The rise of darkness, and the cowering unicorn.
Author's Note
The story intro is a bit different from the show, for the most part Episode 1 happened. With the exception of Twilights OCD with the Mare in the moon, and her going to Ponyville. Which yeah, is kinda most of the episode, but work with me here. We're going somewhere different.
The rise of darkness, and the cowering unicorn.
So it began like any other average normal day in the land of Equestria, the sun was rising, shining brightly as Princess Celestia brought forth the day for all the little ponies to enjoy. But today wasn't an average normal day like all the rest, for it was the day before the Summer Sun Celebration, where Princess Celestia would go to Ponyville and raise the sun on that most special day of the year. Whilst the day went on, a purple unicorn went about her day as well, doing things that all little purple bookworm unicorns did; read, learn, go places. She did all that in her excitement of knowing that when she got back home she'd be able to read and learn more, something she was always happy to do.
She eventually returned home, to find her best friend a small purple dragon awaiting for her there. Well, more like she burst the door open and ran through and messed up a gift he had wrapped for a pony's party, but that is another story altogether. They bantered a bit before the dragon burped and a scroll appeared and landed, she used her magic to unravel it and bring it up and read it. Usually she was happy to get letters from her teacher, her princess, but today’s was different. Her teacher wanted her to away, to visit a small town called Ponyville in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration. She wasn't sure how to feel, on one hand she loved the celebration and the fun, but on the other hand it was a place she'd never been before and she was timid and unsure, scared almost to go there.
She didn't want to disappoint her teacher, but for some reason she just could not bring herself to do it, so she did the only thing she knew to do. She grabbed a few books with her magic and dived under her bed to hide and read. Oh sure, her little dragon friend tried his hardest to convince her to come out and go, but she was having none of that at all, she was going to stay there, read, and after tomorrow she would figure out how to apologize and make it up to Princess Celestia for abandoning her like that. Eventually the dragon as well gave up and went on his way to do his thing, cleaning and enjoying the nice peaceful day as it were.
So, there was no Twilight Sparkle at Ponyville to make sure all the food was ready and waiting, all the banners nice and shiny. No Twilight Sparkle there to make sure the festivities were good, or things were perfect for Princess Celestia's arrival and the celebration, but surely that wouldn't matter it would go as it did every year. Indeed for the most part it did, all the ponies got their parts set up, all the food from Sweet Apple Acres, from Sugar Cube Corners, it was all splendid and ready to go, all the banners and decorations and pretty things from the Carousel Boutique as well. Nothing could make it any better, short of the arrival of Princess Celestia, who was due soon, and then the wait till the right time to bring forth the new sun and let the celebrative festive time begin.
But, as all stories eventually turn out, not all is as it appears to be, not is all sunny and bright and filled with flowers and candy, and this story is no different from the rest. The start of the story is already known, a timid shy book worm purple Unicorn, a powerful Princess that raises the sun and the moon, a purple dragon that can cough up letters. But no, those aren't the heroes of the story. They perhaps play a part in the grand scheme of things, but there is so much else there to look forward too. Now, we've rambled on long enough, yes?
As the ponies of Ponyville gathered that morning in the city hall to await the princess, her speech, and the start of the Summer Sun Celebration, not a care in the world. But when the curtains were pulled back, they were met with emptiness, for nothing was there: No princess, no pony, nothing, and in the moment of shock failed to notice the shadows creeping along the walls. Those shadows soon coalesced into a shape, taking form and from it stood a large ebony Alicorn. She surveyed the ponies below her and let out hearty evil laughter. Well, that certainly got the attention of the ponies as they all turned to look, staring and gasping in sheer terror at the form that stood before them.
As the large black Alicorn looked around at the stunned audience she grinned a large toothy grin and spoke, “Tell me my little ponies, do you know who I am? Do you know of the darkness, of the tales of my return?” as she waited none of them knew, for none kept up on the legends and tales of old, which only made the Alicorn angry and she growled out, “I am NIGHTMARE MOON! The bringer of darkness, and now that I am free I shall take your sun and your princess away forever. She is now my prisoner, and her precious Sun as well. Eternal night shall reign!” She cackled more, and as all this set in the ponies below snapped and started running around in sheer tearing screaming trying to escape to get away.
Screaming and running in terror is surprisingly easy and simple for a bunch of normal ponies, with no aspiration of fame, being a hero or doing anything that could possibly cause untold pain and horrors. But they were good at it, many diving under tables, some behind chairs, even others behind curtains hoping they wouldn't be seen, the thoughts running through most of them were basically the same of not wanting to be hurt, maimed, killed, eaten, or whatever else evil things might spring from this black terror before them.
This only made Nightmare Moon very happy. She zapped a few of them, before flapping her wings and lifting off, “I shall return soon, and when I do I expect the honor I deserve or I will not hesitate to make an example of you!” With that she shot a hole through the roof and flew off towards the Everfree Forest, off to her castle. Whether she would make do on her promise to come back, to punish them, or simple enjoy knowing they were suffering... Who's to say? No one was there to ask her, or perhaps too afraid to ask her if they were.
Meanwhile in Canterlot, things were not going so great either, though the guards had no idea what was happening. The fact the sun was not up yet caused them a whole lot of worry. They began mobilizing for fear that there could be an attack, or that they would be called to do something. It was a bit of a mad rush at first as guards running around getting to and fro to spots to defend and running orders around while their officers worked to figure out the problems. In the midst was Captain Shining Armor of the Equestrian Royal Guard, barking orders and trying his best to organize things without a princess there to oversee anything.
But not all the guards where where there though; some still asleep, some still waking up, some still lost in confusion. But that was to be expected, as it’s not something that normally comes up or happens. Hell in the peaceful kingdom, the guards were barely ever needed and more simply for show and possibly helping others doing menial tasks than anything else that might actually be needed. But when they were needed, they were a force to be reckoned with, deadly, precise, and able to take on any force they could meet. Or so they believed.
In one particular bunk room that housed a dozen guards, they were still coming to terms with the emergency. Many of them were still asleep, or just coming out of sleep still groggy and clueless on what was going on. One of them a pegasus pony was on his bunk, sitting up but clutching his head in pain, his face contorted in unmentionable agony as some kind of headache tore through him, making him suffer for some unknown reason. He at the moment didn't care about anything, other than the splitting insanity going on between his ears and he was going to do anything to get rid of it.
But he knew of no way to get rid of it, no medication he could get, no sleep, nothing he could try at the moment in this situation, all he could do was keep his eyes closed and suffer and rub his temples. But then something happened, he wasn't sure what but... it was as if his mind suddenly cleared, as if his pain was gone and he opened his eyes, looking out at the other ponies in the room, his guard mates, his friends... and it just made sense. He hopped off his bunk, looked around and then grinned, but not the kind of grin a normal glad pony would have, but one that was somehow changed… somehow different. Then, it began.
Throughout the rest of Equestria, ponies displayed various concerns, some completely freaking out, some just not caring, still others claiming it was the end of days. Everywhere, though, it was some kind of disaster. Without the sun, ponies could do nothing but hope and pray it would come back and the world would be as it was, because it generally didn't happen that the sun just never came back without some kind of official word to explain something about it. As for a certain purple unicorn, Twilight didn't notice the disaster happening all around her, as she was wrapped up in her book. That mistake would suddenly -- and harshly -- be shown for what it was.
Behind Equestria, the rest of the world, some of the creatures cared little, while others looked on wondering of what was going on. Yet other, more sinister creatures began to crawl, slither and shuffle from the darkness in which they hide. They saw that the entire world was now shadows, and they knew that they could begin their missions, their plots, their advances without being noticed and without fear of others. The changelings especially took note. Their Queen saw a power struggle and she decided that... yes, this was the perfect time to begin to put in motions her plans to conquer Equestria and enslave those ponies.
And she shall call, and they shall answer.
It had been a few hours since all the insanity, the fear, and the horror of the lack of day began, and yet it was still as fresh as when it began. In many places, ponies still feared, still hid and cowered, still huddled under blankets and in basements hoping it would all go away and they would open their eyes and things would be normal. No one, at least those not in Ponyville, knew what was really going on, and so had no clue if this horror would end or was simply some kind of test for something. All anypony could do was hope it would end soon, they could go on with their lives and families, and things would be as they were, happy and normal.
“Why... noo... don’t! What are you…” The voice let out a loud pained grunt as it was silenced with a sickening wet sound and was no more. From a few feet away another pony stared on, in terror. “What.. are you doing?! We are brothers, comrades. We trained together, fought together, we were a unit!” seconds after the words left his mouth, a hoof smashed into his jaw, blood escaping from the lips and nose of the pony. As the guard pony fell to the ground, murdered by his one-time friend and colleague, the last words that he would ever hear anypony utter echoed between his ears, “She calls…” The traitor stood in the room, blood splattered everywhere, many dead guards lying across the room. He stood there a moment, looked around, and blinked… Then he turned and walked out as if nothing happened, as if he did not just end the life of his brothers.
Out in the courtyard, Shining Armor and a few of his officers were going over further plans, making sure ponies were they should be, doing what should and what needed to be done. None of them were expecting anything at the moment to happen, though still on guard to ensure it didn’t, but what happened next still surprised them all. Out of a side door a bloodied pegasus guard emerged, but made no notice of stopping or caring that his commanders were there in front of him. Though he noticed, turning to look at the guard. “Guard, halt! What happened to you? What’s going on, why are you covered in blood? Is there an attack going on? Answer!”
The pegasus pony paused a moment, before he looked their way. For a moment the entirety of his eyes flashed a red color and out came the words, “She calls us,” before he turned his head back and continued.
Having no clue what that was about, the commanders stood there stunned for a moment before Shining yelled out to capture that pony and find out what was going on. Several guards charged, and in the blink of an eye, two of them were down - not dead, but bloodied and unable to get up. Shining Armor just stood there for a brief moment, unsure of what to make of that, having never seen a guard defeated so quickly before. The bloodied pegasus picked up full speed shouting to the air ahead of himself, “She calls, she beckons. You will not stop us!” Having said that, he then launched himself into the air, using the full speed of his wings to take off hard and fast, leaving the guards chasing him along the ground as they had no wings to pursue him with. The few unicorns around were still not sure what to make of it. As such, the bloody pony flew off at tremendous speeds towards the Everfree Forest, the ponies left behind unsure of what had just happened or what was going on, or what the purpose and target of that bloodied pony were.
After a few moments of watching the pegasus fly off, Shining barked a few orders not to follow but to get back to work and help the injured. Whatever that /thing/ was would have to be dealt with later; at the moment it was far more important to keep things in Canterlot running smoothly and keep the ponies feeling safe and secure before things went completely nuts and they had rioting or mob revolts on their hooves. Neither would be good, and scared ponies were likely to do many things, especially in this darkness where surely unsavory ponies might be up to no good, trying to take advantage of the situation.
Meanwhile back in Ponyville, Mayor Mare was busy trying her best to keep the ponies from outright freaking out, but this was Ponyville and that was not the easiest task to do, really. Lots of the ponies had already boarded up their houses, others were hiding in basements, some were even outside trying to make defenses against what ever might come, such as barricades, walls, something that could be used to defend the town. One such pony, an orange mare with apples for her mark and a cowboy hat, was doing exactly that with the help of her larger brother, trying to keep the buildings and the ponies inside them safe. The orange pony felt that, since she and her brother where the strongest, that they should be in charge of ensuring the town was defended.
Some other ponies were trying to do things in their own way to help ponies not be so afraid, or to feel more relaxed in the situation at hand. A pink happy pony was making sweets and assorted items and helping others to smile, while a blue pegasus was patrolling the skies back and forth making sure no scary monsters or things attempted to sneak up on them and cause problems. A white unicorn was making outfits for them all, ones that would help them fit into the darkness to hide from scary things, but also to look really nice and fashionable should things get that much better, and least of all a yellow pegasus with some animal friends was helping the little foals to not be so afraid, by providing cuddle buddies and singing songs to keep them smiling and focused away from the unknowns.
None of the ponies in Ponyville had a clue what was in store for them, but then again none of them would probably have believed it if they did know, for the realization of what could happen was so far from their thoughts it would have been simply laughable. Over Ponyville, far above where the blue pegasus was watching, a lone blood-splattered pegasus flew fast and hard, doing his best to avoid the town, to avoid any others as he flew, intent on his destination and to not be spotted lest they should attempt to stop him, or require him to commit acts that he was not sure he was ready to perform yet. Soon, the forest came into view. He didn’t know why, but it called and beckoned him towards it. Not long after entering the forest, he saw the outline of the deserted castle, and it lured him as if with a siren’s call, and he landed in the courtyard of the crumbling mess of what was once a proud, beautiful palace. He began his walk to the doors, scanning around constantly, unsure of what could happen; while he was drawn there he knew not what was there, or the dangers that could be present. He reached the grand palace doors, that reached up over a dozen ponies tall and each door had an alicorn pony facing the center. He took in a breath an then opened them slowly, the loud creak tearing through his skull like a thousand voices screaming into his ears. As he stepped in, he looked forward and saw the throne… saw the blackness there, the shadow, the radiance, the siren herself.
Nightmare Moon was sitting back in her throne in a semi-lounged state pondering what to do next. To simply crush them would be no fun; she needed to make them fear, make them understand that her rule was supreme and she was not to be denied it. Moments later she heard the doors opening, and she was woken from her pondering. Glancing in that direction, she saw a blood-smeared pegasus walking slowly towards her, and she grinned. She reached out with her magic and ensnared him, ripping him from the ground and yanking him towards her, to hover mere meters in front of her, eyeing him over. “And just what do we have here? Who would dare to intrude upon my home, alone, in the dark, with nary a weapon? Speak, pitiful creature!”
The stallion looked upon her for a moment before casting his eyes down; he was not worthy or esteemed enough to gaze upon her eyes yet, but as he began to speak to her he spoke as a guard, as a warrior, “I heard the calling, the voice. I heard the siren, it spoke, it encouraged, it instructed. I followed, I came to heed its voice, to do the bidding of the one that I would find. I am...”
At the moment she cut him off before he could say more, “I care not for your name, stallion; you are but a pawn to me. Do as I command, do it well and survive and perhaps then I will care for your name. Do you understand me?” He nodded in understanding, and she put him back on the ground.
She laughed. This was perfect, this was grand. She was pondering what she should do next, and in walked a wrench to mess with everything. She looked him over. Yes, a guard, a guard for her sister, but now hers; she would use him, and see if he was as true to his word as he appeared to be. “Well then, I shall test you, guard. We shall see. There is a town nearby, on the edge of the forest. I wish you to go there. Take with you my army of shadows, and lay waste to it. Burn the city, leave no building standing, the citizens do as you wish, crush, maim, leave as you will. But ensure they understand my power, understand that no pony will escape, and that I am the power here! If any choose to worship, let them show they wish to worship, and I shall let them live. Do you understand my orders, guard?”
He nodded and bowed, “I do...” and for some reason, a word poked into his mind; he knew not from where, but there it was and it flowed from his lips, “Empress. They shall know you are forever, and that your reign is supreme.” He turned and galloped out of the throne room, the great doors opening as he neared them and slamming shut after he passed through them, sliding to a halt outside as the shadows began to coalesce, growing into shapes of black pegasi with odd looking purple uniforms. He cared not how the uniforms looked, or that his army were shadows, for it was simply that they were his army that amused him. A grin spread across his lips: the grin of one that has just realized that he was in sole command of an army to use at his discretion. Then, as if it was all he knew, and had always done it, he began barking orders, organizing his troops, forming them, preparing them... for the battle was about to begin, and he would ensure his place by his empress’s side, or burn trying.
And so it began, the beginning of the end. Soon all of Equestria would know the truth, they would know the fear, they would know that a new ruler was here. A ruler that would show no remorse, no kindness, no pity, nothing but abject worship and demand. Very soon Ponyville would be the first to meet the new ways, to decide if they would submit, fight, or run in terror, but as with all things, there are glimmers of light and hope, and that all things show what they do not see. While the ponies of Ponyville prepared for what they knew not, the army massing at the old castle finished their preparations and readied themselves to take flight and begin the war for the very cycles that flowed through the world. One could only hope that a light existed at the end of the journey.
Author's Note
Here she is! 2nd chapter, yay! only took 5 years to come out.
