To Glory
Chapter I
In My Time of Dieing
It was a white room; a plain white room that she had been in for months. Humming to herself, she rocked back and forth, the straitjacket holding her front two hooves back.
"It's all right..." she says aloud, "It's all right--the monsters can't hurt us." She began repeating this to herself as she takes a look around her room. Now there were monsters. Lots of them. All shapes and sizes, feasting on the long dead bodies of ponies from the past. Bile began to rise in her mouth as she watches the monsters growl at each other, occasionally exposing small bits and pieces of blood and organs between their teeth. One of them tosses an arm toward her; she nudged it with a hoof before jumping back and screeching in alarm as the appendage jumped toward her.
She began to cry. Why was she locked up in this horrible place?
"Why, sister!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her blood-soaked face. The monsters were urging closer to her now, abandoning their meal, deciding that eating her head was a good idea. "Why force us into these nightmares?!" she screeched at a reflective glass window opposite to her. A monster tried to grab her, and she kicked at it. More monsters joined in, trying to rip off tasty morsels of her blue fur, also ripping the feathers from her wings. Fighting, she began to laugh hysterically. "The monsters can't hurt us! The monsters can't hurt uuuuuuus!" she rolled on the floor, kicking the monsters, "The monsters can't hurt uuuuuuuus-" then something long and thin poked her in the side. Her eyes suddenly became clouded, "M-monsters..." she mumbled, before she lapsed into unconsciousness.
Princess Celestia watched from behind a reflective glass window, as a doctor took the syringe from her sister's now limp body. "You're right doctor." she said, “She has lapsed into insanity. These ‘monsters,’ truly are figments of her imagination.” The princess watched as the ‘monsters’ her little sister had been crying about, trotted out the door, with their white lab coat’s waving in their wake.
Next to her stood a regal brown earth stallion with a white lab coat and thick glasses. "Indeed." He agreed, "I doubt she will recover. It's been almost a year since she has 'admitted', though 'forced' may be a better word, into this facility,for over three months of it, and she's been under a medicated induced coma. " He looked up at Celestia, "Without a miracle, I don't think Princess Luna is going to be around for much longer."
A twisted grin crept up Celestia's face. "Excellent." she said.
The stallion nodded. "Although your basic morals for doing this are a little dubious, I can't say I'm going to miss Luna. Tomorrow, we will surgically remove Luna's horn, her wings, and as you requested, we will not reseal the wounds, so Luna will bleed to death; a ‘tragic accident.’"
Celestia felt a twinge of sadness and guilt pierce her heart. She remembered when she and Luna were little ponies, prancing about the royal guardians; how Luna has always insisted in making her own cake at every single one of Celestia's birthdays. But now, frolicking was not possible. With Luna due to take the throne in five months, according to her mother’s will, Luna will have to be disposed of. She observed the rise and fall of her little sister's body, as she kicked out with her hind leg--like she always did when she was scared. It used to be that Celestia would always come by her side to comfort her, but now she watched as Luna twisted and turned, trapped in the eternal haunted mansion of her mind.
"Oh, by the way," he said, moving the table inside the small room occupied by the alicorn and the scientist, "A cake was delivered here for Luna's birthday tomorrow. I saved it, and I thought you might like it." He pushed a box towards Celestia. The alicron raised an eyebrow.
“A cake was delivered for my sister, and you keep it?” she asked, “And there’s something wrong with my morals?"
The scientist blushed slightly.
“Oh, you know... I just thought maybe we could share a piece, and maybe catch a movie or something later?” Celestia stared at the scientist, who looked away awkwardly.
Using her magic, Celestia levitated the top of the box, revealing a well made circular cake, featuring an old picture of Luna's first birthday, where Celestia had been trying to put a party hat on Luna's head, but the baby Alicorn had adamantly refused, demanding cake.
Celestia resealed the box.
"Unfortunately, I have some important work to attend to." she said briskly, "However, I would thank you very much if you could give this to my sister." the scientist stared at her for a moment, before nodding.
"Yes Celestia," he said, "Of course." he gave a low bow as Celestia left the room. For a second, he thought he caught a glimmer of a tear on Celestia’s cheek...but that couldn't have been possible. He turned his gaze back to Luna, who was stirring in her sleep. She had the uncanny ability to sleep for random amounts of time; sometimes months, sometimes seconds.
Balancing the cake on his back, he slowly made his way out of the dimly lit room, and into the stark, bland halls of the Equestrian Mental Asylum's maximum security wing. Trotting around the corner, he slowly entered Luna's room.
"Hello!" he said brightly. Luna jumped back, and screeched,
"MONSTER!" at the top of her lungs, then curled up in fear. The twisted scientist chuckled to himself.
"Don't worry, I'm just here to give you cake." he said, humming, A sudden phrase sprung in his mind: The cake is a lie....what?Instantly, Luna sat up, surprising the scientist.
"Are you life's manager?" she asked. The scientist stared at her, dumbfounded.
"I-I suppose?" he said hesitantly.
"Good." she said, "Because last time, someone gave me lemons, and you know what I said? I said ‘When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back. GET MAD! I DON'T WANT YOUR DAMN LEMONS! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THESE?! DEMAND TO SEE LIFE'S MANAGER! Make life RUE the day it thought it could give PRINCESS LUNA LEMONS! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I'M THE PONY WHO'S GONNA BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN! WITH THE LEMONS! I'm gonna-’”
The door slammed shut quickly, leaving cake sitting before Luna. Curious, the alicorn scooted closer to the cake, featuring her younger self and her sister. Honestly, at this point, Luna couldn't even recognize that what she was looking at was a cake. She poked at the odd sugary substance sprinkled on top. Miraculously, some odd creamy stuff came off when she poked it. Sticking out her tongue, Luna took a hesitant lick at the stuff. Explosions of flavor streamed through Luna's mouth. Soft, and sugary; Luna felt as if she had tasted nothing so fine in eons. She licked her lips, and moved closer to the cake. Opening her mouth, she took an enormous bite. It was delicious and soft and... hard? Luna's face twisted as she swallowed some odd, solid thing, that felt a bit like a pebble.
The effects were instantaneous; Luna trembled, as a hot, uncomfortable feeling welled up in her chest. She looked at her back hooves and gasped. Her previously mistreated and marred back legs, were strong and healthy. A warm feeling now spreads throughout her body, and for the first time in a year, Luna horn sparked. It was a tiny spark, but it was still magic, slowly leaking from her horn.
Pushing herself onto her back legs, she waddled towards heavy door. "Helloooooo!" she called, "We feel sooooo much better now! Can we play with thee?" She asked. There was a shuffling outside the door. Leaning on it, Luna peeked through the sliver of a window to see a black pegasus looking at the door, eyes filled with terror. "Aw, tis okay!" she said, "We shall not hurt thee!" she looked down at herself. Maybe it's the white things, she thought, referring to her straitjacket. The monsters wear white things like this too.
Acting with all her might, she pushed against the jacket; however, it did not budge. After about three minutes of flexing, running, and crashing into things, Luna decided that the jacket wasn't coming off that way. Peeking back out the window, she saw that the black Pegasus hadn't moved a muscle, but there was a small puddle of odd yellow liquid below him. Luna frowned.
"Don't cry!" she said, trying to think of some way to remove the jacket. Leaning back on the door, her ears perked to a "clacking" sound. She was suddenly reminded of her horn."Oh yeah!" she exclaimed. "I can do magic!"
Concentrating, she imagined the jacket falling off of her shoulders. Her eyes shot open to a "clunk,” and she looked down. Her straitjacket had been burned to crisp, edges smouldering.. unfurling her fore-hooves, Luna fell down upon four strong legs. Whatever she had eaten, it was healing her. Age-long wounds were beginning to fade through her body, and her scarred and seared mind was beginning to heal.
Turning towards the door, she nudged it. "We will be out in juuuuuust a minute!" she said happily. Pointing her horn at the door, she focused again. There was a loud bang, and the door was blasted off it's hinges. She walked out into the hall, smiling. "We can play now!" she announced, then frowned. Where was the Pegasus? He wasn't there any more. All that appeared was a bright splatter of red, wet paint all over the wall behind the door. He must be playing hide and seek. She giggled.
"Thou didst not even give us time to count!!" She called, before charging down the hall.
All around her, she noticed little doors like her own, shut and padlocked. Inside, she could hear wails, and sudden slamming noise, as whatever was inside them struggled to escape. Her slowly healing mind was finally beginning to process that this wasn’t a playroom. Creeping down a stark hall, and taking another turn, she was suddenly faced with five “monsters,” with white lab coats. Among them was the monster who had given her the cake. Stumbling back, both Luna, and the doctors, cried out in fear.
“Luna’s free!”
“How did she escape?”
“MONSTERS!!!”
Luna stumbled back as one of scientist pulled a syringe from his coat.
“We’ll have to sedate her again!” said one of the “monsters” to the rest of the “pack.” Luna lowered her horn.
“NO!” She said, and her horn glowed a brilliant blue. The scientists dodged as a bolt of powerful energy that reduced the wall behind them to small pieces of rubble. “We do not like this game anymore!” She cried, as another bolt fired straight through the wall. Alarms where now bathing the stark halls in an eerie red light, and the deafening wail made the Alicorn’s ears become numb. Disorientated, she moved towards the soft moonlight, filtered through the hole she had blown in the wall. Instead of the sudden calmness she had expected, the night princess was meet with more chaos and strife than what was already happening inside the building.
Outside, the entire west wing of the hospital was set ablaze in a brilliant white fire. Ponies were running and screaming as a large figure swooped down from the sky, like a huge bat snatching its prey from the ground. There was a loud whooping sound, as a metal whale-like shape rose into the sky. It had large propellers on its top, and another smaller one near its end, but Luna could not put a name on the odd contraption. It heaved towards the large flying beast, letting loose a flurry of sparks from a large nozzle.
Loud bangs filled the air, as the spark shooting nozzle tried to point itself at the great creature, who was expertly dodging its line of fire. Swooping under the odd contraption, the creature was suddenly illuminated by a bright searchlight.
It was revealed to be a great white dragon. Instead of scales, white fur covered body. The twin horns atop its head gave it an air of majestic nobility and power. In sudden aggression, the dragon swung its head upwards, and opened its gaping mouth of razor sharp teeth. A raging inferno of blinding white fire erupted from the creature's mouth, engulfing the flying machine completely. The contraption spiralled through the air as ponies fell off of it. Ablaze by the dragon's fire, it crashed into the earth, sending a billowing plume of fire high into the night sky. The dragon landed, and roared loudly into the starry night sky, with its enormous wings extended.
Luna watched in amazement, not noticing that she was slowly taking steps forward. Until suddenly, her hooves were hanging over thin air. Crying out, she began to plummet towards the ground. Wind rushed through her face, and over her slim body, tugging at her flight appendages. Hesitantly, she extended her large, majestic blue feathered wings. Wind thrusted into them, and a stab of pain coursed through Luna’s back. Instead of falling, she was gliding through the air, soaring through the dark night sky. It felt amazing, despite the pain at her shoulders. It had been years since the lunar princess had felt the pleasures of flight and there was nothing better--
Luna suddenly toppled from the sky, mind pulsing from a quick pain in her head. Her wings flopped uselessly at her sides, as the healing magic she had ingested previously began to dissipate. The quick use of the magical drug, as well as her use of magic and flight had tired out her body which was not used to such strenuous actions after a year of mental and physiological abuse.
Luna spiraled down, the earth rushing up to meet her in its endless embrace. Half asleep, Luna tried to comprehend what was happening. I’m falling. No, wait, I'm flying? I'm in the sky. But the ground is moving up? She attempted to move her limbs as the world rushed up to meet her, but they refused to obey. She became lost in an eternal blissful fall, just a second from becoming a patch of on the pavement below.
Then, she slammed into something soft, yet firm. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Princess?” she heard a deep, yet gentle voice. She opened one hesitant eye, and peered into the face of the large white dragon, who held her in its claws. The dragon had caught her, seconds before she had become a large, blue, grease spot on the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked, “We’ve come to rescue you.”
Luna looked into the eyes of the dragon, her dazed mind trying to understand what she was seeing. The long snout of the the dragon was close to hers, his concerned eyes... tantalizingly familiar. Luna stared back, mind reeling; images flickered through her mind. Lost images; just out of reach images; memories. So lost was her mind, it attempted to try the most rational thing it could think of.
Luna lurched upwards as her lips connected with the mouth of one extremely confused looking dragon. It lasted for only a few seconds, as Luna drew away from the beast.
“I-I beg your pardon Princess?” he asked. Luna’s mind was once again being swamped by churning and inviting darkness. she gave a loud yawn as a black haze began to fill her vision.
“If...” she spoke as she yawned. “If thou were to take advantage of us in our sleep...” Her eyes began to droop, “We will kill thee... till thou art dead.” her eyes closed, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
The great white dragon looked down upon the limp princess in his arms in awe. She obviously didn't remember anything; her mind was too scared. He had been of the opinion that Princess Luna had been under some brutal mistreatment, but not so terrible that she would forget even the most obvious of things. He gingerly held the royal alicorn in his large claws. Turning her over to check her injuries. Thankfully, the tablet had healed the worst of it. He didn't dare try to give her another tablet, as the side effects of the drugs were...disastrous. Death, or severe mutations, or addictions were the most common... but there had been worse.
He spread his wings and took to the sky, gazing below him at the chaos he had reigned. There were large white vehicles with flashing lights beginning to arrive at the scene, while pegasi began heaving rainclouds over the building to put out the fires. As it began to drizzle, something caught the dragon’s eye. A bright golden chariot raced across the sky, sped forwards by white pegasi in golden armor.
Atop the chariot rode Princess Celestia, her magenta eyes looking scathingly over the destroyed asylum. Suddenly, she turned her head, only to find herself staring at the dragon. Panic surged through the dragon’s chest as Celestia called to her guards. The chariot wheeled around, and streaked towards the white dragon, the solar princess’ horn aglow with furious magic. The dragon dove away just in time to avoid a cracking arch of magical lightning setting the sky aglow. The rumble of thunder announced the continual downpour of rain as the dragon swooped away from the Asylum, dodging more powerful arcane blasts..
The solar princess’ chariot was on his tail now. He could hear the grunting of the pegasi guards behind him, straining to close the distance between them and the fleeing dragon. He knew he would not be able to dodge the next burst of magic that Celestia was preparing.
Thinking quickly, he banked to the left. The twin horn’s atop his head began to glow like those of a unicorns. A large circle of runic, draconic, magic began to loop its way around its caster and his precious cargo. Pain lanced up his shoulder as Celestia’s magical blast tore into his left wing. He plummeted towards the ground, still concentrating on his magic as Celestia let out a triumphant cry, and the chariot dove after him.
Then, the spell detonated. Seconds before colliding with the ground, and enormous explosion of fire blossomed around the dragon, scorching the surrounding land, and sending up a large plume of fire and heat towards the chariot and its passengers. They only just managed to dodge the deadly onslaught by spiralling out of the way.
Managing to regain control of the chariot, Celestia ordered her guards to swoop over the scorched land. It was a perfect circle of burned forest, embedded with dark glowing runes along its circumference.
But there was no dragon
Or Princess Luna.
Or burned-to-a-crisp mix of the two.
The daring duo had escaped.