//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Darkest Day // Story: A Return to Form // by dracolord85 //------------------------------// Disclaimer – I own none of the cannon characters, settings, or locations contained herein. All ownership credit goes to Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively. Chapter 5: Darkest Day Celestia had made the announcement of the upcoming solar eclipse the day after the decision was made on their course of action. The only changeup however, was that she had insisted that her sister join her on the throne when she made her proclamation. Luna had taken plenty of convincing to partake in perhaps the largest public appearance that she had been a part of since her return. She had resisted vehemently, stating that appearing in her current diminutive form would not be fitting for her station. After nearly two hours of reassuring her that nopony would think any less of her, and agreeing that she did not have to say anything, had Luna begrudgingly agreed. Luna had however sat so still the entire time that some ponies in attendance had wondered if she was merely a blue statue next to her sister. Afterward, Luna had spent the two days of preparation in research and development, putting the necessary finishing touches and modifications on her spell seal. With the final additions she would be able to cast magic despite not having a physical body. Nightmare’s energy would be transferred to her will across their intrinsic link and she would direct it into her half of the decay and corruption spell that her sister would be helping her with. She had siphoned her sister’s magic once more and spent the two days without using any magic so that she would have the greatest amount possible to start with. While she did indeed feel more charged than she had at any point since her return, she was still far short of what would be necessary. Even with the power granted by the eclipse she would still be the weak link in the process. As both the sun and moon rose into the sky that morning, ponies all across Equestria scrambled to complete their preparations for the VERY impromptu solar eclipse celebration. Party planners nationwide were on the verge of mental breakdown trying to plan for an event that had not occurred in the last thousand years. Everything had to be perfect in record breaking time, celebrating the very symbol of the royal sister’s unity and Luna's unofficial return to public view. Astronomers of all types from amateur to professional were outfitting their telescopes to view the almost unheard of celestial event. Despite the early panic the event had induced, assurances had been taken to heart that this was the utmost expression of the two sister’s unity and not a sign of impending doom. High on the topmost peak of Mount Canterlot, the two sisters were preparing a very different event. Neither sister would be in attendance at any party, or be making any appearance in public today. The plausible explanation given was that performing a solar eclipse was such a special and private affair between the two sisters that none were allowed to join them. Even the normal attachment of royal guards was stationed at the bottom of the narrow pathway that wound up to the mountain top and had been forbidden from ascending. Currently both sisters were within the sanctuary at the peak, possibly the most private place in all of Equestria, none but the royal family was allowed within its walls. Luna had taught her sister exactly how to transcribe the magical seal that would guide their ritual and Celestia worked diligently to ensure that everything was as it needed to be. No variables were unaccounted for in Luna’s design, the end product was as much a work of beauty and art as any painting or sculpture. After summoning the bound Nightmare Moon into the physical realm once again, they would both focus their respective celestial energies into the six locks, hopefully surpassing them in strength and shattering the errant spell of Harmony. Once freed, the continuous connection between Nightmare and Luna would act as a beacon and bring the two of them together like a magnet. If fate would have it, Celestia prayed to the higher powers that their minds would merge and her sister would no longer be fractioned. Celestia knew full well the overwhelming power that the elements could bring to bear. That power had cast the nearly omnipotent Nightmare Moon down the first time, as well as placed her in a thousand year strong sealed prison on the moon no less. The doubt in the back of her mind berated her for not calling on her brother for additional support, fearing the elements could backlash if the sisters failed. Her pride however, would not allow it, convincing her that she could handle anything. In the confliction, Celestia simply made up her mind that she would have to go all out, unleashing the full force and fury of her power. She had decided long ago, after imprisoning her sister in the moon, that there could be nothing worse than eternal life without anypony who could relate to it with you. As the sun and moon neared each other overhead, the sisters finished their respective parts of the seal. Celestia sat back on her haunches and closed her eyes to focus her thoughts on the imminent task. Luna spread her wings and hovered about the room, triple checking all of the runes and diagrams in the massive spell seal. She could not afford a mistake at this juncture. One misplaced rune could cause the whole array to spiral out of control and trigger a magical meltdown of colossal proportions. After all, what could be worse than losing her chance to regain immortality AND leveling half of Mount Canterlot in the same day? Everything had to be perfect. All of Equestria waited with its breath held as the edges of the sun and moon touched. In the sanctuary atop Mount Canterlot, Celestia began to feel like her coat had static electricity running through it. As soon as she was certain that the two celestial bodies were in alignment she joined her sister as she activated the spell seal. By now, summoning Nightmare Moon from within Luna had become routine enough that she hardly batted an eye as the familiar effects of the spell took place. The lights dimmed, and the black fire spread from Luna before gathering a dozen paces before her. The glowing chains of Harmony surged forth from the dark abyss as Nightmare’s body began to take form. Unlike that last summoning where Luna had been present and vocal but intangible, the new augmentations to her spell allowed her enough of a physical presence to cast her magic. She demonstrated her ability by telekinetically picking up the piece of etching chalk next to her and flicking it across the room. Celestia could see the defiance in Nightmare’s eyes as she attempted to stand, only to fall back to her belly under the weight of the chains binding her. There was not much time remaining for Nightmare if her struggle was any indication. Looking to Luna, there was only apprehension written on her face, as the sheer magnitude of what they were going to attempt was daunting. The chains could not be broken with a conventional, brute force magical attack. It had already been demonstrated in their first encounter that the chains would absorb and redistribute attack energy. They would have to be corroded and swept away at exactly the same time and rate to prevent the chains from absorbing and reflecting the magic. If Celestia and Luna did not channel their power at the same rate the imbalance would cause a reflection. If the two sisters could not balance themselves then they would not likely get another chance as Nightmare appeared to be out of time. There was no room for error. As the moon moved halfway over the sun, Celestia felt her power beginning to flare. Nightmare even perked up as she felt the energy surge created by the nearly complete eclipse. Luna stood by and prepared to monitor the magical regulation arrays. Finally, with an almost painfully slow drawl the eclipse completed and the moon was positioned perfectly before the sun, the bright corona flaring out dramatically from the pitch black visage of the moon. Celestia reared up on her hind legs, wings spread wide and threw her head back as she seized both celestial bodies in her magical grasp. If there was any effort to control both the sun and moon at the same time and command them to stop in the sky, she showed no trace of it. Luna nodded her head and looked between her sister and Nightmare who still lay on the floor. “Now sister, let us begin. Nightmare? How art thou holding up?” Nightmare did not bother to respond to Luna’s query beyond an affirmative grunt indicating them to proceed. Through their fragile bond, Luna sensed only resolution and determination, as well as a relatively massive influx of power, like a lake being funneled through a drinking straw. Nightmare was doing her level best to ignore the crushing weight of the shackles and feed all the power that she could to Luna. Once Luna was sure that the power flow between them was stable, she directed her sister to stand before nightmare next to her. Celestia lit her horn and let her power flow towards Nightmare, the warm and gentle but insistent pull of the sun being the signature of her power. Simultaneously, Luna lit her horn and released her magic towards Nightmare, the cool and gently comforting push of the moon intertwining with the solar power. As they increased their power output Luna kept careful watch over the regulator arrays, making sure that both sides kept even and giving instructions to back off or increase output as required. The chains began to hum and course with spiraling helixes of white and black magic as Luna and Celestia settled in sync with each other. If the interaction was causing Nightmare pain, she was masking it well with a face of immense concentration. Once they reached the point at which Luna had predicted the chains would begin to degrade, she called out to level off power output and maintain. However, as they leveled off a low keening sound began to issue from the chains. Luna watched in horror as the power levels began to drop off sharply, causing her to cry out to her sister to increase output. It was all for naught however, as Celestia flared her magic too quickly and imbalanced the spell. When Luna tried to compensate she found no hope of matching her sister’s power and the spell began to spiral out of control. There was no rescuing it. White fire burst from the spell seal, tearing it apart, as black fire rushed outwards from Nightmare’s position in the center. Both streams quickly engulfed the building and raced upwards to form a shifting, spherical barrier of black and white fire around the entire sanctuary. From anywhere that Mount Canterlot was visible the shifting anomaly could be seen but was assumed to be a part of the ceremony. Fearful for the safety of their rulers, the guards at the base of the sanctuary attempted to ascend and help their rulers, only to be pushed back by titanic waves of magical energy. Within the sanctuary, Celestia raised a wing in an attempt to shield her eyes from the blinding energy pouring out of the broken spell seal. There was no time to flee as Nightmare suddenly released a pained shriek and the entire world went dark. Celestia was knocked off of her hooves and rendered unconscious by a tidal wave of magical energy. Next to her the image of Luna flickered briefly before fading out completely. What could have been hours or even days later it seemed, Celestia slowly regained her senses just as Luna was coming to. Immediately she could sense that Luna had her physical body in this place instead of the hollow image that her spell had given her before. Scanning around herself visually, she could see that they were no longer in the sanctuary. She stood in what appeared to be a large temple that she had never seen before. High walls surrounded the courtyard she stood in and six pillars extended at even intervals around the circular enclosure. The stone floor beneath them was covered in softly pulsing ancient alicornic runes. Overhead, the sun and moon were still in eclipse position, giving off a dim twilight effect to the atmosphere. Small motes of sparkling magic swirled through the air around them, like dandelion seeds on on a nonexistent breeze. The entire effect brought across a sense of truly ancient beauty, but there was also the unmistakable undercurrent of staggering amounts of power in the area. Looking closer at the pillars around the exterior of the open air temple, Celestia could recognize some of the runes that described their purpose. They were each inscribed with a large, pulsing rune about midway up that differentiated them into the six virtues of the Elements of Harmony. Each pillar had a trail of energy extending from its peak, down around the identification rune, and finally to the floor. From there the energy ran to the center of the room where a raised platform stood. She could tell that there was something on the central altar, although she could not clearly identify it due to the dim light and obscuring glow of the energy that met there. As Luna regained her senses, she first saw her sister looking pensively at the sky overhead. Soon however her attention was drawn to the center of the courtyard where the raised platform sat. Straining her naturally more night oriented vision she could just make out Nightmare Moon on the platform. Nightmare did not look conscious, as she was laid out on her belly with her head down, still bound and chained, although it could now be seen that the chains were anchored to the energy lines that come from the pillars. With a shout of relief, Luna began to gallop towards Nightmare with Celestia in close pursuit. As they both approached closer, neither realized that the six pillars surrounding the courtyard had begun to glow with the same colors as the energy trails that lead to Nightmare’s shackles. Within two dozen paces of the platform, the pillars suddenly surged with power and shot forth beams of multicolored light that converged overhead, swirled together, and then descended to intercept their advance. As the light faded, a unicorn stepped forth from it, turned away from the princesses. The unicorn that stood before them was a young purple mare with a strait cut mane and tail of darker purple, offset with a pink stripe. “Twilight Sparkle? What are you doing here my faithful student?” Celestia asked, genuinely confused. Upon closer inspection, she could see something was off about the mare that stood before her. The general look was correct for Twilight, but there was something off kilter about the pony that Celestia could not place. Everything seemed correct until the pony turned toward them and opened their eyes. Her eyes were a blank white, with no pupils, and glowing with raw power. There was no cutie mark on her flank either. With a voice that sounded like her student, and yet multiple other ponies speaking as one, the mare spoke. “Former bearers. Step no closer unless you wish to share the fate of the bound one.” The mare warned, taking a firm stance before them.