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

[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.