Chapter V: Into the Neighing Dark
Chapter V: Into the Neighing Dark
The grim silence that suffocated the inside of the library was broken only by Twilight’s muffled sobs. Princess Celestia held her close, tenderly stroking her mane with a wing while the poor mare cried into her chest. Horrible thoughts ran through Twilight’s head as she cried her heart out over her missing dragon. Was Spike okay? What if he was hurt, or worse… dead? Worst of all, she continued to berate herself for leaving the baby dragon behind. He would have been safer with her; she could have protected him. It was all her fault.
Who would want to kidnap Spike in the first place? He had no enemies. That thought was voiced seconds later by a puffy eyed Rarity. “I just don’t understand who would come in here and snatch little Spike away.” She dabbed at her eyes with a wet handkerchief.
Applejack nodded in solemn agreement. “Little fella never hurt anyone.”
The ponies were gathered around in a tight circle around the center table in the library’s main room. The bust had been set aside as not to obstruct their vision from one another. Other than the missing dragon, the entire library had been left relatively untouched. No books were out of place, no damage had been done. Clearly, the phantom had known what it was looking for and where it would find it. Taking Spike had been a deliberate and solitary action.
Owlowiscious sat upon a high shelf fast asleep. Fluttershy had tended to some of the wounds he had received in whatever struggle had taken place. Luckily the little owl had taken only minor bruises and would be fine in no time.
They all sat in an uneasy silence, each of them left to their own thoughts. Each of the friends had taken a turn to comfort Twilight after her initial breakdown, but now they knew there wasn’t much they could do except let her cry, however heartbreaking it was to watch.
Celestia took a slow steady breath, her mind clustered with thoughts of her own. Clearly this enemy knows who we are and where we would be. Have they been observing us? How much do they know? It was a rare experience for Celestia, not being in the know. She always had some idea of what she was up against, of who her enemy was and a weakness she could exploit. She was used to having a plan. Well, I have a plan, she thought, but to be frank it has more holes in it than Queen Chrysalis’ legs. She looked down at the ponies gathered in front of her knowing that once again, the fate of her kingdom rested on their shoulders. She cursed herself for having to throw six of her beloved subjects, ponies whom she regarded as close friends, into danger time and time again. But perhaps this is their fate, being the Bearers of Harmony.
Twilight gave a loud hiccup snapping Celestia from her thoughts. She looked down at her faithful student who was wiping her eyes with her hoof. “Feeling any better?” she asked with a sad smile.
Twilight shook her head. “No, but if I cry any longer I think I’m going to be sick,” she said miserably.
Celestia gave her a tight hug and said, “I promise you, Twilight, everything will turn out fine. We’ll find Spike and bring him home.”
Twilight looked up at her mentor. “Do you think he’s ok?” She still had a river of tears running down her face.
Celestia hesitated. Truthfully, she had no idea as to whether or not Spike was ok. She looked down into Twilight’s pleading face. Could she lie to her? Lie to the pony who was almost like a daughter to her? Celestia knew that there was a great possibility that Spike was in mortal peril… if he was still on the mortal plane. But Twilight didn’t need to hear that. She needed hope right now, even if it was a false one. “I’m sure he’s fine right now Twilight,” she said, praying she was right. If she wasn’t, Twilight would hold it against her for the rest of her days.
Twilight finally pulled away and began trying to clean her face up. Celestia levitated a box of tissues over which the purple mare gratefully took. She dried her eyes which were now quite puffy and red before turning to her friends. “Thank you girls for trying to comfort me,” she smiled.
She suddenly found herself assaulted by five other ponies who pulled her into a tight group hug. ”Of course Twilight, you’d do the same thing for us,” Fluttershy beamed.
“And don’t worry Twilight, we’ll find the ruffians who took Spike and give them what for,” Rarity added.
“Yeah, no one takes one of our friends and gets away with it!” Rainbow cheered.
Twilight smiled and pressed herself into her friends embrace. It was a strenuous effort for her not to start crying all over again, even if they were tears of joy. She couldn’t have asked for better friends.
Pinkie Pie shot up from the group hug and exclaimed, “Well c’mon girls, we’ve got a baby dragon to find and a world to save! Follow me to victory!”
She began marching towards the front door when Applejack called out to her, “Pinkie, Ya don’t even know where yer goin’.”
Pinkie stopped and proceeded to backpedal towards the group again. “Right, Princess Celestia where are we going?”
All eyes were on her now as the ponies turned to their princess for direction. Celestia closed he eyes and gathered her thoughts before speaking, “Starswirl the Bearded once theorized that beyond the boundaries of our reality were other possible universes; the ‘what if’ questions we ask ourselves to be more clear. He also theorized that between these universes was an impossibly large space that kept two possibilities from coming in contact with each other, a place he called the Interdimensional Rift.” Celestia paused and began to pace the floor of the library. “The idea of alternate universes seemed like a stretch of an idea at the time, though I didn’t dismiss it as impossible. That, my little ponies, is what is happening today; something has found a way to cross through the rift and push into our world.”
There was a moment before Rainbow Dash let out a low whistle. “Wow, Twilight, I guess you were right. That was some parallel Ponyville we were staring at back there.”
“I know I said it, but honestly, I’m still having a hard time believing it,” Twilight said in awe. “So, does that mean that through that portal there’s a whole other Equestria with other versions of us?”
“Indeed,” Celestia nodded. “Though, from the way they’ve presented themselves to us, I don’t think their Equestria is as friendly as ours.”
“Seriously,” Pinkie started. “I mean what kind of alternate universe neighbor just comes over and starts a war? I mean, if it were me, I’d go over and bring them a cake and say ‘hi alternate universe neighbor, you seemed lonely so I made you a cake and-‘” Rainbow shoved a hoof into Pinkie’s mouth, cutting her off.
“Ok, so there’s another world who wants to fight us, what do we do about it?
“Well, from what you’ve told me it appears that the Elements of Harmony are currently ineffective in closing the portal. And from what I’ve seen, it has nothing to do with a lack of harmony amongst you six,” Celestia smiled briefly at them before returning to a serious frown. “This leads me to believe that there may be an outside force whose magic is powerful enough to negate any attempts in stopping this invasion.”
Rainbow rubbed her hooves together. “So you want us to find this guy and put the hurt on him, right?”
With a shake of her head, Celestia gave a simple, “No.” Rainbow looked visibly disappointed. “No, Rainbow Dash, that task will fall to Luna and I. What I need you to do is to go and find yourselves.”
She received a unanimous group of confused stares and Applejack asked, “Err, beg pardon yer Highness?”
“Allow me to explain.” Celestia cleared her throat, “As you inquired before, Twilight, inside the other Equestria are six ponies wielding the traits that represent the Elements of Harmony. You girls must find them and the elements themselves and bring them together.”
“Well, that does clarify things,” said Applejack. “But why would we need two sets of the Elements of Harmony?”
Celestia walked over to the wall dividing the main room of the library from the kitchen. “The best way I can explain it is like this. Say I were to break a whole though this wall to the other side of it so you could see the kitchen.” The group nodded, following along so far with Celestia’s example. “Well to fix it, you’d have to mend the hole on both sides correct? The hole in this room and the hole in the kitchen.” She walked back towards the table and sat down. “If the elements had worked they would have only closed the portal from this side, not both.”
“And how would that be so bad?” Rainbow cut in. “I mean we fixed our world, now it’s their own problem, right?”
The princess looked at the brash pegasus, not with an angry or offended look, but with gaze that showed all of her years of experience and knowing, an ancient and powerful look that made Dash squirm uncomfortably. “Because Rainbow Dash,” Celestia began in a calm but deathly serious tone. “There are things in the Interdimensional Rift. Horrible eldritch creatures that predate Luna and I by eons. They are living and unloving being that no world, no matter what kind of world, should ever have to face. The longer the portal stays open, the higher the chance is that one will escape.”
Just listening to the alicorn’s description was enough to send a cold shiver down each of the ponies’ spines. Rainbow rubbed the side of her face and said, “Yeah, that sounds… pretty bad. So, you want us to find the other Elements of Harmony so they can close their side of the portal before something bad gets lose?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes; and because I believe that the portal can only be closed simultaneously; both sets of elements must work together repair what has been damaged.”
“Gosh, this seems like a lot of work,” Rarity said with concern. “How will we even find the other bearers?”
Celestia closed her eyes and said, “If we are lucky then some things will be universal constants. But if anyone can spread the light of friendship it’s the six of you.” She opened her eyes and smiled warmly at them.
Twilight nodded, vouching for all of them when she said, “Don’t worry princess, we won’t let you down! We’ll find the other Elements of Harmony and save Spike and both Equestrias!”
“Even though one’s trying to kill us,” Rainbow muttered in to Applejack’s ear. She quickly elbowed the pegasus to shut her up.
“I have no doubt that you will my little ponies,” the princess spoke sincerely.
“Umm, princess, how are we supposed to get there with all of those soldiers outside?” Fluttershy asked.
Her horn starting to glow with a golden light, the alicorn stood up and said, “I believe I have a solution for that. Gather round everypony.” The six friends moved in closer to their princess and in a golden flash of light, all of them vanished leaving a sleeping owl alone in the library.
******
The skies above the sunless Equestria were frigid. Luna was used to the cold of the night but this was ridiculous! It was colder than the arctic north up here.
She flew onwards, steadfast under the cover of perpetual night, flying further and further away from the world of light and deeper into the world of darkness. Yet here, the moon seemed brighter than her own back home, and the stars radiated an immense beauty the like of which even she had to admire. Luna knew that the night sky held some of the truest beauty a pony could behold. She spent every night trying to craft the stars into wondrous works of art, but even she had to admit, Nightmare Moon’s night was a masterpiece.
She dismissed these thoughts and focused on her task at hoof, flying onwards to her destination. When Luna had first entered this world she was unsure of where she would find the shadowy snake that was Nightmare Moon. Her concerns were quickly dispelled when she saw the massive floating black castle in the distance, illuminated by the full moon. She scoffed at Nightmare Moon’s egotistical nature but flew towards it, determined to put an end to her.
As she soared closer to ominous fortress something below her caught her eye. Lying in the shadow of the castle was a large city that reminded Luna of the one that had once resided in the Everfree Forest. She stopped and stared at it, finding more and more similarities the longer she beheld it. She looked at the surrounding area, taking in the landscape for the first time since she had arrived and saw that the encompassing forest was the Everfree. That meant the city before her was indeed Old Canterlot.
She took a deep breath trying to fight off the nostalgia washing over her. Memories both good and bad of her time in the city floated back to her. Luna could remember how she and Celestia had taken frequent trips into the marketplace. The sight of all of their ponies living in peace and harmony always brought a smile to her face. And the aroma of the baking sweets and confections! The pastries of old could have given Sugarcube Corner a run for their bits.
Luna felt a tear drop from her face as she looked down upon it. She felt like she was gazing into the past, a specter watching events of old. That city had been perfect, its denizens completely innocent of any crime other than enjoying the fruits of their labor. Yet Luna had blamed them for shunning her and ignoring her night, and saw fit to single-hoofedly lay siege to the city. Celestia had tried to intervene, tried to make her see reason, but Luna did not care. The battle between the two sisters had left the city in ruins.
Yet here it was, sleeping in front of the Princess of the Night; innocent, just as it had been one thousand years ago. Looking at filled Luna with a great sadness that quickly shifted to anger. Did the universe see it fitting that she should be reminded of her sins at every possible moment? Did fate laugh at her pain? Was a thousand years of solitude not enough of a punishment? Apparently not, as her past was determined to haunt her for the remainder of her days.
Luna gritted her teeth, anger bubbling up inside her like an active volcano. No more! She was tired of being haunted by her actions! She cast her gaze back to floating castle in front of her. If Nightmare Moon wanted a fight, then it was a fight Luna was ready to give. She would overcome her shadow and finally be rid of it in mind, soul and body.
She took off once more, aiming for the palace; its features now more prominent than before. Thirteen towers clawed their way higher into the sky with smaller walkways and turrets extending about. The entire building was shaped into C like design upon the island which it sat. Luna flew through the opening in the palace structure and landed in a massive courtyard with dazzling silver pathways that gleamed under the light of the moon. Dividing up the courtyard were dozens of gardens containing a myriad of flowers. As Luna looked about, she could spot at least one different type of every flower know to ponydom. Her faced scrunched up as she noticed something else: in the center of each garden was a statue of Nightmare Moon in various regal or intimidating poses. Luna was finding it hard to believe she had once been this vein.
She made her way to the center of the courtyard, a circular space that housed the largest statue of Nightmare Moon in the entire garden. It was sculpted much like the one in the Everfree Forest back home, with Nightmare Moon on her back legs rearing up and looking as mighty as possible. Feeling a surge of annoyance, Luna powered up her horn and with one blast reduced the statue to a pile of rubble. She turned her head skyward and screamed, “NIGHTMARE MOON, COME OUT AND SHOW THYSELF!”
Luna stood there, alone in silence with only the steady rhythm of her heartbeat to keep her company. Her ears twitched as she caught the sound of rushing shadows converging behind her. She whirled around to face the mare that had caused her so much grief. She stood in front of Luna, at least a head taller and wearing her traditional sapphire armor.
Nightmare Moon gave smaller princess a sinister smile and said, “Little Luna, so nice of you to join me. I was afraid you might cower behind Tia and let her do everything for you.”
Luna snorted in anger. “I’m my own mare and I can handle you by myself!” she said, flaring her wings and leaning low to the ground ready to charge.
“Ah, so there still is a fire that burns inside your heart.”
“Yes, and it is ready to turn you to ashes!”
Nightmare Moon continued to smile coldly at her. “Wouldn’t you rather turn that fire against the world that wronged you Luna; the world that shunned you and wrongly imprisoned you?”
“ENOUGH!” Luna screamed as she leaped into the air. Her eyes burned with white hot fury as the wind whipped about her in a mad frenzy. “THOU SHALL NOT TURN US AGAISNT OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY! WE SHALL SMITE THEE WITH RIGHTOUS FURY AND PUT AN END TO THY SIEGE!” The light of the moon quickly vanished as storm clouds moved in and obscured the pale floating orb.
Nightmare Moon let out a bout of laughter before rising into the air herself and saying, “Very well Luna, let’s see if you can entertain me!” Her eyes glowed with a white fury of their own as the rubble from the destroyed statue lifted up and remolded itself into several long spears of stone. They pointed themselves towards Luna before shooting towards her, determined to impale her.
Horn glowing bright, Luna released a wave of bright magic that vaporized the oncoming projectiles before calling forth more beams of light that arched their way towards the black alicorn. Nightmare Moon winked out of existence just as the threads of light converged upon the point she had once floated. She reappeared behind Luna and fired a black ball of energy, but Luna was quick on the uptake. She turned around and smacked it down towards the marble floor where it exploded and left a sizeable crater. She followed up by summoning a bolt of lightning down upon her foe, but Nightmare Moon just smiled and absorbed it with her horn like a lightning rod. Her horn crackled with electricity as she fired a volley of lighting back to Luna.
Faster than her eye could follow, the bolt electricity rushed forward and struck her sending a horrible sense of pain through her body. She collapsed to the ground, twitching from the leftover current coursing through her nerves. She felt something land on top of her and begin to crush her chest. She opened her eyes to see Nightmare Moon looking down at her with triumph.
“Had enough, Luna?” she sneered.
Grinding her teeth together, Luna gathered some of her strength and fired a burst of magic directly into the black alicorn’s face. She reeled back in pain allowing Luna to roll over and push herself back onto her hooves. Her body was still trembling slightly from the electrical blast she had received. It then dawned on Luna that she had not properly fought in over a thousand years. She cursed herself for being away during the changeling invasion.
Luna turned to face the dark empress once more and found her holding the side of her face that had been hit by the magical blast. “Impudent brat; you shall pay for that!” she seethed. Rising up on her hind legs, she slammed her hooves against the ground and called up several large boulders which she then hurled at Luna.
Luna quickly melted into the floor as the boulders impacted against it creating sizable cracks where Luna had been moments before.
Nightmare Moon was about to chase after her when the ground began to quiver. From behind her, a large geyser of water gushed forth from the ground and was directed towards the dark alicorn. She took the full force of the pressurized stream of water and was blasted back against the wall. The water continued to pound against her, drowning her in an endless deluge. Finally the pressure let up and Nightmare Moon slid down the wall coughing up puddles of water. Enraged, she looked up to see Luna floating in a large liquid sphere. The sphere began to freeze over and form large needles of ice on the surface. It then exploded outward sending needles and shrapnel of ice raining down on Nightmare Moon. She raised a purple shield to defend herself against the hailstorm while simultaneously generating mass amounts of heat inside her confined space.
Luna continued to use the water she had taken from the palace pipelines to create more ice and rain it down upon the dark empress. She was determined to break past her shield and impale her with a thousand ice shards. It was then that Nightmare Moon’s force field fell, but not due to the impact of the falling ice. Instead a scarlet inferno roared up from her position against the wall melting every shard of ice and rushing to meet Luna.
The alicorn raised her horn and used her magic to split the raging tide of fire in half, sending it around her and towards the other side of the courtyard. Out of the wall of fire came Nightmare Moon, as she plowed into Luna, slamming her hooves into the princess’ chest and knocking her to the ground. She then redirected the fire to come back around and rain down on her.
Tapping her hoof against the ground, Luna used her magic to break another pipe and forced the gushing water to burst through the marble floor and meet the oncoming blaze. The two opposites met and created a thick screen of mist that billowed outwards and fell over the entire courtyard. Luna quickly got up so she wouldn’t be caught off guard. She could hear the hiss of the steam being created behind her as she slowly made her way forward into the world of mist.
Both the fire and water quickly died out leaving the courtyard in an eerie silence. Luna was on high alert waiting for the slightest sound of movement. Her vision was heavily obscured by the dense fog. She thought about getting rid of it, but the thought of having the element of surprise over Nightmare Moon held her back. Obviously, the darker mare was thinking along the same lines.
Luna held her breath. She stood completely still in the mist, ears up, eyes sharp and magic ready. The sound of the hissing steam had faded leaving only the sound of the moaning wind blowing around her. Luna tuned it out with her focus, leaving the courtyard in absolute silence. Seconds passed, then minutes, but neither alicorn moved a muscle.
Luna picked up a spike in energy so quick she barely had time to register it as a lance of black energy shot down from right above her. She leapt to the side just as it speared the ground, slicing through it like a knife through butter. Luna was just about to clear the mist when the spear of dark energy detonated behind her like a stick of dynamite. She flew forward, breaking through the walls of the palace and tumbling into one of the hallways as debris fell around her. She lay on her side, not willing to move due to the amount of pain her back was feeling. It had taken most of the blow and as a result, was stripped bare of most of the fur and skin. Luna opened her eyes to find her vision swimming in and out of focus. She thought she saw Twilight Sparkle running down the hall away from her, but dismissed it as some of the head trauma she received when she crashed through the wall.
Squeezing her eyes shut and ignoring the pounding ache in her skull, Luna used her magic to begin healing her body. Ribbons of light made their way around her and began to close and heal the wounds she had received. The magic was warm and comforting like Celestia’s wings. She didn’t fully heal them, just enough so that the wounds were bearable; she would need her magic for the fight. Once her back had been knitted up, Luna stood up and stepped out into the courtyard once more.
“Alright Nightmare Moon,” she whispered. “You want to use detonation magic? Well two can play this game!” Luna’s horn began to glow with a silver light as several bright translucent orbs appeared around her, shining like the full moon. They circled her in a ring, staying just outside the full extent of her wingspan.
With a mighty flap of her wings, Luna cleared the fog off the battlefield just in time to see Nightmare Moon send another lance of black pulsing energy in her direction. Luna sprang into the air as the lance passed underneath her; embedding itself into the hallway before detonating and completely collapsing the hall.
From her place in the air, Luna fired one of her silver spheres down upon Nightmare Moon who raised her hoof to block it just as Luna had hoped she would. Instead of deflecting it, contact with small orb caused it to explode sending the empress flying back across the yard, crashing into one of her many statues which collapsed on top of her. She quickly threw it off and glared up at Luna with rage filled eyes. Widening her stance, she began to charge a massive amount of energy to her horn which converged on the tip in the shape of a black sphere. With a snarl she released the built up energy, firing a ray of dark magic.
Luna did the same; charging her horn with a silver light she released a beam of her own. The two energies met in midair and began pushing against each other. Light and darkness clashed in the courtyard, a beam of brilliant silver radiance against a ray of all-consuming shadows. Both mares poured their magic into their attack, desperate to gain an edge over the other.
The darkness began to push ahead, slowly drowning out the light as Nightmare Moon grinned in premature triumph.
But Luna was not one to be underestimated.
Shifting her concentration away from her energy ray, she focused on one of the orbs still circling her and hurled it at Nightmare Moon.
The dark alicorn’s eyes widened as she saw the corner that she had been placed in. She quickly cut power to her beam and threw up a magic shield allowing Luna’s ray to finish its course along with her exploding spheres of magic. Both hit the barrier and created enough force to shatter it and toss Nightmare Moon back again. She landed in a flower bed, kicking up a cloud of dust as she tumbled before landing in a heap. She climbed back to a standing position just as another bomb dropped next to her.
Luna was hurling spheres of energy down to her foe, refusing to let up. She fired volley after volley of energy spells and Mana Bombs in a final attempt to end her nightmare. The cloud of dust and smoke quickly turned into a large column that rose into the night sky. Yet Luna still continued her relentless assault, letting out her anger with every spell she threw. She finally stopped; panting and gasping for breath, she stared at the wall of dust, waiting for it to clear and show her Nightmare Moon’s broken body.
When the dust finally settled, Luna saw her body lying still in the deep crater she had created. She slowly descended from the sky, landing softly on the edge of the hole and leaned in to get a better look. Nightmare Moon’s body was mangled mass of broken limbs and burnt flesh. Her wings were devoid of all feathers and the bones had been either destroyed of seared black. Her eyes had been left open; cold fear and surprise filled them, but they held no life.
Luna stared down into the crater, unsure how to feel about what she had just done. She took deep lungful’s of air trying to calm her speeding heart. All of the energy she had just exerted made her feel like she had just flown around the entire world at top speed. Emotionally, she felt… empty. She thought she would feel overjoyed when she at last conquered her dark half, but instead she felt empty. Luna gave a small shake of her head. She would have time to sort out her feelings later; right now there were more pressing issues to deal with.
Luna spread her wings in preparation for flight when she suddenly felt an intense pressure wrap around her neck and a voice hissed in her ear, “Oh, Luna, you of all ponies should know the power of illusion magic.” She gasped as right before her eyes; the body of Nightmare Moon turned into mere stardust and blew away in the wind. Luna had been tricked. Gone was the empty feeling she had had towards the black alicorn, instead her rage and hatred had returned.
Caught in the grip of Nightmare Moon’s mane, the Moon Princess struggled to release herself but to no avail. The grip around her neck tightened, cutting off her breathing. Her dark other proceeded to toss her around, slamming her into the floor and several statues repeatedly before violently throwing her across the courtyard. Bruised and battered, Luna began to cough and wheeze as she tried to fill her lungs with oxygen. She tasted something metallic in the back of her throat and was fairly sure it was blood. She staggered to her hooves as Nightmare Moon closed the distance between them. “Give up, Luna; you can’t win against me! I can feel your magic depleting!”
Luna spat out a glob of blood, and wiped her mouth with her foreleg. Nightmare Moon was right, the onslaught Luna had thought she dealt to Night Empress had drained her of a good amount of her magic. She needed time for it to regenerate.
Alright Nightmare Moon, let’s see how well you are at swordplay, Luna thought as a long silver sword materialized from thin air. It had a blue hilt with diamonds encrusted into it and her cutie mark engraved into the pommel. She took a fighting stance and pointed her sword at the mare before her.
Nightmare Moon flashed a cocky grin before following suit. Her sword was all black with silver runes carved into the hilt and seemed to suck the natural light around it away. “En guard,” she called before rushing towards Luna. Their swords met with a resounding clash. Both blades pressed against each other with their owners fighting for dominance. They finally broke apart when Luna leaped backwards and caused Nightmare Moon to stumble forward. Luna brought her sword down in a wide arc but the black alicorn used her metal horseshoes to block the attack. She then swung forward, aiming for Luna’s chest. The smaller pony jumped backwards again giving Nightmare Moon the opportunity to pounce at her, bringing her sword down with fervor. Luna parried the blow and jabbed forward intending to impale her other, but Nightmare Moon caught the blade from underneath and threw it up before swiping at Luna’s midsection. It was Luna’s turn to block with her horseshoe, as she deflected a fatal blow before bringing her sword back down.
The two alicorns continued their dance across the ravaged courtyard; swiping and parrying, jabbing and blocking; neither one able to inflict any sort of wound on the other. Their fight had turned form a barbaric display of magic, to an elegant and graceful tango of black and silver swords.
Luna gave a diagonal slash that Nightmare Moon blocked with ease before she retaliated by making a thrust at Luna’s chest. She sidestepped and made a swipe at dark mare’s face who deftly avoided it while making another low swipe at Luna’s midsection. Luna jumped back but did not leap far enough as the blade swept forward and left a shallow cut against her skin.
Instantly, Luna felt an explosion of depressing thoughts and feelings take hold of her mind. She collapsed to the ground as a sense of hopelessness came over her. She suddenly felt trapped, unable to breath, like she was back inside the moon.
“Do you like it?” a distant voice said. It sounded muffled and unfocused, like Luna was listening through a wall. “That is the power of Phantasma; it sucks away hope and leaves you with all those wonderful feelings of sadness and despair.” Nightmare Moon lifted the blade and struck again, leaving a deeper cut in Luna’s chest. Luna could literally feel her confidence drain out of her. She felt miserable, not just the pain in her body, but the pain that was coming from her heart too. She felt like she had prior to becoming Nightmare Moon in her world: useless, unloved, ignored, and helpless.
Her blade dropped to the ground next to her, she couldn’t focus on her magic anymore, not with the dark thoughts that crowded her mind. Nightmare Moon struck again, this time stabbing her in the shoulder. Luna let out a cry of agony from the amount of pain being inflicted on her. The sword was forcefully wrenched out of her shoulder allowing the wound to bleed freely. Luna was shaking now, trembling in her own pool of blood. Her mind had become wasteland of dark thoughts and sadness. All she could think about was her time on the moon, how she had betrayed her sister who had done nothing but love her; how she had heartlessly maimed and killed hundreds of ponies because she had become so wrapped up in pathetic jealousy.
She was worthless, she didn’t deserve to be a princess… she didn’t deserve to live.
Nightmare Moon watched as Luna’s hopelessness took hold of her. She was nothing more than a blue mass shivering on the ground before her. Nightmare Moon used her magic to grab Luna by the mane and forced her to make eye contact. “Tell me Luna, how does it feel to be so pathetic and helpless?”
Luna could only whimper in pain but inside she knew Nightmare Moon was right. She was helpless and weak; she still needed Celestia to do everything for her. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she realized that she would probably never see her sister again.
Nightmare Moon gave Luna her devilish grin. “You know, I was going to use young Twilight Sparkle as my next source of magic; she has magic levels that rival even Starswirl the Bearded. But why settle for unicorn magic when I can have alicorn magic to fuel me for the next millennium!” Laughing manically, she lowered her horn to Luna’s, a black glow encasing it. Luna’s eyes widened in horror; she knew what was about to happen.
The blackest of all magics. The Mana Siphon.
The two horns touched and Luna let out a bloodcurdling scream as her magic was forcefully torn from her body and transferred to Nightmare Moon. It was as if part of her very life-force was being ripped away from her, leaving her feeling hollow and empty, like a mere husk that had at some point in time long ago, been filled with life.
Nightmare Moon finished with her and dropped her head to the floor. The Empress of the Night licked her lips like she had just had a great meal and said, “Oh Luna, you don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve tasted magic like this. You and I are going to get along very well in the next one thousand years. We might even be… friends.” Nightmare Moon threw her head back and let out her mad cackle of glee before wrapping Luna in her magic and dragging her back inside the palace.
******
The six ponies had never seen a war before, and now they never wanted to see another one ever again.
Princess Celestia had teleported all of them back to the cluster of trees just before the field where the portal sat. All around them, the forces of both armies clashed against each other in acts of pure violence. Ponies were stabbed by swords and shot down by arrows, falling into puddles of blood, never to move again.
Currently it was only Light Equestria’s pegasi against the bulk of Dark Equestria’s ground and air units; and although Celestia’s soldiers had more skill, the invading army had sheer numbers on their side.
Rainbow Dash covered Fluttershy’s eyes just as another pegasus was stabbed violently in the throat before falling to the ground. She swallowed down the bile that had been building in her throat and shuddered. This made the Changeling invasion seem like a fight on the playground between two foals.
“Horrible isn’t it?” Celestia said grimly. She wore a sad and forlorn face as she watched the senseless carnage unfold before her. No matter how many times she sent her ponies to war, it killed her a little on the inside. “I’m sorry you had to see this, this is something no pony should ever have to bear witness to.” She looked down at the faces of revulsion and horror written on each of the smaller ponies faces.
Applejack took a slow shaky breath before tearing her eyes away from the battlefield and saying, “Umm, princess, how are we gonna get passed all of that,” she gestured with her hoof. “If we just walk on out there they’ll kill us!”
“Which is why I’m preparing an invisibility spell to hide you until you get to the other side,” Celestia said patiently.
“Oh, yeah that would help a lot.”
“But first…” Celestia’s horn glowed a majestic gold as a saddlebag with the cutie marks of her and Luna appeared from thin air and landed on Twilight Sparkle’s back. “This bag can only be opened by the Bearers of Harmony. I would think it wise if you kept the Elements inside until you have need of them.”
The group nodded and placed their respective Elements inside Twilight’s new bag before Celestia addressed them again. “I cannot say that your journey will be an easy one; this may be the most difficult thing I’ve asked you to do. But I have the upmost confidence that you can do it!”
Twilight looked up at her mentor with fierce determination. “Don’t worry princess, we won’t let you down!”
Celestia beamed at them before lighting her horn once more. She watched as a thin transparent bubble descended upon them quickly erasing them from view. She could no longer see them, but the six ponies inside could see themselves just fine. “This shield will keep you hidden for approximately ten minutes. That should be enough time to get you across the rift and to a safe place on the other side. But remember, just because you’re invisible doesn’t mean you’re intangible.”
Twilight nodded before realizing she couldn’t be seen. “Got it; come on girls, let’s move.” Sticking together, the ponies made their way from out of their hiding place amongst the trees and towards the dark maw of the other world.
“Good luck,” Celestia whispered before heading out herself. She took to the sky heading off in the direction of the Everfree forest. There was one more creature she needed assistance from.
******
The invisibility bubble was not like most shield bubbles in that it didn’t retain body heat, something the six ponies were grateful for. It was like clear soap bubble that slightly distorted the imagery outside it, making some things look closer or further than they actually were.
They stepped carefully across the field, trying to avoid the bodies of fallen ponies or the scrimmages between living ones.
They hurried through at a quick but somber pace, trying to take in as little of the battle as possible. “This is so wrong,” Pinkie whispered. “Ponies should never fight like this; ever.”
Fluttershy nodded, unable to stop the tears falling down her face. “It’s so horrible, who would even want to start something like this?”
Twilight answered, “I don’t know, but I’m sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can handle it. Our job is to rescue Spike and get this portal closed.” She kept her eyes forward, desperate not to see any of the bloodshed. It only made her think of whether or not Spike was alive.
They reached the entrance to the rift; a cold air blew from the other world through the magical corridor. Here the grass of the field ended and a road of swirling grey magic began. Twilight put an apprehensive hoof into the doorway, testing if the path would hold up or just vanish beneath her. It seemed solid and sturdy so she put both her front hooves forward and cautiously waded into the unknown with her friends’ right behind her.
Around them, the black walls of the corridor continued to swirl about with magic. It was like someone was constantly drawing and erasing random shapes and symbols on a blackboard. Twilight hazard a guess that the actual Interdimensional Rift was just beyond these magical walls and she warned her friends not to touch in case something pulled them in.
They drew closer to the exit, the alternate Ponyville becoming more and more detailed with every step. Much of the town looked the same. Twilight could make out familiar buildings like town hall or the clock tower. Well, if the town is the same then hopefully all of the residents should be there, including other us. Twilight was startled from her thoughts when a group of enemy pegasi flew overhead in the opposite direction. She thanked Celestia they still had their invisibility on.
From the mouth of the portal, six friends stepped into the foreign world, dead grass crunching beneath their hooves. They quickly huddled together, all of them wishing they had brought some warm clothing. It was cold enough to be winter here. “C-come on g-girls, we g-gotta keep m-moving; we’re st-still in enemy t-t-territory,” Twilight chattered. It was cold enough to where she could see her breath.
The group began to move down towards the foreign Ponyville hoping to find some warmth, but Rarity quickly stopped them by pointing out the patrols of guards marching through the village. Dismayed, the group sat there in the cold trying to come up with an idea.
Pinkie Pie put her hoof up and pointed, “Lookie, what’s that bright light over there?” The rest of them followed her gaze over yonder to see a large glow a small distance away. “It looks like it’s coming from Sweet Apple Acres.”
Applejack smiled. “Well, Ah guess my farm is as good a place as any to start this mission.”
Shivering in agreement, the ponies picked themselves up and proceeded towards the farm, taking the long way around the town; their ten minutes of invisibility were probably almost up. The closer they got to Sweet Apple Acres the brighter and warmer it got; the temperature seemed to return from frigid winter nights back to pleasant spring evenings. They soon found themselves on the edge of the orchard with a large ball of energy floating overhead, the source of the light and heat. It looked and felt like a miniature sun.
“Twilight what is that?” Rarity asked.
“Umm, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s some new farming technique so ponies can grow crops in winter?”
Applejack grinned. “Shoot, Ah wouldn’t mind havin’ that back on mah farm. Would be mighty useful this winter.”
The cow pony suddenly felt a gentle tugging on her tail and looked over to see Fluttershy pointing a cautious hoof towards the orchard. “Girls, I think somepony is watching us.”
Sure enough, the shadow of a pony could be seen peering out from behind one of the trees. Twilight waved a hoof and said, “They can’t see us, we still have time left on the invisibility shield.” She squinted her eyes trying to see the distortions that the shield should have been making. “Err, I think.”
“If they can’t see us, why are they coming this way?” Rainbow Dash said a little too smartly.
The figure stepped into the light revealing herself to the group. She wore a white Sunday dress with red frills around the hooves and a white bonnet with a wide trim. She looked exactly like Applejack only her hair was done up in golden curly ringlets that fell around her face and she was wearing a faint layer of makeup. Her eyes were locked on to Twilight and Rarity and she had an expression like she was looking at a fantasy that had just come to life.
“Oh my stars,” the Applejack lookalike gasped, pointing at Twilight’s horn. “A living unicorn!"
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And so they enter the Dark reality. And whose counterpart is first? Applejack's.
This was a nice update dude, and aw man, poor Luna. Her need to erase the sins of her past... Led her right into a trap. How will she be able to escape, and how will the Mane 6 react to this alternate world? We must wait and see. Can't wait for Chapter VI.
Oooh... a new chapter! This made my night. Eldritch creatures living between worlds? Are you an H.P. Lovecraft fan, by chance?
Oh, but this was a great chapter, especially the fight between Luna and Nightmare Moon. That was epic!
All right, I’ve been eager to see where you take this fic, especially after such a cliff hanger of a chapter last time!
Excellent and moving intro, love Celestia comforting Twilight and Twi’s own thoughts on leaving Spike behind very heartfelt. It was a bit shocking to find they moved to the table. All the other characters reactions and confusion/despair was very well done, right down to the dialogue. Good scene setting with it being a clear and deliberate move on the perpetrators part.
I liked Celestia;s perspective the Chrysalis line seemed a bit odd, but we rarely know what goes on in Celestia’s head, so it works all things considered, it is odd for her not to have a plan and her being calm but very nervous about the enemy being an unknown work very well.( But perhaps this is their fate, being the Bearers of Harmony.) This line sounds a bit off. Good bit with Celestia wondering if she should reassure Twilight or not, though it’s unlikely he would have been taken so carefully if they intended to kill him then and there.
Celestia’s history lesson was very interesting; Twi and Pinkie were brilliantly in character. Ah very interesting idea Celestia is suggesting there, having the mane cast go and find their counterpart to help close the gap. I liked her reasoning behind it as well, to stop the eldritch things coming through, her wall kitchen analogy worked excellently, you have a good deal of skill with Celestia. Interesting idea with the universal constants, I tend to dislike destiny but this is still excellently done.
Good scene changing and opening, Luna’s introduction felt odd, more like it should have been an actual thought or have been altered a little, it also sounded a bit modern as well but that may just be me. The second paragraph was excellent discussing the differences between the night skies and Luan feeling she has to acknowledge its beauty. A floating castle now that is cool and it suit NMMs and many other villains M.O. When in Luna’s perspective I feel there were a few too many “she’s” used, it showed up a fair bit throughout and it’s a bit repetitive and breaks the reader out of the immersion a bit.
Great scenes having Luna reflect upon the city and her views on NMMs garden were good. Great intro for NMM., her dialect and tone have greatly improved, Luna still feels a bit off, but only slightly. Did not expect royal Canterlot Voice, pure awesome, nice blend of modern and archaic. The fight scene was really well done, snappy and to the point but descriptive enough to be immersive. NMM absorbing the lightning and using it as a weapon was cool though the description of Luna’s reaction was sort of wooden. Cool idea having Luna melt into the floor. There were a few lines or sentences that seemed out of place with the surrounding paragraphs, but overall the fight scene was brilliant! The water spell was cool too, though I’m surprised that level of power didn’t shatter a wall. This fight has shown some really creative and original uses of magic and body warping, which I really support! It started getting quite brutal near the end, very good, it’s great to see realistic damage done in battle. Good little hint at Twi’s counterpart.
Great use of healing magic, I loved the comparison with Celestia’s wings. Her ensuing line seemed rather off for Luna. Good scene with Luna feeling empty after defeating her nightmare, I loved that line, it makes sense. Good trick on NMMs part. Interesting idea introducing sword play, which is rather hard to incorporate with ponies but this worked very well. I figured they were magical swords when they first showed up, but actually have abilities the way phantasm does is awesome. The second half of Luna’s feeling were rather wooden, the first half was good though. (how she had betrayed her sister who had done nothing but love her; how she had heartlessly maimed and killed hundreds of ponies because she had become so wrapped up in pathetic jealousy.) Dark but excellent bit, the entire paragraph for this bit was great actually. Yes! Great scene with the mana siphon it sounded terrifying and NMMs final line was incredibly creepy!
This line sort of threw me though the rest was great (leaving her feeling even worse than she had before)
Good intro to the war scene, not to detailed because the characters may very well lack the words and Dash covering Shy’s eye’s was a good bit. I do wonder why Celestia is not getting more directly involved though. I imagine Celestia is going to get Discord at the end of the scene… Anyway I do wonder why Celestia doesn’t just levitate them through the portal. The conversation was good but the characters didn’t seem like they were in the thick of a big fire fight. Sorry if this seems rude at all. Good idea having it be incredibly cold. Very interesting farming techniques, the scene seemed to jump around a bit and the travel time was a bit off but it seems to be a very interesting alternate world you are making not just a "dark Eqauestria" but one that has really changed because of the moon I look forward to seeing more everyday changes! they look very interesting. Great intro for alternate AJ!
So overall this was a brilliant chapter! Great lead in, great lead out, lot’s of new stuff introduced and built upon and plenty of hint’s as for what’s coming next, I really can’t wait!
I do have a quick question, where do Alicorns fall to you in terms of power Just slight larger pony’s or something closer to world smashing Greek deity’s? If you are following canon from Game's pony's play then Celestia is capable of magic strong enough to block of Discord.
2171782 H.P Lovecraft? Sorry never heard of him.
2171895 dude, I love your reviews, are you an editor by any chance? Because I'd like to have one.
As for the alicorn thing, well they are immortal, and they have vast amounts of magic, but I kind of think of them as very powerful demigods.
Seriously though, thanks for the review.
2171772
Me too.
"There was one more creature she needed assistance from." This "creature" wouldn't happen to be Discord, would it?
2173001
Thank you! i'm really glad you like them
Just for contexts, H.P Lovecraft was a horror writer who within western society played a big part in popularizing stories/ideas of ancient monster and eldrich abominations ETC from outside reality, such as Cthulu and the like.
I'm not much of an editor i'm sad to say, I've done it once or twice though it tends to cut down my review size
and it seems like you don't even need one considering the quality of this chapter. Still if you wanted me to give it a shot in terms of character/story I could try, though with UNI I have less free time than I use to 
Alicorns as powerful demigods works excellently and is a fair choice. Though naturally I am left wondering where Discord falls on that power scale now that Celestia can overpower his magic. Assuming he's being introduced. if not,
then it doesn't matter 
Always happy to review, thank you for the response!
2174903 Well I'd hate to cut into your schedule. And I guess what I'm really looking for is a proofreader to catch my punctuation and any grammar mistakes I make. Thanks anyway for considering.
2179297
Sorry, grammar related editing is not one of my skill. I wish you the best of luck with finding a proof reader though.
Lovecraft references, wars, epic battles between goddesses, alternate mane 6 ponies, this is a story worthy of the label epic!
Luna! Nooooooooooooo!
