fill in as an Element of Harmony, since Celestia had used the elements in the past. However, it appeared that the Princess of the Sun was too busy fighting for her life to help at the moment.

Twilight glared at her opponents and inwardly vowed to make the rest of their short lives miserable. "You're all a bunch of failures!" Twilight said, beginning to use the Discord magic again. "What made you think you could defeat me? You got the Elements of Harmony completely wrong! Pinkie Pie is not the Element of Laughter!"

"But I'm the happiest, funniest, most super-partyriffic pony ever!" Pinkie Pie said.

"No, moron," Twilight said. "You're not funny at all. You're just hyper because you eat too much sugar. Being a hyper lunatic is completely different from being funny."

Pinkie started to turn gray, but she struggled against it. "I also sing silly songs sometimes!" Pinkie said. She cleared her throat, to begin a song. "When you're rife with devastation—"

"Random musical numbers aren't funny, either," Twilight said. "And nopony appreciates stupid references. Face it, you're such a bad comedienne that you probably couldn't entertain a group of babies. Give it up, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie frowned sadly, and she ran a hoof through her discolored mane.

"And Rainbow Dash? Element of Honesty?" Twilight asked. "You'd have to be dumber than Applejack to think that is a good idea! Rainbow Dash and truth haven't been on speaking terms, ever since she started bragging about how great a flyer she is!"

"Hey, I can do a Sonic Rainboom!" Rainbow Dash said.

"You did one Sonic Rainboom, over ten years ago," Twilight said. "I know you're too stupid to understand physics, but it's impossible for you to fly that fast now. You weigh too much. You're not as big of a fat flank as Pinkie, but you're still too heavy to do a Sonic Rainboom."

Applejack had to pull back on Rainbow Dash's tail, in order to prevent Rainbow from flying at Twilight and punching her. Meanwhile, Pinkie was pounding on the ground. Twilight smiled happily at their pain and anger.

---

Where were the other royal ponies, while the battle for the Crown of Equestria took place? The answer is not as interesting as you would think. Princess Cadance wasn't there to fight Nightmare Moon, because she was getting some donuts at Pony Joe's. She ended up missing the entire fight.

Princess Scootaloo was absent, because Princess Celestia didn't want her to be hurt. Shining Armor was given orders to keep Scootaloo safe inside her room at Canterlot Castle. The two of them stood on Scootaloo's balcony, and watched the events on the lawn through a pair of binoculars.

"They're both there!" Scootaloo said, shivering a bit as she saw the two dark alicorns together. "They look really mean!"

"Let me see!" Shining Armor said, trying to take the binoculars. He focused them on his sister, then gasped. "Is that what Twiley looks like now?"

"Gimme 'em back!" Scootaloo said. "I'm the princess, not you!"

Scootaloo and Shining cooperated with each other, for only a short time. Once the battle broke into two groups, it became impossible for the two ponies to share the binoculars, because Shining Armor wanted to watch the aerial battle between Nightmare Moon and Celestia, while Scootaloo wanted to see Twilight face off against the Ponyville residents on the ground.

The two of them kept stealing the binoculars from each other, and they spent more time complaining than watching the fights. The argument over the binoculars did not stop, until the Great and Powerful Trixie was attacked and defeated in one blow.

"Mom!" Scootaloo cried.

"Oh no!" Shining Armor said.

"We have to get down there!" Scootaloo said, dropping the binoculars. "Evil Twilight hurt my mom! We need to help!"

"Nuh uh," Shining Armor said. "Princess Celestia gave me orders to protect you. I'll probably get in trouble as it is, for letting you watch from up here."

"My mom could die!" Scootaloo said. "Everypony could die! We have to help!"

"It's too dangerous, and it's against my orders," Shining Armor said. "I need to keep you safe."

Scootaloo scowled at her personal guard and ran her into her room. She came back with a picture in her mouth. She spit it out on the ground.

"What's this?" Shining Armor asked.

"It's a picture of my mom," Scootaloo said. "When I was an orphan, this was the only thing I had to remind me of her. See what it says?"

Shining levitated the picture to his eye level. " 'Scootaloo, I will always love you, no matter what. When it's safe, I will come back for you. Mom.' Okay, that's sweet, but..."

"No matter what," Scootaloo said. "That's how family works, right? We have to help no matter what."

Shining stomped on the ground in frustration. What was he supposed to do? His training as a guard didn't cover his sister turning into an evil alicorn, then attacking his charge's mother. Who was more important to protect: Twilight or Scootaloo?

"Please, Shining Armor!" Scootaloo begged. "What if I'm the only pony who can save her?"

Shining Armor paused for a second, then grabbed Scootaloo in his arms. She squirmed to escape his grip, but he held tightly. Slowly, he lifted her up until she was above his head.

"I'm so getting fired for this..." Shining Armor moaned.

Shining Armor threw Scootaloo off the balcony, aiming her towards the other ponies. Scootaloo spread out her wings and dove towards Twilight's head.

---

Twilight smiled at the angry gray ponies in front of her. They had started fighting with each other, and they no longer posed a legitimate threat. Still, Twilight took delight in continuing her verbal attack.

"Everypony secretly hates your pet bunny," Twilight said. "Angel is spoiled jerk. The next time I see him, I'm going to skin him and eat him."

"NOOOOOO!" Fluttershy moaned.

"The worst thing is your stupid—"

"HYAH!" Scootaloo cried as she swooped down and punched Twilight in the jaw. The punch didn't hurt very much, as Scootaloo didn't angle her dive correctly, but it looked impressive nonetheless.

When she landed on the ground, Scootaloo immediately ran to the other ponies. "Mom!" she said, grabbing her mother's hoof. "Is she dead?"

"She's still breathing," Applejack muttered. "Dunno how much longer it'll last, though..."

Twilight stepped forward, and the five full-grown ponies instinctively formed a protective circle around Scootaloo. "Well, if it isn't the orphaned princess!" Twilight sneered said. "Did you come here so I could kill you?"

"I came to get my big sister back!" Scootaloo yelled.

"You're as delusional as the rest of them," Twilight said. "I bet you think that you can fly, don't you? Stupid little Scootaloo."

"What?" Scootaloo asked. "I can fly! You taught me."

Twilight laughed. "Haven't you wondered why your primary feathers aren't fully grown in yet?" she asked. "You're a cripple, Stupidloo. You can't fly; you can only glide."

Scootaloo shook her head in anger and fear. "Go away, you evil monster!" Scootaloo said. "We want Twilight Sparkle, the NICE pony!"

"Jeez, you're a whiny little princess, aren't you? The old me is dead! The Princess of the Dusk shall live forever!"

"Give me back Twilight!" Scootaloo said. "Give her back NOW!"

Scootaloo reared up on her hind legs, then stomped her front hooves on the ground. An orange shockwave emanated from her hooves. The waves grew to be about a foot in size, and they surrounded the group in a circle.

"Wha—what sorcery is this?" Princess Twilight asked, stepping back.

Light streamed out of the Elements of Harmony necklaces. The Bearers turned back to their normal colors, as the orange glow surrounded the group. All six ponies were raised in the air about two feet, and after a few seconds, the confused Scootaloo understood what was happening.

It's what Cadance told me, she realized. Love lifts you up and settles on the other pony.

Scootaloo felt a crown appear on her head. A magical burst of light came forth from it, and similar magical lights poured out of the necklaces of the others. They combined to form a huge tornado of light, which completely enveloped the evil alicorn Twilight.

"No!" Twilight shouted. "NO! The Elements of Harmony aren't—!"

The light was so bright that everypony had to close their eyes. Even Celestia and Nightmare Moon stopped dueling and landed on the ground, where they watched the scene in amazement. Eventually, the light cleared and the Elements of Harmony landed back on the ground. Twilight Sparkle, once again a pegasus, was standing in a small crater before them. A shocked look was on her face for two seconds, before she collapsed to the ground.

"Twilight!" Scootaloo said. She tried to leap forward, but Applejack held her back.

"Hold on, squirt," Applejack said. "We don't know if that worked or not. Maybe all we did was make her mad at us."

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We totally destroyed her! That was awesome!"

Fluttershy was still shuddering in fear. "She—she said horrible things to us!" she moaned.

"That was Evil Twilight!" Scootaloo said, breaking free of Applejack's grip. "Good Twilight is—"

Pinkie Pie was the first to notice the difference. "Scootaloo!" she said. "You...your cutie mark!"

"Huh?" Scootaloo asked. She looked at her flank, to notice that it was no longer blank. A blue heart had appeared, similar to Princess Cadance's cutie mark. Behind the heart was a red, six-pointed star, similar to Trixie's cutie mark.

"I got my cutie mark!" Scootaloo cried happily. "I can't believe it! My special talent is—um—what's my special talent?"

"It's...love magic!" Rarity said, sounding impressed. "It has to be! Your love must be powerful!"

"NO!" Nightmare Moon shouted, drawing everypony's attention to her. "That's impossible! A pegasus cannot be the Element of Magic! Only unicorns can use magic!"

Celestia smiled widely. "Haven't you heard, dear sister? Friendship is magic."

Nightmare Moon groaned in anger. The one thing she hated more than the sun was cheesy lessons about love. When Nightmare Moon had first taken over Princess Luna's body, her love had been the hardest thing to overcome.

"I was planning on killing Twilight!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "You will all die, for taking that pleasure away from me! I will decimate your—what?"

Nightmare Moon found herself surrounded by a green glow, and she struggled to move away. The green glow was coming from Celestia's horn, and the royal ruler turned to the others. "Quickly, my little ponies!" Celestia said. "Use the elements again! I can't hold her in place for very long!"

"R-right!" Scootaloo said. "I'm not the only pony whose sister needs to be saved!"

The Elements of Harmony got into position again. After a brief prompting from Fluttershy, Scootaloo focused on happy feelings like love and family. She and the other ponies floated into the air again, and Nightmare Moon screamed in fury as she was cleansed in the fires of friendship.

Soon, Nightmare Moon was gone forever, and Princess Luna was back. She was a little smaller and paler than Celestia remembered, but there was no mistaking it. At long last, Luna had woken up from the nightmare which consumed her for over a thousand years.

Celestia stepped forward to examine her unconscious sister's body, when a groan came from fifteen feet away. The ponies turned around to see Twilight stumble out of the crater she had been in. She rubbed her aching forehead.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked woozily. "Where are we? What happened?"

"Twilight! You're back!" Scootaloo said.

"YES!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"I...what?" Twilight asked, seconds before she found herself in the middle of an enormous group hug.

Comments

[Creed Miles]

Is twilight still an alicorn?

[Cold Spike]

YAY HUGS! MOAR!

[kingtiger666]

Celestia smiled widely. "Haven't you heard, dear sister? Friendship is magic."

Pfffhaha! No it isn't.

[TheGreatEater]

2764108

The light was so bright that everypony had to close their eyes. Even Celestia and Nightmare Moon stopped dueling and landed on the ground, where they watched the scene in amazement. Eventually, the light cleared and the Elements of Harmony landed back on the ground. Twilight Sparkle, once again a pegasus, was standing in a small crater before them. A shocked look was on her face for two seconds, before she collapsed to the ground.

Decent chapter. I'm glad that Twily's alive, and Scoots is still the Backup Element of Magic. Cute Cutie Mark btw.

[Unknownlight]

Love it.

[funkyferret]

...
Not again. Not another evil Twilight fic where Scootaloo is shoehorned into being the new Element of Magic to advance the plot. Seriously. You are supposed to have her help Twilight realize what's important so she can be undiscorded and use the Elements against Nightmare Moon. I want a trip into Twilight's tortured soul. This is just lazy writing.

[Khaoticsuccubus]

So the Elements of Harmony returned Twilight to a pegasus once more. Now life and everyone in her's can once again continue to take their massive dump on her head as they were always meant to do. All is Harmonious and right with the world.

Side note: didn't the CMC smash one of the elements? Correct me if I've missed it somewhere but I don't recall you ever addressing this issue. Like no one ever even brings it up at all.

[arglefumph]

2770576 Yes, the CMC smashed two of the round rocks that the Elements came out of (Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's). Celestia's workaround is to make necklaces, which have their cutie marks on them. I briefly mentioned that they aren't the correct necklaces in an aside, in the preparations chapter.

Basically, "the Elemental Stones have been destroyed" is a subplot that created artificial drama, just like in the TV show. In the end, the Elements of Harmony were inside themselves, all along.

2767870 I really did consider that, but I don't think it's possible for Twilight to have thrown off the dark powers, by herself. Princess Luna wasn't able to free herself from Nightmare Moon, so unless Twilight is made of stronger moral fiber than Luna, it's unlikely Twilight would be able to, either. Twilight was able to throw off Discord's magic, only after a season's worth of lessons on friendship, which she doesn't have at this point.

[Mermaid]

I liked this. Not what I was expecting!

[Mindy Sparkfire]

2767870

"Another"?

When has that ever happened before?

[Captain Brony]

2829809 Right you are.

[Tennis Match Fan]

I'm glad others think not just unicorns can wield Magic. Cool!

[Via]

When you're rife with devastation

Look how far I can slide! That's at least five feet.

--SYA, The Horse

[kingthe13]

Sucks it unicorns the elements of magic in this dimension is a Pegasus who can barely fly

[PixelMoon]

I don't really like how the true bearers aren't bearing the right elements

[Enderstorm]

2771366

Basically, "the Elemental Stones have been destroyed" is a subplot that created artificial drama, just like in the TV show. In the end, the Elements of Harmony were inside themselves, all along.

Yeah, I don't really think it works like that.