//------------------------------// // She moves the Sun // Story: He's a Vampire // by Gormless Wheaton //------------------------------// Celestia stood with her horn alight just before the town hall. Even without the light of her magic, the darkness around us caused her to almost glow by contrast. She looked at me with a serene expression that somehow failed to set me at ease. Maybe it was because I sensed a feeling of disappointed judgment in her eyes. "I received a very concerning letter about you today, Peter," she said. "Regarding a recent incident in the Catican." I blanched and heard Frill gasp. "He!" Frill squeaked. "I-" she held up a wing at both of us. "I reserve judgment until I can hear your side of things," she declared with a nod. "But if it is true, I am very disappointed." She shook her head, and Grogar chortled. "Celesti-" "I believe we'd best shelve this for now, however," she looked squarely at Grogar. "More pressing things are at hoof." "Very astute," Grogar said with a sage nod. "My imminent bad behavior is probably way worse than whatever he did." He bowed his head with a wide smile. Celestia regarded him for a moment before looking at me again. "Collect your friends and flee this place, Peter Harlow. And please keep this in mind, lest you dwell upon it," I blinked and flinched, as she was suddenly right next to me on the ground, and pulled me into a hug. "I am not angry and am still your friend. I love you." She pulled back and gave me a sad smile. "In case I do not get the chance to say it later." "Also very astute," Grogar added. She frowned and turned as he was looming over us both. "But hey now! If a tussle's your hustle, don't you worry!" He leaned right next to her with a toothy smile. "We can take this somewhere more accommodating." She stared into his eyes for a minute before slowly rising to her hooves. He leered up at her as she spread her wings and took to the air. There was a low warbling drone and Grogar rose stiff as a board into the air after her. They hovered in the air next to each other for a moment before Celestia snapped her wings and took off toward the mountains, Grogar zooming after her, still stiff-legged. I watched them vanish into the darkness with my jaw open until I felt someone tug at my sleeve. "Peter!" Frill squealed and pointed her hoof at Cozy, who had a despondent Quilt slung over her back. I grimaced and stood up. Looking over my shoulder, I sighed when I saw Chrysalis had vanished. "Let's get to the castle." The conjured shadow was behind them now and the moon's light illuminated the ground beneath them. Celestia glided down to the dusty field beyond the mountains and gently landed before whirling around to quickly scan the region. Satisfied there seemed to be nothing living in the spot, she nodded and turned back to Grogar. By contrast, he came crashing down to the dust like a meteor, carving a trench in the earth as he slid, unmoving and rigid. And still with that smug grin he'd worn since they took flight. "So, is this barren enough for you to actually give it your all?" He jeered as he stomped up out of the trench he'd dug. "'Cause I was hoping to really see what you've made of yourself after all this time." Celestia raised an eyebrow at him. "Perhaps my memory of events from so many millennia ago isn't as clear as I thought, but our father never mentioned you being so interested in contests of strength." Grogar giggled and sneered, causing her to narrow her eyes. "Or that you were so jovial." Grogar nodded and laughed. "By the time Chronus took the throne of Skyros, I was already old. I was already bored, so it's no surprise he only knew me during my low point," he smiled and cracked his neck. "But I've got a new exciting adventure ahead of me now. Letting your lowly race evolve and peace flourish has finally brought some challenges back to my life. My victory over the world this time will be so much more, hm." He rolled his head in thought before nodding. "Delicious," he smiled with a maw of needle-like crooked fangs. Celestia scoffed and shook her head. "Well, if that's true, perhaps you'd like to challenge the Elements of Harmony?" Grogar laughed in response. "I said a challenge!" He shook his head. "I know how potent emotional magic is. There's no challenge there, only a quick death." Celestia rolled her eyes. "Of course," she took a breath and regarded the darkness hanging over Woollachia. Grogar considered her with a smile for a moment before speaking. "It's curious," she grimaced and turned her attention to him. "While I was alive years back, I recall learning you were more of the 'good in all creatures' type, who tries to steer others down the 'right path.'" He emphasized his words with a mocking shake of his head and then tilted it. "Yet the first thing you did was offer to throw your ultimate weapon at me, knowing it'd probably kill me. Why is that?" "Because you're not a creature, Grogar," she replied immediately and with an even glare. "You're a thing." Grogar flinched and frowned. "I-" "You may have once been someone. But as you said, you were old before my sister and I were even born. Now, you're just a thing that keeps the innocent awake at night, a tale to frighten young and old alike, a rationale for wicked creatures to spill blood," she narrowed her eyes as he raised his eyebrows. "You exist only to cause pain. And worse? Most pitiable of all? You relish that fact." They held each other's eyes for a minute or two before Grogar chortled and raised his forehooves. "You got me," he slapped them down and leered at Celestia. "Must feel pretty good to finally have a chance to take a swing as ol' Grogar, eh?" Celestia snapped her wings out and then back. "I do not delight in violence or death, even yours," she tilted her head back and lit up her horn. Grogar noted the sky seemed to grow brighter. "But I also do not delight in changing linens or washing the dishes. You, like those tasks, are a chore." She pointed her horn forward and crouched low to the ground. "My only delight is in being done with you." In a flash, she was gone. Grogar blinked and scanned the field for any sign of her. The dust where she'd been wasn't even disturbed. She was just gone. He snorted and felt around with his magic, humming in delight at what he sensed. "Slipped back sixty seconds before we landed, so you're now," he turned towards the mountains and lowered his horns. "There." With a bone-rattling drone, a yellow beam of energy suddenly and instantly filled the space between himself and Celestia, crashing against her own and causing an explosion of light in the sky. Once it faded, he saw she'd vanished again and the sky was growing brighter. He smiled, choosing to continue ignoring whatever she was setting up. "At least stop flying, so I'm not as tempted to peek," he muttered, scanning with his eyes and magic in tandem. He blinked and then gasped. "Right!" He spun his entire body and whipped his horns out, spreading a translucent veil of magic that blocked Celestia's attack as she reappeared in the spot she'd time-traveled from. "Pony time travel works like a rubber band! You always get pulled back!" He cackled as she shot her wings out and flew straight at him, her forehooves shattering the veil he'd created. He smiled as her hooves reached his chest. "Mine, however." And she was blasted in the side by a beam from the mountains. Grogar cackled and vanished without a trace. As Celestia tumbled and rolled to her hooves with a grunt, she looked up and saw Grogar zooming down from the mountains and landing a dozen feet away. She scowled and shook her wing over her now-blackened side. "Is far more robust, if comparatively limited in how far back I can go," he said with a grin. Celestia snorted, stamped her hoof, and rocketed forward. Grogar squawked in surprise as the earth beneath him shifted, and a line nearly a mile long rolled towards Celestia, dragging him with it. The combined speed of the pair found the princess directly above him before he had a chance to react, and she slammed her hooves down. Grogar huffed a wheezing croak as she drove him into the ground with enough force that the earth around him split and burst up in a ring of jagged spikes. Pressing into him, Celestia then leaped straight up and tucked into a roll before blasting magic into the ring of stone she'd created. The ground outside the ring cracked, through which black tendrils of shadow erupted and shot through the air at her. With a single wing beat, she hurled herself out of the way as the tendrils skewered the air where she'd been and each other. A pulse rocked up each tendril and at the point they all met, a bulbous tumor swelled and then burst, out of which Grogar came flying with a cackle. He shot after Celestia as she raced to the ground, and upon landing she whirled around twice and met his jaw with a firm buck that exploded with fiery magic. The boom of the impact blasted a layer of dust off the ground, which was split when Grogar was sent sailing through it. He hit the ground and tumbled for dozens of feet until finally he came to a sliding halt; his hooves and limbs were tangled over himself in horrible contortions and his head was twisted almost all the way around. He moaned once, and then two beams of magic pierced his neck and chest. His eye rolled and locked on Celestia. "Merciless," he jeered with a wet gurgle. He slumped his head over and rapidly slithered to his hooves. With a series of cracks and pops, he righted his limbs, and once he did, he inspected his missing jaw and loosely hanging tongue with a hoof. He shook his head hard and a black ooze dripped out of his throat with a hiss. The ooze cracked and flaked away, revealing his completely restored jaw. He flexed his regenerated mouth and hummed before regarding Celestia. "Not used to having to use your magic to heal yourself?" She asked. Her horn was still alight and the sky continued to brighten. It was becoming even harder to ignore whatever was happening above them. Grogar kept his eyes forward. "Usually, I can heal myself with other's fear," he replied with a smile. "Safe to say you're not afraid of me?" "Correct." Grogar laughed and crouched. "We'll see if we can-" Celestia beat her wings and shot into the sky. There was a pulse of magic all around him. He rolled his eyes and looked up. "Alright, alright. What've you got cookin'-" His newly reformed jaw nearly fell off. "Fleeces Tuft, mare." Princess Luna watched the scene from the balcony of her tower. Behind her, the castle's night staff looked on in shock and horror, a few fainting at the sight. Luna hummed and furrowed her brow while below, on the streets of Canterlot, the residents were emerging from their homes to look westward. The hunting team leaned on the railing of Calaeno's ship in amazement. "Er, Twi, you think this has something to do with Peter?" Applejack asked. "Hwha?" Twilight murmured. From the rim of the volcano she had been napping in, Ember munched on a clawful of gems while holding her free claw over her eyes. "Sick." Minister Coal shot up from his bed with a snort. Turning towards his window, he threw off his blanket, stomped over, and yanked the curtains closed before returning to bed. Laying on Quilt's old bed in the castle, I gently petted her while keeping her tucked close to my side. Cozy was snuggled up on her other side, and Frill leaned over me to look at her with teary-eyed sympathy. Despite everyone's best efforts, she was completely unresponsive. I looked up at Graggle, who was peeking through the closed curtains. "What the heck is that?" I asked. Graggle rubbed his chin and turned to me. "I can't be certain, but it looks like-" Grogar stood with his jaw hanging and his eyes burning as the sun slowly rolled towards him. He'd seen the sun and moon be pulled lower than normal before, but he'd never been directly under either when it happened. Some of his old adversaries had tried this trick to kill the Wendigos he'd unleashed. And Celestia was doing it to kill him. He clamped his jaw shut when he saw her looming above him, a single dot in the sky that was now filled with fire. He blinked, worked his magic over his eyes to better adjust to the intense light, and saw her with her wings spread and her horn raised to the sun. The flaming tongues that rolled and lashed across its surface were whipped into a frenzy and then shot out in all directions. They arced down, enclosing the entire region in a dome of fire, and seemed to bury themselves underground. He scanned the entire region and clicked his teeth. "Nowhere to warp to, and I can't go back far enough to get out," he hummed and sat down. "My Evil Eye, maybe?" He focused and then hissed before shaking his head. "Those flames are a part of her? Very impressive," he stood and paced in place as the fiery cage began to close in. "Think, think, think. Oh ho ho, this is a good one!" He watched the fire pick up speed, like a giant claw rapidly clenching a clawful of dirt. He stopped pacing and slowly raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes to look at her. "Maybe." He quickly worked a few spells, first setting one on himself with a time delay. Then, putting up his dark shields. The fire came crashing in on all sides, consuming his entire being. The fiery net tightened and dragged itself into the air before shrinking to the sun, leaving behind a many-mile-wide, hundred-foot-deep, smoking pit, partially glazed with stripes of shimmering glass. A pop of magic shined at its center, and Celestia appeared huffing and puffing as she worked her magic to return the sun to its resting place. As the flaming giant lumbered to the horizon, she scanned the hazy crater for any sign of Grogar, grimacing when she found him. His magic had held up long enough that, rather than be completely incinerated, he was reduced to a spasming, charred skeletal thing, missing an entire horn, half of the other, and gasping. She studied the injured villain for a moment, waiting for some spell or counter attack. When nothing happened, she breathed a sigh and relaxed. Then, one of its melted eyes blinked. She flinched as his ruined form jumped to its hooves and shook off its blackened skin, revealing a completely unscathed Grogar beneath. "Hoo! Not bad, but got anything spicier?" He chirped. She gasped and stumbled back. Grogar winked. "Gotcha." She blanched and saw the magical aether around him shimmer with the telltale signs of fear being magically put to work. "Unbelievable," she groused as the illusory Grogar faded, and the injured Grogar rapidly regenerated from his charred state. Though, as he rose to his hooves with a series of coughs that gave way to heavy breathing, she sighed in relief. "At least it had some effect." "Understatement!" He laughed before coughing again. "Whew. Not bad." She scowled in response to his returning smile. "My turn now," he said with a fang-filled grin. Celestia grimaced, held her breath, and spread her wings. A tense few seconds passed, and then Grogar looked just over her shoulder for a moment. "How's that?" He nodded his head past her. She whipped around with her horn alight. "WHOOP!" As she gazed at the empty space behind her in disbelief, she heard a deep rush of wind behind her and turned back to see Grogar missing and a smokey trail of shadow racing towards the edge of the pit before splitting into five equal streams, all heading in separate directions. She released her breath, let her wings and mane sag with exhaustion, and looked down to see, once the smoke trail cleared, a message burned in the ground. 'Top shelf! Nearly killed me. Outta juice. See you soon.' She scowled and looked up at the sun as it finally vanished behind the horizon, returning the world to the dark of night.