Keep running, don’t look back. Don’t stop or you…. Oh sweet Luna help me!

Everything hurt but she repeated the mantra over and over in her mind. Looking back meant death, stopping meant death. Not that she needed to stop to know that the Pack of Timberwolves was right behind her. She could practically feel their foul breath rolling over her full moon cutie mark, an exact replica of Equestria’s moon complete with the profile of a mare's face that appeared after Luna’s banishment. It was a great reminded that of just how much shit she was in right now.

Tears of panicked desperation and fear rolled over her cheeks blurring her vision.Her hooves hurt, she was certain that they had cracked at some point. Then again her whole body ached with blinding pain, each branch slapping against her sides reminded her of her bruised ribs from when the wolves at first pounced her. Her horn throbbed, sending white hot lances of pain through her entire form; teleporting in a panic would do that, burning out her magic and leaving her entirely helpless unable to do anything but keep running and not looking back. The vision in her right eye was gone, seeing depth had become nigh impossible now with blood from the gash in her forehead running down the right side of her face, stinging her eye.

With each harsh stinging whip of the twigs and branches she was reminded of the cuts and bruises littering her normally well cared for light blue coat. Bursting through a particularly dense thorn bush was almost too much for the small unicorn filly to handle. The pain seared through her body causing her to black out for a moment. It took a while before the fact something was wrong registered with her, the sensation of rapid downward motion … or rather the terrifying sensation of being in free fall off the edge of a harshly placed cliff. She could barely see, both eyes caked shut with blood from the fresh cuts, the frustrated howling of the wolves that were hot on her heels filled her senses along with the rushing of air.

The fall was long. She had come to terms with death a while ago, she knew that she likely wouldn’t make it through the night… falling to your death was at least better than being eaten alive by timber wolves. She smiled a little, she couldn’t help it, if anything was going to come from this it's that she would be joining Luna among the stars. A thought that she welcomed with open arms.

Impact with the ground was harsh, brutal even. Bones shattered with gut wrenching and sickening crunches. She gasped, screaming was impossible, breathing was hard and slowly becoming harder as the edges of her blood caked vision started to blur and then, before she knew it the darkness was quickly overtaking it. Pain was a simple background noise, a slowly fading memory as the tiny blue unicorn choked out a simple phrase “Luna Keep me…” and then everything went dark, for the tiny mare.

*** 2 years earlier ***

The day had started off lovely for Midnight Moon.

She had been enjoying her day intensely. It was actually the perfect day for the midsummer festival in Equestria. The sun was shining, showering the merry ponies with its life giving rays and the festivities were in full swing. Midnight found herself sitting on the edge of the fountain levitating an icecream cone in her azure aura. Staring into the crystal clear waters she took in her own reflection, that of a sky blue unicorn filly with a messy violet and purple mane. Mares and stallions were dancing, chatting and some were even partaking in the sampling of a local apple cider. It was the longest day of the year, it was a day to honour Princess Celestia and her magnificent sun. The music was jovial and the ponies of the capital were having the time of their lives.

But there were ponies who shunned the festivities, some who saw the festivities and the midsummer festival as a whole as a gross insult to the Princess of the Night. Many among them where the Thestral’s that were forced to live in the less nice parts of the capital,shunned by wider society as monsters or ne'er do wells. It wasn’t just the Thestrals who shunned the festival though, even unicorns like Midnight’s parents shunned it. There were many ponies who adored the Lunar Princess, these families these ponies living a mostly nocturnal lifestyle. They were the ones who ruled- no, owned the night.

Midnight had been raised to have a nocturnal rhythm by her parents. She even attended a special school meant for Thestral’s. Normally she would have long been in bed but her parents had relented to her eagerness to partake in the festival. Her reasoning had always been that it was silly to shun a party. Especially because they served free treats for young fillies like her!

As the festival reached its zenith and the clock struck noon nopony seemed to noticed how it was becoming darker at first. The murmurs around Midnight blamed the slacking weather pegasi, they all went on with their merriment ignoring what they dismissed as a wayward cloud. But as it got darker and darker ponies around her started to take notice that it wasn’t a cloud.

The very sun they were celebrating was being blocked out by the moon. It was an unsettling sight for most and even the small filly could see that ponies were getting antsy, it had always been unsettling for day ponies even when the Solar Eclipse happened... but this time it didn’t just pass. The moon remained firmly in it’s place in front of the sun. Ponies became increasingly fidgety, nervous even. Many of them slowly slinked away to returned to their families, none wanted to remain alone in the unsettling sight that dragged on. Early seconds turned to minutes which turned into tens of minutes of the sun being blotted out by the moon.

None but a select few, ponies that couldn’t help but smile at the beautiful sight of the moon dominating the sun, even Midnight smiled a little admiring the sight of the moon surrounded by a halo of sunlight. A different kind of party erupted, it wasn’t a wild one but ponies toasted to the start of a new era, they were the select few privy to knowledge their peers had not even the faintest idea of. Thestral’s for the most part but also some of the other races basked in the moon’s radiant glory, the sun making a halo behind the moon a beautiful symbol of divinity. Midnight closed her eyes and basked in the moon’s rays, they felt cooler, and more natural than the sun’s domineering, oppressive heat. It was a welcome change for the small filly.

Opening her emerald eyes she was the first to notice, and the first to cry out “Princess Luna!” Pointing to the two figures in the air locked in aerial combat. The tell tale blasts of magical energy being reflected and absorbed by shields was a spectacular light show. The figures got closer and closer. If it wasn’t for a nearby unicorn mare the tiny filly would have been crushed as the two large goddesses landed on top of the fountain, reducing it to rubble.

Both halves of the Equestrian Diarchy stood, and started to circle each other silently. Celestia’s normal aurora mane was replaced with one of flowing fire. Her eyes were like pools of molten gold as she glared down her younger sister. The other mare was looking similar, her mane was like watching the flowing abyssal shadows with stars only barely visible, her eyes were as dark as the blackest night. Neither spoke, but it almost appeared as though they were locked in telepathic conversation.

The aura of magic around the two was heavy. Midnight Moon was filled with awe, she was in the presence of two goddesses, and before she noticed a cheer passed her muzzle, cheering on Luna over her elder sister. Her cheeks coloured a faint tinge of red at the realisation that she was the one who cheered; her cheers were echoed by the ponies around her. The two alicorns launched themselves into the air once more.

Their battle was a dance of pure aerial prowess, the two beautiful mares’ battle devolved into bucks and wild blasts of magic, or rather it was Celestia trying to avoid bucks and blasts her sister sent her way while the younger mare frantically, hatefully tried to strike her elder sister down. It was awe inspiring and a sad sight to observe for the small filly.

She could barely make out Celestia’s mouth moving as she wheeled around and formed a shield spell around her, eyes full of hurt as they swept over the sights and sounds around her, regarding her sister and her cheering subjects… subject cheering for her younger sister, not her. Midnight stood there staring dumbly at the sight hovering above her. Five beams of light were coalescing in front of Celestia and as she watched she could have sworn she saw the elder mare crying as a beam of rainbow light shot out. It entirely enveloped the younger alicorn, the energies surrounding her, forming a bubble and with a bright blinding flash Luna was gone. The Matriarch of the Night was gone. And behind Celestia the portrait of a mare’s face appeared upon the moon… a moon that started to steadily move away from the sun.

It was in that moment that all hell broke loose and the filly was dragged back to reality. Midnight Moon was vaguely aware of a magical tingle on her flank but she had no time to focus on it as she watched ponies rushing to the square, with improvised weapons. A flock of Luna’s Night guard flew by overhead, and for a moment the small filly had hope that they would disperse the chaos. They didn’t, instead they took a sharp turn and sent themselves over the wall, away from the city.

The mass of ponies clashed with the ones in the city. The tiny filly fled from the violence, she swiftly made her way to her parental home, She kept her eyes on the ground, attempting to block out the din of battle; the screams of pain, the panic. She needed to get home, she needed to get to safety! She would be safe at home, her mommy and daddy would keep the bad ponies away. They always kept the bad things away from her, they were good ponies.

Rounding the corner at her schoolhouse, her schoolhouse that cast odd flickering shadows as the flames consumed it, she galloped into the street and directly towards her parental home. The death and other horrors around her not even registering in the filly’s mind. All she focused on was her home and getting there. As it came into view though her eyes went wide, as four rough looking ponies dragged her parents out into the street. Her father looked like he had put up a hefty fight, as did her crying mother. They were met with shouts of ‘traitor’ and words after that hardly registered to the fearful filly.

She opened her muzzle to cry out for her parents but the stallion, the one that looked to be in charge took that moment to twist her father’s neck with an audible, sickening snap that echoed through the street. “Daddy!” She cried out and rushed forwards with a cry of anger. How dared they!? How dared they harm good ponies like her parents!

“Midnight run!” Her mother cried out in alarm, the mare managing a sharp buck to one of the stallion’s more delicate areas. For her effort she was rewarded with a sharp buck to the side, throwing her off into the fence in front of the house.

“Get the filly!” The earth pony stallion shouted and all three of his cronies set themselves upon her. She was frozen for a moment, her eyes flicked from left to right, eyes falling on the only road where she saw no pony, the road leading to the river. She didn’t ponder it. She simply bolted as if her life depended on it. Over head she could see many Thestral’s in their own flight while being pursued by Pegasi. A stallion rounded the corner, cries of ‘stop her!’ rang out from behind.

The stallion was quite overwhelmed though as she slipped between his hooves, giving him a sharp buck in the privates, much like her mother had demonstrated before. He crumpled to the ground and one of her pursuers tripped over him with a cry of alarm.

The road was a dead end, she knew she had nowhere to go, Midnight Moon’s only hope was that she would make the leap over the river. Pouring all of herself into the charge she leapt over the low fence and bucked hard against the metal, propelling herself forwards with enough force to take her over to the other side…

Were it not for somepony grabbing her by the tail. She slipped free but the damage had been done. Her momentum was gone and she plummeted to the torrential waters below. She shrieked out in terror, cursing the stallion internally. He had ruined something she had practiced so well and worst of all this time, there was no safety net below the fall. As she was swept away downstream she tried swimming to the other edge but it was a futile effort for a filly of her size.

She squealed and screamed loudly for help as the edge became visible and the current took her over the edge of the waterfall. Her own panicked shrieking and the hard splash was the last thing to reach her ear before everything went black. The pain did not even registering in her mind.

******

She coughed and gasped for breath at the same time, her eyes shot open wide as she emptied a good amount of water onto the muddy bank of the river. Breathing was hard, it hurt even as the tiny filly struggled so hard for air her throat burned with the effort. She had survived the fall from the capital city down into the river, a glance revealed to her just how far the fall was. She was only able to make out the outerwall of the city, it was a small miracle that she had survived falling without breaking something … or drowning for that matter.

Standing on shaky hooves she looked around, or rather tried to as it was rather dark. Midnight didn’t know how long she had been out, it had been high noon when everything went to tartarus. By the look of the moon night had only just fallen. Midnight let out a choked sob, the adrenaline had long since left her system. Falling into the mud she had the chance to reflect on what had happened back in the capital city, how the ponies had turned on each other, how they had chased her. She hardly even understood why, because she liked Luna? Because she was in tune with her moon and her night? Because her parents followed their Princess faithfully? She could not help the urge to lay there and simply cry into her hooves, paralyzed by her young grieff.

Midnight wasn’t sure how much time she spent crying, she had little way to tell the time. She didn’t care, she didn’t have a home. She’d watched her parents be dragged out of their home by the mob of angry ponies. She’d watched them. She didn’t even know what happened to her mother…

She rapidly shook her head. Don’t think about it. she chastised herself shivering heavily in the chilly air, she knew her older sister Starlight Mist was in a country she didn't remember the name of. “Okay… like surviving with… daddy, except alone. Shelter...“ She nodded to herself, talking to no pony in particular. The loud grumble startled her though. That is until she realised it was her own stomach. “Lets add food to the list. My big sister is probably doing better than me.” She mumbled in a downtrodden tone. Sighing deeply she set out towards the woods, using one of the few spells that she knew, the tip of her horn flared out in a brilliant azure aura that lit up the immediate area around her as she started her quest in search of food.

The search for food lasted longer than she was happy with. She had been wandering for an hour, Midnight knew what she was looking for but she couldn’t seem to find it. All the mushrooms she crossed where either poisonous or hallucinogenic in nature. The berries had not been much better. In actuality the forest seemed almost like it was designed to be a death trap. Eventually though she had finally managed to get her hooves on a meager assortment of berries that were safe for consumption along with a helping of nuts.

Idly munching on the nuts and berries that made up her dinner and now that she thought about it her lunch too, she kept wandering keeping an eye out for anything that would make for a decent shelter for the night. There wasn’t much that could be considered proper shelter though. That is until she noticed the cave off in the distance at the end her trail, set into the massive cliff face that led back up to the city she had fled.

With a resigned sigh she stepped into the cave, two more steps but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she froze. Her pacing went to reverse quite quickly as she noticed the massive bear snoozing in the cave’s centre, its cubs snuggled against it for warmth. The dejected, down right repressed filly simply ran away from the scene, a flame of jealousy burning in her chest; the cubs still had their mommy.

During her flight away from the cave Midnight tripped and rather spectacularly face planted straight into the dirt, her hoof having caught a stray root. Starting out dead eyed in front of herself for a moment, she simply curled up. Shivering with cold and hunger still welling up inside of herself she simply let sleep take her, having just stopped caring at that point. She simply stared ahead and tried to let the darkness take her away from the hunger pain and the cold. The comforting embrace of oblivion refused to take her, as if it was spitting at her. The refusal for it to take her angered her and in the flare of anger she let loose a burst of magic she didn’t intend to, sending it crashing into a tree stump; the piece of wood instantly lit up with an inviting fire. Approaching it she smiled just a little, the warmth seeping into her chilled body, filling her with a new well of confidence. She could do this. She could survive.

*** Back in the present ***

Surely she couldn’t survive this. Pain assaulted her as reality came crashing down upon her like a tidal wave of pure unadulterated agony. It overwhelmed all her senses, but pain was at least a good thing. Pain meant she was alive. Midnight gave a rueful laugh at the insanity of it. The pain was radiating from her forehead, a burning kind of pain like a white hot lance was skewered through her brain. The tiny mare let out a primal scream of agony as the throbbing intensified and her eyes shot open, half her vision coated in a thick red. The coppery sickening stench of blood assaulting her sense of smell.

Her right eye stung painfully, having opened it and let blood seep into it. Taking a once over of herself she noticed her blue coat was covered in dirt, her side was raked open where a large gash was spilling her precious life fluid on the dirt. A short distance away she could see a blue stone that was conical shaped- no not a stone she realised after a moment. The thing she had assumed was an oddly shaped stone was in fact the severed top half of her horn.

Pushing herself forward caused pain to assault Midnight’s every sense, dragging herself along the rough, gravelly soil. Every inch of her body ached. She could feel the sharp bite of dirt and tiny stones rubbing up against the cuts in her side, or making new cuts on her marred blue coat. Have … to reach horn... she thought. Midnight didn’t know why she was trying, she couldn’t reattach the broken shard but she felt compelled to regardless. Reaching the severed appendage she reached out her hoof to touch it, keenly aware of the awkward angle her hoof was bent in. Instinctively she reached out with her magic to the upper half of her horn. The pain was intense but her azure magical aura managed to wrap around the broken off horn. It was a comfort that enough of the appendage remained that she could at least use her magic, albeit weakly.

However, as she attempted to touch it darkness once more overtook her world...

******

Midnight shot up with a loud, sharp gasp of pain! Her eyes wide and on her hooves in a matter of seconds. She didn’t regret the action like she thought she would a moment after her instincts had kicked in. Blinking in confusion she looked herself over. She wasn’t caked in dirt … she wasn’t coated in her own precious life fluids. Her hoof shot to her horn, to her relief, and more confusion, she found that it was unscathed.

A sigh of relief passed her lips, had it all been a dream? She idly pondered the possibility of it all having been such. Rather a horrible nightmare she thought bitterly. As she grew more aware of her surroundings though, she took in the astounding sight of the abyssal sky and the looming castle of shadows before her with its gothic spires and leering stone gargoyles that stood an eternal stoic vigil over the abandoned castle. Appearing to be hewn from what looked to be a material she had learned to be adamantium, the strongest material known to ponykind with metal spikes that gleamed with an unnatural light.

There was no surrounding area. It was all a black void save for the earth she stood on and the imposing, almost evil looking castle. Castles can’t be evil … right? She thought to herself, feeling a shiver run up her spine as the temperature plummeted as if she were back telling ghost stories with her friends in the dark during sleepovers.

She had no more time to ponder as a cloaked figure swooped down from the highest spire of the dread citadel. She was large, even at a distance Midnight could tell she was taller than the tallest pony she knew, save for two. Her eyes widened with the realisation that her goddess was descending towards her. She knelt, without thinking she dropped herself prostrate, not looking up above the azure hoof guards that struck the floor with a heady thud. Before her stood a mare. A mare black as the abyss that surrounded them, her wings flared out with azure mane and tail billowing in an ethereal wind, a shake of her head threw off the hood from her head, revealing the nightmare Princess Luna had become.

“P-Princess Luna! I’m not worthy!” Midnight whimpered softly, she didn’t dare look up at the mare, that is until she heard her regal maternal voice. It was powerful, leaving no room for disrespect and commanding the fullest attention.

“My sweet filly, as the last of our loyal followers we wish to bestow upon thee a gift. We shall embody you with the powers of our night. Thy shalt be one of our loyal subjects to herald our return.” The tall black coated and azure maned alicorn crowed in her regal voice. Her reptilian eyes regarding the tiny filly before her with dark maternal affection, slightly obscured by the stoic look on her face. “Doust thou accept our offer? Wilst thou serve your Queen loyally till the end of thine days?”

Midnight stood there, stunned. Overwhelmed even at seeing the mare of her adoration, the object of her worship and devotion, she whom her entire family had served loyally for years. Tears of joy and awe streamed down her cheeks upon beholding the alicorn mare’s regal beauty. She answered with the first words that came to her mind, she knew what to say, it was like they were meant to be spoken. It felt like embracing her destiny as she said, with the fullest of vigor “Yes of course! I would happily do anything for you, my Queen!”

She gazed on in awe as the dark mare allowed her magic to coalesce in her horn, the teal aura crackling with deep purple lightning as a second layer of overglow enveloped her horn followed by a third and a fourth. Whatever spell the mare was casting it was complex, the energy radiating from it becoming oppressive. Midnight felt like she was almost literally being crushed by the power of her Princess’ magic.

“Then receive our blessing, our Champion.” She cooed softly, her voice like honey, filled with pride. Unleashing the spell she allowed it to blast into Midnight, relentlessly pouring her power into the ten year old filly. Midnight Moon screamed. The power was overwhelming her, she felt stronger, she felt like she was being changed; reshaped, moulded to her Queen’s desire. As she was lowered to the ground once more she collapsed, panting heavily the assault of new power entering her body was the most overwhelming thing ever. Yet Midnight felt like she could take the world on.

"Arise, loyal subject." Was the last thing Midnight heard as everything faded to black.

******

The lack of pain was the first thing Midnight noticed. It was quickly followed by disorientation as she tried to remember what was reality and what was merely a dream or in fact her memory. Everything was a haze, everything blurring together. Midnight tried to separate out everything, though as things started to settle inside of her mind a vicious snarl pulled her back to reality.

Her eyes snapped open. She was met with the sickly, toxic green eyes of a timberwolf. The shuffling of paws made her acutely aware that they had found her, and the ones that had been chasing her had clearly been joined by the entire pack.

Rolling to her side she narrowly avoided one particularly large timberwolf snap at her throat, she flinched at the small nick he managed to make; had she been a second later he would have ripped out a good chunk of flesh.

Springing to her hooves she narrowly avoided the foul beast’s follow-up strike. She backed away, again and again. Hardly realising she was being driven back towards the cliff face. As three of them leapt at her she closed her eyes with a terrified shriek. The pain of being torn apart never came, instead she was greeted with a loud ‘thunk’ much like a pony who had run head first into a glass window.

Opening her eyes she saw the mint green shield surrounding her. She felt magical power flowing through her. The power was intoxicating, but simultaneously the power felt like it was fleeting, like it was only a temporary burst of energy. A cocky grin appeared on her muzzle as that same sense of being able to take on the world filled her again. Without thinking she channeled her magic potential into her shield.

A moment of pause grabbed her as she noticed her reflection in the shield spell. She didn’t recognise the filly that she was seeing. She was an inch taller at least it looked that way, her coat was an ashen grey bordering on black. A pair of leathery draconic wings adorned her back, dropping low in an aggressive stance. She recognised it as a Thestral’s hunting crouch, she had watched Luna’s guards training often enough to recognise it. Her horn wasn’t shattered, though it was different. It wasn’t conical, instead it was crystalline in structure, curved backwards subtly but by far the most shocking feature to her new body was the large set of fangs. Catching a glimpse of her cutie mark she noted that it was surrounded by four crimson bat like shapes.

The only way she even recognised herself were those emerald eyes that stared back at her, those emerald eyes and the violet and purple mane crowning her head. She didn’t think about what she was doing, she simply unleashed the spell with an audible roar of effort.

It shattered her shield, sending a shockwave of deep purple magic with a distinct green tinge of over glow, sparks of abyssal black crackling through it. The magic surged forwards scorching the ground, burning everything in its path including the timberwolves that didn’t have the sense to recognise a superior predator when they saw one. The Alpha being the only one who seemingly had sense it seemed as he was well on his way in the direction of ‘away from that thing’.

Midnight dropped to her knees panting heavily as the power slipped away from her, continuing to fade no matter how much she did her best to try and hold on to it. She whined lightly she felt herself shrinking back to her old form. Her eyes dropped to her red hooves as a deep seated hunger began burning inside of her. Instinct told her that she needed to feed, the craving that coursed through her, making her shudder with disgust. Her instincts were screaming that she needed blood. And she needed it soon.

From the corner of her eye she saw a creature in the bushes. Licking her fangs she gave chase to the cocatrice. Only a single though coursed through her mind as she ran it down tackling it to the ground, a hoof placed over its eyes. Feed. All logic, all sense of reason was gone as a feral instinct overtook her, sinking her fangs into the creature's neck she started to savagely feed off the still living creature. A sick sense of euphoria filling the small mare, her first meal. What she had thought moments ago would be disgusting was in fact delicious beyond compare.

As her mind cleared of the feeding haze, she stared in shock at the creature. The creature she had killed. The creature she had fed off. Whose life fluids she had so callously, savagely taken from. She could still taste the intoxicating crimson liquid on her tongue. She ran. She needed to get away, she needed to hide herself. If other ponies ever found her they would think her a monster. So she could not hurt any other creature! The animals would be fine, she had already been forced to hunt and eat meat but if she didn’t learn to control the hunter that had overtaken her, others might not be safe around her. So she ran.

<<< The End >>>

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed what is my first ever commission. And I hope I made it an interesting read. Feedback and critique would be very much welcome, this is my first time telling a story within a certain character limit.

You can find animedvd1990 at the following places, go take a look!:
https://www.facebook.com/animedvd1990
http://pony.squares.im/animedvd1990/

And have a nice day, my lovelies!