//-------------------------------------------------------// Luna's Misfortunes -by LavenderRain24- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 - Luna's Depression //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 - Luna's Depression Celestia yawns as she finishes her daily duties at last and realises its well into the night. She had lost track of time since she had lowered the sun for her sister to raise the moon. Hm, I wonder if Luna has finished her rounds......? She thought, tapping the tip of her hoof on her chin thoughtfully. She cleaned up her workspace and instructed her adviser to head home for the night and apologized for her late shift. Once that's taken care of, the white alicorn with aurora hair sluggishly walked the halls but straightened up whenever she passed her guards.... checking for their nightly reports. With all going well and getting the 'all clear' from each guard, she continued towards Luna's bedroom. When she saw the tall dark blue door at the end of the hallway, she smiled and picked up her pace to greet her sister. Though when she got closer, she paused. Placing an ear against the door she could hear the echo of soft crying. Opening the door to only let in a slither of light, she peered into the dark room to find a shadow in a heap on her sister's moon shaped bed. With nothing but her flickering blue candles and a small lantern hanging from the top of her bed frame at the tip of the moon's point, she could barely make out the shape of a blue alicorn curled in a ball. Celestia gave a sorrowful hum before deciding to speak up. "Luna? Are you alright sister?" With the sound of a hollow sniff, Luna peeked out from under her blanket; seeing Celestia at the door she frowned and turned away, tucking herself under once more. "I'm a miserable excuse for a friend!" Chuckling Celestia opened the door and closed it behind her, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darker lighting. Of course, all she could see was a bump in the bedding when she looked toward the bed. "Now dear sister, you are not that at all! Tell me.... what is wrong?" She sat on the floor next to her sister's bed and waited, looking around the room at all Luna's various belongings in shades of blue, black and silver. She saw a necklace on the floor and recognised it straight away. "Ah.... I see you had Lavender over for a visit.... Why didn't you tell me she was here?" she asked while lifting the necklace, decorated with a pretty blue diamond shaped pendant bordered with silver, using her magical aura. Luna spoke up from under the blue blankets, "It's complicated!" "How so?" Celestia was confused, she thought the two were best of friends. Luna threw off the blankets from on top of her and sighed in a huff. Her mane was all messy and frizzled but she couldn't care one bit right now. "It's terrible sister.... How could I let myself get so into hypnosis that I allow my best friend to slip into a 30-day trance without me knowing until it was almost too late?!" She slammed her face down into both her front hooves, causing her hair to flop over her head. She looked up and pushed back her blue hair, "DON'T YOU SEE, I ALMOST LOST MY BEST FRIEND AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ALL MY FAULT!!" She accidentally used her Canterlot Voice on Celestia, causing a guard to peek through the door, "Everything alright Your Highnesses?" Luna scowled at him, scaring the poor guard and watching him close the door shut. Luna pouted and groaned, feeling ashamed of how she just treated a guard. Celestia knew Luna had a strong interest in the power of hypnosis, but she didn't realise she could do something like that. Nonetheless, she was shocked at what her sister did, despite it being an accident. "Oh my.... I see how this could be complicated...." Luna began to throw off her royal attire starting with her hoof cups. Letting them slide across the room and hitting the far wall that faced the outside on the other side. Celestia thought for a moment, then she had an idea... "Tell you what... how about I go make a personal check up on the young Pegasus tomorrow morning, then I can make sure that she really does feel ok." Luna listened and nodded, "It... would be nice to really know Lav is ok.... I don't want this to ruin our friendship at all. This was a BIG mistake on my part, sister.... Will this feeling go away?" "..... I'm sure it will be Luna; it just takes time. Now... try and get some sleep. You don't want to lose sleep now do you?" The blue alicorn mare shook her head silently, "Alright Celestia, sorry for... sobbing like that...." "Don't worry about it.... I'm here to comfort you when you need it... that's what sisters are for. " Celestia yawns, realising how tired she herself has become. "Good night, dear sister...." She stands up and heads for the door. Luna sits upright, "Hey.... Tia? I love you...." Celestia just about cries when she hears those words come from her younger sister. "I love you too.... Little Moonbeam..." And with that the two sisters parted for the night as they both went to bed to sleep. Author's Note Celestia learns of Lavender's visit to Luna's bedroom and learns of her sister's dismay. So, she offers a solution to resolve the tension between the two friends. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 - The Next Day... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 - The Next Day... Celestia informs her staff that she will be taking the morning off to go check up on a friend. So, she stopped by her bedroom to pick up a small blue box and used her magic to grab a gold-coloured satchel from her wardrobe door to throw over her neck. Leaving her room, she then took to the sky and made her way to the outskirts of Ponyville. She heads to the Everfree Forest and finds the little clearing where Luna had said that the mare's house should be visible from the sky. And sure enough, she found it quite easily. The princess made a smooth landing right outside the front door and suddenly heard a hiss. She turned her head up to see a pair of blue eyes staring at her, "Oh! Why hello... Aren't you adorable." She lifted a wing to give the cat a gentle rub under her chin with the tip of her white feathers, smiling when the black cat dropped her guard and began to purr loudly. The princess hears a voice from inside the house, "Sapphire, what is it girl?" The door opens up and..... the young purple mare freezes in place. Realising royalty is at her door, she broke out of it and gave a low bow, "G-good evening Your Highness! What brings you here?" the young mare managed to stutter out in a flustered voice. She wasn’t expecting anyone tonight, let alone a princess at her front door! "No need to bow Lavender.... you are good friends with my sister, so there's no need for formality here.” Lavender blushed, “How can I help you, Princess?” “Well.... I'm actually here on behalf of Luna." Lavender was a little surprised, "Oh... is she ok?" But when the princess's face changed, the young mare knew. "I'm afraid not. Luna is distraught Lavender.... She feels utterly awful for what happened." "Oh! I might actually know how to help her feel better..." Lavender says with a smile appearing on her face. She allows the alicorn to enter her home and the Pegasus uses her magic to close the door before going to the kitchen. "Would you like anything Princess? Food, drink?" Celestia smiled, "Just call me Celestia... and Lemon Tea would be lovely." "How do you have it.... Celestia?" Giggling internally at the pleasure of being on first name basis with the princess of Equestria, she listens to her careful instructions. Once the drink is made, she offers it to the mare, and she seems to enjoy the smell and the taste of it once Celestia takes a sip. "Thank you, Lavender." Lavender nods a smile and pours herself a cup to try. Then she went to a desk by the window in the office area of the open designed living room, grabbed a folder and joined the princess on the sofa opposite her. "This is what I've been working on since yesterday." Celestia used her magic to take the folder, open it and have a look at the pages inside. She was stunned to find beautiful pieces of art from sketches to paintings. Most of them had one thing in common.... Hypnosis. "Wow, you are quite talented, aren't you? And... is it mostly Hypnosis? Where did this come from, may I ask?" Lavender smiled as she watched the princess flick through the pages slowly, having a good look at each piece she's done. "Well, you see.... I too felt bad for what happened. So, I thought of a solution! I'm opening up Hypnosis art all year round instead of just one month a year!" The alicorn stopped abruptly as she was about to take another sip of her steaming hot drink. "So.... you're happy doing this kind of art? I'm sure Luna would like to know this." "Mmhm... it took me a while to get into it.... but it's not so bad. As long as I don't draw anything drastic like nude art. Then I'm happy to do it all year. BUT this doesn't mean I'm solely doing Hypnosis art. I very much want to focus on my main specialty of character design and environmental art. That's where my true passion lies. I've actually written a personal letter to Luna that I haven't sent yet explaining this growth in my business. It's because of the experience that I've opened myself up to this new type of art. So, it is also because of Luna. I really should be thanking her for this new chapter." "That's great to hear Lavender! I think this will definitely help her feel much better. I could deliver her the letter personally if you'd like?" Lavender was surprised at the offer but grateful too. She accepted the offer and dug out the letter from her desk drawers. Handing it to the princess, they began to head outside. "Well... Thank you very much for the lovely cup of tea, and a nice evening with you, my friend. I look forward to telling Luna this news." Lavender used her magic to carry the empty cups to the kitchen sink and began to wash them in the background as she stood at the door. "You're most welcome Celestia, I look forward to seeing you both soon. I wish you safe travels, Your Highness, and a Good Night." Before the princess took flight, she suddenly remembered the little box she hadn’t given the young pony yet. “Oh, my goodness, I almost forgot.” She said, turning back to the pony still standing in the doorway to her house. She opened up the flap to her golden satchel bag that hung from her neck. Lavender watched the alicorn pull out a beautiful midnight blue box tied up with a lighter blue silk ribbon. Celestia smiled, handing it to the pony who looked at her with a curious look. “I believe this belongs to you?” “What’s this?” She used her turquoise magic to take the box gently and unwrap it. Lifting up the lid with her magical aura, her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, my necklace! I must have left it in Luna's bedroom! Thank you!” Celestia chuckled while nodding. “Indeed, you did. I found it last night. It’s beautiful by the way. I didn’t know you enjoy crystals.” Lavender nodded excitedly, “Oh I do! I’ve always found them fascinating and love learning about them. I’ve been wanting to visit a digging site to experience digging up my own crystal from the earth but…” Celestia tilted her head, “Hm…. They’re quite exclusive with who they let in aren’t they? Maybe…. Just maybe I might be able to talk to them about letting you in if you’re interested in studying crystals.” Lavender’s jaw dropped… she hardly expected such an offer! “Haha! I take it as a yes…. Very well! I’ll make an appointment with the Head of the Science School tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted on how it plays out.” She grinned as she watched the pony’s face change to one of joy. “Thank you so - so much for this!! If they accept me into the college, I won’t let you down!” “I’m sure!” Celestia laughed and loved Lavender’s enthusiasm. She’ll be sure to share that with Professor Stone. He’ll be a hard one to convince to let a pony in just by pure passion alone. She’ll have to work hard…. Especially to impress him. “Well… that’s all for tonight my dear… I’d better be heading back home.” “Oh yes. Ok Celestia, I can’t thank you enough for this opportunity. Safe travels Princess, and hope you sleep well tonight!” "Same to you Lavender. Goodnight my little pony. Thank you again." And so, the princess turned to the black cat that was now sitting on a stack of wood logs, meowing at the mare. Giving her a pet along her back, Celestia smiled, "Goodnight to you too little Sapphire." Receiving a gentle meow and purr in response the princess smiled at Lavender before taking off into the air with her large white wings flapping gracefully against the air currents towards the castle. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 - The Letter //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 - The Letter Back at the castle.... Landing at the top balcony of her bedroom, Celestia startles Luna awake. “Huh? Who’s there!” giving a double snort as she becomes alert to her surroundings. “Good morning, Luna! Did you sleep well?” She asked, grinning from ear to ear as she walked through the young alicorn’s bedroom with the sun shining through the balcony doors behind her. “Mmmm…… It’s too early Tia….” Surprised to hear Luna speaking this way after many years, it made her teary eyed yet again. “Oh, I know sister… but…” Celestia giggles at the thought of the good news. “... I simply cannot wait! Here!” She thrusts the scroll in Luna’s face making her take the scroll in her own blue magic. “Huh… what’s this?” Celestia simply stayed quiet and watched her sister take off the blue ribbon and unfurl the scroll. The sleepy alicorn began to slowly read the letter inside. She began reading it faster and faster until she froze on one paragraph. She read aloud, “..... I truly am sorry for making you feel sorry Luna. Other than Juke, you are the bestest friend I have ever had! I feel we both understand each other in a way not many can. Do not worry so much about my incident over the past month. Sure, it made a slight crack in our friendship, but it has filled once again to be stronger than ever. You are beautiful, strong, brave, powerful, courageous, caring, kind…. And those are just the words I can think of! You are so much more! I love you, Luna! Always and forever. You feel like a sister to me. I hope this news will lift your spirit and put a smile on your heart. I love you to the moon and back! ~ Lavender Rain….” Luna felt tears welling up in her eyes as her grin began to wobble. Celestia smiled softly, “See Luna, she does love you. She sees you as her bestest friend. And judging from what I know about her; she has great taste in friends. The two mares hugged each other as Luna wept in tears of sweet happiness. They parted from the hug and Luna wiped her tears away from her face, "Thanks for checking on her Celestia. I may visit her tomorrow." Celestia grinned with her eyes shut to show how happy she was it cheered her up. "Well little sister, I best be started on my duties for today. I'm already late as it is. I'll leave you to your day!" Using a wing to hug her sister from the side, she squeezed her tight before skipping off towards the door that led into the hallway. "Shall I see you at lunch?" The sun princess asked the moon princess as the blue alicorn looked up at her with a smile, "Alright. I'd like that." Luna waits for Celestia to leave the bedroom before she smiles back at the litter in her hooves. Do I really deserve such a good friend? She thought silently before she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." She answered as a mare in gold armour appeared. "Princess Luna, I have today's schedule ready for you from your assistant." Luna's ears fell back in despair as she thought of the many things on that list. The mare sighed... "Alright Fleet Heart, let me put this away and I'll be right there." "Yes, Your Highness!" She nodded firmly and stood just outside the doorway waiting for the princess. Luna sighed again as she looked at the letter, she then scrolled it back up and retied it with the blue ribbon. The mare walked over to a black trimmed bookcase that stood alone against one of the walls in her room next to a window. She placed it onto a shelf where she stores her precious items and turned towards the door. Walking into the hall she greets the young mare that spoke to her earlier. "Alright Fleet Heart, show me tonight's list...." In the Everfree Forest... "Back! Back you Timberwolves! You are such fools!" Lavender heard a voice coming from the trees and then a few growls. Her ear twitched as she looked at Sapphire down at her feet, "There's only one pony that talks in rhymes!" She looks towards the woods and sees a familiar striped face appear as she falls through the bushes, landing on her haunches. The zebra mare moans and rubs her hind quarters with a hoof, "Oh those foul beasts came out of nowhere. But thank goodness I am safely here!" Zecora greets Lavender with a grin and a sigh of relief. "It is so good to see you Miss Rain, those Timberwolves are at it again. I fear their attacks are growing more rapid dear Lavender. They seem to be growing bolder, it makes me think, why I wonder...?" Lavender smiled; she loved the way Zecora spoke. Some ponies found it irritating and that's why they don't do business with the mare, but it didn't bother her at all. She loved good poetry. "It's lovely to see you Zecora, what brings you here?" She was curious as Zecora always had a reason for showing up. Zecora smiled, "Ah, you are right to be curious my friend, I have for you a book I want to lend." She pulls out a big heavy book with many, MANY pages and an old black leather cover, decorated with silver spirals and a pocket watch. "Spirals of Time? What is this?" Lavender says feeling rather intrigued by the title. "Spirals of Time is an ancient book of Hypnosis. You are learning of the art so I think you should read this." Zecora suggested the book to her to help her study hypnosis more for Luna and for her friend Juke. "Wow, thank you Zecora! It looks very interesting! When you say ancient, how old is this book?" "Oh around... 3,000 years old give or take. So please take care of it so it does not break." "Ok I'll be very careful with this one Zecora. Don't you worry." Lavender grinned as she appreciated the age of the book, it must have been written by ponies long since passed. She loved learning about history, so this was fantastic. "Excellent! Well, I'd better head home now to continue my work. I'm making a cure for a newly found flower that makes creatures go berserk!" So, she hands the Pegasus the heavy leather-bound book into her magic aura from her hoof. Then the zebra grinned a wink at her neighbour before disappearing into the bush with a battle cry. "OUT OF MY WAY YOU BEASTS, MAKE SOME ROOM! OR YOU SHALL MEET YOUR DOOOOOOOM!" Lavender laughed as she heard her fearless voice and watched her charge after the Timberwolves with the creatures cowering in fear, tucking their timber tails beneath their rears. "I love Zecora... don't you Sapphy?" "Meeeeowww!" The kitten responded instantly as she looked up at the young mare. "Come on then, lets head home and take a look at this ancient book!" Purring, the kitten jumped up on her hind quarters and the two hopped across the floating stone air bridge leading to her front door of her dome shaped home. She found this place when she was little and loved to play in it when it was just ruins in the dark forest. Now it is her home after many years of repair and restoration. She left some of its old charm with some of the stone archways and stone tile roof features still intact. She loved it there, as it gave her a secluded and peaceful place to relax after a long day. She walked inside the stone house, using her tail to close the door behind her. "Now let's see what this book has to say...." Out of the silent ambience of her home, with just the breeze moving the leaves outside her windows, she heard a faint sound. "Laaaaaveeeendeeeeerrrr......." Her ears pricked up and she looked around her home. "Who's there?!" She heard the whisper again, as it slowly became more audible. "Come on out now! I'm warning ya!" The mare gets into a defensive pose, causing her kitten to jump off her in a spook. The kitten couldn't hear anything, so she just meowed at her owner to see if she was alright. "Meow?" Lavender looked all spooked from the whispers of her name. "Don't you hear that??" She said sounding cautious of her surroundings. "There it is again!" "Laaaaaaaveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeendeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrr............ Raaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnn............" "I'm sure I'm not hearing things Sapphy! There IS a small voice whispering my name... where is it coming from? It's creeping me out." She twitches her ears trying to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. She scanned her surroundings, the living room... the kitchen.... upstairs... then she realised it sounded much closer... almost on top of her... and then she looked at the book as it started to shimmer in front of her, and it wasn't her magic causing it. "The book?" She was very sceptical but then again, anything was possible in a magical land such as Equestria. She places the book down on the kitchen island bench and stares at the silver edging in the black cover. They certainly gave off a moving shimmer that made it seem more alive. "Why would this be glowing like that?" She looks at the title, "Spirals of Time.... The Mysteries of Hypnosis." She reads aloud and the book cover comes flying open, greeting her with fast turning pages and beams of light shooting out from its spine. "AHHHH! OMGOSH!" "MEOWWWW! HIIIIIIISSSS!" Sapphire hissed at the book as it came to life. It let out a spiral of magical black aura spiralling up and out of the pages, whispers filled the silence and a howling wind blew throughout the living spaces of her home, causing items to be picked up and blown around chaotically. "Keep back Sapphire!! This looks dangerous!! WHY WOULD ZECORA GIVE ME A BOOK LIKE THIS?" Author's Note Luna is reassured about her friend in the Everfree Forest. Lavender is visited by Zecora with a book on Hypnosis from the past that will help her study about it a bit more. But is this book a danger to the young Pegasus? //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 - A Pony's Misfortunes //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 - A Pony's Misfortunes Sparks of black magic danced everywhere as a whirlwind sprouted from the inner spine of the ancient book, Spirals of Time. Lavender tried to keep her grip on the floor as her black kitten did the same with hanging on by her claws to the nearby couch chair. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" She closed her eyes and peeked with one open to keep watch of the book. It began to turn its pages faster and faster, a black and white spiral orb came rising up out of the pages, it slowly hovered in the air and the spiral started swirling around the orb. A sound grew from inside of it, "HahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A soft laughter grew louder and eviller as its volume increased. The house was filled with the sound of a defining evil laugh that echoed off the walls. Soundwaves bounced off the walls and darted around the room violently. Lavender did her best to dodge them but soon enough she was hit with the waves and struck to the ground. The young Pegasus mare let out a gruff moan as she impacted against her shoulders, "OOOOOF!" She barely had time to open her eyes before she saw the black and white orb spinning extremely fast and suddenly made a beeline straight for her. She gasped in horror and felt a jolt of overwhelming energy that did not feel friendly. She crouched down in pain as her body ached from the impact. The mare had completely absorbed the orb, and a black spiral appeared on her furry chest. Sapphire hissed and growled at the presence of the evil orb as it glowed from the mare's chest behind the black spiral. Lavender groaned at the severe pain that kept her pinned down in her crouching pose. "NNGH!" She winces as it moves inside her chest. Suddenly her mind begins to feel foggy, and a wave of dizziness sweeps over the mare. "WOAH...ngghhh...." She is taken aback and the strange discomfort. Her body begins to tingle up and down her spine and through her limbs. A surge of light forces the mare's eyes wide open revealing them to be pure white light. "Sa-apph.... fi-ind h-elp....ngh...." The kitten watched in concern as her owner was taken over by what appeared to be an evil spirit. Sapphire meowed in fear for her fate, but she headed for the door as soon as the wind died down inside the house. The little black female kitten looked back at her owner cowering in pain and then rushed out the house as the wind blew open the door. Her little black paws carrying her over the hovering magic bridge. Zecora's Tree... After some time, Sapphire ran her way to a large, thick scary looking tree. She recognised it as the zebra's home. She meowed loudly as soon as it came into sight. "MEEEOOOOWWW, MEEEOOOOOWWWW!" Inside the tree, Zecora was busy stirring her newly created remedy for the poison flower. "Hmmm... hmm... hmmm...." She hummed away as she stirred the long black spoon around in the black iron cauldron. A faint meow broke her concentration, and she looked up from the bright, lime green bubbly mixture. She walks to the front door and opens it up to find a black kitten racing inside in a panic. "What is this I see? Lavender's little black cat all spooked she be?" Zecora watched the little cat as she paced around her hooves, pawing at her legs. "Alright, alright little Sapphire, show me your troubles, show me where is the fire?" The cat purred and bolted back out the tree. So Zecora stopped her brewing by putting out the fire under the pot. Then she followed the kitten into the woods, closing the door behind her. Rushing after the little kitten, she pushes past the thick shrubs and branches that stick out in her way. She is surprised at how fast a little cat can run. "I wonder what is the matter... I must check on my friend, Lavender." Zecora muttered under her breath. Back at the Magic Bridge... The two of them broke out of the forest to find Lavender's home flooded with black and white magic light spouting out of its windows and door like God-rays. Her mouth dropped and gasped in horror. "Oh dear, OH DEAR what have I done? I should never have given her the book; I should have burned it till it was gone!" Zecora ran inside the house to find a dark figure standing in the very centre, crouched low to the ground. She had to cover her eyes with her foreleg. "Lavender! Can you hear me? Sapphire brought me, talk to me please!" Zecora watched the shadow of her friend begin to quiver against the force of the magic, then it began to shift and grow in size into a large mass. All she could hear was the whirring sound of the magic and the constant moans and groans from Lavender. The zebra watches under the shield of her right foreleg as she protects the kitten from the magic blasts. Knowing it's dark history; she should have known not to lend that book to the young Pegasus mare. It was in her Restricted Section for a reason. The mass grew bigger and changed its shape into what appeared to be a fully grown adult pony with smoky wings and hair. A familiar evil laugh bubbled up from the creature as the light began to fade enough for the zebra mare to lower her foreleg and get a good look at what Lavender has become. "Oh no.... no-no-no... This is not good! Sapphire my little friend, your owner is not what she should! Go my friend find a royal guard.... I'll give you this not... I know you can do it, though yes... It will be far." Zecora grabs a quill and paper from the kitchen counter that must have been blown around during the chaos. She quickly wrote down a message warning the princesses. She then picked it up and scrolled it tight, grabbing it with her mouth she then tucked it behind the kitten's blue collar on her back. "Go now! We will save her... somehow!" The little black cat turns on her paws and bolts out the door once again into the darkness of the night as it grows into early hours of the morning. Zecora turns her attention to find a new pony form standing in front of her. "And WHO ARE YOU TO DARE APPROACH ME?" She raises her voice at the zebra who gulps down her fears. The tall mare appeared to be a fully grown alicorn! A tall thin horn with spirals decorating it, her coat had changed into a deep, deep dark shade of purple, almost like an eggplant purple but darker. She had the black swirl edged into the fur of her chest and black swirls crawling up her legs acting as hoof caps. Mist came from her smoky spiral covered wings and were long and flowing. While her mane and tail were pure black with white spiral designs decorating her hair, which also turned into a mist of sorts and flowed like royal hair. Her eyes were fully black with silver spirals dancing inside of them, staring right into Zecora's soul. "You have her soul! Don't you? You should know who I am, the question is, who are you?" Zecora demands to know the identity of who she is facing, but she fears she knows who it is. "SIMPLETON!" She raises her voice into a very similar Canterlot Voice that Luna is known for. "I AM BLACK SILVER! QUEEN OF THE HYPNOSIANS! YOU FOUL INVADERS STOLE OUR LAND, TOOK OUR HOME! I AM HERE FOR REVENGE.... So.... my dear, dear zebra........ you must........ look into......" She got right up close into Zecora's personal bubble at eye level, and she activated her powerful hypnotic eyes, ".......My eyes......." Author's Note A concerned Zecora races in to help Lavender out of her magical misfortune. But when she gets there, it's too late. The transformation has begun, and she is turned into a corrupted being that's mad for power. Helpless as the new form of Lavender takes control of the zebra's mind with ease, she sets out to Ponyville first and takes her revenge on the land by corrupting every soul she touches. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 - Corrupted Soul //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 - Corrupted Soul Having finished her nightly rounds of checking in on ponies in their dreams. Princess Luna found there were two ponies that weren't asleep yet, Zecora and Lavender. Hm, I wonder what's keeping those two up so late? Should I physically go check on them? the alicorn mare wondered as she exited her Dream Realm and returned to the Waking Realm. With slight bags under her eyes, she felt ready for bed. So, she went back inside after having been out on her balcony and started her routine for getting into bed. She walked over to her vanity desk and using her magical blue aura, she picked up her hairbrush and began to brush her mane. As she was brushing and humming to herself, she was interrupted by the same female guard from before. "Your Highness?" She sighed and turned to face the guard... and... a cat? The kitten was busy playing with the guards' feathers while crouched on her back. Fleet Heart did not look amused! Luna chuckled, "Do you need a hoof there.... Ms. Heart?" "Yes, please Your Highness, that would be appreciated...." She sighed in defeat and scowled at the kitten playing without a care. Luna wasn't used to little animals but when it came to cats, she was actually ok with them. But then she realized who it was, "Sapphire! What are you doing here?" The princess asked the kitten with her dazzling blue eyes. "You know this feline Princess? She appears to carry a scroll." Luna looked at Sapphire more closely. Sure enough, she spotted the scroll of paper tucked under the back of her collar. "Hm..." Luna questioned as she picked out the scroll with her magic while the kitten was distracted. She unfurled it and quietly read the message on it. Gasping aloud she feared the worst and ordered the guard to take care of the kitten for now in the castle. "But, but Your Highness!" She called after the blue alicorn who had already bolted out of her bedroom chamber into the hallway. On her way, Luna ran past her sister giving Celestia a start, "Luna? What is it?" She asked managing to stop her for a second. Reluctantly pausing, she roughly explained the situation. "Zecora said that Lavender's been possessed by an evil spirit! One who knows powerful magic in Hypnosis. She could be in grave danger if she stays that way too long! I got a letter from her cat." Luna said in a rushed voice. Celestia's eyes widened in horror as she decided to drop what she was going to do and aid her sister, "I'll come with you! You're so tired!" Luna wanted to go alone but she knew Celestia as right, she did feel rather tired and that could be dangerous when going up against the unknown. "Alright... but we have to be quick!" So Celestia and Luna ran down the hall towards the main entrance hall. Stopping by the large front door entrance, they spoked to the guards, "We must aid a friend whose been taken over by black magic. Lock up the Castle for tonight, only let royalty and guests or friends in that are close with us. Such as Lavender, Juke, Twilight and her friends, Cadance and her family, etc. We will give you further instructions when we return." They ran to the edge of the steps and took flight into a graceful glide once they were done informing the guards, not wasting any time. Seeing the house in the clearing as they approached it a few minutes later, the two sisters landed right on the island, completely skipping over the magic bridge that was no longer there. "Oh dear... the bridge has fallen! That means she's in trouble alright. The bridge stays up as long as she is in control of her magic, and she definitely isn't right now." They looked around the house and met back at the front door, looking at each other, Luna and Celestia took a deep breath and opened the door. Gasping in unison, the two were met with a seemingly frozen zebra silhouette. "OH Zecora! It's just you.... I..." Luna was about to continue but realized that the zebra mare wasn't moving or reacting to their presence with her usual rhymes. "Zecora? Zecora are you alright?" Princess Celestia perked up as she too began to worry. Once the moon came out from behind the clouds and shone on their friend.... they were horrified at what they saw. Celestia gasped, "Oh my goodness! Is she...?" "Hypnotized? Yes... I believe so..." The night princess said waving a hoof in front of the zebra's face to get not even the slightest reaction from her. "This isn't good... Hypnosis is rare around these parts... but..." "But....?" Celeste was worried as to what her sister was about to say. Luna remembered back to a book she had read once on hypnosis and something she recalled just confirmed her suspicions.... but then she spotted a big heavy book laying open on the floor which just validated her thoughts. She nodded firmly, "Mhm! Hypnosian Magic. I thought I recognized it!" "Hypnosian?" Celestia asked her sister as the mare looked at the book laying on the floor. She picked it up with warm yellow magic and inspected the pages as Luna explained, "Hynpsoians were once proud Hypno Ponies of wonder and magic who helped creatures with issues of the mind..." Luna conjured up a magical image with her blue aura of smokey figures with glowing eyes that held black spirals. "They each had a specific type of hypnotic power that could help with a specific issue, one to help with headaches, lack of sleep, nightmares, illness, pain, and especially emotions. But then the queen began to hunger for more power and control over her subjects. She was called, Queen Black Silver, for she was born pure black with silver spiral markings, the sign of royalty in her culture. Anyway, she began to soak in the dark magic of hypnosis everywhere she could find books holding black magic spells, and instead of using that power to help her citizens, she used it to control their minds and take over their bodies to keep the kingdom under her control. They had to battle their own queen to overthrow her as she'd become too overtaken by the greed for hypnotic power and in using it for evil, she was putting everyone in danger. Thankfully she had a daughter who was a kind princess who was able to take her place and banished her mother by locking up her essence inside a magical book that would act as her eternal prison...." Celestia was fascinated by the story and finished it with, "....Until now that is..." Luna nodded, "Indeed sister, she has escaped her eternal prison by some dark manner.... and she is after revenge for being overthrown..." Celestia understood how dangerous this soul was and the danger she possessed to the young mare that's been corrupted by her essence. "I understand... but there is one thing I'm a little confused on," the white alicorn looked at Luna who returned her stare, "Yes Celestia?" "Why do you need to help her? I mean, yes she's your best friend, but this soul sounds far too dangerous! She could take over YOUR mind." Her ears flattened in concern as Luna gave a reassuring smile, "Don't worry sister, I have a spell that can protect my mind from dark magic beyond my own nightmare magic. And I must help her because.... because..." She struggled to tell the truth in the last part. "... I was supposed to be in charge of protecting that book to keep it from hurting anyone at all, but I was careless and placed it in the hooves of Zecora to take charge of because of my own weakness to having a curious mind. I didn't want to risk opening the book and breaking the magic seal on it. I feel like this is my fault... I've hurt Lavender... AGAIN!" She faceplanted into her front hooves and screamed out her frustration into them. Celestia wondered what got into Luna for constantly blaming herself for things going wrong at the moment. "Please Luna, you mustn't blame yourself for everything happening. She's just facing a string of bad luck. But she has amazing friends to help her out. Come now... we must find your friend. She still has hope." Luna lifted her head and was about to smile when she heard a faint sound of screams off in the distance. "Did you hear that?" Celestia looked out through the front door that was still open. A flash of bright white light could be seen in the direction of Ponyville and more screams followed. "Oh no...." Author's Note With a corrupted soul having possessed Lavender's mind, she is lost deep inside. Luna learns of the horror that's unfolded that night and races to help her. Half exhausted from her duties, Celestia tags along. The two meet with Zecora only to find the book laying on the floor in the Pegasus's house and the zebra fully hypnotized with spirals for her eyes. With no sight of Lavender's new form, they must hunt her down before she does any major damage to ponies. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6 - Queen of the Past //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6 - Queen of the Past Twilight looked outside through the doors of her balcony. Ponies were running all throughout the streets of Ponyville at 1am in the morning. "What in Celestia is going on?" Spike comes running into her bedroom with a letter in his claws, "It's the Hypnosian Queen, she's taken over a young pony called.... La-Lavender Rain?" The little purple dragon with green spikes along his spine, tail, head and cheeks looked with a raised eyebrow at the writing on the paper he's unfurled. Twilight spun her head to see him studying the scroll and sighed. But just as she did, she recalled a purple Pegasus by that name that Luna had been friends with for a while now that was experimented on as a filly. "Hang on... isn't she the pony that gained magical hooves through a lab experiment gone wrong when she was a filly?" Spike put a claw to his chin and scrunched his face as he thought for a moment, staring at the ceiling, "Hm, I think so? I don't know much about her though." Twilight shook her head, "Neither do I Spike. But, if she's a friend of Luna, then she must be a good pony. So... " She stared at the baby dragon and watched as he dropped his arms and sighed heavily, ".... so we must help her...." "Hehe, yup! Now, Spike! Gather supplies... we don't know what we're going into, so we need to prepare for anything." He stuck up an arm as he straightened his back and pointed one of his claws up, "Got it!" He rushed out and came back with a saddle bag stuffed to the brim of gear. "Alrighty. Notebook?" "Check!" He began scrounging around in the bags. "Water, quills and ink?" She watched as he stuck out his tongue while focusing on rummaging through the gear for each item. "Check, check, and check." "Books on Hypnosis 101, and Black Magic Volume 7?" Twilight asked as he searched and pulled both heavy books out to show her, "Check! Check!" Humming a laugh the dragon spoke up, "Don't worry Twi... you've got everything here! Let's go already!" Twilight sighed while flattening her ears in defeat, "Alright Spike... you know me. I don't like being underprepared. But, if you're sure everything's there?" She looked at him with worrying dark purple eyes. He grinned with a nod, "Yeah I'm sure!" He plodded off towards the balcony, railing and placed the saddlebags on her back just behind her wings. Twilight sighed again, "Ok... I trust you Spike. Let's go!" She became battle-ready as she prepared for launch while Spike hopped up on her back just in front of her shoulders in front of her where her wings sprout from her back. The pair launch into the night sky to get an ariel view of what was going on. When they reached the level of sky where the lowest clouds would hang, she wasn't prepared for what she saw below her hooves. "TWILIGHT!" A familiar female voice with a country twang to it sounded from below her, "Apple Jack?" She asked out of confusion, "Where's everypony else?" Twilight questioned the palomino mare with three red apples on her flanks for a cutie mark. The countryside mare skidded to a halt, breathing heavily. "I dun no! Last I saw they were wrangling that thing on the edge of the Everfree Forest!" "It's not a thing Apple Jack!" Twilight hollers as she swoops down to land a few hooves away from the mare in the Western hat. She stared right into the mare's green eyes, "It's a pony." "Wait, that thing is a pony! How? It's massive!" She stared at the creature in disbelief as it continued to target ponies and watched as black spirals glowing in silver light formed over ponies heads as she took control of their minds with ease. "HAHAHAHA! THERE'S NO ESCAPING MY WRATH YOU FOOLS! YOU WILL TASTE MY SWEET REVENGE!" Her eyes glowed pure purple as they released black spirals from her eyes into the minds of her victims. Just then, Rarity and Fluttershy came rushing up to the two ponies, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" Fluttershy softly screamed as she ran in fear of the creature. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash came in for a power landing and landed squarely on her four hooves with a thud as a rainbow trail faded just behind her. "Why are you running? You should be trying to talk to that beast." She demanded with her raspy voice as the yellow Pegasus quivered in terror as she looked back at the smoky like creature, "Mm-mm! No thank you! That's way out of my line of work! She's no beast either." The young mare shook her head, making her pastel pink mane sway from side to side. "You know she's a pony too?" Twilight asked the animal lover, "Yes, I could tell by her behavior. Though, somethings clearly wrong. She's taken over some pony else. I think..." Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement, "Yes, I know she has, Princess Luna gave me a letter explaining it's actually a good friend of hers that's been taken over by a corrupted soul." Rarity's ear flicked as she processed with the princess was saying, "So what are you saying?" She asked, receiving a serious look from the purple alicorn. "This is Dark Hypnosis Magic we are dealing with." The group gasped. Spike was busy counting the group of ponies, "Wait... where's Pinky Pie?" Suddenly the pink mare with bouncy curly pink hair came trotting towards the group from the darkness. "Oh thank goodness Pinky, where have you been, I- Pinky?" Apple Jack was just going to keep talking when she noticed something funny in the way the Earth pony was trotting. "Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked in a worrisome voice. The group watched Pinky come into the light of the houses of the street they were meeting on. Then Twilight gasped, "Oh no! I was afraid of this!" "What?" the others said in unison as they focused on Twilight. "She's been hypnotized!" The ponies looked back to see that sure enough, the pony of parties was trotting towards them with glowing white eyes that had swirling black spirals inside and a blank expression on her face. "Uhhhhhhh...... Obeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy........... Muuuuuusssssssssssssst obeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy........... Missssssstressssssssssssssss Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaack Siiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllllllveeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr.............." "Uhh Twilight... whaaat is she doing?" Rainbow asked feeling a little nervous. But before Twilight could reply, the echo of hoofsteps filled the air as they thudded against the ground. "Ah there you all are. Thank you pink pony. You've done your task." The Hypnosian queen turned her face towards the group of 5 ponies and one dragon. She grinned an evil grin, "Now.... where to begin..." Author's Note Ponyville is under attack! Twilight and Spike go to investigate after receiving a letter warning about the situation. But when the new form of Lavender comes face to face with the Princess of Friendship, she may end up facing her own darkness as the soul attempts to control her mind. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7 - One By One //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7 - One By One The Hypnosian Queen glares down with her dark eyes as she stared into their souls. Rainbow Dash flew up to meet her at eye level, she as the size of a hoof compared to the creature. "Come on now! I'm not afraid of you! Let's do this!" She punches the air a few times to show off her battle readiness but was greeted with a gust of wind as the queen came up super close to the sky blue Pegasus mare with rainbow hair and was mere inches away from her. "Uh.. he.. heh.... Hey there..." She inched back a little bit as the dark figure grinned and laughed, "Hmhmhm.... You think you can take me on little rainbow?" Rainbow furrowed her eyebrows, feeling insulted by that statement, "Of course I can! Give me something here! Come on!" She swung her forelegs around to act all tough. She chuckled again and allowed her eyes to spawn silver spirals from the centre of them until they completely filled her eyes and started to swirl continuously. "Alright then Little Rainbow... look into... my eyessssss..... lissssten toooo myyyy voiccccccce........" Rainbow spirals began to take over the Pegasus's eyes as her purple irises disappeared and were replaced with black spirals. "Uhhh.......... whaaaaaaaat'ssssssssssssssssss gooooooooiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggg.......... onnnnnnnnnnnn......." "Hey! Leave Rainbow Dash alone!" Fluttershy looked at the creature with a stern look and unlocked her famous Stare as her own form of hypnosis. She stared hard at the creature's spiralling eyes only to have her switch focus from Rainbow to Fluttershy and instantly increased the power level of her spirals and the young mare watched as they grew in thickness... causing her to struggle in holding her glare. "Go on Fluttershy, you've got this!" Rarity shouted, trying to encourage her on. Fluttershy began to strain her neck and eyes a bit as they grew tired from staring at the creature. The queen grumped as she became frustrated, "NO YOU DON'T...." She increased her hypnotic stare again till her eyes were almost just pure silver circles but you could still see the spirals. "I WILL........ TAKE....... CONTROL....... OF YOU......" Fluttershy kept resisting but her body began to quiver under the strain and she began to struggle. "I...... can't....... keep......... this......... up.........." She felt her control becoming weaker and weaker as her mind began to feel fuzzy and heard a faint whisper of her name. "Fluttershyyyyy.......... Fluuuuuutterrrrrrrrrshyyyyyyyyy......... Fluuuuuuuutterrrrrrrrrrrshyyyyyyyyyyy.......... Lissssstennnnn tooooooooo myyyyyyy voiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccccce annnnnnnnnnnnd ooooooooobeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy meeeeeeeeee......... onnnnnnlllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy......... meeeeeeeeeeee............... doooooooooooo................... yooooooouuuuuuuuuu unnnnnnnnnndeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrsssssssssssstaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnd..........?" "...........uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.............. Yeeeeeeeeeessssssssssss............. I dooooooooo............... Myyyyyyyy.......... Quuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen.............." And with that Fluttershy had fully given into the hypnotic control and she was now under the mind control of the Hypnosian Queen. "Oh my.... Fluttershy darling!" Rarity exclaimed in a shocked tone. She stood her ground, "Now see here you ruffian! You can't just go around hypnotizing every pony!" As ponies continued to panic around the group the Hypnosian focused now on the white unicorn with dark purple hair. "Youuuuurrrrrrrr tuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrnnn myyyyyyyyy deeeeeaaarrrrrrrrrrr......... Looooooooook iiiiiiiiinnnnnnnntooooooooooo myyyyyyyyyyyy eyyyyyyyyyyyyyesssssss......" "Ahhh! My goodness............ meeeeeeeeeeeee.......... I...........errrrrrrrrrrrrr................Thissssssssssssss.......... feeeeeeeeeeeelsssssssss.......... goooooooooooooood............" Rarity fell under the queen's spell as she made her way through the six ponies. Spike couldn't stand by and just watch his beloved be controlled like that so he charged forward without hesitation. "Spike no!" Twilight tried to stop him but was unsuccessful as he flew up to be at her eye level. "HEY QUEEN! LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" He shouted at the massive figure but he was quickly blind-sighted by her magnificent eyes as they launched spirals directly into his little green dragon eyes. Turning them into spirals, he quickly submitted to his new mistress, his new queen. "Now.... little dragon... Spike was it? I want you to approach your former princess and take her crown. Then bring it to me..... Do you understand..... Spike....?" She commanded him and he limply hovered in the air with a droopy tail and arms and legs, "Yesssssss.......... Myyyyyyyyyy Queeeeeeeeeeeeen........" "Excellent!" She watches with glaring eyes gazing down at the unimpressed Princess of Friendship as she scowled up at the queen. "You won't get away with this!" the purple alicorn stood her ground firmly as her trusted advisor flew down to meet her. But before he could take her crown Apple Jack bumped her out of the way, resulting in Spike grabbing her western country hat instead of the crown. Smirking with cheeky pride, she looked over her shoulder quickly, "Sorry Twi, you okay?" She checked on her friend as the pony had been shoved to the ground in a cloud of dust. Coughing she stood up and nodded, "Uh-huh.... yeah.... thanks Apple Jack..." Frustrated, Queen Black Silver grumbled, "Really....." She sighs heavily while closing her eyes briefly, "Looks like I have to do it myself. But first... you need to be... hmhmhm.... taken care of..." Humming a soft evil chuckle, she reactivated her spiral eyes that were lavender purple glowing eyes with silver spirals. "Uh-oh." Apple Jack realized she had been outflanked since she would have used her hat to block the hypnosis but Spike was holding onto it and high in the air now. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaarnnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...................." She complained how stupid she was for doing that but it was too late as she felt the hypnosis wash over her like a crashing ocean wave. Twilight watched helplessly as the pony of honesty became dazed and a pair of black and white spirals formed in her eyes when she blinked them open again. "No.... " She became worried now as her friends fell to the command of the ancient queen from the past. This is bad... really bad.... I need to tell the princesses.... She turned around and quickly launched into the air flapping fast. She headed to her castle where Starlight was watching in shock from the top balcony. "Twilight what's going on! Is she hypnotizing ponies?" The lilac unicorn asked in disbelief. The mare was standing with her front hooves holding onto the golden rails of the crystal tree castle. Twilight hovered next to the balcony and looked at her student. "I'm afraid so... she's already mind controlled our friends. I have to warn the princesses, that queen said she was headed to Canterlot next!" "We are already here Twilight." Author's Note With the main 5 now under the Hypnosian's control, and a Canterlot attack eminent... Twilight was about to warn the princesses but they have showed up at their doorstep instead, right on time. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8 - Counter Attack //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8 - Counter Attack "Princess!" Starlight exclaimed in astonishment as both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia flew up to them by the balcony of Twilight's castle. The village was in complete shambles as flora and parts of buildings lay scattered across the roads. The buildings were damaged from the queen tramping through in her massive form. She was larger and taller than the Canterlot Castle itself. "Oh no... it's much worse than I feared Celestia!" Luna was mortified at the damage her friend was causing in her corrupted state. "I'm sorry but... WHAT IS GOING ON? I was just cleaning the library when I come out and see this! And Twilight tells me it's a queen!" Starlight blurted out feeling frustrated and frantic at the chaos around her. It was bringing back bad memories of when she tried to take Twilight down in an epic battle that almost destroyed Equestria itself. Celestia smiled smugly as Luna sighed, "It's my good friend Lavender... she's become corrupted by a Hypnosian Queen from the past. The queen is power hungry and thirsty for some sort of revenge against ones who are probably long gone by now. Twilight, we need to get to her before she gets any closer to the city. There's still time.... I must try to reach Lavender through her mind." Celestia was a little confused as she spoke, "What do you mean sister? How will you do this?" The white alicorn mare raised an eyebrow as the moon made her golden attire and crown shimmer in its light. Luna sighs deeply, "I must physically enter the entity's body which is pure energy. The more minds she controls the bigger and stronger that energy will grow. And until we stop her, she'll be unstoppable if we don't act now." The group was hushed by her claim. "Alright, if you're sure Princess?" Twilight asked, followed by Celestia, "Luna... this sounds like it could be dangerous... are you up for it?" She knew that her sister was hiding how tired she really was from the others to seem strong and ready. But the sun princess knew her better, she would push through her tiredness no matter the danger to her own self. Luna looked up at Celestia with a semi tired look but tried to look reassuring for her. "I'll be fine sister. I need to do this... for Lav...." Knowing Luna wanted to appear strong in front of the other ponies, Celestia gave her approval in a swift nod. Luna nodded back and flew after the massive entity roaming through the grassy plains towards Canterlot. Celestia watched as she flew off, not being able to help but feel concerned for her safety in this plan. So she turned back to Starlight and Twilight. "I'm worried about Luna. She's awful tired from last night's rounds and she's recently come out of a depression phase relating to a personal incident with Lavender. If this goes wrong, we'll need you two as a back up plan. If Luna becomes corrupted and lost within the entity.... I need you Starlight to get word to Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. If one of them can lend a hoof that would be greatly appreciated." Starlight listened to her orders and asked, "Shall I go now Princess?" Celestia nodded at the unicorn and so the young mare teleported herself from the high balcony to the ground floor and raced off towards the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile she turned to Twilight, "Twilight do you have any ideas that could be a trap for the entity if its needed?" Twilight hummed over possibilities in her head as she watched Luna begin her encounter with the entity still making her way to Canterlot in the distance. A few distant screams could be heard from ponies that encounter the queen's soul. It gave an eerie feel to the night's atmosphere. Just then she came up with the only idea she could think of on the spot.... "Hmmm what if we use the Trans Dimensional Control Spells like we did with Discord?" She suggested to Celestia and her purple eyes lit up with a chance of hope. "You know... that might actually work. If we use them to essentially strip away the Hypnosian's magic, we could at least get an opening for Luna to reach Lavender more easily. We won't be able to hold it for long but just to give her enough time to fly in. It's not a trap as such but it should help Luna. That'll do!" Twilight nodded and took a book out of her saddle bag using her magenta magic aura. "I'll read up on the spell quickly as it's not one I've tried before so I want to at least know the basics of it before we try it." "Mm, good idea. I'll go check in on Luna; see if she's made any progress yet." And with that the sun princess turned tail and flew off towards the direction of the entity. Twilight watched for a moment as she flicked through the pages and then turned her attention to the book once it reached the page of the complicated spell. It was a little more advanced than what she was used to, only great magic users such as Luna, Celestia, Discord and even Star Swirl The Bearded used that kind of magic. Meanwhile....... Luna looped around and under the blast from the mare's horn as she darted around the entity. "You'll have to try better than that Lav!" The night princess stated smugly knowing how the young mare enjoyed a good friendly magic duel once in a while. But this was on another level. Luna was focused and needed to find a window of entry into the massive black entity. The Corruption was growing much worse by the minute, the longer she stayed linked to her Pegasus friend, the worse it got. Just then she saw Celestia flying up to the scene of the battle. "Luna!" Celestia called out as the midnight blue alicorn with starry hair turned at watched her sister flying closer. Of course she should've have turned at all because the next thing she knew she was struck in the back by a blast of turquoise coloured magic and the force pushed her out of the sky into the ground below with a sliding thud. Celestia was shocked and rushed to her sister's aid to help her up. "Sister! Are you ok?" Luna panted as she pushed herself up shakily off the ground and hovered in the air low to the ground. "MMmmff... I'm fine sister." She winced as she looked at one of her wings that had an ash mark on some of the feathers. "No you're not fine Luna. You're hurt!" "Celestia please! I'm ok. I need to get to Lavender's mind now before it becomes too powerful!" She pushed Celestia's hoof away as she attempted to get a closer look at the burn mark. Celestia heaved a big sigh of frustration but knew that she was right. It was getting too dangerous to wait any longer. The Hypnosian Queen was nearly at the borderline of Canterlot City as they could see the cityscape in the distance. Though the entity was moving rather slow due to her large mass, the size made up for covering a lot of ground in that time. "Alright.. but wait... before you fly off again, Twilight came up with a plan." Luna paused and listened to the plan they had made before reaching her. Her ears flickered as she heard the idea and was rather impressed. "You're right... that might indeed just work. I know the spell she's thinking of too. Though for this job it might need all three of us to target the entity." Celestia nodded and heard heavy breathing off in the distance and turned to see her faithful student coming into view. "Ah Twilight you're just on time! Any luck?" Twilight finally caught up to the two sisters and caught her breath for a second before answering, "I was... able to learn to foundations of the spell, I believe I can pull it off now." She said hoping to sound confident in her skills. But truthfully, she was nervous about trying the spell. She hoped she could match Luna and Celestia's skill levels for this. Celestia nodded her approval, "Very good! Now... let us begin." Author's Note It's time for Luna to face her friend and try to communicate with Lavender if she's still inside the entity that's consumed her. But there's a big risk to Luna's physical safety if she attempts a spell designed to penetrate a powerful entity that she's never tried before and in her weakened condition... it could pose a threat to her well being. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9 - Trapped Inside //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9 - Trapped Inside As the three alicorns hovered in a triangle formation facing the entity, they pointed their horns at one another. Celestia started the chain of magic first with her mind focusing on the Tridimensional Spell. It conjured up a ball of yellow light at the tip of her white horn, and shot a laser beam towards her sister. Luna saw the beam and conjured up her own Tridimensional Spell and her blue aura appeared in a spherical shape upon her horn mimicking her sister's spell. Luna's magic shot a beam of light directly at Princess Twilight's horn as the young mare managed to conjure the spell of her own. It took all her strength but she successfully pulled it off on the first go. A radiant bright light shimmering in shades of blue, yellow, and magenta shone forth from the collaborative spell as it rose up above their heads. The three mares focused all of their energy and attention on the orb of magic and then turned their heads towards the entity. As the mares' eyes turned fully white one by one, a brilliant light show began as they magically tore open a rift into the mass of dark energy from the entity. "AHHHHHHHHH!" The Queen screamed in pain as she became wounded in the process. She looked back to see the three princesses performing the spell. "NOOOOOOO!" She tried to combat against the light magic but something was holding her back, a force of some type. She felt the tear in her energy form grow wider, "AHHHHH!" She screamed again. Celestia and Twilight began to pull the spell onto their own horns and away from Luna. This allowed the alicorn to become free of controlling the magic sphere. "Ugh.... wha...... Why are you......" "Ngh... GO LUNA! WE CAN HOLD IT..... GOOOO....." Celestia yelled above the roar of the magic sphere. Luna regained herself as her eyes turned back to normal and the light faded from them. She hesitated but took the chance to catch the open window that she needed. With a roar of thunder, she entered the fluidic energy that was a hazy dark purple mist. It was as thick as soup inside the entity. She took a moment to adjust to the new atmosphere. Her eyes burned slightly but other than that she could move through it just fine. Smoky mist swirled around her in spirals, she suddenly realized she could walk. A hard surface had formed beneath her hooves but it was invisible to the naked eye. The only way she could tell it was there was by touch and by the sound of her hooves echoing. The alicorn mare roamed around taking in the sights and sounds of the void. "Lavender!" She began to call the young mare's name through the mist. "Lav! I know you're here!" "AHHHHHHHH!" Luna suddenly heard high pitch screaming that could only be from the lavender coloured female Pegasus. She heard it coming from her left and turned to race towards the sound. After a few seconds of cantering, the mare found Lavender running around in circles all spooked and flustered, looking in all directions. "WHAT IS THIS... WHERE AM I? WHERE AM I?? HELLOOOOO!!!!! SOMEONE.... ANYONE!" Luna ran up to the young Pegasus mare and tried to calm her down. "Woah... there... Lav.. Lav! It's me, Luna!" Using magic to pull on her tail gently, the pony halted to a dead stop and breathed heavy as she tried to catch her breath to calm down. Looking up she managed to say, "L-Luna?! What are are you doing here... What's going on?" "You've been corrupted by an evil soul. What do you remember Lav?" She waited by her side while Lavender tried to think back to the las thing she saw. "Hm... well.... I remember the book that Zecora gave me... and.... oh the floating orb of black magic..... what was that by the way...?" She looked up at Luna with confusion. She suddenly remembered her little back cat, "SAPPHIRE WHERE'S SAPPHIRE IS SHE OK?" she looked around frantically but Luna stopped her by placing her hooves on her shoulders. "Don't worry she's safe... I asked my guard Fleet Heart to look after Sapphire, she was happily playing with her armor. The question is... are you ok? What happened?" The night princess sat down on the invisible surface and gave a listening ear to her friend. Lavender began to tremble once the adrenaline wore off and collapsed to the invisible ground..... she sobbed as reality hit her of where she was. "Oh Luna! It was so scary! The book that Zecora gave me began to levitate in the air magically... dark magic aura came forth from it and filled my entire house! I couldn't see anything for a few moments before the light dimmed enough for me to see an orb rising up out of the pages and it came rushing towards me. Then I guess... inside of me? I don't know....!" Luna listened carefully and plotted of how she could help the mare escape her prison. "Lav... listen to me. You are trapped inside your mind. I actually used a powerful spell to physically enter your mind so I cannot stay long. If I do, I may become trapped myself and we become a joint mind." She watched as the mare's eyes widened in fear, so she quickly digressed, "Basically, we need to find a way out of here before we become stuck in here." Outside of the Entity.... "Arghh!! Celestia! I can't hold it much.... longer! NGH!" "Hang in there Twilight! We must! Or we lose them both!" Princess Celestia knew how much her faithful student must be struggling with the new spell but she herself was also struggling to hold such a large amount of powerful magic in a large spherical orb. Celestia hoped with all her heart that Luna was doing alright inside the massive entity that was still destroying the surrounding structures and landscapes out of pain and frustration. She heard it yelling, "YOU DARE TO APPOSE ME YOU FOOLS! I WILL TAKE YOUR PRESCIOUS RULERS ONE BY ONE, AND THEN I WILL COME AFTER THE REST OF YOU!" Back inside the Entity..... Lavender tried to use her magic to find a way out but to her horror, it had been zapped from her. "My... my magic!!" Luna was horrified that her magic had been taken by the Entity. "Oh no... She's a lot stronger than I first thought. We have no time! We need to get out.... now!" Author's Note Luna successfully found Lavender but they become trapped inside the entity. It's up to Celestia and Twilight to save the two ponies before the entity engulfs anyone else and becomes too powerful for them to handle! //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10 - Rescued.... //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10 - Rescued.... Gulping down her fears of having just lost her magic, Lavender spotted a rift forming from where Luna must have entered in. "Look - look!" She shouted and pointed at the slim opening highlighted by a barrier of purple magic. Luna spun her head to where her friend was pointing and gasped, "Perfect! Quickly! Let's get out of here!" The two mares started to bolt for the exit, but Lavender was pulled back by a ribbon of dark magic that had appeared out of nowhere. "AHHHH LUNA!" She yelled, terrified. Luna skidded to a halt and then spun on her hooves to help set her friend free of the magic ribbon. "BACK EVIL SPIRIT!" She cries as a bolt of turquoise blue light shone from the alicorn's horn and aimed directly for the tip of the dark magic aura. It snapped away from the mare's hind left leg causing the light purple Pegasus to fall forward before being helped up by Luna. "Come on!" Helping the mare up, Luna and Lavender cantered for the rift that was slowly opening wider. As it opened wider, the closer they got, it began to close once again. Fearing they wouldn't make it, Luna used her magic to give them both a speed boost. Giving Lavender a bit of a fright, she was unprepared for the boost and yelled, "Wooaaah-oooohhhhh!" As the two of them burst forth through the rift. Outside the Entity.... Celestia felt a jolt of energy burst through the stream of magic as Luna reappeared with a brilliant burst of blue light. She gasped for clean air and landed on the ground exhausted. The alicorns fell to the ground as they released the magic from their magical grasp and caught their own breaths. Twilight slowly lifted her head and saw Luna laying on the ground with her eyes closed. Then she looked up as the Hypnosian Queen roared in pain. "AAAAAAAARGH, NOOOOOOOOOO I AM NOT DONE! NOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The entity slowly started to shrink in size as rays of dark magic burst from within her. Sparkles and orbs of glinting light appeared around her as her mass shrunk down, down; down until she was a black orb of magic. Ponies around the group of alicorns slowly began to return to normal and awaken from their hypnotic states. They felt dizzy and dazed as they came to from their trances. The sun princess ran towards her sister to check on her. "Luna are you alright?" She asked and to her relief, she watched as the blue alicorn mare blinked open her eyes and gently lifted her head. "T-tia?" She said in a weakened voice as she lifted her head fully off the ground. "Celestia!" Her eyes widened as her memory came back and she was fully alert once more. "Where's Lavender! Is she ok?!" The three alicorns looked around the area and couldn't find her until Twilight looked up and spotted her laid across the roof of a house nearby. "Up there!" Twilight flew up to the young mare and saw that she was covered in faded black spirals over her body, then she saw that she had a scar on her chest fur as well. "She's up here but..." She looked down at the two princesses looking up at Twilight. "She doesn't look too good Luna..." "This is all my fault!!" Celestia watches her sister helplessly as she feels guilty for this entire incident. Trying to think of a way to comfort her she builds a plan. "Come now Luna.... how about we take her back to the castle to rest? You can keep an eye on her there, and help her find a cure for her condition." "You'd... do that sister?" "Of course! How many times has she visited the castle already and earned our trust as a close friend? She's more than welcome to recover at our place. She's almost like family now." Celestia grinned as memories popped up of how Lavender's cat Sapphire would often join her on her visits and playfully distract the sun princess from her paper signing duties. Sapphire would always try to play with her long flowing mane and tail, even her wings on occasion. Luna gave a thankful sigh of relief, "Thank you sister so much!" "Mm! Twilight, help us bring Lavender up to the castle would you?" Twilight nodded in acceptance to the task. In Canterlot Castle... Bandaging up her shoulder, Luna winces as pain shoots up her wing, hissing through her teeth while backing away from the one tending to her. "Hold still Your Highness. You won't heal if you keep moving around like this!" Nurse Bluebell said as she used her light green magic to wrap a white bandage over the burn mark the she had cleaned first. "Hmmff!" Luna huffs in frustration. She hates sitting still. Celestia laughed, "Oh Luna, you've always been like this! Never one to sit still are you?" While the white alicorn mare continues laughing, Luna furrows her brow at her, "Hush sister!" She said grumpily with a pouty face, only making Celestia laugh more. Princess Twilight giggled at the sight of the two royal sisters poking at each other like that. "Hehe, that's how a sisterhood should be!" She whispered quietly under her breath but was caught off guard when her student came bursting into the doors of the Royal Nurse's Office. "Ohhh! Oh..... I'm here..... Whew! That took a lot longer than I thought!" She blurted out as she caught her breath from running. "Well, I've informed Cadance and Shining Armor and they've secured the Crystal Empire just in case. I-" She looked around the room to see Luna being tended to, Celestia standing and staring with a surprised look on her face, and a new pony she hadn't seen before that was also being tended to more thoroughly than Luna. ".....O-ohhhh... Oh you saved her then?" Starlight stammered putting two and two together. Flattening her ears back, she felt a little embarrassed at her efforts being a little too late. Celestia giggled, "Don't worry my little pony, you did a wonderful job delivering the message, and if she does return somehow, we will have that extra sense of protection with extra help on standby... nicely done Starlight." Luna nodded in agreement to her sister. She slowly bent out her wing and folded it back up carefully once the nurse unicorn had seen to her wound. "Alright Your Highness, it'll take a week or two to heal fully so don't do too much flying in the meantime ok?" She asked giving the princess a cheeky yet serious look with one eyebrow raised, knowing she can be quite troublesome when it comes to recovery from injuries. Luna looked from her sister to Nurse Bluebell and sighed in a huff, "F-Fine...." Twilight giggled at the sight of poor Luna. Then she looked at Starlight who was staring at the unconscious pony laying on the doctor's bed. "So.... what happened to her anyway....? And... who is she?" Walking up to the lilac unicorn mare, Twilight placed an open wing around her student, "..... a friend....." Author's Note When Lavender is finally rescued from the Entity, she has lost her magic! To Celestia, Luna and Twilight's horror the mare is marked by the corrupted spirit and has developed an internal mental link to the Hypnosian Queen. Luna must now give her friend magic treatments to try and free her completely from this link. If she's unable to, it could spell disaster for Lavender. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11 - Lost Magic //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11 - Lost Magic The castle is still and quiet as Luna walks through the halls to the Nurse's Office. She couldn't get to sleep all day worrying about her friend's condition. Before she started her nightly rounds on this new night, Luna wanted to check in on the young female Pegasus. All she could hear was the occasional bustling of ponies rushing past with tasks to complete for her sister, and the echo of her own hoof cups. The alicorn mare almost tripped over a black ball of fluff that darted out from behind a marble pillar. "Oh my!" She looked down to see it was little Sapphire chasing a mouse. "Haha... oh Sapphire... life must be exciting with a cat for Lav... Never a dull moment at home for her...." She watched the black cat claw at the grey mouse and catch its tail making it squeak. But the mouse managed to squirm out of her claws and scurried off down the hall. "Mrrrowww!" She hissed as she bolted after the mouse away from the princess. Luna chuckled to herself and continued towards the Nurse's Office. Coming up to a male guard he salutes the princess, "Good evening Princess! You're up early." She tiredly smiles at the brown stallion in his golden armor, "Yes, I'm afraid I couldn't sleep much today. May I ask, any news on our guest?" "Ah... The young Pegasus... The Nurse and Doctor said she was in a stable condition and was still resting when they left here just an hour ago to run some test results." He paused for a moment and looked a little saddened at what he was about to say, "I'm afraid.... they said that her magic is gone... and they don't know why...." He stared back up at the alicorn with a focused gaze from his orange eyes. He watched the night princess bow her head, "Thank you for the update, Felix.... I'm just going to check in on her to see how she's doing. Don't worry... I'll be respectful." He was hesitant at first with orders from the doctor not for her to be disturbed. But since she was royalty, he had to obey her request to allow her entry. So he nodded subtly and pushed open the door with his gold cupped hoof. The door was quiet as it swung open and let the mare inside as she felt her heart sink at the news of Lavender having lost her magic. The light blue room with white wall trims and grey stained wood floors was as she remembered from earlier. She looked back and felt the bandage around her should and wing joint. The scorch mark still stung a bit from the burn of dark magic so she dared not touch the bandaged area too roughly. Taking a deep breath she looked behind her as she heard the door close gently with a click. Then Luna turned back to see her friend knocked out in a deep sleep on a doctor's bed with side bars keeping her in, along with an IV line hooked up to her right hoof giving her fluids to keep her hydrated during treatments and recovery. There was a steady beeping of a machine next to her lit up with a number for her heart rate and blood pressure. Luna flattened her ears, she dreaded seeing anyone she cared about in a state like this. She quietly stepped closer to her bedside to comfort her at least in presence. Then she saw the marks that were left as horrible reminders from the entity of the Hypnosian Queen. She waits for a few moments in the stillness of the evening, she grows impatient and leaves the pony to head out to the balcony. She sees that her sister is currently starting to lower the sun, so she gathers herself together and focuses on the spell to lift the moon slowly as the sun sets. While she raises the moon, she gains an idea that brings a smile to her face. As the stars come out to twinkle and shine in the velvet night sky once the colours of day fade away beyond the horizon. She drops the magic spell as the moon is now set, allowing for all the creatures to head to bed for the night. Luna spins around on her hooves to see Lavender sound asleep, but with a look of unrest on her face. So the alicorn pulls out her magic once again and focuses all her energy until the area around her turns into a black void. A purple night sky appears with stars sparkling around falling and floating bubble spheres that hold each creature's dreams. The princess flies around and through the Dream Orbs until she spots one that's darker than the rest with a familiar dark purple hue to it. She was a little concerned so she used her magic to dive deeply into the orb and sure enough, it felt like her friend's mind. Hovering around in mid air for a few seconds, she couldn't hear or see a thing apart from the dark purple mist floating around. So she flew ahead to see if she could find the Pegasus. "Lavender?" She called out in a soft voice as to not startle her. She called again when she got no answer.... but still nothing. Then she came face to face with a giant vertically standing black spiral that was semi transparent. It caught her off guard but she looked at it longer and began to hear a faint whisper of an evil laugh before it faded away again into the ambience of the mare's mind. "What have you done you evil beast!" She shouted under her breath. The spiral faded away and then a startling view appeared in front of the alicorn. A pair of chains hung from high above that were thick and made of black metal. When she followed the lines of chains, at the center she saw a horrifying sight of the Pegasus mare beaten, scared and completely drained of energy as her head hung down and her wings drooped at her sides with a few loose light purple feathers laying scattered beneath the mare's hooves dangling just inches above the invisible floor. "LAV!!!!" She couldn't help but shout her name and the mare lifted her head dozily, "L-luna........ H-help.....m-me....." Her legs started to slowly fade into nothing as the princess began sprinting towards her. Only to find herself not making any ground at all and that it looked like the chained mare was just staying put in that one spot despite looking like she was moving away from the alicorn. "AHHAHAHAHAHA! I HAVE HER NOW LUNA.... HER SOUL IS FADING AWAY INTO NOTHING LEAVING HER BODY TO DIE. THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE HER! SHE'S MINE!!" The entity laughs loudly as it echoes around the void of the mare's mind. Luna scowled deeply at the corrupted soul's pure evil plans. She despised them so much that she made the ultimate offer, "YES THERE IS BLACK SILVER!! TAKE ME!" The Hypnosian Queen was shocked at the surprise offer. "YOU? Haha.... Are you sure you want to take her place Night Princess? Once you do, there is no going back and you will be mine forever to control!" The princess looked down at Lavender as only half of her body remained visible still chained up. Furrowing her eyebrows in determination she looked up at the queen's smoky orb that had appeared above the young Pegasus mare. She gave a firm nod of her head to show she was sure. She wanted nothing more than freedom for her friend. "Very well..... LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! YOU SHALL BECOME MINE!" She took her dark pony form and opened her eyes to reveal strong hypnotic spirals violently swirling around. Soon the princess felt everything fade to black as her mind became overrun by the corrupted soul. Just as Luna fell victim to the queen of the past, Lavender stopped fading and reappeared as the chains broke from her hooves. Lavender looked up and saw the soul had hovered her way over Luna's head as the alicorn stood there hypnotized The young Pegasus saw that her body was free of spirals but that the blue mare had them now instead. "Luna? NO!! LET HER GO!" Lavender screamed at the entity that had her enslaved. But the entity just laughed demonically and took the princess with her out of the mare's mind. Lavender was left alone. Author's Note With Lavender on death's door, Luna must find a cure for her condition left behind from her possession from the Hypnosian Queen. But when Luna's 'cure' doesn't work, it only transfers the condition to her! //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12 - Luna's Sacrifice //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12 - Luna's Sacrifice Nurse Bluebell walked up the corridor and stopped at her office, "Hello Felix, any troubles here tonight?" The moon was due to set any moment as Princess Celestia walked with the nurse. "None at all Nurse. Princess Luna came to visit her earlier and is still inside. It's actually... been rather quiet." He said realizing how long its been since he spoke to the night princess. Celestia raised an eyebrow, "Really? She should be setting the moon about now, that's where I'm headed after this." Felix nodded and opened the door. Bluebell walked inside and froze when she found the Pegasus mare sitting up right with a startled look painted on her face and gasping in a panic. "OH MY GOODNESS! Quick, we need Doctor Maple in here!" Felix saluted and rushed off to find the doctor. Bluebell rushed to the young mare's side to check her vitals over. "Easy easy!! You're safe here!" Trying to calm the panicked pony down she noticed that a turquoise aura was glittering around the mare's hooves blinking off and on out of control. "What's wrong with her Bluebell?" Celestia asked stunned at what she was witnessing. It's nothing like she's ever seen before. The nurse looked at the princess and had a look of confused concern plastered on, "I don't know Your Highness! It's like her body is in a state of Magical Flux or something." "What does that mean?" "Well, it means that it's like she's in a state of shock, but her magic has returned and is affected as well. It seems to be activating and disactivating each time." Celestia listened to the nurse's comments and started to understand what she meant. There was only ever one other case of this and that was due to an encounter with Discord before he was reformed. But before she could think of how she could help the young mare, the Pegasus began to settle down and the shaking stopped as her muscles calmed to a relaxed state. The nurse sighed in relief as she took out the needle she had just injected into her flank. "There.... That should relax her a bit." Bluebell wiped the needle with a clean cloth and placed it into a sterile bag. "Thankfully that one other case we had many years ago provided the health system with a cure for this condition. She should be fine now that she's woken up once already. The next time she wakes up, she should be on the road to recovery from the dark magic." But when the unicorn mare looked towards the alicorn she saw that she was frozen in place with a look of horror on her face. "Uh, Your Highness? Are you alright?" She took notice of where her gaze was directed, towards the balcony that had the doors wide open and something dark laying on the floor. "Oh my goodness Princess Luna!" The unicorn rushed over to the blue alicorn's side and crouched low over her motionless body. Checking her eyes with a light spell from her magic, she discovered that she was in the same state that the Pegasus originally was. "Oh no..... don't tell me it's contagious! This is why it's still night time!" Nurse Bluebell shivered at the thought as she rang the bell on the inside of the room with her magic to alert the guards outside, "Guards!" Celestia woke up from her frozen trance of shock. "Luna!" She hurried over to her young sister that looked like she'd been injured somehow and knocked unconscious. The nurse saw the guards come running into the room, "Yes Nurse! We heard yelling." "Go fetch the doctor, now!" They both saluted and disappeared down the corridor. Celestia hovered low over her sister in worry, "Why does Luna have the condition now?" Nurse Bluebell stared at the sun princess with no words to answer her with. The two froze when they heard another voice in the room, "S-he saved m-e....." A frail yet audible voice came from the bed where the Pegasus lay. Celestia walked over to her bedside and saw that the young mare had just woken up. The princess thought to ask her more about what she meant by that, but she knew better. "Oh Lavender.... we were worried about you. How are you feeling?" The White alicorn mare with wavy aurora hair allowed the mare time to get herself together as much as she could. Moaning from slight discomfort as she tried to sit up but ultimately decided against it when it caused her pain. "Sore....mmm..." Inhaling she turned her head to face Celestia, "Where's Luna..... is..... she ok...?" Wham! The door flew open as the doctor bolted in to check on the night princess. Lavender looked at the princess with worry, ".....she's not..... is she.....?" Celestia lowered her head solemnly as she whispered, "No.... I'm afraid not... My sister now has the same condition you had a few minutes ago.... and we don't know why." Looking up at the mare sitting up in bed against the white pillows with a tired look in her face, "Unless.... you can shed some light on the situation Lavender Rain? What happened before we got here Lav?" Celestia asked with concern written all over her pale face. The young mare stared into space as she thought about what she remembered. "Well... I remember the book that Zecora gave me. I remember..... being taken over by some magical force..... then... I was trapped in some sort of magic void.... I think time moved differently in there too as I had only just got pulled inside when I ran into Luna who came to rescue me the first time. Then it went black.... the last thing I recall is hanging in mid air all chained up and drained of all energy. Then..... Luna came....." Celestia listened carefully, "What happened with Luna?" "She saw me helpless and faced down the soul that attacked me. The next thing I know, she demanded for the 'queen'... to take her instead. Then I woke up but I couldn't control my own body. So I panicked..." Celestia's eyes widened, "Wait.. so you're saying that Luna essentially SWITCHED places with you??" When she saw tears welling up fast in the mare's eyes, the sun princess knew the heart-touching yet horrible truth. Luna had sacrificed herself to save her friends. And now her own sister was in grave danger of being lost forever. Author's Note When word gets out that the Night Princess is in grave danger after having saved Lavender from the Hypnosian Queen's soul. It's up to Lavender, Twilight and their friends to find a way to completely destroy the corrupted soul before it causes any more trouble that threaten the lives of ponies.