Chapter IV

“Hey Celestia. It’s been a while.” I say up to the white alicorn.

She cracks a small smile at my comment. “Heh, yes. It certainly has been,” She says with relief. “Are you alright?” She asks.

“I could be better. Especially if somepony were to free the rest of my body so I can breath easier.” I answer.

“Oh, yes, of course. Hold still.” She activates her horn and lifts the rest of the rocks carefully, but swiftly off of me.

“Thanks-Hssshhh!!” I let out a hiss of pain from the open air hitting my body.

“Oh my Faust.” Celestia says upon seeing my body.

I bring my head up shakily to look at my stomach. ‘Well that’s gruesome.’ I think as I look at the flayed and slightly burned looking flesh that makes up my torso. I give another hiss of pain as I try to sit up.

“Gah! Ah, why does this hurt so much?” I ask, I manage to almost pull myself up into a sitting position before I slump back down, hitting my back on the rocks. “AHH!! Ow!” Apparently my back is just as chopped up as my chest.

I feel Celestia gently envelope me with her magic before lifting me out of the rocks. “AH! Damn it!” I hiss out as my wings and tail come free.

“I’m sorry.” Celestia says with a wince.

“Ugh, don’t be. Thanks for pulling me out,” I say with another grunt of pain. “I’m just confused and a little ticked off that everything seems to hurt a lot more now for some reason. It never hurt this much before.” I try to explain. I idly notice that we seem to be in a weathered room made from stone. Probably her old castle in the Everfree.

“Hmmm…” She gently sets me down on my belly lying down. I hiss again, but I think I’m getting used to the heightened pain I’m experiencing. “I’m not sure, but maybe being trapped on the moon had something to do with it not hurting as much before.” She suggests, then starts to walk around me while inspecting my wounds without touching them.

“Why would being on the moon have something to do with it?” I ask her.

Celestia’s currently out of my range of sight with where she’s at, I think she’s looking at my tail or some other part of me that is most likely covered in my dried blood. “My guess is that while you were trapped on the moon with her, you were not actually in a physical form, but an astral projection that was simulating your two life-forces and minds clashing time and again while trapped within it. Or perhaps the Elements’ seal made it so that your sense of pain was dulled while also keeping you both from fully dying.” She says. “What did she do to you to leave you in this state Baelor?” She says with sympathy.

“She did a lot of things to me while we fought. But the last thing that happened before I remember waking up was detonating some fear bombs that I concealed across the moon over the course of… about a few hundred years I think.” I say to her.

She’s silent for a second. “… Well that explains why the moon is as it is now, but… do you think that… from that last blast that you… that she’s…” Her voice trails off.

I close my eyes. “I really hope she isn’t Celestia. And she also absorbed a lot of power from the stars that she would have used to escape, so maybe she was able to protect herself from the blast at the last second. But she was also about to try to kill me with that power before trying to escape the moon. I’m sorry but I ran out of options by that point.” I tell her.

“You don’t have to apologize to me Baelor. I’m mostly worried about what she’ll do to you after what you did.” She says, still out of my line of sight. She sighs sadly. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll be able to fix your hind leg or your wings, they’re just gone. And I’m not sure about your ear or eye, but I can try to close the wounds that are all over your body right now. Part of your tail is gone as well. I’m afraid you are most likely going to be severely disabled from now on.” She says.

‘Leg, wings, tail, eye and ear… huh, I thought something felt off. I guess that was it, I’m missing some stuff.’ I think, now noticing that my width of vision actually is less, and I can only see one side of my snout with my remaining eye.

“Heh, I discovered a few more tricks to my elements while stuck on the moon with Luna. You don’t need to grieve for my lost parts Celestia. Once my energy recharges a bit, I’ll be able to regrow them.” I say with a wry grin, then frown. “But why would Nightmare Moon be more inclined to kill me than before? I just blew a few more craters into the moon, and I feel like I’ve earned at least a little bit of respect from her for lasting as long as I did. She even said that I’ll be ‘remembered as her greatest victory’.” I shift my head a little.

I see the soft golden glow of her aura out of the corner of my sight before I feel my skin tingle as the tissue starts to rapidly regenerate. “Blow a few more craters into the moon?” She asks disbelievingly. “Baelor, the moon is only just barely considered there anymore. You nearly destroyed it completely.” She chides.

I blink. Then blink again. “… Shit. She’s going to straight up murder me when she finds me.” I say tiredly.

“I think Luna would straight up try to murder you, if she gets reverted.” Celestia says seriously. “Nightmare is going to work herself into a frothing at the mouth, murderous creature of absolute rage in just the search for you. Then she’s going to rip you apart, put you back together, rip you apart again, put you back together again, and then rip you apart a third time, and then raise the sun for the sole purpose of hurling your remains into the sun… and possibly try to blow the sun up as well.” She lists off.

I stare at her for a second and then give a quick laugh. “Heh heh-ow. Wow, you’ve definitely gotten the hang of dark humor while we were gone.” I say with a pained grin.

She smiles at my comment, then turns serious again. “I’ve managed to heal you a bit. But you’re still going to be missing your leg, wings, tail, and your eye until you can heal them yourself. But I think your ear might actually still work, despite it just being a hole in your head at the moment.” She informs me.

I can tell that she’s right, I don’t feel like I’ve been thrown through twenty piles of broken glass anymore. “Thanks, Tia. You have no idea… how… great….. that….. feels……..” I start to doze off from sheer exhaustion.

“Baelor? Baelor, stop! We need to get you somewhere else in the castle. Nightmare Moon might find where you crashed through.” Celestia urges.

That wakes me up. The rush of fear of being found by Moon actually restores my right thigh.

“... Well… that was an interesting display. And you’re awake again, so now all that needs to be known is whether you can walk in your present state.” Celestia says.

I put my three feet on the ground and struggle to lift myself. I shakily manage to stand up straight on my three remaining legs, thigh hanging from my hip where my fourth used to be. I catch myself with a foreleg as I start to tilt to the side a bit.

“*huff* *huff* I think I might need some help walking, but I can stand now that you’ve healed me a bit.” I tell her.

Celestia walks up next to me and extends her wing under my barrel to help support my weight. “Thank you.” I tell her.

“You’re welcome. Now let’s get you somewhere more concealed.” She responds. We slowly make our way deeper into the weathered castle.

Twilight and the other four mares watch as Rainbow Dash flies down into the chasm and grabs the end of the fallen rope bridge. She flies back up to the other end of the gap and swiftly ties one side of the bridge. Twilight sees her about to tie off the other side when she perks up as if she’s heard something. Rainbow looks around quickly before looking up and behind her. Twilight follows her gaze curiously and gapes at what she sees.

Nightmare Moon is casually flying overhead and landing at the front gates to the old castle.

‘What?! No! She must be after the Elements! We have to find them before she does!’

“Rainbow! The bridge!” Twilight frantically calls out to the pegasus.

But Rainbow either doesn’t hear, or ignores her, because she flies straight at Nightmare Moon, hooves outstretched to hit her.

Nightmare Moon doesn’t even turn around as she flicks a wing and sends a strong gust of wind that stops Rainbow dead in the air.

“I can see that you all don’t know how to take a hint. Go back home before I lose my temper on you all.” Nightmare Moon says dispassionately.

“Not until I kick your sorry flank back into the moon where it belongs.” Rainbow says aggressively.

‘WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU DOING RAINBOW!?’ Twilight mentally screams.

Nightmare Moon just snorts. “I must truly be furious at Baelor if all I can muster to feel for you is annoyance. I am quite serious, you are all better off going somewhere where you can all hope and pray that all my fury gets used up on the one that destroyed the centerpiece of my beautiful night. Because none of you would have lasted past the cliffs if I had actually cared about stopping you. Leave. Now.” She orders with only a glance at the cyan pegasus.

Rainbow’s response, to Twilight’s dismay, is to charge Nightmare Moon

Nightmare Moon flicks her wings out again like before. But this time, Rainbow narrows her body and flaps rapidly and manages to push through the blast of air and continue towards the night alicorn. However, Nightmare Moon merely gives a lazy flap of her wings and completely avoids Rainbow’s charge. Twilight can see she has a brow raised.

“Argh! Quit moving and let me hit you!” Rainbow screams at Nightmare.

“That would defeat the purpose of a fight.” She responds dryly.

Rainbow charges her again, and Nightmare flicks her wing at her again. But this time, instead of wind, lightning shoots out towards Rainbow. And unlike air, lightning is not as easy to fly through.

The lightning hits Rainbow and she spasms for a second before dropping to the ground, smoking.

“RAINBOW!!!!” Twilight and the others scream in horror. Did Nightmare Moon just kill her?!

Rainbow coughs and shakily gets back on her hooves to face the black alicorn.

“You survived? Impressive. You’ve obviously never trained to use your pegasus magic beyond flying and basic weather manipulation, yet you have enough magic within your body to actually survive a bolt of lightning strong enough to kill a pony three times your size. And with nothing but singed wings no less.” Nightmare Moon says, mildly impressed.

“Heck yeah! I’m just that awesome. Now get ready to feel the hurt.” Rainbow leaps off the ground to try to charge her again, but she falls to the ground on her stomach, letting out a single ‘oof’ from the fall.

“It seems that you have been grounded for the time being. That, is not surprising.” Nightmare comments.

“Argh! I don’t need my wings to kick your flank! C’mon! Put em’ up.” Rainbow commands while moving into a bipedal stance with her hooves up into a boxing guard.

“Your tenacity is another impressive aspect about you.” Nightmare Moon compliments. “Tell me, pegasus, what is your current occupation?” She asks/orders.

“Why do ya’ wanna know?” Rainbow asks suspiciously.

“I find it surprising that one with so much potential is lingering in a small town next to one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Now I would appreciate it if you could tell me your occupation like I asked.” Nightmare Moon says with narrowed eyes.

“*Hmph*, I’m the Captain of the Ponyville weather team. But I’m also going to join the Wonderbolts once I show them how great of a flier I am, just so you know.” Rainbow tells Nightmare.

“Hmm. Wonderbolts you say? I have not heard of them. What do these ‘Wonderbolts’ do?” Nightmare Moon asks with a raised brow.

“They’re the greatest fliers in all of Equestria, and I’m going to be the best flier out of all of them someday.” Rainbow announces.

“Well, that would explain your high level of pegasus magic. You have obviously trained hard to become faster at flying.” Nightmare compliments again. Rainbow puffs up her chest in pride. “But it takes more than mere speed to become the master of the skies.” Nightmare Moon adds with a frown.

“That’s what you think.”

“That is what I know. How else do you think I so effortlessly defeated you?” Nightmare asks harshly.

“You didn’t beat me! I’m just getting-.“

Nightmare Moon flairs her tattered wings and twists the air around Rainbow into a miniature tornado, before slamming her down into the ground so fast that Twilight could swear she heard some of Rainbow’s bones break from where she’s standing across the bridge. Twilight and the others gasp in fear for the rainbow-maned pegasus as Nightmare Moon stalks over to where Rainbow Dash is still being pinned to the ground by the force of the wind hammering into her back.

“To master the skies… you must be as powerful and unrelenting as the gale, as swift as a flash of lightning, as destructive as a twister. Right now, your abillities are nothing compared to what I can do. Do your best to remember that.” She tells Rainbow coldly over the force of the wind.

Just as quickly as it started, the wind dies, and Rainbow is able to move again from what Twilight can see. Nightmare Moon turns away.

“You are one of the most foalish, disrespectful, and undisciplined ponies I have ever met, young Rainbow Dash. However, you show much promise in possibly wielding the power of the storm, and I am thus willing to teach you how.” Nightmare Moon says, turning her head halfway around to look at Rainbow.

Rainbow’s head shoots up. “What!?”

“WHAT?!” Twilight and the others exclaim in shock.

“Why would I agree to let you teach me?” Rainbow asks in disbelief.

“You seek to be the greatest flier among the greatest fliers. But in order to do that, you must first be able to bend the forces of the sky to your will, and then use them to amplify your own flight capabilities.” Nightmare Moon opens her wings and suddenly, with a gust of air, she’s right behind Rainbow. “You know how to bank and turn, I know how to make the wind do it for me. And it does it far faster and efficiently than any pegasus’s wings alone could ever hope to achieve.” She says next to Rainbow’s ear.

She then steps around the stunned mare and walks towards the castle again. “Everything I know, I can teach you, young pegasus. And all it will take, is for you to take your companions, and go back to your little town so I can finish my business with Celestia and Baelor. You or anypony else getting caught in the crossfire between gods would be… unfavorable.” Nightmare Moon says after a moment of thought.

Rainbow Dash is looking down, deep in thought. Twilight has a pang of worry. ‘No, Rainbow, you can’t…’

Rainbow Dash looks up, straight into Nightmare Moon’s expectant gaze. “No. Sorry, but we’ve still got to stop you from causing eternal night. They won’t give up on that and I refuse to give up on them. So sorry, but you’re not getting a dark apprentice tonight.” Rainbow says determinedly.

Twilight sighs in relief.

Nightmare turns away to walk steadily towards the doors of the castle. “Hmph… eternal night? There is no point to it now. After what he did to my moon, I can never again claim the night as my own, so long as that stain he left up in the remains of my canvas.” Nightmare spits venomously, glaring up at the shattered moon.

“My offer shall remain standing after the conflict is over… should you change your mind.” She says over her shoulder to Rainbow, before opening the castle doors and stepping inside.

Twilight stares at the spot where Nightmare Moon’s tail last whisked through the doorway for a few seconds before she notices that Rainbow’s already tied down the other side of the bridge on her end. She and the others trot across to meet the cyan pegasus on the other side.

“Rainbow… thank you.” Twilight says gratefully to Rainbow.

She waves a hoof dismissively. “Eh, don’t worry about it Twilight. I’d never leave my friends hanging.”

“Whoa, your hoof’s shaking really quickly! Can you show me how to do that?” Pinkie asks perkily.

Twilight sees Rainbow Dash notice it, then quickly puts it on the ground to stop it. “Heheh, what are you talking about Pinkie? My hoof’s not shaking. I wasn’t afraid of her, she only left because she knew she wouldn’t be a match for my t-totally awesome hoof to hoof combat.” Rainbow says a little too quickly.

“Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?” Twilight asks her in concern.

“Of course I am. I’m… uh… just… adrenaline, yeah that’s it. I’m just still hyped up from the fight I just finished. TOTALLY fine. Yep.” She says with a nod.

“Are ya’ sure? You did get hit by lightning and then slammed pretty hard into the ground.” Applejack says.

Rainbow takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. It was a little intense, but I’m okay. So let’s go get to finding those elementals or whatever they’re called.” Rainbow says with a more confident tone.

The other ponies nod in response, but Twilight can only stare at Rainbow Dash. The brave pegasus mare that stood up to what amounted to a demi-goddess, was clearly outmatched, and yet somehow came out alive. She feels like Rainbow might be more rattled than she’s letting on, but Twilight decides to save it for another time and focus on getting to the Elements of Harmony first.

Twilight leads the other five mares inside the weathered castle through the same doors that Nightmare Moon had taken but a few minutes ago.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter done.

"Feels kind of weird that Ictus still isn't back yet. And Pinkie's missing too..."

Are you worried about them?

"If it was just Ictus, I would be. But since it's both of them and they're usually all for this small chat at the end of every chapter, I'm a little more worried that they're planning something."

You have a point... on a scale of one to -me, how far do you think they're going to go with whatever they're planning?

"Anywhere between four and seven."

"You're both pathetic for thinking that those two actually pose a threat."

"Oh, he's here. Well, the good news is, since he's here, he's not a part of whatever they're concocting. So my guess goes down to the range of between two and five."

What's the bad news of that?

"Since he's here and not with them, we have to put up with him without their support."

Oh... yeah...

...

Why is Sombra stuck in this area again?

"You mean YOU don't know?!"

Well, I mean, I thought I had an idea of what to do with him, but I can't remember it. I was hoping I told you or someone about what it was.

"Hello, dark evil king of shadows and terror, sitting right next to you as you talk about how much you hate me."

"Yeah, we know, that's why we're doing it."

Wouldn't our feelings of hatred for you just fuel your power though? Why are you getting annoyed at us about it?

"I wouldn't really call it hatred. It's more annoyance than anything."

"I'M NOT ANGRY ABOUT THE FACT YOU DON'T LIKE ME, I'M ANGRY THAT YOU'RE PURPOSEFULLY DISRESPECTING AND IGNORING ME!!!" I AM A DARK AND FORMIDABLE FORCE THAT COULD DESTROY YOU BOTH IN AN INSTANT!!!"

"A dark and formidable force stuck in our home turf. All that power you've got means nothing if Falx can just write things like, No one can die in Author Space or something like that."

I don't even have to write it, I can just literally pull sh#$ out of my ass as to why you're not a threat to us. Such as Aevum being more powerful than you, in every way that matters and multiple ways that matter not as much but still matter a bit.

Oh, you guys are still here? Why? We're all just going to keep bickering till the next AN section for the next chapter. You guys can walk out at any time and nothing important will be missed. In fact, why don't I just end this here and save you the trouble. Bye!

"YOU THINK THAT I'LL BELIEVE THAT SHE IS MORE POWERFUL THAN I!!! SOMBRA!!! THE KING OF DARKNE-" *Thwap* *Zap* *Fwoosh* BOOM*

"Yes. I am. Now shut up and say bye bye to the nice readers."

"Uggghhh."

"Good job. Bye guys."

Huh. I guess things wrapped themselves up despite the cut-off.