Belial: Luna's Assistant

“Wake up Belial, it's time,” Luna said, waking Belial up in her bed. She got up and changed into her uniform before the two made their way to the throne room. The moonlight lit up the whole room, both thrones currently empty. Luna took out the small quartz crystal and filled the stone with night. It began to pulse before letting out a blast of energy. The stone levitated off of the ground at eye level with Belial.

“Did it work?” she asked.

“Yes. I can feel it, it worked!”
“Luna!” Princess Celestia yelled as she threw open the doors. Rose came in running after her. Luna's wings flared alongside her sister's. Luna smirked before flying out the window.

“I know why you're doing this, but it isn't worth it! All you're doing is upsetting the balance!”

“I know how it feels to be ignored, to be unwanted. If they don't respect Luna, then they will learn to love the gift she gives!” Rose drew her white and gold sword, Belial drawing her own.

“I'll break that crystal and stop you two.”

“Not gonna happen.” The two rushed at each other, trading blow after blow. A rush of light broke Belial's attention away long enough to get a hit in the back of the head from Rose's hilt. She fell to the ground, Rose running to the crystal to destroy their mission.

“No!” Belial screamed, swinging her sword and watching in horror as a wave of darkness hit Rose's throat, blood rushing out. Belial dropped her weapon and rushed over to her.

“I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for it to be like this, I just wanted to have people who understood!”

“Move away from Rose,” she heard Princess Celestia's voice call out. Her hair had changed to that of a rainbow, cuts and scrapes all over her body. Belial obliged as Celestia moved to heal Rose's throat. A while later, Rose was able to speak again, a white scar over her throat. Princess Celestia and Rose stood up.

“Stand up, Belial.”

“Where is Luna?” Belial asked, not looking up from the floor.

“Stand up, Belial,” she said more assertively this time. Belial stood up slowly without moving her head. “You will be placed in a cell for this until I feel like it is enough. Follow me.” The cells at the bottom of the castle were still nicer than Belial's own home had been. The bed, while simple, was comfortable enough. There was a small desk over in the corner.

“Sit down, Belial.” She felt the blanket in her hands as she sat down, Princess Celestia entering the cell as well.
“Luna is gone,” she started. Belial's world felt like it was crumbling down, the stones beneath melting into one.
“She will be gone for one thousand years until the stars align again. Once I feel like you can be let out, you will have free reign again.”

“Where is she?”

“She's on the moon.”

Belial couldn't stop herself from laughing. “Isn't that poetic? The princess who controls the night gets stuck alone for a thousand years while the person who nearly killed someone gets stuck in a comfy prison!” Tears were beginning to form in Belial's eyes. “Please, let me take her place. She doesn't deserve that loneliness.”

“I can't. As much as I want to, I can't bring her back. I acted hastily and punished her too much.”

“Is there anything else you want to add, or can I get to serving out my sentence now?”

“Rose wanted to say that she's sorry for not helping sooner.”

“Have you come here to gloat, Celestia?” Belial spat as the princess entered her field of vision.

“You're not sleeping enough, are you? You're sleeping the bare minimum to keep yourself functioning. We both know that's not what Luna would want.” Even though she's correct, Belial wouldn't let her have it, so she just ignored her as usual.

“How long has it been, anyway?”

“Around 65 years. Rose gave up being my assistant, along with her immortality. I now have no more help, so how about I give you a chance to leave.”

“Now you've piqued my interest. ”

“I want you to help me around the kingdom. It's growing much faster than I expected with different people from all around the world coming here. I'm not asking you to leave Luna's side, I'm just asking for your help.”

“Why do you think I would help you?”

“You have nothing left now, not even Dusk.” Belial flinched at the mention of her only friend.

“Can we change the topic?”

“Does that mean you'll accept?”

“I don't have much of a choice.”

“What's a 'town hall'?” Belial asked as they found themselves in front of a large building in the center of the city. The town had significantly grown since Belial had last seen it, many buildings having more than one story.

“It's where they keep records of who lives here along with any criminals. They also pass laws here,” Celestia explained as they entered the building. The floor was wood along with a trim on the lower part of the walls. The rest of the wall was a brilliant white. They walked forward until they found a large circular table with people sitting around it.

“Why are we here, then? It looks like they have everything sorted out themselves.”

“There is a small pack of Ursa Minor near the border of this town, so they asked me to come down and see if I had any ideas.”

“Belial, you're finally out!” a familiar voice said from behind them. Belial turned around slowly to see Rose entering the room with a child next to her with darker pink hair. Belial tried to say something but was unable to.

“You're late Rose. Why did you bring your kid here, we told you that this was for adults!” one of the men sitting at the table admonished her.

“Well excuse me for wanting my old friend to see my kid! Besides, I'm not going to leave them alone while there are Ursa Minor on the outskirts of town.”

“Which is why we're here correct? We'll move them away from the city while you start constructing walls around the outskirts of the woods,” Celestia stated. “Belial, you will help build the walls while I scare them off.”

“Couldn't you just kill them?” another man at the table asked. “It would save us a lot of trouble.” Belial didn't follow the rest of the conversation; she was far too busy trying to not run out of the room that suddenly felt like it was closing around her.

“I'm sorry for what I did Rose,” Belial broke the silence as the two used their magic to lift large white stones to begin building a protective wall. “I thought what we were doing was right, I didn't mean to hurt you.”

“I understand that. I actually have a proposition for you, though,” Rose turned to look at Belial. “I want you to look after my family. When I gave up my immortality, I still kept my magic. That also means that throughout the generations, my children will get more and more powerful. I want you to keep them safe and teach them to use their powers wisely.”

Belial hesitated before asking, “Why do you trust me to do this?”

“You're very kind,” Rose smiled. Belial didn't quite believe her, but she said nothing either way.

“I'll do my best for you.”

Belial woke up for the first and only time this year. It had been nearly 1000 years since she was released from prison in which during that time she took over being a caretaker of Luna's old garden along with teaching the next generation. The world had grown exponentially over time with magic having become more and more common along with some people managing to grow wings.

1000 years.
1000 lonely years.
How lonely does Luna feel?
It doesn't matter anymore. She doesn't have that much longer to wait.

She got up and forced herself to get ready for the class that day. “Today, class, we will be focusing on history!” she announced to a few groans, one of them coming from the youngest in Rose's bloodline, Twilight Sparkle. “Now I know you all are disappointed that we won't be learning about magic, but history is it's own magic!” Belial said with the same enthusiasm she often heard from Dusk when she would watch her teach the young ones.

“Why do we need to learn from history? Wouldn't learning about controlling magic be more useful?” Twilight asked.

“History is important so that we can learn and better ourselves from our past mistakes. Understanding why things happen can help you to see the signs later down the road, for better or worse. Can anyone tell me about the history of magic in this kingdom?” No one raised their hand. Belial sighed and thought about how much more reading she would have to assign.

“1000 years ago, magic was something that only our two princesses had. They were able to give their magic and lifespans to one person of their choosing, and while the lifespan could be taken back, the magic could not.” She paused to look at which students were taking notes and which weren't. “While it was slow, magic slowly began to make its way into daily life, either directly through action, or being around magic. After around 250 years, people started to be born that could utilize magic on their own. When that discovery was made, Princess Celestia added a course about harnessing magic.”

Most of the students were writing down what she said, bar a few that she would have to pay extra attention to.
“Over the years, people began to become more powerful. Around 200 years ago, the first person to be born with wings came into this world. Once again, Princess Celestia added a course to train people to use their wings safely and take care of them.”

“Did Princess Celestia teach you how to fly, Miss Belial?” one of her students asked.

“No. I was taught by someone else who was very close to her. Now, enough with the history lesson, it's time to go over last week's homework.” A few people groaned, but made their way to the front to hand in the homework.

A couple years later

“Belial, Princess Celestia asked for you,” Twilight said as she entered Princess Luna's old garden. Belial placed the shears down and turned to look at Twilight who had a serious expression on her face.

Belial groaned, “How high on the scale is it?”

“10 out of 10.” Belial used her magic to sink into the darkness of the shadows around her and quickly made her way into Pri- Celestia's throne room.

“I'm surprised you're here so quickly,” she said. “As you know, my sister will be coming back on the night of the Grand Gala. She will be searching for the elements of harmony.”

“Yes, I'm aware. You also know that I have every intention of helping her when she gets back.”

“That's what I wanted to talk about. I want you to help Luna when she gets back here. Twilight is aware of her plans as she read the prophecy, and I want you to watch Twilight and make sure she stays safe.”

“What do you mean, stay safe?”

“My sister is not in her right mind. She is no longer the Luna you knew. She has been transformed by her hate, quite literally, and became a creature known as nightmare moon.”

“And you want me to stop her?”

“No. Twilight Sparkle is more than capable of doing that, and she has a great destiny waiting for her. I just want you to make sure that she remains safe. I will be sending the two of you to Ponieville. The library is already set up for you two to live in.” Belial's head was spinning with all of this new information, but before she could say anything, Celestia added, “If you want to save Luna, the real Luna, this is the best thing you can do. She won't hesitate to kill anyone, including anyone in Rose's ancestry.”

Belial thought for a moment, “Fine. Anything else you need, Celestia?”

“Please don't use your magic. Not only will it cause a massive stir, it's also quite frightening. Also, take this,” she reached behind and pulled out Belial's old sword. She took the sheathed blade into her hands and stared at it.

“Are you sure you want me to have this again?” Celestia nodded. Belial placed the sword onto her belt gently.

“I have already had your bags packed and placed in a carriage. I will personally watch after the garden as well.”

“Just don't touch the chrysanthemums, they-”

“-need to be left alone, I am aware. They will be kept in safe hands, I promise.”