Prologue: Project Hellfire

MLP: Equestria (wait, where?) Prologue: Project Hellfire

NOTE: this doesn’t start or end in Equestria it’s mainly a prologue of the protagonist, enjoy.

Ah, to see a supernova is lovely sight, kind of like a sunset on earth but more serene. I stood on the bridge watching as the star of sector 23Z – D2 just go supernova. Wait where are my manners? My name is Infernus to a few friends and “Holy shit run!!” to my many enemies. It is a strange name isn’t it? Not really, I’ve been living this life for a year now: wandering space, taking out pirate ships, their bases and supply lines (yes they have those, they are just undercover masquerading as simple merchant ships), I have carried supplies to war torn planets and fought in number of wars either on a planet’s surface or in space. Just me and the Twilight Fleet which only comprised of six ships.

As I took pictures of the supernova with the onboard cameras I looked back at my time on Deltra IV, the folks I met and the thing that forced me to leave Earth: Bleach Protocol. Before I get to that I guess I should tell you all more about myself, yes? I used to be a 5’5” human, brown short hair, medium build, nothing special. I liked dragons and other reptiles but dragons just piqued my interest more, why? Hell if I know, it’s one of those things that you like but can’t explain why I’m sure you know the feeling. I was of medium build, slightly lazy and loved PCs. As for a social life I kind of lacked one as in if I went to a party, I would be THAT dude in the corner alone. Wondering why these descriptions are more past tense than present? Well, shut up and listen it was quite the adventure.

South Africa, Cape Town, I was at home playing on my PC (as usual), my folks and younger sisters were gone for the next couple of weeks on a little trip to, I forgot where they never bother to properly inform me beforehand. I had the house to myself for that time; most people would throw a huge party, inviting all their friends, but me? ‘Yeah fat chance’, I thought ‘you need to have friends first before you can invite any of them to a party’. I turned on the media player and listened to a playlist of some random singers and bands, I do this because I like to listen to my music when I’m fragging enemies or going round corners at 150kph (I fell the need…THE NEED FOR SPEED!! Had to be said), or whatever else I’m doing in a game. My Argonian character was going through a Dwemer dungeon, two-handed ebony greatsword in his hands, slowly so as to not get any unwanted attention from the local defence grid. Soon a Dwemer Spider appeared, then another until I was facing 5, I laughed and charged. 10 seconds later I was looting their broken bodies in the usual victory. This sort of thing carried on for the majority of the day until about 6 o’clock I decided to switch on the electric stove for some supper, I do this at 6 because I’m very time-centric I like everything to happen at a certain time, punctuality is something I take pride in. After supper I bathed and got ready for bed, but not long after I dozed off I had the weirdest dream possible.

I dreamt I was strapped to a chair, the kind you find at the dentist, but despite the padding it felt cold like touching steel and just as hard on the back. I started to hear voices in a language I knew I was never going to understand in this life or the next (which might happen sooner than I think). As I looked at the restraints I noticed they were made of black leather the same kind of restraints you find in those adult shops or in porn videos with those bondage fetishes. “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!!” I yelled. No response should have known. The room looked like a hospital ward but with one chair in the centre – which I was strapped to obviously – grey tiles across the floor, some form of metal for the walls and ceiling and lots of strange lights some white, or blue it was weird and some curtains that probably covered a window and a large double door.

The voices I heard earlier started talking again in that weird unknown language. Then the weirdest thing happened one of the voices said IN PLAIN ENGLISH: “begin”. Before I could raise a question, a hissing noise filled the room as a turquoise mist came in through the ground and ceiling. The gas smelled like raw sewerage, must have been 5 seconds before the weird gas knocked me out cold. As I was slowly regaining consciousness I heard the same voices again, INCLUDING THE ONE WHO SPOKE IN ENGLISH!! “Sir, the subject is waking up”, one of the voices said. The voice that spoke in English responded: “Not yet, increase the dose of the sedative to the subject, it’s too early for him to regain consciousness”. Before I drifted back to sleep I realised: ’Did I just understand one of them?!’

Now this part was weird, before I even opened my eyes I saw… green lines, like you know how you see the world? Well imagine some seeing green lines through that vision like a Heads Up Display. I then saw the words “SYSTEM BOOTING”, I then thought “what in the Hell?” but as I was thinking it the words appeared in front of me! The next thing I saw was “AUDIO SYSTEMS ONLINE”, then I heard those voices again sadly I couldn’t open my eyes and I didn’t understand why ‘At least I can hear and understand them…wait WHY can I understand them?’ “MOTOR FUNCTIONS AND VISUAL SYSTEMS BOOTING … COMPLETE” Yes! I can move again! As I opened my eyes I saw white padding like I was placed in a solitary confinement cell for psychopaths. The next thing this ‘HUD’ showed was “BOOT SEQUENCE COMPLETE, HELLFIRE V3.1 NOW ONLINE”. Before I could raise any more thoughts about this HUD or Hellfire for that matter I felt a slight breeze on my scales as I stood up…wait SCALES?! I looked down at myself and got quite a shock I felt taller than I used to be ‘What did they do to me?!’ I thought, looked at my two claws that used to be my hands but the silver lining was I didn’t lose or gain fingers so there wasn’t anything to get used to, other than the fact that the nails were half an inch long and looked like I could tear through flesh like wet tissue paper. My legs on the other hand (or is it claw now?) were not so lucky: they too were covered in scales as was the rest of my new body but I had two knees for each leg and I seemed to stand on the balls of my feet like some reptiles did (‘like some dinosaur’ I thought). The most noticeable feature though was actually right in front of my face - literally – I had a snout. It jutted out from where my nose used to be and I never used to have a long nose as a human to begin with.

I looked around the psycho room and noticed a full length mirror and naturally I wanted to see all of me. As I got there my heart sank a little, I was no longer human in any way other than my mind. I was white like completely snow white, I made blank paper for copy machines look yellow, but I also noticed some black markings on me ‘now these I like’ I thought. They were thin stripes in a strange tribal pattern they mainly left most of my belly alone which was a pale silver, they all seemed connected, coming from singular location which I identified as a slightly thicker stripe that was between my now elongated neck and base of my three tails, hold on, THREE tails? As I looked in disbelief I rubbed my eyes and all three were still there, the thing was the tips looked like a three-pronged trident with a larger central blade and were completely metallic and had a silver-blue hue to them. The next thing I drew my attention to was the horns on my body, I had six 8 inch horns on my head that seemed to be made from diamond, they were transparent and yet sparkled in the lights of my room. I had more smaller horns that ran from the bridge of my snout to the metallic tips of my tails, and as the single row of these smaller ‘spikes’ reached the base of my body where the tails met the single row split into three, one for each tail. My four eyes were magenta of all colours with a slit like any other reptile, hold on, WHY DO I HAVE FOUR EYES? Yet there they were: two facing forward and the other two on the sides of my head, I seemed to have a near 360° view without needing to turn my head. I noticed that I also had a pair of wings and as I tried to open them I saw their colour scheme was more or less the same as the rest of my body: the membrane for the wings were the same shade of white as my body while the ‘arms’ were black and the tips were the same metallic silver-blue as my tail-tip tridents. I soon felt my wings touch the walls of the room. ‘What? I know this room isn’t that big but it isn’t that small either’ I thought as I looked at these leather blankets, they each looked bigger than me by far! I retracted my wings and continued to inspect my new body.

So I had digitigrade legs, white and black scales with pale silver belly scales, two obscenely large wings, three tails with metallic, trident-like tips, I was completely naked, I was seeing the world through a HUD, claws, six large diamond-like horns and spikes. ‘Hmm’, as I looked at myself I just wondered ‘this, is something I could get used to’, but as if to break my train of thought a part of the padded wall opened up, and in came two creatures that looked a bit like me except one of them was a light blue and had no markings on its body and the other was a deep red with some thin, curling dark purple markings on its face. Then out of the blue the HUD displayed two green boxes over their heads with their names on top of them: ‘TRENG ALFIRE (MALE)’ was above the blue one while ‘DRENI CRETE (FEMALE)’ was above the red one. What also caught my attention is that they were wearing clothes, white lab coats, black pants and white t-shirts. They were also carrying some form of device with them. “Subject 32 can you understand me?” the one with Treng above his head said. “Yeah” I said, “Good, your linguistic software is operating properly”, then he turned his attention to the red female to his right and said “Doctor you may begin the examination” and left the room, “Come” she said, and I followed.

Let me tell you walking with those legs was weird but I got the hang of it as we were making our way through the hallway outside my room. It was styled the same way as the room with the chair did, steel everywhere, grey tiles on the floor and white-blue lights on the ceiling. ‘In’ this Dreni said, ‘Sheesh, not much for talk is she?’ I thought and again I saw this in front of me on this HUD, as I went into the room I saw something that got me nervous. It was the first room I was in! The chair, the curtains but then I saw the HUD light up and draw small green rings at various locations on the ceiling and near the floor and said ‘SEDATIVE SYSTEM’, so that’s where the gas that knocked me out came from, ‘huh, this HUD is interesting’ I thought. “Come over here”, oh crap I forgot I was I wasn’t alone in that room this time, Dreni was standing by the curtains but didn’t open them, as I was walking towards her and the curtains she spoke “Subject 32, Michael Garner you live on Earth, not very social, play on software entertainment systems and you are generally lazy”, “Ooooh kay I guess you’re right” I said. As I got to her she then said “You are a subject in our genetic manipulation project, it’s called –“, “Project Hellfire correct?” I interrupted remembering what the HUD showed as I woke up. “That is correct, we are trying to combine our technology and organic material together along with our affinity for magic in one being, but the Council does not allow us to use our experiments on our own species so we abduct humans and use them”, I was about to raise a question she cut me off “It has had a 99% fatality rate, you’re one of the very few to have survived the process but the first to not be too concerned about your new form, in fact it seemed like you enjoyed it”, “May ask you something?” I said, “Go ahead” she responded. I blurted: “Who are you, where am I, why take me, will I be able to go home, and what am I?”

“To answer your last question you are one of us: a dragon, you know those creatures that humans thought were a myth? You should see who I am because of your software’s facial recognition software, you should know or rather should see the names of the entire science team because we downloaded the roster into you, why you? We do it quite randomly and at different points in time, you are currently onboard the Atral Space Station in Sector 45D-C3 currently 213 light years from Earth. We may take you home but only if we can get you to change back to your human self and after we’ve done some tests and evaluations. Happy now?” I nodded “Yes thanks, what are these tests and evaluations you want to run?”, Dreni responded: “First we’ll do a medical exam and get your measurements, gender and then we’ll take you to Icarus for a psychiatric evaluation and we’ll test your capabilities on the nearby planet, don’t worry the atmosphere is hospitable for dragons, humans and five other species, let us begin with the medical shall we?” I nodded, unsure how to respond to all this and headed to the chair I was originally strapped to. When I had sat down on the chair it felt more comfortable than the first time, like a large pillow, Denri then stood next to me and did something on that device she had and a smaller chair came out of the floor, on my right, and while that happened my own chair moved to into a sitting position instead of the original laid-back position.

“Now open wide”, she then picked up a small devices from the table, one looked like a scalpel but with a screen which took up 98% of the blade’s handle. I opened my mouth to expose my tongue and teeth. She took a tube and the scalpel-screen device, she then activated them. The tube turned out to be a torch but as she pressed the scalpel on my tongue something felt wrong…I could feel it on my tongue yet I could still move it on either side of the blade, she then took it off the middle of my tongue and switched the torch off. Curious I stuck out my tongue, only to find out I had three forked tongues?! “It’s not unusual to have multiple appendages, dragons tend to have a few of either heads, arms, legs, tails, and in your case tongues and tails, be thankful you don’t have multiple heads I’ve heard the worst arguments come from those with multiple heads. Oh divines, the split personalities they have are confusing” She said, shaking her head.

It was strange to see a more talkative side to her but she carried on with the medical. Turned out my wings were 1.5 times larger than they should be but she said it would be helpful for long flights as I should be able to glide for greater distances. She also noted that the ‘arms’ of my wings should be more than strong enough to provide the sufficient lift required to fly. I must admit I was excited to hear I might be able to fly, hell wouldn’t you? She then started telling me more about my body’s apparent capabilities based on the numerous other tests she ran. With the four eyes I had I could see 300° degrees around me perfectly. She said I was 7’11” tall and my build was average for a dragon. The height she said I was explained the initial feeling I had when I woke up, and “average for a dragon”? Well that’s fine by me I don’t want to be this insanely ripped monster that looks like I had steroids for blood cells.

She then took measurements of my wings; tails; et cetera. Before she left she told me the got me some clothes for me: a plain navy blue t-shirt that tore because of the spikes along my back; the lime green pants I wore were tight around the tail area. I would not be caught dead wearing these colours together but beggars can’t be choosers as they say.

I walked up to the curtain and pulled it to the side…and boy did I get a surprise. I was in space like Denri said, so much for being home in time for dinner, which I would have had to make myself. The view was breathtaking though, I saw two moons near the planet the station was orbiting and there was a nebula well off in the distance but it was close enough to see clearly. I wondered if this was really a dream and decided to pinch myself to find out. Before I could try it, I felt a sharp pain near my leg and swung around to see no one behind me so I looked down and saw the one of my tail’s tip changed. It looked like a large crab pincer but made of the silver-blue metal the tip was made of, I stared at it for about 5 seconds and then the pincer, melted towards my tail and hardened back into a trident. The other two were unchanged during all this so this was very strange.

“Looks like you learned to change one of your tail tips, that’s progress”, it was the voice I recognised from earlier. I didn’t need to turn around to see this dragon as he was outside my 300° radius so I turned my head to see him. The name ‘ICARUS (LAST NAME UNKNOWN)’ came up above his head thanks to the HUD I had. It was strange that my HUD could not identify his last name but it didn’t seem important so I didn’t worry too much. Icarus was taller than me, my HUD seemed to display his height at 8’10” so he was definitely taller than me, he was covered in dark green scales and I could make out yellow on his underside, starting by his chest and continuing underneath his tail. Instead of horns like myself he had a frill with a yellow membrane and dark green ‘fingers’ which the membrane was attached to. He had nothing that ran down his spine like the spikes I had so it was interesting to me to see a very different dragon. “I’m sure your HUD has shown you only my first name, but that is where we will end it for now as it is time to assess your capabilities”. He turned around and started to head towards the door again.

“Wait I thought you were doing a psychiatric assessment on me first before having my capabilities assessed”, I protested. “I have actually been observing you since you got on this station, from before the project’s start to now and I must say you do seem psychologically fine”, he grinned while he said this while we were moving down the hallway again but in a different direction, not back to my room. ‘Denri has already explained the Hellfire Project’s function to you, so I’ll skip as many pleasantries as possible I like everything to go quickly, you will learn to control your body, the nanobots in your bloodstream and any magic that may you may have or else you will most likely die’, I stopped at hearing this, it was a little unnerving ‘What, the fatality rate for the process is only 12% the other 86% is due to my assessment”. Okay now he was scaring me a bit.

We can into a large open room with some vehicle with a flight of stairs leading to what I assumed was an airlock door; we went up the stairs and into the vehicle. I followed him to the cockpit and saw 4 seats all with a hole in the part where one’s tail should be, Icarus pointed to one of the seats and I sat, it was the closest to the right of the cockpit and I could see very clearly though the glass into the hangar. ‘Buckle up and don’t touch or press anything, Atral Station this is the Spearhead I’m taking our new friend to the planet be backing a few hours‘, a voice then came over the communicator he was using: ‘THIS IS ATRAL STATION, SEE YOU SOON ICARUS, TRY NOT TO KILL THIS ONE. THE OTHERS BELIEVE HE SHOWS PROMISE‘. ‘No promises Atral‘, okay NOW he was really scaring me.

The vehicle was a spacecraft (duh) and it only took use like 10 minutes to make it planet side so this thing would make anything made by humans look like a tortoise racing a jet propelled car. During the trip Icarus put the ship on autopilot decided to explain more about my “situation”. “We actually observe possible recruits 3 weeks in advance; I’m in charge of their profiles and selection. I noticed you did have not a very exciting life, did you? Nonetheless I decided to give the go ahead to get you and run the experiment. We were all worried when you woke up ahead of time, we weren’t even halfway finished!”. ‘So they do their research before abducting anyone?’ I responded. “I am also the project’s Director ever since my father died; he named the project after himself, self-righteous bastard. He used to do the experiment on our own kind even though the Council abolished such practice. I’ll never forget his first ‘volunteer’”. I just had to ask who it was, “Me, he used some very cruel methods on me and when I woke up I killed him in a fit of pure, savage rage or at least that’s what the cameras showed, I don’t remember doing it though, I wanted to enjoy it. Well we’ve arrived, time to get to the training, try not to die”.

The planet’s surface was not that different from earth’s, green grass, brown dirt, some trees that bent WAY out of shape and had yellow leaves and blue water. I was interested that this was so similar to earth other than those trees. We went to a large clearing near a large three-storey building, but the grass was black in some areas no doubt the ‘training’ Icarus was talking about. There were a few cabinets, targets, boxes, and rings above the clearing which I believed were for aerial training. “Now we shall start with the training”, and boy did he run me. The assault course was similar to Earth’s but I had some trouble with the tires (still not used to digitigrade legs), flying seemed to be more my style as my large wings helped to propel me faster through the rings and around the rest of the course. We then moved on to water and then my HUD and body gave me another shock, after I dived into the water the HUD lit up again with the words: ’UNDERWATER MODE ONLINE’. Next I developed gills on my neck that went into ‘ACTIVE MODE’ according to the HUD, and webbing membrane appeared between my toes and claws. My wings came in handy again as each flap in a direction gave me some extra thrust. We did this for several days, repeating the routine: land, air and ending the day with water.

Icarus decided to move on to another topic that covered what Hellfire did to me: the capability to transform. Turned out after I turned myself back to my human self I was pathetic at organic transformations but brilliant at mechanical ones. Turned myself into a hulking mech that resembled Metal Gear REX from MGS 1, an aircraft with VTOL capabilities I decided to dub Hades as I had enough armament to nuke 5 cities, after I tried a spacecraft I decided to incorporate it into Hades so I never needed to change if I needed to go to space and it worked quite well. I also learned that I can control various aspects of myself through the HUD by either speaking or thinking what I needed my body to do. After a very long and exhausting day we went over to the main building to hit the hay.

It was deserted if you excluded the maintenance robots, Icarus explained that only he and ‘new meat’ as he put it were ever here as the planet was not designated for anything else. Got like 4 hours of sleep before Icarus abruptly woke me up, I nearly blew his head off with MG REX’s railgun I made from my right arm. He just laughed at it and asked if I was really that paranoid, had to admit I wasn’t used to being on a planet with only one other on it, it’s not something you can easily get used to. I was very paranoid back on Earth, slept with a gun under my pillow.

Today it was magic, the only part I thought was a joke until Icarus made a pillar of earth come out from the ground and made it into a blade of stone, then he made it compact itself into diamond! Amazed and nervous I began to attempt this. According to Icarus, dragons tend to be ‘attuned’ to an element or two and apparently cooking was an element as well. After 8 hours I learnt what mine were: lightning and ice. “Lightning and ice are a nice combination but they contradict each other because lightning is fast, unthinking, pure action and destruction, ice though shows patience, peace but it is also cold, lonely but they suit you well” Icarus said. With his help I made the area snow and managed to blow up one of the wonky trees up with a lightning bolt. Then the next day caused me a lot of stress, we went into the centre of the clearing, he made the stone blade of his again and told me to attack him.

Apparently this part of the assessment is what killed previous subjects, not the actual training. He came at me with surprising speed but I rolled to the left as he brought the sword down. Now I knew he was VERY serious, I created a blade using ice to create the shape and then caused it to turn to metal. The blade was a greatsword in size with a ring between the handle and blade replacing the hilt. The ring also had 4 transparent crystals at 45° angles to the blade, but its most interesting feature was the small star that occupied the space inside the ring. Armed with this weapon I decided to strike back. He lunged at me with his blade so I parried it to the left, he then used the momentum to swing the blade around again but this time I blocked it with the sword and stopped it dead in its tracks. He chuckled at me and broke the stalemate by kicking me in the chest, I stumbled and he brought his blade down at me. I managed to roll out of the way and got up, ready to strike. I sliced with my blade, aiming for his midriff and he blocked it. I decided to take a page out of his book and punched him in the face. He staggered and struck at me again, we kept on crossing blades, mine blocking his and vice versa. He sliced the air upwards and knocked my blade from my claws and it embedded itself in a tree. I was too far away to be able to retrieve it without being injured so I tried to make another weapon: a halberd (halberds are spears with either one or two axes on either side of the pole, situated slightly under the spearhead’s base).

The spearhead had two points like a fork; one curved axe blade under it. Holding this new weapon I resumed my defence of Icarus’ constant attacks. With the halberd giving me more range I was able to more easily deflect the attacks and I managed to land a few myself. He tried an upward slice again but this time I impaled his blade in the dirt, thanks to the pronged spearhead, I had used so much force that the blade was impossible to remove from the ground but so was my halberd. He looked at it and then at me and he started to laugh.

“Well part one is done, now for ranged attacks” and pulled out a gun from his jacket and pulled the trigger. Reacting on instinct I opened my wings and put them in front of me to protect myself. The bullet deflected off, it made sense after I realised the outer side of the wing became metallic as a reflex to the gun. I then decided to go all out and changed into Metal Gear REX, I was at least 11’10” tall, I opened up the two chainguns, the twin tri-rail railguns (i have another railgun where the radome would be, but i have two smaller radomes mounted on top of the rear sections of each railgun, in the same way an AWACS has its sensors on its fuselage), my knee mounted missiles, the AT missiles in my back and my free electron laser. He kept moving and taking potshots at me but they deflected off my metal armour and he landed next to one of the cabinets near the firing range, took out a rocket launcher and fired it at me. Turned out I was just as fast as I used to be when I was a dragon and dodged the rocket easily, I then continued my assault. He soon threw his gun and the rocket launcher away.

“Now for your aerial and magic assessment, let’s fly!” He extended his wings and took off. I turned back into my dragon form, extended my wings and shot off after him. He waited until I was near him and all of a sudden a huge gust of wind hit me with the same amount of force as a truck going at 100mph would and knocked me almost out of the air. I managed to regain my flight and fired off a few bolts of lightning at him, which - frustratingly – he dodged. He flew down near the ground with me in pursuit. This was part of his plan as made some stone pillars shoot out of the ground in front of me, hoping to make me crash so I increased altitude and changed into Hades. The guns on Hades are: 4 .50 cal Vulcan Cannons for normal dogfights; 2 100kw pulse lasers for space or zero gravity planets (bullets are quite slow in zero gravity); 6 Maverick AT (Anti-Tank) missiles which also work in space on each wing; 2 multi-role bomb bays, carrying 120lb; 240lb; cluster bombs; SFFS (Self –Forging Fragment Submunitions) bays; guided bombs along with a variety of space-based versions. I loaded and charged all my weapons and first fired my guns and lasers at Icarus. He increased his own altitude and came close for some close range dogfighting, the manoeuvres he pulled would normally rip off the wings of any plane on Earth. I was not like ANY plane on Earth, because as Hades is also capable of space flight it comes with several small directional thrusters across its entire body which gives it an advantage against most flying enemies. Icarus landed on top of me and held on, he shouted: “You have to use magic, otherwise I will send a killswitch command and it will permanently end you. I'm sure that you don’t want that to happen.”

Hades also comes equipped with 2 turrets on top and underneath the body, mainly used to deal with incoming missiles; targets that are clinging on to my fuselage (like Icarus was doing); and for targets too agile for me to keep up with. Instead of the normal beam laser loadout, I fired off ice shards at him. He leapt off me, leaving a few tears in me thanks to his claws and said that was better and he buffeted me with more wind attacks but this time the directional thrusters compensated as soon as each attack connected, effectively nullifying his attacks. I managed to hit him a few times but he just shook them off as if they were nothing, as we continued to fight I considered adding effects of the two elements together. I fired off another lightning bolt at Icarus, he managed to dodge it but where the bolt struck there was now a small chunk of ice, I managed to create a ‘flash-freeze’ spell. Icarus turned to look at it and he just continued to attack me. We kept going for another ten minutes, I was firing flash-freeze spells, hoping to hit him and he kept trying to get me to get close enough to the ground so I would be in range for his earth based spells to hit me.

Icarus then said it was over and landed on the ground, I changed back into a dragon and landed as well. Turned out most don’t live past the melee as this was the most dangerous of all four aspects of the training. I took my blade out of the tree, got my halberd out of the ground and used my magic to make them vanish until I needed them again. He took out a tablet from another pocket in his jacket and pressed some buttons and my HUD lit up once more with the words: ‘ALL SYSTEMS ARE NOW ONLINE’ flashing in front of me, “I have fully unlocked your system’s full capabilities, sorry can’t be too careful, the only thing to limit you now is you imagination. I suggest you get yourself a ship and use the warpgates to get to Earth, I’ve gathered all the data I need from our training. If you want to build yourself a ship, there are enough raw materials on the nearby moon.” After deciding I would build a ship rather than fly the entire way I was dropped off at the first moon while in my mech form and then turned into a large spacedock and started construction on MY ship.

Six months of non-stop work – I ate and slept a little but I devoted 18 earth hours to this ship, I could not do more since I would revert back to either my dragon or human form and I would subsequently die – later it was finished. 2 kilometres long and 1.3 km at the widest point, my ship D.E.S.S. ‘Infinity’ was ready to launch, (D.E.S.S. stands for ‘Dragon Empire Space Ship’ I was told I had to put that designation on) but before I did, Icarus and some of the science team came to see me off. This ship had the strongest shields I could build, it fielded 2000 interceptors if I ever got outnumbered and enough firepower to destroy a small solar system. The most noticeable feature was the planet destroying cannon I called the ‘Cataclysm Cannon’. As everyone was ready to see me off, Icarus said he gave Earth’s co-ordinates and all current star charts to my ship’s AI and myself, they also gave a new name: Infernus. The last present they gave me was some clothes with some armoured padding on the shoulders, wrists and the top and bottom part of my legs, the colouration was the same as my scales and markings: black, white and some small silver parts while I got nothing for my wings but I wasn’t bothered since I could deflect bullets off them. Thanking them all for the food and materials they supplied me for the trip, I got onboard, got to the bridge which had a 3-D radar system which would show height as well as distance and in space that really helps out a lot. Before I was about to take off, Icarus asked to speak with me.

We went to the captain’s quarters and we sat down by the table I had inside. “Listen, there is something about Project Hellfire you should probably know. It is a genetic program but it was meant to create a perfect soldier, a literal one-man army as the expression goes. The council approached my father with the proposal to create this perfect soldier and he agreed. As I said before, his methods were cruel but when the Council found out they told him to stop. He didn’t listen, he went to a remote location to carry out his experiments. It was a good thing he died before he could do more damage to anyone, but not before it changed me. I was found by a passing merchant ship and brought home. I was put on trail for my father’s murder but before the sentencing the Council had the prosecution drop the case despite the evidence was astronomical, I was unable to plead self-defence or even insanity. The Council soon asked me to continue my father’s work but unofficially, if I was found out they would not help me and may be forced to give the Bleach Protocol. So that is my story thus far, thanks for listening.” Icarus got up and left. So that was the true purpose of Hellfire, it somehow made sense to me. Shaking my head I went back to the bridge and started take off procedures.

6 hours later I made it through the warpgate near Alpha-Centauri and warped to the dark side of the moon. I made sure to log my little adventure of being a genetic experiment, the station, the planet Deltra IV where Icarus trained me and the truth behind Hellfire. What worried me was this ‘Bleach Protocol’. The Bleach Protocol is a systematic ‘clean slate’ operation where the project would be shut down, the scientists and subjects would be terminated as well as those who knew them and any records would be erased.

I went to the hanger and changed into Hades and launched to Earth. I landed on Table Mountain in Cape Town in time to watch the sunrise, boy it was good to be on my home planet again albeit I was ‘slightly’ different. I took a 3 hours to get home without much issue, I did make myself some clothes when I landed (couldn’t walk around naked, could I? Not to mention the clothes I had were for my dragon form). I wore a long coat of white with black trimming and the buttons where the same silver-blue metal like my dragon form was. I had long smart pants of the same colour scheme with a white t-shirt with a black symmetrical tribal dragon design. The city hadn’t changed much since I left. Before I got home I bumped into my old ‘friends’.

Tom Bennet (could never remember his surname thankfully the HUD did), Luke Smith and Robert Meyer. They seemed less than thrilled to see me, let me explain: these bunch were never what you would call friends, they mainly wanted money from me or for me to do some stupid errand for them else they would beat me. My parents wouldn’t believe me when I told them what they did nor did their parents. Tom was an amateur boxer while Robert would sleep with anything as long as it had a pulse and Luke was the little ‘idea man’ and was more of the leader. “Michael! Nice to see you do you have that cash we told you to get us THREE MONTHS AGO?!” Damn, I had hoped Robert forgot about it, so much for that theory. It was interesting to note only three months had passed since Hellfire, maybe during the trip I somehow went a bit back in time or maybe time works differently around the universe.

After I explained I didn’t have it, Tom decided to try punching me to help ‘jog my memory’ as Robert put it. Sadly for them I was not the same old pushover and met Tom’s punch with my own; as our fists collided I could feel and hear the bones shatter in his hands. Now the other two decided to try their luck and attacked me. I pulled my Starblade – the greatsword I made to fight Icarus with – out, as well as my halberd and the blades were directly under their chins, one move and I could cut their heads clean off. I told them to never come near me again. Cutting their losses, scared out of their wits by what I did and taking Tom by his good hand they high-tailed it, leaving me alone to head to the door.

As I got home though it turned out my parents moved a month ago which was just as well since I never saw eye to eye with them so I could care less. Sadly my foster parents never took much interest in my life, only if it meant they got money, as I had to pay rent each week otherwise they threatened to drop me on the street ‘where I belong’ as they said. I managed to get a job which allowed me to control my own hours so if I needed free time all I had to was not put a shift down for the day I didn’t want to work. For accommodations I thought the Infinity would do until I got my documents sorted out, since I was technically missing for apparently three months. I managed to get between Earth and the Infinity by taking a boat in the marina out to sea and then flying up by turning into Hades. As far as housing went, I decided to stay at the same house since I knew the neighbourhood, that and also I tend to hate moving homes. Space on the other hand is a different story.

So I’ve been working until I sadly noted space took notice of Earth due to the Infinity being in the moon’s orbit. So to fix this I quit my job and rigged the lottery so I at least had some cash on the planet for when I went back. I soon decided to send the Infinity to get raw materials from sources in the system, turned myself into a spacedock again and proceeded to build 5 more ships to defend the Earth if the worst came to the worst. I called the fleet: ‘Twilight’ (this was before I became a brony and heard of Twilight Sparkle so I did not know of them of their names), the ships were smaller than Infinity but over 1 km in length and 0.9 km in width, except for one which I was going to have perform a fire support role.

4 years later of me living between the fleet and Earth, stopping slavers and pirates from getting to Earth, responding to distress signals, and generally helping out around space. It was not long before the news came: the Project Hellfire was been issued the Bleach Protocol. My helping out had unintentionally brought attention to the Hellfire Project and the Council decided it was time to pull the plug rather that own up to the fact that it was them that allowed it to continue. In order to avoid Earth being in the crossfire I left it with the fleet, forever to wander space until I die or meet The First Fleet of the Empire. Until then I will make a name for myself, help those who need it and kill those who prey on the weak. I am Michael ‘Infernus’ Garner, this is my story.

Part 1: The Price for Safety **

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MLP: Equestria (Hold on, where am I?)
Part 1: The Price for Safety
Author: Draconis187

Being on the run from the First Fleet is not simple, the Bleach Protocol is usually completed within a galactic year, I’ve been two steps ahead for the past two years but I know they are getting closer. Everywhere I’ve been, everyone I’ve helped has sent me a message after a month saying that a representative from the First Fleet approached them, asking about me… I needed to leave. I couldn’t let them shoulder my burdens no matter how much they argued to the contrary. I need somewhere safe, somewhere I can make a last stand against the Fleet and a have a chance of success.

Two months later…

It finally happened: the First Fleet has finally caught up with and in full force. Now I know why they are feared: 230 capital ships, 300 cruisers, 250 dreadnaughts, 1200 frigates and light craft and 900 000 bombers, fighters and interceptors. It was greater than any invasion force in recorded history.

This was not going to end well, the Bleach Protocol doesn’t allow the First Fleet to take their targets prisoner, they are ordered to kill them outright. Luckily I had a home advantage, because I set myself up a base of operations in a small solar system consisting of 4 planets and an asteroid belt just past the fourth planet. I had found this uninhabited alcove while on a routine trip a few years back.

I knew the First Fleet would never give up trying to get me. They had a job to do and had a reputation to uphold. I got some assistance from those I’ve helped before, they brought materials and built most of the defences that are now scattered around the entire solar system, even Icarus came and refused to let me face them on my own since they would have come for him anyway.

I had Icarus set his scaly backside up on one of the planets to co-ordinate defences and oversee all the construction. The entire operation took six gruelling months. I barely kept tabs on it since the Fleet would have obliterated everything if they knew of the system’s purpose. But now it was ready, my last defiant stand against the Empire that wanted me dead and the fleet that would stop at nothing to eliminate their target. They didn’t care about the lives of other races they affected or hurt, only their objective mattered to them.

“Everything ready Icarus?” I asked from the bridge of the Infinity, I removed the D.E.S.S. designations from the Twilight Fleet.

“Yes all defences are operational and the First Fleet are inbound, one hour out,” Icarus responded, “I won't let them take out a friend, but if push comes to shove, fire the Cannon… hello? Infernus?”

I chose not to respond, the Cataclysm Cannon was a last resort, I ran the risk of destroying everything in the system including myself if I wasn’t careful. My HUD went red as I got ready for the battle and I checked the Infinity’s 3-D radar. We waited for them to get through the belt that actually encased the system like a shell and we had placed explosive proximity mines on the asteroids and in the gaps between each planet and their moons.

“Contact Infernus, several mines just sent a detonation confirmation, the First Fleet has arrived and on approach. All defences are ready and in range, awaiting you order,” Right, I guess it’s time to see if my preparations were enough.

“OPEN FIRE!!” My six ships that made up the Twilight Fleet, the orbital defences and planetary weapons started firing on the First Fleet, we were trying to reduce their numbers so when they came in range we might have a chance.

‘HIT CONFIRMED,’ I knew we were doing damage as I detected several light ship and frigates were being torn apart from the weapons’ fire, a few dreadnaughts were taking damage as well as the cruisers but only a few were actually incapable of carrying on, but it was progress.

The 3-D radar lit up as a mass of small dots appeared heading in our direction, “We incoming light ship-to-ship spacecraft. Icarus, Infinity, Redemption and Salvation launch all interceptors!”

“Understood, launching. Let’s bring the pain,” In total we fielded 2 000 000 multi-role interceptors to make up for the low number of ships that made up the fleet. Salvation alone fielded 900 000!

The fleet consisted of only two capital ships and four dreadnought class ships: Infinity (Dreadnought-Class): my pride and joy and the deadliest in the whole fleet as it fielded the Cataclysm Cannon, it also fielded 2000 interceptors.

Salvation (Capital-Class): it assumed more of a carrier role but could still easily defend itself. Retribution (Capital-Class): a Multi-role ship that fielded 450 000 interceptors. Ragnarök (Dreadnought-Class): mainly an offensive ship with multiple large turrets and missile bays. Armageddon (Dreadnought-Class): Ragnarök’s sister ship and just as deadly (the truth was that they were identical in every way except for the AI that controlled them, different personalities). The last was Judgement (Dreadnought-Class): this was larger than Infinity at 3 km long and 2.3 at its widest point, it had multiple but powerful turrets, missile bays and an electronic countermeasure suite which allowed it to fill a fire support role.

We were hardly making a dent in their numbers despite the pounding we were giving them, only managing to reduce them by 5%. I didn’t know what else to do. If they got in range, everything would be wiped from existence… I decided to ready the Cataclysm Cannon.

‘T-MINUS 2 MINUTES TO FULL POWER,’ The control panels went a deep crimson. You think ‘red alert’ red is red, you haven’t seen this, it bordered on black.

“Everyone hold on for two minutes I’m going to fire Cataclysm,” I got acknowledgements from the fleet’s AI’s and from Icarus.

‘T-MINUS ONE MINUTE THIRTY SECONDS,’ we lost the contact with two planets the First Fleet ploughed though our defences. They were desolate wastelands, barely even habitable so thankfully I didn’t have a multitude of deaths on my hands.

‘T-MINUS ONE MINUTE,’ Half of interceptors were destroyed and Retribution was destroyed while the rest were reporting multiple hull breaches. I could see the Retribution’s electrical wiring spark as it was literally torn apart from laser and torpedoes.

‘T-MINUS ONE MINUTE,’ The Infinity was being bombarded but the shields were still holding. Sadly the rest of the fleet had been destroyed. If the Infinity falls it will be game over for myself and Icarus.

‘T-MINUS THIRTY SECONDS,’ No!! They fired a Clean Slate Cannon at the planet Icarus was on! Clean Slate erases all organic life on a planet no matter if it’s sentient or not. Now I was beyond pissed, time to use one last ditch attempt to get rid of the First Fleet.

One of the things I learnt with tech from my exposure to the Hellfire Project is that I can physically interface with any form of technology and effectively make it my own.

“INITIATE INTEGRATION PROTOCOLS!!” My body sort of ‘melted’ into the Infinity’s steel floor as I effectively fused my consciousness with the Infinity’s structure.

The process took just over five seconds then I could feel it… I WAS the Infinity. The integration worked despite it was the first time with something as large as big as a dreadnought class ship. I usually used it on either a tank or some form of aircraft, something a lot smaller than the Infinity.

‘T-MINUS TEN… NINE,’ I was nearly ready to fire so I aimed for the centre of the First Fleet, transferred all remaining power to the Cannon and readied myself for the recoil.

‘TWO… ONE… READY. FIRING CATACLYSM CANNON,’ The Cannon’s principle of destruction is all rather simple really.

The Cannon’s seven hundred pound slug has two stages once it is fired and it can be remotely detonated or set after a certain distance. One: causes an implosion when it reaches its destination to draw in other targets by increasing the gravitational force around itself; Two: it explodes with so much force that if compared to a nuclear bomb from Earth it would be comparing the size of a golfball with Jupiter. The biggest downside is that it could destroy our reality or rip a hole into another one. I was prepared to take that chance, the bastards deserved the same mercy they gave their targets.

I fired it once before without problems but I was not integrated into Infinity and it was just a test. The resulting detonation still wiped out the entire solar system I tested it in though. Five planets… vaporised instantly.

The cannon fired but I felt no recoil from the railgun it fired from (Cataclysm’s railgun is 1 km long and 0.4 km wide). As the slug reached the First Fleet’s location it detonated in the centre of their formation. All of their ships were being drawn in to the epicentre of the slug’s gravity well. As one of their capital ships touched the shell, it disintegrated into dust, causing the shell to initiate the second stage. The blast engulfed the fleet, disintegrating them on contact and the shockwave pushed me backwards. The blast also knocked out several systems and I was forced into a hard reboot of all the ship’s systems.

‘WARNING: IN HIGH GRAVITY WELL. RECOMMEND EVACUATING TO A SAFE DISTANCE IMMEDIATELY,’ What in hell?

I shouldn’t have been near the slug and there was not any other high gravity source other than the system’s star. Once my A/V systems came online I saw it or I didn’t see it: a black hole (they are not easy to spot in the darkness of space but you will feel them). I tried to turn and get away but I was past the point of no return.

At least I was able to see the system before I disappeared from existence but there was only the star left, the planets were destroyed from Cataclysm. I was prepared to die and yet from what I heard, I was supposed to stretch infinitely as black holes distorted time as well as gravity. Yet I was falling into it with more and more speed until I was shrouded in absolute darkness. All of a sudden my systems detected stars behind me so I turned around, this must have been a wormhole not a black hole. This was odd as I have not seen any wormhole that exerted that much gravitational pull, and I have gone through a few, they are like the rollercoaster of the cosmos.

I was ejected from the wormhole and saw it close behind me. I was heading towards a nearby planet, but something was off. The stars did not match any star chart of any point in time once I cross referenced them with my database which was working, thankfully. Oh damn! My engines got fried trying to escape the wormhole so I couldn’t slow or even stop from crashing but I had a trick up my sleeve to minimise the damage I would cause on impact with the ground.

“INITIATE DECONSTRUCTION PROTOCOL!!” As I broke though the atmosphere the Infinity was - in a sense - collapsing in on itself, retracting, folding and shrinking in size until I was in REX form. As much as the damage would be minimal it was too late to reduce my velocity let alone stop myself from colliding with the ground below.

The force of the impact had knocked me unconscious and forced a hard reset of my systems… again (a hard reset mainly has me reboot my Operating System. I have to do a full diagnostic scan to make sure there are no malfunctions or defective code and I usually lose most of my transformation roster i.e. the list I have of what I can transform into).

I was laid on the dirt for what felt like an hour and finally had the strength to get up. I was human again but my HUD was flashing a large number of error messages. Just what I needed: stuck on a planet in a section of the galaxy I don’t know and with nothing but my human form. At least the atmosphere was breathable.

I checked my roster and all I got was ‘NO DATA AVAILABLE,’ which meant I probably won’t be able to leave anytime soon. My body ached all over, from top to bottom. It was a miracle I could move at all given the height I fell from.

I saw a few buildings in the distance so I decided I might get some help and maybe an understanding of the planet I'm on and in what galaxy I'm in. Travelling through any wormhole is a pain, especially when you don’t know where it sends you. I picked up my halberd and Starblade and headed for the town.

The place turned out to be a quaint and relatively medium-sized town with odd medieval styled cottages and with a lot of vibrant colours on the doors, the windows and the walls. Sadly I could not find any form of sentient life around me. The place seemed deserted.

“Hello?” I was too lost in thought to notice a purple creature next to me. “Excuse me?” I felt something touch my leg.

“Uh, excuse me but who are you?” Holy Divines above! This creature just about made me jump out of my skin! Its hoof was still outstretched. I gathered that was what touched my leg.

This looked like any normal horse from Earth except for the horn on its head not to mention its coat was purple, albeit faded but PURPLE nonetheless, violet coloured eyes that just looked as if it was looking though me. The creature’s mane was straight, well kept and had the same colouration as its tail: dark blue, with a single purple and pink stripe.

It also had some weird pink star on its hindquarters like a tattoo which also had smaller white stars around it. This creature was too small to be a horse so I gathered it must be a pony and - judging by its facial and body structure – a female at that.

“Who or better yet what are you? I have not seen anything like you before.” It said in a female voice. She tilted her head a little to the side as she asked.

“What the hell! You can speak English!” I just about had a heart attack.

The talking pony thing did not really affect me because I have seen much weirder talking species in my journeys throughout space. The thing was that they did not usually speak in plain English. I usually would need to run a translation program to learn the other species’ language. That sort of thing takes days to properly compile.

“Of course, all ponies in Equestria can talk, but back to my question: who and what are you?” She asked a little more firmly that time.

“My name is Michael and I’m a human. Who are you, uh… ma’am?” I asked nicely. It was probably for the best that I did not tell her about the other side of me.

“My Name is Twilight Sparkle and I am a unicorn. Pleasure to meet you Michael,” She replied happily.

I have never heard of Equestria, I have never seen it mapped on any star chart or in any galactic survey. It must be an ‘underdeveloped’ planet. That is until I remembered the arrangement of the stars when I cross-referenced them. I concluded that I was possibly in another universe, or maybe a parallel one, or maybe a completely different reality, the number of explanations was long but I settled on the theory of this being another universe. Twilight smiled at me and we started to walk together into the town.

“Welcome to Ponyville Michael, how about I introduce you to my friends and we can talk about how you got here. The only humans we get are in some of the oldest books I have in my library,” So, she’s not only a unicorn but a librarian as well? Well colour me surprised.

So began my tour of Ponyville, I met Pinkie Pie: her coat was a bright pink, her mane was magenta and looked like someone stuck cotton candy on her head and backside. Her eyes were a brilliant blue shade and she had three balloons and streamers on her flanks where Twilight had that star.

She also seemed to have far too much sugar in her bloodstream, the moment Twilight introduced me she jumped over three feet into the air and ran off, leaving in a cloud of dust in her wake. It was almost as weird as meeting the Strentons from Sector 23-4Z. Pinkie Pie came second to their custom of blowing a hole into your ship as a friendly greeting.

The next one I met was called Rainbow Dash who we found sleeping on a cloud floating above one of the town’s bridges. She was an extremely confident pony, a little over confident if you ask me. Her fur was a light shade of blue (cyan, I believe it’s called), her eyes were purple. She had a short rainbow coloured mane and tail but it was in a more wild style in contrast to Twilight’s more straight style. Her mark was a red, yellow and blue coloured lightning bolt coming out of a white cloud.

Rainbow Dash decided to take over her own introduction and proclaimed herself to be the greatest flier in all Equestria. I just remained silent so she decided to fly up high into the air but as she came down she was as close to the ground as possible and was headed straight towards me! When she was about two meters away from me she shot upwards again but I noticed a cone in front of her hooves and then we heard a huge sonic boom and a rainbow coloured ring appeared behind her and she had a rainbow trailing behind her. She flew around us one more time and landed next to Twilight who rolled her eyes.

“Aw yeah! What do you think of my Sonic Rainboom, Michael? Pretty awesome if I do say so myself,” Great, she is a real arrogant show off but I’ll admit it was impressive.

“Yeah, it’s not something I’ve seen in my universe,” I got some strange stares from the two of them. Dash was rubbing her head with her hoof in confusion while Twilight looked like she just won the galactic lottery.

“You’re from another universe?! You have got to tell me everything about it, I've got to know!” Twilight said with this strange sparkle in her eyes. She must like everything not from here. Dash rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Boooorrring. Come on Michael, I’ll take you to meet Rarity. Don’t worry Twi, I’ll take it from here. Go get Applejack, I'm sure she’ll want to meet our new friend,” With that Twilight said she’ll meet us with Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres later.

“Have you met Pinkie Pie yet Michael?” I told her about the very brief meeting I had with Pinkie, and she just laughed. “That’s Pinkie for ya! She acted the same way when she met Twilight. Didn’t she tell you?” I shook my head.

“Twilight does tend to forget a lot when it comes to anything other than magic or her studies with Celestia,” I asked her who that was. “You don’t know? Oh, that’s right: you said you're not from here. Well here’s the short version: Princess Celestia is our monarch, she raises the sun and protects us basically. She has a younger sister, her name is Princess Luna. Unlike Celestia, Luna raises the moon every night and does not seem to have as many responsibilities. Long story short about her: she only came back from a 1000 year trip, so to speak. It has been a year since last week. I’ll tell you the entire story some other time, but first there is something else I want to ask you.”

She asked me if it was me that made that huge crashing noise a while back. When I asked her how long ago it was, she told me it was a week ago! I told her it may be possible but I was not sure (I was out for a week? I'm not out for that long, usually I'm unconscious for a day at the most. The physics of this universe might have affected some of my systems).

We soon arrived at a place called Carousel Boutique. It had pink tiles on the roof, the second floor looked like a carousel (hence the name I gathered). The walls were blue and I could see some yellow around it as well. Dash said that Rarity both worked and lived there. We went in and heard someone shouting.

“NONONONO!! This simply won’t do, I’ll have to start again. All I need is a little inspiration, come on Rarity dear, think! Ah, Rainbow Dash how are you darling? And who is this unusual friend with you?” Said a white unicorn.

She bore some similarities in terms of body structure to Twilight but that’s where it ended. I guessed that this was Rarity. Rarity’s eyes were an azure colour, her coat was white like snow, and her mane and tail were curled and indigo in colour. She had three blue diamond-shaped gems on her flank as well. Dash and I walked up to her and I introduced myself.

“My name is Michael, I take it you are the one responsible for these lovely clothes?” She battered her eyelids at me and smiled.

“Oh darling, flattery will get you everywhere you know. Yes I am the genius behind these fabulous works of art, oh where are my manners? I am Rarity, it is a genuine pleasure to meet you.” - she gasped for some reason - “What lovely clothes you have, they give you that sophisticated, refined yet casual look,” I never thought of my clothes like that but drawing attention to them also made me a little sad.

It was one of the few things left I had to remind me of my universe, save for my halberd and Starblade. My clothes consisted of a long trenchcoat that reached my knees and was completely white with silver buttons. It had some very pale blue trimming along the edges and the stitching was the same colour, my coat - despite having buttons – did not close so the white shirt I wore was clearly visible. I had normal long black pants and black shoes that you could probably find in any store. My shirt was also white but it had the word ‘HELLFIRE’ across the chest area in big black capital letters. I did not wear a hat as I was never comfortable having anything on my head.

“Come on now Michael we should go meet Applejack now, but we may just meet Fluttershy on the way, just watch out though she’s shy and a bit of a wuss,” Rainbow Dash sure doesn’t sugar coat her words does she?

“Rainbow Dash! How dare talk about sweet Fluttershy in such fashion! Just hold on for a bit dears, I just want to lock up and I’ll join you,” She knew how berate someone, I’ll give her that much.

Took only a minute, I saw her horn glow as the door closed behind her and I heard the sound of the door locking. So Rainbow Dash, Rarity and I made our way to Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack and her family lived and worked. Did everyone here live where they worked?

On our way we heard some birds chirping, as if they were in a co-ordinated group. Dash told us to be quiet and we made our way towards the source. There were 10 different types of birds all singing together on a tree.

Below the tree was a Pegasus pony similar to Dash but this one had a yellow coat and her mane and tail were pink. Her mane was parted, mostly to her right but ended in two large bangs on either side. On her flank were three butterflies with pink wings and turquoise bodies.

Dash snuck up behind her and shouted very loudly, “BOO!”

Boy did she squeal, she shot straight into a nearby tree, Rarity wasn’t impressed and was scolding Dash who was too busy laughing her mane off. Fluttershy eventually came back from the tree but she kept her distance from me, she seemed very scared, shy or both. Rarity walked up to her as I introduced myself and Dash was still laughing too hard to follow Rarity.

“Hello, my name is Michael, I guess you’re Fluttershy, right?”

“Yes, I’m Fluttershy,” She really was timid, I could barely hear her.

“Pardon? May you repeat that please I didn’t quite hear you,” I requested, trying my best to not intimidate her in any way but it seemed unlikely.

“[size= 14]I’m Fluttershy,”

“Don’t worry dear, Fluttershy is just nervous around new ponies, or humans in your case,” Rarity said as Fluttershy tried to hide behind her friend.

Sadly for Fluttershy, Rarity was not having any of this and her horn glowed. Fluttershy then was raised into the air and got placed down in front of me. I got down on my knees and placed my hand on her front left shoulder. She was shaking heavily but I made no movement as a gesture to show Fluttershy I meant no harm.

She slowly opened her one eye and looked up at me as she opened the other. She began to smile softly and placed her hoof on my left shoulder and her wing came over the shoulder my hand was on as if to hold it. She then started to ask me a couple of questions.

“You’re a human? I’m sorry… I was just scared. It’s just that I’ve never met one before and I tend to be afraid of new ponies. Can you tell me what you eat, where do you live, where did you come from… s-sorry if I’m too pushy, I’m Fluttershy,” I re-introduced myself and shook her hoof.

“Come along darlings we must get to Applejack’s, it’s getting dark,” Rarity interjected with an accepting smile.

Fluttershy said goodbye to her birds saying she’ll continue practise tomorrow. With that done, and Dash having stopped laughing, the four of us went to conclude the introductions at Applejack’s.

The sun was setting when we finally got to Sweet Apple Acres. Well I must admit that if you called this place a simple farm, it would be an understatement. It was huge: there were some fields that seem to have recently been tilled while there were a large number of apple orchards of various types. Smack dab in the middle of all the fields and orchards was a big red barn and a two storey farmhouse, amongst other things like pens for your standard barnyard animals.

We met Twilight as we neared the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. We soon saw an orange pony pulling three overfilled apple carts. Her mane was blond and tied into two ponytails (no pun intended) on either end while her tail ended in a single ponytail. She was wearing a large, brown Stetson hat. As she turned her head to us as could hear us walking towards her I noticed she had freckles on her cheeks and green eyes. All I could think at that moment was: ‘Ten bucks she’s got a southern accent.’

“Howdy there Dash, Rares. I see ya brought Fluttershy with ya,” Eeyup, called it. “This the strange feller Twi’s been telling me about?” I introduced myself. “Pleased ta meet cha Michael, I’m Applejack. Come on over to the barn, I need ta get this off me.”

It was already dark out when we went in, but the lights were off, I could only guess what was in store for me.

“Surprise!!” Turned out Pinkie had put together a party for me to introduce myself to the residents of Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie was there, her employers: the Cakes. A grey Pegasus with blond hair and bubbles as her Cutie Mark as Twilight called it (apparently it has something to do with a talent a pony is best at, Twilight said hers was magic hence the stars) was called Derpy Hooves. She was also the town’s mailmare. An aquamarine unicorn with a very short mane a few shades lighter of the same colour except for the white stripe in both her mane and tail introduced herself as Lyra Heartstrings. She seemed a little over-excited with the fact that I was human.

I was then introduced to the rest of the Apple family, namely Granny Smith; Golden Delicious; Apple Fritter; Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom to name a few of her very extended family and then there was the rest of Ponyville who’s names escape me.

“SodoyoulikeitIknowyoumustlikeitIthrowaprtyforallthenewponiesinPonyvilleyoumightnotbeaponybutstilldoyalikeit? Doyadoyadoya?” Divine powers above! Pinkie Pie sure can talk damn fast when she wants too, I barely understood what she said. I just nodded, “Oki doki loki!” after that she ran off again.

“Pinkie can sure throw a party huh Michael, uh Michael?” Twilight asked, I nodded.

Well I’m here in on an unknown planet, in the middle of an unknown galaxy and more than likely in another universe. If I needed to leave it would be next to impossible until I can rebuild the blueprints of any of my transformations. I went over to one of the tables to get a drink only to find that Pinkie had put hot sauce in almost everything she has. This piece of valuable info was a tad too late for me as I nearly burned my tongue straight off.

Pinkie insisted that I danced, that or she would force me to drink the entire case of hot sauce she brought for her drinks, so I danced enough for Pinkie to leave me alone. Fluttershy came up to me as the party was ending and most of the ponies went back home to sleep.

“Do you have somewhere to stay Michael?” I told her I didn’t but she shouldn’t worry, I’ve slept on more uncomfortable places than on the dirt. “Oh no, please don’t do that. I have a spare room in my cottage that you can use if you want and you can help look after my animals with me.”

The idea was reasonable so I accepted, and she gave a very lovely smile. If she weren’t so shy she’d have all the men - or ponies in her case - drooling at her hooves with that smile. Fluttershy and I informed the others where I’ll be staying and we all said goodnight. Rarity told me to come by her Boutique if I got the chance the next day, I told her I’d try and followed Fluttershy to her cottage.

It was rather modest and spacious but rather strange in its own way. There were coops, pens, cages of all kinds outside the building itself as I looked out the window, each with a different kind of creature inside. She took care of a menagerie of animals. Her cottage is not far from a place called the Everfree Forest. I’m surprised she lives this close to such a dark place. Then again it’s for her animals so I guess she had to make some sacrifices.

My room was up the stairs and down the hallway from hers, she showed me the bathroom and wished me goodnight. My room was alright, but as I sat down all I could think was Icarus and how the Clean Slate Cannon wiped him from existence. I took out my Starblade and halberd, just placed them on my lap and looked at them.

I’ve fought many battles, killed many times over to save others, yet I couldn’t save him, the one who gave me my new existence even if his training was meant to kill me and even if he was a self-righteous prick. I knew it was something I had to leave in the past, I needed to move on and yet I felt like something was amiss.

I leant my weapons against the wall and laid down on the bed. Maybe I just feel strange being in another universe. I made more friends today than I had my entire life, it gave me some comfort. Fluttershy said she gets up early so I decided to think about it tomorrow and went to sleep.

Part 2: Meeting Royalty

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MLP: Equestria (Ok this is freaky) Part 2: Meeting Royalty
Author: Draconis187

Fluttershy woke up at 6 and as much as she tried she woke me up anyway. It wasn’t a bad thing though, I like to get up early, it was the being safe from the First Fleet part I had a hard time getting used to. Fluttershy kept saying how sorry she was for waking me and made oatmeal for breakfast. As we ate she told me her routine of who or what she starts feeding and looking after at this time.

The first were the chickens, they looked just like our chickens on Earth. After feeding them, we carried on to bees, then the birds that live in the tree near her cottage, the various insects were next on her list. She helped a new colony of wasps by telling them where to find some of the nearby flowers for pollen without crossing onto the bees territory. There were beavers, racoons, a large variety of birds she took care of.

“Thanks, it usually takes me an hour or two more when I do this on my own… thanks” she told me after we finished. She went inside and brought a little sack with her. She turned it out and gave me some of its contents: small round golden coins. “These are called ‘bits’, it’s our currency. This is for your help since you don’t really have a job. I get them from ponies who come either for a pet or bring one of their pets if they are hurt.”

“Thanks Fluttershy, it was fun helping you out, it’s a real change of pace for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, Rarity did ask for me to visit the Boutique today”. I said.

“I’d hate to keep Rarity waiting, see you soon”. With that her pet bunny Angel hopped on her back and she flew off to go play.

I found Rarity’s Boutique fairly easy after Dash showed it to me the previous day. I knocked on the door and entered. She was not on the ground floor, which had a massive number of pony mannequins all wearing a number of beautiful dresses, suits, shoes, a variety of accessories and hats. I called out to see if she was home.

“I’m in my room darling, come up. Just follow the sound of my voice”. So I did as I was told. Her room had several pony mannequins, all wearing something, ‘probably her latest line’ I thought, there was a bed, a chest of drawers and a wardrobe. But there was another mannequin that Rarity was working on, hang on … it looks human!

“This is what I wanted to show you dear, I’ve been busy making a mannequin for you so I can make some dashing clothes for you”, I could only nod, jaw wide open, “Now that it’s almost finished is there anything you’d like me to make?”. Okay hearing this I could only think of the Assassin outfits (Brotherhood to be exact). She gave me a pencil and paper and I began drawing the design. I modelled the colour scheme after my own colourations. The cape for instance that would go over my left shoulder was mainly white with a black trim. I included the hood because it would not be the same without it, the same robes that would reach my knees, boots and the AC symbol buckle in silver. I coloured the boots black and where there would be red on the original robes I drew black and the rest was white. After I had finished I showed it to Rarity, she just gasped.

“Why darling this looks absolutely fabulous (see, even in another universe this outfit is boss), I must start immediately, I’ll bring it to you when I’m done. Now go, scoot, I need to be by myself so I may start”. When she finishes it, it will be EPIC. I could only grin.

I decided to head to Twilight’s, I eventually found the library after getting lost, twice. It was called the Golden Oaks Library, what shocked me was that it was built inside a tree! It had red windowsills; a red door; a telescope attached to a platform that was at the top of the tree; I could see it also had a balcony as well. As I entered I saw her small dragon helper: Spike. He was purple, his belly was a yellow-green colour and his spikes were a darker green and as far as dragons go, he was quite small. He was carrying a stack of books higher than he was tall, just before I was about to offer my assistance Twilight saw me and came down the stairs.

“I’ve been through every book here and I can’t find anything on other universes. Are you not finished packing Spike? Oh, Princess Celestia and Luna are coming to meet you, today!”. Wait, WHAT?! Both of this universe’s monarchs? Now I was worried how they may react to a stranger from another universe. Twilight could clearly see my reaction.

“Don’t look so worried I’m sure they’ll love you, come they wanted to meet at the edge of the Everfree Forest so as not to draw a large crowd since this is a very informal visit, we best hurry though”. The journey was too long for my liking, Twilight said she had been using her magic to search the library and so could not teleport us there. So we had to run as fast as we could to get there on time. We were a little late arriving to the meeting point, but there they were: Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna. Celestia was completely white but with a slight pink tint, her mane though was a mixture of light cerulean, light cobalt blue, light turquoise and a pale heliotrope and sparkled as if her shampoo of choice is ‘Glitter Glam’ or ‘Star Shine’ (I would laugh if those were names for either actual shampoo or for ponies). Her Cutie Mark was a yellow sun. Princess Luna on the other hand (or hoof) was a dark sapphire blue, her mane was a moderate Cobalt blue but with two different shades. She was smaller than Celestia but still larger than the average pony. I noticed that did not have any form of guard and there was no carriage, which suggested they either flew here or teleported.

“HEY!!! GUUUYS!!”, we all looked up only to see Dash flying past waving at us all. Her expression changed when she noticed the two princesses and then she just sped off. Weird. As we got close to the two sisters I could see they were not here for a very friendly chat by the expressions on their faces. I bowed low to show my respect to the royals.

“Greetings Michael, I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister Luna, Twilight talked of a human in her last message so both of us decided to come and see you for ourselves”. Celestia said in a very odd tone, it was as if they knew something about me. As I was thinking about this, Luna spoke: “I sensed your presence when you went past my moon, what you were then and what you are now are not the same, so we wish to know your intentions”. Okay, busted but unlike Celestia, Luna was smiling slightly. Twilight gave us all a very confused look. “Princess what are you talking about? I don’t understand here.”

Just before I was about to tell them, Dash appeared again except with the rest of the Mane Six, never easy is it? “I was planning on telling everypony what I was but in time, I just wanted you all to know me for who I truly am and not by what I had done in my universe. I guess some plans just don’t work out as we want them to huh?”. So I told about my story on Earth including my poor history with family and friends; a bit about Project Hellfire; the Bleach Protocol and the First Fleet being sent after me; and the most recent part: how I got here.

“So then I allowed the First Fleet to catch up to me in a deserted system, but I underestimated them. They killed my friend Icarus, destroyed the Twilight Fleet except for the Infinity and forced me into a corner, I had no choice left so I … I fired the Cataclysm Cannon while fused to the Infinity. How it created the wormhole that sent me here I don’t know, but it was a blessing. The source of the crash Dash heard was probably me and what you saw Luna was the Infinity, I changed from it into one of my other forms in order to reduce the damage the ship would have caused upon landing. I’m sorry for the deception.”

Afterwards they only stared at me at this revelation, Fluttershy had been backing away at each part of my story, especially the destructive parts; Dash had her jaw wide open, and Pinkie’s mane went flat. The princesses looked at each other, nodded and turned their attention back to me. Luna’s smile had vanished and she looked just as solemn as Celestia. Celestia spoke.

“We understand your reasons for not telling anypony but you can not stay around Ponyville. You are a danger to everypony, as much as you claim to be wanting to help, we can not risk you hurting our subjects in any way. I ask you to please find residence away from any form of town or village until such time I believe you can come back.” I understood Celestia’s concern and agreed to live in the Everfree Forest until they believed I can be among their subjects. Celestia and Luna moved out of the way, revealing the path into the forest, as I turned back, none of the Six could look at me in the eye, except oddly enough, Fluttershy. She looked straight at me with that lovely smile, I wondered what she had planned, but I still turned to face the forest and walked in.

I got lost within a few minutes, and it was dark as hell. After I was out of their eyesight I took out my prized halberd to defend myself, because the Starblade’s light would have made me a target. It stood at 6’9” long yet weighed as much as a sheet of paper in my hands and was very well-balanced. It was a present from someone I helped in the past because I lost my original halberd in a previous adventure. It had a crab claw-like tip and had an axe on either side of the shaft under the tip; the axes were serrated and it had a spike on the bottom of the pole. The pole was a navy blue, the blade and tip shone in the sun, or it would have if it wasn’t as dark as night time in this Divine-forsaken forest.

I wandered for hours seeking appropriate shelter. I thought I should try change into something that can make a form of shelter, I may have lost my roster but I had to try. I thought of the XS-23 Spider Construction Robot but as I tried to change I got ‘ERROR 37, SYSTEM MALFUNCTION’, ok, now that has never happened before. So I tried my dragon form, but: ‘ERROR 98, SYSTEM MALFUNCTION’ appeared. This must have been what the strange feeling I had meant. At least I had my Starblade and my halberd, so I then tried my magic. Turns out I could not even use some simple lightning and ice effects on my weapons. Nothing, I kept getting an ‘ERROR 404, SYSTEM MALFUNCTION’ message every time I tried. So I was unable to use magic or use my forms, even my mech form was lost to me, the damage I sustained must have been worse than I thought.

I felt cold and alone, but I had to find somewhere to sleep. I stumbled across a rope bridge leading to an old dilapidated castle. The rope bridge snapped and fell after I went over, cutting my capability of leaving, I wondered if that was just a coincidence or something else was at play. I entered the castle and saw that it was not the best or the worst decision, the carpeting was in ruins, most of the ceiling was gone, many supporting pillars were broken, cracked or just a pile of rubble. I made my way through the castle making sure that I don’t do any more damage than what this castle already had, I made some stairs to the higher levels of the castle and found what may have been one of the servant’s quarters. I laid my weapons down next the bed I found in the room. It wasn’t too bad: a couple of holes in here and there, the covers were just dusty. I then tried to make the room more habitable: beat the bed down, went down to a pond in the grounds which had collected enough rain water for me to wash the sheets.

After cleaning the bedding I went back inside and remade the now clean bed and decided to see the rest of the castle. There was very little left in working condition, this place seemed ancient. I eventually found a room I should have avoided. As much in terms of looks it was not worse off than the rest of the castle, but I saw the remains of some broken, discarded light blue armour. They had an ominous feeling about them, almost like something was watching me. I wanted nothing to do with them and left the room very quickly.

As I left the room I realised it was night time already. I had nothing else I could do so I went to my ‘new’ room laid down and went to sleep. As I fell asleep I started to have a very strange dream. I was standing in utter darkness, I could not see my hands in front of my face, I could feel the ground under my feet but when I placed my hand to it, it seemed as if my hand went through it but I could feel as if I was standing on a solid object and yet it was not there. All of a sudden these two HUGE eyes opened up in front of me, they were cyan with cat-like (also could be called reptilian) irises, they were at least 12 meters high! They just looked at me and blinked. I soon heard this weird laughter over and over. I woke up with a jolt, it was morning but I was not in the bed, I was in that room holding my halberd and laid next to the creepy armour!

“Michael, Michael!”, wait. That’s Twilight!

“Michael darling where are you sweetie?”, Rarity?!

“I’m over here!” I yelled to the voices. I then saw my friends all come up the stairs to the room. I was both happy and confused to see them. Twilight had a tiara on her head with a large gem star on top that resembled her Cutie Mark, the others wore gold necklaces with gem versions of their Cutie Marks on them. Seeing my puzzled expression Twilight started explaining.

“We were upset by what Celestia said but we got confused by what you said. Are you really what you said you were?”. I nodded as I got up. “The Princess said we could visit but only if we brought the Elements of Harmony just in case, oh we brought you some food and anything else you might need.” They left them outside the castle. Turned out they repaired the bridge to get here.

Twilight brought me some books (typical Twilight), Fluttershy brought some cooking equipment, Dash gave me some new blankets, with her Cutie Mark on them, Applejack gave me a whole new bed frame and mattress, Pinkie gave me – big surprise – cake and cookies, Rarity though gave me the Assassin’s Creed clothes I drew for her to make and a full length mirror. I immediately ran in to put them on. I came out feeling very badass, all I needed to do was speak Italian, and have the hidden blades. Everyone was impressed by the outfit and Rarity nearly cried when I told her I loved it and told me if I ever wanted her to make anything else I should just let her know.

“So how are you Michael?” Fluttershy asked

“Being forced into exile is not unusual to me, I did spend over two years on the run” I responded.

“But you mustn’t be on your own, it’s so unhealthy for you!” Fluttershy, you really have a big heart.

“So having your own fleet must have been awesome, going wherever you please, now THAT’S the life!”, said Rainbow Dash, she really doesn’t get what I had been through in my universe.

“It’s not all sunshine and smiles Dash, I’ve done many other things: I’ve ended many lives and sometimes, in very brutal ways, I’ve lost fights, good folks and in the end in order to save them I had to draw the First Fleet to that system, I never thought that Icarus would stay, so I had him stay on the planet so he wouldn’t get hurt, but I still couldn’t stop them from killing him!!”, with that outburst I slammed the halberd, blade side down into the ground, as it connected with the ground it sent sparks flying. The Mane Six stepped forward and hugged me with tears in their eyes. I let go of the halberd and hugged back, it was good to have friends to talk to.

We talked a bit about the other ponies I had not yet met; apparently a local witch doctor lived somewhere in Everfree: a zebra called Zecora; a bunch of fillies who call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Sweetie Belle who was Rarity’s sister, Apple Bloom who was Applejack’s sister and Scootaloo, a Pegasus pony who idolized Dash. They sadly had to leave as Celestia only allowed them to visit for a short time. But before they left Twilight spoke to me.

“It’s too bad you can’t come to my brother’s wedding in two weeks, its short notice even to me. We are all helping out in some way with the wedding so we are leaving tomorrow. I’m going to have a couple of stern words with my brother though, I don’t even know this ’Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’”. I just laughed and told her just because she never met, it doesn’t mean she can condemn Cadenza on the spot.

“Don’t over think it over too much Twilight, go and enjoy the wedding, bye everypony, thanks for the visit!”. “Bye Darling!”(Rarity), “Cya!”(Dash), ”bye sugarcube”(AJ), and other farewells from the rest as they left. I took their presents in and set up a small kitchen in the original one which at least still had a table. I decided to set up the new bed inside that creepy room. I knew something was up with that armour, that dream was no coincidence. I had some of Pinkie’s cake and waited for the night. The night came and I called out to whatever was responsible for the dream but I didn’t get a response. So I tried again and again for the next few nights, growing more and more desperate each time. Something about the wedding was giving me a chill.

One day before the wedding…

When night came again I decided to wait for midnight this time around so while I waited I decided to try and see if I can still fight. I broke the old bed and used the wood to make a skeleton, I broke the old mattress and added it to my new dummy so it had some ‘meat’. I took my halberd in my right hand and held my Starblade in my left and I started. I sliced the dummy’s head off with the sword and stabbed the torso with the halberd in one movement. It seemed that my fighting skills weren’t gone which made me slightly happier. When I sheathed my weapons I heard that laugh again.

I turned around and looked at the armour “Show yourself, I know you are there!”. The laughter just continued, then the armour started to rise into the air and the pieces came together but they did not fuse and become whole. The creature responsible for my ‘bad dreams’ started to appear, it was a pony like Luna and Celestia: she looked very similar to Luna but larger. She had cat-like irises, her mane was dark violet and looked like it was made of gas and her coat was a dark cerulean which looked more black than blue and her Cutie Mark was the same as Luna’s but it was purple instead of black. But something was amiss, she was translucent, an apparition. If I were in my universe, I would have thought it to be a hologram.

“Do you believe it was a wise decision to call me out you foalish creature? I am the Mare in the Moon, also known as Nightmare Moon!”. She said with a sneer.

“Of course! You’re the one who harassed my dreams the past few nights.” I retorted

“Oh I could have done far worse. I could have trapped you in that dream forever, but alas I need you.” Wait, what?

“What for?”

“It’s simple I’m going to possess your body and get rid of both Celestia and that foal Luna, I will then destroy the Elements and make the night eternal.” Why does this creature remind me of villains from TV shows?

“I’d like to see you try!” I pulled out my halberd and struck a battle position with it behind me and the blade pointing to the ground and my free hand outstretched.

She just laughs at me “Gladly!”, and she rushes at me. I slice the blade at her to no effect, she just phased through!! She rams into me headfirst and bowls me over onto the ground, knocking me unconscious. When I woke up something felt wrong, very wrong: my HUD was showing ’VIRUS DETECTED, COUNTERING…’ I tried to get up only to stumble over my hooves, WAIT, HOOVES?! I ran (or galloped) to the mirror Rarity gave me after getting used to my new form of locomotion, and checked my refection. I got turned into Nightmare Moon! I looked precisely like her in every way, I even wore her armour which was now whole once more.

“Like the new look?” I looked around to see where the voice was coming from, “Over here”. I looked back at my reflection in time to see it laughing at me.

“Oh, the look on your face. Now take a good look, I have taken possession of your body and it transformed into me I guess as a result. Unintended but I don’t see it as a problem.”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Hold on, I sounded just like her! SHITSHITSHIT!

“But alas I do not seem able to control our body.” I saw my HUD light back up. ‘VIRUS SUCCESSFULLY QUARANTINED’. That’s when I remembered.

“The reason why you don’t have control is because I had a run in with a body snatcher before. In a nutshell, I got my body back and some special firewalls to prevent that situation form occurring again.” She just looked at me. “Nopony can take over my body, I took precautions.”

“SHUT UP!” I jumped back a bit. This… Nightmare Moon was a very temperamental pony. “This complicates matters. I'm done speaking to you for now.” After that I decided to head to sleep.

While I slept I dreamt of some of the adventures I had both in my universe and my short experience in Equestria. When I woke up the next morning I found I was still Nightmare Moon (I wished that part was a dream), so I went to the mirror again to speak with ‘the other me’.

I looked into my reflection and sighed, “Took you long enough, I was worried you didn’t want to speak to me.” She laughed at saying this. ‘She has a sick sense of humour,’ I thought.

“Why thank you, and yes I can read your mind, now to our discussion. I took the liberty of going through your memories while you slept, and I noticed you have had quite a life. I also noticed that I will never be able to convince you to do as I say, and I know I will not be able to take control over our body, so I’ll … concede, for now at least.”

“What’s the catch Nightmare?” This had to be a trick.

“No catch, no tricks, I’ve seen your memories, all of your successes and failures, your pain and happiness and I felt each and every one of those emotions. I saw the world as you did, and I think I’ve been going about this wrong. We need to go to this wedding, I’ll teach you some of my magic.”

“Let’s do it then”. I learnt how to pick up objects; how to transform into a purple mist and back; the last bit was how to shoot lightning which made me happy as it was one of the elements I had an affinity for. I picked up my halberd, opened our wings and took off for Canterlot. Canterlot was not hard to find since it was the city with a huge dome surrounding it. When we got near I could see a number of creatures that looked like a cross between bugs and ponies. We shocked, bucked and stabbed a lot of the creatures on our way through the shield. We turned to mist and slipped through the dome without issue and oddly enough, my weapon went through as well. ‘It must already be weak,’ Nightmare thought to me. We headed to the room the ceremony was being held and saw Twilight busy exposing another pony like Celestia alongside another pony that looked exactly like the other. Once we entered the one pony had already revealed herself as we entered, we solidified into Nightmare Moon and readied ourselves with the halberd.

“Nightmare Moon!”, “Everypony run”, “Ahh!”, and other assorted comments and screams were heard. It seemed oddly expected.

“Twilight you and your friends get to the Elements, I’ll hold off this monster.” Seeing my halberd, Twilight just nodded and ran with the rest following suit. Celestia looked shocked as well as the other pony. Her coat was a very dark brown, her wings and mane were blue her eyes were green and her legs and wings had holes in them and her horn was gnarled. She looked like the cross between an Alicorn and an insect.

“You think you can stop me? You will not stop Queen Chrysalis!” she said.

“That remains to be seen!”. We shouted and charged at her.

Celestia, in the middle of the fight carried a white pony with a blue mane and tail away with her magic towards the door where a pink Alicorn was watching. Chrysalis was trying to stab us with her horn but I deflected it with my halberd each time. She saw Celestia trying to take Shining and ran up to her to try stop her, only for me to get between her and Celestia with my halberd again. I fired a few bolts of lightning at her but she kept dodging them. She was faster than I thought.

“I’ll keep you safe. Find a way to stop her, I can't keep it up indefinitely”. ‘That’s a foal’s statement’ I heard Nightmare think.

Twilight and the rest came running back, successful in retrieving the Elements. I was still holding off Chrysalis, and she eventually snapped and lashed out at me. She then shot a blast of energy that sent my halberd flying and embedding itself in a wall. Distracted, Chrysalis fired another shot at me, I dodged it luckily but was not so lucky on the next one. I was sent flying back and hit against the wall, I couldn’t move my body was too sore I couldn’t move or even turn into mist. I saw Twilight and her friends run up and use the Elements. A bright light enveloped them all and a rainbow was launched from them at Chrysalis and she was blown clear from the room.

“You alright Nightmare?” Twilight asked with genuine concern on her face. “Nightmare?!” The others were gathering around us, worried and scared. Sadly I was slowly blacking out, I could feel the blood running down my body from both Chrysalis’ attack and from the impact with the wall.

“I still don’t understand why you help these ungrateful ponies. This feeling I have right now is hard to explain, this is the first time I've had somepony care about my well-being. It may be possible I was wrong about this ‘friendship’ thing Twilight spoke about when I fought her. I hope I can find redemption in this last act, our body has taken too much damage if I don’t do something about it we will both die and it’s better if it only kills one of us. Goodbye Michael and thanks I guess, you are still a foal though.”, I then could feel her presence slowly but painlessly leave my body. Sadly I was still in pain and judging by the amount of blood I was losing I was going to completely black out soon.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine Twilight.” But I finally lost too much blood and I finally blacked out. Why do I keep slipping in and out of consciousness?!

“Excuse me… if you don’t mind, could you wake up please?” Isn’t that Fluttershy’s voice?

I opened my eyes to see bars in front of me. Past the bars the Mane Six, Luna, Celestia, the pink female Alicorn and the white male unicorn were all standing there, watching me. I seemed to be in a cell in the Canterlot dungeon, perfect.

“It’s been a while Nightmare Moon, why did you help us? What do you stand to gain from this act of so called kindness? And where did you get this halberd from?” Celestia asked with a stern look on her face. Luna looked afraid, the others just looked confused which is understandable since the ‘evil’ Nightmare Moon had helped to save a wedding and Equestria from Chrysalis.

“Is that you Michael?” Everypony turned round in shock at Twilight and then back to me. I still felt weak but I could stand at least.

“The one and only!” Still using Nightmare’s voice. My friends smiled, they knew it was me. Twilight and Rarity threw the door open and my friends practically mugged me.

“Oh Michael! It’s great to see you again, how did this happen? How did you turn into Nightmare Moon?” They let go of me as I started to tell the story, but I noticed that the sisters and the new couple leaned in to hear my story. So I told them everything, how I had Nightmare mess with my dreams, waiting for her to reveal herself at night for the past two weeks, confronting and turning into her, up until crashing the wedding.

“Well that is quite the story, Michael. It would have been near impossible to believe if I had not seen it for myself. I-I’m sorry for exiling you, ” Wow that must have been hard for Celestia to say. Luna smiled at me.

“I guess we have another sister now, Tia?” Luna said looking up at her sister. Celestia looked a little sad at what she said, but smiled and turned to me.

“Half-sister Luna .Of course, you may come and live with us in the castle if you’d like Michael, I would like to make it up to you. Wait what’s wrong?” I started to double over in pain, my body felt like it was on fire. I saw before my eyes my coat changed in colour to a fairly dark brown; I felt my legs gain some muscle and I felt my face change shape as well; my shoes changed to a jet black colour, the metal started to creep up my legs, they stopped at my knees making them look like boots and I gathered my helmet and chest plate did the same since I could feel them moving as well. The pain passed and I stood up once more, feeling better than ever.

“Look, Your Cutie Mark! Oh It looks so cooool!” Pinkie was jumping up and down, pointing at my flank, what are we going to do with you? But she was right, even my Cutie Mark changed. It had the Infinity’s silhouette (think of it as a cross between a Sova Carrier and a Kol battleship); a my halberd seemed to cross it on the left while the Starblade was crossing on its right; there were also some small white stars surrounding the Mark.

“It’s so strange sugarcube, I wonder what it all means?” AJ asked.

“It probably means Nightmare Moon is no longer a part of me.” Hey, my voice changed, it sounded male! I wondered and tried to go human. Hey, it worked! I was standing on my two feet once more in my Assassin clothes, I then changed back into my Alicorn form and human form again to make double sure while the others just watched me. It seemed that what I wear as an Alicorn does not transfer to my human side and vice verse.

“Since Nightmare and you are no longer one, maybe a change in your Alicorn name is in order.” I gave it some thought, I looked at my mark then to Celestia and gave my answer.

“Starlancer. I think would suit my Mark and me well. I’ve travelled the far reaches of space, and my halberd is my most used weapon next to the Starblade. The silhouette is that of the ship I came on.” This was the best explanation I could think of.

“Very well and Luna, I believe its more of a half-brother we have now.” Celestia giggled a little after saying this. Luna looked very happy and hugged me, then the others joined in.

“How did the wedding go?” I had to ask. Turns out after the changelings were stopped, the couple decided to postpone till I woke up again. I felt honoured, happy and yet responsible. I was out for three days.

Sadly I declined my new sister’s offer to live in their castle, explaining that I had grown too attached to the old castle and I thought I might repair it. Luna said that she will send ponies to help with the construction and will give me my own royal guard. Okay…

I went around helping Twilight with her preparations, Applejack’s food was amazingly delicious I had to make sure not to eat the entire table come the actual wedding. Rarity made me a suit for both my human and Alicorn forms, the human suit was Navy blue with gold trimming and made a replica of my Cutie Mark on the top left chest area out of rubies for the Infinity and sapphires for the halberd and Starblade but it also had Nightmare Moon’s Cutie Mark on the opposite side, as a memento of her. Turned out my Mark showed on the back of my right shoulder while I was human. My Alicorn suit was silver and white but anypony would still be able to see my Cutie Mark easily. I was also given back my halberd by Luna, Celestia had I put in another section of the castle while I was unconscious.

I eventually managed to formally meet Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Twilight’s brother: Shining Armor. Turned out the Princess was Twilight’s old foal sitter; she preferred ‘Cadance’ and she was the princess of the Crystal Empire. Cadance had Dark violet with moderate rose and pale gold streaks in her mane and tail; her wings had a purple tint near the tips. Shining Armor was Captain of the Royal Guard under Celestia. How they met is a mystery to me.

Cadance was having a lovely time with the preparations, Pinkie got a new fan for her brand of parties. As the day of the wedding came, Shining was getting nervous. Shining was in his red and gold suit, he even had a little silver shield bearing the same pink star Twilight has on his chest, secured by two straps like a buckle. I went to his room to see if I could help out.

“I don’t know Michael, I feel like I would rather face Chrysalis’s changeling army alone than go through with this.” I was in his room sat on a chair with my legs crossed.

“That’s natural Shining. Everypony gets cold hooves, but ask yourself this: do you love her? Could you live without her?” I knew what his response would be but he has to say it himself in order to believe it.

“She’s the light of my life Michael, I love her more than anything else.” I stood up and walked up close to him.

“There you go then, now stop worrying and go get married Captain of the Guard (I pointed to the door). GO GO GO!” Yelling a battle cry, Shining burst out of his room, hightailing it to the ceremony. ‘No better pep talk like a military pep talk’ I chuckled to myself. I took the time to finally look at what my Alicorn side looked like in Shining’s mirror. I was just as I was after Nightmare left me, dark brown coat, the same gas-like mane but it was a very pale blue colour; my eyes were yellow but I had the same cat-slit irises, my chest plate and helmet were the same jet black colour as my boots and my new Cutie Mark was on the chest plate where Nightmare’s old one was what was weird though were my wings: they seemed out of proportion to the rest of my body, maybe about 1.5 times larger than they should be? My helmet curved under my eyes, nearly reaching my chin but it did not touch the rest of itself; my chestplate had a bat’s wing on either side of it and they were swept back. Satisfied I reverted to human again and made my way to the ceremony.

I got there in time before the ceremony was to start, Celestia wanted myself and Luna to stand on either side of her as she wed the couple. Twilight straightened the buckle of his suit, he looked embarrassed. I could only imagine what happened if he was yelling and running the whole way here. Then it was time and the guards opened the doors for Cadance. She was quite beautiful in her white and gold wedding dress as she walked up towards the altar.

The ceremony went without a hitch and as the couple kissed on the balcony, Rainbow Dash flew up and performed her Sonic Rainboom, I swear I could hear her shout: “Best wedding ever!” I had to agree, it was lovely. The reception lasted until way into the night. There was singing, dancing and Pinkie Pie’s bottomless pit of a stomach, I swear she ate twice her weight in food. The Princesses were dancing with the couple and Twilight was singing ‘Love is in Bloom’, very well I might add. After Shining and Cadance left in their carriage for their honeymoon, I decided it was time for me to go to the castle.

I said my goodbyes to my friends and my new half-sisters. I found a large clearing a short distance away from the reception and changed into Starlancer. I gave my wings a few flaps and then got airborne. I then saw Dash come up to me.

“So, what’s it like being an Alicorn?” I looked at myself and laughed.

“It sure is something to get used to but I have turned into a lot of weirder things. Hey Dash, wanna race?” Ten bits if you can guess her answer.

“Aw yeah, you’re on! I lose and I’ll personally change the weather to whatever you want for a week, I win and you do what I say for a week, deal?!”

“Deal, on your marks … get set … GO!!” We shot off in direction of the castle. We must have been nearing the equivalent of Mach 1. She pulled off a Sonic Rainboom just to keep up, as I turned my head to see her I could see it in her eyes: she knew she was going to lose. As we got close we went to land in the courtyard. Dash landed just behind me, exhausted. Even I was panting, whoever said that one should ‘ease’ back into something probably never met me.

“I… let… you… win” She said between breaths. Still cocky even in defeat, I like her attitude.

“Come on Dash, I’ll make you a drink”. She accepted my offer and we went inside and got some lemonade. She finished it quite fast and said she had to get going but she’ll be back tomorrow for my prize. I was starting to enjoy my time here.

Part 3: Nightmare Castle

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MLP: Equestria (Getting used to this) Part 3: Nightmare Castle
Author: Draconis187

The next day I woke up very early – must have been 6 or so, the price of living with Early Bird Fluttershy I guess – in the room I met Nightmare in, got up and made some breakfast. Rainbow Dash appeared later on, about 7 in the morning, ready for me to tell her what weather I wanted to have.

“You actually don’t have to do it Dash.” She looked angry at me and started shouting.

“No ways! We made a bet, I lost and I need to fulfil my end of the bargain. I still think that was plain luck but I need to do what I said I would.” I don’t think I could win in this conversation, not in this life or the next.

“Ok Dash how about this instead then: please request for this section of Everfree to be clear for the duration of the reconstruction, because otherwise the reconstruction could be heavily delayed if it rains or something.” She looked at me a second, lost in thought, nodded and gave one of her cocky grins.

“Sure, I’ll do it. All I need to do is ask one of the head weathermares for the Everfree region to change the schedule and I might as well ask to be transferred to this area so I can wipe my debt clean.” She won’t give it a rest will she?

“Ok then Dash.” I rolled my eyes, she is a really persistent or stubborn Pegasus and sadly I don’t know which is worse. She sped off after that and I wondered what I should do for the day since Luna scheduled the construction for tomorrow. She also wanted me to rename it as it would be my home. I thought it should be Nightmare Castle, as a thank you to Nightmare Moon, she finally saw the other side of the spectrum she was fighting against, only to sacrifice herself to save me. I donned my AC clothes and headed to Rarity’s.

Ponyville actually has more buildings than most believe especially on the way to the Boutique, so I climbed up the side of one of the buildings and ran to Rarity’s. I jumped from building to building in true AC style (those of you have played will know what I am talking about), getting down a building to get to another that would be too far to jump (I could’ve flown, but that would kill the fun). I got to the Carousel Boutique in no time at all.

As I entered I saw Rarity, showing off an outfit to Filthy Rich’s daughter: Diamond Tiara. Knowing that spoilt brat, nothing good can come out of that filly’s foul mouth.

“Don’t you have something… better?” Diamond Tiara said turning her nose up at the dress Rarity had, I see a broken heart in Rarity’s very near future. The one thing you never do is insult her clothing. That is if you plan on living for more than the next 10 seconds.

“Well dear, I do have, uh… this.” She pulled out another dress for her. This dress was as white as she was but had rubies and sapphires in along the neck line and evenly spaced along the hem line, navy blue striping across the one side and even had gold stitching around the gems on the hem line!

“Nah, too ugly.” Uh oh… TAKE COVER!!!

Rarity stared at Diamond Tiara for a few seconds and then she just sighed and put the dress back. Filthy Rich – as well as most of Ponyville - knew Rarity well enough to give her space so he took Tiara away to ‘go get some more jewellery’. He greeted me on his was out though, he is a nice pony but his daughter… well, let’s say she leaves a bit to be desired…

“You ok Rarity?” I said, I hoped she was not too upset about that comment Diamond Tiara made about that lovely dress. She ran into me with so much force she knocked me over, tears streaming from her eyes.

“NO, OF COURSE I’M NOT! I worked a full week on that dress. I searched for hours to get the best quality gems and worked my hooves to the bone to make it fabulous! It’s one of the best dresses in my possession and she tosses it aside like a common filthy rag! What am I to do Michael?!” I hugged her tight and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Rarity, she is a spoiled brat, I’ve seen them all the time. I wouldn’t worry to much though, karma has a way of evening the score with those kind of people or ponies in this case. Anypony who does not think your work is fantastic deserve a lesson in what fashion truly is. It is an expression of one’s self just like any form of art, how they feel, how they think, and sometimes how they see the world itself to be, you though? You do it fabulously.”

She smiled at me and whispered a thank you. She held on to me for a few more minutes. She then ran upstairs to ‘freshen up’ as she put it. I knew there was something I can do to make her very happy. I sat down on a couch and waited for her. 15 minutes later Rarity came back down the stairs, and back to her cheerful self. She decided to sit down next to me as she spoke.

“Sorry you had to see that dear, I take great pride, and passion into every creation but to be brushed aside like last year’s line… is very depressing for me. So then, is there something I can help with darling or did you just come for a lady’s company?” I chuckled a bit.

“I actually came for a couple of reasons, I would like to ask you to make this (I pointed to my AC clothes) but to fit my Alicorn half and to please reverse the colours.” She nodded at this and I carried on, “The other reason is, can you spare any broken, unneeded mannequins please.” She nodded again and smiled.

“Of course darling, the first thing is easy, not really much of a challenge. I’ll just make a mannequin for your Alicorn half and make the outfit. The other thing is fairly simple as well, I’ll just ask Sweetie Belle to look for any old mannequins I no longer require. Anything else you need?” Ok then, time to make her day.

“You know about the project to rebuild the old castle in Everfree?” Rarity nodded again, currently anypony in Ponyville that didn’t know probably lived under a rock. “Well, how would you like to be the one to decorate it?” Well I tell you, she must have jumped 5 feet into the air, screaming at the top of her lungs, with her front hooves on either side of her face like a human does with their hands. I don’t think anypony else will get that kind of reaction out of her anytime soon.

“You really mean it dear?” I nodded and smiled.

“Of course, I can not think of any better designer or friend with the talent to do such a monumental job. The reconstruction will be starting tomorrow so I’m going to ask if Luna has any old pictures of the original castle’s décor, just for inspiration’s sake.” Rarity thanked me over and over. She said she’ll start on my AC clothes for Starlancer and I left her to it, I still wanted to visit Twilight.

It was 1 o’clock or so when I got to Twilight’s place. Spike let me in and told me Twilight went to Pinkie Pie to get something. Thanking him I decided to head to Sugarcube Corner rather than wait for her to return.

I went the AC way to Sugarcube Corner, I was not going to miss any opportunity to do this kind of stuff and it does not feel right unless you do it in these clothes, they suit it. I did get some looks by some passing Pegasi and any observant ponies, a few waved at me and I waved back, but I paid no attention to the ones giving me weird looks, I was having too much fun.

I found Twilight talking with Pinkie Pie just outside Sugarcube Corner. I was standing just above them and just about to jump when I noticed that Pinkie was messing with her knee. Ignoring it I leapt from the roof to the ground, right in front of them. I gave the two quite a scare.

“What was that for Michael?! You gave me a heart attack!” Twilight was pretty upset but Pinkie Pie just laughed, she is a really strange pony. “I knew something was going to happen. My Pinkie Sense was telling me something scary was going to happen. That was amazing, you have got to teach me to do that! But why are you here though aren’t you meant to be at the castle?” Twilight just groaned. That’s Pinkie Pie for you.

“Pinkie’s right. Aren’t you overseeing the reconstruction?” I shook my head. “Ok then, why are you here then? It’s not that we mind!”

“I would like to learn Twilight.” Being vague is fun sometimes, it leaves so much space for them to try and guess.

“Learn what?” I just looked at Twilight, “Magic, Twilight. I wish to learn the magic in this universe and I can not think of anypony else who can, and Celestia sure as hell won’t teach me.”

The other reason was that I lost my abilities after the hard reset. I did know how to levitate objects as Starlancer but I wanted to know more than that.

“I guess that’s true, are you sure about this though, I do have ask Celestia first and I’ll have to tell her you came here you know?” I nodded; Celestia did say Twilight sends her messages. “But if she says I can I will gladly help you learn magic.”

“Thanks Twilight, oh and Pinkie? The construction is only happening tomorrow, with Princess Luna supervising everything.” They seemed to be a little shocked which is to be expected, Luna is not known to come out to such a small town often.

“Why is the Princess com- (Pinkie gasped) is she throwing a party that we don’t know about why wasn’t I invited or better yet why am I not throwing it?!” Celestia above Pinkie! What am I going to do with you? Other than the usual laughing at your jokes, attending your parties and tolerating your weirdness. Thank Celestia there is only one of you.

“It’s not a party Pinkie and besides I have a feeling Celestia doesn’t know of her sister coming here either.” It was true, Celestia still didn’t seem to trust me very much despite her apology and would probably forbid Luna from coming...

“Did you decide what to call the castle, Michael?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, Nightmare Castle.” They seemed a little worried at that though. “I thought of it as my final thank you to Nightmare Moon for saving me. Oh yeah I never told you all about that did I?” They shook their heads.

“You remember when I arrived at the wedding as Nightmare Moon right? Now that attack that eventually made me fall unconscious was meant to kill me.” They gasped. “But in order to save me Nightmare Moon somehow took the damage herself and in doing so spared me by killing her instead. It seems it took a while for all her power to fully leave me, since I only transformed into Starlancer after I woke up. That is why I owe her.” Twilight and Pinkie nodded their heads smiling.

“I understand why now you defended her when no one else would, despite everything she had done in the past. I think she wished to redeem herself but paid the ultimate price for it.” Twilight, was that I tear I just saw? “I think naming the castle after her is a brilliant idea.”

“Thanks Twilight, I honestly don’t mind you telling Celestia, in fact I want you to tell her. But that is enough for me today, I need to head back to the castle now. Please Twilight, ask Celestia and see, but I would not hold my breath.” With that said I climbed up to Sugarcube Corner’s roof and ran off.

There really wasn’t much to do once I got back, so I just laid on the grass and looked at the sky. After a while I thought I may as well do some practise with my halberd so I took it out. I spent a good hour or too training against an imaginary opponent who seemed to get every advantage possible, seeing as the best way to train is to imagine the worst possible situations.

I finished my imaginary training and put my halberd back, it was not the same without a proper opponent or a dummy to fight against but it was the best I could do in this world for now until I get those mannequins from Rarity. I decided to head back inside the castle to think.

As I walked through the castle, I looked around the ruins with a smile. Soon all this will no longer exist and a proper castle will be in its place. I could only wonder what this castle used to be in its glory days. My thoughts soon turned back to Nightmare Moon, I approached the full length mirror Rarity gave me and changed to my Alicorn self: Starlancer. Looking at myself I could still see some of Nightmare Moon’s influence in my body, the eyes, my mane were the main parts that stuck out but I feared that there was something else, sure I felt her leave my body but what if a small part stayed? If my adventures have taught me anything is to expect anything to happen no matter how outrageous because something worse may happen. I took a deep breathe and spoke into the mirror.

“Are you there Nightmare? Please, if you are still there, say something.” No response, I thought that was going to be the case so I wasn’t really surprised, I just needed to confirm it for myself. As I turned around to walk to my bed to take a nap I heard laughter. Wait, I know that laughter… that’s Nightmare Moon!! I looked back at the mirror and I saw HER in it, clear as day!

“Miss me, Starlancer is it? Cute name, suits you.” Wait how is it possible? “A little surprised? I’m not so easy to get rid of, you should know that.”

“B-b-but how? How can you still live? You said either you or I would die from that attack from Chrysalis.” She just held her hoof to her mouth, chuckling.

“True, but I’ve faced worse: the Elements of Harmony for one. I did not lie regarding me having to leave our body because we WOULD have died, but I decided to come back here and possess the mirror since I could not possess my armour again.”

“Can anyone else see you?”

“Possibly, yes. But I want a new body though, but I need an Alicorn, or another human, I guess. I wish to walk among my subjects once more and be loved not feared.”

“Anyone in mind?” Please let it not be who I think it is.

“Yes, Chrysalis. In order for me to possess her body, the mirror has to come into physical contact with her, smashing it over her head could work.” Oh good, I thought she would say either Luna, myself, Cadance or Celestia. It would be funny to smash a mirror over somepony’s head, but who would get the 7 years bad luck? Chrysalis, Nightmare or me?

“But I don’t know where she is after she got blasted away and I fell unconscious. Not to mention she is not really an Alicorn or a pony for that matter.”

“We don’t need to find her, she will find us. I’m sure that she is planning her revenge as we speak but it may be weeks, months or years before she resurfaces. She does have a horn and a pair of wings, the main physical traits an Alicorn possesses so that makes her a valid candidate. I can wait, I was banished to the moon for 1000 years after all, Luna only went with for the ride.” She laughed at her own statement. So that was the ‘trip’ Dash was referring to.

I was still reeling from this revelation after leaving the room: Nightmare is alive and she wants Chrysalis’s body! I felt like I needed a very stiff drink so I went off to Sweet Apple Acres since they have apples, logic would dictate that they possibly made cider – which can be alcoholic - as well.

Applejack was bucking apples in an orchard named ‘Red Delicious’ which was the nearest one to the farm so I didn’t have to look very far. I asked if she had any strong drink.

“Well a’course we do sugarcube, lets go to the barn, got some stored there. Y’all ok? Ya kinda look like ya’ll seen a ghost or summin’” I told her it was something like that. “Wanna talk bout it sugarcube?”

“Sorry Applejack, I don’t think you want to know. Trust me.” She nodded and took me to the barn’s cider storage. She had quite a hoard of alcohol but I only needed one drink so AJ got me a glass and I drank some. She started to get worried from the rate I was downing the liquor.

“Come on partner, it can’t all be that bad.”

“Trust me its worse. You sure you want to know? You won’t forget it or believe it, I know I STILL don’t.” She nodded and crossed her front hooves in a ‘I’m waiting’ pose.

“Ok… Nightmare Moon is still alive, somewhat anyway.” She just about keeled over in shock.

“Whatcha just say? That old snake in the grass is still around?” I nodded. “But she left ya.”

“All I know Applejack is that she is still around. She is currently in the mirror Rarity gave me a while back. Maybe she can’t die if I or Princess Luna still live or something, it’s a mystery I think I'm better off not solving. But I plan on telling Luna at least when she comes tomorrow.” I can’t tell AJ yet about Nightmare wanting to gain a body, let alone Chrysalis’s body. Thanking AJ for the drink, I went back to the castle. She sat there in shock and I could hardly blame her.

It was already night when I entered Everfree, but I could not help but worry what Luna is going to think or do when I tell her. I knew I had to. I reached the castle, realising now that its name fit it better than it ever should have. I went to my room and stood in front of the mirror for one last time. It did not take long for her to appear.

“I need to know that I can trust you Nightmare.” She looked at me and smiled.

“Remember when I fused with you and saw your memories? I’ve seen what you are capable of when you’re angry at somepony, I don’t believe betraying you is in my best interests. So I won’t, I promise that.” She seemed sincere saying this. Sadly I lost all of my capabilities, hopefully she didn’t know that.

“Ok, I’ll put my faith in you. Luna is coming tomorrow to oversee the reconstruction of the castle and I WILL tell her about you, whether you agree or not.” She just nodded at me and gave me another smile.

“I understand, but it’s getting late isn’t it? You should sleep.” I hate it to admit it but she’s right. She blew a kiss at me with her hoof and laughed. I jumped onto my bed and went to sleep. I have a funny feeling about all this.

The next day I woke up, still worried about Nightmare Moon and Luna meeting each other. She was still in that mirror but moved so I could see my reflection: I decided to meet Luna in the clothes I came to this world in. I changed to my human form, got dressed, left my halberd and Starblade inside the room and went outside to wait.

I didn’t have to wait long for Luna to arrive. She flew down to the entrance with three guards, if her sister had a say in this she may not have come at all. She came up to me and… hugged me. Her guard seemed a bit confused, judging by the expressions on their faces.

“Uh, it’s good to see too Luna.” Awkward situation much? She let go of me and smiled.

“The ponies I asked to come and help with the construction will be arriving shortly. I thought I would come earlier to see how you are doing.”

“I’m fine thanks Luna, but what’s with the guards?” The guards smiled at us.

“They are here at my sister’s request, but these guards are among those who believe that you are good despite having been fused with Nightmare Moon as I- are you well?” My eye twitched a bit at that name. I guess I am terrible at hiding some things. I had to tell her anyway about her anyway.

“I need you to come with me Luna, there is something you need to see.” She nodded and the five of us entered the castle, and made our way to the mirror. As we got there I only saw myself, Luna and a guard in the mirror so I changed to my Alicorn half thinking that may get her to appear. And sure enough, Nightmare Moon was standing where I was, smiling at us.

“Hello Princess, it has been a while hasn’t it?” Luna was as shocked as myself when I first saw her, the guards ran between us and the mirror. I raised my hoof and got them to back away.

“It’s alright guys, this is what I needed to show you Luna. Nightmare Moon still exists, somehow.” She turned to me, in a near rage and turned back to Nightmare.

“So Nightmare, what are you planning this time? Still wanting to bring eternal night to Equestria?” Nightmare laughed at Luna, but before she could respond I interrupted.

“She wishes to make amends. She is also after a new body and has found a suitable host: Chrysalis.” Luna was shocked at this news.

“He speaks the truth Luna, I did actually learn my lesson. All I ask is for a chance to make amends for what I put you and you sister through… Somepony is coming, we can talk later.” And just like that Nightmare Moon was replaced by my reflection.

“Michael, are you there?” That’s Twilight’s voice! We met Twilight halfway down the hallway after leaving the room. Twilight bowed to Luna.

“Greetings Princess. Michael I have good news! Princess Celestia gave me permission to teach you our magic! Is that not great?!” She was jumping around like Pinkie Pie does, happy as can be. This was great news though. “So whenever you want to start, just come by the library and we’ll start. I just wanted you to know. Oh and Rarity says the she has the items you requested, whatever she meant.” She then turned round and teleported away. Luna turned to me and asked.

“What did you want Rarity to do, Starlancer?” I then told her about the clothes and the mannequins. “But I also asked for her to do the décor for the castle once the construction was complete. On that subject, I also wanted to ask if there are any pictures of what the old castle’s décor looked like.” Luna just nodded.

“I will get the librarians in the Canterlot Archives to look for anything related when I head back. Well this is enough chat, the workers should be arriving by now.” Once we got outside I saw the workforce that wanted to help me out. I felt like I was in an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode. There was a literal army of Pegasi, Earth and Unicorn ponies, all with hard hats, carrying toolboxes and pulling carts filled with materials.

“Thank you all for coming to partake in one of the biggest undertakings in history: restoring this castle to its former glory. You shall all be given your assignments. So then, begin!” Luna bellowed in a much deeper voice, I swear you could probably still hear her even if you were standing on the outskirts of Everfree. After this there was a scramble as all the ponies were given their assignments. After that they all set to work. Luna sure can motivate with just a few words.

“It will take some time before construction is completed and you may need another place to stay for the time being. Do you have somewhere in mind?” Oh yeah, forgot I would need somewhere else to stay. Who would allow me to stay with them and I am NOT asking Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry I’m not sure Luna. I honestly did not think that far but I’ll make a plan.” She nodded and came closer to me.

“We also have the issue about your own guards-”

“Sorry Luna but I don’t think that is a good idea, not while your sister still doesn’t seem to trust me very much.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about Tia, Starlancer. But I do suggest finding somewhere to stay, maybe Fluttershy’s place? You did stay there when you first arrived did you not?” She was right, but would Fluttershy let me? Hell, I’ll try anyway. Thanking Luna I left to go to Fluttershy’s cottage. Fluttershy wasn’t home when I got there but I did run into Pinkie Pie.

“What you up to? Looking for Fluttershy?” I nodded. “Weeeellll, she went to Rainbow Dash because she has to cover for her because Dash said that she had a job to do for the next few weeks and couldn’t do all the weather for Ponyville during that time so with Fluttershy one of the few Pegasi she trusts she asked her to take over, so while she does that she went to Twilight to ask her to help with her animals.” Wait, Pinkie can you ever slow down when you speak for Celestia’s sake, but then again you are… well, you.

Thanking her I made a dash to Twilight’s. I saw Twilight waving goodbye to Fluttershy, they must have just finished. I spread my wings and took off after her. She saw me coming after her and stopped so I could catch up.

“H-Hi Michael, or do you want me to call you Starlancer?”

“Whichever you prefer Fluttershy, I don’t mind, really.”

“Ok, what’s wrong?”

“I need a place to stay while the old castle is being rebuilt. So I thought I would come and ask you since I did stay there when I first got here.”

“Of course you can stay in my cottage until your home is fixed. It’s no worry, the animals will be happy to see you again.” And there she goes with another of those smiles…

“Thanks Fluttershy. I have some things to take care of so I’ll see you later, is that ok?” She nodded and flew off, probably home, given the direction she is travelling.

I flew off to Rarity’s to see how she was, Twilight said Rarity got those things for me. I was outside the window watching her make another one of her ‘masterpieces’. She noticed me and opened the window.

“So being an Alicorn today are we?” she chuckled. “I must say though, being a pony does suit you darling. Come on in, but just come through the door, it is the civilised way to enter a lady’s home you know.” Nodding, I flew down to ground level and walked in. As I got through the doorway, Rarity came down, carrying my Alicorn AC clothes. I slipped them on; they fit just as perfectly as the suit I wore at Cadance’s wedding. The hood had a hole for my horn, it covered my Cutie Mark but Rarity put gem versions of my Cutie Mark in its place, made of sapphires and rubies. The knife pouches were under my wings and were easily concealed when on the ground. Like I asked she had reversed the colour scheme. Where the white on my human AC clothes there was black and vice versa. I was ready to defeat the Templars, pony-style!

“I gather you like it dear?” Rarity asked.

“As always, I love your work Rarity.” She beamed at me.

“I also have the mannequins you requested as well, come I had Sweetie Belle put them around the back as I can not have such ugly things in my Boutique.” She walked out the door with me following suit.

We went around the back to see the dummies Rarity salvaged for me. There were 10 in total. They either had a torn hoof, or the stitching came undone in several places and there was a human shaped dummy as well but its proportions seemed… wrong: it had a waist line that was far too wide; the shoulders seemed lower that they should be; the arms were too thick and the knees were in the wrong spot. I gathered it was Rarity’s first try at making the one she uses to make my clothes. She blushed as I was looking at this monster of a dummy.

“I do hope that these will suit your needs Starlancer, please do inform me of when the construction is complete so I can start decorating your home.” I nodded at her.

“Of course Rarity. I may come earlier than that with the old pictures of the original castle if the ponies in the Archives find anything.” At least I was able to lift the dummies with my magic. I’m glad I know this basic spell, carrying them all would have been a pain. I went back to the castle with my new training buddies in tow.

It was starting to get dark when I got back to Nightmare Castle, but everypony was still working hard. When I looked up I then noticed a rainbow shooting from one cloud to another and as it reached them the cloud disappeared. Well, I now know what Pinkie Pie was talking about: Rainbow Dash was taking care of the weather for the construction. Luna was walking around, shouting orders in that voice again every once in a while. Her horn was glowing though, but then I realised that she was busy raising the moon. It was amazing to see her multi-task with no effort at all.

I took the dummies to an area behind the castle, it was wide, only had grass and the nearby animals kept clear of it. This was going to be my training area once the castle was finished. I placed them down and headed to Fluttershy’s cottage. I found Fluttershy was taking some things out of the room I used to sleep in, saying she had been using it as a storeroom since I left. I helped her carry the remaining boxes out of the room and set up my old bed. We said our goodnights to each other and Fluttershy went outside to check on the weather.

She came back after 25 minutes looking exhausted. I heard from somewhere that Fluttershy is not the strongest flier, which makes her friendship with Dash – who is her complete opposite – all the more ironic and special. I heard her walk up the stairs and go into her room. I stayed as my Alicorn half as the bed was better suited for ponies rather than humans and fell asleep.

The next day was a bit of déjà vu. We both woke up at around the same time, Fluttershy made breakfast, I helped her with her animals, just like the first time I came to Ponyville. She even still paid me despite my protests. She told me she had to cover Rainbow’s shift because she was still busy. Fluttershy can be too nice for her own good sometimes.

As for me, today I was going to get started learning magic with Twilight, like Celestia said I could, I still wonder how Twilight pulled that off. I flew over to the library and knocked on the door. As usual Spike opened the door and I walked in. Twilight was out again, Pinkie Pie apparently dragged her off for reasons nopony can explain and it was probably best to not know. Spike showed me some of the books Twilight told him she first used to learn magic from. I was half expecting the ‘Equestrian Magic For Dummies’ book to appear somewhere. Luckily it didn’t exist. Spike went out saying he and Rarity are going to go gem hunting for her dresses, he seemed to blush a bit while he said that. I noticed it and I couldn’t help teasing him.

“Are you sure that’s the only reason Spike? Hmm?” He then completely turned red and ran out. I chuckled to myself and carried on reading. After going through the first couple of spells I found out I could perform them fairly easy, maybe because I was currently an Alicorn. I eventually found the teleport spell that Twilight used the previous day. I tried to perform it and landed on the second floor on top of her bed; when I tried again I was upside down in her bathroom… with my head in the toilet and for the third attempt I ended up under her bed. I got myself out from under the bed but I knocked her bedside table accidentally and a scroll fell off. It had a gold ‘C’ seal on it, I gathered it was Celestia’s seal. I went to it to see why it was on her bedside when the rest like this one were downstairs in a drawer named ‘Letters from Celestia’. I opened it to see what it said and I was surprised:

Dearest Twilight
I’m sorry but I must refuse your request to teach Starlancer any form of our magic. I fear that there is more to him and Nightmare Moon that he cares to inform us. I must forbid you to teach him anything without me there to supervise. I also heard that my sister went against my wishes and went to the ruined castle, along with a sizable workforce to repair it. I need you to tell me what it is that Starlancer is up to. He may have earned your trust but I fear it is misplaced. Please for your sake and Equestria’s, you and nopony else should not be near him.
Your teacher
Princess Celestia

“Michael, uh what are you reading?” Damn, Twilight! I was so busy reading that I didn’t hear her walk up the stairs, let alone come in!

“Oh… uh, its nothing Twilight, just one of the letters you sent to Celestia. It is interesting to see what you and your friends were learning about friendship.” From that look on her face she didn’t believe me, I know when I'm beat. “Ok, I accidentally teleported myself up here, namely under your bed, don’t ask me how, I just did and then after trying to get out from under your bed I knocked the letter off the table. The rest you kind of know.” She stared blankly at me for a few seconds, then she turned her head to the side and looked as though she was just about to cry.

“I’m sorry! It’s true Celestia forbade me to teach you magic but I don’t get what she sees. We’ve known you longer than her and even her sister believes in you. That’s why I’m going against Celestia’s wishes this one time because as much as she may be right, she might be wrong now…” She seemed determined to prove Celestia wrong, and so do I.

“Thanks Twilight, shall we start?” She nodded and I began to show Twilight what I had picked up from the books I had read, she seemed impressed.

“I think it’s time to take these lessons outside, we need to go get Rarity and then we can continue.”

“Why? I thought you knew more magic than anypony else in Ponyville.”

“That is true but Rarity is better at some other spells than myself and she knows how to multi-task with magic very well so that’s why I would like for her to join. She already agreed when I asked her yesterday.” I nodded and Twilight’s horn started to glow… and then we were standing outside the Boutique. We went inside to see Rarity waiting for us with a picnic basket next to her.

“Are we all ready darlings? I’ve gotten us something to eat.” Twilight then teleported us to an open field, perfect for practising magic. The one strange feature about this field was this large boulder in the middle. Twilight saw my confusion to this really out of place object.

“Oh, that’s Tom.” I just raised an eyebrow.

“Long story darling, so Twilight what is Starlancer starting with?” Rarity said.

“We’ll start basic: levitation of objects also know as telekinesis. While you can perform this, you have only been doing it with light objects so now you are going to lift something far heavier… Tom over here.” So I tried to lift Tom. Turns out the heavier the object, the harder the spell is to perform and the more you need to concentrate in order to maintain it. I was eventually able to lift and move it about as if it weighed as much as any of Twilight’s books. The next part was Rarity showing me how to perform multiple spells at once. We started with several instances of one spell then to three different types with three instances each. It took a couple of hours but I managed it in the end. They were all impressed, turns out Alicorns are better at magic than unicorns, but I think it was also due to my ‘unusual situation’.

“Now for something different, you see Tom over here? Break him apart. I doubt Rarity will mind.” Twilight said and Rarity nodded her head. I used my wings to throw ten daggers from their pouches on my sides at Tom. Nine landed in a star pattern while the tenth hit square between them. I took out my halberd and charged, I slammed the tip on top of the tenth dagger and Tom exploded in a hail of pebbles. Twilight managed to cast a shield spell over her and Rarity in order to protect themselves against the hailstorm. They were shocked at this display.

“Wow, Tom must be in a million pieces. That was a fantastic display.” Rarity said. I put my daggers back in their holders and covered them with my wings. I pulled out my halberd, ready for the next phase: using the halberd to help focus my magic capabilities while human. Turned out using the halberd like a staff gave me better control like my horn does when I’m an Alicorn. I turned back into my Alicorn form as I was finding it more and more preferable. Twilight looked at me and smiled.

“Are you ready for the next lesson?” I nodded “We are going to try teleporting. First short distances to long distances and then with more than one pony.” I moved my head from side to side and warmed myself up.

It took until night time before I got proper control of the spell. I ended up in trees; in the middle of Ponyville; I even wound up at the construction site a few times which gave everypony a shock. I had to apologise… repeatedly. At least at the end of the day I got the hang of it, I could teleport anywhere and teleport others with me, it was only Rarity, Twilight and I but we were going to try with more ponies if we could convince any to help. Saying our goodbyes Twilight teleported us to the library, then I teleported Rarity and myself to the Boutique and then just a short distance away from Fluttershy’s cottage since she scares easy.

Fluttershy returned later in the night, I made her something to eat, said goodnight and went to bed.

This routine carried on for the next three months with nothing to really take note of. The magic lessons were progressing nicely, Fluttershy was able to cope with all her work with me helping, the castle’s construction was finished. The Archives turned up a few pictures for Rarity to look at for inspiration, you should see her work: so serious yet refined, in her own way. I have talked a few times with Nightmare Moon, oddly enough so has Luna but none of them would tell me what they talk about. Celestia came twice during this time but we all managed to pull the wool over her eyes regarding the secret magic training and I've seen her having an argument with Luna each time. Pinkie was insisting on hosting a party, as I was arguing with her, her hair went flat again and started to speak slowly which made me uneasy so I caved in and let her do her planning.

The party was to be in the next two days and Rarity finished the décor. Well I tell you words can not be enough to describe what this castle looked like: the entire floor was white marble, there was black carpeting with white stitching in the hallways, gold lacing in the curtains, there were a few small tables in the hallways with some lovely flowers, there were some paintings here and there of my friends and the little adventure we’ve had so far. There even was a stained glass window of Nightmare Moon with my halberd in her mouth standing over Chrysalis! On the door for the room I met Nightmare room was a plaque saying: ‘Nightmare Room’ inside it had a statue of herself with a plaque on the base saying: ‘To our beloved Nightmare’. Corny I know, but that’s what they wrote on it.

As for the main hall there was a mural in the centre of the floor: there was a picture of the moon which was the centre piece; a picture of my halberd under the moon, pointing away from it; my human and Alicorn forms on the left and right hand sides respectively, my Starblade was above the moon, also pointing away and a picture of Nightmare Moon inside the moon with her wings spread out touching the sides. There was a stained glass window of me as Starlancer; another one with Shining in it running, at first I wondered why it was there until I saw myself in human form, pointing past him (he must have told them what happened in his room). The original pedestal which had the original Elements was repaired and got slightly changed: it was coloured gold and deep cerulean; where in place of the Elements there was a picture of the Mane Six on an orb with a plaque stating which Element they represented.

Since the party was in two days Pinkie was running around Ponyville with Surprise, a white Pegasus pony from Cloudsdale with a bright yellow mane and tail. She also shared Pinkie’s joy for parties. I swear you couldn’t tell them apart when they were together: they spoke at the same speed; had the same attitude; hell their Cutie Marks and their manes matched for Celestia’s sake! Thanks to Surprise, the party was going to be gigantic, even by Pinkie’s standards.

Part 4: The Return of a Nightmare

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MLP: Equestria Part 4: The Return of a Nightmare
Author: Draconis187

The day for the party was upon us, well more me than the others. I had to prove to Celestia that she could trust me, in hindsight that may be a tad difficult with harbouring information about Nightmare Moon. Rarity made me two outfits for the occasion: one was for my Alicorn side, the suit was silver in colour for the most part but Rarity also lined the sides with small sapphires, the overall design resembled a tuxedo but without the tie. I would also be wearing my armoured boots as well, but I was leaving the helmet on my bedside table. The other one was for my human side: the suit was the same shade of blue that Nightmare Moon’s armour had and had a purple trim. I would be wearing black shoes and a black bowtie.

I was standing outside as Starlancer with Rainbow Dash, waiting for the guests to arrive. Pinkie was inside with Surprise making sure everything was perfect, or wacky can’t tell which is which with them. We didn’t have to wait long as the first few guests arrived: Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, Derpy, Lyra, Bon Bon, amongst others from Ponyville. Dash and I struck up a conversation while we were waiting for the rest.

“You nervous Starlancer?” I just nodded, “Sweet Celestia. You're an Alicorn; you should start acting like one.” I glared at her.

“Oh really? Let’s take a look at the Alicorns I’ve thus far: one seems to hate me, one tried to possess me and plunge Equestria into eternal night but that didn’t work (she didn’t know that Nightmare still lives yet), one seemed to get too friendly too fast and had been banished for 1000 years, oh another one albeit more of a bug than an Alicorn tried to steal another Alicorn’s husband and tried to take over Equestria with a Changeling army. I haven’t made up my mind about Cadance since I haven’t really spoken to her since the wedding.” Dash rolled her eyes.

“Jeez, lighten up. Celestia isn’t that bad, she just doesn’t know you like the rest of us do. I’m sure Luna sees what we see in you more than her sister does so that must count for something. Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were jerks and let’s just leave it there. Cadance though seems nice, but I've never spoken to her either. Besides, you have friends don’t you? And you have the greatest pony to ever live as a friend too… me!” I smiled a bit at her attempt to cheer me up.

“I appreciate your help Dash, thanks.” As Dash smiled back, Pinkie came bounding out the front door, all cheerful (what else is new?). “How many ponies did you invite Pinkie?”

“Oh, just about everypony in Ponyville, Canterlot and Cloudsdale silly.” So that why the rest of the guests were taking so long, Cloudsdale and Canterlot are much further away than Ponyville.

“Thanks Pinkie, oh how are you getting along with Surprise?” She stopped jumping instantly, her hair deflated, even her coat became a little pale and she started speaking in a low, slow tone. Uh oh, what now?!

“Never mention that pony to me again, got it?” Dash and myself were shocked seeing her like this. I nodded slowly, then all of a sudden her hair returned to its ‘normal’ cotton candy style and her coat brightened up. “Got you didn’t I? I love her! She’s like the sister I never had!” With that she bounded back into the castle and back to the party. Dash and I just looked at each other; I laughed nervously and waited a little longer.

Soon more ponies started coming, well I tell you it felt like there was a small army coming in but given what Pinkie said that was probably a very accurate statement. Luna and Celestia eventually came as well. Luna smiled at me and greeted us as she walked in, I stopped Celestia going in though.

“Princess I need to speak to you please, (I looked towards her guards) privately. Dash would you mind looking after my halberd please?” She nodded and I gave Dash my halberd. Celestia and I went to a small clearing in the Everfree Forest, her Solar Guard were following us until we got there. Celestia dismissed them with a wave her hoof and we were alone to talk to each other without any interruption.

“So Celestia, what is it about me you seem to hate so much?” She looked a little shocked at me, but I carried on regardless. “I mean, you were so quick to exile me when I first got here, you seemed to have some form of vendetta against me before we even met. I also noticed from the tone of your voice that you did not sincerely mean what you said.” Celestia looked up to the stars but I could see she was a little sad, she then responded.

“You must understand, I did all of this for Luna. Her return as Nightmare Moon made most of our subjects fear her, which made it hard for her to make any friends. Despite Twilight and the others being helping her on Nightmare Night they have their own duties to perform as do I so we can not always be there when she needs us. I feared she would grow distant again and become Nightmare Moon once more. I then began to look beyond our world, beyond our universe.” Wait, she’s not saying…?!

“Yes, your arrival here was not accidental. I am capable of partially seeing into other universes during the day of the Summer Sun Celebration as on that day my magic is at its strongest. After I raised the sun I eventually saw your universe, but the vision was hazy at best. What I was able to see was what was in your heart, you felt alone, sad yet you tried to help others regardless. You told us it was that First Fleet from that Bleach Protocol that forced you to use this ‘Cataclysm Cannon’, right?” I nodded. “Well, getting you here was no small feat; it requires an immense amount of energy from both ends to make the connection; that is why the gateway closed after you entered. But it is possible for one end to make the connection but it will take more energy than both sides combined to achieve. Now I must ask you: do you regret coming to Equestria?” I shook my head.

“No, I don’t. Sure there are some things I miss, but I've already lost them while I was on the run. So I guess in a way you saved me Celestia. I am truly grateful for it but it still does not explain your attitude towards me when we met.” She chuckled a bit and faced me.

“I suppose not. I was shocked when I saw that huge metal monster fall through the sky and I saw it was you after the crash since there was no shards of metal around the location you landed. I went to the crash site and found you unconscious on the ground and I healed your more serious injuries. But I made sure to seal away your capabilities until I knew what I was dealing with, I was doing it for the safety of my subjects. I then left for you to wake up on your own.” I could see from the expression on her face she seemed to be telling the truth. ”Luna knew that it was I who brought you to our world the moment she saw you. Like I said: I have been searching for a friend for Luna and she was so happy when we got back to the castle, so much so she couldn’t sleep for next two weeks. She eventually fell asleep on Cadance’s wedding day, the day you came back as Nightmare Moon and saved us.” She looked away, lost in thought. As I was about to ask her what was wrong, she continued. “I think it’s time I gave you your abilities back, I only ask you that you use them with caution.”

“Don’t worry Celestia; I’ll first have to practise using them again since it has been a while since I last used any of them. Something has been bothering me a bit though: what about this ‘brother’ thing Luna spoke of after I became Starlancer? Last time I checked I was not related to either of you.”

“What she means is that since the both of you were connected by Nightmare Moon, you may have some of her DNA in you, and thus making you our sibling. I would need to check this with my magic though to make sure. Do you wish for me to find out?” I nodded. Celestia came up close to me, placed her horn on mine and it started to glow. She stopped after a few seconds, stepped back and smiled at me.

“It appears that Luna was right, you are related to myself and Luna thanks to Nightmare Moon. You are now essentially a prince.” I fell on to my rump. “I will need to formerly introduce your title to the party. I will ask Shining Armour to come and help you learn how to command other ponies under you, once he is back from his honeymoon with Cadance. The reason is that you will be given your own guards. Who they will be is up to you, but there is a special ritual for it. It gives your guards some of your abilities and traits. That is why the Lunar Guard Pegasi have bat wings instead of normal ones. You will also perform the ritual on your own guards, don’t worry I was told it does not hurt anypony, it just feels weird. But now we probably should head back to the party? Just before we do though…” she placed her horn on mine again and they both glowed. My HUD lit up like a Christmas tree and I saw a lot of binary data flash in front of my eyes, no doubt the missing codes for my abilities. A message saying: ‘FULL SYSTEM FUNTIONALITY RESTORED’ appeared before me, acknowledging what Celestia did. She just nodded at me and we went back to the party. While we were walking I checked my roster and to my disappointment I only saw two things listed: my slightly updated version of REX and my dragon form. I then checked my knowledgebase to see if any of my magic capabilities were restored and there were two as well: my flash freeze capability (fire lightning and it freezes whatever it hits instantly) and a blizzard spell (alters the weather into a strong snowstorm, what else). It was better than nothing.

As I got back Dash told me that everypony that Pinkie Pie and Surprise invited had arrived so we didn’t have to wait outside anymore. Dash gave back my halberd, Celestia went inside with her Solar Guard in tow and then Dash and I followed. Pinkie Pie and Surprise did a marvellous job, Celestia went back to her sister on one of the balconies and the Solar Guard joined the Lunar Guard. The number of total guards was 12, 6 from each respective sister. Seeing the two different types of guards together truly bought out their differences: the Solar Guard consisted of 2 white unicorns and the other 4 were grey Pegasi; other than their gold armour that matched Celestia’s own they looked like any normal pony. But the Lunar Guard looked very different: they had cat-slit irises like myself and Nightmare Moon; they had bat wings instead of normal feathered ones; their coats were grey; their armour was mainly purple, other than that they looked normal and acted the same way as their Solar counterparts with those cold, serious looks on their faces.

I met with my friends and also talked with some other ponies. Pinkie Pie and Surprise were having a contest to see who could drink the most hot sauce, they were at 15 1lt bottles each until they BOTH bolted to get water. Those two were made for each other. Luna pulled me to the side at one point in the party with Celestia joining in.

“How do you think your party is going?” Luna asked with genuine concern on her face. I now knew why Luna cared so much about me: I was Celestia’s promise to her, a friend for her that could be there for her when she could not. I smiled at her.

“I think it’s going well honestly. I’ve met a number of ponies from Cloudsdale, Canterlot and Ponyville. Twilight and her friends told me that they don’t think I am evil so I think I might have made some friends tonight.” They both smiled at me and Celestia spoke.

“I’m glad, but I believe it is now time to tell everypony about what you and I discussed earlier on.” I knew what Celestia was talking about and agreed. Luna just looked to Celestia and myself, she seemed lost (Celestia must not have told her). The three of us went into the centre of the room and got everypony’s attention. I gathered that I should probably tell them about Nightmare Moon as well, since we are getting everything out.

“Everypony it is so nice to see all of you come here. I know Starlancer appreciates your care and support. But now I should tell you all something important. As you all know my sister Luna used to be Nightmare Moon, and we all know that Starlancer was possessed by Nightmare Moon’s spirit and was subsequently turned into her for that time. Because she was connected to both of them, Michael gained the ability to turn into the Alicorn we all know as Starlancer. The real reason I am bringing this up is that Starlancer has some of Luna’s DNA in him, and therefore makes him family. Mares and gentlecolts, I give you Prince Starlancer, a brother to both Luna and myself.” At this everypony didn’t seem to argue, they just bowed at us – or more specifically I guess, me – Twilight and her friends smiled at me. Pinkie Pie looked like she was about to faint, and if Surprise’s mouth was any more open, her jaw would be trailing on the floor. It was now or never, they would either understand or I will lose their faith and confidence forever. I had to take that risk, they needed to know about her.

“Thanks everypony, but please don’t go around calling me ‘Prince’, just Michael or Starlancer will be fine. I need to tell you all something regarding Nightmare Moon.” I got quite a few gasps from the room, including Luna and yet Celestia was just listening, she did not say a word or sound. I wondered if Luna had already told her? “Well, you all know she tried to take my body right? She failed but it warped my body into hers. After the fight at the wedding with Chrysalis, she left my body and I became Starlancer. A short while after that day I found out something a bit disturbing: Nightmare Moon… still lives.” Some ponies fainted, I heard one say “Traitor!”, there was another one I heard say: “How is that possible?” “She currently inhabits the mirror in my room but she can't leave it unless she comes into contact with an Alicorn and takes their body.” Luna looked away and Celestia came forward. She silenced the room just by raising her hoof.

“I knew of this turn of events from Luna. She has been talking to Nightmare Moon to try and understand her motives. Despite their history, Luna believes that Nightmare Moon has changed just as Starlancer told us after the fight in Canterlot. I trust Luna’s judgement, there should be no need to worry. I applaud Starlancer’s dedication to being honest with us, but I need to change the subject: his personal guard. How many of you wish to and are prepared to protect this castle, him and this part of Equestria? There is no need to feel forced, this is not mandatory for anypony.” There was a huge buzz of talk amongst everyone, discussing this turn of events.

Lyra was the first to step forward. “I understand what our princess is saying and I will trust and protect you Starlancer, if you would have me.” The next was Bon Bon, “Wherever you go Lyra, I will be there with you. Friends help one another and that includes you Pri- I mean - Starlancer.” They both bowed at my feet, and soon more ponies were coming forward and declaring themselves to me. Two of Celestia’s guard were among them and one of Luna’s as well! Luna and Celestia smiled at me.

“I do believe you have your own guard whether you want it or not. We need to think of a name for your guards don’t you th-” Lyra then interrupted Celestia. Wait, you are allowed to do that?!

“Pardon my interruption. I believe since your guards are called the Solar and Lunar Guard, Star Guard may be an appropriate title.” Yeah, that name does seem to work.

“Do you any objections Starlancer?” I shook my head at Celestia. “Very well then, you shall be known throughout Equestria as the Star Guard, protectors of Nightmare Castle, and under the orders of Starlancer.” They all cheered. After that we all returned to the party but something seemed off.

I noticed Prince Blueblood looking around, and I also saw Rarity actively trying to avoid him. I guessed they had a history, a bad one. I didn’t think much of it at the time and carried on. Lyra and Bon Bon were walking with me the entire time; I guessed they are really taking this new job of theirs seriously. I heard the shattering of glass and saw Pinkie Pie around some glass shards by the banquet table (turned out to be the punch bowl) she must have still been feeling the effects of all that hot sauce. Twilight and Rarity were picking up the pieces with their magic. When I turned around to where I saw Blueblood, he was gone. Luna called me and the ponies that wished to be my guard outside. I had a suspicion to what the reason was. Luna took us to the large clearing in the grounds where I was going to have my training area.

“I understand my sister told you about the initiation ritual that all our guards take part in. I believe it is better to get do it now rather than later, but I can only tell you of what the ritual is, what it does to a pony’s body depends on the magic the one performing it has. Now then, what the ritual does is give your guards a very minute amount of your own power and personality. That is one of the reasons as to why my guards have bat wings and the same eyes as you and Nightmare Moon the reason why was because bats mostly nocturnal animals have allow them to see better at night. Their coats may also change colour.” One of the Solar Guards came forward and nodded, saying that it was true and he used to be a light green colour before turning white. “Now then, whenever you are ready, who will go first?”

Again Lyra stepped forward (she is really brave to trust somepony she barely knows). I put my head down until my horn touched her head, not her horn and I concentrated. My HUD lit up with the message: ‘TRANSFER IN PROGRESS…’, I saw a bit of her change with each minute: she looked up at me and I saw her eyes had cat-like irises but kept their original colour and I also noticed the same lines that make up my HUD in them as well, she most likely now sees the world as I do. ‘TRANSFER COMPLETE’, as I stepped back I also noticed she grew normal Pegasi wings except they seemed larger than normal, it was probably because my own were also larger even by Alicorn standards. She looked around slightly scared, I could see lines of binary data flash in front of her eyes and that was probably why.

“What is this? What exactly happened?” I just walked up to her and calmed her down.

“All those lines and words you are seeing are part of what is called a Heads Up Display or HUD for short. I see the world the same way, but it is possible to make it go away. Just think about turning the HUD off and it will.” She closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them again the HUD was gone. She then turned her attention to her new additions. She gave her wings a few experimental flaps, and she then tried to fly. She must have shot up 10 feet with just a single flap of her wings. She just hovered in the air looking at us first with shock but that soon turned into a huge smile. Bon Bon stepped forward, ready for her turn.

It took about an hour but I had finished the ritual with all of my new Star Guards. They were all Alicorns but kept their original size, eye colour, their manes and tails also stayed the same and colour of their coats. Luna and I went inside, leaving the Star Guard to get used to their new additions and their HUD. We also took the armour the old guards had since they changed. I did not see Prince Blueblood again for the most of the evening, he probably left when he heard Rarity was here but it was of no consequence or importance to me in the end. Celestia was surprised with what Luna and I told her when I performed the ritual, but she did say that she will get the royal armourer to make some armour for them but I asked for all of us to come. I thought it may be a good idea for me to learn how to smith while I am there as well.

The new guards came back in and got a few mixed reactions to an entire force of Alicorns, but they showed that they stayed the same, personality wise. They also stood alongside the Solar and Lunar Guards, I overheard a few of them saying that maybe they should join and become Alicorns as well. The night stared to wind down, ponies were leaving one by one, Luna and Celestia decided to stick around for the night, the castle had more than enough rooms for them and their guards. I saw Blueblood again but he seemed to be in some form of a hurry, he noticed I saw him and bolted out the front door. He was seemed to be carrying a very large mirror… NO NO NO it was Nightmare’s mirror! I chased him into the woods calling out his name several times over to no avail. I caught up with him in one of Everfree Forest’s many clearings. He just stopped, put the mirror down next to him, turned towards me and stated to laugh manically. Oh great, I knew then I had just got suckered into a trap.

I then heard the sound of wings, but they didn’t sound like Pegasi wings, they sounded like an insect’s wings. I looked up to see several changelings all wearing armour with several holes in them, some were coming out from behind the trees as well. Before my eyes I saw Blueblood turn into Chrysalis, she looked the same since I last met her.

“Greetings, Starlancer. I have heard so much about you. I heard you were that pony that stopped me at the wedding. You are going to pay for my humiliation, changelings ATTACK!!” As her force came for me I took out my halberd and charged. I stabbed one in the throat and swung the halberd around, bashing another on the side of its head with the shaft, knocking it unconscious. I fired off a few flash freeze spells, stabbed one through its eye so hard the halberd went through its head and stabbed the one behind it. I decapitated a few others; I kicked one with my rear hooves with enough force and felt its skull fracture; I stabbed another through one of the holes in its armour (in hindsight, that armour was not very practical); some had given up and fled. After a few minutes the remaining changelings were either out cold or dead. She just looked left and right in utter shock. I saw Nightmare nod her head at me so I grabbed the mirror using my magic and threw it on top of Chrysalis’ head... hard.

“STO-“The mirror shattered once it made contact and Chrysalis fell onto her side. She just lay there on the ground, covered in cuts all over her body and bled green blood. The mirror was in thousands of pieces. I slowly walked towards her.

“Now is as good a time as any Nightmare.” The shards of the broken mirror started to rise up off the ground and attached themselves to Chrysalis’s body. Once the shards had covered her legs she started to stand up as more and more pieces covered her entire body, including her eyes. The started to melt, forming a type of reflective shell around her. Before my eyes Chrysalis started to change: her horn started to straighten; Her wings moved to her sides and looked more like Pegasi wings; her ‘crown’ melted into her head; her mane and tail were becoming longer and started to move on its own volition; the holes in her legs were filling. I knew then that Nightmare Moon was taking over her body. The liquid mirror then started to come off her, pooling around her feet and then it moved back to the frame it came from. The liquid solidified and reformed the mirror, as if it never shattered at all, I looked back at Chrysalis, only to see Nightmare Moon standing in her place (minus the armour), staring back at me.

“Miss me? Hahaha.” She walked past me, towards the castle. “I guess I should reintroduce myself, don’t you think?” She bumped her flank against mine and giggled. I was about to say something but I was interrupted by the sound of Chrysalis’s voice.

“What have you done to me!!” It was funny to see the Queen of the Changelings banging against her new prison in rage. Nightmare and I just laughed at her.

“It is quite futile Chrysalis. That mirror will never break, the only way to get out is to come into contact with an Alicorn. But I don’t think you will have much chance to find a host.” Nightmare said with a big grin on her face. Chrysalis looked at us silently for a second but then she started to laugh maniacally. “What are you laughing about!?”

“It’s simple, a queen always has a backup plan. I had my minions steal a little something from Canterlot. A certain statue to be precise.” Oh no, she can't mean… “Yes, Discord of course. He will free me once my minions free him. So no matter how hard you try, I will always be one step ahead of you. HAHAHA!!”

“Sorry to disappoint you Chrysalis, but you will not be enjoying your little victory for long. We shall stop you and Discord.” I said.

“Now that is something I would love to see. NOW MY MINIONS!! Take me back to my home!” The changelings that fled the battle appeared and grabbed the mirror, Nightmare started to run to stop them but I stopped her. She gave me a very stern look.

“We should stop them!” I shook my head. As I was doing so, the changelings left with their now imprisoned monarch.

“Nightmare, you have what you wanted. You have your own body and can properly make amends like you said, I doubt Discord will co-operate with Chrysalis for long. I’ve seen their kind of relationship before, it never lasts because one always stabs the other in the back. And on the other hoof I don’t see how Chrysalis will free Discord if she is trapped or vice versa, after all Discord is a statue and in no position to free Chrysalis.” She nodded her head in agreement.

“Ok, I understand your reasoning. But giving your enemies time to recover is never a good idea.” I nodded.

“True, but it also gives them a sense of hope, and when you crush it, the victory tastes all the sweeter.” Nightmare laughed. We walked back to the castle as Nightmare wanted to get used to having a physical form of her own. I took a hair from her coat – with her permission of course – and analysed it (I put it in my mouth, disgusting!). Turned out Chrysalis’s body had its DNA completely rewritten. There was not a single trace of Chrysalis’s own DNA anywhere within any part of the strand.

When we entered the only ponies left were: Luna, Celestia, the Mane 6, Surprise was still partying with Pinkie Pie, the Star Guard and some other ponies that were invited. We got a lot of stares from everypony, Celestia and Luna came up to us. Luna was understandably shocked and Celestia looked angry.

“How is this possible? I know Starlancer told us you yet live. We were led to believe you were contained within a mirror.” Celestia said with quite the stern look on her face.

I stepped forward and told her and everypony what had occurred: from seeing Blueblood; him stealing the mirror; Blueblood turning out to be Chrysalis; sending her changelings after me; me tearing them apart; me smashing the mirror on top of her and Nightmare stealing her body in the process. We got a few gasps and looks. Then I told Celestia about Chrysalis saying she had stolen Discord’s statue. Well let’s say she did not take it lightly. She bolted off with her guard saying she needed to find out for herself. Before Luna left she said to me: “I hope you know what you are doing.” To be honest I hoped so too.

Despite several ponies making some rather nasty comments, Twilight; her friends as well as the Star Guard came up beside Nightmare and myself. Seeing my shocked expression, Twilight smiled at me and spoke.

“You already have our trust, if you believe Nightmare has changed then so do we.” Everypony else reassured me by basically saying the same thing even Lyra and Bon Bon. Nightmare went over to the table to get something to eat and drink since the last time she did was before I arrived (for the year before I arrived she was a spirit which is incapable of eating and then she was inside a mirror, best slimming plan EVER, not).

“Thank you all, that means more to me than you know. Though we need to consider what Chrysalis’ next move may be. We will need a lookout point: somewhere high; easily concealed; anypony have an idea?” Fluttershy then reminded the others of Mount Dragonshy, saying it was a very tall mountain where a very scary dragon – as she put it – had taken up residence inside a cave there sometime back. She also said you could see for miles from the cave’s entrance. It seemed perfect.

“Thanks Fluttershy, I believe it will fulfil the role perfectly. I will construct it myself… uh does anypony have a telescope I can borrow?” Twilight said she had one, she quickly teleported to the library and was back in a minute, with the telescope standing next to her. Dash said she would show me where the cave was so, picking up the telescope, we flew off. I had the odd feeling that I heard Nightmare call me but I brushed it off and carried on following Dash. We got there after a few hours of flying. Dash went off saying she needs to check the weather schedule for Ponyville and hoped Fluttershy did not mess up the weather too badly. I still wonder how they became friends. Once Dash was out of sight I opened my wings and took flight once more, leaving the telescope behind. What they don’t know is that despite I seem calm on the inside, I tend to take what others say hard. I just needed some time alone so I could clear my head.

(Nightmare’s Point of View)

Those comments hit him harder than these ponies think. I couldn’t follow him since all that time without food and water played catch-up with me and a whole year’s worth of malnutrition takes its toll, even to an Alicorn. It’s the real reason I wanted to walk back to the castle: I didn’t have enough strength to fly. I turned my attention back to the food. He wants to leave, let him.

Twilight saw me eating an entire three layer chocolate sponge cake with vanilla frosting; I finished one of the punch bowls and ate five sandwiches. She came up to me looking worried.

“Slow down, you shouldn’t eat so fast. You will give yourself a major stomach ache.” I stopped for a second, swallowed what I had in my mouth and responded.

“Two things little miss Sparkles. One: I haven’t eaten in over a year, so I am extremely hungry; Two: Michael is not going to come back, he said he was going to make a lookout post but he lied. He will have probably left that mountain once that Rainbow Dash was out of sight.”

Twilight and her friends ran out of the castle and these smaller Alicorns followed behind them. Once they left I felt this strange feeling. It wasn’t until I saw the tear fall onto the marble floor that I realised: it was sadness. My thoughts were constantly fixated on not wanting to be alone. WHY?! Why was I caring? Why did I feel like I wanted HIM to be near me? Why do I feel so… sad being alone, I was never sad during my 1000 year banishment so why now? I shook my head and decided to concern myself with another matter.

Who was this ‘Discord’? Could Chrysalis really have stolen it while she was stealing the mirror I was in? There was no point dwelling on such a trivial matter any further, I needed my rest. I walked through the new castle and then I found the room. The room I saw him in many times, calling my name over and over. He never gave up on finding me, I was still my evil self so at the time I thought he might had proven useful to me and become my host so I could try and destroy Celestia.

I could have never predicted what occurred after I possessed him: I never would have seen that I was partially wrong about these ponies and he became an Alicorn after I left his body. There was a possibility that I will find him in the Dream World, I had to try at least, I could not let him leave so easily. I decided to sleep under the statue they made of me, I gathered it was at Michael’s request, the sentimental moron. After an hour I entered the Dream World.

Things in the Dream World work very differently to reality. Dream Castle is at the centre and is capable of moving anywhere within the world (it is an exact replica of Nightmare Castle). Each individual pony’s dream is represented by a floating island in a sea of opaque deep purple mist. As a pony awakes from their dream, their island fades out of existence and vice versa. It is possible to see all the islands of a particular area (Ponyville and its surrounding area for instance) from the top of Dream Castle, and entering a dream is as simple as flying towards it and landing on it. As far as I know I am the only pony truly conscious of this world, and the only one capable of travelling between the islands, it may be possible for Luna or Celestia to be aware as well. The islands are arranged by each pony’s proximity to one another and they are all labelled with each pony’s name hanging over it. The islands will only ever touch and connect if they share the same dream, which is a very rare occurrence.

As I started my search I could see Scootaloo’s (a small orange filly with a short cerise coloured mane and tail) dream: racing Rainbow Dash around a racecourse situated on the ground, Scootaloo was racing that arrogant mare on her scooter, using her wings to propel her even faster. Rainbow Dash seemed to be having trouble keeping up, but since that it was Scootaloo’s dream this outcome was bound to happen.

I turned my attention to another island and saw Twilight Sparkle’s dream. Or should I saw nightmare, she was kneeling before a very angry Celestia who was scolding her over teaching Michael magic. So that mare was teaching him magic huh? Celestia’s mane was on fire, and her eyes were deep red as well as her coat. Twilight seemed to be having a terrible nightmare so I decided to help out. I flew out to the island, once I got there the evil Celestia tried to attack me. I just fired off a lightning bolt at her, she became her normal, annoying self and just like that Twilight’s nightmare was over. Twilight just looked at the two of us and I flew off before she could say anything.

I got back to the castle and continued to search for Michael but to no avail. He was nowhere in the Ponyville area so I moved the castle to another location. Michael would probably have gone to a remote area. The search went on for two days but I could not find him, I woke up only to eat and drink as my physical body still needed food and water. I went into Ponyville and found it deserted, I gathered it was because of me. I wandered around the town, hoping to find somepony I recognised. I eventually saw Lyra sitting on a bench in the park, playing on a lyre. She saw me and waved; I went over to her and sat next to her.

“Have you had any luck Lyra?” I said. She looked at me for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, I’m sorry. We went to Mount Dragonshy but all we found was Twilight’s telescope. I'm playing on my lyre it helps me think. How about you?” I shook my head.

“I've been searching the Dream World for two days and I still haven’t found him.” Lyra gasped and dropped her lyre.

“I just got an idea! We all have to work together on this in order for it to work.” I nodded and Lyra started to lay out her plan to get Michael to come back once we found him. The plan was a long shot but all of us were prepared take that chance, I want to get rid of these feelings quickly. The sooner, the better.

I resumed the search that night and I eventually found him where the desert would be in the real world, somewhere between Dodge Junction and Canterlot. He was encased in red platemail armour but had forgone the helmet. He was carrying a large sword that had a large ring between the blade and handle. The ring had four clear crystals at 45° angles, inside the ring there seemed to be a small sun in the exact centre (note: this is the Starblade). He seemed to be facing an army of opponents: they seemed to have human bodies; completely encased in armour and those who weren’t wearing a helmet were wearing a mask instead. They were attacking him with a variety of weapons: axes; short swords; long swords and warhammers. He sliced off several heads, stabbed one and kicked him in to a bunch of others. I noticed something odd about his blade, particularly that small sun. It started to change colour from a pale yellow to a medium purple, it also seemed to gain size, and it now filled the entire space of the ring it was in. He kicked away another opponent, swung the blade in a 360° arc which made several of them jump back and then slammed the blade into the ground, and then all of a sudden there was a huge explosion that covered the whole island, I had to cover my eyes with my wings because of the light that accompanied the explosion. Once the dust and smoke settled Michael was the only one still standing. All of his attackers were either dust or skeletons.

I flew over to the island. He saw me, left his sword in the ground and walked up to me as I was walking up to him. “Nightmare Moon…” I was glad he remembered me even in a dream. He seemed a little aloof though.

“Why come to me in a dream? There is nothing I need to say to you Nightmare. Please just leave me be, I need to be alone.” So he is conscious in his dreams? Interesting…

“I was a part of you remember? What I seem to not understand is how you can cause so much wanton destruction and yet you are worried about a few ponies’ opinions? I just don’t get it.”

“Well, I’ve usually either been alone or worked alone. A few people on a mission are easy, you give them orders, they follow and once the job is done we part ways and I hardly ever see them again. Not to mention I've been on the move for about two years or so fleeing from the First Fleet. I didn’t have much contact with society except to get info about things like which shipping routes were being targeted and any rumours of any pirate gangs or of a planet in need of supplies. I usually tried to avoid conflict either through diplomacy or I just simply ran away, I used violence as a last resort. That’s the main reason why it took so long for the First Fleet to catch me. It was only when they targeted the folks I was helping did I decide to confront them.” Alright then, this has gone on for long enough.

“Now you will listen here Michael! You honestly think that all the ponies at that party despise you that much because you helped me gain a body?” He nodded at me, TYPICAL! “ENOUGH OF THIS FOALISHNESS!! They only reacted that way because they are scared of ME. Not you, you saved them from Chrysalis and gave me a body again by smashing the mirror on her! So I suggest you get over this stupid ‘poor me’ act and come back to the castle, do I make myself clear? Otherwise I will terrorise your dreams for eternity. The Star Guard are headed for Canterlot to get turned back because ever since you left, they have been ridiculed, the ones who used to be Luna’s and Celestia’s guard have been refused to rejoin their old guard. All because YOU ran away.” He jumped back at my outburst; he most likely did not expect me to be so ruthless or to hear this news.

“Ok ok ok Nightmare, I will come back tomorrow. Is there anything else you want to shout at me about?” I shook my head and left. When I looked back at the island, it was gone.

I woke up the next day to see Princess Luna sitting in front of me staring straight at me. She seemed worried.

“Morning Nightmare Moon, sleep well?”

“What is wrong Princess?”

“You and Michael were correct, Discord’s statue has been stolen. A guard said that he saw a few changelings headed for the gardens last night. He called for backup but by the time they got there both the changelings and the statue were gone. Now we know who stole it and on whose orders. We’ll need help to prepare for war, can we count on your support Nightmare Moon?”

“I’m sure that can be arranged, hello Luna, Nightmare.” It was Michael! He was leaning against the door frame wearing that weird clothing with a hood over his head. He started to walk towards us. “If only we knew where Chrysalis was we could end this here and now, but we don’t. Therefore I suggest we wait it out. I don’t see any other option available to us unless you two can suggest something.”

“Tia may not approve of this tactic, Michael. We have faced him before and it was not an easy fight. He enjoys playing mind games.” Luna was shaking as she said this as it was bringing back horrible memories for her and I know a lot about bad memories.

“I agree with Michael. Unless we know where Chrysalis and Discord are hiding, all we would be doing is wasting time and effort. It won’t be possible to find them in the Dream World as Chrysalis is in another dimension because of that mirror and Discord’s statue has him permanently aware of his environment so he is basically awake and I can only find sleeping subjects.” I said.

Michael meanwhile had gone over to the window and while looking out of it he spoke: “In the meantime I suggest we arm up and prepare for war. I do not intend to lose this place. Nightmare, when do the Star Guard plan to go to Canterlot?”

The Star Guard were already in Canterlot, wanting Celestia to change them back. They were being ridiculed by the others, being called traitors and many other unsavoury names. Foals, taking the coward’s way out. Michael turned into Starlancer with the same styled clothes as his human side had and the three of us flew to Canterlot so we could straighten things out and get them back.

(Michael’s POV)

We all landed in Canterlot Central Plaza and walked the rest of the way to the castle as Luna thought that both Nightmare’s presence and my own would cause a commotion if we flew into the castle directly. The guards all bowed their heads; I gathered it was for Luna not us. I heard a few unkind whispers as we were walking; I was starting to feel very uncomfortable. Nightmare saw this and bumped me with her flank again, but gave me a very stern look. On the other hoof though, she looked quite beautiful without her armour.

Luna led us to the audience chamber once we got into the castle. It was a good thing she was leading the way as I would not know where to go at all, but getting lost would not be too big an issue as my HUD would generate a map as I went along so I would know where I've been, it’s the reason I have never gotten lost in Nightmare Castle after the reconstruction. Once we entered I saw a smaller, light blue Alicorn talking to Celestia, I gathered on behalf of the rest of the Star Guard who had all gathered there. Lyra and Bon Bon were at the back talking to each other.

“Bon Bon, I don’t think I can do this. It feels wrong somehow, I know the looks and comments ponies have been making but I just don’t think it warrants us to do something this drastic.” Lyra said. She looked very worried and scared.

“Honestly Lyra, I’m unsure myself but my landlord refused to let me sleep in my own home yesterday when he heard the news. I was lucky, Twilight let me stay at her place.” Nightmare looked at me and just nodded, as if she knew this already.

“I know what you mean, this morning there were eggs all over my home’s walls and some horribly done graffiti. There was a message saying: ‘How can you live with yourself?’ and another saying: ‘Lyra Heartless’. Honestly what I don’t understand is why it happened this morning when the news hit the day before. Everypony knows where I live anyway.” We went up to them and I spoke.

“Sorry about all this you two. I never wanted all this to happen. I’m sorry.”

They jumped a bit in shock, and the rest of the Star Guard smiled at me, except for the one that was talking to Celestia. I wondered what was up with him.

“I see you convinced Starlancer to come Luna.” Celestia said but Luna just shook her head.

“Sorry Tia but it was not I who convinced Starlancer to return. When I got to the castle only Nightmare Moon was there. After she woke up Starlancer appeared by the door behind us, indicating he was not in the room that night. And I never saw him while searching the other rooms so I would guess he was never in the castle.”

“Princess you do not need to use my full name, just Nightmare will be fine. It is true, Starlancer was nowhere near the castle this morning but he was not there for two days. He got upset over the ponies’ reaction to my return and their comments towards him. I guess even somepony who has seen so much war and devastation is still vulnerable to the attacks on one’s physique. I found him in the Dream World and convinced him to return on the premise I would haunt his dreams if he refused. What I want to know though is why would Chrysalis steal the mirror I was in when I was unable to be a threat.”

“I was thinking about that Nightmare. I believe she planned to get trapped in that mirror, the question is why. Celestia do you know what time the statue was taken roughly?” I said.

“I was informed that the sighting was at 9 o’clock. Why, is this relevant?”

“I believe so, and I believe this is a far more elaborate plan than any of us can possibly realise. When I faced Chrysalis it was 10 o ‘clock. She must have already known she succeeded in stealing the statue. I do remember I did not see her while she was disguised as Blueblood at a point during the party so it stands to reason that time must have been when she was informed that the theft was successful since it takes over two hours to reach Canterlot by flight and standard teleport spells would not allow anypony to make that distance in one jump without killing themselves. I believe that somepony else is pulling the strings but the question is who.” Celestia nodded.

“I understand what you are saying. I have sent out a few patrols to find them and I told them to report immediately when they do.”

Lyra and the others were just standing there, looking at us. The Star Guard that was talking to Celestia cleared his throat.

“Your Majesty, before we were interrupted you were about to say something regarding how we can get changed back?”

“Ah yes I was wasn’t I? What I was going to say was that I am unable to remove the changes done to your body, only Starlancer can as he was the one who performed the ritual.” Celestia said. He then looked at me with disgust. Hell, what did I do to get such a horrible look? Other than abandon them when they were being ridiculed… Michael you idiot!

“I’ll do it if that is what you want. I don’t believe in forcing anypony to do something they don’t want to do or be. I'm sorry for abandoning you all, I didn’t mean for you all to get into so much trouble. I promise I will never run away like that again. But it’s too late I guess, so who wishes to go first?” All of a sudden the same pony starts to smile at me! Ok now, WTF!!??

“None of us actually wanted to change back. We got together yesterday with Nightmare and Lyra. We came up with a plan. Nightmare was to find and convince you to come back while we would make it look like we wanted to change back. If you truly didn’t care you would not have come. You needed to see that even if you don’t believe . (quickly pointing his hoof at Lyra) It was her idea.” Hmm, makes sense, Lyra is a lot smarter than ponies seem to think. Everypony was smiling at me.

“Thanks everypony, this means a lot to me.” We all laughed, I was happy that so many ponies cared about me as much as I would them. Celestia lead us to the armourer as Luna had to sleep (she is the Princess of the Night and only wakes up during the day when it is important).

The armourer forged everything from boots, chestplates all the way to weapons like swords, axes and other old school weapons. Turned out the armourer was actually a family of three unicorns. The father – Steel Bearing – was a pale yellow with shaggy light blue hair, the mother – Iron Heart – was grey and had her dull white mane tied back, the last one – Quick Fix – the youngest, most likely their daughter. She was maybe Twilight’s age and had a two tone hairstyle as well, a medium blue and light green stripes but her mane was not very long. You could not see their Cutie Marks as they wore brown coloured, full body, fire retardant clothing. Even their manes and tails were covered by a clear fireproof plastic. The only part not covered was their horns.

They were very nice and showed the guards some of their previous work to them so they could get an idea of what they wanted. Nightmare asked if they could make her old armour and they agreed. The guards argued over some of the designs as they all would wear the same armour. They managed to decide on the colour scheme: the main colour would be a dark silver with white outlines. As they tried to decide on the exact way the armour would look like, Celestia sat next to me.

“Is this not fun? They may not know it but they are learning to work together by deciding on what they all must wear. It is this that separates the leaders from the soldiers. On that subject, have you given any thought as to who your Captain of the Guard should be?” I nodded at her, there could only be one pony that fits the bill.

I called Lyra over to Tia and myself (What? I am basically her brother so I may as well use her nickname like Luna does). I asked her how everything was going.

“Well, we settled on the colour so it is a start, it’s just the design of the armour itself we need to figure out but the designs I like they don’t want.”

“Well then Lyra I suggest you pick it anyway. You won’t wear the same armour as them.” She just stared at me, confused. “The Captain of the Guard should be allowed to wear different armour to those she has under her wing, the reason I am telling you this is because I have chosen you to be my Captain of the Guard.” She squealed so loudly, everypony looked at her as if she had lost her mind. She ran off back to the others and told them the news. One of the ponies that was a part of the Solar Guard looked shocked, probably thought he’d get it as he had experience, Bon Bon hugged her and the two of them were jumping up and down with excitement.

As they were deciding on the armour I asked the family some questions about forging weapons and armour. It turned out to be the same process as my old universe, Celestia said that she would set up an entire private forge for me at Nightmare Castle and the family said they would be happy to teach me. Eventually the guards and Lyra decided on the armour’s design, and the family got started: Iron Heart was going to do Lyra’s armour, Steel Bearing had the rest of the guards armour to do, and Quick Fix was going to do Nightmare’s armour. Once the ladies finished their projects, they were going to help Steel Bearing. Afterwards Nightmare, Lyra, the rest of the Star Guard and me bid Celestia farewell and flew back to Nightmare Castle.

When we all arrived I noticed that there were some ponies both inside and outside. The ponies outside were trimming some hedges that got planted during the construction. The ponies inside were cleaning the place from top to bottom, an Earth pony wearing an apron came up to us and bowed.

“Welcome back, if you are hungry we have set up the banquet hall for everypony.” Wait, this place has a full staff? Since when did that happen? As we entered the banquet hall, Nightmare spoke.

“They all came yesterday; you probably did not see them earlier because they were still sleeping. This castle now has a full staff of cooks, gardeners, and maids. Oh and there is a librarian here as well, she apparently hails from the Crystal Empire and brought enough books to restock the entire library.” After the meal we all went to our individual rooms and hit the hay.

Part 5: The Nightmare's Nightmare

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MLP: Equestria Part 5 The Nightmare’s nightmare
Author: Draconis187

Shining Armor came back the next day to help train Lyra and me to give orders properly. As much as I knew about giving orders, the commands I knew were for a different time and universe but I noticed that the basic principle remained: never show weakness, reluctance and never let emotions cloud your judgement. He also taught all of us some nice combat moves; he and I sparred a bit with him usually winning until I got the hang of the moves he taught us.

We also learnt that despite the guards having some of my power they could not change themselves like I could in any way; the only tech they had was the HUD, but I did show them how to use it effectively: such as using its facial recognition software, the scanning software to assist in searches amongst other functions. They were quick to pick up how the HUD worked and they said that it would make several minor duties simpler to perform.

Rarity was a little upset that she did not make the armour for us herself but to make it up to her I had her make some formal wear for Nightmare despite her constant protesting but I saw her blush a little as she was shouting: “I will never wear such a thing!”. Speaking of which, everypony was warming up to Nightmare and getting used to seeing her wandering around Ponyville either on her own, with me or with one of the guards (particularly Bon Bon). She still had that quick temperament, but most ponies understand that she used to being feared.

The following week Celestia and Luna came to visit and their guards brought parts of the blacksmithing equipment with like Tia said she would. We set up the forge in one of the tall towers that had good ventilation as we did not want smoke to accumulate in the room and cause suffocation. I had two anvils: one that stood as tall as my stomach when I was human and a smaller one that was on a nearby table for smaller objects; a stack of metal bars, plates and a few various sized blocks for raw materials; a water trough to cool the metal with (I was not going to use ice magic as the rapid change in temperature would cause the metal to become brittle); a few hammers of various sizes; a few pairs of tongs and a few aprons hung up in a cupboard on the far side of the room.

I walked around the castle in my human form wearing the AC garb, looking for Nightmare; I thought we could go to Rarity’s to see how far her outfit was. Sadly I could not find her anywhere in the castle. I found Lyra in the main hall giving some orders to some other guards. She really was taking her role as Captain of the Guard seriously. I walked down the steps and called to Lyra, asking where Nightmare was.

“Oh, she went to Sugarcube Corner with Bon Bon. She wanted to show Nightmare how delicious Pinkie Pie’s sweets were. I think she may want to warn Nightmare that Pinkie does tend to put hot sauce in a lot of her food.” Thanking her I decided to head for Canterlot for the armour that the Armourers made. As I entered the castle I met Celestia walking through the main hall, reading a scroll; ‘must be one of Twilight’s messages’ I thought.

“Greetings Michael, how are you?” I bowed to her. “There is no need for such formality, and siblings don’t bow to each other.” I shook my head.

“Sadly that is who I am Celestia, and nothing will change that I’m afraid. It’s just me showing my respect. I just came to check up on the armour.” Celestia nodded and told me that I can find them at their forge working as always. She asked if I needed anypony to show the way but I assured her that I would be able to find it (Thanks to my HUD). I made my way through the castle, several guards bowed to me as I greeted them, some of the maids were giggling for some odd reason ‘gossips’ I thought. I got to the forge to find the Anvils hard at work: the Steel Bearing was busy hammering away at what appeared to be a rather large white chestpiece on his anvil; Iron Heart was making boots by wrapping the metal around a form of heat-proof cast of a hoof; and Quick Fix was just helping out by putting the metal in the water trough. Bearing saw me and stopped working, walked up to me and bowed. It still takes some getting used to, all this bowing, and royalty crap. But I smiled all the same.

“So then Majesty, how can I help you today? Here to check up on the armour?” I nodded my head. “Well we finished them yesterday and forgot to tell any of the Princesses that you could come get them, I apologise. Come on we’ll get them loaded up and sent to you now.” I assured him that I would take it. “You sure? It is quite a heavy load.” I told him that I was a lot stronger than I look and he just laughed. “Oh, to be young again. We placed them in crates and marked them for you.” I thanked the Anvils for their work and went to the storeroom outside the castle where the Anvils store their completed works. There were five boxes: one said ‘Star Guard: Helmets’ on the packaging; one said ‘’Star Guard: boots’; another said: ‘Star Guard: Body’ and was the heaviest; one said ‘Lyra Heartstrings’ and the last said ‘Nightmare Moon’. A guard (Solar; unicorn) fetched a packing plaque (those low wooden plaques that forklifts pick up, not sure what the actual term is if you know I’ll change it if you tell me) with some metal straps and a trolley for them and asked if I needed any help, I thanked him for the offer but declined. I used a levitation spell to pick up the boxes one by one and placed them on the packing plaque which was on top of the trolley. After placing them I strapped them to the plaques and then the plaques to the trolley.

As I tried to pull the trolley and almost ripped my arm off! I pulled and fell on my backside; I saw the guards snigger behind their armoured hooves and I laughed as well. I looked at the crates, then the trolley and then decided to break off the straps that held the plaque to the trolley. One of the guards asked what I was up to and I told him I was going to carry it. He fell onto his back roaring with laughter while the other was on her side cackling like a witch. I smirked at them and at once my HUD lit up with the message: ‘MG: REX… INITIALISE’ I started to change quite dramatically right in front of the guards. My left and right arm split in three; my arms were lengthening and had almost completely spilt all the way down but stopped between my elbow and shoulder area which was thickening as well. As this was happening my soft human skin was turning from tan to a metallic grey metal alloy.

My face and shoulders were becoming flat and my shoulders were also getting broader. My torso was getting thinner and my back and head split a little. My changing arms were still attached to my shoulders which had detached with my back. My neck had widened considerably; my head and neck had attached themselves into a single part. The bottom half of my legs moved under my knees and were able to slide almost all the way up the upper parts of my legs. My legs as a whole also became flat and swelled in size. My toes became two large spikes that now rested at an angle, pointing directly at the ground. The soles of my feet became flat and as wide as my legs were but they were not long, they looked like large squares. At my knees three short tubes protruded, pointing in three, slightly separate angles. The back portion of my body now looked like a large, flat box; my two arms were railguns with three magnetic rails (increases the velocity the projectile is fired at). On top of the back section of each railgun was a radome with sensors ranging from infrared, UV to nightvision and sonar stored inside. My legs were weird: the lower half of them had concealed stilts to allow me to effectively ‘sit’. I had two hydraulic ‘toes’ on each foot which helped if I were to walk on rough terrain. I stood 8 feet high when I ‘sat’ but I stood at 10 feet when I actually stood up and walked. On the side of my head were the letters: ‘MG: REX V3.1’. My HUD showed: ‘MG: REX… ONLINE’. Ah yeah, time to rock!

Well the guards were shocked, judging by the looks on their faces. I couldn’t smile so I just waved at them and turned to the plaque. I picked it up with the railguns’ magnets and walked out. My HUD showed the crates were 1 ton total weight which made sense as to why I couldn’t pull it (My human form is not THAT strong, each form has its limits you know). As I walked through the castle grounds I saw ponies run away from me and I didn’t blame them, if I saw this bipedal tank coming towards me you can bet I would be running for my life or wetting myself, whichever came first. I met Luna walking through the park outside the castle and called to her, as she turned around she seemed shocked at first but after I wiggled my railguns and flashed my lights she understood what or who it was. As I walked up to her, my HUD noticed Celestia on the castle steps, looking straight at us. Thanks to the twin radomes my senses are more highly tuned, I can detect movement and sounds from much greater distances.

“Hi, is that really you Michael?” I nodded my head at Luna. “Wow, what is it called?” I turned my head to the right and pointed at the designation along the left-hand side of my head. “MG: REX? Is this what my sister said she saw when you crashed here?” I nodded again.

“Yep, just call this form REX. I came to check up on the armour. Sadly I could not carry them with magic nor could I carry it as a human so I changed into this which is better suited at heavy duty jobs.” Luna smiled at me.

“I believe I can help, there is a freight train heading for Ponyville in an hour, I’ll get you on the manifest so you don’t have to walk all the way to Everfree.” As I thanked her she extended her wings and shot off in the direction of the station. Making sure I had a firm grip on the plaque I moved on to Canterlot Station. The station was filled with many ponies running or flying around; some were moving crates; some just seemed to be waiting around for something. But I was too tall for the ceiling so I had to go around to the tracks to find a pony who could help. I got some scared looks from some ponies, others were curious since they have not seen this ‘creature’ before. Scanning the crowd I found a familiar face: Luna. She saw the ponies’ expressions and addressed her subjects.

“Fear not citizens, this is no monster. This creature before you is one of Prince Michael’s other forms. You have no reason to be afraid, rather you should be happy that your Prince has come here.” She then turned to me smiling very happily.

“You really seem to be smiling more Luna. It’s nice because you do have a lovely smile; it shines like your mane.” Luna blushed a little.

“Thanks, it’s all thanks to you, you know? You are one of the few but best friends I've had who treat me as a regular pony and not a princess. Oh yes, I got the next freight train to Ponyville to let you on. It’s that one over there.” She pointed to a long train with several open bed cargo platforms as well as containers. One of the ponies next to it waved at me. “Maybe you can tell me more about REX the next time I visit you or you come here.” I told her it was a deal and made off to the train.

“Ye, Michael?” He said in a Scottish accent, I nodded, “Right lad just clamour on ta that platform there an we’ll get cha to Ponyville faster than ye can say ‘Celestia’s big posterior’.” I climbed onto the platform, placed the crates down by my feet and I opened my back stilts and sat down. The train started to go about a half hour later. I saw both Tia and Luna on the platform waving to me, some ponies were doing the same so I waved back with both my right and left railgun (this was due to a glitch in a control algorithm, but I fixed it after leaving the station). The train ride was quite pleasant, I saw some of the countryside and I could see Ponyville in the distance. The ride was around 45 minutes but I enjoyed the ride. As the train arrived at Ponyville Station I saw some of my Star Guard (including Lyra) as well as Twilight and the rest of my friends waiting on the platform. Twilight told me that Celestia sent a guard to Nightmare Castle to go to the station and help with the cargo and she sent a letter to Twilight via Spike (he belches them out, I laugh whenever I see it and he always laughs with me afterwards) to come as well. As I was about to pick up the crates the Lyra told me that they will do it and were not going to accept no for an answer, so I had no choice but to let them all take it back to the castle. Seeing as I no longer needed REX I changed back to my human form. The ponies nearby didn’t seem shocked at all but then again all of Ponyville attended that party so they all know who I am and what I am capable of.

“How about we head to Sugarcube Corner Twi?” She agreed and so we set off for the best sweet shop in Equestria. When we got there we saw Bon Bon and Nightmare who had her head in a bucket. At first I thought she was throwing up but it turned out to be filled with water. She must have found out Pinkie’s special sauce the hard way. She glared at me when she saw me smiling but she turned it into a smile as well. Pinkie was coming out to greet us as well, with Surprise in tow.

“Hi Nightmare, are you enjoying yourself?” She pulled her head out to give me a very seething mad look. I’m glad looks can't kill in this universe but Nightmare may just be the first.

“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I AM ENJOYING MYSELF?! I thought my insides were on fire! Nopony warned me that this… creature puts such potent hot sauce in her food!” Pinkie Pie turned her head to the side, confused.

“Those aren’t mine Nightmare, I only do that to my own food and when I pull a prank on somepony. And I did neither; I wasn’t even told you were here. Surprise said we had some custom- SURPRISE!! Did you do this?” We all looked at her and she keeled over laughing.

“Yes it was!! I couldn’t help myself; you were such a tempting target. I'm sorry, but it was sooo worth it! Ha-ha!” Now Nightmare was giving HER that look. She then just sighed and shook her head.

We all went to Nightmare Castle. Nightmare was complaining about Surprise’s ‘prank’, she was threatening to give her nightmares for a week should she do it again.

When we got over the bridge I noticed the Star Guard were wearing their new armour. The armour looked similar in design to their Night and Solar counterparts except the chestplate section covered up to their throats. In the centre of their chests there was a diamond moon and a sapphire halberd crossing each other with three small stars in emerald, ruby and topaz above them. Their helmets reached their noses like Nightmare’s armour but the sides only covered up to under their eyes. The boots covered up to the top of their legs. In short they were almost entirely encased in armour but each pony had a jewelled version of their Cutie Marks on top of their armour by their rumps; the main parts of the armour were a very light blue colour while the small details like the joints and the saddle were silver. As the doors opened we were greeted by Lyra, who was wearing almost the same armour but the colour scheme was reversed; her helmet had a shorter, metal horn in front of her real one; her boots covered up to her knees but the main body was the same, right down to a topaz lyre on both sides of her rump.

Lyra took Nightmare to her room to get her armour while Bon Bon went to her room to do the same. While we waited I asked the kitchen staff to prepare dinner since the night fell just before we got inside. The table in the banquet hall has space for two at its head due to the fact that the castle originally belonged to Luna and Celestia but Nightmare and myself sat there now. The acoustics in the hall allowed one to hear perfectly across it (I still believe it was done by magic). Nightmare soon returned, she looked just as she used to when she wore that armour, she was smirking, proud to have her armour again. Bon Bon was with her, wearing her armour as well (this was the normal Star Guard armour), she gave Lyra a smile and the two went outside to talk a bit. Twilight wanted to talk to Nightmare; Dash wanted to race me as Starlancer again; Rarity went off to admire her handiwork on the castle with Spike following close by; Applejack went off to help make some apple based foodstuffs; Fluttershy wanted to go outside and see the animals; Pinkie and Surprise followed Dash and I, wanting to watch.

(Nightmare’s POV)

Twilight and I went to the room my statue resided, I saw one of the castle maids dusting the statue but I told her I wanted privacy. The mare bowed and left quickly. I walked up to the window to see the night, it was as beautiful as it has ever been: dark, and yet there is a certain air of peace around it. Twilight walked up next to me, also looking outside. I have been so obsessed with bringing eternal night I had forgotten how my nights look and why the day exists: to bring balance to the world.

“Nightmare, I need to ask you something.” I looked at her, whatever it was it clearly made her uneasy. “I noticed that your attitude towards a lot of ponies is a little harsh and yet you instantly change whenever you see Michael. Don’t take this the wrong way but, why is that?”

“I am not sure myself; he stirs some form of emotion in me that I can not explain. I can be yelling at somepony one minute and yet when I see him I feel… happy which is very strange. I am feeling happy right now, looking at the night I wanted to make last forever. I still wanted to do that, but now I don’t think it would have made me happy in the end.” I continued to look through the window. What would have happened if he never came here? Would I still have been a vengeful spirit that wanted nothing more than to bring misery to Equestria? Enough of this foalish thinking, I can not live my life wondering what MAY have happened. What matters is the here and now.

“I believe you may have found the magic of friendship that we all share with each other.” Twilight said, smiling. I shook my head. I did not respond. Could it be that she is right?

There was a knock on the door, I called to whoever it was to open. It was Bon Bon, she came to tell us the table was set and Lyra went to call Michael, Dash, Surprise and Pinkie while some of the other guards went to find the rest. Bon Bon, Twilight and I went to the banquet hall and met Rarity and Spike along the way. I wondered if Rarity notices that look Spike gives her whenever she is not looking. The rest of the group arrived just after we did, Michael had turned into Starlancer but both Rainbow Dash and himself looked exhausted. When I asked who won, Starlancer raised his hoof slowly and smiled.

We all sat down at the table to eat. We had apple pies; cupcakes; sandwiches; soup; punch; some gems for Spike and a variety of other foods most of which had apple in it somewhere thanks to Applejack. We all ate, drank and had a good time, we talked about one another, Starlancer told us of one of his adventures: searching for the leaders for a smuggling ring, I doubt any of us understood what that was but he described it with so much passion, he recounted each battle he had, every lead he got, dealing with bounty hunters and ‘lackeys’, getting ever closer to them and eventually cornering them. Fluttershy looked like she was going to be sick, honestly why didn’t she cover her ears? Once we finished I offered them to stay in the castle, and they all agreed. Rainbow Dash wanted to stay in one of the towers; Twilight wanted to be close to the library; and the others decided to head to a random room.

Starlancer and I walked to our separate rooms together. I wanted it this way as I was not sure about this strange feeling I was having about him. He seemed lost in thought until I bumped him with my rump and I asked him what was bothering him.

“Nothing really, just thinking. Can you remember when we first met?” I nodded and told him of course. “I would never had believed something like this could ever happen to me. I have new friends; a new home and a new life. My old life seems like it was just a bad dream. I owe it to you, you know?” With that he went to his room as did I. While I took my armour off I considered what he said, but how could I be responsible for his new life? Was it not Celestia that brought him here? I shook my head, climbed into my bed and went to sleep.

(Michael’s POV)

I woke up on the floor of a strange castle, alone. I walked over to the nearby window to see outside so I could get my bearings, this castle was FLOATING!? I swear, I could see islands in the distance, all surrounded by a purple mist as if it were some kind of ocean. I turned my attention to the castle I was in, I put my HUD into map mode and started to explore. I started to notice some similarities between this castle and another, so I checked the only two castles I knew of: Nightmare Castle and Canterlot Castle. I found out that this castle resembled Nightmare Castle in structure but not in atmosphere, that was for damn certain. This castle was dark, cold and then there were the dead, torn bodies everywhere. Some looked like the staff, while others looked like members of the Star Guard; I saw Lyra’s body well, her torso at any rate, her head was 4 feet away still wearing her helmet, I almost threw up. The walls were covered in blood, tables broken, somepony’s head was attached to the wall by a sword which ran… right through its mouth. I found my way outside the castle to find that some of the grounds were intact but like inside the castle there were more dead ponies, some had either Solar Guard or Lunar Guard armour. I made my way through the rest of the grounds: there were craters; scorched earth; bloody feathers everywhere and some… bug wings. That could only be a changeling! I looked further and saw Celestia’s body: blood all over her; her horn was torn off almost from the base; her wings were missing several feathers; one of her legs were bent the wrong way; some of her bones were protruding from the skin and she what part of her body was not covered in blood was covered with cuts, bruises and scars.

This was a very grim scene, so much death. I've seen entire battlefields covered in the bodies of the fallen but you never get used to it. As I was going further into this wasteland of death I faintly heard somepony, but it was hard to make out. I found the direction the source was coming from and raced off, maybe they can shed some light onto this tragedy. As I was getting closer the voice sounded familiar, I swear it sounded like Nightmare but she sounded like she was crying which was not like her. I came to a hill with a broken trebuchet on top and walked over it. The first thing I saw as I went over the hill was more death, but this time I saw changelings as well, all bloody and mutilated. That sobbing grabbed my attention again and it was definitely Nightmare crying. I saw her on the floor, her armour either broken or missing a few pieces, she was bleeding from a wound in her left side, and whatever part of her armour that did remain was scratched and cracked. She on top of a body just crying uncontrollably.

“Nightmare? What happened here?” She did not look up, but she did respond.

“We were not prepared for Chrysalis’s army. Discord turned them into blood-thirsty monsters, they could not feel pain so not matter what we did they kept going on. Luna was… eaten, the changelings’ bloodlust made them try to consume on our flesh rather than love. I lost everypony, Twilight and her friends tried to get the Elements but Discord sealed them in stone ‘Poetic Justice’ he said, Celestia fought Chrysalis but lost, her body is back over the hill.” She pointed with a bloody hoof but still did not look up. “I lost Michael, Bon Bon, Lyra, everypony. I even miss Pinkie Pie and Surprise. All of my friends are gone and I was not able to stop it from happening.” Wait, did she say she lost me? I walked closer to her and recoiled when I saw the body she was laid over, it was me but as Starlancer! I placed my hand on the side Nightmare’s face, and got her to look up at me. She smiled so brightly I swear it would have put the sun to shame, her eyes sparkled like her mane, and she jumped at me, hugging me so tightly I thought I was going to pass out or have my ribs broken.

“Michael?! But you’re dead, no wait a minute. Of course!” She ran off, with me following closely. She was heading to the edge of this island, I tried to call her back but she would not listen. She came up to the edge and just stared, I caught up just after her. She just looked on and turned back to me and sighed. “Thank goodness. It is just a dream, or in this case, a terrible nightmare.”

“Hold on Nightmare, this is a dream?” she nodded. All of a sudden her armour repaired itself; her wounds healed and the battlefield vanished and was replaced by the grounds outside Nightmare Castle.

“Correct, we are in the Dream World and in my dream to be precise. Each pony’s dream is an island in the endless Dream Sea. I am capable of moving between them but I don’t usually dream, let alone have nightmares. It is strangely ironic. What is also strange is that you are here or to be more specific in another pony’s dream, it may be our close proximity in the real world or maybe it is something else.” I just shrugged my shoulders and sat next to her. Nightmare laid down and placed her head on my lap. “Just promise me this: don’t leave me… p-please. I don’t want to lose my friends.”

“Don’t worry Nightmare, I promise.” I gave her a hug and she just smiled at me while we spent time together in the Dream World. We talked of a few things like what I plan to do regarding Chrysalis and Discord. I ended up telling her that we could worry about it when we wake up. It was beautiful in its own way, creepy but beautiful.

I awoke the next day in my room with Nightmare smiling at me. She was already dressed in her armour and then went out my door so I could get dressed as well; I put on my AC garb. I began to think about the current threat to Equestria: Chrysalis and Discord, even though we have not heard anything from the borders I know that something is going to happen but the question is, when? Are they free or are they still prisoners?

I decided to get busy on the forge and make some weapons, while on my way there Lyra came and wanted to help out. I did not have a problem with it so the two of us headed up to the Forge Tower. Lyra was a quick learner when I explained the basics of blacksmithing to her. I wanted to make the hidden blade weapons from AC for both my human side and Starlancer while Lyra wanted to make her own sword and she told me that the other guards wanted weapons too. While I was hammering away at a thin piece of metal that was going to be one of the blades I told her that they just need to tell me which ones they would like and I would make them. Lyra smiled and said that a griffon named Gilda had volunteered to be our blacksmith and should arrive in the next few days.

After a few good hours I finished the hidden blades for both forms. Putting them together was simple if you knew the mechanics behind it. Sadly I accidentally wound up the spring mechanisms too tightly the first time around because when I tried to reveal the blade it shot out with so much force it actually shot straight out of wrist guard and impaled the wall behind me and missed Lyra by inches. For the second attempt Lyra decided to be outside the tower where she said she felt safer, but I couldn’t blame her though. Luckily this time the blade stopped at full extension instead of becoming a blade missile but it gave me an idea: to be able to change the force the blade comes out so if I needed to I could shoot them out. Lyra made a katana with large serrated ‘teeth’ along the one side and the blade was 1’ 11” long. She wanted the teeth to come out when the blade was out but to retract into the blade once it went into its sheathe. Since she had already made the blade, technology would not help me out so I decided to use magic instead. We used an old katana sheathe to see if the spell worked and the teeth retracted as the blade made contact with it and extended when it was not. We made a proper sheathe for it and Lyra flew out the window so she could show the others.

I took the two pairs of hidden blades down to the armoury. On my way down I met one of the guards who informed me that Nightmare and Bon Bon went to Ponyville again. I thanked him and carried on down to the lower levels of the castle. The armoury comprises of an entire floor of weapons, but they are sealed inside secret drawers which are either in the floor or the walls, so if anypony other that myself, Nightmare or one of the Star Guard were to come in they would see an empty room. I placed them both inside one of the drawers, picked up my halberd and then went off to Ponyville.

I found Derpy Hooves flying around and went up to her, asking if she had seen Nightmare or Bon Bon. She sadly did not know and was apparently using a potato sack as a mailbag? I shook my head, thanked her and made off to Twilight’s library. When I got there I found nopony home so I went to Sugarcube Corner. I landed near the door and saw Surprise humming a song while eating a cupcake. She waved at me smiling away as she usually does, I went up to her an-

“Hi, how are you? Looking for somepony, cause you look like you’re looking for somepony, so who is it? Huh, huh?” Sweet Celestia, sometimes I wish there was only one Pinkie Pie. I told her I was looking for Nightmare. “Oki doki loki, I saw her heading towards Rarity’s Boutique with Bon Bon, and she was smiling and laughing with her. I wasn’t sure who it was when I heard her voice because it didn’t seem like her. Hope you find her!” She flew off. Shrugging my shoulders I went off to the Boutique.

When I entered I was greeted by Bon Bon who was not wearing her armour. Looking inside I saw she had taken it off and placed it on a mannequin. I asked Lyra where Nightmare was and she said she was busy with Rarity upstairs. Bon Bon went up to the staircase and yelled, telling the ladies I was there. I heard Rarity say that she is not finished yet so I had to wait a little longer. I walked up to the bottom of the staircase and yelled to them that I would be going to see Rainbow Dash while I waited for them to finish up. Bon Bon said she’ll come and call me when they were ready; thanking her I went out the Boutique and went to the cloud Dash loves to nap on.

I found the white cumulus just outside Ponyville; I changed to Starlancer and flew up to greet her. She was laid on her stomach reading a book with the title: ‘Daring Do and the Ark of Friendship’ and Dash’s wings were at attention, but with an odd twitch. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me.

“Hey Starlancer, how are you?” I pointed at her book. “Oh this? It’s a book about a Pegasus Pony called Daring Do who has a lot of adventures all around the world. I first read one of these while in the hospital, it’s a looong story.” She and I chuckled, I pulled up a cloud next to her and she read aloud for me. This Daring Do reminded me of Rainbow Dash in so many ways: they were both adventurous; they were stubborn; they seemed to have the same manestyle, except Daring Do’s was a greyscale rainbow instead of a normal rainbow; Daring seemed to relish any challenge just like Dash. She had a compass rose for a Cutie Mark and her coat was golden yellow/mustard colour. She was searching for the ‘Ark of Friendship’ in the Griffon Empire, trying to stop her long time enemy: Ahuizotl (some weird, ugly blue creature with a hand on the tip of its tail) from destroying the Ark, which would cause total chaos throughout Equestria. As she read I could hear how much she enjoyed the book: every so often her reading would get faster and my HUD showed that her heart rate increased as well.

I heard somepony coming towards us so I looked over my cloud to see who it was. It was Bon Bon, she told me that Rarity was done. Dash put her book inside her cloud and came with us. We got back to Carousel Boutique and saw Rarity standing outside with Nightmare who was wearing the new dress that she protested she would never wear. The dress was a light teal; she wore white socks with aquamarine shoes; her mane and tail were untouched since it was comprised of gas; she had a silver tiara that had a ruby in its centre and an emerald on either side of it; the dress’ frills were a pale blue. She looked at us nervously.

“How do I look?” my jaw was near the floor. She looked amazing, Rarity had done it again.

“YOUR MAJESTIES!! COME QUICK!!” We looked to see were the voice was coming from and saw a brown Solar Guard Pegasus come flying down to us. He looked terrified. “The Northern perimeter has been breached! Changelings are overpowering the stationed troops and we need your help! One of the other guards has gone to Canterlot to warn the Princesses.”

Nightmare and I looked at each other. ”Nightmare, go get your armour. Bon Bon, go get Lyra, the rest of the Star Guard and my other weapons. We will all meet at the Northern perimeter. LET’S GO!!” We all went our separate ways. Nightmare went back inside; Bon Bon flew off to Nightmare Castle; Dash and Rarity went to tell Twilight and I went with the guard to the perimeter. Nightmare joined me soon after I left.

I could see smoke off in the distance, near the base of Mount Dragonshy. I could see a large number of changelings attacking the stationed guards, some were already dead. Nightmare fired a few lightning bolts to get the changelings’ attention. I fired a few flash freeze spells, trying to cause as much confusion amongst the changelings as possible.

The guard were not making it easy for the changelings I’ll give them that, it seemed to take three changelings to take down a single guard. Once I got close to a changeling I bucked it, hard. I felt its face fracture as my hooves made contact and I sent it flying into another changeling, knocking them clean out of the air. Once Nightmare and I landed, I assessed the situation: not good, for us. For each changeling we beat, another three appeared to take its place. There was no denying it: the changelings were out for blood. Too bad for them I know my way around a battlefield. Nightmare looked a bit worried.

“Nightmare! We just need to hold on until the reinforcements get here! Until then, keep them out of the sky and I’ll take them out on the ground.” She nodded and proceeded to fry off a number of changelings’ wings with a well placed thunderbolt. The changelings on the ground charged at me but I was ready for them. I bucked one into a group of them; jumped over one and bucked the one behind it and then kicked it with my front hooves. The Solar Guard were also continuing the fight alongside us: the Earth ponies were bucking and stabbing with their weapons; the Unicorns were casting spells at the changelings and some were using their magic to heal some of the other guards; the Pegasi guards were assisting Nightmare in the air. The expressions in the guards’ faces were something I knew could always change the course of a battle: hope.

”No need to worry, the cavalry has arrived! Out of the way chumps!” It was Rainbow Dash’s voice. I turned to see her and the Star guard all suited up; there was Twilight and the rest of our friends rushing to help as well; there were also some more Solar Guards and Lunar Guards. One of the Solar guards, upon seeing this yelled one hell of a battlecry and I yelled: “CHARGE!” Lyra threw my Starblade and my hidden blades to me; I turned back into my human side, caught them, put the armbands on and continued my assault. The reinforcements brought some more weapons for the guards who either lost them or just did not have any. The changelings kept up their assault, only this time they were the ones who were losing. I tore through a changeling’s body with the Starblade while throwing my Halberd into a group of them, creating a changeling kebab out of them. Nightmare electrocuted some more changelings to the point where they exploded and their blood rained on the battlefield. Lyra was shredding changelings with her katana, slicing and quite literally dicing them, she cut off the one’s head, stabbed another through its chest and then cutting the first one’s head vertically before it touched the ground. She was frighteningly efficient and brutal.

Twilight was firing spells off at them (Pinkie was carrying and using her like a minigun); Dash used her Sonic Rainboom to stun and then confuse them as she left a rainbow in her wake; Surprise was using the party cannon like a normal cannon, firing cannonballs at changelings on the ground; Rarity and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen since they aren’t fighters and Applejack was using a large hammer to beat some sense into the changelings.

The battlefield was being strewn with corpses from both sides but now the tide was starting to turn. I saw Applejack give a hammer uppercut to a changeling and by doing so severed its head from the rest of its body; I sliced vertically downwards, which cut one of them clean in half and fired one of the hidden blades out of the armband, killing another instantly. Nightmare fired more lightning from the skies again which obliterated a group of them into a bloody paste on the ground. I fought my way through the changelings to get my halberd back. We were slowly changing the tide of the battle in our favour.

The changelings were starting to retreat bit by bit. Some surrendered but we were unsure whether we should kill them or release them. Once all the changelings were dead, captured or had fled, I looked out onto the battlefield. The earth was covered in many large black scorch marks from Nightmare’s lightning; even some trees weren’t spared, they had either been uprooted to be used as clubs by some unicorns or were destroyed. We lost a number of ponies, many more were brutally injured; I had gotten a few scratches; Nightmare was had a few feathers missing; Twilight had a scar on her left eye which forced her to keep it closed; AJ had broken her hammer, was missing a large chunk of her mane and her hat was ruined. War, it never changes no matter who or what you are. This seemed like a preview to what is to come: Hell on Equestria. I went up to one of the ten captured changelings to interrogate it.

“Now you listen here: you WILL tell me where Chrysalis is or I will rip off your head with my hands.” It and its friends shook their heads. I sighed and then proceeded to grab the changeling by its head and in one movement I twisted its head until it ripped off its shoulders.

“Is there anypony else who wants to try my patience?” They all shook their heads. I picked another changeling and walked up to it. “Now then, where is Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis had left the continent and was on an island off the coast of Manehattan. After I told everypony, we decided to execute the changelings so Chrysalis would never know that we knew where she was. I went off to Canterlot to speak with my half-sisters.

There was much tighter security at the train station once I got to Canterlot, which made sense since we were now officially at war. I found Celestia and Luna wearing their usual attire, giving orders to their guards in the central plaza. One of the guards at the back nudged another one and then they all moved so I could pass through. I went up to Celestia and Luna who looked worried.

“A couple of hours ago, the post at Mount Dragonshy was attacked by changelings. We lost a good number of guards and it would have been a massacre if my friends and I were not there to help.” Celestia nodded her head.

“Twilight sent me a message shortly before you arrived, informing us of the situation. I also understand that you got Chrysalis’ location from a changeling, correct?” It was my turn to nod. “I have already sent a scouting party to find out if the information is correct. There is only one island off Manehattan’s coast: the Alcanteraz Prison facility. It has been abandoned for 50 years now and mainly serves as a tourist attraction. We are preparing for an attack as soon as the party confirms your suspicions. We have also requested for assistance from the Griffon Empire to assist in the attack.” Celestia said.

“Celestia, are there any records of the previous wars and threats Equestria faced stored in the Archives?” Luna nodded at me. “Then may I check the Archives please? We may need them.” Celestia and Luna nodded. Luna showed me to the Archives. On our way Luna turned to me and asked.

“Do you know what it is you are searching for?” I shook my head.

“In truth I'm not sure myself. What I do know is that as much as the guards are trained, they did not look like they have seen a battle of that scope. The coming battle where we attack Alcanteraz will be far larger so I'm looking for anything that can help give them an edge like blueprints for a weapon or something.” Luna then turned and went to another building.

“This building is known as the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. The entire building is dedicated to his spells and drawings. He sadly went mad in his old age and before long nopony would listen to his ramblings and he died alone. This building contains the culmination of his entire life’s work; you are welcome to search through it.” Luna said. I thanked her and walked inside.

There were shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls across the entire three floors! I started to search for anything that this Starswirl could have left behind in his madness. I found a number of spells but they did not have anything to do with combat in any form. I was about to give up until my HUD lit up and highlighted a large book I had not looked through yet. It had no title but was incredibly dusty; after I blew it off and nearly coughed myself to death I opened it.

There were designs for some contraptions that would make Leonardo Da Vinci jealous. After reading through, I could see that a few had military purposes so I took the book and left for Nightmare Castle.

Part 6: The Price of War

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MLP: Equestria Part 6 The Price of War
Author: Draconis187

Thanks to Starswirl the Bearded’s book, we know had blueprints for many forms of field and siege weaponry. There were designs for catapults, ballistae (it is the proper plural, I checked), trebuchets, rams that stood out the most. The griffon, Gilda was very good at copying documents; she copied the pages five times in 2 hours! We sent the copies to Celestia and Luna who had begun construction as soon as possible. This information was lost due to the fact that the last war was over 1000 years ago and therefore there was no need for weapons of war.

There were a few other breaches in the south, east and north over the next few weeks but these were minor skirmishes. I told everypony that they were testing our defences and were trying to wear us down. Thankfully the Griffon Empire had sent troops to assist us. When I sparred with one I could tell immediately that they were far more seasoned warriors than any pony. They had armour in a variety of colours: some were black, red, blue, and green, amongst others in a variety of shades. One of them told me that each division wears a certain colour to distinguish themselves from each other. Some of the names were Iron Claw (soldiers), Broken Wing (they were griffon medics), and Heatstroke (pyrotechnics) to name a few.

Of the five ponies that went to scout Alcanteraz Prison, only two came back and they were brutally injured. One of them died whilst in hospital and the other had to remain in hospital for a few weeks. He could not confirm if Alcanteraz was Chrysalis’ base of operations, they were attacked while going through Manehattan. The city had evacuated once we believed that Chrysalis was at Alcanteraz. Lucky for us I guess since that confirmed our target.

A week later…

Three days, three days until we reach the outskirts of Manehattan. The Star Guard, Nightmare and I were tasked with taking the train station so we could have a supply line. Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts, several griffons and Pegasi ponies were to provide air support. The earth ponies and remaining griffons made the bulk of the actual army. The unicorns dealt with our new siege weapons, but those were arriving by train so it all fell on us to take it. Celestia was commanding the ground forces while Luna was to help the artillery. Everypony has said their goodbyes to their loved ones, we all knew not many of use will make it back but this was a battle we had to fight. We were in our own special divisions like the griffons were: my group was designated as a Special Forces Unit since we were all Alicorns, one of the commanding griffons called us ‘Silent Strike’ so we adopted it as our callsign; Celestia’s group was called ‘Celestia’s Hammer’; Luna’s group was ‘Moonstrike’ while our air support was called ‘Dawn’s Wing’.

We were flying to Manehattan; the only weapons we carried were the ones we made thanks to Gilda’s help. We had longswords, crossbows, axes and hammers. I made some special blade launching weapons after the perimeter breach, we all wore two sets under our wings and we used magic to activate them. As a reloading measure I added a very thin but strong line at the back of each blade so they could be reeled in after firing. I also had all our armour coloured with a resin from Zecora that would make the armour turn black at night which was perfect for night raids.

Three days later…

We arrived on the outskirts of Manehattan under the cover of night. We asked Luna to not raise the moon as the additional darkness would help us blend in. The HUD had nightvision capability so we could easily see our target. Nightmare was a pony of the night and said she could see as if it were the middle of the day. Looking into the distance I could see some of Manehattan’s buildings were missing chunks out of them and there were a few small plumes of smoke. I wondered why did the feel the need to do that to the city?

There were five changelings on the platform while several more were patrolling the skies. Due to complaints about the noise, the train station had been moved to the outskirts of the city a few years ago so if we attacked, it would take some time before reinforcements arrived. The train carrying Moonstrike’s weapons was 10 minutes away, standing by for us to give a signal that the station is safe. Celestia’s Hammer was waiting, Dawn’s Wing was waiting. It all fell on Silent Strike to take the station without drawing to much attention.

The changelings had not noticed us as we approached, we split into two groups: Nightmare and I with some of the guards went left, over the tracks while Lyra and Bon Bon went right in a classic pincer manoeuvre. Once we were in position I waved my hoof at Lyra, she then nodded and we attacked.

(Nightmare’s POV)

Once Starlancer gave the signal I fired a few bolts of lightning at some of the flying changelings which sent them plummeting to the ground. Some bounced off the roof of the station while others just ate dirt. Starlancer threw a few daggers at the changelings on the station platform, a dagger stabbed one in its chest and continued through and came out of its back, taking what ever organs it hit with it. Lyra took out her katana and sliced a changeling’s head off, splattering its blood all over the place. Bon Bon fired some of those blades from under her wings at a changeling. They connected but when she reeled them in, the changeling came with it. The changeling was still breathing and once it got close to her she took out her hammer – its head was almost as large as her - and slammed it on its head, killing it instantly.

These ponies weren’t prepared for war but they knew what was at stake: if we lost here we would lose Ponyville, each other, Canterlot and eventually Equestria itself. They had to toughen up considerably, and thanks to the battle at the perimeter they did. We had to show them all that we would not show them any mercy, that if they want to kill us they would have to work for it. A few tried to flee but we killed them too.

We took the station without loss, but that was because they did not expect us. Starlancer fired what he called a ‘flare’ which looked like a firework but when it exploded the light lingered for a few minutes. We heard some chatter coming from inside the city, they knew we are here. Celestia arrived with her forces, while the train pulled up and offloaded its cargo, Rainbow Dash landed with her group and Twilight got off the train with the rest of her friends. They were all wearing the Elements and Twilight gave Rainbow hers. The plan was to get to Chrysalis and Discord and use the Elements on them. We all knew our jobs and split up.

(Michael’s POV)

Celestia’s Hammer was to keep the bulk of the changelings occupied. Moonstrike was to attack the changelings before they reached Celestia. Dawn’s Wing’s job was air superiority and close air support when needed. Silent Strike was to protect the Mane Six and infiltrate Alcanteraz amidst the confusion the battle would surely cause. The Mane Six would then use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Chrysalis and/or Discord depending on who we found.

As we entered the city we saw the changelings come into view, there were a huge number of them. Celestia’s Hammer steeled themselves and readied their weapons. Moonstrike started firing the trebuchets, ballistae and catapults. Dawn’s Wing went in to engage the airborne changelings. As Moonstrike’s weapons were making contact with either the ground or with a changeling they exploded. We put a hell of a lot of gunpowder inside hollow shells and hollowed out ballista bolt tips that would ignite upon impact.

Silent Strike and the Mane Six went into the nearest alleyway and made our way to the harbour. Luckily our black armour hid us while Twilight used a camouflage spell so the Mane Six blended in with us. I saw a few scenes from the street as we got close enough to see. Celestia was still holding while Spitfire from the Wonderbolts was being carried away, Dash tried to break for it so she could help but Applejack grabbed her by the tail and stopped her from giving away our position.

“This is war Dash, there are never any winners, only survivors who continue to fight on. Honestly, the dead are the lucky ones.” I told her. We made our way to the harbour with only a few close calls. A changeling found us by accident but I threw my halberd at it before it could call for backup. Another time Fluttershy almost gave us away when she saw a changeling unlike any of the others. It stood on two legs; had chitinous armour covering its body from head to toe; even its head was more flat but its eyes were the same. Its body looked like it got overdosed with steroids. What was weird was the fact that it had hands, and it was carrying a lamp post like a club. As we ventured further we saw more and more of them. Soon we got within sight of the harbour which had remained intact and still had a couple of boats and ships remaining.

As we looked on to the harbour I saw we were not going to get through unless Celestia has gotten through all the other ones behind us. I counted at least 40 of these Changeling Hulks as well as 23 normal Changelings. There was a way for them to get through, oh well time to have fun.

“Everyone, I’ll get their attention and you make it to the boats.” Nightmare grabbed my hoof; I could see she didn’t want me to go. “Sorry Nightmare but I will come back, I promise you.” With that I ran towards the group waving my arms and generally acting like Pinkie Pie and Surprise do.

Turning around I saw that I had also attracted the attention of the changelings at the rear of the forces attacking Celestia’s group. “You want a fight, I’LL GIVE YOU ONE!!!” I shouted and changed to REX. I fired off my railguns at the Hulks, splattering them into paste; I turned around and fired my back Anti-tank missiles at the changelings coming from behind me. A few got too close so I flattened them with the railguns’ magnetic rails. I even caught the iron in their blood after intensifying the magnetic field in the railguns and fired them like ammo. I saw Silent Strike and the Mane Six make it to the boats and then they left for Alcanteraz.

I turned my attention back to the changelings attacking me and kept up my onslaught, firing everything I had. As much as I don’t use up ammo, the reloading uses up my strength to the point where I can no longer move which was not bad since the would not be able to break my armour plating (nothing short of a HEAT round would damage the plating). My radomes detected that Celestia was slowly losing, so I kicked my engine into high gear and moved through the changelings, either kicking them with my feet or hitting them with my railguns.

(Nightmare’s POV)

As he ran off we waited until the changelings gave him their undivided attention. We then made a break for it to the nearest boat. Dash and Fluttershy pushed us while we had the motor on so we would go faster. As we left the harbour I turned back to see Michael had turned into a large metal monster, which ran off into the street towards Celestia’s group. We were now on our own.

“Now listen up everypony, we are on our own now but we must not lose faith. We will defeat Chrysalis and Discord but only if we work together. We have all seen the blueprints for the Alcanteraz so we will cut a path for you so you can use the Elements.” Everypony nodded. I looked back at the harbour again and saw Michael was gone.

We were soon attacked by changelings defending the path to Alcanteraz. I fired off some more lightning at them which scared them off. Twilight was prodding me with her hoof and pointed to the island the prison was on, or rather ABOVE. The prison and its surrounding grounds were floating in the air above the island that was still in the ocean. We made landfall on the island section and we carried the non-flying members of the Mane Six up to the steps which lead up to the main building.

We saw more of those creepy, muscle-bound monsters and charged at them. I stabbed one through its chest with my horn which seemed to kill it instantly. Lyra ran her blade through one’s chest as well. Bon Bon hit one so hard that it flew off the facility and plummeted to the ground below, they apparently can't fly. Soon more and more were coming out of the buildings and straight towards us, we were going to get slaughtered soon if we weren’t careful. All of a sudden Twilight raised her head and her horn glowed brightly. Then all the changelings vanished but Twilight collapsed from exhaustion.

“When I was teaching Michael how to teleport he asked if it was possible to teleport only those around them and not themselves as well. I guess he was ri-” She fainted so I put her on my back and we went into the largest building.

There were many corridors and stairways as we went through the building, searching for either Chrysalis or Discord. As we went deeper into the building we were seeing more and more strange green goo all over the walls and ceiling.

“Aw come to visit my little ponies? How nice of you.” Said a voice, I looked all over but I could not find the source. “Over here, my dear.” This time I saw it, him. This must be the ‘Discord’ I heard about. He had a serpent like body; a scaly red tail that had a white tail tuft at the end; his head resembled a pony’s; he had on long fang and mismatched pupils; his left claw was that of a lion and his right was an eagle’s; even his wings were mismatched: one looked like a Pegasus’s wing and the right looked like a bat’s; his left leg looked like a goat’s and his right was a lizard’s; a goat horn on the left hand side of his head and a deer antler on the right. He was as the stained glass window in Canterlot depicted him, the Draconequus, the God of Chaos and Disharmony, Discord.

“So you are Nightmare Moon huh? How delightful, and here I thought it was just going to be Twilight and her little friends.” He turned his attention to Twilight who still had yet to wake up. He teleported right next to me and poked her on her side. “Wakey wakey, why is she asleep?”

“She overexerted herself when she teleported those changelings off this floating island. The rest of us on the other hoof? We are going to beat you and Chrysalis.” I said. He teleported away and was hovering above us again. He was laughing hysterically.

“Please by all means do try but you need ALL the Elements in order for them to be any good and quite frankly you are one card shy of a deck. Now, how about we some fun?” He snapped his fingers and then all of a sudden we were in the grounds outside the building. “Now then, this game is called ‘Survival’ which ever pony lives after 30 minutes are up, I will take them to Chrysalis. The rest that don’t? Well you may need to call your next of kin, let’s begin!”

He snapped his fingers together and then we were surrounded by changelings along with a large grandfather clock, counting down 30 minutes. We all readied ourselves as they charged; I finally took out the weapon Michael made for me: two identical curved scimitars. I was uncomfortable using weapons but I had little choice this time. As they came I stabbed one through its chest and sliced another one’s head off and as I did so the blade continued until I cut it through its back, taking its wings with it. Lyra fired off a few spells and Bon Bon smashed a changeling’s head into the ground. Blood was flying everywhere but I was unable to move much since Twilight was still unconscious on my back.

Discord was hovering above all of, bringing more and more changelings for us to fight with a snap of his fingers, still laughing. We were starting to get exhausted, we needed some help otherwise we were not going to last the next 10 minutes we had left on Discord’s clock. Lyra got knocked unconscious and Bon Bon was standing over her, protecting her friend with every bit of strength she had left and some of the Star Guard were dead or badly injured. We needed help, and soon. We heard a whistling sound coming from above us and all of us looked up, including Discord and the changelings. The whistle was coming from some small metal oval shaped containers, falling towards us. They hit the changelings around us and exploded. After the dust cleared, we were safe for the moment as these containers had killed every changeling around us, their bones, blood and guts were all over the grounds. Lyra somewhat regained consciousness and pointed up to the sky with her hoof. As we all strained our eyes to see what Lyra was seeing, I noticed a strange object flying quite high above the prison… Michael!

(Michael’s POV)

After I fought and trampled my way through the changelings, I saw Celestia was nowhere to be found. I found one of the griffon commanders of a group called ‘Terror Wing’ and asked him where she was. He seemed a little shocked over a metal monster talking to him until I reintroduced myself.

“She got hit pretty badly about 10 minutes ago so Broken Wing took her to a field hospital we set up by the train station. Her sister is attending to her and since they both left the troops have started to lose hope.” So the situation was far worse than I feared.

I had to get Luna to get back to Moonstrike and help keep up their morale but first we still needed to clear the streets of changelings. My revision of the original REX comes with a small electromagnetic/photon cannon situated inside the cockpit codenamed ‘Eclipse’, its weakness is that it needs 3 minutes to charge and I only had enough energy to fire it once. I opened fire with my other weapons, the free electron laser cut through the changelings like a hot knife through butter but it had to recharge ever minute for a 2 second continuous beam. I used my knee mounted grenade and missile launchers for the Hulks and the back AT missiles at the flying ones. ’30 SECONDS UNTIL FULL CHARGE’ The cannon was nearly there, and I could already see that once I arrived their morale had picked up a bit.

‘ECLIPSE READY TO FIRE’ I opened up my cockpit which also split sideways down the centre and four magnetic rails extended from inside the cockpit. Electricity crackled and arced along the rails and the Eclipse fired in one large stream of red, blue and yellow energy; afterwards I reverted to my human side in my AC clothes and collapsed.

I was on one of the Dream Islands in the Dream World but it seemed slightly different from the rest, I felt that I knew the place. Then it hit me, it was the clearing I fought Icarus on several years ago when he ‘evaluated’ my abilities by trying to kill me. I heard a familiar roaring of plane engines and looked up, it was Hades the aircraft I was lost from my roster when I got to Equestria, but before I could do anything I woke up. When I woke up I saw the ceiling of a tent. Red Heart, a white pony from the Ponyville Hospital was looking over me.

“You’re awake, we were all worried.” She gestured to Luna, the Terror Wing commander and Celestia. Celestia had one of her wings in a sling; there were multiple cuts across her body; there were also some nasty ones by her neck and she seemed have a cut that ran from her left eye to her nose, forcing her to keep that eye closed. She noticed I was looking and she pulled her mane over it.

“Don’t worry about me Michael, how did it go on Alcanteraz?” they were all worried, they must have thought I was the only one to get back. I was about to answer when my HUD lit up with an S.O.S. signal from Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Haven’t been there yet, I separated from the group so they could get to the prison. No time though, they need help. I just got an S.O.S. signal from them.” I yelled as I tried to run out of the tent. Everypony tried to stop me from leaving saying I needed time to recover but I could not let them die. After I got out I could see it would take me a while to get to my friends and by then it would be too late. I checked my roster hoping it was there… it was! Hades just as I remembered it, the blueprints must have come together while I was unconscious so I activated the protocol.

My arms extended and split into two sets of wings; my body lengthened and five sets of tires came out of my chest, neck and thigh regions. My legs became wider and shorter; my clothes fused with my body as they usually do when I change (it’s why I never need a change of clothes every time I change into something); my body too heavy so I went onto my landing gear. My head elongated and split into a twin nose design; my eyes became the cockpit’s screen and my body finally became completed horizontal and rigid. My feet opened up into engine exhausts and my legs split into two so I had four engines in total. The good thing about Hades is the several multi-directional nozzles on the top, underside and front of my by body. The underside ones were larger and more powerful than the rest due to the fact I use this on planet for VTOL. I grew two smaller wings by the cockpit area; two of the larger wings were under the other set and had a forwards sweep design (like the Su-47 Berkut) and the upper wings were slightly swept back (Like the R-101 from Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere), the design was a strange combination but it gave a massive amount of manoeuvrability. Once the transformation was complete I fired up the VTOL engines and took off for Alcanteraz.

As I flew by, some changelings tried to get in my way so I fired off missiles and my four nose mounted guns. The changelings I missed I killed with the turrets on the top and bottom of my fuselage. I approached the Alcanteraz Prison facility to find it was floating in midair. I pulled up to an altitude of 35 000 feet which was far higher than the hovering facility. I saw down to the prison grounds and saw Nightmare, the rest of Silent Strike and the Mane Six fighting some changeling Hulks. I saw that Lyra had fallen as well as Twilight who Nightmare had laid on her back. I targeted the changelings and dropped some smart SFFS (Self – Forging Fragment Submunitions, think of them as mini bombs dropped from a box with many holes). They hit their targets and my friends were unharmed for the most part, I then went into a dive and aimed straight at the ground. Before I hit the ground I changed into Starlancer and created a small crater at the point of impact.

Getting up I saw the sun was rising and looked to Manehattan. Celestia, Luna and the rest of our army was on their way to Alcanteraz to lend support since I cut a massive path through the changeling forces. I ran up to Nightmare, concerned for her and my friends.

“We are fine now, thanks to your timely help. Twilight is just unc- oh she is awakening.” Twilight had started to stir.

“Hey! Don’t just ignore me! Hello, almighty god of Chaos here.” I turned around to see what could only be Discord and told him to shut the hell up. He was physically taken aback. “I call foul play, nopony is supposed to interfere in my games.”

“The time for games is over Discord.” Said Twilight who had gotten off Nightmare’s back but she was still seemed weak on her hooves. “Let’s do it girls.” The Mane Six powered up the Elements and were encased in a bright white light. A rainbow like the one at the wedding fired from them as Twilight opened her eyes which had turned completely white.

“NO, we were just starting to have fuuuu-” Said Discord as the rainbow circled him. After the light and the rainbow disappeared Discord was still there, unharmed. “Well then, it looks like it didn’t work but I have to go, so much chaos to spread, so little time to do it in. Ta!”

With that Discord vanished, and the facility started to lower down back onto the island it came from. The rest of the army made landfall and met us in the grounds. We left most of the army outside so Chrysalis would not be able to escape. We were about to set off but we stopped when Twilight collapsed.

“Don’t worry… I’ll be fine.” She was not fooling anypony. My HUD was showing her vital signs were getting low, dangerously.

“Sorry Twi, you will have to go back with the medics.” She tried to protest. “You are in no condition to carry on and if you did you could die. Just go back, for your friends. We will try to at least capture Chrysalis until you get your strength back.”

She nodded and Broken Wing put up a new field hospital in the facility’s grounds so she went there. We could only hope that she would pull through, her vitals were getting worse with each minute. Bon Bon took Lyra to the hospital as well. Celestia said that Bon Bon and her were going to look after them while we were gone. We all assembled and delved back into the facility.

We searched for ages, killing changelings one after another but we were coming up short with finding Chrysalis. We got down to the lowest levels of the facility and found that the changelings had built a tunnel system under the prison. We would have seen it easily from the sky but we were too preoccupied with the floating half of the facility. As we went through we could see more green goo all over the place and we were encountering more Hulks but they seemed to be getting stronger. We found multiple tunnel systems we were not getting lost but we were wasting time. I couldn’t use REX as the ceiling was too low and I would have caused a cave-in.

After searching for a few hours we found a huge central chamber and in its centre was Chrysalis but her body different from what I remembered. How she got out of the mirror was one question but her body was another matter entirely. Her old thin frame was gone, she was so fat I doubt she would have been able to move so much as a muscle; she was about 3 times her old size; she was much longer; she had 4 pairs of legs and she was laying blue-green eggs at a continuous, slow rate (about one every two seconds, I counted). Her face was the same but she looked as though she was in a lot of discomfort. Some of the smaller changelings were picking up her eggs and taking them into the many tunnels that led out of the chamber, I could see the old mirror inside the goo off in a corner. There were a few Hulks guarding her but we dispatched them easily enough. Chrysalis saw us and she started to cry.

“Please, you have to help me. Discord did something to my body. I can't move anymore, all I do is lay more eggs which hatch into those monstrosities you’ve fought. Please you have to stop me.” She looked desperate. Without warning her body expanded slightly and she laid about 50 eggs at once and when her body calmed down she was laying at a slightly faster rate. “You see? I can not control myself, I keep getting bigger and my changelings wont obey me otherwise I would have made them lead you here instead of fight you. Please end this, I don’t care how kill me if you have to but please make it stop!”

She was a terrible sight, but the Elements… I contacted Bon Bon via the HUD for a status update on Twilight. I got no response, maybe it was because we were too low underground. I looked at everypony and turned into REX, everypony was looking rather shocked at me, thinking I was going to kill Chrysalis. It was an idea but she could have information on Discord. I charged the Eclipse, entrenched myself and raised my head towards the ceiling above us. Once it charged, I fired the cannon. The energy made a hole large enough for any of us excepting Chrysalis to fly through. I almost instantly received a message from Bon Bon, I was very worried. Wasting no time I turned back into Starlancer and flew through the tunnel, Nightmare followed with me.

As we entered the tent we could see the situation got worse for Twilight. As my HUD brought up her vitals I could see she was beyond hope, in her attempt to use the Elements despite her condition, she seemed to have written her own death sentence. Celestia was over Twilight, her horn glowing brightly. She was trying as hard as possible to heal her student; I could see she was not succeeding. Celestia was crying, Luna was trying to heal Twilight as well.

“Twi! Come on you need to pull through.” Nightmare said. “You were right that day, I did find the magic of friendship. Please I don’t want to lose my friend, please hold on.” She stood over Twilight and her horn glowed as well.

Try as they might, my HUD was showing no change. Not even gods can hold off death forever. Twilight nudged Nightmare and I stepped into her view as well. She was smiling despite knowing she did not have much time left.

“We had some good times Nightmare, Michael. I am glad to have had friends like you. We are all lucky to have friends like you.” Twilight said softly. “Nightmare, you must carry on for me, for all of us.” With that she used her magic to pick up her tiara and placed it on Nightmare’s head.

Lyra had gotten up off her bed and came over to the bed with Bon Bon. “I’m sorry Princess; I won’t be able to send you any more messages about friendship.” Celestia shook her head softly.

“No Twilight, you have demonstrated a trait all good friends share: one’s willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other. I Promise Twilight you will never be forgotten, we will all make sure of it.” Celestia said slowly. As Twilight looked to each of us we nodded, assuring her we will never forget our friend. She smiled and closed her eyes. My HUD showed her vitals flat line, Twilight Sparkle was no more. We all cried, Nightmare and I held each other; Celestia cried into her sister’s mane and Lyra and Bon Bon were holding each other.

As we left the tent Twilight’s tiara started to shine. Nightmare threw it off her head and as it touched the ground, it shattered. Without the Element of Magic the others were useless. We flew back into the chamber, and gave everypony the bad news. The Mane Five cried and Chrysalis was shocked. As I looked at the mirror an alternative solution to killing Chrysalis presented itself. I took my halberd and broke through the goo and picked the mirror. I placed it over Chrysalis and concentrated. Chrysalis started to get sucked into the mirror, despite her now colossal size. I put the mirror on the ground and saw Chrysalis was back to her old self. I looked behind the mirror and saw a rather large slug make its way through one of the tunnels; there goes the theory that you need an Alicorn.

We all came out of the hole with the victory over the changelings. We boarded the train and headed back to Ponyville. How can we beat the Discord without our most powerful weapon? We lost many ponies, including most of the Wonderbolts. Only Spitfire and Soarin’ survived, barely. Spitfire was told she would never be able to fly again and Soarin’ had to have front left leg amputated because it caught an infection from a wound. Looking out the window with Nightmare I started to wonder: now what? Was Chrysalis a victim in all this? I looked at the container we put the remains of Twilight’s tiara in. Are the Elements truly lost to us? In war there are no victors, there only survivors.

Part 7: 5 Friends and a Funeral

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MLP: Equestria
Part 7: 5 Friends and a Funeral
Author: Draconis187

That train ride back to Ponyville was the longest one I've had to endure. Manehattan was freed, the changelings’ queen captured, but Discord escaped. The cost for our small victory? Of the 800 ponies and 350 griffons that went in, only 398 ponies and 238 griffons came out, and that was including the wounded. Discord fled to parts unknown, we lost Twilight and almost lost a lot more. Celestia was gravelly injured and Luna was also hurt.

I’ll admit I got some scars as well but nothing beyond minor, that was not the worst battle I've faced but it ranked pretty high up in the top five in terms of the effect it had on everypony. Once we got back to the train station in Ponyville, the whole town had turned up to celebrate our victory since all of us didn’t die. Funny, I doubt any of us other than the griffons felt like heroes. The griffons came out, beaks held high, marching in sync with each other to the roars and whistles of the crowd. Even their wounded carried themselves with pride. When we came out our heads were hung low, we were devastated both physically and emotionally. Nightmare wouldn’t smile; Pinkie’s mane and tail fell flat; Dash was dragging her wings on the floor; Fluttershy hadn’t stopped crying since we left Manehattan.

The ponies cheered until they saw our faces. Red Heart, some other nurses and griffon medics were bringing out our dead and those too wounded to walk. The crowd gasped at some of the wounded’s condition, and some parts of the crowd fainted upon seeing the dead. The mayor of Manehattan came forward thanking us for saving the city. I turned to him with a very cold expression.

“What good is saving a city that was empty in the first place?! Now it’s filled with nothing but the dead!” I snapped. He was very taken back. “I gather then you do not want that statue we were going to erect for you?” He said, still trying to keep a smile on his face.

“If you want to build a statue, build it for those who gave their lives, they are the real heroes.” I retorted. Nightmare and I kept walking towards Twilight’s library to break the news to Spike.

When we got in Spike was asleep in his bed upstairs. I walked up to wake him up. I nudged him with my nose, he brushed me away. “Just 5 more minutes Twilight.” He said sleepily, without looking to see who it was.

I nudged him again and this time he opened his eyes. He looked surprised to see me. He rubbed his eyes and got up out of bed. “Why’d you wake me up? I was having a great dream. Let me guess: Twilight wants me to reorganise her library again?” he said with a frown. Spike you are in for the worst day of your young life.

As we walked down the steps, we saw that Luna and Celestia were standing with Nightmare. Celestia’s arrival made sense since Twilight was her personal student. Luna was once Nightmare and Twilight was one of her first friends since coming back from banishment. Spike looked around, trying to see where Twilight had gone. He stopped when I put my hoof on his shoulder, he looked up.

“Spike there is… something we need to tell you. It’s, it’s about Twilight.” I said. Spike’s eyes were wide open, he was looking at our scars and marks. “She, she… she’s gone Spike.”

“Where did she go? When is she coming back?” Asked Spike, clearly not understanding what I was saying. Celestia walked forward and put her hoof on Spike’s shoulder and shook her head. “She’s not coming back?” His eyes started to well up with tears. He grabbed Celestia’s leg, holding on for dear life.

“No! She has got to come back, she always does!” Spike shouted, tears running down his face. “HOW?!WHY?!”

“She over-exerted herself beyond the point her body could handle. It gave up on her after using the Elements to try and defeat Discord. They did not work, so Discord is still free and this…” Pulling out the box we put the broken tiara in. “Is what’s left of the Element of Magic.” Said Celestia.

Spike grabbed the box from Celestia and looked into it. He was still crying, and there was nothing any of us could say to help him feel better. He lost his first friend, the one who raised him since he was an egg. His whole world had shattered and he was left with the pieces, it was up to him to pick them up or leave them.

The rest of the Mane Five had separated: Pinkie went back to her family’s rock farm; Dash was in her home, she wouldn’t leave; Fluttershy locked herself in her cottage, still crying; Rarity was so depressed she lost her love for fashion and Applejack stopped working, she spent the day in an empty field, slowly digging a hole with her hoof.

The news spread all over Equestria, but it was a two sided blade: Chrysalis was defeated but Twilight Sparkle had died in the process. The Crystal Empire came to offer their condolences, including her brother and sister in law; a travelling magician named Trixie came to offer her sympathy; everypony Twilight helped in her quest to understand the magic of friendship, had come. There were thousands of ponies, from all walks of life.

The funeral we planned for her was to last three days. The first day we would hold a remembrance service, showing everything Twilight had done in her life. The second day those closest to her would give a speech of their experiences with her and she was to be committed to the ground on the third day.

Walking around Ponyville had become sad, nopony smiled anymore. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had given up trying to find their Marks. The library was closed, and ponies were laying flowers at the base of the tree. Spike had not come out since we told him the news. The three day ceremony was starting in four days, enough time for everypony to get organised.

When Nightmare and I got back to our castle, our staff were pleased to see us both still alive. I faintly smiled back while Nightmare just nodded, seeing something was amiss, they made a large feast for us and the Star Guard. We ate but we didn’t speak much, other than me asking how Lyra was doing. Lyra was sleeping in her room, and her condition was improving. At least we weren’t going to lose another pony to this damned war.

After we all finished, the guards and staff went to bed. I teleported myself to the highest tower. This tower was an open roof observatory, with a telescope, star charts, everything you would need to track and see the stars. Twilight gave them to me when the castle was finally finished. I looked out into the darkening horizon, wondering why a world so filled with love can be filled with just as much hate? My sadness was turning to rage, Discord WILL pay for what he had put us through, Chrysalis as well.

We placed Chrysalis – who was still trapped in the mirror – in a dungeon, deep beneath the castle. I met Nightmare on my way down there. She could see I wanted answers, she probably did as well. The mirror was sealed in a clear case that only Nightmare, Luna, Celestia or myself could open. Chrysalis was smiling at us, how I wanted to smash that smile off her.

“My, my, I see someone is a bit angry. I can gather why. Twilight, without her the Elements are useless aren't they? Once I am free agi-” I was NOT in the mood.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!!” I shouted, Nightmare looked at me and Chrysalis was a bit stunned. She started to smile again. “Now, tell us where Discord has gone.” She began laughing at us. She chose the wrong time to push my buttons.

“My dear, Discord will be wherever he can cause the most mischief of course. Where exactly that is, I can not say since I am not in the best position to find out.” Chrysalis said. Even when trapped in a mirror she still thinks she holds all the cards? Time to end this.

I took the mirror out of the case and teleported all of us outside. We were standing in the middle of the training area. I placed the mirror down in the centre of the ground, I spoke to Chrysalis again. “You sure you do not know where he is?” She shook her head with a smile and laughed. “Fine. No info, no reason to keep you around.”

“You can't destroy this mirror, you said so yourself, remember?” She laughed. I smiled back at her. “Why are you smiling?” She asked, I could hear she was a little off-kilter.

“Simple, the mirror may be indestructible but… the spirit that resides within can easily be released into the Void. I put you in that mirror and I can take you out. Enjoy oblivion.” I said. This was true: the one who put a spirit in the mirror can release it back into the world. Sadly for the spirit, it goes straight to the afterlife, Void, whatever one’s interpretation is of the place you go when you die. Chrysalis looked very nervous.

“You wouldn’t dare. It’s not in your nature to be so ruthless.” She said, still standing her ground. I still smiled.

“Then you don’t know a thing about me!" I retorted. I concentrated on the mirror, it was glowing the same pale blue as my mane, the color my horn usually glows when performing magic. Chrysalis was looking around, scared and begging for me to stop, I didn’t. I continued until we saw her come out of the mirror, she was translucent but there. She looked around, frightened. As she was about to say something she started to dissipate, as if she was dirt being blown away by a giant fan. Nightmare and I looked at each other for a second and laughed.

Funeral Day One:

The remembrance ceremony was being set up by Luna and Twilight’s parents. We used a large open field for everypony to sit. Luna was going to project images through a series of crystals that Cadance and Shining Armor brought with them from the Crystal Empire. The Cakes and the Apple Family baked a lot of food for everyone to eat during the intermission and the ceremony itself.

I was in my human form, sitting next to Nightmare. Sitting next to us was: Celestia (the doctor said she should put her hooves up and rest as much as possible); Pinkie (her mane was still flat and her coat had dulled in colour); Rarity (her mane and tail were matted and tangled); Fluttershy (she stopped crying but hung her head low, she had not spoken to anyone since she got out of her cottage); Spike (he was holding on to the box with the Element’s remains in); Applejack (she was very thin, as if she was barely eating anymore); Dash (her coat was dirty and she smelt like she had not bathed in days); Shining Armor; Cadance. That made up the front row.

A remembrance works by using crystals to project the memories of the deceased. This is done by a unicorn (or Alicorn in this case) and the memories are projected from a series of other crystals to project a 3-D image of the memory. Those close to the deceased can also have their memories projected in tandem with the deceased which creates an external view of the memory (like watching a TV show).

We all had our memories of Twilight put into crystals. This was the biggest remembrance in Equestria’s history. There were fourteen crystals in total. Each one was the same colour as our coats with a faint glow that matched our manes. There were 8 larger, clear crystals that were to act as the projection crystals. Luna and Twilight’s parents stood on a raised, marble platform. Luna’s horn glowed and the all the smaller crystals rose into the air. There was a crystal that stood as tall as an Earth Pony and was an opaque turquoise colour.

The smaller crystals fused themselves onto the main one and then Luna fired off a beam at the multi-coloured crystal. The beam then bounced off it, splitting into 8 multi-coloured beams. The beams then hit the projection crystals and then the remembrance got started.

I saw an instance of Twilight playing in the park when she was still a filly. She was playing with Cadance, innocent and happy. There was another showed Twilight arguing with Shining Armor, he was going to the Royal Guard Boot Camp and would not be back for a few weeks. Twilight was sad, tears falling from her eyes while Shining was calmly trying to explain to her. There was another where she tried to turn the page of a book with her magic, which she eventually succeeded. There were many other memories, both happy and sad.

We soon got to when Twilight met Celestia, when she got enrolled into the Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Celestia saw Spike’s head poking out of the roof of one of the towers and went to investigate. Turned out it was due to a little filly, who had also turned her parents into plants. Celestia calmed Twilight down and took her as her protégé. Twilight’s parents said it was one of the happiest moments in her life.

The next part that was shown was Twilight coming to Ponyville for the first time to stop Nightmare. We saw how she met the rest of the Mane Six. Then came the part where Nightmare had imprisoned Celestia, which set Twilight on her journey to Nightmare Castle. The rest of the Six went with her and together they found it. Nightmare had hidden herself behind her wings when we saw the various traps and obstacles she put in their way.

Then we sped it up to where Twilight discovered that – despite the Elements being destroyed thanks to Nightmare – the spirits of the Elements lived within them. Then Twilight and the Mane Six used the Elements on Nightmare and freed Luna. We stopped after that for a brief intermission, so we could grab some food and drink. I got Nightmare and myself some muffins and milkshakes from the stand that the Cakes put up. Mrs. Cake took me to one side and gave me a cake to give to Pinkie Pie.

The cake was a double-layer strawberry sponge cake with hot sauce instead of jam in the middle. There were the words: ‘Pinkamena Diane Pie’, I gathered that was her full name. Pinkie was still sat in the front row of the remembrance, her head was hung low. I put the cake down next to her with a smile, only for her to push it away.

“Pinkie, you have to eat something.” I said. “Eating cake is almost a hobby for you.” She looked at me with a huge frown, tears welling up in her eyes. She instantly grabbed me, crying and holding me so tightly I thought I was about to pass out.

"I MISS HER SO MUCH!!” She shouted between her sobs. “It’s just not fair!” I managed to get out of her hold and raised her head so she could see into my eyes.

“Pinkie, we all knew that many of us might not make it back. In truth I thought I was going to die in Manehattan a few times. Twilight fought for her friends, for her friendship with all of us. Do you think she would be happy to see you like this? Would she smile and say: ‘that’s Pinkie Pie, my friend and the most cheerful pony you will ever meet?” She shook her head. “If you won't smile for yourself, do it for Twilight. Honour her by smiling again, we will get Discord.”

She smiled meekly at me. “That’s better, not quite a Pinkie smile but it’s a start. Have some cake, the Cakes made it with hot sauce in the middle instead of jam.” As I turned to leave, I heard Pinkie say softly: “Thanks.”

I needed to get the rest of the gang to get their heads back into the game. When folks have lost hope in something, they must find a new reason to hope again otherwise all is lost.

The intermission ended as I sat down next to Nightmare again. I saw Pinkie’s coat was a bit brighter when I looked towards her again. She saw me and gave me another meek smile as she took a bite out of the cake. Baby steps Pinkie, baby steps.

Luna started the ceremony again, picking up after Nightmare was defeated. We saw how Twilight eventually gave up trying to explain Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense. The incident with the parasprites; Nightmare Night where Luna got help from Twilight and her friends and felt loved for the first time in 1000 years; how her friends ‘ruined’ the Grand Galloping Gala; the fight against Discord where he got the Mane Six to turn on each other, but he was beaten by Twilight who found a reason to fight after she had lost hope. There were many other memories, but the one with Discord interested me a little. I shook my head and had another muffin, Luna eventually got to when I arrived in Ponyville. Twilight was the first pony I met here in Equestria. The projections showed me getting ‘exiled’; my appearance as Nightmare Moon at the wedding; me scaring her by jumping off Sugarcube Corner’s roof; my secret magic lessons with her and Rarity. We got up to the day of the battle but it stopped there since it was too painful to continue.

The sun had almost set once the remembrance finished, Nightmare pulled me to the side, looking a little worried. “Michael, I’ve looked at the rest of Twilight’s friends. They all seem to be very depressed. I feel we need to help them somehow.” I nodded.

“I know what you mean. I've spoken to Pinkie during the intermission. We need to talk to the others, they can not go on like this. They have lost all hope, Twilight kept them together and now she’s gone. They need another pony like her to remind them that losing one friend is not the end of the world.” I said.

“How about you? You're strong, caring and you know them well enough don’t you?” She said. I shook my head. “Sorry Nightmare, I'm no Twilight. My friendship with them isn't quite the same. I do have another play I can make though. One that may get them to stay together long enough so we can beat Discord. I will need you to talk to them as well. We only have two more days after this, the clock is ticking.”

Nightmare nodded and we parted ways. I was going to talk to Dash, Rarity and Pinkie (again) while Nightmare was going to talk to Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike. We had until the end of the remembrance since they were all planning to leave Ponyville afterwards. Dash was applying for a transfer to Fillydelphia; Fluttershy was going to Trottingham to apply for a position as caretaker at one of their zoos; Applejack was going to Dodge Junction to work on the Cherry farm; Pinkie was going to go back to her family’s rock farm but hopefully my talk helped her reconsider a bit but I had to be sure; Rarity was going to go to the Crystal Empire and start a boutique there; Spike was going to go join up with some dragons that migrated to the north about a month back. We had to deep-six their plans. It’s what Twilight would want.

Everypony was dispersing, we told Lyra and the guards our plans, and so they headed home without us. Nightmare was going to Fluttershy’s cottage first while I saw Pinkie was still here, slowly eating her cake. I saw that Surprise was there as well, her mane was flat as well but she was trying to cheer Pinkie up by the looks of it. Once she saw me, she flew off so we could talk alone.

“Pinkie, we need to talk.” I said as I walked up to the former party pony. “Do you still want to leave Ponyville?” she nodded her head slowly but then she shook it. “Not sure? Listen: leaving fixes nothing, your problems will just follow you and get worse the longer you run from them. We still need you Pinkie, we still need our friend.”

Pinkie looked at me and smiled more brightly than the first time. “Pinkamena. I'm going by my proper name again. You’re right though. All I'm doing is running away from my problems, but it won't make them go away.” She looked determined. “We will get Discord for this, for Twilight.”

“Pinkie, the best way to honour the dead is never revenge but to live on.” Pinkie looked at me, unsure of what to say. ”Pinkie, pl-“ she cut me off.

“Pinkamena, I don’t want use ‘Pinkie’ anymore. I’ll reconsider going back home. Just until we beat Discord, I’ll see after that if I’ll stay in Ponyville or not.” She said. I was a little rattled by the fact she didn’t want to be called Pinkie anymore. She seems to have fallen – emotionally and psychologically – further than I had thought. If the most cheerful pony I've ever met got this depressed, what about the others? Will Nightmare be able to convince them?

I called it a day and went back to Nightmare Castle for dinner and bed. The guards and I sat inside the Banquet Hall as we usually did. Lyra was eating with us, thankfully recovering from her injuries, thanks to Bon Bon’s care. I think her special talent should have been medicine like Nurse Red Heart. We had only been eating for 5 minutes when we saw Nightmare return, looking somewhat cheerful. Then again, under these circumstances you’d be forgiven if you weren’t bouncing off the walls with glee. She sat down next to me, levitated some food onto a plate and we talked about how everything went with Applejack.

(Nightmare’s POV)

After Michael and I split up after the end of the remembrance, I decided to speak with Applejack first. Fluttershy had locked herself back in her cottage so I was not going to be able to speak to her, unless I break down her door and since this WAS Fluttershy we’re talking about, I knew that tactic would make the situation worse. Applejack on the other hoof did not, but she would just lie around, which was unlike her since she was the hardest working pony you could ever meet.

I flew over to Sweet Apple Acres and found her brother: Big Macintosh. He wasn’t much of a talker but he did point me in the direction of the spot Applejack spent her days. Again I flew over to my new destination, and saw her laid on her back, looking up at the stars.

“Twilight, why’d ya have to go and do summin so stupid? I dunno what to do. Even heading ta Dodge seems mighty cowardly of me.” She spoke, having not noticed my presence behind her.

“Applejack, there is a matter I wish to speak to you about.” I said as I walked up to her. She got a little startled, but she relaxed when she realised it was me. “I have come to ask you to reconsider your plans to leave Ponyville.”

“Sorry, but ma mind is made up. I'm goin’.” She said adamantly. Celestia, give me strength… Applejack got up and proceeded to walk back home. I ran and cut her off, a little annoyed with her attitude.

“Now listen here! Everypony knows you will never let your friends down if you could help it! If you go to Dodge, you will be letting your other friends - who are still alive and well by the way - down! And most importantly: you will be letting yourself down! I doubt your family will be able to cope with you leaving as well!” I said, almost shouting. I have no clue as to how I'm going to cope trying to convince Fluttershy since she had become a recluse. AJ looked at me for a second and sighed.

“Fine, I’ll reconsider fer now. Happy?” I nodded. “Applejack, I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for you and the others. The worst thing to do now is lose hope.” She looked at me, giving me that look you see when someone is thinking. I teleported to Nightmare Castle and found Michael was busy eating in the Banquet Hall with the guards. I sat down next to him and got myself some food. We spent the rest of the evening talking about the results of our conversations. At least we had two out of the five Bearers of the Elements staying, even if it was temporary.

After we finished I asked Michael to meet me in my room. He nodded and said he would be there shortly. The guards went off to bed as well, some were still on duty, protecting the castle despite they would rather be in bed as well. As I stood in my room, I looked out of my window which overlooked a decent part of Equestria. You only saw empty fields and parts of Everfree but it was a tranquil sight regardless. I started to look about my room I had decorated a while ago, there were two tapestries hanging on the walls: one Bon Bon had requested and one Michael had done. The one Bon Bon had done was of me in my ceremonial armour, standing on a hill in the night with the moon hovering above my head. The other was Michael as Starlancer, Lyra, Bon Bon and myself standing together on the steps in the main hall. We were all smiling with our heads facing the viewer, most ponies said it made them nervous because of the shape our eyes.

I continued to look about my room, contemplating over the fact that I would never have thought that I would live in the castle I was defeated in. The statue of myself was moved into the main hall since I didn’t want ponies coming into my room to view it. I had a large, navy blue four poster bed up against the wall. The drapes were completely black with silver edges while duvet’s design had my Cutie Mark covering most of it; the rest of it was black. I had one of Rarity’s mannequins wearing the dress she made for me some time ago by the cupboard I keep both my ceremonial armour and my battle armour. The swords that were made for me were hanging on a plaque, on the wall between the tapestries. I returned my gaze outside, wondering how long Discord planned to wait before making his play.

I heard the door creak open. Thinking it was Michael, I called out without looking to see who it was. I heard the sound of laughter but it wasn’t Michael’s laugh, it was Discord’s! I turned around and tried to get my blades but they were missing! The laughter continued until the god of Chaos and Disharmony revealed himself. He stood by the tapestries, looking at me with a sly grin and holding my blades in his claws.

“Hello my little pony, how are you?” he said with a small snicker. “Looking for these?” he asked as he waved the blades about.

He placed them on top of each other and… squashed them? It was as if he was playing with putty instead of one of the toughest metals in Equestria. He stopped and showed me his handiwork: he turned them into a single, red apple. He chuckled as he took a bite out of it.

“Why the long face? They were just hanging there and I was hungry. N-” he started to say but we were interrupted by Michael who had just walked in. “Can't we ever have a decent conversation without you interrupting every time?” he said, throwing his arms up dramatically.

Michael ran up to me and turned to Discord. “What is it you want now Discord?”

“Oh, not much other than the usual: spreading chaos wherever I go and having a good time in the process. But I am here on a social visit. We are going to play one last game. It is very simple: I give you a riddle and you must solve it before the deadline. The deadline will be three days from now, so you should have plenty of time to solve it. Your prize should you win is my unconditional surrender. Should you fail, a large part of Equestria will vanish off the face of the planet. I have only one rule: only you two may know what the riddle is, nopony else otherwise you forfeit and I win. So willing to play?” he said with a smile.

I turned to Michael who was thinking hard. This could be our only chance to stop him permanently. After a minute Michael spoke, “Do we have your word you will surrender without a fight? Even if we were to turn you back to stone?”

Discord glared at him, “As much as the thought of spending another millennia as a lawn ornament isn't on my list of fun things to do to pass the time, I’ll honour my word. You can ask Celestia if you want and she’ll tell you the same thing. So, do we have a deal?” He extended his lion claw towards Michael who shook it vigorously. Discord rubbed his claw, evidently sore. “Right, here is your riddle: This place is cold and desolate, but by its citizens it is protected, its heart you must seek, and you will find me at the peak. Got it? Now if you’ll excuse me, I'm off to cause some chaos in Saddle Arabia. They're a laugh riot!”

He vanished, his laughter echoeing through the room. Which left Michael and myself to think about his riddle. He turned to me and asked, “So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

I shook my head, “It isn't as important as this. Any ideas about his riddle?”

He looked at me with concern. “Not sure really. I’ll head off to the Library tomorrow. There may be something there that can shed some light on this. You head for the funeral and talk to the others. Tell them only what they need to know about this meeting.”

I nodded and he left for his room. This was a strange turn of events. What did Discord have to gain by giving us a riddle? Surely he would try to stop us from figuring it out? It started to get quite late so I went to bed. There was no use trying to figure out riddles when you're sleep deprived.

Part 8: Crystals and Disharmony

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MLP: Equestria
Crystals and Disharmony
Author: Draconis187

(Michael’s POV)

I got up at the usual time but I couldn’t bask in the early sunlight that Celestia brought since Nightmare and I had jobs to do. Lyra had fully recovered while Gilda re-forged Nightmare’s swords, since our beloved God of Chaos decided to eat them.

After breakfast I changed into Starlancer, donned my AC garb then went off to Golden Oaks to talk to Spike and research this place that was ‘protected by its citizens’ as Discord put it. When I got there I found the door was locked despite the library should be open this time of the morning. I knocked again with my hoof and still no response.

“Okay Spike, if you want to play it this way.” I turned around and bucked, hard. The door stood firm, mocking my attempts to force my way in.

I then took out my halberd and struck the door in its centre. I saw the faint flash of a magic field and that was when it dawned on me. Twilight must have put up a forcefield when she used to live here of course! That same field must still be active. You're an idiot Michael, I thought to myself.

I didn’t know any spells that could break magic barriers but I was not about to let that stop me. I concentrated and fired off a burst of raw magic. It rebounded off the forcefield and back at me, knocking me off my hooves. As I got up I heard the door unlock.

Thank Celestia! I thought.

The door opened to reveal the small, purple dragon. As he noticed it was me who tried to break in, he let me in. As I looked around I saw Spike was re-organising the entire library, again. I guess everypony has their way of getting their minds off grieving or maybe this was his way of honouring Twilight's memory.

“What do you want? Can't you see I’m busy?” Spike said with contempt in his voice.

“Sorry Spike but I need to go through some books. I… can't tell you why. Not yet anyway.” I responded as I began to search through the shelves and book piles.

“I guess there’s no convincing you otherwise? I guess not, egghead.” He mumbled as he began to walk out the door. I didn’t respond, my HUD was scanning every book as I lifted them with my magic. As I searched I came across several books that had multiple references to ‘magic’; ‘friendship’ and ‘Elements of Harmony’ amongst other forms of spells and history books. Something told me that there was a connection between them but I couldn’t put my hoof on it so I chose to ignore it. After a good hour Spike came back with some groceries. At least he still ate.

“Spike, may I take this box please?” I asked, pointing to the box that contained the broken Element of Magic.

“No, I’m never letting that go. It’s the only thing I have left to remind me of Twilight.” Spike said as he shed a few tears.

“Spike, I have the strangest feeling that I may just need the contents of that box. Please as a friend, let me take it for a short while. I will bring it back to you should my hunch be wrong, I promise.” Spike looked at me for a few seconds and nodded his head. “Thank you Spike.”

I placed the box in one of my many pockets as I kept searching through the shelves. I was beginning to wonder if all of my searching was in vain. Maybe Discord gave us that riddle to unsettle us, make us panic maybe so we would be vulnerable? I knew he was a manipulative bastard but I was sure he sounded serious when he gave that riddle. I knew I just had to ask Spike but I had to be sure not to blurt out the reason why.

“Spike, is there anywhere in Equestria that has a form of special protection?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What I mean is: is there anywhere in Equestria that is protected by its citizens but not by physical means? Somewhere cold?” Spike stroked his chin for a few seconds before a thought hit him.

“Try the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Heart that protects it gets its power from its citizens and it tends to snow there for most of the year. We were there when it reappeared after a 1000 year absence. Some unicorn called King Sombra cursed it which caused it to vanish when he was overthrown.” I smiled so wide it looked as if Pinkie slapped one of her fake smiles on my face. She does carry those, trust me I've seen them.

“Where exactly is the Crystal Empire?” I asked.

“You can take the train there. It is about three maybe four hours from Ponyville Station. Hey wait, where are you going?!” I wasn’t listening after that. Making sure I had the box, I headed for the Ponyville Train Station to get to the Crystal Empire and fast. I could’ve flown but knowing my luck I probably would get lost on the way.

(Nightmare’s POV)

After Starlancer left I went off to see Rarity. I was wearing the dress she had made for me a while back. I had hoped this would get some fire back into her. Carousel Boutique didn’t look too bad until Sweetie Belle opened the door for me. The Boutique was dirty in a lot of places with clothes an materials strewn about but judging from the broom and mop laying around, Sweetie Belle must have been trying to tidy up.

“Rarity! Nightmare’s here to see you!” Sweetie shouted as she stood by the stairs leading up to the second level. There was no response from above. “Just go up, she’s probably still laid on her bed in her room.”

I went up and found Rarity on the ground… in a pool of blood. I was shocked beyond words other than: “Sweetie Belle! We need to get to the Hospital now!”

I lifted her and put her on my back. I got Sweetie Belle and had her direct me as best she could. She was crying, hoping her big sister would be okay. I flew off towards Ponyville Hospital with so much worry I thought this would be last of the gifted fashionista.

I handed Rarity over to Nurse Redheart who immediately took her to the emergency ward. Sweetie had to stay in the waiting room since the doctors had to act immediately if they were going to save her life. I kept Sweetie company while she waited. I looked at the clock and saw it was time for the second day of proceedings for Twilight’s funeral to begin but neither Michael nor I were going to make it. I was busy looking after Sweetie Belle while Michael tried to solve Discord’s riddle.

I looked out through the window and saw the crowds make their way to the open field that the remembrance ceremony had been held the previous day. I shed a small tear, recounting the scene that greeted me when I looked at Twilight’s friends during the remembrance. I snapped out of it when I realised Sweetie was still crying next to me. I shifted myself next to her and put a hoof over her body.

“There, there Sweetie Belle. Rarity is going to be fine, I'm sure of it.” I said but I don’t think she believed me. I don’t think I even believed myself. She eased a bit so I guess she felt a bit better. I’m not very good with expressing one’s feelings.

(Michael’s POV)

The train ride was long and boring, but as I looked out into the distance I noticed the beautiful landscape passing by. The multitude of green and other bright colours soon gave out to the encompassing white colour of snow. Even it had a little charm to it but that died once I realised it was starting to get quite cold.

Thankfully the AC clothes offered some protection but I probably would’ve been better off if I wore something warmer like a full body coat. I got off the train and headed through the protective bubble that covered the entire Crystal Empire… which was just one city. I rubbed my head with my hoof in slight confusion, how can they call one city an Empire? The temperature difference was completely staggering, one moment I was shivering from the cold and now it felt like it was the same temperature back in Ponyville.

“Well I guess I’m on the right track here.” I mused as I trotted towards the Castle. “’You will find me at the peak.’ Maybe Discord is at the top of the Crystal Castle?”

I looked up at the towing structure and tried to fly upwards, towards the highest part of the Castle. As I got a few feet into the air, a forcefield knocked me back to the ground. After rubbing my sore rump it seemed like a better idea to go to the top through the interior of the Castle.

What is it with me and forcefields today? I wondered

Luckily the knowledge of me being a Prince had spread here. As much as I hate using a title such as Prince I had no alternative after they wouldn’t let me in for uttering my normal name. It was only after I mentioned my full name and title that the Crystal Pony Guards let me pass, they even apologised for inconveniencing me. Then again in hindsight they probably did that to try and kiss my flank so they wouldn’t get in trouble.

The Castle had a pretty straight forward and symmetrical design in terms of building design. There were many decorations but they were all crystallised but in a way it made sense: Crystal Empire, crystal décor.

I still wandered around aimlessly around the Castle, asking the Guards how to get to the top of the Castle. Sadly none of them knew. I eventually hit a dead end as I couldn’t find any steps leading higher than the throne room’s floor.

“There is a way.” Huh?

Where did that come from? Wait, that voice… Twilight?! I looked around feverishly, trying to find the source of the voice. I couldn’t find it. I must be losing my mind.

“No you're not silly, down here, in the box.” I pulled out the box and opened it. the purple gems that made the star insert were faintly glowing. “I haven’t got very long so I’ll make this short. Try to focus fear and hatred through your horn once you are in the throne room, aim for the top crystal on the throne. That will open the way for you.”

As the voice finished, the glow died out. “Thank you Twilight, you may have just saved Equestria. Again.” I said as I closed the box.

I went into the throne room and gazed upon the throne. I began to put what Twilight’s disembodied voice told me and tried to focus fear and hatred through my horn. It was not as hard as one thinks especially since I've experienced both while Twilight could never hate another pony, not entirely. I fired off a black beam of magic and it collided with the throne.

The crystal changed from a purple colour to a black-grey. A shadow came from the crystal, covering the floor in darkness as it travelled. It revealed a large spiral staircase that lead downwards, seemingly forever.

“Well, that’s interesting. Geronimo!” I shouted as I jumped down into the large gap in the centre of the staircase. As I got near the floor I spread my wings and landed with a light thud. A door was the only thing barring my way now and I made my way towards it.

I wonder how Nightmare is doing at the funeral? I thought as I hit the small crystal on the top of the door with a burst of magic. It opened and I went through… to find myself facing another spiral staircase, this time going upwards.

“Sweet Celestia! Was this Sombra a freaking stair hobbyist?!” I shouted in anger. After I calmed down, I sighed and began to fly up the staircase.

(Nightmare’s POV)

It had been a few hours since Rarity was admitted, Sweetie had stopped crying but she looked as if she was on the verge of bursting every time I looked at her. I turned my attention to the funeral proceedings and saw Celestia giving a speech. Even though the doctor specifically told her not to use magic, she adamantly ignored it as I could tell when she was the one who raised the sun. Nopony realises that the sun is slightly brighter when she raises it as opposed to when Luna does it.

I noticed it was around midday, judging by the sun’s current position. As I was lost in thought Nurse Redheart came and cleared her throat to get our attention.

“How is she Redheart?” I inquired. Redheart gave a light, nervous smile.

This is going to be a good news, bad news thing isn't it? I thought.

“She’s stable for now. She had lost quite a lot of blood when you found her, it was a miracle the doctors were able to save her. She is awake but please, do not stress her out as it may give her a cardiac arrest.”

“Heart attack.” I said to a confused Sweetie Belle.

We went into the I.C.U. ward and found the fashion designer laid on the hospital bed. I could see she had been crying.

“Rarity?” Sweetie said with concern.

“Hi Sweetie dear… and Nightmare, how nice to see you.” She replied.

“What were you thinking Rarity?” I spat out. I put my hoof to my mouth after I did so, embarrassed by the fact I let my emotions get the jump on me.

“Honestly I don’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted the pain to end, I just didn’t want to think anymore. So I…” Rarity began to say before Sweetie Belle hugged her. “I’m so sorry Sweetie Belle! I didn’t think about how you or how the others would feel! I was so selfish, can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course, that’s what sisters are for! Just promise me you will never do such a thing again.” Sweetie said as the two hugged each other. With Rarity too preoccupied to talk to me, I decided to head for the funeral and give my two bits on my relationship with Twilight.

“Wait, Nightmare.” I stopped as Rarity spoke. “I must thank you for saving me, whether you know it or not you’ve helped me see that one shouldn’t think of themselves in times of crises. We should think about the ones we love. Thank you.” I walked out of the ward without a word.

As I entered the waiting rooms on my way out I saw AJ, RD, Fluttershy and Pinkie all standing around, waiting. Once they saw me they rushed at me, barraging me with questions about Rarity’s current state.

“I’m fine darlings.” We all turned around to see Rarity walking!

“Rarity you should be in bed!” I shouted.

“Nonsense! I will not sit idly by while my friends are all worried about moi!”

Pinkie gave Rarity a large hug, her coat seemed to return back to its usual bright pink hue while her mane and tail had regained their former cotton candy style.

“Pinkie dear, I thought your mane was flat again. What happened?” I’m pretty sure we all were wondering about that but Rarity beat us to the punch.

(Michael’s POV)

“A swear if Sombra hadn’t been banished I would kill him!” I said as I finally reached the top of the stairs. As much as it wasn’t the distance that got me mad, it was the fact that the greatest threat this unicorn could have thought up was a near-endless staircase.

As I got out I found the area was deserted, save for myself and a view of the entire Crystal Empire. I walked over to the ledge and reverted to human so I could sit on the edge. The view was calming as it stretched on forever, I could see the train tracks go off into the horizon.

“Well now you sure took your sweet time.” That wasn’t my voice…

I turned around and saw the God of Chaos himself sitting on a recliner with sunglasses and one of those reflective panels you use for tanning. He had a small table with drinks on it next to him but that wasn’t what bothered me. What did bother me was who was laid on the other recliner next to him: Queen Chrysalis.

“Hold on, this doesn’t make any sense! You should be dead!” I shouted, pointing at the Queen of the Changelings. Discord rolled his eyes as he drank what looked like lemonade but he drank the glass itself and threw the lemonade away. The moment the lemonade hit the ground it exploded into a variety of flowers.

“Where is the fun in making sense my dear Michael?” Discord replied, vanishing from the recliner and appearing behind me. “But you got my riddle and so we are going to play another game.”

“What happened to your promise to surrender?”

“Geez don’t be a spoil sport now, I never said I would surrender once you solved it. I said the prize was my surrender after one last game. The riddle was just to get you here. Now are you ready? Let’s spread some chaos!!”

As he said this he snapped his fingers, and the three of us were standing next to the Crystal Heart.

“What are you playing at Discord?!” I shouted whilst unsheathing by halberd, ready for a fight.

“A little hasty aren't we? It is just a simple game of hide and seek.” He said, snapping his fingers once more, I looked around and saw I was still near… the now missing Crystal Heart!!

(Nightmare’s POV)

The seven of us left the Hospital and were on our way to Sugarcube Corner. The doctors let Rarity leave on the condition she doesn’t strain herself too much and never does something like that again. The latter was something we all could agree on.

As we all sat drinking milkshakes I noticed Spike running up to us. He seemed a little angry for some reason. It was a little unsettling since I hardly ever saw him angry, just grumpy.

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to reorganise that library?!” He shouted at me, “Five hours, at the least! Starlancer comes in and starts searching through the books, completely discarding them on the floor afterwards and after he asked me some question about unique protection spells that can protect a city, he run off!”

“Wait!” I said, spurting out my milkshake, covering Pinkie Pie in chocolate. Pinkie just laughed. “Which city?!”

“The Crystal Empire. I told him all he needed to do was take the train there and he left raced out without a word.” Spike said, folding his arms.

“I've got to go!” I cried and teleported myself to Ponyville Station. I felt a little woozy after doing that but I didn’t have time to waste. I found the next train heading to the Crystal Empire was leaving in thirty minutes so I got a ticket and waited by the platform.

“Nightmare!” I turned around and saw the others all running towards me. They were all wearing their Elements for some reason. “Where are you going?” Dash asked.

“The Crystal Empire, I'm going to see if Michael needs help.” Responded.

“Help with what darling?” Rarity asked.

“Let me just say it might end all of this and leave it at that.” Five minutes until the train was about to leave. I got onboard and searched around for a place to sit. I was soon joined by the others, I gathered they all got tickets as well. I sighed as the conductor called out for the passengers to get onboard and we set off for the Crystal Empire.

Part 9: Friendship is Eternal

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MLP: Equestria
Friendship is Eternal
Author: Draconis 187

(Michael’s POV)

“Discord, what have you done?!” I shouted as the God of Chaos and Disharmony laughed at the shocked expression on my face.

“Why isn't it obvious? We are going to play a game of hide and seek like I said. I have hidden the Crystal Heart somewhere in the Crystal Empire, find it and you’ve won but should you lose…” Chrysalis smiled as Discord pointed up at the sky above the Empire. An army of Changelings, numbers too vast for me to take on alone and survive. “And the Changelings will have a new city to call home. This is what I meant by a part of Equestria will vanish.”

Ok, now this is very, very bad news for me. If I fail here, the Crystal Empire falls. So I guess there’s no pressure then? Discord rubbed his chin with the white tuft on the tip of his red tail as if it were a hand, lost in thought.

“Oh I almost forgot: you can not have any help from the ponies here, can not change your form in any way and oh, yes…” He chuckled. “You have four hours to search the entire Empire for the Heart. Ta-ta!”

He vanished, leaving me to figure out where to start first. Well since I am under the Crystal Castle, I may as well search it first. I ran up the steps of one of the entrances, searching frantically for anything that could resemble the Heart.

(Nightmare’s POV)

Ugh, this train ride is taking too damned long! How can any of us help Michael when we can’t get there fast enough to be of any use? Pinkie was trying to pass the time by playing: ‘I spy.’ I wasn’t in the mood and the group played without me. I still thought bringing an injured Rarity with us was a bad idea but I guess a change of scenery would be ok for her.

“Pinkie, what are you doing now?” I asked.

“Counting all the snowflakes silly!” the pink mare replied.

I looked out the window and watched as the scenery began to change from a lush green to the pure white of the snow that was covering the land as we passed by. The scene was comforting but it was beginning to make me uneasy.

“Calm before the storm.” I said softly to myself.

“What storm?” Pinkie asked. She had just appeared right next to me! “I don’t see any storm clouds.”

“Ah! Pinkie please for the love of Celestia, don’t do that!” I shouted.

“Oki doki loki!” She replied as she hopped off down the carriage to get food, which in her case was a large variety of sweets.

We all gave a small chuckle as I continued to gaze outwards, towards the spire that was the top of the Crystal Empire’s castle. I noticed there was a dark cloud above it, but it seemed to be moving. As the train edged its way towards the Crystal Empire I noticed that the ‘cloud’ was made up of something, something with bug wings.

“Uh, ladies. I think the Empire is in trouble.” I said with a slight tremble in my voice.

(Michael’s POV)

“So it wasn’t in the castle.” I muttered to myself. “I swear I am going to kill Discord.”

“Ha, now that’s a laugh!” Discord’s voice calls out from high above me.

If I could change into REX I could use the radomes to search for any form of energy that the Heart could be emitting or any disturbances in any spectrum but thanks to Discord’s rules, I couldn’t for fear of forfeiting and most likely fighting the horde of Changelings above me.

This wasn’t an option if I wanted the Crystal Empire to remain in pony hooves. The Changelings still just hovered above the city, waiting for me to fail I guess. Maybe they were waiting for my time to run out, in which case it was and – to my dismay – at an alarming rate.

I ran off to the Crystal Empire Library to continue my search there. As I searched through the Library I was hit with a sudden realisation, something I should have noticed much earlier: there was nopony around on my way here. Thinking back I couldn’t recall there being any guards in the castle either. This was odd and it was also making me uneasy since there were at least guards when I arrived here.

I searched the entire library in vain. The wall to wall bookshelves only served to waste time if anything. Then there was the fact that I had the rest of the city to search. I left the library and looked around the desolate streets. How did I miss the fact that there was no living soul here other than myself and the Changelings above me? I shook my head and picked a street, proceeding to go door to door in search for the Heart.

(Nightmare’s POV)

The girls and I arrived at the Crystal Empire’s train station and exited. As I looked around I saw that the platform was completely deserted, I couldn’t see anypony other than myself and the other mares that just got off. Even the train was empty, we were the only passengers. Could it be that they were at the funeral? Could it be that they were in hiding due to the ‘cloud’ of Changelings above the city? Too many questions and not enough answers.

“Come on.” I said to the others who followed as we set for the Crystal Empire. We had little time to waste.

(Michael’s POV)

I ventured into the deserted streets and observed something else that was disconcerting: the stalls were fully stocked. I had walked into one of the city’s many markets and the stalls were fully stocked but there were not consumers or merchants.

I walked up to one of the houses that lined the district, wondering if they were inside or if it were locked. I knocked on the door but there was no response. I knocked again, this time slightly harder and still got no response.

“Hello? Is anypony home?” I asked as I tried to slowly open the door.

Still silence was all I got as the door seemed to be unlocked. It creaked as I let myself in. I was slightly scared since this was a very creepy situation. I found the table the ponies were eating at was fully set with knives and forks. There was even food on it and it had been partially eaten! That made me even more worried, the place didn’t look like there had been any form of struggle. What happened here?

As I walked up a crystal staircase I began to wonder: did they just up and leave once they found out about the Changelings? Did Discord make them vanish in a flash? As I searched through the house I still saw nothing that indicated in the slightest that a struggle had occurred. I walked into a room but something caught my eye and brought a few tears as well.

I had walked into a small nursery, kind of like the one for Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake back at Sugarcube Corner. As I looked at the cot I saw that even the filly was gone but a plush toy was still there in the cot. The cot was still warm as well, whatever happened, it happened recently. Usually that would mean that was his/her favourite and wouldn’t dream of leaving it behind. This is only serving to make me feel worse by the second.

“Oh, Michael!” I hear from outside… it was Discord’s voice. His eyes then appeared on the plush toy and it jumped out of the cot. “You have two hours remaining, thought you may want to know.”

As soon as he finished saying that, the plush just slumped over. Picking it up I noticed it had returned to normal. Discord really knows how to be a pain in the rump. I continued to search the house for any clues as to the whereabouts of the Heart or the Crystal Ponies that were living here.

(Nightmare’s POV)

The six of us got off the train as fast as our hooves would allow. Now that we were just on the Crystal Empire’s outskirts we could confirm what it was that caught my eye earlier: a giant horde of Changelings encircling the skyline above the city.

As we entered the city we all noticed that the citizens were missing. It was as if they all upped and vanished without a second thought. I would have expected some overturned stalls, some indication of chaos and yet it was if they all spontaneously vanished off the face of Equestria. Walking through these eerie streets was unsettling and was making me nervous.

“What’s that?” I muttered as I spotted a figure in the distance… it looked like Michael! “Michael!”

I called out, trying to get his attention but to no avail. He seemed to be in quite a hurry, judging by the speed he was running. He isn’t as fast as a pony at full gallop but still, it was his usual preference to walk that worried me. He only runs in that fashion if there is something wrong, an aspect of his personality I learned a long time ago.

We ran off towards him as he entered another house. As we barrelled through the house I noticed it was completely empty. The house was fully and beautifully furnished and yet there were no tenants. This was unsettling, as bad as the nightmares I used to have during my exile. They were along the same lines: I would walk into Celestia’s room to find her gone. I would walk around the old castle and find no guard or staff anywhere. Ponyville didn’t exist at the time and neither did Canterlot for that matter since Nightmare Castle used to be the one Celestia and I ruled in, or at least before Luna gave in to me.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts: I had to find Michael and find out what is going on.

“Michael!” I shouted once more.

(Michael’s POV)

After yet another fruitless search, I ran into another building and hoped to Celestia that I would find something of importance or a clue. I just about burst through the door in my rashness but since it looked like the Crystal Ponies were nowhere to be found, I decided to forego subtly.

I hightailed up the stairs, looking for the Heart and hoping I could find it before the word ‘deadline’ meant something else. Again the house was devoid of occupants, this was a sad sight. To see nopony else and yet knowing that there should be ponies here only served to make it worse.

I looked through every cupboard and under every bed frantically. I couldn’t let Discord win like this, no I won't let Discord win like this. I had to think: where could a being that creates nothing but chaos hide the Crystal Heart? He wanted to win and made sure that no Crystal Ponies could help me but then why add that stipulation? Why say that nopony in the city is allowed to help me when there is nopony in the city other than Discord, Chrysalis, the huge army of Changelings and me?

I continued to search everywhere, hell I even looked inside the oven in the kitchen for Celestia’s sake! I sat down on one of the beds on the second floor of the house and tried to think. There had to be a way to figure out where Discord hid the Heart. I then heard something from below me but it sounded like somepony I knew… Nightmare?

I walked down the steps to see my friends. All six of them were looking around the bottom floor, presumably for me.

“Hi everypony, what are you all doing here?” I asked as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

Everypony was there: Rarity; Pinkie (her mane was back to normal which was a relief); Applejack; Rainbow Dash; Fluttershy and Nightmare Moon. It was nice to see somepony else here.

“We came to help of course dear.” Rarity replied. Do I see bandages around her forehooves? What was she doing?

“Michael, what happened here?” Nightmare asked.

“It’s Discord… he hid the Crystal Heart somewhere and I have probably around an hour left to find it. If I don’t then those Changelings above the city are going to take over the Crystal Empire.” I received several gasps in reply.

“Darn it! If only I had my things.” Nightmare said who was visibly angry at all this.

“Leave it to me and my party cannon!” Pinkie cried out as she stood next to her blue cannon with pink, floral patterned wheels that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“How did you do that? Actually, I don’t think I want to know.” I said, knowing Pinkie it would probably be some big story that makes absolutely no sense to nopony other than her.

She fired off her cannon and the cannon fired an enormous amount of confetti, covering everyone as well as our vision in the multi-coloured pieces of paper. As I opened my eyes again I saw Nightmare out of her dress and wearing her armour with her blades at her side. I scratched my head, trying to figure out how Pinkie can switch Nightmare’s outfit with one that was a number of miles away from where we were via a shower of confetti from a cannon. I just decided that it was best to give up thinking about it.

“Okay, well it’s not here, I checked.” I deadpanned as I walked towards the door.

“Okay we’ll split up and search the entire city.” Nightmare said as she followed behind me.

We all left the building and ran up to the centre of the city, underneath the Crystal Castle.

“Ok, I’ve been down that street as well as that one over there and I searched the castle earlier on.” I said as I indicated which streets I was talking about.

“Okay, Rar and I will go down that a way.” Said Applejack, pointing to one of the streets.

“Ok then Fluttershy and I will go down that way.” Dash said, also pointing to a street.

“That leaves Pinkie, Nightmare and I to take that one down there.” I surmised.

So that was essentially it, we all had a street to search down and less than an hour to go but I can't complain. Discord didn’t count on my friends helping me and that is what is going to save us.

Pinkie and I went together into a house while Nightmare went into another one on the opposite side of the street. It was the reason the others split into pairs. We were three only because we were the only ones left and there was only one more street I never went down. The house was empty yet again, the crystal chandelier and décor only served to sadden the situation.

“Time’s up Michael!” A voice from outside rang out. No he doesn’t mean… “You lose!”

“No. Nonononononononono.” I said feverishly. I had to have had a few more minutes left, I was sure of it.

I exited the house to see the embodiment of Chaos standing there in the middle of the street, smiling as if he just won the lottery. I felt my heart plummet as Chrysalis stood next to him, wearing a huge grin like the cat that got the mouse.

“Weeell, it looks like you lose my dear Michael. You actually had about twenty minutes left but once you involved your friends, you forfeited your remaining allotted time.” Discord said as he snapped his claw. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t notice six ponies enter a completely empty city?”

In the instant he snapped his claw the Changelings flew down, towards the deserted city. The others came barrelling through the streets, frantically trying to get back to us while we were making for the centre of the city. We all caught up by the Heart’s Pedestal, eyeing our surroundings as the Changelings were… hovering just beyond the archways?

“What are they waiting for?” I asked as Discord materialised out of the floor nearby with his usual grin.

“We are waiting for you to leave of course.” Chrysalis said as she stood just beyond the archway next to Discord.

“No, there is more to it than that… the barrier. They are just beyond the secondary barrier!” I shouted. “You never moved the Heart did you Discord?!”

“My aren't we perceptive? That’s correct my dear boy, I only concealed the Heart and then made it appear that the barrier vanished.” Discord chuckled. “But that no longer matters.” He snapped his claw and the Heart appeared in his other claw. “You played the game and lost.”

As he was holding the Heart, the secondary barrier lost its power. The Changelings charged through the city in droves, the buzzing was deafening. I pulled out my halberd and charged out, swinging at a few but unable to land a hit, they were moving too fast for my human reflexes. Around me I saw the citizens had reappeared if only to be taken by the Changelings. Around me ponies were being abducted left, right and centre. I looked on in horror at the scene before me as some Changeling Hulks came crashing down on some of the ponies, crushing their heads into powder and causing their blood to fly over the floor.

I changed into REX and charged at some of the Hulks. Using the hydraulics in my ‘toes’ (the spikes I use for traversing rough terrain) to impale and crush one while I unloaded my twin machineguns at the others. Blood and bullets flew threw the streets but in the end I wasn’t doing enough. All around me there were ponies being killed or taken. Nightmare tried to help out in another area with the others, I could see the odd flash of lightning from behind some of the buildings as well as the odd glimpse of either their coats or Cutie Marks.

I opened up my missile bay on my back and fired a salvo. It hit a number of Changelings that had decided to attack me but as the missiles got close… they exploded in a burst of different flowers. I turned around to see Discord sighing at me.

“And here I thought you were going to play fair. You lost and I thought such an upstanding Alicorn/Human/Monster whatever you are to honour your end of the deal. That is how the game is played.”

“Michael!” It was Nightmare and the girls. They ran up to me, looking absolutely drained. They aren't truly fighters despite the events that have occurred these past few weeks. “We don’t seem to be doing any form of damage! They just keep coming!”

I tried to weigh up my options: 1. I could honour my agreement with the Scion of Chaos and leave. 2. We could keep fighting and probably end up dead. 3. I could try to get my friends to leave and fight on by myself.

Now the problems with these options: 1. I couldn’t live with myself if I just gave up, it wasn’t me. 2. Our deaths would be pointless since we would hardly make a dent in their numbers without any backup. 3. I would also wind up dead and Nightmare wouldn’t leave me to fight on my own.

There was another option but I wonder… “Activate command Zeta, 345-6Beta. Authorisation: Hellfire 32.” I said aloud.

“Michael, what are you talking about?” Nightmare asked. The others looked confused while Discord and Chrysalis looked curious.

‘ERROR 324.’ My HUD replied.

“So it’s just a simple port error… reroute command through firewall 456 then through 175.” I replied to my HUD while I only confused my friends more.

‘CODE ACCEPTED. WARNING!! ACTIVATION OF OMEGA PROTOCOL IS NOT RECOMMENDED. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?’ The HUD replied with red lettering instead of the usual green. It seemed to work, my last ace up my sleeve was actually still working.

Now then, every participant of the Hellfire Project was ‘fitted’ with a form of ‘kill switch’ should we ever become too great a danger to my old universe. Icarus was one of the only scientists on the project who knew of the activation codes. Each code for each subject was unique but could never be changed by the subject as it was set to activate on the slightest hint of tampering. After the Bleach Protocol was issued Icarus found me in a bar on a station in the Andromeda system. He told me of the Bleach Protocol being given the go ahead. As he was my closest friend, he changed the code for me and informed me of two things: 1. Only I could activate it because he added voice recognition as a prerequisite. 2. It had the capability to cause an explosion similar to a supernova but it was possible to modify how the explosion reacted, what direction it went when set off.

“Sorry Discord, but this game just went into overtime!” I declared as I turned my attention to the Draconequus and the Changeling Queen. They looked to each other for a second before they burst out laughing at my words.

“Guys, this is going to have to be it.” I said to my friends as I changed into Starlancer. They were – by now – truly confused. I walked up them and hugged each one in turn. “Pinkie, don’t you ever stop smiling. Pinkie Promise me that you will never let your mane go flat like that ever again, ok? Applejack, your family and the farm as well as your friends still need their honest, dependable friend. Don’t let me down by letting them down. Rarity, you have to see the same beauty in life that you see in your work. Make the world shine and sparkle. Dash, since when have you ever given up on life? You still have that fire in you, find it and let it burn. Fluttershy, don’t be sad. I don’t want to be sent to Tartarus if I make you cry and I'm sure you don’t want to see me there either.” I turned to Nightmare with a tear in my eye.

“Don’t even try to use some sad story about your past and mine being similar in order to make me let you go do something stupid. They are not similar and will never be.” She knew what I was about to try and do, sort of since she doesn’t know of the kill switch. I gave a very soft chuckle that ended up as a small choking cry.

“I-I would never dream of it Nightmare.” I replied as I hugged her tightly. “You were the best friend I could have ever asked for and now everypony knows it. Keep trying to prove others who still doubt your change of heart wrong. Show them there isn't a reason for them to fear the true Princess of the Night!”

“Wait Michael!” She shouted as I charged off.

I opened my wings and flew upwards towards the very centre of the swarm. As I got as high as the Crystal Castle’s balcony, I changed into Hades and fired up the afterburners. As I journeyed upwards, I fired everything I had at them: the four guns, every air-to-air missile I had. I needed to get to the very centre of their formation and bunch them up. I turned and used the turrets on the top and bottom of my fuselage to keep them from straying too far. I flew around them, edging closer to them whilst keeping up my assault. They began to act in the way I wanted them to after a few passes, soon they became too afraid to leave the ball they had made.

“What do you think you are doing?!” Chrysalis shouted angrily in my general direction. I chose to ignore her as I sped upwards, above the ball of Changelings. If I could sigh in this form, I would have. As I reached a high enough altitude, I shut off my engines and fell towards the Changelings.

“Ready the Omega Protocol. Route command Zeta, 345-6Beta through firewall 456 and then through firewall 176. Authorisation: Hellfire 32. Ready disc dispersion burst mode.” I said to my HUD which switched from green to yellow.

‘READYING OMEGA PROTOCOL. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?’ was the message I was given by my HUD. I steeled myself at the horde of Changelings and the one word that was to be my reply.

“Yes.” I said as I entered the formation of clumped up Changelings.

‘INITIATING OMEGA RPOTOCOL 0-3-4-5-6-3. ’

I began to feel energy begin to concentrate itself within my body. It built up further as the Changelings tried to stop me. One tried to bite my wing and broke its fangs in doing so but I had not one single scratch on the area it attacked. I wasn’t surprised, with fangs versus metal the victor had already been decided before it even attempted. I felt the energy begin to reach critical mass. I got ready as this would be the end, one way or another.

‘READYING COUNTDOWN’

“No. Initiate now. Forgive me, my friends.” I replied as I detonated.

(Nightmare’s POV)

“Wait, Michael!” I shouted as he charged off. “Let go of me Pinkie!”

Pinkie was holding onto my tail for dear life, stopping me from following Michael as he flew up into the air. How was she that strong? He quickly changed into that thing he used back at Manehattan and ascended even faster towards the Changelings. I could only watch as he circled the Changelings, firing on them from some strange points on his body. He wasn’t killing a lot of them but it was keeping them from moving a certain extent.

“Hmm, what is he up to?” Discord pondered as he watched Chrysalis flew up towards him. “What game is he playing at?”

In an instant there was an enormous flash of light that forced us all to avert our eyes. The earth rumbled as if there was an earthquake of considerable strength occurring beneath our hooves. We all stumbled about before eventually falling down while Discord just took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on as well as levitating just high enough off the ground to not be affected by the trembling earthquake. As we looked up the Changelings, including Queen Chrysalis… were gone. It was as if they completely vanished off the face off Equestria, just like the Crystal Ponies but only this time it wasn’t through Discord’s doing.

“Michael? Michael!” I shouted to the empty sky. A small box fell from the sky, smashing on the ground as it collided. Inside were the remains of Twilight’s Element: Magic. “He-he’s gone, isn't he?” I said solemnly to Pinkie who only gave me a sad smile.

“Yes.” She replied, not losing that smile of hers.

“Pinkie, why are you still smiling?” I asked, this was a tad odd as I would have expected her coat to dull and her mane to flatten like when Twilight died.

“Michael made me Pinkie Promise and I will never break a Pinkie Promise.” She said with an air of passion I hadn’t heard from her since Twilight died.

I just looked back towards the clear, empty blue sky. There was no trace of Michael or Chrysalis at all. Ponies were coming out of their hiding places and cheering happily for us, thinking we got rid of them all. I looked up and saw Michael was also gone, it made my heart sink.

“Nightmare, are you crying?” Pinkie asked. “Come on and smile. Michael wouldn’t want to see you crying.”

I was about to reply but I was stopped by the sound of Discord’s laughter. “’Michael wouldn’t want to see you crying’ oh that’s rich. Haha!”

“You wouldn’t understand what friends would do for each other Discord! We are always there to support each other through the good times and even more so in the bad!” Pinkie shouted. “That is why you are doomed to fail!”

“Oh dear me! I'm going to fail! What ever shall I do? Oh please, you don’t have the Elements with you to even try to stop me. You don’t even have the element of Magic to complete it.”

“Pinkie, I think it would be funny if your elements were to appear.” I whispered to Pinkie. She just turned to me with an enormous Pinkie Pie grin.

“Way ahead of you!” She said as she pulled out the cart she uses to greet new ponies to Ponyville.

The cart sprung open, leaping a few inches off the ground in the process. The confetti cannons of her fired off and the Elements flew up into the air. Dash flew up and threw them down to her friends and putting her own on. I looked at the former Element of magic but I noticed something inside the box, a message in Michael’s handwriting.

To my friend Nightmare
This tiara is the Element of Magic but the name is flawed and incomplete. As I searched through Twilight’s library I found several books that covered magic but also friendship as well. They noted that both were of equal importance. I believe you might realise where this is going: the sixth element is the Element of Magic, the magic of friendship. That is why Twilight was able to revive them that night; she discovered the power from her friends around her. Now it is time for you to do the same.
Good luck
Michael
P.S. I’m sure you're wondering how I wrote this, simple: I printed it out with Hades and placed inside the box before I detonated.

At the bottom was a small picture of his Starlancer form squeeing. I realised it made sense, Twilight was only able to defeat me by discovering the power of friendship, the bond she shared with the other five. Something I seemed to still be neglecting. Discord appeared behind me and snatched the note.

“How sappy! I'm sure even you wouldn’t believe such drivel!” He said mockingly as he burnt the note.

I turned to the mares behind me with a smile. “You all consider me a friend despite our history when we first encountered each other. I was still sceptical, thinking it was a ploy by Celestia to keep me under surveillance. I realise now that, I was wrong for ever thinking that. You are my friends, the ponies I would charge into Tartarus for without a second thought.”

In that moment there was a flash as Twilight’s tiara exploded in a bright light. Each of the shards and fragments shone a brilliant light as they flew towards me, accumulating above my horn. As the light faded, the tiara was repaired but it was far different from its original form. The star that adorned the top had been replaced by a waning moon while the tiara was coloured azure, identical to my ceremonial armour. The waning moon was coloured white as it began to shine brightly.

“What’s this?” Discord asked with a raised eyebrow.

The light shot out to the other five’s Elements, changing their gold necklaces from gold to the same azure colour. Afterwards all six began to shine in their respective colours. Taking the hint, the six of us stood next to one another and got ready. I had never used the elements, Luna did a few times but I never did so I was unsure of what to expect. I felt a strange feeling of warmth coming from myself and the others. I felt it begin to build in the tiara, looking for a way to escape, to be given a sense of direction. I aimed it at Discord who merely scoffed at us.

“Oh, please. You won't succeed.” He sneered.

“We shall see!” I replied as a rainbow coloured blast fired from the tiara towards Discord whose eyes shot open in fear.

“Nono, wait, wait!” He shouted as the blast collided with him.

Before everypony’s eyes, his body began to stiffen and change in texture. He was turning to stone once more. As the blast ended we all fell to our knees from the exertion but we were none worse for wear. I turned my attention to my friends who smiled happily at me. As I looked back at Discord I saw the Elements finally worked, he was turned back to stone. He had his lion claw in front of his face which he turned to the left and his griffon claw was outstretched, presumably trying to stop the blast. We all chuckled as we picked up the statue to take back to Canterlot.

“So, it’s finally over.” Rarity dully noted. I nodded my head as we placed the statue next to us.

“It would appear so everypony. Chrysalis is long gone as well as the Changelings and now Discord is a statue once more. I just wish we didn’t have to lose Michael as well.” A few moments as the train left the station was filled with silence as we remembered the one who helped us without any form or indication of a hidden agenda.

“Don’t worry darling, I’m sure wherever he is… he’s proud of you.” She replied.

I shook my head. “No, of us. I’m sure he’s proud of all of us. We have some explaining to do but we can face tomorrow with our heads up high.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we will. We will keep our promises to Michael. I know the Wonderbolts suffered huge losses but I’ll help them get back on their hooves!” Dash said with pride.

“I’ll make a new line of fashion for him. I’ll call it: ‘Silence of the Stars’. Your group’s call sign was known as ‘Silent Strike’ and his Alicorn form was Starlancer so I thought it would be a good idea to remember him by.”

“I’ll keep smiling, I did Pinkie Promise after all.” Pinkie smiled.

“Yes, you told me already Pinkie.” I chuckled.

I turned my attention back to the view outside my window and gave a deep sigh as I saw the Crystal Empire slowly vanish from view. I wonder what Celestia and Luna will say or better yet, what would Cadence and Shining Armor say when they hear our tale?

By the time the train pulled into the station it was already well into the night. On the platform we were met by Lyra, Bon Bon, Celestia and Luna. They all gave us inquisitive looks and gasped when we levitated Discord out of the train. They all walked up to the statue and examined it in silence.

“What happened?” Celestia asked.

I took a deep breath and told them everything: from Discord’s riddle in Nightmare Castle to Rarity attempting suicide, from the six of us boarding the train to searching through an empty Empire. Cadence and Shining were shocked at this news but I told them the citizens were all safe and sound now. We walked over to Sugarcube Corner as we handed the care of Discord’s stone form to some Solar Guards. As we entered, Pinkie charged off and made us all milkshakes since we didn’t really finish them the last time.

“Well, what now?” I asked Celestia as she sat down next to us.

She thought for a few moments before answering. “Well for now we finish Twilight’s funeral and we give Michael a proper send off, a tribute but the thing is: I don’t know what he would like.”

“He would want something simple, no over the top business.” I deadpanned. “Remember when he didn’t want us to use his title as prince? I would think he doesn’t want something extravagant, so maybe something just between all of his friends.”

Celestia gave a small sincere smile and nodded her head. “Yes, I believe we can arrange something to that effect.”

As we all finished our shakes and went home I walked up to the battlements of Nightmare Castle and looked to the clear night sky.

“Michael, if you are up there and you can hear me… thank you… for everything.” I said softly as a tear fell from my face and onto the stone floor below.

I will live on; I will show them that Michael’s death was not in vain. The old notion that I am evil shall be banished from my name. I am Nightmare Moon, the other half of the Princess of the Night and bearer of the Element of the Magic of Friendship. I will protect Equestria and my subjects until the day I die, that is a promise.