V

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.

In some other part of Neo Canterlot, Vinyl was heading to Mise’s pub. She had been blessed with the disease known as “boredom.” She wasn’t allowed to run with her group due to the incident she had with the Peacekeepers, and now was under surveillance by Treble, under Dash’s instruction.

Luckily, though, Vinyl managed to avoid and distract Treble with the baby dragon they saw earlier. She decided that Mise’s pub was the best place to spend her night. She knew that Treble would find her eventually, but decided to still go. She’d be wasted by the time Treble reached her since the boy was on the other side of the city.

Vinyl found herself in the weapon district, which was also the location of the city’s pubs. A few stands and weapon racks congregated in the area. Their stocks ranged from melee, ranged, old school, high tech, ammo, fuel, and many more. She wasn’t interested in the weapons as she was already madly in love with her gauntlets, which were the preferred instrument for the former DJ.

However, her eyes then caught something at her side: a table containing what appeared to be an upgraded version of her weapon sat idly as it sparkled in her vision. Her jaw fell wide open. Slowly she walked towards the gem. She was completely mesmerized, completely taken hostage by the tech she was looking at.

The vendors were nearly identical to each other. Both of them wore the same matching barbershop-esque clothing. The only difference was one of them had a mustache while the other had shaved it off.

“Well, well! Looks like we have found quite the lucky lady, dear brother!”

“Indeed we have, dear brother!”

The first twin bared his teeth. “Step right up, dear lady, and prepare to be amazed by our stupendous wares!”

The second twin nodded. “Quite all right! We assure you, everything here is one-hundred percent worth the money you spend!”

“We’ve got upgrades!”

“Downgrades!”

“Highs!”

“Lows!”

“Metal monsters!”

“Metal behemoths!”

“And they all come with working stereo!”

Vinyl caressed the weapon on the table like it was a delicate flower, still completely taken away by how good it looked. She wondered how it performed in battle: was it beyond average or beyond godlike?

“Well young lady, you can own this bad boy for one hundred zeons!”

“Tax free! Right, brother of mine?”

“Indeed!”

Vinyl reached out to her pockets and looked for spare money. She felt a few bills in her pockets and took them out. As soon as she looked at the money, she found out that she was lacking a good amount.

“Oh maaaan, I shouldn’t have gotten crunked so hard last night!” Vinyl cursed to herself. “Sorry, wonder twins, got no money on me at the moment.”

The twins began to look at each other with mischievous smiles. Both of them nodded together as they proceeded to stare at Vinyl’s gauntlets.

“Well, young lady, maybe we could work up a deal?”

“A trade, perhaps? Weapon for weapon?”

At first, Vinyl hesitated since she was already content with what she had. However, looking at the newer weapon made her think twice. Stunned and still gazing at it, she was horribly tempted to swap out her current weapon.

“This is only a one time opportunity, young lady!”

“Take it or leave it!”

With no other choice, Vinyl began to take off her gauntlets and prepared to swap them to the twins. Just as she was about to hand her gauntlets, a hand stopped her midway through.

Vinyl looked to her side and saw group of men smiling at her. They were the same men, who wore the green and red uniforms she saw inside Mise’s bar. All of them had the same symbol on their shoulders: a sword pointing down and was shattered in the middle, forming a hawk.

Two particular men caught her eye: the one that stopped her had dark navy blue hair with red streaks, light gray skin and red eyes. He wore red goggles that were strapped on his forehead, a gray top that had red linings, black fingerless gloves, a thigh bag, combat pants, and tactical boots. His weapons were strapped on his back: two chain sickles.

The other man whom Vinyl presumed to be the leader had long brown head and facial hair, pale green skin, and red eyes. He had a very muscular build, towering Vinyl and the other men. He wore a green-and-red armless trench coat that had a chest guard underneath, khaki pants, and black combat boots. Just like his companion, he had his weapon held on his back, which was a gigantic futuristic axe.

“May I help you, sir?” one of the twins asked in annoyance.

“Not much really, I just need to verify a few things,” the one with the chain sickles said. “First off, are these even legit?”

“Crafted by only the finest blacksmith,” the other twin explained.

The person grabbed a hold of the gauntlets, inspecting them thoroughly. He looked underneath it and saw a loose panel, which he proceeded to open and revealed two normal sized batteries that suited a clock rather than a weapon.

The twins simultaneously dropped their jaws as Vinyl looked on in shock.

The boy then disassembled a few other parts and revealed it to be only made in plastic rather than metal. Vinyl slowly turned to the twins and glared at them. They were sweating silver-tongued bullets.

“It looked like a fake just from the distance. Plus, the paint gave it away; you didn’t use a primer,” the boy explained. “Also, you do realize that newer weapons use crystals to power them, right?”

“My word! Will you look at that! We’ve been scammed!”the first one said, bringing a hand to his gasping mouth and feigning shock.

“We need to call our supplier, dear brother!” the other one said.

More excuses poured out of them, growing more and more extravagant. Vinyl frowned, as did the two next to her.

“Hey, Chief, can I beat the crap out of them?” the boy asked his leader.

“No, Daemon, you cannot,” the leader answered. “Besides, we have more important things to do.”

The leader nodded to his men and signaled them to leave along with the disappointed Daemon. With the group of men disappearing from their sights and Vinyl looking on, the twins began to discreetly pack their things up and prepared to leave. She coughed, getting their attention.

“Oh! Have you decided to buy our unique product?” a twin asked.

Vinyl clenched her fist and powered up her gauntlet. The twins covered themselves in fear as she raised her fist and struck it down to the table, wrecking it and the fake weapon. She chuckled as she pointed her middle finger towards the twins, and soon left the area.

She continued on heading to Mise’s bar, which was close by. She had fun destroying some con artists’ product, but nothing was more enjoyable than brawling with Peacekeepers. All she needed to do to complete her day was to have a sip of cider at Mise’s place—

BOOM!

In the distance rose a dark plume of purple smoke, choking the very air that it invaded. All eyes turned towards it. She frowned, wondering what was going on, whether it was just an experiment of the Palace or something else was going on.

“Oh, my beloved subjects! It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces!”

Nightmare Moon stood before fallen Peacekeepers and scientists caught within the blast. One struggled to get away from her, only to get stomped on by the dreaded woman.

The standing Peacekeepers began to mobilize towards Nightmare Moon, all pointing their guns towards her. At this sight, Nightmare Moon became irritated.

“Why, am I not royal enough for you?” she said to the Peacekeepers. “Don't you know who I am?”

“Stand down, or we will open fire!” a Peacekeeper warned.

“LAUGHABLE! I ACCEPT!”

Nightmare Moon disappeared and left a trail of smoke, making the Peacekeepers hysteric. All of them began to look around until suddenly smoke appeared beside one of them. A hand appeared and grabbed a Peacekeeper. The poor soul was thrown into a wall while the others looked on in horror.

Nightmare Moon appeared once more, this time taking out her. She directed a murderous expression towards the Peacekeepers.

“I’ll only say this once… Kneel.” Nightmare Moon smiled.

“OPEN FIRE!” a Peacekeeper commanded.

Soon enough, the whole entire area began to light up. Loud gunfire echoed in the murky haze, the bullets casting desperate and little beams of light.

The fiendish woman wasted no time evading every bullet that blazed towards her. She headed towards one of the Peacekeepers, slashing them with her while still dodging the bullets. Even if the bullets hit her, the armor she wore shielded her from them.

Nightmare Moon continued her carnage, wounding every single one of the Peacekeepers simultaneously until every single onewas down on the ground.

Soon enough, she found herself standing before fallen bodies. The scientists fled in fear as she sheathed back her swords and laughed maniacally.

Evelyn, who watched the whole thing from above, jumped down and came face to face with Nightmare Moon. She drew out her spear and prepared herself.

“Vice President Luna.” Evelyn called out to her.

“Well, well, well. Somebody who remembers me.” Nightmare Moon smiled. “Then you also know why I'm here.”

“You were banished because you were corrupted by the lunar magic, and you wanted not only Canterlot, but the whole world for yourself.”

“Close, but you forgot one more thing.” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Didn’t my foolish sister tell you about the elements of Harmony?”

“The what?”

All of a sudden, Nightmare Moon charged towards Evelyn, who successfully blocked both of her blades with her spear.

“Foolish child, you have much more to learn!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed.

A duel ensued between the two, simultaneously striking each other with their weapons. Each clash of their weapons resulted to loud bangs and thunderous impacts that shook the ground.

“You must be one of my sister’s top soldiers!” Nightmare Moon smile as she swung her swords at Evelyn. “Yet, she doesn’t tell you such knowledge?”

Nightmare Moon continued her barrage once more, striking Evelyn with powerful swings as the latter struggled to block every single hit. As Nightmare Moon struck once more, Evelyn successfully evaded it and created a space between them.

Evelyn pointed her hand to the fiendish foe and let out a breeze of ice towards her opponent’s feet. As the ice froze Nightmare Moon’s feet, the tired Evelyn placed back her spear and took a breather. However, Nightmare Moon was unfazed by the frozen trap that she erected.

“Oh? An Ice meta? Interesting,” Nightmare Moon said as she rubbed her chin. “Regardless, it’s still powerless against me.”

“You have the right to remain silent,” Evelyn warned as she clicked her earpiece. “This is Lieutenant Evelyn. I have secured Vice President Luna. Sending the coordinates to you now.”

Tired, Evelyn closed her eyes for a minute. As she opened her eyes, she saw that Nightmare Moon was gone from her frozen state, only leaving ice on the ground. Evelyn looked around and saw nothing but her other Peacekeepers still lying on the ground motionless.

Soon enough, she felt someone was behind her all of a sudden. A mist of smoke that came from behind her began to shroud her, prompting her to turn around. The unlucky girl soon met the eerie glowing eyes of Nightmare Moon staring at her very soul.

“Come on now, child; rest your eyes and enter your dreams,” Nightmare Moon whispered.

Evelyn tried to scream, but her whole body started to shut down. Her vision became blurry and started to fall into a slumber. The last thing she saw was Nightmare Moon laughing at her as she fell unconscious.

Nightmare Moon watched as the girl started to shriek in her sleep. Her spell had worked. She turned her head and looked into the distance and saw the Palace towering over everything below it. Her expression turned into anger as hatred began to build up inside her.

She heard footsteps heading to her direction, prompting her to teleport away from the area and leaving a trail of smoke once more.

At the Palace, Celestia stood alone in the dark as the moon illuminated through her glass windows. Like all of her subordinates in the Palace, she was restless, unable to catch a breather because of what was happening.

She could sense the impending energy closing in, knowing that it was her sister approaching. The energy became stronger and stronger, and eventually she felt a strong presence in the room.

Coming out of the shadow was her sister, Nightmare Moon. She had a malicious grin and an evil intent. Celestia was unfazed by this, refusing to turn and face her sister.

“I’m home, sister.”

“You are not welcome here,” Celestia retorted.

“Aw, is that how you should treat your younger sister? Especially during a long-awaited reunion?” Nightmare Moon purred.But her expression slowly turned serious. “Where are the Elements of Harmony?”

“That is none of your concern.”

“Hmph, you could just tell me. Besides, the Element of Magic is already lost.”

Nightmare Moon began to pace around Celestia, who was still unfazed.

“Dozens of armed Peacekeepers will barge in through that door any second now,”Celestia warned. “You have the choice to surrender or perish.”

“As if they could put me down,” Nightmare Moon laughed. “I already took out a few when I got here, including that ice spewing girl.”

“What did you do with Evelyn?!”

“I simply put her in a slumber. Besides, I could see how tired she was. Have you been working her too hard? She needed a beauty sleep with a DREADFUL dream.”

Nightmare Moon chuckled as she walked towards Celestia’s table. There, she saw a pamphlet advertising the Summer Sun Celebration, and a tournament being held on the final day. She slowly let out a smile and looked back to Celestia once more.

“You know, even without those precious elements, I could still cause chaos to this world,” Nightmare Moon proposed.

“You cannot win,”Celestia replied. “You know this.”

“Oh no, I’ve already won. I could just kill you right now and take your place,” Nightmare Moon said. “But first, I want to join the festivities. I want to face a worthy opponent before I take over the whole world.”

“What are you planning, Luna?”

A chill ran down Celestia’s back as her former sister bared her teeth.

“…A Tournament.”

Author's Note

- LOG 004 -
Daemon's meta is the ability to blend in with the shadows, making him a great asset in stealth.

Warhawk's meta is harden. With this, he can become a formidable tank along with his strength.

Special thanks to my editor Jarvy Jared for helping me on the Flim and Flam part and as always for his wonderful editing.

Sorry for the long wait for the chapter!