Celestia slowly walked through the wide hallway leading from the audience room.
“We can't let this continue!”
Her little sister's tone carried the anger to accompany her grief. Feeling the sun shine on her face, the white goddess closed her eyes. The afterimage of the crying, crippled pony was burned into her retina … possibly forever. Celestia did not need to open her eyes to see Luna step in front of her, blocking her path.
“You are the older one, the wiser one, the more powerful one. I have never questioned this, never gone against you. But this time …”
She did not finish the sentence. She did not have to. 'This time, I will take action even if you forbid it.'
It wasn't that Celestia was against taking action. She shared her sister's pain, and thus she could understand her anger. But Celestia was well aware that everything had its price, and while her rational mind did not have all the information about the situation, she could feel in her heart that this time the price would be horrifying.
“Do as you must.” Celestia's voice was soft, and sad.
Luna bowed slightly, her polite courtesy a far cry from the close sisterly connection the two of them usually shared. “I will assemble an army. I will take the fight to the enemy, and make sure no more of our kind will fall victim to these cruel attacks!”
Celestia watched her night-coloured sister leave, unshed tears burning in her eyes, the afterimage of the bloodsoaked, crying mare from the audience room still superimposed on what she saw.
The pony had lost her filly to an attack by a dragon, and had barely been saved herself but lost one of her hind legs to the dragon's maw. Her cutie mark had been torn clean off. Celestia did not need to be told, she knew that the cutie mark had been a cradle.
Celestia did not understand. Celestia could not understand. It was not her who had to go out, night after night, to fight with nightmares of fillies desperately screaming for help. It was not her who had to console ponies desperately trying to run in their dreams with limbs they would never have again in real life. It was Luna.
Celestia might be able to close her eyes and look away, but Luna would take action.
The expedition had not been officially sanctioned, so Luna had no legal right to call upon the army. All she could do was request that volunteers join her. But that would be plenty enough. It was unthinkable that her own private guard would not stand alongside her when she ventured out to face the dragons. A number of Celestia's private guard would not come, but she had little use for those golden-clad palace guards who were little more than ornaments for parades. They would be nothing but dead weight when they actually had to face a dragon. Those from Celestia's followers who really wanted to do some good, those who could not abide hearing another rumour of ponies killed in dragon attacks, who would not watch another crippled, bleeding pony be carted through the hallowed halls, would come and stand beside her, and that was all she needed.
Ponies cared for each other. Ponies did not let one another down. From all around Equestria pegasi, unicorns and brave earth ponies would flock to her banner to end this menace once and for all. Her Black Guard would provide the core of an army the likes of which the world had never seen, an army that would do the unthinkable and take the fight to the dragons.
No more victims to this draconic terror. No more dead ponies. It was time to make a stand.
The stench was unimaginable. The dragon's innate magic had turned the plains into a huge swamp, had made the trees grow gnarled and twisted, changed the animals so they no longer were properly subservient to the ponies but wild, untamed and dangerous. But what made the bile rise in Luna's throat was not the gaseous stench of the swamp, it was the acrid scent of burnt pony flesh, and the horrible odour of blood mixed with entrails from those who had been eviscerated by the dragon's claws. She could see one of the pegasi, looking with bewildered shock at the charred stumps where her wings had been. Further back a badly burnt unicorn just wouldn't stop screaming. It had been engulfed by a fireblast, and with how much of its body was charcoal black Luna could not imagine it would last the night.
The captain of Luna's Black Guard appeared beside her, clad in his dark-silver war armour.
“Lady, we have scoured the mountain. All dragons that could fly have fled. But …” Her soldier fell silent.
Luna was trying hard not to loose her composure as she watched several ponies try to help an earth pony whose entrails had been ripped out of its body and who was dying in front of its friends.
“Speak!” she commanded harshly.
“We found a dragon's nest, Lady. Six hatchlings, all of them without wings yet and unable to fly. The other dragons left them. What are we to do?”
Luna watched as the dying pony tried to console the ones around it, told them that everything was going to be all right, that it loved all of them, and that it was going to be ok.
“Kill them.”
“My Lady … What?”
As Luna turned her furious gaze towards her soldier, he shrank back in fear of this raging goddess of the night. “I said Kill Them! This entire war only came about because there are now so many dragons that they cannot find food any more, and hence they started to prey on ponies. We will eradicate their numbers until this never. happens. again!”
The soldier still hesitated for a second, but his will soon broke under the goddess' furious stare.
“As you command, my Lady.”
He turned around, but Luna could see in his steps that he was unsure, not convinced of the orders she had given.
“Umbra.” she called out to her captain.
“Yes, my Lady?” the soldier turned back around towards her.
Luna walked up to him, inclining her head towards the carnage of the battlefield: “Do you want something like this to happen again? Do you want to loose more of the soldiers under your command, or see more of the civilians we swore to protect die?”
“No, my Lady.”
“Then harden your heart! It is an ugly duty I bestow upon you, but it is either this or fighting fully grown dragons later. We do as we must to protect our own. Carry out my orders with your head held high: you are Captain of Princess Luna's Black Guards, and you will do your duty in the first line of defence to protect the people of our realm!”
Luna saw a bit of confidence return into her captain's eyes: “Yes, my Lady.”
After she had watched him canter back up the mountainside, Princess Luna turned to the battered army she had led to their first victory against the dragons and spoke with a thunderous voice:
“Hear me, brave ponies of Equestria! We won a great victory here today! The dragons have been driven from the mountainside, and we slew many more than you have seen. Every dragon we killed means ten ponies that will not die horribly to their predations! This victory was far from easy, and it cost us all dearly in injuries or friends or family lost in battle, but I say rather to die fighting, surrounded by brave ponies who stand beside you than be eaten alive, alone in the wilderness! Our next fight will be easier: the dragons now know we can beat them, and we have learned bitter lessons from our first battle. But I will not lie to you: the next battle as well will have its victims, and some of those who choose to fight on beside me will not return. I cannot command you to stay with me; those who decide to now turn back and abandon their comrades are free to do so. But those who will fight on by my side, those who want their friends, family and children to live free of fear of the dragon menace, those willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to protect our beloved Equestria I want to thank from the bottom of my heart! So let me hear it! Who of you has the courage and the loyalty to remain at my side as we face these beasts?!”
A wave of cheers washed over Luna. Of course there would be some deserters in the night, but the main part of the army would stay with her, and she had not lied: the next battles would be easier.
The eviscerated earth pony now lay still, no longer breathing, its comrades shouting angrily that they would continue to fight in the war to the bitter end, and Luna felt bile rise up in the back of her throat thinking of how she had just manipulated good ponies to follow her to their gruesome deaths. How much of her soul would be left when this war concluded? she wondered.
“We cannot break them.”
Luna stared annoyed at the eggs while her captain bucked with as much force as he could muster against one of them to demonstrate his point.
“It is some sort of magic that protects them. We tried kicking them, pushing our horns through them, and dropping them from some cliffs. Nothing so far has worked.”
The battles had indeed been easier. The dragons ever more readily retreated in the face of the wrath of the united pony army. Every single dragon was a frightening menace in himself, much stronger than any pony (with the exception of Princess Luna and Celestia), but the pony army together was much stronger than any individual dragon, and where ponies would stick together and sacrifice themselves for each other if they had to, each dragon first and foremost thought of himself, and fled rather than fighting in a unified front. That made the battles easier, but the fleeing, hungry dragons had devastated several villages. From a strategist’s point of view, the survivors of those villages made up the reinforcements that kept her army at full strength, and the supplies that the dead no longer needed kept it fed. From a pony's perspective, Luna was appalled that she even had such thoughts.
With the dragons more and more avoiding open battle, Luna increasingly relied on finding and razing dragon nests to reduce dragon numbers. A standing army such as hers consumed significant amounts of resources in food, and so many ponies together under unsanitary conditions was an obvious recipe for illness. Luna needed to make steady progress in her war campaign, or her army would dissolve and with it the will of the ponies of Equestria to fight.
Initially the dragon nests found had been filled with hatchlings, but now seasons had changed and instead of baby dragons she encountered seemingly impenetrable eggs.
“What should we do?” Captain Umbra asked needlessly.
Luna was seething with rage. She needed to eradicate the dragons, and the adult ones just fled and would not fight. The dragons had to be wiped out, for the safety of Equestria, for the war to finally be over, for all those who had suffered and fallen in the fight!
Black light engulfed her horn: “Expergisci et elabi!“
After a few seconds where her guard watched her in shocked silence, a scratching sound drew their attention back to the eggs. Their magical strength and almost spherical form protected the eggs from an attack from the outside, but the razorsharp dragon's claws were designed to be able to break it from the inside. With great effort the baby dragon broke the shell, then pushed its snout through the hole, emitting a curious squawk, right before an armoured hoof came down on its head with crushing force. It had been one of Umbra's lieutenants, another black unicorn, his face contorted in vicious glee as he twisted his hoof to make sure that the dragon was well and truly dead.
“Our Lady has shown us the way!” the young unicorn proclaimed loudly. “Stamp out the enemies of Equestria!”
Some of the Black Guard seemed hesitant to follow the order, including Captain Umbra, but many who had seen pony after pony die in the war were all too eager to join in the carnage.
“Wait until they have hatched!” Luna commanded, her calm strategist side prevailing regardless of the circumstances. “Stamping through the eggshells might injure your legs.”
The nest was dealt with soon after, the bloody remains on the ground barely recognizable for what they once were. It was a horrid business, Luna thought to herself, but she would do what she had to in order to protect Equestria.
The campaign had been going well. The dragons had been pushed to the most remote, most uninhabitable regions of the continent. Scores had been killed, and the carnage amongst the newborn dragons would see the next generation decimated to almost nothing. She now only used her Black Guard to exterminate dragon nests – the civilian ponies would do it, but usually got sick in the process and disappeared before the next morning. Those who had the determination and self control to push through that would join her Black Guard at the earliest opportunity.
She had learned a number of valuable lessons at a horrible cost. The pegasi would locate, disorient and impede the dragons, the unicorns would use their magic to force them to the ground, and the bravest of earth ponies would gallop forward to deliver crushing blows with their hooves to kill the dragons. Luna had learned to make sure her unicorns spread out, something that felt wrong to the herd animals, but clustered groups of unicorns were just flame breath bait. She had learned to use coordinated feints with the earth ponies to exhaust the dragon's fire before the actual attack started – still, the casualties amongst the earth ponies were usually the worst. And she had learned to keep her elite Black Guard in reserve, to not use them in the fights unless there was a particularly strong dragon that her army could not overcome – while sending in the Black Guard would result in much lower casualties, these were trained warriors that she just could not replace. Accepting the losses amongst the civilians was taking a horrible toll on Luna, but she had learned the logic of an army leader.
Unfortunately, the dragons had learned as well. Where initially most of them first targeted the pegasi, wasting time and energy in trying to attack the nimble fliers who had the easiest time dodging them, they now knew to try and kill the unicorns who would force them to the ground. They had learned to try and gain height as quickly as possible: if they could get out of reach of the unicorns, they would only be fighting the pegasi who then had to take heavy losses to force the dragons closer to the ground again. And they had learned that if they were forced to land, their chances were significantly better if they managed to do so in an area where they could not be attacked from all sides. Not that many dragons who did get forced to the ground ever escaped.
Fortunately there was one thing the dragons hadn't learned, the one thing that still gave the ponies the decisive advantage. Whenever a dragon was forced to land, any others around would just see that as their opportunity to escape, rather than band together and protect each other like ponies would.
Luna watched a strike team of her Black Guard return from the mountain. Dragon nests were easy enough to find, but in rare cases a dragon stayed around trying – at least briefly – to protect it. This time Luna fortunately did not see any of her Guard missing.
The ponies were almost down the hill when the young lieutenant that had caught Luna's attention through his aggressiveness dashed forward in front of the column, blocking the way.
“Brother, what moves there in your saddlebag?” he challenged loudly.
Umbra had stopped, stepping from one hoof to the other. “Move aside, Sombra! Our orders are to return to camp.”
“Brother, answer my question, and I will! What is it that moves in your saddlebag?”
Umbra reared up, trying to look dominant and impressive. Even from the distance Luna could feel it fail.
“Step aside, Sombra! I am the captain of the Black Guard! Obey my command and move!”
“I am not sworn to you, Umbra!” the lieutenant replied sharply. “I am sworn to the service of Princess Luna and to the protection of the ponies of Equestria, as are all warriors of the Black Guard!” His horn lit up, and as soon as his magic had undone the clasp on Umbra's saddlebag, a baby dragon poked his head out, curious about all the racket outside.
Sombra stumbled back, shocked despite having found just what he had expected: “I … I did not want to believe this! Have you forgotten mother?!”
Umbra turned slightly to shield the baby dragon from his brother's hateful glare. “It was not him that killed her. This one has not harmed anyone. To murder him when he is innocent of any crime is wrong!”
Sombra screamed at his brother in rage: “Yes, it was not him, it was one of his accursed kin! And if you shield him, soon there will be other orphans standing next to a shallow grave! How many of our brave men have you led to their deaths, just so that you could now turn against us?! TRAITOR!”
With that last word Sombra lunged forward, and as his brother backed up, the younger unicorn's horn pierced Umbra's throat, sinking deep into the neck. Umbra gurgled something that might have been words drowned in blood while Sombra stared up at him with a hateful glare, his horn tinted scarlet with his brother's life flowing down, running into his eyes and then down his face as if he was weeping bloody tears for his brother's betrayal.
“I will leave your worthless remains next to the smear of what you betrayed us for. Die, wretched scum!”
And, after spasming a few more times and desperately trying to get some air into his drowning lungs, Umbra did die, his bowels giving out as his mind slipped to darkness. As the heavy unicorn fell, Sombra pulled his horn clear and turned to address all other ponies in a commanding voice: “This shall be the fate of all those who betray us! Any who disobey Princess Luna's orders are traitors! We will kill the enemies of Equestria no matter who they might be! All hail Princess Luna!”
There was a brief silence while the ponies just stared at the young lieutenant, his eyes frightening red with his own kin's blood, but soon some of them started to pick up the call: “All hail Princess Luna!”
More and more joined, the chorus growing in power and determination while Sombra cantered over to the confused dragon baby, and without a hint of remorse brought his hoof down, ending the creature's brief life.
“All hail Princess Luna!”
Luna watched the scene with detached horror, thinking she should be more shocked and appalled than she found herself being. What, the alicorn asked herself, had she done to her beloved Black Guard?
“All hail Princess Luna!”
The campaign was over. What the dragons had not managed to do, winter and sickness had. The dead from disease were rapidly rising, and during the snow-filled months pursuing the dragons was hopeless. Luna had thanked all the surviving ponies, praised their bravery and dedication, and sent them home assuring them that their actions had finally pushed back the dragon's menace. Part of that was even true.
The dragons had been decimated to a fraction of their former number, and driven from Equestria to the most remote, inhospitable regions. Reportedly a number of them had fled the continent to the east, others now travelled between the icy north and the deserts in the south to survive. For many generations to come, dragons would not attack ponies again. But they had not been wiped out completely. It would take centuries for their numbers to rise again, perhaps millennia even, but the day would come. Would she then again have to lead an army through this horror, again have to call on her loyal Black Guard to bring the grimmest of sacrifices, to not only face the horrors of death and mutilation but of the corruption of the soul brought by murdering other beings?
The new captain of the Black Guard, former lieutenant Sombra, moved up to her in a quick canter.
“You have won a great victory, Empress Luna!”
The dark alicorn gave him a sidewards glance at the use of this unusual title, but chose to say nothing.
“The dragons have been scattered before your might. It was a wise decision to disband the army – the plague spread too quickly – but I want to report that the Black Guard will follow you wherever you choose to lead us!”
Luna felt slightly confused and the tiniest bit irritated by the disconnected ramble of captain Sombra. What was that unicorn getting at? Unwilling to waste her time with riddles or implications, Luna simply commanded: “Speak! What is it you really want to say!”
Sombra bowed his head in deference – as far as that was possible during the canter they were making towards the small palace, anyways – and replied: “Empress Luna! You have led us in this darkest time of Equestria from victory to victory, united the ponies in an army the likes of which the world has never seen and brought true pony dominance over the lands! Finally we are free of the dragon menace, of fear for our friends or kin to be slaughtered and eaten by those monsters, and it is all thanks to you and your leadership! Where, I ask, was Celestia in this dark time? In all those years, what has her leadership amounted to? No – You were the one who took command, who assembled the ponies, who took action to better the situation! You, not your sister, was the one who was willing to fight and suffer for our beloved Equestria. Your great accomplishments, your courageous deeds should be recognized: Celestia should step down and it should be You, not your sister, who officially leads the ponies of Equestria towards our future!”
Luna neighed and shook her head.
“Speak of this no more, Sombra! My sister and I rule together, me accepting her leadership as she is the older of us. Together we protect the ponies of Equestria, together we control the cycle of day and night. It is true that she did not fight alongside us on the front, but she gave me permission to assemble this army and end the dragon menace. You do her wrong to not acknowledge her efforts in leading those ponies that remained while we were at the front lines, so that there would be homes for us to return to. Look into your heart, and find the truth!”
“Forgive me … Empress.”
Sombra fell back to the troops in silence.
'The darkest time of Equestria' … Sombra had not been born in the time of the windigos. Luna would rather face the dragons again with a united army of ponies than see them tear each other apart in a useless internal struggle. No. Her sister was the older one. It was only befitting that Luna would yield, and now, this one time when it had been necessary to stand up to Celestia, Luna had been granted the right to do what had to be done, as horrible as it had been. Luna could understand Celestia's hesitation all to well. But to continue to sit idly by while her dear ponies were murdered and devoured by dragons was unbearable. It had been a hard choice to go out alone, to go against the will of her sister for the very first time, but it had been the right one, and Luna was sure that when she was finally reunited with her beloved sister, Celestia would feel the same.
Luna's heart rose as she saw the castle walls come into view. She couldn't wait to finally let go of the pressure and responsibility that came with her command, to finally just be a younger sister again, if only for a brief little while. But as she approached this outpost of Equestria, she quickly realized that something was wrong.
Celestia's golden guards were positioned along the wall, but not for parade or welcome. What had happened during the months she had been away? Luna felt relief as she saw her sister's coloured mane appear amongst the guardsmen: surely Celestia would put an end to this madness quickly, dispel this growing nightmare that haunted her during the day.
“Dear sister Luna, I welcome you back!” Celestia's voice echoed loudly. “Unfortunately, the same I cannot say for your Black Guard.”
“What?” Luna asked astonished. “Celestia … what are you saying?!”
“Words of your deeds have reached us, and it came as we feared. Your actions have blackened your souls. We cannot allow you to return. Equestria was always meant as a land for peace and friendship, and to allow your Black Guard to enter would destroy it more thoroughly than the dragons ever could have. As much as it pains my heart … I must banish them!”
“What?” Luna still could not believe what she was hearing. “No! Sister! No!”
“See? I told you!” Sombra screamed. “Lead us, Luna! Command us! Let us overthrow this hypocritical tyrant and install You as the true ruler of Equestria!”
Within heartbeats Luna's trained strategical mind analysed the situation. Celestia's Golden Guard was positioned in good defensive positions – when had her sister learned tactics, or had she always known and just never shared her knowledge with Luna? Her own Black Guard was tired from the march, some of them wounded, exhausted from months of hard campaigns on the road. But they were battle-hardened warriors, ready to follow any command without hesitation, trained to kill and no longer mortified by the horrors of war.
Luna could see the hatred and rage in Sombra's bloodshot eyes. She saw the warriors of her Black Guard automatically adjust formation as to more effectively storm the fortifications. The moment they broke through, they would slaughter the defenders to the last man. They were, without hesitation, ready to kill on her command.
It was that which made the decision for Luna.
The alicorn stepped forward, blocking Sombra's path – her Captain had been ready to be the first to storm the front as he so often had – and solemnly shook her head: “No, Sombra. We will not bring bloodshed and civil war to Equestria.”
Sombra physically recoiled: “You … You would betray us?! You?! We fought for you! We died for you! We killed for you! And now you would betray us?!”
Luna was hurt by the words, worst of all by the truth they held within them.
“No! I …” she started to say, but broke off. If she agreed to the banishment, if she chose not to fight her sister, what could she say?
“Fine!” Sombra screamed in rage. “You will betray us also? Then we shall topple these embodiments of hypocrisy and erect an empire of justice for ponies in their stead! Black Guard, on me!”
Many of the Black Guard were shocked, stunned by the developments, but many were hardened by the horrors of war, and reacted to the authoritative command of their captain through vigorous training, forming up to breach through and begin the killing. Luna had mere seconds to react.
The alicorn of the moon let her magic flow, her dark mane streaming out from her, engulfing everything in the blackness of night until the only thing that could still be seen was her godly sister, her light shining brightly through the darkness Luna had summoned.
You would fight the Goddesses of the Sun and the Moon?!
Luna's words echoed through the limitless space, her voice truly showing her nature as a supernatural being. She could feel Sombra's spirit falter and break. He was as brave a pony as there had ever been born, but he would not lead his warriors in a suicide attack.
She let her magic recede, the fading light of day casting everything in a sombre tone.
“Fine.” Her captain of the Black Guard spoke, his voice nearly breaking with pain. “You betray us also. Come, my warriors! It's just us now. We shall strike out and form an empire of our own, an empire of truth and justice, not ruled by hypocritical traitors. It is time for an era of mortal ponies, ruled over by mortal ponies.”
He turned and cantered off, and one by one, Luna's Black Guard turned as well and followed him. The glances they shot at Luna as they left, full of hurt and betrayal, tore deep gashes into the alicorn's wounded soul. She stepped forward, wanting to go with them, wanting to at the very least share the suffering of banishment with them … but she knew that now they would never trust her again.
Still, she put one hoof forward, when her Celestia's voice stopped her: “Sister! We need you here!”
Luna looked back at her white sister, shining with bleak sadness from the castle walls, then back at the receding forms of her Black Guard, trotting off without glancing back. She took another step, her soul torn in two between her brave, loyal warriors and her beloved, gentle sister.
Her sister would forgive her. Her Guard would not. It was a selfish choice, and Luna hated herself for it, but after all these months of horror, after all these months of being strong, impenetrable, unshakable, Luna needed someone to hang on to, someone who would tell her that everything was going to be all right, even if it was a lie.
Head hanging in shame, she turned around to enter the castle and join her sister.
Sombra looked out over his city, his empire, defiantly carved from the ice of the north as it was defying the authority of those hypocritical 'goddesses' that had banished them. An empire of justice, an empire of righteousness, and he as its king. No more gods! No more princesses! Justice of Law and Order would rule this realm, not superstition and nepotism!
Sombra felt his chest swell, both with pride and this incredible feeling of power: this giant crystal he had obtained gave him magical prowess beyond any that a pony had ever had. Perhaps even enough to defeat an alicorn?
Placing it in a magical circle Sombra did not have to constantly carry it around, as other magical artefacts often needed to be, and with this near unbeatable power and his loyal Black Guard he was reshaping society into the ideal he had always dreamed of.
“Lowlife wretches!” he addressed the chained up ponies beneath him, herded together by the soldiers of his Black Guard. “Know that the proper punishment for your crime would be death! But our Empire is magnanimous, and you shall be allowed to live working in the mines to reflect on your crimes. Think upon your selfish actions, and know that you have brought this on yourself. You should feel shame that you only thought of yourselves while our brave troops defend our borders against the dragons that have settled in the icy north! I can only hope that eventually you will see the magnitude of your crime. Take them away!”
As the ponies were pulled to the mines on their chains, Sombra felt pride in that under his just rule no more cowards would abuse the benevolence of the brave, no more sluggards would live on the goodwill of the hard-working, no, every pony would either contribute, or be made to contribute by force if need be. This was a kingdom for honest, honourable ponies, free of the hypocritical oppression of the princesses, and already a number of ponies had come to join and live here rather than suffer the injustices that were commonplace under Celestia and Luna's rule. He had done away with aristocracy and deposed the former monarchs: any pony here would be judged only by its actions and accomplishments, not its heritage, and many of the bravest and brightest were drawn to this promise. And in time, when his Black Guard had sufficiently grown in number, and when he had mastered even more of the powerful magical tomes he had appropriated, they would set out to liberate even Equestria itself from the tyrannical rule of those hypocritical princesses.
Two small specks in the air interrupted Sombra's musings. Pegasi? Scouts to warn of another dragon coming near the Crystal Empire? Would he need to employ the Black Guard again? But these two came from the south, and it was far from the time of the dragon migration, so there should be no dragons to the south!
As they closed in, Sombra realized the truth. Alicorns!
“NOOO!” Sombra screamed in rage, already certain that they had come to drive him and the Black Guard out again, that the alicorns intended to take this territory that they had rightfully claimed from them again! How long would these tyrants pursue them? What had to happen so that his brave, loyal warriors would finally be allowed to live in peace?!
Full of rage and bitterness Sombra reached out to the crystal resting in the secret tunnels deep beneath his palace and summoned all the magic he could grasp to strike out at the approaching alicorns.
Waves of magic extended from Celestia and Luna to collide with the dark beam thrown at them from Sombra.
King Sombra was an extremely gifted unicorn, and the magical crystal elevated his powers to heretofore unseen levels. Celestia and Luna were goddesses. It was over in an instant.
With a scream of rage and hate what was left of Sombra was cast into the ether. Luna could make out some words in Sombra's screech, something about a curse, but not the details. What she could see, however, was the edges of the town starting to glimmer and vanish into nothingness. And the phenomenon was drawing closer.
Celestia saw several ponies move towards the spot where their leader had been. The ponies looked down at the black smear where seconds ago king Sombra had stood. As they gazed up, Celestia could see their facial expressions belying the deep injustice they felt at her actions.
“Why did you do that?” one of them asked with confused hurt in his voice.
“I … I …” Celestia tried to justify herself. All those words about freeing ponies, about casting down a tyrant, about pre-emptively striking out before he gathered his armies sounded hollow in her head now, faced with the real grief and disappointment she could see in these ponies' eyes.
“Sister, we have to leave!” Luna urged her.
Celestia was still stunned, overwhelmed with the wordless accusation she could feel from the ponies. More and more gathered, looking up at her with sadness and disdain. Why were there so many who had welcomed Sombra's reign? Had she not come as a just liberator, to bring the benefits of Equestrian rule over this far off land?
“Celestia! We have to move now!” Luna all but screamed at her sister. The phenomenon was picking up pace, more and more of the town disappearing at an ever increasing rate. Seeing Celestia still frozen in place, Luna's war-trained side took over and did the unthinkable: she hit Celestia in an attempt to shake her out of her stupor.
That finally made Celestia turn to her sister, and looking around she quickly realized how appropriate Luna's concern had been.
“Yes.” the goddess of the sun agreed, “Let's leave.” Quickly she flapped her wings, ascending rapidly away from the vanishing city.
It was now Luna that was shocked. She had hit her sister. There was a trace of blood on her hoof. This was unthinkable. In all these years ever since they had come into being as alicorns, neither of the sisters had ever bled.
But Luna had seen the horrors of war, and they had hardened her heart. She was able to shake off the shock much quicker than Celestia had, and ascended after her sister. She pushed the thoughts of what she had done away to deal with later, just as she so often had in the field. So many nights Luna had spent weeping alone, secretly and silently, for the troops must not see their brave, confident, unshakable leader break down and cry like a filly. Luna had learned to lock away the fear, the doubt, the guilt in a vault deep in her heart, and this time it might have saved her own life.
As she reached her sister and dared to turn around, nothing of the Crystal Empire could be seen but a barren expanse of rock, snow slowly falling where once a proud city had stood.
They had wanted to come as liberators, but what had they really done?
“Come, sister.” Luna heard Celestia's voice. “Let's go home.”
Luna was tired beyond words, but she could not sleep. Night after night she ventured out, alone, into the dreams of the ponies, searching for the worst of nightmares to dispel them. Dragons tearing family members apart, the horrors of flame and claws from the battles, visions of her own Black Guard as they cornered traitors and trampled them to death. The others were slowly forgetting, slowly letting the terrible memories slip away, but Luna had to go back there night after night after night, witness once more what had driven her to war and the results of the actions she had chosen.
It was a gruesome task, but Luna had always been most loyal to her beloved ponies … but now things had changed. Where once she had been treated with respect and adoration, she now was shunned and ignored. She was once equal to her radiant sister, but no more. The royal court convened during daylight hours, when Luna was tired from her unending duty, and her opinion was not sought by the councillors and these days rarely even by her sister. And today they had dared to hold court without her.
There had once been days when the sisters ruled together, would discuss and share opinions before decisions were made, but now Celestia ruled alone, Luna no longer trusted, no longer wanted in court.
Oh, she heard the whispers behind her. They didn't even try to hide them much.
It was so easy for them to judge, those know-it-alls who stayed safe behind palace walls and got fed up on rumours and half-truths. It was so easy for those who never did anything at all to blame everything on Luna. As if she ever had a choice! How should she fight dragons and save ponies without casualties in her army? What else could she do for those who were beyond the help of the healers but send her Black Guard to end their suffering, before their screams of agony drove her entire army insane? What should she have done against the traitors in her own ranks who tried to smuggle out dragon babies, but have them executed so she would not have to watch another score of ponies die in the fight against the next dragon when it had grown up?
But of course those fine nobles of the court knew better – they didn't need to be able to provide any solution, all they needed to do was criticize!
And they dared to praise Celestia for dispelling the dragon menace!
Celestia! The one who had done nothing, who had given no support to her own sister when she took on the heaviest burden for the wellbeing of Equestria, was being hailed and revered and fawned over, while Luna was shunned and looked down upon with disdain.
But the most infuriating development had started recently. The first time Luna had heard a mother call to her filly: “Come now, off to sleep with you or Nightmare Moon will get you!” she had been sure that something must have been wrong with her head. But no, all over Equestria ponies were now using her as a scare for children to be quiet, to behave, to be obedient, or “Nightmare Moon will get you”!
Nightmare Moon!
Her!
The pony that had shouldered the heaviest burden of all, who had actually fought and sacrificed so much to protect Equestria, the one who night after night went out to face her own worst memories, to face actual nightmares.
They would use her, who once stood for the freedom of dreams and imagination to scare children into mindless submission.
It was too much to bear.
If it was Nightmare Moon they wanted to see, then by the stars, they would see her!
Luna reached out to the destructive magic lying within her, just as it was within every other pony, dragon or centaur, and called it forth, embracing it, disowning the magic of kindness and healing that so long had been the primary source of her power.
She felt it change her, even down to her physical form.
Luna's Black Guard had been exiled … she herself had exiled it by inaction, so this would not be a clash between armies, but a straightup battle between her sister and herself. If Nightmare Moon could not defeat Celestia on her first try, then it was all over for her.
Just as well.
The doors to Luna's lonely chambers swung open with a clang, and the now shadowy form of its inhabitant moved through the hallways without a sound. Her sister had let the sun go down just a brief while ago, but already most ponies were either inside their homes, uninterested in the beautiful spectacle of the moon rising and casting the world in silvery light, or asleep, wordlessly demanding service from the very princess they scorned during the day.
Without a sound Nightmare Moon moved through the castle hallways to the chambers of her sister. In front of the double doors two golden-clad guards still held watch. The reminder that her own doorway was bereft of its Black Guard vigil just enraged Nightmare Moon even further.
“Halt! Who goes there!” One of the guardsmen challenged into the darkness. Nightmare Moon grabbed the two with her magic and threw them against the palace walls, both of them falling unconscious at barely more than her touch. Celestia never had cared much about recruiting actual fighters for her guard.
Nightmare Moons magic threw open the doors, her sister already alerted and rising from the noise outside, next to her some unicorn scribe who never had bothered to ever have even a word with Luna.
“What … Luna?” Celestia asked with astonishment.
“No, it is Nightmare Moon now!” the dark alicorn replied with a voice thunderous from the magic coursing through her, amplified by the fears all those ponies projected upon her. “I have come to end your hypocritical reign, to declare an empire of endless night, where no longer the sun's bright rays will blind ponies to the truth! Sombra was right, and I foolish not to see it! But no longer will ponies tell lies about me in the day and ignore me in the night! The era of the alicorn sisters is over!”
“Please, sister, don't do this!” Celestia begged desperately, her bright radiance struggling against Nightmare Moon's encroaching darkness.
“Silence!” Nightmare Moon screamed. “You were the one who betrayed me, who abandoned me, who took my Black Guard and watched me be ignored and insulted by the very ponies I suffered to save! I am your sister no more!”
Nightmare Moon's magic reached out to envelop Celestia, snuff her out like a candle's flame. But she hesitated. There was still a little bit of Luna left inside of Nightmare Moon, and despite what she had said … this still was her sister, perhaps the only being in the entire universe that loved her.
Celestia did not hesitate.
A bright ray of magic pierced Nightmare Moon and tore her apart with an agonized scream. A black shadow was cast off, lost somewhere in the darkness of the night.
As the shaking unicorn scribe looked out from the curtain she had been hiding behind, she saw princess Celestia break down in tears.
“Luna!” the white alicorn cried in anguish.
“LUNAAAAA!!!”
“Expergisci et elabi!“
These days, Celestia rarely cast the spell herself. It was powerful magic, and doing it over and over was exhausting even for an alicorn. There was a different reason, too. One that Celestia did not care to consider too much. Making others cast the spell felt like she was distributing a bit of the responsibility, even though she rationally knew that was nonsense.
To the soft sound of cracking and scratching Celestia pushed the large bowl of gems forward before pouring the white powder over it. It was an eclectic selection: rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds, quite valuable, but Celestia felt the occasion warranted the spending.
The dragons were returning. It was nigh a thousand years that Celestia had to bear the burden of leading Equestria alone, that she had to control both the sun and the moon. Celestia had not been sure at first if she could even do it, but when she tried found that the moon answered to her magic just as the sun did.
Not a moonrise went by that Celestia did not curse herself for having convinced herself that by freeing her dear sister from her regal duties she was doing Luna a favour, giving her time to rest and recover from the strains she had to suffer.
The brutal extermination campaign that Luna had led had kept the dragons from Equestria for many generations. But just as her sister had predicted, the number of dragons was rising again, huge flocks of them migrating every year from the icy north to the burning south, some of them daring to set up near the borders of Equestria.
There was squawking and hissing in the room that Celestia was sitting in. Celestia turned her face to the window and let the rays of the sun hit her face, ignoring the sounds of claws scratching over marble tiles, bustling and snapping and the crunching noise when the valuable gems were crumbled into tiny pieces.
Almost no one now knew what had actually happened back then. No one cared to remember.
In utmost secrecy Celestia had sent out some of her most trusted members of the royal guard (there was no distinction ever since Luna's Black Guard had been wiped out) to the inhospitable regions, infiltrating the areas near Equestria where dragons settled, to sneak in and steal as many dragon eggs as they could, to at the very least slow down the growth in dragon numbers. It worked … to a degree. The dragon population was growing more slowly, but it was still growing. This was at best a stop-gap for the actual problem, not truly a solution.
The crunching and chewing had died down, and now there was more growling and hissing. Celestia had gone through the cycle many times before.
The dragon eggs brought back would still hatch eventually, as Celestia had found out, but it was impossible to say whether it would be months or years until they did, unless one used the spell developed by her sister Luna to cause the hatching to occur. Celestia initially would do that herself, but doing it so often was draining even for her. She had taken to tasking some apprentice mages with casting the spell, see how they would handle more complex, advanced magic.
No one ever asked why Celestia had dragon eggs. No one ever asked why she would allow apprentices to cast powerful magic on living beings, even though it was well known just how often magical spells misfired. No one asked where those hatched dragons went, or what happened to them.
It was just dragons, after all. And no one really wanted to hear the answers.
Except maybe Twilight. This young student of hers who had strangely altered the hatching spell to make the dragon baby grow and age as it left its egg. Magic was unpredictable, and things like that happened. And now suddenly instead of a not really self-aware creature incapable of words they were faced with an intelligent toddler, reaching out and trying to understand the world. Twilight had bonded with the baby dragon immediately, and Celestia had allowed her to keep the creature rather than hand it over to her as the students normally would … a stupid decision, maybe, but Celestia was so, so tired.
One of the dragon babies, sturdier than it's kin, squawked in pain, feeling the poison eat at its insides. The others already lay still, silent, no more life evident in them. Celestia picked up the baby dragon and gently held it in her arms. It looked up at her with pain and what seemed like sadness, and Celestia wondered if a creature like that could understand the concept of death. She nuzzled the dragon baby's brow gently, holding it against her chest as its breathing grew ever more shallow.
That dragon Twilight had hatched, Spike, she had called it, was growing smarter by the day. Already it could read and was capable of crude magic acts. It was becoming a threat. It could not be allowed to continue to live in Canterlot.
Twilight Sparkle, as well, was dangerous. She asked. She was not content with simplistic answers, unfinished explanations and vague implications. Twilight wanted to know, where other ponies would just keep their snouts down and look away.
Many had wondered why the goddess had taken such interest in this shy and insecure young unicorn of lower nobility that seemed to have few noteworthy qualities. But Celestia had sensed the strong magic within Twilight, and something beyond that, perhaps more significant than magical prowess.
Twilights curiosity was both a threat and an incredible asset, so Celestia did not want to curb it, but allowing her to stay in Canterlot was too dangerous – who knew how the botched hatching spell might affect the dragon in the future? Inside palace walls Twilight would not be able to learn what she needed to in order to fulfil the role that Celestia – that all Equestria would need her to take.
Celestia wanted Twilight to become an ambassador of friendship, someone who hopefully would find a way around this gruesome pony/dragon conflict, a way that would not involve Celestia having to murder newborns over and over again.
If that failed … Celestia would need Twilight to become the next leader of the pony army to once more reduce dragon numbers before they started to feast on ponies again. And when that was done … Celestia would have to banish or destroy her beloved pupil, tearing out another part of her own soul in the process.
But she really wanted … no, needed Twilight to become much more than that, perhaps hopefully the bridge through which the ancient animosity between ponies and dragons could finally be overcome. And someone who would finally allow Celestia, after all those years of carrying the burden of leading Equestria, to shed her responsibilities and seek an end.
The little baby in Celestia's arms lay still, no longer breathing. The alicorn softly cradled the tiny corpse in her arms, singing an ancient, wordless lullaby, crying softly as the sun set behind the mountains in the west.
