Elben Tränen - The Tears of the Elf Ponies

The little Unicorn filly watched, terrified, as the Lunar Guards pushed her parents into the dark room. The three of them had been forced from their home hours before by soldiers wearing silver armor. The ponies around town had spat on her parents; called them filth, called them traitors. They were blindfolded and taken here, wherever here was, and all brought to this room, together.

The little filly was far too young to grasp what was happening. She could only understand that something was horribly, horribly wrong.

Her mother was crying while her father stared back at the guards at the door; standing proud, like he always did. The sight was enough to lessen the filly's worry greatly. She loved her father very much. He never failed to make her smile when she had a bad day. He was always there, watching over her and her mother. He would protect them, she knew. The filly hurried to her mother's side, nudging her with her head.

"Momma? What's happening? Where are we?" she asked. Her mother didn't give her an answer, but shook her head. She just hugged her close, crying into her mane. The filly began to shake as fear sank it's claws back into her small heart. Her mother always knew what was happening. She knew everything.

"These are the ones who did betray Us?" The voice from the door was acidic, filled with an eternity of anger, and born from the lips of a creature of pure solitude; forever alone in a world filled with others. The filly peeked out from under her mother's forelegs, gazing upon the Dread Princess herself: Nightmare Moon.

Fear, unlike anything the filly imagine could exist, gripped her. She felt a wetness leak down her trembling hind-leg as the Princess of the Night glided into the room on silent hooves, staring at them as if they were insects waiting to be crushed. The filly noticed her father trembling, even as he continued to stand tall against the looming Dread Princess.

"Thou art the scum that delivered unto Our Sister the location of the Forward Eclipse Lancers?" Nightmare Moon scoffed, leaning close to the filly's father. He started to back away, but Nightmare Moon's tail swung behind him, blocking his exit. "We cannot believe such an insignificant cur didst manage to cause the decimation of an entire force of My troops. What filth thou art."

Her father gulped so loudly the filly heard it over her mother's crying. His strong facade began to crumble, terror creeping into his eyes. "W-we... We do not fear You, Princess. W-We will do what we must, to save Equestria."

Nightmare Moon smiled a cold, cruel smile. "Thou dost not fear Us? Thy Queen?" Her eyes swept over the filly and her weeping mother. "We could have been more deceived, traitor. Thy family seemest quite... distraught." Nightmare Moon's head didn't turn back towards the stallion, but Her eyes did, gazing at him balefully.

"We knew what the consequences would be. We accept them, in the name of the true Princess of Equestria." The filly blinked as her father spoke, smiling a little. Celestia was her hero. Just hearing about Her made her feel a little more safe. Her father always told her that Celestia would protect them, no matter what. She would keep them all safe, forever. At least, she was pretty sure he had.

The shift was subtle, so subtle that the little filly wouldn't have seen it, even if she'd been watching. The mere mention of Celestia sent a quiver of calm, calculated rage through the Princess's entire body. "Thou knewst the consequences? Hah!"

The little Unicorn squeaked as Nightmare Moon barked out a laugh, the Princess's magic wrapping around her and forcing her from her mother's hooves. She flailed, shouting for her mother. "Thou didst prepare to lose all thou hast for Our Sister?"

The foal was dragged before Nightmare Moon. Her mother screamed, trying to get to her child, but found herself being held at bay by a faint magical shield.

The stallion broke, regret and true terror entering his eyes for the first time. "No... No, don't hurt her... She hath done thee and thine no injury!"

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow, turning from the foal to regard the terrified stallion. "Thou needst not worry about thine innocent child." At first, the stallion relaxed, but his tension returned when he saw the fury in Nightmare Moon's eyes. "Her little eyes shall witness much in the eons to come. Once the power of the Nightmares hast prolonged her life, she will be the perfect blade to sever Our Sister's head. But We believe the young one shall first witness thy fate. We believe 'twill prove... educational."

The little Unicorn didn't understand. She screamed and flailed, trying to get away from the Dread Mare, but it was impossible. She was too small; too weak.

Nightmare Moon smirked, showing off a few of her razor-sharp teeth. "Thou shalt not live to see the light of Our own moon. Neither shall thy beloved. This is thine ending. Thy punishment is death." The filly tried to blink, but found her eyes held open by the magic levitating her. She was turned to face her parents. "Now, My child, witness the folly of betrayal."

Her mother perished first. The blast of magic took her in the side, clearing through her body and striking the wall her with a loud detonation. The hole in her body quickly filled with loose intestines, rushing to close the gap. She fell to the ground, gurgling through blood as it filled her throat, trying to crawl towards Nightmare Moon, towards her daughter. Her tear filled eyes pushed beyond the threshold of pain and into sweet insensibility. She died very slowly. She died very poorly. She died without any purpose at all. The back half of the room was painted a dripping, oozing red behind the soon-to-be corpse.

The filly screamed, wanting to close her eyes. "Momma! Momma!" She pawed her hooves at the air, but nothing happened. "Momma!"

Her father was next. He was shaking all over in fear and hate, staring at his dying wife; the stallion snarled, and rounded on the Princess. He threw everything he had into the magical blast he fired at the Dread Princess, but Nightmare Moon almost disdainfully knocked the spell aside with a flick of her horn.

"Sleep for eternity, thou worthless wretch." Nightmare Moon's return spell struck the filly's father squarely on the tip of his horn, shooting down it's length with a flash of blue energy. The stallion had a brief moment to widen his eyes before his head exploded, showering the Dread Mare and her tiny prisoner in fragments of bones, blood and grey matter. His body collapsed, blood spilling from the bloody stump where his head had been.

The filly had screamed her throat raw. She cried wildly, her mind breaking under the pressure of what she'd just seen. Slowly, she was turned to stare into the eyes of the Princess. "Thou hast seen, child; this is the fate of traitors. Do not find thine heart lacking in Our eyes. From this day forth, thou art Our child of pain and suffering; Schänder. Thou shalt remember no more, nor less."

The filly was finally free to close her eyes, but found they were locked open wide, tears pouring from them as shock settled in. She didn't feel the spell wash over her, wiping her mind of happy memories and drowning her in sleep.

~~~

Schänder had relived that night over and over again; this time was no different. Even sleeping, she wept for her parents and for herself. She couldn't remember their names, or even what happened before they were taken by the soldiers. All she remembered were that they were her parents, and they died for their indiscretion.

She was not a filly any longer; in the last two years, the experiments of Nightmare Moon, the magical mutation of her body, had scarred the child physically where her memories alone destroyed her mentally. She learned early that Nightmare Moon owned her, body and soul. Any disobedience was swiftly and painfully punished. She was given the promised immortality, at the cost of her equinity. Once the transformation was complete, Schänder was forced to sleep between bouts of experimentation, lest she destroy everything around her with her new-found abilities.

Schänder was the first of a new breed of pony; hopefully the only one of her kind that would ever exist. She bore three horns, two growing from a hardened carapace that grew outward from her primary horn, jutting out from the back of her head. Her magic was long gone, burned away by the experiments run on her. Now, she was told, she was magic's antithesis, the death of magic everywhere. She was a magical nullifier and she had been made for one purpose alone; kill Princess Celestia.

~~~

Schänder had no idea how long she slept, dreaming endlessly of the night her parents died and of the experiments that flayed her skin and warped her bones. Agony was her eternal companion and rage bubbled in her every pore. She was still small, but weak no longer. She wanted to destroy something. She wanted to kill somepony. She didn't care what. She didn't care who.

The cold snap of reality overtook her and Schänder opened her eyes. She was where she always was when she awoke; within her isolated chamber underneath the Castle of the Two Sisters. However, this time, there were no minions of her Dread Mistress to greet her. The lack of their bindings made Schänder hesitant. Nightmare Moon would often test her like this, seeing if she would attempt to flee. The punishment for such actions was always most unpleasant.

Sitting, Schänder awaited the arrival of her Mistress, staring blankly at the door to the room. Hours passed; Schänder began to worry. Was something the matter? Did her Mistress need her? She walked to the door, pushing it open slowly with a hoof.

The hallway was empty, abandoned. Weapons were strewn on the ground, left where they were thrown in haste. Schänder examined a spear with an idle curiosity, before starting off down the hall. Everywhere Schänder looked, there were signs of a hasty retreat, but not anytime recently. The castle must have been abandoned days, maybe even weeks ago, if the rotted food lying around here and there was any clue.

Schänder had grown since her last awakening. Last she could recall, she had been little more than a filly, but now she was a full-grown mare. Nightmare Moon had ensured her that her body would continue to age, until it reached it's physical peak. While a younger her might have been confused by that, she had been forced to understand. She had learned that understanding what the Princess meant was vital; misunderstandings were punished almost as severely as outright betrayal. She walked the halls, a small pony in an empty world.

Slowly, a smile crept onto her lips. She was alone in this foul place, this place that made her what she was. She had no chains wrapped around her. No promises of agony, should she resist. She was free. If only for now, she was free. These ponies were evil, tormenting her. Her Mistress had shown her what to do to evil ponies.

She focused her mind, clearing away all else and let the rage suffuse her. Her powers, her Limbs, reared up from her back. They were normally invisible to all but her, Limbs of the mind, each bearing a set of five digits. The ten 'Limbs' connected to her back with long tendrils, all transparent, and could stretch out to two meters.

She had learned many other things in her two years of study, experimentation and training; some things she just seemed to know. Her Limbs could vibrate at high speed, allowing them to manipulate the world around them, at her discretion. If she wished, she could use the limbs to lift objects, gently rupture a blood vessel in somepony's head or violently sever limbs. She could cut through wood, stone and some metals using her Limbs, a feat that impressed her Mistress of the Night greatly. But, the primary purpose of her Limbs was simple; they negated any magic they came in contact with. From barriers to magical blasts, Schänder could unmake any magic she encountered.

She let out a low sigh, several limbs picking up spears, the ceremonial weapon of the Night Guard, levitating them around her. With a grunt and snarl, she closed the digits on her Limbs, crushing the weapons into balls of worthless metal and wood. Never again would she feel the sting of steel in her flesh. She swore that to herself right then. She smiled, knocking the scrap metal out of her way as she continued down the hall, towards the experimentation hall and the exit.

Schänder had learned much. Much indeed; things her Dread Mistress didn't even know. For instance, she had learned how to warp the brain chemistry of those who studied her. With hours and hours of gentle probing, she could render a pony into a gibbering mess.

She even learned, despite her keepers best efforts, that she could in fact make more of her kind. The experiments, though successful, had bore unnatural fruit. Her Limbs did something to ponies they touched; rewiring the magic that fueled their bodies and making it impossible for them to bear magical offspring. All of their foals would be just like her, whatever she was... monsters, maybe?

Out of fear for her Mistress, Schänder had only done this once, then never again. Nightmare Moon wanted her to be the only one of her kind, and she would obey, no matter how lonely she was.

Venting her anger as she walked, Schänder crushed weapons, broke walls and generally destroyed anything that looked valuable. Her mind flashed over all the atrocities, all the horrors, done to her by these evil ponies. Nightmare Moon had wanted her broken. She was destroyed mentally and physically, but emotionally she was still alive enough to hate. No boundaries were too far for the Princess of the Night. She trembled, remembering what those stallions and mares did... The torturous experiments... The horrifying pain... Things beyond pain, beyond feeling, digging deep into her very soul... Hooves on her head... A coat pressed forcefully to her own...

She shouted, her Limbs firing out in random directions, crashing through walls and supports. She would find them. All of them. They could run, but they'd never hide from her. They would die, slowly, painfully, for what they did to her. And her Mistress would be pleased; she would make an example of those who wronged her, just as her Mistress did. She would surely reward her. She laughed to herself as she pushed open the final doors.

The light burned Schänder's eyes. She shielded her face with a hoof as she stepped out into the open, the sunlight warming her coat. It took the little filly several seconds to realize what this meant. She snapped her head up, nearly staring right at the sun before getting a hold of herself. The sun was up. That could only mean one thing...

Schänder collapsed, feeling tears gather in her eyes. Nightmare Moon was defeated. Her Mistress was gone. Everything that had been done to her, all the pain and suffering and torment... and she'd been useless. She wept, putting her head in her hooves. All those experiments had been for nothing! She'd suffered for absolutely nothing!

She threw her head back, screaming at the celestial body above her. She was beyond words, beyond coherency. She just screamed, like a wild animal or a madpony. She screamed, tears running down her face, for what must have been hours.

For a time, she wondered if this had finally, truly broken her, and pushed her over the edge into true insanity.

However, with some time, rage calmed to burning embers and Schänder forced herself to stand. No, she was still ponderously sane. She shook her head and grit her teeth. She still had a goal, a purpose. She would avenge her Mistress. She would still kill the Protector who had failed to protect her and her family.

~~~

It had been several days since her flight from her nightmarish imprisonment. Schänder looked down at the pony she'd killed, feeling cold and empty.

She'd hurt him, as she had been hurt, displaying her power and control. His organs had been punctured, his limbs broken and spirit crushed. She tasted his misery, basked in his sweet red blood, listened to his screams, and never once did she get the thrill she was promised. With a sigh, she gave him the mercy she was never permitted.

The crack of his neck sent a shiver up Schänder's spine. It was a very final sound; one that made her remember her own bones breaking. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Climbing off the corpse, Schänder walked through his house. The stallion had been a loner, an outcast. From what she'd seen, he had been quite terrible in life, a cruel pony with no love for others. He had deserved no less than what she'd given him. Finding his kitchen, Schänder opened the fridge, using her Limbs to draw out food. She couldn't remember eating anything but the food they served her in her confinement. She was eager to taste something other than blood and sweat and fear.

The sound outside didn't distract Schänder from her task of preparing her meal. She had no idea how to cook, but she was sure she could figure it out. Dicing the food with her Limbs, she licked her lips in anticipation.

The blast of energy caught Schänder off guard. She flew across the room, smashing into a cabinet, shattering the wood. When she was finally able to open her eyes, she saw what she had both wished for and feared; Princess Celestia had come to her.

"A mere child? What hath Our Sister done to thee...?" The Princess stepped closer. Schänder snarled, throwing her Limbs out in defiance. They stopped only inches from Celestia, at the end of their tethers, vibrating with enough force that they could be physically seen and heard.

Celestia's eyes went wide and she teleported back several feet, staring at Schänder from across the room.

"Thou need not be afraid, dram one. We do not wish to harm thee." Celestia bowed her head slightly. "We heeded the call of our subjects. They did report strange happenings in the area. Trees hath fallen of their own accord and strange prints were discovered in the dirt. Wast this thy doing, child?"

Celestia's voice was nothing like that of her Dread Mistress. For the first time, Schänder felt no malice in the voice of a Princess. She actually felt at peace... How could this be the voice of her foe? She withdrew her Limbs, she stood cautiously, braced for some kind of trick. She gave her head a small nod, eyes flicking to the room behind the Princess, where the dead stallion lay. Celestia followed her eyes, frowning.

"Is there more thou wisheth to tell Us?" Celestia looked back to Schänder, making the little pony shiver. This was her enemy! How could she make her feel this way? She looked down and away from the Princess, shame making her meek.

Schänder kicked her hoof and looked back to the Princess, opening her mouth. Celestia recoil slightly, mortified. Schänder had no tongue. The Princess would have no way of knowing, but that had been Schänder's punishment for failing to address the Dread Mistress as such.

Celestia recovered quickly, staring in silence for a few moments, before turning and walking into the opposite room. After only several seconds, she returned, a pained look on her face. "We cannot believe Our Own Sister would stoop so low as to warp the mind and body of a youth so viciously. While We cannot condone what hath happened on this dark day, We know thou art not of sound mind, meaning the fault is not entirely thy own. And, if We may ask, what art those strange protrusions We did see thee extend?"

Schänder - seeing no reason to hide her Limbs - manifested the invisible extensions once more, keeping them close but making them visible through intense vibration.

The Princess stared, keeping her distance. They were like nothing she had ever seen before, and Celestia had seen much in her long life. They gave off a faint humming notable even at a distance, at least when they could be seen. Perhaps they were a new breed of magic? Experimentally, she tried to probe at one of the Limbs with a spell of detection.

Schänder screamed suddenly, a strange mental shock shooting through her horns. She felt a trickle of warmth flow down from her nose. She couldn't breathe out of one nostril and the other smelt the coppery tang of blood.

"Oh no! Are thou well?" Celestia took a step forward, but stopped herself when Schänder nodded. "We apologize... However, it is as We thought. Our Sister spake of a failed experiment during Our confrontation... It seemeth to Us that thy power is that experiment; a magic nullifier, helpless to Alicorn magic. It is too strong for your powers to erase." Celestia approached more liberally now, a barrier flickering up around her, snug to her body. "Child, thou wilt come with Us. Thou no longer need fear the ire of Our Sister. She is gone now."

Schänder stared at Celestia, unsure. She backed away slightly, her Limbs vanishing. In her eyes, Celestia saw questions; why hadn't she saved her sooner? Why save her now?

Celestia paused mid-step, a look of shock and pain appearing on her face. The Princess couldn't face those eyes, silently accusing her of failing. For she had failed, clearly. She wished for nothing more than to be a benevolent ruler, and yet her sister rested in a prison on the moon and now, here before her, was a child, stripped of her equinity and made into a weapon.

Celestia closed her eyes and lowered her head, tears falling to the floor. She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked back to Schänder. "Oh child, Our regret knoweth no bounds. Believe Us at when We say, if We hadst known and hadst the power, We would have ceased our sister's decent long ago. We are truly sorry. I am truly sorry."

Schänder tilted her head to the side, blinking. Her stare was quizzical, but Celestia couldn't see it.

Celestia shook her head and smiled, opening her eyes again. In them, Schänder saw genuine remorse, as well as a love that was beyond her comprehension. Likewise, Celestia saw the question in Schänder's eyes.

"Child, dear child, We have every reason to cry. We hath wronged thee in many ways. And so, We will offer what We can. Come with Us, and live a happier life. Cast off thy chains of hate and be born anew." Celestia reached out a hoof, pulling Schänder close to her. It was a warm gesture that Schänder vaguely remembered as a hug. She'd never felt one before, that she could remember.

Slowly, she put her hooves around Celestia. Her Limbs joined in the embrace, resting limply on the fringes of her shield. They were visible as faint wavering lights on Celestia's barrier, pressing against the only force able to hold them back.

One Limb broke away, drifting towards the wall. Amplifying her Limb, Schänder began to write.

Celestia lifted her head from the embrace, looking over to the wall curiously. "Schänder... Thy name is Schänder..."

For the first time in all that she could recall, Schänder felt tears mark her face that weren't caused by pain or suffering. She pulled Celestia as close as possible, feeling emotions she had forgotten how to feel wash over her. She was free now, even from herself.

Finally, she was free.