Shattered Harmony

III

   Twilight had hardly slept the night before, after learning the secret of the gyre her thoughts raced at the majesty of what she had come to know. She had moved the moon in the sky; a monumental feat that would stay with her forever. She couldn’t think of anything except the next time she could go to the gyre, would it be sunrise, or sunset? Would she assist the sun in waking the world below with its radiance, or allow it time to rest with the moon’s soft light? That night she had decided to wake up in time to return to the gyre when Celestia would return to raise the sun, so she’d forced herself asleep and wound the gears on her clock to set an alarm. When the time had arrived Twilight practically sprang from her bed fully awake with anticipation, hardly needing her clock to alert her to the time. Standing beside her bed, she closed her eyes and went to the steps as she had done the night before, and in mere moments the gyre began to take shape in her mind once again, she felt the movement of the world beneath her, and she taken once again to that sequestered place. Upon arriving however, it was not Celestia present, rather it was Luna.

   “Princess Luna?” questioned Twilight?

   “Hello Twilight Sparkle, our sister had informed us of your learning of the gyre’s secret. We were most pleased to learn of these events.” Luna’s voice was still the same dignified and precise tone she’d always had, and she never did get away from the old royal voice entirely. While her volume was never blaring, the royal “we” had never left. “We suppose that the confusion in your voice means that you were expecting our sister?”

   “Well, uhm… yes.” said Twilight trying not to offend Luna.

   “Art thou disappointed to find us here in her place?”

   “No no no, not disappointed, just.” Twilight panicked slightly, she needed to act quickly to avoid an awkward exit.

   “Wondering why it is we are raising the sun?” Luna asked Twilight.

   “Exactly,” Twilight relaxed, “I thought you only moved the moon, and she only moved the sun.” Twilight smiled and approached Luna at the gyre.

   “Either one of us can move either body within the gyre Twilight Sparkle, there is not one place for each of us that we are unable to deviate from. We simply chose to divide the duties between one another as two trips to the gyre each day are nothing if not exhausting. Besides Twilight Sparkle, you were able to come here and advance the position of the moon last night were you not?”

   “I guess that’s right.”

   “You were also able to, despite your efforts to correct it, set it too far back and delay the sunrise by forty-five minutes, an error we have been correcting slowly over the last three hours to avoid noticeable shifts in the bodies from ground.” Luna looked down to Twilight with unamused eyes and a playful grin.

   “Sorry about that princess.” Twilight laughed awkwardly, “It was my first time you know.”

   “We are not angry Twilight Sparkle; we merely feign annoyance at this trivial matter.” Luna smiled again to Twilight to reassure her that she was not angry.

   “So if both of you can access the gyre, why couldn’t Celestia just move the moon herself those years ago when you… you know, became Nightmare Moon.” Twilight felt incredibly uncomfortable asking Luna anything about her transition into Nightmare Moon.

   “Ah yes, excellent question Twilight Sparkle.” Luna turned to Twilight and could see her distress, “You need not be unsettled by asking us such questions. We have come to terms with what we have done and though it was shameful, we cannot change it, but as per your question. When we became Nightmare Moon we did so by beckoning with powers beyond our reckoning. The nightmare’s I had trapped on the dark side of the moon, by tapping into the nightmare energies we could channel darkness itself as a power source. Part of our bargain with those powers was to seal the gyre from our sister so as the night would never end over Equestria. That morning when Celestia rose to bring the sun she tried to enter the gyre only to be assailed by nightmare energies that clouded her mind and disabled her from reaching the level of concentration needed to attain attunement. In effect, I had cursed the gyre. In order for me to keep this barrier sustained I needed to be in proximity to Celestia to act as a focus for the nightmare energies to channel through and concentrate to the needed levels to block our sister from gaining access to the gyre, and ultimately destroy her.” Luna stopped for a moment and casually adjusted the sun and moon, “We regret attempting that those centuries ago, but we can at least say that our plan was sound. We only did not account for the elements being as strong when used by one however, and thus our fate was sealed, and we spent a thousand years amongst the nightmares on the surface of the moon. Do you have any questions Twilight Sparkle?” Luna faced Twilight looking dignified as ever, not a hint of shame in her voice.

   “No princess, you’ve pretty much covered everything.” Twilight stood in front of Luna for a brief moment before inquiring about the time.

   “It is sunrise Twilight Sparkle, we should be going, and we must be ready for the charity ball today, we’ve only a few hours before the event begins.” Luna turned to the model of the gyre and placed her hoof on the world in the middle. She was instantaneously gone, as if she was never there to begin with. Twilight followed suit and similarly returned to her room in the castle where she began the process of preparing herself for the charity ball.

***

   The snows had picked up once again in Canterlot, and the vision from the Tower’s windows was growing increasingly blurred. Twilight could not see down to the streets below her keep, and Spike was too busy listening to Twilight’s recollections to care when she stopped suddenly. Looking down while he tried to think.

   “Spike?” she asked, “Did you see what Luna did that day it happened?”

   “I don’t believe I did, I saw her fly up towards the tower, you on her tail, but I never knew what she did.” replied Spike.

   “I’ve always remembered it, her words, her movements, her face, everything. I had never seen a pony in true fear until that day, even just thinking about it makes my blood run cold to this day.” Back to her memories, Twilight began once again.

***

   Twilight had finished preparing and had awoken Spike to start their day. “So how do I look?” asked Twilight. Her dress was very similar to her gala dress with a dark blue foreground trimmed by a periwinkle trim. There were no stars present on the dress, rather a simple lace pattern on the interior of the trim that went up a short ways before stopping. Other than the omission of the stars it bore stark similarities with much the same overall design. Wearing such a similar outfit would be quite the faux pa in many ponies’ minds, but Twilight was a no pony when she’d first worn her gala dress, so she saw no offense in wearing something that held such likeness.

   “You look great, I’m sure you’ll get plenty of compliments.” Spike was always earnest in his appraisals; he could, however, be a little too blunt at times. But Twilight would rather she hear it from Spike than have it said behind her back.

   “You don’t look too bad yourself there Spike. I’m assuming you had Rarity make you that tux?”

   “Well, she more of offered it when you became princess. She said I should not be in such company with nothing on. I didn’t get her point though, I mean, I was always like this in Ponyville.” Spike’s little tux had to be custom made for him, and Rarity took many measurements to ensure it would fit him perfectly. It even accommodated the spines that protruded from his back, simply fitting around the base of them.

   “We’ll have to be sure to thank her for her work the next time we meet; you look quite dapper this morning. We should probably get going then, wouldn’t want to be late to one of our first charity ball would we?”

   “Sure wouldn’t Twilight.” The pair headed out into the hall and proceeded towards the castle gardens. The charity ball was being held in the banquet hall and adjacent garden. The guests were to be gathered in the courtyard before a short commemorative speech by Celestia, after which the guests would be let into the banquet hall and the ball would begin in earnest. “So what’s the plan for the ball Twilight?”

   “Well, I imagine after the princess is done with her speech I’ll likely try to stay close to her, I’d rather not be surrounded by a bunch of posh ponies who seek to make pointless banter for the sake of raising their social status. If I’m with Celestia, she can help me disperse them should they grow too many. You know how they get around royalty.”

   “Geeze Twilight you make them sound like a horde of zombies.” remarked Spike.

   “For all intents and purposes they are Spike. They swarm around big juicy targets like a princess or a diplomat just so they can be seen talking to them. They basically feed off reputation.”

   “Ahhhh,” Spike moaned, wobbling with his steps and holding his arms up in front of him, “Popularity… Social status… Feed me reputation.” Spike’s poor zombie imitation was a cheap laugh the both of them shared for a little bit on their way to the garden. They went unabated for the rest of their trek through the castle passageways, winding staircases, and massive halls, and arrived at the castle garden in a timely manner. The garden was packed full of posh, well dressed ponies and to each side of the garden were two long tables loaded with hors d'oeuvres  to sate any hungers until the ball began in earnest. Up near the entrance to the banquet hall was a large stage where Celestia and Luna were talking to the headmistress of the foal’s home the ball was benefitting beneath a large banner that read “40th Annual Canterlot Foal’s Home Charity Ball”.

   “Hang out down here by the stairs Spike, I’ll meet you back down here when the ball begins and we’ll go in together.”

   “Sounds good to me.” Spike replied staying at the bottom of the steps while Twilight ascended to stand next to the other princesses. Upon reaching them Twilight was greeted by Celestia and introduced to the headmistress.

   “Ah Twilight, good morning, I would like you to meet Merriweather, the headmistress of the Canterlot Foal’s Home.” Twilight extended a hoof out to the pony opposite her in the group.

   “So delighted to finally meet you princess, princess Celestia speaks quite highly of you.” Merriweather proclaimed.

   “The pleasure is all mine ma’am, you do great things here in Canterlot, and I’m quite excited to help you further your efforts.” Twilight and Merriweather shook hooves and shared a short chat until the bell tolled eight signaling the start time for the event. All of the ponies gathered more compactly in front of the stage, and the princesses along with the head mistress took their allotted positions upon it. The three princesses, Celestia in the middle with Twilight on her right and Luna on her left, stood in the back and Merriweather stood in the foreground to address the crowd.

   “Fillies and gentlecolts, I would like to welcome you all today to the fortieth annual Canterlot Foal’s Home charity ball.” A brief round of stomping hooves acknowledged her statement. “I am thankful for each of your contributions this day, and would like to encourage you to give kindly. While the foal’s home hasn’t fallen on hard times in many years it is your continued support that has assured that, and with your continued support we can keep running smoothly for many years to come. Now without further ado I present to you princess Celestia.” Merriweather relented the front of the stage to her princess as Celestia approached to the sound of stomping hooves.

   “Good morning everyone, I hope this day has found you well.” The crowd shuffled with smiles and brief remarks to one another before returning their attention to the princess. “It has been on this day for the past forty years that I have called the citizens of Canterlot to ask for their aid in making sure that the orphaned foals of Canterlot have had a place to ca-“ A loud thud originating from Twilight’s right stopped the princess mid-sentence. Looking over Twilight saw a crossbow bolt buried deep into the wooden pole that made held up the large banner above their heads.

   Turning back to Celestia Twilight saw her looking back inquisitively, wondering what it was that had made the noise. Before Celestia made the realization of the danger she was in, a second bolt flying from the tower far to the left at the back of the garden struck Celestia in the neck and passed through, planting itself in the stage below followed by a shower of blood that covered the ground beneath her and drizzled Twilight with crimson specks. Before anyone even had time to scream a third bolt buried itself in Celestia’s right shoulder and broke out the other side of her chest, sticking out with a spray of blood not unlike the last, sending her to her knees. Merriweather and the rest of the crowd let out blood curdling screams and began to flee the area. The guards began their run toward the princess but could not reach her before the second volley began.

   The first bolt came from the same direction the as the last barrage, it found it’s mark in the chest of the guard running up the stairs to Twilight’s right, stopping him at the top of the stairs where he began bleeding profusely. The second bolt was targeted at Celestia yet again, where it hit her left flank and buried itself in her hip. Before the third bolt could find its mark the guard from the opposite side of the stage had made it up the stairs and threw himself atop the princess. The third bolt came down striking him in the side, penetrating his armor, but only going in a short ways before stopping. Twilight stood in horror for what seemed like hours watching Celestia cough blood as she locked eyes with Twilight, her wounds bleed profusely, and Twilight felt completely useless.

   Taking a moment she looked towards the two towers at the far end of the gardens. Beneath them panicked ponies scrambled for cover from bolts that were not targeted at them. Then the third volley came. The first bolt struck at Twilight’s feet, jolting her to evasive action. The second bolt came in and nailed Twilight’s dress train to the stage, but her momentum was enough to rip the fabric freeing her. The third bolt she expected did not come; instead she looked in the direction of left tower and saw Luna, flying at full speed towards it.

   Without thinking she flew off after Luna thinking she might have seen something. The last thing she did before taking off was look back down at Celestia beneath the guard. Her face was pained and her eyes were full of worry, not for herself, but for Twilight and her sister. Celestia lay in a pool of blood, coughing up more with each breath; things looked incredibly bleak for her. Frantically taking off from the stage Twilight tried with all she had to carry herself to Luna. Luna had just reached the tower and raced inside from the balcony she landed on. As Twilight flew through air she heard the whistling of a single bolt cut the air next to her, she thanked her lucky stars as she reached the tower to find Luna standing above two guards who had detained a pony pegasus mare and were holding her to the ground.

   “Hold him here until we get back, do NOT let him escape or we shall throw the both of you from the tower spire!” Luna screamed at them with incredible volume and rage. Shortly after barking her orders she set out onto the wall between the tower and the banquet hall. Following her out Twilight could scarcely keep up with Luna as she bolted.

   Exiting onto the Wall Twilight could see Luna already a third of the way across. At the end of the wall where it went into yet another tower that cornered the courtyard two ponies appeared in the doorway, both with crossbows trained at Luna. One fired first and his bolt was caught in flight by Luna’s magic that fired at back at them nailing the second pony in the leg, which after receiving a bolt to the thigh fired his crossbow into the sky where it slammed into the tower across the wall and shattered harmlessly. Magic could be seen emanating from the crossbow of the first assassin and a lever rose up from the front of the crossbow as he took off from the door frame.

   The wounded archer tried reloading his weapon, but could not complete the task before Luna was upon him. Luna leapt toward the assailant, planting her hoof against his temple with a thunderous blow as Twilight had finally managed to catch up to her, knocking him out cold. Twilight looked down the hallway leading into the banquet hall to locate the next assailant, no sooner did she turn did Twilight see him. He stood on his hind hooves, and trained his crossbow on Luna. Twilight saw him fire a bolt in Luna’s direction as she turned to face him herself.

   The bolt had come too far for Luna to stop it and it found its mark in her right eye socket, tearing out the side of her face taking her eye with it. Luna staggered, screamed a pained, angered roar and furiously glared at the assassin at the end of the hall with her lone eye. Her eyes began to glow an incredibly bright white with magic, the wounded eye was not visible beneath veil of magic Luna was currently using to restore her eyesight and small wispy tails of magic wove in and out of her wounds as she tried to suppress the pain. The blood from the damaged socket ran from her eye socket and the exit wound on the side of her face. It was almost as if she was crying blood in her rage. Twilight stood feet away from her in sheer horror.

   “You DARE strike your princess worm!” Her voice boomed with a terrifying, unnatural echo. “We will tear you limb from limb!” Luna set off down the hall at great speed, followed by Twilight in a vain attempt to keep up with her. The assassin barely made it four steps before Luna had hauled him up with her magic. Not giving him a moment to realize the situation he was in, Luna threw him across the banquet hall. Twilight reached the door to the banquet hall in time to see him crash into opposite wall followed closely by Luna. “You have only begun to suffer whelp!” boomed a terrifying Luna before picking him up again and slamming him into the roof, “You DARE come to Canterlot!” Luna caught him and slammed him into the floor, “You DARE attack my sister!” Luna picked up the bolts from his quiver and began firing them at him with extreme force, nailing him to the tile floor by his legs. “You DARE attack US with your archaic weaponry!” Luna ripped him from the floor, tearing the bolts through his limbs, he screamed in agony. Spraying blood in a trail the entire time he flew. Luna lobbed him through the windows into the courtyard on the other side of the banquet hall from where Celestia lied bleeding upon the stage.

   She followed him out planting her right front hoof in his chest with force. “And you DARE think you could escape ME! I surely hope you hate pain unicorn, because it’s about to become all that’s left of your world.” Luna stared down at him with her glowing eyes in a hateful glare, blood from her wound dripping onto the assassin’s face. Twilight came alongside Luna as she started to finish the assassin.

   “Limb… from… limb…” she spat hatefully at the unicorn beneath her. The assassin began to scream as if intense pain, but Twilight could not see what he was screaming about, Luna was not doing anything immediately apparent to her, and then it became clear. The sickening sound of a breaking bone accompanied his screams as his horn tore free from his skull. His limbs began to extend outward and twist, creating more sickening noises as the rolled. Twilight could find nothing to say, instead she stand frozen by the grisly spectacle in front of her, unable to move. The flesh began to tear at the stallion’s front shoulder to more agonized screams, the blood running from where his horn had once been was clouding his vision.

   The stallion’s cries shifted to mercy, and tears began to mix with the blood in his eyes. With a disgusted look on her face she retracted her hoof from his chest and held him aloft in front of her with her magic. His dislocated limbs hung limply at his side, bleeding from the tears that had begun to form where they connected to his body. “Mercy?... MERCY? Dost our ears defy us Twilight Sparkle?” Luna turned to Twilight, her face burned into Twilight’s memory forever. Luna expression was as if she’d suddenly been taken aback, as if she truly could not believe the assassin had asked her for mercy. Her glowing eyes were truly terrifying as they stared into Twilight’s soul, the blood from her wound kept flowing, dripping down the side of her face and from her eye. Twilight was never more scared in her life than she was of Princess Luna in that moment. “Well Twilight Sparkle?” Luna questioned impatiently, her voice still emitting booming, angered echoes. “Dost this whelp just request mercy from us?!”

   “I- I, I uhm… I gue-” The words stumbled from Twilight’s mouth like a child’s first clumsy words. The stallion in Luna’s grasp sobbed uncontrollably, he looked to Twilight as if she might offer him some form of salvation, and Twilight was confused as to whether or not she would allow him that even if she could. Even after what had just transpired, she was unsure that any pony deserved what Luna was going to do to him.

   “YES OR NO TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Luna impatiently demanded of her, bringing Twilight to tears.

   “Yes,” she started sobbing, “Yes, he asked for mercy.” Twilight was in fear even though her life was no longer in danger at the hands of assassins.

   “Mercy… ha! What type of coward art thou? Where was my sister’s mercy?!” Luna lobbed him into the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, shattering the tiered fountain and sending him into the waters. Walking over she picked him up once again with her magic and held him aloft for a moment. “You would not be showing me mercy were the tables turned.” The assassin pleaded, and lied saying that he would of showed her mercy. “Do not sully thyself further you coward!” Luna once again threw the unicorn through the air, and brought him down with enough force to crack a stepping stone in the courtyard flower bed. “You will receive no mercy from us worm! You will DIE here, but not before we have deemed thine suffering sufficient!” The cries of the assassin grew more gargles and frantic with each toss, he was scared to die, even if it meant suffering through more of the princess’ torturous ravage of his body, he would cling to life to the last.

   “Plee-, mersss, jut sto-” his cries fell on spiteful ears.

   “We find it strange that of all professions a coward such as thyself would choose to be an assassin. If we were thou we would try to save as much of our shattered dignity and die with a little grace, but instead thou insists on CRYING LIKE A FOAL!” Luna once again lifted the stallion into the air and held him in front of her. “LOOK INTO MY EYE WORM!” Luna’s eyes stopped glowing, revealing her torn eyelid closed around the wounded eye.

   Her remaining eye had changed from what it was however, her remaining eye was reptilian in shape, just like it was when she assumed the form of nightmare moon. The pupil dilated to abnormally large and a dark purple magic swam over the head of the unicorn in her grasp, whose screams of pain were now those of absolute horror. Gone were the sobbing pleas for mercy and the pained groans, they had been replaced by the horrified, high pitch screams of fear that gargled and popped from the mucus and blood mixed in his throat. “KNOW FEAR WHELP! WE WANT YOU TO KNOW THE VOID OF THE UNENDING NIGHTMARE BEFORE WE END YOU! SCREAM LOUDER, IT ONLY MAKES IT WORSE!” Luna began laughing uncontrollably, her voice had changed, and she sounded exactly like nightmare moon.

   Twilight’s tears now soaked her bloodstained dress, and she was once again frozen as she huddled into a ball on the ground trying to cover her eyes, but finding herself unable to move to shelter her vision. Luna’s maniacal laughing was deafeningly loud, drowning out the horrified screams of her victim. Luna then tossed him back into the fountain, continuing her laugh. As she approached the fountain she brought her laughter under control and took up a new mocking demeanor, and with a blink her eyes returned to their glowing. “We must admit coward, thine death has proved most entertaining to us. It’s a great shame that it won’t bring Celestia back!” Twilight shuddered at what Luna had said, “If only it could, we would assume she would be perfectly fine with the amount of work we’ve put into you.” Luna’s tone shifted suddenly to somber and angry, “But she is gone now, and we will mourn her later. For now we will exact our momentary vengeance out of you.” Luna plucked the stallion from the waters before he could drown and dropped him onto the ground at her feet.

   Placing her hoof on his neck she pressed down and began casting once again. The sinewy noises of cracking bone once again reverberated from his body, and the red lines around his hips and shoulders began to grow. Twisting them further, the stallion’s leg began to tear free of his body where Luna simply cast them aside as they tore, her hoof still firmly planted on the assassin’s neck. His pupils began to bulge, and his eyes raced for something he couldn’t find as the last vestiges of life left his body as his air ran out. All the while Twilight sat huddled up crying at everything that had transpired. See what was happening and hearing what Luna had said had shocked Twilight near to breaking. The bloody stump of a stallion finally went limp beneath Luna’s hoof and she held her hoof in place for a minute longer, all the while staring hatefully into his dead eyes, hers still glowing.

   After a while longer she relented, she closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath. Opening them again Twilight could see they were no longer glowing, and the one remaining had returned to normal, no longer did it bear resemblance to the reptilian eyes of nightmare moon. Luna turned to Twilight from where she stood and spoke softly. “We are sorry Twilight Sparkle. Thou never should have had to of seen this. We never should have done what we did to you here. We should not have dragged you down with our self as we descended once again into the dark.” Luna’s words were spoken with great shame in her voice. “Our sister has gone to the goddess Twilight Sparkle, we felt it when we were running along the wall. We could not control our self, and for that we are sorry. But now we must restore order Twilight Sparkle.” Luna approached Twilight, “We must go to the citizens and let them know that the threat has been eliminated, at least for now. We must let them know what has transpired.” Luna extended a hoof to Twilight with a sorrowful look on her face. Even after losing the only family Luna had left in the world, she still kept her royal composure. Her one remaining eye revealed enormous emotional pain that the loss of an eye paled in comparison to. “Come Twilight Sparkle, let us go.”

***

   “That was the beginning. The day the machine set in motion.” Twilight spoke to Spike; he had been completely silent during Twilight’s retelling of Luna’s wrath. Even though he had only just now heard of it, Twilight recounted the tale with enough detail to freeze his blood. He drew many similarities from Twilight’s tale and his own, for it was the fear of Twilight that had driven him away those centuries ago.

   “That was bone-chilling.” remarked Spike.

   “How do you think it was to be there? Especially just after witnessing the assassination, I was mortified, I didn’t sleep for days.”

   “If I recall it wasn’t too long after that that the first news of conspiracy began coming in.”

   “A day… they really capitalized on momentum, they allowed a day for the news to spread and then they made their move. Celestia wasn’t even buried yet and they were already moving against us.” A tear almost made it to Twilight’s eye, but she’d long ago lost the capacity to cry.

   “They always did make the most of their momentum… the bastards.” A ball of ancient rage worked a knot in Spike’s gut as he sat there in memory. He fought it back knowing that there was no outlet for it. “At least they got what was coming to them.”

   “At least.” The pair sat in quiet contemplation before moving on.