Housekeeping
(One week ago)
The frantic clattering of hooves echoed along the vast atrium leading to the royal quarters, its vaulted ceilings swarming with bat-winged pegasi. The dozen or so on-duty members of Luna's Midnight Guard scrambled into formation before the towering entrance to Her Majesty's dining hall, standing at attention as their looming commander screeched to a stop. Blind Dive took quick headcount of his guards, accounting for all but one. He frowned, glaring back down the hallway to watch a panic-stricken mare darting around the corner, armor plate half-buckled and spear clenched between her teeth as she fumbled with the rear latch. With a hurried swoop, she spat the spear to the ground behind the open gap in the ranks and landed in formation, holding a stoic salute. Dive shook his head. "Composers, get to it. Listen as you work."
The handful of unicorns snapped a salute and began whittling apart the messy twelve-layer magic lock that had been hastily cast over the doorway. Their commander slowly trotted along the line of moori pegasi, his missing eye turned toward the unwavering royal guards. "Alrighty cupcakes, we all knew this day would come sooner or later. As you are well aware, Her Majesty, bless her ever-lovin' heart, decided it might be a grand idea to give the living god of chaos free reign to do as he chooses," With a turn, he nodded in the direction of the distant rear wall. A still-burning trail of fire wound from a draconequus-shaped hole to the guest chamber door. "And it looks like he's chosen to seal himself in Her Highness' dining room and start brewing up something nasty. All we know for certain is that there's something very, very wrong with the magic pouring out from that room," He bucked a plated back leg at the door to his rear. "And we're here to shut down his little tea party."
The frazzled guardsmare swallowed as she quietly picked up her spear from the floor and held it at attention. "H-how, exactly, sir?" Dive leveled a stern look in her direction as the eighth seal unwound, falling apart into nothingness. "The Royal Sisters will do the heavy lifting against the big guy, they've done it before. We're here to mop up any nasty distractions he might have crawling around. You got that, kid?" The guardsmare quickly nodded, visibly sweating. The commander continued, turning toward the half-dozen unicorns. "If Discord throws something your way, you redirect. You do not attempt to block. I don't care how good you might think you are, draconian magic doesn't play by our rules. Approach him as you would an actual fire-breather."
With a blast of light, Princess Celestia teleported into the atrium, descending from above with an ethereal grace. Gently touching down beside Blind Dive, she stole a glance at the door. Sixth seal was coming along nicely. Turning to the commander, she motioned for her subjects to rise. "How soon?"
Dive turned to one of the unicorns. "Pixie, time."
The orange mare tilted her head slightly as she shifted the shimmering glyph delicately to the right, a dull click intoning the release of the sixth lock. Her eyes were glued to the door as she wormed her magic into the next layer. "Less than a minute... we're in the home stretch here."
Celestia nodded, taking her position behind the Night Guard. "My sister will be arriving in moments." Her eyes drifted to the bottom of the door frame, where a dull grey growth slowly crept from the room, replacing tile and stone with an unearthly charcoal dust. Pixie stopped for a moment, waving her horn over the growth with a flicker of magic before returning to picking the lock. "Harmless. I don't recognize the spell, but it's eating the floor and twisting it into this powder."
With a frown, Celestia turned to the commander. "I doubt it's focused enough to be considered a spell, knowing Discord. His magic is fairly benign, but if he doesn't reign it in, the growth will spread with impunity. We don't have time to wait."
Dive unfurled his wings, fangs spreading into an excited grin. "You heard the princess! Composers, I want wards up as soon as we're through the door. You protect our fliers until those glyphs are hot!" He turned to the moori. "The rest of you run defense until we've got a foothold! Solar sentries first, then we move forward."
There was a rhythmic crack as the base of a dozen spears clamored against the tile. With a shudder of light, the final lock fell apart like molasses, and the six unicorns began alternatively bucking at the door, prying it open an inch at a time. Dive turned to his guards. "Showtime." He thrust a hoof in the air as he took wing. "Black as night!"
The Midnight Guard readied their spears with a thunderous chant. "Luna's might!"
Pixie gave one last coordinated kick to the door before nodding to her princess. Celestia's horn burned a furious white color as the frame was surrounded by her glow, pried off the hinges, and crushed into a ball. In an instant, a strong blast of wind pressed at their backs, air rushing past them and into the room with a fury. Pixie pulled her head back and retreated out of the door. "No air! No air! It's a vacuum!"
The unicorns pressed themselves against the wall as the asphyxic room pulled in as much air as could fit through the door. Celestia narrowed her eyes, unfazed, trying to make out the detail within. Pitch black. Perhaps the darkest black she could remember ever having seen. After a few moments, the wind seemed to let up a little, and Celestia began to step forward. "We have enough to breathe. Move in!"
The unicorns poured in, their horns aglow as several layers of shimmering hex fields aligned themselves in front of them. The moori followed in a flash, four taking to the sky, four keeping pace with the princess, and the rest scattering around the unicorns.
Seeing no immediate attacker, the dizzied guardsmare latched her spear to the grip on her side and plunged her muzzle into her saddlebag, withdrawing a piece of chalk between her teeth. Time to get those glyphs up. With a flap of her wings, she pressed the chalk against the ground as she pulled into a tight circle, shifting direction in a series of sharp turns. Line by line, the complex magic circle took shape, its deepening glow against the charcoal ground engulfing the area much needed light. With one last flap, the mare skidded to the ground in front of the circle, pressing her nose to the ground and scribbling out the ancient Equestrian lettering necessary to ignite the spell.
Celestia pressed forward, thrusting an orblike solar flare in several directions to bathe the room in light. The darkness was hungry, and granting only the slightest implication of the dining hall’s towering ceiling and monolithic windows. The room was almost entirely consumed by the creeping powder, walls plastered with a faintly shimmering film that denied all light, appearing as a void darkness almost imperceptibly pulsing with hazy, rainbow-colored light. This meager allowance would have to be enough for now.
Before the princess was a towering structure of ornate rectangular pillars and archways, half-formed statues of alicorns, and a staircase that seemed to continuously warp, ever so slightly. She widened her gaze in surprise as she inspected the pillars more closely. It was vaguely similar to the old Everfree castle, in style and build, but not... quite. The wording was gibberish, and though the occasional Equestrian letter would appear, it was surrounded by seemingly random marks and parallel designs. She thought she saw a few draconian characters in the mix, but they too were either missing marks or had too many, a half-remembered approximation. She took to the air and landed atop the pillar, trying to get a better view, but even another series of flares did not show enough to safely move onward.
With a swoop, she returned to the front of the structure and beckoned the commander over. He landed with a small twist, idly watching the dust as it floated for a moment, then slowly, slowly began to settle. "Strange. Is this... what Discord calls home?"
His princess shook her head lightly, "This seems remarkably unlike him. It's much too... ornate, ordered." She pawed at the pillar before her, watching the letter fall off and re-emerge as a random series of lines. "While at the same time, sloppy."
"He is the god of chaos, ma’am."
"He's not lazy, though. At least when it comes to his work. This growth hardly can keep form. If it was one of his manifestations, it would be solid, and real. This is practically raw magic soup."
Blind Dive thought on this as he panned over the field, watching as his moori gracefully wove glyphs into the floor every couple hundred feet. It was nice work, so far. Already the dim solar sentry orbs had been summoned, idly waiting over their circles for something to blast. He frowned. "Draconian magic, the burn trail to the door, his shape in the wall... I find it hard to believe that clown's not the one responsible for this."
Celestia gazed off at the blackened structure, seeing no indication that anyone was there. No sign of activity at all. Besides the hum of magic wards and the skittering of chalk on the dirt, it was utterly silent. This place was completely dead.
With a rush of air, Princess Luna rounded the doorframe and swooped in. She briefly took in the stunning blackness before spreading her wings wide and illuminating a ceiling full of brilliant stars, the room instantly bathed in a strong but subdued nighttime glow. Celestia heard a sharp gasp as her sister suddenly thrust her wings forward, darting backwards in retreat. In her shock, she didn't see the growing pillar of dust that had slowly risen behind her, colliding sharply and unexpectedly before spiraling to the ground.
"Sister!" Celestia barreled toward the collapsing pillar, stammering to a halt as she saw Luna flapping erratically. The powder seemed to wrap itself around her, with apparent intention. She wasted no time grabbing a mindful of the charcoal with her magic and pulling it off her sister. Dive motioned for the unicorns to follow suit, their combined will slowly forcing the powder to release their princess. Luna scrambled out of the heap in terror, her eyes locked on the main structure, now fully illuminated. Celestia started to say something, then met her sister's gaze. It was a temple of some sort, eerily similar to their old home, but bigger, more ornate, and adorned with countless lunar symbols. The lunar motif repeated again and again, on almost everything. The statues shuddered as they tried to keep their pose, menacing shadows of Nightmare Moon.
Luna staggered forward in a horrified daze, before her back legs gave out and she plopped to the ground, wide eyes locked on the monolithic temple, "By the stars... this... this cannot..." She spoke to no one as the statues turned to face her, the dust at her feet silently pooling together.
"Princess!" Blind Dive bellowed, drawing Celestia's attention with a snap. She stared in disbelief as he slowly backed away from an aphonic legion of charcoal ponies, silently rising from the ground. They had no faces or features; empty equine collections of dark powder. One could see the vague silhouette of royal armor on the helm and hooves, but it was mere shape, no form. The commander glanced around the room. "Night Guard! To the princesses!"
Composers darted past as they regrouped in front of Celestia, the moori scattering into a ballet of erratic strafing runs. With a lunge, Dive speared the nearest specter, stumbling slightly as the weapon pierced through completely, to the hilt, without the slightest sign of slowing it down. With a curse, he pulled the spear out and drew it across the feet. The specter seemed to pause for a moment, then quickly reformed the lost powder before continuing its advance.
"Ditch the spears! Put your shoulder into it and scatter them! Fly through them!" He grunted as he retreated a few steps, spreading his wings and finally taking to the air with a sharp forward lunge. The specter collapsed into a plume of charcoal as he passed through it. It worked, but he could already see several more rising from the ground. They might be able to hold their own, but they couldn't win.
Celestia drew a wide arc of light from her horn and lashed across a handful of the beasts in one fluid motion, watching as their bodies evaporated but their legs remained, powder slowly rising to reform the torso. She frowned, glancing at Pixie. "Keep them at bay while I tend to my sister."
The unicorn nodded as she and her fellow unicorns began picking apart the featureless beasts. With a slow rotation of her horn, she drew a field around three and pulled the gravity as high as she could, collapsing them into a single lump of charcoal. The rock vibrated as it seemed to bleed powder, the inky dust already breaking free. Seemed to hold them longer than usual, though. She began to draw another field.
By the time Celestia made it to her sister, Luna was already half-buried in a sort of shimmering quicksand. It spiraled inward, a vortex to keep her in place, pulsing with some kind of multicolored ephemera. Standing at the edge of the pool, opposite the solar princess, was an armored figure with considerably more definition than its comrades. In fact, she recognized this one. 'Primrose Path,' Luna's hoofservant from the old, old days. She'd kept him on after Luna's exile. He'd done good work. Why would this... growth, choose his form to mimic, of all things?
It stared through her with vacant eyes, occasionally blinking, but never in the least seeming like anything more than a dimly animated puppet. Celestia ignored the bizarre distraction, digging deep into the ground with her magic and scattering the powder around her sister in one succinct blast of light. With a gentle grace, she stepped into the recessed crater and gave her sister a reassuring nuzzle. "I'm here." Luna shivered, eyes wide, lost in a world of her own.
The ground beneath Celestia's hooves began to trickle with the same unsettling rainbow haze, individual specks of dust rolling towards the center, determined to coalesce and consume her sister once again. Lowering herself beside Luna, she hoisted the smaller alicorn onto her back and leapt out of the crater, rearing toward the door. "Guards! We take our leave!"
The Composers hastily erected a wide, broad reflection shield and took off toward the entryway. The glimmering solar sentries springing to life as the advancing army of specters plodded after them, emitting tight bursts of sunlight that seemed to momentarily halt their advance. Blind Dive waved a hoof at his soldiers. "Move it out, cupcakes! We are leaving!" Fliers arched into a line, curving along the ceiling before diving through the doorway. Satisfied that he had everyone, the commander nudged the sole remaining terror-stricken guardsmare toward the exit. "Seraph I swear to the stars I will lock you in here if you do not get that flank in gear!"
With a final panicked gaze at the rising sea of shambling charcoal ghosts, the mare bolted for the door like a bat pony out of Tartaurus. The commander was moments behind her, planting himself beside his princess as she gently passed her shell-shocked sister to four hovering moori.
Blind Dive swallowed, eyes darting at the gaping doorframe. "Think we should've saved the door."
Celestia gritted her teeth, horn ablaze as an intense rectangle of light tore along the ground before them. Twelve feet of marble floor and the creeping charcoal growth above it rose into the air as the solar goddess heaved a door-shaped slab of flooring into the air and sealed the doorframe with a scream. Not missing a beat, she clenched shut her eyes and erected a series of dizzyingly complex locking spells. Pixie's jaw fell open as a three dimensional glyph of interlocking ephemeral gears twisted and knotted together, an impossible, unsolvable mechanism tied into itself with a neat little double Gordion knot. With a loud click, Celestia let out her breath, gasping for air.
For a couple moments she just sat there, catching her breath, before turning to the Composers. "I want your best work laid over that seal. Nothing is to leave that room."
Pixie joined with the rest as they laid into a bow. "O-of course."
Celestia turned to Dive with a curt nod. "Well done. Tend to your soldiers."
Blind Dive saluted, stealing a glance at the harrowed, shivering princess of the night. "What of Her Majesty?"
The princess frowned. "Something in there just... overwhelmed the poor thing." She shook her head. "I've never seen her like this."
The commander removed his helmet, knocking some of the inert charcoal powder out of his helm and onto the white tile. "What in the blue buck were those things? Living ash? You ever seen anything like that before?"
Celestia was silent, gazing at the shimmering quantum lock as it lightly ticked, once every second, like a clock.
"The moon." Luna's voice startled both as she seemed to come to her senses. With a subdued wave of the hoof she shooed away her subjects, shakily standing on all fours. Her harrowed eyes were locked on the grey dirt.
"It was the moon."