3 months later
"Come on! The gala is in 4 days!" I yelled as a clone disappeared. "Why can't I keep a stable clone?!"
So much time has passed by. I have studied the spells for so long, but I can't even keep a clone alive for more than 2 minuets. The pain and exhaustion have taken a toll on my magic ability. I was breathing heavily and my legs were wobbling. It was a job to keep my eyes open. When I stood straight up again, the suns rays began breaking the dark morning skies.
"Damn it! Will I fail my task?"
The thought of me failing, and Luna being trapped forced me to my knees. The tears were flowing and I was cursing the sun's arrival. Every piece of me wanted to charge the castle and force the princess to release her. The hate caused a burst of energy. It was just enough to stand on all fours. I was taking deep breaths and every thought lead to killing the guard and the princess. There was no way I could. but the anger, hate, and rage boiled over. I stomped my hooves into the ground and yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Why us?!"
I fell back to the ground, sobbing and trying to pull myself together.
"Having troubles?" Said a voice from behind a tree.
I jumped up and searched my surroundings. There was a figure standing next to the tree in a cloak. It advanced towards me with a slow trot. It kept its face hidden under a hood. The back of the cloak was torn in certain spots.
"Who are you?" I asked while trying to stand.
"You have no power left. Magical or physical. Am I correct?" The creature shouted.
I fell to the ground. He was right. There was no power left in my body. "Yes. I am powerless."
He laughed and keeled down to meet my eyes. "Oh you foolish pony. You have no clue how much power you have."
He stood straight and threw his cloak away. He had a greyish brown coat with a sliver mane. His cutie mark was strange. It looked like yin and yang sign, but it was gray.
"Might I ask your name?" I asked, finally able to stand.
He had a evil smile and he raised his eye brows. "My name is Discord. Master of dis-harmony."
"Okay Discord. Now explain what you meant by how much power I have." I commanded.
He wrapped his hoof under my chin and held my head straight. "You can tap into your magic anytime. When you are happy, or have peace and harmony you get and extra boost of power. I know a way to beat that power 5 times over."
My ears perked up and I sat down. "I'm listening."
"Rage, hate, pain, sadness, and fear all give off power that you can't believe. I have tapped into these emotions and felt their power surge through my body."
My interest was peaked. "How does one use these powers?"
"Simple my little pony, in fact so simple you have done it already." He said while patting my back. "Feel tired?"
No way! I don't feel pain, or drained.
"You see. Your hate and sadness has released to repair your body. Now we need a way to unlock the 2 power sources." He smiled. "Once we activate those you will have more power than the princess."
"Can you teach me?" I asked while using my magic to put my armor on.
"Meet here tonight just as the sun goes down. I shale teach you the power that lies with in hatred." Discord said with and evil laugh
--------------
My walk to the castle was just like any normal day. Ponies opening up their shop and getting ready for a hard days work. As I walked by, ponies would smile and wave. I had a little grin on my face this morning. I went into the castle and began my shift with my friend Night Shade in the Canterlot library.
"This job is to easy. All I do is read books these days." Night said with a annoyed tone.
I started laughing.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
"You are guarding a library. What did you expect? Ponies coming in here and waging war on books?" I asked sarcastically.
Night put a hoof on his chin and started to think. A smile started to form on his face.
"Yeah I guess you are right. Well guess the Canterlot library isn't all that it's cut out to be."
A couple of hours passed by with some jokes and idle chit-chat. The weird thing about the Canterlot library was the fact that nopony would come in here. It was always empty, except for the guards on duty. Sometimes the captain of the guard would come in and check on us, but that was a rare visit. I could hear hoof steps in the hallway outside the library. I shook Night, who was taking a nap at the time, and he sat at attention. Celestia trotted in with a smile on her face.
"Princess." We said in unison while saluting.
"There is no need for such formality guards. At ease. I brought you lunch." She said while 2 bags floated from behind her.
"Yes! I'm so hungry. Thank you Princess." Night said eagerly.
"Thank you Princess." I said trying to show some restraint.
"Night can I have a word with you in private?" The princess asked.
"Sure."
Night and Celestia trotted out of the room. Fear shot into my body as I tried to listen to what they were saying.
Did she find out about the spells I took? Does she know? I asked myself.
"Hey Lunar! Put my food under the desk. I'm going for a walk with the princess." Night yelled.
"Sure."
Their hoof steps grew quite and I was alone. I opened the box of food and looked inside. There was a extremely delicious looking salad. I took a fork with my magic and started eating. The salad was crisp and cool. That was expected from anything that came from the Canterlot kitchen. I had almost finished my salad when I herd hoof steps again. I looked at the door and waited for somepony to come in. They stopped just outside the door, but I herd Night's voice. I went back to eating. Just as I set my food down I herd a giggle. It wasn't a normal giggle, it was more like a cute mares giggle. Night Shade trotted inside with a big smile on his face.
"What's got you to smile like that?" I asked.
He stopped and reverted his face to a simple plain face with little emotion. "Was I smiling? I didn't notice." He said while sitting back into his chair.
I lifted an eyebrow. "What happened? Meet a cute mare while walking with the princess?" I asked, nudging his side.
"Sort of." He replied. "I can't tell anypony, but you have been my friend from boot camp until now, so I will tell you. You can't tell anypony!"
"Okay relax. I won't tell. So who is she?" I asked.
His face was turning bright red. He scanned the room and let the silence remain. He wanted to make sure nopony would hear from the hallway. After a 2 minuet wait he faced me. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
"I'm in love with Celestia..... And she loves me back." He whispered.
Could this be her plan? Make Night fall in love with her so on the day my plan takes action, she would pit us against each other?
"You don't seemed shocked." Night said while staring into my eyes.
I shook my head and refocused. "Sorry I think my brain shut off. So the princess has told you she loves you?"
"Yeah. I'm so happy." He cheered.
"How did it happen?" I asked, still trying to make out what her plan was.
"Remember when we went to the library for the first time?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Well it happened like this."
------Night Shade------
"Okay Lunar. I'll see you tomorrow." I called out to my friend.
"Sure thing. Same time, same place." He yelled back as his carriage pulled away.
It was great to have a friend like that. Ever since boot camp we have been getting closer. I'm glad we got the same post together. I don't even think of this as work. It's more like hang out time.
On my way back home I had forgotten to grab my saddle bag. The sun was setting on my way back to the castle. The warm day air was replaced with the cool night breeze. I was almost back to the station. When I got there, I couldn't help but take a quick peek around the castle at night. Every floor looked so different compared to the day. As I approached the top floor, I could hear grunting. At the top of the stairs there was a long hallway. In the hallway princess Celestia was leaning against a wall. I ran to her as fast as I could.
"Princess!"
She looked up surprised to see me. I stood right in front her and prepared for an attack.
"What happened princess? Are there enemy's of the throne here?" I asked
"No it's not like that." She huffed out. "I just lost my balance."
I turned around to find Celestia trying her best to stand on her hooves. She was shaking and I could see a faint glint off her coat. It was like she was working to just breath. Suddenly she collapsed. I quickly used my back as a crutch.
"Princess with all due respect you shouldn't be walking the halls in this condition." I said while adjusting myself to help her walk forward.
"I must.... do m-my duty for..... Equ-Equestria." She huffed out.
She must have been close to passing out because she was getting heavier. As we limped to the other side of the castle, she started completely putting her weight on me. I was a little bit smaller than her, so I was able to take the weight and keep her moving forward. When we got to the hall where her room was located, Celestia passed out. I used my magic to surround her in a bubble before she fell off my back.
So much easier.
I opened her door and moved to her large bed. Even as I started hitting my physical limit, I forced my magic to pick up the slack. I un-tucked the covers and set her down in the bed. After a couple deep breaths, I pulled the covers over her and took a seat in the corner of the room. I lowered myself to the ground and slowly started to drift into sleep. The covers shifted and I snapped back to reality. Celestia was fidgeting. I trotted to the side of the bed and pulled the cover up to her neck. A warm smile came out and I had a little smile on my face. I went back to the corner and fell a sleep.
The next morning I had woken up to the sound of hooves coming towards me. I lifted my head and stretched my legs and cracked my neck before remembering where I was. I shot up and gave a salute.
"Did you stay here all night?" She asked.
"Yes. I wanted to be here if you needed me." I replied setting my hoof back on the ground.
"I remember getting to the hallway and that's it. How did I get here?" She asked.
"I used my magic to carry you to your bed."
Her cheeks started changing color. I didn't know why at the time.
"You are addressing me like you would any other pony. No formality, just plain chat." She said almost bewildered.
"Oh... I'm so sor..."
"No please continue." She whispered.
I drew a blank. It only took me a couple seconds to remember that she was the princess and I'm sure she would never have anypony to talk to in a informal manor.
"What is your name?" She asked in a nervous tone.
"I'm Night Shade."
------Lunar------
"And everyday since then she has asked me to stay here at the castle after dark." Night proudly proclaimed. "Its only been recently that she has come to see me during the day."
Oh my.... It is exactly like our love. Luna came to me because she needed somepony to talk to. They wanted to feel normal. We fell in love with them. That caused us to do more and they fell for us. It is pure love. No plan behind it.
"Wow. That's a nice story." I said blankly.
"Yeah. Today we talked about how funny some political view are. Celestia is so amazing and I would really like t-to.... just maybe..... Ask her to.... M-Marry me." He stammered.
"Royalty can't marry civilians you know that." I said a little harshly.
"Well that's the thing. She is going to make me a Alicorn."
"WHAT!?" I yelled. "She can just do that?"
He smiled and looked out to the hallway. "Yeah. She is going to do it the day after the gala."
Some timing.
"I wish nothing but happiness for you." I smiled and extended my hoof.
"Thanks."
We shook hooves and went back to our shift.
---------------
"Discord! I'm here just like you asked." I yelled out.
He appeared from behind a tree and came up to me.
"Good. Let the training begin. I want you to burn all you physical and magical strength trying to keep the clone stable." He reached into his cloak and pulled out 2 scrolls. "When you are at your breaking point, we'll use these."
I took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay. I'm ready!"
------6 hours later------
I fell to the floor as a clone disappeared.
"Discord!? I'm completely out of energy. Can we use the scrolls now?" I asked laying on the floor.
"I suppose. But I'm not sure you want to know what happens when the scrolls are open." He said from up in a tree.
"You said when I hit my limit you would use them. Why are you not using them?" I asked while trying to stand again.
He picked an apple from the tree he was in. "Are you sure you want me to use the scrolls?"
"Yes."
He took a bite and looked down at me. "Are you sure?"
"For Celestia's sake use them! I think I might pass out." I yelled, trying to keep myself stable.
"Okay you asked for it."
He unraveled the 2 scrolls and a cloud of smoke surrounded the tree. I waited for something to make me feel better, but nothing happened. From the smoke came a growl. My eyes were wide open as I searched the smoke for something. Finally, 2 figures were visible. One lifted its head and howled to the moon.
"Timber wolves?! Discord how does this help?!" I yelled.
"To open the power of disharmony your life must be in danger. So enjoy." He waved from his tree and disappeared.
The wolves got closer and started lowering their bodies, ready to pounce on a moments notice.
"Okay Discord..... T-This isn't funny anymore." I called out into the open air.
The wolves were snapping their jaws and extending their claws.
This is real! I am going to die here!
The first wolf jumped and I jumped to my side. Just as my hooves hit the ground the second one lashed out. Its left paw made contact with my face. I was smashed to the ground, and the other wolf was coming at me. He jumped and I rolled away from his claws. I forced my legs to push me up. I was at my limit and there was no help for miles. They started towards me again and I started backing away. I felt blood running down my face from the wolf paw I took to the face. One of the wolves jumped at me again and managed to smash me to the floor. I jumped to my hooves again and sure enough a timber wolf was there to greet me with a claw. It ran all the way down the right side of my body. The blood swept across the grass to make the wolves more sure of their kill. My breath had been reduced to huffs.
I can't die here! I need to complete my mission. I need to see her again.
One of the wolves jumped at me and smacked me to the ground. I slid a couple feet and laid their. The pain surging through my body was intense. Its hit was like a hammer being swung at me full speed. I forced myself up again. The wolves both jumped at the same time. The tackled me to the ground, clawing and biting at me. I managed to kick them off with the last bit of energy I had left. I stood once again and waited for the wolves next move.
"Give into the fear. Give into the pain. There is no escape." A voice said from far away.
A wolf jumped at me again, but this time I couldn't react in time. He bit down on my mid back and clamped his jaw. The more I moved, the deeper the gashes would become. The other wolf moved closer to finish the job.
This is it. I'm so sorry Luna. I love you.
Just as I gave up hope, I felt stronger. There was a super boost of energy. The pain was intensified and the sadness was like a black hole, to which there was no escape.
Rage
A burst of power caused the wolf to release my body.
Fear
The wolves were backing away.
Pain
The leaves in the trees and bushes started to blow in the wind.
Sadness!
The ground under me started cracking. I charged up a beam of magic and blasted the timber wolves. When they disappeared Discord came back and was stomping his hooves in approval. I went back to normal and shook my head. There was blood down my coat, but the place where the wolves broke skin were sealed up.
"Well done my student. You may now tap into the powers of dis-harmony." He said. "Try making the clone now."
I refocused on the 4 emotions and felt the power again. the clone appeared and stayed for a full hour.
"Now try the shape shifting spell."
I focused on the clone and slowly it body started to change. After a 30 second period the clone was now Nightmare Moon.
"Good. Now you are ready for your attack."