//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Silent Chains // Story: Heir of the Nightmare // by Polaris501 //------------------------------// The surface of the moon Five hours and one minute after the banishment of Nightmare Moon Luna She couldn’t stop screaming. Darkness rolled over the surface of the moon, shifting at mind-breaking speeds as it encircled the source of its turmoil. Dust was kicked up into the black void from the rage that infested the lunar crust. Black chains were spiked down by long iron stakes, nailing their prisoner to her charge. There in the center of the largest crater, an alicorn with the fur of a moonless night was held down by enchanted chains that consumed her magic, binding her in the darkness. Luna was in great pain, her wings were bound to her sides, pinned down by a thick iron ring that surrounded her barrel. All four of her legs were captured by unyielding chains that stretched out over the surface of her moon. Her neck was clamped by a collar that fastened to the hard rock beneath her. She couldn’t breathe, there was no air for her lungs to take in and so they scrunched in agonizing contractions, desperate for anything to fill them. She could barely move, her chains pulled at her feeble body in different directions, stretching her out until any movement she attempted was met with agonizing torture. Even her tears became a curse, for whenever she cried, they would freeze instantly from the lack of any warmth, burning her eyes with their frozen spikes that dug into her pupils. She knew that soon she would be in even more agony, for there was nothing she could do to quench her thirst or satisfy her hunger. But the worst was the silence. No matter how much she struggled, pawed, and screamed there was nothing for her ears to receive. The trapped mare was left with nothing but the maddening ringing that her ears produced. With nothing but a lifeless wasteland and empty space to cast her hellfire gaze, with naught but vacuum to fill her frozen lungs, the eroding princess desperately grasped the last dregs of her sanity that held her besieged soul together. A bitter hatred and a shred of love was all that remained of Luna. Love for a small filly she had just brought into the world. Luna had been filled with joy at her birth, for now there was somepony that she could empty her love into, but now those forlorn hopes were dashed to pieces with her banishment. How could she take care of and love her daughter when they were now worlds apart? All Luna had left to give her daughter was a fervent prayer that her child would survive, and remember the mother who loved her. That one hope was crushed under the tempered hammer of the nightmares cold logic. We know that Twilight will die, no one knew of her existence. She will die alone and forsaken. But….sister will find her….probably….and c-care for her……f-for me….. Sister will leave her to die, we know this. She will not care for the child, not when we have betrayed her. But surely Tia’ would spare my innocent foal! She would never abandon her family….. Like she has left us to freeze on this forsaken wasteland? Celestia will give the child over to her stolen subjects, letting them do with her as they please. No!! My beloved child…..my little star……please be alright…… She is dead as sure as we are imprisoned on this rock….the last hope is gone……what is left to do? D-dead…..gone……..No!!! Surely……but what if…..my child, gone? With sister not……….and with my foal……….what is left for me? Embrace the pain, the anger, only then will we survive to avenge Twilight. Yes……nothing remains……..revenge…….sister will pay!!! They will ALL SUFFER!! With hope reduced to ashes in the farthest recesses of her beleaguered mind, only anger remained to tempt her. The hatred consumed her, hardening her heart and isolating her soul, leaving a black hole where once harmony and love stood entrenched. Her once sharp mind eroded away into a downhill slide of utter insanity, breaking her consciousness into shattered pieces of forgotten remembrance. Time flew faster than a moment and lasted longer than eternity, adding to the madness that infected the black mare. Still she screamed. At her sister, who had imprisoned her. At her subjects, who wouldn’t love her. At her moon, who had betrayed her. And for her beloved child, whom she had left behind. Yet no sound escaped her. And thus it was for a thousand years. The night of the Summer Sun Celebration Nightmare Moon A thousand years of battling herself for the salvation of her sanity, having only hatred as her companion, and of building dark power fueled by despair and anger that was barely leashed by the faltering chains of harmony. A thousand years of tears to freeze and drift in the void that was the torn remains of her heart. The stars aligned, lending their magic to aid their mistress in her escape. Ancient bonds shattered under the onslaught of the nightmare’s fury. And a demon unleashed upon a world that had forgotten her. Now was the hour of her vengeance. So the lunar alicorn forsook her moon, plummeting to the earth and burning a path through the night sky, taking the form of a falling star. Nightmare Moon had returned. __________ As Nightmare stood in a lonely meadow, her hooves forming deep imprints in the crater scarring the earth, she took in her first breath in ages, the cold night air finally refreshing her long dormant lungs. Pain filled her throat from being used after so long, but it was worth it. She could finally hear again, sounds and sensations surrounded her, overwhelming her broken mind with the renewal of feelings. Her fangs glistened with saliva as she desperately devoured the grass at her hooves, finally smothering the hunger that had tortured her for a millennium. Finished with her grassy meal, the black mare weakly limped with renewed fervor to the nearby creek, guzzling down a river of water to wet her mouth and quench the drought within her. Having taken in her fill, the suffering mare fell and panted on her side, wallowing in the mud, grateful to be allowed even the most mundane of sensations. It is time, Celestia will finally suffer for the petulant obstruction of our glorious night. We will find you sister, your sun will set. Raising her armored head, the rejuvenated alicorn sent out a wave of magic, searching for her hated foe. The sun princess’s signature glowing magic radiated from a nearby mountain. Her eyes pierced through the darkness of her night and gazed for the first time upon the mountain city of Canterlot “Nothing shall stop us.” Canterlot Castle Celestia She was only expecting one pony to attend her court this evening, and this mare had been on the sun princess’s schedule before the foundations of her castle were first hewed from the surrounding mountain. Celestia had prepared extensively for this night, anticipating the imminent arrival of her long-awaited visitor. The tall white mare had maneuvered her chess pieces into their proper places, setting up a trap so that she could call check-mate, and finally end this game. Her guards gone, deceived into leaving the castle so that they would not throw themselves away. The servants dismissed, sent home to their loved ones so they would not suffer for her mistake. And her student faithfully awaiting her teacher, forging together the friendship that might redeem her mother. Nopony to be harmed in the crossfire of her failure. And so she patiently waited in her silent castle, sitting before her empty throne, ever-watching for her opponent’s next move. The large gilded doors opened widely upon oiled hinges, silent in their protest of the invader. The sound of hooves shod in iron clacked across the marble, echoing off the stone walls before fading once more into silence. “Greetings dear sister.” “…….good evening.... Luna.....it has been a long time.” Before Celestia’s haunted eyes stood the source of the parasitic fears that had plagued her mind for uncounted years. Silhouetted in the starlight stood an alicorn mare with fur as black as coal as a polished helm sat upon her brow. A burnished steel chest plate kissed by the moon projected from her chest and a sharpened obsidian horn deadlier than a sword rose from her forehead. The demon’s mane and tail sparkled with dim stars that billowed wildly like an unleashed hurricane. Her teal eyes, with slits for pupils like that of a poisonous snake, glowed from within the helm and pierced into the sun sister’s soul. She had hooves covered in armor that seemed eager for bones to crack underneath. Her bat-like wings were flared in malevolence, ready for a fight. Fangs longer than knives smiled at Celestia. Nightmare Moon stood before her once more. “That is not our name.” the black mare corrected in a voice dripping with malice. “Very well…..the names we choose for ourselves are a reflection of the choices we make in this life. If Nightmare Moon is what you choose to call yourself, then that is what I shall name you.” “Speak not in riddles, we did not break out of our infernal prison to banter with you.” A pause, the estranged sisters stared into the other’s eyes, one searching for a trace of light while the other searched for a sign of weakness. Celestia searched with a desperate and aching heart for a shred of her little sister, a remnant that she could bring out of the darkness and love, to share the light with. But the white alicorn could find none. All she could see when she gazed at the fanged alicorn before her was the ancient foe that she had imprisoned on the moon. Celestia had always hoped that a part of her sister remained in the monster that she could bring to the surface so that she would not have to put her student in such danger for the sake of her subjects. But it was not to be, only the cleansing power of the elements could save her sister now. “So be it.” With that final statement, Celestia leapt to her hooves at the speed of lightning and charged her horn with powerful magic, aiming it at the nightmare that stood opposite of her, intending to defeat her awry sister before anypony else could be harmed. She was not quick enough. An arrow of Dark Magic tinged with blue and black had already streaked from the fallen princess’s horn and pierced through the air at the sun princess. It hissed with ill intents as it flew between them, lighting up the room with its hatred. It connected with Celestia’s chest. Pain beyond anything she had experienced blossomed at the contact of the beam, it burned through her torc and branded her skin with its searing anger. With a despairing cry of desperation, Celestia felt herself fly backward at an alarming speed and she hit the wall with a resounding crack, breaking her wings, bending them at agonizing angles, and her head bouncing off the hard cold stone; her crown falling off onto floor. Barely conscious, Celestia slid down the wall to the stone below, not being able to control her legs through the haze of pain that fogged her mind. She could barely hear the sound of armored hooves trotting towards her, slowly growing in volume as they approached. Her eyes fluttered open in a controlled effort to get up, to resist, but her tears filled them once more for failing her beloved sister. All she could think about was how weak she was. Celestia could never truly prepare to fight her sister again, not after so long, and she had been a fool to think she could. Celestia looked up with a blurry gaze and saw the outline of her attacker who wore a razor sharp smile that reflected the moonlight. “Please….sister….” An iron hoof filled her vision, raised above her limp head. “Good-night Celestia.” The hoof descended. And Celestia knew no more.