Chapter EXTRA-Into the Dark

Chapter Extra: Into the Dark

I have been called many things in my long life.

I have been called the light of the world, the bringer of the dawn, the monarch of light, the warden of the darkness that seeps to corrupt the world.

I have been called mentor, teacher, judge, arbitrator and monarch.

And most proudly, I have been called mother.

Not simply by those that have shared my blood, by those that I have brought forth into the world, but by the lost, the destitute, and the infirm.

I have been a mother to them all. For all ponies in this majestic land of Equestria are my children, and I in turn am their mother.

And as much as they may pain me, I love them.

Despite their flaws and sins I care for them, their innocence and desire to do good winning out over temptation and sin at the most dark of times.

Ponies say that my willingness to give so much of myself to others makes me a compassionate, but I simply say to them that doing the right thing is not always easy, and it always comes with a cost but it is always worth it.

Life is not fair, nor is it easy.

I have taken on many roles in my life, all of which were necessary to preserve the fragile balance of peace in this nation and through it I have accomplished much.

But It is said that it is not one accomplishes with their life that defines them but what they are willing to sacrifice that tells their true nature.

And I have sacrificed.

I have sinned.

I have killed.

I have abused the very laws of reality to insure a prosperous future for my race at the cost of the lives of millions. I have demanded their lives a sacrifice of a brighter dawn. I have thrown innocence on the fires of progress to stoke the flames of tomorrow that even now face the threat of extinction at the hooves of a nameless force.

Some days I wonder if it is even worth it. The sacrificing, the toil, the struggle to preserve such fragile brief lives.

Yet regardless of the pain that its existence has brought others, to the tragedies it has wrought without even my knowing, I cannot stop using its power. It has brought pain, but it has brought life as well.

All I have to do is look out my window and behold a land of ponies, generations that have not just survived but thrived for a thousand years without war and pestilence and crime and pain to know that it is worth it.

All have to do is look at a child that miraculously recovers from a life threatening illness who gets to grow up with her family and friends to know that this sacrifice has meaning.

All I have to do is watch a bright caring young unicorn filly, whom I love as if she were my own flesh and blood, lose her parents to a tragedy not even I could have seen coming to know that the Holy Corpse’s power, though atrocious, is necessary so that no pony should know the pain that she had to endure.

I am not deaf to the cries of pain outside my borders.

Nor do I deafen myself to their cries.

Yet I swore a holy oath, as a monarch as a ruler, and more importantly as a mother before the holy Faust herself to protect my children no matter the cost.

Regardless of moral quagmires,

Regardless of the price.

The safety and happiness of my children takes precedence over anything and everything.

……..Or so I would like to believe.

Taking a life is never easy, and as much as I would like to dismiss away the casualties of an Equestrian Peace, I cannot.

There are nights that I spend in sleeplessness after hearing a notable disaster that ravages another land. I think to myself ‘what if those were my children?’

And now the mare that I have most wronged, that has more right to hate me than anything, my sister Luna, whom I love with all of my heart, is free once more, purified by the very evil I had unintentionally unleashed on her. Her life is only one of many destroyed by the corpse’s power.

Yet for me it rings the loudest, her very existence telling me ‘THIS, this is why you are evil! You deserve to DIE for what you have done to her!’

Every day the shadows in my heart grow as I doubt myself more and more, as I doubt what I am doing is truly the right thing. And over and over a thought echoes through my head with in the moments when I curl up into a ball in the darkness of my covers as I try to find peace in the land of dreams.

What would Twilight think?

What would my student, my child, think if she knew?

The very thought sends shivers down my spine.

Yet regardless of the doubts and the darkness before me, I know that a dawn must come. That regardless of how dark the world is, that there is light waiting to break out, to illuminate, to save.

This is my hope, my saving grace that has brought me through my darkest days of loneliness and pain over the course of one thousand years.

My name is Celestia Invicadas Solaris, the invincible ruler of the dawn, and I know that as sure as I raise the sun that a new age is beginning to dawn in Equestria…….

But what will this new age be?

And at what cost must salvation come?

Only the Gods know.

……………

Looking out from her window of her golden room on one of the darkest nights in her long memory Celestia gazes off in the far distance as she takes another sip of her cashmere tea to calm her nerves. The distance is so far that a normal pony could never see it, but to her it is as clear as crystal. And what she sees disgusts and terrifies her.

A town is burning, and she is doing nothing to stop it. She, the ruler of her country sits idly in a time of crisis as she depends on the strength and skill of others while her attentions are drawn to other matters that require her attention. Granted this time her task is probably of equal importance, confronting her wayward sister before she can fall back into the darkness, being as important to the safety of the country as the corpse.

But it is far more than that, it is a chance to make reparations, to make up for a mistake that she made a thousand years ago, one that had caused them both no small amount of heartbreak and grief. Celestia’s heart swells as she thinks of her sister, and this time getting the chance to do the right thing, to meet her not with arms and spells but words and love. ‘And this time’ the monarch swears to herself ‘I will not fail.’

The door creaks open behind her as a guard opens the door to her private chamber as if defusing a bomb. The cobalt blue earth pony stallion satisfied that he was not incinerated on sight steps carefully through the doorframe as the heavy oak door clatters behind him. However the Goddess gives him no time to make his report as she places down her cup of tea and turns to him with a question she has been holding back all night on her lips.

“Have you prepared the squad?” Celestia asks with her usual methodical tone. “Are we ready to embark to where my sister is?”

“Yes mam!” The dark blue stallion salutes “We assembled a hoof picked small squad to accompany you into the mines. They are the best of the best and will protect you from any harm you may be exposed to.”

“And the Arcanum?” Celestia raises her eyebrow skeptically “You made sure to downsize the Purifying Arcanum did you not?”

“Yes Mam!” The stallion salutes once again as he pulls out an impossibly ordinate sheet of paper from his armor along with a smaller set of instructions. “I may not know magic that well your highness but the your grand magister said that….” The stallion’s eyes squint as he tries to read the small print on the sheet of paper.

“It was difficult to find a way to downsize the size of a spell that complex but the magical academy was able to create a lesser version of the Arcanum that will work without the amplifying powers of the Red Stone of Aja. The Arcanum has been inscribed onto paper made of the world tree bark and inscribed with ancient Dragon runes to store the magics necessary to get the reaction started. However the academy is worried that the cost of attempting the spell a second time will drain you to zero and endanger your life. Therefore since the magical charge will be used the first time, I warn you that you will only get one shot so make it count and please…..” The stallion stops his eyes re-reading the same passage as a dark crimson blush passes over his face

“Well?” Celestia asks “is there anything else?”

The guard gulps nervously “…..please, for the love of Faust make sure you are pointing it in the right direction before firing the spell this time, as the hair on my flank has still not grown back yet despite my best spells and potions. With the Greatest Honor. Sunset Shimmer.”

The goddess for the first time that night relaxes at least one aspect of her plans is going smoothly. “Good, I should not like to dwell on such dark thoughts but if Nightmare Moon’s evil has indeed returned to claim hold over her, then I must attempt to purify her by my own power, no matter how dangerous it must be.”

The goddess’ head lowers as she looks at the carefully drawn Arcanum. “I know I would feel better if a pony with as much magical talent as Sunset or Twilight were accompanying me. But Sunset cannot make such a perilous journey, no doubt she would try anyways but it would be far too dangerous for her.” The goddess content with the quality of the Arcanum looks back to the guard. “Thank you Orange Scent, for bringing me good news.”

The orange maned guard nods dumbly like a puppy that has been given a treat by his master “yes Mam, I know that I may be new here, but as always I am at your command. And I know for a fact that all our troops are the most organized that they’ve ever been!” the guard remarks confidently.

Celestia nods. “That is good because now of all times is when we need organization the most.” The goddess looks out over the balcony before her as her eyes once again take stock of the situation of ponyville. “From what my eyes can tell there are many great fires raging in ponyville. There seems to be some kind of commotion that is going on, and I doubt that it’s anything good.” The Goddess turns back to the Guard “And you made sure to send an extra detachment to reinforce Captain Armor?”

The guard salutes sharply “Yes Mam! I mean Yes Princess! I mean, I made sure that we sent a contingent of one hundred of Canterlot’s finest. It was difficult putting them together given that much of the guard was scattered but they should be arriving in town by train in three hours!”

The mare turns back to the scene outside as her eyes narrow on the town. “Good, that is a long time for any normal pony to hold out. But Shining Armor epitomizes a strong defense, waiting a few hours for reinforcements will be easy for a soldier of his caliber.”

“Oh then that’s good then as long as you can see what’s going on then….” The guard stiffens for a second before beginning to stutter “W-Wait! Y-you can see the town from here!?”

Looking back in a mixture of surprise and disbelief the goddess smiles “Yes I can, after all I chose this mountain because you can see for miles after all. And though scrying might be out I still have my eyes to rely on.”

The guard stares back as the mare pears out her window his eyes widening at the incredible powers of the Goddess before him. Truly she was the monarch of the sun, perfect powerful and all-knowing in every sense of the word. “P-Princess! That’s incredible, I mean you’re incredible! Seeing that far in the dark of night! I mean you still would be incredible if you couldn’t see that far, not that it’s not that impressive to begin with! It’s just that even if……”

The goddess smirks as the new recruit fawns over her seemingly invincible superiority. ‘that and I have the ability to focus the light from the town with my stand power Walking on Sunshine. It’s like having a ten million bit telescope in your eye, but better because you don’t have to carry it around!’ the mare giggles silently as she thinks to herself, Smirking at the stallion’s flattery . True over thousands of years of life most flattery had gotten old however it still delighted her that ponies thought so highly of her. So every so often she would embellish a little here and there, her little ponies always loved to think that she was truly an invincible goddess who could do anything.

However in reality she was just a mare like any other, granted she was a thousand year old mare with the wisdom of the ages and the strengths of all three races and skill in the arcane that eclipsed any mortal pony that existed to date. But she was still a flesh and blood pony like any other and still suffered the same complications and problems that any normal pony had to deal with.

‘Speaking of which, I should really get back into shape!’ the goddess looks down at her belly as the guard continues to rant behind her on the flawless nature of her coat. ‘Luna was always the more physically minded one while I focused on magic, but she’ll be able to tell instantly that I’ve been letting myself go.’ The mare smiles as she pictures the aghast face of her sister. ‘And I already know what she’ll say….’

‘Celly! Did you indulge in your dark obsession with cakes while I happened to be away?!’

‘And I’ll say ‘No Luna of Course not! Things have just been busy in Equestria of late so I haven’t had much time for strenuous exercise.’

‘And she’ll say ‘Dost there now lie to me? See thou infernal pudge? Tis a sign of the dreaded Devil's food cake and must be expunged with studious exercise and diet!’

‘And I’ll respond ‘No not a diet!’ just like always and she’ll laugh and I’ll laugh along and everything will be the way it was…...’

A shock passes through Celestia’s system as the weight of reality weighs down on her with malice. A dark shudder passes through her very soul, her hair pausing in mid flutter as the Goddess remembers that things can never go back to the way they were before. Instantly the Goddess’s merry mood sours as the weight of reality comes crashing down on her head. ‘Who am I kidding, life isn’t so simple that we can just embrace and say ‘let’s be sisters again’. Life isn’t so merciful that such things can be forgiven. Especially since I’ve been actively using the very magic that corrupted her in the first place.’

The goddess’ sudden shift is mood does not go unnoticed her downcast expression plainly visible to even the most unobservant and untrained of ponies. Namely the solder behind her back who noticing the Monarchs’ sullen expression shuffles his hooves as he mentally debates what to do. Hesitating for the briefest of seconds the guard musters up what remains of his courage as he taps Celestia lightly on the shoulder.

“Um….. Princess? Should I stop with the praises? Am I upsetting you?” The guard asks in a vain attempt to cheer up the now depressed mare. “I-is it about Shining Armor? I know that it looks like he’s in a bit of a pinch now. Do you think he will be okay? Perhaps if you are still worried you would like to go with our vanguard to reinforce the town?”

Pulling herself out of her dark thoughts the mare looks to the town, as she imagines what she had seen so far. And from what she had seen it was not good, and true a light jump would drain her considerably it would take no more than a second to arrive in the Town of Ponyville. If she left now thousands of pony lives might be saved by her direct intervention, and the corpse would no doubt arrive safely back in Canterlot. She would also be able to no doubt clear Twilight of the crimes falsely levied against her. The mare blinks as a sudden unbidden thought enters from her subconscious why had she thought that had been a good idea in the first place to arrest her student, even in the wake of incriminating evidence? She should be flying over there now even if there were no looming disaster if just to apologize to Twilight for failing her in her darkest hour. And more importantly to explain that what she did for her country she did out of love for her ponies, and more directly her love for her student.

However the information that had been received by her precious stand agents right before they had collapsed from grave wounds had been unmistakable. They had seen her sister hiding right under her nose in the darkest depths of the crystal mines of Canterlot. More than anything she wanted to fly over there right now, not just to protect the national treasure of the Corpse from those that might use it for terrible deeds, but to save the lives of her ponies that even now battled between life and death.

But were her sister truly in the mines and if she did not act immediately chances were her sister would flee. With her hiding place discovered Luna would escape to find another and once more her sister would be lost to her. And even worse the longer that her sister dwelled in the dark places of the world alone and left to her own evil thoughts the more likely she would seek the power of the dark magics that corrupted her, and use that power to undermine her rule. And should the worst come to past Nightmare Moon would be reborn and without the power of the corpse to stop her

Once more the monarch looks over the town as she sizes up her options with centuries of experience as she instantly makes an impartial and sound decision.

“Shining Armor will be fine. He is undoubtedly the best we have to offer. He will insure that the Co…… I mean the ponies will not be harmed and he and Twilight will arrive safely back in Canterlot.” The mare turns back to face the guard diverting attention away from her many linguistic slip ups with her overwhelming natural grace. “For now subduing the threat of Nightmare moon takes precedence. She may have been purged of her evil but should it return, we would all be in grave danger.”

The Goddess looks out the window at the crescent moon in the sky her thoughts suddenly become focused on other things. ‘And more importantly I have to talk to her and apologies for everything, make her understand that what I did was for Equestria, for our ponies. I only hope that we can reach an understanding, and that she can forgive me for what I’ve done to her…..’

Turning away from the moon as she turns away from darker thoughts the Solar Princess turns back to the guard with a smile that could never reveal her guarded moods. “And I have not forgotten that Twilight is with him. She is resourceful, brave and from what I can tell from her letters she has some very capable and loyal friends of her own.”

Looking out at the small pinpricks of light in the distance the guard gulps as his mind conjures up the most horrible pictures he can imagine, the ultimate nightmare scenario unfolding in the town of Ponyville as they speak. The guard gulps as he turns back to his queen “You sure have a lot of confidence in them you highness, what if they fail? What if…..”

The guard finds his lips stopped by the soft hoof of the solar monarch, the warmth of a star flowing through the hoof and into his lips and face, the warmth instantly causing a sleepy calm to overcome the solder. “They won’t, I’m sure of it. Nothing can get past Shining’s shields and Twilight’s still only beginning to tap into her powers. If there are two ponies better suited for this quest, then I have yet to meet them even after over one thousand years of life.”

“But listen to an old mare prattle on. I’m here talking about such silly and useless things now we have a long trek ahead of us.” Celestia chuckles lightly at her own joke as the guard laughs nervously at his boss’s sense of humor.

Yet in the space of a second all trace of mirth disappears from her face her eyes shining like fire in the dark as even her mane flutters more erratically in anticipation of the task ahead. “But enough jokes, We have a task to do on which our nation depends on. We cannot fail.”

The stallion prepares to speak yet a single glance from the Goddess freezes his blood. The normally kind and approachable Princess Replaced with a flaming mare of light. Gone is Celestia the Princess, Replaced by the might and strength of Celestia the goddess of the Sun, ruler of the light and slayer of the abomination Discord. A cold sweat covers the blue coated stallion’s body as he falls to the floor in fear. Yet surprisingly the furious sun does not smite him, she does not condemn him for his weakness, but rather as the door opens behind him she sun speaks to him.

“Do not worry young one.” Celestia says with an assuring and motherly tone as she gently trots out the door. “It will all be all right.”

The door closes behind her as the enormity of the mission that she is undertaking becomes painfully evident to her. She has to confront the mare she has most wronged, a mare who has tried to kill her twice before and pray that she sees reason. And if she does not, if she drifts once more into the madness of darkness that threatens to consume her….. Celestia trots down the hall faster, her steps becoming more rapid as she reaches the doors to the deep mines in record time. Trotting up to the doors with the authority of a monarch the Goddess Glances down upon the soldiers assigned to protect her from harm. The elite soldiers donned in the solar guard armor cease their idle chit chat and salute sharply as the five soldiers prepare for the sovereign task ahead of them.

“That’s right….” Celestia says assuring more of herself than anypony else “one way or another it will all be all right.”

…………………

The mines were dark.

Not dark in the sense of the absence of light though they were most certainly dark in that sense.

No the darkness that surrounded the small group of six was more sentient, more alive than to just dismiss it as some mere aspect of the environment.

The Crystal mines, Long ago a national treasure to the ponies had been said to house an ancient temple to the ancient Goddess, the merciful mother of all ponies. The legends of this ancient temple and the vast untapped reservoirs of magical crystal had drawn countless ponies to the mines. For years the mines had been a symbol of Canterlot’s importance not only as a capital but as a producer of some of the finest gems and crystals in Equestria. However the endlessly winding paths and the magical crystals which interfered with guiding spells and compasses meant that becoming lost in the mountain was no laughing matter. And the deeper the ponies delved into the mountain the more ponies would be embraced by the darkness within it, doomed to die never seeing the sun.

All in all over one hundred and seven ponies had died in these mines before they were barred from the public on grounds of being too difficult to navigate. Then fifty from the military institute and magical academies had died before the princess had been forced to quarantine the darker parts of the mines off from ponies altogether, abandoning the ancient mining equipment and skeletal remains the only signs that ponies had even been here in the first place. And though the smaller caverns closer to the surface were still very much in use, the mines in the center of the mountain were dark and foreboding.

The mines in the heart of the mountain were stifling, Oppressive and all consuming, as though the mountain itself was a form of dark and ancient monster.

And leading the small group of elite troops through the belly of this beast her horn cutting through the darkness like a sword is the princess of the sun, the slayer of Discord, the Monarch of the dawn, none other than Princess Celestia. The five soldiers follow behind the mare with caution knowing that one misstep one false move could send them spiraling off the path they are following through the mines. Suddenly the cave opens up in front of the group as the princess expends a small amount of light ahead of her, illuminating an ancient rusted over wreck of a mining complex. Mining carts, ramshackle buildings and what looks to be yards and yards of metal tracks that lead further into the darkness of the paths coming out of the junction. Breathing a slight sigh of exhaustion the mare gives the cluttered space a once over to determine it is safe before addressing the senior most officer in their mission.

“Commander Sharp Sword.” The Goddess turns to face the senior most member of the team, a dark red unicorn stallion. “Are you sure that we’ll find our target this far down?”

“Mam, according to reports given by the half conscious stand users they had investigated the escape of several dangerous stand users from the Red Stone Group’s holding cells as well as several missing person’s reports.” The dark red unicorn looks around as light from his horn refracts off glinted steel of the mining equipment around him. “A team of stand agents traced the missing ponies’ trail through the mines where they encountered the subject. Only two of the four survived in a state in which they were able to make it back.”

The captain looks up at the monarch of the sun before him, her shining horn leading them through the darkness with the ease at which a parent might lead a child to bed in their own house “..…and the only reason that they were able to escape is due to the fact that few other than our princess even know their way through these mines, as the Nightmare couldn’t follow them. Without The princess to lead us now we would be hopelessly lost.”

“They’re lucky that they made it back at all.” A black-purple unicorn mare with a scraggly red mane looks upon the darkness before her with her one good eye not obscured by an eyepatch. “To survive a fight with a goddess is no easy feat, and we’re headed for such a fight.”

“And to think that such a monster was hiding directly under canterlot!” A Bright yellow earth pony stallion spits off to the side to avoid as his braided dark blue mane sways off to its side. “Despicable.”

“Sounds very open and shut to me,” A green pegisi stallion comments “Find the invincible goddess of the night and bring her down. Simple enough.”

“But-But are you sure they’re down here?” A meek voice asks off to the side revealing the cobalt coated orange maned earth pony “I-I mean why would a princess be down here anyway! I mean I’m not afraid or anything but are you sure it’s safe? Maybe we should turn back.”

Sharp Sword looks ready to punch out the offending stallion before taking in a deep breath and calming himself down. Through gritted teeth the stallion manages to answer. “No Orange Scent we are sure she’s down here. Our stand agents confirmed it, and the magic crystals here would easily explain why we haven’t been able to locate her by magical means as they interfere with scrying.” The stallion turns towards the monarch of the sun eager to have his concerns reinforced by his superior “She has to be down here! Isn’t that right princess?”

The Celestial monarch does not respond to the commander’s question as her hooves come to a stop. The entire group ceases its movement as they watch the Princess give a peculiar look to the captain, her eyes expanding in surprise and what looks to be confusion as she absently mindedly stares straight at the captain of the guard without any regard to her situation.

“Um, Princess?” The orange maned stallion taps the goddess’s side “I’m sorry for questioning the captain, please don’t be angry with him.”

The voice of Orange scent seems to snap the princess out of her daze as she turns to face the stallion off to her side. “Oh right!” the princess snaps to attention as she addresses the captain “Of course Captain Sharp Sword but if you will, please forgive Orange Scent’s presumptions, after I’m a princess and even I feel like…..”

pink!

Every head in the small room swivels towards the sound as the entire group stands at the ready, preparing themselves for any sign of danger. Stands are manifested, eyes crane in the dark and weapons are readied as the entire group prepares for brutal close quarters combat. Yet nothing greets the group as seconds turn into a minute the six ponies finally relax their guard slightly.

The captain however does not take a chance as he points towards one of the dark tunnels in front of him. “The sound came from in there, you two.” The red stallion points to the light yellow earth pony and the light purple unicorn mare. “Proceed down that tunnel if you don’t find anything report back after five minutes. We’ll guard the princess here while we wait.”

The two salute sharply as they trot cautiously towards the cave prepared to fulfil their orders to the letter, only for them to be stopped by a familiar and comforting voice. “Belay that order captain.” Celestia states with a tone of authority. “It was more likely than not just a rock and nothing more. Were it truly an enemy they would have fled more rapidly to escape or they would have attacked us while our guards were down. And since there was no nose I suspect that it was nothing that we should be concerned with.”

“B-But princess!” the dark green guard protests. “Surely we cannot take that chance and pass up an…..”

“Anyhow.” The princess nods dismissing the claims of her guardsmen “We’re not covering enough ground as it is. We have been here more than two hours yet we’ve haven’t discovered or found any sign of our enemy. Therefore….” The princess looks over the entire group as if waiting to judge their reactions “I suggest that we split up to cover more ground.”

“But Princess!” the dark purple Unicorn mare salutes as she looks Celestia straight in the eye unafraid to speak her mind even to one she is sworn to protect. “Forgive me Princess but that is far too dangerous. Our lives don’t matter but you are too important not to protect! Besides that is a huge breach of protocol one six……”

“Spell Sheen.” The Goddess says in a tone that brokers no argument. Instantly the mare backs off, her argument dying in her throat as she looks up to the goddess. “And Hard Tack.” The bright yellow earth pony stallion salutes shakily still in awe of the goddess’s sudden use of her authority. “You will form one group, and double back where we once came from, following the path that we have painted with our glow in the dark markings. If Nightmare Moon is trying to escape she must go towards the entrance to the mines or risk losing her way.”

Pointing towards the Green Pegasus Celestia continues “While Green Beans and Orange scent take the old mining path which one can navigate easily enough given that it is a fixed path forward. The captain will escort me himself. And should any one of you contact the enemy then you will use flares to alert me, given that they still work despite the crystal’s interference.”

“But Princess?” the orange maned stallion raises his hoof “Are you sure that this plan is a good…..”

“And there will be no arguments or second guessing complaining that this plan is not typical or by the book.” Celestia states suddenly. “You will follow your orders to the letter. Now are we clear?”

The soldiers look among themselves torn between their loyalty to their duty and their loyalty to their Princess as they hesitantly avoid making any unnecessary eye contact.

“Trust me.” The princess of the sun smiles benevolently “It will be all right, my little ponies.”

With a single smile from the goddess, all doubt to their duty instantly dissipates, as they join together in support of the princess’s plan. Spell Sheen and Hard Tack perform one last honorary salute before they wordlessly follow their orders, filing into formation as they turn tail and head back the way they just came. As the two guards trot down through the hall the goddess gives them a brief wave and a smile wishing them good luck as they vanish off into the distance completely oblivious to the danger that they are unintentionally leaving behind.

Unknown to the two ponies of the royal guard just as the princess had turned her back on the other ponies in her group, the true enemies had seized their chance to strike. The red stallion in the royal guard outfit grins malevolently as he watches the princess’s own shadow takes on physical form it's dark shape congealing together on the ground behind the oblivious mare. Rising into the air as silent as death the dark pillar grows height as it sprouts two separate limbs as large and muscular as tree trunks, its two glowing yellow eyes staring down on the goddess. The dark figure though virtually indistinguishable other than its rippling muscled figure is none the less as intimidating as it is silent as the towering muscled stand raises its hoof over the princess for what is sure to be a lethal blow. As silent as the night the stand swings down its limb squarely on the Goddess’s neck.

“Now then…. Captain…” The princess asks with an amused tone of voice. Before the stand’s blow can even land the monarch of the sun disappears in a flash of light as her shadow fades with her. The Red stallion gapes at the goddess’s sudden disappearance however he doesn’t even have time to react as the goddess appears before him her eyes blazing with anger. Her horn ignites as the stallion feels his legs give out from under him, his body dangling weightlessly in the air as the mare pushes the stallion into the wall behind him with tremendous force.

“Or whatever your real name is,” Celestia resumes “Perhaps you could kindly tell me why you are an imposter, or better yet what it is that you hoped to accomplish by luring me here?”

The dark red stallion groans in pain as he is slowly pushed against the wall by the fury of the princess. “Heh so you’ve found me out.” The stallion sneers “what gave me away?”

The princess’s eyes narrow as she stares down the dark red stallion her mere gaze enough to break a pony with the slightest stare. Throwing the stallion to the ground with her magic the mare glares menacingly at him. “Ever since a certain incident a couple of hundred years ago where a stallion dared to guess at my age it has been against protocol to address me as ‘mam’.” The Goddess closes her eyes “It was an old rule of the academy so I decided to test you by having you to investigate a sound off in the distance that I created by kicking a pebble with my hoof.”

The princess smiles fondly as she opens her eyes to the sight of the fuming stallion beneath her hooves “It was an old trick but that did not stop you my little pony from falling for it. You sent off two of the squad to investigate the disturbance while you yourself stayed behind. If you were any kind of solder you would know that a senior officer always takes point to protect his troop’s lives in case of an ambush. In addition you never corrected me when I called you captain when a real commander would remind me of his position for logistics sake.”

The red coated stallion grins as he is backed up into the wall his confidence unscarred even when faced by the superior strength and power of a goddess. With anger aplenty the stallion wastes no time in ripping off the armor of the royal guard with a passion, stamping on the symbols and dress of a noble position with single minded contempt. As he throws off the last of his armor his cutie mark of a black lion’s head appears for the first time on his flank as he swaggers closer towards the Goddess. “I was getting tired of the armor anyways! So then what say we end this little façade and get right down the main event?”

“Fair enough.” The princess smiles as she conjures up a powerful shield around her body. An instant later a large stalactite the size of a small house descends from the heavens landing on top of the princess shield with the force of a bomb blast. Yet through the dust and broken shards the princess shield holds out, its brilliant illumination cutting through the haze as the shield dissipates from around her. “This would be the time in which your two partners decide to attack me while my back is turned.” The princess looks around only to find that the red stallion has disappeared.

“Though I suppose you’ve decided to use the chance to attack me to run away with your tail between your legs.” The princess scans the room hoping for a reaction from the frustrated and angry stallion as she pans the rusty mining equipment for signs of her enemies.

“And case you were wondering how I knew that the two guards behind me were with you it was simple.” The princess continues her rant hoping to elicit some response from her hidden enemies. “You sent off only two of the squad to investigate when it is a standard rule to send teams in groups of three. In addition one of the two seemed quite nervous to be left behind with me. Thus I suspected that the two of them were part of your little assassination team.”

The Goddess of the sun ignites her horn as an untold brilliance as the light from her horn scans the darkness of the mines around her for the group of ponies. “The fact that your two friends did not try to attack me from behind after you saw my power but rather chose to regroup speaks to the fact that you three are professionals who were trained by special operations of the military or some pony who knows them. You were even able to disguise sending a pillar at me as an attack so you could allow your friend to escape in the distraction it created.”

The mare looks around as her senses kick into overdrive: Her keen eyes picking up any traces of light and her ears catching the merest of sounds as she tries to locate her three attackers. “You are professionals you have full knowledge of my stand powers and, most dangerously, you work well as a team. Yet you have lost, all I have to do is leave the way I came and you will be trapped here in the mines without a chance of escape since I am the only pony who knows them well enough to lead you out.”

Celestia states with solemn finality as her years of diplomacy and logic prey on the hiding opponents fears and doubts. “Why not surrender? I don’t want to see any pony die this day and compromise would help us both reach what it is we want. Deactivate your stands and come into the light and I give you my word that no harm shall befall any of you. ”

The princess’ voice finally gets a response as a small meek voice echoes through the dark “She sure is smart brother maybe we should…”

SLAP

“Shut up Dally you imbecile! I’m in charge here! This is your fault anyways!”

SLAP

“Eldest Brother is right! All you had to do was act natural and you couldn’t even do that right! All you had to do was act calm and we could have killed her by now!”

SLAP

SLAP

“B-B-B-Big B-B-Brother Cameo! B-Big B-B-B-Brother Negrado! P-P-P-Please! S-S-S-Stop, you’re hurting me!”

SLAP

The sounds of violence fills the darkness around the mines, echoing off of the walls. “All right Negrado that’s enough, if you knocked him out before he could do his part then we might really be in trouble. I swear you’re way too violent sometimes I think you might kill him one of these days.”

The monarch’s trained ears make out the sound of spitting as she strains to make out the direction of her enemies. “Who cares, besides his power works better when he’s injured right?! So he should be thanking us for his beating!”

Unable to take the sounds of violence any longer, even though it is directed towards one of her enemies Celestia stamps her hoof on the ground, the resulting thunderclap causing a deafening silence to fall over the cavern. As the silence descends upon the caverns, the princess pears over her surroundings as the monarch of the sun puts all her effort into one last attempt to end the fight without bloodshed. “Enough. This fighting accomplishes nothing for either of us. Now then let’s cease this foolishness and talk things over like civilized ponies. Tell me where my sister as well as who is behind this attempt on my life is and you won’t be harmed.”

The room grows silent for a few moments and for a few brief seconds the princess of the sun believes that there might be a peaceful resolution. Suddenly the voice of ‘Commander Sharp Sword’ Responds “As if we’d surrender to a sun hag like you! You want to know what we want? We want to buck your dead corpse that’s’ what we want!”

The princess’s earlier demeanor of kindness vanishes completely replaced with an icy cold expression of anger that radiates off the crystal pillars. The room’s temperature elevates from the goddess’s divine fury as the hair of the three ponies cowering in the shadows stand on end. “Enough frivolousness.” The princess’s voice booms as her horn blazes to life. “This is your last chance. COME OUT NOW. You can’t possibly hope to kill me, better creatures have tried and ALL have failed.”

“heh so now the tyrant of the sun shows her true colors does she?” a pure black stallion steps out of the shadows above her as he stands on a pedestal above her the outline of his black lion’s head cutie mark barely visible against his dark grey coat mane and coat, both the same color. His spiked mane is cut short and sharp like the bristles of a cactus, as it sways gently back and forth from the slight bending motion of his head. “Well then since you’re demanding my name I’ll tell it to you! I’m Negrado eldest of the three Dark Brothers and my stand Me and My shadow takes over my opponent’s shadow and uses it to attack them! Since they can’t’ hurt their own shadow without hurting them my stand is invincible!”

Emerging from the shadows to his right a dark green stallion sighs as he throws the remainder of his armor over the ledge with a clattering sound. “Leave it for big brother to steal my thunder. Since you’re so good at guessing games princess I might as well give you my name!” The snobby dark green stallion strokes his fur causing his coat to change to a light pink. Brushing back his sleek and styled grey mane the stallion strikes a stylish pose with as he looks down on the Goddess before him “My name is Cameo, second eldest of the three dark brothers. And I don’t mind telling you my power either the power of my stand Color Blind allows it to change color at will allowing completely invisibility and camouflage.”

‘A color changing stand, that’s how they were able to pose as my guardsmen so easily’ Celestia thinks to herself a she keeps her gaze locked on the stallions before her. However entering from the side of her vision almost beyond her presence is the orange maned stallion that slowly approaches the edge. The color quickly melts from the stallion’s coat revealing the stallion’s cutie mark of an old well on his flank, however what truly catches the goddess’s eye is the stallion’s nature. The stallion’s fumbling hooves and embarrassed apprehensive expression a clear testament to the now black coated and pink manned stallion’s painful shyness. Tugging on his wild and untamed pink mane like a support the stallion seems to fumble with every other word as he looks shyly over in the direction of the Goddess.

“H-Hi there….” The stallion fumbles nervously as he moves his mane to cover the painful swelling on the right side of his face. “Oh and I’m, um the youngest brother Dally. And I’m not allowed to tell you my stand’s name or it’s power because I was a bad pony and didn’t do my part the way I was supposed to…..”

“Well would you look at that! See the idiot’s learning!” The eldest brother grins as he slaps the back of the younger brother’s head forcibly. “An who says that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!”

“Looks like he could keep his mouth shut after all.” The dark green stallion sighs. “And for once he could do as he was told, since our ‘dark brother’s formation’ depends on him doing his part. If our little princess knew the extent of his ability she might catch on to our little plan and leave is here.”

“The dark brothers…..” The princess reminisces on the days of her past as she stares at the three ponies before her. “I remember now!” Celestia recalls as she closes her eyes “a trio of brothers who were rejected acceptance to the royal guard due to genetic emotional instability went on a rampage after stealing several pounds of raw red stones and using it on themselves.” The princess narrows her gaze at the stallions above her as her fluttering mane picks up speed “You killed fourteen guards and ten innocent civilians with your out of control powers and were locked up for life for your crimes.”

The eldest brother laughs “That’s right! You left us to rot like common criminals because you decided that we didn’t deserve the powers you kept from us! You played God and we suffered for it!”

The princess narrows her gaze “You were unrepentant in your actions and refused to suppress your powers that killed so many innocent lives. I gave you a chance to live good, hardworking lives and you threw it away because you refused to wear the stand suppressing collars that would have preventing you from killing again.”

“We received our powers because we were chosen to receive them!” The eldest stallion yells down to the princess like a spoiled child “You denied us our destiny when you gave the limitless power of stand to whoever you chose!”

Swiping his light green mane out of his eyes the Cameo picks off with a confident grin “However the traitor saw how powerful we were he helped us learn to control our powers while we were locked up. For years we honed our powers secretly while we prepared to fulfill our ultimate destiny, to become the most powerful stand users ever. And so years later he freed us so that we could receive the honor of killing you!”

“Um…” The smaller white coated stallion taps his hooves nervously “Well the plan is once we kill you we’ll be the strongest stand users and then…... Um the traitor can take over and then…...”

The meek stallion looks over to his brothers with a confused look on his face. “Um Big Brother Negrado? I know that I’ve asked before but what happens after we kill Celestia? I mean I don’t mean to say I don’t trust the Traitor but he is called the traitor, What’s his big plan again? Can we even trust him, not to ….um betray us too?”

The eldest brother Negrado looks at the younger one, his face momentarily stunned by the deep insight of a pony he had thought to be. With his mouth hanging open for a full thirty seconds as Negrado’s brain struggles to determine whether what his brother says has any truth before punching his brother Dally upside the head.

“YOU IDIOT! This is what you get when you try and think!” Negrado shouts as he kicks the prone stallion “We don’t need to know the plan he has because once we off Celestia we’ll be the most powerful stand users in Equestria! We can do whatever we want! And if this traitor tries to betray us we’ll just kill him too!”

The youngest stallion wines slightly from his injuries as the eldest brother turns back to face the Goddess. “As I said! Once we kill the one pony who betrayed us we’ll be the most powerful stand users in Equestria. There’s no need for a plan if you’re the strongest that’s why we’re gonna do what the Traitor said and Kill Celestia! So stop being a wet blanket and do what I say!”

The stallion turns back to face Celestia his eyes burning fiercely with the fire of his hatred. “Honestly how much of a idiot are you? We kill Celestia and live as kings, that’s it! End of plan no more discussions! How hard is that for you to understand?”

The goddess however remains undaunted by the brother’s threats as she sighs heavily “It seems that you cannot be diverted from your present course of action. Very well I only had one last question anyways.” The mare spreads her hooves apart as she enters a ready combat stance. “What have you done to my guards, Green Bean, Orange Scent and commander Sharp Sword? Tell me where you have hidden them and I will make your defeats as painless as possible.”

All three brothers look at open another as if in shock as they silently think up the best way to tell the goddess the fates of the three guardsmen that they impersonated.

“Oh them!” Negrado grins as if recalling a funny joke. “Well that’s a funny story. See we told them that we planned to use their aliases to lure the princess somewhere quiet and murder her slowly. We asked them ever so nicely if they would calmly let us take on their identities but they attacked us first…..” Negrado bursts out laughing “…. So we beat them to death. It was justified self-defense so you can’t complain it was against any law.”

“Big Brother is right! Don’t worry about it!” Cameo laughs along with his elder brother as Dally remains silent off to the side. “They may be gone but they certainly won’t be missed by their loved ones! After all we made sure to take eliminate their families first!”

An illuminating blast from the Goddess’s horn speeds towards the three stallions as Celestia channels her pain and frustration. The thick bolt lightning speeds towards the ponies looking as though the fight will end in a single second, however the eldest stallion only grins as he picks up his youngest brother lying prone on the ground throwing him into the path of the magical burst. The youngest brother however only has the time to mouth two words as the burst of magic surges towards him.

“B-Black Hole….” The youngest stallion mutters as the magic strikes him full force in the chest. However rather than electrocuting the poor stallion to death the energy courses through him his wounds and bruises created before slowly evaporate as a dark black spot appears on his chest.

Celestia looks on in an equal mixture of curiosity and cautiousness as the black hole over the stallion’s heart grows from the size of a small marble to about the size of a small mandarin orange. The stallion whimpers as the dark hole in his chest grows larger and larger as more and more of her spell is sucked into its infinite depths. The younger brother recoils in agony as the lightning is sucked completely into the dark hole on his chest, his wounds from before melting completely away.

‘an energy absorbing stand!’ the princess thinks to herself as she ignites her horn for another round of lightning. ‘And one that’s capable of absorbing my full force attack no less! It seems he’s capable of converting magical energy towards his life force as well, so any magical attack won’t have any affect. I’ll have to close the distance and attack with physical force if I want to…..”

The goddess ducks reflexively as a large dark fist brushes over her mane with tremendous force. The dark ogre that is Negrado’s stand slithering on the ground behind her. The stand attacks again this time it's powerful fist shattering the ground beneath her as the goddess takes to the air to get out of range of the stand’s fists. However as she takes into the air the ogre only seems to grow bigger it’s giant arms practically bulging as it grows up to brush the top of the cavern. With a guttural roar the stand swings its monstrous arm as the air current alone nearly knocks the agile goddess out of the air. The monster raises its fist to strike only for the goddess’ golden armored stand to lash out with the speed of a single beam of light as its hoof punching clean through the monster’s soft chest.

For a second the battle looks over as the giant gapes down at the hole in its chest, only for it to reform a second later. Celestia’s’ eyes widen as she barely manages to dodge another blow, only to be forced into parrying the giant’s great strength with her stand’s hooves. “No damage? But how?”

Landing on the ground Celestia watches as the Giant shrinks accordingly it’s clenched hands none the less ready to break the Goddess’s bones with unbridled fury. Suddenly the Goddess’s eyes widen as she recalls Negrado’s previous monologue. ‘My horn! Of course! It’s glow is creating a shadow!’ the ogre of a stand raises it’s hooves reading itself from a powerful haymaker just as the goddess cuts the flow of her magic causing the room to grow dark as the illumination from her horn ceases. In an instant the shadowy figure disappears completely, its existence fading into nothing without a light source to confirm its existence.

The goddess sighs in relief as she taps her horn as if in warning. “I’ll have to watch my output of light from here on out. This is a stand that thrives in the shadows, the larger the shadow the stronger it is. Now I just have to find where….URGH!” The goddess shouts as a savage blow forces her to the ground. Rising quickly to her hooves the goddess looks around through the impenetrable dark as she listens for sounds of her enemy’s passing. However the only sound she hears in the dark of the mines is the snickering of her vile foes.

“Did you forget about little old me?” a condescending sophisticated voice shouts from the darkness around her. Craning her elegant neck around in the dark the goddess tries to locate the sound of the voice just as another hoof smashes into her face from the darkness.

Reflexively igniting her horn the mare shines her narrow beam of light in front of her as her eyes catch sight of a peculiar creature that could only be a stand. Its narrow slender body, takes on the base shape of a starved lizard, its scaly dragon like appearance and protruding forked tongue a dead ringer for a reptile. However it’s six padded and webbed feet, it’s three tails each tipped with a shard of broken glass like a flail and it’s three yellow eyes tell the Goddess with a degree of absolute certainty that the target in front of her is not friendly. However before she can attack the stand’s outline fades and blurs as the lizard vanishes into thin air.

Celestia blinks in surprise just as another savage blow hits her from the side. Recoiling around the mare quickly puts her eyes to work as she tries to locate her opponents. Yet despite her frantic search the goddess finds her surroundings once again abandoned; the cliff where the tree fiends once lauded their superiority over her bare of their presence. “Where are you now? Show yourselves!”

Cameo however only laughs as his snobbish voice echoes off the walls. “Oh? Is the immortal Goddess struggling to find three little ponies? Well don’t bother trying to find us or my stand. As I’ve proven before I can disguise anything even ourselves so I think you’ll find it ‘difficult’ to locate an enemy who can make themselves invisible in a locale such as this.”

The Goddess’s horn blazes to life as she conjures a shield of glowing yellow light around her deflecting the invisible blow just as it pounds into her shield. The goddess smiles in satisfaction as the invisible creature’s blow struggles futilely to break through the Goddess’s shield; a satisfaction that completely disappears as the goddess feels a dark presence behind her poised to strike. Celestia gulps as she turns her neck slowly around only to see the dark and evil shape of Negrado’s stand Me and My Shadow, looming behind her. The evil stand cracking its knuckles in the way a bouncer might just before he turns an offending patron into a fine soup.

Creating a door in the shield instantly the goddess rolls to the side just as the ogre of darkness attacks her from what was previously the inside of her shield. Closing the hole in the shield the goddess attempts to confine the creature formed from her shadow as it tries mercilessly to pound its way from the inside of the shield. However another invisible blow to her head causes her concentration to fail as the barrier dissipates the shadowy ogre advancing to strike. Though groggy from the blow Celestia still manages to back step just as the blow lands just where she was standing. Cutting off her horn’s power once again the mare tenses herself just as another blow from the shadows hits her below the belt.  Groaning in pain the Princess takes to her hooves as she tries to remain mobile against an attack that seems to come from every direction.

‘I can’t use magic…….this is bad.’ Celestia looks around in the pitch black darkness in vain just as she feels another blow impact her body. ‘If I ignite my horn to use my magic, even the slightest spark will cause that elder brother’s stand Me and My Shadow to manifest behind me and attack from my blind spots while I’m trying to defend against

‘And not only that without any light to manipulate I can’t use any of my stand powers, only physical attacks!’ The goddess braces herself as another savage attack strikes out from the dark. ‘Which wouldn’t be a problem if I could see my opponent! But I can’t create any light to locate them!’

‘And to top it off!’ the goddess takes to the air attempting to escape only to be beaten back down to the earth. ‘It’s nearly impossible to locate anything here in the mines.’ Mustering her courage the princess of Equestria pours a thick beam of light from her horn as she runs through the dark rapidly. Her eyes pan from side to side as she attempts to locate her hidden enemies. However a powerful blow to the back of her head from Negrado’s stand causes her light to flicker out. Yet her mind though rattled still races furiously in an attempt to find a solution to her dilemma. ‘The caverns echo so I can’t locate them with sound and even if I could create enough light to see with, they’re using Cameo’s camouflage to hide so my chances of finding their main bodies is slim.’

Celestia guards her face in vain as Cameo’s stand Colorblind continues to hammer her from every direction with its numerous blows. ‘And to top that off, even if I could find them I can’t attack with my magical attacks because the youngest brother, Dally can absorb these magical attacks.’

The mare smiles grimly as she looks around in the dark the voices of the three brothers snickering at the ruler of the country’s pitiful position. ‘Hum, this does look very bad. They know all of my weaknesses and planned (or more likely they were told) exactly how to cut me off from my strengths.’

With great resolve the goddess shakily stands up on her hooves her body though battered standing with all the resolve and majesty an immortal goddess of the sun can muster ‘When it comes down to it I really have only one of two three options. First I can try to run away and leave them here in the mines, however that is unlikely since after all this running around in the dark I can’t seem locate the glow in the dark markings which lead to the way out. No doubt their work.’

The mare closes her eyes to the darkness as she tries to listen for the sound of the creeping invisible stand of Cameo. ‘Second I could try and eliminate the stand Colorblind. His stand is about the speed of sound but my stand is immeasurably faster. The only reason this fight’s been so one sided is because his stand is constantly attacking from where I can’t see. I can’t’ hear him at all but If I try and attack in the general direction that he’s attacking from the moment after he attacks then I have a slim chance at getting him.’ The mare looks around as she spreads her consciousness to the room around her in hopes of finding the three fiends hiding in the darkness. ‘Then once Cameo is defeated I can work on finding the other two, defeat Dally in hoof to hoof combat and then move on to Negrado.’

The mare takes a ready stance her stand though shrouded by darkness raises its hoof as it prepares to strike at a moment’s notice. ‘And since I cannot afford to run and risk these brothers harming any more innocent ponies my option is number two, eliminate Cameo’s stand!’ The mare smiles as she anticipates the coming attack. ‘and I think I have an idea on exactly how to do that!’

For several seconds the attacks cease as the Goddess stands at maximum alertness her hooves prepared to strike as every muscle in her body tenses up in anticipation of the fight to come. The mines are silent the darkness thick and heavy as only the sound of dripping water. For minutes the two sides stand at a stalemate as Celestia catches her breath.

“WELL CAMEO?” a voice shouts out from the darkness echoing off the walls “What are you waiting for? It’s your job to attack the princess when she can’t defend herself so why are you just sitting around? Finish her off!”

“But, Big Brother!” a voice wines from the darkness in a way that makes it impossible for either side to ignore. “The Princess is too well defended now for me to attack!”

“Um what are you talking about Cameo?” The soft voice from the sidelines asks “She’s not that well defended and your stand is invisible so why can’t you attack?”

“Dally you Idiot! I was able to attack before because she didn’t know what direction I was attacking from!” Cameo complains “even if I did hit her she’d hit me back if I attacked now! And my stand is a distance type so it’s not as strong as yours. So I’m saying help me out Big Brother Cameo, Let’s finish her off together!”

Another deep silence fills the mines as Celestia can practically feel her heart beating out of her chest. Suppressing a dry cough the mare stands completely alert as she mentally prepares for the imminent attack knowing her very survival depends on applying her plan properly. Suddenly a voice emanates from the darkness as Negrado responds “Well I suppose being careful couldn’t hurt. Especially when fighting a goddess, so why not let’s beat her down from both sides!”

Celestia flinches as a small but powerful light appears from out of the corner of her vision. Turning in the direction of the light she sees the grinning overconfident face of Negrado, his stand looming in the shadows behind him as he trots ever closer to the Goddess. Celestia’s horn glows like a torch as she points the tip towards the advancing stallion the shadow of his stand growing greater from the light from her horn.

“Uh Uh!” Using his horn Negrado holds up his youngest brother like a shield. “Did you forget about Dally’s absorption powers? So if you were thinking of using any of your little magic….” Negrado shakes his grey coated brother like a rag doll in his dark red aura.“…well let’s just say it’ll be really ineffective.”

From the shadows behind the vulgar stallion a dark giant drifts across the ground silently only for it to disappear the next instant against the dark backdrop as only it’s eyes are visible in the dark. “All right Cameo!” Negrado shouts to nopony in particular “You attack from stealth and when she’s stunned by your little surprise attack I’ll finish her off!’ The stallion turns back to the mare as he contemplates his own victory. “Well Princess?” The stallion spits out with venom “have any last words?”

“Yes in fact I do.” The princess smiles as the radiance around her horn grows even brighter. “Flashbang.”

“Flashbang?!” Negrado snouts as the light surrounding Celestia’s horn grows even brighter “what’s a flashban…….. OH SWEET CELESTIA MY EYES!!”

In an instant the room becomes a holocaust of light, the radiance of the Goddess of the sun’s horn reaching unseen levels as the brightness in the room continues to grow. Like the depths of a star or the inner heat of a raging bonfire the Goddess rises gracefully into the air as the brightness eclipses anything a normal pony could even conceive of.

“Flashbang.” The Goddess continues “as in a non-lethal spell or tool designed to disorient or blind the enemy. In this case it would be a quite appropriate usage of vocabulary do you not agree?”

The Dark brothers do not respond, as they are far too busy rolling around on the ground in perpetual agony as it feels like their eyes are melting out of their skulls.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Celestia comments as the three ponies writhe on the floor in a vain attempt to drown out the immense amounts of light that are coursing through their very bones. “You thought that your familiarity with the darkness gave you a disadvantage because I could not see. But it is this very fact that you denied me my sight that makes your inability to see now all the more ironic.”

Though no ordinary pony could see in such brilliance, Celestia was not the monarch of the sun for no reason. Light was her very nature, brightness her very soul and to see through such brilliance was as easy for her as greeting the daytime’s splendor. That and she had a badass stand power that allowed her to control light so that she could look straight into the sun without burning her eyes out.

“And now that you’ve done me the pleasure of revealing yourselves.” The princess smiles as she stares directly at the exposed Dark brothers. “I know exactly where you all are! WALKING ON SUNSHINE!”

The blinding light gathers around Celestia as her stand absorbs the light around it honing it refining it and strengthening it as the light in the room grows to unheard of illumination. The brightness grows and grows as Celestia’s stand amplifies the light in the room past it’s normal quantities reflecting it off every refractive gem and every black stone as the room becomes an endless ocean of pure white.

“SOLIS HASTAM!” The mare shouts as the dense light that is coursing through the small room condenses into three separate spears of pure sunlight each one shooting towards the three separate assassins as the mare watches on. At the speed of light itself the three beams honed to a fine point shoot towards the dark brothers, only for the three beams to swerve violently off their course missing Cameo and Negrado completely. The Celestia’s eyes widen as the room itself seems to grow darker around her, her head swiveling around as she watches the three bolts of light circle around the room like a lost firefly on their erratic path.

“The path of the beam was redirected!?” Celestia shouts in disbelief as she follows the new path of the stream of pure light “But how?!”

Following the final path of the beams of light Celestia gapes as she watches the three beams swerve back to their original path to their new target, the youngest brother Dally. Dally’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as the void in his chest devours the yellow beams of light like a midday snack, ravenously sucking in the light around Celestia with an insatiable appetite as it sucks more and more of the Goddess’s immeasurable light into its dark depths.

“What?” Celestia gasps in surprise as the light from her horn and her stand’s latent light energy circles into the now gaping hole in his chest vanishing without a sound. “H-He’s absorbing the light itself? So he isn’t just limited to absorbing mana, but any type of energy? And he can absorb it at a distance?!”

“Darkness….” Dally touches the edge of the giant void on his chest as the endless pit of darkness on his chest now the size of a basketball glows ominously with a bright yellow light. “…..Darkness…… Release.”

Celestia’s eyes widen as a giant bolt up pure sunlight and magic comes streaming out of the small hole in his chest the mare barely having the time to guard with her stand as the full force of her own magic is returned on her. However the suddenness and unpredictability of the attack easily overpowers the Goddess’s guard as her stand Walking on Sunshine is blown back by the pure force of Dally’s attack. The beam drives the goddess clean into the wall with a sickening crunch as stone and flesh alike give way from the attack. Biting her lip to the point of drawing blood the Goddess suppresses a blood curling scream as she rises limply to her hooves coughing up a faint dribble of blood as she props herself against the wall for support.

Slowly the assassins rise to their hooves as they try to clear the spots out of their eyes from the Goddess’s intense light. Their heads spinning from the overstimulation of their sensitive dark adapted eyes. “BUCK!” Negrado curses loudly. “I can barely see! I’m lucky my back up plan kicked in otherwise you would have been in trouble Cameo!”

“A-Actually brother…” Dally whispers under his breath. “I-I-I’m the o-o-one who….”

“Shut up Dally!” Cameo shouts as he rubs his eyes painfully. “Can’t you see that I can barely see! URGH that Princess will pay for this! If my brilliant eyes are even slightly damaged by her little trick I’ll skin her alive!”

Pressing her blood covered fore hoof against the wall the mare glares menacingly as the tree wicked stallions encroach on her space, their eyes luminous in the dark like a wolf inching in for the kill. Her rump against the wall the Goddess attempts to flare her wings in a threatening manner only to cry out as one of her wings recoils in pain. Wincing the goddess looks at her limp wing as she concludes what it is indeed broken in several places as well as the fact that she neither has the time or the opportunity to attempt to splint her broken bones.

The stallion chuckle evilly as they slowly close in on all sides their stands at the ready as they prepare to move in for the kill. Daly though meek approaches with his black heart throbbing at the chance to absorb more of the ivory Goddess’s magic. Cameo lauds magnificently in his apparent victory his stand coming out of its cloak just to leer in her face with its multiple eyes. And Negrado stares malevolently as the light from his horn allows his obsidian giant to stand behind him with its angry hands ready to wring Celestia’s neck like a turkey.

‘so… this is it?’ The goddess wonders for herself as she is backed even further against the wall ‘this is how I die? Alone and in the dark, without even a chance to defend myself or explain my actions? Without love or compassion?’

Defying all expectations Celestia smirks. ‘Regardless of the situation I can’t help but feel it’s fitting. I doomed countless living things to suffering alone and in the dark and now…. Now I join them. It will all be fine Ponies will miss me but Equestria will carry on. Shining Armor will recover the corpse and my little ponies will live on in peace. The moving of the sun and moon will pass on to Twilight to whom I’ve taught the spell work necessary to move it. With help she will take over the movements of day and night.’

The princess smiles faintly like an old mare on her deathbed, almost savoring her death to come ‘It’s funny really; ponies think the entire world revolves around me but I’m really not needed for anything after all. In reality I’m really such a small part of this world for the supposed ruler of the sun. And of course should raising the sun and the moon prove too difficult for the unicorns of today Luna could always…..’

Suddenly a single glint of a memory passes through her eyes as the previously submissive goddess snaps to attention. ‘No I can’t’ die! Not now!’

Cameo smiles as his stand’s tails snap like a whip on the ground “I think that this is going to be glorious!”

‘How…..’ the goddess gulps to herself, as true genuine fear begins to take hold ‘How could I die without telling Luna that I’m sorry!? How could I die without even being given the chance to talk to her!?’

“Remember boys!” Negrado licks his lips as his stand pounds its fists into the ground “I’m the eldest so I get first dibs!”

‘….to hold her!?!’

“Um nothing personal princess.” Dally states as he looks at the princess with pity in his eyes “But you’ve really got to die. Big Brother and the Traitor said so after all.”

‘…To tell her that…….. I love her more than anything in the world?’

“Shut up Dally!” Cameo cries as his stand begins to rapidly close the distance between it and the princess “And as for who gets her first, I wore her down the most so I get first dibs!”

Celestia’s eyes can only widen as Cameo’s stand leaps into the air it's mouth of razor sharp teeth opening up as it prepares to turn the goddess into a puddle of bodily liquids. Its razor sharp tips spin like a blender as the monster roars in anticipation of its meal. With only a single second to spare as the monster comes down on her head Celestia, leader of Equestria and the free world only has the time to close her eyes as her life flashes before her eyes.

‘…Luna……’

‘…..…Luna…….’

‘………..I’m just…… so sorry Luna……..’

‘………….. I know that I wasn’t the best sister……….’

‘……..I know that I let you down………’

‘………… I know that I wanted to say I’m sorry more times than I could count……’

‘………… but even if you never know how sorry I am………….’

‘………. I want you to always remember……….’

‘………That I love you Luna………’

‘……….I always have and always will love you…….. just don’t forget that…….sister.”

………………….

KABOOM!!

“EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!”

Just as the darkness surrounding the princess looks to be capable of snuffing out her light, just when all hope seems to be lost, a light flashes in the darkness it’s brilliance only surpassed by the defining sound of an explosion as a wall directly across from the three assassins caves in. The magic missile however is not the like the harsh powerful light of the sun but a mellower more gentle light that streaks through the room like a comet on a dark night. Celestia watches with dumbfounded surprise as she watches her attacker, the lizard stand Colorblind fall to the ground a gaping hole in its chest still smoking from the powerful magical blast that cut through its hide like a hot knife through butter. Subsequently the stand’s owner Cameo falls to the floor a second later coughing up a mouthful of his vile blood as he screams out in pain. The other two assassins stunned by their sudden change in fortunes can only back away from the injured Goddess and the gaping hole in the wall as they are forced to abandon their assault in the wake of a new arrival.

A soft gentle hoof step seems to echo as the dark silhouette of a pony emerges from the other side of the hole.

“Celly….” The dark figure grins as it extends its wings, its pearly white teeth reflecting the gentle glow from her horn. “Thou hast really let thyself go. I mean look at that infernal pudge, and thine bruises! Thou art really out of shape, I mean losing to a folly of fools such as this! It is proof enough that you have lost your touch dear sister.”

Turning in the direction she saw the beam of light come from, Celestia’s heart nearly stops as a familiar face from her past emerges from the shadows off to the side of her assassins. Thought her eyes are telling her the identity of the pony smiling before her, her rational mind in part refuses to believe it. How could she have known she was here? Why did she come to her rescue? These questions send the already weakened Goddess’s head spinning as she tries to put into words the immense levels of amazement and surprise that are currently overwhelming her senses.

“L-Lulu?” The goddess asks her eyes tearing up. “I-Is that you?”

“URRRR.” The silhouette groans as her horn grows brighter revealing none other than the second royal pony sister Princess Luna, her ethereal mane capturing the glow and majesty of the stars. “Thou mean…. I mean you have really let yourself go. Cures, modern language is far more difficult than it once was. And these new inventions! These….. light bulbs and wheels…. How could thou allow such infernal inventions to…..”

Whatever long tirade that Luna had perhaps prepared on the demonic appearance and powers of modern technology is immediately forgotten as Celestia wraps her arms around her sister. Weeping into her coat the sun goddess releases in a single moment all of her pent up fear and self-loathing, her sadness and pain in a single breakdown as tears stream down her muzzle. And for a moment all the mightiest pony in Equestria can do is weep in equal measures of joy and sadness as she reminds both herself and the pony before her that despite her powers and godlike status she is indeed a pony like anypony else.

“C-Celly….” The stunned goddess raises her shaking hoof as she hesitates to return her sister’s embrace. Of all the things Luna expected, a fight to the death, another deception, to be imprisoned in the moon once more for a thousand years, she had never in her one thousand years of solitude expected this. For her sister, for her proud and noble elder sister to suddenly break down and cry in front of her, it was unheard of, it was impossible. Save the first time she had donned that darkness that consumed her, her sister had never shed tears like that for her, she had never even cried like that for any pony that she had known or loved over her thousand years of existence.

Part of Luna had always suspected Twilight’s memories of her sister, namely her heartfelt speech on how she had wronged her, had been a ruse. That it was an act designed to gain Twilight’s trust so that her sister could defeat the Nightmare’s dark magic with the aid of the corpse’s power.

She had come expecting a fight not tears, not…… this. anything but this. Part of her wanted to dismiss this act, to yell to scream, to do anything but stand there being cried on by the very pony whose negligence had cost her one thousand years of life and happiness. The pony that had ripped joy and love from her hooves and replaced it with loneliness and hatred. The pony that had ignored her words of advice and caused untold devastation over the thousand years she had been gone despite what that very power had done to her. But her tears….. her sister’s tears……

“F-F-F-F……” Celestia shudders through her tears as she tries vainly to put words together.

“S-sister?” Luna asks apprehensively.

“F-F-Forg-g-give m-me….” Celestia snivels pitifully “Forg-g-give me… for being so blind……I-I was so wrong…..”

Those few words so simple send a shock greater than anything that the Goddess of the night had ever felt in her long life through her very soul. In an instant all doubts and fears fall apart as she can only stand mouth agape as she gently recalls the words of a pony very wise for her age.

‘We may fight from time to time, and I may not enjoy everything he does. But I know that he will always be there for me, whenever I need him, and that he will always love me.’

And though her pain, her suffering and the injustices of the world around her are not forgotten, the fear and suspicion towards her elder sister, the hatred that she silently harbored for her across the years finds itself washed away by her sister’s heartfelt tears. Her pain, her suffering is still there but it is washed over, it is filled by the enormity of her sister’s love, like a dark and empty crevice suddenly being filled with warm and pure life giving water.

Suddenly in a moment it all becomes clear to her what she, Princess Luna of the night, must do. ‘How could I have been so foalish.’ Not wasting a second longer the Goddess of the night returns the warm embrace wrapping her hooves around her sister with equal measures compassion and love. “I-It is good to see you too…... sister.”

And for that moment nothing else matters to the two sisters except the other pony in their arms. Not the Corpse. Not the Traitor’s actions or the nameless attackers from the shadows. Not even the presence three still very powerful assassins staring at their backs, can pry apart the love binding the two sisters together.

Nothing in the world can divide their love.

Yet like anything all good things must come to an end. Slowly, ever so slowly the monarch of the sun breaks free from her sister’s embrace to look deep into her eyes. “Luna…. Words cannot describe how good it is to see you once again! But how did you find me.....” The Goddess of sunlight sags “Why would you want to find me……”

“From what I could glean from the dreams of the palace staff, I could tell that you had wrongfully concluded that I was in the Canterlot mines for some reason.” The lunar princess taps her chin thoughtfully. “There I ran into two of your guard, Spell shimmer and Hard tack Believe their names were. Where I convinced them to….. divulge the path that you had taken……”

…………………..

“Nice job Hard Tack…..”

“……..”

“No seriously way to resist torture like that. I’ve got to say, you sure put up a fight after Nightmare Moon got the drop on us!”

“……..”

“Seriously you held up for, like what three seconds before you told her everything that she wanted to know. Yep your resolve and steadfast dedication to our immortal ruler is a real inspiration to all those who look to one day become part of the royal guard.”

“……..”

“And now here we are, hanging upside down, tied up in our own ropes and anti-stand harnesses. Completely powerless while the immortal Goddess of the night goes after the ruler of our nation, who we’ve sworn to protect with our very lives.”

“………”

“Well do you have anything to say?”

“………”

“Well?!”

“………But she was so cute!”

Spell Shimmer blinks “….Um excuse me?”

“Did you see those puppy dog eyes? And that amazing smile? ‘Thou would be ever so grateful if thine would tell me the direction mine sister has gone’. She was so… so…. Luna!”

“…. Come again?”

“Really I’m surprised that I was even able to resist three seconds!”

“………if I had a free hoof right now, I’d be giving myself the biggest face hoof of all time, right after I had finished killing you and bathing in your blood….”

“………You’re just jealous because I have a new best pony.”

………………

“Twas easy, thou should really consider better guards Celly. As for why I came, I…” now it is Luna’s chance to stutter, her logic and strategy momentarily forgotten in the storm and forgiveness of emotions that surrounded her return.

Luna clears her throat. “I came to tell you…..” Celestia cocks her head in confusion as Luna struggles with her words. Part of Luna wanted to just forget about everything else, to drown in the loving embrace of a loved one who she had been separated from for a thousand years. But no she was a Goddess equal in power and grace to Celestia and she had a job to do. “… nay, I came to DEMAND, that you stop using the corpse’s power, it had destroyed countless lives and…..”

Responding reflexively both alicorns back step as a bolt of magic speeds towards them, a single well placed fireball detonates exactly where the two goddess stood not a second before. Both of them turn their necks towards the direction of the attack as the three brothers of darkness stand leering at the two of them.

“Did I interrupt something? Yes? Well to bad!” His horn crackling with arcane energy Negrado chuckles as the two goddesses scowl at his complete lack of tact and genuine concern. “Well it looks to me like we have a double bonus this time boys! Two namby panby Pony Princesses for the price of one! This must be our lucky day!

“B-But brother.” The smaller stallion tugs on his hoof “But if we kill them both who will raise the sun and the moon? Shouldn’t we think this over?”

“Who’s in charge here? A brain dead loser like you or me?” Negrado asks spitefully. “ME that’s who and I say that we kill the two pretty princess!” The eldest dark brother stallion looks over at the two mares before him “Those two princesses controlling everything like they’re Gods or something! It makes me sick. So with the Traitor’s help, we’ll get rid of them and rule this land ourselves!”

“B-but….” The younger stallion’s ears fall as his distress becomes readily apparent even to a sociopath like Negrado. “But I even patched up Dally by giving him some of the life force I had saved up!” Dally points his shaking hoof towards his slightly limping middle brother the hole in his chest covered in a large still bleeding scab. And though his wound is patched the pale expression on the pink pony’s face is a sign that he is still far from well. “I healed him and you couldn’t! Y-Y-You can’t say that I’m in the way!”

“Of for the love of Celestia! Will you just SHUT UP!?” With an impressive back hoof the elder brother smacks Dally across the face knocking him down into a puddle of mud. “You know sometimes I don’t know why I even keep you around! Mother knew that there was something wrong about you. You were the reason that we couldn’t get into the guards! If it wasn’t for you…”

Leaping forward the goddess of the night pounces on the bickering stallions as she manifests her starlit stand it’s plate mail glimmering in the ambient light. With almost comic timing the grey coated eldest Dark brother barely has time to react as the Goddess’s black horseshoe slams into his face sending several of his teeth flying as his body skids across the floor. The goddess unable to resist herself cracks a cocky grin as she stands over the stallion. “Forgive me for the sudden interruption. Did I interrupt something?” The grey coated stallion grimaces at Luna’s mocking tone “Yes? Well to bad!”

Yelling out a desperate battle cry the stallion watches as his stand forms behind the Goddess it's dark ebony hands ready to squeeze the life out of her thin neck. However this time The Goddess responds with a series of blows from her own stand each one of her blows hits the giant ogre. Each blow though heavy enough to fell stones only punches harmlessly through the giant which watches as in amusement as the blows ripple across it’s shadowy form. Ceasing her attack the Goddess takes a step back as she calmly assesses the situation.

“humh… Shadow conjuration, if I’m not mistaken.” With silent fury the giant swings it’s hands around for another attack only for it to vanish once again consumed by the dark as the Goddess extinguishes her horn. With shaky limbs the eldest dark brother rises to his hooves as his keen eyes peer through the dark at his opponent as he watches as the Goddess’s head swivels around as if searching. Blind and unable to see Negrado knows that surely this is the chance he has waited for. Drawing a slim nimble knife dripping with the most deadly poisons known to Ponykind, the stallion tip toes over towards the Goddess his knife poised to plunge into her exposed breast. Only for Luna’s glistening eyes to turn directly towards the creeping stallion, her wrathful expression and suppressed rage making it as clear as daylight that she can see him.

“Oh, and should thou be considering attacking from stealth, Just remember this…” Luna’s eyes flash as teal draconic pupils take the place of her normal eyes. “Thou art not the only one able to see in the dark.”

“D-D-D-“ The stallion stutters nervously as his will begins to waver in the face of his newfound enemy. “D-Dally! C-Cameo! What are you waiting for? Get her now, Attack, D-D-Do something!”

Leaping forward more on reflex than actual concern to his elder brother the black coated Dally leaps forward his hooves outstretched to tackle the goddess. Only for his form to be hammered by a barrage of precise punches from Luna’s Dreamweaver. Dally gasps in pain as the blows pound his chest in rapid succession depriving him of his breath even as he is sent flying by the recoil of her blows. Tumbling through the air the young stallion lands with a resounding crack as his body smashes into the ground with a painful noise.

Smiling in satisfaction of another well placed blow Luna takes stock of her situation. “Let’s see now, there’s the shadow man…” Luna levels her gaze at the eldest dark brother, his hooves frozen in place as he stands rooted to the ground. “…there’s the lizard guy…” Cameo groans as he painfully pulls himself across the ground the cauterized wound still burning painfully. “…. And with the young pink maned one’s defeat that accounts for….” However Luna’s gaze stops on the last pony who she just finished beating to a pulp, the youngest Dark brother Dally rising from the dust.

“What?” Luna watches as despite her expectations the pink maned ebon stallion rises to his hooves seemingly unaffected by her stand’s ability. Backing away from the new powered pony Luna searches her memories for an answer for this baffling problem. “Mine power should have trapped thou in thine realm of dreams. How art thou still conscious?”

“Lulu!” Celestia shouts out from behind as the blue alicorn turn her head back to her sister “That one’s the most dangerous one! He can absorb any kind of magical energy thanks to that void on his chest!” the goddess looks back and sure enough under rapidly healing bruise inflicted by her stands’ powerful punches, is a single dark bulge that seems to defy the laws of time and space. “He probably absorbed your stand’s ability the moment it hit, to defeat him you must use physical attacks, not magic. He seems to be able to use the magic to heal his wounds to so you have to wear him down first.”

“Heh d-did you hear that guys?” Negrado nervously laughs as his hooves shake on the ground “My power is the most dangerous, I guess that when you have a power as good as mine you can’t help but intimidate even a few Goddesses!

“B-But Big Brother….” The cowering Dally trots over towards his elder brother. “I-I thought that she was talking about me. I thought that she said my power was the most….”

“This is all your fault Dally!” Cameo shouts as he limps over towards the younger his wings rustling in anger. “Thanks to your…. HACK!..... incompetence…. Look at how injured I am! And to think that I always stood up for you because you’re family!”

Wavering a little from the blood loss the stallion still manages enough strength to spit of to his side in disgust. “And the moment you get the chance you leave me so weak that I could keel over any second! You make me sick!”

“B-Big brother Cameo…” Dally cries as he tugs his wild pink mane. “No, don’t say that Brother… please.”

“Now heal my wounds!” Cameo demands. “Come on I’m dying here!”

“B-But I already used up all the life force I got from those three guardsmen and their families…. I can’t use any more without draining my..…”

“You can give me some of YOUR vital life source can’t you?” Cameo remarks without a hint of empathy “So heal me you dolt! Stop making me wait!”

Dally stands transfixed his body shaking as a feeling that he had never known begins to bubble up from the surface of his psyche. “Y….You…..” The younger stallion stares creepily at his bleeding brother before him, his eyes bulging out of his skull as Dally walks menacingly in his direction. “You w-want me to h-h-heal you? After everything you’ve said!?”

Cameo angry that the previously submissive stallion is putting off his healing raises his hoof to strike his fool of a brother slapping him weakly. “YES you retard! Cause while you were sitting over there like the idiot you….” Cameo hacks profusely “…..are I was risking my life to take down the princess and I would have succeeded too if it wasn’t for your incompetence!”

“B-B-B-Big brother Cameo…..” Small tears slide down his face as the black stallion rubs the spot of Cameo’s slap as though it was the most painful to him. “Big Brother Cameo never hit me before….. Big brother Cameo was always nicer to me than Big Brother Negrado…. Why?”

Cameo ignorant to Dally’s already fragile psyche groans heavily. “That was because I thought that you would be more obedient if I showed you some kindness now and then! Some mistake that was, now hurry up and heal me! HEAL ME NOW YOU IDIOT! NOT LATER DO IT RIGHT NOW!!”

…………….

Dally, now I’ve told Negrado your elder brother that he is the one in charge of this mission. However you and I both know that that’s a lie.

You and I are friends Dally, and that’s why I can tell you that even with your combination, that your pathetic elder brother has a snowball’s chance in Tartarus of bringing down Celestia.

The fact is neither of your brothers has a chance of defeating her, I don’t expect Negrado, or Cameo to defeat the evil goddess Celestia, I know neither of them can help me, but I know somepony that can, a pony who I trust absolutely!

Do you understand, Dally?

I, the Traitor have such faith in you and your superior stand power that I have placed YOU, not your pathetic brothers in charge of the most important mission in the history of Harmony.

The death of Princess Celestia.

You brother’s powers are pathetic and meaningless. They want you to think that you are powerless, that you are week and that’s why they abuse you and put you down.

Do you understand me Dally? They’re afraid of you, they fear your true power that’s why they hate you and abuse you every chance you get.

They want you to think that you are holding them back because they have always been holding YOU back! They are the ones afraid of being abandoned by you! You have nothing to fear from them.

So when the time comes…... The time that you realize what I’ve been saying is the truth. You must throw aside your fears and………..

…………….

“……he was right.” Dally whispers under his breath his fear replaced with a suddenly familiar and powerful emotion. “He was right all along.”

“What the buck are you doing Dally!” Raising his hoof like a slave driver raises a whip, Cameo musters up his strength and swings a back hoof in a blow he is sure that his misfit brother will never forget. “Stop whispering to yourself like a retard and heal…..”

But the blow never lands. Cameo’s hoof hovers in midair never reaching its mark as Dally’s strong hoof clinches Cameo’s arm in a vice.

“Dally?” Cameo asks as his brother’s eyes remain obscured from his vision. “DALLY you imbecile what do you think….”

SNAP!

“URRRRRAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!” Cameo screams as his arm is snapped like a matchstick his form hoisted up so that he is forced to stare directly into the dark and empty eyes of the stallion before him.

And gazing into his brother’s eyes Cameo for the first time begins to realize the full extent of what fills his brother’s mind and soul.

Hatred. Pure and unadulterated hatred.

Before this moment, Dally had directed all the hatred his brothers had fed him, all his own inner bitterness and all his pain inwards, he had hated himself and everything he did with a dark an unholy passion.

Now like a dormant volcano stewing its burning malicious contents from a lifetime, all that anger and pain had exploded and was flowing out over on the world around him for the first time.

And now there was something new that he hated.

Slowly a slight aura of green appears on Cameo, his skin rippling and clinching as the void in Dally’s chest grows larger. Like a deathly siphon Dally’s void works its dark purpose as it drains the energy from his dying brother’s body before him. Cameo’s skin wrinkles, his body grows weaker by with every pulse of the dark heart in Dally’s chest while the middle of the Dark Brothers flails powerlessly as he is trapped in Dally’s vice like grip.

“Br-Brother…” The stallion weekly coughs as his body becomes older and older by the second. “S-Stop you…. You’re killing me…..”

But Dally doesn’t respond, the dark void in his chest sucking every last iota of energy out of the struggling stallion before him, his very life force being drained from his body as Dally licks his lips in glee. Finally his body no longer able to take it, Cameo crumples in Dally’s’ arms as his body breaks down into dust. If silence was physical, then the simple weight of the silence filling the room could crush the very spirits of the gods witnessing such an atrocious crime.

Negrado himself barely able to process what he has just witnessed, shivers uncontrollably as Dally turns around to face his brother. “Now you’re next.” Dally spits out.

Without wasting a second the Negrado turns to run only to find his hooves frozen to the floor by a thick layer of condensed ice, his frantic attempts to escape only amusing the approaching black coated stallion. Smacking his jaws like a predator the youngest of the dark brothers falls on his elder sibling with a furry unmatched, his stands’ dark void growing wider and wider by the second as Negrado screams futilely for mercy. This time however the process is far quicker and in all of five seconds all that is left of the remains of Negrado, eldest of the dark brothers can be swept up in a dustpan. Dally breathes in heavily as by now the dark void that consists of much of his torso is about the size of a basketball it’s dark and empty expanse completely taking the place of his beating heart. Cracking a sick and twisted smile Dally brushes his mane back with absentminded care as he turns back to face the two aghast princesses, their looks of matching horror only thrilling the demented stallion even more.

“Well? No words of admonishment?” Dally asks, spitting at the feet of the two goddesses “No condemnation for my crimes? And here I thought the immortal princesses of an empire would be more judgmental.”

Taking a step towards the stallion, demonstrating that beyond all doubt she is not afraid Dally’s behavior, is the Princess of the night. Luna’s mane ripples threateningly in an astral wind as her stand’s scaled armor ripples with the light of the night sky. “I have nothing to say.” Luna spits out “To a rabid monster.”

However the princess’s response seems only to delight the dark brother as he laughs in her face. “Big talk for a mare who was nothing but a monster herself until a few months ago. Though I suppose that attempting to kill all Ponykind such an easy crime to forget, Nightmare Moon.”

Unwilling to take the stallion’s abuse a second longer the mare of the night charges in horn blazing with magic as her stand’s gleaming horseshoes flash in the ambient light. Then with expert timing Luna teleports behind the stallion rushing him from behind with a barrage of stand infused punches that shatter the ground underneath Dally’s hooves. With a resounding impact from Dreamweaver’s Silver horseshoes Dally’s back contorts in agony as the strength of her blows seem to inflict lasting damage on the stallion. However as the barrage dies down and the ground cracks beneath Dally’s punishment the stallion pushes back against the punches each blow deflected by his strong muscular back as the dark void of his heart grows with each punch. Suddenly with strength aplenty the stallion lashes back with a single blow which Luna barely defends against, yet even with her guard up the sheer force of the blow sends her spiraling backwards through the air. Landing on the ground a bit dizzier from her exchange Luna shakes off her spinning head just as Dally rushes in pounding Luna’s diaphragm with a blow that whistles through the air. Hacking up blood from the intensity of the blow Luna finds herself driven into the ground with the force of Dally’s’ blow as he raises his left hoof above his head it’s tip bristling with dark nothingness as he prepares for a finishing blow.

“Dark Ice.” Dally swings down his hoof its tip crackling with the void as Luna stares blankly at the imminent attack. Suddenly the younger alicorn finds herself her body dragged out of the way of Dally’s blow just as it hits the ground the negative energy of the hoof instantly draining all the heat out of the air and causing the ground itself to freeze over with icy stalactites. Panting heavily Celestia props her sister up as Dally’s dark empty eyes stare malevolently at the alicorn who just denied him his kill.

Yet Celestia stands undaunted by his gaze only glancing over to her sister once to assure herself of her sister's’ condition. “Sister? Are you hurt?”

“How…” Luna spits up another small mouthful of blood her ribs bruised and lungs wincing in pain. “How could anypony be that strong?! It was like being hit by a dragon……. And even after I hit him with everything I had….”

“Don’t you get it fool?” Dally rants “In case you didn’t notice I can absorb and release an infinite amount of energy! I’m a living black hole!”

Dally chuckles to himself as he savors the stunned look on both princesses faces. “The only reason I didn’t absorb it before was because SOME PONIES told Dally that he'd be a bad pony if he didn’t take his punishment! HA AHAH! But there’s not here to make little Dally feel bad any more now are they!? HA ah AH HA aH AHA!”

“For example….” Dally extends left arm outwards the room growing colder and icier by the second as his void pulses like a heartbeat. Even the Goddesses their bodies used to the most extreme temperatures can’t help but break out into shivering as ice begins to form on the cavern walls. “….. I can absorb all the magic and heat in the surrounding area…..” Dally aims the void in his heart at the two alicorn as it begins to emit the faintest of lights. “…..and unleash it all at once!”

The void on his chest begins to glow with a fowl light, as Celestia who realizes what is coming just barely manages to shout out a warning as she rolls for cover. “Lulu! Get down!”

Luna’s eyes widen as she follows her sister’s lead her body instinctively ducking for cover just as a gargantuan bolt of heat and energy arches through the air just where the two mares were sitting. As the bolt rips through the air past them the sheer heat of the blast melting feathers and singing pelts on its path is it glances the two prone alicorns. A deafening and catastrophic explosion rips through the mountain behind them, showering them with stone and rubble alike as the ball of magical energy soars past them. Crash after resounding crash echoes through the mountain as the room they are in is racked with miniature earthquakes shaking the foundations of the earth itself. Even two goddesses cannot help but stand dumbstruck at the devastation the mountain has endured the gaping hole a testament to the evil stallion Dally’s power.

“HA did you see that!” Dally gestures to the gaping hole in the side of the mountain its smoldering edges dripping with magma from the intensity of the attack. “I nearly cut through an entire mountain, IN ONE SHOT! BWa HA AH AH ha HA hA AH AH HA!!”

Dally winces in pain as he brings his aching hoof to his aching head, his eyes glowing dark black as he glances at the hole in front of him created by his power. “I can’t believe I never saw it before! That Traitor was right! I feel a thousand times, no a million times better with them out of the way!”

Holding up his left hoof the stallion savors the newfound power now coursing through his veins as a strange empty feeling causes the hair on his arm to fall off in splotches. “Without my worthless brothers to hold me back now my power has no limits! Well at least they played a role in the end, after all now I have the combined magical power of all three of the dark Brothers in one! Guragh!”

Dally winces in pain his left arm throbbing as skin begins to fall off in clumps his back arching in pain as he struggles to control the immense force of the void in his chest. “I-I-I-I’m-m-m the……. I-I-I'm mmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMM!!!!!!”

Dally clenches his teeth in apparent pain as he suppresses a scream his left arm striping itself to the bone as its physical remnants are sucked fully into dark void on his chest. His back arches in agony as two ugly bulges ripple beneath his skin his skin contorting itself as he lies on the ground clutching what is left of his arm. Dally buckles and writhes in pain as even the flesh of his arm disintegrates bloodlessly their very being reduced to subatomic particles, molecules of pure energy, only to be drawn into the dark void on his chest.

 “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!”

Both Celestia and Luna look on in horror as the stallion writhes about even more the deformation of his skull and the cracking of his backbone made all the more sickening by the stallion’s contortions. Then with terrifying suddenness the stallion’s movements finally stop as two dark pure black wings rip themselves out of his back. That is if the twig like and sparse feathered bony protrusions that drip with black ichor could be called wings in any sense of the word. This is followed by yet another scream from the stallion as a twisted and broken horn its end sprouting twisted points like a thorn-bush. Dally’s left arm completely vanishes, consumed by the gaping empty hole that now takes the place of much of his left side as he rises shakily to his hooves. The dark alicorn smiles evilly with misshapen sharpened teeth, the whites of his eyes replaced with a pale grey as the transformation that seems to drive all color from his body replaces the bright pink of his mane with a pale bony white. “I……..I AM INVINCIBLE!”

Both mares stare agape at the twisted being before them that can no longer be called a pony it’s left side consumed by a gaping maw of darkness its’ body adorned with broken twisted limbs of both pegasi and unicorns. Celestia however is the first to respond suppressing her urge to vomit at the sight before her. “L-Luna… is that?”

“Darkness Pact..…” Luna states with a tinge of deep sadness “Stands draw fourth strength from the psyche, thus drawing fourth strength from the…. More undesirable parts of a psyche, like hatred, rage and greed can drastically increase stand strength.” Luna remarks as she stares at the twisted monstrosity chortling like a demon.

“However the cost is far too high for any sane mind.” The mare of the night admits with a tone of finality and repressed pain that underscores her own suffering. “Drawing upon the darkest most evil portions of a pony’s mind results in madness, sociopathy, schizophrenia and an unsuppressed hatred that will eventually consume any last vestiges of a pony’s soul.”

“You see!?” Dally rants as he spits up another mouthful of black bile, his pain and endless agony forgotten in the haze of power that courses through his veins. “The-the energy I have absorbed from those two nitwits have given me their Pegasi and Unicorn essences! Destiny has chosen me, Dally Dark as the God that will reign over a new world!”

Dally looks at his sole remaining hoof as he feels the dark chasm that consumed his left arm. His new scraggly and filthy wings twitch and his misshapen horn glows with a black aura as a new power he never knew courses through his veins. “Forget the Traitor’s plan! With this amount of power I could level this entire kingdom if I wanted! The world and everything in it now belongs to me as a divine right!”

“I am the end of everything.” Dally states with a twisted look in his eyes “I am the darkness that will wipe this world clean of its Filth.”

“Cease your prattling dark monstrosity!!” Luna snaps sharply cutting off the stallion’s rant. “Any fool of a pony could tell that you are no alicorn, absorbing your brother’s life forces have only caused a facsimile mutation. You do not have any control over the power of the three races and you are certainly not a god.” Luna’s eyes narrow as she stares down the new alicorn. “I have killed gods. And I have killed monstrosities and you are nothing but another sick monstrosity waiting to be put down”

“HA!” Dally laughs “You…. You’re just afraid, afraid of poor little powerless Dally now that HE HAS THE POWER!” He flexes his bony wings unable to even achieve flight as he trots over to the two this void pulsing with dark light. “But you don’t have to be afraid any more I’m here to bring your long and pathetic lives to a sudden close, so just lay down and die like the little flies that you are……”

Both mares leap to their hooves once again ready to fight back as they stand once more before a nearly invincible foe. “Well sister?” Celestia asks “Have any bright ideas?”

“It looks bad sister, if he can absorb magic…. “Luna muses as she glances over to the white maned alicorn. “….and if he can absorb the kinetic energy of attacks…..” Luna looks with fearful eyes upon the stallion, the void in his chest growing larger and larger by the second. “…..Then how in Equestria do we stop an opponent whom cannot be felled by either blade or magic?”

Glancing at the dark hole in the swaggering stallion’s chest Celestia applies her logical mind with the upmost potential as she thinks back over everything she knows about her opponent Dally and his terrifyingly powerful stand. The thinks over his abuse at the hooves of his brothers, his ability to absorb and release energy, his gristly murders and his sudden ‘ascension’ as she thinks over the way to overcome the opponent in front of her. All thought of retreat forgotten as she looks at the mare beside her, she will not run and leave such a terror to her sister. Suddenly her memory courses over one inconsequential face, the disappearance of Dally’s arm as an idea take form.

“Simple Lulu.” Celestia states with brimming confidence “If his power is truly invincible then we turn his own power upon itself.”

Luna looks over to her sister with a look of surprise while keeping one eye on Dally. “What did you have in mind sister?”

“I need a hole.” Celestia states “one that cuts from the inside of the mountain to the outermost shell, and seeing how his last attack made such a nice impression….” Celestia gestures towards the hole behind her the deep crevice hundreds of meters long.

“I begin to suspect your idea!” Luna grins as she watches as even the heat around Dally body is ripped from the air and drawn deep into the crevice that is his heart. “And since his power returns magical attacks at several times their normal power, perhaps we can indeed use his power against him in more ways than one.”

“Then it’s settled. Try and keep up sister dearest.” Celestia smiles slyly at her sister. “You have been gone a thousand years, let’s hope you’re not out of practice.”

“Heh…” Luna chuckles “if any pony is out of shape it is that cake loving flank of yours Celly.” Luna gestures good naturedly to the large flank of her sister and her injured wing. “Look at you; you look the fright deer sister. Perhaps you should stay on the sidelines and leave this to the young ponies.”

“As the youngsters of today say ‘Dream on’.” Celestia prods the mare aside her “You should respect your elders, LITTLE sister. If you’ll remember I was casting sixth level spells while you were handling cantrips. So if anypony is falling behind it would be you Lulu.”

“I believe you have made another foundering sister.” Luna chuckles “For the realm of dreams is my domain so if I were to dream I would be simply arriving in a plane in which I am in complete control! Therefore your argument is……”

“WILL THE TWO OF YOU JUST SHUT UP!!” Dally yelps snapping the two ponies out of their reprieve. “In case you failed to notice I’m on the verge of immortal godhood, and you Two are about to die by my hooves. So if you would stop chatting like idle school fillies that would be great!”

“…….”

“….. on three then…..” Celestia whispers.

Without warning a cascade of frozen ice shards shoots towards the mares forcing them to dodge to the side to avoid being impaled. “THREE!” Luna shouts as she grabs some of the errant spears of ice throwing them back at the black coated pony with all the force he threw them at her.

The icicles hit their mark hitting three lethal spots on Dally’s body. However just as instantly as the spears hit, his body begins rapid healing, the ice melting from the rapid metabolism of his body. By the time Luna has arrived close enough to attack the protruding icicles have melted away leaving behind perfectly healed flesh in its place. Yet despite the fact that every blow the Lunar Goddess seems to inflict has little to no effect on the stallion Luna hammers away even harder her pace and blows growing more intense with every successful blow on the stallion.

Meanwhile off in the distance Celestia stands like a statue her horn crackling with static as her magical aura expands, encompassing the air around her. Her stand floating like an angel hovers above her form its glowing white eyes as sign of the intense magical reactions flowing through its body like liquid fire. The Goddess of the Sun’s face a mask of the utmost concentration begins to break out in a sweat as her horn accesses levels of magic only dreamed of by unicorn magi of ages long since passed.

Yet all good things must come to an end as Dally extends his remaining fore hoof, his horn sparkling with faint traces of magic as his stand pulses with a dark light. “Darkness….RELEASE!” like a thunderclap a sudden explosion shoots outwards centering from his chest sending the blue mare flying backwards from the blow. Landing just barely on her hooves the Goddess manages to barely stand as Dally rushes in attacking with the pent up energy from his stand as he pounds Princess Luna returning the same force she once used on him. Unwilling to let him have his way Luna fights back her multitude of blows beating out Dally in terms of speed and numbers as her stand’s punches hit him head on. Yet every successful attack inflicted by the Alicorn of the night only seems to fuel the dark hole in his chest, the void growing larger while Dally grins evilly. Suddenly one lucky shot gets in and in an instant it is over, the Alicorn of the night spiraling through the air from Dally’s uppercut as she lands with a harsh thud on the cold cavern ground.

Stepping on Luna’s head with his dirty hoof, the dark alicorn of the void stares down at his pinned opponent as he laughs out in joy. “HA! I bet you thought that your little dreaming punches would put me to sleep hunh? Well forget it! My power absorbs all your pathetic magical AND physical attacks.” Dally pushes down further as Luna stifles a wince of pain. “Heh and you thought that you stood a chance against me….. that a monster like you stood a chance of felling me.”

“Luna!” Celestia shouts out in concern as the dark stallion stands over the prone and battered goddess of the night. Celestia’s mane suddenly grows white hot as she takes an intimidating step towards Dally. “Leave her alone Dally. Or I swear on the sun that I’ll……”

“I don’t’ see why you care.” Dally rolls his eyes “Such an idiot who couldn’t even scratch my perfect form DESERVES to die.”

“Surely you don’t mean that?” Celestia states looking for any vestiges of weakness and goodness in her opponent as well as playing for time. “Surely your brothers were…..”

“B-Brothers?” the black coated stallion laughs as he pummels the prone blue mare “HA! brothers, as if I would even call them that! All they ever were, were eyesores. Always beating me down, always thinking I was the weakest, always making fun of me, when in fact they were the ones in MY way!”

Absorbing a large helping of magic from the princess of the night, the stallion looks at the now gaping vacuum in his chest smiling as he begins to draw in more heat from the air around him. “And now their lives have served the ultimate purpose, in making me the strongest dark brother and the strongest alicorn in the world!”

“..…You’re deluded and not thinking straight. Do you really think that this is the answer?” Celestia’s hoof stomps into the ground before her with enough force to shatter rock as she tries one last attempt to reason with Dally. “Having power doesn’t make you brave and flaunting your power over others won’t make you happy, only more alone.”

Celestia takes a step forward her horn’s blazing light reaches its zenith. “If you continue on this path, if you so recklessly throw away your own potential and the lives of others, than you really will become a monster.”

“Don’t you dare to judge me Sun witch! I’ve merely sacrificed a hindrance in order to increase my own power! After all isn’t that what you did!?” the stallion laughs as the solar goddess flinches as if struck by the heaviest of blows. “You banished your own sister so you could rule Equestria absolutely, so that you could play God like the witch you are.” The stallion laughs as he spits on Luna’s pristine coat with venom dripping from his every word.

“You’re the same as me!” Dally points at Celestia “You saw an obstacle on your way of true power and you got rid of it. In this world, In order to advance something must be sacrificed, so why shouldn’t I sacrifice theses fools that dare get in the way of my righteous destiny?”

“…….”

“Well?! Nothing to say CELESTIA!?!”

“………….”

Celestia doesn’t have anything to say. How could she say anything when what he said was true? The context was horribly butchered but the result could not be denied, she had thrown away her sister. She had chosen her people’s safety and their lives over that of her own family. To this day she didn’t know whether she made the right choice, maybe if she had spoken to her sister, if she had told her the importance that the Corpse played in the stability of their land. Maybe if she had told her sister how much she loved her or investigated the repercussions of the corpse’s power like her sister said it could have all been avoided. But the flow of time offers no what-Ifs, and so the result remained. She had banished her only sister. She had trapped her in a fate worse than death for over a millennia.

And worse than that, she had driven her to it. And even worse she even after she had determined the power of the corpse had played a role in her sister’s corruption she has insisted on using it still. How could she not?! Cures for the cureless, peace for the restless and salvation for her little ponies in an age bereft of hope. How could she deny them their peace that they deserved, love and tolerance alone could not heal the sick or save a life. It was only thanks to the power of the Corpse that her ponies had lived to see a world without war and pestilence that had would have been their fate before. So she had justified her sister’s sacrifice and that of others as a ‘necessary trade’ she the monarch who had epitomized justice and goodness had justified every disaster she had wrought for the sake of her little ponies. Just Like how Dally’s brothers had driven to his current state through years of abuse, it was her negligence and self-righteousness that had driven her sisters’ transformation into Nightmare Moon. Perhaps In the end she was just like…..

“You are NOTHING like Celly.” Luna states from beneath Dally’s hoof her voice the possessing the sternness and chill of tempered steel. “You are just a monster, drunk on your own power who slaughtered his kin in a bout of primal rage. You are NOTHING like my sister.”

Dally, though originally stunned by the Goddess’s sudden words laughs in Luna’s face. “HA and I suppose the ‘monster’ who tried to kill all Ponykind is any…..”

“SHUT UP.” Luna snaps the stallion out of his rant. “I have no patience for your blasphemous words. True my sister was forced to make an impossible decision, the extinction of all mortals or my own exile. Were I in her place, I….. I could not have made such a choice, and I am the one who forced such a weighty decision on her.”

Luna gulps down her tears as she stares back at her sister letting her know once and for all where the fault lasts for her corruption. “It… It was me and my weakness alone that allowed the darkness in my soul to take hold, my weakness that drove me to embrace the jealousy in my soul towards my sister….. It was all me, with no fault of hers.”

“L-Lulu….” Celestia mouths her eyes tearing up as she listens to her sister’s profession the pain and wounds in her heart mending themselves with every word her sister speaks.

“Had I talked things over with her……. had I made her understand the danger of the powers we were toying with then perhaps this all could have been avoided.” Luna closes her eyes as she thinks back to the dark days of her past. “It was me…… and my negligence not my sister’s that lead to my own downfall.”

Looking back at Dally, Luna clamps down on her own hesitation as she utters the words she was trying to say all night. “The corpses’ power has torn us apart as it has torn apart the lives of so many others. I do not fight my sister or the enemies in my way over petty grudges or over relics of the past. I fight for a world bereft of sacrifices or justifications, a world where every living thing has the right to live life, be it one of suffering or one of plenty.”

Luna smiles as she locks eyes with her sister, both on the verge of tears after such a heartfelt display of emotion and sincerity. “And in her own way, my sister does too.”

Both sisters cry tears of joy, words unable to express how deep and meaningful the younger sister’s words are to her elder. “You say that because you killed your brothers you know the meaning of sacrifice but you think of no pony but yourself while she only thinks of the well being of others. And that is why you are nothing like my sister.” Luna grins with a cocky smile as she flaunts her moral victory over the gaping stunned stallion above her. “Though suppose that only a stallion who would murder his only family like an animal would think that being able to murder others made him a better pony.”

Dally stares at the mare beneath him part of him insulted by the Goddess of the night’s pathetic ideology and part of it enraged by her defiance of his will. “You know I was going to kill you first…” Dally pries his gaze from the dark blue mare beneath his hooves as he looks up at the mare of sunlight, her horn charging with monumental levels of magic. “…..But I think I’ll give you the honor of seeing your sister die! That means I’m gonna kill you first CELLY! I hope you’re ready to perish! HAHahAHAHA!!”

Dally approaches the now helpless white allicorn, her spell still charging the mare is unable to defend against the stallion’s attacks. Dally licks his lips in anticipation as he approaches the now defenseless mare, his one good arm winding up an attack for what will be a lethal blow on the Goddess of the sun. Yet despite the menace approaching her, Celestia stands fast her body ready receive Dally’s attack as her unfinished spell bubbles just on the edge of preparation.

Suddenly with as much drama as a flickering light bulb the light on Celestia’s horn flickers out leaving a very bemused look on the Goddess of the sun’s face. “Well… “Celestia blinks as she blushes in embarrassment “Would you look at that, charging is done. Goodness it took me quite a long time this time around!”

“A-About time sister….” Luca manages to cough up as her horn flickers with a slight light. With a simple teleport the mare of the night vanishes from sight appearing beside her sister’s brilliantly glowing stand.  “Though had I not employed strategy seventeen: ‘distract the villain with a monologue’ you would have never had time to finish your plan!”

“About time?!” Dally shouts as he gestures with his remaining hoof “About time for what?”

“Oh nothing much.” Celestia says dismissively “Just a tenth level light spell.”

“T-Tenth level magic!?” Dally stammers “There’s a tenth level of magic?!”

“Megan scriptor aurei crines.”

Like a rain of pure golden sunlight the dark stallion is instantaneously assaulted by a rain of golden arrows that seem to attack from every direction. With a multitude of attacks that ellipses the number of raindrops in a summer storm each and every beam of lithe light that radiates from the goddess tears through Dally’s unprotected flesh in a bullet-storm of luminous projectiles. Ricocheting endlessly off the walls of the caverns around them the dark brother screams in pain as even his void like heart struggles to absorb the intensity of the energy ripping through his very being. Blow after blow strikes him as the bullets rip through him when suddenly the void in his chest can take it no more. Just as Celestia’s attack reaches its peak a bolt of pure light, kinetic energy and bottomless rage for the Goddesses explodes from Dally’s chest as the force of his attack blows the two goddesses off their hooves. Even anticipating the evil alicorns attack the two royal pony sisters barely dodge the intense attack that rips through the mountain like a hot knife through butter with a devastating explosion of noise.

Dally breathing heavily from the sudden exertion of power feels the void on his chest, though diminished by the sudden burst of energy, resume growing to about the size of a beach ball. Managing the slightest of smiles at his immense reserves of power Dally trots shakily to the prone form of Celestia lying in the dirt before the gaping hole he just created.  It is then standing not a hoof’s length away from the prone Goddess clinging to life from his devastating attack that Dally begins to laugh wickedly. “HA HA! a direct hit. Victory is mine! Burn and die you sun witch! I hope you…….”

The groaning of the Goddess snaps Dally out of his rant, his face expressing true distress at the Celestia’s survival. Plucking her head graceful from the dirt at her hooves the Goddess blinks several times to clear the dust from her eyes as she looks at Dally with an unexplainable look of satisfaction on her muzzle.

“Well that took quite a while.” Celestia states brushing her coat off as if nothing had happened. “And here thought you’d never follow the plan…. Dally was it? Anyhow thank you for being so simplistically predictable.” Celestia manages a cut nod while lying on her flank as a sign of her thanks.

“What?” Dally asks unable to comprehend why his enemy is so lackadaisical when faced with imminent death.

“You’re giving him too much credit sister…..” Luna moans as she slowly pulls herself off the ground off in the distance her charred coat a sign of her close shave. “He took forever to launch that attack, and were it not for my constant attacks he might have not gone along with our plan.”

“What?! What plan!?”

“You were a good opponent no doubt but in the end you made three mistakes.”  Celestia rises to her hooves an unreadable expression on her ivory muzzle.  “First you underestimated your opponent.” Celestia states. “Even though your opponent has thousands of years of experience more than you, controls the sun and has fought hoof to hoof with the most terrifying demons you still make this mistake.”

“What Plan?!”

“Second, you have no strategy.” Celestia circles towards the gaping hole behind her, letting in a small amount of light refract of her glistening coat. “Your power is impressive and powerful. And though you are most certainly not the strongest stand user have ever faced, your ability to absorb an infinite amount of energy is troublesome to say the least.”

“N-Not the strongest stand user?!” The black alicorn creates a crater in the ground with his one good hoof. “Impossible! My stand is the strongest! And what in blue blazes is this talk about a Pla……”

“Yet.” Celestia continues her chastisement. “Even though you don’t have a plan you also possess no combinations or abilities that make the most use of your power, and have little control as well.”

The mare glares at the stallion before her as fresh sunlight begins to fall upon her ivory coat. “The first two I might have been able to forgive, in my long lifetime I have endured far worse at the hooves at my enemies.” Celestia’s horn ignites her horn burning in righteous fury as she stares down the dark stallion before her. “But nopony, NOPONY insults my sister.”

“I have lied of the existence of my only family.” The princess’ voice thunders octaves away from the royal Canterlot voice. “Erased my sister’s crimes from the annuls of history.” The gold horse-shoe of the goddess smashes into the ground. “And forgiven her a thousand times over of any slight she may have inflicted on me while she was in her state of insanity.”

Celestia roars as the sun rises behind her it’s light shining through the hole in the mountainside as the goddess’ rage ignites like a powder keg. “BUT THOUST DARED INSULT HER!! THOUST DARED TO DRAGEST HER NAME THROUGH THE MUD FOR THINE OWN AMUSEMENT!!!” Celestia shouts as she sun rises behind her blinding every pony in the dark mountain crevice. The Goddess of the sun cloaked in all her majesty, her mane blazing with fire and her eyes as luminous as the sun causes the mountain to shake from the very sound of her voice striking fear into the souls of mortal beings. Standing before him is not the timid weak willed goddess he was handed for execution, but a fiery raging behemoth of light and flame, her voice as cold as death. “AND FOR THAT I SHALL NOT FORGIVE YOUR FLAGRANT AND MALEVOLENT CRIMES.”

Dally shields his eyes his senses so used to the dark now blinded by the direct radiance of the sun. “Wh-What is this? Is…. is that the sun? But we’re two miles underground how is it….”

The flaming haired goddess smiles “Didn’t you forget your little attack that nearly clove through the mountain?” Dally’s eyes widen. “It is fortunate for me that it was on the eastern side of the mountain, the side that the sun rises on. All my sister and I had to do was prod you into making one final attack so that my precious sun could shine its holy light upon this black abyss.”

“B-Big whoop!” The slightly more scared stallion shouts out in defiance as his void like heart grows. “Throw everything you’ve got at me sun witch I’ll eat all your precious light with my Dark Heart.”

Yet despite the stallion’s confident claims and his stand’s immensely powerful vacuum swallowing up all the light it touches Celestia stands as unmoved as ever. “Yes absorb all my light, what a creative and original plan you have there.” Dally growls in response to Celestia’s mocking voice.

“Very well I permit you to absorb all the energy I throw at you….. that is……” Celestia smiles as a look of fear crosses Dally’s face. “…….If you can absorb ALL THE ENERGY OF THE SUN!!”

Celestia’s stand ‘Walking on Sunshine’ extends its majestic wings as the very light of the sun itself filters though it’s pristine and golden glowing body. Acting like an enormous magical magnifying-glass, a torrent of lava hot sunlight falls down upon Dally’s head scorching his fragile black body as his stand struggles to absorb all the energy he is being bombarded with.

“Do you have any idea of how much energy my sun produces in a second?” Celestia’s voice booms over the sound of Dally’s’ screams of pain “and yet you really think your darkness can absorb all of its power?” Celestia stands over the dark stallion as her sister Luna looks on dumbstruck at the immensity of her sister’s power.

“True….” The Goddess of the sun admits “I can only tap into the smallest fraction of this power myself. However if you are so deluded that you believe that you can absorb it all then you truly are in need of help.”

“YOU JUST WATCH!!” the corrupt Dark alicorn of the Void shouts as the sphere of nothingness across his chest grows larger; it’s black expanse struggling futilely to drain the endless levels of sunlight that seem to be ripping through the very core of his being. “I CAN ABSORB IT ALL! YOU JUST WATCH I’LL SUCK YOUR PRECIOUS SUN DRY!!” Dally screams in defiance as his void grows larger and larger. “I don’t understand why you’re even trying to fight!! Is it because you don’t want to leave that insane, useless stain you call a sister behind? You should forget about her, she’s just a worthless waste of existence!! You should run like the coward you are!!”

Celestia smiles as the sunlight continues to course down on Dally’s head the intensity of the light alone would have killed any normal pony minutes ago. “Well, Well….” Celestia remarks as she looks over to Luna “Run away? There is no need to run away.” Celestia laughs in Dally’s face “Because before you take your next breath you’ll have already lost.”

Dally grins as he prepares to deliver a stinging retort, to insult Celestia’s sister stand power and pathetic resistance once again, only to find to his great surprise that he can’t even breathe. Looking down in dawning horror Dally watches at the void in his chest grows over the rest of his chest, his lungs and diaphragm having been absorbed into his own stand’s body. Dally watches unable to even gasp as his remaining hoof cracks and shatters, the hairs on his arm disintegrating under his stand’s immense pull.

Celestia faced with such close minded hatred can only sigh in pity as the Dally struggles to scream his body being broken down by his own stand. “My little pony let me tell you something that can only be learned from countless years of experience.” Celestia smiles sadly as the void in Dally’s chest grows larger and larger. “There is not a thing on this earth that is infinite, there is nothing that physically exists that won’t eventually fade away. Even the sun must one day give way for a new era’s genesis.”

Celestia looks down on the dark soul in front of her; her eyes devoid of pity or remorse for Dally or his actions. “But I can assure you the sun will last longer than you will.”

Dally looks down at his chest in stark horror as he watches it expand across the remainder of his body, his wings having long since been absorbed into the black mass that he once thought was under his complete control. The dark stallion opens his mouth, unable to even scream given that his lungs have been eaten by the black pit of emptiness that is rapidly consuming his physical form to the last molecule. The stallion cries out psychically to his own stand, demanding, begging that it stop growing, that it stops eating him alive, demanding that it obey him and his will. Yet all that greets him back in his stand’s own endless hunger, the immense energy of the sun pouring into its maw feeding the stand’s emptiness even as it craves more energy to fill it’s formless center. With no small amount of apathetic despair the surviving Dark Brother realizes that with the endless amount of sunlight coursing down upon him that escape is impossible. Even if he could stop his absorption and try and return the energy filling his being the constant fury of the laser thick sunlight coursing down on him would kill him instantly the moment he tried to return her energy back on the Goddess of the Sun.

Unable to do anything as the darkness of his own stand rips his body apart molecule by molecule Dally is only able to watch as a figure emerges from the light coursing down in front of him. Celestia’s face that stares down on Dally’s pathetic state is that of a true monarch, impartial but fair, just but sympathetic, a gleaming sword of sunlight raised above her head as she prepares to strike.

It is a face that has seen many years both good and evil and has judged both in her time. Celestia looks down on Dally’s pathetic state, his existence devoid of hope or happiness, trapped in a cycle of hatred and pain without any chance of redemption. Even now the compassionate mare sees that the twisted being has been consumed by his very nature, his death is now certain and inevitable. Thus as both an act of retribution and an act of mercy the Goddess of the sun raises her sword managing to shed one last word of godly wisdom that will surely brighten the dark alicorn's last moments.

“Oh and by the way…..” Celestia states solemnly as she raises a sword of pure sunlight over the quivering stallion’s neck. “…..OC alicorns suck…………. PEACE!”

With a single curt swing of her gleaming sword Celestia lops off Dally’s head just as the void around his body grows to consume the last vestiges of his being. As the void around his body grows to epic proportions his head disintegrates as its’ latent energy is sucked into the dark hole that now has eaten up every last trace of the stallion. The endless void that was Dally’s body, now deprived of its physical anchor in the world begins to flicker out of existence under the unbearably bright light of the rising sun. The black dot’s from dissipating into thin air like mist as eventually all that is left behind is a small black hole the size of a marble which winks out of existence the last trace of the stand and it’s user vanish from reality.

Panting in and out like a pony who has just finished running the running of the leaves ten times in a row the Goddess of the sun breathes in and out each breath heavy and labored. “I-It’s finally over…..” Celestia states in relief as she falls to her back in complete exhaustion, panting heavily from the exertion.

She is soon joined by none other than the princess of the night, Princess Luna who is still struggling to rub the spots out of her vision. Thought battered and severely blinded, the mare of the night still manages the force of will to trot over to her sister her mouth unable to suppress a slight grin at The Goddess of the sun’s splayed out position.

“Feeling better sister?” Luna asks mockingly.

“Well……” Celestia pants “I’m still alive… so that’s something……….”

Luna smiles “Good.” and punches Celestia in the shoulder.

“Ow…. Luna that hurt” Celestia rubs her shoulder, her pride and feeling hurt more than her flesh by her sister’s condescending tone. “What was that for?!”

“Why are there not more guards here Celestia?” Luna asks in the tone a parent might use on a child up past their bedtime “You are the ruler of the country, the most important pony in Equestria and you just waltz straight into a trap like a blind filly!?! Why was there not a platoon of guards? Why were you here by yourself!? Are you trying to get yourself killed sister!?!” Luna shouts angrily.

“Were it not for my timely arrival you could have….. you would have been…….” The dark goddess of the night brushes errant tears from her eyes. “W-Well you shouldn’t have been down here alone sister! What were you thinking!?”

“I sent them away Lulu.” Celestia says with an honest smile stunning the goddess of the night. “I didn’t want any of my little ponies to be hurt so I sent them away so they wouldn’t be harmed in the crossfire.”

Luna’s mouth continues to hang open as Celestia looks upon her sister with the same honest compassion that earned her to her nation and earned her the love of her ponies hundreds of times over. “Besides….. The reports said that YOU were down here…. So ……. I didn’t want you to be hurt Lulu.”

Dumbfounded by her sister’s response Luna crosses her arms in a nice pout as she chastises her sister’s reckless behavior. Turning her muzzle away from her sister, the Goddess of the night tries with all her might to hide the blush of embarrassment spreading across her face. “Only you Celly. Only you would be so foolish as to try and handle everything on your own when you have no shortage of ponies to help you. You would probably try to do every pony’s jobs for them if you had the time for it! We’d have to paint cutie marks on ponies because with you doing everything they’d never find out their special talents, and where would that leave us then!?”

Celestia can’t help but laugh at this as she and Luna join in at the ridiculous thought of Celestia rushing around at light speed performing every pony’s jobs for them and painting cutie marks on little fowls. For minutes the two mares just sit about laughing, laughing away their exhaustion, their fear of death, their apprehension of the future and their regrets of the past. All of it is lost in the moment where two sisters sit about as if nothing bad has ever happened between them and for one single moment everything is right with the world once again.

Finally the mirthful laughter between two good friends that have not seen each other in ages comes to a close as Celestia manages to move on to more serious matters. “True Lulu once again you are right. Yet I really had little choice since I had so little guards to choose from in the first place. Most of the elite guards have been sent to Ponyville for…. A special task to locate a traitor in our ranks.”

“What!?” Luna shouts grabbing her sister and shaking her back and forth the mare expresses in no uncertain words her feelings on the matter. “Ponyville the town that Twilight sparkle and her friends have taken residence, the town that the heart of the Corpse is in is under attack!? And thoust did not tell me!? Sister what were thou thinking!?!”

Brushing off her sister's’ arms Celestia puts her years of emotional control into play as she calms down the younger more temperamental alicorn. “Luna relax. I have my current captain of the royal guard Shining Armor currently in ponyville now he’ll make sure….. wait what did you just say?!”

Now it is Celestia who is rapidly shaking the confused Princess of the night. Shouting at the top of her lungs, Celestia, monarch of the sun shakes her sister like a demented Psych ward patient.  “The HEART of the Corpse is in PONYVILLE?! And you didn’t tell me!? What were you thinking Lulu!?!”

“CELESTIA!!!!”

“……Celly did you hear that?”

“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy sister! You’re going to……”

“Celestia!” a loud echoing voice echoed down the corridors of the mountain the sound of hoof steps barely heard as the sounds reveal the presence of several dozen ponies closing the distance between them. “Princess where are you?! It’s me Hard Tack! We’ve brought reinforcements!” The voice echoes down the halls of the mountain

“Just hole on.” The voice snickers “Get it because there’s a hole in the mountain?! Ha ha ha h… OW! Spell Shimmer, knock it off! Just because you don’t have a sense of humor….. OW!! Cut that out!!”

A sudden stunned expression of surprise covers Luna’s muzzle as the sound of royal guard closing in on her position, informs her that her time is indeed short. “Perfect, NOW the royal guard arrives. Well better late than never one supposes.” Flaring her wings the goddess of the night prepares for flight as she looks for an exit out of the mountainous cavern. “I guess…….This is my cue to leave then. It was nice seeing you Celly……despite everything…….”

Originally Celestia thinks that this is another one of her sister’s failed jokes, another attempt at her sister’s infamous botched humor. However the tone of her sister’s voice and her curled wings prepared any moment for a speedy flight soon convince her that her worst fears are in fact a reality. Celestia’s face loses all it’s color as her sister prepares to fly away once again leaving her behind, alone and in the dark. “W-Wait Luna!” Celestia shouts stopping her sister’s retreat in its tracks. “Where are you going!? Lulu you can’t leave now!”

Her wings closing for a second Luna looks back at her sister with fearful eyes. “I must leave Celly, we are enemies. I am wanted by your royal guard, and in your condition with the lack of assailant’s bodies I will undoubtedly be a suspect. I must leave before they……”

“That doesn’t matter!” Celestia shouts as she grasps her sister’s arm unwilling to let go. “You are my sister Luna, politics and opinions be damned….” Celestia nuzzles her sister’s fur in a sigh of utmost intimacy as she tries to once again convince her only remaining family of her good intentions. “…….As long as you are by my side none of these things matter. For a thousand years all I wanted was my sister back, and now that I have her I’m not going to let her go.”

This heartfelt moment goes on for several seconds both ponies unwilling to let go before Luna finally clears her throat. “Then…” Luna gulps back her fear as she presses into dangerous territory. “Then you have decided that the corpse is too dangerous? You agree with me that its power is better off not used?”

Celestia releases her hold on Luna’s arm in shock “…….What?!”

Luna turns back to her sister’s muzzle, inches away from her face as she stares at the monarch of Equestria with resentment and disappointment in her eyes. “…….You haven’t decided have you? You still insist on using the Corpse’s power….. even after everything that has happened ……. don’t you!?

“Lulu..… what are you talking about? You’re my sister and I love you more than anything!” Celestia says words brimming with hope “Surely there can’t be anything more important than that!”

“…...more important than the Corpse?”

“You can’t seriously expect me to make this decision Lulu? The fate of Equestria or your feelings?” Celestia states with defiance. “You can’t seriously expect me to make such a ………”

“Do you think that a power that redirects suffering onto others, the same power that corrupted me, should be destroyed? Yes or no.” Luna flares her wings in feigned anger as she pushes her advantage and forces the issue. “There is no middle ground to take Celestia, and you know how stubborn I am, I will not budge on this. So I’ll ask again, will you help me in destroying the Holy Corpse? Yes or No?”

Celestia’s response hangs in her throat her words inaudible as finally her voice manages a small and half-hearted chirp. “N-N-No.” Celestia admits shamefully, her voice on the brink of losing out to the silence the sound faltering as she struggles with her own resolve. “The corpse is capable of too much good, too many ponies lives depend on it for its power to just be destroyed. But surely Luna we can reach a compromise there’s no need for…..”

Turning her back on the pony in front of her Luna makes her point clear. “Then as long as you insist on your abuse of the Corpse’s power…..” With a heavy heart Luna swallows her tears as she suppresses her own sorrows. “….then we are rivals at best, Celestia.”

Celestia can barely believe it; she had just gotten her sister back only to lose her again. As the dark blue mare walks away part of Celestia wants to promise her anything, to lie or cheat if only to get the mare to come back to her. And yet, how could she make such a crucial and far reaching decision at the whims of her sister’s emotions? Was Luna really going to force her to make her decision now?! Was this a bluff to force her to abandon the corpse, to cave in to her demands?

No Luna wasn’t like that, she said what was on her mind and what she meant with no reading between the lines, and she would never bluff on something as important as this. A sinking feeling fills Celestia’s’ soul as she realizes that deep down Luna does mean it. Her sister has set herself against her, on the side opposing her and that meant that sooner or later, no matter what she does, they would come into conflict once again.

Did, did she have to fight her sister again? After everything they had already endured would they once again be forced to fight each other?! Was there no mercy in this world, that gods would conspire to watch sister and friends fight to the death for their own amusement!?!

Luna spreads her wings as she looks out the gaping hole into the still dark morning sky. “The guards will be here in a moment to provide you healing and first aid. You will be fine with them…. Farewell sister…..”

“LUNA!” Celestia cries out as she fumbles on shaky hooves towards her sister only to fall flat on her face. Looking up from the dirt at her hooves, the supreme Goddess of the sun looks at her sister with the most heart wrenching expression as tears cascade like waterfalls down her face. Luna unable to resist her baser instincts turns around to assure her sister is fine revealing her face as well is dripping with tears and snot alike as she cries mercilessly, her face mirroring the pony closer to her soul than any other.

However with her mission steeling her resolve the mare of the night wipes her tears and turns back to the window leading into the sky. “We shall meet again in ponyville; this is neither the time nor place for such a meeting.” The mare looks out at the hole in the mountain her eyes growing distant and unfocused. “Besides I fear for Twilight sparkle and her companions just as I fear for the fate of the corpse.”

And with that the Goddess of the night leaps into the air soaring through the opening like a bullet from a gun as she spreads her wings in an open blue sky above. Unwilling to let her sister go so easily Celestia spreads her wings only to wince in pain as she looks back to her broken wing.

Unable to follow her sister as she leaves her behind the all-powerful monarch of the sun looks up at her sister taking to the air and leaving her behind. “…..It’s amazing that Lulu can fly in her condition……” Celestia states as Exhaustion once again overtakes her causing her to fall to her haunches. “A tenth level light spell and an endless Solis Hastam? It’s amazing that I’m still conscious, Luna was right I’m really out of shape.” Celestia remakes as she looks down at the tear stained ground before her.

Yet fortunately (or unfortunately) for her the Princess of the sun doesn’t have much time to stew in her own sorrows as no sooner than her sister has left the Royal guards arrive immediately rushing around the injured mare in a frenzy of concern and vigilance.

“PRINCESS! Are you okay!?”

“You’re injured Princess What’s happened?!”

“Give her some room!”

“No don’t give her some room! Give her some medical attention!”

“Medics on Celestia NOW! She needs some immediate first aid!”

“Princess did you just blow a hole in Canterlot Mountain? That is so COOL!!”

“Its’ not cool you fool!! Think of the repercussions!! It could bring the mountains down!”

“Princess who did this?! Why are you injured? Was it Nightmare Moon?!”

Of Course it was Nightmare moon you dolt!”

“I’m NOT a dolt you….”

“Enough” The slightest whisper from the monarch of the sun silences the gaggle of ponies. Their voices catch in their throat as they all respectfully remain silent as they wait on the word of their ruler.

Celestia breathes in taking in the wincing pain from her bruised ribs, the pain bringing her an immense level of clarity as she looks down to a pony wearing the crest of the medical core. “I require first aid, but do so silently so that I can commune with the others.”

The medics circle around the Goddess wordlessly as they work as quickly as their hooves will allow. “Assure the nobles that the earthquakes are part of an exercise.” Celestia orders “Tell them I am not taking court today and have them pull their own weight for once by assuring the ponies of Canterlot.”

Several more ponies rush off, their direction now set as they carry out their orders flawlessly. “Assess the structure of the mountain, I doubt it will fall from such a blow but better safe than sorry. And for the love of the Goddess keep this entire incident under wraps we don’t need a panic.”

More ponies disperse as the Goddess her wings bandaged by surrounding medics turns to face to particular ponies, a dark purple unicorn mare and a light yellow earth pony. “Spell Sheen, Hard Tack. Status report on the condition of Ponyville.”

“MAM!” A dark purple unicorn with an eyepatch salutes “Lieutenant Flash sentry just arrived from Ponyville, he says it's bad. It’s filled with undead and a stand that controls ponies or something like that. Shining Armor requests immediate reinforcements which left the moment he arrived. They should be there within the hour.”

“And Twilight?” The goddess asks with concern in her voice.

“Safe mam!” hard Tack the bright yellow earth pony salutes “Or so Flash says.”

“So the enemy has made their move….. So now we make ours.” The mare lies prone her mind raging as she considers the options and maneuvers of her men and assets as a lesser pony would consider chess moves. “First establish a scrying pool with Ponyville, find out what is going on there. No doubt connections should be up by now given we’ve been working on them all night.”

Celestia states taking charge of the situation. “Assassinating me is an idea that has merit, but I suspect that it had another motive of dividing our focus. And if that is the case Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle are in danger.”  Spell Sheen, the purple unicorn, salutes wordlessly as she rushes off out the hole in the mountain no doubt on her way to make contact with the endangered town.

“Second.” Celestia continues “Prepare my chariot, I will be personally leading a foray to Ponyville. I suspect the Traitors’ hoof in this and if that is true he will no doubt be in Ponyville now.” The goddess’s eyes narrow with anger. “And if he has done anything to Shining Armor or Twilight, I will PERSONALLY insure he gets a one way trip to Tartarus.”

“But Princess!” A light blue Unicorn guard in a Red Cross outfit shouts off to her side while bandaging her wing. ”You are in absolutely no condition to go anywhere. You’ll need a week of relaxation and bed rest before…..”

“Red Stones.” Celestia asks extending her hoof to the guard next to her, who hoofs the goddess an entire bag the size of a deflated tetherball filled with the precious healing stones. Without skipping a beat the Goddess downs the entire bag, ingesting the copious amount of red stones with a single gulp. Celestia’s form shudders as new nutrient rich blood courses through the Goddess’s veins filled with an exorbitant amount of life energy.

Normally such an overdose of life energy would have torn apart the flesh of a lesser pony the pain of the body breaking itself down and rebuilding itself inducing death from shock. However this is the Immortal ruler of her kingdom, a deity of incalculable willpower and wisdom who stands far above the normal limits set by Ponykind. She is invulnerable, she is immovable, she is…….

“URRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Ohmysweetmercifulgoddessabovethisisexceedinglypainful!!!!!URRRHRHHRHHRHRH!!!! Whydidithinkthatthiswasagoodidea?!?!? URRRRGGHHHGHH!!!”

………She is crying like a baby.

To her credit, Celestia only screamed a little (she spent most of her time crying) as her body was rebuilt hundreds of times over, her flesh and essence pushed to the limits by the sudden dramatic increase in regenerative power. Her heart racing like a river as raw life energy runs rampant through her system. Eventually the reaction dies down the Goddess’ broken bones setting themselves as the Celestia breathes in and out, her lungs taking in life affirming breath.

 “You….. pant…… were saying?” Celestia remarks as the multitude of wounds covering the Sun Goddess’s body begin to close up before the ponies eyes. “Now between my own magics and The Red stone’s healing factor I should be in good enough shape by the time we arrive in Ponyville. Now prepare our troops for departure.”

Everypony within earshot stares at Celestia, too afraid to say anything that could be construed as an insult or questioning her orders as they try to be as ordinary as possible. “A-Anything else P-Princess?” A Bright yellow earth pony shakily salutes brushing traces of his braided blue mane out of his eyes.

The princess taps her chin as if trying to remember if she needed anything. Or perhaps she is just enjoying the sudden fear she has instilled in her timid guards. “Yes Hard Tack there is one more thing I’d like you to do.” Celestia states as an afterthought. “Send word that all units should cease all actions against Nightmare moon AKA Princess Luna immediately. She should be arriving in Ponyville soon and I don’t want the Royal guards to give her any trouble.”

“Certainly Princess I’ll send word via every….. WHAT?!” the guard sputters dropping his clipboard from his hoof. “N-Nightmare Moon!? B-B-But P-Princess she……”

“And THAT.” Celestia’s voice booms. “Is an order, I will personally discharge the pony who disobeys that command. Have I made myself clear?”

Celestia turns to the newly made hole leading out into the brightening morning sky. “Now bring my private chariot around to this entrance, I will be going myself to Ponyville, POST HASTE.”

The hard Tack salutes hastily, motivated by fear, as he disengages with the Princess of the sun and runs about in a frenzy shouting out his highness’s orders to any who can hear him. Yet Celestia’s’ mind is too far away and too burdened to even give anything else a second thought. Even that clamor that fills the room and the dozens or royal guards that surround her bandaging her wounds and healing her with the most advanced magics can break her focus. Celestia watches the rising sun from the hole out of the mountain watching as a dark blue shape fades into the distance. Yet her telescopic vision can make out the figure so far from her with such clarity she might as well be standing next to her; tears falling from her sister’s cheek as visible to her as her own muzzle.

More than anything Celestia wants to rush up to her to embrace her to fill her sister’s sad heart with the depth of her love, but she knows that it is futile.

The princess realizes with a heavy heart that there is a distance between the two royal pony sisters, a distance that Love and forgiveness alone cannot breach.

And Luna is right, she must make a choice: accept peace or accept her sister; The Corpse and The lives of her ponies, or her sister or her integrity.

Once again the Monarch of the sun reals under the weight of the crown that has placed itself on her head against her desires or wishes. She is not just Luna’s sister, she is the Invincible Monarch of the sun thus she cannot make false promises to her sister or deals that compromise the lives of her people. Were she able to throw the crown to the side to forswear her duties she might reclaim her sister but for the life of her she could not. How could she be so selfish as to throw away her people’s safety and lives for a single pony?

But was Luna right?

Was the use of the corpses’ power counterproductive?

Everything was so blurred now……

Her people,

Her crown,

Her sister,

………..Her student.

So many things to lose, so many things to weigh on her mind.

“So much sacrifice….” The Goddess muses sadly. “…..But at what cost must it come? And how could I alone decide?”

‘Only you Celly.’ Luna’s voice rings in the Goddess’s ears. ‘Only you would be so foolish as to try and handle everything on your own when you have no shortage of ponies to help you.’

“…………Perhaps……” The goddess muses a gentle smile crossing her face as a distant hope fills her mind “Perhaps Luna is right, that this is a decision too big for one pony to make alone…….”

And as the Goddess of the sun watches the sun rise before her greeting the world with light and warmth, she smiles as an idea takes hold. She smiles because she…….

The Princess of the sun.

Has Hope.