Wish Upon a Star

Ponyville

The sounds of breaking bones and flesh being torn apart were the only thing Twilight could listen for a few moments. It took Nemesis a couple of seconds to finally finish tearing Boulder apart, and proceeded to drop what was left of his body to the floor.

Staring at the remnants of the dead Changeling, Nemesis could spot small movement on the corner of his eye. The creature lifted his head to spot another figure inside the house. It was another pony, but different from the others. Her coat was purple and had both wings and a horn, he began to get closer, each step causing Twilight to back away while on the floor.

Nemesis continued his approach while eyeing the small alicorn, until he noticed something. The creature stopped in his tracks, and proceeded to put a hand on his head, which had just began to hurt. Memories of his past began to flash again, showing him images of Raccoon City.

After a few seconds of struggling with the memories, Nemesis took once again notice of Twilight, or what was on her side.

"STAAAARS!"

On the alicorn´s flank, was the image of a star, her cutie mark. The creature could feel something strange with the terrified alicorn in front of him, something different. He had no way of describing it.

Nemesis´ sudden word made Twilight release a loud squeak, as the voice that spoke it was clearly screaming ´danger´. It wasn´t a pleasant thought, considering she was at the monster´s mercy, and the fact that her heart was racing, didn´t help either. This could be it.

The suspense was getting unbearable as each second passed, Twilight had attempted to cast a spell many times but found herself too terrified to make a move, that´s when it hit her, Nemesis wasn´t going to attack.

The tense atmosphere began to lighten up, as her fear was slowly being replaced with curiosity, and at last, she decided to face the creature. Gulping, she lifted her face, sweat running down her face as she got sight of him.

Twilight found herself watching his face, first hand. The lipless mouth, the several tentacles going out of his shoulders. It was as if a monster from the gates of tartarus had escaped.

On his side, Nemesis was doing the same, and got a good look at the alicorn.

Twilight eyed the creature from feet to head, when suddenly a chill went through all her body, paralyzing the alicorn in the process. Her sight had direct contact with the creature´s tiny white eye. Twiligth was pierced by a number of feelings; her hooves felt numb, giving her the sensation she was flying.

Looking at Nemesis´ eye was like staring directly into the Tartarus. She could witness hatred, anger, violence and madness, all those feelings penetrated her heart like a sharpen blade, but there was something else as well, although she wasn´t sure what it was.

The creature seemed to be nothing more than a simple beast, but his eye said something else.

Twilight slowly got up, her sight never leaving Nemesis´ eye, and began to approach him.

The young alicorn had been around many mysteries across her life, but right then she found herself at the biggest one yet. A strange feeling engulfed Twilight, and strangely, the only word that came to her mind was... fate. What did that mean?

After a few more seconds of staring, Twilight cleared her throat, trying to start a conversation. The sweat had already stopped, but her heart was still racing. She opened her mouth, her words doing their best to come out.

"W-who are..."

Out of nowhere, Nemesis was stroke by a white blast, which caused the creature to be sent sailing across the destroyed house, breaking the rest of the walls in the process. Twilight couldn´help but to squeak at the sudden attack, she had no idea what was happening anymore.

The alicorn decided to step outside, a dumbfounded expression, mixed with exasperation on her face, a result of being completely clueless about her current situation. Soon, her questions were answered, as the source of the blast revealed herself as Celestia with Luna at her side, who were descending at the spot Twilight was.

"Twilight, what has happened here!?" Celestia asked, rushing towards her apprentice. A worried expression could be seen on both her face and Luna´s, who was walking behind her sister, while looking at the destruction.

"I... you... Chrysalis... monster... what?" Twilight was scratching her head, trying to comprehend what had just happened. What was that creature? Where did it come from? Why did it killed the Changeling?

Celestia could notice the desperation Twilight was going trough. Luna approached shortly after.

"You mentioned Chrysalis, was she the one who did this?"

"Yes princess, she came disguised as one of my guards. Chrysalis must have thought I sent them to apprehend her. She never expected what came next." Twilight answered.

"I take you succeeded and no more harm was done." Celestia deduced, but much to her dismay, a grim look formed on Twilight´s face.

"I´m sorry princess, but she fled... with the box." Celestia wide opened her eyes as soon as Twilight finished her sentence.

"You mean, she took the tree of harmony´s box? The one you used to defeat Tirek?"

"Yes princess..." Twilight´s head turned to face the floor, a sad expression on her face was clearly seen. She had failed in protecting the box, and she knew it would be bad for everypony. "I´m sorry princess, I should have fought more, it´s my fault we lost it! I don´t deserve to be a princess!"

Celestia could spot the beginnings of tears forming inside Twilight´s eyes. Yes, it had been a colossal failure, but nothing that couldn´t be fixed. Celestia wrapped a wing around her and cleared her throat to start talking.

"It was indeed a setback, but the probability of her opening the box and retrieve it´s power is dim. Chrysalis does not posses the knowledge or heart to be deemed worthy of it´s contents." Twilight faced the princess, the beginnings of a smile forming on her mouth, as Celestia released her form her grasp. "I will send my guards to search Chrysalis, don´t worry about that. We will reclaim the box again, but for now we should worry about the state of Ponyville. Today´s was a hard battle and I wish for you to relax."

"I don´t know if I´ll be able to relax, princess." Twilight said, receiving a warm stare from Celestia.

Before the princess could talk, Twilight´s friends showed up.

"Twilight! Are you okay?" Applejack asked, rushing towards the purple alicorn.

"Yeah! We thought those big guys were going to get you!" Rainbow said, her words making Celestia realize something.

"Talking about that, what was th..."

"ROAAAAAAR!"

Faster than the eye could see, Celestia was tackled to the floor by a giant creature. Everypony around backed away from the sudden surprise and gasped after seeing what was happening.

Nemesis had the princess pinned to the ground, and proceeded to raise his foot, ready to slam her head. Moments before his foot touched the ground, Celestia disappeared, shortly reappearing behind the monster. Wasting no time, she blasted against him, then backed away from the explosion.

"What was that vile creature?" Luna asked.

"Nopony knows, it just appeared out of nowhere and..."

"ROAAAAAR!"

Nemesis was again in full charge against the princess, but this time, Luna had joined the battle, and blasted against the side of the creature. The princess of the night gasped in horror once she noticed the creature didn´t even flinch. Nemesis´head turned around slowly to face Luna, who was ready in combat position.

Nemesis charged against the princess of the night, but got another blast from Celestia. The situation was proving to be exasperating for the monster, who couldn´t decide which one of the two he would attack first.

Twilight, alongside her friends, tried to help the princesses, but Celestia placed a hoof in front of them, motioning for the Elements to stay behind. Twilight clearly didn´t like the idea, as she felt a strange feeling about the encounter, nonetheless she obeyed.

The two princesses stared at each other, nodding in confirmation before resuming their attack. Celestia shot once again, gaining the creature´s attention. Nemesis launched himself to tackle her once again, but Celestia teleported behind the creature, and fired at his back. Before the creature could react, Luna shot his right side, sending him flying a few feet away. Nemesis was getting pissed.

Roaring in anger, the monster proceeded with his attack against the closest foe, in this case Celestia. Using all of his speed, Nemesis rushed against the princess, finally reaching her. The creature was about to start the beating when he noticed something, it was an illusion, he had no time to turn around, as the monster felt a burning sensation underneath him.

Nemesis could notice in time how part of the floor he was standing, began to change color to a glowing orange. The creature jumped out of the way as a tower of lava raised from the ground. He dodged once more another lava spell, as he stepped to his left, but was received by yet another tower. Nemesis was sent to the sky, lava surrounding his body, but it would not kill him.

While in the air, Nemesis took notice of the princess and did his best to avoid another spell coming from under him. The creature was making his way towards the ground, when Luna blasted against him. Nemesis was sent to the ground with enough impact to create a small crater.

Not wasting any moment, the two princesses placed themselves on top of the creature, floating just a meter above him, then blasted against Nemesis continuously. Roarings of pain could be heard coming from the beast, as his body was surrounded by the princesses´ most powerful spells.

It was a relief Nemesis wasn´t the brightest mind around, as he was easily fooled. The attack continued for a few more seconds until...

"STOP!" The voices of three small fillies were heard coming from behind the creature, their faces covered in sweat as they made their way towards Nemesis. For a moment, the princesses considered simply continuing their attack, but the fillies won them over. Celestia and Luna stopped blasting, leaving a heavily charred Nemesis on the ground.

"Girls what are you doing, that thing attacked the princesses!" Twilight said, rushing towards the little ones with Applejack and Rarity on her side.

The fillies made her way through the small crater, wrapping their hooves around the damaged creature. "You can´t hurt Nemesis! He isn´t bad!" Apple Bloom replied.

"Not bad? That monster was about to butcher Celestia and Luna!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Not mentioning his looks! That thing clearly is an animal!" Rarity added.

Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy (who found Rarity´s words interesting) placed themselves alongside Twilight, who was trying to get closer to the fillies.

"Twilight is right little ones, that creature could kill everypony if we don´t stop it." Celestia replied, joining the group moments later.

"But he hasn´t, he was only trying to help!" Sweetie added.

"Trying to help? How is attacking us ´trying to help´! Luna said, a frown clearly visible on her face.

"Maybe he did because you attacked him first!" Scootaloo joined the conversation.

As the talk continued, Celestia noticed something shocking. Nemesis wounds were closing pretty fast, as part of his charred skin began to heal, it was both disturbing and interesting. Nemesis, on his part, was clenching his fists, the anger was starting to build up, and he would no longer be able to control himself.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had her eyes placed on the creature as well, but contrary to Celestia, a sad look was visible on her face, as she started to feel bad for his current state. There was no fear in the yellow pegasus, but compassion. Her love for animals was equal to even the most dangerous ones, and Nemesis was no exception.

"We can´t allow a monster like this roam freely, you and the rest of the ponies could be in great danger." Luna continued the debate. "Please, apart yourselves from the monster, and let us take care of it."

"We won´t!" Apple Bloom said. "If Nemesis ´ere was bad, he wouldn´t have saved us from those Timberwolves, or that Hydra... or stopped us from riding a Manticore."

"You did what?!" Applejack exclaimed, her eyes wide opening in surprise. "You mean you´ve been hanging out with that thing?"

Before the filly could answer, Celestia spoke. "We understand how you feel, but you must understand it could have been acting on instinct, the creature doesn´t have free will."

'The creature doesn't have free will'

'The creature doesn't have free will'

'The creature doesn't have free will'

That was it! The words broke Nemesis completely as he lost all control.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Everypony felt their hearts leaving their chests at the monsters´ sudden outburst of rage, and in a sudden movement, Nemesis launched his fist against the face of the princess, who place a shield in front of her. Nemesis had been a puppet for many years, people who stripped him of his memories and past, claiming free will was no longer his. He would not be able to be said he had no freedom ever again.

The shield Celestia placed on herself was easily shattered, and the impact of the punch sent her flying away. A small thing dropped to the floor after the princess of the sun was sent sailing across the sky. Luna´s rage was escalating quickly as soon as she realized what was the thing that fell to the floor, it was Celestia´s tooth.

As the princess of the night began to charge her horn, Nemesis approached her slowly, soon after Luna blasted against him, completely lost in rage, but to her dismay, Nemesis was too lost to even stop his advancement.

The spell Luna had casted was furiously colliding against Nemesis, who was still walking against it, the pain not bothering him in the slightest.
The bright light between the two forces was shortening as the creature got closer to her. Soon enough the monster grabbed Luna by her horn, and raised her over his head before bringing her down to the floor.

The princess of the night had a few seconds to react and raised her shield, as Nemesis kicked her while on the ground, sending her away in the process, thankfully, Celestia grabbed her with her magic and gently dropped her to the ground.

Luna could see a fearful look on her sister´s bloodied face, a look soon shared by the princess of the night. There was no need to ask how Celestia felt, as it was clear by the look on her face, her pride, her peacefulness, her perfect smile was shattered by an unstoppable force, but there was no time for consolations, as Nemesis was once again in full charge against the sisters.

Just before the monster tackled them, the princesses separated, causing Nemesis to crash against a building, but that didn´t stop the raging monster, who soon got out of the debris and grabbed Celestia with his arms, then send an uppercut to her stomach, sending her to the sky.

Luna launched a spell, preventing the monster from ascending, and getting his attention. The princess of the night could only see in horror how Nemesis went out of the smoke the blast created, and with no visible scratch. Seconds later, a tentacle wrapped around her neck, as she felt her body being lifted into the air, before crashing once again on the floor.

The Elements along with the three fillies, witnessed the ensuing battle, their jaws almost hitting the floor. The monster was seemingly overpowering the two princesses. The fillies though, were trying to figure out a way to calm him, their thoughts being interrupted by Applejack.

"What in tarnation were you thinking!? befriending a thing like that!? That monster could have killed you!"

"No he wouldn´t, he has saved us many times, if he really wanted to, he would have done it by now! And stop calling him a thing, his name is Nemesis!" Apple Bloom replied at the already frowning cowpony.

"I don´t care what is his name! That monster is beating the princesses!"

"And we´ll have to intervene if things get out of hoof." Twilight added, placing herself alongside Applejack.

"Are you crazy Twilight?! That monster will most surely butcher us!" Rainbow said, also joining the conversation, along with Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity.

"Stop calling him monster!" Sweetie replied. "He is not one!"

"ROAAAAR!"

The sudden roar didn´t only interrupt the conversation, but had also surprised the group, as a badly beaten Luna was sent crashing into the floor.

"Princess! Are you okay?" Twilight asked, as she rushed to her side and offered her a hoof. "I can call for backup!"

"NO! That beast will kill them, let us handle this beast!" Luna answered, shakily getting on her hooves, and instantly realizing something as she turned to see around her. "Were is my sister?"

The answer came in the from of a crashing Celestia, who had formed a small crater on the ground from the impact. The princess of the night approached her sister.

"Tough one, huh?" Luna joked, making Celestia roll her eyes as she stood up, then gave her sister a deadpan expression.

"Now´s not the time, Luna."

CRASH!

A few feet away from the group, Nemesis landed, making the rest back away in fear as the beast got closer. The two princesses, however, stood defiantly. The monster began continued his walk towards the badly injured princesses, until...

"Nemesis, stop!" The fillies said in unison as they stepped in front of the sisters. The creature didn´t listen, and continued walking, forcing them to approach him.

"Fillies, what are you doing!" Celestia asked, trying to get the attention of the little ones.

"Apple Bloom! Stay away from that monster!" Applejack exclaimed, followed by Rarity.

"Sweetie come here at this instant."

The fillies, however, didn´t listen and got closer to Nemesis.

"Nemesis, please! Don´t hurt them!"

"You´re not bad!" Sweetie was next, succeeding in getting the monsters attention.

"Please, we promise they wont hurt you, stop attacking them!" Scootaloo finished.

Finally, Nemesis stopped his advance, letting his guard down. So far he had been attacked by the creatures in this world, but not by the fillies, with just a few days from having met them, Nemesis found out he could trust the little ones, he had formed an attachment to them, as such, he complied.

Taking the little opportunity, Celestia and Luna nodded at each other before acting against the creature.

"There we go, see? There´s nothing to worry abo..."

Before Sweetie could finish her sentence, Nemesis was covered by a yellowish and dark blue sphere. A shield summoned by the princesses was erected, hoping to keep Nemesis at bay, who was trying to break out.

Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow wasted no time in taking hold of the fillies, putting them away from the soon to rage monster, meanwhile Luna and Celestia prepared one final spell against Nemesis.

"No wait! Don´t hurt him!" Scootaloo screamed, trying to break free from Rainbow´s grasp.

"Leave him alone! Please!" Sweetie was next.

Suddenly, Celestia let go of her recently shattered pride and rage to listen the fillies, so far the monster had attacked them as self defense, maybe they could find out more about it, besides it seemed to cure himself from any injury inflicted upon him, and it was unclear whether if he could be destroyed or not, and if they couldn´t kill it, then they would incapacitated him. The princess had already crafted a plan.

"ROAAAAR!" Nemesis was getting angrier and angrier, his powerful blows shattering the sphere he was in, Celestia took notice of this and ordered Twilight and Rarity to join them and reinforce the shield.

"Luna! We´re not killing this creature, use your dream spell on him!"

"What? You serious, that thing will kill anything in it´s path!" Luna replied, doing her best to keep the sphere up.

"Put him to sleep! None of our attacks worked on him!" Luna was struggling to take her sister´s words seriously. "Luna! I have never seen anything like it, if he isn´t from here, then we have to find out where he is from! We don´t need two of them!" She didn´t want to admit it, yes, it was imperative to discover more about him, but the fillies´ words had pierced her heart, if the creature was as docile as they say, then there was no need to destroy it, if that was possible that is.

Finally agreeing with Celestia, Luna started to charge a dream spell, causing her to release her grasp on the creature and weakening the shield.

The fillies couldn´t help but to release a very low ´thank you´, which was audible by the princess, causing her to release a weak smile before focusing in the sphere.

Celestia, Twilight and Rarity were now struggling to keep the beast at bay, who was trying to break the shield with all his might.

Blow after blow, the sphere´s crack got bigger, and soon, the monster´s arm was free, it was only a matter of time before his body followed, time they didn´t have.

"Luna, hurry!" Yelled Celestia, sweating from all the effort.

"I´m on it!" Luna answered.

CRACK! The shield was almost shattered, and Nemesis had an angrier look on his face.

"Princess! He´s escaping, and I can´t hold on much longer!" Twilight said, doing her best to not fade from the effort.

"LUNA!" Celestia screamed one last time, as the shield finally gave in, giving way to a furious creature, thankfully, Luna had already charged the spell, and released it against him.

The monster´s will was certainly great, as he kept advancing despite the powerful spell engulfing his entire body, but soon enough it would prove stronger than him. The creature finally fell to the floor, and just a few feet away from Luna, who had released the breath she was holding. The monster was down, and the group wasted no time in trying to get a good look on him.

Celestia used her magic to turn the beast face up, so the others could look at him, meanwhile the three fillies surrounded with their hooves the monster´s torso.

"What in tarnation is that?" Applejack was the first to speak, followed by Pinkie.

"It looks like a zombie! Is it a zombie?"

"Did you watch him eating somepony? I don´t think this thing is a zombie." Rainbow replied.

"Whatever it is, it´s clearly not from here, I don´t recall watching something like it in a myth book." Twilight added.

"Stop calling him an ´it´, his name is Nemesis!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, a frown clearly visible.

To the surprise of everypony, Fluttershy got closer to him, touching his head with her hoof. "They are right girls, this poor thing most be lost."

"Poor thing?! Fluttershy, this thing was beating the princesses! I say we take care of it!" Rainbow replied, doing her best to look at his face. She wouldn´t admit it, but the creature terrified her, more than anything she had ever seen.

"Stop calling him thing!" Scootaloo screamed in anger, and Rainbow was about to answer when Celestia interrupted.

"Where did you find this Nemesis?"

"We were running from a pack of Timberwolves when we found him, he saved us!" Sweetie answered.

The princesses looked at each other and nodded, then Celestia turned to the group and started talking. "We shall take Nemesis to Canterlot for further studies, we will need the Elements for this."

With those words, the group instantly agreed. Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity had come to the conclusion to leave the fillies at Applejacks before heading towards Canterlot, and although they tried to talk against it, the little ones finally complied, under the promise they would keep Nemesis safe.

Celestia had called some guards to take care of the creature, and asked for a carriage to head towards the castle. The next day would be a long one.

"From now on, let me be the one who smiles at the cameras!" Luna mocked her sister´s now missing tooth, Celestia only gave a deadpan look.

The group had begun their march, leaving Twilight behind, who was investigating the place she met Nemesis, and noticed something interesting, and somewhat terrifying, the Changeling´s corpse was missing, Boulder was nowhere to be seen.