The night was abuzz with the sounds of the insects. Luna listened to their conversation and she trotted across the royal lawn. She chuckled to herself as she heard what was said.
Her older sister was asleep in the highest tower. Celestia was catching up on her sleep for the last one thousand years. She had had to stay awake 24/7 to protect both day and night. Sometimes Luna wondered whether her sister was actually glad to have her back or if she was just meant to take away some of the workload.
A sparkle in the grass took her attention. She went to check it out. It was a key. A golden key. The surface of it was carved artistically with intricate, runic symbols. A colbat blue light surrounded it and it floated up Luna's face.
Equestrian Dungeon
"Doth we really have dungeon?" queried Luna.
She turned and cantered towards the Canterlot Palace. She made a beeline for the master bedroom. Celestia's bedroom. She knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again. Still no answer.
She took a deep breath. “SISTER! OPEN THY DOOR!”
The door swung open.
“What is it Luna?” asked Celestia.
The key floated into view. Celestia used her horn to cast a ray of sunshine on it. She read the inscriptions and her eyes opened wide.
“Where did you find this?” she asked jumpily.
“In the royal gardens, but that doesn’t…”
Celestia cut her off by grabbing the key out of midair in her mouth. The door slammed shut.
Luna gasped at how rude her sister was. “Open thy door sister and explaineth to me the importance of thine key!”
Celestia did not open the door. Luna sighed and blinked once. The door clicked open.
Celestia was standing with her forehooves on the windowpane. Her head was half outside with the key still in her mouth. She dropped it and turned to Luna, shocked that she was standing behind her.
“How did you get in here?” she asked.
“’Tis called The Sisters’ Secrets developed by the younger sister of one Starswirl the Bearded,” Luna explained. “Why doth thou hide such secrets from me darling sister?”
“Luna,” Celestia said soothingly as she rested her head on her sister’s shoulder. “There are just some secrets that should be left alone.”
Luna pulled away from her and walked out of the room in a huff. She stormed down the stairs, black clouds trailing behind her. Everywhere her hooves stomped turned black and swirled with shadows. She unconsciously made her way down to the bowels of the palace. She was surprised when she came up against a solid concrete wall. She had decided to turn back and continue night patrol when she caught a glimpse of a small sun in the corner of the wall.
Now that she had noticed it, her sister's mark was like a billboard. Her eyes glowed white and her horn followed suit. A stream of white lightning burst from the tip of her horn and eradicated the wall. Behind it, she saw seven earth ponies all dressed in full armor.
"I'm sorry Princess but we have orders from your sister, the Honorable Princess Celestia, that you may not pass this point," said one.
For a moment, Luna was tempted to burn him out too, but she caught herself just in time. Her eyes returned to normal and she walked on ahead purposefully. The guards took shaky step forward but one evil stare from the Princess of the night had them cower away like fillies before an Ursa Minor.
At the end of the hall was a large golden door with several runic seals on it matching the ones on the key. There was a small keyhole in the center of the door and she did not have to guess what fit in there.
She blinked once but the Sisters' Secrets did not work. She placed a hoof on the door and wondered to herself What could there be that lies behind this door that mine sister would blatantly lie to mine face?
She felt an electric shock prick her hoof and she drew it back. She turned and trotted back to the stairs without a word. The guards stared after her and then looked at the door. Finally, they switched their gaze to the demolished wall. Celestia was not going to be happy about this.
Luna went to the third floor where the royal guards slept and knocked at one particular pony's door. The snow white unicorn opened his door.
"Goodnight Princess," he greeted groggily. "Is there yawn something I can do for you?"
She put her hooves at the side of his head and stared deep into his eyes. His pupils dilated as he fell under the spell of the Princess.
"What is your command?" he asked.
She let him go and turned toward her own room. She walked until she got to the end of the hallway when she twisted her head and said, "Manhunter." Then she was gone.
The hooded pony was at the bottom of Princess Celestia's window. On the grassy floor before him was the golden key. He picked it up and ran off.
He went around the castle to the back area where there was a trapdoor to the basement. A light rose glow covered the lock and it shattered immediately. He jumped into the hole, his magic closing the doors behind him.
In the damp darkness, finding his way would be difficult but he couldn't risk using his magic to light the way. He ran silently ahead. His innate memory of the basement allowed him to dodge any obstacles he might come across. He was a pony on a mission. The black hood fluttered behind him making him virtually invisible in the shadows but his hooves could still be heard faintly as he made his way to the rubble that was once the wall that hid the dungeon.
The guarding ponies turned toward the sound of the oncoming hooves and he knew that stealth was no longer a priority. He thundered toward the first one and reared up on his hindhooves. He struck him violently in the temples, knocking him out instantly.
This gave the others time to retaliate. Three colts ran at him. The armor they wore gave them a pseudo horn. The cloaked unicorn used his REAL horn to deflect one, then Judo swept the other two to the ground. He turned his back and kicked them all from consciousness.
The last three were more cautious. One went to his left, one went to his right and the other charged him dead center. He smiled. He raised his head upward and a brilliant light flew from it. The glow stopped the three ponies in their tracks but after a while it died. Confused, the looked at each other and then at the hooded pony. The one to the left took a careful step forward and fire began raining from the ceiling. The guards ran around in circles before two of them passed out from the heat.
The last one did not fall until he saw the cloak burn up revealing their assaulter. None other than their captain, Shining Armor. He looked into the scorched guard's eyes and used his magic to form a protective bubble around his head. The colt struggled and gasped for air and eventually fainted.
The dark sapphire alicorn made her way haughtily past the defeated guards. She turned to Shining Armor and waited for his respectful bow.
"M'Lady," he said. "I have done all you ask." When he spoke, the key fell out of his mouth.
Luna used her magic to pick it up and insert it into the keyhole.
"May I ask what you needed the key for?" queried Shining.
"To open the dungeon," Luna answered.
"We have a dungeon?" asked Shining.
Luna shrugged. She got ready to turn the key when...
"What is all the noise going on down here?" Celestia asked as she trotted into view. The darkness was converted to a sunny day in her presence. She looked at all the unconscious guards around her then looked up at her sister and her captain. "Well?" she demanded.
"Hello Celly," greeted Luna in a deep, male voice. "Remember me?"
Celestia was confused but as she looked into her sister's eyes she understood.
"Get away from that door Luna!" she warned.
"Too late Celly," Luna taunted. "Your sister's mine now. And your precious playmate."
Celestia charged a bolt of lightning on her horn but her sister simply said, "uh uh uh. You wouldn't want to hurt your little sister now, would you?"
The charge died immediately.
Luna grinned and turned the key.
The door swung open and a horrifying laugh echoed around the room. The light Celestia's presence made was blown out and shadows began streaming into the room.
"Such a pity, Celly," the shadows said. "You bound me five hundred years ago and your sister sets me free."
"Luna!" shouted Celestia.
Luna did not answer. Her mind was lost to the creature that was still in the room. It, however, amused the creature to release Shining Armor.
"What is it M'Lady?" he asked.
Celestia looked at him. "It is a creature that I had encounter five hundred years ago. One that had nearly destroyed all of Equestria without a single pony knowing. It called itself Manhunter," she explained.
Shining tried to generate a shield that would contain all the shadows but the creature was determined not to be captured. Its shadowy tentacles twisted everywhere and each time a portion was caught, they would absorb the energy and continue filling the room.
Shining soon found that he couldn't breathe. The shadows pressed in, suffocating him. His vision blurred and ultimately went out. When he awoke, he saw seven pony skeletons, a burnt out Princess Celestia and the wide open door of the dungeon.
Neither Luna nor the Manhunter were in the palace anymore.
