Prolog: The Mare in the Moon
in the beginning the world was in chaos, Discord ruled and all creatures were his playthings. Seeing the misery this brought to all ponies, the goddesses willed themselves into existence and together, using the powers of the Elements of Harmony, they banished Discord form the land. Seeing the land still in chaos, the sister goddesses combined their magic with the magic of the Elements to being peace and Harmony to the world. For time unaccountable the pony sisters ruled over the land, the elder ruling over the sun and the day, and the younger ruling over the Moon and the night.
But the younger sister became jealous.
Ponies played and worked during the day, but during the night they slept, ignoring her work. One day she refused to lower the Moon and let the sun come up; she had succumbed to the Nightmare and became a creature of jealously, Nightmare Moon. Her sister tried to reason with her, but the younger goddess’ heart had become cold and her sister’s pleas fell on deaf ears. For an immeasurable time the pony sisters fought. The magic of the world tore and warped as they did so, until eventually the elder sister realized that the world would no longer stand the conflict...
The midnight black alicorn flicked her head and sent a bolt of power streaking at Celestia. She twisted her shield and the missile ricocheted away, arching high and landing in the mountain side, blasting a large hole in it. Several more followed the first and Celestia was forced to fling them wildly across the land.
“You must be getting tired by now, sister,” the creature that called itself Nightmare Moon said as it strode around the clearing. It put stress on the word ‘sister’, and Celestia knew it was trying to get under her skin, but it had been doing that for too long now for it to it to have any effect. Luna was gone; this thing was not her.
“So must you,” Celestia hissed back. She twisted her own magic and jagged lines of white hot fire streaked out, reaching for the back armoured figure. As they struck, its shield flared, a sphere of force around her bouncing them off, burning great rents in the ground.
“I can keep it up for as long as you can,” it replied. The two alicorns circled each other, looking for a weakness in the other’s defenses. A vulnerability, however slight, a way to tip the stalemate they had been locked into for a time uncountable. In the sky above them the sun and the Moon also danced, a visible echo of the titanic battle on the world below. Ever since Luna had fallen to the Nightmare and refused to lower the Moon, and Celestia had raised the sun to match it, the two heavenly orbs had vied for control of the sky as their avatars had vied for control of the land below.
Time had long ago ceased to have any meaning for the land of Equestria. Day and night were a thing of the past. No days, no weeks, no months, just endless conflict. The fallout from the conflict had wrecked a lot of the land; soon enough there would be very little of the world for the victor to rule over. Celestia knew this and it was for this reason she had again sought direct conflict, no matter how violent or dangerous it was. This had to be ended soon.
Celestia’s attention strayed for a brief second to the things she had with her. The ultimate in power. With them she could end this, but at what cost? Nightmare Moon saw Celestia’s attention wander and she struck again with a lance of white hot fire. It struck Celestia’s defences, wrapping itself around them. Celestia threw her magic at it and with an explosion of light the fire was flung off into the forest around them.
“Give in,” Celestia yelled at the Nightmare given form. “You cannot defeat me -- I am the elder sister and the stronger power. The magic of the sun is greater than that of the Moon.”
The back alicorn on the far side of the clearing gritted its teeth and its eyes hardened. “Yes, sister, you were always more powerful and more popular and more loved. They loved your day, the brightness and warmth you gave them, but they shunned me, hid from my beautiful night, but no more. Now they will see, now they will love me and only me!” The shadows from the trees around Celestia reached out to grasp her. She summoned tongues of flame and drove the shadows back.
“No,” she pleaded, “it was not like that, they loved us both. Please, you must see that,” she begged, even though she knew it was useless. This was an argument she had had with her sister even before she had succumbed to the Nightmare, and the thing facing her now was not even her sister.
Nightmare Moon laughed bitterly. “Oh yes, I remember how they loved us both equally. How you where worshiped and how I was forgotten. Well, now they remember, now they will know me. After you are gone they will learn to love Me.” More bolts of fire erupted from the dark alicorn and the magic battle resumed.
The forest was mess. The ground was crater-pocked and trees had been either burnt or flung far and wide. The river that had flowed peacefully through it had burst out of its bank and now wandered through the ruins of the once peaceful place. The two goddesses stood in the flood and starred at each other.
“You are powerful, sister no doubt about it,” Nightmare Moon said, “but you cannot win.”
“Neither can you, Nightmare,” Celestia spat back, again weaving her magic to lash out at the dark creature.
“Oh, I think I can. You see, I know your weakness, Celestia. You are powerful, but you are also kind. You love. You care about every pony and you can’t bear to see them hurt.” There was a flash of back and the midnight alicorn disappeared into a trail of smoke that darted off through what remained of the forest. Celestia cursed under her breath and followed her.
The twin lines of smoke, one midnight back, one noon bright, darted and flitted through the world. This was a game that the sisters had played many times before, chasing each other through the world, but this time it was deadly. Magic spat and hissed as they sped, soon they left the great forest behind and emerged onto the grasslands.
As they sped on, Celestia saw the damage the conflict had been doing to the world. When the Nightmare had struck Luna down it had bent the Harmony that she and Celestia had used to rebuild the world, and with the balance shaken the chaos was returning to the land. But that was not all. The conflict itself had been taking its toil; great parts of the land where burnt or wrecked. More of it was dead and lifeless, the natural magic gone, used up as the sisters fought, or twisted as the old chaos returned. Creatures large and small lay dead as they passed, victims of the fighting or just dead from the effects of it. The land was dying and evidence lay all round them.
A deserted griffin aviary. A field of flowers, all gray and broken. A stand of trees bent and twisted. A Breese mound, now still and lifeless; that last saddened Celestia the most. The little pony sprites had been one of the first casualties of the war. As the first clashes drained the magic from the land, the ethereal creatures had literally been sucked dry. They had been the first of the magic creatures to die, but not the last.
The Nightmare flicked back into shape and Celestia pulled herself back into her body as well. As she did so, a whip of force cracked out at her. She cried out as it bludgeoned its way past her half formed defences and she was thrown back. She tumbled in the air and crashed through the brick wall of a building. Rubble rained down on her, burying her. She took a grip on her magic and threw the rubble off. It exploded outwards and she leapt to her hooves, jumping out of the ruins of the building and into the street to confront the Nightmare again.
They were standing in the middle of a village, she realised. Probably an earth pony village, she could see crop fields surrounding it, now all withered and gray. Around them she could hear the screams of ponies and the thunder of hooves on the ground as the ponies of the village fled from the titanic conflict that had invaded their lives. The Nightmare struck out again as Celestia emerged, lances of black fire speared towards her, but she had her defences up now and they deflected off her shields, crashing into the buildings around them.
Celestia held her magic back and did not return the barrage; she did not want to damage the village more than was necessary, if she could avoid it.
“See, sister, that is your weakness. Even now you cannot even risk harming one pony.” The Nightmare leered at her. “But you cannot save them. You cannot even save one of them.”
The smoke and stars that surrounded the creature shot out and grabbed at one of the ponies that was running past. Celestia tried to break the weaves of night, but Nightmare Moon had known what she was about to do, and as she did it she snapped a spell at Celestia, forcing her to defend herself. “You see, sister, you cannot even save this one pony.” The Nightmare held the struggling pony up in front of her. Celestia saw in shock it was a young filly. The filly struggled and writhed desperately in the grip of the dark smoke, its mouth open to scream, but no sound came out.
Nightmare Moon laughed harshly. “Go on, sister, show your loving ponies how powerful your are. Save this pony that loved you so very much. I will even make it easier for you.” With a powerful downstroke the black alicorn leapt into the sky. Celestia leapt after her leaving the terrified village behind.
A speck of darkness speared into the strangely lit sky. A speck of fire following it, the two specks twisted upwards, sparks flashing between them until they settled just above the clouds.
“You see, sister, you cannot do it,” the Nightmare gloated as she hung in the sky. “You cannot even save one little pony.” The pony in question hung in front of her, squirming in the grip of the smoky magic.
Celestia looked at the thing that had been her sister and at the filly struggling in front of it, and all the indecision she had felt before faded. This creature had proved it was incapable of any compassion, and she had seen what its presence was doing to her world, to her ponies. No matter what she felt and no matter what it cost, she had to deal with it. “I can,” she said slowly and coldly, “with these I can.” She opened the flap on her saddle bags and the world was filled with a rainbow light.
Shock flashed across Nightmare Moon’s face before being replaced with confidence. “The Elements of Harmony,” she said almost dismissively as the six brilliantly faceted gems floated up from Celestia’s saddle bags and took up an orbit around her. Each of the jewels glowed with a different colour and they were all bright and radiant. “You can’t use them against me.”
“I can,” Celestia said with force. “I am the elder, I am the fulcrum. They respond to me.”
Nightmare Moon waved a hoof dismissively. “You can use them, but you won’t. We both know what would happen if you did. They are tied to me as well as to you, and through us they are tied to the balance of the world. If you used Harmony against itself the balance would be shattered. Chaos would reign again.”
“I can do it I can hold the balance within me and keep the chaos at bay. The damage would be less than if I allow you to keep doing what you are doing.”
“You won’t,” the Nightmare sneered at Celestia, “the damage to the world would be too great, even then. You won’t do it, you care too much to hurt ponies like that.”
Celestia looked at the struggling pony and then looked the thing that had been her beloved sister straight in its eyes “Yes,” she said slowly, “I care,” as she drew the power of the Elements of Harmony into her and struck.
A brilliant rainbow arched out and struck the Nightmare; its defences blistered and warped under the onslaught.
“I care about my world,” Celestia screamed as the world shook and trembled. The land tore itself apart; mountains fell and seas boiled. Celestia felt the balance shatter as she struggled to hold onto it, to buffer it from the shock and pain as she unleashed the Elements of Harmony.
“I care about my ponies.”
The defences cracked and were blown apart as the power blasted outwards. Nightmare Moon screamed as the full force of Harmony was turned on her and Celestia felt reality buck and writhe as Harmony fought itself; she clung to it, pulling it together. As it tore she felt Discord through the tatters of it. She strained more and thrust him back as the power of Harmony tore at the Nightmare and she tried to keep the fabric of the world from pulling itself apart.
“And... I... care... for... Luna...” Celestia spat through clenched teeth as the pain of the world flowed through her. But now as well she could feel the Nightmare through the Elements. With the power she thrust at it, pushing past the dark layers of anger and hatred, looking for the ‘place’ where the Nightmare became Luna. There it was, deep at the core, a difference in the shade of the darkness. The darkness of the Nightmare tied around the different shade that was her sister. She pushed the power forwards, throwing it into the knot of the two shades trying to wrench the two apart. She could not. She tried again; the power rushed forward, but the control was not there. She could wield the power like a club, but not like a scalpel. She screamed as the world under her twisted. It would not survive this much longer; she needed to end this now. Desperately she struck out again at the knot of shades; even as she did so she realised with a chill why she was failing to separate Luna from the Nightmare.
She could not do it.
Luna was her friend, her sister, the other half of her. On her own the Elements of Harmony would not respond with the control she needed to pull the two apart. It would hurt Luna too much and in her heart she could not bring herself to do that. She flung the power wildly at the junction of the two selves and screamed at herself. She could not do; it she could not destroy the Nightmare, she could not save Luna, and if she kept trying the balance would crumble and the world would revert to chaos. Even now she could feel Discord pressing at the rents in reality. But she could not let up, she could not leave Nightmare Moon free to roam. She could not -- would not! -- let that happen. Her flailing magic caught the edge of smoothing and Celestia’s mind jolted. That was the edge of the bond with the Moon. She knew it, she felt the solar twin within her. Maybe she could not save her sister, but she could save her world from her.
The world tore beneath them as for one last time she wielded the power of the Elements of Harmony. She wielded the power like a club, pushing and shoving, forcing the essence of the dark creature into the Moon. Nightmare Moon screamed again and for a moment it sounded like Luna. Celestia hardened her heart. “I am sorry,” she whispered and with a last burst of power sealed the dark Nightmare in the heart of the Moon.
The power faded from Celestia and she slumped on her wings. The Nightmare was gone, but as it had said, the world had been very nearly torn asunder by the process. Celestia knew this, she could feel Harmony torn. With one last effort she used her magic to pull the balance back together, to seal up the rips that she had put in the world. She knew they would not be perfect. It would never be, she was alone without Luna and now without the Elements of Harmony. In the battle with the Nightmare they had been scattered, but she did the best she could.
It was done, that was it. She looked up and realised that there was one more thing she was going to have to do. In the sky above her the sun and the Moon still hung. Now still and waiting. The sun looked like it always had, but the Moon had changed. Instead of the silvery, crater pocked face it had shown before, there was a shadow across it; the face of the Nightmare. Celestia shuddered as she looked at that frozen reminder of what she had been forced to do, but it reminded her of her next task. She had to set the moon. The sun and the moon needed control, and with her sister no longer around Celestia would have to take on the task herself. Gingerly she reached out her mind and felt where she had felt the Moon’s bond before. Shock battered its way into her exhausted mind. Through the bond with the Moon she felt the Nightmare trapped inside it. She could feel its anger and its hate as it lashed at her. It was powerless, trapped behind the barriers that Celestia and the Elements of Harmony had erected, but it was still there. Slowly, carefully she reached past the impotent voice and grasped the Moon. She felt the power and chill of the heavenly orb roll through her, so different and yet so similar to the sun, and ever so carefully she set it.
For the first time since the Nightmare had taken her sister, the moon set and it was a new day. With the moon asleep the echoing shouts of the Nightmare faded in Celestia’s mind -- they were still there, but she could ignore them. Slowly and with a bone deep weariness Celestia glided back towards the ground.
She glided down to where the earth pony village was. To where the earth pony village had been. There was nothing left of it now. When she had broken the balance the ground beneath them had shattered and the village had been swallowed up. As she flew low she saw some rubble and the remains of a field that was all that was left of the place. Her heart grew colder and then she spotted something else lying on the rocks; it looked like a patch of colour. Curious, she swooped lower and landed near the thing. It looked like a patch of fur, but it was not until she got close that her weary mind finely realised what it was.
It was the filly that Nightmare Moon had been holding.
Celestia reared back. The filly had fallen from the sky. When she had hit the Nightmare with the power of the Elements of Harmony it had lost its grip on the poor little thing and it had fallen. In her effort to defeat the Nightmare she had not even noticed her or remembered about her until now. The ice cold determination in Celestia’s heart shattered and her mind reeled. She had not been able to save her either.
She had failed.
She had failed to save her world. She had failed to save her sister and she had even failed to save one little pony. Her eyes filled with tears as the events of the past caught up with her. She could not face it, she could not face the ruin that she had left of the world that she had loved.
Celestia spun around and leapt into the sky. She could not face her ponies knowing what she had done, what she had been forced to do. She could not. Wings beating furiously and tears flowing from her eyes, Celestia fled her world.
Author's Note
This was initially going to be the flashback in the “Gala Gambit.” But when I wrote it I decided that a better flash back would be the start from Luna’s point of view. I do not think I will have time to write this story as I planned it now as I am involved in other stories but I though I would be silly to let it go to waste o here it is but I reserve the right to restart it when I have time.
...with heavy heart she took up all the elements of harmony and banished the creature that had been her sister to the moon. She took up the control on both the night and day the sun and the moon. But her heart was broken by what she had been forced to do and she retreated from the world she had helped to make living far above the clouds and the highest mountains. Caring not as the world below her changed.
The hunter stalked through the fluffy clouds, intent on his prey. Through a gap in the cloud bank he spotted it. The prey had its back to him. The hunter smiled to himself. This was going to be easier than he had thought. Slowly and carefully so as not to disturb it and give his position away, he crept through the clouds towards where the prey sat. The hunter looked out at the prey. It was still sitting with its back to him; it had no idea that the hunter was here. The hunter smiled again. One quick pounce and he would have him; the prey would have no time to react or to flee. The hunter bunched his hind legs against the clouds and prepared to leap. One quick pounce, he thought to himself again. And he leapt. The prey had no idea what hit him -- the hunter cannoned into him and both hunter and prey rolled along the cloud.
“hay!” the prey screamed as they went over, then: “Aunty Dusky, aunty Dusky, Sheet Lightning is attacking me again!”
The hunter picked himself up as a dusky blue pegasus mare walked over to where they were sitting.
“Aunty Dusky” the prey cried out, picking itself up and running over to the mare. “Aunty Dusky, Sheet Lightning pounced on me again.”
The blue mare picked up the prey and placed it on her back muttering a few soothing words to it as she did so, before coming over to where the hunter was sitting.
“Sheet Lightning,” she said in a firm tone of voice, “what did I tell you about pouncing on your cousin?”
“But mum,” the hunter wailed, “we were just playing.”
“Yes, I saw you just playing, and I have told you not to play like with your cousin.”
“But mum--” the hunter tried again.
“But mum nothing.” The blue mare was having none of this. “I have told you before you are not a griffin or a manticore.”
“Mum, I was just practicing.”
“Well you can practice all you want when you grow up some more and join the proper wings and practice with your wing-mates.”
“But...”
“Enough, young colt. Now go and sit on that cloud and think about what I told you.” And she turned around and walked back to where the group of other mares were sitting, muttering more soothing words to the foal on her back.
Sheet Lightning, mighty hunter and warrior of the Blue wing tribe, sighed and flew despondently over to the cloud his mother had pointed at. He landed on the cloud and slumped down. It was not fair, he thought to himself. A few more years and he would be able to join one of the tribe wings and show them how truly great he was. He looked out over the mass of clouds that the Blue Wings tribe were currently resting on to where some of the younger members of the tribe’s wings where practicing their formation flying around a crudely assembled cloud obstacle coarse.
Like most of the pegasus tribes Sheet Lightning had met, the Blue Wings were nomadic, ranging across the skies and only assembling what crude cloudstrcution they needed when they stopped. He knew not all pegasus tribes lived this way. His uncle’s new mare was from the Fleethoof tribe. He could see her sitting with his mother in the group of mares, her sandy yellow coat and pink mane making her standout against the blues and greens of his tribe’s colouring. They lived on one cloud that they moved around the same mountain peak.
He could not really understand that. Yes, they had much bigger cloud houses and grew some of their own food on the mountain top instead of having to scavenge or trade for it, but pegasi were meant to be free. Not tied down -- and if you had food in the ground and stuff in a house, how could you fly when you needed to? You would be trapped like those slow ground ponies. You could not fly fast enough to out fly a griffin or a dragon with a cloud house on your back.
His mind drifted to thoughts of the other tribes of pegasi he had met. He knew, of course, that the Blue Wings were the best tribe; they were the fastest, strongest, the most agile. So why did so many of the older ponies he knew take mates form other tribes? His friend Raincloud’s mother was a rainbowmane and she was always getting teased about the fact her tail was rainbow hued. Come to think on it, his own grandstallion was a Stormchaser. His mother always said that was why his coat was a darker blue -- almost black -- and his mane had a white streak in it. But that just made him look faster. He was the fastest pegasus colt in the tribe, and one day he would show them all. Thoughts full of speed and triumph, Sheet Lightning drifted off to sleep.
The sound of screams and shouts penetrated Sheet Lightning’s sleep. Eventually his sleeping mind realised that the sounds were real, not a construct of dream, and he snapped awake. Lifting his head, Sheet opened his eyes.
It was evening, the sun low in the sky and giving the cloud campsite a red glow. The site was in chaos, ponies were flying this way and that, wildly grabbing at belongings and foals.
“Manitcores!” he heard a pony shout from somewhere in the distance; it was cut off by the defining roar of the beast.
Manitcores, Sheet Lightning thought with a chill. Vicious carnivores with the body of a lion, the wings of a dragon and a scorpion’s tail with a paralysing sting. Occasionally you would see a lone one hunting on its own, especially if it was injured and had been driven away by the rest of the pride, but usually they hunted in packs.
As he watched, one of the fighting wings sped past, faces determined. He got to his hooves and spread his wings, intending to follow them.
“Sheet Lightning.” He heard his mother’s voice and turned round. She had just alighted on the cloud and she had her saddle bags on.
“Up,” she said firmly gesturing to her back.
“Mum, I can fly myself.”
“No, we need to fly fast.”
“But mum, I am a fast flyer,” Sheet Lightning whined.
“No arguments Sheet, get up here now.” His mother’s voice had a touch of fear in it that cut thought all Sheet Lightning’s arguments and he quickly scrambled onto her back.
As soon as he had a grip she launched herself off the cloud bank. Sheet Lightning heard more roaring and turned around just in time to see a manticore burst through one of the clouds and swipe at the ponies with its claws. It connected with one of the mares and she was knocked of the cloud. Ponies from the wings pressed in on the fearsome creatures but the manticore lashed out at them with its stinger and claws. His mother flew past another cloud and Sheet Lightning lost sight of the fight but he heard more screams of ponies and roars of manticores.
Another pony flew up beside them. It was Sheet’s friend, Raincloud, riding on the back of her father. Her father looked as frightened as Sheet’s mother had.
“It is a large pack of them.” Sheet heard him say. “They are all around us.”
There was another loud roar and then a cry went up from the ponies.
“Scatter. Scatter. Every pony scatter!”
Sheet Lightning saw the fear on Raincloud and her father’s faces and felt it himself. The order to scatter meant everypony for themselves; it meant that there were too many manticores for the wings to even slow them down while the rest of the tribe escaped in orderly fashion. Scatter meant fly for your life. He felt his mother speed up and she climbed steeply, Rainstorm’s father stayed by her side as they fled.
They burst through a high cloud and sped along it. It was cold up here, this was the highest that Sheet Lightning had ever been -- almost as high as a pegasus could go. He could feel his mother’s laboured breaths as she tried to get her breath in the thin air, but she kept flying as fast as she could.
There was a terrible roar and Sheet Lightning twisted his head to look behind. Two manticores erupted through the clouds. They spotted the fleeing pegasi and started to chase after them.
Normally a fleeing pegasus would easily be faster than a Manticore, but both the adult pegasi were laden with the foals and were slowed down by them. Sheet considered jumping off his mother’s back, but he was to terrified to move.
“Hold on tight, my little pony,” Sheet’s mother said to him as the lead manticore pressed in on them. Then she folded her wings and dived into the cloud.
As she did so, Sheet Lightning caught a final glimpse of Raincloud clinging desperately to her dad’s back as he rolled out of the way of a sweeping claw.
His mother arrowed through the cloud and out the bottom, spinning around to follow the contours of the cloud base. Just behind them, one of the manticores popped through the bottom of the cloud, slashing at them with its claws. Sheet’s mother rolled desperately out the way and Sheet felt the claw whistle over his head.
Sheet Lightning clung on tight as his mother rolled and again disappeared into the cloud bank. Clouds buffeted at him as his mother attempted to lose the manticore in the murk, before they popped out the top of it again, the Manticore still hard on their heels.
“Hold tight, my little pony, we are going to make it,” His mother tried comfort him past her desperate breaths.
Sheet felt the push as his mother twisted upwards, pulling into a loop over the top of the manticore. Looking down he saw the manticore a mere wing’s span below them as his mother looped it, aiming to get to the clouds behind it.
We are going to make it, he thought, once we are not in front of it we can hide in the cloud bank, it will not find us then. Then suddenly the manticore’s tail lashed out at them. His mother twisted in the air trying to dodge the poisons barb, but it was too fast.
Sheet felt a line of fire and heard his mother scream in agony as the stinger scraped down his side and buried itself in her flank. She was thrown sideways, spinning out of control and crashing heavily into the cloud bank. Sheet Lightning was thrown lose by the shuddering impact, bouncing and rolling over the clouds. He caught one last glimpse of his mother lying on the clouds, blood staining her coat as the manticore towered over her, then he rolled off the edge of the clouds and fell.
He rolled as he fell and extended his wings to catch the air. Or tried to; his left wing did not move. He desperately tried to extend it as he fell, but it still would not move. It was numb, his entire left side was going numb. The poison! he realised with shock. His left side was paralyzed. He spread his right wing and tried to fly with that. But the flight shape was all wrong and he could not maintain his balance. He twisted and spun in the air, flailing with his one good wing, trying to get controlled flight, but it was useless and he was still falling.
He felt the numbness spreading up and down his body as he fell spinning, and he started to find it hard to breathe. I am going to die, he thought, strangely calm as blackness started to close in on him. I am falling to my death. Then the rush of falling air around him suddenly stopped. He stopped falling and started to float. For a few confused seconds he hung in the still in the air. I am dead, he thought as he started to float upwards. He was spun around by the strange force that was lifting him and, looking up just before the black closed in totally, he saw above him the radiant white face of the most beautiful pony he had ever seen in his life.
Celestia alighted gently on the thin wispy cloud and looked out over the sea of clouds below her. She rested for a while, enjoying the feel of the warm evening sun on her skin. She rarely came this low to the ground. She did not want to be reminded of the world she had left behind. The sun hung low in the evening sky, shedding red light across the clouds; soon it would be time for her to lower it and to raise the moon.
That thought made her sag. She could still feel it even now, even during the day, the hate filled Nightmare that was trapped in the moon. The creature that had been her sister and which she had been forced to imprison there, so long ago she had lost count. It was quieter during the day. When the moon slept she could barely feel it, but at night when the moon was up it shouted in her mind, filling her thoughts and dreams with its hatred.
She lowered her head in sadness and half closed her eyes. Something caught her eye and she opened her eyes fully and focused below her.
She could see two contrails picked out in the cloud below her, Curious, she looked closer. While these clouds where low for her, they were still very high, not many creatures would be flying this high; even pegasus ponies would not usually come to these clouds. She gently dropped off the cloud and circled lower.
It seemed there were two shapes flying fast across the top of the high could. As she flew lower, she identified them as pegasus ponies. It had been such a long time since she had seen any of her little ponies and her curiosity was peaked. She flew lower, trying to see what they were doing.
What are pegasus ponies doing flying so high and so fast? she thought as she circled. Could this be some sort of game or a race? The pegasi she had known in the past often played in the clouds and they liked to race, but this was a bit high for them to be playing.
As she watched, two larger creatures erupted through the clouds behind the pegasi and set off in pursuit.
Celestia circled lower. What where those creatures following the pegasi? They have a strange body shape, Celestia thought as she dropped even lower, and they were large, at least three times the size of even the largest of ponies. Then the shape rang a bell. Manticores. They were manticores. But what were Manticores doing chasing pegasus ponies?
The manticores caught up with the pegasi, and one of the fleeing ponies dived headlong into the cloud, the other executed a series of rolls as the manticore tried to catch it.
What sort of game was this? Celestia had dropped very close to the clouds now. Why where manticores even playing with ponies? Manticores where not really that intelligent and they did not usually play games. They were not really clever enough for the games ponies played; they where too thuggish and violent.
The remaining manticore caught up with the fleeing pegasus and slashed at him with its claws. Celestia could clearly see the streaks of blood left by the vicious claws as the pegasus spun wildly out of control and nosedived into a cloud bank.
Celestia’s mind froze with the shock of what she had just seen. That manticore had attacked the pony. Her mind reeled. It had injured the pony -- it may have even killed it. She folded her wings and dived. They were hunting the ponies. They were hunting her ponies! What had happened, why where they hunting her ponies?
As she dived, she saw the manticore land next to the pony and reach out with its claws. Celestia took up her magic, her horn glowing the radiant yellow of the newly risen sun, and a whip of force lashed out at the creature, knocking it back. It flew backwards, rolling over in the clouds.
Celestia thudded into the clouds next to what she realised now was the body of the pegasus stallion. The manticore had killed the pony. Why had it killed the pony? What was going on? The manticore picked itself out of the clouds, turned to face her and with a roar it leapt. Fighting instinct from the conflict with the Nightmare took over and she grabbed at the monster with her magic, snatching it out of the air and throwing it down so hard into the clouds that they broke beneath it and it fell through.
It had attacked her. Her mind reeled. It had seen her. Known her for a pony and deliberately attacked her.
A sound from behind made her turn around. Some distance away she saw the second pony burst through the clouds again, followed closely by the other manticore. Celestia took wing and quickly set off after the pony. It was clear to her now that the ponies where being hunted, but why? She needed to stop it, but she did not want to unleash her magic at this distance; she might hurt either the pony or the manticore. The second pony pulled sharply back, arcing over in a loop above the manticore. At the top of its arc, the manticore’s stinger struck out, slashing at the pony. It connected, knocking the pony into a spin and flinging it over the clouds. As the pony struck, Celestia saw something fly of its back and bounce along the clouds.
NO, she screamed in her head and lashed out at the manticore with her magic, not caring how much pain she caused it. She connected and the manticore was sent flying of the clouds its body smashed by the violence of her magic.
She quickly landed next to the injured pony and probed at her --it was a mare-- with her magic. The manticore’s poison had gone in deep and she could feel the mare’s heart start to falter. Pain filled Celestia; she could not save this pony, the poison was too deep, it had affected the mare’s nerves and her whole body was going stiff.
“Save... Sheet...” the mare choked out as her body started to jerk.
Celestia leaned in closer, trying to work out what the dieing mare was saying.
“Save... foal...” the mare tried again.
The mare’s meaning stabbed into Celestia’s mind. The thing that had been thrown of the mare’s back when she had crashed, it had been her foal.
Celestia galloped over to the edge of the clouds, her thoughts filled with images of that other foal. A filly falling to its death, unnoticed, while Celestia fought the Nightmare. She had let it die. She had known that the Nightmare had had it and she had attacked anyway. She had let it fall. She had killed it.
She stepped off the clouds and into the air. There below she saw it; a small back dot falling. She folded her wings and dropped into a dive. It was going to happen again. She thought as she desperately strained for more speed. She was going to let another foal die. In the back of her mind she heard the Nightmare taunting her, telling her how she was weak, how her hesitation had killed the mare and how it was going to let the foal die.
She saw the foal’s right wing open and he started to spin. He was still alive and able to move and he was trying to fly, but obviously something was wrong with his left wing. He was not able to get a proper flight orientation and his uneven flying was making him spin erratically, but it was slowing his fall.
Desperately, Celestia reached out with her magic, straining to reach the falling pony. In the past this level of magic would have been easy for her; she had the power to tear down and rebuild mountains, but the fabric of the world was fragile now, and when she had rebuilt it, it had been weakened, and she dare not stretch it too much even to save this pony.
She felt her magic brushing against it, but its erratic spinning kicked it out of her grip. She strained to fly faster and reached out again and this time she caught it. She spread her wings, pulling up out of the headlong dive and with her magic she pulled it foal in close to her, twisting it around as she did so. As it got closer, she saw its eyes flicker and then its lids closed and its little body started to shake.
No, she thought again as she sent her probing magic into him. No, I have saved you. You will not die.” She felt the same poison in him as in the mare, a paralysis seeping in from a wound on his left side, spreading out, freezing the nerves and muscles reaching for his heart and brain. She could feel his spark of life fade before the cold of the poison. NO! she thought savagely as she poured her magic into him. The flames of her magic pushed back at the poison, driving the cold back. This was dangerous; there was much less poison in him than there had been in the mare, he must have received only a glancing strike from the manticore, but he was a much smaller pony and the magic she was pouring into him to fight the poison might burn him out. Pegasi could not handle magic like unicorns or earth ponies could; unicorns were used to it, their horn acted as a magic conductor and safely earthed any dangerous levels of magic, and earth ponies were built more sturdily than pegasi.
The foal’s shaking got worse and Celestia worried that he would break something. She wrapped her lifting magic tight around him, holding him still. The healing magic was working, the poison was being driven back and his body was coming back from the brink of the cold. His shaking stopped and he lay still in the embrace of Celestia’s magic grip. Celestia withdrew her magic from his body and looked at him. The colt would live, but he was very weak; he would need time to recover from his ordeal and Celestia need answers. She lifted the colt to her back and gently circled upward towards the clouds again.
What had happened here? she thought as she flew. Why were mantcores attacking and killing ponies -- was this isolated incident? Where those creatures infected with some sort of madness that caused them to turn on others? She had not seen any obvious evidence of it, but then she might not have noticed, she had not exactly had time to look carefully.
She landed on the clouds and walked slowly over to where the mare lay. As she had known she was dead, there was nothing Celestia could have done for her. She looked at her and at the small clot lying on her back. She was a relative of his, his mother most likely. Their colouring was similar, but not identical; she had a light blue coat all over with a dark mane, the colt had a darker coat and a dark, almost black mane with a white streak through it. She looked at the mare’s cutie mark; three snowflakes.
Who where you? she thought softly, what was your special talent? What drove you up here to die on these high clouds? The colt shifted on her back. She would need to take him somewhere safe so he could recover and she could decide what she needed to do. She knew a place where they would be safe. She turned back to the mare.
“Rest in peace, my little pony,” she said softly, “I will take care of your foal.”
