//------------------------------// // The Reveal // Story: What Is This Strange Feeling? // by PonySage86 //------------------------------// Luna releases her breath, through her closed eyes she can see the bright glow of the flames all around her yet they aren't burning her, matter of fact she doesn't even feel hot. As she opens her eyes she is surprised to see a bubble of blue magic surrounding her, she glances down at the crystal in her hoof, she smiles when she sees the crystal is also glowing. Always looking at for me aren't you big brother. Luna shakes her head refocusing on the situation, her horn begins to glow followed shortly by her wings, she raises her wings as far as they'll go and then flaps them releasing a strong gust of wind that blows out the fire spread around the library, the protective bubble vanishes as soon as all the fires out. Luna quickly looks around the room a bit distressed by the damage she let befall Twilights library, she promises to look for a book restoration spell later. Luna looks to the table where the fire originated, she spots the orb she saw explode laying shattered on the table, but before she can examine the remains the door to the library slams open. "Twilight! Fire!" Spike rushes into the room panting heavily clutching a scroll in his left hand, he freezes in place when he sees who is here instead of Twilight. "P-Princess Luna?" "Greetings Spike what appears to be the problem?" Luna asks as she crosses the room to him. Spike shakes off his surprise and speaks his message. "Fires have sprung up all over Ponyville, almost half the town is burning!" Spike flails his arms as he shouts in a panic, Luna spots the scroll in Spikes claw immediately realizing that it must be from her sister too Twilight, before she can think too much about what the scroll could be she turns her head and narrows her eyes to glare at the shattered globe on the table. "Very well... here." Spike jumps in surprise as the princess suddenly lobs the crystal she was holding at him, lucky for him she threw it with her magic so it gently floats into his claws. "Please put that somewhere safe." "Um okay..." Spike scratches his head. "What is it?" "I'm not sure yet but it is very important to me so please take care of it Spike." Luna flaps herself into the air. "Help the fire teams once you're done." "Yes ma'am." Spike salutes, the Princess nods in agreement before flying up and out the window. Once she's gone he runs off to put the crystal in the most secure location he can think of... under his bed. With a few quick flaps Luna finds herself outside the castle, looking around the town she sees pillars of smoke flow from all over. several fires have been dampened by the citizens, but none have been put out yet. Luna spies Rarity by the town well and swoops down to her hoping for answers. Upon her landing she notices that Rarity is not alone, as the Element of Generosity fills up buckets from the well another mare grabs them and places them on a platform for other ponies to grab, Luna is impressed by the speed at which Ponyville has started fighting the fires. As she walks up to Rarity she spots some Pegasi flying in with clouds. Luna does not recognize the mare standing next to Rarity, she is a tall Pegasus with a black coat and long braided purple hair, her cutie mark is a few bright yellow stars, as the two turn to face Luna she can see the mare also has bright purple eyes. "Princess Luna?!" Rarity exclaims loudly. "What are you doing here?" "I was here on a personal matter when all this transpired, what has happened?" Luna speaks with stern authority Rarity shakes off her surprise and continues working on the buckets while she talks to the Princess. "Somepony we thought was our friend set these fires all over town." Rarity scowls at the thought. "Twilight stayed behind to deal with her while the rest of us came back to deal with the fires." "Who is this friend?" Luna asks feeling she has a good idea already, but before she can get an answer Applejack comes running up to the platform. "Rarity we got a problem the fires have spread to Berry Punches house!" Rarity covers her mouth with her hooves to cover her gasp. "Oh lord if the fire reaches her wine cellar-" Rarity flips around to the Pegasus standing next to her. "Night Fly quick fly up to the weather patrol and have them take the clouds to Berry Punches immediately." "Right." Night Fly takes off and soars toward the other pegasi in the sky, Rarity cups her mouth with her hooves. "PINKIE!" Rarity shouts as loud as she can, to Luna's surprise Pinkie Pie appears a mere moment later, but even more surprising then that Pinkie Pies hair is far bigger then usual with several high lights in her mane. "Quick Pinkie go with Applejack, take as many buckets as you can." "Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie Pie salutes before dashing off with Applejack, both carrying more buckets than the other ponies, Rarity turns back toward the Princess, she yelps in surprise as she finds Luna glaring, though she notices she isn't glaring at her but at the sky. Luna's horn ignites and she launches an energy beam at the sky, it explodes in midair, instantly a large storm cloud begins forming in the sky, Luna turns her glare towards Rarity who yelps once more. "Where is Twilight?" Outside Fluttershy's House Discord suddenly pops in on Fluttershy's door step, he clears his throat and prepares to knock, but he freezes right before his knuckle hits the door. He glances around Fluttershys property and sees nothing, not a single animal around, usually it's a chorus of noise when he teleports in. Before he can think too much on that the front door suddenly opens, Fluttershy's eyes go wide in surprise when she spots Discord. "Discord what are you doing here?" Fluttershy raises an eyebrow at him, Discord smiles down at his friend. "Fluttershy my dear I have something very important I need to tell you." Fluttershy looks at him for a moment before smiling. "Of course come on in I was just about to have some orange juice." Fluttershy opens the door wider so Discord can float inside. Moments later the two are sitting in the living room in their usual places, a tray of cookies and a glass container of juice on the coffee table. Fluttershy happily nibbles on a cookie before speaking again. "So what's going on?" "Well you see." Discord scratches his head awkwardly. "It's about Moonlight." Fluttershy stiffens at the mention of the name, but only says. "W-what about her?" "Well she's not quite the pony everypony thinks she is." Discord animates one of the cookies and has it walk itself into his mouth. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asks while placing her cup back onto the table, she crosses her hooves and gives Discord her undivided attention. "W-well ya see she is uh..." Discord looks around the room nervously he raises his claw to speak when he suddenly stops again as a thought occurs to him. "Um Fluttershy where are all your animals?" "Oh-" Fluttershy looks away nervously. "The fire scared them away." "Fire?" Discords eyes widen. "What fire?" "Well you see-" Fluttershy avoids eye contact. "I think Moonlight set Ponyville on fire." "What!?" Discord bolts up from the couch, he clenches his paw fist. "I didn't think she'd stoop to hurting other ponies!" "The others went back to Ponyville to deal with the fires there while I came home to deal with them here." Discords eyes widen. "Your home was on fire!?" Discord shouts in alarm. "J-just a little bit." Fluttershy blushes, Discord stomps around the living room before freezing once more. "Wait." Fluttershy looks up at Discord in surprise. "W-what?" Fluttershy stammers out, Discord looks at Fluttershy with a raised eyebrow. "Where was the fire?" Discord asks, Fluttershys eyes widen. "Um..." "Why aren't you out looking for your animals?" Discord takes a step toward Fluttershys chair. "I was about to before you showed up." Fluttershy says avoiding eye contact again. "You said you were about to have juice before I arrived." Discord continues moving toward Fluttershy. "I meant-" "Where is Fluttershy!?" Discord shouts at Fluttershy as he stands right in front of her, Fluttershy chuckles. "I guess I'm not that good at improvising huh?" Fluttershy suddenly meets Discords eyes, he flinches in surprise as Fluttershys teal eyes have gone blood red. Discord feels something crash into the back of his head, his head is suddenly soaked by the juice from Fluttershys cup, he glares down at Fluttershy but before he can snap his fingers he falls over onto the floor. "Ugh what the?" Discord clutches his head, his eyes widen in surprise as the Fluttershy before him begins morphing, her skin turns white and begins to glow, her hair shortens and turns black, her wings reside into her back and a horn sprouts from her head. "Tatzlwurm venom, I was hoping to get you to drink it, but throwing it at you will have to do." Moonlight grins down at Discord, and Discord glares up at her. ????? Darkness... Twilight turns around at the voice. Darkness... Twilight can't see anything, everything around her is pitch black. Darkness... is truly powerful isn't it? Twilight glares into the void. "Who are you!?" You don't recognize me Twilight? Twilight jumps in surprise as a pair of glowing green eyes with purple smoke appears in front of her. Twilight ignites her horn, but doesn't see any light. "Sombra!?" The voice chuckles. I suppose that will do for now. Suddenly Sombras face appears where the eyes are. "What do you want Sombra?" Twilight asks as she ready's herself for battle, the voice chuckles again, but Sombras mouth doesn't move. I only want to help Twilight, you've tasted my power before Twilight. And you didn't need your friends to use it, with this power you can protect everypony you care about. Twilight un-ignites her horn, but before she can think on what the voice said. "Twilight!" Twilight's eyes shoot open, much to her surprise the voice that woke her up belongs to Princess Luna. "Thank goodness I was getting worried." "P-princess Luna?" Twilight sits up and looks around, as she sees Sweet Apple Acres orchard around her she remembers how she got into this situation, which reminds her. "Where's Moonlight?" "Moonlight?" Luna remembers what Rarity said earlier and assumes that Moonlight must be the one who started the fires. "Twilight what happened here?" "I tried to stop her, but she tricked me." Twilight clutches her side as pain shoots through it, Luna quickly ignites her horn and illuminates Twilight's side removing the pain. "Who is this Moonlight?" Luna examines the rest of Twilights body with her magic, none of the damage is life threatening, but she does apply a pain killing spell to the worst of the injuries. "She's a friend of Discords, shes been around for a while." Twilight sighs in relief as Lunas spell kicks in. "I always thought there was something off about her." "What do you mean?" Luna asks with a raised eyebrow. "Well she glows for one thing, and I don't mean like a crystal pony, it's like her whole body is a horn that's always using magic." Twilight struggles to her feet, Luna doesn't help her as she is lost in thought. Luna rubs her chin in thought. So that's the physical alteration not nearly as drastic as my transformation into Nightmare Moon... Lunas eyes widen a bit. Which reminds me. "Twilight?" Twilight looks up at the sudden mention of her name. "Yes Princess?" Twilight asks as she finishes standing up, Luna looks at her with a serious look in her eye. "I need you to tell me how you got the Elements of Harmony." Fluttershys House "I am quite impressed Discord." Discord glares up at the glowing mare walking around him, Discord figures she wants to keep a safe distance from him while the Tatzlwurm venom finishes soaking into him. "I always knew you were clever, and your chaos magic makes you very unpredictable, but to think you'd actually figure out my curse and destroy it." Moonlight grabs Discords muzzle with her magic and forces him to look at her, her eyes match her voice, cold and unfeeling. "I worked really hard on that you know." Discord narrows his eyes at her as he growls out. "Sorry too disappoint you." Much to Discords surprise she smiles at him. "Oh you didn't disappoint me Discord, if anything I find you even more interesting then before." "Lucky me." Discord rolls his eyes, Moonlight drops Discords muzzle after that. "So..." Moonlights horn ignites and Discord flinches at the sight. "How did you free yourself from my tea and then my burning curse? Luna could only have helped you so much." Discord grins at Moonlight. "Something tells me you already know who helped me." Moonlight glares down at the Lord of Chaos, but her smile doesn't waver, instead it grows into a twisted grin. "Ah yes your precious little Fluttershy!" Discords eyes widen as he stares at the twisted look in Moonlights eyes, and for some reason her voice sounded more familiar. "Where is Fluttershy!?" "You don't have to worry about her anymore Discord." Discord is suddenly roughly brought up face to face with Moonlight, he can see a red and black portal open up behind her. "Your all mine now!" "Wait yo-" Discord is suddenly cut off as a beam of dark blue energy strikes Moonlight directly in the right eye sending her flying backwards, her concentration broken her portal dissipates, and Discord falls to the ground. Discord looks from Moonlights newly limp body to the massive hole that was blown in Fluttershys wall, moments later the Princess of Night comes floating in. "Luna!?" "Discord are you alright?" Luna asks with a touch of concern, Discord just gaps at her. "Luna why did you do that?" Discord gestures toward Moonlights body. "She was being manipulated by the Element you didn't need to kill her, and she did something to Fluttershy!" "Relax Discord she isn't dead." Luna says as she walks over to his side. "But you just blew up her f-" "And she isn't being manipulated." Discords eyes widen. "What do you mean?" Luna locks eyes with Discord, her eyes hold an air of anger about them. "Something has been bugging me since we talked to your mother Discord." Discord raises an eyebrow at Luna. "What's that?" Luna turns away from Discord and stares at Moonlights body. "Your mother said no one has ever found the Tree of Sin in all these thousands of years, and yet somehow I became the bearer of the Element of Sin." Luna returns her gaze to Discord. "I talked with Twilight, and she confirmed my suspicion, she and the others had to find the Elements of Harmony themselves, they didn't even call to them." "What are you getting at?" Discord asks a bit confused. "What I'm getting at Discord is that I was never the bearer of the Element of Sin because there has never been an Element to bear." Luna jabs a hoof at Moonlight. "She's not the bearer like Twilight and her friends, she's not wielding its power like my sister did, and she is not possessed by it like I was!" "Wait you mean?" Discords eyes widen even more. so you figured it out Discord and Luna snap their heads towards the broken voice that just spoke, there standing before them is Moonlight right where she was just laying down a second ago, half of her face is missing but instead of blood and bone her insides are nothing but swirling blackness, her right eye is nothing but a glowing red light in the inky blackness, a bone chilling laugh begins coming from her lips. Luna glares at the creature before her. "She is the Element of Sin."