Kuro, shiro to shianby Terabyte WestChaptersHurricaneWelcome to our hideout!The Hamoni No BukiBeginningsMeanwhile in Nightmare Moon's HQ...Interlude: DissipationHurricaneIt's pretty dang crazy what's been happening over these past few months. Lemme back up a bit. Luna was on another one of her vacations so she could just wind down from all her duties, after all, she did miss quite a bit over the past 1,000 years and she's getting a headache from Twilight tutoring her in recent history. And from what I can assume, she found something miles more powerful than all our elements combined. Before she got corrupted by it, she noticed some text engraved on one side of the box containing it. Some really hard to decipher letters or something, I dunno, I'm used to reading what's in my Daring Do books. But anyway, it read:本当の悪夢. But when she opened it, the spell that Twilight was using to keep in touch with her wore off and because I was just dropping in to see if she had time to practice flying with me, I had no clue what happened to Luna. Seriously, I feared she died or something. But of course, not 5 minutes later, and Spike was a-burping a letter saying that Celestia needed us in Canterlot ASAP. About an hour later, we were bursting through the doors as some evil laughter we ALL were familiar with was heard in the throne room. Sure enough, SHE was back. Nightmare Moon. It was almost mind boggling to see her again. Rarity, of course, fainted. Fluttershy couldn't hear what was going on, she was too busy cowering behind the rest of us. Applejack groaned, "UGGH, not THIS song & dance AGAIN!" Pinkie wasn't paying much attention to Nightmare, she was too busy going about songs and dances. I, of course decided to just fly up there and deliver a Buccaneer Blaze to her being. But that was the catch. She apparently had some sort of ethereal shield up, and I couldn't do ANYTHING to her, I doubt she even felt the breeze I was carrying. Of course, recoil kicks in, and I bounce almost right back to Twilight's face, dazed, stunned, and just generally had the wind knocked out of me. And only after that did I notice the apparently unconscious body of Celestia. "Nightmare Moon, how were you able to return? We blasted you with the Elements and reverted you back!" After about 5 minutes of evil laughter, "Oh. Twilight, do you not know about the notorious Honto no Akumu?" All I could do was stare at her like she had 2 heads, and extra set of wings, and those finger things Twilight told us about after she went through that mirror. "A Honda no Akuma?" "How were you able to get your hooves on the Truest Nightmare?" Was that what it was called? "That thing was sealed away in an underwater cavern that was guarded by the most feared creatures on the planet!" "...Effortlessly." And almost as though she had been expecting us to stand on the rug, iron bars slowly came out from the ground and formed an incomplete, and presumably magic-proof cage around us. I did the only thing I could think of at that point. I flew. I flew as fast as I could out of that room and away from the castle, silently promising that I would rescue my friends, no matter what the cost. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Guards!" Nightmare barked out into the aether. Instantly, two lunar guards who kinda looked like Alicorns but with thestral wings appeared in front of her. "You!" She pointed to the first one. "Take those prisoners and chuck them into the most secluded part of this castle!" The guard saluted and, somehow, teleported the entire cage and its contents of the Mane 6, sans one Rainbow Dash onto the top of the mountain. "And you! Find that mare that escaped and shoot her down! We can't let her reunite with the rest of the elements!" The guard saluted, teleported only a few hundred feet behind Rainbow, and blasted her, making her fall to the earth, unable to flap her wings to stabilize herself. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was about Sonic Rainboom away from the castle, I was so dang close to escaping. And then before I knew it, I heard some sorta flashing sound, and then my entire body goes stiff, meaning I can't stabilize myself to make a safe landing. I think I'm gonna crash land into a forest. I do. Everything goes black. Welcome to our hideout!"Oh my Celestia, my head feels like I've been listening to Pinkie's horrible singing... Wait, WHERE AM I?!!?" I looked around the shoddy excuse for a medical center I was in. It looked recently built, and I was the only one in the entire cabin...thing. I could see some shape approaching through an entrance I previously didn't know existed, a unicorn, I presume, and I did the only thing I could do in a situation like this. I asked the figure where I was, and who they were. "Hey, buddy, where exactly am I and how long was I out for?" The figure approached me, revealing itself. Sorta. It was wearing some sorta cloak thing, and the horn actually appeared artificial. It didn't even speak with me, just brought out a calendar and a couple of pictures of the apparent aftermath of Nightmare Moon's re-rise. The calendar was on August, which made no sense. It was December when I went to Canterlot and got shot down from the sky. Wait... Was I out for eight months? "Has it been eight months since I crashed in the forest?" I could barely make out what the figure said. I couldn't make a gender out from the voice. "...Twenty." I could not believe what (s)he said. My friends have been held captive for almost TWO YEARS! I could barely stand for this. I hopped out of bed and flew for the door, and... collapsed in searing agony? What the heck happened? Just as I was about to ask the guy, some other cloaked figure appeared behind me and said, "You wing was nearly severed when you landed. We almost couldn't save it. It was a miracle you didn't lose your left wing in our new-found medical shelter. It was also a miracle Nurse Redheart was in our hideout. That wing needs to have no weight on it for the next few days." Now THIS voice sounded familiar. I turned my head and saw my instructor from the Academy, good ol' Spitfire. "While you're here, we may need to get you accustomed to how this place is laid out. We weren't able to salvage much after Nightmare Moon destroyed Las Pegasus alongside solar troops." LAS PEGASUS?!!? Jeez, I flew far. After recovering from my searing agony, I walked outside alongside Spitfire as she showed me around their rucksack of a town. For 20 months of trying to build Las Pegasus from the ground up, they did pretty good. I think they even had some sorta stage somewhere, I don't remember, I wasn't able to pay much attention since I was grounded. But regardless, right around the end, I saw some strange little building that was, from what I remember, the ONLY thing in the entire hideout that was made of metal. I asked Spitfire what it was, and she just responded with,"Something you'll have to see once you recover. You'll LOVE IT." This was actually rather interesting for me, since there was no indication as to what the building was, and I think there was actually a security system. All I could think to myself at that moment was, If it's something I can use to rescue the rest of my friends, I can't wait at all. The Hamoni No BukiAfter spending a few more days in the medical hut re-reading a select few Daring Do books that were salvaged after Nightmare Moon destroyed Las Pegasus, Spitfire came in and told me that it was just about time to show me what was in the "weapons cabinet," as she put it. As I progressed down the dirt road to the weapons facility, I was constantly wondering what was going to show. Part of me was hoping that it was a sort of... technological Elements of Harmony. Another part was just like, I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS, JUST SHOW ME! What I was not expecting one of those vest-things you get at the Laser Tag places. But that's what it was. But instead of being blue, or red, or any of those colors, it was... white. Pretty strange. "Uh, Spitfire, what is this?" I asked her, hoping for an explanation as to why a notorious thing for fillies and colts with an overdose of sugar was doing in a supposed "weapons facility." "That's the magic of it." Spitfire responded. And to explain what she meant, she walked over to some sorta gun that I didn't notice until now, and the gun started charging up some strange white energy. She then screamed at me,"GET DOWN! I don't want you blinded when we send you off to combat Nightmare Moon!" I didn't even have time to ask her about that second part, so I just cowered behind the vest and prepared to atone for my sins, but somehow, there wasn't even a blinding flash of light, and there wasn't even a reaction from the nearby scientists. After making sure everything was alright, I looked back at the vest. It was emanating some sort of energy field, and I heard some voice say "Energy at max!" "WHAT IS THAT?!!?" Spitfire looked as casual as a militia leader could be and said,"Oh, this? This is the Yin-Yang Mechanical Counteraction Attire, but that's a bit of a mouthful, so we just call it the Hamoni No Buki. Feel free to admire it. This is what you'll be using to help us combat Nightmare Moon." Again, I wasn't paying much attention to Spitfire, I was admiring the beauty of this marvelous piece of machinery."What did you fire at this thing?" I breathed. "Solar energy. And check this out." She walked up to the vest and pressed a button on the back of the gun. After a few seconds it turned a VERY dark shade of red. Spitfire then swapped out her solar-beam gun for a darker looking one, which I assumed fires lunar energy. But before she unloaded on the vest, she pressed another button on the back of the gun, and about one dozen lasers appeared and curved out of the vest. "This one you don't need to take cover for." She then flipped a switch and a MASSIVE barrage of bullets burst out of the gun. The weird thing, she didn't even need accuracy, she just needed to aim in its general direction, and the vest attracted and absorbed the bullets. "Yeah. You'll be using THIS beauty to take down that monarch. You set to take down some guards?" "Purification and not murder, and I'll be dealing with guards like it ain't no skin off my muzzle." "Actually you'll be knocking sense into them-" "WHO CARES?!!? VENGEANCE INCOMING!!" Some unicorn grabbed me and dragged me down some stairs. The scientist, who introduced me to someone I recognized as Cloudchaser, said, "Yeah, we kinda have to get you accustomed to using this thing." After a simulation where I learned how to manage the weapon and some quick tips and tricks, like the interesting concept of "cross-blasting", where I switch polarity as I'm firing off my "homing lasers", and what Spitfire, Cloudchaser, and Thunderlane, who I didn't notice until then, called the "celestial dependency system", Spitfire handed me a headset so I could keep contact with her, and then she told me, "You're ready, Private Dash." I responded the only way I could: "YES MA'AM!" Beginnings"Okay Rainbow, I think you have everything you need to deal with Nightmare. Now all we need to do is mentally prepare you." "What?" "Keep stress from getting to you and inhibiting you. We need all the assistance possible." That did kind of explain the out of context claims about peace and zen and all that stuff. After all, we were about 30 minutes away from me getting sent off, and I assumed a zen garden wouldn't hurt. Besides, I've been spending the last 4 days in the medical center keeping all weight off my wing, and I need to burn off some energy. No, not some, A TON. METRIC TON. After a solid 25 minutes of peaceful ambiance, I felt just about ready to bring some guards back to their senses. As I was walking up to the center of the village, where everyone was to see me off, I felt another rush of adrenaline. Everyone in Equestria is counting on me, I CAN'T FAIL! I could only hope that I could keep contact with Spitfire from about 250-ish miles. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was flying north-northeast for about 15 minutes, and then I hear some loud crackling in my ear. If it was just a bit louder, I wouldn't be able to respond to Spitfire's "Rainbow, do you read me?" "Loud and clear, Spitfire. How's it going back in your village?" "No time for that." Um, OK? "You've got a lunar bogey right behind you!" I switched the vest over to "lunar mode" and absorbed the magical projectiles he fired at me, before going solar and firing back at him. "And now you have a thousand or so more, varied in solar and lunar, right in front of you. Oh, crud, here we go. Well, to start off this "mission", I guess, there's some divebombing guards who are more concerned about their corruption than my incapacitation. Seriously, the just get in range, let off a few shots, and then fly away. Of course, I'm just like "NOPE!" and absorb their shots, switch to the opposite power, and wreck them with lasers faster then I can say "20% cooler in 10 seconds flat." Really, I checked. After penetrating through a barrier made of clouds, because I was that good at cloud busting at the academy, I see two absolutely MONSTROUS looking mechanical things. How were these made over the course of only two years? Eh, whatevs. I was still able to absolutely destroy them. Granted, I needed to be a little fast on my wings, and I nearly got hit by a few stray bullets. That would happen to me a LOT. But still, gotta remain calm, am I right? Anyhoo, after a few more random corrupted guards, ANOTHER giant robot. This was a solar laser satellite thing, fortunately, the H.N.B. (I'm gonna refer to it as that because it's a lot easier that saying Hamoni No Buki.) was able to take punishment like this, and I got all the sunlight and fired it right back at it. And then two bigger mechs, one solar and on lunar, started circling me and firing bullets to their sides, but then I noticed: the bullets came from outer turrets. After destroying them, I noticed some harmless drones half my size coming from in between the mechs, trying to inhibit me. I just wrecked them with lasers I acheived from the bullets of my surrounding enemies. After destroying the turret's host and another copy of them, I got a warning from Spitfire. "Rainbow! A massive enemy is coming. From the database we've created on Nightmare's baddies, we have decided to dub it as "Zettai Bikuta." AGAIN WITH THAT LANGUAGE?!!? No matter, this guy should be effortle- HOLY SWEET CELESTIA! THAT THING IS HUGE! "Spitfire, do you think you can provide a bit more information on this thing?" "Gladly. The Absolute Victor-" Was that translated?"- Is an absolute brute! What it fires can absolutely destroy your weapon, and it has 2 orbiting satellites that fire bullets that are opposite to what it's shooting. "Oh, pony feathers. I'm nearly dead aren't I?" "Deal with this bugger and see for yourself." Alrighty, I thought. How hard can this guy be? Bullet rains, orbiting satellites, and lunar shield apart, this should be easy. Now, this thing looked like a warrior, complete with sword and shield. You'd think I'd need to dodge the sword when he swings it at me? Nope. After pointing his sword at me like,"You die TONIGHT!" his weapon fired a lot of bullets at me. I was feeling lucky and decided to remain lunar until I destroyed his sword. After he recovered for a few seconds, he busted out a shield that appeared to be lunar, and after anticipating it to charge at me, A.V. sent out an even BIGGER rain of bullets, but they were all lunar. I decided to play it safe this time and absorb all the bullets. After destroying the shield, or busting it apparently, A.V. threw the shield behind him. And then the chaos began. He just sat there, tanking all my bullets as I unloaded the lasers I achieved from it onto the body, and then hew threw some rattle-looking things. "Aw, would little baby like some wa-wa-" And that's where the taunting ended." HOLY SWEET EVERYTHING!" The bombs exploded into massive spread-shots of solar projectiles that I had a bit of trouble avoiding before I transitioned to solar. After going solar, everything just fell into place. After completely disregarding the bullets, it fired its own homing lasers back at me. Of coursed, I absorbed them, went lunar, and fired back. This volley continued for about 20 seconds before he started malfunctioning, and eventually, exploded. His only remnants were the remaining bullets in its unused supply that I swiftly picked up before the satellites got a turn to do me in. And failed at, because you know why. "Good job, Rainbow," Spitfire announced." You are now approaching what's left of Ponyville after Nightmare turned it into a distopia surrounded by an technological barrier. You're gonna need to infiltrate the nearby weapons bunker to shut the battery down." "Roger," I responded. I was soon gonna know that bunker was an understatement... Meanwhile in Nightmare Moon's HQ..."Your Highness!" "Yes, Captain Dark Magics?" "Rainbow has made it past our Zettai kakujitsu senshi, and is on the way to the Shōheki no denchi no bankā!" I swear, sometimes I get put with the most incompetent guards. I bet I could replace them with anything inanimate, and have as much success. But still, there must be a way to take down that insufferable mare, who I know will be my downfall, demise, or both! "Make the Kyūkei no dangan jigoku guard the battery, and sent out our unstallioned drones out so we don't lose any troops. We have to make sure that she doesn't get into our stronghold and reunite with the elements." After sending Dark Magics off to organize his troops, I went to check on how my scientists were coming with the Roiyaruti· anaiareitā, my final defense for if Rainbow ever makes it to our castle and gets past our absolutely insane lock system: Enter the Saigo no kumiawase and enter the password, or destroy its core. "Our Queen, the RA is just about finished. We just need to make sure that the Truest Nightmare-" "USE THE LANGUAGE WE FORGED FOR THIS COUNTRY!" Despite being a corrupted and potentially ethereal being, I still knew the ins and out of the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Oh, sorry, HONTO NO AKUMU, is the power source so that you can send dark energy and the Hanamochinaranai māre will not be able to counteract it." "Perfect. The insufferable mare will be unable to destroy us now..." I still swear I could hear someone call me a 'hypocrite' while I was laughing maniacally. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Spitfire, by the way, why have you been calling things terms that sound like they're all the way from where Zecora could be from?" I swear, after taking AV down, I just needed a bit of R+R and a chat with Spitfire. "Do you really wanna know?" "Yes." "Okay..." she sighed "When Luna came across the Truest Nightmare 2 years ago, it... technically killed her. What you're fighting against is her corpse corrupted by the Nightmare's ever-mystical powers. Honestly, I'm surprised she's only gotten wrinkly instead of outright decomposing." I couldn't respond... Luna was... DEAD? I thought Alicorns were immortal! Well, maybe her BRAIN was corrupted and not her body! Yeah that's i- oh, who am I kidding? The Princess of the Moon is gone, and it must have been a heck of a time to get over the loss of 1 of the two princesses. "Well, at least Celestia was there to keep the sun and moon in check!" "..." "... She's a goner too, isn't she?" "Yeah. Princess Twilight's been trying to keep the sun up for hours at a time for the past two years. Poor thing must be starved of magic." That thing killed both princesses and has been torturing my friends for the past two years! "Spitfire! I'm going in!" I apparently completely forgot about the language, because Spitfire tried to interject before I flew off to what was Ponyville. Interlude: Dissipation"Dash, you ready to take Nightmare Moon down?" "Sure thing, Spitfire, just gimme a few minutes to-" I didn't get to finish that train of thought, as an alarm indicating an intruder started blaring. "Hold that thought. I gotta take care of this thing." I told Spitfire as I grabbed the H.N.B. and took to the skies. After about 3 minutes of flying in the direction the alarm indicated -east-northeast- I was begging to think that it was a false alarm, until some giant-as-hay mech came up from behind me and nearly took me out with a single shot. At that point, I was feeling so lucky that my weapon was always active, and as such, I turned around to find a robot roughly 40 times larger than me, with a shape that somehow reminded me of what would happen if a manticore and a cockatrice had a child. Particularly, it was a lunar-dependent mech that was sorta shaped like a manticore, but without the teeth, or... anything. It looked like a wire frame manti-trice... that's a word, right? "Element of Loyalty! Be my prisoner, or I will be forced to kill you!" The mech's pilot said while I was thinking about how I was going to take this thing down. "Option C, please. Your demise!" I responded with no shred of second-guessing in my voice. "Very well. En Garde!" The entire fight went in a blur for me. I think it was just the mech firing bullets, all the same color, at me, and then firing a missile of the opposite polarity, which I then picked up. Not in the literal sense, the missile was more a big ball of lunar energy or something. But, I felled the mech, the pilot ejected, and I went down to finish off the pilot once and for all. I wasn't expecting a familiar face to greet me at the clearing the explosion made, but, well... "Uh, Spitfire?" I asked over the intercom. "Yeah?" "There's something you might want to see here..." "On my way right now!" Laying at my forehooves was the comatose body of Lightning Dust. I assumed that if we took her in, we might be able to turn her around and have her help us combat Nightmare Moon. Lightning Dust was out cold for two straight weeks. I was kinda worried that I took a life, but the Las Pegasus doctors were able to confirm her vital signs were very clear, and my patience paid off eventually, when she finally woke up, as I was staring out the window, contemplating how heavy my actions would be. "Hey Dust, how long has it been?" Dust didn't respond, she just stared at me, grabbed a pen from a nearby stationary set, and proceeded to try and stab me with it. But, I was fortunately faster than her, and was able to sidestep around her quick enough do put her in a headlock and keep her from moving. "Let me kill you!" Lightning growled with audible struggle. I proceeded to get one of the nurses to retrieve Spitfire so she could help me turn around Dust. Which I could already tell was going to be difficult, considering that my grip was weakening, and she was getting pretty close to that pen again. My grip was getting too weak for me to hold onto her, so I resorted to something that I never thought I would have to... talking it out. "Lightning Dust, what are you going to get out of killing me? I won't be able to stop Nightmare Moon, and as such, after a while, you'll realize that his was a kamikaze mission, but it'll take the entire planet down with you as well!" I think that may have gotten to her, since I could hold onto her a little easier. And so I kept on explaining. "There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever for killing me! Revenge is never the answer, so you can't say anything about the academy!" "... You're right." The next couple of weeks passed by for me and Lightning Dust. I showed her everything that once was Las Pegasus had to offer, which wasn't a lot, but, she found it charming. And one day, she said something that really caught me off guard: "I want to help defeat Nightmare Moon." I stood there for what felt like forever, contemplating what she just said. She tried to kill me not even half a month ago, and now she wants to help take down her former leader? Wow. One can change quickly, but, I guess I learned that already with that whole Discord Reformation fiasco. "I think I might have something in the wreckage of my ship that can help." She continued as she flew away back to where we fought each other. I gave chase and saw her rooting through a storage compartment on the side of the ship, and she pulled out a bulky-looking vest. I realized where she was going with this and told her she would have to get Spitfire's go-ahead. "And I say, go on ahead!" Spitfire said when I asked her over the intercom. After about 3 days of the scientists reworking the vest, Lightning Dust was given a new vest looked slightly different to mine, in the sense that it looked slightly bulkier, and had a slightly less bulky gun. I was starting to get the feeling that she would go along with me on my adventure, until she got a virus of some sort and was incapacitated. I was hoping that soon, she would recover, but after yet another two weeks, she was out for the count, and I would have to go it alone. Well, here's hoping!
HurricaneIt's pretty dang crazy what's been happening over these past few months. Lemme back up a bit. Luna was on another one of her vacations so she could just wind down from all her duties, after all, she did miss quite a bit over the past 1,000 years and she's getting a headache from Twilight tutoring her in recent history. And from what I can assume, she found something miles more powerful than all our elements combined. Before she got corrupted by it, she noticed some text engraved on one side of the box containing it. Some really hard to decipher letters or something, I dunno, I'm used to reading what's in my Daring Do books. But anyway, it read:本当の悪夢. But when she opened it, the spell that Twilight was using to keep in touch with her wore off and because I was just dropping in to see if she had time to practice flying with me, I had no clue what happened to Luna. Seriously, I feared she died or something. But of course, not 5 minutes later, and Spike was a-burping a letter saying that Celestia needed us in Canterlot ASAP. About an hour later, we were bursting through the doors as some evil laughter we ALL were familiar with was heard in the throne room. Sure enough, SHE was back. Nightmare Moon. It was almost mind boggling to see her again. Rarity, of course, fainted. Fluttershy couldn't hear what was going on, she was too busy cowering behind the rest of us. Applejack groaned, "UGGH, not THIS song & dance AGAIN!" Pinkie wasn't paying much attention to Nightmare, she was too busy going about songs and dances. I, of course decided to just fly up there and deliver a Buccaneer Blaze to her being. But that was the catch. She apparently had some sort of ethereal shield up, and I couldn't do ANYTHING to her, I doubt she even felt the breeze I was carrying. Of course, recoil kicks in, and I bounce almost right back to Twilight's face, dazed, stunned, and just generally had the wind knocked out of me. And only after that did I notice the apparently unconscious body of Celestia. "Nightmare Moon, how were you able to return? We blasted you with the Elements and reverted you back!" After about 5 minutes of evil laughter, "Oh. Twilight, do you not know about the notorious Honto no Akumu?" All I could do was stare at her like she had 2 heads, and extra set of wings, and those finger things Twilight told us about after she went through that mirror. "A Honda no Akuma?" "How were you able to get your hooves on the Truest Nightmare?" Was that what it was called? "That thing was sealed away in an underwater cavern that was guarded by the most feared creatures on the planet!" "...Effortlessly." And almost as though she had been expecting us to stand on the rug, iron bars slowly came out from the ground and formed an incomplete, and presumably magic-proof cage around us. I did the only thing I could think of at that point. I flew. I flew as fast as I could out of that room and away from the castle, silently promising that I would rescue my friends, no matter what the cost. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Guards!" Nightmare barked out into the aether. Instantly, two lunar guards who kinda looked like Alicorns but with thestral wings appeared in front of her. "You!" She pointed to the first one. "Take those prisoners and chuck them into the most secluded part of this castle!" The guard saluted and, somehow, teleported the entire cage and its contents of the Mane 6, sans one Rainbow Dash onto the top of the mountain. "And you! Find that mare that escaped and shoot her down! We can't let her reunite with the rest of the elements!" The guard saluted, teleported only a few hundred feet behind Rainbow, and blasted her, making her fall to the earth, unable to flap her wings to stabilize herself. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was about Sonic Rainboom away from the castle, I was so dang close to escaping. And then before I knew it, I heard some sorta flashing sound, and then my entire body goes stiff, meaning I can't stabilize myself to make a safe landing. I think I'm gonna crash land into a forest. I do. Everything goes black.
Welcome to our hideout!"Oh my Celestia, my head feels like I've been listening to Pinkie's horrible singing... Wait, WHERE AM I?!!?" I looked around the shoddy excuse for a medical center I was in. It looked recently built, and I was the only one in the entire cabin...thing. I could see some shape approaching through an entrance I previously didn't know existed, a unicorn, I presume, and I did the only thing I could do in a situation like this. I asked the figure where I was, and who they were. "Hey, buddy, where exactly am I and how long was I out for?" The figure approached me, revealing itself. Sorta. It was wearing some sorta cloak thing, and the horn actually appeared artificial. It didn't even speak with me, just brought out a calendar and a couple of pictures of the apparent aftermath of Nightmare Moon's re-rise. The calendar was on August, which made no sense. It was December when I went to Canterlot and got shot down from the sky. Wait... Was I out for eight months? "Has it been eight months since I crashed in the forest?" I could barely make out what the figure said. I couldn't make a gender out from the voice. "...Twenty." I could not believe what (s)he said. My friends have been held captive for almost TWO YEARS! I could barely stand for this. I hopped out of bed and flew for the door, and... collapsed in searing agony? What the heck happened? Just as I was about to ask the guy, some other cloaked figure appeared behind me and said, "You wing was nearly severed when you landed. We almost couldn't save it. It was a miracle you didn't lose your left wing in our new-found medical shelter. It was also a miracle Nurse Redheart was in our hideout. That wing needs to have no weight on it for the next few days." Now THIS voice sounded familiar. I turned my head and saw my instructor from the Academy, good ol' Spitfire. "While you're here, we may need to get you accustomed to how this place is laid out. We weren't able to salvage much after Nightmare Moon destroyed Las Pegasus alongside solar troops." LAS PEGASUS?!!? Jeez, I flew far. After recovering from my searing agony, I walked outside alongside Spitfire as she showed me around their rucksack of a town. For 20 months of trying to build Las Pegasus from the ground up, they did pretty good. I think they even had some sorta stage somewhere, I don't remember, I wasn't able to pay much attention since I was grounded. But regardless, right around the end, I saw some strange little building that was, from what I remember, the ONLY thing in the entire hideout that was made of metal. I asked Spitfire what it was, and she just responded with,"Something you'll have to see once you recover. You'll LOVE IT." This was actually rather interesting for me, since there was no indication as to what the building was, and I think there was actually a security system. All I could think to myself at that moment was, If it's something I can use to rescue the rest of my friends, I can't wait at all.
The Hamoni No BukiAfter spending a few more days in the medical hut re-reading a select few Daring Do books that were salvaged after Nightmare Moon destroyed Las Pegasus, Spitfire came in and told me that it was just about time to show me what was in the "weapons cabinet," as she put it. As I progressed down the dirt road to the weapons facility, I was constantly wondering what was going to show. Part of me was hoping that it was a sort of... technological Elements of Harmony. Another part was just like, I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS, JUST SHOW ME! What I was not expecting one of those vest-things you get at the Laser Tag places. But that's what it was. But instead of being blue, or red, or any of those colors, it was... white. Pretty strange. "Uh, Spitfire, what is this?" I asked her, hoping for an explanation as to why a notorious thing for fillies and colts with an overdose of sugar was doing in a supposed "weapons facility." "That's the magic of it." Spitfire responded. And to explain what she meant, she walked over to some sorta gun that I didn't notice until now, and the gun started charging up some strange white energy. She then screamed at me,"GET DOWN! I don't want you blinded when we send you off to combat Nightmare Moon!" I didn't even have time to ask her about that second part, so I just cowered behind the vest and prepared to atone for my sins, but somehow, there wasn't even a blinding flash of light, and there wasn't even a reaction from the nearby scientists. After making sure everything was alright, I looked back at the vest. It was emanating some sort of energy field, and I heard some voice say "Energy at max!" "WHAT IS THAT?!!?" Spitfire looked as casual as a militia leader could be and said,"Oh, this? This is the Yin-Yang Mechanical Counteraction Attire, but that's a bit of a mouthful, so we just call it the Hamoni No Buki. Feel free to admire it. This is what you'll be using to help us combat Nightmare Moon." Again, I wasn't paying much attention to Spitfire, I was admiring the beauty of this marvelous piece of machinery."What did you fire at this thing?" I breathed. "Solar energy. And check this out." She walked up to the vest and pressed a button on the back of the gun. After a few seconds it turned a VERY dark shade of red. Spitfire then swapped out her solar-beam gun for a darker looking one, which I assumed fires lunar energy. But before she unloaded on the vest, she pressed another button on the back of the gun, and about one dozen lasers appeared and curved out of the vest. "This one you don't need to take cover for." She then flipped a switch and a MASSIVE barrage of bullets burst out of the gun. The weird thing, she didn't even need accuracy, she just needed to aim in its general direction, and the vest attracted and absorbed the bullets. "Yeah. You'll be using THIS beauty to take down that monarch. You set to take down some guards?" "Purification and not murder, and I'll be dealing with guards like it ain't no skin off my muzzle." "Actually you'll be knocking sense into them-" "WHO CARES?!!? VENGEANCE INCOMING!!" Some unicorn grabbed me and dragged me down some stairs. The scientist, who introduced me to someone I recognized as Cloudchaser, said, "Yeah, we kinda have to get you accustomed to using this thing." After a simulation where I learned how to manage the weapon and some quick tips and tricks, like the interesting concept of "cross-blasting", where I switch polarity as I'm firing off my "homing lasers", and what Spitfire, Cloudchaser, and Thunderlane, who I didn't notice until then, called the "celestial dependency system", Spitfire handed me a headset so I could keep contact with her, and then she told me, "You're ready, Private Dash." I responded the only way I could: "YES MA'AM!"
Beginnings"Okay Rainbow, I think you have everything you need to deal with Nightmare. Now all we need to do is mentally prepare you." "What?" "Keep stress from getting to you and inhibiting you. We need all the assistance possible." That did kind of explain the out of context claims about peace and zen and all that stuff. After all, we were about 30 minutes away from me getting sent off, and I assumed a zen garden wouldn't hurt. Besides, I've been spending the last 4 days in the medical center keeping all weight off my wing, and I need to burn off some energy. No, not some, A TON. METRIC TON. After a solid 25 minutes of peaceful ambiance, I felt just about ready to bring some guards back to their senses. As I was walking up to the center of the village, where everyone was to see me off, I felt another rush of adrenaline. Everyone in Equestria is counting on me, I CAN'T FAIL! I could only hope that I could keep contact with Spitfire from about 250-ish miles. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I was flying north-northeast for about 15 minutes, and then I hear some loud crackling in my ear. If it was just a bit louder, I wouldn't be able to respond to Spitfire's "Rainbow, do you read me?" "Loud and clear, Spitfire. How's it going back in your village?" "No time for that." Um, OK? "You've got a lunar bogey right behind you!" I switched the vest over to "lunar mode" and absorbed the magical projectiles he fired at me, before going solar and firing back at him. "And now you have a thousand or so more, varied in solar and lunar, right in front of you. Oh, crud, here we go. Well, to start off this "mission", I guess, there's some divebombing guards who are more concerned about their corruption than my incapacitation. Seriously, the just get in range, let off a few shots, and then fly away. Of course, I'm just like "NOPE!" and absorb their shots, switch to the opposite power, and wreck them with lasers faster then I can say "20% cooler in 10 seconds flat." Really, I checked. After penetrating through a barrier made of clouds, because I was that good at cloud busting at the academy, I see two absolutely MONSTROUS looking mechanical things. How were these made over the course of only two years? Eh, whatevs. I was still able to absolutely destroy them. Granted, I needed to be a little fast on my wings, and I nearly got hit by a few stray bullets. That would happen to me a LOT. But still, gotta remain calm, am I right? Anyhoo, after a few more random corrupted guards, ANOTHER giant robot. This was a solar laser satellite thing, fortunately, the H.N.B. (I'm gonna refer to it as that because it's a lot easier that saying Hamoni No Buki.) was able to take punishment like this, and I got all the sunlight and fired it right back at it. And then two bigger mechs, one solar and on lunar, started circling me and firing bullets to their sides, but then I noticed: the bullets came from outer turrets. After destroying them, I noticed some harmless drones half my size coming from in between the mechs, trying to inhibit me. I just wrecked them with lasers I acheived from the bullets of my surrounding enemies. After destroying the turret's host and another copy of them, I got a warning from Spitfire. "Rainbow! A massive enemy is coming. From the database we've created on Nightmare's baddies, we have decided to dub it as "Zettai Bikuta." AGAIN WITH THAT LANGUAGE?!!? No matter, this guy should be effortle- HOLY SWEET CELESTIA! THAT THING IS HUGE! "Spitfire, do you think you can provide a bit more information on this thing?" "Gladly. The Absolute Victor-" Was that translated?"- Is an absolute brute! What it fires can absolutely destroy your weapon, and it has 2 orbiting satellites that fire bullets that are opposite to what it's shooting. "Oh, pony feathers. I'm nearly dead aren't I?" "Deal with this bugger and see for yourself." Alrighty, I thought. How hard can this guy be? Bullet rains, orbiting satellites, and lunar shield apart, this should be easy. Now, this thing looked like a warrior, complete with sword and shield. You'd think I'd need to dodge the sword when he swings it at me? Nope. After pointing his sword at me like,"You die TONIGHT!" his weapon fired a lot of bullets at me. I was feeling lucky and decided to remain lunar until I destroyed his sword. After he recovered for a few seconds, he busted out a shield that appeared to be lunar, and after anticipating it to charge at me, A.V. sent out an even BIGGER rain of bullets, but they were all lunar. I decided to play it safe this time and absorb all the bullets. After destroying the shield, or busting it apparently, A.V. threw the shield behind him. And then the chaos began. He just sat there, tanking all my bullets as I unloaded the lasers I achieved from it onto the body, and then hew threw some rattle-looking things. "Aw, would little baby like some wa-wa-" And that's where the taunting ended." HOLY SWEET EVERYTHING!" The bombs exploded into massive spread-shots of solar projectiles that I had a bit of trouble avoiding before I transitioned to solar. After going solar, everything just fell into place. After completely disregarding the bullets, it fired its own homing lasers back at me. Of coursed, I absorbed them, went lunar, and fired back. This volley continued for about 20 seconds before he started malfunctioning, and eventually, exploded. His only remnants were the remaining bullets in its unused supply that I swiftly picked up before the satellites got a turn to do me in. And failed at, because you know why. "Good job, Rainbow," Spitfire announced." You are now approaching what's left of Ponyville after Nightmare turned it into a distopia surrounded by an technological barrier. You're gonna need to infiltrate the nearby weapons bunker to shut the battery down." "Roger," I responded. I was soon gonna know that bunker was an understatement...
Meanwhile in Nightmare Moon's HQ..."Your Highness!" "Yes, Captain Dark Magics?" "Rainbow has made it past our Zettai kakujitsu senshi, and is on the way to the Shōheki no denchi no bankā!" I swear, sometimes I get put with the most incompetent guards. I bet I could replace them with anything inanimate, and have as much success. But still, there must be a way to take down that insufferable mare, who I know will be my downfall, demise, or both! "Make the Kyūkei no dangan jigoku guard the battery, and sent out our unstallioned drones out so we don't lose any troops. We have to make sure that she doesn't get into our stronghold and reunite with the elements." After sending Dark Magics off to organize his troops, I went to check on how my scientists were coming with the Roiyaruti· anaiareitā, my final defense for if Rainbow ever makes it to our castle and gets past our absolutely insane lock system: Enter the Saigo no kumiawase and enter the password, or destroy its core. "Our Queen, the RA is just about finished. We just need to make sure that the Truest Nightmare-" "USE THE LANGUAGE WE FORGED FOR THIS COUNTRY!" Despite being a corrupted and potentially ethereal being, I still knew the ins and out of the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Oh, sorry, HONTO NO AKUMU, is the power source so that you can send dark energy and the Hanamochinaranai māre will not be able to counteract it." "Perfect. The insufferable mare will be unable to destroy us now..." I still swear I could hear someone call me a 'hypocrite' while I was laughing maniacally. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Spitfire, by the way, why have you been calling things terms that sound like they're all the way from where Zecora could be from?" I swear, after taking AV down, I just needed a bit of R+R and a chat with Spitfire. "Do you really wanna know?" "Yes." "Okay..." she sighed "When Luna came across the Truest Nightmare 2 years ago, it... technically killed her. What you're fighting against is her corpse corrupted by the Nightmare's ever-mystical powers. Honestly, I'm surprised she's only gotten wrinkly instead of outright decomposing." I couldn't respond... Luna was... DEAD? I thought Alicorns were immortal! Well, maybe her BRAIN was corrupted and not her body! Yeah that's i- oh, who am I kidding? The Princess of the Moon is gone, and it must have been a heck of a time to get over the loss of 1 of the two princesses. "Well, at least Celestia was there to keep the sun and moon in check!" "..." "... She's a goner too, isn't she?" "Yeah. Princess Twilight's been trying to keep the sun up for hours at a time for the past two years. Poor thing must be starved of magic." That thing killed both princesses and has been torturing my friends for the past two years! "Spitfire! I'm going in!" I apparently completely forgot about the language, because Spitfire tried to interject before I flew off to what was Ponyville.
Interlude: Dissipation"Dash, you ready to take Nightmare Moon down?" "Sure thing, Spitfire, just gimme a few minutes to-" I didn't get to finish that train of thought, as an alarm indicating an intruder started blaring. "Hold that thought. I gotta take care of this thing." I told Spitfire as I grabbed the H.N.B. and took to the skies. After about 3 minutes of flying in the direction the alarm indicated -east-northeast- I was begging to think that it was a false alarm, until some giant-as-hay mech came up from behind me and nearly took me out with a single shot. At that point, I was feeling so lucky that my weapon was always active, and as such, I turned around to find a robot roughly 40 times larger than me, with a shape that somehow reminded me of what would happen if a manticore and a cockatrice had a child. Particularly, it was a lunar-dependent mech that was sorta shaped like a manticore, but without the teeth, or... anything. It looked like a wire frame manti-trice... that's a word, right? "Element of Loyalty! Be my prisoner, or I will be forced to kill you!" The mech's pilot said while I was thinking about how I was going to take this thing down. "Option C, please. Your demise!" I responded with no shred of second-guessing in my voice. "Very well. En Garde!" The entire fight went in a blur for me. I think it was just the mech firing bullets, all the same color, at me, and then firing a missile of the opposite polarity, which I then picked up. Not in the literal sense, the missile was more a big ball of lunar energy or something. But, I felled the mech, the pilot ejected, and I went down to finish off the pilot once and for all. I wasn't expecting a familiar face to greet me at the clearing the explosion made, but, well... "Uh, Spitfire?" I asked over the intercom. "Yeah?" "There's something you might want to see here..." "On my way right now!" Laying at my forehooves was the comatose body of Lightning Dust. I assumed that if we took her in, we might be able to turn her around and have her help us combat Nightmare Moon. Lightning Dust was out cold for two straight weeks. I was kinda worried that I took a life, but the Las Pegasus doctors were able to confirm her vital signs were very clear, and my patience paid off eventually, when she finally woke up, as I was staring out the window, contemplating how heavy my actions would be. "Hey Dust, how long has it been?" Dust didn't respond, she just stared at me, grabbed a pen from a nearby stationary set, and proceeded to try and stab me with it. But, I was fortunately faster than her, and was able to sidestep around her quick enough do put her in a headlock and keep her from moving. "Let me kill you!" Lightning growled with audible struggle. I proceeded to get one of the nurses to retrieve Spitfire so she could help me turn around Dust. Which I could already tell was going to be difficult, considering that my grip was weakening, and she was getting pretty close to that pen again. My grip was getting too weak for me to hold onto her, so I resorted to something that I never thought I would have to... talking it out. "Lightning Dust, what are you going to get out of killing me? I won't be able to stop Nightmare Moon, and as such, after a while, you'll realize that his was a kamikaze mission, but it'll take the entire planet down with you as well!" I think that may have gotten to her, since I could hold onto her a little easier. And so I kept on explaining. "There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever for killing me! Revenge is never the answer, so you can't say anything about the academy!" "... You're right." The next couple of weeks passed by for me and Lightning Dust. I showed her everything that once was Las Pegasus had to offer, which wasn't a lot, but, she found it charming. And one day, she said something that really caught me off guard: "I want to help defeat Nightmare Moon." I stood there for what felt like forever, contemplating what she just said. She tried to kill me not even half a month ago, and now she wants to help take down her former leader? Wow. One can change quickly, but, I guess I learned that already with that whole Discord Reformation fiasco. "I think I might have something in the wreckage of my ship that can help." She continued as she flew away back to where we fought each other. I gave chase and saw her rooting through a storage compartment on the side of the ship, and she pulled out a bulky-looking vest. I realized where she was going with this and told her she would have to get Spitfire's go-ahead. "And I say, go on ahead!" Spitfire said when I asked her over the intercom. After about 3 days of the scientists reworking the vest, Lightning Dust was given a new vest looked slightly different to mine, in the sense that it looked slightly bulkier, and had a slightly less bulky gun. I was starting to get the feeling that she would go along with me on my adventure, until she got a virus of some sort and was incapacitated. I was hoping that soon, she would recover, but after yet another two weeks, she was out for the count, and I would have to go it alone. Well, here's hoping!
