A Roegadyn in Equestria.

Chapter 43: Is This Considered an After Party? Part 2.

*Point of view: Nightmare Moon*
*Location: Rambling Rock Ridge*

(Here is a picture of it on the map.)

Nightmare Moon was beginning to feel more than a little agitated with the odd mannerisms of the one before herself. Judging from the way the laughter sounded. She was positive that she was dealing with a male. What she found strange was how this was the first one that she had encountered upon coming back that had not shuttered at the very moment she came into his sight.

What’s more, was how peculiar to have a stallion that was built to be so large. She would under any other circumstances, not tolerate such behavior being directed towards her, but felt an odd sensation when looking at him. Upon closer inspection, she had gotten a better look at the armor he was dawning and found that she was admiring it for its craftsmanship. Almost instantly, Nightmare Moon took a quick liking to the dark, foreboding aesthetics. More so when it came to the helmet with the flat plate and how the eyes were clearly protected without any gaps to be seen. Clearly it was made for war.

But as the stallion drew closer, she couldn’t help herself but to feel uneasy as she gripped onto her weapon tightly out of reflex. Her thoughts were broken when she realized what she was there for. That was when she quickly called out. While shifting her gaze into a glare. “Tell us now! What does thou know about the artifact? Clearly thou are not here to use it on us and judging from the armor worn, thou are not one of her loyal guards. We dare say the design fares more towards that of our own.”

She was about to continue, but as soon as she had mentioned that small part about being one of her sisters’ guards, the air suddenly felt extremely humid as a rush of hot air filled the area. Nightmare Moon quickly determined that this was no mere coincidence and began to search for the source. Only to find that it was coming from the one that was standing across from herself. But as soon as she did, the heat died down and was replaced with a small burst of frigid air before it returned to normal once again.

That was when she began to hear the stallion talking. At first, Nightmare Moon had expected a tone of reverence or perhaps that of fear, due to her intimidating nature. But instead, it was that of a simmering rage that was strangely intertwined with a cold sensation behind each word that was spoken. “I… Do not… Serve… Her!” when she had heard him say the word, “Her.” There was this inexplicable feeling of dread washing over her body and the hairs on the back of her neck were now standing on end.

The stallion then continued. “There is no artifact. No army. No secret plan. Just me. Do you realize just how long I have been setting this date of ours up for?” This was when Nightmare Moon’s mind had froze upon hearing that this was a date. She had instantly gone from that of a weary warrior, to that of complete bewilderment and surprise. Only to end up with her eyes going comically wide, along with a slight blush to appear on her cheeks right underneath her helmet.

Clearly unsure as to what to do now. She had taken a single step back with her left leg and brought up her weapon in front of herself, before adopting a serious expression. She then angrily said, “What nonsense are thee prattling on about?” The stallion in front of her then took his sword off of his shoulder and had taken his own battle stance in response to her own.

As soon as he had brought his blade up, his body moved in a flash and both of their weapons collided. The sudden movement had nearly caught her off guard, but due to the many years of combat experience, she was able to withstand the attack and now had their blades locked into one another, as a set of green eyes were staring into a pair that were completely hidden from view, with only several inches in between as she released a heavy grunt of exertion from the strength that was placed behind the block.

Before she could think of an effective countermeasure, due to the surprising level of strength being wielded by the one that she was locked in combat with. She heard him saying in a low, growling tone, that left her imagination swimming with something other than that of battle. “I have waited for hundreds, upon hundreds of years to finally be face to face with you. You have no idea how many nights I’ve stared up at that moon, waiting for you to come back.”

This of course, caused her to blush to deepen as he went on. Unfortunately, she was distracted by this and he had pulled his blade free and took a massive wide sweep with it. This in turn left her to try and block. But the force behind that next strike was seemingly stronger than the one previously used and had thrown her off her hooves for several feet before gaining a good foothold on the ground once more to come to a skidding stop.

Now fully confused as to why the actions are contradicting those of his words, she then called out to him while being prepared for another attack. “If we were to take what is said to be true. Then why does thee attack me?” She was only answered with him leaping at her once more with his weapon held high. Normally this would have been easy to dodge, but at the rate at which he did so, left her with no time aside from bringing her own sword up and blocking the attack. This time, she felt her hooves digging into the ground as her arms strained against this third swing.

Nightmare Moon was about to retaliate, but was caught off guard when he suddenly kicked her straight in the stomach with his large, metal clad boot. Which sent her flying a few more meters as her body flailed before hitting the ground and skidding to a stop once again. Afterwards, she quickly got back up to her hoofs, while keeping her weapon up with her right hand and her left was holding at the spot that she was just struck at with utter disbelief for how much power was displayed.

She then started to think to herself, “How is it he this strong? Have the stallions really become this powerful over our thousand years of banishment?” As if reading those thoughts, the stallion replied in a cold tone. “I’m guessing you are also wanting to know as to why I’m so strong? How it is that I’m able to do this to you? I’ll make you a deal. You got two options to take in order to find out those answers. Either you kill me and rip this helmet straight off of my head. Or you guess exactly what my race is.”

Clearly confused as to what was being said, it didn’t take long before it clicked that he mentioned his race. She then started to think, “Could it be that the one before us is not a pony?” That was when she began to speak while readying her weapon and giving him a devilish smirk. “Very well. We have time before required to return to our royal duties. For so long has our sword not had a good opportunity to test its sharpness. HAVE AT THEE!”

With that proclamation delivered. The battle between the two finally took place for real. Nightmare Moon leapt forward with the use of her wings. Thereby closing the distance within an instant and swung downwards in the same way that her opponent had. Instead of blocking it in a similar fashion. The male before her, sidestepped it and used his blade to guide hers away while at the same time and producing a shower of sparks in doing so. Then he proceeded in bringing up his other arm and striking her in the gut once more. This caused her to release a sharp scream of pain after taking the same blunt force trauma in one spot, twice already.

Instead of being launched back. She pressed forward and swung her left leg at his side in order to get a good hit. But her leg was caught when he had brought both his elbow and knee on that side of his body up and struck the very leg she was attacking and sending a strong jolt of pain as the bones right there, were on the verge of breaking. Once she was released, she stumbled back but ended up taking a knee down to the ground as she could no longer support herself with the other after suddenly receiving such an injury.

She had let out another grunt of pain and was now gritting her teeth. While one eye was slightly closed and she was now giving him an unamused stare. But what surprised the Alicorn the most, was how this male was not taking the initiative and was simply waiting for her to get back to her hooves. After taking a moment to recover, she stood back up and readied for another attempt. All the while finding it preposterous that there could be a being other than her sister that could be giving her this much trouble.

She had hoped that with her showing weakness would have been enough to throw him off. So, while taking a few moments to get herself back to her hoofs. The dark mare kept it hidden that she was drawing on a good portion of her magic without having it revealed. When it had gotten to the point at which it could no longer be kept hidden. Nightmare Moon released a glowing blue orb that shot straight for the armored one before her.

She had actually thought that he was caught unawares with how he had not made any effort to get out of the way. Just as the orb I was about to make contact. She saw how is left arm had moved so quickly that it left a blurred impression behind it, as it was raised to cross over his chest and was immediately swung at the magic spell.

(This is the move that was used. Only replace the beam with a orb of magic.)

To her, time has slowed down with what she saw next. When the metal arm guard had made contact with her attack. The body of light began to bend as it was being forced away until it was practically launched upwards and off to his left hand side. From there it continued to travel in a long arc, until it has reached far enough that it was just barely out of view and collided with the ground and produced a brilliant flash of light.

When that had faded. There was a substantially large spire of Jagged ice, that had exploded from where the spell had landed. As for him. His entire left-arm starting from the fingertips and all the way to his elbow, was encased in solid ice. A smirk was beginning to grow on her lips, but it faded twice as fast when she saw him lately flexing his arm and everything that was in casing it had crumpled easily.

Nightmare Moon knew that the amount of magic she had poured into that one sneak attack, had been more than sufficiently capable of completely freezing her sister in place and would have taken her days of constant magic usage to break free. Even just having the arm itself getting grazed would have made it impossible to use for quite some time. But to have her ice shrugged off no differently then common snow, was just too much.

Deciding that holding back would not be advantageous and she needed to get back to the Elements soon. Nightmare Moon tapped into her magic and enclosed not only her body, but her blade as well with a faint dark blue aura that was not too dissimilar to that of her flowing mane. With a battle cry, she leapt at him once more but just before getting to him. She used her wings to adjust her heading and came around him to attack from behind after using a fake out move at the last instant, along with a short-range teleportation spell.

As soon as she had completed the spell and was meant to be directly behind him, she was immediately punched right in the face by an already prepared fist that had been pulled back during the brief moment that she was transitioning from one spot to the next. This ended up causing her head to be sharply thrown back, along with her body until she landed on her wings. When she got up again, she was giving him another stare down. But this time, there was a small trickle of blood coming from her nose which she immediately realized was bleeding and her expression turned to that of both fear and disbelief for but a moment.

She then charged her horn and sent a magic blast straight at him from only a few yards away while screaming, “HOW DARE THEE DRAW THE BLOOD OF A ROYAL!!” Just before the blast had been fully released, she saw how he had brought his sword up and was now perfectly horizontal in front of him and had placed a second hand onto the flat side of the blade to brace for impact. There was also this transparent dome that completely surrounded his body that only showed itself for a brief instant. However, during that brief instant, Nightmare Moon could see that there was a very complex set of runes and diagrams along its surface.

When the magic struck, she had expected him to be at least sent flying if not mortally injured. Instead, he managed to hold his ground and the magic was being resisted to a degree that the ground near his legs had barely been disturbed. The spell had been going for a few seconds before it dissipated and she found that there were some small wisps of smoke coming off of his form. Along with the ground behind him being carved away for a good distance.

Nightmare Moon had this brief thought that he may only be showing a strong front but had to have taken a decent amount of damage, had ran through her head. Although, this form of hopeful thinking evaporated once he readjusted his stance so that his blade was held at his side fully extended while being held with both hands. This was followed with him doing a wide arc and a reddish form of energy began to radiate from the blade as it was swung. When this was done. A large slash appeared in the air and was rapidly approaching.

She had attempted to try and get away from it by using a teleportation spell, but was not quick enough and had suffered a blow right as her body vanished in a flash of light. When Nightmare Moon reappeared again, she quickly dropped to her knees and was now holding onto her left shoulder that now had a good portion of its armor sliced open.

Thankfully, no blood had been spilt. Now breathing quickly, she examined herself while she could. While still trying to keep him in her peripheral vision. It was very hard for her to comprehend the fact that he was able to destroy a section of her armor which not even her sister could damage in the past with just one attack that appeared to have not required any charge up time before the slash was used.

She then started to think to herself as she slowly got to her hoofs again and was now taking a cautious stance in case another one of those attacks was to be used. “This armor of ours is made out of the rare metal called star metal. It is meant to be the toughest there is, as well as indestructible. Has there always been a beast such as him around? How has my sister kept it in check if it has this much power? Is he under a curse? No, we don’t sense any type of control on him. Did my sister use a bribe? If so, then how? Maybe we could strike a deal. NO! No! We will not share our kingdom with another, not again, not after what she had done!”

Now filled with anger, she resumed her assault in tried using a set of teleportation spells, one right after another in an attempt to disorientate her enemy. She closed the distance by getting right up to his face and then appeared again and again at different angles. Just as she had made her last teleportation. Which was right above his head and the blade was already in mid motion as she was doing so during each one of her uses of the spell. Meaning that there was sufficient momentum for a heavy strike.

But just like before, another type of barrier had appeared around the stallion without him so much as looking in her direction. Which caused her blade to be repelled with a sudden flash of dark light. The rebound was so powerful that it caused her to nearly lose her grip on her weapon as it was now thrown towards her right side and only her one arm was still on the handle now.

This was immediately followed with her opponent swinging their blade starting from down below in another wide arc, straight up and over their body. The end of their large blade appeared to have cut the very air itself, thereby producing a kind of dark rip in reality, as it made a strong impact with her chest plate.

Nightmare Moon released a scream of pain as a good section of her armor had been ripped to pieces due to this attack. The force of which was strong enough to also send her flying and she had to use her wings, along with her magic, to steady herself in the air. Now seething with anger, Nightmare Moon was about to curse, him but was distracted by a cool breeze from her chest.

When she had looked down, her eyes went comically wide as her entire chest region, from her neck and all the way down past her stomach was completely exposed, now that the armor had been completely destroyed there and the mare was now showing off her breasts in full view.

Seemingly forgotten was the battle. When Nightmare Moon attempted to cover herself with her free arm by placing it just underneath her breasts to act as an improvised bra. At the moment, she was easily a couple hundred feet in the air, so it came as a complete surprise when she finally brought her attention away from her current predicament and found that he was no longer on the ground.

When this was noticed, she tried to find him, only for a second later for her to feel a surge of magic from behind and just above. When she turned her helmet just enough to look in that split second. She caught a glimpse of how he was directly behind her while in the air.

If that wasn’t enough to cause her to lose focus, there was also the fact that a piece of his leg was just now exiting her own shadow on the side of her wings that was away from the light of her own moon. For only an instant, she was able to comprehend that this stallion had the ability to travel through shadows just as she could, but had done so without losing his physical form.

She then tried to turn to attack him with her weapon, but felt him striking her in the center of her wings with what could have been his fist. In turn, this caused her wings to lock up with how the nerves had been partially numbed from the blunt force created from his punch and it sent her hurtling down towards the ground once more.

The reunion with the rocky floor, was not at all pleasant for Nightmare Moon as the first collision was strong enough to cause her to make a small crater due to the combination of falling and the added force produced from being struck from behind. Once the dust had been scattered about all came down again. She could see from where she laid. Nightmare Moon found that she was now sprawled on the ground and the right side of her face was partially imbedded into the dirt.

With a grunt of exertion, she rolled over so that she was laying flat on her back and rubbing the dirt from her face. While looking straight up into the night sky with a blurred vision, the mare was breathing heavily while her entire body was wracked with an unfamiliar amount of pain. She knew that not even her sister was capable of hitting this hard without the use of magic. Not even the body strengthening magic that they both knew, would have been able to produce this level of results.

Her vision was now beginning to finally clear. But by now, it was too late. For when she did, she was met with the site of her opponent crashing down upon her with his weapon held in both hands and its tip pointing straight down at her head. She wanted to turn into a mist and escape but there was no time and she tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the end. That was when she felt the rumble of the ground that signified him crashing and the sound of a blade striking its target with a metallic shing.

Thinking that it made a clean cut. She did not feel anything happening and resigned to her fate of being killed shortly after being released from her long sentence of imprisonment. A lone tear ran down the side of her face when she came to this conclusion. Without so much as knowing that her current thoughts or being said aloud in a whisper. She muttered, “Is it truly our destiny to constantly lose everything?”

Fully expecting that the pain that she was feeling would soon disappear. She then went silent and remained perfectly still for it all to finally end and was now beginning to embrace the idea of resting. However, after a few seconds had passed, with the sense of confusion building, with how she was still breathing and the pain from before was still present. Nightmare Moon slowly opened her eyes.

When she did, she was face to face with the towering giant of a male clad in black armor. From the position he was in, he was clearly straddling her while still holding onto his one blade that was turned with its edge going towards her neck with barely a hairs breath in between it and her flesh.

She was about to say something, but the sword was yanked from the ground and her neck was grabbed onto with his free hand. While on the verge of choking. He stood up while dragging her into the air and tossed her from the small crater that she had created so that she’d landed a short distance away. As she was recovering and getting to her hands and knees, she heard a metallic clank that had landed nearby. When she looked over, she saw that it was her weapon from before and it appeared that it was tossed back to her to use once more.

She then heard him speaking in a very low tone that just radiated anger. “Is this your resolve? Is this all it takes to bring you down? Did you not nearly defeat your sister? She threw much more at me. Has all that time of being locked away caused you to become weaker than she is? Or could it be that you used up quite a bit of your strength in capturing your sister right after returning from the moon? It must take a lot of power to hold another being such as an Alicorn. If you were to release her, then you can fight me at your full strength.”

“Of course, you could always try to run.” His tone then shifted to one that was becoming more excited… No. It was more… Manic and deranged. It had even sent goosebumps throughout her entire body. “Go ahead, dive into the shadows! Take to the sky! Call forth your Minions! Lay your traps as you run! Do it! Do it now! But I have you marked! Haha-HAHAHAHA! I will know everything you do! I will know where you go! You are my prey! And I do not intend to let what I have been searching for, to go so easily!”

“I have tracked down those who have earned my attention from one end of Equestria to the other. I do not need to rest. I do not need to worry about sustenance. I have traveled through many types of environments. Be it blistering cold of the highest mountain. Be it the heart of a volcano. I have walked through the most toxic environments you can scarcely imagine. You could even try going to the deepest reaches of the sea itself, heck! Go ahead and hide on the moon, I’ll be there. No matter where you go, I will always be on your tail! Your ever-present shadow that will never relent, never lose sight, never give up!”

At first, Nightmare Moon was deeply offended. But as she heard him going on, a cold sense of dread began to creep in. He said that she was marked. He knew that she can go into the shadows. There was even the part about summoning minions. Of course, this was something that would not have been too hard to find out.

But when it came to his deductions in regards to her power and holding her sister, that was completely correct. There was also that part about him saying that her sister fought him and with much more power. If he was able to withstand her sister doing so much without some sort of a handicap, then what was she going to do with nearly half of her power being used to imprison Celestia?

Sure, she may have been able to catch her sister off guard, but it was taking a substantial amount of magic to prevent any escape from the prison that Celestia now resided in. At the moment, she was barely using two-thirds of her total strength because of that. What scared her the most, was how he knew all of this. Clearly there was no escape if what he said was to be true.

After slowly picking up her sword again, Nightmare Moon stared straight at him with cold eyes as streams of tears began to flow from them. Now speaking in a broken voice, she said, “Can’t we have anything? Haven’t we been owed anything? She took everything from us! Always has, always will! Why does thou stand in our way, from what thee just said, then she an enemy as well, is she not? Why not join us and we can rule this land together? She’s caused thee much pain as well, so why not?”

Her response was him closing the distance after a strong push from the ground and Nightmare Moon was forced to block yet again. Unlike before, there was pretty much no respite as each blow was followed up with another and then another. But as this was going on, the one in front of her spoke in a loud angry voice after each attack.

“Are you seriously still trying to take over?!” A strong strike, sent her stumbling back. “You gotta be kidding me?!” A left swing came at her side next, which collided with her sword. Sending much more sparks than the last time these two weapons connected. “Your sister took everything from you, so you think it’s right to try and do the same, even if it means putting the lives of your own kind at risk in doing so?!” He had gone in and used the end of his swords handle to strike her in the gut. This caused some blood to come out along with some spit as her mouth was now hanging partly open and her eyes nearly bulging out.

“Eternal night? That’s your answer?!” After sidestepping, he got behind and grabbed onto her hair that was coming out from under her helmet and roughly pulled on it hard enough to pick her off of the ground and swung her over his own head, only to be slammed down hard. As a result, the helmed was thrown off and clattered a distance away.

“Do you not even know what would happen without the sun? Crops would die, the land would grow cold!” Without letting go after the sudden slamming, he then rotated while swinging her around himself before releasing the hair, in order to throw her against one of the stone pillars nearby.

“The creatures that run from the sun would go rampant at all times. The creatures that would sleep at night, would end up mingling with those of the night without there being daytime to keep them separated! The world would be overrun and the death toll would reach the clouds!” Nightmare Moon had released another shriek of pain after bouncing off the stone wall.

She quickly flared her wings to try and get to the sky in order to get away. But there was a sudden flash of red coming from behind, between the space of her body and the stone wall that she had collided with only a moment ago. This was proceeded with how she saw a great number of red spikes coming into her vision from the direction of the flash. A few of which ended up hitting her wings and causing a serious wound to her right outer thigh. Without a doubt, she knew immediately that she could not fly with the new series of cuts along her wings.

“Do you even know what the status of your world is right now when it comes to the monster attacks?!” By this point, the Alicorn was nearly exhausted from the screaming when she was roughly grabbed by her arm near the wrist, where she had her weapon gripped. The grip he used tightened and she could plainly hear the screeching of the metal guards on her arm beginning to warp from the pressure that was being exerted.

This was then preceded with the feeling that her bones were about to snap. All she wanted right now, was for but a moment without any new pain to come forth so that she can catch her breath. Nightmare Moon attempted to pull her arm free from his. But it was no different than being locked in a vice. Each attempt only caused her even more pain.

“Did you even once think to consider that your actions would end up with not only the ponies, but also the other races of this world, to be put in jeopardy through your selfish actions and a need for revenge?! All you’re doing is giving your people a slow death!” Out of desperation, Nightmare Moon attempted to use her magic to create some shadow monsters to attack so that she can get away.

As soon as her black veil began to spread out from underneath them and started to take on some forms. There was a sudden wave of red that was washing over the ground along with her magic. Then there were a multitude of serrated blades that were eerily identical to that of blood, instantly coming forth and shredding her darkness into nothingness. A few of which came dangerously close to her own form as one blade came to a dead stop, mere inches from curving into her right eye.

This shock was enough, that she had lost the concentration to lose the grip on her weapon which was held in the grasp of the arm he was beginning to break. Now speaking through tears. Nightmare Moon managed to say, while in between sobs. “T-Thou knows anything about us! H-How dare thee preach to us in such a way! It’s all her fault! If only she-.”

Before she could continue, he had loosened his grip enough that it was no longer causing any more damage. His weapon was then dropped. Thereby freeing his other hand and that one grabbed onto her neck and brought her in closer. She was pretty much immobilized and unable to turn her head away as he began to change from the angry screaming from before to that, of having a low, cold, slow tone.

“Your ponies feared you because they didn’t understand. They feared you because they knew how strong you were in comparison to themselves. They had no idea how much you did to protect them. The way that you would go into their dreams and slay their nightmares each and every night and not getting so much as a thank you, for they would forget when waking up the following morning.”

“You did this without so much as another being nearby to even talk too. While your sister stayed in the daylight and received praise for everything. Even if she had nothing to do with it. You anguished in the night while being isolated. You went to war while she stayed perfectly safe on the throne because you were the stronger one of the two.”

“Yes, I know all about that. Even with her being your sister. A fellow Alicorn, you felt alone. Being the only two Alicorns in the world, meant that all of those around you would end up dying. But the only constant thing that kept you going was knowing that your sister would always be there. But even then, you felt alone because of how much they looked up to her and how little time she gave to you. No matter how much you did. You didn’t get as much praise as she did for doing something such as raising the sun, which was her duty to begin with.”

“You could have changed all of this yourself; did you know that? You know that the ponies go to sleep when the sun goes down because they have to be ready to work the next day. You could have easily have proposed to have some night time activities to be scheduled. That way, there would be some ponies awake when you are. Night court would have even been possible back then and you would have been able to talk to your subjects. Did it even occur to you that there are those out there who work better at night due to their personal preference?”

“Then there could have been the nighttime life, but no, you did nothing of the sort. If you were to do any type of research before taking the throne back, then you would have known that everything has changed. Those very same ideas I just said to you are right now being enacted. This meant you could have reconciled with your sister and worked together. But no! Instead, you allowed a grudge from so long ago to fester and grow into this!”

“And don’t think I don’t know anything about holding a grudge. I’m not perfect, your sister did something to me that I did not deserve. I was nearly blown up with your old castle and she did not so much, as to even show her face!”

“Did I come back and try to attack her or take any vengeance? No! It took me a while but I managed to get past it. I’m not saying that I have fully forgiven her! Your sister locked you away, in a deep sleep while inside of the moon. Unlike me, she did not try to kill you! Even now, her deepest wish, is to have you back!”

In an attempt to defy his words, Nightmare Moon stared daggers at him through flowing tears well screaming. “Don’t give us those baseless lies! Our sister would like nothing more for us, than to finally disappear. The only reason we were in the moon was because we were too powerful. Otherwise, she would have killed us back then!”

He then responded to her with, “Then tell me this! if that’s all true. Then why is it that the ones that are going for the Elements of Harmony, are not of her trained soldiers. But instead, are everyday individuals? They were given no special training. They were not instructed to kill you. All your sister wanted was for you to come back.”

“You wouldn’t know about this, but I helped to deliver a music box to her. On that, is a set of voices that are from both you and her, singing a duet for a lullaby. I don’t intend on telling you how I got it but I will tell you this. Ever since it was delivered, she plays it every night and cries herself asleep after regretting her actions from so long ago and wanting you to return!”

“She knew you were coming back tonight. You did not catch her off guard. Did you not find that odd at all? If she really hated you, then she would have fought back and made you weaker so that the Elements of Harmony could be brought together to stop you for good.” That was when he fully released her and she was thrown to the ground. From there, he simply stood silently while watching her every move with the moon high above in the sky and directly overhead.

Nightmare Moon began to think over what he said as it echoed through her mind. She then began to mutter in a broken voice, that just showed that she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and was having trouble in coming to terms with all of it. “No, no, no! Thou are fooled by honeyed words, lies! Our sister is not like that at all! She’s cold and manipulative! All she cares about is all of the attention and showing that she knows everything and can do absolutely no wrong. She jumps to conclusions and loses her temper too easily! She doesn’t listen to what others have to say and if any pony says otherwise, they are harshly punished…”

After several moments of silence, the male in front of her began to speak again. However, unlike the other times, this one had a slight tone of sorrow behind it. “She is still, all you have. No matter what, your sisters. She does love you. No matter how much time passes, no matter how many others die from battle, illness, accidents or old age. You will always have your sister by your side. As Alicorns, you will live for a very long time. Don’t you think it would be worth it to finally set aside all of this misunderstanding and get back to what you both love?”

“Unlike me, you are not the only one of your kind on this world. Be with her and finally be happy. Don’t let this go on any further. You have no idea what it will be like, if you lose that now.” All she could do was to stare at him with unblinking eyes, as that last line registered. While trying to steady herself, she tried to ask him, “Did thou just say that, are the only one of you're kind. Has… Has one of the races gone extinct since my long absence?”

To this, he shook his head before replying in a monotone voice. “No. I would very much doubt that you would even know of the name. So, trust me when I say this. If you regret anything, anything at all, in what you have done, then don’t let that lingering regret becomes something that will destroy you from within. A thousand years, is a very long time when you are without your little sister. You might be surprised with how much she has changed.”

Nightmare moon had just then crumbled down to her knees. While hanging her head low. Her right arm was hanging limply as she brought her left hand up to her face and was now openly crying into it. Through heavy sobbing she started to say, “Why? W-Why are… Thou saying all of this to us?! If what is said to be true, then why are thee here and not allowing our sisters plan to run its course! Also, thou are using dark magic just as we are. Why is thee not corrupted in the same way?”

She wasn’t looking in his direction, but she was able to hear him nonetheless. “Dark magic is just another type. I know for a fact that both you and your sister can use it. If that type of magic does corrupt another? Then why hasn’t your sister succumbed to its effects? It is basically a mindset. Those of the past who did use dark magic, were already bad to begin with.”

“By that logic, then only evil uses it. Are you telling me there aren’t any evil out there that use fire or lightning or even light when doing evil deeds? Has there never been one that used fire to burn another to death? Have you not once witnessed lightning being cast by a Unicorn and taking the life of another living thing? Don’t you even think that having magic aligned with light attributes means that you are not evil when using it to burn the eyes from a victim or to throw a spear a pure light energy through someone’s skull. Both you and your sister need to re-examine your values and put aside these prejudice thoughts.”

Just as he was about to say something else, there was a low rumble that could be felt from underneath. In turn she looked up to try and find out what was making them. But where they were, was a complete flat land, with only a few rock spires here and there. Nevertheless, the rumbling continued to grow. At this point, Nightmare Moon attempted to get onto her hooves but stumbled back down onto one knee when the rumbling turned into a full-on earthquake.

Then, there was a sudden explosion, roughly sixty meters away, that sent up a large cloud of dust and debris that rained all around them in the form of boulders that crashed down. The explosion was also accompanied by a series of high pitch roars that caused the very air itself to vibrate with its sheer volume. When the cloud of dust had cleared and Nightmare Moon could see well enough. What came into view was the dark silhouette that appeared to be a creature on four legs and three long necks that were raised up high into the air.

(Here is a picture of the hydra they are facing.)

Assuming it to be a hydra, she got back to her hoofs and gripped onto the fallen sword in her left-hand. But when she got a better view of it. Her eyes went wide upon seeing a hydra with orange and brown scales. Normally they would be green or brown, so an orange one was unheard of to her. What’s more was the way that the scales themselves were growing. On a hydra, they’re meant to be slick and amphibious with webbed feet and spines. This one however looked more along the lines of a dragon with how the chest area appear to have a naturally grown armor plating.

The heads themselves did resemble what they should in a way. However, they seemed more heavily armored as well. The next part that was really weird, was the way there were some glowing sections on not only the chest area but underneath the necks, near the heads. Before her observations could go any further. One of the three heads on the right side opened its mouth and that sent a large wave of flames that was hurtling towards them both.

Even with the flames nowhere near them yet. The rush of hot air could be felt on her face. She had wanted to get away but was too badly hurt to do so. Expecting to get hit full on by it. Nightmare Moon brought her arm up and tried to use her own blade as a makeshift shield to protect her vital points.

But before the flames could even reach them, the one that she was just fighting with held out his left palm and a surge of purple light shot forth. The moment the light had left him, there was a sudden gust of strong winds being produced along with it as it traveled and collided with the swirling wall of flames.

As a result, there was an explosion of dark colors as the fire was blown away easily. From what Nightmare Moon could see from where she laid, the ground for meters in front of the creature leading up to the point in which the flames were stopped had turned to molten lava as it made a cone in front of it.

It was clear to her that if that had managed to make contact with either of them, then it would be safe to assume that there wouldn’t be anything left. There would be no bones and their armor would have turned into puddles of melted metal within moments with how badly the ground had been altered in that few seconds of intense exposure to the heat. This was clearly an unknown monster to her. Even if she was at her best condition like that at the start of the fight, then this would be difficult for even her to handle.

But her thoughts were broken when she watched the one beside her standing in between them both after taking a few steps forward. Then he heard him talking in an aggravated tone. “I don’t have time for an annoyance such as you.” Those words seem to have registered in some way to the monster as the numerus lines of lights along its body and necks, began to shine even brighter. There was even this low grumble being emitted from it as its chest began to expand.

The ground nearby its feet, could be seen giving off a mirage that would have been only possible if the air itself was super-heated. The parts of its neck that were not glowing earlier, were beginning to change and were now giving off a faint glow of their own. After a few seconds of this, it then lunged all three of its heads forward and erupted an enormous flood of flames that vastly eclipsed the one previously done. Already an even greater distance than the last, she was already feeling its effects far worse as the air was already becoming extremely hot to the point that her lungs were beginning to burn from even the smallest intake through her nose.

He then stepped forward a few more feet before his body were encased by a small amount of light as hundreds of thousands of small threads went across his armor as well as his weapon. Within a split second later, his armors outline took on a new form and revealed it to have a completely different kind of style this time around as with how there was a sudden flip on the theme.

Gone was the black and foreboding. Replaced with black, white, silver and blue. There were even some bits and pieces of gold here and there. But what drew her eyes the most was the silver shield now on his back, that was of a very exquisite kite design. In the center, was an oddly shaped cross that slightly resembled a Trident, or perhaps a golden bird soaring down. And for the first time, she got to see the back of his head that had been completely protected until now. Which was covered with a jet-black mane, that fell over his back end between the armor and the shield.

(Here are some pictures of how his gear looks.)

(Play this music for the battle.)

Reaching over with both of his arms, he managed to pull off the shield and draw the equally decorated sword from its sheath and took on a battle stance. When doing this both of the tools began to emit an ethereal wave of energy that extended outwards. As the shield gave this impression that it was larger in the scope in which it was guarding. The sword did something similar as the wave gave a similar impression that the blade had both a wider and longer reach.

What he said and did next, would forever be burned into her mind. In a loud battle cry, he shouted towards the beast. “If she couldn’t kill me by throwing the fucking sun at my face! Then what’s a pathetic matchstick like you going to do?!!!!”

He then held up his shield before himself, while taking the sword in his right hand and jammed it into the ground directly behind and placed his back leg up against it for support. From there, the aura that was being given off by the shield, had grown in intensity. But within a split second later, she was able to feel an incredible surge of power being built up from him, as the shield was now giving off a wider cone of light that became a half dome that was directly in front of them both, with him as the center.

(Here is a picture of the Skill in use.)

As the event continued, a set of lights appeared on his back and extended outwards and had taken on the form as six wings. These rested on either side of her as they went out. On closer inspection, they were not in fact real wings, but incredibly dense magic that took on the form of crystalline facsimiles that gave her the impression that she was looking at the aurora lights that were known to be in the beautiful regions of the frozen wastelands up to the north.

Nightmare Moon had been completely entranced by the sight. That she had even failed to notice until it was too late that the flames had already reached them both. However, even with the roaring lights being emitted by them washing over the barrier that was being created. Nightmare Moon could no longer feel the heat from it. Now confused, she then looked towards the ground where the barrier ended. There, she could see that the floor itself had turned into a river of molten lava. While on the inside, the ground had remained undisturbed.

She even saw how the pillar of ice that she had made before, was already halfway melted due to the strength of that fiery blast that was so easily repelled by the one that she had been fighting all this time. As soon as the attack had completely gone by, the wings that were produced before, vanished along with the barrier after the one in front of her pulled the sword out of the ground. Just before he made any other move. She heard him yelling after a moment of silence. “MY TURN!”

He then rushed forward and was running along the molten rock and splashing it around with each step. Nightmare Moon thought he had completely lost his mind due to the strain of keeping up the defensive spell that obviously required a substantial amount of magic to maintain. But immediately thought otherwise when it appeared that the environment had little to no effect after witnessing him running to the point, that he was now halfway between them and the catastrophic monster that could have easily had taken her out if that had hit her directly.

As soon as he had gotten within range. The beast readied another one of its breath attacks using it’s left head. But before it could release that. The shield was thrown and it collided on the side of its face and ricocheted until it struck the other two in succession before returning back to its owner. The force of which that was used in such a throw had created a resounding echo upon each impact. Along with violently knocking each of the heads around as they were now completely dazed by the way their eyes were rolling in their sockets.

With the sudden breath attack being momentarily stunned, he closed the gap even further and jumped into the air after producing a strong shockwave from kicking off of the ground. In doing so, that caused a small wave of lava to spill outwards from where he last stood.

Once he was high in the air and right above it. He raised his sword up and brought it down to point towards the monster as if giving a signal. From there a shower of golden blades came forth after a magic circle had appeared overhead and rained down on the beast. Instead of dissipating upon contact, they stayed deeply lodged into its flesh showing them to be an exact copy of the weapon that he had in his hand. But they were made of pure gold that radiated light.

What’s more was how the flesh around them, was not healing as it normally would when dealing with a hydra and its blood was constantly spilling forth, while there was a constant, sickening sizzle that filled the air, that was being loudly emitted from each one of the deeply entrenched blades of light.

By the time this strange spell was done, he was now falling and readying his blade. One of the heads attempted to get him in mid fall, but was bashed in the face hard enough with the shield that it literally knocked it back and was now laying limp off to the right side of its body. In return, it gave a good opening and the blade that was readied before and stabbed it in the main part of the body, right between the sections of the neck of the middle and the head that he had momentarily stunned.

Afterwards, he leaped back a few feet and pulled back his blade while keeping the tip pointed straight at the monster. When he had done this a silver light began to run across the blade until the tip itself was sparking with a mixture of blue and silver light. It was then thrusted forward and had the effect of stabbing right through the base of the neck for the head that was on the opposite side of the one that was stunned.

While the blade was still clearly energized with some magic. The long weapon was then twisted until the edge was pointed towards the side and it was roughly pulled in that direction until it finally left the monster’s flesh.

This ended up with the result of that very same neck being more than halfway severed and hanging by a lump of flesh has a strong stream of its blood spilled forth and splattered onto not only the ground but the male’s armor as well. At that point he was now standing directly in the center of the crosshairs belonging to the middle head, as it looked down at him menacingly.

During the time that the two heads were being dealt with. The middle one however, was not ideally sitting by and had already completed its preparations for another breath attack all by itself after it had recovered from that shield throw earlier and was clearly wanting to launch it at point blank range onto its attacker that had been dealing one blow after another.

A sense of dread filled Nightmare Moon’s mind as she saw how there was no way of getting out of there before another one of those fire attacks was released. She had honestly believed that the male must have used up all of his magic by now and was doing everything he could through physical means.

Yet again, her expectations were broken, when she saw how he was not backing down. Instead, he readied his blade another time by spinning it in his hand as it made a quick arc until it was pointing directly behind his body. Just like the second attack before, this one was enveloped in another aura. This time however, it was pure white in color, as well as the density had caused the blade to appear as though it had tripled in size.

From all the way from where she was, she heard him screaming one last thing, as he swung his arm downwards and the blade began to cut along the ground at his feet until it came up in front and began to slice through the chest plate of the monster as it continued until the blade was now pointing straight above his form and directed to the star filled sky.

“Royal Authority!” As his weapon made the motion, the energy that was produced extended outwards and this had the result of causing it to be long enough that it could cut cleanly through the entire body of the monster. Not only did it go from the chest all the way back to the tip of its tail, but it had the effect of traveling up the neck itself and had cleanly split the head in half. There was not a single point at which the blade had been slowed down by either the tough looking natural armor of its skin or the bones within, as it passed through.

However, just before the head had managed to separate into two pieces, she could clearly see how the eyes were sporadically rolling around until they had managed to find where he was. The yellow glow that they had from before, was being slowly replaced with red at this point.

Nightmare Moon remembered from her past as Luna, that this was a clear sign of the creature attempting to use a petrification spell through its eyes. Thankfully enough, it had completely lost the rest of its strength so the light began to die down until it returned to its once yellow glow. But even then, that too faded until there was nothing but a dull brown as the two halves fell away from each other and fell into the river of lava that it had created around its own body.

The last thing that Nightmare Moon saw of that creature. Was the last of its flesh slowly submerging and the surrounding air being filled with the sickening stench of cooked meat, that quickly turned to that of something burning beyond recognition. As her nose scrunched up and she couldn't help but the cover it with both of her hands, before she was brought to the point of throwing up right there.

Due to being locked up for such an extended amount of time. She was no longer accustomed to the odd smells of such a thing and the new senses were forcing her to clench her eyes shut as an added measure to help in dulling the nauseous feeling before it progressed. She then thought back to when she made her appearance within that building and how there was that table full of confections. From there, she had to contain a groan as she had to thank her past self for not indulging in anything there before making that appearance. Which meant that she had nothing in her stomach that had to be discharged.

By the time that she had begun to recover. The sound of steps could be heard approaching, along with the undeniable sounds that would have come from stepping in a form of liquid. When she had looked up, she saw that he was only a few paces away and was apparently turning his helmet as to take in his surroundings. However, with how the night sky was being distorted by all the fluctuating waves of heat, she was unable to get a good amount of light to be able to see his face. Finally understanding that she had been fully focused on the monster, she too sat up and started to look around.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes suddenly went wide as pretty much the entire landscape had been turned into a layer of molten lava. Most of which was still glowing red and flowing from one part to another. She then realized that with everything being the way it was, then why was she not suffocating due to the toxic fumes which would have been given off by such an environment. Seemingly aware of her puzzlement, she then heard him speaking in what she thought to be a tender tone compared to all the other times.

“As much as I would like to continue with keeping this bubble of wind constantly going. I believe I would be neglectful in my civic duties if I was to leave things as they were.” With that said, he brought up his free hand after putting his shield away and pointed the open palm straight towards the sky. From there, Nightmare Moon Could feel a buildup of power flowing from the ground and up through his body. Just as it began to accumulate on the palm of his outstretched gloved hand. She heard him call out in a booming voice. “By my name. Deciphered the laws of nature! Squall!”

From there, a sudden gust of wind was created and the very air itself began to fill with what appeared to be billions of water droplets. Over the course of a few seconds, these accumulated just above. Where the water then turned into a sphere. The sphere was then shot towards the heavens and disappeared into the night sky when it got far enough away. This in turn had the added effect of causing everything to get much darker and even she herself was having trouble seeing even just passed her own nose. Afterwards, there was nothing but silence for several seconds. Seeing as nothing was happening, Nightmare Moon was beginning to become impatient.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask about what he had been trying to do. The sky began to fill with clouds and her stars were slowly becoming shrouded from view. Almost immediately, there was a heavy downpour that rained all around them and she was able to see the water droplets hitting and running down the edge of a transparent dome. She had thought it was merely a type of magical barrier, but with the way that the water was being splashed about, showed it to be nothing but pure air that was rotating at a high rate of velocity.

Over the course of a few minutes. She watched in awe as the entire range was cooling down thanks to the rain. The burning lights that were being emitted from the still hot lava was reflecting off of the water droplets that had started to flow into thin lines. There, they had been cascading in a spiraling motion along the dome that had been acting as their protection. Due to this, it gave the appearance of the water taking on the identity of the lava itself as it gave off an entrancing display.

As the sizzling heat was dying down with each droplet of water, Nightmare Moons Shoulders began to sag as she began to watch the spectacle before her. In a trembling voice, she tried to speak, just loud enough to be heard over the rain. “W-We were unaware that our subjects had progressed our magic to such an extent. Such a feat would have required a legion of Unicorns to do so. Along with a lengthy time required for the spell to be cast. Much has truly changed since our absence...”

She then heard the male speaking again, while looking straight at her. “What do you plan to do now?” The question only surprised the mare, as she looked towards him with a dumbfounded expression and was unable to give a reply as she looked slightly away. She then heard him say, “Are you going to continue fighting, run away, perhaps try your hand at making a deal or even surrender? Personally... I would prefer the fifth option.”

Inside of Nightmare Moons mind, she was going through each of the options and weighing their possibilities of success. In her current state, she knew that she would be no match. If she tried to run and he was not lying about being able to find her, then that would do no good. She had briefly considered the option of trying to make a deal. But judging from his attitude, along with the way he can fight and use magic that she was unaware of. Then there was a good chance that she would have nothing to really offer. She was currently beaten and did not have control of the Elements or that of Equestria itself. So that meant offering those was off the table.

But the very idea of surrendering only made her stomach turn in almost the same way that the smell earlier had done. Of course, she knew that this would be the only real option that she had at this time and she knew it. Although, when he said something about a fifth option. Her interest was piqued and she turned towards him and asked in a skeptical tone. “Pray tell, just what would this other option be for which you speak of?”

Without any warning at all, he knelt down and brought his face within a mear few inches of her own and began to speak just low enough that she herself had to concentrate on listening over the still falling rain. Even with him this close she still couldn't make out his facial features all that well and her eyes went almost comically wide when hearing of his proposal.

*Point of view: Twilight Sparkle*
*Location: Castle of the two sisters*
*Time: Twenty minutes later*

(Here is a picture of the throne room.)

Twilight was currently standing within the throne room of the dilapidated castle that was located near the center of the forest. Those that were accompanying her, had left to go outside in order to give her some breathing room to figure out the mystery behind the Elements of Harmony. She had been using one spell after another for the last ten minutes after finally finding them and placing them onto the ground. The Unicorn had been attempting to get them to unlock their secrets, but with little to no result.

So, after exhausting pretty much every spell that she could think of in her head. Along with those that were contained in the few books that she kept in a small pouch at her side. The Unicorn was no closer to understanding and was about to give up. But that was until a swirling black mist filled with stars appeared around and were primarily focused on the stones that contained the Elements. From there, they all were levitated into the air and out of surprise, Twilight had rushed head first and into the spiraling vortex. Only to be roughly deposited in another room in some new location when the unknown, swirling mist had finally dissipated.

From that point, things rapidly began to escalate. Nightmare moon appeared, although she was no longer wearing her battle armor from during that appearance inside of Ponyville. But instead, a flowing dark blue dress. They ended up having their small banter with one another and twilight charge Nightmare Moon in an attempt to get to the stones, that were now on the far side of the room after getting blasted away from them by Nightmare Moon herself, just earlier during the conversation. Only to do a fake out move and teleport directly behind the dark mare and alongside the Elements of Harmony once more.

Twilight had attempted to try and send pure energy into the stones in a last-ditch effort to finally bring out their power. Unfortunately, that too proved to be a fruitless attempt after the stones levitated for a few moments along with some random sparks of energy were coursing between them all. Only to fade as the stones then fell one by one to the stone floor. Along with a heavily breathing twilight, who was now crumpled down onto her hands and knees.

With the Unicorn now seemingly giving up. Nightmare Moon teleported right next to the Elements and slammed her hoof onto the ground while emitting a small wave of energy that coursed over them. Which then shattered them immediately. The dark mare then went on with another one of her rants about how the night shall never end.

Only to have Twilight, bringing her attention to the stairway leading down, after hearing a series of voices echoing from beyond her view. The first voice she recognized, belonged to Applejack, as she called out to the others who were obviously following along due to the number of hoofs hitting the stone steps. That was when she had this glimmer in her eyes as she began to connect the dots.

Just as all the other girls came into the room. Twilight turned towards Nightmare Moon and started to call out. She began to tell the dark mare, that she was wrong and the Elements were not destroyed. In fact, they lived on, in the very ponies that were standing right in that room.

One after another, Twilight explains how Applejack represented the Element of Honesty when she reassured her when she was full of doubt. Then there was Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with compassion when none of the others had even considered the idea when faced with a dangerous creature. For she represents the Element of Kindness.

Pinkie Pie, who vanquished the fear by giggling in the face of danger. She represents the Element of Laughter. Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift. Represents the Element of Generosity. And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own desires. Represents the Element of Loyalty.

Now looking to be panicked. Nightmare Moon tried to argue, that they did not have the sixth element yet. But only to have Twilight rebuttal that remark with an overwhelming amount of confidence in her voice as she revealed the final element to be that of the Magic of Friendship.

During the speech as each one of the girls was called forth and reveal to be a representation of each one of the virtues required. The remnants of the Elements of Harmony, began to levitate and congregate around each of the mare’s in the order that they had been called on. Once the very last Element had been discovered, did the final one appear in a flash of light above Twilight herself.

While all the rest turned into a set of necklaces that took on the form of each of their cutie marks. Twilights turned into that of a tiara with a large star with the same number of points as hers. Finally, the moment had come and the girls began to give off their own an aura of lights as they were now beginning to be lifted off the ground. Just as Twilight was about to say her final words before unleashing the power that they were looking for to save their world. Nightmare Moon started to clap her hands together while loudly calling out with a tone of voice that was very much unlike the one, she was using before.

Instead of that of the tyrannical kind that was ever present. This one was that of relief. Which in turn, cause all the girls in the room to freeze with a look of confusion on their faces. Even Pinkie Pie had produced a sound that was similar to that of a car hitting their breaks to come to a skidding halt while still in the air. ‘Tis about time you figured how to use those! We would have believed that the secret would have been discovered long before our return. Does thou have any idea how difficult it is to hold one's strength back??”

That was when Rainbow Dash started to shake her head quickly before pointing straight at Nightmare Moon With an accusatory finger as she yelled out angrily. “Hay! You're not weaseling your way out of this! Now shut up and let us blast you!” With that loud declaration, the other girls were brought back from their stupor and readied themselves once again. But only to be stopped a second time when they saw how Nightmare Moon, was now rolling her eyes before waving her right hand in a gesture that signified to wait.

The dark mare then said, “Oh we fully intend on you to... How you say, ‘blast me.’ However, I want to bring back your Princess and have a word with her.” This of course had the effect of stopping them along with half of the group tilting their heads in confusion. The only one that didn't seem weirded out at all, was Pinkie for some strange reason. Who just stayed there while floating in the air and had somehow brought out a tub of popcorn. What's more, she even had what appeared to be a large ice pack, held in the crook of her left elbow.

Nightmare Moon, then slowly walked over until she was in a position to have a clear line of sight with the moon high above that had the silhouette of a unicorn's head. After a few seconds of lighting up her horn. There was a flash of light that appeared near the girls, who were still halfway levitating in the air. But that too immediately stopped and all of them fell to the floor with a series of thuds and Whelps, when Twilight broke the connection after seeing Princess Celestia, who was now standing right there before her and looking to be unharmed.

As most were nursing a set of now bruised bottoms. Twilight had immediately rushed over and nearly tackled Celestia with a hug. Of course, the princess returned this Expression of affection with giving her own hug, along with enveloping the small unicorn in her wings.

Princess Celestia then began to speak in her motherly tone, while at the same time, looking towards all of the mare’s that were in her view. “I knew that you could-.” But she was interrupted by a set of hoofs tapping from the now apparently, Impatient Nightmare Moon. When Princess Celestia turned around. She came face-to-face with her turned sister and immediately took on a defensive stance with her wings flared out to protect twilight. While at the same time looking both, very nervous and confused, as her eyes darted between the Elements of Harmony and the other Alicorn in the room.

Nightmare Moon then placed both of her hands on her hips and began to roll her eyes once again. She then said in an exasperated tone. “Lower thou guard. For thee have won. They will soon use the Elements on myself. However, we have something to say before that is done...” When she had gotten near the end of that sentence. There was this small chill that was emanating from those words alone.

That was when she immediately rushed up and grabbed onto the section of the solar princess's dress, near the neck line and pulled her in close. That was when she began to speak just loud enough for all of them to hear. “We have but a missive to deliver to you.” Nightmare Moon, then raised her right hand back. It was then swung at Princess Celestia's face with enough force, that as it passed across her cheeks, The mare’s eyes were nearly popping out of her sockets. There was also this loud yelp of pain That came from her lips. Almost immediately, the white color from where she was struck, was now turning beat red.

When the action was finished. Nightmare Moon Then said, “That is for locking us up in the moon for a thousand years! As soon as she had said those words. The very hand that she had used before, had come back with a vengeance and struck the other set of cheeks with the back of her palm on a return trip. Of course, without saying it. Princess Celestia had also released another loud cry of pain. Upon the completion of the second hit. Nightmare Moon had released her sister before speaking again.

“That one is for throwing a sun into his face! To think you would be so irresponsible as to attack another innocent creature in such a manner! Well, we should not expect that thou has changed all that much! Thou were always a brute when are in one of those foul moods! Also, he sends his regards and will be paying you a visit... Soon! We expect that thou will be groveling before him and asking for his forgiveness if thou know what's possibly in store for thee!” That was when her voice began to become a little quieter. But was still able to be heard. “We know that we would, if too, were in such a predicament...”

During all of this. All of the ponies that were present, had their jaws dropping at the sight of their princess, having been literally bitch slapped right in front of all of them. Rainbow had lost her cool and was frantically trying to get at Nightmare Moon, after seeing Princess Celestia getting struck the first time around. But was stopped by Applejack who had a firm grip on her tail in the same way as she did back in town. All the while, the blue Pegasus was screaming. “No one hits the princess!”

In an attempt to keep the Pegasus from jumping into a fight, she called out to the mare with a struggling tone in her voice. “Whoa! Hold on there partner! I get the feelin that we need to sit this one out for a spell!” She even had to resort to using her own acts with her free hand that was not holding on to Rainbow to act as an anchor by swinging it hard enough to get it stuck into the stone floor. Now when it came to Twilight. All she could do was to stand there as stiff as a board and her mouth opening and closing in the same way a largemouth bass would when trying to breathe out of water.

At that point, Princess Celestia was now holding on to both sides of her now beginning to swell face. While at the same time looking at Nightmare Moon with an extremely shocked expression that clearly showed that she was not expecting this to happen. The white Alicorn was clearly going to protest what had occurred. But as soon as her mouth opened, the mare’s eyes turned into the smallest dots a Pony could ever make and this caused the words to form in her mouth to come out completely unintelligible and had the same expression as her student.

“What?... Face?... Sun?... Visit?” Princess Celestia was now shaking in pure fear as her eyes darted from left to right as if scanning every nook and cranny of the old throne room for another presence. Seemingly uncharacteristic for the Alicorn, who had sculpted a perfect image of herself for so many years. She quickly rushed up to Nightmare Moon in a panic and grabbed on to both of the mare’s shoulders. Seemingly to forget by her actions about just who it was she was near to.

Twilight just couldn't believe her eyes. The ruler of all of Equestria. The one who was a second mother to her and she looked up to for everything. Was right now the picture image of a filly, who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and was about to get a spanking from their mother. With how she was acting right before the one that had not only kidnapped her, but wanted to rule over a world of endless night. What Princess Celestia said next, only cemented her thoughts on the matter.

“J-Just what does he look like? P-Please! I need to know!” Obviously now being greatly annoyed. Nightmare Moon shoved the alabaster mare off of herself and took a step back to gain some distance before replying in a hotty tone, that showed that she was enjoying the site. “He's big. Very powerful. There was even something in regards to a music box. So, we get the feeling that he hates thee almost as much as we do, if not more by the way he talked. Now if you will excuse us. We are going to have them hit us with the Elements of Harmony before he comes back. He may have healed our wounds, but no way in Tartarus that we are going to be here for when he does decide to see thou.”

With that, Nightmare Moon turned around on the spot and proceeded towards the center of the old throne room. Once she had arrived, she faced the six mare's and took on a pose with her right arm stretched down, while the left was resting on her hips. After a few seconds of nothing happening. The dark mare began to tap her right hoof impatiently, before calling out in a rushed tone. “Well? We did just what he asked and delivered the missive. Unleash the power before he finds out that we are still here! There's no way we are going to have thee make him think we went back on our word!”

Once those words were spoken. Twilight could hear her mentor speaking in a tone that resembled her usual way of speech. However, there was an underlying layer of trembling laced throughout the whole thing. “Please… Twilight. Use the Elements on her so that we can put all this trouble behind us.” From there, they did their duties and brought down the power that was stored within the Elements of Harmony. After the rainbow colors and the bright flash subsided. Both she and the others that were next to her, were slowly getting up after feeling an intense wave of fatigue washing over them.

Afterwards, once they had recovered. All the other girls began to examine each other's new necklaces and admire their work of art. More so when it came to Rarity. Once they had gotten past all of that. There was the sound of Princess Celestia walking towards the spot that once had Nightmare Moon standing and found that there was a smaller mare now laying on the ground Instead.

She looked as though she could have been only around eighteen years of age. But what threw her off, was how this one was endowed with both a pair of wings and a horn. As her princess approached. She heard her mentor speaking in a gentle tone. “Twilight, I sent you to Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship and so you did. But I feel that there is another, that is also deserving of it as well. My dear sister, will you accept my friendship? I have missed you so much over these long years. I wish for us to be a family once more and to rule together.”

The one on the ground was fearful at first and tried to muster as much strength as they could to try to inch away. But as soon as Princess Celestia had spoken those words. The mare had ceased her activities and started to cry deeply. She then got to her hoofs, rather shakely and gave a surprise hug while burying the side of her face into the taller one's chest. The blue mare then uttered in a broken-up sentence between sobs. “W-We have missed thee so much dear sister! We are so very sorry for what we have done! Could you ever forgive us!”

The next thing to happen was for all in the room to scream out in unison. “What!! She's your sister!!” This was immediately followed with Pinkie screaming at nearly the top of her lungs only after finally finishing the last of her popcorn, that she had been eating throughout this whole thing. “We gotta throw a party! Also, here you go princess. You're gonna need this.” What Pinkie was referring to, was the bag of ice that she had been holding on to for the swelling on the princess's face from the pair of hard slaps that she took earlier.

So, after a while of allowing the swelling to finally go down. Along with the newly found out to be Princess Luna that was trying to assist whenever she could. Although, she didn't have enough magic to do pretty much anything at all at the moment. They had eventually got back to Ponyville and continued with the festivities. But this was after explaining the situation and how Nightmare Moon was defeated. Thanks to the brave six Ponies that were standing near the Princess.

Of course, this all led to the part where Twilight thought that she was going to need to return to Canterlot, now that her need to be there had been fulfilled. However, to her surprise, she got to stay under the new orders of learning the magic of friendship and sending in her reports in regards to the subject back to Celestia.

Although, during the festivities and talking with her new friends. The mare had caught for but a brief moment a figure that was standing all on its own near a tree, that was located on the very edge of the party area that was being held outside. From what she could tell, that they were easily over seven hoofs tall. Perhaps, closer to eight. Whoever it was, they had a very big build and was wearing mostly white. But as soon as those thoughts went to her head as she was taking in exactly what she was looking at. A vague memory started to peek out from the description, but she was having a hard time in placing it.

She was going to try and put some more thought into it with how much it was bugging her. Unfortunately for Twilight, she was distracted with her new friends coming up to discuss about the living arrangements and if there was any need for their help to get it ready for not only herself but spite to live in comfortably. When she had gotten a chance to look at the tree once more. The one that was standing there could no longer be seen and there were no traces at all as to where they had gone too.

It would seem that Fluttershy had noticed how Twilight was looking off towards an area where there was no pony and quickly asked in her usual volume, that required one to really try hard at listening. “Um... Twilight, do you see something over there?” While asking, the yellow Pegasus was also glancing towards the tree.

While looking rather confused herself. Twilight reluctantly answered with. “I just saw some stallion over there wearing white and blue by the tree, but I don't see them anymore.” That was when Rainbow Dash jumped into the conversation while hovering right overhead and taking a look at the tree herself. “It's probably that mystery stallion that Applejack's been going on about. He's pretty much what every Pony in town ever gossips over. Ten new bit says that he’s eating all the attention up! Must have gone running under the bed as soon as Nightmare Moon showed her face earlier in town.”

Upon hearing this. Fluttershy brought both of her hands up to her face before saying, “Oh my... The poor thing must be terrified.” Applejack was the next to speak up, as she was now standing on the left side of Twilight. “I doubt that fella's scared of anything from what I saw.” From there, it was Rarity that began to inform her about what they had all been told about the incident from Applejack.

*Point of view: Applejack*

The farm mare pretty much zoned out the words coming from the fashion pony while turning her head from the tree that they were all just looking at, back to that of the Everfree forest. She then started to think about what they had gone through, while making their way into the dense forest.

She recalled the landslide. Then came the other things such as the sea serpent, Manticore, Scary trees and also that weird fog that was keeping Rainbow Dash held up for so long when fixing the bridge. During the whole way, what really stood out almost constantly. Was how they were following a well-made, beaten path.

No matter how much she looked at it, the only explanation would have been that it was being traveled on, what could have been a daily basis for quite some time with how the ground was so compacted the way it was. If it wasn't done so, then she was pretty sure that it would have taken them longer to find the castle. Or even worse, their group could have gotten aimlessly lost.

She had even had this weird feeling that something was off with how they had not encountered any monsters during the whole trip, aside from the manticore and that one sea dragon that was in the river. At the very least, she had expected a pack or two of Timberwolves to show up. However, there were no signs of them to be seen.

That was when another thought popped in the farmer's head and she turned towards Pinkie, who was not far away and was inhaling what she was pretty sure was the fifth plate of cupcakes. Hey Pinkie? Didn't cha say you had to deliver some muffins earlier?” This got her a smile so wide, that at she could easily see that there was over a dozen cupcakes stuffed in her cheeks.

After taking a moment to swallow the entire load at once, the pink mare bounced right over as if she had not eaten enough goods to cause her to be stuck on the ground until her stomach had settled. Applejack then heard Pinkie saying, “Oh that? I delivered them while everyone was talking about Twilight's new place.” This only got a confused, “Huh?” From the farm mare Before she went on. “He was standing over there by the tree only a moment ago.”

Applejack removed her hat and began to scratch along the side of her right ear before she asked Pinkie something that should have occurred to her earlier. “Pinkie... You know every pony that's in this town. What is the fella's name that you delivered those pastries too?” The pink mare suddenly had a serious face on, as she was looking straight at Applejack. But the next answer that came out of the mare’s mouth, only caused Applejack to look at her with even more confusion. This was thanks to the serious nature, in which the party mare was now speaking with.

“Applejack... If it was any other, then I would tell you in a heartbeat. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I really, really would. But I will not jeopardize my new friendship by doing something that I know that my new friend will not like. If you want to know his name you have to get it straight from him yourself.”

That was when she got extremely close and Applejack didn't know exactly how it was possible. But somehow, her eyes were being pushed into her head as Pinkie’s apparently were nearly leaving her own with how they were almost pressing their lips against one another. Pinkie then said, “I have been waiting for far too long to be friends with him. So, don’t... Ruin... This... For... Me!” This in turn, got Applejack to take a single slow step back and nod her head slowly as soon as her face was safely out of range of bumping into the pink mare’s.

Almost like how someone can flip a light switch and turn the room from dark to light. Pinkie’s whole vibe had suddenly switched back to her cheery one, when she caught sight of something large moving through the crowd. This ended up getting her to bounce in place as she ran towards it while screaming, “Woohoo! They brought out the construction golem for the kids to play on! I'm next! I'm next!”

The Golem in question, that pinkie was just talking about. Was one that belonged to the local construction crews that had been invented a handful of years back. This one in particular, was among the early models and Ponyville was chosen to try it out as a test, to see how well the product would work in the real field. Needless to say, it was a big hit and helped quite a lot. This one in particular was over four meters tall and was constructed in a way, that made it resemble a brick house that was made of clay.

Applejack didn't know too much about it. But she did recognize the insignia of the products makers on the outside left leg near the knee. It was the exact same company that they had just gotten their free tractor from, over at her farm. Right there, printed within a silver gear icon, was the letters, T H I S. But it didn't take long until she heard another excited squeak from right next to her. This one turned out to be from Twilight and she was practically sparkling in the eyes as she was looking at the Golem, while speaking at a speed that would rival with that of pinkie.

“By Celestia! You have one of the original mass-produced models here in ponyville??!!! Did you know Just how lucky you all are to have one of these?! It may not look like much and it’s the standard model with no extra features. But they're incredibly sturdy. I just have to get a closer look at it! Oh, I wonder if the ones that own it right now will allow me to tinker with it?! Best day ever!!!!” Yet again, the purple Unicorn was now imitating Pinkie and had zoomed over fast enough to leave a cloud impression in her place that lasted a few seconds before clearing away.

(Here is a picture of what the Golem looks like.)

*Point of view: Brex Mith*
*Time: A few minutes ago*

Brex was currently standing with his body partially leaning against the tree while looking over the crowd. There was the music being played on the stage after the whole appearance of their princess. Along with the surprising introduction of the long-lost sister and co-ruler. Then there were all the ponies that were playing about and conversing with one another while enjoying the drinks and food being provided.

As his site was roaming from place to place. It landed on a group of ponies consisting of Twilight And all of her friends. He had caught her glimpsing in his way and just as she had turned to answer something being said by others apparently. A pink blur zoomed across the front of his mask. This of course almost caused him to jump out of his skin, when his mind instantly associated it with Pinkie Pie.

But after immediately checking his surroundings to find that she was nowhere to be found. But what he did find, was a large white box with a note taped to the very top of it. Seemingly weary of it. The Roegadyn carefully reached and plucked the note off and began to read it to himself.

Dear Gambit.

You missed the party last night but I saved you some of the blueberry muffins. Don't worry about me telling the others about you. I won't even tell them your name. When you are feeling up to having a party, let me know. I promise it won't be a big one and will be only for a small group if that's what you want. Also, I wasn't quite sure what to call you so I went with your adventurer's name when writing this.

Sincerely, your future friend.

Within his mind. Brex was not entirely sure as to how he should be feeling about this. Half of his rational brain was screaming that he needed to get out of there and run for the hills, with how much that girl seems to know. While on the other side, He was strangely feeling at ease and the idea that there would be another out there that knew his secret and was apparently keeping it to themselves for his sake. In the end, he resolved to seeing how this would play out.

Afterwards, Brex reached down and picked up the box and took a quick glance inside and found that it was Indeed full of blueberry muffins and the smell was starting to make him hungry. Since it had been over a day from when he had that omelet over at the café with rose. He started to make his way back towards the flower shop, with the box under his left arm.

As the sounds of the party were becoming lighter as he went further away and the number of ponies that could be seen had dropped to none. He held out his right hand. From there, an item from the item box appeared within his grasp. It had the appearance of a piece of marble like stone, that was at first glance pure white. But after a few seconds, there was a shifting rainbow set of colors flowing over the surface. Just pass those colors however, was another set that was darker in the way that it was lightly pulsing.

After a few seconds of staring at it. He placed it back into his item box and continued on his way. All the while, lately humming a certain lullaby that had been coming and going over the past decade.

*Point of view: Princess Celestia*
*Time: A few hours later*
*Location: Castle within Canterlot*

After partaking in the celebration in Ponyville, Celestia and her younger sister Luna both came back to their new home. At the moment, Luna was currently resting to recover her magic. Along as to recover what little strength she had left after such a grueling experience.

As soon as she had made sure that her sister was comfortable in her new room, Princess Celestia Immediately rushed back to her own and made sure that both her door and balcony was locked shut and the curtains were closed. She then swiftly ran into her closet and pulled out a small chest and placed it on the writing desk that was within her room. From there, she opened the lid and pulled out a single candle Inlaid it on the edge of the desk and grabbed a blank piece of parchment and began to write furiously on it.

After a few moments of doing this, she immediately sparked her horn to life and lit the candle after she had started to levitate it. Once the flame was going hot. The parchment itself was rolled up and a wax seal showing the sun was stamped onto a ribbon wrapped around it. When the preparations were completed, it was then held so that the flame was licking at the edge of the paper.

This of course lit it a flame. But instead of a slow burn like one would expect. It instantly went up in a puff of smoke and appear to be getting pulled into a point in space, that was right above her head. It was no bigger than a needle could fit through and disappeared when the last of the smoke had passed through. When the act was done, the remains of the single candle immediately began to get eaten away by the flame, as the wick used up the rest of the wax within moments until there was nothing left.

Once the message had been sent. The Princess slumped into the chair that was right next to her and was now leaning forward and covering her face with both of her hands as they rested their elbows on to her knees. In a slightly defeated tone that she barely managed to get past her hands. Princess Celestia said the following as one would when asking for advice to anyone that would listen.

“I only just had to deal with one of my many mistakes. Yet I was only just notified that I have another that is going to be visiting me... if he is capable of making a being such as Nightmare Moon, to show such a reaction and to allow herself to be purged from Luna. Then what should I expect to happen. I still can't get over what was worse back then. Was it the beating that I had suffered through or was it that gaze that I received... After all this time I have yet to gain his name, not even the two Royal Guards that served me back then would disclose it.”

“All that is left is to wait for my dear sister to awaken and ask her for any additional details. For such a long time I had believed him to have been long since dead. Has he been around this whole time or did he just recently come back? If it was possible for him to return from the dead, then how was it done? If he had not truly died, then how has he kept himself alive all this time? Could he be an immortal just as my sister and I are?”

After a few seconds of silence, the alabaster Alicorn immediately shot up with her head and look towards the picture frame that was on the nightstand. Now looking rather flustered as she spoke in an embarrassed tone. If it truly was he who was the one to deliver the box, then... That was when her eyes drifted across the surface of the table until it rested on the picture frame that was sitting on top and facing towards the bed. Instantly, another groan escapes the princess as she buried her face into her hands once again and a hint of a flushed face could be seen between the fingers. She also spoke in an embarrassed tone. “He… He must have seen it…”

*Point of view: Third Person*
*Location: The other side*

Within the cartoonish house. There was a group of individuals crowded around and on a couch That was originally meant for three or four individuals to fit. But had been expanded to set a larger group all at once. The small television that was present within the show known as The Simpsons. Had also been replaced with a seventy-five-inch, flat screen high-definition television set. It had right at that moment shown the princess in her current state from within her bed chambers.

But the picture itself had come to a sudden freeze as a set of texts appeared over the image that said, “Connection lost.” This of course, got the following to be said all at the same time. “Yuck! lovey-dovey stuff?! Show more things getting smashed. I want more violence. Come on man! He really should have dragged that fight out more. At least destroy a mountain!”

“Speak for yourself brother. You're not interested in anything, unless there is a bunch of death and violence going on. I on the other hand, enjoy these little moments. I just can’t wait to see what happens next.”

“The both of you need to know that a story has to have a balance, just like when crafting. If he did nothing but the lovey-dovey stuff or fighting. Then it would get boring fast. But I did like how he got through to that girl. Although, the hair pulling may have been a little much.”

“I for one, think that his execution can be rather brutish at times. But it does seem rather effective. Although, I don't see the meaning of him calling out that last skill move, when he killed the three-headed Hydra. Could have sworn I told him not to call those out. There was also the chanting he released in order to make that rain come down. I believe he requires a refresher course.”

“Oh, give me a break! It's obvious that he did all that stuff to be cool. What's the use of doing an epic strike when you can't say something to go along with it? Besides I think he was holding back quite a bit during that fight. That other thing of his wasn't even pulled out. It did make me happy when he went so far as to heal her up afterwards.”

“Hoo-Hoohooo! The kid sure has come a long way since we last spoke. I knew that he could be a little crafty, but to have that monster already captured and set up to explode through the ground when he needed to show off his strength. Now that was a stroke of genius. It still surprises me that he was able to keep it down there for a few days. well, I can't really feel bad for it though, it was terrorizing a village when he came across it. Good thing that Rory was down there keeping it under control until it was time to be released.”

As all of the commotion had calmed down after everyone had given their opinions on what they were watching. All in attendance were slowly bringing their attention to the last member on the couch, who had yet to say a word. This one being a female with long black hair and wearing an outfit that was mostly blue. There were even these red pants, white boots, a red sash and arm guards being worn. All in all, it was pretty much something that one would see in an old-style martial arts anime character.

Right now, she had an indifferent expression while still staring at the frozen picture on the screen. But soon it changed to that of a small smile while closing her eyes and giving a subtle nod of approval. This small gesture ended up having the effect of causing all of those around, to release a relieved expression. Along with a set of sighs upon seeing the female’s reaction.

She then turned to the other character that came from the same anime that her form was taken from, which turned out to be an elderly man wearing sunglasses and a purple tortoise shell on his back. That was when she asked, “Did you already know that this was how it was going to turn out?” The man who is known as Daddy, quickly replied by shaking his head and bringing up both of his hands in a shrugging gesture while speaking. “As much as I'd like to take credit for the boy's actions. I'm afraid to say that its all pretty much out of my hands.”

That was when he stepped away from the couch after getting off and approached the television. As soon as he had gotten to it, he reached over and grabbed on to the remote and started to click a few buttons while pointing the small device at the screen. This action had caused it to change to a number of different images. These depicting both familiar and strange locations. Seemingly getting annoyed that it was not as easy to get to the channel he wanted.

Daddy had started to press the buttons a lot faster which caused the images to change in the blink of an eye. It was unknown if he had been paying attention. But for the briefest of seconds. The screen had shown a dark landscape and an equally black glowing purple sun in the background. Within the shot was also a pair of black robed individuals with each wearing a black and a red mask, that was currently walking through a structure that had rows upon rows of pillars. As for the slightly shorter one with the red mask, they were currently looking at a necklace that was being held in front of their face while closely behind the taller one of the pair.

During all of this. Daddy was getting increasingly agitated until he had finally found what he was looking for. What was shown on the screen, resembled what could have been a television channel guide that one would bring up when wanting to see what was going to be shown on cable. There was a list and a number selection that went from channel one, and immediately leading to the symbol which represented infinity.

He then started to scroll down until he got to a particular number, that had the half hour time slot and the name, M L P. Brex Mith. He then used the remote as a pointer and directed the woman's gaze to a section of the description for the show. That was when he said, “Take a look at this mom. Right here at the bottom that says that the show is live. Unlike the one above and below, this is the only one that says that. It's been like this since the day he appeared in the forest.”

“The instant he stepped foot in that world in his new body, everything in regards to that place has gone off the predetermined path. Even those of that world have changed too. some even have branching paths. So, I have no idea just what's going to happen to the kid or that world. However, I do know this!” That was when he used the remote to skip ahead. There, the display said the exact same thing but mostly blank on the episode details. After a few moments of clicking, he stopped after so many had passed to indicate that some time had been skipped and he pointed at one block in particular.

That was when he started to speak in an excited tone. “Before the boy came. This is where it all ended. when I say it all ended, I mean all, as in everything living being on the planet. But look at this now. It's still going. Everything beyond this point is completely blank as one solid line. Which means I have no idea how much longer this time line will keep on going. It's safe to say that it was a good idea to bring him over by making that request to the Merchants.”

The now identified Mom, who is still on the couch. Had both her arms and legs crossed while giving him a dubious stare down. After a few more seconds of silence and allowing Daddy to figuratively sweat bullets. Mom finally released a sigh before saying in a defeated tone. “Fine, he passes... For now. Just make sure that you don't get directly involved with him anymore than what’s allowed. Also, if there are to be any type of interference. Then it needs to be talked with and voted as a majority. So, no more going off on your own and doing things behind my back, anymore. This also goes for the two of you!”

That last bit had been clearly directed with her eyes as she went between Daddy and the two other girls in the room, that had been hiding around the door frame and poking their heads to see what was happening. These being, both Little Light and Little Moon. Who are now giving a nervous smile while ducking away out of view.

Daddy then brought both of his hands up and began to rub them together, while giving his own little smile, before he began to ask something. But was immediately stopped when Mom brought up her right hand and bawled it into a fist. Seeing this, Daddy immediately began to look fearful as all the hairs on his body were now sticking out like porcupine spines as he jumped in place. Of course, this only meant that it had to be his mustache and beard.

Daddy then blurted out in a panic, while also showing that he was spitting in all the commotion. “Please don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!” He had even gone so far as to crouch down and pull his shell over himself as an added measure of protection. While pulling his entire body underneath. He had stuck out his left arm and snapped his fingers in order to summon a World War Two helmet and pulled it underneath. Most likely to place on his head for even more protection.

But when nothing happened for a good solid minute. Daddy lifted the shell to find that the one called Mom, was giving him a bemused smirk while holding something in her open palm. The item in question did not seem to have a true physical form. As it was more of a conglomerate of ever shifting, miniature stars that seem to change in the amount of brightness each one had. Once in a while, a thin strand of light would connect them only to disappear and form new ones with another. In a way it was close to what one would picture if they were to connect the lines in the constellations, but those very stars would continuously change to the next one after a few seconds.

Mom then said, while giving a flat stare along with another one of those crooked smiles that one would see when they just played a joke and gotten away with it. “I'm rather busy with other areas. Could I count on you to send this to him when you feel that the time is right?” This had clearly confused Daddy as he immediately got to his feet and approached to see what exactly was being given to him to relay.

That was when Daddy was now scrunching up his face while looking at it even more intently than before. However, after a few seconds of this. He had a puzzled expression while looking at Mom, before he asked the following question while scratching the side of his head. “Are you saying you're finally going to give the kid one of your blessings?” Mom only shook her head before she answered. “No. I think he still has a while to go before he earns my blessing. But I will give him a small gift. Let's just say that... this is a small reward for his efforts.”

Mom then looked around the room before she began to speak in a somewhat confused tone of her own. “I do wish that the others were able to attend as well but they were far too busy from what I heard. Of course, there's one in particular that I did want to have a few words with, but didn't see this as a worthwhile event to attend. Although it may have been for the better good of all present. Especially for that kid, of yours. I may not be fully invested in him just yet. But even I would not wish him to be dragged off to the Coliseum.”

This ended up causing Daddy to rub his face down so hard with his right hand that it ended up stretching it a few inches, before it pop back in place once he had let go. He then released another grown of annoyance before saying in a weak voice. “There's always one battle nut in every family isn't there? And I used to think that Bart was bad. It had completely slipped my mind.”

Mom had instantly look confused when the name Bart had come up, but had a look of realization when she saw the kid from before. He was running around with a pair of scissors and what appeared to be a tuft of black hair in the other hand through the window leading to the front lawn. Immediately after seeing this. there was a man's voice that could be heard before the tall older looking male came into view who was screaming at the top of his lungs.

The kid had literally stopped after getting a good distance away on the lawn and proceeded to tear off his own pants and throw them in the face of the older man. As a result, this only caused him to rip them off of his face and throw them onto the ground before giving a death glare to the small child. The man then snapped his fingers and produced a type of flying machine that came into existence after a bright flash of light.

(Here is a picture of the ship that was summoned.)

After snapping his fingers another time, he was now in the pilot seat and was now shooting a set of on-board machine guns, that was leaving a trail of broken up lawn and leading straight to the kid. All the while, screaming out thanks to an onboard speaker system. “You little brat! I'll teach you not to snip off someone's beard when they're not looking!” If one was able to get a good view. Then they would see that all of the hair had been taken off of his face around the chin and left him with the facial hair on the sides that resembled that of Wolverine from the X-Men. The last thing that could be heard over the gun fire. Was the kid screaming in utter horror. “Ay Caramba! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Author's Note

The one who gave me the the idea for the Mom character was, Blaze Caster.

https://www.fimfiction.net/user/297100/Blaze+Caster