//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: My Little Pony: Infinite Night [ENG] // by Claud Melchior //------------------------------// A teleport has never taken so long for Twilight. And when she finally arrived, she immediately felt like her lungs were going to explode. Everything about her body started to ache and burn, but she could still hold her breath. Twilight fell to the ground in pain. But after endless, painful seconds, the pressure eased and the pain faded slowly. Only then did she realize how boiling hot it is and also how it quickly became cooler. After a minute, the temperature was normal and she was able to breathe normally. Only then did she dare to open her eyes. It was pitch dark so Twilight made light with her horn. They were in a small room of red rock and there was a seemingly arcane symbol engraved on the floor. She noticed Spike next to her, who was just as bad of like her. Only Nightmare Moon stood with her back to the duo and used her magic. Twilight noticed that she was shaking. Once she completed her spell, Nightmare Moon collapsed, breathing heavily. Twilight responded immediately and gave her some of her energy. "Thanks, Twilight. Give Spike a bit, too." Twilight did so immediately, and now that Spike felt visibly better, Twilight could focus on something else. "Master, where are we?" "Not in Pony land. Is that accurate enough for you?" She heard "No, where exactly are we?" "On a world our ancestors called the red world. It's somewhere between the pony world and the sun," Nightmare Moon explained, "I really hope this has a good reason!" Spike noticed half dazed behind them. "Oh yes, little dragon, it has!" Without further explanation, Nightmare Moon used her magic to open a secret door that revealed a narrow tunnel and walked through it, followed by Twilight and Spike. Suddenly, Twilight stepped on something metallic. She picked it up and saw a small gold bracelet in the dim light of her horn. Looking at it, she noticed Celestia's cutie mark. "Must have been Celestia's. Take if you want." Nightmare Moon shrugged and kept walking. At the end of the corridor they stood in front of a stone door. "If it's not too bright, you'll get a view that normal ponies could never even dream of." Nightmare Moon opened the door expectantly, the trio was blended by glaring light. But despite the light, Twilight was the first to step out of the corridor and saw behind a glass wall down from a mountain, a desert of red sand and rocks,without plants, animals, or life. Twilight has never seen such a lifeless place, but the sky fascinated her even more. There was none. She looked straight into the emptiness of the stars, a sight that wouldn’t let her go. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Nightmare Moon commented next to her. Twilight nodded, "But unfortunately, even such a sight can get boring after 1000 years." "Is that the pony world up there?" Twilight asked in astonishment, pointing in the starry sky, "Yes, that's it." said Nightmare Moon. "I thought it was eternal night everywhere! But the other side is brightly lit!" noted Spike. "It can not be night everywhere." Nightmare Moon explained. "When I created the eternal night, I didn't realize that. The moon stays on one side and the sun on the other. And that's the result. The north and south melted, while the west froze and the east burned. Do you want an advice? Be careful what you wish for!" Twilight wanted to say something, but Nightmare Moon turned away and headed for the next tunnel. Twilight and Spike followed her again through what seemed to be an identical corridor as the previous one and ended up in front of a massive stone gate. "Are you ready?" Nightmare Moon asked softly, the duo realizing that she did not want to be here. "Whatever is behind this gate, we'll ready for it!" Twilight replied firmly. Nightmare Moon looked at her expectantly. "We’ll see about that!" Then she used her magic and the gate moved slowly to the side. Curiously, Twilight and Spike looked through and saw a hall whose walls were marked with strange symbols. On both sides were even, dark pits, which created a straight path to the end of the hall. There, Twilight and Spike saw a pedestal with a pony-sized goblet of stone. "Everything for that?" Spike did not mean to insult with his question, but Nightmare Moon's gaze told a different story. "ENOUGH!!!" She threw Spike with her magic into the next pit, Twilight got a shock but then wondered about the sound of bones from the pit, she hurried to the pit and saw Spike lying one meter down, unharmed in a pile of pony bones! When Spike first noticed Twilight's shocked look and then realized the bones, he began to scream. Nightmare Moon lifted him with her magic from the pit. "QUIET!!!" Spike fell silent immediately, "Spike, I do not want to hear any stupid comments anymore, let alone about things that deserve far more respect than you can possibly show! Was that clear?" Nightmare Moon's fury left Spike no choice but to nod silently. Satisfied enough with the answer, She carefully placed him on the ground and they walked together to the goblet. The goblet itself was apparently made of clay and as red as the rest of the room. When the trio stood around the goblet, they saw in it a clear, green liquid. "What is that, Master?" Twilight was a little frightened of the answer as Nightmare Moon took a deep breath, "The reason for my eternal life!" Twilight and Spike did not see this hammer coming. "Eternal life?!? What?!?" Twilight did not believe her ears." “Yes, Twilight, Spike, what you see here is nectar, the potion of immortality, destined only for Alicorns, so that their rule never ends." Silence settled over the hall as Twilight and Spike processed what they just learned. "Why only for Alicorns? Could not everyone live forever with this potion?" Asked Spike. "Interestingly not, you live long and healthy but not eternal, this only happens with an Alicorn, and after all those thousands of years, there are only two ponies left. Me and Celestia. And we were the only ones who, to my knowledge, drank it." "Only you and Celestia drank it? Why not others?" "Righteous question, my student, because if you think for more than a second about the consequences, such as the impossibility of a normal love, the imprisonment in obligations and the unimaginable demise of everyone you once knew, it does not sound so great anymore. We should always be there for the ponies as their protectors and leaders and so little Celestia and little Luna were brought here and drank this stuff because mom and dad wanted it that way and then we learned that we had to do that because our parents were too cowardly for it!" "Wow, that certainly was not easy." Spike received a nod of approval from Nightmare Moon, "I would prefer if we go back now, this place brings too many unpleasant memories." said Nightmare Moon suddenly. The duo nodded in agreement and they silently made their way to the first chamber. As they passed the bones, Twilight could not help but asking. "Master? What's the matter with those bones?" Nightmare Moon stopped. "Do you really want to know that?" Nightmare Moon asked with a tortured look, the look almost stopping Twilight, but her curiosity won and she nodded slowly, "During the ritual, the priests thought it would mean balance to take life for giving life." "I don’t feel well." Came only from Spike but he could still keep his gems in. "Unfortunately, the only thing this accomplished were nightmares for me and Celestia ... little Nightmare Moon with nightmares, ironic isn't it?" "I've never read anything about such pony sacrifices. How long ago was it? "Asked Twilight still in shock. Nightmare Moon thought hard, "I don’t know. There wasn't a calendar back then. I don’t even know how old I am. Come on now! I don’t want to stay here any longer!" Nightmare Moon went on, unaware of the mind bomb she'd just dropped. Twilight and Spike stood shocked and tried to understand it. Older than their calendar?!? "Come on!" Nightmare Moon called. They followed her to the first room. There, Nightmare Moon used her magic and a few seconds later they were back in the throne room of the palace. "I'll go to my room with Spike. That was a lot!" "And that’s going to be a lot more!" replied the queen. "Twilight, I dare to guess that under Celestia you will suffer the same fate if you're not careful." Twilight frowned. "But that's quite a guess! Why should she do that to me?" "You are her student, an alicorn and naive. Reason enough to give you obligations. For example, paperwork, diplomatic relations or even wars. And with the nectar you will be able to pursue your tasks forever as you have learned. If you really return to her, I advise you to be careful. Unless you want to be like us." "And what are you going to do now?" Twilight asked defiantly. "Nothing! I gave you the scroll to choose! Above all, think about if Celestia was really there for you." Nightmare Moon hugged Twilight, "Because i'm here for you! I've never thanked you for helping me to find the inner peace, that I never thought i had in me, and for me, Twilight, you are never less than the princess you really are."