Fallout Equestria: Sundown

Chapter 9: Misty Memories

oooOOOooo

My vision was extremely blurry as I felt myself flying over a forest, with the sounds of battle in the

distance. As my senses returned to me, I saw Batponies and Pegasai in hoof to hoof combat, killing each

other with sword strikes or crossbow bolts. Banking left, I narrowly avoided a similar fate as a bolt

streaked into the side of my helmet, knocking a strap loose and sending it plummeting to the ground

beneath me. I resumed my course, heading for the Castle of the Twin Sisters in the Everfree Forest.

Marelin had concluded her observations about the orb that had struck me nearly a month ago, and along

with her observations about my own state, something was about to happen that was good for nopony. I

took off as soon as I had heard in order to warn Princess Luna, who would be holding court at this hour

of the night, only to come to a full skirmish between Celestia and Luna’s guards. I landed on the balcony

leading to Luna’s chambers and was allowed passage by her guards after hearing of my need to report

Marelin’s findings.

I opened the balcony door to find the room in complete disarray. Shredded blankets and pegasai down

was littered all over the floor. It looked like somepony had attempted to assassinate the Princess in her

sleep and been defeated, by the bloodstains and shattered weaponry on the ground.

“Princess Luna?” I called out to the room, receiving no response. I quickly searched the room for any sign

of the Princess before heading deeper into the castle in search of her. Trotting down the stairs carefully, I

heard the sounds of a door being battered open with shouting as another battle started in the chaos.

That could be the Princess! I thought, rushing to the scene to ambush Celestia’s guards that were

fighting with the night watch in a corridor. Taking up a blade that had fallen to the ground, I shadow

flashed above one of the golden plated guards with a soft electrical zih-poof in time to plunge the sword

down between his shoulder blades and neck, skewering his spine, lungs and heart in one stroke. He let

out a pained gurgle as he collapsed to the ground dead, as his partner growled and leapt at me. With

another flash, I appeared behind him and bucked him to the floor. The unicorn used his magic to lift his

partner’s sword and his own from the floor, attempting to overwhelm me in a flurry of attacks. I gave

ground enough to be pushed to the floor, and as he rose both swords to finish me off in a final attack, I

flashed behind him, slicing his horn from his head. If I wasn’t so focused on informing and rescuing

Princess Luna I would have frozen in horror at the inequine sound coming from the guard’s mouth, so I

mercifully finished him off with a strike between his side plates as he was impaled through the lungs and

collapsed to the ground in a bloody thrashing mess.

The night watch that had been fending off Celestia’s guards were beyond the door, giving me thanks for

saving them. They were new recruits and had barely been given their equipment a week ago before this

had happened, and were certain they would’ve died if I hadn’t shown up. I asked if they knew where

Princess Luna was, and they directed me to the main audience chamber. They said that Princess Celestia

was confronting Princess Luna about an ‘eternal night’ and her being a threat to all of Equestria. I

couldn’t believe that the timid Princess of the night would ever endanger her subjects, and rushed to her

defense.

Along the way I almost ran into more of Celestia’s guards. They were winning the battle on the outside of

the castle from the sounds of it, and it was only a matter of time before they breached the chamber and

were able to reinforce Celestia’s personal guard. Shadow flashing and sneaking past a few skirmishes

between Night and Day guards, I found my way to the chamber where the Princesses were at a standoff.

Celestia was adorned in shining gold armor, encrusted with gems that shone like the sun with magical

enchantment and protections. Her white coat as pure as fresh snow with her mane and tail like a nebula

as she stared down her sister, assisting her guards with magic enough to set them upright and ready to

fight. She wore several pieces of jewelry around her neck, with a star tiara on her head.

The Elements of Harmony!

Oh no, she wouldn’t use those against her own sister, would she?

I swept down from the railing that was overlooking the main audience chamber to land by Luna’s side at

the throne dominating the center of the room, along with more of her own guard that had stayed by her

side throughout the fighting. As I glanced to make sure she was unharmed, I backed away in fright. She

was not the Princess Luna I knew!

Her coat was black as Ink all across her body, wearing a sky blue armor with a shining crescent moon in

the center of her ornate chest plate. A similarly colored helmet rested on her head, a place for her horn

to come through to a menacing point that looked long enough to pierce a pony from front to end. Her

ethereal mane and tail looked like the night sky and flowed from her body like silk caught in a breeze

while clinging to her body, the stars shifting as if looking through a portal. Her once kind eyes had now

become as a dragon’s, slit pupil and turquoise in color, promising pain and retribution for the suffering

she had endured and an agonizing end to her enemies. She growled at the Sun Goddess, revealing her

teeth to a row of fangs that would tear any flesh to ribbons were she so inclined.

“Do you honestly think you can stop me with the Elements, you foal!?” she bellowed at her sister, who

wore a pained expression on her face.

“You know as well as I do that we shared the Elements of Harmony together. You cannot use them

without my help! Soon, all ponies will see the glory of the night as I do, for I will bring about night

eternal!” She boomed at Celestia, flashes of lightning and the sounds of battle punctuating her

declaration.

The Princess of the Sun looked upon her sister, and the few Night Guard that remained alive as the floor

was littered with the dead and dying of both sides. I wavered for a moment at the sudden change of

Luna’s appearance, but I swore to remain in her service until released by Luna or death itself.

“Nightmare Moon, I will give you this last chance to surrender my sister. Enough ponies have died from

your insanity.” The Goddess of the Sun spoke firmly, her eyes glowing like a barely contained inferno as

the temperature in the room began to rise, and her mane and tail became fire and caused their armor to

shine like the sun as she spread her wings and rose to hover in the air.

“You know you cannot defeat me, Celestia. That is why you have come here in your desperate attempt

to slay me before I take my rightful place as Ruler of Equestria! I will never bow to you again, Sister.”

Nightmare Moon finished with a fang filled sneer, raising on her hind legs while flapping her wings for

balance as she slammed down to the ground with bolts of lightning erupting from her horn, slamming

into the few of Celestia’s guard that remained standing, sending their blackened and charred forms

hurling into the stonework behind them and shattering the door to the courtyard, filling the room with

the sounds of mayhem and slaughter.

“Then I am sorry, sister.” She stated with sorrow, as the Elements began to emit a blinding light and

Celestia’s horn flared hot as the sun itself.

“What!? No! You cannot use the Elements without me!” Nightmare Moon shrieked.

“You have left me no choice… goodbye, Luna.” She finished with a tear steaming off of her face, as a

lance of light burst forth from her horn, encircled by a rainbow and rapidly approaching all of us, directed

at Nightmare Moon.

“Nooo!! You cannot do this! Celestia, Tia! Nooooooo” Nightmare Moon’s scream eventually faded, as a

pillar of light burst from the ground in an explosion of magical power, sending everypony but Celestia

away from the center as it shot into the night sky, hitting the grey celestial body in the center. Soon, the

moon had the image of a dark mare in armor, waiting with infinite patience.

Groaning could be heard as the surviving guards of both sides picked themselves up and got to their

hooves, unsure of what to do now that Nightmare Moon was gone. I formed up uneasily with the rest of

those from the night watch as we stood our ground, certain we were about to be executed for allying

ourselves with the corrupted goddess of the night.

oooOOOooo

“Aaaahh!” I shrieked in fright, breaking the ceiling bulb and sending a shower of glass on the top of my

mattress that I had once again been using as a fort. I bonked my head on the mattress, sending the

shards of glass into the toilet and through the beams of my cell. I was sweating from that… dream? Was

it a nightmare, or a vision? I have no idea what that was, but they’ve been getting a lot more detailed

lately. Darn wizards and their… wait, darn Stables and their brain altering chemical things.

“Sweet dreams?” I voice giggled next to me as I screeched again and whipped my head around to find

Redundance looking at me with a smirk on her face.

“You’ve been tossing and turning so much in that little corner of yours it tripped an intruder alarm on

one of the security cameras. When they saw it was just you throwing a fit, they had me check it out. I

told him it was just a dream, but I think a certain Paladin has the hots for you~” she teased, as she

dropped the cell’s laser grid and stepped in with a yellow bag decorated with pink butterflies on it,

before re-starting it with her cheaty-powers.

“One observation has made me curious though. Since you’re a batpony, why haven’t you just shadow

flashed out of your cell? It stops objects from passing through it, but not teleportation.” She said while

rooting through her medical bags.

Wait. Oh crap, I totally forgot I could do that!

Zi-Poof

Aha! Wait.

“Of course, I pointed that out to the Scribes who were maintaining your cell, and they added a few

enchanted gems to the security system to prevent such a thing from occurring. If you wanted to

know.” She said from the ceiling. But wait, my bed was on the ceiling too.

Uh oh.

I fell to the floor from the ceiling with a short screech of panic as I hit my head on the steel paneled

floor, and slumped over to the side with a resounding thud of pain as I landed on one of my wings.

“Owww.” I moaned, laying on the floor and not wanting to stand up while Redundance giggled to herself

and put a bandage on my head. Completely wrapped in its binding, not in any way useful.

“Hold that for me, would you dear?” she asked, continuing to dig through her bags, setting aside a

whole arrangement of medical equipment all around my room. I huffed from my position on the floor, in

enough pain to be content with being a shelf for the time being as I continued to wonder about that

strange dream. It was way too specific to actually be a dream, but I had this feeling like I had been

through all of what had happened before. I could ask and see if Redundance and her unicorn magic

powers of cheating could help with it, but she’d probably paralyze me again. I tried to get up to look at

her, and found out she had already made me incapable of movement as I was flooded with pins and

needles again.

“Now hold still, ‘Sunny’. This will only sting for a moment.” She said, with a large needle hovering next

to her from what I could see out of the corner of her eye as I could feel my slit pupil eyes contract in

terror. She slowly moved toward me, making it seem like eternity as bells tolled in the distance for the

impending mild discomfort I would soon experience as steel slipped its way into my rump and I

squeaked in annoyance.

“Ow.” I made a point of announcing while feeling the needle move around slightly.

“Oh, quit being such a foal. I’m already done!” the evil doctor pony chirped, before flinging the needle

directly into the laser beams of my cell as they vaporized in a brilliant blip of light.

“And now it’s decontaminated. Hurrah for science!” she said with gusto, repacking about half the

medical bay into her bag somehow.

“Wuh dith oo doo?” I mumbled, my tongue turned to a useless blob while I tasted mint.

“Oh, nothing you should be worrying about, deary. Just a bit of numbing agent to make sure you don’t

do anything rash for the next bit! Elder Rasa has ordered me to go rooting around inside of your

noggin, and I can’t have you thrashing about like you did before I came in, or somepony might get

hurt! Now, hold still.” She snickered, knowing full well I was only capable of blinking at this point. My

whole body stopped feeling like it existed entirely, as she laid down next to me with her horn glowing a

bright red.

“Now, let’s see what memories you’ve got between those tufts of fur between your head!” she said,

as my vision faded to black.

oooOOOooo

The Sun Goddess herself was slowly marching towards us, still alight with the power of the sun after her

banishment of Nightmare Moon. The marble floor left scorch marks in her wake, as more gold plated

guards stormed into the Hall. Between myself and the two recruits I had saved earlier, there were about

twenty of the night watch still left after today, all crammed and huddled next to another in the back of

the room behind the throne, as Princess Celestia conversed with officers who gave reports to her, right

until she loomed over us.

We were badly beaten as it was. Most of us were wrapped with bandages or tattered uniforms in a

desperate attempt to stop bleeding from various wounds and injuries from the battle previous. The blast

from Luna’s banishment had crumpled a few of the plates of my silver and midnight colored armor into

uselessness, and I had since tossed them aside. I stood only in the hoof guards and tunic of my uniform,

tending to another of the night watch who was in far worse condition than I was. Certainly, I was

worried about what Celestia’s punishment for us would be, but I had more pressing concerns trying to

keep the few friends in Equestria I had left in a state of living, as one of the night guard I was tending to

thrashed around, threatening to undo his bandages.

The now Lone Ruler of Equestria loomed behind me, waves of heat buffeting my back as I desperately

tried to do what I could for those dead and dying. The Sun Guard had already taken their wounded and

moved them to the opposite side of the hall, as the few of us that could stand any chance of fighting

guarded the perimeters of each side of the halls, neither side wanting to fire a shot to cause more death.

“Night Guard, whom leads you now?” Princess Celestia asked, directed to all of us. Her voice was laced

with sorrow, I assume for the loss of her sister Luna. The few of us that were conscious enough to

respond looked between us, worry and fear evident in their faces before they looked to me.

“Sundown leads us, Princess Celestia.” One of them said.

I looked up from the batpony mare I was attempting to calm, as I met the gaze of those still standing, a

sense of doom washing over me as I thought I had been thrown under the carriage. I spun around to face

the Sun Goddess, looking down at me with a tired expression as her features returned to the gentle and

motherly figure I had become accustomed to when seeing the Princess. My body tensed up in

anticipation of pain or worse, until my gaze met that of Celestia’s.

“Nightmare Moon’s reign is over, Sundown. There is no need to continue fighting.” She looked up from

me to the rest of the ponies gathered in the room, most of them having stood down their guard as the

Princess made her way across the hall.

She stood in the center of the room, just ahead of the twin thrones that dominated the hall, where

Nightmare Moon had stood before she had been banished just moments before. She looked ready to

deliver an historic speech before my vision blurred and I fell into darkness.

oooOOOooo

My head hurt. Wait, let me rephrase that. My head felt that it was on the receiving end of training a

whole den of Hellhounds. No, that’s not right. My head felt like it had been squashed by the Goddess of

the Sun herself! There we go.

“Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuu.” I managed to say, tongue still numb as I saw Redundance get herself upright

and stare at me with a most sincere look of shock I have ever seen.

“That… that was not a dream. That was a memory! You… what!?” Redundance blubbered, before

making a few attempts to get up and rush out of the room, turning the cell’s gate on and off so fast a

portion of her tail had been sliced off by the lasers. My body was still entirely too numb to maneuver

properly, but I could still get enough movement out of my legs to pull myself up and rest my head on my

sideways mattress as I waited out the numbing agent.

How could that have been a memory? I’ve been in the wasteland all my life, as far as I can remember!

There’s no way I lived that long ago. No goddesses flippin’ way. Even if I was, what would that mean for

me now? It’s not like I can just wave a hoof and summon Luna to fix everything in the wastelands.

Hey, if I’m going to tempt fate, I can at least make it something useful, right?

The numbing stuff was helping with my splitting headache as I went back to simply lying down on the

cold, soothing steel floor of my cell. It didn’t seem to be a very short lived numbing, because it felt like

hours had passed before anypony came to check up on me.

“Whoa! What happened to you, Sunny?” The visiting Initiates asked, not wanting to turn off the beams

to the cell for risk of getting in trouble. I flailed a drugged hoof in the direction of the medical bags that

Redundance had left behind in her rush, as I breathed heavily on the floor.

“Mmm Num.” I muttered, blinking slowly while looking at them.

“You’re… numb? Who did this to you, Sundown?” Hat Trick asked, and I did my best to point a heavy

hoof at the medical bag laying nearby, the syringe laying on the floor next to it. Hat Trick used her

Telekinesis magic to lift the syringe closer to them, before letting out a growl and dropping the device to

the floor of my cell.

“We’re going to get help, Sunny. Stay there!” Card Swipe said, all of them rushing out of the door and

leaving me alone in the cell again.

Yep, sure. No problem guys. I’ll just go get some food, oh wait! I can’t, because I’m numbed to the bone

and locked in a prison cell. Maybe I could get in trouble at the armory but wait, I CANT because I’m

locked in a prison cell, numbed to the bone! ‘Stay there’ he says.

I blew a lazy raspberry at my situation and continued to lay there, numbness being a constant

companion as more time passed. I must’ve fallen into a dreamless nap because I awoke to be floating

through the air with a red aura around my body moving away from the Medical ward. I was able to

move my head a bit now, and saw that Redundance was being trailed by Elder Rasa, who was shouting

for ponies to move aside as we made our way around the bunker. We came to a circular room with a

large map on the side wall as Paladin Copper Wire and Clear Report came through the door behind us,

locking it with pressurized gears sealing it.

I was floated over to a wooden table in the shape of a half circle in the center of the room, as my head

nudged a terminal and I was set down. Clear Report came by and set the Audio Dampener next to me

and clicked it on, before returning to his spot to whisper amongst those gathered. A few worried and

surprised glances were flashed my way as I lay there in a numb daze that was slowly dissipating.

How long have I even been here? Has it really only been a few days since the Stable? Yikes. It feels like

I’ve lived here my whole life at this point. Everything just passes by in one huge blur.

Clack.

“Auu. Mmai ebbrs.” I mumbled.

“Yep, she’s awake.” Clear Report stated.

“Ooh, looks like I used the surgical numb-er instead of the interrogation numb-er. My bad, Sundown!

It was supposed to have worn off a while ago but we’ll just have to wait it out.” Redundance said with

a hint of regret.

“Doctor Scour, pay attention please.” Elder Rasa snapped.

“I’ve told you ponies, my name is Redundance!” she snapped back.

“Doctor, please. You’re asking me to believe that this batpony here, was a member of Luna’s personal

guard? Even after reviewing your evidence and the historical archives, there’s absolutely nothing to

suggest such a thing occurred as you described. Elder Rasa seemed even more unconvinced as he

explained what was going on. “To suggest that anypony has lived that long and remained hidden is a

complete absurdity bordering on blasphemy to scientists and scholars everywhere!” The Elder finished

with a harrumph.

Oh, that’s what this is about. So good I can defend my position while laying on this table like a fish.

“Yes, granted this was just one instance of memory, but if we continue with this we can potentially

gain a wealth of knowledge on the years before Nightmare Moon was banished!” Redundance argued.

“We have complete records of everything that happened already, as well as numerous re-tellings and

even fiction about it! Who is to say that these memories are even real? They could’ve been planted

there by whomever this spy is working for.” Paladin Copper Wire said, throwing a look my way, helmet

firmly secured in his flank.

“Spy is more than harsh, Copper Wire. Sundown at best would rank as an ‘unfortunate bystander’

now, a complete far cry from any sort of spy. Besides, were she a spy she could’ve easily killed us all at

any point in the Stable, or even when we got back to the bunker.” Clear Report said, bringing the tone

of the conversation down to sane levels.

“That much is completely true. She forgot she could Shadow Flash before I told her!” Redundance said

with a bit of pride, before noticing the two were staring at her. “What? I told the Scribes to secure the

cell so she couldn’t of course. What kind of doctor do you take me for?”

“An ebil wun.” I blubbered with a raised hoof that soon flopped down on the table.

Mwahaha.

“Right.” The elder said, giving me a blank look. “Then aside from conspiracy theories or rewriting the

history books, what can be said of Sundown’s memory?”

“Well, I’m sure that in this case she either can’t remember, or had them blocked by somepony else.”

The three Steel Rangers looked amongst themselves before trotting over to me, while I laid there

attempting to move my hooves in a circle.

“Sundown, when did you start getting these memories?” Redundance asked, moving some of my mane

that had fallen near my eye away with a red glow.

I thought for a while, running through everything in the past few days before I gasped.

“Witharde!”

“Anypony else understand that?” Rasa asked.

“She said ‘Wizard’ Elder.” Clear Report…reported clearly. Duh.

The elder face hoofed and beckoned the other members of the group to him near the map on the side

of the room while I stared at the sealed door across from the desk that was now becoming my bed. I

heard whispering that I couldn’t make out, on account of the Dampener next to me making my hearing

‘normal’.

There’s probably somepony out there in the wastes that would give their cutie mark to have something

like this, if their ears were as sensitive as mine.

I let out a squeaky yawn as my eyelids fought to stay up from how long it was taking them to finish

talking, before Redundance zipped over to my side and started saying words about ‘sleeping again’ and

‘hurrying with’ something or other.

Darn wizards and their sleepy spell power…thingies…

Yaaaawwwwnnn.

Darkness.

oooOOOooo

It was the middle of the day, sun overhead and wispy clouds flowing around our chariot as I looked to my

side. Marelin, Brag and Princess Celestia were in the Pegasus driven contraption as we flew to

Canterville, soon to become Canterlot if the contractors and masons had anything to say about the new

capital of Equestria. My body still hurt from a multitude of cuts, bruises and scratches I had received in

the fighting only yesterday as Marelin explained to the Sun Goddess about her findings on the strange

orb that had fallen from the sky.

“My theory, Princess Celestia-“ Marelin began

“Please, you may call me Celestia… No need for the formality when it is just us.”

“Erm, right. Anyway, my theory is that most nights, ponies make a wish on a falling star. Most of them

burn up in the sky before they ever reach the soil, but it has been known in the past for some of those

‘wishes’ to make it to the surface. This wish in particular doesn’t seem to go away. Before you had

banished Nightmare Moon, she was wishing for an eternal night, correct?”

Celestia looked distressed, before finally answering with a simple “Yes.”

“Then it is my theory that her wish had come true. At least the ‘Eternal’ part. I have cast several small

spells at the orb, and tried to enchant gemstones with its properties. Upon using said stones, I have

noted that they do not fade with their power. Needless to say, if anypony with ill intent got their hooves

on this orb…”

“It would be a disaster for Equestria.” Princess Celestia finished.

“Pri-, Celestia… I have another theory as well. Sundown here, was struck by this ‘wish’ while she was on

patrol a month ago when the orb was first found. By all rights she should have died on impact, but when

I slowed the decent of the orb enough to study it I noticed that she was unharmed, if a bit confused.

I grumbled a bit, but realizing I was in the company of the Goddess that saw fit to spare my life, I quickly

shut up.

“At any rate, I think that she may have been hit hard enough by the wish that a bit of it has… rubbed off

on her, for lack of a better term.”

Wait, what?

“You mean I’m ‘eternal’ now?” I asked, not believing.

“It is possible. I have another theory as well, if you would permit it.” Marelin said with a look to Celestia.

“Very well, what is your-“

ZZZZAAAAPPP

The next thing I knew, I was falling rapidly through the sky past multiple clouds in a dead plummet to the

ground.

oooOOOooo

What a complete reproductive organ!