Escape from Hell

Chapters

1 A Plan Begins to Form
2 Visiting Hours
3 Magic Regained
4 A Love Declared
5 Stronger Together
7 The Power of the Night
8 The Dream Realm
9 Saving Celestia
Epilogue
6 Confrontation

1 A Plan Begins to Form

Twilight sat and brooded. She had chosen to lament her position from one of the many platforms linked by a network of walkways to the central area where Cerberus stood guard over the many caged creatures.

There were four shackles on this platform, each locked magically into the solid rock beneath them, and each linked to a sturdy looking enchanted iron ring to which would be attached the chains holding a prisoner unfortunate enough to be sentenced to survive immortality in this wretched place.

The fact that this platform had no current occupant did not detract from the fact that Twilight knew she was also a prisoner too, albeit one with special, if temporary privileges.

When she had first been abandoned here by her former mentor, Princess Celestia, she had cried; cried at the injustice of being incarcerated with those creatures that had committed crimes against Equestria, cried because she now knew what being a prisoner here meant, cried for her family and friends, but above all cried for the sense of betrayal she felt towards the kindly Diarch who had always treated her with such love and attention.

Here, there was no day or night, no weather, in fact nothing to mark the passage of time, just a minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day existence punctuated only by the arrival of Princess Celestia once a week. This visit, she had come to realise, was no invitation to tea and cake such as she had been used to, but instead the jailer coming to extract punishment from the inmates, a frightening and barbaric payment for their crimes.

Twilight dreaded the day when the pure white mare would tire of her usual victims and come to seek her out; Celestia had not denied this fate would await her at some time in the future, before leaving her here to return to the lie of her comfortable existence in Canterlot.

Twilight did not relish the thought of the mare she had come to love like her second mother chasing her and pinning her down while she ate her living heart from her. No, she had a secret weapon; she was a librarian, a fact that Celestia had overlooked. She had read the entire contents of Ponyville library, the library in the Castle of the Two Sisters and Canterlot library, including the restricted section. She knew stuff, stuff that she hoped would enable her to devise an escape plan.

Tears and self-pity began slowly to change into thoughts of plans, each little nugget being the germ of an idea that she developed and modified as she played out likely scenarios in her head.

Firstly, who could she call upon for help? Cerberus was loyal to Celestia, so his support was out of the question. The other creatures, whilst desperate for release, would probably just rush to escape as soon as they could without hanging around, and who could blame them? Further, were they the sort of creatures that should be allowed to escape back into Equestria in the first place?

If she was to take on Celestia, she needed magic, and as she had no magic of her own down here, she needed something that contained magic that she would then be able to channel. The only magical items that she knew worked within Tartarus were Celestia’s crown and livery collar, but taking them would involve getting close, dangerously close to her. Also Celestia would have to be distracted in order to have even the slimmest chance of the plan working. An idea was crystallising, but it wasn’t one that filled her with any particular enthusiasm. However, that said, she didn’t exactly relish the prospect of being stuck in Tartarus for ever either.

For the remainder of the week, she considered carefully her plans and went over every possible scenario until she was sure the possibility for most optimal outcome had been maximised. She also knew that she had only one shot at escape, and if it went wrong, she could expect to spend the rest of eternity in a cage.

She flexed her wings and flew off to another location, not so much because she was bored with the featureless scenery where she was, but because she wanted to go over her plans again from a different perspective. She reviewed what she had already and went over all the details again, knowing that for this plan to work, she would have to be focused, more focused than she had ever been in her entire life and fought to control her fear. There were, as she had come to appreciate, no easy solutions to recover from her current position.

Twilight did little else in the forthcoming days but run through her ideas over and over, introducing increasingly far-fetched variables until she felt she had a plan that would stand whatever happened. She felt scared, truly scared, but knew she had to suppress her fears if she were to have any chance of pulling off the plan and ever seeing friends and family again.

The week since she had been banished was almost at an end, but it was difficult to tell with any certainty. The ambience of immortality within Tartarus had robbed her of her circadian rhythm and left her unable to make any valid judgement on the passage of time. With nothing else to do, she sat on a rocky outcrop overlooking the narrow path that led from the imposing double doors and waited.

2 Visiting Hours

Author's Note

For those readers who wish to avoid a disturbing scene that includes some gore, an 'E' rated summary of this chapter is as follows:

Celestia arrives and Twilight flies down to meet her on a narrow walkway, making sure she is on the side nearest the door. She learns that Celestia has told everypony that she was killed by an Ursa Major and her funeral will be in two days’ time. Then Twilight offers herself up as a sacrifice, and goads Celestia, who although initially reluctant, is unable to help herself.

Twilight is terrified but knows such an attack will come sooner or later anyway and be repeated many times over if she doesn’t escape. As she prepares herself for the assault, Twilight regrets never having told Rainbow that she is secretly in love with her.

The attack is savage, but Twilight has prepared herself for what to expect and she also knows the magic in Tartarus will regenerate her quickly. When Celestia is at her closest, Twilight reaches up and steals her crown and livery collar. She is too engrossed to notice, but Cerberus alerts her and tries to get past her but can’t because the walkway is too narrow. When Celestia finally looks up, she sees a defiant Twilight wearing her crown.

2 Visiting Hours

At some indeterminate time later, a series of heavy duty latches and levers dragged themselves clear of the door and the creatures in their cages suspended the background noise that Twilight had become accustomed to over the last week. Everything was eerily quiet, save for the echoing of solitary hoofsteps coming down from the door.

Twilight waited until Celestia was halfway across a narrow walkway with a sheer drop either side, and flew down to meet her, taking care to land behind her, the side nearest the door.
“Hello Princess” she said innocently, “I’ve come to ask if you have forgiven me.”
Celestia turned to face her.
“Twilight, you know I can’t afford to let you go, not given what you know.”
“What did you tell my family and friends?”
“I told them you had been attacked by an Ursa Major and there was nothing left. They believed me, of course, and your State funeral will be held in two days’ time.”
“I love you Celestia and I believe you still love me too. I still believe you love me enough not to keep me down here, and I want to prove it to both of us here and now.”
“Twilight …”
“Here and now, Celestia!”
The white mare rolled her red eyes and shook her head.
“Eat my heart out, right here and now Celestia, or I will forever believe you love me. I am so confident of your love that I will not even try to resist.”
With this, she lay back, wings folded with all four legs spread-eagled, offering her exposed chest.
“Here and now, Celestia!” she repeated, her heart beating feverishly.

Celestia tried to look away, but the malevolent presence staring out through her bright red eyes was robbing her of her free will, and although she fought, she found herself edging closer towards the defenceless lilac pony, and Twilight knew she would not be able to resist.

She braced herself for the most unimaginable pain as Celestia’s muzzle glided slowly, almost affectionately up her body. Twilight kept her eyes open although she wished she didn’t have to, but she needed to double check whether she could reach the crown. She could tell that, as she had expected, it was still just out of her reach and braced herself.

Celestia snorted, the warm air from her nostrils rippling Twilight’s chest fur, a cold malevolence burning behind her red eyes.

Twilight prayed to everything she knew that she would be able to keep a cool head in the next few minutes, or she would never see the light of day again. She thought of Rainbow Dash; the affair she had always wanted to have with her, but somehow never found the right words to express her heartfelt desire. She thought of her brother, the courageous Captain of the Guard and prayed for his strength. She thought of her parents and prayed for their love.

An involuntary scream passed her lips as she was shaken from her thoughts by the shock of Celestia’s muzzle smacking hard into her ribs, completely winding her. As she tried desperately to breathe in once more, she felt a sharp pain that she knew from her anatomical studies to be broken ribs. She also knew worse was to come, far worse. Even now, part of her was morbidly intrigued and wanted to catalogue the feeling as the first pony to survive the experience and then record it for the benefit of others.

She felt another blow on her chest, and the sharp pain she had recognised as her ribs breaking being multiplied many times over, but fought to keep herself defenceless so Celestia was not put on her guard. She told herself over and over as she was being violated that this was not, indeed could not be the Celestia who had always loved her so much. Although her legs twitched with a desire to lash out, she forced them to remain supine and non-threatening; she wasn’t going to put herself through all this just to miss the one opportunity for escape.

She didn’t beg for Celestia to stop, although at that moment it was what she wanted more than anything, but she was prepared to allow herself the luxury of crying, if only she had the breath to do it.

Her skin was being pulled away from her ribcage in sharp tugs and then she saw Celestia’s bright red muzzle as her head pulled back momentarily before diving in and grabbing purchase on her ribs, crunching them with her fearsome jaws.

She felt the repeated thumps to her chest as Celestia punched into her time after time, snapping and crunching the ribs out of her way to give her an unobstructed view of her victim’s heart, that right now was racing in sheer terror.

Finally having made a hole large enough, Celestia looked lustfully at the damage she had wreaked and rammed in hard to go for the prize of another week’s immortality.

With her muzzle buried deep, Twilight forced herself to overcome the paralysing pain in her chest and could see that now, for the first time, Celestia’s crown was within her grasp and reached up to grab it off her head, ripping it clear. Quickly she fumbled with the clasp on the livery collar and as she felt it undo, pulled it clear to one side, free from Celestia’s neck.

While Celestia was so absorbed in feasting on her latest victim, she remained oblivious to Twilight’s actions, but Cerberus could see what was happening and all three heads started barking at once, trying urgently to alert their mistress. He wanted to get past her and stop Twilight’s plans, but she had anticipated his loyalty and right from the very start positioned herself on the narrow path on the opposite side from him, denying him the room he needed to get past his mistress and crucially, preventing him from interfering.

Celestia looked up, alerted by her pet’s warning and turned her blood soaked face, struggling through her blood lust to understand what it was he was trying to convey to her, but when she looked back, Twilight was wearing her crown, and instead of pain, all she could see in the lilac pony’s eyes was the strong light of defiance burning brightly.

3 Magic Regained

The pain in her chest was still agonising, but the regenerative magic within Tartarus was working, and she was already beginning to heal, every second bringing more relief to her shattered body.

“I command you freeze!” she called out, the magic in Celestia’s crown responding to her spell casting and sending a bolt of magic out towards her blood soaked attacker who seized on the spot, Cerberus all three heads baying behind her to get past and help his mistress.

Twilight gasped as her pulse returned and the healing process began to slowly deliver her more strength. The more the feeling returned to her body, the more she became aware of an odd sensation as her ribs were healing and the skin reformed.

She got to her hooves, a more difficult task then she had expected given the weakness remaining in her body from the injuries she had sustained, but she rose up to her full height as the last of the fur formed back into place over what had only recently been a gaping hole, and fitted on the gold livery collar. Now, she had magic, and whatever Celestia magic had was diminished by no longer having her crown to work through.

Twilight took one further look at Celestia, the look on her face being a cross between anger and fear. Fear, an emotion she had never seen from her before. Twilight stopped momentarily transfixed by indecision and then knew what she had to do; turn and run!

She galloped the short distance towards the double doors and focused her energy through the crown and onto the amethyst in the livery collar, causing a purple beam to shoot forth, heralding the creaking and groaning of the massive doors. Cerberus was baying frantically behind her, and she realised that there was a chance he may be able to get past the temporarily frozen Celestia, so ran for her life, not looking back.

Twilight skidded to a halt just as she passed the doors and turned quickly to lock them again, seeing the massive three headed dog bounding up the path and Celestia flying just above him, her eyes radiating the most vindictive anger. She urged the doors to close faster, but they were performing their task with the same solemnity as they always did, and would not be hurried.

She lowered her horn and fired off another freezing spell, desperate to buy just a few more seconds, but had forgotten that because she was now beyond the threshold of Tartarus, her own magic was no longer disabled. Although Celestia’s crown was well used to opening and closing these doors, the addition of her own magic no longer created a linear result and she gasped in surprise as a raincloud suddenly appeared, dropping a blinding hailstorm of marshmallows.

Twilight gawped, transfixed in utter astonishment as the doors banged shut, leaving her stood in an empty cave. She could only imagine the scenes on the other side. Possibly, the completely random spell had caught Celestia by surprise or maybe they were never going to get to the doors in time anyway. She didn’t want to wait around and ask, and galloped towards the cave’s mouth before launching into the clear fresh air, beautifully untainted by the stale stench of Tartarus.

She had no idea how long it would take Celestia to open the doors, but knew it would be a question of when and not if, so flew on as if her life depended on it, not daring to look back. As she flew, she went through the list of ponies she needed to see and decided that it might be safest to head for Ponyville, away from Canterlot.

4 A Love Declared

Twilight kept up a pace that would have made Rainbow Dash look twice, ever fearful of a white alicorn approaching from behind. Eventually the familiar outskirts of Ponyville came into sight and she flew round until she saw what she wanted, a cloud with a blue shape on it. She spun on a wingtip and dived down back-winging furiously to avoid speeding straight through the cloud.

Rainbow Dash just gawked. She had red rimmed eyes where she had obviously been crying a lot, and as Twilight had suspected, had chosen to pour out her sorrows where nopony else would see. Twilight reached forward with both forehooves and grabbed the shocked pegasus firmly by her cheeks, pulling her close. Time seemed to stop as their lips touched and the reserved Princess overpowered the brash pegasus, kissing her with far greater passion than the iconic Wonderbolt had ever known. She responded gratefully to the unprecedented outpouring of emotion and both held each other tight, each feeling the beating of the other’s heart as they shared the closest moment of their lives.

“Sorry” apologised the lilac Princess, “I never told you I love you. And right now I need to tell you more than anything else. Touching you, feeling you, being with you; there’s nothing more important in my life, and I don’t ever want to be without you again.”
“Twi…?” she gasped, “But you’re dead - your funeral’s in two days’ time …”
“Rainbow” she said, forcing herself to pull away from the reassuring warmth of the most beautiful mare she could imagine, “I am very much alive, but I will need your help and that of our friends if I am going to stay that way. Round them up and bring the Elements of Harmony, but don’t tell anypony why, and especially don’t tell anypony, not even royalty that I’m alive – I am more deadly serious than I have ever been in my life. Bring them to the Castle of the Two Sisters as soon as you can.”
“Twi, I …” began the cyan mare with uncharacteristic bashfulness, more tears forming in her eyes.
“I know, Rainbow” she replied softly, placing a forehoof gently onto her cyan lips “Believe me my love, I know, and I regret never having told you sooner.”
“See you there soon as I can” she said, “And Twilight …”
“Yes?”
“I … I’m so glad you’re safe … and …” she faltered, her rose coloured eyes betraying an inner depth that Twilight had never seen before, “I love you.”
Rainbow slipped off her cloud before she embarrassed herself any further, flying off to round up their friends while Twilight stood stock still, watching her fly away and whispered after her, “I love you too …”
She waited until long after the last of Rainbow’s multicoloured trail had melted from the sky before taking to the air and heading off the other way, toward the old abandoned castle, the first genuine smile on her face for a week.

Twilight had never felt scared in the castle since the night she had defeated Nightmare Moon. Sure, Nightmare Moon had challenged Celestia there and lost, but with the rehabilitation of Princess Luna, all those malevolent memories had faded. However, for some reason, she felt her sixth sense screaming at her. She had chosen this place because when Celestia got free she would naturally come after her friends and their well known haunts, such as Sweet Apple Acres, Sugarcube Corner or even the Castle of Friendship. However, they had all pretty much left this place alone for a long time now, and so she figured this would be one of the last places she would come looking, yet close enough for the earth ponies and unicorns to reach.

Shivers ran up and down her spine and she fully imagined Celestia; not the loving and caring mentor, but the blood stained red-eyed monster coming to confront her from behind a pillar or around a corner and finish the job she had started. She was scared now, but determined not to show it as she climbed up into a high tower with a good lookout over the approach from Ponyville and barricaded the door behind her.

5 Stronger Together

Seconds dragged by in her high vantage point as she looked around nervously, quartering the sky as well as looking for any movement on the ground just in case any unwelcome visitors should come looking or her. She was more acutely aware now than at any other time, that being caught meant a lifetime sentence of merciless living death. She had enjoyed a few brief seconds of intimacy with the mare of her dreams and if she were to be caught, she would at least have that one fleeting memory to carry her through eternity, but she prayed that the fates would smile on her and allow them a full and happy life together, now she knew Rainbow felt the same way.

She became aware of movement on the ground; an orange pony with tail and mane tied in red ribbon racing towards the castle in the lengthening evening shadows like she was leading the annual Running of the Leaves. Suddenly she didn’t feel quite so alone and removed the barricades at the door before running down to meet the apple farmer, dear, dependable, honest Applejack.

AJ was looking around, trying to locate what it was that had got Rainbow in such a tizzy when she had demanded they meet up here immediately, but nothing seemed amiss.

Twilight stood in the doorway and checked the sky again quickly before softly calling out her name.
The earth pony stiffened. She knew the voice, but its owner was dead; Princess Celestia had told her so herself, and she of all ponies wouldn’t tell a lie, certainly not one like that.

She turned, her green eyes widening as they fell on the lilac figure stood in the doorway.
“Twilight?” she asked tentatively, “Is that you Sugarcube?”
“You have no idea how nice it is to see you again Applejack” she replied, “But I suggest you come up into the castle, so you’re not seen.”
“Why?” she asked, trotting over as she had been requested, “What the hay is going on?”

Just then, Rarity emerged, panting. She could just make out AJ in the doorway but nothing or nopony in the darkness beyond.
“Applejack darling” she enquired between gasps, “What is all the commotion? I was just completing a very complex appliqué that’s going to form the centrepiece of my latest collection.”
“Ah suggest you might want to come over here Sugarcube” drawled AJ, moving to one side only once the fashionista had set hoof on the castle steps.
“T … Twilight?” she stammered, “Darling, you’re alive? We all thought you had been killed by an Ursa Major. I had even designed a range of matching mourning wear for us all, but thank Celestia, it looks like we won’t be needing it now!”
She rushed forward and gave both of her friends a heartfelt hug, tears of happiness smudging her immaculate mascara, but for once she didn’t mind in the slightest.

Rarity’s mood skipped uncharacteristically past the usual drama queen phase; something was wrong here, seriously wrong, and she could feel a strong sense of urgency from her friends; now was not the time, she told herself. Later, perhaps, she promised inwardly, if I can find a fainting couch.

Soon the six friends were reunited in the castle’s library, a room that had survived the worst ravages of time and had multiple exits should a quick escape be needed.

Twilight removed Celestia’s magical items and placed her own crown on her head, noticing that all the others were already wearing their Elements of Harmony. She rushed over what had happened as quickly as she could, fearful that they would be discovered at any minute. Celestia’s crown would certainly be acting as a beacon to its owner, drawing her in, but up until now, Twilight had nothing else that she could use to channel her magic, so had reluctantly kept it on, even knowing that it would reduce the time before she would be caught.

Mouths were agape as the friends processed what Twilight was telling them. It was almost like Shining and Cadence’s wedding all over again, when Twilight alone had realised the truth and the others had all failed to believe her. This time, it was Twilight’s word against Princess Celestia’s. She knew it would be a tough sell, to get them all to believe that their benevolent leader, the Sun Princess herself who had such a dark secret and had cruelly imprisoned Twilight and then had the bare faced audacity to lie about it.

She could see scepticism, and understood entirely, but she had a few trump cards up her sleeve; firstly she had been right about Chrysalis using the wedding to cover a changeling invasion and secondly why had Celestia told them all that she had seen Twilight die, when she clearly hadn’t?

It took less time than she thought to convince them, but unless they came up with a plan fast, all six of them would be destined for Tartarus and they knew it, Fluttershy already trembling at the prospect.

7 The Power of the Night

Just then, a door at the opposite end of the library burst open, the doors clattering loudly against the walls to either side. There stood a midnight blue mare, eyes burning brilliant moonstone white.

“Celestia, you have gone too far” she said in a quietly understated voice that carried more menace than if she had simply shouted.
“Little sister” she sneered, “I wondered when you would turn up. Isn’t it appropriate we should meet where I defeated you last time you had ideas above your station?”
“Sister, I was drawn here by disturbances in the dream realm, disturbances such as I have never seen before, and never want to again. I beseech you to stop.”
“Beseech? Have you any idea how out of touch you sound?” Celestia goaded.
“This is not you talking, Sister. Please fight off this demon that has possessed you, before you and Equestria pay too high a price.”
“Hah! I beat you before and I will beat you again Luna. Keep your muzzle out of my business and get back to painting pretty patterns in the sky that nopony ever sees; this does not concern you.”

“Sister, I draw my power from the moon and the stars. It is true that my power is at its strongest when the moon is risen, as is yours when the sun is in the sky, but if you recall, it was the stars that undid your magic and aided my escape from imprisonment in the moon. Their power is eternal and I, as Mistress of the Night, draw my immortality from them. This is because they are always in the sky; night and day, even though you can’t see them.

No matter how strong the sun may be, you can only ever be in your element for one half of the day, so when the moon rises, you are at a disadvantage. I confess I did not know this is how you maintained your power, and it is abhorrent to me.”

Celestia twitched a little uneasily but still maintained her dominant stance.
“And what exactly do you intend to do about it, little sister?”
“Please Sister, see reason and give this up. I will not fight you.”
Twilight gasped. Those were the exact words she had heard Celestia say to Nightmare Moon just before their epic battle a thousand years ago that had led to her being imprisoned in the moon.
Celestia lowered her horn menacingly to face Luna.

“Sister, you are placing the Guardian in a dichotomy” reasoned Luna, “It cannot both provide you with immortality if at the same time you are using its power to injure any of the Element Bearers, especially the Element of Magic. You have seen how it has withdrawn its power from the Elements of Harmony, so that they cannot be used against you, and I will wager it has also denied you the power to attack the Element Bearers too, as the only sensible way to stop its own power being used against itself.

Stop and think Celestia; even if you can muster some power against me, you will be no match for my magic, and if you try to direct your power against the Element Bearers, then the Guardian will prevent you. You can only lose a combat against us Celestia, any of us.

I say to you once more, stop what you are doing and shake off this demon. Become my beloved Sister once again.”

“Be careful little sister; I ruled alone for a thousand years and Equestria did not fall. I suggest you choose your next words with care. You will not be able to draw on the power from your precious stars if you are locked underground and don’t ever see the sky again.”
“Do not suppose to threaten me, Sister” retorted Luna, visibly bristling. “Or any of those standing to defend Equestria from you. You are not yourself.”
“You have made the mistake of challenging me with the sun in the sky and at my command” said Celestia coolly, “Your disadvantage is too strong”
Luna strode forward assertively until she was placed firmly between her sister and the Element Bearers, clearly not prepared to give an inch.
“Take a look outside, Sister. You will see both sun and moon in the sky, the advantage you believe you have is not real.”
“You have tricked them into trying to defeat me?”
“No Sister, to help you.”

“I do not believe you” asserted Celestia coolly, sizing up her sister through her demonic red eyes, “I will not send you to the moon his time. I have a deeper purpose for you now.”

“Disrobe yourself of your magical vestments Celestia, before you do something you will regret.”
“Regret is for the weak” she replied contemptuously as the six friends looked at each other, fearful of what would happen next.
Celestia’s horn began to glow, but Luna was on her guard and anticipated it, projecting a stream of blue magic towards her sister. Celestia’s deadly beam of energy met hers and the two magics locked in combat once more as they had last done a thousand years ago. Luna held her ground, determined; not the demonic Nightmare Moon of then, but now the more calculating of the two.

Celestia’s anger was tinged with uncertainty and although she had fired off magic against Luna, it was out of rage rather than tactical planning. It had been a bad move and if there was any truth to what Luna had said, she would lose. In a flash, her face became a mask of uncertainty. Perhaps her sister had been right?

She fought, but could feel that the magic wasn’t there. Whether this was due to the doubt Luna had planted in her mind or whether it was in fact true, she suddenly realised she could not win. She looked at Luna and could see her tears glistening down her midnight blue muzzle in the reflection of the light from the magical energy. In a frightening moment of clarity, Celestia suddenly realised that although her sister had not wanted to turn on her, she would none the less continue until she, the Sun Princess was vanquished.

How had this got so far out of hoof?

Would Luna banish her to the moon or the sun?

She would find out as soon as she woke up. If she ever woke up again.

Celestia was thrown back in a blinding flash, her crown flying off and spinning to a stop some distance away from her motionless body.

8 The Dream Realm

Luna’s eyes returned to their usual teal colour and she turned to check on the Element Bearers, who other than being startled and shocked, were uninjured.
“I must talk with my Sister” she said, “I am hopeful that whatever has seized her mind will not have considered putting up defences in the dream realm, so that is where I shall attempt to convene with her. Thank you all for your courage. I am sorry you had to witness that, and especially sorry to you, Twilight for the horrors you have endured. But now, I must join her before she reawakens.”

With that, she lay down and entered a trance like state with practised ease as her ethereal presence transcended up into the dream realm. As soon as she entered her privileged domain, she darted from one dream bubble to another seeking out what she knew must be close by and shortly found what she was looking for. With a deft wave of her forehoof she passed through the bubble and into Celestia’s subconscious.

It was dim inside, the lights of love, hope and optimism all but extinguished as the white mare lay among a morass of grey coloured tentacles. As she watched, one of them seemed to sense her and tightened its grip fractionally around Celestia’s neck causing her to start choking. In response, a lilac eye half opened and alighted on the midnight blue mare, not registering as anypony she recognised, but a blur.
“Tia” soothed Luna gently, ”Tia, this is me Lulu.”
A flicker of recognition ran across her face but died under the choking grey morass.
“Tia, I am going to get you out of this.”

Celestia tried to respond, but was clearly unable to acknowledge her sister as she wanted. She wasn’t living, she was existing on a knife edge, at the whim of this grey tentacled predator.

Luna pulled at one of the tentacles and soon found all the others tightening their grip, listening as her sister struggled pitifully for air. No, another approach was needed; this entity, whatever it was, was clearly expecting to have to defend itself, and appeared quite content to kill its host to achieve it.

She backed up and the stranglehold around her sister’s neck slackened. Luna eyed up her adversary and settled down into her meditating position, her eyes once more flashing a brilliant moonstone.
“You are clever” Luna acknowledged psychically, “You can clearly sense me, but can we communicate?”
Not feeling any response or even any recognition at her attempt to parley, she directed her magic through the same psychic channel and gently began to peel one of the grey arms away, but Celestia’s laboured breathing quickly told her that it could still sense the attempt to dislodge it and retaliated as it had before.

Luna probed the organism for a nerve structure, trying to understand its physiology and locate a nervous system that would lead to finding its brain. She probed it and viewed it in as many ways as she could, eventually finding a series of fibrous filaments emanating from the tentacles, each pulsing gently like a root network. She followed these rudimentary nerves and had to fight to suppress the disgust rising within her when she realised that each one extended deep into her sister so that predator and host had become one.

A tear drop fell from her eye as the full horror of her sister’s situation became apparent to her.
“I will protect you, Tia” she whispered softly, “Hold on Sister, be brave.”

Mentally preparing herself for the challenge that lay ahead, Luna focused deeply; this would now be a battle, and the prize was to be her sister’s life!

She shut the door on her emotions as she knew she could not allow herself to become distracted, and set about flipping through all the tomes of knowledge in her mind; everything she had ever read about magic and the arcane arts, searching to devise a strategy to deal with this hideous parasite that was claiming her beloved sister.

Eventually, her horn lit, and a stream of blue light projected forward creating a shimmering bubble of blue energy around her ailing sister, a sealed environment of her magic within which Luna, the Princess of the Night could get to work.

9 Saving Celestia

Luna surveyed the tangle of filaments and chose one, following it down until it penetrated Celestia’s coat. She shook off the feeling of revulsion and after taking a breath to calm herself, followed it down further from where it had burrowed through her coat and lodged inside her body. Luna could see the damage that the parasite had done to the body of her sister and was shocked. She also knew that she had to regard it as a completely detached academic exercise, because if she equated the injury to what it was doing to her sister, her mind would have become a maelstrom of conflicting emotions clouding her judgement. She knew that her best chance of defeating this parasite was by keeping a clear head and she couldn’t afford to fail.

Luna followed the filament to its ending which was around her heart and used her magic to anaesthetise it a little further up, and gently teasing the tip away. The parasite didn’t respond, so she continued, repeating the process a little further up, and then a bit further again until she was able to withdraw it from her sister’s body.
“One down” thought Luna, as she went back for the next. This one too had burrowed through her sister’s flesh and wrapped itself around another of her internal organs. Once again, she followed the painstaking process of anaesthetising the filament fraction at a time, before finally pulling it out.

Time and again, she repeated the process until all of the filaments associated with one of the hideous grey tentacles embracing Celestia had been removed, at which point the tentacle began to feel around, devoid of any guidance. Luna allowed herself to feel a transitory sense of triumph as she could now see that she had a process that would work, but was unlikely to be a quick task given the number of tentacles and the number of filaments each had feeding it.

Luna lost track of time, each set of filaments appearing to have attached itself in some way to all of Celestia’s organs. She could see that there was a two way flow along each, and it was clear that whilst the parasite was feeding off Celestia, she was in return being filled with poison. Presumably the ultimate phase of this process would be the death of the host, then the parasite would move on to find a fresh victim.

The thought was horrendous, and Luna made a mental note to scour the dream realm for any more of these horrid parasites and dispose of them before more minds could become twisted in the living world of Equestria. She would start with those who had criminal tendencies, as perhaps this was the root cause of the disturbance that had turned them the way they were, after all, foals were not born evil and many turned away from society due to some inner disturbance. That would be a big job and she owed it to them all to at least try, but it would have to wait for another day. Right now she had another patient to save.

She was tired, but time did not matter to her as she was in a race to save her sister, and if she stopped for sleep, she was concerned whether the parasite would have time to reform and regrow its connections. No, she had to keep going, no matter what.

Finally she came to the last tentacle. By now, all the others were waving slowly around and gave the impression that Celestia was somehow underwater, resting on a sea anemone, the tentacles ebbing and flowing with some unseen current. The last one was the one she had been dreading most. She followed the filaments as she had with the others and found the first one penetrating through her ear and into her brain itself. She had hoped beyond hope that this would not be the case, and she cursed her luck that it should be connected to the most important organ in the body, especially as she was now at her most exhausted. A thought flashed fleetingly across her mind of what would happen to her sister if she misjudged this most delicate of operations, but pushed it far from her thoughts as she once more got to work, this time with an end in sight.

As the brain was encapsulated by the skull, the filaments had worked their way in through every conceivable entrance from burrowing through the cheeks to threading their way through her eye sockets and her ears. Luna wanted to gag, but kept her calm detachment as she set about freeing her sister one by one from the poisoning filaments. As with all the others she had extracted, they seemed to have a good grasp of equine anatomy and had made a coordinated invasion of every part of her body, the brain being no exception, and no part of it had been left untapped.

Delicately, carefully she worked her way along each in turn, unthreading every one from its intricately arranged path and pulling it clear, fraction at a time, each one delivering her sister one step closer to freedom from the parasite. She felt the weight of both responsibility and tiredness drawing on her and more than once had to double check she was doing it right; she was too close to the end to make a mistake now.

Finally she withdrew the last of the filaments from her sister’s muzzle, looking at all the reddening around the areas now showing clearly from where the others had been withdrawn. The last tentacle drew slowly away and joined the others in waving slowly around looking for its next victim.

Luna looked into Celestia’s dreamscape and found a relaxing garden with a stream running through and pretty flowers all around. This looked ideal, and so she levitated her sister, bringing her over to lay in a safe place where she made her as comfortable as she could before turning her attention back to the grey parasite that she had come to loathe for what it had done. It was exactly where she had left it, but without its host, looked now more like a giant overwatered pot plant. As she had become accustomed to it, she could see clearly how whilst the large grey tentacles were languid in their movement, the filaments which you had to know were there to stand any chance of seeing them, were moving around further and more rapidly, searching out for new prey.

The parasite was dangerous and would ensnare anything that approached it, even just closely enough to determine what it was. In a sense, Luna admired its existence; it lived on an ethereal plane that few could reach and had evolved to become the perfect predator, the only symptom in the living world being the change of the victim’s temperament. Admiration or not, she knew what she must do, and lit her horn, directing power that would have killed it outright with her anger alone.

She flowed her magical energy into it long after it had ceased to exist in this or any other realm, not only to be sure of its destruction, but moreover out of the need to rid herself of the memory of what it had done to her sister.

Suddenly, Celestia’s dreamscape seemed a brighter and happier place, some undefined optimism replacing the oppressive ambience that she had only now come to realise by its absence.

Luna walked back over to her sister and gave her a gentle nuzzle then checked her over. Her vital signs were weak, and her body was covered in lesions from where the parasite had tied itself so indelibly into her. She had no idea how long the attack had lasted or indeed how long it had taken to spread, but knew that it was behind her now. After having made one last check of her patient and her surroundings, she allowed herself to drift back to the real world.

Epilogue

“Princess Luna …?” a voice echoed faintly through the thinning mist of her dawning consciousness.
“She’s coming round!” called another, heralding a flurry of activity.
“We’ve all been very worried …” said a timid voice from close by.

Her eyelids fluttered as they faltered in trying to open her eyes, as if being asked to perform such a demanding task for the first time. Progressively, Luna became aware of a large primrose yellow silhouette in front of her, with other colours coming in to her field of view, principal amongst which was a lilac one.
“Princess! Oh thank goodness you’re safe …” bubbled Twilight, “It’s been days …!”
“Tia?” asked Luna, slowly bringing the familiar ponies into focus.

“We’ve been looking after both of you, darling” came a cultured voice, “We knew you must be succeeding in your task because Princess Celestia’s nightmarish teeth have gone and she’s back to her usual radiant self again.”
Luna smiled. She would recognise Rarity’s beautifully sophisticated tones anywhere.

As she slowly became more aware of her surroundings, she heard her tummy rumble and began to appreciate that she was hungry as well as being emotionally drained.
“Here Princess” she heard Applejack’s voice; the total opposite to Rarity’s, but with a warmth that flowed from every syllable, “Like me to fetch yuh somethin’ to eat?”
“Yes please” she answered groggily as she prepared to rise to her hooves and then thought better of it.
“What happened Princess?” gabbled Twilight excitedly, whilst just managing to stay outside Luna’s personal space, “What happened?”

“None of this has been my Sister’s fault” said Luna calmly, “A parasite had attached itself to her in the dream realm and was manipulating her. It was a challenging task to disentangle the one from the other, but I believe I have been successful.”
"Was that a projection of the Guardian into the dream realm?" asked Twilight.

"No, this was different" replied Luna, "I know of the Guardian and of its power within the Cave of Harmony, but know not of it as an evil entity. True, it has always chosen to favour my Sister over me, but I am aligned with the stars, so there has never been a conflict of interests. Such behaviour is out of character, and I must attribute responsibility for my Sister’s personality transformation to this parasite, which has surely corrupted the Guardian’s power progressively over time. I believe also that it provided the teeth to conduct this horrible work and the eyes through which it could witness, and even enjoy its results.”

“What did this big meany parasitey thing look like?” asked Pinkie.
“It was a morass of grey tentacles that had clearly taken root and become symbiotic with her; a quite horrible sight of which she would have been completely unaware.”
“Ooooh! Sounds yucky!” Pinkie exclaimed, sticking out her tongue like she had just eaten something that disagreed with her.

“So, Princess Celestia would have been aware of the excesses of her behaviour, but been powerless to resist?" asked Twilight cautiously.
“Quite so. I believe the malevolant traits would have built up very slowly over time, as her ethereal body became gradually poisoned. I am sure that once she had realised what was happening she would have tried to fight back, but would have been unable to have any effect as the source of her problems lay beyond her grasp. None of us recognised how much self-control it must have taken my Sister to be so kind during the rigours of her daily life, only ever allowing her evil side to be released once well away from ponies' sight for a short period each week."

The ponies all looked shocked or nodded sympathetically, and it was Fluttershy who spoke for them all when she punctuated the stunned silence; "It must have been awful."
"It seems unlikely to me that this vile creature was the only one of its kind" Luna continued, "So I intend to be alert for others now that I have seen what they can do. As the only pony who can access the dream realm, I will make it my mission to seek out its kin and rid Equestria of their blight forever.”

Twilight turned away to heave a sigh of relief, then froze suddenly.
“If Princess Luna is the only one who can enter the dream realm, then who will check to see if she’s been infected?“ she thought, "And who will cure her if she is?"

Not allowing her muzzle to move, Twilight rolled her eye backward, regarding Luna at the extreme of her peripheral vision.

There was just a flash.

She could have imagined it.

She could have sworn she saw Nightmare Moon's pointed teeth and a wicked flash in Luna’s eye. The similarity! Of course, they were the same as the teeth that the possessed Celestia had used on her in Tartarus only a few short days ago!

She flinched.

Surely she was mistaken; she prayed she was.

She turned slowly to face Luna, trying not to draw attention to herself.

Luna watched Twilight's head turn and smiled, just enough to reveal a glimpse of tooth between her lips …

6 Confrontation

Suddenly the door burst down and filling the doorway stood a pure white alicorn. No longer the benevolent Princess they had known and loved all their lives, but a pony with red eyes, sharp teeth and a voice like thunder.
“You have something that belongs to me!” she demanded, anger in her voice and revenge burning in her soul.

Fluttershy hid behind Applejack who faced the Diarch resolutely.

Twilight stood at the head of her friends, forelegs braced, grim determination etched onto her face; she wasn’t going to give in without a fight, and it would be the fight of her life.

“Girls, we have to power up!” commanded Twilight, “If she gets to her crown, there’ll be no stopping her!”
The ponies formed an echelon behind Twilight as she squared up to her former mentor, each focusing on their individual Element of Harmony.
“Celestia, your reign of terror has to come to an end. I command whatever it is that has control of you to leave you and never come back!”

Trails of coloured light corresponding to the individual Elements of Harmony began to swirl around their bearers, but then faded and died before they could unite and challenge Celestia.

The white mare laughed pitilessly and advanced slowly, not even breaking her stride as she retrieved her livery collar and her crown.
“Again girls!” rallied Twilight, “We must defeat her!”
Once more they all focused, but this time barely a coloured haze became visible around them. Twilight looked around and knew they had failed. She had failed them and henceforth for the whole of eternity, she would have to live with that guilt.

She tried again by herself, because by now the others had given up the unequal battle. They could see that they had been beaten; taking on Princess Celestia, even with the Elements of Harmony had been too long a shot. AJ and Rainbow hung their heads in defeat, neither wanting to meet her gaze, while Fluttershy broke down in tears and Pinkie’s mane lost its bounce. Rarity walked slowly over to where Twilight was straining the last of her energy and placed a gentle forehoof on her.
“It’s all over, darling” she lamented, desperately trying to keep the quavering out of her voice for her friend’s sake.
“No! It can’t be! I won’t accept it!” shouted Twilight, her most valiant efforts now unable even to get her horn to light, “I can’t fail Equestria! I can’t fail us! Once more, girls, together!”
Rarity felt the stinging of fresh tears in her eyes. She didn’t want to give up either, but the evidence was there for all to see; even the Elements of Harmony had failed.

Celestia strode unopposed through the defeated ponies. She had never been on the receiving end of the power of the Elements of Harmony before, but Twilight had come close to both exposing and defeating her. Now she knew she was unbeatable, and since this little matter had been cleared up, Tartarus could expect some more guests. This time Twilight would not be given any freedom, in fact she would see to it that she would have a cage, a small one, so small that she wouldn’t even be able to stand in it.

“You have caused me a lot of trouble Twilight Sparkle” she said sternly, standing up to her full height with her crown and livery collar in place. “You made a big mistake. You tried to use the Elements of Harmony on me, on me!

Did you not listen when I told you that the power of immortality is granted by the Guardian, the same entity that feeds the Elements of Harmony? Surely you could see that it wasn’t going to use its own power against itself?”

Twilight felt weak at the knees. Celestia was right. The only times when the Elements of Harmony had been used successfully was against enemies of Celestia. It was all so obvious now. There was only ever one power in Equestria and Celestia controlled every aspect of it! They had never stood a chance.

She wept tears of frustration and anger at her own impotence. She wept for the future she had consigned her friends to. She wept for Equestria; Celestia had become unhinged and there could be no stopping her now.