Legacy of the Night
Prologue
Canterlot, Year 1000
He was exactly where she thought he would be. The sun was setting over Canterlot Castle, reflecting off each gilded roof and stained glass window. Currently, the mare was standing at the exit of the hedge maze. most ponies never made it all the way to the end. The maze was massive, but the prize for completing it was worth it.
The maze emptied out to the edge of a cliff. It was quite, and thanks to the maze, secluded. But what was truly impressive was the view. It had a perfect view of the land below. You could see all the way from the lush Everfree forest, to the colorful Appleloosan Desert, all the way to the glittering jewel that was the Antlertic Ocean. A small viewing platform hung off the cliff, the marble gleaming in the final rays of the sun.
Cadance took a tentative step forward. She knew he liked to be alone here. But today was different. He made no sign that he knew she was standing there. He was lying down on the platform, his legs tucked under him. Even as Cadence got closer, all he did was ruffle his wings. Normally he was more observant than this. But she couldn’t fault him for not noticing. Anypony could be expected to be distracted during a time like this.
The pink alicorn silently set herself down next to her ebony counterpart. He turned his head and nodded to her.
“I was wondering when you were going to show up. Thought maybe I had made the maze too hard this time.”
“Almost.” Cadence said, letting out a small sigh. She would never admit it, but she had been trying to solve that thing for the better part of the day. “Why were you expecting me?”
“Because it’s in your nature. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in a thousand years of living with you, its that you need to help people. And spread love. Even when people beg you to stop.”
Cadance rolled her eyes and said, "You’re just mad that the one date I set you up on didn’t work out.”
“She tried to drain my life force and become the next Lord of Tartarus!”
“But she didn’t! And you two might still be together if you’d been able to get over that.”
Cadence's companion held up a hoof, stopping her before she started another rant about how this was somehow his fault for not wanting to get eaten by a psychopathic unicorn with dreadlocks.
“You know what, I shouldn’t have enabled you. You had just gotten turned down by that Griffish ambassador’s son and were in an emotional place. And we would not be together! That was two hundred years ago. That pink dreadlock having nutter probably has bugs crawling out of her mouth.”
“Charming.”
For the next couple of minutes, the alicorns sat there in silence. Even after all these years, the two of them didn’t need to speak to have a conversation. The sun finally set, giving way to a star filled sky. Slowly, the pale glowing orb that was the moon rose over the horizon. Cadance gently nudged her companion with her wing and gestured up at the sky.
“You did a great job.”
The black alicorn shook his head.“It’s below my usual level. It could be better. I’ve been distra-”
His train of thought was cut off by Cadance wrapping herself around his neck in a surprise hug. The black alicorn let out a loud sigh before nuzzling his sister. She was really the only that could bring out the tender emotional side of his personality.
“You did a great job, Anthem. She would be proud.”
And there they were. Right back at the reason they were both there. Shadow Anthem untangled himself from his sibling and looked back up at the moon. The process had begun already. Four stars were converging on the moon, each one emerging from a different corner of the sky. At their current rate, they would reach the moon by just before daybreak. Tonight the siblings noticed that the horse’s head on the moon was darker than ever.
“How do you think it’s going to be?” thought Cadance,“Do you think Celestia’s plan will work?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. Celestia is one of the most powerful being I’ve ever encountered, but even with the Elements of Harmony, she barely managed to defeat Nightmare Moon. But now she’s splitting up the Elements, and giving them to six untrained ponies.”
In response to the ‘untrained’ comment, Cadance smacked Anthem’s horn. He let out a cry of pain and massaged his horn. All Cadance did was glare at him, her eyes devoid of pity. Cadance had picked up on the tone in which he said Twilight’s name. She had seen the looks he had given her whenever they were together. It had never gone farther than a crush though.
“What was that for?!”
“You know very well that Twilight Sparkle is more than just some untrained pony. She has incredible power, and the intelligence to use it. I foal sat for her; I know. And we both know that Celestia didn’t choose the next hosts for the Elements.”
Anthem just sighed. Neither of them could use their telepathy for too long without developing a headache, like the one that Anthem was starting to feel. It was time to switch back to regular speech.
“I know. I just feel so... so useless. One of the greatest threats Equestria has ever known is returning, and we’re just supposed to sip tea and hope that a risky and dangerous plan works. It would be nice to have something to do. Something to control.”
“Well,” Cadance whispered, just loud enough for Anthem to hear, “there is something I’ve always wanted to know.”
“What?”
Cadance looked Shadow Anthem directly in the eye. There was seriousness in them that he had only seen a few times before. Once, a few years ago when they were on the verge of war with the Eagleland, then again a couple centuries earlier when Orcus had managed to escape from Tartarus. And of course, during the Fall.
“I want to know what happened in Stalliongrad. You're the last one who saw her before... you know. I’ve resisted asking for a thousand years, but I need to know.”
Bowing his head, Anthem searched for memories he had managed to repress for a millenia.
“It all started the night before...”
Stalliongrad, Year 0
The moon had just risen over the thatched roofs of Stalliongrad when it happened. As ponies trotted through the cobblestones streets, gazing up at the pale orb as they went, not one of them could have guessed what was to come. Over the past couple of months, astronomers had noticed that the moon seemed to be getting larger. They had asked the royal diarchs about this phenomenon. They had dismissed it as a long term celestial pattern that only happen once every thousand years.
Of course, the astronomers checked their records. This had never happened before. But they left it alone, not wanting to anger the princesses. No one knew what was going on behind closed doors in Canterlot. Not even the servants noticed the fights, the dirty looks, the fact that the sisters were barely even in the same city anymore.
A rumor was circulating that Stalliongrad had been built specifically for Princess Luna to avoid her sister. Stalliongrad was a relatively new town, still expanding into the marshlands that it was built on. The area used to be known as Ice Floe Marsh, named after the floes that formed in the water because of how far north the area was. The entire ecosystem was on the edge of a gigantic glacier. Ponies from all around the world were still trying to figure out how this place existed. C.S. Hauling, a famous ecologist from Loondon, had gone insane trying to figure out how such a place existed.
It was in no way the ideal are to build a new town. It had taken years to build, and even longer to plan out. The glacier had to be magically anchored to keep it’s constant movements from destroying the town. Then they had to build a path up to the town, making it the trade hub it was meant to be. Normally, no one in their right mind would have built it there, but the place was strategically important. It served as a trading post, being exactly halfway between Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. Or at least, it had been, until about seven months ago. Since the empire’s disappearance, the town hadn’t been thriving.
Sitting on the edge of the town was a castle. It had been nicknamed the Castle by the Edge by the locals, or just the Edge. Its official name was the High Lunar Castle, but the locals tended to ignore that fact. It was a massive gothic castle, made of black marble and obsidian. Unicorn guards were stationed every few feet along the parapets, while bat-winged pegasi circled through the air. Thirty foot high walls surrounded the castle, protected by a magical barrier, making it impossible to get into the castle without an invitation.
While little was known about the inside of the castle, even less was known about its inhabitants. The High Lunar family was known to be headed by Princess Luna, and that her husband had disappeared around the same time as the Crystal Empire. It was rumored that Luna had children, but if she had, they had never seen the light of day. Or night, as the case may be. A total of ten ponies knew that these rumors were true.
One of these ponies was currently looking up at the moon. He didn’t know what it was, but Shadow Anthem loved to watch the moon move through the sky. The black coated colt was currently curled up in the field of lumbra that had been planted in the castle garden. Lumbra was a type of luminescent flower that had been grown to wax and wane with light according to the phase of the moon. They were giving off a bright glow, due to the full moon suspended in the sky. But, even as he watched the night sky with wonder, sadness clawed at the young one’s heart.
“If we remember correctly, you should be in thine own bed. Not the flowers.”
Shadow Anthem looked towards where the voice had come from. The familiar form of the lunar diarch was stalking towards him. Princess Luna was larger than most ponies, but that wasn’t what set her apart. Her combination of wings and horn were what set her apart. Luna’s billowing mane was dotted with the constellations of the night sky that Anthem had just been observing. As his mother walked towards him, Anthem couldn’t help but notice that her coat had gotten...darker. It had gone from a deep blue to a near black.
Luna sat down next to her son with a heavy sigh. This was the third time this month he had snuck out after his curfew. She had gone to make sure that he was asleep, and found the guards posted by his room... indisposed. Shadow Anthem looked up at her, expecting a verbal lashing that never came. Instead, she tousled his mane with her muzzle.
“Why, pray tell, did you feel the urge to knock out your guards and then trap them in a giant metal birdcage?”
Anthem shrugged and fluffed his wings. Neither of them realized that this was his mechanism for keeping other ponies away. Anthem had never been particularly close to his mother. They spent time together, but they never bonded. Luna knew that he had always looked up to his father, but since the incident in the north, Luna had attempted to be closer to him.
“It seemed like the only way to get past them,” he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “and I actually had that birdcage in my room.”
The alicorn tilted her head to the side and asked, “Why?”
“I was bored, and had an excess of metal.”
Deciding not to ask why he had an excess of metal in his room, Luna inched closer to her son.
“Where is your sister?”
“She’s probably still in bed. I don’t bring her along with me. This is usually my alone time.”
Anthem looked back up at the sky. The edge in his voice was not lost on Luna. Normally, she would have scolded her son for taking a tone with her. But the way he was looking up at her night sky. Her moon. It just made her feel...happy. Appreciated. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she wasn’t alone.
“Shadow Anthem. I-We realise that it has been... difficult for you, given the events that transpired in the Crystal Empire.” Anthem flinched when she mentioned the lost empire. “But we want you to know that we are here for you.”
All Anthem did was shift his wings. He slowly drew the constellations in the grass with his hoof, trying to memorize them before they inevitably changed again. Suddenly, he turned his head to his mother.
“What’s happening to you?”
Luna was so shocked by the question, all she could do was let out a very undignified squeak of terror. When his mother didn’t give an answer, Anthem took this as a signal to elaborate.
“Ever since father and the Empire disappeared, you’ve been pulling away. This is the first time that I’ve spoken to you in weeks! And, on top of that, your coat has been getting darker. The moon has been changing so much that regular ponies are noticing it, and I can’t remember the last time you went to Canterlot to meet with Aunt Celestia! So please, tell me what’s happening.”
When it was all laid out for her, Lun realised how transparent she had been. If she wasn’t careful, Celestia might figure out what was happening. But in order to calm her son, she simply ran her hoof through his mane. He rested his head against her side.
“We have been distracted,” she said, obviously hiding something, “But we will be fine.”
They sat there in silence for over an hour. Eventually Anthem fell asleep against his mother’s side, blissfully unaware that he was being watched. Luna carefully draped an onyx wing over the colt, protecting his body against the cool night air. As his breathing grew steadier, the Princess of the Night realised that this was the first real time she had spent with her son since...the incident up north.
A tear slowly moved down her muzzle and fell to the ground below. This was the opening it needed. The entity moved across the grass faster than a rabbit, sneaking up behind the duo. To an outside observer, the entity would have looked like a dark blue cloud moving across the ground, like a sentient fog. Luna sensed that the entity was getting closer. All she could do was put up a shield around Anthem before it pounced.
Ah, so you still protect them. The only things holding you back, and you protect them with your own life. And yet you lie, saying you are distracted, and that you will get better. Why is that?
As the Darkness’s voice echoed through Luna’s mind. It was vaguely feminine, but was dripping with malice. The cloud sunk into Luna’s every pore, causing her coat to turn pure black. Luna fought the Darkness’s control.
“I’m doing this to protect them,” she hissed. “They will never be accepted in this world of the sun. Our only place will be in the realm of the night!”
Before everything started, Luna used the last of her power to teleport Shadow Anthem to his bedroom. He would be safest there. There was no truly guaranteeing his or his sister’s safety, but they had their best chance in the castle.
With that last act of magic, Luna was consumed. She fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Her body grew larger and far more angular. Her horn grew to about twice its normal length, and baby blue armor formed around her body. As she opened her now dragon like eyes, Luna was gone. Nightmare Moon had risen.
The Next Day
The first indication of trouble was the fact that the world seemed to be collapsing. Shadow Anthem was awoken by a column crumbling onto the foot of his bed. He wasn’t sure how he had gotten there. The last thing he remembered was talking with his mother in the lumbra field. He fell asleep to the gentle beat of his mother’s heart, and woke up to the apocalypse.
All Anthem could do for a minute was watch. What got him moving was the wall of his room start to fall in towards him. He jumped out of bed and narrowly managed being sliced in two by a massive shard of glass. It stuck itself in his bed, like Excalibur stuck in the stone.
Anthem managed to dodge falling stones and over to his bedroom door. The tremors wracking the castle had reduced it to a pile of timber. He used his magic to brush away the broken wood and escaped into the hallway. Currently, there was only one pony one his mind. As he crossed the hall, he heard shouts echoing above the din of the castle being destroyed. Making a mental note to investigate the screaming later, Anthem forced his way into the room across the hall. It was the same type of door as his was; ten foot tall solid oak with polished silver handles. The only difference was this one was still standing. It was slightly ajar, so it was easier to get in than it normally would have been. What shocke Anthem the most was what he found inside.
The room was devoid of life. The four post canopy bed was still standing, adorned with bright pink sheets and a collection of stuffed animals. The entire room was covered in pink carpets, pink drapes, even pink furniture. But the sheets on the bed were a mess, like someone had left in a hurry. A bedside table had been knocked over, along with a few smashed lamps. Signs of a struggle. Shadow Anthem’s mind went into overdrive, but he could still only form two whole thoughts; the Castle on the Edge was collapsing, and Cadance had been taken.
“Anthem!”
His name echoed through the castle, carried by the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everything afterwards seemed to happen in slow motion. Shadow Anthem dashed out into the hall, propelled by his wings. As he continued zipping through the castle, he spotted guards attempting to keep order and evacuate the staff. A few spotted the small black alicorn and tried to stop him, but he just mowed through them. Eventually, he rounded a corner and saw a flash of pink. Becoming what would later be described as an ‘onyx time-space anomaly’, Anthem managed to get to the corner a second before he had started moving.
Cadance was being escorted down the hall by a troop of guards. Well, escorted was a polite term for it. It was more of they were dragging her down the hall, kicking a screaming. Anthem had to hand it to the guards; they were dedicated. They were somehow surviving the onslaught of a young, magically charged alicorn, and were still managing to move down the hall at a breakneck pace. If they managed to survive this, he would recomend them for a raise.
Her purple eyes found him at once. Cadance let loose one good buck and managed to get out of the grasp of her convoy. She raced down the hall and tackled Shadow Anthem to the ground. Wrapping him in the largest hug she could muster, Cadance thanked Faust that her brother was okay. She had been woken up by the first tremors. The guards had dragged her out of her room, ignoring her cries to go back for Anthem. Neither of them knew that there was another group of guards was sent to get Anthem, though they had been squashed by a falling column.
After a few seconds, the siblings came back to reality. Cadance jumped off of Anthem and looked around. The castle had stopped rumbling. This reminded something Cadance had learned from her governess. She called it the calm before the storm. Anthem stood up next to his twin sister looking around.
“What’s happening?”
Trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes, Cadance looked out the nearest window. Now that the tremors had stopped, the guards were less urgent to get them out. The moon still hung in the sky, casting a pale glow across the glacier. An aurora wound its way through the sky, like one of the dragons from the royal foal’s books. Anthem saw this too, but something felt wrong about this. He shoved his way into a nearby room and searched for a clock. An old grandfather clock was lying in the corner, still ticking away. The clock said that it was half past noon.
Just then, the tremors started up again. As he rushed back into the hall, Anthem saw that the ceiling was starting to buckle. With Cadance right underneath. Without thinking, Anthem’s magic went into action. A red aura appeared around his horn, swirling with magic energy. In a split second, he shoved Cadance and the guards to the opposite side of the hall. He had just enough energy left to shoot himself back into the room.
Everything went dark. Dust filled Anthem’s lungs, making each breath feel like he was lifting weights. Something was lying on top of him. Carefully worming his way out from what he discovered to be a piece of the recently collapsed wall, Anthem searched for a way out. He attempted to spread his wing, but a spasm of pain shot through his body. One of his wings was bent at an impossible angle. Grunting with effort, Anthem did his best to heal the wing. He didn’t know much about healing magic, but he managed to re-align and mend the bones. He would still be able to fly, but someone else would have to reset it properly.
“A-Anthem?”
Cadance’s voice echoed weakly through the room. It was coming through a small gap in the rubble blocking off the exit. Carefully examining the mound of rubble, it was determined by Anthem that he wouldn’t even be able to move this with his magic. Suddenly, the purple ring of Cadance’s iris appeared in front of the opening.
“Anthem! Hang on, we’ll get you out!”
“No,” he shouted, shaking his head. “You need to get out of here while you can. I’ll find another way out.”
“We’re not going to leave you here! Just give us some time.”
But both alicorns knew there wasn’t enough time to dig Anthem out. The castle was coming apart at the seams. Each moment more of the once defining monument was falling away. One tremor partially cracked open the ceiling of the room Anthem was in, opening a gap just large enough for him to squeeze through. A tear fell from Cadance’s eye, rolling across a rock and landing on her brother’s muzzle.
“Go!” Anthem shouted, not being able to take the sight of his sister crying. “Trust me. I’ll find another way out. And I’m going to find mom. She’ll know what’s going on.”
Another tremor wracked castle. The small opening that Anthem could see through was closed. But as they say , when one door closes, another one opens. The shift in rubble had opened the hole in ceiling so that Anthem could easily fit through it. He hopped on top of a fallen bookshelf and decided to try out his wing. Spreading his leathery appendages, Anthem gave one good flap and lifted into the air.He managed to get up to the ledge, just barely managing to grasp the edge. As Anthem pulled himself up, the ledge he was on shifted. It started to slip and fall, but Anthem managed to jump and land on a more stable area.
Looking around his new surroundings, it became obvious to Anthem that he shouldn’t be there. The walls were adorned with tapestries, each seeming to depict a different era of history. Many had fallen, but Anthem could make out the rise of the Trottoman Empire, the destruction of the Witches of the Volcano of Gloom, and even one of the mysterious Draconequus Wars. The last one showed an army of mismatched dragon like beings attacking a group of alicorns.
The rest of the room was empty, except for the center. There stood a statue. It looked like one of the Draconequus from the tapestry, except in much greater detail. It had the head of a pony, the horns of both a goat and a deer, a lion and eagle’s arms, a snake tail, and the legs of a lizard and a mule. It had two wings, one of a bat and the other of a pegasus. The creature had it’s lion paw over it’s heart and the eagle’s claw thrust into the air, as if he was proclaiming something. It’s mouth was open, giving full view of the Draconequus’s fang.
Once, years ago, Luna had told Anthem and Cadance that they were never to enter this room. She had claimed that it was a meeting room for her cabinet. And though he had never been inside the room before, every time he walked past the door he felt an aura of magic. This one always felt different than others. Other auras always felt like an organized stream of power. This one felt disordered. Chaotic.
Anthem couldn’t stand being in this room for another second. He skirted around the edge of the room, trying to keep as far away from the statue as possible. The door to the room had dozens of complex wards to keep ponies out. On the outside. On the inside, all Anthem had to do was give it a good shove and it creaked open.
“Waaaaah!”
Most of the hallway outside had fallen away. All that was left was a thin strip of crumbling blocks that led around the corner. After a few deep breathes, and maybe vomiting once, Shadow Anthem started his trek. Carefully placing each hoof as close as possible to the wall, it was clear to Anthem that he was going insane. He knew how to teleport short distances; he may have been able to get to the other side of the rubble. But he was in it to win it.
Judging by his location, the throne room should be just around the corner from Anthem. Numerous passages lead out from the throne room, giving him about a dozen different ways to escape the rapidly decaying castle. The tremors had stopped again, so Anthem was moving faster than he normally would have. Just as he was about to round the corner, a crack echoed through the air.
The floor disappeared from under Anthem’s hooves. Panic seized him as he began to free fall towards the icy fields over a mile below him. As he fell, it seemed as if amongst the sounds of rock cracking a ponies screaming, Anthem could hear laughing. He couldn’t focus on it, plummeting to his doom and all, and later he would shake it off as his imagination. What he couldn’t explain was the sudden gap in his memory. One moment he was falling, the next he was safely on stable footing.
Something akin to confusion was nestled in the back of Anthem’s mind. The logical part of his mind told him he must have teleported. Or maybe he flew back up and was suffering from partial amnesia. But the small part of his mind that wasn’t in denial knew that this was the work of something greater than him.
Before Anthem was the door to the throne room. The door was slightly ajar. Anthem pushed his way through and gasped.
The throne room looked like it had been hit by a bomb. Most of the roof and outer walls had collapsed, allowing the cold arctic air to whip through the room. Most of the floor was missing, revealing that most of the castle was in fact hanging over the edge of the glacier. The aurora had since disappeared, but there was still an otherworldly glow in the sky, obscuring the moon. It pulsed and moved as if it was a living organism. Carefully edging his way to the edge of the drop, Anthem tried to examine to light.
Climbing on top of the pile of melted silver that used to be Luna’s throne, Anthem was finally able to discern what the light was. It was in fact two sources of light, pushing against each other. At the center of each light was a black speck. Every so often, one of the entities would let loose a blast of energy, attempting to knock the other out of the sky.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Anthem spread his wings and buzzed into the air. It wasn’t quite soaring through the air. It was more like the flight of a hummingbird than an eagle. As he hummed towards the conflicting beacons, part of Anthem’s mind reasoned that this was a bad idea. His rational mind told him that he should just fly over the castle and meet up with Cadance. It told him that moving towards this clashing titans was one of his worst ideas.
Just then, an explosion ripped through the air. It emanated from the clashing powers, and sliced through the air in all directions. Barely managing to avoid being ripped apart by the force, it took all of Anthem’s magical power to keep him aloft. He was unable to stop from spinning a hundred and eighty degrees, so he was forced to watch what happened next.
The explosions shock wave hit the castle full on. The supports that had been thrust into the glacier were reduced to pebbles. What followed seemed to happen in slow motion. Cracks ran through the glacier like an enormous spider web. Interesting fact; the region of the glacier that the Edge had been built housed a frozen pocket of methane gas. The cracks grew as the gas forced it’s way out, filling the air with green aerosol. What happened next would have historians debating for centuries. Some thought it was a rogue burst of magic. Other’s thought it was a lantern’s flame. But what they could agree on was that the methane ignited.
All Anthem could do was watch. There was a flash and a bang as the gas ignited. The gas that had already escaped burned off in a second. But once the the flames reached the massive pocket of gas inside the glacier, Stalliongrad became a piece of history. The explosion ripped the glacier apart, What was left of the castle tumbled to the ground below, while Stalliongrad itself collapsed in a ball of fire.
It was at that moment that Anthem gave out. Everything that had happened in the space of mere hours caught up to him. His home was gone. His city was destroyed. And his sister was dead. As the wall of snow rocketed toward him, all he could do was watch.
Being hit by a wall of snow is like hitting a brick wall. Anthem fet at least two other ribs break as he was swept up into the whiteness. He tumbled about for what seemed like an eternity, occasionally hitting a piece of stone or icicle. Then suddenly, the ice turned to water. THe foal’s wings were drenched, making him plummet to the ice below.
When he hit, it felt as if the air had been ripped from his lungs. Every bone in Anthem’s body was harmed in one way or another. Blood pooled into the crater he had formed. Snow started to settle on his broken body. Above him was what Anthem had risked his life to see.
It was as if the sun and the moon themselves were clashing. Anthem’s aunt Celestia was shooting beams of pure light out of the tip of her horn. The force of the expelled energy plastered her pink mane against her porcelain coat. The beads of sweat that rolled down her forehead evaporated in the heat Celestia was giving off.
What Anthem’s aunt was fighting against was formless. It was an ever changing cloud of nebulous darkness. The being was dotted with pinpricks of light. It shot bolts of shadow out at Celestia, attempting to skewer the goddess. Only Celestia knew that this being of pure hatred was her little sister.
Anthem attempted to crawl out of his crater, but every inch of his body was in pain. The sheer force of turning his head caused him to vomit. Celestia wanted to help him, but it took all of her focus to hold her own against this thing her sister had become.
Suddenly, the cloud let loose a wave of energy. It forced Celestia back, and forced Anthem back into the ground, making him start to cough up blood. His breathing was labored, indicating that he might have a collapsed lung. But none of that mattered to the colt, because the entity was changing. It was beginning to take the shape of a pony. It had a lean frame, with sharp angular legs. Powder blue armor covered her pitch black coat, leaving the only unexposed places her wings and face.
“M-Mom?” Anthem croaked.
The black alicorn looked down at him and grinned.
“Ah,” she hissed. She had a forked tongue, like a snake. “The only thing holding us back. This is nothing personal child. But I can’t have anypony getting in my way.”
This was wrong. Even as he teetered on the edge of consciousness, Anthem knew that this wasn’t his mother. This was something worse. His mother would never have attacked her own city. She never would have endangered her own foals. Whatever the Hell this thing hovering over him was, it was not Luna.
The monster’s eyes glowed brightly, as did her horn. Anthem knew that if he was hit, he was dead. As the monster was about to let her magic loose, something shot through the sky.
“No!”
Celestia tacked the monster mid air. THe magic bolt fired, but missed Anthem by an inch. THe dark energy exploded next to the young alicorn’s head, making everything go dark
Canterlot, Year 1000
“... And you know the rest.”
Cadance was at a loss for words. In a thousand years, this was only the second time Anthem had ever told that story. The onyx alicorn just sat there, staring at the ground. He had suppressed most of the emotions from that night. The fear, the rage, the feeling of complete despair when he saw what his mother had become.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Cadance asked with hesitation.
Anthem nodded. “There is something else, but I’ll tell you later.”
“You know that I hate surprises.”
“Yes, I remember your four hundredth birthday. You threw a lamp at me.”
“I said I was sorry,” she said, “but I still say I was in the clear.”
In the sky, the stars had reached the moon. The four stars winked out of existence, and a brief flash obscured the moon. When the light had subsided, the Mare on the Moon had disappeared.
Shadow Anthem extended one of his wings and curled it around Cadance.
“It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Over the next couple of seconds, the moon blew up like a balloon. It would have worried the siblings if Celestia hadn’t warned them about this. The Solar Monarch, soon to be Diarch, had said that Nightmare Moon’s escape and subsequent power growth would be reflected on the moon. Cadance actually thought the the giant milky orb was pretty.
The siblings sat there silently, for hours. By Anthem’s estimate, it was around noon when the moon finally started shrinking. A multi hued glow emanated from the center of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow beams shot into the sky, before being replaced by a rapidly rising sun.
Cadance looked up at Anthem. Tears were flowing freely down his muzzle, matting his pure black coat above his nose. He squeezed Cadance lightly and said the two happiest words in a thousand years.
“She’s back.”
Author's Note
This is actually an edited version of the first chapter of a story I had a while ago.