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]

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.

[raisethemoon]

Luna took to the air immediately as well. She'd felt that strike through her shoes, she knew that must have hurt the Nightmare. They weren't going to be getting another shot, though, and that simply would not do.

Dissolving into mist for a second time, Luna descended down into the earth herself. This was not a form well-suited to direct combat, which had kept her from trying to drive Nightmare Moon out before. But attempting to hold the ground together from within the ground itself? That was certainly something she could do.

Let us read things more carefully.

[juniorganymedian]

Jeeves was also thrown off when the ground suddenly lurched beneath his hooves. The valet's magic holding Kant up dissolved as he lost concentration for a moment. The Sudo Neku landed on his feet and began to ride out the wave. Decartes flapped around, uncertain what to do apart from keeping well clear of the bucking battlefield.

When he finally managed to regain something like sound footing again, Jeeves focused on putting what little power he had into maintaining the Element bearers. Chell could fly, Amaterasu had been scooped up by her Spirit, and Aqua was taking care of herself. That left Pinkie, Rarity, and Kanji. He trusted the lad to have a little more strength than the mares and hurried toward Pinkie Pie. Rarity might know what to do with her own magic.

"My apologies, Ms. Pie," said Jeeves hastily by way of warning and apology if this didn't happen to work as he attempted to raise both of them in the air with his telekinesis.

[timeywimeyorb]

While she's pleased to see the shield hold this time, she does not get the chance to celebrate. She also wished she could properly explain things to Chell. This isn't about one person being more special than another, this was about the fact that the Elements were apparently the key here and that if anyone was going to finish this it sounded like it would be them.

When the ground started to buck and heave, however, Setsuna wasted no time in scooping up Phoebe and jumping and hopping from one earth pillar to another. This would have been fairly easy in her human form, but as she was now a pony she found herself stumbling quite a bit. However, when she caught sight of Jeeves using his telekinesis to lift himself, she attempts a similar feat. However, instead of floating she tries to steady some of the ground beneath her hooves with her magic.

Setsuna wished their opponent would cease fleeing beneath them for a change.

[realmenknitplushies]

The idea of 'being special' was rubbing at Kanji a little, too. The fact that he'd had others send their Dream Eaters into harm's way for him, had gone out of their way for him, when he barely knew most of them... no. He dodged and leapt for all he was worth, not sure if four legs were a liability or an asset right here. With everything else going on, the light shining at his throat didn't even register...

He called his Persona up with a flick of his head: Plum jumped to safety onto the metallic stallion's back, with it standing solid as the ground rushed and broke, while the Meowjesty attempted to hover out of harm's way. His own strength, called out to help protect those he could for the moment.

But he'd have to do more, Kanji thought, to pay the others back for their assistance. And he was fairly sure he knew how. The only problem would be getting enough time to focus on what he'd have to do...!

[sailorlaughter]

"When you're alone, life can be a little rough
Makes you feel like you're three hooves tall."

Somewhere in the background, Lord Tubbington rolled past, having lost his footing during his failed attack on the illusory Nightmare Moon and then had trouble getting back up due to the earthquake.

"When you're alone, well, times can be tough!
When there's no one there to catch your fall - eep!"

The cannon Pinkie was standing on dropped, one of the wheels slipping into a divot as the earth twisted and shook. The mare wobbled, standing on two shaky hooves and nearly falling straight off until Jeeves scooped her up in his telekinesis. "Thanks, Jeeves!" There might have been a musical sting after she said that.

[statisticallyterrible]

The ground broke up, and Chell had to dismiss Kri-Kri for the time being--he was simply too twitchy to keep his head and keep his focus if the ground broke underneath him. Her bat, however, proved a tad more selfless, swooping to catch Spike so its buddy could stay off the ground like his person. It didn't mind the spines too much, mostly, you know, only a little.

Perhaps some of the more specific details of Amaterasu's meaning didn't fully get through on Chell, but she could tell well enough what meaning the dog was drying to get through to her. She couldn't say she bought it much, but she got it. Didn't change that Celestia's spirit had nearly gotten blasted apart coming to protect her unasked, and she wasn't about to adhere to this idea that she was more worth protecting than any other who'd showed up here.

Chell didn't know much about unicorn magic, but she knew lifting up two other people while on unsteady ground had to be nigh impossible. "You too," was all the warning she gave Jeeves, before hooking her hooves around and lifting him off the ground herself. It was awkward, but not as impossible as you'd think for a pony.

[sailorgenerous]

The impromptu earthquake shook Rarity for a moment, but she kept going, dodging uneven chunks of ground and trying to keep her footing. "It's not the necklace that makes you special," she called to Chell. "It's who you are!" That was a misunderstanding that could prove to be disastrous - best to clear it up if she could.

It seemed Aqua was also having trouble with her Element. "Aqua!" How could she put this? "Your Element isn't just magic - it's the magic of friendship!" Which was all the further she got before a chunk of earth rose quickly in front of her, and she had to dodge quickly to avoid hitting it head-on. A quick glance around told her that Spike had been picked up, at least. She owed Cube a cookie when this was all over.

[revenancenpcs]

As it turns out, Nightmare Moon seems to be none too pleased about the idea of people flying above the earthquake, regardless of their chosen method of flight; Aqua, Luna and Celestia all get off to a rather rocky starts as a result of the upheaval. Aqua is knocked badly off course by a suddenly erupting pillar of earth, while Luna and Celestia narrowly manage to avoid being hit by similar.

However, neither Luna nor Celestia's attempts to stabilize the earth work as intended. If Nightmare Moon is able to cancel out the magic of the princesses, she is doing so with Luna's attempt; either way, Celestia's own attempt is no more successful in stopping the quake. It does, however, manage to lessen the severity of the earthquake and in so doing help keep protect some of those still attempting to get off the ground; Jeeves and Chell both succeed in their own attempts, leaving both them and Pinkie Pie unharmed. In addition, Setsuna's own attempt at steadying the ground around her also succeeds, mostly likely as a result of Celestia and Luna's partial success.

The same, however, cannot be said Chell's bat - although he does his best to lift Spike off the ground, the two of them fail to avoid another suddenly erupting pillar of earth. In both cases, the damage isn't severe, but they are both knocked back to the ground.

Down on the ground itself, those who have chosen to not take to the skies are met with varying success. Chu, Kanji, and Kanji's Persona all manage to stand their ground even despite the fact that the earth is still shaking; Rarity likewise manages to both keep her footing and dodge the chunks of earth. Fortunately, perhaps, the lessened severity of the earthquake means only Kanji ends up getting hurt; Chu, Rarity, and Kanji's Persona all manage to come through unscathed.

Nightmare Moon, however, doesn't seem to take kindly to having her earthquake lessened and while she doesn't surface again, she does summon another wave of Nightmare Komory Bats while she redoubles her effort to shake the very ground apart, in the hopes of overpowering Celestia and Luna's magic.