The Fall of Princess Luna
By: Jurjanga
Canterlot had fallen.
The entire city was blanketed in a sea of roaring flames, dilapidated buildings, and the cries of the dead or dying.
The vamponies had very nearly secured their rule over the city, and only one stood in their way. The one pony amongst the chaos that was left alive.
Princess Luna.
“I SHALL NOT RELINQUISH THIS CASTLE TO THEE, REPULSIVE FIENDS!” Luna bellowed, striking down any vampony in her path with a righteous fury. She held the power over the moon, and the moon supplied the very energy that allowed the vamponies to be. The moon itself…held untold, arcane magics, that it freely gave off to any who knew how to use them. Until this morn, she had thought that she was the only one with this access.
Now, with no time to waste, and a castle infested with the vicious spawn of Tartarus, Luna needed to reach the highest point of her home. It wasn’t pretty, but there was only one way she could fix this…
Shaking morose thought from her mind, Luna shook herself back into consciousness. ‘No! No time to mourn…I…need to do this…as fast as I can! The fate of the world depends on our action!’
Standing on shaking hooves, she stared down a grinning horde of vamponies, nearly clogging the hallways of her once beloved home, much akin to the way the castle looked during the Changeling invasion…
…er, according to ‘Tia, at any rate.
Luna’s eyes shot wide open, delivering a malicious glare right back at the vamponies, remembering her fallen sister.
“Disgusting vermin…you may have bested my sister, but I will not perish so easily!” Luna shouted, as her horn glowed a brilliant dark purple, a swathe of dark mist enveloping the princess. The mist twisted violently about her, the gale-force winds of her transformation unbalancing some vamponies, definitely making it impossible to take flight whilst she transformed.
As the mist spun, an inpony roar, a mixture of pain, anger, and vindication erupted from the black tornado, as it suddenly stopped, bursting apart in a powerful blast of dark magic.
As Luna stepped forth, donned in her Nightmare armor, she grinned solemnly. “Now…I’m going to the veeeery top of this castle, and I’m saving this world from you lot of hellspawn!”
If the vamponies looked closely, they could see her cheeks twitch upwards for a moment. “Try and stop me.”
And thus, the true war began.
Luna burst through the horde, anypony too close to her ended up getting torn apart by a brilliant, radiant light emitting from her horn, those too far away just ended up getting blown backwards from it. An ocassional vampony would latch onto her, but a bit of magic would throw that problem into the nearest wall with little effort. But she didn’t need to spend time on battle…no…
She needed to get to the balcony as fast as she could.
Tearing through the hallways at breakneck speeds that a certain fallen Element would stare awestruck at, Luna raced through her castle, the horde of vicious bloodsuckers ever on her trail. For that was how they were. They did not feel, they did not regret, and they did not falter. They would kill Luna, no matter how many of them had to die to do it.
In a race of vamponies, you were highly replacable, and you loved every second of it.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to the moon goddess. ‘Wait…there’s a shortcut to ‘Tia’s bedroom through the Royal Kitchens! ‘Tia’s bedroom is just one floor away from the balcony!’
Halting her quickened flight, she turned and cursed to herself. Seeing no faster options, she grimaced. ‘This is…going to hurt…’
Preparing for the worst, she spread her wings and rocketed towards the voracious vamponies heading her way, the red moon outside painting the walls a tainted crimson.
If not for her armor, Luna would most certainly have lost the struggle through the vamponies, but she burst forth where the stream of enemies let up, and took a quick right, and burst through the doors to the Royal Kitchens.
Panic-stricken, Luna stepped down, muscles seizing ever so often from the heightened state of adrenaline her mind had kicked into. ‘Gah…exit, exit, exit…where is this exit!’
Luna began to search the Royal Kitchens for this exit, leaving no area unchecked. Celestia had mentioned it to her one day, telling her that she, too, had midnight cravings, and no guardspony would let her walk about unguarded, thus causing a scene. One day, the two had even used this secret passageway, laughing all the way back to Celestia’s bedroom, stuffing their faces full of cupcakes. Oh, how it all disappeared so quickly…
Whilst searching for the exit and reminiscing on less bloody days, Luna noticed that she didn’t hear any evil chattering, or wingflaps. ‘I…I don’t think they know I’m in here! This is great!’
Quietly trotting about the room, she closely inspecied a section of the far wall that looked just a bit off…yes! There it was!
With a press of a false brick, a secret pathway opened, allowing Luna a nearly direct passage to the balcony!
‘Soon, my little ponies…soon, you’ll all be safe…’
Opening the door to the balcony, Luna stepped out into the cool night breeze. If not for the moon being tainted by the warped magics of the Vampony King, this night would look as peaceful as every other.
Gazing into the moon, HER moon, Luna sighed sadly. “Well…this is where we part…”
“…aaaaAAGH!” A vicious crash resounded as the door to the Balcony flung open, causing Luna to wheel around in surprise and, admittedly, some fear.
Before her stood…the captain of her Night Watch, Stalwart.
Turned.
His once vibrant red mane had now been tinged a dark red, and his formerly caramel coat, at least what showed through his armor, had blackened as well.
“S-Stalwart! No…not you too! You’re stronger than this!” Luna said, speaking at her friend, colleague and protector. She had spent so many nights telling him of her new discoveries about the world around her, and he had shared laughs with her of them…such beautiful memories…all dashed upon the rocks of pale flesh.
“Luna…g-give…give me your blood!” Stalwart droned, stepping forward menacingly, as a nervous Luna stepped back in time with him.
“I-It’s almost over, Stalwart. I…I’m going to give up my power over the moon, thus cutting off all energy from it…it needs an alicorn to sustain it with the magical energies you…vamponies require...”
Luna still spat the name from her mouth as if uttering forbidden words. Stalwart looked at her impassively, still advancing on her.
“Goodbye, Stalwart…I…I cherish the times we shared together…” Luna said, shedding a tear, as she spread her wings, levitating slowly in time to establish magical contact to the moon.
“a-AGH!”
Luna’s focus was broken as a vampony slammed into her unprotected wings, throwing her forward into Stalwart, who looked at his present with a deranged grin. Luna attempted to get up and get away quickly, but her efforts were cut short as Stalwart was soon laying atop Luna, holding her down, baring his bloodied fangs. His unicorn horn glowed a garish, dim-green light as a misshapen dagger unsheathed itself from his armor.
“Agh! N…no…please…d-don’t, Stalwart…”
“H-hahahaha! Blood! Blood!” the crazed Stalwart chanted, the blade perfectly poised at her face. The blade drew closer, ever closer…
The door opened.
With a barely combed mane, and slow and sluggish hoofsteps, Celestia walked into her sister’s bedroom. “Luna, what’s all that noi-“
She paused. Blink.
Blink blink.
Before her was…an odd sight. There were several Night Watch ponies strewn about her room, with random splotches of…ketchup, it smelled like. And near her bedroom window, Luna herself laid on her back, staring awkwardly at Celestia, as the Captain of the Night Guard, sat atop her, looking quite the same, but levitating a sun-shaped pillow close to Luna’s face.
“…Greetings, ‘Tia. Did we…wake you?”
Blink.
Blink Blink.
“…Luna, please be a bit more quiet, alright? You and the Night Guards are the only ponies in the castle who would be awake at this kind of hour…”
“Sorry, ‘Tia.” Came the reply from Luna.
“My apologies, Princess Celestia.” Came the reply from Stalwart. Celestia still couldn’t help but chuckle at poor Stalwart. For being very physically imposing, especially for a unicorn, his voice was like that of a foal’s.
“It is quite alright, Sir Stalwart. Just…be a bit quieter when raiding the Kitchens, hm?”
At that statement, Luna discreetly used her magic to sweep a few empty cookie boxes under her bed.
Chuckling to herself, Celestia closed the door. She’d really have to change the magic locks on the secret entrance to her delicious cavern of midnight snackage.
Again.