Max Jumper: Guardian of Empires
Episode 4: The Army of the Moon
Written by Caleb/Max Jumper/CMANsurvives
Ext. Canterlot Castle
Time: 9:03 PM
The wind was howling as it blasted throughout Canterlot, knocking shutters closed and taking ponies off of their hooves if it hit them in the side. Max Jumper had no problem fighting against the wind, but the purple alicorn princess following him had her wings in a big tangle. "Why are you still here, princess?" Max asked, "If you are really a princess, that is."
The strong breeze threw tears out of the princess' eyes. "I… I have to stop you," she finally choked, "For the future of Equestria, I must… I… must…"
"You must what?" Max questioned, annoyed at her stuttering.
"I must… d-d-defeat you!" she finally managed.
"I think you're just trying to cover up that you were going to say something much worse. Well, with all of that stuttering, it's obvious. You were going to say 'destroy' weren't you?"
The girl with the violet mane was silent.
"I thought so," Max finished. He regretted what he had done, but the Demon Cleaver still left a bit of evil in him. It had infected him. Never would he kill when it was not a time of war if it had not taken him over. There had been a war, the Crystal Empire had lost, and then it was over. That is how war went. The cleaver had tried to convince him that the war was still going, that there still had to be bloodshed. He couldn't believe he had fallen for it. Suddenly, Max felt a warm light behind him.
"I must… destroy you!"
Max spoke the words "oh, no" as he was lifted up off his hooves high into the sky.
"Let it be known that I, Princess Twilight Sparkle," the girl spoke, producing a thin blade made of purple light, "Am the one whom is going to avenge Princess Celestia, Canterlot, and the rest of Equestria!"
"Now, now, Miss Sparkle," Max chided, trying to protect himself, "Too many of us have given into the darkness inside our hearts this day and night. Do not let it happen again." He noticed that she was dragging the Demon Cleaver along behind her. "And put away that blade."
"What," she guessed, shaking the purple streak hovering a few feet from Max's stomach, "This one?"
"No, I mean that one." He pointed to the cleaver, and when she saw it, she shrieked, dropping Max, the purple blade, and the sword that had been used to kill Celestia.
"I will never, ever touch that weapon again!" she shouted, "What it has been carried out to do is evil! EVIL!"
"Now… you see what I mean?" Max asked as he struggled to remove the purple streak that he had fallen on from his chest.
"But you," she said, "You are evil, too, and what you've done is inexcusable."
"Please, take this out," he squirmed.
"Alright, I will." She shoved it so deep inside of him that it came out the other side and detached from him. His eyes went blank, and then closed, and he stopped breathing. His head rested on the ground, his mouth open and drooling blood, much like the crimson that was already leaking from his chest. "I'm so, so sorry," Twilight apologized, "But I must do what I am meant to do." She went off to face Nightmare Moon alone, without the help of her friends or fellow princesses, and prepared for the worst.
Time: 12:00 AM
As the portal opened, the black and red demon alicorn stepped out, hoping to retrieve the weapon that was not meant to be in this timeline. He noticed that he was a little late, what with Princess Twilight Sparkle hanging by the neck from a rope, the Army of the Moon descending upon the land, and the red, dead pegasus at his hooves. "Boy, is this a mess," he coughed, smelling the stench of death all around him. The eternal night had come, and he had been too late to prevent it. Now he would have to live with it, at least for a while.
He looked up and headed for the throne room to face Nightmare Moon, who had been the source of all this destruction. As he was moving quickly, he noticed the Demon Cleaver he'd been looking for. He stopped for it, picked it up with his magic, and threw it back into the portal. The portal closed as the weapon fell into it, and the alicorn prince continued on his path. The red pegasus stirred behind him as he walked, but he paid no attention to it. He was on a mission, and if it was the destiny of a soul to live, then they would live on their own. He had no idea that he had met the pegasus before, much farther forward into the future.
As Max got up, he felt the blood on his chest sucking back into his heart. "But that's impossible," he wheezed, "How am I still alive?" He slowly got up, feeling the blood rush to his head with an incredible aching. Max looked over at the alicorn that was entering the castle. "Oh," he said warily, "Not another one…"
Int. Canterlot Castle, Throne Room
Time: 12:08 AM
Max snuck in to the throne room after the black alicorn prince. He hid behind a wall, beginning to eavesdrop. "I'm sorry, my dear," the alicorn spoke, "But I'm afraid your army must fall before it rises."
"Who are you, fool?" Nightmare asked the demon prince.
"You do not know me, but I know you, Princess Luna."
"I am not Luna! I am Nightmare Moon, Queen of the Eternal Night!"
"Oh, but you've just taken her body to manipulate for your own," the alicorn said, brushing himself off to look important. "It's really disgusting."
"Quiet, you foal! I didn't let you in, who let you in?"
"I guess," he replied, pointing at the Moon Guard corpses resting in the corner, "They did."
"Well, since you have so rudely barged in and threatened my rule," she said, "I'm going to have to dispose of you before you ruin something."
"Ruin something? Oh, no, no, no, your highness, I'd use a few words like… completely decimate."
"Then it's settled," she decided, standing straight up, "You will have to die." She unleashed a barrage of her dark powers on the alicorn, and he retaliated with his own. But it couldn't be. The magic that the alicorn was using looked identical to that of King Sombra's. Could this be Sombra reincarnate? But no, it couldn't. Max knew that King Sombra hated alicorns, and would never become one. If he ever found out that he had, he would kill himself instantly. This was not King Sombra, but it was his magic. His stolen magic.
Max stepped out from the shadows and charged at the alicorn, but halfway into his sprint, he stopped. He couldn't decide if his target was Nightmare Moon or the black demon. Both were more powerful than he, and the only reason he had been able to kill Celestia was the fact that she had not been expecting it. Now, Nightmare Moon could see him, and the other alicorn now knew that he was alive. "Maybe I should've cared when your hoof started moving," the bat-winged alicorn said, as if he could read Max's thoughts. "Maybe I should've killed you."
"And maybe," Max retorted, "You need me." Nightmare Moon applied more power into her blast. With the Eternal Night now set in place, her dark magic energy was at maximum power, and even going beyond. Shadows filled the night, and where there were shadows, there was dark matter, and those who dwell in the darkness can turn that matter into magic. King Sombra had explained this to him long ago, the powers of evil.
No, not evil! Not evil! Not evil! The king is not evil!
King Sombra had explained this to him long ago, the powers of the dark. Max tilted his head as he realized that something was messing around with his thoughts. Back in the Crystal Empire, it had been happening more and more, and now, it was a hazy but loud shouting in his head, trying to make him say the right thing whenever he said the wrong thing. It seemed as if the voice in his head was trying to thin the line between good and evil.
Not evil! Not evil!
It seemed as if the voice in his head was trying to thing the line between light and darkness. There it was again. Oh, well. Now was not the time to dwell, now was the time to fight to survive. The black alicorn finally began gaining the upper hand, and Nightmare Moon was thrown to the back of the room. Max made his move. He decided to aid the male alicorn and attack Nightmare Moon. When he was only a few yards away from her, the very one he was trying to help pulled him back. "Hey, what gives?" Max asked.
"I don't want her dead," the alicorn explained.
"Neither do I."
"Then I guess I can let you help me, sure. What's your big plan?"
"Well, my plan is to jump on her."
"What?"
Max used his signature jumping move to land a hit on Nightmare Moon that knocked her out. "I said my plan was to jump on her, so I jumped on her."
"I think I heard a crack."
"Might've been the rib cage breaking, but that'll heal. She's still breathing, if that's any consolation."
"I don't need consolation, nothing sad has happened to me. You, however, look like you've been to Hell and back."
"Maybe I have," Max sniffed.
"What's your name?" the alicorn asked.
"Max Jumper's the name, and thus I jump. What's yours?"
The alicorn was surprised. It couldn't be Max, not the Max that was in his army of the future. Oh, but it was. The exact same Max Jumper, who had no idea what was ahead of him. "I can't tell you my name," the alicorn chose to say, "But I know how we can fix the deaths that have been wrought." He was trying really hard to sound more royal than normal. Where he came from, there was really no need for such technicalities.
"Wait, so I can undo the destruction of the Crystal Empire?" Max asked enthusiastically.
"No, but it is not destroyed, it has only disappeared for a thousand years. However, when the empire returns, it will seem to them like not a second has passed, and yet they will not remember anything."
"King Sombra… will return?"
The alicorn was silent before replying "Yes."
"This is splendid news, in fact it's the best news I've heard in a very long time. So now, I'm guessing we're just repairing what I've done then?"
"Of course. Right this way, if you please," the alicorn said, pointing to a portal that he had just created with his magic.
"What happens when I go through there?" Max inquired.
"It's hard to explain. It's better if you just go through it."
"I have nothing better to do, I guess. Well," Max finished, looking straight at the portal, "Here goes nothing." He began to run towards it, but as he tried, a pillar of darkness swept over it. The two turned their attention back to Nightmare Moon, who was now holding her right rib cage in place with her wing. "You're not going anywhere, I'm afraid."
The mare cackled as the walls of the throne room came crumbling down, and the Army of the Moon stood outside, waiting for the two stallions to come out of the fallen rubble. The portal was pushed away from the ruins that Nightmare had created, and Max and the alicorn emerged from the rocks. "Eh, it's not so bad," the alicorn said.
"What does that mean?" Max asked.
"It means they'll be really easy to kill, now come on and show me what you got."
"I've got a couple pocket knives, and the cleaver I bought earlier ended up being possessed, so I left it."
"Right, it's the whole reason there's a mess out here. Anyway, you use your pocket knives and your awesome jump skills and kick their flanks."
"Whoa, wait, what?"
"Good luck, buddy." The alicorn flew up and out of sight.
"You've got to be joking."
The Army of the Moon advanced upon him.
END of Episode 4
Notes from the author (Caleb/Max Jumper/CMANsurvives)
-I know what you're thinking this time, now: OMG WTF FIRST CELESTIA BUT NOW TWILIGHT SERIOUSLY IS YOUR WHOLE GOAL TO KILL EVERYONE YOU SUCK EFF YOU. Excuse moi, but did you not here the part where the alicorn dude said the whole "fix the death" thing? Do you really think I'd leave Princess Twilight Sparkle, my fav pony to die? No. No I would not. You just wait for episode 5 now, boys and girls.
-WOW I WONDER WHO THE BLACK ALICORN IS HMMMMMM IT'S SUCH A MYSTERY I WONDER IF DONNY KNOWS WHO IT IS HMMMMMMMMMMM
To be continued in…
Max Jumper: Guardian of Empires
Episode 5: The Strands of Existence