//------------------------------// // Fear // Story: Is Immortality Really Worth It? // by Nadake //------------------------------// "But it hurts." Fluttershy whimpered, pressing herself tight in against Luna's warm body. The yellow pegasus still bore the injuries of the night before, the heavy bruising along her jaw and flank burning with every movement. Even so, her chest heaved with sobs as Luna held her, her strong leg holding her, letting her know that she wasn't alone. "I know it does, but you have to bear it. You can't give up Fluttershy." A far cry from when they had last met in the flesh, on Nightmare Night, Luna's voice was now a whisper barely louder than Fluttershy's own whimpering voice. At times, the strong alicorn mare was far more like her sister than any pony seemed to recall. "Why? What did I do?" "Shh, nothing Fluttershy. You did nothing wrong. Just rest dear one, you're safe here." Luna leaned down, pressing her soft lips against the Fluttershy's jaw. The gentle mare slowly relaxed at the contact, closing her eyes to the world as she inhaled. Luna smelt of jasmine and aloe, the gentle scent lulling her into a state near sleep as she rested her head on Luna's shoulder. As Luna drew back, her chaste kiss took with it the bruise on the poor mare, her pain and her suffering. For a time at least, Fluttershy could forget herself, forget her troubles. She could sleep in peace. Luna sat there, smiling as Fluttershy rested against her, pale yellow fur pressing against midnight blue. Luna sighed quietly, and for a moment the smile faltered. How many times had she dreamed of this? Sitting beside a lake, watching the stars. For once, to not be here... alone. But there was too much to do in the day, and the night was for rest. It had always been that way. Then why make it so beautiful, if none are there to witness it? Why indeed. Fluttershy herself was little more than a construct in this place. Her mind was freed from the shackles of her body, for a time at least, but there was nothing which would keep her here. Nothing that would ensure that her night would be loved. Nothing to stop her from leaving, and leaving her all... alone. I could though. I could keep her here. Keep her mind from her body. It was a simple spell, if a powerful one. All she would need to do is make the sleep permanent. Then Fluttershy could be free. She could follow Luna, live with her, love her night right alongside the Princess. It sounded like a dream come true. One little spell, and she could be yours. Yes. One spell. Celestia would never have to know. After all, dreams were her's, here nothing could contest Luna's might. Nothing could oppose her. And nothing could leave, if she but wished it were not so. Never be alone. She could be together once more. Even banished to the moon, a millennium of sleep, Luna would not be alone. She would have Fluttershy with her. Somepony to watch the stars with her, to read with her. Somepony... to stay beside her. Forever. Luna paused, only for the briefest second, and a smile touched her lips. It wasn't a smile of joy, but one of heartrending sadness, one of a loss that few can claim, and fewer still claim and survive. A loss that drove ponies mad, to choose death, by their own hoof if needed, rather than live without. The long, delicate, wickedly sharp horn flared with a black energy, a magic meant to sever the bonds of mind and body, to free Fluttershy from her pain. To free Luna from her own. Energy swirled about her, the ephemeral magic taking shape in the realm of dreams. Black wisps of energy began to form, coalescing into greater and greater waves, until a sphere of energy swirled about Luna, black and flecked with corpse-light stars. Luna felt the spell prepare itself, settling onto her lips, setting the sensitive flesh alight with tingling pain. As the spell fell on her body, so too did the darkness enveloping the pair. Luna's fur stained a black as deep and lifeless as the void between stars, silver armor appearing. Luna smiled, this time a smile of malicious pleasure, as she gazed upon her target. Fluttershy lay there, unaware of the evil that stared at her. Luna closed her eyes, and Nightmare Moon opened her reptilian gaze. The green eye focused on the pegasus, and hatred for one who had banished her flared. Serve her right, banishing you. You only wanted to show them how much like your sister you were. Now we will show them once more. Luna leaned in, and as she did, the silver helm appeared over her face. Then she froze. What? Finish the spell. Kiss her. KEEP HER! No. No this is wrong. The mantled head pulled back, and once more Luna stared out through the eyes of the monster. Before her sat Fluttershy. Not the peaceful Fluttershy she had soothed the hurts from, but the battered bruised mare who had first come to her glade. As she watched, the cut on her cheek reopened, and a trickle of blood matted the pale fur a deep crimson. Purple bruises darkened the fur along her flank, and a similar aberration discolored her cheek below the cut. "NO!" Luna shied away from the injured mare, rearing back as her armored hooves slashed at the air before her. "ACSHINA!" The Princess of the Night whirled, banishing the accursed armor, feeling herself grow smaller, weaker. More vulnerable. Nopony, nothing challenged her here. Dreams were hers and anything invading her realm would suffer. I hardly think so, little pony. You can have no idea how weak you are, lest such threats would not be made. The darkness of before once more swirled through the gentle glade, sending shivers down Luna's spine. That power was evil, evil in a way that went beyond the understanding of any living creature, immortal or not. Slowly, the black mist resolved, and a creature like a pony stepped from it. To say that Acshina, or her chosen body, was that of a pony was to say that a rapid wolf was the same as a tamed pup. She towered over Luna, her jagged horns extending from above her eyes. Great wings, each larger than Luna's entire body, flared behind the creature, and the wind they blew forth stank of decay and death. Scales covered the body of the creature, small and black, leaving the monster with a glossy skin which reflected the lights of Luna's night thousands of times. Her entire body was desiccated, decayed and battered. The pale gleam of bone could be seem through the rents and tears in the creatures body, blood oozing from the wounds as she stood there. Worst of all were her eyes. They were black, blacked even than the night far between the distant glimmers of millions of stars. her eyes were a void, a place of nothingness. Those were eyes which had watched as uncounted billions suffered and died, leaving them to be swallowed by that yawning void. Those were the eyes which had stolen Luna's mother, stolen everything she had known. They were what even the Mistress of Dreams had nightmares about. Is it truly so bad, dear Luna? To take a pony with you, to have her forever? After all, the only one you can rely on to stand beside you is your sister, and she already proved that you mean less than nothing to her. "You're wrong. She loves me!" But only as a sister. Can you really live like that? Always second, always after. Never loved as you want, never seen by the one you love more than any other? "She... she is my sister. We will always have each other. Even when you put your filth in my mind, she never left me." No, she banished you, sent you to a barren rock for a thousand years. Rather more harsh than she needed to be wasn't it? "Not if it got rid of you." Got rid of me? Hardly. My dear, we are, after all, having this conversation in your mind. In a dream no less. Could I really have entered without your notice, unless you brought me with you? No dear, stupid little Luna, I am still very much alive in you. And you cannot bring yourself to excise me, can you? You want to have someone beside you forever, one who sees you as more than a younger sister. "Shut up. Leave this place." Oh, poor Luna. You say that, but you don't mean it. You want me here. You want me to tell you what to do. To tell you to do what you want. "I said LEAVE!" CHILD! The soft amusement of the ancient god vanished, and now her voice roared through Luna's mind. DO NOT SEEK TO COMMAND ME! I SLEW YOUR KIND FOR SPORT, STUPID GIRL! YOU HOLD NO DOMINION OVER ME! "Yes. I. DO!" Luna screamed back at the beast, as she did, the stars above erupting into brilliant light. This was a dream. This was her dream, and nothing held sway here that Luna did not wish. She called down fury on the monster, felled stars and burnt mountains. And she drove that monster from her mind, casting it into the abyss of her darkest dreams. Then she turned to Fluttershy. Nolux walked through the passages of the great castle, her soft steps sounding echoing clops as she paced along. The smoothed granite floor extended ahead of her into utter darkness, and the small jewel she carried cast only a sallow light on the hall. The jewel, a small trilliant sapphire, glowed with an inner fire of purest blue, a gift from Twilight. The mare had given her the gem, and given Pinkie one just like it, though a ruby, bidding them to explore her home. And so both ponies had wandered off, walking through the halls of the great palace. Along the way, Pinkie had regaled the zebra with tales of what she and her friends had done, including some rather terrifying moments, such as their assault on the Draconequss. But then something happened. Pinkie had frozen in place, staring ahead at the blank wall. Her mane had altered, lying flat against her neck, and she had simply turned, walking back down the passage they had come from. Seeing Pinkie, usually so exuberant, almost annoying, so broken was... scary. Nolux had been afraid when she saw the sad little not-smile on the pink face, even more than when she took the Rites of Initiation to become an acolyte. It just seemed as if something could be so terrible that even Pinkie could find no joy, then it would drive her mad. But what had she seen? Or was that how the mare was all the time? Broken, bleeding inside, but smiling all the while, determined to make another's life better than hers. Could she really be that selfless? Or was she simply insane, only able to hold the mask for so long, before it began to slip? Along the wall, sconces which once held torches hung in rusted ruin, the walls above them stained, even after a thousand years, with the smoke of their fiery burdens. Dotted along the walls, spaced between the torches, the tattered remains of tapestries hung, now reduced to ragged threads trailing from their wooden cores. Once, these halls must have shone with a wealth and beauty unmatched, its ancient power and unrivaled glory a testament to the ones who built it so long ago. The she found something strange. The light from her amulet began to change, seeming to grow brighter. The glow moves up the wall she could barely see before her, the stone appearing green in the wisp light. It was not the wall which caught her attention however. In the center of the wall, there was a door. In all her time in the Castle, the only door Nolux had seen was the massive slabs of oak which guarded the entrance. This door was something new, and it was meant to, at least symbolically, prevent anyone from entering. Or anything from leaving. She shouldn't open the door. Nolux knew that. She could not see the future, had seen only occasional glimpses since she began to travel with Twilight, and none at all since they left the plains, but she could remember what she had already seen. Many futures, many places, she had seen herself, battered and injured, struggling to escape some calamity. In some, she had even seen her death. Never before, in this world or the one she could only see in flashes, had she seen this door. Nonetheless, the sight filled her with a nameless worry. Not a true fear, she could feel no evil from the door, but a significance. As if the door could lead either to harmony, or chaos. She should turn away, she knew that. She walked forward, and opened the door. She stepped into a world unlike anything she had ever seen in her waking life. Torches blazed merrily in their gleaming iron holsters, the walls behind them shining white and polished to a smoothed finish. The tapestries she had seen lying in broken ruin before now hung in all their splendor, their myriad colors dancing before the zebras astonished eyes. More than the ancient things, once fallen into disrepair, made new and whole once more, Nolux was shocked by the inhabitants. She stood in the entryway to a grand dinning hall, a small arched hall which lead to the cavernous main room. The ceiling, three stories above her head, vaulted into vagueness, the light of the many torches not reaching the lofty heights from which stared the dim shapes of carved statuary. Below that great ceiling, the walls were ringed by ornate carvings, bas relief and statuary both, of every creature imaginable, and many the likes of which even songs and stories had forgotten the shape of. Great whales gallivanted among crashing waves near one torch, while the next one found itself in a wooded glade, while small creatures played in the shadows of the great trunks. Yet another boasted a creature out of nightmare, its serpentine necks leading to heads which were little more than maws, gaping and filled with rows upon rows of teeth, its body fading into the dimness of the cave behind it. The firelight danced and played upon the carvings, making them seem almost as alive as the creatures beneath them. For creatures there were. Long tables, made of stone slabs worked to a mirror sheen, lined the capacious room, and hundreds of creatures Nolux believed only myth walked between them, tasting this and that dish laid out on the stone. Long manes trailed on the floor, while folded wings hugged sides. Graceful horns glowed throughout the room as the creatures talked and ate. "Alicorns." Her eyes tracked the graceful movements, the courtly manners, and ancient speech of the great rulers, watching them as they ate their grandiose meal. But the ancient creatures were not alone in that hall. Dragons nestled in corners, and gryphons perched above, nibbling on tidbits and bones, kept like hounds. There was one other creature in the room, one which did not belong to anything, myth, legend, or tale, which Nolux had heard. The creature sat on the throne at the far end of the hall, lounging against the granite wall as though it were down cushions. Long pale limps sprouted from a malformed chest, and a shock of scarlet hair trailed its form in a long braid which brushed the ground as it leaned back on the seat. The odd mane seemed to be the only hair on the creature, the rest of its body, from the nape of neck to the tips of long digits, was a pale skin, the color of milk. Blood red lips curved into an elegant aloof smile, and a tall, slim glass of wine twirled in one outstretched limb. It was clothed in a loose gown of grey fabric, seeming to shimmer and move in the moving light. "Bring it here." The creature said, and Nolux abruptly realized it was female, beckoning to one of the alicorns near the throne. The alicorn, a slight green individual, shuddered, but pulled a chain from the wall beside him. Emerald light surrounded the chain, and it snaked about the neck of one of the roosting gryphons, the beast croaking as the lead tightened. It came to the floor, pulled from its perch, and landed roughly before the granite throne. The creature stood, the shimmering dress sliding against her skin as she did so, bearing one fleshy mass on her chest, small pink nipple making the center. "For feeding young." Nolux whispered, transfixed by the strange beauty of the creature, and by its bizzare movements. It reared back on its lower limbs, standing erect on only its hind legs, leaving the others, with their longer digits, free to move about. The creatures lips quirked up at the sight of the struggling gryphon, and she bent down. Nolux watched as the thing gently laid its lips against the great beak of the gryphon, and the beast quieted at once. Almost as if it were asleep, it relaxed on the floor, its muscles slowly falling from their rigid terror. The creature smiled, stroking the soft feathers near its beak, tracing them along its face, and down its neck. Once, twice more she followed the feathers, only to begin her motion again. But on the third stroke, her second limb rose, touching along the bottom of the raptors jaw, following the strong lines of the hollow bone. Her digits curled, grasping the jaw firmly, while the others lay flat against the mighty shoulder. Then the head was torn from the body. Blood arched through the air, splattering across the green alicorn still standing by the throne, and covering those seated near the head of the tables. The powerful pony forbears began to laugh riotously at the thrashing body of the gryphon, only to find their mirth redoubled as one wildly flailing foreleg slammed into the green alicorn, scoring a deep ragged slice along his flank. Turning, their ruler hurled the severed head to one of the dragons curled behind her throne. The great mouth opened, and the head, eyes still darting about, vanished within. Then the dragon turned its head, and a jet of fire cooked the still moving body of the dead gryphon. The acrid stench of burnt feathers reached Nolux even where she stood, and black smoke curled from the corpse. The fires died, and the creature reached down. With another twist of one limb, she ripped the leg from the carnivore, and torn a bloody piece of meat from the charred limb. Crimson ichor dribbled down from her mouth, dripping onto the floor beneath her as she smiled once more. "Bring me the twins." Her voice, her voice sent chills coursing through Nolux's body. It was too calm, too careless. She had just ripped the head off of an intelligent creature, then begun to eat it. And there was no remorse, there was no regret. It was almost as if it didn't even matter to her that the great raptor had died in her embrace, as if it had been nothing more worthy of attention than a loaf of bread. It was sickening. There was a shuffling sound, and Nolux turned to see another alicorn, this one a red haired female, leading two of her young towards the throne. One was white, just like her mother, though her mane was wavy and pink, rather than the straight crimson of her mother. The second could have been no less like their mother if her sire had been a dragon. A blue so dark that it bordered on black, her coat seemed to swallow the light near her, her silver-blue mane hanging in straight spikes along her side, curling at the tip. They were lead to the throne, which Nolux now saw was on a raised dais, where the creature once more lounged, the bloody leg still being nibbled upon. The pair stood before their queen, trembling in fear at the sight of the ruined body beside the throne. "Ahh, my Princesses. Dear Luna, sweet Celestia." "Acshina, please do not do this. They are foals." "Silence." The creature moved, her body blurring with the speed of her movement. The blur of color slammed into the jaw of the great alicorn, sending her sprawling. "They are mine! Just as you are mine. Do not forget that." "Mommy? Where's Discord? Why are we here?" Luna asked, her voice edging towards tears even as her body edged towards her sister. "Shush, it'll be okay baby. Mommy won't let anyone hurt you. Mommy has to leave now, but... be strong, my little ponies." "The half-breed is not permitted here, fool, and never shall he be. Now, for business. Are you girls happy to be Princesses?" "Yes ma'am, very much so." Celestia stepped in front of her silently crying sister, shielding her from the cold stare of the creature. "Good, there is only one more task." She raised one limb, digits clawing into a gesture as the limb was thrust at the tall mare. The white mare vanished, to be replaced by a small form. A purple alicorn, slightly older than the pair standing, lay bound on the floor. "Kill her." Then the eyes of the creature flickered. For a moment, they changed, from the deep blue of before, to a deep, emptyness, a void which seemed to suck the life from the hall. The raucous laughter died away at once, and even the whimpers of the injured alicorn quieted. "Twilight, sister?" Celestia spoke, as if stunned by the sight before her. The bound filly squirmed, and a small scream could be heard from behind her ethereal gag. "I would hurry, were I you. The jennarina will feast on her in a moment. They will consume her slowly, savoring every morsel. First her magic, then her mind, then they consume the body, ensuring they keep their prey alive to scream while they do. You, my dears, would be the kinder end." Then those empty pits moved, and Nolux could feel her own soul laid bare before the monster. Acshina, apart from all else, could see her. And the monster smiled.