Embrace the Darkness

“Luna, wait!” The Night Princess ignored Celestia’s desperate call and continued her brisk pace towards the castle’s tallest towers. “Please Luna, just stop and talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about sister,” said Luna without turning around. “I’ve already made up my mind, and nothing you can say or do will change it.” Celestia grabbed Luna’s shoulder and pulled her around to face her.

“I can’t let you do this Luna, your decision affects the entire nation of Equestria...” Luna snarled, and her horn glowed forcing Celestia back several steps with her magic.

“Do not talk to me about decisions that affect Equestria, sister! Your decision to give Twilight Sparkle the knowledge to create the Lost Rune was extremely foolish and dangerous. Not even Starswirl the Bearded was able to resist the corruption of its powers. Have you forgotten what happened to him...”

“We agreed never to speak of that time again Luna...”

“Wakeup Celestia, that time is on us once more. Equestria is about to enter its darkest times yet, and you act like nothing is happening. We need him back and you know it!”

Celestia frowned at her sister. “Perhaps it’s you who need him back...”

“Hold your tongue sister! Do not presume to know my thoughts.”

“You didn’t deny it,” Celestia pointed out. Luna scowled and continued her acescent up the tower’s stairs. “At least let me come with you. You cannot go to him alone, you know what he’s capable of.”

“Which is why it would make no difference if you were there with me or not.”

“Than it’s settled, I’m coming with you!” Luna looked like she was about to argue, but she merely nodded her acceptance instead.

“I must warn you sister, this world we are about to enter is full of dark and dangerous creatures. There are laws regarding the use of magic, and people to make sure those laws are followed. You must do as I tell you without hesitation, am I clear?” Celestia gave her sister a solemn nod, and stood next to her on the top of the tower.

Luna’s horn glowed, and the moonlight shining down on them became brighter and more intense, until Celestia had to closer her eyes. She felt a sudden jerk over her entire body, before she felt entirely weightless like she was nothing more air. And when the sensation passed, Celestia fell to her knees and threw up.

“Do not worry sister, you will feel better soon. But we must move quickly, our arrival will have been noticed by many undesirable creatures.” Celestia stood on shaky legs using Luna for support and they both walked out of the alleyway they had appeared in.

“What is this place?” Celestia asked, looking around in awe at the strange new world Luna had bought them to.

“This, my dear sister, is a different parallel world to the one Sunset Shimmer now resides in. The city we are in, is the city of New York.”

Celestia gazed curiously at her sister. “How do you know so much about this place?”

“I have come to this world a few times before, but have never traveled past this city.” Luna suddenly paused, tilting her head as though she was trying to hear something, and she began walking faster. “You may ask questions later sister, for right now I sense several vampires tracking us. We must hurry uptown where it is safer.”

Celestia took in the new sights sounds, and smells that plagued her senses. She was absolutely fascinated with the things Luna called cars, and she could only think about how much Equestria could benefit from such advanced technology.

“Vampires!” Luna yelled, suddenly grabbing Celestia’s hand and took off running. Celestia glanced over her shoulder and sure enough, three very pale looking people were chasing after them, and they were gaining fast.

“They’re getting closer!”

Luna came to a sudden stop, and spun around holding up a hand glowing with pale blue magic. “Stay away!” Luna warned. The vampires paused for a moment, than resumed their approach. Luna fired a warning shot of energy at their feet. “I said stay away!”

Celestia was about to use her own magic to defend herself, but the three vampires each gave a small grunt, and they fell forward with a large black throwing knife stuck in the back of their necks. A man dressed in dark clothes, with dark electric blue eyes, and short jet black hair, stepped out of the shadows of an alleyway, and Luna felt very mortal in the presence of Alex Cartilia.

“Welcome to my city Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Alex said giving them each a bow. “I must admit some confusion at your presence, as I don’t recall ever inviting you here.”

“We need your help...” Luna began, but Alex held up a hand to stop her.

“Before you go any further, I must remind you I don’t take kindly to unwanted visitors in my city, so there is a price to pay for your presumption. Follow me back to my home and we’ll talk there.” Without even waiting for their response, Alex turned his back on them and began walking away. Celestia glanced at her sister who shrugged before following after the Familiar.

“I still think this is a huge mistake, Luna,” Celestia whispered. Luna shot Celestia a brief glare.

“Don’t start sister. We’re here now, and there’s no going back.”

“Actually,” Alex said without turning around. “You’re perfectly welcome to go back to Equestria, I for one would prefer you did so. I’ve got enough problems here without you two adding to my extremely overloaded plate.”

“What kind of problems?” Luna asked curiously. There was a moment of hesitant silence, before Alex answered.

“The CMC is still recovering from a serious attempted coup led by a coven of rogue vampires. Disturbingly enough, they also had a pack of werewolves, and a group of warlocks working alongside them. But while the CMC is repairing itself, there has been a massive uprising in magical related crime, and I’m the one who has to deal with it all.”

“What’s the CMC?” Celestia asked. Alex sighed, sounding resigned.

“It’s the Control of Magical Creatures. We protect mortals from magical creatures, and make sure no treaties are broken between the two different cultures.”

Celestia asked a few more questions, but Alex was stubbornly silent, probably pretending they didn’t exist, so she spent the rest of the journey in silence.

“We’re here,” Alex informed them after another half hour of walking. He led the way inside to the living room, where Alex’s twin sister “Angel,” instantly enveloped Luna in a bone crushing hug that could rival Pinkie Pie’s with its enthusiasm.

“Lulu, I missed you so much! It’s been ages!”

“I missed you too Kitten!” Luna replied returning the hug.

Though Alex and Angel were twins, they were polar opposites of themselves. Angel was short, with pure snowy white hair, and dark emerald green eyes, her clothes were also pure white, and unlike Alex, Angel was outgoing and friendly with an strong aversion to killing.

“Hey Tia,” Angel said grabbing Celestia in a eager hug. “What brings to our world?”

“We were hoping to discuss something with your brother,” Luna explained. Angel gave a short laugh.

“Good luck with that, Alex isn’t in a very good mood at the moment. And I don’t think your appearance here is going to help improve that.”

Luna glanced over at Alex who was leaning against the wall, completely still and statue like, expressing no emotion or indication of what he was feeling. “How can you tell?”

Angel shrugged and walked into the kitchen, returning with several cups of warm milk. “When you’ve been together as long as Alex and I have, you pretty much become an open book to each other. You just have to learn how to read it properly.”

“Why are you here princesses?” asked Alex.

Luna exchanged a glance with her sister and pulled a small glowing gem from her pocket. “Equestria needs our help.”

Alex smiled mirthlessly. “Equestria isn’t my problem. It’s yours.” Celestia began to walk forward, and Alex aimed two silenced handguns at each of the princesses. “You know what is my problem though. I’ve got a five million dollar bounty on my head, a coven of rogue vampires trying their best to take over my city, and I now have the threat of Nightmare Moon.”

Luna walked forward until the barrel of the gun pointed at her was touching her forehead. “If you wanted us dead, you’d have killed us when you killed those vampires.”

“Alex!” Angel admonished stepping in front of her brother’s guns. “You are completely out of line...”

“The last time the princesses of Equestria came to me, I ended up fighting and imprisoning an army of dark demons, losing my amour, and almost getting trapped in limbo between our realms. So forgive me if I’m not keen on seeing them again.”

“I can get you your amour back.” Luna said. Alex lowered his guns and stared at the night princess with cold calculating eyes. “If you fight with us once more to save Equesria, I’ll get you your amour.”

“Let me see the gem.” Luna obliged, and they waited in silence as Alex studied it, and after a few minutes he handed the gem back to Luna. “We don’t have much time, months if we’re lucky. But I’m going to need your help to cancel the contract on my head before we go to Equestria.”

Luna nodded agreement. “Very well. How do we do it.”

“Quite simple, we cancel the contact giver.”