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

[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.)

[raisethemoon]

Luna, for her part, had also been expecting something like this. It was why she hadn't left Ponyville since the long night began, waiting and watching.

She does not cry out, simply darts past her sister and the others and charges with her horn lowered. It's sparking with magic, but this is going to be a little more up-close and personal.

[juniorganymedian]

Fortune was said to favor the foolish, but in this case, Jeeves had to question the old adage. He was feeling not a little foolish, having stepped into some sort of arena that was now enclosed by an invisible force. Like Chell, he hung back, assessing the situation at first, but when the nightmare... mare began to attack, he had to make a decision. There were other more capable offensive fighters in their midst. He could provide support and distraction with the magic he knew.

He focused on the shattered remains of the statue, gathering up as many as he could and sweeping them toward the mare's legs to try to disrupt its stance and footing.

[wavesinherheart]

For all that she's gotten mostly used to the idea that it's hers now, for reasons that she can't quite say she quite understands, Aqua still isn't terribly used to the feeling of a tiara. She's managed to figure out how to keep it from actually falling off, fortunately, but it's still not something she'd ever thought she'd be wearing into battle.

But now is not the time to think about that. Right now there is enemy to fight, and while she hasn't missed the similarities between the Nightmare they're fighting and Luna herself, it's not enough to keep her from the tasks at hand. Namely, taking care of Nightmare that stood before them, and that was something she knew how to manage, as she brought up her own shield just long enough to block the incoming blast of magic before retaliating with one of her own.

In this case, a set of three fireballs all in quick succession. There was certainly no reason to hold back here, of all places.

[yabigfurball]

Ammy had been expecting that a huge Nightmare was behind the missing sun problem in Ponyville, and had come to investigate. But she hadn't expected one that looked a lot like a pony she already knew. It seemed that the two princess ponies did, though...and were not at all happy about it. That had to be a story for another time.

For now, they had to get rid of this Nightmare! And battling creatures of darkness was her bread and butter, even if this form put her at a bit of a disadvantage. She readied her tundra beads for some more up-close fighting, but that magic had to be dealt with first. Ammy pulled up her canvas and painted a power slash across the teal magic bolts coming her way, reversing them back towards her attacker once time resumed.

Konohana and Chu happened to be with her...Konohana likely to come in handy in case people got hurt, since Ammy knew no curing brushes herself. Chu, on the other hand, was in full rage mode, prepared to show his stuff against this uncouth enemy. He built up an electric charge in his horns and then galloped towards the Nightmare with the intent to ram it.

[sailorgenerous]

This was all far, far too familiar for comfort. Much as Rarity didn't want to even think about it, everything - from the long night to the clouds to the statue - pointed to exactly one pony.

And then that pony arrived - sort of. Rarity at least had time to note the change in appearance. A Nightmare was a Nightmare, even if it did come in the shape of an old and long thought gone enemy.

"Nightmare Moon," she breathed, in the momentary lull before the Princesses charged and the Nightmare fired her attack. Rarity fell back - she could certainly hold her own in a fight, but she also knew that getting in the way of the Princesses would be a terrible idea. Instead, she moved next to Chell, keeping an eye on the battle, as Spike bounced from foot to foot next to her, standing guard. "We have to use the Elements of Harmony," she told Chell. "It'll be the quickest way to end this." The question now was, could the new group of bearers come together well enough to use them, especially under this type of duress? They'd need to find out, and quickly.

[sailorlaughter]

"Yeah! That's a GREAT plan!" Pinkie bounced along behind Rarity, not visibly disturbed by recent events, at least. Her Element necklace remained snug around her neck as she moved, ducking to avoid a few of the magical attacks flying around. "What do you think they'll even DO, turn her back to stone?"

[revenancenpcs]

Celestia's and Nightmare Moon's bolts of magic hit dead on in a brilliant flash of light. Nightmare Moon's magic beam splits under the pressure of Celestia's sun, scattering in all directions and, unfortunately, just as potent as it was when unified.

Aqua's shield successfully reflects one of the beams, but two others strike her fireballs, dissipating them before they can hit the Nightmare. Amaterasu manages to rebound the beam heading towards her, but it strikes the last of Aqua's fireballs before it can do any damage.

It's a good thing Setsuna has her shield up, as it's the only thing preventing Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Chell from being badly injured by the magic. It does seem that a disproportionate number of beams hit that shield, however, and it takes quite a beating.

The pieces of statue are too small to make too much of a difference on Nightmare Moon's footing; she does, however, seem to realize that standing on a low pedestal isn't exactly an advantageous position. She flaps her way off of the pedestal and skims low to the ground, dodging Chu and Kanji entirely. She's not quite quick enough to dodge Luna entirely, but it's a glancing blow at best.

Nightmare Moon comes to a stop in the center of the clearing. Her misty mane and tail flare, and a blue-black aura spreads out from her in several concentric rings several feet above the ground. It's an attack that both appears and fades quickly, and burns and stings when it hits.