Darkest Days, Brightest Nights

by -Polaris-

Chapters

Side-Story
Act 1 - The Story of Prince Noctus - Chapter 1: The 10th of the Line
Act 1 - The Story of Prince Noctus - Chapter 2: Months and Years
[REDACTED]
Act 2 - Shattered Stars - Chapter 3: A New World
Act 2 - Shattered Stars - Chapter 4: Joy and Pain
[ARCHIVE]
Final Rewrite Teaser Posted!
Table of Contents
Character Sheet [Updated For Chapter 4]

Side-Story

Side-Story is now up! Link in Description.

Act 1 - The Story of Prince Noctus - Chapter 1: The 10th of the Line

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The Story of Prince Noctus (989 CR)

Chapter 1: The 10th of the line

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Aug, 989th Year of Celestia's Reign.

Noctus Decimus, or in more formal terms, Sir Noctus the 10th. He was the latest in a long line of Canterlot nobility, and he hated his title with a passion, nearly as much as he hated his family. Currently, he was at a fancy dinner party with royalty. He was obviously a little peeved.

"DAMMIT MOM! THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!"

"Decimus! Behave yourself! We are in the presence of royalty!"

"Yeah? Well how about this? You and the princess, BUCK OFF!"

"Watch your language, colt! Such words are unbecoming of a ten-year-old!"

"AAGH! THE MOMENT I TURN EIGHTEEN, I AM MOVING OUT OF THIS HOUSE!"

He stormed out of the room and out onto the balcony. As he left, he heard the Princess say soothingly to his mother, "I will speak with him."

Noctus put his forelegs on the railing and looked out at the city. The Princess did the same beside him. They stood like that for a few minutes before Celestia spoke. "Don't tell your mother, but I agree with you." Noctus didn't respond. "Actually, you remind me of my sister."

That piqued his intrest. "You have a sister?"

"Indeed. She is... away... right now. I'm not certain what kind of mood she will be in when she comes back though. Would you like to know a secret?"

"What kind of secret?"

"Something that nopony else in the whole world knows. You'll have to promise not to tell anypony about it."

He nodded. "I promise."

"Okay, come over here." Noctus edged closer to her and she leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Luna will be coming home in eleven years."

"Really!? Does that mean that I'm going to get to meet her!?"

"Yes it does. In fact, my little pony, I can see a lot of potential in you. When Luna is home again, I might even recommend you to her as her student."

Noctus may have been young, but even he realized that sounded a little suspicious. "Why?"

"Let's just say that... I have a feeling."

"So, I'm really gonna be taught by a princess!?"

"Only if she decides she wants to take a student. And remember, you can't tell anypony about this."

"Don't worry Princess, your secret is safe with me!"

"One more thing. You need to try to get along with your parents." Noctus' smile fell instantly and he groaned. "I know, but if you can manage it, even if Luna decides she doesn't want a student, I promise that I will find a good position for you in the castle once you are of age."

He was grinning again. "Thank you!" He gave her the biggest hug he could manage. "I'll do my best!"

She wrapped a wing around the colt. "I know you will."

As Celestia walked away, she pulled what appeared to be a watch out of thin air. Noctus couldn't see what she did with it, but when she looked back, just for a second, she looked a bit sad. What he failed to notice, however, was a flash of light on his flank.

Dec, 996th Year of Celestia's Reign.

"No," Noctus told his friend firmly. "I promised her that I wouldn't tell anypony. I don't even know if I should've told you that she'll get me a job when I turn eighteen next year."

"C'mon Noctus. You can trust me, bro."

"She's a goddess. She probably already knows that I told you this much."

"The Princess sucks. I don't even know why you're doing anything for her."

"Seven years ago, I made a promise. I'm not going to break it. You should be more respectful of Celestia. If it weren't for her, I probably would have ran off to some small town a long time ago. I'll tell you one thing though, in four years, everything will get much better for me. Just watch."

June, 999th Year of Celestia's Reign.

"One year from this day, Noctus."

"I know, Princess. I've been counting them."

"Would you like to see a painting of her?"

"Oh! Yeah, I guess I've never actually seen what she looks like."

They began walking. Noctus was wearing a black cloak, which blocked his cutie mark from sight, and the Princess was adorned with her usual regalia. "There were illustrations in the book."

"It was a foal's book."

"So the illustrations were a bit simple. They got the colors right at least."

"So then, your mane used to actually be..."

"Pink? Yes."

Noctus stopped and looked at her few a couple seconds. "Yeah, I suppose I could see that."

"Where best to hide secret information than a foal's book? Everypony would assume that it's all just made up."

"But not your student?"

"No. She'll be smart enough to figure it out."

"You're putting a lot of faith in her."

"She puts a lot of faith in me. I'm already lying to her about so many things. The least I can do is return that faith."

"What if your plan fails?"

"Then Luna will kill me and plunge the world into eternal darkness."

Noctus laughed nervously. "But you're certain that won't happen?"

"Nothing is certain my friend, but I believe in my student's abilities."

They came to a room that had been locked for as long as Noctus could remember. With a flash of her horn, Celestia unlocked the door and it swung open to reveal what appeared to be a solid wall of black. "Um... Princess?"

"Yes, I forgot about her taste in decor. I'll open the curtains." With another flash, a single rectangle of blue sky appeared on the other side of the room. The rest of the room however, remained dark. Now Celestia was looking a bit awkward. "Erm... perhaps I shall simply use a light spell. Apparently magic was able to dispel the darkness, as Celestia's conjured miniature sun increased the light level to something remotely visible.

They entered and Celestia walked over to the wall beside the large bed. The room was littered with odds and ends, including a very ornate abacus sitting on a dark wood vanity. On another table, a strange candle burned with a black flame. "Over here." Celestia called to the still fascinated stallion. Noctus jumped and then slowly walked over, admiring the furnishings along the way. He stopped when he noticed the painting. The portrait showed a graceful dark blue alicorn with a mane of stars and nebulae that seemed to somehow be moving.

His jaw dropped. "Woah... she's beautiful..."

Celestia giggled. "Indeed?"

It was at that moment that Noctus realized he had spoken out loud. "I uh... I didn't... I mean..."

"No, no. You should tell her you think so when she gets back. She'll appreciate it."

"I think I'd rather keep that outburst under wraps actually."

"I understand. You are correct though, she is very beautiful... not like me..." She watched Noctus' reaction out of the corner of her eye. He remained silent. That caused Celestia to smile. "Of course you wouldn't deny your chosen princess a compliment, even to console me. You have true loyalty, Noctus. She will see that."

"I'm sure she will... but, if it isn't enough..."

"It will be."

"But if it's not, If she refuses to take me as her student, I want to be demoted to her servant."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Are you certain?"

"I have spent the majority of my life preparing to study under her. If I cannot, I will serve her in another way."

Celestia was smiling even wider now. "Your dedication is admirable. If I didn't have Twilight, I would likely take you as my student."

"Aw, but I wouldn't want that."

Celestia tried to look angry, but quickly smiled again and chuckled. "Noctus, that's the reason I like having you around so much. You don't worry about offending me, you simply treat me as an equal. Thank you."

"Thank you princess. Whatever I may say in jest, I truly do look up to you."

"I don't care what you think of me. You are my only true friend."

"Then that is what I shall be until the day I die."

"Thank you."

"Let's just agree that we thank each other equally."

With a quiet chuckle, she agreed, "Yes, let's." She began walking back to the door. "I assume you'll be staying here for a while. Try not to snoop around too much. And you may want to use a light spell of your own. It'll get pretty dark without me."

Noctus had a smug expression, rather unfitting on him. "Oh, silly Princess. I mastered the night-vision spell years ago."

"And I have no idea why I ever suspected different."

"Goodbye, Princess."

"Goodbye, Noctus."

June, 1000th Year of Celestia's Reign.

Noctus was once again sitting in Luna's chambers, playing around with his own abacus that he had built over the last year. He looked up as the sky outside turned dark. It was almost time. The Elements of Harmony would be preparing to face off against Nightmare Moon. Just a few more hours. He continued with his abacus, a smile on his face.

The sun rose again. The elements were successful. The Princess of the night was coming home. Noctus would be there to greet her. The door opened... and Celestia walked in. Noctus was more than a little worried. "Where's Luna!? Is she alright!? Did everything work!?"

Celestia quickly calmed him down. "She's fine. Everything is fine. She's a little drained so she's going to be spending the next few days in a... special place, to return to full strength."

Noctus just sat down again. "I've waited a few years, I can wait another few days."

"You shouldn't stay here the whole time."

"What if I miss her!?"

"She's not going to leave again."

"But I want to be the first one to welcome her home."

Celestia sighed. "Very well, Noctus. Just make sure you get something to eat."

"I can take care of myself, Princess."

Another week. Noctus rarely left Luna's room, but she still hadn't come. Now, Noctus was once again playing with his abacus, waiting another day away. He was honestly starting to get bored. That changed rather quickly when Luna walked through the door. She looked much younger than she had in the painting, and apparently her powers still weren't working good enough to let her see in the dark, because she failed to notice the awestruck grey stallion lounging on a chair in the corner. She walked over to the candle that was burning with a black flame and blew it out. The room immediately lightened. Still holding his prized abacus, Noctus leaned forward a bit. "Oh! So that's how it works!"

Luna yelped and jumped a couple feet into the air before flipping around to stare at him. "WHAT ART THOU DOING IN OUR ROOM!?"

"Well I've spent pretty much the last year here." Noctus answered casually.

"WHAT!?"

As Noctus finally realized that he had quite possibly made the worst impression he could, he quickly threw his abacus to the side and dove to the floor in a bow. "I apologize, my princess!"

He heard Luna approach, but kept his eyes glued to the ground. "Did'st thou make this thyself?"

Noctus looked up for just a fraction of a second to see Luna examining his abacus. He returned his eyes to the floor just as quickly. "Yes, My Princess."

"Rise." He obeyed, but continued watching the floor. "Look at us." He obeyed that too. "Thou dost not show fear, only shame."

"Correct, My Princess."

"Why?"

"I'm... not certain I understand?"

"Why dost thou not fear Us?"

"I have spent the last eleven years studying your life, my Princess. I know you well enough to tell that you are not angry, only confused." He chuckled. "I'm just ashamed that I made such a poor first impression."

Luna made a face. "Thou hath... studied Us? Why?"

"I... I think you should ask your sister about that. I will return to my own chambers now. I just wanted to be the first to welcome you home."

An unrecognizable expression flashed across Luna's face for a second. "Indeed. What is thy name?"

He gave another quick bow as he responded, "Noctus Decimus, my Princess." He left the room, not realizing that Luna had begun smiling behind him.

The following day, Noctus was walking to Celestia's chamber to see what she had told Luna. He paused when he heard both of the aforementioned arguing. Celestia was currently speaking... screaming actually. "I BASICALLY PROMISED HIM!"

"BUT WE DO NOT WISH FOR HIM AS OUR STUDENT!"

"YOU'RE ONLY SAYING THAT BECAUSE YOU-"

Noctus burst in, surprising both of them. "CELESTIA!" He nodded his head to Luna. "I accept her decision."

"What!? Noctus, no!"

"I believe you made me a promise."

She shook her head. "Very well. Sir Noctus The Tenth, you are hereby demoted, and given a position as one of Princess Luna's servants."

Luna stomped a hoof. "Nay, sister. He shall not serve Us, in any position!"

Noctus' head lowered. "I know it was a bit awkward finding me in your room, but damn..."

Celestia probably hadn't been seen that angry for quite a while. "HOW DARE YOU JUST TURN HIM AWAY! HE HAS PRACTICALLY WORSHIPPED YOU SINCE FOALHOOD!"

Noctus was equally angry, but not at Luna. Never at Luna. "DAMMIT CELESTIA! YOU WILL ACCEPT YOUR SISTER'S WISHES! As will I. I leave Canterlot tomorrow morning. You've been a good friend, Celestia."

"As have you, Noctus. Contact me once you've found some place to settle down. I'd very much like to visit."

"Of course."

Surprising everyone present, Celestia rushed forward and hugged him, tears streaming from her eyes. "Goodbye, my oldest friend."

"Goodbye, Celestia. You've always done right by me. I'll be around if you ever need a good bladecaster." He turned to Luna, who was still shocked by her sister's outburst. "My Princess, It was... a pleasure to finally meet you."

Luna was not as happy as Noctus would have expected. "We... did'st not know thou were friends."

"It's okay. You made your choice, and though you evidently do not wish to be associated with me, I shall always strive to please you in everything I do. I wish you goodbye Selene Moon, Goddess of The Night. I shall forever remember you, and I do not regret the long years I spent awaiting your return."

"Thou art... kind. T'is more than We deserve."

"You have been alone for a thousand years. You deserve more kindness than the entire world could ever give."

By now, Luna was as teary as her sister. So far, Noctus had somehow managed to stay resolved. Celestia once again spoke. "I'll miss those overly dramatic speeches."

"I thought you didn't take them seriously."

She gave him a sad smile. "I don't, but I'll miss them all the same."

"Like I said, I'll be around. You certainly haven't heard the last of me." The three of them stood looking at each other for a minute before Noctus gave one last goodbye and left. It was only when his back was turned that the Princesses could see his tears hitting the floor.

Once he was gone, Celestia turned to her sister. "Why?"

"Pardon?"

"Why would you do that to him?"

"Thou knowest very well why We refused to let him serve Us."

"I do, but why did you let him leave?"

"T'was... easier... for Us."

"You know you'll likely never see him again?"

"He said he would contact thou when he settled down, did he not?"

Celestia chuckled sadly. "You never gave yourself a chance to get to know him, but if you had, you'd know that he'll never settle down. He'll wander the countryside, taking odd jobs where he can just to earn enough bits to survive. If you ever decide that you want to tell him you're sorry, you'd better go tour the country or something. That would at least increase your chances of meeting him on the road."

"And what makes thou think that We would ever decide that?"

"You won't realize your mistake until he's actually left. Then it'll be too late." She paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Do you know what his cutie mark is?"

"Nay, sister. He never removed that cloak."

"Odd. I thought he would have at least shown you of all ponies. He got it on the day we first met, after pledging aleigance to you. He did so in great faith too, as he was the first I told of your existance. The moment he chose to serve you, his cutie mark appeared. Can you guess at what it was?"

"Something night-related we assume?"

"Indeed. In fact, his cutie mark is the exact same as yours, though surrounded by ten stars and with two crossed swords in front."

"That is... rare."

"Indeed it is. Yet you still do not understand just how special he is..."

"The swords. He said he was a bladecaster?"

"The best I know. Within minutes of beginning our first sparring session, he could replicate my style perfectly. Then he beat me."

"He bested thou in blade combat? What is his scale rating?"

Celestia smiled. "A seven. Only just above average."

"He is definitely unique."

"More than you know, sister..."

Luna too made for the door, then paused and turned around again. "One last thing. He knew Our true name."

Celestia shook her head. "It's not in any books, and I never told him. I've learned over the years that sometimes one simply shouldn't question how he does most of what he does."

Confused, but apparently satisfied by that answer, Luna nodded and left.

In the morning, Noctus was already gone, and it was many months before either princess even caught a glance of him again. It was years more before they spoke.

Act 1 - The Story of Prince Noctus - Chapter 2: Months and Years

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Chapter 2: Months and Years-‡—————————-——————————‡-

Oct, 1000th Year of Celestia's Reign.

It was nightmare night, and Luna stood before a crowd of cowering ponies. She had tried hard to convince them that she meant them no harm. She had even taken a quick speech lesson from one of Twilight Sparkles' friends. Yet for some reason, despite her demonstrations of friendliness, and use of a proper public voice, they were all still terrified of her.

A slight movement to one side drew her gaze. A hooded figure was speaking in hushed tones with a small brown-and-cream mottled colt dressed as a pirate. When he finished whatever he was saying, the mysterious stallion looked up and held Luna's gaze with his strikingly blue eyes. She blinked, and he was gone.

The little colt cautiously walked up to her. Then he surprised her by telling her, with his cute trottingham accent, that they liked it when she scared them, and they didn't want her to get rid of Nightmare Night. For the rest of the night, she enjoyed playing games, and scaring ponies. But for all her fun, she couldn't help but think about Noctus. It had been him hadn't it? He was looking out for her. He had known that she was unhappy, and sent the colt to cheer her up.

Meanwhile, Noctus sat on a bench some five meters away, snacking out of a bowl of candy. The princess would never see him unless he wanted her to. But right now, he just wanted to watch her have fun. So he did. And indeed, the fun had been doubled.

Aug, 1005th Year of Celestia's Reign.

Noctus was once again in Ponyville. Luna spent a lot of time there, so Noctus decided that it was a good place to make camp between outings. He was on his way out of town to his camp just inside the Everfree after a quick shopping trip when he noticed and extremely dark blue alicorn that looked a bit like Luna, standing in a field. He kept walking. Then he stopped as what he had just seen sunk in.

He backtracked and walked over to the strange alicorn, who raised his head as Noctus approached. They looked at each other for almost a whole minute before either spoke. Eventually the alicorn said, "Yes, I'm an alicorn. Do you want to touch me?"

"Uh... what?"

"Everypony always asks to touch me. It's kind of creepy."

"Right... well I definitely don't want to touch you."

"Well that's good."

Another couple seconds of awkward silence before Noctus spoke again. "Soo... what're you doing out here."

"I was going to practice my bladecasting."

"I see. I was heading back to my camp, but this is just too good an opportunity. I suggest we spar."

"Well, I'd say yes, but I'm not sure you could keep up."

"I bested Celestia in blade combat."

"I bested Celestia and Luna in magical combat."

"I... am not even going to ask. But I point out that magical combat is usually just a battle of pure strength."

"Alright, true. Let's see what you can do." A blade of pure darkness materialized beside the Alicorn.

"That is... impressive."

"I call it Terminus."

Noctus assembled his blade from the lunar steel shards stored in his bag. "Eclipse."

"You use a physical blade?"

"Unicorns aren't powerful enough to summon a magical blade. However, Eclipse does make use of some magic." The edges of the dark lunar steel sprang to life with solid moonlight.

"And how does one come across something like that?"

"A gift from Celestia."

"She gave you a gift!? Most times I see her, she tries to kill me with fire!"

"What did you do to warrant that?"

"I'm still trying to figure that one out."

"Well, shall we?"

"Allons-y."

They began to circle each other. The alicorn's blade slowly moved down to his foreleg as though he were physically holding it in his hoof. Noctus noted that. With no warning, the Alicorn jumped forward and nearly took his head off. Noctus dodged backwards and took a swing at the alicorn's legs. He also dodged backwards. Noctus made use of the extra space between them to move his blade so he was copying the alicorn's style.

This time, Noctus moved first. He stabbed, and the alicorn deflected the blade to the side before swiftly executing an underhoof strike upwards. Sparks were sent flying as Eclipse caught the opposing blade and forced it into the ground. With a flourish, the alicorn pulled Terminus back and over his head just quickly enough to catch Noctus' sudden downward strike. They both pulled back, then swung from their respective sides as hard as they could. The blades rebounded, sending both combatants skidding away from each other.

While they paused for breath, another alicorn approached from the direction of the town. This one Noctus knew. When he bowed to her, it was more out of courtesy than social requirement. "Lady Sparkle! Good to see you again! I'm not even going to ask about the wings."

"Right..." She turned to the blue alicorn. "Who's this?"

"Ah dunno..."

"Mhm." She turned back to Noctus. "And did he tell you his name?"

"No. I don't believe he did."

Twilight shook her head. "Ugh! Stallions... Introduce yourselves for Luna's sake!"

"I would appreciate if you didn't use my Princess's name like that."

The lavender alicorn raised an eyebrow. "your princess?"

"It's just a figure of speech."

Dusk interjected, "It's a Lunar Guard thing, actually."

"That it is."

"I've never seen you in the Guard."

"You wouldn't have."

Twilight was starting to look a little suspicious. "Yeah... I think you should go about the introductions. Now."

The two stallions looked at each other. Noctus nodded to the alicorn. "You first. She doesn't recognize me yet so I'd like to know your name in case I need to run."

"Opacare Stellata, Imperator of the Lunar Guard. You can call me Dusk."

"A high title indeed. I am Dominus Noctus Decimus, Summa Dator Tenebrarum of the Lunar Guard. Call me Noctus."

"That isn't a real position."

"Not one your Princess you let you know about anyway."

Now Twilight butted in again. "Oh I remember you now! Celestia introduced us in Canterlot over five years ago! Hey wait a minute, you're supposed to be-"

"Exactly. I'm dead. Nopony must know I was here. In fact, I'd better be safe and leave now."

"You can't go! Luna is coming and she'll be happy to see you!"

"Luna is coming!? Now I've REALLY got to go. Seeya!" Noctus then disappeared in a flash of darkness.

Almost immediately, Luna herself appeared in a second flash. "Why are you both staring at an empty field?"

Twilight jumped and then ran over to the Princess. "He was here!"

Dusk began walking towards them at a much more controlled pace. "Twilight! He kind of specified that he didn't want anypony to know he was alive, and he took off at the mere mention of Luna. Besides, it might not have even really been him. It was probably some random pony who was good with a blade and decided it would be cool to have the fake title of 'Summa Dator Tenebrarum.'"

Luna's eyes widened. "No... It can't be. There was only one High Darkbringer ever created."

Twilight gave Dusk an 'I told you so' look. "Would he by any chance be named Dominus Noctus Decimus?"

Luna looked at the place where Noctus had been standing mere seconds ago, clearly attempting to trace his teleport. "I missed him again... he's always so close, but I never catch him."

That was the first time either of the other two alicorns had seen the Princess cry since the day she had been reunited with her sister. Dusk passed her a small piece of paper. "I think he meant this for you."

Luna read the note aloud.

"'Mea Filia Reginae,

Ego vivo pro vestri nocte, et percutitis a tenebris. Mea vita, pro vobis.

Your inuise vindicatis, Noctus Decimus. Luna nos custodit.'"

She gently folded the note and closed her eyes. "I always shall, my faithful student." Then she vanished.

The remaining two alicorns stood alone in the field. Dusk wrapped a wing around Twilight and looked down at her. "So what's the deal with this Noctus guy?"

"The legends say-"

"Woahwoahwoah waitasecond. This dude has his own legends? Damn... Why didn't you mention that when he first told us his name?" Twilight's only response was to grin mischievously. "Fine. Be that way."

"Yes, well, as I was telling you, the legends say that he was trained since foalhood to be Luna's student once she returned from the moon. However, for some unknown personal reason, Luna refused him and he left Canterlot. Later on, he named himself Luna's 'High Darkbringer', sort of a secret bodyguard, stopping assassination attempts before they could happen. One day, when a high ranking general who was planning to assassinate Luna was found dead, along with five other conspirators, Luna decided to confirm Noctus' self-proclaimed title. Though, while some say it was out of respect, others believe that it was out of regret for her past decision. Either way, it is undisputed that he is the best bladecaster in the known world, and none, not even Celestia herself, could beat him. He supposedly died soon after receiving his title."

Dec, 1005th Year of Celestia's Reign.

For the last couple years, the Winter moon festival had coincided with the Hearth's Warming celebration. Just as Celestia did during the Summer Sun Celebration, Luna raised the moon in front of a huge crowd. This year, the celebration was taking place at home in Canterlot. With the supposed death of Noctus, there was a sudden increase in assassination attempts so Dusk had been called in for security.

After the moon had been raised, Luna made sure to spend a long time navigating through the crowd. An assassination attempt was almost assured during this stage of the ceremonies so she wanted to give Dusk plenty of time to root the assassins out. It was unnecessary though. Since she normally did this part quickly, the assassins were rushed. Dusk spotted one of them slip a knife to another. He moved towards them and prepared to discard his disguise. He was stopped by the side of a dark metal blade that tapped his chest. From behind him, a voice said, "I'd like to handle them."

Dusk returned to the Princess. "You may want to watch this. Noctus asked me to let him handle the assassins. I think he's planning to make a show out of it."

"He always tries to impress me. He should know by now that he doesn't need to."

"Have you told him that?"

"Not exactly..."

"Do you want him to come home?"

"Yes."

"Then once he's done, tell him."

"I... can't."

"If you don't, I will."

A small group of ponies ran out of the crowd surrounding them, all of them holding knives or swords. One of them stepped forward. "Princess! Your illegitimate rule is at an end! Celestia's light shall be the the only light!"

Luna was unimpressed. "Don't you know that my sister frowns upon this kind of behavior?"

"She doesn't know what's good for her now, but she'll realize it once you have stopped influencing her."

"I see. So there is no chance of diplomacy?"

"None."

"In that case... Oh Noctus, my Darkbringer! Now would be an excellent time to miraculously return from the dead and make a dramatic entrance~!" Dusk nearly laughed at her singsong voice.

Meanwhile, Noctus took her advice, so when he answered, though he remained unseen, his voice rang loud throughout the crowd and seemed to come from everywhere at once. "A fine recommendation, my Princess." A couple of the assassins looked about ready to run. "This is Dominus Noctus Decimus, Summa Dator Tenebrarum of the Lunar Guard. Drop your weapons and surrender, or I will retaliate with lethal force." Three of them complied. "Dusk Star, will you please escort the intelligent ones out of the area."

Dusk dropped his disguise, and two more assassins dropped their weapons. "Uh, no. I wanna stay here and see those guys get owned. Here, how 'bout this." He dragged the surrendered assassins over to him and encased them in a magical field.

Without any sound, light, or visible movement, Noctus was suddenly just standing directly beside Dusk. "Yes, that will be fine."

He removed his cloak and tossed it to Dusk, who inadvertently caught it with his face. He threw it back, looking mildly annoyed. "What am I, your coat hanger?"

"About as useful as one."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe."

"Let's do it then."

"The four on the right?"

They glanced at the remaining assassins. Most of them looked like they were getting tired of waiting for an attack, the others looked terrified. "Easy. I'll refrain from using magic so it's fair. Swords don't count by the way."

"Swords plural?"

A blade of darkness appeared on either side of Dusk. Another two assassins ran over and dived into Dusk's magical field. The rest seemed to be getting bored. Both of the blades floated over to hover in front of Noctus. "Alpha and Omega."

"Alpha and Omega. Very original."

"Naw, but it sounds awesome."

Dusk's blades returned to their usual positions. Noctus decided to use Celestia's combat style for this battle. While the assassins were still not paying attention, the two bladecasters ran forward. The lead assassin had just enough time to shout to his allies before he was forced to defend himself. Dusk caught the blade of one assassin with Alpha, and then killed his attacker with a stab through the neck with Omega. Meanwhile, Noctus was in a bladelock with one of the more skilled assassins. After a few seconds of contact, Eclipse's solid moonlight edge shattered the opposing blade and cleaved the assassin in half. With no warning, he proceeded to flip around and shear the head off of another assassin who had been preparing to attack from behind.

During that time, Dusk had taken out two more, leaving the lead assassin alone against him. The now whole again Terminus was rapidly spinning in Dusk's hoof. "Please don't surrender."

"I would never surrender to you, heretic!"

"Fantastic!" Terminus froze and broke into it's seperate pieces.

The assassin's eyes widened as they flew towards him. "I changed my mind! I surrend-" He was cut off as thirty shards of magical black fire drove themselves through him from all sides.

Dusk turned away from the fallen assassin just in time to see Noctus pull his sword out of the last of their opponents. "I win!"

"You had two swords"

"You should get another one."

"No unicorn can use that kind of magic."

"Alicorn"

"Exactly. you had an advantage."

Luna joined them. "You both fought well."

Noctus bowed. "Thank you, my Princess."

"I'd like you to come with us, Noctus."

"You know I can't do that."

Dusk put a wrapped a foreleg around Noctus' neck. "Noctus my buddy, you're an idiot."

"I don't follow."

"How about this, you come with us, the two of you have a nice little chat, and if you still decide you want to leave, I will personally teleport you to a location of your choosing."

Noctus sighed and looked between Dusk and Luna. "Very well."

When they arrived at the castle, Noctus noticed that Celestia was outright glaring at Dusk as they passed her in a hallway. When they arrived at the door to Luna's chambers, Dusk chose to wait outside.

Noctus went and sat down in the chair that had been his favorite five years ago. It hadn't been moved since the day he had left. He also noticed his old abacus sitting beside Luna's on the vanity. "You kept that thing?" He asked, motioning towards it.

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Sentimental value."

"Huh?"

"I don't think you understand how much I regretted sending you away. My sister told me I would, but I didn't believe her. Once you were gone though, I realized that she was right. I missed you more than I can describe. You were the first pony to welcome me home, just like you wanted to be."

"Well then why did you send me away!?" Noctus looked about ready to cry.

"You were kind to me. The only pony who was. I liked you, and that scared me. I'd never been shown kindness before, and I thought that if I tried to befriend you, I would just end up driving you away. So I made you leave before that friendship could even start. I thought that I could spare myself the pain of losing you if we simply never became friends in the first place." She lowered her head. "I was wrong."

"We all make mistakes sometimes, Luna."

"Myself more than most. Somehow, I thought I could help us both by denying you what you had always wanted. It was the exact opposite. Your dreams were crushed, and... Do you know what I did when I thought you had been killed? I cried for a week. I thought that I had thrown you out and gotten you killed."

"I'm sorry. That was my fault."

"No. You wouldn't have even been in a position where you would have to fake your own death if I hadn't have been so stupid."

"That's not true. This was always my destiny. I was always meant to be alone."

"You're wrong. I did this to you. You were meant to always be that energetic, curious young stallion, ever amazed by a simple black fire candle."

Noctus stood, walked over to Luna, and pressed himself against her side. "That's not who I am anymore, but I'll always strive to make you happy."

A single tear fell from Luna's eye. "Then come home. I always try to look happy in public, but the reality is, I'm lonely. All the time. I don't want to be alone anymore."

"You're never alone. Even when I wasn't close physically, I was always with you. Even so, you felt like I was gone. I am going to make sure that you never feel alone again. I am going to stay by your side forever."

"Thank you, but however much I may wish otherwise, you won't live forever. I don't want to lose you again."

"Dusk and Twilight?"

"Sorry but, you're nowhere near as powerful as them. More skilled perhaps, but not more powerful. A natural transformation isn't an option. There is another way, but... I don't think that it'll ever happen."

"Still. I will be with you until my last breath."

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

And then they kissed. Noctus leaned into it at first, and then suddenly pulled away. "Wow. I've honestly never thought of you in that way... well maybe a bit when I was younger. I'm not entirely certain what I think, but... I liked it?"

"Me too. When I said that I liked you, I didn't mean it in the way you thought I did."

"All the way back then? So... when I spent the last five years trying to avoid you or pretending to be dead, you... Luna, I'm so sorry."

"Let's just pretend that none of that happened. And look on the bright side, now that second option for becoming an alicorn is possible."

"Huh? All it required was that you and I... wait a minute. That can't be how it works. Something like that would require some sort of ceremony, like a..." A massive grin slowly crept onto his face. "Oh I get it now. Selene Moon, will you marry me?"

"It would be a dream come true."

They kissed once again. "Hey, if that's how it works, why isn't Shining Armor an alicorn?"

"Cadence isn't a full alicorn, and lacks earth pony strength. She's more like a winged unicorn."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Then they left the room. Dusk was still standing guard outside. "Well you two look happy. I guess your little chat went well."

Noctus was still grinning. "We're getting married."

"Oh okay. I guess I just dozed off for a few years. So it's, what, one-thousand-ten now? I must have looked like an idiot, sleeping upright here for five years. I always assumed alicorns had some strange sleep patterns."

"Yeah. And during that time, we used you as a coat hanger."

"Well that wasn't very nice."

"You're an idiot."

"Nope. Just love screwing with you. Honestly though, good for you. All it took was five minutes and the ship set sail seewhatIdidthere...? With the... shipping...?" Luna and Noctus were giving him strange looks. "Nevermind... So you're sure it was only five minutes?" They both nodded. "Horseapples. I owe Twilight fifty bits. Anyways, It's good that you two are together, rather than Luna and a certain guard-captain. That means that a lot of ponies are no longer going to die! Of course it could also mean that many more will die instead. Now that there's an OC involved, I have no way to tell. Of course, I'll still occasionally get glimpses of the future. For instance, at some point in time, the three of us will be attending an epic party where you'll discover that I'm indirectly from stalliongrad! Oh wait... I just told you that. Welp, I think I just broke time."

Noctus was confused. So much so, that all he could manage was a fairly unintelligent, "Wat?"

Dusk looked at Luna, who was in turn, looking everywhere but Dusk. "You never told him where I'm from?"

"It would be preferable if nopony knew."

"Oh. Well do you remember that one time when I owned the living crap out of Celestia in ponyville?"

Luna facehoofed. "Unfortunately, yes. The repairs cost a fortune."

"Well it's a good thing she started tossing fireballs when she did, cause I was about to tell everypony at the party!"

Noctus was rapidly blinking. "Okay. I am clearly missing something here."

Dusk allowed Luna to return to examining the ceiling. "What would you like to know first? Who I am, or the story of Celestia's beatdown? By the way, don't let her know that I call it that, even though that's exactly what it was."

"Um... Celestia's... *ahem* beatdown?"

"'Kay, so. Through some sequence of events, Celestia came to blame me for Twilight's near death, and became dead set on murdering me. To death. So one day, night actually, I was at a party in ponyville, when Celestia walks in and starts yelling at me. We yelled at each other until the building almost cracked in half. Then she said something about me burning, and started chucking fireballs all over that damned place! After the top floor of the building, thankfully empty at the time, was reduced to ash, we agreed that whoever lost had to pay for the repairs."

"Which, judging from Luna's statement just now, wasn't you."

"Correct. But just wait 'til you hear how I beat her! It was totally humiliating! So after a few minutes of epic god-battle, she throws this freakishly massive fireball at me. I caught it, laced it with black fire, then doubled the thing's velocity and threw it back. She ended up going straight through some poor pony's house, then Luna showed up and dragged her sorry flank back home."

"Incredible as that is, I thought you said once that you beat Celestia and Luna at the same time."

Both Luna and Dusk looked like they'd rather be anyplace else now. "Yeah... that was the time Twilight almost died..."

He trailed off, and Luna finished for him. "Just don't ever, ever bring that night up in front of my sister if you don't want to end up banished to the surface of the sun for the next millennium."

Deciding that it would be best to avoid continuing with that subject, Noctus asked, "So who are you really?"

"I'm a trans-dimensional being with knowledge about most possible timelines! Also, in my home dimension, this world is part of a story!"

"So why did you say that you can no longer tell the future again?"

"You're an OC. Which means you aren't part of the original story. Hold on... actually, I might have been wrong about the whole no longer being able to see the future thing..."

"Why would that be?"

"Well, you're not just anyone's OC. You're my OC."

Luna stared directly at Dusk. "Please tell me you didn't."

"Well I may have dabbled a hoof in writing. And Noctus may have been one of my protagonists." For the first time in a long time, Noctus looked legitimately afraid. "Hey! It's not that bad! I take good care of my protagonists, and actually, they're usually overpowered as crap. That's why you're unbeatable at bladecasting, and I'm the most powerful pony in the universe! Yeah that's right, I wrote Dusk Star as who I'd be if I were ever plucked from my own dimension and thrown into this one! Which is actually exactly what happened... suspicious..."

Luna scowled at him. "And here I thought Rainbow Dash was the most egotistical pony in the world... You realize that my sister is a twelve out of ten on the unicorn power scale right?"

"I'm a twenty."

"By Faust, Dusk! You could rip the planet in two by willing it so! Not that I am complaining, but why do you even take orders from me?"

"I'll only follow orders that aren't stupid, but I follow the rest and refrain from mass murder because I swore an oath to you, I'm extremely kind, and I'm equally as lazy. Heh... Twilight was once worried I might try to take over the planet. I assuaged her fears by telling her, 'even if I can, I wouldn't want to conquer the world. I'm far to lazy for that.' Anyways, I never use combat magic just in case of any planet ripping."

"Still... by Faust..."

"Lauren."

"Pardon?"

"Faust. Her full name is Lauren Faust."

"Thank you, Dusk. Swearing by a higher power is obviously far more satisfying when you're on first name basis with her, and that definitely wasn't sarcasm at all."

"Yeah? Well at least you've got a higher power to swear by. What do I say? 'Oh my me?'"

"Point taken."

"Sooo... when are you going to tell Celestia?"

"I was thinking we could go do that now."

"Well, I'm out."

"Don't want to say hello?"

"Nope. I'd rather be that one thing that's the opposite of dead."

"I suppose you're right. She may have an... adverse reaction to our announcement."

"In that case, I think I'll wait just outside her chambers to ensure Noctus doesn't get first-hoof experience in any sun-banishing."

"If she takes it that badly, I don't see what you could do."

"Twenty out of ten."

"Alright."

"So how did she take it?"

"Well, she's no longer convinced that I'm attempting to get Noctus powerful enough to replace her."

"She's getting awfully paranoid. I told you this would happen." Suddenly Dusk stiffened and stared blankly ahead. "In seven years time, the sun shall set. So will begin the revolution of the night, and the first war of the new age, raging across the lands of three great kingdoms."

"You aren't just messing with me again are you?"

"Nope. It was like the first time, but with less coma-ing. Of course, I may have dramaticized the wording a bit."

"Make sure you don't tell my sister. She may not react well to the mention of a 'revolution of the night.'"

"Well I'd say that in seven years, she's going to find out. See if you can prepare without letting her get too paranoid about it."

"You as well. Take extra precautions. Make sure that when the time comes, Twilight will be safe."

"Same goes for you and Noctus, Sel."

"If you call me that again, I will personally remove your wings."

"Sure. Whatever you say, Sel."

Dec, 1010th Year of Celestia's Reign.

A year later, Noctus and Luna had gotten married. Noctus was now a full fledged alicorn. Dusk and Twilight had gotten married a year later. Over the years, Celestia had grown more and more paranoid. All of Equestria's borders had been closed, and relations with the Griffin Empire had quickly turned sour. Now, a year before some supposed world altering event, Noctus and Dusk were walking through the royal gardens. "So, Dusk. Just in case we all die next year, you feel like telling me the whole story of how we arrived at this situation?"

"Well I don't see how it could hurt, and I'm sure some mysterious third person narrator can fill in the parts I don't know. It was about six years ago. Soon before we first met..."

[REDACTED]

[A/N]: Now I know what you're all thinking. You're thinking, "Dusk! What the buck is this thing!?" Well, over the last week, I've been dealing with some really important life stuff that can not be neglected under any circumstances *cough*blackops2*cough*. Therefore, no chapter 3 this week. But I was thinking at 11:00 Thursday night (and writing until 1:00 Friday afternoon.), how could I make it up to everyone?

Well I know! I'll make a quick little sneak peek of something I have planned for the future!

Now hold on, what about spoilers?

Well here's something, I can just redact all the spoilers, then fill them in when they're no longer spoilers! Now I have something that hints at the future of the storyline, but is missing enough information to keep you guessing!

Now you're probably thinking, "Dusk! Did you seriously just spend five minutes writing down a conversation you had with yourself!?" Well, that's irrelevant. Instead of thinking about that, you're going to read this thing and forget about all my cognitive dysfunctions.

PS. If anyone manages to guess one correctly, I'll fill it in with red text, all conventionally revealed words will be filled in with blue text.

[E/N]: Black Ops is bad and you should feel bad too.

[Post-Secrets A/N]: Hint: 01010010 01001111 01010100 00101101 00110001 00110011 00101100 00100000 01001000 01100101 01111000 00101100 00100000 01000010 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100000 00110110 00110100 00101100 00100000 01000001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000001 01100010 01101111 01110110 01100101 00101110

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Chapter: [REDACTED]

NEPUVIR PBEEHCG

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April, [REDACTED] Year of Celestia's Reign.

A lone airship was floating in the serene skies. In the distance, a black thunderhead was rolling towards it. A brown unicorn came running up to the orange [REDACTED] mare was standing at the helm, where he yelled over the growing winds, "Fleet Admiral [REDACTED]! That storm is headed straight for us!”

“Yes, Leo. And we are headed for it.”

"What do you plan, Fleet Admiral?"

"You know how close we are to the border. The heretic's flagship patrols these skies. That storm front will make the perfect cover."

Another unicorn suddenly ran up to them and saluted. "Fleet Admiral. Commodore." He nodded to each of them in turn.

"What it it, Ensign?"

"Another ship has been spotted to our starboard."

"Military or civilian?"

"It bears no markings, but we assume military."

"Class?"

"Unknown, Ma'am. It appears to be a stealth frigate of some sort."

[REDACTED]'s eyes darkened. "Uncle. I said he was nearby." She motioned to Leo. "Commodore, take the helm and bring us around. We are not getting away from this one without a fight." She proceeded to begin shouting orders. "Commander! Make ready the bow shatter-cannons!"

A couple kilometers away, a sleek, dark grey airship with roughly the shape of a diamond rose fully from the cloud layer. From this ship, Dusk watched in silence as the enemy turned to face them. The red pegasus at the helm beside him spoke up. "At least they won't be able to shoot us from the front." As soon as she finished speaking, there was a flash from the bow of the enemy ship. "Okay, so maybe they can. At least the [REDACTED] doesn't have long-range cannon technology yet." Both of them were promptly forced to duck as a small projectile flew over their heads and across the entire deck before exploding into a cloud of black smoke past the aft of the ship. "I'm just gonna stop talking now."

Dusk stood up and looked at the dissipating smoke with curiosity. "Was that bucking flak!?" His eyes slowly widened in realization. "That's the Elysium."

"What!? That’s her ship! Can I take her, Uncle Dusk?"

"Not a chance. Even I’m going to have trouble handling her." He waved to a grey pegasus. "Sub-Lieutenant! Raise a flag of truce. I want to talk to [REDACTED] before she does something she'll regret."

Though airships didn't have a 'mast' per se, they still had a crow's nest and a flagpole resting on top of the giant balloon that kept them aloft. The pegasus quickly flew up there to signal a truce.

[REDACTED] and the ensign from earlier stared in curiosity from the Elysium. The Ensign raised an eyebrow. "They're flying a white flag, Fleet Admiral. Are they surrendering?"

"Net kapitulyatsii"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. Could you repeat that?"

"Net kapitulyatsii. It is Dusk Star's motto. It means, 'no surrender'. I believe that in this case, they simply wish to parley." She thought for a second. "Signal that we accept. I'd love to hear what nonsense he's come up with this time."

As the two airships pulled up alongside each other, Dusk used his magic to enhance his voice. "This is [REDACTED] Opacare Stellata of the HMS Dark Nova. You are in restricted [REDACTED] airspace. You are to cease hostilities, and prepare to be boarded."

From the Elysium, [REDACTED]'s voice answered, "You and Captain [REDACTED] are the only ones who are allowed over, Uncle."

Dusk returned his voice to normal and turned to [REDACTED]. "Alright, you heard her. You're coming with me, but I do not want you starting anything."

They flew over to the Elysium, where they immediately noticed the crew were almost all brandishing weapons. [REDACTED] greeted them. "Hello Uncle, [REDACTED]."

Dusk dipped his head to her. "Hey, [REDACTED]."

"Do not call me that. I'm not a foal any more."

"You actually are."

She waved a hoof dismissively. "A technicality. Now, are you here for a reason, or are you just going to make small talk all day?"

"I'm here to tell you that [REDACTED] is lying to you. You're being used."

"Aww... the 'you're being used’ speech again? I thought you would have come up with something new by now. Oh well, I suppose I will just have to kill you." She cast Tessera, a twin blade of darkness and light. Leo levitated a metal rod from a sheathe, using it as a focusing rod to cast Gratia. [REDACTED] extended her twin fetlock daggers, one of them glowing an eerie green, and quite obviously a cast blade, despite her being a pegasus.

Dusk just sighed, then cast Terminus. "Dammit."

48:65:20:6a:75:6d:70:65:64:20:74:6f:20:68:69:73:20:66:65:65:74:2c:20:61:6e:64:20:72:61:6e:20:74:6f:20:74:68:65:20:66:72:6f:6e:74:20:6f:66:20:74:68:65:20:62:75:73:2c:20:67:72:61:62:62:69:6e:67:20:74:68:65:20:66:69:72:73:74:2d:61:69:64:20:6b:69:74:20:61:6c:6f:6e:67:20:74:68:65:20:77:61:79:2e:20:54:68:65:20:64:72:69:76:65:72:20:69:67:6e:6f:72:65:64:20:68:69:6d:20:61:6e:64:20:73:74:61:72:65:64:20:61:68:65:61:64:20:69:6e:20:73:68:6f:63:6b:2e:20:54:68:65:20:72:65:73:74:20:6f:66:20:74:68:65:20:70:61:73:73:65:6e:67:65:72:73:20:68:61:64:20:79:65:74:20:74:6f:20:72:65:61:6c:69:7a:65:20:77:68:61:74:20:68:61:64:20:68:61:70:70:65:6e:65:64:2e

Two airships, their grey and white hues contrasting, flew side-by-side through a raging maelstrom. The pegasi aboard both ships were frantically circling them, doing their best to protect their respective craft from the storm, while attempting to take down their opposition. All of the pegasi except one. A bright crimson mare did an aerial backflip over an oncoming bolt of bright golden magic. "That the best you got, commodore?" A hat with an incredibly massive plume of feathers suddenly appeared on her head. It was quickly blasted off by another bolt of magic. "Ha! You missed~!" She cringed as a bolt twice the size of the others was dissipated inches from her face by a shimmering green field. Once she realized what had happened, she started trotting in place mid-flight. "I made a shield~! Who's awesome? I'm awesome!"

Leo scowled. "Enough with the parlor tricks, [REDACTED]!"

"You mad, bro?" She landed on the deck of the Elysium in front of him. "How's about you fight me like a stallion then? Come at me, bro!"

He responded by rushing forward, Gratia raised. [REDACTED] easily sidestepped, then sliced Leo's ear with one of her daggers. He skidded to a stop, having completely missed the crimson pegasus, then pressed a hoof to his ear and watched as the blood on it was washed away by the torrential downpour before glaring at [REDACTED]. "You little-" He was cut off as he was sent tumbling down to a lower deck with a yelp by a streak of midnight blue.

After running into Leo, Dusk kept sliding backwards along the slippery deck, only managing to yell as he smashed through the ship's railing and fell, wide-eyed, off the edge, "DO NOT WANT!"

[REDACTED] looked in the direction Dusk had come from to see an orange [REDACTED] calmly walking towards her. "Uh-oh."

The Fleet Admiral smiled cruelly. "Hello cousin. I guess you are next." Her horn started glowing.

[REDACTED] quickly put up another shield. It was immediately shattered as her opponent's amber beam impacted it, and continued towards her. She was forced to stop preparing for the end however, as the attack was deflected away by a pulsing indigo barrier.

Dusk looked down at the cowering pegasus, a little battered, but otherwise intact. "Go find Leo, and avoid me at all costs. I don't want to accidentally hurt you." She did as he said, and he turned back to [REDACTED]. "I apologize in advance for what I'm about to do." He began to slowly walk forward. After the first two steps, his hooves began leaving a print of black flames. The howling winds intensified exponentially, the clouds turned even darker, and the rain turned to hail. All across both ships, ponies moved their conflicts away from Dusk. They had all heard the stories.

Dusk cast Alpha and Omega. [REDACTED] began taking steps back. A colossal arc of lightning flew from Dusk's horn. [REDACTED] deflected it back with Tessera. It had no effect. She barely managed to deflect another arc, but she didn't have time to aim, and it ended up blasting a hole through the Elysium's balloon, causing the edges of the hole to burst into flames. She continued to retreat. "Uncle! What are you doing!? You can't use combat spells!" His only response was silence.

The next two arcs were deflected into the deck, and straight through all of the decks beneath them. Wet ash was beginning to join the hail. Dusk had been advancing faster than [REDACTED] had been retreating, and she was now within range of his swords. Dusk swung Alpha, and cut a deep gash in her leg. As she stumbled, he ran Omega across her chest. He pulled back for a moment, before slashing at her head from above. Despite the pain, she somehow managed to catch the blades on either end of Tessera. Dusk lowered his head so that his horn was pointed directly at her face. She couldn't deflect lightning from point-blank range. The attack sent her sprawling to the ground, writhing in agony and clutching at her face. Dusk continued his assault without mercy. He used Alpha and Omega to impale her [REDACTED] to the deck, then took aim with his horn once again.

There was a flash of some emotion in his eyes, and at the last second he redirected his attack to vaporize one of the Elysium's pegasi. He cleared his head with a few shakes, then looked down at what he had done. [REDACTED]'s face was badly burnt, and several arteries in her [REDACTED] had been severed. She was quickly bleeding out. Dusk mumbled to himself, "Why do I have to keep putting myself in these situations?" then he touched his horn to her barely conscious body and began to transfer her injuries to himself. After having done this exact procedure twice before, he managed to avoid screaming.

Once [REDACTED] was healed, Dusk cast a healing spell on himself. He backed up, and allowed her to stumble upright. She blinked in the light as the slowly descending airship made it out of the storm, then glanced warily at Dusk. "Why did you save me?"

"Many reasons. The least of which being that killing you now would cause a paradox."

They were unable to finish their conversation, as a pegasus from the Nova yelled, "GRYPHONS INCOMING OFF THE PORT SIDE!"

Dusk was giving [REDACTED] an incredulous look. "You hired Gryphon mercenaries?"

She shook her head. "They're not mine." Ponies from both airships abandoned their fights to look at the approaching Gryphons. [REDACTED] audibly gasped as she caught sight of them. "By Celestia... Those aren't mercenaries, that's the entire Gryphon army!" Her next command rang clear across both airships. “DISENGAGE THE NOVA! CONCENTRATE ON THE GRYPHONS! I WANT THE BALLOON REPAIRED AND THE SHATTER-CANNONS FIRING, NOW!”

Dusk turned to her. “Please, come with us. Your ship has sustained too much damage. You’ll never survive.”

“I can take care of myself, Uncle.” She spat the last word as though it were a curse, and Dusk flinched.

“Look, I’m sorry about [REDACTED], but-”

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK MY SISTER’S NAME!" For a second, her fur almost seemed to turn grey and she looked at the deck. “Not after what you did...” After a few more seconds, she straightened and her color returned. “What are you waiting for? Go!”

Dusk looked like he was going to argue, but instead simply placed a hoof on [REDACTED]’s shoulder. “I will do what I can to help.” He spread his wings, allowing the wind to catch him. As he glided backwards off the aft of the Elysium, He called out, “RETURN TO THE NOVA. PREPARE TO ASSIST THE [REDACTED] AIRSHIP!”

SGUgc2F3IHRoZSB5b3VuZyB3b21hbiB3aG8gdGhlIGJ1cyBoYWQgaGl0IG1vdmluZyBzbGlnaHRseSwgYW5kIHF1aWNrbHkgc3RvcHBlZCBoZXIgYmVmb3JlIHNoZSBjb3VsZCBodXJ0IGhlcnNlbGYuICJNaXNzLCB5b3UgbmVlZCB0byBzdGF5IGNhbG0uIERvIHlvdSByZW1lbWJlciB5b3VyIG5hbWU/Ig==

As the Gryphon army approached, The Nova’s unicorn crew assisted in repairing the Elysium’s balloon while the two ships were still docked to one another, and the pegasi of both ships worked together to put out the fires. Despite the cooperation, the crews of the two ships were far from friendly, especially [REDACTED] and Leo. Once the repairs were complete, the crew of the Nova quickly returned to their own airship. Both Dusk and [REDACTED] stood on the port railings of their ships with one wing raised and ready to signal their crew to open fire. Before the gryphons were in range of any of the Nova’s cannons, [REDACTED] ordered the Elysium to fire.

Dusk slowly lowered his wing in shock as the Elysium’s flak began decimating the enemy’s front lines. Despite the losses, the gryphons never wavered. Once they were within range, Dusk held back on the order to fire. Instead he looked to the ship’s Commander. “Load the Zippermayr Device.”

The Commander’s eyes widened and he hesitated for a moment. “As you wish, Sir.” Despite Luna’s opposition to the project, Dusk had continued to develop the weapon in secret, using what he remembered of Earth technology. He was glad he had. Once the rocket was loaded onto the firing platform, the Commander stood ready to launch it, but before Dusk could give the order to fire, The commander took a step back. “I don’t think I can do it...”

Dusk jumped down from his perch and walked over to the Commander. He gave the unicorn a sympathetic look and said, “I will do it myself. I’m sure Twilight has heard of the other atrocities I’ve committed. One more can’t possibly make it any worse now.” He wearily lit the fuse. The crew of the Nova watched in horror as the rocket took to the air. Meanwhile, the crew of the Elysium watched in awe of the strange projectile, which flew on it’s own towards the gryphons.

Hundreds of gryphons were vaporized in an instant by the expanding ball of fire created by the otherworldly thermobaric warhead. Dusk showed no emotion as he watched on, having committed yet another genocide.

NTU6NTI6NDU6MjA6NTE6NGU6NGQ6NTI6NTE6MjA6NTI6NGM6NTI6NDY6MjA6NDc6NDI6NDI6NTg6MjA6NGU6MjA6NDY6NTI6NTA6NDI6NDE6NTE6MjA6NDc6NDI6MjA6NTM6NDI6NTA6NDg6NDY6MmM6MjA6NGU6NDE6NTE6MjA6NGU6MjA6NDY6NWE6NGU6NTk6NTk6MjA6NDM6NDI6NDI6NTk6MjA6NDI6NTM6MjA6NGY6NTk6NDI6NDI6NTE6MjA6NTU6NGU6NTE6MjA6NDY6NDc6NGU6NDU6NDc6NTI6NTE6MjA6NDY6NDM6NDU6NTI6NGU6NTE6NTY6NDE6NTQ6MjA6NTM6NDU6NDI6NWE6MjA6NDc6NTU6NTI6MjA6NGY6NGU6NTA6NTg6MjA6NDI6NTM6MjA6NTU6NTI6NDU6MjA6NTU6NTI6NGU6NTE6MjA6NGE6NTU6NTI6NDU6NTI6MjA6NTY6NDc6MjA6NDY6NDc6NDU6NDg6NTA6NTg6MjA6NDc6NTU6NTI6MjA6NDM6NGU6NDk6NTI6NWE6NTI6NDE6NDc6MmU6MjA6NDY6NTU6NTI6MjA6NDc6NDI6NDI6NTg6MjA6NGU6MjA6NWE6NDI6NWE6NTI6NDE6NDc6MjA6NDc6NDI6MjA6NDc6NTU6NTY6NDE6NTg6MjA6NGY6NTI6NTM6NDI6NDU6NTI6MjA6NGU6NDE6NDY6NGE6NTI6NDU6NTY6NDE6NTQ6MjA6NDY6NTU6NGU6NTg6NTY6NTk6NGM6MmM6MjA6MjI6NDc6NGE6NTY6NTk6NTY6NTQ6NTU6NDc6MmU6MjI=

Act 2 - Shattered Stars - Chapter 3: A New World

[A/N]: Note on POV: I realize that this can be a little jarring, but please bear with me here. The story is now being told to Noctus from Dusk's POV. Third-person is still possible with this POV if Dusk has been told what happened in a certain scenario by someone else who was present. This style is maintained at least until Act 5.

[Post-Editing A/N]: TAB brought to my attention that he was actually unsure about whether or not this was meant to be a troll chapter. I’ll tell you the same thing I told him: It’s not. I would like to clarify that at this point, Dusk is some random guy who reads too many fanfics, and behaves kind of like Pinkie Pie but with less sugar. He thinks he was just plopped in a happy world of rainbows, where he can just mess around and take nothing seriously. Dusk (The one telling the story) has gotten a bit more mature since then, but maintains some childish tendencies. When bad stuff starts happening, he still thinks he’s some sort of invincible Gary Stu who’s gonna beat all the bad guys. That doesn’t work out. Also, reread [REDACTED] if you want an example of what his personality becomes. Now yes, Dusk is modeled after my personality, thus the username. The thing is, I’m probably more like the Dusk who’s telling the story right now. I love to mess around, but I know when it’s time for serious shit to go down.

Last: a few little secrets have been strewn throughout the story. Some are only need to be read, some are riddles, and a few are simply encoded. The secret in [REDACTED] is the biggest. It hints at what Celestia is talking about in this chapter. It's also the hardest, so I added a clue. Speaking of which, I'm also still waiting for someone to guess one of the words. A lot of them really aren't that hard...

That was an obnoxiously long A/N. Sorry.

-‡—————————-——————————‡-

Shattered Stars (1004CR)

Chapter 3: A New World

-‡—————————-——————————‡-

Sept, 1004th Year of Celestia's Reign.

It seems like quite a long time ago now. I was just starting my last year of high school. Of course I'm actually almost done university now. Did that the last time I went back. But yeah, back then... I was so young. So naive. It might have been possible to avoid this whole thing with Celestia if I had just been more careful. Hey, don't look at me like that. I'll have you know that, despite my foalish behaviour, I've made quite a bit of progress.

So anyway, I was at the point where I managed to remain conscious each day because of dubstep and coffee. I think it was around midnight when I went to bed that night. I felt like I'd been drinking, but I'm fairly sure my house was lacking a bit in the vodka department.

Just like every night, I gave a little prayer to... bet you never would have guessed, Luna. I thanked her for the beautiful night, asked forgiveness for sleeping through half of it, then wished to wake up the next morning in Equestria. That had been my ritual every night for about a month. Figures that it was about the time I was starting to think that it'd never happen that I just so happened to wake up in the middle of a field.

'Wait... It actually worked that time? Meh... I can't complain. In fact...' "YES!" 'So... I assume 'Self-insert' scenario. Canon or non-canon universe?'

'Well, I just need to find Ponyville and ask a few questions. Hold on... Before questioning them, I have a couple questions for myself. Question one: Where am I? Question 2: Who am I?'

I stood up and looked around. My totally awesome magical warp to another universe had apparently taken place in the middle of an empty field. It appeared to be a little past midday, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There also wasn't anybody... anypony around. Apparently no Princesses had fetched me from my world, and Twilight hadn't been doing any experiments. There was another option for how I came to be in Equestria, but I couldn't see any cotton-candy so I decided that my luck had simply changed to the best in all universes.

I took a few hesitant steps forward. Oddly, I didn't have any trouble adapting to four legs. I took a mental note to look into that later. I made my way to the top of a nearby hill, and stopped in shock at what I saw. In the distance, almost straight ahead, was Ponyville.

'Wow. HiE Self-insert with Ponyville within walking distance. I feel so cliche right now. Oh shit. what if I'm in a fanfic right now!?'

I looked up and yelled as loud as I could in complete defiance of the fourth wall, "THIS IS SO FUCKING META!"

…

'Why did I expect a response...?'

My next task was to figure out who I was. I was rather excited when I realized that I knew the identity of my new body. It took a few seconds of staring at my cutie mark to realize I wasn't just imagining things. I actually was my OC. Unicorn of course, but presumably my body would be as powerful as the one I made up. That meant that ascension would hypothetically be easy. From everything I had gathered in my... 'studies', ascension could be obtained in one of three ways. Being born an alicorn, marrying an alicorn, or simply obtaining a ridiculous amount of magical energy. I figured I was in the last category.

During the walk to ponyville, I decided to see if there was anything else I somehow knew how to do instinctually. Namely, magic. I would have thought that it was so hard for foals to learn magic because it needed some sort of training and studying to figure it out. Apparently, it was actually just because they didn't have much magic in them at such a young age. For me, lifting a massive rock was just a matter of willing it to move. Either that or I had just designed my new form to be completely badass. Probably both.

My next magical test was teleportation. I hadn't seen anypony other than Twilight and the Princesses teleport, but I figured I could do it easily. No, I'm not egotistical at all. For teleportation, I figured it would once again be a simple matter of willing myself to be somewhere else. Specifically, at the entrance to Ponyville. The concept seemed to be the same, the execution however, required much more power. Then again, I had just teleported nearly a quarter of the distance between Ponyville to Canterlot, so perhaps a slight decrease in strength could be expected.

Up until then, I had complete confidence in my ability to attain ascension. After that, I wasn't so sure. I wasn't too worried though. I was still quite powerful, and I was fairly certain that teleporting would potentially use much less power if I could figure out how to do it without appearing in a swirling orb of black flames. There appeared to be a few terrified ponies that would have appreciated me getting to work on that as well. "Sorry!"

I was halfway to the library when I started to get the feeling I was getting followed. When I saw a flash of pink out of the corner of my eye, horror music started playing in my head. I resisted the urge to scream in terror as my world was engulfed in poofy pink doom. "Hi Pinkie."

*GASP!* *WOOSH!*

"Well, shit." I had kind of been hoping for a private party. Perhaps without the entire village in attendance. Luckily, Pinkie had realized that she didn't get my name and really had no idea who she was supposed to be planning a party for.

She returned in a blur of death-to-the-eyeballs neon pink, and immediately stated the situation to me in clear and concise terms. Yes, that was sarcasm. "Hey! I'mPinkiePiebutyoualreadyknewthatbecauseIwasalllike"who'sthat!?"Andyouwerealllike"HiPinkie"AndIwaslike*GASP!*AndthenIranofftoplanasurprisepartyforyoucauseyou'renewhereandIhavepartiesforallthenewponiesbutthenIrealizedthatIdidn'tknowwhoIwasplanningapartyforsoIcamebacktogetyournamebutIaccidentallytoldyouthatIwasplanningasurprisepartyforyousonowit'snotgoingtobemuchofasurprisebutatleastyoustilldon'tknowwhentheparty'sgoingtobesoit'llstillbekindofsurprisingbutIstillneedtoknowyournamesowhatisit!?"

"..."

"Wat?"

"Well that's a silly name."

"Huh? No, that's not my name. I was expressing my confusion at whatever you just said. So you asked my name?"

"Uhuh!"

"Since I don't doubt that you'll bounce off again the moment you know my name, I think I'll hold off on telling you until we've discussed a few things."

"Okie-dokie-lokie."

"I don't want the whole town coming to the party. Just a few specific ponies." She nodded her head so vigorously that my neck started to ache. "Alright. Ponies who I'm fine with are Lyra, The Doctor, and any of the Elements of Harmony. All of these ponies are allowed to bring any family they want, and one friend each. Go ahead and invite a few others if you really want to, but I do not want the entire town there."

"Got it!"

"My name is Dusk."

"Oh! IknowTwilightyoushouldgoseehercauseyoubothhavenamesthathavesomethingtodowithatimeofdayandIbetyoutwowillbegreatfriends-"

"Don't you have a party to plan?"

*GASP!* "Omigoshyou'reright!" *WOOSH!*

I watched her disappear into the distance, then turned around and walked directly into the aforementioned purple unicorn. "Oops, sorry."

"No, no. It was my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Reading while walking again?"

She laughed awkwardly. "Hehe... Yeah. Wait, again?"

"What's the book about?" 'Question avoided.'

"Oh! It's a study on the mechanics of teleportation. I'm going to be the first pony ever to see into another universe!”

"That's unfortunate..."

"What? Why? Oh no! Somepony already did it didn't they!?" Her mane was starting to get frizzy. "I knew I should've started sooner, butSpikesaidthatIwasstressingaboutnothingandgotallmyfriendstocalmmedownbutnowI'mtoolateandsomeponydidit befoore mee!"

"Uh, please calm down, you're starting to talk at Pinkie Pie speeds and I've had enough of that for one day."

"What!?" She began pacing back and forth in front of me. "How could anypony be calm at a time like this!? That project was my last chance to get noticed by anypony in the University of Canterlot..." Her ears drooped and she sat down on the ground in the middle of the street.

"I guess maybe I should have worded that differently. How about you lead the way to your house, where I'll explain the situation properly."

She stood up and began to half drag herself through town. "Okay..."

I watched her for a second before following. "Cheer up."

"No. My career is ruined."

'And I thought Rarity was dramatic...' "Uhh... Nopony has successfully created a portal to another universe as far as I know. So, you’re still good with that."

Her ears perked up and she gave me a look that I wasn't certain I liked. "You know something don't you?"

I grinned. "Yep." She was about to say something but I interrupted her. "Conversation best saved for private location."

"Are you from Canterlot?"

"Nope." She stopped again and appeared to look into my soul. "Stop that."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you my name."

"That's not quite what I meant, but that would be nice too."

I gave a slight bow as I said, "Dusk Star, at your service. Well, not really, but you get what I mean."

"Should that name mean something to me?" She asked skeptically.

"No. According to any legal document in Equestria, I don't exist."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Should I be letting you into my house?"

"Probably not, but it is a public library."

"Wait. You know where I live?"

"Uh... Yes? Well, now that I don't have to keep the act up, let's just teleport straight there."

"What!? Wait! You can't teleport somewhere if you-" We teleported. "-don't know... what the... location... looks like..." She eventually trailed off. "You know what the inside of my house looks like. Of course you do."

"Of course." I looked to my right. Spike was standing there looking horrified. He was also holding a fire extinguisher. "Hey Spike. Sorry about that. I swear I'm going to work on it."

Twilight began looking back and forth between Spike and I with a confused expression. "Am I missing something?"

Spike managed to snap himself out of his daze to answer, "You seriously didn't notice that you appeared in a ball of black fire!? I thought the whole library was gonna burn down!"

"Don't be silly. Everypony knows that black flames are magical in nature and are actually cold rather than hot. Also, I have wards in place to protect against fire. How do you think we have a fireplace in a tree?" She took a second to think about what she just said. "I thought Princess Luna was the only one who can make black fire..."

'I just knew that being completely OP would cause problems with trying to lay low.' After a minute of having Twilight stare at me expectantly, I decided it would be a bad idea to tell the truth. But I did it anyway. "The hay if I know. That was only the second time I've teleported, so it's a bit of a work-in-progress."

"You'd only done it once before, and you thought it would be a good idea to try teleporting yourself and me to somewhere you couldn't even see!?" She shook her head. "For that matter, I thought I was the only unicorn who knew how to teleport! You shouldn't be able to do that! You shouldn't be able to do most of what I've seen you do! Also, you shouldn't know any of the things you know about me! THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!"

Spike and I watched in silence as she panted for a second before storming off to another part of the library. "So, Spike. She's a tad bit stressed out over this whole portal project, eh?"

"That's one way to put it..."

"I figured as much. She's usually not this... spazzy... unless she's got some big project."

"So how do you know so much about her?"

"I'm an interdimensional traveler."

"Oh. Cool."

"That's it?"

"Wait, you aren't joking?"

"No, did you think I was?" Before he could respond, Twilight came back, levitating a scroll beside her. "Is that what I think it is?"

"I'm going to ask the Princess about you."

She started to move the letter towards Spike. Before it was even halfway there, with no forethought, I yelled, "Vot der'mo!" and blasted the floating scroll with a burst of black flames. Spike and Twilight both slowly turned to look at me with wide eyes after the crystallized scroll shattered on the floor two meters away. "Eheh... Oops?"

Spike glanced nervously at the frozen shards of paper that were lying on the floor. Meanwhile, Twilight just calmly asked, "You speak Draconic?"

"Draconic? Wait, so... Oh I get it! Cause there was that one story with that dragon that was Russian!" I couldn't help but burst out laughing at that coincidence. ‘Wait... Why do they speak Dragon in Stalliongrad?’ "Anyway, yeah, I sometimes accidentally say stuff in... Draconic when I'm panicking. You speak it?"

"No, I just recognized it. The only foreign language I know is Old Equestrian, but that doesn’t really count. It’s not really foreign, just thousands of years old."

"Utinam esse hoc lingua?"

"How...?"

Spike suddenly decided that learning time was over. "Am I the only one who notices that somepony just blasted something into pieces in the middle of the library!?" He asked, waving his arms.

I decided to answer truthfully again. "Nope! I noticed too!" A fraction of a second before Spike facepalmed, I stated, "Facepalm." and afterwards continued, "Called it."

Twilight completely ignored my antics and asked, "So where are you from?"

"Uhh..."

Spike answered for me. "He said he was an interdimensional traveller."

It took Twilight an entire five minutes to answer, "Uhh..."

I put a stupid grin on my face and pointed out, "Hey! That's what I just said! And by the way, I would like to mention that we arrived here in one piece, thank you very much.”

"Are you talking about when I said that teleporting like that was dangerous? That conversation ended seven minutes ago! You know what? I don't even doubt that you're from another world anymore. Your thought patterns could probably give Discord a headache."

"Ha! Yeah, in fact I'd be willing to bet that Discord was the one who made my world in the first place!"

"Wait... you weren't joking?"

"Why does everypony assume I'm joking when I say it!?"

"Because it's ridiculous!"

"You did hear when I emphasized the word 'pony' when I said that nopony has ever created a portal to another universe, right? Oh, and if you hadn't realized, this would be the reason that I said the conversation should be private. Honestly Twi, you're the only pony I'd ever think of trusting with this. Well, you and The Doctor, but I'm attempting to have one of those moments so let’s just forget about him.”

“...”

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Sorry, I thought I’d just give you a while to have your 'moment'.”

“Oh. Thanks, but I’m already done.”

“Okay then. So, who made the portal if not a pony? I mean, I know you came through it, but you’re a pony so you didn’t make it.”

“Well I wasn’t a pony before I got here, and I honestly don’t know who made it. I went to sleep one night and woke up in a field outside of town.”

“Not a pony!? Okay, okay. Let’s just keep calm.”

“I am calm.”

“I was talking to myself.”

“Shouldn’t do that. Somepony might think you’re crazy or something, and I’m sure you don’t need any help to further any rumors of you being a mad scientist with that creepy lab you’ve got in your basement.”

“Stop knowing everything about my life.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Where’s Spike?”

“He went to go make tea.”

“I love tea.”

“Great. So how long have you been in Equestria?”

“Ah dunno. What time is it now?”

“Twelve thirty.”

“About half an hour.”

“And you already know how to teleport?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome.”

She shook her head and dragged a hoof down her face. “Right. So why won’t you let me tell the Princess about you?”

“When should we head to Sugarcube Corner?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I don’t want to miss my own ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party.”

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

“And I’m not going to.”

“I thought you trusted me.”

'That monster.' “Along with being the only pony I trust, you’re also the only pony who can successfully guilt trip me.” *Sigh* “Very well, I can tell you that I intend to tell Luna myself in a day or two.”

“Luna?”

“Yes. She can tell her sister if she wants to.”

“Why Luna?”

“I chose her as my Patron Goddess.”

“Huh?”

“I can’t really think of a decent way to explain the concept to you if you don’t already know, so I won’t. Let’s just say that Luna gets the news first, and leave it at that.”

“Okay, fine. I notice that you still haven’t explained how you know everything about me.”

‘uh-oh.’ “Alright... Um... Huh... What do you know about the Multiverse Hypothesis, particularly the notion of fictional realism?”

“What does that have to do with-” *gasp* “Are you a fictional character!?”

“What? No, how would that even explain anything? It's the other way around, actually..”

“Oh.”

'Why isn't she more surprised? Does she know something?' “Really? Just 'Oh'? I kind of figured that the appropriate response to being told that your universe is fictional would be to completely freak out, but okay.”

“I’m perfectly fine with accepting that. After all, even your universe is likely a work of fiction also. As are most others.”

“That... is incredibly philosophical. What is reality!? Who are we!? What is our purpose!? When will the tea be ready!?”

“Probably not much longer.”

“Fantastic.”

We had tea, then afterwards I slept on the couch for a while. I had apparently been dumped in Equestria mere minutes after falling asleep, and realized quite suddenly that I was bucking tired. Twilight woke me up at around five, and told me that Pinkie had stopped by to suggest that she take me to have supper at Sugarcube Corner. One: Who has cupcakes for supper? Two: Come on, we all know what’s really going on.

During the walk there, (No, don’t ask me why we didn’t teleport) Spike got this crazy idea in his head that was uncomfortably close to being exactly what I was thinking. “So Dusk, Twilight’s taking you out for supper.”

“Yeah.”

“Sounds like a date to me.”

“If it were a date, you wouldn’t be here.”

“...”

“Dusk and Twilight sitting in a tree-”

“Finish that song and I will throw you to the moon.”

“K-I-S-S- AHHHH!”

Twilight, who was ahead of us by about three meters, stopped and looked at me. Spike had somehow left very suddenly. “Dusk?”

“Yeah?”

Spike suddenly appeared beside me in a swirl of blackfire, lying face-down on the road. “It was cold up there...”

Twilight just shook her head. “Just hurry. You don’t want to be late do you?”

“Nope. I’ve gotta ask a few of the ponies I’ve invited some questions to determine if this universe is canon or non-canon.”

“If it’s canon?”

“I determine where I am in the known timeline.”

“If it’s not?”

“Things get a lot more interesting.”

“In a good or bad way?”

“Either.”

“Well you’ll have to elaborate further later. We’re here.”

“Uh-oh. All the lights are off. Guess they must be closed. I suppose we should just head back then.”

There was an audible gasp from inside. Twilight fixed me with a stern glare. “Dusk.”

“Okay, okay. I was kidding. Sheesh...” I opened the door...

“SURPRISE!” *PARTYCANNONTOTHEFACE!* “Uh... Oops?”

As I was lying on the ground, I managed to wheeze out, “That was canon with two n’s, not three.”

My entire field of vision was once again obscured by pink. “Oh! My bad!”

"That's okay, Pinkie. I can see how you might have been confused." I got up and stumbled through the door into Sugarcube Corner. I noticed that Lyra and The Doctor took me up on my offer to bring friends. Lyra brought Bon-bon of course, and The Doctor brought... Uh-oh. The Doctor brought Derpy. Canon: Zero, non-canon: One.

Everypony was looking at me expectantly. "Hey everypony. Uh, is my spine on right?" They all laughed. "Really? No. Stop humoring me. That was terrible. I'm not even certain if I meant that to be funny. Now, you all just go back to... mingling and whatnot, and I'll get around to talking to everypony. Two of you I need to talk privately with. Parallel universes may or may not be involved." I made a vague gesture with a front hoof and said, "Mingle..."

As I stepped further inside, I noticed that the room seemed to have no decorations. There were of course tables set up with food and drinks, but the lack of decor was extremely suspicious. 'Why would Pinkie skimp out on decorating for a party?'

“Because I didn’t know what decorations to use for a ‘Welcome to the Universe’ party, silly!”

I immediately adopted an ‘Oh Shit’ face. “You knew about that the whole time?”

“Well, yeah.” She answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“You didn’t tell anypony, did you?”

“Nopers!”

“Alright. Don’t. I’ll have Twi do that in a gentler way.”

Speaking of Twilight, she had apparently realized that I was no longer following her, and came back from wherever she had wandered off to. “What are you still doing over here? Don’t you want to meet the rest of the ‘Mane Six’?” I could taste the air-quotes. Apparently she disapproved of the pun.

“Well yeah, but I-” Aaand, she’s ignoring me. Unfortunately, she left me with no choice but to follow. “Twilight?” Still ignoring. “Seriously. I need to- Oh come on!” Our destination turned out to be a table at the back of the room. The remaining four elements were sitting at it, chatting amongst themselves.

Twilight introduced me to them, but before any of them could speak, I held up a hoof and said, "I gotta go do important sciency stuff. Twilight, fill them in on the situation, but make sure you get them to Pinkie Promise not to speak a word of it to anypony."

I spotted The Doctor sitting at a table on the other side of the room. No idea where Derpy wandered off to. Actually, she was probably at the muffin table. I decided to show off by teleporting to the chair across from The Doctor. Yeah, the flames of darkness make me look like a bit of a badass. They’re also good for drawing the attention of the guy sitting across from you. “'Ello Doctor!”

“Waah!” He just barely managed to stop himself from knocking his seat over. He put a hoof to his chest. “Woah... please don’t do that again.”

“Sorry. Do you by any chance have a hearts condition?”

He gave me a strange look. “No?”

“What do you think about pears?”

“They’re horrible. What is this for?”

“Do you like timey-wimey stuff?”

“My cutie mark is an hourglass.”

“Touché. Last question. Do you know where I could find a police call box?”

“...No...?”

“Aha! You said that you didn’t know where I could find one. Ponies don’t have police call boxes so you shouldn’t have known what I was talking about! Ding ding ding! I win! Good poker face though.”

“How do you..? What?”

“I did say that parallel universes could be involved, right?”

“Are you...?”

“Shouldn’t you have a british accent?”

“BRITISH!? What are you!?”

“Silly Doctor. I’m a pony.” I answered with a smirk.

I next teleported to directly in front of Lyra and Bon-bon, causing the latter to fall over backwards. Lyra promptly burst out laughing. I gently slapped her shoulder scoldingly. "Don't laugh at her. The Doctor had the same response."

She snorted once more before saying, "Fine..."

I looked at Bon-bon. "I'm sorry, though I'd be lying if I told you that that wasn't the reaction I was looking for. Now, I need to talk to Lyra in private for a minute." She gave a look that basically said, 'Is it safe to leave her alone with you?' "Come on. I didn't make that bad an impression, did I? Anyway, she'll be fine."

Her answer of, "Okay..." sounded a bit skeptical, but she left us alone anyway.

I returned my attention to Lyra, who appeared to be rather curious of what this was all about. "Lyra?"

"Yeah?"

"Humans."

*sigh* "Do want to tell me I'm right, or make fun of me?"

"Depends. What do you think about them."

"I believe that they once existed, and that they may still exist in some far off corner of the world." Her voice changed from wistful to dark as she continued, "And you will never be able to convince me otherwise."

"I wouldn't try to. In fact I don't even know if you're right or not. I've only been a pony for a day."

"What were you before?"

"You seem to believe me. You're the first one to do so without me having to say it more than once. I now consider you a friend. Therefore, I am going to answer your question. This is something that I haven't told anypony. After I tell you this, you will not make a scene, and you will not attempt to question me about it unless I say you can."

"Why would I do that anyway? It's not like you're a- ...No..."

"Woo... Let's not go jumping to conclusions just yet. Anyway, in order to attain your answer, you'll also refrain from stalking me."

"Deal."

"I think you already know what I am. Although I suppose I should say 'what I was' since this isn't a disguise or something. Jumping dimensions somehow changed my entire biological makeup."

"So you're really a human?"

"Yep, and let me tell you, hands are awesome... I think... I admit that I actually haven't attempted to pick something up with hooves yet."

"A real. Live. Human." *squee*

"Quite so. I’ll let you ask one question, then I have to go. Ooh! That rhymed...”

“Hmm... Let’s see...” She took up the universal thinking pose and placed a hoof on her chin. “Oh I know!” ‘Eureka’ pose. “What do humans eat?”

My ears immediately drooped. Then they went up again as I remembered that my ears could move. I rapidly flopped them up and down a few times while grinning before realizing that Lyra was still expecting an answer. “Sorry. Just realized my ears could move.” I flopped them a few more times. “This is so cool...”

*ahem*

“Oh! Right, sorry again. So, ‘what do humans eat’ eh?” *sigh* “Why couldn’t you have picked an easier question? Humans are... omnivores.”

“...”

“Oi! Quit looking at me like that! I bet this body couldn’t even digest meat.”

”Hmm...”

“I swear, if you try to eat somepony...”

“Eheh... I wasn’t thinking of doing any experiments to see if ponies could digest human diets. No, thats... just silly. heheh...”

“That was oddly specific.” I motioned at Bon-bon to come back over.

“What was all that about?” She asked when she got back to her original position.

“Human stuff. Be careful Lyra doesn’t try to eat you.”

The last thing I heard and saw before teleporting back to Twilight was an indignant, “Hey!” from Lyra, and a horrified expression from Bon-bon.

Back at the table with the elements, who were all stunned at the way I had appeared, reclining, in an empty chair, sipping some sort of drink. “I don’t know what I’m drinking, but I like it.” I took another sip before returning to an upright position and placing the glass of mysterious-yet-glorious liquid on the table. “So what’d I miss?”

Twilight looked at the floor and mumbled, “They made me do it.”

I facehoofed. “Oh, what now?”

“I send a letter to the princess.”

She cringed when the glass I’d been levitating towards me hit the ground. “Princess... Luna?”

“Celestia.”

“BOG CHERTOVSKI CHERT VOZʹMI!”

Rarity flattened her ears. “My, what... colorful language.”

“Eheh... Yeah. Well, she is not sending me home. Nuh-uh. Nope. Not. A. Chance.” Everypony except the elements and myself dived to the floor as Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both appeared in the middle of the room. “Govno.” I turned around and looked at Celestia. Then proceeded to completely ignore her and bow to Luna. “Mea Filia Reginae.”

Luna took a step back, looking confused. Meanwhile, Celestia took a rather threatening step forwards, her eyes narrowing. “You.”

I stood up. “Uh, hi? What about me?”

“You!”

“Why do I feel like I’m in danger right now?”

“I should have ended you when I had the chance!”

“I am... So confused.”

Rather than explain, she decided to simply fire a flaming beam of sunlight at me, which I hastily ducked under. I knocked over a table and dived behind it, pressing my back to the wood. Because that would totally stop an angry Goddess, right?

I peeked over the table to see Luna hastily saying something to her sister. When Celestia noticed, she forced me back behind the table with another beam of light. I quickly started constructing a small white flag with a napkin attached to a splinter of wood that I found on the floor. I held the flag over my head and out from behind the upturned table. In an admittedly pathetic voice, I squeaked out, "Misericordia?" There was a slight warmth on my hoof, and I looked up to see that my impromptu flag had been vaporized. "Guess not..."

There was a strange 'psst' noise to my right. I looked in that direction and saw Rainbow Dash taking cover underneath an upright table to avoid any stray death-rays. She looked at me with a combination of confusion, respect, and anger. "Dude! What did you do to get the Princess this pissed?" She whispered at me.

I rolled my eyes, then whispered back, "The buck if I know..." I noticed Fluttershy curled up in a quivering ball under Dash's wing. I nodded at her and asked, "She gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, as long as Princess Ragelestia over there would stop missing you."

"Gee, thanks Dash." I quickly peeked at the Princesses again, and saw that Luna and Celestia appeared to be arguing about something. Hopefully Luna was requesting that I not be turned into burnt toast. It only took one last glance at the terrified Fluttershy to decide that I had to do something stupid to stop this from getting out of hoof.

I yelled out from behind my cover, "Hey I'm gonna head out to the Everfree before you accidentally fry somepony! Seeya!" I then exited in style by sprinting at a wall and teleporting at the last second so that my little fire thing gave the impression that I had ran straight through the wall.

Once I was safely out of that crazy scenario, and out by the border of the Everfree, my heart managed to stop attempting to explode out of my chest cavity. Of course, it started up twice as bad once Luna and Celestia appeared again, a few meters away. "O, yebatʹ moyu zhiznʹ!"

Celestia then got the creepiest grin I've ever seen on her. "Then you won't mind if I kill you?"

"Um, yeah, actually. I do mind."

"Too bad." Her mane turned into white and blue fire... That’s probably not a good thing.

"Uh-oh..."

Her next move was to try blasting me with a ball of fire that looked rather similar to her new manestyle. Acting purely on instinct, I hit it in midair with my own black fire. The two negated each other. Celestia was looking a little worried, and even angrier than before. "What have you done!? That's alicorn magic!"

"Really? Cool!" I immediately sent two more orbs of black fire at her, which she deflected with a shield of radiant yellow energy. "So how long 'till I ascend?"

"How do you know about that!?"

"Um... Huh... I don't really know. Does it matter?"

"No, because you will not be around to find out!"

Before I could react, a new voice added itself to the fray, and it wasn't Luna, who had been standing off to the side, looking unsure of who she was supposed to be helping. Twilight ran over the crest of a nearby hill. "Princess! What's going on!?"

Celestia didn't even stop to think about what she was doing as she launched another fireball at her with a scream of fury. Also not thinking, I yelled, "TWILIGHT, MOVE!" and teleported to directly in front of her, putting up the strongest shield I could manage, despite having no idea how I knew how to do so. It didn't matter anyways. The shield didn't work. My vision faded as the orb of flames blasted straight through my barrier.

Words from worlds beyond, flowing in the void as echoes through time.

Act 2 - Shattered Stars - Chapter 4: Joy and Pain

[A/N]: So uh... TAB just kinda left in the middle of editing without saying anything so... I think this is done?

Anyways, This'll be going on hiatus until at least Act 4 is done. Moonlit Skies will continue to update in the mean time.

-‡—————————-——————————‡-

Chapter 4: Joy and Pain-‡—————————-——————————‡-

At the last moment, I was thrown out of the way by an extremely powerful telekinetic force. I looked back and saw Twilight rolling around, screaming and on fire. One of her legs appeared to have broken from the sheer force of the spell's impact. I quickly ran back over to her and patted the flames out. She was unconscious, but breathing.

I turned back to Celestia, who at least seemed to be regretting her actions. That didn't matter to me though. What did matter, was vengeance. The princesses could probably tell that, seeing as I was slowly walking towards them, glaring, with blackfire starting to swirl around my body. In order to give one final chance to diplomacy, I used my amazing negotiation skills. "I. WILL. END YOU!" Yeah, I should totally be an ambassador or something.

Realizing that my threat was completely serious, and potentially possible, Luna finally decided to assist her sister. The two of them were standing side-by-side about ten meters away from me. We stared each other down for about five seconds, then Celestia gave a battlecry and launched a fireball at me. Luna followed suit with an orb of darkness. I jumped over Celestia's fireball, then deflected Luna's spell back and into Celestia, who staggered sideways as the spell impacted her right foreleg. Either she was really immortal, or Luna was using non-lethal spells. Good to know.

I retaliated with a flurry of weak bolts of blackfire, all aimed at Celestia. If Luna wasn't going to make herself a threat, there was no reason to harm her. Unfortunately, she was providing defence while Celestia attacked. Luna absorbed my attacks into her horn, then transferred the energy to her sister, who used it to launch another one of those big fireballs.

Unable to block the powerful attack with a shield, I dive-rolled to the left, feeling the heat from the blast as I barely managed to move in time. Upon finishing the roll, I put up a shield to deflect two more shadow orbs from Luna, inches from my face. I immediately followed with another burst of blackfire, and then following that with a single modified blackfire bolt that flew straight up and out of sight. Amongst the other spells, neither Princess noticed the lone bolt flying away from the battle.

Luna concentrated on absorbing my blackfire, allowing her deflected attacks to strike her sister. The aforementioned orbs of darkness struck Celestia in the chest, causing her to spasm once and fall to the ground. She quickly recovered, and launched another unblockable fireball. I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and dodged the attack by teleporting. I reappeared beside Luna, where I quickly whispered, "Five turns, then duck." before teleporting back to my original location, now a patch of blackened dirt, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Princess of the night.

Exactly five times we repeated the sequence of deflect, attack, dodge. Each time, I added one bolt to the ones hovering in the air above us. When five of them had amassed, I let the flames around me die out, giving the impression that I was surrendering.

Celestia laughed. "Giving up already?"

"Tam ne budet kapitulyatsii, i ne budet nikakoy poshchady. Five turns are up." Luna dived to the ground, and the hovering blackfire rained upon Celestia from all sides, forcing her down.

Her mane returned to normal, and she slowly got up, shaking the ice off of her. She looked at me for a second, then at the spot where Twilight was lying on the ground. She seemed a little guilty, but after a few seconds, her fire started up again. "This is your fault! You will pay for harming my student!"

"You have got to be joking."

Luna placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder, then quickly pulled back again as Celestia's flames drifted too close. "Sister, leave this for another time. Twilight Sparkle needs medical attention."

She hesitated for a moment, then extinguished her mane again. "That heretic can handle her health." With that, they both disappeared in a flash of light.

I finally relaxed, and immediately realized that I had expended more energy than I thought. I stumbled over to Twilight's burnt and unmoving form. "I'm sorry, Twi. I should have been stronger for you." Then I collapsed, and the blackened landscape faded into nothing.

I woke to the sound of voices. "Over there! I think I see somepony."

"Oh my goodness! I think she's hurt!"

I blearily opened my eyes and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy examining Twilight. Upon seeing her condition, I was immediately wide awake. "Vot der'mo!" Both of the pegasi jumped back at my outburst as I jumped up and ran over to Twilight. 'Third-degree Burns, one broken leg. This isn't good.' "Hold on. I think I can figure out how to do a healing spell." They both took another step back, and glanced at each other as I cut my right foreleg with the tip of my horn. I examined the wound closely, trying to determine what I would have to do in order to invent an entire healing spell in a matter of seconds. It was rather like rearranging a physics equation to find an unknown variable, and that is something I am good at.

When I thought that I had it, I cast the new spell on my foreleg. The cut healed instantly, and I rubbed it a few times to make sure it wouldn't just open up again at the next touch. It seemed fine, so I turned the spell on Twilight. Nothing happened. "Chert voz'mi! Why isn't it working!?"

I backed off, and started to go over the spell in my head again. My thoughts were interrupted by the worst thing I've ever been told in my life. "Oh no... Dusk? She doesn't have a pulse."

"No. Nonononono. No! Twilight has to live. She has to!"

Fluttershy walked around Twilight's body and pressed herself against my side. "There's nothing you can do."

"No... I will not accept this." I gently pushed her away from me, then laid down and pressed my horn to Twilight's. I began to pour as much magic as possible into her. At the same time, I cast my healing spell, as well as one to absorb her injuries into me.

Through my tears, I saw Twilight's blackened skin being replaced by her normal lavender coat. At the same time, I felt my own skin crackling, then repairing itself. As the magic did it's work, my head felt like it was going to explode. The headache got worse as I used up more and more of my reserves. Suddenly, the flow of magic stuttered. I knew that the spell had started using my own lifeforce to power itself.

I nearly stopped the spell in shock when I saw Twilight start breathing again, but she wasn't fully healed, so I had to keep going.

Eventually, there were no more wounds for the spell to heal, and I cut off the flow of lifeforce. I smiled slightly at the sight of Twilight, perfectly unharmed. Then the world started to spin, and I collapsed again.

The next time I woke, I found myself in an uncomfortably bright room. Everything was white. I didn't like it, so I decided to voice my opinion. "OH GODDESS, TOO BRIGHT!"

A nurse came running into the room. "Oh, I'm sorry." She turned off the lights that were for some reason pointed at my face.

"Whew... That's better." I thought for a second. "Wasn't something important going on?"

"The ones who brought you in said that Twilight Sparkle was injured. They said that you saved her."

"Oh yeah. That is kind of important." I rolled off the bed and onto my hooves. "So where is she now?"

"No! You can't go yet! You shouldn't even be up!"

"Ma'am, I draw my power from the energies of the universe. I think I'll manage." I walked out the door, then stuck my head back in after a few seconds. "Uh, you wouldn't mind helping me find the exit, would you?"

On the way out, the nurse informed me that Twilight was being taken care of at her library by Fluttershy. That didn't sound good. There shouldn’t be any reason for Twilight to need taken care of.

I arrived at her door at a little after ten, and knocked. It was Fluttershy who answered it. She immediately pulled me into the Fluttershy-equivalent of a bear hug. "Dusk! Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Uh, I thought everypony hated me."

"Well most of them do, but they don't know that you saved everypony at the party, or that you risked your own life to save Twilight."

"Oh yeah, how is she?"

"Um... The doctors say that she's fine, but... She won't wake up."

"Wait, how long has it been?"

"Oh, um, about a week."

"Yeah, that's not normal. Can I see her?"

"Oh, yes. Come in."

She led me up to the bedroom, where Twilight was laying on the bed, perfectly fine, but fast asleep. I examined her, but found nothing wrong. "Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I... stay here?"

"Aren't you staying here already?"

"Well yeah, but... I mean like, right here."

"Oh! Um, of course. I'm sure Twilight will enjoy your company." She gave me a knowing look.

I felt my face start to heat up. "Uh... Yeah... Right." She smiled again, then left to go do something downstairs.

Weeks past, and still nothing. I was highly considering getting Spike to send a letter to Luna, but Celestia would probably intercept it. Fluttershy and Spike brought food up for us, so I rarely left the room. Every time somepony came by to visit Twilight, they would either completely ignore me, or give me a dirty look. I felt very loved.

Oct, 1004th Year of Celestia's Reign.

By the middle of October, I had nearly given up hope. The doctors had officially declared Twilight to be in a coma. Of course, the stupid doctors had no idea how to handle something magic-related. Fluttershy had accepted that there was nothing she could do, so she returned to her cottage, leaving me to take care of Twilight. That was what I should have been doing from the start. It was my fault she was hurt in the first place.

Twilight's ear twitched. I almost fell out of my seat in the corner when I saw the slight movement.

I ran over to her and said, "Twilight? Twilight, you need to wake up. Please. Please wake up."

She yawned and squinted at me. "Why are you-?"

"TWILIIIIGHT!"

She yelped as I gave her my equivalent of a bear hug. “Dusk... Air...”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Uh... What happened to warrant that greeting?” She sounded almost like she didn’t really want to know.

“You... Were unconscious for a while.”

“I know it was more than that. You were crying.”

“No I wasn’t!” I quickly faced away and wiped at my eyes with one hoof.

“What. Happened?”

“You were unconscious for... over a month.”

“There’s something more. What aren’t you telling me?”

I found myself unable to meet her eyes. “Nothing.”

“Dusk.”

“Nothing.”

“What did you do?”

‘Damn that mare is smart.’ “I didn’t do anything.”

“I’m sure somepony else could tell me, since you won’t.”

“You died, okay!?”

“What?”

“Celestia killed you, so I took all of my magic, and most of my lifeforce, and put it into you. I also absorbed all of your wounds into myself.”

“Wounds... that were enough to kill me?”

“One broken leg, and third-degree burns on seventy percent of your body.”

“You idiot! What were you thinking!? You could have died along with me!”

“Eh. I was only out for a week.”

I may have done something highly abnormal, because Twilight looked very confused by that. “How? It should have taken much longer for your body’s magic to regenerate that, and you said you gave all of it to me.”

“Oh.”

“If you have that much, it’s no wonder I was in a coma. My body had to adjust to that amount of power.”

‘Uh-oh...’ “Physically adjust?”

“Yes.”

‘Oh well. Most people thought it was going to happen to her eventually anyway.’ “Well at least you’re fine now.”

“What happened to the Princess?”

‘Uh-oh again.’ “She, uh, left.”

“Before or after you fought her.”

“Govno...” *sigh* “After.”

“Did Luna help her?”

“...Yes.”

“You beat them both?”

I cringed. “Well not really. I mean, Celestia attacked while Luna concentrated on defence.”

“How could you possibly have defeated two Princesses!?”

“Superior tactics and... I was defending you.”

“Me? Why would- You were sitting in that chair the entire time I was out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“A whole month?”

“I’ll just... go downstairs and make you some breakfast.”

“No. Come here.” I sat down on the bed beside her, and she gave me a definitely-not-at-all-awkward hug. She then got up and went to make breakfast herself. I sat there for a while, then I remembered that Twilight couldn’t cook. I ran downstairs to ensure that nothing burnt down.

Spike had already made breakfast. I gave him a puzzled look, and his only response was, “I heard you two yelling, so I figured you’d be down soon.” Then I got it. The little bastard didn’t want to seem like less of a stallion than me by bawling his eyes out in front of Twilight. Since when has showing affection been a bad thing?

I pretended not to notice his ploy and sat down at the table. Twilight glanced at Spike, then looked at me and rolled her eyes. Apparently she had reached the same conclusion I had. Spike brought us our food, glorious waffles, then sat down and started to take a swig of orange juice. Twilight turned to face me. “So, what did you do to amuse yourself the entire time you were watching me sleep?”

Spike snorted into his cup. I took both my front hooves, and smashed them into my face. “That’s not fair...”

“What are you talking about?”

Spike completely burst out laughing at her naïvety when he realized the she really didn't understand the way she had made it sound. I slowly shook my head. “Nevermind... I spent my time inventing spells.”

“You invented spells?”

“Well, I expect that they’re all in a book somewhere, but all that magical theory stuff just gave me a headache so I figured them out on my own.”

“What!? That’s dangerous! I thought you were more responsible than that!”

I mumbled, “You weren’t complaining when I used my spells to save your flank...”

“Oh! I- I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful! I just- I- Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re usually not... flustered... this easily.”

“Nope! Perfectly fine! So what are some of the spells you’ve mastered?”

‘Fine. Just change the subject.’ Well there’s the ones I used to save you, then there’s a few combat spells for in case something like that happens again. I’ve also got all the basic utility spells down, as well as a powerful invisibility spell.”

“What do you need that for?”

“Nothing in particular. Invisibility just seems kinda useful.” Her suspicious gaze caused me to shift slightly. It just so happened to be that same way that a pegasus would shift if their wings were uncomfortable. I think she noticed, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“So... Just out of curiosity, what are your favorite combat spells?”

“Well, blackfire, obviously.” I answered, summoning a small flame in one hoof. “But I also really like bladecasting.” The flame shifted into the burning form of Terminus.

Spike yelped and fell out of his chair. “Don’t most households have a rule about ‘no weapons at the table’?”

“Right. Sorry Spike.” I allowed the sword to turn into a flame once more before extinguishing it.

Twilight seemed outright fascinated. “I’ve never seen a design like that before.”

“It’s a nineteenth century Cossack shashka from back home.”

“I see... And you made it out of solid magic?”

‘Oh Goddess, tell me I didn’t do something weird again...’ “Yeah. Is that strange?”

“No, no. Not at all. I just don’t understand why a unicorn would want to have a sword made of magic when they can just use regular magic.”

‘Whew...’ “Ah dunno. Cause it looks cool?”

“Ah. ‘Because it looks cool.’ Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“I’m not gonna answer that!”

“Right. Anyways, did I miss anything over the last month?”

“Not really. Well, most of the town and all of your friends except for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hate me because they think Celestia had a good reason to attack me, and they all blame me for getting you hurt. Though, that kind of was my fault.”

“Don’t be silly. I pushed you out of the way. You were trying to save me.”

“But I failed!”

“I don’t care.”

“I have no way to respond to that. You win. I am awesome.”

“Well the rest of the town sure doesn’t think so. How about after breakfast we go for a walk and see about getting you back on everypony’s good side.”

“Meh. Fine with me.”

So that’s exactly what we did. Well, first I inhaled my waffles. Then I had to wait for Twilight to finish. Then I had to wait while Twilight wrote a letter to Celestia detailing how she died and then got stuck in a coma for a month. Then we could finally leave. I raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s last action. “Is antagonizing her really wise?”

I really didn’t like the look she gave me then. “I trusted her. I looked up to her. I loved her, And she BUCKING KILLED ME! I DON’T CARE IF IT’S WISE OR NOT!”

“Yeesh... Easy on the Royal Caps-lock there...” I noticed that Twilight was on the verge of tears, and in no mood for my jokes. I put a hoof on her shoulder and forced her to look at me. “Hey Twi, I know she still cares. Luna kept acting like something was wrong, so I think there’s something else going on with Celestia other than what we saw. Like, I think there’s something wrong with her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” As we continued out the door, I asked, “Say, when’s Nightmare Night?”

“A little over a week, I think.”

“Well I’ll have a talk with Luna then. Celestia would never hurt you.” ‘I hope...’

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Now let’s go socialize!” I ran out the door. I came back in a few seconds later. “Where are we going again?”

“I was thinking that we should see Pinkie first, since she’ll be the likeliest to be friendly. And we’ll definitely be going to see Applejack last.”

“Heheh... Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.”

True to plan, we set off for Sugarcube Corner. A few ponies along the way stopped to talk to Twilight when they saw that she was awake. Most of them gave me dirty looks, but Twilight fixed that by explaining how she was killed by an ‘accidental’ fireball to the face, and I saved her. Those ponies were easy. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof, was a different matter entirely. We should’ve gone to her last...

I walked into sugarcube corner, and immediately got hit in the face with a pie. From behind it, I heard Pinkie yell, "Meanie-pants!"

I swatted the pie off my face, then turned around and walked back out the door. "Let's come back later."

Twilight seemed to be having trouble suppressing her laughter. "Ohhh no you don't. Get your flank back in there."

*sigh* "Only for you, Twilight. Only for you." I proceeded back into hel- I mean, Sugarcube Corner. This time, I managed to snipe the incoming pie out of the air with a bolt of blackfire. Pinkie completely forgot about me, and began licking the frozen treat, whilst mumbling something about 'piecicles.'.

"Mm! That's really good."

"That's nice. Now, there's something I need to tell you."

"Okey-dokey!" She continued licking her... piecicle. I recounted my tale once again. Pinkie had stopped smiling by the end. "Twilight d- died?"

"Yeah. Heh. Remember when death was permanent?"

"Nope!"

"Course not. Well, I've gotta go see Rarity and Applejack still, so I'll be off."

"What about Fluttershy and Dashie?"

"Oh, we've been friends since the start."

"I've been being mean to my old friend's new friend? Oh no! I'm just like-"

"Pinkie, you are nothing like Gilda."

"How'd you know I was going to say that?"

"Magic." I left it at that, and went to go meet Twilight outside.

She noticed how I was grinning when I walked out. "I take it things went well?"

"Yep. Hey, why didn't you come in and say hi to Pinkie?"

"We're going to need lunch after we talk to Rarity, so I figured we could just go there."

"Why does everypony seem to think that cupcakes for lunch is normal?"

"Are you complaining?"

"Nope."

The sun was high in the sky by the time we reached Carousel Boutique. For some reason, that made me feel unsafe. I determined that there was no possible way that could be a sign of what was about to happen. Afterwards, I determined that I was an idiot.

I walked through the door of Carousel Boutique. "CHERTOV AD! SHE HAS NEEDLES! O, BOGINYA! TWILIGHT, HELP!"

The first thing Twilight saw when she stepped through the entrance was Rarity, standing over me, levitating a dozen or so sewing needles around her. Twilight facehoofed. "You can take two Princesses, but at the sight of a dressmaker with sewing tools, you scream like a little filly."

"Hey! I have severe trypanophobia."

"Oh! I'm sorry. If I'd known that, I wouldn't have sent you in by yourself."

"Wait. You knew she'd have needles!? What if she went for my eyes!? What if she went for... *gulp* other places?" I found myself pressing my hind legs together tightly.

"She'd never do that! Right Rarity?"

"Twilight! Good to see you up and about! Actually, I was, uh, going to go for his second idea..."

I realized that Rarity was still standing over me with sharp objects. "Could you maybe put those away and let me up.”

“Very well.” She stepped to the side and all of the needles floated over to a table and organized themselves by size. “Now, if you’ll excuse my language, GET THE BUCK OUT OF MY BOTIQUE!”

Twilight grabbed my tail with her magic as I attempted to do just that. “Rarity! Would you mind being just a little nicer to my terrified filly savior?”

“Savior? He attacked the Princess and then tried to kill you!”

“Where do ponies keep hearing these things? The Princess killed me with fire, and Dusk gave me most of his lifeforce to bring me back to life.”

“Oh. My. How can you say that so calmly! This is the worst. Possible. Thing.”

I kindly removed the couch from under her just as she was about to land on it. Twilight caught her with magic and shot me a disapproving glare. She placed Rarity upright before answering, “The story starts to get old after your thirty-seventh time reciting it.”

“Oh. I see.” She walked over to me. I prepared myself to have to run again. She gave me a hug. “Mister Star, I believe I have been extremely unfair to you. Thank you for saving Twilight.”

“I’d always put her safety before my own. And by the way, If you really must be all fancy about my name, call me Stella. ‘Mister Star’ just sounds stupid.”

She finally released me. “Very well. I’ll let you be on your way now. Your suit should be ready in about a week.” She then proceeded to herd Twilight and myself out the door.

I stood there, confused and perhaps just a little worried. “Suit?”

Twilight giggled. “She fitted you while she was giving you that hug.”

“I knew there was a reason it was so uncomfortably long!”

We headed back to Sugarcube Corner, where I nibbled unenthusiastically at an overly sweet cupcake while Pinkie told Twilight about all the fun things she did over the last month. After that was done, came the thing I was most worried about. Applejack.

“Do we have to go see her? I mean, why don’t we leave her, and then she’ll start acting nice when she realizes that she’s the only one of her friends who isn’t.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Fine!? Have you seen what she can do to a tree? Imagine what that would to to, say, my internal organs!?”

“I’ll wait here for you. Go make nice.”

“More like ‘go make hoofprints appear on my face’...” I continued over the hill in front of us, and immediately spotted the orange mare bucking trees. ‘If this doesn’t go over well, I’m totally making jokes about her bucking a tree.’ “Hey, AJ!” She turned around, spotted me walking towards her. She started running at me. ‘That looks a bit hostile... perhaps I should just...’ I turned around and started running the other way.

From behind me, I heard Applejack, catching up much too fast, yell, “Get back here! Ah wanna have the pleasure of beatin’ yer flank off mah land mahself!”

“No thank you!” I glanced behind me. She was right there. “I NEED HEEELP!”

Twilight walked over the crest of the hill, shaking her head at how I managed to make things go wrong so fast. “Dusk, why-” *CRACK* “Oh Celestia!”

Applejack had tackled me to the ground, and was in the process of attempting to smash the shield I had placed over my head. It was working. Meanwhile, I laid there mumbling, “Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ... Pomoshchʹ...”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Applejack had just enough time to look up before she was hit with a wave of telekinetic force. I immediately surrounded myself with blackfire to ensure that she couldn’t get close to me again. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PONIES!?” I jumped to my hooves and looked at Twilight. “WHAT KIND OF PLAN IS ‘GO HAVE A PLEASANT CONVERSATION WITH THE PONIES WHO WANT TO KILL YOU’!? THAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE AFTER TRIED IN MY LIFE! IF YOU HAD ARRIVED A FRACTION OF A SECOND LATER, YOU’D HAVE BEEN LOOKING AROUND FOR PIECES OF MY SKULL!” I looked at Applejack. “AND YOU! YOU ALMOST BUCKING KILLED ME! WHAT THE BUCKING HAY IS WRONG IN YOUR HEAD!?” I proceeded to do something to the nearest apple tree that would likely cause Discord to cry if he attempted to comprehend it. “THAT’S FOR TRYING TO MURDER ME! NOW IF YOU WILL ALL EXCUSE ME, I AM GETTING THE BUCK OUTTA HERE!”

I then walked away, breathing heavily, but allowing the blackfire to dissipate. Twilight caught up to me after a few seconds, and stopped me with a hoof on my shoulder. “Dusk...? You were right. That was stupid, and it was my fault... Can you forgive me?”

I smiled. "I didn't mean what I said. I was just angry. You're already forgiven."

She smiled back. "Thanks."

"I'll miss you, you know."

"What!? Where are you going!?"

"Twilight, a pony just tried to murder me. My life is in constant danger, and there's nopony in this town who wants me here."

Twilight looked at the ground. “I want you here. Doesn’t that count?”

‘HNNNNG’ “I suppose it does. Very well. I’ll stay. Only for you, Twilight.”

“Good. Now, we’re fairly close to Whitetail Woods all the way out here. Why don’t we go for a walk. A real walk. No destination, no ponies to talk to. Just a nice afternoon walk in the trees.”

“I think I’d enjoy that.”

We proceeded west, into the bright autumn leaves of the Whitetail Woods. Neither of us spoke along the way. We just walked. Away from all our problems. Away from the ponies who would judge us.

We walked until we found a hill that was tall enough to overlook the entire forest, where we sat and looked out at the half-spectrum of colors. I didn’t expect Twilight to rest her head on my shoulder as we sat there, but who in their right mind would complain about that? Of course, I had to go ahead and buck everything up by instinctively wrapping my wing around her. I immediately pulled it back, but it was too late.

“Buck.”

“Dusk?”

“Uh-huh?”

“You have wings.”

“I know.”

“I’m trying to stay calm here. When did this happen?”

“Two weeks ago. I woke up one night with a horrible pain in my back. I looked in the mirror and noticed that the wings had started to sprout. I knew that I couldn’t let anypony see, so I teleported myself into the Everfree. Took about a day for the wings to grow in completely. And it hurt.”

“So that’s when you made the invisibility spell?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” She slowly exhaled, trying not to hyperventilate. “How is this possible?”

“Well, best I can figure is, I got too powerful. I had too much magic for my body to contain, so it made a new body.”

Twilight looked completely crushed. “I was thinking of asking you something, but now... You’re going to live forever, and I’m not, so... I don’t think there’s really a point anymore.”

‘Is she talking about... Us? Together!? RECTIFY SITUATION NOW!’ “There’s something else you should know.”

She was struggling to hold back tears. “What?”

“You remember when I said asked if your body would have physically adjusted to the magic I gave you?”

“Yeah...”

“Enough magic to catalyze ascension?”

“Wait... I’m-?”

“Yes. And soon.”

“But... What about my friends?” She started crying.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have told her...’

“I’m going to be forced to watch everypony I care about slowly wither away, and I can’t do anything to stop it! I’m going to be completely alone again!”

“No you won’t. I’ll be there for you when that time comes to pass. When everypony you know is gone, I. Will. Still. Be there.”

*sniff* “Dusk?”

“Yeah?”

“Never leave.”

“I won’t.”

Is it bad that that was the moment at which I remembered that I had neglected to joke about Applejack bucking trees?

[ARCHIVE]

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LOADING EARTH.RAR FILE 3...

Final Rewrite Teaser Posted!

Pre-Release Story Page HERE.

Darkest Days, Brightest Nights

Act 1 - The Story of Prince Noctus (989 CR)

Chapter 1: The 10th of the Line [Complete, Self-Edited, Submitted]

Chapter 2: Months and Years [Complete, Self-Edited, Submitted]

Act 2 - Shattered Stars (1004 CR)

Chapter 3: A New World [Rewrite Complete, Edited, Submitted]

Chapter 4: Joy and Pain [Rewrite Complete, Unedited]

Act 3 - A Future in Chaos (1013 CR)

Chapter 5: Falling [Rewrite, Unedited]

Chapter 6: The Future, Today [Rewrite, Unedited]

This chapter includes Discord moonwalking on the ceiling of Celestia's throne room. In his words, "Ooh... Trippy."

Act 4 - Leading Up to Now (1005 CR)

Chapter 7: The Time Between [Rewrite, Unedited]

Chapter 8: Visiting Home [Rewrite, Unedited]

Act 5 - Before The Storm (1007 CR)

Chapter 9: Spending Time [WIP]

Act 6 - Revolution (1012 CR)

Chapter 10: Where We Left Off [Not Started]

Chapter 11: Today, The Future [Not Started]

Act 7 - Year One (1 LR)

Chapter 12: [Not Started]

Chapter 13: [Not Started]

Act 8 - Lost Cause (21 LR)

Chapter 14: [Not Started]

Chapter 15: [Not Started]

Act 9 - In Time (300 LR)

Chapter 16: [Not Started]

Chapter 17: [Not Started]

Act 10 - Found (25 LR)

Chapter 18: [Not Started]

Chapter 19: [Not Started]

Act 11 - Darkest Days (27 LR)

Chapter 20: [Not Started]

Chapter 21: [Not Started]

Act 12 - Brightest Nights (54 LR)

Chapter 22: [Not Started]

Chapter 23: [Not Started]

Act 13 - Dawn (1 SR)

Epilogue: [Not Started]

010001000110000101110111011011100010000001101001011100110010000001100011011011110110110101101001011011100110011100101110

All information is subject to change at any time.

Character Sheet [Updated For Chapter 4]

File #1

Name: Noctus Decimus

Alternate Names: Dominus Noctus the Tenth

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Eye Color: Cyan

Primary Color: Grey

Specialty: Bladecasting

Blade: Eclipse (Hybrid Cast Blade)

Scale Rating: 7/10

Notes: Could best a Princess in blade combat, despite his lower scale rating, trained to be Princess Luna's student.

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

File #2

Name: Princess Celestia

Alternate Names: [N/A]

Gender: Female

Species: Alicorn

Eye Color: Violet

Primary Color: White

Specialty: Light

Blade: Zenith (Cast Blade)

Scale Rating: 12/10

Notes: Regent of the sun, ruler of Equestria, sister of Princess Luna.

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

File #3

Name: Princess Luna

Alternate Names: Selene Moon

Gender: Female

Species: Alicorn

Eye Color: Turquoise

Primary Color: Dark Blue

Specialty: Darkness

Blade: Nadir (Cast Blade)

Scale Rating: 11/10

Notes: Regent of the moon, co-ruler of Equestria, sister of Princess Celestia.

Quotes: [N/A]

File #4

Name: Dusk Star

Alternate Names: Imperator Stellata

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn [UPDATE]: Alicorn

Eye Color: Hazel

Primary Color: Midnight Blue

Specialty: Darkness

Blade: Terminus (Cast Blade, Alpha and Omega When Dual-cast)

Scale Rating: 10/10 [UPDATE]: 20/10

Notes: In a relationship with Twilight Sparkle, from parallel universe, can't use combat magic.

Quotes: "Even if I can, I wouldn't want to conquer the world. I'm far too lazy for that."

Image:

That watch is important.

File #5

Name: Twilight Sparkle

Alternate Names: [N/A]

Gender: Female

Species: Unicorn [UPDATE]: Alicorn

Eye Color: Violet

Primary Color: Lavender

Specialty: Quantum Manipulation

Blade: Cupitor (Cast Dagger)

Scale Rating: 10/10 [UPDATE]: 12/10

Notes: Element of Magic, in a relationship with Dusk Star, formerly Princess Celestia's student, refuses to cast a full blade.

Quotes: [N/A]

File #6

Name: [REDACTED]

Alternate Names: [REDACTED]

Gender: Female

Species: Pegasus

Eye Color: Green

Primary Color: Red

Specialty: Illusions (How has no one figured it out yet?)

Blade: Burya (Cast Fetlock Dagger)

Scale Rating: [N/A]

Notes: [REDACTED]

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

File #7

Name: [REDACTED]

Alternate Names: Fleet Admiral

Gender: Female

Species: [REDACTED] (Seriously. You lazy bastards aren't even trying...)

Eye Color: Orange

Primary Color: Light Orange

Specialty: Light and Darkness

Blade: Tessera (Cast Double-Edged Blade)

Scale Rating: [REDACTED]

Notes: [REDACTED]

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

File #8

Name: [REDACTED]

Alternate Names: Commodore Leo

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Eye Color: Yellow

Primary Color: Brown

Specialty: Light

Blade: Gratia (Hybrid Cast Blade)

Scale Rating: [REDACTED]

Notes: [REDACTED]

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

File #9

Name: [REDACTED]

Alternate Names: [REDACTED]

Gender: Female

Species: [REDACTED]

Eye Color: [REDACTED]

Primary Color: [REDACTED]

Specialty: [REDACTED]

Blade: [REDACTED]

Scale Rating: [REDACTED]

Notes: Sister of [REDACTED]

Quotes: [N/A]

Image:

Flying in the face of the cyan star, the Sunsparrow sings her melody