Chapter 4: Dawn Rising
Time: 6:50 AM
Location: Castle of the Royal Sisters, Inner Everfree Forest
POV: Third person
The moon shone brightly over the area of the old Everfree Castle, it's former glory nowhere to be seen. Towers crumbling or completely toppled, gates rusted off of their hinges, vines growing over nearly every structure, and a light fog gave the castle an appearance of a place you wouldn't want to be near. And why would you, it was completely deserted. Or so it would seem. A solitary Unicorn mare could be spotted if one was looking specifically for her, her light blue mane and scarf being the only thing giving her away as she surveyed the soon to be battle ground.
"So your plan is to learn Nightmare's location, prep an ambush, and then lead her to it?" Ben questioned.
"It is as if I didn't just explain this... yes, that is my plan Benjamin. And I asked you to refer to me as Silver Wind. The assassin added.
"Alright then, you better get to it." Ben replied.
Silver Wind simply nodded as she coiled the snake steel around her legs once more before springing it and jumping the fifty feet over the the collapsed bridge that once spanned over the seemingly bottomless gorge. She landed with a resounding thud, hinting that she was heavier than she appeared.
She put her assassin sense into overdrive and enhanced her vision, searching for any life forms in the area. She sensed no sentient life in the area. She gently nodded once more before her form began to shift, her scarf expanding and changing color as well until she stood once more as the human assassin she entered this world as. The only difference being that she had some light armor strategically placed on her person, her shins, hips, chest, shoulders, and wrists to her elbows.
She then re activated her assassin sense and used her snake steel to form something that looked like a radio speaker and aimed it towards the decrepit castle. But what you don't know, is that it was emitting a sound pulse at an incredibly high frequency to map out the entirety of the ruins.
This time, she did get a sign of life. Nightmare Moon was hiding in what might have been a throne room.
Deciding that it would be best to ambush her in the place she would least expect it. Silver placed a few explosives on a nearby guard tower that seemed to be extra crumbly. She then took off towards the are that she sensed Nightmare Moon. She vaulted onto a crumbled wall and ran along it. Seeing a window that lead into the throne room, Silver grabbed a nearby vine without stopping, making her take off towards the window while running along the wall. She formed some spikes in her palms just before she reached the window and nearly silently dug them into the wall. She just stayed there for a moment. She didn't want to be seen if Nightmare heard the noise, so she made sure her magic scrambler was still on and amped her assassin sense again. She saw that Nightmare was simply sitting on a broken throne staring and staring out of a window. Not hers thankfully.
Thinking now to be the opportune moment, Silver reached into her pocket for the detonator and triggered the explosives she planted.
Time: 7:00 AM
Location: Castle of the Royal Sisters, Inner Everfree Forest
POV: Third person
we find ourselves back at the fallen bridge at the outskirts of the castle once more, this time we see five figures on one side, and four on the other.
"What's takin' Rainbow so long? I thought she would'a had this by now." Applejack pointed out.
"Ooh ooh ooh! Do you think it might have anything to do with the scary black ponies she's talking to?" Pinkie Pie questioned enthusiastically.
"What!?" Twilight demanded as she looked closer, trying to see the speedster through the fog, And sure enough, she was talking to three strange looking ponies.
Having a good idea as to who's side they were on she cried out. "Rainbow Dash! Don't listen to them!"
this only got what she assumed was the leaders attention however. And somehow the fog thickened around them.
Twilight looked around frantically for another way across. But when she found none she looked to Fluttershy. "Can you fly over and help her!?" she asked desperately. Fluttershy was about to respond when a loud explosion cut her off.
They looked across the gorge and could clearly see the orange glow through the fog. It had also cleared most of the area around the castle of it as well so they could clearly see the four Pegasi on the other side.
They could hear the newcomers yelling something to each other before flying off towards the castle at high speed. Rainbow watched them go for a moment before looking back to the friends she left on the other side. She then immediately finished tying down the bridge before flying back over to them.
"Sorry girls. I think those ponies that were just here are with Nightmare Moon!" she proclaimed.
"I had the same thought Rainbow. But do you know what caused that explosion?" Twilight requested. Rainbow however only shook her head.
"No, but whatever it was, it sure had those Shadow Bolt guys worked up." Rainbow informed.
"Shadow Bolts? I think I read about them somewhere... oh yeah! They were Nightmare Moons personal guard over a thousand years ago. But how are they here?" Twilight pondered.
"No time to worry about that! We gotta find those Elements of Harmony and find out what caused that explosion." Applejack urged.
"Right" the other five chorused as they made their way across the bridge, seemingly ready for anything. But as long as they were together, they would be unstoppable. And their enemy knew that.
Time: 7:00 AM
Location: Castle of the Royal Sisters, Throne Room, Inner Everfree Forest
POV: Third person
Silver felt small bits of rubble hit her from all the way up here. But she ignored the brief flashes of pain and focused in on Nightmare Moon. Sensing that she had risen from her throne, she pulled herself up into the window sill while shifting back into her Unicorn form to prepare for when the Alicorn went to investigate . But she never got the chance, she sensed three objects coming at her fast from behind, her reflexes were nearly super human, but she still wasn't fast enough and was forcefully sent through the wall and sprawling. She recovered just in time to avoid a high speed stomp from a Pegasus clothed in a purple and black flight suit. She spun on her front left hoof and used her momentum to deliver a vicious kick to his face, sending him flying several feet, but he recovered in mid air, he however did rub his sore jaw while wincing.
"Ah, so you came after all. You either finally came to your senses, or you must really wish to die." Nightmare Jeered. Silver merely rose to her hooves and shook her head in disagreement.
"I have no urge for for death, neither mine nor yours, but if I must remove you to save this world from the horrible fate you have planned for it, I will do what I must." Silver assured as she assumed an aggressive stance, waiting for her adversary's first move.
Nightmare Moon shook her head as well. "And I'd had such high hopes that you could see things from my point of view." the dark Alicorn sighed remorsefully before looking back to the assassin with renewed aggression.
"Very well then. If you wish to oppose me, then you shall be removed. But before we begin. Might I know the name of the first challenger to fight me in over a millennium?" Nightmare questioned.
"Silver Wind. My name is Silver Wind Nightmare Moon. Because you have so politely asked my name instead of mindlessly charging in. I would assume you to be an honorable fighter?" Silver spoke, half asking half pointing out.
"Yes, My father taught my sister and myself the ways of his and ou-"
"If you are an honorable fighter. Than why do you choose the path of destruction you are currently on?" Silver interrupted.
And this in turn. Caused something inside of Nightmare Moon to bubble to the surface as a surprised look appeared on her face, only to be replaced by a thoughtful one, or it could even be qualified as regretful. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea why she was doing this. At first, it was just to get the attention she so sorely desired. And she had accomplished that. She was one of the most feared figures in Equestria, nay, the entire world! The mere mention of her name would cause grown stallions to cringe... but that was not the kind of attention she wanted. No, she realized it now, she didn't want attention, she didn't give a damn about the attention, she just wanted to be appreciated, to be loved by her subjects...by her sister.
Her Shadow Bolt guards however didn't seem to be pleased by their rulers change of heart and took action. All Silver Winds eyes could see from her vantage point was them glaring at her with glowing yellow eyes. Causing her to cry out in pain as her legs gave out beneath her. But her Assassin and new magical senses detected a dark and ancient power drowning the Night Alicorn in feelings of malice and hate that were not her own.
Seeing this, Silver formed her wrist blade, but it's blade was slightly different. After she formed it however, she immediately whipped her arm forward, revealing that she had instead made a chain dart instead. The dart flew straight and true before hitting it's Shadow Bolt target in the chest. The dark Pegasus gagged as the blade pierced him, but there was no blood to be seen, on either the knife or the pony, only a mist like substance similar to Nightmare's mane.
Seeing this made Silver realize that the Shadow Bolts might have been created by Nightmare Moon. So she decides to test her theory by making the blade still embedded in the Shadow Bolts chest grow two wing like spikes, hooking the dark Pegasus. And from there, she yanked back on the chain knife, her augmented strength making the Shadow Bolt rocket towards her. She then retracted the spikes, causing the blade to come back. As it came back, she made it form a weapon that looked like a combination of a two foot sword, and a small scythe before doing the same in her other hoof as well. And when the unlucky Pegasus was ten feet from her, she pounced forward into the air and delivered a flurry of sword slashes at speeds that could make ones head spin. After landing, the former assassin looked back upon her handiwork. Watching the corpse hit the ground and vanish into a puff of ethereal smoke.
Silver watched the blue fog race towards the now unconscious Nightmare Moon at high speed before entering her mane which flared as the lost energy rejoined it.
This was all that Silver Wind needed to know. She was once more about to jump into the fray but stopped when she sensed six ponies coming from the stairwell. They had very powerful magic signatures. And in the brief moment she looked to the stairs, the second Shadow Bolt tried to tackle her. It was however a tactical error on his part, as all Silver Wind had to do was duck her head slightly to avoid it. Which she did, causing the Shadow Bolt to keep going and end up falling down the stairs.
Time: 7:03
Location: Castle of the Royal Sisters, Throne Room, Inner Everfree Forest
POV: Third Person
"I think the sound came from up here!" Rainbow Dash announced as she raced ahead of the five other mares racing to the throne room after finding the Elements of Harmony. Twilight having offered to carry the heavy stones with her magic
That's when they heard the athlete yelp and come tumbling back down the stairs, along with one of the Shadow Bolts they had seen earlier.
They all stopped to and looked ready for a fight, thinking the dark Pegasi was there for them. They were mildly surprised to see him get to his feet and look back up the way he came.
"Buck! How'd she see me coming!?" the Shadow Bolt cursed as he shot back up the stairs.
The six girls just stood there for a few more seconds before Applejack broke the silence.
"What the hay jus' happened?" she asked confusedly.
Rarity shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. "I've not the slightest idea Applejack. But it seemed he was eager to get somewhere." Rarity guessed.
"I think he might have been fighting something... or somepony." Rainbow pondered.
"Well if that's the case, we should hurry and get up there." Twilight suggested as she picked up the pace once more. The others following suit shortly after.
It took them about ten more seconds before they finally reached the top. And upon doing so, they were treated to the sight of Silver Wind holding her own against two of the Shadow Bolts with Nightmare Moon unconscious on the other side of the room.
"Wowie! Silver must be pretty strong to have beat Nightmare Moon this fast!" Pinkie pointed out enthusiastically. As they watched Silver use one of the Shadow bolts as a spring board, only to get in range of the other one to send her rocketing to the ground with an axe kick.
Silver was surprised however to see that the Shadow Bolt that was about to attempt to tackle her was counter tackled by Rainbow Dash. Finally putting the Shadow Bolt down and sending it's energy back to the unconscious Alicorn. "Aw yeah! Ten points to Rainbow Dash!" She whooped as she did a flip before touching down moments later.
"And with that taken care of." Silver thought as she trotted over to the downed captain. Watching her cradle a broken hoof as she tried to stand. But as she got a closer look at the wounded Pegasi. She realized that the captains reflective yellow goggles were cracked and leaking some kind of purple smoke. Silver recoiled slightly once she noticed it.
"Holy Schmidt! Is that Corruption!?" Ben demanded.
"That would appear to be the case." Silver replied lowly as she stormed over towards the captain. The captain saw her coming and laughed weakly and coughed up some purplish blue smog. "So you know what we are then?" She half laughed half coughed. Silver narrowed her eyes and nodded slightly. Not even caring that the other six mares had walked over near them.
"Then you know that Nightmare Moon is beyond help?" The captain jeered before she coughed once more.
"No one is beyond saving. I think of myself as living proof of that, confusing the six mares behind her.
"The Shadow Bolt frowned in realization, this one could see that Nightmare's will for destruction was waning. And she might be able to bring her away from the path her master had set for her completely.
"It would seem so, yet you will never find out!" The captain exclaimed as she used the last of her energy to turn into a swirl of bluish purple smoke before rushing towards Silver. The Assassin could not react in time and the smog encompassed her.
Silver coughed and thrashed as she tried to escape the smoke, but no matter what she tried she could not. Benjamin called out for her to stay strong, cursing their previous boss for making him unable to aid her.
Twilight and the other five however, were very much able to help. Rainbow Dash rushed over at high speed in tight circles around her, sucking away the poison in a vortex. However, that used up what little air Silver had left, and she promptly fell down unconscious as the world went black. The screams of her allies both old and new echoing around her along with a malicious cackling.