Nocturne

Nocturne
Chapter Nine
Night Terrors

The Element was no longer the Element of Generosity, but of Greed. The purple diamond was much darker, almost black. The band that went around the neck was no longer gold either, but black. Just touching it made one feel envious and greedy.

“I just can’t get my head around it; how does one change an Element of Harmony?” Twilight paced the room as she said this. “I didn’t even think it was possible!” Twilight continued.

Rarity stared mournfully at the corrupted Element, “It was so beautiful with the gold and purple… Now it’s black and obsidian… Who uses obsidian in jewelry?”

“It hasn’t changed physically, well, other than color, only its power.” Twilight replied to Rarity, “Maybe that mare used the same process to change the Element as Discord did to us.”

“Do you think that if this happened this Element, that the others could have been changed?” Fluttershy spoke up.

“It’s not what I hope, but it is most likely what happened.” Twilight said quietly, looking at the purple necklace.

“There’s no point in just sitting around starring at it; Twilight, do you think you could try to revert it?” Rainbow Dash piped up suddenly.

“It’s worth a shot Twi.” Apple Jack concurred.

“I’m sure it can’t hurt, but I don’t know what would work.” Twilight pondered as to what could possibly work to reverse the immensely powerful magic used to change the single most powerful thing in all of Equestria.

“Perhaps a memory spell?” Rarity suggested.

“But those only work on a living being.” Twilight rebutted.

“I always considered the Elements to be alive.” Apple Jack replied.

“As have I.” Rarity agreed. “Same here.” Rainbow Dash agreed with the other two.

“I agree…” Fluttershy also agreed.

“Give it a try Twilight!” Pinkie said with her ever-usual optimism.

“Well, here goes.” Twilight’s horn started to glow. She closed her eyes in case anything happened. Something did. As she placed her horn upon the Element, there was a loud crack and everyone and everything were thrown around the room.

There was no visible change to the Element, other than some scorching where it sat and on the base.

“Maybe we shouldn’t try to change it…” Apple Jack said coming up from under a pile of books. Twilight levitated all of the books up from their disheveled positions and began to rearrange them back into their correct positions.

“We’re going to have to somehow eventually.” Twilight placed the last book where it should be.

“There has got to be a way…” Rarity said quietly to herself.

Twilight looked at Rarity’s cutie mark, and then the Element, and then back again, thousands of thoughts and possibilities and calculations were running in her head at the same time. She pushed it to the side.

An hour later, it had begun to storm violently. Twilight, Apple Jack, and Rarity were taken back to the night of their sleep over. Luckily, for tonight though, there were no trees to be struck by lightning and no mud to track into the house.

Twilight looked up at the sky and saw that she could still see the Moon through the clouds. She knew that Luna was watching over her right now; she could feel it. She looked up morosely, and could feel Luna’s sympathy through the medium in the sky.

“Sol et Luna custodierit me…” she said quietly, but loud enough for every pony else to hear.

“What was that, Twilight?” Rarity said, startling Twilight out of her conscious coma.

“Oh… it was just an old prayer to the Sun and Moon…”

“What language is it? It didn’t sound like Equestrian.”

“It’s an old, dead language, the language of a once great empire, one larger than Equestria, actually.”

“What was its name?” Fluttershy asked.

“No pony knows, the name hasn’t been uncovered yet, archeologists just call it Humanus Imperium, the Kind Empire.”

“Well that sounds kind of like Equestria, ‘Kind Empire’.” Apple Jack said.

“That’s where irony kicks in; scientists think that they destroyed themselves in a large ball of fire of some sort.” Twilight almost giggled thinking of the irony herself.

“Must have been some powerful Unicorns to destroy an entire civilization.” Apple Jack said in reply.

“Actually, it is theorized that there were no Unicorns in their Empire, not even Pegasi and the Earth ponies were used as some sort of slaves.”

“That sounds like a horror story!” Rarity chimed in, disgusted. “They must have been horrible!” She continued with fear still in her voice.

“Actually,” another actually, “They had made many advances in art, literature, and science among other things, even managing to fly amongst the stars and planets.” Twilight continued, commending the ancient empire.

“If they did all of this, why did they kill each other?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “That’s what has stumped scientists since their discovery; if you were a leader in the mightiest empire the world has ever seen, why or how could you want to destroy it?”

“Greed…” Rainbow Dash said quietly, looking at the Element.

“Exactly.” Twilight said approvingly. “Greed can make anyone do horrible things, no one being is safe from it, every pony is greedy in one way or another though; some can fight it very well, others not so well. It all boils down to how well you can manage your greed.”

“Umm… Twilight?” Spike said quietly from door.

“Yes, Spike?” Twilight said in reply.

“You have a letter…” Spike avoided Twilight.

“Well, bring it here.”

“Princess Celestia said she wanted you to read it alone.”

“If you say so.” Twilight said trotting away into the room Spike was in. Spike closed the door behind her as she exited. His face shaped as if he was bracing himself for an impact. Within thirty seconds, wails were heard from the room.

“Celestia above! What was in that letter, Spike?”

“Apparently… Shining Armor has been… capture by Nightmare Moon…” As he finished the sentence, every pony burst into a more than audible gasp.

“What? How?” “Shining Armor was spying on Nightmare Moon’s castle, but he got caught on the day Celestia came to cover his escape.” Twilight’s crying could still heard from the other room.

“Should we go in there?” Rarity asked with her voice filled with pity.

“I’m not sure…” Spike said quietly. He walked over to the door, opened it and walked in. In about five seconds, he was thrown out of the room, with the door slamming shot and locks clicking into place.

“Looks like we’re going to have to ride this storm out, too.” Apple Jack said looking out the window at the dark, swirling, and consuming storm.