//------------------------------// // A Dark Voice On The Air // Story: Luna's Fight For Canterlot. // by chazzergamer //------------------------------// The Canterlot wedding is not what most people would call the perfect wedding. The Changeling invasion was tough on the whole of Canterlot, but with the help of the main six, Princess Celestia and the happy couple themselves, everypony managed to fight the evil Changelings and their dreaded Queen: Queen Chrysalis. But what of Princess Luna, the Mare of the Night? Some joke that she was sleeping but actually, she was having an adventure of her own and if not for her efforts, the Changelings could have had a second chance on that fateful wedding day. Atop the royal watch tower Celestia watched over her capital city, agitated by the message of warning. She found little rest. Shining Armour’s shield, which surrounded the city, did little to abate Celestia’s fear. “Rest my sister. As always, I will guard the night,” said Luna, as she stepped toward the telescope and allowed her sister to pass by blankly and seek her chambers. Luna gazed upon the sky she had created, she took extra time creating these last few nights, she wouldn’t have the wedding spoiled by a cloud filled night, so she let the stars shine and her moon crystallize in the otherwise black sky. Luna had out done herself. She admired her handiwork and allowed herself an ego boost , however she could not ignore her sister’s subtle signs of fear. “’Tia has never been one to be worried about her kingdom,” Luna said with concern. “Even when Discord returned she was confident that it would get better as long as she and her star pupil, not to mention her friends kept fighting, she knew they would win,” Luna sighed, “but this time something is amiss.” A voice in the distance hit Luna's ear like an arrow. “Luuuuna” teased the voice Luna jolted back to reality and looked to the east of her tower. “Who is that?!” she cried. The voice teased again, “over here Luna,” the voice said, followed by a menacing chuckle. Luna looked down from her balcony, “Who goes there?” To find a familiar violet mare running across the ground “Stay indoors, Twilight Sparkle,” said Luna as she saw the pony run to her temporary living quarters. Luna began to wonder what that voice was. Luna was not the kind to fear anything but the unknown made her uneasy, and more importantly, concerned for her subjects. She wanted to protect them with all her heart. Ever since she returned to her duty of caring for the night sky and being partly responsible for her kingdom, she had felt horrible guilt for her past actions as Nightmare moon and wanted to be trusted by her citizens as she once was. The voice came again like a boomerang. “You really think you can stop us?” This time Luna managed to get of more details from the voice. It was a male with a hideous echo that distorted the voice in front of it beyond what could be deciphered by pony ears, Luna had hit her limit she wanted to find out who this being was and what he wanted. She closed her eyes and let her horn glow, “If anypony is using strong magic I will be able to trace it,” she focused and filtered out the other unicorns using magic in Canterlot before she detected a strong presence outside the gates. She couldn’t, she shouldn’t. It was her duty to guard the capital no matter what, but the same urge to protect her people is what gave her the energy to fly out of the shield and onto the mountain side far from the city, where she then landed on a large circular ledge. By the time she got to the ledge, which was near the top of the mountain, it was early morning. Luna wanted to end this adventure quickly so she could return to the wedding and avoid a scolding from Celestia. “Show yourself. Or will you cower in the corners?” After a few minutes, Luna began to grow impatient and decided to use the Royal Canterlot voice, “GET OUT HERE YOU DEMENTED WHELP!!!” Her voice shook the floor and was answered. “Is it wise to follow my voice like a mouse to a trap?” questioned the voice with a deep cackle. Luna grew increasingly impatient at the voice. “Don’t mock...ME!!” she said as she stomped her hoof. “Well,” droned the voice, “if you really want to have a look...” From nowhere, locusts circled the centre of the circular ledge. They continued getting faster and larger, creating a thunderous buzz that sounded lethal, before dispersing to reveal a pitch black pony-like figure with decayed hoofs and horn, and with green hair pointed up like a crown. His cape of black torn ends covered his back. He was bigger than Luna and maybe even bigger than Celestia. Now Luna knew what she was up against, she now knew the feeling of fears’ ice cold claws. “Who...what are you?” she stuttered. She dare not blink, lest the monster make a move. The monster smiled and cackled and said, “Ironic, you know nothing about me yet I know so much about you, Princess Luna or do you prefer...Nightmare Moon!” Luna looked disgusted at the name the monster used to address her. “Nightmare Moon is dead, I live only to protect my land, my subjects and my sister. Now what are you and what do you want?!” She wanted to see who this guy really was before acting. She started to formulate a plan in case things turned ugly. “Evil never truly dies, Luna,” the monster spoke with great confidence, “you will have to face that inner evil sooner or later,”, Luna’s gaze broke from the monsters eyes. She knew he was right but didn’t want to face that dark truth. “As for me...” The monster paused before revealing his identity, “I am King Metamorphosis,: King of the Changelings and this world will soon be under my rule!” Luna managed to put the pieces together, “You’re the one who sent the threat to Canterlot.” King Metamorphosis smirked, “Well it was kind of a united effort between me, my wife-” Luna cut him off in sheer surprise. “WIFE?!?!” she asked as she pondered to herself how anypony could find this dying mostly-deceased-looking creature attractive. “My wife is within the walls of your precious city,” snarled King Metamorphosis. Luna was in disbelief as she bombarded herself with questions. How did an enemy sneak into the city with this level of security? How did they manage to get through Shining Armour’s force field? Why didn’t she or Celestia detect anything suspicious from within the city? King Metamorphosis took great joy from the frightened and confused face that Luna dawned. She then, realizing her blunder, showed a face of anger aimed toward King Metamorphosis. She wouldn’t have to wait long now. It was just a matter of letting the king talk for a few more minutes, before she struck. “I suppose there is no point in keeping the plan a secret anymore, seeing as victory is as good as ours!” countered King Metamorphosis as he walked to the edge of the ledge, and looked down upon Canterlot, as if he had taken over the city already. “My Queen Chrysalis has disguised herself as none other than the bride of the hour.” Luna gritted her teeth and growled, “Where is Cadence?” Her eyes became as sharp as daggers. The king bared his crooked grin as he walked back to his spot, in the centre of the circular ledge. “Well that was up to my wife, she can be very...imaginative.” He stared at the capital and spoken quietly but noticeably. “It is begun.” Luna witnessed the horror from behind King Metamorphosis. Tens of thousands of Changelings filled the skies, covered Shining Armour’s force field like a velvet blanket. “Wha...how?” Luna could not think straight. “An army of this size...shouldn’t exist, what can we do against such a force?” She realized what she was saying and dismissed the thought from her mind. “No, there is always a way I’m sure that my sister and the others will stop them...as for me,” she looked back to King Metamorphosis, “I need to keep this heathen away from Canterlot and if necessary...” She swallowed hard at the thought of killing a living thing, if she did, how is was she any different from Nightmare Moon? The king began to see a glint of opportunity. But he would not to attack, he knew what Luna was pondering. “You see I told you that evil never truly dies and why should it?” King Metamorphosis’ evil tongue suddenly became a seductive whisper as he walked slowly toward Luna. “You’ve been nice to your subjects, you’ve tried to amend yourself for your wrong doings but did they forgive you?” Luna broke into get a cold sweat as she knew the answer, but did not want to face it, she wanted to shout back at him but no words came out of her mouth. That allowed King Metamorphosis to ask a question that could change the course of Equestria forever. “Will you join me, Princess Luna?” Luna’s mind went blank, as if her brain could not understand what her ears were telling her. She stared and listened to what she wanted to believe were the mad ramblings of a deranged king. “I mean, it’s what you want right?” King Metamorphosis began to circle around Luna who remained motionless as she listened to his every word. The question, more a statement, which he followed, “to punish those who fear you, when the only thing you want is to be accepted.?” Luna began to see more and more truth in the Kings’ words, as she imagined herself walking through a dark alleyway in Canterlot with the looks and comments from the other ponies. “I told you to stay away from her!” “I can’t believe they would just allow her back into our society.” “Oh no it’s...it’s her again” “GO AWAY!” “YOU MONSTER!” Luna collapsed and wept quietly until she noticed the puddle created by her own tears; it felt like the suffering would go on forever. “Is this it?” Luna questioned, “Is this what my strength really is..?” “No!” Luna forced herself out of the walls of her nightmare and bucked King Metamorphosis to the other side of the ledge with her powerful back legs. The King stood up which was a challenge; that kick had cracked a few ribs. “This is not good,” King Metamorphosis thought, “even if she is weakened by the sun she is still this strong?” He had to do something as Luna stood confident, ready to strike again. He revealed insect like wings under his cape; they were bigger than a normal changeling and twice as powerful. “Let’s see if you can keep up!” The King took off far into the sky but Luna’s reactions were sharp and she was quickly on his tail. She decided to take a different approach as she veered toward the right side of the mountain. King Metamorphosis reached the top of the mountain and remained aloft as he searched his surroundings never admitting to himself that the longer he waited, the more tense he got. “Where is she?” growled the King, “where is the little-!” The King was blasted back down to the ledge, he looked up and saw Luna. “Dammit, she must have gone around the mountain and flew up from behind.” The King was embedded in the rock ledge and this gave Luna the opening she needed. Luna glowed with magic until the magic surrounding it became large and jagged, “Say goodbye!” And when the energy within was at its peak, the tip of her horn created a large shining sphere. “SELENA…SPEAR!!!!” The sphere released a flare of blinding light that shot down towards the grounded King. He could not get away. Luna flew down to the ledge to inspect what had happened. After removing a few rocks she found King Metamorphosis lying motionless in the rubble. Luna stared at the still body as thoughts of guilt dripped into her consciousness. “No,” she thought, firmly making up her mind. “If I did not do this my kingdom would be the one to pay.” She walked to the edge of the ledge, the weight of murder slowing her down, ready to take off back to Canterlot to help her people. “Peek-a-boo.” Luna’s blood turned to ice in fear, and before she knew it, she was smashed against the mountain side looking up at King Metamorphosis. He stood their tall and proud, with not so much as a scratch or bruise. “Wha-…How could you survive that?!” Luna tried not to let the fear color her voice, “I hit you with the force of a small meteorite, by all rights your body should have been blown to bits!” “Ohhh, you wanna know a dirty little secret?” chuckled the King. “Well, take a look!” Luna threw up after what she saw. King Metamorphosis’s chest became wider and started to tear. His ribs opened up like a royal gate revealing the truth hidden inside: King Metamorphosis had two black hearts. Luna could not take her eyes off of his chest, no matter how sick it made her. The smell, on its own, was bad enough to put ten rotting corpses to shame, but then she figured it out: rotting. When Luna began to inspect the hearts she noticed only one was beating, the other was shriveled and dead. “I get it now,” she thought to herself before addressing the King. “Those hearts are like lives in a video game, correct?" King Metamorphosis chuckled, “Give the little pony a prize. Whenever my heart rate goes flat my magic instinctively reactivates one of the hearts to keep me alive, I can practically reincarnate myself!” Luna began to smirk, “But only the one time and now you’re on your last life.” She stood up and met his gaze and said, “I beat you once and I can do it again… maybe even faster!” “Well, well, aren’t we getting cocky?” The King was rather relaxed despite Luna’s threat. “But I think I forgot to mention that without two hearts, I don’t need the stored magic to keep both going. Meaning…I can do this!!” King Metamorphosis punched the air and from his hoof came a green, five fingered hand, made up of powerful magic, which slammed Luna to the mountain side and crushed her into it. “Impossible.” Luna was so crushed she could barely think, “how can he get so powerful so quickly?!” She used all of the force she had to quickly push the hand back and fly up the mountain. “Now, this is more like it, make it more fun!” King Metamorphosis changed his hand back into a hoof and gave chase before readying his hoof for another blow. When Luna reached the top of the mountain she looked down for a split second to see where King was. A split second was all he needed, as the King charged his horn right through Luna’s chest. Luna wanted to fight back but that Selena cannon had taken its toll. She had had to use a lot of magic for an attack of that scale. All she wanted to do was scream, but the horn had ripped through her lung and with it her ability to shout. While Luna suffered, the King seemed to have nothing but glee as he laughed to himself. “Garbage,” he exclaimed as he tilted his head down and let the Princess off the Night, scrape off his horn before falling back down to the ledge. The force was so great it created a small crater around Luna, she tried to get up but it took all her strength merely to open her eyes. There stood the King proud and smug over her bleeding body. All the strength used to open her eyes and now she wanted nothing more than for them to close. The King forced them to stay open, he pounded his hoof on Luna’s throat and he turned her head to the left. She could just make out the top part of Canterlot, but it was not the home she remembered, it was crawling with Changelings. They ravaged the city, killing anyone who got in their way as they infected the castle and the land around it. All the power of the Princess of the Night, and all she could do was watch. King Metamorphosis, still staring right into Luna’s eyes, put his mouth to her ears, “You don’t deserve this land,” he whispered, “now watch it die.” He forced down upon Luna’s throat with all his strength, bursting it wide open. She could feel herself fading as her vision blurred and the only thing working were her thoughts. “Is this it?“ “Is this how it ends?” “I am so sorry…Tia…you had faith in me…you trusted me…and now I’ve let you down…I’ve let everyone down.” Luna’s world was turning black and she was not fighting or struggling to come back, she accepted it as if her world was black for her entire life, maybe it was? “Wait, what is that?” She could see a small, white flare. “It looks like…a spark?” The spark became a wave that swept away the darkness, as it engulfed Luna in its embrace. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised and edited by ROTAM