Luna lightly tapped the medallion in the little filly’s hooves. Her intent was nothing more than to get a better view, to see what was so important with the crescent moon-shaped object that the little filly had clutched to her breast. Nighttide had held onto the medallion despite being blasted out of the sky and falling fifty hooves to the ground.

Something of that nature, something that near and dear to her had to be important. So much so that Luna actually felt a little guilty that she had tried to take it from her.

The contact was a mistake. As soon as her hoof touched the medallion she was overcome with an energy she thought was long gone, an energy they had all assumed was destroyed when it was driven from Nightmare Rarity.

The energy in the medallion latched onto her body like a spider. It grabbed onto her very soul. In her weakened condition it easily overcame every defense the lunar princess had. Laughter filled her thoughts and mind like nothing else as it easily took dominance over her very being.

A dark-blue energy column shot up into the sky. It spun slowly in a swirl of power as the revenant reclaimed what it had lost. It reclaimed the body it had existed in for a thousand years. A body it thought was long since denied to it.

Soon, the laughter that was in her head started to surround her. Luna realized what was happening but was powerless to stop it. She could only watch in horror as the revenant reshaped her body into a more familiar form. Her front teeth grew fangs; her dark-blue coat became black as night, and her mane and tail become nothing more than a cloud of blue smoke flowing off her.

As the laughter continued, she truly knew horror when she realized that it was coming from her.

Ataxia and Night could only watch with their mouths agape as Nightmare Moon was reborn into the world. Neither of them had ever seen her before, their parents defeated her long before they were born. However, they both knew of her. Often aunt Luna would dress as her in fun for Nightmare Night.

This was not that, this was not fun, this was not meant as a scare. This was the true horror personified; this was the rebirth of the alicorn that had tried to cover the world in eternal night.

Somehow, someway, she was back.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” Nightmare Moon shouted her joy up into the sky, “I never thought I would have this form again!”

The column of magic ceased to be, the mare in the moon landed and took a quick look around, taking in her surroundings in an instant. “So, I’m in Tartarus… interesting.”

It was at that moment that the entire world shook with the death of a Demigod. Ataxia’s head snapped to the castle as what looked like a huge sword of pink magical energy cut through half of the castle and carved a large crevice into the world.

A huge portion of the castle fell into the crevice; the shifting foundation it stood upon could no longer support its weight. She could only watch, dumbfounded as such a large, powerful, intimidating object collapsed under its own weight.

The ground itself shook with the tremors of an earthquake. Ataxia and Night had no choice but to lower their heads to the ground and ride out the worst of the quakes. Nightmare Moon simply flapped her wings and hovered a few hooves in the air. She smiled in grim fascination as she watched the castle fall.

Nightmare Moon landed back on the ground with a grin on her face, “Such destruction, such devastation, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate my rebirth into this form!” In her was power unlike any she had ever known; whatever adjustment Red had made to the revenant while it was in the medallion made her stronger, stronger than she ever thought possible.

Her eyes went wide as shock hit her mind. With her rebirth back into this body, into this world, she got back all her memories that Mindsink took from her. The extra power easily smashed through the blocks he put in place. “I owe you a kick in the balls, son of Tartarus,” Nightmare Moon hissed.

“Mommy?” the voice was weak and feeble, newborn foals would cry louder than that voice could speak. Yet the voice carried over the stillness that hung in the air after the destruction of Tartarus’s Castle to all three mares in range.

Shimmering Night and Ataxia’s eyes went wide at that. They both instantly recognized the sincerity of the voice and the speaker. It carried the same sincerity that their daughters would have when they said the word. It was the voice of a filly crying for their mother. Of that they did not have a shred of doubt.

No mother would.

However, the speaker caused both of their jaws to drop on the ground. It came from Nighttide.

Nightmare Moon looked down at the dust covered pegasus lying on the ground. She saw Nighttides’s wounded body and once more, she laughed. “This is just too precious, my darling little angel,” Nightmare Moon said sarcastically. “Look how cute you are…” her face made little kisses in the air, “How droll. I feel like I could puke at the sight of you.”

The small smile on Nighttide’s face vanished as she stared up at her true mom, she didn’t understand why she was being so mean.

“You really let Timespire regress you? And you have the gall to be my daughter? I don’t think so. You are such a disappointment, such a waste of time. When I left you were a four hundred year old pegasus, you were a powerhouse, easily the equal of either Timespire or Mindsink. I won’t say I was proud of you, we both know that could never be, but at least you could hold your own. Now look at you, you’re just a stupid little foal all over again. You weren’t worth the effort to raise the first time, what in the world makes you think I’d go through that again? Although, I do have to give you credit for avoiding Luna’s presence for all this time. But even then… as far I can remember from the bits in my mind you spared her. To make matters worse, you let her spare you like a little foal. I guess you really are a nothing more than that; you’re nothing more than a little foal again, aren’t you? You should stay like this for your failure. Just look at you! Even I can’t stand it, you’re disgusting!”

A tear started to fall from Nighttide’s eye, followed by another, then another. She got what she had sought after, what she was promised by her father, and it was the worst feeling in the world.

Nightmare Moon picked up her daughter and held her tightly to her breast, cooing sarcastically. “Oh dear daughter, you are three times the failure. Letting yourself get regressed, letting Mindsink change your memories, and then failing to finish off Princess Luna. Don’t cry just because you're worthless and I never wanted you, cry because of what I’m going to do to you because of that fact. Cry for the knowledge that you will never again be with your little lover. Surprised? Every mother can feel that. Maybe I should kill that little colt after you? How about that? But let’s start with you, it will be much more fun and I will finally be rid of you!”

At that Nightmare Moon tossed her in the air and hit her with an energy blast. The pegasus cried out in pain as she rode the blast up into the sky. Several hundred hooves up Nighttide fell off the wave of magic and plummeted into the remains of Tartarus’s Castle.

Forced to watch it all with no recourse to take, Night was left in stunned silence as the filly met what could only be her end. Despite the horror of it all, the sheer viciousness of seeing a mother kill her foal, a memory came unbidden to her mind.

Nighttide had always been close to Luna, but the night princess had never seen her. She fought to bring her mother back, even though her mother had never shown her love, and as Nightmare Moon said, she was at least four hundred and sixty-two years old. As it had been sixty-two years since Nightmare Moon’s defeat.

“Your daughter,” Shimmering Night said the answer to the riddle without intending to.

If Ataxia noticed what Night said, she gave no sign. The unicorn stood up to her hooves, shaking in rage at such a causal treatment of one’s own foal. “She’ll pay for that,” Ataxia said as she started to look inward, to look for that which she had hidden away for sixteen years.

Ataxia could only imagine Ana in the place of Nighttide. She could only picture her own daughter being treated that way. Seeing a foal mistreated like that, seeing a mother do it, it triggered something in the mare. She wanted; no… she needed to hurt her, to make her suffer for what she did.

It made her angry, very, very angry. So much so that she sought out the side of her she had denied, a side of her she had not unlocked for almost sixteen years. Consequences be damned, she wanted to make her pay for what she just did, for an action that was so abhorrent to Ataxia that she stopped caring about what would happen.

“No.”

That one word caused Ataxia to pause. She turned and looked back at the speaker. Shimmering Night’s eyes were wide in terror as she shook her head, “No, don’t, I’ll… I’ll take care of it later, when I’m better. If you… if you do it you’ll kill Luna. I… I can save her, just… just not right now. I’ll do to her what I did to the Night revenant.”

“She. Killed. Her. Own. Daughter,” Ataxia grunted through each and every word.

“I know, and it wasn’t just her daughter; it was Luna’s daughter too. But there is nothing we can do right now. If we want to save Luna, if we want her back, we have to let her go.”

Ataxia was fuming and was about to attack anyway when a hoof touched her shoulder. She looked down at the appendage. Somehow, it calmed her nerves in a way she had not known was possible. She looked down at her wife’s face, it was pleading with her, asking her to do this one thing, for her.

Ataxia let loose a deep breath and lowered her head. “You’re right,” she said.

“Aren't I always?” Night joked.

Ataxia giggled a little before she fell over from exhaustion as the adrenaline left her body. Night lightly kissed her muzzle after her wife landed on her side. “We will get her back, I’ll set everything right.”

“Promise?” Ataxia asked.

“Pinkie promise.”

Nightmare Moon watched with a smile as her daughter plummeted into the rubble. She continued watching as Nighttide hit the ground, cut open, and bleeding from more scrapes than she could count, well, at this distance anyway. “At least she’s good for one last thing, she can decorate this place with her blood,” she mused.

Her gaze was stolen by a feeling from the castle. She smiled as she felt her ‘lover’s’ power in the castle. “Now, about that kick to the balls,” she flew off towards the castle with laughter echoing behind her.

…

Red found himself completely dominated by the pair. One on one he could barely hold off Twilight's attack, against her and her wife he was getting destroyed. For every time he would block Rainbow’s wing, Twilight would blast him against the side of the wall. For every time he would counter Twilight’s energy blast, Rainbow would cut off a limb.

“ENOUGH!” Red shouted as he sent out a wave of magical pressure. Rainbow flew to Twilight and wrapped her in her wings.

Red glared at the two with hatred in his eyes. “It’s time to end this.”

“I agree,” Twilight replied as Rainbow removed her wings.

Red began channeling his power, he gathered up everything he had into a form behind him. A huge red hellhound started to take form. It was completely made out of magic energy as it became something real, something tangible.

“That’s the best you got?” Rainbow asked sarcastically as she looked at him. However, it was not the cyan mare that had Red’s attention; it was her wife, or more specifically the huge golden alicorn that was appearing behind her. As soon as he started to form his construct, Twilight did the same with her own.

Twilight channeled her energy into the form of a golden magical alicorn. One that barely fit even in this large throne room. Whereas Red’s construct was more akin to a hellhound, a vicious creature that focused only on attack, only on going for the throat, Twilight’s construct was majestic, regal; power given form.

Red screamed in rage as he saw it. His construct attacked at the same time, leaping at the alicorn with murderous intent in its magical eyes.

The large golden alicorn merely lowered its horn and let loose an energy blast. The blast destroyed Red’s construct with ease. The magical energy continued on, it hit Red with such force that it blasted the red unicorn against the throne. It destroyed the throne and continued on to the wall directly behind it. The energy easily disintegrated the wall before ceasing to be in the room beyond.

It just stopped.

Twilight gasped as she saw the reason why. Through the hole in the wall she saw a golden key held in a stasis of magical energy, a God’s magical energy. She saw the key for what it was; the form it took was of a six pointed star with a golden shaft. She knew it was just for show, the key was not something physical, as such it could take any form it wanted, any form it desired, or should she say, any form those who looked at it desired.

“The Key of Ages,” Twilight said the words as she looked at it. It was protected, so much so that its barrier stopped her attack.

“I can’t believe how easy that was,” the voice came broken and weak from the unicorn on the ground. Twilight and Rainbow both turned to stare at him. He was bleeding and bruised. Third degree burns covered most of his body, his hoof was still regenerating, albeit slowly. He would heal, in about five minutes, but that was five minutes he did not have. Not if Rainbow had anything to say about it anyway.

“It’s not going to do you any good!” Rainbow shouted as she flew up to his form, a wingtip pressed against his throat as she spit her words.

Red looked up at her, his face was no better off than the rest of his body, yet, he smiled all the same. With a grin that was missing too many teeth he spoke, “This was the hardest part, I knew it would come at a cost, but I got it done.”

“Got what done?” Twilight asked.

“The barrier I could not break, the wall... only a God could take down that wall. Or a mortal with a God’s power anyway.”

“You needed me to remove the barrier,” Twilight stated, her eyes wide.

“Yes,” Red laughed, grabbing his side as he did so.

“It’s not going to do you any good!” Rainbow repeated as her wing tip started to cut into his neck. Even now, even after everything he did, she could not bring herself to take his life, not like this. It’s one thing to kill somepony in the middle of combat, or when you’re trying to protect something, quite another to kill an injured opponent that cannot fight back.

She growled in frustration as she was unable to take his head. She wanted too, Luna knows she wanted to, but it was against her nature. “We’re going to take our son and leave. You can spend forever looking at the key, seeing what you will never be able to get at.”

“I agree,” Red said with a deep breath.

That almost caused Rainbow to drop him in shock, almost. “What do you mean?” she asked, unsure why he would give in that easily.

“You should take your son and go, It’s only right after all,” Red said with a smile.

“Just like that?” Twilight asked.

“Just like this,” Red said as he powered up his horn and teleported their son to them.

In a flash of magic, a pony appeared right behind Rainbow. A small shriek caused Rainbow to turn her head to look at whatever had caused Twilight to make that noise, although she kept an eye on him as she was weary of whatever trick Red might be playing.

What she saw caused her to drop Red altogether.

Behind her was a light purple unicorn stallion, one with a rainbow mane and tail, just like his mother’s, well… just like his birth mother’s. Rainbow’s eyes traced over his form, taking in every detail of his muscles, every small painful rise and fall of his flank. However, what they came to rest upon was his cutie mark. A square academic cap cutie mark.

“Twilight… tell me this is a trick, that it’s a sick joke…” Rainbow said with her eyes open and mouth agape as she fell out of the air and onto her flank. She could not believe it, it was too painful… it had to be a trick; she could not… would not bring herself to believe it to be true.

Twilight shook her head with tears in her eyes. She had scanned him; she had scanned him up, down, left, right, inside, and out. She had scanned him thirty seven times looking for something, anything that would prove the unicorn lying in front of her was not who he appeared to be.

He was exactly who he appeared to be, younger than he should be, but there was no doubt in her mind of who it was. “It’s… it’s our son,” Twilight sobbed the words.

That sealed it in Rainbow’s mind; Twilight said it was so, as such any hope of denial was crushed with her wife’s words. It was her son; the son that died sixteen years ago, the son that had given his life for his sister’s. somehow, someway he was alive. “Dayspring Gleam… my foal,” Rainbow spoke the words without intending too.

Her heart skipped a beat when the unicorn opened his eyes and looked at her. Those eyes, she would never… could never forget those eyes. He opened his mouth and with a voice that was weak, dehydrated from weeks of having nothing to drink, he spoke one word. “Mother?”

Click, click.

The sound, albeit soft in nature, was so unexpected in the silence that followed Dayspring’s word that it took Rainbow and Twilight completely by surprise. Somehow the little sound had an echo all of its own.

‘That wasn’t an echo’, Rainbow realized the truth, it didn’t echo, it just happened twice. That is when she felt it. The cyan mare was so distracted by the sight in front of her that she failed to notice when it happened. There was an extra weight around her hoof. She looked down to see what it was and gasped in shock to find a golden bracelet attached to her hoof.

She looked over at Twilight who had a similar bracelet around hers.

“What the…” Rainbow tried to say the words before the stone centered on the bracelet pulsed with life as the essence stone did what it did best. Rainbow felt a sting of pain as the wings at her side faded away. The magic of their creation no longer able to keep them in existence, at that moment they simply ceased to be.

Her shock was nothing compared to Twilight's. The lavender alicorn almost cried out as she felt her power leave her. It was like losing the touch of a lover, she felt so alone, so empty without it.

Rainbow bit at her bracelet, she tried to bite it off, to do whatever it took to remove it. When that did not work, she tried to bash the bracelet against the floor. It was all for naught, everything she did ended in failure. The bracelet would not come off, the stone would not shatter.

“What did you do to us?!” Twilight yelled at Red with tears in her eyes before she turned and looked at her wife. It was like seeing a butterfly with its wings torn off. It was abhorrent to her, something that was simply not natural; Rainbow without wings, the universe should not be able to exist with that condition in place.

“They’re called essence stones. A little gift from your ‘other’ son,” Red laughed as he channeled more of his power into healing himself. There was no need to hold back now, the fight was over, and he won. “You can stop trying to take it off, Princess Rainbow Dash. They’re locked onto your hoof until the power drains from the stone.”

“What are they doing?” Twilight looked at the stone in her bracelet. Unsure just what was going on.

“They radiating with the power of the one who wore them last. In this case that would be your Taz. They’re not magical in nature; rather they simply absorbed his natural talent and are now releasing it. When they’re exhausted they will open back up, of course that will take roughly six months in Equestria, or about four weeks if you stay in Tartarus.”

“Night will just remove them!” Rainbow yelled.

“How? They’re powered by Taz’s ability. She cannot affect them any more than I can.”

“I’ll just cut off my hoof!” Rainbow said.

“Indeed, you might be able to remove them that way, but it doesn’t matter. If you cut off Twilight's hoof she will be in far, far too much pain to regrow it. If you cut off your own, Princess Shimmering Night may be able to regrow it, but not today. Timespire has exhausted her magic far too much to do something like that right now. Either way, I still win.”

Red’s eyes grew wide as he sensed the summer sun celebration approaching its zenith. “Looks like we’re out of time. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Rainbow Dash, it’s been a pleasure.”

At that moment, Radiant’s sword came crashing down at the same time Red blasted both of them with a magical wave of pressure. He was far too exhausted to put any real strength into it, but that had not been the point. He had simply meant to blow their bodies against the spikes on the back wall; however, the wave of magic forced Twilight, Rainbow, and Dayspring out of the giant hole cut into the back of the throne room by the sword swing.

“The universe definitely has a sense of humor, doesn’t it?” Red joked as he watched the bodies fly out of the back of the throne room. They were tossed out of the castle’s grounds and landed in Tartarus with a sickening thud. With one final look he turned and made to his final goal. “The Key of Ages, you will soon be mine.”

…………………………………….

The laughter Ice and Fire gave off at Icarus’s comment died upon seeing the seriousness on his face. They knew he was not joking; it was not some boost to throw them off guard, to make them reconsider. It was the truth; the weapon he held would save his life.

They would die for nothing.

With two seconds remaining Ice saw something that brought back his humors, “What about her?” the magical cloud asked.

Icarus’s head snapped in the direction of the entrance. What he saw made his heart sink. For some reason Vela had come back down. His daughter was in the cave. His daughter would die when the explosion hit.

What happened next happened in less than a second’s time. Without considering just what he was doing, in one smooth motion Icarus tossed Siros’s Vengeance to his daughter.

Vela caught the spear on instinct alone, confused about why her father would toss her his weapon.

“I love y-” he never got to finish that sentence. At that moment Ice and Fire’s essences finished combining; they exploded in a huge fireball of pressure that destroyed everything in its path.

Everything that was not protected by a God weapon.

…

Aurora wrapped her son in her wing to protect him from the huge magical fireball that spit out from the cave. The kinetic energy caused her to be tossed to her flank where she rolled over to place her body between the scalding heat and her son’s form.

Dayspring cried as he held onto his mother’s coat for dear life. Aurora could not stand, the impact broke her left leg, instead she looked up in horror as the cave entrance begun to collapse in upon itself.

“Vela, Icarus, no!” Aurora shouted at the top of her lungs.

…………………………...

Red looked at the key with a smile on his face. Defended as it was by God magic, no one, not even another God could approach the key chamber. That’s why he had to wait until Taz could focus his power like a beam. Thoughts of the stallion caused him to smile.

“Time to bring in the pony of the hour,” Red said as he opened up a portal to another room. Out of it stepped a night-black earth pony, one with a pissed expression on his face.

“And the point of that was?” Taz asked, annoyed.

“To use you as bait, of course,” Red said like it was the most natural thing in the world. “It’s time to finish this.”

Taz looked around; he took in the key, the shield protecting it, and the state the castle was in. Taz took in all of it and more, including Red’s current condition. “What happened?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” Red asked.

“If you want me to free that key, yes it does.”

“Very well, you’ll be pleased to know that Dayspring is back with both of your parents. All three of them are alive, but worse for wear. With the essence stones I didn’t have to take their lives,” while it was a half-truth, it was still somewhat true. “Timespire defeated Night and Ataxia; he left them alive, albeit in a lot of pain.” Red said with a smile.

“And?” Taz asked; he knew there was more to the story.

“Mindsink is dead; he met his end when my mother interfered in his battle. Radiant Star is his killer, he’s also the one that cut the castle in half,” Red said as she gestured to the missing back wall.

“What about Cadance, Aurora, Icarus, Luna, and Nighttide?” Taz growled.

Red almost laughed, almost, “Aurora is fine, Taz. Don’t worry about her. Luna will be joining me shortly, although that’s another story. Nighttide, well, my daughter could be dead or alive, honestly I’m not sure.”

“YOU PROMISED ME!” Taz yelled.

“Like I said Taz, I’m not sure. However, events occurred beyond my will. The revenants I sent after Icarus and Aurora were a little... overzealous, Icarus is dead. As well as Princess Cadance, although she took her own life. The rest of your friends are fine though,” Red said with a smile, “Now that I’ve answered your questions, let’s get this over with.”

“BUCK YOU!” Taz screamed out, “You broke your promise! We’re done! I’m not helping you do shit!”

“How cute,” Red said in a condescending tone, “You still think you have a choice.”

Taz charged him in a rage. He went to tackle him to the ground. The red unicorn only smiled and teleported away, he appeared right behind Taz. “Is that the best you can do? Is that all your family meant to you?” Red taunted.

Fuming, Taz charged again and again. Each time Red would let him get a little closer before teleporting away. Always just out of reach, always with another taunt on his lips.

Taz quickly grew tired of this cat and mouse game. He looked inward and found his ability, the same ability Red had tried to get him to use for his own purposes. Focusing it into a tight beam, he shot it at Red.

The unicorn’s eyes went wide as he teleported out of the way, but only barely. When he reappeared Taz shot at him again, and again. It was on the fourth shot that he was simply not fast enough to avoid it. Red felt his power removed, his strength taken away from him. Well, his magical strength anyway.

“Now you’re nothing more than an earth pony,” Taz hissed. “Try and teleport away this time.”

“There’s just one thing that you forgot, Prince Taz,” Red said with a serious expression on his muzzle.

“What’s that?” Taz asked. The stallion was taken aback by the unicorn's nonchalant attitude. He had taken away his power, he should be scared.

The answer quickly made itself apparent as the unicorn walked towards him. Taz was a big stallion, tall for his age, but even he had to look up to see Red’s face. “I’m bigger than you,” Red said with a smile as he back-hoofed Taz in his face. The one blow sent the night-black earth pony to the dirt.

Taz was seeing stars when he came too, he tasted copper in his mouth as he spit up blood. Somehow, he managed to raise his head. Just in time for Red to pull back his hind legs and kick him with all his might.

Taz was sent flying through the air as Red’s physical strength made itself known. He went through the same hole his parents went out of with a cry of pain left in his wake.

Red smiled as he saw the shield around the key was no more. It had not been Taz’s intent, but he had freed the key with his third shot. ‘Like mother like son’, Red laughed at his own joke. “It was novel to play nursemaid for a time, Prince Taz, but that time is at an end,” Red said as he turned around.

“How droll,” a voice sounded from above. Red looked up as he saw the speaker, she was a night-black alicorn with a mane and tail made out of blue smoke. Her white fangs were in stark contrast to the rest of her body.

“My Nightmare,” Red said as he looked up at her.

“Hello lover, or should I call you father? I’ve never been quite sure,” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Depends on what the situation is,” Red said with a wink. “Personally, I’ve always liked daddy when we’re in bed.”

Nightmare Moon growled, “I should kill you, you know. I could do it right this second, it would be easy.”

“My Nightmare, why would you want to hurt me?” Red asked as he slowly walked up to her.

“You had your brother take away my memories as I was set free by the stars!” she growled, “You tricked me into leaving when you knew what would happen!”

Red was taken aback by that, “I’d never send the mare I love to her defeat. I had Mindsink remove your memories to ensure that you weren’t distracted when you came back. I wanted you to succeed, I needed you to.”

“Why should I believe you? You dirty, rotten, baster-” her words were cut off when Red pressed his lips to hers. Her anger melted at the kiss, it became lust, desire, a cardinal need for the stallion that she was kissing.

When Red pulled back, he gazed into her eyes as one would a long lost lover. She lost her train of thought in those eyes; they were a giant pool that she willingly drowned in. “What was I saying?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“I believe you were about to say why you were going to kill me?” Red replied, his gaze reflected in her own.

She wrapped a wing around the stallion and brought him in for another passionate kiss. “I think that can wait for now, don’t you?” Nightmare Moon said as she ran a hoof across the green scales on his back.

“Whatever my Nightmare wants,” Red replied with a smile.

As the two embraced like the long lost lovers they were, the Key of Ages continued to spin around in a column of energy, unprotected, and easy pickings for the two to simply levitate to them now that the shield was down. That’s exactly what they would do after they took care of more… important matters.

Author's Notes:

Even our best efforts can be found wanting.