"TIAAAA!?" One moment she was there and the next she was not, swallowed whole in one merciless gulp by Spike.
"Keep your eye on the birdie, Lu!" Kis' blade appeared to cut the air itself, aimed directly at my throat, but it never connected with its intended target.
"YOU FILTHY MONGREL!" I roared. The blackest mana flowing out of my pores, stopping her blade from touching me. "HOW DARE YOU HARM MY SISTER!" I trembled with rage. The magical energy that emanated from me pushed Kis away despite her best efforts to fight against it. I grabbed at my head, the darkness nearly consuming my mind instantly.
"Oooohhhh is this the appearance of the infamous Nightmare Moon?" Kis taunted. "Big surprise. Little Lulu can't control her less tasteful tendencies, even now," she cackled. "You're a pathetic excuse for a good guy." I had to concentrate to maintain my authority over the dark and Kis' stupid mouth was not helping at all.
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, a wave of darkness exploding from within me. As the energy collided with Twilight's body it ignited her coat, instantly beginning to sear her flesh. The protective barrier Kis had erected did little to prevent the black magic from reaching her.
"AGH! That hurts you HORSE!" she yelped in pain as she began swatting the parts of her body that were aflame. I really wished I could sit back and enjoy the moment, but my mind was quickly slipping away and I had to focus all my efforts or risk making the worst mistake of my life all over again. As I tried to steady my breathing, opening my mouth so it might be a bit easier, pitch-black flames shot out of my maw in long burning gouts every time I exhaled.
"Geez... you really are a monster, aren't you?" Kis' voice continued once she was no longer alight. I could not concentrate with her mouth going... at least I was unable to focus on myself.
But what if I...
"You... will... pay." I held my jaw tight, cutting off the jet of flames, but small flecks still escaping my clenched teeth. I flew at her with a speed not even I knew I possessed, almost moving as fast as if I'd teleported, but never having casted that spell. My forehoof smashed into her jaw sending her shooting backwards. I would not relent, behind her in no time at all, I bucked as hard as I could into her defenseless back.
There may have been a loud crack, I could not be certain. I did not have the luxury of being concerned with anything other than causing her as much pain as I could muster. It was the only thing keeping the Nightmare at bay. I spun around my horn pulsing with black magic as I summoned a large mass of crackling darkness, slamming it into Kis from above.
She could do little but moan in pain as she was sent spiraling downwards to the ground. Before she crashed I moved underneath her, ramming a shoulder into her already injured back. She screamed in agony, the sound delightful to my ears. I let her limp body drop to the ground with a thump.
"Y-you horse," the blood that she coughed up covered the ground, but that darned smile remained plastered on her face. "Argh, you're definitely gonna kill Sparkles if you keep this up. But I guess she wouldn't be the first, would she?" I drew my forelegs up into the air and slammed them where Kis' head had been seconds before.
Faker.
I knew she had been playing possum and so hastened my attack.
If I wished to kill Twilight Sparkle, she would already be dead.
"Enough games, Kis! If you have any sense of honor you will release Twilight and face me yourself." My anger, as well as the darkness, had subsided a degree after the beating I had given her. But now... now I had to push the thoughts of Celestia aside.
She is alright.
My sister would not let her fate be something so... mundane. Eaten by a dragon? Her star pupil's dragon, no less? No, I did not believe she was gone. Once I dealt with Kis I would go inside Spike myself and drag Celestia back out here.
But first things first...
"Honor? HONOR!?" she broke out in a bout of hysterical laughter. "Oh Lu, you're too much fun! I don't care about things like honor. I only have objectives," she pointed a hoof at me. "and right now the only objective I have is to capture you."
"Is that why you feigned injury like a coward? So that you could 'capture' me." It was times like these that I wished I had some sort of magical capacity to attack the mind. For all my physical and magical strength I could only buy time trying to formulate a plan to get Kis and Met out of Twilight's head.
"Funny games Lu, funny games. You're all just toys for our amusement anyway," she shrugged off my accusations as the wounds I had dealt her began to heal. She turned her neck this way and that, cracking it loudly. "Right then, let's-"
"One moment," I held up a hoof, a long shot to stop her. Somehow it worked. She froze in place, a confused expression dominating her features.
"What? There's something on my face isn't there?" she pointed a hoof at her own muzzle. "I FREAKING KNEW IT!"
"Why are you doing this?" It was mostly a stalling tactic, or at least that was half the truth. I genuinely desired to know the answer.
"Ugh, and here I thought it was something important," Kis sighed, a look of profound boredom overtaking her eyes. "Well, you're gonna die soon anyway. I guess it doesn't matter that much." She sat down where she stood, clearly not feeling threatened in the least. "Met and I need a way to manifest in this world. The spell Sparkles has been working on will harvest enough magical energy to create a body for us to inhabit." So Twilight had never been on a path to save anypony.
She'd been duped into collecting souls for these monsters.
I could not blame her for the mistakes she had made. Intense emotion will make you do the most foolish things in the hopes that something, anything, might change your awful lot in life.
"You already have a body," I stated simply, pointing at her. "Why do you have need of a second?"
"This?" she poked at her chest with a hoof, "This lump of flesh could never hope to contain our real power," she looked disgusted as she prodded at Twilight's body. "Even now I'm fighting you with her strength, not mine. Why do you think I'm having such a hard time of it?"
She is that much stronger than this?
That didn't seem probable much less possible.
"What are you?" I gathered myself, getting ready for the conflict to continue.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she stood back up, crouching down with her smile instantly coming back at the notion of the battle resuming.
"So you simply took advantage of a heartbroken mare for your own selfish gain? Sounds to me like you and Met are the real monsters," my horn glowed a mixture of dark blue and black. I still had some of the dark energy left. I would be able to fight them using it. The threat of the Nightmare had passed. I was ready.
"KAHAHAHA!" she lifted a hoof to cover her mouth. "Took advantage of a heartbroken mare!? Who the heck do you think is the one that ki-"
"I shall take over from here, Kis." Twilight's voice and expression changed in an instant. "We do not want to give away too much information so soon. I will handle Luna from here on." The voice known as Met was now in control.
Good. I have some pent up aggression I need to hammer out.
"Awfully arrogant of you to presume you could handle me so easily," I glared at my new foe.
"Let us be sensible, Luna. Surrender and we will make your demise as painless as possible." He did not even take a battle stance, instead choosing to be as nonchalant as possible.
"I have never been the sensible type. I am more of the... smash things into the dirt until they beg me for mercy type," I was ready to attack.
"But of course," he rolled his eyes, still not even attempting to protect himself. Well, I did not want to keep him waiting. My forehoof swung at his face faster than light could travel. He deftly moved as little as possible to avoid the hit. I spun around throwing a kick at his head so hard the air itself split in two. Again he took a small step back avoiding the attack by less than a centimeter. Fine, if I could not hit him physically then I would just have to be a bit more aggressive.
I love being more aggressive.
Instead of aiming to hit him, I targeted the ground beneath him, the explosion of dark energy overtaking the both of us in a second. It was a good thing my own magic could not harm me or I might have been a bit... singed by the blast. As the smoke cleared away I grew annoyed. He was nowhere to be found.
"Teleported," I huffed in frustration.
"Incorrect." I spun around to find him standing behind me looking bored. "I moved. You are just so very slow, Luna." I could not tell if he was trying to provoke my wrath or not, but it mattered little. I took a deep breath.
These are not the type of enemies I can lose my composure on. I have to be careful with Twilight's body.
"Then I shall have to change my tactics," I poured silver moonlight into my horn.
"How exciting! This is akin to one of the techniques you employed against Twilight before, isn't it?" His interest increased several notches.
I will show you the folly of your glee, Met!
I summoned my moon above us, only partially, as I began to pray my first spell.
"The waning arch of moonlight forces my foes into confrontation. Sixth phase!" The lovely moonlight washed over both our bodies creating a sphere around the two of us.
"So... what does this one do?" he looked around at the barrier and lightly pressed against it with a hoof.
Brave, if a bit foolish.
If it had been some sort of field of death, touching it was the worst thing one could do.
Lucky for him, that is not what it is.
"I am not finished yet!" I reached into my infinite reserves of mana to cast a second phase alongside the first. While phases could not coexist for long, I would at the very least have a few minutes of both operating in tandem. "Our moon channels the void, black and inescapable. First phase!" My moon disappeared completely from sight, an inky dark orb taking its place. It was still my precious moon, her appearance was just a bit... different.
"Remarkable! I cannot see a thing..." Met sounded truly impressed. The sixth phase created a dome of moonlight around my opponent and I. Neither of us could leave that dome for the duration of the spell. The first phase robbed all senses of those who occupied the small area I targeted, other than myself of course. It was a lethal combination, to be sure. No senses and no escape, right where I wanted him. "What an interesting spell, I cannot smell either," he had sniffed the air several times before exclaiming. "I suppose that means I am unable to use any of my senses, but..." He was quiet for a second. "What do you intend to do now? I am at your mercy," he sat on his haunches to prove he was not attempting to deceive me in any way.
"I intend to defeat you," I whispered to myself, though he would not have been able to hear me regardless. I hummed a quiet song, the same one Tia used to sing to me centuries ago to help me get to sleep. As my horn sublimated into silver light I calmed myself, ready to try the last thing I could think of that might work on these monsters. The wisps of my spell drifted out from my horn as I continued to hum. It was a glacially slow spell so this was essentially the only way to properly utilize it. The energy floated around Met, encompassing him completely in seconds.
"Ah, I see," he yawned. "C-clever girl." Another yawn left his mouth. "I should not... have... underestimated... you..." His head slowly drooped as he lowered himself to a prone position. With one last extended yawn he laid motionless, completely asleep. I exhaled the breath I had been holding in, relieved that my spell had actually worked.
I was not sure what level of strength I would face within my realm, but it was my domain and I would not be made a fool in it. My moon faded out of existence from above as the phases came to an end. I moved forward, preparing to submerge directly into Twilight's mind once again. A tinge of excitement shook me.
"Kis. Met. Let me see just how strong you truly are..." I closed my eyes, fading slowly from reality and entering the dreamscape. Heh. Met was making an attempt not to dream. An admirable strategy, but I could manifest dreams or nightmares in the mind of any being that was asleep. In a matter of seconds, I entered the dream I had created in Twilight's mind. A desolate wasteland at midnight greeting me. Twilight Sparkle, the real Twilight, purple coat and vivid cutie mark on her flanks, stood awaiting my arrival.
"L-Luna!?" tears fell from her face as I landed in front of her. "They retreated inside my mind... pushed me out here so that they couldn't be interrogated. They didn't think you'd be this powerful." My heart ached for her. This was not the Twilight I had met the past few days. Without Kis' influence, It was easy to see how distressed she was by everything that had happened. "Luna I'm so stupid! I let them manipulate me. I did exactly what they wanted and now..." she sniffled, almost breaking down where she stood. "Flurry..."
"Twilight..." I walked up to her slowly. She recoiled in terror at my approach. The last time we had met in the dream realm was not easy for her. That memory and the fact that she had no clue what I might do to her had planted a sense of fear deep inside her heart. It made sense, but I could finally see that none of this was her fault and so, I had no quarrel with her. Celestia yet again had been proven correct. I placed a hoof on her shoulder eliciting a stunned look from her.
"Luna?" she gasped as I pulled her into a tight hug. "No! I don't... I don't deserve..." she resisted, trying her hardest to pull away from me, but I would not let her go. Celestia had shown me the right way to do things and I would not fail her or my friend a second time.
"Forgive me, Twilight. Had I been more considerate and less jealous, I would have gotten to know you better," I squeezed her, revealing the ugly truth I held deep inside myself.
"J-jealous?" she stopped struggling.
"Tia had grown so fond of you while I was gone... It hurt me. That she could push me aside and become so intimate with somepony other than myself." I had been so bitter when I found out, and that bitterness grew. Ironically, I could not act upon the feelings of resentment because Twilight and her friends had been the ones who had saved me. I let the feelings fester and rot when they should have been stamped out immediately. I hated her because she had been everything I was not for my sister. Reliable. Confident. Loyal. "I held that jealousy in my heart, always searching for an excuse to hurt you. And after all of this happened... I used it as an reason to try and..." If Celestia perceived herself as a failure, I could not fathom what that made me. Pathetic?Shameful? Pitiful? All apt descriptions.
"But you didn't..." she continued to cry, but attempted to speak through the sadness. "You reached out. You tried to help me and I..."
"We have both made our fair share of mistakes, Twilight." A tear fell from my eye. "But I want you to know this... I love you. You have always been there for Celestia when she needed you... and you have always been there for me as well. I am truly sorry I have not been as good a friend as I should have been."
"L-Lunahahaaaa!" she trembled, sobbing with no reservation into my shoulder. I held her close, unabated tears escaping me as well. I thought back to what Tia had done for me when I was like this and so I gently stroked her mane with my hoof. We had time, I could slow the flow of it in the dream realm at will, and it felt good anyway, being this close to another friend I had neglected for far too long. As her cries subsided she drew back, wiping her face with her foreleg, a goofy smile on her face.
"Thank you, Luna... for not giving up on me," she laughed a little.
"You should thank Tia. She never once doubted you." The thought of my sister in her current predicament weighed heavily on my nerves, but I would have faith.
Tia is the strongest. There is nothing for me to worry about.
"I will! I swear, I'll make this right, even if..." The desperation in her voice said she had no idea how she was going to do that.
"Very well. Just know that sacrificing yourself to do so will not suffice." She dropped her gaze to the ground. It was the same way I had planned to atone for my sins. My death. It had seemed like a fair trade at the time, but I was not thinking clearly, as I was certain Twilight was not now. I gently placed a hoof under her chin, lifting it so that she would look me in the eye. "Celestia, Cadance, and I... your family still needs you, Twilight. We have already lost so much." She nodded, her tears welling up again.
"I'll... I'll do my best, Princess."
"Attagirl," I smiled brightly at her cooperation. "Now then, any ideas on how to deal with your unwelcome guests?" She looked mildly confused by my question.
"To be honest, I'd thought they'd withdrawn into a corner of my mind, but..."
"But?"
"I think they're gone," she closed her eyes, contemplating the possibility.
"Gone?" I shook my head. If only life were so easy. I could not count the number of times I believed I had exorcised the Nightmare only to be proven horribly wrong days, months, or even years later. "I do not know about that, Twilight." She looked at me as if I had just stepped on her tail. "But I do know how to confirm if that is the case."
"You do?!" Twilight beamed.
"This is my realm, Twilight. None may exist within without my consent," I replied confidently before switching to the Royal Canterlot Voice. "KIS! MET! IF YOU ARE STILL PLAGUING TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S MIND I COMMAND YOU TO SHOW YOURSELVES IMMEDIATELY!" As the echo of my voice drifted away, Twilight and I waited in cautious silence.
Nothing?
"See!?" Twilight looked up into the air around herself, as if at some point one of the intruders would float into view. There was still one more drastic way to be certain, it was just... very invasive.
"I can be one hundred percent sure, Twilight... if you would trust me," I averted my eyes slightly. It was not something I took lightly, nor was it something I did often. Twilight looked at me with that goofy smile of hers again.
"Luna, this is your realm. You can do whatever you want. I don't think I have much of a choice other than to trust you," she giggled. That was true, but perhaps I had used the wrong phrasing.
"I suppose what I meant was, are you okay with me combing your mind?" I pointed a hoof at her head. "Right now we are in my dream realm and I do have absolute authority, but..."
"But?" she tilted her head.
"But I stay out of the minds of those I guide. It is a very real invasion of privacy if I use my power to peer through your consciousness," I moved next to her in an attempt to make her more comfortable with the idea. "I will do my best to avoid anything you are trying to conceal, but... I can make no promises." Twilight looked down first to the left then to the right, contemplating if she really wanted to go through with this. Personally, I would never let anypony see my innermost thoughts and secrets. My life was full of regrets and sorrows that I could never rid myself of. I did not want those horrible events to ever get out... especially my own memories of them. Twilight took a deep breath and grinned at me before putting her hoof on my shoulder.
"I trust you, Luna. If I didn't by this point what kind of friend would I be?" Her kindness was more than I deserved, but appreciated more than she could ever know.
"Thank you, Twilight," I leaned forward placing the tip of my horn against hers. The flood of memories was intense. I had never done this with permission before and so, being permitted to see everything with nothing held back was initially, quite overwhelming.
The intense, unending love
she had for her friends and family. The crippling grief and sorrow she experienced at their departures. The subtle manipulation she was subjected to after she had delved too deep into the forbidden. The regret she felt after realizing she had been used like a puppet.
I did not intend to stay long and so glossed over most of her memories. In the end, Met and Kis were nowhere to be found.
Then where have they gotten to? Had my final gambit really paid off so fortuitously?
As I drew my horn away from Twilight's she nearly fell over. I caught her in my forelegs and smiled at her kindly.
"Forgive me for being so rough," I chuckled.
"No, no. It's okay, I'm just a little dizzy, that's all." She found her balance and I let her stand under her own power. A little distortion was normal after having your mind rummaged through, even for somepony as strong as an alicorn princess. "What did you find?" she asked, quite concerned at what I may have discovered.
"Not a thing. They are gone. Tis a curious thing..." I had even searched the entire dream realm, just in case, and came up with zilch. For some reason Twilight looked displeased at my answer.
"Then what should w-" she stopped short, her expression changing to one of intense fear. "Luna they're- AGH!!!" she grabbed her head in pain, collapsing to the ground as her legs buckled.
"TWILIGHT?!" I dropped down next to her, a cold sweat instantly covering me. Something was wrong and I had no idea what it could be.
"AGHHHH!" The scream that came from her was even more terrifying than my sister's had been when she was being tortured.
The only way something like this could be happening in my territory is if...
"Your body!" I exclaimed. I had to end the spell. Something had to have been happening to her body in reality. "Hold on, Twilight! Just hold on!" With no further delay, I phased back into the real world, back to the battlefield. "TWILIGHT!?!?" I gaped at the horrid scene playing out before my eyes. Twilight's body was suspended in midair, each of her limbs drawn in a different direction, as if unseen strings were going to tear her into quarters. She was fighting against the invisible force, but such resistance was proving useless.
"How unfortunate..." Met's voice did not come from Twilight's mouth anymore, but somewhere I could not identify. "It appears as if you are far more dangerous than we gave you credit for," he sounded frustrated for once. "To think we would be forced to sever our contract with Miss Sparkle or risk the success of our entire plan," his voice sounded as if it were getting closer to me. "You have become quite the nuisance, envoy of Justice." I was not sure what that meant, but I could not be bothered to think about anything other than my friend's well-being.
"RELEASE HER MET!" I roared into the sky, my eyes still locked on Twilight.
"I am afraid that is not possible at the current time. She will be free once we take what we require from her." He did not laugh or sound particularly concerned at all, making his words all the more chilling. "Should you not be more worried about your dear sister? The insides of that dragon in particular can be quite hazardous to ones health."
"TIA CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF YOU FI-" The scream of agony that came from Twilight made my blood run cold. "TWILIGHT!" I abandoned all sense of reason, casting a spell in an attempt to save her. I would instantly come to regret my folly. As my mana touched the air around her, a magical reaction tore through my horn and passed directly into my head. I nearly collapsed at the sudden unbearable pain. Unbearable pain that I would have to endure for her sake. Shaking, I ignored the pain as I continued to inch my spell closer and closer to her body.
"You are nothing, if not persistent, Luna. I will grant you that." Wherever Met currently resided, he had not made any moves or tried to stop me. "Sadly, you are a day late and a bit short, as the saying goes." Twilight's body convulsed, her screams crescendoing as the magical tendrils that covered her slowly ripped away from her body. Like tearing off a particularly finicky bandage, but obviously millions of times more painful, the separation of magic from flesh was one of the most disturbing things I have ever been forced to witness.
"T-Twilight..." I whispered, not able to do anything for her. Her screams gradually died as the process completed. There was no blood, somehow. As the last markings tore away from her, Twilight's limp body fell to the ground, the old violet color of her coat slowly seeping into the black. I caught her in a spell, slowly lowering her body into my embrace. "You monster..." Although I tried to yell at Met I could not find my voice. Holding the still body of my sister's student, one of my only friends, was too much for me to handle.
"All is fair in love and war, Luna. I know you are intimately familiar with that sentiment." Met's voice slowly faded away. Twilight was not breathing. She was not struggling anymore either. I was terrified.
"Twilight..." I whispered, praying for a miracle to occur, for anything or anypony to save her.
"This won't do..." My heart stopped at the sound of the voice. "This won't do at all. I won't let this happen."