//------------------------------// // The Princess // Story: Moon Unit Zappa // by RarityEQM //------------------------------// Luna warily watched the door, absolutely refusing to take her eyes away from the knob, even as her head began to droop. The harsh metal chain wrapped snuggly around her neck was not heavy in comparison to the weight of exhaustion that pressed upon her head like a crown. The chain lead to the center of the room, where it was firmly anchored to the floor by a large silver ring. It was a fairly simple room. Barely furnished. A bed in one corner and that was all. This room is where Grogar had placed the princess after he stripped her of her regal regalia and left her sitting nakedly. The cramped confines of the room gave her little in comfort for spreading her wings, and the nullification ring Grogar had placed around her horn kept even her cosmic powers bayed. Grogar seemed to believe her fate had been sealed. With her magic at bay and her wings pinned by the claustrophobic conditions of the room, he had endeavored to demoralize her by laying claim to her personal throne, hungering for every sweet drop of suffering he could force upon the Mistress of Midnight. She aggressively refused his offer. The physical conflict had been short and sweet. It only took one fury-charged kick from her leg to remind Grogar of the physical prowess of an Alicorn. The Earth Pony strength and Alicorn possessed was often left hidden but could be summoned at will should the need arise. Luna felt the need to ring Grogar's bells in the worst possible way. He quickly retreated from the room, and bathed her in silence leaving her to her thoughts, and all Luna could think about, was how she got into this mess. She chuckled bitterly. It all started with a letter. A letter that had been delivered to her in the middle of the evening. Dropped off by one of her servants; the little bat pony that danced around the dream realm. Dawn. Young and extremely curious, Luna had discovered a little batpony flittering about the Dream Realm one night and much to her surprise, the bat filly was fully aware she was in the dream world. She had been practicing lucid dreaming in order to offer Luna her thanks for the lovely dreams she had. Apparently, the child had a dream in which she was a star singing in the Canterlot Concert Hall. The tickets had all been sold out and everypony in Canterlot wanted to hear her: the supersonic singing sensation! Awakening to the real world, Dawn, a simple orphan, had decided to try and make her dreams come true. She had no luck as, more often than not, the girl had a knack for accidentally adding a sonic scream to solos she was singing. The resulting headaches, broken glasses, and temporary deafness barred her from most competitions, but the dream repeated itself anyway, strong as it ever was. That's when she'd sought out Luna. Even if she couldn't sing, the girl was grateful anyway, as her lovely dreams took her far from the suffering and desolation of being an orphan. A charming little girl, Dawn was russet colored with two ebony pigtail braids dangling down to either side of her shoulders. Dawn's ease into learning to lucid dream and how quickly she took to traveling between realms, earned her the title of the Night's Messenger after Luna had listened to her heartfelt tale. She was to deliver messages, to and from Luna to ambassadors all over Equestria and beyond. To accomplish this, the boon bequeathed to her had been a 'Black Key.' An item of terrible power, able to open doors to other realms and dimensions. To the dream realm, to tartarus, wherever it was she needed to go the key would take her. It was this key, that had allowed her to deliver the message to Luna. Late in the evening, Dawn had appeared, looking frazzled and carrying a with her a simple message in writing Luna had not seen in centuries. Old script captured on a tattered scroll that carried with it grave concern: Blueblood had been pulled into Tartarus to be sacrificed in the 'ritual of opening.' A barbaric ritual meant only for the worst offenders, which meant Canterlot was dealing with a worst case scenario. And so, Luna had come. She strolled into Tartarus to rescue Blueblood. She had managed to locate him, but they had gotten separated and she captured. And now? Now she was trapped in a sadistic game at Grogar's hooves, chained to the floor and left to rot. Forgotten in Tartarus, never to see the light of day again. Or so she thought. At first, Luna thought she would be sentenced to a humdrum life of boredom trapped in this empty room. But that's when the first demon had entered. A large boar-like creature, it was sent into the room and it immediately attempted to gore her with thick, wicked looking tusks. Simple combat maneuvers and Alicorn strength was enough to subdue the creature and cake the room in fresh gore. Next had been some strange incubus creature that promised her an eternity of paradise if only she would help it destroy Grogar. It too had been devastated by Luna's hooves and a short fuse. She would not be Grogar's plaything!! But another creature appeared. This one seemed to be Celestia herself!! It promised to free Luna and lead her from this accursed place. In times long past, Luna and Celestia had sworn an oath to one another; "Thy Kingdom Above" A royal seal of promise. Equestria would eternally come first no matter what the situation. Celestia would never risk Equestria to venture into Tartarus. This creature she slaughtered maliciously, punishing it for having the gall to assume the guise of her family!! Now there was a new demon, and Luna was ready. Cute. It wandered in silently. A shifter demon. This one was slightly smaller than the other ones and moved almost silently across the floor. Obviously a minion of Grogar, it wore around its legs two silver capture cuffs and around its neck an odd-looking collar. This creature; this foul, detestable skinwalker had taken the form of one of her servants. It assumed the guise of her Night's Errant. A plucky little pegasus she thought of rather fondly. This creature had been studying under Grogar; its assumed identity was almost flawless. It even got the scars and disfigurement the girl sported correctly. The blotches and splotches of patchy inky fur around her neck, legs, wings, and face were a perfect match for the real Errant, but that's as far as it seemed to have gotten. The creature did not have the perky pep in its step the Night's Errant always had. It did not shout out a boisterous "HI PRINCESS!" like the Night's Errant always did. Above all else, the Night's Errant, nor any pony else in Equestria knew of her whereabouts. Nopony could know one of the Princesses were in Tartarus and their defenses weakened. No, this demon would suffer like the rest. But it did wear the same goofy smile on its face the Night's Errant wore. Always grinning ear to ear like she'd never been happier in her life than when she was with Luna. It tugged at her heart and fanned a flame of regret that slowly burned into a white hot rage of hate. They were assaulting her emotions and preying on her sorrow. She lay still, watching the tiny demon sneak its way over. Its head dipped left and right as if it were worried it might be being watched. Clever, it was playing the role, but Luna would not be fooled!! Its face lit up when it spotted Luna. A big goofy smile that screamed the innocence of a child. Luna laughed coldly. The moment it got close enough to reach out and touch her was the moment Luna sprang into action, leaping up to deliver a forceful surprising kick!! She caught the Shifter Demon with the force of an angry God, snapping its head to the left and sending it spiraling into the air. It crashed to the ground with a sickening thud where it went limp. Luna watched quietly, ready to strike again if the creature made a move. It twitched once, twice, and slowly, slowly started to climb to its hooves. Luna snarled quietly. It still hadn't dropped it guise! Surely the blow delivered was enough to force it to reveal its true form. Did it think the Princess of Darkness so easily fooled?! Did it really think it could play her emotions so readily and convince her of an impossibility!? She would end this miserable creature's existence!! She would not be tricked!! ***** Diamond groaned, pulling herself up from the floor where she had landed. This was not the reunion she'd been expecting. This was not the sweet, sentimental victory she had hoped for when she finally found her princess. This was all kinds of wrong!! Before Diamond could react, the princess was upon her again, delivering a ruthless blow that sent Diamond sailing across the room where she impacted the fall wall with a devastating crunch!! She made a significant indent against the wall where she had impacted, and now lay prone on the floor, trying to recover her breath. "REVEAL YOUR TRUE FORM!" Luna snarled, marching over to grasp the demon in her hoofs. She sounded angry, angrier than Diamond had ever heard her. The little filly squeaked and held up her hooves, in dismay, trying to explain the last few horrible hours of her life- but not a word slipped free. Baffled, Diamond only had a moment to consider this odd new occurrence. Why couldn't she speak? What was going on?! Every time she tried to open her mouth and explain who she was, the words were muted and silent. "..." Diamond sobbed desperately, trying to explain who she was and how she'd gotten here. It was no use, she couldn't even scream as the next blow came. Luna had wrapped her hoof around Diamond's tail and swung her across the room, throwing her into the far wall, where her she bounced to the floor. "RECITE THE OATH OF DARKNESS!" Luna demanded, standing to her full majestic height. If this creature somehow WERE the Night's Errant, the question would reveal her knowledge of the evening. The tiny demon rolled to its side and made a wild gesture with its hooves, but did not speak, and so it would die. Luna would make sure of that. Diamond whimpered quietly, clutching at her throat. Why couldn't she speak?! Why couldn't she fix this?! It wasn't like Dinky had ordered her to be silent. No. No that wasn't a command! The cuffs couldn't have interpreted the last thing she said to Diamond as a command!! No talking! That idiot!!! Dinky had sentenced Diamond to death by the hooves of her own princess! All due to a stupid misunderstanding...This was the end of her story. There was no way she could prove to the princess she was the real Errant. Luna must have thought she was some sort of imposter!! There had to be some way to- wait, she could simply- The next blow came, sending Diamond clear across to the other side of the room. ***** Luna huffed quietly, eyeing the creature for signs of movement. Had that last attack finished it off? She couldn't tell. This creature was different than the others. It was much more resilient to her Alicorn strength and it refused to drop its impersonation. Luna frowned, feeling a new surge of anger rushing through her. "Do you...do you think I am so easily fooled?!" Luna snarled. The beast was slowly climbing back to its hooves, and astonishingly enough, began to crawl towards her. Was it so dedicated to its task that it would continue to assault her? It clearly had no chance of winning. It really did remind her of Diamond. Diamond would have never given up. This creature, however, could not possibly be the Night's Errant. That just wasn't possible. It couldn't be!! "HOW DARE YOU!!" Luna screamed. The moment this creature stood up, Luna delivered another blow, sending it toppling to the ground, where Luna stood over it, hoof on its neck, poised to crush the life out of it. She narrowed her gaze at the creature, waiting for it to finally reveal its true nature to her, where she would end it without remorse. The demon pretending to be a filly squirmed underneath Luna's foreleg, before doing the most horrible thing it possibly could: It held up a hoof and it glittered a soft glow that resembled Luna's Cutie Mark. A Royal Rune of service. No. No it couldn't be....NO!!! "ERRANT?!" Luna shrieked in horror, immediately scooping up the little filly in both her forelegs. Diamond smiled weakly and offered a shaky little salute, beaming from ear to ear again. Impossible! She'd spent the last ten minutes beating the utter life out of the girl at full Alicorn strength. Of course with the cuffs and the unfamiliar collar, how could she be blamed for mistaking the Errant for a demon. The tiny filly gestured to her throat when Luna set her down, and then towards the cuffs on her cannons. Of course... Tearing off the magic cuffs proved no challenge for the Alicorn, who made short work out of the weak magic keeping Diamond in check. Luna pitched them to the side, keeping a wary eye on the filly in front of her. The filly immediately rubbed her cannons, before giving a sigh of relief. "Thanks Pri- HEY! My voice works again!! Thank you very much, princess! I'm sorry it took me so long to find you!" Diamond squeaked happily, oblivious to the misty-eyed gaze of the Princess of Darkness. "Child, Oh, Diamond I...I am ...you have my deepest apologies, I-I thought," Luna began, but her voice was lost to the explosion that rocked the castle and toppled both of them to the ground. Diamond was up first, weakly climbing to her hooves and limping towards the door where she'd crept in. Luna watched the girl quietly peek outside and then turn towards Princess Luna, grinning so hard it looked like her head would be lopped off if it got any wider. "What is it, Errant?!" Luna demanded. Diamond hobbled her way back over and pointed excitedly at the door. "It's the servants!! The Servants of Shadow are here!!"