Prologue: Wielg Di Wer Malrunwa
~~~~~
It had been 18 hours since the moon stopped in the middle of the midnight sky. Nightmare Moon had finally made her move to take over as the 'true ruler' of Equestria. Only one thing remained between her and keeping the night eternal...
"We have one last thing we wish you to do before you and your friend are released."
Nightmare Moon's voice was sinister ,and yet, strangely soothing to the mind. Before her bowed a menacing amethyst dragon by the name of Cypher Nighttail, that had shrunken himself to better fit the princess's bedchambers. Reluctantly, the dragon looked up awaiting his last orders.
"What is your command, your highness?" Cypher responded, snarling the last word.
"Our dear sister doesn't see eye to eye with us, and is coming to put a stop to our glorious night-"
"Faust forbid that happens" Cypher growled under his breath.
"We would appreciate it if our dearest Celestia didn't make a mess of things, and you will be the one to, shall we way, persuade her to stay out of our way?"
Cypher was taken aback. Sure he had killed his fair share of immortals, but none had powers like Celestia. Still, if he wanted to free his brother from Nightmare Moon's custody, he knew he had no choice.
"If that is your wish,", Cypher rose, "your sister will be dealt with. Where is she?"
"If thy guards are correct, she'll be here in about-"
A loud CRASH! from the other side of the castle followed by the cries of the night guards.
"-now", she finished.
"Confn" Cypher chanted, as his sword Hemata Cayosin materialized in his claw. He slammed the doors open and rushed to the throne room.
Dozens of the night guards lay sprawled on the floor and against the walls dead or slowing bleeding out. The only thing left standing in the room was a Celestia, dressed in full plate metal armor with a bright yellow aura surrounding her. On either side of her were two enchanted swords levitated by her magic.
"Your sister wishes for you to stop your assault.", Cypher grumbled.
"My sister is not herself. She must be stopped before anyone else gets hurt."
Celestia could've sworn she saw a tear in the corner of Cypher's eye. Before she could say anything else, Cypher swung at her. Celestia ducked and counter attacked with both her swords. The swords bounced off Cypher's scaled arms harmlessly as he took another swing. This time Celestia jumped out of the way and took flight and casted five fireballs at Cypher. The fireballs exploded on Cypher's face, leaving a cloud of smoke where he stood. The smoke cleared to reveal Cypher still standing literally unaffected by the magic.
He smirked. "JEDARK!", Cypher shouted as a misty aura of magic sent Celestia crashing through the wall into the gardens outside. It took Celestia a moment to realize what had happened. How could I have not recognized him? She must've done something really horrific to get Cypher to protect her.
Just as the dust cleared, Cypher lunged out of the hole in the wall with sword ready for another attack. Celestia, still on the ground, rolled just in time as Cypher's sword smashed into the ground. The force of the impact still knocked Celestia back a little, but she was back up in no time. Before Cypher could pull Hemata out of the ground, Celestia flew into him. She managed to knock him down and slash a couple of times at his face with here swords, but it didn't last long. Cypher caught one of the swords in his mouth and took it in hand. Cypher pushed Celestia of him with his free hand and got to his feet. Celestia charged up another volley of fireballs and launched them. Once again, they do nothing but produce a cloud of smoke in Cypher's face. While he's blinded, Celestia channeled another powerful spell. Once the smoke cleared, Cypher charged at Celestia, only to be met by a powerful magic beam of solar energy that actually managed to bypass his resistance slightly, and sent him flying back. By the time the spell was done, Celestia took flight and started charging the beam once again. Cypher got back up and, using both hands, threw Celestia's sword at her with all his might. She caught it almost effortlessly with her telekinesis as she casted the beam again. This time it actually hurt a little. Cypher was knocked down again and was now charred head to toe. Cypher started to glow with a dim white aura.
"Ixen.", Cypher muttered. As Celestia flew a little higher to cast the beam again, Cypher reared back and with a terrifying roar, he coughed a large green fireball at Celestia. Taken off guard, Celestia got hit in the chest by it and was knocked a few feet higher in the air. Her armor ate most of the heat from the blast, but her armor had started to feel lighter. Cypher launched three more fireballs. Swerving around like a a drunk flyer, Celestia dodged all three and conjured a giant ice shard and sent it at Cypher. The ice shard was shattered by another fireball from Cypher. The aura around Cypher began to shine a bit brighter.
"Sjach adon." Cypher growled. His whole body dissolved into a black mist. Celesta tried to track where the cloud of mist went, but couldn't see it that it was already above her. Cypher rematerialized and landed on Celestia's back, sending them both down to the ground. Celestia tried to shake him off, but he had a firm grip on her and he is exceptionally heavy. The pair crashed into one of the Celestia statues in the garden, reducing it to a pile of rubble. Cypher grabbed Celestia by the collar of her armor, and engulfed her in flames. Every nerve in her skull screamed in pain as the flames ravaged her skin and vaporized her mane. Once the fire was gone, Cypher uppercut Celestia in the jaw, sending her crashing into another statue of herself, reducing it to rubble as well. Cypher chuckle maniacally.
"Is that the best you've got?", Cypher taunted, "Equestria is in jeopardy, your precious sun is blocked out by your baby sisters temper tantrum, and you can't even get past her pet?"
Celestia, now charred black, hairless, covered in rubble and likely having a concussion, gasping for air, rose shakily to her hooves. Cypher laughed again.
"Confn", Cypher chanted, as his sword materialized in his his claws.
"Face it,", Cypher started walking towards her, "you're finished. You're precious Lulu is in charge now."
"That monster isn't my sister, and I won't let her destroy Equestria."
"Pity."
Cypher swung at her. She tried to roll out of the way, but the blade came too fast and caught her in the side. Her armor managed to slow the blade down enough so that it didn't cut too deep, but Cypher had managed to draw blood. Celestia let out a cry of pain and took flight, dodging two more fireballs as she ascended. Turning to look back at the ground, Celestia saw that to her horror that Cypher, despite her efforts, looked as though he had just now started fighting. The scales that singed off from the solar beams were completely regenerated, and the cuts on his face were gone, as if he was never hit.
The white aura around Cypher was now glowing very brightly, it was almost painful to look at.
"Oh, so we're playing this game again? FLY FLY MY LITTLE PRINCESS! I'LL STILL BE FEASTING ON YOUR CORPSE TONIGHT!" Cypher roared.
Just then, the rest of the Royal Guard still loyal to Celestia arrived. Two thousand fully armored guards all armed to the teeth with spears, swords, maces, shields, bows, just about every weapon they could find. A large phalanx consisting of force fields conjured by unicorn guards, marked the front of the army. In the sky, a fleet of eight-hundred Pegasus guards flew overhead ready to strike.
"OH LOOK! THE APPETIZERS HAVE ARRIVED!", Cypher licked his lips.
Cypher spat a fireball at the phalanx. The fireball impacted several of the force fields, causing them to flicker but they were still holding strong. The phalanx began marching towards Cypher, careful to keep their force fields up. As the phalanx advanced, the fleet of pegasi began strafing runs, pelting Cypher with arrows. Most of the arrows were deflected by Cypher's scales or his sword, save for 3 that managed to wedge themselves between some of his scales, they still did not manage to actually pierce his defense though. Laughing at the sad attempts they were making to take him down, Cypher charged at the phalanx. The unicorns that weren't conjuring the force fields launched a barrage of magic bolts, fireballs
arcane beams, lightning bolts, light beams, and other standard spells. To the unicorns' demise, ALL of the magic they were throwing at Cypher exploded, ricocheted, or just plain splattered harmlessly against Cypher's scales, and succeeded only at making the white aura around him glow brighter and pissing him off. Cypher lunged directly into the center of the phalanx, instantly breaking ten of the force fields. Before anypony could react to how easily Cypher broke through ten force fields that were considered unbreakable, Cypher started swinging. After two swings, 20 guards were cut in several pieces, their armor doing absolutely nothing to stop his sword. Several of the earth pony guards charged at Cypher with spears and swords. Cypher caught the first sword by the blade and smashed it into the wielder's face, cracking his skull. Another guard tried to stab in the back with a spear, but the shaft shattered when the tip impacted Cypher's scales. Annoyed, Cypher smacked said guard into another guard's spear with his tail. Before Cypher could attack anypony else, everyone stopped and the sound of the Royal Canterlot Voice:
"Stand clear!", Celestia commanded.
All the guards quickly backed away from Cypher as a powerful barrage of overloaded solar beams was directed at Cypher. The beams collided with one another to form a massive column of light that struck Cypher with deadly precision. The beams made it impossible to look at the scene without being the sun goddess herself, and all she could see through the beam was a black silhouette of a dragon in agonizing pain as his entire body was engulfed with the awesome powers of the sun. The spell ended and the smoke cleared to reveal everything around Cypher was charred blacker than the sky. All the corpses and debris in the area had completely vaporized, and yet Cypher was still standing. Most of his scales had completely liquified and his skin made him look like a wingless black dragon. The white aura around Cypher was now so bright some of the guards were convinced that Celestia had brought the sun back already.
With a roar that made the Royal Canterlot Voice sound like a mere whisper, Cypher bellowed, "WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS STANDING AROUND FOR!?! ATTACK HIM!! KEPESK SKRIIOD SHOCHRAOS!!!"
~~~~~
Meanwhile, fifteen miles away on the cliffs west of the castle, a trio of cloaked unicorns camped waiting for the results of the battle. The largest, and only male in the trio was already in his sleeping bag snoring louder than a manticore. The other two were watching the battle play out as best they could from this distance, having just seen Celestia's solar beam barrage in action against one of their mistress's guards.
"Guess he wasn't as tough as you thought he was.", the youngest of the two spoke slyly.
"Mhm.", her companion just nodded, almost sarcastically.
"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS STANDING AROUND FOR!?! ATTACK HIM!!", they could barely make out what Cypher was shouting.
"There's no way that's him", Decca said in disbelief.
"KEPESK SKRIIOD SHOCHRAOS!!!", Cypher's shout was very audible that time.
The sleeping stallion jumped up screaming like a filly, and ran behind a rock. As sky above the castle became engulfed in black clouds, Arcaniss couldn't help but smile.
"Told you."
~~~~~
At the sound of the last word, a massive crack of lightning followed by a barrage of thunder erupted from the sky, as solid black clouds swirled above the castle. The wind started blowing with tremendous force in a vortex motion centered around Cypher. Rain began to shower as lightning started arcing between the clouds like an unstable Tesla coil. The unicorns tried to shield them selves from the storm, but none of their spells could even block the rain. The earth pony and unicorn guards could barely stand on the muddy ground and many were being knocked down or even sent flying by the wind. The airborne pegasi and alicorn however, were getting the worst of it. Despite wearing heavy armor that makes them almost immune to wind, they were all being pushed around like a spider in a sink drain. To make matters worse, none of them had managed to
keep a grip on their weapons, which were now flying around and ridiculous speeds cutting, rending, bashing, and stabbing the guards. As the highest elevated things in the sky, the pegasi were also getting stuck by magical lightning. Pegasi are born with a natural resistance to lightning, and their armor is specifically enchanted to absorb lightning instead of turning them into flying Tesla coils. However, the lightning from this storm didn't seem to care and blasted each pegasus like popcorn.
Taking advantage of his foes' distress, Cypher began slaughtering the now helpless ponies near him. Each one he killed triggered a healing effect that was slowly restoring his ravaged body. By the time he dismembered his ninetieth guard, he once again looked as though he had just started fighting, except he was still glowing white and covered in water, mud, and various pony organs. At this moment, Celestia finally managed to land oh-so-gracefully into the wall of the castle, making a hole almost identical to the first one she made. Celestia got up on her hooves. With what little concentration she could muster, Celestia casted dispel. To her discontent, the spell only succeeded in slowing the winds down by about 5 mph. She charged her horn to overpower the spell and cast again.
With a brilliant white flash, she casted dispel once again. This time, the storm almost completely vanished. The winds were now average for a storm, there was no lightning, and the gushing rain had turned into a light drizzle.
Cypher was none too pleased with his storm being dispelled. As the white aura around him became as bright as Celestia's coat, or rather as bright as it's supposed to be, Cypher turned to face the source of the dispel that casted. If he hadn't already known who it was, he never would've recognized Celestia. All of her armor, save for a shoulder pad and one of her leggings, had been ripped to shreds. Her coat, once brilliant pearl white, was now charred black from Cypher's lightning and fire breath, also cuts, bruises, and the gash in her side from Hemata Cayosin. To add to this, both her mane and her tail were completely gone, and she was covered in mud, rubble, and blood.
"Bravo! You two really know how to put on a show!", Nightmare Moon stood at the archway of the castle, "We must admit, we were not expecting thou to actually beat our sister. We can take it from here, thou's reward can be found in the high tower of the-"
Cypher was already halfway up the stairs of the tower.
Turning to her sister, "Now that he's out of the picture, let us discuss thou's punishment for ruining our castle"
"Please, sister I'm begging you-"
"And here we were expecting thou to overpower us with the, *snicker*, elements of harmony", she mocked in an unrealistically high-pitched voice.
"Luna...", Celestia was literally on her knees pleading.
"Our name, dearest sister, is-"
"NIGHTMARE MOON!!!!", Cypher roared from the tower.
The Nightmare's pupils shrunk to abnormal size. She had forgotten that she sent the egg away with her apprentice.
Cypher came crashing down trough the roof landing on Celestia's back. The sun goddess collapsed and almost lost consciousness.
"Where. Is. It?", Cypher growled menacingly. The aura around him was now cracking in a way that made it look like he forced on a shirt that was too tight that's ripping.
"I-I, uh...", the Nightmare stammered, clearly terrified, "it's n-not in there?"
Celestia moaned in pain underneath Cypher. To put it lightly, Cypher lost his shit. He knelt down on Celestia, taking her wings in each claw, he tore her wings out of their sockets, and hurled them at Nightmare Moon. She was paralyzed in horror from what just happened to her sister. As Celestia's screams filled the night sky, Cypher lunged at her sister. Nightmare Moon took flight and flew as fast as she could out of the castle. She only made it a around 50 feet from the castle when something grabbed her by the tail and hurled her through the entire castle and into the ground, creating a massive crater where she impacted.
By the time the dust cleared, Nightmare Moon looked up to see Cypher, now towering over the castle at his full size, and furious at her. Cypher inhaled slowly, and the Nightmare took flight again before the entire crater was liquified from the flames. In attempt to confuse the rampaging dragon, she flew behind him. While he may have been blinded by rage, Cypher still managed to see where his target went. Cypher open his mouth to breath another explosion of flames, only to be met with a powerful lunar magic bolt that hit him right in the uvula. His gag reflex kicked in and he vomited into the castle. Celestia managed to teleport out of the way only just in time before the entire floor of the castle became a pool of lava vomit. It would be disgusting if it weren't so terrifying.
Once Cypher recovered, his rage kicked back in as he searched the sky for Nightmare Moon. As if on queue, nine more lunar bolts came directly from the moon and hit Cypher in the face. The dragon let out a howl of fury and pain, he wasn't used to magic completely ignoring his magic resistance. Another barrage of lunar bolts launched from the moon, Cypher managed to dodge the first four but the other five hit him in the back, searing many of his scales off. As he cocked his head back to let out another howl of pain, Cypher spotted Nightmare Moon on top of one of his storm clouds channeling her lunar magic. Before he could launch more fire at her, a colossal beam of lunar energy very similar to the one Celestia casted on him earlier only much larger, erupted from the moon and engulfed Cypher in a column of searing moonlight. As the force of the beam coming from the moon stopped, the beam combusted in a massive magic explosion, practically leveling the castle and everything around it.
Nightmare Moon peered down from her cloud as the dust cleared expecting to see Cypher dead, only to be grappled by his tail. In half a second, the Nightmare went from being half a mile in the sky directly into the ground. As if he expected her to possibly recover from that, Cypher pinned her down with his left claw. In his right claw, he held his now seemingly-tiny sword.
Before she could do anything, every nerve in Nightmare Moon's body was overcome with the most intense pain she had ever experienced, as Hemata Cayosin was jammed through her right chest cavity and into the ground. It felt as though every blood cell in her body had been set on fire by the sun. Losing blood as she gasped, helplessly trying to fill her remaining lung with air, her vision blurred and lost most of it's color, she could only make out a foggy black silhouette of Cypher raising both his fists. Just as he started swinging downwards, a bright magical beam of, what the Nightmare would claim to be a rainbow if she didn't know any better, launched the frenzied dragon backwards. The Nightmare tilted her head to see her rescuer, she only saw her sister Celestia, somehow managing to stand. Before the Princess of the night could say anything, a magical aura, identical to the beam that stopped Cypher, enveloped around Celestia and fired the beam directly at her, and everything went white.
~~~~~
It took the nightmare a while to figure out that she was awake and everything around her actually WAS solid white. She started breathing heavily. Am...am I dead!?
She looked down, and saw that the hole that was in her from Cypher's sword was gone. Shaking her head in disbelief, she ran her hoof down her chest and felt a ridge that wasn't there before. A scar!? But, if I'm dead, certainly I should be able to remove this right? Unless....
The Princess of the night looked around more observantly at her surroundings. White, literally all she could see was the color white in every direction. It took her a moment to realize that despite her efforts to stop fate, she was indeed banished from Equestria. To make things worse, she had been banished to the one place that Celestia knew would mock her the most:
She was banished to inside of her own moon.
The Nightmare curled up into a ball. If anypony had been around, the only thing they'd hear were quiet sobs.
