How Friends May Fall

How Friends May Fall – Part 6

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room. The princess had gone mute, unable to determine where she would begin. Twilight couldn’t help but feel cold chills running down her spine. It felt like the tension was about to crush her. Even Lieutenant Mane began to show a spark of interest, his head slightly turned towards the princess as he stared towards her from the corner of his eyes.

The princess closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. With a look of determination on her face, she began to tell her tale.

“A little more than a thousand years ago, unicorns from all over Equestria suddenly went missing. Completely random individuals, having no connections to eachother other than being of the same race. There didn’t seem to be a reason for at least most of them to just disappear, either. Yet still, the police department, back then still consisting almost solely out of guards, received reports of unicorns having gone missing on a daily basis.

Although they tried to investigate the reports and track down the missing unicorns, their technology and knowledge was far inferior to what we have today. As such, most of these missing unicorns were never found back.”

“It wasn’t long before me and my sister received word of these recurring reports, and as the weeks passed it grew to become one of the greatest concerns of our kingdom. So, in order to prevent the country from turning into a state of panic, we took measures to make sure that each new report was processed as secretive and private as possible. Although we succeeded in doing so, the reports of unicorns having gone missing never ceased, though the amount of them did seem to decrease ever so slightly with each new week.”

“Yet, as the amount of reports decreased, the amount of nightmares I experienced during my sleep increased. It began with a single, truly horrifying nightmare, one which had me shivering for at least half a day. Then, roughly a week later, I dreamt the same dream once again. Then, I dreamt it twice a week. Three times a week. Four times a week. It wasn’t long before I would have the exact same nightmare every time I went to sleep.”

“Celestia however was still concerned about the missing unicorns, and so I decided not to tell her about my nightmares. I did my absolute best to stay alert and hide any traces of my rough nights, though sometimes I began to feel like I was drifting away. As if something else, or somebody else, was taking over my consciousness. At the time though, I simply blamed it on my lack of decent sleep.”

“And then, one day, everything took a turn for the worst. Celestia’s worries had taken the better of her, causing her to fall under a stress-induced illness. Despite my own hidden health problems, I promised her to continue the investigation as best as I could. That afternoon, I left for the city of Neigh Orleans, where the amount of reports had suddenly increased again during the past week.”

“With the aid of the guards, I went undercover as a fellow guard to investigate a spa, owned by the latest unicorn that had gone missing. It started out like all other investigations: There was plenty of evidence, yet none of it even gave a clue as to where to even look for her. We were about to give up and leave… Until suddenly, one of the guards broke a flask on the floor, causing all of us to black out on the spot.”

“The next thing I remember… is waking up, chained to a wall of the most horrific room I had ever seen. I-It was exactly like in my dreams. Blood and body parts everywhere, and… and…”

Princess Luna rasped her throat, and turned her head away as she wiped away a tear. Twilight could clearly see that it was very hard for the princess to talk about it, yet the story so far had left an immense amount of questions in her head. Could all of this truly have started over a thousand years ago? How did the princess escape that room? Was it related to her metamorphosis into Nightmare Moon? Did Princess Celestia know about all this?

“I-I’m sorry.” said Princess Luna with a shivering voice. “I… I can’t continue.”

“But, princess…” replied Twilight. “I… I need to…”

Twilight doubed as to whether or not she had to continue that sentence. She had been through a lot herself, but it began to look as if the princess had gone through a whole lot more. As much as Twilight wanted to protect her friends, was it justifiable to crush the princess’ spirit in the process?

Silence filled the room once more, until suddenly Lieutenant Mane spoke up.

“Your highness.” he said, his voice completely unshaken by the scene. “Mind if I continue the story in your stead?”

With a sniffle, Princess Luna nodded her head. She took a last look at Twilight, and then quietly turned around and left the room. She kept an eye on the conversation through the window, though she was no longer able to hear what the two were saying. Perhaps it was for the better, thought Twilight.

“As the princess was saying…” said Lieutenant Mane. “She was chained up on the wall of a room, similar to the one you found. Body parts of the other guards were scattered across the room, though one single guard was still alive, albeit tied down with leather straps. The surviving guard warned the princess about a traitor who dragged them all down there, in a secret basement hidden beneath the foundations of the spa, and had begun disemboweling them one by one to drain their blood.”

“A-And this is happening again?” asked Twilight with a concerned tone in her voice.

“We’re not quite certain.” replied the Lieutenant. “People have indeed been gruesomely murdered in the basement you found. Possibly even in the exact same way as a thousand years ago. However, although the room was practically covered in blood, we’ve found no traces of any kegs or other things to actually store it in.”

“But… Why did that traitor drain the other guards’ blood, anyway?”

“I was getting to that before you decided to interrupt me with your questions. In fact, I strongly advise you to stay your tongue until I’m done.”

Twilight could sense some hostility coming from the lieutenant. Clearly, he didn’t seem to trust her as much as Princess Luna. In fact, he seemed like he was telling the story reluctantly. She began to suspect that he had only offered to tell the story so he could hide certain parts about it. She decided to pay close attention to what he said. If there were indeed things that he was hiding from her, she had to be on guard for any unintentional clues.

“As I was saying, the traitor drained his victim’s blood, and stored it inside barrels with strange black markings painted on the surface. Her highness never managed to figure out what these black markings specifically meant, yet she described the looks of them as ‘sinister’. As if they were regular letters or marks, twisted in unnatural shapes and forms.”

“Alas, just as the guard had told her highness everything he knew, the traitor came back and took care of him like he had done to the other guards. The princess was forced to watch the guard die slowly, as more and more pieces of flesh, bone and organs were torn from his body. It was exactly like she had seen before in her dreams. Yet this time, she was very well aware that this was truly happening, right in front of her. This time, it was reality.”

“For the next several days, she remained chained in the basement with no food or water to survive on. She was capable of withstanding the hunger, but it wasn’t long before dehydration began to tear at her weakened body and consciousness. Although no more Unicorns or guards were gored in front of her, every day a number of mysterious figures would enter the basement to deliver more barrels of tapped blood. Her highness did and as of yet still does not remember how long she remained down there, yet one bleak day the same traitor that had imprisoned here there returned to face her.”

“It was then that her story would take a turn for the worst. In order to ‘relieve her of her thirst’, as they called it, they forced a funnel right down her throat and made her drink half a barrel of the blood. The next day, they made her drink the other half. Then, a whole barrel. Soon after, two barrels. It wasn’t long until they continuously pumped blood from the barrels right into her throat, forcing it right back into her esophagus if she even dared to regurgitate any of it.”

“This vile ritual ravaged her body, and shattered her sanity. Every day she would feel more of her sanity slipping, eventually reaching a point where she was unable to even think in coherent sentences. It was then that she was finally freed from her chains, and strapped into the exact same leather contraption where so many had died before her.”

“Her highness remembers little to nothing about the ritual itself, but as she laid bound in the leather straps, she could feel a dark corruption growing inside of her. Surging through every ounce of her body.”

The lieutenant’s eyes narrowed as he continued to speak, and he stared deep into Twilight’s eyes.

“This foul ritual would summon and infuse the princess with one of the most dark and sinister forces the world has ever seen. A force that, amongst commoners like you, is best known as the one and only ‘mare in the moon’… Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight’s eyes turned wide and her coat turned pale at the mention of that name. Nightmare Moon… Not even in her wildest dreams could she have possibly expected Nightmare Moon to be involved.

“B-But…” muttered Twilight with a shivering voice, still in disbelief of this shocking turn of events. “I thought we defeated Nightmare Moon… This ‘force’ you’re talking about should be gone!”

“It is very much gone, miss Sparkle.” replied the lieutenant. “Banished, to be more specific. Yet, it is not vanquished.”

Twilight turned her head towards Princess Luna, who still overlooked the conversation between the two. She could not stop the immense sympathy and pity she felt for the princess from welling up tears in her eyes. As a single tear ran past Twilight’s cheek, the princess shut her eyes and turned away from the glass window.

“We are certain that once more, some ponies are attempting to summon this same force back into Equestria, and host it into the body of their chosen victim.” continued the lieutenant, paying little attention to Twilight’s sadness. “Yet, considering the fact that we have found no traces of equipment to drain one’s blood, we are left completely in the dark as to what their new method could possibly be.”

Twilight turned her head back towards the lieutenant, and dug through her memories of the basement she had found. With her more determined mindset, she was able to stand through the memories of those gruesome sights. Yet, she too could not recall having seen anything that could possibly drain somebody’s blood.

“But, if they have truly found a different way to summon this force, then why would they slaughter innocent ponies? And how is this all related to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie--”

Before she could finish her sentence, Twilight came to a startling realization.

“You… You think Rainbow Dash is the next host, don’t you?”

Slightly to the relief of Twilight, the lieutenant shook his head.

“In order to bring forth eternal night, Nightmare Moon needs magical powers. And Rainbow Dash doesn’t even have a sliver of magic within her body. We doubt that she would even be a remotely fitting host for the new Nightmare Moon. As such, the reason why she would have experienced those nightmares is still a mystery to us.”

“How did you know about the nightmares?” asked Twilight curiously, as she raised an eyebrow.

“Rainbow Dash is the first Pegasus to ever break through the magic barrier with raw speed.” replied the lieutenant. ”With that technique… I believe she called it the ‘Sonic Rainbow’ or something? Anyhow, we’ve been keeping an eye on her for quite some time now to make sure that she wasn’t… abusing this unique capability. We simply overheard her talking both to her friends and to herself in her sleep.”

“The magic barrier? What’s--”

“I’m afraid that the rest is classified, and I believe that we were talking about something entirely different, miss Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded her head with a disgruntled sigh. The lieutenant had a fair point, but she didn’t like it one bit that he was hiding so much important information about their investigation on Rainbow Dash. For how long had they been spying on her? What did they discover in the meantime? Why did they consider Rainbow Dash going through this ‘magic barrier’ a threat?

“So… The host of Nightmare Moon needs to be able to use magic to be suitable?”

“More or less.” replied Lieutenant Mane. “However, other than that, we also believe that Nightmare Moon thrives on the magical energy coming from within the host. For example, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both have an extraordinary amount of magical energy due to their alicorn heritage and royal bloodline. Princess Luna however was the weaker of the two, which made her an easier target.”

“And because Princess Luna now knows the symptoms, you believe that they will target Princess Celestia as the new host instead?”

“Their wretched rituals aren’t even nearly intense enough to touch my sister.”

In the midst of the conversation, Princess Luna had walked back into the room, apparently calmed down from her earlier breakdown. Now that the tragic story of her own descend had been told, she seemed much more determined to continue with the case.

“The amount of magical energy within Celestia is unfathomable.” she said. “Even if those foul forces could somehow affect Celestia, she sheer pressure of her magical energy would force it right out of her body, if not destroy it completely.”

“But if that is the case… Who could possibly be the new host?” said Twilight. “Another alicorn of the royal house?”

“Although it is true that royal alicorns are born with a significant amount of magical energy, only me and Celestia have truly learnt to harness it.” replied the princess. “Without practice, they are pretty much just regular unicorns with wings.”

The princess walked around the table, and stood still right in front of Twilight. She narrowed her eyes, and stared deep into the unicorn’s eyes.

“Instead, the Nightmare Moon will require the body of a different kind of pony. One of significant, if not extraordinary magical prowess. A prodigy, in other words.”

Princess Luna raised her head once more, and stared down upon Twilight with a cold look in her eyes.

“The fact that you just so happened to have a nightmare on the way here might not have been a coincidence, Twilight. And it goes a long way towards confirming our fears.”

“Twilight Sparkle, we believe that the next chosen host of Nightmare Moon…is you.”