What The Night Remembers

by TCSNxs

Interlude One: Does The Night Dream?

Luna went though he next few hours with a lot on her mind. The Lunar Regent found her thoughts full of questions that weren't easily resolved. After lowering the moon a few hours ago, she decided that some food would her clear her head. What Luna lacked in the decisiveness of her sister, she tried to make up for in creative solutions. That said, none would be forthcoming.

Luna remained silent as the two took up their usual morning meal. Celestia, thankfully or not, left her alone with her thoughts. Finding no answers in the grilled mushroom salad, she decided some sleep maybe good. Her hooffalls echoed in the final stretch of hall that lead to her private abode. Two of her Lunar Guard bowed as usual and opened the doors for her. Normally, she responded with a polite smile or a few words, but she passed by as if they were echoes of memory.

As the doors closed, she looked through her prized possessions. An abacus, an old book of prose, and a worn leather cowpony hat were held in prized positions above her mantle. Luna looked the worn brown leather hat with affection. A bit of the brim was seemingly was cut away by design and numerous scratches and weathered marks dotted the surface. While tarnished and worn with age, it was still quite flexible. In fact, it was still quite usable. She owed that to the Applejack's namesake. After its first owner passed on, she had a small quote put just below it.

"I miss you, my friend," Luna spoke as much to herself as her memories, both old and new. She took off her regalia and made ready for some well earned sleep. It occurred to the Lunar Regent she was acting a bit overly morose, though she felt powerless to change it. Not with much uncertainty. Perhaps slumber would help her clear her head? After hopping into her large bed, her body turned many times over before finally finding comfort and drifting off into the alicorn's version of slumber.

The ponies of Dream Valley were proud and strong. Gradually, through a mixture of luck and sheer will, they made their way along the mountain path. The few pegasi guards that were available worked to keep the sky clear of those monsters that could fly. The armed and armored unicorn and earth ponies worked in a wedge ahead of the impromptu contingent of "militia" from the vast valley below. They pressed on, though there numbers dwindled, they had laid more of their opponents low.

Luna released her gaseous form magic, as did Celestia, in a copse of trees off to the side of the castle. They despised the plan, but there was little else they could do. Most of Dream Valley's ponies already fell to Tirek's magic and they would not see others suffer the same fate. Neither did it seem prudent to storm the castle with little idea of what defenses awaited them. The unspoken leader of the Dream Valley ponies, the fiery tempered farmer named Applejack, sparked the plan they were now executing.

"Why attack the hornet's nest when all you want is the hornet?" the farmer had noted. The adage struck Luna as surprisingly sound and the rest fell into place quickly. With the forces available and given the fact the closest sizable garrison was two days march, it seemed prudent if they were to prevent more ponies from falling to the daemon.

The alicorn sisters, wearing three Elements of Harmony each, watched the plot unfold before them. The ponies working their way up the mountain would be a necessary distraction and bait for Tirek. As with all daemons, Tirek had a natural arrogance that could be played upon. A challenge from a "lesser" being, if Applejack could ever be called that, should keep him out of the castle long enough for Celestia and Luna to work the Elements against him. Such security bred of hubris would, they hoped, be enough to keep him out. Still, it was a gambit that could fall apart easily if they didn't draw him out, but the sisters could ill afford to wait longer. Not where Equestria was concerned.

"Come on y'all," Applejack yelled as she bucked another monster off the side of the mountain, "Move your haunches!"

The earth pony's orange fur was matted with dirt and sported a few garish cuts, but her pride and temper prodded her onward. Unlike the rest of the denizens from Dream Valley, she worked along side the armored guards to clear the path. Luna and Celestia still waited in their leafy coverage near Midnight Castle atop the mountain. There was little else they could do at the moment.

"Sister, perhaps you should make her a Captain of the Guard?" Luna remarked quietly, watching the scene unfold before her. Another monster unwillingly flew off the side of the trail with a loud shrill. A half gleeful, half maniacal "Yeehaw!" erupted above the din. Luna watched her friend work with open admiration.

"I would, though I shudder to think of the example she'd set for the other guards," Celestia said with typical nonchalance as the Element of Magic's crown quietly gathering its strength atop her head, "It would do little good to see armored ponies marching around the Everfree cursing the very trees themselves."

"Perhaps, but still," Luna's quip was cut off with a cream colored hoof. Celestia nodded to the castle's massive double doors that were opening. The sisters spread their wings and silently took to the air. Luna purposely kept the moon's glow dim to further mask their presence.

The contingent from Dream Valley got to flat top of the mountain. Though their numbers thinned somewhat from their original number, the guards fanned out anyway. The defiant earth pony with seven small red apples as her cutie mark stood ahead of the rest. She glanced around as the doors finished opening. She understood the numbers were against her, but she accepted that. The ponies of Dream Valley kept a safe distance back. Applejack was okay with that as well. She volunteered so nopony else would get hurt.

"Anypony else want a limp?" she yelled out defiantly. The brim of her well-worn hat was caked in blood, some of her own. The farmer seemed confident it only added to the effect she wanted..

"This...this is what Celestia and Luna send against me?" spoke a tall centaur as he cantered out of the doors. Though host of monsters gathered behind him, they kept a respectful distance back. While his lower half had the familiar form of an equine, the daemon's upper half seemed utterly alien. A pair of long, muscly appendages ended in with grasping digits. Long horns jutted out and up from his head, the ends of which formed sharp points. The centuar's attire was dark blue and, aside from a pouch he wore around his thick neck, he had no weapons. The fact he was a half-ton of physical hazards seemed menacing enough.

"Ah tell you what," the earth pony said as she stepped forward. Two dark figures quietly landed silently atop the battlements of the castle to either side of a pair of monsters. After a brief and quiet tussle, two guards remained, standing close together. Applejack continued, betraying nothing of what she saw, "Y'all turn my friends back, unharmed, and you walk away from here."

"You would think to parlay with me?" the centaur's voice echoed with a dark amusement. A grasping appendage removed the pouch from around his neck.

"This ain't a negotiation," the farmer said as she put another hoof forward. Her fierce green eyes staring up and into Tirek's malicious orbs, "This is what it is. Give back our friends and leave. Now."

"The equine humor has forever escaped me. Return home, small thing, and I shall forget this took place," the centaur turned to walk a back into the ominous castle, waving his appendage in dismissal of the earth pony.

"Why you..." Applejack muttered, her cheeks flush red with anger. She charged toward the centaur. Tirek, as if expecting it all, quickly turned back and opened the pouch. A beam with varying shades of grey shot from the pouch. It roared towards the charging farmer, quickly encompassing her form. Luna watched from the battlements; her mind frozen in horror as her friend disappeared within the beam of daemonic magic. The contingent of ponies broke loose towards the trail at that moment as the alicorns watched on, Luna's brain clawing at her eyes trying to find a way to change the scene.

As the beam disappeared into the confines of the bag, the sisters watched as Applejack's form was already morphing. Her body grew taller. Battered leather wings began sprouting grotesquely from her back and fangs grew where her teeth used to be. Her fierce green eyes changed into yellow slits that glanced around, then over her form. A dark piercing cry loosed itself from her throat, as if in defiance of what she'd become as her once proud orange fur grew ebony.

"Applejack...." Luna whispered, her anger growing to explosive proportions. The Elements at her command, those of Laughter, Generosity and Kindness, didn't seem to begrudge her emotions one bit as they begged for release. Celestia was already in the midst of calling upon her Elements, her eyes and horn glowing a blazing white. Luna fell within herself, pouring everything she had into the magic of the Elements. She felt a pressure building deep inside as the six Elements connected, manifesting their magic. Preparing their judgment.

Tirek looked up as the alicorns rose, though not under their own power. On practiced instinct, he opened the pouch again as the gray beam shot out again. The Rainbow of Light, combining itself with the power of two alicorns, loosed itself at the same moment. The prismatic magic engulfed everything in its wake, even the gray magic of the Rainbow of Darkness, as if it were a puny thing. A bright burst of light exploded in every direction as the Elements of Harmony passed their judgment upon the beast. Tirek loosed a primal cry of his own, though it was drowned out in the sheer power of the display.

After the light faded, the host in the castle stood collectively dumbfounded. Luna and Celestia flew off the battlements and landed on the ground. Celestia worked the large double doors closed with her magic, before working a shield bubble around the castle itself, warding it from any escape. Luna cantered towards the monstrous Applejack, moving past the smoldering hoofprints where Tirek once stood.

"Applejack," Luna whispered again, her vengeance sated but heart still racing.

"Ya...put...me...down," the monster croaked in a guttural voice. The slitted irises started to lose Applejack's familiar luster as a single tear streaked down her dark face. The morphing magic was taking hold and she knew it. A clawed appendage where a hoof once was grasped at the ground as in frustration, "Ah won't...live like...this..."

The guards raced past the two and back down the mountain path, looking to tend to the wounded that could be saved. Celestia moved next to her sister, "Sister, I do not think..."

"Shut. Up," Luna spoke to them both in an even, almost deadly calm. Luna's horn glowed while as she fell within herself, searching through her vast mental repository of spells, looking for anything to change the situation. Physiomorphic magic was something that wasn't easy to counter when done to another pony. But such magic took time to fully take hold, so she had a chance. But the daemonic work was fast taking root.

After seemingly an eternity, Luna found nothing to change the situation. Feeling along the edges of the dark magic, she found it so foreign that she could not find an exploitable weakness and she could not outright overpower the magic. At least by herself.

Luna let her horn's glow die away as looked to the Elements of Harmony in desperation. Could they reverse the taint? The sisters no more commanded the Elements of Harmony as they were controlled it. It were more akin to a living entity and the ultimate judge of matters. Sometimes it was harsh, while other time gentle. There was no way to be sure as they only used in the most dire of circumstances. That said, there no choice but to try. The Lunar Regent could feel the black taint in Applejack's aura growing ever stronger. The alicorn looked to her sister, her face and expression of pure distress and begging. Celestia didn't need to ask. It would either cleanse Applejack or perhaps kill her. Either way, the Solar Regent silently agreed. There was simply no other choice.

Celestia and Luna's forms glowed once again as the Rainbow of Light was loosed for a second time that night from their source within the Elements of Harmony. The magic poured over the monstrous Applejack, who let out something between a cry of pain and a howl to freedom. The scene held for many seconds, though it was another eternity to the distressed Lunar Regent. Suddenly, something pulled at the very spirit of sisters, something familiar and warm. Immediately, they willed the magic to die away.

The alicorns looked to the orange form sprawled on the ground. Luna gasped as a leg twitched once, then again. Gradually, the wobbly Applejack got to her hoofs. She put a hoof to her head and tried to shake the cobwebs loose. Luna's eyes closed while they rimmed with wetness. The sister's had their answer to cleanse the rest of the ponies turned monsters.

"Ah feel like Ah've had the hay beat out of me," spoke the farmer, glancing to both the alicorns. Her green eyes regained the luster Luna was accustomed to.

"Fair Applejack, try not to speak," Luna whispered as trotted up and nuzzled her friend, trying to hide her tears.

"Ah feel fine," Applejack quipped, the seven apples of her cutie mark seemed to glisten in the moonlight as she returned the nuzzle just the same, "It was a damn near run thing though."