Eternal Night [Open]

[revenancenpcs]

Characters: Whatever's been causing that really long night, the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and you.
Content: BOSS BATTLE
Location: Ponyville, just outside of town, towards the Everfree Forest. There's a certain clearing with a certain statue in it.
Time: Night. Because it's been night for days.
Warnings: It's a boss battle, guys. You know the drill by now.

Continual night is only supposed to be the default state for Traverse Town. When it happens anywhere else - say, Ponyville - it's worrying. That's exactly why you're here to check it out. Maybe you're now a bearer of an Element of Harmony and you feel a sense of responsibility. Maybe you want to take out whatever's causing it. Maybe you're just curious. Either way, you're still in Ponyville in time to see dark clouds swirl in the sky from seemingly nowhere and obscure the stars and moon.

Those clouds all rolled in from the same direction, though, and that's the direction you head in, towards the Everfree Forest. You stop in a clearing, empty except for everypony else who had the same idea as you and a rather creepy statue. You hesitate as a force field shimmers into view around the clearing and abruptly fades. For better or worse, you're stuck here for a while.

It's then that the clouds break long enough to shine a single beam of moonlight onto the statue. White-hot cracks begin to spiderweb over the statue until it shatters, exploding outwards. As the dust settles, you see something else standing where the statue was just moments ago: a pony matching the Princesses in stature, black as the unnaturally long night. The blue mists of her mane and tail swirl around her, failing to obscure the deep red of her gaze. Emblazoned across her flanks is the Nightmare symbol.

She pauses for a moment - either to regroup or for dramatic emphasis - before gathering searing teal magic at the tip of her horn and firing it at you.

[This is Nightmare!Nightmare Moon, and - surprise, surprise - she doesn't like you. This will play out in the same style as the other boss battles, with successes and failures being decided by D&D-style dice rolls (all taken care of by the mods). Please only tag in if you can keep up a pace of one tag per day; otherwise, your turn will be skipped. Additionally, this is a required event for anyone holding an Element of Harmony - if you can't tag in for any reason, please let a mod know. Ten characters total, meaning four non-Element characters can also tag in; no tag order; start a new subthread after every boss battle; have fun~]

Comments

[letteropener]

"I expected this..." Celestia said softly, almost a whisper, in that moment of dramatic emphasis.

Then she planted all four legs, lowered her head as her wings spread to full extension, and matched bolt for bolt with a brilliant blast of sunlight that lanced out from her horn to meet Nightmare Moon's attack.

"You are not my sister!" she bellowed in the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice, rage and power so shot through her voice that it made the ground tremble. "AND YOU WILL BE DESTROYED FOR THIS MOCKERY!"

[realmenknitplushies]

The Element necklace still feels weird, Kanji thinks. Big, heavy: he's used to light little pendants, not something like this! Still: he'd been granted it, for all he doesn't feel worthy of it. He's headed out here to check the scene out while Naoto's doing research in the library: and honestly, he thinks she had the better idea. But he's here now, and he's not going to run - not that he could.

His heart skips a beat. That's - he barely registers that that's probably the biggest Nightmare he's seen, before she's letting off that magic blast and he's watching Celestia retaliate. Or, just as much, hearing it.

Damn. And people call him loud, he thinks.

"Right behind ya, lady!" he calls out, with a stamp, and goes charging forward as hard and fast as he can manage.

[statisticallyterrible]

There were a lot of problems Chell had with this whole Element thing, but fairly high on the list was the apparent social contract that she needed to get involved with messes like this.

Fighting the smaller nightmares was all well and good, but this world stripped her of the more useful tools for fighting--guns, namely, but opposable thumbs would have been great too. At this point, she seemed at a particular loss in comparison to the other bejeweled members of this group.

Things were as they were, though, so Chell did what she did best--hang back, avoid the big nasty's magic, and look for an opening. Wits and waiting were the name of the game, here.

[timeywimeyorb]

Setsuna wonders if she has good or bad timing. She was coming to check out Ponyville after her many conversations about it and Jeeves' hint that it could be the next battle ground. Ammy's mention of the missing sun had only further prompted her visit. And so she had come here to investigate...and find herself as a unicorn pony. At least she had been prepared for that.

It isn't long before the night somehow gets even darker and the clouds show her what way she probably needs to go. Setsuna only stumbles a few times in getting the sense of her hooves beneath her before managing a gallop towards the location. She arrives at the end of the forest in time to see the others gathered before a dark figure with a mane like the starry sky. The enemy? The enemy that Jeeves had mentioned? Whatever the case, it looks like she's attacking and there is no longer time to think about what she should do next.

"Look out! Garnet Ball" Setsuna cries as she sees the magical blast coming for them. There is a flash of garnet colored light and a strange key-shaped staff appears before the newly arrived black-skinned pony. At the top of this staff is a garnet-colored orb and it glows and produces a shimmering shield curving around Setsuna and perhaps any pony that is near her. Obviously Setsuna cannot hold it as she normally would (no hands), but her horn is glowing with the same garnet light and it becomes clear fairly quickly that she is using telekinesis to hold the staff up in place.

(ooc: First time as a pony, so very quickly: Setsuna has a black body, dark green mane/tail with her trademark hairstyle and a spiraled horn (she is a unicorn type). Her cutie mark is the Garnet Orb interlocked with the planetary symbol for Pluto.)

[timeywimeyorb]

Setsuna's shield does not last long after that brutal assault. The garnet-colored light flickering an dying rather quickly as the garnet rod is lowered before the black unicorn. At least she was able to stave off harm befalling some of the other ponies among the group. She hasn't quite put it all together yet, but she very quickly picks up on the fact that certain members of those ponies gathered have jewelry shaped like the marks on their hindquarters.

The soldier follows the Nightmare alicorn's trajectory with sharp, red eyes as she flies over to the center of the clearing. The rod shifts in Setsuna's telekinetic grip and she takes the opportunity to attempt to fight back, even as the concentric rings of energy are coming at her. Perhaps she can cut through it, "Chronos Typhoon." The orb and her horn glow again as she sends a cyclone-like energy towards the attacking pony.

The damage may be lessened as suddenly and from seemingly out of nowhere, a Pricklemane throws itself in front of Setsuna. It turns itself into a spiky ball of pain, before hurling itself towards Nightmare Moon and trying to block the painful aura from hitting its mistress too much. Phoebe may be new around here, but she's going to make a grand entrance never-the-less.

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves grunted in pain when the nightmare's attack hit him. The searing after-effect across his neck was almost worse than the initial assault. His first attempt a failure, he looked around for some other means of distraction and attack. It was then that Descartes and Kant burst from the ether. For once Jeeves was happy for their presence.

The Komory Bat bat flew straight toward Nightmare Moon, screaming a sonic attack in an attempt to confuse her. The Sudo Neku, still a new dream eater to Jeeves, seemed to play it more cool than the bat. It wiggled away from Jeeves and began shooting flames at the enemy, trying to be careful to avoid others.

[yabigfurball]

Chu's missing the Nightmare didn't stop his charge, and he turned on a dime to circle back and try again. That is, until Nightmare Moon unleashed those dark auras. Then, loyalty to mastergod came first. The Cyber Yog charged in front of Amaterasu, taking the brunt of the attack for her. The aura obviously hurt him, but he put on his brave face and reared back for another charge.

Ammy lost a couple of twigs an leaves to the attack, but otherwise was more worried about her Spirit. She barked at Konohana: Make sure that Chu isn't hurt too badly!

Ammy snarled at the fact that her power slash only deflected the attack, and didn't return it. Rotten luck! But she'd show this thing who was boss, especially for hurting others. She didn't have any good shields to cover those more vulnerable, but she had some other strong attacks.

For this one, Ammy pulled up her canvas again and painted a line of ice from her tundra beads to Nightmare Moon. With luck, once she resumed time, the ice would freeze the enemy in place.

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves' sense of triumph as Descartes and the other bat work together to hinder the nightmare was short-lived when the shrapnel began to fly. The valet flattened himself against the ground when a large branch came flying at him. It went over his head, but as he was riding out the onslaught, he saw Kant go down. The Dream Eater had to be resilient, though. When the swarm of bats came, he flung himself forward, scooping up the Sudo Neku with his magic and depositing him over his back for safe-keeping.

Descartes still looked to be in commission, and Jeeves called out to him upon seeing Rarity whacked by a tree nearby. He knew the bat could heal somewhat, and he knew there were several who needed it, including his Sudo Neku. Jeeves attempted to dodge the nightmare bat attacks, hurrying to Rarity's side. "Decartes, heal her!" If these Elements were their best hope for a win, then they needed Rarity in a better state than she was now. Jeeves stood in front of the mare, simply trying to grab bats and throw them at others in the attempt to give time to aid the mare.

[letteropener]

"How..." This Nightmare version of Nightmare Moon seemed to have the power to annul her magics by proximity, making her a fearsome foe indeed. That made telekinesis far too dangerous to pursue.

Hate it as she might, Celestia knew she had no choice but to bring her own Dream Eaters into play to help. She gestured with a hoof, and from their waiting spot behind her protectively-splayed wings, Dizzy and Hero burst out with expressions almost of delight to be joining the battle. The Thunderaffe immediately began galloping around at speed, crashing headlong into any Komory Bats he could, while Dizzy engaged one of his Nightmare counterparts in a duel of sonic blasts.

Trusting in them implicitly, Celestia gathered up her own power, then poured magic onto the ground -- not to attack, but to spread light across it. Her own shield, spreading out beneath them. She deliberately left holes in it, far from anypony, in the hopes that Nightmare Moon would take the path of least resistance when she re-emerged. It might not slow Nightmare Moon down if she truly could cut through Celestia's spells with ease, but even if she could, the sudden failure of the shield's golden light ought to give a moment's warning of where she would reappear.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Aw, hell...!"

Kanji couldn't help but stare in Rarity's direction for a moment. No - dammit...!

"No way. You are not getting away with that!" he yelled. "Come on, guys: get those damn bats!" The 'guys' in question being his Dream Eaters, of course: Plum leapt into action, quite literally, the Pricklemane diving in there in a spiky flurry. The Meowjesty was starting to throw its weight around in turn.

For the moment, Kanji was dismissing his Persona and going in with his own hooves, leaping, kicking and bucking whatever he could with a furious shout and language that didn't really belong in front of royalty. It would be too risky to try to hit those bats with the same kind of electric spell he'd just used: too many chances to hit someone else by mistake.
Didn't hurt that physical combat had always been his forte, after all.

[letteropener]

Seems like there might be a lesson here, to let her Spirits fight in her place -- but Celestia was far too stubborn to let the matter go, when push came to shove. She maintained her shield as she lifted her head, firing short, quick blasts of magic at the Nightmares. Dizzy and Hero -- bless them, she owed them a cake when this was all over -- continued their rampage through the bats as well.

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves staggered as the screech hit him, ears going flat as he simply tried to endure it. His concentration broke and his magic dissipated. Descartes was right there, though, healing both Jeeves and Kant. The valet was refreshed, but still incredibly dizzy, and he was having trouble hearing. The sound of the battle was muffled.

That mattered little as the enemy was still there and attacking. He didn't have the luxury of falling back to some measure of safety with the invisible barrier trapping them in the clearing. Once it was clear their person wasn't going to topple over, Kant and Descartes went on the offensive. The Sudo Neku took up the same strategy as before, this time trying to watch out for any flying debris as he shot fire at any Komory Bats that came into range. Descartes tangled with his Nightmare counterparts, going for direct attacks. Jeeves against tried to grab for one of the bats with his magic and use it as a weapon against its fellows.

[realmenknitplushies]

Once more, Kanji swears - not so much from his missing the attack, but from seeing his Dream Eater duo getting hit. They fall back, seeming a bit dazed, but Plum's still trying to go after the breakaways. Just as stubborn as its person, it seems.

The fact that so many of the bats have been pulled together, though, makes it seem worth the risk: "Come on, Take-Mikazuchi!" he yells, his Persona flickering into existence again. "Maziodyne!" Another thunder attack strikes, but this one's a wider-radius one, a cluster of lightning blasts that target the bats individually. He's not the best at magic, compared to his friends, but out of everything he's done so far it's worked the best... he needs to try.

[sailorlaughter]

"Oh!" Pinkie leapt to the side, catching Toothy on her back as the bat he was riding finally collapsed down into dream pieces, then hopped back over to her conversation with Rarity. "Yeah, we oughta just use the Elements! This is getting a little messy!"

She didn't really know how the other girls made their elements go off, or even entirely how to explain what she did when she was using hers, especially not while there was a giant fight going on. So instead, she hopped on top of her party cannon, balancing rather perilously on the barrel.

"Everything is great!
Everything is good!
I got the whole wide world in the soles of my hooves!"

What? Songs are clearly the best explanatory method.

"Everything is perfect!
It's falling into place~
I can't seem to wipe this smile off my face!
Life's a happy song, when there's someone by my side to sing along!"

She spun the cannon around in a tight circle, somehow without touching her hooves to the ground at all. Meanwhile, Lord Tubbington, seeing that his mistress and her small white friend were no longer under fire, threw himself bodily at the closest Nightmare Moon instead. It wasn't much of a leap, considering his girth, but there was an awful lot of him in the tackle.

[realmenknitplushies]

Use the Elements, they were saying. Or, possibly, singing.

Fine. Great. Sensible.
The original ponies would know this stuff, after all.

The problem with this idea? It was a bit hard for Kanji to focus on trying to activate something he knew absolutely nothing about when he was hitting the deck, diving forward as fast as he could in an attempt to evade his own personal Nightmare's fire.

(Remembering slamming into the dirt with a Timberwolf on his back for Aqua's sake, not so long ago.

Remembering every time, back home, that he'd fought with his friends alongside him - every time he'd fallen, but it'd been for a reason... these weren't the friends he knew, true, but he wasn't going to fight with any less of his strength just because of that.
They were relying on him, too.)

[letteropener]

Celestia and her Spirits seemed to disappear abruptly in a flash of light, the shield on the ground vanishing with her. In a split second, her own song drifted across the clearing, as if time had expanded to encompass its slow, reverent melody.

Embrace the Elements
Without fear, without pretense
Trust in what your hearts believe
Once gained, the power cannot leave.

The power's source is within you
Strike, my little ponies, swift and true.

Time contracted abruptly again; Celestia reappeared in front of Aqua, Hero in front of Kanji, and Dizzy in front of Chell. Celestia raised a golden shield in front of each of them, but if the shields failed, she intended for each of them to fall before the bearers they protected did.

[letteropener]

Celestia took to the air immediately, as Dizzy ducked into her mane for a well-earned breather. Floating above the battlefield, she matched her telekinesis with Nightmare Moon's power, grabbing the entire earth below them in her magical grip in an attempt to steady it. By now she was completely convinced that somehow, the Nightmare could simply brush off her magic without effort, but she had to keep trying.

[yabigfurball]

Chu tossed his head with pride at getting one of the Nightmares, even if it was just an illusion. That pride quickly went back into anger at the real Nightmare Moon vanishing into the ground again. He pounded his hooves at the ground and snorted: Coward! Recreant! Fight like a real Dream Eater!

His tune changed again just as quickly once the earth started to move. Chu knew that one solid jolt from the splitting earth could send mastergod into pieces, and that couldn't stand. The Cyber Yog galloped back around, bent low and scooped up Amaterasu onto his back. If an earthquake did hit, he could better absorb the shock and protect Ammy.

The move practically caught Ammy by surprise, as she was trying to keep track of the Nightmare's movements, but also distracted by the sudden warm glow coming from around her neck, strong enough to overpower the icy tundra beads. Something here was happening with the necklaces! Did they all need to do this?

While still keeping one eye out for the Nightmare's shadow, she directed Chu to gallop over towards Chell and her Spirits. It looked like she was under the most duress.

Ammy couldn't talk, and there was no time to try and paint something that would be difficult to explain even under good circumstances. She stopped Chu's cautious pacing long enough to try and lock eyes with Chell. She knew that she probably thought she didn't belong here at all, with ponies that liked to sing to help each other. And it was true, a power necklace didn't make you more special than anyone else. But she had to trust that that insight was just as important to others as to herself. If she could take care of herself, then she could take care of others, too. Heck, even in their chase on the Mother of Invention, Chell had outrun a god. Practically no one else Ammy'd met could boast that. She trusted Chell's strengths...so Chell just had to believe that, too!

Perhaps all of that wouldn't come across in just a look. But sometimes, not talking enabled you to say a lot more than you could with words.

[wavesinherheart]

The sudden earthquake catches Aqua a little off guard and she instinctively shifts her balance against the rumblings of the earth. It's been a very long time she last fought someone who could shift the ground like this. And Master Xehanort had never been inclined to cause so much damage all at once. At least, she's relatively certain he hadn't. She'd never been the one to fight him. Not until after Terra had lost himself to everything.

But for all that she can do her best to balance against the earthquake that won't last forever, and she acts all but instinctively - she summons her glider and hops on without a single thought. Her Pricklemane hops up behind her as her Komory Bat takes to the skies. It does take a moment to figure out the best way to actually control her glider now that she's called it to her, but as soon as she's managed that she takes to the skies.

She does her best to keep an eye out for what the others are doing too. She's not sure how many more her glider can handle, but if there's someone who desperately needs to escape the earthquake, she's willing to try her best.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Ngh...!"

A chunk of rock to the side isn't Kanji's idea of fun, that's for sure. He's too dazed to stand up properly as the ground shudders and shakes beneath him. At least he can feel that his Persona's fine - and as such, he knows that his Dream Eaters are fine, too. It's something.

But as the swarm of Nightmares started to ascend again, even if he wasn't in a state to move, he had to do something. Not the strength in him right now for a physical attack...
...but he didn't always have to fight. Didn't always have to strike.

This is for the others. They're dealing better with this mess than him, after all. "Matarukaja!" he yells - and bursts of light start to scatter across the battlefield, shining around his allies. Those touched by it should find their strength rising, their attack power rising.

But - oof. He's not used to getting this many people with that. Maybe he'll just ... take a moment longer to try and focus ...


((OOC note: Buffs going free! This is a limited-duration power-up for all attacks, no questions asked.))

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves was not prepared for the sudden - and somewhat inexplicable - lift from Chell. His magic faltered for a moment, but he was able to regain it before Pinkie dropped. The unfortunate addition of the swarm of Komory Bats made the situation even more perilous, though.

"Thank you, miss," he said to the pegasus. "I can manage. Please fight." The young woman believed in a conservation of words. In the middle of a battle, Jeeves could well appreciate that philosophy.

He felt some sort of invigoration a moment later and looked over toward Kanji. Whatever he had done, it gave Jeeves what felt like a second wind. He'd focus on maintaining his and Pinkie's positions off the shaking earth and leave the others to fending off the bats if he could.

In the meantime, Kant was jumping about on the ground, trying to find solid enough footing to start shooting flames at the swarm of bats. The Sudo Neku tottered toward Jeeves and Pinkie as did so, wanting to get back to his Person. Descartes took full advantage of Kanji's boost, as well, trying to drain as many of the Nightmare bats as he could.

[timeywimeyorb]

Under normal circumstances it might be difficult for Setsuna to maintain her concentration on keeping the earth stable AND using an attack to fend off the Komory Bats, however Kanji's gift of a power up is just what she needs to pull it off.

Phoebe hops up and down on Setsuna's back to try and smack the Komory bats with her spiky tail. Setsuna follows her Dream Eater's example and once again is swinging at the bats with her key-shaped staff. She doesn't unleash any of her energy attacks yet for fear she might hit someone else in the ensuing battle. But if worse comes to worse she WILL do so if the Komory bats are not taken care of soon.

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves was fairly blinded by the sudden light of the attack. The swirl of colors was also nauseating enough to make him shut his eyes against it. His concentration broke, and his magic gave out, but he landed easily on all fours given that the earth was no longer bucking beneath them.

When the light finally faded, he squinted his eyes open, then blinked several times to remove the after image of the ponies against the brightness, rising together to create their rainbow. That friendship magic was apparently more powerful than all of the other attacks combined was more than a little bizarre to him. But given the nature of this world and its inhabitants, it wasn't too far off from what might be considered sensible. He hesitated in going for any of the munny or dream pieces, instead looking around to his fellow combatants to see if there were any injuries.

Kant trundled over, pleased that he'd finally gotten a hit in. Descartes's flight path was ragged and weary. He landed on Jeeves' back and slumped. Keeping his voice low, Jeeves praised his Spirits, "A most satisfactory performance from you both. I think, perhaps, there is some training opportunity for aim." This was directed more at Kant than Descartes, but it wouldn't hurt the bat to train, either.

Jeeves raised his voice for the group at large, "I think a sound-off might be in order. Are everyone and their Spirits intact?"

[realmenknitplushies]

"...Whoa."

It takes Kanji a moment to fully understand what had just happened. He can compare it to the first time he'd summoned his Persona, perhaps, the first time he'd seen what power lay within him - but this isn't just him, after all...

Some of the others, he'd known. Some, seen for the first time here. But they'd pulled together, pulled through. What would the others from back home have thought of that? (Man, what was Naoto going to think when he told her?) The connections between hearts had always done so much for them... but to forge new connections, here and now, and let that power loose... to share in something not with just the friends he'd made, with Rarity and Aqua, but with the others, too...
Damn.

They did it. They really did it.

"Hell yeah, I'm alright!" he finally exclaims, rearing up, after the initial shock of having succeeded wears off. "Guys?" And yes, his Spirits seem in fine form.

[timeywimeyorb]

The light of the elements was beautiful and Setsuna can't help but think of her own friends waiting for her just outside of the dream world. She had seen what the power of friendship and love could accomplish before, but she'd never seen it accomplished by such an eclectic group of individuals.

She tossed her green mane and turned her gaze over to where Phoebe rested on her back haunches, "Are you all right?" The Pricklemane wagged her tail, bouncing slightly in reassurance, but it's clear to her that the little Dream eater is just as tired as she feels. Setsuna lets out a breath and the key staff with the Garnet orb disappeared now that the Nightmare pony was gone. She used a lot of magic, more than she was generally used to anyway.

"I am fine," she finally responded, looking over to Jeeves.