//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - Eclipsed // Story: The Darkness among the Stars // by Haseo //------------------------------// Chapter 17 Eclipsed The hall was filled with confused whispers, but the Princess didn't let them bother her. “Don't be afraid my little ponies. We won't start a fight with another country or anything reckless like that. I'm sure everypony here knows what happened at the wedding of my niece Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. In order to prevent such events, my sister and I decided to construct a squad made of the strongest, cleverest, and most loyal mares and stallions of Equestria, along with the Elements of Harmony.” The tension in the hall immediately fell, the ponies began to laugh again. The Princess still wasn't finished. “The reason I'm telling you the following is in order to find those brave ponies, we will set up a tournament. Everypony that is willing to protect their homeland and family and friends, regardless if they're earth ponies, pegasi, or unicorns, is able to compete. If one of you think that they have no chance in getting in the unit, you're wrong. We will judge every single fight. Even the loser has a chance to get into the unit. Tell your friends! Tell everypony you know! Equestria won't stay defenceless! Equestria won't stay weak! Equestria will stand it's ground in face of the threat!” The crowed began to cheer, celebrating the great speech of their Princess. Fluttershy's choir began to sing, the sounds blended in with the gleeful cheering of the crowd. Everypony was cheering but one. The only pony who didn't laugh, didn't cheer and didn't celebrate this great speech, was the personal student of the Princess herself. Her eyes were widened in shock, her ears pressed against the side of her head. Her breath became quick and unsteady. Unconsciously, she stepped closer to Phalanx, pressing herself into his side, whispering something that was more meant for herself than for Phalanx. “Why? Why? This isn't like the Princess, she would never do something like this!” She hid her face more and more inside the coat of her guard. “What could possibly scare the Princess enough to drive her to such drastic measures. It can't be Soul! It can't be him that’s scaring her that much...” She stopped in her thoughts as she noticed how cold it had become in the hall. A freezing wind blew through the entire room. The laughter and cheering died down when the candles had gone out. It was replaced with a dark and sinister laughter that filled the room. The wind howled through the hall, the air becoming freezing cold. Lightning flashed in front of the windows while the laughter lashed. Midnight blue fog built in the air and slowly formed a body in the centre of the room. The fog manifested a tall mare-like body with fine curved wings and a horn of brilliant black. Her mane waved as if pushed my a magical wind. Everypony moved back from the dark matter as blue armour laid itself around the chest and head of the black creature. Her laughter become louder and louder with every second. Her body become more solid though everypony knew who this creature was. Hell broke lose inside the hall, ponies running wild in order to escape her. The guards that were stationed around the room surrounded the threat. She could only laugh at the appearance of them. She looked at the three thrones where the Princesses still sat. She flashed them a sinister smile while her slit-formed eyes sparkled through her maliciousness. Princess Luna slowly rose from her seat, disbelief in her eyes and her voice shaking. “How is this possible? How can you be here? The elements purged you!” The laughter slowly faded. Nightmare Moon grinned at the Princess and licked her lips. “Well, well if this isn't my other half. Aren't you pleased to see me again, Lulu?” Princess Luna only could manage to shake her head; her eyes were deadlocked upon the darkness that she had inherited for an eternity. Her sister stepped protectively in front of her. “What is the meaning of this? You were banished by the Elements of Harmony. How is your return possible? I demand answers!” The hall was now completely empty except for the Princesses, their guards, and the Elements. The wicked mare raised an eyebrow and began to walk around the room, the guards following every step. “Oh the sun can't withstand to interfere again. Such a pain... Do you really think that the Elements could really bind me for long? Ridiculous!” The guards prepared for the order to attack, but the Princess still wanted to know more. “Liar! Your power alone isn't enough to break the seal! Tell me why you are here! Tell me who freed you!” Princess Celestia's horn lit up in her fury. Around the necks of Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rainbow, formed their Elements, along with the tiara on Twilight's head. But something seemed to be odd. The last time Nightmare Moon had to encounter the Elements, she cringed in fear. This time she didn't even blink, like she wasn't afraid of them, like they couldn't hurt her. “How cute. You still believe you can stop me with your little gems? The spirit of Harmony gets weaker every second and you know it. But you don't have to worry that your little ponies will suffer in an eternal night. Our master had prepared something much better as punishment for breaking the rules.” Twilight gently pushed Phalanx aside and took formation around Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia jumped down to the same level as the Nightmare. Luna didn't move nor did she know what to do. Shining Armor comforted his wife as well as he could. Princess Cadence shivered in the stare of Princess Luna's darker half. In Princess Celestia's eyes, rage was building up, but there was still something different. It was fear, the Princess was afraid to learn how Nightmare Moon would answer her next question. “Who is your master?” Nightmare Moon waved her mane back and acted like a little school-filly as she imagined her master. She even seemed to blush a little. Nopony ever had thought to see this in their life. “He is the sin and the temptation and the desire and the pain and the loss. He is nothing and everything at the same time. He is alien but so familiar. He is everywhere and nowhere all at once. His power is unrivalled in the whole history of creation. Nothing can stop him. Nothing will stand his wrath. The darkness will surely come and take you, like he came and freed us.” The ears of the Princesses perked up as everypony wondered what she meant by 'us'. Princess Celestia approached Nightmare Moon slowly but steadily. “Us? Who is 'us'?” Nightmare Moon noticed how nervous the Princess had gotten and enjoyed the uncertainty that enveloped her mind. “We are the legion of the beast. We are many. More than you could imagine. You know very well what I meant with 'us'. I think you remember quite well what happened back then.” Princess Celestia's eyes widened as various memories flashed before her inner eye. “Girls! Fire!” The gems inside their trinkets began to glow as the six slowly lifted into the air, concentrating. A bright, white light illuminated everything around them. The wicked mare still stood in front of them, fearless. Around them formed a rainbow coloured aura that quickly formed to a forceful beam. With full strength, it found it's destination. A swirl filled with magical energy built around Nightmare Moon. For an unusually long time, the magical power sustained. A wicked laughter rang from the inside. The swirl began to destabilize, little sparks escaping, carving deep notches in the floor. A dark blue pulse pushed from the inside against the swirl, causing it to contract. The dark sphere inside grew in its size, pushing the Elements away. The sound of a thousand thunders rang throughout the hall. Their ears became numb as they couldn't hear anything other than the raw power of the Elements pulsing through the atmosphere. The intensity of the beam increased with every second in order to crush the shield that Nightmare Moon had built around her. Every window in the room began to vibrate under the immense pressure, even the Princesses had to cover their eyes from such a huge amount of magical power. The constant noise was joined by cracking noises. Absolute silence tuned in while the darkness inside the swirl overpowered the force of the Elements of Harmony. The sphere extended and dissolved into thin air. The bearers fell down and crumbled to the ground. Twilight couldn't believe what happened as before her eyes sparkled tiny purple shards that fell to the ground. Everypony’s eyes were pointed at Twilight. They were forced to witness one of the most horrific things a pony could imagine. They had to see their world falling apart. The tiara on Twilight's head was torn apart by the raw power of Harmony, sending a shock wave around the world. It shattered and spread in front of her hooves, so every creature on the world could fell Harmony breaking. Nopony had ever thought that the clinging sound of metal and gems touching the ground could sound so awful. Eyes widened in shock, nopony could believe that the Element of Magic was broken. The tiny crack on the gem had forced its way through the entire trinket. The Elements of Harmony became useless. The shards finally rested on the ground as the newborn silence was quickly disturbed by the laughter of the wicked mare in the middle. “Oh how wonderful. Your expression is so rich, I’d bet there are so many ponies out there that would pay a lot of bits to see this face. Your puny little elements are worthless. So what do you want to do now, Celestia?” Behind the Queen of Darkness, one of the guards that had surrounded her in the first place grabbed his pike and stormed at Nightmare Moon. He jumped high in the air, levitating his pike next to him. Nightmare Moon's horn ignited just for a brief moment before her face was spilled over with blood. The pike had missed her by far, remains of the guard still hung in the air. His body was ripped brutally apart by her magic. She dropped the lifeless body parts, the innards spreading out of the body on the floor. The ponies suppressed the urge to spill their breakfast. The kind of playful expression on Nightmare Moon's face vanished and was replaced by a dead serious stare. “Stop fooling around. I'm not the same Nightmare Moon you encountered in the Everfree Forest. I'm pure, there is no kindness, no mercy. The only thing left is pure evil. Luna was just a hindrance for me. Without her, I can unfold my whole potential. The fact that you separated me from her with your little gems was the best thing that could happen to me. I understand now what Radiant Flare had meant with freedom from the shackles of friendship.” Princess Celestia shook her head in disbelief. She hadn't seen such cruelty for decades but that wasn't the reason for her reaction. “This is impossible! Radiant Flare couldn’t possibly have returned! Black Terror took her away from me and banished her for all eternity!” Her breath halted for a moment as she realized what she just had said. “That would mean that… Black Terror has indeed returned to take revenge on me.” It was the first time Nightmare Moon showed fear in her eyes. Her body began to shake violently. “He is FREE?” She turned away from the Princess and elevated into the air, meaning to head for an open window. She just barely left the ground as two dark spears pierced through her flank. She stumbled to the ground and was restrained with pink shackles, tying her neatly to the floor, unable to move. Behind Princess Celestia, her sister and niece slowly approached. Princess Luna had collected her thoughts and wasn't ready to let her darker side escape. “You might be strong, but against three Princesses even you're a worthless piece of junk.” Princess Cadence stepped forward and waved her mane back. “Though I always prey love and friendship, it's my duty to protect the inhabitants of Equestria from every threat, even if that means drastic measures.” Small tears formed in Princess Celestia's eyes, she wiped them away and proceeded to step forward. She halted in her way as she noticed that the cold had gone and the air in the room had become unusual warm. A blazing white sphere formed above Nightmare Moon. It's heat could have melted steel as it grew rapidly in size. Everything in it's way would have been turned to ashes. The sphere cracked open and revealed a pure white alicorn mare with a white burning mane and pink-red eyes. She stared into Princess Celestia's eyes just for a brief moment. Her gaze was filled with hatred and anger, the intent to kill overruling. The blazing mare began to burn and created a fire tornado around herself and Nightmare Moon. It faded just seconds later, leaving the ground empty and bare. Shining Armour and Phalanx didn't understand what they had seen in this moment. They just stood there like statues. Twilight and her friends slowly approached the Princess, every single of them staring at her for a few seconds until Twilight took the word. “I think you have to tell us something.”