Fall from the Pinnacle of Power
The rumbles of the earth around the room echoed in to the abyss, and the blackened rock the surrounded the lone pony who lay broken and beaten. The walkway lead out from the rock in to a single circular floor that was held above a dark abyss.
Beneath the floor in to the abyss lead to the core of the world, or so it was said, but no pony could say for certain. The floor had suffered much damage due to a recent battle as cracks were etched in the ground and the pillars that ponies would stand near were destroyed.
The floor had a single great archway that lead in to a ritual circle with black runes and three places for ponies to stand. There was no opening above or below the room as the one entryway was the only one of its kind. In the dead center there was a smoothed black crystal, but it was covered in blood and so it looked crimson.
There were three pillars that once stood tall, now only one stands firm and untouched, but the other two lay in pieces and awry. The blood from the battle also lays atop the broken pillars and slowly drips on to the floor.
The blood came from the alicorn who lay atop the crystal with scars and gashes still oozing blood. Pain had flooded the alicorn's senses to the point of not being able to recognize what had happened. The blackish-blue coat that once shown was now dirtied and bloody, his mane no longer the black flowing abyss it once was instead a brownish-black mess, and his wings and horn torn away and tossed askew.
The alicorns wings lay one on each side, and his horn in front of his half-lidded eyes. The very sight of his pride shattered in front of him would've filled anyone with unyielding wrath, but he could only stare in silence.
"Your time has come to an end!"
".............You can't win.........."
Their voices echoing inside his very being, echoing across the room, and out of the door. The words bouncing off his ears, and racking his still body and forcing his mind to try and restore itself.
"I-I....g-g-gav-v-e th-them ever-ry-th-thing, an-a-and the-ey be-betray-ed-d me....." he sputtered. His broken body refused to move, and the pain flooded every nerve in his body. His eyes left his horn and turned towards the wing on his left and then to the wing on his right, there were feathers missing and blood still dripped from the bones.
The blood from the stumps on his back still oozed and his horn stump, broken and cracked, oozed as well. The blood flowing from his body had formed a large puddle, but still the alicorn survived. Around him the blood flowed through the cracks and nooks of the floor and flowed in to the abyss.
'dO You GIvE uP BlAcK AeTHeR!?' A voice boomed from the abyss.
"..." Black Aether didn't answer and continued to think.
The spots where the blood flowed off the floor turned black and the blackness started to inch back towards Aether's broken body. It deviated from the path it once followed and soon a black web had formed around him and it was all going to flow in to his body.
"BEGONE!"
The blackened blood impacted against a barrier and circled around him, but not a drop could get close to him, with any strength he could muster he glared in to the liquid.
'I don't need you to save me....what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours. I want you gone...NOW LEAVE!' His will pushed the blood back but it didn't relent it's assault.
'You're a fool Black Aether, or should I say Mystic Rune?"
The blackened blood began to pool behind the barrier and where he could see it in full detail. The pool rose up until it appeared like a liquid snake rippling with each movement. Small drops fell from it's newly created form, but nothing could compare to the white voids that were its eyes and they stared in to Aether's very being.
'Do you really think you can survive what will soon happen? The Sisters are coming for you, and if they capture you while you still live then Vergil will have died for nothing' it echoed coldly.
'You think I don't know that you bastard? You and your damn magic promised me that I would complete my revenge, but you have yet to follow through with that promise and if I die now then you have failed...which I find funny because you are supposed to be a perfect being. Isn't that right M-"ACK!"' An invisible force began to weigh upon Aether's body and it forced his breath out of his body.
'I don't appreciate sass Aether, and I don't think they need to know who I am just yet.' It cackled as the pony began to choke on his own blood. The force relented and blood flowed from his muzzle as he tried to refill his lungs.
The pool fell to the ground and began it's flow back in to the abyss, but Aether continued to feel his life fade.
Before the blood had flowed completely it had taken hold of his wings and horn and dragged them with the current and inch by inch they moved to the edges and soon they fell and joined the blood in the abyss.
Aether's wheezing had calmed and his breath had cleared, but now that he saw his pride as an alicorn flow away he felt a tear inch out and flow from his face in to the blood.
'It's not fair....I worked so hard, I gave up every chance for happiness, and I destroyed every relationship I ever had. Was it worth it all to get this far and still lose. he thought sadly.
The tears continued to fall and his body racked slightly with each small sob and he didn't even notice the two sets of hooves that echoed in to the room and grew closer to his body. Princess Celestia and Luna, both covered in wounds and scars, trotted slowly to the broken stallion and as they got closer they heard his small sobs.
Luna held her sister by letting her lean on her shoulder, despite the healing that her sister received, her wounds from their battle still caused problems. Luna carried her sister to the near center to stare upon the broken body of their enemy. Celestia stared at the stallion that closely resembled their friend and at his face which still leaked tears and small sobs.
"Why would he be crying sister? Isn't he the Dark Alicorn? The First Coming of Evil? The Traitor King?" Luna asked spitefully.
"Perhaps there's still a chance for him sister, no enemy we've had would ever cry like this," Celestia answered. They inched closer to him and it was only when they were next to him that he finally noticed their presence.
His eyes slowly turned to them and he stared at the pitiful and spiteful eyes that matched him. His mouth etched in to a small grin, and he began to smile while letting out small chuckles.
"Is that all you can do now Black Aether? Can you only laugh at the fact you've lost?" Luna asked him. Celestia motioned her to be quiet and continued to stare at the broken stallion.
"Why Mystic Rune? Why did you do this?" Celestia asked sorrowfully. Black Aether continued to softly chuckle, but his tears hadn't ceased. Celestia and Luna continued to listen to his soft chuckling and wait for his arrogant answer.
""Why did I do this" you ask? Why indeed...I chose chaos over harmony, I chose power over my friends, I chose to hate instead of forgive, I chose to continue revenge instead of letting go, I chose to inflict others with my pain, in the end...was it worth it?" he rambled losing focus on them and more on his own decisions.
"Was it worth it?" Luna asked.
"I don't know anymore."
Celestia and Luna's eyes widened and they looked down and waited for his answer.
"It's so funny isn't it? You gain so much power, you become unstoppable, you are at your pinnacle! But as you continue to climb higher you forget why you started climbing and then you're cast down and broken," he said wistfully.
Celestia listened intently, but Luna fell in to her own thoughts as she considered his first sentence. Luna first considered him coming in to their life and how close he became to them, but also how powerful he became as their teacher and protector. Soon it came to him turning in to the first dark alicorn, and betraying herself and her sister.
"But Mystic, why must you tell us one more lesson now?" Celestia asked, shaking Luna out of her thoughts.
"Because I am still your teacher in one way or another, and even now you are still able to become like me in a way," he said looking at Luna.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"I mean exactly what I said, and you have the potential to become stronger than your sister, but I sense that you will always be a slave."
"My sister is not a slave, she is my equal!" Celesta said sharply and stomped her hoof.
Luna's eyes widened while Celestia continued to deny his claims. How could she be a slave? Her sister saw her as the equal of the sun and therefore they would rule together and in harmony. However, it plagued her, the word 'slave', and the potential of being stronger is promising, but to destroy her sister was unthinkable.
'How could we ever betray our sister, to do so would be disgraceful if not evil. But how could he know that I will remain a slave?' She thought worriedly. She stared back at his eyes while Celestia continued to deny his claims and her pink mane was starting to flow more vividly.
"Sister!" Luna said loudly gaining Celestia's attention, "Calm yourself, he is trying to get a rise out of you."
Celestia looked at Luna for a few moments and her mane returned to a normal flow, and she turned back to Black Aether.
"Your poison will not affect us now Mystic Rune, but now is not the time for us to argue. We can still save you from your darkness and-"
"There is no saving me Celestia and thou knows it," he interrupted.
Celestia and Luna stepped back from him and watched his blood flow off of the floor and in to the abyss, but his body was flowing with the blood and approaching the edge.
"Mystic Rune what's happening?" Celestia questioned.
"It's simple, he's taking my body to the core of everything. And so with my death my spell may not be complete, but it will be enough to wound harmony's magic and destroy the arrogance that all creatures hold," he said with a small bit of smugness.
"What do you mean?" Luna asked worriedly.
"Magic was the thing that hurt me, I used magic to hurt others, now I will wound magic with itself!" his voice rose in volume and he smiled even more. His body now teetered on the edge and he stared once more in their eyes.
"Now let my revenge come full circle! Let every creature who has fought today lose the thing the relied on the most, LET MAGIC DIE NOW AND LET US BE FREE!" He screamed as he fell in to the dark void. Celestia and Luna dashed to the edge and looked down at his descending body until it fell out of sight.
Suddenly, a bright light burst from the void and pushed Celestia and Luna back and when they stared in to the rising beacon of blue light, the felt exhaustion grow stronger as they continued to pear in to the light. Luna fell to the ground first and her eyes closed, but Celestia continued to stare in to the rising light as it burst through the roof and the boulders fell down on the floor and broke its support.
She wrapped her magic around Luna and jumped up in to flight, and she weaved and dodged the falling rocks as she flew to the surface. A rather large boulder skims past her face after a swift dodge, and she flew out of the ground in to the sky. Her magic was weakening and her wings had began to give out as well, and with her last bit of energy she pushed herself down to the ground next to the cliff side.
She looked at Luna's unconscious form and pulled her closer with her wing, and she turned around to the battlefield. The dark alicorns had stopped fighting as well as their opponents, and they all stared at the beacon filling the sky and the black clouds circling the center.
Suddenly a scream rang out, followed by another, and another, and so on all the dark alicorns began to scream in pain. They clutched their heads, sides, each other, but they couldn't stop staring at the beacon.
An invisible force picked them up, and one by one they began to drift to the center of the beacon and their screams grew louder and louder. Celestia watched in horror as the ones closest to the beacon were crushed in to black sludge, but still floated to the beacon.
One by one their screams were cut short, and soon quiet fell around the field, but it wasn't over for the pain as the creatures across the field began to rise as well and be dragged towards the beacon.
"What's happening?!"
"Don't let go!"
"Help!"
"NO NO NO!"
The shouting grew once more, and she watched at least half of the creatures that fought alongside them turn in to the same energy and flew towards the beacon. As silence fell once more they watched the beacon blacken and soon it expanded until it exploded with a black light that spread past the sisters, past Canterlot, past the borders until it encompassed everything.
Celestia felt her exhaustion was finally beating her will and she lowered her head and fell asleep. As the remaining soldiers recovered from the explosion and looked upon the world around them, but something was wrong and the remaining soldiers finally saw that no alicorns were among them.
AWAKEN
Celestia's eyes burst open and she stared at the ceiling in shock, and once her shock had calmed she looked around at the room and her eyes met the window that overlooked Canterlot.
Her sister's moon hung over the world with its silvery light, and Celestia rose to gain a closer look outside. She exited the room in her regalia and crown, and trotted past her guards, who still stand strong, who watched her as she trotted to the roof.
As she opened the door to the outside, she felt the cool air in her mane and coat and she looked out on to the city and further on to Ponyville. She heard a gust of wind behind her and a set of hooves clopped on to the ground.
"Can you not sleep sister?" Luna asked Celestia.
"It's not just that sister, it's about Mystic Rune again. I wish that things didn't end the way they did."
"We know sister." Luna said while wrapping a wing around Celestia.
Author's Note
It's true, that people who gain power and become corrupted by it forget the reason the wanted power in the first place. Kreia and the sith demonstrated this very well and it's made a great star wars story.