//------------------------------// // Chapter I: She Who Rules the Night // Story: Concordia's First: Mingling Worlds // by Albi //------------------------------// Mingling Worlds Chapter I: She Who Rules the Night Nightmare Moon slammed Celestia against the rough stone walls of her prison cell, a tempest of fury and anger in her draconic eyes. Celestia slid down the wall and came to a rest at her tormentor’s armored hooves, her dull pink hair falling in dirty clumps on and around her face. The greying alicorn who had previously been asleep before the assault weakly opened an eye and looked up at the glowering beast before her. “Good morning Luna,” she smiled loosely, her voice a rasp whisper. “Or is it afternoon? It’s so hard to tell nowadays.” Nightmare Moon stomped her hooves and snorted in angry protest. She had very little patience tonight and she was in no mood for Celestia’s petty attempts at sisterly love. The miasma of stars and clouds that was her mane reached down and circled around the alicorns neck just above the inhibitor collar that disabled her use of magic. It tightened its grip and raised Celestia so she was at eye level with the black alicorn. “Do not play games Celestia! I am on to you! I saw a vision, a prophecy! I saw the sun!” Her voice and anger rose as she continued to speak. Her magical grip tightened around Celestia’s neck, yet the prisoner’s face remained insensible. “I don’t know how you did it but I know it was you! You were hiding those wretched little rats! And I bet it was you who showed them how to do that horrible magic of yours during their pathetic revolution!" Nightmare Moon’s breaths came out in slow seething gasps as if she had just flown a great distance. Celestia merely stared at her, or rather through her. Her eyes were locked onto her sister’s, yet they were unfocused and vacant. “Oh, Luna, you used to be so pretty,” she said dreamily. Her front hoof rose to stroke Nightmare Moon’s face, but the chains holding her to the wall snapped tight before she made it even a quarter of the way. Nightmare Moon hissed and slammed her against the wall multiple times before holding her up to face level again. Celestia for her part had not made a sound. She was used to the physical violence inflicted by her sister; she had endured it for the better half of a millennium. In all honesty Nightmare Moon was being rather lenient today. Celestia met the black alicorn’s harsh glare with her usual distant look, as if she were daydreaming. “Why are we fighting Luna? We can still talk this out; it’s not too late for you…” The end of her proverbial rope reached, Nightmare Moon flung Celestia onto the ground with an enraged shriek and lowered her horn. It glowed with a sinister shade of blue, so dark it was almost black, and let loose a bolt of lightning into her captive’s body. Celestia screamed in agony for a few seconds before merely twitching and convulsing violently on the cold stone floor. Nightmare Moon kept up the onslaught for a few more seconds before cutting the flow of magic. She let Celestia twitch helplessly on the ground for a moment before grabbing the alicorn up in her mane. Celestia’s head went limp in the magical choke hold. She leaned to one side, a pained smile on her face. Nightmare Moon shook her violently to drag her out of her stupor. “Are you willing to talk now sister?” Celestia slowly raised her head once more. Her pupils were wide and moving erratically. After a moment they returned to their original size and distant expressions. “Good morning Luna. Or is it afternoon? It’s so hard to tell nowadays.” Nightmare Moon let out a snort of frustration and threw Celestia against the wall. “Worthless,” she spat. Before turning and existing the prison cell. The empress of the night slammed the door shut behind her and stood in the pitch black corridor. She took a deep breath and began to organize her thoughts. The last hour had been a whirlwind of emotions, most of them anger and frustration. But there had been a brief instance of fear as well. Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and replayed the day’s earlier events in her head trying to understand what she had just seen. ****** Earlier… ****** The throne room was silent save for the patient tapping of a hoof against the velvety purple carpet that ran from the door and up to the ebony throne. The room was sculpted entirely from polished silver which gleamed bright in spite of the dim lighting given by the blue fire in the braziers lining the wall. Nightmare moon sat calmly on her throne, her hoof tapping in a steady rhythm; eyes locked on the ornamental door across from her. She was expecting good news to come through that door. News of death and destruction. News that her enemies had finally fallen and nothing could challenge her rule again. The very thought sent a wave of emotions through her. The empress closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself; but she could not ignore the feelings of anger and annoyance rising in her chest. How had they managed to elude her for an entire century? How could they hide an entire village? She slowly shook her head, her billowing mane waving in contrast to her movements. She opened her eyes and allowed herself a smile revealing her sharp fangs. It did not matter anymore, they had finally slipped up. All it had taken was one unwise foal to wander off into the hooves of her soldiers; now she had them all cornered. Yes, soon the unicorns would be nothing but a fairy tale. Nightmare Moon’s smile grew wide across her face splitting from ear to ear in triumph. This was the inevitable outcome of all those who would stand against her. She would deliver death, as much death as needed to teach the intended lesson, and for the unicorns that amount was extinction. The lesson being, never try to raise the sun. The empress shuddered at the very thought. Had these ponies not learned during her rule? The night was absolute, no pony could change that! The alicorn’s thoughts were disturbed by a loud knocking against the throne room doors. She stood up, excitement pumping through her causing her heart to race. She looked down from her dais to the two guards standing by the door. With a curt nod the earth ponies grabbed the handles and pulled the large door open. A lone unicorn emerged from the cluster of shadows just beyond the door. He kept a slow even pace as he crossed the room, his steps heavy from the thick steel armor he wore, his head bowed the entire way. He stopped in the pool of light provided by the full moon from the skylight above and dropped to his knees in a bow. “Your Majesty,” he rumbled. Nightmare Moon nodded. “Rise and speak Sombra.” Her archmage, Sombra, was one of the few exceptions to the merciless onslaught she had given the unicorns. He had served her very faithfully over the last one thousand years, ever since she had freed him from his icy prison. The dark unicorn rose, his red eyes locked on to the imposing regal creature before him. He cleared his throat before speaking, “Forgive me Your Grace, but they managed to catch wind of our assault before we arrived. Most had fled by the time we got there; however, we did manage to catch three.” Silence. An all-consuming silence filled the hall causing the guards to drop to the ground in fear of their master’s wrath. Nightmare Moon pierced Sombra with a stare that would have given any normal pony nightmare so horrid and vivid, they would have begged for death. Sombra however, did not flinch under the mental assault and if he had any fear he did not show it. Finally, after what seemed like a grueling eternity, Nightmare Moon spoke in a deadly whisper. “Three, Sombra?” Sombra dropped to the floor in a low bow once more, his nose almost touching the ground. “Please forgive me Your Eminence. I-” His sentence was cut short by Nightmare Moon’s mane coiling around his neck and flinging him against the wall leaving a remarkably sized dent in the silver. “YOU IDIOT!” Nightmare Moon roared. “HOW COULD YOU ONLY CAPTURE THREE UNICORNS!?” Her body evaporated into a cloud of stars and reformed in front of a staggering Sombra. She raised her hoof and pinned him to the wall by his throat. “You’re the second most powerful mage in the world and you let them slip through your hooves… how?” Sombra’s face remained impassive. “The same way we were not able to track them for the last century?” he growled in a monotone voice. Nightmare Moon’s eyes began to glow in white hot fury. Sombra felt his body rise into the air, no longer supported by the alicorn’s hoof. Trapped in her magic, Sombra’s body slammed against the tiles; once, twice, three times. With each impact Nightmare Moon screamed, “Insolent. Little. Foal!” She released him on the fourth drop at which another dent was created in the floor. Sombra quickly stood up and faced his empress who was gritting her teeth in frustration. “There will be punishment, Sombra!” “Understood… Your Majesty.” Nightmare Moon took a deep breath before continuing, “Very well, tell me then how you managed to capture these three in particular.” Sombra cleared his throat again. “Two of them were too busy trying to make sure everyone escaped in time to save their own flanks. The last one came to us actually in a, ahem, noble attempt to save ‘mommy and daddy.’ The effort might have been touching if it hadn’t been so ridiculous.” “I take it that you captured them alive?” “For interrogation, yes.” “Very good, bring them in.” Nightmare Moon made her way across the throne room and stood In front of the dais awaiting her new prisoners. Sombra raised an iron clad hoof and stomped on the silver floor twice. The sound echoed throughout the chamber and out through the open door. Three pegasi in midnight blue armor came through the door in a delta formation. Between them were two adult unicorns and a filly, all looking terrified. The pegasi brought them into the circle of moonlight and forced them to kneel; a back hoof in-between their shoulders and a spear at their necks just above the inhibitor collars that had been placed on them. Nightmare Moon sized them up before speaking. “So, you thought you’d play the ‘valiant heroes’ and save everypony else from my wrath? Well, all you’ve done is bought them precious little time,” she sneered. The stallion spoke first, inching his head up just a few centimeters to better see his empress. He was a blue unicorn with a cutie mark of a large crescent moon with a smaller one inside it. “Please Your Majesty; we just wanted to live a normal life.” “Hah,” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “If that were true you could have simply-“ “Where’s our son?” the mare interrupted. The black alicorn eyed the offending pony before her. She had a silver coat and her mane and tail were striped purple and white. There was a fire burning in her eyes, the fire of a protective mother. “Your son?” Nightmare Moon mused. “You mean that darling little colt belongs to you? Such irony; though I would be more worried about yourselves if I were you.” The fire in the mare’s eyes intensified as she jumped to her hooves, stunning the guard with her sudden feat of strength, and screamed, “YOU TELL ME WHERE- GAH!” The pegasus had guard quickly recovered from his shock and struck the butt of his spear into the side of the mother’s head eliciting cries of horror from her family. “No one talks to Her Imperial Majesty that way,” he growled. He moved his spear back to her neck, pressing the tip into her skin so it began to draw a trickle of blood. Nightmare Moon stepped into the circle of light, her sapphire armor sparkling in the moon’s glow, and leaned down into the mare’s face, a look of vast superiority on her own. “Do not worry, he’s in good hooves. You might be able to join him if you just answer a few questions.” The silver mare glowered at her. “We don’t know anything.” “I highly doubt that,” Nightmare Moon continued in a calm even voice. “Now tell me, where did the others run off too?” “I don’t know.” Nightmare Moon quickly backhoofed her across the face causing the spear against her neck to jerk forward slightly and open a small cut across her neck. The purple filly next to her screamed, “Mommy!” The mare turned her head and tried to give her a daughter a brave smile despite the blood trailing from her lower lip. “It’ll be alright, Twilight, I promise.” Nightmare Moon snorted in mild amusement before continuing her interrogation. “Tell me what the unicorns are planning.” “We don’t have a plan.” SMACK “Please Your Majesty,” the stallion cried, “we really don’t know anything, she’s telling the truth!” The Empress of the Night raised her head up and smashed a hoof against the floor shouting, “Lies! If that’s true then how did you know my troops were coming!?” “I- I can‘t really explain it. It was just like, a voice in all of our heads, telling us to run; that trouble was coming.” Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow and snorted again, “You expect me to believe that?” “It’s the truth Your Majesty! Please just let us be!” he pleaded. Nightmare Moon grinded her teeth, her patience wearing dangerously thin. She had been so close to victory only to have it snatched from her hooves by some mercy of fate. No, she decided; she would get answers one way or another! She looked between the mother and father unicorns, a devious grin forming on her face. “Alright, perhaps you just need a little... persuasion to loosen your lips.” She gave a nod to the middle pegasus pinning down the filly named Twilight. He nodded back and raised the spear high over his head, the point aimed directly at the back of the foal’s skull. “You have three seconds to tell me what you know or the adorable little filly meets an early death,” she said in a calm whisper. Three sets of eyes widened in horror. Twilight’s breath began to quicken, her eyes darted back and forth between her parents. “M-mom, dad?” she quivered. Tears were already falling down her face. “Shhh, don’t worry Twilight, mommy’s here, everything will be fine,” her mother soothed, reaching a hoof over to comfort her. “Please don’t do this!” the stallion cried, his trembling voice becoming louder. “We don’t know anything; we were just trying to live our lives!” “One,” Nightmare Moon began counting down. “Mommy, I don’t wanna die!” “It’s going to be alright sweetie. You’re going to be fine I promise.” “Two.” Mommy I’m scared! “PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, SHE’S JUST A CHILD!” “Three, kill her.” “NOOO!” both parents yelled. Twilight screamed as the spear began to come down. Her horn lit up and emitted a bright light suddenly throwing the pegasus off of her. The inhibitor collar around her neck made several loud cracking noises before falling off to the floor. She floated into the air, her eyes completely white from the magic flowing through her; her horn glowing brighter with each passing second. The two remaining pegasi guards retreated back towards the doorway where the other two earth stallions watched with rapt attention. Nightmare Moon even began to back away from the small unicorn. “What sorcery is this?” she cried just as a raging wind began to howl around Twilight. Sombra, who had remained silent and impassive throughout the interrogation, pointed up to the air above the filly’s head. “I believe she’s creating something!” he yelled over the rising tempest. All eyes locked on the space Sombra had pointed to where sure enough, a ball of bright light had formed and was continuing to build. Nightmare Moon squinted her eyes as the ball’s luminosity became increasingly unbearable. Shielding her face with a wing, the alicorn began to step forward, determined to stop the small foal before she could unleash her spell. She had only made it two steps before a loud tearing noise echoed throughout the throne room. There was a sudden pressure and the next thing Nightmare Moon knew she was on her back, yards away from the large sphere of energy which had begun to ripple like a disturbed pond. An image formed, faint at first as if viewed through a foggy mirror, but it quickly came into focus followed by a cacophony of noise and sounds. Nightmare Moon stood up and gazed upon the odd visual display. Inside the sphere, hundreds, if not thousands of colorful ponies were gathered around a decorative stage. Banners and streamers of red and gold adorned it, and on the main banner just overhead the center of the stage was a design of an orange ball with eight curling spines that looked like the embers of a fire. Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes at the familiar symbol as a thousand thoughts began to race through her head. A well-dressed stallion proceeded to walk onto the stage and the crowd instantly fell silent. He began to speak, his voice resounding through the silver hall as if he were in there personally. “Ladies and gentlecolts, welcome to our 988th Summer Sun Celebration held this year in our lovely capital city of Canterlot!” There was a chorus of loud cheers and applauds before the noise settled down enough for the stallion to speak again. “Now without further ado, I give to you our benevolent ruler, our guiding light, bringer of the dawn, and protector of Equestria… Princess Celestia!” The crowd erupted into noise once more as the stallion bowed off the stage making way for a tall, slender, white alicorn to take his place. Her mane flowed in a rainbow of colors and her smile was warm and inviting. Sombra’s eyes widened with puzzlement and interest, while Nightmare Moon spat and hissed, “Celestia!? That’s impossible!” The remaining guards and the two unicorns looked on with pure confusion, unable to make heads or tails of what they were seeing. Twilight continued to stay suspended in midair, her eyes still white with power and her horn thrumming with energy. Inside the image, Celestia smiled and waved to the cheering crowd as a dull pink color began to fill the night sky behind her. She continued this for a few moments before standing up tall and spreading her wings. With a graceful leap, she took to the sky, lifting her hooves high above her head as a circle of bright light exploded behind her. As everyone in the audience cheered, the attendees in the throne room all cried out in pain and attempted to shield their eyes from the harsh light. It filled the entire room, every nook and cranny, covering it in a bright luminance. The harsh light suddenly vanished as the image dissolved into nothingness, leaving the room in its comparably dim moonlight. Twilight fell to the floor with a small thud and groaned quietly before slipping into unconsciousness. Her parents rushed to her side, checking to make sure she was alright. Nightmare Moon meanwhile was rubbing the spots out of her eyes while her mind reeled with incomplete and incoherent thoughts. What had she just seen? Was it a vision of the past? No, she would’ve remembered something like that; and how would have the unicorn known about as well? Was it a vision of the future? Would Celestia return to power and bring back the sun? The empress stood up once more. She hid the fear building in her stomach with a mask of anger. “Stop your pathetic sniveling you foals!” she called to the guards gathered at the door, all of them moaning and rubbing their eyes. Upon hearing their empress’ voice they quickly snapped to attention though their eyes continued to blink at a rapid pace. “Take those two to the dungeon and have them executed,” she pointed to the adult unicorns. “And have that one fitted with a new inhibitor collar and throw her with her brother, I might need her later.” The guards saluted and flew over to the unicorns who began crying and struggling to stay together. There were screams and cries of anguish, but eventually the unconscious foal was removed from her mother’s hooves and taken out of the room first followed by her sobbing parents. The door swung shut behind them leaving Nightmare Moon and Sombra alone. Sombra’s expression had become unreadable once more. He stood rooted in place as he watched the black alicorn pace back and forth with his fiery eyes. Nightmare Moon murmured and mumbled to herself occasionally stopping to grit her teeth in frustration. She finally came to a halt and said, “Sombra, wait here. There is somepony I must see.” Not waiting for a reply, she stormed off towards a small door hidden behind the dais. Behind her she heard Sombra mutter, “Of course Your Majesty,” unable to see his look of disdain. ****** Nightmare Moon left the holding cell angrier than she had entered it. She was convinced Celestia’s brain was too scrambled for her to be able to plot anything against her rule, let alone raise the sun. And if the unicorns had really wanted to raise it they would have done so by now, providing they had the power. That only complicated things for the immortal ruler. The vision she had seen was too vivid and too… unsettling for it to not to have been some form of reality. The question was how did it affect her? Nightmare Moon entered the throne room once more to find Sombra sitting at the foot of the dais, eyes closed in deep concentrations. She moved past him, as silent and as swift as the wind, coming to rest on her black throne. She cleared her throat to alert the unicorn of her presence. Sombra opened his eyes then raised an eyebrow. “Well…?” “Well what?” Nightmare Moon snapped. “Your thoughts on the matter Your Majesty; I was merely curious to know what you might think of what we just witnessed. Even you have to admit it was… intriguing.” She let out an irritated growl. “I am not sure what has just transpired, Sombra. I’ve seen Celestia and she is in no condition create an outcome like what we saw. Besides, she’s been producing magic at such a small rate I don’t even think I’ll be able to siphon it from her anymore. Her time is almost up.” She stomped a hoof against the tiles in frustration and cracked one of them in two. “So no, Sombra, I don’t have any ideas… but I’m guessing you and your brilliant mind have come up with something?” Sombra gave her a toothy smile showing his own pair of sharp fangs. “Well, I do have one idea. Bear with me Your Majesty, but what if what we saw was not the past of the future, but the present?” It was Nightmare Moon’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “The present?” “Yes, not our present mind you, but the present of an alternate world.” Sombra leaned forward as he finished his sentence, his eyes wide with excitement. “Tell me My Lady, what year is this of your magnificent defeat of Celestia?” “The 988th,” she said automatically. “Exactly, and do you recall what year of the Summer Sun Celebration they were celebrating in that image?” The alicorns eyes widened then narrowed again. She gave him a hard, scrutinizing look, “What are you getting at?” Sombra turned and began to pace the floor in front of the dais. “Perhaps what we gazed upon was an alternate possibility of the outcome of yours and Celestia’s battle. Perhaps this is the timeline where you won and shrouded the world in your beautiful night, and the other was the one where… well, where you had a short coming.” Nightmare Moon tapped an armored hoof against her chin as she mulled over his words. A world where Celestia had beaten her? No doubt though some sort of trickery. It was an interesting idea; however it brought a new question to mind. “Sombra, if we can see them, is it possible for them to see us?” He shrugged. “I suppose it is possible.” Nightmare Moon jolted up from her seat as if she had just been electrified. “That’s it isn’t it!?” she shouted. “That’s who helped those unicorns escape! Not our Celestia, but the alternate one! She’s aware of our existence and no doubt plans to come to our world and end my Eternal Night!” “So then what is your plan Your Grace?” She looked down at him with a shrewd smile. “Congratulations, Sombra, you’re being reassigned. You will lead a research team and find a spell that will allow us to reach this other world. We will strike them before they can strike us!” Sombra cleared his throat. “Not to object Your Majesty, but what about the unicorns?” She waved a hoof dismissively. “Bah, they are like rats trying to hide now. My guard shall locate them all and exterminate them soon enough. No, we have more pressing issues to attend to, so get to it!” He saluted. “Of course Your Majesty.” He turned and marched out of the throne room, his metal shoes clinking every step of the way. The door closed behind him with a loud slam leaving the Night Empress alone. She smiled contently to herself. Celestia thought herself clever, but now that she, Nightmare Moon, knew of the parallel dimension, she would once again prove herself superior. Soon she would rule an eternal night over not one, but two worlds! She threw her head back and let out a mad cackle of glee. The sound filled the air and reverberated throughout the whole Lunar Palace.