Chapter 4

You know, something about putting a spoiled brat like this Prince, as he calls himself, in his place is somewhat therapeutic. I had just put his two meat head guards in the dirt and completely owned their asses after this jackass threatened to imprison Nightmare. And the feeling of testing my Conduit abilities a little was arguably the best feeling I’ve ever had, even if it felt so unreal I was able to do such things with ease. Blueblood was staring up at me with a bewildered expression as I stared back with a shit eating grin. Blueblood then blinks and glares at me as he then raises his hand in the air and it begins to glow. I arched a brow as he fires a strange beam in the air and it explodes like a small firework and a mark in the shape of an eight point star.

“Was that supposed to do something?” I ask.

“Yes, it is a signal for you and that witch’s execution,” he said with a smug attitude.

Soon there were the sounds of sirens coming down the streets and I turned to see a bunch of carriages being driven by armored men whose hands were glowing due to their magic and stopped all around us. The doors from each carriage burst open and dozens of men ran out, some with swords drawn and others their hands glowing as they surrounded me. I quickly walked over to Nightmare and grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me as I slung over my pack on my shoulder as she held my arm while trembling. I noticed that some of the guards had the eight point star mark on their chest plates and others had a symbol of a shield with a six point star on it and three normal stars on top. From the crowd of guards another man with two toned blue hair, wearing fancier purple and gold plated armor, walks out with his sword drawn. He looks at me, the Nightmare, and then Blueblood to which he gives a somewhat forced bow.

“Prince Blueblood, you used the signal to call us?” The man asked.

“Indeed, Captain Shining Armor, this criminal had the audacity to raise his hand against me, so my order to you is to execute him and the Nightmare witch at once! Do so, and you shall receive the praise you deserve for saving Equestria from being plunged in eternal night,” Blueblood proclaims. Nightmare clings my arm more and I give the bastard prince the stink eye of stink eyes.

“Now wait just a goddamn minute!” I bark, halting their advance for a moment. “This guy is spouting the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard in my life! We didn’t assault him at all, Nightmare and I were just minding our own businesses and he just waltzed up out of nowhere and threatened to throw us in prison when we didn’t even do anything. Besides I was just acting on self defense when he sent his two meatheads after us,” I said in an irritated tone.

“Silence you worm! You should have obeyed me from the beginning and kept your head under my shoe where it belongs! Captain, carry out your orders at once!” Blueblood snaps.

“Shining Armor, was it?” I ask, gaining his attention. “You look like a guy who’s a good judge of character so let me ask you this, does he have any visible injuries on him?” I ask. He pauses for a moment and glances at Blueblood, to which he shakes his head. “You see the look of fear in Nightmare’s eye right? Can you honestly tell me she would wanna hurt anybody?”

“You look like you’re not from around here, but that woman has a reputation for being an infamous villain who tried to plunge this world in eternal night,” The Captain said.

“I realize that, but you should know that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have decided to pardon her of her crimes so long as she proves herself of not being who she was before,” I said, surprising him. “I take it this is the first you’re hearing this?”

“Lies! She and this criminal are a threat to everyone! Don’t let this fool deceive you! Do as you’re told this instant, Captain!” Blueblood commands.

“You’re the one holding the sword, Captain,” I said as I sheathed my Amp. “I mean you and everyone else around here no harm, the same applies to Nightmare here.”

“How can you be so sure she’s not the villain everyone knows her to be?” Shining asks.

“Because she’s my friend, that’s why,” I said, making Nightmare look up at me with happy tears.

“Bah! A monster like her does not deserve friendship! Captain, I won’t ask again, I order you to carry out your duties!” Blueblood demands.

The Captain and I just stare at each other for what seemed like hours. The guards all just looked at each other and their Captain as they waited for him to make a move. The Captain then sighs heavily and sheathes his sword, “Men! We’re heading back,” he said as he turned away.

“What?! Get back here this instant, Armor!” Blueblood yelled.

“With all due respect, Prince Blueblood, but I refuse to carry out an order that obviously wasn’t true. While I’m still skeptical about Nightmare Moon, this man is innocent and he vouches for her and that’s good enough for me. Now if you’ll excuse me, my men and I have some more important business to attend to,” he said while walking back to the carriages and the others follow.

“Grr, 100,000 gold coins to the one who brings me his head!” Blueblood shouts, making all heads snap to him. “And another 200,000 for the witch’s head!”

“If any of you value your position as a guard, you will belay that order and return to post!” Shining snaps harshly.

The guards who had the symbol of the shield and three stars hesitated and backed off via Shining’s warning, however the ones who had the eight pointed star kept their weapons at hand and looked at me and Nightmare with a greedy look in their eye. I scowled as I made Nightmare release my arm and activated Electricity making me arms spark bolts as I widened my legs.

“Only warning, follow your Captain and leave, or I’ll fry you all good enough to leave you paralyzed for weeks,” I said in a low tone.

For a moment they were hesitant, but shook their nerves away and two of them foolishly charged at me with their swords raised. I sigh as I thrust my arms down while using Electricity to jump high in the air, dodging their attacks. I front flip over the guards and as I flip I fire two Lightning Bolts at them making them cry out in pain as they fall and I land on my feet. The others start to gain a backbone as they too charge at me and I quickly pull out my phone and earbuds and scroll through my playlist for a song.

Let’s do this in style, I think as I hit play.

I unsheathe my Amp and flow my Electricity through it as the tesla coils light up and electric bolts spark in between them and I twirled my Amp in my hand. One guard tries to blast me with magic but I swat it away with my Amp and point my Amp to him and blast him away with electricity, sending him flying and tumbling in the ground unconscious. A few more guards charge at me and I create a Shock Grenade in my free hand and toss it their way. It shocks them on impact and when it detonates it shocks other guards within range and they all fall to the ground either paralyzed or unconscious. Two more of them rush past the downed guards and come at me from both sides. I unravel my chain and activate Video to create my digital longsword in my right hand block both attacks with my Amp and sword. The Video power seems to have affected my Amp since both coils have digital energy running up and down which soon creates another digital blade in between the coils. The two swordsmen take turns trying to land a hit on me by either trying to fake me out by attacking me from different angles or together from the same direction. I parry one of their attacks again and counter their advance by sliding under their swords before they take my head off. I jump to my feet and turn around but they’re both already on me and I block another attack from one of them but the other manages to land a swift kick to my side making me grunt and stagger a bit. I’m at a bit of a disadvantage since these guys are obviously the more skilled pair of the group but I do not falter since I’m not one to give up to some pansy ass like Blueblood. With Video still being active, I summon my digital wings and give them a hard flap as I lunge past them and swipe at their legs making them lose their balance and fall to the ground. I somersault and jump forward towards the two downed guards who were trying to pick themselves up and raise my arms to the sky, summoning more flying swords and bringing them down to the ground and subdue them both before they could recover.

“Whew, that was a workout,” I said as I wrapped my chain back on my wrist.

I look up and see a few winged guards aim crossbows at me and I ready my Amp ready to deflect. They fire and I either deflect or dodge the bolts as sparks of digital power fly off my Amp, but two of them manage to pierce my shoulder and leg making me grunt in pain as I fall to my knee.

“Ax!” Nightmare cries.

I’ve never been shot before, but holy fuck does this hurt! I instinctively activated Smoke and trails of smoke and small cinders cover my wounds and the pain begins to fade. Soon the smoke pulls the bolts out of my shoulder and the wounds close up and there’s not a drop of blood left where my shoulder and leg got shot as I smirk wickedly and pick myself up.

“Oh, this fast-healing stuff is gonna come in real handy,” I chuckled.

The guards attempt to shoot me again but I reactivate Electricity and charge my power in my arms and thrust them forward firing an Electromagnetic Shockwave. They all float in the air, unable to move properly, and I rush forward and swing my Amp at them to bring them down to the ground and knock them out. More guards rush me all around and I sheath my Amp and active Neon to turn my body into light. With quick movements, I effortlessly dodge their attacks and fire Neon Beams at their hands making them drop their weapons and I run all around them making them dizzy as they fall to the ground completely subdued in a neon like trap. I glance over at Blueblood and he’s absolutely fuming that I haven’t gone down yet which makes me chuckle as I ready myself for more enemies. I hear a yelp from Nightmare and I look to see guards were about to jump her, but I wasn’t gonna have that. I quickly activated Video and a blue digital ring appeared around me as I summoned an Angel who appeared in front of me.

“My lord, what is your order?” The Angel asks.

“Protect that woman and don’t let any harm come to her! But don’t kill the enemy, just subdue them!” I tell it.

“By your command, my lord,” the Angel nods and flies towards the guards and begins fighting them. Before I could turn my head I felt something big slam into my side, sending me flying a few feet. I shake my head as my fast-healing repairs my cracked bones and see a larger guard with a war hammer-like weapon and heavy armor come charging at me.

“Yes, Sir Shatter Star! Crush that whelp and end this farce!” Blueblood ordered.

I growl in annoyance as the huge soldier charges at me and I activate Concrete and I thrust my hands down in the ground. Large concrete walls shoot up in front of him but he just bulldozes through them with ease. He swings his hammer and I barely dodged out of the way and tried to fire Concrete Shrapnel at him, but his armor absorbs most of the shots and he even deflects them with his hammer. Not seeing any more options I start to dash towards my opponent while covering myself in concrete and charge at him with Boulder Dash. Shatter Star raises his war hammer and brings it down and I lunge forward with a body check and his hammer slams down on me, but the momentum of my speed and thickness of my concrete armor was too much and I completely overwhelm him and knock him and his hammer to the ground. He tries to pick himself up but I run over to him and place my hand on his chest, making a concrete shell envelope and glue him to the ground so he can't move.

“You just rest there for a while, big guy,” I said as I stood up. “Meanwhile I’m gonna deal with the rest of your buddies.”

I look over my shoulder and see the remaining guards stare at me with wide eyes and some back up a bit since I just took down their heavy hitter. I look over to where Nightmare is and see the guards that were about to jump her we’re on the ground but still alive as the Angel I summoned stood by her in a protective manner with his sword in his grip.

“Still wanna test me?” I said to the remaining guards. They all drop their weapons and raise their hands in defeat and I smirk as I activate Smoke. I run past all of them while shoving each of them to the ground and smoke trails press into them subduing them. I sigh and look back at my work as I sheathe my Amp and walk towards Blueblood as the song ended who was now trembling like a leaf. The Angel I summoned flies up to me and bows his head.

“My lord, I have done what you ordered,” it tells me.

“You are dismissed until your next summons,” I tell it. It nods and fades away as I stand over Blueblood who was trying his best to keep his composure.

“What kind of freak are you?!” He demands. “I’ve never seen magic like that, it’s unnatural!” I grab his shirt collar and hoist him up to look in my eyes.

“It ain’t magic, jackass,” I spat. “And it’d be a waste of my breath to explain it to someone who doesn’t deserve to know. Now all that’s left is to decide what to do with you.”

“You cannot do anything to me and you will soon regret your actions and words this day! My aunts will hear of this and you will spend the rest of your days behind bars!” He shouts in my face.

This little snot has gotten on my last nerve after the shit he pulled. I glanced over at Nightmare and she was looking at me with pleading eyes as if saying not to escalate this any further than it already has since all the commotion I caused drew in a crowd. I’ve had my run-ins with pricks like him and he won’t learn until he’s taught properly not to mess with me. I wanted to set a personal reminder to him so I had the option of using my chain and maiming him with Smoke, threatening to take his life the next time he tries to be a prick to me or anyone else. Although I still didn’t want to cause any more trouble than I probably already had so I could also encase his lower body in Concrete and write something humiliating on his forehead, make a fool out of him for the public eye so people could see he’s not as intimidating as he boasts to be.

…

“You’re right Blueblood, I can’t really harm you in any way because that would just set a bad example for me and Nightmare,” I said, dropping him on his feet. I then activated Concrete and flicked my wrist as slabs of concrete grew from his feet all the way up to his waist.

“What have you done?! Release me at once!” He demands, trying to move from his stoney prison.

“I’ll let someone else chisel you out,” I smirked as I raised a finger while activating Neon. “In the meantime I’ll leave you with a little something.” With quick movements I wrote on his forehead which made the crowd both gasp and some snicker at what I wrote.

“What did you do?!” Blueblood asked, checking his head.

“I’ll see you around, Blueballs,” I snort, looking at the exact word written on his forehead.

“How dare you! I shall make you pay for this humiliation! You hear me?! You shall pay!” He shouts as I walk back to Nightmare. As soon as I’m within range she walks up to me and brings me into a hug and trembles as I hug her back.

“Sorry for the mess, Nightmare,” I said, rubbing her back. “I couldn’t let that prick say and do whatever he wanted and try to lock you up.”

“You stood up for me,” Nightmare whispered, still hugging me. “You even fought for me and risked being imprisoned, why?”

“Because you deserve the chance you were given to prove you’re not the same woman they all accuse you to be,” I said as she leaned back to look up at me, tears still leaking from her eyes. “Besides, I made a promise to you that I intend to keep.”

Nightmare smiles and hugs me tighter and even wraps her wings around me as she whimpers happily. Just as we were about to separate, a flash of light appeared beside us and I looked to see Celestia and Luna both give me a harsh glare with both their arms crossed under their busts.

“Sir Axel Rickert.” Luna said.

“You have some explaining to do,” Celestia said.

“Sure,” I shrugged. “I guess I do.”

“And then I wrote that on his forehead because he was being a total prick to me and Nightmare,” I said.

Celestia had teleported the five of us back to the throne room, much to my nauseous misfortune, and I told them everything on my side of the story. I had to shut Blueballs up by covering his mouth with Neon and he was still encased in concrete as the servants tried to chisel him out. It was entertaining to see him flail his arms after every sentence I said like he was trying to either protest or spout some ridiculous lie to try and make me and Nightmare look like villains. Celestia was silent the whole time while I noticed Luna every so often was snickering at some parts of my story and even more so when she looked at Blueballs. Guess she hates the prick more than I thought which was good to know for future reference.

“I see, though I understand you were only acting out of self defense, you still raised your hand against the guard. As co-ruler of Equestria, it is only appropriate I respond to your actions appropriately,” Celestia said as she and Luna sat on their thrones.

“So what kind of punishment are we talking about here? Imprisonment, trial by combat, community service?” I guess as Nightmare hides behind me.

“No, none of that, since you were still acting out of self defense,” Celestia said, earning more outraged flailing and muffled screams of protest from Blueballs. “You only wished to show Nightmare Moon the city and it was clearly my nephew’s fault for disturbing you. However you also ignored my summons this morning so I believe a suitable punishment should be that you are to remain within the castle grounds until further notice.”

“So…you’re placing me under house arrest?” I ask.

“Indeed,” Luna said. “You are still a stranger in our world and are a wielder of even stranger abilities, not to mention the fact that you were able to face such a large squad of soldiers and subdue them all with ease.”

“To be fair I didn’t subdue all of them, just the ones that were following his orders,” I try to defend.

“Be that as it may, this seems like a suitable punishment for your actions this day,” Celestia said.

“Please wait!” Nightmare spoke up, standing in front of me. “I was the reason for this whole ordeal to happen, if anyone should be punished it should be me! Not Ax!”

“You are also being punished the same way, Nightmare Moon,” Celestia corrects.

“I-I am…?” She asks.

“Whoa now, hold on a minute,” I interject, getting in front of Nightmare again. “I’m the one who threw fists and hurt the guardsmen, Nightmare was just an innocent bystander.”

“You forget, Sir Axel Rickert, Nightmare Moon still has a reputation in these lands,” Luna said. “Someone like her, out in the open for all to see, could mean unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings. She needs to remain within the castle as well until we can figure out how to address her to the public. Your word for her wanting to prove herself to be not the villain she’s known as is unfortunately not enough, especially since she was the reason for the rift against my sister and I a thousand years ago.”

I was about to protest but she had a point, much as I hated to admit it. I screwed up by not doing what I should have this morning and went to the damn summons and now I’m being placed under house arrest. Not to mention that after all I had heard from how Nightmare is known around here it would indeed lead to unnecessary conflict, especially since Celestia and Luna look like they already have enough on their plate.

“Fine, I accept those terms,” I said with a forced nod.

“And…I too accept,” Nightmare said.

Both Princesses nod and they light their hands and point them towards us. Small orbs leave their hands and fly towards the both of us and into our chests.

“This tracking spell is set to go off if either of you vacate the vicinity of the castle,” Celestia said. “Should either of you leave, or even attempt to leave, we will know and you shall receive a more harsher punishment, understood?”

“Yes…” Nightmare said sadly.

“Loud and clear,” I said, waving my hand.

“MMMMMMMFFFFF! MMMMMFFFFF!”

We all turn to see Blueballs look like he was about to pop a vein he was so upset wit Celestia’s verdict as the servants continued to try and chisel him out.

“Can you please release my nephew now?” Celestia requests.

“Sure, but I’m still keeping him gagged and the neon on his head and mouth will wear off in a few hours,” I shrugged as I approached Blueballs. He continues to glare at me as I simply kick the concrete covering his lower body and it crumbles and he falls to his knees. He tries to stand up but ends up falling flat on his face which makes me snicker and I thought I heard a small giggle from Luna. “Yeah, you’re not gonna be able to walk for about an hour but don’t worry it’ll wear off,” I said with a mocking grin.

“MMMMFFF MMMMFFFF MMMMMFFFFFF!!!” He muffled pointing at his mouth and forehead.

“Why you are most welcome, Blueballs, I’m glad I could show you the error of your ways,” I said with a curt nod.

“MMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFF!!!”

“Yeah, you’re right, maybe we should get something to eat,” I said scratching my chin. “If that's ok with you two,” I said looking back at the two Princesses.

“That seems alright with me,” Celestia agrees. “I shall have a maid take you there,” she said, gesturing to one of the maids who walks over to me and bows slightly.

I recognized her as the maid who came to pick us up this morning and I give her an apologetic smile and she just shakes her head slightly with a small grin as I follow her out the door. Nightmare walks up with me and hugs my arm and leans her head on my shoulder. I smile at how adorable she’s being as we both walk out of the throne room with a Blueballs still screaming behind his neon gag. As we’re walking towards the kitchen and following the maid, I noticed the guards were all staring at me cautiously and even more so at Nightmare but I just ignore them and bring Nightmare closer to me to comfort her.

“It’s ok, they’ll soon see what I see,” I said patting her shoulder with my free hand.

“Maybe, but maybe this was a mistake…” she said with a frown.

“Hey,” is said, stopping our walk and facing her and the maid stops with us. “I made my choice to protect you back at the park and I don’t regret it. To be honest I wanted nothing more than to do something worse to that little turd and scare him shitless but I didn’t because even he didn’t deserve something like that.”

“But you could have just walked away and left me to my fate,” Nightmare said as she began to cry. “I was the cause for the rift between Celestia and Luna and I’m known as a terrible villain who seeks only to plunge this world in darkness. You saw how the people of this city looked at me, they see me as only a monster. Perhaps it would be best if I was sent to the moon again…”

I couldn’t bare it anymore as I quickly wrapped her in a hug, startling her.

“Ax, please release me,” Nightmare said, trying to push me away. “I’ll only cause you more trouble.”

“Don’t ever say such things in front of me,” I said as I hugged her tighter. “You are no longer the villain they claim you to be, you have to know that.”

“But-”

“But nothing!” I snap. “I don’t care if I have to travel across all of Equestria to convince the people of this world that you’re not who they say you are. It’s as I told you before, Nightmare, I believe everyone deserves a second chance.”

Nightmare said nothing as she wraps her arms around me and cries into my chest. People are staring at us and some have sad expressions or some guilty frowns since they’re now starting to see that they were wrong about Nightmare.

“Do, sniff, do you really think, sniff, even I deserve a second chance…?” Nightmare sobs.

“Especially you,” I said as I rubbed the back of her head.

Nightmare looks up at me with a happy teary smile and I smile back at her. I looked at the maid and she was dabbing her eyes a little at how sad Nightmare was and she smiled at me as we continued our trek to the kitchen.

When we arrived at the kitchen and the whole room was just as fancy as the throne room. The maid sat us down and told us to wait until the food arrived and I took off my sling pack and placed it beside me. As we waited, Nightmare and I talked about different things to pass the time, which was mostly her asking me questions about my world and I answered them to the best of my ability but they were mostly questions about how this world and mine differ from one another. She even asked me questions about Delsin and Cole which I was happy to provide answers for. The look on her face when I told her that Kessler was actually Cole from the future was priceless, she was so shocked. I reassured her he did it for good intentions, even if he forced his past self to sacrifice the woman he loved and make seemingly impossible decisions, all for preparing to face The Beast. As we were talking, I was making Nightmare laugh as I quoted the things Delsin said when he tagged billboards and called out the operator whenever he faced the D.U.P. and some chefs came out with platters of food.

“And then Delsin asked the operator what she was wearing and she thought he was her husband. She was so flustered, she had more than the usual troops be sent in to take him down,” I chuckled.

“Hahahaha! Oh stars, that is quite funny!” Nightmare giggled. “Delsin Rowe truly is a young man of choice words.”

“That he is,” I agreed.

Soon the platters were set in front of us and the chefs lifted the lids off of them. Nightmare got a simple caesar salad looking dish and I got a sandwich with some hash browns on the side.

“Will you have anything else, sir?” The chef asks.

“No thanks, but thanks anyway,” I said as I began to eat.

“Nothing for me either, thank you,” Nightmare said. He bows and returns to the kitchen with his fellow chefs and we begin to eat.

“Ax?” Nightmare said, pausing from her eating.

“What’s up, Nightmare?” I ask after swallowing a bite from my sandwich.

“Um…I have a small request, if you don’t mind?” She said, blushing a little.

“Of course, what do you need?” I wonder after taking a sip from my water.

“Would you…please call me Moon from now on?” Nightmare asks slowly and shyly, glancing away every so often.

“Moon?” I repeat. “As in just Moon?”

“Yes, I thought if I were to call you just Ax then maybe you can call me just Moon?” Nightmare said.

“Moon…you know, it has a nice ring to it,” I said, nodding with a smile. “I’d be happy to call you that from now on, Moon.”

Moon blushes and smiles happily after I called her by her new name. She then leans forward and kisses me again on the cheek leaving me to blush a little.

“Thank you Ax, you truly are a wonderful person,” Moon said.

I smile as we continue eating and we enjoy each other’s company. Even though we’re stuck in the castle for the time being, I don’t think I’ll complain any time soon so long as I’m with Moon.

Author's Note

Aw, such a wholesome moment and another Karma decision is made. More will soon follow, but how long will Ax keep up these good decisions?

Also sorry for the late posting, I’ve been busy with my other stories and also irl stuff but I’ll be sure to try and post more often so bare with me and I hope you enjoyed!

~WurkyWilk has left the building…