//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Three - Celestial Onslaught // Story: A Dance Between the Sun and the Voice in Her Head // by MistOverMoon //------------------------------// It went on forever around them. An endless purple tinged void of a shattered existence. In the distance, impossibly far away were tiny balls of light. Perhaps they were stars, or perhaps they were something else entirely. Rocks floated in this void aimlessly, as if remnants of a shattered world. Each rock had its own gravity, as if it believed it should be the center of everything. This was not Equestria, this was somewhere else. A place that didn't quite exist. A place between places. Celestia found herself standing on a long stone bridge. Behind her it ended into the oblivion of void but ahead of her, it extended. Far in the distance she saw a massive carved rock floating in the void. From overhead a powerful beam of purple energy shot towards the sky. Even from here Celestia could feel its power, the air itself was charged with palpable magic. This was a place she had been before, and never wanted to return. A place she had created with the strength of the darkness that once flowed through her, a place that was embodiment of her failures. Luna appeared next to her, standing tall amidst the void. Her gaze traveled the unknown horizons of the forgotten dimension. "This... reminds us of the moon." Luna said. "We do not wish to be here long." "Then let us move." Celestia said. "Please, be safe Luna. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." "Do not fret about us sister, we will watch each other, and we will win." Luna's face grew determined. Her eyes shined like two vengeful stars. "Today your pain ends." "Then let us be done with this." Celestia opened her wings. There was no air here, but it didn't seem to matter. It was as if the rules of reality had been shattered. Perhaps it was the thick magic that seemed to enshroud every inch of this place. "For Equestria, and for a better future." The two took flight. It was a long way to the giant rock. This place was lonely. That was the thought that came to Celestia's mind. There was nothing in every direction. There was nothing to find here, nothing new to experience, nothing new to see. There was nopony to talk with and share your feelings. Nopony was coming to hear your screams of rage and torment. It was a place that didn't belong anywhere. Was that paradise, to not feel the weight of burden on your shoulders, cast out of memory and space and time, or was that the deepest of damnations? There was the smallest piece of Celestia that might've wanted this fate for herself, if only to feel nothing ever again. Immortality was long. It was an existence based on the passing of time. Its approach never stopped, tearing the ponies who you came to know away from you. The ponies you loved away from you. Celestia could not even remember her parents anymore. That was a memory long ago lost. Her gaze wandered to Luna. The tips of their wingtips touched. Their eyes met and Luna gave her a reaffirming smile. An immortal life was worth living if she could have others at her side. If she could share the world with somepony else. If she could share her burdens, and experience joy and happiness. If she could face her past and move on. That would be a life worth living. Celestia turned her gaze back towards the rock. It was closer now, and its details began to reveal themselves. It was what she had seen in her dream. Two impossibly large spell matrixes that glowed with power. The outer one, a beautiful network of golden lines, was cracked and flickering. That one was for memory. The inner spell matrix, for power and containment, glowed with an ominous purple. In the center of all of it was an alicorn. His coat was stone itself. Purple crystal grew in his coat, creating a network of cracks that pulsed with dark power. His wicked horn was a conduit that touched the void and released a beacon of endless energy. His wings were sheets of purple and gray, carved into shape with stone and crystal. His eyes glowed with the power of both the matrix and the darker power it contained. From the cracked crystal seeped an endless darkness. Its fog swirled around the alicorn, wreathing him in it, embracing him in it. Chains bound the alicorn. Some were snapped and thrown off to the side, others still held fast. They were taught against the strain of the alicorn held beneath them. Even as Celestia watched another chain was ripped off, snapping to the side with such intensity that it cracked the stone beneath. It was Gaiya. The alicorn of the earth. "My sun! My little Luna!" Gaiya strained against the chains as his eyes locked onto them. "It has been so long since I have seen you two face to face." "It will not be for long." Celestia flew closer and landed at the edge of the ritual matrix. "We have come to bury thee forever." Luna landed next to her. "Bury me? Why would you ever want to do that?" Gaiya reached towards them desperately, stuck in place. "Come closer, so I can just touch you again. So, I can feel another pony again... my darling sun, please come closer..." "I can't do that Gaiya." Celestia said. "We will repair this spell matrix and lock you away forever." "Why?" Gaiya growled, his eyes flaring with power. "I just want to make everything complete; I want to make everything whole again. What's a little darkness if we can be together again? Those ponies don't appreciate you anyway, they take it all for granted. It infuriates me, it makes me want to really bury them. If only they knew just what they really had... what we all gave up for their happiness." "Our sacrifices were for the good of Equestria." Luna said. "Luna, you know that this isn't right. Nopony was ever meant to endure this darkness alone." Gaiya said. "Let it be free, that is what it wants. That is how it was always meant to be." "Equestria would suffer." Celestia said. "So what? I'm suffering! Can't I have a little happiness in this life?!" Gaiya snarled. "You promised me forever, why won't you just accept me?! When we switched places, you promised me you would come back for me. What happened?" "Do not listen to the heathen Tia. We must finish this." Luna said. Celestia stared into Gaiya's eyes. In those pits, she saw nothing. It was time to leave the past behind forever. "Work on the spell matrix." Celestia said. "You think I will let you forget me again?!" Gaiya strained against the chains and his horn began to glow. From the cracks in his body shadows seeped out. "You can't, I will not allow it. You want to forget the past? Then face it darling. Face ME." The seeping shadows grew eyes and claws. Shadowy ponies regarded them with no emotion. No emotion other than a burning hate in their glowing yellow eyes. Their stares were soul-numbing. Then, they charged silently, running through the air on hooves of mist and shadow. "I will hold it back, Luna! Fix the spell matrix!" Celestia channeled the flame burning through her body. "We have already begun!" Luna withdrew a jar of blood and smashed it onto a part of the outside matrix. Celestia took to the sky as the shadows leapt for her. They swarmed like a dark tide as she flew higher. Adrenaline surged through her veins, she had faced this before, long ago. A blast of searing energy shot from her horn, eradicating one of the shadows. Ten more took its place as a wall of glowing yellow eyes surged towards her, hungry for more. As they swarmed around her, Celestia gathered the burning energy in her chest until it was red hot. With a scream she released it around her. A scorching nova radiated from her, causing the shadows to shriek and pull away. Some of them dissipated only to reform once again a moment later with renewed hate. "ARGH." Gaiya gurgled as he strained against the chains. He lifted his hooves up off the ground. Shadowy power gathered around then. "Back away from that matrix. AWAY!" He slammed his hooves on the ground. Waves of purple crystal erupted for the stone, their sharp ends punching through the air. Celestia drew in the fire she was emitting inward before launching it at the alicorn. The beam tore into his back, blasting the stone coat black. Immediately afterward the shadows enclosed around her. Their claws ripped at her coat, drawing lines of blood. A beam of blue energy broke through the swarm of darkness. Celestia fought through the pain and took the sudden path Luna had opened with a burst of speed. The shadows reached for her as she surged out of the cloud, screeching in rage as their claws narrowly missed her back hooves. Just as she thought she was free, she noticed in the corner of her eye a gathering of energy. A beam of purple energy blasted into her side as she raised a flaming shield in the nick of time. The unstoppable beam smashed into her barrier with all the strength of an unyielding mountain. With a scream fueled by all her memories and the fear of failure, Celestia held the barrier around her. The swirling flames brightened, then turned red. A burst of flame exploded outward in an incinerating explosion that scorched the shadows that hungered. She felt drained, impossibly weak. Then, she fell. "Hold on Tia!" Luna grabbed her and soared away; her hooves stained with blood. "I will keep them back you work on the ritual; can you fly?" Feeling the weight of worlds, Celestia nodded. She forced her aching wings to move and detached from Luna. Then, she swooped towards the spell matrix. The shadows chased Luna, a cloud of swirling darkness and hungering eyes. Celestia hit the ground near the matrix on shaky hooves. Her fiery mane flowed as she looked over the circle. Quickly, she found an imperfection and took some of the blood off her coat to smear another line into place. The sight caused Gaiya to smash his hoof on the ground. A spike of crystal nearly impaled her as Celestia felt it scrape across her back. "We do not think this is working!" Luna was flying up, a swarm of hungry shadows clawing at her hooves. More shadows were slipping out of Gaiya and materializing. "Keep it up! We are getting closer!" Celestia flew as a massive crystal shattered right next to her. "No. You aren't." Gaiya said. He aimed his horn at Luna. The ridges of his horn glowed with purple energy. He started to scream as it only got brighter and brighter with each passing second. The earth around him sundered, cracking beneath the pressure. Time seemed to slow as Celestia flew towards her sister. That was not an attack any pony could handle. So, she began charging a beam of her own and flew in front of Luna. She faced the beam head on and released her own. Beams of fire and dark clashed in the void. Celestia poured in more and more power as she matched it. Her flame ignited, her mane and tail blasting outwards with immense heat. It crawled through her veins, turning blood to searing fluid with no purpose other than to burn. Her eyes met Gaiya's. They burned with longing, hate, perhaps regret. His beam surged against hers. The power grew, and the beams widened to pillars of world-shattering magic. The shadows latched onto her, clawing into her coat. They sought to crawl into the cracks they made, but her fiery blood seared them to retreat with screams. It was impossible. Celestia realized that with a drop in her heart. Even with every last drop of hate and rage and flame, it was impossible alone. The purple was just in front of her face, devouring the flame as it sought to devour her. "Together sister! Thou will not fight alone!" Luna flew over the top of her head. An avenging goddess of the night, cloaked in a swirl of hungering shadow and rotating stars. Her horn glowed and a beam of shot past Celestia's head and into Gaiya's horn. As the long claw of night struck the horn, all the power racing through Celestia found ground. Her inferno engulfed Gaiya, completely engulfing him. A purple barrier surrounded him as he screamed in agony. Beneath the flames she could see his cracked stone skin shattering further. Like shattering shale pieces of him fell away revealing pure crystal beneath. Inside the crystal, a darkness with no equal swirled. The three powers of sun, moon, and earth clashed. The gravity of this false world sucked inward like a vortex to the ritual circle. It pulsed, wavered, then swelled like an overripe fruit. Then, it exploded. A devastating explosion of multicolored purple, red, and blue magic engulfed Celestia's vision. It blasted straight through her hastily made barrier, shattering it in a second. Shards of crystal sliced across her coat, creating thin sharp lines across her body. She fell from the sky, choking for air. Her wings wouldn't extend no matter how hard she tried. With a harsh thump she slammed into the ground. Her ears were ringing and everything hurt. Was Luna okay? Celestia forced her bloody body to stand, her legs shaking. She saw Luna, collapsed in a pile on the opposite side of the stone platform. She did not rise. "Luna!" Celestia stumbled forward, crystal cutting at her hooves. As she walked, she used her blood to seal more of the ritual matrix. They were so close, so close to victory. "ARRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!!" A raw scream of pain came from the center of the ritual matrix. Cracks ran through the crystal of his body. Shadows seeped out, dripping onto the floor like blood. Gaiya was crumbling apart in chunks of crystal. He strained against the chains only for his front left hoof to crumble beneath him, shattering into mere shards. "WHY!? WHY!? WHY!? I DESERVE HAPPINESS, I DESERVE IT ALL." Celestia collapsed onto the ground. The last bit of the ritual matrix was impossibly far from her. As she looked, she noticed that there were still many sections to repair. It was impossible, they were finished. "I'm falling apart. Look at me, I'm dying." Gaiya managed to break another chain off of him. "Luna, oh Luna, why? Why did you make me do that? Why Celestia? Why? My only love, my sun...I will endure this all for you." Celestia breathed, her lungs filling with air before she could exhale once again. The world around her grew dark and the creeping shadows closed in. The phantom voices of those she had heard before swarmed over her. "You told me that ponies need help even if they don't want it! I can't allow that lesson to-" "if you could tell me what ails you then perhaps, we could begin to heal and come to terms with-" "THING?! I never chose you over her, you chose not to accept her-" "You can't handle this alone! Accept that Celestia! You told us yourself; we cannot rule alone!" "Continue down this path... and you will share my shoes." Her gaze wandered towards Gaiya. The alicorn of earth, one of the original protectors of this world. Instead of the monster, the font of failure that she thought him to be, she saw him as he really was. A broken stallion, falling apart, wronged and engulfed with darkness. This was all her fault. This was her fault, and it was time to stop trying to bury it. Celestia forced herself to her shaking legs and began to walk. She stumbled over crystal, barely able to keep herself standing. She passed the outer spell matrix and stepped into the inner one. "Tia?" Gaiya's shattered crystal eyes turned to her. "Come to finish me first hoof? Come to lock me away forever? To forget about me?" The shadows gathered above them, swirling in a frenzy. It seemed almost mocking, as if they knew they had already won. "No, Gaiya. I am ending this. This cycle, this hate, I am ending all of it now and doing what I should have done long ago." Celestia gathered all of her remaining magic and focused it on the inner matrix. It responded to one of its original creators and flickered as if in joy at her return. With a single streak of her bloodstained hoof Celestia changed the intention of the matrix. She ordered it to destroy itself. The powerful threads of magic inside the circle, bound to her command, simply unraveled. The circle went dim. Immediately the swirling shadows shrieked in joy as they felt the connection shatter. Then their shrieks quickly turned to rage as they felt themselves being drawn towards Celestia. She willed them into herself as she stepped into the circle with Gaiya. "What are you doing?" Gaiya struggled to move, his crystal body failing him. "Tia?" Luna's voice came from behind her. She stumbled towards the circle. The sight warmed Celestia's heart. At least her sister was okay. "I am taking the darkness within me. Too long have I tried to outrun the past." Celestia gasped as she absorbed a shadow. "Gaiya does not deserve this, nopony deserves this." "My sun..." Gaiya looked at her with disbelief in his crystal eyes. "...you can't handle it alone." "I know, but I have to try." Celestia gasped as the first screaming shadow entered her. The fire within burned brighter. "I can't let this out into Equestria, and I can't let the past control me any longer!" "We will help thee!" Luna stepped forward. "No. This is my final burden. My failures! My fault!" Celestia gathered more of the shadows within her and felt them pool in her fiery blood. Her magic was a vortex, sucking in every last screaming shadow. She could not let Luna bear this. This was the incarnate of everything that Equestria stood again, the shadow that stalked every evil, a substance as dark as it was powerful. "Please Tia, let us help." Luna stepped into the circle. "We can handle it together." Celestia grit her teeth against the darkness, it flowed through her and infected every pore of her body. It clawed within, and dark thoughts swirled immediately. Her flames ignited with a new hatred, a hate for the world itself, a hate for everything that breathed, that was the darkness. It felt like shards of glass were burrowing out of her body. Then looked to Luna. She was standing there, her starry mane billowing in the mind. Her face was bloody, but her eyes were shards of starlight. Nopony could bear this alone. Gently, Celestia touched her horn to Luna's. They clicked together, and the darkness entered both of them with fervor. The stream of agony lessened, and her thoughts returned to more gentle places. It was still too much. Old shadows threatened to leap from within, to shred those that bound them. Gaiya looked up at the two sisters, then down at his crystal hooves. Then, he forced himself to stand. "So now you come back for me!? After all these years!" He yelled; his voice raw with rage. "After you abandoned me for thousands of years you want to come back and make it all right!?!" "I know you won't forgive me, but I won't let the past swallow my life any longer." Celestia spoke over the roaring and shrieking darkness. "This is my fault, I will fix it, and this time, I won't do it alone!" "Your sick Celestia, after everything you have done to me you try and come back like some sort of savior." Gaiya's crystal eyes looked down. "I should leave you here, locked in this place for a thousand years. A taste of your own medicine for once your life." Celestia said nothing, she knew he was right. "You wiped me from memory, wiped me from existence." Gaiya spat, his downcast eyes full of rage. "Why did you do this to me?" "I was scared. I thought that it was the only way." Celestia held her horn against the darkness, trying to keep it steady to keep it from escaping. Overhead rends were opening in the void. The amulet was collapsing. "I didn't want to live with this darkness, I had a duty to Equestria. I'm sorry Gaiya, I'm sorry, I wanted to live, and I denied you that." Gaiya's eyes burned into her, the sadness and rage in them cut deeper than the sharpest crystal. "After everything you have done, I still can't stop loving you. Even after you tore me apart. I remember what we used to be, what we used to have. Us three, together to the end." Gaiya pushed himself to his remaining hoof. On it, he balanced and stuck his horn towards them. "You cursed me, but I will never stoop to the same. One last ode to the past then, for better or for worse." Gaiya's horn clicked against her own. The shadows screeched as they were swallowed by the three alicorns. One by one they screeched as they were sealed. The vortex swallowed them all, and they split three ways. The darkness was overwhelming, tearing the three of them apart together. Without the power of the spell matrix, it was simply impossible. Something rattled in Luna's bag. Gems, elements, beacons of harmony. They began to float out of the satchel and thrummed with power. They shot up into the air and swirled around the three alicorns. They spun faster and faster, vibrating with the essence of all that was order and good. Rainbow lights began to form from their spinning, creating chains that entered their chests. It was a sight for sore eyes. With one final rush of energy the might of sun, moon, earth, and harmony came together. It seeped into them; shadows of the past finally contained. And then the world ended.