Most mornings in Canterlot were the kind that a pony could not ignore, despite the prevailing weather conditions. Misty, cloud-strewn rainy days were just as welcome as crisp, bright sunlit mornings. Now, it has to be admitted, not every pony appreciated the weather for what it was, but they never ignored it.
This particular morning there was a light dusting of snow across the city with a few icicles dribbling along the buildings eves like chrystal fringes. The sun was just peeping out from behind the last cloud bank of the previous night’s storm, warming the rooftops and causing more than a few early risers to dodge a secondary barrage of shimmering stalactites.
A teal-colored pegasus with a blond mane and tail could be seen gliding slowly above the rooftops of the city. She banked left, made a quick pop-up maneuver to avoid a spire just before she flared her wings. Slowing, she came in for a gentle landing on a large third-floor balcony leading into Canterlot Castle. Trotting up to the unicorn guard she paused and smiled. He quickly scanned her with his horn, then nodded his approval as he let her into the palace.
The pegasus stopped briefly at her locker to don a gold waistcoat and a white serving jacket before checking in with the sous chef.
Seeing her, the chef pointed to a nearby serving cart loaded with plates, cups, saucers, pastries, coffee, tea, juice and an assortment of other accoutrements. “Royal Conference room, south wing, level five... As quick as you can.”
Nodding the servant braced her forelegs against the cart and began pushing it towards an extra-large dumbwaiter, one that could accommodate several ponies at once. Closing the doors behind her she faced a nearby speaking tube. “Five, please.” The dumbwaiter rose into the upper levels of the castle as the earth pony working a large running wheel trotted forward. He stopped when he heard five loud chimes coming from the shaft above.
Pushing the cart into the hallway, the pegasus turned left at the first cross corridor then stopped in front of a pair of very alert guards. The one on the right quickly gave her a glancing once over, then nodded to himself, turned and knocked three times on the door. There was a pause, then a voce commanded the door be opened. The guard stood back and allowed the servant to pass.
From the look of things, the pegasus realized this must have been one of those zero-dark thirty types of meetings. The one’s that often involved “national security” issues. Every pony present looked tired. Aside from the nine members of the Privy Council, there were the Elements of Harmony, Princesses Celestia and Luna, Prince Macintosh, Luna’s consort, and the First Lords of both the Royal Army and Navy.
Wheeling in the tray, the servant quickly refilled a number of cups, placed a few scattered pastries, and then at a nod from Princess Luna, left the cart near the door, taking with her one that had been nearly emptied.
As the door closed Princess Celestia looked across the conference table from one pony to another. The expressions she saw ran the gambit from concern to stoic determination with more than a little uncertainty and stubbornness thrown in.
“Having reviewed with you the report submitted by Prince Macintosh I find myself in complete agreement with his conclusions. For the sake of the Tree of Harmony, and of Equestria, I have decided we must return the Elements of Harmony to their rightful place.”
“I’m sorry Aunt Celestia, but I must once again disagree with you. Returning the Elements of Harmony presents a clear danger to the nation’s safety. Considering the number of times we’ve had to resort to them in the last few years it would be folly to strip ourselves of our most powerful defense.
Princess Luna looked over at her nephew. All outward signs of his battle with Prince Macintosh several months earlier had faded, save for his horn. It too was growing back, but slowly. At the moment, it was about the length of a very young colt’s. In additional to the physical trauma, the experience of his possession by King Sombra had matured him considerably, while at the same time making him a somewhat sad and lonely figure.
“From your comments, one has to wonder how the nation defended itself before the return of the elements. We’ve had no shortage of crisis to deal with over the last thousand years, but we managed to do it without the power they represent. I therefore have no concern as to their unavailability.
“If the diarchy has already made their decision, then why involve the Privy Council? Why spend these last five hours soliciting and discussing our opinions” asked Shadow Starlight. The gray-furred unicorn and Equestrian Knight waved her ebon tail slightly and shook her head, causing her mane to flow like a shadow.
“Because it is the Council’s responsibility to plan for the defense of Equestria,” Celestia answered.
“As we will no longer be able to rely on the Elements of Harmony, you must understand the necessity of our decision as well as the need to modify our defense plans accordingly.”
Shadow Starlight nodded. “Understood, princess. We will review and evaluate our current options and have a preliminary report by the end of the week.” She rose and looked at Celestia, tipping her horn toward her. “With your leave, your highness?”
“Granted.”
The nine members of the Privy Council, including Blueblood, rose, bowed, took one step back then turned and left the room together. They were quickly followed by the Lords of the Army and Admiralty.
Luna smiled at her sister, whispering softly. “I am glad thou saw fit to appoint Shadow Starlight head of the council. She has a definite flare for demonstrating proper formal protocol.”
“Well, it was either that, or make her Captain of the Royal Guard,” Celestia smiled
“Eeeyup...” agreed Big Macintosh. “She’s more a pony o’ words and plans and protocol, not action. A Captain o’ the guard, she ain’t.”
“Isn’t, darling. The word is isn’t. There isn’t any ain’t,” Luna gently whispered, nuzzling her mate.
“There isn’t.... Well, ain’t that something,” the red-furred alicorn replied with a grin. Luna responded by sticking out her tongue and blowing a raspberry, causing every pony in the room to chuckle.
“You two should take that routine on the vaudeville circuit. You’d be a smash hit,” declared Rainbow Dash.
“What, and leave my sister to rule the nation alone, again? I think not,” Luna replied humorously.
Celestia smiled, trying to relax after the tense early morning meeting. “I believe our next order of business should be discussed. How soon should the Elements be returned?”
“When is now a good time?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Eeeyup. Ah think we should put ‘em back as soon as we can. Arual told me the black vines that threatened her also threaten other worlds, including Equis. She’ll need ‘em ta destroy the plunder seeds and vines here.”
Twilight looked at Celestia. “If you’d like, the girls and I can leave for the Everfree by noon.”
To the Princess of Friendship’s surprise, Celestia shook her head. “I appreciate your willingness to embark on such a journey, but I believe this task is best left to my sister and her husband to be.”
“Me?” queried Luna.
“Us?” asked Big Mac.
“Them?” Twilight and Rainbow Dash both responded in unison.
“Pardon me yer highness, but ma brother ain’t never been ta the tree o’ harmony, and Luna hasn’t been there fer over a thousand years.”
“You forget, Applejack, Prince Macintosh not only visited, but conversed with the tree on the parallel world he recently returned from. If I understood his story, the trees of all eleven worlds are located in the same place, so finding it isn’t really an issue,” Celestia asserted. “He should go because we need to know if he can speak to Arual on this world...”
“And help us apologize for our failure to return the elements in a timely fashion as well as communicate my apologies for forcing Tia to misuse them in the first place,” Luna finished.
“Now Luna... we’ve talked about this. I was the one who chose to use the Elements against the Nightmare. You were only an unwilling passenger...”
“Who was foolish enough to listen to the Nightmare’s whispers and let her in,” Luna added, her head lowered “I know you’ve forgiven me and don’t blame me for what happened, but I can’t help but feel that I need to do this.”
Luna abruptly felt a large, warm wing drape itself across her and pull her into a firm hug. She looked up to see Prince Macintosh smiling softly down at her. She immediately leaned into his shoulder. He held her for a moment then chuckled softly.
“What’s so humorous?” Luna asked.
“Ah remembered y’all were looking fer an excuse ta go on a picnic just the other day.”
“An outing... to the Castle of the Two Sisters? That sounds like an excellent idea,” Celestia smiled.
**********
It wasn’t long before both Luna and Big Mac were soaring high above the Equestrian landscape. Prince Macintosh had a set of wicker saddlebags, once side containing food and the other all the necessities for a picnic lunch. Hidden at the bottom was a small ornate box containing the Elements of Harmony. The stallion also wore a heavy yoke around his neck, on the back of which was imbedded his own Element of Courage.
“Y’all didn’t get any sleep yesterday, and ya spent most o’ last night in that dang meeting. How is it ya ain’t tired?”
“You’ve had about as much rest as I have the last two days... are you tired?”
“Not sure why, but nope, Ah ain’t tired in the least.”
“It’s all part of being an alicorn, darling. While both I and Tia like living a normal 24 hour daily cycle, we can easily go a week before feeling any serious fatigue. Of course, that depends how much magic we use. The same now applies to you.”
“Well, at least we’ve got ourselves a nice day fer flying.”
“Yes, we do. I do not often get out like this during the day,” Luna observed, “but if I had to choose, I couldn’t have picked a better one. The flying conditions are simply glorious.” She tipped her muzzle up and breathed in the warm, balmy breeze. Passing over a small cloud, the Princess tucked in her wings and then bounced across its surface, laughing with carefree abandon.
Big Mac smiled as he watched her bounding around in much the same way as Pinkie Pie did. Feeling in a wickedly playful mood, the alicorn stallion abruptly folded his wings and dropped down towards the cloud, all four of his hooves together so his legs formed a sort of arrowhead. Instead of lightly touching down on its surface, he plunged through it, causing the cloud to vaporize with a little “pop.”
Luna, suddenly finding herself with nothing to support her next bounce, plummeted earthward, her legs and wings flailing a bit before she recovered and pulled out of her dive. She looked up towards Big Mac who was now standing on another nearby cloud, laughing. Grinning wickedly, the Princess soared upward, bumping yet another small cloud with a flick of her tail. It drifted over the Prince and she gave it a little jolt of telekinesis. The small lightning bolt that erupted from within struck the stallion on his flank, causing him to jump about fifty feet straight up.
Big Mac looked towards Luna. “Okay, if that’s what ya want, it’s so on.” He dove toward her like a hawk on a mouse. Laughing, the Princess of Dreams side-slipped to the left, then barrel-rolled into a nearby cloud, the red-furred stallion hot in pursuit. Anyone watching from the ground would have thought the two alicorns looked remarkably like a pair of squirrels tail-chasing each other through the trees.
Just when it looked as if Prince Macintosh was about to catch Luna, she ducked into a cloud bank and hid. The stallion shot past her hiding place, then went into a climbing spiral, searching for where the princess had gone. He circled for several minutes before landing atop the very cloud bank in which she was hidden. He gently trotted back and forth across the cloud looking for any sign of his fiancé, gently whistling through his teeth and calling her name in an odd mimic of a songbird.
Watching from below, Luna waited until Big Mac was in just the right position, then she magically tripped him up. The stallion face planted in the cloud and when he looked up he saw the princess, or rather her head, sticking up out of the cloud in front of him. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. What was supposed to be just a quick peck on the lips however turned into something much deeper as their tongues inter-twined. When they finally parted, both were feeling a little dizzy from a lack of air.
“Ah think we should bookmark this page and pick things up a bit later, once we’ve finished dealing with the Elements,” Big Mac suggested.
Luna pouted briefly. “If thou insists, but don’t think for a moment I prefer duty to pleasure.”
“The idea never crossed ma mind.”
The two alicorns left the cloud bank behind them and turned once more towards the Everfree. It wasn’t more than twenty minutes later they reached the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Spiraling downward, they landed in the grassy meadow that once had marked the front lawn of the castle.
“Which way?” asked the stallion.
“Just on the remote chance some pony is watching us, we should go through the secret passage within the castle.”
Big Mac nodded in agreement and the two alicorns entered the castle side by side. They trotted past several doors before coming across the throne room. Once within the prince noted that some pony had been making minor cosmetic changes here and there. A pair of hangings repaired, the cushions on the two thrones cleaned and restuffed, the floor swept clear of all the broken masonry, all signs the castle had been visited recently.
“Who do you suppose has been cleaning things up out here?” muttered Luna.
“Ah’d guess it were Applejack and the other Elements. Ma sister mentioned they’d recently taken on a restoration project. This might be it.”
“This place holds a lot of memories for myself and Tia. I can understand why she abandoned it after our battle.”
“Ah imagine the memory o’ banishing yer closest kin ta the moon weren’t a good one. Princess Celestia must o’ spent a lot o’ sleepless nights before making the move ta Canterlot.” Big Mac took a few minutes to look around. Though similar in basic form and construction, this castle had a number of differences from the one where he’d fought Discord and Eris. Looking down at the throne room floor he immediately noticed the design was different.
“Shouldn’t there be a compass rose in the floor here?” the stallion asked, glancing at Luna.
“A what?”
“A compass rose. T’was under the floor here where y’all kept the Elements?”
“Indeed. The center of the floor recesses and the Ori of the Elements rises up right here, but there was no compass rose. To the best of my knowledge it has always been the Seal of Equestria,” Luna replied.
“Another case o’ different details tween the two worlds. Spend enough time and ya cain’t possibly mistake one fer the other.”
Luna looked up at Big Mac. “What was she like?” she asked quietly.
“Who?”
“Me. The other Princess Luna.”
The stallion remained quiet for a moment then turned to his love. “Cain’t rightly say. Most o’ my time with her was spent throwing mud at her flank.”
“Mud? You threw mud at me?”
“It weren’t you, really. Ah was fighting Nightmare Moon. Then, even when she turned back into you, she weren’t really you. She was kinda young, just barely passed being a filly, and scrawny, like she hadn’t eaten fer a couple o’ months. She did have yer eyes though, and when Ah saw them Ah got right powerful homesick.”
“And that’s why you raced home to me?” Luna asked
“Eeeyup!”
“Without even thinking of the other Luna?”
“Eeeyup!”
“Too bad I’m not Apple enough to know if you’re telling me the truth,” she chuckled warmly.
Big Mac nickered. “Give it time, princess. Ma mom weren’t born an Apple, but once she’d joined the family it got so ya couldn’t pull anything on her.”
“So you’re saying becoming an Apple is like catching a disease.”
“Eeeyup... jest like falling in love. It’s something ya never get cured o’.”
“Who would want to?” Luna asked with a laugh. She trotted up the dais and went behind the two thrones, pushing on a recessed stone in the floor. A hidden door opened and she led Big Mac through it.
Walking side by side down the secret passage they passed a number of taloned hands lining each side of the hallway. “This seems a bit familiar,” the stallion observed. “Let me guess, it leads down into a sub-basement where we’ll find an organ that doubles as a way to spring traps throughout the castle?”
“A harpsicord, not an organ,” the dark-blue alicorn corrected, “with a resonance dome above so it could be heard throughout the castle when we wanted.”
“Sounds like something a couple o’ immortal alicorns would do ta pass the time.”
When they reached the “music room” Luna immediately went over to the harpsicord and tapped out a melody consisting of five notes. Bee flat, C, A flat, octave drop, A flat and E flat. The simple chord echoed across the chamber. She then pressed all three hoof pedals simultaneously. There was a grinding sound and the far wall opened into a very dark, musty passage.
“Nice ta know the thing still works after a thousand years,” observed Big Mac.
“The entire castle is interlaced with as many preservation spells as possible, with reinforcement spells placed on those to keep them running as long as possible.”
“Spells on spells,” chuckled the stallion. “Y’all are serious on keeping up appearances.”
“You can judge the results for yourself,” Luna replied. She rose from the keyboard and led her fiancé into the passageway beyond. The wall slid shut behind them leaving both alicorns in total darkness.
“Ah’ve got this.” There was a momentary pause, then the sound of a match being struck against a wall was heard. Big Mac’s horn flared up and cast a circle of light about them which stretched more than fifty feet into the darkness.
“Why did you make that sound effect?”
“Helps me ta focus and makes it easier ta cast the spell.”
“Do you do this with all of your magic?” nickered Luna.
“Nnnope. Just spells that are irksome difficult or ones Ah don’t want ta spend several minutes casting.”
“You do know sound illusions spells are difficult in and of themselves.”
“Who said anything about spells? When Ah was a colt Ah was the champion mimic in all of Ponyville. Sorta used it as a replacement fer words when Ah didn’t feel like talking much.”
“Somehow, I’m not surprised that you are so versatile.” Luna took a step forward then jumped back, bumping flanks with Big Mac when she heard the screech of a rat whose tail she thought she must have stepped on. She looked up at her fiancé and caught the slightest hint of a smile on his face. “Oh, you are so paying for that later,” she muttered.
The alicorns carefully made their way down the passage. At one point, the walls changed from smooth stone blocks to roughhewn rock. “We’ve passed the castle’s foundation and are now descending into the cave system where the Tree of Harmony lives,” Luna explained.
“How far do these caves go?” Big Mac asked.
“Tia and I spent a full week exploring them more than a thousand years ago. We never did find an end, or for that matter a clear direction in which they headed. The deeper we went, the more like a maze the passages became. We called off our search when we came across the remains of a great dragon.”
“How would a great dragon get all the way down here?”
Luna shook her head. “I don’t know. The passages leading into the cavern where we found it were too small for the creature, so it must have crawled down here while small, then grew up very fast.”
“Greed induced growth?”
“More than likely. We found its skeleton lying next to a large vein of gold. Trouble is, once down here, it couldn’t leave and probably starved to death.”
“Hope it didn’t suffer much,” Big Mac observed.
“I wouldn’t know, but from what I remember of Starswirl’s lessons on dragon lore, it probably burned up most of its magical energy reserves growing too quickly. I’d guess it probably slipped into a coma before dying.
The stallion quietly considered this, remembering the great “Spike” rampage a few years ago. In retrospect, the little guy was pretty lucky.
They came to a cross passage and Luna nodded her horn to the left. Fifteen minutes, and about a dozen turns later they finally entered the chamber containing the Tree of Harmony.
Big Mac looked around, but couldn’t see any of the black vines that had infested the chamber on the other world. He breathed a simple sigh of relief.
“This might be a lot easier than Ah originally thought.”
A soft, wicked laugh echoed through the chamber, rising in volume and strength as both he and Luna sought its source.
“Or not....”
“That sounds familiar,” muttered Luna. Her eyes suddenly went wide in recognition and her horn lit up with a shimmering, silver magic. With moments Luna was covered with a magical, silver inlayed black armor, summoned to her by her magics. “No... Not you. Not again.”
“No... Not Me. At least not the me that you think I am,” the voice replied; “though I imagine I know you better than anypony else might. After all, we were together for a thousand years.”
“You cannot be here,” the Princess of the Night declared, both anger and fear brought a tremor to her voice. “The Elements sent you back to the realm of shadows. You need a host to exist in the real world.”
“Yes, and in the same instant that I was forced from your mind I found another living host. One much more pliable and easier to dominate. One that took me time to mold, to prepare, and one filled with enough chaos magic to last a thousand lifetimes.”
“SHOW THYSELF, MONSTER!”
“As you wish...” A figure stepped slowly from the shadows. It was an alicorn, three times the size of Big Mac, with wide, bat shaped wings and a pair of fangs long enough to be daggers. Its body undulated as black vines twisted back and forth, lacing themselves through the form so as to make it look solid.
“Hello princess,” the figure smiled wickedly. “You may call me Nightmare Plunder.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Princess Luna took a step back, bracing herself even as she summoned a pair of swords that for all intents looked like solid moonlight. “What does thou want, shadow? Why remain in this world?”
The Nightmare chuckled even as she began moving to her left. “What do I want? I want what I’ve always wanted... the world. A land of eternal shadows and eternal night. A home for every shade who would then follow me. A physical form for every being, for every demon within the dark realm. In short... EVERYTHING!”
“Well, ya ain’t gonna find it here,” declared Big Mac. “Ya done tried once, a thousand years ago and wound up on the moon fer yer troubles. Ah’d recommend ya call this off now and go home, peaceful-like, before we kick ya from here ta Tartarus.”
Plunder laughed at the red-furred alicorn. “Well look what we have here. Some, hick farmer dressed up like a prince. Go home, little pony. Go home and play dress-up with your friends. Make them believe you are more than you really are.”
Luna bristled at the Nightmare’s comments. “Thou dares much, speaking to my intended in such a manner. He is a prince of the hoof, of the horn and of the wing. Within him lies a nobility beyond thy knowledge and a courage that will burn you if you challenge him. Do as he commands. Depart this world and nevermore return.”
The vine covered creature stopped and faced Luna, smiling wickedly. “You’ve changed, oh Princess of Dreams! For a thousand years you were a simpering and whining child. Crying over your cursed life as my host. Struggling uselessly to overcome me” The shadow creature rippled as more and more tendrils added themselves to her form. Her expression became one of suppressed anger. “Oh how I hated every tear you shed, every piercing regret and moment of self-pity you pushed into my mind, hoping to break the bond I forged with thee. But now! Now you show me power, you show me strength. Had you but given me your favor when we first returned I could have easily brought down those children and their elements. Is love truly so strong as to take a mewling foal and make of her an avenging angel?”
Luna snorted, a frosty mist exploding from her nostrils. “Love is what it is. It’s something you will never know, something you can never take from another. Now begone! Return to thy shadow realm before I rend you from your new host and cast you into the pit myself.”
“No,” the Nightmare replied. “I think not.”
Two tendrils shot out from the demon alicorn, one reaching for Big Mac, the other for Luna. Each responded instantly. The red-furred stallion slammed both of his fore hooves into the ground, his horn glowing green. A wall of rock and earth sprang up between the Nightmare and him, blocking the attack. Luna telekinetically swung both swords, shredding the vine as it reached for her throat.
A third sword appeared out of the ether, lining up with a series of spinning, silver circles that stretched between Luna and the Nightmare. There was a brief flash and the sword flew across the room, impaling the giant alicorn through the chest.
Instead of falling however, the creature simply laughed, then pulled the sword out of its chest. She held it for a moment, then blew on it causing it to disintegrate like a cloud of sparkling ash. The creature whirled, striking at Big Mac’s wall with both back hooves, shattering it into a cloud of dust and debris.
“Well,” the red-furred stallion muttered glancing quickly at Luna, “that didn’t quite work as expected.” An instant later another tendril leapt from the monster and wrapped itself around Big Mac’s throat. The prince forced his head down and touched his horn to the vine. There was the sound of sizzling and the coil disintegrated before it even had a chance to tighten.
“Just a word fer future reference,” the stallion said. “Ah don’t like weeds!” Both his horn and forehooves glowed as again the floor erupted, this time in the form of a massive spike that drove through the creature, but it didn’t stop there. A dozen more spears slammed upward, piercing the plant from a dozen different directions. Each acted like a sailor’s marlin spike, prying the tendrils apart, and like a knot in a rope, weakening its overall structure until loops and segments of vine began to come undone. The magic came easily to him because removing knots from rope was a task he had grown up doing on the farm.
The monster’s alicorn form began to collapse in on itself. The individual parts of the plant reached for the two lovers. Big Mac looked at Luna. “Can y’all hold that thing off fer a couple o’ minutes?”
“With pleasure,” the princess responded. She then conjured a scythe of moonlight and began slashing at the creature’s tendrils vigorously, forcing them back several feet.
The stallion backed away from the fight moving towards the Tree of Harmony. Using his magic, he lifted the wicker saddlebags from his back and up-ended them, spilling their contents across the cavern floor. Using his own telekinesis, he scooped up the ornate box that had been at the bottom of one of the baskets and opened it. He quickly and precisely lifted each Element of Harmony from the box and began to place them in their proper position on the tree.
He had completed the first four, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Honesty, when the Nightmare became aware of what he was doing. Screaming in rage, she struck out with her vines threatening to unbind her alicorn form. Luna scythed through more than two dozen of the vines even as one of them grabbed her around the throat. Before she could react the monster hurled her against the caverns’ nearest wall, stunning her for a moment.
The alicorn princess lay there for a moment, shaking her head to clear it. As she looked up she saw one of the creature’s tendrils harden into a rigid spear and drive itself through the back of Big Mac’s shoulder blades, exiting with a gush of blood from his throat. He staggered, but remained standing because the vine that had impaled him was partially supporting his weight.
“NOOOOOOOO!” screamed Luna. In an instant she was on her hooves whirling to face the creature. Rage twisted her features and washed through her mind; a kind of rage she had not felt for over a thousand years. Her physical form changed as she once more turned into the Nightmare. Her eyes become a solid bluish-white with streams of blue energy flowing like waves from them. All warmth, all caring had vanished to be replaced by the icy coldness of night. No longer was she the Princess of Dreams. In an instant she became Luna, Princess of Nightmares. The moon’s light streamed from every part of her form and she channeled it all against her foe.
“THOU CLAIMS TO BE THE NIGHTMARE, BUT AT THY CORE THOU ARE BUT A THIEF. THOU STOLE MY BODY, MY FORM, BUT THOU ARE NOT ME. THERE IS BUT ONE NIGHTMARE IN THIS REALM AND I NAME THEE FOR WHO THOU ARE, A THIEF, A PLUNDERER... AND I WOULD HAVE THEE GONE FROM MY SIGHT!”
The Nightmare let the monster have it all. All the rage and fear of seeing her love so grievously hurt. An entire millennium’s worth of the loneliness she’d felt at having been separated from her sister. A thousand years of pain, helplessness, torture, sorrow, imprisonment and struggle; it all focused itself into a single, bright thread of moonlight. She hurled that light through her opponent’s forehead, unbinding everything the Plunderer had become.
In a last moment of bright clarity the monster realized how badly she’d under estimated the Princess. This was no simpering foal she faced, no foolishly jealous mare whom she had once taken and enslaved through guile and surprise. It was an elemental force of nature and of will, against which she’d never really had a chance. A wail of anguish filled the cavern and the creature disintegrated into dust.
Silence descended upon the chamber, broken finally by a choking gasp from Big Mac as he slowly collapsed to his knees. Princess Luna turned and raced over to him, letting go her Nightmare form even as she knelt beside the stallion.
“No, no, no, no...” she muttered over and over as she tried to recall every bit of healing magic she knew. She nuzzled his head, and the stallion opened his eyes, taking a ragged, incomplete breath of air. He coughed and blood trickled from his lips.
“Help... me. We need... need ta finish. Put... puttin’ the Elements... back. He weakly reached out with his magic, trying to lift one of the Elements into the tree, but he couldn’t.
Tears came to Luna’s eyes. “Shhh, quiet now my love... please, please rest while I heal thee.” Her horn began softly glowing.
Big Mac weakly shook his head. “Nnnope! Gotta... put these back...” He insisted. Luna simply nodded, then took the last two Elements from the box and carefully placed them on the tree.
“This... too,” the stallion croaked weakly, tapping at his collar with his forehoof.
Lifting his collar from around his neck, Luna carefully removed the last Element from where it was hidden. Blood dripped from the leather and wood as she set aside. She looked up at the tree, then placed the small green apple-shaped gem in a spot that had appeared in its crook. There was an abrupt flare of light as the tree received the last of the Elements.
The princess cast a small shield spell to prevent Big Mac and herself from being blinded by the intense light. It continued for almost a full minute, then faded. When Luna was finally able to open her eyes she saw the cavern now gleamed in the light of a fully renewed Tree of Harmony.
Seeing the tree for the first time in more than a thousand years Luna could not help but to feel humbled. The tree possessed more power than any other living thing in all of Equis. Staring at it, her eyes glazed over and her mind lost focus on the world around her. She thought she heard a voice echoing somewhere within her mind.
“It is good to see you again, Princess Luna. It has been much too long since we talked.”
“Who?”
“Come now... think back to our first meeting, when I loaned you and your sister the power to save your kingdom. I know that you forgot I had spoken to you then. Don’t tell me you also forgot my name.”
Luna dug deep within her memory, trying to remember details about the Elements of Harmony and the search she and Celestia had made for them. “Arual,” she said finally. “Your name is Arual.”
There was a soft chuckling like the sound of a breeze through the leaves. “Now, was that really so hard?”
Luna swallowed at the lump of fear that had formed in her throat. The Princess had not anticipated facing the Tree of Harmony so soon or so directly. She looked at the tree and bowed her head, her horn touching the ground. “I would humbly beseech your forgiveness, Arual. I and my sister failed you. We forgot our promise to return that which you loaned us so long ago.
“I understand the need you faced and the events which followed. When one loans something to a child, it is with the awareness that the child might accidently forget promises made. Fear not, thou art forgiven. It is the least I can do, seeing as thou has already been punished for thy neglect and misuse of my gifts.”
“Punished?”
”A thousand year banishment to the moon and a loss of your affinity for the Elements. I would say that renders all debts level. I must admit it seems ironic that even as I forgive you, I owe your betrothed yet again for returning the Elements when I had most need of them, as he did in that other world.”
“Yes... He nearly drove Tia and me insane insisting that...” Luna abruptly stopped and her eyes went wide as both panic and guilt washed over her. “BIG MAC... No he’s hurt! I have to help him. How could I have forgotten...?”
“Ya called,” the stallion’s voice abruptly resonated through her thoughts. She suddenly felt his strong and calm presence within her mind and her panic faded.
“Thou art alright?” Luna frantically thought towards her intended.
“Eeeyup! Aural healed me while ya was distracted talking with her. Though Ah suspect Ah’ll be feeling this when Ah finally wake up.”
“Wake up?”
“Yes... I placed him into a healing sleep so his body and mind can recover from the wounds he sustained helping me.”
“But how...?” Luna paused for a moment. “He’s asleep! He must be talking to us in his dreams.”
“And you being the Princess of Dreams can hear him.”
“Eeeyup,” the stallion chuckled.
“You just now said that we returned the Elements at the moment you most needed them,” Luna observed.
“The Plunderer was driven from your body almost two years ago. In the instant of her banishment she discovered Discord’s vines against which I have been struggling for several hundred years. Because they are a living entity, she was able to possess them, which at first helped me tremendously. Unfortunately, as she gained strength, she also learned how to use the chaos magic within the vines to draw my own magic to her.”
“Was that how she was able ta take on that alicorn shape?” Big Mac asked.
”Yes,” replied Aural. “Had you not returned my magic and defeated her, I would not have been able to hold out very much longer.”
Luna looked at Big Mac then faced Arual once more. “When last my sister and I faced that kind of magic, it took the Elements of Harmony to defeat it. I am a little curious as to how I was able to defeat the Nightmare alone.”
“Alicorn magic is much greater than most realize. The Nightmare and the Daybreaker are the most powerful extensions of what you could become. Both you and Celestia know this instinctively, which is why you both wisely limit how much power you allow yourselves to use. Additionally, you try to use your power with as little emotion as possible. Such was not the case here, thus the Plunderer was driven away.”
Princess Luna glanced over at Big Mac, who immediately stepped up and lay one of his forehooves across her shoulder, drawing her into a hug. She smiled in response. The stallion then looked up at Arual. “Y’all said this Plunderer was driven away. Ain’t she destroyed?”
“Unfortunately, no! The plunder vines have had hundreds of years to grow secretly throughout the region, buried deep underground. Luna did hurt her, badly, but she was able to escape along the root system to who knows where. I am very much afraid you haven’t heard the last of the Plunderer. She will however need a considerable amount of time to regather her power, and thanks to you I can easily drive her off should she ever try again to seize control of me.”
“Fair enough,” replied Big Mac, yawning.
“It looks as if we need to end this dream for now so you can get some honest rest,” Luna observed.
“But Ah ain’t tired... much.” The Princess of Dreams responded by tapping her horn gently across the stallion’s. There was a brief shower of golden dust and Big Mac was sound asleep. Luna looked at Arual.
“With the Plunderer on the loose, how shall we fight it?” asked the Princess.
“I can sense you are worried about the elements. Fear not. I shall employ the same solution here as I did in the world your fiancé thinks of as Neverwere. I shall gift each bearer a shard of the element they represent. Weave these into necklaces and should the need arise, they will be able to tap directly into my power for a short period of time, provided they do so as one.”
“I and my sister thank-thee for thy most profound gift.”
“Indeed... You shall have need of it. Use it wisely and well.”
Luna’s eyes became unglazed as she was once more aware of the world around her. The Tree of Harmony stood silently above her, vibrantly alive with power. At its base sat the box which had contained the original Elements. Opening it, the Princess saw seven small shards, carefully lined up, patiently awaiting the necklaces they would soon adorn.
Closing it, Luna looked towards her betrothed. As promised, his wounds were healed though he still lay in a small puddle of dried blood. He snorted, breathing quietly and easily as one does when in a deep sleep.
Luna used her magic to gently clean her lover off, cleansing the last traces of his blood from the cavern. As she worked she noticed the air was filled with the slowly fading smell of burnt wood and a number of ashen tendrils of plunder vine trailed along the chamber floor. The Princess quietly lay her sleeping prince back down and smiled to herself in satisfaction. For a thousand years she’d been dominated by that creature, dreaming of the day when she would be truly free. Now, she was.
“Take that, you bitch!” she whispered.
Gathering the remnants of their planned picnic, Luna carefully set out what they had brought, then waited patiently for Big Mac to awaken. Her sister had promised to oversee the moonrise if their “mission” went longer than anticipated, so her mind was clear and she quietly meditated in the aura of the tree. It wasn’t too long before the alicorn prince groaned, then stiffly sat up.
“Anypony git the number o’ that oxcart that hit me?”
Luna laughed softly. “Not to worry, love. That particular oxcart went over a cliff and can’t hurt you again.
The stallion looked around, taking in the tree, the cavern and the picnic lunch that was laid out before them. “Ah had a dream...” He paused for a moment then smiled, remembering. “Y’all got ta talk with Aural. We won, didn’t we?”
“That we did,” the princess replied, leaning in and kissing Big Mac. He happily returned the kiss. Breaking away, Luna looked at the stallion and smiled. “I don’t know about you, but I feel just a tad hungry. Shall we enjoy our luncheon before going home?”
The prince looked at Luna and smiled. “Eeeyup! Though Ah don’t know what we’re gonna do about dessert. It looks like the apple tarts Ah made got a might smushed.”
“Oh, I can think of a few ideas,” the Princess of the Night replied, a coquettish smile framing her face. They leaned close to each other intending to kiss, but were interrupted by the soft sound of a plop. Looking up, they saw that a small, white fruit had dropped from a branch of the tree and was rolling, quite willfully, towards them. It came to a stop in the middle of the blanket between them, glistening like a star.
The two lovers looked at each other and laughed.
