//------------------------------// // - X - // Story: Solem Perditum // by PropMaster //------------------------------// - X - Celestia moved at a slow pace, watching the surrounding buildings. She was still feeling uneasy after the encounter in the dream realm with the shadowy presence. Her defenses were still fully powered, the true mark of the level of worry she had reached. Around her, the buildings had changed again. What had been experimental architecture had turned strange. The buildings had begun to not make sense. Windowless towers pierced towards the black, and there were large complexes that seemed to serve no purpose. Corners twisted in on each other, the roads began to stray and meander to accommodate the overly large buildings. All sense of careful planning was lost in this section of the city. Celestia found herself set even further on edge by the insane architecture. She walked down a curving street that seemed to twist away from the center of the crater, and was forced to take a side road that was squeezed between two buildings. She paused, peering into a doorway covered with symbols and strange, unintelligible runes. She pushed open the heavy door, and looked into the room, gasping slightly. The rooms walls were covered in spikes of rock, jutting out at irregular angles. A skeletal statue of an alicorn wearing a crown stood in the center of the room, it’s eyeless gaze fixed on the ceiling. Celestia’s wide eyes followed the angle of the statue upwards, and shrunk back from the doorway, recoiling. The ceiling was decorated with the carved, mutilated faces of hundreds of ponies, their mouths all open in a unending scream. Celestia forced her eyes downward, away from the horrific spectacle, and spotted a glinting mirror, placed at the foot of the pedestal of the statue. Swallowing hard, Celestia used her telekinesis to snatch up the discarded artifact, and drew it close to her. She activated the magics of the mirror. Nightmare Moon stared out of the mirror at Celestia, her mouth stretched into a rictus grin, her eyes wide and terrifying in their intensity. “Year two-hundred and fifty six.” Celestia shivered, and Nightmare Moon brought her eye in close to the mirror, until her blue-tinted pupil filled the frame. “Hello, sister.” Celestia stifled a scream, dropping the mirror into the dust at her hooves. Nightmare Moon laughed, a strained and broken sound. “I’ve been talking with you a lot lately. Your council is...much appreciated.” The angle of the mirror shifted, and Nightmare Moon pressed her face against the skull of the tall alicorn skeleton statue, nuzzling it with a quiet giggle. “Thanks to you, I’ve found the solution. I know how to escape, dearest sister.” “I will see you in the blink of an eye, sister... dearest Celestia... I’m so looking forward to it. Our reunion will be talked about for thousands of years, sung in tales by chained bards in the center of every city of my black world.” Nightmare Moon’s face stared out of the mirror, speaking out to nopony. “I wonder how many ponies understand the concept of cannabalism? Well, don’t worry. We’ll teach them, together... because I will eat your heart before your little ponies. I will eat you, Celestia, and I will keep you alive for every...” Nightmare Moon’s grin widened, and her voice grew quieter, “...Single...” the barest whisper, now, floated out of the mirror, “...Bite.” Celestia shuddered as the mirror’s message ended. Nightmare Moon had found a way to escape? But... she hadn’t. She’d been on the moon for the whole of a thousand years. What was going on? Turning away, and leaving the mirror discarded in the dust, Celestia began walking once more towards the center of the crater.