Recurring Nightmare

Nightmare looked at the seven defeated ponies surrounding her. Behind her were Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. In front of her was Twilight Sparkle, who had her horn broken, Rainbow Dash, lying in a claw-shaped depression in the ground, and Zero Volt. Still taking on Twilight’s appearance, Nightmare slowly walked toward the latter three. Spike stepped in front of them, trying to block her path, but Nightmare swept him aside using her magic without breaking her stride.

“I’ve been waiting a very long time for this day,” she said. “You have all been such a thorn in my side.” She used her magic to lift Zero Volt’s unconscious body in front of her. “Especially you. To think that a little pony like you was once able to wound me. Now look at you, brought down by a little bit of voltage. I’m going to enjoy this.” But before she could do anything, a gust of wind circled around them, colored in blue and yellow. Seconds later, the wind subsided and Nightmare was alone in the field. “Impertinent mares, you never could do more than delay the inevitable.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Celestia and Luna stood in the chamber that once housed the Elements of Harmony. Using their magic, they teleported the bearers of the Elements in front of them, along with Zero Volt and Spike. Using their magic, the two sisters lifted Twilight Sparkle and Zero Volt and cast the unicorn healing spell, Celestia using her magic on Twilight and Luna on Zero Volt. As Celestia’s magic concentrated on the stub of Twilight’s horn, it changed from yellow to magenta. Twilight’s horn repaired itself within seconds, and she and Zero Volt slowly woke up as they were lowered back on the ground.

“What happened?” Twilight groaned. “Why does my skull feel like a cracked walnut?”

“If it’s the same feeling I have, you probably had you horn broken,” Zero Volt said. He looked at her and saw that her horn was perfectly intact, now looking better than it had in a long time. “The feeling should go away in a bit, but you’re right, it’s not something you ever want to go through.”

Seconds later, Rainbow Dash started to regain consciousness. ‘Argh, did I crash through somepony’s roof of something?’ As she opened her eyes, she realized where she was and remembered what she had been doing earlier. She began moving parts of her body, making sure she wasn’t injured. ‘Wings, okay. Head and neck, okay. Forelegs, okay. Hind legs, ow, not okay! Not okay!’ Her right hind leg was in severe pain, pain that only worsened when she tried to move it.

Meanwhile, the others had finally woken up and gotten back on their hooves. “I take it you all know why we’re here,” Celestia said. “After the Elements of Harmony failed, Luna and I tried our best to extract you. As you can see, it took much longer than we had hoped. Are you all okay?”

“Ah think Rainbow’s got a broken leg,” Applejack said.

“It’s fine,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up on her other three legs. She used her wings to lift off of the ground and hover in place. “I still have my wings. I can still fight.”

“Rainbow Dash, that is the last thing you should be thinking about,” Luna said. “If Nightmare can overcome the Elements of Harmony, there is no way to directly engage her.”

“I don’t care! We can’t just let Nightmare run loose like she is right now. We have to stop her no matter what, right Volt?” Rainbow Dash looked around and realized that Zero Volt wasn’t nearby. “Uh, Volt?” She searched the chamber and found him walking alongside the walls. “What are you doing?” she asked as she flew over to him.

“I’m not sure, but it feels like something’s here,” he said as he scanned the walls of the chamber.

“It’s just a bunch of stained glass windows,” Rainbow said. She followed Zero Volt as he examined each stained glass window. The other ponies watched them, only stepping close enough to see and hear them.

“I notice the six of you are on some of these,” he said distractedly as they went past two particular windows.

“Yeah, we had to use the Elements of Harmony a couple times, and the princess wanted to make a big deal out of it,” Rainbow said.

“After that, there’s one of Luna, Celestia, and some failed biology experiment,” he said. No one in the room wanted to explain to him who the 'failed biology experiment' actually was. Some of them wondered if he was still aware of the horrible monstrosity that was still at large that night. He finally stopped at a different stained glass window. This one was a depiction of Equestria, but it was centuries old, perhaps even older than the royal pony sisters. At the bottom of it was an image symbolizing the Elements of Harmony.

“Princess Celestia, I’ve been meaning to ask, when did they mess up that old symbol for the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight said. “That jewel to the side is always green, but there is nothing green on any of the actual Elements.”

“I’m not sure,” Celestia said. “That particular image predates our reign.”

Zero Volt stared at the window for several seconds. He lifted his right foreleg, and the wings on his bracelet extended. As he pointed his hoof at the image of the Elements, the horn on his bracelet extended forward, reaching several inches past his hoof. Zero Volt thrust his foreleg against the glass, piercing the image and sending cracks throughout the entire window.

“Whoa, what did you do that for?” Rainbow yelled, using her wings to move away from the window. The entire window shattered, but Zero Volt stood still as shards of glass fell out of place and harmlessly passed through him and the floor. When the shards were all gone, the image created by the window was still there.

Zero Volt pulled his hoof back, producing a ripple through the image, as if it were the surface of a pond. He placed his hoof back on the ground as the bracelet returned to its normal shape. He paused for a second before walking through the image.

“Celestia, did you know that was there?” Luna asked.

“There shouldn’t be anything there. That window should lead outside,” Celestia said. One by one, they all passed through the opening and found themselves in a stone hallway lined with torches. Moments later, they caught up with Zero Volt, who was steadily walking down the hallway. “You do know we’re facing a national crisis, don’t you, Zero Volt?”

“There’s something here, I can feel it,” he said. For a few seconds, no one said anything as they followed him.

“So,” Twilight started, “you and Nightmare have met before?”

“Yeah, I fought her about a year ago,” he answered. “I can’t believe she survived; I thought I destroyed her.”

“That makes seven of us,” Applejack said. “But if the Elements don’t work and the Shinespark didn’t work, what do we do now?”

“If the Shinespark really is anti-magic, then it should be the perfect weapon against a magical entity like Nightmare,” Twilight said. “Now if only you could get your two-second warning working consistently.”

“I’m certain that his two-second warning was disabled at the time,” Celestia said. “From what I’ve seen, the Shinespark inhibits any magic that goes near it, including his own.”

“That would explain why I’ve never been able to teleport during an active Shinespark,” Zero Volt said.

“And that’s how Nightmare got you with those thunderclouds,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling guilty. “She got everything she needed to beat you when she copied me.”

“She did say that she learned my attack patterns from you, so that does put us in an awkward position,” he said. “I mean, if I knew you were checking me out all these months-”

“Shut up!” Rainbow said, trying not to laugh. They reached the end of the passage and found themselves in an enormous chamber. The columns that supported the chamber radiated a soft white light that reflected off of the glasslike walls and floor. “Whoa, where are we?”

“I don’t know, but there’s something back there,” Celestia said. They approached the end of the chamber and found a pedestal with a rusted sword placed into it.

“We followed Zero all the way here for this?” Rarity said. “That sword is little more than a piece of rust.”

“Considering how long this has been here, I’m not surprised,” Twilight said.

Zero Volt walked closer to the pedestal. He was ten feet away when a gust of wind started blowing from it. Suddenly, the white outlines of a horn and wings started glowing on his head and sides, and seconds later, seven spheres of light emerged from them: cyan and green from his right side, white and orange from his left, and yellow, pink, and blue from his head. The spheres of light floated away from Zero Volt and passed into the hilt of the sword. Once the final sphere passed into the sword, the blade crumbled, causing the hilt to fall to the ground. Zero Volt picked it up by the handle and examined it. The hilt was no longer rusted, but was now changing colors to blue and yellow. Seconds later, a new blade emerged from it, emitting a bright white glow.

“This keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Pinkie Pie said. “What’s a sword doing in here anyway?”

“Back when Equestria maintained a standing army, swords were frequently issued to pegasi, and sometimes a few unicorns,” Luna said. “They were never issued to earth ponies though.” As she said this, Zero Volt gripped the sword with his right hoof and extended it away from his body. He held the blade too far to his side, and after flailing his foreleg for a second, he fell over. “That’s why.”

“I get it, an earth pony would have to hold a sword with a hoof, thus throwing off his or her balance,” Twilight said. “Pegasi can stay in the air while unicorns would hold a sword using their magic, so it’s not an issue for them.”

“I know how we can defeat Nightmare,” Zero Volt said as he picked up the sword again. “I can feel the Shinespark’s energy coming from the blade.” Everyone looked at the sword, then back at Zero Volt. Not only were the outlines gone from his head and sides, but so were his white streaks and bangs, leaving his mane completely black and his coat completely green. “We can use this.”

“I was wondering where you all went.” Everyone turned around and saw Nightmare at the chamber entrance, mimicking Rainbow Dash’s appearance. “Was this going to be your panic room? You left the door open on your way in.”

“We’re ready for you this time, so let’s finish this,” Twilight said. She used her magic to grab the sword from Zero Volt and threw it at Nightmare. Nightmare easily dodged the sword and used Rainbow’s flight speed to charge at Twilight. Twilight jumped out of the way, but dropped the sword. Nightmare turned around and tried to grab the sword, but had to swerve out of the way to avoid being impaled when it suddenly changed direction.

Rarity appeared next to Twilight, holding the sword with her magic. “Twilight, I’ll control the sword. You find a way to slow her down,” she said. Rarity guided the sword toward Nightmare while Twilight tried to use her magic on their target. But Nightmare was taking advantage of Rainbow Dash’s agility by flying around them and weaving around the columns. She was too fast for Twilight to focus on, and Rarity struggled to keep the sword anywhere near her.

Meanwhile, winds circled around the chamber while carrying thunderclouds with them. A few clouds were thrown at Rarity and Twilight, who were too busy trying to track Nightmare, but Zero Volt teleported both of them away before they could get hit. Rarity lost her telekinetic grip of the sword after being teleported, giving Nightmare to opportunity to seize it. Nightmare turned around and flew toward it, but before she could grab the sword, a rainbow streak snatched it out of the air and slashed through her neck with it.

“You should be careful flying at those speeds,” Rainbow Dash said, gripping the sword in her hoof. “An amateur like you could get sliced to pieces.” Nightmare turned around and glowered at her before flying off. “How did that not finish her off?” Rainbow said before flying after her. Several thunderclouds were tossed at her but she dodged each of them as she maintained pursuit. Nightmare’s grabbed a cloud, balled it up with her hooves, and tossed it at Rainbow. Rainbow Dash saw the cloud and spiked it at Nightmare with her left hoof. The cloud hit Nightmare, stunning her as electricity coursed through her body. Taking the opportunity, Rainbow Dash flew downward and bisected Nightmare with the sword. “You’re pretty good for a copy,” Rainbow said, twirling the hilt around her hoof, “but nopony’s as good as the one and only Rainbow Dash.” She blew sharply on the blade, clearing away several wisps of black fog.

With her ‘Rainbow Dash’ form ruined, Nightmare turned into a black fog. The fog swelled in size, quickly dwarfing Rainbow Dash and casting a shadow over her. Rainbow turned around, and her jaw dropped as the fog materialized into the form of a dragon. Nightmare inhaled deeply, but Zero Volt teleported Rainbow Dash away before she could be burnt by dragon fire.

Zero Volt and Rainbow Dash reappeared near the ground. “Thanks, Volt,” Rainbow said. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, her wings were feeling tired and her hind leg was in pain again. “I think I have to sit the this one out.” Rarity used her magic to take the sword from her. Rainbow Dash gently touched the ground with three of her hooves before carefully rolling onto her back. “It was stupid of me to try to fight like this in the first place.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Dash,” Zero Volt said, tending to her leg. “You took down Nightmare Dash after we all struggled against her, and you made it look easy, even with a broken leg.”

“Wait, Nightmare Dash?” she said.

“Her naming system, remember?” he said. “Or would you prefer Rainbow Nightmare?”

“Hm… how about Nightmare Rainbow?”

“That could work.”

“Zero, I can take care of Rainbow Dash’s leg,” Fluttershy said, “so, it might be better if you, um, if you don’t mind…”

“You think I should help the others out with Nightmare?” he asked. Fluttershy nodded, and Zero Volt turned his attention to Twilight, Rarity and Nightmare. Pinkie Pie walked over to Rainbow Dash and started talking to her. She was ready to help Fluttershy if asked, but for now she was trying to make Rainbow feel better by taking her mind off of her injured leg.

Meanwhile, Rarity was trying to attack Nightmare, but no matter how much strength she used, the sword bounced off of Nightmare’s spiked black carapace. Nightmare shrugged off the repeated blows and breathed fire at Rarity, but Twilight created a barrier to protect both of them. Undeterred, Nightmare lifted her arm and slammed her claw into the barrier, shattering it in one hit.

“Rarity, go for the underbelly!” Spike shouted. Rarity heard his advice and looked back at Nightmare. Using her magic, she reoriented the sword in front of Nightmare’s chest and stabbed her as she was preparing her fire breath. Nightmare stumbled back as the blade embedded itself halfway into her chest, with cracks spreading from the point of entry. Rarity pulled the sword out and prepared to stab again, but Nightmare quickly recovered and bent down, taking a quadrupedal position to protect her underbelly.

“How’s it coming along?” Zero Volt asked, having returned from helping Rainbow Dash.

“Her underbelly is the only weak point on her,” Twilight said, “but we can’t reach it while she’s on all fours and her spikes are too tough to cut through.”

“Not a problem.” Zero Volt teleported onto Nightmare’s head. As soon as he could keep his balance, a green light enveloped his body and quickly spread across Nightmare’s body. Before the light could envelop Nightmare, she grabbed him with her claw. The green light quickly vanished from Nightmare as she tried to crush Zero Volt in her claw, but he teleported away before she could tighten her grip. Zero Volt teleported back to Twilight and Rarity, grunting as he hit the ground.

“What the hay were yah tryin’ to do,” Applejack said.

“Trying to flip her over,” he said. “I’ll explain later.”

“Get me up onto her head,” Applejack said. “Ah got an idea.” Zero Volt teleported her onto Nightmare’s head and watched as Applejack walked over to one of her eyes. “Yah might wanna bring us back down, now!” At the end of her sentence, Applejack spun around and kicked with her hind legs. Zero Volt managed to teleport both of them back to the ground only milliseconds before Nightmare whipped backward onto her legs, clutching her eye with both claws. “Just like buckin’ for apples,” Applejack said proudly, “though Ah may have to wash mah back hooves after this.”

Now that Nightmare’s underbelly was exposed, Rarity aimed the sword and hurled it back at her, piercing the same spot she had hit earlier. With the blade embedded deeper in Nightmare’s chest, Rarity pulled it down. The sword sliced through Nightmare’s chest and abdomen, spreading cracks throughout her underbelly. Nightmare growled in pain before transforming into a black fog again. The fog condensed itself and collected near the ground, taking on the size and appearance of Nightmare's next form, Zero Volt.

Rarity aimed the sword at Nightmare when Zero Volt suddenly teleported her away, preventing Nightmare from teleporting in front of her and kicking her in the head. Twilight tried to retrieve the sword with her magic, but Nightmare teleported behind her and grabbed her tail. Nightmare jumped, teleported both of them into the air, and flipped in midair before throwing Twilight at the ground. Twilight looked in the direction she was thrown and locked eyes with Pinkie Pie. She tried to cover her head with her hooves, realizing that this would end badly for one of them.

Suddenly, Zero Volt teleported under her and wrapped her forelegs around his neck before teleporting both of them away. The second teleportation reoriented their position, allowing Zero Volt to land with all four hooves and slide to a stop. When he had come to a stop, Twilight was lying safely on his back. He waited for her to get off before teleporting the sword away from Nightmare.

“Hey, what is your problem?!” Zero Volt said angrily. “The way you threw Twilight, she could’ve either gored Pinkie or shattered her horn against the floor.”

“You really don’t understand how my endgame works, do you?” Nightmare said. “I’m out to destroy every living thing, so why would I regret the suffering of those two mares. In fact, I was looking forward to it.”

“Yeah, I know that, but I don’t like you using my body to do it,” he said half-seriously. “I have a reputation to keep.”

“Reputation as what, the pony who will help me destroy all of Equestria?” she asked. Zero Volt stared back with a confused look. “Actually no, you’ve already helped me destroy Equestria by letting me mimic you. Your teleportation and two-second warning abilities make me virtually untouchable.” The horn and wing outlines appeared on her, producing four black spheres that took the forms of Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity. “And with a few personal tweaks to your already destructive Shinespark, entire cities will crumble at my hooves.” The four copies rushed at them, and Zero Volt scrambled to teleport his friends and the princesses to safety. “You never should have found me, Zero Volt, but thanks to you, this world is doomed.”

Before Nightmare’s words could sink in, they all heard a sharp, high-pitched sound. The sound echoed throughout the chamber and even through the passageway they had entered through, and it took a while to find its source. Eventually they all looked at Fluttershy, who had placed her hoof to her mouth and was whistling. After whistling for about half a minute, she lowered her hoof and maintained a cold gaze at Nightmare. Everyone else in the room looked at Fluttershy with confused expressions, unsure of what they were waiting for.

“Okay fine, I’ll ask,” Nightmare said. “What was that supposed to accomplish?” Fluttershy said nothing as she continued to glare back. After a while, they started hearing sounds coming from the passageway, and before long a horde of animals rushed into the chamber. The animals gathered around Fluttershy, starting with squirrels, chipmunks, small birds and other small critters. They were followed by larger, deadlier animals, including venomous snakes, some predatory birds and even a few grizzly bears.

“Wow, I didn’t know that Fluttershy’s hoof doubled as a rape whistle,” Twilight said quietly.

“Unfortunately it triples as a dog whistle,” Rainbow Dash said, still lying on the ground with Pinkie Pie tending to her. She pointed at Zero Volt, whose face went pale at the sight of a pack of wolves that gathered with all of the other animals.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was utterly perplexed by what they were witnessing. “Where did they even come from?” she asked. “How did they know where to find us, and how did they get here so quickly?”

“Uh, Fluttershy,” Zero Volt said anxiously, “did you really have to call the canines here too?”

Fluttershy wasn’t listening to Zero Volt as he maintained her glare. “Animal friends, if it’s not too much trouble,” she said, starting with a quiet, friendly tone, “then tear her limb from limb!” Many of the animals rushed toward their target. Nightmare, quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught, was forced to use all of Zero Volt’s abilities to fend them off. She used his two-second warning to avoid snake bites and bird attacks, his teleportation ability to fight the wolves, and the altered Shinespark to attack the grizzlies.

After a while, Nightmare had finally fought off most of the attacking animals. She was about to fight off the rest of them when Fluttershy flew at her and stabbed her through the side, impaling her with the sword. Struggling through the pain, Nightmare teleported away Fluttershy could do anymore damage.

Fluttershy quickly found Nightmare and flew at her again, but before she could close the gap, she suddenly found herself hovering somewhere else. Fluttershy looked around, trying to process what had just happened. She saw Nightmare on the other side of the chamber along with phantoms of four of her friends. She turned her head a little more to see her friends nearby, including Zero Volt, who had just teleported her across the chamber. “What did you that for?” she asked.

“Nightmare was about to use her version of the Shinespark,” he said. “She would’ve hit you first.”

“Oh… thanks.”

Meanwhile, Nightmare was still recovering from Fluttershy’s successful attack. ‘This doesn’t make any sense,’ she thought. ‘Zero Volt’s powers are supposed to warn me of any impending threat. It worked perfectly against all those other creatures, so how did such a harmless little…’ As she tried to piece together what had happened, something clicked in her mind. “You idiot!” Nightmare shouted across the chamber. “You let that filly past your defenses because she wasn’t a threat to you?!”

“What does she mean by that?” Twilight asked.

“She must have figured out how Fluttershy got past my two-second warning,” Zero Volt said. Everyone turned to him and waited for him to explain. “My ability is supposed to warn me about anything that’s potentially harmful to me. But Fluttershy is usually so gentle, so harmless, except for a minute ago.”

“And because of that, you’re ability doesn’t tell you if Fluttershy’s about to hit you?” Twilight said.

“More or less,” he said. “It’s not a voluntary process, but it does adjust itself based on what I consider a threat. No offense, Fluttershy.”

“None taken,” Fluttershy said. She was tending to the animals that had been injured during the assault on Nightmare. The smaller critters, who hadn’t taken part in the attack, were helping her care for the injured.

“Since Nightmare was copying Zero Volt’s abilities and experiences, she also copied his personal settings for the two-second warning,” Celestia said, barely holding back an amused smile. “She must have forgotten to calibrate his ability to her liking, and that’s why Fluttershy was able to attack her.”

“Well not anymore!” Nightmare said angrily. “I’ve readjusted it for any attacks from that pegasus filly. Now nopony can stop Nightmare Volt!”

“Really, Nightmare Volt?” Zero Volt said.

“What, you think ‘Nightmare Zero’ sounds better?” Nightmare retorted.

“No, it’s the ‘mare’ part that I have an issue with. You seem to have my gender confused.”

“Yah want her to go by ‘Night-stallion’ instead?” Applejack asked.

“Actually, I think ‘Night-colt Zero’ sounds more appropriate,” Rarity said.

“Wait, if his doesn’t have to be called ‘mare’, then mine shouldn’t either,” Spike said.

“So what, you want that form to be called ‘Night-dragon Spike’?” Twilight said. “That doesn’t make much sense.”

“This is why they’re all called ‘Nightmare’!” Nightmare shouted in frustration. “I can’t believe you made us quibble over nomenclature!”

“She’s right,” Zero Volt said, stepping in front of the others. “Let’s finish this.”

“Wait, you’re fighting her now?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Now that she’s coping my abilities, I’m the only one who can go anywhere near her to do any damage,” he said.

“But how are yah gonna fight her?” Applejack said. “You’re not exactly a swordspony.”

“I’ve already thought of that,” he said. “Spike, grab that sword and hop on.”

“Absolutely not!” Twilight said. “It is too dangerous for him.”

“Relax, Twilight, my two-second warning will keep him from getting hurt,” Zero Volt said. “Trust me, he’ll be perfectly safe.”

“Does that mean I get to be part of this?” Spike said excitedly.

Twilight hesitated to answer. She was still worried about Spike’s safety, and Zero Volt had a habit of taking a dangerous situation too lightly. “Alright, fine,” she finally said. “You get to be a hero for two minutes. Just be careful out there, especially you, Volt.”

Zero Volt, lowered himself to the ground, allowing Spike to climb up. “He’s demoted himself to being a mount for a baby with a knife,” Nightmare mused. “This should be interesting.” She turned around and galloped around the chamber. Zero Volt followed her in pursuit while Spike stood on his back, the sword in his right claw while his left held onto the back of his head for support. While running, Nightmare used her version of the Shinespark. Once they took their forms, the four phantom mares rushed back, but Zero Volt teleported next to Nightmare to evade them. Now that they were next to Nightmare, Spike swung at her, but Nightmare teleported ahead of them.

Both ponies continued their chase. Before long, Nightmare created four more phantoms and sent them at Zero Volt. This time the phantoms flew slightly higher, allowing Zero Volt to lower his head and gallop under them. Spike stumbled forward, bringing his sword arm up and slicing through the Fluttershy phantom’s chest and barrel. At the same time, Nightmare momentarily stumbled and her body flashed white underneath her coat.

“Hey Spike, you saw that?”

“Saw what?” Spike said as he stood back up.

“Try to hit those copies when they fly by us,” Zero Volt said. Nightmare activated the altered Shinespark, but this time, only three phantoms appeared. The phantoms flew at Zero Volt, but since the Fluttershy phantom was gone, there was a gap large enough for him to run through. As Zero Volt ran past them, Spike jumped off of his back and spun in the air, swinging the sword around him. His spin attack slashed through the bodies of the Applejack and Pinkie Pie phantoms, causing them to disappear. He landed on Zero Volt, who had to teleport several feet back to catch him. “Spike, please don’t do that,” Zero Volt said in an annoyed tone. “The girls will kill me if something happens to you.”

Nightmare used the altered Shinespark one last time, creating only one phantom mare. After the other three phantoms were destroyed, Nightmare realized that Spike and Zero Volt were attacking them to weaken her. She teleported behind them, planning to attack them from behind to let the phantom hit its target. However, Zero Volt’s two-second warning took effect, and he teleported behind Nightmare. The Rarity phantom passed by Nightmare, and Spike slashed through it with the sword. Nightmare started stumbling again, and Zero Volt caught up to her quickly enough for Spike to slice through her as well.

Zero Volt slid on his hooves to come to a stop. He turned around, allowing him and Spike to look back at Nightmare, who had collapsed after being slashed. Wisps of black fog rose from her wounds, and floated away as she slowly disappeared. Spike and Zero Volt eyed the fog cautiously as it swirled around them before gathering in one spot on taking on the form of Twilight Sparkle.

“Spike, are you feeling okay about this?” Zero Volt asked, “I know Twilight’s like a sister to you.”

“You said it yourself, don’t confuse the real think with a cheap copy,” Spike said. Suddenly, Nightmare’s horn gave off a black glow, and it started pulling out of her head. Seconds later, a large sword emerged from Nightmare’s head, twice the size of the Shinespark-infused sword. Another horn emerged from Nightmare’s head to replace the first one, which formed the sword’s pommel. “On second thought, I might need therapy after this.”

“Twilight knows a good therapist,” Zero Volt said.

Using her magic, Nightmare tilted her blade down and created an energy field. Zero Volt felt a strange sensation as the energy field expanded over them, though Spike didn’t feel any different. Seconds later, Nightmare swung her sword up, creating a wave as the blade slashed through the air. The wave shot at Zero Volt, lifting him off of his hooves and throwing him across the room. Spike and Zero Volt were about the hit the wall on the other side of the chamber when Twilight caught both of them with her magic. The two of them floated in midair as Twilight carefully lowered Spike. As soon as Spike touched the ground, Twilight let go of Zero Volt, letting him fall and hit the ground.

“That’s for letting Spike get hurt,” Twilight said. “Spike, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Spike said.

“You did a great job back there,” she said, holding the sword next to her with her magic, “but I’m taking over now.” Twilight teleported herself and the sword across the chamber.

“As long as we’re all here, what should we name this form?” Rainbow Dash said. “I vote for ‘Nightmare Sparkle’, just to mess with Twilight.”

“I don’t think we should be discussing this while she’s fighting Nightmare,” Celestia said.

“I think you should cut her some slack, Princess,” Pinkie Pie said. “She’s got a broken leg and she still beat Nightmare Dashie. You on the other hoof haven’t moved an inch since the fight started.”

“I suppose you’re right, Pinkie Pie,” Celestia said. “We could call her ‘Twilight Nightmare’, or ‘Nightmare Twilight’. Zero Volt, since this distraction was your idea, do you have any input? Zero Volt?” Zero Volt said nothing as he watched the fight with an angry look on his face. “Okay then…”

Nightmare fired three magical energy beams from her horn, but Twilight blocked them with the sword and fired three energy beams of her own. Nightmare blocked those beams and slashed downward with her sword to fire a wave at Twilight. The wave knocked Twilight off of her hooves and pushed her into the ground, causing her to let go of the Shinespark-infused sword.

Nightmare picked up both swords using her magic and lifted them over Twilight’s head, but before she could finish her off, Twilight teleported herself and the Shinespark-infused sword away. With the sword teleported out of Nightmare’s telekinetic grip, Twilight levitated it with her magic. Both unicorns charged at each other while holding their own swords above them. Both blades clashed together over their heads while they clashed their horns together.

“It doesn’t matter how many ponies you copy, Nightmare,” Twilight said. “You’ve declared war on all life, and every living creature in the world will oppose you now. You can’t win.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Twilight. Harmony is a delicate balance to maintain, and this world is far more helpful in reaching my goal than you realize,” Nightmare said. “Your dampening spell is a great example. Imagine my surprise when I took on your form and found out that you were working on a spell to inhibit Zero Volt’s two-second warning. You only had the basic framework of the spell, but my experience with his form allowed me to perfect it. I thought that his powers would bring ruin to this land, but you’re not such a bad candidate yourself.”

As they spoke, cracks formed in her blade as it pressed against the Shinespark-infused sword. With one last push, Nightmare’s sword was shattered, causing her to stumble back. Twilight quickly lowered the sword and slashed Nighmare across the chest and muzzle. She repositioned the sword in midair and thrust it through Nightmare’s horn, skull and body.

Nightmare stood frozen in place with the blade embedded in her head. Light shone from the stab wound, and the black veins across her ‘Twilight’ form started to flash white. The light from Nightmare’s wounds and body grew brighter before her body was finally destroyed. “And this time, stay dead,” Twilight said, bringing the sword closer to her and walking back to her friends.

“Is it over?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, it’s over,” Zero Volt said.

“Now we just need to deal with the aftermath of Nightmare’s attack,” Celestia said. “We can start by securing the Elements of Harmony, as well as that sword.”

“Wait,” Zero Volt said. He placed his hoof over the sword’s crossguard. Over the next few seconds, his hoof glowed in seven different colors, and the sword’s blade stopped glowing and rapidly rusted. Once the Shinespark’s energy returned to Zero Volt, the outlines of a horn and wings briefly appeared on his head and sides, and his white streaks and bangs returned. The sword’s rusted blade crumbled, leaving behind the ornate blue and yellow hilt. “Okay, all yours.”

“Zero Volt, are you sure that that's the best idea?” Celestia said sternly, “The Shinespark should be kept well protected so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hooves.”

“Yeah, and I think the Shinespark is perfectly safe with me,” he said. “It was given to me, wasn't it.”

“It doesn’t look like it's possible for anypony to remove this Shinespark ability from him, much less contain its power within their own bodies,” Luna said. “If it's kept with you, then it will be under the protection of all seven of you.”

“Very well then,” Celestia said. “You may hold on to the Shinespark for the time being, but the sword, or what's left of it, should remain in Canterlot for further study. Now let’s bring Rainbow Dash to the infirmary.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Zero Volt opened Twilight’s front door and entered the library. “Oh hello, Volt,” Twilight said. “I just got a letter from the princess. Rainbow Dash is still in the castle’s infirmary, but she should make a full recovery and come back in a week or two.”

“Thanks, but that’s not what I came here for,” he said accusingly. “Twilight, I want you to tell me what happened yesterday, when Spike and I fought Nightmare.”

“If I remember correctly, you promised to keep Spike safe, and then you let him get hurt,” she said. “You should have been more careful back there.”

“I was careful, but this funny thing happened. Nightmare attacked us, and my two-second warning didn’t respond.”

“Your two-second warning sometimes doesn’t work. You said it yourself, so maybe you should have thought of that last night.”

“No Twilight, this was different. I felt Nightmare suppressing my two-second warning, but she didn’t do that until she mimicked you.” Twilight blinked, finally realizing what he was accusing her of. Zero Volt teleported in front of her. “You invented that spell, didn’t you?”

“Look, it’s not what it looks like,” Twilight stammered. “I created that spell so that I could replicate your two-second warning.”

“What?”

“Whenever another unicorn casts a spell I’ve never seen before, I can usually learn it just by watching what they do,” Twilight said. “But since you don’t have a horn, I have no way of observing what you’re doing. It’s so frustrating because your two-second warning uses unicorn magic, which means that I would be able to use it if I only knew how!”

“So you tried to reverse-engineer my ability by creating a spell that inhibits it?”

“Yes, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to,” Twilight said. “I keep looking at the parts of that spell that are based on your ability, and I have no idea what I’m looking at. I think if I had some more time and your cooperation, I could figure it out, but-”

“No,” Zero Volt interrupted. “I’m not helping with this little project of yours. In fact, I want you to stop studying me altogether.”

“What?”

“Twilight, it’s bad enough that you’re using me in a research experiment without my knowledge, let alone my consent,” he said. “But you created a spell specifically designed to disable one of my abilities.”

“That spell was only for research purposes,” she stammered. “I never meant for it to be used against you.”

“And yet look what happened,” he said, turning to leave.

Twilight lowered her head and stared at the ground, her ears resting on either side.  “Volt, I-I’m sorry,” she said.

“No you’re not,” he said. “If you were sorry, you’d have told me everything as soon as it happened. You wouldn’t have waited until now to apologize, and you certainly wouldn’t have pinned the blame on me because Spike almost got hurt by your spell.” He turned around and glared at her. “You’re not sorry at all, are you?” Zero Volt teleported away, leaving Twilight alone in the library.