//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: Nightmares Over Equestria // by Ignimbrite //------------------------------// As two guards walked down the hall, they were absolutely certain they heard something move. Looking back, they saw nothing of importance. All that stood behind them was a few decorative tables. They turned back and continued their patrol, only to hear the noise again. This time, they both drew their swords as they turned. Another guard walked up from the intersecting hall behind them. He saluted, then continued down his path. Despite the mundane explanation, they still felt uneasy. They scanned the room, searching for anything out of place. Finally, one of them noticed something off. "Somepony stole one of Celestia's ferns. Why would somepony even do that?" "The court finds you guilty, Mr. Cutthroat and company, of necromancy, magically assisted murder of more ponies than we have the capacity to record, life theft of the same number of ponies, treason, conspiracy to commit treason, attempted regicide, use of mind-altering spells without a psychiatric license..." The bottom of the scroll slipped out of Blind Justice's hooves and rolled down the center of the aisle, stopping when it hit the closed door. He was still gripping the top section. "Princesses, if you don't mind, may I just give this to Dot Matrix for copying instead of reading it all?" "Sorry about that.  She said she needed help fightin' monsters and that they all looked just like ya. I thought I was protecting everypony." "She has deceived many ponies in her time. Do not fault yourself for being among them." "But that's just it." She stomped her hoof. "My friend lied to me, I think the monster hunter's guild's been lyin' to me, everypony I know's been lyin' to me." Luna stepped forward and wrapped Applejack in her wing. "From what thou described, thy friend had no choice in the matter. Perhaps, thou should give her another chance." Applejack nodded. "I can try that, I guess. I don't like it though." Luna tightened her hug. "Thou art the embodiment of honesty, but an important part to honesty is trust. Wilt thou be willing to trust her? At least for me?" Applejack didn't answer, but a tear did roll down the side of her nose as Luna released her. Behind her, the flash of the void told her that her time had come. She looked back for a moment, then stepped through the portal. As soon as she had stepped through the sphere of light, Twilight closed the portal.  "That just leaves one more." Behind her, Pinkie Pie was tied to a furniture dolly and watched by two guards. "I have to blink sir." "Do it. I can still watch her." The guard blinked. "Thank you sir." Twilight, meanwhile, was already arranging the crystals in the tablet and turning the knobs that locked them in place. "Five engaged... six engaged..."  She set the last one into place and twisted the last knob on the pedestal.  Nothing happened. She tried again, even pulling the crystal out and putting it back in a couple times. "Uhh... Princess? The last one failed to engage." Several ponies clustered around the pedestal to see what went wrong. "Oh yeah, there was something I forgot to mention.  My home universe got destroyed by a different author right after I left, so I was wondering, could I stay here?  Pretty pretty please?  There are so many ponies here that I haven't seen alive in a long time, and I can help your version of Pinkie throw the best parties, and..." Everypony except both Pinkies stood frozen in absolute horror. Celestia held up six scrolls, each one filled with official criminal records and the judgements of Blind Justice and all the higher justices who reviewed his decision. "You have two options. You can either remain in your old ways, or you could turn. I have the full authority to pardon you, even of these." Cutthroat spat. "And live knowing you stripped everything from us. What would you ask of us, that we become your servants?" Before she could answer, one of the unicorns spoke up. "Why not? You saw how she treats her servants. Would you rather be banished?" "Better to be banished than live with her." The unicorn looked at the pegasus, dumbfounded. He then turned to Celestia. "Why? You know what we did. You have the records right there. Why are you offering us this in the first place?" "For the same reason I pardoned Solaria. I wish to show mercy, even to you." "You wish to rub our failure in our faces the rest of our lives." "Cutthroat, enough! Are you blind? She should be banishing us past the sun for all we did. The fact that we're even still alive should be considered mercy at this point." He turned to her. "I accept." "You'll just be her servant the rest of your life." He turned back to face Cutthroat. "So be it!" He then looked back at Celestia. "Even if what he said is true, I still accept." Celestia smiled just slightly and picked up the scrolls. "What is your name?" "Scar, your highness. Deep Scar. And if you truly are offering pardon, I will serve you." She looked at the tops of the scrolls, then selected one. She pulled it out and set it aside, stacking the rest back in the pile from which they came. Deep Scar could see his name written across the top in red ink, like blood. Just below was the beginning of his list of crimes. "You truly desire to turn from your old ways? Your desires for power and wealth? Your lust for control?" He gulped, then nodded. "Yes, your highness. I do." "Are you willing to sacrifice these things?" He nodded again, shaking, but slightly more confident. "Yes." Her horn ignited, and in a moment, the scroll bearing his name and his crimes was little more than a pile of ash. "You may leave, if you wish, although I do wish to speak with you again later." He nodded, then left through the large doors. As soon as they closed, Celestia turned to the others. "Does anypony else wish to go free, as he has?" The remaining ponies expressed their disapproval. "He isn't free, he's your slave now." "And give up everything we worked for?" "We'll rule in Tartarus before we bow to you." Celestia nodded grimly. She then held up the scrolls containing their charges. "The judges gave me several lists of recommendations for punishments. I don't suppose you can guess what was at the top of each one." The six former nobles looked at each other and gulped. The princess was calm, all things considered... unnaturally calm. "This is your last opportunity to accept. You may walk out those doors, or you may sign the scrolls bearing your names, and thus take the full punishment for all the crimes listed." "Give me my scroll." Celestia gave a weary sigh, then levitated Cutthroat's scroll over to him. He signed his name underneath. The others soon followed suit. "Very well then. In that case, how would the rest of you like to live forever?" All of them locked wide eyes with hers. "What?!?!" "You heard me. Live forever. No more crystallized vitalium, no more siphoning away the lives of others, no more sitting in a dark shed once a month. Just life extended indefinitely." "Is this a trick?" "This was the topmost recommendation by all the judges who reviewed your case, and I'm quite inclined to agree with their decision." "Our punishment is to live forever? I don't buy that." "Well, it's mostly a practical matter. It will prevent you from stealing more lives away. Besides, now that your titles are stripped and you have criminal records that are literally a mile long, you're less than powerless anyway. "Besides that, you won't be living here. You will be, as some of you guessed, banished, for the entirety of your lives." They looked at each other again. Cautiously, the others nodded, one by one, towards Cutthroat. He then turned to face Celestia. "We accept." She nodded. "So be it." Her horn lit up, burning brighter and brighter until it was completely blinding. Then it stopped. As the former nobles' eyes adjusted, they saw iron bars in front of their faces and past those bars, fire and smoke. In front of them, just outside the bars stood Celestia. "Welcome to Tartarus," she stated. "Enjoy your new home." Obsidian and Feldspar sighed in relief. "So you're not mad?" "No we're not. We were worried again, but Twilight explained everything. It was an accident, so there's nothing to be mad about." When they had gotten off the train in Ponyville, they immediately flew home, only to find nopony there. They checked everywhere they could think of, eventually finding their dad at the police station giving the officers every detail he could about them. "Yes, they look exactly like these two. My son even has wings and a horn just like this colt and... Wait, what? Kids?" He immediately embraced them. It took longer for them to see their mother again. She suspected what had happened after she found a royal guard outside the library next to a tied-up Rainbow Dash with a note reading, "Not the real me, please don't untie," and she got confirmation from both of them. In lieu of waiting for the police or for the train, she had decided to fly all the way to Canterlot. Thankfully, when she got to that police station there, Hat Trick was inside, giving an account of what had happened at the shed. Upon hearing her describe her kids, he turned around. "Wings and a horn? Obsidian?" She looked at him in shock. "You know him?" "The niece of an old friend... tell me, do you know a filly named Kind Face?" As she nodded, he continued. "She brought him and his sister into our home to stay during the mess that was going on down here. They all just left for Ponyville on the train." What immediately followed as another flight, ending with her embracing the two foals as well. Now they were all together again, safe, secure, and very much not grounded this time. "Hey, race you to the creek!" "You're on." The two bolted out the door. "No shooting lightning at each other this time!" Quartz turned to Gneiss. "Are you okay?" "Yes, I'm fine. Now would you please stop asking?" "I'm just worried about you." "I'm fine." Gneiss smiled at her husband. "When do you think we should tell them?" "Oh, I don't know. Maybe if we wait a few months, they'll notice and start asking on their own." She whacked him in the back of the head with her wing. A night guard approached the throne room. "Your highnesses, your mother wishes to see you." They made their way quietly to the room that had been prepared. It was a simple one, for a room in the palace at least, comparable with that of Prince Blueblood. Unlike the prince, who had decked the room in whatever gaudy opulence he could find, she had barely furnished it, and what furnishings she had were in a simple, elegant style similar to the pre-Equestrian kingdoms of old. The mare inside was different than she had been only a day ago. She had been in the room for a week, and she had met with her daughters several times. Today, however, her mane was gray near the ends, and her face was lined. "Hello girls." She smiled slightly. "Mother? What happened?" "The power of the crystal is leaking away. I knew it would happen eventually." "There must be..." Solaria put her hoof over Celestia's mouth. "There is but one way to prevent this, and I will not allow it." Luna stepped forward, hesitating with each hooffall. She then embraced her in her wings and lay her neck across hers. "I... I had hoped... I had hoped we could save you." "Luna..." Using her own wings, she lifted her daughter's head off her back and held it up so she could look into her eyes. "You already have." Kind Face was reading in her room, when she heard a knock on the window. She stepped over to open it. "Hi Kind. Your aunt was out, and the only mail I've got is for you anyway." The pegasus passed a muffin with a letter tied to it through the second-floor window. "Thanks Derpy." After the mailmare left, she opened up the letter. Hey sis! It was good to see you again. Glad to hear you made it back alright. Things have quieted down again since you left. We've been going out on the streets again, and a lot of ponies are starting to love us again, but we still get wary looks from time to time. It's like they can tell some of us are different. Also, Clumsy's been teaching me proper stuntwork, including punching without actually hitting anypony. She also taught me how to take a hit. Turns out shifting your insides around makes it a lot harder to get injured. I wish I knew that when we were in the castle. Don't worry about that part, by the way. My barrel's healing up just fine, but my chitin's probably gonna have a couple scars for the rest of my life. On the bright side, I don't go out in my natural form a lot anyway, so it's not like anypony's gonna see them. Anyway, just wanted to say I'm glad I got to see you again. Tell Aunt Masquerade hi for me. Your honorary brother, Daryl Night had fallen over the castle. As soon as Luna had finished raising the moon, she heard a pair of wings behind her. She turned around to see her sister landing on the balcony. "Lulu... Did you see the flames too?" Luna nodded. "Indeed, and from her tales, this is not the first time she took on that form." "I thought she was just exaggerating in that letter." She shook her head, trying to make sense of it all. "I can't believe she already has a rage form.  Do you think she'll be able to control it?  Will she turn out..." Luna nuzzled her sister, quieting her.  "All I know is that she is much closer to ascending than we had previously believed."  She stepped back and looked her in the eye. "Rest assured, she takes thy lessons to heart, and hath already shown far more restraint than either of us have." "Do... do you think she'll be ready?" Luna embraced her sister again. "Thou hast taught her well, dear sister.  I know she will be ready."