The Fallen: Alicorn Amulet

Several days had passed since the zebras of the faraway land had had their visit. Empyrean woke with the smell of brimstone filling his nostrils. Brimstone? He thought. He sat up and saw that on the line that divided their room was a wall of magical energy. On the other side of the muffling spell was Nefaria with her back turned to him. She was reading a textbook from her magic class and was practicing some of its spells. Being a morning person once awake he found it impossible to go back to sleep. It was more of a curse than a gift. He turned his head to look out the window and saw that it was pitch black. Uggggggggggh He rolled out of bed and walked over to his dresser. He picked up his own book and placed it on his bed before looking at the clock hanging on the wall.

2:45 A.M.

Of course. He laid down on his bed before opening the blue book and magically levitating a quill and ink to his side. He sighed and began to scribble words down onto the pages. He looked at the horrific-- His train of thought was severed as a bang came from the other side of the room. He grunted before returning to his writing. He looked at the horrific image before him. The love of his life-- Another disruption, another bang. The love of his life was lying on the ground before him, dead. Her lifeless body-- His hearing and eyesight was far beyond that of a normal pony, being an alicorn. On instinct he cocked his head to the side as a blast of magical energy shot past his head hitting the wall behind him. It left a small, black burn mark on the paint. He puffed out hot air out of his nostrils before returning to his novel. Her lifeless body lay on the ground, cold. His horn glowed hot pink and the poison he carried with him was brought to his lips-- SMACK! "FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA!"

The cyan alicorn looked up as the pink magic dripped from his face, falling onto the bed sheets causing flowers to sprout from its wet spots. He looked up and saw Nefaria rushing towards him.

"OH MY GOSH! You should see yourself, you look simply hilarious!" She said, without even the slightest thought of apologizing, as she wiped the sweet liquid from his face with a handkerchief. The now angered alicorn erased the idea of a happy ending from his mind and scribbled down the last few depressing lines of his book before looking up into his sister's face.

"Were you up all night?"

"No. I actually woke up at 1:00 and had a sudden idea: the textbook must have something about looking into the past; so I thought maybe we could find our parents and I guess I got carried away looking at other spells and--" Nefaria began before she was cut off by Empyrean.

"We go through this every month. They're gone Nefaria. It's been fifteen years. Listen, I know it's hard, but please try to let go." He said pulling his sister close to him.

"I know..." She said as tears began to fill her eyes. "It's just I can't help it. I want to know more about them, something more than, 'Oh, you just fell from the sky.'" The alicorn pouted. Empyrean felt his agitation and crankiness leave him as he held his sister close, comforting her.

They sat there for what seemed like an eternity. Their soft bodies resting on the other's. Eventually Nefaria broke the hug and sniffed smiling. She walked back over to her bed, closed the book, and placed it in her saddle bag. The alicorn chuckled as she wiped the last of the shimmering droplets from her eyes. The sun had risen and she got herself ready to go to breakfast.

The air flowed through his mane, his eyes began to burn, and his hooves were covered in sweat. The alicorn ran down the field at full speed. His legs were a blur and his body a streak of bright blue. Once he had reached his target his entire body shifted, bringing his hind legs into the air. And with a flex of his hind muscles the pony sent the massive golden weight flying high into the air. It glided for several hundred meters before beginning its decent. After several minutes the obnoxiously heavy block slammed into the ground causing a massive shake. Empyrean gently landed next to it and folded his feathery wings against his sides. All around him were weights identical to the one before him. All dented with two large hoof prints. He chuckled as the watch on his wrist beeped. He spread his wings yet again as he left the long, lime green field and headed towards the campus's school building.

Nefaria, Midnight Fire, and Shadow Dust, all waited in the bushes giggling as their next victim opened their door.

"Hello? Is somepony there?" The amber pony asked and she poked her head out of the doorway. The string neatly attached to the door was pulled and the bucket of cold water came crashing down on the completely unsuspecting pony. She gasped before she was drenched in the frigid substance. Following the icy water was the bucket that landed on her head spinning around. The three tricksters laughed and joked as they ran away from the scene of the crime.

Empyrean walked towards the office at the end of the hallway. When they reached it his friends waved him goodbye as he picked up Nefaria's missed work, before he headed out the back doors. He was getting tired of it, having to pick up the pony's work as she merrily ditched school to go out and conduct misdemeanors on the common folk. His long, brightly colors wings carried him back to Canterlot Castle.

Shadow Dust strolled past the elderly earth pony and his horn dimly glowed sage as the old pony's bits left his pouch reappearing on the young unicorn's back. He, Midnight Fire, and Nefaria all laughed as they bought lunch with the stolen money and ate ravenously.

"Did you see his face?" Midnight Fire chuckled as he recalled relentlessly beating the heroic pony who had tried to stop him from molesting a passing female pedestrian. He continued to shovel the sandwiches into his mouth.

"Yeah..." Shadow Dust agreed. He wasn't was well build as the pegasus but he had a taste for deception and indirect mischief. He  nibbled at the salad before him.

"Tomorrow's Nightmare Night." Nefaria chimed in between gulps of scolding hot pizza. "We could pay a visit to the Everfree Forest."

"Yessssss." Midnight Fire and Shadow Dust both hissed in unison.

The matriarch of the day rested silently on her soft, comfy bed. She dreamt of her sister: the late Princess Luna. The first day she had risen the sun over all the land. The first night her cobalt twin lifted the rock white in hue over the world. The Princess of the Sun felt an experience that had been lost to her for years, she felt the unicorn of darkness exercise his powers yet again. Oh no. Her words echoed in her head. The divine ruler of the sun then felt her body again. She was standing in complete darkness. In the distance she could see her exit, her escape. With all her might she flew straight towards the floating, open doorway. The moment before she had reached it, the magical entrance to consciousness slammed shut and faded into the black.

The unmistakable, dark, booming laugh rattled her brain. The endless abyss of black filled with bright colors and the sounds, smells, and tastes of nature hung all around Celestia. This was her memory, a memory of her childhood. She was running and playing with her sister, Princess Luna, when they were both young innocent fillies. In the time before she had matured Celestia's hair was not an ever flowing, polychromatic wave of hair, instead it was a short, pink mane. Her and her sister rolled in the flowers, flew through the leaves of the dreams, and played with all of nature's animals. From her own eyes she saw what bliss and joy she and her sibling had back in their years of children. More memories and past times flashed by. The guardian of the sun's eyes began to moisturize and become wet with tears. One final, special moment froze in place. The sky was dark and filled with blessed stars and perfectly dyed clouds. Hanging to the left of the sky was a solid, pale white rock: the moon. It seemed to be moving West, as the sun rose into the air from the East. Sitting on the tallest hill in the area were the younger versions Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Behind them stood their parents. The mother was an alicorn whose fur was a pure, innocent white. As her fur extended from the center her body it changed to peach, and then darkened to a perfect purple. The father stood tall alongside her. The male pony's coat was a dark navy blue that shimmered and glistened with all the stars of the universe. Waves of emotions poured over the watching princess and the image burned. From its corners it succumbed to flame that gave off terrible, black plumes of smoke.

The smoke soon dispersed and Celestia's vision became filled with faces until a great crowd stood before her. She raised her right fore leg into the air as banners of the Lunar Republic came with it. She then was switched to an aerial third person perspective. Below her was Nightmare Moon leading her troops towards Equestria. The view shattered and fell.

Now she was in her own body. Celestia was in the Great Hall of Canterlot Castle. Beside her stood the pony who she knew would die only in a matter of seconds. Star Swirl the Bearded stepped forward allowing an eruption of golden sparks to leap from his horn showering the corrupted, ruler of the night. She stood blocking his spell with her own magic. Sweat poured from her body and her legs began to crumble, as she was forced back onto the floor. Then the most unforgivable thing happened. Tentacles of black magic and shadow rose from the cracks between the stone the floor was made up of. They wrapped themselves around Nightmare Moon and sunk into her skin. The tall, pointed horn that had waves of magic flooding from it, was surrounded by a dark blue aura filled with the night stars. The aura blackened and fell to the color of hate itself as newly installed power burst from her horn fighting back against the magical prodigy, Star Swirl. Her glowing white eyes returned to normal save one small detail: her eyes were a greedy golden shade. She was no longer in control the mare of the night watched in horror as she mentally fought her own magic, trying to stop the assault. Her magic shoved Star Swirl back onto his rump and his own magic was forced back into his horn. The curse then left Nightmare Moon.

The black tentacles traveled from her horn to Star Swirl's.

"He cannot be freed." The unicorn said as he cast his final spell: destroying his soul. It exploded outwards from his chest and his now golden eyes widened and fried as the unicorn's body was annihilated in the wake of his own magic. Filled with a need for vengeance and blood the sovereign ruler of the sun looked down at the weakened pony of nightmares.

"No, nononono! I didn't! It wasn't me!" Nightmare Moon pleaded. She hadn't killed the unicorn, she had not just murdered her and her sister's own student. Princess Celestia's horn glowed as the Elements of Harmony appeared and with a blast of celestial light she banished her sister to an imprisonment on the moon for one thousand years.

Celestia jolted upright in bed with her head feeling like it had been hit with a carriage. Everything in the room was covered in a golden shade. It was then she noticed her horn was glowing with a black cloud. She panicked as it faded and her sight brought back its colors. What had she done? What had *he** done?* Celestia threw herself through time and space and reappeared in the caverns beneath Canterlot Castle. She let out a long, relieving sigh. Before her, still fully functional, was a glowing prison, shining, blood red crystal. The same dark booming laughed shook the cave as she teleported away, far away; heading anywhere, anywhere but there.

Several thousand miles away a mountain shook, its entirety glowed with an aura of dark magic and black cloud. The item placed at its heart was awoken. The entire mountain came crumbling down as the book at its foundations woke, destroying the massive rock.