Hello my loyal readers! I'm terribly sorry for the late update, but I've been sick, I've been having a bit of trouble keeping up with school and quite honestly, I just wanted to get this damned chapter right. So here it is: my late new years entry of 2015.
Enjoy!
Maelstrom stood silently in the middle of the room, glaring at the hole where he flung the dark alicorn through. five seconds passed. ten. fifteen seconds had passed and as nothing came back through, maelstrom turned around to check up on Applebloom. The filly was alright save for a few scrapes due to the fall from maelstrom's shoulders. Rainbow tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the retreating figures of twilight and spike.
"isn't that a bit suspicious?" she asked him with a frown. He nodded as he helped his little sister up. The two followed after twilight and spike, not knowing that they were being followed by four others.
Twilight frantically tore through the library looking for the one book she needed. With spike covering the second floor they should be able to find the damn thing before-
"lookin' for something?"
-another interruption showed up… great.
Twilight turned around to the deep voice, only to see maelstrom standing in the entrance with a stern glare etched on his face.
"what makes you think I'm looking for something?" she tried coolly, only to get an even harder glare shot back.
"you slipped away from the town hall during the panic, you're tearing through our local library like a hurricane, mostly focusing on books about ancient artifacts an' you even have your assistant looking on the second floor. I am a lot of things miss sparkle, but I ain't stupid. Something's up, an' I have the feeling that you know more." He said in an even tone, displaying a deductive ability she honestly didn't think he possessed.
From behind him a rainbow colored blur smashed her with her back into the bookcase. Rainbow Dash pushed her with her lower arm up to the bookcase and growled. "what are you, some kind of spy?"
An orange furred hand grabbed rainbow's tail and pulled her off of twilight. Applejack gave the purple maned mare a concerned look and then directed her glance at Rainbow.
"simmer down, sally. She ain't no spy, but she sure as hell knows what's going on." She redirected her gaze at Twilight as Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Maelstrom stood around the three. "don't you twilight?"
Twilight looked conflicted for a few moments, before giving in with a sigh.
"I've read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon." She walked away from the bookcase towards the middle of the room. "some mysterious artifacts called the elements of harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know where they are, how they work. Hell I don't even know what they do."
"the elements of harmony: a reference guide." Pinkie suddenly said as she grabbed a book from the top shelf behind her. Twilight grabbed the book from her hand with a shocked expression. "where did you find that!?" she gasped while Pinkie grinned.
"it was under E-E!" she sang while hopping from one leg to another. Twilight opened the book and stopped at the right page. "there are six elements of harmony, but only five of them are currently known. Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty and loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the elements is the ruins of the castle of the royal alicorn sisters. The castle is located in what is now-"
"the everfree forest… really?" maelstrom asked no-one specific. The six mares stared at the massive forest with hints of fear, disgust and –in Pinkie's case- childish expectation, while maelstrom remained impassive. He'd been in the forest a lot of times with Big Mac and Hard Cider in the past to gather firewood so the forest didn't really faze him all that much. That did not mean that it did nothing to him though, as he's been in there before, he knew just how dangerous the forest was to newcomers, and he wasn't really comfortable with his little sister going in there at night. With, or without friends.
He's a worried older brother of three farm-ponies. Sue him!
"wheee!" pinkie cried, "let's go!"
She tried to skip ahead into the forest but was stopped by Twilight.
"I'm sorry but I can't let you guys do that, I need to do this by myself-"
"bullshit." Maelstrom interrupted her. "either we all go, or no one goes. I know the everfree forest well enough to know my way in there an' we have a better chance when we go with the group."
After a few moments of staring each other down, Twilight gave in with a sigh. "fine but let's go. The sooner we find the elements, the bigger our chances are at defeating nightmare moon."
"agreed." Called maelstrom and the rest nodded.
A few minutes later, as the group passed a small ledge, a wisp of blue smoke snaked it's way into the cracks underneath the edge. Maelstrom's eyes flashed orange again as he felt another wave of negative energy. Before he could figure out where it came from though, the part of the mountain they were standing on began collapsing with a loud rumble.
"ROCK SLIDE!" roared RD as she and Fluttershy took flight. Rarity used her magic to skid down the side of the mountain, preventing her from falling. Flutershy caught Pinkie in mid fall and maelstrom used his magic to teleport himself to the safe ground. Twilight, however was caught completely off guard by the rapid turn of events and nearly dropped off of the edge to her death, if not for Applejack's intervention. Maelstrom watched as his sister jumped forward, grabbing Twilight's hands as the purple mare started falling. AJ tried pulling back but couldn't find a grip as she herself started sliding towards the edge as well. Seeing no other option, AJ told Twilight the one thing no-one expected from her.
"twilight… let go."
Twilight looked at Applejack in horror while the orange furred mare stared back in confidence.
"let go!? Are you insane? I'll fall to my death from here!" she roared but Applejack smiled a little bit.
"no you won't. I promise you that you will be fine, you've got my honest word."
She didn't know exactly why, but hearing that from the hat wearing mare actually calmed Twilight down a bit. She nodded and with her legs she pushed herself off of the mountainside. The two let each other's hands go and twilight started falling. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as gravity took a hold of her, but strangely the falling sensation never came. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed a red aura surrounding her. Maelstrom stood at the bottom of the cliff with his hands lifted and his horn glowing. After setting Twilight down, who promptly started kissing the ground, he saw Applejack jumping from rock to rock until she too, stood at the bottom.
"everyone alright down there?" rainbow dash called from above. Pinkie raised a thumb and the group moved on.
The further the group moved into the forest, the more oppressive the negative energy became. Maelstrom's senses were screaming to get the hell out and prepare for a disaster but he shook those feelings off in favor of keeping an eye on his surroundings. Rainbow was flying around, chattering excitedly about the 'heroic rescue' she did back with the rockslide much to twilight's ire until a loud thump interrupted them.
in the middle of the road, between two cliff sides, stood a hybrid between a lion, a scorpion and a bat, and maelstrom could sense that it. Was. NOT. Happy!
"A manticore!" twilight gasped as the hybrid lifted itself off of it's front paws with an angry snarl. Maelstrom grimaced, knowing that manticores were by nature, very docile animals. It pounced at rarity and swiped it's claw, intent of batting the white mare's head clean off but missed as rarity jumped to the side in a panic. She quickly gathered her wits however, and delivered a swift punch to the side of it's face.
"Ha! Take that you ruffian!" she shouted triumphantly, which seemed to only aggravate the oversized cat even more. It opened it's mouth in a massive roar that scared the wits out of the poor mare and she rapidly ran back to the others.
"Umm, wait." Fluttershy started, but due to the commotion no one heard her.
The manticore chased rarity around until Applejack jumped into it's neck. She grabbed it's mane in one hand and the poisonous tail in the other as she rode it's back like a rodeo bull. Eventually the manticore threw her off it's back with a loud snarl and Rainbow took it as her queue to intervene. Yet again, no-one haerd Fluttershy silently pleading them to wait. Maelstrom used his magic to manipulate the sand underneath the manticore and anchored it's feet to the ground, preventing it from jumping away while rainbow spun around it with great speed. The maticore then proceeded to slap rainbow out of the air with it's tail. Maelstrom caught her, but was forced to release the sand trap, therefore freeing the hybrid. It scraped it's front claw at the ground while the mane six sans Fluttershy mirrored it's movements.
"Oh for fuck's sake. WAIT!"
Just as the six were about to charge at the same time, Fluttershy jumped in between them with a serious expression.
"Did Fluttershy just swear?" Maelstrom asked no one in particular. The rest just nodded, just as dumbfounded as the rest. Fluttershy turned around and slowly walked over to the angry animal. It raised a claw. Everyone looked away, not wanting to see such a gruesome scene.
"Sssshhh." Fluttershy hushed at the manticore. "It's okay." She gently explained. She stroked the fur on it's paw and lifted it up. On the bottom, in the sole of it's front paw, stuck a thorn. Now it made sense as of why it acted so violently. The pain was driving it to madness.
"Ooooh, you poor little baby." Fluttershy gently cooed with Rainbow Dash exclaiming 'little!?' in the background.
"Now this might hurt just a second." She said, before grabbing the thorn between thumb and index finger and pulling it out. The manticore roared again, but instead of attacking the gentle mare, it gave her a large lick across her muzzle with a loud purr. Fluttershy giggled softly while cooing at it some more. The mare never failed to impress maelstrom with her close connection with animals.
"How did you know about the thorn?" twilight asked Fluttershy, while the latter tried to comb a cowlick down. "I didn't." she explained. "sometimes we all just need a little kindness."
Maelstrom felt another wave of negative energy as they continued into a deeper part of the everfree. Rarity and Applejack were quietly arguing about Rarity's hatred for mud and thus no-one noticed the blue wisp that caused the rockslide enter an old tree.
Suddenly the trees around them started lighting up. The lines in the bark, combined with sharp branches and holes made it look like they were being stared at from all sides. Everyone, including Maelstrom, panicked and tried to find a way out. He may have been reincarnated, but Maelstrom still had the unreasonable fear for ghosts Naruto always harbored. Combined with the fact that he was already high-strung about the massive doses of negative energy constantly shot at him and he just snapped. Everyone stopped however, when they heard giggling.
Pinkie was just standing in front of one of the faces laughing her pants off while pulling silly faces at it.
"Pinkie!" twilight called out. "what are you doing! Run!"
Pinkie laughed even harder at that. "oh guys. Don't you see?"
When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...
Twilight deadpanned. "Tell me she's not..."
The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown...
Both Rarity and Mael sighed. "She is."
I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all
She said, "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappear."
Ha! Ha! Ha!
So, giggle at the ghostly
Guffaw at the grossly
Crack up at the creepy
Whoop it up with the weepy
Chortle at the kooky
Snortle at the spooky
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!
By the time that Pinkie was done singing, everyone else was laughing along. Mael chuckled and was thankful to the pink party mare that he had regained his composure. The group found a gap between the trees and managed to squeeze through. Maelstrom looked around, his eyes lighting up as he realized just where they were. He knew that somewhere around here should be a calm river. He was brought out of his pondering by a wild splashing sound. The rest of the group gasped as they stopped by the edge of the river. Calm, however, was everything this river was not.
The 'calm' river maelstrom knew was there, was replaced by wild waves. The bridge crossing the river was in shambles, and violent current prevented any chance on swimming to the other side.
'crap' thought Maelstrom. 'of course it just had to get violent today. An' I'm guessing that the bridge is just the universe takin' a shit on us.' A small wisp of dark smoke hastily floated away, but was noticed by Maelstrom this time. "thought so. Not the universe, but an alicorn takin' a shit on us." He deadpanned to himself.
"BOOHOOHOO!" Came a ghastly wail a little upstream. Maelstrom motioned for the rest to follow him as he carefully walked towards the sound. RD and Fluttershy quietly took off from the ground and both Applejack and Pinkie moved closely behind him, Twilight and Rarity. The more they moved upstream, the louder the crying got. They entered a small clearing and stopped before a strange sight.
A massive serpent.
Literally the biggest sea serpent Maelstrom had ever seen was bawling his eyes out. Trashing wildly with his massive tail and whipping up the waves blocking their path. He was a massive purple scaled being with long orange hair and a handlebar moustache on one side of his face. The other side looked like it had been ripped off violently.
"OOOHOOOHOOH! WHAT A WORLD, WHAT A WORLD!" he cried out in anguish. A bit melodramatic, but somehow Maelstrom figured it fit him just perfectly.
"excuse me sir?" twilight began carefully. "why are you crying?"
"well I don't know." The serpent began with a bit of sass. "I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of smoke just whizzed past me and tore half of my glorious moustache clean off my face!" he threw his head in his neck dramatically. "now I just look awful!" he fell backwards, creating another massive wave which missed everyone but Mael.
'really? REALLY?!'
"ugh. Gimme a break!" Dash groaned before Applejack pinched her muzzle. "that's what all the fuzz is about?" Rarity immediately jumped in between the two. "why of course!" she exclaimed. The serpent was now leaning on the shore with a pout. "look at those gorgeous luminescent scales!" the serpent perked up.
"I know right?"
"Or that expertly coiffed hair!"
"Oh I know! I know!"
"not to mention that magnificent manicure!"
"Amen to that sister!"
"all ruined by that torn up moustache!"
The serpent fell back into the water with a dramatic wail "I know! I'm hideous! An abomination!" Rarity glared and grabbed the edge of one of the serpent's massive purple scales before ripping it off. "OW! What'd you do that for?" he sniffed. Rarity poised to strike.
"I simply cannot allow such a crime against fabulosity go unpunished!" she yelled, bringing the razor sharp scale down.
Onto her own tail.
In a fluid cut, Rarity cut off her own beautiful curled tail, leaving only a small patch of hair sticking out of the hole in her skirt. Her horn glowed in an ethereal purple and floated the severed tail up to the serpent's face. With a flash the tail fused with the severed hairs on the serpent's face, completing the torn up moustache.
"OH MY!" the serpent gasped. "why would you do that?"
Rarity merely smiled, though Maelstrom could see that it was a bit forced. "as I've said before. I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go unpunished. This finishes your fabulous appearance, and short tails are in this season anyway."
The serpent calmed down a bit, causing the wild waves to subside as well and stretched his back from one shore to the other. "hop on. This is the least I can do for such a magnificent gift!"
The group carefully hopped onto the serpent's back and swiftly ran over to the other side.
"if you ever need any help regarding serpents, tell them you're friends with archduke Stephan!" he called after them as the disappeared further into the woods.
It was only thirty minutes later that they finally arrived at the supposed burial grounds of the elements of harmony. A humongous ruin of a seemingly ancient castle was vaguely visible in the background, only illuminated by the soft moonlight. Before they could appreciate the sight, however, came a thick mist rolling in the area. A mist thick enough to barely see where you were going. A sudden yelp could be heard as Twilight, again, almost fell down a cliff.
"what is up with you and cliffs" Rainbow asked her with a smirk, at which twilight only responded with an indignant huff. "don't worry." RD called out. "I'll fly over to see if there's a bridge or something."
Maelstrom was barely capable of seeing what was going on on the other side, but he frowned when he saw three strangely dressed pegasi approach RD as she was pulling the old bridge up. They talked with her, and thankfully she seemed to disagree with something they said. She shoo-ed the three away and proceeded to tie the bridge up to a wooden pole. The rest carefully crossed the bridge, each of them thanking Faust a bit when they stood on solid groud.
"what was that just now?" Maelstrom asked the rainbow maned mare, who just shrugged and put her hands in her pockets.
"just some clowns calling themselves 'the shadowbolts'. They tried to persuade me into becoming their leader by abandoning you guys, but there's no way in hell that I'll leave my friends just for a bit of fame." She grinned toothily and Maelstrom chuckled a bit along with her. Genuinely happy that his best friend chose them over fame.
They entered the castle, carefully watching their steps and constantly watching each other's backs until a small problem reared it's head.
A forked hallway. One went left, while the other went right. Maelstrom silently cursed as he activated his negative emotion sensing ability and felt a massive wave of rage, desperation and envy shoot out of the right hallway. The left one, however, emitted peace. No negativity at all. He sighed quietly as he knew what to do.
"well… it seems we need to split up here. That way we cover a lot more ground within a lot less time."
Twilight seemed to agree with his statement and attempted to take charge.
"indeed. We need to split up in two teams. Pinkie, Fluttershy and me go down the right hallway, while Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow and Maelstrom go down the left."
"no."
This was the simple reply of Maelstrom. While he could see the logic of moving into two smaller teams, he was afraid that only three of them would not be enough to fight the likes of Nightmare Moon. He felt it for a split second when he made contact with her during their first skirmish. His beam had hardly any effect on the mare. She merely played along with him in order to lull him into a false sense of victory. He would need every ounce of fighting power to stop the dark mare from reaching the others, and with the others in the way, it was just not possible.
"sorry?" twilight responded incredously. "I said no." came another response. "I'm sorry, but you guys need to stay together. Nightmare Moon is down the right hallway an' there's no way in the nine rings of tartarus that I'm gonna let you fight her." Applejack walked up to him and stared him straight in his eyes. "are you tellin' us to leave you behind? 'cuz I ain't gonna let you fight her all by yerself." He frowned and pushed AJ slightly away. "This isn't up for debate AJ. You're going to find those elements an' I'm gonna keep that maniac away from you guys while you're busy." The two siblings glared at each other for a bit before Applejack finally backed off a little.
"Ya sure you can do it?" she finally asked him. Maelstrom shook his head. "I'm not sure AJ. We're up against an alicorn, basically a demigoddess. But I need to do this. Otherwise she'll be able to stop you all before you can even get close to the elements. This is our best shot at victory and you know it."
With that, he stomped his foot on the ground and a medium sized rune appeared underneath him. A barrier covered the entrance to the right hallway and split him off from the rest.
"This barrier will stay active for fifteen minutes exactly. It will keep you from secretly following me, and it will keep Nightmare Moon from exiting from this hallway. When you find the elements, come back here and wait for the barrier to vanish. I'll keep her busy, now GO!"
AJ nodded with a serious face and ran into the left hallway, closely followed by the other five. As soon as their footsteps faded away, Maelstrom lifted one finger and used magic to cover it in it's red aura. He lifted his shirt a bit and began drawing lines on his stomach.
"better safe then sorry, I guess." He mumbled, before letting his shirt down again and running down the hallway, towards the wave of negative emotions.
He entered a massive rotunda, easily the size of a small stadium and saw that the room itself was in relatively good condition. His senses went into overdrive as he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding a spear made of pure energy. He jumped away and grabbed two spears from a few empty armors and threw them with all of his might. One smashed through one outside wall, and the other pierced a table, completely splintering one side of it. A black blur shot out of it's hiding place and landed behind Maelstrom.
"ahhh. it's been a while since anyone managed to avoid my spear." The dark mare purred seductively into his ear. She pressed her armored assets into his back. "Quick on thine feet, a strong body, magical ability, excellent leadership abilities and quite handsome too. Thou art excellent mating material." she purred seductively as she laid her hand on his cheek. "unfortunately you are currently opposing a member of the royal family, which is high treason, and for that you're sentenced to death!" to his shock she stabbed a rapier made of the same energy as the spear through his shoulder, pulled it pack out and pierced his heart. she laughed manically and looked down at... nothing?
"suprised?" came maelstrom's voice from behind one of the pillars in the room. "I'm not as stupid as I look. I always have a backup."
it was true. as soon as maelstrom was old enough to actively study magic, he went looking for a replacement for his infamous shadow clone jutsu. he found his replacement in the form of the magic doppelganger spell. a spell that created a perfect copy of the user that would fade into nothingness after five minutes, transferring all memories of the clone to the original.
In an instant, he launched himself from his position and yanked a spear from one of the armors standing against the wall. His horn glowed red again as he flung the spear towards the night sky and surrounded the throwing weapon in an ethereal glow. There was a bright red flash. As soon as the flash died down, Nightmare Moon laughed.
"fool! You had one window of attack, and you wasted it with a failed spell!" maelstrom smirked again and pointed his thumb upwards. A slight whistling noise could be heard. As she looked upward, her expression transformed from one of victory, to one of surprise and hastily flung up a pale blue barrier. Not half a second after completing the barrier, dozens of identical copies of the spear rammed into her barrier and the ground around her. Before she could throw up another shield, Maelstrom dashed through the fading copies with his palm stretched out. Nightmare Moon saw the faint magic aura surrounding the appendage and quickly jumped back out of the way before summoning another rapier of pure energy. She struck, he dodged to the side. He kicked, she ducked down. She slashed upwards and he made a backflip out of the way, kicking upwards in mid flip, forcing her to block with the flat end of her blade. Locked in a dance of death, the two eventually reached a stalemate. One that was broken when she stabbed down and he used his palm to knock the edge of the blade to the side. He struck upwards and she bent back, kicking him away. In midair his hands glowed a bright red before firing several magic missiles.
Nightmare Moon deflected the red beams by rapidly spinning her rapier around and made a stabbing motion, her rapier glowed a bright blue for a second before rapidly extending, the tip reading straight for Maelstrom's stomach. He quickly coated his hands in magic and clapped his hands together, catching the blade in between. Unfortunately the blade was still extending, propelling him back.
"fuuuuck!" re roared as he got knocked into a support pillar. he moved both hands to the side, allowing the still extending blade to harmlessly pass by him he pushed himself off of the pillar, reducing it's remains to rubble and propelling him towards the dark mare. he flipped over in midair and mule kicked Nightmare Moon in the chest, throwing her back a few feet into an old dining table.
The impact threw up a cloud of dust and sand, something maelstrom did not hesitate to use to his advantage. He used his magic to manipulate the cloud into a dusty tornado to blind the dark alicorn. With a scream of rage, an electric blue beam shot out of the dust tornado, dispersing the clouds and forcing maelstrom to throw up a round, red barrier. The impact of the beam cracked the shield but he managed to somehow keep it from falling apart under the superior magic user's assault. After a small stalemate, the beam increased in strength and maelstrom's shield faltered a bit.
Big mistake.
"shit!" was all that maelstrom could exclaim as the beam penetrated his barrier and nailed him in his left arm, leaving a nasty burn. The force behind the beam was great enough to fling him against the wall behind him and he could feel his left shoulder's joint pop out of it's socket.
'fuck! Twilight whatever you're doing with those girls, hurry the fuck up! I don't know how long I can keep this up anymore. I could use that spell, but can I use it in combat?' from his position on the ground he looked up at Nightmare Moon, whose attention was, thankfully, still fixated on him. He sighed in irritation. 'one way to find out then.'
He grabbed his left arm and grit his teeth. With a harsh shove and a sickening 'pop' he rammed his shoulder back into it's socket. With a sharp hiss and a pained grunt he pushed himself back up onto his feet. His horn glowed softly as he gathered more energy. Nightmare Moon scowled.
"Thou just refuses to stay down dost thou not?" she asked rhetorically. "We guess we can admire thine perseverance." She charged another beam in the palm of her hands, this one darker than the last one.
"however. It is over." She opened her wings and dug her heels into the ground for extra support. "perish. FILTHY COMMONER!" she let out another enraged roar as she unleashed her beam. A massive pillar of pure destructive, dark purple energy quickly closed in on maelstrom, who was still gathering energy. Crouched down and whispered a single word.
"portae octo… tri."
The pillar of destruction impacted with a loud boom and Nightmare Moon cackled like a madmare. The annoying thorn in her side was finally gone for good. "now that he's gone, it is finally time to destroy Twilight Spar-
She was cut off by a distortion that appeared out of nowhere that impacted against her chest armor, throwing her back into one of the support pillars of the chamber, knocking the air out of her and cracking three of her ribs. She coughed and spat some blood that had gathered in the back of her mouth. With shaking arms and legs she got up and looked around. She directed her gaze and to her disdain saw that her chestplate had snapped in half.
A 1 inch thick solid steel plate… broken.
"what kind of trickery is this!" she roared as she unhooked the remains of the steel plate and flung it to the side. In the corner of her eye she saw the same distortion as before, but yet again, before she could react, it smashed into her helmeted head. Her head violently jerked to the side, yanking the rest of her body along with it.
Nightmare shook her head as the remnants of her helmet broke and fell to the ground. The distortion appeared in seemingly random places along the walls and pillars, leaving spiderweb cracks wherever it vanished and reappearing in rapid succession. Another hit. This time her left shoulder. The armored shoulder pad didn't stand a chance. It ripped off of her shoulder, breaking apart before it even hit the ground. Another spiderweb crack in the wall behind her and the blur clipped her wing. By dumb luck, she swayed a bit, allowing the distortion to only partially hit. It smashed into the pillar next to her and threw up a massive explosion of rubble and dust.. Out of the smoke came a heaving and panting maelstrom. His muscles were bulged to the point of almost ripping and steam came rolling down his back and legs. Veins throbbing violently across his arms and neck. He turned his head to the side.
"it's over." He said as if it were a fact. He grinned widely as he fell back against the remains of the pillar.
"fuck." He panted. The steam from his body now evaporating and his muscles returning to their original size. Now that the steam was gone, Nightmare moon could see why he just fell over.
Tears across his skin.
Along his legs, arms and chest small, but noticeable tears had formed across his skin. Blood was now soaking his fur and the remains of his clothes. His breathing had become ragged and painful as he gasped for air. He chuckled a bit, much to the confusion of the still sore deity of night.
"why art thou laughing? Hast that spell fried thine brains?" she sneered. Maelstrom only chuckled a bit harder. "stop jesting with me and tell me what's so funny!" maelstrom just lifted his hand and waved her off.
"I knew it was better to use that magic." He grunted and turned his head to the side with a painful sigh. His eyes rolled back and fainted. Before Nightmare Moon could ponder upon his enigmatic words, a bright red glowing circle began forming onto the unconscious unicorn's stomach. The further it completed, the wider her eyes went. As the circle became complete, Nightmare Moon had only one thing to say as she began moving back.
"crafty bastard!"
A red pulse shot out of the unicorn's downed form and spread out through the room. Vines began to glow red as well, before growing at an incredible speed. Nightmare moon took off into the air, hoping to escape the vines, but was blocked off as massive roots began to cover all windows and holes in the walls and roof. She cursed loudly as a single vine grabbed her hoof and began dragging her down. A second grabbed her other hoof, while a third grabbed her wrist. A root sneaked it's way between her shoulder blades, keeping her wings from moving and crept around her neck, keeping her down without choking her. She screamed in absolute fury as more and more vines grabbed her by the hands, hooves and twisted themselves around her midriff.
She was locked in place. She was stuck and she knew it so she did the only thing she could in this situation. She struggled against her makeshift prison as she could hear the voices of her (in her honest opinion 'very worthy') opponent's companions getting clearer by the second.
(with the mane six. Twenty minutes ago.)
"Applejack wait!" called twilight a little bit behind her. The farmer slowed down a bit as her friends caught up to her. Not stopping, the group continued to talk while running.
"so Applejack, do you think he can do it?" twilight asked as she ran beside the hat wearing girl. Applejack didn't look at the Librarian but looked to the side out of the passing windows, occasionally seeing a red or blue flash.
"I have faith that that idiot doesn't get himself killed." They entered a large room with a massive hole in the side, overlooking the rotunda where the dark alicorn and the brave unicorn were locked in combat. In the middle of the room, stood a large, strange statue of some kind of old machine. The machine was surrounded by several pedestals, on which six stone orbs rested. A golden plaque read: the elements of harmony.
'this is too easy.' Twilight thought as she carefully treaded near the the elements. A loud boom disturbed her concentration a bit as she looked at the source.
A massive blue beam clashing with a red barrier.
In that moment of lost concentration, she accidentally stepped onto a rune that was carved into the stone floor and activated it. The mane six had to watch in slow motion as Twilight was flung back away from the elements of harmony and a powerful surge of lightning flew directly at the pedestal. The pedestal exploded violently while the mane six could do nothing but watch as their only salvation shattered to pieces.
"NO!" Twilight shrieked distraught. The elements, the only thing that could defeat Nightmare moon, save Maelstrom and princess Celestia, and free Equestria. Shattered.
A series of large explosions shook them from their stupor as they all looked outside towards the rotunda, where Nightmare moon was being flung from one side of the room to the other by some kind of distortion.
"come on Twilight!" Pinkie shouted
"Maelstrom needs our help!" Applejack called out to her.
"Snap out of it!" Rainbow roared.
"get up." Fluttershy said as she pulled the dazed Twilight to her feet.
"we must stop her. Elements, or no elements." Rarity said with finality.
Twilight shook her head to get rid of the remaining cobwebs and seemed to realize something as her eyes widened. She quickly gathered her bearings and took one last look at the shards of the elements.
The trip back was a silent one, occasionally interrupted by a muffled 'boom' noise. Back in the main hall, the group could see that the barrier had faded, just as Maelstrom had promised them.
Halfway down the hallway they could hear female grunts and curses, followed by the occasional scream and accompanied by the unmistakable creaking of wood. They entered the rotunda and gaped in awe as they took in just what was happening.
Nightmare Moon was suspended on the ground by countless vines and roots holding her by the hooves, wrists and neck.
"MAELSTROM!" Came Applejacks distraught scream as she ran over to the crumbled pillar where her brother lied unconscious. "MAEL! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE ALL RIGHT! PLEASE! SAY something!" she carefully hugged the upper part of his torso while the rest watched sadly.
"he put up a good fight." Came the voice of Nightmare Moon. "he even managed to injure me and keep me suspended by these infernal plants." She ground out while tugging at her arms. She stopped as she glared at Twilight. "and? Did you get your precious little elements?" The dark mare smirked victoriously as she gazed upon the empty handed group.
"we did."
"what?" came the gasps of the other girls and Nightmare Moon as they looked at Twilight as if she were insane.
"We do have the elements." She began. "your trap might have destroyed the physical elements but their spirits are still here. With us." She turned her head to the other girls and smiled.
"Applejack whose words reassured me when I was in danger, represents the element of: Honesty!" a beam of orange light shot through the roots and struck Applejack, giving her a bright glow. The glow subsided and around her neck hung a necklace in the shape of her cutie mark.
"Fluttershy who calmed down an angry manticore with her kind words, represents the element of: Kindness!" from the same roots, a pink light hit Fluttershy, startling her. Like with applejack, a necklace appeared around her neck in the shape of a pink, crystal butterfly.
"Pinkie Pie, who laughed in the face of danger represents the spirit of Laughter!" a blue light dropped through a crack in the ceiling, making her giggle a bit. A blue, balloon shaped necklace wrapped around her neck.
"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the element of: Generosity!" a purple glow fell through a window, hitting rarity and making her glow as well. Her necklace took the shape of a purple diamond.
"and Rainbow Dash, who refused to let her friends down represents the spirit of Loyalty!" a red thunderbolt struck through the roof and wrapped around RD, making her glow bright red. After it went away, a red, lightning shaped necklace hung around her neck.
Nightmare Moon laughed as she watched the spectacle. "Fools! You may have the first five elements, but you're missing number six!"
Twilight grinned in a Maelstrom-like fashion. "but we have found it. I found it when you destroyed the elements with your trap. I almost felt like giving up back there and then, but the others convinced me to get up and move forward. Thanks to their friendship, I felt a spark. One that I have not felt since I was a child. On that moment, I knew what the sixth element was."
A white light bashed it's way through the vines and roots covering the roof, hitting twilight and lighting up the whole room. Due to the intensity of the light, Maelstrom got drawn back to the world of consciousness. Half opening one eye he could vaguely make out the shapes of his friends in the light.
"this is the element of magic!" twilight called out with her eyes closed. The white light subsided and on top of her head sat a solid gold tiara with a pink six pointed star shaped crystal on top of it. The six girls began to float into the air as light started to gather around them. The light got brighter and brighter until twilight opened her eyes, revealing that a white light emitted from them. A massive rainbow-colored beam shot out of the new elements of harmony with a loud 'boom!' noise and struck nightmare moon head on.
"NOOOOOO! I CANNOT LOSE HERE! NOT NOW! NOOOOOO!" the dark mare screamed as the rainbow-colored light filled the room and obscured everything from vision.
The light had died down, the magic vines have vanished, and the mane six were all dizzily standing up.
"well…" came a raspy voice from the back of the room. "that was… interesting."
"Maelstrom!" came the excided shout from Applejack as she jumped at him. She pulled him in a bone-crushing hug and sniffled a bit.
"god dammit Mael! You scared the hell outta me! I thought you were dead or somethin'. Never, EVER, do somethin' stupid like that ever again!"
Maelstrom hissed a bit as Applejack's hug irritated his torn skin and muscles. She quickly let go, hilariously dropping him onto his back, eliciting a yelp of pain from him.
"motherfucker!"
"suck it up."
"Love you too sis."
"well this seems like a fun family reunion." A majestic voice said, gaining the attention of everyone present. Out of one of the holes in the walls, the group could see the sun finally rising. A beam of sunlight hit the rooms and out of the light stepped a tall, beautiful mare. she wore a white silk toga-like dress, matching the color of her fur. Along with golden bracelets, a golden pendant in the shape of a sun around her neck and a three pointed crown was perched on top of her head. Her mane and tail were plasma-like, much like the now neutralized Nightmare moon, but in a soft pink, bright teal and oceanic blue shades. She had giant, swan-like wings and a long horn on her forehead, signifying her status as alicorn. "mind if I join you?" her smile was graceful. Twilight smiled brightly as she ran up to the beautiful mare.
"princess Celestia!" she called out. The sun goddess' smile widened as she spread her arms and embraced the purple mare. "Oh Twilight. I knew you could do it." She said as she released the younger mare from her embrace. Twilight looked confused. "but you told me that Nightmare Moon's return was just an old mare's tale." Celestia shook her head and crossed her arms as she looked at her student in amusement. "I told you that you needed to make some friends. Nothing more." She looked over to the other elements of harmony and Maelstrom. "I've seen the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew that only you had the magic inside you to defeat her. But you could not unleash it on your own you needed your friends to unlock the inner power from your heart." She then frowned. "now if only another would accept others as well." She looked over to the middle of the room where a grayish blue alicorn laid in a smoking crater. Her dress was torn and her armor was broken and scattered around her, her mane and tail now a dull dark blue. "isn't that so… Luna?"
The smaller alicorn looked up from her position on the stone floor as the larger alicorn gracefully stepped over to her. She gasped in fright and shrunk away as Celestia came closer.
"It has been a thousand years since I've seen you like this." She kneeled down to take a better look at the smaller alicorn. Her eyes were full of concern. "It's time to put our differences behind us." She stuck out her hand which Luna carefully accepted. "we were meant to rule together my sister." She said with a sad smile, eliciting a shocked 'sister?!' from the group. Luna looked conflicted as she bowed her head deeply. A small 'drip' could be heard as a stray tear found it's way down the small alicorn's cheek and onto the ground. Luna jumped up and wrapped her arms around Celestia's neck as she cried.
"I'm so sorry sister! I've missed you so much!" Celestia wrapped her arms around her younger sibling's shoulders and rested her chin on top of Luna's head and let out a few tears of joy.
"I've missed you too."
During the tearful reunion of the two estranged sisters, Applejack subconsciously hugged Maelstrom.
Tighter… tighter… tighter…
"Maelstrom!" RD yelled when she saw the grey furred stallion slowly turn an awkward shade of blue. Applejack looked down and with a surprised gasp let him go. Again. Dropping him, yet again, on his back.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
It was about two hours later that they exited the Everfree forest. Maelstrom, now with bandages wrapped around his torso, upper arms and both calves limping while leaning on the shoulder of Applejack while Twilight was busy catching up to Celestia. Luna walked a little bit behind the group, unsure of what to do, or say. Pinkie cheered as they entered the small town. Mayor Mare came running as soon as she saw that the princess was safe and sound. The two mares exchanged a couple of words, occasionally looking over to the elements and Luna. Eventually the mayor nodded and ran off.
The group followed slowly, as not to aggravate Maelstrom's torn muscles even more. They arrived on Ponyville's cental plaza and were delighted to see that the mayor was ordering ponies around to set up the tables, food, drinks and musical equipment outside. Applejack set Maelstrom down on a chair next to the table holding a portion of the confections and went to go get nurse Redheart.
About ten minutes later the white coated nurse unwound the bandages and started inspecting his cuts, bruises and torn muscles.
"honestly Mael. You look like you got hit by a Train cart and flung into a mountain of glass shards." She said humorlessly. "I'm going to need to disinfect these cuts with alcohol and you need to take it easy." She grabbed a small bottle and a cotton ball from her bag and soaked the cotton ball with the contents of the bottle.
"now clench your teeth. This is going to hurt like roadburn."
Before Maelstrom could even react, she swiped the cotton ball across one of the larger cuts and he yelped loudly.
"don't be such a baby." The nurse told him sternly. Something Maelstrom could only nod at. For five minutes straight, nurse Redheart swiped several alcohol soaked cotton balls across his cuts, occasionally hissing a bit at the size of some of them. After she threw the last ball into a plastic bag, she applied fresh bandages and helped him put on his shirt.
"the cuts are numerous, but shallow. They'll be gone in a few days time. I've taken care of any chance of an infection so there's no need to worry about that." Both Maelstrom and Applejack sighed in relief at that news. "your muscles on the other hand, are heavily damaged. For as far as I can see, they're going to heal nicely, but you're going to be sore as hell for about three months so I suggest you take it easy. Don't do any heavy lifting, don't try to race miss Dash and try to keep partying to a minimum and I think you'll be just fine."
With that being said, the nurse got her bag and went back to the doctor's office.
"go." Maelstrom said. Gaining Applejack's attention. "go ahead and have fun with the others."
"you gonna be alright?" she asked him cautiously. Maelstrom chuckled. "the nurse told me to take it easy. I won't leave this table, so go ahead. Have fun. I'll be fine" Applejack nodded before running off to join her friends on the dancefloor. Maelstrom leaned over and grabbed a bottle of liquid. He checked the label and grinned, before grabbing a glass.
"nothing better then a nice glass of good ol' whiskey in the early afternoon." He filled the glass and took a sip, letting the burning aftertaste sink in. he sighed in discomfort before scanning the festival. Princess Celestia was discussing a few things with mayor Mare, his sister was dancing with her friends. He sweatdropped a bit when he saw Twilight's attempt to dance and he had to suppress a laugh when spike turned red in embarrassment.
Then he saw her.
Luna stood by herself by one of the other tables. A cup filled with purple punch in her hands and a forlorn look on her face. he grunted as he waved her over. Apparently she didn't expect that since she jumped a little when she saw him looking straight at her.
Cautiously she walked over to him, her eyes shining with regret. He just patted the chair next to him as a sign to take a seat. She sat down and took a small sip of her punch.
"everyone's got to carry their own burdens Luna." maelstrom began, making her jump a little at his serious tone. "there's no escaping that, but the severity of the burden depends on yourself. in the end, the most important thing is." he took a sip of the alcoholic beverage, looking at his sister having fun with the other bearers of the elements and looked back at her.
"you're no longer alone."
he waved over to the other elements, celestia and the residents of Ponyville.
"even if we have to carry our own burdens, that doesn't mean we can't accept any help from friends, family or even an old enemy." maelstrom grinned at the now conlicted looking Princess.
'hell. I got help from Sasuke, Gaara and Kurama in the end, and those three each tried to kill me at some point in life.' he thought flatly while taking another large gulp from his drink.
"why are you being so kind to me?" she asked him. Making him look back at her. In her smaller form, her voice was a lot smoother. Lighter. Less… malicious, he noticed.
"do you not hate me for attempting to kill you? Harm your sister? Your friends?" she had raised her voice a little bit. "it's my fault that you're bound to your chair while the rest can enjoy the festivities."
Maelstrom raised his arm while Luna shrunk into her chair, expecting him to hit her for everything she'd done to him.
He just placed his hand on top of her head, and started stroking her hair.
"I'm pissed at Nightmare Moon. Not you. You are Princess Luna. One of the two royal sisters, guardian of the night and ruler of dreams. Nightmare Moon was a tyrant, a monster and an idiot." He said with a warm tone. She looked back up, eyes brimming with tears now.
"but what if she comes back?" the princess of the night asked the bandaged stallion. "what if that… that thing takes over again?!"
Maelstrom poked her forehead with two fingers, breaking her out of her line of thoughts.
"then I will be there, to stop her, and save you again." She let a few tears loose. "No matter how many times you fall, I will be there to catch you. That is a promise of a lifetime."
No one knew yet, but this one act of kindness would later turn into a wonderful friendship. And even later, into something much more.
A/N: dear god, done! So this is the last chapter of the two-parter that start the canon timeline. Now I'm not going to do a chapter for every episode, only a few of them per season, but do not fret, there is also going to be some original content, regarding Mael's daily life.
Seventhharmony- out!