For four days and nights the royal sisters flew, quickly leaving the peaceful lands of Equestria far behind as they headed north. They flew through the blazing heat and barren wastes of the changeling lands, hunted all the way by Chrysalis and her children, just managing to stay one step ahead of the hungry swarm. Yet their only reward was more hardship. Over the sea of storms and through its lashing rain and hurricane winds they flew, fighting to stay aloft as the weather battered their bodies and threw them through the air like rag dolls. Through the howling blizzards and sub-zero temperatures of the northern griffin kingdoms they flew, fighting the ice that built on their wings every step of the way. They endured these miserable conditions without protest however, drawing the strength to continue from their devotion to Equestria. Through all of this they flew, without rest, ignoring all pain and weariness, and praying, always praying, that they would make it in time, that they would win this mad race against the worlds destruction.
A few hours after leaving the northern griffin kingdoms behind, past the point where any sort of life could ever hope to possibly survive, they finally reached their destination. The top of the world, as far north as it was possible to go. Before them rose a single steep mountain, standing out in stark contrast to the flat, frozen, endless nothingness all around them, reaching so impossibly high into the heavens that, even though they were already a few thousand feet in the air, they couldn't even begin to see the top. The griffins called it “Heaven’s Pillar”, for surely it must thrust straight into the heavens where only the gods could tread upon its peak, because none had ever reached, or even seen, the top of the mountain.
At least, no one that anybody could be certain of anyway, for who could say what those mad few who tried saw before they died. Their bodies, having finally frozen solid mid-flight, would drop out of the sky, descending out of the steel grey clouds to silently plummet the great distance to the ground below, where their lifeless frozen bodies would finally shatter upon the land. There were few who had ever witnessed this happen, but all accounts were the same. They described the sight as both horrible and beautiful at the same time. It was as if you were watching an angel be cast down from heaven. Pale northern light would momentarily shine down through the hole briefly opened in the clouds by the body’s passage before closing up once more. Leaving the poor creature to finish its ten minute fall through the steel gray darkness of the mountain air in silence, before disappearing upon the ground without so much as a whisper. For this reason, the griffins refer to those who die in this way as 'Fallen Angels', both as a memorial to their deaths and a warning to others.
Luna and Celestia knew all of this, but they had come too far to stop now, and if they took a moment to catch their breath first, both feared that they would never find the strength to take flight again. So they pressed on, heading straight up into the sky, and trying their best not to think about what may lay upon the ground below them. Higher and higher they flew, climbing nearly vertical for just over eleven hours now, each wing beat a labor and each foot risen becoming harder and slower as the air thinned. Both were now wrapped in a bubble of magic, using all their strength to draw enough oxygen to them just so they wouldn't suffocate or fall out of the sky.
Ice covered their bodies now, and their fur was little protection against the burning cold that had become a thick coating of cracked and ragged crystals that would have frozen into a solid mass if they stopped moving. But luckily, they were both long past the point where they could feel, let alone think, anything anymore, listing in a near lifeless stupor as their bodies continued upward on sheer muscle memory alone. The two sisters were utterly still aside from their wings, their hooves and heads drooped down, unable to bare looking up, as it only brought them despair, for even though they had left the cloud layer far behind now, they still could not see the top of Heavens Pillar as it stretched imposingly into the midnight sky.
It was then, when their hope had gone and it seemed they could go no further, that Celestia's body, so unused to any sort of cold, finally gave out. Her wings were simply too heavy with ice to move any longer, and her screaming muscles were simply too damaged to continue fighting. She seemed to hang there for what seemed like an eternity, her magic holding her aloft for a few moments more before it flickered and died, but it was long enough for Luna to take notice. A bolt of fear and panic, colder than even Luna’s frozen wings, gripped her heart and jolted her out of her frozen stupor. With a strangled cry and the power born of terrified desperation, Luna reached for Celestia, grabbing her hoof just as gravity was beginning to reassert itself and drag Celestia back down to the frozen wasteland below. But Celestia was just too much for one half dead lunar princess to bare, and the two of them began to slowly sink.
Luna screamed in agony as she pushed her already tortured body even further past its limits, hauling Celestia up just enough that at least her head was within Luna's magical field. Though it wouldn't matter for long, as the increased strain was beginning to make her flounder. Luna knew they had only moments before her body gave out and both of them would plunge to their deaths, joining the other fallen angels at the base of the mountain. She whipped her head around, desperately looking for something, anything, to save them. Yet there was nothing to be seen except the mountain, and its sides were too steep and icy for any to take refuge on without falling.
Fear was beginning to take hold of Luna, when she spotted something on the mountain below them. About twenty feet down was a depression, an imperfection in the flat mountainside, and as she looked at it, she realized that it wasn't a depression, it was a partially concealed cave entrance! In their frozen stupor, the two sisters had flown right past it without noticing, and Luna silently thanked whatever gods may have lived atop Heavens Pillar for their mercy as she used the last of her failing strength to get them to the mouth of the cave. She was just barely able to get them both over the small lip before her wings seized and the pair fell the dozen remaining feet to the cave entrance, a sickening snap reverberating around the cave as they landed. With a piteous moan of agony, Luna pulled her tortured body to its hooves. Her left wing was bent unnaturally in several places and hanging limply at her side as she began to drag Celestia deeper into the cave, only making it another two dozen feet inside before her magical bubble gave out and she collapsed onto the floor next to Celestia.
When Luna awoke, she found her wing bandaged with some of the supplies from their packs. Looking down, she finally noticed Celestia huddled against her. Her sisters white wings were wrapped protectively around them both as the two shivered with cold. Celestia had woken several hours prior, only to cry out in fear for Luna as she saw her sisters limp body laying upon the floor, her wing mangled in a way that made Celestia want to be sick. She had tried to stand, but as she put weight on her back right hoof, her leg gave out and she had screamed in pain. Something wasn’t right with her hoof, but Celestia had blocked it out and dragged herself to Luna's side, whimpering in pain as her body screamed in protest. Then she had proceeded to start a fight against her own agony, managing to bandage Luna's wing before finally losing, succumbing to the cold and the pain and passing out once more.
But now the pair were both awake, still shivering, but alive. The ice on their bodies had melted away while they were unconscious, leaving them now wet and cold, but that was the least of their concerns at the moment as Celestia pointed out. The more pressing matter to her mind, was how they could possibly be alive. Cave or no cave, their spells had both failed, they should both have suffocated and frozen, never to awaken from their icy sleep.
However, as Celestia voiced these thoughts, the answer was beginning to become apparent to Luna as she began to notice that the cave they found themselves in, was not only odd, but downright unnatural. For one, they could breathe, for another, it was far warmer than it should be, and as she sat there, she noticed that there was a shifting breeze in the cave, constantly swinging from flowing into the cave, and flowing out of the cave, as if the mountain was breathing. Luna shivered from more than just cold as she put the pieces together. She was about to tell Celestia, but by now, Celestia had noticed it herself, and was staring deeper into the cave. A shiver that left their fur standing on end ran through the two sisters, as they suddenly became aware of a pulsing darkness emanating from deeper in the cave.
Looking around more closely now, they noticed dark finger-like tendrils of shadow were being sent forth from within the cave. The two sisters stared at them as they flowed over the walls, using the curves and dips of the cave to make themselves appear natural as they flowed up from within the cave and out of the cave mouth. They hadn’t noticed the darkness seeping from the cave when they had been outside, but then again, they had been half dead, and the void was very good at making others think all was well. Luna and Celestia slowly inched away from the shadow-sludge, more out of disgust than fear, as it was completely ignoring them. Whatever this place was, it appeared they had finally arrived at their destination at long last.
Luna and Celestia looked at each other, exchanging a silent confirmation before they both dragged their frozen, tortured bodies to their feet. As she rose to her hooves, Celestia’s back leg quivered, and she cried out in anguish as she began to sink back down to the floor. Luna caught her sister with her good wing and steadied her, letting Celestia lean on her for support as she silently bound the leg as best she could. Something wet landed on Luna’s cheek then, and she looked up into her sisters tear filled eyes. What she saw there was not simply exhaustion and physical pain, but a confirmation of her own worst fears.
Their plan hadn’t been very sound from the start, much less detailed. Take the box north, hope it actually guided them to the right location, find the darkness the prophecy spoke of, get the box to it, then pour all of their power into the box and hopefully force it open so that it could give them the power to fight or do whatever it was made to do, and save the world. That was all they had, that had been their entire plan. Luna and Celestia had both known it was a pathetic, desperate plan from the very start. It wasn’t until now however that they were forced to actually admit it to themselves. They had started out so strong and confident, but now they were broken and beaten beyond all recognition, little more than cripples. The pair were so weak that a strong breeze could probably have pushed them over, and they wanted to stand against a power that could destroy worlds, the thought was laughable.
Tears began to run down Luna’s face as she saw the knowledge of their quest’s futility reflected in Celestia’s eyes. Now that even Celestia, the big sister she looked up to and drew strength from, was admitting their mission was in vain, how could Luna still hold onto hope? The two sisters lowered their heads, resting them against one another in a moment of solidarity as they wept. Though it was hopeless, they knew they must still try. Not for themselves, but for the sake of everyone they loved. Without exchanging a word, they knew this is what they must do. The same way they knew deep in their hearts, that however it played out, they would not survive what was to come, that they would die here, alone.
After taking a moment to pull themselves together, the two sisters steeled their nerves and, with Luna supporting Celestia on her good wing, began to half limp, half walk, deeper into the cave. The hours of unconsciousness seemed to have restored their magic just enough that the two were able to hold a simple light spell as they walked. The floor of the cave sloped steadily downward before them, its unwavering consistency making it feel unnatural. The sisters own piteous whimpers of pain were the only sounds to be heard in the cave, traveling deep into the mountain, distorting and echoing back to them as wails that would make the damned souls of Tartarus envious; at least, they prayed it was their own echoed moans, and not something else.
They walked deeper, always heading down, each step torturous and seeming to take longer and longer, as if everything was slowing down. What had taken a second before, now felt like it took minutes, then hours, then days, then weeks, as time seemed to stretch around them. With the sense of time stretching around them came the distortion of the wails. It was subtle at first, imagined words amidst the noise, but as the weeks dragged into years they grew sharper. Millions upon millions of whispering voices surrounded them, and every one different. Male, female, young, old, it was like having the entire world in your head, and they all hated you. The voices whispered words of anger and hate. They screamed words of rage and death. They even cackled madly as they rambled on in barely intelligible sentences. At least half the voices were completely mad, and the other half knew they were mad and simply didn’t care, but they all seemed to know the two sisters were there. Covering their ears didn’t help, the voices were everywhere at once, and they spoke directly into their minds. Luna and Celestia felt as if they were trapped in a waking nightmare that would never end.
With every step they took, the lights from their horns grew dimmer and dimmer, as if the darkness around them was beginning to physically press in upon them, willfully stifling the light. The thought made their skin crawl, but they pressed on, step after step until their light felt like nothing but a memory, only casting the dimmest imitation of light upon them, abandoning them to live out years in the dark with every step, and only the voices for company.
When it seemed they must surely be steps away from being able to see nothing at all, something changed. The incessant voices that had taunted them, plagued them, nay tortured them... grew silent. Luna and Celestia froze in terrified anticipation, their hearts hammering in their chests as they strained to pick up something, anything in the dark. Then they felt it, on the farthest edges of their senses, a bunching, a sort of swelling in the darkness. The sisters suddenly tensed as they felt the mass surge forward, like it was rushing at them from some incredible distance. The voices began to return, starting out barely even audible, but growing steadily louder as the mass drew closer. Suddenly the unseen mass was upon them, streaking past them, around them, through them. It was like standing in the middle of a stampede. The two sisters were rooted to the spot, afraid they may be swept away if they moved. The multitude of voices were all around them again, rushing past them with the mass of darkness, each one screaming clearly at the top of its lungs; a single word that froze Luna and Celestia’s very blood… FREEDOM!
Panic-stricken, the two sisters surged forward into the rushing sea of nothing around them, refusing to believe their worst fear had come to pass. The tunnel abruptly ended before them in a small outcropping that hung out into nothing. Hard as they stared all around them, they couldn’t see a thing, it was as if someone had hollowed out the entire mountain and painted it black. As if they stood upon the edge of some great void and stared into the infinite abyss. However, this ‘nothing’ was in itself, something. They could feel it all around them, and the waves of hate and darkness coming from it were like blows upon the sisters. They wanted to vomit, wanted to run, wanted to beg for mercy, wanted to lay down and die as they felt a wave of malevolence descend upon them, as whatever this darkness was, focused its attention on them. They didn't flee though, they knew they couldn't. They had a job to do, and succeed or fail, they had to try.
They could feel the darkness around them beginning to tighten as it moved toward them, and they knew that if they were to do something to stop this ancient being, they had to do it now. Celestia reached for her bag and gripped the flap, but she was too slow. The void froze around Luna and tightened its grip on Celestia, pulling her into the air as it ‘leaned in’ to examine her. The voices had quieted since they enter this inner chamber, but now they returned with an eerie unity. Words seemed to emanated from deep within the mountain, as if they were echoing up to them from the very core of the world. Yet there was an amused, mocking lilt to the chorus of voices that made it feel like it was only inches away from them.
“So this is what was coming to stop me? These insignificant little creatures of flesh and bone?! As if the likes of you could even begin to comprehend the magnitude of my existence.” The darkness seemed to ‘smirk’ at them now. “Though I must say, it was quite thoughtful of you to come all this way to greet me. I don’t get many visitors here as you can imagine.”
The darkness let out a peel of inhuman laughter at its own joke, and tightened its grip on Celestia, causing her to cry out in pain. Luna struggled against her unseen bonds and cried out for the darkness to stop. The chorus of voices ignored Luna’s pleas and changed from laughter to pleasured coos as they listened to Celestia scream.
“Oooh, what a lovely voice you have~ Such sweet screams of pain~ I hope all your kind can scream as wonderfully as you~ I’ll have to take my time with your world and have a bit of fun. I’ve been locked up for so long after all. I’ve just been so bored without someone to play with~”
The void cackled and raised Celestia’s chin. “How about it little one~ Would you like to play with me, hmm? Shall we have a bit of fun?”
Celestia was in too much pain to answer, and the darkness could care less what she had to say. It took hold of her right wing and fully extended it, looking it over as it ‘grinned’. “Well well, what’s this? Certainly looks rather delicate to me~ I wonder what would happen if I did this~”
With sadistic pleasure, the void grabbed Celestia’s first primary feather and began to slowly pull on it as she cried out and arched her back in agony. Luna let out a wail of grief and anger, calling out to her sister as she dug deep within herself and dragged her magic out of whatever little nook it had been hiding in. Her horn began to glow brightly, and with a roar of fury she unleashed a concentrated burst of pure magical energy, putting everything she could muster into it. The bolt of power streaked into the darkness, burning a white line through the air as it sped toward the point in front of Celestia where she felt the greatest concentration of the void. Her heart sank as the spell seemed to just dwindle away, as if it had been sucked into an endless expanse and simply disappeared into the distance, leaving Celestia trapped.
Luna’s spirit was utterly crushed. Her act of defiance hadn’t even registered on the beings radar, she was completely helpless to aid her sister. She could only watch in horror as the darkness proceeded to systematically pull out every feather in Celestia’s right wing one at a time, obviously taking great pleasure in her suffering. Each feather pulled made Celestia thrash against her bonds in anguish, sending fresh blood splattering everywhere as she wept and shrieked in agony. Tears ran down Luna’s face to mingle with the flecks of blood sprayed across it as she closed her eyes to the horror and wept for her sister. She begged it to stop, to leave Tia alone, but her pleas for mercy were completely ignored. Hanging her head in despair, Luna tried one last time to save her sister, imploring the darkness between wracking sobs, to take her instead.
Abruptly ceasing its torture, the void ‘turned’ to regard Luna in amused bewilderment, gagging Celestia as she tried to protest “You would volunteer yourself to take her place? You would truly sacrifice yourself for her sake? You actually care for her that much?!” Luna could only nod her head weakly as she continued to cry.
The void seemed to wriggle in apparent mirth as it chuckled, obviously finding her heart-felt plea entertaining “Such love you have for this one. Such devotion. I’m touched, really I am. I’m actually even considering it. It’s such a lovely sentiment. Pointless, even foolish, but still lovely.”
A sense of conceited smugness washed over Luna, as if it was smirking at her “Alright then, so be it. Forcing this one to watch as I play with you, knowing that you sacrificed yourself to briefly spare her, will undoubtedly cause her such unimaginably delicious anguish~”
A chill ran down Luna’s spine as the thing laughed in a disturbingly crazed, inhuman manner. It was so unnerving that she hadn’t even noticed that it had released her and she could move again. “Now then, come here little one~ Come and claim the sister you love so much~”
Luna slowly walked toward Celestia, her head held low in defeat and acceptance. As she moved to her sisters side, she only dared to look up at her for an instant before averting her gaze in shame and sorrow. She was unable to bare Celestia’s tear-filled gaze. Her sisters eyes silently begged Luna not to do this, to run away while she had the chance, but she knew there was no running from this, not anymore.
The void practically purred at her docile obedience, and Luna had to struggle not to be sick on the spot at the mere sound of it. “What a good little pony you are~ Well, a deal’s a deal~ I will release your sister.”
Celestia suddenly hurtled backward as if she had been thrown by some unseen hand, and there was a nauseating chorus of snaps and crunches as she slammed into the wall. Unimaginable anguish flashed through her for a split-second before her mind simply refused to take anymore and simply shut down. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her mouth hung open, frozen in a tortured mask of pain.
Insane laughter erupted all around them as Luna screamed Tia’s name, reaching for her sister in vain as the white mares broken body hit the floor with a dull smack. As Celestia hit the floor, the flap on her pouch spilled open and the crystal box tumbled out, rolling across the floor to rest a few feet away. The box suddenly began to gleam with a blinding intensity as it recognized the presence of the void around it. Wrathful hissing emanated from the darkness as it recoiled from the light of the box in disgust. “HOW! How do you have this?! It’s not possible!”
The voids words didn’t even register in Luna’s mind. The second she had seen the box tumble from the bag, she had started running towards it. Light filled her, deep in her heart she felt the small spark of hope begin to smolder once more. She ran blindly towards the box, abandoning all thoughts of safety in her mad dash to reach the only hope her sister had.
Luna stumbled headlong over the box, gasping and clutching it to her reflexively as she fell, ignoring the new pain in her ankle as it twisted. Her head rung as it struck the stone floor, but she fought through it, she didn’t have time for pain. The darkness roared with rage and began to surge toward her as it realized she had used its momentary disorientation to seize the box. “NO! I WILL NOT GO BACK!”
Vision swimming, her heart hammering with terror deep in her chest, Luna desperately began dragging herself along the few remaining feet to Celestia’s side. She called out Tia’s name and shook her as she reached her side, praying her sister was still alive, but there was no response. Blinded by grief, Luna didn’t notice the faintest rise and fall of Celestia’s chest as she hung onto life. Thinking her sister truly dead, tears began to roll down her cheeks freely as Luna gave in to despair. The box rolled from her grasp as she bent down and wrapped her arms around Celestia’s neck, cradling her head tenderly. Luna’s body heaved with sobs as she closed her eyes and buried her tear-streaked face into her sister’s mane, rocking gently as she whispered apologies and begged her forgiveness for not being able to save her. Her only solace now was that it would all be over soon, and then they could be together again.
The darkness bore down on them like a furious tide, it’s millions of voices all screaming out in rage, demanding blood for their insolence. Luna tightened her hold on Celestia as she braced herself for the end, giving her sisters head a soft kiss as she whispered a few last words of love. The crystal box that had been slowly rolling along the floor in a gentle curve, tipped once more and rolled onto its next side, coming to rest against Luna and Celestia’s horns.
The light of the box burst forth, increasing exponentially, blazing with a brilliant white intensity that would have rivaled the light of a thousand suns. The darkness drew up short, only inches from the sisters, and recoiled from the intense light as it let out an unearthly shriek of pain that shook the mountain. The darkness around them gathered itself again and surged forward, enraged, bent on snuffing out this hateful thing before it. The box reached into the two sisters, drawing their power into itself, and letting its own power flow back into them, joining them as one.
Luna and Celestia’s eyes snapped open and began to burn with the intense light of the box. They slowly rose to their hooves as the darkness closed in around them, tightening its death grip on this accursed light. Together, the two sisters opened their mouths, and began to speak as one with a voice not their own as the will of the box used them. Their words echoed thunderously around the chambered with power, causing the darkness to stop as it flinched.
"Ancient power of the infinite void. Thee who would return the universe to nothing and birth it anew. One who has slept since time immemorial. Return now to your eternal slumber. Go back to your shadows and await the end of days, as is your duty. For the time of reckoning is not yet upon this plane. Go now, back to your cage. We cast you out from this place to await the day of judgement in silent slumber once more as you were bid."
The shadows around them seethed, hissing in defiant rage as it surged forward once more and began to batter at the radiant light, striking again and again in vain at some unseen shield that had sprung up and surrounded Luna and Celestia. “NO! I REFUSE TO BE CAGED AGAIN!” The sisters and the box watched on for a moment in silence as they slowly rose into the air, then they began to speak again, the mountain trembling with their building fury.
"You will return to your eternal vigil now, or you shall feel our wrath! We do not wish a confrontation, but you leave us little choice. If you would still defy our will, then we have no alternative but to force you back from whence you came by our own hand. Be cast out by us or return of your own volition. The choice is yours."
“I WILL NEVER GO BACK! NOW DIE!” The shadows boiled and writhed as they roared in anger, then gathered its strength and struck out at the two once more. As it did so, the bodies of the two sisters spread forth their hooves and wings, as every inch of them began to blaze with light, becoming brighter and brighter as power built inside them. The two sisters cried out in fury together as a wave of light burst forth from them.
"THEN SO BE IT! THE CHOICE HAS BEEN MADE! BE GONE POWER OF THE VOID! WE. CAST. YOU. OUT!"
The light blazed brilliantly, becoming brighter and brighter by the moment, pushing back the darkness as it erased all shadow and blinded all sight, until nothing was left but a brilliant, intense white, and when the light had faded, everything was over. The northern kingdoms still speak with mixed fear and reverence of the night when a tide of darkness had rolled across the sky and swallowed the light of the stars. In the depths of their despair, when all had seemed lost, Heavens Pillar had suddenly shone with light, banishing the darkness and turning night into day as it blazed with such intensity. They never knew what had really happened, or why, no one ever did. Not the griffins, not the changelings, not the ponies of Equestria, not Twilight or Rarity, not even Luna and Celestia themselves.
Fourteen days after the two sisters had mysteriously vanished with the box, and seven days after Sweetie Belle finished the 'grounding from Tartarus', there was a flash of light, and the two sisters along with the box, had simply reappeared in their beds, as healthy as the day they left and fast asleep, to be discovered the next morning by several startled servants. When they awoke, they remembered nothing of their quest, or their encounter with the void being. Only that they had been searching the castle for something, then gone north with the box to somewhere they couldn't remember, for a reason that they couldn't remember either. This disturbed the sisters greatly, and they began looking into it, but after much investigation leading to nothing, the whole matter was eventually written off as one of those mysteries that would simply never be solved.
And so, without anyone ever knowing it, Sweetie Belle had doomed all of creation with her thoughtless act, including herself. Just as blissfully unaware, Rarity had saved them all from destruction; albeit in a rather uneventful and roundabout manner. It just goes to show that even the smallest acts can have huge consequences.
THE END