Hanging onto the broken bridge, I had to struggle against the worry the girls felt for me to stay sticking like a spider to the bridge. Thankfully the fall’s impact didn’t do much to throw me off, but the worry was still taking its toll on me. I still managed to climb back up though, much to the relief of the girls.

“Hehe… Did you forget I could walk on walls? Now quit your worrying. It’s making my knees weak and tastes like lemons.” I told them once I’d made it up. The joke got more relief out of them, as well as some small measure of love. Sensing that love - and the fact that it tasted like chocolate - I braced myself for a group hug. I was not prepared for a cartoon horse pileup.

“Whoa! Little too much force there, girls!” I said as they practically dog piled me with hugs.When they were done hugging, I refocused everyone on the problem ahead of us, effectively cutting off what was left of the worry.

“Looks like we aren’t getting across this way…” Pinkie muttered.

“Oh, no… this bridge was the only way we could get across fast enough. And nothing near us can be used to cross safely…” Twilight trailed off, hope fading. The others seemed to readily listen to her, and like the lost hope was a siren song, the other’s hope began fading fast.

“So this is it?! One broken bridge and we just… give up…?” I could tell that even despite the defiant words, Dash was losing hope too. Sure she could fly, but not all of us could.

“No, we still got this.” I said with far more determination than I thought I was capable of. The others looked at me, my confident smile worn comfortably. “We just gotta figure out what all we can do. Dash and Fluttershy can fly us across one by one… but that would split us up and make us easy target. We could drop a tree across, but looking around there aren’t any tall enough to do that… Come on, Summer, think. What magic do you have?” I mumbled to myself as I brought up my menu. I put in a little magic to try and let the Girls see it, but it didn’t work. I’ll have to figure it out at some point later, but for now... “Let’s take a look, Ice… I could build a path across with that! But.. no, that’s too much for me… What else… Teleport! That’s it girls! We teleport across!”

“That will be rather taxing on us, dear... “ Rarity warned.

“That’s okay. You girls won’t be needing it. I’ll be fighting Nightmare Moon myself while you six work out how to use those stones.” I replied. “Before we get started though, I need all of you to think about something you’re proud of. It’ll really give me a good boost.” I was quick to get some Pride from Rainbow and Pinkie. They both got started without question. I was met with confusion from the rest for various times through before first AJ started emanating pride, followed by Rarity, then Twilight, and finally Fluttershy. I smiled as I drank up, filling up to maximum capacity, and then beyond. Once I felt that liquid pride starting to leak from my nose again, I stopped.

“Alright, that’s good.” I said. The girls gasped when they looked at me.

“Summer, you’re… Wait, that’s not blood…” Twilight started, but then she looked at it closer.

“Nope. That’s liquid pride… heh, don’t worry, it just means I’m full. Now let’s get across.” I said, walking over to AJ, who started piecing together what had actually happened at her farm with me, based on the expression on her face. Before she could voice whatever it was she was piecing together though, I used the spell and teleported the two of us across. AJ took a moment to look around, noting I’d given the two of us a temporary privacy.

“How’d you know ah…? Nevermind. ah suppose you wanna talk about what ah figured out?” she asked. Lot smarter than she was in the show, I’ll give her that.

“I do. You’ve put together that I’m not really a pony, haven’t you?” I stated more than asked. She nodded.

“Ah have. What are ya then?” she asked, more curious than suspicious.

“All I can give right now… is a name. I’m what’s called a changeling. Maybe you’ll see my true form while I fight. But for now, I think I’d rather the others figure it out themselves as well.”

“I… I think I see what you’re doin. Layin out tha clues so it ain’t so shockin when they find out. An here ah thought you did nearly everythin the blunt way.” she said with a chuckle. I chuckled too.

“Yeah… Blunt really is more my cup of tea. Normally I’m not all that good at subtle.” I replied. Then Twilight and Rarity teleported over, with Rainbow and Fluttershy flying in right behind them. I smiled at them as they arrived, all none the wiser about what I’d just revealed to AJ. Once more I felt pride from them all, probably some unspoken agreement that I needed all I could get. Rarity and Twilight seemed a little weak in their legs, but otherwise showed no signs of exhaustion. I blocked the emotions from them, for fear that I’d be weakening them too much, but I gladly drank from the others. Once the liquid pride got running again, I stopped them altogether.

“Alright, I’m back up to full again. You girls head on in and get those Elements working. I’ve got a date with an Alicorn.”

~Rainbow Dash~

I nodded to Summer, as did the rest of us. Together, we took off for the elements, but I hung back at the door when I heard another pony’s heavy wing beats. Turning back I spotted Nightmare Moon landing a few ponylengths away from Summer behind her. My breath caught in my throat as I stared, waiting for something to happen. I hated having to sit back and do nothing… but even I knew I was no match for an alicorn.

“So here we are… despite everything you’ve thrown at us, I’m here, and at full power nonetheless.” Summer said, not turning to face Nightmare Moon.

“Yes… you certainly are a curious little pony, I’ll give you that. That is… if I can even call you a pony.” Nightmare Moon replied in an acid tone, directly accusing Summer. I expected Summer turn whip around and spit something back, but I was surprised when all she did was shrug.

“Heh. You got me there.” she said casually. Wait, what?! What is she-?! Wait… The emotion thingy… the sticking to walls… I don’t even know where she came from. Has she been lying to us the whole time? No… I had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she isn’t a pony, but she’s still my friend. I looked back up in time to find Summer slowly turning around to face Nightmare Moon with a neutral frown.

“Let’s set the terms for this fight. You still have honor after all, don’t you?” Summer asked, the frown turning into a smirk for now. But the way she was looking at the alicorn… it made a shiver run down my back.

“Of course. I am the Princess of the Night. Even whelps like you deserve that much.” Nightmare Moon spat back. Summer’s grin only grew wider. How the hell is she just standing there and taking insults like that? Is she really going to accept that crap? I wondered.

“Good. Then the first rule is no death. This is a duel, not a fight to the death.” Summer declared.

“That is acceptable.” Nightmare Moon nodded.

“Alright… the second rule is the losing terms. The duel isn’t over until either party submits defeat.” I blinked. Already, I could think of a number of loopholes that specific term could present, having been friends with a gryphon who tended to play dirty like that. Was Summer planning something?

“Fine, what else?”

“If you lose, you need to give up your host. Let Luna live her own life, and you will forever be expelled from her body.” Summer declared. At that, I raised my eyebrow. Was Summer suggesting a parasite of some kind? And how the hell does she know Nightmare Moon’s real name, if it even is? Nightmare Moon on the other hoof seemed to be shocked speechless.

“How? How did you know?” Nightmare Moon demanded. Summer chuckled softly.

“Let’s just say I know a lot of things I shouldn’t. As for what happens if I lose? I’ve already made a deal prior that will send me home if I fail, so I’m not that afraid of dying. Still… I hate my world, so I’m determined not to go back.”

Nightmare Moon raised her eyebrow while my jaw dropped. HOLY BUCKING TARTARUS, SHE’S AN ALIEN?! Summer has a lot of explaining to do when we finish this.

“Your world? Well, aren’t you a strange one… Well then, unless there’s anything else, let’s get started.” Nightmare Moon said, getting into a battle ready stance.

“Yes, let’s…” She said with a slightly sad tone despite the smile on her face. After a moment, I heard the sound of a piano playing a sad song… The song seemed familiar to Summer, likely one she’s heard play many times now. But even still, she tensed as she started singing.

“Listen and hear a song nature is singing,

Sit down a while and watch the stars a twinkling,

A pleasant breeze flows by, leaving a trail of...tears…

This… is… your… fault, right?”

Summer gazed at each think as she sang about them, seemingly letting her guard down… Nightmare Moon seemed to tense up more and more with each thing mentioned, but when Summer said tears, Nightmare Moon looked away, staring at the ground… was that the beginning of guilt? Summer sighed at the end of the verse, before Nightmare Moon suddenly bolted forth in an attempt to strike Summer down. But even as Summer dodged each attack, she sang.

“Standing in the castle of old,

Who thought we’d be here like this together?

On a gorgeous night like this, I ask…

Why is it that you fight?”

When Summer sang the question, Nightmare Moon hesitated, giving Summer time to put some distance between them. But Nightmare Moon didn’t give up. She charged up a powerful beam, and launched it haphazardly at Summer, making it really dangerous, but easy enough to dodge. I leaned forth, drawn by the intense fight, and the emotions that were felt. Even I could feel the sadness.

“I believe there was a time

Where we could be friends and things were better

Playing good pranks, enjoying laughs,

Can we go back to that?”

As she sang on still, Nightmare Moon kept on the attack, firing lasers and throwing punches, but I could see the song was taking its toll on Nightmare Moon. Her aim was getting way off, almost like… someone was trying to throw the aim off. Maybe Summer was right? That there is something controlling that pony? My breath caught in my throat when Nightmare Moon managed to actually hit Summer at the end of that verse.

“If you’re in there listening… Luna

just please let go of the power

And let’s please forget all of this.”

That verse brought Nightmare Moon to a stop, head hanging low. But I noticed a slight glimmer, a tear, falling to the ground. Then Summer did something I couldn’t believe was possible. Her body burned up in green flames, each lick of it like the leaf of a tree… and out of the fire came Princess Celestia's body.

“Even after what you did she believed in you,

‘Til the end.”

After that verse, Summer grimace, and the fires came licking away at her body again, this time leaving nothing but… some kind of alien bug pony. She had slightly different proportions to her body, closer to that of a stallion, but what do I know about alien ponies. She also had a few bits of what looked like an extremely short mane and tail around some weird fin-like things. The sight of Celestia’s form melting away into that though set Nightmare Moon off, and she shouted in rage as she shot off another beam, striking Summer in the chest. I was scared for her… but she still got up, albeit weakly.

“Looking at your face right now,

That expression tells me

I can't afford to leave it to them.

Turn this path around, wipe your dirty hooves clean.

Give up!”

True to the lyrics, there wasn’t a trace of Equinity left in Nightmare Moon’s face. Just a homicidal, murderous look. Something tells me this “Luna” couldn’t resist the parasite thingy anymore. Summer managed to tackle Nightmare Moon to the floor, in an attempt to pin her down as she sang out that last line, but Nightmare Moon had no trouble throwing her off, and even less aiming another blast. I stared in horror as I saw Summer’s now bleeding form standing back up. No, Summer… please, Don’t risk yourself like this… She’s too far gone now, the rules don’t apply anymore! I tried to beg mentally.

“Please don’t… fight back…

If you’re my friend…

Please…”

Summer pleaded as she continued to dodge. I noticed holes in her legs, growing for whatever reason… Is that what negative emotion does to her? If she keeps fighting, she’ll die from the emotions more than anything. Things aren’t looking good for Summer.

“Listen and hear a song nature is singing,

Sit down a while and watch the stars a twinkling,

A pleasant breeze flows by, leaving a trail of -

How could you have done this?”

For a moment, saw pain and guilt come back to Luna’s face. It was enough for Summer to recover a little, but then it was gone.

“Is there still a glimmer of hope?

Will you chose to do the right thing?

Please now, friend,

If you’re there.

Have a change…Of heart.”

By now, Summer was breathing hard, and she looked too exhausted to dodge anything else. She looked at Nightmare Moon as she approached with a defeated look, but Summer refused to submit defeat for whatever reason. Did she still think there was a chance?

“Listen and hear a song nature is singing,

Sit down a while and watch the stars a twinkling,

What a nice night…”

Seconds after, the piano stopped. Then Nightmare Moon swung her hoof with a triumphant smile on her face. Crack! Summer’s body crumpled down onto the ground, limp and her horn… it flew off, tumbling over to me. I could only stand there and stare as greif filled me.

“Summer…” I heard AJ’s voice beside me. I was so wrapped up in the fight, I hadn’t noticed her there… was she there for the whole fight?

“Hmmm… it looks like she hasn’t been sent home yet. I wonder what the details of that deal was?” Nightmare Moon’s voice snapped me out of my despair. Then I saw her aura around Summer’s head, in all reality a mind reading spell of some sort, but I assumed it was probably a spell to finish her off or something.

“SUMMER! YOU CAN’T DIE, NOT LIKE THIS! GET UP! Please… get up…” I cried. Normally, I’d deny ever crying… but in that moment, there was no hiding the tears on my face.

Nightmare Moon snapped her head towards us, probably because of the interruption, and I saw something strange, an odd glint in the forest on the other side of the ravine. She was just about to take a step toward us when something hit her in the back and exploded, making her skid about two pony lengths away from Summer.

“What the buck?!” I shouted, trying to get a good look at whatever the hay it was. And then I saw… there was a dark figure standing above Summer, it was shaped like a pony, but wearing a black cloak, making me unable to see just who it was. The only thing really visible were it’s eyes, pure white glowing eyes looking at Summer from the darkness inside of the cloak.

“You did good kid, I’ll take it from here, you just rest up.” It… he said with a deep, hoarse voice before looking at Nightmare Moon. Wait… could that be the stalker? I noticed Summer looking up at him weakly. And she seemed to think the same.

“H-holy shit, it’s the pony version of Batman…” she joked weakly. Whatever Batman is… Nightmare Moon only glanced at Summer for a moment as she got herself up, before focusing on the greater threat.

“Who the hell are you? Another wannabe hero? Or are you just trying to take my victory for yourself?” she spat, pissed at him. AJ nudged me, drawing my attention to her.

“Hey Dash… is it just me, or does Nightmare Moon look a little worried there?” I looked again, actually reading into her.... And yeah, she does look a little worried. Could this guy have a lot of power then? Maybe enough to actually beat her?

“Yeah… Let’s go grab Summer while Nightmare Moon’s distracted.” I said, taking wing. AJ nodded and readily joined me.

“A wannabe hero? Unlike the kid I have experience, and I don’t want to take anything from you, I just want you to give something up.” The...Batman replied, getting into a readied stance. I noticed Nightmare Moon gritting her teeth as we took Summer and carried her away.

“Then I’ll have to stop playing games.” Nightmare Moon replied. Getting into a battle ready stance as well. Around her, phantom swords formed, all poised to lance right at Batman.

“Figures.” Batman replied and formed his own weapons, a sword, almost as black as his cloak and strangely shimmering, appeared levitating on his right side. On his left was a floating orb of some kind of energy. As much as I wanted to stop and gawk at the epic show I was about to witness, I had to get Summer away from Nightmare Moon. Focusing on where I was going, I ducked into the old castle, shouting to the others.

“Girls, Summer’s down!” I shouted as we carried her. At that moment there was already another explosion from outside. They all turned towards us with horror. Once we’d dropped her off, I turned towards to door again. “Sorry. As much as I wanna help Summer recover, I gotta head back out and make sure that new guy wins.” I explained, before heading back out.

What I saw was something unbelievably awesome! Nightmare Moon was in the air and controlling her swords to go after Batman. Meanwhile, Batman was just sliding across the ground, like if it was ice and dodging or blocking every strike. That small energy orb was flying around Nightmare and shooting her with beams of magic, forcing her to split her focus between dodging the beams and attacking Batman. Batman suddenly shot up after Nightmare, somehow jumping higher then should have been possible, and aiming his sword to strike her. Nightmare noticed and brought two of her swords to block, and another to strike him from the side. Seeing that, Batman let his sword strike the Nightmare’s defending swords and grabbed the hilt of his sword with a really dark grey hoof, dark enough to be almost black, and pulled himself up, throwing himself over the attacking sword and above Nightmare. Nightmare frowned and got ready to strike him again, when she was hit by a beam from the other side. She turned and saw the orb floating there, shooting again. She moved to block it with a sword, when another beam hit her in the back again. Whirling around she saw Batman standing on his floating sword and shooting another beam at her from under his cloak.

I heard hooves coming up beside me and saw AJ joining me in watching the show. “I uh… don’t think he needs any help.”

Batman’s beam hit Nightmare square in the chest and sent her back to the ground. More frustrated then injured, Nightmare shot out from the dust cloud with an angry roar and sent all eight of her swords at Batman from various angles. Batman and his orb started rapidly shooting down the swords, getting four of them to bounce away before the rest came in close. He flipped off from his sword, dodging one of Nightmare’s. Then he managed to shoot down another, before quickly blocking the third with his own sword, while reaching the peak of his jump. That unfortunately left him without a means to defend himself from the last one, which flew at him from a side at a high speed. Batman narrowly avoided it by throwing his orb at it, sacrificing it in the process, as he finally bounced off the sword he was blocking, he failed to notice the Nightmare was nearly upon him. Noticing her at the last second, he managed to throw up a barrier to defend against a point-blank beam. While his barrier held, he was thrown on a collision course with a castle wall. When the beam let down, he was already halfway to the wall.

Then he did something unexpected. He aimed himself headfirst towards the wall like an arrow. With a barely audible *click* two clasps on the back of his cloak clicked free, revealing two holes, from where a pair of impressive bat-like wings emerged, allowing him to pitch upwards and barely avoid the wall. As he rose up, he lost speed and started flapping to stop at a hover, looking back at the gaping Nightmare Moon.

“Holy buck, he’s an Alicorn?!” I exclaimed in shock, staring at him.

There was a faint smirk visible under all that darkness in Batman’s cloak, that only caused Nightmare to grind her teeth.

“I wasn’t going all out on you before, but don’t expect that now!” Nightmare roared at Batman and started shooting at him with beam after beam. Batman dodged them all, his wings making it quite easy for him to maneuver in the air, but he had a few close calls, making his cloak a bit torn at places. Batman then made himself two more swords and charged Nightmare. She summoned back her eight and also charged at Batman. They clashed in the middle, sending a small shockwave from the clash. Nightmare immediately used her larger supply of swords to push Batman back and overwhelm him, but it wasn’t easy for her, as he was dodging and putting up last second barriers quite skillfully. But even that wasn’t enough, and Batman was sent crashing into the ground near us. As he got up he briefly held a hoof to his head and I heard him mutter.

“Damn… it’s already starting, my time is running out.”

“That doesn’t sound good…” AJ muttered.

“You mean all that awesomeness has a time limit?! OH COME ON!” I shouted, outraged. “Ugh… I’ll get the girls so we can cover for you.” I volunteered. I knew he was on our side, so why not? Rushing back inside, I called out to the others.

~Summer~

Oh god, this fucking hurts like hell… it was like getting my dick ripped off. Testicals too. I tried to thank Rainbow for at least getting me back to the others… but then I noticed something. I couldn’t sense any emotions anymore. Nor could I taste anything, not even the lush air of the forest. Did… did having my horn punched off remove my ability to eat? Oh god, this is a true nightmare… I quickly checked my status menu, and saw the Silenced debuff right beside NEP. The debuff is normally associated with the cancellation of magic… but this one is described as exactly that. I can’t use magic at all… and that means feeding too.

“Fuuuuuuuck… I really should have thought that through better…” I groaned out loud.

“Gee, ya think?” Twilight snarked. “That was absolutely insane, Summer.... And by the way, you have a LOT of explaining to do.” she said, gesturing to my chitin covered form.

“Hehe… Yeah, I’ve been dropping hints here and there so you guys could figure it out. AJ found out first. The point was to make it so the final reveal wasn’t such a big shock.” I replied in answer.

“Well, you did a good job of that… by shocking us with almost dieing!” Twi shouted at me. I waved a massively hole ridden hoof at her to calm down.

“Calm down, will ya? Your anger’s just gonna make the Negative Emotion Poisoning worse…. Or would if I could still sense or eat any emotions…” I told her.

“B-what? You… You can’t eat any emotions anymore?” Twilight asked, shocked speechless.

“I need my horn to do that.” I answered. Fluttershy’s hooves shot to her mouth as she realised the implications, Twilight recoiled in shock as she finally noticed what was missing from my forehead. I heard a thud coming from behind me, followed by a sound of a balloon deflating turning around let me see Rarity just laying passed out on the floor, that bit of news was probably too much for her… or she imagined what it would be like if she lost her horn. Next to her was a teary eyed Pinkie with fully deflated mane.

“Summer? Y-you’re not g-going to starve, a-are you?” Finally asked Fluttershy after a few moments of silence… or as close as you can get to silence with a fight going on outside. I sighed.

“Yeah… I probably am.” I replied with a defeated tone of voice.

“B-But *snif* I didn’t even throw you *snif* your ‘Welcome to Ponyville‘ party yet.” Said Pinkie, really on the verge of breaking down crying right then and there.

“That’s okay, Pinkie. I counted Twilight’s as mine as well.” I said with a smile.

“But… but then if you went away forever like that… We could have had so much fun together…” Pinkie whimpered.

“And we still can. Listen… I have a plan” Hopefully that would restore their hopes, because I really don’t have a clue how I could come back from this. Thankfully, they were all ears. To stall for time, I told them about how I’d felt two sets of emotions from Nightmare Moon in that fight. One was guilt and despair, the other anger and hatred. I explained how Luna and Nightmare were two totally separate identities… and that gave me an idea.

“If we can separate the two, and I can get the Nightmare to take me as host, I could potentially use her to fix the damage done to me. Though if that’s not enough, then… Well, I suppose you girls could blast me with the Elements. They’ll fix what Rarity did to her mane, so why not fix what happened to me too?”

“Summer, wait a moment. If Nightmare takes you as her host, wouldn’t she just take you over too?” Asked Twilight. I shook my head.

“No, because I’m not emotionally unstable. The only reason Luna’s still possessed is because the Nightmare tricked her, and now she’s too guilt ridden to fight back. I’ll be too calm and rational to be taken over.” I claimed.

“You can’t be sure that’s how it works! You could just be too weak to resist, she will just overpower you!” Twilight almost shouted back at me, it was clear she didn’t want me to die, but at the same time she didn’t believe Nightmare could be controlled. I just chuckled at her.

“Twilight… My mind is far too hard to break. I’ve seen things that would give demons nightmares. And yet, here I stand before you, calm and sane as any adventurer. My dreams are full of nightmare fuel, yet I don’t consider any of it a nightmare. The Nightmare can’t break me. I can break it. Oh yeah, and did I mention I only woke up as a bug pony at the very moment you got to Ponyville, Twilight? I used to be a bipedal, mostly hairless, highly evolved ape.” At that point, I was sure I was bragging, but I needed to get the point across. Needless to say, the four present were shocked speechless.

“Holy buck, he’s an Alicorn?!” I heard Dash shout from the door. I blinked as she said that. A male alicorn? That’s not… That shouldn’t happen. I moved to get up, but Twilight held me down.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Twilight said defiantly.

I sighed. “Fine… I’ll stay away from the fight.” I grudgingly agreed. “But what about you girls? Maybe if you fight together or something, you’ll hit a deus ex machina moment and hit your Harmonic Awakening or some shit like that. By the way, how’s the progress on the that going?”

“I’ve tried everything I can think of, but so far, nothing…” Twi replied. I chuckled.

“Well try this. Accept true friendship into your heart. These artifacts are based entirely on that bond. You just need to feel it.” I explained.

“OH COME ON!” I heard Dash shout. Everyone turned to her at the door, where a moment later, Dash came flying through. Right after her though, Batman was thrown through the wall, smashing it in the process. AJ was also tumbling through with a big hoof mark on her cheek. Nightmare Moon stared with contempt down at Batman, noting in particular that one of his wings was torn. I could only stare as Nightmare Moon picked Batman up helplessly in her telekinesis, and just threw him back out through a window, whose shattered glass cut further into him, and he was sent falling into the chasm.

Gritting my teeth, I growled slightly. My echoey voice had the extra effect of my growl sounding extra primal. “Looks like it’s time for the final showdown. Show her what you girls are made of.” I said, putting Determination into my voice to give the girls a morale boost. When Nightmare Moon spotted me though, smirking and not breaking down like earlier, I saw a faint expression of hope on her face… but it only lasted two seconds before the Nightmare took back control.

“You see that girls?” Rainbow said with her own smirk. “Luna’s got hope! I say we show her it ain’t for nothing!” The girls cheered together, taking stances as they got ready to fight. Rainbow was the first to strike, zipping forth to deliver a blow, and AJ was running up from the other side. Rainbow was easily blocked, and all Nightmare Moon did about AJ was kick back a hoof, which threw the earth pony into a wall with an agonized scream. Nightmare Moon tilted her head forth to shoot Dash too, and she was thrown into a wall too. That immediately crushed the sense of hope we’d built up.

“Fuck… Twilight! Try using a few spells!” I shouted. Twilight nodded, charging up what looked like a teleport, as well as a beam blast. I smiled as I saw her pull it off… only for the blast to leave nothing suggesting Nightmare Moon had been hurt.

“Huh. That tickled. My turn.” she responded with a phantom sword that went straight at Twilight’s horn. My eyes widened as the blade cut the horn down the middle.

“Twilight…” I muttered. Then she turned to Pinkie and Rarity, who were both staring at Nightmare Moon in fear. Neither of them stood a chance… In the blink of an eye, both of them were neck deep in the floor. Then… She slowly walked towards Fluttershy, the intent to harm her clear in her eyes. That was the last straw.

“Girls… It can’t end like this… You were all supposed to win… If you don’t win, this world will be gone forever… You’ll never have fun together…” I called out to them. This was such a horrible idea… I should never have come. Maybe I really am… Hopeless…

“He he… Summer is right girls, think of all the smiles and sounds of Laughter we would miss out on!” Pinkie piped up. As she spoke, I saw one of the Elements pulse a pink color...

“Uhh… Ah Honestly can’t tell where you get all this stuff, but ah’ll be damned if we don’ give it our all!” AJ said as she pulled herself out of the wall. Another one of the Elements pulsed orange.

“Right! What kind of Loyal friend would I be if I left you all hanging!” Rainbow's words made another pulse red.

“P-Please… miss Nightmare Moon, would you Kindly stop hurting everypony? And… maybe let Luna go free?” Fluttershy asked, and though her words were making yet another element pulse yellow.

“Such uncouth behaviour! A true lady must be gentle and Generous, not a brute like you!” Rarity said as she pulled herself out of the floor. The last element pulsed too, and I felt my hope returning.

“You may have taken away my Magic Nightmare Moon, but you can’t take away our Friendship!” Twilight defiantly joined the others. The very air pulsed as she stood against Nightmare Moon.

“WHAT?! But you were beaten! I won! There is nothing you can do to stop me!” Nightmare slipped into denial, fear clearly shown on her face.

“No… This isn’t over yet Nightmare! We can still stand together! As long as we have the will to go on, then there is still Hope!” I replied defiantly, feeling something pulse within me. I gasped… judging from what’s been going on… that can only mean I… Well shit. I guess there’s more than six Elements. I turned to the girls with a serious look. “Girls, when we power up the Elements, we all need to give it the same command to make it work most effectively.” I advised. Thanks to my changeling ability to scan things as they work, I actually did know this. “So, what we need to do is ask it to heal us, and then move the Nightmare to me. Alright?” Though they were hesitant, they nodded. They had all heard about my little Nightmare Fuel speech. Set in the knowledge we’d all give the same command, I nodded to Twilight.

“Let’s do this.” We both said simultaneously. With that, the light show began. Each element hovered over their respective owners, mine and Twilight’s being the last ones, as they materialised above us.

Nightmare however wasn’t just going to stand there. “YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!” She screamed at me and started charging up her horn, but she was having problems with doing it, as if something was holding her back… Luna!

All seven of us started levitating in the air, moving to form a circle with Nightmare Moon in the middle.

“No! NO! If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me!” Nightmare got her magic back in working order and took aim at me. With the Elements already working to heal us all, we were all pretty much just floating targets for her.

“No! Summer!” Rainbow shouted, when Nightmare’s intentions became perfectly clear, if she can’t win, she will at least disable the Elements by taking me out.

Just as Nightmare was about to fire her spell and end me, my attention was drawn to the hole she created by tossing Batman through. I noticed an odd glint of light right by the ravine.

“NOW! Say goodbye to Summer Da-Aaaahhh!” Nightmare screamed out as she was hit in the back of her head by a beam of magic, sending her aim off and instead of hitting me, her beam harmlessly exited through a broken window. All of us turned to look where it came from, and we saw Batman standing right next to the broken bridge on the other side of the ravine. While his cloak was in tatters it still hid almost all of his defining features. I saw that his wings were once again hidden, his left eye was scrunched shut and the light in his right was flickering. While it surprised me and the girls to see him standing there, Nightmare was just frozen and unmoving from the shock of seeing him up and not dead. I just smirked as we all finished healing, mine and Twilight’s horns having grown back. Next up, separating Luna and the Nightmare.

“Relax, Nightmare. You aren’t gonna die. But you won’t be bothering Luna for a long time, either.” Twilight promised. Our elements each fired forth a beam, converging in the middle, just above Nightmare Moon one by one. My element was the last one, and it seemed to turn the whole beam golden as it rained down upon Nightmare Moon. I grinned widely as I shouted out in victory.

“Get dunked on, you megalomaniac!” I said as I gave my element the command to move the Nightmare to me. Nightmare’s body started distorting and splitting into two, after a second there was the small form of Princess Luna laying on the floor and a mass of darkness floating above her. I saw Nightmare’s eyes inside that darkness, and they were wide with fear as it started being sucked into me through my element. But almost immediately after the eyes were absorbed, the beams of magic from the Elements faltered and the connection I had with the rest of Nightmare broke. There was a sound of shattering glass and the cloud of darkness started rapidly expanding. At that moment there was an explosion of energy from the point of where all the beams were merging with one another, the darkness was dispersed into a thin fog and thrown out of the windows.

As the Elements powered down, I took notice of how each stone dispersed, each particle making their way to their wielder's necks, and Twilight’s crown forming. When we all touched down, a wave of weakness washed over my body. I felt so tired… despite my attempt to stay standing, blackness washed over me. At least I had the comfort of knowing I wouldn’t be out for long.