MLP FIM: Season 4 Rise of the A.M. (a what if story)

Chapter 10: The Night Who Cries

Canterlot, home of the royals, ruled once by two, then by one, once more by two and now three. By day the sun is brought up by her majesty, Princess Celestia and by night her sister Luna brings forth the moon and stars. To the inhabitant of the city and peaceful town of Ponyville, the two sisters past is known only by the story, “The Mare in the Moon” The city’s night guards take over for their comrades who patrol the streets in the light of day when the night ends.

Dark Heart made his way to his courters while he had the chance and locked himself inside. His room was small, but to him it was better than spending night after night in a damp cave with nothing but a small fire to keep him and the rest of his herd warm. He took off his golden helmet showing that his black and red mane was flattened. He stared across the room at a mirror he had received not too long after he became a member of the royal guard. He had only used it once before as a test run and it worked perfectly for talking to those he knew back home. Ever since his acceptance into the royal guard, Dark Heart had learned many things about Canterlot’s forces and the princesses. A few weeks ago he had discovered that Princess Luna, also known as Nightmare Moon had returned to rule by her sisters side again. When they met for the first time there was no mistaking that she was beautiful, but at night when he looked outside his window and saw the mare soaring through the sky as the moons light shun down on her. It made her beauty even more noticeable. He made sure that he was perfectly alone in secrecy before he approached the mirror. His horn glowed red and he aimed his magic. He touched the glass with his crystal. For a moment Dark Heart looked into the mirror seeing only himself then Night Blade came into view.

“Dark Heart,” he said with no trace of a smile. “I trust that the plan is still in motion?”

“Yes father,” said Dark Heart. “The rumors we have heard are true. Nightmare Moon has returned to rule beside her sister.”

“Is she still herself?” asked Night Blade.

“No she’s different,” said Dark Heart. “It looks like she won’t be of importance after all.”

Night Blade smiled at his son. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Pay a long awaited visit.”

Before Dark Heart could speak a blue unicorn appeared on his fathers end and smiled wickedly at him his horn glowed and he felt himself become drowsy. Dark Hearts eyes closed and he fell into darkness.

Standing on the balcony of the west wing watching over the city of Canterlot and Ponyville was Princess Luna. She scanned over the rooftops feeling a smile sweep across her face as she sensed the dreams of the many inhabitants. When her gaze turned down to the castle grounds her smile faded as she felt a different presence. This dream was different than all the rest. She touched her chest as an all too familiar pain was felt. This dream she had sensed was coming from the new recruits room. He was sad, lonely, and uncertain. Before she knew it, Luna felt something running down her face. She rubbed her eyes dry and focused on where the dream was coming from. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was in a cave; dark and damp with no sign of anyone living in it. She looked around and felt like someone or something was watching her. She turned around expecting to see someone, but nothing was there. Luna looked ahead and saw for a brief moment the outline of a young colt.

“Hey wait!” she called out to him, but he had already disappeared into the cave.

She had no choice but to follow him. Her curiosity was too great. The colt appeared out of nowhere when Luna lost sight of him. She tried to call out to him again, but his fast hoof steps died out once more and she was left alone in the dark before she used her magic to give off light. Suddenly hidden torches hanging on the walls lit up one by one as if to create a path for her. She followed them as they continued to ignite the cave. The torches led her directly to the mouth of the cave and she heard voices coming from outside. The rocky ground outside was dry and she felt the wind blow her mane. She walked over to the mouth’s edge and looked down realizing that she must be on a mountain. A colt’s laugh caught her attention and she quickly spun around to see where he was. She spotted him following a Pegasus as he told him to stay focused. The colt was red with a black mane and tale that had strands of red hair and purple eyes. Luna followed the pair up to the peek where she stayed on a ledge. She reached near the top and stood on her hind legs to observe them. Now that she could get a good look at the Pegasus she saw that he was all grey except for his black mane, tale and purple eyes. He called the colt over and put a gentle wing on his shoulder.

“What is it dad?” the colt asked looking up at his father who stared off into the distance.

“Look out there and tell me, what do you see?”

The colt looked over the peek and saw nothing but clouds and more mountaintops.

“I see nothing but more mountains,” he said.

“Oh? Just wait a little bit and focus on where I’m pointing,“ replied his father reaching his hoof out.

The two watched as the clouds below continued there course and where his father was pointing the white blanket cleared and they saw light emitting in forest below. The Colt looked at the light with wonder of what could be down there.

“Do you know what that light is?” asked his father.

“No,” replied the colt.

“That my son is where we will one day return to,” said his father. “That is the Sapphire Kingdom.”

“Mom told me you ran away from there. Why?”

“I think you’re too young to understand why Dark Heart, but lets just say that I had my reasons and when the time comes we will live there once more.”

“It must have been something,” said Dark Heart dreamily. “Living in a kingdom with other ponies your age.”

His father frowned at his son. He knew that he was too young to understand the harsh life he had lived, but he promised himself that when he was old enough, he would tell him why they were forced to live in the mountains and only then the real training would begin.

“The stars are nice out tonight,” said Dark Heart breaking the silence. “Look, you can see the moon too.”

Luna looked at the pair wondering how long did they stay in the cave and did they ever go back? The wind blew once more and the dream started to grow fuzzy and she suddenly found herself in the forest looking over at a group of ponies who were scavenging the grounds in search for something.

“Dark Heart, you were falling behind back there!” spat an earth pony who Luna assumed must be the leader. “If you can’t keep up you’ll get left behind and I don’t think you’ll last a minute on your own.”

“Shut up!” shouted Dark Heart.

The earth pony spun around and gave him an ugly look.

“Know your place when you’re in my presence boy!” he said spitting at the ground. “Lets see, for talking back you will… join your fellow scouts on their night patrol.”

“I never did like him,” said a voice from behind Luna that made her jump.

“You!” She exclaimed when she turned around and was looking at the Dark Heart she knew now.

He looked at her then to the younger version of himself and sighed.

“You didn’t really join the night watch did you?” asked Luna.

“Had no choice. The rules we went by were very strict.” Dark Heart snarled. “Yeah, I went alright, but it was no pick nick I can assure you of that. We got jumped by a pack of timber wolfs. Apparently we wondered into their territory. I got these from one that took me from behind.” He pointed at the scars on his face and forehead.

“And those…” asked Luna looking at his legs.

“Ah, yes. One is from a bear and the others are from training.”

“What kind of training did they put you through?” enquired Luna.

“The important kind,” said Dark Heart simply. “I was trained to become a part of my fathers army. My mother was all for it. She said that what I was doing would all be worth it when it was put to use.”

“That doesn’t sound to reassuring,” said Luna perplexed.

“Well, I wouldn’t have made it hear if it wasn’t for the training so in a way it was worth the pain and frustration.“

“Didn’t you have any friends when you were growing up? Not even your fellow soldiers?”

“Friends would have gotten in the way. No, I was far too busy for such things.”

Amongst further inspection, she saw straight through him. He was lonely after all. It was as if she could see emptiness in him that was pushed to the side making room for what he is now.

“My training has helped me accomplish many things,” said Dark Heart. “In fact it’s helping me accomplish something right now.”

“Really, what?” asked Luna.

Dark Heart looked at her very seriously. “Come to my courters tomorrow afternoon and I’ll tell you.”

Dark Heart’s dream began to go black and Luna felt herself being pulled out of his dream. Luna woke up and found that she had collapsed on the balcony. She stared down at where Dark Heart’s room was for some time wondering what type of training was had undergone in the mountains and more importantly why did he want to tell her? The night past and the sun began to rise in the distance, it’s rays hitting the forest and casting its light over Ponyville and Canterlot. Luna had already headed back inside with the rest of the night shift before her big sister Celestia, raised the sun. While she was in her room, Luna was hit with a strange feeling about Dark Heart’s dream. She had only met him once and he didn’t strike her as the type of unicorn who would openly invite someone to his personal business. Something was missing and she was going to get to bottom of it.

"Excuse me fellow guard?” said Luna trotting over to a Pegaguard who was just getting ready to head out.

“Yes your highness what is it?” he asked standing in attention.

“Is there anything about Dark Heart you could tell me?”

“Oh, him. Well, lets see… He doesn’t like to go into too much detail about where he came from. Usually he says that he came from the mountains in the north and was training there before coming here. At first he was kind of bitter toward the rest of the guards, but you know, in spite of the whole tuff guy act he puts on, most of us can tell he’s starting to lighten up.”

“Would he come across as somepony who would ask for a quick word?”

At this question, the guard snickered before replying; “Ask? I think he would probably just go ahead and say what was on his mind.”

Luna stared at the guard. If what he’s saying was true then the Dark Heart she was talking with last night wasn’t the real one. If that was the case then who was it? Could he have an identical twin brother? Something told her that wasn’t the case. Luna thanked the guard for his time and galloped off. There was just one more pony that she to consult before continuing on with her investigation.

“Sister can we have a word with you?” Luna asked to Celestia in the throne room.

“What about?” Celestia asked back.

“Its about the new unicorn who joined the royal guard. What do we know about him? I mean, he shows up out of the blue and we invite him into the city without questioning?” Replied Luna.

“What happened? Did you two get off on the wrong hoof?”

“No, or not yet at least,” when Celestia raised an eyebrow skeptically Luna spoke up. “Its just strange. I felt a strange feeling last night when his dreams caught my attention.”

When Luna had finished telling her sister about the strange feeling she had about Dark Heart and the with the information the guard had just told her not fitting the attitude of the Dark Heart in the dream, Celestia’s calm manner became serious and thoughtful.

“Thank you for telling me this Luna,” she said finally. “Does anypony else know about this?”

“No, just you, me, and possibly Dark Heart.”

“Very well, I want you to go to his courters as you promised. If the Dark Heart you saw in the dream was the real one then we must know what his intensions are.”

Luna left the throne room wondering how she should ask Dark Heart once she was in his living quarters. A direct approach felt wrong. Perhaps she should start with small questions and go from there. When Luna was outside she took her time heading toward Dark Heart’s home so that she could have a plan of action prepared. Luna knocked on the door, but no one answered.

“That’s a first,” Luna thought to herself as she tried to open the door, but it was locked. “Usually everypony leaves their doors unlocked.”

Using her magic she unlocked the door and knocked once more just incase.

“Dark Heart, are you there? You said we should meet today so… Here I am.”

No answer. Luna frowned and gently pushed the door open. From what she could see Dark Heart’s home looed normal. The bed stood empty with the cover pulled back and the cupboard was closed. She let herself in and allowed the door to close behind her. Now that she was inside it was best to have a look around. A small circular table was pressed against the wall with a mirror on top and a crystal that lay beside it. Luna approached the mirror and looked carefully into it. Her reflection squinted back at her. She levitated the crystal and held it close. The see through object hovered in mid air as Luna tilted it slightly to see if there were any markings on it. Luna’s heart did a summersault as she turned her attention away from the crystal to look at the mirror. Could her eyes have fooled her? For a moment it looked like the mirror had responded to the crystal. Luna tilted the crystal again and the mirror remained still and lifeless. She tried pointing the tip at it and the glass started to move like ripples in a pond. The crystal’s tip fit just like a key when it made contact with the glass and Luna turned it. The glass stopped moving and remained still once she had pulled the crystal out. Luna looked around to check if anyone was around before she pursued any further. Suddenly a faint sound almost like a whisper called out to her. Luna looked back into the mirror and saw her own reflection again and standing behind her was,

“Dark Heart!” Exclaimed Luna, feeling her own heart that was racing. “I didn’t hear you come in,”

“No matter,” said Dark Heart. “I’m here now. So, as promised we shall talk.”

“What is this?” asked Luna referring to the mirror in front of them.

“A tool I use for means of… Communication,” said Dark Heart simply.

“To whom are you speaking with?”

“Oh, family mostly. I must be direct with you on this princess, what ever happened to the legend?”

”Legend?” repeated Luna.

Dark Heart nodded. “What happened to her? Nightmare Moon.”

“She is no longer a part of us, I mean me,” said Luna catching her words a little to late.

“Really? Is that what you think is it?” asked Dark Heart. “That’s funny because she doesn’t think so.”

A strong chill went down the back of the princess as she closed her eyes the moment she had glanced back at the mirror.

“Look at us Luna,” said the voice. “What’s the matter? Why won’t you look at yourself?

Luna was staring at her hooves wen she opened her eyes she shrieked when she saw that she was wearing armor and when she looked in the mirror again, a black Alicorn was staring right back at her with the same horrified expression. She was Nightmare Moon.

“No, No! This can not be!” Luna cried.

“It’s alright princess. It’s only your nature after all.” said Dark Heart.

“Tis a lie!” Protested Luna shaking her head. She gasped realizing that her voice was loud and ominous.

“There, you see? You haven’t left after all Princess of the Night,” Dark Heart said as a smile crossed his face. “Why continue living in the shadow of your sister?”

“I am not a shadow to her,” said Luna shaking from fright. “We rule Equestria together. Just the two of us.”

“You mean three,” said Dark Heart. “Is there not a third Princess? Twilight Sparkle? How long do you think it will be before your sister's precious student starts to raise the stars? You raise the moon, Celestia raises the sun and soon she will control the stars.”

“That’s fine,” said Luna. “I… I was growing tired of raising the moon and stars by myself.”

“Are you?” implied Dark Heart skeptically. “I thought ruling the night required only one princess, or is that now false too?”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear anymore,” said Nightmare Moon lowering her head.

“Just think, once the third princess of Equestria is powerful enough to bring out the night lights where will that leave you?

“Please stop!”

“Well, it probably doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t feel that bad after all… In fact you should feel right at home… On the moon.”

“Never. Never again!” Nightmare Moon said grudgingly.

“And why is that?” asked Dark Heart.

“Because… The night is mine!” Nightmare Moon spat stomping her hoof on the floor making a long crack form.

The black room covered most of Dark Heart’s body, but the part of his face that was visible showed a wide toothy smile; an unnatural evil smile. His eyes flashed red and just when he was about to say another word a voice began to call out to them, yelling the princesses name.

“Princess Luna?! Princess Luna what are you doing…. Dad stop! We don’t need her!”

“Silence!” barked the Dark Heart behind Nightmare Moon refusing to take his eyes off her.

“Don’t… Don’t look at me!” pleaded a now sobbing Nightmare Moon.

“Dad, the plan can work with out her! We already got the changelings on our side! Shouldn’t that be enough?!” said the real Dark Heart from somewhere in the darkness.

Nightmare Moon looked around frantically in search for the fake Dark Heart but all she saw was darkness. Just when she was about to try and cast her own spells a familiar voice of a mare called out to her.

“Oh, poor Luna.” it said in mocking tone. “All alone again with no one to turn to. But don’t you worry, I’ll take care of the night for you.”

The head of Twilight Sparkle appeared from the shadows smiling wickedly at her.

“No, I won’t allow it! No, no we mustn’t be tricked by it!” Nightmare Moon said looking away from the new princesses head only to be horrified by the next thing saw.

A second voice that started off small began to grow as the head of Princess Celestia took shape and began to speak with words stronger than the mightiest of spells.

“Dear sister, so blinded, so… Weak. Did you think the night would always belong to you? Now that my student is now a princess and will soon begin her training to lift the stares, I see no other use for you. You can go back to the moon for all I care.“

“No, please sister, don’t banish us! Not again!”

The heads of Nightmare Moon’s sister and Twilight began to circle, sending word after horrible word at her.

“It’s not real! It’s not real!” Nightmare Moon told her self and covered her ears with her hooves.

To her surprise, two hooves grabbed her shoulder and she looked up to see Dark Heart and his piercing red eyes staring madly at her as he spoke.

“Join us Princess, and your wish will at long last be fulfilled.”

Nightmare Moon couldn’t hold her fear back anymore. She let out a scream of terror and with her horn glowing she blasted Dark Heart back. There was the sound of glass braking, an angry yell, the two fake princesses faded away and Nightmare Moon fell to the floor.

“Princess? Princess can you hear me?!” called out a worried voice.

“No,” Nightmare Moon thought to herself. “We can’t allow you to see us like this!”

“Princess Luna it’s alright, it’s over now!”

“Dar… No, get way from us!” the princess heard herself say, but weakly.

“That wasn’t me you saw,” Dark Heart said.

The princess of the night opened her eyes and saw the real Dark Heart staring down at her. She lifted her legs up ready to see the black armor but saw that the color of her slippers were grey and knew that she was herself again. Her pupils shrank in with shock as she felt her tears still running down her face. Dark Heart looked to his side and sighed.

“Why did you have to do it?” he said to the thing he was looking at.

Luna turned her head to the place Dark Heart was focused on. The table that had once supported the mirror had been knocked over violently, its two front legs broken and the attachment hung on by a splinter. On the ground beside it was a broken mirror lying face down and the shards were scattered. Luna relaxed the side of her head on what she thought was the ground only to realize a second later that she was lying on Dark Heart’s lap. She quickly made to sit up and shook her head feeling a bit dizzy as she did so. Dark Heart readied himself to catch her if she fell again. After shaking her head that at this moment felt like it had been hit by a stampeding Minotaur she wiped her face clean of tears and looked at Dark Heart who looked back, but apologetically. Before Luna could speak she felt eyes growing heavy and legs giving way. Her vision was fading as she thought she saw tears form in the unicorn’s eyes and she sunk into darkness.

Dark Heart placed the unconscious princess in her own room after teleporting them both to the inside of the castle. He teleported out leaving her there and hoped that Princess Celestia would believe that after growing tired her sister would have forgotten about meeting his father and went to bed instead. This would be true since he had preformed a memory spell on her before he took her to the castle. Returning to his post he informed the rest of his patrol where he had gone off to explaining that he thought he heard a disturbance, but after inspection it had turned out to be just a pair of squirrels. His fellow guards laughed and teased him for his jumpy attitude. Normally he would lash out at them, even go a little pink around the ears, but he was in no mood for that this time. Dark Heart spent the rest of his guarding duties in silence.

That night when the guards of the day switched with those of the night, Dark Heart went back to his quarters and cleaned up the broken table and shattered mirror. Both were rendered completely useless now thanks to his interference and Luna’s casting. As he was taking out the trash the thought of what his father would say to him the next time they met made him feel on edge. Perhaps it was the crazed look his father wore or perhaps it had to do with his enraged red eyes that flashed at him every time he closed his eyes. Whatever the reason for the long chill that crept down his spine, something was different about Night Blade. He began to replay the evening’s event in his head trying to make sense of what had happened. Why did he interfere with the process of Nightmare Moon’s return? Why did he want no harm to come to the princess and why did he feel pain in his chest whenever he looked at his fellow guards during the rest of the day. His mission had been perfectly clear to him ever since he left eh mountains outside of the Sapphire Kingdome.

Phase one: Reach Canterlot

Phase two: Become a royal guard

Phase three: three: Earn the Princesses trust

Phase four: Await for further instructions…

Over and over Dark Heart went over the plan. The more he recited the steps the more pain it brought to him. His mind brought forth the happy expressions on his day patrol unit as they brought him under their wing. The humble words of Princess Celestia played back for him as his head lowered.

“Then I hear by dub you a Royal Guard of Canterlot! May you protect this city like many of the stallions and mares before you!”

Dark Heart began shake as a single tear dropped to ground. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice a passing carriage that went through a mud puddle splashing him in dirt. Feeling angry and confused he walked down to the city where he found himself staring at an open bar. Hoping that a drink would take his mind off of things he headed inside. The neatly dressed ponies inside stared at the newcomer. To them he might look like something the cat dragged in but he didn’t care. Dark Heart bypassed the wondering eyes and took a seat on one of the stools. Two earth ponies looked at him with the same expression that would be given to something that gave off a foul odor. The bartender came over and told Dark Heart where the restroom was, but all that came out of the muddied unicorn’s mouth was; “Cider,” The barman raised an eyebrow at the dirtied customer and insisted that Dark Heart cleaned himself up first. With perfect timing a waitress carrying a tray with a vase of water was passing by. Dark Heart’s horn glowed levitating the vase and once it was directly above his head he flipped it upside down making icy water run down his body.

“What do you know?” said Dark Heart simply. “Clean,”

His action made heads from nearby tables turn making mouths drop. The waitress had stopped in her tracks in shock. Dark Heart took that moment to place the vase back on tray.

“Despicable!” said the stallion dramatically to his left. “Barkeep, hurry up and give this hooligan his drink so he can leave!”

“My apologies,” said Dark Heart looking at the neatly dressed stallion. “Perhaps I should’ve shook the water off too,”

He made to shake his head making the stallion lean so far back in his seat that he was in danger of falling off.

“You animal!” The stallion’s companion cried.

The barman snorted sourly and retreated to get a drink ready. Brushing his mane out of his eyes Dark Heart used his magic to dry up the dirtied water leaving the ice on the floor to melt while drips fell freely from his seat. A glass was soon given to him, which he levitated with his magic and began to drink. The Cider tasted flat, but he didn’t care, he drank away and asked for another.

“We’re closing soon,” replied the barkeeper cleaning a glass.

Dark Heart knew what he really meant to say so he got up and left. Once again eyes of the every stallion and mare customer fallowed him out. The city at night was just as busy as it was during the day and he wondered if any of these ponies ever slept. He had hoped that roaming around the city would help keep his mind off things. Walking still and taking in the sights did work, however, it didn’t prevent him from bumping into an unexpected unicorn. The pedestrian dropped their bags that they were carrying and apologized thinking that they hadn’t seen him.

Dark Heart looked at the unicorn and let out a gasp.

“No, please allow me!”

Quick as a flash, Dark Heart used his magic to levitate the fallen bags trying not to sweat as he stood at attention and saluted the white unicorn.

“Captain Armor, my humblest apologies! I didn’t see you sir!” Dark Heart said clearly.

“That’s quit alright,” said Shining Armor making his horn glow again as he tried to take the bags back.

“I insist that you let me carry these for you!” said Dark Heart still in a position of attention.

“There’s really no need for that,” said Shining Armor, but when his new guard refused to hand back the bags, he felt that there was no way he was going to talk him out of it and let him follow in his wake. “So, uh… Dark Heart is it?”

“Yes sir,” said Dark Heart firmly.

“Right, what brings you to the city tonight?”

“Just felt like sight seeing,” replied Dark Heart.

“Oh, well I would give you some pointers on where to go, but something tells me you’ve already found a hot spot.” Shining Armor said with a smile.

Dark Heart stared curiously at his captain until finally the realization hit him. His body was still wet from the water back at the bar. He flushed in embarrassment and cursed angrily under his breath. His captain led him all the way back to the castle where he thanked his new recruit and took his bags back. Once his captain disappeared from sight Dark Heart thought that he should turn in for the night. The night sky seemed darker than ever on his way back. Looking up at the sky he saw that the stars and moon had been covered by a blanket of grey clouds. His gaze turned to the north tower.

“I wonder if she’s up there?” he thought to himself.

Stepping back inside his room he sighed and laid on his bed slowly falling asleep. Inside the castle, up the stairs and down the hall Princess Celestia was awoken by a loud swooshing sound. A letter had appeared above her head bouncing off and landed on the floor.

“What in the wide world of Equestia could this be about?” she thought to herself as she yawned. Using her magic, she levitated the letter untying it and began to read.

“Dear Princess Celestia, My brother and I thought that we all could use something to lift our spirits during these dark times. So you along with your sister are invited to a ball being hosted here at the Sapphire Kingdome the day after tomorrow. It would be such an honor to finally meet you two."

Signed: King Sullivan's sister, Safire