The Rise Of The Nightmare
The Rise Of The Nightmare
Another day, another bad-guy dealt with, or that's what it felt like to Luna. Every time they beat the evil villain, nothing would ever change. Ponies would love Celestia and treat Luna like a outcast, then a new tyrant would appear, they would save their subjects and it would start all over. There was a grand feast going on at the castle, ponies were gathering from all over Equestria to celebrate the defeat of King Sombra and the official start to Celestia's and Luna's reign. Luna would attend that later, for now she wanted to have a nice, peaceful walk by the moonlight. If she didn't admire her night sky, who would?
The forest that they had built the castle by was full of mystery’s and old legends. She didn't believe in the legends, but it was still interesting to explore the land they would be calling home for the foreseeable future. Her moon lit the forest in a softer light and her stars, like tiny flashing lights, helped her navigate through the forest's spontaneous paths. She came across a gentle flowing river, its waves caressing the muddy banks and at the end, all of the water poured silently of the side of the cliff and into a dark abyss.
She laid down, letting her forehooves dipped into the cool water and her reflection staring back at her. Princess Luna, ruler of the night, lowered her head at the sight of herself. 'Why does nopony like my night sky, why must they fear my darkness' she thought, she tried her hardest to make the night sky so beautiful, but instead they favored Celestia's daylight. She felt a deep anger boil inside of her, but it cooled off quickly, she had no right to be angry at her subjects, it was their choice to prefer the day time to the night.
“I'll make it better... brighter! Maybe more stars! Everypony will love it!” She bounced up onto her hooves, her horn flickered and one by one, stars began to appear in the sky. She lost track on how many more stars she added, but when she looked back at up to the sky, her spirits sank again. “No... that looks silly,” she muttered, she wiped her hoof over the sky and like tiny, white rain drops, they faded into the darkness as her hoof passed.
“Come on Luna think! What do ponies like about Celestia's sunlight,” She pressed her damp forehooves against her head. When she couldn't think of anything, she fell to the floor, her eyes began to fill with tears.
The sound of a large pair of wings outstretching accompanied by the rustling of leaves echoed from behind her. She turned quickly to look at her visitor. The mysterious figure was mostly hidden in darkness. They only things she could work out was the outline of a pony hanging upside down from a tree branch, with two, large, glowing amber eyes with tiny slits for pupils staring at her. When a tiny bit of moonlight broke through the canopy, a pair of sharp teeth shined at her. “H-Hello...” She spoke, a tiny amount of fear went into her words.
“Hello...” the 'pony' said back, he spoke with confidence and security, she felt calmed by his voice, like she was under some sort of spell. “Pardon me for intruding, but I can't help seeing some sadness in your eyes,” He dropped from the tree, doing a single flip and landing on his hooves.
Luna took a step back, “What me, no no, I'm fine, really, you just run along,” she gave him a shaky smile. He stepped out of the shadows. He was similar to a pony, besides a few distinctive features, his eyes had a slight glow and his ears ended in fluffy points. He had wings that look more like leather than feathers and a tail that was more like a extension of his body than actual hair. Overall his body looked dreadfully thin and malnourished.
“Forgive me, I haven't talked to anything outside of my colony before, I'm afraid it has left me a novice at speech-craft,” He admitted, once again his words washed away her fears, but left a eerie feeling in her chest.
“I do not mind, for I do not engage in conversations with many ponies either,” Luna said, he stepped closer to her and sat down, looking up to the stars.
“Please, sit, the stars are truly beautiful tonight,” He waved his hoof up to the stars.
Luna gave a quiet gasp, “Do you think so?”
“How couldn't you think so? Its like hundreds of candles burning up above, maybe trying to tell us something,” he rubbed a hoof under his chin. Luna sat down next to him and thought of a way to impress him.
“They all have names, the groups of stars are known as constellations, each constellation has a name,” Luna explained, he looked at her in awe.
“Truly?”
“Indeed, point to one and I'll tell you about it...” Luna said, she didn't know how long they spend looking at the stars. Each time he pointed, she used her horn to show off the constellation it belonged to, he showed a particular liking to all of the zodiac constellations.
“How do you learn all of these names?” he asked, Luna looked down at him. They had moved closer and closer to each other whistled looking at all of the stars until they were leaning next to each other.
“I was the one who named them all,”
“All of them?” he asked in bafflement. after a elongated silence he asked “What are you?”
“I am the Princess of the night, it is my duty to raise and lower the moon each night,” She proclaimed, he looked puzzled.
“I was led to believed the night was just the absences of the day. Despite all its beauty, it simply cannot shine as bright as the sun,” he said, he looked at her with wide eyes. Never had a pony been so attentive when she talked to them.
“Sometimes it does feel that way,” Luna looked down at her hooves, then to her reflection in the pool.
“I'm very sorry to hear that,” He said softly. Luna quickly bounced back, years of practice had made her adept at masking her sadness.
“But enough about me, what about you?” she quickly changed the subject, her curiosity taking control.
“There's not much to say, like all my brothers and sisters, we have are purposes and we do them without complaint, its all rather boring,” it was his turn to look into the water.
“Oh...” she looked into the water with him, but he wasn't looking at himself, he was looking at her reflection, mainly because he didn't have a reflection his own. “What are you?”
“I do not know for sure, yet I overheard our leader call us 'Batponies', so I guess I'm a Batpony,” he said with shrug of his shoulders. It made sense, sharp teeth, bat-like wings, how a pony and a bat merged together was a question for another day.
“And your name?”
“I don't have one, I've never needed one before,” he admitted, off in the distance, fireworks blazed through the sky and erupted into a multitude of colours, indicating the end of the celebration.
“Oh no, I'm very late!” Luna rushed to her hooves and began to gallop towards the castle.
“Farewell, Princess of the night,” his voice spoke from behind her, but then let out a quiet cry. “Before you leave, can I ask you one question,” she turned to look at him. “Will I ever see you again?”
“I do not know, will I ever see you?” she asked back.
“I hope so,” he smiled at her.
She smiled back to him “I'm looking forward to that day,” she opened out her wings and took off into the sky. When she got back to the castle, a very worried sister awaited her. She gave the excuse of getting lost in the forest, she knew her sister didn't believe her, but it would take too long to explain to her what really happened.
A few days pasted until Luna found some quiet time to spend by herself, which she spend in the castle's library, if she was going to find anything about these 'Batponies', it would be here. She surrounded herself in books, scrolling through guides on mythological creatures and old folk tales. Bat-like ponies were the villains in many bedtime stories for foals, the kind that threaten the young, pretty mare until a handsome stallion came, defeated it and they both would fly away in a chariot. Each time she thought she found something, it turned out to be fictional or a hoax. But she knew he was real, they were talking, spent time together...
The more she thought about it, the more he seemed to good to be true. Had she fell under an ancient spell whist wandering the forest, maybe she simply dreamt it all. She slammed her head onto the table. The chair opposite her was pulled out by golden magic.
“Good evening Luna,” Celestia sat down in the chair next to her, she turned some of the books to look at them, “Huh, didn't know you liked reading about vampires Luna,”
“Vampires? What's a vampire?” Luna looked up at her sister in confusion.
“You know, glowing eyes, bat-wings, scary looking teeth,” she put her two forehooves in front of her mouth, waving them about in a childish attempted to make them like a bat's two teeth. That fitted his description. Luna stood up, thanked her sister and rushed to the V section of the library.
Only one book was on the shelf under vampire. It was a record of pasted encounters with apparently real vampire ponies, she took it back to the table and sat down.
“Don't worry, all of the vampire ponies died off a long time ago,” Celestia informed her, Luna sat back down in the chair opposite her sister.
“I wouldn't be so sure,” Luna muttered quietly.
“Did you say something?”
“Me?... I didn't say anything,” She replied innocently.
Celestia stood up from the chair and let out a yawn. “Anyway, I'm off to bed, goodnight Luna,” she walked over to Luna and gave her a loving nuzzle.
“Goodnight Tia, sleep well,” she said, she watched her sister leave the library, followed closely by two guard stallions, once she was sure she was alone, she dived into the dusty tome. All of the encounters mentioned in the book were similar, the vampire would appear to a upset pony when they were all alone, they would act friendly to the pony, just like he had done with her. All of the stories had the same ending as well, the vampire and the pony would grow close to each other until it has a chance to strike. Using its two front teeth, the vampire would drain blood from the pony, not a fatal amount, but enough to substance the vampire until it would be able to feed again. Then the pony would disappear after a few days, leaving no trace. It would explain why he was so thin, after all, nopony ever went into the forest or had disappeared in a while so it must have been a long time since he had last fed. A Batpony was meant to be an ageless creature of unknown origin, they appeared in many different cultures and stories from different species, the appearance stayed the same but the motif was different, sometimes they only drank the blood, other times they would kidnap the pony.
Not many facts existed about these vampire ponies and the book left her with many questions that needed answers, and the only pony with these answers was the bat pony she met a few days ago. There was no way to know how he'd react when she confronted him with the things she'd learned, but if any of these things were true, then she had no idea what she would do with him. If he was a risk to any of the citizens of Equestria, then it was her duty to do something about it.
Luna placed all of the books back into the place's she found them, including the tattered book about vampires. She had work to finish back inside her tower, Celestia had appointed her to be head of Equestrian security, for the whole kingdom! She was determined to get the job done correctly, maybe then, ponies will not look at the night with fear, but love.
A full week had pasted since her surprise visit from a potentially dangerous creature, she was ready for it this time, after much debating with herself, she was pretty sure that she would be able to win a fight against him should he turn hostile and she needed her answers. Her sister had left on important business, and had left her the responsibility of lowering the sun and raising the moon today. It was around evening time when she managed to slip away from the castle unnoticed, ponies were sure to notice her disappearance, but it didn't matter, she could do what she wanted and her action weren't dictated by her guards. She returned to the place they had met the first time, looking around all of the tree branches for him, but she was alone. Or so she thought.
A large mouse scurried out of the tree line and between her forehooves, darting around her hind-legs with agility. Out of the same tree line, a bat pony bounced out with a snarl and fangs on display, this one was different to the one she met before, this one was a mare. Her teeth weren't as long as his nor were her wings as large, however, his eyes glowed a strong amber whilst hers shined like the ocean at sunset. When the bat pony’s eyes fell on Luna, her fierce look faded into a one of dread.
The sound of hooves dropping onto the dirt and the squeal of the mouse came from behind her, indicating a second pony had arrived. Her eyes caught the sight of the familiar colt and her worries of being trapped between two hungry vampires faded like the morning mist. He stepped with confident strides over to the other bat pony and passed over the dead mouse to her, which she happily flung into the air, caught it all in her mouth, chewed then swallowed. “Hello again, Princess of the night, it's good to see you again,” he greeted with a wave, the mare beside him looked curiously, “Have no fear sister, this is the pony I told you about,” he nudged the pony beside him.
The mare turned her head side to side nervously before setting her eyes on Luna, “Hello miss... my brother speaks highly of you,” her voice was like the whispers of the wind. After another nudge, she reluctantly raised her hoof towards Luna.
“Pleasure to meet you to,” Luna raised her hoof to meet the mare's, her hoof was like ice and she flinched when her hoof made contact. The larger bot pony let out a sigh of relief, pleased that it was all going smoothly. “I'm guessing you don't have a name either?”
“N-no miss, but, if you want you can assign me a name to stop confusion,” the mare offered, her brother wrapped his hoof around his sister.
“What a wonderful idea sister,” he cheered, both looked at Luna patiently. She had not expected this, she had named entire solar systems but never a living thing, maybe there not too different.
“Look up, pick a star or group of stars, that can be your name,” Luna suggested, both pony nodded their heads in agreement. Both Luna and her brother were able to explain the stars to the third pony quickly.
“I like that one!” the mare pointed her hoof to the sky.
“Virgo...” Her brother muttered, Luna nodded her head. All eyes turned to him, it was his turn to chose.
“Their all so wonderful... but I like those ones the best,”
“Aries...” The mare said with doubt, Luna nodded her head in agreement and a smile formed on the mare's lips. Luna was amazed at how much they had learned, normally it would take a pony a few times to get names right, but in less than a hour, she was able to identify several constellations.
“Are you both happy with the names Aries and Virgo?” Luna asked, Virgo nodded her head whilst Aries wandered over to the water like he'd done a week ago.
He let out a chuckle, “Strange... never had a name before... it feels... nice... like something truly cares,” he muttered, looking down into the water, he had no reflection to look at, but he still stared down. Something was wrong, when Luna set out to confront him, she wasn't expecting all this. This couldn't be the same creatures that abducted ponies and drank their blood, could it?
“Can I ask you a question?” Luna spoke as gently as she could.
“Go ahead...”
“Say I found a book, in the book, it spoke of special ponies that, in the darkness of night, found ponies and... bit them,” She began, but was silenced by Aries raising his hoof to her lips.
“I suppose I should be honest... once upon a time, we drank from ponies, until the risk grew greater than the reward, more and more of us would go missing on these 'feasting missions' . Years later the affects of this choice are harming us. Once we were strong, rightly feared, but now we do this, scavenging for food out in the middle of the woods with the fear of ponies tracking us home. Look at us, thin... weak... dying-” He throat erupted with a raspy cough “-Please don't fear me, but I approached you with the intention of bleeding you dry. However, on learning your name and all of those star above, I thought a new and better solution, if ponies and my race came to some mutual arrangement, we could both be better off together than alone,” he explained, Luna was heartbroken.
“You wanted to kill me?” she uttered, he slowly nodded his head.
“Not kill, only take enough blood to survive,”
“I thought you were different, somepony who truly cared for my feeling... instead, you sort to take advantage of my sadness and use it for personal gain!” Luna eyes watered, he was just another pony trying to use her, just like every other pony she'd met before. She could see it in his eyes, each on of her words were tiny knives stabbing him in the heart, he guessed this is what guilt felt like.
Luna stormed off, furious with Aries for the things he planned. She had only herself to blame, a creature that's born to kill and harm could only kill and harm her. She shouldn't have got her hopes up. The castle wasn't far away, she could go home and never have to see or hear anything about vampires or batponies ever again. Her plan had not lasted very long, for Virgo had blocked her way.
“Get out of the way foul creature, before I have you killed!” Luna hissed, the pony flinched but stood her ground.
“Please, my brother may be a fool, but his intentions were true, our race is in dire need and a partnership might be the only hope for survival!” Virgo cried, Luna paused at the mare's words, if they did truly face extinction, she should help them, even if they are all evil, scheming creatures.
“Why should I help you, maybe the world would be a better place if you're not in it,” Luna response was harsh, but true.
“I can only hope you take pity on us, if you don't, then their no point trying to live on, it would only cause more suffering,” Her tone was sunken, like she had lost all of her faith.
Luna looked around for anything that could indicate a trap, when she saw nothing, her attention turned back to Virgo. “Well, what can you offer me?”
The mare looked at her in deep thought, “Well... we make excellent trackers, foragers and fighters...” the mare concluded sheepishly. Luna always had a use for more soldiers, but her sister was sure to disapprove of this.
“Meet me by the same river in two days, I'll see what I can do,” Luna said, Virgo instantly brighten up with happiness. “Just so were clear, I'm doing this for your whole race's survive, not for him-” She pointed her hoof in the direction she thought he would still be at, “-and not for you. If you try any funny business, then you're on your own,”
“Sounds fair, all we asked if for some help, if you could spare some blood or some of your dead, then we'll survive,” Luna didn't like the sound of that at all, but the choice of a few corpses or the death of a entire race, she hoped that most people would suggest the survive of the bat-ponies.
The worst part was still to come, Celestia shared her stubbornness, especially if it was something as fragile as diplomatic relations with a race that was always perceived as the 'bad guys'. She would have to wait until the morning, since Celestia was absent at the time and wouldn't be back until sun rise, she will have to ask her over breakfast, or whenever she actual woke up.
“The answer is no, Luna,” Celestia said, keeping her frustration in check. She lean back in her throne and got comfortable, Luna would no doubt be arguing her point for a while.
Luna took a step closer to her sister's throne. “But Tiara, if we don't intervene, then they face extinction!” Luna cried. Her sister scoffed at her.
“I will not help the creatures that once plagued my kingdom,” Celestia vowed, Luna looked at her in despair, she wasn't expecting her sister to be so cruel. “Think about it, would they do the same for us if we were in their position?” she asked, she had a point.
Luna walked to her throne that rested beside her sister's and flopped into it, hooves crossed over her chest. “They won't be doing anything if they're all dead,” she muttered.
“Luna... please... we both strive for unity and harmony, but these ponies do not want a harmonic or a united Equestria, they are all thugs that would rather see our Equestria die so they could commit more sinful deeds,” Celestia insisted, her tone tried to be warm and understanding, but Luna wasn't one of her subjects, she couldn't be dismissed with a few nice words and a pat on the back.
“How do you know, you've not met any of them yet,”
Celestia looked down at her golden horseshoes, catching her reflection in their shine. “I met them once, a long time ago, when they were still a threat, and I thought I would end their reign. We did it to Discord, why not them too,” Celestia explained, “Evidently I failed, for they are still alive,”
“Maybe we could make them better, teach them to be nice, harmony always finds a way,” Luna suggested. Celestia looked over to her sister and looked her in the eyes, she quickly understood Luna persistence.
“Luna, whatever they said to you, it was a lie, its part of their nature, they get close to you, then they get you,” Celestia urged, leaning over to her sister and resting her hoof on her sister's. Once again, her sister was correct, Aries was only trying to use her, just like everypony except her sister.
“I know...” Luna gave a sigh of defeat, “Forget I said anything,” she stood up from her throne and began to walk down the stairway to the main hall, each step she took echoed through the stone hall. “I'm off to sleep, I'll see you at dinner,” she shouted back at her sister, who still sat at her golden coloured throne, she didn't stay alone for long, soon ponies surrounded her and filled the halls with mindless chatter.
Luna's head hit the pillow as the rest of her body impacted the mattress, she laid there lifelessly for a while, her mind reflecting the events that had occurred over the week. The only pony that had complemented her night sky turned out to want to drink her blood. The world never failed to surprise her. She levitated her bedsheets up and slid under them, letting her body sink into the bed and she slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep. She would soon wake, raise the moon, watch over ponies and go back to bed so Celestia could soak up all the love. She would have to do this for an eternity, she had already done it for hundreds of years already, why stop now.
The time had come, she waited by the water for Virgo to arrive and find out the bad news. The mare seemed certain that they were destined to die out without her help, but Celestia was right, Equestria would be better off without them. Time ticked along slowly as Luna waited, periodical checking the trees for any life, but she never turned up. Luna grew suspicious, she began to look around the bushes that engulfed the edges of the clearing, in the shrubs that Virgo jumped out from several nights ago, a small trail of fresh blood led away from the lake. It could have been unrelated, but if it was a Batpony, then why would it waste blood like this.
The blood trail didn't run far, and once she saw what she was following, it made sense that the blood was wasted. Aries crawled despairingly at the ground, blood pouring out of a large flesh wound by his side, he was tying to keep it covered with his wing, but the wound was too widespread for his wing to cover all of it. Luna rushed over and stared down at him, his eyes looked up at her like she was a miracle.
“What happened to you Aries!?” Luna demanded, raising him up in her magical grasp and getting a clear look at his wound. It was bad, but she could stabilize it using a healing spell.
“You... used my name... thank you,” he muttered between rasped breaths and wheezes. He tried to struggle out of her magic and she nearly dropped him to the floor.
“Please, conserve your strength,” Luna lowered him to the ground, she didn't stop cradling him in her magic as she tried to summon the strength to perform a healing spell. He rose his hoof despite her efforts to stop him and began to caress her cheek gently.
“Why help me... I wanted to bite you a few days ago... yet here you are, nursing me, what makes you want to do that?” he asked, he breaths sounding shallow and his strength slowly fading like the sun over the horizon at sunset.
Luna horn lit up bright as Aries' wound was consumed in a magical bubble. His wound slowly closed and was sterilised haphazardly. “All fixed...” Luna said, the backlash of her magical burst hitting her hard. She was going to have a bad headache tomorrow. “And to answer your question, I helped you because I'm too forgiving, and that you wanting to kill me was only part of your nature,”
Aries looked at her inquisitively, “Not kill, only bite,” he began dabbing his hoof in the small pool of blood that accumulated whist he was being heal. He rose his blood soaked hoof to his mouth and started licking up his own blood.
“Doesn't biting me and drinking my blood kill me? We need blood to, we're not just walking blood banks,” Luna pointed out, he continued to drink up his own blood despite it mostly being sunk into the ground.
“If I'm careful, then apparently its painless,” he informed, “I have felt teeth sinking into my neck, words cannot describe the feeling, like two tiny icicles digging into you,” he moved back his dark grey hair, revealing two holes in his neck that look recent.
“Why would a vampire bite another vampire?”
“In case you haven't realised, we don't drink blood from ponies any more, but we still need to satisfy our thirst, and I had enough blood in me to share around,” he stopped his fruitless attempts to save his drying blood. “and I don't have the heart to watch foals die,” he added on, slowly rising to his hooves.
Luna kept him supported on his hooves until he footing was strong, “What happened Aries?” she asked, her concern evident in her voice.
“Its mostly all a blur... sorry, all I remember is a pony in the darkness, then as massive pain in my side,” he admitted.
“If you remember more, tell me,” Luna said, he stretched out his leathery wings and pushed off into the air, hovering gently in the air above Luna. She to, jumped up with him as they broke out of the tree line and into the open sky.
His pointed to the hills that marked the end of the forest, “Over there, that's where my brethren live,” he informed, he starting moving backwards, keeping his eyes on Luna. “Will you accompany me, I would enjoy the company?”
Luna looked hesitantly back towards the castle, then back to Aries. “I probably should get back to my castle...” she quickly shock her head, ignoring her sister's warnings, “No... I will go with you,” He smiled warmly at her.
“Thank you... besides, I have to reward you for saving my life,” his rose up his hoof to her again, “Follow me,”
She put her hoof on his own and he never let it go. They both glided through the moonlit sky, Luna felt carefree, it had been a long time since she felt this free of the world. She didn't know about Aries or his 'reward' to her. Her past knowledge tells her not to trust him, as well as her sister's reminder of his consistent nature, but she couldn't help trusting him. If he was trying to deceive her, then he was doing it well.
When their hooves tapped on the stone outside the cave entrance, a burst of pain from Aries' wound knocked him off his hooves and he hit the stone with a resounding thud. Luna moved to aid him, but his hooves stop her getting a closer look at his side. “Let me help you, you're in pain!”
“Unless you have something to dull the pain, you can't help me,” he once again, struggled to his hooves and started to take shaky steps into the cave. “Besides, you've already helped me enough,” he said, gesturing her to follow him into the darkened cave.
She followed him blindly deeper into the cave, even her heightened vision couldn't help her see a few of the obstacles that she accidentally bumped into, she almost tripped over some of the larger pebbles or rocks that littered the cave floor.
Once they got far enough, torches burned in small holder on the cave wall or were simply dropped on the floor. Aries, who had been leading the way, turned to look at her, his face didn't inspire much confidence, for it was stricken with fear.
“Something wrong...” he muttered, poking at one of the dropped torches, it rolled down the slopped cave floor and landed in one of the small puddles that had accumulated from the constant water dripping from the ceiling.
“How can you tell?” Luna asked, he turned his attention to her again.
“Bats don't need torches to see, so why are they here?” he replied, and a small amount of concern grew inside her to. He continued to walk down the cave, but a lot faster now.
Soon, the torches stop and Luna had to follow his every step. She didn't like not being able to see and contemplated going back to grab one of those torches so she could see what was going on. At some point, during one of the more open cave spaces, she had lost track of Aries, as he was walking too fast for her to keep up, so she decided to wait for him to return.
After a few minutes past, she grew tired of waiting, “Aries, are you still here?” she asked, too nervous to speak loudly, just in case something else found her before Aries did. When the only sound she heard was the slow dripping of water, she began to scan the area around her. In what she assumed was a side passage of the cave, a faint green glow was emitted from something, she decided to go and have a look. She wished she didn't.
The glow was from a patch of unique cave fungus, it was not the fungus that shocked her, but what laid dead on top. The female bat pony laid eyes wide, her body was battered and ravaged. It was thankfully not Virgo. Judging from the way she looked, she was already suffering before she was killed and much like Aries and Virgo, she to was extremely thin and her two front teeth had been smashed accompanied by a large black mark over her face. Luna had never since a dead pony before, she had defeated monsters and demigods before, but had never seen a dead body with her own eyes. She soon realised that the thing that did this to the mare could still be out there. The impending doom that awaited her was only half of her fears, the thought of dying alone in a seemingly endless cave with nopony with her was the most terrifying thing. She couldn't take it, she broke down into tears and crawled up on the floor like a foal would. She heard the sounds of running hooves getting closer and closer.
“Princess! Thank the stars you're alright,” Aries exclaimed, Luna instinctively jumped up and grabbed him, pulling him in close.
“Please, don't ever leave me again!” Luna cried, a few of her tears splashed onto his shoulder, he didn't mind.
“What's worry...” he began to say, but caught sight of the dead mare. “Oh... you seen one to,”
“There's more?” Luna asked, whatever was going on, she had no idea if she could do anything to stop it.
“Unfortunately, I do not know what's going on, but I will get to the bottom of this!” He vowed, Luna released him from her grasp and he walked over to the dead mare. “I knew her, always dreamed of a happy life, free of the pain we endured,” he muttered, raising his hoof to her eyes and closing them both. Even though her body was torn up, she looked like she was just sleeping peacefully. “I can take you back to the surface, if you want,” he offered, looking at her with dead, soulless eyes.
If there was more dead vampires, then he was possibly the last Batpony left alive, “No, I can't leave you here on your own,” Luna said, his lips curled into a small, sad smile.
“Thank you,” he uttered. He stay a lot closer this time, constantly looking back at her with his glowing eyes to see if she was still there. The sound of their hoof steps grew louder and had more of an echo than before, she assumed they had finally reached the main part of the cave. Aries' movements became erratic as his two amber eyes darting around the opening, soon they began to water and stiff sobs escaped his lips. Luna still couldn't see anything and her horn was still suffering from her magic outburst from early, if it wasn't she would of casted a light spell way before they entered the cave. She still tried to cast one though, a small burst of light escaped her horn and instantly she wished it didn't. Only a few feet away from her hooves laid a second dead pony, he too was battered and bruised. The light only lasted a few seconds and she didn't have the chance to see the rest of the room, but it was safe to say the darkness was covering up a massacre.
Aries could only stay still, around him laid the remains of his whole life and all of the ponies he knew were either slaughtered or missing. Between his shaky breaths came a high pitched cry that would normally be above a normal pony's hearing, Luna didn't know why, but hearing that desperate call filled her mind with pity. He'd lost everything, his home, friend, family, all fell through his hooves like ash, and neither of them knew why.
“Aries... I'm so sorry this happened...” Luna spoke with a tone of sincerity, his light bulb like eyes locked with hers.
“Sorry?... Will your sympathy bring them back? No... then don't bother,” he snapped back, Luna didn't mind his anger, he had a good reason to be hateful. “I'll take you out of the cave... I wish to be alone,”
“What will you do now?” Luna asked, she legitimately cared about his answer. the look in his eyes and the way he talked told her that this wasn't a part of some devious machination to trick her. This was genuine sadness.
“I dunno... no one will miss us and I doubt whoever did this will care about a lone survivor. Maybe I'll wander... or go hunt whoever did this, revenge would be nice right about now,” a small snarl escaped his lips.
“Why don't you come home with me, there's plenty of room and nopony will have to know you're there,” Luna offered, his eyes soften and at first, she thought he was going to accept.
“No... I've seen your world, huge constructions made of wood or motor, spiralling towers of stone... do you really think I would be accepted into such a wondrous society?” his tone started to return back to his usual state of calmness.
“I'll help you settle in, you can use the time to recover,” Luna put her hoof on his shoulder, he looked away from her and back to the destruction.
“You live up in the tower, the castle's highest point?” he questioned, she nodded her head, the highest tower was the only part where she got the best look at the stars. “If I do decide to stay, I'll meet you there, if not, well... don't bother looking for me,” he muttered. Aries took her hoof and gently pulled her out of the cave system, she was glad to have her vision back and the moonlight would still be over the land for a few more hours. He wasn't doing too well, his eyes were puffed up from silent tears and all colour had left him, if she didn't know better, he could be mistaken for being ill. Luna didn't have any idea what he was going through, she guessed it would be like losing her sister to an unknown massacre, but even that was far from what he was feeling. One of the chapters in the book theorized that Batponies would be pack creatures, judging from her past experiences that could be true since he didn't even have a name yet they were still able to differentiate each other.
“If you don't mind, I'll leave you now, I need to be along” he said, his voice once again returning to sound sunken and miserable.
“Very well, I'll see you later,” she replied, he outspread his wings and prepared to fly away, but she stopped him with a hoof on his shoulder, “Please, be careful, I don't want to lose you to,” she added, placing a delicate kiss on his forehead. He nodded and flew into the air, leaving her behind.
She walked back to the castle slowly, she was in no rush to get back to the castle and the moon didn't need to be lowered any time soon. That was all she did really, lower and raise the moon, her sister did all of the work. Sure she had a few jobs to do, but they weren't vital, the only one that mattered was being head of Equestria's safety, and even then, Equestria was mostly peaceful now. That was the reason Celestia gave her the job, now that it wasn't important she could be trusted to do it, Celestia still treated her like a little filly. To her, she was just her little sister and nothing more.
Luna laid in her bedchamber, resting on her back and eyes looking at her celling, her roofing was a dark blue, like the night sky, yet to the normal eye it looked like it went on forever, like it wasn't the roof but the actual night sky. She was about to fall asleep, until the sound of tapping brought her back. Aries was standing on her balcony, gently tapping on the glass. She watched him through the reflection of a mirror on her desk, curious on what he would do. He waited, and waited for her to open the door. She didn't know how long she watched him, but he waited wide eyed for her. He didn't fly away, he sat down on the cold marble balcony, the door was unlocked but he didn't try to break in or open it himself, he just waited for her. She couldn't watch any more, he had lost everything he knew and she found herself teasing him with a door. She stood up from the bed and his eyes lit up like sunshine. She opened the door for him and beckoned him inside.
“How are you feeling?” She asked him, he smiled at her, but it was forced and fake.
“Don't worry... I'll be ok ,” He reassured, Luna respected him for that. Putting on a brave face because the world won't wait for you. She knew that feeling but not on the scale he had to face. The lost of his entire race, what that must do to somepony.
“You don't need to hide your feeling, I will not judge you,” Luna said, she closed the door behind him and let him wander the room. He overlooked all of the furniture, looking at it closely and wondering what it did, most of the objects were alien to him, with no clear purpose or meaning.
“I'm not hiding anything... I just don't know how to continue,” he muttered as he held on of her hairbrushes. She snatched it from him and began to gently brush at his mane, he bounced back, he obliviously didn't know how pony magic worked as he eyed the floating brush cautiously.
“We'll figure something out,” she assured him, he tried smiling again and it looked a little more real, she gave him a smile back. “You must be tired, I'll let you sleep if you want,” she indicated over to her bed.
“Its been a long day... perhaps sleep would be good,” he said, he walked over the bed and examined it closely. He looked up to the bed's canopy and flew up to it, turned upside down and suspended himself using his tail like he was when she first saw him.
“What are you doing?” Luna tried her best not to giggle at his rather silly position.
“Going to sleep, where else can I sleep?” he asked back, she decided it would be best not to question him. If he wanted to sleep upside down then he was welcome to. Luna crawled into the bed and watched him cocoon himself in his leathery wings. She tried her best to stay awake long enough so she could lower the moon for her sister, he remained completely still whist being wrapped in his wings and the occasional shake or fidget was the only confirmation that he was still alive. Once the moon was lowered she closed her eyes, she didn't know if he was going to try anything whist she was asleep but she trusted him, which could have been her biggest mistake.
Days pasted like a blur, Aries was still adjusting to pony customs and Luna was trying to come up with a suitable system for getting the things he needed. Whist under her care, she was able to diagnose a few illnesses he had and treated them to the best of her ability. She was able to take some food from the castle's kitchen without any of the cooks noticing it was her, she didn't know what Batponies ate besides wild rat (Which was unsurprisingly lacking in the kitchen) but he reassured her, stating that “Whatever you bring will surely be better than anything else I had before,”. He mostly kept to her wing of the castle, never daring to intrude on any populated part of the castle, if he did encounter any guards he was able to hide away from them via blending into the darken celling or hiding in a side room. Due to his better food and care, his coat had darkened into a darker grey and his eyes now glowed a more vibrant amber. He left a few times and never talked about where he went, she assumed he just wandered or searched for any survivors, but he never found any. For her, these had been some of the most enjoyable days she ever had, each night they would watch the stars and tell stories, she felt like, for the first time in her life, that she had a true friend. She wasn't sure he felt the same way, after each night, before the sun rise and they both went off to bed, he would stay behind for a while. Once Luna watched him without him knowing, he would look over the edge of the balcony, stare down at the ground, she thought his was going to fall, until he moved away. He would tear his eyes away from the ground and turn skywards, his mouth would open slightly and emit the same, heartbroken cry like he did in the cave. One final, desperate call for companionship from a fellow Batpony.
He knew he shouldn't and that Luna had advised him not to go near the throne room, yet his boredom and curiosity got the better of him. He peered around the large arch that led into the colossal chamber, banners depicting the sun and moon hung from the roof and a large marble staircase led up to two thrones, one for the sun, and one for the moon. He cautiously scurried into the room, daring himself to stand in the centre for a better look around. The room was like nothing he had ever seen before, a masterpiece made by a truly talented individual, each brick looked like it was place with care and the cement was laid with a delicate touch. He was so amazed he couldn't hear the sounds of hoofsteps behind him.
“Hello there, what bring you...” Celestia begun, until she noticed the pony's distinct features. Aries turned to face the voice. Her appearance blinded him, she was without a doubt the princess of the sun, the two guards in shining armor that flank her moved towards him, weapons ready to strike him. “A survivor!? quickly, seize him!” she commanded, instantly the two guards lunged forward and thrusted their spears at him, he was able to avoid around them like a ghost, one grazing his fur as it was mere inches away from taking his life. Before they could draw back their spears, he dived between the two and pasted the princess, making a break for Luna's bedchamber.
More guards poured into the room and began chasing him down. “Don't worry princess, we'll catch him and dispose of his body,” one of the guards reassured, Celestia nodded and the guard joined the hunt along with the others.
Aries' mind raced as he tired his best to plan an escape, his frantic movements and turns weren't enough to shake the guards as they slowly closed in on him. They all knocked tables and draws, smashing down priceless items to the floor as they ran down the corridors in a game of cat and mouse. A few of the unicorn guards blasted magical bursts of energy at him, scorching the floor where they hit, one tried picking him up but he was able to turn a corner and break his hold. At last, his salvation was walking down the hall, princess Luna.
“Aries, what's going on?” she asked, the group of guards turned the corner and she was able to work it out. When he reached her he slid under her, hiding behind her two forelegs and his body firmly tucked under hers.
“You're under arrest for disrupting the harmony as well as multiple accounts of kidnapping and unlawful behavior, step away from the princess!” one of the guards boomed, Aries dared not move and Luna did not step aside.
“What do you think you're doing?!” Luna demanded, a few of the guards looked taken back from Luna's sudden hostility.
“By royal decree of princess Celestia, these vampire ponies are to be arrested and executed,” a different guard informed.
“Luna... Luna,” Aries whispered to her, she lowered her head to hear him better. “I-I remember, it was them, the ones who attack me,” he exclaimed, she was alarmed by this news, did this mean they were responsible for slaughter of the rest of the Batponies?
“Are you sure?” she asked with a serious tone, he nodded his head and a burning anger swelled inside her. “Dismissed, now!” she snarled at the guards, they all moved away from her. She levitated Aries onto her back, it was the only way to make sure he would stay safe. “Let's go, I want to have a word with my sister,”
Celestia was calmly sitting on her throne, sipping on a cup of tea whist enjoying the silence. When she spotted her sister stomping up the stairs, she lowered the drink from her mouth. “Good morning sister, I thought you would of already gone to bed by now,” Celestia smiled at her.
“What, the hell, did you do!?” Luna demanded from her sister, Celestia looked a bit shocked by her sister's tone.
“What do you mean?” she asked innocently, Luna's eye twitched as she picked up the cup and smashed it to the ground.
“I'll ask again, what did you do!” she spat at her. Celestia didn't know what she meant until she saw the Batpony timidly hop off her back. She watched him crawl under her sister and looked back at her fearfully.
“Luna... I did what was right,” Celestia begun, her sister was having none of it.
“No, you did what was right for you!” Luna countered, she wasn't even trying to contain her rage. “Were you jealous, that I finally found some ponies that appreciated my work?”
“They were a threat to us all, I did what was needed to protect our subjects and I ask you to do the same,” she tried to reason, but her sister wasn't listening.
“Is that how you justify your actions? A whole race of ponies wiped out by your orders and all of it to protect your precious subjects,” she snarled, barring her teeth to her sister like an animal.
“Their your subjects too Luna,” Celestia pointed out.
“No, I had my subjects and you killed them all!” Luna screamed, her anger reaching its boiling point. Celestia watched curiously as the Batpony roll out from under her sister and move in between to two of them.
“If I can speak, as one of the last Batpony alive I believe I herald their final voice,” he took a deep breath before continuing. “We were once upon a time, a danger to you ponies I'll admit that, but after that we became weak and powerless, but I'm sure you already knew that as you destroy them all,” he looked at Celestia with wide eyes and she began to feel the guilt of her decision, whether it was for the good of Equestria or not, she still couldn't look into his eyes.
He turned away from Celestia and looked towards Luna. “We however, were no ponies subjects, we may have been dying, but we were still too proud to bow down to a pony, even if she control the night we roamed in,” he said, Luna was saddened by his words, perhaps she was too hasty when she called them her subjects.
“Maybe the Vampire speaks the truth, but it doesn't change anything,” Celestia admitted, looking at Aries in a new light.
“Nothing can change the past, and I've come to accept that in hopes of having a better future.” he said, Celestia was thrown back by his words, this was indeed unexpected when she first saw him, hardy the vicious creatures she remembered them as.
“Wait, are you saying you forgive her for killing your people?!” Luna asked in shock. Both princesses looked at him curiously.
“Yes, she was trying to protect her people and if I was in the same situation, I would probably do the same,” he responded, much to Luna's disbelief.
“What is it you want, you're planning something so just tell me now,” Celestia asked with a calming tone, a smile grew on his lips.
“I only ask for a place to stay, just until I think of something to do with myself,” he said, looking hopefully at her. Luna stood next to him and wrapped a hoof around him gently.
“You're welcome to stay with me for as long as you want,” Luna reassured him, Celestia didn't seem too pleased with this decision, yet she kept her mouth shut.
100 years pasted beyond that fateful day, since then a new threat had gripped onto the land, the changeling hordes had sneaked into Equestria and began to kidnap ponies from their towns and villages. Most of the time Celestia's guard were enough to beat back the changelings and save the day, but on the rare occasion, Luna would have to deploy something a little more specialized. This was one of those times.
The changeling drone walked timidly besides the lake, eyes and ears primed to keep aware of its surrounding, it was returning back to its hive after a short term infiltration into a small village. None of the residences suspected anything yet the untimely disappearance of a mother and son caused the village to be thrown into a state of panic and he was forced to abandon the plan. Unlike the rest of it kind, this one was smart, it looked up at the moon with pure fear and was constantly paranoid.
It entered the cave it called its home and was met by it fellow minions, at the back stood the hive leader, waiting patently for his arrival. “What do you want? The plan is still in motion and requires you to be in the village,” the hive leader hissed, its voice was like static and crocked constantly.
“Sorry master... it just there's been a few complications,” the drone's voice creaked as the leader stared intently at him. The hive leader proceeded to hit him to the ground.
“If you fail, then you will be replaced,” he swore to the cowering drone at his bony hooves.
The drone struggled to his hooves, “I know, its just... there are guards now, and I think something was following me back,” the drone admitted.
“What? Who's following you?” he demanded, the drone flinched away.
“I don't know, I think its-” the drone began, until it was interrupted by a steel bolt tearing through its skull and spraying green gunk over the hive leader. The drone's body fell to the floor lifelessly and all eyes turned towards the cave entrance. At the entrance, 6 pony shaped shadows stood like vigilante knights, all with outspread, leathery wings and glowing eyes.
One of the shadows stepped forward and the cave's light revealed his features. A stallion of average size and his eyes glowed a hot green. He wore a light armour chest plate with a half moon symbol on his breast. He took a seat on the floor and began fiddling with a device on his right forehoof, he loaded a second steel bolt into it and it gave a loud clicking sound.
“Nice shot Stigy,” the voice of a mare congratulated him, a second shadow step forward and patted him on the back. Her eyes glowed a soft yellow and she wore a similar armour to her companion.
“Thanks, I've been practicing my aim,” he said, nudging her with his elbow a few times. A third shadow step forward and rolled her dark blue eyes.
“Like you were even aiming for the drone, you have your sights on the boss the whole time,” the third shadow had rather distinct red streak through her grey hair.
Aries took to the stage, the only one that seemed to remember that their were lives on the line. He pointed a hoof at the second shadow “Pisces save your complements for later,”. “Aquarius, shut it,” he indicated to the third shadow, finally his attention fell on the cocky stallion with the crossbow “And Sagittarius, fix the sight on that thing, you nearly took off the hostage's head!” he pointed passed the crowd of changelings, in the far back of the cave, a mare holding her child closely was breathing erratically as the gunk covered bolt rested a few inches above her head, dripping down into her mane.
“Opps...” Sagittarius gave a sheepish smile. Finally the groups attention turned back towards the rather confused changeling horde.
The changeling leader took a step forward, its changelings minions readying themselves for a fight. “You think you can come in here, kill one of my minions and joke about?!” he snarled at them, Aries stepped forward and met him eye to eye.
“Where are my manners?” Aries voice turned to one that mocked. “By Luna's decree, you're under arrest,” he voiced, a smile grew on the leader's face.
“You think you can beat me in a fight?” the leader sneered. From behind Aries stepped a large, muscular stallion. Unlike the rest of the team, he didn't have a weapon.
“Step aside Aries, this ones mine,” the stallion boomed, Aries took a large step to his side and the muscular stallion barged past him. He towered over leader, staring down with his glowing red eyes. If changeling could feel fear, he would be feeling it now.
“Kick his butt Scorpio!” Pisces cheered. The two circled each other, not one daring to take the disadvantage to strike first, soon the changeling's patience ran out and he just forward, using his horn as a blade to strike at Scorpio. The muscled Batpony strafed to the side, missing the changeling's strike and leaving him vulnerable to a counter attack. Scorpio dived at him with full force, knocking the changeling down and he started beating on him. The changeling tried to fend off Scorpio's wild, beast-like punches but to no avail, he wasn't completely defenceless, using his horn he built up a large amount of raw magical energy and with a tap of his horn it released. Scorpio was sent spinning through the air until he impacted the celling with a mighty thud. Aries, who had stayed quiet and had been watching the battle with a teacher's eye, nudged Sagittarius forcefully. Sagittarius nodded and raised his crossbow, his target being the changeling's torso.
The bolt impacted the changeling’s shoulder, no doubt shattering the bone. The changeling howled in pain from his wound and Scorpio moved in to claim the kill. The other changelings rushed to their master's side, baring teeth and snarling at their opponents. The rest of the Batponies joined the fray, except one, who hadn't moved out of the shadows yet. “Virgo! Save the hostages!” Aries commanded to the shadow, she moved gently into the cave, crawling on her belly and sticking to the edge of the cave. When a changeling drone approached her, she cowered and curled up into a ball, one eye open to watch the changeling. The drone raised it hoof to strike her, until a crossbow bolt shot through it chest, the shot managed to keep the dying changeling pinned against the wall as green, chunky blood poured from the hole in its chest. Virgo looked over to the fighting, where Sagittarius stood, reloading the contraption on his hoof, he smiled and wink at her before jumping into the air and over two charging changelings. The changelings paused, confused on where their target had gone, until he landed on them, his two hind legs impacting their skulls into the ground and shattering them under his iron horseshoes.
Virgo reached the terrified mare, who was still holding her child in her hooves desperately. Virgo placed a hoof on her shoulder and her eyes darted up, looking at her with fear. “I'm here to save you, follow me,” Virgo whispered, the mare nodded and stood up. The changeling weren't going to let the hostages go that easily. Each one stopped fighting and turned to the scurrying ponies.
“Protect the hostages!” Aries ordered, Virgo couldn't see him, but just her brother's voice was comforting. The hostages screamed as a changeling pinned her against the wall. A hoof tapped the changeling on the shoulder and Aquarius stood with a smile on her lips. Once the changeling head was turned, she rose up her hoof and with one punched the changeling was down on the ground, gurgling on its own blood.
Virgo and the two hostages made it outside, the moonlight shining softly on the pool of water. During the escape, the mare was forced to pass her son to Virgo, the colt laid peacefully on her back, rendered unconscious way before they had arrived to save them. Virgo laid him down by the water, checking his vital signs. She smiled and gently started splashing water over the colt's face, the colt bounced back to consciousness, eyes wide at the mysterious pony in front of him. He began to look at his surrounding, he saw his mother and instantly cheered “Mummy!”
The mare grabbed him with her hooves and cradled him, tears of happiness flowed from her eyes and a gentle smile blessed her lips. Virgo looked up at the sky and a single star blinked at her, a sure sign of Luna's approval. The mare approached Virgo, “Thank you, all of you,” she pointed into the cave, where the fighting was no doubt, still happening.
“Just doing are jobs miss, nothing more,” Virgo responded, the mare nodded her head lightly as the colt climbed on her back.
“Please pass on my thanks to the rest of them,” the mare said, with her child firmly on her back, she broke off into a run towards the warm lights in the distances. Virgo would follow her, just to be sure, yet she no doubt had wounds to dress and disinfect back in the cave.
The changelings were mostly broken, except for the few that clung onto life. With their leader dead they were destined to die, it was just a matter of how long it would take for them to realize that fact. Aries waited for her return at the mouth of the cave, the others were finishing off the survivors. Nopony died on their side, but that was the point, they were meant to be Luna's instant wins.
“I'm guessing the hostages are safe?” Aries asked, Virgo nodded to him and he smiled at her. “You did good today sister,” he reassured, Virgo looked at him in bafflement.
“Good? I didn't do anything, I was useless in the fight,” she lowed her head in shame, Aries put his hoof on her shoulder and raised her head back up with his other.
“You saved those ponies didn't you? They wouldn't have made it out without you there to guide them,” he comforted her, she smiled back to him.
“I guess you're right, thanks,” she turned to look around the cave, some of her brethren needed her help. She left her brother and went to the most injured Batpony, Scorpio. She began to investigate the head wound, no doubt from his impact against the celling.
“I don't need your help, its only a small wound,” Scorpio dismissed her with his hoof.
“It won't heal properly if you don't let me see it,” she countered, he huffed but lowered his head for her. It wouldn't cause any lasting damage and could easily be treated with the supplies she carried with her. She splashed a disinfection potion on the wound and proceeded to wrap his head with a roll of bandages. The rest of his wounds could be tended to when they got back home.
Aquarius and Sagittarius were mostly unscathed, besides a few scrapes and bruises which she couldn't do much for right now. That only left Pisces, who was browsing over the dead changelings.
“You alright, anything you want me to look at?” Virgo asked, getting Pisces' attention.
“Nah, I'm good,” Pisces smiled at her. She pulled a small flask from her side and put it to her lips, a single drop of red liquid ran down her cheek. “What some?” she pointed the flask to Virgo.
Virgo shock her head, “I'll wait until we get back,” Pisces moved the flask back to her side.
“Yeah, we've pretty much done here, we'll go back, Luna will tell Celestia that it was handled and somepony will go and check up on the mare. It was a pretty standard mission,” Pisces said casually, this was the way most mission was go, Scorpio would get messed up a bit, Sagittarius would brag some more and there would be a lot of dead changelings left around for some unlucky pony to clear up.
Aries took to his wings in the centre of the cave, getting everypony’s attention. “Zodiacs, on me!” Aries commanded and the team assembled without delay. “We're all done here, no doubt Princess Luna is eager for our return,” he said.
The whole group took to the sky and back to the Everfree Castle, flying in formation and away from prying pony eyes. Aries dismissed the rest of the team and went off to speak with Luna, the rest of them went to the cave they called home. It wasn't the same cave that the massacre took place, nopony wanted to go back there with all those bad memories staining the walls. So they found a smaller, nicer cave to set up a base of operations, Luna had helped them decorate the place with tables, chairs and a centralized fireplace. Deep roots from the trees above broke through the roof and provided a good place to hang from, removing the need for beds. The rest of the Zodiacs waited for them, back from their own mission for Luna. The whole team of twelve was here, except Aries. He would return soon and they could start to celebrate a job well done.
Aries returned quicker than expected, with him a unexpected guest, the Princess herself. All bowed to her. “Please, no need for formality's here,” Luna said, she took a seat by the fire along side Aries, the rest of the Batponies gathered around her with eyes wide in excitement. It wasn't every day they got a visit from the Princess, and it must be important if she taken the time to visit them. “I just wanted to thank you all for your bravery, Equestria may be in a troubled time yet you're all bringing the light back to the kingdom,” she congratulated them.
“Yet it not us that gets the glory, Celestia takes all that,” Aquarius muttered, one of the only few who was brave enough to speak her mind.
“Don't blame my sister for that, me and my sister came to the agreement that, when the time is right I will be given the credit we deserve,” Luna reassured, ponies all around nodded their head in satisfaction. “I also have the plan to reveal you when the times right, no longer will you have to hide away from civilization but you can be a part of the kingdom you have protected for all these years,” she said with a smile.
“Do you really think ponies will accept us?” one of the zodiacs known as Leo asked with caution, they all had their doubts. It was no secret that Luna carried around her innocence and always saw the best in everything, but the zodiacs knew that the ponies they protected were the same ones that killed their friends and families before, what would stop them doing it again.
“I'm sure once they see you're their friends, you will be welcomed,” Luna reassured, some muttered between each other with their doubts and disbelief. Aries let out a very deliberate coughing sound and brought back the rest of the ponies attention to Luna.
“Well... let me be the first to say that I look forward to that day,” Aries said to Luna, she smiled at him. He turned his attention back to the rest of the Zodiacs, “Let's bring out some barrels, its a celebration after all!” he intoned, the ponies shook away their doubts quickly and started cheering as drinks were poured. They all moved over to a long, oak table and took their seats, dispensers full of watered down blood poured into goblets and mugs.
“Will you join us Princess? Always room for one more,” Sagittarius beckoned her over to the long table. The whole team started waving their hooves at her, one pony pulled a chair out for her.
Luna accepted the offer and took her seat. “Hey Aqua, play us a song,” one of the zodiacs requested, followed by hooves tapping against the table and cheers of agreement. Aquarius sighed, downed a whole goblet of the red liquid and flew off. She soon returned with a guitar strung over her neck.
Aquarius was particularly talented with her guitar, she found it once whist saving some ponies from dangerous creatures, they ran away and left it behind. They never came back to get it so she kept it, practiced whenever she had the chance and Luna gave her some old books that had a few song she could play. Throughout the night, she played several classics and accompanied with the voices of the rest of the zodiacs, everypony sung that night at some point. Luna looked around the table, a true smile on her face and many time the table was sent into laughing fits. She hadn't had this much fun in years, and she owed it all to the ponies she sat with. For once, she felt truly accepted when around the Batponies, and she swore to herself that she would get them the respect and love they deserved.
The night was coming to a close, many ponies were off to bed and Luna had to get back before Celestia got suspicious. She never told her sister about the zodiacs, she knew about Aries but none of the others, Luna had no idea what she'd do if she knew.
“Aries, can I talk to you quickly?” Luna asked Aries, he nodded and followed her out the cave. “How are you doing? It seems all we do now is talk about the violence,”
“We're all doing fine, but we're all more worried about you, I heard that Celestia has grown more and more distance to you,” he voiced his worry.
“No, its fine, I know she's busy with things,” Luna reassured, mainly to herself.
“Luna, its not fine, please try and talk to your sister, its starting to scare us, being alone does things...” he said, Luna smiled.
“Don't worry Aries, I've never felt better,” she rested her hoof on his shoulder, “I have a plan, it will make everpony love us. Everything will be ok and we'll return as heroes, you just have to have faith,” Luna took to the sky, leaving him behind. "Ponies will accept you soon!" she shouted down at him as she flew away.
“That's what I fear, dear Princess,” Aries muttered as he watched her fly off into the moonlight.
Years pasted quickly and missions became rarer and rarer, the Zodiacs were now mostly just Luna personal guards. Celestia and Luna hardly talked to each other any more, some say that Luna had grown bitter and jealous of her sister, but Aries knew better than that. Luna was also being less and less secretive about the zodiacs, and it wasn't going well. Ponies went around, whispering about monsters tamed by princess Luna to stalk criminals in the dark of night and once again they became the villain in many stories and fairy tales. The princess had changed as well, she became more and more frustrated over her lack of power and a few of the zodiacs believed she'd gone insane, driven mad by jealousy.
His princess had called Aries to the castle, a new mission had arrived and the whole team was excited for a chance to see some action. He landed on the same balcony that he stood on a long, long time ago, when he wasn't a fighter or a protector but just an innocent victim of a horrible deed. The glass door moved without any resistance and he stepped inside Luna's bedroom. She had redecorated since the last time he was here, most of the furniture had gone and been replaced by suits of dark armor. A large round table laid in the center of the near empty room, on it laid a map of the whole kingdom, tiny flags held up by blu-tack marked the locations of towns and villages. The door opened and somepony that pretended she was Luna stepped in.
“Took you long enough,” The princess hissed at him, she wore her set of armor that he'd only seen her wear once before and her coat seemed to be darker than normal. When he walked closer to her, she pushed him away.
“Are you alright Princess?” Aries asked, she scoffed at him.
“A irreverent question,” she countered, taking a step towards the table. She pointed a iron hoof to a point on the map. “Your mission will take you here, a particularly troublesome pony has set up camp, kill him and everyone associated with him,” she growled. Aries had killed countless changelings for his Princess but never killed a pony before.
“Are you sure?” he questioned, her icy eyes burned at him. She moved some paper to him, on it was a stallion's face and the words 'Target' in red ink.
“Do not question my orders, just get it done, Now!” she shouted at him, pushing him out the door with her magic. Once he was out she slammed the door shut. He picked the paper off the balcony floor.
“As you wish princess,” he muttered to the door. He took off to the sky and back to the cave, the whole flight back wondering what he'd done to upset her. He rallied the whole zodiac team and they went off to the location he'd been told. He explained multiple times that he didn't know why this pony had to die, yet he knew it would be for the benefit of the kingdom.
All twelve zodiacs landed at the location, the safety of the night hiding their approach. Aries spotted something that caused him concern, Celestia's guards stood on their own vigilant watch. The tents were patrol by more guards and the target wasn't in sight.
“Lets go, maybe Celestia got him first,” Aries suggested, they walked out in formation and as soon as they were spotted, two guards approached with spears pointed towards them. “Step aside, we're acting out Princess Luna orders,” he commanded the guards, they didn't move.
“Luna has no power here, Celestia orders,” a third guard stood between the two, he was a higher rank that the other two and was no doubt the leader.
“Let's try this again, we're here to act out Luna's orders, so move out of the way,” Aries argued.
“What are your orders?” he asked, Aries moved the paper for him to see.
“You seen this pony?”
“Yes... why,” the guard asked curiously.
“We're here to kill him,” Aries said softly, the guard's face turned to one of disbelief.
“Guards!” the guard shouted, around ten guards gathered on him. “Kill these fools,”. The zodiacs looked between themselves in terror, killing a pony was one thing, but fighting Celestia's guards was something else.
Aries fumbled to give any orders, mind boggled by the turn of events. The leader guards approached him and swiped him to the ground with his spear, blood trickled down his cheek as he laid on the dirt. Around him he watched the zodiacs break formation, a few flew away in attempts to get to safety whist others just dodged attacks, waiting for orders. Aries dived to his hooves, smacked the guard with his hindlegs in the process. "Zodiacs, non-lethal!" he commanded, the sound of his voice inspired the team to rally back. He raised his hoof and smacked the stunned guard on the jaw, knocking him down to the ground. Aries went to help any struggling members, Sagittarius was pinned down on the ground, the guard's blade hovering over his head as both struggled to gain the advantage. Aries moved to the side of the guard and knocked the blade from his mouth, Sagittarius then proceeded to kick him in the crotch.
Aries help him to his hooves "Come with me, we still have a mission to do," Aries muttered, Sagittarius nodded. He picked up the blade that the guard dropped and went to look through the tents for their target. They found him cowering in the back.
"Please, don't hurt me!" the stallion shrieked, Aries looked down at him as he raised the blade to strike.
The sword flew from his mouth as Sagittarius hoof disarmed him. "Sagittarius, what are you doing!?" Aries asked, never had a fellow zodiac hit him before.
"You can seriously tell me you want to kill this guy, look at him, he's harmless!" Sagittarius exclaimed, Aries picked the sword up again.
"We have our orders, this stallion must die," Aries said, and Sagittarius knocked him to the ground. He moved to the cowering stallion and helped him to his hooves.
"I won't kill an innocent!" he vowed.
The stallion looked relieved, "Thank you, Celestia said that ponies wanted me dead but i never believed it," he uttered, he fell into a chair.
"Any idea why?" Sagittarius asked.
"No, I am loyal subject to Celestia, i pay my taxes, i even help out at the castle," the stallion lowered his head into his hooves. "Then Celestia tell me I'm in danger and that I need protection," he added on.
Sagittarius turned his attention back to Aries. "See, we can't kill him, his innocent!" he reasoned, Aries got back on his hooves.
Aries fixed the stallion a long stare. "We're leaving," he ordered, storming out the tent. Sagittarius followed him and left the stallion behind.
The rest of the group wasn't doing well, but at least nopony died. The team wouldn't be ready to fight for a while, many war scars were earned today and a few of them had some grievous wounds that would last an eternity. They all had questions for Aries and he couldn't answer any of them, but Luna could.
After they had dropped the heavily wounded at the cave, he team went to Luna's balcony. She was waiting for them. "Is the stallion dead?" she asked, nopony had the courage to answer her.
"N-no... we refuse to kill an innocent," Sagittarius stuttered, Luna stared intently at him.
"Failure? It cannot be tolerated," The princess spat, "A severe punishment is in order, who is responsible for the failure?" she asked, Aries step forward.
"Me, I will take full responsibility," he said, looking at the Princess. She rose an eyebrow.
"You? In that case i have a suitable punishment," she smiled grimly and scanned the crowd for a certain pony. "You-" she pointed a hoof at Virgo "-Come here,"
Virgo walked pasted Aries and stood beside the Princess. "Now, Virgo, do you love your brother?" she asked, Virgo nodded and Luna's attention turned to Aries, "Aries, do you love your sister?"
"Of course," he said, he exchanged a smile with Virgo.
"Good..." The princess grinned. She pointed upwards, "Virgo, look up," Virgo did as she was told, giving the Princess a good look at her neck. Luna knelt down and trusted forward, her long horn impacting Virgo's neck and tearing straight through it, Luna then lifted her head skyward, Virgo body slid further down her horn until it reach the end. The only thing Aries could hear is the quiet, chocking sounds his sister made as the one who he had served for over one hundred years killed her. Around him, his comrades gasped in horror at the sight.
The princess let out a manic cackle. With a single downward swish Virgo corpse smashed into the ground, she was somehow still alive, crawling across the marble ground in agony. Aries tried to move to her side, but Luna pushed him back and held him still. "Tell me, what do you see?" Luna demanded.
Aries tried to break free from her grasp, but had no success. "I see..." he begun, but couldn't continue.
"Tell me!" The princess demanded from him, he tried turning away but she held him head still. Forced to watch his sister's suffering.
"I see... death... suffering," he muttered, the princess loosen her grip on him and pushed his sister closer to him. Blood poured from the gaping hole in her neck and tears dripped from her eyes. How could Luna do this? He knew one thing though, this wasn't the princess he sat with and watched the stars with.
The thump of Sagittarius' crossbow sounded and a bolt found Virgo's head, ending her suffering instantly. The princess look shock at first, but quickly turned back. "No matter, you've learned your lesson," she said, walking out the door and leaving them behind.
Aries fell to the floor, in his hooves laid his dead sister, tears ran freely down his face and his breaths were shallow and shaky. Sagittarius couldn't lower his hoof, he'd hardly pulled the trigger, yet the weapons still fired. Maybe if he hadn't fired, if he waited, there might have been a small chance she could of survived.
Pisces began walking towards Aries, on the way to him she ran her tail down Sagittarius' outstretched hoof, when she reached the end, she whispered, "Don't worry, you did the right thing,"
He nodded and she began her slow trek over to Aries. When she got to him, she sat down next to him and looked down at the desecrated body of her friend. Her face was in a state of permanent shock, her beautiful blue eyes were still wide and her mouth still hung open. The steel bolt tip was through her forehead, ending her suffering quickly, she didn't deserve to die like that. Pisces rose her hoof to Virgo eyes, and closed them as her final act of respect for her friend.
Aries turned his head to face her, conflicted clear in his eyes, "Thank you," was all that could escape from his lips. So many nights they spent together, watching the stars, and she just killed Virgo like it was nothing. He needed to do something about it, to stop more dying under her iron horseshoes. Aries struggled to his hooves, looking down at his sister once more, committing her suffering to his memory to serve as a constant reminder. "Can you please take her back to the cave, I need to go somewhere," he asked, Pisces and the rest of the team nodded.
He walked out onto the balcony, "Where are you going?" Scorpio asked from behind him.
"Someone needs to tell Celestia about her sister's madness," Aries responded. Celestia would hopefully be in her tower, so he'd start there. He took off and glided over to the second tower on the other side of the castle, he'd never gone there before, but desperate times call for desperate measures. His hooves tapped against the marble balcony, looking through the glass door. Her tower was like Luna's, except this one was brighter and more alive.
Celestia sat at her dressing table, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her radiance had faded since the last time he'd seen her, her color seemed to have faded slightly and stress had taken its toll on her ageless features. Aries gave the glass a hard knock, causing her to jump back to reality, she turned to look at him, and her face sunk into a frown.
"What do you want?" she asked, keeping the door locked so he couldn't get in.
"Its about Princess Luna, somethings happened," Aries replied, getting her attention. She walked to the glass, looking down at him but kept him outside.
"Tell me creature, whats happened to my sister? I never see her anymore, she never eats, sleeps or does her royal duties. She sits in her tower, rambling madness to herself all day, and I don't know what to do about it," Celestia said.
"I don't know whats happened to her, but I know we must stop her," Aries began, Celestia raised an eyebrow at him.
"We? Creature I have no intention to help you, for all I know you're responsible for all this," Celestia countered, she levitated a scroll over from her table. "I also have learned of your little attack on my forces, care to explain?" she opened the scroll for him to see, it detailed the attack, summarizing the attacker to be Bat-like in appearance and completely hostile.
"We were acting out Luna's orders, nothing more," Aries explained, Celestia eyes hardened.
"You expect me to believe my own sister attack my forces?"
"I know its hard to understand, but please-" Aries began, but was interrupted.
"Do you think me blind to your tricks creature? I've dealt with your kind before, your trickery knows no end," Celestia hissed at him, "Leave now, before I do the world a service and kill you were you stand,"
"Please, what will it take for you to listen?" Aries cried, his breaths clouding the glass.
"Bring me evidence, maybe then I'll listen to you, now leave, quickly," Celestia muttered, she walked away from the glass and back to her table. She turned to see if he'd left, he had, but left her a message in the condensation of his breaths. 'Beware the moon'. Celestia felt doubt gnawing at the back of her mind, the feeling she'd made a mistake. Overhead, Twilight broke and the moon was finally alone in the night sky. Celestia stayed awake the whole night, the feeling of impending doom reigned over the kingdom, and she'd didn't even try to stop it.
Virgo body rested peacefully on a pile of logs, sticks and dried leaves. Aries stood with a burning torch in his mouth, the flames scorching his cheek. It was bad luck to hold the torch for too long, so he through it onto the pile. The rest of the team through their torches, all eleven torches were enough to get the fire burning brightly. "Goodbye Virgo, We'll be with you soon," Aries said to the flames.
"What do you mean by that boss?" Aquarius asked, the rest of the team listened in, if something caused Aquarius concern, it was something important.
"The princess of the sun refused to help me, and I doubt Luna would stop at just one Batpony, she'll kill more of us," Aries muttered, the pile was burning brightly, giving Virgo the send off she deserved.
"Its my fault!" Sagittarius cried, "I should be the one on that pile, me! Not her!" he screamed, Pisces tried to pull him into a hug, but he pushed her away. Sagittarius stormed over to Aries, "You know its true, I was the one who spared the target, it was my failure, my weakness, and she payed the price,"
"I'm in charge, I should have ignored you and killed him anyway, it was my weakness to," Aries countered, Sagittarius fell to the floor and covered his ears.
"I hear her, in that back of my mind, she blames me!" He cried, turning his eyes to the fire, he screamed. Covered his eyes with his hooves, but they were covered in her blood. Up his forelegs ran single, black lines, a count to how many he'd killed, his whole body was covered in them, on his chest, a single red mark burned.
"He's gone mad!" Scorpio observed, Aquarius took a step forward and looked down at the fallen Sagittarius.
"Not madness, just a nightmare," she looked at her own hooves, she had black lines of her own. "Its her, shes doing this to us, toying with us," Aquarius summarized, everypony looked at their hooves, they all had their marks.
"What do we do?!" Pisces asked desperately, all looked to Aries.
"We endure, she owns us, she does what she pleases," Aries said. In his mind, he saw how each one would die, some would be killed by Celestia's guards, Sagittarius would shot himself with the crossbow, Aquarius would drown herself, Scorpio would poison himself and Pisces would be killed by Celestia herself. The princess didn't show him how he'd would die.
All around, ponies would look to each other, they saw it to. They eyed Sagittarius' crossbow with worry and pulled each other into hugs, crying into each other shoulders.
"Why does she do this? I thought she cared about us?" Pisces muttered between choked breaths. Aries saw Celestia tearing her apart, ripping her head off with her magic. Aries closed his eyes, he guessed she saw his death when she looked at him, she couldn't look at him either.
"I don't know," Aries responded.
"She wants our devotion, our allegiance," Sagittarius informed. The thought of him loading the crossbow, putting it against his chin and firing, it made Aries feel sick.
"She still needs us, we could use that against her," Aries suggested.
"Well, I doubt it could get worse," Pisces said, she wished she didn't. Luna played her last card, she'd shown them visions of the future, now she would show them the past.
Aries stood alone in a cave, around him ghosts walked, his people. He saw himself leave the cave, he'd leave, get attack by Celestia's soldiers and Luna would save him, he'd go back home and everything would die. Soon enough, the screaming and shouting started, Celestia herself walked down the ramp along side her guards and her pet phoenix.
Without any words, the chaos started, her soldiers blasted magic blasts against the construction they called their homes. Her phoenix took to its wings, moving at incredible speed and crashing into the wooden houses, its burning body turned it into a living torpedo. Batponies ran out of their burning homes and got cut down by walls of spears. Children were dragged away from their parents, put up against the cave wall and executed, brains stained the walls and the bodies piled up, she didn't care. She made them climb over their dead bodies, only to kill them.
One child ran as fast as his young hooves would carry him, he didn't get far. One unicorn blasted his leg and he fell from the pain, his teary eyes looked up and Celestia looked down at him, her angelical appearance made her seem like his salvation. A twisted smile grew on her lips and her hoof rose up, made contact with his head and she slowly crushed it down until she felt his warm brains against her hoof.
Not one was left alive, all destroyed and burned, the dead were left to rot and guards cheered like it was a victory. There was not victory or honor here, just a massacre. Celestia departed quietly, never a second glace or regret passed her mind.
Aries returned to the real world, around him his companions realized what they'd seen. Most of them cried and embraced their friends for support. "That bitch, i swear her sunny butt will met its end at my hooves!" Scorpio vowed, both Aries and Pisces had to hold him back.
"Scorpio, killing her will do nothing, it would only make things worse!" Aries said with a raised voice, Scorpio turned to the rest of the team.
"Are you just going to stand there whist Aries defends that tyrant!" he demanded, ponies started muttering between each other.
Sagittarius approached Scorpio, "Don't you see, she trying to make you angry!" he informed. Aquarius stormed out the cave, nopony followed her.
"Well its working, her punishment is long overdue," Scorpio hissed, he overlook his fellow warriors in disgust. "Did we all see the same thing, she murdered hundreds yet you still protect her, who's side you on?"
"We can solve this later, right now we deal with Luna, then we can deal justice," Aries commanded,
"Guys! We have a problem!" Aquarius shouted, the whole team walked outside. They couldn't belief their eyes, this was bad.
"Oh Luna, what are you thinking?" Aries muttered. She'd blocked out the sun with the moon, declaring night time over the whole planet. It was rather beautiful in its own way, the way the sun tried to get around, yet the moon stood its ground and didn't yield to nature's normal pattern. It mostly scared the group, and they lived in the night, they had no idea how the ponies of Equestria or even the whole planet would respond to this act.
"W-what are we going to do?..." Sagittarius asked, fear evident in his voice, he turned to Aries for guidance. Aries kept his eyes up to the sky, completely stunned. "Aries..." He asked again, ponies were also starting to look to him for answers, but he stayed focused on the Eclipse.
"Aries... are you alright?" Pisces rested a hoof on Aries' shoulder, bring him back to reality.
"Yeah, I'm ok," Aries put on a brave face for his comrades. "There's only one pony that could help us return the world to normal," He casted his eyes on Scorpio, "Celestia,"
Scorpio crossed his hooves, "I won't help that bright butt bitch," he swore.
Aquarius scoffed at him, "Can't you put your blind sense of justice away for a moment, we have bigger things to worry about," she pointed her hoof to the Eclipse, "Besides, Celestia's massacre will be tiny compared to the destruction Luna's about to cause,"
"Tiny? She killed everything she could, do you seriously want to help her gain full control of Equestria?" he countered, "She'll kill us to, if she gets the chance,"
"Then we're dead either way, so take a pick, freeze to death as we watch the whole world turn to ice, or met your end like a true fighter," Aries said, Scorpio saw the sense in his words but didn't have to like them.
"Very well, but as soon as the moon back in its correct place, then I'm done," Scorpio concluded, now he had the team's support, he could get Celestia's attention, maybe now she'd believe that her sister had turned. All all couldn't fit on the balcony, so some stayed in flight, hovering just over the rest. Celestia will inside, giving commands to her soldiers, when they spotted the zodiacs, they moved to defend their princess.
Celestia moved the guards aside, walking over to the glass and looked at each one of the members, none could stand her glare. "What do you want?" she asked once she saw the only one she was familiar with.
"You wanted evidence, there it is!" Aries pointed his hoof to the horizon.
"I know, and there is no doubt about her intention, she wants to take full control of Equestria," Celestia begun, "I've had reports, Luna pony guards are fighting for the throne room, apparently that's where me and Luna will face each other," A loud explosion thundered and the whole castle shock.
"Are you going to go, you must fight her, your the only pony who can!" Pisces exclaimed, Celestia frowned at her.
"I know that much, I just don't think I can win," Celestia muttered, she dismissed her guards and they left the room. Off in the distance, fighting and shouted could be heard.
"You must have something, anything to give you an advantage?" Sagittarius asked, her eyes turned to him.
"Of course I do, though I'm hesitance to use them, if they work at all," Celestia explained, the team listened eagerly for her to continue. "The Elements Of Harmony, mysterious magic from before my time. That appear to latch onto a pony that they think is worthy, me and Luna have wielded them many times to defeat evil,"
"What would the Elements do, could they bring Luna back?" Aries asked, hoping the answer was yes.
"The Elements have varies affects, sometimes it will banish a pony or just destroy them, i heard if the wielders are strong enough they can bend the Elements to their will," Celestia said, her voice carried her sadness and doubt, apparently the Elements Of Harmony are a final resort in any situation.
"Who could be stronger than you, you must be able in influence them in some way," Pisces exclaimed, she was the Princess and was able to move the sun with ease.
"Maybe, but not now, Luna controlled half of the Elements and i don't think we could use them to our advantage whist she owns her half," Celestia stated. "Perhaps, I could convince the Elements to work, but I'll need their physical form,"
"Well, where are the Physical forms?" Sagittarius asked, Celestia indicated to Luna's tower, Sagittarius' ears folded back.
"I'm going to have to trust you on this, I'm not happy about it, but I hope you actually mean well, Luna trusted you all those years ago so I suppose I'll can to," Celestia looked down at Aries, he looked up to her and gave her a small bow. "They'll be three necklaces, golden with gem on the front, she kept them in a display rack by her bedside,"
"We'll get you the Elements and bring them back soon," Aries promised. Celestia nodded and walked away from the window.
"Shes waiting for us, isn't she?" Sagittarius muttered, looking over to the tower in fear.
"Yep..." Aquarius responded.
Aries jumped up, his height allow the whole team to see him, "I'll go, if we all go then it will cause suspicion, besides, I've seen these Elements before, a long time ago," he didn't wait for the rest of the team, his words was not up to debate. He landed on her tower, she waited there for him, she just didn't look right, like something inside had changed. He moved the door sideways without any trouble and she beckoned him over to the table. The map had changed from one of the kingdom to one of the castle, every corridor, every hidden pathway was on it.
"We're battling for the throne room now, sent your minions to support my guards," she commanded, her appearance still frightened him slightly. "Soon, Aries, will rule together, like we should be,"
"W-what?" he asked, confused by the princess' intention.
"Its like we always wanted, you want revenge for your people cruel murder and I want to be in my rightful place," Luna moved closer to him, she picked him up with her forehooves, using surprising strength to spin him around joyfully. "We can rule, side by side, I'll be your princess and you'll be my prince," her eyes locked with his, but they weren't the eyes of a nightmare, but Luna's true eyes.
She moved her head forwards, keeping him in her grasp. Her lips touched against his and her eyes close. Aries couldn't think, he had never anticipated this, was this actually the Luna he knew or the horrible Luna that tormented both his body and mind. She broke contact with him, and the biggest smile he'd ever seen was on her face, shattering the hope that it was all a trick. This was the real Luna. "I guess I should explain, this demon, Nightmare Moon, is a facade. She wanted eternal night and I wanted the throne, so we made an agreement, I'll give her eternal night and she'll defeat Celestia for me, after that she'll be my scapegoat, I'll take the crown and the hearts of ponies everywhere and you get to rule beside me," she explained, Aries couldn't believe what he was hearing, making deals with demons, letting them possess her, when had she grown so desperate to take control, and why hadn't he seen it before now.
"Why Luna, you don't need to be the ruler of Equestria, you didn't have to make dealing with hellish creatures. You were perfect the way you were before," Aries said, he could see it in her eyes, he was breaking her heart..
"Aries... I'm doing this for you. You won't have to hide away from the world anymore, you and me together forever, no more fighting, no more violence or anger, just you and me," tears started welling in her eyes, "Don't you love me?"
"I loved the mare that I met, on a night long ago, by the waterside. I loved the mare that I used to watch the stars with, the mare that would tell me I was the best thing that had ever happened to her and I could turn around and say the same thing back. I loved the mare that fought her own sister so she could protect me. Bring her back and forget all of this, we don't need to be rulers and I don't need to be a prince, so long as we have each other, everything will be perfect," Aries stared into her eyes, her tearful eyes matching his. "Call back the guards, lower the moon, we can fix this, Celestia will understand,"
"I-I can't, she has control of me now, quickly, she has hidden the Elements under my bed in a secret compartment, take them to my sister, she'll understand what to do, I can only hold her off for a few more minutes," Her voice cracked from the tears and pent up emotions, Aries looked under the bed and in a safe with had been left open, were three shinning necklaces with gleaming gems on the front. He grabbed them and prepared to run out onto the balcony, until Luna's soft hooves paused him. "This might be the last time we see each other, I just wanted to say a proper goodbye," she leaned in closer to him, "Goodbye my faithful friend, I only wish i realized soon, that you would still love me even if i wasn't important,"
"Luna, you are the most important pony in the world, and I will never stop loving you," he moved the final distance and locked lips with her. He broke away from the kiss and moved to the balcony door, "Goodbye my princess, I hope we'll be together soon, whether it is in this life or the next," and with his final words, he left. As he flew, the sound of her crying out in pain told him that the mare that he loved was once again, gone.
Aries landed on Celestia balcony, the zodiac only need to look at him once to see that he wasn't in the mood for talking. Celestia was on one side of the glass door and he was on the other, but he didn't care, he walked right through it, shards of glass cut under his hooves and grazed across his skin, but the pain outside was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
She was sat at her dressing table again, preparing for her duel with Luna. When the glass smashed, she turned to face the window and saw Aries, baring the Elements as well as a broken heart. He slammed the piece of metal onto the table, "I got you the Elements, now its your turn to do something for me," he demanded, Celestia looked at him inquisitively.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked hesitantly.
"Promise me that you can save her," he tone turned desperate.
"What does it matter to you, I thought vampires didn't have feelings, after all, she was only something you could use to your advantage, wasn't she?" Celestia said, she was interrupted by his hoof smashing onto the table, nearing breaking it in two.
"Don't push me Celestia, just promise me that you'll try to save her,"
"Save her from what?" she asked, of course, she didn't know.
"Luna has been possessed by a demon known as Nightmare Moon, but i know that the real Luna is still in there," Aries explained, Celestia's face turned to one of disbelief.
"A demon? There isn't any demon that could possess a royal princess, we're too old for that," Celestia said. She began to pick up the Elements and examining them, she drew out her half of the Elements as well, leaving six golden pieces of jewellery on the table.
"Unless she wanted it to, but I know for a fact that she has been taken over by this demon," Aries said, Celestia looked at him with doubt, but the look on his face told her that he wasn't lying.
"Why would my little sister want to make dealing with horrible monsters?" She asked in disbelief.
"She wanted to impress you, she thought you took her for granted," Aries explained, Celestia quickly distracted herself with the Elements, casting separate spell on each different piece.
"So this is my fault?" Celestia muttered, Aries nodded, there was more to it than that, but guilt was the only way to be sure she'll try to save her sister. In unison, the Elements shattered and out broke six differently colored lights orbs, the circled around the room until the focused on Celestia. "Their ready, I'll make my way to the throne room to do battle with this demon. Wait here, I'll return soon," she said, and then she left, the Elements followed her closely.
Aries moved over to her bed and sat down, the rest of the zodiacs moved into the room. Pisces sat down next to him, "You love her, don't you, you love Luna," she asked.
"I do, and I know she loves me back, behind that cruel demon waits the same mare that saved us all," he explained, nopony dared to question it further. They waited for Celestia's return, they heard the sounds of battling and the shaking. Aries wanted to go and see what was happening, but he was convinced not to. After a long silence, Celestia returned, battered and bruised.
"It is done, Luna is defeated," she informed, Aries jumped off the bed and stood in front of her.
"Where is she, is she safe?!" He asked desperately, she looked down at him.
"I was able to banish her into the moon, where she'll be for a long time, in that time I'll search for a solution," she reassured, the whole team seemed relieved, glad she wasn't dead, except Aries.
"The moon?" Sagittarius asked, he walked up to the smashed window and looked out to the sky. "Oh yeah, you can see her from here," the whole team, including Celestia, moved to see. There she was, a face of a unicorn mare was carved into the surface of the moon.
"What happens now?" Pisces asked, looking at Celestia with concern.
"I'll take full control of the kingdom, ponies will no doubt be panicked and they'll need to be calmed down," Celestia begun, until she realized that not what she was asking, "As for you, I'll suppose I could use extra help, the Elements were mostly destroyed when I used them so Equestria is without one of its main defenses, maybe you could prove useful," Aries agreed to the offer, despite Scorpio's objections, but Aries wasn't going to risk rejecting her offer.
A week pasted without their Luna, and it wasn't the same as before. Celestia was a different ruler to Luna, whist Luna was very easy and laid back, Celestia was strict and demanded detailed reports on everything they did. Aries stepped down from command, giving the job of leader to Pisces, he knew she would be a good leader, maybe even better than himself. He couldn't stay, everything reminded him of Luna, after he was sure everything was going to alright in his absence, he went to Celestia.
She had fixed the window, but left it unlocked. He climbed in and met with Celestia, "I have a favor to ask from you," he requested.
"What is it?" she responded.
He looked up at the mare in the moon, "She's all alone up there, she will need company," he muttered, Celestia looked curiously at him, he was so different to the other Batponies she'd met, he had feelings.
"You want to join her? Why?" She too, looked up at the moon.
"A long time ago, she saved my life and I promised her a reward, I think it's about time I gave it to her," he said.
"I can spark the Element back long enough for them to send you up there, but whether you survive it or not..." she informed him, he did not care if he survived or not, so long as he tried.
"Then do it," he ordered her, she thought about his motifs for a moment.
"You love her, don't you?" she asked, he nodded, "Very well, I'll send you up there, I wish you the luck, you taught me an important lesson, never to judge a book by its cover," the six orbs of light returned, spinning around her horn lightly. He braced himself for their harmonic light.
The Elements fired, and then he was gone. She moved over to the moon, the mare was still there and nothing else had changed. Expect one thing, a single crater that wasn't there before. It was the shape of an heart.
