‘Where am I?’ I struggled to think, to remember what happened, where I was, and more importantly who I was. A dark abyss surrounded me. I breathed faintly as I tried to feel, my body seeming non-existent. I made out thousands of shimmering lights in the far expanse surrounding me. Flashes of distant memories entered my mind; the chaotic emotions flowing through them confused me.
‘Wait,’ I… I remember something. It was important to something I could not recall. I struggled to think hard, the sheer effort of remembering something so important from a mass of images, voices, and emotion were drowning me in a deeper sea of confusion. Putting forth more effort I suddenly recalled what I had forgotten. The shadow… it had been so tempting, so soothing. It promised many things and I took it. I felt relief as the memory spilled forth. Glory, power, reverence, they would all be mine. They were all mine. I was finally the true ruler of Equestria.
A distant nagging pulled at my conscious. Some sort of instinct was screaming at me. The memory pressed harder at me, but I ignored it. I focused on the new feeling burning deep within. It felt… different. After a while it suddenly clicked. It was regret! My smile of victory was short lived as it was replaced again with confusion. Why was I feeling regret? The memory promising great things pressed again on my conscious. I tried to push it away only for it to ground itself harder against me almost painfully. I recoiled and almost lost control of myself as it followed me. The memory was scaring me now. Why would something so great feel so… menacing? I carefully peeked at it again. Instead of listening to the whispered praise I studied it ever so closely. Carefully, I extended my awareness around it and steadied my breathing. The once great promise had something running through it. I couldn’t quite tell what it was but I knew it was wrong; unnatural. I was violently shoved away and it disappeared. A brief bout of panic erupted from me as I looked around and failed to find it.
In my panic induced state another memory burst forth from deep within. The shadow! It wasn’t my friend. It tricked me! Sister! I have to help her! The starry void surrounding me suddenly seemed a lot less inviting. I pushed against it, desperately trying to escape. It didn’t give an inch, furthering my desperate attempts of escape. It reacted by pushing me back, squeezing tighter and tighter. I couldn’t breathe, my lungs aching for air.
‘Tia!’ I silently screamed as the darkness drowned me, enshrouding me in the inescapable black abyss.
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Nightmare smirked evilly as she forced Luna back into her prison. Tricking that foolish princess all that time ago had been all too easy. She turned her attention back to her current task. She flew up high into the sky, a dark mist trailing behind the dark alicorn. She truly was the nightmare of foals and ponies alike. She opened her bright cyan eyes, the cat-like pupils focused on the horizon. The dawn was barely visible, the sun failing to rise as Moon had stopped it the second she was free. Concentrating, she pulled mana into her horn and steered the moon over the horizon. With a final tug the moon accelerated into the sky, shining so brightly it lit up the land in a silver light. Nightmare Moon soaked up the light, spreading her limbs wide as the moon filled her with power.
Brimming with energy, the alicorn had a very faint dark purple ambience surrounding her. Her eyes flashed with power as she turned and raced towards the distant castle of Canterlot. The wind streaked past, her specter-like mane waving wildly behind her. In no time she was already above the palace’s airspace. She dived towards the front entrance and slammed into the ground, a small crater forming beneath her.
“Come out Celestia! I know you can hear me!” She yelled loudly, bushes toppling over with the sheer intensity of her voice. After a few moments the ancient wood doors opened, revealing a pure white alicorn. Nightmare smiled and stomped her hoof. “Where are your little guards? Are your playthings too cowardly to stand with you?”
Celestia walked down the short staircase slowly, her eyes never leaving the evil mare before her. “This is between you and me. The guards have nothing to do with it.” Celestia stopped when she was a few meters away. Her eyes softened for a moment. “Sister please. If you can hear me, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were hurting so much! Come back and we can be sisters again.”
Nightmare laughed maniacally, her joy hardening Celestia’s eyes once more. “Ha, ha, ha! You think she can hear you? She’s too busy drowning in her own guilt.” Celestia’s eyes remained stoic, but Moon could detect a slight crack in her façade and decided to exploit it. “It’s pathetic really. The only thing she desires is her own swift death, begging me to end her,” Nightmare lied. “Unfortunately for her I enjoy tormenting that weak minded foal. Watching her shiver in fright when I caress her is just so satisfying.”
Nightmare smiled as Celestia’s face broke into pure rage. She was counting on this; her blinding anger would break her train of thought, causing any plan she had to crumble. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!” Part of the stone wall cracked at her voice, the enraged princess pushing off the ground with an impossible speed. Nightmare’s horn lit up as she teleported high into the sky. The sun goddess charged right past where Moon had just been, looking around angrily. She looked up as Nightmare laughed.
“Look at yourself! You can’t even attack somepony accurately even when you have the advantage of surprise!” Celestia flew up into the sky rapidly, moving fast enough to create a shrill whistle in the air. A lance of golden light rocketed up from Celestia, detonating in a giant airburst next to Moon. She was knocked to the side and straightened herself out, shaking the stars out of her vision. She turned in time to receive a wicked hoof strike to her face as Celestia streaked past. Moon reeled back from the blow and allowed herself to drop for a few seconds before flaring her wings, pulling up into a steep arch. She flapped with all her might until she was a few hundred meters in the sky. She turned around and saw Celestia approaching her rapidly.
‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, not going to happen!’ As Celestia came within striking distance Moon teleported behind her. She immediately unleashed a dark stream of magic after the sun goddess. Celestia turned and, seeing the incoming attack, launched her own bright stream of magic. The two super forces collided together, plasma forming from the sheer amount of energy at the point of contact. The two beings stayed locked in position, neither side giving ground. This wouldn’t last for long though as Moon could feel her magic waning from her mass spending of mana. The steady stream of dark magic fell back slightly, Celestia pushing harder to overcome her adversary. Moon was surprised she hadn’t used the Elements yet. Maybe she didn’t even have them. She banished any disruptive thoughts as she pushed back harder as well. Moon had a plan and she only needed a little more time to buy herself for it to be enacted. The moon was directly behind Celestia, the silver orb turning a slight orange as it shifted colors. ‘A… a little more time… before the moon traps her.’ Nightmare thought it only appropriate that the sun goddess face the same punishment as she did, the irony giving her warm fuzzy feelings. She gritted her teeth as she gave it all she had, needing to buy a few more precious seconds.
That’s when the two streams of magic did something peculiar. A huge black dome expanded from the point of contact, purple and gold lightning arching across it like moss growing on a boulder. The dark alicorn saw white specks in the orb and recognized them to be stars. She was however, unable to identify which stars they were. She soon forgot about this as a massive grey and white object the width and height of the dome emerged from the dome in a great show of fire. Both alicorns forgot about each other as they watched the object fly rapidly towards the ground, debris on fire trailing behind it. Moon screamed in agony as a foreign, thing, resonated in her horn. She heard a mare’s voice yelling in her head.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is USAF-SV ‘New Horizons’ calling to control! We are crash landing on an unknown anomaly! Systems critical! Last known location was 13 AU’s out from edge of solar system!” There was a loud amount of static before it continued. “BRACE, BRACE, BRACE!” The object impacted along the valley floor between the other side of the mountain Canterlot sat on and another mountain range. It erupted into flames and split into three large pieces. Multiple explosions rang out as bright balls of flames bloomed from the wreckage.
Moon shook her head and looked at Celestia. She was still clutching her head but seemed to be recovering. Nightmare saw her chance and surrounded Celestia in magic. She rapidly strengthened it as Celestia began fighting against it. With sweat dripping down her face and muscles rippling with fatigue, Nightmare pulled Celestia closer to her. An onyx pendulant appeared on Moon’s chest as she dragged Celestia even closer. A golden aura began funneling from Celestia and into the gem. She screamed as the gem yanked her entire being, physically and mentally, into itself. It pulsed a bright white briefly before dulling down to its original state with the exception of a small white light deep inside. Celestia was gone.
Nightmare laughed manically, reveling in her victory. A bright blue flash reminded her of the burning pile of metal far below. Smiling with curiosity Moon dived towards the wreckage.
----------------------------------------------------
Loud alarms dragged Adam from unconsciousness. He opened his eyes and could barely see. The room was dark with a red emergency strobe light interrupting the black void. He closed his eyes as he struggled to remain conscious.
“Adam?!” He heard someone call out. The sound of crunching glass approached him. He felt a pair of hands grab his body armor as he was dragged away from the debris he had been partially buried under. The man slapped his face with the palms of his hands, trying to get him to focus.
“Adam! It’s me, James. Are you okay?” Adam nodded weakly, attempting to stand. “Ah, ah. Take it easy. I’ll carry you okay? We need to get out of here and regroup with any survivors outside. Who knows if this section will go up in flames.”
Adam whined in pain as James hoisted him over his back. Adam faded in and out of consciousness as he watched the floor moving beneath them. He heard the puffs of James’ breath as he continued carrying him out of there. James stopped, jolting Adam awake again. James was breathing very quietly; triggering Adam’s trained instinct to kick in as he copied his breathing. A very faint tapping could be heard. It slowly increased in sound as whatever was causing it approached them. It sounded like it was on the other side of the wall, filling Adam with relieve. Right as it was about to pass them it stopped. Adam felt fear fill up his body as he watched the back of James’ arm slowly rise, the butt of his rifle shifting to sit in his shoulder.
A massive blue shockwave blew out the wall, sending both marines flying into the wall. Adam slumped down onto his side and watched through blurry eyes as an alien figure, illuminated by a bright silver light, stepped through the hole. The dark shape of James got up from the floor quickly. Adam could tell he was crouching and watched as a repeated stream of bright yellow flashes erupted from his figure. Bright purple flashes circled around the alien as it seemed to deflect the rounds. It shifted and charged at James. James tried to roll out of the way but found his feet unwilling to respond. He couldn’t move and Adam watched as James screamed, the alien impaling his fellow brother. His friends form slumped and the alien pulled away from him. Adam felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness, fear welling up inside of him as he could feel the creature looking at him. Before the darkness claimed him he saw the creature approach him and a bright light flared across his vision before succumbing to the void.