Rise of the Angel of Death

"Stop!" They all looked, Nightmare Moon barely managing to stand up.

"Don't, they helped my return." Nightmare Moon stated.

The cult put their weapons down. "Sorry." The cultists muttered.

In the palace Luna suddenly collapsed Celestia rushed to her. "Lulu what’s wrong?' She asked.

"Nightmare Moon." she started, then her mind went blank as she collapsed.

Back In Duskwood:

"Mal, what the hell did you just do?" Sunset hissed into Malthael's ear.

"Apparently those objects the cult collected had enough physical/magical presence to react with Nightmare Moon's soul. Somehow they created a new body for her."

"Malthael, you just revived Nightmare Moon. Please tell Trixie that you have a plan." Trixie whispered into his other ear.

"Umm, sort of. I can sense her soul and it's not overtly wicked. So maybe we can convince her to give up that whole eternal night plan of hers." He told the two of them.

"And what if you can't?" Sunset asked.

"Eh.. om nom nom tasty soul." Malthael replied with a weak grin.

"This is how Trixie is going to die, following an idiot who claims to be the Angel of Death." Trixie muttered, paling.

"Hey I was once the Angel of Wisdom, I know what I'm doing." Malthael said. Nightmare Moon could barely stand up. "Need help?" He asked. The Alicorn had a blush creep onto her dark cheeks.

"Thank you for helping me, kind, noble... sexy being." She said. Sunset’s eye suddenly twitched. Malthael rubbed the back of his head. "What’s your name?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"I'm Malthael, Angel of Death." Malthael said. Nightmare Moon's blush was darker now.

"I find death to be the greatest joy." She purred, batting her eyes at Malthael. Sunset just walked up to her, fists clenched at her sides.

"Why are you being so direct with him?" She asked. Nightmare Moon’s hoof poked her in the chest.

"Oh and you are?" Sunset grabbed it. And suddenly her magic flared up. One mini explosion later, Sunset was caught by Trixie. The cult was thrown back. In the cloud they saw Nightmare Moon in human form. She was more matured and developed looking, despite looking Sunset’s age. Her breasts jiggled a bit. 'Oh you have got to be kidding me!' Sunset screamed in her head.

'Damn it Sunset what did I say about gloves!?' Malthael screamed in his head. He eyed Nightmare Moon warily who still didn't seem to know what had happened to her. "Moon, are you okay?" He asked carefully.

"I feel fine this wench's magic seems to have done nothing to me." Nightmare Moon replied rubbing the back of her head with one of her new hands. Finally, she realized what Sunset had done to her. Malthael was ready for the inevitable freak-out, but it never came. Instead, Nightmare Moon looked upon her new body with a smirk. "Well, it seems I owe you a thank you wench. You have made my future plans with Malthael here easier with a form similar to his."

Sunset’s eyes twitched. "My name is Sunset Shimmer." Sunset growled. Nightmare Moon glared at her. Sunset glared back. Nightmare Moon looked at her. "I'm an Alicorn you know." Nightmare Moon said, her wings forming. Sunset gave a smile, her own wings forming.

"So am I." Sunset replied. Trixie just looked at them both.

'Trixie wishes she could be an Alicorn,' she thought.

Nightmare Moon gave her a glare as they both looked at each other. Nightmare moon suddenly surprised Malthael and Sunset. She suddenly kissed Sunset Shimmer, her tongue entering right into Sunset’s mouth. She ended the kiss. "I must say I didn't expect to find two lovers in one night." She whispered into Sunset’s ear.

Both Malthael and Sunset had the exact same look on their face. Both of them staring into the distance with vacant eyes and open mouths. "Hmm. it seems I may have went too far." Nightmare Moon stated, rubbing her chin, seemingly lost in thought. "Oh, well. This is an amusing enough outcome." Nightmare giggled before turning her attention towards Trixie. "You there, blue one, your rightful ruler demands you entertain her while she waits for her two mates to calm down." Trixie let out an eep and covered her mouth with both her hands in an attempt to keep Nightmare's tongue from entering it. "Don't worry, I don't plan on doing anything like that with you." Trixie carefully removed her hands and let out a sigh. "Unless of course you want me to." She continued, chuckling as Trixie's hands went right back over her mouth.

Malthael shock his head. "Well there’s something you don't see every day." A bit later Nightmare Moon looked around the weird object that was their new house.

"Amazing not even Star Swirl had understanding of magic like this, your friend must have been gifted by magic itself to pull it off." Nightmare looked around.

"I wouldn't go with talented more like too much free time."

The house was a bit bigger then they initially thought, It actually had a greenhouse but with no plants. As they walked, Nightmare Moon opened a door and saw a hot tub. 'I'll make a note of that later.' A library was there with some stuff already in it. Finally, it seemed to have three levels the top being the bed rooms and other living space the next two being the library, desks, greenhouse and storage, finally the bottom which housed the doors opening and what looked like a few empty rooms. Trixie opened a door to find her stuff in a nice bedroom. Sunset found a room for her, Nightmare her own and finally one for Malthael.

Malthael decided to check up on Sunset. He was embarrassed that he had froze up on her like that. 'That was seriously lame of me.' He thought darkly. 'I should've kept a cool head, I should've told Moon that...' Malthael's thoughts came to a screeching halt at that moment. 'What should I have said to her?'
Before he could think on that for too long Malthael made it to her room where Sunset was sitting on the bed. She was still staring into the distance, but her eyes weren't vacant anymore.

"Hey Sunset, How are you feeling?" Mal asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

"To be completely honest, really confused." Sunset answered, rubbing the side of her face. "I never expected that the being mothers tell their foals about to keep them out of trouble would kiss me. Not to mention angry because she... because she well... you know." Sunset offered with a blush hoping Malthael would get the picture. Unfortunately for her he was dense in the ways of the fairer sex even before his millennia long coma.

"No, I don't know, could you tell me?"

She rolled her eyes. "You idiot, she was trying to seduce you." She said. Malthael was wide eyed.

“Why would she..." He put two and two together. "Wait she developed feelings for me and then you..." He looked her in the eyes. "Sunset Shimmer do you love me?" He asked. Sunset eyes were wide. Her mind had little to think about as she suddenly kissed him on the lips. Amazingly Malthael just returned the kiss as the two of them fell over into the bed. Sunset’s mind was not there for a time. The two ended it. "I’ll take that as a yes?" He smiled. Sunset blushed.

"Yes I do." She admitted, to herself as much as to him. She finally saw he wasn't wearing his armor or his usual clothes instead, it was a plain shirt and shorts. She could feel his chest. "You look better without your armor on, you know." She said.

"Well, I'd return the compliment but I've never seen you with armor, so." Malthael said, not knowing how to deal with this turn of events, so he went to his default of make a joke out of it. Sunset frowned for a moment before flicking Malthael on the forehead.

"You idiot, just shut up and hold me for a while. Sunset said, her smile quickly returning. Malthael did as he was told and sensed her soul. At that moment his entire being was filled with a warmth he had never felt before. Malthael started have a smile that Sunset mirrored as he settled in for the night.

"Good night Sunset. And for what it's worth, death loves you too."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Sunset barked. The only other noise exchanged between the two that night was the occasional content sigh.

The mane six came running into the royal hospital. There was Princess Luna in a bed with Celestia right next to her. "We got here as fast as we could, what happened?" Twilight asked. Celestia looked at her sister.

"She suddenly collapsed saying one thing before she fell unconscious." Celestia turned to them. "Nightmare Moon." The whole group tensed. Luna suddenly moaned as she slowly awoke.

"What just happened?" She asked, everyone looked at her.

"Sister, you fell unconscious, you said Nightmare Moon, and then I brought you here." Luna eyes were wide her mind returned to the day that Malthael returned. Her soul was being ripped form her body and then he let her go.

"Malthael, when he attacked me he managed to rip a part from my soul, the part containing Nightmare Moon."

Everyone had mixed expressions on their face. "But that's impossible I thought we got rid of it with the Elements of Harmony." Rainbow Dash said. Luna just shook her head.

"No Nightmare Moon been a part of me since I was born no matter what, the Elements can't touch a beings soul, it’s not in their power. She would have arisen eventually, I see that now." Luna head held low. "Malthael however removed her from me when he was removing my soul, now I fear she somehow escaped death itself."

"So what are you saying, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"We art saying that Malthael may have saved us from becoming Nightmare Moon once more."

"Sister, seeing as this matter affects you the most I will allow you to decide what our course of action should be." Celestia said.

"For now we should do nothing. I can still faintly feel Nightmare Moon, and she does not seem to be doing anything malicious. If we receive any news to the contrary then we should mobilize and eliminate her; and Malthael if he proves to be aiding her crimes."

"What!?" Rainbow Dash boomed. "Princess, not to be disrespectful or anything, but this is Nightmare Moon we're talking about! We should be out there looking for her and stop her before she does something!"

"No Rainbow, the Princess is right." Twilight said. "We all have our own responsibilities, and we can't just drop them for a wild goose chase. Besides, we can't punish a pony when they haven't done anything wrong yet. Even if that pony is Nightmare Moon."

"Well said, Twilight." Luna said with a smile. "We could not have put it any better ourselves."

Celestia herself stood there in thought. "I do not understand how Nightmare Moon could escape death." Celestia said out loud.

"It's simple." A voice was heard, walking in was a unicorn mare. "You see Luna not dead so technically neither is nightmare moon, despite holding souls Malthael can in theory give them back, but only if he willingly wishes to do so. Now the fact that no one’s reported anything about him means he's near the border areas." The unicorn started. Twilight eyes widened. Her mind stopped because the sight made her faint standing up.

"Now then I'm sure you figured it out that Nightmare Moon actually had followers? Well, over time it stands to reason a cult would form who would treasure objects of hers and if enough DNA and presence of hers was in one place, her soul could escape Malthael’s capture and create her own body. Only this time with beings who actually love her night.... Oh and they most likely hate Luna." The unicorn mare walked out of the room then disappeared without anyone noticing.

"Twilight, are you ok?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"That mare.... I think, no I'm sure it was Discord." At that everyone minds stopped. Mentally, a few screamed in horror.

"Ah think Ah'm gonna need to scrub mah brain fer a few days. Do they do somethin' like that at that spa of yours, Rarity?" Applejack asked.

"No, but if they did I would schedule an appointment for it immediately."

"Um... not to bother anypony," Fluttershy started, trying to make herself as small as possible, "but why would Discord come and tell us this?"

"Yeah," Pinkie said, "ever since this Malthael guy showed up he's been acting funny. And not haha funny, more like, I have a plan and it involves all of you, kind of funny." She finished rubbing her chin in thought.

"You might be onto something Pinkie." Twilight said. "Discord has been rather different lately, but he actually seems like he wants to help. In his own Discordy way of course, but still it's something."

The next day the group of four had awoken and were getting ready for the day. The town of Duskwood helped with some supplies including some seeds for the greenhouse. Nightmare Moon had on a dark dress and was having herself some tea. Sunset, having a mostly plain blue outfit had walked in. Nightmare Moon got a look at her backside as she moved to get something form the weird, magical fridge, bending down to get it. Nightmare licked her lips. "My this is a surprising view." Sunset shot up almost hitting her head.

"Nightmare, do you have to keep doing that? Look, I'm not into girls, so could you please stop hitting on me?"

"First, call me Moon that is what my new mate Malthael has been calling me. Second, what happened to all that aggression from last night? I kind of miss it, it made you adorable."

"Fine, Moon, I'm in a really good mood right now and I don't want to ruin it by arguing with you early in the morning."

"Oh, and what caused you to be in such a good mood?" Moon asked with a knowing smirk.

Sunset blushed a bit. "What do you think happened?" She started. Moon got close to her.

"Oh Malthael happened. I'm guessing that you got him all to yourself last night." She gave a sniff. "Oh poo you didn't sleep with him." Sunset was now uncomfortable.

"Look Moon I..." She didn't get to finish as Moon was on top of her. Her dress did show her cleavage. "Just relax." She said. Sunset felt another kiss form her, while Moon wrapped her arms around her. Before Sunset’s mind went blank she suddenly found herself kissing back and had her arms wrapped around Moon. It did last long until she regained thought, she jerked back a bit.

"Looks like you like both mares and stallions." Moon gave a smile. Sunset shook her head. Trying to force the thoughts form her mind.

"Okay, maybe I do, but for now I just want to be with Mal. I might be willing to share him with you later, but he has to be okay with it too."

"Hmm, I cannot fault you for that. I suppose I can agree with this proposal." Moon answered, crossing her arms under her chest and nodding in thought.

"I'm not done. If you really do want to be with Mal, then you need to stop throwing yourself at him. I'm pretty sure the only thing you're doing is making him uncomfortable. You'd probably be better off just being yourself, and getting to know the guy. There's a lot more to him than his power."

Moon let out a deep sigh when Sunset finished. "Fine I will try to curb my enthusiasm for Malthael's form. Who knows, this might make the inevitable outcome all the more satisfying." Moon said with a predatory smirk.

Malthael himself was looking over the map of the land. Another map showed nightmare moons cult holdings. It was small with only a few villages on the boarders. This was not the only thing however, the nearest town was marked with a star on it with on the Duskwood map. Supposedly, there was another cult group there. Malthael himself was ready to pack up to head there. The doors opened to reveal Moon who sat on the table.

"Good morning Mal. I hope you slept well." She said with a wink.

"Somewhat but to tell you the truth I’m not much for sleeping. After all, being asleep for a thousand plus years does that to someone." He finished. Moon took note of that.

"So the blue one, Trixie said that you were imprisoned in Tartarus what was that about?" Malthael gave a sigh.

"Well I saved a village, only for its inhabitants to go all ‘kill the monster’, not caring that I saved them, then the rulers got involved and fought me, the surprise was that my powers were not under my control, so I unleashed them and caused the rulers to decay right as they placed a sleep spell on me, I woke up with full control of my powers in the prison and basically killed everything in there." He stated, no tone in his voice.

"So you killed my parents?" Moon asked no tone present in her voice either.

"Yeah, I did. I tried and I tried to tell them to leave me alone, but they just wouldn't stop attacking me. Something snapped in my head and I just fought back with everything I had. I don't know if I'd do things differently, but I know I still hate them, and I don't really regret killing them." Malthael concluded, gripping the table hard enough to dig into the wood.

"I understand, thank you for telling me the truth." Moon answered, tears appearing in her eyes for the first time ever.

"Moon, are you going to be okay?" Malthael asked, hesitantly reaching out towards Moon.

"I'll be fine." Moon replied, spurning Malthael's touch. "I just need some time to sort out my feelings. So what's your plan?" She asked returning to some form of normalcy.

"I was just going to find the other members of your cult and with your help, prevent them from causing any trouble, and once we're done with that, I was thinking of travelling the world and getting a look at the other species of this world."

The group of four were ready to leave. Malthael packed everything up and was ready to set off. The house returned to its charm state. "Come on guys let’s get moving." He started. Nightmare Moon looked as he walked.

"Can't we just fly?" She asked. Trixie looked at her.

"Trixie can't fly she has no wings." Trixie said. Moon rolled her eyes.

"Here Trixie." He said tossing her a winged amulet. "One of those bat ponys gave me this it’s charmed to give you the power of self-levitation his words being that their goddess needed to move fast and that a unicorn could slow her down." Malthael said. He said looked her in the eyes. "However, after he gave it to me I put the fear of death into him for saying something like that."

Trixie smiled at Malthael for what he did. "Trixie thanks you for dealing with that riff-raff. Though you should've told Trixie, she would've loved putting the fear of death into that rogue herself," Malthael returned her smile and chuckled.

"I'll tell you what. I'll let you deal with the next idiot who spews stupid shit about you." Trixie nodded at him, still smiling.

"Trixie would appreciate that."

Sunset and Moon rolled their eyes at the two of them, and Sunset interrupted whatever moment the two of them were having. "Alright you two, wrap it up, we've got cultists to set straight and I want to get to them this century." Trixie smiled sheepishly at the woman, while Malthael looked at her with an expression of pure enthusiasm.

"You got it!" He bellowed. "Come on girls, there's a great big world out there and I wanna see it all!"