Nightmare Moon - part 3.

//LOL It was supposed to be a Bonus chapter in thanks to LordValmar for a simple yet awesome cover, but we novel decided that it would put this chapter into the trash can instead of posting it and i only realized when I was about to post the next chapters XD Here's two chapters then 🤣//

Pinkie Pie was having a real lot of fun. Despite the few minor mishaps along the way, their Journey was one that she considered a field trip of the century!

That she was also surrounded by who she hoped would become her long time friends, was an even greater reason why she was having so much fun. And let's not even mention Starfall! That Pony is just a piece of art! His coat and mane might be a bit dull, but just look at all those muscles! And those beautiful purple eyes! her tail is tingling every time she looks into them as if telling her to Marry that stallion...

She had so much fun on his party yesterday, double so that he accepted her character in strides and was so fun to be around. He was always so eager to help, and joked around whenever the situation called for it!

And to her pleasant surprise he also called her a beautiful pony with a beautiful heart when they were leaving to their homes.

So when the funny looking trees appeared and Starfall didn't scream in fright like the others but joined her in laughter, She couldn't help but fall for him, and fall for him did she hard...

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The scarry tree faces were actually much more sinister than Starfall expected.

When he looked at their magic, he realized that their sight was supposed to cause exponentially growing discomfort and fear that, if a pony was exposed to it for too long without a counter, then the pony could even die from a terror induced heart attack.

Of course it was hard to achieve such an effect as the trees were mostly just a deterrent that was supposed to scare them away. But there was a few simple counters to the magic, and laughter or just knowledge of the magic were two of them.

He easily countered the magic that affected his feeling of terror and joined the ever cheerful Pinkie in laughing at the twisted trees. Nightmare Moon clearly wasn't aware of who she was against if she thought that such a simple magic could stop them in their advances...

He was surprised that there was really a song after the other ponies calmed down, but it was a different one than the laughter song in the show yet with a similar meaning. Apparently Pinkie was completely improvising when singing that song but she was pretty good nonetheless.

It was just like Starfall expected. Ponies were inherently good musicians much more often than humans and they didn't shy away from showing that in the public. He couldn't help himself but sing along with Pinkie, not realizing that because of that he accidentally scored even more points with all the girls as his voice was actually quiet good.

The trees were back to normal soon enough, and Starfall let the blue mist go back to its master. He already had a sample so he didn't need any more anyway.

They soon returned back to the journey at hand but it wasn't long enough before they were stopped at the edge of a river, as a certain giant serpent was crying in sadness about his lost mustache.

Rarity was quick to act against this breach of fashion, and cut off her own tail so that she could attach out to the serpent surprising everyone.

Even Starfall was surprised despite knowing that would happen. He knew how much rarity loved her tail after all but that's the Element of Generosity for you...

As they finally got through onto the other side of the river with the help of the thankful serpent Steven, Twilight looked at the Tail of Rarity in saddens and said-.

"Rarity That was very generous of you but-"

"It's alright darling! My tail will grow up! But a mustache is much harder to cultivate and I couldn't just leave that poor serpent in so much grief when I knew i could help with a simple action." Said Rarity with a smile, clearly much happier that she could help Steven the serpent than sad over her lost tail.

Starfall smirked and walked over to Rarity.

"That's all fine and dandy, but you could have asked the others for our opinion first before acting so drastically." He said before pointing his horn at her short tail.

A spell shoot out of his horn and before anyone realized the tail was back in its former glory albeit straight instead of curled.

"Here you go Rare. Good as new! but you'll have to fashion it by yourself as I'm not too good at it, haha!" He joked but he was suddenly tackled by a grateful white unicorn that almost kissed him in the heat of the moment but she stopped herself in time. they

She giggled and playfully bumped him in the chest with his hoof.

"You should have told me sooner instead of making me suffer the loose of my tail Darling *Giggle*...Thank you..." She said and kissed him on the cheek in gratitude before returning to the other girls and showing them her newly regrown tail after which she started instructing Twilight how to fashion your hair using magic...

They were soon all back on their way, that before they realized it, brought them right in front of a gorge. They could see the Castle of the Two Sister right on the other side, and Starfall could see a large amount of magic originating from deep down in the canyon.

'It must be the Tree of Harmony, I can feel it's magic tickling my senses even from here...' He thought.

"We're here!" Exclaimed Twilight before dashing towards the Castle, but Starfall caught her in levitation before she fell into the gorge.

"Hey Twily! I know that you want it to be over soon, but that's no reason to jump into every random crevice." He said in amusement and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing when she heard his morbid joke.

Twilight laughed awkwardly as he set her on the ground beside them.

"Heh sorry. I got a little excited there... I can't believe we're finally here..." She said as Starfall caressed her on the head.

"It's alright, but if you allowed yourself a second to look, you would realize that the bridge is actually broken..." He pointed towards the gorge where indeed the bridge could be seen hanging on the other side an there was no other way across.

"Oh no! And what do we do now..." Whispered a worried Fluttershy.

Twilight turned to look at Starfall.

"Can you teleport all of us across?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I never mentioned it before but I realized while fighting the Manticore that the magic in the forest seems to be interfering with long range teleportation. I'm not yet sure how to bypass it, as it seems to be some large area effect spell cast by Nightmare Moon. I don't have problems with the teleportation itself but the limit seems to be around thirty meters and that crevice is clearly further..." Truthfully explained Starfall. He really wanted to ask Luna about this spell if they manage to save her like it happened in the show.

Just at this moment a wild Rainbow Dash appeared.

"Ha! Did you forget who is with you?! I'll have this bridge all up and repaired in a jiffy!" She said and everyone smiled at her antics.

"Yes. Go Rainbow, but be careful. Who knows what traps could Nightmare Moon have set up." Starfall warned her and she nodded indicating that she understood.

He didn't see what physically happened on the other side but he could see The Magic of Nightmare Moon and Rainbows fighting in a sense. Rainbow was clearly fighting the temptation with the help of her unwavering loyalty towards her friends...and a bit of help from the Tree of Harmony as it turns out...

He saw a small beam of light emerging from the gorge and impacting Rainbow's signature. A few moments later Rainbow was back with the bridge in tow and Starfall could see that her magic didn't change so the beam must have been helping her in fighting some type of confoundment magic.

He sighed in relief seeing that she wasn't hurt and nothing changed from the story. He was really nervous here because he wasn't by her side to save her if by any chance Nightmare Moon decided that she had enough and went to simply shoot her down...

They passed the bridge and soon enough found themselves in front of the Castle.

They walked through the front doors and entered a large chamber that once had to be a throne room of some sorts. In the middle of the chamber there stood the pedestal that carried all the five elements and the last hidden element that must have been inside the middle orb.

Starfall knew that there was a way to extract the elements from the stones but he didn't know how to achieve that.

He levitated the stones to Twilight and said-

"I can see the magic of the elements being suppressed in those stones. They are most likely hidden so that they weren't found by just a random pony. I'm not sure what the 'spark' is, that is required to summon the sixth one but im sure we can figure it out. Let's just-" He couldn't finish as purple mist enveloped them and teleported them to another tower.

He could have prevented it but he decided not to mess with the timeline in such a critical moment.

He appeared with Twilight in another chamber where Nightmare Moon in all her nightly glory stood, clearly awaiting their arrival.

"Your finally here dear nephew! Good! This is your last chance for redemption! Join me and I'll grant you all thy wishes you desire when we take over Equestria! You're also a fine specimen of a Stallion, so you might even get lucky enough to be allowed into my chambers to service your Queen! Ahahahaha!" She proclaimed with an evil laugh, causing Twilight to blush hearing the last offer the corrupted Princess gave to her Childhood friend.

She was momentarily worried that he might accept it, but when she saw him turn towards her and give her that gentle smile of his, she knew that there was no way in the world her Starfall could have chosen to accept it.

"Those are all very tempting offers dear Aunty, but I have to refuse." He said before charging towards the Princess with his horn charging up with power to which His enemy finally burst out laughing.

"Are you challenging me Nephew? Pity. I had such high expectations towards you." She said but Starfall just smirked and Nightmare Moon just realized that he was still charging the Spell.

"Tell me that when your sane again!" He shouted before suddenly disappearing from the place he was standing and appearing behind the Princess with a giant spell that he was about to impact her with.

She quickly called upon a lot of her Shadow Mist and used additional magic to for a strong barrier between but that was just what he hoped for.

The entire way since their encounter with a Manticore, Starfall spend on designing a spell to counteract and purify dark emotions and neutralize a magic that was corrupted by them. The spell still wasn't perfect but it should be enough to severely weaken Nightmare Moon if it works as it should.

A massive blast of White energy escaped his horn and impacted the mist shield that instantly started to crumble as the corrupted magic reverted back to its original form and returned into the body Of Nightmare Moon who screamed in shock.

Her coat colors started to convulse and her dark colour for a seconds reverted to a much lighter blue before going back to its previous dark colour. But something did change and Starfall could see the magic inside of Nightmare Moon fighting with the pure untainted one, forcing the princess to feel a constant shift in her body that was extremely uncomfortable.

"Aghh! What did you do to me!" She shouted in anger as she started to shoot beams of power towards his direction that he nimbly dodged or deflected shooting simple kinetic blasts in return. He really used a lot of magic on that first spell but in the end he was still just a unicorn. A very, very strong unicorn, but still an unicorn. He didn't have enough power to affect all the power of Nightmare Moon but it still turned out better than he expected.

Twilight on the other hand watched the entire spectacle in amazement and completely forgot about the Elements of Harmony lying by her hooves.

"Twilight! The Elements!" Shouted Starfall as he was continuously fighting against the furious onslaught of the enraged Nightmare Moon.

She momentarily woke up from her stupor and realized what she was supposed to be doing.

She kneeled beside the stones and tried to use her magic to activate them. To cause that so called 'Spark' But the stones didn't react.

At some point the other ponies also arrived in the chamber and watched in shock the clash between Starfall and Nightmare Moon. The destructive spells were breaking holes in the walls all around them and The tower was getting close to falling down.

"Twilight was becoming more and more desperate as the elements didn't react to her magic as she wanted them to. In desperation she called Starfall-

"It doesn't work! I- I don't know what to do!" Her eyes were moist and she was about to panic when the words of Starfall opened her eyes.

"The Spark Twilight! Look around you and remember! It's not something you can see! You need to find it inside of you!" His words resounded in her head as she looked around and found all her friend standing beside her and supporting her. She remembered their Honesty. Their generosity. She remembered How, loyal, and Kind they could be and she remembered all the fun times she had with them. A realization struck her as she felt her magic resonate with the five elements on the ground and with those five Mares that she unconsciously started to consider her best friends.

A smile appeared on her face as her eyes found Starfall's.

"I get it." She whispered but everyone could clearly hear her despite the chaos of the battle.

"The elements aren't just strong magical gemstones..." She continued as she turned to her friends.

"They are the representations of our strongest feelings. They are Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness and Laughter." Her gaze moved from one respective mare to the other as she citied the element that best represented each of them. The stones started to melt and release a multicoloured mist.

"They aren't even physical in a normal manner. They are ideas that can be merged together to form one of the strongest magics of all."

She turned back to the fighting duo as the colourful mist turned into the elements of Harmony that settled on their respective bearers. The last element released itself from the central sphere in the throne room and passed through the stone walls before settling atop Twilight's head in a crown formed from a crystalized golden magic.

"It's the magic of Friendship!" She Intoned.

At once, all the other Elements send a beam of power towards the Element of Magic which subsequently send the beam towards none other than Starfall.

Everyone were shocked with that sudden turn of action but The magic was not one to be stopped as it impacted the unicorn.

But instead of taking damage, Starfall felt an extreme boost of power and he understood what was happening.

The Elements of Harmony must have recognized him as a perfect conductor because of his previously used purifying magic and the level of controll he possessed.

He felt the incredible power of the Magic of Friendship and wondered how he really fit in that equation. Whatever the case, the power gave him a good enough grasp of the power of Harmony to instantly perfect his spell of purification. A large beam of rainbow coloured magic impacted Nightmare Moon in the chest and exploded outwards like a shockwave that purified anything in a radius of a hundred meters.

The overpowered feeling soon left him, as the elements finally stopped supplying him with the magic of Friendship. But he still felt stronger than before which he assumed had something to do with temporarily housing magic comparable at least to an Alicorn.

Before he realized, he was Tackled to the ground by a happy yet terrified Twilight.

"Starfall! You're alright! and you did it!"

"No. You did it Twily. I was only there to guide your power but it was you who actually has the-" Twilight stopped him with a hoof on his muzzle.

"We did it then. Satisfied?" She said with a smile and he laughed. He was about to say some more when suddenly an avalanche of mares fell on his back performing a single giant group hug.

As they were finally almost untangled from the pile of bodies in the accompaniment of quips and giggles, they heard another amused laughter from the side of the group.

They looked up, only to find themselves staring at none other than Princess Celestia.

"I see that you are having fun! May I join you?" She teased the Ponies who one after the other stopped in their places dumbstruck.

She was about to burst out laughing seeing their faces but she heard a voice of her favourite nephew that made her realize that she was not the only joker in the palace for a number of years already.

"Of course Auntie! I'd always have a place for you in any group hug I perform! Come 'ere!" He said and pulled her into their pile using his telekinesis. The resulting group hug was a memory that neither of the ponies would ever forget if only from the sheer absurdity of the situation...