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The Pieces Lie Where They Fell

by Evilhumour

Chapter 52: Chapter Forty Eight: Xvital, Night Blade, Page Turner, Wind Breaker, Vix-Lei, Rex, the Nightmare, Balance

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Chapter Forty-Eight

Xvital

Xvital didn’t stop punching the Nightmare backwards until it flew to the side, giving her a chance to catch her breath. Wriggling her fingers, she went to help the guys up with Vix-Lei struggling to get to her feet-holy fuck, what the Mictlan happened to her arm

“Xvital, you’re back!” Page said as she helped Night to his hooves, his wing bleeding.

“And you got your Element to work,” Rex said as he did his best to support Vix-Lei with Wind Breaker taking the brunt of it.

“And she’s got-sweet goddess, you’re heavy Vix-Lei,” Wind Breaker panted.

Such a charmer Windy,” Vix-Lei grimaced as she clearly felt the pain in her arm again. “Muscle and bones are a lot denser than you’d think for my kind, and they weigh a lot more too ‘cause of it.”

“That would explain it,” Wind Breaker said as Vix-Lei finally made it up, still grimacing as she held her arm. “So now what do we do?”

“DOWN!” Xvital shouted as she created a shield to hold back the Nightmare, still not sure how she did that. All this magic stuff was still very new and confusing and it didn’t help that she did stuff like that without meaning to…

Night Blade

“You think because you have your Element you have won‽” the Nightmare roared as it tried to smash through the shield. “I have lived longer than Equestria itself, and witnessed countless Bearers die! I have killed magical armies greater than you children! I have toppled grandstanding empires for daring to mock me! You are nothing compared to me, less than nothing, less than dirt and you will die!

“That might be true, but if it is, then that must mean you had to have failed every time,” Night spat. In response, the Nightmare howled in rage as it finally managed to crash the shield open. Thankfully, they all scattered to the side safely with only Vix-Lei wobbling. “There is no record of you in any of the histories I have ever read.”

“Of course not,” the Nightmare spat back. “I wiped all traces of myself from them; no sense in letting anypony have any chance of knowing what they were facing. Dreams and Nightmares are defeated with knowledge; knowledge is power and power I alone shall have! If Chrysalis knew how to interpret the nightmares I gave her, she would have made peace with the Lady of the Day instead of trying to conquer the land. The Lady of the Day knew what her dreams of the Setting Sun meant;” it chuckled, pressing a hoof against its chest. “There was a reason why she had to send the Setting Sun away. That was a little present from me and some other Champions of Chaos to the Champion of Order. It is a tragedy that the unicorn fled these lands before placing the Element on its head and it only affected a few instead of causing this kingdom to tear itself apart.”

Page Turner

Page gasped in horror at the Nightmare’s words. “So it was you who…” she trailed off.

“Yes, it was me and others,” the Nightmare agreed. “Sadly your Opposite was not among them, but then again, he does tend to go to extremes that make it hard for the rest of my kind to do our Duties.” The Nightmare then threw down a wave of crackling electricity, causing them to dash away again. “Save for me, of course. Nightmares go well with your Opposite. He inspires me and I inspire him.”

“You’re horrid,” Page snarled in disgust.

“I am Nightmare!” it shouted, the strength of its voice slamming them backwards. “I have known Fear intimately and in all its forms! I have seen countless terrors in my tenure of life, witnessed endless abominations from countless Pits of Tartarus and observed the tortures the demons apply to the guilty and sinful; I have encountered things that are so frightening that the merest glimpse would cause a mortal’s mind to break from sheer panic and their hearts to explode from the rush of fear that such a view brought on! And I have grown all the stronger from such a meeting every time! I have helped steer countless back to the righteous path, scared untold billions of billions away from their foul designs, I have saved more lives than you could count in all your lifetimes put together! I have crushed my foes, destroyed countless of my Opposites in the past, I have driven all who stood against me into oblivion.”

Wind Breaker

“But as you said,” Wind Breaker growled as he snapped his wings open to act like a windbreak for the rest of the guys, them beginning to get footing once more. “Knowledge is your power and so is fear, but knowing the fear is the first step to defeating it!” He grinned. “And it just so happens that part of Honesty is Facts... or Knowledge. Which, as you well know, happens to be my department. And while you’re telling the truth now… I can tell that you’ve left out a crucial piece of information: you’ve overstepped your bounds with what you’ve done here. Scaring others back onto the straight and narrow way is one thing, but you’ve been trying to control the world and cut off one of its great Powers. And that is a crime against your Purpose I’m willing to bet.”

HOW DARE YOU!” the Nightmare bellowed. “I HAVE HELD TRUE TO MY ROLE FOR LONGER THAN YOUR RACE HAS EXISTED! I HAVE EXISTED LONGER THAN THIS PLANET AND ALL THE CELESTIAL BODIES AROUND IT! I HAVE TRAVELLED THROUGHOUT THE COSMOS AND KEPT TRUE TO MY ROLE AND PURPOSE! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT UPSTART BRATS DABBLING IN THINGS BEYOND YOUR RECKONING!

Vix-Lei

“But we’re not the ones throwing a tantrum like a little child when we’re called out on what we’ve done wrong,” Vix-Lei snarked through the pain, doing what she did best and piss off others until they lost control. “That’s you-”

She was cut off as the Nightmare flung a bolt of power towards her, close enough that it singed her hair.

I will make YOUR suffering ESPECIALLY painful,” the Nightmare snarled as it created a row of jagged spikes that caused her to jump around and jostle her arm. “I will drive every last member of your little family to the slowest and most painful deaths I can imagine, deaths that will last for thousands of years for every transgression in life, big and small… and you will witness every. Last. Second. Of it.”

Rex

“No, you won’t,” Rex stated calmly. “Because you’re going to fall. Here, and now.” He had nothing left to throw but he would not let this creature harm those he considered kin, those he considered his friends.

“He’s right,” Xvital stated. “You may be big, and powerful, and all that. But at the same time… you’re weak. You’re predictable. You’ve lost every time in the past, your own words! We will defeat you, and end the darkness you’ve brought on this world and others.”

“You say that again and again, and yet you have nothing,” it barked at them. “One Sixth of your full Power and you posses powers you do not even understand, Magic. Powers gifted unto you by that worm. If you had even a hint of her true magnificence, you might come close to scratching me but you have neither that or time on your side.”

“I might not understand this magic, but you know what?” Xvital said as she seemed to focus onto something before snapping her eyes open. “I have them! She waved her tailhand at them. “Wind’s honesty saved our asses more times than I can count, Page’s kindness helped stop us from killing each other, Vix-Lei’s laughter helped us stay sane, Rex’s generosity and selflessness inspired us all during our travels, and Night’s loyalty to us after all the shit we tossed at him is just inspiring. That’s what I put my faith in, that’s where my magic comes. It comes from my friends and you know what?” Xvital said as she and the rest of them began to rise in the air. “Friendship is magic!” she shouted as a wave of pure power surged from her and rest of them with the Nightmare’s eyes going wide for a split second before it sneered at them.

The Nightmare

BAH! the Nightmare snorted in anger as time began to slow down to mere seconds, Time halting things so this moment would play out without interference from outside forces. “You truly think that this will stop me‽ I have endured countless blasts from Harmony and while it is a greater Power than me, its greatest weakness is in its inability to kill! I will return in time and I will seek my revenge on you and your kin!” It screamed at the Elements before eying the figure forming in the swirl of colours. “Thus brings back Harmony and the new age, with the first performance of your Duties in a thousand years,” the Nightmare said in a mocking tone, bowing in kind.

“While you are correct that the Rainbow of Harmony will restore Harmony,” the creature said. “I am still Balance.

For the first time in a very long time, the Nightmare felt a stab of fear in its gut.

“Nightmare, you have killed countless souls in your long life; you have unjustifiably targeted this land and their leaders and their people,” Balance said the colours began to reach a pitch where they became painful to look at but the Nightmare was forced to stare into it as true dread crept into its soul. “As Balance, I shall even scales against all your crimes with dragging you to Tartarus.”

“No, no no no!” the Nightmare shouted in fear, trying to flee its host as it finally realized Balance’s true plans. But it was too late, as the Rainbow of Harmony smashed into its host and out the windows, sending magic back into the lands as Balance dragged the Nightmare away from the mortal realm and forcibly into Tartarus.

The Nightmare was powerful but this was another Power, a greater Power, enacting its Duties. It was powerless as it broke through the barriers of Tartarus, setting off all the ancient alarms as Balance dragged the Nightmare over the river of the damned and past the Courtroom of the Judge. The Nightmare’s fears only grew as the Balance made its way to the older parts of Tartarus, the ancient sections that were not created to fit the needs of the sinful mortals but were there originally, the true sections of Tartarus.

The Nightmare’s nonexistent heart began to thunder as Balance brought them to the First Pit. It was created before time was even a concept, before life existed, before death existed. It was created to hold back Abominations, Horrors, Monsters and an endless swarm of Creatures whose very existence proved a threat to Creation itself. They had been sealed away in the First War, the war between the Creators and these Aberrations to Existence, and they would remain there for all Time. They were locked away for if they ever got a microschism of freedom, all life in Reality would surely perish.

The Nightmare looked up at Balance, trying to understand why they were here. Even the True Demons, the ones made by the Creators to staff this realm, did not travel here willingly and this was not something the Nightmare would inflict on its worst foe.

“Nightmare,” Balance said with ringing bells and trumpets blowing in its voice. “It is time for you to receive your punishment,” it declared and it took the Nightmare a second to realize what Balance was planning and true terror and horror set into its heart. The Nightmare began to plead and beg, screaming at Balance that it could not do this, it was breaking core Rules, it was against the concept of Harmony itself!

Its pleas fell on deaf ears as Balance used its power to reach into the Nightmare and pull its soul away from its Power, separating the being that had been the Nightmare for countless eons from all its power. Balance released the Power, allowing it to go back to Death, its true Master while holding the soul above the Pit.

The being that had been the Nightmare looked up in complete soul terror and then screamed as Balance dropped it into the center of the Pit, screamed as the soul fell into the midst of Monsters, Creatures and Abominations, all hungry for something of Reality. The soul would be screaming until Time ended for there was no time in the Pit, there was no death in the Pit, there was to be only endless suffering for the soul that was once Nightmare and every moment would be spent screaming in fear.

Balance

Balance watched the soul that had been the Nightmare fall into the First Pit, a ghost of a smile on its face. At long last, after almost a thousand years, their plan had finally come to fruition and it was able to return to its true form without worrying about that snake in the grass striking at them again.

Balance closed its eyes and Harmony opened them.

It took Harmony a moment to review all the actions Balance had done and frowned. While this had been the ultimate goal a millennium ago, the ultimate removal of Nightmare’s ability to strike at its Elements, Harmony could not find itself agreeing with Balance’s actions.

Beyond the obvious Rules Balance had broken, Balance had stretched what its Duties were to the point of breaking. It had delayed Night’s birth by twenty years so their future Loyalty would be of the same age as the rest of them at the cost the Blade family being unable to connect with each other. It had caused Rex to be chased out of his pack so he would meet the other Elements and away from his destiny to uniting the packs under a single leadership that would see the diamond dogs respected for the first time in years. Balance had caused Wind Breaker’s mother, who had managed to escape Equestria and the Hatchery system and return to the Griffish Isles, to lose her firstborn child as Wind Breaker was snatched away when he was born and brought to places that would eventually see his return to Canterlot and their Hatchery system, an action deemed necessary as the free born griffon would have never travelled to Canterlot and met the others, depriving them of Honesty. It had encouraged Lamella Armor the Ninth to abandon her daughter to the care of her Hive’s Elders, rather than try to raise the next Queen herself, the Queen who would have been the one to finally make peace with the Equestrians. Balance had caused many sleepless nights to create tension in Vix-Lei’s family, finally driving the would have been shipmistress of all of the Minos Islands Kingdom from that fate and into one being of its Elements. Balance had spoken to Chantico multiple times in many guises to alert her of Xvital’s true nature and then took over her to force Xvital’s departure from her wedding day to ensure that the would have been queen was back into her thieving habits and would seek to rob Canterlot one day.

Balance had helped Sharp Point find the Bearers as a means to give Night a true chance to connect to his Element as well as undo the harm Balance had created when it had delayed Night’s birth. Balance had chosen these six due to the fact they would be very unlikely to succeed; gambling that the Nightmare would take the Captains as much more serious threats and move harder against them then the current Bearers. Balance had helped countless crimes and murders to ensure that it was able to guide the Bearers in subtle ways that the former Nightmare could not detect. Balance had affected the bonds of time between the worlds by bargaining with Time, though Harmony could tell those were even now being repaired, allowing time to flow evenly on both sides once more. Balance had stained itself so it would be able to defeat the former Nightmare and Balance had done worse than kill the former Nightmare. No being deserved that torment and there was no way to rescue the former Nightmare without risking all of Creation and Reality.

Harmony closed its eyes and bowed its head in sorrow for what Balance had done and to its surprise, Harmony found that Balance had changed itself.

Harmony found itself a tiny bit happy that the former Nightmare was suffering unimaginably and forever. Harmony reached deeper and to its horror, found that Balance had left a gift into what Harmony was and would now forever be.

Balance gave Harmony the ability to kill.

Harmony was aware that the Guardians of Tartarus were approaching and that the Masters, Lords and Ladies of Tartarus would demand answers and decided it would not be here to answer them.

Harmony left the realm of Tartarus and went back to the realm of mortals.

The next second then passed.

Xvital

Xvital was able to see a massive rainbow explode out from her hands, slamming into the Nightmare. The rainbow smashed through the glass windows and surged down the castle and city, with magic surging in the lands as it was finally allowed to return to the world.

“Wow,” Xvital breathed as she slumped down on the ground after the magic holding her up faded away, breathing in the air that was blowing into the room from the broken windows. “That was one Mictlan of a rainbow!”

“A viable rainbow of harmony, I suppose,” Rex muttered as he got to his feetpaws. “With how the Nightmare called it and how it healed things…”

“You can say that again,” Vix-Lei laughed as she got to her hooves, spinning her hammers that Xvital could have sworn were broken befo- “Got my hammers back!” She then flexed her right arm and smacked the bicep. “And my arm’s all good.” Then she caught something out of the corner of her eye and rushed over, scooping an object out of the debris. “And so’s my lizard! He wasn’t intended for this sort of thing, so I’m really glad he’s okay.”

Wind Breaker chuckled at her reaction from where he was laying. “One of these days, you will have to tell us why you really have that with you,” he said. Then his eyes turned to Night Blade as the other stallion shifted and rose into the air with a smile of his own.

“My wing is good too,” the nox pony reported from above them before tracing a hoof across his face. “My eye is still scarred up though,” he added with a bit of confusion in his voice.

Good,” Page said as she flew into the air and actually tackled him over and pinned him to the ground. “Makes you look rugged,” she said in a husky tone of all things. “Meesa likes.” The librarian then kissed him forcefully on the lips as Night’s eyes bulged in surprise before he began to kiss back.

“Wooohooh!” Vix-Lei shouted as she slapped Wind on the back, causing the griffon to yelp as he was sent tumbling forwards into the couple who let out squawks of surprise before they turned to glare at the minotaur. “Oh. Um… oops?”

“Graceful as always, Vix-Lei,” Wind grumbled as he pushed himself upwards before he started to laugh. “Guys, I can’t believe we actually did it!”

That got Xvital to start laughing, which caused everyone else to join in. “We actually did it! We saved the day, stopped the baddie and we rescued the king,” she trailed off as she turned to look at the earth pony who had yet to move.

She then jumped as the doors to the room were suddenly sent flying out of their frame to crash down below as the Fiv-Six Captains of Equestria stormed into the room, each of them narrowing their eyes at them. Behind them came squads of each division of the Guards, judging by their armor they were elites and champions, with a number of doctors even further behind and there was a pegasus flying around with a camera pointed straight at them.

“Uh guys,” Xvital said as she backed up a tiny bit into her friends. “I think we might still be in trouble.”

“Your majesty,” Gentle Step said as she stepped forwards. “Are you well?”

Xvital turned her head to see that the king was starting to stir, standing up on shaky legs. “Ye-yes, I am,” he said as stood upright, shaking his head before turning to face them. “As well as free from that monster’s control thanks to them.” That caused the camera pony to gasp and then snap a picture of them, with everyone wincing from the bright flash. “Come Captain Step, Captain Gaze, we have much work to do to set matters right. Captain Lulamoon, take care of our heroes. Captain Sun, assist Captain Surprise in securing the perimeters and make sure that creature does not return. Captain Wall, ensure that the public is calm after that rainbow explosion and the inane edicts and decisions the creature ordered when it controlled me.” And with that, he trotted alongside the Captain General who had the changeling Captain following on his other side with the Royal Guards and the Secret Guards clustering around them as they left the room, with the Magi of Stars Guards beginning to direct them out of room.

“Wait, is that it?” Xvital asked with a snort. “We save the world and we don’t get so much as a tha-”

XVITAL!” That was all the warning she got before Tizoc bounded up to her, pulling her into a deep hug before kissing her on the lips, causing her to melt on the spot. She could hear people cheering and snickering at her, but dammit, this was her Tizy kissing her.

Finally, he broke off the kiss, leaving her flushed in the face and her blush grew as the pegasus began to take more pictures of her at this moment. Still… Looking at her fiancé and her friends, she smiled and said, “Okay, I’m good.”

Next Chapter: Epilogue Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes
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