Result of Human Research

I extended my arm completely out, watching Grimfrost fly back towards my hand.

"I don't want to hear any pleas for mercy if the fight you wish to take is a losing one." I said. The white alicorn responded by attempting to blast me with magic, she herself charging along with it. Instead of dodging or blocking, I countered it by using the momentum that the blast put on my body as the force of the slash, scoring a scratch on her cheek. She looked dumbfounded at the technique.

"How did you do that? I'm just curious." Celestia asked. I chuckled at that.

"A swinging motion isn't just pushing forward, it's also pulling back." She didn't seem to get it, but it didn't stop her from attacking me. She shaped her aura like a sword and used it to try and get a hit on me. After ducking it, I sidestepped an incoming horn-stab. Thinking I could swing the sword in time before she recovered seemed to elude me, as I suddenly hopped out of the way from what seemed like a lightning strike that struck my previous position. I looked up and saw Rainbow Dash in the sky, a cloud on hand.

"What are you six doing here?" Celestia asked. So this wasn't intended then. Wait, six? I turned around and was suddenly blown back by a purple light. After changing my directional influence in the air, I landed on my feet. I looked up just in time to dodge a buck incoming from Applejack. Slightly annoyed, I put up a barrier around me, and observed my situation. Rainbow and Twilight were talking with Celestia, Fluttershy treating her wound. Pinkie looked to be preparing something in that physics-breaking cannon of hers. Applejack and Rarity were in front of me, trying to break the barrier. Seven against one, eh?

"Are any more of you coming out?" I asked. No response from the mares in question. Okay, then I'll make you listen to me.

As Applejack attempted to buck the barrier again, I let it down and slashed Grimfrost in her direction, and the very tip of the blade manage to cut a little bit below her neck. It wouldn't be enough to do anything, but it's progress. Grazing a hoof over the newly-made cut, she glared at me.

"Applejack!" Rarity screamed out. The scream caused everyone else to look in our direction. Okay, it was just a tiny cut. You girls are acting like I just completely stabbed into her.

"Relax, it isn't even that deep." Applejack's glare got deeper.

"Ya sure had tha intent ta." Fair point, I guess. I ducked in time to dodge a hoof speeding towards my face.

"Nopony hurts my friends!" She said, somehow managing to rebalance herself before she crashed the ground. The amount of forces her body could take held no bounds did it? I didn't respond, instead bringing my sword down upon her. Or, at least, I tried. I looked up and noticed that there was a purple glow around my sword. Looking behind me, I saw Twilight, who was at super close distance now. She smirked at me and pointed a hoof in the direction I was facing, signaling me to turn around. Stupidly listening to my enemy's request, I turned around. A pop, similar to a flashbang, went off at point blank range. I'm not losing here. I've trained too much just to let it go to waste! I felt the anger boil up inside of me.

"Okay, now I'm done playing around." Watching everypony's sudden unease was the last bit of joy I allowed myself. Rainbow, Twilight, and the now newly recovered Celestia all charged me at once. I'm not letting this faze me. I turned around and manage to kick Rainbow right in her gut, her air suddenly leaving her lungs. She went flying back into a tree, unconscious from the sudden blow. I grabbed Twilight by her neck and threw her at Celestia's charging form. They both slid back to Fluttershy's now fear-induced body. I figure that it will only stun them temporarily though. Pinkie Pie attempted to use that stupid cannon again, but this time I was ready. Before it did anything, I snapped my fingers, causing it to explode along with the pink menace. The way she plopped down reminded me of something? What game was it? Something about Mario jumping over barrels or something like that. Well, whatever it was called, she did almost a perfect death animation.

"Woah there!" I looked at Applejack and Rarity, who sat there in surprised silence. "Maybe we can wo-" I felt my world go upside down as something very fast managed to strike my head, causing me to flip through the air.

"Now!" Twilight, who was now holding her neck, said. I suddenly got sense of an intense magic power signal, and didn't know where it was coming from. I was now suddenly aware that everypony, minus Celestia who was still unconscious, was wearing a necklace with a gem of some sort. How I didn't notice this before, I will never know. If my barriers can absorb most magic, then I should be able to absorb whatever they are trying to create here. I noticed that Fluttershy was still fearful, but didn't necessarily have enough fear instilled into her. I attempted to use my magic to instill that feeling, only for it to fail. Huh?

"Wait, what? Why isn't it working?" I thought out loud. Twilight smirked at me.

"Nothing beats the magic of friendship." She said calmly. What is this, a little girls cartoon? No one in the real world actually believes this nonsense, right?

"If your 'magic of friendship' is so high and mighty, lets see you combat this." I sent out a wave of magic energy, hoping to strike down whatever they had planned. It managed to connect with Twilights head, but it didn't seem to even phase her. What the fuck?

"How the hell did you do that?" I tried again and again, only for the same thing to happen. It seems that I need to raise the power in my shots. I tried a few more times, raising the amount I put in every shot more and more, and it seemed like a shot even from god couldn't phase her. This is not good.

"It's like we said, nothing beats the magic of friendship." Rainbow Dash quoted, the energy building up more and more inside of her. I call absolute bullshit! There has to be a way to counteract whatever they are doing! I will have to go with this spell for now. I closed my eyes and used the spell as everything went silent. I looked around and noticed that everypony was frozen in place. Good, this gives me enough time to study whatever they did. It sucks that it requires to much energy to keep up. Time is of the essence, so to speak.

"What are you doing here?" I turned around to see Celestia's younger sister. Luna, was it? The pony in front of me laughed however. Now that I noticed, she had a completely black coat, but her presence felt like Luna's did.

"Who are you?" I asked. The laughter devolved into a chuckle.

"The ponies call me Nightmare Moon, which I have taken as my name. I do not know my actual one." Strange, but I had more to deal with right now. "I can tell that you are in some sort of trouble at the moment." The smirk never left her face, which created tension in the air, I realize.

"Not really. I should be able to completely defend myself from the incoming magic." She frowned at me and turned towards the ponies charging the spell.

"Those are the Elements of Harmony you are fighting. You have no idea how powerful they are." She said in a tense voice, almost like she has experience with them.

"How do you know?" What better way to find out then outright asking?

"About two years ago, I attempted to create eternal night. Luna had gotten angry from the request of the ponies to make the day last longer, and created me." That is an interesting tale.

"So what you are saying is that you are Luna's negative emotions?" She nodded. "If you've dealt with this before, then how do we combat this?" Her frown never left her face.

"When I dealt with them, I did not succeed. Although watching Discord face them did open a way to do it, but I am too cold to ever commit to such a method." I raised an eyebrow at her. I know she said she was created from Luna's negative emotions, but openly admitting that is how you are is never easy.

"What was the method?" Defense now, questions later.

"Convince any of the elements to have doubts of using it on you. It should disrupt the spell, as all six need to have the same mindset to use them." I don't think that's a method I could do. I felt a shake, which promptly brought me off of my feet. I looked at the sky and brought myself to my knees.

"What was that?" I asked. She smirked again and looked down at my fallen form.

"It seems our time is up. When you don't succeed, come find me. I'm working with a friend who has also had trouble with those six. Maybe we could combat them at a later date for revenge. When you get blasted, you should end up in the shadow realm. Those elements don't kill the target, it only entraps them." I sighed and looked up at her.

"Fine. On the off chance that I don't make it through the entire thing, I will look for you immediately." She nodded then stared at me. I then blinked and she suddenly disappeared. Strange.

The spell broke in that instant and they were still charging it. I used the rest of my body's energy into one single blast. Luckily, my charge time was a lot faster than theirs. As they finished theirs, a rainbow light shot out towards me.

"I'm not losing this easily!" I yelled, shooting out my own blast that collided with the rainbow menace of light. Everypony aside me went wide-eyed as my shot slowly penetrated the death blast. What was Nightmare Moon talking about? I watched as both collided balls completely exploded in prismatic light, causing everyone to fly back a couple of meters. Okay, now I know what happens when light collides with light. I got back up and looked around and noticed that part of the grass where the explosion was turned into stone. That's kind of horrifying to think about, to say the least. Can a creature even breathe in their stone prison?

I opened my eyes and immediately wish I hadn't. The elements were already charging a second beam. Seriously?!? They can do that back to back? That isn't even remotely fair!

"How?" I asked, an uneasy tension building inside of me. Twilight's smirk felt like an insult hurdled towards me.

"It's as I said earlier. Nothing can beat the power of friendship. Maybe you could stand to learn about it in the future, but first you need to live out your punishment." As the blast fired, with as hard of a force as the last, I put up a barrier and watched the rainbow light guide right past it.

It was a losing battle, however. Parts of the barrier started to crack, providing a nice spider-web like texture. Ah, now I see what you meant, Nightmare Moon. My current level of power allows me to contest the Elements of Harmony once, but I wish that I had a little warning that they could be fired off repeatedly.

I looked down at my legs, noticing that I can't move. Ah, they turned to stone. I guess I'm getting an answer to my question about the stone cage I'll inevitably be entrapped in. Axel, the man who was notorious back on earth. The man who would test ideas freely and get away with them, illegal or not. The man who never relied on friendship to strengthen his resolve. The man who had trouble making friends, and found relief of stress from the misfortune of others. All of this achievement, to only be put into the grave by six rainbow-colored ponies who believe that emotions have power.

..I don't think my pride can handle this.

...

..

.

"Hey, Nightmare Moon? I think I will take that offer to join you and your friend." I said, the stone now reaching around my head. The last thing I felt was a spike of joyfulness around the back of my neck, before everything went black.

VOLUME 1 END.