The fight was over. Tirek and Celestia lay side-by-side, near-buried in the deep snow.
Celestia tried and failed to rise. Her strength had left her.
She was not powerful enough. It was that simple—she just didn't know enough magic. Grogar was seasoned and she was young.
She heard Grogar laughing and tried to tune him out. Her eyes closed tight, but several tears trickled out.
Celestia had always seen herself as very brave. When Discord had stolen her and Luna's friendship, she had still had the determination to keep trying to stop him—and, later, to overcome his magic. She had stood up to countless monsters before now, never wavering.
But she didn't want to die.
She felt a shift in the cold snow and felt Grogar's foul breath on the top of her head. She knew he was about to kill her, but all she could think to say was... “There never was very much hope.”
Grogar didn't say anything. She twisted to look up at the ram, seeing he looked somewhat surprised.
Slowly, she got to her feet. “I'm not stupid, Grogar. Of course I couldn't beat you.”
She wasn't sure what she was trying to do. Stall, perhaps? Or perhaps she just wanted to die with dignity.
Grogar cocked his head. “You still tried. Because you're stupid.”
“No, because you're stupid.”
Grogar blinked. He hesitated.
“No, you are.”
“No, you are.” Celestia really had no idea what she was trying to do, but judging by Grogar's twisting expression, it was having an effect.
“No, you are, you stupid pony!”
“No.” Celestia took a deep breath of the cold air. “You are, Grogar.”
“No, you—gah!” Grogar stomped his hoof into the snow. “Stop that, you fool!”
“You fought me.” Celestia glanced over, noticing that Tirek was not trying to rise. Considering his injuries, that was understandable. “You wasted time fighting a filly when you could have been protecting Tambelon.”
Grogar scoffed, shaking his head at the clouds above. “Luna cannot ring the bell. Was that your great plan?”
“That doesn't change how stupid it was.”
“Stop saying—it was a tactical decision to annihilate a threat early on!”
“No, you just got mad.”
Grogar took a step back. To Celestia's confusion, he looked spooked. “How can I not, when confronted with morons like—”
“Everypony gets mad.” She saw Grogar about to object, so she quickly went on. “Everything, too. I do.”
“Princess...” She looked over at Tirek. The centaur appeared annoyed. “...exactly what are you doing?”
“I'm just saying.” Celestia looked back at Grogar, frowning. “Luna almost never gets mad, so I sent her to Tambelon. Because when you're mad, you're stupid. And right now...” She took a step forward. “...I'm so mad that I'm not even scared of you.”
Grogar blinked.
Celestia started to cast a spell. She was pretty sure she could. Just one more try.
But something sliced through her concentration. A vaguely familiar voice.
“Wow. It takes far too long to climb up here!”
She and Grogar both turned
Luna took a deep breath. Well, I suppose it's now or never.
Her horn took on a soft azure sheen as she began to concentrate. As the magic grew in intensity, her eyes turned white with power.
With a cry, she tried to shove her head between the bars.
A moment later she pulled her head back, groaning.
She rubbed her eyes. It was no good; the bars were spaced too fine. This marked the last of several attempts to overcome the power of the cell. She'd hoped that if she could just get clear, her magic would start working. Unfortunately, that was a big 'if'.
“Oh, this is too much!”
Luna's eyes shot open. She had a visitor.
Grogar had left the throne room doors shut, and the windows had gone black so she couldn't see what was going on outside. As such, the room was dark. Fortunately, her keen night vision allowed her to easily pick out the newcomer.
A scrawny white unicorn with a messy white mane and white eyes without pupils or irises had silently entered the room. Heavy bags hung under the unicorn's eyes, which was a bit odd, as Luna knew he was dead.
Luna met his blank eyes. “Hello, Auros.”
“Not who you were expecting, I should hope!” The colorless unicorn giggled, trotting over to the cell.
“I was hoping it would be somepony interesting.”
Auros Osmosis looked up at the ceiling and gave a manic, sarcastic laugh. “Witty as always, Lulu. So-o-o incredibly witty.”
Luna just scowled. “They released you.”
“Well, yes!” Auros looked at her, grinning. “Grogar needed somepony who knew where the key was. I gave him a, uh, nudge!” He cast a spell, illuminating the room with a dull gray glow. “I am a free pony, Princess! No more ghosts!”
“You are a ghost. Surely even you can realize you are supposed to be dead.”
“Yes.” Auros's grin faded and he scowled. “I've been meaning to thank you for that.” He tapped the silvery hemisphere Grogar had created. It gave a little ding like it was made of glass. “Grogar did me the substantial kindness of telling me where to find you.”
“What...” Luna hesitated. “What is it like out there?”
“Out there?” Auros blinked. Then his eyes narrowed to pale slits. He leaned in, voice lowering to a growl. “It's your chaos, Princess. They're all going to die and it's your fault for trusting the old sheep.”
“My little ponies will not fall so easily.” Luna wished she felt the confidence she was showing. “You underestimate them as soundly as you underestimate everything.”
Auros blinked again. “Excuse me? Hey!” He stomped a hoof, giving what was almost a pout. “Underestimation? As I recall, you only cheated!”
“And betraying Tia right after her battle with Arabus was the height of fair play.”
The dead unicorn sniffed. “If you're going to hand over blame just because you're all stupid, there's no point in us chatting, is there?”
“That sits well with me. You've not gotten any less irritating with age.”
Auros flinched away, looking furious. “Irritating, am I?” His horn began to glow with white energy. “Well, I'll just go ahead and cut this indulgence of mine short. Those bars only block your magic, not mine. Looks like I win Round Three!”
Luna looked at Auros. Over the centuries, she had become accustomed to the threat of her death. It seemed fitting that it would finally be brought about by the first and only pony she'd ever had to kill.
Auros gave a giggle as the light grew in intensity. “This is it, Luna. This is the start of the beginning of my story. This is—”
A blue vase came down and shattered to a hundred pieces over over Auros's head.
Auros blinked. He swayed. Water dripped through his now-soaked mane as he struggled to say something.
Instead, he collapsed.
Fluttershy hovered behind the prone unicorn, clutching the vase's now-homeless spider plant. She looked at Luna, then at Auros, eyes wider than Luna had ever seen. “Omigoodness.”
Luna had only twice before in her entire life been so happy to see somepony. “Fluttershy, are you alright?”
Fluttershy's back right leg had a piece of metal sticking out of it. The wound did not look good, but Fluttershy seemed unaware of it. She nodded, still looking at Auros. “Yes. Omigoodness.”
“Fluttershy.” Luna tried to keep her voice even. “You must destroy the hemisphere. Now, before something else shows up. I believe it is more fragile than it appears.”
“Y-yes. Of course.” Fluttershy slowly landed on the floor, setting the plant down, and crouched so that she was facing away from the hemisphere.
She hesitated; then, clearly putting all her strength into it, she kicked with her left hind leg.
There was a musical ting as her hoof softly bumped the hemisphere.
Her hoof fell back to the floor. Fluttershy looked behind her, wincing. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Hit it harder!” Luna could tell her tone was starting to get desperate. “You must, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy closed her eyes. “I—I'll try!”
She 'kicked' it again with about the same amount of force.
Luna groaned.
She heard laughter. Auros was slowly getting up, spitting out a bit of blood as he did so. “That's really pathetic, you know that?” He was not very tall—Fluttershy actually normally stood about an inch higher—but Fluttershy's crouch allowed him to loom over her. “You can't even break a glass ball.”
Luna glared. “Auros, leave her out of this.”
“She hit me with a ming!” Auros beamed at the flinching Fluttershy, leaning uncomfortably close. “I think that was rude.”
Luna pressed against the bars. “Auros, you deranged—”
“And she's a friend of yours!” Auros gave another giggle. “I think I have some sound reason to act, don't you? Turnabout is fair play.”
Fluttershy cringed. “I'm sorry!”
“You really are.” Auros's horn began to glow again. “That's just so adorable.”
“Auros!” Luna cried. “Please. This is wrong. Even you know that.”
“You can't do a thing about it.”
“It's not—”
“I'll kill this little one.” The horn's glow got brighter as Auros's pitch got higher. Fluttershy gave a tiny whimper, taking another step back. “And then I'll kill you. And Celestia. And everypony in my way.” Auros's eyes narrowed. “I will never have to—eh?”
Fluttershy had stiffened. She took an uneven breath. “Wh-what did you say?”
“Oh!” Auros waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “I said I'd kill everypony I had to.” He leaned closer. “And you can't do a thing about it. Does that upset you?”
Fluttershy blinked. “Yes.”
She brought both hooves back.
Auros's head tilted. “Wh—”
She smashed her hooves into the hemisphere. There was a harsh hum and her eyes widened as several little arcs of electricity passed over her.
Then the hemisphere went dead.
Auros stared at Fluttershy. Then he looked over at Luna. Luna looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. The bars had vanished.
His blank eye twitched.
He gave a nervous chuckle. “Uh. Well, that's, uh, well!” He took a step away from the other two. “Listen, I think—”
Luna cast a spell, and Auros slammed back into the wall. He yelped as she ran up to him. “Wait! I can—I can help!”
Luna felt her eyes begin to burn as her mind went over a code she hadn't had to use in over a thousand years.
“No! Don't—don't do that!” Auros squirmed against the grip of her spell. “You need my help!”
Her eyes began to burn hotter. She knew they would be giving off a white glow now as Auros's eyes began to glow blue.
“Don't you dare!” His voice became a shriek. “I won't go back! Don't wanna—”
There was a blue flash and Auros was gone. In his place was no more than a silver wisp of fog.
Luna jerked her head to the south. The wisp sped off with a hiss, streaking through a window and out of sight.
Luna's eyes began to slowly return to normal. She gave a sigh. “Tirek,” she muttered, “does that spell really have to be so itchy?”
“Um...Princess Luna?”
Luna looked back. Fluttershy was eying her with an expression close to fear.
Luna frowned. “I did think we had agreed on just Luna, Fluttershy.”
“Oh. Right.” Fluttershy nodded. She looked down at the floor. “Sorry. About...”
Luna hurried over, placing a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. “There is nothing to be sorry about, Fluttershy.” She smiled. “I owe you my life.”
Fluttershy sighed. “Yes.” She looked up at Luna, looking confused. “Um, did you really have to...to k-k-k-kill him, Luna?”
“Hold still one moment.” Luna began using her magic to extract the piece of metal from Fluttershy's leg. “I did not. He was already dead.”
“Ouch! Um, okay. But—”
“Tell me, Fluttershy.” Luna began casting a more complicated spell, healing Fluttershy's injury. “Do you have worms at your cottage?”
“Oh, yes!” Fluttershy's face lit up. “All kinds, Luna. Nightcrawlers and leeches and—”
“I refer to nightcrawlers. Being the Princess of the Night means I am blessed with some understanding of their...conversations.” Luna scowled. “It might surprise you to learn that they have much to say. They are useful creatures, most definitely.”
“Oh, yes.” Fluttershy nodded. “Applejack's told me how good they are for the soil.”
“Indeed. But they are all of one thought, one goal. To feed. And it is certain folly to try to control them.” She looked down at Fluttershy. “Do you understand?”
Fluttershy looked between Luna and the area of the wall where Auros had been. “I think so.”
“Good.” Luna gave a sad smile. “Because, regardless, the dead should not be wandering among the living. Which reminds me—” She approached the doors. “Now that your leg is healed, it is time to see what shenanigans Grogar has been up to in my absence.”