Castlemania: Sympony of the Night

Journey back to 1792

and the Equestrian country side of Romane-ia

It was the dead of night, and the full moon illuminated the world.  Normally, the morning sun would have risen and shined upon the beautiful land known as Equestria, also known as the Land of Ponies, but this was a night unlike any other.  The dark and evil alicorn known as Nightmare Moon, formerly known as Princess Luna, youngest of the two royal alicorn sisters and controller of the moon, who ruled Equestria alongside her older sister, Princess Celestia, controller of the sun, had shrouded the land in eternal night. Without any pony else to turn to, the Belmont family was summoned to do battle with Nightmare Moon. The Belmont family has a long history of doing battle with Nightmare Moon and her forces.  Each time the alicorn would return to spread darkness across Equestria, a Belmont, wielding their clan's legendary sacred whip known as The Vampire Killer, slew down Nightmare's forces, and sent her back to the moon.  When she had returned this time, the hot-headed youth known as Richter Belmont, descendant of Simon Belmont, possibly the most famous member of the Belmont clan of vampire hunters, was chosen to take upon the task of sending the evil alicorn back to her banishment on the moon.  Richter was a blue, unicorn stallion with a brown mane and tail.  He had blue eyes, and his cutie mark was that of a whip.  The same whip known as Vampire Killer.  The Belmonts have wielded this whip for generations.

Nightmare Moon, freed from her banishment by evil ponies, who sacrificed a young virgin mare's blood and life, commanded her forces to attack Richter's home town of Ponyville, and as soon as he found out, he galloped towards the town, his whip in hoof. Unfortunately, he was late as Nightmare Moon kidnapped his fiancé, Annette and six other maidens, who were actually the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, from the village.‎ Richter made his way through many formidable creatures and obstacles. Including floating medusa heads, bottomless pits, a werepony, a minotaur wielding a large battle axe, a ghostly knight wearing heavy armor with no helmet and armed with a giant lance, a golem made entirely of bones that could be configured in several different ways, a strange eyeball monster created from a forbidden spell, a powerful snake mare named Medusa, a giant monster made out of pieces of corpses, sewn together and reanimated through an undisclosed method by a pony known as Victor Frankenstein, the dark priest known as Shaft, and the Grim Reaper himself, and after getting the seven captured maidens to safety, Richter had but one, final challenge ahead of him.

Richter stood at the bottom of the grand stairway of Castlemania, leading to the throne room. He knew Nightmare Moon would be waiting for him, but Richter was ready.  He was ready to face the dark mare, He was ready to meet his destiny as a descendant of the Belmont clan. Without any hesitation or second thoughts, Richter dashed up the ancient stairway towards the throne room.  In the night sky, he could see the clouds moving faster than usual, and the stone makings of the castle's stairway had began to crumble apart.  Richter expected no less from Castlemania, it was a castle as old as Princess Celestia herself. Though, I'd probably be in the same place as Nightmare Moon if I called the Princess that. Richter thought to himself.  Soon enough, Richter found himself within the throne room of the ancient castle.  It was a large room with four large candle stands, and two stone columns in the background.  Richter could see crimson markings on the walls, but was not sure what they meant or why they were there.  Sitting in the throne was Nightmare Moon herself, her face resting on her front hoof. It looked as if the dark mare was bored and unamused.  In the other hoof was a glass filled with a liquid Richter couldn't quite determine, but that's not what mattered to the vampire hunter at this moment. Now was the time to end darkness and restore peace to Equestria. For awhile, the two simply stared daggers at each other. Richter was the first to speak of the two, ready for whatever trick Nightmare Moon had prepared for him.

"Back to the moon with you, monster.", Richter stated, "You don't belong in Equestria!", Nightmare Moon appeared amused by Richter's claim.  She gave him a devilish smirk, her evil eyes locked with his sapphire colored eyes.

"It was not by my hoof that I am once again freed from my imprisonment.", Nightmare said. "I was called here by ponies who actually enjoy my beautiful night and wish to pay me tribute." Her eyes narrowed and her smirk grew at the vampire hunter in front of her.

"Tribute?!", Richter exclaimed, pointing his front hoof at the dark mare before him, "You steal ponies' souls, and make them your slaves!"

Nightmare Moon simply laughed. "Freedom is always sacrificed to faith, good hunter. Or are you truly here by choice?", She asked. Richter narrowed his eyes, refusing to back down from a fight with this alicorn.

"Your words are as empty as your soul!", Richter stated, not taking his eyes off of the alicorn. "Ponykind ill needs a savior such as you.", the vampire hunter stated.  By this point, Nightmare's smirk had disappeared, replaced with a scowl.

"What is a pony?!", the shadowy alicorn asked, throwing the glass she had in her hoof to the floor, shattering it in the process. "A miserable little pile of friendship!",She stated this before Richter had time to answer her question. Nightmare Moon now stood up from her throne,her large wings fully extended. "But enough talk, have at you!", she exclaimed, before teleporting from her throne.  Richter grabbed Vampire Killer with his magic, ready for battle. A final duel between vampire hunter and dark princess had begun.

Richter knew not where Nightmare Moon would appear, but kept his guard up none the less.  The dark mare's evil laugh echoed through the room as she disappeared from her throne. With Vampire Killer in his magical grasp, Richter readied himself for what was to come.  A battle he was destined to face since birth.

Nightmare Moon had appeared behind the vampire hunter, a dark aura surrounding her horn as she fired three, large fireballs out from her horn and towards Richter.  Richter saw this just in time to evade Nightmare's attack and counter with a swing from his whip, hitting Nightmare Moon right in the muzzle, Vampire Killer's holy empowerment made her take even more damage.  She grunted in pain as she disappeared again.  Richter had her on edge.  If he could continue to dodge Nightmare Moon's attacks while countering with his whip, the victory would be sealed and he would save Equestria from eternal night.

Nightmare Moon appeared once more, this time in front of Richter and attacked with another Hellfire attack. Unfortunately, Richter wasn't fast enough to dodge, as his blue coat was burnt by one of the fireballs.  Richter grunted in pain, and attempted to shrug the pain off, Nightmare's laughter echoing through the room once more as she flew straight at Richter, baring her fangs. Richter's eyes widened as soon as he noticed the incoming attack.  Thinking quickly, Richter pulled out a glass bottle filled with holy water and threw it at the alicorn. the bottle broke on impact and holy flames were released on Nightmare Moon, burning the alicorn with holy power in the process. She once again grunted in pain as she teleported again, her charge interrupted from the sudden holy water throw, the flames dying out as she disappeared once more.

Nightmare Moon appeared from seemingly no where and grabbed Richter.  Despite his struggles to escape her grasp, he couldn't. Nightmare had been badly damaged from Richter's previous attacks but no more, a green aura surrounded her horn as the vampire hunter began to feel his life force slowly be drained away from him.  Nightmare's wounds were disappearing as she continued, eventually reaching her max power again, throwing the now weakened Richter to the ground.

Richter, refusing to give up, stood back up on his hooves, much to Nightmare Moon's amusement.

"You're kidding.", She said. "You're kidding, right?"

Richter's expression said otherwise, as he prepared one last attack in hopes of finishing off Nightmare Moon. an attack he had been waiting for the right occasion to use, and hopefully, it would be enough to finish off the shadowy mare. with a light blue glow around his horn, Richter pointed upwards with his hoof.

"HYDRO STORM!!", Richter shouted. it was at that moment that the room took a blue tint to it, and a mass storm of holy water fell down upon everything in the throne room, including Nightmare Moon herself.

Nightmare Moon was not prepared for an attack, or even saw it coming. She had no time to teleport or get out of the way as the hydro storm over took her, dealing massive damage to her shadowy body.

By now, Richter was completely exhausted, not having enough energy to stand up any longer, he collapsed to a knee. Nightmare Moon however, was still standing, despite the mass damage his item crash had done to her.

This is it... Richter thought to himself, knowing full well that his death was near. This is the end...I've failed....

"Richter!", called out a mare's voice, snapping Richter out of his thoughts as he turned his head to see the source of the voice. There, galloping up the grand stairway and into the throne room were the six mares who wielded the Elements of Harmony, the six mares he had rescued from Nightmare Moon's imprisonment.  The source of the voice was also the one who was currently leading the other five mares, the purple unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight had aided Richter throughout most of the adventure, proving to him that her magic could hold off Nightmare's forces just as good as his whip and sub-weapons. The vampire hunter had been impressed with her magical talent, though he insisted on taking on Nightmare Moon all on his lonesome.  Richter had kept Twilight from getting harmed on multiple occasions, though now it seemed the roles were reversed.

"Come on,girls!", Twilight called out. "Let's grant him our strength!"

"Right!", all five mares replied. The jewels in their necklaces, which resembled each of their respective cutie marks, began to glow as the power of the elements was transferred to Richter. The vampire hunter floated into the air as new found strength flowed through his body and veins.  Nightmare Moon would not back down, even in her weakened state.  She continued to attack, but it was all for not.  Richter was completely invincible to all of her attacks, and with a few more swings from his whip, She finally went down.

"NO!", Nightmare Moon called out. "THIS CAN NOT BE!", She screamed in agony as she faded into nothing.  Nightmare Moon had been defeated once more, and was sent back to the moon.  Richter let out a sigh of relief as his new found power left him.  He turned to the six mares behind him.

"That...was...AWESOME!!", said the cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash. "You were like all BAM! and POW! Nightmare Moon didn't stand a chance!". Rainbow shared a laugh with the other girls, happy to know the dark mare had been defeated.

"Heh. I would probably be dead if not for you girls.", Richter replied. "Thank you."

Richter's gratitude was cut short as the castle began to crumble and collapse.  Castlemania could not stay in the Equestrian world without it's master.  It only took a second to realize what was going on as Richter and the six mares galloped out of the room and made their escape.