Preparing for the Coming Nightmare

Outside the walls of Canterlot Castle, the sun could be seen setting for the day. Despite the wintry cold, Luna was standing over a balcony in one of the highest sections of the castle. Having just brought the moon from the horizon, she returned inside and made her way down to the castle’s main hall. Celestia was standing in the main hall when she arrived, and the guards who were normally stationed in the hall had already been dismissed. “They should be arriving soon, should they not?” Luna asked.

“Twilight said that they’d be here two minutes ago,” Celestia said as she flung herself in front of Celestia. A green glow hovered in the air above the center of the hall, and was quickly replaced by six young mares, a young stallion, and a baby dragon.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said. “I’m so sorry we were all late! It’s just that we brought a lot back and-”

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Celestia said. She lifted her gaze to address the others as well. "Now tell us, what happened in the Wisps’ home world?”

Zero Volt stepped forward. “Nightmare had been in the Wisps’ home world for the last three, maybe four months,” he said. She was trying to absorb their powers again, same plan as the one she had when I first went there.”

“And in that time, she had already claimed one of them, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“I’ve been sensing her from time to time,” she said. “Today in the Wisps' home world and four months ago when she last attacked us. I could also sense her a year ago, on the night of your first confrontation with her.”

“So, whenever she’s been active or on the verge of an attack?” Twilight said.

“Yes. Now continue.”

“After a while, we tracked her down and attacked using all of the Wisp powers,” Zero Volt said. “By the time we were done, the Wisps were all okay and Nightmare had pretty much burst into flames. I’m sure she’s still alive though, wherever she is.”

“That raises an important question,” Twilight said. “How will we know when we’ve stopped Nightmare once and for all? This is the fourth time we’ve defeated her.”

“And all four of those looked pretty convincing,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Unfortunately, we still have a very long way to go before Nightmare is truly vanquished,” Luna said. “During my lunar exile, I could feel Nightmare festering inside of me, growing more powerful with each passing year. After over a thousand years, she has grown immensely powerful, and I do not think that she will be so easy to defeat.”

“Actually, that last fight was pretty easy,” Spike chimed in.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. "All we really did was walk around for an hour and a half and then kicked her flank for about five minutes.”

“Did she not have at least one of the Wisps to use against you?” Luna asked.

“She had one of 'em,” Applejack said. “We had the other seven.”

“I see,” Luna said. “Under the circumstances, she most likely chose to retreat from an unfavorable situation rather than take too much damage.”

“Still, you’ve all defeated Nightmare three times with the powers of those creatures,” Celestia said. “Those attacks should have weakened her, and I believe we are making some progress.”

“What about the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight asked. “Didn’t they have an effect on Nightmare when we used them against her?”

“The Elements of Harmony freed me when I was possessed by her," Luna said, "but I'm afraid that they did not cause any damage to her. Unfortunately, her magic has become too powerful after all these years, and now she can overcome the Elements through sheer force.”

“That means that the Shinespark is our most reliable weapon against Nightmare,” Celestia said.

“But the Elements of Harmony are supposed to be the most powerful magic in existence,” Twilight said. “Are you saying that both Nightmare and the Shinespark are stronger than the Elements?”

“Not necessarily,” Celestia said. “Nightmare is only as powerful as she is now because of the tremendous reserve of magic that she has built over time. We still don’t know the source or nature of that magic, but we do know that the Shinespark can neutralize it little by little. Though I wouldn’t expect the Shinespark to do the same to the Elements of Harmony. Their magic is more complex than that.”

“Not that it really matters,” Zero Volt said. “The whole Elements versus Shinespark scenario wouldn’t actually play out anyway.”

“That’s ‘cause we’re all on the same side. Ain’t that right, Volt?” Applejack said.

“Right,” he said. “Also because it takes a ridiculously long time for the Elements to activate. I could probably teleport up to each of you and steal them before you got to use them.”

“Yeah, you try that, Volt,” Rainbow said. “See what happens.”

“If we’re all ready to get back to the matter at hoof,” Celestia said. The others turned back toward her. “There’s no telling when, where, or how Nightmare will attack again. Our best means of finding her is through Luna’s visions, so you must all be prepared to respond whenever that happens. With that in mind, I am entrusting you with this.” She used her magic to pick up a scabbard with a sword sheathed in it and placed it in front of them. The sword had a blue hilt with yellow markings along the crossguard. The scabbard was coated with blue dragon scales and decorated with a silver trim along its edge, chape, and opening. In addition, an adjustable strap was added to the scabbard, designed to fit around a pony’s barrel.

“Isn’t this the sword we used to fight Nightmare last time?” Twilight said.

“Yes it is,” Celestia said. She unsheathed the sword, revealing a double-edged blade attached to the hilt. “We also had a new blade forged for it, since the last one rusted away.”

“Wow, looks like you went all-out with the scabbard too,” Zero Volt said. “Are you sure that sword can still absorb the Shinespark?”

“Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

Zero Volt placed his hoof on the hilt of the sword and closed his eyes. A second later, outlines of a horn and wings formed on his body and seven spheres of light, each of a different color, emerged from them. One by one, the spheres of light floated toward the crossguard, and once they had all passed into the sword, the blade began to emit a soft white glow. The outlines disappeared from Zero Volt’s coat, and his bangs now matched the rest of his mane’s black color. “I think it worked,” he said.

Twilight fired a beam of magical energy from her horn. Her spell reached the sword’s blade and dissipated without any visible effect. “Yeah. It definitely worked.”

“Now most of you are capable of using a sword,” Luna said, “but we do insist that Zero Volt be trained to use one as well.”

“We don’t need you to become a skilled swordspony,” Celestia said. “You just have to be able to swing a sword without falling over.”

“I’m not going to live that down, am I?” he said.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that evening, Zero Volt entered a large square room within the castle. Celestia had told him to come here, apparently to meet a few of the royal guard ponies. The room was mostly empty except for him and his friends, who were standing along the walls by one of the room’s two doorways. Despite the apparent lack of furnishings, he noted a few details around the room. Several sections of the walls and floor were either paler or deeper than the rest, suggesting that some objects that had normally been placed there were recently moved.

As soon as he reached the center of the room, a magical barrier, blue in color, formed over the doorway in front of him. He turned around and saw another barrier, yellow in color, cut through the other side of the room, blocking him off from both his friends and the other doorway. ‘That might have been more intimidating if I couldn’t teleport out of the room,’ he thought. Suddenly, his two-second warning signaled him, and he jumped out of the way of a beam of magic shot at him from behind. The beam collided with the yellow barrier, creating a ripple through it before disappearing. Zero Volt turned around and saw five royal guard ponies. The guards consisted of two mares, one orange and one lime-green, and three stallions, one gray, one blue and one white. All five of them were unicorns and all five of them were clad in armor. “Um… nice to meet you too?” he said.

Two of the guards, one mare and one stallion, charged at Zero Volt. The lime-green mare flipped around and kicked at him with her hind legs while the blue stallion kept charging, his horn held out in front of him. Zero Volt jumped back to avoid the mare’s kick and dodge-rolled away from the stallion. His two-second warning activated again just before an axe and a spear were thrown at him with magic. He moved his head to the side to avoid a swing from the axe and teleported away from the spear thrust at him.

Zero Volt reappeared behind the mare that had tried to kick him and grabbed her tail with his teeth. He yanked her tail, but was barely able to pull the mare more than an inch back. She kicked at him again, and he teleported toward another part of the room. “Didn’t think that’d be so heavy,” he muttered.

“What did you say?!” the mare said. She pointed her horn at Zero Volt and cast several spells in his direction. Zero Volt teleported again, this time several feet to her left.

“Sorry, but I usually have no problem grabbing somepony by the tail and tossing them around.”

“How many of those other ponies were wearing eighty pounds of armor?”

Zero Volt dodge-rolled, avoiding another beam of magic, but had to teleport again to dodge an axe that was telekinetically swung at him. “Really? All of that is eighty pounds?”

“Actually, it’s more like thirty-six kilograms,” said the orange guard mare. “She’s just very sensitive about her weight.”

“In that case, this might hurt a bit,” Zero Volt said. He teleported next to the angry guard mare and teleported her, including her armor, up to the ceiling. He teleported himself back to ground, leaving her to fall back down and hit the floor with a hard thud.

As soon as Zero Volt returned to the ground, the white guard stallion fired at him with his magic. Zero Volt teleported next to the blue guard stallion and teleported him into the spell’s path. The attack threw the guard pony across the room and into the yellow barrier before he dropped to the floor. Zero Volt then teleported behind the orange guard mare and grabbed her tail. Both ponies disappeared in a green flash, but the mare’s armor remained. Each piece of armor remained in the air for a split second and fell on the floor with a heavy clatter. Seconds later, the denuded guard was flung into the nearby wall. Before she could fall back down, Zero Volt teleported next to her and kicked her against the wall with both hind legs.

The gray stallion was about to step forward, but the white one held out his foreleg to block him. Instead, he stepped toward and stared silently at Zero Volt, preparing his horn. Zero Volt stared back at him, and after a very brief standoff, he galloped toward the two remaining guards. The white stallion stood still and watched, keeping his eyes on Zero Volt while the other guard pony stood behind him. He lifted his head, his horn pointing directly up, and cast a rose-colored barrier over the two of them.

Zero Volt stopped galloping, but instead of coming to a stop, he teleported directly inside the barrier and spun around. He tried to deliver a kick to one of the guards, but the white guard pony tilted his head to avoid the attack. He then grabbed Zero Volt’s hind leg with his hoof, pulled, and twisted him around, tossing him onto his back. The other guard stallion tried to cast a spell of his own, but Zero Volt teleported back from them and got back on his hooves. The white stallion aimed his horn and fired three blasts of magic, but they were blocked when Zero Volt held up his bracelet and extended the wings on it.

Zero Volt teleported behind the white guard pony and grabbed his tail with his teeth, but was forced to teleport away to avoid getting kicked by him. The two guards found him standing outside the rose-colored barrier. They eyed him calmly, horns tilted slightly downward and front hooves ready to act on a moment’s notice. A few beads of sweat trickled down Zero Volt’s head, but he stared back at the other two with a tiny smirk on his face.

Their standoff continued for several more seconds, finally coming to a close when Zero Volt teleported back inside the barrier and next to the white guard stallion. The guard tried to throw a punch at him, but he teleported away almost immediately. He reappeared behind the guard and quickly teleported away again. The white guard pony stood confused as a flurry of green magical energy swirled around him. With each flash of green that appeared around him, he also started to realize that parts of his body were feeling lighter. One by one, each hoof was less weighed down when Zero Volt teleported near and then away from it. Clanging sounds could also be heard in another section of the room as if one by one, large pieces of metal were falling to the ground. Zero Volt swung by him again, and once he noticed a substantial amount of weight removed from his entire back he realized what was happening.

Zero Volt teleported in front of the white guard stallion and placed his hoof on the guard’s helm. He teleported again, taking the helm with him and leaving the guard completely stripped of his armor. He reappeared outside the rose-colored barrier, next to a pile of that guard’s armor. He dropped the helm on top of the pile and looked back at the two guards. He briefly smirked at them, but wound up taking a second look at one of them. Now that the white guard pony’s armor had been removed, his cutie mark was now visible, a purple shield with three light blue stars above it and a pink, six-pointed star placed over it. He had blue eyes, and his mane and tail consisted of three different shades of blue.

“You look familiar,” Zero Volt said.

Shining Armor stood within his own barrier completely dumbfounded. “Did Twilight ever tell you that she has a brother?” he asked.

“Once or twice,” Zero Volt said. “So you’re Shining Armor?”

Off to the side, Twilight and her friends watched while her brother and Zero Volt resumed their fight. Shining Armor used his magic to retrieve his armor and dissolve the barrier that he had cast over himself. Zero Volt started attacking again, trying to use his own abilities to match Shining Armor’s magic and guard training. “Are they still going at it?” Just inside the doorway, next to Twilight and her friends, Princess Cadance had entered the room.

“Cadance!” Twilight said cheerfully. She and Cadance ran toward each other and broke into an old song and dance they both knew. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” The two hugged each other at the end of their greeting. “Do you think this counts as a day when the fate of the world isn’t hanging in the balance?”

“I’m sure it does,” Cadance said. “Shining Armor and I were just here for a summit with Princess Celestia. We were going to stop by Ponyville tomorrow and surprise you with a visit.”

“You're still going to come visit, right?” Twilight said.

"Yes, of couse." Twilight and Cadance smiled warmly at each other, but they soon turned their attention back to the scuffle on the other side of the barrier when Shining Armor and Zero Volt clashed in front of them.

Shining Armor used his magic to create another barrier around himself. “I’ve got to say, I was expecting more from you after I read your file,” Shining Armor said.

“I have a file?” Zero Volt asked. The horn on his bracelet extended out and he used it to pierce Shining Armor’s barrier. Shining Armor shot a beam of magic at him, and he teleported away to avoid it.

“Yeah, Princess Celestia has a file on you,” Shining Armor said. “She even gave me a copy of it before we all came here.” Zero Volt placed his hoof on Shining Armor’s helm and teleported away, taking the helm with him. Shining Armor spotted him in another part of the room, but when he didn’t see his helm with him, he reached up with his magic. After a quick glance above him, he was able to grab his helm before it fell on his head and put it back on. “I’ll admit that you have some interesting powers. Too bad that that’s all you have. I’d be a lot more impressed if you didn’t have the combat skills of a street thug.”

“Hey, that is offensive to every street thug whose flank I’ve kicked!” Zero Volt said.

“Heh, funny,” Shining Armor said. “But sooner or later, you need to stop playing around. Troops, now!” Throughout the rest of the room, the other four guard unicorns started to channel their magic. Four sparks of magical energy appeared around Zero Volt and surrounded him. One of the sparks, blue in color, floated above his head while the other three, one white, one pink and one orange floated around him. Threads of magic extended from each spark toward each of the other three, forming a tetrahedral matrix around Zero Volt. Shining Armor completed the setup by casting a barrier spell over the matrix.

Zero Volt watched while the five royal guards cast their spells around him. He could have given a number of reasons why he didn’t react, whether it was because the spells were set in place fairly quickly, his two-second warning didn’t flare up, or simply because he was somewhat captivated by the visual effect. But once the tetrahedral matrix and barrier spell had been put in place, he saw no reason to remain inside. He closed his eyes and pictured a different area of the room, right near where Shining Armor stood. A green glow formed over his body and faded away after a second, but he remained where he was. He looked in either direction with a perplexed expression before turning his attention to the spells. The horn on his bracelet extended out again and he pierced the barrier with it. The bracelet left a small hole and several cracks in the barrier, but when Zero Volt pulled his foreleg back, the barrier repaired itself almost instantly.

“That’s a containment spell,” Shining Armor said. “Once those nodes connect to each other, no magic can go in or out of that matrix. Solid objects can still pass through, which is why I cast a barrier over it.”

Zero Volt started weighing his options. He couldn’t damage Shining Armor’s barrier quickly enough, and he couldn’t teleport outside because of the containment spell. His Shinespark could have dissolved both spells, but it was being kept in that sword. Even if he had the Shinespark with him, he couldn’t reach the necessary speeds to activate it. “So I’m trapped,” he said. His eyes wandered toward the containment spell’s four nodes, then to each of the guard ponies who were maintaining the spell. “Do you really need all four of them to cast this containment spell?”

“It’s a very taxing spell,” Shining Armor said. “A more powerful unicorn could probably cast the whole thing, but right now each of my guards is maintaining one node.” Shining Armor focused on his own barrier, causing it to disperse. He then turned toward each of his fellow guards and dismissed them.

One by one, the nodes on the containment spell flickered and vanished. The threads of magic that connected them dissolved. Both the yellow and blue barriers also vanished, effectively unsealing the room, and the four guard unicorns turned toward the other exit, away from the other ponies in the room. As soon as the guard ponies left, Shining Armor turned back to Zero Volt.

“Every Monday and Thursday evening from five to eight, you’re to report to the castle courtyard for your training as a swordspony,” he said. “You'll meet a dark gray guard pegasus when you get there.” Using his magic, he levitated the Shinespark-infused sword, sheathed in its scabbard, toward him. “Remember to bring this with you.”

Shining Armor tossed the sword to Zero Volt, who caught it in his right hoof by the scabbard. He tilted the scabbard to have its chape pointing downward and released his grip, letting the sword fall until he caught it by the crossguard. One by one, seven spheres of light emerged from the sword’s hilt as the Shinespark transferred from the sword back to him. “Am I done here now?” he asked.

“Yes,” Shining Armor said. “You’re dismissed.”

“I don’t have to start calling you ‘captain,’ do I?” he said. Cadance walked away from Twilight and her friends and toward Shining Armor. On her way, she passed by Zero Volt and took a few seconds to whisper something in his ear. Zero Volt’s eyes widened, and he stood there bewildered as Cadance and Shining Armor left the room together.

“What did she say to you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“She said that I should quit while I’m ahead,” Zero Volt said. “After I… undressed her husband and everything.” Rainbow and Applejack chuckled at him, while Twilight made the same bewildered expression that Zero Volt had.

“O-kay then,” Twilight said uncomfortably. “I think it’s time for you to take us all back to Ponyville.”

“Yes, and once you get back home you can do some much needed soul searching,” Rarity teased. After a few seconds, Zero Volt shrugged off the recent verbal jabs and waited for the others to group around him. Though slightly tempted to leave Rarity behind, if only for a minute, he teleported himself and his friends back to Ponyville.