//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 // Story: War of the Moon (or Thanks MA Larson for the inspiration // by WildmoonNH //------------------------------// Chapter 30 Slurry lurched slightly in the winds as they picked up yet again. She looked back to the chariots, where Lapis' gaze locked on Canterlot. She could see Desert Sun's face slightly contorted with worry, the other unicorns looking to Lapis in distress. "SHE TELEPORTED! INCREASE THE WINDS!" "Can the other pegasi handle that kind of windspeed with a load?" Slurry shouted back. "We'll be on their lawn in less than 30 minutes as it is!" "THEY KNOW THE RISK!" Lapis replied. "FASTER! LEAVE THE PRINCESS LITTLE TO NO TIME TO SPEAK WITH MY SISTERS!" Slurry pumped her giant wings and added to the already-strong tailwind. She dropped altitude and glanced back as the chariots pitched from the gusting. Despite Phalanx ponies leading the carts, they still rocked and startled the passengers. Slurry didn't think there was a need. "Any faster and we could lose one -" Slurry's concern met with a whip-crack of thunder. She turned and stirred the winds anew, the pegasi adding what they could. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna and Twilight appeared in Luna's normally darkened quarters, where only the balcony light seeped in. "Tis something you must understand of little brother," she explained. Twilight knew what she had seen - and experienced - and shook her head. "You weren't - I mean, Nightmare Moon wasn't even this angry. He let his minions do all the.... damage..." she shuddered a moment. "But he continued calling me.... Unworthy." "If an alicorn is not born such, one must have achieved great deeds to become one. Sister and I were born alicorns, our brothers were not." "He might not even know of Cadance, then. I don't think he spoke of her at all." "And if so, Twilight Sparkle, would he understand in his rage?" Luna guided the young princess to one wall, with something covered in in a dark purple curtain. "He will be even angrier when he arrives." A gust of wind from the balcony startled them both. "He's almost here...." Twilight backed to the wall. "There are many things I expect from our youngest brother," Luna calmly continued. "but even after all the years....." Her magic carefully peeled the curtain away from the art it hid from the world, a second gust of wind throwing sunlight on the grand mosaic before them. Twilight's eyes widened at the detail; it was much more intricate than any in the main hall, a brilliant rainbow of its own colors set off by the sudden sunlight. The background flowed in blues, pale greens and whites, detailing Discord writhing in pain over a multicolored, chaotic landscape. Above him flew six Alicorns, each wearing the Element necklaces, set with actual gemstones instead of glass. From each horn a beam of colored light thrust down on the downed draconoequus, a forebear of the combined Rainbow of Harmony that Twilight and her friends used to seal him away a second time. Her gaze followed the beams upward, where the alicorns were posed in an arch: Celestia and Luna in the center. Three of the four stallions were new to Twilight's eyes; Cepheid's golden coat well-captured with honey and amber-colored glass, a ruby glimmering around his neck. Another white stallion, with a mane colored like a sunset, sternly continued his task, a pink jewel around his neck. The remaining two stallions were deeper in color - one a shimmering sea blue, the glass flickering like sunlight over ocean waves. The last puzzled Twilight, as it was a blue and white mottled pony who looked overwhelmingly happy in his task, almost as though..... laughing? Twilight looked back to Luna. "That's-" Luna nodded. "The one with the blue eyes wide? That is the Lapis Umbral I knew. The one I chose to remember." "What happened to him?" "The Nightmare." Luna looked away. "How- " "The night I was banished, Lapis stood at my side, as Solaris - " she pointed to the white stallion - "Stood at Celestia's. I was blinded with rage and my heart cocooned in a selfish bundle, but little brother refused to leave my side. Cepheid refused to fight, but Aphelion demanded that he 'pick a side'. That was the end of their participation in the battle. "Solaris and Celestia refused to back down, much as Lapis nor I. With the elements under their control, they were able to overpower us both." "You were banished...." "And he left behind. He knew he could not face Celestia and Solaris no matter their state. He knew then, he was alone." "Alone....." Twilight repeated, thinking of how Pinkie reacted when she thought she was "alone". "He wasn't forgotten....." Again Luna lowered her head. "From what I have been told, Lapis never forgave Celestia for my banishment, and he shed tears before fleeing the castle, away from pony eyes and ears for a thousand years. "Celestia kept his memory alive through stories and legends. He was the Wandering Shadow. He was the Midnight Pimpernel. He was the archetype for the few stallion heroes of prose and poetry, and a novelty that all ponies understood. She'd hoped that one morning he would come galloping up to the gates with the books in his saddlebags, thrilled to be remembered, even were it not by name." Twilight took another step backward, mind reeling at the new information. That angry, shadowy alicorn with no remorse and no interest in her achievements, was a laughing swashbuckler from many of the stallion-centric novels she had read? Her captor was Shadowbat? He was Robin Woods, the thief of Trottingham? Pegasus Jack? Three-Swords the unicorn champion? Her captor was once the Clown Prince of the Element of Laughter? This creature who called her Unworthy was once a hero? She wobbled at the conflicting images, balanced by Luna's wing. "Twas his doing that I am here at all," Luna reassured her. "But I fear this could happen twice more. As Cepheid fell into despair as Prince Hellstorm, as I was despondent as Nightmare Moon, my Shadow is still haunted; we still know nothing of the whereabouts of Solaris of Nature and Aphelion of the Tides." Twilight really didn't want this to happen two more times. "All I know is that he won't be coming to talk." "Then we will face him no matter his actions." Luna nodded her head, affirming her statement and as her horn shone, they teleported back to the grand hall. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The winds around Canterlot started swirling, buffeting the towers. Dreamcarver perched on a down slope facing away from the turbulence, watching the approaching storm. He'd seen this before. In the Dream Realm. The frothing clouds, the flashing lightning repeating the image that he saw Luna investigate. This time, he could just make out two chariots within the storm that he merely observed from a distance. Churning, frothing clouds and silent flashes of lightning in purple and red. The clouds continued to spread through the sky, opening like giant wings. In the center of the storm, he tried to focus his gaze on the chariots. He saw one pegasus flying lead, the carts each loaded with only a few ponies. Were more coming? Were they hiding in that roiling storm? His expression darkened when he saw the lead pegasus. Phalanx. He growled reflexively as his gaze noted that all the pegasi with them were Phalanx. One massive earth pony on the chariots similarly suited. This army dares to steep into a tradition started by Princess Luna herself? He recalled her fury when she returned from the initial Dreamwalk; now he too felt it. "You shall have your war," he growled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The past days, the past hours, even the last few minutes suddenly felt more than a fading nightmare. Twilight was finally back in Canterlot, at the bottom of a pony and dragon pile of friendship that she had sorely missed. She had been missed by her friends, all of them trying to hug her at the same time! All of them asking questions about what happened, asking her how she survived it all - and of course, Pinkie Pie asking about ninjas! She couldn't answer all of the questions at once! She was just happy for questions like these. They all tumbled apart, her friends gazing at her as she got back to her hooves. Spike wrapped himself around one leg and just hugged. She gently nosed his forehead to get him to pry loose. "We were most certainly worried, Twilight!" Rarity spoke first. "How on Equestria could anypony want to do that to you?" Before she could answer, Rainbow Dash chimed in. "Whoever it was, we're going to find him and - " "We're not going to look for them, Rainbow Dash...." "Oooo!" Pinkie started hopping again. "Because they're all ninjas and they're going to sneak in invisibly and -" A roar of an explosion rocked the entire castle, silencing Pinkie mid-air. The sun was being blocked out by enormous, angry black clouds teeming with lightning. The first blast sounded and felt like a dragon crash-landing into the side of the mountain. The second, crackles of fabric blossoming into a manticore's roar. Fluttershy dove under a table; Applejack and Rarity shivered at the noise. Spike jumped behind Twilight, shivering as well. "Definitely not ninjas," he stuttered humorlessly. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The billowing cloud reached higher into the skies and gave much of Equestria pause. This unnatural eclipse raised alarms in cities and villages alike, ponies scattering for cover. Elder ponies whispered of Sombra; foals dove under beds and hid behind furniture; storefronts barricaded shut and windows locked. Even awakened dragons gave pause as the darkness came earlier than usual, sensing the amount of magic involved. Even from afar the cracks of thunder echoed, ringing over Canterlot and spreading far and wide. One last crash of thunder brought silence and stillness. The calm before the storm. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Gallant Lionheart found a safe vantage point at another balcony. All of the pegasi Phalanx were deployed, earth ponies and unicorns on the ground. They peppered in with the Solars, which the Phalanx captain knew would further frustrate Flank Attack and Thunder Arrow. The display that Lapis had begun had all eyes locked to the chariots above, simply awestruck at the stormy display before them. It seemed Master Lapis had saved up his magic for this day - hopefully he had saved some for the battle. The stillness in the air only increased the tensions. Soldiers who hadn't spooked pawed at the ground, the pegasi trying not to fly too far from the castle. He merely awaited his orders... --------------------------------------------------------- Twilight guided her friends to a lower balcony. "If Princess Celestia and Princess Luna can keep him from attacking, we might be able to stop them with the Elements!" "RAINBOW TO THE FACE~!!" Pinkie cheered again. "If the Elements can fix other alicorns, why wouldn't this work?" Rainbow Dash smirked to the others. "We got this. We're gonna stop a war!" "Ah hope you're right about that," Applejack partially agreed. "It's still something we have to try," Twilight affirmed. "Nopony else should be harmed over this...." -------------------------------------------------------------------- The stillness of the storm stirred other stallions to action, as the already-broken Spellbreak camp closed on Castle Canterlot. "This day is an end and a beginning," Salvino said to nopony in particular. "Justice under the false clouds of the alicorns, dissipated into a new era." "We'll start with a few whips around horns and wings," Belmonte bragged. "Maybe straying does have occasional use." Strife knew that wasn't a compliment as he kept his whip at the ready. Deep down, this would be his vindication. He'd whipped Twilight Sparkle personally, and looked foward to the chance to do so again. Maybe a few lashes to Lapis just to get Belmonte to stop speaking of his "straying"? He glanced at the eager Belmonte and the devout Silverback, as they helped Salvino to all four hooves so that he could make a march that would alter Equestria. Forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Celestia and Luna appeared on the balcony normally reserved for sunrises and moonrises for public display. They were greeted by the shrouded black sky, lightning clawing toward the horizon. Its reach almost blocked out travel from Canterlot, a giant guard made of storms and lingering anger. Luna recognized the storm - and this one, this time, was real. The howling winds, the snarling thunder, the overbearing darkness as though Sombra himself erupted from Tarterus. But this time, there was no call for slaves, no call for crystals. No voice could be heard among the din, thoughts even whispers over the turbulence! The darkness cowed Celestia, but she and Luna stood firm. A single light in the giant's eye opened, revealing a lone Phalanx pegasus followed by two elaborate chariots, also pulled by Phalanx. Luna recognized the entrance; were this situation not so dire she would chide her little brother for stealing the entrance she herelf had done one Nightmare Night. She could see him in one of the chariots, with a red and gold unicorn at his side. The second chariot bore more Phalanx ponies, but her headcount totaled a fraction of Canterlot's combined forces. What was her little brother planning to do with such a small team? Did he honestly feel he could fight the battle mostly alone? Her thoughts interrupted as the winds had stopped dead, yet the clouds continued to froth and paw around the sky, demanding battle as its handler hovered before it. The two chariots remained in mid air, a hundred paces or more from their balcony. A standoff. For once, both princesses were speechless. Their youngest brother, armed with only a small team and the force of his dark magic, glowering at them with zero remorse. The midnight blue of his eyes glowed faintly in the shadowing dark, as the others awaited their order. "HEAR ME, SISTERS!" Lapis Umbral announced in ancient Equestrian. "IN THE NAME AND THE SIGHT OF THE SHADOWS THAT LURK BOTH DAY AND NIGHT, I REVEAL MYSELF TO YOU! I, LAPIS UMBRAL, THE SHADOW OF THE MOON AND PRODIGAL TRAVELER! YOU KNOW MY REASONS TO SHOW MY FACE AND FORCES HERE! AWAKEN YOUR MEMORIES! WHERE IS THE TRUTH I SEEK? AND WHERE IS THE UNWORTHY PRINCESS WHO HIDES BENEATH YOUR VERY WINGS? SHALL I TELL ALL OF EQUESTRIA OF YOUR CRIMES??" Celestia responded first. "YOUR MEMORIES REMAIN IN PROSE AND POETRY, AND HISTORY PRESERVED! NO PRINCESS IS UNWORTHY OF HER POST! YOU HAVE NO VOICE IN CANTERLOT-" "SILENCE~!!!" The male alicorn's demand shook the castle. "YOU, WHO IMPRISONED YOUR OWN SISTER ON THE MOON, MURDERED THE ELEMENTS BY YOUR OWN HOOF, THEN HAD THE MASSES BUILD YOU A TEMPLE TO DEIFY YOUR VISAGE TO ALL OF EQUESTRIA! YOU DEMONIZED LUNA! YOU BURIED EVERY LAST ONE OF OUR BROTHERS!" "DID YOU NOT SEE MY ROAMING FREE?" Luna demanded. "DID YOU NOT SEE BROTHER CEPHEID UNCHAINED? WHY THIS MORBID PAGEANTRY THAT YOU FIRST POISONED THE DREAM REALM, NOW IN THE WAKING WORLD? I HAVE PAID MY PENANCE!" "A THOUSAND YEARS ON THE MOON WAS NOT PUNISHMENT ENOUGH FOR HER, DEAR LUNA. DO WE FORGET IT WAS NOT SHE WHO RELEASED YOU FROM YOUR COLD AND DISTANT SOLITUDE, BUT I AND THOSE OF THE STAR COMPASS? THE PONY WHO SWORE HIS LIFE TO YOU THEN AND NOW, WHEN OTHERS FEARED YOU AND DID NOT WANT YOU HERE ANYMORE? YET YOU RUN TO HER SIDE BY A MERE APOLOGY? CELESTIA CREATES NEW FAMILY AS IF SHE WERE OUR MOTHER! SHE HAS REPLACED FAMILY! SHE TOLERATES THE MONSTER DISCORD AWAKE AND ROAMING - SHOULD HIS WHIMS DECIDE OTHERWISE, ONCE AGAIN WE WILL BE LOST IN PERPETUAL CHAOS! YOU ABANDONED YOUR OWN CASTLE, SO THAT THIS TEMPLE BE ERECTED? THE ELEMENTS IN THE HOOVES OF COMMON PONIES!! DOES SHE THINK SHE KEPT EQUESTRIA TURNING A THOUSAND YEARS ON HER OWN? LOOK BELOW YOU, CELESTIA - THE UNDERLINGS WHO TEND TO THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF EQUESTRIA! THEY MOVE THE SEASONS FOR EQUESTRIA! YOU HAVE TAKEN AWAY EVERY BROTHER'S DUTY AND ENSURED WE WERE TO BE FORGOTTEN! HISTORY, WRITTEN BY THE VICTORS, WHO PREFER TO LEAVE OUT SUCH SIMPLE DETAILS! WHAT FURTHER MADNESS DO YOU WISH ON THIS WORLD??" "NOT THE MADNESS YOU BRING TODAY!" Celestia's voice spoke modern Equestrian as she swept a wing to refer to the black tableau before her. "THE DOORS TO CANTERLOT HAVE BEEN OPEN A THOUSAND YEARS FOR YOU OR ANY OF OUR BROTHERS TO RETURN! AND HAD YOU WALKED THROUGH THE GATES OF CANTERLOT - " "I WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED A THOUSAND AND ONE YEARS IN A ROOM OF WHITE LIGHT, NOTHING TO OCCUPY MY MIND OR HEART THAN NOTHING AT ALL! AS YOU HAVE DONE WITH LUNA! AS YOU HAD DONE TO - " "ENOUGH!" Luna tired of this discussion. "COME HOME, WHILE WE CAN STILL CALL YOU BROTHER. WHY DOES THAT NOT SATE YOU?" Lapis' right wing opened, pointing almost straight up. "BECAUSE, 'SISTER', I WILL NOT FAIL AGAIN." His voice trembled and deepened. "THIS TIME I WILL NOT FAIL YOU!" ----------------------------------- Cepheid understood the argument. He didn't have to like it, but he understood it. It sounded familiar... He shook his head clear. "Just trip over something already," he muttered. ------------------------------------- The Solars and Lunars alike looked to each other in confusion. What was the male alicorn's complaint? None spoke ancient Equestrian, short of clever wordplay and less than appropriate commentary. The string of the musical language clattered against their ears and pushed down on their psyches. Thunder Arrow maintained composure. "Doesn't this remind you of something?" He absently asked Flank Attack. The earth pony shook his head no. "No.... I don't even think Silver Bardiche has ever seen this before..." ---------------------------------------- "WHO TRULY NEEDS RESCUING, LITTLE BROTHER?" Celestia demanded. "WERE YOU NOT THE PONY WHO WISHED NEVER TO SEE TEARS AGAIN? HOW MANY PONIES WEEP IN FEAR OF THIS DISPLAY?" "I HAVE A THOUSAND YEARS OF ALICORN TEARS OF MY OWN TO DRY - A PENANCE THAT I WILL SERVE BY BRINGING LUNA FROM HER EXECUTIONER!" Celesita's ear twitched as she heard hooves galloping to another balcony. She knew the Elements weren't about to wait - this war was preventable. Luna was freed from her Nightmare; Cepheid pulled free from the Hellstorm; now, she hoped, Lapis could be loosed from the shadows that held him. "THERE WILL BE NO WAR TODAY, LITTLE BROTHER," Celestia replied with more confidence. She could feel the Elements below her gathering their strength. Her student, her friends, they would not have stayed back long. "LET US DISCUSS THESE 'ATROCITIES' OVER A FEAST OF YOUR CHOOSING. SPARE THESE PONIES A FAMILY MATTER." "MY APPETITE IS NOT FOR FOOD, BUT RESOLUTION!" "THEN YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR RESOLUTION!!!" The darkness around them all paled instantly at the eruption of magic from the lower balcony. A rainbow - the Elements of Harmony once again united - launched toward Lapis, the colors pushing back the storm and creating its own sorcereal winds. Hatchet and Cloud Slayer froze at the sudden eruption, but their leader remained unfazed. "With me, Morning Star," he ordered. "With me, Shadows!" All six of the shadow necklaces lit, swirling outward from the chariots to meet the incoming light. Each piece a different shade of gray, ribboning together in their own beam of magic. Morning Star's horn flickered and a gray ribbon darker still added to the beam, Lapis reinforcing it with Absolute Night. The two beams slammed into each other in midair, flashing light and dark, sparks of all colors raining below. Some soldiers spooked at the sight; others froze in awe at the sheer amount of magic brought to bear, alicorn-based and reinforced with the determination of each alicorn's peers. Lapis and Morning Star pressed their shadowy blast down on the rainbow, which wavered from the power. Celestia startled at the stalemate; Lapis had indeed been training and learning all those years alone! The Rainbow of Harmony faltered further, then slowly, slowly started falling back. The sisters looked to each other with surprise as the shadowy beam began to overtake the rainbow. Celestia's horn flickered to life. "Sister, what -" "One distraction, Luna, then the Rainbow of Harmony can finish its work!" Her eyes closed, focusing her magic to the very tip of her horn. "Sometimes only a spark is what it takes......" Luna's confusion deepened as a single bead of pure white light floated toward the chariots...... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "IT'S WORKIN, BOSS! WE'RE PUSHIN EM BACK!" "Don't lose focus, Hatchet!" Umbral retorted, "The rainbow must be completely dispelled!" Morning Star continued her casting, even if she was not part of the shadowed circle. As the Sword of the Star Compass it was her duty to defend the Lantern, and here Violet and Silver could only function as Shields against rival weather and gravity. Her iteration of Lapis' Absolute Night spell bracketed their shadow beam, giving Lapis the focus he would need to maintain the energies from the necklaces and magnified through himself. Her calculating and casting took all of her focus, and she did not see the white bead trickle by. Lapis himself stared down the Rainbow of Shadows like the barrell of a cannon, continuing to force it through the focus of the shadow necklaces and others' magic. He could see it inching ever closer toward the new Elements, his anger only fueling the monochrome fire, pushing down with all the force he could muster. His attempts to help Luna - to get her to laugh when she felt unloved, to bring her home for revenge, and now to rescue her from her velvet prison - he could not afford to fail again! He would force the Elements to bow! He would take Luna to a safer haven! He - He didn't hear Night Ash's warning over the roar of the battle. He didn't notice Desert Sun's distraction. All he felt was something of pure light piercing over his right eye.... and the battle was gone. The cacophony of energies, the crackle of magic, the shouts of awe and fear vanished into calm silence, stirred with the sound of voices. His own voice. Luna's voice. "We all have destinies, Lapis," he could hear his sister almost beside his ear. "You've so much more to experience and triumph over. You silenced so many with your deeds before you even arrived. We will help you at every turn, help you up when you fall." "All of you?" his voice spoke though his mouth didn't move. "All of us. You are wanted and needed here, as are all your brothers, and Tia and I are. Just keep going, we are here for you." He could hear a breath being taken before feeling a warm wing over his shoulders. "And even if they didn't, I will always be at your side." Another wing, warmer, draped over him. "WE will always be at your side." The warmth intensified through Lapis, warm to fiery to white-hot and blinding... followed by colors. All of them. The rainbow had found him. -------------------------------------------------------------------