The Hunter moved swiftly, even around the powerful magic of this other mutant. Alicorns, the ponies of this time called them. A sunbeam blasted her blade, but the night silver denied the magic so powerfully that its heat was ejected backwards as well.
Celestia could see him, standing by the Tree of Harmony. The cave was open, and he was there in the open. Last time, she was at the mercy of his games, and he escaped only by taking her by surprise. Now she would end the scourge and his mental torment.
Twilight was in Canterlot. This thing that stood in her way was another copy, like the copy of her sister in the card games he played. But without saying a word it was evident the Card Master had brought a true fighter, stronger than any of the worthless villains he called "bosses."
Celestia took to the sky, raining beams of fire from the sun onto the cave and the Hunter. Rock and dirt melted to glass, but it only took a few efficient parries to deflect the magic.
Two small orbs were thrown up to Celestia's face. The moment she noticed them, night silver shrapnel exploded through the air and buried into her wings as she covered herself. The metal seared her skin, ripping magic from her body until she was forced to land, where the Hunter waited to strike.
Celestia tumbled away, followed by a jet of fire erupting from her horseshoe. The flames beat uselessly against her magic barrier however, thanks to the night silver in her wings, the moment she cast that spell, the shield shattered.
Two quick cuts grazed her cheek and shoulder. Celestia locked horns with the Hunter and pressed forward, using her magic and size to give her strength. The Hunter effortlessly pivoted, turning away with the path of least resistance and letting Celestia pass and trip onto the ground.
The Princess of the Sun growled, her voice turning into a muffled scream before she could recover. She ground her teeth with pain as the blade of the Hunter's sword penetrated her leg, destroying muscle and tendons and scraping against bone.
Stop.
The Hunter stood back, letting the Card Master tread over the charred and glassy stone toward the Princess of the Sun.
"If you're here then Twilight is free of you, isn't she?" Celestia didn't expect to lose so quickly to a minion of the Card Master, but her loss didn't necessitate his victory. "It means she's bested your efforts. You don't control her."
I never wanted to best her. Oh no, we've reached a certain understanding.
Celestia tried to insult him, or blast a beam of magic in his head, but the sword in her leg burned like fire and sapped her of energy.
His hoof unraveled into a rope of single-file cards. They wrapped around Celestia's neck in a snake-like fashion and slowly constricted her neck to the point of near discomfort. The pressure was strong, but she could still breathe.
His cards wrapped up to her face, even covering her vision slightly, and he tilted her head back and forth. His other hoof combed her hair as it lost magic and slowed it natural flow, the gentle caress only draining Celestia further.
"What you can do doesn't matter," she said with stifled breath.
Sweet Princess, there are a lot of things I can do. To this world, and to you. I can fold reality and bend time, teleport and teach with a wave of a hoof or hand. No thoughts are private to my ears. But for you, I will bring you peace.
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Luna pulled from the dream world as fast as she could. In the air she could feel the Card Master's magic.
"Celestia?" She called out for her sister, hoping to find her before she faced the Card Master. The extent of his power outside of his cards and tricks were unclear, neither of them had actually fought him, but between the two of them they had a good chance of victory.
She rushed into Celestia's room. The sun hadn't risen yet, so she must have been asleep.
Hello, Moon.
He stood there with her sister collapsed on the floor. Her leg was injured, and her wings were spread across the floor, dotted with metal shards.
"Sister!" Celestia's cry was hoarse and strained. She could barely move.
It didn't take a second for Luna to burst out, levitating the bed and drawers in the room and collapsing it onto the Card Master. She reached out with her magic and pulled Celestia to the door, safely behind her. Yet one by one the cards crawled, fluttered, floated, out of the pile of splintered furniture.
He was a flock of a million birds, emerging from the forest at once in an explosion of movement that compelled emotion and awe.
Are you going to take your time?
Luna followed his head as he gave a telltale turn toward the corner of the room, behind the door. A forceful blast tore the wood from its hinges and flung Luna across the room. Her vision blurred from the force, focusing too late on the glint of the sword slashing across her chest.
The didn't run too deep, but it burned her whole body down to the bone. Still, nightmares have wrought more pain, and she held back the pain and moved around her attacker.
"I know who you are," she said to the Hunter. "Twilight has told me about you. About the time loop the Card Master keeps you in. Do you really believe he will free you if you kill us?"
The Hunter shrugged and leveled the point of her blade at Luna. "Worth a shot."
Celestia warned her sister, wincing at the slightest movements with night silver cutting into her shoulders. "Luna, just leave."
"Nothing can separate us," Luna denied, firing a splitting beam of magic. Six light violet rays spanned outward and surrounded the Hunter. It was close, the Hunter weaving through the manipulated bolts of energy like a spider dancing on its own web.
A step too far, however, and a bolt struck her armor. The wall caved to her body as she was blown back by the incredible force. The Card Master took two steps back to avoid some rubble.
In the settling dust, only Celestia noticed the three glass vials clinking to Luna's hooves. "Luna, the ground!"
Before she could react, Luna was thrown up by an explosion of noxious gas. The vials splattered their contents on the walls, and a secondary reaction between them filled the room with smoke. Luna formed a field around her head, conserving magic for another attack to destroy the Card Master's champion.
"I have to admit, I have a lot of questions." The Hunter's voice was clear but came from no where in particular. "But you've got about thirty seconds anyway, so I probably won't get an answer."
"I don't have to see you!" Luna expanded her field, flattening everything in the room against the walls, even throwing her sister farther away from the fight.
The Hunter leaned against the doorway, reeling from the blast. Multiple bones were likely cracked, and something in her foreleg was definitely broken, but she still smiled at Luna.
"That wasn't a smoke screen for cover," she coughed. "You should have shielded yourself completely. That was a contact poison, a base recipe of Stymphalian venom and white phosphorous, with ground night silver as an added effect."
Luna's heart beat faster, a beat of fear and anger and dread. Her skin went cold and numb and her legs, though still working, felt empty and powerless under the dead weight of her torso.
The Princess of the Moon launched a ball of energy in the likeness of the moon. It evaporated pillows and splintered wood on its flight. It dissipated at the touch of the Hunter's blade, but not immediately.
Hatred fueled the spell and it persisted far longer than any magic had before. The steel turned red, the blade staring to warp under the stress. The Hunter had to channel her aura through her sword just to protect it from irreparable damage.
How impressive. More of a fight than your poor sister. But here you are, while Twilight the Hunter still stands.
Luna looked up at the Card Master standing over her. He bent down and reached into her chest, his cards fusing with flesh. She wanted to scream, shout at him to get away, but he was inside her and stifled her voice, stuffing it with the screams and calls of a million cards.
He tore away when it became unbearable, letting her collapse fully onto the floor.
You may go now, Hunter.
She held up a card she had stored in the pocket of her armor. "Time has returned?"
Yes.
She needed to hear nothing else. The Hunter walked out the hallway, passing the broken body of Celestia without so much as a glance. The Card Master listened: Luna's strained breathing, Celestia's pained sounds from seeing her sister defeated, and the Hunter's hoof steps.
The same body as the Princess, but the Hunter managed to carry it with far more confidence and conviction.
The Hunter had a husband with fine taste.
Luna stared up, unable to move and barely able to breathe. She looked at the card he had pulled from her chest, floating with a back bearing her cutie mark. The face of the card, a half moon.
The Card Master looked outside the shattered windows at the darkening sun. But it was still morning. Minutes ticked by, like watching a ship sail away until the lights of its deck was a glint on the horizon, until a figure cloaked black surrounded with an aura of gold emerged from the shadow of eclipse.
Celestia forced herself through pain to see it, to see the shame she thought she escaped. At last the false sister the Card Master had created for his twisted games had arrived to haunt her again.
Luna scowled. She did not see herself, but a faded image of the past. She would not run or deny it, but it held no sway over her. "Nightmare Moon is gone. This card may be locked in the past but I have grown."
And grow more you shall.
The mare glared down at both the crippled princesses, stretching a smirk across her face. She laughed, finally, reveling in the sight.
"I have outgrown you as well, weakling." The nightmare put her foreleg to the back of Luna's head and forced it to the floor. "I am beyond you and your pitiful sister. The Card Master has shown me that harmony can exist between night and day, sun and moon. I just have to whip the sun into submission."
"Nightmare Moon, leave her be!" Celestia shot a ray of sunlight at the nightmare. Her words were a hoarse scream, a guise to mask the agony the night silver cause when she used magic. "I am here. Finish what we started, but leave her alone!"
"Not Nightmare Moon." She stood higher, as if looking farther down on the princess who had bested her before could make her stronger. "The Card Master has chosen me to lead this world. You, who shut off from the world for years because of his game, are not fit. I am the sun and moon as one. I am Eclipse."
And I, darling, am your death.
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A ripping sound more guttural than a starving mongrel, a shaking and shattering earthquakes only dreamed about, where all the planets and stars stopped in the heavens and looked down on the actions of the almighty; he tore the card in half.
Eclipse didn't understand. She fought both princesses, she was suppose to learn from them and become the new ruler of Equestria, to guide it to a new image. What was this pain, of loss, of knowing reality's cold void?
"Master, what are you doing? We-"
Shtock.
A stone caught in her throat silenced Eclipse.
Creation and destruction have always walked the same path. Through you I have pushed the Princesses to their rightful place. And now to achieve the change we so desire, I need to you create a new Princess of the Night.
No pony said a word. All three, gods among mortal ponies, were nothing to the infinite mass of cards warping and changing before them. They all could feel but not understand the alignment of harmony.
Now, Eclipse, I beseech you. Please die.
Half-spoken, gasping words left Eclipse's mouth. Rage, sorrow, fury, confusion. A storm raged within her, against the Card Master. But no storm ever changed the shape of the world. Pieces fell off: first skin peeled and wilted into void shadows dying in the light of the eclipse, followed by cracking muscle and bone.
The light returned. The moon sailed away. All natural movements.
Celestia watched the death of Eclipse but Luna felt it. The burning of the contact poison ceased, though her legs were still paralyzed. A large part of her was dying as she watched. The moon had left the eclipse and, like losing a horn or a leg, Luna felt it leave her too.
There was, however, a certain lightness to it. "What did you do to me?"
You've held the magic of the moon long enough. I returned it. It shall move on its own accord.
Luna's eyes widened. Half of her responsibilities as a princess of Equestria was just eliminated. The card, Eclipse, was planted within her and he let it fester until he could tear the magic away, Luna realized. Her thoughts grew more erratic.
Please, you make it so dramatic. Your thoughts sound like Rarity.
"Do you plan to do the same with me?" The Card Master turned to Celestia's words.
No, you will plan to do the same to yourself. You sister is mortal now.
The two sisters traded shocked looks. Losing each other, they thought, was impossible. Even when banished, Celestia knew Luna would return. A thousand years was still a short moment in the span of eternity. But that magic was gone for Luna now.
"How can I be sure you're not lying?"
Well, I'm not.
Luna struggled up, feeling strength returning to her body. "Celestia, he's telling the truth. I can feel it, just look at me." She gestured to her mane. Drained of magic, her hair flowed sluggishly.
Your sister will live a full, mortal life. I could even give her a new form to walk peacefully among the population. But you will be alone if you do not give up the sun.
"And then we'd live together and die together," Celestia whispered, looking only at her sister. Twilight, Cadence, she had many friends, but her sister was beyond short affections. They founded Equestria together, fought Discord and Sombra together, and got over their differences together.
Pain slid away, and Celestia rose with her head held low, eyes streaming. "If I can live with my sister in peace, then I accept your offer."
"Celestia," Luna whispered. She had not further words. She could have tried to stop her, but a large part of her wanted to live a complete life with her sister.
If they were mortal, more ponies would have to step up to fill their place, and their days and nights would not be crammed with endless tasks.
The Card Master's cheeks raised. A mannequin made of a swarm of cards, his smile was far more subtle. He waved his hoof and the night silver in Celestia's wings vanished.
Unfortunately, giving the power willingly is a far more painless process. I won't even have to cultivate your darker half. So sorry if you wanted to suffer with your sister.
Her mane immediately began to weigh down, but her body felt lighter; the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders. "It feels so, relaxing."
And now you will truly live as part of the world.
"Is there a catch?" Celestia looked at her sister. "You said you took the moon from her. Does that include her power over dreams?"
No. You will keep the rest of your powers for however much time you have left. When you die, your magic will return to the world. Luna's energy will defend dreams, whether or not a sentient creature guides it. And you, Queen of Princesses,
will become one with the Otherworld, where Twilight was granted her status.
"I don't understand, how will my magic still work after I die?" Luna could still feel the tug of dreams, even as ponies woke to start their day. Their dreams were a feeling, and without a pony to feel, her magic was directionless.
Neither of you will control your power once you die. You will end, and ascend to a new state of being, integrated into the will of the world. Luna, your magic and your mind will cease to be separate. You will become the power of dreams.
"And me?" If she was to be forced to accept the new world envisioned by the Card Master, she would at least know all its rules.
Whatever the princesses of Equestria stand for, that is what your voice will become. Morality, permeating the minds of all leaders.
Neither of them had anything more to say or do. The Card Master clapped his hooves together.
Right, I see you have some time to think about it. You haven't even decided if you want to take on a new form. I know your answer, of course, but I don't want to spoil it. So, if you will excuse me, I have a tree to go talk to.
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Am I worried about Celestia and Luna? Of course. It's been a year since any pony saw them. The royal guards found blood samples and confirmed that both princesses were attacked in Celestia's room. Any guard that could have been a witness was killed, cut apart by a fine blade.
Traces of an unknown metal were found. I know what it is, of course. I used night silver when I was Twilight the Hunter. But now I'm just Twilight, overseeing the first class to join her college, Equestria United. STAM classes begin in a week, and some textbooks were still being shipped from Vanhoover.
The strange thing was the sun and moon. Most of Equestria didn't even notice the princesses were gone during the first few days. They move on their own.
I've tried entering the dream world many times, using what Luna taught me. But everything was to fix my own dreams, not enters others. I still can't take her place and defend the night. Though, there hasn't been an increase of nightmare complaints.
Apparently the number of councilor and psychologist positions have increased though. Thanks to Starlight, ponies in Manehattan knew exactly where they could go to help or be helped. The Foundation of Manehattan Scholars, the Equestria Health Society, and the Youth for Urban Development, were all committed to holding up the city through unity.
Without good mares and stallions working for those causes, I don't know if the city could stand without the princesses. Rainbow Dash was so inspired, she started the Athlete Society in Equestria, and Rarity's been asking me to help her make an art center in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Vanhoover.
I'm sure a part of her interest is opening another clothing store there, but an art center would be a great place for ponies to find their passion and make a better atmosphere for young ponies growing up with far less fortune than others.
It's an interesting world we've made for ourselves, one more independent from the princesses. How ironic that I say that, but it's true. Really, the staff of my school is more than capable of making decisions without me.
Everything in my room looks the same, but it still changes. The way I look at it, maybe. Sunset's book sits by my bed now; she writes almost every day about the people she helps. I never realized that a world like hers could have had more harmony by having less magic.
Now as I sit and listen for his voice again, I hear the conversation between the Tree of Harmony and the Card Master. Caring but impulsive, the Tree wanted to defend her children and our world, regardless of the bigger picture.
And the Card Master, sitting on his high tower of existence, wanted to operate in his natural and comfortable way. He was the multiverse that the Tree of Harmony was forcing to change.
But harmony can't be a force, so he made a compromise to rejoin with his other half. He guided us to the harmony she, the Tree, wished to create. In doing so he pulled us away from strained idols and the expectation of salvation. But he was sure to never intervene, because harmony can't be a force. It must be a choice.
We make it an effort, to work endlessly because we know the end goal can never be achieved but only temporary moments of victory and satisfaction are worth it. We make it a choice, to seek the world we live in instead of transcending it. How lonely it must be to rule as two, unlike any other.
The time of monster hunters, when ponies believed in spirits and gods. Perhaps times haven't changed so much.
I am Twilight Sparkle, but I am also the Hunter and the Soldier and the Princess. I am also the Card Master, just like every pony. I choose to be him with my legacy. I choose to throw myself to the world and let it swallow me, define me, use me.
The food we eat shapes who we are. The world consumes all, so that we may shape it. And yes, there is chaos in harmony, because chaos denies order. Order and harmony are not the same.
I learned that from the Callers. Order is a command, controlling every pony to fit a set of ideals and beliefs. Sometimes beliefs are wrong; pure order can never know if chaos and change are not allowed. Harmony is a discussion, a conversation on the solution to future challenges.
I thought I knew the difference. I thought I had taught the difference to Starlight. She created slaves in the name of order. They may have been fooled but were ultimately unwilling.
What about the willing slaves: those who submit to order because they think its too hard to stand in the wild discussion of harmony?
We princesses managed ponies who followed the rules because that's what we said was right. We had our own beliefs and saw them do what we thought was the greatest good possible. What we see and what we believe are both often wrong.
I have faith in the world but I have doubt that this is the best we can do. And that's Harmony.
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Why do we look at stars?
Aurora and Moondust rushed around their house looking for everything they had to bring.
"I can't believe we're going to be late for our first Parent-Teacher meeting." Moondust levitated a manila folder of parent petitions. She bounded it with a string to stop it from overflowing.
Aurora's wings fumbled with the box of glass presentation slides. "And I can't believe this thing is so hard to hold on to. Trade ya?"
They switched so Moondust levitated the easily cracked slides while Aurora had the papers that were less so. Moondust picked up the keys and locked the door on their way out.
Living in the suburbs of Vanhoover gave a certain amount of peace, at the price of no taxis. Vanhoover West Academy was fifteen minutes away if they galloped.
Aurora looked over the picket fences of the surrounding houses. Their neighborhood sat on a low hill, its road long and winding. There was always another way.
"Remember the last time we had fun?" She cast a childish smirk at her sister.
Moondust eyed her back. "That was nearly a year ago, when we first moved here. We didn't even have jobs at Vanhoover West."
"Well if we had that hot air balloon I wanted to buy, we wouldn't be in this mess." She started checking the houses to make sure no pony could see them running through other backyards.
Moondust rolled her eyes and picked a white painted house, the one that belonged to a rich family that was always away on vacations and trips. "We're not cancelling heating just to save for that overpriced balloon. Race ya."
Moondust was the younger, but her energy was overshadowed by her pegasus sister's natural athleticism. Even with the stack of papers, her hooves glided along the fences she ran over, balancing effortlessly with her wings outstretched.
"You're picking up those papers if you drop them," taunted Moondust. Her sister only laughed and warned her to keep the glass slides close.
They jumped in and out of countless gardens, vegetable patches, and flower beds. They didn't make it to the meeting in time, but they had fun trying anyways, regardless of the stares at their mildly muddy hooves.
So began their first year working at VWA, Aurora teaching history and economics and coaching cross-country flying, while Moondust taught Magic and Science and supervised five clubs on campus.
Thirty classes graduated under them, all having a unique memory to cherish. One year Aurora broke her wing demonstrating a flight path in the middle of the storm, but finished it anyways. Another year, Moondust used the wrong spell during an alchemy lab and cancelled school for two days.
The scorch marks are still on some of the desks.
And nine hundred alumni from their school, all accomplished doctors and athletes and chemists and managers and more, stood somber with Moonlight at the funeral of her sister. Another was held shortly after for Moonlight, while a drunk taxi driver was charged with slaughter.
Nine hundred branches, with families and children in every city of Equestria. Thousands of ponies performing thousands of tasks every day to change the world, inspired by their teachers, or their parent's teachers, Aurora and Moonlight.
Their final moments were more silent than Celestia and Luna's, but their legacy were the stars. We never notice its there, and take it for granted.
We look at stars because we see ourselves.