Nightmare Moon sighed in defeat and hung her head as she approached her throne room to start her... night of royal duties. She was upset, because of something she had been looking into ever since falling in love with her Captain of the Royal Guard, a nagging problem that showed no signs of changing: her lover's mortality. She was immortal, but he was not, and she couldn't bear the thought of him eventually having his mortality catch up to him. For years, she had attempted to find a remedy for this, but with no luck. It made her sad, yet determined as well.
"I will keep trying ," she said aloud. "One way or another, I won't let you die while I live on, Crius..."
Crius sighed in relief as another session of the his regular duties as the Captain of the Guards come to end and now he had to be attend at the throne room for another and most important duty, to stand by the side of her highness, as her personal royal kinght (at least that's what others believed). He smiled gleefully and headed towards the throne room, looking glad and as formal as he usually looked during attending the throne room.
"I'm here, my Princess." Crius greeted her as always, as he stood beside her throne.
Nightmare Moon smiled at the sight of him. :-: "Anything to report Captain?" she asked formally, though it was more out of playfulness than actually being serious, since there was currently no one in the room with them.
"No, my Princess." Crius smiled back at her and reassured "... there's nothing important to report today."
"Good to hear," she nodded, then dropped the act and asked with a smirk, "Did you sleep well last night?"
Crius gave a nod at this and passed her a knowing smile in response and dropped his act as well. "I did... did you, my beloved Moon?"
"Mmm... I did. It was quite lovely," she answered with a nod. "You were... amazing as always."
Crius blushed a little at this compliment before he passed her a smile. "I... I try, my beloved," he then added. "...a glorious mare like you deserves the best after all..."
Nightmare Moon blushed in embarrassment. "I'm not that glorious, Crius. I didn't even take the throne fairly."
Crius was silent for the moment as she said this before he gave a reply. "My love, why... do you always blame yourself for that fateful event..."
"Because I am to blame," she stated bluntly. "I made a rash decision that could have been averted. And it... It cost more than it was worth..."
Crius, as thankfully there was no pony at the court that moment, turned himself towards her and passed his hand through her mane.
"It might be true, but your sister wasn't free of blame, my love... so you wasn't alone to blame... no one would have done any better in that situation... and even so, I realize that I can't justify this... but as your loyal servant and even more, myself, my heart, and my love only belongs to you..." he tenderly brushed his hand over her cheek "I live for you, my love... I won't dare to think to otherwise..."
Nightmare couldn't help but smile at him then.
"You certainly know how to cheer me up," she told him with a smile.
"I try my best," Crius said and passed her a smile of reassurance.
Nightmare smiled wider, but then suddenly something streamed into the room and into her face that they didn't see often unless scheduled to help crops grow; sunlight. A beam of it hit her face and she gave a kind of his while using one of her wings to shield her face. :-: "What?! I didn't raise the sun yet!" She hissed; she really didn't like the daytime too much, mostly because she was the alicorn version of a thestral.
Crius got a worried look at this, as he somehow realized that something was definitely wrong. He brought himself in front of her to block the ray of sunshine coming at her face and asked with concern. "My Princess, how's this possible?"
"It shouldn't be," Nightmare explained. "Unless..." She suddenly looked scared and told him, "Call the guards! She's back!"
But no sooner had she spoken than an explosion sounded outside the palace and one of their pony guards (Crius remembered her as Rainbow Dash) rushed inside with a frightened expression.
"Your Majesty!" She shouted. "Some crazy fiery alicorn lady is blasting through my warriors! She's coming for you!"
"What?" Crius asked as his concern changed to a look of realization as he ordered Rainbow Dash. "Try to stop her, however long your fighters can, I'm coming," he said and looked towards Moon once again with a expression of determination. "My Princess, no pony will lay a hoof on you as long as I'm living..."
"No," Nightmare suddenly said firmly. "You won't stop her. Not as you are. I need you to do something for me, Crius."
"But..." Crius sighed before passing her a nod. "Tell me what I need to do."
"In my chambers, there's a secret tunnel underneath my bed. Inside... Are the keys to ending my reign," she explained. "But they're also what you need to stop my sister. But they don't always work on their own. It requires at least six creatures to activate... Or one who possesses all six qualities needed to activate them."
Crius was silent for a very brief moment before he gave an expression which seemed both a little hesitant and somewhat unsure.
"So, what do I do when I find them...?" Crius asked, his tears threatening to escape his eyes "Do you believe, I alone would be able to use them?"
"I hope so, Crius. I hope so," Nightmare said. Just then, another explosion rocked the place and they heard maniacal laughter.
"Where are you, Lulu?!" It taunted in an insane sounding voice, almost laughing. Nightmare gritted her teeth, then looked to Crius. "Go, quickly. I can hold her off long enough for you to get into the vault. It's me she wants, so she won't follow."
"But... but what about you...?" Crius asked still hesitant a little to leave her alone to fight with the maniac alicorn.
"I'll be fine. Now go, while you have time!" She insisted.
Crius gave a hesitant nod at this before giving her a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back as soon as possible, my love," then he turned around and rushed outside the throne room, and headed towards her chambers.
Inside the chambers, he now noticed something with the daylight shining in that he hadn't noticed before: a hatch under the bed. Then he slowly moved the bed aside so he could see that hatch even more clearly. Sure enough, there was the tunnel Moon told him about, and now he just had to find those artifacts which he needed to stop maniac alicorn.
Then without wasting any time, he went inside the tunnel and started to look for those artifacts. The tunnel led onwards for several yards, then stopped at a pedestal where a locked chest stood with a key next to it. The chest was pulsating slightly as he approached, as if beckoning him to approach.
"That must be it," Crius said as he approached near, and grabbed the chest before opening this to look inside. Suddenly, six colored gems floated out of the chest and floated about him, pulsating brightly. He was seemingly confused at this, not sure if these artifact were supposed to do this, but he had no time to lose at all, and he had to reach back to Moon. Then suddenly an explosion rocked the tunnel and some debris fell around him too.
"Moon!" Crius shouted and instantly rushed outside the cave and towards the throne room, not caring for anything else now. It was then when he noticed that the six artifacts were still revolving around him pulsating brightly, but right now his mind was only focused on one thing.
"I'm coming, my love."
Rushing into the throne room, he saw Nightmare in a tense magic battle with a white alicorn with red armor and crazed orange cat eyes. Her mane and tail were made of fire, and she seemed to have the upper hand in the fight, as confirmed by Nightmare being knocked to the floor by her magic blast.
"Moon!" Crius shouted her name once again as he ran towards her and knelt beside her to confirm her safety, while the artifacts were still revolving around him. Then he gazed upon the fiery alicorn and warned. "Stay away from her!"
The white alicorn gave a crazed laugh and looked to him. "Stay out of this, child. This is between family."
"Or what?" Crius asked, charging his magic as his eyes began to glow with a bright light.
The alicorn laughed. "You think those tiny trinkets can hurt me! I'm Daybreaker. The might of the sun is at my beck and call! You can't stop me!"
Nightmare managed to recover and looked weakly at Crius, pleading him to leave.
"She's too... Powerful... You can't take her alone..."
"I have the artifacts and my magic," Crius said in reassurance. "I am at least enough strong to protect you, and," he said and gave Daybreaker a furious look standing straight in front of her, and charged his fists as artifacts pulsate even more brightly. "...even if I've to die like this, I have no remorse... at least I'll be dying for my love."
"Love?" Daybreaker laughed again. "Then I'll be taking my revenge in a far sweeter fashion!"
She then fired a beam at him at full force. Crius charged his magic as we to shoot his own magical beam at him, hoping for the artifacts to make his magic strong enough to fight her. Their beams collided midway, neither seemed to get an upper hand on each other, and so their beams ended after a moment. Daybreaker smirked and started to put more effort into her next attack... But before she could do much more to increase her power, Nightmare flew up and tackled her to the ground.
"Crius, take the shot now!" She shouted, firing a beam just in time to block one Daybreaker fired.
"What?!" Crius asked in shock as his ceased charging the magic for the moment. "No! You'll be hit as well!"
"You have to! It's the only way!" Nightmare pleaded.
"No! You will not banish me again!" Daybreaker shouted.
"I'm not banishing you; I'm restoring you," Nightmare told her, then to her lover, "Take the shot."
Crius almost as if holding back a sob, hesitantly obliged to her shedding tears to no end as he did so. Soon, a collective magical beam from all the artifacts was shot towards the two alicorns in front of him. The beam surrounded them both and Daybreaker gave a scream of rage.
"No!!" She yelled, while Nightmare looked over at Crius as the light started to become blinding.
"Goodbye... my love," Nightmare said to him, smiling as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Don't forget me..."
The light then became too blinding to see and a burst of energy rocked the palace. Crius gave a nod to her as he closed his eyes and tears began to flow even rapidly at this, and he couldn't help but gave an audible cry. "Moon, my love... I'm sorry..."
The entire room filled with light and then it abruptly ended. When he could see again, two completely different alicorns were lying on the floor before him. While roughly the same colors, they clearly were different, especially since the white one now had a rainbow colored mane and tail, while what used to be Nightmare no longer looked like a thestral. They looked about in confusion and rubbed their heads.
"Where are we?" The white one asked aloud.
"Sister?" Luna asked as she came to her senses fully.
"Luna?" The white alicorn asked in surprise. "Is it really you?"
"Yes," Luna gave a nod at this in and assured that she was really herself. "It's me, Tia." She replied before looking upon the creature who was standing in front of them looking at them with an broken-hearted expression, tears still falling from his eyes as he was just staring at them, especially Luna without uttering any words.
"Are you the one who saved us?" "Tia" asked him.
"You... you can say that," he replied while looking at Luna fully once again, before breaking the eye-contact with her and gesturing towards the emblem (which was the cutie-mark of Nightmare Moon) on the chest plate of his armor. "For me, I was just obeying the commands of my Princess..."
Luna didn't say anything at this, though it seemed she understood the sorrow behind his words. Tia looked over at the emblem, then to Luna, then back to him.
"Luna," she finally spoke without taking her eyes off Crius. "What does he mean?"
Luna took a sigh as she began to explain as much as she could. "Crius was... Captian of the Nightmare Moon's Royal Guards... as well as-"
"It doesn't concern you whatever I was to her highness..." Crius bitterly said before he removed his armor aside from his chest plate. "It's your Palace now, may your kingdom prevail... I will be on my own way..."
Crius went outside the throne room, holding back his tears and his sobs as he did so, leaving both sisters to themselves. The two sisters looked after him, then Tia sighed.
"It seems we have much to think about... and to set right," she remarked.
Luna gave a nod at this. "Yes sister," she agreed before sighing herself once again "Poor Crius," she said in sympathy. "It must be really... I don't even have the words to describe how he must be feeling right now..."
"Well... I wish there was a way to help him nonetheless," Tia said.
Luna gave a nod in agreement. "I wish for this too..." she said, even though she never wanted to turn into Nightmare Moon ever again, but still she really wants to help that poor creature.
"Let me out!" a voice suddenly called in Luna's mind. "I can't stand it! He needs to know I'm still alive!"
Luna was surprised to suddenly heard this voice in her mind. "Who are you?" She said looking around as if to make sure she was hearing the voice in her head, vaguely recognizing the voice.
"Luna, who are you talking to?" Tia asked her.
"You know who I am, or are you so quick to forget?" the voice declared.
Luna's eyes widened at the realization as she recognized this voice clearly now. "Nightmare Moon," she said slightly looking at her sister "But how... how could you be...?"
"I'm a part of you, brought to life by your darker desires, in case you have forgotten!" the voice of Nightmare stated, then in a softer tone, "Though... after what you may have seen me do in your absence... I guess I'm not even that anymore."
Luna pondered over her words for the moment before she managed to ask another question. "Then what are you now?" She asked, this time her tone was much softer than before as she spoke.
"Luna?" Tia asked. "What is she saying?"
"I don't know anymore... but I know that I'm not what I was when I took control the first time." Nightmare said. "And I will not become her again. All that matters to me now is him..."
"Him?" Luna realized that who she was talking about. "You mean... Crius?" She said thoughtfully and then looked to her sister. "She wants to be free and... reunite with Crius again... She even said that she's not what she used to be anymore..."
"Luna, it could be a trick," Tia warned. "You know what she did to us both..."
"I know..." Luna said with a nod. "But... she seems to sound sincere... I mean she really wasn't like that when she first took over my being..." she than paused for a brief second. "...she seemed changed..."
"Then you truly think that this... Crius had to do with it?" Tia asked.
"Luna... let me speak to her... through you," Nightmare pleaded. Luna really didn't wanna lose herself to the monster once again she was just redeemed from, but something within her reassured her that she could trust her at least for the sake of helping a sad soul, they had witnessed.
"Okay... you may talk to my sister..."
A slight mist came over Luna then, but the only change that came over her were her eyes reverting to Nightmare Moon's eyes. She gave Luna's sister a sincere look and then spoke.
"Celestia, I admit I have done some horrible things to you and your sister. I took over her body, banished you, ruled with absolute control... there's no excuse for what I did. But I don't care about ruling Equestria or getting revenge anymore. All I care about now is Crius. Please... I just want to be able to see him again, hold him... love him..."
Luna, as she heard Nightmare Moon saying this, her eyes began to shed tears on their own as she was able to feel the the truth and sorrow behind her words. Celestia was taken aback by all this, and seeing that Luna was crying a little told her how sincere these words were.
"I... I don't know what to say," she managed. " I'm... truly sorry, Nightmare Moon."
"I am too, but I don't know what to do now," Nightmare said. "I want to see him again... But it would mean only one of us can remain."
Upon hearing this, Celestia got an odd look. "Maybe both of you can still exist... "
"Nightmare, there's one way though," Luna's voice was heard to Nightmare.
"There is? What?" Nightmare sounded hopeful.
"Yes, but it's risky and requires the consent of both parties," Celestia told her.
"Anything. I'll do anything to be with Crius again," Nightmare replied.
"It's a soul separation spell..." Luna explained to her. "It will separate us from each other as two different beings..."
"But what's the cost?" Nightmare asked her.
"It's not safe, and there's a chance that you'd be destroyed instead of being separate from myself..." Luna told her sincerely.
Nightmare went silent for a long while, weighing the options. After a long while, she said, "I'll take it. I accept the risks."
Her eyes reverted back to Luna's eyes as she had her control again, while Celestia looked to her sister. "Lulu... Are you going to take the risk too?"
It didn't take Luna much time to give her reply and after few seconds she managed to say.
"Yes, sister," Luna gave a nod at this. "You have my consent as well..."
"Then... Hold still please..." Celestia told her, then aimed her horn at Luna, and fired a beam into her. An agonizing pain rippled through them as a result and both alicorns in the same body gave a scream. At first, it was synchronized, but then separate as a bright light engulfed them... And they could hear Nightmare gasping besides Luna, fully visible and functional as if she had possessed Luna again... Only Luna was standing beside her.
Luna was still gasping as her pain slowly subsided and she looked towards Nightmare, feeling a relief that spell was successful.
"I... I'm... me..." Nightmare said in disbelief, then laughed joyfully. "I'm my own pony now!"
Luna couldn't help but gave a smile at this as well, despite how much pain she had caused her in the past.
"It's... good, for you..." Luna said to her, rubbing her hoof on her head before her horn glowed slightly, not in a threatening way, but only as a warning, followed by the same action by her sister as well. "...so I hope you don't try something."
Nightmare gave a shrug at this and nodded, then remembered.
"Crius! I have to find him!" She exclaimed, then realizing it was still day she looked to Celestia. "Uh... You think you can lower the sun for me please? I don't do well in the daytime."
Celestia gave a small giggle and then with a glow of her horn the sun set. Nightmare gave a quick thanks and stopping long enough to pick up Crius's discarded armor, she dashed out of the palace. Luna gave another smile at this, hoping that she may be able to find him soon.
"Well... I hope they'll stay happy together," Celestia remarked, then looked at the room and snorted. "She could've at least kept the windows the same... They were so pretty..."
Crius was sitting at the bank of the river, in the rather less darker portion of the Everfree Forest, looking really sad and heartbroken as he caressed his hand on the emblem of his chest plate while the images of his time in Palace with his adoptive family and especially her beloved Princess flash in front of his eyes. It was then when he noticed that sun was set and his surroundings started to get darker. A smile crossed his face almost reflexively as he noticed the night sky.
Then uncontrollably tears started to fall from his eyes and he began to cry, while clenching the chest plate in an embrace as his life depended on it.
"I wish, I could see you once again, my love," he sobbed. "Even if for one last time..."
"Crius!" He suddenly heard her voice calling out. "Crius! Where are you?!"
"M- Moon?" Crius raised his head almost not believing what he just heard, but his heart told him that she was indeed calling his name. A huge smile crossed his face, and almost instantly replied to her calls. "Moon! I'm here! Where are you?"
"Up here!" He heard her call and then he saw her image flying above him before coming in for a landing in front of him, the moonlight gleaming off her. It seemed impossible to him, and yet here she was standing as plain as day in front of her.
"Moon," Crius said as he came closer to her, hesitantly but surely surprised with joy to no end at seeing her standing in front of him. "Is it... really you?" He asked and, as if to confirm that she was real, he caressed his hand over her cheek as he was broken to tears, but this time they were the tears of joy. "Tell me, I'm not dreaming..."
"It's not a dream... It's really me, my love," she assured him, then she stood on her hind legs and hugged him tightly, nuzzling him affectionately while silent, yet happy tears flowed down her cheeks.
Crius let out some sobs as returned the hug and nuzzled her back as he began to stroke her mane once again and a feeling of utter comfort and relief went across his soul. "Moon... I thought, I lost you forever..." he sobbed as tears flowed down to his cheeks as well. "I... I thought... I would... never be able to see you again, my love..."
"As did I..." She agreed, then added, " But I managed to make an arrangement with the two Princesses... They separated me from Luna, so I'm now my own being. "
"So... you're yourself now," Crius said to her passing her a smile "So... they won't be coming after you anymore..." Crius asked her, now he had ceased to sob and was caressing her cheek affectionately as he nuzzled her.
"No more... Although, this probably means I won't be in charge anymore," she told him, then showed him his discarded armor piece he had left behind and that she had been floating in her aura for a while now. "I could still use a guard, however," she teased.
Crius smile widened as he passed her a nod at this. "Of course, my Princess," he replied sounding playfully formal now, and a tearful smile can be seen on his face. "I'd be honored..."
Nightmare smiled widely at him, then unable to keep back, she kissed him passionately where they stood. He returned her the kiss at instantly with equal passion as well as using his hands to stroke her and caressing her coat both tenderly and passionately.
"Love you so much, my beloved... please never leave me again..."
"Never," she answered, for once not concerned about his mortality as she sighed aloud. She was focused entirely on the present, and not letting anything interrupt it. Crius smiled against her as before he deepened the kiss and gently clenched himself even closer to her adoring and feeling absolutely comfortable in her warm embrace, while going slightly further with his affections and began massage his hand all over her back while caressing in a circular manner at her sensitive spot between her wings.
It feels like I'm in heaven.
Nightmare gave a moan against him, then pulled out of the kids to say, "Before this goes... far, is there anywhere you know we could go to?"
Crius gave a slight blush at this as he seemed slightly lost here. "I honestly have no idea," Crius said looking a little bit embarrassed.
"Uh... Maybe I can help?" a voice spoke up and they turned to see Evening Shadow, Crius's adoptive parent, looking at them with a smile. "And I just say, you look cute together."
"Uh... Thanks," Nightmare blushed.
"I... yeah, thanks mother..." Crius said sheepishly. "It's nice to see you again..."
"Nice to see you too, son," the thestral nodded, then she aid, "Not far from here are some caves my thestral friends occupy. One of them is unoccupied and you may stay there until you can find a permanent lodging. I can take you there if you want, but it requires a bit of a flight."
"I guess that'd work..." Crius gave a blush at this as he looked at his beloved Moon.
"Thank you, Evening Shadow," Nightmare nodded.
"My pleasure, Princess," the thestral replied, then spread her wings. "Shall we be off?"
Nightmare gave Crius a smirk as her own wings spread out and she lowered herself to the ground a bit. "Hop on," she said.
"Hmm, alright beloved," Crius felt slightly awkward at this, before he passed her a nod and climbed on her back, resting his hands on her withers. "I hope... I'm not too heavy, my dear..."
"Not at all," she assured him, and to prove her point she lifted up into the sky easily as Evening Shadow did the same, then took a steady flight towards the east.