Light of Harmony

Chapters

A Growing Storm
Paradise Lost
The growing storm of war
A change in Plans
Beast of the Everfree Forest
Ghosts of the past
I am Reborn
The Darkness of Day
A Horrible Discovery
The Hunt Begins

A Growing Storm

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
The Light of Harmony
Chapter One
A growing storm
(1,500 Hundred years before the show’s timeline)

If there was ever a place where Glaciem felt at peace, it was in this meadow. The cool night sky above him, the trees rustling gently as a breeze blew through their slowly changing leaves. Eventually the wind blew it's breeze onto the light blue, almost white colt’s fur, and into his blue and white mane. The only sign of civilization around was his home Castle of Cantoria and the town that resided in its walls surrounded by miles of forests.

Any sort of peace was welcome in Glaciem’s life as of late. His parents and friends seemed to work themselves up every day over some ponies and their leader named Avarice. “So, there you are...” a small female voice declared as a white filly about in her mid teens, about his own age, with a pink mane, and cutie mark of the sun appeared next to him in princess tiara, slippers, and harness. “What happened?” the filly asked.

“Well Tia, as fun as hearing our parents talk is, I figured watching grass grow would be more of a way to pass time.” The two shared a laugh before they let the silence overtake the hilly area once again.

“Well that boring talk was about something that is really bothering your parents. And if I’m not mistaken it worried you too did it not?” Celestia probed.

Ever since he was small, Glaciem acted like the tough guy, the stallion that no-pony wanted to mess with. But lately, with the threats against them from an unknown source becoming more and more evident, Glaciem has struggled to keep up his visage for fear of something bad happening to himself or his parents. “Ha! don’t make me laugh Tia...” the young Alicorn colt began, trying to sound as if his worries were non-existent, which eventually turned into a flash of pride if anything to put his own mind at ease. “If anypony really took those rebel clowns seriously all of Cantoria would have been in an uproar, besides my parents were in the great Stalladorian wars one hundred and fifty years back.”

“Well, what about the companies that decided to join them?” Celestia asked, confused.

“ empty threats...nothing more, nothing less. I doubt they could really care less about Avarice or whatever it is he has against my parents,” Glaciem answered, his voice wavering.

“Glaciem...you’re still worried about them, aren't you?” Celestia asked.

Glaciem sighed, knowing that continuing the charade would have only wasted more time. “Well maybe a bit...” he finally conceded.

Through the wind came the loud voice of King Galaxus of Equestria.

The alicorn teenager shot up immediately upon hearing her father’s call. “Sorry Glaciem, but I have to go. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will work out.” With that, Celestia spread her wings and took off into the sky back to the town’s main entrance gates.

Before Glaciem could go back to his stargazing, he heard yet another female voice calling him, this time from his mother in outside of the town walls. Glaciem spread his wings and took off into the night air. The flight was short, but Glaciem didn't give it as much thought as he did the threats.

“They aren’t a threat right? No-pony sided with them so they can’t be more than just a bad joke.” Glaciem reasoned with himself, but an odd voice stood out in his head. He landed in front of the royally adorned green alicorn mare those voices of warning faded to voices of increasing worry.

“Does something worry you son?” She asked; wondering why she asked such an obvious question when her son’s face says nothing but concern, but by asking she hoped to at least make him want to talk about it.

“Mom…” Glaciem began meekly “Do I have anything to worry about from the rebels? I know I shouldn’t but I just can’t help feeling that there’s something more to it that I don’t know about.”

The mother queen gave her soon a comforting look; and shook her head. “There’s nothing to worry about my little stallion. No-pony will ever support these ponies, whoever they are. They feed on hatred and darkness which thankfully is in short supply these days.” She said, nuzzling her son softly while under her breath she hoped the same thing.

“I think it’s for some-pony to head for bed. Come my little stallion…”

Glaciem nodded and followed his mother into the castle just under the main door archway, he stopped and looked into the sky if only for a moment, trying to find peace amid the ever darkening mood around the castle. Glaciem did not want to admit it but there was a sense of dread that would not leave him be. And what frustrated Glaciem was; he knew who it was causing that sense of dread, but he did not know when or how it would come. He was at the mercy of what the grim looking future had in store.

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A young Draconequus stared out over the cliff that overlooked the Capital of Equosia with an almost bored look upon his face. “Ugh, so orderly and calm around this place! Big sister, you promised it would get fun around here!” sounded the draconequus in an almost moping voice.

“And it will be...Relax Discord, tonight we cement our names into history,” said a calm and collected, all black female draconequus, the moonlight shining off of her flaming mane. Mistress Rixa had been planning this whole rebellion since her defeat at the end of the last war nearly three hundred years ago; the war that unified Equosia.

“Has everything been prepared sister?” probed Discord.

The cold night air blew across Rixa’s face gently as she contemplated anything she may have left out. “Yes, Discord. We stand ready and awaiting the right moment to strike.” Rixa let a small chuckle escaped her mouth. Surely, nopony, or at least no rational pony, could even begin to expect what army she has summoned to do battle against her old Nemesis, King Polaris and Queen Gaia.

Rixa slowly breathed in as she mentally readied herself for the coming battle. Even the goddess of War and Destruction could not tell what was going to happen for certain, but one thing was for sure, the tide was going to favor her.

“Watch and learn little brother, this is how you make chaos...” she said, hiding her newfound confidence.

Discord watched as his sister disappeared into the darkness of the forest, and turned back around for a minute and scanned the city, trying to imagine what the town will look like in just an hours time before dashing off after his sister.

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Even though he was in the safety and comfort of his own bedroom, Glaciem felt uneasy, almost to the point where it began to aggravate him. Despite having the window open, his all-white bed sheets almost completely covering him, and his parents right beside him, the sense of dread had not just refused to dissipate, it grew stronger as his night drew to a close.

But his parents voices quickly snapped Glaciem out of any worry he had, at least for the next few minutes. “Goodnight, my little prince,” Queen Gaia said tenderly. “And trust me, if those rebels even think about coming near you or the castle; your father and I won’t be afraid to kick their sorry flanks from here to Morgania.” The queen mother gave him a nuzzle with amused smile and a raised eyebrow.

With that, Gaia blows out the candle sitting next to Glaciem’s bed and departs the room with the King Father behind her.

“Dad...” Came a voice from the darkened room.

“Yes, son?” Asked King Polaris concerned.

“I know mom says I have nothing to worry about, but, I have been having this bad feeling lately and...” Glaciem suddenly began to struggle saying the next few words, He didn’t know what he feared more; the prospect of having his home invaded and destroyed, the fact that his parents may not come back, or both.

“What would happen if something....happened...to you?”

Polaris could physically see that this question bothered Glaciem, and as he approached his son, he didn’t need a scientist to realize that this question is what has been causing the disturbance in his otherwise tough “Little stallion.”

Glaciem then felt himself be enveloped by a warm sensation, realising it was his father’s wings wrapping him in a hug; which Glaciem happily returned.

“If that does happen, then I need you not to look behind you...” Polaris exclaimed as he set his son down.“Then I need you not to look behind you, but look in here.” as Polaris put his hoof over his son’s heart. “And you’ll have all you will need...” with that the father and son have a final nuzzle.

And as Polaris left, Glaciem rolled over to face the night sky. His father’s words strangely had enough power to at least put his mind at ease, if only for a few minutes In one last effort to fully cleanse his mind of worry as he finally began to drift off to sleep.

Paradise Lost

The Light of Harmony

Chapter Two

Paradise Lost

1,500 Years before the show’s timeline

A loud banging noise interrupted the young Glaciem’s peaceful sleep. It took a minute or two for the prince to finally began to shake the weariness from his mind and scan the moonlit room for the source of the thunderous booming. he began to hear a faint noise outside of his closed windows, almost like ponies, many of them yelling for some reason.

Curiousity forced the young colt to leave his bed and to find out what was going on. He headed for the window to see what was causing the orange glow from outside.

The young Prince gazed out as far as he could, past the crowded town square, and towards the walls where several dozen of his parent's best unicorn guards stood. They were firing their horns at an unknown enemy below the wall. Once again a loud banging noise emanating from his bedroom door this time a male voice followed “Your highness, your parents wish to see you in the foyer. You're being taken to Canterlot.”

The young Winter Prince galloped towards the front door and brought his horn to life, enveloping the door handle in a Telekentic aura and slowly pulling it open revealing two white pegasi guards covered in Silver battle armor. The two guards bow their heads in respect but quickly recover; “Your highness we are here to escort you to a rendezvous location with Queen Nova, your mother will be accompanying us to the Meeting point,” the guard announced.

Glaciem knew his parents would not be that patient with the castle and its adjacent town under threat. He quickly packed all he could and dashed out his bedroom door to meet his parents.

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The invisible rays of the moon pierced through the wide skylight that made up the greeting hall's ceiling, nearly drowning out the torches that hung on both walls and bathing the entirety of the foyer in it's silvery glow. Anxious hoofsteps of the queen mother that echoed through these massive halls and up both flights of staircases behind her sounded more like an entire legion of soldiers rather than one worried queen.
"You know he is going to want to help defend the castle!" Gaia shouted angrily.

"I know you're upset Gaia, but we agreed that if Nemesis or somepony like him were to ever return we would take Glaciem to Canterlot for safe keeping. If Glaciem is discovered by whoever is attacking us; No doubt our son's magic will be priority number one to them; and I shudder what will happen to pony kind if our son's magic is corrupted and turned into a toy of evil," the king father explained.

Gaia gave a defeated sigh. As much as she hated to admit it Polaris had a point. It would be a mistake to leave Glaciem here in harms way where he could be killed or worse, converted to evil. As she struggled to accept the fact that she must give up her one and only son, a thought came to her mind, "Polaris what about Nova and Galaxus have they even accepted our request yet?"

To that Polaris gave a quick nod. "They are, and Queen Nova has agreed to meet you and Glaciem at the border."

The doors suddenly flung open with a loud crash as the young winter prince burst through the door with the two guards standing on either side of him.

"Mom, Dad! What is going on?" asked the young prince, curiously.

"We are being attacked by an unknown enemy force; we are sending you to Canterlot while the rest of the town evacuates to a safe haven." The king father informed.

"But I want to help out!" Complained Glaciem. It was bad enough that his fears were seemingly coming to pass, but once again he was being put on the sidelines as if his feelings did not seem to matter.

"No!..." Polaris declared.

"This is our fight, son! I will not risk your life in a battle you're too young to understand!"

As much as Polaris knew his son would be an invaluable asset on the battlefield He loved his son very much. No-pony would ever question that but in times of war Polaris was a warrior first, he had to be. to him any distraction on the field of battle would mean certain defeat either for him, his family, or his country. It was the way of the great Equosian tribal war, and it would be so again here. And as capable a fighter as his son was, Two glaring faults were staring the stallion king in the eyes.

The first reason being is as strong in magic as his son was, he was still young and only had only begun to control his power, meaning he would strike down ponies on his side as well as those opposing him.

And the second reason wasn't because of the attacking army itself but because of the leader. Polaris had a pretty good idea who was leading this rebellion, the same female dragonaquus who insisted the stalladorians almost four centuries ago to conquer their neighbors and start down the path to world conquest. Polaris knew that exposing him to her influence would most definitely be disastrous to the colt's mind.

Glaciem swallowed hard as several familiar questions raced through his mind, but he knew he had to put them aside and do what was asked of him if he, his home, or his family were to survive.

"Yes dad..." was all that Glaciem could muster.

"Alright, get the palace guard together, Rixa did not get our palace before, and she is not about to get it now!" the father king declared proudly to his fully armored ponies. Polaris donned his old battle armor and helmet which shined a brilliant silver in the candlelight. Two guards pulled the doors revealing a now rain soaked Cantoria and its walls, which teemed with life.

The royals dashed through the town as the hard rain fall began to drench them all. The run seemed like an eternity as they quickly passed through the square; the residents which only an hour before crowded it had been evacuated for other cities for safety.

The three royals began to see a massive wooden structure and the steel gate before them through the haze of the never ending rain until finally they had arrived at their destination.

The king father took a long look at his son as he lowered his head to meet his son's face and smiled a confident smile, Polaris knew that if he and his could defeat Nemesis they could beat some pretender. "Son, I want you to remember something..." The proud king began. "Remember if something should happen to your mother and I to not to grieve for us but to look in..."

"I will, dad. I know you can kick them from here to Stalliongrad and back again..." Glaciem said as Optimistically as he could ignoring the gnawing feeling of doubt that clouded his mind.

King Polaris grinned as he laughed under his breath at his son's hopefull appraisal of his abilities. But the laugh did not last long; it was time to let his son get to safety. But as sad as he was Polaris knew it was for his son's own good. Polaris wrapped his son in a hug for what Glaciem felt like an eternity until finally the cold wind once again slammed into Glaciem's body, informing him the embrace was over as the heavy rattling of the gate's chains thundered and the gate flew open with a boom.

"Be off with you now son, it will be all right I promise..."

Polaris watched as his wife and son disappeared into the early morning rain filled fog before returning to his troops fighting the invaders that continued to tear away at his town's walls.

"Rixa, I give you my word as a warrior, what you do this night will be your downfall..."

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"Where could they be?" asked the impatient midnight purple Alicorn queen of Equestria. But as she fumed, she tried not to blame the besieged Equosian royals; after all the only reason she made it this close to the Equosian capital was because she blended in so well with the midnight sky or so she thought; her midnight blue, star-studded mane only added to her cloaking ability. The only real tell-tale signs she was there in the sky would be the moonlight glistening off of her golden armor and tiara.

"Nova!" cried a familiar voice as two pony shaped silhouettes emerged from the mist each wearing their own cloaks.

"Gaia?" asked Queen Nova nervously as a light green aura wrapped itself around the hood of the taller ponies cloak, revealing Queen Gaia's Dark brown face and Dark green mane.

"Thank you for doing this for us Nova, it really means a lot..." the Earth Queen admitted meekly,

"It's alright Gaia... Galaxus and I understand the importance of this."

"Is it okay if I say goodbye?" Gaia asked.

"Of course," Gaia looked down at the smaller cloaked individual as a white magical aura surrounded his hood and lowered it; revealing a light blue almost white alicorn colt who looked like he was on the brink of heartbreak.

Gaia nearly fell apart looking at her son sinking deeper into depression, but somehow managed to give a reassuring smile "Glaciem... your father and I are going to be busy for a while so I am going to leave you with Nova and Galaxus for a while okay?"

Glaciem found himself fighting back tears, which to him seemed like wrestling a manticore with no more than a fluff pillow. To him it was as if this was his mother's last words. He hated whatever was giving him these thoughts; he wanted to have hope, he wanted to believe his parents would make it through but a nagging voice in his heart told him otherwise.

"Will I ever see you again?"

Gaia slowly nodded in approval - if there was the one thing she was sure of it was the fact that one way or another they will see each other again. With that the two embraced each other with one final hug that seemed like an eternity; an eternity that Glaciem wished would never end. With the release of her wings Gaia sent Glaciem and Nova on their way back to Canterlot through the morning fog.

"Goodbye my son; ,may you one day discover why your special..."

The growing storm of war

My Little Pony
Friendship Is Magic
Chapter IV
A change in Plans
1,150 Years before “A Canterlot Wedding”

Glaciem stared out of the opened window as if he were in a trance at the lavender morning sky. Despite his past of morning surprises, this one in particular was no different than the others he had in his three hundred and fifty year stay at Canterlot castle. “Mother…Father…” Glaciem said silently, his voice slightly more deepened from years of maturing as he gazed out into the blue sky. Ever since coming to Canterlot those many years ago this was one of his favorite spots in all of Equestria. he loved how a soft breeze of air would come through the open window from the beautiful blue sky above and practically made a melody as it blew through the hills that seemed to go on forever until they are Conquered by the majestic purple mountains of the Equestrian mountain range.

Glaciem smiled a small smile as the breeze hit his face, but it soon disappeared when he remembered why he was talking to the clouds: hoping for an answer that would never come verbally. “ I miss you more than I can begin to explain… but I will try to keep moving on. One day I will avenge your deaths… one way or another…” Although he felt more at home now than when he did three and a half centuries ago, it did little to ease the pain of that day after he first came, they day he was told his parents were dead. He felt a piece of him died that day, not only that; but that piece that was replaced by a burning rage toward the culperit that killed his parents and got away with it; whoever it may be.

Glaciem himself was a sign of changing times; he has grown several feet in height, his mane was now a rainbow of blues and white’s flowing freely as if caught in a small breeze. But as impressed as he was with how friendly Canterlot seemed to become to him. After Three and a half centuries, the Anti-Alicorn sentiment that haunted Glaciem in his opening years of his stay in Canterlot now seemed like a childish practice to the ponies of the city who had,in turn, welcomed him with open hooves. This Change began after he'd shed his shy nature that he had initially shown and actually tried to help Equestria in any way he was able.

But Glaciem was growing weary of the constant sadness that seemed to be everywhere around him.

As The young winter Prince looked at the white gem that shined like the late night stars above, he remembered that day; the day after he had come to live in Canterlot when he received the gem from Celestia. The morning he received the gem was also the day he had to say goodbye to his parents. He remembered walking through the early morning mist that hung over the meadow which he was escorted to buy Princess Celestia and Queen Nova. He noticed, however, that Celestia had a saddle bag with her which confused Glaciem as well as intrigued him. However, any sense of Intrigue was immediately stamped out by the sense of dread he felt as he stumbled through the haze only increased with each step. Eventually they had arrived at their destination; the young prince looked around to see Equestrian Soldiers standing over two vertical holes filled with rocks, Torches surrounding these holes.

It was only then that Glaciem realized that these were not holes, these were graves of his parents. Glaciem tearfully looked up into Nova's eyes; her eyes, like his, were misty. Glaciem knew that Nova and His parents had become close friends because of the long ago battle against Nemesis. She looked down into his eyes, grief running through hers. "I'm sorry little one..." she said her voice wavering. "Your parents did not survive." Those words were enough to put him on his knees as tears flowed like Rivers down his cheeks; It hurt, by Aligard it hurt.

"I know it hurts Glaciem..." Nova's voice suddenly went through the misty morning air soothingly as he felt a wing drape over his back. "But I believe it only proper that you have a chance to say goodbye to them." He looked back into her eyes silently, seeing that she had calmed herself down. Nova noticed through Glaciem's eyes that he was in the worst pain he had ever felt. Glaciem felt the world around him get cold, he felt surrounded, with the world closing in around him slowly. Nova sighed, it hurt her to see this happen to him, to see how much agony this put the young colt in.

It was then Nova motioned for Celestia, Glaciem saw her nod in his direction. Slowly, the pure white filly walked up to the grief stricken colt; her pink mane billowing as the wind moved billowed. her yellow colored magic opening the saddlebag with a barely audible "click." "Glaciem..." Celestia's voice went through the fog. Glaciem turned towards her, his tear stained eyes looking into Celestia's gentle purple eyes. "I know it might not be much, but I would like you to have this iy is a very special jewel for a very special pony..." Her horn comes to life once again; after only a couple of seconds she pulls something large and glowing. The gem itself gave off a bright white glow and engraved into the middle of the gem was a snowflake; "To let you know, no matter what that you will always have friends here!" Celestia cooed, Causing Glaciem to slowly look back up at her; and give her a weak smile.

"Thank you Celestia..." Glaciem said vacantly to his friend before returning his attention to his parents' graves.

Glaciem heard a sudden knocking at his door, bringing an end to his memories as he turned his attention to the doors wondering who could be out at six in the morning. “Come in.” Glaciem says with a yawn. The door creaks open to reveal Princess Celestia in the doorway. She too had grown into an Adult, her once all pink mane now a breezy flowing mixture of Lavender, green, pink, and blue; she had also grown several feet tall in the last three centuries. “Sounds like someone needs their morning coffee,” says Celestia with a touch of humor in her voice.

“Well, forgive me if I’m not a morning stallion, Celestia; some of us don’t have the energy you do,” Glaciem retorts with an arched eyebrow and an amused smile. This is how the two of them talked to each other since he could remember; It was almost a bizarre way of showing each other that they care. Neither he nor Celestia didn’t mind their sarcastic conversations. They were actually amused them in some strange way, like an innocent child’s teasing. It may have sounded mean or combative,but in reality, it was no more than a genuine innocent wisecrack.

“I just came in to see how you were doing, Glaciem” Celestia's voice was now devoid of the usual playful tone.

“Somehow I'm making do...” Indeed Glaciem was finally beginning to smile again. Through his Three Hundred and Fifty year stay in Canterlot, Glaciem more and more found himself of a good time with ponies he actually had come to care about. He had eventually become a pony that other ponies began to respect. However, it did take a year or two for Glaciem to finally start coming out of his self made shell. A lot had happened in his new home, most recently Discord's betrayal.

“Hey Celestia, I just wanted to say congratulations on your coronation next week. I know you have been preparing for it; but I know you did not want it like this.”

“Thank you Glaciem...I do have to admit that Discord's actions have not only left a void in my heart, but a void in everyponies hearts, it is why they asked me to be their princess...I must do it Glaciem, not for myself, but for every-pony else...I just wish I could have saved my parents, this coronation would have been that much better.” Celestia explained downhearted.

Celestia, once so vibrant and full of a childlike energy that seemed boundless, was now more calm and collected like a ruler should be. However, like Glaciem before her, she was plagued by sadness. It had been a hard two and a half months since Discord betrayed and murdered the royal parents and took over, leaving Equestria in a state of Chaos, Anarchy, and Poverty But it seemed like finally she was coming to peace with the past and moving on. She had her subjects health and well-being to deal with, as well as a never ending surge of jealousy that Luna has begun to feel towards her.

She continued “But I think I can make it through if you will do me one favor...”

Glaciem was willing to do anything for his best friend, so naturally he accepted and asked what it could be.

“Come with me Glaciem. Rule by my and Luna's side...You have so much to offer Equestria...” Celestia trailed off as she struggled to find a way to say her next sentence without sounding foolish.

The Prince of winter gave the offer only a slight smile and only a few moments of thought before bringing himself back under his own relentless guilt. Because of him, Celestia had lost Discord, her lover, to chaotic insanity which he used to put all of Equestria into unrest and unhappiness, Equestria itself nearly imploded because of him. But here she was offering him a throne to help rule this land, the land his jealousy nearly destroyed.

“Celestia…” Glaciem began, his voice swaying like the trees outside. “I just wanted to apologize how I acted around your and Discord’s relationship. It was rather unfair how I acted towards your happiness. Because of my inability to control my own emotions innocent ponies suffered. I do not think I am worthy of a place by your and Luna’s side in the thrones. I feel I can only offer you my unwavering support in whoever you choose to be your Prince. I just hope the lucky stallion knows how to treat a mare like you like the Princess you are...”

Glaciem watched astonished as a warm smile spread across Celestia’s face. She could not deny that Glaciem’s anger toward Discord was a determining factor in his turn, but something told her it was more than Glaciem’s jealousy that was the ultimate factor. She knew eventually he would try to make things right with him and Discord. Glaciem’s apology was too late to make a difference to Discord, but anypony who had jealousy fueling their every thought and action would not have attempted to make things right, and to Celestia that made a difference.

Discord’s betrayal was as swift as it was surprising; stating that he was innocently enough going to go for a walk around Canterlot gardens under the guise of giving Glaciem some room to vent his jealousy of his relationship with Celestia. But as soon as he was out of their sight Discord went into the Everfree forest to discuss something with some-pony that took advantage of his recent feeling of rage toward losing who he considered a best friend. If there was any sort of sanity left in his mind whoever or whatever Discord went to see completely warped Discord’s personality into one of a cruel and merciless leader that kept Glaciem as a bargaining chip to the ponies that would have otherwise rebelled. Glaciem, who had come to realize he made a mistake being so jealous, would have taken Discord on right there and then if Celestia had not asked him to not do anything he may regret while they searched for the elements of harmony along with Discord holding pony’s hostage against him.

“But Glaciem…” Celestia began teasingly “you already know how to treat me.” she then cooed to him. It took Glaciem a moment to realise it was him that Celestia was referring to It was only then he felt her wing wrap around his slowly.

“I ask you this not only as a best friend...But as some-pony who wants to be your special somepony...”

The young winter prince went a bit red along with being astounded at what he just heard. Did Princess Celestia, the Princess of the sun and one of the heiresses’ to the throne of Equestria just ask him to be her special some-pony and offer him a chance to rule by her and Luna's side?

Once again the mysterious feeling returned into his life as it did whenever him and Celestia where together but this time at a strength that made all the previous experiences seem so insignificant now.

“Are you sure you want me? I don't think any-pony will really agree to that, I'm not a naturally born Equestrian...I cannot rule.”

“Glaciem, I have known you since we were small. you are one of my best friends; trust me, you will do fine. You do not need to be born in Equestria to help rule it. Don't you remember? my father was training you to rule Equestria when the time came...”

Glaciem mentally conjured up all the memories of the time King Galaxus had spent with him finishing the training his father never had the chance to help him complete: Meditation, Defensive and combat techniques training, learning to control his temper, and wisdom to rule justly. In the beginning, Glaciem was to upset with his parent’s demise, but meditation that offered him mental peace for to press on. finish his training around One hundred and fifty years ago. Since then he has done tasks here and there that gradually helped raise his popularity with Equestria.

Glaciem turned his head around to face Celestia, managing to put on a neutral look on his face even though he wanted to smile. “Even though I think that will object, and I don't think I can rule a land that is not rightfully in my name, I will do my best for them…and for you.”

Celestia gave an amused smile, as if she had known he was going to say something like that. “Glaciem, you put your life on the line to save the land from Discord; you saved many ponies lives, and have gained the respect of ponies both far…” She leaned towards him, drawing close to whisper in his ear. “And near…” She began backing away, But then caught Glaciem completely off guard by connecting her lips to his. Time seemed to stop, and each beat of his heart became an eternity of powerful conflicting forces surging through him. It was like being hot and cold, or maybe strong and weak all simultaneously at the same time.

As soon as his mind processed the surprise of her kiss, he pulled away on instinct. He then turned toward the morning sun to hide his red face. Wearing a smile, Celestia did the same, her horn glowing to help the sun rise above the clouds. The two of them held each other close.

Out of the corner of his eye, Glaciem spotted an orange glow on his normally white bedroom walls. The two alicorn’s turn around seeing a pillar of fire erupting through the floor. Surprised but on guard they look as what appeared to be red eyes stared back at them. Joining the red eyes was a lion paw and eagle claw that had emerged from the thinning flame pillar until nothing was left but a female all-black draconequus with fire for a mane glaring back at them.

“At last… I have come for you…” she remarks.

“Who are you?” asked Celestia, having halted the sun rise to prepare to defend herself. No attack came; the intruder only wore a smug smile on the intruders face.

“Answer me or I will call security!” Celestia demanded.

The female draconequus just lifted up her eagle claw, a yellow aura enveloping it and the door knob. Closing her claw and the door to slam and lock.

“We will not ask again, who are you? Where did you come from?” Glaciem growled towards the draconequus.

The draconequus only lifts up her lion paw as the same yellow aura wraps itself around the lion paw and shoots toward the two Alicorns, who activate their horns and respond with both a yellow and blue aura that hits and destroys the draconequus’ energy bolt sending the draconequus into a wall on the other side of the room.

“These two are strong, alone I cannot hope to defeat them. wait, maybe there is something I can do…”Rixa thought to herself; suddenly she felt a cold sensation envelop her left arm. Rixa looked to find her arm has turned numb and blue and took a moment to realize it had been frozen.

“Well played, but I can play just as well…” Rixa declared lifting up her eagle claw arm and firing a black sphere that split in two pieces in mid flight; they impacted the alicorn’s horns disabling them both. Rixa fires her horn once again at Celestia, knocking her off her hooves and sends her through a pillar knocking her out cold.

“Celestia!” Glaciem cried out as the draconequus lifted up a bookcase in a yellow glow and hovered it over her.

“And she’ll be crushed if you don’t come with me!”

Glaciem struggled to even think of a reply, he wanted this intruder destroyed for what she had done to Celestia. But if he did move against her, would she really drop the bookcase on her? Would she really take Celestia; the mare that took him in, cared for him, and loved him all this time, away from him? He couldn’t do it… he couldn’t rise against the intruder, not with his magic disabled, and not when Celestia’s life would be snuffed out because of his rage. He wouldn’t lose another important figure in his life… even if he had to surrender himself…he couldn't lose anypony else.

“Alright…”

He hated complying, but he hated the thought of losing Tia even more.

Rixa had Glaciem just where she wanted him, her masters in Tartarus would be pleased. “it’s time, masters…for I bring you proof that I am worthy of being the next spirit of war” She thought to herself as she magically picked up the piece of the fallen pillar and sent it flying at Glaciem.

It was only to late that Glaciem spotted the arrant piece of marble hurtle at him, with a low cracking noise, the world around Glaciem went black.

“That’s it, then…a fine apprentice you will make Glaciem. I think it is more impressive to turn one against the very ones they sought to protect.” Rixa says before picking up the Prince. She raised her eagle claw and clenches her fist, summoning a second portal of fire.

“I could just kill you, Glaciem…but this new apprentice idea sounds twice as fun…with your power by my side there is nothing we can't overpower.” Rixa snickered as she and Glaciem disappeared into the pillar of flame.

A change in Plans

My Little Pony

Friendship Is Magic

Chapter 4

A change in Plans

1,150 Years before “A Canterlot Wedding”

Glaciem stared out of the opened window as if he were in a trance at the lavender morning sky. Despite his past of morning surprises, this one in particular was no different than the others he had in his three hundred and fifty year stay at Canterlot castle. “Mother…Father…” Glaciem said silently, his voice slightly more deepened from years of maturing as he gazed out into the blue sky. Ever since coming to Canterlot those many years ago this was one of his favorite spots in all of Equestria, he loved how a soft breeze of air would come through the open window from the beautiful blue sky above and how he loved to hear it blow through the hills that seemed to go on forever until they are Conquered by the majestic purple mountains of the Equestrian mountain range.

Glaciem smiled a small smile as the breeze hit his face but it soon disappeared when he remembered why he was talking to the clouds, hoping for an answer that would never come verbally. “ I miss you more than I can begin to explain…but I will try to keep moving on. One day I will avenge your deaths… one way or another…” Although he felt more at home now than when he did three and a half centuries ago, it did little to ease the pain of that day after he first came, they day he was told his parents were dead. As with anypony else, he felt a piece of him died that day, not only that; but that piece that was replaced by a burning rage toward the culperit that killed his parents and got away with it; whoever it may be.

Glaciem himself was a sign of changing times, he has grown several feet in height, his mane was now a rainbow of blues and white’s flowing freely as if caught in a small breeze. But as impressed as he was with how friendly Canterlot seemed to become to him. After Three and a half centuries, the Anti-Alicorn sentiment that haunted Glaciem in his opening years of his stay in Canterlot now seemed like a childish practice to the ponies of the city who had,in turn, welcomed him with open hooves after shedding his initially shy side and actually tried to help Equestria how he could.

But Glaciem was growing weary of the constant sadness that seemed to be everywhere around him.

As The young winter Prince looked at the white gem that shined like the late night stars above, he remembered that day; the day after he had come to live in Canterlot when he received the gem from Celestia. The morning he received the gem was also the day he had to say goodbye to his parents. He remembered walking through the early morning mist that hung over the meadow which he was escorted to buy Princess Celestia and Queen Nova He noticed however that Celestia had a saddle bag with her which confused Glaciem as well as intrigued him. However any sense of Intrigue was immidiately stamped out by the sense of dread he felt as he stumbled through the haze only increased with each step. Eventually they had arrived at their destination; the young prince looked around to see Equestrian Soldiers standing over two vertical holes filled with rocks, Torches surrounding these holes.

It was only then that Glaciem realised that these were not holes, these were graves of his parents. Glaciem tearfully looked up into Nova's eyes; her eyes, like his, were misty. Glaciem knew that Nova and His parents had become close friends because of the long ago battle against Nemesis. She looked down into his eyes, grief running through hers. "I'm sorry little one..." she said her voice wavering. "Your parents did not survive." Those words were enough to put him on his knees as tears flowed like Rivers down his cheeks; It hurt, by Aligard it hurt.

"I know it hurts Glaciem..." Nova's voice suddenly went through the misty morning air soothingly as he felt a wing drape over his back "But I believe it only proper that you have a chance to say goodbye to them." He looked back into her eyes silently, seeing that she had calmed herself down. Nova noticed through Glaciem's eyes that he was in the worst pain he had ever felt. Glaciem felt the world around him get cold ,he felt surrounded, with the world closing in around him slowly. Nova sighed, it hurt her to see this happen to him, to see how much agony this put the young colt in.

It was then Nova motioned for Celestia, Glaciem saw her nod in his direction. Slowly the pure white filly walked up to the grief stricken colt; her pink mane billowing as the wind moved billowed. her yellow colored magic opening the saddlebag with a barely audible "click." "Glaciem..." Celestia's voice went through the fog. Glaciem turned towards her, his tear stained eyes looking into Celestia's gentle purple eyes. "I know it might not be much but I would like you to have this iy is a very special jewel for a very special pony..." Her horn comes to life once again, after only a couple of seconds she pulls something large and glowing. The gem itself gave off a bright white glow and engraved into the middle of the gem was a snowflake; "To let you know, no matter what that you will always have friends here!" Celestia cooed, Causing Glaciem to slowlylook back up at her and give her a weak smile.

"Thank you Celestia..." Glaciem said weakly to his friend before returning his attention to his parents graves.

Glaciem hears a sudden knocking at his door, he turns his attention to the doors wondering who could it be at six in the morning. “Come in.” Glaciem says with a yawn. The door creaks open to reveal Princess Celestia in the doorway. She too had grown into an Adult mare, her once all pink mane now a breezy flowing mixture of Lavender, green, pink, and blue; she had also grown several feet tall in the last three centuries. “Sounds like someone needs their morning coffee.” says Celestia with a touch of humor in her voice.

“Well forgive me if I’m not a morning stallion Celestia, some of us don’t have the energy you do.” Glaciem retorts with an arched eyebrow and an amused smile. This is how the two of them talked to each other since he could remember, like it’s a bizarre way of showing each other that they care for each other. But neither he nor Celestia didn’t mind their sarcastic conversations to each other it actually amused them in some strange way, like an innocent child’s teasing; it sounded mean but in reality it was no more than a genuine innocent wisecrack.

“I just came in to see how you were doing, Glaciem”

“Somehow I'm making do...” Indeed Glaciem was finally beginning to smile again. Through his Three Hundred and Fifty year stay in Canterlot, Glaciem found himself having more and more of a good time with ponies he actually had come to care about; eventually becoming a pony that other ponies began to respect however; it did take a year or two for Glaciem to finally start coming out of his self-made mental shell. A lot had happened in his new home, most recently Discord's betrayal.

Discord’s betrayal was as swift as it was surprising; he stated that he was innocently enough going to go for a walk around Canterlot gardens. But as soon as he was out of their sight Discord went into the Everfree forest to discuss something with some-pony that took advantage of his recent feeling of rage toward losing who he considered a best friend. If there was any sort of sanity left in his mind whoever or whatever Discord went to see completely warped Discord’s personality into one of a cruel and merciless leader that kept Glaciem as a bargaining chip to the ponies that would have otherwise rebelled. Glaciem would have taken Discord on right there and then if Celestia had not asked him to not do anything he may regret while they searched for the elements of harmony along with Discord holding pony’s hostage against him.

“Hey Celestia, I just wanted to say congratulations on your coronation next week. I know you have been preparing for it; but I know you did not want it like this.”

Celestia, once so vibrant and full of a childlike energy that seemed boundless was now more calm and collected like a ruler should be; but like Glaciem before her she was plagued by sadness. It had been a hard two and a half months since Discord betrayed and murdered the royal parents and took over, leaving Equestrians in a state of Chaos, Anarchy, and Poverty But it seemed like finally she was coming to peace with the past and moving on. She had her ponies health and well-being to deal with, as well as a never ending surge of jealousy that Luna has begun to feel towards her.

“But I think I can make it through if you will do me one favor...”

Glaciem was willing to do anything for his best friend, so naturally he accepted and asked what it could be. It was then he felt her wing wrap around his slowly.

“Come with me Glaciem, Rule by my and Luna's side,...You have so much to offer Equestria...” Celestia trailed off as she struggled to find a way to say her next sentence without sounding like to foolish.

“I ask you this not only as a best friend...” as Celestia pulls out a necklace with a pendant in the shape of half of a snowflake.

“But as some-pony who wants to be your special somepony...”

The young winter prince went a bit red along with being astounded at what he just heard, Did Princess Celestia, the Princess of the sun and one of the heiresses’ to the throne of Equestria just ask him to be her special some-pony and offer him a chance to rule by her and Luna's side?

Once again the mysterious feeling returned into his life as it did whenever him and Celestia where together, but this time at a strength that made all the previous experiences seem so insignificant now.

“Are you sure you want me? I don't think any-pony will really agree to that, I'm not a naturally born Equestrian...I cannot rule here.” Glaciem was interrupted by Celestia putting her wing softly onto his back.

“Glaciem, I have known you since we were small, you are one of my best friends, trust me you will do fine. You do not need to be born in Equestria to help rule it. Don't you remember my father was training you to rule Equestria when the time came...”

Glaciem mentally conjured up all the memories King Galaxus had spent with him finishing the training his father never had the chance to help him complete; Meditating, Defensive training, learning to control his temper, and to rule justly. In the beginning Glaciem was to upset with his parent’s demise, but thanks to meditation that offered enough mental peace for Glaciem to finish his training around One hundred and fifty years ago. Since then he has done tasks here and there that gradually helped raise his popularity with Equestria.

Glaciem turns his head around to face Celestia, managing to put on a neutral look on his face even though he wanted to smile. “Even though I do not think that neither others nor I think I can rule a land that is not rightfully in my name, I will do my best for them…and for you.”

Celestia gives an amused smile, as if she had known he was going to say something like that. “Glaciem, you put your life on the line to save the land from Discord, you saved many ponies lives, and have gained the respect of ponies both far…” She leaned towards him and connected her mouth with his, catching Glaciem completely off guard, lasting a little over seven seconds.

“and near…”

Glaciem turns toward the morning sun to hide his red face, smiling Celestia does the same her horn glowing helping the sun rise above the clouds, the pair holding wings.

“At last… I have come for you…” she remarks.

“Who are you?” asks Celestia having to stop the sun rise to ready to defend herself, only to have nothing but a smug smile on the intruders face.

“Answer me or I will call security!” Celestia demanded.

The female draconequus just lifted up her eagle claw, a yellow aura enveloping it and the door knob; Closing her claw and the door with a slam and locking the door.

“We will not ask again, who are you? Where did you come from?” Glaciem growls towards the draconequus.

“These two are strong, alone I cannot hope to defeat them, wait maybe there is something I can do…”Rixa thought to herself; suddenly she felt a cold sensation envelop her left arm. Rixa looks and finds her arm has turned numb and blue and realizes it has been frozen.

“Well played, but I can play just as well…” Rixa declared lifting up her eagle claw arm and firing a black sphere that shattered in midflight, they impact both of the alicorn’s horns disabling them both. Rixa fires her horn once again at Celestia, knocking her off her hooves and sends her through a pillar knocking her out cold.

“Celestia!” Glaciem cries out as the draconequus lifts up a bookcase in a yellow glow and hover’s it over Celestia’s motionless form.

“And she’ll be crushed if you don’t come with me!”

Glaciem struggled to even think of a reply, he wanted this intruder destroyed for what she had done to Celestia. But if he did move against her, would she really drop the bookcase on her? Would she really take Celestia; the mare that took him in, cared for him, and loved him all this time, away from him? He couldn’t do it…he couldn’t rise against the intruder, not with his magic disabled, and not when Celestia’s life would be snuffed out because of his rage. He wouldn’t lose another important figure in his life…even if he had to surrender himself…he was tired of losing important ponies in his life.

“Alright…”

He hated complying, but he hated the thought of losing Tia even more.

Rixa had Glaciem just where she wanted him, her masters in Tartarus would be pleased. “it’s time masters…for I bring you proof that I, Rixa, am worthy of being the next spirit of war” She thought to herself as she magically picked up the piece of the fallen pillar and sent it flying at Glaciem.

It was only to late that Glaciem spotted the arrant piece of marble hurtle at him, with a low cracking noise, the world around Glaciem went black.

“That’s it then…a fine apprentice you will make Glaciem. I think it is more impressive to turn one against the very ones they sought to protect.” Rixa says before picking up Glaciem. She raises her eagle claw and clenches her fist summoning a second portal of fire.

“I could just kill you Glaciem…but this new apprentice idea sounds twice as fun…with your power by my side there is nothing we can't overpower.” Rixa snickered as she and Glaciem disappeared into the pillar of flame.

Beast of the Everfree Forest

My Little Pony
Friendship is magic
The light of Harmony
Chapter VI
The Beast of the Everfree Forest

A silent wind blew over the crowd of marching costumed ponies; Making the trees and bushes sway and rustle. But the only thing colder than the night air around them, was the near-paralyzing sensation that something was not only looking at them; but watching, Hunting them.

Twilight could not understand why, but amidst the murmuring of both young and old ponies that marched to the meadow of the Nightmare Moon statue, The uncomfortable sensation continued to creep from her mind down her back. She felt like she and Spike were being watched by something out in the forest; but what? She, Spike, Pinkie, Lucus, and Silver was in the group of young trick or treater’s but none of the other ponies in the group had paid attention during the night. And whatever it was one thing was for certain; This feeling was not a friendly one.

However, the group did not have to go much farther until they came to the familiar opening where the statue of Nightmare Moon resided; A stone monolith depicting a wicked looking mare reeling in the moonlight; almost like she is preparing to deliver a final blow to the land.

"Listen close my little dears, and I shall tell you where you got your fears..." Zecora began.

"Of Nightmare Night so dark and scary and of Nightmare Moon who makes you wary. " She says as she pulled a light green, sparkling dust and blew it into the air blanketing the entire area around the statue in its mist. "Every year we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her prying eyes. But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing; to gobble up ponies in one quick swing. On this night Hungrily she soars the skies, If she sees no-pony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!"

Twilight barely paid attention to the traditional Nightmare Night story, The feeling of being watched had grown more and more present in Twilight's heart as the green fog engulfed the area around the statue. She had not noticed, however, the crimson Jack o Lantern grin of Nemesis' mask beside her in the bushes.

Suddenly Twilight felt a searing heat nearby followed by the terrified screams of colts and fillies, she turns around and finds them surrounded by mountains of flames.

"Twilight! Help!" Twilight had managed to hear Pinkie's voice above the flames.

Twilight rushes over to the inferno, hoping that Pinkie, Zecora, and all of her friends and neighbors managed to make it out or away.

The sight of her friends fleeing for their lives made Twilight feel as if she had lava in her veins.

"Why use that amulet? why not face me with your own strength? or are you too afraid to?" Twilight said while glaring at the metallic alicorn; who to her surprise just stood there unmoved.

" She isn't serious is she?" Nemesis thought to himself as he watched the lavender unicorn just stand there a smirk on her lips. her horn emanating a light purple glow. He had faced many unicorns in his long career with the darkness, but why does this one seem to be stronger than he gave her credit for?

He could sense the power this unicorn gave off. An impressive display of magic and power Nemesis hoped that would make a challenging adversary. Nemesis had learned many things while under the tutelage of his master and the horses of doom, many of which included forbidden spells from the banished ancient scroll of dark magic.

Written by King Sombra on his teachings from the horses of the apocalypse, designed to either completely dominate other ponies physically or drive them mad with the insanity of mind spells. But as powerful as these spells were, Sombra could not master them in time to save them, or himself, from banishment to the polar regions.

"Don't test me!" Growled Nemesis, bringing his horn to life in a swirling red aura.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, Student of Princess Celestia and element of magic! I will take you down somehow!" Twilight declared defiantly. This alicorn may seem more powerful than she herself can fight, but she knew that the other elements.
Twilight saw what she could of the visual changes that this dark alicorn went through upon hearing the name "Celestia." It seems that the alicorn had finally begun to subside his rage for sadness, Twilight's interest was now peaked, Did this creature who attacked her and her friends somehow know the princess?

Suddenly the dark warrior stood up, a dark red aura spewing from his eyes. He lighted up his horn and fired a lightning spell against Twilight Sparkle. True to its mark, Twilight felt as if something heavy had slammed against her, paralyzing her, and sending her into a tree with a thud.

Twilight wasn't as focused on the headache she had just received as much as she was focused on how to defend herself from the approaching attacker with her body unable to move.

Nemesis approached the downed pony, somewhat disappointed that he did not get anything more than a mouth off from a potentially strong opponent. But as he loomed over her about ready to strike; he heard a voice in his mind. Granted it was a small voice compared to the overwhelming voice that was the alicorn amulet, But it still could not be ignored, telling him to control himself that maybe he is being too harsh.

Twilight writhed as much as she could finally she began to regain control of her body just as the sound of heavy metal hitting the ground drew nearer until she felt the icy cold touch of nemesis' steel leg armor tip on her stomach sending a shiver down her spine. She looked up into the masked face of her adversary, his eyes still belching red aura.

“ where is my necklace?” the alicorn growled in a cracked voice as red mists floated from his eyes.

Twilight gulped mentally but she could not back down now, this necklace for all she knew was a power source for this monster and she could not afford to let him get his hooves on it. Twilight gathered all the courage she could muster for what could be her last words.

“And if I refuse?”

“Then I’ll still get the information, by means of a power pony kind has not seen before…I just wanted to be a gentle-stallion and give you the opportunity to tell me the painless way.” Says Nemesis in a dark and threatening way.

A mixture of both confusion and fear gripped Twilight’s mind. What powers could he be referring to? What are these powers capable of? She had a feeling she was about to find out the hard way. "No, I won't be defeated like this! Equestria is counting on me!" With that the lavender unicorn activated her horn and with a powerful blast of her purple magic, she sent the alicorn tumbling back a few steps.

Nemesis noticed the unicorns violet covered electricity magic still crawl all over his armor, hearing it's sizzle as it bounced to and fro from one spike to another. The alicorn Warrior shook the dizziness from his mind and focused all his mental energy toward his horn; once again enveloping it into his signature dark red aura. The aura spread all over his body absorbing all of Twilight's magic and sending it surging to his horn. With a grunt, Nemesis sent the giant surge of electricity forward toward Twilight.

Twilight gasped in shock as she felt her heart skip a beat. The speed that the alicorn not only recovered from but made a counterattack after a magical surge like that was unheard of for Twilight. She also knew that if she didn't move soon she'll be a victim of her own disabling spell. Twilight focused as much energy as she could as quickly as she could and summoned a bubble around herself.

The light that consumed Twilight was nearly blinding to the dark warrior, who turned his head away from the light. Suddenly the light disappeared, momentarily leaving Nemesis alone with his captive ponies in the pillar. As quickly as it had disappeared the light orb re-appeared behind him, just as a loud crash of a dead tree fell behind him.

Nemesis once again brought his horn to life with the crackling of magical surge of electricity and quickly sent it forward to where the young unicorn had summoned herself.

Once again the familiar sensation of being slammed by A full cider barrel had reverberated through Twilight's body. She tightened every muscle she could to cushion the impact of the fall. she hit the cold hard ground of the everfree forest, dizzy and mentally as well as physically exhausted.

Twilight felt something grab her by the neck, to her surprise she was still able to breathe. But any sort of relief that gave was soon decimated when she was gazing into the red eyes of the alicorn. Many thoughts went through Twilight's mind but were more prevalent than the questions regarding Her mentor, Equestria, and her friends.

"What are you going to do with my friends?" Asks Twilight fearfully. She tried to block out the horrifying images of her friends and family in pain, but they just kept coming back like a re-occurring nightmare.

Nemesis exhaled some and looked the unicorn in the eye. He did not know why or how, but some part of him said that enough is enough. He asked himself why, why after a millennium of hunting down and gathering souls without a second thought was he now considering relieving this mare of her fears. Was it because he wanted to defeat her at her best? That he realized he was not doing what he was instructed to do? or maybe something else?

Whatever the reason Nemesis shook his head in weariness, Against his own judgment he turned his head around and activated his horn and shot a beam toward the pillar of flames.

Twilight watched in amazement as the pillar of fire began to swirl and then rocket toward the alicorn with such force that the trees around them swayed in the same direction. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, the familiar faces of the shaken trick or treaters re-appeared where the flames had once stood.

"I only needed them to be out of the way, but I will be on my way soon enough, just after I get the info" With that Nemesis activated his horn and shot a red beam into Twilight's horn. Nemesis closed his eyes as a flood of Twilight's memories flew around him. Finally, after a few minutes, he spotted his necklace being given to a white alicorn with a golden tiara and harness, golden slippers and a Light blue, green, and lavender mane flowing in the breeze.

"Here Princess! I managed to pull this off of the attacker." An echo of Twilight's voice said to a shocked "Celestia."
The Celestia in Twilight's memories seemed to look at the necklace

Twilight could tell he was in her mind looking for answers. She now pieced together that whoever this pony was, had a very strong command of the dark forces. A knowledge that barely anypony she ever knew had.

But through the mind read, she saw something unfamiliar, a scroll of ancient knowledge. More and more images began to assault her mind; the picture of a bloodied light blue alicorn, the said alicorn attacking Discord while the princesses prepared the elements of harmony, and this alicorn nuzzling the princess. A female draconaquus telling him that he has been lied to about Love. It was then that Twilight realized she was looking into the stallions memories just as she was looking into her's. Then the images disappeared and the whole world around her went black.

Lord Nemesis dropped the limp, unconscious body of his adversary to the ground with a hard thud as the other ponies watched; horror spread across their faces. Nemesis hardened his glare on the other ponies as if he was studying them.

"Did you truly think you were going to stand a chance against the power of war with Friendship?! Friendship and love do not exist" With that, Nemesis extended his wings; A loud scrape of metal sounding as he hoisted himself into the air and flew off into the night.

Pinkie rushed over to her unconscious friend her mane now hanging limply and flat against her head.

"Twilight! Please say something!"

Slowly the lavender unicorn opened her eyes to the relief of Pinkie and the group.

"Oh thank goodness!" Proclaimed Pinkie, her mane poofing back to its normal shape. "Twilight thank goodness you are okay, what did that meanie do to you?!" Asked Pinkie helping her friend to her hooves.

Twilight could only shake her head in disbelief, struggling to process what had just happened namely with the Alicorn's memory.

"I saw his memory Pinkie..."

"Whose memory?" asked a confused Pinkie

Twilight sighed as she closed her eyes, her head beginning to pound as she searched her memories for any signs of a name, a cutie mark, anything identifying about the stallion.

"I can't say for certain..."Twilight couldn't summon anything above a mere whisper, her body wracked by exhaustion. Her mind was in no better shape as it, too, hurt to even think about the memories she had just witnessed.

However, finally, The stallions memories she witnessed began to resurface in her mind. The unicorn stared at the ground, the burning in her chest eventually fading.

"But I believe we know somepony who may have an answer!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The young alicorn Warrior landed in a smaller meadow, guarded by a chasm and a decrepit looking castle as a silent wind blew across the forest.

Glaciem, the dark warrior, apprentice to the four horses of the end, Stood there holding back any memories that would hinder him in any way. Slowly he removed his mask; his scarred face now feeling the cold night air and the illuminating rays of the full moon and stars above.

"This is for you Celestia..."

Ghosts of the past

My little Pony

Friendship is magic

The Light of Harmony

Chapter Seven

Ghosts of the Past

A slight breeze blew through the royal bed-chambers making the drapes of the Princess of the Sun's bed as well as the curtains billow into her room as well. Celestia tossed and turned in her sheets back and forth, trying unsuccessfully to drift off to sleep. But amidst the calming moonlight that softly illuminated her room and the occasional gently autumn breeze, the idea of sleep was just as reclusive as ever.

Frustrated Celestia rose from her bed with a sigh that suggested that she had given up trying to appease her natural desire for rest. She walked to the window, where the moonllight was strongest and the wind was most prevalent; Something did not feel right to her.
A sudden green flare shot from her horn illuminating her room in a bright green glow, Making the sun Princess retreat at least a few inches. Normally this would be a good sign; her student learning something new about friendship and reporting, except it was unusually late in the evening for Twilight to be sending her something.

The scroll that popped out of the air was immidiately enveloped in Celestia's yellow aura and brought to her. The paper unfirled to reveal a scroll that was more like a report from the battlefield then one from her most faithful student.

" To Princess Celestia,

While participating in the traditional Nightmare night giving of sweets, A monster wearing armor similar to the dark warrior in the crystal Empire attacked Twilight and the group. Outside of a few cuts Twilight was not seriously hurt and is recovering. Twilight said this alicorn was heading for the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters to find a necklace or something, Twilight with her firends, and adopted brother Thunderara said that they would head there and would like your assistance in the matter; please I don't think that Twilight and her friends can take this pony on themselves please help them!

Spike"

Celestia promptly dropped the paper as worry and frustration began to overwhelm her mind. Would her faithful student, the mare who she looked to not only as a student but more as a surrogate daughter come out of this ordeal unscathed? And what does this dark warrior have against Equestria? All pony-kind has ever known about him was he was usually seen right around the Everfree forest.
It was a question that was; unfortunatly for celestia, Going to have to wait. Equestria was in danger and needed her help. She quickly ran to her desk, A light brown hard oak desk situated beside the balcony and unfurled a piece of paper and taking a quill; and dipping it in the ink she wrote her response.

"To My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle and her friends,

I will head to the ancient castle and face this creature and Question him on his actions, in the meantime please make sure that Twilight takes it easy until she recovers, She will need you more than I will on this mission.

Regards,
Celestia."

Unfurling her wings, The mare of the sun summoned a fire that enveloped the envelope turning it to mid air smoke and just as soon as it appeared the smoke she walked towards the door with a anxiousness in her step. The door handle became envoleped in the yellow glow as the door flew open with a thud loud enough to reverberate down the empty hall. It took only a few minutes to reach the observation platform on the other side of the hallway, but to Celestia it was not quick enough.

Finally she stood right behind the railing of the observation platform of the royal castle, The cold air billowing through her ever flowing mane. where they when Canterlot was first built would look out for intruders. Now it's part of the Canterlot Castle tours that ran through the castle, Letting ponies observe through the telescope posted right to Celestia's left to give the ponies a eagle eyes view of the surrounding vallies.

"I'm coming my little ponies..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The moon's glow radiated through the abandoned and decrepit former capital of Equestria. The cold night air blew through the castle onto Glaciem's metallic helmet. But as chilly as the night air was to the rest of Equestria; Glaciem payed it no mind. Not where thousands of memories lay of once happier times of his life. Not where he could hear thousands of voices Echo through the crumbling hallways silently judging him, remarking how far he had fallen. Glaciem knew how far he had fallen, how dissapointed every-pony would be if they discovered that Glaciem who prided himself on honor and courage now was apprentice to the four horses and how sick he was of hearing it. To Glaciem he was to far gone, the last best hope of redemption died along with Celestia millenia ago, along with Nightmare Moon.

Still the wind blew into the abandoned building, still the voices hammered him, remarking what a dissapointment he turned out to be, Still as chilly as his heart had become when it succumbed to a vast ocean of sadness and broken hopes. The voices never ceased, telling how Glaciem had betrayed not only his own father and mother, but the royal parents of Equestria, who tried to raise him to be the leader he was meant to be but only for their kingdom of Equestria.

But the one thing outside of his hearing that bothered him, was the stench of decaying magic spells still in the old castle; some of them darker than the others.

While Glaciem wandered around seemingly lost as to what to do next in this haunting old castle, He failed to notice a dark blue and purple aura wrap itself around a suit of armor fusing itself with the steel body armor that now acted as a skeleton, slowly lowering itself off of it's pedastal.

There was a sudden clang of metal hitting the ground, Glaciem turns around to see a black mare with a flowing blue mane and tail with a purple border stars dotting all over the mane and tail; Blue armor adorning the mare shining in the moonlight,Her cutie mark being of a crescent moon in a dark blue blotch. Her teal demonic eyes fixed on the dark warrior that stood before her.

“Is this what qualifies as a dark magic user? Pathetic!” The black mare hissed at Glaciem.

“If that was supposed to be insulting than I guess that’s one more failure you can chalk up…” The dark warrior retorted.

“Thousands of ponies have feared my name…” The black alicorn mare began as dark blue magic began to swirl around her horn. “Soon you to will learn to fear and respect the name Nightmare Moon!” Suddenly a dark blue beam erupts from her horn rocketing towards Glaciem.

Glaciem stepped to the side as he felt the searing heat of the magic bolt rocket past him and hitting the wall, disintigrating it on impact.

Nightmare let a cold chuckle through her lips, She could see right through him, Glaciem's fears and anxieties played out in her head like a movie.

"Do you still carry that old flame for my sister? or have you realised that there is no such thing as love?" Nightmare asked, trying to get her opponent to attack recklessly.

Nemesis turned his head to the side, the memory of his pony-napping still as fresh as it ever was.

"oh did I hit a nerve? I wonder what she would say if she saw what a sell-out you have become!" Nightmare probed, picking on his anxiaties.

Nemesis snorted in frustration at his opponents taunts, he did not choose this life of darkness but like it or not his pony-napper was his master now and as far as he knew he had no reason to want to go back to the ways of peace, love, and harmony.

"And what would your parents say, hm?"

Nemesis felt any sort of cantrol fade at this point, His horn came to life, his eyes became shrouded once again in a dark red flowing aura. His memories were not this mare's playthings and now he was a determined as ever to make sure that Nightmare Moon would always remember that.

"heh, this foal is in no real condition to fight me, he is to far distracted..." Nightmare thought to herself as if she were grading a foal at school.

"I can use this to my advantage!" Nightmare Moon thought to herself, grinning as she lit up her horn.

Nemesis had also activated his horn, closing his eyes, trying to muster as much mental strength as possible for his attack; And with a sudden burst of searing heat, he saw a pillar of flames rocket towards Nightmare moon.

With that thought Nightmare moon closed her eyes and focused on the spiritual energy that seemed to be leaving her newely found "Skeleton" armor. Some-pony, or something, seemed to be controlling her and is retreating her into spirit form. Nightmare thought of a way to use this to her advantage, suddenly it hit her.

"Time to play the mind game!"

Nemesis watched as purple haze that was once his opponent dissapear into thin air. Nemesis sighed, he wanted to indulge the thought that he had won the fight, But he could not let that cloud his judgement; not when his thoughts continued to whir in his head their voices shouting in unison a warning that this fight was not yet over.

"Get back here and face me!" Nemesis found himself screaming angrily. What infuriated him the most was this mare spent had spent a good portion of their fight claiming that she knew him and how much she was better than him, but then just runs off like a frightened school filly in front of a timberwolf.

"If your going to sit there and ramble how powerful you are then get down here and face me Coward!"

"I should have known that the loss of my sister would be the cause of your new position with the four horses!" Came Nightmare Moon's voice from all around, leaving a deep impact of sadness on the alicorn's mind.

The cold breeze that echoed across the desolate remains of the once proud castle did nothing to calm the nervousness that crawled down Nemesis' back. It was clear that this mare, this Nightmare Moon, seemed to know everything about him. What's worse she may be just toying with him slowly making him to nervous to look out behind him.

"Take it from me Glaciem, Celestia would never love something as cold, ruthless, and evil as you; Even if she was still around!"

Nemesis scowled as the purple mist returned and evneloped the armor, re-animating herself once again in front of him.

"You will stay out of my head, witch!" Glaciem snorted as red aura swirled around his horn, Closing his eyes he felt the searing heat of flames rocket past the top of his head.

Nightmare could only watch as the flames slamed into her, sending the metallic body toward an empty bookshelf covered in dust. The bookcase lurched forward, giving a loud moan and ultimatly disintigrating into a pile of splintered wood with a loud crash; Shrouding the dueling alicorns in a field of dust.

The Wicked Nightmare moon gave a slight smile "Time to show this foal why I was named "Nightmare"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The words that Princess Celestia had wrote down on the sheet of paper echoed in Twilight's head as if it were a lone voice in a endless cave. Twilight, Her friends, and her adopted Brother had paced the floor for what seemed like hours, trying to decide on what to do next.

"We can't let her fight him alone!" Silver declared trying to hide her fear behind rage and determination.

"It's a tough choice..." Thunderwing said; Recalling the many stories that her adopted sister Twilight had told him of her adventures and how many times Princess Celestia had helped them out in some form or another. "I care for her ust as much as the next pony, but you saw what happened when he fought Twilight, not only would we be getting in the way and cause needless worry for the Princess, what if this time it's fatal twilight?!"

Twilight understood why Thunder was acting like this, ever since they first met he has looked out for her almost as if he could tell they would soon become a brother and sister "But what if we dont respond? and the Princess is overpowered again?! I wouldn't be able to forgive myself guys knowing that I could have helped stop him! maybe I could not defeat him by myself but with Princess Celestia we could at least stand a chance!"

Every inch of Twilight's mind shouted in unison to help the Princess. The Lavender mare tossed off the blanket as she staggered to her feet; she felt as if the world had begun to spin for several seconds before she gathered her senses together and bolted for the door.

Spike, Pinkie, I wish you could come with me but we don't have time to get the elements.you must stay here I need to do this on my own!"

"Twilight get back here! you musn't get involved!" Thunderwing bellowed through the door's impact against the wall hoping to get her attention, but it only seemed to bounce off of twilight like a pebble being thrown at a boulder.

Thunderwing swung around and faced the small group that was left behind as worry began to cloud his mind.

"Get the others Everypony! we have to go and get her!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You called for us my lady?" a muffled demonic female voice chimed from behind Rixa.

"I must ask you to keep an eye on Lord Nemesis at the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. If he is to reclaim his title and his destiny any and all unwanted guests must be eliminated, Understand?" Rixa shot back at the armored trio of ponies.

"At once!" was all Rixa heard from behind her as the ponies ran off into the forest, the sound of their heavy armor dissapearing into the forest.

I am Reborn

Friendship is Magic
The Light of Harmony
Chapter Eight
“I am Reborn”

It seemed like the dust that was kicked up from the fallen Bookcast was finally beginning to settle, But as Glaciem approached where the bookcase once stood, still shrouded by a veil of Dust making it difficult to see anything that may threaten him. He wandered through the sand grey mist, looking for his opponent slightly annoyed that the dust just seemed to linger on longer than it was supposed to. Then out of the clearing mist of dust
sat a slightly familiar silhouette.

The warrior inched forward, the settling dust reflected the red hued magic his horn was giving off. The Silhouette suddenly sprang to it’s feet, it’s mane flowed in the wind effortlessly in an eerily familiar way. As his hoofbeats echoed through the castle, Glaciem’s wonder began to replace alertness. “Why am I here?” is all Glaciem could ask himself, but each time only to be greeted with the same answer; Silence. Glaciem brought his horn to life readying himself for another attack from Nightmare moon. The dust finally dissipated revealing the silhouettes identity to a stunned Glaciem who deactivated his horn.

Before him stood a white Alicorn Mare with a flowing mane and a cutie mark shaped like a sun adorned on her. Glaciem was in awe as well as disbelief at who stood before him, He knew that who he was seeing defied all logic and something stirred deep within him, the feeling he thought died within him centuries ago began to stir deep within his soul and a mindset he thought to have lost forever began to speak again.

“Celestia?”

As he spoke that name the silhouette turned her head, Glaciem Readied himself, he knew Nightmare moon was still amongst the debris and dust somewhere. Although he wanted to believe who he was seeing was real but he knew he wouldn’t be that fortunate. As the last of the dust settled, there before him stood the mare that he always believed he would never see again.

Glaciem could feel his eyes begin to get misty, it seemed to Glaciem for those few precious moments; after twelve hundred years of living in Tartarus, of feeling nothing but sadness, despair, and hatred day after day, year after year. knowing that ponies outside of Tartarus where living the life that he had a chance to live; not as royals, but with Families and lovers who loved them. Glaciem shook his head Flustered “Get a grip! you know this is fake” But it was too late, something had been re-awakened, a voice now cried out in him, asking what he was doing here? why was he doing this? It was then Celestia closed her eyes. Glaciem once again shook his head, trying to tell himself that it was Nightmare moon playing a trick on him, but as clear as this voice was; Glaciem’s horn would not respond. Nightmare or not he could not do it, He could not bring up the courage to strike down the mare he cared for. Suddenly Celestia’s eyes shot open, revealing Nightmare Moon’s teal cat like eyes. Her horn suddenly came to life surrounding itself with Nightmare Moon’s purple hued Magic. Glaciem reactivated his horn, But not before beam of purple magic shot from the imposters horn, immediately he felt it slam into his chest armor with enough force to send him hurtling through the air. There was a loud, metallic thud as Glaciem struck the floor. The armor did its job, Glaciem immediately got up to face his opponent again. It was then Glaciem realised why his master sent him here.

The white alicorn shot into the air, enveloping herself in a purple mist that swirled around her like a miniature tornado. Suddenly the small purple tornado shot towards the ground, slowly dissolving as it descended. A loud metallic crash reverberated through the castle as the metal suit that made Nightmare’s current body landed mere feet away from the stricken warrior. Slowly she approached him. Nightmare was relishing every step, as if she had become the spirit of death himself.“Spirit of war?!” she scoffed at the very thought of this weakling declaring himself such a distinguished title.

Nightmare remembered her exile in the moon, how she could do nothing but plot her revenge and drown in sorrow at what she had lost. But during that time she also reminisced about stories her parents had told her; a story that she thought struck an eerie similarity to what she had just went through. About a young pony who had also felt shunned and unloved, and how he had become a monster. That monster called himself Nemesis, “The spirit of war.” His dark power like her opponents, was legendary, and how his spirit was sent to Tartarus following his defeat. Afterwards the alicorn amulet that he wore was sent into hiding never to be discovered, however some say that the amulet hides it’s fair share of secrets.

Glaciem’s body began to tremble as his breathing became more audible a Rage like he had never felt before began to stream through him. But as Glaciem’s rage took hold he noticed that he began to notice that the world around him began to blur, the sound of the wind began to grow fainter, the smell of mildew that permeated the castle became more faint. slowly lose his senses. It was then Glaciem heard a voice that he swore was emanating from the bright red gem that decorated his armor;The growl was a low and demonic one.

Nightmare moon stepped back as a twinge of fear and uncertainty gripped her. Her opponent has visibly changed, his eyes now spewing a dark red aura, She sensed his dark powers began to surge in power as well. The thing that unnerved her most however was when she looked into the dark warrior’s red eyes, it was as if another pony was staring back, watching, waiting for some indication that she was weakening. Still she had this self proclaimed warrior in an emotional struggle, Nightmare grinned; she knew that she had an advantage when an opponent was distracted, and without thinking twice she dashed forward hoping to seal this fools fate.

As she charged forward she noticed that Glaciem was not moving, nor did he show any signs of emotion. He just stood there, his eyes piercing right through her,as if he were studying the mare But it was the suspension in thought . Nightmare glared at Glaciem, Offended that he was not regarding her attack with much importance. But as she glared; she began to ask herself “How is this pony able to hurt me? Mortal Ponies are not supposed to be able to harm spirits!” Nightmare declared in her thoughts, unable to firmly grasp any logical reason.

Nightmare suddenly jumped into the air and readied her horn for battle but just before she suddenly lurched forward and gave a pained grunt as a loud metallic crunching sound was heard through the ruined castle. She looked down and saw that a hole had been blasted through the armor she wore.

Nightmare slowly began to
feel more heavy, like somepony had suddenly dropped hundreds of pounds of stone on her back as she began her descent back to the floor below her. Nightmare hit the floor hard; She began to panic as she saw the stallion approach her.

Nightmare stared once again into Glaciem’s blood red eyes, fear freezing her in place. She struggled to find an answer to her predicament. Shakily she returned to her hooves, she may be struggling to even stand, but she absolutely refused to cower before this pretender.

Nightmare dashes forward, Bent on nothing but her adversaries defeat, her purple magic illuminating the decaying stone around them. Glaciem calmly began to walk forward, assured that it was indeed only a matter of time before Nightmare began to throw caution into the wind and face him head on; a style that he excelled at. He smiled an unseen smile, Nightmare Had indeed become careless, enough to attack him on his terms. The warlords muscles tensed as Nightmare moon Approached him, her horn now surging with energy, he would
practically feel her breath if he weren’t wearing armor.

A sudden tremor rumbled through the demolished castle’s remains as Nightmare fired her magic attack at the armored warrior, who was now less than several inches away. But to her dismay her opponent began to flap his wings as he moved the dark purple energy blast just barely grazing his right ear, Nightmare tried to stop herself from blowing past him in time to fire another magic burst. However as she began to do so, she felt a burst of dark magic suddenly go through her
right wing.

Glaciem watched Nightmare Twirl and flip through the air, trying unsuccessfully to regain her flight senses. Nightmares terrified shriek reverberated through the castle as the mare slammed hard onto the floor. Nightmare looked back into the two pools of red eyes that spewed a small green aura, in a state of awe and confusion.

How was the fool able to harm her? how are his blows managing to have an effect on her? He is mortal; She is not. “There are only two beings in history that ever had the power to have inflict any sort of damage on spirits...and they have been gone for over a millennial. is it possible that somehow, this fool found the scrolls of black magic?”

Glaciem stepped back as nightmares horn came to life; a swirling purple mist slowly emanated from her horn and enveloped the mare. Glaciem saw the black pony shaped mass in the middle of the purple aura warp and once again take a more recognizable shape.

Glaciem gave an exhausted grunt as he once again saw Celestia’s form before him. Was this spirit Desperate? how much in contempt did Nightmare moon hold Glaciem in to insult his intelligence by believing this sham would work a second time? He had enough of Nightmare taking Celestia’s name through the mud in an effort to play with his mind.

She once again looked into The warrior’s eyes, who in turn glared back as if he were staring right through her. Just like before they were giving off their scarlet hue, the small green aura now flowed like the inferno of flames that made his mane.

Nightmare saw through the fear that surged through her spirit enough to realize knew she would not make it out of this the same way she entered it. “What are you planning to do to me?” Nightmare asked; Her voice, once rumbling with confidence, now sounded more like a frightened filly staring down a pack of ravenous timber wolves.

The masked warrior did not give the frightened mare an answer. There was a long and pregnant silence as Glaciem debated with the dark voice on what to do with his defeated opponent. He had known since he first saw the mare that this had been a test to conquer his fear of doing what he needed to do. Deep down he knew that if Nightmare was allowed to escape; The Darkness that created her would eventually build up enough strength to find a new pony to corrupt, and a new legend of terror like that of Nightmare moon would live again.

Nightmare analyzed her situation and thought hard. The armor that had acted as her skeleton was missing its front left leg , meaning she could not attack him without collapsing the armor within her. Nor could she use much magic to attack him again without sacrificing her very Spiritual existence. Her magic was exhausted; largely in part to her visaed of Celestia, and she could not use any more magic without harming her very existence. Nightmare’s magic, like all other ponies, required energy to exercise and cast; Something her current form was nothing but

Glaciem could hear the twisted thoughts coming from the Alicorn Amulet. How it silently enjoyed the terror Nightmare was being put through.

Suddenly Glaciem felt a surge of electricity go right up his throat, through his skull, and into his horn as his horn lit up in a dark red hue, the amulet was not interested in letting her go or to give her a quick send off to Tartarus forever. Red lightning shot from Glaciem’s horn and enveloped nightmares horn. Slowly, inch by inch to Nightmares horror, her soul began to unravel around the suit of armor as she felt herself slowly being sucked into Glaciems amulet feeding off of what was left of her dark power.

The whole world slowly began to blur back into existence, his hooves once again felt the sharp edges of gravel and chipped stone, once again he heard the crunch the gravel made when one of his steel covered hooves came down on the crumbling floor. Glaciem looked at his own hooves unable to fully understand what had just happened; one minute he is fighting Nightmare Moon, the next the whole world goes dark as something took control in the wake of the explosion of his temper. He looked down at the armor that had once been his opponent that littered the ground. shocked, Glaciem could only ask one question to himself this question would echo in his head, into the black void that was slowly releasing him.

“what have I done?!”

The only response he received was a deep, dark voice that seemed to come from the amulet itself.
“I am reborn…”

Author's Note

woo!

Hey Everyone!

Finally after a while of uncertainty and writer's slump I finally have completed Chapter eight of "The Light of Harmony". After a ferocious fight against Nightmare Moon, Glaciem begins to feel another presence inside him; one that has been dormant for nearly Two Thousand Years. Unfortunately for Nightmare moon it is not until the end she realises just why and how this stallion was able to inflict damage upon her spirit. I ctually have to think that in this chapter I have successfully created suspense, as well as an aura of apprehension and fear. along with Mystery...who has possessed Glaciem? What is he? these questions shall be answered soon...so as always: Share, comment (Pwease :3), and fave. And if you find anything wrong with the story...please let me know in constructive criticism :). Outside of that thanks for reading ^^

The Darkness of Day

My Little Pony
Friendship Is Magic
The Light of Harmony
Chapter Nine
The Darkness of Day

Although the silvery glow from her sister’s moon was just as strong as it was when Luna had first raised it many hours earlier, it did little to illuminate much, if any, more of the demolished castle that Celestia had once called her home. Around Celestia it was just like any other fall night; the trees where all shedding their summer foliage which now crunched beneath her hooves. The wind had picked up as well, making all of the now barely leafed trees sway. It was as if the everfree forest itself was frightened, frightened of what lay in the castle. The essence of darkness here at the ancient castle had always been there, Ever since the rise of Nightmare moon, now seemed stronger; as if it were feeding off of somepony or something within.
Celestia prepared herself mentally as her hoofsteps echoed through the crumbling walls, chips of the stone floor that had been upturned now crunched beneath her golden slippers.

She scanned her surroundings, unable to see into the silhouetted rooms, corridors, and hallways that twisted and turned through what was left of the castle.

The sun princess huffed in frustration as her patience began to dwindle. A dangerous monster claiming to be one the four legendary Equestrian Horses of despair was somewhere in her ancient castle home yet she could not find him. Ponies were suffering because of him, but as much as she wanted to apprehend this pony; part of her wanted it to be just another petty thief with an over-inflated view of himself. But as the aura of darkness that permeated the castle grew stronger, she knew there was something about this intruder that made her feel uneasy. Although that uneasiness seemed to dominate her mind she remained ready to face this demon, horse of war or not.

Suddenly, a loud metallic crash sounded through the castle and echoed into the Everfree forest. Celestia immediately recognized the metal hitting the stone floor as one of the suits of armor that her parents had on display throughout the castle. She dashed toward the noise where she deduced the sound came from, her heart pounding from apprehension. Celestia saw the archway that introduced visitors into the library.

The bookcases of the royal library, even for the Princess of the sun, seemed to stretch toward the star studded skies above. But it was the site before her that had caught her attention and filled her heart with fear. Before her was a monstrous being, the silvery moonlight glinting off the armor that adorned his body, flames belched from his head and his hindquarters signifying a mane and tail. The being’s blue eyes gazed into his hooves, almost like he was questioning himself; the mask this being wore resembled the likeness of a dragon. Embedded into the chest armor she saw the familiar outline of the alicorn amulet, its bright gem gleaming with a healthy crimson color. But what caught her eye about the amulet was a purple and blue dot swimming around in the amulet leaving trails of the same color as it dashed from one end of the crystal to the next. Celestia stepped back for a minute; there was only one stallion throughout all of Equestrian history who wore this armor. “No!” Celestia said to herself, trying to stem the ever increasing fear inside her “anypony could have stolen his armor; this could still be a visad.”
The solar monarch gave a slight breath as she walked forward, the being’s head suddenly shooting up, registering her hoofsteps that echoed across the decrepit old Library. She knew she had to get an answer from this being, what did it want with Equestria?! She knew why he wanted the Jewel she gave to Glaciem, and it was not for its psychological importance. Celestia immediately stalled as she stared at the being, whose eyes went from a familiar ice blue, to a blood red and fire yellow combination.

Celestia closed her eyes for a slight second, unable to understand what she had just seen. “Did his eyes just change color?” she asked herself, despite knowing that her eyes did not deceive her. The princess of the sun noticed the ice blue color of the eyes before and thought of the night her and Glaciem shared under the moonlight many centuries before. She quickly shook her head, trying hard to remove the image of her love from her head. “Even if he was still alive, he would never be willing to terrorize innocent ponies for fun or otherwise…” she asked herself why she would ever consider Glaciem going dark. Was it because of the snowflake pendant she received from Twilight when she faced this monster?! Celestia raced forward toward the beast, he will be brought to justice! For Twilight, For Equestria, for her lost love!

“I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, and I hereby demand that you stand down and cease you attack on innocent ponies, in the name of Equestria...I place you under arrest, Nemesis!”
Glaciem gave an angry snort as his horn immediately came to life in a furious display of red electricity. There was no doubt in Glaciem’s mind that this was a changeling imposter. After all; the real princess Celestia had died during her battle against Nightmare Moon from her wounds she suffered during the battle. The disrespect the changelings showed toward the pony whom he once considered to be his closest friend, his most loyal supporter, but most importantly; she was the one mare who loved and cared for him through every mistake he had ever made when he was staying in Canterlot.

The dark warrior remembered the moment he was told that the light of his life took a powerful magic blast to the chest, the blast he was told was strong enough to punch a hole through her gold collar. Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon using the powers of the elements of Harmony, but not even the strongest defensive force in all of Equestria could save the solar Princess from her injuries. In his heart, Glaciem knew he could’ve helped his childhood friend; Helped her try to talk some sense into a jealousy driven Luna.

In his head; Glaciem could not blame Luna for becoming Nightmare moon he knew that even good hearts could be corrupted, given the right circumstances and enough time to grow and fester in both the mind and the heart. But in his heart, Glaciem could not help but feel a twinge of anger and disappointment towards somepony whom he considered a little sister. The night his final two friends; Celestia his special somepony, and Luna his unofficial little sister left the world any resolve he had left in him diminished. The only thing that satisfied him now was battle, for twelve hundred years Glaciem had hunted dark magic users that had failed his master; feeding off of their magic. And now he had some form of Closure; he had defeated the main reason Celestia had died, he defeated the demon that dragged Luna’s name through the mud, and now he would defeat the insect that had taken advantage of the royal power vacuum his master told him off and made a mockery of the Name “Celestia.”

Finally, Glaciem’s metallized voice rang throughout the castle in a slightly condescending way. “So...is this all the changeling’s have to send against me? So what do I owe the prestigious honor of being visited from an over glorified mosquito?” the dark warrior huffed toward the Solar Princess, his voice soaked in sarcasm.

The solar Princess did not know what to make of his condescending remark. “Over glorified Mosquito” played again and again in her head, going over each species known to Equestrian’s. “Could he mean changelings?” Celestia asked herself. Equestrians who felt nothing but resent toward the attackers, started relating the Changelings appearance and scavenger like eating habits to insects like Mosquitoes. For over one thousand years; since she herself had to take over the power of raising the moon, after the night Luna was banished to the moon.

Celestia dug through the many memories that surrounded the Changeling hive and their deceptive Queen. The Canterlot wedding fiasco was not the first time Chrysalis had set her eyes on the Equestrian capitol with Conquest in mind. When Luna was banished to the moon, the shadow of uncertainty surged across Equestria. Their Princess, Celestia, had defeated the wicked Nightmare moon but the cost was more than she could bear.

Celestia remembered all too well the dawn one week after Luna’s banishment, waking up to warning bells ringing through the city. She recalled running toward the window and tearing the curtains open and seeing nothing but a living, breathing black mass of changelings suddenly swooping down and attacking the guards who still managed to hold off most of the attacking Changelings. After a tough fight against the changeling monarch Celestia managed to overtake Chrysalis. However; Chrysalis vowed to return but next time, the Changeling Queen Decided, Discretion would be the better part of valor.

The Solar Princess shook her head, bringing her memories to an end and bringing her back to the present, bringing her opponent back into view. The metal warrior tilted his head, confusion in his eyes but the Equestrian co-ruler could also see impatience surging through his eyes as well.

As far as Glaciem was concerned, if this was a test of his spirit one thing he was sure of; this revelation was taking too long. Considering that this was about as insulting as it got to the emotional pain he went through when he lost Celestia. Glaciem’s muscles tensed in frustration as the amulet illuminated the area around him, feeding off of his building rage and sending a strong burst of magic through him to his horn.

“Enough of this! The tarnishing of Celestia’s good name ends here Demon!” Glaciem growls toward the solar Princess. Celestia watched the amulet embedded in the warrior’s armor began to illuminate the destroyed castle’s stone walls and began to mass itself into a single large red orb above his horn. The Equestrian Ruler’s yellow aura begins to collect itself around her horn as a massive amount of red hued dark magic rockets erupts from the orb above the Warrior’s horn, rocketing straight towards her. The Solar Princess quickly responds, firing her own yellow magic toward the Red beam. A thunderous boom rocks the castle ruins as the beams collide.

Celestia felt the shockwave of the magic blasts, Her muscles tightened in an effort to stand her ground as the full force of the shock wave slams against both her and her opponent. As strong as the Equestrian ruler’s grip on the stone floor was, she could not stop the shockwave from sliding her back several feet; the gravel crackled beneath her sliding hooves. The solar Princess shifts her gaze from the ground back up to the black alicorn and hardens her gaze.

“I will not ask again Dark One Who are you? And why do you want The Jewel of Winter? It already chose somepony…” Celestia paused as she felt the icy grip of sadness clasped her heart. She began to a feel lump in her throat as the name of her closest friend was once again uttered, but after a moment she began to reign her emotions in; it was in the past, and that is where it should stay. “It chose My Best Friend; Glaciem! For my Kingdom, for my student, for the memory of my lost love; all of which whose memory you seek to disgrace! You will not, nor will you ever claim the winter Jewel’s power to purify this world!”

Glaciem sneered at his opponent; but among the feelings of rage he glimpsed a brief but bright glint of amusement in his Opponent’s assumption.

“Power?” The fallen warrior asked in a frustrated voice; as he did however, an amused, but unseen, smile crept across his face. Glaciem felt the cool night air seep through the three vertical cuts in his helmet that made up his helmets ventilation. He struggled to find any words to explain to this imposter just how wrong she was about the real meaning of what this gem meant, at least what made it special to him. Power was not the reason Glaciem wanted it, he could not say the same for the dark voice that rang in his head however who’s appetite for strength seemed insatiable.

A shudder crept down Celestia’s back as the thought of what this stallion, this demon, could do with the Winter Jewel. The Winter Jewel, the one she gave Glaciem so long ago and now target of this demonic warrior, was said to be one of the four jewels that created and maintained seasonal harmony throughout the world and proved to be a very valuable defense for the land before the elements of harmony were created. As its name suggests, the winter jewel controlled all of winter; from torrential snowstorms and blizzards to the sheets of ice that covered each lake across the land. What this jewel could do, if corrupted, would be disastrous for Equestria and to the ponies that called it home. With that threat looming in her mind Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of the land, was not about to see her ponies slowly starve into Oblivion; this warrior whoever he was must fail in his quest for a gem that was not even his to start with.

“Is power the best reason you could come up with?! It’s more than mere strength that jewel calls me for!” Glaciem angrily shot back at his opponent. Of all the reasons he wanted that gem, power was only half of the last reason that the crystal would come across his mind. Glaciem, of course, heard the legend surrounding the jewels powers and how it was one of four jewels that made up the elements of time. But it was the kindness and love from that day he remembered about that crystal the most.

The cracking of his opponent’s voice and the sadness he saw in her eyes made Glaciem step back for a moment, the anger loosening its hold on his heart. But as much as he wanted to smear this imposters confidence all over the dilapidated and crumbling walls of this decaying castle, Glaciem had to admit that he was Impressed this Changeling actually knew his old name.
Normally Changelings only learn the most rudimentary knowledge they need to pass the deception. But not only did this changeling remember his name, she did so in a very convincing way, like the Knowledge she knew was actually breaking her worse than any of his attacks would soon do; perhaps maybe she was telling the truth?

No! Glaciem remembered what his master told him about Changelings. How they tried to do their utmost to make you believe in any sort of lie their twisted minds could come up with, it only made sense that they would also try to change the tone of their voice to match the mood they were trying to sell. Glaciem now began to grow annoyed with this castle and with this mission; and the more the same two questions repeated over and over again in his head, the more frustrated he became. Nothing made sense anymore, he was sure the Celestia that stood before him was an imposter! Just like the last one was! And this imposter will suffer the same fate. In the name of his Best Friend that he lost many millennia ago, he swore that her name shall no longer be disgraced.

The warrior’s horn came to life as it began to collect energy from the surrounding forest. Glaciem snorted as he heard sizzling coming from his horn, the building Red electricity sending a tingle down his back. Glaciem spread his metal cladded wings out and jumped into the air above his opponent, He had it with this decrepit and decaying old castle toying with him.
But as he did so, Glaciem’s mind seemed to second guess the rash decision he had just made “No...Something about this just doesn’t make sense! How is this changeling aware of my former name?!”

“You are one of my best friends…” Celestia’s voice rang through his memory.

Glaciem did not want to do it, but he could feel in his soul his master’s harsh gaze watching his every move, judging him silently. Glaciem knew that his master sent him here for this mission; at least now he did. For several centuries now; Rixa’s patience with him slowly dwindled. When it came to fighting his enemies he had become hardened into a formidable warrior; striking down any of her most powerful rivals, if not giving them a warning by fighting, she asked him to. His weakness in Rixa’s mind however lay in Glaciem’s mind. For years she had tried to get him to strike down any semblance of Celestia she could come across or convince him to finish the job when he is sent on missions. In her mind the Spirit of War must not show mercy or compassion and instead only show two things; Ruthlessness and Brutality. To Rixa, the more brutal a war is the faster it will be over.

“Love is a cruel lie…” Echoed through Glaciem’s mind as his vision once again blurred, his senses once again were fading. This time however Glaciem tried his best to resist the takeover of his body but as he struggled he noticed that his sight eventually went black. This takeover however was stronger than the first time. Before tonight, on his occasional missions, Glaciem would once or twice feel some sort of presence emanating from the Amulet, A Dark presence that would sometimes goad Glaciem into being more aggressive than he usually would be. Despite his best efforts however, Glaciem had once again lost control of his body to the spirit of the amulet.

For the first time in hundreds of years he was in control of a physical body once again. Free to do whatever he pleased until Glaciem could regain control, and He was about to savor every moment of freedom...

The Equestrian Princess of the sun eyes were glued upon the dark Alicorn as he shot up into the air, he moonlight began glinting off of him, giving the alicorn a silvery outline. Celestia clenched her muscles and flexed her wings; this invader of her home was not going to get away; it’s what Luna would do...it’s what He would do. She shook her head not wanting to be distracted with her emotional attachment that she thought she had left behind and began transferring all of her available energy to her horn.

Glaciem flinched a bit as he felt a burning sensation surge through his throat, up through his skull and began to manifest itself on the tip of his horn as a small orb of Fire that grew more and more into a more sizeable ball of intense heat. Glaciem then slowly turn his head to the side the flames that now roared at the top of his horn now began to make his body shiver, the amount of energy it took to keep this fireball from either flickering out or going collapsing like a Supernova star and severely injuring them both took a strain on his body. And as he flicked his head forward a split second before the fire rocketed itself toward his opponent; her voice came through again…

“Somepony who wants to be your special somepony…”

He shook his head again, why was he hearing her voice again? He never heard it when he hunted down some of the Kingdom’s worst enemies. The last time he heard her voice was when he took on the mantle of the Spirit of war, when he remembered what she had said to him when at he was mourning his parents “You will always have friends here…” but that was a long time ago and he had moved on since then, up until this encounter tonight.

Celestia could feel the intense heat of the fire attack the warrior had summoned grow as it approached her. The solar Princess quickly glided out of the way as the pillar of fire shot past her and a loud thud was heard and the smell of smoke permeated through the castle air. For a split second the Princess looked back to see the damage; She could only barely see through the thick smoke The impacted bookcase was now just a blazing pile of lumber, the books no more than silhouetted, charred squares from where she was hovering.

Celestia then returned her attention toward her opponent, meeting his glare with her own. She watched as he arched his head back and to the side and flicked it forward, once again sending a fire attack toward her and once again missing; instead hitting the wall behind her and listening to it crumble onto the forest ground below this time however he kept this pillar alive as he watched her fly around him; his pillar of fire nearly incinerating anything it touched until finally the searing heat from behind her had begun to dwindle and, at last, Fade.

Although Glaciem’s energy was now beginning to fade after not only his battle with Nightmare moon but a massive fire attack, the warrior gritted his teeth in preparation. The battle with Nightmare moon had taken a mental as well as physical toll on him but as much as his Physical form complained, he paid it no mind, this time he was going to put an end to the besmirching of Celestia’s good name and prove to his master that he was indeed somepony to be reckoned with. He had trained for millennia for this battle; first with changelings and hooves, then with soul swords, than with the spells he currently used now spells that modern day ponies would be considered “Unnatural.”

Celestia heard a small but persistent grunting noise coming from her foe; she also noticed that for a brief second he was not attacking. The Princess understood what was going on, battling somepony before her and summoning a strong attack like the fire spell was beginning to take their toll. She took this opportunity to start thinking of a plan to find the answers she seeked. However for this to succeed she will need to harness the power of dark magic for the spell she was going to use. Celestia knew she could ask this warrior who he was and get one of two responses; the first and most probable response would be for him to ignore her question, the second was he would likely lie and come up with a name. For what she had in mind was a mind scanning spell.

Celestia almost never delved into the realms of Dark Magic; she had neither the drive, nor the want to practice Dark Magic if she could help it. There was once a time when she was interested in all aspects of Magic. However when her sister fell ,she saw firsthand the overwhelming power it had in consuming one’s personality; twisting and perverting every innocent soul it ever came across.

But why was Celestia remembering this now?

Celestia once again shook her head clear of the memories of her sisters fall out of her head, She had a job to do and a fight to win, if this pony wanted to delude himself into thinking Dark Magic was any sort of answer to his problems then so be it. She had to mind scan him just as he mind scanned Twilight Slowly. Celestia hated the fact she had to use arcane Magic to identify her foe, but she hated the thought of him tormenting her little ponies any further.

Celestia realized that this would not be an easy spell to cast as she closed her eyes to remember the memories of when she first began dabbling into the dark arts. It can be done without some wearing down but the more energetic the victim is the more resistance the mind can put up and eventually the scanner will risk having his or her connection to be severed, usually without any information being revealed. For the mind scan to work one of three things must occur. Either the pony being scanned must comply willingly, or the pony being scanned must be to mentally exhausted to offer any resistance.

The dull grey stone floors of the castle around the Princess began to turn into a golden yellow as Celestia began to collect as much of her magic into her horn as she could. She was certain she would need every ounce of it to fend off her opponents attacks.

Nemesis’ eyes were locked into his opponents; scanning her every move and facial expression. He knew she was nervous and basked in every moment of her fear. “You asked who I am.” His voice echoed through the castle’s corridors hauntingly with a hint of amusement amid the confusion that plagued the ancient war spirit. A low, echoey chuckle escaped his throat and reverberated through the night air. “I won’t tell you exactly who I am Princess, but I will say this. It has been nineteen hundred years since I last left my mark on Equestria, since I taught pony kind the harsh reality of fighting with each other in the name of pride and arrogance. I left a legacy that to this day has been virtually Uncontested.” As Nemesis spoke on, Celestia could hear the humor in his voice die away, Replaced by nothing but contempt and hatred.

“And now you, Celestia, Daughter of two of the ponies who helped defeat me and leader of the land I set fire to, now ask who I am?”

Celestia stood there speechless, her narrowed eyes fixed on her opponent with disbelief in her mind and soul. She easily pieced together the stallions words from an old story her parents used to tell her, when her and Glaciems parents fought and Defeated the Spirit of War and Hatred. But in her mind, the stallion’s claims were too outrageous to be true. Nemesis Died nearly two thousand years ago and was never heard from again, the elements of harmony had shredded his spirit into nothing, never to be heard from again. In her nearly eighteen hundred years, she never once saw a spell in any books strong enough to protect themselves physically or otherwise against the Elements of harmony.

“The Pony you claim to be no longer exists! The elements freed Equestria from his tyranny!” Celestia shot back toward her opponent. She was certain that Nemesis had not returned this had to be somepony who studied and practiced his magic in some delusion that he was the Dark Horse of War. Finally Celestia realized the built up energy and hurtled it toward her opponent.
“Losing our cool are we?!” Nemesis said smugly under his breath as he watched the yellow hued magic attack rush toward him. It surprised him to see Celestia acting so rashly with her attack. It was nothing he could not parry, but it also pleased the War Spirit. Nemesis was almost certain that it would take Longer to crack celestia’s temper. But as his amulet sparked to life and began to manifest her rage in the dark red mist of which he absorbed and gained strength from, the surprise of Celestia’s attack almost instantly wore off. A barely audible growl escaped from Nemesis as he absorbed the red mist of Celestia’s anger and began to grow stronger from it, he now has what he needed, who was he to question how quick it had come?

Nemesis could barely see the castle walls around him as the golden missile approached him. The Alicorn warrior crouched down, his front knees complained. The strains on his joints mounted from crouching were suddenly relieved when he opened his wings as the cold steel that enveloped the tops of his wings glinted in the moonlight and leapt high into the sky. The light of the attack dimmed as he heard a loud explosion and saw the wall beneath him disintegrate from the attack.

The dark magic Nemesis absorbed from the solar Princess was some of the most Powerful he had absorbed in a while. For the longest time the spirit of war had only Glaciem’s rage and sadness to regenerate him and gain power from. But as time went on he found his partner to be less angry and more complacent, more indifferent to the world around him. Eventually he stopped caring about every pony else; his life as he knew it had changed. Glaciem felt alone and he had lost every pony he ever cared for so eventually to protect himself from insanity he just quit caring. When he quit caring Nemesis began to grow weaker again, and he had come too far to be denied again.

Nemesis smiled an unseen smile as he suddenly realized that he would be giving the fool he possessed what he wanted. Sure her personality will be a bit altered but overall he will be with Celestia again. All that needed to be done was for Nemesis to influence a tweaking of Celestia’s soul and mind. After all he did it many times throughout history, what made the ruler of the land any less susceptible? She has regrets, she has hate and anger within her just like every pony else. Being immortal does not always ensure a happy ending.

“How can you be completely sure of that Princess?” The warrior’s deep voice echoed through the wind and crumbling walls of the castle once again. Nemesis exhaled as he began to channel the negative energies he had collected and summoned them to the tip of his horn, where he heard a much stronger sizzling than before. The fresh dark energy he had collected from Celestia’s own anger making the coming attack all the stronger, she was about to find out first hoof the consequences of letting her anger overcome her common sense.

The shockwaves that came with the release of the energy that made up the lightning was powerful enough to shake Nemesis enough to make the world around him spin as the Shockwaves flung him back several feet. The resounding crash that sounded when both beams struck each other could be heard throughout the forest, as the red lightning and yellow solar energy beam clash had grown more strenuous to maintain by the second.

Celestia winced as she committed more of her solar magic to the giant pillar of swirling Red and gold before her. Slowly, she felt a burning sensation in her head grow over time, She knew now was the time to begin wearing her opponent down. He may be powerful but he must be feeling the same magic exhaustion she is, “Eventually all magic sensitive beings suffer this if they have continued to use their magic without giving themselves a break.” The Princess reminded herself of her basic knowledge of the magical arts from when she had studied magic.
She summoned what was left of her stamina and fired more magic into the pillar, slowly; her opponents Red hued Pillar began to shrink before her golden magic.

Nemesis smiled an unseen smile as he watched his power falter before the sun goddess’s power. Indeed he was starting to feel the burning sensation of magic exhaustion; however this failed to even cause concern in his mind. He could practically smell the pain and anger that she was putting into these attacks.

Immediately the Red pillar disintegrated, and Celestia’s magic rocketed toward the warrior; who instantly opened his wings, letting their full span glisten in the moonlight; off the metal that covered his wings and shot into the air, as the wall behind him cracked and disintegrated from his opponents attack.

Nemesis shook his head violently, trying to regain his senses and in a vain attempt to shake the exhaustion from his magic.

“Such Power…” Nemesis hissed to himself. He admitted this was not going to be easy, this mare claimed to be Celestia, And now he knew she had the magical strength and endurance to reinforce her claims. Closing his eyes, he began to think of the possibilities that would arise if Celestia had a sudden Realization. One that would make her submit to the darkness just as much as it destroyed Glaciem’s will to resist him.

The Dark spirit of the amulet gave a sigh underneath his breath as he opened his eyes when he came to the conclusion Celestia received her power from love of her subjects, her family, and most of all her friends. The idea of drawing one’s power from something as fickle as friendship was a nauseating one to him. “You truly think Friendship can help you? Mortals are selfish beings; they are only interested in furthering their own glory. Whether you think your rule purged their inner darkness or not changes nothing, they are not the sort you should be risking your health over. ”

The solar Princess did naught but glare at her opponent and his hate filled declaration of her subjects. She knew in a way Nemesis was correct, despite her and Luna’s best efforts, a few ponies and some other species have indeed put their own interests before the wellbeing of their fellow Equestrians. However she was proud to note in the millennium since she had taken the throne; Pony kind had matured and adopted the ideas of Generosity, Kindness, and loyalty into their everyday lives and even let these virtues guide their very personalities.
“You don’t believe me do you Princess?”

Although she had stood her ground against her foe, The Princess could not help but ponder if what this stallion said was true. “Is he really Nemesis, The Nemesis, one of the most dreaded spirits in Equestrian History?”

“Take yourself for example…”

Nemesis returned Celestia’s glare with one of his own. She had a powerful dark side; she was not about to fool him into thinking that her or her subjects where any different than now than how their ancestors were two thousand years ago. Nightmare moon existed for a reason. The solar Princess just needed a little push in the direction.
“Your dark magic is stronger than I first thought Princess. Who would have thought the most regal, patient, and most looked up to of ponies in Equestria would have such control of dark magic. Almost like she let her darker emotions overrule her personality. But then again; it wouldn’t be the first time a daughter of Aligardian gods fell to the Dark side if I am correct Celestia.” He said in a humorless, accusatory tone.

An appalled Celestia took one step back; a look of combined disgust and fear crept across her face as she looked her opponent’s eyes as he hovered above her. Surely he was not referring to her younger sister. Although she knew in her heart the answer was staring her in the face, she had to ask him, how could he of known of Luna’s downfall? Celestia stepped forward towards her opponent, her yellow magic surging through her and sparking at the tip of her horn.
“How do you know of my sister Nemesis?”

Nemesis silently eyed his opponent as he turned his head to the side. “Mind Reading many benefits; one slight drawback; when I scanned your Faithfull Student…” The last two words soaked in mockery and annoyance “I not only saw what I needed, but was pelted with all of her Sickening Memories. Some of those memories being childhood stories of hers; care to guess one of the most prevalent being that of a certain Mare in the moon…sound familiar?”
His question was met only with a glared silence from his opponent.

“I see I’ve…how you say…struck a nerve?” Nemesis continued his probing as he looked down on his opponent. He Frowned he saw and heard through Twilight’s memories that Equinity maybe has learned of Politeness and Friendship. They certainly did not practice it as much as he first thought they might have; would not be lectured about the goodness of Ponykind.

“So before you lecture me about how good your subjects are, or how friendship and harmony are real, remember this! I have seen the true nature of today’s ponies through your student…and like the ponies of two thousand years ago they do not respect one another. They mask the darkness of their souls behind their civility! Even your own sister the daughter of Aligardian gods succumbed to the darkness within her…and I can guarantee you will as well! So don’t tell me you or your kind is as innocent as you claim!” Nemesis roared to his opponent.

“Enough!” growled Celestia in response; her eyes now a glowing white as she dashed forward, unfolded her wings and leapt into the air to fight the Spirit of War and Hatred.

Author's Note

Here is Chapter Nine everypony :D, and I really hope you enjoy the Chapter. Sorry it took a while but I have been really busy juggling many stories at once.

A Horrible Discovery

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Light of Harmony

Chapter Ten

A Horrible Discovery

Celestia barely felt the freezing touch of the night wind that whipped through her mane and coursed through her fur as she dashed forward and flapped her wings; lifting her into the air toward the Spirit of War.

She flicked her head back and then forward again as a mighty surge of magic expelled itself from her horn and roared toward her enemy.

She could see past the massive yellow missile before her into the eyes of her opponent. She saw that they were saturated with a glowing bright red color.

Even though she saw nothing but red, what sent a chill of surprise down how her back was the determination she saw in his eyes.

It was like the red that shone brightly in his eyes was not only rage or hatred nor unfortunately was it fear; determination to either turn her to his side or to outright kill her.

“You will leave Luna out of this! This is between you and me! She is nothing like you Demon!”

Nemesis snorted as if he were amused as he flew he flew to the right. The yellow magic flew past him and into shrunk as it became nothing more than another twinkling star in the night sky.

“My dear Princess…” His demonic voice echoed through the castle walls “…this fight is between Equestria and I. Know this…you, your kingdom, and all the kingdoms in the world will fail to imprison me again. This world full of lies and half-truths will be purified in the flames of war for all eternity…I promise you that.” Nemesis hissed ominously.

“You will fail…that I promise you!” Celestia responded to Nemesis’ threat as she fired another magic beam toward Nemesis who again flew away from it. Letting out a grunt she raced after him; firing magic attacks at him.

With each attack one of two sounds would meet her ears; either the ancient stones that made up the walls crumbled to the ground below them, or a tree outside of the castle began to give off a distinct cracking noise and slowly topple over somewhere in the forest.

The solar Princess began to pant heavily as she continued her dogged pursuit of her opponent.

“I have to stop him…” she scolded under her breath “He will not get away…not this time!”
His disrespectful remark about Luna and herself infuriated her.

Immediately she shook her head, disturbed that she would put personal reasons before her own subjects. Soon she realized that he was, like with everypony else, draining her dark energy to restore himself.

Celestia was disgusted with herself. She was supposed to be a role model for her little ponies, she was supposed to guide them and be a teacher. However here she was being strung along by a pony claiming to be Nemesis, and giving in to her anger and aggression. For Luna, For Equestria; she launched another attack toward her opponent’s wings to disable him from flying.

Suddenly her opponent turned around in midair and fired a red beam of magic toward her. Quickly she flew to the right just as the red missile streaked past her, it's heat radiating as it went.

Celestia lowered her head and shot another bolt at him. The bolt slammed into his left wing; peeling off the armor that protected it and forcing him to land on the cold stones below.

The Solar Princess took a deep breath as the young War Spirit shook his head and began to slowly walk toward her toward her down the Library's central aisle.

She looked around at the many pillars that stood on either side of the main hallway like cold, grey sentinels watching over a kingdom. Celestia took another quick breath as she realized her only chance to stop this stallion for at least longer than a basic magic attack could.

Celestia lit up her horn again with her sun-colored magic and fired bolt after bolt at her attacker. Each bolt was met with the same result, with him sideswiping each attack she threw at him.

Exactly what she was hoping for...

Celestia watched as Nemesis slowly began walking toward her. Celestia saw that his eyes were now glowing a solid ruby color; No Iris', No Pupils, just a dark crimson with dark red tails waving in the wind like their manes did.

Celestia quickly replayed her current battle over and over in her head trying to find some weakness in his fighting style. But slowly she realized at the rate they both were going; neither of them would be victorious.

She looked around again at the stone pillars and realized she had to change tactics.

She lights up her horn again and fires another bolt. Nemesis watched the missile come at him and readied himself. He activated his horn and sent his red magic out in front of him and summoned itself as a translucent red shield spell.

Celestia's yellow magic bolt, instead, slammed into the stone pillar behind Nemesis, sending dust and a loud crack reverberating through the air.

Nemesis switched his gaze over to the pillar as it shook violently from the blast . Time seemed to slow down as it slowly began to lurch forward toward him. He activated his horn and sent his Red beam into the falling pillar sending another, much louder, cracking noise.

Celestia concentrated all of her attention to her horn. She knew as she activated her horn that this attack should not be powerful enough to send her opponents whole body in the pillars path.

while her opponent's attention was diverted, The Solar Princess fired a slightly less powerful bolt into Nemesis chest.

Nemesis quickly turned his gaze back to Celestia just in time to feel her bolt impact his chest, sending him stumbling back an inch or two.

Nemesis gritted his teeth in a dreaded anticipation of the pillars impact. He activated his horn and concentrated all of his magical strength into one powerful burst that slammed into the stone obelisk, cutting through it.

Celestia watched the stone pillar begin to tear in half right where her opponent stood as he summoned another shield spell to cushion the pillars impact. The giant stone pillar impacted Nemesis crimson shield with tremendous force, sending the two pillar halves in opposite directions.

However, Nemesis's head began to ache as the physical strain of keeping his shield up as the weight of the two pillar halves became too much for his endurance to bear.

Celestia quickly shot at the pillar again, hitting a part of the first half of the pillar right above her opponent, causing the pillar to explode again sending debris everywhere.

She watched her opponents red magic wink once and disappear as the pillar halves impacted the floor seemingly on and around her opponent with the loud crunch of stone, leaving behind nothing but a thick cloud of fog and the sound of loose rocks and stone coming to rest on top of each other.

Celestia lifted herself into the air and dashed toward the mountain of debris that had seemingly buried her opponent.

she came to land on a large piece of the pillar that overlooked the library's center aisle where her opponent now laid motionless, in the middle of pieces of stone, but breathing.

Nemesis slowly turned his head from side to side trying to open his eyes. He tried rolling on his side to get up, but every time he attempted he was met by a sharp pain from his left wing. Finally, his eyes opened revealing a very blurry world around him, with an alabaster colored object touching down right beside him.

Slowly his vision began to clear as he could distinguish his opponents golden slippers in front of his face. He turned his head following the white legs the slippers were attached to, eventually meeting his opponents lavender eyes.

She arched her head back and shot it forward again leaving her horn dangerously close to his. The Solar Princess closed her eyes as her sunlight hued spell shot forward and attached itself to her opponents horn, his crimson colored magic being immediately and harmlessly dispersed.

The Solar princess could feel her opponent attempt to writhe and struggle desperately yet fruitlessly break free from her grip with what little energy he had left.

The Princess closed her eyes as dozens of voices from her opponents past began to echo around her. Her eyes suddenly shot open, encased in a glowing white light. Celestia saw nothing but a bright light as she began to hear several faint voices fill the air around her.

Celestia's vision began to clear as the light began to dim as several glowing white boxes began spinning in circles around her. She watched the boxes closely as the voices around her became louder and louder with each passing second.

Finally, the warrior's memories began to materialize in the white boxes. Celestia saw only the blur of hundreds of memories as the flew past her.

Celestia watched on in awe as time continued to unravel itself before her eyes. The solar princess tried in vain to process all of the voices that shot past her, some voices that she had not heard in centuries.

But as the stallions memories went on and a timeline was finally being unveiled, the memories began to take on a more tragic tone.

She watched as an ice blue alicorn stallion was being tormented night and day by his captors. Being told over and over that his subjects suffered because he left, that what happened was his fault. She watched as an exhausted alicorn stallion fell to his knees. The stallion's heart too heavy to retaliate

Celestia gasped in horror as she put a wing over her gaped mouth.

"Glaciem?!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the endless black void.

The starry night sky of the ethereal realm seemed to melt away back into the castle Celestia once called home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Princess!"

The scream of her mentor met a lavender Unicorns ears sending a shiver down her spine. She, Her Number one Assistant, and her five best friends quickened their pace. Twilight's now laborious breathes echoed through the castle as she dashed toward the voices. Their collective hearts, Riddled with anxiety and fear, pounding in their chests.

The scream was a name she had only just learned moments ago. Her mentor, Princess of Equestria, had this amount of sadness in her voice only once in recorded history.

Whatever revelation had just shown itself to her mentor, it held the same pain as Nightmare Moon's Rise over one thousand years ago.

History, it seemed to Twilight, was repeating itself.

The Hunt Begins

My Little Pony:

Friendship is Magic

Chapter Five

The Hunt Begins

One week after "Magic Duel"

It has been a thousand years since the pony napping of prince Glaciem, and ten months after that night Discord killed the parents of Celestia and Luna. But thanks to the elements of harmony, Discord was defeated, and Celestia and Luna were dubbed the rulers of Equestria. But for Luna, the pain of losing her parents, topped with ponies everywhere shunning her night, was too much for the young Alicorn to bear on her mind.

She fell to evil due to her anger and jealousy, and after a heated fight and with a heavy heart; Celestia banished Luna to the moon. Celestia, though her heart heavy with sadness, reigned the kingdom justly and wisely. But for the thousand years she ruled, she never gave up hope for finding Glaciem. She told her guards to keep a sharp lookout for anything that resembled the winter prince.

But the Glaciem she knew seemed to be gone forever, his heart encased in a seemingly impenetrable block of ice built from rage, sadness, hatred of his master, and the leaders of the cyber-Equosian leadership who he had struck down. Glaciem was trained to be a powerful envoy of destruction, devoid of any emotion outside of anger and hate. He was so rarely seen however, that his presence became nothing more than a myth that eventually found its way into the lives of ponies across Equestria, and eventually into Nightmare night itself.

They say don’t stay out too late… Or the "Beast of the Everfree forest" Nick-Named Diablos will find you.

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The moon shone its bright lights across the Equestrian Landscape as a Purple scaled dragon looked enviously toward the town center. Dozens of fillies, Mares, colts, and Stallions- all dressed up in a plathoria of costumes- wandered to and fro, gathering their holiday sweets, and here he was stuck inside.

"Spike!" A mare's voice called out from Ponyville's golden oak Library impatiently; "Have you seen the fur colorization spell yet?! I thought I had it up here!"

Spike grumbled in frustration, Twilight had been looking for a full hour for this spell with no luck driven by the dissapointing results of last year's Starswirl the Bearded costume; this year she decided to go out as something everypony would be able to recognize. Spike understood why Twilight was doing this; "But does it have to take forever?" he growled under his breath.

It had taken Spike most of the week to get Twilight out of the dumps. Granted she was depressed for a good reason. Ever since that scroll she received about three days after her second bout with Trixie detailing that the crystal empire had been assaulted by an unnown enemy force, A female draconequus which did most of the damage and a black alicorn stallion which seemed to fit the description of an ancient Equestrian myth.

"I have been looking for the past hour Twilight! where was the last place you had it?"

As if on cue; Twilight's voice came from the upstairs once again this time in a much happier tune "Don't worry Spike I found it, I'll be down in a minute!"

This "Minute" felt like an hour to Spike, who was anxious to start filling his belly with enough treats to make a candy factory owner blush.

A sudden knock at the door stirred Spike out his candy filled fantasies. Walking over to the door Spike grabbed the bowl full of candy in one hand and grabbed the doorknob with the other hand; The door opened with a groan and revealed four ponies.

The first of the four being his pink and bubbly friend Pinkie pie in a potato costume; Spike barely kept his laughing under his breath. That was Pinkie Pie for him, never stopping to make everypony laugh even on Nightmare Night.

Second was Pip in his pirate suit from last year, looking just about as eager to receive candy as Spike was to get out there and start getting his own stash of Nightmare Night Sweets.

The final two were two ponies that prieviously to Nightmare Night, Spike had never seen around Ponyville before. The eldest of the two ponies was a Polar White alicorn , she was about the same size of Princess Luna, just a few inches horter. A streak of Blue running through both her mane and tail, her light blue eyes fixed on the young dragon; giving him a somewhat confused yet somewhat interested look.

Right next to her was a black pegasus colt, who looked to be about the same age as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. His hooves and flank were painted a cherry red color. His mane was done in a mohawk of red and black, his tail rolled up. His red eyes were also fixed on Spike, but unlike the white female, this one's ruby red eyes had a nervousness to them; A shyness that wouldn't compare to Fluttershy, but would still be noticable.

"oops...I forgot to introduce our new super-duper friends." Pinkie Pie announced in her typically overly estatic tone of voice as she bounced up and down as if the ground had become molten lava . "This is Silver and Lucus, they just moved here from Canterlot this morning. They said they wanted to live somewhere more quiet and out of the way so they came here! and I invited them to come trick or treating with us, hope you don't mind? im so super-duper excited because now I get to throw my "welcome to Ponyville" party I have been wanting to try!"

"Not at all Pinkie, In fact maybe we can get to know each other better" Said Spike as he heard hoof steps descend from the upstairs.

"hey Twilight! nice nightmare moon costume!" Pinkie exclaimed with the usual grin on her face

"Thanks Pinkie!" Twilight sputters feeling proud that she had not even stepped out of the library and already her costume was much more recognizable. Only to be reminded of what had happened in the crystal kingdom.

Suddenly the reason Pinkie and her friends came to visit Twilight resurfaced itself in Pinkie's mind embarassing her mentally. "I almost forgot to ask but do you two want to tag along with us? it would be so great if you both came with us!"

It didn't take Twilight two seconds to come up with her answer which was fueled by both show her new costume to her friends and to give Spike the candy trip he had been begging for almost two hours.

"We would love to!"

Pinkie's smile widened when she heard Twilight's response. Ever since last year Pinkie had always somewhat enjoyed Twilight's presence on Nightmare night, almost like in a way Nightmare night seemed incomplete without Twilight next to her. Just like Nightmare night seemed incomplete without Rainbow dash playing harmless pranks on the ponies of Ponyville, or Applejack's running of the apple bobbing game, it had become part of the holiday for Pinkie; and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Come on! Zecora is about to lead the ponies to the nightmare moon statue! and I don't want to be eaten because I didn't give her any candy!" Pinkie says.

"Yeah, let's go!" demands Spike as he and the two younger ponies dashed off towards the town center.

Twilight couldn't help but shake her head in amusement as she, Pinkie, and Silver dashed off after the three young candy happy trick or treaters. Spike normally had far better manners than he just demonstrated but when Nightmare night comes around; his manners evaporated like a mud puddle on a july day. A part of Twilight wished he could control himself on nights like this but part of her realised that he still young and as bad as this was, she knew it could be much worse.

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"To quiet..." Nemesis thought to himself as he and his master marched through the moonlit meadow, eventually he found himself underneath a thick canopy of trees but as thick as they were they failed to stop the cold evening air from periodically billowing against their faces and making the long grass sway lazily with the trees that surrounded them.

"Master...about the amulet..." Nemesis began to speak up looking down upon his chest and seeing the alicorn amulet; It's crystal emitting a strong crimson glow, His helmet fusing his real speaking voice with that of a demonic voice.

"Why was it so important we had to turn half of the crystal kingdom on it's head?"

The Draconequus suddenly halted, contemplating some sort of answer to tell her apprentice. For the past twelve hundred years she had shaped him into an unstopable warrior, But until the alicorn amulet came along making it easier for her to keep her apprentice in the dark about her true motives,slowly corrupting his soul to the point where even Nemesis doubts there is anything left of the old pony he used to be.

After all, he hungers for the destruction of harmony.

"Harmony..." Nemesis hissed to himself. "it's nothing but a lie" He growled to himself as he slowly felt frustration consume his heart. For all he cared everypony who thought it was real was a misguided soul that must be set straight. Everypony that ever showed him any enth degree of love or respect was subsequentially ripped from his life before it's time.

"so why should I believe in Harmony, Friendship, or love again? none of it gave my life any lasting meaning! why think highly of something if it never really stayed around long enough for me to even realise it's there!" Nemesis screamed under his breath as he felt the cold, icy grip of sadness envelop his heart. The very same coldness that fueled his powers as well as feed the Amulet that he bore on his chest. "Every-pony I ever cared for

"Because as strong as you are my apprentice..." Rixa began "There are missions like the one I am about to give you that will put your strength to the test, and may I remind you that the amulet is so powerful that every dark magic user from here to the crystal empire would be practically begging to have it for themselves."

The spiritual coldness that Nemesis felt envelop him earlier suddenly melted in an inferno of angry passion. She still doubted the power he possessed even after his many centuries of loyal hunting and fighting. Nemesis heaved a sigh and decided for the good of his own mental health to turn his attention to his master’s response, especially of the mission she had mentioned.

"What mission?"

"I want you to give me the amulet; I need to know that you don't need to rely on its powers. Then go to the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters...I sense something there that could threaten us." Rixa explained, hoping her apprentice would buy the story she layed out.

Rixa did need some knowledge; she knew the other apocalyptic spirits would not accept her due to their "Survival of the fittest" mindset; as long as there was more than one contender for the throne of war, Rixa would not be seeing the immortality and the enhanced abilities of the Spirit of war.

Nemesis, concentrating more on the mission than anything else, envelopes the amulet in his red aura and levitates it over to the awaiting female draconequus who clutches it in her lion paw.

"What will I be facing, mistress?" asked Nemesis, curiosity plaguing his mind.

“I can’t say for certain…but I can tell that it will test your strength. Now go!” Said Rixa in a neutral tone as she and Nemesis caught something in the corner of their eyes. Whatever it was Nemesis was certain; there was a lot of them, most of them sounding young and eager, and they appeared to not be in too big of a hurry to wherever they were going.

Normally Nemesis would not give a single ounce of attention to the group. Why should he? They aren’t out hunting for them or vice-versa. But there was one pony carrying up the rear of the group that seemed vaguely familiar to him, not so much the pony but the dragon who sat on her back. The purple dragon from the Crystal Empire, the very same that accompanied the violet unicorn that took his necklace, the one of the few things that made the past worth remembering to him; taken by her and her friends! This dragon had to know where she was, And he was determined to find out, No matter what.

“My powers my not be as great as some other dark magic users! But Celestia help those that take that necklace from me!” Nemesis growled in a barely audible tone, as he dashed forward into the brush.

Rixa smiled a wicked smile…

“Exact your revenge my apprentice…it has never been your physical capabilities that I have questioned.”