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