The Full Moon Syndrome [SIGN-UP]

[Julien999]

Arctic's child don't have the time to notice it and Carter is too fast for him. He get hit just in front of White Night, sending him away.

[Laurel Crown]

"Me... a slave to the five senses? If you truly wish to engage against a pupil of Princess Luna, go ahead. I heard of the two princesses that came after me and they are nothing compared to the one pony who created the cryokinesis. You too will succumb to the cold embrace if that's the price." she responds with unnatural calmness. "Your friend sacrificed his life to yours and now his heart is so cold..."

[Stryder221]

Illusion's horn had continued to glow purple as Arctic responded.

"You are flesh and other various fluids of life, that is all I need. That's part of the beauty of my craft, you see... It doesn't matter how powerful you are; your eyes can deceive you. And your ears. Your very body can be fooled."
With a sudden flash of the horn, Illusion's image began to shift and blur right before Arctic's eyes. "Sight..." Not long after, an unidentifiable "white noise" was soon the only thing the alicorn could hear other than the vampony's voice. "Sound..."

He wasn't finished, apparently, as a horrible chill passed down Arctic's back. Not only that, but it was as if something was crawling down it.
"And, lastly, touch. You would be surprised how much control I have over the Equine body with that... And how infuriatingly vague the school of illusion magic can be about it's limits. Thank you for taking the time to chat, letting me prepare all those spells. Go ahead and try to dispel it all; it's only going to result in a free hit for me and anyone else with a grudge."

"With all that said, though. It's your turn. In other words... Check."

[annosrules]

The wind howled in Match's now sensitive ears as he glides towards Arctic from behind. The sift glow of his horn began to crescendo as it became more and more violent, and after only a few seconds it took physical form as a raging fire that swirled around the charcoal unicorn. Seemingly his mana well has been cut off, reserving the untamable amount of mana for Match's assault.

[Laurel Crown]

[READ FIRST: I'll go on vacation for the next three days. I'll return on 1st January]

"Well well well..." she said it with close eyes in order to not being deceived by Illusion's... tricks. "As a very intelligent unicorn, I hope you know the third law of thermodynamics: it is impossible to reach the absolute zero but it is possible to reach a close value."

"N-No! Mom, don't use it!" Scarlet came forward with a scared look after hearing what she said. "Don't use the Boomerang Nebula! You said yourself: such spell could bring Equestria... the entire world... in an eternal winter!"
Having said those words, the red vampony realizes something. Something that leaves her stunned and with her heart stuck in her throat. "...it was... your plan... all along..."

[While the name seems stupid, it actually make sense with a thorough research :>]

[Stryder221]

"You think I'm going to give you the time to cast such a thing?"

Illusion had briefly looked towards Scarlet, with an expression that could be best described as pity. But there was no time for regrets about his actions, as he couldn't afford even the slightest hesitation.
As he then quickly turned his attentions back to Arctic, he briefly closed his eyes, only to then re-open them, and a yellow glow could be seen from his irises as he began to walk towards the Alicorn, confident that she'd never hear him over the roaring in her ears.

Remember your duty, Stick. Tend to the Princess. A firm voice had then ordered in Match's head as Illusion noticed him.

But now, back to the Subject of Arctic... Even with her eyes closed, she was still seeing things. Namely, the terrifying image of nightmare moon staring her face-to-face. It seemed that trying to block out everything had made it all worse.
[glow=red,2,300]You could have prevented this, and yet you chose not to![/glow] The image had screamed, audible only to Arctic's ears. As suddenly as the image appeared, it was immediately replaced with a young Luna, openly sobbing.

Why...? Why did you abandon me...? Why did you let the nightmare take me?! Was I not... your friend...?

Something else could be heard as well. More crying... And not just Luna's, but many, many others. The friends, family, and lovers of all the ponies Arctic had taken from them, grieving over the disappearance of their loved ones.

[annosrules]

Now was not the time for "standing down", but for taking down, and hard. Gaining momentum and charging power, Match's horn weans with the energy it is manipulating. Pain crept into his mind from all directions as he was unable to protect himself from the flames surrounding him, nor the massive amount of energy that he was channeling. There was no tunring back now, no giving up, no surrender. Match was burning bright, but a match can only burn for so long...

[Laurel Crown]

"...lies...Lies...lieslieslies...ALL LIES!" Arctic Star screamed. Possibly for being lured into Illusion's mental trap. "Their suffering is nothing but pure conjecture made by you insignificant mortal. I grant them a new life and soon I will grant them a new world to live away from racism and social differences. Something that Princess Luna was never able to do so. I lived under her wing to protect myself from all the insults I received. "Orphan", "Princess's filly", "Cold heart"... The worst insult I received was from Luna herself: she abandoned me and now she will pay the price."

In her mind there was a memory she could never forget: the day she met Scarlet, her first daughter.
She remembers her as a lively pegasus, always filled with positive energy and curious about her surroundings. She also bears a tough personality, one that never falters. Looking now: she has turned into a monster but... that's why she has always liked her, isn't it? Loyal until the end... or so she thought because, if it wasn't for Illusion's spells, she couldn't see the anxiety grewing on Scarlet.

"Scarlet... Don't worry, my child... My world will be perfect... No racism, no bullism, Nothing... Because once I do the Boomerang Nebula, there will be nothing but ice and snow. A complete wasteland! A world of nothingless is the perfect world for my children to live!" If one eagle eyed pony could see her expression, it would be a huge demented smile from Arctic Star. Trapped in illusions and unaware of Match's attack, she finally took the rocket to insanity.

[Stryder221]

Illusion visibly tensed as everything started to escalate.

'If you doom us all with this, Stick, I WILL remember, and I WILL make you suffer for it, in this life or the next!'

It didn't take long for Illusion to press harder. "And what will you do when your children eventually perish? What will they do should you perish?" He had asked, forcing yet another image onto the unstable alicorn.

It all faded away, Allowing Arctic to see the scene before her. With some alterations...

Scarlet was crying... Openly crying, for perhaps the first time since her transformation. Perhaps the real one might have been doing so as well, but he didn't care.
"What will you do, when one way or another they realize there is literally nothing left to live for? Why don't you ask your own daughter? Do you think she wants an empty existence?"

C'mon, take the bait... This doesn't have to end violently! Don't let her throw this away...! Please...!

[annosrules]

"ENOUGH!" Match shouts in a hellish war cry as he barrels into Arctic Star with all the force he could muster.

[Laurel Crown]

As Luna previously said "her mind was too broken to be healed".
Arctic Star appreared as a calm and creepy alicorn that threats other vamponies like her children. Now she has shown her true colors as a psychopath who only wants to turn Equestria into a wasteland of ice, wind and snow. She was envious of everypony for having a family or friends... something that she never had or, in the case with Luna, had been stripped off.
According to the retaliation law, her plan of creating an army of vamponies and turning Equestria into a cold world was made so that nopony would have a family or even friends.

"Why being so sad Scarlet? Do you miss your friends? Your family who had already forgot your existence? Too bad! By sticking with me, you have turned into a mindless pawn! I could throw into the garbage can and making another "Scarlet"... but I wasn't able to because you were like an obedient dog who bites and sucks other ponies' necks. Now you are nothing because you got knocked out by a mere unicorn! Don't worry. In my world you do not exist nor your friends and family and everypony! I'll be forever alone just like Luna when she was banished!"

By smiling and cackling, she didn't noticed Match Stick's fiery charge and so didn't noticed Scarlet crying from hearing those voices. From a mindless monster of a vampony, she had returned to her real self. Her mind was too chaotic, too heavy to even think of what she has done.
Arctic Star's body bends unnaturally. Her coat finally experiences the intensity of a true fire, which in nature melts the ice. Her mind re-broken from the memories. Her cold presence disappears.
All that remained was the alicorn's body slipping on the ice. A sight that everypony gaze upon it. Both guards and vamponies.
Her insanity was her Achilles's heel.

[annosrules]

Match falls limp to the side after colliding with Arctic and releasing his stockpiled spell, and lands near the icy statue that is Princess Luna. His body burned and broken, his energy and spirits drained, the face once riddled with emotion reduced to a lifeless ensemble of burnt and battered flesh.

[Stryder221]

Illusion stared at the fallen alicorn impassively, blinking only once as the strange glow disappeared from his eyes. Whether she was simply unconscious or something worse, he did not know, nor did he care to know. They'd won, right? Why should it matter?

So why did it feel like he'd failed? Why did he feel like this could've been avoided...? And even worse, he was the one who drove her into such a breakdown.

"Are you happy now, Match?" The unicorn had suddenly said. "The threat's been eliminated. Now would you kindly go and thaw the others out? I'm sure you have enough energy for one little ember... Right? I have... other things to tend to."
Almost immediately, he turned on Scarlet, his expression like that of stone as he walked over, proceeding to stare down at her, just waiting for a reaction of any sort.

[annosrules]

No response comes from the crumpled form of the Royal Guard who laid in the most ceremonious of armors his rank granted, its azure cape and golden gleam long since removed by the unkept flames of his final assault.

[_BlazingInfinity]

Carter stared at the alicorn.

"Did we finally do it?!" he asked.

[Laurel Crown]

Scarlet couldn't move. Not because of some spell or the cold wind penetrating through her coat...
She laid down on her ice with immense grief in her heart, sobbing and sighing and trying her hardest to not believe in what her "mother" said.

"...a mindless pawn... throw me away... another Scarlet..."

She was trembling in fear. She looked incredibly different by the Scarlet they meet before: a violent and feral vampony.
Now, like everyone that aided Arctic Star in battle, by realizing the truth and without her mother, she felt hopeless and alone... like an orphan. She clenches her hooves, never stop stuttering because of the cold temperature and crying for realizing what monster she became.

[Stryder221]

Illusion continued to stare at the sobbing mess that laid before him. A part of him felt that she deserved every bit of it, but the majority...
He saw a crying mare in desperate need of care. That little part of him whispered that she could just as easily be faking it, just to catch somepony off guard before being taken away.

One side won out.

"Carter!" He suddenly barked in the pony's general direction. "Get yourself back to Canterlot and bring aid! There's no way I can help the frozen and injured on my own."
With that order given, the unicorn had then turned back to the vampony.

"Scarlet."

As Illusion crouched down next to the vampony, he still found himself at a loss as to what to do, even though it seemed obvious.
"Are you... cold?" He tried, doubting that he'd get a response. "I... I'm sorry it turned out like this..."

[_BlazingInfinity]

"Kay'! I'll be back soon." Carter replied and with that he flew off.

'I'm really far from Canterlot, but I can get there in decent time.' he thought.

[Laurel Crown]

"How many years have passed? I don't remember... I was just a filly when I met her. 'She' wasn't my mother but I was like a daughter for her or so I thought.  I was a pawn like she said. I don't want to be an orphan again... or a vampony, for that matter... Is this my destiny? To never see the sun or a family?"

Her hooves being clenched, her stuttering voice, her eyes staring deeply at nothing... She was truly traumatized.
Maybe her fear was hidden by that feral personality and the battle opened her eyes. How she couldn't resist by that horrible scenery? Princess Luna has turned into an ice statue, Arctic Star was lying on the floor in a disturbing position, a lot of Night Guards and vamponies are injured, badly or lightly that is.

About Laurel Crown: fortunately he managed to survive such ordeal despite being unconscious. After struggling in raising himself and getting on his hooves, he massages his head, readjustes his glasses and pick his laurel wreath... now messed up from the battle.
"Ow... my head... and my wreath..." he goes to Grand Illusion which stands near Scarlet. "What... What happened while I was unconscious."

[Stryder221]

"We won. Ice queen couldn't handle the pressure, cracked, and took a big one. Will go into details later. Carter's off to get some help. Go check on Match, see what you can do. I'll deal with the rest."
With that out of the way, Illusion turned his attentions back to the all but broken Vampony, a single eye twitching somewhat at her mention of destiny.

Oh. That obnoxious thing.

"Oi." He had then said, raising his voice just enough to be sure she could hear him. "There's no fate or destiny but the one you make for yourself, Scarlet. You can still change it if you try, even if it's only partially."