An Old Equestrian Storm

004

"Once they were sure Nightmare had left Ponyville, the citizens did their best to start piecing things back together. Living so close to the Everfree had made them used to dealing with weirdness. A god-tier being crashing their party and bringing about eternal night was just another day at the office to them."

My eyes snapped open, a cold glare twisting my features as I stared up at the full moon still present in the sky. Several facts made themselves clear to me in that moment, only serving to fuel the burning wrath that surged through me.

First and foremost, nobody -or nopony- had managed to defeat Nightmare Moon in the time it took for me to recover from what was supposed to be a mortal wound. I was rather annoyed that Nightmare hadn't bothered to kill me either. It was as if she didn't see me as enough of a threat to her attempts at ruling Equestria. Oh well, I'd sort that out soon enough. After all, it seemed that I was the only one with any drive or motivation to fix the problem. Injuries or not, I had to get up and fix the problem before the world fell apart around me. On that note, I still needed to see the full extent of the damage. Even without looking I could tell that I'd need to replace my clothes. A shirt does not simply survive a magical laser blast.

I forced myself to sit up, gritting my teeth at the hot wave of pain that erupted from my chest in protest. I stared down at my chest, and wished I hadn't. The front of my shirt, along with the bandages underneath, were completely destroyed, the edges charred from the heat. Similarly, the skin underneath was covered in angry red burns. I frowned as I considered my surroundings, but soon pieced together a much clearer picture of what had happened. Nightmare's beam had been mostly kinetic in nature, launching me through a small house or two judging by the wreckage visible ahead and around me. The force had been enough to blast me to the edge of the Everfree, but thankfully not into the Everfree. I probably wouldn't have survived if my landing site had been beyond the dark treeline.

Against the constant protest of my injuries, I rose to my feet and slowly limped my way back toward town. I was dead-set on finding my Schiavona and retrieving my katana from Ponyville's town hall... or what was left of it anyways. I saw ponies scrambling around the streets, with volunteer crews already sorting through the wreckage and piecing their lives back together. I passed through, keenly aware of the wide-eyed stares directed my way and the number of parents pulling their foals closer. Trust is shattered so easily, I thought, my hand brushing down the black leather that covered the hilt of my Schiavona. The weapon had landed point-first in the road and buried at least three inches of its blade in the dirt. I saw a few thin streaks of blood on the blade, and almost smirked. Looks like I'd managed to get in at least one lucky shot during my round with Nightmare. Without ceremony, I pulled my sword from the dirt, wiped its blade off on the sleeve of my jacket, and returned the weapon to its rightful place in the sheath on my hip. With that point on my to-do list finished, I approached the wreckage of the town hall, unable to hold back a whistle at the sight of the collapsed building.

Nothing over two meters had survived Nightmare's battle with me, and I didn't even know where to begin looking for my sword case in the mess of wood and stone. I knew that my katana had survived, considering the case it was in had been rated for some very rough conditions, but I wouldn't be able to get it for my next round with Nightmare.

"Rain?" Tenderheart's voice interrupted my thoughts, followed by a sharp gasp when I turned to face the blue Earth Pony. She was flanked on either side by the Royal Guards that had been responsible for providing security during the celebration. Both stallions had their share of injuries as well, if the bandages peeking out from under their golden armor were any indication.

"Was hoping to pick up my other sword before I headed out," I explained, looking at the rubble again, "I don't have flight or magic at my disposal. The best I can count on is another weapon."

"If you try to fight the Nightmare in your condition-" Tenderheart stepped forward, but paused and stared at the burns on my chest again.

"He won't have the chance. Creature, you're under arrest," One of the guards strode forward, fishing a set of heavy iron manacles out from under his armor that looked like they were sized for a much larger being. I couldn't hold back a snort of disdain, and turned back to the rubble, trying to picture it as a completed building to retrace where my sword case was buried. After a moment, I felt something close around my wrist, only to slide off a second later. I deadpanned at the guard that had tried to capture me, the same guard that was now slowly retreating with his ears folded back and tail tucked between his legs.

"Didn't quite plan that one out, did you?" I chuckled dryly, before bending down and putting as much force as I could muster into moving a large piece of the stone dome that used to top the town hall. Once that was out of the way, I shifted a few smaller pieces of debris until I finally came face to face with a stylized blue lion head. A small frenzy of clearing later, and I had my sword case in my hands once again. I heard the trio of ponies behind me squabbling softly, but I paid them no mind as I unlocked the case and pulled the katana from its resting place.

"I'll only say it once, creature! Put down your weapons and surrender!" The second royal guard demanded, holding a pair of manacles the same size as his partner's. By that point I was getting fairly annoyed, and my temper was starting to run a bit hotter than it needed to.

"I'm really not in the mood right now," I replied, letting some of the real emotions I was feeling slip to the surface in place of the calm and friendly facade I'd been presenting. The guard narrowed his eyes and took another step forward, bringing him into range.

"Lieutenant, stand down. I'll take it from here," A young stallion's voice spoke up, quickly dispelling any chance of conflict. A shame too. I wanted to see how a trained guard stacked up against my self-taught swordsmanship.

The newcomer was a white unicorn stallion in a variant of the armor seen on the other soldiers. Rather than being solid gold, his was colored a rather embarassing shade of purple and trimmed with gold, which did help to outline the separate plates and points of flexibility. There was one article of equipment that didn't quite seem to match the others. It was a black belt with a rectangular silver buckle, set with a trio of buttons that were far too small for hooves to operate properly and centered with a large spherical diamond that seemed to glow under its own power. The design was hauntingly familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen it before.

"My name's Shining Armor. I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard," The unicorn introduced himself, offering a blue hoof in greeting. After a firm handshake, he didn't give me a chance to reciprocate. "You're the 'strange creature' who tried to fight Nightmare Moon without any sort of magic. Considering you're still standing with Class Three Thaumic Burns, I can believe it."

"Maybe you can talk some sense into him, Captain Armor," Tenderheart said, "He's going to try and find Nightmare in the Everfree Forest with those injuries!"

"I don't see what the problem is, Miss," Shining Armor answered, "If he wants to help save Equestria... no, all of Equis, then that's his right. I was just about to go do pretty much the same thing."

Finally. Finally one of the ponies was willing to actually do something about the problem instead of panicking or blame shifting.

"What? Captain, you can't do that!" The Lieutenant exclaimed. Shining Armor sighed and closed his eyes, then raised a hoof and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes and mouth, I braced myself for my first pony-based verbal rant.

"As of right now, Princess Celestia is MIA. Since my job as Captain is limited to passing down orders from her, that makes me effectively useless right now. The entire E.U.P. Guard is in motion, providing protection to every city and town in Equestria. My job is done until Princess Celestia is recovered, and that's not going to happen until somepony takes care of the Nightmare. Fortunately, the Princess left a contingency plan for this situation, and that's why I'm wearing this really uncomfortable belt."

"What's so uncomfortable about it?" I wondered, and was fixed with a blank stare from Shining Armor. I took a moment to consider just where the belt was on his body, and what else would be near that location on a quadruped.

"I understand your pain, and applaud the sacrifice you're making for your country."

"It's appreciated," Shining replied, shifting uneasily on his hooves.

"So, this is the Everfree. I've heard horror stories about this place," Shining commented as we stood outside of the dark forest. Nightfall hadn't done the Everfree any favors. The moon's light barely penetrated the canopy, and there was a constant shifting in the shadows that put me on edge. Nearly silent whispers played with the limits of my hearing, making me feel entirely lucky I couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Even fiction is grounded in some shred of truth," I shuddered slightly, stepping forward onto the shadowed path.

"Way to sooth my nerves," Shining Armor chuckled, the clopping of his hooves following a second behind me. "I never did get your name."

"It's Rain," I replied, neatly ducking a low-hanging branch and vaulting over a fallen log in the path.

"No last name?"

"None that I can remember. Apparently I got hit with some form of mind-altering dark magic before I arrived in Ponyville. Fortunately the staff of Ponyville General cleaned it out of my system before anything worse could happen," I finished my short backstory with a small shrug. "Pretty sure 'Rain' wasn't my original name either. Still, it fits in better around here than whatever jumble of human nonsense my old name was."

"Yeah. It's a pretty common Pegasus name. After this is over, do you want me to get an investigation started once this business is taken care of?"

"Keep an ear to the ground for a similar situation, but otherwise it isn't worth the effort," I replied, "Just from what fragments I've seen, the old memories weren't worth saving."

Our conversation lapsed into silence after that. We'd passed far enough into the forest for things to get really dangerous, and talking would draw extra attention to our position. The Timberwolves were bad enough, I didn't even want to know what the full moon had brought out to play.

"So persistent. It's an admirable trait, but one I'm finding more and more annoying the more I have to deal with you," Nightmare's voice whispered in my ear. Shining Armor flinched at my side and began looking around for the source of the voice, his horn lighting with a pink glow.

"I've got your number, Nightmare Moon," Shining said, glaring into the darkness, "One way or another, you're going down."

"Ah, my sister's loyal lapdog. I was wondering if you'd make an appearance. I'm not surprised to see you've brought the Origin Driver with you. Such a shame that you don't know how to use it properly... I'd actually enjoy testing myself against my old friend's weapon."

"Did you really bother contacting us just to taunt?" I asked before Shining could open his mouth again. Instead of a reply from Nightmare, a trio of shadows broke away from the darkness and rose to reform into a trio of Pegasus Ponies. All three were clad in black and purple jumpsuits, their eyes obscured by gold-tinted flight goggles.

"Since you're so keen on fighting, let's see how you handle my Shadow-"

Nightmare Moon's voice cut off in a sputtering wreck of incoherent rage as I casually sheathed my katana again. While she'd been introducing her minions, I'd stepped up and executed a wide slash that decapitated all three shadow ponies with minimal effort.

"Y-you..."

There was something different in Nightmare's tone this time, something that raised quite a few red flags in the back of my mind. Shining seemed to pick up on it too, and deadpanned at me.

"Is there any particular reason you decided to make her mad?" He asked. I didn't get a chance to respond before Nightmare spoke again, her voice backed by a much darker, deeper echo.

"I tried to be nice. I tried to dissuade you from interfering with my plans. But you just. Keep. Meddling. This is your last warning, human. Turn back, or I will *end** you.*"

A grim smile twisted my lips, and quickly grew to a predatory grin.

"It's about damn time you got serious. Thanks for giving me a way to track you, too."

Nightmare had unknowingly released another surge of power and emotion, much like when she'd reappeared in Equestria. It was something I could latch onto and follow, rather than stumbling through the Everfree blind like I had been. The promise of a more serious challenge when the time came to fight Nightmare was just an added bonus. So long as Nightmare was lying and Shining actually could use his belt, I didn't foresee any issues with fighting her. Even if he couldn't, the rank of Royal Guard Captain wasn't something just handed out on a whim. I had no doubt that Shining Armor was a powerhouse in his own right.

Nightmare's scream of rage shook the world around us, and the moon above turned a crimson red.

"Well Armor, even if we die against her, at least I can go out saying that I pissed off a Lunar Deity enough that she created a Blood Moon," I commented to my companion as we increased our pace.

"I'm starting to think you're just flat out insane," Shining muttered, shaking his head.

Neither of us had any time to react when Nightmare's Shadows soared out of the underbrush like a triad of fighter jets. All three were aimed solely at me, with Nightmare's energy erupting from their bodies in violent auras. I felt a hoof slam into my wrist and lost my grip on the katana's sheath, I tried to get some sense of balance or reason, but didn't have a chance before another pair of hits slammed into my chest and forehead. My vision blurred as I fell to the ground, and my the my chest flared with more pain from the dirt. Arms quickly wrapped around my neck, cutting off my air supply, and I dimly heard magic blasts being fired.

Instead of fighting the chokehold, I shifted my arm behind my waist and grabbed my knife, then plunged it into the Shadow's neck with as much force as my slowly deoxygenating brain would allow. The Shadow melted away, flowing like liquid back into the darkness of the Everfree. Once I'd managed to catch my breath, I stumbled back to my feet and followed the sound of magical battle.

Shining, as I predicted, was holding his own against the pair of Pegasi. The Captain had barricaded himself in a magical barrier and was launching shots at Nightmare's minions from within. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be having much luck. The Shadows' strafing runs were too fast for Shining Armor to track and intercept. Once I was noticed, one of the Shadows peeled off from his partner and dove at me with the intent to kill. My odd, remnant reflexes from my old life were probably the only thing that saved me from taking another painful hit. I sidestepped at the last second and grabbed the pony by the neck, then turned and gave it some helpful guidance into the ground. One good axe kick was all it took to finish the fight.

"Do you think you've won? I can make however many Shadowbolts I need!" Nightmare screamed.

"Yeah, and then you won't have any power left over for when we actually face off again," I chuckled dryly as the last Shadowbolt tried to choose which target was more important. "An easy kill on you would be so disappointing."

The last of Nightmare's minions dissolved into darkness again, and Shining Armor soon lowered his shield.

"Are you alright?" He asked, likely noticing my new injuries.

"For now. Adrenaline makes for one hell of an anesthetic," I replied, bending down to retrieve my fallen katana. "Let's just keep moving."

"You shouldn't be so reckless, Rain," Shining commented, frowning. "There are ponies who are expecting you back in one piece."

I rolled my eyes at that. To the ponies, I was a passing curiosity at best and a monster at worst. My actions against Nightmare Moon at the celebration already shattered whatever trust the citizens of Ponyville had. Pinkie and Fluttershy would likely turn on me as well. That makes me more depressed than it should, I realized as I thought of the yellow and pink mares. No point thinking about this anymore. I'll probably be leaving Equestria after this is over, assuming I don't die in the fight against Nightmare Moon.

With that final depressing thought, I sheathed my katana and started walking again. After a moment of silence I heard Shining's hoofsteps follow along.