Moonsick

by FoxyCat

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Drama
Length: 3617

After the defeat of Chrysalis, Equestria seems to be at a time of peace. Seems.

The defeat of all of Equestria's evils has finally brought the pony world into a time of peace and friendship. But, in the deepest pit of Tartarus, an ancient being is awakened. Can the Mane 6, with the help of Starlight Glimmer and Spike, defeat an evil older than Princess Celestia herself, or will they all just become a part of his sinister scheme?

Art is edited by FoxyCat.
Story plot is by FoxyCat.
Nobody's helped me with this, this is a solo project.

Published 2015-07-28 03:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-07-29 03:08:10 UTC

The Awakening

Author's Note

Jeez, it's been well over a year since I updated this story. I decided that I would just rewrite it with a differentish, but not so different plot. Hope you enjoy, I'll be updating this story probably after Christmas!

The Awakening

Deep down in the darkness of Tartarus, the soft pad of paws and the harsh clopping of hooves echoed around the silence of the hellish landscape that surrounded the lone prison cell. In the pitch blackness of the cell, only sounds were heard from the being trapped. Growling, claws scraping against the stone floor, and impatient sighing. "Soon," a deep voice boomed. "I will return to the surface to claim what has been taken from me." His muscles shifted under short, spiky fur, anxiously turning his gaze to the top of his cell. "I just need enough fear to give me the strength to break free of this hell." And with a smile, he realized that tonight was Nightmare Night.

Blood red rays spilled over the landscape of Ponyville as the sun dropped below the horizon, enticing excited squeals from the phillies and colts, quickly dressing for the long-awaited Nightmare Night. A certain purple and green dragon was busy standing on a rather precarious looking stool, vainly attempting to hang plastic bone decorations over the entrance to the castle on the outskirts of the small town, home to the Princess of Friendship and her student.

"Spike!" A voice called from within the castle, startling the young dragon. With a yell, Spike fell from the stool, heading face first towards the stairs. A blue aurora suddenly illuminated around him and he gently landed on his feet, sighing in relief. "Come on," A pink unicorn with a purple and blue mane smiled. "Are you going to dress up this year?"

"Oh, yeah," Spike rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "'Course. I'll be a minute, just gotta finish hanging these decorations." But when the dragon turned around, the string of plastic bones was neatly bung by the same blue aurora. Spike sighed and shrugged. "Guess it's done. Thanks, Starlight." Starlight Glimmer giggle and headed back inside, Spike closely following.

Inside the castle in her personal quarters, the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle, was reading a book titled Spell Tome: Transformations and Transfigurations. Smiling, she shut the book after the last page was flipped. A purple light surrounded the book and her horn as the lavender alicorn levitated the book back into it's spot on the shelf of her personal book collection. Just as she stood up to test out the new spell she learned, there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" She called.

"Hey, Twilight!" Spike, her dragon companion, walked into the room, closely followed by her student, Starlight Glimmer. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, guys, just in time!" Twilight smiled and rushed to the other side of the room, grabbing a mirror and pulling it over to the center of her bedroom. "I was just about to try a new spell I learned for my costume." She turned to see Starlight dressed as a witch, and Spike as a shark. "This spell only works if you cast it on someone or something else, but I figured if I shot it at a mirror, it would bounce back and hit me." Most of what Twilight just said was to herself.

"Okay?" Starlight said slowly. "And what spell are you doing?" In response, Twilight simply levitated the book she was reading to Starlight, then back to the shelf. "Twilight, isn't that a bit... Oh, I don't know, dangerous?"

"Nope!" Twilight chirped happily. "I've practiced this many times on an apple while you all were away. Simply think of what you're firing at, and what you want it to be." She gestured over to an avocado sitting on a lone table, which her companions guessed that it was formerly an apple. Spike and Starlight simultaneously rolled their eyes, and waited for Twilight to cast her spell.

Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Bear," she said firmly, aiming her horn towards her reflection in the mirror. A small bolt of energy shot out of her horn, bounced off the mirror, and hit Twilight square in the chest. The alicorn was enveloped in a bright purple glow, her outline shifting and growing. When the light faded, a large bear with lavender fur was standing where a pony formerly was.

Starlight and Spike snickered at the colorful bear. "Well, it kind of worked." Spike said in between bouts of laughter.

Twilight took one look at the mirror and sighed, shaking her head. "It'll have to do." The purple bear turned around and pushed her large rump out of the slender door of her room, galloping down the hall. "Let's go find the others!" And with that, Spike hopped on Starlight's back and the unicorn galloped after Twilight.

Five ponies were gathered near the center of town, outside of Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie lives and works. The pink pony was dressed as a vampony, bouncing on her hooves impatiently. "Where's Twilight?" The hyperactive Earth pony said, a little too loudly for her friend standing next to her.

"She's probably still getting ready," Said Rainbow Dash, dressed as a dragon. "We just have to wait." But, the blue pegasus with a rainbow mane didn't look too patient herself.

Applejack, dressed as a Timberwolf, nodded her agreement with RD. "She could be helping Spike pick out a costume still."

"Or picking out a costume for Starlight!" Rarity, in a black gown, said with a groan. "I can't WAIT to see their beautiful costumes." She said rather sarcastically.

"Maybe she's still picking out one for herself?" Fluttershy chimed in quietly, adorably dressed as a bunny. "Maybe she couldn't find the right costume? Maybe-" The yellow pegasus was cut off by a roar of an angry bear, and the group whirled around, terror on their faces as a huge purple bear towered over them.

It stood there for a moment longer, before suddenly breaking out into hysterical laughter, rolling onto it's back. "You should've seen your faces!" Twilight howled with laughter. The rest of the Mane 6 just sat there, glaring at the trickster princess. Twilight recovered and looked at them with innocent confusion. "What?"

"That was just mean," RD crossed her arms in mock anger.

"How did you get your costume to look THAT REAL?" the overdramatic Rarity was pulling on Twilight's fur.

"OW! It's because it actually is real! I used a spell that can transform ponies and objects." Twilight yanked her furry arm away from Rarity. Spike and Starlight walked out from behind the bear and joined the group, still giggling at the Bear-Twilight.

"Okay, enough about fuzzy Twi!" Applejack announced. "Who wants to go into mah family's Haunted Apple Orchards?" She said with an evil grin. The ponies and bear and dragon all gathered behind Applejack with excited murmurs as the orange pony led the group towards her farm and apple orchards.

Screams of fear filtered into the dark cell in the deepest, forgotten part of Tartarus, where in the pitch blackness, a terrible being fed on the terror that Nightmare Night brought. With a sudden, bright flash, the cell was shattered into pieces. A dark red alicorn unfolded his black, fiery wings, wolfish yellow eyes looking around at the rubble that surrounded him.

"Finally," he growled. "Grohiik, Spirit of the Moon and Fear, Father of Wolves, is free. I shall walk Equestria once again and take it back with an army of my own sons and daughters, and rid it from the plague of the Royal Sisters!" His black-fire mane and wings crackled as he took off, flying towards the exit of Tartarus.

The Return

Author's Note

Hey guys! I'm back! This chapter is mainly just a "briefing" to you about the plot of the story. Enjoy!

The Return

Laughing and giggling, the Mane 6 and co made their way out of the Haunted Orchard. "Applejack, you've outdone yourself again this Nightmare Night." Twilight, who has now returned back to her normal alicorn self, said with a smile.

Applejack chuckled and blushed. "D'aw, it was nothin'. Mah family and I love workin' on these attractions 'cause we love making Nightmare Night, well, fun!"

"My favorite part of the orchard is when Big Mac dressed up like a ghost and chased us down the path," Spike chimed in, laughing at the memory. He was about to say something else, but a burp interrupted him. A letter burst forth from the green flames that resulted from the burp, and he opened it and read it.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle,
The Princesses have requested that you come to Canterlot at once to discuss extremely urgent matters. Please, be cautious on the road to Canterlot, it is unsafe in the wilderness at the present time. Please make your way as fast as possible.
~Captain Featherhoof, Pegasus Royal Guard."

Each pony exchanged a glance with the other, beginning the long run to Equestria's capital.

Celestia was pacing in front of her throne, looking at the ground with a scowl. How could he have returned? Equestria is doomed, unless the Elements of Harmony bearers arrive. The doors to the throne room burst open, and Celestia looked up hopefully, but sighed internally. Just another squad of Royal Guardsmen. "Princess," the squad leader huffed. "More beasts have been reported attacking Manehatten. They're spreading like a plague!"

Celestia frowned. "We're running out of troops to send. Go to Manehatten and help with the fight. Remember! Don't let them bite you!" The unicorn squad nodded and ran back out of the throne room, on their way to aid in the defense of whatever city they could. "Fillydelphia, Trottingham, Baltimare, and now Manehatten?" Celestia muttered fretfully. "He's targeting the biggest cities..." Her thoughts were cut off again as the doors swung open.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight gasped, skidding to a halt at the head of the group. "We came as quick as we could. What's going on? What's wrong?"

Celestia let out a long held breath. "Princess Twilight, you came." She motioned to her conference room. "Please follow me. There is much to discuss." It was without saying, every pony and dragon in the room was a little uneasy at the tone of the usually bright princess.

When everyone was seated around the round table in the conference area, Celestia began the briefing with a sigh. "It seems that the time of peace is over. An ancient being has returned to this land, and with him, he brings a curse so violent, that my father had to banish him to Tartarus for creating it, where he was to spend all eternity. But, apparently, due to the magical imbalance between good and evil, he has been awakened. His name is Grohiik, and he was the Spirit of the Moon for thousands of years before Princess Luna or I were born.

More than he wants to admit, he is much like a changeling. Yet he does not feed on love, oh no. Quite the opposite. He gains his strength from fear." She paused to take a breath. "And, other bad news. Princess Luna has gone missing, and Grohiik's magic is preventing me from raising the sun. He is holding this world in the night, and until he is defeated, I'm afraid there will be no more sunshine for a very long time." When she finished, Celestia surveyed her crowd. The Mane 6 and co all had their mouths open in absolute shock.

"W-what do you want us to do?" Twilight broke the silence. "I mean, there isn't much we can do to a GOD that is possibly HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS years old, is there?" She was out of her seat, pacing, already running through hundreds of plans. "And what is this curse? What happens if a pony is cursed?"

Celestia took a deep breath before getting into details. "This curse has been around longer than I, created by Grohiik during times of war. He has always been a dark soul, choosing violence as a solution to almost everything. This was at the beginning of the war between the dragons, and Grohiik suggested that they add a few... juggernauts to the military." She paused to survey the faces of her audience. "This curse is called lycanthropy. Ponies afflicted have short tempers, are very sensitive to hearing and smelling, and they change under the moonlight."

"What do you mean by 'change'?" Rainbow Dash asked. The others nodded, showing that they too had the same question.

"I mean transform." Celestia frowned and sat an ancient looking book on the table titled Lycanthropy: What It Is and How To Deal With It. A golden aurora surrounded the book and Celestia magically flipped to a drawing within it.

"The lycan is a wolf-beast, capable of spreading the curse through a bite. That's how Grohiik wanted to win the war, by turning the dragons against each other in his lycanthrope army."

"And what exactly what do you want us to do?" Fluttershy asked sheepishly. "I mean, you wouldn't have just called us to your private conference room to tell us that there's lycans running around again, right?"

Celestia smiled at the shy Pegasus. "No, I didn't summon you all here to tell you stories." She looked at each one of them, warmth and love in her intense gaze. "I need you all to bring the Elements of Harmony to defeat Grohiik. That is how my father banished him. That is how you will banish him. We do not know where he is at the moment, though. We-" She was cut off when the conference room doors burst open, revealing a Pegasus guard.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight!" He panted. "The lycans are attacking Ponyville!"/center]

The Battle

Author's Note

Lol, whoops. I totally forgot about this story. Well, now that the introductions are done, this chapter is told from Twilight's and Grohiik's point of view. Enjoy!

The Battle

-Twilight-
"Oh no."
Ponyville. Why there? Sure, it has a decent population, but its not a big city like Canterlot. "We have to get home!" Twilight gasped, her wings springing open. But, Celestia was way ahead of her, already ordering multiple squadrons of soldiers to head to aid the city in battling Grohiik and his curse.

"Twilight," Celestia said sternly, looking into the young princess's eyes with an intense, hot stare. "Follow the guards to Ponyville and help in the battle. Use your Elements to your advantage. Werewolves are merciless beings that fight in a more primal mindset! Be wary of them, now go!" Twilight hurried to her hooves, motioning to the others to follow the Royal Guards to Ponyville. "Remember! Do NOT let yourself be bitten, nor be hit by Grohiik's magic!"

Twilight's mind was racing as she and her friends ran out of the huge castle gates, on the road to their home under siege. All she could thing was why, why, why? She was forced from her thoughts when they finally arrived at the town. The soldiers all let out a cry of war, and started charging down to a darker section of town. Applejack let out a choked cry, rushing in with the soldiers. They were heading strait to Sweet Apple Acres. The rest followed, Elements at the ready.

"Oh, dear.." Fluttershy whimpered.

~'~

Howls echoed through the crisp, night air. Shouting, barking, yelps and screams were heard all throughout the orchard as ponies battled with the beasts. "Gosh darnit!" The orange farm pony Applejack bucked away a small werewolf. "Ya' best be gettin' outta here!"

Twilight cringed as she heard a pained scream as a soldier was mauled by three wolves, only to emerge from the pile as a lycan himself. Her ears fell, realizing that this was happening all around her. Don't get bit, don't get bit.

-Grohiik-

The tall, dark alicorn watched his sons and daughters from the darkness of the trees, his feral yellow eyes shining with wicked glee. This is an important city to capture, home to the newest Princess. It would hit the leaders of Equestria hard if one of their own joined him... Oh, there she is. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. He scoffed, chuckling. Slowly, he made his advancement to the shadows, closer and closer to the next victim of his specially personalized version of the curse...

-Twilight-

Twilight looked around at the chaos. She and Starlight were back to back, blasting away at werewolves, defending herself, her friends, and her home. Soon, all of the Mane 6 were all back to back, surrounded by the whole town, plus the soldiers that came to defend Ponyille. But, the werewolves weren't attacking, simply keeping the Elements of Harmony surrounded.

"Go, my children!" A voice suddenly boomed from the treeline, making the Mane 6 and co cringe. "Go and spread the gift to the good ponies of Canterlot." The werewolves all howled and snarled, moving in a huge horde to the capital of Equestria. Grohiik walked out of the orchard, the light of the full moon illuminating his black fiery mane to silver. "I will deal with you eight."

Rainbow Dash was the first to recover her voice from the initial shock from the old god's presence. "W-what you gonna do?" Well, sort of recovered. "Kill us?"

Grohiik scoffed, turning his glowing yellow gaze to Twilight, the purple princess freezing at the evil stare. "No, she is."

What?

He shot a beam of magic, black and yellow, at Twilight, hitting her square in the chest. She stumbled backwards, gasping, her eyes flying wide open. She collapsed to her side, curling up, groaning. Her friends rushed to her side, staring at her with terror and concern.

"What did you do?" Starlight shouted, gently resting a hoof on Twilight's side. She glared daggers fearlessly at Grohiik.

"Oooh, I wouldn't get too near her if I were you..." He said with a smirk, spreading his wings and taking off to the sky, heading towards Canterlot. "Goodnight, don't let the Princess bite!"

The Change

-Twilight-

Twilight suddenly smacked Starlight away with her wings with startling strength, the student crying out with surprise and pain as she landed a couple of yards away. The others backed away from the purple alicorn, Grohiik's words echoing in their minds.

Don't let the Princess bite.

Twilight gritted her teeth in agony, feeling them slowly sharpen into canine-like fangs. Oh, no, no, no! "Girls," she gasped through the pain. "R-run! Get to Canterlo-o-OT!" Her words ended in a scream as her bones started to crack and grow. "W-warn Princess -nngh!- Celestia!"

She didn't have to tell them twice. Twilight watched through tearful eyes as her friends ran to Canterlot as fast as they could go, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took off like rockets.

The Princess of Friendship was panting as the pain dulled for a few heartbeats, thinking. She could feel her mind slipping. What will happen if I find them after the transformation? She didn't have much time to think of an answer before the absolute agony of the spell resumed.

-Starlight-

Starlight felt like crying. She was so confused, so scared, and so angry. Even though the wingless of the Mane Six were pretty far away, Starlight thought she could still hear Twilight's screams.

"Starlight!" Spike called from behind her, yet she didn't acknowledge his voice.

"STARLIGHT!"

Starlight skidded to a halt, whipping around to face the others. "Come on! We have to get to Canterl-" She paused.

Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Spike were all panting, clearly exhausted. They've been sprinting as hard as they could for almost an hour.

"We need to stop." Rarity said. "I know we need to get to Celestia, but-"

The white unicorn was cut off as a terrifying howl split the cool, night air.

"W-w-what was that?" Pinkie whispered from her hiding place behind Applejack.

"I t-think it was…" Spike started, also from behind Applejack.

A hush fell over the group as a woosh was heard overhead, and a huge, dark shadow flew through the moonlight. They froze as a heavy thump was heard behind them. Deep, quiet growling was heard from the source of the thump.

Starlight slowly turned her head to face the beast. What she saw nearly made her pass out in terror. It was massive - almost twice the size of Big Macintosh. Fierce yellow eyes pierced the shadows it was standing in, illuminating some of the face. A long, wolffish snout was wrinkled, lips drawn back in a snarl. Huge canine teeth were dripping with drool. The lycan took a step out of the shadows, revealing a big paw with sharp, bear-like claws.

What really got to Starlight was the fact that the paw fur was a shade of dark lavender.

"…Twilight." Spike whimpered.

Twilight stepped fully out of the shadows, revealing her new form in the silver moonlight. There were some notable differences about her that the other werewolves didn't have - she kept her wings and horn. The horn lengthened to a wicked point, slightly curved upwards. Her wings were huge to compensate for her new size, still feathery though.

Starlight, without realizing it, pulled up a magical bubble around her and the others as soon as Twilight pounced at them. The former Princess slammed her paws against the blue aura, snarling with a primal rage.

"Okay." Starlight's voice broke. She cleared her throat. "Okay," she said firmly. She was about to say something else, maybe devise a plan, but…

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!" Pinkie screamed.