Chapter 25: Fight and Flight
Nightmare Moon Leapt at Luna, only to collide with three bolts of energy, two generated by Twilight and Luna herself, the third came from the stun-gun that had found its way into Lewis' hand as soon as Luna had stepped into the room. As it turns out, the bolt was fairly potent. The graceful body of Celestia was thrown like a rag-doll back across the dining hall. Lewis hopped onto the table and, taking nothing for granted, fired two further shots in rapid succession after the corrupted alicorn. Luna and Twilight lost no time in joining the assault. Magical bolts filled the room and made it difficult to see.
At last, Luna called out, "Enough! Stop, stop, it won't do any good!" Twilight nodded, although Lewis was more hesitant. It looked to him like it was working, but he nodded, aware that they knew this threat better than him. "Everypony out, now! Twilight Sparkle! Bring your friends and come with me to the chamber of the Elements. That is our only chance at this point. Marshal, you, and the rest must stay here. Keep her occupied as long as you can!"
"Nothin' doin'," said Applejack, stomping her hoof adamantly, "Ah ain't gonna leave Lewis! Ah wont, dya hear?"
Lewis stepped over to Applejack and promptly planted a deep kiss on her lips. "What in tha-," was all she had time to say. He brought his stun-pistol down on the back of her head, and she was out like a light. Luna nodded to Lewis as she levitated the unconscious bearer of Honesty.
"Tell her . . . ." Lewis tried to say but trailed off.
"I suspect she knows," said Luna softly, before turning and dashing from the room, the rest of the girls in tow.
"Alright," Lewis growled, turning to face the screen of smoke rising over the spot where Nightmare Moon had gone down. He felt rather than saw Bourbon, Wolfe, and Big Macintosh at his back. "The ladies have gone and stepped out fer some air. Looks like the work is down to us, eh boys?"
"Wouldn't have it any other way," Bourbon said with a growl.
Luna and the mane six ran hard and fast in a mad dash to get to the Elements of Harmony. At least, all of them except Applejack ran, while the farm-pony enjoyed a brief nap cradled by the glowing aura of the princess' magic. As they rounded a corner, all of them promptly collided with a trio of stallions headed the opposite direction, resulting in a big pile of tangled limbs and angry voices.
Twilight got disentangled first and finally recognized one of the stallions, a white unicorn with a blue mane, wearing the uniform of a Royal Guard Captain. "Big brother!" she exclaimed with glee, wrapping her forelegs around a surprised Shining Armor.
"Twily!" he said, returning the hug, "are you okay? We heard the disturbance and came running . . . ." He trailed off when he noticed Princess Luna. "Twilight, get your friends behind me, she's Nightmare Moon!" His horn glowed as he prepared a spell.
"No Shining! She's Luna, Nightmare Moon tricked us all, she possessed Princess Celestia!"
Shining Armor looked askance at his sister for a moment, then recalled all the times he had questioned her judgment, only to be proven utterly wrong. Since his wedding, he had decided to simply trust her, regardless of how crazy she sounded to him. "Alright, where is she now?"
"She's in the dining hall. You have to hurry! Marshal Lewis and some of our friends are in there, and I don't know how long they'll last!"
Shining's face took on a look of pure incredulity. "The pale, hairless thing that caused all that fuss before? What's he doing here?"
"No time, just go help!" Twilight exclaimed as her friends regained their feet, "We have to go get the Elements of Harmony! We'll be back as soon as we can. Be careful!"
"Right," said the Guard Captain as the mare's that held the fate of Equestria in their hooves barreled down the passageway and out of sight. He turned to his compatriots as they shook their heads, clearing their minds. Both were mainly black in coloration, which was rare enough, without the unique abilities they possessed. "Are you two alright?"
"I'm fine, said one, a unicorn with a neon-blue mane. The piercing in his ear whipped the feathers it carried about his face. He double checked his saddlebags, ensuring their contents were in order. "Ah've suffered fah worse than a collision before. Running into a bunch of lovely-looking mares, well ah just call that heureux." He noted the confusion of his compatriots. "You would say, 'lucky,' mes amis." They continued to look at him. His curious accent combined with a smattering of Prench, were characteristic of the ponies that dwelt within the southern swamps. Knowing this didn't make him much easier to understand sometimes.
"Well, it seems everypony is okay," said pegasus beside him, "I meant to ask earlier Shining. Who is this guy?"
"This is Megus Neon," Shining replied as he dusted himself off, "He helped me out awhile back with one of those border incidents I told you about. Kept in touch since then, and Celestia asked if I could get somepony reliable to help with the Nightmare Moon issue. Seems she wanted to deal with anypony that could oppose her in one fell swoop. I'm sorry I mixed you up in this Primus."
The blademaster simply grinned. "I am sworn to the service of the Royal family, in ways even more binding than yourself, Captain. However, I think we should be getting along now, there's work to do."
"Right," Shining Armor agreed, charging off towards the sounds of battle.
Lewis and his friends started at the venomous hiss that emanated from the smoke. "Did you thing it would really be that easy?" What emerged bore only a vague resemblance to Celestia. Her normally soft-looking mane and tail were now burning with white-hot fire, painful to look upon. Her eyes glowed with maleficent energy, and her teeth were longer and sharper than Wolfe's. "I will destroy you! None shall threaten what I have worked all these centuries to create! This is my world, and soon, every living thing here will know it."
"There's nothing left of the Princess now," Wolfe observed, "It's just that thing, Nightmare Moon."
"No, no," the evil thing said with a grin that could curdle milk, "Nightmare Moon was the name I chose when I held sway over that pitiful child Luna. You may, in your last moments, address me as Nightmare Blaze, for it is with the power of the sun itself that I will rule this world, burning any that dare to oppose me. Light, darkness, these things are immaterial to me, so long as all life in Equestria suffers. I-."
Before she could continue her rant, Lewis stepped forward, pointing a single finger at her as though his was the very hand of doom. In a voice like thunder, he intoned the words he had learned in one of the legal books he had read in the library, saying, "Nightmare Blaze, you are under arrest for crimes against Equestria, possessing a Princess, impersonating a Princess, assaulting a Princess with intent to kill, and attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have right to an attorney . . . ."
Nightmare Blaze and Lewis' friends all stared at him with complete incredulity as he recited the standard Equestrian 'Mareanda rights' to one of the most powerful, evil beings in that or any world, casually reloading his stun gun. He seemed to have every intention of simply arresting her and carting her off to prison. The sheer gall of it left the vile creature somewhat bemused. When he finished, she applauded him, a dark chuckle on her lips. "So, I'm to be arrested for my crimes. Oh, woe is me what ever shall I do," she hissed at him, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"You could come quietly," said a new voice entering the room. Shining Armor came trotting in, closely followed by two more stallions, one of them distinctly familiar.
"Primus!" Lewis exclaimed, "Boy howdy ain't you a sight fer sore eyes!"
"Hello Marshal," the black stallion responded with a bow, "I'm glad you hold no ill will toward me for my escape, but I had to report here as soon as possible, and I didn't have time to wait for clarification regarding my status as an operative working for the Princesses."
"This makes no difference," the abomination at the other end of the room sneered at her opponents, "Not one of you has the strength to even hurt me, much less defeat me."
"Well now," said Lewis, loading the last chamber in his weapon and cocking the hammer, "Ah expect that's a theory worth testing." Without another word, he took aim and opening fire.
"We made it, finally." Luna panted as the rest of the group caught up to her. They stood before the enchanted vault containing the Elements of Harmony. Carrying Applejack had been quite a chore, and she felt the drain on her reserve keenly. The newly-conscious mare was in a foul mood, but willing to put off the inevitable dressing down.
"Well now what are we s'posed tah do?" she asked in a huff.
"Princess Celestia said that only she knew the spell to open the vault," Twilight added as she caught her breath.
The Princess smiled smugly. "My sister always trusted too much in her own cleverness. There's no locking spell on this door, just a fake to distract and confuse any magical thieves. It's actually a simple combination lock." As she spoke, her horn glowed, and the mechanism sprung open, revealing a series of blocks with letters and numbers on them. A line of block-shaped cavities above them were obviously where one arranged the blocks to form the combination, and the lever to one side was clearly used to input the chosen code.
"So what's the combination?" Rainbow Dash enquired. The design reminded her of something she'd read about in one of her Daring Doo books, and the similarity made her curious
Luna hemmed and hawed over the blocks. After several moments, she began moving the blocks. To everypony's confusion, the code she selected was, "bananas." She shrugged. "It's something of a private joke Tia and I have."
She pulled the lever, but nothing happened. Luna groaned in frustration. "OF COURSE she wouldn't use that. Horseapples."
While everypony else was taken aback by the unique experience of witnessing a Princess uttering vulgarities, Rainbow Dash continued to look with intense interest at the mechanism. It was almost identical to what was in the book. And the password in the book had been . . . .
"Um, guys? This might seem like a long shot, but I think I can open this thing."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Dash, this isn't one of those Daring Doo novels."
"I know, I know, but the thing is, that's were I'm getting this. The thing looks just like one of the puzzles from "The Depths of Death's Temple."
The entire group favored her with a sour look. "Alright, it sounds stupid, but does anypony else have a better idea?"
"Forty bits says this doesn't work," Applejack commented with a wry expression.
"I'll take some of that action," added Twilight.
Dash never could resist a challenge. "Two-hundred bits says this works."
"You're on," Twilight and Applejack answered in unison.
Rainbow Dash changed the blocks around, leaving some of the spaces blank to form a complete sentence. Twilight read her guess aloud. "To Fear Death is to Be Its Slave."
Dash didn't wait, but promptly pulled the lever. As the mechanism rumbled and the door to the inner chamber slid open, she turned to face her friends, a smug grin decorating her face. "You can pay me back later."
The situation was grim. Bourbon and Wolfe were down, burned by beams of energy that were so intense they momentarily blinded those that looked directly at them, and left spots dancing on their vision. Both appeared to be alive, but that was clearly because the sadistic beast they were fighting apparently enjoyed playing with her food. The rest of them were covered in minor burns and scrapes, but had otherwise avoided serious injury.
Shining Armor's energy shield had proven invaluable several times. Primus couldn't get close enough to use his swords, and resorted to hovering about the high ceiling, hurling insults at their opponent and waiting for an opening. This frustrated him to no end, as every time he thought she had forgotten him, a bolt of searing heat burned a hole in the ceiling as he was forced to dodge about.
The other stallion, named Magus apparently, alternated between vials of mysterious liquids, which hissed and sizzled when they burst on the floor but had no apparent affect on their intended target, and muttering bizarre incantations that summoned a myriad of strange things that, sadly, proved equally ineffective.
His latest attempt, which had formed magical binds around the corrupted Princess' limbs, had simply dissipated with a burst of magical power.
The shots from his stun gun were repeatedly deflected, and those that made it through had no visible effect at this point. He reasoned that they had only made an impact before because Blaze had not yet been in control of Celestia's powers then. It was probably why she had lunged at Luna, rather than fire off an energy bolt. These thoughts were formed and dismissed at an astonishing speed, as Lewis had to reserve his attention for dodging attacks and looking for an opening. He sheltered now behind a large marble column, hurriedly reloading for what felt like the tenth time, and given how quickly he was running out of ammo, that was probably the case.
He growled as a burst of fiery energy blasted the column, singing his already badly-damaged coat. He was sure his eyebrows were gone by now, along with large tufts of his beard. "Oh fuck this," he muttered, and dived towards the debris from part of the ceiling caving in, the only close enough to go for. Happily, this put him closer to Nightmare Blaze than he had been since the fight began.
She was preoccupied momentarily between keeping Primus at bay and removing some kind of goo from one of Magus' vials. He lined up carefully, praying that what he was about to attempt would work. He drew the hot-shot cattle prod, and his club, and leapt from cover, charging the distracted mare with reckless abandon.
Nightmare Blaze shrieked as the hot-shot made contact on its maximum setting of eleven-thousand volts. In the same moment, Lewis brought the club down on her head with all his strength. "Gotcha . . . oh."
Blaze looked up at Lewis, raw hatred in her eyes. "You dare to touch me? To assault me with your crude weapons? You dare cause me pain?"
The pulse of energy was familiar to Lewis, Luna had used it on him before. It didn't make the second experience less painful. The invisible force threw him against the same pillar he had taken refuge behind moments before. Something cracked. It wasn't the pillar.
After Lewis fell, the remaining fighters presented little further resistance. They lacked the numbers to offer any true opposition. Shining fell next a minute later, his energy expended in trying to shield his comrades. Next went Primus, forced to the ground by a spell that intensified gravity. He fell like a stone and hit the hard floor with a sickening thud, his swords clattering to either side unused. Magus stepped form hiding at the wrong moment, coming too close to an energy blast. The force of its passing rendered him unconscious.
At last, Nightmare Blaze faced only one further opponent, the one that of all of them had presented her the least trouble. Big Macintosh stood before her, proud and unafraid, at least on the surface. Inside, he was doing his best to maintain control of his bowels, thinking that to meet his death having soiled himself was probably beneath his dignity. "So, what does a big strong stallion like you plan to do to stop a little mare like me?" the evil spirit asked, chuckling darkly as she approached him slowly.
"Ah figure ah'll fight yah hard as ah can, and hope it's enough," he replied, fighting to prevent his legs from shaking.
"You can't possibly think you'll beat me?"
"Ah don't have to, ah just gotta buy time fer the girls to get the Elements of Harmony," Big Macintosh quipped.
She scoffed at him. "Oh you foalish male, your gender is always so disappointing. They will never get their hooves on the elements, only Celestia and therefore myself, know how to get into that vault. You must be dreaming if you think they'll succeed."
"Be careful before you mock the dreams of others," spoke Luna's voice from behind her corrupted sister, "I find that they can be very powerful things."
Before another word could be said, Twilight appeared from behind some rubble, followed by her friends. The purple unicorn's eyes glowed brightly. "You know how this part goes," Luna grinned, "In a moment I'll have my sister back. And then little demon? We'll annihilate you once and for all."
"NOOOOO!" howled the horrified Nightmare Blaze, as now-familiar blast of pure energy burned through the air, leaving the smell of ozone hanging about the room. It followed a straight course . . . . and hit the spot where it's target had been standing a moment before.
The corrupt monarch hovered in the air, yards outside of the blast radius. "You think I'm stupid do you?" she cackled, "I'm not going to hold still for you again, I learned that lesson the hard way. You'll have to improve your aim before- wha?" She was cut off as Luna teleported behind her and grabbed her tight.
"Twilight, again!" Luna cried.
"But Luna, what about you?" Twilight yelled back.
"This is the only way, just do it!"
A single tear trailed down Twilight's cheek as a second blast issued forth from the Elements. The light was blinding, and the howl of displaced air deafened her. Or it might have been a howl of despair as the demon that had three times threatened all of Equestria realized that it would not survive again.
When the light faded, Luna and Celestia, now returned to her natural state, hung in midair for a moment, then began to fall. Twilight reached out with her magic and was able to slow her mentor's fall, but she lacked the energy to extend it to Luna as well. The hall echoed with the sound of pounding hooves, and with a mighty leap, Big Macintosh flung himself beneath the descending alicorn.
Luna forced her eyes open and looked up into the large face of a handsome stallion, held gently in his mighty forlegs. Applejack's elder brother, if she was not mistaken. After a moment, she recalled his name. "Big Macintosh?"
"Eeyup."
"You're a pony of few words."
"Eeyup."
"You saved me."
"Eeyup."
"Thank you."
"Eeyup."
"You can put me down now."
Big Macintosh rather suddenly became aware that his one of his hooves was holding the flank of the Night Princess. He set her down gently, grateful that his red coat did an excellent job of concealing his brightly blushing face. He could tell Luna wasn't fooled for a second. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Ahem. That is, uh, quite alright. But what about my sister?"
Celestia lay in a heap amidst the debris, sobbing bitterly. "What have I done?" she moaned piteously.
"Sister," Luna said, standing over her.
Celestia looked up at her sibling. "Oh Luna, I never meant for any of this to happen. I never even noticed . . . ."
She trailed off as the smaller alicorn embraced her warmly, tears welling up in her eyes as well. "Hush Tia, I'm just glad you're back. Everything else can wait."
Their moment was interrupted by a shriek of horror. "LEWIS!" Applejack cried, galloping to her fiancé's side. Lewis still lay slumped against the marble pillar, dead by all appearances. Applejack looked at his unmoving body, and then threw herself across him, howling out against the horror of what had been wrought. The sound was heart-wrenching.
"What have I done?" Celestia whispered, unable to comprehend the implications of her actions.
"Lewis, nonononono, Lewis, you can't be . . . no, you can't be g-gone," Applejack sobbed, any pretense of dignity washed away by sorrow. Nopony dared approach her as she held her beloved in her arms and wept.
Her sobs stopped and eyes shot open as a voice emanated from the corpse. "AJ, c'mon, that hurts."
Fun times, feels like I'm finally getting back in the groove. Oh, and for those that claimed to have anticipated my little twist, jokes on you, as earlier, I enjoyed a delightful little candy cowboy hat made out of chocolate. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy my tasty treat. LOL! This chapter sees the return of Primus to the action, and thanks are in order for my buddy Magus Neon, whom allowed me the use of of his OC by the same name in LoE. Props and a super kamayhamayha brohoof to you. Now, I've not mentioned this in awhile, so I'm climbing back up on my soap box. Anyone not reading "Unbecoming Bronies" needs to drop this and get started. I'm proud to say that I've developed a personal friendship with the author, and the guy has some pretty ridiculously cool ideas. He's young, but his work has awesome potential, and he improves every time he posts a new chapter. Again that is "Unbecoming Bronies" by Deadpoolsbaster. Get it in gear people! Lastly, thanks to Vinyl Beat, who has awesomely agreed to draw Bourbon and Lewis for me. Can't wait to see it Vinyl! That's how you get dedications people: make me happy and feed my ego! (Ain't I a stinker?) At any rate, I should be able to keep a reasonable rate of production, barring writer's block, vastly more important stuff to do (hard to believe I know, but it does come up occasionally) or interference from the Time Eater. By the way, Timefather? I have a little bitty problem. It knows I'm trying to help you!
And now, a message from Magus Neon, to his creator, Magus Neon. (Confused yet?)
Hey there! Silas tells me you wanted to hear from lil ole me directly-like. Now ah could hardly refuse, oui? It's true, ah didn't say much this chapter. Ne craignez pas, mon ami, this ah am assured will change as events progress. You'll be hearin' more from yer's truly soon enough. Au revoir fer now!
PS: Did mah Cajun accent turn out alright? Somepony that knows how to write a phonetic Cajun accent PLEASE send Silas a PM, he practiced it for a few days, and worked real hard, but ah don't wanna sound stupid!