1
It was midnight and Luna had taken her place in her night court. Her throne was Midnight Blue that would glisten and twinkle with the starlight that came in from the glass panes on the roof. Luna sighed and prepared herself for another boring night. Nopony was ever awake for her night court, hence none would ever come to her for guidance or to file complaints.
"Open the door please, I wish to see that nopony has arrived yet again." she said sarcastically. The guard picked up on her sarcasm but decided to open the doors anyway. Outside waited a line that looked as though half a city had arrived. Luna was stunned. Not only had somepony arrived but it looked as though half of Canterlot was waiting. "What is going on here? I've never seen so many ponies come to night court even before...Well anyway. Guard! Send in the first pony, please."
"Yes, Princess."
He turned to the first pony. He sent in a bright green pony with a rake for a cutie mark. She walked timidly to the center of the throne room. She stopped and looked up to the Princess of the Night. She stood in silence until Princess Luna addressed her.
"Hello there, what is it you wish to speak with me about?" she tried to say nicely.
"H...Hello, P..P...Princess, um, I'm here to report that something destroyed my farm."
Luna was excited. It was the first time she would be able to help a citizen of Equestria with a problem, even if it was about a farm.
"Do you know what kind of creature it was?" Luna asked inquisitively.
"No, I don't but it was very large."
"What is your name my little pony?"
"Green Leaf, your majesty."
"Well Green Leaf, I don't know what I can do to help unless you can tell me something about this large creature. Tell me anything, number of legs, size of its head, anything."
"Well, I noticed it walked on two legs and not four." Green Leaf answered timidly.
Luna looked at Green Leaf while she thought about what creatures walked on two legs in Equestria.
"Anything else?"
"No, that's all I could see of it."
"I see. Thank you Green Leaf, I will have somepony look into it for you."
"Thank you, Princess." she said before leaving the throne room.
"Next, please!" Luna called.
The next pony entered the room, a stallion this time.
"What is it you wish to say, sir?"
"Actually Princess, I overheard what Green Leaf said and I actually came to say the same but it wasn't a farm this time, it destroyed my house! I was lucky to get my family out before it collapsed."
"What!? The same creature? Are you positive?" Luna asked in disbelief."
"Yes, Princess. except I noticed that it had these, glowing red eyes. If it wasn't for its obscenely loud roars, I would have never have known it was nearing until it was too late."
"You are dismissed."
The stallion bowed and left the room.
"Captain!"
A Pegasus mare clad in Purple armor and Purple shoes came running up to the Princess.
"What is it you require of me Princess?" she asked.
"Captain Dark Heart, take a small group of the guards and go ask the ponies in the line why they are here. I wish to know if they are all here for the same reason or if they are here for different ones as well. If it is the same reason I may need you to wake Celestia to help with tonight."
"Yes ma'am!" Dark Heart said while saluting. "You, you and you! Follow me!" she yelled at some of the guards closest to her. She and the other guards all filed out to the line of waiting ponies.
Captain Dark Heart returned after speaking with the line of ponies and hearing what the other guards had to say. She approached Luna quickly and whispered into her ear.
"Are you sure?" Luna whispered into Dark Heart's ear, who nodded in return. "Did the pony's offer any descriptions?"
"No, Princess. All of these ponies claim that a large two legged creature destroyed their homes or farms, in some cases, both. Also, some of claimed to have heard loud roars coming from the Everfree Forest before the creature made this current wave of destruction."
"Oh, my." She thought for a while before speaking again. "Go and wake Celestia, I will need her help handling all of this." Luna said, worried.
"Right away."
2
Celestia slept peacefully in her over-sized bed and turned lazily to her side. She groaned loudly when she heard a loud knocking on her door.
"It's past one in the morning! It's not yet time for me to raise the sun, so let me be!" she yelled.
"Forgive me Princess but Princess Luna requests your assistance with tonight's hearing's." Dark Heart replied.
"Since when does Luna need my help with her Night Court? Nopony, if any, usually show up to it anyway." she whispered groggily. "Tell Luna I'll be there soon!" she yelled to Dark Heart.
"Right Away!" Celestia heard, before hearing hooves running down the hall away from her room.
When she had finally arrived to the throne room, her eyes became wide. The crowd of ponies had forced their way into the throne room. Luna sat on her throne trying to calm all of them but to no avail. All the while the many numbers of ponies that had infiltrated the room were all yelling and making noise. Ponies were beginning to push the line of guardsponies back slightly, while the guards pushed back. They were locked in a never ending game of tug-a-war. By the time Celestia had registered what was happening she had had enough.
"CEASE AND DESIST IMMEDIATELY!" Celestia roared in her Royal Canterlot Voice, which hasn't been heard in over a thousand years. The building shook and at least half of Canterlot had awoken by the time she had finished. "What is going on in here, that I had to be woken up at this ungodly hour!? LUNA! I expect a good explanation." she said aggravated.
"Yes, well, you see...um...These ponies..." she stuttered.
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"I was trying to piece together what they were telling me about some monster that has been destroying their homes and farms and they all got impatient." she said quickly.
Celestia thought for a moment. "I see, and just what is this "monster"?"
"All I could gather from all of this was that it has glowing red eyes, walks on two legs, roars very loudly and leaves waves of destruction wherever he goes." Luna said quietly.
"And where is this happening exactly?" Celestia asked the crowd.
"By the Everfree forest your majesty and near to Ponyville. We all came from a small farming village in between Ponyville and Trottingham." one of them spoke up.
"Ponyville? Two legs, glowing red eyes?" the realization started to dawn upon Celestia. "Everyone out! Don't make me say it again! Luna, Come with me, now!" Celestia yelled.
The crowd of ponies quickly ran out of the throne room and Luna followed quickly after Celestia. Luna and Celestia jogged down the massive hallway until they came to Celestia's room. They walked in and Celestia told Luna to sit. Luna promptly sat on the carpet in the center of the room.
"I told you we would try this again later, now seems to be an appropriate time. Go on, I'm going to lie back down for a while. Wake me when you find your nightmare."
"Do you think that this creature is the one I saw earlier?"
"It's just a theory but I believe so, yes. Now, if you'll excuse me." Celestia murmured before lying down in her bed again.
Luna's horn glowed in its dark blue aura and she closed her eyes in concentration, looking for the cause of the disturbance.
3
"CELESTIA!" Luna bellowed.
Celestia shot up out of her slumber and was now looking around the room quickly before resting her gaze on Luna.
"What? You found him didn't you?" Celestia said, worried.
"Yes. He's almost to Ponyville now."
"We need to hurry. Gather your best Night Guardsponies, I will gather my best ponies."
Luna nodded and was out of the room before Celestia could blink. Celestia left the room and ran to gather Shining Armour and her best guards.
Luna had gathered Captain Dark Heart and four of her best guardsponies. Celestia came out of the castle a short time later with Shining Armour in tow and five of her best guardsponies.
"Are we ready?" Celestia asked Shining Armour.
"Yes Princess. Everypony is accounted for." he answered.
"Good. Luna, how about you?"
"Yes, we are ready."
"We need to move quickly, so I will brief all of you on the way. Let's go!"
Celestia, Luna and their respective captains and guardsponies were up and running to their destination while Celestia and Luna flew close above while she briefed them on the situation.
4
They had been running or flying, depending on the species of pony, for almost three hours when they made it to the small farming town that sat between Trottingham and Ponyville. They all stopped in awe of what they saw. Buildings were level with the ground, some were consumed by fire. Ponies were scrambling around to put out the fires and help their wounded.
"Sweet Celestia." Shining Armour whispered, though not quiet enough.
"So, that's what ponies use my name for now." Celestia mumbled. "A couple of you will stay behind and help these ponies. Luna and I will go on ahead to Ponyville. I leave the choice to you Captain Shining, make it quick and get to Ponyville as quickly as you can. I don't need to remind you what's at stake." Celestia and Luna flew off into the distance while Dark Heart and the rest of the selected Night Guard followed behind the Princesses.
"No, Princess you don't need to remind me about what's at stake. I'm sure Twilight can handle herself for now." he whispered before issuing the orders to his small group.
As Luna and Celestia flew toward Ponyville the same sights kept greeting them with every second of flight time. By the time they had left the town's airspace they had had their fill of destruction. As the Princesses flew over the forest to save some flight time they saw another wave of destruction below them.
Trees lay on the ground shattered and in pieces on the ground and the bodies of dead animals lay all over the ground staining the grass red, Celestia could not see the color of the grass but Luna could see everything as clear as day. Luna began to shed some tears for all the ponies and animals that could have or had lost their lives to this monster. She could feel all of the survivor’s pain in her heart.
"What manner of monster is this? To destroy so much and take lives without hesitation?" Luna asked herself.
Celestia heard Luna ask that question and it had been the very same on her mind as well. They continued flying as fast as their wings could carry them until they saw a shimmering light on the horizon.
"Sister what is that?" Luna asked over the sound of the air in their ears.
"Nothing good. Especially after seeing everything we have, I fear that we may already be too late to help anypony."
"I hope not."
"Me too, Luna. Me too."
When they arrived in Ponyville the sight of the town was not that much different from the farming village. Buildings were leveled and fires had spread to some of the buildings that were still standing. They had noticed that the devastation had not reached far into the town yet and it was just the area outside the main part of the town, where few houses were.
"Luna, go check on Fluttershy at her cottage. If this thing is in this part of the town she would have been the first in line."
"Right." Luna said, but before she could go anywhere she heard the roar of a blood thirsty creature that she had only seen in her nightmares. "Sister?"
"I know I heard it to."
"Where is it coming from?"
"I'm not sure."
They saw a building collapse from the fire that had overtaken it. They watched as some of the residents of the town came over with buckets of water to help put out the fire. They threw the water on the now broken home and watched as some of the fire fizzled out but was quickly overtaken again by the still active fire. They started to back up when they saw the planks and pieces of the roof shift, spouting ash and spark into the air. The pieces of the house fell around a tall figure as it stood in the center of the rubble.
Celestia and Luna looked on in horror as it stood up at its full height and let out a mighty roar that made even the Princesses cover their ears. Its arms glowed a dim red from the heat and the small fire cast a shadow over part of his face while the other side was illuminated lightly. Luna was on the verge of screaming from seeing that her nightmare had a physical form. Celestia watched with a sick feeling in her stomach.
"What is it, Celestia?" Luna asked with fear.
"In all my years and after all of the villains I've faced, I have never seen anything like this before." she answered dumbstruck. "Whatever it is we cannot let it continue this devastation."
"Yes." Luna responded.
"Go check on Fluttershy, I'll try to keep this thing at bay." Celestia said before leaving her sister by the entrance of Ponyville and flying to where the greatest challenge of her immortal life would be waiting.