Silent Ponyville Homesins
by Stardust Breeze
First published
What usually happens when your nightmares never stop?, and even Princess Luna cannot help?, will you give up to your inner demons?, or fight them?
"The Lunar Guards are always known to be fearless, and able to stay awake during the night, but what happens when one of the guards is not only incable of staying awake, but also suffering from nightmares that would scare everyone in a few days?.
Past Traumas, insecurities, pressures, ETC. Those are the most common reasons for our inner demons to take hold. This is the tale of such knight, because; You cannot truly be called fearless, if you never experience fear. "
My first story ever, based on SamRose Silent Ponyville saga, hope you like it everypony. (I did asked for Permision so don´t worry ;3. Credit to SamRose for allowing me to use some items of his stories).
Chapter 0 - Prologue: A Heavy Night -
Under the sound of the falling rain, in the middle of Canterlot residential area, a young colt with his mane as black as the cold night, was struggling to get sleep on his tired body this time… his name was Stormy Brave, a young lunar guard with some double blades and ocarina cutie mark… but very different from the others guards, while most of the Princess Luna’s guards are colts with bat type like wings, he is one of the few unicorns in service for the Princess of the Night.
But right now, the least thing he want to do is to remember his job, several boxes of mint tea and chocolate milk were scatter on the floor, his face showed a very tired look, even his teammates give him the day off because of his state… he stared at the mirror in his apartment bathroom, his usual white coat color was starting to get dirty… as he stepped in the shower, he continue to think, think and think, he could not get the nightmare out of his head
"It has been 4 months now… since those nightmare started," he said with heaviness on his voice.
He ended his shower quickly and get himself to bed again… with his magic he pulled his sheet to protect himself from the cold tears his bed already have from his crying, he slept in quickly, but then again, his dream turned into a nightmare, one he wish he could forget but it was burned into his mind.
He was in the middle of a snowy field, surrounded for several houses in state of decay, but the strangest of things was, he knew by heart he should be there, in fact, the street had a bloody trail he previously failed to notice, concerned, he paid more attention to the state of the houses, there were some shops with ”Closed” signs all over them, other ones were boarded shut, but what gave away his position was the huge clock on the central building. It was Manehattan, his birthtown, how did he get there in the first place? He walked in, deeper into the deserted city, which is odd from Manehattan of all places.
“This should be crowded at this time of day,” he mumbled to himself.
Stormy noticed a blood trail, he began following it, the trail took him between several turns, until it stopped in the middle of the road, right next to an intersection leading towards an alley and Richburg’s Avenue. At the very end of the blood trail, there was a saddle bag.
“A saddle bag?, here?. It suddenly it fells familiar, but where?” the stallion questioned himself.
He levitated the saddle bag and noticed a cutie mark design it was a pair of gears with a wrench in them, he decided to carry it with him, Stormy looked as his options and decided to walk away from the alley and continue to go to the main street. After his hooves started to move more deeper into the streets of New Orange, he noticed that there was nopony on the streets either, he tried to open some doors, but the doorknob felt to the ground, almost as they were decades old, but that was impossible. He continue to walk, but after a short while…his hooves stepped into something soft but cold, he was unwilling to look down, but he had no control over this nightmare anymore, he looked down… and saw that his hooves were covered in blood, his hooves were touching a corpse, as he looked up again, the streets were changed to metal ornaments, the already decayed houses had bloodstains and some of them had corpses of ponys trapped inside in a cage, he never felt so much terror In his life before, so he started to run as quickly as his hooves took him, as a siren started to sound and the darkness was wrapping around him, no matter how fast he ran, the shadows caught him and turned his word to blank.
The nightmare again changed, he could see himself after that, holding a little colt at sword point, his magic was ready to took the young filly life, he wanted to stop!, he wanted to scream as loud as his lungs were capable off, but the sword move downward to the unknown colt, ending his life and splashing him of a innocent blood.
“W-what have I done?” he questioned… his eyes were about to burst in tears.
The blood touched his hooves, but something was off, said blood started to melt away his flesh, he screamed as loud as he could, but nopony could hear him, he tried to move but he was glued to the ground, as he melted away. He closed his eyes waiting for this torture to be over, again, things changed, this time it was in a different room, Moon and Sun designs were present on the walls… but he do not wanted to see what will happen, his eyes were still open and despite his best efforts to drive his sight to other place, he saw on a mirror a image of his teammates slaughtered… he looked down, again to his hooves… and all he could see was a blood stained sword, he put his hooves on his head, trying to wake up
“Please!, stop, don’t do this!, for the love of Celestia just stop!“ he yelled, but nothing happened.
Those words were not heard, the mirror broke, making him close his eyes. When he opened them, he was now in the same place were he saw his fellow lunar guards fall, he then saw a alicorn moving and almost as if it was an automatic reaction, his hooves took him closer to the alicorn, his right hoof lifted the bloodstained sword, and his expression was shifting to insane expression, the alicorn looked scared, her dark sapphire blue coat was already red from multiple injuries and her cobalt blue mane was turning into red, as she was losing blood from her chest… he could not believe what he was about to do, as his hoof that held the sword started to quickly run downwards to the alicorn neck, a large and painful to hear scream was heard, the red blood started that emerged from the now dead alicorn, formed a puddle where he could see his reflection, but when he stared into it… all he could see was a monster, with fangs and flesh starting to fall from his face, with the little flesh remaining his body made a sick smile, like he enjoyed taking others ponys lives…
His dream usually ends after that and this time, was no exception, morning rose in the sky, as his nightmare ended for the time being, he open his eyes and noticed his pillow soaked in tears, he could not resist to stare at his hooves, he could still feel the blood scurrying from them, he touched his eyes… they still wet, he could no longer bear this nightmares, he tried to not play videogames for a while, it didn’t help, he also tried relaxing his mind with mint tea, it worked… only for a day thought… he hasn’t told anypony about it.
“I can’t keep like this,” he said to himself. “I need help, stat!”
But who could he tell about horrible nightmares about murdering?. If he told his teammates, they will not believe him, he couldn’t ask Shinning Armor either, was on royal duty in The Crystal Empire. He decided to visit a specific pink pony he had not seen in a while, but first, he had to make a trip to Canterlot Royal Castle.
“Pinkie can help me up, if there is a pony in Equestria that can make me smile again is her,” Stormy smiled a little, the worry look didn’t escaped his eyes though.
Stormy went directly to his closet, the fact he has been suffering from nightmares doesn’t mean he couldn’t at least be presentable if he visit the castle. From the closet he picked up 3 specific items, a raincoat black as the night itself, his sword, a guard close friend, and finally, a personal memento of his biological family, a wooden ocarina with some blue color and green lines representing the wing across it.
The way to the castle was easy, he lived 2 blocks away from the main entrance, some Royal Guards saw him enter, but didn’t ask him about his recent vacations, after a long travel in the castle hallways he reached Princess Celestia and Luna Throne Room, he requested a private talk with the princesses, which to his surprise they accepted, well at least Celestia did, since Luna is asleep during the day, he stepped further in, being presented by his teammate and friend Noirstar, a unicorn royal guard in Celestia´s Patrol..
“Presenting Stormy Brave, Lunar Guard Nº562, “ Noirstar said with a noticeable air of authority.
“Thanks Noirstar… I appreciate it,“ Stormy replied, smiling the best he could.
“Stormy Brave,“ said Princess Celestia in her usual kind tone, looking down at him from her throne. “I was informed that you have been unable to perform your duties as one of my sister guards, is there something that troubles you?“
“Actually,“ he hesitated for a moment, but found the strength to speak. “I do princess, I have been having problems sleeping, I know, as lunar guard I have to be awake at night, but I haven’t been able to sleep at all, neither in daytime or nightime, I came to humbly request a time off,” he replied with some regret
“Time off? You mean, are you quitting the Lunar Guards? “ said the princess, with a rather surprised look on her face.
“Yes, at least until I find a cure for this problem, I’m sadden to say I can not longer be a lunar guard,” Stormy said, he did meditated about this before coming to the castle, and he don’t have much options either, is either his health or his job.
“Stormy… I would appreciate if you tell me what is happening,“ Celestia asked for a reason, she knew something was off, specially after a quick glimpse from the stallion eyes.
“Can you do me a favor Princess Celestia?, Can we discus this alone?” he plead.
Even though he is talking normally, inside his heart he was shaking, like a foal during his first Nightmare Night even. Celestia took this into account and dismissed everypony from the room, including the guards at her throne base and the 2 on the door. Once Stormy was alone with the princess, he finally broke.
“I been having nightmares princess, and not very pretty ones, every time I close my eyes, is the same nightmare all over again, with some minor changes“ he said with fear on his words. He intended to speak with Pinkie first, but right now; talking with the princess seemed like a better option at this point.
“Nightmares you said?” Celestia tone of voice suddenly changed, almost as if she knew something. “Can you please be more specific?”
Stormy said with a smirk, “You won’t believe me if I tell you princess”
Stormy had to hide the details, he do not want to reveal much, that could get him into problems, in a instant, the flashback of him killing the alicorn and teammates took his mind, he shaking his head trying to forget that kind of memories.
“I understand Stormy, I will grant you the time off you need, I wish you the best of luck but,” she paused. “May I ask you where are you going?” said Celestia, still a little concerned.
“I’m going to Ponyville, there is a friend of mine I want to visit and is my best bet if I want to smile again,” he replied.
“You mean Pinkie Pie?” Celestia reacted a little surprised by hearing that Stormy knew the Element of Laughter. Then again, is Pinkie she was talking about, making friends is like a second nature to her.
Stormy nodded in agreement, when Celestia inquired about his relationship with Pinkie, he stated that for him, she was like a second sister that can always rely on, and as far as his memory goes, each time he felt said or afraid, she always knew what to do. However, Celestia was no fool, no guard just come and asks to quit the Royal or Lunar Guards just because of bad dreams, there must be something else on affecting him. She came up with a little plan to get the stallion to open up.
“I see, if that is the case,” Celestia paused for a moment, standing up from her throne and walking towards Stormy. “Why don’t we do something Stormy?“ she smiled kindly.
“y-yes?” Stormy grew a little nervous.
“I will ask Pinkie Pie to come here to Canterlot,” said the princess with a serious look. “But, under one condition:“ she was not going to let this slip.
“A condition?, ok your highness, name it” he replied
“Let me look at your nightmares, I must know what is going on so I can call her,” she asked as a direct order.
“Oh for Pete sake,” Stormy thought to himself,
He did not want for anypony other than Pinkie to know those nightmares, specially Celestia, but he had no choice, he accepted reluctantly. Celestia then lit her horn with her magoc and ask Stormy to remain close, in a flash, they appeared on a sealed room with just one door to exit, the lights turned on in a instant, Celestia was standing in the middle of the room, Stormy had no idea where she was going with this, but if this was one of the ways he could talk with Pinkie, he will gladly do it, anything to get those images out of his mind.
“Stormy, sit here please” she asked politely
“Ok princess,“ he said he sat down on the ground. “What are we going to do?”
“You, nothing, as for myself I will look into your mind, seeing what kind of nightmares you are getting” She said as she started to prepare her spell.
Celestia prepared a mind reading spell, as her horn touched Stormy´s forehead, she ran across some things she was not prepared, at first she saw nothing out of the ordinary, just his memories of the past, as she dig in a little deeper said memories started to break, some of them were even incomplete, most of the ponys didn’t had a face in them, with few clues she searched recent events, hoping to find something concrete.
After a while she found a specific nightmare where Stormy is being devoured by a strange pony with a iron mask, as Stormy´s eyes started to look filled with tears, despite the best efforts of the stallion to repel the creature with magical blast. Celestia saw how Stormy got cornered, the iron masked pony rose a butcher knife and cut Stormy´s horn clean off, preventing him to cast anymore spells, he then used stallion own sword to rip his flesh from his bones, Stormy screamed as loud as his lungs were still able to expel air, the creature continue to stab him constantly until his lungs filled with his own blood, making Stormy cough it back up.
The creature lift a little it’s iron mask, enough to discover his mouth, blood soaked fangs bit Stormy open torso ripping his intestines out, Celestia nearly throw up as she saw how the creature seems to look at her, almost as if it was aware of Celestia intrusion.
The Princess could no longer see anymore and cut the spell short, returning to reality, this was something that a simple party made by Pinkie won’t fix, she stood in front of Stormy, as for him however, he was as bad as when the spell started, or worse. He also tried to stand up, but the princess put a hoof on his shoulder.
“Stormy, I don’t think a simple visit from Pinkie Pie will be enough,” her tone was more serious than ever. “In order to handle this matter properly, I will call my fateful student, as well as Pinkie Pie as I promised, but you will have to wait a day at most,” she replied, with a sad look on her face
“Princess I…” Stormy hesitated.
This could no longer wait a day! He needed Pinkie Pie help, so Stormy asked Celestia for a one specific thing,
“If that is the case princess, may I ask them to bring them here today” he pleaded.
Stormy needed Pinkie’s help, if his memory works for something, she always made him smile, and right know he need a familiar face, Celestia accepted, but she requested for Stormy to remain in that room until she bring them, he accepted and waited there, Celestia teleported away, Stormy stand up and took a closer look at the door, it was locked, so there was no use of using the door to leave
“Why would she has to tell Twilight about this?” he questioned Celestia decision.
Sitting in the middle of the room he waited, he tried to focus in forgetting about those nightmares, he do not wanted them anymore, why would he be having those dreams in the first place?, he is a lunar guard, but a lunar guard should not be having murderer dreams do they?.
He thought of what could be causing them, the recent fight with the changelings could not be the reason, as a guard he was more that used to combat situations, drinking chocolate milk before sleep?, no, that’s not it either, playing to much video games in his spare time?, come on, is video games, unless you eat cupcakes during each loading screen, but whatever was the reason, he had to put them a end.
Taking advantage that Celestia left him alone, he though of playing his ocarina a little, to relax his head for a while, he took his instrument out of his pocket and played a song, why in the hay he didn’t use it before?, perhaps because it was a family memento?, he played a song he knew in the back of his head, but forgot some of the notes, after a while of practicing, he started to get sleepy and relaxed, seems it was working.
Stormy stopped for a moment, and decided to rest a little, to see if his mind can finally allow him a break, he closed his eyes and before he knew, he was already snoring.
Chapter 1 - The Nightmare Starts -
Stormy woke up abruptly by a huge pressure on his chest, he was no longer in Canterlot, he was in some kind of hospital, restrained in a table ready to be operated, his raincoat was nowhere to be seeing, neither his other items, a pony he did not recognized was about to operate him and he was much than awake!
He could fell the scalpel ripping his coat, and flesh, he screamed but and assistant put his hoofs on his mouth to prevent him from screaming, he was thinking this was another nightmare, but this one must be new, since he don’t remember that kind of place, neither that the pain felt so real, as the doctor was trying to make the opening in his chest more bigger.
“Mmmhpphph!” Stormy tried to scream, begging them to stop, he could not use his magic either, the base of his horn has an inhibitor ring.
“Doctor, the victim is still fighting,” said the assistant holding Stormy mouth with strength.
“Then we should proceed my friend, bring The Helmet,” The head doctor asked to his assistant coldly.
Stormy mind quickly process where he was, he was in a mental hospital, but he don’t remember one in Canterlot, or Ponyville, but he do not wanted to remain there, so he started to struggle harder in a effort to break his bindings, the assistant let go of Stormy´s mouth to bring “The Helmet“. Whatever that thing is, he doesn’t want it near him! As the assistant left the room, everything froze, he could hear screams coming from outside the surgery room he was in, the head doctor rushed to check, leaving Stormy unattended.
“What in Tartarus is going on here?!” he yelled as he struggle to break free.
He saw a silhouette in the window of the door, of somepony being stabbed with a big knife, and that silhouette was coming to the Surgery Room, with the doctors away, he calm himself a bit, the inhibitor ring was going to prevent the magic usage, so using telekinesis to free himself is out of the question, the girdles that bounded him to the table were elastic, so he tried to pull his right hoof as close to his mouth as possible to bite the bindings and undo the girdles. A snap sound was his cue, his right hoof was off, fortunately for him the inhibitor ring was not sealed so he removed it with his right horn and surrounded in a white magical aura, the other 3 girdles started to undo. As they became loose enough to take his hooves out, he jumped from the table and looked around him; there has to be something he could use to defend himself.
“In cases like these, I wish I had something like Pinkie’s Party Cannon of a Muffing Bazooka,“ he said to himself, joking a little.
As silly as it sounds, trying to joke out in the middle of a bad situation, is something Stormy use to do a lot, especially since is something that Pinkie taught him to do. As he searched the room, he found a rather rusty pipe, what was a pipe doing in the middle of a hospital? Either way he picked it up, the silhouette of the pony holding the big knife was just standing in the door, he put himself behind the stretcher, and pushed with all his remaining strength, forgetting about the pain the surgical opening had caused him for a second
Using the stretcher as a moving shield, when he opened the door with it, the silhouette was nowhere to be seen, and Stormy only manage to get himself hurt when the stretcher impacted the wall, he rose back to his hooves, a little puzzled about where did the doctors went, he still have his cut in his chest, he touched with his hoof, the pain was very real to be a dream, he felt like thousands of electrical shocks racing in his spine to his brain.
“Auch, this is not a normal nightmare, what in the hay is going on?” he said to himself, trying to find a logical explanation to this.
He opened the door which lead to the hospital hallway… his breathing made the surgery cut to spit a little amount of blood, he searched for a bandage on a table in the hallway, thankfully, there was one, his mind told him that could be a trap, but he was without his black raincoat, so there was no other option, he picked up the bandage and wrap it around his chest and torso with his magic, covering his open wound, he tight it up a bit, to make it close, but still the pain was there, as he continued walking in the hallway, he opened a door leading to the examination room, there he found the doctor assistant, or at least half of his body, his stomach could not take it, and he puked in a near janitor bucket, what could be causing this?, and the worse yet, why he wasn’t wake up?, he notices the room he was in, the examination room had some files about patients with traumas and some of them in need of medical assistance due to multiple bone fractures, but he notices a weird pattern in a nearby door that picked his interest, it had a message, it reads:
“Swim in your Past Sins? , what kind of message is this?” he said as he read the message.
The door was locked, he tried an unlock spell on the door, but it won’t budge a bit, the doorknob was protected from magic it seems, he needed a key to open that door, he approached the assistant corpse, with some disgust in his face, he searched in his body for the key, but all he could find was a map from the hospital, and a scalpel, he don’t have something to store the items so he decided to keep them levitated in the air.
The other 2 doors of the examination room were busted, the doorknob felt to the floor as soon as Stormy placed a hoof in them, he was not going to get anywhere from there, he turned back to the hallway that leaded to the Surgery Room, there was some rooms he didn’t check, he tried every door, but only one was working, they were some automatic doors that lead to the patients rooms, there was nothing in most rooms, just beds in terrible shape, and some of them had corpses in them, he checked a room under the number 402, as he enter the room, he notices that was the only room in the hospital with clean bed and sheets, but something stood in the table next to the bed, a saddle bag with Stormy cutie mark in it, he approached to it, and levitated in the air with his magic.
“Ok if somepony is screwing up with my mind this isn’t funny anymore,” he said a little annoyed.
He inspected the saddlebags to find a couple of things inside, a thing called “ energy drink “ and his ocarina, but mainly, there was a key in the bag, could that be the key to the locked door in the examination room?.
He put the saddle bags on him back and put the scalpel and the map inside of them, but just as he exited that room, some loud noise came from room 405, his curiosity got the best of him and looked to the room direction, the door was open wide, almost as if it was welcoming the stallion.
As expected, it was a little dark, Stormy tried to remember a light spell that the guards use for patrol to shine a little light into the area, almost like a lantern.
“Come on…I know I learned it,” he said in frustration.
Perhaps the recent events were putting a stress in his mind, but after trying a moment, he got the spell going finally, his horn shined the area allowing it to see the room contents. He noticed some bottles on the floor broken, nothing unusual... that is until… a hoof softly touched his spine, Stormy jumped and turned around, he didn’t see anything, until he felt the same hoof on his head, startled, he shook his head to remove the hoof and held the pipe with his mouth.
He checked the room further and what he found almost made him lose concentration of his spells, but a gasp escaped his mouth, making him lose grip of the steel pipe. There was a pony in the room with him… or rather pony kind creature stuck on the walls, slowly crawling to Stormy position, only one hoof was attached to his body, its the eyes were missing, they were replaced with a pitch black holes, its hind legs were missing and he let a blood trail from a open wound on its hip.
“A-are you…Ok?” he asked, afraid of the creature appearance, but appealing to its senses.
“…” the creature stared at Stormy, looking at him with it´s pitch black eyes.
A more detailed look at the creature body could reveal that the cutie mark was marked with a bit symbol, almost as if somepony had iron branded the creature. Although Stormy honor told him to approach and check the creature, he picked up his pipe with his hoof, as soon as he bend over though, the creature leaped from the wall using it´s only hoof, despite missing the other limbs, that hoof was powerful enough to jump almost across the room, the creature opened its mouth to bite Stormy neck, he nearly dodge the creature attack.
“Oi!, stand back!, don´t make me hurt you!” he pleaded with the creature.
A scream from the creature let pretty much clear talking won’t be of any use, Stormy never saw that kind of creature before, not even on Canterlot Bestiary they have something like this recorded, but the fact the creature screams and growls sounded like basic Equestrian language disturbed him.
The creature leaped again when it’s ears caught the noise Stormy made with his hooves, he couldn’t dodge in time but he put the pipe in the middle of the creature and his neck, using his magic, he held the pipe surrounded in magical aura, as the creature tried to pass the pipe by biting it, Stormy increased his magic to make the pipe push the creature back, making it fall over, Stormy then attack with the pipe, hitting it on his left side, the creature felt the pain but it was bending over to jump again, Stormy did not hesitated and attacked further, aiming at the creature only limb, this heavy attack made the creature lost its balance,
“Grawl!”the creature shouted.
“I’m sorry,” Stormy replied, lifting the pipe the best he could.
It took several hits to finally knock it out, he did not wanted to kill it, even though he had the perfect chance to deliver the finishing blow, Stormy lowered his pipe, but the creature again tried to stand up and jump one last time, this time however, it succeeded in thrusting it’s fang on Stormy left hind hoof, Stormy screamed in pain as he felt how the cold teeth of the creature injured him, trying to rip his flesh from him, with few other options he took the pipe one more time and hit the creature with all his strength, breaking the creature neck in the process, with a loud crack and a splashy sound, the creature finally stopped moving this time, dark red blood flowed from it’s mouth.
“I…I kill it?” Stormy grip of his magic loose and the pipe felt to the ground, also his light magic turned off, he was still in shock. “I took a life… but…it was me or him… but why do I feel so bad about this?”
Stormy took a minute to breathe and recover himself from the impression, all his time as Lunar Guard, he never had to take a life, he only injured enemies or knock them down, but never killed them. This was his first time killing a living thing, he exited the room still in shock and couldn’t take it anymore, he ran outside to breathe in.
His mind recovered a little, he picked up the creature and tried to examine it, the creature didn’t had eyelids, its teeth were sharpened on purpose and had several surgical stitches on where the other limbs should be. After he was done, he picked up his rusty pipe again and exited the room, returning to the hallway, once he was back at the examination room, he placed the key in the keyhole for the magical locked door, a click was heard, the door opened up without any problems.
A little hesitant, Stormy moved forward to what it seems a corridor, he tried the doors again, to see if something was usable to defend himself… or some bandages for the previous wound he got, he entered to what it seems a hatchery, there were a lot cribs for baby ponys, some of them were broken, or with bloodstains, just imagine what could have happen made Stormy tremble with fear
He noticed a large window in the room it was strange, the mirror was reflecting him, but it reflected a shinny object in one of the cribs, he used the mirror reflection to check the right crib, as he removed the sheets, he found out some kind of radio, he took the radio with his hooves, and sat down in the floor, trying to make it work, the only sound it made was static.
“Crap…I’m not a tech pony… maybe I will keep this for later.” He said as he levitated the radio and put it inside the saddlebag along with the other items.
Stormy did not know why a radio was doing in a baby crib, but he better take it, he exited the hatchery and continued to explore other rooms. All this time he has not encountered a normal pony, with exception of the doctors that tried to operate on him, he didn’t want to think about it, but maybe he hit his head hard on the floor back at Celestia secret room and he is trapped on another nightmare, or maybe he had finally lost it, not even a foal would believe this that’s for sure.
As he was reaching another hallway, the radio started to make a loud static noise, Stormy taking notice turned around, but he saw nothing… he turned around to continue forward, that is when a creature felt on him, it was the size of a young pony, but had a knife instead of front hooves, it’s face was skeletal and had flesh about to fall off, it have hind legs but his torso had a large cut that extended from it’s neck to its belly, like a surgical cut, also on half of his head, where it’s mane used to be, now has screws on it.
“Oh come on!, look get off!, don’t make me kill you like last creature!” Stormy pleaded, jumping to remove the creature from his back.
The creature seems stuck, he couldn’t shake it off, this foal sized enemy raised and thrust it’s knife on Stormy back, causing the saddle bags to fall off, the radio keep launching a loud static as the creature continue to stab over and over again it’s victim, Stormy could not take it anymore and with the rusty pipe he started to hit the creature.
“Dream or not I’m already sick of this!” he yelled as he swung his weapon against the monster.
The strength he put on the pipe was more than enough to knock the creature to the floor, it immediately tried to get on it’s hooves again, Stormy jumped on him, putting all his weight on his front hooves, the weight and the strength was more that enough to finish the creature, his previous bandages were starting to turn from white to red, as the blood from his back escaped from his body… Stormy felt weak, he checked the saddle bag, and took the energy drink.
“I must be crazy to think this will heal me… but I do not have other options here… let see,” he pondered as he read the label on the bottle. “Let’s see; One sip and you will fell like a newborn foal, made with herbal medicines… little amounts of apple cider and other nutrients?, meh, worth the shot.”
He was not going to wait, he opened the bottle and drank the drink to calm his thirst, the drink itself tasted bitter and it was like a combination of cupcake frosting and herbal medicine, he almost didn’t notice the apple cider. His stomach was happy to receive the drink though, he started to fell better, but not enough to say 100% fine, he continue onward to a empty room, were he found a bandage to heal up his recent wounds, and a door with a label on it that says “Main Lobby“, thinking it was the exit of this weird dream, he entered, he opened up without giving second thoughts..
What he found there was a large hallway separated from the rest of the room by a large fence, there was 2 doors, one lead to the Director’s Offices and the other one to the Nursery, he checked the Fence, for his surprise, there was somepony there, but the radio didn’t make a sound, he approached the pony to get a closer look at him, he was a little colt, with Stormy raincoat on him serving as a makeshift cover to hide his face, he was drawing a picture, the lack of horns or wings revealed it was an earth pony, the filly face lift when Stormy came close to the fence separating them.
“It….it can’t be” Stormy said looking at the little pony almost tearful. “l-little bro?”
“…” no response from the colt came in.
“M-mistshine, bro, is me Stormy” he said, smiling.
Mistshine, Stormy little bro stopped his drawing a moment, looking at the stallion with a confused look. Even though the mark hid very well his body, Stormy could recognize the wrench, gears and lightbulb that made his cutie marks, indicating his little bro talent for machinery.
“What do you want?” replied the colt
“Eh?... Bro, don’t you remember me?, it’s me Stormy, your big brother,” Stormy could not believe his ears, but was positive that the young cold was his little bro, he sounded just like him
“Stormy?, funny, you have the name of my big bro,” Mistshine replied, lowering his view to continue to draw
“Mistshine please!, seriously don’t you remember me? “ Stormy sat the ground, he felt terrible that his bro forgot him
“The only Stormy I know is my big bro, he give me my Posey doll,” replied the colt, again, without looking.
“Posey doll?“ he did remembered that doll, one time he saw it in a gift shop in Canterlot, and actually he had to beg to Celestia to get it “what are you doing here Mistshine?”
“I’m looking for my doll “answered the colt, referring to his Posey doll “can you please find it for me?, I can’t get out of here,“ the colt asked
“Little bro, ok I will, just sit thigh, “Stormy stand up ready to look for the doll.
The little colt did not say anything, but Stormy was positive that colt was his young brother Mistshine Brave, he did not saw him since he left Manehattan, he held his head a little due to remember, why he didn’t visited him on Manehattan?. His head started to hurt a lot, almost to a point where it was almost impossible to remember beyond that point, but as soon as he stopped thinking about it, the pain stopped.
Back on the topic at hoof though, if he was going to get his bro trust, he must find the Posey doll, there were only 2 rooms he could search for it, he tried the Director Room, but all he manage to find was a drawing of 3 ponys, the drawing was made by Mistshine, Stormy looked at the ponys, one of them was him, jumpy and happy, the other one was Mistshine holding a little wrench, but the last pony was a mare, same coat color as Stormy and Mistshine, but her mane was brown color and had silver shield with hearts surrounding it, Stormy tried to remember that last pony, surprisingly, his head didn’t hurt this time.
“A shield with hearts surrounding it?, isn’t that my big sis Sunnybreeze´s cutie mark?” Stormy remembered, his eyes opened as the memory flashed for a moment in his mind.
He was the second of 3 brothers, his big sister and first one to born, Sunnybreeze Brave, was a police mare on Manehattan, then he came along, Stormy Brave and after finishing his studies, he went to Canterlot to become a guard and then, Mistshine Brave came last, he developed a unique talent for anything related to machines, from prosthetics hooves to fake horns, what was this dream trying to tell him?, Stormy stored the drawing in his saddle bag, there was nothing else in the Director Office, so he moved to the Nursery.
As he entered he heard a faint “yay “, he searched for the room itself, finding a large medical kit in the process, Stormy used the bandages on his back, healing his wounds from the previous encounter, another yay could be heard, he followed the sound until he found out the doll on the wall, something was pulling it to inside the wall, making it sound.
Stormy surrounded the doll with his magic, but as soon as the doll started to move, the thing pulls it deeper into the hole, and if he could not see the object, he cannot pull it out via magic, the hole was big enough to put a hoof in it. Although he was not liking where this was going, he put his hoof inside the hole, trying to recover the doll, as soon as he felt it, a sharp pain ran from his horseshoe to his spine, as if something was trying to rip his hoof apart, he continue to pull to his direction, trying to free himself, not letting go the doll, as the doll no longer emitted the yay sound, it sounded like a soft scream and gasp, he charged his magic in a form of magic blast to pull himself out, it worked, but his right hoof was injured.
“Son of a hoof!” he yelled, holding his injured hoof with his magic.
Stormy quickly used the remaining bandages he had from the large health kit to wrap his hoof and recover from the damage. Once he regain his hoof mobility, he looked at the doll, it was without a single scratch, he touched the mane softly and pressed the doll belly, a soft “Yaaaaay” came from it, making the stallion smile. He walked to the door, but when he put his hoof on the doorknob, it was locked, it cannot be opened.
“I’m locked in?” he questioned, trying to push the door.
“Oh wow!, a Posey doll!, big bro you are the best! “ said a familiar voice that echoed the room.
“Huh?, Mistshine voice,” Stormy said as he turned around.
Stormy turned around and saw on the dirty bed sheets what it seem to be 2 ghosts, one of them was of course him, the other was his little brother, and he was in bed holding the Posey doll that Stormy has at the moment.
“I’m glad you like it little brother, so…is it true what I heard around Manehattan?, that Posey is very similar to a mare you have a crush on?” the ghostly Stormy said, holding his laughter.
“Stormy!, don’t say it aloud! “ Mistshine voice screamed a little ashamed, but he continued. “B-but yes… the resemblance is uncanny.”
“That voice… that’s when I— “Stormy said to himself as he felt a bump on his rump.
The bump was the door moving, followed by the sound of unlocking by itself, he exited the Nursery, and searched for the fence again, Mistshine was still there, Stormy took the Posey doll out of his saddle bag and show it to his brother, hoping he could remember him know.
“Yay,” the doll sound activated when Stormy pressed her belly
“That’s my Posey doll, may I have it back?” asked the little colt, standing up, still he did not looked at Stormy, his mane was covering his eyes
“Of course bro, “ he said, levitating the doll until Mistshine took it
“…“ Mistshine said nothing as he unlocked the door next to the fence, he went into the room in there and opened up a door, however, on Stormy side there was no door, Mistshine did a quick drawing of a door hidden by a fake wallpaper from his side of the fence, Stormy began to search until he could feel the texture of paper in the wall, he ripped the paper to reveal the opened door that Mistshine opened for him, inside, Stormy could find a couple of healing energy drings, and a large medical kit, along with a foal drawing, the drawing pictured him and Pinkie Pie sharing a cupcake. Once he finally exited that room, he was now face to face with his little brother.
“Thanks Stormy…” he replied finally
“Not a problem Mistshine, just, don’t lose her again, “ Stormy said smiling kindly.
“How did you know my name?” Mistshine asked curious.
“I’m your brother Mistshine, Stormy Brave” Stormy replied, hoping that his bro might remember him now.
“My brother?... but he died a few days ago,” Mistshine replied, still confused.
“That I what?! “ Stormy screamed, confused and surprised.
Mistshine ran away, as he ran, a little scared probably due to the stallion scream, but he could still hear his brother galloping on the second floor. Confused, Stormy looked at Mistshine drawing in the floor, it contained a pony with an iron mask, and a message behind the picture, it read “Run love!, you can’t fight him“, looking at that pictured, filled Stormy´s Soul with dread.
Stormy galloped, in the same direction as his brother, as he turned around in the corner, he found his raincoat on the floor, and some bloody hoofprints that leaded to the double doors of a hospital elevator, Stormy picked up his rain coat, and put it on himself again, feeling complete.
As he approached the elevator doors, he started to hear a loud metallic noise from behind him, it was the same noise he heard when the head doctor and assistant were killed, he had to get out now!, just the metallic echo was enough to make Stormy tremble with fear, he tried to open the doors, but they were lucked. The elevator wasn’t coming.
“How did Mistshine get out if the doors are locked?” he questioned, as he pulled the pipe and tried to pin open the doors.
The sound became more louder, Stormy turned around and saw the shadow of a big pony, almost the same size of him, and Stormy was almost royal size, he was more short that Princess Luna and slightly more taller than Twilight thought, the shadow took out a giant knife, and it was carrying something in his other hoof, the corpse of the head doctor, he threw the corpse making it impact the wall, Stormy saw how the corpse hit the wall, Stormy started to lose concentration
“S-stay back!, don´t come any closer!” he panicked.
They say that an unicorn must stay calm and collected to perform spells, so naturally, being prey of fear make his focus drift away, and his spell for light ended up turning off, he started to kick the doors down with his hind legs, the doors were not moving, the lights of that hallway lit up, something unusual, and Stormy manage to see the pony coming to him, he was wearing a Iron Mask, he was visibly male, with fangs and was bleeding from one eye, his big knife carried blood, and his body was covered by some kind of suit, like a butcher or chef apron, his cutie mark was a bloodstain with a knife, he had bloodstains in his hooves, torso and back hind legs, he only part visible from his face, was his mouth, which smiled showing it’s fangs teeth when he saw the unicorn.
“S-shit!, come on… come on, work damn it!” Stormy panicked and tried to force a magical blast.
Although the magic responded he was scared to death, he remember a spell that allowed him to change a magical blast into magic bullets, he stood and prepare to shoot, the spell worked and fired 3 bullets to the Iron Mask Pony, but neither of them did any damage or stop him, Stormy continue to shoot, missing most of the time due to his fear, the Iron Pony raised his big knife, Stormy screamed in terror as he pulled the pìpe to the defend, sadly, the knife moved towards him, cutting him in half, a large scream could be heard… everything faded to black with the sick smile of that pony burning into Stormy subconscious.
Stormy woke up abruptly, he still screamed from the nightmare he just had and he was sweating cold, he noticed he was still in the Canterlot room where Celestia left him, but somepony was there trying to making him woke up faster. By instinct alone, Stormy hugged that pony, this pony in turn hugged him back, the scent of cotton candy was enough to make him calm down, at least enough to talk.
“Pinkie!, dear Luna I’m so happy to see you!” Stormy suddenly started to cry, he was so happy to see her, but also he could not take it anymore, not just after what he had seen.
“huh huh huh?, Stormy please calm down, I never saw you like this, what happen?” Pinkie was confused but she has hugging her friend.
“I have nightmares Pinkie, very awful Nightmares!, I need you help! “ said Stormy, as he got ready to explain it all.
Stormy explained all the contents of his nightmare, including the most recent one, Pinkie usual smile turned into serious and listen to Stormy nightmares, when she mentioned the blood and murder, or the creatures, Pinkie suddenly froze for a moment, when he mentioned his brother Mistshine, Pinkie Pie shut Stormy up by using her hoof, almost as incerting her hole arm in his mouth.
“This is super serious Stormy, but, I know what you are experiencing,” Pinkie replied, smiling as she took out her hoof.
“I know, I know, but I need you help in forgetting this nightmares, what should I do? Please sis help me“ he asked Pinkie, trembling from the memories of the nightmare.
“Good thing the princess called me, the letter Celestia send me, said that I need to bring Twilight along with me, she helped me with a nightmare I had a long time ago, she could help you out too with the same spell, but I warn ya, you might not like it,“ Pinkie Pie said, touching a red ribbon she had on her mane
“What kind of spell?, I tried everything, from mint tea, to platform videogames,” he asked with a little confusion.
“The Mind Delve Spell, a spell that will let us know the root of your nightmares, this can help you out to stop the Nightmares,“ said a voice with an air of trust and knowledge in it.
Celestia most trusted pupil, Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, when Celestia mentioned she was going to contact her she was not joking, specially with the introduction of the Mind Delve spell, Stormy of course nicknamed it “The Cure”, in reference to that spell to be the cure of his nightmares, and whatever the heck might be causing them, sadly, he knows almost next to nothing about what exactly that spell do, Twilight looked Stormy with a confused look when she mentioned if the nightmares were really that bad.
“Hold up, how much has Celestia told you?” Stormy said to Twilight
“Enough to let me know you are dropping out of the Lunar Guard,” she replied.
“Pinkie, when this is over, remind me to make a prank on the princess,“ Stormy said a little annoyed, Celestia didn’t need to go into full detail with Twilight.
“Stormy, she is busy right know, she also have a problem similar to this one” she said, trying to prevent Stormy prank on the princess.
“Ok, I take it, so what are we going to do?” Stormy replied, Pinkie was next to him.
“ We will use the spell to find the source of your nightmares, for what you told to Pinkie, it may be related to Mistshine” Twilight replied as she stood in front of Stormy.
“Could be, Pinkie has been like a Big Sis for me since I know her,” he said remembering his childhood with her
“That’s Right, oh by the way, that bloody blue suit…” Pinkie also remembered the moment and a specific suit.
“I don’t remember it where it was, I think is lost,” Stormy said, trying to remember but he was in blank.
“Well… are you ready Stormy?” Twilight replied ready to use the spell.
“Yes I am, I want this to end” Stormy answered, ready for the spell.
“Whatever you do Twilight, I will not leave him alone,“ Pinkie Pie said, putting a cover on both him and her, getting for the spell.
“Not this time Pinkie, the Princess herself told me you must make sure his body is ok, his body temperature might drop, a lot,” Twilight replied, thing that Stormy did not wanted to hear, but Pinkie nodded in agreement.
Twilight’s horn touched Stormy´s forehead, next to his horn base, Stormy felt how his mind started to loosen up, the room once again started to felt cold and the images of Pinkie and Twilight were disappearing, he felt as his body was feather weight and he even felt a little pain, like if he were falling from a high altitude towards the ground, he screamed but his voice was absorbed by the darkness.
“Gaah! O-on second though… Cancel the spell Twilight?” he yelled feeling a little pain on his head. “Twilight?, Twilight!” Stormy yelled again, but no response came in.
His mane and tail moved as he as continue to be in a freefall, until he lost consciousness. The sound of water and something cold awoke him, he lost track of how many minutes he was knocked out, when his senses began to work again, he noticed that he was back on the secret room, he never moved from his place, with the exception that the place was far more darker than before, that and, the edge of the room appears to be flooded, but other than the scenery, he noticed that his friends were nowhere to be seeing.
“ uuuughhh… my head, I fell like I have been inside a tornado, I think using that spell was not a good idea, Oi, Pinkie?, Twilight?” he called to his friends, but there was no answer. “Girls?, come on this isn’t funny!”
He tried to walk forward but he almost felt to the ground, he was dizzy from the spell, and had problems breathing, a constant headache was hammering his skull, but since the area was dark, he used his light spell to see his surroundings as if it was a lantern, he found out everything in the same place, except, no trace of Twilight and Pinkie, is this their idea of a prank?, they knew he need help, why leaving him alone?, he noticed something on the floor where Twilight was standing, a saddle bag, Stormy face instantly reflected a mixture of fear and worry as he took a look at it, it was the same one as his dream,
“D-did I pass out again and Im trapped on another nightmare?, Luna!, Princess can you hear me?” he called out to the Princess of the Night.
Of course!, why he didn’t think about this before?, if there is anypony that can interrupt his dream and wake him up is her, Princess Luna, but sadly for him, no matter how many times Stormy called her, there was no reply. With few other options he looked inside the saddlebags, inside was the Canterlot Castle Map, as he put the saddlebags on, he checked himself to find he still had his sword and his ocarina in his raincoat pocket, making sure it didn’t get damaged he decided to take it out and store it on the saddlebags. It was a mother memento after all, so the ocarina could get damaged if something happens to his raincoat.
Stormy pushed the door and to his surprise, it was no longer locked, that door leaded to the stairs, he was going upwards until he got to another door, this ones was locked from his side, he unlocked the door, and exited the secret room, he was now in the Elements of Harmony Hallway, the door leading to the secret room closed by itself and locked again, as the wall appeared on it, returning is impossible now, not that he want to return there, but that was not the strange thing by far, it was the silence, a silence like if there was no pony in the castle and he knew it was still daytime.
“Noirstar?, Noirstar are you here?” he raised his voice, calling, but no answer came in. “Somepony, Anypony!”
He did not get any answer, he checked the room where he was, the lock where the elements were hidden before the Discord Event is active, but the unusual thing, are the windows, one of them had a different picture that the one the castle had before, it was the picture of Luna only, and next to her was the Iron Mask Pony, the one Stormy saw in his dream, he started to worry for the princess, maybe that’s what the windows tried to tell him, that the same creature that haunts him, might haunt Luna. But how can that be?, did the spell that Twilight used teleported him to an alternative reality?, if that is the case, it is a very sick screw up.
Stormy tried to go to the Princess Bedrooms, when he exited the Elements of Harmony hallway and enter the castle gardens, he almost felt to a bottomless Pit, he held to the stairs as he almost lose his balance, after pulling himself up, he looked at the pit, it was almost as if an earthquake had tore Canterlot apart, he checked the map, trying to find where to go, he could not get to the princess bedroom from the gardens.
“Ok, gardens out of the Question, but… what’s with this fog?, I can cut it with a knife, that and I can barely see what I have in front,” he said to himself, trying to keep his sanity intact with a silly joke
Stormy noticed the fog that was present the whole area, he stepped inside the Elements of Harmony hallway again, he then took with one of the windows to see Canterlot, it was completely covered by the fog, preventing the view of the city, however, there’s was a way he could get to the Main Castle Area, since the Elements of Harmony hallway seems to be cut off from the rest of the castle, he will have to use the hallway bridge controls to connect to Canterlot´s Archives, from there he will have to travel down the main street towards the Castle Gate.
“This hallway will not last long… if this section was cut off from the main area, it could fall at any moment, besides, is not like the elements are here anymore,” Stormy though for himself, as he put the map away.
Stormy turned around and opened the door that leaded to the hallway lobby, sadly a creature leaped towards him, it was the same creature of his dream, the one with one hoof and half body missing, Stormy fear kick in again, and he used his sword as a provisional shield, the creature continue to try to bite the colt neck, he pushed harder, making the creature lost its balance, Stormy did not hesitated this time and cut the creature with a slash from his sword, the blood feel more real this time, as a matter of fact, it gave an odor very peculiar, an odor only found on rotten corpses.
“This is not a nightmare anymore is it?” he questioned, as he picked the creature head and look at it, closing it’s eyes.
In the last dream, Stormy didn’t have his sword or ocarina, but this time he has them, the blood of this creature is sticky and coagulated. This amount of detail is too real to be a dream, and if Stormy is pretty much awake, then his previous theory about going to an alternative world became more powerful.
Dream or not, one thing is for sure, he was starting to regret in having used the mind delve spell, either way, the only living pony he has found so far was the Hopping Pony he killed earlier, and he feared about the situation depicted on the hallway windows. He tried to open the door to the bridge control, but it was locked with a special key, he turned around and opened a different door, this one lead him to the Custodian Room, a room designed for a Guard that looks who enters and exit the building, as also responsible of maintain security, but when he entered, the fog was present, he tried to see what happened, and saw a hole in the wall that leaded outside, but also found a corpse in the custodian bed, it had bite all over his neck and hooves, the window was broken and several books were scattered on the floor, grabbed from the wall sides to prevent falling and looked outside via the hole. With the little he could make out the shapes of the buildings due to the fog.
“N-no! This is a bad joke right?!” Stormy yelled, scared.
He saw at the distance the tallest buildings of Canterlot falling down to the abyss, some of them were balancing over the edge. It looks like Canterlot was destroyed.
Author's Notes:
Didn´t want to upload the story without the first chapter hehe. Hope you liked it everypony.
Chapter 2 - Canterlot Archives (Fog Canterlot) -
Stormy saw the state of the city, most of the residential area seems to have felt down from the mountain it was build into, the Canterlot Castle could be easy spotted even from the Fog, and some of the towers were bent, not falling to the abyss, but very close to do so.
“Ok…whatever happened here, this stopped being a nightmare loooong ago” he said very concerned about the state of the town.
Stormy checked the room for something useful, he found in the Custodian Badge, a badge capable of opening all magical locks on the Canterlot Archives, and a apple. With few other options, he returned to the first floor, there were a couple of room he haven’t checked, and now that he has the badge, might as well search for any living pony, seeing another pony might bright his day.
Two of the doors were damaged, nothing to do there, when he returned to the main lobby almost going to the stairs he found a not pleasant surprise, 2 Hopping Ponies, if one was already a problem, 2 will not be good sign, he run towards the exit door of the building, but it was also broken.
“Oh crap, exit exit exit, now!” he quickly looked at the room, trying to find a way out.
When he ran to another door he haven’t tried, and luckily for him, it was ok, one of the Hopping Ponies manage to lay a bite on him in his back left hoof, grunting a little Stormy used his sword to quickly finish it off, leaving the other creature intact, as he entered the room and locked the door, he could hear the banging from the remaining creature to try to break the door, thankfully, after a moment it stopped.
“Ok… if I go out I must be ready for the creature this time,” he said to himself, looking at the minor injury in his leg, he was thankful the creature didn’t get a good grip of his hoof.
He checked the place in detail, he could see carpets and curtains, must be the storage room, trying to find the darn key to the bridge controls, but all he could find was rotten apples and a horse shoe, what’s a horse shoe doing in a storage room?. He levitated the horse shoe, it was unusually heavy, but as soon as he moved it, a soft click was heard, like if a door got unlocked.
Stormy tried this time to be as silent as possible to avoid the hopping pony, but his previous wound left a hoofprint, which the creature could smell and jump to that direction, Stormy dodged again, using his sword in a trust attack, it didn't kill the monster in one shot, but was enough to make some distance, he entered another room that had a horse shoe in the doorknob, he tried to turn the doorknob, but it did not moved, so he tried pushing and it did move, he entered the room before the creature could recover.
“I would love to know what in the hay is happening here, but first things first, I have to warn the princess, now, besides the other rooms I checked, this is where the damn master key must be,” he said to himself as he checked the map once more.
He took a look at the area, the only place in the map with a similar shape of the room he was currently in was the “Armory”, as the name suggest, this is where both, Lunar and Solar Guards, store their armors before the shift starts, each important building in Canterlot have it’s own armory, as he walked in further he found that some parts of the armors were on the floor, after a good search he managed to spot the key but it was inside a little box for security purposes, it had a plate on it, it reads;
“Sun and Moon are part of the very big cycle, Harmony, when the Sun sleeps, we watch the Moon rise, when the Moon withdraw, we see the Sunrise, shinning above the land, as for we are the Sun and Moon defenders,"
The plate refers to both Lunar and Solar Guards, since Luna's return from her 1000 years exile, the security has gone more tighter, there was a button next to the plate, Stormy push it and below the plate, a panel with a circular picture appeared, on the above half, a image of Princess Celestia with the Sun shinning on the land full of happy ponies, but on the below half, an image of Princess Luna, with her moon, and most of ponies asleep, except for the lunar guards was displayed, there was a little lever to turn the picture, either clockwise or in reverse, Stormy read the plate riddle one more time.
“Ok… when Celestia sleeps, so does her guards, then Luna awakes, when Luna sleeps, Celestia wakes up, so basically is… one half turn,” he said as he moved the Celestia picture until it was upside down and Luna picture was above “then another half spin counterclockwise, and one full cycle clockwise, representing Harmony.”
The Picture made a clicking sound as it stored itself in the wall again, and the circular picture came back again but with some Lunar and Solar Guards, while the Solar Guards are awake, the Lunar Guards in the picture are asleep, the picture in the above part, had the awake Lunar Guards.
“Ok this one I think it is, one counterclockwise half turn, one clockwise half turn, forward clockwise half turn, and another clockwise half turn, let's hope the guard manual was not mistaken about this,” Stormy said to himself as he moved the pictures.
Stormy made the turns and a soft click was heard, the puzzle locked itself as the box opened, allowing Stormy to take the key, as soon as he put in his saddlebags, a loud crash was heard from behind him, he turned around to see that a armor has fallen, a little relieved he tried to push the door to exit the room, another sound came from where the armor felt down.
“Don´t tell me… there is a monster behind me isn’t it?” he said turning around slowly.
The stallion got ready levitating his sword, but all he could see was the armor starting to stand up, moving kind of irregular, crawling in a zig zag motion towards Stormy. Not taking chances he attacked the armor, removing the helmet with one sword swing, inside the armor all there was inside was a shadow, with no form, it made a shape of a face where the helmet used to be with blank expression on its face.
The shadow tackled Stormy with the armor shoulders, making him fall to the ground, losing his sword, the shadow jumped to him, the sharp horseshoes of the armor were aiming at him, Stormy dodge and tried to buck it, but the metal made it difficult to damage it, the shadow pulled out a little dagger from a side of its armor and tried to stab Stormy in his hooves to prevent movement, it worked, Stormy felt to the ground as the armor felt on top of him and continued to stab his right hind hoof.
“Aaah!!, get off!” he screamed as soon as the pain reached his brain.
Putting his guard training to use he used his 4 hooves to shake off the creature, pushing it away, he levitated his sword again and swing it against the creature, the blade passed through it, running out of ideas he had to get out, he used his lantern spell and shined it directly to the creature to blind it and quickly escape, exiting the armory.
“Ok…physical attacks with that creature are out of the question,” He said holding the door down.
“Groooawrs!” a sound came in from the same room; it was the remaining Hopping Pony.
“Oh right… forgot about him,” Stormy said, holding a nervous laugh.
He did not wanted to lose precious time, since his right hoof was bleeding a lot now, stood down waiting for the creature to hop towards him, as soon as the creature jumped, he counter it’s attack with a slash from his sword, the hopping pony received the full damage, causing it to lay at a side of the room, Stormy then used this opportunity to run to the bridge controls on the 2F.
The bridge controls were on the opposite direction of the custodian room, he used the master key on the door, and the door opened without a problem, with the controls at his disposal, he first checked if there was any power in them, fortunately, it has power and it was ready to work, the bridge will connect to the Canterlot Archives Library 2F, he pushed the button and move the lever, trying to keep his sanity intact, he tried a lame joke for himself, using some nearby books to make a makeshift hardhard.
“One little bridge coming right up,” Stormy said joking,
“Hahaha” a giggle alerted of a presence in the area.
The giggle made Stormy jump, behind him was a memo on the wall next to the bookshelf, it was a drawing, a drawing that appeared suddenly, as it was not there when he entered the room. Stormy froze as he looked the picture, it was the Iron Pony, it had some words written on the back. it reads; "Run Brother!, you can't fight him!". It was different than the one Mistshine drew on the mental hospital, but it was the same drawing style and instead of saying “love”, it said “brother” this time.
“Wait, did Mistshine draw this, how did he do it?, Is he in Canterlot?!” he freaked out, looking at the door with a rather scared face. “If he is in Canterlot, then… those monsters can find him!, I have to find him first before they do!”
With his priorities clear, he ripped a simple book cover from the bookshelf and put Mistshine´s drawing in it, storing the “notepad” if it could be called like that on his saddlebags, now the problem will be reaching the hallway and the stairs to the bridge while avoiding the shadow creature.
He could try a quick teleport to return to the Elements of Harmony hallway, of course!, why he is running when he could teleport to the throne room?, after all, teleport is one of the most basic spells for unicorns, he tried to charge it and teleport, his horn glowed, but the teleport spell didn’t happen.
“Oh come on!, really?!” he yelled frustrated, trying to focus.
He had the mental location of the place he wanted to go, but the teleportation spell was not able to be executed. Well… if he cannot use the easy way, it will have to be done the hard way, although his right hind hoof was bleeding, the adrenaline from last fight was still in effect, so he returned as quick as possible to the Element of Harmony hallway, there was a door to his left that leads towards the bridge, all he had to do was to up more stairs.
“Sometimes I wonder if Sombra designed this castle or if Celestia took inspiration out of him…” Stormy said a little tired.
He did not lose any time though and passed the bridge, the door leading to the Canterlot Archives tower was locked, it had a little hole in it, Stormy quickly took the Custodian Badge, it fit perfectly on the hole, opening the door up, the stallion walked inside and took the badge with him, he might need it later, when the door closed, a clicking sound was heard, followed by the sound of the bridge withdrawing, he could not get back even if he wanted to, was inside the Canterlot Archives now.
He was in the passageway that leads to the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, the passage way did not have many doors and the doors available were broken, but there was several books in bookshelves, some of them about advanced magic, others about pony anatomy and others about old myths and tales.
He remember perfectly the library, it was one of the most highest buildings in Canterlot, so big it had 5 floors, he used the nearby spiral stairs to ascend to the third floor, that’s where the bridge controls for the Archives were, and they were the ones that connected to the Main Castle, however, most of the torches in the third floor were turned off.
“I just hope the power is on… I can barely see in this dark hallway.” He said taking a deep breath while turning on his lantern spell.
Once he was almost at the door, he could feel a presence that made him feel unsafe, he opened up the door leading towards the controls, the room was a little bit more bigger than the one of the Element’s Tower, once he was in front of the controls, he felt something on his back again, he looked back to find the same creature from his dream, the Ceiling Filly, it laughed like a maniac, getting ready his front hooves with knifes to stab Stormy, this time, he was manage to shake it off, the creature quickly got up, ready to attack, his skeletal face was showing a sick smile.
Stormy was already getting tired of this, he took his sword again and attacked the creature, for his surprise it was very resistant, since it manage to hold up more than one blow from the sword, the creature manage to get up and jump to stab Stormy in his chest, the cold steel of the blade pierced his flesh, but it did not damage any internal organs, Stormy attacked again taking advantage of how close was the creature until he managed to beheaded it, he was breathing heavily, it seems he was careless and there was no bandages to wrap the wounds either. Trying to ignore the pain he focused on his task, but using his raincoat to stop a little the bleeding, the controls for the main bridge were in front of him.
“Huh?... there is a note,” he said as he levitated the note to read it .
“Due to technical difficulties, the bridge to the main castle is out of service, we apologize for the inconvenience," that was the message written.
“Oh great, now you are telling me, wait, there is something else here," Stormy flipped the note, there was something sticky on the other side, almost like blood. “5465?, what is this a numerical code?”
Although the wounds are not serious, he was starting to leave blood trail on the floor, he had to find something to heal himself, he started to search the rooms in the third floor, since he doesn’t have a map for the Canterlot Archives, he had to check room per room, he tend to avoid confrontations with creatures he finds unless they don’t give him much choice to defend himself.
However, there was something very strange, the amount of creatures. One would think that the place will be filled with creatures waiting, ready to kill you as soon as they notice you, but the Archives were empty, even for a library that big, the silence is excessive, he checked a office, the amount of bookshelves gave a hint that it probably was the Archives Director's Office, he searched the room for something of use, he checked the drawers, but nothing useful, just a tasty apple he took in his saddlebags, but he did manage to find a old pocket radio, it was still working it seems.
“A radio?, hey, maybe the emergency signal is still up,” Stormy said, clinging to the hope that somepony alive might be broadcasting.
A soft crack was heard from the window, Stormy jumped, quickly putting away the radio in his saddlebags, he came closer to the window to try to see something through the fog… but he saw nothing. The stallion made his way towards the door and as soon as he put a hoof on the doorknob the radio let out a loud static noise, the window broke and a creature tackled Stormy, making him break the door and fall to the ground, he looked, it was a pegasus mare, but had a large robe covering all her body, also her wings were missing some feathers, the bone structure could be seen and yet that didn´t stopped it from hovering in the air, the look on her face, if you could call it like that with all the rotten flesh and exposed maw bones was an angry one, the mare front hooves suffered from malnutrition, you could see the bones, but contrary to what would somepony expect, it supported her weight well, she had a visible cutie mark, it was some bones snapping with a Scythe.
“Ow… that hurts, so… a new creature, mind if I call you the Skeletal Mare?” Stormy addressed to the creature, trying to talk the situation out.
“...” no words exited the mare mouth.
The “Skeletal Mare” nicknamed by Stormy, flew across the office, attacking him with tackles, her back hooves did also not have any flesh at all, but they were only bones with a sharp end, between tackles, the creature switched from using her front hooves to use her back hooves while flying, Stormy draw his sword to counter her attacks, but the creature used her sharp hooves bones to break his balance and give him a good buck, making him suffer from the stab he just received, dropping his weapon, the creature, seeing Stormy without defense, attacked again.
“Gah!, come on, think!, I need a projectile!" Stormy said, nearly dodging the creature.
There was a magic bullets spell he learned while he was in training, he was not sure if the magic blast was going to hurt the creature, but it was his last hope, the creature returned to attack again with it's back hooves, Stormy´s horn started to glow as he saw his window of opportunity and shoot a magic blast, she screamed in pain as the impact hit her chest, sending the creature towards the nearby wall very heavily, Stormy took his chance and finish the creature putting all his strength in his front hooves as he jumped towards the creature, the creature was no longer moving.
Stormy picked up his sword and moved towards the spiral stairs, it didn’t took long to the radio to emit a sound again, the Skeletal Mare started to rise again, Stormy did not have time to react, when he turned around the mare jumped towards him already, making him impact the wall, she then stabbed him in his right back hoof with her natural weapons, where his previous wound was, he by instinct grabbed his weapon, only to have it taken away by the creature..
“…you must… pay… for your sins…” said the creature, she had obvious problems talking, probably due to the lack of flesh in her throat.
“Get, off!” Stormy demanded charging another magic blast.
The creature reacted different from before, before Stormy could fire, she stepped back, dodging the blast, the creature seems to emit a smile, as she picked Stormy sword and use it against him, the stallion dodged, but his raincoat got caught in the creature featherless wings.
His attire selection proved to be a golden opportunity for the creature, with no defense besides the magic bullets, that “mare” managed to lay a good sword strike on Stormy´s chest, she smiled as she seems to trap the stallion with the bones on her wings and started to stab his body multiple times, Stormy had lost the battle, as the creature now held the upper hoof, she looked at a room and threw Stormy in it, breaking the door with his body, the creature smiled as she walked away, taking the stallion only weapon besides magic with her, the creature flew out of the archives, through the same hole she came in.
“Aahhh!, w-why she didn’t-“ Stormy tried to get up, but a sharp pain traveled his spine, sending him to the ground. “-killed me?”
Stormy tried to stand up, but his wounds made him fall to the ground, everything was starting to fade to black, his eyes were starting to close, he could not believe it, his body was actually more fragile that he ever thought it would, his mind rushed with thoughts about his brother, about Luna.
He heard the door opening; he was both tired and afraid to open his eyes, although his memories were the ones that were keeping him alive, his ears still work, tracking any unusual sound. The sound of hoofsteps let him know there was somepony in the room with him, a loud sound of an object dropping startled him, Stormy did not feel any other pain, besides the ones he already have, he opened up his eyes slowly to see what was the sound he heard, to his surprise he was seeing a full first aid kit right in front of his eyes, from the Canterlot Hospital Nursery.
“A First Aid Kit?, but this is only available at Canterlot Hospital, that is almost next to the Royal Castle and the Princess Celestia School for Gifted Unicorns, who could have?” Stormy questioned as he crawled and put a hoof on the kit lid.
The kit had everything he needed, bandages, suture kits, hemostatic medicine to stop bleeding, disinfectant, even morphine to do not feel pain for a while, it was like a medical care in one little box, sadly, it can only be used one time, but he was willing to take the risk though, however, the fact that the kit appeared just in front of him when he needed it the most made him question his luck, maybe his brother really is in Canterlot?.
Stormy with his remaining magic, ran in a quick check on his body, he had cuts and stab wounds on his right hind leg, a big sword strike on his chest and several cuts and a broken rib product of the Skeletal Mare’s wings, fortunately, the kit came in with a foal drawing.
“T-this is Mistshine´s drawing!” he said in shock.
The drawing was of himself healing up, behind the drawing there were written instructions on how to heal, he started to treat his wounds following his brother instructions. The needle and thread used to close surgical wounds was already sterilized, as Stormy closed the wounds, a little blood manage to escape, he tried his best not to scream, he bit his own raincoat to muffle his screams, with the disinfectant and styptic manage to stop the bleeding, the bandages covered his wounds, sealing them up, sadly, for broken bones there was nothing made of wood to help his broken bone to heal, he looked at the windows and the pieces from the door, there was enough wood to heal his broken rib, he took it with his magic and pressed them against him, then he wrap it up in another bandage, finally he was healed up, still, he have to be careful though, it will take a few minutes to recover his magic and his body to take the medicine, so meanwhile, it will be for the best to avoid any monsters encounters.
“If this kit came from Canterlot Hospital, I guess I will need to take a look there for clues about my brother,” he said, getting a second air.
Stormy rested for a moment, he looked at the radio, he searched on the radio station that guards use for emergencies, there was no transmission, only static, the turned it off, if he cannot contact anypony, at least it will serve as an alarm when the monsters are near.
Once the stallion felt recovered, he stand up ready to move, storing the foal drawing in the notepad he got earlier, he decided to go up, after all, the bridge is out, so sooner or later he will have to use the main exit, and a little exploring won’t hurt, specially since he need to find something else to use as weapon. The stairs started to feel a little bit sticky, Stormy focused and tried to use his lantern spell, he managed to make a very dim light, but enough for him to see the corpse of a hopping pony almost next to the stairs, 4F had a hallway almost full with corpses of Ceiling Fillies and Hopping Ponies.
“What in the!?” he said, rushing to the creatures corpses. “These creatures were killed a long ago, they have sword slashes, it seems the Skeletal Mare already passed here.”
He checked a room in the 4F, it had a numerical lock combination, “wait, a numerical combination, that's it!”, almost immediately, he took the note from before, and input the number written in blood, the lock on the door quickly let out a beep, indicating it is opened now, Stormy entered the room, seems it was a old book storage, when the books are marked for either relocation or donations to schools in Equestria, most of the books were old and dusty, he tried looking for something that could help him enter the main castle area, a book stood upon the rest, it was opened in the middle of the room, but the more strange thing, it that most of the pages were torn out, Stormy checked the book title, it reads “Book of Ancient Song of Harmony”, only the cover and the 4 pages were still glued to the book, at least enough to read.
“For anypony reading this book, the following pages contains a complete record of ancient songs used to perform by royal request for both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, some of this songs are magical for themselves, and others could result in danger for the user, if they lack the magical talent to play them, these songs should not be attempted to usage in any circumstances, unless you have direct permission from both princesses,” that was the warning on the first page.
“I don´t need history lessons to know that these songs were played before Luna got banished, maybe this could be useful, if I can master all the songs in this book, there could be a chance I can talk with the Princess Luna, or defend myself without weapons via magic, this counts as emergency to me, let´s see what we have here,” he said as he read.
Stormy checked the table of contents of that book, he was trying to find a song that could be used to communicate with Luna or Celestia, since Luna most of the time talk and act as she was still 1000 ago, she should be able to answer the right ancient song in an instant, if she is alive that is, he looked frenetically, almost as if his eyes were about to merge with the book
“Come on, Princess Lullaby, Minuet of Everfree, Oath of Harmony, Song of Refresh, Pegasus Storms, Earth Pony's Ballad, Serenade of the Seaponys. Uughhh, none of these ones are communication songs most of them boost attack, defense or stamina, it doesn’t help most of the songs are missing.” he said, almost giving up. ”Hold up, wait, there is a song on the next page.” he said as he found was he was searching.
“Winds of Friendship, a magical song used to communicate with somepony over long distances, wait, this is!, let's see, the song itself is not difficult, but is very loud, it will attract the creatures… but I don't have other choice, I’m healed enough to use some magic,” Stormy said to himself as he took his ocarina out of his saddlebags.
It has been too long since he use his instrument, but he still remembered how to play it, the book instructed on how to connect with the pony you want, you have to concentrate via magic, great, he was tired of using his magic non-stop, but he had to try at least, after all, he has no guarantee that the princess is still alive.
He concentrated the best he could, to regain his magic on his horn again, as soon as his magical glow came back on his horn, as he levitated the ocarina and started to play it, being a wind instrument, he used his magic to block the holes, following the notes on the book, the magic on the ocarina made it easier to play thankfully, but Stormy was only thinking of talking to the princess, he played the song fully, from head to toe, but… he did not get any answer.
“Oh for Pete sake!, great source of help ancient book!, Dumb book!” Stormy raised his voice due to the lack of immediate answer, dropping his instrument.
With no answer, he levitated his ocarina to store it, but the magical aura on it changed, it glowed with a dark sapphire blue color, he recognized the color almost instantaneously, it was the Princess!, she picked up, Stormy horn was still glowing with his blue color aura, he held the ocarina on his hooves, cutting the levitation spell off, the glow faded and increased constantly, indicating magic response.
“CEASE YOUR STRUGGLE, STALLION!!!” the royal voice of Luna resounded with strength. “RELEASE THAT INSTRUMENT NOW, FOR YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF ITS SONG!!”
“Ow, my ears!” Stormy said as he covered his ears. “Too late princess, I already casted the song, wait... IT WORKED!” he yelled happy, forgetting for a moment he was talking with Luna.
“SO YOU KNOW THE POWER OF SAID SONG?” the princess replied, interrogating the stallion about the use of the song.
“First of all my princess, yes I do.” Stormy said as he grabbed the book and read the song he just played “According to this book, it helps me to talk with somepony over large distances, I figured that it will help out in the current situation... and second, stop yelling please, is not a good idea to use your royal canterlot voice” he said as he massaged his ears.
“BUT THAT MAGIC... IT IS AN ANCIENT ONE! IT´S NOT SOMETHING ANYPONY CAN POSSESS, LET ALONE BEING ABLE TO USE!” the princess said again, without lowering her royal voice.
“Ancient or not, it was my only means of contact you, look outside in whatever place you are Luna, that’s the reason why I ask you to lower your voice!” Stormy demanded to the princess, before taking a deep breath.
Princess Luna took a quick look outside of her current location, the ocarina stopped it’s glow momentary, before resuming, the princess voice stopped being the royal canterlot one to pass on a more calm voice, as soon as he heard the princess tone of voice, he was a little bit more relieved, the last thing he needs is a horde of creatures on his tail because of Luna strong pipes.
“My humble apologies, Stormy.” she said, apologizing to her guard. “But I am not used to be summoned like that. Not many ponies have the magic that you just showcased.”
“Woah woah woah, slow down a minute, one, you know my name?, and second, I just found this book here at the Archives, what magic are you talking about?” Stormy questioned a little confused of what magic Luna was talking about.
“Well that is something we can discuss later.” she said calmly, her tone of voice reflected the care she has for her guards. “I'm more interested in knowing about the situation.”
“I’m a little skeptical on the detail as well.” Stormy said, as any other guard would do, he started to report what he has found out so far to Luna. “From what I have gathered, Cantelot is completely covered in some kind of thick fog that prevents teleportation of any kind, half of the city is falling off the cliff, and there is monsters roaming everywhere, and they are not precisely peaceful.”
“That is impossible! Our sister could've tell us about this” Luna said in shock.
“Ooooh trust me Luna, this is very real.” he said as he took a moment to sit down.
Luna did bring up a point, why Celestia hasn’t appeared?, or even tried to contact him?, is almost like Luna and Stormy are alone so far, well, besides Stormy little brother that is, the glow on the ocarina seems to blink, unaware to the stallion, he was using to much magic to keep the link active he took a quick look on the song page just to confirm his suspicion, and sadly for him, it was true, as long as the instrument glows, it will use the user magic to keep the communication up.
“All I know is that Twilight and Pinkie were helping me with some personal issues, I felt unconscious, and woke up here, you have no idea what I have passed from the Elements of Harmony wing to the Archives,” he said giving a nervous laugh.
“I can imagine, though.” she said, her voice was a little lower. “It hasn't been easy for me neither.”
“Where are you exactly?, I’m heading towards Canterlot Castle, if I can make it alive that is” Stormy said, worried about his current situation.
“Canterlot Castle?” her voice now seemed to express relief. “Then I could appreciate your assistance here.”
“By the sound of your voice I take it you are also in the castle, word of advice, stay clear of the windows, there is a creature that took my sword and is able to fly out there” Stormy felt that it was necessary to prevent the princess about the Skeletal Mare.
“Thanks for the advice. I'll take care of myself in the meantime.” Luna said with total confidence in her abilities.
“Ok, if i get into issues i will sing the song again,” he said with great relief in his voice.
The glow on the ocarina faded completely and Stormy could felt the backslash of the song, a little pain on his head, he was getting dizzy, he lost grip of his instrument, as it hit the ground, he tried to grab the edge of the bookshelf where the Harmony Book was, but he left himself go and lay on the ground a moment to catch his breath. He looked at the book on the floor next to him and his eyes focused on the page next to the Winds of Friendship song, he ended up finding something he overlooked on his rush to contact the princess.
“Final Warning, If this is your first time playing this songs, make sure you are in top shape, otherwise you will be unable to use magic for a full day, as the songs of this book take great amount of magic, remember, the more you practice, the less magic you will use in each song” that was the words on the last page.
“Oh For Celestia´s plot!, NOW are you telling me?” he yelled angry, as he picked the book and threw it to the wall.
He could not believe it!, his only means of defense so far was his magic, but now he cannot use it until 24 hours had passed?!, he had to read that damn book, but the good news at least is he manage to contact the princess, and knowing that she is alright is all that matters at the moment, now with his duty at ease, he can now focus on searching for clues about his brother, as well to find way he can use to recover his magic before the 24 hours, he walked to the book again, he was thinking he did not needed it anymore, however, something at the back of his mind told him it was better to keep it.
“Wait a second, why don’t-” He pondered for a moment. “-I keep it?, There must be a reason I managed to play the song”
He closed the book and place it inside of his saddle bags. He walked to the door and open it, but the radio started to emit a sound as soon as he reached the hallway, the creatures were coming, the problem was, from where?, the only light to allow him to see was from the room where the book was, being without magic didn’t helped things either, he could fight with his bare hooves? He could yeah, if he could see where his attacker was, he returned to the room where he took the book and started to move a big bookshelf next to the door, he pushed blocking the exit, as he took a moment to breathe, a loud hit against the wooden door was heard, the monsters were trying to took the door down.
“Crap, I feel like a pony lost in the middle of a changeling nest, come on there must be another way out of here!” he said to himself, looking around the room.
There has to be a way out of there, he noticed one of the windows could be opened, he did not wanted to do that, but he cannot afford to be picky, he opened the window, the radio still emitted a little static indicating the creatures distances, he carefully looked outside as another crash on the door could be heard. Between the dense fog he could see that the window below the one he opened was broken, what a stroke of luck, it was the room where he was attacked by the Skeletal Mare, he carefully held himself in the edge of the window, trying to touch the 3F broken window with his back hooves, he could hear another bang followed by books falling, indicating the creatures had entered the room, he let himself go closing his eyes, he felt as he went down to the 3F.
Just in time he placed his hooves on the edge of the 3F window, and put all his strength to get himself inside the room, the box of the First Aid Kit was still there, but now that the 4F is out of question, he will need to explore the second floor and then proceed to the main door, he quickly galloped full speed towards the exit, and moved to the stairs, he was careful enough like to go down the stairs quickly to get to the second floor, once there, he guided himself with the light that came from the Starswhirl the Bearded Wing, as well as the lit torches.
As he passed thought the wing, he noticed several scrolls on the floor, he could check them yes, but he was still hearing a little static coming from that room, better not take any chances, he continue to walk until he found the Lobby Door, a big door that leads towards the Lobby in the second room, from there you could go to the main reception and of course the main wing in the first floor, where the exit door was. But the place was still dark, as Stormy was going down to the reception, he noticed the radio making more static, he got alarmed and galloped towards the Main Entrance, as he went down the stairs and reached the door to open it, the static seems to lower a little, the door however, didn’t budge even a inch, he was trapped.
“Oh great!, I’m without magic, no weapons to defend myself, and the main exit do not open, can this get any worse?” he said tired, trying to take little breaths.
He tried searching with his hooves near the doorknob for a place where he could place the Custodian Badge, but the door did not had any slot for the badge, if was almost as if.
“It is magically sealed, crap.” Stormy facehoof himself.
There has to be something else on the main reception he can use, he took a quick look, on the reception desk there was a little oil lantern, very old, with a little valve to increase or decrease the light, he turn it on, it provided enough light for him to see the place, but not enough to cover the whole area of course, without his magic this is better than nothing.
Holding the lantern with his mouth, he tried to find the creature responsible for his alarm, all he could see was books, books everywhere, the static of the radio was starting to sound more and more closer, however, it was not loud as with the monsters, Stormy was slowly walking backwards until he touched the wooden doors with his butt, he heard a sound of a door unlocking, it was the door that lead to the main wing Reading Room, curious but cautious, he got closer to the reading room, when he reached the door, some voices alerted him of a presence, he turn around to see where did the voices came from, they came from the front desk where he got the lantern, but what he was not expecting, is that the one making the noise.
“Excuse me, the Guard´s Code book?” said the voice of a very young colt. The foal body had some old bloodstains in his broken cyan suit.
“Yeah, is in the Reading Room, hold on a minute,” said the voice of an elder mare that was attending the reception, a soft unlocking sound was heard. “Is open now.”
“Thanks,” replied the little colt, running towards Stormy direction.
“Hey… shouldn't you see a doctor for those?” said the mare referring to the little colt bloodstained clothes.
“Oh This?, don't worry, it is already dried up,” said the colt as he galloped to the reading room.
It was him!, him from his fillyhood, and the ghost mare, it was the receptionist at the time, why did the radio reacted from ghost?, could it be…. a memory… his own memory?, what in the hay was happening?, the ghost passed right through Stormy and entered the reading room, all this situation was making him more and more confused, how in the name of Equestria can he see his own memories? Either way, he felt that he needs to check the reading room, so he walked towards that room.
It was a very wide room with several desk, most of them have the same type of lantern he was using, the books opened up in the tables were old and dusty, others were so old that the words are illegible and turned to be impossible to read, he noticed his own ghost sitting in the farthest bench of the room, next to the window, but when he came closer, the ghost disappeared… he placed the lantern on the desk, there was a book that was already half way read, it seems to be the Guard´s Code, he read the words written in them.
“And so the laws written by the ancient guards are clear, the Lunar and Solar Guards will defend the princesses with their life, however, the guard should never look to the princess with non-servant eyes, being in love with the princess you sworn to protect will be consider an act of betrayal having no other choice out of it than death, as punishment for their sins,” that was written on the book.
“I remember this… when I was a little filly I always loved the moon more that the sun, I tried to join the Lunar Guards to meet the princess “Stormy smiled when he remembers that. “kind of selfish really, since my first day of work, all I could think was.”
Stormy could not finish his sentence, because as soon as he finished reading the book, a siren at the distance sounded, the light outside started to dim, as the night, or the shadows in this case, took over the place, Stormy did not felt fear, since he was more that used to the night, but why the Princess was sending the night right now?, he could not contact her to ask, he placed his hoof in complete confidence on the table, but he felt his hoof passing through the table, afraid, he looked at the table, and it was shattering, no, not shattering, it was more like if the whole place was changing to a twisted version of itself.
The usual white and purple color of the walls was cracking and moving upwards, discovering that underneath the usual walls, a kind of yellowish and red paint was painted, the tables were replaced by metal fence tables, some of the wood for the chairs also was getting transformed, and the red carpet on the floor started to have holes in it, Stormy quickly picked up the lamp before the same effect happened on it, he saw the book slowly turning old, as is time itself on the place was accelerating, the lanterns shattering, except for the one he picked up, and the painting on the back of the room, started to deteriorate, for once in his life… he was scared of the night.
“Ok…now im definitely dreaming, and is not a pleasant dream.” He said, holding the lantern with his hoof.
When the siren stopped, so did the transformation, the floor was very cracked, as if anypony hasn't lay a hoof in a long time, he walked slowly on the floor, hopping it will not break, he was relieved to find that, it did not shattered, it was capable enough to withstand his weight, there was nothing he could get in that room, so he exited and returned to the Reception, it was all twisted over, the bookshelves were on the floor and several old and illegible books were lying there, he tried to open the door again, but the doorknob felt down.
“One thing was being trapped on the archives, another one completely different is being trapped in a hell version of it!” he yelled, annoyed.
With the Archives changed, now he has to be extra careful, as the places he visited previously, might have also changed, and putting in it bluntly, he was now in unfamiliar ground.
Chapter 3 - Canterlot Archives (Other Canterlot) -
With the archives changed to a twisted version of itself, Stormy was more that convinced that he was in an alternative reality, if he ever makes it out alive, he will tell Twilight to never use that mind delve spell ever again. The static sound started to appear in the radio again as soon as he started to explore the twisted reception, he saw more Hopping Ponies coming for him, he prepared his hooves waiting them to come, thanks to the lantern he could see them, one of the creatures jumped towards Stormy, as he dodge it, another jumped to him, he took this chance to use his back hooves to give it a good buck, but the other creature he dodge previously was able to bite his front hoof, grunting a little he managed shake it off, the wound was not serious.
“I don’t have all day to do this dance,” he said as he looked at the stairs.
Stormy started running towards the second room, he ignored the pain that each step made, due to the wound and his half healed body, but he did not had any other weapon, the bite marks on his front hooves where proof enough that fighting bare hoofed is a terrible idea. The second floor of the main lobby was in no better shape than the first one, it was damaged, the torches were replaced by some hoof-shaped lantern that provided a very dim light, the stallion touched them and found out there were squishy, simulating flesh, the carpet had disappeared, and all he could see was broken concrete, and sometimes holes in them, in said holes, there was a metallic floor separating him from the first floor lobby, the static sound of the radio was getting stronger, the stairs had changed, they passed from being spiral like when he first entered the area, to be now shaped like a big Y, the hopping ponies were able to slowly climb them, he checked the other door at the opposite end of where he was, he tackled it opening it up returning to the hallway of the second floor.
“I cannot keep up running forever, I need a weapon,” Stormy said as he ran away from the creatures.
The hallway just like the rest of the place had changed, the usual red carpet it had more holes and bloodstains in it, some of the torches were out or broken, and even the usual moon and sun shield designs were busted, the walls had more doors, but there was one that caught Stormy attention, it was the Starswirl the Bearded Wing Door, it was wide open, he got closer to the door to inspect it, it was forced open, he entered the wing, thankfully the radio silence provided some comfort to the stallion.
The giant sand clock was still working, and most of the scrolls there were intact, since the main door is locked, he probably could find something there that could help him either recover his magic or exit the Archives, he checked on several scrolls, but most of them were illegible due to the old age they all share, perhaps if the cycle between day and night affected the buildings and items, if it was day he could read them?, with no luck with the scroll, he checked some pages in the floor, that was kind of unusual, as he checked one of them, it reads “Song of Refresh”, Stormy stopped for a moment, reflecting about the content of that page.
“Song of Refresh, wait, isn’t that one of the pages of the book I picked up earlier?” he said as he placed the lantern on the floor.
With the light next to the page, Stormy took out the book, and searched for the song name on the table of contents, in fact it was a page from the Book of Ancient Song of Harmony, he placed the page inside, the book made true to it’s content, as the magical song restored itself to the book, now with the page back where it belongs Stormy took a more closer look to the song description, it reads the following;
“This magical song was created by the medical team to heal the guards in battle, it can recover serious wounds, but using it would cause a total magic usage in novices, experts performers will not be affected by the side effects though,” he said as he read the song description.
If he used that song, being novice, there is a risk of never regaining his magic again, for now he will keep the book as a last resort, once he stored the book back to his saddlebags he resumed his search for an alternative exit. He noticed something on the window behind the sand clock, he picked up his lantern to take a look, it seems there was a path that took outside the Canterlot Archives, it leads to the main street, he could get out from the window, if, he had a rope and could break the bars on said window.
Stormy decided to head out, feeling better, it was time to explore and find a way to get to that path, sadly for him, the radio started to emit a faint static, he froze in place as soon as a metallic echo started to sound on the place, his face started to turn pale as the static and the echo increased with the passing minutes, he turned around, there was nothing in the dark, he started to move away from the static sound, trying to find a safe distance into the sand clock, but that is when the static suddenly burst through the radio speakers, Stormy saw the entrance to the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, and a big knife opening the door, Stormy fear grew more and more, as he saw a big pony almost as big as Celestia entering the room, but with a Iron Mask and the giant knife on its mouth, just as the one from his nightmare before.
“No, nonononono!, Not him!” Stormy yelled, freaking out.
The creature was walking towards him, Stormy never felt this kind of fear, and he had nothing to defend himself, maybe the nightmare he had before was a warning about this creature in specific, if he couldn’t beat it in his dream, he sure as heck cannot beat it unarmed. The Iron Mask Pony came closer to him and raised his sword, Stormy mind told him to move, to run away, but he was frozen in place, the knife came downwards towards him, Stormy mind finally send orders to his legs to move, dodging to a side just barely, his raincoat was cut, but he didn’t suffered any injuries, the knife also cut part of the sand clock metal ornaments, he could not do anything to that kind of monster, he ran away towards the exit of that room, the iron mask pony was slowly following him, Stormy opened the door and pushed it back to place, the Iron Mask Pony just stood there, as if he was watching in silence, how the former lunar guard was completely lost in his own fear, Stormy not taking his chances around that creature ran toward the stairs taking him to the Third Floor.
“Oh great, now that monster is protecting the only exit, can this get any worse?” Stormy said a little releaved.
“Groaoooawl!” a creature roared in front of him.
“Damn it, I had to say that phrase didn’t i?” he said annoyed.
A hopping pony was already waiting for him, he used his front hooves this time to hit the creature, the creature jumped, but it received the blow, with the monster in range, Stormy continued to hit the creature in hoof to hoof combat, his hooves were strong, but not enough to prevent the creature from getting up, he used a combo, 3 hits with his front hooves, then a good kick with his 2 back hooves, that let the creature on the floor knocked out, he had no idea where to run from the Iron Mask pony, but wait, there is one floor he had completely forgotten , the Fifth Floor, it was kind of the Archives Attic, if he is lucky, he can run pass the monsters on the 4F, Stormy quickly found the stairs leading there, he was glad he had the lantern with him, otherwise he would already have… no, he did not wanted to think of the worse, he still have to get out, find Luna and find his brother.
The fact that the Iron Mask Pony is in Canterlot, just fueled his desire to escape and find them both fast, when he reached the 4F, there was something strange there… the lack of monsters.
“Wait… where did the creatures go?” he said confused.
The 4F had most of the doors unable to be opened, except for the one were he got the songs book, inside there was nothing other than a foal drawing, the drawing depicted Stormy playing with his ocarina, next to him was the book he found, but in the right side, torn pages, he checked behind for a message, the previous drawings had a message, this one should follow the same rule right?, nope, this time what it contained, was a rusty key.
Continuing onward, he reached the final floor, but as he went up, something surprised him. The place looked exactly the same as the library before the transformation…the red carpet was intact, the torches lit, so there was no need for the lantern there, also the moon and sun shields are on the wall and in perfect shape, the floor itself only had 3 doors, did he stepped into another dimension?, he took some steps backwards, returning to the 4F, and the 4F had the transformed aspect, he was not understanding what was happening, but he returned to the 5F, Stormy slowly turned off the lantern and put it away in his saddlebags, opening the first door he had access to, it looked like a bathroom, there was a rusty steel pipe on the tub, he took some steps closer to the tub and picked up the pipe, it was 1 meter long, but hard enough to use it against something, he place it on his back where he used to keep his sword, with nothing else worth checking, he exit the bathroom and entered another room, it was a bedroom, nothing unusual there, just that he found a health drink, the same one as his previous dream, everything was turning far more that strange, why is a bedroom and a bathroom doing on the Canterlot Archives, and why is that floor the only normal one?, he could have suffered a concussion while Twilight performed the spell and now he is imagining this?, or had he finally lost it?.
Stormy shook his head in denial, he refused to believe he lost his sanity and continued forward, he checked the last door, it lead towards a big circular place, the center of the attic, where most of the books that are no longer available to public are placed on special bookshelves, but the whole attic only had one Table, it had a great view of Canterlot, just that right now, nothing could be seen since it was dark outside, the table had a open spell book and a tea, Stormy touched the tea cup, it was still warm, that was very unusual, the table itself had a Lantern lit and a little picture in it, Stormy took the picture, it was the receptionist.
“W-wait…I know her… she is the Cantelot Archives receptionist, Mythic Quill, the attic was her home, she was devoted to the Library in both heart and soul.” Stormy smiled, putting the picture back on the table.
Stormy looked at the book, it had something that caught Stormy eye, it was a architecture book, from the Canterlot Archives, it even had a map attached to it, Stormy read the book, smiling at it’s contents.
“In Cases of Extreme Emergency, the Starswirl the Bearded Wing has a secret passageway that leads to the basement, from there some stairs leads towards the exit just below the window in the wing, in order to activate it-“ The book ended there, Stormy checked the other page, a riddle was present, as the riddle was written in blood, making impossible to read the actual page “-the path of salvation will open, when time itself run backwards”
“Welp, a clue is a clue” Stormy said as he rip the map out of the book and closed it, the stallion checked the nearby bookshelf, most of the books were about history, there was a book with a page in it, used as a bookmark, he open the book where that page indicated, it was a nutritional explanation of equestrian fruits, there was information about Sweet Apple Acres and the different kinds of apples they harvest in their farm.
“Let’s see here, Sweet Apple Acres, the most principal income of Ponyville and Canterlot apples supply, besides hay and the daisy flowers, the apples consist one of the most fundamental parts of a pony diet, the red apple is one of the most common fruit in Equestria, studies of Princess Celestia School for Gifted Unicorns have discovered that for injured unicorns, the apples had some special effects, hold up, special effects?, I have eaten apples all my life and I never felt special effects coming out of them.” Stormy said to himself as he sat on the floor and read.
“Besides being nutritional and tasty, the apples helps in the recovery of injured unicorns that lost their magic capability, the effects are usually passive, but a healthy stallion would not notice them, unless it is under heavy stress, although is not much the quantity the sick unicorn recovers, a whole red apple is enough to allow usage the most basic spells, like levitation. As for the Green Apple, it recovers more amount of the sick unicorn magic, sadly, the green apple have a history of spoiling fast if it is stored in a closed space, like a bag. Finally the legendary Zap Apples, being magical, provide a full recovery of the unicorns magic, and gives a little boost, unfortunately, the Zap apples are too rare and almost impossible to acquire before the Zap Apple Harvesting Day, also, are the quickest one to spoil if you store it on a bag for more that 30 minutes, Granny Smith recommends; don't waist time in picking it up if you are not going to eat it, that's why the Zap Apple Jam or dishes had to be made almost right away when the apples are ready, once they are ready, there is no problem over time” that was the whole article.
Stormy read to the fullest the book information, so in unicorns, the apples had special effects if they are eaten, he never heard of that before, although he remembered that one time, Pinkie Pie said something about special meals, like the Mint Tea he always drink that calms the jitters and relax the mind, or that the Strawberry Cupcake grants her superultraawesome detective powers!...But of course that last one was Pinkie Pie overactive imagination.
Stormy took the apple he had picked and ate it, somepony would say he is extremely gullible for believing what the books says, but taking into account where the heck he is, it won’t be the weirdest thing he has seen all day.
He was both relieved and surprised that he actually was eating something after all the scares, wounds and problems he had already experienced in this so called "nightmare ", he rested a little and felt how his magic slowly reappeared on his horn, he tried a simple trick, levitating the book back to its place, the book was surrounded in his magical aura as it moved from the table to the bookshelf, the apple worked, he took a look on the paper used as bookmark, it was another page of the songs book, it was called “The Brothers & Sister Duet” and it was actually a song that required 2 ponies to play, recommended to be blood related as the name implies. One pony plays the notes as the other sang the lyrics, his usual happy face turned into a extreme sad one, Brother and Sister Duet, the name of the song brought out a bad memory, his eyes started to get filled with tears, tears he could not hold back any longer, first the nightmare where his brother Mistshine did not remember him, the fact that he was all alone now in that limbo, that for some strange reason, drawings made by his brother are laying around and that Pinkie Pie, the pony he saw more as a big sister than a friend, was nowhere to be found, why?, he keeps wondering, why did they left him alone in that place?, he was crying as far as his eyes were capable of producing tears, this was not a dream, he was much more awake, only one word could describe where he was, living hell, once again, he ended up crying, due to the events of a living nightmare, just like when he started, only that this time, he was more than awake.
“Mistshine, Sunnybreeze, Pinkie Pie, little bro, big sisters, where…. where are you now that I need you the most?". He continued to cry, letting out from his chest all his stored pain, carpet on the room started to absorb Stormy´s tears.
Stormy lost count of how much time had passed since he cried in that room, the memory of his family hit him hard, and must have fallen asleep. He was hoping that he ended up awake in his bed, but sadly, one quick look at the windows let him know he was still in the Archives Attic.
That memory was something he decided to close deep inside his mind, all he could remember is that is was something so awful, that it made him abandon Manehatten, as a little foal, and live on the streets, for a while, but almost all of that happened in his fillyhood, so he forgot it to pass the page and move on, but now, that image was trying to revive, he lit up the lantern to his face and dried his tears with his raincoat, getting up and with the clue at hoof, he decided to go back to the Sand Clock.
Stormy also wanted to save as most magic he could, something told him that, he will be using it a lot, specially if he ends up finding more pages of that book, he stored the map on his saddlebags, and also turned off the lantern on the table, he used his illumination spell to use his magic as lantern again, to make sure the apple did its job, thanks Celestia it did. He took the steel pipe on his hooves and opened the door, leading to the 5F hallway… but that’s when everything turned to worse, the hallway already looked old and in the same condition as the rest of the Archives, the door leading to Mythic´s Attic closed, he slowly turned around and opened up the door and sadly for him, it also looked twisted, old and with bloodstains on some places in the walls, the special books, most of them were missing, except the 2 books he already read, he noticed something on the table were the archives book was it looked like a puddle of blood, a drop of it keep falling on the puddle.
“Don’t look up… don’t look up… for the love of Celestia, DON´T LOOK UP!! “ his mind was screaming to him.
His curiosity won this round again, his eyes looked at the ceiling, he saw a corpse in a advanced state of decomposition, without it skin, it was suspended on the roof with barbed wire, it had a glasses on what it looked was the face, a middle age mare, the only thing he could use to indentify the poor pony, was the glasses, he looked at the photo of the table, even in this state, he could see who the pony was, since the glasses themselves had a tiny sapphire stone in them just like in the picture.
“M-mythic Quill!“ Stormy almost jumped from the scare.
At that moment, the radio burst into a loud static, Stormy feeling a presence dodge to a side, just in time as he saw the blade of the Iron Mask pony ripping the door apart, the creature had a coat on his empty hoof, with a scroll and quill cutie mark, Stormy knight mind did not took long to process what happened, that monster killed the receptionist in the alternative world, that’s why he couldn’t feel the creature coming when he was reading the books previously, the transformation had not taken in the whole library because of the song page, Stormy´s fear turned into anger, as he launch himself to attack it using his recently found pipe. The creature did not move an inch when Stormy hit it on the face with it almost as if it was expecting the mistake the knight was about to perfom.
“You killed a helpless mare!” Stormy yelled, his anger was overcoming his fear.
"..." The Iron Mask Pony did not replied
Instead of giving Stormy a answer, the creature threw mare ripped skin towards him, Stormy receive it, the blood was still fresh and manage to stain his raincoat, mane and hooves, this was more than enough to break his anger and revert back to freakout mode, the Iron Mask Pony attacked him, using its Big Knife, Stormy instincts and guard training, told him to shield himself with the pipe, one of the dumbest idea he had all day, the creature strength was huge!, it manage to send him towards the window, which almost broke from the impact, he definitely could not fight that beast, having woke up from his anger rage, he quickly prepared to run back to the hallway, as far as his hooves could take him, but before that, he will give the creature a taste of it’s own medicine, Stormy levitation to return the skin of Mythic towards the creature and allowing him to ran as the creature was “blind”.
“Hope she can hold him off a little.” Stormy said, looking regretful of the tactic he had used.
Stormy burst the door opened, and closed it again, when he was already at 4F he heard the sound of a door opening , just what he need it, the creature knows how to use doors, what next?, dancing?, he did not wasted any time on the 4F or 3F with that thing following him, he must get out of the Archives as soon as possible, so he moved straight to the 2F, sure there was some doors he wasn’t checked that had the Custodian Badge slot, but it was better to come back later during daytime, he got quickly to the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, the door was open, he quickly closed the door and pushed a nearby bookshelf, blocking the entrance, to give him some time.
“Let’s hope that this creature is dumb as a rock” he said as he started to search the wing.
The secret exit has to be there, he must use the hourglass, it was so obvious, he checked the clock, for his bad luck, some of the ornaments of the clock was broken, thanks to Iron Mask previous attack, but he noticed, that there was something inside the sand clock, it looked like a page of a book, Stormy tried to read the title before the sand covered it, it reads “Song of Time“
“Oh perfect! Even if I get the page I could not perform it, my magic only allow me levitation or illumination at this point, not time manipulation,“ Stormy was starting to get irritated.
He noticed something on the sand clock, it was a hole to use something as lever, the pipe he was holding was 1 meter long, it could easily fit in it, risking his only weapon he insert it on the hole until a click was head, locking the pipe in place, making it a makeshift lever.
“Ok, now, let’s see if what the diary page said was correct,” Stormy said to himself again, perhaps making small talk to himself provided with some level of relief?
Stormy moved the “lever” downwards, a loud clank and a little quake started to make the clock move slowly, Stormy quickly took the pipe out and watched the clock spin around, more faster with each cycle, until the clock stopped completely, confused, Stormy stared to analyze it, according to the diary there was supposed to be a hidden passage right in front of him, was the diary a illusion?!
“Oh come on! What else I’m supposed to do? Without the Song of Time I cannot turn time back-,” Stormy said walking around the clock, stopping to reflect on the clue he found earlier. “-or maybe… I don’t need the song after all”.
Didn’t the clue mentioned time moving backward?, The sand clock is still a clock, and if it is intact compared to the rest of the Archives, there must be a reason for it, as he looked closer at the ornaments, he found a little slot that looked like a badge, Stormy quickly took out the Custodian Badge and insert it on the slot, a click made the remaining ornaments detach themselves from the clock, turning into horizontal levers, it did not take much thinking of what to do next.
Stormy pushed the lever counterclockwise, and the circle where he was, clock included, started to lower itself moving towards the Archives Basement, during the decent, the clock was working, and the sand was magically returning to the upper part of the clock, leaving the book page on the below part without sand, but, it didn’t took long for the stallion to notices something was wrong.
The deeper the clock goes, the more darker it became until that, even with the illumination spell active Stormy was only able to see where he was putting his hooves, until a loud clank anchored the clock in place,
“It took too much time to get to the basement, way to long,” Stormy said to himself, a cold shiver traveled his spine.
The stallion guard training was kicking in again, he felt a deep cold at the base of his spine, something was not right, the top of the sand clock suddenly started to give light, Stormy stopped using his illumination spell to save magic, as he stepped out of the circular area, his hoof felt something unusual on the floor, he looked down, only to find that the floor was made of fence!
“If there is pure fence here,” Stormy said, tightening the grip on his weapon.
He turned around, nothing behind him, nothing on front neither, why he was feeling so uneasy? A loud bang came from the sound clock, he turned around to check that the clock was now changing to a twister version of it, the top ornaments started to emit a powerful fire, enough to lit almost all the room, that’s when he hard the sound of something eating, followed by the screams of a creature.”
“GROOAAA!!!” a creature yelled.
Stormy looked in front of him, there was a huge creature in front of him, it looked almost the size of a teenage dragon, but it had fangs and it coat color was very dirty, it had a visible overweight and two front claws with chains, the back of its body was missing the back hooves making the spinal column visible and so part of some rib bones, what shock Stormy the most, is that it was eating another monsters, he quickly looked at it´s claws and saw at the floor several Hopping Ponies and Ceiling Filly’s corpses, the last one, the one that emitted the yell, was a Ceiling filly screaming in pain under the creature’s maw grip, the huge monster put the creature out of it’s misery by ripping them apart. Sadly for Stormy, the sand clock light was enough for the creature to notice his presence.
“Foooooood” the creature exclaimed in a slow but deep voice.
The monster face did not had eyes, or at least that is what it looked, since its “eyeballs” were black all over, and just a tiny dot in color red, what could be the iris, the creature with its two massive claws moved towards Stormy, who was still frozen, his mind reacted in time when the claws of the beast was just centimeters from him, he held the grip of the steel pipe with his remaining magic and moved to a side making the creature miss its attack.
Stormy continued to attack it with the pipe; it didn’t seem to do much, due to the massive mass of the creature, turning around, feeling an annoyance, the creature hit Stormy with his claw, it ripped his raincoat and also injured him on his side, the nails of that creature were unusually sharp, and he could already feel a little amount of blood leaving his body.
But he had a idea, taking advantage of his speed, he hit the exposed spine column with the pipe, although the creature seems to had felt the hit, it turned around and attacked Stormy again, seems it will do everything to protect that spot, Stormy tried to use his magic blast spell, but his current magic amount only will last him for 3 shots, he has to make them count, he galloped towards the creature, the monster took the bait and moved towards him, trying to eat him alive, Stormy´s horn glowed as he hit the creature in the face with the steel pipe, making it turn another way, he climbed on the creature and stabbed his horn on the creature dark eye, he was going for a point blank shot.
“Let´s see if you can see me after this!” Stormy said as he shoots one magical blast
The creature let a loud roar as it’s blood stained Stormy face, the blood of the creature was dark red covering Stormy´s horn, the creature managed to shake off Stormy, sending him crashing to the fence floor, he felt a big pain on his back, the creature, even with one eye working, he could see Stormy very well due to the flames on the clock, it raised it’s claw to squash Stormy like a bug, the stallion however, had a idea, he placed the pipe on the holes in the Fence and held into it, when the creature lowered it’s claw, the pipe went through it’s flesh, since the previous usage of the pipe have sharpen it a little, it made it easy to pierce the creature flesh, part due to it’s insane strength, the creature lifted the pipe along with Stormy the creature had something Stormy did not noticed before, the left hoof had a bracelet, a bracelent with wind designs.
“I-I know that bracelet, it belongs to-“ Stormy could not finish the sentence before a bite from the creature managed to remove him and the pipe from it’s claw “-Ah!, Celestia Damn it!”
Stormy hit the floor again and charged another magical bullet, using that spell under stress takes too much of him, thanks Celestia he was trained in how to control and it use efficiently, he galloped to the back of the creature and shoot his second fire at close range, the impact manage to break the bone of the spinal column and the creature stopped for a moment, Stormy tried to find his pipe, he was surprised he was actually fighting something so big.
“All right... time to take out the big ugly here,” he said as he faced the creature
Unfortunately, the creature wounds only made it more mad, as it moved more faster to Stormy, this time he could not react in time, the claws of the creature stabbed Stormy body as if he were made of paper, he could feel the cold air and the blood escaping his body, the creature throw Stormy into the fence floor, Stormy felt as how the floor literally broke, unable to withstand the impacts of the battle, he ended up hanging on the edge, using the pipe as a improved sword to prevent him from falling to the bottomless abyss
“Gah!, you have got to be kidding me!, that fence did not break with the creature weight, but it did with a attack?!, Sweet Luna, how I’m gonna to beat this thing?” Stormy questioned himself as he put all his strength on getting back up on the fence floor.
Once he was able to get out of the hole, something felt from his saddlebag, it was the energy drink!, it felt into the abyss, the creature had ripped a hole in it, he did not had time to check if anything else was missing, so he galloped towards the creature, and the creature just opened his fangs to eat Stormy up, he used his Steel pipe and stab the creature, leaving the pipe sideways, this of course prevented the creature to close it mouth, he charged his last bullet spell.
“Open Wide! “ Stormy screamed as he used his last bulled with all his strength
He did not knew how much amount he used on that last bullet, but he remember that it took it all his remaining magic, the creature coughed blood as a large thump was heard, the creature was no longer moving, Stormy tired took the pipe and hit the creature head several times, the creature did not moved. It was dead finally, a faint eco of a siren was heard at the distance, Stormy could not stand anymore and felt towards the ground, fainting from exhaustion…everything turned into black again.
During the time he was unconscious, he could hear some voices that echoed in the darkness, he tried to pay attention, but his body was not moving, they were kind of fuzzy, all he could see was a little colt standing next to a big stallion in a expensive suit
“Get out of my office kid, that issue is not my jurisdiction” said the big pony while he was eating a big amount of hay fries
“What in the hay do you mean is not you jurisdiction?!, my mother, your secretary is very ill!, she could lost my little bro that is on it’s way!, how can you run a town if you don’t help others?! “ the little colt yelled
“I said get out!, Guards! Take this filthy filly out of my office!“ the big pony angrily yelled, as the guards took the colt out
“You will not get away with this!, you will pay! You hear me?! “ those were the last words of the colt before he was throw outside the office
Stormy´s eyes started to open, still dizzy from the fight… but those voices keep echoing on his mind… he was able to recognize one of them… the little colt one, it was his own voice, maybe a fragment of the past he forgot, once he was able to open his eyes without feeling dizzy, he noticed with his hooves that the floor was solid, it was concrete, he took his lantern out and turn it on, he noticed a key on the floor next to a broken bracelet, it reads Canterlot Castle Main Gate.
“This was the key for the main doors of the Canterlot Castle, guess that’s where I’m going next,” Stormy said, as he stored the key on his saddle.
The key felt thought the hole of his left saddlebag, he quickly took all his items to see if he was missing something, the Book of the Song of Harmony, prevented the lost of the little Custodian Badge, same thing goes for the maps, radio and ocarina, but the Energy Drink was the only thing missing, he looked at his current location with more detail; It was a basement, with several wooden boxes there and some very old fabrics that have not being used on a long time, most of the boxes had books, also there was only one door, leading outside.
“I…I made it out of the Archives?” Stormy said, letting out a sigh of relief.
He took one of the fabrics to fill up the hole on his saddlebags, but it was too big, he checked the room for something else, between boxes he noticed some needles, not for tailoring, but it will have to do, he ripped a piece of the fabric using the sharp end of the pipe and started to stitch the bag using his mouth, once he finally was able to fill the hole, he placed all his items and the key again on the bags.
As Stormy stand up, he remembered that the hourglass for the Starswirl the Bearded Wing was right next to him, he checked the clock the sand was in the upper part, but the lower part do not longer had the Song of Time page, so he tried to pull the lever clockwise to go back up, but when he touched the lever, the page was wrapped up like a stroll on said lever.
“Ok… this is strange, how in Equestria did the page got out of the hourglass?” he questioned as he read the page contents
With his current state, no effect would happen if he play it, due to his lack of magic, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t learned it, the page described that it will turn time backwards or forward depending what the user wants, it affect the whole environment, but the user and the ones that touch him in that moment will be unaffected.
“...” he took the book out of the saddle bags and placed the page inside after he finish reading it “So... Basically, anypony that touch me while I play this song, will travel thought time with me for a couple of hours.“
Stormy sighed for a moment, finding the new song he found not very useful in this kind of hell, not to mention the song seems to consume a good amount of energy, he got up and held the lantern with his mouth, as he stored the book back with the new page, he walked towards the door he had in front, opening it up slowly, just as the receptionist book said, the stairs took him outside, he was in the little path that leads towards Canterlot Streets, his short travel back to the streets was cut shut when a bottomless pit appeared just outside the exit door, cutting him off from the main avenue.
“Oh great… holes here again,” he sighed in annoyance.
He can forget a direct approach, he went back to the path and tried to find another way around, he managed to spot a forest area that seems to go into the mountain, Stormy used his lantern to look into the cavern as he walked in further in, the sounds of water running in the cave indicated him he was probably getting closer to the town outskirts, since the draw bridge is usually nearby the waterfall, as he walked in several question filled his mind, the most important one being, what in the name of Equestria went wrong when Twilight used that Mind Delve spell?, and how come monsters are roaming the buildings?, where is the Royal Guard?, Stormy finally managed to exit the cave, the loud sound of water falling confirmed his initial suspicion, he was outside Canterlot, just near the draw bridge, the waterfall water was clean as always, Stormy saw some stones in the water, big enough to jump into them and into the draw bridge, once he managed to jump until the draw bridge, it rose, making Stormy slip into the city. Luna wasn’t joking when she said she couldn’t see the floor from her room, after all.
“This looks far worse up viewed from ground level,” he said, looking at the city state.
The town itself was covered with a very dense and thick fog, but just like the Archives, it was completely deserted.
Chapter 4 - Exploring the Castle (Fog Canterlot) -
“Where did everypony go?” That was one of the questions that ran wild on the stallion mind. But as he tries to answer it, he heard some hoofsteps around the town, usually he will go and greet them, but a growl indicated that those hooves belong to monsters.
He did no longer needed the lantern anymore since he is outside, the daylight was providing enough light to continue forward, even with the fog preventing him to see the buildings, so he put it away on the bags, he need some extra firepower if he plans to enter the castle, so, what better place than the Archives he just exited?, after all, is daytime, he galloped and searched for the main door, he couldn’t opened it from the inside, so there is a chance the archives were blocked from the outside, once he reached the door however.
“Ok… this is new,” he said as he walked forward slowly.
The door to the archives was blocked by pieces of the roof and wood, Stormy used his magic blast and blasted away the debris, clearing the door, once he opened it though, he found the Archives were completely destroyed, the stairs leading to the second floor were busted, and the door leading to the reading hall was broken, the only thing he could find there was a spell scroll on the receptionist desk along with a notebook that had a flower shaped quill.
“That quill… is from my brother, he asked me to buy this from the same gift shop where I got the Posey doll,” Stormy said to himself, smiling at the memory.
The scroll reads “Double Spell Incantation”, basically, it allows the user to use 2 spells at the same time, Stormy read the scroll, memorizing the steps required to perform it, he will practice it as soon as he reloads his magic, and there is only one place he can rest at least enough to recover, his own home, it was far away from the library, but he can reach in no time. As he walked he remembered that he had some cupcakes left on home, made with red and green apples, those rations will prove useful, especially since he will be using magic a lot. As he hurried back to home, he took the usual street, right next to the restaurant, but when he turned around the corner, the road was destroyed, there was no way to enter the apartment building that way.
“Oh for Celestia sake!, here too?” Stormy questioned, annoyed that he almost felt to a hole again.
Stormy was trying to find an answer, he looked at his building, where his apartment was, and the hole itself, most of the buildings next to the hole are almost falling inside, but his apartment remains untouched, that means, there must be another way, he has to go back and take a detour between the Art Gallery, the radio emitted a faint static, on the fog, Stormy manage to indentify a hopping pony, he did not had time to fight it, so he ran away instead, the radio stopped the sound as soon as he was out of the creature range, seems that they were not fast enough.
Walking around the empty Canterlot, Stormy found out that the street right next to the Fairytale’s Bookshop Store had a little alley that could get him to the Art Gallery side alley and to his apartment, his wounds stopped hurting him, the bandages had dried blood on them, but the wounds were already closed.
“Ahhh, finally a break,” he exclaimed, as he walked around the alley, reaching to the west side of the apartment building.
He placed his hoof on the doorknob and open it, once inside the building, he had to go a couple of stairs up, as soon as he found out the huge “04” door, an expression of relief cross his face as he opened it, reaching to his humble home, it was still as he left it before going to see Celestia. Half way eaten cupcakes were laying on the floor, his video game consoles perfectly hooked up to his TV, his bathroom, even his bed, he searched his table for the cupcakes, but they were not there, he went to where he keeps his video games, once he opened the drawer, he found only 1 cupcake left, can he have already eaten all of them during the last 4 months?.
Well, cupcake found, so, now it will be the best time as any to practice the double spell he learned, he focused his magic into levitating the cupcake and then perform a magical blast on the half eaten ones to make them splat, although it was difficult, he managed to shoot small magical blast while using levitation at the same time, seems his magic blast is severely weakened while in use of a different spell, Stormy tried combining levitation with the illumination spell, the light his horn provided was not affected.
“Wait a minute… how come the magical blast got affected?, let me see that scroll again” he said as he took out the scroll from his saddlebags.
“This spell was specifically developed for non combat situations, if a combat spell is combined with this spell, the effects will weakened.” That’s what was written on the spell scroll.
“Great… I always have to forget to read the little letters,” said Stormy rolling his eyes to a side.
Well seems he will have to deal with a weaker magic blast while using levitation at the same time, Stormy carefully levitated the cupcake on a little cardboard box and store it on his saddlebags, Mint Cupcake, it was his favorite flavor ever since he was a little foal, Pinkie Pie usually makes them for him when he is feeling depressed, a small smile draw itself on the stallion face as the echo of another memory rang in his head, it was Pinkie Pie singing, and he even heard her bouncing happily, which is weird because it sounded that her voice came from the kitchen, he opened his kitchen door, and he was frozen in place, for what he saw.
“All you have to do is take a cup of flour,
Add it to the mix!
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour,
A bit of salt--just a pinch!Baking these treats is such a cinch,
Add a teaspoon of vanilla.
Add a little more, and you count to four
And you never get your fill-a~Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty~
Cupcakes--don't be too hasty,
Cupcakes~ cupcakes, Cupcaaaaaaakes! “
It was none other than Pinkie Pie herself, singing to a younger little colt, as she made cupcakes with him, Stormy eyes filled with tears, he noticed the little colt, was himself, and that memory, it was the first time he had saw Pinkie pie on Ponyville, during his first travel outside of his birthtown.
“...I guess a bit of mint might also work,“ the little colt replied looking at Pinkie
“Pinkie Pie!!” Stormy screamed jumping towards her
When Pinkie noticed, she smiled, Stormy tried to hug her, but he went through her like a ghost, he turned around and Pinkie Pie was no longer on there, neither the smaller stallion, however, the evidence left behind by them still remained in the kitchen, since the remains of cake mix and candies were all over the place, the fridge was also opened, with 2 green apple cupcakes inside, Stormy picked up one up and ate it.
Satisfied to had eaten something he smiled but his face still had some tears left, he store the other cupcake in the same box as the mint cupcake on his bag just in case, he felt as if a bigger amount of magic had returned to him. The smile, quickly turned into a sad expression, he imagined for a moment Pinkie Pie was even there, even though he already knew, he was all alone there, he tried hard not to cry, remembering he still have a mission to do.
“ I can’t waste anymore time now, I must go to the Canterlot Castle, if this Luna is real, then I must find her,“ Stormy said as he made sure to check his items before leaving the room.
He turned, ready to leave, he was aware that the green apple on the cupcake might spoil quickly, so he had like a 30 minute window for it, when he turned around to take a last look on the kitchen, he noticed something shiny on the bowl with cake mix, candies and vanilla, Stormy took it out, it was a key, with a cupcake in it
“What in the name of pink?, this is the Sugar Cube Corner Key, how in Equestria did this key get to Canterlot from Ponyville?!” Stormy was more confused that ever as he looked at the key from every angle possible.
There is no mistake, it was the key to the Cakes home and bakery, but Sugar Cube Corner was located in Ponyville, how did the key to Pinkie house get in there?, debating on the why would not serve any purpose other than to make him lose time, so Stormy stored the key in his saddlebags, it was starting to get full.
“Come on, im sure I had the extra space spell around here,” said the stallion as he searched his home.
In battle, some guards tend to use the “Extended Pocket” spell to allow themselves to carry spears and other weapons in their armor pockets, as part of Luna’s Moon Guards, he also had access to that spell, problem is, Stormy didn’t remembered where he put that spell in, he opened one of his old games boxes and there it was, the Extended Pocket Spell, he immediately applied it to have a little of extra space, of course, thanks to the apple cupcake he ate he could now do more spells, fully recovered and ready, he exited his apartment, the same way he enter it, and ran towards the Canterlot Castle.
As expected, there was no guards on the front gate, Stormy took out the key of the castle from his saddlebags and use it on the Castle Main Doors, the clicking sound was heard, Stormy moved forward, pushing the big metallic gates and getting inside.
“The Canterlot Castle... this is where I came to train to be a Lunar Guard,“ the stallion said to himself, as he caught a glimpse of the training grounds near the front gate.
Stormy remembered his first sword training, the attacks with magic that he learned from Shinning Armor, even he remember playing his ocarina at night on the training grounds, feeling a little nostalgic he slowly walked in to the main gate castle grounds and took his ocarina out, at first he played a original song to remember the old times, but a quick radio static sound snapped him out of the comfort zone and back into the fighting, a hopping pony was attacked by the song.
Taking advantage of the new learned spell, he held his ocarina with levitation and shot several magic blasts, the reduced force was enough to conserve magic, while at the same time, keeping the monster back and injuring it. Once the creature was silenced, Stormy played the Winds of Friendship song, to contact Princess Luna again, the amount of magic he used this time was less than when he first played the song, and this time, the ocarina this time reacted almost immediately, the princess had responded.
“Luna... I think I got the hang of this song, I do not feel the same fatigue as last time, you ok up there?” Stormy said, showing how quickly he dominated the ancient song.
“For the time being, yes I am” she said sounding exhausted. “Are you still far away from the castle?”
“Actually no, I’m in the main castle gate, just outside the main door,” Stormy informed the princess as he pushed a little the main door, going inside.
“Oh thanks my sister you're near.” She exclaimed in relief. “The sooner you get me out of here, the better. It's getting a bit suffocating...”
“Don’t tell me you have run into the same monsters I have already” Stormy reacted surprised, but going back to the topic “Where are you right now?”
“I'm somewhere in the gardens... Not sure exactly where. Everything is now twisted and confusing”
“The fog doesn’t help either, I will try to find you in your bedroom, think we can see each other there?” Stormy asked the Princess to a meeting point, he was in the lobby of the castle, just like the rest of the town, it was empty
“Sounds like the safest idea. I'll see you there, oh… before I go.” The princess interrupted. “I head some metallic sounds from the Armory in the first floor, be careful.” the glow on the ocarina stopped, Luna was not longer connected with Stormy via the magical song.
Stormy stored his ocarina back on his saddlebags and ate the second green apple cupcake, his magic has recovered to the maximum now, he was going to need it if the creatures or the Iron Mask Pony were on the Castle, specially considering Luna´s hint, Stormy got close to the lobby and from the far away desk to the right, there was a map he could use, looked at the quickest route to the Princess Celestia and Luna’s bedrooms.
“Ok… if I can cut from the kitchen to the south gardens and then to the guest rooms, I can reach the Guards Bedrooms and from it to the Princess Tower gardens,” he said as he traced the route.
The castle was intact, the armors, torches, carpets on the floor, even the curtains or the doors, everything was as if they never got damaged, the lobby had 4 passage ways, one took to the left observation tower and the left entrance and the left courtyard, the right one connected to the right tower supply warehouse and the rose garden, the 2 passage ways on top of the staircase takes to the great hall and to the outer hallway respectively. However, under the stairs it were 2 doors he forgot, one was an area for employees of the castle, that way take straight to the guards training grounds at the left and the kitchen in the right.
Stormy went up the stairs and tried the outer hallway door, this door usually leads to the Meeting Room and to the internal garden, there is a road that leads to the guest bedrooms and several ball rooms, sadly for our stallion. The door was locked, he kicked the door several times, but it didn’t budge, seems he would not be able to enter the hallway this way, Stormy tried to call the princess with another magical song but before he played the melody, he remembered that Luna said the Iron mask Pony was on the Armory, that is on the Basement B1, almost next to the dungeons.
“If I play my ocarina, even if this is a safe area, the walls will make resonance and will attract the monsters here, last thing I need is that monster in specific behind me,” Stormy rationalized as he stored the instrument away.
His instinct told him to check the throne room first, since Celestia spend most of her time there, she must have the key to the outer hallway, after all, that hallway is most of the time used for important guesses and political meetings, The throne room was on the 2F from the main lobby, in the same hallway that leads to the great hall, he moved there, but when he open the door, a blood trail goes towards the throne room, Stormy felt a cold chill heading down towards his spine as he followed the trail, he pushed gently the door that led towards Princess Celestia and Luna Throne Room.
“What in the name of harmony happened here?” he said to himself, frozen on the spot.
The stained glass showed the heroic deeds of the Mane 6, defeating Nightmare Moon, returning Discord to his stone prison, and even Spike saving the Crystal Empire, but those were the only things in the place that were clean, the whole throne room looked like it has been burned out, part of the throne itself was broken, and several bloodstains in the form of solar knights were present in the walls and ceiling, it looked almost as if the guards tried to contain something that was way far beyond their capability.
Celestia was nowhere to be seen, just her crown was there on her throne, along with a huge amount of ash making her silhouette, Stormy did not like the looks of this, should he inform Luna?, the crown had dried-blood in it, indicating that whatever happened to Celestia, it was waaay to long before he even got to the castle.
Below the crown was stained page that it reads “Princess Lullaby “ the paper used made it clear it was another missing song from the Harmony book, Stormy was going to pick it up but his radio started to emit static, he turned around and saw the Armored Shadow from the Archives, the armor he had to fled because nothing was able to hurt it, he could tell it was that one because it was lacking it’s helmet.
“Oh great, him again,” he said as he dodged an incoming attack.
Good news is, he had no need to use the illumination spell, since the light entered from the windows, bad news is, the creature seems to avoid the light that enters from the windows. Stormy concentrated and used a magic bullet attack on the creature, the creature took the blow but it didn’t do anything since he hit the torso plate, Stormy stepped back, as the Armored Shadow tackle him, he dodged to a side and almost immediately hit the shoulder section of the armor with his pipe, the piece was sent flying to the other side of the room, but the shadow pony was still ready to attack.
Stormy was not going to let this creature screw things up, so he started to attack as well, he managed to hit with the steel pipe another piece of armor, and noticed that the shadow pony made a face like if he was hurt.
“That’s it!, the Armored Pony is just a possessed armor, taking out each piece with a strong hit, will break the creature connection to it!” Stormy smiled, he seems to have found the creature weakpoint.
True, physical attacks to the shadow flesh are pointless, but not to the armor itself, the shadow pony used his own armor as weapon and hit Stormy on his stomach, making him move backwards, the creature tackle him again, making Stormy roll and hit the floor, when the creature tried to step on Stormy body, Stormy charged one magical bullet on a non protected part of the shadow body, the bullet hit it´s target, making the creature scream in pain, seems that light based magic is deadly to it if no armor is protecting it, perhaps that explains why it avoids the light from the windows. Stormy decided to take advantage of the natural light and stepped into one of the windows, then used his pipe to reflect the light towards the creature face.
“GROAOSS!” The creature yelled, the light blinded him.
Stormy charged another blast and finish the creature off, aiming at it’s head, the blast managed to kill the creature, leaving the remaining pieces of the armor on the ground.
“uuugh... for a shadow, it really had quite a kick, gotta take note on it’s weakness,” Stormy said to himself, looking at the armor remains.
Stormy took advantage of this moment picked up the page on the throne, it says that it was the Princess Lullaby when Luna and Celestia were little filly’s, used to be played by The Mother Alicorn, but the alicorn name was bloodstained and could not be read, the song was readable though, Stormy played the song, and it was not hard to master, and the magic consumed by it was very little, according to the page description, it has a magical effect of making anypony except the user, fall asleep as soon as they hear it, but since he was alone in the room, it didn’t had any magic effects, sadly the key for the outer hallway was not in the Throne Room.
That leaves the kitchen as the next destination, not before taking Celestia´s Tiara with him just in case that Luna ask what happened to her sister. When he exited the throne room, the radio burst into static again, he saw 2 Ceiling Filly on the roof, he was not going to waste time, before the creatures even came close to him, he fired his magic bullets, killing them in the process. Stormy tried to enter the great hall, but it was locked as well, with few options, he returned to the lobby and entered the staff door that leads to the kitchen, it smelled horrible, several ants were on the tables and the cooking pots had dried soup in them, he put his hoof on his nose for a while.
“Sweet Luna…. This smells horrible, hard to think 4 months ago this was used to make a wedding banquet worthy of the love princess,“ Stormy thought for himself, as he searched for the key, or something he could use
There was a note on the table, with a blood stained knife? It reads that for more flavor you could add 2 horns, 3 Pegasus feathers, a liver and a heart, Stormy was shocked when he read the note, it looked like somepony was cooking ponies, this made him instantly throw up, he did not want to check the pots or the fridge, he did not have enough courage for that, he exited the kitchen and headed to the warehouse garden, where the chefs can go to bring the fresh materials, there is a passage way that goes straight to the Guards Private rooms.
Yeah, each guard that chooses to live in the palace, get their own room, separated due to ranks, from the lower, to the highest rank, Stormy quickly passed the gardens and reached the tower where the rooms are, he heard a little static, seems there was a creature near him, but chose to forget it and move on.
The stallion checked room per room, most of them had the doorknobs broken, or the door was destroyed allowing to see inside, although, the rooms that were open had something at least of use, one room had a Energy drink, another room had a red apple, and from what it seems a soldier diary, this draw Stormy attention to the object.
“Hmmm, a soldier diary?, let see, the last page was from 4 days ago,” Stormy said as he read the contents of the book.
“I overheard some Lunar Guards last night, Princess Luna has not been able to sleep at all, is just like those stories that the Element of Laughter told us the last time she was here on royal duty, according to her, you lost your appetite for your favorite meals, also you look sad and tired, then the nightmares come and attack, I think the problem was caused due to the recent events with the Crystal Empire, the Princess wanted to help, but Princess Celestia insisted on letting Twilight Sparkle go, most of us the Lunar and Solar Guards, sometimes see her taking long flights around Canterlot and Ponyville with a few hours, maybe seeking advise from the Element of Magic?, I don’t even know now, I want to help our princess, but only Shinning Armor has the key to enter the Princess Towers, when is bedtime, all guards that are no on duty must leave, to let either Celestia or Luna sleep... what could be making Princess Luna stay awake even in daytime?” those were the words of one of the guards.
Stormy stopped reading, could it be? That the Luna he has been talking about, was another creature disguised as the Princess he swore to protect?, or that in reality, the Princess he is trying to find is the one he knows and that she is also suffering from terrible nightmares?, Could have he been connected to the princess nightmares in any way? As far as he is concerned, the only one that can enter the dreams of other ponies is Princess Luna herself, but anyone that is connected to her will be able to react and think normally, then if that is the case, How come he has not seen her yet?.
With thousands of questions in mind he exited the current guard room, he noticed it was a solar guard bedroom were he found the previous dairy, maybe other guards keep more information in their journals? He needs to be sure, so he searched the remaining rooms, he entered on a lunar guard room, besides their armor, a note was on the bed, looks like a journal entry, just what he was searching for, but this one was very strange, it had some messages missing, due to some black marker covering the words.
“No Sleep--------That raincoat colt----------- bad dream-------- “ the note continued stained for a while, but there was a readable part, it said ; “ I know his sin, and I will tell the princess! “
For some reason, those last words send shivers to Stormy spine, what could have the knight know to write that?, he tried to exit the room, but he felt something on his back again, the radio burst into static, it was a Ceiling Filly, those little devils were very good at avoiding activating the radio, just that this ceiling filly was different, besides the already usual look and screws they have on the head, they were wearing a remaining of what it looked to a suit, a cyan suit.
“Rwaaarw” the creature groaned.
“Damn it, How many of you are?” the stallion questioned, as he tried to shake the creature off.
“Groh?” the creature made a shrug expression to Stormy´s question before resuming his attack.
The creature lost it’s grip, the stallion took his chance and attacked him with the steel pipe, the filly evaded the attack and launched itself for a attack of his own, Stormy placed the pipe in defense, the creature ended up biting the pipe, Stormy swing the pipe towards the floor, making the creature hit the concrete hard, the creature got up, but Stormy used his pipe again on its head, the creature started to emit a painful growl, Stormy put all his strength on the next blow, making the creature to go quiet, it did not felt the hit, if there was a monster he still have issues facing in battle, are these ones, perhaps due to the foal-like appearance?.
He exited the room quickly and searched for other rooms, there was only 3 good rooms remaining, Shinning Armor room, his teammate and his superior on the Lunar Guards, Noirstar, and the room from the second in command from the Solar Guards, Starlight Sight, he checked Starlight first, he loved seeing stars at night, so perhaps he might have spotted something unusual when he was star gazing, he found another journal entry on the telescope in his room, Stormy seems to might be able to got some information on what might be happening to Luna
“Being an active solar guard provides me with a lot of opportunities to see things in town, but when night falls and I’m supposed to sleep, I feel myself cheating little hours of sleep to gaze upon the stars. How come we neglected that gift from Princess Luna is beyond me, but these are new times, on one of my usual star gazing nights I saw Princess Luna, crying in her bedroom, talking to Princess Celestia, seems she still has a hard time getting adjusted to the modern times.” The guard note ended there, Stormy flipped the page and found more info. “Concerned about the princess I started to investigate, I end up finding that some guards had overheard several rumors about Luna. According to some of the lunar guards, she had been suffering terrible nightmares, so awful that even Celestia was shocked when she heard them.”
Stormy paused for a moment, trying to reflect on those words. “Wait, so I was right then, Luna has been suffering from nightmares as well,” by some strange reason he was smiling, almost as if he found something he wanted to find, a sigh of relief was heard coming out of his mouth as he continued to read.
“I could not hear much before I was found by Princess Celestia herself. but I could noticed on the following weeks after that conversation, that Princess Luna was awake most of the time during the day, trying to be helpful in anything she could, one day she even took her battle armor and made guard with us for a whole shift, kind of humorous really, but still the same problems happens each time she goes to sleep, Celestia herself told me to keep this information secret, but I have to get it out of my head, she said that Luna had been having nightmares where she ended up murdering everypony on the castle, including Celestia, being possessed by Nightmare Moon again, could be possible?, that the Elements of Harmony had not eliminated all of the corrupted state of Luna, when she was Nightmare Moon?, only time will tell, she told me that she will try something to help her, let’s pray that Celestia knows what the hay she is doing,” those were the final words written on the note
That last page cleared it all to Stormy, or at least the reason Luna was also there, it was not a creature posing as Luna, it was actually her!, Luna have been having very similar nightmares as him, that’s why Celestia took immediate response to his plea of help, with more reason than ever, he wanted to get to the princess ASAP, she will not survive this hell all by herself, not with her fear being corrupted again eating the back of her mind, he searched the remaining 2 rooms, the one from Noirstar was opened already. As he entered the room, he found it was painted in green color, the floor was a little slippery and the closet had a spare armor, but the strange thing of the room, was a recent letter, addressed to Noirstar, Stormy read it carefully, Noirstar was one of his closer fiends on the force, but something on that letter didn’t felt quite right.
“My Subject, or should I call you Noirstar now?, I will get straight to the point, I didn’t send you to infiltrate the Royal Guard to make friends!, you are a drone remember?, something that lives to serve me, I own you, get it? I know that you have been very happy in Canterlot, you think you was the only changeling I send to spy on the ponies?, 6773 came in with his report yesterday, and let me tell you, that happiness will not last forever, one day, Celestia will know that you were always one of my subjects and will banish you or worse, all the ponies you knew will turn against you, so I will give you one final order, go to the princesses bedrooms and kill them both!, only like that you will be accepted back on the Hive!, otherwise… well, let’s just say that I will pray a lot to do not see each other again. Yours Truly, Queen Chrysalis, Changeling Queen “ those were the words on the letter.
There was something else on the letter, Stormy turned it around, it was green blood writing, and had a key attached to it, from what it looked, it looked like a remorse letter.
“I can’t do it!, but what if they never knew?, I want to be remembered as a pony, not as a traitor changeling, but this are my Queen orders…. For the love of Celestia!, I can’t take it anymore! Somepony... anypony... Help me!“ those were the green letters written on the back of the letter.
It was Noirstar writing, there was no question about it, this was too much info to digest, his best buddy, was a changeling?, that can’t be true!, if he was a changeling, he has been feeding on love from everypony, he could be easily kill Celestia or Luna, but why he hadn’t say anything?
“Oh yeah, the wedding invasion, if he had said anything after the wedding, Celestia would probably had locked him in a dungeon and banish him, maybe he was too scared to talk?” Stormy said, his smile quickly turned into a frown.
Maybe, just maybe, on the back of Stormy´s mind, he always had suspected that his best friend, was a changeling, the strange strength and agility, ability to fly without any visible wings, and his green magic aura when he shield himself, he should have seen the hints, but he couldn’t betray his friend in telling Luna or Celestia, despite everything, he is still his friend, and if he was really a spy of Chrysalis, he could have killed him at any moment, but he didn’t.
He inspected the room, besides finding several traces of broken shells; he found a photo album, full of moments between him and Noirstar, he looks so happy in them, contrary to what the letter indicates. There is no way around it though, if Noirstar is in the castle, he won’t do something against his friend, but if he doesn’t leave him any options, Stormy will defend himself if necessary.
“Please Noirstar, if you are in this castle… don’t make me do something I will regret” he said, putting the album back on its place.
Stormy took the key from the letter, it was the princess tower key, he place it on his saddlebags and checked the last room, it was Shinning Armor room, did he ever locked his door? The place had a big picture of Princess Cadance and the Armor he always wear in the castle, Princess Cadance sometimes visit Shinning Armor in his room, that is why the bed is big for 2 ponies, but with them married, Shinning spends most of the time on the Crystal Empire.
Stormy searched the room for something usable, after all, the outer hallway is still locked, there was a white stain on the bed, along with a lot of funny smells on the room that any adult pony would already know what happened there, but there was something on the bed, it was a magic scroll, it mentioned a more powerful version of the bullet spell, with it, he could fire more bullets using less magic, or even send energy to his sword, or in this case, pipe, to make it more powerful in each hit, it also explained how to generate a magical shield spell, but the amount of magic to use it was huge, he have to increase his magic limit before even thinking about actually perform it some of this spells, specially the magical shield, Stormy read it and store it on his saddlebags to practice it later, he exited Shinning Armor room and galloped full speed to the Princesses Tower.
“Ok… once I exit this building I can take the alternative pathway on the garden to reach the princess tower,” he said, galloping faster towards the exit.
During the way he was meditating about what he had found out so far, Celestia is nowhere to being seen, Luna had similar nightmares compared to the ones he had about murdering innocent ponies, and the problem with Noirstar, if all that information is correct, then he is definitely not on a dream, the another dimension idea seems to be getting more and more strength, feeling trapped on an endless nightmare.
Stormy reached to the tower after crossing the garden, but at least 3 hopping ponies were waiting for him, Stormy took the magic scroll he took from Shinning Armor room, and tried his improved spell bullets, this was going to leave him in the red probably, but he can ask for Luna to regenerate his magic since she is an alicorn right?. The magic bullets were shot from his horn and the hopping ponies took the fires, still it was enough to take them out with one shot, he then used the key on the doors and opened them, he could hear a metallic echo on the tower, Stormy heart jumped to his neck as the echo grew louder, each time he took a step closer to Princess Luna bedroom, he tried to enter Celestia´s room, but the door was locked, he reached to Luna room, and called her, the door was locked from the outside with a powerful magic on the doorknob, however, the radio had a very faint static sound.
“Princess… I’m here!” Stormy called to the door again, a little relieved to be near the princess door.
“Well yeah, my head is still attached to my body, so yeah I’m me, what are you doing locked in there?” Stormy joked, as he tried to kick the door down, the magical barrier repelled any attack
“I was trying to find you, but...” her voice then went a little lower. “I was spotted... They dragged me here and sealed the door”
“S-spotted?” Stormy felt a shiver down his spine, he was afraid of what he was going to ask. “What caught you?, was the Ceiling Filly?, or the Skeletal Mare?”
“Pardon me, but whom are you talking about?” the princess sounded confused at Stormy question.
“Oh... those are the names i gave to the creatures I had found so far, give me a sec“ the stallion stepped away from the door a moment.
Stormy searched for something to use, he ended up using a piece of wall and started to use his magic blast to draw a picture of the 5 known monsters he encountered so far, he slid the piece of thin wall under the door to allow Luna to see the badly drawn monsters, so the princess will known what to expect once she is out
“You see Luna... those are the creatures i have found so far... there is the hopping pony, which is the one with one leg, the Ceiling Filly that is a filly with bolts on its head and knives for front hooves, the Armored Shadow, which is a live armor revived by a shadow creature, the skeletal mare which looks like death, and the Iron Mask Pony based on what you told me, don’t ask me how, but that last creature is invulnerable to anything” he said waiting for Luna’s answer.
“Pray tell… how many of these have you seen?” Luna asked, trying to get more information
“Let me tell you, the Archives are flooded with these things, but the streets are deserted, with the exception of a few of these creatures” Stormy answered the princess question with honesty.
“This is the one that got me here…” Luna answered Stormy first question when she returned the wall piece with a circle on the Skeletal Mare.
“Oh crap, well, time to get you out” Stormy said, preparing a magical spell.
“Get my sister, she might know how to open the lock” Luna demanded to her guard, trying to avoid Stormy from firing.
Celestia?, what he was going to say now?, I’m sorry Luna but your sister is missing and all I found is a bloodstained crown. If he said that Luna could break, Stormy decided to follow Luna request and went down to Celestia´s bedroom without telling her what he had found, at least for the time being, he pushed the doors just to find her bedroom where she used to receive Twilight letters, next to the chimney.
“Probably Twilight old friendship reports are here...” he said as he closed the doors.
Neat and tidy as expected from a princess, he started to search for any spell scroll he could use to break a magical barrier; he ended up finding an old investigation that Twilight had sent to her mentor about the magical barriers created by Shinning Armor and Cadance, Stormy just to make sure, he sit on Celestia´s cushions to read the letter, as expected, it was written by Spike, his claw writing is impossible to miss.
“Dear Princess Celestia, as you might know, I asked my brother and Cadance to do their bubble love shield again to test their magical properties, as expected, the magic casted by an alicorn is strong enough, but my brother magic adds another layer of protection, while Alicorn magic alone is meant to last long as long as the target magic slowly drains, Shinning magic strengths the barrier and transfers some of its magic to Cadance, and viceversa, this “recycle” of magic allows the barrier to last almost indefinitely, until both ponies run out of magic, even when my brother magic runs out, Cadence can still keep the spell going, however… I found a little flaw.
These kind of barriers are fueled by feelings and most of the time requires the user full concentration and power, if the user falls asleep, then the barrier is immediately lifted, ending the spell. Hope you find these studies useful to strength your own barrier spells you out on the castle.
Your fateful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Wait… barriers can be defeated by the user falling asleep?, kinda makes sense when you think about it, but Twilight last sentence ran wild on Stormy head, so Celestia set up barriers in the castle?, if so, then when she sleeps, so does the barriers, and what if the barrier that is on Luna’s door was made by an invisible monster? That might explain why he hasn’t seen anything but the radio had a minimal static noise when he is in front of the door, with the new information he went to Luna’s bedroom and took his ocarina out, he was ready to give the Princess Lullaby a second try.
“Princess… I didn’t found your sister… but I think I can take the barrier out” he said getting ready to play.
“Whatever you want to do, please do it.” Luna asked politely, she was sitting on her bed, a little tired of being standing around.
Stormy started to play the Princess Lullaby song, thankfully for him; the song description stated that the user is immune to the effect, and true to it’s word, Stormy was able to hear the peaceful melody, the sounds of the ocarina started to echo in the tower as the static sound began to fade, a soft thud was heard, like if somepony had collapsed on the floor, a snoring soon followed as the magical barrier started to dissipate, when the song ended, Stormy felt a little magic drain, it was not as big as when he used the Winds of Friendship song.
“No way. That actually worked?” he said with a confused expression in his face.
Stormy pushed the doors open, they were a little stiff, however, when he opened them and entered the princess bedroom, he found that the song effect actually got Luna as well, the princess was sleeping in her bed and it didn’t seem she was going to be easy to wake up, Stormy panicked, and started to do everything to wake her up, from moving her, blowing bad notes on his ocarina to make irritating sounds, to even shooting the door making a hole in it, finally, when everything else failed, he had an idea, he went as far as to find on the vicinity of the tower a Ceiling Filly and keep it levitating, once he was back on Luna bedroom however.
“Grooah!?” the creature reacted confused by the whole ordeal, as Stormy pulled its tail. “GRRRROAAAAWWW?!?!”
“Come on Luna!, this isn’t the time!” he yelled, throwing the creature out of the room. “Of all the hidden effects that the book could warn somepony about and it didn’t warn me about somepony being sleeping so heavily when playing the lullaby!”
“Graooow” the ceiling filly lay outside Luna’s bedroom, with its head on the floor, dizzy.
Stormy played the lullaby song to make the Ceiling filly fall asleep before it could react, this will allow the stallion to explore Luna’s bedroom, there must be something he can use to wake her up, he searched her wardrobe and found a lot of armors, including the one she used as Nightmare Moon, why of all things would she keep that if she is so afraid of becoming her again?.
Between the armors he found a little switch, Stormy pushed it and from where the mirror was, a huge TV appeared, with a few gaming consoles connected to it, there was even a collectors edition of a popular game.
“Hey, I haven’t actually played this one, maybe I ca-” he said a little happy, but as he picked up the game box and tried to open it, somepony tackled him “-aahh!”
“THOU SHALL NOT UNDO THE BINDINGS OF THAT VALUABLE TREASURE!” Luna yelled in her royal canterlot voice, she had tackled Stormy to prevent the game from being touched.
Really? She didn’t wake up with the creature yell or the party horn, but she wakes up as soon as somepony touches her stuff? Somepony really need to have her priorities straight. Stormy got himself up when the light entering the windows started to diminish, the siren started to sound, indicating the change of time, both ponies saw how the walls were slowly loosing their color, the TV started to get covered in rust and dust, while the games deteriorated, Luna saw how that even affected the one she currently had levitated, Luna let go her spell, as the hole carpeted floor lost the concrete, rock and the cold steel replaced it, the bed broke down, and the sheets were becoming moist with awful fluids both ponies do not want to even think what the heck they were, the wooden doors broken down, as they got replaced with iron gates, the Ceiling filly was not affected, being a creature itself, neither Luna or Stormy could see the moon, all they could see was darkness, Stormy pulled up the lantern to conserve his magic.
“Stormy, what is happening?!” Luna said with an expression of somepony that could not believe what she is currently looking.
“When I have a proper explanation I will have to let you know,” he said levitating the filly.
Although he had already killed several of these creatures, something in his heart prevented him to attack a slept enemy, Stormy put the creature on the altered princess bed and both ponies left the room, they went down the twisted spiral stairs, not knowing how much the castle had changed now that the shadows had overrun it.
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay guys, this was supposed to be uploaded last week ;_;
Chapter 5 - A Castle of Nightmares (Other Canterlot) -
Stormy and Luna exited the tower, not before the princess equipped herself with her own saddlebags, Stormy tried to use the same spell he used on his raincoat to make the space larger, but Luna stopped him stating that the saddle was already enchanted, since she always used it when purchasing a lot of games and gaming equipment.
The silence on the tower was almost eternal, as they went down, the stallion decided it was a good time to get some answers, specially considering the radio has been silent all this time, so no monster presence is around them. He quickly asked the princess about her nightmares, she went instantly quiet, seems he pushed in a nerve. Once the stallion opened the door leading towards the gardens, Luna saw the state of her home with a full clear picture, as clear as the lantern can make it that is; the sky was black as the darkest coal with not a visible star at the horizon, the ground was sticky, as if the dirt had absorbed a lot of rain, which contrast with the withered grass.
Between the dirt and grass, they were able to see some holes on the ground, these holes allowed them to see the same type of fence that was in the archives, their only protection from a large and big bottomless pit, Luna by instinct started flapping her wings to keep herself floating, Stormy had to break the silence as soon as the princess started to freak out.
“Princess… what are you doing?” Stormy asked with a tired look
“Can’t you see we are standing on a fence?!” Luna replied, hovering herself.
“Princess, there are worst things that worrying about falling to a bottomless pit, I will sound rude by saying this, but please, stop flying unless is really necessary, as you can see,“ Stormy said preparing himself putting pressure in his back hooves.
Stormy started to jump several times on the floor, Luna covered her eyes with her hooves, not wanting to see him make a hole and fall, but if there was a moment of irony during all the ordeals Stormy had to pass, is that for this time, logic didn’t applied on this weird dimension, the fence withstood his weight without any issue, the fence was sturdy enough to bear with his height, Luna saw this and calmed herself a little.
“Don’t scare me like that!” Luna said to her companion, almost yelling.
“Sorry princess, but I had to show you.” Stormy apologized as he smiled kindly “the fence is the least of our problems, right now we have to get out of the castle, is not safe when that siren sounds” Stormy replied to her, as he let a sigh of concern.
“Do you have an idea of where to go? Or if there is any place that is safe from this-“ Luna was trying to find words to describe their situation. “-this”
“Hell?” he interrupted, finding the only word appropriate for the issue.
The princess was right, they didn’t have any leads if there was any place safe after what Stormy had encountered so far, but his recent travel on the Archives flashed on his head, he remembered that, when he was about to die, somepony gave him a first aid kit, probably his brother, and he remembered that those kits are only available at hospitals, Stormy quickly took the map from Canterlot Capital, Luna looked at it with him, the map had several big X in a lot of roads outside the castle.
“I guess I found where to go next,” Stormy replied, he used a little magic to mark the map on the hospital in specific.
“Forgive me if I ask, but what are you doing?” Luna asked, seeing Stormy drawing a circle in a specific building.
“When I was on the archives, I was about to die and I lost consciousness, but suddenly I heard somepony come and gave me a First aid Kit” Stormy said, telling the princess his recent experience
“What?, there is somepony else alive?, but you said-” Luna was confused, but asked anyway a question she have been holding up. “-is someone you know, right?”
“Yes, you will call me crazy, but I know what I saw Luna.” Stormy paused, before taking out the notebook were he had the drawings of his brother. “I think it was my brother, Mistshine.”
Stormy last words stroke fear in his spine fast, as his mind was rewinding, his second mission quickly came into view and his brotherly instinct started to kick in, who else but his little bro could have give him the kit?, but why he is here?, what kind of sick torture was this?, if his bro was alive, he had to go to the Canterlot Hospital as quickly as possible, he won’t last long with all the creatures running wild on the streets. Stormy was only hoping that the princess will understand his decision as he made Mistshine´s cutie mark on the Canterlot Hospital in his map, Luna of course, was able to see how this stallion was worrying for his bro.
“Here, this is Canterlot Hospital, the best there is, my bro has to be in there,” Stormy said to the princess, his face showed a huge concern.
“We must pass the castle to get there, but if this X means the road is out, that means I can get there flying.” Luna said, opening up her wings and looked at her guard, implying a suggestion. “I can go to the hospital and make sure he is ok though.”
“No Luna, we cannot go separate ways, that would be a bad idea in this situation.” Stormy said, visually afraid. “trust me on this, monsters become more dangerous during this dark time, we must exit the castle and then find a way to get to the Hospital”
“Is your brother that important to you?, then why didn’t you went there first and and then come here?” Luna questioned Stormy.
Although the princess appreciates his efforts in the name of his duty, Luna did have a point, and left Stormy cold and frozen in place, why he didn’t have gone to Canterlot Hospital first?, it was not far from the castle, until that moment, he never though about it, in fact he set his priorities wrong, the shiver in his spine only grew worse, just the possibility alone that his little bro could be trapped in this kind of hell alone was enough to send every last ounce of bravery in the stallion down the drain, Luna could easily see this as how the stallion magic started to flash in and out.
“Yes, is very important for me-” Stormy replied to the princess, trying to hold his fear back “that’s why I have to find him.“
“If that is the case Mr Brave, I will help you out” Luna said, stepping up.
“Princess, I-” Stormy said, before being stopped by the princess of the moon.
“Is more that clear you won’t leave me alone here, and neither will you leave Canterlot without your brother, however, your mind seems to be fragmented, so I better stick around before you lose your mind, either way, we will going to be together in this mess.“ Luna said, being a little optimist before smiling kindly but keeping her royalty aura “perhaps we might even find a way out of this.”
The princess words were more than enough to calm Stormy tormented mind a little, but his heart had to contain his joy of having the princess traveling with him, both ponies stand up from the ground and moved towards the inner part of the castle, when they entered the kitchen and returned to the main lobby, the aspect of it is not that different form the one of the Archives, Luna tried the front door but it was locked and sealed shut, Stormy approached and tried the Canterlot Castle Gate key as before, but the key turned into ash as soon as he tried it on the door, so much for going out via the front door.
“What is the meaning of this Stormy?” Luna asked with certain confusion as the ashes moved upward.
“I don’t know, it was the right key, unless,” Stormy replied, he looked at Luna as she turned around to face him as well.
“Unless it is protected by a magic spell,“ Both ponies said at the unison.
“Great, now I lost the key to the exit, because it was not magically protected, I am open to suggestions now.” Stormy said with a certain degree of annoyance.
“Well, I heard there was a spare key to the castle front doors on the Throne room, and it was magically enchanted by my sister” Luna said, looking at the door that leads to the throne room.
“Then, let’s go and get it “Stormy got ready
Both of them galloped to the Throne Room in the 2F, but this time the door was sealed shut with a magical spell on the keyhole, Stormy believed that he could dispel the magic by playing the Princess Lullaby, Luna made a bubble shield to protect herself from the effects of the song as the stallion played it, the notes of the peaceful song played in the distance, echoing in the metallic walls, but nothing happened, the spell was not weakened in the slightest.
Seems finding the required keys to access certain places is a thing now in the “other” Equestria, Stormy grew frustrated letting out an annoyed growl, specially considering he was inside the throne room in no less than 15 minutes ago, however, with few options available, the ponies decided it was best to explore the twisted castle, the radio let out a very faint static sound, as a Ceiling Filly felt from the roof to the ground, asleep, seems the song at least slept the creatures on the hallway to the throne room. This sadly didn’t helped on the lobby though, as another ceiling filly dropped from the heights and fall towards Luna, Stormy swing his pipe performing a spin attack to knock the creature out, but it responding by quickly stabbing the princess wing base while backing up his face, making the attack miss.
“Aaaahh!!, get off you foul beast!” Luna demanded, as she charged an electrical spell.
Elemental type of spells are usually considered arcane magic, or forbidden spells, few unicorns can actually execute them, let alone use them to their fullest, thankfully, Luna being a born alicorn and one of the 2 Royal Sisters of Equestria made the arcane magic looks like foalsplay, she let a powerful electrical current in the shape of a bubble that electrocuted the creature, shocking it out cold, the screws on their head just made things easy for the princess to barbeque the monster, with it’s last strength, the ceiling filly gave one last stab to Luna’s left wing before the strength of the spell send it’s burned corpse against the wall, Stormy was a little afraid at this display of power, and he though attacking the monster with a pipe was crude, then again, things are not precisely what somepony would call normal or even rational for that matter.
“Stormy Brave!, that thing attacked me!, what is this place?” Luna said a little scared, but quickly regained her senses “No pony had ever tried to hurt me out of pure malice, these creatures doesn’t look like normal ponies.” she said, keeping her injured wing closed, hiding the fact it hurt a lot.
“I know princess, I know.” Stormy replied, looking at the princess injuries. “That’s why we need to keep moving, and I have to get my bro out of here, in the meantime, open your left wing Luna.”
“Beg your pardon?” A quick look from Stormy eyes gave away what he was doing, he levitated a little his raincoat and using the metallic walls of the twisted castle he cut a piece large enough to be used as a makeshift bandage, Luna did not wanted want to question him though, after all, he is a guard, she believed he was doing this due to his duty, she extended her injured wing, letting her wound very visible, it was on the base, very close to the main joint and the nerves controlling the wing, so extending it for long periods of time could be and issue, she was a little embarrassed to see a guard patching her up.
“Thank you Mr Brave” Luna replied
“Don’t mention it Luna” Stormy smiled, he felt a little blushed “and please, Stormy will do just fine, right now we have to find the throne room key so we can get the Canterlot Gates spare key.”
“We can try the great hall where the Grand Galloping Gala was held” Luna suggested the next place to check.
“I tried that door already, the door leading to the hallway is locked and I cannot open it.” Stormy said, recalling he was not able to find the key to the Outer Hallway.
Luna suggestion was not bad, but without the key, entering the outer hallway was out of the question, Luna however, was not happy with that and went to the door, she twisted the doorknob and the door opened, leaving Stormy with a complete disbelief face.
As they both advanced on the hallway, Stormy advised the princess she needs to find a weapon in case she needs to save her magic, since Luna already have a lot of magic herself, she decided to go with a wooden plank that had a nail on one end as a melee weapon, unlike Stormy she doesn’t need to worry about recharging her magic constantly, she cast a spell on her weapon, a renovation spell to make the wooden table last longer. They checked the meeting room, for their advantage, there was a better weapon for Luna, it looks like a guard’s spear, she took it and both ponies decided to go for the inner gardens.
“The inner gardens circle around the Great Hall where the Grand Galloping Gala was held.” Luna said, entering first to the gardens.
“Oi, wait for me!” he yelled, trying to catch up.
Inside the gardens, they found out 2 hopping ponies, Luna was scared as soon as she saw the creature twitch and jump around, she had saw others ponies nightmares and dreams, she has seen the creatures most ponies cry in fear on their dreams, but all those dream monsters pale in comparison to these ones, manly because she was awake, a hopping pony jumped towards Stormy, he used the spell he learned on the magic scroll on Shinning Armor room, and charged the pipe with his magic, the blow strength was multiplied, strong enough to send the creature across the gardens maze, the second creature attacked the princess, she used the wooden table as defense, the creature lay a bite to it it, and the nail trusted on it’s tongue, getting it stuck, allowing Luna to counter attack, she swung the table, making the creature lose it grip and receive the nail end, however, it was not enough to kill it, she prepared her horn and charged a magical blast, since she is a alicorn though, the blast ended up not only ended up killing the creature, but also blew a hole on the garden maze, allowing them to actually reach the hall back door fast.
“Sweet Celestia!” Stormy exclaimed, looking at the hole “What kind of magic spell was that one!?”
“Come on; is just a simple magic bullet spell, but what kind of creatures are these?” Luna said, as she saw the remaining hopping pony corpse
“I have nicknamed them Hopping Ponies due to their primary method of attack, hopping towards someone and biting them, and trust me, I don’t want them near me, let’s continue,” Stormy said as he replied to the princess question.
Both of them got into the Great Hall and started search for a key or something, but all they could find was broken glass and damaged instruments, as Luna was searching for the key on the stands and tables, Stormy was searching on the instruments stand, he found out something in the piano, it looked like a page, he read it, it was not a page from the Book of Harmony page for once, it looked more like a riddle, he looked at the piano, some keys had blood in them, Luna tied open the door that leads toward the another sections of the castle gardens, but it was locked, Stormy tried to follow the riddle on the page
“When the silent moon glows with grace, the path to heaven shall become visible,” that was written on the page.
“Stormy, this door is locked, but-” Luna said, she noticed something odd on the door, or more precisely, the lack of something. “-this door don’t have any kind of visible keyhole”
“I bet my PonyCube that we can unlock the door with this piano” Stormy said, sitting on the chair, ready to play it.
“Wait!, you have a PonyCube?!” Luna gaming instincts seems to have activated for a moment.
Stormy noticed that there was some keys on the piano that were not stained, he touched them and the piano didn’t emit a sound, playing the keys in a specific order was already hard, since the riddle itself didn’t mentioned a order in the first place, if they cannot figure out the appropriate order they are going to be stuck there for a while, even Luna tried, but the door didn’t open, Stormy frustration grew more, until the point he literally tried a random order going from the E key to the G and back to E, from right to left, a soft click was heard, the door had unlocked, both ponies with a relief face, opened the door leading towards the last section of the castle gardens.
Contrary to the gardens maze, this section had a withered aspect, not only that, but it seems like the whole place hasn’t been taken care of for the last 1000 years, Stormy and Luna walked forward hoping that nothing will jump from the bushes and attack them, the radio silence provided a weird feeling of comfort, after few minutes walking, they reached to that it seems a kiosk, it was very dirty and had some cracks, indicating the passage of time, but something was off, there was a blood trail leading towards it, inside the kiosk remained the pieces of a broken pony statue that had a sad expression, as pieces of it’s marble body were scattered inside the damaged building.
Stormy had a bad feeling about the place, heck the forest alone was so dark that both, his and Luna illumination spell only manage to let them see where they were going, and yet, the kiosk despite being broken was easily recognizable, once the radio began to emit static though, the guards supposition was confirmed, a new creature was coming out of the kiosk.
“MMppsh!! MMPS?!?!? MKKPPSOHHH!!!” the creature voice yelled, although muffled, the high pitched voice indicated it’s gender.
This monster was clearly a mare, it had horrible scars all over her body, it had no mane or tail, except for some very few lines of actual hair, it also didn’t had a cutie mark, instead of it, it had a huge rip where the marks use to be, the blood on it was clotted, not matching the blood that coming out of her eyes, that one was still fresh, the creature had a brownish coat color, finally, besides the scars, it had glass lunged into its left side, her hooves muscles were exposed on one of the hind legs and the front legs, on the others, part of the bone could be seen, the mouth seems to be stitched up, preventing the creature to scream loud, it had a broken horn and featherless wings, indicating it was a decayed alicorn, all of that combined with what it looked a black broken tiara made a very pitiful display.
Luna nearly jumped from the creature gaze, when it open its eyes, only darkness could be seen, it walked slowly towards Stormy and Luna, Luna fired a magic spell, but the creature seems to dodge it despite her state, Stormy attacked with the steel pipe, the creature was hit, making her move to a side by inertia, the creature reacted and tried to stab both ponies with her broken horn, Stormy dodge the blow while Luna used her wooden table as shield, making the creature get stuck, Stormy took advantage of this and charged another magic blow, freaking out and realizing the change of strategies the creature tried to unstuck itself, but Luna renovated the wood on her weapon making it tighter around the creature horn, giving enough time for Stormy to attack, it was only after Stormy managed to deliver the blow that this “Glass Mare” as Stormy nicknamed her was free from Luna’s weapon, Stormy magic was running short, the creature jumped to trust her horn on him, Luna intervened, tackling the monster, the creature grew angry and turned around, hitting Luna table with her sharp bones of its wing, Stormy attacked again with his steel pipe, but seems the creature had a lot of endurance, for something that looks like something out of a failed surgery practice.
“What’s up with you giving the creatures names?!” Luna raised her voice to her companion, not enough to reach canterlot voice levels of high.
“Perhaps because I need something as of reference if I encounter another outside of it, every creature so far has something that stands out.” He defended himself, explaining his motives before looking at the creature one more time. “I saw that glass and it was the first thing that I-“ he stopped, an idea just came to his mind. “Luna!, hit the glass on her left side!”
Both ponies attacked and focused on the creature left side, a swing from the steel pipe made a loud crash as the glass shattered and the pieces went inside the monster, a look of extreme pain missed with fear could be recognized on the mare face, but quickly that fear turned into anger as the glass grew red, the broken horn shined with the classical magical aura, the creature was capable of performing basic spells despite having a broken horn, sadly, these spells are dangerous, not because of the pony strength, but because when a unicorn horn is broken, performing a spell is risky as the remains of the horn cannot channel the spell properly, causing a magic bounce, these magic bounce effects usually injure both the caster and the target, as expected, the creature intended blast ended up exploding in a magic bounce explosion, causing both ponies to back off a little dizzy, the creature took this chance and attacked Stormy first, Stormy let out a grunt as the creature horn pierced his torso a little, having enough he used his pipe to attack with all his magic to the creature “weakspot” causing it to finally die due to its injuries, the radio slowly faded into silence, as the princess recovered from the magic bounce and healed Stormy wound, restoring a little of his magic as well.
“Thanks Luna, this one I didn’t see it before” Stormy replied, a little relieved “nice way to use the wooden table as shield “
“T-thanks…. I learn it from a game” Luna said a little blush appeared on her face “ Anyway, if the creature came from that kiosk, maybe a key is in there “ Luna affirmed
Stormy when to check the kiosk, as a matter of fact , Luna was right, a bloodstained broken key was on there, next to a green apple, Stormy ate apple to recover a little amount of his magic, the key was broken and unusable, but it reads “Castle Dungeons“, so this was the key from the dungeons, Stormy already wasn’t liking the looks of this, Luna knew the castle more that him, so when he showed her the key, she tried to repair it, but it was way to old and rusted, just like the rest of the garden.
“Everything looks like it was 1000 years ago, if only we could back up time, but, I know by a fact we cannot make up for lost time,” Luna said, looking a little exhausted.
“Wait, time?” Stormy said, taking out the Harmony songs book.
“It´s been 1000 years since I seen that cover, you did well into bringing it with you,” Luna stated, looking at the book with an air of nostalgia.
“True, but I think I can fix that key, if you lend me your magic that is,” he said, searching for the right song.
“Sure, what do you need?” She asked, as she saw how Stormy levitated the book and took his ocarina out.
“Please lend me the enough magic to perform this song.” He said, holding the book open on the song of time.
The Song of Time was the song he found when he exited the archives, at first he thought it was a useless song but if the Princess Lullaby worked on a door, why couldn’t the Song of Time restore the key back to is original state? Normally that song would be playable but the magical effects won’t happen due to his lack of magic, but with Luna at his side while he was playing it, transmitting her magic to his horn constantly to allow him to perform it, he had little to no trouble to apply the effects, it was one of those weird moments of calm in the middle of a hellstorm, the withered plans started to recover their green color as well as the kiosk, the pony statue smiled as its pieces hover in front of the ponies, rebuilding itself, the end result was a rather happy mare statue, on its hooves, the key now whole rest. Once the song ended, Stormy picked up the key, it was restored completely, Luna looked at her companion with caution, for her, nopony in current age, unless is Twilight Sparkle or Celestia, or even herself, can perform the ancient songs “something must be off with this stallion,” Luna thought to herself as they both returned to the castle.
Stormy asked the princess what happened, but she didn’t said anything, she just limited herself to say that she is honestly surprised a unicorn can perform the songs, but she also guided Stormy towards the dungeons entrance, after all, they still need to find the throne room key, the entrance to the dungeons was, from the Castle Garden, going to the Royal Main Hall, then the Guards Tower, and next to it, is the Armory with the Dungeons entrance, Stormy noticed that Luna did not wanted to proceed though once they were in front of the gate.
“Stormy I’m sorry, but I will not go there,” Luna said, with a visible disgust on her face.
“Why?” Stormy questioned “is due to the metallic echo in the armory you heard earlier?” Stormy remember Luna’s words when he came to the castle
“No, is not that, but-“Luna was having problems in saying her reasons before steeping back “-you see the dungeons according to my sister are where the most evil and dangerous ponies face their fate, she told me to never go down there, I despise criminals a lot, if go down there, I could end up finding something I really don’t like besides, only you the guards are allowed there.“
She was right in something, even since he became a Lunar guard, he had access to the dungeons, but he never actually had to go down there, most of the time, Noirstar or Shinning Armor takes the ruffians he catch red-hoofed and take them there, this was actually the first time he had to go to the dungeon, of all the worst times and places to explore, it had to be twisted castle dungeon, this was going to be the worst of all experiences he had so far, Luna could enter the Armory with him, but she could not enter the dungeon, both ponies entered the Armory first, most of the armors were damaged and rusted, they could not be used as weapons, but there was something to use, it was a rusted but solid steel pipe, around 1 meter long, the same long as Stormy’s pipe, but unlike the other pipe, it looked more old, and it had a sharp end, Luna picked up, to use it as weapon and replace her wooden table, she will keep it for defending though, both ponies inspected the area, and there was no metallic echo this time, it was time to split up, much to the white stallion disapproval.
“I know Luna you won’t go to the dungeons, so here is a suggestion, can you wait for me on the main Lobby?” Stormy asked the princess, staying close to the dungeons might be a bad idea.
“I will, but how will I detect the monsters?” Luna questioned, although she have a millennia of combat experience, these creatures so far have proven to be quite sneaky.
“Hmmmm here,” Stormy said as he took out his radio from the saddlebag.
“The radio?, but what abou-” Luna was going to protest but she was silenced by Stormy hoof, making a boop on the princes nose.
“You have seen it already, this thing emit static if a monster get closer, by some reason these creatures seems to hunt me specifically, so I will know when I get the creatures close” Stormy said, trying to reassure the princess.
“The fact you said that is not reassuring you know?” Luna replied, worried about the stallion
Strange or not, Stormy was one of the few alive ponies Luna has seen at the moment, but she had to agree in something, most of the monsters seems to aim to him specifically, so she can afford the extra help with the radio. The Alicorn quickly exited the Armory, seems she was really frightened of the dungeons… perhaps something happened down there?, Stormy also exited the armory and used the dungeons key to open the big metallic door.
“Welp, here goes nothing,” he said, slowly descending the metal staircase.
By the looks of things it was better to use the lantern for now, whatever it was on the dungeon, he was going need every last drop of magic he could use, as he turned the lantern on and pick it up with his mouth and continue forward he could notice the sounds of his own hooves on each metallic step, as for the place itself, it looked far more rusted than the rest of the castle, and most walls had a reddish color, some rocks were still attached to the walls.
Once he reached the cells, a nasty smell kick in, it was almost the same as the one from the kitchen dishes, but far more stronger, most of the cells had the locks destroyed and could not be opened, inside the cells, bodies of decomposing ponies tied up to the beds were visible, most of them showed several wounds, indicating torture by stabbing or electrical shocks, also, there was a old fashioned guillotine in the far left of the room, along with a whip and a butcher’s knife?, what kind of dungeon is this one?, there was one cell block however that caught Stormy Attention, it was a very big one, one out of 3 empty cells, on the wall it had a plate that reads “Maximum Security - Tyrants against Equestria - “, inside of the middle cell, rested a statue, it was a draconequus statue, it didn’t took too much of a second to recognize who was it, it had two notes attached on it.
“This is Discord, Spirit of Chaos as Disharmony, due to some problems, we had to place him in the dungeons until further notice, if you need more information, ask the princess Celestia,“ said one of the notes.
“That’s a note is from Shinning Armor, I would recognize his horn writing anywhere, so he did carried Discord over the castle dungeons meanwhile Celestia put him back on the Royal Garden, wait, holds your horses, why she keeps him here?” Stormy questioned Celestia decision; he felt a page on the statue base. “Wait, there is another page here.“
The other page, reads “Elegy of Chaos” and just by the name of the song, Stormy felt a shiver on his spine, sadly, the materials make it a page from the book of harmony, the song description says that could control other ponies or even create copies of yourself to do different task, including attacking others, but the longer the effect is used, the more the user gets corrupted, it was a double edge song and the amount of magic was huge, Stormy stored it on the book and place them on his saddlebags, there was no way he will be playing that song, at first he believed the songs were mostly helpful, he was not expecting a double edge song.
Stormy continue his searching on the dungeon for the throne room key, there was a passage that leads to another cells block, it reads “ Thieves “, but next to the word it was written “your section“ in bloody letters, Stormy swallowed a little scared and walked on the block, could somepony have been there waiting for him? Most of the cells had the doors busted, but from one, a Ceiling filly hopped on Stormy back, it had the cyan suit again, the stallion moved his body to shake the creature off, he succeeded in making the creature lose its grip on him, Stormy prepared a magic blast and hit the monster, it took 2 shots to kill it, as Stormy was drawing near the end of the hallway, he manage to see 3 cells open, one had a energy drink and what it looks like a drawing, knowing it was another one of his brother clues he examined it.
In the drawing, there were 2 sad ponies in front of a grave, he took the drawing and stored it on his notebook. The other cell contained bandages, so he could treat his wounds or Luna’s if need it, as for the final cell, there was a shiny object there, it was the key to the throne room, he finally found the key but what in Equestria was doing there?, as soon as Stormy entered the cell and placed the key on his saddlebags, a loud metallic clack was heard, like when you close a gate really strong, the stallion turned around, only to find the door to the cell locked, he tried to open it, but it was surrounded by barbed wire, he could not open it, Stormy moved the lantern to see more deeper in the cell, the was a message on a plate, it reads “Reserved for ------- The Thief of The Night“ the name of the criminal could not be read, Stormy tried to call Luna with his ocarina, but despite him playing the song, it wasn’t responding, he looked up, only to find the metallic section of the cell had magical lock symbols, the cell itself was magically enchanted to prevent magic usage, he picked up his steel pipe and place it on his back, he could not break the door with a pipe of course.
“Trapped like a rat, I never thought I will see THIS side of the dungeon“ Stormy said to himself trying to keep his spirit up “oh well, even here there must be a way out, I just going to have to find it.”
Stormy started to search the cell, there was some drawings made on the walls, they looked like the fillies, but nothing out of the ordinary, there was a hole in the wall, not big enough to escape, he tried to see in it, only a big empty space was inside, when he used the lantern to try to see more deeply, something seems to reflect the lantern light, the hole was big enough to try to reach it with his hoof, so Stormy extended it, and tried to reach a object it was there, once he got it and pulled it out, he entered in shock, it was a Posey doll
“yaaaaaaaaay,” The doll said when her belly was pressed.
“Wait, this is Mistshine doll!“ Stormy panicked, as he saw on one of the doll hooves Mistshine signature.
A metallic echo started to sound, drawing closer to him, Stormy slowly turned around, holding the doll tightly, it was kind of hard to see, but he manage to see a silhouette of a big pony that with each step it made the metal of the floor emitted a loud sound, it didn’t helped that its weapon was leaving a bloody trail, Stormy freaked out, it was the Iron Mask Pony, he didn’t had anything to defend himself besides his steel pipe, but there was no way he could move or dodge inside the narrow cell, as the silhouette raised its weapon, Stormy jumped to the rusty bed, the pony weapon broke the cell door with the wire, Stormy started to scream as the creature grabbed him, and took him out, Stormy closed his eyes, waiting for his ultimate death, but he just felt a slap in his face, as the lantern felt from his mouth, he could see the pony holding him, it was Princess Luna, much to her disappointed, to see his guard being scared to death
“Stormy, pull yourself together!” The Princess raised her voice, trying to calm the guard out.
“P-princess?!, what in the name of Equestria are you doing here?” Stormy seems confused that Luna actually had gone down to the dungeon, but relieved to see her there
“You took too long to retrieve the key that I came down here, I encounter some, unpleasant things” Luna voice sounded quiet at the last part
“You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you were the Iron Mask Pony,” Stormy replied, sighing a little.
“Iron Mask Pony?, that’s the nickname you give to that creature?, what kind of monster it is?” Luna questioned his companion
“I don’t have a clear picture but as far as I have seen him, he is invulnerable to magic, he doesn’t feel any pain, I hit him several times with a pipe and it didn’t work, and-” Stormy remembered the pony the iron mask had killed. ”it killed the Archives receptionist.”
“And he is after you, Is it not?” Luna understood perfectly, the reason why Stormy was so afraid of facing that creature.
The two ponies returned quickly to the main lobby, on the way there, Luna looked at Discord Statue, almost as if she was making sure he wasn’t going to break free, thank Celestia he didn’t, Stormy still was trying to figure out how Luna knew that the Iron Mask Pony was following him, once Stormy and the Princess reached the second floor of the castle main lobby, they put route towards the throne room, Stormy levitated Posey doll, the little toy had the key to the throne room, that’s why it was reflecting the light when Stormy shined the lantern light on it.
Stormy used the key on the door, it opened without any problem, inside the throne room looked far worse than what Stormy found when it was daylight, for starters it was really dark, partially due to the fact that, just like the windows on the throne room reflected daylight, the stained glass here seems to absorb the darkness of the exterior. The pictures on the stained glass that told the travels of the Elements of Harmony were covered in blood, and most of them were switched, the one showing Spike victory on the Cristal Empire, was replaced by the little dragon unconscious and King Sombra with a blood-soaked Crystal Heart on his mouth, and the one with the Mane 6 Defeating Discord, was changed and it was by far the most perturbing one, it had both, Stormy and Luna in it, Luna had her battle armor while Stormy had a strange white aura or dust surrounding him, behind them was Twilight Sparkle sadden by something, that something was Discord he was floating above them while he held some puppet threads, those threads leads towards the remaining elements of harmony, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Even Rainbow Dash, all of them were grey colored, Luna felt like she was seeing a bad dream, almost as is she has seen this scenario before
“T-that glass, it is,” Luna could not find words, she was utterly confused.
“That is would have happened to Twilight if Celestia didn’t send to her the old friendship reports,” Stormy answered, looking at the image of himself with that white dust.
“How did you know that?” Luna asked, looking at herself and her battle armor, she remembered she has not used that armor ever since she fought Sombra.
“Pinkie Pie told me, after the fight with Discord I was returning off a trip to Fillydelphia, I stopped by Sugar Cube Corner and Pinkie told me everything,” the stallion replied with an air of concern.
“So, these window states that we would end up facing Discord?” Luna looked surprised to her companion, why him of all ponies would face discord in an alternative reality?.
“Eeyup, and it seems that we would had to face the other girls as well,“ Stormy said, relieved that it didn’t happen that scenario, but still looking at the glass. “But what’s up with that dust around me?”
“That’s moondust magic.” Luna said with knowledge, making a ball out of air, this ball was made out of a shiny magic that looked like tiny stars. “Is a magic that only ponies that were born under a full moon can actually perform, however, even with that, actually using it is almost impossible, because although the magic is available for the pony to use, they must have survive the magic surge as babies.”
“Then does that means that in that picture I…” Stormy was quick into catching up what Luna was explaining.
“I’m afraid so, maybe that explains why you can perform the ancient songs,” Luna replied with integrity, as she picked Stormy Book of Ancient Songs and levitated it around her and opened it, aiming at the stallion.
“Princes, what are you doing?” he nervously asked, but slowly pulling out his pipe.
“Just checking my theory, please forgive me,” Luna said as she opened the page in the Elegy of Chaos.
Stormy was not liking where this was heading, Luna started to sing as her voice mimicked the notes of the song Elegy of Chaos, however, the effect was not aimed at Luna, it was aimed at Stormy himself, he could feel how his limbs were going numb, why the princess was doing this?, was he correct in the assumption this Luna was a monster disguised as her?, all he could make out before passing out was the word “test”, over and over and over again as he faded into a deep sleep.
When he came up though, Luna was not present; Stormy quickly jumped and checked on his saddlebags, the book was there, by some reason he could feel a lack of something, he made sure nothing was missing, even his ocarina was there, what happened?, did the Elegy of Chaos just cause blackouts?, that’s not what the song said.
“Hello?, Luna?, Anypony?” Stormy said to the emptiness, but nothing replied.
He checked his surroundings, he was in the throne room, it looked exactly the same as it did before he lost consciousness, but something was off, the stained glass windows, the one that depicted Stormy using the moondust magic was blacken out, the “moondust” was a black and red fog surrounding him, chocking him out, Stormy by instinct fired up a magical blast, just for the stained glass figure to reject it with a bubble shield. Stormy started to suffer a headache as a creature was coming out of the window.
“AAAAAAAH!!!” he yelled as hard as he could.
The creature coming out of the mirror was none other than him, the coat colors were darkened though, and his cutie mark remained the same, and was wearing the same items as him, a doppelganger in every sense of the word, the only thing different was it’s red eyes, almost demonic, indication who was the copy, the creature took out his pipe to smack Stormy with it, Stormy despite the pain blocked with his pipe and stepped back.
“Oh, and here I though this was going to be easy,” the copy said, taunting the stallion.
“Shut up!, you are not me!, you are just an mistake, Luna made you,” Stormy retaliated, trying to taunt back the creature.
“True in a way, perhaps she was tired of having to deal with your whining,” the copy laughed
“W-wha?” Stormy stood cold, he had felt for the taunt.
“Oh come on, you, your constant cries and the freak out you had at the dungeons, is clear she do not longer want you as her teammate, she wants someone faaaaar more stronger!, and that’s me!, the best version of you!” The copy smiled sickly as he used a chocking spell.
Stormy ended up finding the hard way that the copy had similar moves with him, but some of them were his own, starting with the chocking spell, that is a forbidden spell, he remember seeing the name on the archives, he admitted he was tented to learn it so he could suffocate the creatures to death, but he contained himself, but it seems this copy did learn it. The chocking spell forms a bubble on the pony head and takes away all the air, Stormy could not see much due to the red magical aura of his foe, he felt like if he was back into his nightmares, drowning in the pools of blood, he tried to swim, but to no avail, and much to his doppelganger pleasure.
“Squirm you coward! If you are really a guard of Canterlot, you have to be the most coward pony in the kingdom if you have this fear in you” the copy yelled with its echoed voice.
“MMPSHR!!” Stormy was yelling, but the lack of air silenced his screams.
Stormy only had one choice, he used his brother doll, if the copy is anything like him, hearing that familiar toy might stop him, enough to disrupt it’s focus and free himself, he pulled the doll out and pressed its belly.
“Yaaaaaay” the sound came from the Posey doll
“w-wha?” the copy looked at the doll and stopped a sec.
It was his chance, with the focus of the stallion broken, Stormy used his steel pipe and threw it towards the creature head, managing to hit it, this cut the spell short and allowed him to not only recover his breath, but also, reply to the creature with a magical blast.
“You think you are the best version?, ha, you are just a copy, and when I end you I,” Stormy stopped, he was feeling a blood lust, he could recognize it because, just like in his initials nightmares, he was pressing his teeth hard, smiling sickly.
“I can feel it, hehe, you want to kill me, then kill Luna for doing this, smack her head against the walls, come on, feel it more,” The copy stallion said, recovering fast.
Seems the doll saved him for a moment, but he would not be able to use it, the copy casted a fire spell that burned the doll out of Stormy´s hooves, a fire spell?, but that is elemental magic!, arcane magic, he could not be able to execute a fire spell, Stormy and the copy attacked at the same time, each one using it’s own weapon, Stormy pipe swings clashed against the one of the copy, every spell Stormy tried, the copy did the same and returned it, however, each successful hit made the copy back out, like disappearing, just to reappear behind the stallion and attempt to buck him, the more Stormy doubted himself, the more control the copy had, but the more Stormy damaged it, the more darker the copy becomes.
“You are starting to look like an Armored Shadow,” Stormy attempted to taunt the doppelganger.
“Those names aren’t creative you know?, You will never win Luna’s sympathy with that” the copy taunted back.
Stormy blushed a moment, but this provided the copy with enough space to attack and hit stormy face pretty hard with the pipe, Stormy started to grow impatient and on purpose dropped his guard, the copy felt for this and attacked with his horn, successfully stabbing Stormy torso, Stormy despite his injury tighten up his muscles to trap the creature, risking that the copy might use a blast to free himself, Stormy decided to attack and hit it several times in its head with the pipe, the creature was fully dark now, but retaining Stormy silhouette.
“Aaah, finally got you,” Stormy said triumphant.
“Grroos,” the copy yelled, but smiling.
A heat was coming from the copy’s horn, it was preparing a fire spell to burn stormy from the inside, he quickly relaxed his muscles and backed out, he was running out of magic, so he decided it would be best if he sleep it, he pulled his ocarina out and played the Princess Lullaby, whatever Luna casted on him it will go away if she falls asleep right?, well, as good as the idea was, the song did nothing, in fact, the ocarina didn’t sound, Stormy looked down, there was a sticky black stuff on the holes, preventing the notes to come out.
“Welcome to a taste of moondust magic for you,” said the copy, as he lifted his horn, the magical aura now changed to a black aura.
Stormy sadly was not prepared for this, the sticky black substance glued to his face and started to envelop him, was this what the moondust magic is about?, wasn’t that magic supposed to be white?, Stormy tried to free himself, but his horn got covered as well, canceling any incoming magic, leaving him glued to the ground, the copy with a sick smile started to beat with his pipe an immobile Stormy.
Stormy could not do anything, he could feel how each blow hurt a lot, how the cold steel broke some of his ribs, his hooves, even his lower back, Stormy was quickly loosing conscious again, he was bleeding a lot from his mouth, but the sticky black stuff seems to absorb it, Stormy never felt this afraid in his life, each hit just seems to power up one thought, “I’m going to die”.
“Heh, you finally gave up, don’t worry, I will make sure to give Luna your regards, after all, if you have a crush on her, might as well state it.” The copy said, aiming at Stormy neck. “only… you are not the one that will be talking to her.”
Stormy felt a hard blow on his neck, this was enough to send him to the floor, unconscious, but not happy with it, the copy started to tease Stormy body, as if he was searching for any place he haven’t hit yet. Deep within Stormy mind however, some voices seems to keep the stallion mind from falling down, Stormy himself couldn’t make most of it, but when he tried to pay a little bit of attention, they became clear, one was a mare voice, but not just any mare, it was his big sis, Sunnybreeze.
“S-sister,” Stormy tried to move, his body had problems responding.
“You know bro, when you were born, there was a beautiful full moon on the sky” Said the big mare “ and you giggle very cutely when dad showed you the moon”
“For real?, does that mean I can became a Luna Knight?” Said a little colt voice, his own voice.
“Yes brother, you will, you maybe even met Luna, that is if she is still the Princess,” Sunnybreeze said to the younger stormy, recalling Nightmare Moon old tale.
“She is still the princess!, and I will become her knight!” said the little white colt very enthusiastic.
“I….I remember now. Thank you big sis, you were always watching over me right?” Stormy said to himself, smiling. Luna herself said that only unicorns born during full moon are capable of using the moondust magic, if there was a moment to make that magic wake up is has to be now, otherwise that copy will walk around as him, he focused, and focused on the main reason he decided to became a lunar knight.
He student diligently day and night to be able to get close to the princess, he had a crush on her, it was easy for Noirstar to notice it per example, after all, he is a changeling and crushing on somepony give a lot of love energy, another memory came into mind as he was focusing to bring the moondust magic out, the more he focused, the more one question seems resist and remain in his head, which was “Would you forgive Luna for this betrayal?”.
The stallion though very carefully, didn’t he doubted about the princess the first time he used the Winds of Friendship song?, he pressed his teeth and tried to step up, his horn seems to start to fuel with his inner desires, with his soul, he knew that in his heart, he would still forgive her. At that very moment, a new happy memory seems to fuel him up, this one was about his friend, Noirstar, when Stormy found out he was hungry, perhaps, very deep down he felt he was a changeling, and yet, Stormy sat next to him, shared some laughs and even trained together, he still consider him a friend. All those positive thoughts were more than enough to unlock his own moondust; the white magical aura surrounded his horn, forming the same ball Luna made previously.
“Wait, is that?” the copy said, as he saw how the moondust magic exit the black puddle.
“Ready for a rematch?” Stormy said, as despite all his injuries, he managed to get his head out of the black puddle.
The copy attacked with his pipe, Stormy only have one shot, he closed his eyes and surrounded himself with the magical aura, as soon as the creature jumped, he unleashed his magical bubble shield, but the moondust filled the bubble with a defensive spikes, successfully impaling his doppelganger, the bubble shield was more than enough to remove the remains of the black surge.
“Grraaaah!!” the copy yelled in pain.
“I will never use this song unless is in extreme dire situations, now, disappear!” Stormy yelled, as he increased the power of the moondust magic and made the creature be wrapped up in a sack.
Giving the creature a taste of his own medicine, Stormy wrapped the creature in his own variant of the black surge, causing the creature to suffocate, the siren went off in the distance, as the world seems to change, Stormy could see how everything was getting restored and the light was returning to the throne room, perhaps not as quickly as somepony would expect, he could see a speechless but teary eyed Luna at the side of the room, she had seen everything during the fight, and worse, heard everything, including the crush thing, he smiled kindly to the princess before fainting from his injuries, his expression pretty much said it all, he forgave her.
“No!, please, for the love of Equestria!, open your eyes!” Those were Luna’s words, a plea to Stormy to wake up.
The Princess ran towards Stormy and moved him several times to try to get him to wake up, dropping the book next to him, sadly nothing was working and everything around them was loosing its twisted version and it was returning to the “ normal “ version of the castle, but Stormy was just laying there, fainted, Luna was starting to cry, why she had to use that song?, why she had to be so distrustful?, she could almost hear Nightmare Moon voice mocking her in her mind as a side effect from using it, and yet, she cannot avoid feeling guilty, after all, Luna have the skill to see other ponies dreams, and Stormy ones were no exception, she knew what Stormy tried to say to her during training sessions, as she remember seeing the dreams of a young colt when she was still exiled on the moon, during her exile, those dreams were her only way to see Equestria, and to still keep hope that when she returns back to normal, no pony will fear her, on those dreams, the young colt always was near her when she was needed him, she took interest on this and every week or so, she saw Stormy dreams, how she could be so blind?, each of Stormy dreams were not filled for desires for him only, like rule the word, or being super powerful like most ponies in Equestria, instead they were filled with the best of wishes for her, trying to convince that she was still loved in Equestria, even though she was still Nightmare Moon, she still had somepony that truly believed in the goodness of her heart, and she betrayed him and almost got him killed.
“Please!, don’t die!, don’t leave me alone!, I don’t want to be alone again! I’m Sorry!, please wake up!“ Luna yelled, desperate.
“He won’t wake up” a familiar voice to her whispered to her ear. “You did this, just like 1000 years ago”
Behind Luna, her own shadow manifested, the side effect of using the Elegy of Chaos finally started to kick in, showing that even an alicorn was not above the consequences of their actions, Luna little “test” caused her own shadow to manifest in what she fears the most, although it was just a puff of smoke, she could clearly see her dark cornflower blue coat color, her laugh was impossible to miss as she wrapped around the princess, trying to take over again, the princess reacted and tried to fly, but her previous wound prevented it.
“You were never above the consequences dear princess,” the dark mare voice resonated within Luna’s mind.
The princess quickly felt how her strength was leaving her, until she blacked out as the black smoke engulf her completely, the ancient songs book rested right next to Stormy ocarina, however, nopony can’t use them to wake them from their own mistakes, as both ponies remained unconscious on the floor of the throne room, a very distant faint laugh came from Luna’s mouth.
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay guys, work again getting in the way
i will try to be more active
Chapter 6 - Unstable Mentality - (Fog and Other Canterlot) -
Luna was desperate and alone now, her mind was quickly losing grip on the reality of the situation, the usage of the Elegy of Chaos managed to corrupt her, at least the enough to allow Nightmare’s influence to affect her again, and under that influence, she made the worst choice, she believed that allowing Stormy to awaken the moondust magic would put the scale in their favor against the monsters, but instead of going the traditional way, she tried to force it by making the stallion face his own darkness, although the results were successful, the consequences weight heavy on Luna conscience, she was hurt and regretful, not only by the fact that the only colt that was there when she needed him was dying, but also, because of her betrayal she was so blind to his feelings.
Yes, she knew that Stormy had a crush on her, for Celestia sake she can see the dreams of everypony if she wanted to, more tears were falling from her eyes, as she remembered one specific dream she visited from Stormy, when she was still exiled.
She remembered a particular nightmare, she was on her home, Canterlot Castle, but everything was dark and each step she made, a soft sound was heard, she look down only to see the corpses of her guards and even the servants, all of them, burned to death, her mane and tail was stained with blood, and the most terrifying thing for her, is that she was normal, she saw a puddle of the blood of the victims, and the reflection was what she feared the most, the reflection, was Nightmare Moon, she started to cry, when she felt a hug on her legs, when she turned around, it was a little white colt, with a Ocarina and swords cutie mark
“Don’t cry princess, please don’t, “said the little colt
“But…I killed them all, they fear me, and attacked me, I killed them because of that, this is what I will do when I return…. Everypony fear me, so everypony will die by my hoof, “Luna said, crying
“No princess, not everypony fear you, on the contrary, they remember you and love you, nopony has forgotten you ,“ The little colt said to Luna, still hugging her
“But…” Luna was still confused
“Luna, I never feared you, I am waiting for your safe return.“ the little colt said with happiness on his voice. “Even if everypony turn against you, I will not leave you alone.“
“Why is that little one?” Luna asked, feeling a little better
“Because… I really like you Princess, you don’t deserve to be treated badly, or to be feared, you bring a beautiful night that everypony enjoy, even if they are asleep, especially me” The colt replied with an upbeat attitude.
“I…” Luna cried, but these tears were not sad ones.
Luna hugged the little colt, as she tried to see her reflection in the blood, she realized there was no longer any blood, in fact she was no longer in Canterlot, she was on a city, a big city, with too many lights in the middle of her beautiful moon, she was in Manehattan, the big metropolis of Equestria, the little colt was wearing a cyan suit, but only his face was visible, he held Luna’s hoof, and took her to the roof, where they could see the moon and the stars perfectly well, during that dream, the little colt showed Luna how did the ponies live their lives not only during daytime, but also in nighttime, she didn’t had knowledge of nocturne ponies during her time before Nightmare Moon. But when they get to the mayor office, the dream usually ends, it always ends there, like if a part of Stormy’s mind, had terrible memories on that building.
Reality started to kick in; taking Luna out of that memory, the building in his dreams could explain why she wasn’t able to see Stormy’s Nightmares for the past 4 months, they were mental barriers.
“Ahahahahaha, hahahahaha” Luna started to laugh, as her left eye was showing the features of Nightmare Moon.
Luna took a quick look at her hooves, she was almost next to Stormy, due to inertia she hugged him tightly, trying to prevent him from losing temperature, ashamed of what she had done, however, nightmare laugh still exited her mouth, she was loosing grip at an alarming fast rate.
“Ahahaha, n-no” she said, trying to stop laughing. “I cannot, I cannot let her win”.
She let go the hug, a splashy sound turned her gaze from the stallion and back to her hooves, they were bloodstained, he was not going to survive if the wounds were not healed, she looked at Stormy’s ocarina and the ancient book, that’s it!, both Stormy and her knows the ancient songs, if she could perform the healing song before she lose her last bits of sanity she might be able to fix the damage she caused.
Nightmare influence was not making things easy, as her coat colors seems to absorb Luna colors, darkening them out, she opened the book right next to Stormy and took a quick look at the pages he had collected so far, they were magically restored to the book, so it was hard to tell that they were once torn apart from the book., she searched the current pages, hoping to find the right one, from the 7 pages collected so far, the Song of Refresh was the one she was looking for, with her magic skill she could perform the song effects perfectly, she tried to sing the song, but Nightmare influence kicked in again, preventing her voice to come out, she could not speak, as she kept hearing in her mind the same voice she feared.
“What are you trying to do?, save him, hahaha, you insolent buffoon!, you doomed him yourself!” Nightmare influence started to taunt the princess.
“Get…out… of my brain!” Luna yelled in her mind, trying to stand up.
If she cannot sing, she will play the song with the last of air she has, Luna levitated the instrument and started playing it, she felt how her magic was quickly being drained, directing the healing effect to both Stormy’s wounds and to her surprise, her own body, his flesh was slowly regenerating and repairing the damaged tissue, his damaged organs were being repaired, in the princess case however, her eye that looked just like nightmare started to lose that shape, Luna felt almost as if her body was burning as the darkness that was covering her was getting removed, she closed her eyes hard and when she opened them back, hey pupil had return to normal, puking some sort of black blood, dropping the instrument.
The song itself was sweet and kind of sad at the same time, maybe reflecting the exchange of all magic to save others?, either way, seems the song was working well, since the wounds healed up perfectly, and the black blood that came out of Luna seems to have evaporated, she could no longer hear Nightmare’s influence. Once the song ended, Luna began to breathe heavy due to the lack of her magic, seems that Stormy was still knocked out cold, but his temperature was slowly recovering, she was thinking of carrying him to the Canterlot Hospital, but she couldn’t without her magic.
“Stormy, please open your eyes,” Luna said, hoping the stallion would react.
Luna plead to Stormy once again, but seems it will take a while for him to regain consciousness, the good news are that he at least is now out of danger, and with the moondust unlocked, he might be able to perform more songs, Luna searched on the stallion saddlebags, since her magic was drained, she will not be able to perform the illumination spell or any spell for that matter, so she took Stormy’s lantern, she also took found Celestia´s tiara, looking at it for a second and looking at it’s bloodstains made the princess look at the knocked out stallion once more.
“Silly guard, you only found my sis tiara, not my sister, next time you find things like this, tell me,” Luna said to the stallion, despite him being KO.
After she placed the lantern on her saddlebags, she reflected on what happened and is better for her to keep it, along with Stormy’s ocarina, just in case.
Meanwhile he wakes up, she searched the throne for the spare key, she hesitated for a moment, remembering the throne aspect in the “other“ world, but right now it looks perfectly normal, she found out the key they needed to get out under the seat. The castle had a more normal aspect, she opened the door to the throne room and searched the castle for something that can be useful before leaving with the stallion, she checked the kitchen, and the area was normal to say the least, it didn’t had any pony body parts being cooked, kind of strange, well for both Luna and Stormy, seeing this normal was a good thing at least, she checked the fridge, and she found out a Zap Apple Pie Slice, this was enough to recover either Stormy or Luna total magic, so she carefully packed up the Zap apple pie, and store it on her saddlebags, maybe she and the stallion could share it?, after the kitchen, she tried to check the guards room, but the doorknob felt, the door was damaged.
“What´s this?... the door is broken?, but I was sure this was working before,” Luna said with a little disbelief.
She also tried to see if she could find something on the Armory, but the door was also broken, seems that when the castle returned to normal, most of the doors got damaged, making it impossible to search areas Stormy or Luna had previously visited, almost as if something in the environment wants them to proceed, some sort of divine guidance perhaps?.
The princess noticed she could still exit the gardens and enter the Royal Quarters, she didn’t wanted to leave Stormy for too long, so she rechecked the tower once more, she tried her room, but the door was locked again, from the inside this time around, the last place she could check is Celestia´s Bedroom, this door opened normally, nothing unusual, just the fireplace, the bed where she rest and writes the letters to Twilight Sparkle, even the stars curtain was on the wall, but she did found out something on her sister bedroom, it was a page, very similar to the book Stormy has.
“Huh, a page of the Book of Harmony, how did it get here?” Luna questioned as she rested on her sis bed and read the paper.
As Luna began reading it, she found out the page was actually the Unicorn’s Path song, the song description says that it reveals hidden things in the room, also it provides a temporal amount of magic, like a boost, even if the user didn’t had any energy left, that could help her since she is drained right now. Luna took Stormy’s ocarina and started playing the song she found, she felt like a little spark on her horn, the magic of the song worked, part of the song effect is that the hidden will be revealed, but the song didn’t mentioned how, Luna noticed how from her horn some small stars were making a path and ended on a curtain that began to shine with little sparks of light, she checked where the sparks told her, and found out 2 scrolls, one is a magic scroll to increase the magic blast power and shield duration, but… the last one, contained information about a certain incident in Manehattan, why Celestia kept it hidden?.
“Tragedy in Manehattan… a group of 3 ponies was found killed in a small house on New Orange, the victims were an adult stallion, a little mare and a filly… only 2 survivors found…. Names… “ Luna froze as she saw the survivor’s names, only the first letter was visible it was a B. “oh….. Dear….” She continues her reading.“ The younger colt was hospitalized, found in Ponyville, currently… no… I cant read anymore.”
Luna left that report where it was… the more she read it, the more painful it became, maybe Celestia kept it to find the culprit?, either way, she exited her sister room quickly and returned to the gardens, storing the page of the book in her saddlebags, but when she got out of the tower she noticed something, something was not right, the fog was more dense, also it had a like a violet tone.
“W-what happened here?” she questioned, walking cautiously.
She noticed that a purple smoke was floating nearby, at first she thought it was just an anomaly on the weather, like the rest of the fog, until a certain laugh instantly froze her in place, she took out the pipe and ran towards the door out of fear, all she could hear was hoofsteps, more and more closer to her, and the more she ran, the more the purple smoke was surrounding her, as the color became more and more strong, until it reached a point where she could not find the door in the middle of that dense fog, she attacked with her pipe, trying to clear the smoke, she did made it take a few steps back, but it quickly reformed and surrounded the princess.
She never felt this amount of fear before, except with maybe King Sombra´s dark magic. Luna flapped her wings, taking altitude, she seems to resist a little her previous wound, but something caught her and made her crash land into the ground, she could see that something had her trapped by her back hooves, it was the smoke that hold her, it slowly started covering her legs, Luna began to scream, scream in terror as the smoke took form a form of a black female alicorn, with deep white eyes, it seems to smile as it opened her mouth, ready to trust its fangs on Luna’s neck.
“No….. get away!, get away from me!, GET AWAAAAAAAAY!!!!“ At the last second, she used her royal canterlot voice, hopping somepony will hear her.
But her voice echoed through the emptiness, the creature moved its head towards her, Luna took out her wooden table as shield, by miracle it worked, the creature lost concentration and let go the grip on Luna’s legs, she took this opportunity to use her remaining amount of magic, there was only 2 options to get out of that trap, try the illumination spell on the creature, or use the Unicorn’s Path song to find the way to the door, the gardens never felt so big, so she took her chances and played the song, this time, the notes echoed hard, she felt no additional increase of magic, but noticed the little sparks in the middle of the dense fog, she follow the sparks, and she could still hear the smoke coming towards her, but this time, as she was running, slowly the fog was losing the strong color, and was shifting towards its usual white color, seems she was heading in the right direction, as soon as she noticed the door, she ran more quickly and entered the Castle, once inside she locked the door and put the nearby furniture to block it.
“There is no way in Equestria, that I will be opening that door again!” Luna said to herself, reassuring herself from that statement.
Luna quickly exited the hallway she was, it took her to the main hall, taking a little bit of relief it was time to check back on Stormy, after all, the previously near death experienced blocked her thoughts and as soon as she was on a safe area, her thoughts began to kick in and she started to worry about Stormy, she ran to the throne room hoping that nothing has gone close to him, as she entered the room she noticed that Stormy was still on the floor, much to her relief, tired of her little exploring she walked to him, sitting next to his side, and closed her eyes.
“This is not the time, to be sleeping my friend,“ Luna said with a warm voice.
“uuuuggh… my head hurts like a dozens of apples trees being kicked at once,“ Stormy finally replied, opening his eyes.
Finally Stormy had woken up, the princess instantly hugged him, Stormy, kind of confused, could just only blush, before realizing that Luna was hugging him, he broke the hug, ashamed again, but a little bit angry since Luna used the Elegy of Chaos son on him, as she was being scolded on by him, all Luna was thinking was on how relieved she was that the song worked, Stormy got up, but instead of continuing his scolding, he smiled back at the princess and told her that he forgave her, if she do not use that song again. Luna told her companion that she found out the key… and some unpleasant things, including that purple smoke, Stormy was listening to Luna carefully.
“After the song was used, I was able to find a way to the door,” Luna told the stallion, giving him the page she collected.
“Great, now we have a smoke following us that somehow is sentient, ok is official, after we get my bro out of that Hospital, we need to find someplace safe,” Stormy said with a little bit of annoyance in his voice.
“We could try Manehattan, in such a big city there is bound to be a safe place, we cannot stay in Canterlot anymore,” Luna suggested with confidence.
Stormy froze for a minute, why in the hay she wanted to go to Manehattan?, The most cosmopolitan city in all Equestria, Stormy was visibly not liking the idea at all. But she was right in one thing, staying in Canterlot could be fatal if that purple smoke had the ability to make you lose your way, if each time to find the correct path, they have to use the Unicorn’s Path song, Stormy and Luna will be losing magic constantly due to that smoke, The princess give Stormy his ocarina back and the stallion quickly remounted the page back to where it belongs, to the book, before they go, Luna decided to keep the lantern, as well as both ponies took the chance to read the magic scroll to increase their magic, after reading, both of them walked out of the throne room and reached the lobby, next to the door was a sword Stormy knew very well, it was Noirstar Sword, it was better to keep it as it may come in handy, Luna used the key she found opening up the front doors of the castle opened, allowing them to go outside, they quickly set route to the Canterlot Hospital, as they left the castle behind, a faint sound of a building collapsing on itself was heard, both ponies saw how debris and a piece of one of the main towers was now covered the main entrance, seems returning to the castle is now impossible.
The fog was present everywhere, and it was kind of hard to see, however, they did manage to find the hospital front doors without much of a problem, it was kinda hard to miss with all the empty ambulances and stretchers, both ponies tackled the door and quickly lock it behind them before anything moving had a chance to catch a glimpse of their location. Once inside of the Hospital, Luna took out her Zap apple pie, it was only one slice though, but Stormy and Luna manage to share it with themselves, each noticed how their magic recovered to its maximum, but they also felt a little extra magic thrown in with the sweet taste of the fruit still fresh in their mouths, both ponies searched the reception, but they didn’t had much success since all the doors were locked, kind of strange, Luna manage to find the Hospital map, Stormy on the other hoof tried to save time and blast the door open, but as soon as the blast exited his horn, the doors reflect it back.
“Duck!” he yelled, dropping himself to the floor.
“ARE YOU INSANE?!” Luna yelled as she shielded herself with a bubble shield.
The blast bounced on Luna shield until it made a hole on the wall next to the desk, Stormy saw this and took the map, it seems that the wall leads towards the files room, then to a secondary entrance, used for staff only, the princess however, although this mishap ended up being beneficial for both of them, scold Stormy due to his lack of foresight. Both of them entered for the secondary entrance, near the Laundry entrance, once inside Stormy was starting to look pale, almost as if something in the back of his head was filling him with dread.
“Stormy, are you ok? Perhaps was I too harsh on you?” Luna asked
“No Luna, I’m not ok.” Stormy stopped, putting his hoof on his head with a visible concerned look on his face “Ever since I got out of the secret room Celestia put me in, I had this feeling that my brother might be in problems, something so serious that I should remember, but my mind is blank and I can’t remember what it was, all I know is that I need to find him, I need to make sure he is safe.” The stallion finished, with visible concern for his little bro.
“But, where do you think he is?” the princess said as she checked the building integrity.
“I don’t know, I won’t be leaving this hospital without him,” Stormy stated, shaking his head and recovering his coat colors.
Luna wished she could say the same thing about her sister, but without any trace of her she doesn´t even know where to start her search, as for the mission at hoof, the hospital being extremely long building didn’t helped to create a “safe” area to return to heal, as both ponies reviewed the map, they found that the hospital had 4 floors and 1 basement, they have a lot of ground to cover.
Both ponies agreed to start their search on the first floor director office, aside from a lot of medical records about a lot of ponies, there was nothing on interest in the reception. When they got to the hallway, the radio started to emit static, no enemy’s could be seen on the floor, despite being daytime, the lights inside the hospital did not provide enough brightness to see, Stormy assumed the enemy was a ceiling filly and shoot one magic blast towards the ceiling, but there was nothing there, Stormy used the illumination spell to have a clear picture of the room and found out the same mare from the Canterlot gardens exiting from a wall, this time, it was Luna who took the initiative and attacked the creature with her pipe, the creature lost it’s balance a moment but enough for Stormy to come close and finish it off with Noirstar Sword.
“Having something with an actual blade make this even now…” Stormy taunted at the fallen monster.
“Not funny you know” Luna said, puffing out her cheeks.
They continued to the director office, as they open the door, a little earth pony noticed both the princess and Stormy, startled, he began to run, his cutie mark was a pair of gears with a lightbulb, the little colt ran towards the hallway, leading to the second floor, Stormy ran following the little pony almost as if he had seen a ghost, but in reality, he just found what he was searching for, the princess though was getting behind the stallion.
“Mistshine!, bro don’t run!, it’s me, Stormy!” he replied, desperate to catch the little colt attention.
“Stormy, wait up!” Luna yelled using her hooves to finally catch up. “I don’t think he remembers you, I mean, he ran away like if he was afraid of you. “
“That cannot be Luna!, I know I can talk to my brother or get him to listen, then I will take him out of here!” Stormy said, even more determined than before.
When they got to the second floor of the Hospital, they saw Mistshine enter a bathroom, Stormy and Luna entered the room, they could hear a soft crying on one of the cabins, both ponies checked each cabin, until they got to one closed from the inside, the crying was a little more softer this time, Stormy just came in closer and knocked on the door, resting his head on said door.
“Go away,” the little voice said, visibly afraid of something.
“Shhhh, is ok, I’m not going to hurt you bro,” Stormy said, in a kind and concerned voice.
“No, you do not understand, he is coming for me,” the little voice seems to break a little.
“Who?, the iron mask pony?” the princess said, launching a wild guess at the air.
“Please, sir, miss, just go please,” the little voice beg one more for it to be left alone.
Stormy remembered the nightmare he had on the Elements of Harmony hallway, so he took out the Posey doll he had found on the Other Canterlot Castle, surprisingly, despite being burned out by Stormy´s doppelganger in his last battle, when he pulled it out of his bag, it was intact, he pressed its belly, the doll released a soft “Yay” that suddenly made the crying of the foal stop.
For a moment, an awkward silence was present, until the sound of the lock being released from inside the cabin indicated to both ponies that the little pony was ready to come out, at first only his hoof, which he extended to touch the doll, as soon as he recognized the fabric he opened the door fully and took the doll hugging it, the princess was quick to notice the resemblance between the 2 ponies, it was in fact, Mistshine Brave, the little bro of her guard.
“Brother!” Stormy yelled hugging the little colt
“…” Mistshine didn’t say anything, he just held on his brother with his hooves, closing his eyes.
It was hard not to notice the little colt shabby clothes, it was a very damaged engineering vest along with a damaged scarf with burn marks, almost as if he was just out of a fight with something that knew fire magic, but the strange thing was that despite being as real as Stormy, the radio was emitting static, similar to the one that identify when the monsters approach, but this one was more softer, almost as if it was a broken music box playing a sad tune.
The princess was a little happy to see both brothers reunited, but could the pony in front of her really be Stormy little brother or just another creature posing as Mistshine?, she could not take that idea from her mind, specially with the soft static the radio was making.
“Thank you Stormy, I though I lost it this doll years ago,” Mistshine replied, hugging the doll and his brother.
“No problem bro, now we need to get out, Luna and I are going to Manehattan,” Stormy said, relieved to find his bro.
“M-m-manehattan?” Just like in the castle, Mistshine reacted with fear when the name of the town was spoken.
“W-what’s wrong bro?” Stormy questioned, he felt how his brother broke the hug.
“Why do you want to go there?” Mistshine voice was filled with fear as he questioned.
“Is there something wrong child?, I was the one who suggested the idea,” Luna said to the little colt
“It will be safe… I hope,“ Stormy replied, having doubts on his next destination
“NO!, is not safe!” Mistshine screamed, breaking the hug and running away scared, yelling. “You know what’s in there!“
After this, Mistshine ran away, he was absolutely terrified about the idea of going to Manehattan, both the princess and his brother followed him, they ran until they found Mistshine was entering the door that leads to the staircase towards either the third floor (up) or back to the first floor (down), sadly, they couldn’t open it, as Mistshine locked the door from the other side, why his little bro had locked them in?, the radio emitted static again, but louder, Stormy and Luna turned around and some creatures were coming closer to them from some of the rooms with broken door locks, they were a little different this time around, they had wings, indicating they were pegasi, said wings were either feathers less or one whole wing missing, their hooves were surrounded in bandages, their faces lacked eyes and mouth, as it seems those has been surgically removed, combined with a slight bleeding from their ears and nose, on their flanks they shared a common ground with the other creatures the cutie mark was torn apart, but the more grotesque was that on their backs, they seems to have a tumor shaped like a newborn foal, apparently, controlling them, the creature was clearly a mare, their manes were messed up and dirty.
“Oh crap, Stormy, duck!” Luna said as she shot a magical bullet, hitting one of the creatures.
“AAAARRRGGGGH!!!” the creature roared in pain, as well as the tumor on their backs.
“Luna, hit the tumor on their back that is controlling them, the body is just a puppet!, hey I just though about what to call these,” Stormy attacked using the sword from his friend, taking out another creature.
“Don’t!” Luna objected, but Stormy was already moving his lips.
“Puppetsi!” he exclaimed, dodging one of the creatures attacks.
“Equestria give me patience,” Luna said facepalming with her wing.
Stupid name or not, Luna could notice Stormy cracked less and less jokes mid attack, the creatures tried to grab him and choke him with their hooves, but they were only focusing on him, allowing Luna easy targets, however, Stormy was more ruthless in battle, even going as far as to put a lot of his strength into the attacks to behead the creatures. True, Luna may not have met all her guards by name, but she knew that it was very uncommon for one of her knights to become ruthless mid battle, almost forgetting what is that separate the ponies from the creatures that haunt Everfree. Once the radio was silenced, Stormy and Luna searched for an alternative exit out of the second floor, the princess kept an eye on her guard.
“So, the secondary entrance and the third floor is out of question from this side, we can try the main entrance,” Luna said looking at the map.
“Could be, or we can also cut off using the elevator to access the other floors, we will have to unlock the doors leading here though” Stormy said with a quick solution, putting away the map
As the pair began searching the rooms for something they can scavenge, they found a way to open the doors leading towards the reception area on the first floor, they decided to pry open the elevator doors and use that to go down to the first floor, the previously closed areas were opened by the attacks of the monsters, most of them contained either healing apples or more Puppetsis, however the examination room remained locked, locked by a magical seal similar to the one on the throne room in Canterlot Castle, fearing they were going to need a special key to open it, both Luna and Stormy agreed to use the elevator on the floor they are currently in to check the last remaining floors, since the door leading to the stairs was locked out on both the first and second floor from the other side by Mistshine.
They tried floor per floor, but none of them had the hallway door opened, in fact, each elevator room that they reached on had the doors busted, suddenly, after they checked the 4ft floor, a button to the 5ft Floor flashed, Luna pressed it, and both ponies got up to the last floor, a room not in the map, in it, there was a large hallway with opened doors, when the princess and the stallion entered the hallway, they could feel something was not right at all.
The fact that a room that was not in the map materialized out of thin air is one thing, but feeling on their skin that the air of the room is as cold as the winter blizzard was an alarm waiting to ring. As they went in further, the windows showed clear indication of being broken and smashed by something powerful, allowing the fog from outside to get in, however, instead of the usual white fog sneaking in from outside, it was a purple mist, Luna freaked out the most, as she from all ponies knew better what this meant, she yelled at Stormy to perform the Unicorn’s Path so they could find the exit quickly
“Play the Song, PLAY THE SONG!” Luna yelled desperate.
“This is the purple mist you mentioned before, I don’t see-” Stormy sentence was cut shot by the static of his radio.
“AAAAH!!! GET AWAY!! “ Luna screamed, in complete desperation.
Despite the ponies walking a long path blindly, Stormy turned around just to see the princess being covered by the purple mist, but only her though, Stormy fortunately was unaffected but with enough control to witness this new form of attack, the purple mist was more darker than before, Stormy shot a magic blast, but it only seems to be feeding it, each hit made, the mist grows darker, with his main attack busted Stormy started to pull Luna from the mist by hoof, as she begged to him to play the song.
Stormy was not going to hesitate this time and dropped his guard to perform the Unicorn’s Path, a couple of bright white and shinning stars started to show the way to the exit, but the mist was not letting Luna go, despite being a little weakened by the song effects, Stormy put away his instrument and resumed pulling Luna out by hoof, trying to take Luna away from that purple mist, for him, it was kind of sticky, like goo, or something similar on his hooves, but for the princess, it was like air, just that more tighter, struggling to suffocate her, and preventing her from moving, half of Luna body was surrounded as the same figure from before showed up, the Black Alicorn, Stormy was not letting go Luna’s hooves, the Black Alicorn this time, limit herself to watch their struggles.
“Stormy!, go!, you will not take me out in time!” Luna begged, losing hope, only her head and front hooves were visible.
“…” the Black alicorn seems to smile at the princess desperation.
“Forget it!, I will not leave you!” Stormy started to concentrate on the moondust magic. “If what you said about me earlier was right, I pray to Celestia this works.”
“……………………………” The Black Alicorn did not open her mouth until it got closer to Luna ears… then she heard a very but not so pleasant familiar voice.
“The Night….. Will last….. Forever!”
Luna instantly began to cry as she heard those words, Stormy heard them as well and feared the backlash from the Elegy of Chaos on the princess mind, he prepared his spiked shield on the princess but focusing on the moondust magic that she mentioned was sleeping on him, the shield reacted to the novice command and created spines on Luna’s body out of stardust that caused the mist back away for a moment, it worked all because the black alicorn inside the mist forgot that Stormy was there.
Luna fainted from the fear; Stormy quickly carried her on his back and started to run towards the exit, marked by the little stars of the ancient song, Stormy kept his magic going around the princess to prevent further damage as well as her falling off from him. As he ran, they passed a big double door, with only a few seconds to spare, he closed and locked the doors, he could hear the black alicorn trying to take the door down, being a wooden door though, meant it was not going to last long, especially since a sharp horn almost stabs him on a side of his face.
Stormy took the stairs down to the 4F, he slowly opened the door to check the hallway, in there, no monsters were present, the radio didn’t emit static, this gave him an idea, since they won’t be returning to the fifth floor Stormy used an enhanced magic blast to destroy the stairs leading towards that floor where the purple mist is and blocked the door with the debris he made, the banging on the door stopped, they managed to escape the danger for now.
“I hope I never face that thing again, now, were do we rest to catch our breath?” Stormy said to himself, searching the most suitable room.
Taking advantage of the magic boost that he still have left, he used the unicorn path song again, it seems that besides revealing hidden things, it also works fine to find places with no monsters or with items, the little stars appeared on one specific door, it was room 410, Stormy entered, still with the unconscious princess on his back, there was a bed in good shape, a green apple on the table, and it seems that a page of something, Stormy placed the princess on the bed and read the page, it was a patient description, it reads the following;
“Patient suffers from a heavy blow on his head, his central neurologic system, actually shows a hemorrhage, indicating severe traces that increases the possibility of long short term memory loss, is unlikely to know when he could wake up, but for the records, his chances of recovery are very low, since his cerebral cortex is damaged as well, Patient --------- has been declared in Coma.“
“This medical report, the name is not legible, but,” Stormy said, but before he could finish, he felt something behind him.
“Whaaa!!!, brother!!! “ a voice cried.
He turned around only to see a semitranslucent colt, crying next to a doctor, the colt was him, when he had the same age as Pinkie Pie, on that time, he was wearing a cyan suit, on the bed where Luna was resting, there was another semitranslucent little colt, connected to several machines, it had bandages on his head and he was holding the Posey doll, the little colt had the same size as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but maybe a little more older, almost as old as Featherweight.
“I am sorry, we did the best we could, but he is a coma,” the doctor said to the ghostly Stormy.
“Will he wake up?” the ghostly Stormy asked with a broken hear.
“No, we will try, but there is a chance he might never wake up,” the doctor replied with a mixture of sadness and pity
“Nooooo!!!, brother!, Mistshine, please!, open your eyes!!!, don’t leave me alone little bro!!” the ghostly Stormy cried and begged on his brother bed.
“Mistshine, this room is, ” Stormy could not say anymore.
Stormy tried to place his hoof on Mistshine Ghost, if it could be called like that, but as soon as he did that, he, the doctor and even his younger self disappeared, he seems to remember something about his brother, could those ghost be memories from him? If they are, what are they trying to say? Either way he felt as if his heart was stabbed by a dagger or something similar, he haven’t saw his brother in a long time, maybe his brother not longer want him near?, the princess started to wake up, making the stallion feel a little relief, Luna felt Stormy’s hooves, like if he was out of himself or something
“Stormy, Hello?, I am awake, say something,” The princess asked, kind of dizzy from before.
“Something,” Stormy replied, not paying much attention
“Did something happened when I was unconscious? “ the princess asked again to her companion
Stormy told Luna what he saw and gave her the medical report, she was confused, if Mistshine is in a Coma, how in the wild name of Equestria was he doing moving around the Hospital, without any problems?, not only that, but his appearance and personality was strange, Mistshine had the body of a normal colt, but not as tall as Stormy (since Stormy was royal size, nearly as tall as Fancy Pants), but his personality was of a Little Foal, as if his body did not matched his mind, Luna got herself out of the bed, looking at her companion a little concerned.
“Stormy, if this is correct then the colt that we saw, ” Luna analyzed and thought the best she could about the situation. “I think you should stop searching for him.”
“Princess, how can you say that?” Stormy felt betrayed by the princess words “he is my only family, ghost or not, I will not leave him here alone this time, even if he is not my brother, I will find the truth” Stormy sound determined to find an answer to the situation
“I see.” Luna seems to sound sad, seeing her guard resolved seems to help “ ok, I will help then, sorry if I held you up “
“By the way, what in the name of the moon was that alicorn?” Stormy asked, referring to the Black Alicorn from earlier
Luna froze cold, should she tell her about her?, but, after all they have gone already, she felt she can trust him, specially since he already trusted her his brother condition according to the report, as both ponies exited the room searching the whole floor for the Examination room key, she started to told him her recent nightmares, she told him that, there were times that she was afraid to look herself in the mirror, because, each time she look at it, she saw Nightmare Moon reflection on it, some other times, in her nightmares she saw herself being trapped by the purple mist, turning her again into the wicked mare of darkness, and hurting everypony she was in close range, including her sister, her recent dreams were not much different that the ones she had while in exile, just that this time, they were more frequent and more darker, recently, almost one week, before Stormy talked to Princess Celestia, she had one of the most horrific nightmares, Stormy listened to the princess with attention
In the recent nightmare, she was in a hospital, very similar to Canterlot Hospital they are in now with one small change, she was only following a long and almost interminable hallway with all doors out of reach even if she flew, along the way she heard voices whispering, each voice said things like “turn back “, “please stop “, “don’t do it”.
Although she did not understand most of them, a big double door with moon carvings in it caught her attention, she heard one last voice as soon as she was able to touch the doorknob saying “only suffering and despair awaits you, My little pony“.
“I do not like where this is going,” the princess said with her voice forming an echo on the hallway.
As she opened the door, a huge dark room awaited her, she walked further into the darkness of it and continued until she felt her hooves touched air, at that point she started flying into the big dark room until the door closed by itself with a loud bang.
The room had one source of light though, a tiny little candle in the middle of the room, with no other options she went ahead and touched it, but as soon as she did, she felt her hooves burning, everything became clear and she could see perfectly where she was, she was burning because she was ripping Celestia heart out of her, her sister had a shocked and sad look on her face as her light left her eyes.
The princess of the night screamed as she saw this dropping the candle, that quickly turned the tiny flame into a hellfire, her voice was not heard no matter how hard she screamed due to the fire, almost as if her pleads of help were swallowed by a psychotic laugh, that exit from her mouth. Luna closed her eyes for a moment wishing she would be back on her bedroom but when she opened them again, she was not on Canterlot, she was on a big white place, her hooves still had Celestia’s Heart, she dropped it out of fright making it hit the ground, as soon as it touched the floor, the whole placed changed from white to red, and she again, felt her hooves burning, the blood on the floor was climbing on her, melting her flesh,
“N-no!, somepony!, anypony!, help me!” she yelled, but nopony heard her plea.
She started to flap her wings to fly, but the blood from the ceiling felt on them and the same problem on her hooves happened with her wings, they were the first ones to melt, she could see her internal organs falling from her body, she screamed as hard as she still could, closing her eyes, waiting for death to give her some comfort that the pain was going to end, until her senses blacked out.
When the princess opened her eyes again, she was again, in a long hallway… this time, the floor was like grass dry grass, as she walked, a darkness behind her started to chase her, she ran and flew as hard as she could, but she could not got away, when the darkness catch her, she felt like if somepony had made a hole in her back and exited from her torso, when she looked down, expecting to see her own heart beating one last time before stopping, but instead of that she saw a black hoof trying to exit her own body.
Luna felt a sharp pain, despite the fact she was not bleeding from where the hoof was coming from, from the wound another hoof came out and the more and more the new figure came out, it was more than clear who it was, it was none other than the Black Alicorn, just that this time, she had a full new body to show and was smiling at the sight of Luna terrified face.
“Expecting somepony else little fool?” those words echoed on Luna’s mind, but were said by the creature on her chest as it came out.
Needless to say, her coat color was a very dark violet, almost next to black, just that she had her eyes missing, and had multiple dark red areas on her body, indicating she recently got bloodstained, she had a broken green with blue armor, and helmet, her mane and tail were grey colored with white sparks, but her mouth had fangs, her cutie mark was a red full moon with grey clouds surrounding it, the creature just smiled before taking a bite from Luna’s neck, she started to pull hopping to rip the Princess head off. As she let one final scream, the nightmare usually ends after that.
“…” Stormy did not said anything, be was more pale that he already was.
Stormy felt chills going down on his spine, after hearing the princess nightmares about the Black Alicorn. He feared that this new monster, this “mare” if you could call her that, would be something similar to the Iron Mask Pony that is following him, and if that is the case, neither he nor Luna could defeat it in a solo battle, he could see the princess was scared and her eyes reflected that, even if her body did not, Stormy kindly used his magic and pulled the princess closer to him, giving her a hug much to her disapproval, yet, something about this simple gesture was more than enough to allow Stormy to do it, perhaps not the right solution, but damn well it was something that somepony could use after experiencing such dreams.
The princess let go a soft cry on him, venting a little bit of her accumulated frustration. Once Luna finished her story, both of them finished checking all the remaining rooms, but all they could find was a green apple, some bandages and what it seems to be wrench, it had Mistshine signature.
“This is my brother wrench, he used to carry it all the time,” Stormy said as he watched the tool with a smile, before taking it with him.
“A wrench?” Luna questioned with a surprised look. “Does your brother works with machines and electricity?, that’s extremely unusual in Equestria.”
She was right, Equestria don’t have big machinery or technology for that matter, the most it has are the transport trains, spa and beauty salon equipment and in general, basic tools for Parties and living… but nothing extremely advanced. Manehattan might be the exception to the rule though, as so far is the only town in Equestria with any hints of tech in miles, but Stormy was more focused on Mistshine wrench, it look like it had a lot of use, more than normal coming from an engineer pony, then again in the special hell he is right now, anything is possible.
“As a matter of fact, yes he does.” Stormy replied to the princess smiling “He is not an normal engineer pony, he is inventor; he used to create a lot of things using steel and sometimes wood, he is a genius when it comes to pony anatomy and medicine, but…”
“But?, Stormy what happened to him” Luna questioned, worrying the mental state of her guard.
“He is on a coma Luna, you saw the medical report, if he ever wake up he will be a kid inside a stallion body, and it would be a miracle if his body will be able to recover the mobility he used to have.” Stormy let some tears escape as he explained.
“So that’s why he looks like a little colt when we found him, wait” Luna was smiling before rational thinking kicked in. “If Mistshine is in a coma, how in the name of my sister is he running around in the hospital?!”
How come a pony that is supposed to stay glued to a machine due to coma is moving around?, True, that question made Stormy lose a bit of faith in believing that what he is experiencing might be reality, but both his and Luna’s injuries might claim otherwise, still the princess did not get an answer from the stallion, and he just gave a “beats me expression”, it must has been painful to him to remember his brother condition, but staying away or questioning what is reality and what is fiction won’t fix anything either,
“Ghost, dream or changeling you need to find him, if he is really your brother, he will love you and give us some answer, but staying around won’t help” those where the princess words before moving away from her guard opening the door back to the hallway. Once they finished with the forth floor, they searched the third, there were some monsters on that floor, Luna shot a couple of magical bullets to them while Stormy used his brother wrench on the Ceiling Filly, taking out theirs screws on their heads, the creatures immediately died from bleeding however with a smile on their faces, something that made the knight shiver.
On the third floor, in one of the rooms, they found a page from the Book of Harmony, it read “Celestia´s Plight” the song description reads that the song allows the user to raise the Sun or lower it if Celestia is not capable of doing it or if she was too tired to bring it out, also as a side effect, the melody itself could weaken black magic creatures. Alternatively, if used during night time, it would control the Moon instead.
It seems that the song was made in case that if either princess was injured to the point of raising the Sun or the Moon was an issue, but as a little bonus, it can weaken some enemies, Stormy decided to play the song, as he was trying to mimic the notes, an Armored Shadow came from a side of the room triggering the radio, Luna shot a light based magic blast, but it didn’t work, the creature shield himself with the armor, as soon as it draw the sword it was carrying however, Stormy had just finished performing the ancient song, a flash of ligh blinded everypony in the room when both the princess and Stormy could see, the Armored Shadow had frozen, literally, it was just standing there, as if something was holding him, Luna took advantage of the situation and started to shoot magic blast towards him, without the ability to move it was easy to hit him, the creature screamed as it disappeared and the frozen armor pieces felt on the ground cold as ice.
“Wow, I...” Stormy said, storing his ocarina with a confused look on his face, a headache was nailing on his head constantly “I think I played this song before.”
“Is a good thing that you know the ancient songs then,” Luna replied with a smile
“Thanks princess,” Stormy smiled.
On the third floor they finally found the key to the examination room, alongside that one however was a special key, Stormy saw that the key was shaped as his cutie mark, so he gave it to Luna to keep it from now, strange, Stormy didn’t remember that key ever existed, Luna also found it strange that he gave it to her, instead of him to keeping it.
With the examination key in their power they set route to the first floor, they descended to the second floor however, as soon as they opened the double doors.
“Oh sweet Celestia, not again” Stormy said, his previously brave face and personality switched to an afraid one.
“Are you ok?” Luna asked, seeing Stormy’s body language, he was cowering in fear.
Stormy nodded negatively, to both ponies surprise, the second floor looked exactly the same as the one of his first nightmare, including the damaged aspect and rust everywhere, as they explored the door closed shut behind them and was unable to be reopened, both ponies started walking around a little bit but the further they walked in, the more Stormy was becoming more and more paranoid, even his levitation magic that he kept on the sword handle was coming on and off.
The stallion mind instantly froze in shock as a metallic echo started to sound on the walls, he tried to open the door leading towards the patients rooms, but it was locked in place, he quickly checked the map to find an alternative route, at first Luna was not amused with her guard reactions but as another metallic echo rang, this time more closer to them, Stormy had now fully panicked and jump, Luna was getting a flashback of how she reacted when the Black Alicorn appeared.
Stormy opened a door to the left, it seems this one lead towards the patients area, however, he was greeted by the Iron Mask Pony silhouette on the patients hallway.
“S-shit!,Luna MOVE!” Stormy yelled as he closed the door shut hard.
Stormy sadly did not reacted in time and Luna turned around to see a giant blade destroying the door lock and Stormy pushed Luna away from him before he was grabbed by the creature, Luna saw what Stormy feared the most, The Iron Mask Pony.
“L-let me go!” Stormy pleaded, his courage has gone down to hell.
“hahaha~” the creature did not said anything, it just smiled, laughing.
The princess was also scared, but she more worried for Stormy right now, for him, is that If he was seeing the Death itself and his little squeals as the creature tighten his grip on Stormy’s neck with magic did not helped either, Luna reacted and attacked, to which the creature with a single blow from his weapon sent Luna towards the opposite side of the room.
Stormy kept struggling, quickly grabbing his brother wrench and start hitting the creature with it, but to no effect, the creature lifted the stallion above his head and threw him up, awaiting for Stormy to fall on his giant knife, this caused the stallion to drop his brother wrench.
A Slash attack was all Stormy could see the creature was preparing before closing his eyes in fear and putting his hooves on them, however.
“Step away from my friend!” The princess words echoed on the room.
Luna was returning Stormy the favor when he saved her from the Black Alicorn, the Iron Mask Pony turned around with an amused but sick smile, but Luna had prepared a charge attack using Mistshine’s Wrench, the hard blow she unleashed was enough to make the creature let loose a grunt. The princess saw this as a chance and pulled Stormy to her and carried him away with levitation, she ran downstairs and once they were on the main floor, Luna put in a quick magical seal on the door and blocked with some nearby furniture to give them some time. Stormy was breathing heavily refusing to open his eyes, Luna this time has to be the one pulling him together
“Stormy!, calm down for my sister sake,” Luna raised his voice to him, moving him with her hooves back and forth.
“You saw it!, he is coming for me, I still don’t know why he is so obsessed with me” Stormy said with fear in his voice, shaking.
“Then fight it next time, you taught me that, you can’t run from that thing forever,” Luna said to her friend, remembering what he did when she was imprisoned on the purple mist
“….. Fight it...? “He questioned, raising his face, removing it from his hooves.
Stormy stop to think for a moment, fight that thing?, Luna must be out of her mind… but… she did had a point, there is going to reach a point sooner or later where there will be no place to run or hide, and eventually he will have to face that thing, Stormy smiled a little ashamed that, the Princess he swore to protect, was the one giving him the advice, laughing at the irony of the situation, as they walked on the broken hallways, with no static on sight, he started to look far more relaxed.
“Shouldn’t I be the one giving you advice and saving you?” Stormy said, in a kind of sarcastic tone
“Maybe, but you have done that already, besides, this the Princess of the Night you are talking to, not some ordinary mare “Luna said, in her usual royal tone feeling mighty proud.
“Yeah, you are right princess,” Stormy said with relief
They opened the lock that leads towards the reception, but before entering there, they checked the other rooms for something useful, not much to see in the director’s office, but there was something that got Luna attention in that room, it was a medical report, but had the royal seal, meaning it was a important notice, both ponies read it
“The patient presents a corruption that is slowly taking over her mind, massive changes has been produced in her body, her bone structure is becoming more bigger and stronger, also her coat seems to be changing colors due to the possession, not only that, her cellular structure seems to be constantly changing, and turning her mane and tail into purple dust, the patient keeps crying for help, and I don’t know what else to do, we had tried everything and the patient remains unchanged, her wings and horn also are growing… Princess Celestia…. I’m afraid there is nothing else we could do for your sister, Yours Truly: Doctor Butterscotch” That’s what the report said
“…” Luna was silent and tears felt from her eyes into the report.
“Luna,. This description.is yours isn’t it?” Stormy said to the princess looking at her reactions
She nodded in a positive matter, when she was turning into Nightmare Moon it was not instantaneously as may ponies were told, it was a slow but painful transformation. each sector of her body that changed hurt like a million knifes stabbed on her, and the more the corruption grew, the more aggressive and lonely she felt, the doctors, the more advanced unicorns at the time, tried to stop the process via magic, but it was not enough, she was constantly calling for help, because she didn’t want to be alone when she could no longer resist it, but she don’t remember where did she get corrupted, or if the hate on her heart towards her sister created its own mind, but the fact remains, she has hospitalized in Canterlot Hospital, and all the doctors magic was able to keep her conscious, but the pain didn’t stop, before she lose consciousness, she saw the Black Alicorn on a mirror and then everything faded to black, all she could see, was what Nightmare Moon was watching.
She was feeling it again, a fear that she knew perfectly well what it meant and despite putting on a brave act, that was not enough to make her sadness go away. She took one sad look to Stormy, before bust into tears, deep inside of her she knew what that fear was, her mind was screaming for that awful memory to stop tormenting her.
Stormy alerted by the princess crying saw how she was literally frozen in place, Stormy tried to talk to her coming closer, but instead he received a quickly but effective freeze spell that froze him solid, the princess ran away, not before taking the examination room key from Stormy saddlebags, much to Stormy surprise, when he finally broke free he tried to follow her, she used a magical shield, preventing him to entering the examination room, Stormy knew something was wrong, one quick look to the princess eyes revealed something he feared, one of them was shapeshifting into Nightmare’s ones, Luna realized this and covered it with her mane.
“I’m sorry!, I’m so sorry, but I can’t continue with you, someday she will return!” Luna panicked, as she opened the examination room and enter it, closing the door from the inside undoing the spell
“Luna!” Stormy yelled, hitting the door, trying to take it down
This was something Stormy wasn’t expecting, the princess just ran off and leave him?, there must be something odd, Luna could hear the constants hits on the door by Stormy Steel pipe, trying to get in and begging her to open up, she felt terrible for leaving him, but she didn’t want him near her, not after they read that report, her left eye was proof enough, she was finally losing grip, the darkness in her heart is returning.
The examination room was closed, there was no light on whatsoever, she used Stormy´s Lantern and saw the examination room, all rusty and old, like if there was no use in ages, Luna knew that Mistshine was there, maybe talking with the little brother will help her resist a little bit more?, but when she took a step further into the room, instead of Mistshine, a little filly Alicorn appeared, it was translucent but Luna saw that the filly had a crown, her mane was a very light azure and her coat was light phthalo blue, she dropped the lantern in shock, she was looking at herself when she was a little mare.
“Hey you!” She came near to her younger self
“Stay away!” Said little Luna as she ran towards a door and disappeared
Luna picked up the lantern, why did her younger self ran from her?, she walked and opened the door from where her younger self left. Once inside there was nothing but darkness, the lantern proved to be useful, until some extent, she heard a soft click from the door, she has been locked in.
One step in further on the room made her feel that there was no longer floor under her hooves and she felt, she started to flap her wings to keep herself airborne, but since one of her wings had been damaged earlier, she had a couple of problems, once she could see the floor she focused and spread her wings to glide, landing safely on a fence floor, the siren went off and from the fence floor, something was forming, when she look up to see in front of her however, she saw nothing else but a mirror, also she saw the little filly in front of it
“A mirror? here?” Luna questioned herself
“No pony appreciates me or love the Moon and starts I so deeply created, if no pony loves me,“ the little filly said, as she placed one hoof on the mirror
“oh no, don’t do It please!” Luna tried to reason with the little filly, as if she knew what was going to happen, she ran towards her.
“Then I will MAKE everypony loves me!, even if I had to keep the Moon out for a whole day by force! “ Said the Little filly as the mirror reflection changed
The younger version of herself disappeared just as the Princess jumped to the filly, passing right through her and putting her hoof where the filly had hers, the mirror reflection only showed up Luna current form being slowly taken away by a corruption she knew very well, as that reflection moved on its own, independent from the princess own movements, a sick smile on the reflection could be noticed before it draw near the mirror and to much of the princess disgust, the reflection exited the mirror, it was flesh and bone, but the new creature voice.
“Long time no see eh?... Princess” Said the Black Alicorn from her own nightmare, but this time, it took a more clear form to Luna
“N-n-n…” Luna due to fear, had problems telling the mare name “ Nightmare Moon! “ she finally could pronounce the name…
“Well well, well, it seems that you still remember me, it been a long time Luna you know, but I saw what you did lately, heh, kicking that colt from your side was a terrible mistake, now there is nopony that will rescue you once I recover what it is mine.” The Black Alicorn said with a overjoyed smile, she might have Nightmare Moon form but that doesn’t stop her from messing up with the princess mind.
“N-no!, I can beat you! I did not wanted to risk him that’s all,” Luna replied, trying to outwit her foe, this just made her foe wingpalm herself.
“Let us catch up with times shall we? “ Said The Black Alicorn, opening her wings and taking a fighting stance
Luna keeping the lantern floating with her magic, she took out the Steel pipe that Stormy gave to her and used it to reflect an incoming attack, she remembered the advice she gave to her guard and applied it on herself, the main reason she shoved him away was to finally put an end to the nightmares she was suffering and with Stormy fragile state of mind on the Hospital, Nightmare could easily corrupt him.
Could this overconfidence in herself be influence of the still sane hope that Stormy has about her brother?, Meanwhile Luna fought, on the reception, there was one stallion alone, he had gave up in opening the door, as he tried to find a alternative route, the hospital started to look rusted and the crimson color of the steel was evident, the siren has gone off and neitherless to say, it looked exactly like the first nightmare the colt had when in Celestia Secret room.
“Shit shit shit “ Stormy said to himself trying to catch his breath, the metallic echoes on the building put him nevious. “Come on you stupid pony, pull yourself together!, ok, ok, Im calmed”
A loud metallic echo made him squeal, so much he quickly ran and hit under a bad shaped bed, covering himself with the nearby blanket. The door of the hallway was busted open and he saw his biggest fear searching the reception for him, he tried his best to remain still, trying to scan his foe for any weakness, but a quick look at the creature back made him feel sad, Iron Mask was carrying a Glass Mare,
“MMPPMSH!!” The creature muffled screams could be heard by Stormy.
Stormy could only see how the Glass Mare was thrown into the ground, she desperate crawled into the bed where Stormy was, Stormy saw face to face something unusual on the monster face, absolute fear, she was caught by a magical aura and she started to yell, Stormy felt pity and quickly held the creature bone hoof, in a desperate attempt to try to spare her from being killed by the same creature he is so afraid.
“… hmpf” the Iron Mask Pony exclaimed as he raised his weapon.
A Splashy sound was heard and the Glass Mare stopped moving, still holding for dear life on Stormy hoof, the metallic echo could be heard moving away, busting out a door to be more precise, with the coast clear, Stormy moved the Glass Mare hoof, he knew he could be attacked by the creature, but nothing happened, curious by this, he got out of his hiding spot, just to find he was holding only the Glass Mare upper body, her body was cut in half by the Iron Mask Pony, and her internal organs were spread and splattered across the room.
“uuurk, i-I think I’m going to throw up” he said, but without dropping the creature body.
Sure, he has killed this monster before with Luna, but never so salvage or heartless, he did more in self-defense than anything out of malice. He did not understood why, but he started to cry, his tears were mixing with the monster blood, as a gesture of pity, he put the bed back together and put the Glass Mare corpse on it, finally, he covered it with the blanket without letting the creature hoof let go his, until he covered her was when the grip was loosen enough for him to stop holding her and move on.
Stormy noticed that a unlocking sound came from the door he was trying to open, almost as if somepony was welcoming him, he didn’t hesitate in the minimum to enter, in fact, he jumped inside the reception, when the door closed, a soft “yay“ sounded on the floor, Stormy saw this and noticed the Posey doll, could his brother had used the doll to open the door for him? He took the doll and place it on his saddlebags again, he entered the examination room, passing the reception office and found out a door with Luna cutie mark in it
“oh come on! Another closed door!?“ Said Stormy trying to open the door, he already pissed charged a magical blast.
“You can´t help her” said a little colt voice behind him
“What?” Stormy turned around only to find his little bro, holding a Key with Luna cutie mark on it. “M-mistshine?, bro what are you doing here?”
“You can’t help her like that mister she entered there alone, so she has to get out alone.” said Mistshine still holding the key “Unless you are prepared for the truth”
“The truth? What truth brother? “ Stormy replied
He had to talk with his brother, but he was not getting to where was his brother going with this, downstairs, the princess and her nightmare counterpart battle and things were not looking good for the Princess of the Night, and Stormy could not help, since the door was locked and his brother had the key, time is on the essence here, he has to get that key fast, who knows how much Luna can hold alone.
Chapter 7 - Home Recall - (Fog Manehattan)
Stormy mind was still buzzing about his little brother words, what truth?, does it had to do something with the Princess condition when she was being treated on this hospital?, ever since she read that medical report about her she panicked and acted as if she wanted to contain or deal with something alone. The door with Luna cutie mark on it was closed and only Mistshine had the key.
Behind that door, Luna was fighting with all her strength against Nightmare Moon, against her own past, the image of all her anger, hatred and despair was in front of her, Luna kept using the rusty pipe, but Nightmare only dodged the attack, Luna made a mistake during her attempts to hit the creature, leaving herself open to an attack, thing that Nightmare didn’t miss and launched a magical blast to the princess, as she screamed from direct hit she took, Stormy mind and heart skipped a beat, almost as he could hear her from the other side of the door.
“Mistshine, please I need the key! “ Stormy was getting worried about the princess, so he begged his brother.
“Sorry mister, but you are not ready yet to face the truth,“ Mistshine walked away with the key to the director office
“P-please, brother don’t go! “Stormy started to cry and followed him.
Mistshine ignored the tears of his big bro and opened the door to the director office, the strange thing is that there was no other exit from that room, the room itself was empty with no trace of Mistshine, almost as he evaporated into thin air, and he is no unicorn to do the Teleport spell, could it be the truth is in this room?, He took a quick look on the door that leads toward the princess and prayed for her return as he entered the director office the door closed behind him.
Stormy used his illumination spell to see again in the dark, but something came into his mind, if Mistshine disappeared like that, maybe he can too and help Luna, he tried to focus and do the basic spell of teleportation, but no matter how hard he concentrated and though about the Princess, the spell didn’t even came up.
“Ok, first an afraid Glass Mare and now this, can you give me a break?!” Stormy exclaimed to the sky, frustrated.
“Yaaaaaaay” a soft voice echoed the room.
There was something on the director table it was the Posey doll, used as paperweight holding down what it looks like a videotape, there was a label on the tape that reads “ play me “, Stormy looked at a TV that was near the office, it had a VHS recorder connected, the stallion walked towards it...
“CRANK!” a loud metallic sound alerted him
“OH HORSEAPPLES!” Stormy yelled as he felt his weight dragging him down.
Stormy reacted quickly and grabbed into the edge of the hole his body weight made on the fence, he did not noticed that the fence was actually extremely weakened, by some strange aspect it kept raining on the area except were the TV was, meaning that weather has weakened the previously rusted fence floor, Stormy had the idea of trying to levitate the tape into the VHS and playing it from afar, but the water can mess up the tape.
“Im not a pegasi to get rid of this rain, but maybe I can,” Stormy said to himself, having an idea.
Stormy shielded the tape with a bubble spell he learned from Shinning Armor room, and guided the tape towards the VHS, once it reached he undo the bubble and quickly insert the tape and pressed the button, by miracle it worked, the beginning of the video was emitting static, after a while the video cleared up, and showed the Director office, the office showed a very damaged state and screams could be heard on the background., the doctor Butterscotch started to speak.
“There is nothing else we could do Princess Celestia, your sister condition cannot be reversed unless a huge amount of magic is required, princess we are talking to levels that surpass even yours, why didn’t you came and visited your sister for once time at least? “ The doctor looked sad and scared as he continued “Why did you abandon your only sister?, the only possible way to keep her conscious was, to always have somepony next to her, due to medical reasons, the pony that was keeping her company grew sick and we had to intervene, please Celestia, forgive us for not being able to --- “
The video then shows the door busting in flames, as a semi-corrupted Luna jumped towards the doctor as the video started to again, lose the image and going into static, some images were flashing on the screen, the doctor screaming in agony as Luna’s mane was breaking his bones, the nurse ponies running, only to be caught by the princess, but what it was worse, was, that she was transforming more and more into Nightmare moon, during all of this, the very last image, was Nightmare moon, stepping as hard as possible on the camera, as the video ended and ejected the tape.
Stormy was speechless, by the looks of it the princess, the mare he had a crush on had killed all those ponies 1000 years ago?, that can’t be true!, his heart said, but his mind was conflicted, telling him “She did kill them“ , Stormy put his hooves on his head, trying to clear his mind, the screams of the patients and doctors still rang on his brain. If Luna did killed all those pony, why is not written on the Equestrian History?, even if Celestia wanted to keep that part hidden, there could not be any way in Equestria that would remain hidden forever.
There was something on the video that it was off however, there was no blood, usually if you kill somepony, the blood will stay on your hooves, like what happened when he held the Glass Mare hoof, the walls would be splattered if the victim was crushed, that leads Stormy to think that maybe, when she became nightmare, she was trying to ask for help, but her actions turned into fear and chaos, maybe she didn’t kill all those ponies?, he took out his ocarina before his mind drove him insane and played the Unicorn’s path, the song effects covered all the room, and revealed it’s true looks, it was black, and burned, most of the books in the bookshelf were illegible and the TV was actually broken the floor that had the weakened fence was not actually broken, the original floor had holes in it as well, but most important of all, there was something in the bookshelf that caught Stormy attention, it was a very old newspaper clip, it was legible enough to read, Stormy sat on an old chair nearby.
“Lunar Implosion on Canterlot Hospital“ the title explained “a fire was reported on Canterlot hospital, the cause of the explosion was a huge burst of fire magic, there are several ponies injured, but fortunately “ Stormy smile grew “no tragic victims” but as quickly as the smile appeared on his face, it disappeared when he read the last lines of the report “ only one pony resulted with several fractures, and is possible that he will be unable to walk again, the victim name was Doctor Butterscotch, the one responsible of taking care of Princess Luna, which current location is unknown “
“This newspaper,“ Stormy said to himself as he read the date “is from 1000 years ago, when Luna was banished but she is blaming herself of what happened to Butterscotch, and she is thinking that she---“
Stormy froze, he was a very smart one and he could feel the fear Luna was feeling, trying to contain that part of herself, her guilt, pain and suffering, he will not let Luna to face those things alone, especially when she helped him already a lot. Stormy turned back to the door to return to the examination room, even if he have to take the door down, he will help Luna, as soon as he placed a hoof on the doorknob a soft “ yay “ was heard along with a foal giggle, The effects of the unicorn path had already ended.
Stormy saw on the desk that the Posey doll had the key with Luna cutie mark and the newspaper clip had disappeared, Stormy picked up the key just as the doll slowly crumble into dust, it was not the original, after all, he carries the original one, Stormy exited the director office and used the key on the marked door, the door opened, just to be received by a huge amount of purple mist.
Below, The princess was fighting the Black Alicorn, also know as Nightmare Moon, each magic blast she launched, it passed right thought her, but Luna had the worst part, her wings were already wounded and her legs showed several cuts, The Black Alicorn on the other hand, didn’t looked harmed at all, Stormy yelled the princess name, falling down fast, but he was inside his spiked bubble spell, as expected he bounced and ran over the Black Alicorn, of course this draw both mares attention, but specially the Black Alicorn, she changed target and launched herself to Stormy.
“Stormy, behind you! “ Luna yelled, launching another magical blast at the creature
“I noticed! “ Stormy jumped dodging the creature attack, undoing his bubble and coming near the princess.
“Having that little colt won’t help you, you will accept your fate, and is to be alone, the daylight is not needed,“ The Black Alicorn replied, appearing before them ready to attack them at close range.
“You are wrong!” Luna said holding her hooves on her head, trying to make the enemy influence out of her mind
“Luna… “ Stormy took out his ocarina again, playing it in the middle of the battle leaves him wide opened “I will play the Unicorn Path, when you have the chance to attack the real her, attack her, it worked before, I will work again!“
“Stormy… I “ Luna wanted to apologize for her previous behavior, but she was interrupted by Stormy
“I already know Princess, I trust you with my life besides---“ Said Stormy with a smile “ Being my job or not, I will always be there for you, no matter what happens “
Stormy knew the risk of playing the song in the middle of a heated battle, but he needed to do this, if his supposition was correct, the purple mist from the castle was this same mare, and if he is correct, Luna won’t be able to do a thing as long as it is protected by that illusion.
As he played the ocarina, the magical effects of the song became notorious over Nightmare Moon, and Luna was able to see the true form of her attacker, her body was the same from Luna’s nightmares, her coat color was a very dark violet, almost next to black, just that she had her eyes missing, and had multiple dark red areas on her body, indicating bloodstains, she had a broken green with blue armor, helmet included, but weird enough, it had skeletal design, her mane and tail were grey colored with white sparks, but her mouth had fangs, her cutie mark was a red full moon with grey clouds surrounding it, but, the Black Alicorn Ribs were exposed and they were sharp, and her wings although they were capable of maintaining flight, didn’t had many advantages since they looked like a bunch of feathers were missing, Luna shot a magic blast at her, and it did hit her this time, the ancient song was making her vulnerable, the Black Alicorn started to bleed it’s black blood on the fence floor recovering from the concoction of the forced landing.
“Luna, don’t waist time!” Stormy mentioned, keeping the ancient song effect active
“Oh no you don’t “ The Black Alicorn instantly used a fire magic
The fire surrounded Stormy, he tried to exit the fire ring but the flames grew higher each time he tries to jump, if he cancel the ancient song to get out using the teleport spell the magic of the place they are will cancel it anyway, the Black Alicorn will have the advantage, the fence below Stormy´s hooves started to grow hot, he tried a bubble spell to protect himself, but the songs of harmony consumes a huge amount of magic, so much he cannot use another spell while he is playing them, the creature using her dark magic, creating a translucent bubble that held the stallion trapped inside with the fire, Stormy could not break it from the inside, he tried to put out the flames with his raincoat, but his raincoat caught the fire, the air inside the little bubble was starting to lose oxygen, Stormy manage to pull out the flames from his raincoat, but continue to concentrate on keeping the magic going
“auch auch, sweet Tartarus this is hot! “ Stormy said, keeping the effect going
“I’m coming! “ Luna changed direction to the bubble
“Luna forget it!, this is a distraction, notice how my magic wasn’t blocked? “ Stormy said coughing a little
Luna launched to attack the bubble, ignoring Stormy request to attack the creature, The Black Alicorn took advantage of this and flew towards the princess, she used her exposed ribs to injure Luna’s wings, the princess felt a penetrating pain circulating her body, she could not fly or even hover with both wings damaged, time was getting short, as the air in the bubble started to run low, and it was filling completely with smoke, Stormy lay on the ground, trying to breathe as little as necessary, he remembered the Song of Time he found in the archives, but if Luna is not next to him, she will be affected, Stormy could only watch as the princess was fighting, keeping the truth reveal magic on.
Luna was getting worried, watching Stormy body grew weak to both, the magic exhaustion and the lack of air, she changed the things a little bit, and used her pipe as a boomerang, the creature obviously dodged the attack, but noticed the steel pipe was coming back, but towards the bubble, as she flew as fast as possible to stop it, Luna saw her perfect chance to counter attack and cause a huge damage. Using her magic, she made the pipe froze in mid air, and heads towards the Black Alicorn, the creature noticing this hit the brakes and tried to dodge but the pipe stabbed her in her torso, where the exposed ribs were, the creature let out a distorted scream, as she caught a little blood, Luna shoot a magical bullet towards the bubble, making it break, the smoke disappeared quickly and Stormy was recovering, the fire itself, without being contained, could not cause suffocation, but it could cause burns, Luna used a teleporting spell to take him out of the fire ring, but instead of it a bubble shield appeared. Stormy roll over Luna side and kept the effect on with his magic, the black alicorn was suffering the pain from her wound.
“Looks our roles“ Stormy cough a little, getting more air each time he opened his mouth “ has been reversed since we met, right princess? “
“You may say that, but we will discuss that later“ Luna was smiling but also exhausted by the use of constant magic blast on the Black Alicorn
“I……..h…..a……….ven´t…. died…….. you….. will…….ne……ver…….get rid of ME…. IM… YOU….YOU ARE….ME!! “
Those words came from the creature, it still had Luna pipe on her torso, making her lungs fill with blood, and her heart was stabbed, Stormy and Luna didn’t hesitated and launched to attack her, Stormy gave Noirstar´s Sword to Luna, as he bucked with his back hooves the Black Alicorn on her face, making her lose balance, Luna then pierced again the Alicorn exposed part with such strength, the handle of the sword even got inside her wicked heart, and the blade exited on the back of their foe and the fence floor they were in, also Luna’s horn got nailed on the creature throat, the black blood of the alicorn stained Luna’s hooves and part of her mane, Stormy stopped the song effects, and when it ended, the creature was still as she was just that her blood turned red, Stormy saw how Luna took the sword and raised it, but a quick look at her eyes showed a tint of malice, before Luna could strike a corpse, he placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder, both saw that the creature was no longer drawing breath.
“S-she is still right about me you know?, she is a part of me I can’t erase,” Luna said, a little sadden but tired of the ordeal.
“I know.” Stormy said, hugging the princess “But whatever happens, I will be there, and if you lose control, I will also be there to bring you back”
“But what if it is true?, If I became her again? “ Luna questioned, still not letting the stallion go
“You won’t “Stormy replied firmly
“But“ She tried to think on the future, but Stormy placed a hoof kindly in her mouth to interrupt her
“You won’t, I know it and I will be by your side “Stormy said, smiling to the princess
He learned a few things from Pinkie Pie, especially when somepony need to be treated with kindness and care, but also, she taught Stormy to how to make things better with a smile, After picking up their equipment Luna looked confused as how her companion approached the corpse of the Black Alicorn, it seems she decomposed quickly, leaving her skeleton behind, with his magic moved the jaws of this one as in a puppet display.
“Oh hey Luna just for you to know, I will keep myself asleep, because I’m lazy and I don’t want to have my flank kicked by a crazy stallion with mental issues “ Said Stormy, trying to imitate the Black Alicorn voice
“Pfffff….” Luna put a hoof in her mouth trying to contain the laughter form that display
“Also, I forgot the cake in the oven, maybe Celestia already ate it along with it, silly me “ Stormy said, dropping the corpse
“Hahahahaha! “ Luna laughed, making her felt relieved
“ hehehe” Stormy moved his hoof to a side, and from out of nowhere, he took another pony skull, and made a made it talk with his magic, saying something like “look at me, I’m Miss Bones, say hi kids nyehehehehe“
“hahaha, stop it” Luna laughed again feeling better
Their laughs cut short, as the skull bit Stormy hoof, Stormy lose concentration of his magic and let the skull drop on the floor, that’s when he saw how the skull bounced until was picked up by a hoof, he turned around and he found the skull belonged to the Skeletal mare, the same one that had stolen his sword, but there was something different, she didn’t have flesh on the wings anymore, they looked torn apart from her , instead, only the skeleton was, her cutie mark, and flesh on her body persisted, her front and back hooves also looked like bones, as soon as she placed her skull back in place, the flesh covered it, returning her angered look, her eyes were all black, no red dot or anything, also her wings regenerated themselves, she raised Stormy’s sword, Luna used his magic to pull him out of the sword reach.
“ What the---!?” is she the creature that stole your sword?” Luna asked a little surprised
“Yep” Stormy confirmed, taking out Noirstar sword
“You cannot escape your sins also you are not funny, prepare for a wild ride.” The Skeletal Mare said, launching herself towards both ponies
Is unusual for the Skeletal Mare to crack a joke before attacking, before she didn’t even talked much. Being a Pegasus, she had speed, but that is the thing, if she is missing the feathers, why on in Equestria is she able to fly with featherless wings?, Luna took out her rusty pipe, to defend herself, but one powerful blow from Stormy’s Sword, manage to break it, Luna was opened for a attack, The Skeletal Mare tried to bite her, however Stormy shoot a magic blast to it and sent the creature flying towards the mirror on the room shattering it, the pieces of the mirror felt on the creature flesh, Luna and Stormy took this opportunity to go up the stairs, and exit through the door, as the door closed, Stormy used his last bit of magic to take down a closet filled with out of date medicines to block the path.
When they returned the reception, it looked normal, almost as if killing the Black Alicorn returned the hospital to it’s previous state, but the strange thing was the door to the main exit was changed, it had a different design, next to it there was the bed where Stormy put the Glass Mare corpse, he was completely sure the bed was in the hallway though, the stallion came closer to the bed and lifted the bed sheet just to find the corpse was no longer there, in her place there were a few apples and a bandage kit, a way to say thank you perhaps?. Luna and Stormy open the door after patching themselves up with the bandage kit, there was a very potent light, that made both close their eyes and move forward.
Once the light started to fade and both ponies eyes adjusted to the picture they had in front of them, Stormy and Luna saw, that they were no longer in Canterlot, they were able to see the Statue of Friendship of the horizon, a lot of tall buildings that were like apartment buildings and even theaters, Luna tried to open the door that leads to the hospital, trying to see if that would send them back to Canterlot, but the doorknob felt, it was broken, a few steps away let them know they were in the Manehattan Hospital, a nearby map gave Stormy the hints he needed to figure out where he was, his mind froze as he saw the name
“Stormy are you ok?, where are we? “ Luna asked trying to talk with her companion
“We are in Manehattan“ Stormy said with a mixture of sadness and fear in his voice.
Stormy stored the map on his saddlebags however, Luna could notice Stormy was not happy about being in his hometown, Stormy noticed the big buildings, commercial stores, even libraries and restaurants, all of them covered by the same fog as in Canterlot, it was safe to say this weather was not something normal but there is not much that can be done with it at this point anyway. The radio didn’t took long to start emitting a sound, warning the ponies of a creature presence, they started to look on the streets to see if something was coming but nothing could be draw in the horizon.
The radio increased the volume and with this alert, both ponies looked up, they noticed several Ceiling Fillies on the rooftops, they used the power lines to run towards the princess, Stormy ran again along with Luna, Stormy looked a little afraid, as he ran, several voices rang in his head, the creatures reached quickly to them, but used Luna as a trampoline and jumped towards Stormy, Stormy was out of magic, but in panic he cannot eat apples to restore it, so does the princess, besides she couldn’t fly, her wings were still wounded and she haven’t treated them, sure the bandages had stop the bleeding but she needed more than that, Stormy afraid used the sword on the creatures in a quick Spin Attack, didn’t take long for them to fall on the ground beheaded, their blood splattered the stallion hooves and part of his face, triggering flashbacks of his nightmares, dropping his weapon.
Stormy he tried to make it go away from his coat, rubbing his hooves together and using his raincoat to dry himself up, but the blood did not go away, Luna however, could see Stormy was clean, knowing perfectly well what is happening, the princess came closer to him and slap him with her hoof, making him come into his senses
“Stormy, calm down, you are getting me worried, ever since we came here, you have been acting strange, what the hay is wrong with you?! “ Luna was getting angry, awaiting response
“Princess, I’m sorry, this town, my hometown, it brings back so many bad memories that I don’t want to be here“ Stormy admitted towards the royal princess, but starting to calm himself up
“I understand, but acting like that will be very reckless, you know this place better than anyone, is there is a place we can rest for a moment? “Luna said, her wounds were starting to affect and bother her already.
“t-there is my house princess,” Stormy replied, feeling a little bit better.
As Stormy and Luna walked towards Stormy´s fillyhood house, it started to rain without any pegasus intervention, using the map Stormy manage to get to the street that leads towards his house however, to their surprise the road was destroyed, just like in Canterlot.
The map was getting wet and there is no replacements for it, there is one alternative route they can take in to get to Stormy’s house, is passing through a commercial center, it was easy recognizable because it had a giant horseshoe on the roof, and it was next to a giant building with a pony head on top and the best hotel in the town, once they manage to enter from the main doors, both ponies blocked the main entrance to avoid any unwanted guest.
The placed looked empty at least, it might take them a while to reach their destination, Luna sit on a nearby bench, tired of all the running so far, her body could not resist anymore her wounds started to tire her, Stormy sat next to her and searched on her saddlebags for something to cure her, he found the bandages, and carefully extended the princess wings, ironically the princess was getting used to being patched up by a stallion, a former Lunar Guard. In the past, Celestia was the one that patched Luna up during her battles against Discord or even King Sombra, feeling the way that somepony was taking care of her was a little relaxing, Stormy wasn’t too wounded fortunately, he carefully placed the bandages on the princess wings and tight them up a little to stop the bleeding, Luna was blushing because she knew her wings wasn’t the only place she had cuts, Stormy started to cover her wounds in all her body while the princess could only blush, he took out his sword and stored it on Luna saddlebag as he worked.
“Thanks, guess you retook you role as guardian? “ she giggled a little, blushing from the treatment the stallion gave her
“hehehe, what kind of stallion would I be if I let you wounded? “ Stormy said as he step down from the bench and sat on the floor for Luna to climb on him “Come on, I will carry you over, until you get some rest “
“I appreciate the offer, but I can walk on my own “ Luna said coming down from the bench
The adrenaline rush from before made the princess don’t feel pain, but as soon as she placed a hoof on the floor, reality kicked in, she was in no conditions to run or walk for that matter, she just had defeated the Black Alicorn after all and her wounds are still fresh, Stormy placed her on his back, keeping her secure, he took a bite from one of the green apples he had, making him recover enough magic to make sure Luna could be on Stormy back without falling, Luna on the other hoof, took a drink from the energy drink, although it made her felt better the taste of the drink was not top quality, either way, she rested a while, as Stormy walked, trying to find the exit to the alleys.
It was really strange that there was no monsters on such a big place, anypony in that kind of hell will be praying to Celestia to do not find a creature, but the place was deserted from both creatures and ponies, Stormy noticed on one of the stores, a music shop to be exact, 3 book of harmony pages, he won the lottery, as he entered the store with Luna on his back, he noticed the 3 pages each of them demanded some sort riddle to open the container, but they were easy ones, as the riddles referred to the items he had collected so far.
One page reads “ Pegasus Storms “ which allows to make it rain, since the clouds will generate above the user or target, the larger the cloud the bigger the magic required, careful with lighting bolts though, the other song was called “ Equestria’s Soul “, It was a joyful song that revitalized anypony in close range, if used on a earth pony, their stamina will recover, if used on a pegasus, their tiredness will go and speed will increase for a short time, and used on a unicorn, it will recover all his magic, he could use it to recover the princess.
Luna indicated that the song itself require little magic, and with one green apple on his tummy, Stormy have half capability, he was thinking of eating his last apple, but the princess, strangely enough, stop him, saying that is better to save it in emergency, and same thing with the song, the last song was called “ Minuet of Everfree “ and according to the princess, is one of the few dangerous songs on the book, since it allows to control plants and nature, but if the users mind is not concentrated or the magic is too weak, the plants could attack the user instead. Stormy did not try any of the songs but solved the riddles involving an apple, Posey Doll and Noirstar Sword. Once he had all the pages he restored them on the book and stored it on his saddlebags.
“Eleven pages to go “Stormy said, leaving the store
“How come the book is missing pages?, I remember that it was whole on the Royal Treasury,“ Luna stated, remembering where the book used to be
“I don´t know, I found It on the library back in Canterlot, only the Winds of Friendship song was there, wait, the book was in the Royal Treasury? “ Stormy was surprised, since the Treasury 1000 yeas ago, was located on the Old Castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest.
“ Yes, the book was created by Starwhirl the Bearded most faithful student descendant, Clover The Clever VII,“ Luna mentioned, as if she was present on the creation of the book
“I see, it is a surprise that it still works, let me guess, you and Celestia were already born by then? “ Stormy asked the princess
“Of course, but I had like 4 years that time, Clover the Clever VII died of old age, creating that book, “ Luna replied, remembering the time she was able to see that old pony when she was just a little filly princess.
“This book has been very helpful, so I think is worth the try to return it to its original state, especially if Clover the Clever put so much effort in creating it in the first place,“ Stormy said exiting the music store.
Stormy took the steel pipe just in case he had to fight a monster, Luna was already recovering a little strength and her wounds started to close, is amazing to Stormy how quickly Luna was recovering, then again she is an Alicorn, her stamina, magic and strength surpass a normal pony though. Stormy got to the first floor of the mall, in there was an exit to the alleys, but it was locked with a key.
“Uuugh, again?, this is getting ridiculous!” both ponies vent their frustration as they now have to search for the key.
Stormy used the elevator to go directly to the offices department, since that’s where the manager of the mall was and hence the master key for the mall, Luna asked him, how did he know?, but he replied that, she was right in something, Manehatten was his hometown, he spend his fillyhood in there so he knows it like his back hoof, when they finally got to the office the radio emitted static, Stormy wanted to avoid fighting since he have Luna on his back, but the princess also took out Noirstar sword, indicating she still had some magic left to still wield the weapons, Stormy looked up, no monsters on the roof, besides the door was broken, but there was also no monster on front, back or the sides.
“The fact we are not seeing anything is keeping me on an edge Luna,” Stormy could feel a chill going down his spine.
Luna simply nodded in response to the guard feelings, once he entered the manager office, he saw a new monster clearly a mare, perfectly formed and beautiful to the eyes, but the skin was made of plastic, normally Stormy would have no problems attacking it so he raised his pipe, but saw the monster in more detail, she had purple mane and tail, but red coat color, she had the eyes and mouth covered up with a bandage, preventing her to see or scream, but could hear everything very well, it was a visible Earth Pony and it seems she seems to be wearing a bracelet and damaged clothes, her cutie mark was a lipstick but behind it a sad pony silhouette.
“No, no, no, no!” Stormy said to himself, dropping his guard and attack stance.
The mare was carrying over a rusty steel pipe and the creature didn’t made things easy for him either, since she was walking on a very seductive way towards him and strangely enough, she looked like a totally normal pony. From the Princess point of view however, she knew it was a monster, since the bandages were bloodstained, like if she was crying tears of blood, also she had some scars on the visible parts of her body, but from Stormy point of view, it was if he was looking to another survivor and immediately felt for her charms.
Luna tried to make Stormy comeback to his senses, but the mare was clearly taking advantage of the situation, she raised her weapon and attacked, but she stopped for a moment just inches away from Stormy body.
“Grow?” her voice sounded cracked and started sniffing the stallion.
“Get away from him you foul creature!” Luna yelled as she swing the sword.
The creature seems to hiss at them when she caught Luna scent and managed to hit Stormy with the steel pipe, that was enough to make him wake up from his trance, the creature attacked again but Stormy blocked it’s attack with his own pipe, Luna saw her opening and attacked the creature, that is when the creature appearance started to change in a way, each hit, made the creatures skin to break, revealing underneath coat-less flesh and part of a bone, typical traces of burned flesh when somepony gets burned alive, the creature used its steel pipe to attack again, but this time, Stormy hit her face with the pipe, when he raised his hoof with the pipe to give her another hit, the creature used her back hooves to attack but contrary to a normal buck, this monster seems to have gymnastic capabilities as the hits were several with them, successfully hitting Stormy on his face and stunning him, he was taking quite a lot of damage, since earth ponies are know for their stamina and strength.
The creature tried to jump towards Luna, that’s when both saw their opportunity and attacked at the same time, Luna stabbed the sword on the creature chest, a loud crack was heard when that happened, Stormy hit the creature with a horizontal attack, hitting it on the neck, another crack was heard, indicating that the “ plastic “ skin broke on her neck, and furthermore, breaking the creature neck, the creature felt on the floor and Stormy tried to finish it but he looked at the bracelet the creature had, he stopped completely. Stormy felt dizzy and had to sit on the floor for a while, Luna took chance and finished the creature off painlessly, it was obvious this creature could be somepony he knew from before, or one of his darkest fears or could be that from the corpse of the creature, the bracelet was casting a powerful magic.
“That mare, I-i believe I know her from somewhere “ Stormy said, shaking his head, like if he had the migraine of the century
“This bracelet is a forbidden relic” Luna said as she saw each detail of the object the creature had in her hoof.
“Forbidden Relic? Explain, “ Stormy said confused, his mind was not clear enough to think for his own
“This is called; Deep Ambition bracelet.“ Luna’s knowledge indentified the ancient relic quickly; her expression though, was a sad one. “Is a magic bracelet that allow the user to be irresistible to the opposite gender but it also makes the user to become more sexually aggressive and greedy, all their desires will come to light, the user is not able to take the bracelet out himself, unless she does find the love of her life, which is almost impossible as this bracelet makes sure that others just focus on the body rather than the soul of the pony.“
“Sexual desires? But if those came to light, won’t that make the user lonely, seeing that the user is acting way too seductive,“ Stormy said as if he was remembering something, the headache was getting worse.
“You are right, most ponies would not want to find those kind of things in public, still the user has control over their desires and when to express them, but not over their actions.“ Luna replied with more details of the forbidden relic “For example, the user could control his/her sexual fantasies, but not the way she or he dresses, also, if the pony already has a lustful personality, this bracelet will have a very strong effect, even on ponies of the same gender, this thing was supposed to be on the bottom of the Neighagra Falls, why is it here? “
Stormy felt like if he knew the bracelet from before, but more specifically the monster, just like the Glass Mare he picked up the corpse and gave it a hug, he took the relic to see it for a moment then, a loud CLANK rang on Stormy mind, the bracelet had fallen off and with it, both ponies felt a strong pain in their heads, as if the object made a sound that goes straight to their brains, Stormy passed out on the floor and Luna on his back, everything faded to black as their senses were clouded.
In the deepest of darkness though, a voice could be heard, it was clearly a mare voice that spoke directly to Stormy, something in it made him feel calm, but also kept him uneasy.
“You came, I though all those words about me were lies my dear,” the voice said, with a distinguish echo.
“Of course I did love, I told you already, I love you, and I want to know the real you,” a younger colt voice also followed the mare voice.
“Hehe, you are looking at it my dear colt,” the mare voice let out a giggle while sounds of hoofsteps could be heard.
When the voices felt silent to the night, Stormy woke up, everything was different now, he was no longer on the Commercial Center, he was in an elementary school, he saw the name of the school from the window he was in, it reads
“Manehattan university? How did I get here? Luna?“ Stormy said scared and looked behind him and his eyes widen
Luna was not with him, he was very confused and worried for the princess, there was something he noticed, Ghost, several ghost fillies and ponies were in the room with him, he was in the old university from Manehattan. He tried to talk to the teacher but true to their ghostly nature, his hoof didn’t touch her, he could notice a little filly entering the classroom, it was a little mare, exactly as the monster he encountered before, but there was something different in her, something that let the stallion know that, it was not the Plastic Mare, her eyes, the filly cyan eyes were filled with kindness and compassion but her mouth and attitude reflected lust, greed and pride, also her coat was red color, and her mane and tail were purple with a shade of pink, also a pink ribbon was on back of her mane, also, her cutie mark was different, it was a lipstick lips, with the $ symbol on them, Stormy jaw nearly dropped as he saw himself sitting on the desk near the window, all the colts tried to ask the little filly out, the reason besides being heart and hooves day was let known by the teacher out loud.
“Alright fillies and gentlecolts, today we have a new classmate in our class today, she is Miss Redhoof Goldenscroll, she is the daughter of the Mayor Goldenscroll, so try to behave,“ the teacher introduced to the new classmate.
“Nice to meet you Redhoof, “ all the colts in the classroom welcomed her, obviously charmed
“The daughter of the mayor eh?” Said the little Stormy in the room, not charmed enought
“hmph, thanks I guess,“ Redhoof replied a little shy but mean in attitude.
The Stormy sitting on his desk, was a little older that the one he had previously saw on his apartment house in Canterlot or in the Hospital, the mare was almost the same age as him, and by some reason, they are the only “ghost“ in color, all the other ones are grey colored, Stormy came closer to the mare as if he remembered her from someplace, Redhoof passed right through him and sat down on the desk near his younger self, at that age, he remembered that his little bro Mistshine was in the kindergarten section.
“Hi, I’m Stormy Brave,“ the little Stormy replied to the new mare
“Redhoof” the mayor daughter replied without looking at him.
All the ghost disappeared as quickly as they came, Stormy now had a chance to check the classroom he was, all the desks had dust on them, indicating the state of decay in each one, the teacher desk was opened and Stormy found a notebook, in it, Redhoof Grades were recorded, a little genius she was, straight A in everything, when he was going to store the grade notes on his saddlebags, but he suddenly became pale and scared, all its contents are gone!, as he saw on the window, he saw a red pony with a bag, on the bag, the ocarina shape could be seen, that pony had all his items!, he tried to exit the room and recover them but it was locked from the outside.
“ Perfect,“ he released a little grunt at the situation.
There must be a spare key somewhere in the room right? Since he cannot get out from there via the front door, he checked another desk to find something useful, more precisely the one where his ghost was, he found there a little knife, is better than nothing right about now, then he checked Redhoof desk, he found a pink ribbon there, why a pink ribbon?, either way, he stored both things on his saddlebags.
As he inspected the classroom he found there was a second door behind the blackboard, it seems to lead towards another classroom, since he cannot obtain anymore items from the classroom he was in he went to the other one, the other classroom was more empty, the blackboard was erased and the door leading towards the passageway was wide opened, once there, he saw the red pony trotting towards the first floor, when Stormy followed her, the stairs towards the first floor was blocked by fallen desk, cardboard boxes and cabinets so he had to search for another route, he started to search on the second floor for another way down, he knew he was on the second floor because, he was able to see the big tree that was on the middle of the first floor courtyard, there was a map, placed on the closed door that leads towards the classroom he woke up from, he could use it to see specific places, as he saw the map, there was a place that caught his attention, it was the cargo elevator, it leads towards the storage and the hallway of the first floor.
As he was walking towards it, he set his mind of trying to find out why he is seeing those ghost, could be memories from his own past?, speaking of which, he saw the red pony ghost entering the elevator letting out a giggle, she did lay on the floor seductively before running towards it, Stormy ran and opened their steel doors, the pony was not there, there was 3 floors on the elevator, he pressed the first one, and the elevator took him to the chosen floor, once there, he noticed a lipstick mark on one of the walls.
“Wait a moment, this lipstick texture and color, I know it very well, only one pony I know would use it, wait no, was that red pony Redhoof? “ Stormy rationalized and reached to the conclusion about the pony that had his items.
He sure couldn’t forget the specific rosemary lipstick she always used and turned on the corner where the lipstick mark was, he reached to the door leading to the courtyard, as he looked at the lock, it was chained up, and the lock required a key, when he was about to leave to search for the key, he saw and heard voices coming form the courtyard, he took a look and saw the red pony, Redhoof, being bullied by other ponies, she was wearing a seductive attire, but most importantly her left hoof had the Deep Ambition bracelet, however, the ponies bulling her were mostly mares.
“Get away bitch! “ An older unicorn said, throwing stones at Redhoof with levitation
“No, stop, I’m not a bitch” Redhoof said, shielding herself the best she could behind the tree, her blue dress was starting to get dirty.
“Then explain those clothes, admit it!, you are just seducing young colts!“ said a pegasus mare, yelling at her.
“auch! Whaa! whoa! “ Redhoof yelled as she was suddenly grabbed and hit by a more stronger mare. A unicorn.
“All right you girls, make sure she learn her lesson about proper attire for a mayor descendant! Oh and about stealing other mares colts,“ said the big unicorn mare, with matters of a stick, she held Redhoof paralyzed and the others started beating her.
“Please help! Somepony! “ Redhoof plead for help, as the mares took the chance to buck her
Stormy tuned his head away when he saw the younger mares and some colts that didn’t felt under her seductive looks, throw stones at her with more strength, Stormy tried to intervene and launched a magical bullet between the bars but to no avail, he started to cry as if that mare was part of his past, as a matter of fact, he started to remember her he did remembered that scene in particular and duck a rock that was misfired, when she was bullied, Stormy remember he came to her aid, the magical bullet he launched before, passed right through them, he cursed not having the key, but then he saw something that made him smile, a counter spell for the paralysis, then a shield spell, the same spell he used on the Princess when he was on Canterlot Castle, but how?, he just learned the spell during this nightmare!, as he saw the tree, in one of the branches, there was his younger self, he let a smile, as his young image launched a fire spell, separating the bullies
“Leave her alone already!, are you by any chance better than her by doing this? “ Young Stormy said, defending the earth pony
“Did you felt under her enchantment?, she is a earth pony, she can’t make magic, neither seduce colts so easy! “ said a unicorn mare, her cutie mark was a book with a light bulb
“No, and you want to know why? because you can’t judge another pony for how they dress, or how they act, is the heart inside what counts, now I will ask nicely one more time, leave her alone “ Young Stormy pleaded again to the bullies.
A earth pony that Young Stormy had ignored, buck him on the face, making lose concentration of his spells, when the fire extinguish, they all went towards Redhoof, but Young Stormy, who clearly had a piss off look on his face by the bullies ignoring his plea, pulled one of the bullies from his tail and using his levitation spell, he send him flying towards the remaining ones, hitting them all, they quickly ran afterwards, Stormy helped Redhoof up, but one of the mares wanted more and flew towards Stormy, Redhoof quickly used Stormy body as a trampoline and buck the pegasi, sending her back to the pack of bullies, landing on the stallion back, they smiled to one another before all the ghost, including Redhoof and his younger self, disappeared, in their place the bag containing all of Stormy’s items was on one of the tree branches.
“Redhoof, now I remember, those were my memories of her, after this little problem we started knowing each other, we even played together most of the time along with Mistshine. Why in Equestria is this happening? Does this means everything here is just a dream?, I could have hit my head pretty hard on one sword training and I’m a coma or something” Stormy put his hooves on his head, more confused than ever.
As soon as he said coma though, he remembered his brother condition, he hit himself with his hoof hard, calling himself “stupid, stupid pony!, what kind of brother you are?!, there is no way you are in a coma!, if you where, who would take care of him?!, who will protect him?! “ he got himself up looking at a sign on the tree, still with tears in his eyes.
The sigh on the tree was too far away to read, since he was on the first floor now, he could start searching for the key if most of the doors weren’t damaged, cut down or blocked by furniture, as he walked in the empty corridors, he reflected upon the ghost appearances and of course the lack of monsters, could those ghost be memories he lost? Memories so long forgotten they are carving their way back into him?, or has he finally lost it and became crazy due to the events that have been happening recently?. He stopped and remembered the Glass Mare on the hospital, how scared she looked, how the Plastic Mare also stopped before attacking, even Skeletal Mare is now cracking jokes, these monsters are either evolving, or they are something else, something far worse that simple creatures trying to bite the flesh out of him and Luna.
He have to recovered his items though, he could use levitation to levitate the bag towards him, but not all items will fit thought the fence, that and the door seems to implement a magical lock that denies the use of magic while near it, he checked the bathroom of the first floor, as soon as he placed one hoof inside, he felt something cold, the bathroom was flooded, the water was enough to cover his horseshoes, he could felt like if there was something bad there, but he went in anyway.
The radio emitted a little static, alerting Stormy and placing him on guard stance, armed with the knife, he opened every door that leads to a toilet, but there was nothing on the bathroom that could trigger the radio, until he saw his reflection on the bathroom mirror, there was a pony crying on the last toilet, far from the door, Stormy could only see him using the mirror, so he used his magic to pull out the mirror and came closer to the crying pony.
“Hey kid, are you ok in there?” Stormy asked, knocking on the bathroom door.
The earth pony in the reflection did not replied, but as soon as Stormy placed a hoof on him to try to reason with him, the pony jumped and despise being a foal, manage to threw Stormy to the floor, he got up really quick and look again with the mirror, the earth pony was no longer there, but there was something on the toilet seat, Stormy levitated it and took a look, it was a key to a classroom, it read “ Classroom 3-D “, the kinder garden classrooms?, why there?.
“Ok, if I recall correctly, the classrooms were separated by floor number so if it reads 3-D it is the forth classroom in the third floor.” Stormy said to himself as he stored the key on his empty saddlebags.
With nothing else worth of interest in there, Stormy got out of the bathroom and walked towards the elevator, the fact that there was no monsters made him at least fell some sort of relief, besides his only weapon is a knife that could break if it was used with too much strength, he did check the other classrooms on the first floor, but besides destroyed desk and a weird smell of blood in the air, there was nothing out of place, he entered the elevator and pushed the little button with a 3 in it, using his magic, the elevator moved towards the third floor, once there, he checked the classrooms, most of them had little blocks or letters like ABC stuck on the walls, also, childish drawings were there, in one of the rooms however, Stormy found something out of place, it was one of the Harmony Pages, along with a drawing, made by a little colt, the drawing was 2 ponies in the middle of a big heart, both ponies seems to be holding hooves, as in the left side, there was one black pony smiling, for some reason, that black pony made Stormy felt uneasy, he then read the harmony page he found, it reads “Earth’s Pony Ballad“
“This song is filled with the passion and dedication of the earth ponies, it allow the user have more physical strength and stamina, just like if he or she were a combination of Earth Pony and the current race, but keep in mind that as long as the effect is in place, the user will be unable to use magic if he is a unicorn.“ the song description revealed the details about the spell it would cast
“So, quick version, I will be more resistant to attacks and deals more damage, but I will lose the possibility of use magic for a while, not the best option if I’m alone.“ Stormy replied to himself, rolling his eyes at the song side effects.
He stored both, the page and the drawing in his saddlebags and continues searching the classrooms, there was one thing in another room that caught the stallion attention, there was a working shower in the middle of the classroom, the door of the classroom reads “pony anatomy“, when he checked the shower, there was dry blood on the wall, but there was a Posey doll on the base of the shower, the same doll that Mistshine always hold when he got into comatose state, Stormy picked up and looked at it with a sad expression, it was dirty but it still made it’s soft “yay” sound when pressed.
“I’m positive this is insane taking into account what the hell is happening in this journey, but a nice cold shower might help me clear the head,” Stormy said with a smirk as he stepped into the shower.
Stormy opened the shower to try to clean himself and the doll up, but that is when he felt a sticky substance exiting the hose and wetting his body, he looked up to find out it was coagulated blood, he freaked out so much he hugged the doll tightly, he hit the wall with his plot but he felt something moving on his backside, he turned around to see and was greeted by the plastic mare.
“Ummm, hi?” Stormy attempted to say hi to the creature, expecting it to be friendly.
The mare hugged Stormy, he was paralyzed by this sudden reaction but woke up as soon as he felt the creature teeth on his neck, she was trying to bite him, with regret he levitated the knife and guide it towards the creature throat, with an audible crack the creature backed away and tried to attack with her weapon, Stormy stabbed the creature again, this time on her torso to get her off, it worked fortunately.
The plastic mare was making now a noise, not fully recognizable, due to her mouth bandage, but from the sounds of it, it looks like crying, the more damage Stormy did to her, the more louder the crying became, he attacked with the knife once more on her torso, and found out something he missed before, since she was using clothes, the only weak point of that creature was the torso and belly, those parts, covered by the clothes, are soft, normal in some way, the creature stop moving as soon as Stormy used his knife on that weak spot, but sadly for him, the knife broke, do to the strength he used, now he was unarmed, and the creature on the floor, with all previous wounds, was on the floor, immobile, he quickly exited the room and took the Posey doll with him, his mind was already starting to shatter in pieces.
“Great I’m unarmed and with a strong scent of old blood in my body, uuugh I need a shower” he said with disgust and frustration in his voice.
Walking around with a bright crimson suit is not the best of ideas against monsters that can smell you, he remembered the third floor had an emergency bathroom for the foals when they needed a quick clean up after P.E Class. He searched for that shower and when he found it he let a sigh of relief since the water was normal, he quickly undid his saddlebags and raincoat and started cleaning himself up, he has to admit it having a shower was what he needed at the moment, while he reflected on what was happening on the building, not before closing the door to make sure no unwanted guest appears.
There was no monsters other than the Plastic Mare, and she seems to stop for a moment at him before attacking, he took the chance to clean the Posey doll he had with him, he was more calmed and relaxed that he did not notice something sneaking behind him, Stormy turned around just to find what it seems to be a ghost of Redhoof, the soap and hot air of the shower did not let him see well, but his skin could feel that this ghost however, was tangible, scared he tried to use magic as his only means of defense since he had no weapons anymore, but the ghost touched his horn softly, Stormy stopped cold.
“R-redhoof, b-but you” Stormy said with a shocked expression, but with a blushed face.
“Need help with that monster on your legs love?” Redhoof ghost said with lust in her eyes, but kindness on her voice.
Redhoof ghost grabbed Stormy horn and pulled the stallion face closer to hers and kissed him, Stormy was shocked but more importantly, surprised as the tongue of this apparition was not only real, but soft and tender to the touch, for just a second, he wanted to believe there was no possible way this could end bad for him, so he closed his eyes, guiding himself by the memories in his heart. When he opened his eyes however, the ghost that belonged to Redhoof was nowhere to be seen and the pink ribbon that was in his saddle bags was in the floor where she was.
“Figures,” he said a little upset, but smiling with a slight blush, almost as if he was expecting that.
Once he finished his “relaxing” shower if you could call it like that, he set route and found the 3-D classroom, and used the key he found before, the door opened without any problems, once inside he did not find any items, but more ghost, this times there were not foals ghost, they were police colts and teachers, there was only one foal there, himself, crying, but he had multiple cuts and wounds in his body, not too serious, and there was one little colt that was being taken by the hospital, Stormy looked at that foal, and he saw on his hoof, the Posey doll, he felt a cold fear, running on his spine as the door closed, the adult ghost seems to be having a discussion about something.
“How could this happen? Where did you find him? “ the teacher asked Young Stormy about the colt
“Here, he was not moving!, just crawling, I’m telling you!, I saw him!, a black colt!, he did this to my brother! “ Young Stormy kept crying but pointing towards the edge of the room.
“You were the only one here little one, how are we so sure that you didn’t do this to your brother? “ one of the police colts asked the crying colt
“What in Equestria are you saying!?” Young Stormy voice changed to an angry yet sad voice, caring little for the authority in front of him “ How do you dare thinking for a second that I did this to my little brother!? “ his anger was starting to affect him seriously.
“Really agent Keeneye?, that’s was uncalled for “ one of the Police colts said to his companion, not approving his actions
“I’m just saying officer Silverbadge, he was the only one here right? “ Keeneye replied
“No,” Young Stormy replied “there was other pony, one I saw leaving, the one that made me this scars and attacked my brother! “ Still sounding depressed, Young Stormy raised his voice again
“Give me the name son“ Silverbadge asked with curiosity.
“You will never believe me, I’m sure he had bought you too, “ Young Stormy said with now an air of disgust in his voice.
“Kid, trust me, We will find the truth, tell me the name, please “ Keeneye asked Young Stormy one more time.
“Fine!, you want to know the name?!, It was Blackhorn Goldenscroll!, my marefriend brother and the son of the mayor!, are you happy now!? “ Young Stormy finally snapped, revealing the name, screaming to the top of his lungs.
An awkward silence filled the room, Stormy seeing his younger self ghost reaction couldn’t hold it anymore, as he remembered that name, a name that he was sure he had forgotten out of trauma, he hugged again the Posey doll tightly, as he remembered his first encounter with that pony, one that did not precisely ended on a happy note.
Author's Notes:
Color added, thanks for the patience
Chapter 8 - An Inmortal Lover Promise - (Other Manehattan)
Blackhorn Goldenscroll, older son of the Mayor Goldenscroll and brother of Stormy’s marefriend Redhoof, was the one that Young Stormy told the police as the attacker of his little brother, Keeneye had his suspicion but was silent, almost as if he was suspecting him for a while, Silverbadge however, thinking this was a bad joke, hit Stormy with his hoof and placed a pair of hoofcuffs on him along with an inhibitor ring in his horn to prevent him to cast spells, the teacher was frozen from the impression, as Stormy was seeing his younger self ghost being arrested he was not stopping in hugging the doll
“What the?! Get me out of these things!“ Young Stormy was trying to free himself
“You are under arrest for the homicide attempt against your brother Mistshine Brave and trying to frame the mayor son without no solid proof. “ Silverbadge spoke, a nervous sweat was coming down his neck
“Hold the phone officer.“ Keeneye replied stopping his companion. “Now give the phone back to me, I know I have my suspicious on him, but why arresting him now on the spot? The murder weapon as a custom made knife, nothing a small unicorn can create.”
“Can’t you see?, his own brother blood is on his coat, we already run the lab test remember?, he is the killer and is trying to frame the mayor son“ Silverbadge replied, each time the mayor was mentioned, the officer grew more nervous, something both Keeneye and Stormy could easily see.
“Let me go!, I knew he had you bough! Everypony is this stupid town is owned by him!, Get me out of these pieces of scrap before I turn you into one corrupted cop!“ Young Stormy moved more, no longer sad, but furious at the situation.
All the ghost disappeared, Stormy mind was no longer in one piece, he started to think he had finally lost it and continued to cry, hugging the doll, could it be true?, he attacked his own brother?, of course not!, his mind keep telling him that but Blackhorn name keeps ringing in his mind, that colt caused him so many problems, for starters, he was a bully in that same university, just because he had the money and the power to do what he pleased, and since the mayor was too busy with his fortune left by his departed wife, to see what his son or daughter were doing, the unicorn made not only his life, but almost anypony life a living hell, not to mention that since Redhoof was Stormy’s marefriend, the problems were constant as the more older colt not only did not approved the relationship but also tried to suffocate him via magic several times, that is until Redhoof intervened.
After Blackhorn graduated and left the university, Stormy and Redhoof felt they could resume their lives again, Stormy started to study everything related to the royal guard, while Redhoof seems to focus on gymnastics and potion making at the science lab, still his mind didn’t want to remember Blackhorn, since he became what it seems to be a candidate to run the city, in the next elections after their graduation, Stormy got up and cleaned his tears with his hoof.
“I-I can’t sit here crying, L-Luna must be somewhere. Along with my brother, “ Stormy said, finally standing up.
He checked first where the dried up blood of Mistshine was, there was a key there, as Stormy picked up, he noticed that it reads Gym, so this wasn’t the key to the courtyard, it was for the gym where Redhoof and his sister Sunnybreeze practiced a lot.
He checked the room further for any clues that might help, it was the kindergarten section after all, most of the place had dolls, ABC blocks and drawings, he checked the teacher desk, he found a letter, it was addressed to his biological big sister, Stormy read it really quick.
“Mrs. Brave, in writing in behalf of the Manehatten Institute, you see, as you might be aware, your little brother Mistshine Brave seems to have a few social problems, he don’t play or interact with other ponies besides his big brother no matter what we say, I strongly recommend you to try your best from your end, to make this little pony to open himself up a little, as for our end, I request you for permission to place Mistshine under special treatment class, Your sincerely, Scrollheart , Teacher From Manehatten Institute Kindergarten“ that was the letter contents.
“Hold on, special treatment class?, my brother never needed special treatment, before his coma what is going on here?“ Stormy thought for a second, before setting up for the special treatment classroom.
On the hallway, he check the map he had, the Special Treatment class was on the second floor, ironically the floor he started in, but it was not on the same hallway, it was on the opposite one, and it was easy to notice, since it had a different door color than the others, he walked to the opposite hallway of the third floor, and he noticed that the stairs were not blocked, so he descended to the second floor, once there, Stormy tried to open the special treatment classroom, but the door won’t budge, more importantly it didn’t had any doorknob, but it had some sort of riddle written on it.
“For one place to another, it wanders without rest, finding the lost ones, and returning them to where they belong, with blade in hoof it wanders, far and wide, making the loved ones get lost in the darkness,“ That was written on the door itself.
The riddle wasn’t hard, it was referring to Death himself, but there was a place to place something in the door, it had the shape of a scythe, the grim reaper weapon, where in Equestria will he get that weapon?, and most importantly, in a University?. The only monster he knows that carries that weapon is the Skeletal Mare, and taking the scythe along with his sword from her is more easily said than done.
He checked his map for a place where he can at least fabricate one and fortunately for him, there is a Theatre class in the first floor, there must have props for the actors there, on his side of the hallway, there must be a staircase leading towards the first floor, he checked a room in the second floor thought, in hope for more items he could use, but his finding was, that the same plastic mare had jumped on him on the showers, jumped into him again, she still had the crack on her neck and the blade of the knife in her chest, she was more aggressive, trying to beat the living daylights out of her victim with her pipe.
Stormy moved his head and hit the monster again with his horn in a stab matter, this made her mouth bandage to fell off, she initially checked her mouth to check and when the creature realized her mouth bandage was gone, letting out a smirk smile.
“co…ver….your…ears” The creature spoke finally before taking a bunch of air, with an audible monster speech.
“Oh pony feathers,” Stormy said before doing so.
The plastic mare let a powerful scream, big enough to hurt Stormy ears despite covering them with his hooves as the creature warned him, she saw her chance and attacked him again, but this time, she jumped and tried to bite him, without the mouth bandage she can do more damage that way, Stormy dodge her attack, and used his back hoofs to buck her in her sides, the creature let a scream of pain, but as Stormy launched a second buck, the creature felt from the edge to the courtyard on the first floor, Stormy saw, that the creature was trying to get up and without the bandage she talked again, the voice that exited her mouth though that made Stormy freeze.
“H-help……. it hu…rts…… pl…ea..se h…elp” the Plastic Mare let out those words, very weakened, but the voice was normal, a rather delicate voice.
Stormy could not finish the monster from up there but why it is asking for help? Or better yet, why was she talking to him for help?, does she knows what he and Luna have been doing to the monsters? Either way, he cannot go down the first floor and ask her so he checked the room where the creature was, he was able to find a bandages and a red apple there, along with another foal drawing, this time, it was a cyan suit pony, standing in the top of a building, but with 2 dead bodies on the floor, not able to be recognized.
He placed that drawing in his saddlebags, then, he got down to the first floor, from the side he was in, he was able to see the tree, but from the back side, since the door was in the opposite direction, Stormy tried to take down the furniture that was blocking his path, so he can get to the other side quickly, but even his magic blast didn’t destroyed the furniture completely, it only let a hole where he can crawl through, why didn’t he tried to move it before with the furniture blocking the second floor stairs?, his answer came quickly, he was feeling tired, due to the use of his magic blast and illumination spell in dark areas, he was growing weaker with each passing spell, as he looked at the tree again, he found the Plastic Mare still twitching on the floor.
“… I swear to Celestia, if you attack me again after this I will annihilate you understand?” Stormy said as his heart got the best of him and levitated the bandages towards the monster.
“…” the plastic mare did not replied, but nodded.
He used the last of his magic to patch the Plastic Mare up, he removed the knife piece and with the bandages he had, he shaded half of them to patch her up, the monster recovering her energy stepped up quickly and charged towards Stormy, but stopped at the fence, she seems to be smiling and sat down to write something on the floor, probably due to her scream attack, she wrote the following before leaving the area.
“Be careful ahead, master your moondust magic.” Those were the words written on the dirt in the courtyard.
The more time it passed, the more Stormy was convinced the monster was actually Redhoof, or at least a corrupted memory of her, but it was good to see she was still at his side despite the fact that since she is still a monster that had tried to kill him, she still have some control over it. He started to check the remaining rooms, on the theatre class however, things quickly got strange in a matter of speaking.
The Theatre looks abandoned and the backgrounds were damaged, torn apart even, the seats for the class were smashed, as if something heavy had fallen on them, Stormy looked up, and saw the teacher office, from there was something similar to a circuit breaker, no doubt to rise, lower the curtain, etc, also he saw a Timberwolf Costume in a broken window, badly damaged.
On the stage there was a monster costume laying there, curiosity rang to his mind and tried to activate the circuit breaker via magic, but the problem was that the teacher office was too high and the stairs leading there were broken, so his magic was not able to work on such high distances with his current state and he couldn’t climb either.
“Sometimes I wished I took my magic studies seriously, then again, what I lack in magic stamina I can compensate it with something else.” Stormy said, smiling but looking at the far right side of the room.
The door leading to the storage where all the costumes and props are stored, was unlocked, there could be something he can use there to climb to the office broken window, he opened the door slowly, keeping his guard up since he didn’t have the radio with him, he could not see or detect if there was any creatures in the room, Stormy had his horn glowing in case he need to use his magic blast it was obvious he was reaching a limit, the horn flashed in and out a lot of times.
He felt a strong headache when he was near one of the lockers, he was reluctant on opening it but he is out of options and he might need to craft a scythe to open the door to the special treatment class, what felt on him though was a black cloak and a skeleton inside of it, Stormy screamed in fear, thinking it was the Skeletal mare but as he checked the costume, it ended up being a Death costume, with scythe and everything.
“Thanks Celestia nopony was near to see that,” Stormy said with a blush of embarrassment on his face.
Stormy tried to pick up the scythe prop, in order to use it on the special treatment door, but when he touched the weapon, he found the reason of the headache, a shadow monster hoof was holding it, the same one from the Canterlot castle, Stormy quickly reached and jumped far away from the costume, as this prop became the inhabitant of the shadow creature.
The shadow attacked with the scythe, Stormy dodged and attacked with a light magic blast, the cloak was sturdy enough to repel it, as if the shadow power gave magic proof qualities to the costume, Stormy dodged again the attack, the headache grew more strong as another costume came to life, it was a timberwolf costume, that launched on Stormy back and started to bite.
“Get off!, get off get off get off! Not like this!” Stormy grew desperate; he started to buck the air trying to get rid of the creature.
The creature did succeed, the teeth of the costume, seems they were made of iron, as they pierced easily the raincoat, bandage and coat of the stallion, not only the tension of the moment was getting into him, but also the pain and the psychological pressure he was having resulted in his mind completely shattering, and in a cry of pain, his horn released the same magic he used against his doppelganger, the ancient and arcane magic, the moondust magic
The moondust formed a spiked ball around the stallion, which tackled both, the timberwolf and Death costume, a soft crack was heard on both enemies, for once, he was not unconscious, and could use his magic or at least what is left of it converted into moondust magic, we are talking about a magic surge caused by stress, so the chances of losing control are very high, he saw his window of opportunity and ran inside the bubble to make it step away from his enemies and burst it open, launching several moondust blasts, similar to the magic blast but with his moondust arcane magic, to the death costume, it was strong enough to break the costume cloak and bones, to reveal a part of the shadow, Stormy quickly shot a blast on the shadow, giving it a direct hit, the shadow screamed as it disappeared and the death costume dropped to the floor, Stormy attacked the timber wolf costume with another moondust blast, piercing the costume and leaving the shadow exposed, a second blast was enough to make it go away.
“ahhh, my head. It hurts, I, I can’t control it!” Stormy said, afraid as the magic seems to be overflowing.
The stallion could feel the ancient magic in his horn and body, although it was repairing some damage done by the creatures, it was also hurting him in a way, his mind has still not gotten used to the type of ancient magic required to control it, his head felt like it was about to crack open, the wounds were not healing but at least the bleeding stopped, he yelled as was about to lose consciousness.
“N-no!, I have to control this!, I can control it!, my brother, he depends on it!” he yelled, standing his ground but with having problems raising his head.
Before he lose his mind he decided to vent the excess of magic, but how?, if he makes a magic blast attack again he could make the university blow with the accumulated magic, he started to calm down, and think positive, as he concentrated, Redhoof memory came to his aid in his mind, the warm smile the mare gave him was enough to calm him, quickly as it came another memory filled him with happiness, his first kiss with her, slightly blushed he smiled again, laughing, not laughing mad as in finally going down to crazy town, but finally able to relax a little, the moondust magic started to fade in, at least enough for him to control, until a quick explosion finally burned out the excess of magic, his horn remained lit, as if it was a lamp, tiny traces of stars seems to indicate the horn was surrounded by this arcane magic.
“Will I ever do a thing without you saving my plot Redhoof?” he smiled, stepping up and finally, gaining control of the moondust.
Stormy tried to pick the death costume scythe, but the attack from before broke it, he searched quickly all the other lockers and the props were damaged due to the magic surge he had, strange this new type of monster was more stronger that the Armored Shadow, and yet, it was almost the same pattern, Stormy decided to call this new creature of nightmares “Shadow Performers“, due to the object they seem to possess the most are costumes.
The stallion returned to the stage, where the teacher office was still unreachable, however he thought of something, if the moondust could form spiked balls around him, created powerful blast, and shape into thousand needles when he burst it, why can’t he use it to burn some excess moondust and reach the office? Sure he just experienced a magic surge, but that doesn’t mean the excess magic is not there, he remembered the Pegasus wings and as he was thinking, his brother memory came in, he recalled his brother showing him plans for an artificial wing he was making, that would actually help disabled pegasi.
Stormy felt he could now jump and walk normally, it seems his body was now withstanding the effects of the new magic he was producing, he concentrated his moondust magic on his sides having a great idea, why don’t create artificial wings made out of moondust, like in his brother blueprints?.
The dust started to form what it looked like wings, the same thing he had in mind, at first they seems to be cloudy wings but finally, they started to took shape, even matching his coat colors and making him rise to the teacher office, the wings themselves, looked and feel so real despite shinning like shiny sand, he touched them with one hoof, and he could feel in his mind the feathers slowly catching the wind, how the wing bones and muscles were withstanding his weight, like if he was a pegasus all along.
“How can this magic be at my disposal, and yet, I couldn’t control it by normal means? This magic just keep happening, if Luna was here she could explain to me this,” Stormy said with a little bit on confusion.
The Princess could have told him what to do, since she knows more about arcane and ancient magic, but he will have to wait until she is back at his side. Once he got high enough he used the already broken window to get in, making the timber wolf costume to felt on the ground.
The wings disappeared as they came, a beautiful but tiny “explosion “, but as harmless as a rose petal, in a matter of speaking, Stormy headache for using the moondust was rising slowly, just as he feared, he still had a magic excess lingering in his head. He checked the teacher room, in one of the drawers he found a foal drawing, again, this time, it was him, he was able to recognize himself, but he was drawn twice, one had the wings and horn, and little dust around him, and the other was himself on the floor, the dust was still around his body, but he could clearly see the red pencil, simulating blood on his sides, could this be a warning?, that the moondust is very dangerous, yet, very useful magic?, or that the effects are so real that if you pull the wing clean off it will hurt badly?
He stored the drawing on his saddlebags and continued searching, he felt with his hooves a blade on the floor, it wasn’t sharp indicating that it was a prop, but it was a scythe blade, at least a piece to craft the scythe for the door. He stored it on his saddlebags and checked the circuit board, there was a switch to rise the curtains, he pulled it and the curtains rose, revealing what it looks like, a background house?, but something was off, the house looked real, even the door had a hole to place something, like a blade, looking at the blade he just picked it seems it would fit on the door.
“Huh, strange, I think this blade could fit in this door, but it has a similar design to the special treatment class,” Stormy said but felt something cold at the base of his spine.
Stormy looked up and his face was greeted with a drop of water, more specifically, rain, Stormy decided not to question it anymore and searched for something to drop himself by, finding a rope he descended until he reached the house on the stage and placed the scythe blade on the door, opening it.
It was dark and inside the house a distinct smell of decay was in order, when he used the illumination spell, he jumped off in fear, inside the house, there was nothing but bodies, bodies of ponies, hanging out in the ceiling, in the case of the pegasus, their wings were torn apart from their bodies, the unicorns had their horns cut off, and the earth ponies were cut in half, it was a slaughterhouse! he tried to run, but felt something holding him, as he turned around to look, he saw the corpses holding him, he started to scream as they were dragging him back to a big pile of dead bodies, he launched a magic attack to the creatures, but it passed right through them, as he was being overwhelmed by the creatures while the headache did not diminish, he finally reached his magic limit and the moondust magic disappeared as dust carried by the wind, he felt all the limbs in his body, not responding, all he could do was scream, feeling he was about to faint while the creatures were having a feast with him, reaping his flesh off, their teeth’s pierced his flesh and organs, he felt he was dying, he didn't noticed how everything started to change and that the siren was ringing before blacking out.
“Ahhh, where, where am i?, why I can’t move?” Stormy said waking up from his previous encounter.
“GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW” an extremely high pitched yell came in.
Stormy ears were hurt, but also cleared the way for him to see clearly the place he was suffered a change, the handle of a scythe was left on the floor, and the “house“ was just a cardboard background, Stormy looked behind to see he was being grabbed by a lot of mannequins, when he looked at front, he saw the Plastic Mare, she had used her loud voice to free him since his magic was already in dangerously low levels, after the moondust magic usage, he took from his saddlebags the red apple and ate it, when he looked back up the Plastic Mare was no longer there.
Feeling a little better, he got himself out, he noticed the scythe parts combined them, the result, a golden scythe, although it was not a weapon per say, it could injure somepony very badly, now with the tool he needed, he decided to go to the special treatment room, but once he exited the Theatre though, things quickly let him know, that he will be getting into problems fast if he don’t recover his items, the whole university looked rusted and had the floor made out of what it seems to be coat, he didn’t want to think that it was actual somepony coat, the tree in the middle of the courtyard still had the bag with his items, still green and full of life thankfully.
He quickly got to the special treatment classroom, once there, he placed the golden scythe on the door, a little click was heard and the door opened without any problems, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see, he had enough magic for his light spell and used it in order to make sure could see, on the floor what he ended up finding was his brother wrench, now with a weapon on his back he could notice that the room itself was empty, said floor was very soft, like those used for mental patients on mental hospitals, how is it that his brother ended up here?, the walls had a brownish color in them, and the desk for the students were broken, only Mistshine desk was untouched, he checked it and found something he wasn’t expecting, it was a police report, and a key attached to it, it reads
“Manehatten Police Department
Case File: 9723X
Officer in Charge: Officer Keeneye
Victim: Mistshine Brave
Suspect: Stormy Brave (Primary Suspect)
Blackhorn Goldenscroll (Possible Main Suspect)
Observations: a little colt was injured in Manehatten University, his name was Mistshine Brave, there are few clues that keep taking me to a single conclusion, his attacker was his own brother, Stormy Brave, somehow, I find that really hard to believe, my captain, Silverbadge, every time I ask him, he always yell angry, and I can see he is sweating, maybe Stormy is right about his testimony?, I remember he said that the mayor Goldenscroll has all the city bought, which can explain why we have so many criminals these days, as my investigation goes, one thing I know for certain, Stormy Brave is ---------- , I must find the truth, even if it kills me.“
Stormy was frozen in place, did he really do it?, attacking his brother?, he keep telling to himself. NO, I didn’t do it!, as if something really terrible happened on the university and he didn’t want to remember it, he read the last part of the report, there was something added with pencil at the end, seems like a note, it was not Keeneye writing
“The sentence for his crime, is death, and I will be the executioner“ that was the sentence
“This, this has to be a bad joke!, please!, this can’t be true!, is all made by a nightmare!, please!, stop!, I want to wake up!!!, I want to wake up!“ Stormy screamed at top of his lungs “Princess Luna wake me up!, wake me up!!”
He couldn’t take it anymore, he started to cry, beating himself up on the walls, trying to wake up, but even if the pain from this actions were telling him, that this was real, his mind was no longer reacting, until he felt something on his back holding him and throwing him on the floor, what his eyes saw, was the actual monster he had been fighting since he woke up, the Plastic Mare, despite being healed by him, she attacked again, however her attacks were more slow and non-lethal, Stormy tried to prevent her to bite him, but she kept pushing herself down using her body to all her favor, until Stormy used the last of his magic for a magic blast, the creature dodged using a gymnastic jump backwards, from the creature pocket, a little object felt on the ground, one that Stormy noticed, the creature on the other hoof no longer moved, just watched her target.
“cal-m yo-urself w-w-ill ya?” the Plastic Mare said, her monster voice was obvious.
Stormy was shocked, but also little confused by this, picked up the object, it was a key with a lipstick handle, the same one as the lipstick note. Stormy looked at the monster, but it was already walking outside the room, Stormy followed and the creature was no longer there, as if she has disappeared, Stormy noticed that the hallway was reshaped to go directly to the courtyard, if he tried to go to the other sides, there was a bottomless pit waiting for him, with no other choice, he followed the path to the courtyard.
Once down there, he still noticed the lock from before was intact, he used the key he got from the Plastic Mare, and the lock and gate opened, he entered the courtyard and again just like in the Theater, rain started falling, as Stormy reflected about the state on the school, he noticed that without his light spell, he couldn’t be able to see a thing, also, the rust and metal structures were more notorious, but seems to have a coat hanging from some of the places, but the only thing normal, was the tree.
“How I hate that siren, is annoying at this point already” Stormy said, looking at the state of the university.
Stormy started to buck the tree and it didn’t took long for the bag with all his items to fell to the floor, he placed them all on his saddlebags finally, he had everything back, he immediately took the Book of Harmony out, and restored the page he found, including the notes, the police report and drawings found so far. Stormy took a quick look to the tree, he found a little lipstick mark, and an arrow pointing towards the gym, he remember he still have the gym key, and he ran towards that place, he noticed that Redhoof ghost was entering the building, as Stormy speeded up to catch her, he noticed a little heart on the door with offensive language, it was not easy to deduce this was written by the same unknown pony that wrote that in the last sentence of the police report, since their writings were the same
“The Bitch and the Coward, together until a poison drove them apart” the writing said.
“Ok, case in point, do not drink anything, is this somepony idea of a cruel joke? “ Stormy said, as he opened the door with the gym key.
Stormy entered the gym and just like the rest of the place everything was metallic inside, but there were several lanterns giving up light, he noticed the Plastic mare, just staying there, in the middle of the room, the static from his radio started to work, but it was very low, even if he was right next to the creature, Stormy, taking his steel pipe ready got more closer to the creature, but the monster didn’t move, instead, she sat on the floor, almost as if she was waiting for him to kill her.
Once he was close to her, he notices that all her previous wounds were not visible anymore, seems her wounds closed well, she didn’t had her rusty pipe, the only thing that didn’t change, was that her bandage on her eyes and that her clothes are torn, but her bracelet is no longer on her right hoof, her coat was still plastic and her mouth bandage was gone, allowing the monster to make a soft noise, similar to crying, the creature lift her face, as if she wanted to say something, Stormy raised his pipe to attack her out of muscle memory but the mare didn’t move, he saw this and he didn’t hit her with the pipe, he put it away
“What on Equestria am I doing?, I’m supposed to attack this creature! “ Stormy said to himself, but as he lifts his face to see his opponent, he felt something warm.
The mare was hugging him, much to the stallion surprise, other monsters at this point would already try to kill him but his mind quickly shifted to the Glass Mare and how scared she felt during her last moments, he felt something else on his body wet tears, falling from the not covered parts of the creature eyes, towards the stallion shoulders, as Stormy broke the warm hug the creature gave to him, the Plastic Mare let a few words, it was noticeable that since she is a monster, talking is not her strong point, however, Stormy finally could distinguish her voice.
“Re-member…me n-ow d-darl-ing r…ight? “ the creature said smiling but with her distinguished monster voice.
“Hold on the phone a sec” Stormy recognized that voice, coming from the creature lips “I knew it, Redhoof!”
He was right all along!, that creature was his friend Redhoof, the mayor daughter and his marefriend, but there was still a question in his mind running around 100 miles per hour, trying to figure all out, but he asked it anyway.
“How?, how are you like this?, what happened to you?” Stormy asked his marefriend monster.
“Dar-lin..g, I th-ink y-ou already… kn…ow...d..on..t te..ll...me...yo...u for...g...ot” Plastic Mare said, trying to articulate well.
As Stormy broke let the mare go the floor under his hoof, disappeared from all of the sudden, Stormy´s horn ended up, tearing up the Plastic Mare eye bandage, Stormy, with the bandage on his horn, tried his best to remain on the gym, he wanted answers!, he grabbed the corner of the floor, but he was losing the grip, he took another look to the Plastic Mare, he noticed her eyes.
There was no doubt, they were Redhoof eyes, those kind cyan eyes were looking at him, with a saddened look, Stormy lost his focus and felt on the pit, not before the creature jumped as well and grabbed his hooves, using her tail to grab on the edge of the fence floor.
“Gah!, I still don’t get what is happening around here!” Stormy said to the creature that represents his marefriend.
“I…can’t….h-h-hold..on” Plastic Mare tried to say something, but was losing grip.
“Please, tell me what is this place?!” Stormy finally lost it and asked somepony he knew he could always trust.
“lo-ve…my…d-e…ar lov…e, you have…to go…to Pony….ville” Plastic Mare said as a loud sound from the fence floor indicated something bad.
Both ponies felt into the pit of darkness, as Stormy he screamed Redhoof name one last time, everything turned into darkness, the creature just limited herself to hug tightly as she felt, trying to see Stormy into her eyes, he looked at her and notice something he did not notice before, her mane was covering her left eye, when the speed of their descent increased, her mane uncovered her eye, revealing an empty eyehole, just with a tiny dot of cyan in it, in the edges there were several cracks with black blood in them, but her expression was a scared one, Stormy hugged her but passed out as he felt deeper into the void.
It must have been a while since this event, as Stomy slowly woke up on what it seems to be a bed, the room was filled with The Amazing Spidercolt posters and a telescope for so he could see the stars and moon at night, his eyes were getting used to the dim light coming from a lantern on the desk, but his mind was still broken.
The monster he and Luna fought was his friend, Redhoof Goldenscroll, he remembered that now in vivid detail, after his brother incident, she was the one that give him courage to even prove his innocence, after his big sister Sunnybreeze died on the Manehattan beach, her memories came in so vividly, when everypony doubted him, she never did, she never left his side, her warm smile and her kind embrace, even with the Deep Ambition Bracelet on, felt like the softest silk ever made.
Redhoof was in total control of the bracelet effects with Stormy around her, even if her teasing went a little bit overboard a lot of times, like one time he slept at her home she put her plot on his face while sleeping to wake him up and “play”, or when she, during school in chemistry class, that she blew up the lab and tried to pin the blame on the chemical components, or when she made a strip dance for Stormy’s eyes only on his bedroom, but one of the more important ones, how he train her to fight back against bullies, she even developed a special fighting technique that used her already beautiful body put colts out of focus, which proved to be useful when encountering the same bullies from the university memory.
The more memories from his time with her came to his mind the more he felt a pressure on his heart, why he was feeling so bad?, he should be feeling happy, he is remembering her, is he still forgetting something?, he got himself standing again, and jumped from the bed, he took a quick look around, and levitated a Spidercolt action figure. It was dusty and old, the toys closet had no additional clothes other that a little black jacket. Also the bookshelf was missing some books on purpose.
“Wait, this jacket was mine, I used it all the time when I was a little colt and with Redhoof, this is my bedroom!” Stormy said, realizing finally where he was.
His room, his home when his family was together, he remembered it so vividly, with tears in his eyes, he touched the Spidercolt poster he had on the wall, it was one of his favorite comic heroes his brother liked more Storm Mare though, just as he was leaving, he saw something on the bed he woke up, He took it, it was the key to his house, but he gave that key to the princess!, could have something happened to her?, Stormy concern grew and stored the key on his saddlebags, he heard a voice behind him urging him to turn around, he did, waiting to find a monster, or if possible, the Plastic Mare that felt with him, but what he saw was himself, as a young colt, with his little bro, playing with his toys, but he also noticed that there was a box on the closet, when the ghost were gone, the box disappeared, what could be on that box?.
He exited his bedroom and noticed his house looked very old and musty, typical signs of non-usage, but the carpet on the floor, indicating the way to the stairs, was also dirty, he tried to go to his little brother room, the door was unlocked, once inside, he noticed that his brother room was filled with all kinds of mechanical parts, cables, screws and circuit boards, heck, even his bed had a led lantern, his brother, despise of being very young, he was a genius in mechanics, he remembered that his bro used to study pony anatomy, and keeps telling things like “ When I grow up!, I want to help ponies with my inventions!, I know I can do it! “
“Jejeje, yeah, you can do it brother, I have faith in you “ Stormy said to the empty room before realizing something
Those words said my Mistshine, they came from a memory Stormy picked up the LED Lantern, it had more power that the normal lantern, and could save Stormy from using his illumination spell so often, besides, it provided more light than a normal lantern itself looks it could be placed around the user neck, like a necklace, and had a little switch to turn it on or off, Stormy quickly place it on his neck and turn it on, it was working well, no doubt his little bro crafted it very well, he also noticed that his bro had a wing prototype and an animal translator blueprints, but the blueprints itself, had both, his cutie mark, and what it seems like, Fluttershy cutie mark, Stormy looked at the plans in more detail, noticing how the little device would made possible understanding all animals languages, but it was strange, Mistshine didn’t know about Fluttershy, until Stormy told him about the little yellow pegasus himself when he made a trip to Ponyville for the first time, before his coma that is.
“Heh, typical coming from my little brother, you always wanted to meet her right? Then that damn coma came in when we were ready to move to Ponyville“ Stormy smiled but also looking a little sad.
He exited his brother room, he wanted to check his big sis room, but the door was locked, strange, he went to his parents room, his mom was Goldenscroll secretary in the Town Hall, dad was a police colt, but he retired after his wife gave birth to Stormy and Mistshine. He notice that their room was neat and clean, not matching the rest of the house, he did noticed several newspaper clips on the bed, he read one that says “ Night of terror!, a mask menace is free on the streets, mayor concerned “ the figure appears to be a young colt with a cyan suit.
“Hold on cyan suit? Several Ceiling Fillies use that cyan suit as clothes when I face them, could they be related to this?.” Stormy said as he stored that specific newspaper in his saddlebags
Seeing that image send shivers down his spine but once the radio started to emit static, Stormy look up to the ceiling, there was a Ceiling Filly, but this creature was wearing the cyan suit, it jumped to attack Stormy, he saw the incoming attack and dodge it, the creature tried to use its knifes to stab him on the chest, Stormy took out his pipe and attack the creature in a spin attack, his pipe manage to inflict heavy damage to the monster neck and torso, didn’t took much time to kill it, Stormy felt uneasy having to kill another creature, but compared to Glass Mare and Plastic Mare, these ones did not seems to wanting to stop and chat, it was them or him. Once the radio stop emitting static, he exited his parent’s room and checked the rest of the house, he was finding several notes along the way, attached to the walls, he found 2 notes on the hallways, they said:
“I can’t keep quiet anymore, I have to talk to somepony before I go mad!, tonight I will see him one more time… my last time… I discovered what happened with _________ and him…. All the pain he caused him…. And I was so blind to notice the truth… I can even look at him like I used to, I don’t deserve his kindness or love, I wish I could have done something…. ____________ please….. Forgive me…… my love “
The second note said:
“ I visited Ponyville today, I saw 5 little fillies there, almost the same age than me, the first one was _________, she started building a cottage to live with animals, strangely enough, she is a pegasus, I never knew pegasus lived on the ground, I went to talk to her but she jumped and hid behind a tree, very shy perhaps?, there was a little white bunny with her, that kept making me faces, maybe he don’t like strangers others that the _______ Pegasus?, anyway, I offered my help, her cottage was finished by nightfall, she offered me to stay, but I already had a place…. ____________ I know, not the best option, but I will be close to my first friend in Ponyville “
He stored the notes on his saddlebags, the notes themselves are a little strange, but he do remember seeing Ponyville once, and on that visit, he meet new friends, he checked the living room, the kitchen and even the backyard, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, just a couple of bandages and what it seems to be another note, this one, was in the fridge, he just read it in silence:
“I meet another pony on Ponyville today, her name _______________ and smells like ________ and anything related to sweets, she was so happy, bouncing all over the place, I think I remember her, in one of my brother birthdays, we purchased a cake from ______Corner, and this pony came to deliver it, not before turning our house, upside down, with all the decorations, streamers and games, I was really happy with her, and she instantaneously recognized me, I told her everything, and her hair seems that it “ ____” for a moment, she let me know she will visit me everytime she can, but when I told her where do I live, she insisted on me to move to her room in _____Cube____, how could I say no?”
Again, another note narrated in first person, and with names missing, why there are those names missing?, the note had a second page, it was a song, from the paper used and the ink it had, it was one from the Harmony book, Stormy read it, the new song was called, Prelude of Friendship, a song that allows the user to find friends or things related to them, even if possible, teleporting near them, also they give them a stamina boost, seems that it only works on friends really close to the user, Stormy restored the new acquired page back to the book, just 7 pages more, why did he feel that the book needs to be complete?, and also, what’s with the notes?, is he forgetting something crucial?, he had nothing else to do in his home, Luna was not there, so he went to his house front door and used the key he gave to Luna, the door opened, and the key disappeared.
He exited his house, the road itself was leading to a single way, a single building he was able to identify even in the dense fog, It was the Manehatten Town Hall, the road was metallic, and the air was heavy, like if something is telling Stormy to be prepared to what he will see, Stormy started to walk, by some reason he didn’t feel like running, along the way, he noticed again, notes on the walls and light poles, one note was a newspaper clip, it reads:
“Manehatten tragedy, tonight, the ________ was found dead on the mayor office, along her side there was seen an _______ in a ____ suit, according to police chief Silverbadge, the attacker was ________ the so called hero of Manehatten, near the body of the mare, there was another one, that died from suffocation, it was the mayor Goldenscroll, apparently, he first was stabbed on his chest multiple times, then suffocated with his tie, there was also next to him ________ and_____, currently Manehatten police Department are searching for the killer, the victim was _________ and died from multiple stabs on her chest, also, she had a bandage on her mouth, preventing her from screaming, in the meantime, Manehatten elections were moved to a more sooner date, the next mayor will be chosen in 3 days “
Somehow, he was felt like if he knew what was missing and couldn’t help but to tear up a bit, there was one last note, on the Town Hall Doors, it reads
“ Face the truth and come to me “
Stormy entered the town hall, the building itself was empty, no static sound or monsters near, there was a stairs leading to the mayor office, but the secretary desk was right next to him, he came closer to the desk and notice a very old picture, he recognized his brother and sister also, there was an Earth Pony and a Unicorn, the unicorn was his father, the earth pony his mom.
“Mom, Dad “ Stormy was already tearing up, as he remembered what happened to her mom.
The ghosts were quickly to appeared on his mother desk recalling his memory, Stormy was able to see her, working the best she can to make sure all was neat and tidy, he noticed his mom was pregnant, probably Mistshine was still in her womb, since he is the youngest, the Mayor Goldenscroll came, or at least his ghost, seeing him, made Stormy eyes fill with anger, pressing his teeth hard.
“Miss Brave, you can stop now,” Goldenscroll asked
“y-yes Mr Mayor. “ Stormy mom stopped writing reports.
“Miss Brave, due to personal reasons, I must end our professional relationship, you are no longer my secretary.“ Goldenscroll let the Mare know the situation.
“W-what?!, but M-mister Goldenscroll!, you cannot fire me!, you know that I have 3 kids now!, and my husband work will not cover all 5 of us!“ The mare panicked, already concerned aboutt he future.
“Do I look like I care?“ Goldenscroll replied with an angry voice “you should have thought that before getting yourself pregnant again, you mule, I bet all you are after, the money that covers your pregnancy! “ Goldenscroll yelled more as he hit the mare on the Face
“aah!, Mr Mayor, why, at least give me a reason “ The Mare replied, fear and sadness came from her voice
“Simple, I will not provide you with more money due to pregnancy, if you can’t pay, simple, eliminate that foal “ Goldenscroll said as he called the guards “ Guards, take her out “
“Celestia will hear of this you hear me!?” Stormy’s mom yelled as the guards came.
Stormy, filled with rage, started to shoot magic bullets at them, quickly, the wrath turned into sadness, as he noticed that the attacks didn’t do a thing to the ghost, he tried to hit Goldenscroll, but his hooves passed right through him, the Mare screamed, as the guards were taking her, not considering her pregnancy.
When all the ghost disappeared, Stormy cried, cursing himself for not being able to stop it, is a miracle that his bro did came to this world, but to a price, his mom life, he remembered that his father was never at home due to work, and that his big sister was taking care of both of them, since their mother died in child birth, she ultimately chose his brother life over hers, Stormy lift his face to look at the mayor office and grabbed his pipe, he was getting his answers now!, he rushed to the mayor office and busted the door opened just to find something horrible.
The office itself was covered in very old coated blood and ashes, the bookshelf was also burned, as if a big fire had happened there, there was something in the room however, there was a corpse of a pony monster, beyond recognition on the desk of the mayor, and on the mayor chair, there was another corpse, burned to death Stormy was feeling bad already, there was something on one of the corpses tails, it looked like a ribbon, pink one at that.
“ No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,NO!! REDHOOF! “ Stormy yelled and cried, knowing who pony belongs that burned corpse.
The corpse corresponded to Redhoof, her skin that was previously soft, even on monster form was completely burned and breaking apart, her once beautiful mane was seriously damaged and her cutie mark was cut down, he hugged her close, feeling the pain he has withstand for a while, remembering he turned around, only to see what it looked like, another set of ghosts, But these one, felt more real, since the one that was in front of him was Goldenscroll.
“Wha- What did you do?!, security!, where are my guards!?“ Goldenscroll was really angry, due to her daughter condition.
“Nopony will come, “ Stormy ghost said. Looking at him angry. “ because you will share her fate you worthless piece of trash.“
He could not believe he was telling those words, but as soon as he moved towards him, he saw something else moving towards the mayor, it was himself, he recognized himself by the tail and mane but was wearing a Cyan Suit, with a Light Blue Crescent Moon Cutie Mark, the mayor, suffering from multiple stabs by a military knife, yelled once more for help but nopony came, the mayor only had time to let out a curse.
“Curse…..you….. Moonlight Strike….. I will…. Make sure my son… throws…. You in jail… “ Goldenscroll was letting out his final words.
“heh…” Moonlight Strike just laugh and took out his mask, Stormy was behind Moonlight, so he couldn’t see his face “you think?“
“ n-no…. w-wha…. Why… why did you do this? “ Whatever Goldenscroll saw. Made him felt a bigger sadness and lose grip of little life he might had
“ to ensure nopony will oppose me “ Moonlight said, putting the mask back on
“H-hey, I’m… not dead yet” a mare voice came from where Stormy was hugging the corpse.
Moonlight, Stormy remembered that he used that name after his mother death swearing under her grave, that he will always do the right thing even if the mayor won’t agree with him. One of the ghost rose from were Stormy was, it was Redhoof herself, who, despite being too injured to fight back, pulled from her hair a hoofgun, one that Stormy recognized as he crafted it for her, the same Moonlight Strike he made as an alternative persona was now hurting his marefriend, but had problems catching her up, her constant dodges and firing of the gun filled the room, the gunpowder was increasing the flames, until Moonlight used an ignite spell on the gunpowder itself, making Redhoof drop her weapon, this was enough for the stallion to finally stab her and leave her body in the same place were Stormy found the corpse.
“Hmph, all that really matters in this world is strength and power, and I will achieve both soon enough, now just one question remains. How will I dispose of you? Little foal “ Moonlight said, looking directly at Stormy’s position.
All the other ghost except Moonlight disappeared, even the corpse the stallion had on his hooves, his alter ego was going to attack him, Stormy by instinct blocked the attack with his pipe the sparks of the weapons clash made it clear this was real, not a simple memory, he was fighting himself now, not the same like in the castle were he fought a dark doppelganger of him, but an actual living pony, how can this be possible?, if this is true then? Does that means his hooves were stained with the blood of an innocent that loved him, and he betrayed her?, Stormy mind was made a puzzle, trying to find an answer, meanwhile, his opponent continue to attack him, seeking one goal, to end his life.
And judging by Stormy’s state of mind, this manifestation would have little problem actually achieving it.
Chapter 9 - Welcome to Ponyville (Other Ponyville) -
Moonlight Strike, the name he used during his times as a night watcher, a hero in some terms, a mask he used to hide his real pain on his heart, a pain of not being able to protect his father or sister, to have failed his brother, an oath to himself, to do not let others suffer as he did, that mask, was actually now trying to kill him, very unusual for some people, but sadly very real in this precise moment, when Stormy dodged the initial attack, he noticed that his attacker was the same size as he currently is which made him doubt for a moment, according to the “memory“ he just witnessed, that happened when he was at the size of Pinkie Pie at the most while Redhoof was slightly taller than him, he prepared to unleash a magic attack, but his foe didn’t moved, in fact, when the attack was launched, it just simple bounced from his target.
“Simple spell, here is real magic “ Moonlight said preparing his horn, dropping an invisible bubble shield
When his foe unleashed a magic to his hooves the bubble protecting him became visible and disappeared, the magic that was thrown seems a magic rope said rope was directed towards Stormy´s hooves, he was unable to dodge, as Moonlight trapped him, he kept launch him towards the bookshelves, Stormy knocked all the books there, Moonlight was acting like he had no compassion towards anypony life, Stormy was not like that at all when he used that costume.
Memories keep flooding his mind, each time he came closer to Moonlight, he could hear screams coming from him, suffering and despair for the most part, he quickly attacked with a magic burst, but the target was the floor, making Stormy to fly upwards with the blast, he used the gravity towards his advantage and hit Moonlight with his steel pipe, breaking not only the invisible bubble shield, but also his foe mask, revealing in his face, something Stormy feared.
“No…is this the idea of a cruel joke?” he said, scared of what he saw.
“What’s the matter?“ his foe smiled with a sick expression of madness, his own. “Scared of your own reflection?”
A quick glance of a moment of his past, flashed on his head, everything in black, and he, as a little pony was facing an adult version of himself, but this time it was an exact replica, he seems to have faced this before, no wonder why this memory was suppressed, buried deep down his psyche Stormy attacked again, but the “other“ Stormy block it a quick glance on his face showed a complete desire of blood, as if he was a killing machine.
“I cannot die, but you already knew that right, kid?“ Moonlight said to the unstable Stormy.
“But you are not me! It can’t be, I’m here! “ Stormy mind was already shattered he was becoming sloppy.
The longer the battle continued, the more his mind was out of his body, his foe was deflecting all his attacks without much problems, Stormy started to lose grip and his foe took advantage of this at every turn, for a unicorn, is important to be calm and collected, even in the most dangerous situations, Moonlight seems to knew this and used a Fire spell to burn Stormy on his chest, when he jumped to avoid further damage from the attack, until he felt his copycat horn on him Stormy felt as if a spear had pierced his chest, he could feel the horn of his opponent rising the temperature to torture him from the inside, the pain was getting bigger, his blood was escaping his body from the horn wound, everything was fading he was about to lose. Until he remembered a soft voice a voice that rang on the deepest of his self, the sole reason he is still on that living nightmare…
“Bro………….ther…………….. he……….l…p,“ it was the voice of a young colt
“M… Mistshine?! “ Stormy eyes grew wide, as he saw the horn of his foe stuck on his chest
“P……le………………ase……………….. Bro……………..t……………her,“ the voice beg again, with one final scream “BROTHER!!! HELP MEE!!!“
That voice was of his little bro, Mistshine was still alive, Stormy quickly looked at his foe and could hear his brother voice more clearly coming from this apparition, he already lost Redhoof in the past, he will not lose his brother too, Stormy ignored the pain from his injuries, including the most serious one near his heart and pushed his foe away with a magic shield, sadly for him, finding out that Redhoof was killed, most likely by him, is making him forget most of his spells and not focus on the task at hand, until another voice came to his aid again on his head the voice was very familiar… but smooth and full of a caring nature.
“Even your own eyes can deceive you, You must look closely, with the ones from your heart” the voice ran on stormy mind
“Big Sis? “ Stormy replied feeling a warm sensation in his heart.
“Once you are gone, nopony will suffer anymore!“ Moonlight prepared another spell, an inferno spell. “Everything will be perfect!, and the corruption will die with you!“
Gathering strength from Celestia knows where he called upon the same fire spell that his foe used, his foe, surprised tried to counter it with a water based spell, but Stormy put all his mind and heart on that magic and direct it towards the floor, the flames burned his foe hooves, Stormy took a little advantage and while his foe was lifting his hooves to prevent further damage, he manage to find something to use on the desk Goldenscroll used, a bottle of wine, along with Redhoof old hoofgun, it only had one bullet.
“Ironic isn’t it?, at the end, that bastard ended up being useful“ Stormy said as he throw the wine to his foe, its contents quickly covered him.
“Aahhh!, son of a bitch!” Moonlight looked at Stormy just to find him aiming with the gun said gun was glowing.
“This one is from my lover you disgusting market copy” Stormy said as he pulled the gun trigger, his horn was glowing the entire time.
The bullet not only was scorching hot due to Stormy rage but also from a delayed fire spell, as if the flames seems alive, once the creature received the impact, the flames started to crawl on the “other Stormy“ body, burning his suit and coat what Stormy saw made him feel both relieved and disgusted.
His supposed alter ego was nothing more than a walking corpse flesh was falling off from the bones, several “faces” if it could be called like that were screaming from the creature sides mimicking the voices of those Stormy held dear and the only normal part of the pony was the left side of his face, that had Stormy face in, the other was pure fleshing features am eye missing and his teeth exposed his horn was only the bone, but with enough strength to summon spells, without the suit to protect him, the fire did good damage towards “ Moonlight “ body.
“ Aaahhh!!, wha did you do to me?! “ The creature spoke clearly, but with a lower pitch voice
“I know the truth, you are not me, a faker like you cannot defeat the original” Stormy said, recovering his mental strength
The creature levitated Stormy, throwing him towards the window, this is when Stormy finally reacted, he extended his hoof towards his enemy and concentrated his magic the best he could he felt as time was going slow, remembering the incantation he used each time he put his costume on Manehattan, an incantation he found on the books on his father home… it goes like this;
“O nobilis luna, electa nox in filios, et periculosa bella tibi sine me virtus Da mihi virtutem et nox mihi dux! “
( Oh Gentle Moon, shining towards the children of the night, allow me you beautiful and dangerous power!, grant me strength and let the Night be my guide! ).
That incantation allowed Stormy something that usually happens only during the stress time, his moondust magic, it formed a magic rope towards his foe from his horn, like a web, trapping his foe, he used the strength of his enemy towards his advantage, pushing himself towards Moonlight, he took out the pipe with his spare hoof, ready for a good blow, his foe made a magic shield seeing what his target was pretending to do but Stormy used a few of his own magic on the pipe his enemy shield didn’t last and it broke receiving the attack in full, a impact with the skinless flesh made a few dips of blood fall on Stormy face and coat, as if he already didn’t had enough on him.
“I just took a shower on the university!, can’t I get a normal fight once in a while!?” Stormy yelled annoyed already.
The creature screamed, all of his faces at the same time once Stormy landed another hit, he did his best to shield his ears from the screams as they seems to cause a headache, that is when the creature saw its chance and attacked, using a magic bullet spell, Stormy used his moondust magic to launch a “web“ towards Goldenscroll Desk, covering himself, and taking care that the corpse corresponding to Redhoof didn’t suffer more damage, that the one that already provoked her death, although the corpse has already shattered, he still wanted to give it a decent burial at least.
“Why do you protect that corpse?, you killed her remember? “ the monster keep trying to depress Stormy with his comments in low pitch voice
“Because she is my friend!, and I didn’t do it! That’s not going to work on me anymore! “ Stormy yelled at the creature
Despise how well Stormy manage to recover he seems still to hold on the hope that Redhoof was not dead, despise the obvious evidence, unti, a fire spell came, just that the target was Redhoof corpse instead.
Her remains were burning into ashes and Stormy could not do anything otherwise he will also burn, this was enough to drive him into a blinded rage, thing that the creature seems to enjoy but that moment of pleasure didn’t last, Stormy changed his weapon towards his little brother wrench, it’s hit was more than enough to knock the creature… just that Stormy took the open edge of the wrench and wrapped it around his foe horn.
“You will never use magic ever again!“ Stormy said, furious of the monsters actions.
“Once a sinner, always a sinner,“ The creature was not afraid, instead smiled
A crack was heard, Stormy has ripped apart the creature horn with his brother wrench, a twisted scream came from it, without the horn, the creature had lost it’s only defense or that is what Stormy thought, the creature used a very powerful buck kick, Stormy was losing patience but also felt something going on with his moondust magic, it was fading and changing and instead of being pure white as snow it was now crimson red as blood.
He was letting the rage getting the best of him, he tried to calm himself down but the red dust was still there and he could feel as his lungs were starting to give up on him, he was getting poisoned by his own magic while the creature tried to pick his horn back with its hooves but since it was useless, he pointed towards Stormy ready to stab him, Stormy needed to calm himself down quickly, he dodge the attack, and relaxed a little bit, thinking of all the moments he spend with Redhoof at his side, his dust started to change to white again, once he saw his change he modified his moondust in a different way he used the dust to attach himself on the ceiling, then he used several “webs“ lines to trap the creature finally stopping that moving train, he used his pipe in one final blow, the pipe broke the creature ribs, and the ribs pierced its organs, once the dust disappeared, the body felt to the floor, just for Stormy to finish it hitting it on the skull with his pipe, the creature was no longer moving, the radio that was making noise ever since the start of the fight grew silent once more.
“Perhaps I made mistakes in my past, but you can’t live on it forever,“ Stormy said to himself as he took breath.
Looking to where Redhoof corpse used to be Stormy approached with a more than obvious sad look on his face, he magically lifted her remains all the ashes that used to be his closest friend and he put them on a expensive urn her father kept in the desk, but then a flashback of some short came, everything lost color again.
“Manehatten police!, freeze! “ a colt said
He saw that a young version of him was next to him covering the ghostly corpse of Redhoof, the police unicorns didn’t hesitate in shooting, that made the young Stormy, with a more than torn Moonlight costume to jump from the window on the door, he noticed another unicorn similar to him in appearance, without the suit smiling evil as he walked downstairs, once the ghost disappeared on Redhoof last place there was a note along with a bottle with a pink liquid, the note itself was written in a hurry
“If Anypony read this letter, I am no longer in this world, I can only leave you a hint of who was the cause of all the criminal outbreak in our city, It was---“ the name of the culprit was covered with a black marker, the note continued.
"It was really hard for me to accept it, but I had to face reality I couldn’t let more ponies suffer, when dad gave me my bracelet, it was comfy, but at the same time, I felt that my eyes opened, yes, I admit I was searching for colts most of the time but one colt in particular opened my eyes to the real world, he is so kind and brave but suffers a lot and don’t want anypony to know, thanks to him I was able to see the real value of friendship and more importantly, love.
I’m sorry if I couldn’t tell him how I felt, how happy he made me, each time he looked at me with those kind eyes I felt like a pegasus flying though the skies, even the gentle touch of his hooves were perfect for me, and he accepted me, with all my flaws and teasing, overtime, that lust I felt for him became true love, and I submitted myself to him more times that I can count (although he also submit to me during our roleplays hehehe)
But seems I don’t have much time left the “cause“ I mentioned earlier will come for me too, because I decided to seek help, because I let the princess know what happened!, he will come to silence me, and with me gone, the truth will go with me please don’t judge him. Believe in him.”
Stormy smiled as the words of Redhoof made him feel appreciated, she never doubted him even for one second, the loyalty she is showing was clear proof she not only managed to withstand the Deep Ambition bracelet, but also managed to find what true love is thanks to him, Stormy looked at the pink bottle, he took the lid and smell it, it smells like cotton candy but had a really strong scent, not only that but when he tasted it a little he could briefly see an apparition of her marefriend smiling, he quickly put the lid back and stored the bottle in his saddlebags.
“This is one of Redhoof Mind Potions, she used to specialize in potions and medicines that could create a hallucination to anypony in contact with them, I know this because I taught her how to combine certain ingredients based on the books I had at home about supernatural remedies, she used these as self-defense against the bullies.” Stormy said to himself, more happy now than before.
Before going out of the mayor office he noticed that in hhe last part of the letter, was a bloodstain he did not noticed, it seems to spell letters like a last will, however it was Mistshine hoofwritting said letters just specified where he needed to go now.
“Come to Ponyville“
Ponyville?, the town where he meet Pinkie Pie and her friends?, why there?, he took the letter and stored it in his saddlebags and quickly looked at the outside from the broken window, it has been a while that the siren hasn’t gone off, strange for the already weird place he was in, he quickly noticed a garden on the first floor, Stormy noticed the window had a balcony, he could jump towards the first floor from there, he tried the door, but seems the stairs had been broken and the floor now has a bottomless pit, he jumped from the window, using his moondust magic to make a perfect landing on the soft earth of the garden, since he still had the ashes from Redhoof floating with his magic he quickly dug a grave and drop them there giving her a burial, maybe was not the best course of action but it was the correct one.
After saying goodbye to what was somepony important to him, he exited the garden and entered the Town Hall again this time on the first floor, he could smell a faint perfume on the air similar to the one Luna use did the princess witness all the fight? Or better yet, did she already passed through here?, he searched to all the rooms, most of them were broken with the exception of one, the Ballroom. There was a large hole on the floor there but also, there were broken tables and chairs, also the windows where the instruments used to be were broken, only the piano worked, but there was something attached to the music sheet, it was a page of the Book of Harmony
“Hold on, why is this here? “ Stormy questioned the convenient place the song was.
He could smell a trap from miles away but he needed that book complete, he felt for the trap on purpose, as soon as he stepped closer to the piano, the door made a clicking sound, indicating it was locked from the outside and a huge animal roar could be heard, Stormy played the unicorn path song but even that didn’t allow him to see anything the chairs and tables got crushed, as if something giant was in the room, coming closer to him, his last hope was the page in front of him, the song says it was the Buffalos Lullaby, as the name implies, any creature large enough as a buffalo or worse, falls asleep upon hearing it, it could really come in handy against certain enemies if he had the chance to perform it, Stormy played the song to memorize it, clearing his mind from the problem behind him, indeed it sounded like a lullaby, it didn’t consumed much energy but as he finish the song a loud thud was heard from the ballroom, just like if a buffalo stampede that had tried to crush him just felt asleep, in fact he could hear it snore, trying to sneak up towards the door was out of the question so he jumped to the hole, taking the page with him.
Once he felt ground on his hoofs, he illuminates the room with this LED Lantern, he manage to see a storage room, there was a little white box, containing a Zap Apple Pie Slice, come to think of it, besides the Mint Cupcake that he still has in his saddlebags, the Zap Apple Pie was looking way too delicious to resist and a little healing was not something he could possibly pass by, so he ate it.
The sweetness from the cake, the apple slices, the frosting, everything was the perfect mix, just the tenderizing sweetness was enough to make him do a faint moan, feeling the pie going down his throat towards his stomach, he gratefully accepted the dessert, he haven’t eaten a thing besides apples, as he opened the door, he felt a increase in his magic capability, glad for this change, he pressed forward, only to find a long hallway, with several newspaper clips on the walls, most of them were Manehatten history but the last 3, told of his alter ego, Moonlight Strike looking at his former “hero” suit, or “thief” suit, as the media called him, this make him remember that he didn’t dispose of the suit, in fact, he still has it, but he didn’t remember where did he put it, he continued walking until he reached a big glass door, it was locked with a slot for a key.
“Wait, a key slot?, that’s it!, That’s what the key I got from the university is from!” Stormy exclaimed, relieved he has the key in his bag.
He remembered the police report he found on the university, it had a key attached to it, he took it from the police report, looking at Officer Keeneye name once more made him recall how good that pony was, not only during his duty, but outside of it.
“Ahh, Keeneye, always you were a kind pony on the force, I wonder if you still out there? “ Stormy questioned with a little nostalgia.
Stormy used the key on the glass doors, they opened without any problems as soon as he entered the platform, there was a button lit up he pressed it with his hoof, and a silver train came, a very expensive one at that.
“This train, I remember it, is a private train for The Mayors and the Princess of Equestria, they tend to use underground trains as a both secure and private way to travel to other places of Equestria when they have meetings, I can use it to reach Ponyville“ Stormy said as he waited for the train to open its doors.
And so he did, once the door of the trains opened he made his way towards the cockpit, when he was halfway through the train, he felt the machine moving by itself, making him almost lose balance, he calmly sat on one of the chairs, as he was trying to catch some shuteye, the electronic voice of the Mayor’s train let him know his destination.
“Welcome to Goldenscroll’s train, destination, Ponyville, remember, keep your belongings at all times! You don’t want those pesky street foals take the bits without effort right?“ The electronic voice said, it was very similar to the mayor voice.
“Puaj even as a robotic voice, he is still a greedy bastard.“ Stormy said to himself. “I withdraw what I said from him earlier, I’m happy he is dead now.“
Didn’t take much to the train to reach another underground station, just that this one, looked more honest and noble, the train stopped, and the electronic voice let now another information “Welcome to Ponyville!“ Stormy stepped out of the train, just to see how it resume it trail, without any passengers towards Canterlot
He walked the short hallway, finding the old newspaper clips about the Ponyville foundation and history, the Zap Apple Jam Discovery by Granny Smith, the First Know Business, Stinking Rich – Authorized Provider and Seller of Zap Apple Jam in Ponyville, The Foundation of Ponyville, kind of hard to believe really, that the Apple Family and the Rich Family were the ones that founded Ponyville, and Still Applebloom and Diamond Tiara don’t get along, wait why are those 2 fillies are coming along now?, is if he is remembering only good times from the place he currently is now?
The hallway only had one elevator he used it to go up as the elevator moved towards the ground level, tons of questions ran is his mind, Why Ponyville of all places would serve as a truth hiding place?, why the monsters were so familiar with him?, he took a moment and took out the Book of Harmony, as if the book was like a beacon of hope, he smiled, but as he saw the Winds of Friendship song he recalled something
“Oh cripes!, Luna!“ Stormy face became pale.
He forgot to contact the princess once he got his magic back!, just when he was taking out the ocarina, the elevator stopped, a loud crack was heard and the elevator when down again with all it’s strength, Stormy quickly used a moondust rope that attached himself to the ceiling, preventing him to fall to a painful death, as he climbed he was using his horn to keep the rope tangible, he concentrated his magic on his hooves and played the Winds of Friendship song, there was answer.
“What happened Stormy?“ Luna voice, even telepathically, let know a obvious angry tone
“P-princess?, I’m sorry!, I’m sorry if I didn’t contact you earlier,“ Stormy tried to apologize for his lateness first
“What you should have been apologize for is that you never told me about Redhoof!, why didn’t you tell me about her?! Was it so hard to say you had a marefriend before?!“ More than angry, her voice was seeking an answer.
“I didn’t remember her!, unless until now but.“ He tried to find words to explain himself, but failed terribly. “Oh who I am kidding?, I’m sorry Luna, guess I was having problems ever since I entered Manehatten, well, now you know why I didn’t want to stay there.“ Stormy was a little sad, that the Princess found out about her more quickly than him.
“It’s ok Brave, I know more than you think, I am also sorry I shouldn’t be yelling at you over this, it’s just that I was not expecting that.“ Luna confessed, hiding the jealousy she felt before politely asking. “How did she died?“
“Can you help me out avoid death first? Where are you?” Stormy said, noticing his moondust magic was not stable enough, probably due to using 2 spells at once.
“I’m in Ponyville Town Hall, why?” Luna replied confused.
“Look under the balcony!“ Stormy said, noticing his magic grip was fading.
“The balcony?“ Luna look at the place where she was told just as the winds of friendship connection ended. She noticed a very thin moondust rope. “Sweet Moon! How did you get in there?!“
Explanation was the easy part, the hard one was for Luna trying to hold Stormy´s weight with her levitation magic, but once she got him out the door closed hiding the secret passage, The Princess looked at Stormy, she could tell that he just came from a very painful moment perhaps, if Redhoof was still alive, she could have gone more far with him?
Stormy quickly gave Luna the simplified version of what he has gone trough when they got separated, including the fight against Moonlight, and as well, his close friendship with Redhoof, sparing the things she often teased him about. Luna simply gave Stormy a kind but surprising kiss on the cheek, much to Stormy surprise, he was looking at the princess smiling kindly to him
“ I already know, I found it on the Town Hall I knew you were innocent,“ Luna said with kindness in her words.
Those words made Stormy smile and blush, once he got up, they decided to continue forward, if Mistshine was in Ponyville, they will find him there, but first they searched for something of utility the use of the moondust magic, prevented Stormy to feel pain but as the minutes passed, his bleeding and wounds started to open up, he needed to rest, Luna used the stairs to check the Town Hall second floor, on the main balcony, a not so pleasant flashback came to her, Since Stormy was sitting on a bench on the first floor, he could see her perfectly, he saw several ghost on the town hall, and where Luna was standing, Nightmare Moon was instead.
“The Night will last FOREVER!“ the Nightmare Moon Ghost laughed as thunders came from her mane.
“Only she knows there the princess is!“ The Mayor demanded the royal guards to attack Nightmare.
“Stand back you fools!“ Nightmare moon laugh again, as she attacked the guards with lighting and disappeared through the door
“I remember this, it was my return to Equestria after a 1000 years of banishment, Then I went to “ Luna remembered along with that moment of her past the location to where she went
“The Everfree Forest, and your old home, The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, “ Stormy finished, remembering the place.
“Then I guess we must go there last, let’s search Ponyville first to find your brother,“ Luna said, trying to forget that memory.
Once all the ghost had disappeared, a Nightmare Moon Statue was on the Balcony, on it, a page was attached, it was a Harmony Page, Stormy tried to get himself up to read it, but he was still putting his bandages on, and changing the old ones, Luna took the page and gave it to Stormy, the song was Nocture of Nightmare, a song that allow the user to control the shadows, and hide on them, but just like the Elegy of Chaos, it was a dangerous song according to the page, since it let your fears grew on your mind causing nightmares on the same night.
Stormy did not performed the song mostly because he feared that if he played the Elegy of Chaos or Nocture of Nightmare in his current state, his mind would shatter completely without any chance of repair, he just restored the page to the Book of Harmony. Stormy was more tired that he thought, since he felt from the bench, losing the control of his limbs, despite being able to cast magic. Luna checked his temperature he was getting cold as a corpse
“You have lost too much blood!, we will have to walk slowly“ Luna said with authority in her tone.
“Are you sure?,” Stormy said, a little blush appeared on his face, he was now the vulnerable one
“yes, we--- I mean, I am “ Luna said, correcting herself due to the use of the royal we.
Stormy got up, and walked slowly with the princess at his side, it will take a while for him to recover fully, since he need to be constantly eating and resting once they opened the Town hall doors, they saw Ponyville state and it was not better than Canterlot or Manehattan combined, they walked in the town not before the siren rang loudly, some of the buildings started to lose color, some remained the same the floor was still earth, but with a more light brown color, some of the street lights still worked, but the metal was now rusted, both ponies looked at this more annoyed than scared, already used to the change of scenario, but already knowing that during night time things get more dangerous, both let a frustrated “Here we go again” before walking further into the town.
With Luna’s wings injured, and Stormy condition, Flying and fighting was not going to be a good idea they needed a place to rest and quickly, since Stormy radio started to emit a low static, indicating monsters presence near them Stormy let a suggestion that made him smile.
“Luna, Why don’t we go to Sugar Cube Corner?, I have the key,“ Stormy said, taking the key out from his saddlebags.
“Where did you get it? You could have not planned this,“ Luna asked, looking at the key, surprised by the change of luck
“Would you believe me that I found it on my apartment in Canterlot, inside a cake mix bowl? “ he replied with a smirk on his face
“Of all of the…” Luna said, almost letting out a short laugh but she limits herself to an adorable snort.
The princess and Stormy walked towards Sugar Cube Corner, since Luna was the one with the map, she could find the place more easy, she may have not traveled the whole town by trotting, but she already knew key locations such as Twilight Library, Fluttershy Cottage and Carousel Boutique, in no small part due to her visit on Nightmare Night, once they got to the bakery Stormy used the key on the door, the key disappeared in front of their eyes and both ponies entered the bakery, from the inside it looked exactly the same as Stormy remembered it, just that much of the sweets were missing, the basement door was locked and the kitchen was dirty and stained with some sticky red substance, could be strawberry jelly or something worse.
Stormy directed Luna to go straight to Pinkie Room, the princess did as his companion advised, the door was opened, Pinkie bed was very comfy at the touch, and Stormy rested there for a moment, not before Luna locked well the door and used a nearby closet to barricade it, in case of some strange visitant came, she was next to Stormy, making sure the bandages were properly healing him, Stormy would need though a little healing magic since all the stress and attacks he have endured not only have impacted his psyche, but his body as well, if anypony can get him better, is the princess.
“Again you are the one healing me, don’t go too low, we usually leave that for later in the night,“ Stormy said a little blushed but played along the role of naughty colt.
“Pervert, where you like this with her?” Luna asked Stormy with a more than red blush.
“I would say she was far naughtier than I would ever be,” Stormy blushed at the thought while letting his head touch Pinkie’s pillow.
“Well I shouldn’t be judging you, we have been through a lot of things in the past few days like to start fighting between each other right?” Luna responded to him, healing him with her magic
“You are right, I have a few apples if you want,“ Stormy kindly offered his apples if Luna ran out of magic.
“Thanks, but I’m ok” Luna said, but a question came to her mind “Pray tell, why did you want me to heal you on the Elemen--- I mean Pinkie Pie house?, did you know her?“
“Well, my memory is a little fussy about a lot of things but I remember that she always was by my side, made me laugh when I felt depressed, and also--- “ Stormy remembered something important, smiling at this fact “--- she was with me visiting my brother.”
Stormy smiled, reflecting happiness this time, he remembered that he came to Sugar Cube Corner several times ever since his bro hospitalization, since Pinkie was always available, she traveled with him to Canterlot Hospital, to visit Mistshine, Stormy took out his favorite treat, the mint cupcake, and decided to share it with Luna.
“This is my favorite flavor of cupcake, let’s share it, we both haven’t eaten something normal except apples and energy drinks,“ Stormy smiled as he offered the cupcake.
“Pinkie Pie backed it?“ Luna asked, as she saw the fresh baked cupcake
“ Yes, I guess I don’t remember much about Ponyville only Sugar Cube Corner, and that I could always ask Pinkie for a Mint cupcake,“ Stormy said with a happy expression
“He seems to know much about Pinkie’s House, but not from all Ponyville?, maybe this living nightmare is something far more worse than a bad dream?“. That is what the princess had been thinking, watching Stormy reactions and he was also aware of it, maybe all of this was caused due to a hidden trauma he had?, or the feeling of losing somepony else is what that kept him from remembering in full detail?, Luna took a bite from the cupcake that Stormy gave her along with Stormy both ponies seems relieved a little, as they started talking, about their favorite games, music, candies, as if they were friends all the time, kind of strange, taking in consideration they current location, the smiles decorated both of their faces as they felt they finally earned a little break.
But true to the nature of the place they are, happiness is never meant to last long, their smiles were cut short when a loud bang was heard from the door, as if something was trying to take it apart, both ponies got reacted quickly to the alert but Stormy was not fully healed, still it was enough to walk on his own and attack, the bang grew louder and louder, knocking out some of the things on the drawers, one of the things however was Pinkie Party Cannon.
“How in Equestria did she get it to fit it on a drawer?, on the other side, is Pinkie we are talking about here,“ Stormy said picking up the cannon and taking aim at the door.
The Princess noticed that as soon as he picked up the cannon, the banging stopped, against their well judgment, they open up the door, only to find a trail of blood, leading towards the kitchen, Stormy, armed with party pony cannon power, moved to investigate, with the princess very near him, they came downstairs, the kitchen was busted out, almost as if something had blew up, the red sticky substance form before, was indeed strawberry jelly, but there was a smell of something nasty coming from one of the bowls, Stormy got close enough to see it was a key but when he levitated it, a tentacle thing came and grab it, it was not strawberry however, it was made of flesh and what It seems, had some horseshoes on it, it grabbed Stormy´s back hooves, Luna instantly hold him with her magic
“For Celestia Beard!, what is that thing!? “ Stormy said, as he pulled out the cannon, aiming to the bowl.
“Like if I know! Shoot it guard!“ Luna demanded trying to keep the stallion on ground.
Exhaustion quickly came to the princess, from the healing spell came she used before, but it was not that the reason she lost focus, is the strawberry jam on the floor that made her slip, the creature was lifting Stormy to take him inside the bowl, Stormy shoot a cake to the bowl to cover it up, it did work, with the creature blinded by cake frosting, the grip on Stormy body got loosen, enough for both of them to exit the kitchen quickly and close the door.
“What in the name of Tartarus?!, Ok that’s it, Is there is a single thing in this place that is not trying to murder us!?“ Stormy said, already tired of the weird things happening to them
“Maybe that?“ Luna said, pointing with her hoof at the basement
On the door to the basement, there was a shadow there, on the darkness, Stormy lit up his LED lantern and found out that it was his little bro, next to him, was a Posey doll, pointing out towards the basement door, before his brother could get near him, Mistshine took the doll and ran towards the dark basement, but Stormy found the doll before on his home, or it was on the University?, he lost track, either way he took the doll out from his saddlebags and noticed that the doll left hoof moved and was pointing towards the basement, like a compass, both ponies looked at each other with a puzzled face, as they went down, both lanterns shinned on the darkness, trying to help them see beyond their hooves.
“What are we searching now?“ Luna asked, not noticing anything worth on the basement besides a lot of party items
“Anything useful, I don’t know what is happening but somehow, I feel that I must continue, I must find the truth my brother wants me to see,“ Stormy said with determination on his voice.
The truth, Stormy reflected upon those words that just came out of his mouth, the truth about what exactly?, about what happened to Redhoof and his brother?, About why he do not remember anything from Ponyville?, he remembered that Twilight, before all this madness started, mentioned that all could be related to him, to his brother, by finding Mistshine, Stormy will be able to learn the truth about what happened to him, to Canterlot, and even to his loved one, he stopped and the princess as well, as she saw how Stormy seems to have remembered something his expression quickly changed.
“What is wrong? “ the princess asked kindly
“I get it now.” Stormy said with a sadden expression. “Why is that i have not been able to get answers, why I don’t remember anything of the places just some key aspects. We are not the only ones alive here.“
“You mean, this is all in our minds?“ Luna cached quickly the meaning of Stormy words.
“Not really, this place is a living nightmare, but we would wake up the second we either get injured or scared, the wounds on our body shows that this is not the case, and all of this is pretty much real,” . Stormy said as the Posey doll pointed towards the shelf.
“Then what are you getting at?” Luna questioned, now worried about the place they are stepping on.
“This world we are in, is like the famous Purgatory in ancient pony history, a place were lost souls wander to either heaven or hell, by some reason I cannot understand, we ended up here,” Stormy said, while looking at the shelf the Posey doll pointed.
“That would explain the Glass Mare reaction or Redhoof for that matter, wait, are you saying that your brother…” Luna said; now pale as her companion coat.
“Yes, he is guiding us somewhere, but his time is running out, the more he run from us, the more he is losing himself if this place, that’s why I have to find him, if we don’t he will never wake up!” Stormy now said, raising his voice, broken about the reasoning behind the place.
The doll was pointing towards a drawing, this drawing was a map of Ponyville with 5 different buildings, easy recognizable, the map itself was draw in crayons so it won’t be good if it gets wet, the first building that was detailed was crossed out, it was Sugar Cube Corner, the place they are in already, the other ones were in the following order; Branches & Books Library, or commonly know as Twilight Library, Lyra´s & Bon Bon House, Vinyl and Octavia House, right next to Twilight Library, and finally, Fluttershy Cottage, near the edge of the Everfree Forest, but there was a additional building on the drawing, deep inside of the Everfree Forest, it was an old Castle, to be more precise, The Ancient Castle of The Royal Pony Sisters.
Chapter 10 - Gathering Lives (Other Ponyville) -
The Everfree Forest, that place keeps appearing more frequently ever since both ponies entered Ponyville, but why is there a map with only specific locations in this town?, he felt a chill going down in his spine, as soon as the radio started to emit static, Stormy stored the doll on his saddlebags, and proceeded to check the basement, the Princess was keeping an eye on his guard, she feared that any strange event on Ponyville could destroy his mind, Stormy gasped as they found out a bag of liquid jelly.
“Bag of sweet strawberry jelly?, mmm, strange“ Stormy said confused about what he found.
“Maybe we could use it to distract the monster in the bowl? “ Luna suggested.
“Maybe but I prefer to check this place fully before going back upstairs,“ Stormy decided as he used his LED Lantern on a corner
Soon Stormy found something that made him regret that decision, he found several cupcakes on the shelf nearby, but he could smell something nasty coming from them, among the nasty cupcakes, was a blue berry cupcake, Stormy pick it up, but a trap was activated, a blade came towards him, Luna quickly pulled him out of the way, and the blade cut the table in half, the blade had already dried blood on it, a clear indicator that many other ponies have fallen victim of it, why there was a trap on the basement?, Luna relieved, decided to exit the basement, but as they where heading out they heard voices coming from the basement, one was very familiar, the way up the stairs seems like going forever despite them walking or trotting up, as the voices kept talking.
“Come on, eat it, you will fell better,“ a happy voice was heard.
“I’m not hungry Pinkie, not after what happened,“ a voice similar to Stormy was heard, only younger.
“I know Stormy, but that is why I’m here, I’m so sorry “ said Pinkie Pie, but there was something different in her, a deflating sound was heard, meaning her mane as not puffy as always, it was flat.
“There was nothing that anypony could have done to prevent it, it was too late and I failed him,“ The younger voice said in tears.
“I will be always with you, if there is something I’m good at, is to make anypony smile!, I promise,“ Pinkie voice said, it sounded very positive.
“You promise?“ the young voice said, now with a little hope.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!“ Pinkie said with cheer in her voice, a noticeable squee sound was heard, as if she has hugged somepony.
“Thanks, may I call you big sister?“ Young Stormy said, his voice was fading into a deep sleep.
“But of course silly filly!“ Pinkie said in her energetic voice, her hair made a poof sound. Indicating it returned to its usual inflated state.
“I-I remember that, it was when my brother was hospitalized on Canterlot Hospital, Pinkie promised she would always help me with the visits“ Stormy had a half sad, half happy smile in his face while he said that.
A few tears burst from Stormy eyes, as if that memory was locked away deep in his mind and he did not remember it until recently, Luna could feel Stormy emotions at this point, how many nights of terrible dreams did she forgot or ignored from him?, each time she looked at him she remember how guilty she felt. Could she have prevented this if she paid attention to him? That questioned kept on rigging on her mind.
As far as she can recall, she saw Stormy on the guards trainings, he was always inexpressive and sometimes quiet, she would have never suspected the things he was hiding inside of him, however, Luna was more drawn towards the cutie mark crusaders due to their nightmares than their other subjects, she even had problems tracking down some of the dreams from the Canterlot ponies.
Both Luna and Stormy reached the first floor again, a loud bang was heard from behind them, Stormy quickly used his flashlight to see the basement, it was now more twisted that the rest of the restaurant, all he could see was pony parts, a bag of flour, a few feathers and a sigh that says “Life is a Party“, which gave Stormy a bad feeling, following his guts, he retired from the basement and moved towards the kitchen with the princess.
The tentacle thingy was still inside the bowl, Stormy levitated the strawberry jam plastic bag and open it up, then he throw it on the room, the bad ended up impacting the wall, the tentacle thingy was attracted by the jam and started to, what it seems, to drink it, Stormy tried to enter first, but the princess went ahead of him and noticed that the creature was too focused on the jam to notice her, she quickly picked up the key from the bowl, and walked towards the exit, the smell coming from the jam bag was no sweet at all, it smelled like fresh blood and she could see before she left, what it seems, remaining of skin in the bag, she exited the kitchen and closed the door.
“I got the key” Luna said with a clear disgusted face.
“Great, where should we go now?“ Stormy asked the princess.
“Aren’t you the one with the map?” Luna playfully teased the stallion before pulling out the map from Stormy’s saddlebags.
Luna saw the key for a moment, she noticed it had a musical cutie marks on the handle, more precisely, it was shaped after Vinyl Cutie Mark, which pretty much set their destination to Vinyl and Octavia house, now with their destination clear both of them exited Sugar Cube Corner.
Outside, the town was still with little to no light, and the deep fog covers the horrors waiting for them deep in the darkness, both ponies had to rely on their previous knowledge of the place, Luna was certain on where Twilight and Fluttershy house was, while Stormy knew where Vinyl and Octavia live, a few monsters appeared on their way, no new monsters to add to their already long list, but the monsters seems more aggressive than before, the Hopping Ponies where being followed by the Ceiling Fillies, and the Glass Mare, despite having now a more grotesque image that reflected her death at hooves of the Iron Mask Pony was being accompanied by Restrained Figures, they were group of 2 monsters at least, The Princess and his guard decided it was better to run for it, since there was no way they could beat 4 monsters at the same time, Stormy used Pinkie Party Cannon as distraction, since the cannon itself is pretty much non-lethal, but provides one hell of a pushback to enemies.
Luna reached the musicians ponies house, unlocked the door and entering, Stormy galloped quickly inside firing one loud confetti stream that pushed the creatures away, enough for him to close the door, once inside, they locked the door, constants bangs could be heard, the monsters where trying to enter but after a while, they seems to have stopped, the radio static that was being broadcasted faded into silence.
Stormy saw the inside of the house a chimney, a wub dishwasher used to clean the dishes, a chello case and stairs that leads towards the mares rooms, each decorated to fit their personalities, yeah, it was definitely their home, not to mention their home seems to be painted in a mix of Techno plus classical themes. Luna and Stormy saw on the chimney what it seems to be another memory, lost from Stormy´s past, Octavia was in front of him, and Young Stormy had his ocarina, playing it, following Octavia instructions, the song he was performing seems to be a ocarina variant of Pinkie Pie smile song.
“No no, you must be gentle when you blow your ocarina, too strong air will distort the melody,“ Octavia instructed while guiding the young colt with a baton.
“O-ok, I will start again“ Young Stormy said stopping his song.
“YO TAVI! WHAT YOU DOING?!“ Screamed Vinyl, entering the residence, almost breaking the door.
“Aaarg, Vinyl, I told you not to scream when you get home, I might have some visits,“ Said Octavia, a little annoyed, but strangely used to this already.
“Playing with little colts making them do what you say, sure you are,“ said Vinyl with a joker smile on her face, obviously implying something, looking at Young Stormy with the same smirk.
“I-I ,um w-well,Miss Octavia was helping me to get better on my instrument,“ Young Stormy said, a little shy and with a blush.
“Oh, so you are a teacher now?, nice, hey Tavi I had an idea, perhaps he can help us create a new song? Remember the album we have been making together?“ Vinyl said, taking interest on the musical future of Stormy.
“We will have to wait that, but for now, let’s practice,“ Octavia resumed her lesson with a smile.
“O-ok “ Young Stormy agreed
All the ghost disappeared after that, could a ocarina be combined with a chello and a bass?, as far as Stormy knew, it had to be on a very slow part to actually do it, but if both musical ponies had already made an album that means it is possible, the Princess of the Night noticed that they were some arrows pointing towards the stairs, both ponies followed them.
Once on the second floor of the residence the radio emitted static, indicating monster presence, both ponies couldn’t see where the creature was, until it appeared from one of the doors, it was a Shadow Performer, using a timberwolf costume, it launched towards both ponies, Stormy used a magic shield to prevent the attack, the princess didn’t knew what kind of monster this was, until she noticed some crack on the suit, using Noirstar Sword she attacked those cracks, exposing the shadow weakspot, something Stormy took advantage off, shooting a light based magic bullet on it.
A distorted scream came from the creature as the static was getting softer, the monster refusing to give up attacked again but a quick blast finally made it disappeared in a puff of black smoke, Stormy and Luna checked the rooms starting from the DJ one. Vinyl Room was very messy and they were several things on the bed that suggested something far naughtier happened on those sheets, besides, there was a plushy of Octavia with a panty on it.
“What where those 2 doing here? “ Stormy questioned with a blush
“You don’t want to know,” Luna said also with a blush but with a certain degree of guessing what happened.
On Vinyl room, they only found out her bass cannon, Stormy tried to fire it up, but it was busted, and there was a note attached to it; “if anypony is a mechanic, can you fix this?. I have a concert with Tavi in 5 so I cannot work on this.“
A mechanic?, the only mechanic Stormy knew was his brother, he knew nothing of mechanics, in fact, he don’t recall that Equestria had many machines operating, he remember that he had his bro wrench, so he took it out and opened up the cannon, Luna helped, already guessing what was on her companion mind, as they moved the panel with the cannon a little to take a look at it, they found out that there was a key with Lyra cutie mark, attached to the cables, Stormy could not take it, otherwise he will get shocked, neither he could pulled it up with magic as the key was magic proof, he was going to find a different way, Luna noticed all the circuits inside the cannon itself, looked very advanced for a normal unicorn to make.
“Wait, if that musical pony build this shouldn’t be some rubber hoof gloves somewhere?, I mean, I remember Octavia in the Grand Galloping Gala, and she is a earth pony, wouldn’t she get shocked if she helped Vinyl with this thing?“ Luna suggested as she looked at the machine.
“You are right, those two are polar opposites but still the best friends, let’s check her room,“ Stormy said, exiting the room.
Luna and Stormy exited Vinyl room and entered Octavia room, the room was very organized, but also had a Plushy on the bed, this time it was a Vinyl, however, there was something missing on Octavia room, her trademark chello, it was not on it’s case, it was on the floor, broken, the drawers showed as if they where pulled out by force, and the floor itself was a fence floor, where both ponies could see the kitchen below them, the radio emitted static, alerting them of a enemy, Stormy saw above them, a Ceiling Filly was above them, waiting for a victim to step just below him to attack, Stormy and Luna looked at each other, since Luna can’t fly at the moment, Stormy sit on the floor and Luna stepped on his back, as she charged a magic blast to hit the monster directly, they noticed something, the monster was on what it seems to be a hole on the ceiling, once they got rid of the enemy with a quick blast from the princess, Luna suggested Stormy to lift her again, just as he just did to take out the monster.
“ Ok here we go “ Stormy said as he lifted the princess again
Luna saw on the darkness of the attic, what it seems to be something shinny, Luna used her light magic to notice what it seems to be a pair of scissors, good enough to cut electrical wires, they could use it on the bass cannon, Luna quickly took it and jumped from Stormy back, to the ground.
Back on Octavia room, they noticed on the remaining of the chello, a piece of page, like half of a page, it was a page from the book of harmony, but the part where the song was written is on the other half, the song was called New Chello Bass Nova, it is supposed to give a calming healing effect, and when the music grew louder, an electrical charge will paralyzing the user foes. Luna and Stormy checked already all the upper floors, the remaining floors, were the basement.
As they used the stairs to get to the basement and opened the door, they noticed that it was a giant record studio, ideal for either Vinyl or Octavia, they must had use it to practice, a static sound came in again, a Shadow Performer was inside the chamber, using a death costume, Luna used the same strategy again, but the monster let a powerful scream that made her miss the attack, are the monsters now thinking?,
If they continue to attack as they are doing right now the monsters sooner or later will gain the upper hoof, so they decided to switch battle stances, Stormy this time attacked using the steel pipe, breaking the armor that protected its shadowy body, the princess was the shooter this time, using a light based magic to injure it, the strategy worked as the creature twist in pain, but it was still alive, Stormy and Luna switched again when they saw the creature was now going to focus on the princess, by switching their battle stances they managed to kill the monster. Once things calmed down a little, both ponies checked the “studio“, there was a song recorded on the panel, Stormy played it, and noticed there was a part on the song that could be followed along with his ocarina, Luna noticed that the door where some spare instruments were, was unlocked.
“Why don’t you try to complete the song?, maybe something will happen after all, they were your teachers, were they not?“, The princess suggested, she saw Stormy memory, this one was easy to guess.
Stormy nodded and stepped inside the recording segment, Luna hit the switch and the song started playing, Stormy filled up the gaps with his ocarina but the princess also filled some gasp with a few chorus and singing, seems the song was left there on purpose, for a music student to finish.
Once the song was completed, one of the speakers opened up, there the gloves Stormy was searching for were, they got the gloves and exited the recording room, on the main section of the recording room, leading towards the stairs, there was a note attached to the panel where the record button was, it was a piece of the harmony page they found out earlier, so the song was split in 3 parts, not 2?, this part in specific had the intro of the song.
It was strange how the recording room was neat and tidy, considering they were in “the other world“, Stormy decided to investigate that and returned to the recording room, when he entered again, it was all destroyed, as if a blast was responsible of destroying the equipment, Luna being the princess that travels within dreams was noticing that the more further they get into the houses, the more corrupted they became, if Stormy theory about purgatory is correct then their time is getting cut short.
They returned to Vinyl room and they used the gloves and scissors to take the key out, once they cut out the cables with the scissors, Luna took the key and Stormy fixed the cables, a short circuit made the bass cannon activated by itself, but instead of a loud wub beam, a soft song was played and a piece of page felt from the front, it was the last piece of the New Chello Bass Nova, Luna was the one restoring the page this time, once the page was completed, Stormy decided to give it a try, but he saw the warning, if he perform it, without ear protection, it will leave him permanently deaf, since the song uses a special frequency for a secondary effect on enemies, disrupt their movements. He remembered that Prelude of Friendship was found on Pinkie house, but no other songs were split in 3, almost if the town didn’t want the book to be completed, either way, he stored the book with the song without playing it, following the princess suggestion.
Both ponies now decided to exit the musicians house, and move to the next one, according to the map and the key they had, the next one will be Lyra and Bon Bon house, on the streets, it was noticeable that the monsters where waiting for them, specially the Ceiling Fillies and distorted Glass Mares, the radio burst in static as soon as they got out, they tried to return to the house, in order to find a alternative route, but the door broke.
“Umm, princess” Stormy said stretching one of his legs to a side.
“Yes?” Luna replied noticing Stormy but keeping a fighting stance.
“RUUUUUN!” Stormy yelled as he grabbed the princess and ran.
Luna and Stormy didn’t had other choice but to ran for it, even if they fight them they will lose both time and probably their life since they are outnumbered, a glass mare manage to get a grip on Stormy legs, the princess removed the monster from her companion with her sword, but when she stopped attacking it, a ceiling filly landed on her back ready to stab her.
Stormy managed to use a magical blast to shake the creature off, they ran as soon as they were clear of the creatures, they saw Lyra and Bon Bon house, but Stormy almost felt to a hole in the fence floor, just like back to his apartment on Canterlot, they now have to find a alternative way to the house as the monsters approached quickly to their location.
The darkness of the night made it difficult to see the other houses without the led lantern that Stormy has on his neck, both ponies decided to turn around, using the map as their guide, there is a alley that would take them behind Twilight house, and next to her is Lyra and Bon Bon house, as soon as they followed that route, they stepped into something soft and warm, hesitant to lower their gaze they continued until the soft feeling became a hard one, they encountered some things at made them slow down they journey, some corpses where on the floor, all of them where from monsters faced so far, the same method of death, sword cuts, only one creature appeared in Stormy mind, that could relate those cuts, the Skeletal Mare, she was now in Ponyville too.
“Oh great, just dandy and perfect, now she is in here too?” Stormy said to himself, a little annoyed that the creature began her pursuit again.
They were careful not to step in any more corpses, as the alleyway was covered with at least 4 or 5 of the monsters, seems Skeletal Mare does this as target practice, as crude as that sound, once they passed the alley they found the backdoors of Lyra house, Luna used the key they found and opened the door, as expected, the key disappeared again after use, turning into ash, they entered the residence, finding out that the back entrance was in the kitchen, other than that, the house looked normal, not rusted, as if they were stuck in some sort of Limbo.
The more they advanced in the town, the more twisted and strange the places became, Stormy didn’t knew much the both mares living in this house though, but he did remember that there was one time, that Lyra talked with him about a creatures that had something called hands, instead of hooves, but the most strange thing, was that on he living room, was a little model on the table, resembling the creature Lyra mentioned, its “hands” where missing, and the model had like a hole where the hands could be attached, you could call it a straight forward puzzle however, there was something else on the model a slot for a tiny horn and wings, but the holes there next to the model, not on it.
The house was more small than Octavia’s home, it had just 2 rooms, one bathroom, the living room and the kitchen, the princess decided to check the rooms for both mares and the bathroom, on Lyras room, there where a couple of pants, as she inspected the blue ones she found something hard in one of the pockets, it was one of the miniature hands. Luna then went to the bathroom, on the bathtub there was nothing, but on the toilet however was something shinny, it couldn’t be seen clearly, due to the dirty water, the princess tried to take it out reaching for it with her hooves.
“uuugh!, forget it!, this is way to gross!, I’m not pulling that out, even with magic!”
Luna checked Bon Bon room, but it was locked, Stormy on the other hoof, checked the kitchen, there was a pot and some sort of soup being cooked, being a guard, he knows little about cooking, but could smell something bad coming from it, Stormy lifted the pot lid, noticing that inside the veggie soup, was a plastic hand being cooked, he pulled it out with his magic, and immediately, turn the sink on, against all logic, there was water coming out of it, enough to clean the prop, just as he finished cleaning it, Luna came from upstairs, not before telling him about the toilet shiny thing. Stormy checked that and pulled out the shinny thing on the toilet with his magic, it was a key, most likely for Bon Bon room, they used it there and opened the door, as usual, the key faded to ashes.
Inside the room, there was a bunch of hats, seems like one for each occasion, there was a miniature horn on the bed, Luna took it now having 2 hands and a horn.
On the set of hats there were 5 that didn’t matched at all the designs, while most of the hats where for summer, winter, or even spring, those 5 looked like costume hats, Stormy started to arrange them, making sure that they matched the size on each column, from the more little, to the more bigger, a click was heard on the wall and from the middle hat, a little secret compartment reveled, with a pair of plastic wings, finally, they had all the puzzle pieces.
Both ponies returned to the living room, where the pieces fit perfectly, the middle of the mannequin, opened, revealing a key and a piece of paper inside it, it was another song of the book, this time, it was the Serenate of the Sea Ponies, according to the song description, the Sea Ponies are a different species only found in the oceans of Equestria and the song itself, allowed the user water control until a certain degree, the longer the effect, the more magic it consumed, also, seems it can control other liquids, why Mistshine hints seems to end up with a Harmony Page?, Luna took a look at the key and examined it, this one had a quill on it indicating their next objective, Twilight Library.
Both ponies exited the house, and quickly, without trying to engage in a fight, reached to Twilight Library, the tree was still green in some parts, other however, looked yellow, some books lying on the streets, opened and in a state of decay, due to the ash that had fallen on them, making impossible to read, Stormy opened the door with the key and got inside the Element of Magic home.
“Hello?, Twilight?, Spike!, anypony home?” Stormy yelled, trying to get an answer.
“I don’t think anypony is here Stormy” Luna commented, looking at the state of the house.
Luna was right, Golden Oaks Library looked completely deserted and in decay, Stormy saw a memory flash on his eyes, when he was more older he visited Twilight library often, asking for a specific books, about being a Lunar guard, magical defense, mystery novels, ETC.
As if the memory wasn’t enough both ponies witnessed a young Stormy ghost, trying to perform a shield bubble spell, before Spike got a letter and broke the concentration of the young unicorn, when the memory faded, the library took a twisted and rusted state different from the other houses so far, that kept a clean state, to make matters worse, there were strange symbols everywhere.
“Hold on weren’t this symbols all around the places we visited?” Luna questioned as she took a page with that symbol drawn on it.
“Last time I saw it, there is always a huge monster waiting or a more intelligent creature trying to kill me, so I would say yes,“ Stormy replied to the princess.
She was right, although he didn’t see it at first but, each time that he faces a giant monster like the thing in the Canterlot Archives, the doppelganger, the monster from Manehatten, and the elevator to Ponyville, that circle was there however, the door where Luna was engaged in battle against the Black Alicorn that was a little different variation and had Luna cutie mark, perhaps there is a meaning in this?, the symbol is a circle, with 3 other little circles inside it, on the middle circle however, had some strange letters that neither, Luna or Stormy seems to understand, but made their heads hurt, the library had one huge symbol on the floor, painted in red while all the other ones where black painted. Luna and Stormy searched in all the books available, but most of them had dust, damaged pages or very old paper that the ink had already became illegible, there was one however, explaining the deeps of the subconsciousness traumas.
“Deep on the equestrian psyche, if a pony suffers from a very deep trauma or something that put the well being of a subject in danger, this kind of memories, gets stuck on the person most deep sub conscience, unable to XXXXXXXX unless a very deep psychological research is done, there is even a possibility that the victim don’t even remember it, XXXXXXX is a very useful spell for this purpose, that allowed a user XXXXXXXXXX a pony, but the amount of magic to perform is astronomical, only XXXXXX are able to perform it at a perfect level, if somepony XXXXXXXXXX their usage, could cause XXXX and possibilities of worsen the problem“
There were several blacked out words on the document, but the words that he was able to understand, made him fell uneasy and heavy, both ponies searched the second floor of the library, where Twilight and Spike sleep, the princess of the night tried to use the telescope, to see the stars what she was able to see was a total darkness and the Skeletal Mare flying around the town.
“Even if I could fly I would just get attacked by that thing, I think is better if we stick to the ground” Luna said to herself as she continue to search Twilight home.
Stormy was searching for any kind of clue that could pinpoint to another locked memory or a key to move forward, what he found instead was a single page on Twilight bed, more than obvious to this point, it was another page of the Book of Harmony, this time around it was the Requiem of the Changelings, a song that, according to the page, could make a changeling friendly or save his life by giving him love energy, without the user being subject to the side effect of the changelings love drain, In case of emergency, the song allowed the user to use his own love as a extra magic boost, strengthening his or her spells. A kind song for a species that hurts other by taking their love, even if they didn’t mean it, like Noirstar.
Stormy restored the page to the book while Luna on the other hoof, was the one that found the clue in Spike bed, there was a broken ruby, a fire ruby necklace to be precise, but the gem itself was like a puzzle, seems the gem was broken in a way of a make yourself the design of the gem with the lines.
The princess began to solve it, however, no matter how well she made them fit, there was always a piece missing, the middle one, Luna directed Stormy to find the missing piece on the basement, while she checked on the first and second floor for it, nodding in agreement Stormy moved towards the basement where Twilight had her lab, is the only place he has not checked yet. He remembered that the door itself, had another puzzle to allow entry, it was a picture of Princess Celestia with her and Spike on Canterlot Gardens, nothing out of the ordinary at first glance but the more he looked at the picture, the more he noticed that Celestia´s colors where switched with Twilight’s, that one was easy to fix, since the picture had a little button to change the colors, once the puzzle was made, the door opened, and Stormy walked through it.
When he entered the other side, he found out the same desk, and the same books and symbols as the main entrance because he returned to the entrance of the library, confused, Stormy exited the library using the same door as he had gone in, his result ending outside the treehouse, more importantly, facing a Glass Mare monster.
“Ummm, I don’t suppose that you have any explorer cookies are you?” Stormy said, trying to withhold a nervious smirk
“Grooowl owsl” The glass mare grunted and launched to attack.
“Oh Crap!” he yelled as he closed the door, a loud impact was heard, indicating that the Glass Mare just hit herself with the door.
Whatever happened to the monster after the events of the Hospital, any degree of intelligence and fear she might had are gone, from the door window he was able to see the Glass Mare expressions, there were no longer pony featured, she looked more monster like and grunted each time she saw Stormy, the princess noticed this and tried to help, but when she had gone downstairs, she appeared on the stairs going to the basement… as if the house had switched over itself, mixing up the doors, Stormy came back in, and found out Luna, exiting from the door that he wanted to enter, Luna tried to held the door opened for him, but it closed by itself, and a locking sound came from it.
“I dims waimihg, wa, what just happened?!? “ the princess exclaimed, just as confused as her companion.
“You are asking me?, I’m a retired Lunar Guard, and you are the Princess of the Night, my only conclusion is that this is a maze and we need to find another door. “ Stormy said with a little confusion but trying to withstand the irony of the situation.
“I was thinking the same thing, try the kitchen door, I will try the side room door “ Luna suggested
The team split up again, if the house was changed, then even if they get the remaining piece of the Fire Ruby, they could wander for days if the house changes were constant, Stormy tried the door that Luna suggested, it send him over to the bathroom, when he entered it, and exited again, he ended up in the side room, next to the back exit of the tree house, it was almost as if Twilight Library had became a maze the second he solved the picture.
“Wait, the picture!, that’s it!“ Stormy said as if his mind just made a click.
With an audible zip sound like the ones Pinkie does a lot, he tried to go back to the main floor, where the door and the puzzle resides, but when he used the door that would usually take him to the lobby, it send him over the basement stairs, where he wanted to go on the first place, the door closed and a clicking sound came from it, he tried to force the door open, but it was sealed shut.
“Oh just perfect, perfectly dandy, I will contact Luna to see if she can resolve the puzzle and get me out of here.“
As soon as he pulled out the ocarina and played the Winds of Friendship song, he felt nothing, no connection, as if the basement itself prevented the use of magic, including his levitation and Illuminations spells, with no other choice left, he descended into the darkness, turning his LED lantern on, he remembered Twilight lab downstairs, that she used in very rare occasions it had everything, from stethoscopes, to brain mapping machines and chemicals, although they looked rusted since they where on the “Twisted Ponyville“, at least that is what he decided to call the rusted version of Ponyville, once he reached the bottom, he could see 3 different doors, each with a different symbol, there was a button working, a red button, under a big machine that had a old audio tape, Stormy pressed it, only to hear a voice from the recording, kind of familiar, he noticed it was a mare voice, but he was unsure if it was Twilight voice… or some other mare.
“Welcome, these door where meant to test the psyche of the equestrian pony’s, especially yours, a set of recordings where made to help you out on the next set of doors, it would be a good idea to listen them, keep in mind… “ the voice sounded distorted, as if the tape had damaged, a colt voice was now replacing the mare one “Run brother, You can’t fight them, run!“
Stormy was already getting a bad feeling from all of this but decided to roll over with the recording and tried the middle door that had an apple mark, inside it, he found a room, filled with Apple Trees, a bed and a extra door, Stormy looked at the apple tree, it didn’t looked quite healthy, a single voice said “Harvest the apples“, simple enough.
Stormy bucked the apple tree as hard as he could, he manage to throw a few apples to the floor, but all of them looked really old and rotten, except one, a golden apple, he picked up, and immediately noticed that it was way too heavy for being a normal apple, there was a little basket near the bed, where the apple seems to fit fine, he placed the apple inside, and the extra door unlocked, taking him to a very short room, here there was a rusty key he of course picked.
When he returned to the room with the apples, he noticed that the golden apple has rusted and a crack was heard from it, an insect was exiting from the apple, a cockroach or something similar, with a pony face, and far more bigger than a normal cockroach, almost the same size as a frog, the creature climbed Stormy´s leg and started biting it, like trying to get inside his flesh, Stormy screamed and immediately tried to pull out the creature with his pipe, all that he manage was to hurt his own leg, but it managed to get the insect off, he opened the door and from the apple a huge swam of the same creatures emerged from it, he ran, but instead of going back to the library, he was on want it seems to be a long hallway, what in Equestria happened to the lab?, the more he ran, the more insects where getting closer, until he manage to open the door at the end of said hallway that lead him directly to the lab, as soon as he closed it shut, he felt the insects crawling on the door, trying to pass, Stormy used one of the rusted CPUs to block it.
“Cockroaches, WHY in Celestia’s name had to be cockroaches?!“ Stormy said a little pale
He checked his coat, bandages, saddlebags, for any trace of those little pests, thankfully, there where none but he had the rusted key, it can only be used once, and the left and right door where locked, so he had to chose one, he selected the one on the right and unlock it, it took him to what it seems a pet store, there were actually several stuffed animals, and a few crates labeled “food”, a recording just said “What all animals have in common?“
Should Stormy be surprised by the low difficult of that question? But he felt a little heavy and weak perhaps losing too much blood was affecting him?, he looked at all the animals, all of them are predators, except the stuffed bunnies, bunnies are herbivores, while the falcons and eagles are common predators of bunnies.
He took the stuffed bunny, and placed it on a pedestal in the counter, and a clicking sound came from the cash register, ka ching!, between the bits, there was a green apple, and a rusted key, as soon as he placed the key and apple on his bag, he noticed a few leeches on his hooves, sucking his blood.
“Oh for Cadance Sake!, get off!” he yelled, feeling weaker by the minute.
He removed them with his steel pipe, but as soon as he looked at the fence floor, he noticed several leeches crawling towards him, he ran to the exit, removing there most leeches he could while not getting stuck on the floor, once outside, he removed the remaining leeches still stuck on his body, smashing them with his pipe, but he was already exhausted, the self inflicted wound in his left back hoof and the lost of a good amount of blood thanks to the leeches, was making him already feel dizzy, he recovered a little of his strength sitting on the fence floor and eating a green apple, as he felt the sweet fruit sliding down to his grumbling stomach, he reflected on the 2 chambers he already visited, one had cockroaches, the other one had leeches, what could possibly be hiding inside the third door?, not only that but the setting of the doors themselves were something he should remember.
The apples ones resemble Applejack room, while the Pet Store resemble in some aspects to Fluttershy’s Courtyard where she kept her animals for adoption. So, if the rooms were based on the Elements of Harmony, what could be the third one?. Feeling a little better, he got himself up and used the rusted key on the left door, the key broke but manage to open the door as it was supposed to.
Inside all he could see was a bedroom, the strange thing was that, it was an exact replica of his room in Canterlot, his gaming consoles still the same, his kitchen was clean and tidy, his small fridge where he found the mint cupcake, he even got the stairs leading to the entrance, where the living room was, he tried the door leading to the exit, but it was broken, from the window all he could see was the darkness of the night, why he returned to his room in Canterlot?, a recorded voice was heard, “Examine yourself and face your fears “.
Face his fears?, although the recorded voice was straight forward, he didn’t knew what it mean, so, he search all his room for clues, feeling a little bit exhausted he rested on the bed for a second, drifting into a deep sleep, he felt the soft touch of somepony familiar in his chest, this made him wake up almost immediately and continue his search, seems resting will have to wait.
He noticed something almost immediately the apartment was all neat and tidy, as if his apartment was just recently rented, also, the consoles placed on the TV, was a Super Ponytendo, not his Ponytendo U or his PS3 (PonyStable 3), so it must been his apartment in the past, he opened up the fridge and notice it was empty, even the drawers didn’t had anything, he searched the lobby and found several boxes, he opened one, and noticed there was clothes for both, him and Mistshine.
“This is, my brother workshop jacked” He said with nostalgia on his tone of voice
“Whaaaaaaa” A cry was heard coming from upstairs
Stormy heart skipped a beat when he heard that cry, he quickly ran upstairs and found out his younger ghost again crying without end in the bed, he only had a saddlebag with Mistshine cutie mark and his bro wrench, he took a few steps towards him but a ghost went through him, her pink colors where impossible to be missed, it was Pinkie, by the looks of her, she just had accompanied Stormy somewhere that made him cry, the ghost started talking, Pinkie Pie hair was flat.
“Stormy, please calm down” Pinkie pie said with a visible concern.
“No I can’t, you heard the doctor Pinkie!, my brother will never wake up! “ Younger Stormy said, he was totally heart broken
“Come on, turn that frowny upside downy,“ Pinkie said, trying to get young Stormy better “your little bro wouldn’t like to see you like that when he wakes up.“
“h-how do you know he is going to be ok Pinkie?“ Young Stormy said, trying to hold back his tears but looking at the pink mare
“Because he is in the hooves of the best doctors in Canterlot, sure it will take time, but that will give us enough time to prepare his Happy Surviving Party,“ Pinkie Pie with more happiness than before said to the little colt, her hair puffed again.
“…” Young Stormy didn’t said anything, just jumped and hugged Pinkie
Ever since his sister died, Pinkie Pie has been like a big sister for him, always taking care of him, making him smile, protecting him, almost as if she already knew what is it to lose a loved one, hence the ribbon she had on her mane currently, Stormy hold up the tears the best he could since he remembered what happened after that memory.
They were preparing cupcakes to give to Mistshine and the doctors as a thank you gift for taking care of the little pony, however, on the same hospital, they found somepony suspicious going towards Mistshine room, his tears started to fall from his eyes, more quickly as he submerged himself on the memory, the doctors didn’t see it coming, but Pinkie and Stormy did.
They quickly had gone to Mistshine room, despite the warnings of the nurse that there was somepony already there and they have to wait, when both ponies entered the room, they found out another unicorn, his coat was as black as his heart, his cutie mark, was a $ symbol with a double faced mask, one half of the mask was smiling the other, had a very evil smile, his horn was a little long for his age, and his eyes where natural red, his hooves had special gloves that did not left hoofprints, his large mane and tail were a very wasted yellow with blue combined and always carried a saddlebag, he also had a hood to cover his identity, Pinkie noticed he was pulling out a knife from the saddlebags, a green aura surrounding it, as it was coming towards the sleeping earth pony laying in the bed, Stormy froze in place, Pinkie quickly pulled out her party cannon and fired a cake towards the mysterious pony, taking the knife from his magic grasp and breaking his focus. Stormy screamed enraged, as he saw the pony determined to end Mistshine life while Pinkie loaded another round on her cannon.
“YOU“ Stormy screamed trying to lift the knife with his magic
“Hi, Kid, remember me?“ The mysterious black unicorn spoke directly to Stormy
It didn’t took much to the covered ghost to push Pinkie aside and escape through the window, when the doctors came, all the ghost disappeared and Stormy was back on his room replica, holding the tears, but scared he could just repeat the same words, over and over again while losing strength on his limbs, making him sit on the floor.
“It’s him, it’s him again!“ Stormy said as he tried to calm himself down
His voice shivered as he heard a metallic echo coming from downstairs, closer to him.
Chapter 11 - The Forest of Madness (Fog Ponyville) -
The echo grew louder and louder coming closer to him, going up the stairs from his lobby, sending shivers down the colt spine, he tried to ran towards the door where he came in, but it was locked, the echo became more louder as the radio finally burst into a loud static that woke up Stormy from his fear, he put the iron pipe on his hooves, waiting for the creature he knew was coming for him the Iron Mask Pony.
“N-no more fleeing this time. Luna is right, I must fight him,” Stormy said with a broken voice, still scared but facing his fear.
This time, he was not carrying a corpse, but had its big knife, Stormy didn’t hesitate and started attacking the creature, the pipe when it hit the monster mask, let out a few sparks, however, the creature was smiling, as if it was enjoy the unicorn attempts to stop him.
The creature used it’s knife to attack Stormy, he tried to dodge, but the blow hit him on his side, he felt as he was cut in half, but thanks Celestia the creature only manage to damage one side of the saddle bags, dropping most of the items, like the apples and bandages, without healings, a blow could be fatal, the monster intentionally stepped on the last green apple, crushing it, as he knew it could help the stallion restore his magic.
“This is not looking good, I cannot face this thing with a pipe and alone,” Stormy said while keeping his fighting stance.
Iron Mask moved again towards its target, Stormy changed strategy and used his old techniques when he was in Manehattan, using his moondust magic, he jumped to the ceiling and used his magic in a web like fashion to trap the creature, making it unable to move, the mouth of the creature reflected an angry smile at the colt idea.
Stormy got down and recovered his lost items, using one of the bandages he obstructed the hole, so he could not lose anything and burst the door open with a magic blast, perhaps the stress of the moment was giving him another magic surge?, or was it that, inside the “test chambers“ he can use his magic, but not outside of them.
Stormy quickly noticed as he ran, that he was in a large hallway again, as large as the one where the cockroaches where chasing him, however, he felt the eco coming again, but this time more quickly, he looked back, just to see the monster, running towards him this time, with a thirst for blood in his mouth, Stormy panicked and took out Pinkie party cannon and shoot a cake towards his foe, the monster didn’t do anything, the cake hit him, but it was not stopping him, Stormy had an idea and rode the cannon.
“If Pinkie Pie taught me anything, is riding this thing!” Stormy yelled as he fired non stop towards the creature.
He could feel his heart, racing as fast as it could to make Stormy pull the trigger, the hallway was getting covered on cake frosting while the recoil of the cannon made the wheels on it move towards the opened door to Twilight Lab. Once he was on the lab, he picked a rusted cpu and loaded into the cannon, firing it towards his foe, the heavy object was enough to dizzy the creature, allowing the stallion to close the door, even if the blade of the creature weapon manage to pass right through it, injuring his shoulder, as he pressed against the door to prevent the creature to pass, its massive hoof grabbed Stormy´s neck, with the intention to choke him, with Twilight lab preventing magic usage, he had to resort his pipe, to try to pin the hoof of his foe out of his neck and catch some air. But the pipe was not enough, Stormy searched his saddle and took out his brother wrench, hitting creature hoof with fury, taking advantage of it, he started to rip the flesh from the hoof furiously, reaching to the bone, Stormy was quickly loosing air, until the pain caught with the creature nervous system and finally let Stormy go, as the steps grew quiet, and so did the radio, falling silent.
The colt was recovering all the air he could, he took another bandage and wrap it around his injured shoulder, once he could get up again, he remembered that he didn’t get anything from the test, so against his own will and sense of auto conservation, he opened the door, just to find it was now blocked with a brick wall, in the middle of it, was a piece of ruby, the last piece of the fire ruby in Spike room, as soon as Stormy picked it up, a siren was heard at the distance and with it, the aspect of Twilight Library changed, recovering the color on the wood, replacing the fence floor with actually hard wood and all 3 doors he had passed before turned into fake doors that fall flat on the floor, as if the 3 trials were part of a specific point in his past.
Regardless of the doors, he walked up the stairs towards the door with the final piece of the puzzle, he opened the door normally, just to find out the enchantment had vanished, Luna was already on the first floor and the drawings where removed, several books where now back in place and everything looks neat and tidy.
“Busy redecorating right? “ Stormy joked with the princess
“Forgive me if I withhold my laughter, as soon as the siren was off, all the books were back in place, except for this one, I believe you should see it,“ The Princess said with a little smirk but giving the colt a book.
“Ok, let’s see here,“ Stormy said to himself as he read the book.
The book the princess has given Stormy is a book labeled Study of Arcane Magic. The section that the princess selected to Stormy was focusing on the guards from before her banishment.
“1000 years ago, the unicorns at the time had a additional magic besides the normal unicorn magic, the arcane magic, a magic that was extremely difficult to achieve even with years of training, it was reserved for the knights of high rank and sorcerers, these special members of the Equestria Royal Family, had the ability to perform powerful spells that a normal unicorn could not do, such as alteration of time, repairing almost instant death wounds, having control over creatures and in case of the High Priestess, reanimation of the dead. However, all these special abilities and more, usually come with a high price for these exceptional ponies, the more powerful the spell is, the more spiritual energy and magic they had to use, that’s why reanimating the dead of even time control is strictly limited or even forbidden by law. In this modern age, there is almost no trace of the ancient magic used during the solar princess’s time on the Everfree Forest, however it cannot be denied that the unicorns had some special abilities, like the head captain of the Solar Guards at the time, Inferno Shield and his trademark magic Sun’s Flarespot, capable of obliterating anything in his path with a sea of flames, very similar in heat and form to the sun spots on Celestia´s Sun, the Lunar Guards did not stayed far behind, Starmist Brave, and his trademark moondust magic allowed him to shape his magic to his will. Making it take up to many forms as he pleased and it was formed from a white dust that resembles actual stardust from the stars and the moon. “
Hold on, Brave? That’s what Stormy questioned when he saw the last name of the moon knights, it was his last name, Luna explained that the book actually was right in a few things, but wrong in others, per example, the moondust and flarespot magic are actually special abilities the unicorns at the time develop ever since they were babies, depending if they where born either in full moon or during the effects of a sun spots respectively, however, the price to pay for that magic is extreme, as they have to survive the magic surge that came with it during their usual baby unicorn stage, a heavy stress is usually on the baby that could result on its death if the magic surge proves to be too much for it.
That’s why even 1000 years ago, only one unicorn could be allowed on the royal guard with that ability as they tend to be either, unstable, or not survive past their fifth birthday, this made Stormy wonder, if he has the moondust magic, then that means either his father or mother or anypony along his bloodline where a long lasting descendant from the unicorns of that age, including surviving the magic surge as a baby, making the Manehattan incident the second time his own magic tried to kill him.Luna confirmed quickly that theory, pointing out to the book Stormy was restoring, the book of ancient songs of harmony.
“Back during my fillyhood, only the nobles, high priestess and musicians of the ancient court could perform those songs, and all of them as I recall them well, had either Sun’s Spot or Moondust based magic, which is what triggers the song effects, they used to keep watch at all times in the castle and---“ as Luna was going in full details, she felt Stormy hoof on her mouth stopping her.
Stormy kindly came closer to her and looked at her cyan eyes, as if he wanted to her to stop, his deep blue eyes reflected on the ones of the princess, but also reflected a kind soul within the pony she ignored for several years, just looking at his eyes made the princess felt guilty about ignoring his nightmares, but strangely she felt ok being around him as a normal pony, not just as the Princess of the Night.
“I guess that’s enough Luna, whatever my ancestors were 1000 years ago I want to discover it within the natural flow of time, I do not need you to tell me all about it, at least not now my dear, “ Stormy said with high respect over the princess, but also showing kindness in his voice.
It was no secret for most guards that Stormy had a crush on the princess, but sadly for him, Luna didn’t noticed until the recent events, having that same colt so close to her, made her mind a shattered puzzle, she was not clear in her feelings, if she loved him or felt pity for him, or perhaps could be that even in hell, a bond could be created, there could be the chance that she is starting to like him, surprisingly Stormy stole a kiss from Luna, a quick one on her lips, frozen, the princess blush as she felt how Stormy tongue wrapped around hers, feeling not only that Stormy was an excellent kisser but also high traces of love magic, she immediately felt jealous of Redhoof since she was the one that probably taught Stormy how to kiss and Celestia damn it she did it good.
Both ponies cut the kiss short, blushing hard, Stormy although he was red as Big Mac, apologized, something an embarrassed Luna simply nodded in agreement. Stormy walked upstairs and finished the Fire Ruby puzzle, when the ruby was complete, a key was inside, along with a drawing of Mistshine with Fluttershy, behind him, was a grey mechanical Alicorn as priest, that grey Alicorn however, looked mechanical.
“Heh, you always admired Fluttershy right bro?, ever since I told you about her before that day you were always eager to try to meet her, don’t worry, once you wake up, I will take you to meet her“ Stormy said while looking at the drawing, without noticing that the Princess saw and heard what he said.
Those last worlds made him tear a little, he came down storing the key and drawing on his saddlebags, lost in thought Stormy opened the door and headed outside, Luna on the other hoof, cleared her mind and followed the colt again into town.
Things where different now, there was no darkness, just the classic fog and semi-clear visibility, the lanterns where not necessary now, however there where several things that changed within the passing siren, the floor was normal again and full of life, the buildings look normal even if they are almost falling in one of the many bottomless holes, and the bad weather seems to finally have calmed down, the issue was that the creatures were now more aware of their surroundings, to make matters worse, it seems that the hole town was broke apart, leaving only one single road, leading towards Fluttershy Cottage.
Both ponies followed the path, but noticed something strange, the creatures were not attacking, in fact, they where watching them from afar, from the other side of the hole, making both ponies feel a little uneasy, even the flying monsters where not attacking, almost as if they were just watching somepony go further in towards an inescapable fate.
It didn’t took long for them to reach the shy pegasus home, the little birds houses where neat and tidy, but some of them had cracks, the little river she had under her bridge had another nest empty, which bring a little relief to Stormy, since the last thing he needs are monster animals, he took the key and opened the door.
Inside the house, everything looks like it was always was, the bag of animal food on the floor, the mice holes, bird nest, kitchen clean, ETC, what are they searching here?, what possible clue was Mistshine trying to tell them this time?, the Princess however, was the one to recall something this time around.
“Last time I was here in nightmare night, the kind Fluttershy helped me to talk softer, leave me the search to me, you stay on this floor, “ The princess asked, as if she wanted to do the searching this time.
“Ok princess, I will check the first floor “ Stormy accepted the order.
Luna needed some time alone, so she went upstairs, where Fluttershy room was, in there a crib was found with the name ”Angel Bunny” written on it, bloodstained. She wanted to do something to help and besides, she knew already the house, so is a plus, on the mirror, she found an Iron Will flyer but her eyes kept reverting back to the mirror.
“M-maybe one look wouldn’t hurt,” Luna said, making sure she didn’t got followed by anypony.
The princess saw her reflection, now normal, it brought some relief for her, since it was hard was for her letting the past go, the weigh of her sins, the ponies she injured during her attack, ignoring the colt that keep her conscious during her exile, along with her sister love, the guilt was not going away, even after what she found out regarding Redhoof, her feelings were mixing between guilt and jealously, she felt like such a fool, that even a normal commoner pony such as her was able to pay more attention to the same colt that helped her, than her, even with all her power over dreams.
Luna raised her hoof and hit the mirror, breaking it, she emitted a angry scream, as if she was getting problems into beating her own pride, as the mirror broke, she saw a secret passage that leads to somewhere unknown she entered the passageway that forced her to use her lantern, Stormy noticed the sound and went upstairs to check until he felt his hoof passing through a hole.
“Oh what in the?“ he said taking his hoof out of the hole.
Another crack was heard, as if the wooden floor was weak, he jumped out to remove his hoof, but this decision actually ended up making the hole bigger, falling into it, as he screamed, he felt as the fall was for eternity, and the darkness surrounded him, when he finally hit ground, he felt a huge pain coming from his back hoofs, as if he dislocated them, he found he had landed on top of several little creatures with horrible wounds, dead, some of them torn apart and with teeth claws, he could not see anything, neither move but when the static on the radio start to broadcast, it was his cue to use his LED Lantern to illuminate the room.
A chewing sound was heard coming from behind him, he found out a shadow, with the shape of a big dog eating that it seems a white rabbit, until Stormy shinned the light to it, the monster let the corpse of the rabbit fall on the ground and started to walk towards the immobile colt, he could not run or get up, the best he was able to do, was to shoot it with his magic blast, fortunately for him this creature is a full out shadow creature with no protection in it, light base magic will hurt him badly, so he started shooting at it, the blast where going towards their target without problems, hitting the “dog”, that didn’t seems to flinch in the minimum, until he manage to hit his forehead, that sent him behind a few steps, leaving a trace of blood, as it stepped on the poor creatures corpses.
Unlike the princess, he has limited magic, he was building up every last drop of magic and moondust magic to the shots to make them hit hard, however the creature was now dodging the shots, preventing a clear shot, Stormy was focused and put the last of his magic on one shoot, awaiting for the creature to open its jaws to shoot straight inside, the creature flinched in pain, Stormy tried to get up but the little arms and legs of the animals corpses had attached to his dislocated back hooves, he couldn’t free himself without help, then he noticed some thread from the creature nails towards corpses.
“Of for Celestia’s sake, he can control the corpses to do minimal task!” Stormy said annoyed he cannot move.
On Stormy body, more and more woodland creatures covered him, trying to sink them in until that is, when the princess intervened, with a magic blast she cleared the dead animas out of the colt body, leaving solid ground on their hooves and a lot of ashes in the air.
“Shouldn’t you being the one saving me and not the other way around? “ Luna said, appearing on the wall from the passageway she took on Fluttershy room.
“I guess, hey look out! “ Stormy yelled to the princess.
The creature was going to attack her with its claws, but Stormy prevented it, by pulling Luna out of the way from her tail, this made Luna had a magic blast escape from her horn and hit the creature in one of its eyes, giving the colt an idea, one that Pinkie taught him a few months back, she smiled with happiness and some mix of irony.
“Princess, do you recall the changeling invasion?” Stormy asked the princess with still the same smile.
“I do, why?” the princess replied confused.
“I do not know if this is something Pinkie Pie always do, or just work with her, but she told me she used Twilight to dispatch a group of changelings by pulling her tail” Stormy said with a little smirk, almost containing a laugh”
“Please tell me you are joking” Luna said with a nervous smile, almost already guessing what his partner was trying to suggest.
Using his pipe as a makeshift support for his hooves, he got up, and with his front hooves, he picked up the princess, with his right hoof on her tail and the left one on her chest area, where her chest plate is, the princess replied with surprise in her voice, for the sudden action of her companion, not to mention the silly it looks and the extreme possibility of this failing.
“What in the name of the moon are you doing?! “ she questioned with a evident blush on her face.
“Do you trust me Luna?” Stormy asked with determination in his voice.
She thought for a moment and nooded in response, although Stormy cannot replicate the exact stunt Pinkie pulled out, he explained to the princess what to do, each time he pulled her tail down, she shoot a magic blast, Luna then felt how Stormy pulled tail up and down quickly as if she was a cord machine gun, this action made Luna felt a little uneasy, but it seems to work, as the speed of her magic blast seems to increase rapidly since she is focusing on little things such as the feeling on his hoof pulling her tail, or how he was helping her aim. The creature received several blast until it formed a corpse wall.
“It is shielding itself?” Luna said as she could hear chewing sounds “And healing, gross,“
“Very smart for a shadow, any ideas? “ he stopped shooting
“hmmm, I got one, I will use a thunder spell, just don’t pull my tail so much this time,” Luna said having an idea and charging her horn.
The creature burst the corpse wall, running towards the two ponies, Stormy “fired” away and Luna let out a powerful lighting bolt that used the fresh blood from the victims as conductor, shocking the creature and paralyzing it, Luna changed her spells to light based magic and shoot away without Stormy help this time, the creature roared in pain as the magical blast pierced easily the cooked flesh.
With a heavy slam on the floor, the creature has finally died from the holes in its form, black blood were coming out, the LED light was consumed by the emptiness of the blood that started to rain from the ceiling, swallowing both ponies up, then, everything grew quiet.
A few moments passed, until the LED Light shinned the room where they were, it was a normal basement, was the creature they fought an illusion?, Luna felt warm when she opened up her eyes, Stormy had hugged her, shielding her, probably thinking something will happened to them when they were swallowed by the darkness, however nothing happened, both ponies broke the hug and Stormy with a evident blush, apologized to the princess, she helped the colt get up, and both searched the basement, the basement was like a fortune vault, since they found everything could help them recover, 3 green apples for each, a few bandages, 2 cupcakes and on a shelf, there was a page from the Harmony book.
This time it was the Sonata of Griffons, a song filled with both, pride and kindness that grants the user the superior sight of the Griffons, allowing them so see, things that can not been seen to the naked eye, it was something similar to the Unicorn’s Path, however, it has a secondary effect, it also awakens somepony from a long sleep, and heals insomnia and other sleep related issues, Stormy restored the page to the book, happy to see the book was now near completion, since only 3 pages are left.
Without losing much time, Stormy ate one of the cupcakes and 2 green apples to recover himself, while applying one of the bandages, for the first time, changing the old ones to the new ones, the previous wounds haven’t healed up well, due to this precise reason, Luna laughed at this for the lack of experience of her companion in healing wounds, Luna stored the green apples and the bandages, but ate the cupcake to recover from the recent action, the princess used a quick healing spell on Stormy, it was incredible the amount of magic she has right now, compared to Stormy that he quickly lose it.
“Luna, is it possible that I could have more magic limit?“ he asked the princess, resting a little.
“There is, but you must train harder with Shining Armor, my sister and I had a special training in magic for the knights of the past,” Luna replied, recalling something she has not done in a while.
A special training huh?, if he gets out of this nightmare, he will considered training with Twilight brother on the Crystal Empire, the last time he trained with him, he couldn’t keep up with his pace and ended up quitting, also, his wedding with Cadance made it even more harder to find time to train with him.
Once the princess finished, his wounds where almost closed, so he ended up patching them with the bandages, his back hooves no longer made him flinch in pain, so he could finally stand up, both ponies exit the basement using the passage that Luna discovered, but they reach a dead end, Fluttershy bed was moved, blocking the entrance, they returned to the storage, finding another door that leads outside, more specifically, to a little shed next to her garden, inside they found gardening tools, all sorts of animals food, even cloth for curtains and huge log with a hoofmade chainsaw stuck in it, hesitating, Stormy took it and stored it on his saddlebags, Luna has Noirstar sword, and he only had his iron pipe and magic bullets, so this “upgrade“ will come in handy, they exited the shed and found themselves on Fluttershy garden, next to the chicken coop, there was a little dirt road, towards the Everfree Forest, Stormy and Luna got themselves ready and approached the most dangerous forest in Equestria.
“According to the drawings of my brother, he will be on the castle,“ Stormy said, looking at all the drawings found so far.
“Why our old home?, it´s filled with all sorts of traps, not to mention ancient relics that should remain forgotten by time,“ Luna replied
“With more reason, I have to find him now, Princess, think about it, we have searched all over Equestria for him, and now we were guided here, if what im thinking is true, Everfree Castle is the last step ahead to finally put an end to this and get out of this hell“ Stormy entered the forest first, running ahead.
The princess followed him, and once inside they felt as if a strange energy was trying to keep them out, they followed one of the paths seems to take them deeper on the forest, however, they ended up back to the beginning and with the new entrance they found out monsters, waiting for them, both ponies felt the air growing heavy, and for a moment, the placed lost its natural colors, leaving everything in grey, they have not realized the vines and thorns have covered the actual entrance of the forest, making turning back impossible.
Luna was going to face the monsters but Stormy went ahead, looking out of himself, as if a bit of sanity had died, he turned on the chainsaw and rushed to the creatures on the road, chopping the head of one of the restrain figures, smiling, he searched for his new target, a Ceiling filly monster, he bucked the monster and made it hit a tree, then the creature felt on the ground, he raised the chainsaw again, looking at the creature with a bloodlust, but before hitting it on the floor, another flashback happened, he still had the chainsaw on his hooves.
He saw himself as the monster he was about to chop to bits, faceless, just waiting to drop down the weapon on the creature bloodstained coat, he quickly saw his hooves, they had no skin whatsoever, when Stormy realized what was happening, the creature in front of him was none other that his injured brother, he was about to kill him, that made him react, wishing to stop, to recover the control on his body, but his hoofs where not responding to his commands, neither he seems to articulate any word, he screamed from the top of his lungs to stop, but his voice was hear, just like in his previous nightmares, the ones Luna forgot and Celestia saw, however, this time, the princess was looking at them in first row seats.
As he swing the chainsaw downwards at full speed, “Mistshine“ screamed, the noise of the chainsaw ripping his flesh and cutting his bones made Stormy have another shower of that precious liquid, from the outside no expression was visible except perhaps a sinister smile, on the inside however the stallion was screaming crying his brother name, trying to at least recover enough control to commit suicide for what he just did, until, an order came from behind him with very strong tone of voice.
“ENOUGH!“
It was a levitation spell mixed with Luna’s very own dream control ability, this was enough to make Stormy lose the grip of the weapon and get out of the flashback he was in, Luna was holding him in the air and his gaze quickly turned to the “Mistshine“ he chopped apart, only to find out, it was a tree with pony shape, the chainsaw was stuck on the wood just in the middle of the chest area of the log, Luna had a worried expression on her face, because thanks to her dream ability, she saw that scene, just as how her companion was seeing it, and felt every second of his fear.
“That’s one of your usual nightmares?” Luna said with heaviness in her heart.
“Y-yes, but it felt so real, what if I was really the one that,” Stormy said before receiving a hoof punch to the face.
"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE TO THINK THAT!, That is but a mere nightmare. That guilt you feel… You weren't responsible for the fate of your brother." the princess screamed at the top of her lungs, with an unusual anger on her voice.
The Princess was right, Stormy loved his brother and he swore to protect him from everything, taking that into account it was easy to assume the forest likes to mess with the ponies in it, specially mentally, not to mention the limbo they are in right now just increase the forest influence, using the unicorn path could prove useful to find the right path, Stormy, rubbing his head from the stroke Luna gave him, quickly used the ancient song.
The little floating sparks appeared in one of the multiple paths, indicating the true way, both ponies ran towards it, hopping not to get any other surprises, it was a long way and the trees where looking eerier and creepier each steps they took, after a while, they reached a pair of stone columns, and then the road split into 4 separate paths, the short one was very clear and had a couple of mask laying on the floor, the other one had thicker branches, the third one had a little road, separated by a river and the last one gave Stormy and Luna a terrible feeling, it was a tall grass path, like if they should avoid that path at all cost.
Stormy asked the princess if he could chose the first path, she nodded in agreement, and the stallion chose the short path, the one with the mask on the floor, it was not before long they found out a tree house with a lot of scary mask on the base, but also some poison joke along the way, with caution not to step on them, they reached the hut and opened the door.
They found a caldron, with remnants of a little green dust, Luna picked up the dust and blew on it, the form of a Greenish Nightmare Moon appeared and jumped towards Stormy, trying to eat him whole, Stormy used the chainsaw to defend, but found out that the creature had banished as soon as it touched the blade on the saw, the Princess was still on the caldron and all the mask, herbs and potions made it impossible not to noticed in who house they where.
“This is Zecora´s Hut, the green dust she used it on Nightmare Night “ Stormy replied with surprise.
“Twilight Sparkle mentioned her in one of the letters she sent to my sister, a Zebra with vast knowledge of the Forest and healing herbs right? “ Luna clarified, since she met her during Nightmare Night, not precisely with the right foot on the start.
“Correct, but why is Zecora hut well empty? “ he said as he noticed there was the bed neat but nopony around.
They searched in the entire place, but no trace of the zebra, however, there was a little chest sealed with a padlock, the key however was nowhere in sight, Luna tried the unlocking spell her sister used on the elements of harmony door, using her tiara, however, nothing happened, the only answer, lies in the caldron, there where several herbs that combined with the green dust, could make a unlocking spell, The princess searched in all the books about potions in the residence, however, they found the cure for Poison Joke instead, an idea came to the princess mind, if Stormy used the poison joke, some effect might happen randomly, including turning into a key, this was going to be a fun payback for the machine blast thing.
Stormy went outside and with his magic picked up a few poison joke, while Luna made the antidote for it using the Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-Alls That Are Simply Super Book Zecora had, once Stormy returned with the poison joke, the potion joke cure was already made, he touched one of the flowers he took, but the effects takes 8 hours to work, Stormy had an idea.
“Luna, play the song of time and speed up the effects,“ Stormy suggested taking out the book of harmony.
“Good idea, give the ocarina to me, Luna asked and extended her hoof to get the music instrument
Stormy gave her the ocarina and she played the song of time, with double notes, making the time move forward, Luna saw as the effects of the poison joke started to affect the stallion, making him shrink considerably, until he was the size of a coin. Luna stopped the effect of the song and picked up the tiny Stormy from the floor with levitation.
“Ok, this is awkward,“ Said Stormy in a high pitch voice, looking at the now Giant princess.
"Really? Because from what I know, this isn't the first time you've done this?" Giving her a playful smirk, the princess teased the miniature stallion a little more. "Tell me, getting some ideas about this spell?"
"Gaahh!, get out of my head," Stormy blushed extremely, he knew Luna was right.
Luna was a prankster ever since nightmare night, so she pulled a quick prank on her companion by licking him, Stormy was blushed to no end, but when he opened his eyes, he was already on the padlock, that was quick, he thought.
As he tried, using his steel pipe to unlock the chest, taking advantage of his size, he was able to see the gears with the LED flashlight, he used his magic to make the gears turn, until a click was heard, he then got picked up by the princess and she applied the Poison Joke cure to him, again, using his ocarina and the song of time to speed up the process, once Stormy was normal size, he discarded the remaining Poison joke and opened the chest, inside, there was a black amulet with red adornments and it looked like a angry Alicorn.
It was the Alicorn Amulet, a amulet that gives the user, magic powers beyond the limit, almost rival to the princesses level, however, the cost to use it was too high, the user slowly but surely, gets corrupted.
“This thing, why it was here? “ I somehow have a bad feeling about this.
It would be crazy just to leave that powerful item laying around for any unicorn monster to grab it and use it, since it amplifies magic, so he stored it on his saddlebags, the temptation of wearing it was high, as both ponies exited the hut, and returned to the divided path, the princess chose this time the path with the thicker branches, after a long walk, with a few restrained figures and glass mares threw in for good measure, they found out a hole, as they descended on it, they found a little pond, with water so clear it acted as a mirror.
There was a rock in the middle of the pound, that had the shape of a hoof, holding what it seems to be a ornamental round object with Lunar cravings on it, Luna recognized it almost instantly, since it was used 1000 years ago, as for Stormy, since Pinkie always tell him stories, he recognized the place they were in, they are in the Mirror Pond Cave
“See that Stormy?, is a magic jewel called Moon’s Tear, it was given that name due to blue colors that mimic the tears of a pony, but also if you look at it deeply, you will see the designs of the moon, it was used in the chest plate of the captains of the night guards of Everfree, as a price and as a magic enhancer,“ The princess explained while looking at the object.
“So basically it acted as a regulator, keeping their magic stable and at the same time, increasing its strength, “ Stormy replied, interested on the object.
“Correct, if you keep it, you will not lose that huge amount of magic while performing moondust based magic or use the magic songs, it would help you keep your magic in check.“ The princess smiled as she explained the songs effects.
Stormy could use that jewel in this moment, since he always ran out of magic at the worse of moments, so he picked it up with a levitation spell, since he cannot risk swimming in the mirror pond water and have one of his clones attack him. The jewel was carried away by the white aura of the colt magic, until it was within his hoof grasp, as he touch it, he could feel more limit in his magic, relieved he stored it on his saddlebags for later use.
Seeing that, there was nothing else besides the pond, they decided to go back up, and try the river path, a soft splash was heard behind Stormy and on the pool side he found out something a little red tiara with a blue plastic flower on one end it was wet and it seems it belonged to somepony, Luna noticed the colt actions as it picked up feeling a shiver going down her spine, the place was now losing his colors.
“T-this tiara,“ Stormy seems frozen as he was terrified by something
“What is it?“ Luna questioned, coming closer to Stormy.
“It belongs to my actual big sister, it belongs to Sunnybreeze,“ Stormy said very sadden.
The place changed again, to a black and white scenario, however, from the pond several hoofs grabbed Stormy, Luna quickly tried to pull him up from the tail, but the strength of the hooves were strongerm, pulling them both towards the water.
Once they came to the surface, they were no longer on the Mirror Pond, they where at a bay in Manehatten, Stormy and Luna swam towards the shore were they saw as a younger version of himself was being held away by the Manehatten police, as they took out a body from the water.
“NO!, let me go!!, she is my sister!, I know she is alive! get the hell off me!!“ Young Stormy screamed pissed.
“Are you out of your mind?, is too deep!” a captain of the police said, holding the unicorn.
“Captain!, we got her but she have no pulse, she is gone captain whatever that anonymous tipper was, he let us know too late to give us the location, and there is something worse,“ said the dive pony as he identified the body pulling the corpse out of the body bag.
“What can be worse that a dead pony? “ the captain was not liking where this is going
“The cause of death it was not drowning, I’m tracing several indicators of toxins use, the body corresponds to Officer Brave sir, we even found her badge, “ The dive pony concluded.
“ WHAT?!?! “ Young Stormy screamed, as his fear made a magic surge that made the captain release him
As the dive ponies and paramedics put down the body the image that came next, burned forever into Stormy´s mind, her big sister was dead, he was crying over her corpse the body had multiple cuts with a some sort of special but short blade, also, her eyes where blank, not even her iris where visible anymore her throat had a mark of a needle, followed by one of a hoof, indicating that the cuts where not the primary cause of death, she was poisoned and then suffocated by somepony, the police had to take Stormy out by force, since he didn’t let go her sister body.
The Adult Stormy however was crying at the scene, even the princess as she understood her guard a little more, the more flashbacks of Stormy she saw, the more pain she felt on her heart for ignoring him, but that seems to increase the desire to be by his side this time, once Stormy opened up his eyes again he was now on the mirror pond, with the tiara in his hooves along with the princes, he placed the tiara on the saddlebags, both ponies returned to the multiple path option.
Stormy was silent ever since he picked up her sister tiara, Luna was more lost in thought than anything, why she could see Stormy´s flashbacks?, was due to her actual skill as a the princess of the night, that she could see other ponies dreams?, what that skill rearranged to see specific moments of other ponies past in the middle of this hell without her knowledge?, when they got to the bridge and pass it, they found a couple of stairs that lead towards the deeps of a cliff, and a wood bridge leading towards their destiny…a shadow of a castle was visible behind the thick fog, a castle that despite being full of history and rich knowledge, it was forgotten in an age long gone.
“We are here Luna “ Stormy said with an air of relief, it was the end of the road.
“Yes, home at last,“ Luna replied, remembering the time she used to live and rule there.
The fog cleared up a little, allowing them to see the building they were searching for, the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, once upon a time, the elements of Harmony were found there and the old castle itself, is where Celestia and Luna used to rule over Equestria the place they used to call home, before Luna change into Nightmare Moon, as they opened the door, a bright light came from inside blinding them, making it impossible to see what’s ahead, both ponies entered the ancient ruins covering their eyes, as unknown to them, the doors shut behind them and the wooden bridge felt down, cutting down any way to return to Ponyville.
Chapter 12 - The Castle made of Memories (Nowhere) -
The light that attacked the ponies eyes started to fade, on their hooves they could feel the soft carpet of the entrance and a faint scent of royalty and mysticism, once they could finally see in front of them a quick gasp from the Princess made Stormy turn his head to the place he was. From the outside, it looked ruined and destroyed, attacked without mercy by the flow of time, but from the inside.
“The castle, It looks just like it was when it was 1000 years ago, feels like it was yesterday that I left,“ said Luna, shocked about the state of her old home.
She was right, the bring walls, the curtains, tapestries and decorations, even the element of harmony pedestal, everything was intact and clean, when it was supposed to be greenish and with leaves, and the curtains were supposed to have holes or being torn, however they were intact, almost as if they were recently installed.
They were concerned but also confused, Stormy tried to open the door out of curiosity, since the double wooden door of the entrance was the only thing old in the room, just to find out via a hole in the door that the bridge had collapsed and the earth had shattered, leaving them stuck inside, plus the door didn’t move a inch when he pushed it, Stormy however noticed something that made him step away from the door.
“Princess, seems I was right, this is the last adventure,” Stormy said making sure he turned the volume of the radio to max.
“What makes you say that guard?” Luna questioned, walking towards the door.
“See for yourself Princess,” Stormy finished.
The princess saw how the monsters they have killed so many times were surrounding the castle, not only those, but also the Boss Monsters, almost as if they were an audience for something, Luna felt uneasy but quickly stepped away from the door when she saw the Glass Mares banging on the door, followed by Ceiling Fillies, it was clear, they were not going anywhere, so without any other exit, they must search the castle top to bottom, Mistshine is definitely there, at least that is what Stormy was thinking when he put a hoof into the castle.
From the main lobby, 4 different hallways welcome our ponies, 2 of them with stairs leading towards the second floor of the castle…, and in the middle of all, a big staircase leading to what it seems, another section of the second floor, both ponies decided it was better to start the search in the throne room, but just as soon as they passed the Elements of Harmony pedestal, the Posey doll jumped from came from out of the saddlebags and ran towards the second hallway to the right, the one with the stairs, Stormy and Luna followed the doll, while Posey only seems to giggle and fly gently now, they ended up in another hallway with 3 different paths, one had a picture of the Prime Minister of that era, the other one seems to connect to the Library, and one lead towards some rooms, seems they were the soldier rooms of that era.
“Why in the name of all apple sauce is that doll moving?“ Stormy said when noticed the doll stopped moving and fell on one of the doors.
“Maybe your brother is indeed here, look there,“ Luna said, pointing out a note on said door.
On the door there was a drawing of an old piece of armor, attacking a drawing of Stormy and Luna, while the iron pony was behind them, Stormy stored the drawing and opened the door, just to find it was a replica of the room he used to had in what it seems to be an old castle, before he moved towards his apartment that is, there was a Super Ponytendo, but most importantly, his Lunar Guard Insignia, that allowed him access to all areas of the castle, with exception of Princess Celestia and Luna bedroom however the insignia itself was very old and outdated.
“That’s a insignia used by the night guards of 1000 years ago,“ Luna saw the item and informed the stallion.
If that is true then he must have gotten that insignia before he even got to Canterlot that is when he remembered, that room he was in was not from Canterlot Castle, it was from The Everfree Forest one when he and the princess looked to the door, they saw a unicorn with torn clothes entering the room, leaving a bag he had on his back, from the bag he took out a blanket and lay himself on the bed that despite being 1000 years old still managed to withstand his weight, his mask was torn from one side, allowing both of them to see the face of that colt, it was Young Stormy ghost, his face had a little blood on it.
“I will sleep here tonight, Luna forgive me if I take your old castle,“ the ghost said, as he looked at the sky.
“T-that’s me when I was forced to flee from Manehatten,“ Stormy replied confused but holding his head.
Luna stood there thinking while the stallion seems to grunt in pain, if Stormy was living in the castle in his younger days, how come that neither her as Nightmare Moon or Twilight and friends see him? He could either be out or hidding?, or he was already living in Canterlot by the time?, when they exited the room, they noticed the doll was gone and the radio bursting into static.
A loud bang came from several parts of the castle, the monsters were coming for them and had entered the ancient palace, from the path to the library, Restrain Figures appeared, as soon as they noticed the ponies, they start spiting acid towards both the princess and the colt, Stormy made a moondust shield while Luna shot a magical bullet towards the monsters, making them fall to the ground, Stormy used his moondust magic effectively and pulled up one of the monsters towards him for a powerful blow with his pipe, once the monsters were not moving, the princess asked her companion something, to test if his fragmented memory was finally pulling itself together, she had to know.
“Stormy, the book of harmony was originally hidden here in the library,“ Luna mentioned as both ponies where getting closer to said place.
“… I know. “ Stormy said, with a mysterious look in his face, his expression seems to reflect somepony deep in a hypnotic trance, before he spoke again just a few words. “I was the one that found it while I was exploring the castle.”
Luna was puzzled, what is happening to him?, all the way to the library he grew suddenly silent, only talking when there was something important in the area, as if the happiness had died on him in one full swing, once on the library, they could hear the sound of wings flapping, along with a faint sound of static, Stormy and Luna tried the main door, leading towards the garden area, but the door was broken, both ponies reviewed the ancient library, finding there was another door on the second floor of the library, Luna jumped and glided there and tried to opened it, but it was closed with a key, Stormy sat on a single chair, activating a secret passageway that lead towards a single room, in it, there were 2 cushions and a chair very big for a royal pony, there was a book in the middle of a pedestal, Luna went down and saw that book remembering a piece of her own past
“This book, It was my sister and my journal, it tells the making of this castle “ Luna said with a nostalgic expression.
“Tia Tia, let me write,“ a young Alicorn voice was heard.
“In a minute Luna, I’m writing first,“ a more grown up yet pink mane mare voice was heard
Stormy and Luna saw a ghost of now Luna’s own past, as Celestia was writing on the journal something, the ink in the desk was half empty, indicating she not only was writing, but also drawing something, like some sort of map, Luna was now the one suffering the memory flashback, while Stormy was the spectator.
“Although the hall of hooves is still creepy, the slide door trap is Luna’s favorite,“ Celestia said, giggling along with the young princess.
“ Yes it is!, come on is my turm, soon the Organ to the Outside will be finished, I can hardly wait “ The young princess wrote, as she also drawn the organ blueprints.
All the ghost disappeared, Luna was now fully aware of the meaning of both her and Stormy´s ghost, they are pieces of their own past, the castle itself was recreating the memories from their inhabitants, probably influenced by the limbo-like place they are in right now, the journal was there waiting for somepony to read it, Luna with a little nostalgia, opened it up, scrolling through the pages.
“Is still the same, just as we left it “ she said with teary eyes.
“But there seems to be a new page princess,“ Stormy quickly pointed and corrected the princess.
There was indeed an extra page on the book, it was a huge map of the royal castle, containing all the areas accessible, but mysteriously, there was something else, Mistshine cutie mark on one of the towers, more precisely, the one with lunar designs, Luna old bedroom, with a now clear picture of where to go, both ponies decided to go to the Royal Bedrooms.
Stormy noticed that there was a magical door in the secret room, when he touched though it faded, it was another one of the Castle Traps, a plant that spit gas appeared, throwing its gas cloud to the colt, Stormy fainted due to the effects of the gas, Luna cut the plant out with her sword, everything for Stormy at least, went dark for a while.
When he came back to his senses, he was alone again the castle lost the colors and to make matters worse his saddlebags were gone, he was unarmed, his magic didn’t work either, he was as vulnerable as a filly.
He was still on the secret room, when he finally could stand up a little ghost was next to him, making Stormy jump, in appearance, it was just like him but with white raincoat, as soon as he noticed that the stallion had woken up, it ran outside.
Stormy followed the ghost, reaching to a more secluded part of the Library, he then noticed something, all the hallways and doors leading out of the Library where barricaded, it was not possible to exit the library, he ended up in a staircase to the second part of the room, the ghost when through a bookcase, Stormy examined said bookcase, but he found that several books are missing, if he wanted to find what that ghost wanted to show him, he had to resolve the puzzle.
He searched the second floor of the library, finding several copies of some books he remembered having read at least one, there was a copy of The Adventures of Spider-Colt, which seems out of place in that castle, a copy of Practical Guide for Magic Control, a Copy of Moonlight Magic Vol 2, Elementary Discharge for Novices and lastly a book only titled The Mask of Pony, he took the books and returned to the bookcase, he noticed that in the Bookcase was a book that couldn’t be removed, Moonlight Magic Vol 1, this hinted the possibility of placing the books previously found in a specific order, he Placed the Vol 2 of the Moonlight Book next to the Vol 1, then the Practical Guide For Magic control in the third place, The Mask of Pony as forth, Elementary Discharge as fifth, and the Adventures of Spider Colt as last, a click was heard from the bookcase.
“For once I’m happy I paid attention this time, I usually fall asleep during magic classes at school.”
Stormy saw how the case split in half, opening towards the sides, revealing another secret room, that had only one pedestal in the middle and 2 windows with stained glasses on them, however the pedestal was the shape of a book, a huge book with ornaments.
As Stormy approached said pedestal he noticed that the first stained glass reflected several winds instruments, pipes, flutes, ocarinas, instruments that a group of special ponies used to perform in front of the princess, the second one showed a flute, turning into a little harp, Stormy noticed both instruments are on a cycle, with the figure of a Alicorn behind him and what it seems, 2 ponies facing a shadowy figure that was held by chains, he remembered something important regarding the room he was in.
According to the cover of the Book of Harmony Songs, there was a special song that used only a harp, maybe he can find that special song if he manage to recover his ocarina and turn it into a harp, he searched the room further as a memory was coming to his mind, one that made his head hurt badly.
“Hold on… this room… those windows… the pedestal…. “ Stormy roze as he said to himself with a terrible headache. “This is where I found the Book of Harmony in the first place… I remember now… this place… “
Just before he could end that sentence, he felt something falling on him; it was one of the monsters, the Plastic Mare, the one resembling Redhoof, why she was on there?, the creature was visible wounded as if she has gone through a lot to get to him, not only that but it seems she is suffering the same dementia as the other monsters in Ponyville, it was no longer the kind monster that tried to help him, she was going to choke him with her own hooves.
“R-Redhoof!, get off!, don’t do this!” Stormy yelled, trying to find strength to push the monster away.
“C…..an’t….sto….p….” That’s all Plastic Mare could say before her words were replaced by grunts.
As Stormy struggled, he could feel the creature becoming more and more aggressive, but her body movement was still of the mare he loved, he used this before losing air and kicked the creature against a wall, making her fall to the ground, the strength made several books and a bookcase to fall on it, including a closed scroll with a solar cutie mark, when he exited the secret room, he noticed that the pink ribbon he picked up from the university in Manehatten was on the floor, he picked up quickly with his hoof, the creature was still behind him, but almost dead, her back hooves in fact where no longer responding and she was bleeding, leaving a blood trace as it moved towards the stallion.
“R…..u…n…f..rom…me…” Plastic Mare begged, in a mix of grunts and monster noises.
Stormy turned back and faced the monster, her primal instincts kicked in and tried to bite him when he was near her, but Stormy felt terrible in his heart, Plastic Mare was indeed a link between Redhoof and the nightmare he is living in now. He approached even more to the monster, no longer afraid her, this allowed the monster to bite him on his hoof, were he was holding the ribbon.
“Aaahh!, I-I will not let you go this time,” Stormy said with determination on his voice.
“GROOOOOOOOOWL!!!!!” Plastic mare yelled, almost fully gone into the same madness that has consumed the other creatures.
“Redhoof!, Wake up your sexy flank this instant young mare!, you are not like this! You can bite all you want, or eat me alive for that matter!, that won’t make me change my mind!” Stormy yelled, holding her tightly and talking just like when she was alive.
The taste of the ribbon, mixed with his blood made her stop completely as if she remembered something, she looked at the stallion deeply despite her being blinded by the bandage, bandage that Stormy removed with careful touches of his free hoof, noticing that the monster no longer had her looks as she had on the university, at least not 100% in fact, she didn’t had her cyan eyes, they were pitch black now, just a tiny little dot of cyan could be noticed in one eye, while the other was in complete darkness, her tears were like a mixture of water and blood and her expression, although more rigid by the plastic of her face showed a total remorse, as if she was going to burst into tears from the pain she is enduring now, the edges of her eyes had several black cracks.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I was not strong to protect you back on Manehatten!,“ he said to the monster, hugging her tightly.
“……………………..he…h” the monster didn’t reply, it was frozen, but she managed to smile for a second.
Since the monster was a homunculus of Redhoof, she couldn’t move or attack as long as Stormy held the pink ribbon, but seeing he is hugging her despite she was biting him constantly, made her finally break down and cry, her voice was noticeable in that aspect, as the colt left the room, Plastic Mare hugged him back and with the last of her strength pulled him towards her, kissing him deeply, in a mixture of blood and saliva, her tongue felt as soft as silk, her technique quickly wrapped her tongue with Stormy’s own in a twist that only lovers could share, she was able to communicate to him how she felt this way, her hooves slid slowly on Stormy’s body, keeping her weight sustained on his neck and torso, deep inside that decaying body, she was still his mare.
Plastic Mare cannot move from where she is from her injuries, so Stormy inspected the remaining of the library to try to find something that could hold her stable, he was planning on carrying her with him, a soft giggle could be heard from the secret room, Stormy returned to the first room and tried to access the room where the Royal Sisters Journal was, just as he entered the room he felt a shiver down his spine.
“STORMYYYYYYY!!!!” A high pitched scream pierced towards his ears, a monster scream.
Down his spine he knew something happened, the scream however, was familiar to his ears, even distorted, it came from the second room secret room where the Plastic Mare was, Stormy worried and ran towards said room, he couldn’t explain it, but he had a lingering hope that he could save what’s left of her soul, when he got to the room again, he got splattered with warm crimson blood, he was late because he just witnessed how the Skeletal Mare was attacking and ending the Plastic Mare life not with the sword, but with her scythe.
“Not again, no no no!, REDHOOF NOOO!” Stormy yelled and jumped into the creature featherless wings, crying.
Plastic Mare tried to extend her hoof towards Stormy as he was trying to fend off the creature, but to no avail, Stormy screamed and screamed hard from the top of his lungs, lost in that memory limbo for a simple reason, that single hoof motion, was the same when Redhoof died originally, she was extending her hoof towards Young Stormy at that time, as a last plea for help, but also to advise him to hide, a last effort to protect him, to repay him for his kindness in his fillyhood, even at the cost of being burned alive and stabbed, and all Stormy could do was hold his head with his hoofs, cry and scream, his mind was getting tortured to the point where he just reacted in blind rage.
The Skeletal mare, having finished with her victim, saw how Stormy grip was lost and shake him off, Stormy landed next to Plastic Mare corpse while the creature lifted her Scythe towards the broken colt, Stormy closed his eyes and hugged Plastic Mare corpse, a quick image flashed before his eyes, of him in the same position holding Redhoof burned body, the strike came in as fast as the Skeletal Mare could perform it, the blade entered Stormy chest, making him scream and fall from the second floor, a crack was heard and everything faded to black.
A few moments passed, he felt like it was an eternity, and a soft voice was calling him over and over again to wake up, he opened his eyes, just to find himself again on his old room, where he rested on the Everfree Forest, with Luna to her side on her side.
“Oh thanks the moon you are ok, you were unconscious for a long time “ Luna said with relief in her voice.
“How long was I out exactly?“ Stormy asked with teary eyes, neither pony noticed the pillow was wet with tears.
“I wish I had a clock to tell you but I don’t, all I know is that you were attack by a Toxynne Plant, a native plant of the forest, their gas is very poisonous, is a miracle you still here,“ The Princess said with a relief as she stepped up.
“You carried me here? Princess? “ Stormy questioned a little surprised.
“Yes.. I have and I explored the library a little, I found a secret room on the second floor hallway, that’s where the book of harmony used to be, that’s where you found it correct? “ The princess replied, and asked the colt for answers.
“Indeed“ that was his only answer, he started to remember another memory of him discovering the book and performing the songs, there was a reason why he felt tired at performing them “the first time“ , a rush of memories were coming to him, memories even Luna could see in plain sight, as they saw this new information, he found that he had forgotten the songs a long time ago, so when he played them again, in this nightmare world, his body and mind were not prepared as they did in his childhood, however, he also saw, how he did not perform the dangerous songs on the book but learned them by memory, once Stormy got himself up he checked the book quickly, remembering and checking each song acquired so far, after that, the colt closed the book and felt on his head a huge headache.
Luna advised him that he had something in his hoof, the colt checked his hoof and had the pink ribbon from Redhoof on it, along with the hole made by her teeth, he smiled as he stored it on his saddlebags.
Both Ponies now reunited stepped out of the room, and head back to the library, Stormy guided Luna towards the secret room he have found, inside there was a more that notorious bloodstain, inside it was a piece of cloth with something written on it and a scroll, Luna took it since Stormy was a little frozen the cloth say “She is not what it seems, use your heart love“
Not what it seems?, Stormy mind was trying to resolve the riddle in that message, it was the Plastic Mare that wrote it in her dying breath?, or the Skeletal Mare?, or maybe something else?, the place where the book of harmony used to be, had the book missing, Stormy took out the book, incomplete, and placed it on the pedestal, a light earthquake happened on the basement, as if a wall or something was moved, the Princess suggested to check the basement, but before they moved, Stormy reviewed the scroll on the floor, it was a transformation spell, more exactly, to transform wind instruments into a lira, Stormy stepped in the middle of the pedestal, and performed the spell on his ocarina, the ocarina obtained a light blue light, as it transformed into a Blue Lira with wind designs all over it, the scroll contains also the reverse spell, so he put it in practice and transformed the Lira back to its Ocarina form, learning the transfiguration spell in the process, once done, both ponies moved towards the basement.
As expected, several rooms on the hallway were unable to be accessed, or the doors were actually on the floor, allowing the ponies to see the interior of the rooms, some of them were empty and with holes that falls into a endless darkness, other however, had something that could only be seen by a little hole, one in special, had a huge Posey doll, bloodstained, pointing out towards the hole, with bloodstained hooves, making Stormy flinch for a second, but remembering the doll mysterious connection with Mistshine, so he looked towards the direction that doll was pointing, and opened the opposite door to that room.
Inside, they found a single hole on the ground, a sewer pipe with a key attached with duct tape to it but with the corpse of a Restrained Figure, it’s acid was still flowing.. dropping little drops in the hole, but enough to burn a pony piece of flesh, neither Stormy or Luna could get the key out if , even with levitation magic, the key will melt instantly by the little drops of acid falling from the corpse, if they don’t find a way to prevent the acid from melting it, they could not take it out, they must find a iron bucket or something similar to hold for a moment, leaving that room for later, they reached the end of the hallway and went to the basement.
The first hallway was the “hall of hooves“ creepy as expected, the disembodied pony legs holding the torches made it uneasy for both ponies to pass through there, as they felt that the hooves could choke them if they get too close, also, several of the hooves were with the lights out, so they had to turn on their flashlights, however, there was one hoof a little loosen from the wall, that picked Luna attention, she lifted the hoof, and ended up, on the other side of the hall, a trap, Luna used a levitation spell, as she remembered that trap, however, what she didn’t remember, was that the floor had spikes, with skeletons of previous victims, Luna got a little distracted by this and felt to the spikes to her surprise, she went right through them, hitting herself with the hard floor.
“Princess!, Luna!, are you there?, can you hear me?“ Said Stormy, hitting the stone hall with his hooves.
“I’m ok,. just a little shaken,“ replied the princess, getting herself up.
There was a shinny object that let a little spark when the light on Luna’s lantern shinned upon it, it was a little key, only labeled as C, Luna took it and placed it on her saddlebags, Stormy LED flashlight was visible by a hole on said wall, Luna instructed the stallion to get back, as she pulled her hoof out of the hole and lowered the hoof again, making her be back at the hall of hooves hallway, both ponies, relieved to be together again, continued to explore the basement, where the earthquake happened, there was a part that now was screaming danger in all known pony languages, a hallway full of old ponies armors.
“These where the armors that both, my sister and my guards used in the past, they look shiny and new,“ the princess made a comment at the armors state.
“What’s with the creepy scenario back then?, where you trying to give everypony a heart attack? “ Stormy also commented a little scared.
“Nope, but they were intimidating, so criminals would think twice before dealing with the guards,” Luna commented, smiling at the guard expense.
“20 Bits these armors will come to life and attack us,” Stormy said as he walked in further into the hallway.
They walked a little further into the hallway exploring the depths of the castle, Stormy was held down a moment despise his walking, he could see the princess moving ahead of him and he started to cough, he looked back, only to found he is being held by his tail by one of the armors, he screamed and as a reflex action, he attacked with his pipe, this alerted the princess, she turned around and saw other armor removing from its pedestal and moving towards the colt.
She tried to intervene, but a third armor held her, Stormy let again a magic surge, turning his moondust magic on and forming a spiked bubble, piercing the chest plates, this allowed Luna to shoot the creatures with a light based magic, killing them quickly, the third armor raised a axe to attack her, Stormy shot a magical bullet but the creature repelled it with the axe, launching it towards him again, Stormy dodge the blow, as for the princess, she also attacked the creature with the sword, a clang was heard , the axe blocked the blow, this armor was more smart than the other ones, however, it armor was really sturdy, it needs to take more than a sword to piece it, Stormy could easily pierce it with a moondust spear, due to the magic surge, but Luna was more calm and collected, that’s when she heard a chainsaw being turned on.
“Move! “ Stormy said with a smiley expression.
He swing the chainsaw directly into the armor neck part, chopping the head part off, leaving the shadow behind it, seeing her chance, Luna let a powerful light blast to the creature, killing it, the rest of the armor felt to the floor, Stormy had a idea, if the armor was that sturdy to withstand swords, they could use the helmet to stop the acid for a moment and take the key out of the sewer pipe room, Luna took the helmet and stored it on the saddlebags, as they went ahead and explore the remaining of the basement, they found a little storage with energy drinks there, on their way back up they found a room that they previously didn’t pay attention, on the roof, was a piece of wall, so this is the secret room the earthquake from before unlocked inside on the room was an organ that nopony had played in ages.
“Is the Organ to the Outside, with it we can control all the traps in the Armory Hallway, Throne Room, Hall of Hooves and the Second Floor Hole traps “ Luna stated almost to a happy extent.
“Seems you remember perfectly this thing,“ Stormy replied a little sarcastic tone.
However as soon as both came inside… a soft sound of the organ was heard, and almost instantly, large iron bars appeared from the floor, blocking the entrance, the reason, one of the 2 ornaments next to the organ was pressing one of the keys with its spear, the other ornament was holding also another spear, they both moved towards the ponies with the same armor as the other monsters, Stormy shot a blast towards one of them, but its “partner“ covered it, Luna and Stormy had to fight these monsters as a team, as they both attacked at the same time in a symmetrical fashion, despise the other shadow monsters they have faced before, this fight was unavoidable.
Stormy focused on one of the creatures, while Luna focused on the other, Both ponies shot a magical blast, the creatures block it with their weapons but surprisingly, the one Stormy was facing blocked the attack with a black dust, similar to his very own moondust, while the one Luna was facing, destroyed her attack with a blue flame, simulating a solar flare, it didn’t took long for the princess to put the pieces together.
“Uh oh, they are using moondust and solar flare magic, these ornaments must be monsters that use as model a Sun Guard and a Lunar Guard, “ Luna said, as she recognized the attacks.
“Please for the love of Equestria, tell me you are kidding me,“ Stormy did not liked at all the princess previous comment.
Both monsters saw they opportunity and combined their attack, making a powerful purple blast containing the black dust, Stormy moved Luna out of the way and ducked, the blast hit the wall behind him, the dust dispersed over him, stating to suffocate him, he could feel the dust, covering his nose and mouth, entering his lungs, he never imagined the moondust magic could be used in such cruel way, torturing the target, Luna intervened and scattered the dust with her magic.
Stormy took a quick gasp of fresh air and stand back up, he noticed the two monsters where working as a team, so he decided to pick Luna again and use their “Machine Gun“ Technique, what they didn’t except is that the creatures actually copied the same technique, shooting a rain of blue fire magic, mimicking a flamethrower, with the flames coming towards them, both Luna and Stormy dodge to a side.
“These things are coping our moves which is not funny“ Luna said to her companion.
“I know, there must be another way to, wait.i got it, I will handle the one with the solar flare, you take care of the moondust one, “ Stormy said deciding to change target.
Luna simply nodded, trusting what her companion had in mind, Stormy knew they where facing evil manifestations of the Solar Flare and Moondust Magic, however, facing Moondust Vs Moondust prove to be useless, so he decided to give the enemies a taste of their own medicine and used his moondust magic in the form of a smoke ball, the Solar Flare creature attacked with blue flames, but the moondust reacted to it and started to absorb the air on the attack, “suffocating“ the flames.
“Heh, to think I learned this from a monster” Stormy said sarcastically towards it’s foe.
Without its stronger magic, Stormy saw a opening and attacked with his pipe surrounding it with his magic, the creature received the blow In full, the dust crawled to the creature head, choking him, just like the Moondust Ornament did to him.
As for Luna and the moondust magic creature, since she was the Princess of the Night, she remembered that she could nullify the effects of the moondust for a time, she used that ability and shoot a light based magic, which the opponent mimic the attack with his own moondust, the foe magic faded as expected, and the light magic continued towards her enemy, once the hit was successful, the foe dropped its spear, same thing with the solar flare one, Stormy and Luna saw their finishing blow chance, and delivered one last attack with their weapons, Stormy broke the skull of his foe, with his steel pipe, while Luna stabbed the creature with the Sword, eliminating both creatures, once they were dead, as if some sort of trap was deactivated, the iron bars retreated, and the organ was able to be used.
“That was actually hard, you think that they---” Stormy was suggesting something.
“I’m thinking the same thing, the stronger the monsters are, the more desire they have to kill us,” Luna finished what Stormy was thinking, as she got closer to the organ, seeing as the ornaments were now broken on the floor.
“What are you doing Luna?” Stormy questioned, without dropping his guard to the broken ornaments.
“I will stay here and operate the Organ to the Outside, signal me with the Winds of Friendship song to activate it, that way you can reach areas of the castle that both of us couldn’t go,“ The Princess stated, sitting on the organ ready to play.
“Understood Princess, but please be careful,” Stormy was already worrying about the princess but obeyed her orders.
Luna gave Stormy the Ancient Guard Helmet and the C Key, Stormy galloped towards the room in the 1F where the corpse of the Restrain figure was, once there, he used the helmet to hold of the acid drops, it was working, until a certain extent that is, Stormy could feel within his magic, the helmet was starting to melt, so he pulled up the key quickly, the duct tape was already very worn out, the key label reads “L”.
If Luna was in problems, Stormy could use the Prelude of Friendship Song to teleport to her location, however, now that he obtained the L Key, he moved towards the second floor, where the Throne Room was, on it, the thrones looked perfectly ok, neat and tidy, the carpet was soft to the touch, but also, Stormy could visibly see a Ghostly Luna in the mini balcony, next to her throne, however her expression was very unwelcoming.
“Not another step“ the ghostly Luna said.
“Uh oh, if my history lessons are right, this must be,“ Stormy seems to knew this event, he was shielding himself with a bubble shield.
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by, while they all bash in your precious light Tia?“ Ghostly Luna Said addressing to a Ghostly Celestia coming from behind Stormy.
“Luna, I will not fight you!, You must lower the Moon!, it is your duty!“ Celestia demanded with authority on her voice.
“There can only be one Princess in Equestria!, and that princess will be ME!! “ Ghostly Luna said, as she began to transform into Nightmare Moon “From, now on, my name is Nightmare Moon!, I have but one royal duty now to destroy you!!“
Stormy saw in first row seats her transformation into the Nightmare Moon, just as she was able to see his past, the moon slowly covered the sun, making a eclipse, the shadow casted by it was absorbed by Luna powerful magic and her physical appearance started to change, her fangs were sharp and her mane was so big and powerful it was more than capable of producing lighting.
By instinct Stormy dodge Nightmare Moon first magical blast, but when he dodged, he entered up in a hallway, pieces of debris fallen on him but thanks to his bubble shield he was unharmed, all the noises and blast stopped suddenly when he stepped up, when he came back to the throne, everything was normal, however, there was something new, a object that can only be recognized by the gems sparkling on their ornaments, circling around the plate they were posted in, it was the Elements of Harmony Pedestal.
First found in the lobby, where the elements were before Twilight and their friends took them, Stormy decided to inspect the elements gems, as he touch them however they passed right into his hoof, these gems were an illusion that quickly disappeared, leaving the pedestal empty, so this wasn’t the real ones, the real one must be the one on the lobby, Stormy checked the throne where Luna used to sit on royal duties, and he noticed it was very comfortable, as he sit however, he played the Winds of Friendship song, Luna on the other end, activated the organ, the results quickly came in, sending Stormy towards the back garden in a quick spin, it was a little rough landing though, making him roll several times, until he stopped when he hit a rock, he could see he was outside the Castle, in the Everfree Forest again, along with the fog that was more than visible this time around.
“OW!, Luna, was that trap always that hurtful?! “ Stormy said, dizzy as he got up.
“Sorry, Tia and I never fixed that emergency exit, if you enter by the window you will be instantly back to the first floor,“ Luna explained using the ocarina as a radio.
“How does that take me there?“ Stormy questioned surprised at the little window capability.
“Is a long hallway we made to take directly to the first floor, from there is where the Chief, the Staff of the Castle and the Dungeon Keepers entered to went to the dungeons,“ Luna informed her stallion.
The dungeons, again, not another dungeon, the communication with the princess was cut short when a loud bang was heard from the stairs next to the stone that stopped Stormy rolling, he went down the stairs wondering what he was going to find this time, when he was halfway, through the fog, he could see a foal drawing on one of the stairs, this time it was him, his “sister” Pinkie Pie, both holding a balloon shaped blue jewel, by some reason, that drawing, made Stormy smile again as if a beacon of hope was in the pink pony drawing.
“Oh Pinkie Pie, You know I had always considered you a big sister, no matter what happened; I wish you could lend me a hoof in this situation right now. Where you are now I wonder?”
The further he descended into the stairs, the more hard it was to see in front of his own hooves, he could trip if he ran, after he reached the end, he noticed a very wide but circular area, with several fences, that served as a limit to each area of that “basement“, there was a door named “Royal Kitchen”, another named “Armory”, and finally one that read “Warehouse”, all of them with wooden doors, however there were two caves on the far east side of the round courtyard, both of them with Iron doors, one was obviously had the name “Dungeon” written all over it, and another one with no name, but protected by a special lock that seems to resemble a musical box, Stormy noticed another group of stairs that seems to go up to the forest, but they were destroyed, so it is unable to be used to climb up, Stormy decided to check the Kitchen first.
Inside, the stone cooking place was very poor illuminated, due to the obvious fact of being a cave, however it had its advantages, like a huge stone oven, several frying pans and a freezer to keep the food cold, but as he inspected the drawers, he found several cupcakes materials, intact, not corrupted, nor strawberry blood, just regular cupcake materials finally!.
“About Celestia damn time!, Im hungry for something normal to eat after all this mayhem.” Stormy said smiling as big as he could.
He was feeling a little hungry, so since there is nothing that has gone bad on this dream like castle, Stormy decided to bake a few cupcakes for Luna and him, from the back of his mind, Pinkie song was rigging in his head, he started to mimic it, like he used to do as a little colt, bringing a smile to his face, as if Pinkie memory was the only thing that could make him happy, bouncing over the table, as he prepared the mix, levitating some bowls and ingredients with his magic.
“All you have to do is take a cup of floor…add it to the mix… now just take little something sweet not sour…. A bit of salt just a…. WHAAAAAA!!! “
When he opened up the fridge to get the sweets and the lemon, a pony head was on the same bowl, however, the head was fresh meaning one thing, the Skeletal mare was close however, Stormy had the feeling he had meet the face before, in fact, it felt so familiar, but he couldn’t place his hoof around it, also, the mane from the creature was covering its face.
This was not the time for baking a cupcake, then again the oven and the wate, against all logic, works, he had 2 options, continue to bake or continue searching for more clues for his brother, he checked his saddlebags for an answer. Besides the bandages and the apples he only had the energy drinks as food, perhaps making a cupcake or two won’t kill him right?, besides, he was halfway through, he took the severed head out of the fridge and took it outside, he continued to bake, when a loud fleshy bang was heard from outside, he opened the wooden door, just to find a blood trace from the bowl to one of the caves with iron doors, he returned to the kitchen and pulled out the recently backed cupcakes, they smelled just like the ones Pinkie used to do, he stored them in a little box and then placed it on his saddlebags, exiting the kitchen.
On the outside, the radio started to burst into a faint static, the severed head was no longer on the bowl, it was now next to a tree, that served as a division between the Dungeon and the other cave, Stormy had a bad feeling, so he decided to avoid the tree and traveled to the Armory instead.
On the Armory, there was not much to be seen, just a couple of old pony armor from Pre-Luna Banishment, the same one as the hall in the basement, however, the room was very short, more short than the one on the Canterlot or the Archives Armory, there was 2 mannequins, one with armor on the far side of the armory, and one almost right next to the door, without armor, both white colored.
“Huh, they look like the ones Rarity uses to display her clothes back in Ponyville.”
The first one corresponded to a female mannequins, but didn’t had anything special to it, when he moved around the corner to check the male one he heard a scream and a loud thud, as if something was throw to the floor with great strength, when he turned around to check, he could see a silhouette of a clothed pony in back robes, exiting the room, but also, there was a blood trail leading towards the door, already making Stormy uneasy the female mannequin was now missing it’s torso.
Outside, the torso from the Armory was next to the severed head, however, the torso now had a cutie mark, a disturbing one, it was a red spot with a rope and a butcher knife, Stormy stepped away again and checked the storage, it was very short, but he found a apple, and several hooves for displays, 4 of them were actually real hooves, Stormy didn’t touch them, instead, he levitated them, he was already guessing what he had to do with them.
He took the hooves to the torso and head of the pony outside, as he suspected, they matched the cuts in the torso, the radio was still emitting the faint static, Stormy decided, just as with Redhoof in the Manehatten Hall, make a burial for the unfortunate victim, he felt it was the right thing to do, he used a powerful blast to make a hole on the ground, and he deposit all the pieces there, making a quick grave for the pony, in the base of the tree it was.
He tried now the dungeon cave, strangely enough, the large iron door was broken, and the cave was collapsed, seems visiting the dungeon is not possible, filled with relief, he tried the other cave, with the musical box lock, the lock itself had a lever, to move the music box, it played a few notes but it was broken, the sound was a little distorted and seems to have a input command, a command to enter a song.
“Oh great, a musical puzzle, why it couldn’t be a picture puzzle?”
The distorted notes made hard to Stormy to think what song was it, he played the Minuet of Everfree, since the castle was located in said forest, however, as the song took effect, a little earthquake happened and his magic turn against him, the vine he created started to choke him, he used his moondust magic to repel the vine and cut the magic of the song shot, with the effects gone, he noticed the lock had now a red light, 1 out of 3, he tried another song, this time, he tried the Equestria Soul Song, this time the song started to work, making him feel stronger, but again, the environment threw in a message, a huge rock was falling towards him, Stormy dodge instantly, as the rock hit the floor, breaking itself on impact, now a second red light was on the lock, Stormy mind now understood what those little red lights meant, there are mistakes and if he makes a third mistake, the lock will no longer be able to open, to make matters worse, each time he input the wrong song, something happens to him, there is a high chance that if he mess up a third time, he could be killed.
He concentrated, thinking about the notes of the song, taking his ocarina for the third time, he played another song, this time, it was the Princess Lullaby, the notes starting to sound accordingly to the music box, the lock started to change, the lights changed to green, the lock released the large metal doors, as he felt peaceful for a moment, and relieved that he used the right song this case, once the doors were opened, he enter the cave.
Inside the cave, there was not much to be seen, except a single tree, a silver tree that irradiated light and harmony, driving the fog from outside away and had all the jewels on its branches, also, they had Celestia and Luna cutie mark on it, the sole presence of this tree made the colt feel calmed and also seems to drive a sense of security to him, Stormy was no fool, he was in front of the Elements of Harmony, the real ones. They shinned, as welcoming the colt to that sacred place.
“The Elements, why are they here?, they shouldn’t be with Twilight in Ponyville? Or better yet, what are they doing here!?“
Chapter 13 - Family Affairs (Nowhere) -
The Elements of Harmony were within Stormy range to pick them up, could he use them?, he is not related to the elements in anyway to even be considered worthy of using them! Is true he had shared many moments with Pinkie Pie but not enough to use one of the elements. He called the princess for a little advise since the only pony within miles that could advise him what to do would be her, the gems corresponding to kindness, generosity, laughter, honesty, loyalty and magic were in the branches, with the shape of the cutie marks of their respective owners.
“Princess, I think I finally lost it, I’m seeing a tree that have all the elements here, it seems to be made out of crystal,” Stormy said as he was using his song.
“T-the Tree of Harmony! Stormy, if you found it, that means that maybe we can use it to drive off the monsters, pick one,“ Luna replied with happiness on her voice and instructed her stallion.
“Whoa, time out, I’m not an element holder like Pinkie or Fluttershy, I cannot use the elements to the same level as them Luna,“ Stormy objected, fearing the elements might backfire on him.
“Stormy, please trust me on this, I’m The Princess of the Night, the fact you could perform the ancient songs of the past and have unlocked the moondust magic should already prove that although you might not be an element holder, you are still worthy in my eyes to use one,“ Luna tried again to advise Stormy to pick up one element.
“O-ok, i-if you have faith in me, then I will pick one,” Stormy said, a little bit more hesitant than before.
“Word of advice, pick the Laughter Element,” Luna finished before the song connection was cut short.
Only one? What does Luna meant with that?, was she sensing some sort of connection to Pinkie element?, the colt started to reflect upon those words, about his past and all he has lived so far, Pinkie Pie taught him how to smile and made him happy in the most difficult moment, he remembered the cupcakes he baked before and smiled one more time, he used his magic and made the Laughter gem float around him, a faint laughter could be heard escaping his lips, until he stored it in his saddlebags that is, he felt a sudden burst of energy along with a massive headache, so much he screamed at the pain he was getting, fainting on the floor, while everything was black, he could hear a very familiar voice, his body was being “absorbed “ by the earth around the tree, but he could hear the voice said, saying;
“Whatever you do little brother, don’t forget to smile please,“ the voice said
“Wait, Pinkie Pie?, Sister!, I’m here!, help me!, Pinkie!!! Sis!!!,“ Stormy voice echoed in the darkness, but no reply was given
He felt as he was falling down, with nopony near him to catch him, as a matter of fact, a distorted laughter was heard, filling him with dread and confusion, as he was falling into madness, he felt a loud thud along with a crack, he just hit the ground, he got himself up his nerves quickly picked up a sharp pain coming from his forehead, he was bleeding his horn was broken, he could not cast spells.
He tried to lit his LED lantern on but as soon as he touched it, he noticed that it was broken, only the laughter element made a little light, even inside the saddlebags, he put his hoof inside to take it out and see better, but this is when Stormy freaked out, again, all his items were lost, only the laughter element remained with him, he started to walk forward, until he heard some strange noises, like a loud TV static, that grew louder and louder, when he turned around, he saw nothing, just pure darkness, however, the feeling he was having before only grew worse when he looked down to the red floor he was standing on.
A strong earthquake followed and the darkness behind him was moving towards him at a fast pace, his instincts kicked in and he started to run, he did not needed to have a conversation to know that the darkness also followed him and that thing hidden inside it was dangerous, he ran was fast as he could, while the darkness moved even faster, there where a few bottomless holes, below the fence floor, he jumped across them and tried to jump the last one, that was very far way, having put all his strength in his hooves, he made a leap of faith, since without his magic, he could not use his moondust or any other defensive spell, but as soon as he touched the other side, the fence floor, for the first time in a while, broke, making Stormy fall into the abyss at an alarming fast pace
“Nononononono!!!!, Pinkie Pieeeeeee! Luna!, Help!, What is happening?! Somepony, anyone, I NEED HELP ” he screamed as he feel and faded out of existence.
He lost track of how long has been since he lost consciousness, it could well be hours, it could have been seconds, or even months, when he got up, he could notice a blood trail, and behind him, a very tall wall, the floor was grey with some sort of patter he could not decipher, he began to ran, he was totally frightened and to add insult to injury, his trained senses were telling him that he needed to get away, fast.
Looking for somepony to give him comfort, by some reason, the scenario he was in, made his soul shatter, he ran and climbed several rocks he found on his way, the laughter element acted as a arrow, pointing to where he had to go, after a while, he reached a closed room, the element gave a very weak light, perhaps related to the fact that the element do not belong to Stormy.
He noticed a familiar figure, a pink coat pony was standing there, the light of the element shined and her 3 shaped balloons cutie mark was visible, however, the element despite being brighter than before was not giving enough light to lit her face, Stormy knew who that pony was and instantly hugged her, desperate, but relived to find a familiar pony in the hell he was in, he felt warm, as he felt another hug, this time from the pink pony herself.
“Pinkie Pie!, oh sweet Celestia I’m so happy to finally find you, where did you go ever since the secret room in Canterlot?, do you have any idea what kind of hell I have gone through so far?” Stormy said to the mare, without looking at her directly, he was so relieved he was tearing up a little.
"Oh, I bet it was silly filly..." Pinkie said as she kept the hug on the stallion, helping him feel better.
“You think!?, Oh, but I had a cupcake for you since you are here, if I could find the rest of my stuff that is,” Stormy said with happiness, but remembering he doesn’t have the cupcakes box.
"A cupcake? Oh... It's just... I don't feel like eating anymore..." Pinkie struggled to finish her sentence; her voice had a tiny scent of sadness.
"Pinkie Pie?, what's wrong?, you never pass on the opportunity for a cupcake," Stormy said now cold, so cold even Pinkie could feel it, something was off.
"Stormy... heheh... look at me," Pinkie Pie requested, with a smile.
Stormy mind quickly felt something wet on his hooves, something that was also sticky, the element felt to the floor, revealing that the hooves of Pinkie where bloody and in her torso she had a very deep cut, as if her body was cut in half the “Safe” moment quickly turned into a nightmare, as by inertia Stormy lifted the element with his hoof, looking at the pony face as she previous asked, he was not going to turn down a request from her, but as soon as the light shined on her coat above her muzzle...
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Black blood was emanating from “Pinkie” eyes, to the colt face, which was thicker than oil and he couldn’t move, not only that but her face looked distorted with a sick smile, not a happy smile as usual, the one she had was from a pony that had a lust for blood.
He tried to break free from the creature hooves, but that only made the “Pinkie” smile wider, as she revealed her smile, it was easy to spot some sharp teeth on her maw, powerful enough to break his neck and rip his skull from his body, Stormy screamed as the distorted scream of the creature silenced his and overpowered him, he felt hopeless and betrayed, his screams and vulnerability only made the creature smile even more.
The Laughter Element blinked, as if Stormy breakdown was making it lose the last of his power, the creature opened her mouth, to torn the colt head from his shoulders, not before passing her tongue around his face to taste him first, Stormy tried to look at the element between the saliva of the “Pinkie” that was on top of him, remembering something.
“That’s right, Laughter, Pinkie told me once that, when something looks scary, just giggle it out,” Stormy smiled as he reflected on those words in his head.
The real Pinkie Pie taught him that, not this imposter, so true to her teaching he started to laugh, keeping his head down, his frown quickly turned into a smile, as he started to laugh with more joy this time, the creature looked at him puzzled, enough to close her mouth, her hooves where not letting go the colt, but the longer he kept laughing, the more the monster was now trying to break free.
He continued to laugh more and as expected, the element started to lit back up, Stormy took advantage of this and pulled from the “Pinkie” hair with his mouth, a marker and made her a couple of glasses and a tie, only to make him laugh more, finally, the creature could not withstand the laughter and let go the colt, backing away to wipe out the marker, just for Stormy to go back and make stitching with the marker on where the cut was, the creature backed way more, just to hit something behind her.
“Not this time. Copycat” A royal voice with anger on her voice.
Before his very eyes, the monster got eliminated, by a powerful magic burst, from the shadows; the princess of the night came to his aid, lifting Stormy of the ground and carry him, Stormy asked Luna, why she was there, she just replied with a simple “I will explain everything when you wake up “, confirming Stormy fear, he was indeed in a nightmare and it seems that it was connected to Pinkie somehow, once Luna passed through the wall, so did Stormy, after a while, he could feel the wind blowing, he slowly opened his eyes, to see he was next to the princess and the door to the tree of harmony was locked, but the input command was now broken, missing some components, due to this, the door is not able to be opened again, he was being hugged by the princess, as her horn stopped glowing.
“I used my ability to enter the dreams of others to take you out from that nightmare, I really was hoping you didn’t get to see that one, “ Luna said, a little relieved to have helped.
“That nightmare was yours, isn’t it? “ Stormy said with relief, but also putting the pieces together.
“Yes it was, when you didn’t reply to the Winds of Friendship song, I teleported near you with Prelude of Friendship, imagine my surprise when I found you unconscious on the ground, with Pinkie element on your hooves, but growing colder and colder, almost as if you were losing your life energy, that is something that usually happens when you are having a terrible nightmare and this last one is winning,“ Luna said, giving a brief summary of Stormy’s condition.
“Then can you tell me what exactly did I see?” he asked the princess quickly.
“The part that you already saw, was nearly the end, it starts with me becoming Nightmare Moon again, however, in my dream,“ Luna recalled, finding a little hard for her to tell, but he felt the hoof of her companion on her own.
“It’s ok Luna, you can tell me,” he reassured his princess.
“In my dream, in a lust of rage and vengeance for defeating me, I killed all the Elements Holders, Twilight, Pinkie, Kind Fluttershy, all of them, however, only one out of the six actually wanted revenge against me, and came back constantly, “ Luna said, a little frightened.
“Pinkie Pie, right?” Stormy replied
The princess only replied with a yes, she said the nightmares started since the last time she visited Ponyville on Nightmare Night, due to the constant scares Pinkie pulled out to the other ponies, that’s until Twilight intervened, ever since then, she grew worried, due to her powers returning to her. she was would become Nightmare Moon again, she can already transform in her after all at will, she told Celestia about this and she mentioned she was going to research something to help her, however in the meantime she can use her Dream Ability to prevent them from advancing, but it continued to grew stronger, very similar to Stormy nightmares regarding him and his brother increased in the last days, could this all be some sort of connection?, after the princess finished relating her nightmare, Stormy did not hesitate, and stole another kiss from the princess, his voice was calming.
“No more nightmares after this, we will both end this together.”
As they moved from the Cave of the Elements of Harmony, returning to the central part of the basement courtyard, when they were moving to the stairs, some vines blocked the way, a soft music box song was playing on the area, coming from the tree where Stormy buried the pony body, he examined the tree and give it a good buck with his back hooves, from its branches, the missing piece of the lock felt down, but it was playing a song perfectly well without problems, Stormy seems to remember the melody, as he felt something in his chest, then something on his front hoof, it was coming from the earth.
Stormy jumped, breaking free from the grasp of the creature that had risen from it’s grave, however, it was not cut or torn, it was whole, visible female, with a few scratches, and had a hospital robe, and a veil on her face, her cutie mark was a rope with a butcher knife on their side, with a red splattered area, also, very physically strong indicating she was an Earth Pony, the radio burst into loud static again, Stormy shot a magical bullet towards the creature, but it instantly dodged, Luna also tried, but the bullets went right through it, seems magic based attacks do no damage to it.
The monster came closer to Stormy and started to choke him, with her hooves, Luna started to attack the creature with her sword, effectively cutting down one of her hooves, Stormy used the Element of Laughter to attack, after the ordeal of the nightmare the Element reacted easy to the stallion commands and made the party cannon shoot a powerful wedding cake that made the monster fall apart, but as the monster was moving, so did her limbs, moving closer to her, reuniting.
“This is getting out of hoof, no pun intended,” Stormy said, keeping some of his jokes around.
The robe and veil the creature was wearing made Stormy seems to remember something, but he shake his head to focus on the fight at hoof, he used the Laughter Element again, but this time, it turned into it necklace form, he quickly put it on and focused, using his memories of Pinkie Pie as fuel, Stormy tried the party cannon again, but this time, he wished for something to stop the creature, the cannon fired a bunch of streamers and confetti, but they were heavy, blowing a powerful gust of wind and colored papers, blowing away the veil that kept the creature identity hidden, however, revealing the truth had been proven to be sometimes painful, in this case, for Stormy, it was a more than devastating blow, he dropped the party cannon, as he saw the creature face,
“No!, M-mother!, this must be a bad dream!, Luna!, please tell me I’m dreaming!!“ Stormy desperately asked the princess
“I’m sorry Stormy, you are awake,” she responded, sadness could be heard in her voice
The details on the creature face were so exact to her deceased mother, in half of it anyways, the other half was burned beyond recognition, some parts of the bone of her cheek could be seen, her mane was messy, but grey, while in Stormy´s memories, she was half red half black, the creature started to choke, from the veil being removed, Stormy was paralyzed, he couldn’t attack her, he picked up the party cannon again, but he couldn’t press the button to fire.
“She is not your real mother, Stormy!, Fire now!,” Luna asked but worried about the effect on her guard psyche.
“I…I can’t…I can’t do it!” the colt replied.
Luna was shocked, but at the same time she understood, he could not hurt monsters that remembered him loved ones, she had the same problem when she was fighting Celestia 1000 years ago, even if she was transformed, she didn’t really wanted to kill Celestia during they fight in the past, whatever the case, she have to face the monster alone, without Stormy assistance, it was more than obvious he is petrified.
Luna had an idea, she attacked the Broken Mother with her magic swords technique, effectively cutting her again, but she regenerated again, some strange regenerative magic, Luna went again to Stormy and since he was frozen, she used her magic to hold him as he did with her before, even if he do not help, his magic should come if she made that right?
Luna started to pull Stormy tail, but no blast came, the creature reformed and taking advantage Stormy’s fear she seems cough something, like an acid spit, Luna tried again to shoot, but she couldn’t move, as she saw below, the same vines that were blocking the entrance were now holding them off in place, she used her levitation magic to levitate her sword and cut the creature neck, canceling her attack, however, once she looked down at her corpse she found the reason for the vines growing at such quick rates, her blood, it was green and it seems to be filled with special agents that made the earth fertile fast, as the blood felt to the earth more vines started to grown and extent towards the ponies, Luna felt trapped, as the creature regenerated herself again and this time she was ready to shoot her acid again, without no way to move or dodge, she pulled Stormy tail as hard as possible.
“STORMY!!” She screamed, closing her eyes.
“Mother!, I’m sorry!!! “ he said, crying but reacting finally.
A powerful moondust shield was formed around the ponies, this time from Stormy own magic blocking the acid spit, Luna hated herself for what she was going to do, but she moved Stormy Tail up and down, just as he did with her in Fluttershy Cottage, the magic bullets where filled with moondust magic, they failed to injure the creature several times however the moondust magic started to cancel her regenerative blood, and the vines started to shrink down.
This allowed Stormy to pick the sword and load it into the cannon, once he fired, the sword was shot towards the creature chest, with its heart pierced, she felt dead on the floor, filled with holes wounds from the moondust magic, the “dust” filled her lungs, suffocating her, plus the strength of the impact, broke her bones and made internal bleeding, finally the creature was dead and Stormy could finally react.
“I’m sorry Stormy, but there was no other way,” Luna replied to the colt, trying to get the mood back up.
“I understand, Luna, still why do I felt, that I made something wrong?” Stormy replied, also sad.
The princess helped the colt retrieve the body of the monster, creature or not, the appearance of Stormy deceased mother made Stormy felt bad emotionally and in order to prevent further damage to her psyche this was necessary. Both ponies buried the creature again in the same place where Stormy buried here the first time, however, this time, Stormy used Luna’s sword to craft something on the tree, just something simple as reminder of someone close to him.
“Here lies Cloverleaf Brave, loving mother and wife.”
The path was clear now, and both ponies returned to the back of the throne room, the road was actually shorter than when Stormy went down the first time, as both ponies entered the window they reappeared in the Main Lobby again, they decided to explore the last part of the castle that they haven’t explored yet, the second floor and the Princesses resting quarters.
On the way there, nothing else had changed, besides the fact that the main throne room was actually now having the pedestal without the elements, the princess quickly noticed this, as the colt asked about these pedestal, she said that they used to have 2 of those pedestals around the castle to trick thieves that wanted to steal the elements back then, and in case that even one of the thieves took one of the elements, they will suffer a powerful electrical attack, she do not know if that spell was still active on the fake pedestal though.
The stairs to the right took them straight to the Castle Courtyard and where the royal towers were, they were like a mini castle inside the castle, going up to Celestia old room, they used the C Key on the door, opening up Celestia old bedroom. Inside, not much was seen, contrary to the rest of the palace, the room looked trashed, as if something was broken, however, Stormy found something on the floor, it was a foal drawing, the drawing illustrated Stormy and Luna against the Skeletal mare, perhaps a warning about an incoming battle?, the colt also noticed that there was a Posey doll pointing out to the next room, which was Luna old room.
Posey was sitting in a page of the book of harmony, Luna lifted the doll and Stormy took the page, this time it was the “Ballad of the Mother Alicorn“ a song dedicated to Luna and Celestia mother, according to the song description, the song can only be performed on a Lyre or a harp, it’s effects allow the user to have the powers of a alicorn for a short time, meaning, in the case of Stormy, he would have near infinite magic to use, for a short time that is, also, the song came with a warning, after the song use, the user magic will be completely drained, unable him to cast spells for at least a couple of days, another double edge song, Stormy restored the page to the book of harmony, 2 more pages left to go, Celestia room also had a few things that Luna took in for herself, like a sword with solar designs, seems it was from Celestia in the past. Stormy lifted the box with the 2 fresh baked cupcakes and give Luna one of them, the princess stored it on her saddlebags, both ponies then moved to Luna old room, but before they left, a ghostly Celestia came and looked at the window, her body showed some bandaged wounds, and the place outside the window looked trashed, like if a huge battle had just ended.
“Oh sister, please forgive me. There was no other way, you forced me to do it, now the elements cannot longer be used, please forgive me for being so blind,“ Celestia said with regret, crying over her window.
“Your majesty, we must go now, this castle is no longer safe,” A Pegasus Guard said, as he came in to the Princess room.
“I know Karthephux, but, this castle holds so many memories, besides, the elements,” Celestia said with hesitation in her voice
“The elements are a bunch of round stones now your majesty, you must think in your safety, the roof and tower could collapse at any moment, most of the royal guards and maids are already waiting for you downstairs to find a new home,“ the maid asked the princess again to leave, she had some visible bandages on her body as well as her cutie mark.
“I will be down in a couple of minutes Lima,” Celestia said again, trying to remain on the room a little longer
“Also princess, she is here also, she had asked for your sister several times now” Karthephux informed to the princess about somepony asking for Luna.
“How can I tell her? that her best friend might no longer come, I hope she too can forgive me for this, I’m not fit to rule Equestria at all!, I just sent my sister to the moon for a thousand years!, I also rendered Equestria helpless without the Elements of Harmony!, what should I do?!, how can I continue this endless life without my dear sister at my side!? “ Celestia cried again, breaking down.
Luna tear up at the sight of this, she knew Celestia had a rough time after her banishment, but she never knew how bad it actually was, they she saw Celestia ghost finally lost it and wrecked the room, leaving it in the state it was when they came in, being held by the pegasus guard and the maid, the more she struggled, the more guards came in to calm her, until a little white Pegasus filly came in, blind, but with her eyes ok, her cutie mark was of a Blue Flower simulating snow, she had the tendency to hear better than anypony and true to her talent, she heard all of what Celestia said, the little snow-white filly, hugged the princess, all the ghost disappeared, so the room was destroyed by Celestia outburst, however, that moment, reflected something else that Luna could use, it was a little iron pipe, almost new, but had snowflakes designs on it.
“Thank you my friend… I will make great use of this,“ Luna said as both ponies left the room.
Their next destiny was Luna room, using the L Key, both ponies gained access to the princess old bedroom, however they noticed something odd, at this point they were expecting the room to be in the same condition as Celestia’s, however Luna room was perfectly fine, most of the doors in the castle where broken or blocked by furniture from the inside, with exceptions of key places, are all the places visited so far part of a giant puzzle?
Luna room contained a Ponytendo from the old ones, a Equestria Genesis, a very soft bed, and several dolls resembling the 6 elements holders, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and strangely enough, the most disturbing one, Pinkie Pie, this doll in particular, had her mane flat and her colors a little off, also, her expression was a huge smile with very little eyes, however, those eyes, where following the ponies movements inside the room.
The Fluttershy doll had one page from the Book of Harmony, this time, it was a song not one of Mistshine hints, this song was titled “Luna’s Prayer”, according to the page, a song that could be played in both, harp or wind instrument, the song allowed the user to take control of the Moonlight whatever he likes, is like summoning a mini moon to help him in battles, restoring magic at a quick rate as long as the “moon” is up, Stormy restored the page to the harmony book with only one more song left to go, they decided to be back to the lobby, to figure out what they need to do now, his brother was not on Luna room despite the map saying that he was going to be there.
As they exited though, they heard a loud thud, like something falling, Luna tried to open up the door, but it couldn’t be moved and there was a hole in the door, Luna stepped on the door and looked inside by the hole, all she could see, was Pinkie doll, stating at her, covered in blood and with a knife in her hooves, all the others doll could also be seen but they were scared, but the Pinkie doll eyes quickly gazed upon the hole smiling with a sick grin, Luna turn around for a moment, due to a noise, she looked back to the room, she notice a hoof of the dolls, saying run, pointing to a writing on the wall, when she returned to where the doll was, it was not there instead it popped up right in front of Luna, it’s sick eye was spinning in unnatural ways, until focusing on the princess, scared, Luna stepped away from the hole, just to be immediately attacked by the doll knife, Stormy pulled the princess out by his magic, before the knife could ever reach the princess eye, a loud bang came from the door, as the hoof of the doll appears to be breaking the hole, Stormy and Luna ran towards the outside of the tower.
Once outside, they locked the door, but by some reason, the doll seems to have huge strength for something made of cloth and cotton, the door was getting broken, from the attacks of the doll, Luna instructed Stormy to use the chainsaw on a nearby apple tree, he instantly turned on the weapon and cut down the huge tree, blocking the tower, the loud bangs continued, as the door was starting to get holes on it, after a while, the banging stopped.
“What kind of dolls did you had 1000 years ago Luna!? “ The colt shouted angry at the princess
“You are asking me?!, I didn’t knew the girls until my return! “ Luna replied, scared by the dolls strength.
Both ponies noticed quickly that they are yelling at each other, for things they already took care of it, but is part of the new cursed Equestria, as the recent events finally started to build up quickly on both ponies minds and finally blew up, Luna even used her Royal Canterlot Voice at Stormy, while he shielded with his moondust shield to prevent further damage, Stormy tried to apologize as soon as he recognized what they are doing, but the princess grew more angrier with him, as far as stepping away from him
“How dare thou be so insensitive?!, Have you forgotten how many things have we faced so far?! We are done here guard!“ The princess said, furious and walking back to the castle alone.
“H-how, wait, Luna! “ Stormy tried to follow her
As soon as the princess came in, Stormy followed, but he ended up, in a different part of the castle, like if the castle was reacting to their argument and split them apart, he felt unable to recognize the place he was in now, as if he was warped to a different period of time, the walls, the windows, all looked old and in ruins, the fog was present in that hallway since the windows were damaged, allowing it to slip inside and wrap the place on a cold embrace.
The hallway was in the state as it was after Nightmare Moon attack, Stormy called Luna name again, but there was no reply, only a faint echo of his own voice in the emptiness, as he walked, he saw several ghost running from behind him, scared, his radio static grew, as he noticed something, at the door he just entered in, Nightmare moon was present in all her dark glory, some guards were stopping her, but Stormy knew how this was going to end.
“Oh Ponyfeathers, hit the deck!” Stormy yelled as he dodged a flying guard.
“Hold your positions! The Princess is coming!“ The lead guard instructed as he tried to prepare his spear, hesitant to attack the moon princess
“Step aside insolent fool!“ Nightmare Moon yelled charging her horn.
Stormy saw how Nightmare got rid of the ponies holding her, throwing them towards the windows, she then faced Stormy and shoot a magical blast, Stormy dodged again, but saw that his head was missing some mane, it was a real blast, with that hint it was obvious he needed to get away fast, he tried to shield himself, but the attack when right through his moondust shield.
“S-shit, I forgot she controls moondust magic as well”
With no other option to fight her, he tried to outrun the princess, he started to run fast, using his moondust on his hooves to increase his speed, Nightmare Moon jumped towards him, surrounding him in black smoke, similar to his moondust magic, this canceled his magic for speed, Stormy reacted quickly and used his own dust to cover his mouth and nose, to prevent him to suffocate.
“Smart my guard, but not enough Mr Brave,“ Nightmare Moon said as her mane wrapped around him
“MMMPPPH“ his scream was being muffled by his own magic, as nightmare started to crush his bones
Feeling a pain like nothing before so far, he started to attack “Luna“, trying to break free, he managed to do it, the anger in Nightmare eyes indicated a lust for blood, was he really fighting the princess?
Nightmare jumped for a new attack, a soft click was heard and the floor where Stormy was standing on opened up, making them both fall into a ramp that rolled them over a bottomless pit, all while a distorted laughter rang on their heads, Nightmare Moon started to disappear revealing she was but an illusion, Stormy fell towards darkness, at least until he managed to spot something coming closer to him, a red floor, like in his own personal nightmare.
Knowing what was going to happen, he used his moondust magic to create his dust wings and lower his decent, the Laughter Element was flashing in and out in his neck, as if it was a beacon of Stormy’s state of mind, Stormy pulled out his chainsaw to defend himself, only to find he was holding his mother dismembered hoof, he dropped the hoof and found out the princess neckplate bloodstained on the floor, and a large blood trail, leading to Equestria knows where, this started to feel awfully familiar to him, but swallowing a little bit of bravery he walked in further into the hallway, he could hear screams from ponies familiars to him, Redhoof, his Mother, Pinkie pie, and finally, Luna herself, trying his best to block out the screams, even with his magic working, he started to tear up, his body was far more honest than his mind.
“T-this isn’t happening!, I did not injured or harmed anypony!, please tell me I hit my head with a rock on my way here, please, if this is a nightmare, somepony please wake me up!, please!”
Despite his plea in his mind, he started to run more quickly now, he was worrying about the princess, about his brother and about himself, he quickly reviewed his saddlebags, only to find something that made him lose the last bit of confidence in himself, the laughter element not emitting a single light, and Pinkie cutie mark torn from her body was sitting now on his bag, making it bloody, he then stopped.
“No, no no no no no,” he repeated over and over, his eyes now reflected the fear he was feeling inside of him.
He felt something heavy on his hoof, it was a guard sword, his sword, the one he lost to the Skeletal Mare, now his bravery finally died as he knew exactly where this was going, he tried turning around, to run towards the dark void behind him, rather than facing what he was about to see, but his body took him to a simple room, round and big, inside, he found Redhoof scared of him, Stormy tried to talk to her, as she had her hoofgun aiming at him, Stormy was trying to tell her to shoot him, if there was anypony that could put him down was her, but his hoof moved first, thrusting the blade on the mare chest, she cried, screamed as the blade was sliding more into her, and although Stormy was seeing this, he smiled, however, in his mind, he was screaming, begging to stop, it was like being trapped on your own body, your own personal prison.
As he took out the blade from the mare body, the next target was the princess, contrary to Redhoof, she did not hesitated and started to shoot him, Stormy dodged and attacked, the princess blocked and made a successful parry, however, the colt used his horn as weapon, trusting the princess chest, then, he chopped the princess head, smiling with a sick laughter, the last ones in the death roll were Pinkie Pie and Mistshine, both hugging themselves in terror, as the colt raised his hoof, and made a powerful cut in the chest area, Pinkie screamed, as he felt her blood splattering his face, Mistshine died instantly however as the colt rose his hoof one more time to end the little pony Stormy stopped, his body no longer responding, almost as if something had intervened, in his mind the stallion quickly took his chance, one final chance.
“N-not this time, no more, no more suffering, I will end these nightmares, EVEN IF I HAVE TO BURN MYSELF TO DEATH TO ACHIVE IT!!“
With one last yell, he let his horn shine and casted a moondust shield around him, once that had inverse spikes, the spikes quickly pierced his own flesh, one quick fire spell later, the spikes acted as flamethrowers, burning him up, as he yelled in pain he felt something unusual, a strange cold running down his spike, his spirit was being pushed out backwards from his own body.
Once his spirit was away from the spiked shield, he found that his body was now facing him the corpses and the body where slowly melting, all the blood, coat, mane, organs, all of them went through the fence floor, then he noticed, he was in the “other world “ But how?, the alarm didn’t go off, then he noticed, his body was also melting away, the form of the pony he had in front of him, the bones from “Pinkie“, “Mistshine”, “Luna” and “Redhoof” where moving towards a floating skull that it was all left from his original body, getting itself together, the raincoat turned into a robe, while the bones just joined together, all the blood from the corpses returned to the bones, forming a more feminine look, but still skeletal, the face specially, had a sick smile but also, half of her other reformed face, had a sad look, with a closed eye the bone snapped in 2 with a scythe cutie mark, give away her identity, even if she tried to hide her face with her mane and her robe, covering her more “normal” look.
“YOU, The Skeletal mare. I was wondering when I would get to face you alone,” Stormy said, getting ready for battle, his eyes showed a determined look.
“It’s….ti..me” she said coldly.
The creature attacked first, Stormy dodged the attack, by instinct he put his hand on his saddlebags to get a weapon, but he felt it more lighter than before, he found only his pipe, chainsaw, his bro wrench, his ocarina, his sister tiara, the laughter element, 2 green apples and the book of harmony.
The creature attacked again, Stormy blocked it with the pipe, successfully sending her back, however, the creature was using Stormy sword, a sword specially crafted for the Lunar Guards, so a metal pipe was not going to hold for long, a second blow from the creature came swiftly towards him, Stormy shield himself with his magic, but the sword went right through it after a few swings, he blocked it with the pipe just before the blade hit his neck, a snapping sound came with the strength of the impact one weapon down.
The creature was too quick for him to catch or defend accordingly, so he decided to concentrate on the element he was wearing, laughter, he simply must forget, even for a second, where he is. He remembered the happy moments with Pinkie and her mother the element reacted to this and boosted Stormy agility, smiling he took out the chainsaw, jumping towards the mare.
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Stormy laughed sickly as he launched his attack.
Skeletal Mare blocked with the sword again, the sword resisted the powerful blow of the weapon, but the weapon was not turned on, the creature tried to stab Stormy with it, he dodged by bouncing off, this sudden change of actions made the creature unable to tackle well the attacks, as Stormy used the element to his advantage and his memories of Pinkie to always find a funny opening on the situation, specially riding the creature using her bone wings as handles.
He finally found a good opening to attack, he managed to hit the creature on the abdomen, as soon as he made sure he hit her, he turned it on the chainsaw, true to its nature, the blade quickly cutting the flesh of the creature, which made her scream, before he could hit the bone, the creature took flight, launching herself towards Stormy, he used his moondust to make trampoline and dodged the incoming low swing attack the creature made, Stormy then decided, it was better to let the creature render useless to fly so he cannot be at a disadvantage, so he turned the chainsaw on again and jumped towards the creature with another trampoline, in one quick swing, he painfully cut the Skeletal Mare bone wing off, making the creature crash, the large impact was enough to make it lose grip of Stormy’s Swotd.
“One weapon down, woah!” Stormy said as he saw a quick flash image, he dodged only to be greeted by the creature spare weapon, a scythe. “Yep, forgot about that one.“
The creature attacked again with her own weapon, she was acting more like the Grim Reaper, Stormy seems to know that monster, as he remembered the school play Redhoof made for him once, that was the same monster, but a even more powerful version of a Shadow Performer, he was quickly corrected in this, when he attacked with the chainsaw, the monster disappeared and reappeared behind him, successfully cutting him in his back, the cut was enough powerful to tear apart the saddle bags and let all his items loose on the floor, the creature looked at all items, and stopped when she saw the tiara.
“Ow!!, Damn it that hurts!” Stormy said to himself, the Laughter element was dimming it’s brightness.
“…..m…ine…” the creature said with difficulty.
The creature attacked again, Stormy, bleeding, managed to block it with the chainsaw, the sharp point of the scythe manage to hurt Stormy horn base, by instinct, he used his moondust magic to force the creature to step away from him, he then used the same technique he had used with his pipe, he transferred some of the moondust magic to his chainsaw and attacked the creature, he was trying to make a explosion at close range to the creature, she noticed this and jumped high, using her other good wing to hover a little, before dropping to Stormy, taking him to the floor, she raised her scythe to deliver a finishing blow to her victim, Stormy used the chainsaw again and made a clear cut to the creature remaining wing, the charged blade was sure to injure her since the tiny explosion did happened.
Incapacitated, the creature let a powerful scream, that made Stormy drop his weapon, the creature attacked again, but the scythe was stuck in the ground, next to Stormy face fortunately, she attacked with her hooves, furious, although they had a little of flesh, the hits where painful and hard to avoid, punching Stormy chest repeatedly, he started to cough blood as the creature was using her remaining bones of her bone wings to cut Stormy chest. As he screamed, he tried to reach to one of the weapons he had at the side, he couldn’t pull them up with magic, the stress of the moment was acting as a block to his magic, that’s why the unicorns must always have a calm and collected mind, even in the most dreadful situations.
He extended his hoof as far as he could until he felt something in his chest, a very painful sensation, he noticed the creature had stabbed him with the remaining of her wing, she smiled as she started to insert the bone more deeper into Stormy chest, he manage to hold something, it was his brother wrench, he swung it as hard as he could, and manage to hit the creature on her head, it bounced back, removing herself from Stormy body, feeling the bone almost to his heart he got himself up, he couldn’t take out the bone, that would made him bleed constantly and in the middle of a fight, loosing blood like that could put the outcome to the creature favor.
“Aahh, this hurts like hell, but I can wing it now, heh, ow,” Stormy cracked a bad joke as he recalled what bone he has on his chest.
Against the pain he was enduring he continued to fight, he remembered the song he just recently found out, Luna’s Prayer, it could help him get the boost he needs with the moondust magic, he jumped and pick up his ocarina, taking advantage of the dizzy state his foe was at the moment, he transformed the ocarina to a Lyre with the spell from the library and played Luna’s Prayer, he felt the power of the moonlight starting to build up in his body, as if he was getting renewed.
But as quickly as his heal came, so did a sharp pain, coming from his back, it was the creature scythe, the dizziness didn’t last long enough and he didn’t calculated it well, the moondust manage to shield him a little, but not enough to prevent him losing his focus, ending the song before time and canceling the effects, the creature then jumped towards Stormy and with her hoof, pushed the bone further, reaching his heart.
“AAAAH!!!! N-no!! not now!” he yelled, as he felt the most sharp pain in his life.
“it…..is time….to pay…” she said with a sick smile.
Stormy didn’t had any energy left, the bone manage to reach his heart, he felt as if each heart beat, rose the sharp end of the bone making him bleed, this put a heavy stress in his mind, making him to lose grip of his ocarina and wrench, falling both to the floor, still conscious to see but not to respond quickly enough, the creature took the scythe out of his back, ready to deliver the final blow, Stormy, tried to escape, to reach to one last hope, one last chance to defend himself, leaving a blood trail, his blood was leaving his body due to his wounds, the creature just followed silently, Stormy could not see well, but he grabbed something, something light and shaped like a C, the creature rose her scythe again.
“….!?”
The Skeletal Mare froze, Stormy felt he was going to have a quick end, but the item on his hoof stopped the creature, it was becoming bloodstained, Stormy rested enough to see what he was holding, it was her sister tiara, the creature curious stopped and took a sniff of the object, Stormy tried to take it away from it, since it was very precious to him.
“I will not….let you have it….it belongs to my…sister…” he said, spitting a little blood from his mouth.
“…….s……i……….s…….te……r….?” the creature said as she seems to remember something
Stormy was perplexed, he was there, ready to be finished, his strength has finally left him and yet, the creature didn’t attack, in fact, her expression now shows a confused state and some remorse, the laughter element was shining and it was the only thing keeping him alive, as he felt on his back, he felt something holding him and felt something warm on his chest, it was blood, but coming from the creature eyes, she was crying, as she seems to have remembered something, the part of her face that was hidden by the robe could be seen now, Stormy saw this change and used the last of his magic in bringing the element closer to her face, as expected, it shinned more and more as the memory of Sunnybreeze was present in his mind, he noticed the creature stepped away, scared as Stormy got himself up very weak but smiling happily.
He approached the creature, no longer afraid of it, instead he was smiling warmly, opening his hooves, seems he understood something or rather remembering something.
Remembering all the happy moments that made Stormy smile with her sister, how she made his Moonlight Strike costume, how she read him heroes comic books before sleep, and how she sang like an angel to him when he or Mistshine where going to sleep and had nightmares, but most important of all, how she also played as Death on the university shows, making fun of his brother, that she will come for him if he don’t behave or mistreat others, she always put the costume for Nightmare Night and told her 2 brothers.
“If you stray from the path or carry any sin, I will be waiting, to bring you a painful end”
Of course the teasing was never beyond that point and maybe some fun roleplays once Stormy became of age, all those memories, made him no longer fear Death, in fact, those memories were telling him he was going to be fine. As he finally got close to the Skeletal mare, he laughed happy, as he with his hooves removed the creature robe from her head placed the tiara on its place, as he suspected it was the same measurement as Sunnybreeze, her tiara was actually custom made, the rose on the tiara was crafted by her mother, and no other mare he knew could use it, this was prove enough of it, as the flower in the tiara sit comfortably, on the edge of the creature ear, finally exhausted he collapsed on the floor.
“a….h……a……h….a.ha…ha….” the Skeletal Mare had problems laughing.
Seeing Stormy immobile, she got herself up and tried to shake off the tiara, holding her head, she needed to give the colt her finish blow, one blow and that’s it, she turned the colt around, she wanted to see the light in his eyes fade away as he died, taking out the bone, Stormy let another scream, but more quietly than before, indicating his lack of energy and more than notorious blood loss, the creature raised her weapon and attacked.
“I….c.a…n’t…” Skeletal Mare said, her voice was notorious of a monster, but had traces of regret.
The scythe blade stopped, just millimeters from the colt chest, she couldn’t bring her hoof down and was now crying, she dropped her weapon on the floor, getting close to Stormy, she tried to get the colt back up, her expression on her pony side of the face, the one that still had flesh in it had changed completely, from a furious anger, to a sad and desperate look, her tears where no longer made of blood and her structure as a hole, started to change, in her eyes anyway, the red dot on her “monster” half was replaced by a blue one, while the eye that was covered by the robe not only looked normal, but some freckles on her cheeks had appear, she seems to finally have some sort of normality that allowed the colt to see her feelings through her expressions, the laughter element continue to shine on Stormy´s neck, his smile was not able to be hidden from his face, as well as the sadden face the creature had at this point, seeing the colt bleeding, expressing a remorse, all that could be seen in her eyes
The colt only let a few words, as he hugged the creature, smiling, as he just finally found out an answer in the creature behavior for the “truth” that Ponyville was supposed to hold.
“Big Sister, Sunnybreeze, is it, is it really you?”
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay, computer acting up again
Chapter 14 (Final) - Payback for Stolen Time (Nowhere) -
Skeletal Mare, or rather, Sunnybreeze Memory was trying to make Stormy react, the wounds from their fight manage to take a heavy toll on the colt, rather than the creature, the tiara on her head made obvious her resemblance with Stormy big sister. In fact, without the bone wings, it looked like her, at least on her left side of her face, Stormy was out cold, losing blood more quickly, the creature although she was unable to speak, desperation could be easily seen on her face, completely shattering her killer side, as if the tiara was a dead ringer for Sunnybreeze.
Stormy was still smiling despite being unconscious, remembering his sister made the laughter element powerful enough to keep him alive, the Skeletal Mare decided to take him back to the castle to treat him, but as her feelings were coming along, so did the other monsters, trying to end what the mare started, including the very colt that Stormy feared, the Iron Mask Pony.
He instructed all the monsters to attack, however, there was one monster missing on the horde of creatures, the Plastic Mare. Wounded by the previous encounter, the Skeletal Mare did something classified as dumb, but also brave, she used the remaining bones of her wings to form a circle around Stormy body and gave him back his sword, the bones acted as a protection ritual, forming up a barrier, while she, with her scythe in hoof, decided to take down as many monsters as possible.
“… I’m… po…s…it…ive th…is …i…s cr…a…zy,” Skeletal Mare said to herself, but with her notorious monster voice.
The monster started the assault, eliminating most of the monsters with the exception of the Shadow Armors, Shadow Performers and some of the huge monsters that just limit themselves to watch the mare efforts, mostly by the fact that, despise being a memory of Sunnybreeze in a way, she is still a monster, hence her weapon might be fast paced, but not powerful enough to hurt the creatures made of shadows, specially the Iron Mask Pony.
Despite the fact that she eliminated the creatures quickly like she always did in the past nights, more monsters kept coming, slowly but surely she will be overwhelmed, they were coming in groups not larger than 2 or 3 at a time, however, as soon as she attacked the bigger treat, the Iron Mask, her scythe broke, by the creature own blade, he took the creature from her neck, and started to choke her, she then tried to use her powerful bones to release herself from his grasp, but the creature only smiled at her attempts to save herself.
“You…wasted….your….potential…” Iron Mask Said with a sinister smile.
He raised his hoof with the butcher knife on it and swing it downwards towards the creature back, breaking her spinal column, a sharp scream was heard causing all normal monsters to cover their ears, the creature despite bleeding herself to death noticed this and tried to let out another scream, but the Iron Mask covered her mouth with his hoof, as he ripped off her black robe, revealing all her body, her wounds and parts of her skeleton, thanks to Sunnybreeze tiara, her body was looking more pony by the second, thing he took advantage of and started to torn her apart, bone by bone, smiling as he enjoyed her suffering, the other monsters recovered from the scream and aided the masked creature.
Skeletal Mare internal organs were exposed as soon as her ribs were torn out, the Iron Mask instructed the other monsters to hold her, they were so lost in the dark aura of the hell they were in, that they obeyed without question. Iron Mask came closer to the creature he was torturing, he first made sure to rip a little of her liver, before trying to decide which organ he will take out first, he decided to go for the stomach and with his teeth, he took a bite and pull it out, spitting all the dark red blood across his mask and hooves, the creature tried to scream, but nopony could hear her, a Ceiling Filly had its cyan suit removed and improvised a mouthfold.
Even Stormy’s kills to the other creatures were merciful compared to what Iron Mask was doing, enjoying the scenario, he pulled some needles to make her nerves of her body react to every single touch, he then finished up ripping the Skeletal Mare liver, only to be taken out from her body from this sadistic creature, finally, he let the heart for last, he took Sunnybreeze tiara from the creature head, and started to carve Stormy own cutie mark on her heart, the Skeletal Mare couldn’t take it anymore, as she felt all her strength going out, slowly fading out of consciousness, dying. To end her misery, the Iron Mask Pony stabbed several times the Skeletal Mare heart with Sunnybreeze tiara, until the muffled screams of the mare ceased.
Having finished with his work, the Iron Mask let the corpse drop heavily on the floor, as he get closer to Stormy still unconscious body, removing the bones one by one with his butcher knife, he then took Stormy from his neck, the laughter element launched a powerful electrical charge made Stormy wake up, only to see what happened to the Skeletal mare.
“S-sis,” Stormy said with anger in his tone, his eyes quickly recovered their color.
“… tasty…dess..ert…” Iron Mask said smiling with content in his heart.
Outraged, Stormy’s eyes quickly lost any sparkle of fear he might had, he took his sword with his magic and manage to injure the hoof that was holding him, he wanted to fight, but seeing the situation where he was, he had no shape to fight this manifestation, at least not now, his only hope was to recover his weapons and run as fast as possible, all the weapons levitated and flew upwards surrounded by a magical aura, to a hole on the ceiling.
“Oh come on!, ok that’s it!” Stormy said already upset.
The element reacted and created a light based Party Cannon, shooting one single light based cake that pushed all the creatures away from him, including Iron Mask, sadly, this caused Stormy to be unable to move again due to his weakened state, an organ sound was heard far into the castle, and all the monsters felt into a trap door, Stormy ground shook hard making him hold into it, seeing how the hole was coming closer, by the time he reached the top, all he saw was the remaining of his items scattered on the floor plus the weapons that were levitated, next to a brand new saddlebag that had old lunar guard designs, from 1000 years ago, and a note.
"I'm so sorry Stormy... Wish I could do more to help. I'll be waiting for you in the castle lobby."
It was the princess hoofwriting, smiling that the princess was not angry at him, he picked up all his items, changing his saddlebags and putting all his items in the new bags, restocking himself, he removed his damaged raincoat and ate the 2 apples he had and treated himself with the last bandage he had, changing his old dried blood ones, closing the wounds the best he could, after patching himself up he put his raincoat back on, the sword he lost, was now on his back, like at the beginning, he walked towards the lobby, during his way, on what it seems a very large hallway, he could hear voices, echoes of his past, one of them in specific, was reflected on one of the many windows in the hallway, just like the a stained glass on the Canterlot Throne Room, Stormy saw memory in specific, as If he was watching a movie remembering something of his own past.
“Brother, please hold on!, stay with me, STAY WITH ME!“ said a younger Stormy, carrying an injured pony in his back, it was connected to several devices that he kept floating with magic
“…” the pony didn’t replied, but was breathing
The moment showed a train, crashed in the middle of the road between Canterlot and Ponyville, with a mysteriously black pony following them, as soon as Young Stormy noticed this, he started to run, towards a deep wood area, which seems to resemble the Everfree Forest
“This is when I escaped from Manehatten, I had to take my brother away because he was coming for him,“ Stormy said as he watched his younger self run away.
He closed his eyes a moment and found himself back in the same hallway, he noticed another window with color, it had the same pattern as the one that he already checked, this time however, the memory was not only vivid, he saw and felt everything, as he started to remember something very painful, he closed his eyes, letting his memory take him deeply into his past, a not pleasant trip.
It was in Manehattan, shortly after Redhoof death, the police of Manehatten were searching for Stormy all along, the mayor son plan to blame Stormy for both his lover and the mayor death worked perfectly, once they entered his house, unfortunately for him, he was there, dressed up as Moonlight Strike, his suit was torn and he was bleeding from his upper hooves, Stormy just had a fight with Blackhorn, trying to save Redhoof life after all, but failed, and his wounds are proof of it, Keeneye tried to convince Stormy to give in, however, Silverbadge had other orders,
“Stormy Brave!, or should I say Moonlight Strike, by the new mayor orders you are under arrest, your punishment, is to be banished from Equestria,“ the officer said with a more than notorious smirk
“WHAT!?“ Keeneye and Stormy yelled in unison
“The mayor contacted Princess Celestia about all your current murders, and as you know, a murderer cannot live in Equestria, let alone a Thief and Murderer, make this easy for yourself kid, and just surrender,“ The officer said as he draw near Stormy with a special ring that render the user incapable of casting spells
“Silverbadge, t-the evidence from earlier don’t point towards him, I actually don’t think this is a good idea,“ Keeneye pleased to his boss sense of logic.
“Just shut up and catch him! THAT’S AN ORDER!“ The other officer ordered, as he jumped towards Stormy
“If you really believe that mayor, then you really are just an idiot, and I have a short temper for fools like you,” Stormy said with a tired expression as he prepared a spell.
He did not had any other choice, and nothing he could say could spare him from the corrupt cops orders, he had to defend himself in his own home, against the police ponies, using all his magic acquired so far, he attacked, he even knocked out the captain and used with his own ring to prevent him from casting magic, Stormy modified the lock spell on the ring, making for the captain impossible to remove it.
Several police ponies jumped into him, their lanterns felt to the floor, some of them falling by accident on the curtains, starting to burn the house, some of the police ponies started to beat him up, Stormy used his last resource, his moondust magic, to defend himself and knock down all the other ponies around him, what he didn’t expect, was that his magic actually formed the Spiked Bubble shield, making the ponies seriously injured and splatter him, Keeneye looked shocked, but Stormy looked regretful, with no other option, he teleported to the roof of his house and ran towards Manehatten Town Hall, despise his wounded stated thanks to the police officers.
As the beautiful night shinned its moonlight on him and on the roofs of the city, he knew that he can no longer stay in his birth town, he had to escape, but he was not going to leave his little brother alone, after the attacks the poor colt had suffered in school, he had to get him out of Canterlot Hospital, after all, that menace he is currently facing already had mocked both Celestia guards and hospital staff as well, during his run away, several other police ponies started to follow him from the roofs.
“Hold!, stop!” the colts said running behind him.
Stormy had enough magic enough to slow them down, but he had to be wise, he could use his magic later, he actually was skilled to use ancient spells and arcane magic from 1000 years ago, from what he saw on the books that is, so he prepared a very powerful spell and summoned storm clouds, he launched a bottle with Redhoof cutie mark on the floor, causing the police to be stuck, Stormy bucked the cloud with all his strength, causing the thunders to appear and stun the cops, this should put a stop to their efforts to chase him, for now.
“Good thing I learned the temporal cloud walking spell,” Stormy said to himself as he jumped to another roof.
He reached Manehatten Town Hall, where his friend used to be, sadly, he remembered her death and although he shiver as he entered, he also remembered the secret entrance on the Mayor Office, he went to the office, and was surprised that everything was already cleaned up, after his fight with the “Other Stormy“, he pulled out one of the books in the bookcase, making a elevator appears where the mayor chair was, enough to hold not only the mayor, but cargo, other ponies and cameras equipment, he entered inside and went down to the secret train, inside, he knocked out the 2 guards that guarded the entrance and used their keys to access the private train, he force the conductor to drive, the conductor was scared, due to Stormy wounded state and his bloodstained clothes didn’t helped either.
“Whaaa!, Moonlight, please don’t kill me!“ the conductor said in terror.
“Im NOT a killer for Celestia sake!, just take me to Canterlot,“ Stormy demanded already glowing his horn.
“On the double” The conductor said, not questioning the order.
“Thank you, please hurry last time I used this I had to drive this thing alone,“ Stormy said to the conductor with heaviness on his voice.
“You what?!” the conductor said with surprise.
The conductor notices his seriousness and pulled the lever on the train at full speed, the inertia made the colt fall down the floor, it was not long before they reached to Canterlot, the secret train takes him to Canterlot Train Station V.I.P Section, that only The Mayor, high society ponies, and on very rare occasions, the Princesses used.
“Leave the engine running please,“ Stormy plead, his horn remain lit.
“Why?” The conductor asked.
“Because I will bring along somepony, and depart to Ponyville,“ Stormy said as he ran out of the train.
Stormy used a teleportation spell to quickly travel between the train and the Canterlot Hospital, once inside, he reached his brother hospital room, the room 402, he entered the room, just to find the mysterious black pony ready with a knife next to the pony bed.
“Not this time! “ Mayor” !!“ Stormy yelled as he shot a magical blast from his horn.
The black pony received the hit and made was sent flying across the room, making a hole in the room, Stormy quickly took his brother from the bed he was, along with a portable equipment, used to transport comatose patients from room to room or from hospital to hospital, however, this made the alarm sound, Stormy heart was racing, his brother was going to be in danger constantly until that pony kills him finally, he had to take him to a place he was sure nopony in their right mind will go and that is Ponyville Everfree Forest, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.
The castle was well hidden, and all the creatures in Everfree make it the perfect hideout, he ran towards a elevator, that was closing up, as the medics, nurses and doctors, were getting out of his way and calling the royal guard.
“Out of my way!!“ he demanded.
Seeing that the elevator closed before he could reach, he used a high amount of magic to make one big teleport, to take him and his brother to the train, however, this quickly made his magic to go to dangerously low levels, the train conductor however, was surprised by the extra passenger.
“What in Equestria are you doing?!“ he yelled in shock.
“No time to explain!, to Ponyville!“ Stormy demanded, completely desperate, his mind was shattered to bits.
The conductor notices Stormy as he cared about his brother, and make sure he was ok with all the pipes and equipment to keep a comatose patient alive, putting the train now in Reverse, to reach Ponyville, Stormy took a moment to breathe, however, it was middle way when something went awfully wrong, the conductor on the other side of the cabin let a yell, as the train now went more faster than usual, Stormy tried to talk with the conductor, but he was gone, the glass was shattered and the brakes were destroyed.
“Hehehehe…hahahahaha!!!” Laughter was heard on the walls in the train.
“Oh come on, how he got here so fast!?” Stormy yelled as he knew who that laught belongs.
Stormy had little time, as the train was about to wreck in a pile of rocks that where blocking the tunnel to Ponyville, Stormy picked up his brother from his bed, and attached all the medical equipment to himself along with her brother body, he then activated the emergency breaks, the train wheels stopped their spin, but the train, was not slowing down fast enough, it will not stop in time, Stormy then decided to use the last of his magic to protect his brother, so he made a bubble shield, and opened up the train door, jumping from it.
“LEROOO----!! Gahh!!” Stormy yelled as he felt a sharp pain on his hooves midair.
The crash was loud enough to alert the whole Royal Guard of his location, the pegasus and unicorn guards were coming from him, there was no way around it, he was going to be banished, most likely to the moon, at least he will make Luna company, but first, he have to put his brother to safety, when he got up he instantly fall down on the floor, the shield protected his brother and equipment, but not him, his hooves were badly damaged, he can no longer run and his magic was already exhausted, besides levitation, he cannot do anything else, he then started to walk towards the Everfree forest passing through Ponyville.
As he walked in, he got hit by a needle in his side, this was a more than enough alert to Stormy, the black pony was following them, the needle effect made his eyes suffer a minor fear effect as purple smoke emanates from them, he gathered what he could of strength and stepped inside the little town, the V.I.P tracks were very close to the normal tracks ponies use to travel to Canterlot, the fire would draw the attention of the townsfolk so he had to be quick.
As he moved towards Ponyville, the black pony was following them, not shooting, only enjoying the view of desperation of the stallion, he carved it, flavor it, desired it, every single drop of desperation and fear, however, when Stormy finally reached Ponyville, the lights of the illumination spell from the royal guards shinned on the colt, making the black pony to hide
“Halt!, by Celestia name Halt!“ one of the unicorn guards instructed.
“N-no, I…I cannot” Stormy said, starting to be surrounded by the guards, he could not see well.
One of the guards used a spear to stop the stallion movements, Stormy, irrational due to the fear toxin, had a magic surge, allowing him to get one more barrier, the moondust shield, the guards were surprised, as he returned the spear but not to the unicorn guard, but to the black pony hiding behind the Train station column, and successfully nailing his clothes to the wall.
“Son of a!” The dark pony exclaimed, giving away his location.
“Who goes there?” the guard noticed the figure trying to break free.
This was his chance, as he canalized the moondust shield to his hooves, recovering a little from his wounds, but enough to withstand the pain, he pushed his body and ran towards Ponyville, trying to find the Everfree Forest entrance, the road was already hard, as he visited that place only on his fillyhood, but finding it was not hard, it was near Fluttershy Cottage, he started to bleed, his hooves were dropping bloodstains as soon as he entered the forest, ignoring all the dangers the place have, dangers that were amplified by the fear toxin, he managed to reach the castle, with Mistshine still alive and well on his back.
“We did it brother, we finally did it we are free” he said, exhausted, he collapsed on the floor, near the Elements of Harmony pedestal in the lobby.
“Not quite you little nuisance, you made me run all the way to here, perfect now stay still,“ a pony voice was heard behind him.
“oh no…B…Blackhorn! “ Stormy yelled, as he turned around, only to be hit by a knife handle.
Unable to fight he just watched as the unicorn took out his mask, allowing Stormy to look at those psychopath eyes, as he headed towards the little colt unconscious body, taking him away for Stormy, despite being wounded he followed the twisted unicorn deeper into the castle, his face was unable to be forgotten, that black coat, those deep red eyes and that yellow and blue long mane, the stallion hooves were stained with a dark crimson birth mark that due to its color allow it to hide the real blood on them.
When Stormy recovered finally from the blow, he did his initial search, a search he could recall perfectly, he found the Element of Harmony book and taking out his Ocarina, he learned the songs he could, before going down the armory and taking one of the swords from the armors, he then did his search for the Mayor son, even if he gets banished, he was determined to fight him or at least taking down with him, that psycho had his brother and he had to get him back, however, as soon as he returned to the lobby, he was received with several poisoned needles, feeling dizzy and afraid, he felt to the floor, as the unicorn had his brother floating with his magic
“I could easily turn off his devices you know? But I want you to suffer, is more fun that way,“ Blackhorn said, completely lost in his own madness.
“Why just why?!“ Stormy demanded to know his reasons; the purple mist from the fear toxin was a little darker than before.
“Your family almost discovered my other artistic business, I cannot let the world know that im an assassin for hire for a reason kid, besides, I have more magic than you; I can live your life, then my life as the new mayor in Manehatten and continue to my noble work.” Blackhorn gloated about his actions
“Grrr” Stormy tried to get up, the mist was fading.
“Your mother loved my work you know? And your sister was just a imperfection I had to correct,“ he said laughing, as he pulled out a bag.
“Imperfection?” Stormy questioned, looking at the bag.
“Yes, all ponies are the same in death, rich, poor, health or not, Everypony dies at the end, however, their beauty fades quickly, im simply doing a favor to Equestria by perfectly preserving their beauty for all eternity, see for yourself,“ Blackhorn said with a smile, as he tossed the bag
The bag contained his mother severed head and limbs, perfectly preserved, like if she was some sort of stuffed animal, this made Stormy scream, terrified, the fear toxin has kicked in by this at full strength and gave the black unicorn all the time in the world to do what he wanted with the young stallion, he used a blinding light spell making Stormy unable to see anything. Only his distorted laughter could be heard as his body felt all kinds of pain in every region of his body, even places nopony should even harm.
Once Stormy could open his eyes, he was back at the castle hallway, but he was very close to the stairs, and could see the element of harmony pedestal, he was no longer afraid, his eyes now show bravery but also, the same compassion he shared for his brother.
“I… know the truth now, “ Stormy said with a strong tone, as he went down to the first floor.
On the first floor, the princess was waiting for Stormy, as soon as she was able to spot him, she hugged him, Stormy hugged her back, crying heavily, as he just finally let it all out, he told the princess, between sobs and tears, the final memory he just saw and how his mind finally recovered all his lost memories, Luna taking this as Princess she was, all she could do was to hug the colt, hug him and not letting go, but inside of her, she was wishing she could meet this Blackhorn fella to show him what true terror is like, and to make him suffer every single time he made Stormy miserable, until his mental breakdown had passed.
She was puzzled however, how did one pony trick 2 towns in order to go as far as banishing other pony to the moon or the sun?, contrary to her, Stormy could have not survive the banishment, since he is not immortal, once Stormy finally end crying, the princess let just a few words, with wisdom in them to finally put an end to the ghost of the past.
“Do not let your past torture you anymore Stormy, you are a good pony, please, let the past be past, and walk to a brighter future“
Stormy nodded in agreement as he and Luna got themselves up and saw the Element of Harmony Pedestal, however, the pedestal had one thing on it, the Elements, in their round stone shape, or at least the laughter element, however, the other ones were missing, and had some things in their corresponding places, in Honesty, there was a badge, reading Manehatten Police Officer Keeneye, In Loyalty, Redhoof ribbon and some of her mind potions, In Generosity, Sunnybreeze bloodstained tiara, in Kindness, Mistshine Posey Doll and finally,on Magic, Celestia bloodstained armor.
Both ponies looked themselves, and decided to search for the remaining spheres, corresponding to the elements representation, they searched the castle hallways, however, all the hallways were changed, they searched room by room on that long hallway, most of the doors were busted, with exception of one, when they entered in it, they found a replica of Mistshine bedroom, with several drawings of pony anatomy parts, however, what stood out was the Kindness element holding a piece of paper, it was a simple paper, written as a last will, it says;
“If something happened to me, I want all my blueprints about techno pony parts, to be given to Canterlot or Manehatten Hospital, so they can use them on other ponies, I know somepony will perfect them if im gone “
It was Stormy little bro hoofprint, Stormy took the Kindness element, as he promised his brother “ Don’t worry bro, I will find you, I will make you wake from your coma, and you can see your work in action, all that kindness and generosity, that you are showing to other ponies, through your work, will not be misplaced “, both ponies stored the element on the saddlebags and continued.
The hallway shapeshifted again, it had a few creatures now, 2 Ceiling fillies, Luna shoot them to drop them on the floor, both ponies ran, searching for the door that was correct, but the monsters recovered quickly and attacked, Stormy having no time for it, equipped his sword and attacked, making an instant but painless kill to the creatures, Luna opened the door, only to find it was a replica of a police office, more concrete, Manehatten police department, there were several pictures of Moonlight strike on the walls, and on one specific desk, there was the Honesty element, and in a rookie desk, the Generosity element, Stormy noticed the Honesty element was in Keeneye desk, while the Generosity one, was in Sunnybreeze desk, Stormy saw that Keeneye, left a report without date, but half finished, he read it as he seem to be called by it, the report said;
“I honestly find hard to believe what the newspapers says, I have worked many years on this job and I have only found out so far how hard the truth can be, but saying lies or worse, living a lie, is no way to reveal or hide it either, I apprehended a couple of street thugs yesterday, and they said something interesting, they said that Moonlight was innocent, I asked them why they care, since Moonlight was the sole reason they were hiding before committing crimes, they stated that the Black Shadow will erase all criminals, and the pony was very psychotic and sadistic, that description, didn’t matched Moonlight at all, it matches more the serial killer we have been search for days, and was responsible of the death of our teammate Sunnybreeze, if I can connect the points somehow, I will have this resolved, also the captain is a sellout, yesterday, I found him taking money from a thief, hate to say, but seems Stormy was right, even if I break my hoof I will show everypony the truth in this town.“
Keeneye never believed in the lies of the Mayor, no matter how hard the truth was and he shared his honesty towards others within his department, while her sister desk, that had the Generosity element, it only had a few words crafted on the desk, it was carved with a military knife, Sunnybreeze despite being a pacifist, knew how to fight in hoof to hoof combat, knowledge she shared with her brothers.
“No matter what happens, I will always stays by my brothers side, even if they take the wrong path, I will follow them and bring them back to the good way, like a guardian angel, my family is all I have left, Stormy might be a thief, or at least that is what the media says, I know for a fact he always come home with a empty hoof or with little money, enough for the 3 of us to eat, if he really was a thief, he will come with more money, I will always watch over my brothers and repay his generosity to the town he is helping“
That was Sunnybreeze letter, is true, she even was the one that made Stormy his Moonlight costume, she was always with her and Mistshine at all times, he took both elements and Stored them in his saddlebags, before smiling relieved her sister was not mad at him for her incident or his decision of becoming Moonlight Strike, as both ponies exited the room, they instantly entered another one, closing the door behind them, it was a room of a mare, several beauty objects could be seen, along with a closet full of clothes and some questionable couple items, but the most important object of all, was the Loyalty element, next to a diary, Luna checked the closet, noticing she was in the room of the first mare Stormy dated, she noticed seeing that she was also a gamer on her days, probably thanks to Stormy’s influence, as she found a little Game Pony Advance SP, with a copy of Super Spike Brothers – SuperRuby Saga – and other mobile consoles, but also found, several kinky stuff, she could learn the type of personality she had, extroverted, lustful, but kind of childish and kind at heart, Stormy could not read Redhoof diary out of respect, but Luna could, she took the diary and read the latest entry;
“Stormy was the first pony to actually show me kindness and she also protected me, always, I actually visit his home very often or escaped from my window to visit him and his little bro, they are good ponies and here with my father, I only get angry, mostly when dad wants to force me to date high society ponies, I hated it so much, however, Stormy actually showed me to smile, I was jealous when he mentioned Pinkie Pie, as a mare that help him to smile, to be honest, I want to say hi to that pony but im getting off track here.
Today I actually could apply the kindness that Stormy had taught me, on the same ponies that bullied me, it felt great to help them, Billy was about to be banned from the school, by something he didn’t do, while Madeline, she specially earned herself detention when she punched Howard, and although I couldn’t take her out of it, I stayed with her until detention ended, and I actually forgive them, it was hard at first, but then I remember, I’m the mayors daughter, I have to set a example to others, yet, the only thing I did so far was to be lustful and seductive, but I was not doing anything for anypony, I guess destiny intervenes in a ironic way, that a “low class “ pony as Stormy ( I hate when my father use those terms to refer to Stormy family, they are my friends! ) , could show me, a “high class“ pony, how to be a better version of myself, why not show that to others?.
I felt great helping those ponies, and when I apply as mayor, I will do better than dad, and make sure Manehatten learns to be a little more kind to others, that is my dream, as for Stormy well, I hope we can improve I have several fun things I want to try with somepony special hehe, but in truth, more than lust for him, I love him a lot, and I will remain by her side, loyal to him to the death, other ponies may look at me, but only one has got close to my heart to own it.“
“Things to do with somepony special?., all this costumes, She better have not done what I think this means Stormy!“ Luna said, blushing hard and letting her imagination run wild.
“Ummm, I, I , me, we, she, oh crips, yes, we did it a lot of times together, is that what you thinking princess?“ Stormy said, looking at the princess with a grin but a heavy blush.
“Eeeehh, nothing nothing!, I was thinking nothing at all, is not like I was curious on how it feels or anything!“ Luna said, her blush was more than evident, she clearly knows what she had in her mind, the mental image was not going away.
“You are such a terrible liar missy, naughty princess thinking naughty thoughts?, your wings are open dear, you can’t hide it“ Stormy said in a joking matter, poking that the princess wings.
Stormy left the room with a huge smirk as he knew Luna was thinking a lot of what Redhoof and him did in the past, only to enter now into Princess Celestia room, the one from 1000 years ago, but it was fixed already, the Magic element was next to a letter, Luna draw near and read it;
“Dear Sister, how can you forgive? How could I forgive myself for what I done?, is true, we have power beyond normal ponies could ever dream off, but we shared a bond, a bond that had transcended time, but now I feel hopeless, you are on the moon, and now I have to wait 1000 years to see you pretty face and smile again, I just hope what when you return, I can hug you instead of fight you, laugh instead of cry, share, instead of taking, oh my dear sister, even from far away, even across the stars, I will always love you, and I protect you, even from yourself “
Celestia ruler of Equestria, but her older sister, she always cared for Luna, the ink was fresh, indicating that the letter was recently made, Stormy took the Magic Element as Luna hugged the letter, relieved by her sister words, both ponies returned to the main area, where the elements were missing and they placed all the round stones on their corresponding element place, The Pedestal turned around and revealed one last page, it was the last page of the Element of Harmony Book.
The last song was called The Oath of Harmony, the song description explained very well its effect, is a song that was created at the same time as the Elements of Harmony, and it allows to fortify the element, or all elements if present, with the user own magic, making a momentary super charged version of the element, also, if the pony had one or several qualities of the Elements of Harmony, the song could restore him to his top physical form, healing any severe wounds, but also contained a dark side, if the song was played backwards, it will have the opposite effect, draining the element of their magic momentary to fortify the user, Stormy added the page to the Book of Harmony, completing it successfully, the book shined with a powerful light, indicating that all songs have finally been learned and rejoined their companions, but as soon as the book got completed the alarm when off and the transformation of the castle began.
The walls of the castle where falling down, revealing the metal that used to hold the stone walls in place, everything started to get rusted, including the harmony pedestal, all 6 elements burst into flames, each flame with the colors corresponding to each individual element, and started to spin, making a slow lamp, the hallways door felt to the floor, only to be buried into the stones that felt on them, and then into the darkness from below, the LED Flashlight and Lantern were no longer necessary, the “elements“ provided enough light to see the new palace, however, the ground had little concrete, and in some segments, the metallic fence was visible, a metallic echo, made Stormy turn around, it was the Iron Mask pony, carrying in one hoof, the unconscious body of a foal, the wrench cutie mark was visible along with his hospital robes.
“Mistshine!!, Brother nooooo!!”
Stormy ran towards the creature desperate, as he knew very well what the creature could do to his brother, ready to use his sword to attack, but the Iron Mask rose the hoof that hold Mistshine body, Stormy stopped his attack, only to be hit by the same hoof, Mistshine weigh plus the strength of the creature were extreme, sending Stormy back to his original position, Iron Mask prepared then a brush a old paintbrush, but the brush itself had remaining of old blood in it, making a little cut on Mistshine body, he made a circle very similar to the one Luna and Stormy found on Twilight library, but this one, encased the wounded body of Mistshine in a bubble, that was filling with his own blood, the “timer” was set in some way and Iron Mask smiled, as he looked upon their 2 new playmates.
“I was weak, that’s why you came along and were able to do what you did. “ Stormy said, with a serious look in his face stepping up.
“Stormy,“ Luna was concerned, but was relieved when she saw his guard took out his sword again.
“But that’s all in the past now, I know the truth I had forgotten and now you are nothing more than a stain in the page of my life!, time to correct my mistakes and walk to a better future a future, without you in it,“ he said as he used his guard stance, ready for battle.
“……………………….” A brief moment of silence came, until one word came from the creature “ ………. C̸̙͖̙̗͉͍͓̤̃̉̎́O͖̟̪̦̓̌̚̕M̟̟̮̳͈̈̿̔́͝E̒ͩ͊̔͌̆̊͌͏̶̞̜̮́!!̮͙͚̖͈̯̓̇ͯ͗̌̐ͅ “
“There is no way you will fight him alone this time, this time, i will be together at your side!“ Luna said as she also took out Snowdrop Pipe.
Both ponies started to attack the Iron Mask Pony, but sadly, the creature had a very powerful block, so both attacks didn’t do a thing to him, Luna decided to attack with magic blast, but the attack didn’t moved him, however, his body showed damage finally, Stormy resolve broke the creature barrier of fear, causing attacks to damage it, just like with Black Alicorn.
The bubble where Mistshine was trapped, was getting filled quickly, Mistshine hooves where already covered, Stormy tried to burst the bubble but the sword bounced, Iron Mask was very slow, however, he pack quite a punch, Luna tried to attack but one hit from his Butcher Knife and Luna was down on the floor already even though she blocked it, however, the strength he used was enormous, he raised the knife again, Stormy saw the treat and jumped to a side, blocking with his sword, stoping both his and the creature blade at mere millimeters from the princess face, the princess on the other hoof, used her pipe and hit the creature on its face.
The mask the creature wears absorbs most of the blows, Stormy took advantage and attacked the creature swinging his sword up, the blade manage to cut the chin of the creature and made it step away from the princess, both ponies with the same idea on their minds decided to give the creature a buck, however, he took this chance and took Stormy hooves, smashing him on the floor.
“AAAAAAHHH!!” he yelled as he felt a great pain.
Some of his blood escaped his mouth by the strength of the impact, the princess resorted to her magic power of the moon and summoned a moon spear, throwing it to the creature, it manage to stab him and take it to the floor, however, the creature got himself up, smiling, Stormy attacked again, trying to stab the creature but it only manage to rip away his mask, screaming due to loosing his mask and part of its skin with it, the creature sliced Stormy chest, making a severe wound that rendered him to the floor, the Laughter element got splatter, as the creature took Stormy again, with the intention to torture him, the mask removal manage to reveal it’s horn, and also its skinless flesh, but its sick smile was still there, he smiled as he started to pull the stallion 4 limbs, including his horn, via magic.Stormy screamed from the pressure, Luna shoot a magical blast, however, the creature quickly used Stormy as a shield, hitting her companion made the blast to disperse, and weakened his limbs, a ripping sound was starting to come from the coat he was wearing.
“D͛ͥ̈͆҉̤̜̮ȉ͍͎̉͜͜͟è̦̳̿̊́ “
The creature now pulled even harder, Luna tried to attack again with magic blast on the floor the monster was standing on, but the creature was unaffected by them at the beginning, the ones that did hit him were shielded by Stormy’s body, Luna teleported behind the creature using the Prelude of Friendship Song and changed to Celestia Sword, managing to successfully stab him with the sword in the back, the blade burned like the sun, making the creature loose focus and letting Stormy go.
Stormy, still wounded, saw his window of opportunity and stabbed the creature in his heart while it was dizzy, Luna hit heavily the creature horn, weakening his defense and breaking the protective spell it was casting, however, they both forgot about something, Mistshine bubble, when Stormy looked, all he could see, was his brother face being submerged.
“MMMMPSH!!” a muffled yell came from the bubble.
“Y̴̘̻̮̣͍͇͔̙̼ͧͯ͝o̷̷̭̙̖̼̝̥̽̎ͩu̴̮̮̦ͧ͆͊ͣͭ́ ̬̱̝̦͑ͥ̒l̄̀̓͒ͮͤ͢҉͏̼̥͔͉͍ọ̶̮͚̙̺̬̞̜͛͛͗̔̓̌̒́s͚̋́̏̈͞͡t̰̖͔͕ͤ̌́͌̈́̀͡” The creature started to laugh.
“No…NOOOOO!!” Stormy bucked the creature face hard, silencing it.
Stormy took the creature butcher knife and tried to get him out, the exterior of the bubble showed blood, splattering him, Stormy eyes showed total desperation, being so close to his brother, to lose him, the princess also helped, the creature however, continued to laugh, a sick and distorted laugh that rang on Stormy mind much more harder now.
Stormy continued it’s attempt to break the bubble again, the bubbles of air were coming more slowly, as Stormy felt he lived this before, he dropped the butcher knife, and turned on the chainsaw, something shocking happened, a hoof was forming out, Stormy tried to took it, thinking it was his brother, that he managed to perforate the structure, but the hoof moved and grabbed Stormy from his neck again, chocking him, the hoof was feminine and some bones were also forming, reforming what it seems to be an alicorn mare, Luna noticed this and recognized its foe, she quickly used her magic to levitate her and Stormy out of the way, as the bubble finally burst, leaving all the blood to flush out between the holes of the fence floor, however, a fleshy figure was still there, where Mistshine used to be, her featherless wings, her skeletal design green armor, and her dark violet color reminded very well Luna who she was facing, as of her red moon with grey clouds cutie mark wasn’t enough
“ The night…will last… forever!” The creature spoke
“How many times do we have to kill you?!” Luna and Stormy exclaimed already annoyed to having to fight this creature again.
“2̗͕̲̟̦̤̹̋͑̄̆̅̕ ̢̪̼̲̮̹͓̩͍̋̒̃́́V̵̤́̀̌̉ͭ̎̉̇ͤ͜͞s̶̗͓̝ͮ̃̃ͥ͗̑̊ ̧͇̱̹̇͗́͢ͅ2ͧͭ̆ͨͯ̃̑̇́͝҉͖̻̠ “ The creature said, its smile didn’t go away.
The creature they were facing, the big pony, put himself in front of The Black Alicorn, as she turned into mist and taking the butcher knife, it surrounded the creature, fusing herself with him, the wounds in the creature started to heal, and it’s mask appeared back on its face with a change, in one side, it reflected a mare characteristics, but with eyes resembling nightmare moon, however, no eye sockets, while the other half, resembles a male pony, this one had a eye socket, where the black eyes of the Iron Mask Pony could be seen, its mane grew larger, and his whole physical appearance changed, his ribs ripped through his chest and butcher gown, ripping the clothes he had, the wings where now bat like wings, and his back hooves got slim, his spinal column could be visible in his back and neck, as his fangs grew sharper, and his mouth lost some of its muscle, his front hooves gained muscular structure, marked with some bones exposing ahead of the flesh to protect the nerves, Luna just yelled a disgusted look, but Stormy.
“Heheheheh, Hahahahahah! Hahahahahahah! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! “
Just started to laugh, Luna noticed the element in his neck was shinning more now, almost as if it was fully reacting with Stormy now, when Luna asked him what happened, he just said with a smile.
“He just got wings and pretty make over, seriously, this has to be funny,“ Stormy said with glee
“How can you find it funny?!“ Luna questioned with surprise.
“….” The Iron Mask Pony just stood there, ready to attack.
“Oh Princess don’t you see? “ Stormy smiled, for a moment, Luna could see a faint image behind Stormy, a pink pony faint image that quickly faded.
“GRRRRRRR RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!! “ The fused monster attack not able to ignore anymore the laughs and happiness Stormy gave.
Stormy dodged and attacked with Pinkie Party Cannon, a cake was shot to the creature face, it made impossible to see with the frosting covering the creature eyes, when it removed enough frosting, it notice Stormy hitting him with the cannon itself, Luna saw how the element was shinning as is used to be with Pinkie around, Luna took advantage of this, and attacked the huge pony with her sword, the creature size was huge, leaving both ponies little compared in size.
The butcher knife was lifted and the creature attacked, both ponies dodged at the same time, the knife was stuck on the floor, the duo took advantage of this, and used their combined attack, Luna shoot Stormy as a machine gun and his moondust magic formed some chains that held the creature in place, 3 shoots for a total of 3 chains, both ponies jumped to attack, but the creature broke free 1 of them, successfully hitting both with his butcher knife, his strength was powerful enough to severe injure both ponies and toss them to the ground.
“Aahhh, Celestia damn it!” Stormy cursed, as he was able to recover.
Stormy was relieved that the creature didn’t cut him in half and attacked him with his sword, however, the creature sturdy armor made damage difficult as it was hard to break, he tried to attack the soft spot on the creature stomach, but he felt something moving there, his brother was inside and still alive!.
“Son of a---“ Stormy cursed, already annoyed.
“MMPSH!!!” Mistshine muffled screams could be heard on the belly of the beast.
Stormy more than afraid, was already pissed off at the creature obsession with his little bro, he then stabbed the creature on the chest near his heart to try to get his bro out, even if he has to get in there himself, but he was repelled by a powerful hit with the creature hoof, Stormy coughed blood, his bandages started to quickly stain from that precious red liquid, as well as Luna body and mane, she took the worse part on the previous attack, but she was conscious enough to pull out the cupcake Stormy gave her and used it to heal her wounds.
As her suppositions were correct, the cupcake made by Stormy was very sweet and made with care and love, the sweetness of the honey and sugar matched perfectly in complete harmony with the bread and the other ingredients the cupcake was made out, just like the mint cupcake made by Pinkie, this allowed Luna to recover her magic to full and used it for a healing spell on her wounds, but she will be unable to fight or move, she need something to speed the healing up.
Stormy on the other hoof ate the last 2 apples he had and recovered his magic, he saw the state of the princess, he only thought for one thing that could help them, one last song, the Oath of Harmony, the song he recently found, he went near the princess, as she was still lying on the floor healing herself, he put himself holding the princess, as he started to perform the song, Luna felt him lifting her, making sure she was close to him, putting her horn against her stallion companion body, they focused their magic on the ancient song, Iron Mask attacked before the song could be completed, but the effects of the ancient magic repelled him back.
The results became notorious, the laugher element started to get supercharged, the cutie mark shape on the element changed momentary, to reflect Stormy own cutie mark, as if it was combined with Stormy and Pinkie personalities, but the most important thing was, that both, The Princess and Stormy wounds were getting healed at quick speed, allowing Luna to get herself back, while Stormy had the super charged element, enough to power up the party cannon for a finishing blow, one shot, that’s all he got to end this nightmare but he has to make it count.
Luna, feeling herself restored with the ancient song, used her power and transformed into Nightmare Moon, but her expression and kindness remained, taking advantage of her new size, she attacked the creature with Celestia Sword, the creature was still being held on the floor, the first attack from Luna made the creature left wing to come right off, the second attack ripped the second wing, the Princess sat on the floor, while Stormy, running, jumped on her, and like a trampoline, she lifted Stormy up to the air, Stormy used the gravity to his favor and stabbed the creature on its exposed spinal column, careful enough not to hurt the stomach, where his brother was, the creature roar in pain, as the third and final chain broke, releasing the beast, the creature quickly bite Stormy heavily on his right side, making him bleed again, the princess, transforming into mist, Started to choke the creature, after a minute, the creature could no longer be without air, so he let go Stormy and redirected his attention to the Princess, she stepped away from the creature and returned to her Nightmare Moon form.
“Although I regret everything I done in the past, this is the present!, I already forgive myself for my sins!, so you have no right to be here!“ Luna said to the creature, since the creature is her and Stormy traumas combined.
“I have also committed sins that other ponies would never forgive themselves, mastering Arcane Magic for starters, but I lived with a town mayor daughter and due to me being afraid of everything, I failed everypony I came to love, but that doesn’t determine who I am, what matters is that I’m a better pony I was in the past, and that means that your expiration date just came in today,” Stormy said with determination to erase the creature in front of him, pulling out the party cannon.
The creature jumped again to the ponies, Stormy moved away from the creature attack range, the creature attacked with his butcher knife, but the princess actually dodged more quickly the attack, thanks to the effects of the Oath of Harmony, Stormy started charging up the shot, the creature however was no idiot, Stormy is a sitting duck while charging, it hit the floor with his back hooves, so hard it made Stormy lose his balance, then, he bucked Stormy and made him drop the party cannon, Luna attacked the creature, but the creature let out a powerful lighting magic, to electrocute her, similar in shape as the attack that Black Alicorn used.
Stormy got himself up and searched in his saddlebags, using the moon tear amulet magic, he charged not the element energy, but his own moondust magic, he put all his strength and got closer to the creature, ending below it, in close range to the creature torso, their exposed ribs, Stormy horn glow, he let out a powerful blast was more than enough to rip his organs from the inside and make a hole on the creature chest.
“GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWL”
The knockback effect was enough to lift a the creature a few feet from this, just enough for Luna to return the favor and use her own lighting spell, Stormy jumped towards the princess before he was fried along with the Bloated Butcher. Being an Alicorn, it was far more powerful than the one the creature used, the creature screamed in a distorted voice as it felt to the floor, bleeding its dark red blood on the floor, both ponies took their time and searched for the party cannon, Stormy found it and again, got ready to shoot the final blow, Luna stood behind the cannon, just at time for the creature to notice them, starting to recover, the effects of the song were running out, wounded already from the stabs, Luna assault and the moondust magic destroying his organs from inside, Luna returned to normal and Stormy had charged shot to its max, the Laughter Element shinned like never before
“Disappear! And don’t torture us any more!” Both ponies said at the unison, as they fired the cannon.
From the cannon, a powerful blast of concentrated magic followed by streamers and confetti, was shot towards the enemy, however, the blast had the form of Pinkie Pie, and it was actually, ready to give a good punch, towards the creature, Stormy could swear that he heard Pinkie voice saying “Stay away from my brother!“
As the blast hit the creature so hard, it’s roars of pain echoed on the altered castle walls, the creature dropped its butcher knife, falling to the cold steel floor, Stormy saw how the creature felt to his back, surprisingly, almost dead, Stormy and Luna got closer to the creature and Stormy took the butcher knife, now targeting the stomach, he stabbed the belly of the beast, enough to make a clear cut and try to find his brother, so he could take him out from the creature insides, he felt finally the hoof of his brother, holding him tighter as possible, Stormy started to pull, getting covered in the dried blood of the creature he just took with Luna’s help.
Mistshine was attached to the creature however, so the more they pushed, the more the creature scream and dark blood felt on the floor, the creature made one final push and lifted its hoof, Stormy having more than enough strength, picked up the creature signature weapon and cut the creature stomach once more, ripping off from his brother coat the fleshy web that held him, finally, his brother was free, and finally, with one last pull, ripping Mistshine out of the creature belly entirely, made the monster cry in agony, as it started to melt, Stormy had finally his brother on his hooves, he could feel his breathing, Mistshine was alive.
“Brother, finally, I’m never letting you go again.“ He said as he hugged his brother closely to him, crying but smiling.
“Brother… say something to me” a younger voice was heard.
From the puddle of blood that was lying before him, he could see something else, a reflection of his younger self, but fighting Blackhorn in the same place he currently was, the castle lobby, this time Luna could also see it, as she saw the unicorn that made her stallion suffer, Stormy saw the final memory at last, closing the last page of his past.
After the bidding light the unicorn used before, Stormy could not see, he was already too weak to fight, but the unicorn had set a scenario for him, when the light faded, Stormy saw his brother in a bubble, just like in his fight, but this one was being filled with water, the spell was made by the black unicorn, Stormy noticed the unicorn teleported and taking Mistshine with him, so Stormy searched for him in the castle, during his exploration he found the Book of Harmony and got an idea, learning then a few songs from it, he placed it on his broken thief suit pocket, and returned to the lobby, just to be received with a powerful blow from the butcher knife Blackhorn had, Stormy let his guard down, the blade had cut his back and it didn’t too much for him to start bleeding, his strength was leaving him, and all he could see, was Mistshine bubble, half full already, Blackhorn stepped above him, holding him in place.
“Hold that pose kiddo!, you will make my final trophy…oh yes… you will look beautiful as your face shows the desperation of your last moments! “ the unicorn said holding his butcher knife with his magic.
“Bite…my…plot” Stormy said, as his horn glowed.
“No no no little one, no magic, is enough I had to hear at my sisters moans while you were using it“ Blackhorn said with disgust as he injected Stormy with a needle that contained a inhibitor, he could not focus any spell.
“ahhhhh…” Stormy used what he had of physical strength and took a sharp rock and hit his foe in his left eye.
“AAAAH!!!! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!“ Blackhorn screamed as he stepped away from the colt
“Im not going to run anymore, if go down, I will take you with me! “ Stormy said as he took out his ocarina.
Stormy quickly played the Oath of Harmony, since he was near the real element of harmony pedestal, this made the elements shine, Blackhorn used his knife again but the Laughter rock protected Stormy, the round stoned floated around him and like if it was alive, served as a moving shield, Stormy controlled it and hit Blackhorn several times, with it until the unicorn kicked the element high up to the sky.
“Looks like you ran out of ideas,“ Blackhorn said as he smiled sickly again.
“hahahahaha…..HAHAHAHAHA!” Stormy started to laugh, happy, the purple mist lost its influence.
“What in the hoof you find funny?” Blackhorn questioned, showing an angry look at Stormy’s lack of fear
“Because… you forgot where in Equestria we are standing on, my marefriend says hi by the way,” Stormy said as he moved his hoof holding a pink bottle liquid.
Stormy was no Master Illusionist, but his lover was, her potion making were focused more on illusions rather than manipulation, not only that, but Redhoof compassionate heart gave her illusions potion non-lethal properties such as sleep potions or quick knock out potions, except for one, the pink bottle that Stormy had contained Redhoof only known sample of the “Climax Punishment”, a special potion she devolved for using when someone mess up with her coltfriend, Stormy smiled at the irony of the situation and launched the bottle splattering the contents all over Blackhorn face, his eyes, skin and mouth were covered and just like the illusionist she was, Redhoof potion made Blackhorn quick suffer effect and made him terrified, as he saw behind Stormy not only his dead sister, but also Sunnybreeze behind him, both of them shielding Stormy affectively while looking angry at the dark unicorn, specially Redhoof, her eyes reflected an anger that was not usual on the loyal pony she was.
“Let’s see if you enjoy having somepony else screw with your head Ave Ascende di immortals!” Stormy yelled reciting one of the many chants Redhoof used along with a pose.
Thanks to the Climax Punishment potion, Blackhorn saw how the image of his sister grew in size and kissed her hoof, before squashing him hard like a bug, leaving nothing but a red stain on the floor of the ancient castle.
However, reality was other scenario, as Blackhorn just stayed there, dizzy and out of himself, Stormy just had to held the pose in place and the potion took care of his sanity, this was his chance to cut the enemy magic short, before that though, he freed Mistshine from his water prison and he got his sword read, he jumped towards Blackhorn, cutting the horn on his foe clean off.
Sadly this prove to be a terrible idea, as the pain from cutting such an essential part of a unicorn body was enough to make Blackhorn react and get out of the illusion he was, he yelled and cursed about the fact that he lost his horn, however, once he tasted the remains of Redhoof potion mixed with his blood, he smiled.
“The Climax Punishment potion huh?, gotta admit, I was not expecting that kind of tricks from my little sister,” Blackhorn said ready to shoot both ponies with needles charged with poison.
“B-but you should be dead by now!” Stormy protested, seeing how this pony survived everything he threw at him.
“True, I should, if you had left the illusion going for longer that is, my mind would have suffered a mind crash due to the ingredients, but your actions broke me free, thanks a lot kid, as a reward, I will give both a quick death,” Blackhorn said as he shoot several needles towards both ponies.
“ Help, somepony!!!, ANYPONY!!! AAAAAH!!“ Stormy plead and yelled of pain, covering his brother body with his own, receiving the blow.
“Nopony will hear you scream in the forest idiot!, you trapped yourself!” Blackhorn said, as he picked up his blade and rose it.
“Stop right there criminal scum!“ a powerful magic came and hit the unicorn from behind.
“Royal Guards, what are you doing?, I’m the victim here!“ Blackhorn objected, hiding his needles.
“oh Really?” the guards made room for 2 ponies to come, one that followed them all the way from Manehatten, it was officer Keeneye “because your recent actions says otherwise,“
“You!…but…but I though that---” Blackhorn was confused however, the pony that was next to him made him drop his weapon in shock. “---oh buck me”
“You though you could keep the police in Manehatten quiet and deceive your princess forever, based on fear and lies?” Princess Celestia herself said as she enters the room, her expression showed an angry look, she was holding the Element of Laughter stone.
“Oh crap, here we go,“ Blackhorn said as his hooves placed on his pockets.
“Subjects like yourself disgust me, but I’m willing to offer you a fair trial, come quietly or you will force my hoof, “ her voice was very serious as her horn started glowing.
“I chose the second one” Blackhorn said with a mad smile.
Blackhorn got his needles ready and jumped towards the princess, but he felt a cold sensation going down his spine, when he looked behind, he found that Stormy, used the same sleep needle he used on him and drew him unconscious, Celestia having short patience attacked Blackhorn with a powerful fire spell, burning his coat, Stormy only let a few words before collapsing on the floor
“I could kill you for what you done to me, but then I would become you, I guess the decision was made, root in jail you monster,” Stormy said as he felt to the floor, not letting go of his brother.
“Guards!, quickly!, take him to Canterlot Hospital!, I will deliver the little colt myself,” Celestia ordered as she took Mistshine and his medical equipment
The Princess put back the Laughter Stone on it’s pedestal and it was then when it lost its glow, the song effects had ended, the memory faded to a crimson color, the blood that reflected that memory escaped across the holes in the floor, a door appeared behind them, on the main castle doors next to the Elements Pedestal, revealing to Stormy his exit, big enough for the 3 Ponies to escape, they do not know what lies behind that door, but now, they had each other, The Princess first put her hoof on the big handle, Stormy put his hoof on the handle also, next to the princess hoof, while he had Mistshine on his back, the little colt kept holding on his brother raincoat, indicating he knew he was safe, both ponies opened the door, a bright light was waiting for them, so bright it was almost blinding, but they stepped in together, at the same time, disappearing from that place, then, there was only silence in the ancient castle, except for one small sound, the doorknob falling down, never allowing that door to be opened up anymore.
It felted like hours, before he could clearly hear any sounds, a familiar voice, followed by a name, a name he knew, let him know he was getting back to consciousness.
“Pinkie!, Pinkie!, he is finally waking up!” the voice of a female unicorn could be heard
Good Ending - Reunited Again -
Author's Notes:
Just to clarify my little ponies, the Endings and Hidden chapters that will be uploaded from here on have "Game Rewards", sorry couldn't contain myself
Conditions to Unlock:
- Beat the Game with all pages of the Book of Ancient Songs of Harmony
+Select Laughter Element (Important)
Rewards:
- Brand New Fear Mode
- Alternative Costume Stormy = Moonlight Strike Suit
- Alternative Costume Luna = Nightmare Moon
- Alternative Costume Mistshine = Hospital Robe
- Unlockable Weapon Stormy = Katana
- Unlockable Weapon Luna = Moon Scythe
Stormy´s eyes were getting adjusted to the dim light he was seeing, next to him, was Twilight Sparkle, and hugging him, Pinkie Pie. His head was hurt and felt like a rollercoaster, although he got used to being dizzy up to this point thanks to all his adventure, once he finally could actually say something, his words were simple and short, a simple “Where the hell have you two been?” for starters, question that Twilight Sparkle quickly answered.
“We never left this room, in fact you were under the influence of the Mind Delve spell, you lost temperature so many times I was beginning to think using it was a mistake,” Twilight said with tiredness on her voice.
The Mind Delve spell, so, all that time he was indeed seeing his own memories and Luna’s memories, buried deep inside his sub-consciousness, waiting to be discovered by the pony that forgot them, Pinkie Pie never left his side, in fact, she even had covered him with a blanket due to his body growing cold several times, probably all those times he came close to dying in his nightmare reflected on the temperature dropping on his body.
Pinkie Pie quickly explained that she once had a terrible nightmare and Twilight helped her get rid of it by the same spell, Stormy was shocked as he knew what she meant, she saw her own personal hell in probably same light or worse than the lunar knight.
“I know what happened there brother, that’s why I wanted to be at your side,“ Pinkie said, a little sad she couldn’t be with his brother.
“You were always with me Pinkie, you are my big sister, besides, I don’t think you could stomach the lack of proper cupcakes in there” Stormy said as he hugged the mare, joking.
“Yeah, you are right, that place rarely has sweets, even Discord chocolate milk would have been something funny to drink,” Pinkie Pie returned the joke.
“But Stormy, there is something I couldn’t understand when the spell started, ” Twilight asked with curiosity, watching the stallion reaction.
“Yes Twilight?, what is it?” he questioned.
“I noticed a second trace of energy in your mind, linking the spell with another pony, was somepony else in what you saw?“ Twilight said as he described with her horn 2 lines of energy.
Oh crisps!, Princess Luna was with him when they got out, what if the energy that Twilight felt was Luna’s Dream Ability and that was what connected her to Stormy mind? So she experienced everything while she was asleep, and viceversa, as he got himself up, he felt his body heavy and tired but his mind for the first time in a long time, was light and clear, he felt as if he had removed a weight from his mind, he felt his smile back on his face, as he asked both mares to come with him to Luna bedroom.
Stormy needed a little help to walk at first, but a quick glance at the room he was in let him know everything was exactly as he left it before Twilight used the spell, so she was with Stormy all the time, keeping him alive, just like when he was in the fog world, as the ponies exited the secret room, the door closed automatically, this time however, he was with Twilight and Pinkie, there was not a single trace of fog, it was a beautiful sunny day, with a relaxed expression he could clearly see through the window, the city was clear enough to be seen, he could even see Ponyville in the horizon, his eyes let out a few tears as reality kicked in that he was finally out of that hell.
Stormy noticed that all the guards were looking at him, specially Noirstar, his superior, he instantly noticed his state, worry free but happy, Stormy said to Twilight and Pinkie to went ahead to Luna bedroom, he needed to talk with Noirstar, this pony always had a pair of cold eyes and seriousness, but deep inside him he did care for others which is what earned him his cutie mark, even when he was not transformed into a normal pony. Stormy really knew what he was in reality, he got close to him and smiled, hugging him.
“I take it this means you are ok now, you were always a hug maniac,” Noirstar said joking with the guard.
“Yeah, it had to happen this for me to realize what I had and what I have lost, besides, is not like a changeling can notice when im down, right?” Stormy said, dropping the bomb on Noirstar.
“H-how did you figure it out?, Please don’t say it out loud, ” Noirstar got a little nervous.
“Although you are my superior, no guards here have green magic aura, with few exceptions, beside, you ate way to much like a whole army and yet you still in shape, so you must have a alternative source of food,” Stormy said joking with the changeling guard
“And you drool each time you see Luna,“ Noirstar returned the joke with a smile.
“Touché, hey, I need your help for something,” Stormy requested as he smiled a little sickly.
Both ponies laughed as Stormy set his way to the dungeon, of all places in the palace he set way to the place were all sorts of criminals are, Noirstar was already guessing where this is going and without being seeing he transformed into someone Stormy knew very well to a personal extent.
As they descended into darkness, they found a cell that was specially locked and the pony inside was restraint in a way that would make him impossible to use magic or anything to defend himself, said pony in question was completely dark with the crimson coloring on his hooves, while his cutie mark was the mask with $ symbols around it, he looked miserable, but smiled when saw who he had in front of him.
“Oh, hi kid, nice to finally see you here, did you came for your taxidermy treatment?” Blackhorn said with a sick smile.
“In fact, I came to forgive you, in a few moments I’m going to undo anything you caused to my brother, and I want to tie up some loose ends, isn’t that right my love?” Stormy said as he stepped aside.
Stormy smiled as a red coat pony came in, she was dressing up with the same clothes she was killed with, with visible burned marks, but smiling kindly, her lipstick with $ symbols cutie mark indicated who she was, not only that but her purple mane with orange on the tips and the necklace that Stormy gave her were clear give aways.
“S-sis?!, b-but you are,” Blackhorn freaked out, he was sure he put an end to this.
"Dead? I don't know, do I look dead to you?" Redhoof responded, walking closer to the metal bars, wanting to see him freak out.
"I-i burned you myself!, you shouldn't be here!" Blackhorn yelled, he looked like he saw a ghost in the literal sense.
"Told you i was going to undo anything you caused, starting with home," Stormy said with a defiant voice, no longer afraid of the pony in front of him
"When i get out of here kid, not even your aura will be left alive, oooh how i will enjoy making you disappear" Blackhorn grunted with glee, trying to get under the guard skin
"Just like you tried with me, brother?" Redhoof let out a mocking giggle, looking at the imprisoned stallion. "Oh dear Blackhorn, my silly little brother"
"Even if you stick around with this waste of life next to you, you are still a Goldenscroll, bounded with the ancient arts of manipulations and torture, such as shame your lover here saved me from your own death penalty, i escaped Death more than once!, nothing you will two do will kill me!" Blackhorn smiled, as his hoof moved the chain up, giving him extra length, making his horn almost pierce the eyes of the mare that once was his sister.
"Not this time you motherf----“ Stormy didn't finished his sentence, instead he pulled Redhoof closer to him and gave her something he had, a needle gun
"You know? While I was dead, I had enough time to think how to repay you for what you did to me." Redhoof said as she aimed the gun right between his brother's eye
With Stormy's now restored mind, so did come the moondust magic and the ancient songs of harmony, however, most importantly, his memories of Redhoof. They were enough for him to recall Blackhorn own fear spells, a variation of King Sombra dark magic, why he knew it was that specific pony dark magic?, Well, when Redhoof first originally made the Climax Punishment potions, she had the needle gun he give to his lover was a beta version, so it only had 1 shot before breaking into pieces, but one shot was all she needed, Stormy horn glowed with moondust magic and the trigger was pulled and the needle pierced Blackhorn right eye without issues, making him feel now the full effect of the fear spell, the previously brave and menacing look he had quickly changed into a look of complete fear and regret.
"Aaahhh, y-you, but all of you are dead!" he yelled; as he saw the chains that bind him being the ponies he killed.
"I told you, im not like you, but that doesn't mean that I won't hesitate to fight back, not anymore," Stormy said, hugging Redhoof tightly.
"Aahhh, s-sis.... please forgive me," Blackhorn said, now in the full spectrum of the fear toxin.
"I think it's too late for that, Blackhorn..." suddenly, the mare was surrounded by green flames, revealing the bug-like skin beneath the flesh. "Hopefully you can tell that to her personally."
At this point, Blackhorn finally broke down, the dead ones cannot forgive past actions, not anymore at least, Stormy and Noirstar walked away, as the dark unicorn suffered a taste from his own medicine, Stormy smiled happy, because although he knew he stepped down to his level just a little bit, he did not killed him, that's up for Celestia's to decide, but he do needed to close out that loosen end, the stallion kept screaming lost in fear until Stormy and Noirstar left the dungeons, the fear needle felt down and allowed Blackhorn to regain his senses, once he could identify what is on the needle, all he could exclaim before falling asleep was a smile “he tricked me,” he said before falling silent, throwing the needle outside his cell.
Outside the dungeons both ponies were laughing as they cannot believed they pranked Blackhorn, Noirstar new the rules but couldn’t avoid bending them this time for his friend.
"Hey Noirstar, thank you for the help hehe, hope you didn't mind being a mare for a while, although i think changelings are already used to that," Stormy said, joking with his friend.
"Yeah, it was quite... interesting, good thing I'm not into stallions," Noirstar blushed really hard remembering the experience.
"Yeah, just don't transform into her too much please?, the fact the asshole of her brother was the one that killed her didn't helped, sorry i never mentioned this, but if i did early would you have believed me?" Stormy said to his friend now both being on the lobby.
"Of course I would, Stormy. You're my friend, and maybe I don't know what it was like to lose what you did... but I left my hive for a reason," Noirstar replied with sincerity on his voice.
"And I’m glad you did Noirstar, you won't need your disguise anymore," A royal princess voice rang behind them.
Noirstar lost all color on his black bug-like coat while Stormy slowly turned around just to find Princess Celestia followed by Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. Stormy was a little surprised until Princess Luna scolded him for pranking Blackhorn before his sentence; apparently Celestia already had made a decision regarding the dark colt future, however, her eyes showed concern for Noirstar, since he just got caught in his real appearance.
“Noirstar, so I take it your cutie mark is also a fake?” Celestia said with a little serious voice but not with malicious intent.
“No princess, by some reason I earned it mine and it remains there even if I’m not disguised, please don’t banish me, I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Noirstar begged, bowing to Celestia.
“My dear knight why would I do that?, Changeling or not you never once caused an issue to me or Equestria for that matter, just, don’t disguise anymore, we will not hurt you,” Celestia said with a kind smile and hugged the little changeling.
“T-thank you princess,” Noirstar blushed green as he accepted the hug.
“Well, I believe we are being third wheel here Pinkie, we need to give Luna and Stormy some space,” Pinkie said as she pulled Twilight and Celestia outside of the lobby
“But why me?” Celestia said with surprise, since she still had Noirstar hugged.
“Because the writer of this story needs to make a closure for the ending silly filly, besides we will be back in 4 or less paragraphs,” Pinkie laughed hard as she pushed all ponies out of the room.
Taking advantage of both Pinkie Pie idea and the fact they are finally alone and not in mortal danger, Stormy and Luna started to talk to each other nonstop, about their favorite things, games, desserts, and a large ETC, while on the other side of the wooden doors, Celestia, Twilight, Noirstar and Pinkie were spying on them, to see if something else happened besides just friendly chit chat.
All the experience that Luna and Stormy had shared just made their bond of friendship stronger, a bond that started when Luna was still exiled, forged from a wish, forgotten for a moment as fast as a shooting star, but reignited again, with the strength of the sun itself, as if they were fillyhood friends all along, after a while, Luna asked Stormy about the ancient book, Stormy replied that he still had it, he didn’t returned it when he left the Everfree Forest, Luna could see why, after all the ancient songs of harmony were songs that only somepony close to the Royal Family could use, if somepony else that doesn’t have that connection finds it, the results could be fatal for that pony, it is better that the book remains in the hooves of the one that, by destiny, found it.
Speaking of destiny, Luna asked Stormy about his brother, if he was still on the Canterlot Hospital, Stormy only replied to a yes, and wished he could wake up since he already tried with the doctors but to no success, that is when he remembered, he has the book completed in his apartment!, there was a song powerful enough to wake him up from his coma, Luna said that by their own law, neither her or Celestia could intervene in Mistshine fate, because other ponies would ask for the Princess interference, giving them preferred treatment over other ponies that are worse that him, however, she can be on Stormy side to see his brother waking up but warned Stormy that if his control over the ancient song weakens at any given point, it will not only fail, it could prevent Mistshine from ever waking up, when they got to the door, and opened it up, they found the 4 ponies spying on them.
“What in the name of Equestria are you doing?” Both Stormy and Luna said at the same time with a heavy blush.
“Nothing nothing “ Celestia and Twilight lied, they were not good at it.
“I want to give your brother the best…party…EVER, when he wakes up that is, can I come?” Pinkie said, exploding confetti out of nowhere
“Of Course Pinkie, I wouldn’t have asked for anything else” Stormy smiled with the same happiness he had as a colt, as he gave permission to Pinkie Pie to come with them
Stormy quickly went to his apartment to recover the book, Luna was a little nervous to be on the colt house for real this time, taking into account that Stormy decided to take the scenic route rather than teleporting stepped inside, while Pinkie just bounced over the stairs reaching Stormy bedroom. Stormy moved his furniture and from below the bed, he ripped a few tables, revealing a safe, most Canterlot citizens keeps all their bits in one of those, but Stormy had something far more valuable inside, using a special unlocking spell he created for the special safe, and inserting his horn on the slot, he unlocked the safe, revealing its contents, there were several items important for Stormy, Sunnybreeze Tiara, very old, a bloodstained Redhoof Pink Ribbon and one of her hoof guns and finally, the most important of them all, the Book of Ancient Song of Harmony, taking the book, and opened it up, he found the 2 songs he needed, Pinkie Pie had an idea before going towards the hospital, while Luna was stuck, on Stormy´s Ponycube Console
“You did have a Ponycube, tell me you have Resident Discorded Saga from 1 to Code: Lauren” Luna couldn’t avoid going all Gamer Luna with the games, browsing through Stormy’s collection.
“I do, I can lend it to you later,“ Stormy said joking with the princess.
“Play for a bit!, I must finish the cake and cupcakes!“ Said Pinkie Pie from the kitchen, baking a cake for Mistshine.
“Allow me to help sister, I haven’t baked in a while“ Stormy asked Pinkie to join, those times he baked in the Other World doesn’t count.
“Come on, let me do it this time, for old time’s sake, besides, you still remember how to do them?” Pinkie asked smiling, hoping Stormy would catch what she meant.
“Are you kidding me?, of course, after all “ Stormy said with glee, putting from out of nowhere Pinkie Pie portable radio.
“Oh Sweet Celestia, here we go” Luna said doing a facehoof, but with a smile in her face.
As the song played, both ponies started to sing Pinkie Pie Cupcakes song, Stormy mind took a trip down memory lane, without the nasty consequences of the Other World, finally enjoying himself this time, to Luna he looked like a kid in the body of a stallion, but taking into account what really lies hidden in his subconscious, how the barrier of smiles and happiness kept that dark thorn hidden away, she couldn’t avoid but to smile and see how her guard has finally let the past go.
“ All you have to do is take a cup of flour,
Add it to the mix!
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour,
A bit of salt--just a pinch!
Baking these treats is such a cinch,
Add a teaspoon of vanilla.
Add a little more, and you count to four
And you never get your fill-a~
Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty~
Cupcakes--don't be too hasty,
Cupcakes~ cupcakes, cupcakes,
cupcakes! “
The 3 of them laughed after this, letting the happiness shine in their hearts, once the cake was done; they set their way to the hospital. All around Canterlot, the curious eyes of the ponies were set on the trio, it was already unusual to see one of the Princess walking on the streets, specially Luna that sleeps on the morning, and most ponies bowed to her, while Pinkie, as usual, being random, with a helmet that had a red light, guided Stormy who was the one carrying the cake and cupcakes with his magic, to the building.
Once inside, they searched for Mistshine room, the room 402, the doctors asked what they were doing, but Princess Luna talked for the ponies, saying she is just for visit, while, those 2 will perform a miracle, she also, asked for the doctor that attended her to forgive her, however, Luna surprise was huge when she saw the pony that attended her was actually the same doctor that took care of her.
Luna was quick to apologize to the doctor, but he just put a hoof in her shoulder and bid her a simple thank you, he stated he was never mad at her for what she caused, but is happy she has managed to get rid of that corruption that kept eating her from within, something Luna acknowledged with a relieved expression.
“I heard you and your guard were in a special treatment for these kind of things, and by the looks of it, it was far more successful than normal treatments, can you tell me what it was?” Doctor Butterscotch asked the princess in order to strike a friendly conversation.
“I don’t think anypony would actually like that treatment, in fact I can tell you is similar to Tartarus,” Luna said with a faint air of fear in her voice.
“How come princess?” The doctor continued to ask.
“Is kinda hard to put it in words, the place we were in was worse than any nightmare I have fought so far, I wouldn’t wish for anypony to suffer that kind of torture, so forgive me if I withhold any details,” Princess Luna said with a smile to the doctor, keeping the details of their adventure a secret.
On the other hoof, Stormy and Pinkie entered Mistshine room, he was laying there on the bed, his body did not matched his mind, because when he was hospitalized, he was little, he had spend all his fillyhood attached to that bed, and kept alive by Celestia herself, anonymously that is, the body was almost as big as Pinkie, but his mind was still of a foal, a very worn out and hoof stitched Posey doll was in his hoof, Stormy looked at the doll and remembered he had to fix that doll several times over the course of the years, it was going to be a little hard his recovery, but Stormy was willing to get his brother back, just like he did on the other world.
Stormy pulled out his ocarina, and played the songs he needed, The Sonata of Griffons and the most important one, The Song of Refresh, the notes could be heard from outside Mistshine room, the Sonata of Griffons manage to slowly recover his consciousness, while the Song of Refresh, was working on the most important damage, his brain trauma, his heart beat started to get quicker, registered by the monitors in the room, indication of the coma, determined to keep him asleep forever, the doctors alarmed, tried to stop Stormy, but Pinkie interfered, saying “don’t give the surprise yet, he is not ready”
Mistshine body was restored, but not his mind, he was still in coma, Stormy let out a few tears as he played using a dangerous amount of magic, he could not let his bro go, not this time!, he concentrated as hard as he could, although he already remembered the songs from what he endured during the mind delve spell, although he allowed his moondust magic to awaken, his actual experience withstanding the song effects have dimmed over the years, but Stormy’s determination along with the previous factors intervened in Mistshine fate, the stallion eyes became pure white, as his moondust magic stared to speed up the Song of Healing effects, and the trauma finally give in to the song of old.
The damage on his brain started to reverse, his flesh was recovering and the electrical flow within it started to return as the coma slowly fade away from Mistshine brain. Exhausted, Stormy lost his magic focus and his ocarina felt on Mistshine bed, next to the doll, Stormy looked as his brother, but he was not moving, before he gave up he felt a hoof touching his.
Stormy cried silently, but happy, lifting his head to see his brother was opening his eyes finally, adjusting his eyesight to the light in the room, a light he has not seen in years but managing to recognize everypony on the room, Pinkie yelled a happy birthday, and put the cake near the bed, ironically, Pinkie was never wrong in birthdays parties, it was indeed Mistshine birthday, Stormy´s visits were his birthday present, just that this time, it was the best present of all, still weakened, Mistshine looked at his brother able to let out a few words.
“Brother…i…I had a strange dream,“ Mistshine let out his first words in years.
“Oh yeah little one?” Princess Luna said to the colt, seeing everything from the doorframe.
“Care to tell us what it was? “ Stormy and Pinkie asked his the colt at the same time.
Mistshine tried to sit, but years of being in bed had weakened his body, although the song restored it to a healthy stallion body, it would take time for him to recover mobility again, he looked at his brother and his raincoat and for a brief moment, he could see Stormy flashlight on his neck, he put his hoof on his head, trying to recall what he saw in years of dreaming.
“I dreamed I was alone, alone in a world with no pony around, only shadows and a very strong fog, anypony I found turned into ash and I felt myself chained to something wet and squishy, but even in that darkness, I felt your songs, I felt your hooves trying to grab hold of me,” Mistshine recalled one of his nightmares.
“I see, but that’s nothing more than a bad dream brother,” Stormy said, trying to comfort his brother.
“T-there is more, I believe I heard the voices of somepony, but must importantly, something you and the princess said, but I couldn’t understand anything as that squishy place muffled all sounds, what did you two say brother?“ Mistshine said, speaking a little slow due to years of treatment.
“Emmm…” Luna did not know what to say, but she saw how his brother came closed to him
“I said…” Stormy said to his brother, as he hugged him and Mistshine hugged him back, finally the tears stop flowing from the moon guard eyes. “Hey, you creatures on the other side, you better give me back my brother cause for him, I will get across hell and back and if I ever get my hooves on you, .you will regret even touching one hair of his mane.”
“And I will also follow, to help him, and I’m assure you, we wont be kind to you,“ Luna said, completing her colt phrase.
Stormy, Pinkie Pie, and Luna hugged the now stallion tightly, Mistshine hugged them all with his hooves, happy, as he rested his doll, next to his brother ocarina, finally, the ghost of the past has been put to rest and the Brave Family, has finally reunited.
Bad Ending (Stormy) - The Darkness that Claims our Hearts -
Author's Notes:
Like any game, there is special Game Over scenes that will be included as "Endings", hope you guys don´t mind
Conditions to Unlock:
- Either Stormy or Luna or Both must die from monsters injuries (with exception of Black Alicorn as she have special Bad Endings on their own)
Rewards:
- Unlockable Item for Stormy & Luna = Bottled Breezie (1 Use only)
Stormy´s Injuries were now more severe than before, despite his bravery he felt his body slowly giving up, with each time he swing his weapon, his muscles gave less and less strenght, until a final monster attack was finally able to paralize him
"N-no!, t-this cannot be the end! This is not how things end!, MISTSHINEEEEEEEEEE!!" he yelled in frustration as the attack send him to the ground.
Stormy´s eyes were growing weaker, slowly loosing his sight, his injuries were now taking a heavy toll on him as he tried to walk, but his hooves finally failed his commands, falling hard on the floor, the monsters saw this as a welcoming sight of submission and came closer to the now fallen warrior, with the last of his strenght Stormy tried a quick teleport spell, praying to Celestia that this time the magic would work, but his horn was far to injured to be able to cast any spell, resigned, he collapsed on the floor, before feeling one final suffering, the monsters were devouring him alive, taking their time to enjoy his warm flesh right out his body. He couldn’t defend himself even if he wanted to, he tried to avoid screaming, not giving the creatures the pleasure of seeing him yell, but as they proceed, the pain prooved to be too much for him to handle, as he yelled a final scream, everything faded to black.
In Canterlot, back on reality, Twilight Sparkle was inside an emptiness of some sort, surrounded by a purple fire that prevented her from moving, only able to keep the mind delve spell going, in front of her, was a stone tablet with Stormy cutie mark on it, the stone tablet started to crack, and blood was coming out from said cracks, Twilight was getting afraid as the temperature dropped so rapidly that she could see her own breathing.
"Did the spell failed?, what is happening?" she questioned as now the cold temperature became more apparent.
A distorted cry was heard, like a last plea of help but the darkness corrupted the message, the table finally blew up, sending Twilight flying and canceling the mind delve spell with a very sharp pain on the back of the young pony mind, Twilight was back on the secret room, sweating, as she opened her eyes, she expected to see Stormy rise, however, all she saw was how the colt body instead of being in his sitting position now felt heavy on the floor, like if all his life force had disappeared, Pinkie grew worried, and tried to wake him up, shaking him, blowing up a party horn, shooting out the bigger confetti ammo she had for her Party Cannon and even hitting a gong out of nowhere, but nothing made the colt wake up, Pinkie tried to hug him but as soon as her hooves touched the stallion colt is when noticed, he was cold as a corpse, she checked Stormy pulse, no beating from his kind heart could be felt anymore, her puffy hair deflated as she grew desperate as she addressed her worries to Twilight.
“Twilight!!, he not waking up!! Stormy is not waking up!!“ Pinkie Pie said desperate, tears could be seen in her eyes.
“If he is not responding then,” Twilight hesitated, but the facts were clear for her.
“What happened Twilight?!, Please don´t tell me that he is... “ Pinkie Pie demanded answers from her friend, but deep down she knew the answer.
“Dear Celestia,. What have I done?“ Twilight said to herself in disbelief.
Twilight knew the answer as well as Pinkie, Stormy Brave is gone, Pinkie cried heavily as she realized her "brother" was gone forever, his soul finding now permanent torture in the limbo he was in, forever doomed to wander those misty terrains without being ever able to join his little brother.
In another part of the castle, Celestia herself experienced the same than Twilight, but in a more heavy extent, her horn was burn, incapacitating her, preventing to cast any spells, as she saw how her sister aura disappeared, she called her name, and even tried to yell at her, or move her, but she didn’t reply, just like her knight, she was also lost to that sick dimmension they were trapped in, Equestria had lost one of their princess and the keeper of dreams, Celestia felt guilty, but finally understood why Twilight was so afraid of using that spell on somepony again, but it was too late now, nopony can go back in time without an extreme use of magic, and by the time she attemps that, her sister body will start to discompose, after 1000 years of nightmares, Princess Luna had become one with the moon she always loved.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot Hospital, a colt in a machine was motionless in pain, as he was in a coma, holding a Posey doll, that had a sadden expression, the doctors came to see him, it was time for his medications to keep his body healthy, however the machine that records his heart, suddenly recorded something loud.
“Beep….beep….beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”
“Doctor!!, we are losing him!, we losing him!! “ the nurse said with a shock
“Quick!, give me the defibrillator! “ The head doctor demanded
But despise their best efforts the machine continued to emit the same cold sound. They tried for minutes, minutes that felt like hours, until the defibrillator ran out of energy, to the doctors it felt like the atmosphere suddenly grew cold, but for the poor colt mind, all he could feel was a cold fog embrasing him, taking him to the other side.
“We lost him, hour of death, Tuesday at 4:49am” The doctor said, turning off the colt machine with a sadden expression.