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// Moonlight, Devourer of Souls 
// Story: Dramatis Personae of the Pony Wars 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
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Isolated by chance and choice, Moonlight’s story is a tragic one.  Forced to kill her closest friend and banished by her sister.  Hated and feared alike, and with good reason, Moonlight is one of the most dangerous ponies alive.  To protect her homeland, she is willing to pay any price or break any taboo, even using dangerous and forbidden magic.  Even a pony’s very soul is a weapon she can wield, and she’s willing to use it even if she hates herself for it.  She’ll mourn for the dead when the living are finally safe.

“I will protect my people, even if they hate me for it.  Whatever the cost, I’ll see it paid.”





Under the shade of the great tree at the heart of Lumahina, the ruling Prince and Princess had two daughters.  First Princess Moonlight and then Princess Midnight.  As firstborn, it was expected that Moonlight would take the throne once her parents retired, and she was taught accordingly.  When she was given free time, she would explore the city, with her guard maintaining a respectful distance to preserve the illusion of freedom.  The constant monitoring and constant lectures grew on her nerves, stoking a rebellious streak in Moonlight.
After an argument one day, she ran into the city to sulk; after losing her guard she ran into a colt not much younger than herself, named Dusk.  A curious young pony, he deduced she was a princess even though she gave him a fake name.  When the guard found them, he was unsurprised and unafraid of them, and this impressed Moonlight.  Many times, when she had the chance, she would see him in the city and talk or find hidden corners of the great city to explore.  Having a friend who didn’t feel the need to kowtow and grovel around her made her feel like a normal pony.
Dusk wasn’t one to mince words and was endlessly thirsty for knowledge, nothing caught his attention quite like the great tree, and he asked many times for a chance to get close enough to touch it and explore its many layers.  Knowing her parents would never allow it, even if she did ask, so she snuck him in for a closer look.  The one place she wouldn’t dare take him was the Nexus Temple at the very core of the great tree.  Although disappointed, he agreed it wasn’t safe.  She was sneaking back out with him when Midnight found them.
While Moonlight tried to concoct some story, Dusk calmly explained why he was there and was pleased to meet Midnight.  The younger princess was amused and didn’t interfere with their fun, even joining in for a time.  A few years went by until Dusk had the opportunity to join a group of scholars on an expedition studying ancient ruins.  Although they both missed their friend, it was about this time the two sisters began their own studies into magic.
Moonlight, once proficient at ordinary magic, dove into the stranger and more arcane schools.  She found the strangest of magic, manipulation of souls, to be the most interesting among her studies.  The knowledge was so secret and dangerous that it was only because she was a Princess that she could even look at the spells involved.  The magic involved was part of the immortality spells used by the richest and most powerful in the Lumahina, and access was tightly controlled.  The most exotic and most taboo spells spoke of consuming a soul as a power source, the practice of which was considered so foul that its use was banned upon penalty of death.
While still young, Moonlight and Midnight joined the delegations going to the Conclave between the Sunbound Kingdom and the Lumahina Empire.  There, they met the Alicorn Solarflare and her younger sister Rising Dawn.  Although impressed at Solarflare’s power but disappointed in how she used it, She did not expect the mare to actually be an interesting pony.  She spent a lot of time talking about the differing magic theories with Solarflare and politics with Rising Dawn, finding them both intelligent and worthwhile conversationalists.  In following Conclaves, she found the best part of the diplomatic missions was the time she spent with the other mares.
When Dusk came back from his expedition, he was full of exciting ideas about the nature of the ruins that dotted the Empire.  He was convinced that they all dated from the same era and that somehow their end had come all at once.  Moonlight was pleased to have her friend back in her life, but his newfound obsession with long-dead civilizations confused her.  At length, he told her of a theory involving the origins of the first Alicorns, but that he couldn’t confirm any of it unless he could explore the ruins in other nations, particularly the extensive sites in the Sunbound Kingdom.  It seemed a simple enough request, so she sponsored him to come to the Conclave and make his request in person.  What she forgot that meant was that he would spend the summer very far away.
That summer was when her parents finally decided to name one of their daughters as the chosen heir so they could retire.  They choose Midnight.  In private, Moonlight demanded they explain.  It was then that she learned her rebellious streak, a willingness to bend or break the rules, and spending her free time with common-born ponies had soiled her in the eyes of her parents and the members of the immortal council.  Having always expected to inherit the throne, the decision was a blow to her confidence.  Although Midnight promised she would still have a place at her side, Moonlight knew their relationship would never be the same again.  With Dusk far away, she had no one to talk to about it; never before had she felt so isolated.
When Dusk finally returned, it helped lift her spirits, even if he did spend the first couple of weeks back talking of nothing but Solarflare.  She was glad for him and wondered if he had figured out his own feelings or not.  Still, talking with him again gave her something to think about aside from her new status.
For the next several years, Moonlight had few responsibilities.  She spent her time not spent on magic experiments touring the nation independently, as she once explored her home city.  Traveling like that, she got the chance to see the culture of the Lumahina in a way she never had before.  Seeing the ordinary pony life gave her a new perspective on what she wanted to do with herself.  The political games that she once despised were out of reach anyway.  Perhaps she could instead use her arcane knowledge to protect her homeland.
One year, before the spring Conclave, Dusk came to her to request she come along.  He needed to have her discuss something with Solarflare, but he was evasive on what it was.  Once there, he asked her to wait until he went and got Solarflare into a secluded place in the woods.  But as the hours passed, she began to worry and went after him.
She found him bleeding out on the ground and gasping for breath, a dagger wound in his chest and the bloody weapon on the dirt.  Not knowing the magic needed to heal such an injury, there was nothing she could do but cry over her fallen friend.  When he saw her above her, he tried to gasp out a warning.  Delirious from pain, it was difficult to understand him.  He choked out something about a coming calamity, that she needed to keep it a secret that she knew or the herald would destroy her.  Knowing he was dying, his last action was to beg her to take his soul and use it to become stronger.  Moonlight initially rejected the gift, but then she heard screaming and the sounds of combat coming from the Lumahina encampment.  There was be no time to get Dusk to a healer and no chance to go back for him if they had to flee from the field.
Tearfully, she accepted his last gift.  Using the taboo spells she knew, she pulled Dusk’s soul from his body and burned it within herself.  All the energy within flowed into her, enhancing her beyond the abilities of a mortal Unicorn.  Her spell complete, she flew into the air on new Alicorn wings to defend her sister and her people.
Solarflare was already attacking, pouring fire down on the Lumahina shields.  Moonlight intervened; although Solarflare was still the stronger in direct power, she was never particularly smart with how she used it.  Moonlight was able to twist the other Alicorn’s spells and disrupt her magic, attacking her in ways she could barely understand, preventing her from attacking the vastly outmatched Lumahina spellcasters.  Still distraught from taking Dusk’s soul, she found she couldn’t bring herself to kill another friend and only held Solarflare at bay until Midnight and the other Lumahinans could escape.
Once back in the capital, she was confronted by Midnight about what had happened to her.  Unsure if she could trust those around Midnight anymore, Moonlight kept the secret of her new Alicorn body.  However, it wasn’t long before the immortal council’s investigation revealed enough of the truth; Dusk was gone, Moonlight an Alicorn, and no ordinary spell could create an Alicorn.  They came to the conclusion she had stolen his soul to power her transformation.  Horrified by her actions, Midnight held her sister to trial.  When Moonlight refused to explain why she had decided what she did, she was found guilty of using forbidden magic.  Midnight’s only mercy was that she would not execute her sister and another princess of Lumahina, Moonlight was to be banished from her home.
She was escorted to the border by loyal knights, including the renowned Gleaming Shield.  On the way, she begged the knights to listen to her warning.  Something evil was coming, and they had to defend the Lumahina ponies.  Most refused to listen; she was a traitor in their eyes.  Gleaming Shield alone seemed to believe her but refused to take her side.
Now very much alone, she knew she would have to figure out what it was that Dusk had discovered.  It wasn’t hard for her to disguise herself using magic to avoid suspicion and snuck back into the Empire.  She scoured the same old ruins he had and questioned the scholars who had worked with him.  It took her months to discover what had worried him so.
The ancient civilizations had been destroyed by a catastrophe brought on by an Alicorn known only as Calamity.  Although history was silent on Calamity’s existence after the destruction, he was thought to be merely a myth, but Dusk’s extensive research indicated otherwise.  Now she believed she understood; Dusk thought Calamity was somehow returned to the world.  He must have been correct because he was killed for it.
Even knowing it might mean her death, she knew she had to warn Midnight.  On the way towards the capital, she heard about the military buildups and raids by Sunbound Kingdom soldiers on the border.  War was coming, and the Lunahima weren’t ready.  If the Sunbound came in force, they would overrun the Lunahima within weeks.
Moonlight knew she had to prevent the war, but there was no time for diplomacy.  So she turned to the Twilight Lands and a village on the edge of the Empire.  The cost would be dear, but she knew she had the will to do what needed to be done and had the spells to do it.  She began a ritual on the edge of the Dark Forest, pulling the villagers' souls out to power a dreadful spell.  At the edge of her perception, she was aware that Gleaming Shield was trying to get as many ponies out of the town as he could, but she couldn’t spare him much thought.  Her grand spell was completed, extinguishing most of the population as it turned the Twilight Lands into a nigh-un-traversable quagmire of monsters, mists, and illusions.
The price was high, but the one village's deaths on the border would keep the rest of the Empire secure.  With the war averted, for now, Moonlight turned her attention to searching for Calamity and the powers she would need to face and destroy him.  Disguised, she traveled where she needed and began to hear her name spoken of in fearful tones.  They called her something else now, no longer princess, they named her as they might a monster in the night.  Moonlight, the devourer of souls.