//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: False Masks // Story: Burn The Fallow Land // by RainbowBob //------------------------------// Luna ducked and leaped forward as an orb of sunfire crashed into the massive trees behind her, reducing them to kindling almost instantly. She skidded to an abrupt halt as another ball of flames roared past her. Had she taken a few more steps, she would have been burned alive. She looked up to the glowing form of her sister. Celestia had engulfed herself in white-hot flames, and had taken to flinging fireballs down upon Luna while laughing in what seemed to be genuine amusement. What has happened to her? Luna thought to herself as she slid behind a thick grouping of trees. I… by the stars, she has never used magic like this before. She swallowed hard, and shook her head. I… I am a fool. She was waiting for me to confront her. She was prepared for this! She peeked around a tree and watched as Celestia flung fireballs at random trees, watching the smoke billow up with psychotic glee. “I cannot allow her to continue like this…” Luna’s horn glowed briefly, and she melted into the shadows, becoming one with the darkness itself. Celestia’s coat blazed a glimmering white that not even the sun could outshine. From her horn shined a light unlike any other, the purest golden white that burned the corneas of any who stared directly at it, a light so brilliant even the briefest of glances could blind you. And with this light, Celestia cast the shadows of the forest away in an illumination unlike any other. “You want to hide, baby sister?” Celestia called out. She waited a few seconds, her pupils contracting to tiny pinpricks. “Fine! Hide in your grave then!” The sky was on fire, and like a hailstorm the flames fell upon the land. The first wave incinerated all it touched, turning trees into matches and foliage into tinderboxes. Not a single organic entity survived the blast, a crater of around five hundred feet covering the area in a lifeless husk of ash and still-burning embers in the cinders. The only things left were burned ground that was as hot as coal. Boulders dotted here and there were already beginning to melt from the intense heat. Celestia landed in the middle of the circle of charred death, the smoke and ash from the hellish inferno dissipating immediately where she landed. Casting a careful eye amongst the ruins of the blaze, Celestia smirked. “It’d be a shame, baby sister, if your fate was to be burned to a crisp today; however, I won’t lose any sleep over it. Coups need to be put down, along with troublemaking siblings that don’t rightfully know their place.” Celestia sighed. She cast a disapproving gaze on the black, scorched ground. “And here I once thought you were worthy to rule by my side. Whimsical notions, I know, but a prayer nonetheless.” “The moon will crash down upon the planet before I will die from such a reckless tactic, Sister.” A voice echoed in Celestia’s mind. Luna’s voice, clear as crystal, as though she were standing beside her, or in front of her… or in any direction, for that matter. “You call yourself a ruler. I see nothing but a tyrant. Perhaps my desire to seek attention and acceptance from my subjects was selfish. I realize now that my suspicions regarding you and keeping me beneath your hoof, however, were justified.” Intangible whispers and laughter of foals floated on the wind, flakes of ash swirling around Celestia as Luna continued. “I will not fool myself, Celestia. You are the stronger one in this fight. What you lack in a warrior’s instinct you’ve always made up for with brute strength and powerful magic. However…” The winds began to pick up. The temperature plummeted from volcanic to arctic in seconds. “You aren’t the only one who has an ace up her sleeve, Celestia.” The blazing alicorn whirled around, only to find a sword pressed against her neck. The faint etchings of arcane runes danced along the cold steel of the katana, marking enchantments and protection from magics of numerous sorts. A small cloud of ash swirled around Celestia once before condensing and forming into the midnight alicorn. She smiled as she lifted the blade, forcing Celestia’s chin to raise up as well. “Careful now, sister. I think we both know just how sharp this blade can be. All I have to do is simply will the blade to be sharp, and well…” She frowned. “... you understand.” She walked forward, snorting as a bit of ash irritated her nose. “Before we continue this little bout… a question, if I may?” She stared at Celestia, her expression now unreadable. “Surely you can give your only sister that much before you incinerate her, yes?” Celestia smiled, the blade only inches away from her neck yet not bothering her in the least. “Oh please, do. I’m used to answering your questions by now, sister, since you often times don’t have the intellect or common sense to know the answer yourself.” Luna’s eyes narrowed. She stared at Celestia for several long moments, then asked, “How long? How long have you harbored such anger? You laugh at me, and ridicule me… but I can sense it.” She took another step forward, careful to keep her blade poised below Celestia’s chin. “There’s something inside you. Something… something I can feel. It’s not you.” Her eyes were suddenly glowing with magic. She studied Celestia from head to toe, then frowned. “It’s as though you’re a completely different creature, Celestia.” She shook her head slowly, and sighed. “I will admit, I perhaps should have been less forward about my intentions if I truly wished to have more control. Perhaps I would have been better off doing you in while you slept.” A hollow wind rolled past the two, and for a moment, Luna looked regretful. Her gaze hardened, and she let out a snort. “Now, though, I’m seeing something that I had not noticed before. If you’ve always held such anger in you, and you’re willing to decimate acres of life to simply prove your superiority to me…” Her form began to waver, as though it was being blown away with the breeze itself. “...this changes everything, Celestia. I will stop you, for Equestria’s sake. I was foolish to think that simply seizing the throne for myself would prove anything. You, however, have given me more than enough reason to do you in.” Luna vanished the breeze, as did her sword. “Part of me even wonders if you truly are my sister…” Celestia scanned her surroundings, waiting for the faintest hint of movement. Probably Luna poised to strike from the smoke and dust that had filled the air. “You want to know how long I’ve had this anger within me, dear sister?” Celestia called out, the wind her only answer as it swept up the ash. “My entire life! Every waking moment I’ve had to take care of you, look out for you, and even defend you against the troubles of this world! All the while I sat back and watched as you failed miserably to be anything else other than a worthless hack in the royal lineage. You know why you don’t have your own kingdom to rule, baby sister? Because I couldn’t trust you to run a castle, much less an entire nation, all by your lonesome. The best I could do was grant you a title so you didn’t embarrass our royal line.” With a devious grin on her face, Celestia lifted up her wings and released a torrent of air with a single flap, twin tornadoes clearing the air of dust and ash so only the fallow lands remained. No place to hide now. “It was only when Discord nearly toppled us that I realized how truly useless you were! How much you depended on me! How much I sacrificed just to find my contributions being put into a worthless husk!” Celestia walked down the center of the burned forest, carefully looking for even the slightest hint of her sister, always lurking in the shadows. “It was then that I knew you truly were an investment not worth keeping! In fact, I was actually hoping you’d attempt to overthrow me one day. At least then it’d give me a good enough excuse as any to kill you. Took you longer than I thought it would have, but in the end, you’re predictable as always, baby sister.” While Celestia walked through the remnants of the burned forest, Luna trailed behind, slithering from shadow to shadow, even the smallest rock providing enough shade to remain concealed. Her… entire life…? Luna let out a shaky breath. If this was true, then all those centuries… the times they suffered together. Discord, King Sombra… Tirek… All of those times that they had fought beside each other. Had she truly been that large of a burden to Celestia? “I see…” Luna’s voice lacked any aggression this time. With a pop, Luna materialized from her hiding place within the shade of a burned tree. She waited for Celestia to stop. “If that is so true, then why did you not leave me to die at Discord’s hands all those years ago? Why did you not let Sombra impale me on his diamond throne, or crush me beneath the weight of my worst fears?” Luna glared at Celestia, though her eyes, which had once held hostility, now held nothing but pain. “I will admit, these past few years have been… less than wonderful. I felt a distance between us. I had no one to confide in. I could tell you were too involved in running Equestria.” She shook her head. “Sometimes, though, I felt as though something… I know not what it may have been, but I swore I could feel it… was there. In the back of my mind. When I saw you, I could hear it, a voice. Whispering… asking me questions.” The midnight alicorn took a step forward, Celestia watching her with mild disinterest. “Why should I settle for staying where I am, it would ask? Why should it be a diarchy when only one seems to be in charge, it wondered? Any suggestions I made, sound and reasonable as they might have been, were disregarded.” She stopped, no more than a few paces between her and Celestia now. “I think I know now what that voice was…” Her slitted irises were mere slits now as she locked her gaze with Celestia’s. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Her words gave the impression of a question, but her tone held little uncertainty. “Those voices. Those ideas. It was you, planting those thoughts in my mind.” She received no answer. “I asked you a question, Celestia.” She stomped a hoof, causing all the rubble and debris to bounce a few feet in the air for a moment before landing. “Answer me!” Celestia stared down at her hoof. “You know, the funny thing is, Luna…” She glanced upward, her rose colored eyes boring into Luna’s vision like spotlights. “I never had to do a thing. Oh, well, I pushed you along a bit, just to make the process easier. Along with alienating the noble court from you, lessening your importance, and promoting the beauty of the sun to the populace while disregarding the moon. "But you, baby sister, you barely needed any nudging at all to believe yourself superior to your own sister and to slit her throat with hardly a second thought.” Celestia’s lips edged up her face into a smile, completely malevolent and devoid of any indication of joy or cheer. “I’m guessing you wanted someone to blame for these murderous thoughts, hmm? Well, sorry to disappoint, but the only one you can call a conniving deviant is yourself.” For a long moment, Luna said nothing. Her eyes lowered to the charred earth, her hoof scuffing at the glassed soil. Weak. Luna’s eyes widened. She looked up to Celestia, though her sister had not moved. Pathetic. Panic began to trickle into her mind. Again, she was hearing these whispers. Though… Foolish. “No… you’re lying!” Luna protested, taking a step away from Celestia. Her gaze hardened. “I know it! There is something not right with you! With me, too, it would seem!” She grit her teeth and forced down the scream as Celestia remained impassive to her sister. Alone. Then, Luna let out a scream. She locked in on Celestia, and her horn ignited with a light that resembled that of a full moon on a cloudless night. She pointed it at her sister, tears rolling down her eyes. “Of sound mind or not, Celestia, I know this much! There is a darkness in your heart! A darkness in mine! If you truly do not see this, then there is no hope for us!” She let out a shaky sob, and the magic coursing through her began to hum, a light, violent soprano that cried to be released. “I will not deny it, sister, while I despise the things you have said about me, and while I want to crush you for the heartache you’ve put me through… I still care for you. I still…” She let out a frustrated cry. “I may be on the brink of madness, but I am aware of it. There is still sanity within me. You, however, I feel, have lost yourself to this… this power of yours. It is not you. It doesn’t feel like you.” She stood upright, her spell straining to break free of her hold. “I will ask you, only once, so listen well.” She let out a breath, and asked, just above a whisper. “Celestia… sister… do you truly hate me? Do you hate me as much as you said you do?” She lowered her head, and aimed at her sister. “I await your reply.” “Then wait no longer, baby sister,” Celestia said. She extended a wing across the fallow lands, where life had been extinguished and everything burned to the ground. “The strong rule over the weak. I have seen this time and time again, and in being surrounded by its examples I have became one of its star students. Sombra, Tirek, Discord, all powerful foes with might to match with our own. Might enough to rule, in fact. It was then that I realized why be ashamed of it? Why regret being in charge just because of my magical superiority or longer lifespan? I should embrace it. In fact, I should hold it in the highest regards that I can, for all of Equestria as well. A nation built upon the backs of the strong while the weak are trampled beneath their hooves. This is the world I envision. The world where ponies can truly rise among the ranks of the meek and become stars in the sky. A world where we are the top of the food chain, where we are above everyone else.” Celestia turned her wing to Luna, slowly shaking her head while a disappointed tsk escaped her lips. “But you, baby sister, you’re not part of this world. You never were. Initially, I had hope, the hope only a sibling can have for their loved ones, that you could change. But time and time again you’ve disappointed me. With Discord, with Sombra, and even with Tirek. Just a string of disappointments, one after the other. It was only then that I knew what must be done. What must be done to ensure the greatness that I want Equestria to be.” Celestia leaned forward, undeterred by Luna’s glowing horn only a few inches away from her eyes. Popping embers could be heard all around the pair, the fires of the fallow lands still not dead. “I do hate you, baby sister. I hate how weak you are, I hate how much you depend on me, but most of all, I hate how you kept my hopes up only to drop them over and over and over again. And for that, I shall never forgive you.” Luna choked back a sob. Her eyes shined with tears. “Then you have my apologies.” Luna’s horn crackled. Clouds overhead began to gather, lightning crackling as a storm began to brew above the two alicorns. “I will tell our subjects that you were lost to madness. I had no choice.” She gave a small smile to Celestia. “Fare thee well, dear sister. I will remember you as the mare I knew before this madness took you.” Luna leaped back, and let out a cry of anger. She unleashed her spell, directing a massive wave of darkness and starlight at Celestia. Celestia laughed. That same dry, dead laugh. The laugh of a corpse, one might think. The darkness was instantly absorbed into her body, her coat still a sheen of blinding white, her mane and tail still a blazing inferno, her armor still a golden so shiny it sparkled. The only thing that changed now were her eyes. While her irises retained their steely rose color, her pupils had changed. It was like staring into a dark hole. Emotion, light, darkness, it didn’t matter, everything was absorbed into them. And the only presence behind them was one of pure hunger. “You’re wrong about one thing, baby sister!” Celestia shouted. Her horn illuminated, the magic she was drawing in cracking the glassed soil beneath her and causing fissures to open up. “I knew all along about the darkness I wielded in my heart! And I loved every second of it!” The world was lost as shadows and light fell upon the fallow lands, crying and laughter emerging from it like the soul of madness had just been gutted on the ground.