Antibody

"Lee-am..."

It's broken, barely recognizable, but it's her voice.

"Leee-am. Norm-al Leeeeee-ammmmm."

I turn slightly and see her silhouette standing against the orange fire. Strands of flesh hang from her arms, her hands split down the middle between her middle and ring fingers. Webs cling to her body. Her head is skewed to one side, her hair hanging limply. She staggers forward, but I swivel and bring the AK to face her. The light of the flare reflects in her eyes, but she's still in the shadows. She stops, and makes a choking noise. It repeats, a harsh grinding noise. It takes me a moment to realize it's laughter.

Horrible, horrible laughter.

"What's u-p, Misssster Webb?"

The light from the next room crawls up her form. Her legs are spotted, gray, lesions and bruises up her calves. Droplets of crimson.

"I'm sorry, Claire," I can't fight the tears, and my voice breaks when I say her name.

"Lee-am, Webb," she says almost sweetly. I see the split widening down the length of her right arm, and a snake-like appendage slides from the gap. It hovers above the ground, like a whip. She shifts her weight to her left. Her dress is stained, various shades of red and brown. A lovely blue, ruined by blood. My finger tightens around the trigger.

"That's right, Claire. It's Liam," I whisper. I feel sick to my stomach.

She lets out a giggle, but the gurgling behind it...

The light reaches her face. Her face.

"Lee-am-"

I squeeze the trigger down until it stops firing.

Her words echo across the infinite darkness. They cascade over peaks and valleys unseen, washed away in the inky black. The predatory eyes stare down at me as they rise in the darkness, a head above me. My breath hitches and I falter. The eyes narrow slightly, amused.

"What are you?" My words seem to echo and dissipate all at once, expanding and retreating against the infinite plane, colliding and clashing against unseen walls and forcing themselves back into my throat. I fight back the urge to gasp.

The being laughs, eyes disappearing in the darkness, cackling darkly. Suddenly, the void at my feet swirls away, revealing gray rock and dust. The darkness pools about before me, the black drifting to one location, revealing a lunar horizon... and a large figure before me. She blends into the space behind her, and were it not for the moon beneath us, I wouldn't be able to see where she started and the void began. Slowly, ornaments of a pale blue materialize at her hooves, jewelry and armor pieces appearing from nowhere and everywhere all at once, swirling together like grains of sand given form.

An amorphous mane of stars erupts from the darkness, small pinpoint pricks of light within an aura of royal blue. Her eyes flutter open and settle upon me, a fanged grin of pearly white upon her muzzle. Her cerulean eyes focus, the cat-like vertical slits narrowing. My fingers probe around the base of the spearhead at the sight.

"Quite the question, human. I am many things, but an enemy is not one of them," she says with a devilish smile.

I narrow my eyes. She certainly seems the type to be an enemy.

"Who are you?"

She laughs again and disappears from my sight, leaving me alone on the moon. I spin around and find nothing but endless horizon, before I notice the reddened planet in orbit above. I assume it's meant to be Equestria, but I haven't got the geography down yet. The sight still freezes my blood. The threat of another world undone is blatant.

"Have you no guesses? You have no inkling of my identity?" I hear behind me. I spin around but find no one there.

I'm being toyed with.

"Who the fuck are you?! Where's Luna?!" I shout out at the void.

I feel something shift behind me, and turn to find her there, head tilted to the side.

"How rude. Does your kind speak to your saviors as such?"

Those eyes... I remember you.

"You're the one who healed me?"

She nods and closes her eyes, more ornaments appearing across her figure. She stands much taller than me, about as tall as Celestia. An armored helm of blue bleeds over her head, revealing a dark horn extending upwards into the sky. A very long, very sharp horn. Purple spots manifest in the darkness, as well as some sort of insignia on her flank. A tail explodes outwards in the same color as her mane, with little stars twinkling within.

"Indeed, ingrate. Though, do not mistake my assistance for generosity, for you shall repay your debt in-kind," she declares. She stands straighter.

"Who are you?" I repeat forcefully.

A look of pain flashes across her face. She tilts her head to the other side.

"Do you really have no idea?" She asks quietly.

Despite her appearance, or perhaps because of it, I realize that offending her may be the wrong move.

"No, but I'm new here." I speak quickly.

She huffs and looks to the rocks below. She kicks a small, rounded pebble away into the void, watching it float away. She looks back to me, face serious.

"I am a soul, split apart, a name spoken in hushed tones to scare foals in the midst of my night."

That sounds... familiar.

"Your night? Luna?" I guess, unsure.

"No, but once, I was." She says sadly.

"Alright, cut the shit. Who are you?"

She takes a breath and adjusts her wings.

"I am the Mare in the Moon, the Bringer of Night, Commander of the Thestral Guard and Rightful Queen of Equestria. I am Nightmare Moon. Know my name now, Liam Webb, for I know yours."

"Do you know where Luna is?"

"Indeed."

"Where?"

"Wait, we must speak first."

I turn on my heel and pick a direction to begin walking, praying silently it takes me to Luna. She splays her wings and seems to teleport before me.

"You will hear my words, human," she says authoritatively, the words sinking down into my chest, the timbre of her voice splashing over my flesh.

"I need to stop this and you're wasting my time. Equestria's time. Luna's time."

"You have a debt to repay! You shall stop and you shall listen, or I shall take back the magic I bestowed upon you! This terror will endure without my aid! You have no clue how to stop this."

She's... not wrong. I turn around and grunt, looking into space. There are no stars in the darkness.

"What do you want?"

"Your... help," she spits the word out. "I need you to speak with Luna Astra," she finishes.

Astra? Is that her last name?

"W-... what about? How? Have you not noticed that-"

She raises a single wing abruptly.

"You must convince her to allow our reunification," she says.

"I know they say don't judge a book by it's cover, but... considering how fucking malevolent you seem, I think that's a bad idea."

She snarls and her wings shoot outward, dust and rocks sent flying in all directions. I raise my arms to defend myself, but the dust and rocks phase through my body. Upon seeing that I'm untouched, she screams into the darkness, firing bolts of energy from her horn and blowing apart part of the landscape. After taking a moment to compose herself, she turns back to me, her voice rising.

"Do you not know our history? How our sister banished us to the moon? How they cleft our soul in two?!"

What?

"I don't... I don't, no. Didn't get that far in the book. What are you talking about?"

She swallows and bows her head, then tucks her wings back in. She fixes me a strange look, then gestures towards the expanse. Slowly, a hole begins forming within reality before us, revealing a long stone corridor.

"I shall show you as we go deeper within. It is the only way to safely reach the throne. Come with me, Liam Webb, and stay close," she says as she walks through it.

Not sure I have much of a choice. I look back to the lunar landscape and follow her.

Moonlight filters through old stone archways on my right, painting the ancient corridor in pale light. The stone is cracked and worn, moss growing out over much of the structure. It looks like ruins in a Tolkien book, or a fantasy movie. She walks ahead of me, hooves making no sound as they land on the floor. Elaborate paintings hang on the wall. They seem to glow with light as we approach.

"One-thousand years ago, we were one... Luna and I. We ruled alongside our sister, Celestia Astra," she hisses.

On the wall, a painting of the two royal alicorns stand, overlooking Equestria. The artwork is simplified, but elegant, the two standing at equal height and watching over the land, an icon of the sun and of the moon both sitting in the sky. Nightmare Moon continues moving along, not stopping as I do to examine the paintings. I jog a little to catch up as another painting illuminates itself.

"Our ponies adored her and her sun, while we were left for the night, our Thestrals discriminated against by her day-trotters. We began to resent her, but we approached with peace. We wanted peace. We wanted the love she had. When we made our case, she denied us our rightful place, our ponies suffering alongside us."

She huffs and stops to look at this painting.

The painting shows a multitude of ponies with fluffy ears and darker coats, wailing upwards. Celestia and Luna are engaged in an argument, a dark shadow cast by Luna onto what I assume are the Thestrals. The colors in this one are more reserved, less saturated. Icons of the sun and moon stand behind Celestia and Luna.

She snorts and continues walking. I follow.

"We rebelled, to raise the moon indefinitely, to make them pay for their arrogance."

The final painting depicts Luna, now Nightmare Moon, in some sort of magical combat with Celestia. She doesn't stop to look at the painting.

"We fought. We lost," she murmurs, walking along.

"She banished us, using the Elements of Harmony," she says over her shoulder. "In the infinite wisdom of the Elements, we were exiled, isolated for one-thousand years. Upon our return, her protégé used the Elements to tear our soul in-half, to leave only 'Luna' behind in the corporeal realm."

"I imagine having half of a soul is something someone would notice. Not that I would know, I don't even know if there's an afterlife... or that souls are real."

"They are very real in Equestria. Celestia has noticed that something is amiss, but she does not understand what they have done to us."

I stop following. She notices and stops as well.

"You understand that everything and everyone would have died if you had left the world in eternal night... right?" She digs at the stone floor.

"We... were not thinking rationally... at the time." I nod and rub my chin.

"A child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth." She flares her wings out and rounds on me.

"Explain yourself, Liam Webb. I am no foal. I was a Princess."

I bring my hands up. She bares her teeth at me, fangs exposed. I tilt my head down and stare her in the eyes. The moonlight bounces from her armor onto the walls, her cerulean orbs staring deep into my own.

"I'm trying to say that I understand where you're coming from."

She stamps a hoof down.

"You do not! To be betrayed! You do not know what it means to be alone! To be-" she snarls, but stops. I guess it's something in my eyes. Something in my face. I feel my teeth clenched and undo my jaw. I take a moment to steady my heart.

"I do. Circumstances were different, but I do," I say sharply.

We stand there, staring at each other, frustration and emotional angst hanging in the air.

"I'm sorry, Nightmare Moon. Let's keep going."

She regards me silently for a few moments, then she turns and begins walking down the hallway. We clear some obstacles, fallen pieces of old architecture littering the hall. We spend the next few minutes in silence, me following Nightmare Moon to an unknown destination. She finally speaks.

"I have been a spectator to Luna since, what is left of her," she says quietly.

We breach a large wooden door, old and rotten, into a room made of thatch and straw. Hay covers the floor, and in the center of the hut, a dark flame of blue and purple with gray stars inside. It lashes out uncontrollably at the floor of the hut, but nothing catches aflame. Beside her is Luna, seemingly asleep, transparent and still. Dried tears have left lines down her matted fur.

"She created a creature within her dreams to torture herself, to punish herself for becoming us. But we were always her, and she was always me. This creature, the Tantabus, is partially responsible for the chaos outside. It is also why we can convene."

The magical flame lashes out towards us, but the flame does not burn me. Nightmare Moon, however, steps back and avoids the lash. I look to her and see... fear.

"Why haven't you tried to wake her?"

"I cannot, we are unable to speak, to interact. I could only watch, and even now, I am unable to connect with the living world. You are capable of doing what I cannot. I have done what I can to keep back the tide, however, your assistance is needed in another matter."

The flame ebbs slightly, and underneath I see it. A red, festering mass, veins and organs pumping into the body of the magical entity. It pulses and shakes, beating like a heart. Inscribed within the flesh are runes I am familiar with, having seen them myself, but the when is lost to me.

I know what this is, somewhere deep inside. I've seen it before.

This was my monster, whatever it is.

"It followed you to Equestria, a foreign invader within your mind, I presume it is from your world. It has fed the energy of the Tantabus, allowing it to cast these spells through Luna. Through me. It is the catalyst for all of this."

Great.

"From what I could gather, it is responsible for the gaps in your memory. You will wake her, and I will join our minds. When we join, we will be strong enough expel it from our mind and place it back within yours. There, we will contain the demon."

So I'm the bait.

Her horn illuminates. The straw hut is washed away, as is the hay floor, and most everything else. It's just us, the Tantabus, and Luna within another endless void. I take a steadying breath and swallow. She looks uncertain, nervous even. Given how powerful she must be, the sight doesn't do much for my own nerves.

"And you want me to convince her to let you... what, rejoin minds? Souls?"

"Yes," she nods.

"And what are you going to be doing?"

She grins, but the confidence is missing.

"I shall be fighting back the illusions in the throne room."

I already don't like this plan.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Then you will have to kill us. It is the only way to-" I shake my head.

"Absolutely not. That's not an option. We've lost enough already."

She opens her mouth to argue, but either can't find the words, or doesn't have the energy to fight me on it. I walk over to the transparent form of Luna. I kneel beside her and I reach out to her, but my hand moves through her. She stirs slightly, horn alight. She must still be casting the illusions on behalf of the Tantabus. I look over my shoulder to see Nightmare Moon staring at me, a strange emotion in her eyes.

"I have to know that Equestria won't burn when you... do your thing. I can't trade one crisis for another."

She straightens up and fixes me a determined glare.

"You have my word that I shall not embark upon the conquest of Equestria. Banishment was not a crueler fate than this. To know that the Elements of Harmony would be capable of such a horror..."

"Don't seem too harmonious, do they?"

She nods and glances back to Luna.

"Moon?"

She looks at me with a bemused expression.

"I'm not saying Nightmare Moon every time I want to address you. Too wordy."

"Very well. What is it?" she huffs and rolls her eyes.

"I'm sorry. For all of this. You didn't deserve this. I hope you get a chance to speak with Celestia again, in better circumstances," I say. For a moment, I see what looks like hope flash over her eyes. The vertical slit seems to widen, almost to a rounded pupil. She smiles sadly.

"As do I. You... I thank you. Are you ready?"

I grab the spearhead in my vest and run a hand through my hair.

"No, but let's do it anyway."

She nods and her horn begins to glow.

"For what it is worth," her voice echoes in my head as she disappears, "I am glad to have finally met you, Liam Webb. I see what she sees in you."

"What?"

She doesn't answer, disappearing into the darkness around us. Slowly, Luna disappears, as does the flame, and the monster beneath it. I feel a cold chill wash over me as the darkness begins to brighten. Slowly, the world turns and changes, and I find my footing in a meadow somewhere far away from the castle.

The smell of dew on the grass, a faint breeze through the trees whistling past. It's enough to forget the hell I've been wading through. Then it's all washed away with a violent, unnatural scream.

Author's Note

Hey! Writers block lifted, but I'm not sure the quality is the same. Rushed to get this one out while I still had the creative juices flowing! Let me know what you all think in the comments!

Have a great day!

EDIT: I know we've also got a lot of dialogue here, but it's all necessary. Next chapter is going to be more action-centric.