The whole ordeal didn’t even last twenty minutes, but it was long enough. Dante had went over every undead he created from the dead griffons in no small detail. From the flesh craving ghoul to the life draining spectre and soul eating devourer, each was a weapon of destruction.

One that Luna found problematic was the one under the sheet. When Dante went to pull the sheet off, he told every guard and soldier to raise a hoof into the air immediately after. Only about a third raised their hoof right away; the others couldn’t even move. He explained that mummies have a powerful aura about them that causes those who see them to freeze in fear. They can also bestow a powerful curse on those it injures. It’s a truly frightening monster.

The other problematic creatures where the incorporeal ones. Dante explained only magic could hurt them, and even then not always. He’ll be showing any magically gifted soldiers or mages they had left how to enchant weapons to always strike them later.

After his presentation was finished and all questions answered, Dante blasted the whole lot of undead with his magic until they died again or dissipated. After he dismissed the soldiers, he flew over to where Luna and Celestia were and hung in the air, as if he were standing on something.

“See?” He says, holding a grin. “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Much better than just a speech, eh?”

Celestia glares at him, sizing him up. “This won’t go unpunished.” She says.

“Good to hear!” He says merrily. “Don’t worry. I’m sure, once this whole conflict with Aselith is finished, we can go back to killing each other.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Celestia says through barred teeth.

Dante just beams at her before turning to Luna. “And what of you, Nightmare Moon? Was my presentation acceptable?”

“I’m not sure what I was expecting,” She says, barely looking at him, “but it couldn’t have been much worse than that.”

“Awe, what’s wrong? Still mad at me? I heard through the grapevine that Iatril had a little chat with you about me. All good things, I assume.” He says with a grin.

“It’s not you I’m mad at, you stupid human!” She yells, stamping her hoof into the balcony.

“It’s not?” Dante scratches his chin for a moment before his eyes sparkle with understanding. “Ohhhhh! I get it!” He lowers himself to Luna and leans closer to her, smiling. “Meet me in my study in about half an hour. I’ll have a solution to your problem.”

Before Luna can say anything, Dante teleports away.

Celestia looks over at her sister. “You aren’t thinking about meeting him, are you?”

Luna just shrugs. “There isn’t much else for me to lose if I do.”

Luna walks back into the castle. “Be careful, sister.” She hears her Celestia say.

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

The time passes quickly; too quickly for Luna. Descending into the lower part of the castle, Luna makes her way to Dante’s ‘study’. He had mentioned in passing that it was down a passageway he tunneled towards the mountain, the entrance being at the bottom of these stairs.

Once she reached the bottom, she could see the tunnel. The hole was nearly circular, having a flat path to walk on, and was large enough to let a hydra pass through, if it ducked its heads. It was well lit, spheres of light at regular intervals down the hall illuminating it completely. It was only a short distance down before the floor leveled off, revealing one of the creatures Dante brought into servitude. It was the one with the dog face and pincers. ‘Glabrezu’ Luna thought, remembering the name.

The towering creature bows slightly before speaking. “Your Highness.” It says. “Lord Dante was expecting you. However, a situation has arisen and he cannot meet with you at the moment.”

“What do you mean?” She demands, glaring at the monster before her. “He isn’t here?”

“No, he’s here.” It says. “It’s just…he was tracked through the Abyss to this location and is dealing with the…situation, currently.”

Luna just rolls her eyes. “I don’t care what sort of problem he’s dealing with. He asked me down here and he’s here. Stand aside, NOW!” She yells, her voice sounding off of the stone walls.

The demon widens its eyes before stepping aside. “As you wish.” It says with a bow.

A large, wooden door stands in Luna’s path. No decorations or odd colorings, just a simple metal handle. Luna grabs the handle in her magic and pulls the door open, stepping inside. Closing the door behind her, she looks around the large room. It’s lit with the same lighting as the tunnel, but far more spread out. Off to the side is a table with various liquids in glass containers. Next to that is another table, this one covered with tomes and a few shafts of wood and metal. Off in a far corner, she sees a large covering over some object against the wall, possible a mirror or a portrait. On her other side are several rows of bookcases in the corner with two cushions near the center.

A shiny, yellow liquid dripping in front of her and the sound of metal clashing draws her attention. Looking up, Luna sees the demonic form of Dante. In front of him, a few feet shorter, is a creature with silvery skin and a pair of snow white wings. Around its lower body is silver-gold cloak, covering the bottom half of its body to just above its ankles. Its body looks to have sustained major wounds, all spilling the same liquid dropped before Luna. Its massive sword grinds against Dante’s, releasing sparks into the air.

“Demon!” It calls out. “I will not be defeated by the likes of you!”

“I doubt that.” Dante says casually. With one hand gripping his blade, Dante pushes against the other creature’s sword, sending it falling towards the ground. Before it hits the ground, the creature spreads its wings and slows its descent, landing softly on the stone floor. “You clearly weren’t ready for this fight.”

“It matters not!” The creature removes a hand from its sword and places it on its chest, letting healing magic flow into its body. All of its wounds close instantly, its golden blood disappearing from all but its cloak. “I am an angel! No demon shall defeat me!”

“Yeah, keep thinking that.” Dante looks over at the princess of the night, waving a hand at her. “Hello there. I’ll finish up in a minute.”

The angel spins to face Luna, staring into her eyes with its glowing white ones.

“You!” It calls out. “You are a ruler of these lands, yet you allow this creature to exist! What is the meaning of this!?”

“What’s going on here?” Luna asks, directing her question at Dante. “Who…What is this?”

“I am a solar, the highest grade of angel!” The angel declares before Dante can speak. “A native to Celestia and servant of Heironeous! Answer my question!” It replaces its hand on its sword, pointing it towards Luna.

“What are you talking about?” Luna asks. “A native to my sister? What do you mean?”

The angel opens its mouth to speak, but is cut off when Dante teleports behind it and brings his sword down, deep into the angels chest. It cries out in pain as Dante slams into it, forcing it onto the ground and slamming his foot onto the angels back.

“A simple miscommunication.” He says, holding a hand over the angel and filling it with fire. “And a perfect distraction.” With a surge of magic, a torrent of fire slams into the angel’s back and head, blackening its body and completely burning its flesh. It howls out in torment for but a moment before it’s silenced.

Dante steps off the angel, his form returning to normal nearly instantaneously. He swiftly floats over to a table separate from the others, this one holding various gemstones on its surface.

“So sorry to keep you waiting.” He says, picking up a black gemstone and floating back towards the fallen angel.

“What just happened?” She asks. “Why did he attack you?” She looks over the smoldering remains, watching pieces of the angel beginning to break apart and disappear.

“Not sure. Probably something about me being one of the greatest evils on my material plane.” Dante holds up the gemstone to the angel and casts a spell. The angel’s whole body becomes transparent and is quickly absorbed into the gemstone, leaving only its cloak and sword, plus a bow and arrows it must have been carrying, behind. “You know, the usual.”

“W-What did you just do?” Luna stammers out, staring at the gemstone.

“Uh, I sucked up its soul?” Dante says as more of a question. “You’ve cast this spell before, you know.”

“But…that wasn’t some fiend or…”

“No. Angels are champions of all that is good and, in this one’s case, orderly. This was a major victory for Team Evil.” He took the apple sized gemstone over to the table with the tomes and set it there.

“Why would you do such a thing?!” Luna screams at him.

“Because I’m a heartless bastard?” He says with a smirk. “Was that not clear? I thought it was pretty clear.”

“I…You…” Luna growls through barred teeth.

“Look, he went out of his way to attack me when he didn’t stand a chance. While I admire his tenacity, his arrogance left me with no reason to play fair or go easy on him. It would have been nice if he searched for Aselith, the greater evil, so I could trail him, but he chose his fate. But,” Dante begins floating towards the back of the room, “we’re not here to talk about his fate, are we?”

“What are you talking about?!” Luna yells at him, slowly following after him.

“Not sure. That sounded more clever in my head. We’re here to talk about your issues…with yourself.”

Luna stops in place, staring at Dante. “What?”

“Come now!” He says, nearing the covered object. “You said you weren’t mad at me—which was a bit of a lie, by the way—so you must be mad at the one who returned me to power:” He pointed a finger right at Luna. “You.”

“I…I don’t know what you mean…” Luna says, continuing her approach.

“Sure~” Dante says, nodding. “I you only helped me, a known murderer of…what, three hundred humans? That sounds right. Well, three hundred that you know of. That took me an afternoon. Given I’ve lived about one hundred years…well, you do the math. A lot of dead bodies. A lot of evil deeds unpunished. And you helped me regain power.” Dante folds his arms as Luna reaches him. “Tsk, tsk.”

“ENOUGH!” She bellows at him. “Is there some point to your ramblings? Or are you just trying to anger me!?”

Dante cracks a smirk and gestures with a folded hand to the covering. Half of the covering is pulled off, revealing the face of a mirror. Luna sees Dante’s reflection in the mirror. Or, rather…

“What is this?” She says, seeing the form of the demon right where Dante should be in the reflection. Same posture, same facing.

“This is a special mirror I liberated from a necromancer once upon a time. In addition to other peculiar tricks, it shows a person’s inner nature. That means if someone is sharing their body with another spirit or, say, a demon, the mirror will reveal it. I figured this would settle your worries. You know,” He unfolds his arms, looking over at Luna. “See if you’re still Nightmare Moon.”

Luna gapes at Dante. “But…you said you couldn’t see any trace of evil in me!”

“True, but my vision isn’t perfect. And, the evil could have simply been buried deeply. I do believe I mentioned that as well. But, more importantly,” He flung his hand out at the mirror, the remaining covers responding by flying off of the mirror.

Luna looks into the mirror to see her reflection. But…

“The mirror doesn’t lie.” He says, gazing at the reflection. “So…that’s what you looked like.”

Luna back away from the image. Every movement is mirrored perfectly. “It…this can’t be real.” She whispers.

“It is.” Dante says, stepping towards the mirror. “Look at it. Know the truth. Know yourself.”

Luna shakes her head. “I’m not like that!”

“Oh? Were you ‘not like that’ when you helped restore my powers? Were you ‘not like that’ when you went gallivanting with me in Tartarus?” Dante turned to face Luna, standing right in front of the mirror. “Face it: you aren’t as good as you say you are. You’re not as good as you think you are!”

Luna steps towards the mirror, watching her reflection. She can’t deny what she sees. The pitch black fur, the whirly mane and tail, the armor, and the eyes; those piercing, teal, slit eyes. Nightmare Moon was staring right at her.

She sighs before looking over at Dante. “So now what? What does this mean?”

“Now?” Dante looks back at the mirror.

In an instant, black tendrils shoot out from the mirror, grappling both Luna and Dante. Luna struggles to free herself while Dante remains still, his body being pulled into the mirror. Despite her best efforts, Luna begins falling in as well.

“Now the fun begins.”

~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~ _ ~

Luna awoke with a start. She clamored to her hooves, frantically looking around her. She found herself to be in the brightly lit throne room, or what was left of it. The walls were scorched and the stained glass windows were completely shattered, revealing the night sky. The roof of the room was gone, or perhaps in several heaps of debris on the floor.

“Ah, you’re awake.” A voice calls from the throne.

Luna looks up to see Dante emerge from behind the seat, wearing Celestia’s crown.

“What’s going on?!” She demands. “Where’s Celestia? WHAT DID YOU DO!?”

Dante just stares at her, smiling.

“You bastard!” Luna flares her wings and charges her horn. “Where is my sister?!”

“I’ll give you a hint.” Dante says, drawing his blade. “It involves a sharp piece of metal infused with evil magic.”

Luna shoots a blast of magic at Dante, who blocks it with his sword before flinging it into the wall, burning a hole in the stone.

“Why, Luna, you shock me!” Dante puts the back of his hand over his forehead. “To lash out in anger is so unlike you.”

“I don’t know how you did this, but I’ll make you pay for it!” She rushes Dante, horn charged and bursting with energy.

Dante flies from the throne, sword colliding with horn as the opposing magic fires out from the impact.

“Whatever do you mean?” Dante says, dropping to the ground. “What have I done?”

“Don’t play games with me!” Luna shoots a beam of magic at Dante, narrowly missing him as he tumbles to the side. “You’re behind this!”

“Oh, the unfairness of it all! I would never do such a thing, Luna!” Dante backpedals towards the doorway, keeping his distance from the princess of the night.

“Liar!” She charges Dante again, at least twice as fast as before. This time, Dante remains still. Just as Luna is about to strike, she passes right through him, landing on the floor in a skid. She looks up to see Dante floating in the air. “Tia was right! We should have destroyed you when we had the chance!”

“Tut, tut, dear princess.” Dante wags a finger at her. “You are angry, and therefore misunderstood my words.”

“What are you babbling about!?” Luna roars at him.

“Think about it, Luna.” He says with a smile.

‘What nonsense is he spouting?!’ Luna internalizes. ‘It doesn’t matter what he says, I know he did this! He…’ Luna shifts her eyes around the room for a moment before settling back on Dante.

“What did you call me?” She asks, not changing her stance.

Dante cracks an even wider smile. “Luna, my dear.”

“Why are you calling me that?” Luna yells up at him. “You never call me that!”

“True, but I never saw you as ‘Luna’ before. But now, I know you’re truly Luna.”

Luna shoots another beam at Dante, who holds his sword against it. “What are you talking about!?” She climbs through the air, pushing him back with her magic. “I’ve always been Luna!”

“Not true!” He says, not trying to move out of the beams way. “You’ve been Nightmare Moon as well, remember?”

Luna pushes him up and over the wall of the throne room, up into the night sky. “Only when I fought for eternal night before and after my banishment. I’m still Luna!”

“True enough.” Dante says, pushing back with his sword. “I don’t know how long you’ve been alive, but I’d wager you were imprisoned longer than you weren’t. Either way, that’s a considerable portion of your life.”

“You don’t know me!” Luna forces more magic into her blast.

“I know you can’t accept the truth, even when it’s all around you.” Dante keeps on with his sword.

“Your words are hollow and meaningless!”

“I’m not talking about my words!” Dante swings his blade, throwing the energy back at Luna. She dodges and prepares another attack. “Just look around you!” Dante swipes his free arm to his side.

Luna’s eyes glance over to the side before quickly looking back at Dante. She double takes at her surroundings, seeing the vast amount of trees around the castle.

“W-What is this?” Luna mumbles, looking around the forest.

“This may be Castle Canterlot we’re fighting over, but its location is the Everfree Forest, right where your old castle was!” Dante bellows.

“No…this can’t be…” Luna looks in every direction. Aside from the castle, all she can see is trees, plus a narrow path through the foliage. It was exactly as she remembered.

“The throne room is lit bright as day, but the rest of Equestria is plunged in eternal darkness.” Dante points his sword at Luna. “This, dear princess, is because you wanted it so.”

Luna looks back at Dante, but he teleports right above her. With a quick gesture, Luna is forced down by a telekinetic pulse. She barely catches herself, landing on the throne room floor. Dante teleports again, this time right in front of the throne.

“I couldn’t have done this.” Luna whispers. “I wouldn’t!”

“You’re right.” Dante says, his expression grim. “You, yourself, did not. You had her do it for you.” Dante points behind Luna with his sword.

When Luna turns around, she becomes rigid and tense.

“No…” She mouths at the pony before her.

“Yes…” The pony says aloud. “It’s good to be back.”

Luna takes a few steps back, viewing the pony in full. She knows what she sees is there. The dark fur, the teal, slit eyes. It has to be her.

“Nightmare Moon.”

END CHAPTER

Author's Note

Dun dun dun!!! Yes, the next chapter is finally out! Sorry for the delay; life happens.

So, yeah. Dante's killing angels now. A Solar, at that. And there's Nightmare Moon as well. How about that?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!