Darkest of Nights

by KrisProwler

Royal Ascension

"Hilarious! Ha ha ha ha-" The maniacal laughter of the draconequus finally died out as the creature's head was finally affected by the spreading transformation. Once completed, all that remained of the ex-ruler of Equestria was a stone statue of his likeness. Barely standing in front of the statue stood two very unique ponies, the only two of their kind in all of Equestria. Both of them stood panting heavily, their eyes locked on the statue of the strange creature they had just turned to stone. They waited and waited, expecting the creature in the statue to break free, but no movement came from the rock.

They had done it, they had defeated the tyrant Discord, ruler of the land.

"We... we did it. We've defeated him." Celestia said, her legs giving out and causing her to collapse on the ground. She was soon joined on the scarred landscape by her sister Luna who also fell from exhaustion. Strewn around both their bodies lay six gems that were glowing abnormally bright, and as their light faded Celestia looked over at her sister and smiled. " Imagine, the tyrant king felled by the very power he brought into being. I guess these gems did hold as much power as Starswirl believed they would."

Luna didn't return the smile, instead lowering her head and shedding a single tear for their late teacher. "Please, sister, do not remind me of him. It's still too painful to think of him." she said solemnly.

Celestia nodded, getting shakily back to her legs. "It still hurts me to think of him, too, but you know that he would not wish for us to mourn him when there is still so much work to be done. Come, sister, we must spread the word that all ponies are now free of Discord." she said, managing to summon enough magic to lift up the six gems and place them in a velvet bag for safe keeping.

Luna nodded and got to her hooves as well. "Yes, sister. Equestria is finally free."

* * *

As word spread across the land that the two sisters had defeated Discord, every city, town, and community unanimously agreed that Celestia and Luna should become their new leaders. Both sisters were hesitant to assume such a large role, but it soon became clear that they were desperately needed. Long before Discord had taken over, the pegasi controlled the weather and the unicorns were in charge of raising the sun and moon, but after coming to power Discord had assumed these duties. His terrible powers corrupted the sun and moon so they rose and fell at random intervals and strange, unnatural storms and other ruinous weather patterns would sweep randomly across the skies. Though they tried with all their power, neither the pegasi nor the small group of unicorns who remembered the complex spell of raising and lowering the sun could not muster enough power to take back control of their charges. Only Celestia and Luna's combined powers had proven enough to break the sun and moon free from Discord's chaos and finally bring order back to the world. Thus they had cemented their place as the new rulers of Equestria. Though they were reluctant to accept their new positions as rulers and being caller 'Queens of Equestria', they ultimately accepted their new roles but at the insistence that they be called 'princess' as to not sound like heavy-hoofed rulers.

Ten years into the rule of the alicorn sisters, life in Equestria finally began to resemble normalcy after what had seemed to be hundreds of years of chaos and terror. Though in reality it had been only scant months; at its peak, Discords chaotic influence had managed to pervert even the flow of time. The sun and moon once again rose and fell in predictable patterns and ponies could go about their lives without worry of Discord suddenly appearing and causing something dangerous random to happen.

Celestia and Luna had taken up residence in Discord's old castle; however the taint of his presence still lingered heavily over the castle and the land surrounding it, so the two sisters opted to have a new city built farther north and to become the new capital of Equestria. An army was also raised to help spread order and calm as ponies across the land converged on the new capital to offer their services to the princesses. Many of the wealthier citizens of Equestria moved to the new city of Canterlot to be closer to their saviors, and plans for smaller villages and towns around Canterlot began to be formed so even the common ponies could be closer to their leaders.

Just in case some unseen threat remained hidden somewhere, Celestia and Luna decided to stand watch over their new kingdom all day and night; Celestia standing guard during the day and Luna keeping watch at night. Celestia had her hooves full with overseeing so much activity across so much land during the day, but at night Luna was left with hours of nothing to do as almost everypony was asleep during her watch.

To help pass the time, Luna decided to make her nights more appealing by sending thousands upon thousands of stars into the black night sky, and her work had an immediate effect on everypony. Almost all of the citizens of Equestria stayed up later to stare in awe at the sparkling sky that Luna had produced, and to keep her new audience from becoming bored she changed the positions of her starts each night and added shooting stars to streak across the sky. Her beautiful masterpieces were the most popular topic for a while, but as days became months and years the ponies started to retire back to their beds instead of staying up late to admire Luna's work. At first the princess of the night was hurt by the betrayal she was shown, but Celestia managed to calm Luna's anger by explaining that though their subjects needed their rest, they still thought Luna's work was beautiful. Luna listened to her older sister and nodded in understanding, but deep in her heart she still felt the sting of being ignored...

* * *

"For the last time, Luna, the answer is no!"

Time had passed uneventfully since the founding of Canterlot and peace was once again spreading throughout Equestria. With the major construction of the capital completed, Celestia and Luna had turned their attention to creating a stable government to help them oversee many of the everyday tasks that needed addressing. Though almost every single pony was content living under only the two princesses' rule, the two had insisted that other ponies hold some position of power to create a balanced system of power, and thus the Congress of Canterlot was created. With the congressional gathering now in place, both sisters could finally relax a bit and have some time to themselves, though they still had to raise and lower the sun and moon every day.

With her extra free time, Celestia took the opportunity to meet her subjects and assure them all that she and her sister would be nothing like Discord, and that protecting everypony from harm was their first priority.

Luna, on the other hoof, began to focus on the problems the fledgling kingdom still faced. While Equestria, and Canterlot in particular, had grown safer and more secure under the princesses' rule, there were still growing pockets of crime and unrest. These crimes ranged from petty things like theft, to more violent, reprehensible acts. As she began to notice these trends, Luna became further agitated by the fact that the majority of such crimes were being perpetrated under the cover of her night.

While the Royal Guard were well trained and ever vigilant, it had become clear to the night princess that they were simply unequal to the task of quelling such corruption completely. In fact, it seemed factions within the guard had in fact become corrupted themselves.

In secret, Luna had begun training an elite group of the unicorns under her command to wield the magic she had learned from Starswirl years before. The forbidden magics proved to be too much for many of the unicorns to handle, and their sanity began to crumble the more they learned. To combat this, Luna began to indoctrinate the ponies she had selected, sealing away their personalities and memories. Only then did her efforts meet with success. The new guards were cold and emotionless, but also powerful and unquestioningly loyal. They were perfect.

Now the princess of the night stood before her elder sister with her proposal to officially create an elite fighting unit; the Blackguard. To show that the new force was ready to be of use, Luna summoned the small elite force that she had been secretly training for the past year, but Celestia quickly ordered them back to their barracks. Ignoring the feeling of fury she felt from her sister trying to hide such a lethal force, she tried her best to remain calm while she allowed Luna to explain her actions.

Her little sister had said that while the Royal Guard was fine for every-day policing and guard duty, they were not capable of taking on special missions and severe weather. However, Luna boasted that her Blackguard could handle almost any type of weather and specialized in infiltration and tactical combat, making them the ideal force to send in first to clear the way for the regular guards.

Though she had to admit that having these highly trained ponies had some uses, Celestia quickly said no to the proposition. Celestia's rejection did not sit well with Luna, and they soon found themselves in a pitched argument.

Luna stomped her hoof in frustration. "We have no choice! If we wish to protect Equestria we must raise an army capable of invading another nation if necessary, not just guard our cities! If you let me demonstrate what my current force is capable of you'd agree with me and see that having the Blackguard will benefit ponies everywhere!"

"This is not the direction we need to go in." Celestia countered. "If we raise an force of this size and capability, even in secret, we will never achieve the kind of peace every creature deserves to enjoy. There's no reason to summon a massive army when diplomacy and talks can solve any iss-"

"No it won't! How can you not see this yet?" Luna interrupted. "Were you able to talk down Discord? What about the next crazed creature that rises to power? You of all ponies should know that there are times where force is the only way to solve a problem! Even our teacher was able to acknowledge that! That's why he created the Elements of Harmony and sacrificed himself so we could use them to protect Equestria!"

Celestia was stunned by her sister's outburst and felt a slight wrench in her gut as she knew that Luna spoke the truth. Still the sun princess had severe misgivings about what her sister had created. "Luna, listen to yourself! What you're suggesting flies in the face of everything we promised the ponies of Equestria when we agreed to become their leaders! We are meant to protect the ponies that look to us to rule!"

"And we shall! My Blackguard are more than capable of dealing with the crime that still plagues our ponies daily! With their power, we could achieve true and lasting security in Equestria! Think of it Tia!"

"I have, my sister, and I have seen where such a thing would lead... Equestria would become a fascist state! The ponies would learn to resent and fear us rather than revere us!"

Luna flinched at her sister's mention of the ponies supposedly revering them both, but ignored it to continue to voice her argument. "But that is the true beauty of my proposition sister; my Blackguard are capable of operating in complete anonymity. To the common ponies they will not even exist! Nopony need fear our rule, all they will know is that their homes and families are safe, and that Equestria is secure from threat both within and without!"

Celestia paused for a long moment to consider her sister's words. Finally, she sighed and spoke in a calmer tone than before. "Can you prove that these ponies can be of use for non-military reasons?"

Luna nodded. "Of course. There has been that spike in thefts right here in Canterlot in recent years, and the Royal Guard have been unable to catch the two unicorns responsible. But my Blackguard can." she boasted. "I'll have them deploy tonight and capture the thieves responsible. They've done some reconnaissance already and we know that it is only two ponies responsible for most of the thefts, as well as where they have been operating from."

Celestia was fuming that Luna had already deployed the deadly ponies but bit her tongue. "Very well. But I want them brought in alive and unharmed." she conditioned.

Luna nodded and left to give her ponies their orders, leaving Celestia to sigh heavily and walk out to her balcony to lower the sun for the night. Once her task was done, she retired to her bedchambers to sleep for the night.

Later that night, Celestia awoke and walked to the throne room where she found her younger sister waiting for her. Luna's face was of mixed emotion, and as she spoke Celestia found out why. "I sent my Blackguard out and they found the two unicorns responsible for all the thefts." she said. "They did not come quietly, and one of them attacked and killed one of my ponies, but the rest of them were able to capture the two thieves. As you wished they were not harmed, though one of them dared to spit in my face."

Celestia nodded gravely. "I did not expect them to be violent. I'm sorry one of your ponies was killed by them. I assume you already decided a punishment for the two thieves?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, but I did not choose to have them executed. Instead I gave them a chance to seek redemption and atone for their crimes." Luna said, hoping her sister would not question what their fate was.

Luckily, Celestia simply nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, happy that Luna was so far doing a good job of handling the questionable elite unit. "I'm proud of you sister. See? Sometimes talking with and giving a pony another chance is all it takes." she said as Luna turned to head back to her room.

Yes. And sometimes pure, unrelenting force is the only way to solve a problem. Luna thought as she walked away.

* * *

As the years passed by, Celestia was forced to admit that Luna had been right in her assertion. The festering pockets of crime and disorder that the Royal Guard were unable to face openly, the Blackguard were consistently able to quietly snuff out. The general public was none the wiser of what lengths their princesses had gone to to protect them, and peace reigned unabated.

Then, mere days before the twentieth anniversary of their defeat of the tyrant Discord, a disturbing message reached the two alicorn sisters; some strange pony had supposedly taken over a large mass of land far to the north of Canterlot and had isolated his claim from the rest of Equestria. Rumors began spreading across the kingdom that the pony responsible for the hostile takeover of the northern lands was a jealous earth pony who had hired a unicorn to come up with a spell to turn him into a unicorn himself. The spell supposedly worked, but at a terrible cost; it turned the pony into a corrupt yet powerful unicorn and the caster of the spell was immediately killed off to ensure that he would be the only earth pony to benefit from the forbidden spell.

As news came trickling in that the dark pony's influence was slowly spreading south, Celestia and Luna were forced to take action. Though they now had thousands of ponies under their command as Royal Guards, the guards were all spread across the continent, and there was not nearly enough of them left in reserves to take on the new tyrant. With no other options available, Celestia and Luna left the new capital and ventured north with just a small group of guards. They knew that traveling north would be dangerous and cold, but everypony in their group was shocked to see just how deadly the northern lands had become under the rule of its new king.

As the temperature of the air became colder and colder, the pegasi and earth pony guards found that they were unable to stand the frigid temperatures and were forced to turn back, leaving just a small compliment of unicorn guards who were able to keep themselves warm with their magic. However, conditions became even more treacherous as they pushed farther north and soon the snow became too deep to walk through. Celestia and Luna had the ability to fly above the deep snowbanks but the unicorns had no choice but to turn back also, and with great reluctance they trudged back south, leaving the two princesses alone to fend for themselves.

Determined to press on, Celestia and Luna continued the slow progress forward. Though they thought about turning back and better preparing their guards for the dangerous journey, doing so would take far too long, and with Equestria at large still extremely vulnerable both alicorns knew that they had to stop this threat now before the dark influence spread and became stronger.

Their determination paid off and both sisters finally managed to break free of the cold storm and found themselves overlooking an absolutely stunning city made of crystals. However, the sky remained dark and the crystals before them were twisted and black.

"Crystallization... This is Starswirl's magic!" Luna exclaimed as they looked upon the visage before them. Both alicorns shuddered at the thought, that their adversary may in fact be one of their former teacher's other disciples.

Before they could dwell on this information, the crystal outcroppings that dotted the landscape around them began to rumble, pulling themselves from the ground and beginning to grow more massive. Bewildered, the princesses watch as a dozen such crystals began to slowly advance upon them; as they moved, the growing masses began to take shape, forming what appeared to be arms and legs and a massive head on each. Finally the growing ceased and the crystals had taken their completed forms; towering over the two alicorns now stood several bipedal crystalline giants.

"Golems," Celestia named the creatures before them. Luna nodded in understanding.

One of the golems suddenly swung its arm over its shoulder; as it did, a large chunk of its "fist" broke free and was sent hurdling towards the princesses. The two quickly took to the skies as the deadly projectile struck down on the ground they had occupied not moments before. The golem that had thrown the chunk quickly regenerated the missing limb even as the others prepared their own assault.

"We don't have time for this!" Luna swore under her breath. Then, she suddenly flew back from the confrontation before landing several feet behind her sister and the golems. "Tia, cover me!" she called out to her sister.

"What are you doing?"

"Trust me sister," was all the response she gave before she began focusing her entire self on gathering her magic as quickly as possible. Meanwhile Celestia landed between her sister and the advancing golems, quickly erecting a shield with her own magic to deflect the massive crystal boulders raining down on them.

A flash of light and magic caught the sun princess's attention; she turned behind her to see that Luna had been engulfed in light created by her own amassing power. When the light faded, Luna was surrounded by dozens of unicorns, each painted horn to hoof in the same inky black dye, each with the same calculating expression on their faces as they awaited their princesses' orders...

The Blackguard.

Luna wasted no time in issuing her command. "Destroy these abominations before us!"

Without even stopping to acknowledge their orders, the unicorn force broke into teams, each team quickly surrounding one of the golems before them and assaulting them with a variety of potent attack spells. "Let's go, Tia!" The two alicorns took to the sky once more, leaving the golems and the Blackguard behind to continue their battle as they pressed forward into the city.

As they flew, Celestia turned to her sister. "Luna, how did you-"

"The indoctrination of the Blackguard includes binding their horns to my power. You or I can, at any time, summon one or all of the Blackguard to our side should the need arise." Luna noted the critical look her sister favored her with as she explained, but she ignored it in favor of focusing on their goal. "Come now, we must press our advantage before our adversary realizes his guards have failed to slow us."

Celestia shuddered at this new and unsettling revelation, but at that moment she was forced to admit that her sister was right; the Blackguard's intervention had indeed given them the advantage. Without any further hesitation, the two alicorns raced towards the black crystal castle towering over the city.

As they finally landed at the foot of the tower, a single figure could be seen walking towards them. Luna and Celestia stood their ground as an intimidating stallion strode out of the shadow of the black crystal tower. Once he was just a few feet from them Celestia gasped as she recognized who was now standing in front of her.

"Sombra." Celestia said quietly.

Luna heard her sister's quiet words and finally recognized the stallion. "Sombra! You're alive?" she said in disbelief. Though it had been years since either alicorn had seen the pony in front of them, they both clearly remembered the day that he had disappeared after a horrible accident.

Celestia took a cautious step forward, unsure if the stallion had managed to learn how to control his unnaturally obtained powers. Her mind flashed back to the day Sombra had become a unicorn; the damage he caused barely contained by their teacher while he screamed in pain as his body tried to adapt to the horn he had concocted using black alchemy and forbidden potions.

A sly grin formed on Sombra's face as he glared at his two former classmates. "You all said that it was impossible, that I would never be able to use magic. You all said that it was a useless dream to chase... But look at me now! I now rule the elusive Crystal Empire and all the land around it! I command the most powerful of our master's spells! My power is growing every day, and soon I will conquer all of Equestria! I will prove you two wrong, and most importantly, I will prove him wrong!"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other with worried expressions. Sombra had been born a simple earth pony, and while he somehow had latent magical ability in him, with no way to command it he would never be able to control his ability. But their teacher was willing to teach him some basic potions and alchemy to sate his desires. However, the allure of being able to use magic like the unicorns kept calling to him, and having the only two alicorns in the world as his classmates finally caused his jealousy to override any rational thoughts. Taking what he had learned as well as consulting his teacher's forbidden books on transmutation, he began to work in secret on his ultimate goal. Finally, after months of work, Sombra came to the point where he had to test his creation.

The potion worked... too well. Unable to control the sudden surge of new and alien power coursing through his body, bursts of pure magic began to fire wildly around the room, soon breaking everything inside and setting fire to the walls. The two young alicorns and their teacher had rushed in to the room and attempted to create a protective spell around Sombra to contain the dangerous pony, but a sudden explosion went off and their teacher was barely able to cast a spell to protect Celestia, Luna, and himself. By the time the smoke cleared the room was in shambles and Sombra was nowhere to be seen. Nopony had any clue where he had gone or if he had even survived, until now...

"Sombra!" Celestia shouted out. "Let's talk, we don't want to hurt you!"

"You, hurt me?" The false unicorn laughed. "My magic is greater than that of anypony alive, even our teacher. Even yours! Nopony can touch me now! Nopony can take away what is now mine!"

Luna and Celestia looked at each other and nodded, knowing what they had to do. "We shall not allow you to threaten our subjects or our lands!" Luna shouted back as Celestia brought out the Elements of Harmony.

Sombra's eyes went wide as he sensed the sheer volume of power lying inert within the six small gems. "What are those?" he asked as he struggled to decipher the source of the immense energy he felt within them.

Celestia focused her hard stare at Sombra. "Starswirl informed us of these, the Elements of Harmony, and we shall use them to bring harmony back to the land you've stolen." she said.

Without warning, both Celestia and Luna unleashed a powerful attack straight at him. Their aim was true and Sombra cried out in pain as the powerful attack hit him square in the chest. Stumbling backwards, Sombra managed to remain on his hooves and grimaced as he tried to shake off the pain. Finally regaining his balance, he chuckled and looked up at the two alicorns. "Not bad. But you'll have to summon a far more powerful attack than that to defeat me."

"I'll show you power, monster!" Without any warning, Luna broke into a sprint and charged at Sombra, preparing another attack.

Sombra grinned as his intimidation had worked, and Celestia was caught off guard by her sister's brazen attack. "Luna, no!" she shouted, but Luna was intent on making him pay for his crimes. However, this is what Sombra wanted, as he fired off the attack he had secretly been preparing at Luna.

Unable to defend herself or dodge the attack, Luna took the brunt of the blast head on and crumpled to the ground. Seconds later, Celestia finally reached Luna and stood guard over her younger sister, but Sombra made no move to follow up his previous attack. "You're so easy to read, Luna. You were always so brazen-" he began to say.

His gloating was cut short, however, as he suddenly crumbled to his knees, appearing to be struggling against invisible bounds. For a moment Celestia stared on in disbelief before she finally realized they were no longer alone. The two alicorns and the false unicorn were now surrounded by the Blackguard, their focus all turned upon Sombra.

"I marked him as their sole target," Luna said as she slowly rose to her hooves once more. She then favored Sombra with a look of pure scorn. "It seems you've misjudged me, just as you've misjudged your own strength. It is over for you, fiend! You shall never again pose a threat to anypony else!"

Celestia shook her head as she moved to stand beside her sister. "You are our friend, Sombra, and we hope that one day you will repent for what you have done. But until then..." she said darkly before turning her attention back to the Elements of Harmony floating before her. The three that were bound to her began to surge with energy in response to her magic. The three bound to Luna, however, remained inert.

"Lulu, what are you doing? We have to use the Elements to seal him away now!"

"Nay sister!" Luna turned to face Celestia, her expression unreadable to her elder sister. "When I felt his power strike me, for a moment I saw him for what he truly is. I saw what he means to do to this land..." As she spoke, her horn lit with a terrible dark energy, a sickening green glow overtook her eyes and a purple haze began to form around her eyes and horn. "This pony is beyond redemption! We must destroy him here and now!"

Celestia's blood began to run cold as she felt the surge of dark magic emanating from her sister. Before she could move to stop her however, Luna fired off the horrid spell at the prone unicorn before them, striking him dead in the chest. An explosion of purple smoke followed which, once it cleared, revealed that the part of Sombra that had been struck had dissolved, a thick black smoke in its place.

Sombra gasped as he saw the hole spreading rapidly, his fore legs beginning to slowly disintegrate, and no matter what spells he frantically cast to stop his body from dissolving he wasn't able to even slow the effect. However, his worried expression slowly became a grin, and as his torso began to disappear he let out an unnerving laugh. "Ha... ha ha ha... Ah ha ha ha ha! You stupid foals! You've doomed the very ponies you came to rescue! You didn't think I wouldn't have some sort of backup plan, did you? After I took over this land I merged its natural powers with mine, and anything that happens to me will affect it, too!"

Looking past their former classmate at the crystal city, Celestia and Luna watched in horror as the every building began to dissolve away just as Sombra was.

"Sombra, what have you done?!" Luna cried out. "Stop this! These ponies have done nothing to you, they don't deserve this!"

Sombra laughed again. "It is your own mistake, princess! Wherever I go, my city goes, too!"

"Luna, quickly, before he dissolves completely! The Elements!" Celestia shouted.

Again he night princess's horn sparked to life, this time in its natural deep blue hue; however, to her horror, the Elements bound to her refused to respond to her call. "No... this cannot be... I... I cannot reach them sister!" As the gravity of what was happening finally hit her, she fell to the ground and covered her face in her hooves, unable to watch the consequences of her rash decision play out any further.

With Sombra's head the only part of him left, he laughed one last time. "This is far from over Celestia! One day I shall become powerful enough to reform this broken body, and when I do, nopony will be able to stop me!" Even as his head finally began to dissolve, his mocking laughter continued to hang in the air. "In fact, your sister here will help me without her even knowing." he cryptically said.

Celestia looked down momentarily at her sister, afraid of what Sombra may have done. "What do you mean by that? Sombra? Sombra!" she yelled out, but by then Sombra's form was gone, the lingering smoke of what had been the fake unicorn's body blowing away in the wind. Looking past where Sombra once stood, Celestia witnessed the last of the buildings of the Crystal Empire disappear as its ruler had just moments before, the silence broken only by the cold wind blowing around the two alicorns.

Finally Luna looked up at her sister, her eyes welling up, and slowly got up on her hooves. "I-Is he...? Are they-"

"Gone? Yes Lulu." Celestia's voice was warm and kind, if a little strained. "But not for good I suspect. I can still sense something powerful radiating from this spot..." Celestia looked her sister over and was surprised that there were no noticeable injuries on the blue alicorn. "Are... are you sure you're okay?" she asked anyways.

Luna nodded, blinking back tears. "Yes, sister, I am fine." Her voice was cold, almost mechanical as she spoke of herself. "Whatever Sombra's attack was meant to do, aside from showing me that horrid image of his plans, it seems to have failed to affect me in any way." She turned to survey their surroundings. She too could sense something had survived the spell and its terrible side effects, but this did little to lift her spirits. "It... looks as if there is no more reason to stay here, is there?"

Luna felt her sister's hoof ensnare her smaller frame. "It will be okay, Lulu. In time we will get another chance to make this right. Come now, let us return to Canterlot."

Luna nodded slowly before flaring up her horn one last time. The Blackguard that had been standing by silently as the scene played out before them were each engulfed in the same white light in which they had arrived. Moments later they were gone, presumably back in their barracks in Canterlot.

Both ponies then began their own long journey home. Celestia couldn't help but worry about her younger sister. The burden of what she had done clearly weighed upon her sister's conscience, but what truly bothered the sun princess was the final, cryptic words Sombra had left them with. Luna was able to travel unassisted and Sombra's attack had no visible effect on her, but Celestia had felt just how much power he had used, and if the attack wasn't some sort of curse then there should be some sort of physical effect. Celestia's suspicions were further supported by what he had done to his entire city. But of course there would be no way to know for certain what he had done until it took effect. Until then, Celestia could only wait...

Author's Note:

Part 1 of 4.

A little side project of mine that I had given to Camel while we were on hiatus, but now with "Starfall" well underway, it falls to me to finish this. I hope you enjoy my vision of the early history of Equestria.

Comments

[Hyacintho Ignis]

Well, I like the new spin, and this 'Blackguard' is where Spectre came from. I guess... right?

[KrisProwler]

3692052

I've already referenced the two of them twice so... yes, this is part of Specter and Nightshade's forgotten history.

[lunas_servant]

~jaw drops~ I love you KrisProwler! This is the story I have been waiting for!

[KrisProwler]

3693807

Well, while I'd love to take all the credit for this, admittedly I'm working largely from the rough copy Camel sent me before he got distracted with "Fixing Friendship" and "Starfall". Still, the script for this was my idea in the first place, so...