Unbound

Unbound

By Sojourner

“It lies in-between,

Neither dark, neither light-

The twilight beckons

To those of milky white sight.”

The pent up rage of the sea was unleashed.

Waves crashed against timber, and rain pounded an angry beat against the deck. The ships frame creaked and groaned, barely holding together against the storms tirade. Luna tried to steer clear of the larger waves, pressing her weight against the ships wheel. The whirling waters grudgingly gave way inch by inch, and the ship turned, cresting the corner of a particularly large wave. Then the sky grew bright, and a  crack resounded across the sky. Lightning streaked through the bowels of the boat, which shook as the mast finally broke. It plummeted into the ocean, making barely a ripple as the ocean devoured it.

Luna was now a prisoner to the whims of the waves. Her wings were drenched, and flight was impossible due to the wind and the lightning coursing across the sky. She was alone, with nothing more than her impending doom for company. She wouldn't have anyone to share it with, anyone to whisper her last teary farewell to.

Another rumble echoed from the depths of the ship's belly, this time bringing with it the roar of a monster. The deck's doors burst open, and long green limbs stretched out against the sky. Each one was wriggling with barely contained energy, and each one was covered in scales and barbed spikes. Luna's magic only seemed to agitate the tentacles as she fired at them.The storm grew stronger as the appendages began slithering across the deck toward Luna, feverishly grasping at her as she slipped out of their reach. Luna sprang away from the wheel, slipping and crashing against the wood. She scrabbled away from the tentacles, trying her hardest to keep away as she worked herself toward the aft of the ship. There, she came face to face with the beast. its neck poked out of the water and arced over the back railing, where it, she, Nightmare Moon stared at her. Long fangs jutted from the roof of Nightmare's mouth, and she smiled, revealing rows of dagger like teeth.

"I'm your only hope now," Nightmare whispered, the seductive tone of her voice adding another note of fear to Luna's already panic addled brain. "I'm your only hope now. Trust me. I'm the only one who cares!"  Nightmare tensed, coiling like a snake, ready to strike. Luna closed her eyes.

Nightmare struck.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight paid little attention to her surroundings as she worked her way up from the basement. The book, written in constant couplets, definitely spoke of a spell that could undo the damage she had done.

"Did you find anything?" Spike asked as Twilight finished her trek up the stairs onto the platform that served as her room. Her reply was a sigh and a short silence.

"I may have," She eventually drawled, though confidence didn't shine through her tone.

"Let me guess.... It's going to be painful?" Spike added, already resigned to the fact.

"No, that's not the problem," Twilight said. "The entire process is described in great detail, if a little haphazardly-"

"Hapa-wha?"

Twilight sighed. "In a weird way. But the spell, well, ritual actually, is time affecting. Basically, all I have to do in conjunction with it is specify a time I want you to be moved back to. So, if I send you back to the point before I, well, tied you up," Twilight explained, laughing half-heartedly, "then we should be good to go! The problem is that rituals like this require a lot of power, and can usually only be done by multiple unicorns working in concert. It said it's doable by only one, though, so I'm not sure."  Grabbing a piece of chalk, Twilight began drawing the circle the ritual had called for on the floor. First a circle, four circles inside that, a triangle, a square, six pointed star, and the requisite words. The circle began glowing a soft blue, bringing a perplexed look to the unicorn's face.

"What?" Spike asked.

"The circle shouldn't have started glowing until I put power into it." A small cone of light emanated from her horn, and she swept it across the lines. "Where is it getting this from?" She wondered aloud. She floated the last component over; an hourglass. "Now all I do is spin this, and say the right phrase, and whala!"

"Could you hurry up? I kinda need to use the little dragon's room," Spike pleaded. Twilight coughed to clear her throat. She twirled the hourglass to start the sand dropping, closed her eyes, and recited:

"We hold in high the moon and sun,

The cycles they fortell are what we call to.

The power of the end, the power of the true,

For once it comes, we in all are none."

Twilight opened her eyes and looked around. The dust that had been floating in the air had stopped. Spike's mouth was frozen, just beginning to form a word. There was no sound, save the sound of her own heart, now fluttering and skipping faster and faster as her confusion grew.

"Wha- What-?" The sun was not moving. Out the window, the trees were halted in mid-sway, the falling leaves hanging in midair. Spike wasn't breathing, or blinking, or speaking... "What's going on?" Twilight began panicking. "This shouldn't have happened! I-I don't have this kind of ability! I can't stop the sun!"

Then, everything backpedaled.

The sun began edging back to the East - the opposite of the direction it was supposed to. The leaves floated up, and even the dust began to move backward. Faster, faster, faster.... everything began moving backwards so fast. Twilight could barely believe her eyes. It was day, then night, then day again. The trees grew smaller. The ponies changed- no one was there she could recognize when she looked out the window. The clock spun wildly, the ticking distorted. Then she heard a deep, resounding clang.

Everything disappeared.

There was nothing but black, save the circle, which continued to glow its soft hue of blue. Shaking, Twilight turned away from where the window had been toward the circle, and screamed.

Floating above the circle was a strange creature. A ghostly apparition of sorts, Twilight couldn't help but feel terrified at it's presence. A tattered cloak floated around it, its vaguely equine form elongated unnaturally. Its neck was stretched out longer than Twilight entire body, and atop that neck was a normally proportioned head. Bright white light was etched across the black face, that same light pouring from its eyes like smoke as they opened blearily, as though from sleep. The brighter white pupils then focused on Twilight.

What is this?

Everything told her she needed to run, to move, to get away from the monstrosity, but she couldn't move. Her muscles felt as if they had seized up, and her heart seemed to have stopped beating. Its faced suddenly changed, the look of surprise quickly transforming into rage.

What is this!

It reappeared beside her instantly, but Twilight still found herself rooted to the spot, unable to move. Its eyes bored into hers, and she felt as though it could see into her soul, that it knew everything about her. Nothing was secret anymore.

You can see me... I am awake.

Its legs wrapped around her.

This is unacceptable.

It hurled her into the circle where she landed roughly, skidding across the lines she had drawn. Finding she could move again, she stood up hastily. The monster had disappeared. Twilight looked around wildly, her pupils nothing more than pinpricks.

"Where am I? What's going on?" Twilight said, her voice cracking. The creature suddenly wrapped itself around her from above, far too intimately. She found herself frozen again, her body reacting against her will.

I could ask you the same thing, Twilight Sparkle.

Its eyes again looked into hers, its face upside-down as it bent its neck over, its features now a mask of puzzled glee.

You've already taken from me. The work you look for is done. But now it must be repaid.

It made a motion as though sighing, but no breath slipped from its tongue. Its cloak billowed in a nonexistent breeze.

"Just tell me what's going on," Twilight sobbed. "What are you? How do you know who I am?"

No... No, that is not something for you to know. In fact, you already know too much from just this little incident.

Its jarring speech rattled around inside her head, making her woozy. It moved its head closer to her, their noses only inches from contact.

I think I know just the payment.

Its body squeezed against her tighter, its torso and neck resting right up against her. It opened its maw wide, and a purple light began issuing from Twilight. She tried to look around , but her gaze was locked firmly on the light trickling down the monster's throat.

You ponies don't know, and shall never know of us. I will make sure of that.

Everything went black again. Her heart jump started, and she could move. She could breathe. But still she held still. She felt a warmth on her cheek, and heard the rustling of sheets before a voice blearily called out.

"It can't be morning yet, can it?" This was followed by a yawn, before the sound of small footsteps hit the floor. "What do you want, Twilight?" That was Spike's voice. Twilight turned to the sound, trying to see through the darkness, straining her eyes to see. She heard Spike speak again. "Did you learn a spell to change the colors of your eyes or something?" Twilight tried to reply, but her words seemed to die in her throat. Only air issued from her lips. "Your eyes aren't normally grey. That's kind of a neat trick, I guess," Spike said, his sentence punctuated by a yawn. "Still, couldn't it have waited until morning? I can tell you haven't been to bed yet."

She didn't understand.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Spike voiced was now laced with concern. "What's wrong?"

Then, she heard something. A new voice.

Oh, Codswollop! This wasn't supposed to happen! My Dear Twilight, are you alright? I am so sorry about this! Really, I am!