Author's Note
Feel free to listen to the song this chapter was named after during the titular fight.
Rules of Nature
The Everfree Forest was a very dangerous place, especially at night. Well, actually, it was always night in this reality's Equestria. Long story short, the alicorn princess who controlled the moon become jealous of her elder sister who controlled the sun, turned into a nightmarish monster, got banished to the moon by her sister, came back exactly a thousand years later, imprisoned her sister to the moon for payback, and swiftly took over Equestria while covering the entire land in eternal darkness.
Ever since that fateful day, not a single pony in Equestria had caught a glimpse of the warm and comforting rays of the sun. Instead, they were forced to live under the rule of Nightmare Moon who had replaced the sun with the moon and stars. While they were indeed as beautiful as the sun, it took quite a bit of time and effort for the ponies to adjust to their new environment. In fact, the survival of the fittest rule had really kicked in and the weaker ponies had perished due to lack of sunlight, while the stronger ones had adapted to the darkness and passed on their strengths to their offspring.
Their tyrannical princess, on the other hand, cared very little about these casualties, and only concerned herself with preserving the beauty of the night and being the strongest living creature in the world. No one would dare challenge her law and every single one of her subjects had solemnly pledged absolute loyalty to her. Well, ALMOST all of them. There were still some who were less than content with their new lifestyles and desperately wished for the sun to shine brightly again. Of course, such rebellious thoughts were punishable by death, and Nightmare Moon's scouts were always searching every nook and cranny in Equestria to hunt down these dissenters.
There was only one place in all the land that the scouts were too afraid to go: The Everfree Forest. Due to the amount of extremely dangerous creatures lurking in this forest, it had been declared by the princess as some kind of a forbidden zone. This was one of the few laws that the ponies were more than willing to obey. Of course, it had also unintentionally made the place pretty much the perfect meeting spot for the rebels.
Indeed, only a day after the confrontation between the princess and a rogue alicorn who claimed to be from an alternate timeline where the sun was never vanquished, two of the most significant members of the royal court secretly met in the middle of Everfree, believing that the time to enact their plan had finally come. They consisted of a white-coated unicorn named Rarity (Nightmare Moon’s personal advisor and right-hoof mare) and a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane named Rainbow Dash (commander of an elite squadron of pegasi soldiers known as the “Shadowbolts”).
One would highly doubt that these two highly important mares could plot treason against her majesty. However, they had pretty good reasons for doing these and had no intention of backing out until their scheme reached its fruitition.
“Are you alright?”, asked Rarity. “Did they see or hurt you?”
“Of course, they did neither!”, replied Rainbow. “You seriously think a couple of those dimwitted Earth pony guards could even catch a glimpse of the fastest flier in Equestria?”
“Well, there’s no real point in arguing with that, I suppose”, Rarity decided. “I take it you got what I asked, then?”
“And in one piece!”, Rainbow exclaimed while giving Rarity a parchment. “Took me a bit long to find it in those dusty old Canterlot archives, though. Please, tell me it was worth it.”
Rarity briefly read the parchment before her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she let out an excited gasp.
"More than you can imagine, darling!", she said. "This is exactly what we need to end this darkness once and for all! With it, we can cast a spell that can bring forth an interdimensional warrior powerful enough to defeat the princess and finally restore the glorious sun!"
"Um, can you actually do that?", an unsure Rainbow asked. "I mean, I took a quick peek at it on my way here and it looked kinda like a pretty complex spell."
"Well, considering it's a spell for opening a portal to another dimension, I'd say 'complex' would be an understatement", Rarity explained. "However, I do believe that I can successfully cast it. After all, I've received extensive magic training from the princess herself."
"To be honest, Rare, I still doubt that this plan of yours will actually work", a worried Rainbow stated. "We only have one shot at this and if it doesn't work, then we'll be absolutely doomed. The princess will discover our true intentions and brutally punish us for it. I think we both know exactly what she's capable of doing to traitors like us. Remember what happened to Applejack and Fluttershy?"
Rarity became a little sad upon hearing that, but managed to compose herself in a few seconds.
"If we have only one shot, then we have to try as hard as we can to make it count!", she replied in a determined tone. "I do remember what happened to our friends, Rainbow, but giving up at a time like this is no way to honor their sacrifice. Remember why we decided to rebel against the princess in the first place. We need to make sure Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo do not grow up in a world without sunlight and harmony. Do you understand?"
Rainbow briefly pondered on what she just said before letting out a sigh and changing her facial expression from concerned to determined.
"Alright, then!", she shouted. "For the memory of our friends and for the future of our sisters. Fire it up, Rare!"
"With pleasure!", Rarity shouted back before lighting up her horn to cast the spell. Indeed, the beam that was emitted from horn managed to generate a crimson-colored portal to what seemed like another dimension. However, nothing came out of it for several seconds and worse, the ponies began to hear sinister growls coming from the bushes.
"Oh, dear! Timberwolves!", Rarity exclaimed. "What are we going to do now?!"
"Keep casting the spell!", replied Rainbow. "I'll hold off these ugly mutts in the meantime!"
Rarity nodded in agreement and diverted her attention on stabilizing the portal while Rainbow engaged the vicious Timberwolves that had jumped out of their hiding spots and were extremely hungry for pony meat. She managed to take down five of them with several swift punches and kicks before a sixth one ambushed her from behind and pinned her to the ground. Even though she managed to avoid every single one of its attempts to bite her and tried as hard as she could to break free, the Timberwolf tightened its grip on her forelegs and six more of its fellow pack members shortly arrived to take a bite out of her.
Just as Rainbow was about to give up and accept her fate as Timberwolf supper, however, help came to her in the most unexpected way possible. An interdimensional being did come out of the portal, but he was unlike anything the ponies had ever imagined.
He had two legs, a slim muscular body, two arms, and a head that looked like some sort of skull that was set on fire. He was wearing boots, gloves, and a jacket made of black leather, and there was a chain wrapped around his body. What was even more disturbing about him was the fact that he was riding a gigantic motorcycle with wheels that were not just burning, but also leaving behind a trail of fire wherever the motorcycle was going. Needless to say, every single feature of this creature was both terrifying and awesome at the same time.
As soon as he came out of the portal, he stopped his bike, looked around his surroundings a little bit, got off the vehicle, and took a few steps towards the Timberwolves who had stopped trying to eat Rainbow and diverted their entire attention on the visitor, giving Rainbow the opportunity to sneak past them and help an exhausted Rarity get back on her hooves. While the Timberwolves were furious about this intrusion into their territory, they were also a bit terrified to attack the intruder. So, they were just growling at him from a safe distance while he kept looking at them in curiosity.
Then, he looked the ponies who were staring at him in both awe and terror. Suddenly, he began to glare at the Timberwolves and removed his gloves to reveal his hands that were also made out of burning bones. He then conjured up a giant ball of pure hellfire with just his right hand, causing the beasts to back away a bit, but also growl even louder than before. Changing tactic, he threw the ball straight towards the beasts, which resulted in five of them getting instantly turned into piles of ash and the remaining two running back towards the woods completely terrified. After that, he looked back at the ponies, who were now staring at him in complete awe.
“Oh. My. GOSH!”, Rainbow exclaimed. “That was totally awesome! How the hay did you do that?!”
“Can anyone in your dimension do what you just did?”, asked Rarity. “Also, do they all look like you? Gosh, I never thought we’d have this many questions!”
"Save your questions for later”, the warrior announced in a most menacing tone. "For now, you must tell me who you are, what is this place, why have you decided to summon me here. I would say this is the least you could do to thank me for saving your lives."
"Oh! Right! Where are our manners?!", a slightly frightened Rarity replied before clearing her throat. "I'm Grand Vizier Rarity and this is Air Commander Rainbow Dash. We're the supposedly loyal followers of her majesty, Princess Nightmare Moon. I say 'supposedly', because we're actually two of the few ponies in Equestria who are secretly planning to overthrow her."
An equally intimidated Rainbow continued, "Ever since she took over the world by force a few years ago, she's removed the sun from the sky and covered the land in eternal night. There's literally no more sunlight for any pony, plant, or creature. We were forced to adapt to this new environment with extreme difficulty and those who couldn't... well... you get the idea."
"Any pony who dares to complain about the situation is instantly punished in the most brutal ways imaginable", resumed Rarity. "We've lost several of our beloved friends because of that. Please, you have to help us stop her madness. It's the only way our home and families can have a bright and peaceful future."
Upon hearing all that, the warrior looked up towards the sky in silence for a handful of seconds before looking back at the ponies and stating, "Your story aligns with what I am sensing right now. From the second I arrived to this world, I have felt the presence of a great evil. A soul born from hatred and tainted by the suffering of innocents. As Ghost Rider, it is my sole duty to find and destroy such malevolence wherever I go. Very well. I shall do what you ask. Can you open the portal that brought me here again once I return?"
"Of course", confirmed Rarity. "Is there anything else we can do assist you, um, Ghost Rider?"
"No need. Just stay here and be ready open the portal as soon as I appear in the distance."
He then walked towards his motorcycle, got back on it, and started the engine. Just before moving forward, Rainbow said "Good luck" to him and he replied, "There is no such thing as luck."
Right after that, he rode away with an incredible speed, leaving a trail of hellfire behind. The ponies once again began to stare at him in awe before noticing that the pieces of the Timberwolves that Rainbow previously defeated were slowly reassembling themselves. To prevent them from reanimating completely, they quickly grabbed the pieces and threw them at the trail that the Ghost Rider had left behind.
Located on the edge of the Everfree was the infamous castle of Nightmare Moon. Once upon a time, it was called the “Castle of the Two Sisters”, which symbolized the strong bond and unity between the royal alicorns. Now, its dark color and intimidating design served as a reminder for every pony in Equestria about how powerful and cruel their current ruler could be to those who had the courage to oppose her.
The princess herself had an appearance just as menacing as her castle. She had a very dark cornflower blue coat, flowing brilliant phthalo blue mane with grayish Persian blue outline, big moderate cyan eyes with pupils that resembled those of a snake, razor-sharp white teeth, and moderate cobalt blue battle armor. She ruled with utter certainty, not having a single doubt that her absolute reign would last until the end of time. However, she would soon find out that her overconfidence would be her undoing.
She was just about to take first sip from her morning tea when she heard a loud rumble coming from outside and getting closer to the castle. The second she put her cup down to the table beside her throne, a flaming explosion completely shattered the front gate and Ghost Rider emerged from the smoke. He stopped his bike just a few feet away from the rubble, got off, and took several steps towards an enraged princess before a half a dozen elite guard ponies with bat wings landed in front of her to face the rider.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, YOU FOUL INTRUDER!", Nightmare Moon roared. "HOW DARE YOU DARE TRESSPASS INTO MY CASTLE IN THIS DESTRUCTIVE FASHION?! JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
This powerful tone did nothing to intimidate Ghost Rider and instead, he conjured up a giant fireball on each of his hands.
"Prepare to face the sting of Ghost Rider's power! Prepare to know the true meaning of hell!”
He threw both fireballs right at Nightmare Moon's face, but she protected herself by casting a shield spell shaped like a dome around her. She then turned towards the guard located at the center of squadron and ordered, "Captain Soarin, dispose of this foolish abomination right this instant!"
"As you command, your highness", the guard replied and along with the rest of the squadron, flew towards Ghost Rider to attack him with a divebomb strike. However, before they could land a single hit, the rider unleashed his fire breath on the guards, forcing them to retreat. Then, he unraveled the chain around his body, lit it on fire, spun it around in the air for a couple of times, and landed single a critical hit to the guards with it. This caused their armor to shatter into several pieces and the ponies themselves to crash land with first degree burns on their coats.
Ghost Rider then attacked Nightmare Moon a couple of times with the flaming chain, but her shield still protected her. She, in turn, emitted a blast of magic from her horn towards the rider, which sent him flying to the front gate and he crashed into his motorcycle, utterly stunned. She continued to press her attack by blowing up the castle roof and dropping several big pieces of rubble at the rider, but he destroyed them all by emitting bursts of flame from her hands like flamethrowers. He then got back on his bike and began to ride circles around Nightmare Moon's shield. This helped him to not only avoid getting hit by her magic blasts, but also create a ring of fire around her, which grew bigger and stronger with each lap.
After at least a dozen of these laps, despite Nightmare Moon’s best efforts to keep the shield together, the ring of fire became strong enough to create several huge cracks on the shield and a couple of seconds later, the shield completely disintegrated into hundreds of pieces. The resulting explosion dazed Nightmare Moon a bit and Ghost Rider took this opportunity to wrap his chain around her left hind leg before dragging her out of the castle with her body being burned by the trail of hellfire his bike was leaving behind.
To say that the experience was agonizing for Nightmare Moon would be a total understatement. Her armor had already started to melt and her exposed parts were burning very intensely. In fact, some of them had already become second degree and were dangerously close to reaching third degree.
This immensely painful journey lasted for a good solid minute through the Everfree Forest before Nightmare Moon mustered up enough strength to teleport to the sky and unleash blasts powerful enough to form gigantic craters on the forest floor. Even though Ghost Rider successfully avoided six of these attacks, a seventh one hit a spot right next to him, sending him and his motorcycle flying upwards separate from each other. Just as he was about to fall down, he grabbed his bike with his chain, pulled himself towards the bike, got back on it, and hit the ground with a hard but otherwise safe landing.
After that stunt, he slowed down a bit to get behind Nightmare Moon and then, grabbed one of her wings with his chain before pulling her downwards. Though she tried extremely hard to break free and even attempted to blast Ghost Rider, he turned up the heat on the chain and the unbearable pain from the burns on her wing broke her concentration, making her unable to aim or teleport. Even worse, he began to drag her through a forest fire caused by the trail left behind his motorcycle, which caused the exposed parts of her body to be not just burnt further, but also wounded by sharp branches and twigs.
About ten seconds later, he noticed a huge rock up ahead and threw Nightmare Moon straight at it. Understandably, it was extremely difficult for her to stand up after smashing into that rock. At this point, her armor was completely gone, she was severely burnt, and also losing gallons of blood each second. However, her rage towards Ghost Rider was now more powerful than ever and she used every bit of that to get back on her hooves and emit magic blasts at him even faster than before while screaming at the top of her lungs. Luckily, he managed to dodge those blasts and deflected those he couldn't with his chain. Then, he sent one final fireball right at her chest the second he deflected another blast, knocking her down once and for all. Right after that, he got off his motorcycle, sucked out the entire forest fire with his mouth, and tied up all four of her legs. Although, she tried one last time to blast him, he squeezed her horn with his right hand, nullifying her magic with his flames. He also grabbed her throat with his left hand, choking her and bringing her face closer to his.
"Nightmare Moon of Equestria, your sins are unforgiveable! The time has come for you to face them and pay for their price! Now, gaze into my eyes and feel the pain of all the innocent souls you made to suffer with your regime! "
Upon saying that, his eyes began glowing yellowish orange and Nightmare Moon shrieked in not just agony, but also genuine fear once she saw what those eyes were showing her. As soon as she looked at them, she was forced to relive the memories of the atrocities she subjected the citizens of Equestria to since the beginning of her reign. These included banishing her own sister to the moon, causing the deaths of many ponies throghout the land by vanquishing the sun, publicly beheading many more for trying to resist her law, and torturing prisoners for information about their fellow rebels, such as when she nearly froze both an orange Earth pony and a yellow Pegasus to death before thawing them out, and throwing them back into the dungeon where they starved to death. As Ghost Rider said, she wasn't just remembering these events, but also feeling the pain experienced by every single one of her victims. It was so intense that she could feel the parts of her very soul being incinerated each second.
About half a minute later, something truly unexpected happened. By then, the utter destruction of Nightmare Moon's tainted soul had been completed and with that, her physical appearance began to go through a dramatic change too. Her pupils dilated to resemble that of a normal pony, her injuries completely disappeared, the color of her coat changed to grayish phthalo blue, her teeth became significantly less sharp, her mane stopped flowing, became much shorter than before, and its color changed to very light azure. Simply put, by the end of this transformation, Nightmare Moon had become a completely different pony both physically and mentally.
As soon as Ghost Rider's eyes stopped glowing, he released this new pony's legs, wrapped it around his body once again, dropped her to the ground, and she dizzily tried to stand up. When she finally did so and fully opened her eyes, she took one look at Ghost Rider and instantly cowered with pure horror.
"Please, don't hurt me! I can explain everything! You see-"
"I already know everything there is to know about you, Princess Luna. I looked into your memories while I was burning Nightmare Moon's soul with the Penance Stare. I saw all the immoral things you did throghout your life. You grew jealous of your elder sister, because the amount of love she received from the citizens of Equestria was much greater than what you received. Therefore, you resorted to using dark magic in order to take the land all for yourself. However, your newfound power turned you into a monstrous tyrant and, under the influence of this monster, you committed many sins against your subjects, including the banishment of your sister to the moon as revenge for what she did to you a millennia ago. Am I missing any details?"
The expression on Princess Luna's face changed from scared to surprised.
"Amazing. You do know everything. So, since I wasn't in control of my actions this whole time, does that mean I'm innocent?"
"Not exactly. Even though Nightmare Moon was controlling you, her inception was still your doing. Simply put, it was your pride and anger that led to her creation in the first place. I must make sure this never happens again and right now, your own soul is still tainted with sin."
Luna's eyes then widened with fear once again.
"You're going to burn it too, aren't you? But... but there is no need for this!"
"Then, how can I be certain that your negative emotions will not influence you into bringing back Nightmare Moon and bringing harm to the innocent souls in Equestria ever again?"
Luna took a deep breath before answering that question.
"I spent more than a thousand years trapped being controlled by her and I remember every single crime she committed against my home and subjects. You cannot imagine the amount of regret I feel for embracing the worst of my ambitions and the ponies of the very land I swore to protect paying the price. However, now that I'm free of her corruption, I have the power to undo the damage she did and redeem myself in the eyes of the citizens. As soon as my powers are fully restored, I shall bring back the sun by freeing my sister and we'll rule together side by side once again. It may take quite a long time for me to be completely forgiven for Nightmare Moon's atrocities, but if I can wait for a thousand years to be set free from her influence, then I can certainly wait for a thousand more to be accepted as the ruler Equestria deserves."
Ghost Rider stood in silence for nearly a minute to process what the princess was saying. She was actually asking him to take a leap of faith and trust her claim that over time, she would make up for the mistakes she made. Never before had he left anything like this to chance and always taken the most effective action possible to ensure the safety of the innocents. But now, there was a creature in front of him who, despite being responsible for creating a vicious monster, was in desperate need of mercy and a chance to cleanse her soul of sin. None of the opponents he previously faced had ever made such an offer to him.
As the Spirit of Vengeance, this was his ultimate challenge. Should he take matters into his own hands once again and use the Penance Stare to avenge the innocent souls claimed by Nightmare Moon's crimes? Or should he take the leap of faith, and give the princess her chance to redeem herself in the eyes of both her sister and subjects?
After a long contemplation, he finally came to a decision and he hoped to God that this would not be a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his eternal life.
"My duty as Ghost Rider demands me to always punish those who are guilty for endangering innocent lives and never grant any sort of mercy or forgiveness."
Although Luna became instantly terrified of this statement, she nevertheless managed to calm down, nodded in understanding, and prepared to surrender herself to the cruel fate.
"You, however, get to have a second chance."
As soon as Luna's facial expression changed from defeated to puzzled, Ghost Rider moved his face extremely close to hers and declared, "I have faith in you, princess. Do not disappoint me."
She nodded in agreement and he turned around to return to his motorcycle. He got back on it and began riding away towards the center of the forest where Rarity and Rainbow Dash were waiting for him. The second he appeared in the distance a few minutes later, Rarity conjured up the portal spell once again. As he got closer, he waved his hand to them and they waved back with their hooves. Finally, he rode into the portal and completely disappeared from sight when it closed.
"So, do you think he really won?", Rainbow asked Rarity while they were walking out of Everfree, which was still burning. "I mean, how can we be sure of Nightmare Moon's defeat?"
Rarity replied, "Honestly, darling, if she had won, do you think he would actually be alive right now?"
Rainbow thought about it for a couple of seconds before answering, "I guess not. Then again, it's not really clear if he's a living being or not. He's made of burning bones, after all."
"Well, whether he's alive or not, there's no denying that he did a phenomenal service to Equestria", declared Rarity. "I'm sure we'll reap the rewards of his victory soon enough."
"Uh, Rarity?", happily replied Rainbow while looking at the sky. "I think that might be even sooner than you think."
Rarity looked up too and became completely shocked to discover that the pony head with a multi-colored mane that symbolized the banished princess, Celestia, was no longer on the moon, and that the moon itself was slowly descending towards the horizon.
