The Celestial Nightmare

It was a quiet morning in Canterlot Castle, which was highly unusual. Normally there was regular hustle and bustle of the servants and guards but Celestia woke up to the sight of none of them. Not one servant to aid her in the morning and not a single guard watching her quarters nor was there any guards in the hallways doing patrol.

As Celestia slowly made her way through the castle halls, she could smell the faintest tinge of copper coming from somewhere. "Where is this coming from?" She pondered curiously, "the castle's structure is made out of marble and reinforced steel frame. There is nowhere in this domain in which copper or even iron would have been used and on top of that, can be smelled from". As Celestia kept pace down the halls, she couldn't wrap her mind around the reasoning for everyone's disappearance.

As she made her way towards the dining hall for breakfast, the smell of copper continued to only get stronger and stronger, to the point in which is was practically suffocating her. When she managed to find the strongest point in the smell, Celestia found herself in front of a pair of golden arched doors, the entrance to Prince Blueblood's room. Celestia didn't want to bother him this early in the morning but from the overwhelming stench coming from his room, she just couldn't resist and her curiosity got the better of her.

As she stood in the doorway, she let out a quick flick of her horn, casting an air clearing spell to rid it of the foul odor. When she was ready she gave the door a light tap, and while she did the sound echoed from all around the hall amplifying the noise that could - and would- wake any pony within the hall from slumber.

After waiting for several moments for a response with none to come, Celestia pushed open the door, "Blueblood, what is that..." Her voice was immediately caught in her throat. For what she saw eliminated any preconceived notions of breakfast that morning.

Blueblood was lying in the middle of the room dead. Butchered to the point of mutilation in which it would be hard for any pony to tell if it were really him. The only thing that was left untouched, was his cutie mark but even then it was stitched to his face using his own hair. The rest of him did not fare any better. His skull was caved in, cracking around the dent it made while parts of his brains seeped out of the opening. His horn had been broken off and shoved up his ass while his eyes were gouged out and hung from their sockets. All the blood that had seeped out had dried itself, covering the holes that would have revealed the inside of his head. His legs were twisted and askew and completely crushed, his tail cut off and tied around his neck like a mock noose. Yet the worst of it all was his chest. It was completely ripped open and nothing was left to the imagination, his heart was pierced by bone in a way of surgical precision that would have taken time and effort to preform. His ribs were stretched open like open hooves waiting to be hugged, and the rest of his guts and intestines spewed all over the floor.

Celestia, unable to comprehend what was before her, fell to her knees. She couldn't even grasp that some one had done such a thing. Sure there were ponies that didn't like Blueblood and yes, there were some moments that they even threatened him, but to act upon it and in the most grotesque way possible. The very thought made her want to vomit.

As she mourned for her nephew's death in silence, she caught a glimpse of something outside the chamber windows. As she turned her head to peer outside, she saw a black figure moving across the horizon. Somehow feeling that the figure is connected with Blueblood's death, she stood up and walked over to the window, and from there ascended into the skies.

She followed the black figure which remained as a silhouette despite it being mid morning. As she followed, she looked down upon the world and what she saw nearly caused her to fall. For the city of Canterlot was now an inferno, the streets were ablaze with fire, the citizens burned or were butchered in their own beds and blood flowed into the streets like a never ending river. Celestia stared in horror that some one - or even a group - could have not only killed Blueblood, but to set Canterlot aflame. Not even her greatest of enemies could have been so sadistic as this, and yet all of it was real. Celestia could do nothing except shed tears for those that had suffered this terrible fate and that whatever this shadow was she could only hope that it led her to whoever did this.

It had been hours since Celestia had left Canterlot in pursuit of the silhouette, and the scenery had only gotten worse. Instead of just burning cities and towns more atrocities were committed. Ponies were decapitated or had their limbs twisted and tied in some grotesque form of 'art work' and even fillies were impaled upon splintered logs. The sky had even turned a dark crimson red almost in reflection of the world below, and through it all she never stopped flying hoping that she will find answers to who did this.

Yet as the day dragged on hope seemed to be lost as every settlement they past over had experienced the same fate. Hours dragged on for eternity and what could be seen as an ending finally came into sight; it wasn't a pleasant one. The Crystal Empire which rose over the horizon was in an even worse state then the rest. Of course the populace faced horrific deaths just as all the others did, but what made it different was that the buildings were always intact, and yet for the empire it's buildings now stood in ruin and ponies were caught crushed beneath the fallen stone. The castle didn't fare much better as it seemed to barely stand, wobbling and waving; ready to tip at the slightest spurt of wind and the crystal heart itself was shattered into barely noticeable specks.

As Celestia gazed upon the site, the dark figure flew into a near by window, which closed immediately upon its entry. So unable to find any other way in, Celestia landed in front of the castle which gave off a tone of dread against the crimson sky, As she realized she was at the beginning of the end, Princess Celestia walked through the great doors of the crystal castle in hopes of facing the one who committed these crimes.

As she walked through the main hall, her hoof steps echoed, and brought an eerie comfort to Celestia. As she continued to walk the halls she almost felt like she was being dragged there unknowingly, as if this was all a performance laid out and acted upon with no sense of free will. Whatever it may be, Celestia found herself in the entrance of the throne room, closed and unbroken. "Now or never" , thought Celestia as she raised a hoof towards the doors and pushed ever so slowly. The door opened with the most ominous creak one could ever hear and as she peered through the open crack what she saw would haunt her far more than the all the sights she had witnessed before hoof. For what she saw as she opened the door was Shining Armour's dead corpse, and sitting in her throne with a blade up to her neck, the last fearful desperation in Princess Cadence's eyes as the blade drew across slitting her throat and silencing her unspoken cries. As her body fell to the ground, the one behind her holding the warm, bloody blade, was none other than Princess Luna herself.

Luna looked upon her sister with a certain sadness, in her eyes as if what was done, was done by both her and another being at once, and Celestia could do little more than stare at her in horrible silence.

"Greetings sister, how fare thee" Luna asked her, knowing that this would be an unpleasant conversation.

"How am I?" Celestia responded, a deep anger rising in her voice.

"How am I you ask? I travelled all across Equestria only to see horror after horror and now in front of me is the one who undoubtedly did it all and it turns out to be my own sister! How do you think I am?" she stated, yelling out the last part with as much disdain as she could manage.

Luna only stood there shaking her head.

"Tis not I who performed such feats sister, but rather it was thy self" she said.

"After all it was you who caused all of this" she continued, sounding almost surprised that Celestia didn't know it for herself.

Celestia could not believe that her own sister would not only deny her acts but to pass on the blame to her,

"How am I the one to blame here?" she began trying to keep her emotions in control.

"You stand before me with a knife in hoof and the deceased bodies of both Shining Armour and Princess Cadence and you have the nerve to tell me that I'm the one who caused this?" she demanded, infuriated that she was being blamed for the death of countless lives, by her own sister.

"It's not what it looks like sister, please understand" Luna countered back trying to explain the situation.

"It is not as it seems whether you believe it or not. You are causing this, and you must stop now before your own life comes to harm" she said, desperation in her voice trying to get Celestia to understand.

"Oh now you threaten my own life in favor of sparing yours, COWERDICE I call you!" Celestia sneered, back not for a moment falling for any of this.

"If you believe me not then so be it" Luna said solemnly "then I shall free you of this illusion".

She continued and as she channeled power into her horn she spoke once more to quietly for Celestia to hear,

"I forgive you sister."

Celestia, seeing her sister ready to cast a spell, prepared one of her own in defense. When both spells were launched the shockwave impact was enough to blast apart the rest of the throne room in which they stood in. Leaving neither of the two alicorn sisters standing, Celestia fell from the top of the castle one thought present amongst her mind.

"Forgive me, Luna."

"Ahhh!"

Celestia woke up in a panicked sweat and shaking in her bed. "Oh thank heavens it was only a dream", she thought to her self. As she got herself out of bed and prepared for her day, she double checked for anything abnormal. With her morning routine done, she walked over to the balcony to raise the morning sun, but when she opened the door her happy thoughts instantly turned sour.

For outside just below the balcony were the bodies of Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends, hanged and deceased on crosses, their bodies just as violated as Blueblood's had been within her dream.

Twilight's body had been ripped open, her heart carved into that of her cutie mark, a six pointed star. Her head was twisted so that Celestia could not see her face. Her mane was burned and pieces of her skin were torn off to reveal a shattered skull. Her horn was snapped off, much like Blueblood's, and embedded into her throat. The rest of her that somehow survived was wrapped with barbed wire and was what kept her upon the cross.

To Twilight's immediate right was her friend Rarity, her body did not fare any better. Rarity's head was crushed on both sides making it look like an hour glass, her horn broken off and shoved far up her vaginal canal. Her tongue was pulled through a slit made in her throat, her stomach was carved, which had allowed the rest of her organs to spill onto the ground. Her intestines were what held her suspended on her cross.

To Rarity's left was her friend Apple Jack, who was hanging by barely anything, despite the noose around her neck which held naught but a decapitated head still attached to its body by only a few strands of ligament and flesh. Her body was cut and burned in various places and blood was used to paint vulgarities across her torso.

To the right of Rarity was Rainbow Dash, the young flier looked absolutely devastating. Her once rainbow mane, which seemed to be drained of all its colour, was ripped from her head leaving spots of torn flesh where blood seeped out of. Her wings, which were her pride and joy, had been ripped off, and the only reminder that they were ever there were two stubs of bone that jutted out of her back. Her legs were completely cut from her body, leaving nothing but a corpse with the head attached, impaled with a single spike that kept her on her cross.

Beside Apple Jack was Flutter Shy, and she seemed to be the worst. Her face was split in two, each side resting on both of her shoulders. Her wings were fully extended and burning with a never ending flame that never seemed to touch the rest of her. Her body had been whipped countless times causing it to bleed eternally. It was also stretched to the point that it now tore her apart. Her fore hooves were twisted in three different parts a spike nailed in at every interval.

To the far right was Pinkie Pie, who was probably the most morbid of them all. Her head was permanently tilted to one side a Glasgow, smile gracing her face, her eyes had needles embedded within the sockets and pulled upward, so that they remained open. Her body hung from her cross. Her hooves wrapped around her as if she were wearing a straight jacket, covering a large hole made within her chest, completely devoid of any life.

Celestia looked upon them all in silent horror hoping this too was just a horrible nightmare. Alas it couldn't be for she had just woken up, and so she wept for the lost lives of her most beloved student, and her friends. It was a cruel world she lived in; to have experienced such horrors, only to wake and find them true, it was cruelty at its finest. Celestia would find who ever did this and bring to them the very pain that they have brought to her and her subjects.

Her thoughts of revenge however, were cut short. For in the distance the sound of flapping wings could be heard. It came at a steady pace of four second intervals. They were strong flaps not of the likes of any other pegasi. There was only one other that those wing beats could belong to, and the very thought made Celestia more terrified than she had been all her life.

"Did I not worn you sister that this would happen" spoke Princess Luna's voice.

As Celestia turned to speak one final time to her sister, pain rushed through her body and a flash of red passed right before her eyes. And then, all turned black

The room was dark, as it should be during the night, but now it seemed lifeless. That may be from the fact that the deceased corpse of Princess Celestia now lied dead within it. Luna looked at her sister with sorrow in her eyes. Oh how she tried to tell her sister that it was a dream and that the nightmares would have been her undoing. Yet here she now layed, dead and a knife close to her hoof. She had taken her own life while asleep. Simply got out of bed, walked over to her night stand, grabbed the knife and slit her own throat.

Luna walked over to her sister's body and with the help of her magic, brought her back to bed, laid her down and tucked her in. Luna then kissed Celestia on her forehead, just as she had done for her when she was young. With the deed done, Luna walked out of the room. The tears now flowed free from her eyes as she went to inform the guards of Celestia's death, a small solemn smile across her face.

"Good night dear sister, may all your dreams be sweet tonight. Now and for evermore." With that, she closed the door to her sister’s room and with a flick of her horn, sealed it with powerful magic so that she may never be disturbed from her eternal slumber.