Chapters Nightmare Moon let out a roar of pain as a bolt of lightning struck her side, her body convulsing as the scent of fear and scorched flesh filled the air. “The almighty lunar tyrant, brought to her knees” a voice mocked her, followed by a boot slamming into her muzzle causing her vision to swim. “As a reward for being decent entertainment for all these years, I shall grant you the gift of death,” the owner of the voice sneered as they held out their hand, a dagger manifesting in it.
The curved blade was composed solely of bone, its serrated edge stained with dried blood and the telltale scent of toxin from what her nose had told her. “The first weapon I ever made,” the figure traced the edge of the dagger lovingly, unaware of the shift in the stars or the rotation of the moon. “Feel honored to be slain by such” they told the fallen alicorn before swinging at her neck, the bone blade slicing through her throat like a hot knife through butter.
At least that was what was supposed to happen. The attack was interrupted by burst of light and magic that temporarily blinded them and threw off their sensory spells. By the time they had recovered, Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be seen. With the quarry stolen from under their nose, the figure dispelled the dagger and let out a frustrated sigh before examining the spot where Nightmare Moon’s body used to be. The floor was stained with blood and singed fur, but what drew their attention was the scent of magic that lingered in the area.
Grabbing a handful of dirt, the figure brought it to their face and deeply inhaled, their body filtering the various magics and categorizing them. There were three unique signatures; theirs, Nightmare Moon’s and the one that reeked of positivity. Turning their head to the side in disgust, the creature let go of the dirt in hand and sneezed a few times to purge the scent from its nostrils. Turning its gaze back to the spot, the creature inhaled the scent once more. It could taste the magics that had taken its prey from them, that had undone the bonds that kept both it and Nightmare Moon bound to this desolate rock.
Honesty, loyalty, kindness, laughter, generosity, it could taste them all, the positive emotions contained in the spells causing its body to shudder in revulsion. The last one though, the last one reeked of pure magic, no positivity, just raw and undiluted, just the way it liked it. Picking nup a strand of Nightmare Moon’s hair, the creature put it into its mouth and inhaled sharply, enjoying the taste that flowed into its mouth. It wanted more, it wanted to feed on her fear as it had done for the past thousand years, to make her bleed as their bodies danced to the song of blades clashing against each other. For the briefest of moments, it wonders if they’re any more like Nightmare Moon. Creatures capable of alleviating its boredom. There was only one way to find out.
Turning its gaze to the trail of magics that had been left behind by Nightmare Moon, the creature pondered. “Shall we go?” it said aloud to the emptiness of space as its body burst to life with lightning that scorched the ground beneath its feet. The only response it received was the pulsating marks that decorated its body. “You’re right. I don’t need your permissions for anything” it replied before leaping off the moon, a crater forever scarring the moon’s surface as it made its way to where Nightmare Moon’s trail led him; the blue orb named Equus.
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Twilight struggled to pull herself out of the dent in the wall that Nightmare Moon had made with her body. Looking around the throne room of The Castle of Two Sisters, her eyes widening in terror as she looked around the room for her new friends. Rainbow Dash had been planted headfirst into a wall, her broken wings hanging limply by her side. Fluttershy was laying on her side nursing her broken ribs, Nightmare Moon’s hoofprint visible on her chest, the blood leaking from her mouth indicating that the ribs had punctured her lungs.
Applejack was whimpering in the corner trying her best not to look at the bones sticking out of her legs, the consequence of trying to buck Nightmare Moon in the face. Rarity and Pinkie were not faring any better; the white unicorn having being on the receiving end of a fire spell, courtesy of the lunar tyrant, her bodies littered with burns. Pinkie Pie was laying on the floor, her hooves pressed against her throat, trying to stem the blood flowing from the open wound.
“Foolish mortals!” Nightmare Moon screeched, drawing Twilight’s attention to the midnight black alicorn who was surrounded by the shattered remains of the elements of harmony. “Once I’m done with you six, I’ll drain the magic of your pathetic town and then devour the entire planet! I will not let that thing take my kingdom!” she roared, her horn glowing with magic. Inhaling sharply, she wrapped the ponies in her magic, raised them into the air and began to drain the magic of the six defeated ponies, the wounds she received from the creature on the moon closing up as she gorged herself on them. “More, I need more!” her consumption rate increased drastically. She needed more if she hoped to face that thing head on.
Letting out a content sigh, Nightmare Moon dropped the bodies of the now drained ponies and cracked her neck. “Are you going to come out, or do I need to skin your little ponies one by one?” she said aloud, turning her gaze to the hole in the roof. She was rewarded with only silence, her taunt gone unanswered. “Suit yourself” she grinned, showing off her fangs as she placed her horn to Twilight’s neck and slowly dragged it across, letting out a trickle of blood from her neck.
“Halt!” she heard her intended target call out, followed by the flapping of wings as Celestia descended into the throne room. “Foul demon, unhand my little ponies and surrender, Nightmare Moon” she demanded, her horn glowing as she took a defensive stance.
“Here’s a counter offer Celestia. Surrender your magic to me, walk away with your new pawns, and when I rule this land, I’ll let you have a piece of it for yourself,” Nightmare Moon offered in return, her horn still resting on Twilight’s neck.
“And let you plunge the world into eternal night? I think not villain” Celestia hissed as she desperately thought of a way to get her adversary away from Twilight.
“In my imprisonment I learnt that there are things worse than eternal night Celestia. If you knew what was coming, you’d be begging me to take your magic” Nightmare Moon snarled, the fear that briefly overcame her vanishing under a wave of anger and false confidence.
“Your lies won’t work on me,” Celestia’s horn flooded the room with a powerful blast of light that blinded everyone in the room, giving her the opportunity to teleport everyone away from the throne room, leaving a blind and angry Nightmare Moon. Letting out a screech of rage, the evil alicorn swung her head in an arc, releasing a powerful laser from her horn that cut through the entire castle, bringing down the palace around her. So absorbed was she in her rage that she failed to notice the lightning streaking across the night sky, heading towards the planet. “Fine then!” she snorted as her vision finally cleared up. Spreading her wings, she took to the skies, her destination; Canterlot.
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Celestia’s horn stopped glowing as her healing spell finally came to an end. Pulling her horn away from Pinkie Pie’s neck, she let out a tired sigh, she dropped to her knees, sadness written over her face as she looked at her little ponies who were checking their bodies and in the cases of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, stretching their legs and wings to test them out. “I’m so sorry my little ponies,” she sobbed, “I thought the elements would help you stop her,” tears ran down her face, her head hung down in shame. She couldn’t wrap her head around it; Nightmare Moon wasn’t supposed to be this strong, she’d just been released from the moon and should have been weak enough for the elements to purify her in a single go. But the skill and savagery she had seen from Nightmare Moon was beyond her expectation.
“Princess Celestia, I don’t understand,” she heard Twilight say, the purple pony sitting on her haunches. “The elements didn’t work. I had all five of them in front of me, I poured my magic into them. I poured the spark of magic like I was supposed to do and nothing happened,” she hung her head down, the weight of her failure weighing on her. Before Celestia could comfort her, a magical laser beam cut through the castle, lighting up the night sky as it cut through everything in the region.
“Fine then!” they heard Nightmare Moon’s voice boom from the castle. Turning their gaze to the castle, they saw a figure in the air and with a flap of its wings, took off towards Canterlot. With fear in their eyes, they all turned their attention to Celestia who had a terror filled expression on her face.
“Princess, what do we do?” Twilight asked her, all six of them looking to Celestia for guidance. The princess got up from the floor, her horn glowing with raw power, her sadness and fear giving way to determination. Pawing the ground with her front hoof, Celestia raised her head to the sky and spread her wings.
“I will handle Nightmare Moon, you six get to safety,” she ordered firmly, preparing to go after the villain herself, the mood of the ponies being raised, hope returning to them as their princess prepared to face off against the villain that had just handed their asses to them.
“But what about the elements?” Rainbow Dash asked, “They were shattered and those were our only shot at beating her,” the polychromatic pegasus pointed out, her statement bringing down the mood as reality set in.
“The elements aren’t the stones,” Celestia told them, flapping her wings softly, taking to the sky, “The elements are within you all.” This wasn’t what she wanted, she wanted them to grow on their own, to see in them what she saw, to find the elements in themselves. She knew that they were destined for greatness even though they couldn’t see it in themselves. With that she took to the sky, chasing after Nightmare Moon, a trail of sunlight left in her wake as she chased after the villainess. In the sky above, the streak of lightning changed its course and began to head towards Canterlot, chasing after Nightmare Moon.
“What did she mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked, watching Celestia grow smaller and smaller until she was gone from sight. She then turned to Twilight who looked like she was thinking about something. After a few minutes, realization dawned on the purple unicorn’s face.
“Girls we have to hoof it! I finally get it!” she yelled, her horn glowing brightly as she began to build up her magic, pouring everything she had into this one spell. With a yell of determination and a flash of magic, she teleported all of them out of the everfree forest and to Canterlot.
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“You should have just listened to me,” Nightmare Moon hissed, staring down Celestia with venom in her eyes, the citizens of Canterlot looking out their windows with a mixture of fear and hope in their eyes. “You have no idea how much good I’m trying to do here” she told Celestia, desperately trying to get her to see reason.
“The only good you could ever do is for yourself,” Celestia countered as her horn lit up, summoning her personal sword from the depths of the royal treasury, the sword lighting up the night sky with its appearance. The sword was massive, easily seven feet long from pommel to tip and four feet wide, the flat of the blade decorated with runes that caused it to give off a soft glow. The edges of the sword were dull, but that didn’t deceive Nightmare Moon. The aching burn scar over her eye reminding her that the heat of the sun was contained within the blade.
“It’s been a long time Helios,” Celestia raised the sword to her lips, the heat of the sword comforting her as she kissed the flat of the blade. Taking a stance, she swung the sword at Nightmare Moon’s shoulder, the heat of the sword restrained to the bare minimum, aiming to break her shoulder and hopefully incapacitate her with a single stroke. However, that was just a pipe dream as her sword was blocked by the blade of Nightmare Moon’s sword, her customary scythe ditched due to her experience on the moon.
“Slow,” Nightmare Moon taunted her as she performed a horizontal slash, followed by an overhead slash and then a thrust to Celestia’s muzzle from a second sword that was constructed from pure magic. “You’ve gotten soft Celestia,” she laughed as she watched the solar monarch try to block her attacks with Helios and fail miserably, the swords littering her body with paper thin cuts, a testament to Nightmare Moon’s skill with a blade.
Dissipating the magically constructed blade, Nightmare Moon licked the drop of blood that now stained her sword, her body shuddering in ecstasy as she savored the taste of Celestia’s blood. “You taste wonderful,” she smirked before resuming her assault on the solar monarch, the sword parting the air with ease, each swing growing faster than the last until the sword was nothing more than a blur, Celestia’s eyes widening as she was slowly overwhelmed by the assault, more and more wounds appearing on her body causing it to rain blood.
Celestia couldn’t remember the last time she had gone through this level of punishment and her body was screaming for her to take a break. She told herself for the umpteenth time that this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Twilight and the others were meant to purify Nightmare Moon and return her sister to her, her dear Luna. She had endured a thousand years of guilt, a thousand years of solitude, a thousand years of replaying that incident over and over in her head, trying to see if she could have done anything different, a thousand years of planning on how she could get her sister back, and now it would all be for naught.
A punch to the face in her moment of distraction sent her careening towards the earth, her body creating a crater in the earth as the air left her body, Helios falling tip first into the earth and sinking as it melted the earthen sheath. “You should have listened to me,” Nightmare Moon’s voice came from above, the dark alicorn crashing down on Celestia hoof first, sinking her deeper into the ground. “You could have walked away with your ponies, but now,” Celestia gasped for air as magic wrapped itself around her throat, crushing her windpipe and depriving her of air, “Now I’m going to make it hurt,” and with that, Celestia croaked in pain as her magic was forcibly ripped from her body, her mane slowly losing its luster as Nightmare Moon fed
Nightmare Moon’s laughter resonated through Canterlot as Celestia’s magic flowed through her, the onlookers watching in fear as the tyrant’s body underwent several changes. Her body began to increase in size, the various wounds that Twilight and her friends magic were insufficient to heal finally vanishing with a pitch-black sun appearing on her flank, blending with her crescent moon mark. “This could have gone a lot easier,” she commented, Celestia’s dying croaks being the only response she got. “But worry not. Once I take care of that thing, I’ll take good care of your precious little ponies,” she sneered, eagerly watching the light leave Celestia’s eyes.
“Nightmare Moon!” she turned her head to look at the pawn she had planted into the wall back at the castle, the purple unicorn. “Your reign of terror is over!” the other five ponies stood behind the purple unicorn, the determination on their faces telling her all that she needed to know. Throwing Celestia into the wall of a nearby house, Nightmare Moon cracked her neck before letting out an annoyed sigh. It looks like her reign would be ushered in by the death of these six.
“You failed to stop me before, the elements failed you when you needed them, and now your beloved princess lays broken and drained,” she pointed her hoof to Celestia’s body lying in the corner, enjoying the look of disbelief and fear on their faces. “Kneel before your queen and not only will I forgive this incident, I'll even let Celestia live,” she paused, letting the offer hang over their head. Truth be told, she didn’t want to let Celestia go, but she knew that if she killed her here and now, she would make a martyr out of her, a symbol for rebellion. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Celestia alive to rally the ponies and other races to stand behind her.
“Never!” Twilight yelled, her defiant spirit burning brightly in her eyes. “And you’re wrong about the elements of harmony. It wasn’t in those rocks, but it in me and my friends,” she launched into a speech about how each of her friends possessed each of the elements, and went on to list the feats that identified them as such, but Nightmare Moon wasn’t listening. At some point during the rant, her entire body stiffened in fear as she felt something enter the planet’s atmosphere. That thing had followed her, and worst of all, it was coming her way.
“The spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element,” Twilight’s voice brought her out of her internal panic and brought her to a more pressing issue, the six mares floating in the air. “The element of magic,” Twilight had finished her speech and the six mares fired off a rainbow-colored beam at her.
Roaring defiantly, Nightmare Moon charged up her own horn and fired off a raw blast of magic at the incoming beam, a trick that she had learnt from that creature during her imprisonment. The two attacks clashed and fought for dominance; the power of friendship versus the power of Nightmare Moon. “I will not lose!” the dark alicorn roared, pouring everything she had into the attack which was now pushing back the friendship blast. “You cannot defeat me!” she grunted, taking a step forward and forcing the six ponies back, multiple voices joining hers, echoing her words for all to hear. “I am omega! I am Nightmare Moon!” she roared defiantly, savoring the fear that was slowly making its way to the mares faces as the friendship blast was devoured by her attack.
She was so close to winning. Things were back on track, she had defeated and fed off Celestia and now she was not only contending with the elements of harmony, but actually winning! A feat that not even Discord with his nigh infinite power could accomplish and she was doing it! All she needed was more power. Planting her hoofs firmly into the ground to secure her footing, Nightmare Moon focused on the power deep within her body, power born of the hatred and jealousy of her mother and let it all out with a scream that resounded through Canterlot.
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Celestia was tired. Her plans to get her sister back and have the elements of harmony gain new bearers while ridding Equestria of Nightmare Moon was crumbling around her. Forcing her eyes open, she was greeted by the scene of Nightmare Moon’s magic beam overpowering the elements of harmony. Her little ponies needed her help and now. Taking deep breaths to steel herself, Celestia forced herself to her feet, her sheer determination and desire to keep her ponies safe the only thing keeping her going, but she didn’t know how long it would keep her going.
Tearing her eyes away from the beam struggle in front of her, her eyes landed on the Helios that had sheathed itself into the earth. As if sensing her gaze and her desire, the sword let out a dull hum that only she could hear, the weapon crying, begging, screaming, demanding that she use it the way it was intended to be used. It knew that they could do it. They could take on Nightmare Moon as long as she put her faith in it and simply allowed it to burn down everything.
“No!” she denied Helios firmly, commanding the sword to her side. “We do this my way,” she shook her head, clearing it of the sword’s influence and began to force her will on it, ignoring its whining and complaints as she pulled the magic out of the sword and directed it into herself, jumpstarting her mana regeneration, her entire body shuddering as her fatigue, wounds and aches began to vanish. Halting the recovery process, Celestia directed the magic towards her horn, shaping it into the only spell she knew could be performed under these conditions.
Nightmare Moon was already celebrating her victory. Her beam was mere inches away from the purple unicorn, the element of magic, and with her death, the other elements would fall. Once that happened, she would enslave the other five elements alongside Celestia and then crush the monster that followed her from the moon. Once it was dealt with, she would then blanket the world in her glorious night, just like mother wanted. She was so focused on her victory that she failed to notice the bolt of magic coming for her horn.
On a normal day such an attack would be noticed, blocked and then the attacker swiftly dealt with, however this wasn’t a normal day. The attack hit her squarely in the horn, sending a wave of pain through her, causing her attack to fizzle out of existence, leaving her unable to defend herself. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the source of the attack; the heavily panting, blood soaked, barely standing Celestia.
“Fool!” she cursed at everyone present as the elements of harmony ripped her apart, her mind, body and soul screaming in pain as she was forcefully separated from her mother, the miasma that made up her body trying its best to latch onto her and failing desperately. “You have no idea what you’ve done,” she hissed loudly as chunks of blinding the onlookers as a massive explosion took place, the shockwaves travelling through the entire city of Canterlot.
Once the light died down, the mane six and Celestia were greeted with the sight of an unconscious midnight blue alicorn laying in the centre of the crater. "Sister!" Celestia shouted in panic, charging down the crater at full speeds, ignoring her injuries and the protests of her ponies as she raced towards Luna, tears pouring from her eyes."Sister I'm so sorry!" Celestia bawled as she wrapped her hooves around Luna, sobbing in joy as she finally held her sister in her hooves. A thousand years of planning finally paying off.
"Sister?" Rarity asked in confusion, looking at Twilight who simply shrugged at the white unicorns question. As much as she prided in being Celestia’s prized student, there were things she didn't know about Princess Celestia; such as her having a sister. The six mares watched the reunion from the mouth of the crater, none of them wanting to interrupt the two sisters. However, somepony else had other plans for them. A deep purple bolt of magic slammed into the two hugging alicorns, creating an explosion that sent them flying.
"Everything was going so perfectly," a childish voice came from the direction of the blast, the ponies ears flattening in fear as an alicorn foal walked out from the ruins of a house, the ponies around the area shrivelling around her as she drained the lifeforce from everypony around her. "You could have just surrendered like good little ponies," the foal hissed, blasting Celestia and Luna even further. "Could have just let me grant you all the beauty of eternal night, could have just bowed to your queen," she wrapped the Mane Six in a telekinetic grip and slammed them into a house, putting them out of commission.
"We could have done it the easy way," she panted as she stood before the downed princesses and brought down her hoof on Celestia’s horn, sending a wave of paralysing pain through her. "Now we're doing it the hard way," she created a sword in the air, aimed it above the neck of Celestia and brought it down, only to be stopped by a forcefield created by Luna who had recovered from the blast.
"You will not take my sister from me you monster!" Luna roared defiantly, her horn glowing brighter, reinforcing the barrier around her and Celestia.
"Monster? Mother, I'm not a monster" the foal gave a malicious grin, revealing a row of fangs as she dissipated the sword and formed a massive warhammer. "I'm a devil," she brought the hammer down, shattering the barrier that separated her from her target, the backlash causing Luna to recoil in pain. "It's hard to believe that I spawned from you," she spat. "Now why don't you just stay there and let me handle this, Faust knows that's all your good for," she turned her attention back to Celestia who was still writing in pain.
"As much as I'd like to watch you kill Daybreaker, she's too important to die just yet," a voice whispered into the foal's ear, bringing her to a halt. "Now, would you kindly fall asleep?" the voice asked, forcing her to drop to the ground.
“What the hay just happened? Did we just win?” Rainbow Dash asked as she witnessed Nightmare Moon collapse on the floor just inches away from Luna and Celestia, her weapon dissipating into nothingness as the foal lost consciousness.
“I think we did,” Twilight answered before galloping towards Celestia and Luna, her mind going over the many spells she knew, eliminating the ones that required more mana than she currently had to spare, along with the ones that were energy inefficient. Stopping at Celestia’s body, she casted the spell she had selected and watched as her teacher’s wounds closed and sighed in relief as she felt Celestia’s natural mana recovery kick in. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Twilight sat on her haunches as she finally closed her eyes and let exhaustion take her.
“The purple one is attached to the white one. A lover? Sibling? Apprentice? Never mind, I’ll get one for myself, to make the game fair” the creature thought to itself as it watched from its perch atop a nearby house, its presence kept hidden by its own magics. It then turned its attention to the other mares that were with the purple one; the pink, the blue, the white, the yellow, and the orange. Pawns of the white one. It could taste the harmony that radiated off them, taste the elements oozing out of them. Pawns. It needed those. Not out of necessity, but out of fairness for the game. There was no fun if the game wasn’t fair. Turning its gaze to the blue one, the progenitor of Nightmare Moon, it shook its head in disappointment. This one was gone, it could see the harmony seeping into her body, wrapping itself around her brain and slowly rewriting it, making her weaker, more subservient to the will of the white one.
Pawns, pawns, pawns. It needed pawns to play the game. It needed its own kingdom to make the game fair. So many things to do, so many players to recruit, so many toys to gather, so much fun to be had. Bringing a claw to its head, it pierced through its skull and twisted it around, tearing apart its brain and letting its body repair the damage, the rearrangement sparking new ideas within its brain as its lips twisted into a smile, this was going to be fun.
Sitting on its perch, the creature watched as Nightmare Moon was put in a magic bubble and then carried away by the royal guards towards the castle. This wouldn’t do. It needed her to be free, to tell white and blue of the game they were playing. Its shadow began to boil and bubble, twist and writhe; changing into a viscous liquid that rose into the air and wrapped itself around its master. “Find Luna, make sure she’s allowed to play the game,” it commanded before kissing the creature on its head and sending it off, watching with glee as all the pieces began to fall into place.
“Time to go. Need to find the pawns, to find my own apprentice, my own enforcers,” the creature thought to itself. Turning its attention back to the ponies below, the creature watched as the white one got to her feet and began to absorb the ambient mana from the surroundings, the leylines beneath the city supplying her with enough mana to completely refill her mana reserves. With her power restored, the white one’s horn lit up and she bowed to the east, the sun slowly rising over the horizon in response to her magic.
“So that’s it? The fabled raising of the sun? I wonder if she would appreciate me playing with it?” it asked itself, a spear appearing in its hand. “Just a little bit,” it pointed the spear towards the rising sun and made a circular motion with it, watching in amusement as the sun looped and spun in the air, the gasps of the ponies temporarily satisfying its need for amusement.
“Lust stop playing around,” a voice scolded from within the creature’s head, bringing its antics to a halt.
“It's not fair,” the now named Lust whined, the spear dissipating before it forced a finger into its skull and stirred its brain, blood leaking from its eyes and nose, “Envy promised me that I could play with them,” Lust complained, the finger rearranging the brain into a new pattern.
“Since when does Envy outrank me?” the voice replied, the entire body freezing as the voice began to establish control over their shared body. “Now you will go back to the others and stay there until I’m done. Is that understood?” the voice growled, cracking its neck as Lust left the driver’s seat and retreated into the abyss that was their mind and joined the others who waited in the dark.
Stretching its body into various shapes and taking various poses, the creature was satisfied with the changes that Lust had made to the brain. It breathed in a breath of fresh air, ignoring the taste of harmony that saturated the world around it. Summoning a pitch-black ring with a single orb embedded in it from thin air onto its finger, the creature raised it to the sun and let the faint sunlight touch it. Activating the ring, the creature’s body dissipated into pure sunlight and rose into the sky, eager to begin its conquest.
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“Hurry up you useless reptile” the unicorn swore at the dragon below who was struggling to make her way up the cliff, the dragon wincing as her bleeding claws dug into the rocky face of the cliff, doing her best not to let the weight of the luggage on her back drag her down. Gritting her teeth in rage, the dragon was about to let loose a hate-filled comment, only for a wave of positivity to wash over her, causing her anger to ebb. Breathing out a stream of smoke from her nostrils, she grit her teeth and continued the climb, doing her best to even her breathing as she tried to reach the ledge the unicorn had teleported herself to.
“This would be a lot easier if you just teleported me up,” the dragon groaned, “Or at least some of the stuff you made me pack. Most of them are yours after all,” she grabbed a rock above her, only for it to give way under the combined weight of the miniature dragon and her luggage. “Starshine help!” the dragon cried as she fell to the ground below, her eyes widening in fear as a pale blue aura wrapped itself around the bags, bringing their descent to a crawl as the dragon was left to crash to the ground, her scales offering her a meager form of protection as she impacted with the ground, creating a dent in it.
“When you’re done playing around, make your way up. We don’t have enough time! Princess Luna is making her first public appearance for the first time since she returned and I will not miss it,” Starshine Prancer brought her hoof down in anger before turning around and making her way down the road towards Canterlot, the bag, and other items levitating behind her. “Meet me at home whenever you manage to drag your lazy flank back to Canterlot!” she yelled as she broke into a sprint, leaving the bruised and battered dragon in the crater, not bothering to check up on her.
“Stupid Starshine, stupid princess, stupid body,” the dragon growled from the crater, doing her best to crawl out of the crater, her movement sending waves of agony through her body as several broken bones and torn muscles made themselves known to her. Laying on her back, she breathed out a torrent of crimson fire into the air in an attempt to lessen her pain, the flames followed by a rage filled scream that resounded through the region as thoughts of murder and carnage filled her mind. “When I get my claws on her, I’ll,” her rant was cut off by her head exploding in pain, her violent thoughts being silenced by peace and harmony.
“Such rich emotions from one so small,” someone said calmly, temporarily disrupting the harmony that flowed into her brain, leaving her emotions unaltered. “So, tell me, what’s a hatchling drake doing so far away from her nest?” the voice asked, the owner of the voice taking advantage of the dragon’s immobility to stay out of her field of view.
“I’m not a hatchling, nor am I a drake!” she shouted angrily, wishing that she could bite the creature that dared to call her a drake and a hatchling. “I’m sixteen and I’m a dragon! A true, pureblooded one!” she proclaimed proudly, only to be met with laughter from whoever was there.
“If you’re pureblooded, then the sky is green,” the voice replied, a twinge of amusement in it. “And as we both can see, the sky is clearly blue. Besides, what true dragon doesn’t have wings?” a finger poked her, sending a wave of pain through her body.
“My wings will come in when I reach puberty,” she muttered, “Once I’m old enough they’ll grow in and I’ll finally be my proper size,”
“False, we’re born with our wings and we grow larger the older we are. You’re not a pure dragon. Even calling you a dragon is an insult to our species,” the creature chuckled, poking the dragon on the head, annoying her even more.
“And who are you to speak of what makes a dragon pure? What gives you the right to tell me what makes me a true dragon!?” she hissed in anger, wishing that she could sink her claws and fangs into the owner of the voice.
“The right? From the day of my birth, I was perfect among dragons. I took the thrones of my enemies; I ate their people like a wolf among sheep! I kill whoever I wish, whenever I wish! A dragon’s scales are iron, no blade can pierce us!” the creature went on, its voice thick with pride as it talked. Pride that the injured dragon couldn’t relate to. “Our teeth are swords! Our claws are spears! The shockwaves of our tails are a thunderbolt through the sky and the clap of their wings are a hurricane! My breath is death incarnate! This is what it means to be a true dragon, to be perfect among dragonkin! To be pure! You possess none of these things. You are not pure. You’re not a dragon, you’re a drake,” the creature poked her again, sending a small stream of arcana into the body of the drake to lessen the pain.
“That’s not true! I’m a dragon. I may not have those things, but I’m a true dragon. I was hatched from a dragon egg, straight from the dragon islands,”
“Then why do you reek of pony?” the creature asked. “You do not reek of dragon. Your body, your mind, your soul, they reek of pony. Why? You should smell like your mother, like your kin, like fire, smoke and jewelry; like a dragon. So why do you smell like flowers, harmony, and ponies?” it asked.
“I was hatched by Starshine Prancer at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and I’ve been her personal assistant and family member ever since,” the dragon explained.
“Some family you were. She let you fall and saved her precious luggage,” the voice taunted. “You weren’t important enough for her to bother saving. She left you here, and she’s never coming back.”
“That’s not true! She’s family! She wouldn’t abandon me! She would never leave me!” the dragon screeched, trying to defend the pony.
“Yet she’s done it before,” the creature pointed out, “She’s abandoned and sabotaged you every step of the way, telling you that its for your own good. Every single time. She left you alone in the forest, ruined your attempts to become independent, to learn about your heritage. And for what?” the creature asked.
“She’s trying to help me!” the dragon yelled, causing everything to fall silent, “Everything she’s done has been to help me. To make me a better dragon.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“Why do you need help? Why do you need to be made better?” the creature asked. “You’re a dragon. You need no betterment. Especially from a pony.”
“You’re wrong. I’ve read about dragons and what they do. We need to be better than we are. We need harmony and friendship. We need to be better. To be more like them,” the dragon said in defense of ponykind, repeating the mantra that Starshine had drilled into her head as the harmony seeped into her mind.
“I see. So that’s how it is,” the creature muttered to itself as it shoved a single claw into her body, sending waves of raw arcana into her body, a smile on its face as it watched the dragon writhe and twist in pain. “I know it hurts,” the creature chuckled, taking pleasure in her suffering, “But don’t worry, you will see things as they are really soon,” the creature's laughter was accompanied by the screams of Nithe.
Author's Note
Another one done. Please let me know how to improve it and what yall think
The Canterlot dungeons were built ten thousand years ago, during the warring era of Equus. Starting out as an interrogation chamber, the dungeons had expanded as the range of its use increased. Soon it was used to contain political prisoners and then criminals that didn’t warrant being sent to Tartarus, but were too dangerous for the local prisons to handle. The last prisoner was sentenced there three thousand years ago during the reign of the two sisters. After the prisoner committed suicide to escape the conditions of the prison, Princess Celestia ordered the dungeon to be shut down and the entrance sealed away.
Three thousand years later, the seals to the dungeon entrance were being undone by the very alicorn that had placed them there in the first place. As the last seal faded away, the doors to the dungeons swung open quietly, their hinges not making the slightest sound and released a blast of stale air. Scarlet Thorn’s nose scrunched in disgust as she inhaled, the preserved scent of iron, blood, sweat, excrement, and rotting flesh almost making her throw up. How the ponies of old could stomach such a place, much less working here willingly would never make sense to her.
Waiting a few minutes for fresh air to seep into the dungeons, Scarlet Thorn made her way down the ancient steps, doing her best to avoid the splotches of dried blood and other unmentionables that littered the way. Six hundred and sixty-six floors, each more repulsive than the last. The pony made her way down the steps, her horn the only source of illumination and her hoofsteps the only sound to accompany her in the darkness. “The darkness breaks them further,” she remembered her commander telling her, on the first time she came here, his scarred face illuminated by a torch attached to his armor. “The pony mind is hardwired to be afraid of a lot of things, and nothing scares us more than the dark,” she shuddered, her mind conjuring images of ponies screaming and begging for mercy as the guards tortured them. “After all, the dark makes the mind cook up a lot of crazy things”
The sound of the two guards that Celestia had stationed at the last level of the dungeon stomping the butt of their spears into the ground in salute forced her out of her recollection and back to the matter at hand. In front of her was a simple door composed of metals that would never see the light of day in Equestria if the princess could do anything about it. Taking one of the guard’s spears, she held it in her hoof and used it to push the door open, revealing a midnight-black foal suspended in the air by a series of heavy chains. The cell had no floor, just a hole that led to the darkest bowels of the earth. The foal’s wings were encased in metal and forcefully splayed, preventing her from using them. Her horn, the conduit of magic was bound by shackles and a casing that had several spikes jutting out of it. The slightest hint of magic would force the spikes into the horn, destroying it and crippling the unicorn trapped within.
“What’s this? Celestia sent her little pony down here to interrogate little ol me? I didn’t think she was the type” the foal spoke, her voice distorted by the muzzle that was forced onto her. “Then again, a thousand years can change a pony,” she chuckled, that last part the punchline to a joke that only she knew.
“The famed Nightmare Moon, turned into a foal, bound in chains and tossed into the darkest hole we could find,” Scarlet Thorn retorted, crimson red eyes staring into blue-slitted eyes. “Ain’t Celestia good?” she chuckled, poking the foal with the spear in hand.
“Poke me with that spear again, and I’ll shove it so far up your plot, your descendants will be tasting metal,” the foal hissed, pulling against her chains with all the power she could muster, resulting in cracking sounds emanating from where the chains connected to the wall, cracks spreading out across the cell, causing Scarlet Thorn to backpedal in fear. “I may be a foal in chains, but I’m still Nightmare Moon!” she hissed venomously, stopping her actions out of exhaustion, the chains sapping her ambient magic to repair the cell walls, reinforcing it even further.
“Now, now, don’t be too harsh on her,” a voice emerged from the pit below, interrupting the duo and forcing the door shut, alerting the guards that something was wrong. “After all,” the mare watched as a dark liquid rose out of the pit, stopping just short of the rim. “You’ve been gone a thousand years,” the liquid rose, twisting and rearranging itself to take on the form of a massive snake with violet, slitted eyes that watched the pony for any sign of weakness.
Ignoring Scarlet Thorn, the serpent turned to face Nightmare Moon who was struggling against her bonds, trying desperately to free herself from the chains. “Impatient as alwaysssss,” the serpent hissed softly, wrapping itself around the foal to stop her struggle.
“Forgive me for not wanting to make my death easy,” she retorted, contemplating whether or not she could get away with using her horn to teleport herself out of the chains. On one hoof, she might pull it off and escape, but on the other hoof, she could end up with a destroyed horn, something that she couldn’t afford right now.
“Death? Why would I do that?” the snake chuckled, its tongue flicking out to taste the foal, enjoying the revulsion on her face.
“You’re joking, right? I'm in the body of a defenseless foal, bound in chains that sap my magic and so deep underground that nopony would find my rotting corpse until whenever Celestia decides,” she pointed out the facts to the serpent, doing her best to keep the fear out of her voice.
“True, but the game isssssn’t over,” the snake replied. “There’sssss more of your kind. The white one, the blue one, and you,” the snake chuckled, tightening its grip on the foal. “Three of you, two new playerssss for the game. Equessssstria, Equssssss, the entire world our ssssstage,” its speech was cut off by a loud shout.
“Hey ugly!” Scarlet Thorn called out to gain the snake’s attention, making it turn away from the foal.
“Curiousssss” the snake stated as it examined Scarlet Thorn, the liquid in the pool wrapping rushing out and enveloping the earth pony and dragging her close to it. “A pony that issssn’t ssssscared of my presssence,” the liquid’s tightening grip forcing the air out of Scarlet’s lungs. “It sssseemssss I’ve found a new player,” the snake threw Scarlet aside with enough force to break her bones, her screams music to its ears.
Retreating into the hole, the serpent melted back into the liquid that it emerged from. “I’ll be ssseeing you ssssoon,” the words hung in the air as the liquid drained from the hole, and soon there was nothing left, nothing but the imprisoned Nightmare Moon and the screaming Scarlet Thorn.
………….……………………………………….XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..……………………………………………………
“This is Tartarus,” the solar diarch muttered under her breath as she cast a wary glance at the ornate clock that hung above the archway that led into the throne room, the contraption’s hands indicating that only five minutes had passed. There were times she swore that the throne room had been enchanted to make each second drag out as long as possible each time an annoyance walked into her halls.
Just as she was about to speak up to dismiss the day court, an earth pony burst through the doors startling everyone. “Princess!” the sweat drenched pony gasped, as she desperately tried to stay on her feet, “Scarlet Thorn went to check on Nightmare Moon in the dungeons and now she’s trapped in the cell with that beast!” the words fell out of the pony’s mouth quickly before detoriating into a blabbering mess of snot and tears.
“Day court is now adjourned,” Celestia announced firmly before turning to one of her guards “Tell my sister to meet me in the dungeons,” she instructed him before teleporting to the entrance of the dungeon, missing the words of the collapsed guard where to her surprise, an armor-clad Luna was descending the stairs, a halberd strapped to her side and a pair of wing blades attached.
“Sister what are you doing here?” Celestia called out, frowning a bit when her question wasn’t met with an answer. Luna hadn’t ever answered her since her return. Chasing after her sister, Celestia held onto her shoulder and spoke once more in a firmer tone her hoof strength stopping her sister’s progress. “Luna, what are you doing here and why are you armed?”
“We are simply fixing our biggest mistake,” Luna shrugged off Celestia’s hoof and continued her journey, picking up the pace until she was now in full sprint, leaving behind a Celestia that was currently hoping that her sister didn’t mean what she thought she meant.
“Wait Luna!” the solar diarch called, spreading her wings and taking to the air with a single leap and chasing after her sister. “What do you mean! How do you plan to fix it!” she yelled, hoping that Luna would give her any answer that wasn’t the one she already knew. She knew it was stupid to keep Luna and Nightmare in the same region, let alone the same town, even more so to have her imprisoned under their hooves.
“The same way you fix a mistake made in a foal’s school book,” came the reply, her sister’s wings now spread and lifting her into the air, the shadows around the solar diarch coming alive latching onto her, effectively putting an end to her chase, “By erasing it. Thoroughly,” the shadows tightened around Celestia, forming a cocoon around her, sealing her away from the outside world. “Do not worry sister, we shall release you once the deed is done,” Luna reassured as she made her way to the lower levels where the mistake was kept.
Luna walked down the dungeon steps with a goal in mind; the extermination of the mistake that now wore the skin of foal. She knew her sister didn’t have the stomach to do what was necessary, which was why she had planned to come down here alone and deal with it herself. Celestia might be older than her by a few hundred years and may have been given the name Daybreaker and Dawnbringer, but she had earned the name Nightmare Moon and carved it into the hearts of those who stood against her and her sister. She was the warrior, Celestia was nothing but a diplomat, a peace broker, an excellent princess, but next to useless as a warrior. It should be her sitting on the throne, not the golden waste of space!
Shocked by her thoughts, Luna shook her head in order to rid herself of the thoughts as well as to alleviate the headache that sprung into existence. What was she thinking about again? Oh yes, erasing the mistake that was Nightmare Moon. She couldn’t help but find it funny that in order to keep Equestria safe, she’d have to kill the part of her that helped build it. Life was funny like that. Reaching the last floor of the dungeon, she pushed aside the guards who were futilely trying to open the door and with tore it down with a well-placed punch, revealing the bleeding Scarlet Thorn and the restrained Nightmare Moon.
“Hello mother, I was wondering when you’d finally pay your dear daughter a visit,” the foal raised her head to look at Luna, her slitted eyes watching her mother with the calculating gaze of a predator. “I’d hug you, but,” she moved her limbs, resulting in the chains producing a clinking sound, “I’m tied up,” she chuckled. “So what do I owe the visit?”
“This isn’t a visit you monster. This is nothing more than a late term abortion,” Luna snapped at the foal, before dismissing the guards. Once she was sure that there was nobody around, she pulled the lever next to the door, which allowed for Nightmare Moon to be lowered until the two were looking at each other eye to eye. Taking out the halberd from its place on her side, Luna placed its blade against Nightmare Moon’s neck, her eyes filled with barely contained rage.
“Don’t waste our time mother,” Nightmare Moon scoffed at Luna, ignoring the blade pressed against her neck. “We both know you can’t and won’t go through with it.”
“And how do you know that!?” Luna scowled, angry at the abomination’s calm tone. Its like she wasn’t being taken seriously. “You hurt ponies! My ponies! You ruined my name and forced me into a thousand years of banishment! A thousand years of loneliness! So tell me what makes you think I wouldn’t slit your throat and leave your corpse to rot here!” she pushed the weapon closer as if to prove her point, that she was indeed able to kill the foal.
“Several reasons,” the foal replied, making sure to look Luna in the eyes, “One; when you threaten someone with a weapon,” she leaned as far forward as her chains and neck would let her and dragged her neck across the blade, slitted cyan eyes still staring at surprised bluish green as her throat was cut open, red blood staining the blade and splattering against the floor “Make sure to cut them,” she pulled back her neck, still maintaining eye contact with Luna as her wound began to close.
“Two; you’re not a killer. You’re violent, vindictive and a thousand other things your sister isn’t, but you’re not a killer. If you were, then I wouldn’t be here right now. I don’t mean in chains. If you were a killer, I wouldn’t exist,” she licked her fangs as her mind wandered for a split second before continuing, “Last of all, and most importantly; you wouldn’t kill your daughter dearest,” a smile grew on her face as Luna stepped back a bit.
“You’re no daughter of mine!” Luna spat, throwing aside the halberd. “Something as foul and disastrous as you could never have come from me. You laugh at the suffering of others, you kill simply because you feel like it, you feel no remorse. You have nothing that our ponies have, nothing that could even remotely be identified as a heart. You’re nothing more than a monster!” Luna’s body shook in rage as she vented.
“I’m the monster?” Nightmare asked, her voice dripping with anger, “Who was it that fractured her soul to create a new pony whose sole purpose was to kill! Who locked away that pony in the darkest recesses of her mind, keeping her from seeing the outside world until she was needed to cause mayhem and destruction! Who was it that forced me to train each night until I could use each weapon there was! Who made me hunt down everything that went bump in the night for her precious little ponies!” Nightmare Moon roared, her arms lurching forward to grab Luna, only for the chains to stop her hooves inches away from her mother.
“Who praised me only when I killed something! Who shut me in the dark whenever I wasn’t good enough for her! Who made me fight nightmare after nightmare for her little ponies and never fought mine! Tell me Luna!” the chains groaned and creaked as Nightmare Moon strained, her lips curled up in a snarl. “You made me! You shaped me! I did everything you ever wanted and what did you ever give me in return!” her body shuddered as tears of anger made their way down her face. “You made me and now you dare deny me!” her screams and accusations made Luna retreat slowly, the ferocity of Nightmare Moon scaring her. Picking up the unconscious Scarlet Thorn, she turned round to leave.
Stopping at the door, she pulled the lever once more, raising Nightmare Moon back into place and with a pulse of her magic put the door back on its hinges, plunging the room back into pitch black darkness. Hearing her mother walk away, Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and let out a tired sigh. She shouldn’t have lashed out. Lashing out showed that she was hurting and you couldn’t predict what a creature that was hurting could do. Fortunately for her it didn’t matter if they knew she was hurting. All she had to do was be patient. Soon he would begin his game, and when he did, Equestria would need a seasoned player to move the pieces. Celestia was a decrepit symbol who relied on her control of the sun to take the lions share and enforce her will.
Luna was simply a warrior who didn’t have the stomach to see things through herself. The equestrian army was a joke. They would need her. They would come to her for help. And when they did, she would take what was she was owed.
Author's Note
Sorry for the delay. I was busy with exams, plus I had to redo the chapter. I've found a direction of sorts and want to see if it'll work. Please bare with me
