I shook my head as I followed Twilight Sparkle out of the library and through town. We made it to town hall with minutes to spare. We shared a glance before forcing our way to the front of the crowd just in time to hear the one known as Rarity to shout "She's gone!" and turned our eyes to the moon. The Mare in the Moon wasn't in the moon.
What looked like starry smoke began to coalesce on the balcony. Nodding at Twilight I shot off through a nearby stairwell and made my way upstairs. I slowly crept up behind the balcony just in time to hear Nightmare Moon's cackling.
"Hey Nightmare Moon", I shouted to get her attention.
She turned to me and repulsion flashed across her face followed by confusion. She approached closer while still maintaining a safe distance. She glared at me for several minutes before she finally blinked and landed on the other end of the balcony.
"THOU DOTH DARE TO ADRESS ME WITH SUCH INSOLENCE", she boomed, making my ears ring. "INSIGNIFICANT CREATURE, THOU ART BUT A SPECK OF SAND UPON A VAST BEACH! BOW BEFORE YOUR NEW RULER!"
I ran a hand through my hair and slowly approached her with my hands in my pockets, stopping within arm's reach, and stared into her eyes with the most bored expression I could muster. I held the gaze silently for well over a minute, waiting until all noise in the hall had ceased. Before she could react I reached back and slapped her across the cheek, posing at the end of the swing for dramatic effect while my flowing clothes fluttered in the wind created.
"Quit your shit", I said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Every single pony in attendance seemed to gasp as one, their eyes going wide as their pupils shrank, even the dubstep unicorn from the train station. I slowly stood up straight and put my hand back in my pocket. Nightmare Moon's mouth hung open as she turned her head back toward me and her wings began extending as she seemed to grow larger.
"HOW DAREST THOU STRIKE ME, THOU DISGUSTING SIMPLETON?! THY LIFE IS FORFEIT!"
With that proclamation she launched a ray of black magic at me, which I ducked under and leapt up, creating my wings on the spot. I took to the air and backed away, launching five fireballs in quick succession, the explosions sending everyone running in fear and confusion. I dodged left as another black streak came from the smoke and dust before that same starry smoke slipped out of a hole in the wall.
I followed her, but lost sight of her so I flew back inside to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle checking on the ponies that had still been inside when we had our little tussle. I did my "superhero landing" as I liked to call it and dispelled my wings. The three I was familiar with came running up and hugged me, Twilight somehow getting to me first. I returned the hug and sighed deeply. I couldn't help but cringe when I turned and surveyed the damage.
"Well that went well", I said drily.
"That was amazing", Rainbow Dash yelled as she gave me a rough noogie.
"Darn tootin' it was", Applejack smiled.
"She got away", I said angrily. "To make matters worse, m-Princess Celestia is missing!"
Twilight tried to calm me down as I paced back and forth to no avail. At that moment I heard a prissy voice from the doorway. She acknowledged the horrible timing, but insisted on making a padded suit for me. I yelled at her until she ran away in tears, much to everyone else's disappointment. Twilight began lecturing me when my anger got the better of me.
"You're mad at me for a little bit of language and raised voices", I shouted in disbelief. "My mother is missing and this dumb little horse is talking about wardrobe options and other dumbass nonsense, but I shout a little bit and she runs away so I'm the bad guy?!"
"Nopony said that", Twilight yelled back.
"Uh, Twi", Applejack interrupted, her eyes wide. "Ya do realize yer yellin' at a Prince, right?"
"Forget that shit", I yelled. "Princess Celestia needs us, so let's get the lead out and do something!"
"We need to know what we're dealing with here", Twilight said with a forced calm.
"To the library", I shouted and sprinted out the door.
The four of us made our way to the library as quickly as possible given the crowds of anxious ponies in the streets, picking up a shaking Pinkie Pie and a sniffling Rarity along the way. I was forced to apologize to the glamorous pony, which kinda hurt inside. I slammed the door closed behind us, being gentlemanly even though I was seething inside and holding the door for them. I barely registered the light blush on two of the five mares as they had gone by.
"Alright, everypony", Twilight ordered, "I need you to look for anything about the Elements of Harmony."
My mind was racing too fast to focus on research so I excused myself outside to think. I was making laps around the library when I approached one of the windows and my blood froze. There, just beneath the windowsill in the shadows, was Nightmare Moon herself. Her back was to me, so I crept as close as I could.
I could barely make out the words Twilight was saying, but I heard something about the two sisters. At the mention of this her head jerked back and she turned to smoke and fled. I figured something was up so I followed her, once again sprouting wings and taking to the air. Soon the Everfree Forest came into view and I began to grow a little nervous. I touched down about fifty feet from the entrance and stood on the path.
I took a few minutes to let my mind wander, finally settling on a weapon. A handle formed in my hands, a handguard appearing about an inch above my right hand. The blade seemed to slide from the grip, a gleaming sharp edge on the leading side of the blade. A sheath came into existence around my waist, the weight of the steel slightly uncomfortable at first. I banished my wings and swung the sword around, finding the balance perfect.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the shadows of the forest, the sounds of life filling my ears instantly. I crept along the path slowly, freezing occasionally when I heard a noise. I caught a glimpse of Nightmare Moon deep in the woods to my right, so I shifted course and eased into the woods. I followed the general direction she had gone in until I came to a ravine and paused behind a boulder as I caught sight of her.
I heard the girls' voices up on the cliffs above and wondered how they had gotten here so fast. As I heard Rainbow Dash speaking in what I guess was supposed to be a spooky tone, Nightmare Moon turned to smoke and slipped into cracks in the Cliffside. Suddenly a massive chunk broke from the mountain and her smoky form flew away as the ponies cried out.
"Fluttershy, quick", Dash shouted before the two of them zipped to the rescue.
"They got this", I growled before taking to the sky.
It was amazing how easy it was to form my wings. I followed her for a few minutes, scratching my head as I realized we had circled around to the canyon again. She swooped down and paused, seeming to swirl angrily when all of my friends started walking away. She took off again and I followed her as closely as I could. With dread I saw her strike a manticore's left foreleg and keep going.
As I followed the evil alicorn I heard the manticore roaring in the distance and it filled me with dread, but I had to trust the others would be okay. I could've sworn it sounded like Fluttershy had yelled, but that was impossible. I found the trees growing closer together so I had to make a quick landing, the wings fading from my back as my feet hit the forest floor.
I crept through the trees, keeping my eyes out for my quarry. In the distance I heard Pinkie's voice raised in song. It was quite a catchy song about giggling at ghosties and such whimsy. Despite the cheerful song my nerves were on edge, my sword gripped tightly in my right hand. Finally I caught a glimpse of her coming out of a tree somehow and flying up over the trees.
I leapt up and took to the skies again with a seamless transition. As I followed her I eyed my blade. I realized if I attacked with this sword I could kill my aunt. I couldn't risk that, so I focused my will on the blade, reversing the edges. I didn't exactly know what to call the sword, but I knew it would serve my purposes nicely. I charged the blade directly from my magic stores and chuckled for some reason as the blade began to glow white.
I sheathed my sword but kept a hand on it as I flew after my deranged aunt. She must have seen me because as I rounded a bend and came up to a river she burst out of the trees and launched black magic at me. I did the only thing I could think of and drew my sword, batting the energy aside with my glowing blade.
We met in the middle of the clearing, her magic flashing as murder shone in her eyes. I deflected attack after attack and decided to press the offensive. I struck out time and again, only managing to land a single strike across her flank.
"BEGONE, FOOL", she boomed before hitting me with a wave of dark energy that flung me across the river.
"What's going on over here", a flamboyant dragon of some type asked.
Nightmare Moon eyed him with disdain before a lance of black magic shot out at the dragon's face. I launched myself from where I had landed and slammed into the side of his head, knocking him just far enough to the side to lose half of his mustache instead of half his face. Unfortunately, I took the full force of the blast.
The dark energy slammed into me and the pain was instant. I felt claws and spikes ripping into my flesh as I flew through the air leaving a thin golden blood trail behind. I hit the ground and rolled to my feet, my blade flashing brightly.
"THOU ART MUCH MORE RESILIENT THAN WE ESTIMATED", Nightmare Moon said loudly. "WE COULD HAVE MUCH USE FOR A CONSORT SUCH AS YOU."
"Sorry Auntie Luna", I quipped, "You're sexily scary but no deal."
"THAT SIMPERING FOOL CELESTIA HAS NO OFFSPRING", she shouted. "HOW DARE THEE LIE TO US?"
She launched another beam of darkness at me but I leapt forward to meet it, swinging my sword in a tight upward arc and knocking the blast to the side. I charged toward her and shouted in frustration as she fled yet again. Without hesitation I followed her into the air, every nerve in my body screaming at me.
As I followed her I looked myself over, shuddering despite myself as I saw dozens of small cuts all over my body. I flooded healing magic through my body and sighed in relief as the wounds closed themselves before my eyes. I sheathed my sword as I flew, keeping my eyes open for my psychotic family member.
Before long I came across a deep canyon with a rope bridge strung across the dark depths. As I came in for a closer look fog rolled in reducing visibility to a few feet. I carefully landed and rolled into some bushes to keep an eye out. For several minutes everything was silent until I heard Dash's voice.
It sounded like she was talking to a couple other ponies, but I couldn't see who because of the fog. She was quiet for a few seconds before saying something else. The sound of her wings flapping told me she had left the area, which seemed to be my cue. I rushed the area her voice had come from, groaning in annoyance as the starry smoke I had been chasing took off yet again.
I followed her to a rundown old castle with vines clinging to it as if the forest was attempting to reclaim it. I flew up to an upper window and perched there, eyeing some type of stone sculpture looking thing. As I scanned the room I heard voices from the doorway.
"Whoa", Applejack whispered in awe. "Come on, Twilight. Isn't this what you've been waitin' for?"
"The Elements of Harmony", Twilight said in awe. "We've found them!"
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy glanced at each other before both flew up and grabbed a stone orb, which I guess was supposed to be the Elements. They brought the orbs to the floor amidst Twilight's repeated warning to be careful. The process was repeated until all of the stones were gathered in a circle.
"One, two, three, four…", Pinkie counted, "There's only five."
"Where's the sixth", Rainbow Dash demanded from the darkness.
"The book said", Twilight began as she curled one foreleg beneath her, "'When the five are present a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed."
"What in tha hay is that supposed to mean", Applejack drawled.
"I'm not sure, but I have an idea", she replied from where she lay on the floor. "Stand back. I don't know what will happen.
As the others made their way outside, magic flowed from Twilight's horn. As the last of my friends left the main hall I caught sight of Nightmare Moon slipping in through a crack. Taking advantage of Twilight's distraction the evil mare began swirling around the Elements, lifting them from the floor in a starry whirlwind and causing my friend to cry out in shock.
"The Elements", Twilight shouted, diving for them.
I heard the others' hooves clattering across the stone as the whirlwind and Twilight disappeared. The others made it to the spot that was just occupied and all started shouting at once.
"Well, fuck."