//------------------------------// // Unbowed // Story: Nox Invictus // by Darkwing Dash //------------------------------// As Luna continued through the forest, the trees around the path seemed to loom over her, as if her presence put them on alert. She seemed to feel a wave move through them, an unseen communication, an agreed upon plan. She didn’t like it. As the trees around her grew closer, the moonlight faded and the path in front of her grew darker. As the path grew darker, so did her thoughts. Her actions with the manticore were running through her brain. She wanted to put her time in the Shadow World with the demons behind her, and she supposed not killing the manticore was a step in the right direction, but her years being pursued kept coming back to her. As many times as she remembered that she was finally free, she kept recalling just what it was that she had been freed from, and it made her shake. Even now, in the background of her mind, she could still hear the howling of the demons, and the pounding of her hooves in her more desperate flights from them. The more she thought about them, the louder it seemed the howls grew. Suddenly, she realized, her heart freezing, that the howls weren’t coming from inside her head. They were coming from behind her. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked around her wildly. The trees around had grown so close together that no light was let in from above. The howls behind her grew steadily louder. All the memories of her time in the Shadow World came back to her and she sprinted into motion. She dashed through the darkness, unable to see in front of her, yet too panicked to concentrate on summoning light. The trees seemed to lash out at her from the darkness, and she had to duck repeatedly in order to avoid the swinging branches. She glanced behind her for a moment. A wolf's face popped back out at her from out of the darkness, feet away. She let out a scream. Her eyes fixed behind her, she didn't notice the tree root sticking out in front of her. Her front hooves caught it, and down she went. Her head slammed into the dirt, the impact seeming to clear her mind of the fear that had fogged it. She got to her feet. Shakily, her breath rattling in her throat, she lit her horn and looked around. As she slowly turned to face behind her, the red glint of eyes down the path told her that her nightmares were right behind her. They had escaped from the Shadow World and taken physical forms, just like the manticore. The demons were right behind her, the fur on their new wolf forms raised, in anticipation of the kill they would feast on tonight. Luna's stomach turned to ice. The wolves closed in around her, their jaws glistening, blood red eyes flashing. Their claws glowed with an evil, demonic light. Corporeal or not, Luna was sure they could tear her into bloody pieces without pause. She looked frantically around her. They were arranged in a semi-circle around her, just like last time. No where to run. No escape. Fear closed her throat and she struggled to draw breath. Her thoughts clouded over with fear and she started to cower on the ground. She fell to her knees, her arms around her, bracing for the end. I can’t do this, she thought. I can’t, they've got me, I’m going to die, I’m going to die! As the fear swelled to fill her, that old, too-familiar, too-often felt feeling breaking over her, something inside her broke. Anger surged through her, replacing the fear. She was done. She had HAD IT. She had been chased around by these beasts for far too long, and she was done running, no matter what happened. She got to her feet, standing tall. If these creatures wanted to eat her, they would have to manage it with broken jaws. The sudden flare in her confidence made her magical light glow too. Her magic! She had been so overwhelmed by the reappearance of these horrors that she had forgotten that things were different now. Now she was strong. She rekindled the light with a vengeance, sending it blazing through the trees and illuminating the forest around her. The eight predators were gathered facing her, disoriented by the blazing light. She summoned up all her courage. “DEPART, FOUL DEMONS!” Luna bellowed, putting as much authority in her voice as her nerves would allow. “YOU SHALL CHASE ME NO LONGER!” The wolves, caught off guard by this strange behavior from their prey, hesitated. Luna stared them down with determination. She could tell that the wolves were intimidated, but she needed to scare them off. She wasn’t prepared for a fight. Her nerves were still rather weak, her grasp on her power was tenuous and she didn’t think she could hold her own against eight of them and still make it out alive. She glared at them “I AM THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, AND I COMMAND YOU TO BEGONE!” She roared, stomping her hoof on the ground. The resulting crash echoed deafeningly through the trees. The wolves couldn't take it. Disoriented by the sudden blinding light, confused by the abrupt change in the natural order, and now alarmed by the thundering noises, they turned as one and ran off into the forest. Once the wolves had disappeared into the trees, Luna fell to her knees, shaking violently. Her nerves were shot. Standing up to those nightmares had taken everything she had. Still, it was done now. The breaths she took were long and shuddering, but they came through a resolute mouth. She would see those creatures in her nightmares for months, maybe even years to come, but now she could move on. Her fears would not move with her. She remembered a time when fears weren't so easy to banish. “What could this mean? Why would she shut down my ideas so readily? Is something going on? Is she doing something that I am just not seeing? You do not think I am letting my imagination run away with me here, do you Tenebris?” Luna asked, turning to face the pony sitting in the grass beside where she paced. “Of course not,” Tenebris replied from his reclining position, his dark red coat burning with the light of the afternoon sun. “There has to be something going on. Normal ponies don’t just reject perfectly good ideas for no good reason unless they have something to hide.” “Exactly!” said Luna, the knot in her stomach growing ever bigger. “But what on earth could be going on? Is there some danger to the kingdom that she is trying to shelter me from? Does she not think I can handle my royal duties?” Tenebris got up from his seated position and moved slowly towards Luna. “Well,” he said. “the way I see it... No. Never mind. It’s not my place.” “What is it?” said Luna, her anxiety mounting. “No,” said Tenebris. “It’s a scandalous thought. I can’t say it.” He turned away from her, as if his thoughts left him ashamed. “Tenebris,” Luna said sternly. “We have known each other for weeks now. I think we trust each other well enough to speak our minds by now.” “Well, since you ask,” said Tenebris, whisking around to face her, almost before she had finished speaking. “I was pondering the question myself. It can’t be an unknown danger. You, who are always out and about, and seeing to the needs of the kingdom, would certainly know more about its problems than somepony who sits in the castle all day, doing nothing but signing scrolls. Celestia can't possibly know the kingdom like you do” “Hmm. I suppose you are right.” said Luna pensively. “And surely somepony who has almost single handedly defeated villains like Discord and King Sombra would have proven herself well up to such a simple task as running a kingdom. Such magnificent and glorious battles would surely be more straining than tax rates or organizing road construction. The concept must surely be unerringly obvious..” Tenebris spoke, slowly circling around Luna as he did so. “But if it is not any of those things, then what could it be!?” Luna raged frustratedly. “Well,” Tenebris declared, coming to a stop. “There can only be one solution: Your sister is suppressing you.” “What?!” exclaimed Luna, shocked. “Where would you get such an idea?” “It’s obvious,” he said. “Your sister has recognized that you are the better craftsman, and that she cannot possibly hope to compete with you. By pure luck, she happened to get to rule over the day, when everypony is out and about, doing their daily business and going about their lives. And you happened to get the night, which everypony ignores, sleeps through and overlooks. She realizes, that if she wants to continue to have all her power and to remain the dominant princess, she has to make sure that nopony sees your true value, and that they see her as the true ruling princess. Eventually, you’ll just end up being the pony who controls the night and just happens to live at the castle, and maybe not even that.” “But my sister loves me!” Luna said, horrified. “Why would she do such an awful thing?” “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Tenebris simply. “There’s not much else to it.” “How can I stop this?” asked Luna, determination in her voice. Tenebris smiled. “You need a display of your power. Something to show Celestia that she isn’t the dominant princess. That she and you rule together, not one over the other. My suggestion? Switch the day and the night. When the moon comes up tonight, don’t let it go down. Celestia can’t overcome your power, and once the rest of Equestria catches on to how beautiful the night really is, you’ll be too popular to just get pushed back into the shadows. Ponies would catch on then.” Luna was apprehensive. “But Celestia disapproved of the idea. Besides, would the citizenry not panic at such a disruption of nature?” Tenebris scoffed. “So what if Celestia countermanded the idea. You two rule jointly, don’t you? You’ve taken her advice into account, accepted her input and adjusted your plan accordingly. Assert your royal authority. And don’t worry about the peasantry. They can handle it. Besides, you work hard in order to ensure that they have a magnificent sky every night. And what have they done for you in return? Nothing. Don’t you think they owe you some respect.?” Luna’s gaze turned resolute. “You are right,” she said. “It is time I made my presence known.” She looked over at the horizon. The sun was sinking over the hills. “My hour approaches. Let us hope for the best.” She unfurled her wings and took off, heading upwards into the sky to raise the moon on a night that Equestria would not forget. Tenebris watched her go, a slow smile creasing his face.