//------------------------------//
// The Fight of the Past 
// Story: The Hunters of Secrets 
// by Arkantos 
//------------------------------//

When they returned to the waking world, the Werepony said, "Well, shall we begin? And before you get too confident in your abilities, remember that I am the pack leader." Eclipse continued, her eyes turning dark red and her face adopting a crazed expression. "I planned several blood baths, destroyed countless villages, and gave my Wereponies the victories that they wanted. When I am there, they win." The pack leader flashed Luna with a crazy, fang-filled smile. "You want to know who I am!? I'm the one who eats the ponies! The one who takes baths in their bloody remains! I am the course of nature!" Suddenly, she went quiet. Then, in an even more monstrous voice, she said,  “I'm more curious than ever how alicorn blood would feel on my body…and you have so much magical power…" Suddenly, without warning, Eclipse charged at Luna, claws out.

As the pack leader ran at Luna with every intention of killing her, Luna slashed her sword at the Werepony aiming to slice her neck down all the way down to her side. Luna turned around and sliced her sword again to cut the pack leader’s face. However, Eclipse dashed to a nearby tree, kicked off of it, then pounced on Luna again. Thinking quickly, the dark blue Alicorn used her rear legs to kick Eclipse up into the tree, simultaneously firing a time spell, and then charged right at the Werepony, slashing at her several times in several different areas. The Werepony continued to fall upwards. But before the Princess of the Night could deliver the final blow, the time spell broke apart and Eclipse jumped out of the way, landing on a tree trunk. She quickly jumped from one tree to the next, avoiding Luna’s magical blue sword.

Luna threw her sword at the monster and missed. She pursued Eclipse by flying at her and firing lightning spells in her direction. Most of them missed, but every now and then, one or two would find their target. Some of the trees caught fire. The treetops blazed and fell to the ground. While jumping from one tree to the next, Eclipse whistled. Suddenly, Wereponys began to climb the trees and attack Luna. The first, she dodged. The next, she killed with her sword. Then, five of them piled on her and dug into her back with their claws. With a roar of agony, she sent a pulse of lightning through the forest and raised her magical shield for protection. 

Luna painfully yelled out, “Do you think that this will save you, Eclipse? Oh, no, it will not! It will only add more wood to the fire that you have created! Sooner or later, you will join them!”

Back near the cave entrance, Eclipse yanked three rusty swords out of her back and started to make her way toward Luna.

As she neared the place she recalled Luna last being, she suddenly felt a powerful magic, and she began to think that maybe she underestimated her opponent. 

Suddenly, a shockwave of ice magic caused Eclipse to lose one of her rusted swords. As she looked to where the shockwave came from, she saw that the Wereponies that had piled on Luna’s magical shield had turned into blocks of ice. The frozen Wereponies fell to the ground and shattered. Some of them survived the fall while others cracked and split apart like ice shards. Eclipse, brandishing her two swords, stabbed Luna in the back. Both then  tumbled downhill and into a clearing.  Eclipse then jumped off of Luna and landed on all fours. Luna, wincing a bit with pain, flapped her wings and hovered over the ground. Then, using her magic, Luna pulled the swords out of her back, narrowed her eyes, and said, “That was a dirty trick. Where is your honor?”

“Dirty trick, she says. Well, that depends on your definition of honor. Nothing really matters to you because you can fly and use magic. I will use any advantage I can get.”

“Then you purposely sent your pack up there to get killed?”

“I needed a distraction and time. Having several Wereponies pounce on you is a very good distraction." Eclipse pointed one of her rusty swords at Luna and continued. "Now, prepare to die.” 

Eclipse pounced on Luna again, hoping that the wounds she had received would be enough to end her.

Suddenly, Luna spun around and kicked the monster in the face before spinning around again and slashing at her opponent several times. Then, she cast a spell and kicked the frozen Eclipse back to the cave,  galloping in after her.

When the dark blue Alicorn entered the monster’s den, the ice had already shattered against a rock near the mouth of the cave. The Pack leader was a mess, with several slashes and cuts, three of her four legs broken, the ends of several bones poking through her fur, and a mouth full of blood. Eclipse tried desperately to make her way into the cave, but with little luck.

With sword pointed at Eclipse, Luna approached the pack leader slowly, watching her blood squirting from her body.  With fear in her eyes, Eclipse asked, "Why did you do this?"

Luna answered, "To end the pain and suffering you have caused. That is one motivation. But truthfully, my reason for doing this? It is to give my sister the peace she so desperately wants."

Luna was going to end it here and now, but all a sudden she felt lightheaded, like she had lost a good amount of blood. She looked down and saw her own blood pooling on the ground. It was spilling out of her coat; Luna took in the sight of her side and her hoof where she saw claw marks.. Then she heard the pack leader laughing at her.

"Even if you kill me,” Eclipse choked out through her bloody grin, “there will be others to take my title of pack leader. You have accomplished nothing. But who is going to fill your roll as Princess of the Night-" 

Luna stabbed the Werepony in her head right then, despite the injuries she had been dealt by the pack leader. Eclipse yelled, "NO!" before she went limp. Then, she evaporated into a pile of red sand as quickly as a river flow evaporates into the wind. 

Knowing that she did it, she liberated the ponies in the nearby towns, Luna rose up and said, "Justice has been served today, and all the innocent blood you spilled will be remembered!"

But it wasn't over. Dozens of red eyes glared out at the Princess of the Night and some of the Wereponies began to approach, menacingly. 'This is it, I'm going to die right here.' Luna thought in fear. ’Please forgive me, sister.'





Present day, near the end of the Wonderbolts’ performance.

The Wonderbolts’ performance was going very well. Several of the Wonderbolts did impressive aerobatics and the audience kept erupting with cheers, which the Wonderbolts could hear as they landed on clouds to take breathers and listen to their captain’s final remarks before the end of the show.

Spitfire had just landed on her cloud. "Alright, it looks like they are enjoying the show. Now, I know you are all tired, but we must finish this performance." The captain of the Wonderbolts’ voice held a little anger in it as she continued, "We’re going to really give those stupid nobles something to cheer at." She waited a second for her temper to go down before concluding. "It's almost time; does anypony have anything else to say up here?" The other Wonderbolts remained silent for a few seconds before Spitfire spoke again. "The air is open for any question or comment you may have."

A couple more seconds of silence passed before a monstrous voice thundered "Actually, since you asked, I do have a question." The yellow pegasus turned around to look for the source of the voice, beginning with her Wonderbolts. ”However,” the mysterious voice continued, “It’s more of a question for you than it is for me. My question is: how do you feel about really ending this show with a bang?"

Spitfire did not find or recognize the voice at all. When several black shadows zoomed up above the cloud line, Spitfire turned around just in time to see then, and her eyes widened as she yelled, "What the-!?"

Back down on the ground was a stadium full of patiently waiting ponies who had just started noticing the delay and were wondering what was taking the Wonderbolts so long to finish the performance.

At the royal benches, Celestia also noticed the delay. At first, she thought the Wonderbolts were trying to surprise her by coming out behind her. But if that was their plan, they would have done it already. No, this is something else. Fearing the worst, Celestia announced in her Canterlot voice, ”Citizens of Equestria, the remainder of the Wonderbolts’ performance is canceled. Go back to your homes. I'll see if I can get them to arrange to do another performance.”

Many ponies in the crowd were very disappointed by the Princess of the Sun’s sudden announcement, but they did as she asked and began to file out of the stadium. The pegasuses flew out over the stands, the unicorns and earth ponies used the stadium exits. 

The stadium was about half empty when Celestia heard an unnatural sound. Turning to the source of the sound, she saw a shadow portal open and, nearby, the one who opened it. He was a dark blue stallion with a curved horn just like King Sombra’s horn. But before Celestia could ask the stallion to stop or even ask what his name was, the unicorn walked into the portal and it closed behind him. Celestia decided to look into that later. Current circumstances required her to be focused on the here and now.

Drops of blood were falling down upon the stadium; one drop fell on Celestia’s nose. She looked up to see if she could catch any sign of the Wonderbolts. And she did find one; or rather, part of one. Spitfire’s head plummeted to the ground, making a loud splat noise upon impact.

The ponies who had yet to leave the stadium saw the head fall to the ground, and they immediately panicked, pushing frantically toward the exits. 

Celestia, however, sat still and gave the killer her death glare. She glared daggers at the monster who ruined the Wonderbolts’ performance. He looked just the way Luna told her he would. A pony-like creature but with black fur for a coat, horrible red eyes, white fangs, and a deep hunger for blood.

“Hold on,” The Princess of the Sun growled. “She didn't mention that they could fly. Well, I guess she never saw any one of them with wings."

The Werepony spoke then. "Oh, bringer of the sun, we come in all shapes and sizes. But what brings us here now is the fact that, lately, your ponies have been spreading out too far; they have brought imbalance to nature. And in order to correct this, you must die!" He made a quick dive bomb at Celestia, desiring to make her into a midnight meal.