//------------------------------// // CH 64 Lunatic Waltz // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------// Please be dumb enough, please be dumb enough. It was almost a mantra, repeated constantly through Revealing Light’s head as her horn ached and burned. Two invisibility spells. An illusion spell of two ponies dashing off in the other direction and a sound muffling one was more than she would want to try fresh. Let alone now. Revealing Light’s jaw ached, but she could not rest it. The foul coppery taste of bloody mud and worse made her stomach want to retch, but she kept her jaw clamped tight on Ardent Shield as her tired legs somehow found the strength to keep moving. You could really use a diet. She thought as her hooves gripped the ground as hard as she could just to get the traction to drag his heavy armoured flank to safety. Her eyes glanced up over the moonlit battlefield. Most of the blighted bounded after the illusionary duplicates, every dodge, weave and defensive measure the fakes made was yet more strain on her already taxed concentration. All it would take would be the slightest of contacts and the ruse would be up. She finally dragged her wounded companion, and her own exhausted flank, behind cover. With a relieved shudder she let the illusion fail, hoping its colourful implosion looked enough like a teleportation to sell it. The relief that followed was enough to make her stumble. You're not safe yet. Now move your sorry flank. She berated herself in her best impression of the unconscious sergeant.  Even with her exhaustion, her mind still worked. It still assessed everything she saw and analysed everything that had happened on this bucked-up rescue mission. The facts were right there for anypony to see. The blighted has deliberately let the refugees get close enough to be spotted before they attacked. They deliberately hid most of their strength until it was too late. Her mind provided only one answer. They herded the refugees this way just to draw the defenders out… It was a trap, and we took the bait.  The monster’s frustrated howls rose to the sky as they bayed out their displeasure.   Revealing Light risked the quickest of glances. She trusted in her magic and skill to keep her concealed.  The largest of them brandished the legless body of the aged Commander. A challenge and a promise, a raising of a gruesome trophy in celebration. The Commander's ears twitched, her eyes fluttered open.  The horrific realisation gripped her heart with icy talons. She's still alive. No part of her wanted to see what happened next. And yet to look away felt like another betrayal, like she would be abandoning her fellow guard again.  Black boils erupted on the limbless pony’s face. Moments later, they exploded in gore. From the torn mess of flesh, a jagged cragoldile-like maw ripped itself free from her face.  Bile rose in Revealing Light’s throat as her last meal threatened to make a reappearance. She fought it back with equal parts will and fear. The last thing she needed was a scent that strong attracting their attention.  With a loud crack, dozens of spines burst from the rib cage before each snapped into the form of giant spider legs.  The new blighted rose up on its many legs. Its horrible mouth of butcher knives twisted into a feline smile. "This is going to be fun." The thing said with a chuckle that devolved into a full lunatic cackle.  Revealing Light froze. Her training suppressed her instinctual reaction. The primitive part of her brain pleaded with her to turn and gallop as hard as she could despite the fact that it would mean nothing but suicide. "We could not agree more." A very different voice said as the unadorned form of the Night Princess coalesced from the shadows.  For a dozen heartbeats, it was as if time itself had stopped. Only the steady rhythm of Revealing Light’s breathing dispelled that illusion.  Princess Luna? Hope treacherously seeped into her flesh as her limbs trembled and almost gave out from under her. Growls, snarls and a whole menagerie of feral sounds came from the blighted as they cautiously encircled the Night Princess.  With a snap, Luna's wings flared. As if prearranged, the blighted charged, surging forward with slavering bloodlust.  Luna took three steps back and dipped in a mocking bow. "We thank thee for the pleasure of your final dance." Her playful smile screamed sinister promises when paired with slit eyes that gleamed with hungry anticipation. In a pegasus fast blur of motion, she was suddenly among them. The Night Princess paused, a faint smirk on her muzzle as she waited the few heartbeats for her foes to react, and then she set to work.  Blood sprayed in great arcs through the air. Bodies were rent asunder by horn, hoof and even wing. Luna twirled and wove between her foes, utterly untouchable. Each perfect motion performed to an inaudible, inevitable beat.  A thrum went through the air, a tune played by the very wind itself. A haunting hybrid of woodwind and strings.  Luna completed her turn, and her hoof came down. It was such a gentle contact. A ballerina's graceful step, yet the earth rang like a bell, shook as if it were a drum pounded by a giant hoof.  Somehow, every little subtly of the horrifying sounds of flesh rupturing, of lifeblood slaking the dry earth's thirst, carried to Revealing Light’s ears perfectly.  The wails and screams the Night Princess’s attacks provoked from her dance partners caused no disruption. They added not a single note of disharmony to the otherworldly music. Infact, with a sudden sickening taste of bile in the back of her mouth, she realised it only perfected it.  Despite every instinct screaming at her to stay still, to do everything to maximise her stealth, her traitorous tail swayed to the rhythm. It took all her will, all her training, to keep her hoof from marking time.  In one moment Princess Luna was a beautiful Alicorn, Warrior Princess and saviour of ponykind. In the next a nightmare made flesh, gleefully partaking in slaughter, and yet through the whole thing, Luna moved as if a dancer upon a stage, always in the the right place at the right time to greet each new partner.  The Princess’s enchanting ethereal mane flowed and trailed in her wake, untouched and pristine, the only part of her not streaked in blood. She closed her eyes as she added needless spins and flourishes just to enhance the beauty of the motions.  The performance continued as, one by one, each of the Blighted were ended. The Night Princess bowed as if to an invisible crowd.  A part of her deep inside knew this was something special, something that no mortal should see.   Revealing Light noticed too late as the last vestiges of her invisibility spell fizzled and faded. Suddenly, she felt very small and very, very alone.  As carefully as she could, as if her life depended upon it, she ever so slowly slunk back. The almost silent sound of her hoof on the soft ground sounded as loud as thunder to her ears.  Snap. oh buck…  She thought as every teacher in the RGIS that ever was, cursed her stupidity.  The Night Princess rose from the bow, and those terrible, beautiful lambent orbs turned on her. Nausea turned her stomach as her heart pounded with desire. Those cruel ancient eyes looked straight through her to her very core. They promised to devour her in every way, both kind and horrific.  The Nightmare’s blood-streaked muzzle formed a gentle smile, despite the lethal fangs.  Revealing Light’s legs trembled, even as she was frozen in place, even as she had to move. She wanted to flee, to gallop as far and as fast as she could. She wanted to meekly approach and joyfully drown in that endless abyss those eyes promised.  The Dark Goddess slowly walked nearer. Each hoof fall was silent apart from the thunder of Revealing Light’s pulse as her heartbeat hammered in her ears, announcing each step.  "What do we have here?" The only pony in existence said. Each word was a thrill to the senses. "Ah, we remember you. You're the one that dared to question us, dared to risk our ire for your friend's sake." The words meant nothing. How could she have a friend if this goddess here was the only being in existence? How could she be remembered if this was the first time they had met?  "Our apologies." Like a mirror shattering, the darkness fragmented. The smoking shards dissolved into nothing.  Revealing Light’s mind, her very sense of identity, reasserted itself. She shuddered. Whatever that was, whatever that had been, felt as wondrous as it was terrible. It was the worst violation she could imagine. It was the most intimate and loving thing she had ever felt. Tears ran from her eyes as she glared up at Princess Luna. "Why?" She half shouted, half sobbed, fighting every instinct to just curl up and cry, or to light her horn and lash out at the Alicorn that was suddenly only a hoof width away.  "We were unaware we had an audience at hoof." The Night Princess sighed contentedly. “You have our sincere apologies for the laps in our diligence and our compliments on your proficiency with veils. It takes a master’s touch to go unknownst by us.” That was the reason. That was why she had felt everything, why she would always be craving that moment again. Why she would always be terrified, she wouldn’t get the chance to even catch a glimpse or ever hear a single note of that dirge.  Her eyes tracked to the aftermath of Luna’s ‘performance’. All the vile desecrations, all the bloody carnage, painted an image most terrifying. In stunning detail, layed out for all to see, was a rendition of a dismembered Celestia. Even the hoofprints that lead to where Luna stood right now was a part of it. “Fear not, for now at least, this was merely venting. A chance to purge desires before they become realised.” A chill that had nothing to do with the temperature closed in around Revealing Light’s heart. “Why would you want to do that to Princess Celestia?” “Other than her deserving it and such fate merely being an inconvenience for her?” Princess Luna started in a tone that was far too mundane with everything Revealing Light had seen today. “Our sister’s actions have… we disagree with the fates meted out to many she let her flames consume.” "Celestia would never…"  The world faded away to black, only to be replaced by a different scene. Dozens of nobles lay down, their forelegs covering their heads. One noble was held by Celestia as she reached out and broke their horn off. The sound was horrible. The lack of reaction and the serenity on Princess Celestia's face was worse.  It only took a moment to recognise the victim, the traitorous noble who blew his horn out attacking Princess Twilight.  “Now your eyes have been opened to the truth. This was just one of the latest examples of my sister’s methods.”  In a blink, the vision was gone. What is going on? The more analytical part of her mind demanded as the rest of her wanted to panic. Whether what she had just seen was true or false did not matter. There was no conceivable way any of this was good for Equestria. “This is how tightly my Sister grasps even the thoughts of those around her. She uses mental domination and memory manipulation with the same casual ease that most ponies breathe.”  Princess Luna's magic reached out and dragged the body of the Blighted commander over. The ruined and then destroyed remains of a pony floated there in the glow of Luna’s aura. “This is what my sister's choices have led to.” Luna almost snarled the words.  “We completed the mission. We saved the civilians.” “No amount of bravery, or dedication to duty, can shield a pony from the consequences of a lack of training and inadequate equipment.” Revealing Light opened her mouth to speak, but the evidence around her stole her rebuttal from her tongue. “Tis a shame none of the brave solar guards survived.” Wait, what? The Princess leaned closer, very much invading Revealing Light’s personal space. “Do not worry… your family will be cared for. Your comrades will be remembered. I will personally speak of your valour in your eulogy.”  Large dark wings slowly enclosed her, eclipsing the rest of her world. "Why?" She barely breathed out, shaking like a little filly that was scared of the dark.  Even as a part of her wanted to run, she knew there was no hope. She only had to look at the dozens of blighted, only had to remember that deadly performance to know. Countless stories of vamponies and dark blood rituals came to mind. All the tales whispered about the Nightguard that she once laughed at suddenly seemed deadly serious. “You shall no longer be my sister’s pawn.” The Night Princess’s breath tickled Revealing Light's neck. Each hair sent its own little thrill of anticipation. “We shall be gentle, you have earned that much, my brave little pony.” Velvet wings held her with iron strength as Luna oh so tenderly nuzzled her neck. Despite the situation, despite what she knew was going to happen, her body started to relax. Four sharp points of pain blossomed on her neck and in an instant, they were gone. A pleasant chill replaced it as the pressure increased. Without the pain, it was merely just the pressure and the feeling of things pushing into her flesh. She knew she was dead, the wounds were simply too deep. The second Luna pulled back, she would bleed to death in seconds.  Luna was right. She had felt more pain from a stubbed hoof before. So… Luna’s a vampony. It was so ridiculous that she wanted to laugh, but she could just not find the energy to. As the thumping of her heart slowed, a soft warmth and a sense of dull fogginess overtook her body and spread into her mind. Soft blackness closed in.   The wet tearing sound was clearly nothing to worry about. This isn't too bad. She drunkenly thought as her heart stilled and everything faded away.