Tyranny of the Sun

Chapter 3

As we passed through the wall that surrounded the castle, the large metal gate closed behind us. I looked up at the castle in awe, the towers reaching up to touch the sky. Two stairways with grand hoofrails began at the ground and than curved outward before meeting in front of the large doors to the castle. The doors were made of a thick wood that had been engraved with various markings that I assumed were in some ancient language

The carriage pulled into the courtyard and turned so that door faced the castle. As it came to a stop, I wrapped my magic around the handle and opened it for Twilight. As she stepped out she looked to me with a smile. A felt my thoughts become clouded, but I was quickly saved by the sound of large doors creaking open. Both Twilight and I looked in the direction of the noise to see the ornamented doors of the castle slowly opening. Just as the doors finished opening, out walked the unopposed ruler of Equestria herself.

Princess Celestia looked just the same as she had all those years ago when she had visited Ponyville with her beloved pheonix. Her rainbow colored mane flowed as if wind was blowing through it, but as far as I could tell there was none. Twilight, excited to see the alicorn that was once her mentor, ran up the stairs to meet her. Feeling no need to rush, I slowly trotted my way up the stairs after her. As I reached the top, I heard the two greeting each other.

"Twilight, I haven't seen you since the coronation. How was your tour of Equestria?" Celestia said with the voice of a caring mother.

"It was amazing, but also very tiring. Heading back to Ponyville has been the only thing on my mind for the past few months."

"Well, I'll make sure you have the first train ride back home once we have our discussion." Celestia turned her head toward me as I approached the two figures of royalty. Quickly remembering my manners, I bowed my head and knelt on one knee in respect for the princess of the sun. After what seemed to be an unusual pause, she asked me to rise. When I looked back up her face had changed from one of happiness to one of concern.

"Twilight, I had nearly forgotten about your friend Sleight-of-Hoof. Did you expect some trouble here in Canterlot?"

"Of course not, but I figured it wouldn't be worth sending him back to Ponyville just yet. Besides, we assumed that the rest of our friends would be here for whatever the emergency was." What she said made no sense. It wouldn't have been any trouble to put me on a train to Ponyville back in Saddle Arabia, and although I did know Twilight's friends, it wouldn't have been a huge deal if I had not been here to meet them. Did her reason for not sending me home have something to do with last night?

Celestia stood there for a moment in what appeared to be deep thought before finally returning to her warm smile. "But of course! Unfortunately the other element bearers won't be able to make it here until tomorrow morning, so until than you and Sleight are welcome to stay within my castle." Celestia turned and headed back into the castle, beckoning us to follow her.

The inside of the castle was more amazing than the outside. The hall we entered was made of smooth marble and had beautiful paintings lining the walls. Along the floor was a carpet made of red yarn embroidered with yellow that extended the length of the hall. Being from the rural part of Fillydelphia, I had not seen such expensive decorations until the tour, and even after a year of seeing Equestria's finest, none of it compared to the castle of the ruling sisters.

Remembering that Equestria was ruled by not just Celestia, I looked around for any signs of the Princess Luna as we walked down the halls of the castle. After we had walked for a good ten minutes and we had still seen no sight of Luna, I decided to pop the question as politely as I could.

"Excuse me, your highness, but I haven't your sister since we entered the castle. Might I ask where she is?"

We stopped in front of a set of double doors which I assumed to be our destination after the long walk. Celestia sighed and turned to look at us, her eyes showing great sorrow.

"I was actually wondering this myself Celestia." Twilight revealed. "Has something happened in the past year?"

As Celestia looked down at the floor, I realized that whatever the answer was must have been weighing down on her heart. "It is true." she said slowly. "Something has happened to my sister. This is actually the reason I called you here so urgently." She turned toward the doors and her horn began to glow a beautiful gold color. The doors were enwrapped in the same hue and slowly slid open. "Come, I will explain what happened in the library."

We stepped through the doors into a large open library. It was obvious the library had been built to accommodate unicorns as the shelves were much too tall to allow for earth ponies to gain access to the books. Above us hung a large chandelier in the shape of some celestial body with rings around it, though I couldn't remember the name of it. It let off a light magical glow that helped keep the room lit along with the torch sconces that were attached to the four pillars in the room. In the center of the room was a large round table with a few chairs surrounding it.

Once we had all walked inside, Celestia closed the doors behind us. "I haven't allowed for the news of my sister to get out yet because I was worried about how the citizens of Equestria would take it, but I need help her somehow." She walked over to the far end of the table and sat in a chair. "I fear that the plan I have may only temporarily fix the issue, but it will give us time to figure out a better solution."

Twilight walked up and took a seat at the table as well. "So what did happen to Luna? Is she alright?"

As I walked over to stand next to Twilight, Celestia took a breath to begin speaking. "Oh yes, physically she is fine. It is her mental health that I am worried about. You see, she seems to have regressed back into Nightmare Moon."

Twilight looked confused. "But how, I thought the Elements of Harmony cured her of the darkness she had?"

"Yes, I believed that as well, but after the coronation she began to show signs just like the first time all those years ago. However, it was only until a few months ago that she finally turned back into that monster."

"Sorry to interrupt" I spoke "but if Luna has been Nightmare Moon for the past few months, than why has the rotation of the sun and moon not changed. I thought it was her goal to bring eternal night to the world."

For a second, Celestia paused as if having to think about the question, than responded gently. "Yes, that is true. However, this time I knew what to look for so just before she became Nightmare Moon, I took control of the moon from her so that the balance would not be altered." I supposed that made sense. After all, Celestia had kept the rotation of the sun and moon going for a thousand years after she had sealed her sister in the moon. She surely could have kept it going for the past few months.

"I'm worried what else she might do though, and that is why I need you, Twilight, and your friends to use the elements on her just as you did before."

It was Twilight's turn to ask questions. "But if she turned back into Nightmare Moon even after being cured by the elements, than why do it again?"

"Like I said before, this solution will only be temporary. Once she has returned to being Luna, we can work toward finding a more permanent solution."

After a few moments of silence, I spoke up again. "So where is Nightmare Moon? Isn't that kind of important?"

Celestia looked down at the table, looking more sad than I ever thought the sun goddess could look. "I'm... not sure. After she changed she flew off before I could stop her. She could be anywhere in Equestria by now." It was clear she blamed herself heavily for having lost her sister.

Twilight put both hooves down on the table. "Don't worry Celestia, once the others are here, we'll find Luna and bring her back."

Celestia looked back up at Twilight, still looking sad but now with a smile on her face. "Thank you, Twilight"

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We went back down to the courtyard to gather a few things from the train, including picking up Spike and seeing FeatherQuill off. Even though Celestia had offered her a room in the castle, she had family in the city and wanted to see them. Spike was glad to know she wouldn't be around to clean him anymore as he still had the lingering scent of fruit on him.

Both Twilight and I were given separate rooms in the castle across the hall from each other. Each was furnished just as beautifully as the rest of the castle, with a large bed similar to the one Twilight had back on the train, as well as a dresser, an armoire, and a desk with an ink bottle and quill. The carpet was of similar color to the one from the entrance hall and was shaped to fit the room. Connected to each room was its own bathroom with soaps and more mane care products that I cared to know about.

Seeing as I had some time to relax, I pulled off my cloak and folded it up. I than pulled open the armoire and began taking apart my armor piece by piece, reassembling it in the armoire. Once the last plate had left my body, I grabbed my cloak and sword and placed them within the armoire below the now empty armor. As I closed the wood doors, I reached into the lock and pulled the tumblers out of their natural place, locking the door.

Now free from the uncomfortable uniform, I took a second to stretch before going across the hall to check on Twilight. As I stepped into the room, I was nearly struck in the head by a floating dress. Apparently being the element of magic had its perks, as I had walked in on Twilight doing nearly a hundred different things at once with her magic while Spike tried to stay out of the way on the bed. Dresses floated lightly out of suitcases, folded themselves in mid air, than landed softly inside the dresser. Mane products and various other beauty amenities floated into the bathroom and organized themselves. A small bed for Spike was being made in a basket from a few sheets and a pillow.

The entire scene was organized madness, and I just stood in the awe as Twilight finished with removing her own dress and folding it away in the dresser. Just than she turned and noticed me standing in the doorway and blushed, clearly not wanting me to have seen her showing off her talent in such a way.

Now that I was sure nothing was wrong, I turned to return to my own room. As I placed a hoof on the door, Twilight spoke to get my attention.

"Oh Sleight, I was wondering if you would like to go get something to eat in the city with Spike and me?" even this simple invitation caused my mind to become cloudy. Fighting back against it, I told myself that continuing to be in Twilight's presence would only contribute to my sick mind. However, I was her bodyguard and I had to make sure she was safe.

Deciding that it would be better to not wear my dark armor, I turned to Twilight. "Alright, I could use some food."

"Great!" Twilight replied. "Come on Spike, let's go."

With the promise of possible food, Spike jumped up excitedly. "All right! Can we find a place that has gemstones?"

"I'm not sure that we'll find anyplace that serves dragons, but we can stop by Joe's Donut Shop instead. How does that sound?"

Spike licked his lips. "Mmm, donuts. Alright, lets go!"

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After eating at a restaurant that surprisingly had some gemstones for Spike, we returned to the castle as the sun set. Spike had fallen asleep from a full stomach and was riding on my back. As we walked through the halls of the castle, we talked about our earlier conversation with Celestia and what we were going to do once the others showed up.

"You don't need me to come along for this venture." I argued. "From what you've told me, you girls can take care of yourselves pretty well. I'll just get in the way."

"That's not true. Besides, I haven't the foggiest idea on where to start looking and we could use someone with your skills."

"I'm sure you can figure it out, you're a smart mare." I wasn't sure why Twilight wanted me to come along so badly, but I was getting pretty annoyed by the constant pestering.

I watched as Twilight struggled to think of another logical answer as to why I should join in on the quest. She finally seemed to give up and grabbed my hoof forcing me to stop. As she spoke, her face turned red against her purple fur. "Alright, what if I wanted you to come along just because I wanted you around. Would you come along than?"

This answer was not what I had expected, and it caused my thoughts to become even more clouded than before. Every sensible thought I had was consumed by an overwhelming urge to accept her offer. Finally I gave in to this infection.

"Alright, alright. I will come with you to save Princess Luna." Twilight smiled, thankful for my extended company.

Feeling the cloud begin to lift from my thoughts, I quickly made a reason to return to our rooms. "We should get Spike in bed, he's starting to fidget in his sleep."

"Ya, you're right." We turned the corner and entered the guest wing. As we headed toward our rooms at the end of the hall, I noticed that a note had been tacked to Twilight's door. It had been folded in thirds and on the outside it said "For Twilight."

"I wonder what this is?" Twilight thought out loud as we approached her door.

"I dunno, you go ahead and check it while I get Spike in his bed." As Twilight pulled the note from the door, I opened it and levitated the sleeping dragon off my back and into his bed. As I tucked him under his blanket, Twilight began reading the note aloud.

"'Dear Twilight, meet me in the Hall of the Elements, signed, A Friend' that's all it says."

"Strange, I wonder if maybe one of the guards put it there."

"I don't know, but I feel like this might have something to do with Luna. We should check it out."

"Alright, but let me get my armor and sword. If this turns out to be some kind of trap set by Nightmare Moon, I want to be ready." Not wanting to waste time, I reached out with my magic and opened not only the door to my room, but also the armoire. With practiced precision, I picked up my armor, pulling it apart in mid-air and placing each plate on my body with no delay between each part. Within a few seconds I had assembled the armor on my body and placed my cloak and sword into their places.

Twilight watched the sudden armor assembly with awe. "Wow, and I thought I was good with magic." Not wanting for my thoughts to become clouded again, I shrugged off her compliment and began heading down the hall.

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I entered the Hall of the Elements, my eyes scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary. The hall only had the one entrance we had used. At the other end of the hall was the door where the Elements of Harmony were once held before Celestia gave them over to Twilight. The door still stood, locked by the magic seal that only Celestia herself could unlock. Along the walls were various stain glass windows, each representing a special event in Equestria's history.

After I was sure the room was empty, I called to Twilight. "All clear." Twilight trotted in looking around for whoever had left the note.

"This makes no sense, the note said to meet here. Perhaps they left?"

"That's a possibility. We were out for a long time." Just as I began to let my guard down, I heard something come from outside the hall. It sounded as if 5 or 6 guards were coming down the hall, but that didn't make sense as no guard patrol was that large.

"Something's coming" I muttered. I turned toward the door and knelt down, ready to leap in case what came through the door was a threat. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck start to rise as my body began to pump adrenaline. I began to speculate what was coming and thought about how I would fight each enemy.

What came around the corner was something I never expected.

Into the Hall of the Elements walked five pegasi with gold fur that seemed to glow like the sun. Their manes looked like fire as they moved. The armor and helmets they wore were a blinding white and attached to each side was a crossbow made of the same metal which forced their wings to stay extended. The trigger for the weapons was located on a bar in front of each pegasi's muzzle. But the strangest part of these warriors was their eyes, which were completely empty.

Behind the pegasi walked in a being who I nearly mistook for Celestia. It was clearly an alicorn, and it was just as tall as her, but other than its white fur, the similarities ended there. Around its neck it had a cloak with a ornamental sun on it. Its mane and tail were of similar color to that of its pegasi counterparts, and just like them, had empty, soulless eyes that sent a shiver down my spine just looking at them.

In my gawking, I almost didn't notice the alicorn's horn light up. As she waved it across the pegasi, each of their crossbows were loaded with an arrow made of pure light. Before I knew it, ten arrows were trained at Twilight and I.

Just as each one bit down on the trigger for their weapons, I quickly reached out with my magic and lifted Twilight up just as I had did with a filly all those years ago. Once she was airborne and leapt up myself, dodging the barrage. I quickly let Twilight back down as I landed on all four hooves and drew my blade with a quick spell. Not wanting to give them the chance to reload, I charged at the strange enemies.

I closed the distance between us in two seconds and wasted no time. I first lowered my blade and sunk it into the throat of the center pegasus. Without halting I grabbed the blade handle in my mouth and swung around, slashing the leg of its companion to my left. As it fell from the wounded leg, I brought my sword into its back and pierced its heart. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the horn of the alicorn glow yet again, this time much more brighter. Assuming the worst, I pulled my sword out and leapt back as a blast of energy passed under me. Landing back on the ground, I prepared for another attack, but I was stopped by what I saw.

The two pegasi I had struck down moments ago were getting back up! I watched as their wounds that would kill any other pony mend themselves at an unnatural rate. No blood had even been spilled from the wounds. Once they were standing once again, the alicorn swept her horn over them and they fired. Still shook up by what I had just seen, I dodged too late and two arrows grazed my neck, ripping my cloak off. Small amounts of blood leaked from the wounds.

As they prepared to fire again, I decided to choose a different tactic. As the next volley of arrows came, I leapt toward the pegasi, this time intending to cause more serious wounds in hopes that there was a limit to their regeneration. I landed in front of the same monster I had stabbed in the heart and swung my blade through its neck, severing the head from its body. Out of the corner of my eye I watched his friend on the far left leap toward me, armored hooves out in front of him. I quickly countered his attack by throwing my blade into his skull, landing between the eyes. The force of my throw stopped him in mid-air.

This time the alicorn instead of firing a blast reloaded the crossbows of those still standing. They fired at point blank range, too close for even my acrobatics to dodge. Three arrows met their mark, piercing my armor and cutting into my right side. I began to jump back once again when suddenly something struck the left side of my face, cutting just above my eye.

Using the momentum of the sudden blow, I rolled back and landed on my hooves, ready to fight the new enemy. All I found though was a pegasus with a hole in its head holding my sword in its mouth. I stood there in shock as not only the wound of this monster closed up , but also as the other pegasus got up, its head still slowly reconnecting itself with its body.

Taking a moment to look at my wounds, I noticed that the arrows that were once in my side were now gone, allowing for a profuse amount of blood to come pouring out. As I looked for a way to close the wounds, my left eye was suddenly blocked by a red curtain as the gash on my face began to bleed as well.

Realizing that there was no fighting these things, I quickly turned and yelled to Twilight who had taken cover near the back of the hall. "You need to get out of here! I'll try to distract them while you head for the door!"

Clearly as shook up by the strange ponies as I was, it took her a second to respond. "But what about you? You can't fight these things!"

"I know I can't, but it's obvious that you are the one they want. If you escape, they fail and you can figure out what is going on!" Although she very clearly wanted to argue more about sacrificing myself, she couldn't argue with my logic. She only nodded in response.

"Alright." I tried to sound as calm as possible. "When I attack, you fly past them and get the royal guards." Before I turned back around, I heard the twang of crossbows going off and leapt up on instinct, missing yet another barrage by a mere inch. Turning in mid air, I landed facing my attackers and charged while they attempted to reload. Using my forehooves, I landed a few hits on one of them and then quickly bucked its companion in the neck. Although I felt bones crack, I knew it was futile to believe that was all it took.

Just as I was about to continue, I heard a noise echo through the hall. I recognized what it was: Twilight screaming. I forgot about the fight and turned to see that the alicorn had conjured up some kind of binds around Twilight's horn, wings, and legs. In a desperate attempt to try and stop the alicorn, I leapt forward, forgetting the magical blast that had missed me only a minute ago. The alicorn quickly turned and charged another blast, this time though I was unable to dodge it. I took the full force of the blow as it rocketed my body back into one of the stained glass windows that lined the walls. I than fell in front of the now cracked glass, thankful that the window had not allowed me to fall through and to the ground far below.

I was now a bleeding, beaten mess. The magic attack had struck me clean in the head, causing the room around me to spin and my ears to ring. A few of my ribs had broken from hitting the window. The wounds I had received before had now bled plenty. Through it all though, I told myself to get up, to save Twilight. My body refused, too weak to even move. I heard Twilight scream something to me. Whatever it was I couldn't tell, but it didn't matter. I began to feel the same feeling from before, only this time instead of clouding my thoughts, it gave me energy I did not know I had.

Out of my one good eye I saw the pegasi move in front of me in an arc. The alicorn than moved behind them and waved its horn. Once again, arrows filled the creatures' weapons as I realized they intended to fire upon me and finish me off. I had accepted my own death however, and now my only goal was to save Twilight. Using the strange reserve of energy, I finally managed to get my hooves underneath me and I began to stand slowly. My legs shook, my mouth tasted of blood, I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, but I wasn't going to stop. Every effort on my part was returned with an unimaginable amount of pain.

Just as I fully extended each leg, I felt the arrows hit my body. The force of the firing squad threw me back, this time with enough force to break the window. As I felt vertigo take me, time seemed to slow down. I felt my memories suddenly flash before me. I watched myself as a filly go to school, not caring to socialize with the others. The memory of the day I got my cutie mark came next, as I watched myself save the little filly, much unlike the present.

My more adult years came next as I watched myself leave Fillydelphia and headed out looking for work. Arriving in Ponyville, I found a job and a good home. All the ponies had been friendly despite my anti-social disposition. Life was simple and nice. My next few flashbacks were of the many troubles that seemed to plague Ponyville over the past few years, eventually leading up to Twilight's coronation and her offer for me to join her as her guard.

Seeing my memories of the tour go by so quickly made me realize that Twilight had been one of the first ponies I every really talked to. All the little moments we had on the train ran before me, each one bringing with it that unexplainable feeling. Finally it came to the night Twilight and I had spent together. The smell of her mane, the rhythm of her heart, the soft tough of her fur against my own. It felt like forever before that memory ended, leaving me feeling oddly empty inside. As the memories of the past day ended, I realized that my death was assured. If the fall did not kill me, than my wounds surely would. With this realization came another harsh truth.

I had failed.

As I began to close my eyes, finally giving into the unconsciousness my body so desperately wanted, I looked to the moon. Just before my world became darkness, I thought I saw a silhouette against the moon, but ignored it. It wouldn't matter in a few moments anyway. The wind blew through my blood-soaked mane as I plummeted to the ground below.

The last thing I remember is feeling myself land on something soft, and the sound of wings beating against the night air.