PSYCHOPATH - Lol that it did, and it's gonna get even realer this chapter. I'm actually 29.
raritysman403 - Yup, he done a baaad thing.
Rider MLP - Dun Dun Duuunn
frytrix - Why thank you.
Guest(1) - I'm honestly not sure how your review made it past the moderation. I believe I've made it quite clear in the past that I don't appriciate vulgarity or excessive swearing in reviews.
KillerWow - We like to keep our readers on the edge of their seats and anxious for the next installment. ;) You'll find out more about the sword in later chapters, but again, I don't want to make the main character overpowered.
Guest(2) - This will be the last time I answer this review. Due to a busy schedule, I can only update once a week, and I have chosen early Tuesday morning as my update time. I apologize if this is inconvenient, but this is all I can do for the moment.
The Request Author - That's ok, long reviews mean more feedback to work with and use to improve both my writing style and the story itself. Oh, I know what you mean, and if I do make it skippable, that's how I plan to do it. Thanks for the input.
marco2o - You're welcome. :D
UnknownHero55 - You'll see zombies several times in this story, though props if you recognized the ones Luna used for target practice.
Shodapop98 - Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think it's a good idea. I was just worried that it would kill the illusion.
HYBRID BATTLESHIP INFINITY210 - Not sure how well that's gonna work out for you...
Zelfra1234 - Yeah, I've noticed I've been ending a lot of chapters like that, I'll try to cut back on that, at least for awhile. ;) His stories are good, but his writing style can be headache-inducing at times.
A/N - Howdy Everypony! Here we are with another exciting installment of A Second Chance! Things are going to get pretty hectic this chapter, so buckle your seatbelts. I'd like to let everypony know that after next week's update (8/26/14), I'll be going on a vacation to places like Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore, which will put me on hiatus for between two weeks and a month as I won't be able to access the internet to update during that period. I want to apologize in advance to my loyal readers, I know how much waiting for a story you love to update sucks, but this is the first actual vacation I've ever been on (as sad as that is). Stay awesome everypony! As always, follow/favorite, review, and most importantly, enjoy!
"Sister! Wait for me!" Luna shouted as Celestia took flight and charged towards the source of the explosion. "Blake, remain here, my sister and I can handle whatever may be causing this." Luna bade me before spreading her ebony wings and following her sister.
I groaned as I took as step in the direction they'd headed, the pain in my side was intense, and I could tell I was in no shape to do much. I was quickly stopped by a pair of grey forelegs wrapping around my waist. "Blake! The princess said to stay here!" Derpy pleaded.
"I'm sorry Derpy, but I can't, I need to do something."
"But why, Blake?"
"Because I refuse to be helpless." I replied with as much steel as I could muster.
"Why?" Derpy repeated, almost pleading.
"Because I had to watch helplessly as my sister was raped and murdered by our own father." I growled. "I refuse to let anything like that happen ever again."
Her hooves loosened around my waist and I took a pained step forward. She sniffled behind me as I took another step. My knee almost buckled from under me and I instinctively shot a hand out to catch myself. My hand met with resistance in the form of a coat of soft, grey fur. My marefriend smiled up at me. "If you're going, I'm going too."
I felt a smile spread across my face. As much as I didn't want to see her in danger, I knew I wouldn't get very far in my condition. "Well, let's get going then."
We made our way towards Canterlot Square, which had been the source of the explosion as far as we could tell. There was a flood of frightened nobles headed away from the square, and in their panic, they bumped the two of us and we were quickly separated. "Derpy!" I shouted. She jumped up as if making to fly over to me, but her wings were tangled in one of the sashes of her dress, and she dropped back into the crowd and was quickly swept away.
Knowing that I had no chance to catch up to her, I turned back in the direction we had been heading and limped my way over to the source of the commotion. As I rounded a corner and the square came into sight, my vision was filled with a scene that chilled me to the core, causing me to duck back around the corner. There in the center of the square, were all my friends and marefriends, save Derpy, Lyra and Vinyl. Even the princesses had been captured. They were being held to the ground by some sort of shadowy chains, and were surrounded by what I could only describe as nightmares; there were ponies wearing dark versions of the Wonderbolt's flight suits, zombie ponies, each showing varying levels of decay, and several familiar ponies staring blankly out in front of them, each of their left eyes were completely white. My jaw dropped in horror as I recognized one of the expressionless ponies. "Derpy… no…"
I stared for several long seconds at the mare, hoping that I was just seeing things, that it wasn't really the grey coat or blonde mane of my newest marefriend. My attention was suddenly drawn to a figure standing in the center of this, a figure I had somehow overlooked. "HAHAHA! After all this time, I shall finally have revenge against you and your pathetic little ponies!"
Something about this new pony, who was an alicorn by the look of her, sent a chill down my spine. Her regalia was similar in color to Luna's slippers, though it more closely resembled armor than mere ornamental attire; this was driven home by the helmet adorning her head, her ebony horn jutting through the top. She reminded me a lot of Luna, though where Luna's coat was a deep blue, this mare's was solid black; they even shared a similar mane, save for this new mare's more closely resembling the deep void of space than a calm night sky. Even though she was threatening everything I had left to care about, I couldn't help but admire her form, which was sinister yet beautiful. All I could do was watch as her slitted, turquoise eyes roamed over her captives.
"As if it were not bad enough that you banished me to the moon for a thousand years, when I returned, you sent your lackeys to try and destroy me!" The mare's shouting brought me back to reality. "Do you have any idea how that felt?! To be ripped apart and discarded like wrapping paper from a Hearth's Warming present!? I would rather be banished to the moon for another thousand years than endure that torture and humiliation again!" She paced around Celestia as she shouted at her.
The mare chuckled to herself for a moment. "Well, it's of no matter now; as you tortured me, so too shall I torture you, by forcing you to watch your own subjects perish and fall under my reign!" Celestia's eyes went wide in a mixture of fear and rage. "Go my minions, seek out any you can find and return them here, that their beloved ruler may watch as their lives are stolen from them." I heard several muffled grunts from the captive princess, which meant that she was gagged somehow.
With her command, the zombies shambled off and the Wonderbolt imposters took flight to fan out and spread throughout the city. I turned from the scene, helpless without a weapon. This situation made me dearly wish that I had my pistol with me, though it would have been useless as Luna had yet to clone more ammunition for it. As I made my way to the palace, a chilling thought came to mind. If Rainbow Dash is over there, where is Scootaloo?
I made my way to the palace and my room, seeking out the only other weapon I had; my sword. Once I had it, I would figure out what to do from there. The progress was slow, though fortunately my mind was becoming accustomed to the pain in my side and I was able to move somewhat more quickly than before. I cursed my room being so far into the palace as I made my way through the white marble halls. "Psst! Hey, over here!" A voice came from the room to my left.
I looked over to see the doctor who had tended to me when Flash had accidentally blasted me with her magic motioning me into the room he was hiding in. I ducked into the room to see several other ponies, including nurse Snowheart, were hiding here as well. Judging by their gowns, dresses and suits, they had been enjoying the party when chaos erupted. "What the hay is going on? Why is Nightmare Moon back?" The doctor asked me worriedly.
"I have no idea; I didn't even know that was Nightmare Moon until you mentioned her. I was on my way to get my sword when you called me in here though."
The doctor looked me up and down. "You're in no condition to do any fighting, I heard about what Blueblood did to you and Snowheart and I were headed to the hospital to prep a room for you when the attack happened."
"Well, I don't exactly have time to lollygag around in a hospital room right now in case you haven't noticed. Is there a way you can help with the pain and get me into fighting shape?"
The doctor grimaced. "I can cast a spell to alleviate the pain; however, it will by no means leave you in any shape to fight."
I nodded. "That'll be good enough Doc, I just need to get out there fast, Nightmare Moon is having her minions gather up ponies to be executed in front of Celestia and Luna."
There was a chorus of gasps and several fearful whimpers. "Very well." The Doc said with a sigh. "Hold still please, this is a localized anesthetic spell." His horn lit up as did the area around my stab wound. I felt a strange sensation that was both cooling and tingled at the same time flow from either side of my injury and met in the middle. "There you are. Now, while you won't feel any pain, any excessive movement will still make your injury worse. I would advise avoiding combat as much as possible."
"Thanks Doc, I owe you one for this." I said as I made for the door.
I checked both directions in the hall and made my way to my room, now unhindered by pain. Fortunately the halls were clear the entire way, and I was able to reach my destination in good time. I opened my door quietly and peeked inside to make sure that none of Nightmare Moon's minions had found their way in. Finding the room clear, I walked in and retrieved the blade from the corner it was resting in. I turned and left my room, headed back down the hall.
"There's one, get him!" A female voice shouted behind me. I turned around to see a trio of the Wonderbolt imposters standing at the juncture of a side hallway I had passed moments before. They rushed me without another word, and I reflexively drew my sword and held it between myself and my attackers in a defensive posture.
The mare of the group struck first, slamming her forehooves into my sword and knocking me off balance as the other two dove in. In a desperate move, I swung my sword at the two about to drive me to the ground, cleaving through one's neck and severing his head, causing the other to dodge and fly past me to avoid a similar fate. The mare growled and jumped at me, impaling herself on my blade as I brought it back around from my initial swing. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as the light left her eyes and she slumped onto me.
"NNNOOOOO!" I looked over my shoulder in time to see the one who had dodged around me leaping at me with some sort of blade strapped to his hoof. With no time to react, and with the mare still impaled on my sword, all I could was watch as time seemed to slow down as the gleaming blade closed in on me for what was sure to be a killing blow.
There was a flash of light to my right and a beam of magic struck the stallion and sent him crashing into the wall. I looked over to see none other than a disheveled Midnight Flash sticking her head out of a doorway. "What the hay is going on out here?!"
"Canterlot's under attack by Nightmare Moon Captain; go sound the call to arms, I'll see about delaying her from killing any ponies." I replied as I tilted my sword to allow the body of the Wonderbolt imposter to fall off it. Instead of falling off however, she exploded into a black mist and dissipated. "What the hell?"
Flash trotted up to me. "Shadow clones. It's a forbidden magic; scholars have never been able to determine if they're actually sentient or just imitating life." She looked up from my sword blade and into my eyes. "You don't look like you're in shock. I assume you've taken a life before?"
I nodded. "Once…" I replied quietly.
She nodded silently. "I see." She said after a moment. "I'll gather up the off-duty guard, you stall Nightmare Moon."
She took off down the hall leading deeper into the palace as I resumed heading towards the exit. As I rounded another corner, I ran into another familiar face. "Ah, Blake Marshall! Can you tell me what is going on? One minute I was enjoying the party in your honor, the next, all Tartarus broke loose!"
"Desert Star! I'm glad to see you're alright, there's been an attack on both Canterlot and the crown, I'm on my way to mount a counter-attack; you should find a safe place to hide."
She let out a long sigh. "It seems I simply cannot enjoy my holiday." She looked back to her escort. "I cannot allow you to do this alone my friend. Take my guards, they shall serve you loyally." The stallions behind her snapped to attention before moving over to me.
"Thanks Desert Star, I owe you one. Now go hide, there's a room back down the hall on your right with several other ponies already gathered, you should be safe there." She nodded and made her way to the room I indicated while I made my way towards the entrance once again with my new squad.
We exited the main gate to see Nightmare Moon standing victoriously in front of a group of cowering nobles. "Now that we have an audience, I believe we can begin." She said with a sickening arrogance. "You can watch your ponies cower in fear as they watch their own loved ones slaughtered before them, their princess helpless to save them." She explained to a snarling Celestia before bursting into a fit of maniacal laughter. From this vantage point, I could see why none of the guard on duty had opposed Nightmare Moon; they were all bound in a circle on one side of the courtyard.
"Why are you doing this?! You weren't like this the last time you were here!"Rainbow Dash exclaimed, having managed to spit her gag out.
Nightmare Moon walked over to Dash, glaring down on her the entire time. She raised a hoof and slapped Dash across the face, using her magic to stuff the gag back into her mouth before the brash Pegasus could spit out the blood that had splashed into her mouth from being hit by the metal-clad hoof. "Silence, foal. I don't need to explain anything to you." She seemed to contemplate something. "Hmm… However, I suppose I could grant you this one nicety before I slay you and your friends. The last time you saw me, Luna and I were one being, my pathetic other half's soft heart held back my true nature. Unfortunately for you, this is no longer the case, and I am free to do as I please.
I turned back to the stallions under my command. "We need to stop this now. Those are innocent civilians about to be mercilessly slaughtered, and we cannot allow that." The stallions gave me a silent salute. "It looks like we're outnumbered two-to-one, but most of those are those zombies, so they should be little more than fodder. You, you, you and you" I pointed out four stallions. "Break left and distract their main forces. The two of you will come with me and confront Nightmare Moon before she can start executing civilians."
The stallions I indicated to be the distraction slipped off between two buildings. A moment later, there was a commotion off to my left. As the main group of Nightmare's soldiers flocked to the location to deal with the attackers, I signaled my two stallions to follow and charged. She noticed our approach and laughed. "A cunning strategy, but do you really think it will be that easy?!" At that moment, several of the shadow-cloned Wonderbolts swooped in from adjacent rooftops and a large number of zombie ponies shuffled in from between nearby buildings.
What was meant to be a surprise assault and a quick victory quickly turned into a struggle for survival as we were suddenly outnumbered easily ten-to-one. I began working my way through Nightmare Moon's minions as best as I could, hacking and slashing, ducking and weaving; all the while there was a tugging sensation in my side which I could only guess meant that my injury was getting worse.
As I slashed through a Shadowbolt, as I had decided to dub them, I felt an odd urge to turn around. I did so with blade readied for the next kill only to be stopped in my tracks; there before me, was Derpy. She was looking up to me through her good eye, which seemed… hollow, somehow. She took a few steps towards me before something odd happened; her movements became jerky, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. In an instant, it hit me. She's fighting back… She's still in there!
"I'm so sorry for this Derpy." I apologized before darting past her as her hooves jerkily reached out to strike me, whipping my sword back and striking the back of her head with the pommel and sending her crashing to the ground. In the instant before her eyes closed, I noticed the left regain its normal, golden color. "DON'T HURT THE BLANK-EYED ONES!" I roared above the din of combat.
Just then, my senses told me to turn around again. This time, I was confronted with another Shadowbolt, blade drawn and flying at me at high speed. Just before impact, a familiar bolt of magic slammed into his side and sent him careening into a group of zombies. "Looks like that's two you owe me!" Midnight shouted from my left as she and at least four dozen guards started pouring from in, around, and above several nearby buildings.
As the flood of guards washed over the horde of minions, a wave of relief washed over me, that is until Nightmare Moon decided to join the fray and began firing bolts of her own magic into the crowd. Seeing the distraction, the captured nobles saw fit to try and escape. Amongst them, I noticed the same grey mare that had been playing the cello, running in a different direction from the rest of the group with a look of fear and worry etched on her face.
"NO! You shall not escape me!" Nightmare Moon roared as she noticed her captives escaping. I saw her swing her head around and charge a bolt of magic in her horn. I looked in the direction she was and noticed that she was targeting the grey mare, who appeared to be making a bee-line for her cello.
Without thinking, my legs went into motion, propelling me towards the mare in danger. There was a flash of dark blue light as Nightmare Moon discharged her horn. With no time left, I dove towards the oblivious mare and slammed into her side, knocking her out of the way as the deadly spell rocked overhead and smashed into the cello, detonating and sending shrapnel everywhere. I felt my sword go flying as the concussion wave hit us.
"YOU IDIOT!" The mare roared at me. "Look at what you've done! That cello was my very livelihood!" I pushed her head down as a Shadowbolt flew overhead in an attempt to take quite a bit off the top.
"Considering that bolt was about to hit you, maybe you should be a little more grateful." I told her sharply as I stood up, grunting in pain as I noticed a large shard of the former musical instrument lodged in my side. I heard the mare gasp as I snapped it off close to the skin and took off to dive back into the thick of things.
"Maybe I should hang around you more often Blake! This is one hay of a good fight you found!" I heard Midnight call from my right. I looked over to see her skillfully dispatching a pair of zombies with a Gladius-like blade.
Every so often, new zombies would shuffle out from between buildings and new Shadowbolts would swoop in from above to join the fray. It was getting harder and harder to will my sore, tired body to continue fighting, but I did so anyway, knowing the only other option was to let Nightmare Moon win, something I would never allow.
We continued the battle, as the number of combatants on both sides dwindled, so too did the shouting and sounds of battle. Taking quick stock of things, I noticed that we were gaining the advantage in the skirmish, though several of the ponies on our side were being injured in the process. In the next several minutes, we had mopped up the remainder of Nightmare Moon's forces.
I grabbed my side in pain as the spell the doctor had cast on me began wearing off. My body was screaming at me from the various injuries I collected during the struggle against Nightmare Moon's forces. I was struggling to stand at this point, my vision was growing fuzzy. Great, I must be bleeding internally.
I looked towards where the dark alicorn and her remaining prisoners were, only to see that two of the Shadowbolts remained, each with a wrist-blade pressed to the throat of one of the princesses. "Don't move! If anypony tries to stop our queen, your princesses lives are forfeit!" The female Shadowbolt shouted out to the remaining guard forces.
"If I cannot take Canterlot, I can at least take my revenge!" Nightmare Moon shouted, catching my attention long enough to notice her lifting Twilight up by a ring of magic wrapped around her neck, her hind legs flailing uselessly as she used her forelegs to grapple with the ring and struggled to free herself. "I believe making you watch the Element of Magic perish shall do quite nicely." Celestia began roaring into her gag and slamming against her bonds, but to no avail.
The night guards were crouched in threatening stances openly snarling at the two Shadowbolts threatening the princesses. They responded by holding their blades closer to the bound princesses' necks; I growled as I saw a line of red soak into Luna's dark fur. I took an angered step closer to the group, earning a glare from the Shadowbolts, who began shifting their blades anxiously.
The sinister alicorn began charging a large bolt of destructive magic in her horn as Twilight's eyes went wide in fear. I saw the two Shadowbolts drop, each with a throwing knife sticking out of their chests. I looked up briefly to see two of Desert Star's guards standing on a rooftop across from me. Taking the opening, I charged Nightmare Moon, catching her attention as she turned to see me spear her into the ground. I scrabbled up and drew my fist back to put her lights out. "INSOLENT CUR!" She roared as her head whipped around to face me again, her horn pointed at my chest.
Before I could react to defend myself, she discharged the spell intended for Twilight, the searing bolt of deadly energy slamming into my chest and sending me flying several meters backwards. I somehow flipped in midair, landing awkwardly on my feet before rolling backwards several times. The entire time, I felt and heard the sickening crunches and pops of various bones breaking and dislocating as I slammed repeatedly into the hard, uneven cobblestone roadway.
I finally rolled to a stop face down, vaguely aware of a warm, sticky liquid pooling beneath me. I looked up and through my fading vision, I could see that Nightmare Moon had gotten back to her hooves and her horn was arcing with electricity. Twilight however had stopped struggling and was reaching a hoof out to me, a look of pure terror on her face.
I looked to my left on a whim, and my eyes locked onto the hilt of my blade, lying beside an unconscious noble. I reached my hand out to grab it, but almost instantly realized I'd never be able to reach it. I felt a familiar tingling sensation as my magic activated, though I had not called on it. The sword was wreathed in my blue-flecked golden aura and levitated up off the ground.
Somehow, I suddenly knew what to do, and with a mental push, I commanded the sword to fly. The sword followed my mental command and zipped off in Nightmare Moon's direction, but exertion was too much for my weakened body to handle, and my vision faded as I lost consciousness. Before my hearing followed, I heard the crackle of electricity and a scream that could only have come from one mare.
I'm sorry Twilight, I failed you…