Knight of the eclipse

You decide it be best to help the blue one, Nightmare Moon. You haven't been in this world long enough to really get a grasp on what's going on or world politics or any of that, but you feel as though she is the true ruler of this kingdom.

You think about how exactly you would help her, given that the two regal winged unicorns are currently flying, but an angry voice piques your attention. “Hey you!” shouts the captain from before.

“Don't think you're getting away so easily! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!” She shrieks, charging at you with such speed you can't even counter. You get hit hard, body tumbling across the hard floor.

Arranging your legs, you plant yourself and skid to a stop. Almost as if by instinct, your arms cross in front of your face and you block a brutal blow from the orange, blonde maned one that has such a ferocious intensity to it that you may as well have tried blowing bubbles at her to block the strike.

Your body is bucked several yards away and you land back first on the floor, wind knocked out of you. Eyes wide, you roll to the side just as a pale yellow pegasus slams into the ground where you had just been. You flip to your feet and bring your blade to bear. “Oh... sorry about that... I wasn't trying to hurt you... I'm just following orders, I don't really want to fight I-” her speech has given the others enough time to flank you without your knowledge and an energy blast from the white unicorn slams you in the side, not enough to down you but more than enough to stagger you.

The pink one moves like a blitz of lightning and slams into your chest, knocking you to the floor and sending you skidding along.

An enormous blast rips through the side of the castle and you all look on in awe as one of Nightmare Moon's magic blasts had missed Celestia and totally annihilated the wall. Celestia was on the backhoof and Nightmare pressed the offensive, leading their battle into the large hallways of the castle.

You stand to your feet and the group of five surrounds you. With a twitch of your lip, and gripping your sword tightly, you let out a howl of anger. “THAT'S ENOUGH!” You shout, raising the sword to the sky, twisting it and driving the tip straight into the ground. Electrical currents rush out from the crystal Yin Yang at the center of the cross-guard and launch upwards a few feet and then blast in all different directions, slamming the group of mares and knocking them all away.

You collapse to one knee, unsure how you knew to do that but knowing it winded you to perform such a feat. It was like the sword was moving on its own and you were simply holding it, it's vessel. “W-why you!” the cyan blue captain yells out. “I-I... I'll g-get you!” she shouts, staggering. She launches herself towards you, screaming. “IF IT'S THE LAST THING I-”

You drop down and with a swing of your arm, hack the thick part of your palm directly into where her neck met her shoulder, cutting off her howling war cry. Her eyes roll back into her head as her whole body seemed to slow down and collapse on top of you.

You're exhausted, beaten, bruised-

A rumbling in the floors alerts you to the fact that the main fight is still going on between Nightmare and her adversary. You stand up, flinching as you taste blood in your mouth. Grabbing your sword, you rush into the hallway. You can almost feel the raw, uncontained power of the two winged unicorns slamming into one another with everything they had.

You begin to rush down the seemingly endless hallways, every step making their battle feel more and more intense. You can feel a sense of it, a literal heat... gusts of winds rushing down the hallways against you, floors trembling beneath your feet.

Cutting around one corner, you come to the knocked down entrance of a massive atrium. The two mares are on the ground, clashing swords and launching magic blasts at one another. Nightmare hits Celestia with a blast square in the chest that sends her skidding back but she remains footed.

It's at this time that Celestia takes notice of you. “You...” she speaks out and Nightmare glances to you.

“Another one of your foalish disciples?!” she shouts. Before you can even act however, Nightmare's horn lights up and a magical barrier is thrown up in the archway to the atrium.

“Wait, I'm on your side!” you shout to her, making her laugh.

“Your petty lies cannot-” she is cut short as Celestia slashes down at her with an overhead blade strike from her sword. Nightmare plants herself firmly, her own blade horizontal and catching the full brunt of Celestia's blow.

Twirling away from the strike, the two begin to clash swords violently, neither letting up. Celestia adds in a couple of energy blasts that Nightmare struggles to avoid or simply has to take the full impact of whilst she blocks one of Celestia's sword strikes. It's at this moment that you realize that Nightmare's horn is constantly glowing, all of her magical energy focused on keeping you out of the battle.

“Oh no...” you whisper, realizing that in coming here, you have put your royal princess in greater danger than she was in before. Your heart begins to race as you notice that Nigthmare is on the defensive now, Celestia pushing an incredibly violent offensive that is wearing down Nightmare.

Your heart rate seems to only get quicker and quicker, breathing shorter and more shallow as you watch in fear. The duo blade lock and Nightmare grunts. “I will... end this... where you could not!” she shouts. Celestia winces, almost as if her words hurt her.

“I'm sorry dearest sister... but if I can't persuade you back to the light... than I must end thee!” she shouts, shoving her sword aggressively against Nightmare and pushing her back. You hold your breath in fear, watching as Celestia hammers Nightmare square in the chest with an energy blast that sends her staggering back.

Celestia leaps forwards, swinging her sword down hard. Nightmare tries in vain to block the brunt of the attack but the blow knocks her sword from her magical grasp, though the magical barrier still remains up.

Celestia rears up, punting Nightmare square in the chest with her front hooves before spinning and hammering her full force with a mighty bucking kick with both hindlegs. This kick sends Nightmare hurtling back, slamming into the floor and magical aura going out, along with the barrier. Hey eyes are shut as she gasps in pain. There's a quiet CLIP-CLOP of Celestia's hooves traversing across the floor as she walks towards the fallen princess.

Now is your chance. You didn't stand a chance at a range like this due to their magical abilities, but closer...

Celestia slowly approaches Nightmare whom slides painfully away from her, trying to reach helplessly for her sword. Celestia stops before her, raising her sword reluctantly. “Goodbye sister... this time forever,” she says remorsefully, tears dripping from her eyes.

“NO!” You boom, launching yourself the final few feet and placing your sword directly in her blade's path, catching the blow and not evening budging an inch. The blades lock, just a mere inch from Nightmare's neck, whose eyes are wide with fear and shock. Celestia looks to you, wide eyed, as does Nightmare whom has a trickle of blood running from her lip.

Celestia grunts. “W-what are you doing?!” she gasps as you twist your mighty sword in your grip, pushing back against hers.

“Protecting... my princess!” you hiss, thrusting against her and pushing her back, the mighty white warrior shocked and in disbelief. Her horn glows and begins to grab you with a magical grasp. You can feel her power quickly grabbing hold of you but she doesn't have you completely just yet. In a heartbeat, you twirl your body in a three hundred and sixty degree clockwise motion, cocking your right leg and jabbing it out at just the right moment, cuffing her in the chest as you do so.

Her grasp on you releases and you swing your sword violently at her head, aiming to decapitate her and end this quickly. Her sword however, comes up just as quickly and glances your blow. Nonetheless, your blade still strikes her body, lopping off her horn.

She lets out a pained shriek as crackles of energy sizzle from what's left of her horn. She painfully tries to grab you in her magical aura but it feels more like a gentle tug against you now. “W-what... look what you've done!” she shouts and your lips curl, nostrils flaring back like a wild animal as you position yourself.

Her nub of a horn manages just enough energy to raise her sword. “So be it!” she hisses. Charging at you, you step back and block the first blow. It's not at all powerful but her next strike is incredibly quick.

You denote that without the full use of her magical ability, she's resorted to blindingly fast strikes as opposed to overwhelmingly powerful ones. She's almost more dangerous this way and you have your wits about you as you let her press the offensive, relying on defensive parries that redirect her blows as opposed to full on stopping them.

You keep stepping backwards and without looking, you take note that there are a set of upwards stairs coming up behind you. Crossing your blade horizontally to hers, you take the full force of one of her strikes, locking blades briefly before thrusting against her, shoving her back.

You aren't sure how you know... but you know you can make the jump and hurtle yourself backwards in a flip, your sword glowing and encasing you in a magical glow. Landing at the top of the flight of stairs, you steady yourself.

'That was incredible,' you think briefly. Celestia's wings spring out to their full span and she darts at you. Crouching into a roll, you dodge the impaling stab as she flies right where you had been just a fraction of a second ago.

Finishing your roll but still on your knees, you deflect yet another blow and jump up and over her in a flip, blocking blows midair as your sword continues to glow, granting you the unnatural abilities to perform such stunts.

Landing on your feet but with your back towards her, you swing your sword behind you, tip facing downwards and sword parallel to your back. You completely block what would be a dissecting blow to your waist. Locking blades, you twist at your hips and spin to meet the white mare, then follow through on your defensive strategy yet again.

Pushing you down a rather narrow hallway, Celestia's sword begins to hum and vibrate, glowing red hot. You're not sure if it's her magic doing it, or the constant clashing of blades. Your blade however, remains cold just like the mysterious metal it is made from.

Every time she swings wide, she catches sides of the hallways, scarring the wood walls and emitting smoke from them. Each time her blade slams into yours, the clash results in little bits of hot slag splattering everywhere like a MiG-welder.

The little bits of slag and sparks burn your fine robes and even your skin at times.

Entering a small room, it gives you a wider range of motion and allows you to better block and parry her swings. Backing up, you suddenly come to a complete stop as you stumble into a thick wooden table.

Twirling sideways in a spin, you narrowly avoid Celestia's slash that completely slices the table in two, each smoldering half collapsing to the ground. She pushes the offensive almost faster than you can react. You quickly bring your sword up to block, but fumble slightly, allowing her to drive both your swords into the wall. The two of you are so close that you can almost feel her panting hot breath.

With that, you drive your forehead into hers, though she is protected by a helmet and you almost instantly regret your decision. She stumbles back, helmet falling off as she shakes her head to recover. You however now have a cut on your forehead that leaks blood into your eyes.

Having left her sword lodged in the wall, you take this moment to try and end it all. Pulling your sword free, you lunge at her, attempting to drive your blade straight through her chest. Her horn crackles however, and her sword is quickly returned to her side, blocking your strike and with that you're back to the defensive against her almost relentlessly fast onslaught.

You can feel yourself beginning to tire, even though you had been parrying and deflecting all her blows as opposed to taking them head on, this fight was starting to take its toll on your body. Celestia on the other hand didn't seem even the slightest bit tired, only her heavy breathing was an indicator that she was becoming exhausted too... though at a vastly slower rate than you.

Down another hallway that quickly becomes marked with burning sword slashes, you find yourself going through a set of open doors that leads to a balcony walkway that goes between two of the castle's towers, high above the streets below.

Still on the defensive, you bit your lip hard, drawing blood as a wad of hot sparks spew into your cheek. Pushing against her to get a few feet between her and yourself, you take a few quick steps back. Celestia lunges at you but oversteps, and you spin in response, dodging her blow and hammering a kick so hard into her side that it sends her tumbling to the side.

Staggering up against the side of the balcony rail, you slam a low strike towards her that she narrowly blocks but being so unstable from the kick, the blow staggers her further and you take this moment the kick her over the edge of the balcony.

You pant only twice, relieved from the victory. You wipe the blood from your face as you take a deep breath and go to peer over the edge to ensure your-

You're pushed back back a violent gust of wind that knocks you flat on your back 'Shit... she has wings!' you remind yourself silently. Rolling to the side, you narrowly miss her sword strike by a mere inch, her hooves slamming down with such intensity that the ground cracks beneath her.

Coming to your knees, you deflect a glancing blow that slams you onto your back yet again. She steps above you, raising her sword high with the tip facing your chest, readying for the impaling blow. Your drive a dirty kick right into her belly that makes her gasp in pain as you roll to the side, knocking her footing out from under her.

You come to your knees and block a winded blow from Celestia and barely make it to your feet. Another bisecting blow is thrown at the right side of your hips, just as Celestia rears up to pummel you with her front hooves, much like she had done to Nightmare.

Holding the handle of your elegant sword above your head you direct your blade downwards to block the blow from her sword while she is still rearing up to pummel you. As you block the blow, you quickly then thrust your sword upwards, pushing away her sword and collide your blade with her armored horseshoes, blade connecting with them but the armor stopping your blade from cutting flesh.

The blow does however, stumble Celestia back, herself staggering on her hindlegs and trying to keep herself balanced while upright. Celestia, still unbalanced, throws a wild swing of her sword at you. Your body moves on its own as you spin in a one-eighty motion and drive your own blade towards yourself, missing your gut by just and inch and driving back with full force.

Everything seems to pause, even the air... your breathing... even your heart... blood trickles down your forehead, coating your vision...

“Guh!” the gasp breaks the utter silence...

You feel almost weak, your knees shaking as the weight presses into you...

Celestia's chin lands on your shoulder as her body goes limp, impaling more of your swords length through her abdomen. Her breathing is short, sharp and raspy. You can feel her breath as her cheek brushes into yours.

Tears trickle down her face and onto you. You blink. It's done, but an agonizingly bad feeling starts to wash over you... almost as if... as if you regret your action. Moments ago you desired nothing more than to finish her but now...

You release the sword and turn, letting her body fall into your arms as life continues to slip away from her eyes, a look of pure fear spread across her face. She didn't seem to be in any sort of pain... only-

“Don't... don't let my... sister...” she lets out one final breath and with that her head flumps back. With your right hand, you reach over and close her lifeless eyes. You don't know why, perhaps her reaction to death, but you feel pretty dismal about the whole ordeal. Blood begins to pool around you...

Minutes pass and you can feel Nightmare approach. “Thy see that thou hast dealt with her,” she says and you nod, standing to your full height and pulling your sword free from Celestia's lifeless body. “Impressive,” Nightmare says to you. "Most impressive."

You look to her, and then to Celestia's body. “We should bury her,” you say and Nightmare glares at you.

“What? Is thou suggesting that we provide service for treachery?” she hisses but you shake your head.

“No... but she was a warrior through and through. A warrior whom even your most elite guards ran from. How many of your guards came to your aid? And had circumstance been even slightly different, it would be me impaled with her sword...” you trail off. Nightmare looks at you, inspectingly, before speaking.

“So... thou say thous respect her... do thy have reason to believe thou may betray thee and follow in her hoofsteps?” she asks and you shake you head, waving off her question.

“I respect her as a warrior, her resilience in combat... not as a pony and her ideological beliefs,” you reply and Nightmare raises a brow.

“Well... thy do agree that thou was the only one to rush to thy aid in our time of need... perhaps thy shall respect thous wishes to have her body buried,” she says, levitating the deceased and limp body of Celestia. “Now come, there are matters to be dealt with,” she tells you.

The two of you begin to walk down the long hallways where yourself and Celestia had done battle. “Where has thou found that sword?” she asks.

“Uhm... well... it's kind of ridiculous and you probably wouldn't believe me,” you reply and she gives you a glare, her silent stare demanding the answer. “A horny talking dog led me to a cemetery and inside the monestary there were some skeletons and this sword. She told me two regal sisters had-” she cuts you off with a sharp hiss.

“Enough! I've heard enough!” she says and you nod quietly, continuing on walking down the hallways, she speaks again. “So how did thou end up in this world? Thy can tell thou is not from Equestria or even this world,” she asks and you shrug.

“Actually... I have no idea. I just woke up in the forest, with no memory and I met this talking dog... heck, I don't even remember who I am,” you answer and she squints at you, trying to see if you're lying.

“Fine... keep thous secretes... for now,” she mutters and you turn to her.

“No secrets, I swear to god. I... My life literally started a few hours ago and I have no idea what's going on,” you tell her and she looks to you with an inquisitive stare before her look breaks.

“So then why did thou come to thy aid?” she asks and you shrug.

“It was the right thing to do,” you reply earnestly and her stare softens.

“Th-thou thinks that...” she trails off. “Not out of fear?” she pipes up and you shake your head.

“If I feared you I could've just let Celestia finish you off... I dunno, you seem alright... I mean... like, I just got here but you don't seem bad,” you reply and she looks to you briefly and then away.

“Indeed...” she mutters.

The two of you enter the atrium where several dozen guards have come, arresting the group that had sided with Celestia. The cyan blue captain shrieks out when she sees Celestia's deceased body.

“NO! CELESTIA! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE-” she's cut off as the guard handling her rams her in the side with the blunt end of his spear, knocking the wind out of the former captain.

“Wait!” Nightmare booms to the guard and approaches her former captain. “Such treachery cannot stand... have her put to the guillotine, publicly. That shall deter any further descent from the ponies of Equestria,” she orders and with that, the captain spits right into Nightmare's face.

“You'll never stop us!” she shouts. Nightmare motions the guards to take her away but you shout out for them to stop. Every pony, especially Nightmare Moon, looks to you. Some looks are of disbelief, others, namely that of Nightmare Moon, are of boiling fury.

“Stop?” Nightmare asks. “Is there any particular reason we should not execute this treasonous swine this instant?” she hisses and you nod as you present your answer...

Rape her- she's obviously defiant and would be proud to die a martyr. Break that mental will and you break the rebellion.

Fair trial- show the ponies of the kingdom that Nightmare is not a ruthless tyrant like the rebellion makes her out to be and there will be no further descent into rebellion.