Far across the known and established lands of Equestria, beyond its mountain valleys where herd animals grazed, beyond the lush forests where unknown danger lurked, and, yes, even beyond the dank swamps and marshes where some ponies made their homes, there lay a large, empty badland. Large in the sense that no one in their right mind had attempted to cross the entire thing on hoof and lived to tell the tale. It was truly a no-mare’s land, deprived of even the most basic necessities most living things needed to survive.
And yet, it was out here that ponies had chosen to expand. Large, open areas and plentiful sunshine made it perfect for earth ponies to grow their crops, and pegasi under orders from Commander Hurricane moved any clouds they could spare out to this inhospitable climate for a steady supply of rainwater.
However, as the case often is, establishing a home had proven anything but easy. If the unforgiving sun did not stop them, coyotes would raid their camps, stealing what little food they already had. Vultures circled overhead, picking off whatever little pony had not been able to make it through the night. The settler ponies were no strangers to disease or famine, as they often had to bury friends and family almost every day of their lives. Earth ponies were not unfamiliar to struggle; they had come well prepared for such things. No, something much, much bigger was proving a problem.
Time and time again, whenever they’d tried to settle, there have been enormous and unusual earthquakes. They tried to change the time of day they went about their activities, but their attempts proved fruitless, and another earthquake would undo all of the hard work they had done that day.
When they sent scouts to investigate the source of the earthquakes, the ponies returned with tales about a gigantic monster, a creature so large and so imposing that it dwarfed even the fabled Ursa Major. Such absurd claims were dismissed, and the ponies that declared them labeled mad.
Scouting missions having proved useless, the settler ponies attempted to adapt to the earthquakes. After the third day straight of ground shaking, the ‘madpony’ scouts’ claims proved to be not so mad after all.
Stories from that day were inaccurate and inconsistent. Some say it was the size of a mountain, others say it was even taller than that. Some claim it was a golem of stone, others claim it was a living, breathing animal. Even more claim it to be an angry spirit of some kind. Whatever the case, it made quick work of destroying the settler ponies’ small town before it stormed off into the badland plains once more. Many ponies were hurt, even more were killed.
Desperate, the settler ponies turned to the newly crowned Princesses of Equestria for help. The Princesses sympathized with the ponies and sent some of their guard out to investigate. When they did not return, the sisters decided to look into it themselves.
This is how Celestia and Luna found themselves gliding through the badlands, in full battle armor on a particularly humid day.
“We do not suppose the settlers gave you more of a description than ‘big’ and ‘made of rock’, did they sister?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Celestia replied as she wiped her leg across her forehead, just below her horn. “Just keep an eye out for anything that looks out of place. We’re bound to see something eventually.” She gave an extra flap of her wings, though it was almost unnecessary. The thermals produced from the dry and arid land below them made gliding particularly easy that day.
After several minutes of flying in silence, Luna spoke again. “Sister, We find ourselves tiring rather quickly. Might we look for a place to rest, if only temporarily?”
Celestia scanned the lands below, until her eyes landed upon a rather tall and isolated hill with a lone tree standing at its tip. Celestia motioned downwards and Luna nodded. The two glided in close and landed, though Luna stumbled a bit upon landing. Celestia extended a wing for her sister to steady herself, and Luna took it gratefully.
“Are you okay, Luna?” Celestia asked, worry etched onto her face.
“We are fine, Tia.” Luna took a deep breath. “We are simply...tired. The color of our coat does little to aid us in this kind of heat.” Luna held a hoof up to shield her eyes and she gazed towards the sun, then the miles of cracked, dry landscape in every direction around them. “Could thou simply...dim the sun, for but a few minutes?”
Celestia frowned. “It is summertime, the farm ponies will need all the sun they can get to harvest their crops. I feel that the windigo incident is still fresh in our little ponies’ minds, and I fear a repeat, or something much worse, if the sun suddenly goes dark. Even for a little while.”
“We do not think Windigoes would be so bad right now,” Luna spoke as she steadily flapped her wings to generate a dry, but steady breeze. “At least it would be cold.”
Celestia smiled at her before she shifted her gaze to the land all around. Nothing could be seen for miles all around, save for the lone hill they were sitting upon. “How could something so enormous hide so well in a place like this…?” Celestia asked as her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.
“That is a good question, but We have an even bigger question, if you would hear it?” Luna folded her wings into her sides.
“What is it, sister?” Celestia asked as she glanced over her shoulder.
Luna trotted up next to Celestia. “Suppose we find this behemoth. Exactly what do you plan on doing? You heard the settler ponies description as well as We did. It is bigger than a mountain. A mountain, Tia! Dragons and Ursa Majors make their homes in such things, which means it is bigger than both of them! How do you expect to subdue such a creature?”
“I fear our ponies have a tendency to over exaggerate.” Celestia pushed a strand of mane behind her ear as she smiled. “I am sure, whatever it is, making it aware of what it is doing is the best course of action. After that, it will hopefully understand and leave without a fight.”
Luna frowned slightly, then poked Celestia’s ribcage with her hoof. “Then for what purpose does this armor and weaponry serve?”
Celestia smile fell into a hard line, and her joyful expression turned into one of trepidation. “If it doesn’t.”
Luna’s eyes went wide. “Tia…! You cannot possibly be suggesting—”
“It has killed ponies, Luna. Whether it is aware of it or not, if it refuses to stop what it is doing we cannot allow it to continue.” Celestia’s eyes closed, and she bowed her head. “In any case, we should get moving again. It is almost time for the moon to rise, and I fear our chances of finding this creature in the dark may be slim to none.” Celestia lifted her head again.
Luna nodded, then she and her sister spread their wings, but something made Luna pause. A rumbling. It was low at first, but was quickly building in volume and intensity.
“Tia…” Luna spun her weapon around, a sharp blade with a crescent moon engraved at the hilt. Celestia turned towards her sister and raised her eyebrow in a questioning look. “Do you hear—”
Luna’s next words were cut off as the hill they were seated atop began to shake violently. Both alicorns stumbled as they lost their hoofing on the ground. Celestia hit the ground hard and Luna fell on top of her. Though they struggled to stand, they only managed to push themselves further down the hill as it continued to shake. Once they hit the bottom, Celestia shakily stood to her hooves.
“What in the world…?” The hill was moving. Steadily becoming bigger as more and more emerged from the cracked earth, the edge of it beginning to come dangerously close to them. Celestia spread her wings. “Luna, we need to get away, now!”
Luna nodded and climbed back to her hooves as well, then the two sisters took to the sky as the ground where they had just been standing was obliterated in the wake of the hill’s elevation.
“Is it...a mountain?” Luna asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the spectacle.
“A moving mountain.” Celestia confirmed.
The small speck of land quickly ascended into the sky, a stain of green, grey, and brown against an otherwise pristine blue sky. It was not curved, but rather came to a point where the tree was. The rest of it streaked downwards, stopping as it came into contact with the ground. Constantly shifting and moving stones gave it an uncertain form, and Celestia was unsure if she could rest her eyes on any one part of it before her eye caught another part of it.
Finally, its rise stopped. A low rumbling sounded, and the large area in front of the towering land mass turned to dust, from which another form emerged. This one was smaller, streamlined to the front where two red glowing eyes sat on either side. It lifted its head and released a roar, and any spare earth in the immediate vicinity was quick to respond. From the loose earth, it constructed gigantic paws. It used them to lift itself out of the ground.
Celestia and Luna were absolutely dumbstruck by the scene that occurred before them. This creature, this golem of rock and earth had been nothing more than a small hill but not a moment ago. Now it was a mountain that rose above the clouds, on the back of a moving thing. However, looking at the creature’s feet and head, she was reminded of the humble and patient tortoise. A slow creature to be certain, but none could harm it when it withdrew into its shell. Was the mountain this creature’s shell?
Celestia snapped out of her thoughts as the creature took a step forward, just a step, and the ground and the air itself seemed to reverberate with power. A tremor, one unlike anything either of the sisters had ever seen, ripped through the area. The creature’s eyes seemed to glow brighter, then it began to walk. The tremors did not cease. This creature caused them simply by moving. It was making the will of nature itself cater to what it did without even thinking about it. Though this creature may have resembled the small and humble tortoise, it definitely was not small.
And Celestia feared it was anything but humble.
“Sister, it is heading in the direction of the settler ponies.” Luna said as she too snapped out of her awestruck trance.
“I know,” Celestia responded as she mulled over what to do. Seeing no other solution at the moment, she decided to go with her original plan. “Stick close to me, Luna. Do not make any sudden movements.”
Luna nodded, and the two sisters glided down to hover in front of the living mountains face.
“Great creature! A word, please?” Celestia called out to it in hopes that it would be able to hear them. It either didn’t hear or didn’t care, as it continued and walked right past them as if they weren’t even there. Celestia frowned, and flew towards it again, this time getting close to its eye. “Please, if you could stop for only a moment and listen to us, my sister and I have something to say!” The red orb did not acknowledge her, as the creature’s movements did not cease. Celestia gritted her teeth. “Please, listen to u—”
“GREAT BEHEMOTH! WE BESEECH YOU TO HEED OUR PLIGHT!” Celestia’s hooves shot to her ears as Luna’s Royal Canterlot voice echoed through the badlands. Luna had landed on the ground in front of the creature and shouted up to it, hoping to catch its attention. Whatever it is she had done, it seemed to work as the earth giant stopped, and slowly inclined its head down to gaze at her.
Luna, suddenly feeling very much like an ant, pinned her ears back against her head. “We mean um...hello?” The titan tilted its head in curiosity. Celestia took the opportunity to land beside her sister and get a word in.
“Please great one, if you could only listen to us for just a moment?” The behemoth did not move or look away. Celestia took this as a consent to continue. “I am Princess Celestia, and this is Princess Luna. We are newly crowned royalty to Equestria, and as such we are still learning how to guide our ponies effectively.”
Luna spoke up. “A few days ago, our ponies from the furthest reaches of our lands came to us. They claimed they wanted to start a farm out in the badlands, to provide food closer to Equestria’s outer borders. We thought it was a great idea, but they came across a problem shortly after arriving…” The rock giant tilted its head, a loud sound of rock grating together could be heard as it did.
“Earthquakes.” Celestia gazed into the titan’s eyes. “After investigating the source, they discovered a great behemoth wandering the lands, and wherever it stepped it would cause powerful, terrible trembling in the very earth itself! Thanks to this trembling, our ponies cannot construct the necessities for planting crops. It is because of this that we come here today, to ask you to roam elsewhere. You understand, do you not?”
Several moments passed in which neither party moved a muscle. Then, slowly, the titan raised its head again. Rocks and dirt fell around the two. “Sister, I think it worked!” Luna said, joy leaking into her tone.
Slowly, the titan lifted its right foot. Then, it slowly moved it over where the sisters stood. Celestia’s hopeful expression changed to one of horror. She only had time to cast a teleportation spell. Luna and she disappeared in a flash of light as the behemoth’s paw crashed down on where they had once been, splitting the ground apart and causing terrible tremors all around. With that done, the Earthshaker lifted its paw again and continued what it had been doing before.
Several miles away, a bright flash lit the area and Luna and Celestia struck the ground. Celestia breathed heavily, desperately trying to catch her breath as Luna rose to her hooves again.
“B-but...it...it tried to kill us…” Tears welled up in Luna’s eyes. “It tried to crush us underfoot!”
Celestia, having finally caught her breath again, steadily rose to her hooves once more. “It did...I’m afraid this means that it is not willing to listen to reason.” Celestia’s horn lit up with golden magic, and with a flash of bright sunlight and a burst of flame, a long golden staff with an axe-like blade on the end with a sun-like design in its middle and a single spike protruding from the top of the weapon materialised in her magical grip.
Luna looked at her sister, fear evident in her glassy eyes. “You cannot possibly mean…”
“I am afraid I do. We must do what we can to protect our ponies, at all costs. Luna, I know you have a soft spot for creatures but please...it did not listen to you, it did not listen to me...we must do what our parents would.”
Luna’s eyes widened at that, and she swallowed hard as she gazed at the figure of the Earthshaker growing farther and farther away from them, and growing closer to the innocent ponies she was supposed to be protecting. Luna’s eyes steeled, and she flipped her blade forward once more. It glinted as it caught the light of the sun. “Then let us go.”
Celestia did not smile, but she nodded. She steeled herself as well, and with a spread of their wings, the two sisters took to the skies and flew towards the Earthshaker.
*******************************
Celestia flapped her wings hard, shooting upwards as she rose towards the sun. The light seemed to brighten to blinding intensity, as Celestia’s body began to glow with power. Her eyes became full of power, washing away the color of her pupil as she leaned forward into a nosedive. Waves of light wrapped around her streaking form as she shot towards the Earthshaker. She struck it from above, hitting the mountain on its back as hard and as fast as she could.
She gasped in surprise when not only did she fail to penetrate through her target, but her blade broke off the end of her weapon. Celestia’s eyes widened, and she ended her attack early with a quick retreat.
The Earthshaker’s eyes glowed a bright red, and it shifted its gaze from the path ahead to the two figures floating in the sky. It released a dusty breath, letting out a long drawn out ”Hrrrrrrrrmmmmmmm.” as it lifted its massive paw and smashed the ground. Instantly a gouge spread across the earth in their immediate area, and spires began to erupt from it. They shot towards the sisters with such a velocity, that they barely had time to move out of the way before they would have been skewered.
“We cannot penetrate that shell, Tia.” Luna said as she glided next to her sister. “We must go for the legs, or the head.”
“They all look to be made of the same material though,. Are you certain we can cut through that?” Celestia asked, glancing at Luna.
“It is worth a shot, I think.” Luna brandished her sword and shot towards the creature with a battle cry. Celestia held her weapon to the side for a moment, and with a quick burst of flame the blade returned to its end. She rushed to join her sister in combat.
As Luna neared the Earthshaker, her body began to glow with blue energy. She spun once, then struck out with all her might across the Earthshaker’s leg where the body and leg joined. The blade stopped against the Earthshaker’s armored skin, but with another mighty push, Luna sliced through.
The Earthshaker let out a mighty bellow of pain and fell to lean on its other leg. It glared at the alicorn who now hovered above it, and bared its fangs. Suddenly, from the corner of its vision another flicker of movement caught its eye. A golden streak, twice as fast as the blue one, cut through the air and sliced clean through the injury on the Earthshaker’s leg. It let out another bellow of pain before it lost its balance and fell to the earth with a tremendous crash, throwing up dust and dirt and shrouding the sisters in a cloud of debris.
The Alicorns flapped their wings hard, clearing out the dust and dirt from around them as they looked upon the Earthshaker, who had fallen in the direction of his now severed leg. His eyes were dark, and he was not moving.
“Did we...kill it?” Luna asked cautiously as she crept closer to it.
“Luna, wait!”
Suddenly, the Earthshaker’s eyes lit up once more. It released a roar as it shot upwards again, one that split the ground around it in every direction and tore the ground asunder as massive spires exploded outwards from underneath it. Luna’s eyes widened, and she barely had time to summon a shield of raw arcane magic before one of the spires smashed into her, sending her flying towards the ground. Luna struck the ground with an explosion of dust, bounced several times, then slid to a stop.
“LUNA!!” Celestia flew towards her sister, but was met by a wall of rock that shot up in front of her. She spun to face the Earthshaker, who was rebuilding his leg from the remains of rock as he glared at the Princess of the Sun. His leg repaired itself, and he flexed it once before he let out an ear shattering roar. Spires exploded from the ground around him, then branched outward like spiked trees. Celestia dodged and weaves, then landed upon one of the trees. Tears ran down her cheeks as she brandished her weapon again.
“YOU WILL NOT KEEP ME FROM MY SISTER, YOU MONSTER!!”
Celestia lashed out, cutting through the spires with a mighty and pain filled cry. The Earthshaker rose up on its hind legs, then smashed its two front feet on the ground with an enormous crash. The ground crumbled, sections of it rising up to block Celestia’s path, trying to make her crash. Celestia shot to the side, dove, ascended, and did all she could to avoid being crushed by the large pieces of earth being thrown at her. When she finally reached the Earthshaker, she spun her weapon in her grip, then smashed it up into the Earthshaker’s chin with another battle cry.
The Earthshaker’s head shot upwards from the force of the blow, his eyes going dark for a minute. His eyes lit up again, however, and with a feral growl his front leg shot up, smashing into Celestia’s glowing body. Celestia flew, hitting the rock wall arena the Earthshaker had constructed. The Earthshaker roared again, and walls shot up around Celestia as the Earthshaker smashed its paws on the ground and charged straight for her.
Celestia struggled to take to the air again, but a twinge of pain in her wing made her realize she might’ve gotten hurt more than she thought. Celestia was forced to watch as the Earthshaker’s thundering charge came closer and closer to her. Rather than fear however, Celestia felt a sort of...calm. So this is how it will end...but I will not go down without a fight! Celestia grimaced, then charged her horn as a massive beam of golden energy left it and smashed into the Earthshaker’s charging form. He slowed, but did not stop. Celestia dug her hooves into the ground, putting all of her will and strength into the only attack that might save her life. The Earthshaker continued on unabated. Celestia’s legs began to wobble, and she felt her strength beginning to leave her…
Suddenly, an ear shattering crash sounded behind her, and a second beam of magic joined her own, this one forcing the Earthshaker back quite a bit. Celestia’s eyes widened, and she turned to see a bruised and battered Luna. The two sisters shared a smile, then glared at the Earthshaker.
“Foul beast,” Luna began, her body glowing with power
“You have laid waste to this land, terrorized our subjects, and caused pain and suffering for long enough!” Celestia continued.
“We, as the newly crowned Princesses of Celestia declare,” The two began to canter forward, a canter that soon broke into a gallop as they brandished their weapons.
“YOUR REIGN OF TERROR IS OVER! PREPARE TO MEET YOUR END!” The sisters shouted together, and released a massive blast of magic that twirled together, and smashed into the Earthshaker in a tremendous explosion. The Earthshaker was forced back onto his hind legs, exposing his underbelly. Celestia and Luna began to glow, their auras joining together as they began to glide low to the ground, their weapons pressing together as they began to spin like a drill. With a final, powerful war cry the two princesses shot directly into the Earthshaker’s underbelly, completely cutting through it and entering its body.
The Earthshaker crashed back onto the ground, looking confused. Was that supposed to kill him? What stupid ponies they were, thinking they could—
Wait. Something was wrong. The Earthshaker began to tremble, blue and gold energy leaking out from between the loose rocks on his mountain and skin. Then, with a brilliant explosion of light, the two sisters emerged on the other side of the Earthshaker, from the hill on top of its mountain. They had cut cleanly through him.
The Earthshaker froze in its position, head raised to the sky to let loose a roar of anguish and despair. Slowly, the rock walls it had enclosed them in began to fall away. Its red eyes slowly faded to grey and then to an even darker black. It began to tremble and shake, the rocks holding it together starting to roll off and fall apart.
Luna looked to Celestia, and Celestia to Luna.
“Shall we flee?” Luna asked, looking worried.
“Let’s.” The two took to the sky just as a brilliant explosion of light ripped the Earthshaker apart.
The explosion could be heard and felt for miles all around. The very earth itself shook from the death of such an ancient being, and the sky for miles around was cleared of any clouds that might have been lingering.
Luna and Celestia flew heads over hooves through the air for what seemed like forever before they finally hit the ground, their weapons and armor falling off as they did. They didn’t bother to climb back to their hooves right away, they were much too tired to even attempt such a feat. Instead, Celestia simply huffed out, “Luna, are you...ergh...okay?”
Luna was silent. Celestia was worried at first, but then she heard the sound of laughter. “Tia, did you see that?!” Luna shouted, turning over on her back as she gestured towards the massive crater that used to be the Earthshaker. “We...we blew him apart! We did it! I cannot believe...we…” Luna’s breath finally caught up with her and she hacked and coughed for a minute as she tried to recover from her small rant.
Celestia chuckled, turning over on her own back to look up at the sky. “I can hardly believe it myself sister...I…” Celestia’s words were cut off as they noticed several large, shadowy figures approaching them. Large, heavy set individuals that almost reminded her of cows were it not for the horns on their heads.
“You defeated the Earthshaker…” one with a feathered hat exclaimed. “It...it has terrorized our lands for time immemorial...and you...you just blew it up…!”
Celestia’s cautious gaze turned to one of relaxation as she gasped for breath again and chuckled. “I suppose we did, isn’t that right Luna?” No response. “Luna?” Celestia looked up to see her sister’s eyes closed, her breathing soft and steady. “Y’know...sleep doesn’t seem like such a bad idea…” Celestia smiled goofily. “Please inform the nobles of Canterlot that we will be...indisposed for quite a while…” then her vision went black.
Author's Note
Not much to say about this really. I guess you can consider this my own headcanon about the events between the end of the journal of the two sisters and the rise of Nightmare Moon.
Each chapter is essentially going to be a one shot, meaning it may not take place directly after the chapter before it, but instead at different times along Equestria's timeline.
I'll be following canon, but also coming up with my own stuff. I don't expect this story to get too terribly long, but it will likely end with Nightmare Moon.
