//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// Chapter 3: A Secret Untold "I told you Twilight I don't need your assistance," shouted Celestia. "And I told you that I'm not leaving you," protested Twilight. Night Mare Moon laughed wickedly, "What's wrong big sister, is your precious student not following your orders? Well as long as you're willing, you might as well perish together!" Night Mare Moon focused more of her magic into the attack, as she did the beam became larger and more powerful pushing back Celestia's and Twilight's combined attack. Faster and faster the beam got closer, every second another foot was gained. "TWILIGHT, LOOK OUT!" Celestia broke off the attack and shoved Twilight into the wall. She then began to create a barrier, to late the magical blast slammed against Celestia forcing her through the floor and down several stories. "Now to finish this...!" Night Mare Moon then zoomed down the hole, a look of sadistic pleasure in her eyes, and why not with her quarry waiting for her down below. Twilight rushed to the edge looking down, seeing nothing but empty rooms and a black abyss. "PRINCESS CELESTIA!" It was dark, except for the light shining down from the hole in the ceiling above. The light only illuminated a small portion of the room, only the floor was visible. Celestia laid there, drifting in and out of consciousness, as she tried to rise Celestia cried out a little in pain. She turned her head and saw her right wing was broken, Celestia winced at the surge of pain that came in waves, and as she became more aware the worse the pain got. Just then a winged figure cast a large shadow over Celestia. Night Mare Moon decended slowly, she could tell how bad Celestia was wounded so there was no hurry to end it. Better to savor the moment, she thought. "Look at you Celestia, your once flawless white coat is now dirtied and soiled, and your majestic wings of which flared out so proudly now broken and limp. You are truly a pathetic sight," laughed Night Mare Moon. Celestia began to limp forward, keeping her right foreleg up as to not put any weight on it. "Oh Luna, why, why are doing this," said Celestia with sadness in her voice. "I've told you the reason, you just can't accept it," said Night Mare Moon. "You know as well as I do that Arion had changed! If mother hadn't done what she did then this world would've been plunged into an eternal darkness!" Celestia's breath started to become heavy and labored her sight wafted between double vision and blurry. But still Celestia put on a brave front looking to reason with her little sister, to reach out to the Luna hidden deep within. "You were always mother's favorite, even though he was the first born you were always mother's favorite -" "That's not true, she loved all of us," countered Celestia. "LIES!" Night Mare Moon flared out her wings that rang out with power that buffeted Celestia. "Arion was...was...He was the only one who understood me, every night he was there to keep me company through the lonely nights, when everypony slept and missed my beautiful nights Arion was the one who marveled at them! You and mother took him from me!" "Luna..." Celestia was getting weaker the longer Night Mare Moon continued to release her magical power, and her injuries weren't helping any. Night Mare Moon unleashed an even more powerful wave of magical energy that forced Celestia to the ground. She looked up at the looming image that was once her beloved little sister, Night Mare Moon lowered her horn so that it was in striking position. At that moment a purple flash of light lit up the room, Twilight had appeared, her horn glowing wildly with magical energy. "Luna, stop right there or I swear I'll –" "Or you'll do what, Twilight Sparkle, what will you do," said Night Mare Moon mockingly. "Or I'll make you regret this for the rest of your life, all thirty seconds of it," declared Twilight. Night Mare Moon's horn moved away from Celestia, her cyan slit eyes studying Twilight, like a cat who had just cornered a mouse. "Is that so, quite a bold statement, I wonder, can you follow through with that threat? Let's find out!" Night Mare Moon quickly turned her head and impaled Celestia in her chest. Celestia was too surprised to make a sound; Night Mare Moon drew out her horn, now tainted with the blood of her sister. Celestia only let out a small gasp then fell to the ground, her tiara falling off her head and rolling around making a loud ringing sound that echoed loudly within the dark chamber. Tears began to well up in Twilight's eyes she could feel herself choking up at the sight of her teacher and friend now lying lifeless on the floor. Night Mare Moon whipped her head back and forth, shaking the blood droplets off her horn; she then took few steps back and looked directly at Twilight. "Go to her, if you wish." Twilight galloped quickly to Celestia's side, her eyes wide as saucers at the sight of the pooling blood coming from Celestia's wound. "Princess…Celestia…no…no…NOOOOOO!" Twilight wept over Celestia's body crying hysterically, mourning the loss of Equestria's benevolent ruler, and longtime mentor. "I will spare you Twilight Sparkle, so that you may tell everypony you meet every filly, colt, mare, and stallion, that Princess Celestia is no more! I'll leave you to grieve," said Night Mare Moon, chuckling. As she began to walk away a bolt of magical light shot past Night Mare Moon's left cheek that sailed into the darkness and exploded against the wall, only briefly lighting up the room. Night Mare Moon turned around slowly, and was slightly surprised at the state of Twilight. Twilight's tail and mane were on fire, raging flames of anger, her coat was white and almost flowing like the flames of her mane; revenge filled her eyes as her horn burned with magic ready to be unleashed. "You…! You will not get away with this," shouted Twilight. "I let you off with your life and now you go and do something this idiotic! Very well, I suppose it would make a bigger statement if I brought forth both the bodies of a Princess and the Element of Magic before everypony," Night Mare Moon's horn also glowed. Twilight raked her hoof against the floor, Night Mare Moon did the same, both ready to end the others life. They both charged at each other, galloping at full speed, at the last minute Twilight vanished from Night Mare Moon's sight. She smiled and quickly turned around, at the last minute Twilight appeared ready to attack. But not fast enough, Night Mare Moon rammed her spear like horn through Twilight. Twilight grunted and coughed, trying desperately to hang on to what little life force she had left. "My sister was right you do have very potent magical powers, but in your rage you forgot about my detection spell." Night Mare Moon removed her horn from Twilight. "I would say that you need to learn a better trick, but sadly you won't get the chance. Twilight stumbled back; the wound in her chest bleeding heavily, her flaming mane and tail fizzled out, her coat and mane returning to their original color. But all the while Twilight was smiling, "Actually…Luna…I have learned a new trick, I was just waiting for the right moment to use it!" Just then Twilight's body faded out of existence like a wisp of smoke. Night Mare Moon did a double take; she then turned to the body of Celestia that was disappearing like a wisp of smoke just like Twilight's body. The floor began to light up, revealing a magic circle with ancient rune marking all around it. The symbols danced in the air emitting an eerie blue/green light, Night Mare Moon flapped her wings rising ten feet before hitting her head against some invisible ceiling, she then tried to fly forward and again she hit against something invisible. Night Mare Moon continued like this for well over a minute, trying every angle she could think, she looked like a fly caught in a jar. "Quite an impressive spell don't you think Night Mare Moon?" The light grew brighter illuminating more of the ground below. There, to the surprise of Night Mare Moon, stood Celestia and Twilight on opposite sides of the circle. Night Mare Moon quickly flew down to the ground with thunderous thud and stared at Celestia in anger and genuine confusion, "That's not possible, I killed you –" then she turned to Twilight, "BOTH OF YOU!" "Oh no you did kill us, they just weren't the real us," said Twilight. "Celestia told me there was a way for us to return you to normal, that there was a place below the castle that would allow us to do this. So I devised a plan, I used an advanced illusion spell, one that creates perfect constructs of the pony or ponies you want. I cast it on Celestia and myself obviously, but from the moment you forced Celestia into this chamber, to when you skewered me, neither one of us were real," announced Twilight proudly. "But when did you two get in here, I didn't even sense your teleportation!" "We made the switch while we were locked in combat earlier, it was such a seemless transition that even you didn't notice. My student is very talented wouldn't you agree," said Celestia smiling. Night Mare Moon glared at both of them, she willed her magic into her horn, with anger and rage from being deceived she wished to destroy everything in sight, but when she started to release the power nothing happened. "As long as you are in that circle Luna, you can't use your magic, you can't escape from here, not until it is over! Now Twilight, unite your power with mine and together we shall purge Luna of this evil!" Twilight's and Celestia's horns energized with their magical power, their eyes glowed brightly indicating that they had tapped into magic within the room. The room lit up brighter and brighter, Night Mare Moon looked around her as the runes continued to float around in the air going higher and higher. The room was a chamber hollowed out of the earth; high above on the ceiling was a mural with beautiful images of ponies, unicorns, Pegasi, and what looked like four alicorns. Marble columns held up arches that had more runic markings on them, Night Mare Moon gasped in horror, when the room was completely lit, there, before her, stood a twenty foot tall statue of a proud and elegant alicorn. "M-M-MOTHER!" The statues eyes began to glow, a burning piercing gaze fell upon Night Mare Moon and at that moment she felt like a tiny ant standing before a mountain. The statue alicorn's horn resonated with magic within the chamber, building up more and more, as the circle glow became stronger. A spark lit within the eyes of the alicorn statue. The circle erupted in an out pouring of magical power, Celestia and Twilight had to turn away from the blinding light, luckily the eruption of power was constricted to the confines of the circle so neither of them would be affected. Inside Night Mare Moon's screams could be heard coming from within the pillar of light, Twilight ventured a peak at was happening to Night Mare Moon. The silhouette of an alicorn was all she could see, but then something started to come out, a darker shadow hung above, pouring from where Night Mare Moon was. Twilight came to the realization that the circle was purifying Luna, extracting the essence of Night Mare Moon; at the last moment the dark shadow disintegrated into nothingness. Twilight could feel the evil presence fade away through her connection to the magic as it continued to brake apart molecule by molecule, atom by atom, till there was nothing left, not even an afterthought. The pillar broke apart in a shower of blue/green sparkles, in the center stood Luna, not Night Mare Moon. Twilight broke out into a smile, "Luna, Princess Luna it's you!" Celestia opened her eyes and she too gave a full hearted smile, "Oh Luna, can it really be…?" Luna looked to Celestia, "Hi big sister…" then she lazily turned to Twilight, "And Twilight…not Princess…just Luna…" Luna than collapsed to the floor, Celestia and Twilight rushed to her side. Twilight stood before the alicorn statue, for some reason she couldn't help staring at it. Who is she, thought Twilight; this alicorn bears a strong resemblance to Celestia and Luna. I wonder if this is their mother, and if so why is her statue way down here where no pony can see it? She then started to inspect the rune markings on the floor, Twilight knew from her studies of magic that runes were old and powerful symbols, "The language of magic," she remembered out loud. Twilight also remembered that writing runes wasn't an easy task, one needed the knowledge of what each runic symbol meant, and also a large amount of magical power was a must for the one writing them since you were essentially using your own will power to give magic physical form. Twilight couldn't help but marvel at the writings in the circle and on the walls, she tried to decipher them, but she was having a hard time doing so. "Blast, what does it say, it doesn't follow any kind of magical formula that I learned or read about." "That's because it is not a formula," Twilight jumped, surprised by the sudden appearance of Celestia. "Princess…!" "This chamber is a haven. A last refuge for all those seeking a purpose or for those who wish to face the darker parts of their souls." Celestia stood beside Twilight, "The runes say 'Stand before me and know truth. Stand before me and see light everlasting. Stand before me and I shall heal your spirit. By my name I swear this, for I am Epona.'" "Epona…Princess, who's Epona," asked Twilight. "Look above you Twilight," Celestia directed Twilight's gaze, pointing to the mural with her wing, "The story of our world is a long one; you know that Luna and me are immortal and have reigned for many millennia's. But there was one before us, Epona, the first alicorn to have ever existed. She was the one who created all of the world, and from that everypony that ever lived owes their existence to her, but back then Equestria was known by another name, Alogotha" said Celestia. "So I was right Epona is your mother, but Princess, who is this 'Arion' that Princess Luna was talking about? Was Arion her special somepony," asked Twilight. "I guess you could say that. You see Twilight, Epona was the first and only alicorn, but even after creating so many ponies she still didn't have any she could call her own. So my mother decided to create three children from the essence of the universe. The first to be born was a young colt whose essence was drawn from the stars themselves; she named him Arion, Prince of the stars. From the essence of the sun she created me, and from the essence of the moon Luna," said Celestia. "Wait then does that mean that you and Princess Luna aren't really sisters!" "Walk with me." Celestia lead Twilight out of the chamber and up some flights of stairs where she continued the conversation. "By blood, no we are not sisters, but we were born at the same time, and had the same mother. So in that regard, yes we are sisters. For centuries the four of us watched over this world , our mother Epona charged Luna and I with ruling over Alogotha itself, Arion took another road. Even though he was the Prince of the Stars he was also a warrior, and he took it upon himself to defend Alogotha from all manner of threats," said Celestia, with a hint of pride in her voice. "So Arion was yours and Luna's BBBFF," at this Celestia looked puzzled, "Big Brother Best Friend Forever?" "Oh, yes just like that, but then something happened." Celestia stopped as they came up on a doorway, when they entered the room inside laid a sleeping Luna. Celestia motioned for Twilight to go to the balcony, of which she did. Celestia went over to Luna's bedside, she leaned her head over and lightly kissed Luna on the forehead below her horn, "Rest Luna, you've been through a lot," whispered Celestia. Celestia then joined Twilight on the balcony, the two gazed out over Canterlot, and further out to Ponyville. "You said Arion changed, what happened to him," asked Twilight. As Celestia was about explain, Luna suddenly stumbled her way out to the balcony startling the both of them. "We have to hurry...Ponyville...in danger," said Luna weakly. Luna took a couple steps then began to fall. "Luna!" Twilight used her magic to stop Luna's fall, while Celestia quickly rushed to her sister's side letting Luna lean on her and allowing Twilight to release her telekinetic grip. "Prin - Luna you shouldn't be moving around you need your rest," urged Twilght. "Ponyville is fine Luna, we can see it from here," said Celestia. Luna started to pant, obviously pushing herself to keep going. "No, you - you have to see this," Luna's horn glowed and from the tip she fired a bolt of magic straight into the sky. Twilight gasped as she watched the sky begin to crack. She then turned to Luna who was tilting her head towards the sky, as if silently asking her to do something. No way could she mean? Twilight looked to the cracks in the sky; she channeled as much power into her horn as possible and fired a stronger bolt of magic to the center of the fissure. The magic bolt shot straight through, the fissures grew bigger and wider till they gave way and fell apart. Revealing a giant dome surrounding all of Canterlot, when the dome was half way gone, Twilight and Celestia gazed out towards Ponyville. The once peaceful and serene horizon was now marred by a red sky and dark clouds which hung over Ponyville. "W-what's happening to Ponyville," shouted Twilight. "The whole thing, my transformation and attack on Canterlot, was nothing more than a diversion," said Luna. "But how, when was this created," inquired Celestia. "I did this, when I created the detection spell that I used to track Twilight's teleportation movements, I also layered it with mirror image spell. It reflects the perfect image of the landscape and whatever anypony sees. I'm sorry – I'm so sorry…" said Luna. Twilight gritted her teeth and furrowed her brow; she turned around and started to break into a gallop before Luna created a wall of light to stop her. "Princess Luna, why!" "No Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville is under attack by the Daemoni, you can't go there," warned Luna. "I'm not just going to stand here while my friends are in trouble; I'm going back to Ponyville! Princess Celestia I'm taking the Elements of Harmony with me," declared Twilight. "Listen to Luna, Twilight! Wait so I can at least send a battalion of my royal guard with you," pleaded Celestia. Twilight was frustrated; on the one hoof she could raid the room where the Elements were kept and take the, hopefully, still enchanted hot air balloon down to Ponyville. On the other, she could wait and go with the Elements accompanied by royal guard stallions. Before she could give her answer something in the distance caught the three mares' attention, a column of golden light burst forth from the center of Ponyville. The light pierced the clouds punching a hole in the red sky, allowing the original peaceful blue sky to show. Something stirred within Twilight as she gazed at the golden light, something strong, something powerful, it was hard for her to narrow it down, but seeing it filled her with the courage she needed. "I'm going to Ponyville, sorry Princess Celestia, and Luna!" with that she teleported herself on the other side of Luna's wall and galloped away to the Elements. "You know you could've stopped her big sister," observed Luna. "Yes, but something tells me she'll be alright." What was the strange golden light emanating from Ponyville? Will Twilight be able to reach her friends in time? What fate befell the Star Prince Arion? Stay tuned and find out!