Author's Note
Here is my first story for the MLP universe. It is a one-shot Tragedy in which Twilight willing loses her life in order to save Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon.
I have an idea about how to turn this into more than a one-shot but I want to see what kind of reactions I get to this before I commit to anything more.
The Price of Victory.
Twilight Sparkle’s hooves clipped on the stone floor as she walked through the ruins of what was once known as the Castle of the Two Sisters. It was a dark and foreboding place now, unlike the bright and joyous pictures depicting the castle a thousand years ago that Twilight had found in all of her research.
Twilight knew it would be here that She would confront Nightmare Moon, On this very night, most likely within this very minute.
Celestia had taken Twilight and her brother in when they had lost their parents back when Twilight had still been a foal. Her brother Shining had joined the royal guard before she had even turned ten years old. She hasn’t seen him in years and they spoke only rarely through letters. Celestia had become her mother in all but blood then and she thought the world of her new mother.
From the age of five when Twilight had cast her very first spell she had been Celestia’s personal student. An honor that only a hoofful of ponies in all of history were able to claim. She had been heralded as a genius among geniuses, a prodigy in every magical art. She never needed to read something twice, never needed to try a spell more than twice before she got it perfectly. Her memory was perfect, able to recite any fact, any reference from memory from the age of five and on before that, things were slightly hazy but Twilight still remembered a great deal of her life before then.
But everything came at a cost, Twilight learned that truth very early in life. Her parents had died protecting her and her brother, in order to save them they had to die. There had been no other way, and sometimes that is just the way things are. Being Celestia’s student came at a cost too, though not one she would discover until she turned thirteen years old.
She had been curious, had Celestia ever had any other personal students before? This one thought had caused her a frenzy in the library, checking every history book, every registry and every census she could get her hooves on. And from her efforts, she had learned yes Celestia had in fact taken other students before her, and in studying these student's Twilight learned an ugly truth. There was a catch to being Celestia’s personal student, one each and every student before her was forced to pay. It seemed Celestia never took a student purely to teach, no every one of her students had fulfilled a purpose and many of them had died doing so. One had died in combat with the changeling queen and in doing so gave Celestia the time needed to destroy the Changeling army before it could overrun the whole of Equestria, and weaken the changeling queen enough for Celestia to seal her away with little effort. Another had defeated the three sirens and with the aid of Celestia banished them from this dimension before they could enslave every creature on their planet. Another defeated Count Dracula, the leader of the aggressive vamponies.
At first, Twilight didn’t understand, If Celestia was this all powerful goddess princess, why did she train other ponies to fight her battles? Couldn’t she handle them on her own? And she had been terrified of what Celestia was training her for, what kind of monster did she have to defeat, what kind of battle would she be involved in, would she even survive?
She had been plagued with nightmares for months and the knowledge created a giant rift between herself and Celestia that to this day hadn’t fully healed. She had been terrified to contront her mother, to afraid to comfirm what she had found. But she continued her research, continued her hunt for information. Perhaps she would find something that would give her a chance, something that would help prepare her for what was the to come. She read through prophecies, researched known enemies of Equestria and did her best to learn anything Celestia might not teach her. Black magics, Shadow Magics, Chaotic magics, Elemental magics, and many, many more.
It wasn’t until Twilight turned Sixteen that she found what she was looking for. A prophecy about Nightmare Moon. “On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about an everlasting night.” it was referencing Nightmare Moon And the one thousandth summer sun celebration would be taking place the year Twilight turned twenty-one, this year.
With this new information, Twilight had a goal, she was still terrified but she had a goal. All of her researched shifted to Nightmare Moon. She learned that Nightmare Moon had once been Princess Luna, yet she had turned evil, though if the imagines of the two ponies in the dusty old tomes she dug through were to be believed the drastic change in appearance were magical in nature. Twilight with her perfect memory could think of a couple of different possibilities to such a change in a pony, and each and every one of them had to do with possession, spiritual corruption or self-modification by shadow and black magic. The name change had crossed off spiritual corruption, that would have changed Luna enough but she wouldn’t have changed her name, she would have seen herself as the same person before the change. That left self-modification or possession. Self-modification seemed unlikely, she was an Alicorn, a Princess who had been alive for thousands of years before becoming Nightmare Moon. It was unlikely that after a thousand years she would suddenly wish to be better than she was, it would have happened long before then. And though Twilight couldn’t fully rule out self-modification it was unlikely. This left possession. A spirit or magical manifestation had possessed Princess Luna, it accounted for the name change, the change in appearance, and the snippets of conversation the authors of the books had managed to learn from eye witnesses to Celestia’s and Nightmare Moon’s battle. Nightmare Moon had referred to Luna as a separate entity, within her, lost to Celestia. Nightmare Moon had replaced her.
But everything known about possession told Twilight that wasn’t true, possession didn’t replace anything, only pushed it back, hide it or smothered it, but it could never destroy it, or kill it. Within Nightmare Moon still resided Princess Luna. And it was because of this revelation that Twilight had realized her Mother’s plan. Twilight was to help Celestia purify Nightmare Moon. There were only two ways to deal with possession. And only one of them allowed the original host to survive. One way was to kill the one being possessed, so long as the spirit or Manifestation didn’t latch itself onto another person, which could be stopped by the correct containment spells, then it would die along with the host.
The other way was for the spirit or manifestation to find a new host, willingly or unwillingly didn’t matter, there were ways to force a spirit or manifestation to move to a new host.
As the years dragged on and Celestia continued to keep her silence about Twilight's destiny, Twilight started to question why, though that question didn’t slow her research and preparation at all. It wasn’t until today, that Twilight realized why Celestia never told her, her destiny. Early today Celestia had looked at Twilight with such love it had become clear as day. Celestia couldn’t do it, her mother couldn’t sacrifice her for her sister. Her mother was unable to send her daughter to die, just so that she could have her sister back. And oddly it was this realization that had solidified Twilight's convictions into stone.
Tonight was the night Twilight repaid every kindness, every gift, every encouraging word, every loving embrace, every single moment Celestia had given Twilight that made Twilight’s life worth living. Tonight she would repay them all. Celestia would have her sister returned to her tonight, the only family member that could live forever with Celestia would be returned to her. And Twilight would make sure Celestia didn’t have to ask her to die for it.
Oh, Twilight knew she would die tonight, but her mother hadn’t asked her too. She had gone willingly. After all what kind of happiness could she really bring to an immortal being when compared to another immortal being. It was a simple equation in her own mind. The fact that by doing what she planned she would be protecting Equestria had never come to her mind. She hadn’t ever really cared about Equestria, what had Equestria and all the ponies in it ever done for her. No only Celestia mattered to Twilight.
A beam of light shooting down from the moon to impact the stone floor in front of Twilight drew her out of her thoughts and focused her on the here and now.
The beam of light crackled with black lightning for the few seconds of its existence before clearing to reveal Nightmare Moon standing where it had impacted the ground.
“I have returned! Muhahahahahahaha.” Nightmare Moon screamed to the sky as she reared up on her back legs and spread her wings.
“Yes, you have, though not for long,” Twilight spoke up calmly causing Nightmare Moon to start, clearly surprised to find a lone unicorn before her.
“And you think you will be able to seal me away little pony?” Nightmare Moon asked with a crazed giggle. “What is your name brave but foolish pony?”
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, I will stop you here tonight, you will bring no harm to any pony anymore.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You are barely more than a foal. Do you truly believe you have any chance against somepony as powerful as me?”
Without waiting for an answer Nightmare Moon fired off a beam of black energy which impacted where Twilight was standing and causing an explosion in at least a twenty hoove radius. However before the dust had even settled Twilight's calm voice spoke up from behind Nightmare Moon.
“I will seal you away Nightmare Moon, have no doubt about that. I have prepared my whole life for this moment. There is only one more thing I need to know. Tell me, are you a Spirit, or an Elemental Manifestation?” Twilight asked studying Nightmare Moon carefully so as to discern the truth of Nightmare Moon’s reply. She had read dozens of Psychology books, ranging from thought process to voice inflections and body language so that when she asked this question she would be able to discover the truth to her question, regardless of what Nightmare Moon told her.
“I am a Nightmare, darkness, terror, cruelty, I am the very definition of all of these things!” Nightmare Moon claimed proudly and everything Twilight knew said she spoke the truth.
Nightmare Moon was caught completely off guard by Twilights reply.
“A Manifestation then, good. I don’t need to resort to Necromantic Magic to defeat you,” Twilight said as an orb of bright white light formed on the tip of her horn before launching itself at Nightmare Moon like a cannonball.
Nightmare Moon quickly summoned a shield and though it protected her from harm she was thrown back as the orb of light seemed to strike Nightmare Moon’s shield with the force of a speeding train and the noise from the impact was easily as loud as two trains colliding with each other head on.
Nightmare Moon was thrown through several walls as she kept her shield up until she finally skidded to a stop outside the castle having been thrown through several stone walls.
As Nightmare Moon dropped her shield, with wide eyes she couldn’t help muttering to herself.
“Perhaps I slightly underestimated this Unicorn, though I doubt she even has the strength to stand after such an attack.” As she spoke her instincts screamed at her to move and she teleported forward as a beam of light impacted the ground where she had been standing only moments before. It had come from above her and it struck with enough force to crater the ground for several hooves in diameter, though as Nightmare Moon glanced up she was struck from the side by another beam of light of even greater power than what had struck the ground earlier.
This time Nightmare Moon's journey was stopped by the mountain side near the castle of the two sisters. Though the attack had caused a small rockslide that buried Nightmare Moon she quickly burst out of it and took to the air her eyes filled with hate.
“Enough!” She shouted as a shockwave of black energy pushed out in all directed from her body stopping another white beam from impacting her before it dissipated against a purple bubble on the ground.
Nightmare Moon quickly swooped down to land on the ground in front of the purple unicorn where she glared hatefully at her.
“I will admit you are stronger than I had first thought, I would have a use for someone of your abilities. Bow to me and swear your loyalty to me as your Queen and I will let you live after I have punished you sufficiently for daring to attack me of course.” Nightmare Moon shouted at Twilight who stood her ground unflinchingly.
“You are a fool if you think I would ever do such a thing. Especially when I have already won this battle.” And with that Twilight’s horn lit up again this time with an eerie green light, the ground around the pair started to light up as well. Twilight had worked for years on the magical hexagram they now stood in. and well in advance before today's battle, she had set it up here in the open field between the castle and the mountain. Her entire goal for the battle between her and Nightmare Moon was to get Nightmare Moon to stand in the center with her.
As the hexagram was completed and a dome of purple energy mixed with swirls of green light the same shade as that which was coming from Twilight’s horn as well as from the patterns surrounding them a voice familiar to both ponies within the hexagram recognized.
“Twilight! Get out of there, you are no match for her! Run please!” Celestia’s voice rang out through the sky as dove down that was almost completely around Twilight, Nightmare Moon, and the hexagram.
Celestia didn’t make it in time however and impacted the dome causing it to ring like a gong but hold strong.
With the dome completed chains of green and purple formed from the ground and wrapped themselves around a shocked Nightmare Moon who was too busy gazing at the truly epic display of magic around her to notice the chains before it was too late.
“And now Nightmare Moon, you will release Princess Luna either by your own will or by force, if you force my hoof it will not be pleasant for you.” Twilight’s voice had taken on a deeper and more powerful tone that echoed through the entire dome as she spoke.
“You make empty threats Twilight Sparkle!” Nightmare Moon spat. “You cannot force me out of this body without a willing body present for me to reside in, not without killing Princess Luna in the process! And even if there was a willing host I would never release the Princess from my grasp, and you are a fool to think you have the power to force me to do so!”
This time it was Twilight who giggled at Nightmare Moon. And as she giggled the chains covering Nightmare Moon spread to her head wrapping tightly around Nightmare Moon’s muzzle to keep her silent.
“Oh, but there is a willing body for you to be moved into Nightmare Moon, my own.”
“NO!” Celestia roared and shot a beam of golden energy into the dome in an attempt to break through, but it held strong.
“Twilight, don’t do this. Please don’t do this!” Celestia begged as she slammed herself into the dome once more in a vain attempt to break through. But she wouldn’t be able too. At least not in time to stop Twilight, she had planned for this outcome and her dome was strong enough to hold over a thousand unicorns at bay for well over an hour. Twilight had predicted that should give her at least the couple of minutes it would take her to finish this. An Alicorn like Celestia was no doubt stronger than a thousand unicorns. But even she wouldn’t be able to break the dome in under ten minutes without the risk of killing those inside.
“I am sorry Celestia,” Twilight replied closing her eyes as tears started to stream down her cheek.
“I know you see me like a daughter, and I see you as a mother, never doubt that. I am glad I was able to bring joy to your life. but I am mortal. I cannot live forever like you mother, there is only one other who can give you that eternal companionship. Which you both need and deserve. Your sister Luna can be saved, she can be with you once more. And I am willing to pay any price to give you such a gift Mother. Do not worry, this hexagram will finish its job and kill me no matter what I try to do after the Nightmare is within me.” Twilight explained taking deep calming breaths as her horn started to glow even stronger until there was nothing but an orb of glowing green light atop her head, her horn completely hidden within the energy.
“No please Daughter don’t do this, run get away I can take care of this you don’t need to die!” Celestia shouted through the dome but Twilight pretended not to hear her as a beam of green light shot out of the orb atop Twilight’s head to impact Nightmare Moon's Chest. And even with her muzzle chained shut Nightmare Moon’s screams could be heard as her body convulsed.
“Do not grieve for me mother. I have known this day would come for years now. I have been storing every spare bit of magic I could into gems for this day so that I could have enough magic on hoof to accomplish this, day after day I studied well past our normal classes to perfect this, and every night I went to bed drained mentally, physically and magically. I do not regret any of my choices mother. Just please, tell Luna how much I love her night sky. I may never be able to tell her in person.” Before Twilight could say any more the black magic which had been slowly pulled from Nightmare Moon and up through the green beam of energy to Twilight’s horn finally reached Twilight and her screamed reverberated throughout the countryside as the painful magic of this manifestation of Darkness, terror and cruelty infused itself into Twilight's own.
As it did Twilight began to change, she started to grow taller, though she stopped before she reached Celestia’s size. A pair of dark purple wings with glowing blue strips from where they met the back of the once unicorn all the way to the arch of each wing. Her mane grew longer and lifted into the air as purple armored boots began to form over her hooves and a chest plate started to take shape bearing Twilight’s cutie mark. Next wispy circles of white and blue magic formed around her eyes. As the flow of magic came to an end, Twilight's horn was shown to have grown much longer though it had curved into a tight corkscrew and where Nightmare Moon had once stood was now Princess Luna, the only thing holding up Luna’s body was the chains that had been holding Nightmare Moon in place.
“Muhahahaha.” Twilight started to laugh evilly as she slowly opened her eyes to show dark purple orbs with cat slits instead of normal pupils.
“I am Midnight Sparkle!” The newly Named Alicorn roared to the night sky, But before she could so much as twitch green chains headed by glowing green spearheads shout out all around her and impaled her before she could react.
With four green chains pierced through her body Midnight Sparkle stumbled and fell to the ground, at the same time, the chains, the hexagram, and the dome all faded out of existence.
Celestia surged forward as soon as she could with tears streaming down her face as she came to a stop next to the downed and dying Alicorn.
“Twilight? Twilight can you hear me?” Celestia begged as she used her magic to roll the alicorn over only to leap aside as a beam of purple magic shrouded in lightning missed her head by mere centimeters.
“I will not die here! I cannot die here!” Midnight Sparkle roared causing her to started coughing, blood pouring from her mouth as much as it was pouring from her wounds.
As Celestia watched one of Midnight Sparkles eyes changed back to those of her daughters only to flicker and return to Midnight’s eyes.
“Twilight, come on daughter I know you're there, come back to me please,” Celestia begged as she fell to her knees next to the dying Alicorn.
Hearing Celestia’s words Midnight’s eyes flickered again this time both of them returning to Twilight's before flashing back and a battled started as they changed back and forth rapidly for a few moments before solidly settling on Twilights.
“Mother?” Twilight asked in a raspy voice only to start coughing up even more blood after she spoke.
“Sh, sh mommy’s here Twilight mommy’s here.” Celestia cooed as nuzzled into Twilight’s neck, though she couldn’t bring herself to say everything would be ok, there wasn’t enough magic in the world to make this ok in her eyes.
“Is Luna ok? Did I succeed?” Twilight asked between coughs her eyes losing focus.
“You succeeded dearest Twilight.” A new voice spoke up, though it had been over a thousand years since Celestia heard her sister’s voice she recognized it instantly. Turning her head Celestia saw her sister walking over to them on shaky legs, she stumbled a few times but in the end, she made it to the pair on the ground.
“Good,” Twilight replied in a slurred voice her eyes drooping, Twilight was unable to see the tears falling down Luna’s cheeks though Celestia was able to make them out even through her own tears.
“Princess Luna?” Twilight asked her voice faint and her eyes nearly closed.
“Yes, Dearest Twilight?” Luna replied.
“I have never thought about how I would be remembered, but I think I know what I would love more than anything else, it just came to me now. Do you think you could do me a favor, though I know it is selfish?”
“Anything Twilight,” Luna replied in a whisper though loud enough for Twilight to hear.
“Can I be a constellation? I always loved constellations, they are one of my favorite things about your night sky, though the moon has always been the most beautiful.” Twilight asked in a wistful voice almost too faint to be heard but Luna heard her.
“It will be done Twilight, you have my word,” Luna promised before breaking out into sobs.
“Thank you,” Twilight whispered before she used the last of her strength to turn her head and nuzzle into Celestia’s neck where she whispered her last words.
“I love you, mother.” she whispered with her last breath and with that, Twilight Sparkle, prized daughter, and student of Princess Celestia, Defeater of Nightmare Moon and Savior of Princess Luna died.
“I love you too, daughter,” Celestia whispered back to Twilight's now dead body before her cries of grief started to fill the air.
Her sister Princess Luna hesitantly moved to lay a wing over the pair as she let out her own sobs, the guilt that her sister’s daughter had just died to save her was ripping her apart.
Still, through her grief, she managed to focus her will through her horn and into the night sky, where above her beloved moon a new constellation started to take form. The shape of a beautiful Alicorn started to take form. The shape Luna knew she would have taken had Twilight ascended under normal circumstances. As normal as an Alicorn's ascendance could be at least. Her cutie mark was clearly formed out of a dense cluster of stars. And once finished a beautiful depiction of Twilight Sparkle as an alicorn stood above the moon, its wings spread in a fierce but protective manner. The amount of detail put into the constellation was beyond anything else in the sky. And Luna felt only slightly better knowing that every pony everywhere would never forget the price Twilight had paid to protect them all.
