//------------------------------// // Act 2 CH 3 Ascensions: Moonlit Scroll's Plan // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------// The mirror was gone. That meant something, but what? He blinked and, for the first time in stars knew how long, his sight was interrupted. What? He thought as he started to notice other things. He could feel his chest moving as he breathed in. He could see his muzzle. His heart was beating inside his ribcage again and not half a Celestia to the side. All around him was a bright grey, as if he were surrounded by a luminescent fog. Faint point sources of colour lazily shifted within. As his eyes focused on one, it shuddered and retreated, the echo of a scream trailing in its wake. The next was a roar of rage, the one after a pitiful whimper. Despite the range of responses, none of them drew close enough to be identified, so that mystery would have to wait. Slowly, carefully, he examined his body. It was whole, intact and healthy. The Noble Guide changeling transmutation had been stripped away, leaving only his own original form. He got to his hooves without his flesh giving a single protest. The dull grey surface below proved as hard as it was textureless, almost as if he now stood supported by a projected plan of force. One of two things was happening. Either one of the Princess had decided on an alternative torment for him, or this was part of the plan he mauled his own mind to protect. He pushed some magic to his horn, and before he could shape it, it floated off into the mist to become another wisp. "Interesting." The evidence that this was a prison built. Whatever caused this effect was far more reliable than a horn suppressor. His eyes tracked the lights. "Trying to make me request my actions?" He asked the mist on the reasonable assumption a captive like himself would never truly be left unobserved. Some of the lights charged him, their reckless advance rebounded as if they hit a wall just before they would have breached the obscuring fog. He snorted in mild irritation and considered what to do. Just waiting here and doing nothing was not an option. Only the lazy and prey did that, and he was neither. Noting his current facing, he examined his soundings. The fog started six and a half lengths from him, and both distributions and movements of the lights seemed random. The only pattern he could find was all the lights except those that sounded angry fled his focused gaze. For his next test, he advances two lengths. To the muffled sound of his hoof falls, the fog ahead retreated while behind him it advanced, leaving him still with a clear reduction of six and a half lengths around himself. "A little slant to the ground or a hint of misdirection magic, and this cell would not need to be very large to have a pony trotting in circles." He nodded his head. If this was, in fact, his new cell, it was an elegant solution. With the magic drain in place, he had no tools other than his mundane senses. He shrugged and started walking. He had been still far too long, and just the feel of his muscles moving under his coat felt like an indulgent luxury now. His body no longer tried to tear itself apart. As he walked, he considered himself. He was not thirsty nor hungry. His wellspring felt stable and ready to answer his call, not that he could use it for anything here. The walk lasted for about three minutes before he saw something. His circle of clear visibility opened up ahead. A three-length wide lane extended as far as his vision could resolve. As proudly as any noble attending court, he strode in. It was then that scrying windows manifested, flanking the lane. They started with his birth and moved on from there. As fascinating as it was to ponder the magic behind this reformation tool, he ignored them. He remembered most of his past, and his early years held no relevance now. His path had started when he had found a black gem. If it were not for the way it caught the moonlight, he would have walked right by it none the wiser. It had been a fascinating discovery. It was no mere image recording. He had not encountered anything as complex in his life at that point. The gem proved to hold memories, and as if that was an utterly trivial act, a pony had used it as a simple diary and way to record idle thoughts. That pony had proved to be Luna, Celestia's lesser sister and the one who became Nightmare Moon. Finding out that Nightmare Moon was real and was truly Celestia's sister had been a paradigm-altering event. Learning that neither of them was born an Alicorn and that with a little knowledge and the right preparation, anypony could be made an Alicorn shattered his entire worldview and set the course for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, the rants about Celestia did not contain everything he needed, but that, mixed with Luna's rambling reflections on her past, did give him enough clues to begin his search. If not for his growing irritation with Celestia's newest and less-than-perfect student, he could have continued his preparations in Canterlot. It had been easy, with Luna's insights, to slip past the security to view the few tomes that were forbidden to even one with his vaunted position. Then one day, after a week of terrible sleep, he had made a foalish mistake. Intent on putting Twilight in her place as the subpar replacement for Sunset Shimmer he gave the assignment of casting a spell. A spell from a book he should not have had. The suddenness of Celestia's response had shocked him. He had to use everything in his arsenal, burn out every artefact he had gathered so far, and even sacrifice the last dregs of Alicorn power that remained in Luna's dairy. After faking one's own suicide, it was not like he could just return home, so he had wondered and sought his knowledge out in the world, tracking down ruins and ancient land sites that showed up in some of Luna's memories. There were those that stood in the way of his quest. The dozens of dark mages, warlocks and witches that he had enthralled or killed were mere stepping stones upon his path. Each of their ambitions he had crushed had made Equestria safer and protected many lives. Every action he had taken was making the world a better place until it came to the trap he laid in Manehatten, even his plan to acquire a sacrifice, the least of the Alicorns, Twilight Sparkle.   One window did make him stop. It showed the temple of the hidden path as Twilight, in all her regal glory, barded in magically forged blood. On her wings were an archaic style of wing blades that she proudly brandished like some sort of ancient warrior. As he watched the confrontation replay, he promised himself once again he would not be blinded by hubris a second time. Everything proceeded as he remembered until Twilight unexpectedly fell. That was when another pony appeared, one he had not noticed at the time. A little filly, a clone of how Twilight had looked when she had first become Celestia's student, galloped into the hall, horn ablaze. He wanted to object, there had been no little filly there and no way one could have gotten there unnoticed. Yet something inside him knew this to be the truth. The fact that every detail was perfect and it explained how the spells had been cast without Twilight's horn lighting just cemented it. "Hmm. So your daughter saved you?" He commented as the filly plunged her horn into Twilight's flesh, dark tendrils of magic ripping out a mash of swirling, burning two-toned flames. Magenta streaked with blood-red fire cast the scene in a sinister light. Now able to see the defensive spells being cast, he could easily identify them. A simple magic syphon field and one of Twilgiht's first unique spells. It was an overly complicated, over-engineered refinement of the normal suite of personal protection spells taught to second years, as a matter of course. Seeing what she had crafted from such simple components was humbling. That a simple lab safety spell was able to outperform the most potent battlefield protections he knew should have been an impossibility. The event ended with the counterattack that had cost him all his linked minions. "Not a single moment of hesitation and such a lethal retaliation." He said as the scene started from the beginning once more. "Well, Little Star, it seems you really are a monster." He watched the events unfold dozens of times, noting the details of every spell used. The blood magic that ripped the flames from Twilight was what held his attention the most. He could not stop the barked laugh that escaped him when he finally realised what the counterattack had been. A simple redirection and augmentation subfunction in the lab safety spell. The syphon paired with the safety spell would be a difficult puzzle to solve. Any magic used to try and disrupt, counter, unweave, or overpower it would just make it stronger. The only reliable solution would be to induce sufficient magical flux that the spell structures degraded. But that would not create any advantage, at least not for a unicorn like him. The needed levels of flux would mean no spells would work, and likely, no external magic would either. So, the only tribe that would be mostly unaffected would be earth ponies.   "Alright, Little Star, you get top marks on this assignment." He watched the events play out one last time just to confirm he had learned everything he could before he moved on as the scenes played out before him, the destroyed memories returned to him.   His deal with the changelings, the smug vermin gladly took his left overs to grant him the identity of Noble Guide. Even without mind magic, he had slipped into the noble's confidences. Most of them were nothing but petty, small-minded tyrants or selfish hedonists. Just reviewing the interactions made his coat feel dirty. The fact he had spoken words of agreement with them made part of him want to retch.    Standing before a mirror as he implanted two changeling artifacts and a black gem into his chest. Necessary tools for his deceptions, even if they shackled his powers. Even just remembering it, his hoof rubbed his chest in sympathy for his past self. The many different potions he had consumed to fight the pain and suppress any bodily reactions that might give his deceptions away to anypony. His sitting in Celestia's office, waiting for her arrival. The causal way she had used mind magic to glean the information in his proposals instead of reading them and the blank check her approval had lent his following actions.   'Canterlot is the shining star of Equestria, and we will show that we all stand for the ideals of Harmony' were the words he needed to start to build popular support. With them, it was so easy to gather his sacrifices in the guise of helping them. It was such a small number compared to those he would save in his rule, but still, unlike the corrupted ones he killed before, these, like Noble Guide, were innocents. Even as they were grateful and praised him for his deeds, even as the players the part of the most vitus of ponies, there was no guilt over what he planned for them, only annoyance that it was necessary. If he had just left guards to restrain Twilight, he would have already been an Alicorn at that point.   He watched in bitter humour and rye satisfaction as Twilight's rage literally ignited as she tried to eradicate the noble who had been foolish enough to state to her face that they were going to send mage slayers to exterminate her daughter.   The momentary clash as Celestia stopped half of Canterlot from becoming mere collateral damage was just another terrifying example of what Alicorns could truly do. It was only when the hybrid Candice dove into the flames did Twilight snap out of it. The mare looked like nothing more than an overcooked offering from a giffion's feast when they teleported away. That Celestia snapped the horn off the terrified noble after that was not a surprise, nor was her heavy-hoofed mind magic to sell the story that Twilight had only defended herself from an assassination attempt. Mind magic covered an infinite amount of sins if you were liberal enough with it, after all. Then there was the blight. The window did not show him what went wrong nor why, but he paused as he watched the realisation in his disguised eyes. Even if it had been a mistake, it was still his doing. He was accountable, and even if he would have sacrificed considerably more for his ascension, losing even a single of his ponies due to carelessness or miscalculation was abhorrent to him. The uncomfortable trip in an armed convoy with a pyromaniac Celestia cultist on the roof of his carriage for protection. Nearly bleeding to death underground because of his own stupidity as he prepared the ritual circle. Twilight Sparkle turning up, casually creating a permanent magical shield, then stealing his escort and flying off to do something.    His cunning plan to relocate to help more ponies now his current work was done. All the inefficiency he found. Unit pride and competing nobles wasted so much time and effort. He had set to the problem with a vengeance, and in quick order, things improved.   His capture where Twilight pinned him like are mare in heat and then ripped the artefacts from his chest. He looked away and paid no more attention to any of the windows. Twilight had gotten more than enough satisfaction in literally dismantling him. He walked on but could not stop the trembling in his limbs. She had narrated everything she did and recorded it with both image crystal and scroll. The crazy mare had even thanked him for his sacrifice to medical science as she promised she would never let him die. He screwed his eyes closed and growled as her words came back to haunt him. "Games won't save you now, Moonlit Scroll… I believe you got to know me quite … intimately last time, so… tis only fair if we return the favour, no? Where he had done what he had to for his ascension, she took a sadistic glee in the torment she caused. She had inhaled deeply, savouring the air thick with blood, bile and other things that belonged inside a pony, not outside. The whole time she made him watch, her magic kept him aware of each and every detail. The sound of her laughter and purrs, as she turned him into a perverted art exhibit, caressed his thoughts in the worst possible ways. His legs gave, and the too-smooth ground did nothing to cushion his fall. Sometime later, his breathing calmed, and his mind started to reorder itself. Did I just have a panic attack? He slammed his hoof into the ground. The quiet thump did nothing to sate his building anger. "How dare she!" He snarled. "How dare she do that to me. She will pay." Gone was any thought of recruiting her, any concept of her value to Equestria or how much her loss would weaken it. As his anger kindled to rage, a fire lit in his core. It made him feel light as he got to his hooves. He was about to continue his tirade when he kept rising. Suspended by his core, he lifted into the air. "What?" Dozens of possibilities, each more horrid than the last. Magic ripped from his chest. "Noooo!" he screamed as all the coloured lights burst from the fog and slammed into him. Everything exploded in technicolour agony.