The Second Exile

by cunning_linguist

Chapter 9: War!

Celestia’s vanguard marched through the streets of Ponyville. Their destination was Twilight Sparkle’s library; the only lead they had on where Nocturne’s essence might be stored. Cream took the lead, his reasoning being that he was the eldest both in age and authority, thus the five individuals behind him fell under his watchful charge.

Twilight Sparkle was next, having resorted to supporting Spike with her gentle telekinesis instead of the unsteady rocking of her and Fluttershy’s backs, no matter how careful they had been. Her mind was going a mile a minute, as usual believing that she alone would have to unravel the mystery of Luna’s dark past and find a way to dispose of it yet again, before any other pony became a casualty of her perceived incompetence.

Fluttershy was not far behind. Though usually the slowest because of her ever-present mousiness, her gait was now even and determined. Her best attempt at appearing resolute merely made her look slightly less ignorable than usual, though her friends could attest to just how serious and intimidating she could be when roused.

Shining Armor was side-by-side with Riven, the displaced exile of Noxus. Neither spoke, understanding the weight of the situation, but also because they had discovered an unspoken respect that only soldiers could understand. He would have guarded the rear had Riven not slowed or increased her pace based on his, telling him without words that she wasn’t about to let another protect her when she so adamantly believed it was her duty to protect the ponies who had been so kind and hospitable to her.

Before long, however, Riven began to appreciate having such high-profile escorts. The early afternoon crowds parted for the group, though all eyes were on the frighteningly tall biped shouldering without visible strain a weapon less than a head shorter than herself. Riven mentally chastised herself, recalling how the ponies that she’d become friends with reacted to her height. Of course strangers would respond similarly or worse. “You shouldn’t have summoned the sword here, you fool. Look at them; you’re scaring children.” Riven sighed audibly, eliciting a curious glance from Shining Armor. “It’s Ionia all over again.”

“Something wrong?” Shining Armor asked, his attention was on the group in front of him but his ears were pivoted toward Riven.

“It’s nothing,” Riven lied. She wasn’t one to burden another with her problems, and she doubted a royal guard could alleviate the fears of a humble country town anyway.

He nodded, the sound of their footfalls the only sound between them for several moments. Then, Shining Armor replied. “My wife would say that it’s not healthy to try to shoulder the burdens of everyponies problems by yourself.”

“And what do you say?”

“I say you’ve made friends here, and if you’re the soldier I think you are, there are no secrets on the battlefield.”

“What makes you think there will be a battle?”

“Because I trust Princess Luna, and I would ask that you make peace with yourself before we take up arms. You won’t be at your best if your head is clouded, which means I won’t be able to use you.”

Riven allowed Shining Armor’s words to settle before grinning broadly and nodding. It was difficult arguing with the logic of a drill sergeant, even one that was a miniature, marshmallow-colored horse. “Yes sir.”

Upon arriving at the library, the group huddled in a tight circle in front of the door. Cream’s horn began to glow and highlighted the door handle, but he first glanced over his shoulder to get a collective confirmation to proceed. They all nodded sternly, though Riven mumbled under her breath: “This isn’t very tactical.”

Shining Armor snorted and Twilight rolled her eyes. The door was thrown open loudly and four ponies, a human, and a floating dragon leapt in, ready to fight whatever might be lurking within. However, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. The damaged glass cylinder stood where it had always been and it still had a note penned by Spike taped to it. The books were unperturbed, the floor was uncluttered, and light poured in from the windows, alleviating what fears the shadows created.

The group relaxed and let out a simultaneous sigh. Spike was gently deposited on a nearby couch and Twilight resumed her watchful vigil. Fluttershy was attempting to coax Shining Armor to check the kitchen with her, certain that the monster from her dreams was creeping from corner to corner. Cream and Riven approached the enclosure, looking into it and observing the rune, as intricate and ominous as the day it was drawn.

“What do we do?” Riven asked, looking down at the mage.

Cream shook his head and began to walk toward the shelves of books, his eyes lingering on the cylinder for a moment before shifting his attention. “We wait. Time in the dreamscape is subjective; Luna has only been gone a few minutes for us, but there she could be battling the nightmare for hours. We need to be vigilant and alert… and I need to research a way to destroy the seal.”

“You can’t simply stamp it out?” The white haired warrior asked, circling to the back to observe the bloodstains on the shattered glass.

“Perhaps,” he said flatly.

“You don’t know?”

“Only Starswirl the Bearded knew for sure. I like to think myself quite talented in the magical arts but I’m little more than a foal in comparison. In hindsight, I’d say even attempting the ritual was misguided.” Cream looked positively miserable at how poorly the entire situation had played out, but he continued to dutifully pull down relevant tomes. “My condolences will seem empty Miss Riven but… you have them, nonetheless.”

Riven went silent, drawing gazes from every pony in the room. When she did speak, more than one winced. “Apologize when you can tell me for certain that you can’t send me back,” her eyes were cold and her voice harsh. “You say you can’t send me home? I pray you’re wrong.”

“I don’t like that tone of voice, soldier,” Shining Armor said, stepping forward and returning her implications.

“Sorry sir, but I don’t like knowing the last eight years of my life have been pointless because of an accident.”

“You fought for that league for eight years?” Twilight inquired.

Riven walked to the center of the room, shaking her head. “No, I’ve only been there for fourteen months, give or take a day. Before that I was… traveling. Doing some soul searching, as it were.”

Neither Twilight nor Fluttershy understood. Shining Armor did, all too well. “You fought for something you didn’t believe in.”

Riven looked at him with incredulousness. “H-How did you—”

“Every soldier is at some point ordered to do something they disagree with, Riven.” Shining Armor ignored the piercing gaze of curiosity from Twilight. “Those demons can be excised, y’know. You just gotta find the right reason… or the right fight.”

Riven averted her eyes, suddenly finding it very hard to look at Shining Armor. To his credit, he was patient, and every pony else followed his lead, careful to not risk saying something that would garner Riven’s ire or uncover a particularly painful memory. “I thought I had… but now I’m here.”

“You can start over,” he said with calm assurance, his voice neither mocking or coddling, as he took another step forward. “You can find a new path. When this whole debacle with the nightmare is finished, we’ll see if we can’t point you down the right road.”

Riven nodded, suppressing her burgeoning emotions and nodding. “I’d like that, sir.”

---

Nocturne acted first, though in this realm its actions were not so simple as merely moving its arms, but more like a titanic expression of will. Its size, while currently immense, was ultimately inconsequential; the scantest thought could shape the sky and break the bones of the world. Nocturne demonstrated the second by drawing its two wicked blades together, drudging up mountainous lumps of earth in an attempt to crush Luna betwixt.

But Nocturne’s landslide did nothing, including impress the princess of the night. She vanished in a white flash, reappeared a mile in the air above the nightmare, and performed a graceful front flip. The fibers of her tail fused, sharpened, and elongated, and Nocturne was bisected by an ebony blade the length of a skyscraper.

Its inky remains sank into the ground with an audible hiss and Luna landed with her eyes narrowed and her mouth an even line. Her tail whipped about and separated back into its original shape, but not before creating a set of armor that it lashed out and seemingly magnetized onto Luna’s lithe body. Her wings fanned out to accommodate the breastplate, each hoof momentarily lifted to accept a greave, and a very familiar helmet seamlessly matched the contours of her head.

At first glance, Luna would appear to have resumed the form of Nightmare Moon, but beneath her armor was the same beloved alicorn that her subjects had grown to know since her return. That very love gave her strength now, as she had invaded their dreams and was broadcasting this battle to every sleeper throughout the world, be they pony or griffon, dragon or minotaur. They knew the stakes because she told them, and their encouragement manifested as her armor visibly brightening and becoming sharper, as if cast in diamond.

Four red saws burst from the ground and began their deadly approach toward Luna. They grew to accommodate any attempt of her taking flight, but she didn’t need to avoid them. The moon itself reacted to her plea for aid and a beam of light similar to the one she arrived on lanced down and obliterated the centermost blade. The others began to converge on her location but were similarly stopped, this time by three black-suited ponies that materialized out of thin air to catch them within their iron-strong hooves.

The Shadowbolts simultaneously extricated Nocturne’s saws and threw them aside. The nightmare wafted out of the firmament of the realm as a mist, coalescing into a dragon larger than even the oldest wyrm. With a great breath, it roared out a sea of black flames, which was stopped by the three Shadowbolts swirling into a shield emblazoned with their skeletal symbol. Luna waited for the attack to cease, watching the display dispassionately. When it did, her warriors again separated and took up positions around their mistress.

“You cannot defeat me, nightmare! This time I wield the love of a nation! You will be defeated, and you will never return!”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed and it looked toward the sky. Nocturne’s voice was deeper now but its characteristic hissing was still present. “It is nothing so feeble as love that empowers you…” A great claw began to reach for the heavens, growing ever longer and wider, until it alone blocked out the light of the moon. “I will crush the true source of your power!”

The dragon remained fixated on its goal. When its planet-sized digits were about to wrap around the moon, a great eye transposed over it. Luna’s cyan orb stared unblinking at the beast before orbiting away and her entire body appeared to be projected over its craggy surface. Her power emanated from the dreamscape’s simulacrum of the satellite and rallied together other celestial bodies. In short order, a nebula streaked down from the heavens and slammed into Nocturne’s claw. The beast roared and pulled away, only to be struck in the eye with a white dwarf star.

Planets, neutron stars, black holes, and meteors pelted Nocturne and drove it back. The weight of a universe drove it into the earth and sapped it of its strength. When the galactic barrage ceased, Luna’s three Shadowbolts flew into the sky, vanishing from sight. They reappeared a moment later as brief twinkles of light that returned as enormous stakes, impaling the shadow dragon through both hands and its chest.

Luna landed with bone-shattering force onto Nocturne’s muzzle and spoke, stomping her forehooves for emphasis. “My domain is the night sky itself, you wretch. I may raise the moon of Equis, but it represents only a fraction of my power.”

Nocturne could only snarl with rage in response, so Luna grinded her gauntleted hooves into its face once more. “Now I think you’ve caused enough harm.” On her subconscious command, Nocturne’s flesh began to coil around her hooves like roots, anchoring both entities together. “Return with me to the waking world! ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES!”

---

In an instant, Luna blinked back into reality. Beneath her sturdy hooves was a creature that only Riven and Luna herself were not immediately terrified of. It had arms not unlike Riven’s, and a similarly configured head, but that was where the similarities ended. Nocturne seemed momentarily dazed with its violent departure to the waking world, which gave Luna enough time to teleport out of the enclosure.

Shining Armor was likewise quick on his hooves. His horn fired a beam that wrapped around the cylinder and sealed the shadow within an inescapable barrier. It was back on its proverbial feet a moment later, slashing effortlessly through the glass but found itself unable to break Shining Armor’s shield. Celestia, as well as the other element bearers, were present, and though the day was nearing its end, the sun had yet to be lowered.

Then the nightmare did something no pony or human present expected; It began to laugh. It was quiet and merely disconcerting at first, but then it filled the hollows of the library and tore at one’s most vulnerable insecurities. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash collapsed and began to thrash and rage at the wellspring of negative emotions it nurtured. Covering their ears accomplished nothing, for Nocturne’s voice seemed to seep in through the fibers of their being. Spike was likewise screaming in his sleep, and amidst the chaos, no one noticed that Twilight was still, her eyes fighting to remain open…

All light left the room; not even the sun could break through the cloying darkness that claimed the vision of all present. But they could still speak and shout frantically at one another, though that too stopped when a shadowy purple fire illuminated Twilight Sparkle, and Nocturne’s haunting laugh was now coming from her mouth. When Twilight spoke, it was as if two ponies were talking in concert: One the bookish mare that many ponies loved and cherished, and the other a sinister echo that could raise the hairs on even the bravest neck.

“Through the Twilight… I am whole…”

Comments

[blawrg]

Ponies need more champions.
Champions need more ponies.

I've really wanted to see a decent LoL crossover, reading first thing when I wake up in 4 hours

[JarOfHearts]

The second I read the description, I was like A Riven crossover fic?! LOL I gotta read this.

[the_sane_maniac]

Me to the ponies:

You're doomed
Ever single one of you

[NightmareKnight]

I've heard of LoL but never played it. My friend tried to get me to download it, but it wouldn't download.

[ZettaLux]

Where is Lulu's Transmorgify when you need it.

[Knighthawker]

Dream combat is weird.

[D48]

Very nice work across the board, although you are making me want to learn Riven even more than I did before and she is not free right now.

[Genjen]

Ah crap, just when you think you get the upper hand, he pulls out the trump card. Things are going to bet crazy next chapter, that's for sure. Ya keep leaving us with these cliff hangers. You're either just very good at keeping us hooked or yer somewhat sinister and like torturing us with anticipation.

I'll admit I was a little annoyed with Shining Armor this chapter. I just couldn't picture him actually knowing what it was like to be given orders a soldier finds morally disagreeable with a ruler like Celestia. Especially at the level of what Riven went through. So that means he was just saying things that he was aware of that could help, but doesn't truly understand.

[cunning_linguist]

994189
Have I ever told you how much I appreciate your comments? You give me insight into my own freakin' story.

Thanks for the kind words, as always. However, I did have some vague idea behind Shining Armor's comments; more so than him just saying crap to make Riven feel better. It might not be quite as extreme as what she experienced, but he's not, as Spartan Shield said, a "battle-virgin".

[Genjen]

1077811

Well, my earlier comments, looking back at some of them, were pretty much just me gushing like a fanboy. Still! I'm glad to hear they were appreciated, however embarrassing they seem now. They were well deserved however, you more than earned them.

<=== (Has just realized he's a Riven fanatic... apparently. The combination of two great fandoms in a well written work proved too much for his sensibilities... apparently.)

It'll be interesting to see how you spin things with Shining Armor. I'm only used to seeing him being portrayed as competent and powerful, but still untested in combat. Like a boyscout knight. The one battle we know of, the wedding, he spent under a spell up until the end where he unleashed his shield, so not even that counts. You'd already started taking him down a different road in this chapter, from the boyscout to commander, and it sounds like you have some world-building type stuff in mind for him so I'll be looking forward to it. I wasn't sure if that was the case, or if he was just saying "sweet nothings" to get her head in the game for the short term. Kind of like a "She can be disappointed with me and settle her existential crisis after the threat is dealt with." thing.

[D48]

Well, Riven is up on the free champion rotation and I am having a lot of fun playing her which made me remember this story. I am really hoping you will continue this, although Riven should probably not be using my "oh hey, no one else on my team is building defense, time to go full tank" build. That would result in an hour long final battle with Noc where the two just sit there flailing ineffectively because Riven cannot kill anything and Noc cannot do anything through Riven's insane defenses.

[Fourpony]

Twilight was subverted pretty easily. Took Nocturne at least some time to play on Luna's fears. Not sure why Twilight would be more appealing than a goddess.

[Shulk]

Darkness......-Nocturne
Oh Nocturne you evil shadow being nightmare thing