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While Princess Luna is away celebrating Nightmare Night in Ponyville, Celestia tries on a strange black bauble from her sister's jewelry box. The result will be the creation of the most terrifying thing Equestria has ever seen. The Sun herself turns against all the ponies in Canterlot. Can Luna and her Lunar Stallions possibly hope to stop her? And if so, does Luna have the fortitude to strike down her sister in the end?
FEATURED May 16th 2012!
This story in a nutshell, before I read it:
All the Power of Corona Blaze with the Feral Intellect of a large lizard. Oh lord, Canterlot is doomed. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!
Dunno if you're version of Celestia here is Corona Blaze, Solar Flare, Tyrant Celestia, Daymare Sun etc. But I look forward to finding out.
I go away for one day, come back and I'm already two chapters down on the next story? You'd better make sure your Muse is getting plenty of high protein foods to go with the stimulant binge. 
Loved the start of this, with the "double date" in the bathing chambers. Nice to see that Big Mac stays his loveable, unflappable self in even the most awkward social situations. One thing's for sure, if Celestia was looking for a quiet pony who wouldn't go talking about their affair, she certainly hit the jackpot. (Loved the "Mine's bigger." comment, too. Just the right tone for that little sisterly exchange.
Moving on, I have to say I'm a little surprised that Luna'd leave a trap item like that in her collection, though judging from the placement and remaing contents of the box, I have strong suspicions that Luna wasn't the one who left it there. More likely, our Solar Princess has stumbled on Nightmare Moon's next move in her battle with Celestia, one that was never deployed due to a sudden relocation to lunar real estate. A solar-powered attack equine seems like about the level that Nightmare Moon would've wanted Luna's sister reduced to, after all, no need to squander all that lovely power when it can be put to use in one's service. Of course, with no Nightmare Moon to take the reins, now we're looking at a ravening force of destruction with no leash at all, for the moment. Wonder what the final body count was on that initial attack. I would imagine that the lost of that many lunar stallions ought to alert Luna to problems back in Canterlot (although, considering that Canterlot is visible on a good day from Ponyville, I would imagine the sudden flare of light is going to be noticed during the night's activities, anyway. It may be a problem that the Elements are locked up in the vault in the castle, that's one source of defensive power that's going to be hard to access now. Even though it would be a lesser power level, I would imagine that Luna's going to be regretting the destruction of the Moon Champion medallion, too. Well, let's see what the next chapter offers. 
And it was such a lovely Nightmare Night celebration, too. Ok, let's see here, roughly twenty lunar stallions were either on duty in Canterlot or otherwise not available for the trip to Ponyville. Between the initial darkness trap and then the first firestorm of... Not sure I want to call her Corona Blaze, this creature's operating on too primeval a level for that to work, for now. Anyway, I suspect that Luna's got at most a half dozen lunar stallions still in Canterlot itself, and that's being very generous, since as defenders, they'd have been trying to shield civilians escaping and would have taken the brunt of the firestorm at all times. And I don't know that I'd want to get near a suit of solar guard armor right now. Even if it still has healing matrices equivalent to the lunar stallion armor, the power source is currently running in an unregulated mode. Even if you're partially protected from the effects, I would imagine that any solar guard is a walking oven right now, both inside and outside the armor. 
While it's a judgement call, I applaud Luna's decision to have the Bearers shepherd the Ponyville evacuation for the moment. Unless they have access to the Elemental regalia, their ability to draw on serious power for attack or defense is limited, so putting them to manage the exodus from Ponyville makes a lot of sense. And as long as Luna knows how to handle the message scroll trick with Spike, she'll have Twilight and the others in close contact for any matters she might want to consult on. (Of course, we don't know if Spike can send a message to anyone other than Celestia, so that might be just a one-way link.)
Nice touch with the impromptu scrying pool, I figured that there had to be some monitoring spells in the alicorn playbook. It's nice to see that Big Mac's got a serious pair made out of tungesten for going in and confronting Celestia, I guess he came by it naturally, just like the rest of his family. (Although, I imagine that if he survives, he's going to come into a lot of teasing from his sisters once they hear about his state in the throne room.) 
Looking forward to the next installment. .
Well, Canterlot's fucked....if corrupted Celestia can scream and reduce an entire room full of ponies to ash I'd hate to see what she can do when she actually gets around to using her magic......
Body counts so far:
Corrupted Lunar Avatar: 12
Corrupted Sun Goddess: don't even bother.....
Yeah, I knew the moment the premise of Ponyville came into play I would have to involve the mane six. And while that's perfectly fine, this is LUNA'S story, not the mane six's story. "Rise" was about Aegis Shield, "Wrath" was about Stalwart Hide, so this third and final portion really does need to focus on the Princess more. Had to get rid of all those pesky main characters somehow, haha!
>>568704>>570902>>571288>>572025
I'm really not sure what to CALL this version of Celestia, to be honest. Thus far I've only referred to her as "She" when the story takes place around her. That's a Beowulf reference at best. Should I just keep calling her Celestia, just... corrupted? I ran down the list of popular incarnations and none of them seem to fit.
Not Trollestia, that's nowhere close to this character.
Not Molestia, that's a different context of story.
Not Corona Blaze, that version is psychotic but at least sentient.
Not Daymare Sun, as that's the flipped version of Nightmare Moon.
Not Solar Flare, as that's the flipped version of Nightmare Moon as well (historical version).
Not Tyrant Celestia, as there's really nothing political about this beast.
Have I created a new incarnation? Sweet Faust, what have I done?! 
Maybe we can wait another chapter or two so you guys can find out what exactly happened to her, then decide on a new and original name? I'd love for you guys' input! Lemme know what you think we should call her.
~Cleff
>>572477 I have a few names in mind for the new form of Celestia.
1.Infernal Celestia
2.Supernova - An explosion of heat and destruction (Fits the bill, excluding the chaining up Big Mac bit and wanting to rule.)
3.Solar Wave
4.Solaria
5.Sunblight - Intends to blight the world with sun and flames
6.Celestial Beast
Bout all I could think of, I'll let you decide if any of the names fit Cleff.
It does make sense. The Elements themselves are locked in a vault in Canterlot, which is currently hostile and unscouted territory. Twilight's got her long-range group teleport down (as seen in the dragon migration episode this season) as long as she doesn't get seriously disturbed during the casting, but unless they had definite proof the chamber of the vault was clear, that wouldn't strike me as a good first strategy. Besides, we've only seen the Rainbow deployed offensively at what amounts to point-blank ranges. Right now, I don't think that getting that close and presenting a threatening face is a very good idea. The warm-up time on the Rainbow is a lot longer than it would take for Celestia to make the group "feel the heat."
Nodding. Yep, if this concept gets picked up by enough people, I'd say you might manage the distinction. 
Functionally, it reads like Celestia with all her powers intact, but with a mind at about the level of a very smart dog. (Another reason that I have to suspect that this whole thing was an unimplemented plan of Nightmare Moon. I'm sure She would have loved to have such a visible reminder of her triumph at hand as Eternal Night descended.)
As for a name, hmmm...
There's the starkly functional option of Celestial Beast, which I think makes a pretty decent description of the state our solar alicorn has achieved at this point. If you want something a bit more descriptive and based on her actions, try something like Firestorm, though at the moment I'd argue that she hasn't achieved the full level of violence that would truly justify that particular moniker. If for some morbid reason you're feeling puckish, I suppose that tagging her with the name Sunspot wouldn't be totally out of bounds for Luna, since this is the result of a shadow on the sun, and reflects her current intellect as well.
(Shadow on the sun... hold on a minute, that ornament wasn't a trap for Celestia, that was a planned powerup Nightmare Moon crafted that she never got to implement! Talk about shades of Loknar with that initial activation, too. I'd bet the effect was designed to spread along the link between alicorn and the empowered armors, too. (Best way to insure that all of the Lunar Guard were converted to the Nightmare banner, after all. If so, any Solar Guard is at risk if they don't disarm in pretty short order. Of course, it's also likely that any guard pony that fails to have a certain innate level of power will probably burn up in the attempted metamorphosis, too. This should be interesting, please continue.
I really enjoyed these stories until now. This whole plot feels like one big idiot ball on Luna's part. 1, why not tell Celestia? 2, why not destroy it? I mean honestly even if Luna could't destroy it herself she could have asked Celestia to help dispose of it.
>>574847 Luna has always been portrayed as the less mature of the two sisters. Gods/Alicorns have God/Alicorn-sized problems.
Besides, if YOU made a super-weapon specifically designed to destroy your elder sibling, would you ask her to help you destroy it? XD
Ok, looks like I mostly twigged to the nature of that little bauble. 
That being said, I'm a little surprised that Luna didn't hand that thing over to Celestia along with the Moon Champion medallion for destruction. After all the kerfluffle about the Moon Champion armor being a relic of war best destroyed, I can't believe that she had completely spaced on this little item still hanging around, I'm hoping that she had plans for a safe means of cleansing the medallion in the works, and that will be the core of her upcoming campaign. Otherwise, this was something that should have been completely avoidable. 
It's good to see that anyone who got submerged in the goo trap is alive, they will be the ones that can probably be salvaged. But I don't think that ash ponies are anything but names for the new memorial that's going to be erected when this is all over. On the magic front, Luna's been shown that she isn't up to matching her big sister on sheer power, so I hope that she's got some finesse ideas to put to use. Looking forward to the next installment.
>>574861 Yes, if it meant that she'd be able to truly trust me again. And that still doesn't explain why she didn't just destroy it herself. On another note, why did Luna hide it in her room of all places instead of putting somewhere actually secure, like say the moon?
Apocalestia! Ok I'm going to stop trying to name this version of Celestia now 
.
Great chapter, interesting to see Apocalestia stopped at six minions, still she doesn't really perceive any real threat yet so that makes sense. I like how you're making her behave, very different from the other, numerous apocalyptic versions of Celestia. Kudos for originality, also the whole religious demon bit was rather morbidly amusing, reminded me of that scene from The Mummy where the guy keeps holding up religious symbols and speaking in different languages.
Edit: What's this? First Post? Brohoof to everybody
“And this time it is our sister. We cannot put Celestia herself on the chopping bl-!” - Hah! I've been stopping myself from making snarky comments along those lines since the first chapter.
So why is Luna not planning on using the Elements to deal with this corrupted Celestia? Seems like they ought to be a step up in power from anything her and her ~70 lunar stallions should be able to do.
>>578937 well techicl, she did say it was a spell only she could break, but rule #1: Celestia lies. There has to be another way to open it, otherwise it would have been pointless to send the mane 6 after them in the season 2 finale. There is obviously another way. Your story, im just stating facts.
Also Discord managed to break into the "vault" so its not impossible, just a bit unlikely.
Well lemme put it another way. 
I think the elements are stupid/super weapons based on loose concepts that make little sense. Applejack and Rainbow wear the wrong ones, and frankly it would be a serious cop-out to defeat ANOTHER villain with the Elements of Harmony. Especially given that, in order to use them as the Yoke of Harmony, it would stand to reason that you would have to display ALL of their traits. Luna (being flawed and "human" as she is) does not.
So meh. 
>>579294 i completely agree using them as a deus ex machina isnt good storytelling. I was just noting how it has to be possible to get to them without celestia.
As i said before this is your story not mine, i am but stating facts.
Gamer talk:
ELEMENTS OF HARMONY ARE OP!!
Ok, this was a bit shorter than we've been getting, but you did a pretty good job setting up things for the coming campaign. Interesting touch with the various holy item tests by Red Shir--er, that is Gold Cross. I had a good chuckle there, even if the overall scene was pretty tragic. Good to see the Solar Guard were making use of the time to complete their own emergency evacuations while gathering intel for coming events. It shows that both guard corps are more than just pretty faces and hard bodies under their armor.
EDIT: First post! 
For achieving this victory, I demand a prize! Another chapter!
Oh snap. They are in for it when finds them.
Furthermore, I must admit, I feel incredibly bad for Princess Luna. She was no way near as powerful as Monster Celestia when she was Nightmare Moon - and even the in cartoons they made sure to isolate her for her weakness and inexperience. It seems that being in charge of the moon isn't nearly as powerful as being the master of a ball of flaming gas. 
Celestia definitely has the advantage of more raw power and the ability to use fire and light. This only goes to show just how Princess Luna is the less advantaged of the ethereal rulers, and it's only rubbed in her face when she can't even raise the sun. 
I'm just keeping my hooves crossed (Does that even work?! >.<) that Princess Luna finds a way to overcome her weakness and defeat the evil holding her sister captive. 
----------------------------
EDIT: I must also applaud you on your brilliant writing skills, I feel as though I'm part of the action. It's so thrilling, tense, and explosive with description that paints the perfect picture in my head. Keep up the flawless work, and please do write more! 
>>586390 ah but you must remember, Celestia controls a single ball of gaseous fire, Luna controls the moon and the night sky, which if im not mistaken is composed of BILLIONS of stars with some of them being a might bit bigger than the sun. don't forget, what nullifies the sun? a solar ECLIPSE. You cannot beat out the moon, it controls more on earth physics-wise than the sun does.
common Luna bring Equestria's first solar eclipse.
Ahaha, that is a brilliant point! I do believe Princess Luna has a trick up her sleeve. ;3
Thank you for pointing that out, now I can sleep at night instead of overthinking it. Princess Celestia is about to get one hell of a blow to her ego than she knows. 
Here I go and take a day off to visit special people on Mother's Day, and I get back to see a double dose of one of my favorite stories. Maybe I ought to take a day away from my computer more often.
Anyway, I see that it's time to start the march to battle. Nice bit of work with the pre-combat address from Luna, and I have to say that I hope that one of the more artistic among the group decides to pick up that description and give us some artwork of Luna's battle armor. It should make a pretty good image capture. Nice to see that the corps rallies around their lone solar guard comrade and that she's accepting a temporary transfer to the lunar service. (And I agree, after the Moon Champion, I seriously doubt that anyone in the lunar service is going to look down on any female guard, especially if she's just been blessed with Luna's magic in any way at all.) You've also started an interesting little side venture with the interplay between Hammershot and Pen Maker. I can't help but compare them to the two marine guards in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, albeit a bit more on the serious (and competent) side. It will be amusing to see where this little misunderstanding proceeds as things develop.
Meanwhile, up in Canterlot, I see that Big Mac's rescue has likely caused more trouble than anticipated by the solar guards. It looks like Mac has a bit of a calming influence on the solar beast, that might be something that he will be able to take advantage of in the future. Nice touch with the TSS, I can see why after spotting that tactic in use, the guards would have been quick to add it to the playbook for issues where a crowd suppression effect was needed for mass combat, though I imagine that there aren't a lot of unicorns (even in the guard) that are capable of supporting the level of magic needed for sustained use of the attack form. Although, if you're incorporating that bit of canon in the story, I am curious as to whether Shining Armor and his new mate were in town when Celestia's transformation went down. It would seem to me that either or both of those figures would need to be accounted for as both have potentially game-changing abilities to affect the outcome of any combat tactics against Celestia.
Moving on to the next chapter.
All right, this was a perfect place to put a break for "meanwhile, back at the ranch..." I think you've done an excellent job capturing everyone's personalities in this chapter, everything meshed pretty much seamlessly (like Big Mac's costume
) as things progressed. (Kudos for Scootaloo's reaction to her first exposure to risque stallion garb, I'm sure that she's going to hold onto that mental image for a long time to come, in both senses of the word. Probably a good thing that the bit and bridle part of his gear were removed before he arrived at the cave, who knows what extra kinky ideas might have been promoted if the girls had seen that on him.)I am pretty sure that Rarity has been inspired now, so I would suspect that there might be a new discrete costuming service that crops up for select clientele in the future.
Twilight's reaction to the news about Celestia was spot on, and it's a good thing that Applejack has all those years of reacting to Rainbow Dash to help her stifle instinctive reactions when she spots them. And considering what the unicorns sensed, it sounds like this is definitely going to be one of those issues where Twilight will need to stifle her gut response and stick to what Luna's ordered her to do. As usual, I'll be looking forward to the next installment.
I thought about Shining Armor and Cadence for a bit, but I ran into the same problem that I did with the Mane Six. This is supposed to be LUNA'S story. Adding another alicorn and such a powerful military unicorn would tip the story and the spotlight away from our princess. Neither of them has anything to do with the Lunar Stallions, so it wouldn't really fit the stories themes very well. So, I went with our technical canon that they're on their honeymoon still, haha.
I see nothing wrong with the two being on an extended honeymoon. After all, both of them have been under significant duress during the six months or so leading up to the wedding, so I can easily believe that Celestia gave them orders to stay on honeymoon vacation until such time as they are fully healed up.
Of course, someone ought to bring it up in story, just to close off the avenue, since I can't be the only brony out there who would jump to that option after knowing that the solar guard is using tactics developed during the Changeling Battle. Due diligence, and all that.
also make penmaker kick some ASS arg FLANK also random
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