Equestrian Betrayal

Dash grimaced as she spat out the window. She had developed an irritatingly persistent cough that randomly sent her into minor fits. It wasn’t bad but it was seriously starting to bother her, the coughing had interrupted several of her power naps by now. It started just a few days after her falling out with Princess Luna.

Once again Rainbow replayed the scene in her head.

“How can I be such an ass?” she groaned to herself. In truth, she felt horrible for yelling at Luna. The Princess didn’t deserve that at all.

“The only pony who ever cared to visit, and you had to go and fuck it up by making her cry. Way to go Dash, you’re a Grade-A jerk. Gilda would be proud of you.” She said to herself spitefully.

Dash stood on her hind legs unsteadily and peered out the window. It was dark and the moon was high in the sky already. Normally dash would have been asleep by now, but she had no sense of a schedule for the past four months. Now Dash just slept whenever and ate whenever the guards threw her something or Luna visited.

The cyan mare heaved a raspy sigh, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately, and rested her head against the iron bars in the window.

“Luna, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I yelled. I miss you already… You’ve only been gone for three days and I miss you. I think I understand why you can’t let me out. I just- it’s been so long since I’ve flown… girls gotta stretch her wings… You should know cause you’re a Pegasus-Unicorn…thing. What’s the right word for that, it’s Alicorn, right? Jeez, look at me Luna; I’m standing here talking to thin air like you were there!”

Dash threw her forelegs up over her head for emphasis before remembering that she wasn’t actually talking to anypony. She raised her head and looked at the night sky. The moon looked unusually small and dim tonight.

“You know, I guess in a way I have been talking to you. Like, through the moon or something. I dunno, do you think that’s weird?” she asked.

She huffed and plopped down on her bed for the umpteenth time.

“That’s probably pretty weird…”

It was quiet, cold, and so very silent. Luna hadn’t been in an environment like this for a few years now. She opened her eyes to see where she could possibly be. Then everything came rushing back to her.

She was on the surface of the moon, but why?

It all felt so real, the thickly dusted surface, the rocky and barren landscape, even the burning of vacuum in her lungs. Being an immortal Luna was able to survive on the moon for a millennium without oxygen. She found it relatively easy to suppress the ache deep within her chest. The first time wasn’t so easy.

“Oh, so I see that Little Luna is finally awake. I’m glad, I was getting tired of waiting.”

Luna’s pupils dilated rapidly and she felt a jolt of adrenaline rush through her body. Had she failed? Was demon that haunted her for centuries still alive? She turned slowly, disbelief evident on he face.

“You were expecting somepony else?” Nightmare Moon asked in all her malevolent glory. She stood tall and would have had a majestic air about her had she not looked so like a rotting corpse. However, something peculiar was happening; as the dark Alicorn stood above Luna, her flesh and tattered skin was slowly knitting itself back together. She was healing.

“What… what is this? You should be dead, why are we on the moon?” Luna tried to rise but when she did she was stricken with dizziness and toppled into the dust.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Oh, you mean the great academic Luna is stumped? Unheard of, it must be a ploy,” Nightmare said in a patronizing tone.

“Speak plainly devil! I have not the patience for thine conniving ways!” Luna snapped, rising successfully from the ground.

“Ooh, still feisty I see, I love it when you talk old Equish to me,” Nightmare Moon purred, stalking closer to Luna.

The princess of the night swayed on her hooves as her darker half approached. The dizzy feeling from earlier was returning.

“Answer me!” Luna growled. She was beginning to see spots.

“Fine, fine, you always were a killjoy Little Luna,” Nightmare drawled arrogantly, “You aren’t nearly powerful enough to destroy me whelp, that’s why I’m still here of course. As for where we are… well you should be able to tell me that quite easily”

With that Nightmare brought up a hoof and rapped it sharply on Luna’s forehead.

The Princess was always was quick on the uptake and gasped at the implications.

“It’s quite ironic, isn’t it?” Nightmare gestured with her wings.

“You’ve been freed from your banishment for nearly three years, and yet you never left the moon. How… delightfully tragic.”

Nightmare Moon was standing so close to Luna that she could count the cracks in the demonic mares yellowed fangs.

“Y-you're using my presence to heal your wounds, aren’t you? To undo the damage that the Elements of Harmony wrought upon you.” Luna asked with trepidation.

“My I’m so glad your pretty little brain hasn’t gone to mush under Celestia’s tyranny. Yes, yes I am Little Luna. At this very moment I’m stealing the life away from you and all I had to do was spook you into performing a mind walking ritual. Even with my diminished influence I’m surprised that I was able to persuade you into altering the properties of your little magic circle.”

Luna watched motes of light escaping her body and filtering into Nightmare Moon’s cadaverous flesh. Her fangs were growing sharper and began to shed their sallow tinge while the rotten skin of her face pulled taut and began to grow a new coat of midnight black fur.

She so wanted to give in to the malignant presence before her, Nightmare Moon hadn’t even made an argument and Luna could feel the desire to bow to her will growing within her. Her eyelids were drooping as she began to loose sensation in her legs and wings.

“Yes, yes, give in to me Little Luna. You always were a pathetic little whelp.” Nightmare Moon waltzed around Luna slowly, wrapping the princess in her shimmering mane. She leaned in close and nuzzled Luna’s cheek, a viper toying with its prey.

“I would say that this is poetic justice, you feeding me your power so I can escape from the hell that is your mind.” Nightmare lowered her head and drew her tongue along the princess’ jugular, delighting in the rapid tempo of her pulse. She felt oh so giddy, like a young filly on her birthday. The thought of picking apart her warden piece by minute piece sent such an exhilarating shiver down her spine, and now she was actually doing it.

“You know,” she murmured while nipping at Luna’s jaw with her razor mouth, ”I think I’ll pay your Pegasus friend a special visit. After I have a nice long chat with our sister of course.”

Something deep within Luna roared with fury at what Nightmare Moon was saying. It was though a swift wind had blown the fog from her mind, her senses came rushing back to life. She shook her head and stared down Nightmare Moon, blood dripping from her jaw line.

“Thou shalt not harm my fair sister demon, and thou shalt never speak of Rainbow Dash again!” Luna shouted, reaching out with what magic she had left and reversing the flow of energy between her and her darker half.

“Impossible, How are you doing that?” Nightmare moon gasped, quickly backing away.

“Thou should know wretch, thou taught me an eon ago. Lesson One: Emotion is Power,” Luna grunted while pulling as much of her life back as she could.

Nightmare Moon snarled in defiance and poured more effort into draining her host.

“You insolent foal, you think that you can just use my gifts against me? Don’t make me laugh!”

Nightmare buckled down and pulled back, but by the time she reaffirmed her hold on Luna’s magic the princess had collected enough to go on the offensive. Luna fired a bolt of magic at her opponent point blank, sending her tumbling backwards.

As the dust lazily settled down, Nightmare righted herself and glared death at Luna. Several teeth had been broken out of her mouth on the right side, and her cheek was shredded.

“You… I’m going to make you pay for that.” Nightmare focused on the residual magic in her wound and absorbed it, hissing in pain as new teeth sprung out of her jaw as though they were spring loaded. Luna’s eyes widened as she witnessed this.

“Now, let me be the first to welcome you to Oblivion,” Nightmare roared as she lunged at Luna

“Twilight Sparkle, whatever is the matter?”

The young Element had shouldered her way through the large doors of the dessert kitchen where Princess Celestia was currently fetching an evening snack. Celestia’s faithful student fell gracelessly at her hooves as though she were ancient Neighdippides* himself, come to deliver his message.

“Luna… Nightmare Moon… dark magic… help!” Twilight gasped. She looked as though she had been racing all over the castle looking for her.

To Celestia it felt like the world came screeching to a halt.

“Please, please tell me that this is a cruel joke. Twilight, tell me that this was a bad attempt at humor.” The solar princess whispered, staring down at Twilight with wide eyes.

The mare in question was trembling from exertion and had recently been crying, that much was obvious. She could smell the adrenaline and fear clinging to Twilight, it contrasted sharply with the sweet aroma of the cake she was about to dine on.

‘You know Twilight is telling the truth; your sister has always been unstable. There’s no hope of saving her, unless of course… you banish her to the moon again,’ the little voice in the back of Celestia’s mind hissed.

Celestia responded by aggressively suppressing her doubts. She was brought back to reality by Twilight sparkle tugging on her leg, saying something in a suppliant manner.

“W-what?”

“I said we need your help! Luna is comatose and her guard is probably freaking out and I don’t know what to do because I’ve never dealt with this kind of magic before, I’ve only read about it and-“ Twilight had caught her breath and began to ramble faster than Celestia thought possible.

There was no time for that though, if what Twilight claimed was true. In a flash of radiant golden light the two were teleported away from the kitchens, leaving a lonely slice of cake behind.

“Damn you, why won’t you lie down and die!” Nightmare Moon bellowed, infuriated by Luna’s tenacity.

The lunar landscape was drastically different than it had been for the last thousand years. Deep furrows had been gouged in the surface of the moon by the sheer power of the two Alicorns. They had quickly learned directly harming each other with magic was not effective and so had resorted creating impromptu missiles from their barren surroundings.

Luna was panting with her head low, warily watching her nemesis through one eye. She had a rather nasty cut on her forehead that bled into her left eye, blinding it. The rest of her body was battered and bruised, she had a painfully split hoof wall†, and she was certain that she had a few cracked ribs.

The Princess took solace in the fact that Nightmare Moon wasn’t fairing any better than herself. She had managed to get a few solid hits in on the dark mare with flying boulders and her own hooves. She had paid for getting too close though, Nightmare Moon was nothing if not a ferociously determined fighter.

“I won’t die… because I have ponies… I love and care about in the real world.” She felt so worn down from the fighting. It was a shame that one couldn’t control what happened within their mind like some of the more popular fantasy books claimed.

“And what about me,” Nightmare raged at Luna, “I did everything for you.I was the only one who supported you in your time of need. I devoted my existence to bettering yours. Damn it all, I loved you!” There was a lonely tear in Nightmare’s eye that would never be allowed to fall. She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head violently to quash her moment of weakness.

“The second Celestia punished us you threw me aside like so much trash! ‘Oh I’m so sorry sister, please forgive me, I want to come home!’ You disgust me you traitorous bitch,” She spat on the ground and glared at Luna with all the anger she could muster.

“I disgust you? Tell me, who was the one that tried to kill everypony in Equestria by refusing to lower the moon? You lost control and became power hungry!” Luna screamed back. She stomped a hoof for emphasis, sending magical energy into the ground. She ripped several small moon rocks out of the ground and spun them in a tight ring around her body.

“That was naught but an act of coercion that you conceived of. What’s the point of killing off all the ponies who should be worshiping the ground beneath your hooves?” Nightmare Moon responded to Luna’s preparations by sending a magical surge through the ground between them, shattering a swath of the lunar surface and hurling chunks of stone into the air.

“It was only a theory, we weren’t supposed to actually do it, and when you did you took it far beyond the original plan!” Luna shouted in frustration.

“Things change Little Luna,” Nightmare sneered, “the new replace the old, the strong devour the weak, and powerful come out on top in the end.”

With that Nightmare Moon hurled an ocean of stone at Luna, hoping to catch her and grind her to a pulp.

Luna was prepared for this and launched herself off the ground with a powerful flap of her wings. She quickly rose above the undulating sea of stones and began launching her projectiles towards Nightmare Moon at excessive velocities.

Celestia was sitting in Luna’s personal chambers. She had been for days, numbly staring at her comatose sister from the same spot next to the bed. Her eyes were bloodshot and had heavy bags beneath them. She was so concerned for the safety of her sister that she had canceled Day Court for an entire week.

Five days. Luna had been like this for five days now. After giving both Twilight and Commander Blackhorn a thorough reaming for enabling her sister to do this and a subsequent apology, Celestia had gingerly levitated Luna into her bed and had kept watch over her ever since.

Celestia was highly distraught. What would she do without Luna? She had been able to manage the thousand years of Luna’s banishment because she knew her sister was alive at the very least. Now it was looking like she wouldn’t ever wake from what the royal physician had officially termed a coma.

All of the doctors and mages who had been summoned to examine Luna had no inkling about her condition. To them she perfectly was healthy save for some minor hemorrhaging of the tissue around her eyes and possible retinal damage from the extreme brightness of her ritual. Other than what was physically evident they could offer no insight to Luna’s condition.

The mages were even more confused than the doctors. When Luna’s horn was blasted off there was a massive discharge of energy that even now permeated the entirety of Luna’s chambers. Due to the small population of Alicorns through the ages, information on Alicorn magic was sadly lacking.

This is what the mages were able to tell Celestia three things after a brief study:

1. Her magic was far denser and stored under greater compression than that of a common Unicorn.

2. There was no magical activity within Luna that they could detect.

3. Luna had made what was looking to be a fatal error when she created her ritual circle, though there was no way to verify this as the circle no longer existed.

Celestia was already aware of the first point and Commander Blackhorn had grimly confirmed the second point before the mages were even summoned to verify it. The third point just raised more questions and a frustrating lack of answers. According to Blackhorn and Twilight, both highly skilled mages in their own rights, her sister had used surgical precision in the preparation of her circle and triple checked it. Luna’s magical specialty lay with the arcane, so it was suspicious that she had erred so seriously.

Additionally, it was nothing short of a miracle that both Twilight Sparkle and Commander Blackhorn survived the magical discharge. Against their protests she had the two Unicorns removed to a separate chamber to be examined by the medical staff. Nopony had been exposed to such a massive amount of magic so suddenly and survived, and Celestia wanted to ensure that they were healthy. Eventually they were cleared and returned to Luna’s chamber. After comforting Celestia for a short while, Twilight had departed to the library to search for anything that could help Luna.

Her eyes drifted to the stump of a horn left on her sister’s head. If Luna were ever to awaken then she would be permanently handicapped. Celestia wasn’t even sure if she could continue to move the moon across the sky. She would be devastated to learn that she could no longer perform her duties.

“I can’t lose you Luna, not forever… Please wake up sister,” Celestia whispered, stroking Luna’s cheek gently, “I love you.”

One Princess gently kissed the other on the forehead before turning to leave. Celestia could not ignore her duties any more, lest the nobles run rampant with Equestria.

The door to the restroom swung open and Blackhorn trudged out, dragging his hooves with his head hung low. Celestia could see that water was dripping from his lips and his forelock was drenched. She had ordered him to get up and drink something moments earlier. It was remarkable that he was able to go five days without water; any other pony would have been dead or hospitalized.

The unicorn was massive, rivaling Shining Armor’s legendary stature, and yet he looked so insignificant and weak in his current state. In her two hundreds Celestia would have been fawning over this beautiful wounded stallion, but she had learned restraint over her tremendous lifespan.

She had sat and shed tears with the Commander for nearly a week, knowing and sharing in his grief. Blackhorn normally operated as the personification of detached efficiency and kept a tight lid on his emotions, never letting anything distract him from his job. Luna was his passion in life; every waking moment was devoted to the Princess of the Moon.

Even before Luna’s return Blackhorn had never taken a day off, and never taken a sick day. The same went for his brother, Iron Wing. The two spent years of their lives guarding an empty tower instead of chasing mares and living it up like some of Celestia’s guards did on down time. It was alarming to see one so resolute and dedicated broken down like this.

Celestia gently touched a hoof to Blackhorn’s rippling shoulder, concerned for his health.

“Blackhorn… will you be alright,” she asked softly.

She felt more than heard his response.

“Don’t ask me,” he rumbled, “ask her.”

A moment of silence passed between the two as Celestia looked back to her sister.

“You should come with me, you haven’t eaten in days. You’ll collapse if you continue like this.”

“No.” His tone was final, harsh, and loud. Celestia quailed at the suddenness of his answer.

“I… I understand. I will have something brought to you.

With that Celestia slowly left her sister behind, filling the silence of the palace with the hollow clack of her slipper clad hooves.

Luna screamed in agony as she was knocked out of the air. One of Nightmare Moon’s boulders had scored a lucky hit, crushing her left wing. She slowly bounced to a stop on the surface of the moon as a sobbing wreck. She felt bile rise in her throat as she looked at the gory mess that had once been a limb.

She had been careless and stopped tracking the giant moon rocks that Nightmare was hurling after she dodged them. Nightmare had noticed this and capitalized on it, wrenching a sizable rock back towards her after it passed Luna.

“So what will you do now that you can’t float away like a coward Little Luna?

Luna forced herself to block out the searing pain as she stared down Nightmare Moon through her tears.

“I’m not going to quit.” She said defiantly, rising to challenge her adversary.

“When you learn you idiot. You. Can. Not. Win.” Nightmare focused on her frustration and raised more stones to strike down the bold princess.

Two days had passed since Celestia had to return to her duties and the Commander had yet to leave Luna’s bedside.

Blackhorn had his chin resting upon the bed with his muzzle mere inches from his Ladies hoof when he thought he felt something. It was a sensation that would be difficult to explain to a non-Unicorn, like feeling white noise instead of hearing it.

For the first time in days Blackhorn felt a glimmer of hope. Tentatively he looked up at his Mistress’ face and saw her muzzle twitch ever so slightly.

Focusing his eyes, Blackhorn could see the ebb and flow of energy moving throughout the Princess’ body once more. It was faint but it was there, and that meant progress. There was still a high level of magical residue throughout the room, so accurately discerning the level of activity within the Alicorn was out of the question. Regardless it was there, clearly focused around the remains of her horn and her heart.

Blackhorn immediately rose and trotted over to ring the call bell. In short order a lilac earth pony mare appeared.

“What do you require Commander?”  She had a compassionate expression and a pleasantly soft voice.

“Fetch one of the doctors, have him sent here immediately. Also send word to Princess Celestia that Princess Luna’s condition may have improved.”

The mare bowed respectfully turned to leave.

“Wait, see if Twilight Sparkle remains in the castle. If she does then send her here post haste,” the Commander added as an afterthought.

“I will see to it at once Commander.”

Blackhorn immediately turned back to the indigo pony, watching her as though she might suddenly disappear.

“Now wait just a moment Duke Featherlock, why don’t you explain exactly what you mean by ‘a formal redistribution of the Regency powers of Princess Luna in absentia.” Celestia asked of the old grey Pegasus before her. She was thoroughly fatigued and running short on patience.

The nobility had arrived at Canterlot Castle en masse for Day Court, something that hadn’t occurred in centuries. In a gross display of arrogance, they had marched into Celestia’s throne room and ejected all of the common petitioners that had come with more legitimate concerns.

Their reasoning was that they had urgent business with the Princess that was far more pressing than the “insubstantial concerns of the common rabble”.

“Well, in the terms of the common laypony,” Duke Featherlock elaborated haughtily, “We do believe that your co-ruler has officially become an invalid, and is thus incapable of tending to her sovereign duties. It would be in your best interest to remove from her the burden of such authority and consolidate it amongst the Nobles, sooner rather than later. Measures can be put in place in the event that Nightmare Moon returns upon learning of her abdication.”

He spoke of Luna as though she were a disease, a tumescent growth to be cut away. It was despicable, and Featherlock’s associates nodded self-assuredly while Celestia’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Catching herself she snapped her mouth shut in an attempt to maintain her appearance before these sharks.

She ground her teeth together as her anger rose. Celestia was known for an even temperament and a benevolent attitude, but she was rapidly loosing her composure. True, nopony alive could recount Celestia showing even the slightest annoyance in any situation, but there was a reason that Equestria had lasted as long as it had with only a token military force. The other nations, and the Griffons in particular, still remembered what it meant to cross the Princess of the Sun.

Celestia rose from her throne and stalked down the red carpet towards the nobles below. Avarice and indolence amongst their ranks was something she could deal with in her sleep. Threats to her family however, were an entirely different matter.

“You would do well to remember who you are speaking to, Duke Featherlock, and that Princess Luna is both your better and my equal. Her station is far above yours, and you will speak of her respectfully.”

The temperature in the throne room was slowly climbing as Celestia’s eyes flashed dangerously. Featherlock’s wings twitched nervously as he backpedaled. He was unprepared for any form of rebuttal. Celestia left smoldering black hoof prints in the red carpet as she advanced; the edges of her gilded slippers began to glow with radiant energy.

“And if I ever hear any of you mention Nightmare Moon again, the consequences will be-“

Celestia’s threat was cut off by the sharp rapport of an explosion. A rumbling tremor followed the sound of the blast and was felt through the entire castle.

Rainbow Dash was startled awake by the vibrating tremor that worked its way through the ancient stone walls of Canterlot. She sat up slowly and moved to the door. Peering through the slot on her cell door revealed nothing to Dash, and nopony answered when she called out.

Frustrated, Dash turned around leaned against the door, slowly sinking down on her haunches. Her throat was irritated from shouting and she did her best to suppress a sickly wet cough.

"Ugh, seriously, fuck everything right now..."

The Nobles were looking around wildly, chattering amongst themselves. They were clearly unnerved concerned for their safety.

Without delay the Royal Guard swept down from the rafters and thundered in through hidden doors behind the dual thrones. Captain Shining Armor appeared at Celestia’s side with a crisp pop and a flash of red light.

“Your Highness, has there been any disturbance here,” Armor asked dutifully, carefully eying the hoof prints the carpet, “Have you been threatened?”

“No Captain, nothing of the sort. Do you know where the explosion occurred?” Celestia asked hurriedly. She knew that she could handle herself in the event that somepony attacked the castle, but as far as she knew Twilight hadn’t left Canterlot yet. There was also Luna and Cadance to worry about, and of course all of the ponies in the city proper.

“No Princess, we do not. I have already sent a squad through the castle to search for its origin however.”

“Lock down the castle grounds immediately, nopony enters or leaves without my permission, and send out more search parties. I want to know what just happened, and I want to know yesterday Captain.”

“Yes ma’am!” Armor saluted and turned to give his subordinates their orders.

Celestia turned to leave the throne room, she wanted to find Twilight before anything else happened but Shining Armor stopped her before she could move five paces.

“Princess… I, uh, I have an idea as to what happened. You need to see this,” he said carefully.

Celestia felt her stomach clench as she turned to look at the Captain of her guard. He was standing off to the side of the room, looking through one of many stained glass windows. Everypony in the room stopped what they were doing as they saw what Shining Armor saw. All eyes moved to Celestia as she stared out the window. Slowly, as if in a dream, Celestia moved to stand at Shining Armor’s side to get a better look.

“Go investigate, now,” the Captain hissed at squad of Pegasi, “Find out if the Princess is safe!”

“No… it can’t be…” Celestia whispered. It was now clear where the explosion had originated. The top half of Luna’s tower had been blasted clean off, and the remainder sagged on its foundation dangerously, threatening to collapse at any moment.

“I’m sorry Princess,” Armor said.  The Princess didn’t hear him though. The thought that her beloved sister was dead hurt Celestia more than any physical wound could.

* Ponification of Pheidippides, ancient Greek courier who ran 26 miles between Marathon and Athens to report the Greek victory over Persia only to die promptly after delivering the message.

† link for those confused or interested. Yay equine physiology.