Onyx's Origins

by Onyx_Eclissius

Chapter 1

Nightmare Moon sat arrogantly on the high throne of Celestia’s Castle. I vowed that one day I would be right at her side. She rose to her hooves, preparing for the impending assault. She had been expecting this for quite some time. Her subjects have been rallying behind a single body, the only pony with the potential power to defeat her. The mare I loathed with stronger passion than I feel for others. Princess Celestia entered the castle alone, apparently very sure of herself.

“Hello, Celestia”, said Nightmare Moon, “Come to surrender?”

“Luna, please, listen to reason. I don’t want to fight you”, she said solemnly.

“No, you do not. You really don’t want to fight Me”, laughed Nightmare, “Fighting me would be stupid. What you want to do is surrender. If you don’t I’ll kill you where you stand!”

“Luna, I don’t think you have it in you to kill anypony, let alone your own sister.”

“Luna? Sister? All you do is talk about this sister of yours! What does Luna have to do with me?”, asked Nightmare angrily.

“You are my sister, Luna.”, Celestia said and voice cracking, “And I love you, but I cannot allow you to do this anymore. Equestria needs the sun, and I need you to lower the moon.”

“Ah, but why would I want to lower my lovely moon?”, she asked, “Nopony loves my moon. I can make them love the night; see it the way I do. Aren’t you the one who’s always saying that everypony should love everypony else? The same should apply to the night, no?”

“We do love the night. I love it almost as much as you do. The night is beautiful.”

“Then why does everypony shun it and sleep through it?! If my night is so beloved, then why does nopony appreciate it?!”, exclaimed Nightmare Moon.

“You know it’s not like that. They have to sleep sometimes, Luna, and it’s the perfect sleeping conditions during the night.”

“Well, now they can sleep and live during the night.”

“Luna! It doesn’t work that way! The balance of the universe is being disrupted! I don’t know how long we have before something bad happens!”

“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, because I am not lowering the moon! Only one of us will live to see daybreak. Oops! I was wrong! Nopony will see daybreak, because, the night…will last…forever!”

“No it will not, because I will defeat you and put an end to this. I will give you one more chance; Stop this nonsense, or I will be forced to take action.”

“Maybe you’re right. I’ll lower the moon. I’m finally starting to see reason. Well, I’m sorry for what I’ve done, forgive me, I’ll never do it again, I’m a complete liar, Die!” shouted Nightmare Moon, launching a blast of dark blue magic. Celestia ducked her shot, and ran behind a pillar.

“Running away, Celestia?”, laughed Nightmare Moon, “I never thought you were one to cower in fear like that.”

“Luna, I will stop you if I must!”, called Celestia.

“Stop calling me Luna! There is no Luna! She’s gone, dead, doesn’t exist, lost in time!”, shouted Nightmare Moon, “Stop calling me Luna!”

“I’m warning you Luna. I will have no choice but to banish you.”

“I AM NOT LUNA!”, she screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “YOU TALK OF BANISHMENT? WELL, TALK IS CHEAP! GO AHEAD, I PRESAGE YOU! GET IN MY WAY AND I WILL KILL YOU!”

“I’m so, so sorry Luna. Please forgive me”, said Celestia. She made a mad dash for the door, dodging blast after blast from Nightmare Moon. She swung them open and made a beeline for the Everfree Forest.

“No matter”, said Nightmare Moon to herself, “She’ll never be able to defeat me.” She sat back on her throne, being gnawed at by a nagging suspicion, a deep fear in her mind. She closed her eyes and concentrated, muttering in a strange language. Her horn became enveloped in a dark blue aura. She sat, muttering to herself for nearly ten minutes. Beams of blue flew from her wings, striking the ground. They pulsated and shook, giving off a faint smoke-like appearance.

“Luna!”, came a voice from outside, “I am not going to tell you again; surrender or you will be banished.” Celestia broke Nightmare Moon’s concentration, causing the aura to weaken.

“It’s always something”, said Nightmare Moon, abandoning her spell. She shot a beam of light at the roof, blowing it apart.
BOOM!

She flapped her wings and took flight, rising through the air. She flew through the hole, looking down on Celestia. Celestia took flight herself, surrounded by six gems of different colors, purple, blue, orange, red, green, and pink. They swirled around her at high speed, tilting forward until they were in a perfect circle facing Nightmare Moon. A beam of light flew from each of them, connecting into an immense orb in front of Celestia.

“Surrender now, Luna”, she said, tears flowing from her eyes.

“Die!”, shouted Nightmare furiously. She shot a large beam of azure energy directly at Celestia.

“I’m sorry”, sobbed Celestia, sending a golden beam of equivalent magnitude in the opposite direction. They collided in midair, crashing into a multicolored sphere of vivid radiance. It then became a battle of the minds. Celestia’s beam inched forward slowly, overtaking Nightmare’s.

“Nonononono!”, shouted Nightmare Moon, “I’m losing!” She began to mutter in that bizarre language again, sending tendrils of light back down to the castle. Celestia’s beam completely overtook Nightmare Moon’s, colliding into her chest. Nightmare was filled with light, paralyzing her. In fear of losing, she started muttering faster and faster. A wisp of navy colored smoke flew from out of her mouth, crashing into the castle. The light overtook Nightmare Moon completely, causing her to scream in pain.
BOOM!

Nightmare Moon flew upward, launched backwards by the power of the blast. She rose through the sky, completely paralyzed, heading to the moon. She broke through the atmosphere and smashed into the surface of the moon. Dark spots slowly appeared on the face of the moon, forming the silhouette of a unicorn.

“I’m sorry, Luna”, said Celestia, falling to the ground slowly. She settled through the hole in the roof, dropping on her flank by the throne. She began to cry, gently at first but becoming more and more vigorous. I crawled over to her and nudged her mane. She looked down at me, tears flowing from her face. She levitated me up onto her back, crying softly.

“Always has a backup plan. Sorry, Luna, but you’ve failed.” she said to nopony. Turning to me, she shot me a teary smile. “What to do with you? I’m going to assume that she wasn’t trying to make you a foal. What should I call you? Do you like the name ‘Midnight Moonlight’?” I squinted my eyes in disgust.

“How about something more recherché?”

More Silence.

“Maybe ‘Onyx’?”

“Hmph.” I grunted.

“Okay. Onyx it is. I’ll take you to the orphanage. They’ll take care of you. I suppose they may find it weird that you’re an Alicorn, but they’ll work with it.” She spread her wings and flew through the air. We soared through the sky at a leisurely speed. I leaned forward, charged my horn and shot blast of red energy, which exploded a few feet away into sparks of light.

“You’re a little magic prodigy, aren’t you?”, chuckled Celestia. Without warning, I blasted her wing with magic, setting it ablaze. We spiraled downwards at high speeds while I laughed sadistically.

“You…GAH...Menace!”, exclaimed Celestia, smashing into the ground. She rolled on her back, smothering the flames. “To think that I almost felt bad for you. Thank goodness we’re here.” I looked up and saw a small, run-down building with a wooden large sign: Bright Days Ahead Orphanage.

“Well, here you go. If we’re both lucky, we’ll never see each other again”, she said, summoning a sheet of parchment and a quill. She began to write. She turned to look at me and told me “Onyx, you are a reminder to the worst day of my life. I will never forget you. For your sake, I hope you forget me.” She knocked on the door, dropped the parchment on my chest and vanished into thin air. A mare opened the door and looked from side to side, searching for the apparent visitor. Looking down, she laid her eyes on me. She grabbed me up and carried me inside.

“Hello, little guy”, she said, “Do you have a name?” She grabbed the parchment off my chest.
“Onyx, huh?”

“Hm.” I grunted.

“Let’s see… a unicorn, haven’t gotten one of those in a while”, she said, carrying me to the back. I expanded my wings, simply to prove her wrong. “Oh my! An Alicorn? That’s strange. Maybe I should write to Princess Celestia. Oh, I can do that later. I have to get you registered.”

I started to cry, unhappy with the turn of events.

“Relax, little one. You will never be alone while you’re here.”

And so began the agony of my life.

( 12 Years Later)

“Time for lunch, Onyx!” called Morning Dawn, the Earth pony who ran the crap hole orphanage I lived in.

“Have fun.” I replied grumpily, pouring over my book.

“Onyx! It’s time to eat!”

“That’s a tad bit too bad, because I’m not going to.”

“Don’t you want to come down here and spend time with your brothers and sisters?”

“I’d love to. Let me know when they arrive.” I replied, not looking up.

“This is your family! Start acting like it!” she yelled, a little angrily.

“I have no family. Not anymore.”

“Are you going to explain what you mean by that? You start to talk about your family and then you just stop.”

“Nope, you don’t need to know; it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it right now”, I muttered, “Leave me alone! I’m not hungry.”

“Okay. I’ll bring you up something later”, she said reluctantly. Finally, that mare left me alone.

“Alright, I think I have everything in order”, I said closing my book, Book of Shadow Magic. I reached under my bed and pulled out a chunk of crystal. Only time I ever enjoyed a field trip. I placed the crystal on the floor. I closed my eyes and concentrated, willing my horn to glow. I was enveloped in a red aura and the crystal began to shake. The sapphire blue crystal rose off the ground a few feet, bathed in crimson light. It melted and reshaped and grew, forming a pony. An Alicorn pony. Her horn grew to be twice the length of mine and she grew tall, about two heads taller than me. The pupils became slitted and teal and her mane became almost like stardust, filled with sparkles. She spread her wings wide, flapping them a few times to test.

“Mother…”, I said, with tears flowing from my face, “It’s working!”
BOOM!

I flew backwards on my back, wind knocked out of me. My horn stopped glowing, and the crystal pony began to melt.

“NO!”, I shouted, willing my horn once more. I shaped it back, but not quite the same as before. Her horn was gone and she was only about half the size. Her coat went from a dark, midnight blue to a lighter sapphire color. The red light faded and she fell to the ground, rubbing her head and looking confused.

“What happened?”, she asked quietly.

“No! No, no. no! What in Tartarus are you?!”, I shouted in anger. Her crystal coat became a magma red.

“I don’t know! I was just like...poof and now I’m here!”, she said.

“Son of a...No! I’m sorry, mother! I’m so, so sorry!”, I whispered, slamming my head against the wall. Her coat faded from that magmic red to a midnight blue.

“Whoa! What happened?”, she asked tenderly. She dragged me away from my wall.

“Leave me alone! I failed! Once again, I’ve failed! I’m sorry, Mother!”, I repeated.

“What happened to your mother?”, she asked.

“Celestia happened.” I groaned. Her coat morphed color again, this time turning a topaz tone.

“What about her?”, she asked, attempting to rub my mane. I pushed her away, just now comprehending her miraculous body.

“What’s up with your coat?” I asked, watching as it became a golden tint.

“I don’t know”, she said, “It seems to change any time you change, like when you were mad and now you’re...happier? I guess we can figure it out later.”

“What makes you think there’s going to be a later?”

“You can’t just get rid of me”, she said smugly.

“And why is that?”

“Not before you figure out who, or what, I am. I would wager that I have some relevance to you, considering you did something to create me. You can’t get rid of me before you do whatever it is you were trying to do when you made me.”

“Already thinking about choices and self aware? Well if you’re going to be here, you’ll need a name”, I sighed.

“Didn’t really think of that, how about Sapphire Sparks? What’s your name?”, she asked thoughtfully.

“Onyx…Eclissius. Okay. Sapphire Sparks, my magnificent failure”, I said, as her coat became a grim blue and her ears flopped down, “Help me figure out what to tell Dawn.”

Comments

[Limelight02]

Great so far. Keep up the good work!