//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Trap // Story: Child Of Misery // by Nebula Star //------------------------------// Child of Misery By Nebula Star Chapter 5: The Trap *** Discord did not understand. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him. He was the spirit of chaos after all, some of his favorite things were things he didn't understand himself. Right now however, what he couldn't understand was how Princess Luna, the very same princess that he had bested numerous times in the past even alongside her sister, was able to not only overpower him, but control him completely. Sure she had, for some reason, reverted back into her Nightmare Moon form, and he knew she had been far more powerful as Nightmare Moon; but to have complete control over his chaos magic? How was that fair? Now she was dragging him through the halls of the castle in a bubble of her own magic, his powers rendered completely useless. This was not the reception he'd expected when he came to visit. Not that he expected to be treated to tea or anything of the sort, but not this. He really wasn't sure what had happened. ~ “Well, well, well. This is a surprise,” Discord said as he spotted Nightmare Moon from the statue he'd possessed. “Whatever did dear Tia do this time?” One of Nightmare Moon's eyes twitched. “Do I look like I'm in the mood for your games, Discord?” she asked, her voice cold and threatening. “Oh, is Nightmare Moon-butt in a bad mood. Did Tia eat your piece of cake?” He vanished from the statue and reappeared in front of Nightmare Moon. With a snap of his claws a piece of chocolate cake appeared floating in front of him and he took a generous bite. “If you knew what was good for you, draconequus, you'd run while you still have a slim chance of escaping,” Nightmare Moon warned. “Oh, my, Tia must have done something truly dreadful,” Discord said, completely unconcerned, and tossed what remained of the cake over his shoulder to bounce down the hall as if it were made of rubber. “Did she touch your moon without your permission? Because that would truly be a terrible crime!” Her eye twitched again. “Last chance. Leave now and do not show your ugly muzzle around here again!” “Oh, lighten up Moon-butt, can't you take a joke?” Her eye twitched once more. ~ Apparently not... Discord sighed as Nightmare Moon dragged him through the residence wing of the castle to Celestia's quarters. There, she knocked on the door and waited. “Enter,” A voice answered a moment later; a voice that wasn't Celestia but sounded vaguely familiar to him. Nightmare Moon then opened the door and stepped inside, dragging Discord after her. As he was pulled into the room Discord saw who it was that had invaded Celestia's chambers. She was sitting up on the bed with a staff floating in her magic in front of her that appeared to be made of a dark glass substance. She seemed to be focusing on a complex spell that she was channeling into the staff. He recognized her instantly; he could never forget that gray coat and smokey green mane and tail. “Achlys,” He breathed, icy fear such as he hadn't felt in centuries gripping his heart. Achlys looked up from her staff as they entered seeming almost bored. “I had wondered when you would show up, Discord. But I must ask, Lady Moon, why have you brought him here?” “I was going to teach him a lesson, but thought I would see if you'd like anything from him before I do,” Nightmare Moon told her calmly. Oh, please no! “As much of an annoyance as he was to my alternate; I myself hold nothing against him. After the first time, he learned better than to cross me,” Achlys told her. “You have met before then?” Nightmare Moon asked noticing the fear in Discord's eyes. “I was curious about his chaos magic a few millennia ago. He refused to cooperate with my studies at first, but I showed him the error of his ways,” Achlys said and Discord swallowed nervously. That was one experience he never wanted to relive. Achlys made a dismissive gesture with one hoof. “I couldn't care less what you do with him. If you want to torture him, be my guest; just take him away from here.” Nightmare Moon bowed in response. “As you wish, my queen,” she said, then backed out of the room, levitating Discord with her. Discord was staring at Nightmare Moon in shock. She was working for Achlys? Where was Celestia? Just what had he stumbled into? And why had he chosen today to visit instead of next Tuesday?” ~~~ The eclipse was still on when morning finally came, keeping the world in a dim half-light. Already the effects could be felt as the morning was far chillier than the day before. It would only get worse so long as the eclipse continued. Rarity and Sweetie Belle hurried through the town to the edge of the forest where they were meeting the others, both wearing the amplifiers. The morning had started out with some good news: Fluttershy believed her animal friends had found Celestia. One of the bat colonies in the Everfree had told her friends that their cave had been invaded by something that glowed brightly. And what was more, several other animals had told her about feeling something strange in that area the day before. So once everypony had gathered, Fluttershy's friends were going to show them the way. As they approached the rendezvous, Rarity saw that Applejack had Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in tow as well. She'd expected as much after the night before. Fluttershy was already there seeming excited with several of her animal friends gathered around her. Rainbow surprisingly was as well though she did seem a bit groggy; she really wasn't much of a morning pony. Like Rarity and Sweetie Belle, most of them had saddle bags though they didn't seem to have much in them. There just seemed to be one pony missing: Pinkie Pie. Rarity tapped her necklace twice. “Pinkie Pie, are you on your way yet, darling?” “Right behind you!” Despite long association with Pinkie, Rarity and Sweetie Belle both jumped as Pinkie's voice came, not from the necklaces, but directly behind them. She was standing there, hitched up to a small cart, grinning at the unicorn sisters. Rarity stared for a moment in shock, she hadn't heard anypony behind them, let alone anypony with a cart laden with... baked goods? “Darling, what's all that for?” “Breakfast!” She said cheerfully then trotted past Rarity. One of the cart's weals squeaked absurdly loud as she did. “I brought enough for everypony!” “I'm afraid we don't have time for a picnic, darling. Didn't you hear, Fluttershy's friends may have found Princess Celestia.” “I know. But I was thinking, Tia's been trapped since yesterday morning, without food, without water, without anything, and I don't know about you but if I go fifteen minutes without sugar I start to go CRAZY! And Tia's been down there for over a day! She's probably shriveling up even as we speak! So I thought, 'hey, I should bring Celestia some pie.' But then I thought, why stop there, so I brought muffins, cupcakes, danishes, eclairs, sticky buns, cinnamon rolls...” “I see...” “Pound cake – the treat, not the foal – pumpkin cake – also the treat – angel food cake – not for Angel...” Yes, we can see, darling.” Rarity cut her off. “That actually was good thinking. Celestia would probably appreciate something to eat. Though perhaps something a little healthier could have been in order.” “Healthier?” Pinkie asked, it was unclear if she was under the belief that nothing could be healthier than her baked goods or if she simply didn't know what the word meant. Rarity decided to ignore the question, for sanity reasons. “As for the rest of us, I think it's best if we eat on the move, so that we can find the princess as quickly as possible. And let's load as much food as we can in our saddle bags for the princess. I doubt Pinkie's cart would do well going off the trails in the forest.” ~~~ Finding the cave turned out to be rather anti-climatic. They followed Fluttershy, who in turn followed her bat friend and after a couple hours trek through the forest... “It's just around this bend, he says,” Fluttershy told them. “Finally!” Rainbow exclaimed and dashed ahead. “Woah, hey guys, what's hot enough to melt rock?” “What's that, Rainbow?” Applejack asked following, the rest of them right behind. “Well, ain't that a sight.” “Yeah, I don't think this cave is natural...” Rainbow said as the rest of them rounded the bend and saw the cave in the cliff-side ahead. They immediately saw what Rainbow meant, It appeared that sometime in the distant past, the cliff-side had collapsed burying the entrance to the cave; but far more recently, though still some years in the past, something had melted a hole through the cave-in nearly five times the height of a pony and just as wide. “Oh my, I dare say this must be it, but let me check to be sure,” Rarity said and closed her eyes as she began to cast the magic detection spell. “It is!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed excitedly before she even finished casting the spell. “I can sense Princess Celestia! She's here!” Her voice was squeaking in her excitement. “Yes, that's most definitely the princess,” Rarity confirmed a moment later when she finished her own spell. “She is a ways in though, nearly three hundred paces almost strait ahead and a great deal down as well.” She opened her eyes again and examined the entrance. “Achlys must have done this when she escaped this place. Looks like it was some time ago. At least a decade or more.” “Awesome. Well let's get in there and save the princess!” With a snap of her wings Rainbow shot for the entrance only to be yanked to a stop by her tail. “Woah there, nelly!” Applejack said around her mouth-full of tail hair. Once Rainbow was stopped she spit it out. “We don't have no idea what to expect in there. We'd better be careful.” “Quite right,” Rarity agreed. “Though it seemed as though Achlys didn't believe anypony would find the princess, she may still have put some countermeasures in place just in case. Hopefully if she did, I can detect any nasty magical surprises before we trigger them.” “I can help with that too, right?” Sweetie Belle asked. Rarity smiled and nodded. “Yes, just keep using the detection spell, and look for any pockets of magic that seem, well, organized.” “Wait, couldn't you just teleport us in to the princess?” Rainbow asked. “Perhaps, but I doubt it. If this was a prison, they wouldn't want unicorns just teleporting in,” Rarity told her then tried teleporting just to see. As she'd expected, the spell was rejected as soon as she cast it. “Just as I thought, the chamber is warded against teleportation.” “Alright, well then we go the old fashion way.” As they all entered the cave they discovered that once they passed the caved-in section, the chambers they found themselves in were a mix of pony made and natural caves. The path led off down one of the tunnels, disappearing into darkness as the light from the entrance only reached so far. Rarity cast a simple light spell to push back the darkness and with her and Sweetie Belle constantly scanning around them for possibly hostile magic, they began making their way deeper into the ancient prison. They hadn't gone far when they came across something curious. “What happened here?” Scootaloo asked being one of the last to enter the chamber they'd paused in. It had been silently agreed by the adults that the fillies should follow last in case their were any traps waiting for them. “Looks like somethin' went and bucked the wall to pieces,” Applejack observed. Indeed the wall opposite the side they'd entered from appeared to have been shattered by tremendous force, and like the entrance, a new path had been melted through the collapsed stone. This destruction however, all looked to have happened in recent years. Rainbow flew up over the piled stone off one side of the melted path looking around curiously. Then a glint of metal caught her eye. She spotted the source sticking out from the rock pile and landed to get a closer look. “Yikes. Careful guys, there's some wicked looking blades buried in the rocks up here, it would probably be best to stick to the path, you wouldn't want to trip over one of these... Hey! I bet this was a trap!” “Say what now?” Apple Bloom asked looking up at her. “Yeah! Just like in Daring Do! I bet this all use to be the wall, and there was probably a narrow tunnel through it with some kind of deadly trap and that's what all these blades came from!” Rainbow said sounding excited. Rarity was about to object that the idea was ridiculous, but then she realized what this place was. “Actually, that may be...” “Sure doesn't seem to have stopped Achlys,” Applejack said eyeing the destruction. “No, but then it probably wasn't meant to,” Rarity mused. “What do you mean? Wasn't this supposed to be Achlys's prison?” “Yes, Rainbow, but to imprison an alicorn you need extremely powerful magic, like what Sweetie saw Achlys use on Princess Celestia,” Rarity explained. “It's likely that once they got the spells in place, they didn't think she would be able to get out on her own. So this trap probably wasn't meant to keep her in, but to keep others from reaching her. Perhaps they were afraid somepony might try to free her, or else they just didn't want somepony stumbling upon her prison and accidentally freeing her.” “If they didn't want anypony accidentally finding this place, why not just seal it up?” Rainbow asked. “Why leave deadly traps? I mean, they could have killed some innocent explorer.” “Remember the entrance, Rainbow. They did seal it up. This trap was probably a backup plan.” Rarity looked over at the blade Rainbow had found and shivered. “Not a very pleasant thought, but it's very telling that they would rather put innocent lives at risk than risk somepony accidentally freeing that alicorn.” “She's evil...” Sweetie Belle said softly. “Yes,” Rarity agreed. “And I think we're starting to see just how evil she was. Come, the way is clear. Achlys clearly blasted the entire trap apart on her way out so there's no danger in following the path she made.” As they continued they found two more chambers with what seemed to have once been additional traps, both completely destroyed just like the first. By the third they were all agreed that the traps weren't meant to hold the alicorn anyway. Finally they entered one last tunnel. ~~~ There were, unfortunately, many things Celestia didn't know about her current situation. Where she was being the biggest one on the list. All she could see of the chamber she was in was directly in front of her, since the containment spell wouldn't let her turn her head more than a slight turn in each direction, and though she could move her eyes freely, she still couldn't see much of the room. What she could see looked like it had once been a natural cave, but had been carved out extensively. The floor had been made level, and where she floated seemed to have been carved out into a bowl. It appeared the bowl had been enclosed at one point, but the enclosing slabs had been shattered. Any more details than that were lost in the darkness, as the spell holding her and her own ethereal mane were the only sources of light. Another thing she didn't know for certain was the time. Other than knowing that some hours had passed since her internal clock had told her it was time for sunrise, she didn't know for certain what time of the day it was. It could still be mid-morning or almost past noon, she couldn't tell one way or the other. The most distressing thing she didn't know however, was how she was going to get free. Achlys's spell prevented her from even sensing magic, so she couldn't even study it. And even if she could, she couldn't cast any magic to break it. There really wasn't anything she could do but put up a token effort of resisting and hope she lasted long enough for somepony to find her. Considering she had no idea where she was, things didn't look good for her. She estimated that she could last perhaps a week and a half at the rate the spell was draining her. And that was probably pushing it. Though her disappearance would have been noted by now, she knew that nopony would have any idea where to look for her. Or so she thought. It was, therefore, quite a surprise when she heard voices and hoof-steps coming from the shadows, just on the edge of her vision. She assumed that it must be the entrance to the chamber. The last few moments before they arrived, Celestia speculated who it might be. She didn't think anypony in Ponyville had seen anything, but then she had no idea what had happened after Achlys had teleported her down here. She hoped the village was alright. More likely was that the Royal guard had managed to track her down, though that was still extremely unlikely. In fact the chances of anypony finding her intentionally seemed so slim that she began to think that perhaps somepony just happened to be exploring the cave or ruin that housed the chamber she was in. Then they reached the chamber. “She's here!” A voice cried excitedly, a voice she recognized. Celestia's eyes widened in surprise and then fear as she spotted Rarity and the rest of Twilight's friends charge into the chamber toward her. “Don't touch the rune circles!” She warned quickly afraid one of them might run right up to her and be pulled into the containment spell as well. They all thankfully stopped short and Celestia noticed the three fillies with them; two of which she knew to be younger sisters of the group of friends. Once they were in front of her Rarity bowed, followed quickly by all the others. “Your highness! I am relieved to see you're alright!” Celestia looked out at them surprised, considering who it was, this definitely wasn't a coincidence, they had to have been looking for her. But how would they have known where to look? She didn't even know where she was! “How did you find me?” She asked, not really caring about being formal just then. “My sister, Sweetie Belle, happened to go to the library yesterday morning, she witnessed that other alicorn entrap you, and upon leaving she happened to overhear her mention where she'd sent you,” Rarity explained. Celestia was surprised, It was incredibly fortunate that Sweetie Belle had had the presence of mind to keep out of sight. She smiled down at the little filly. “It seems I'm in your debt, little one. I was worried nopony would find me in time because they wouldn't know where to look. In fact, I don't even know where we are; this spell blocks my sense of magic.” “We're deep in the Everfree. This was apparently the prison cell Achlys was locked away in.” Celestia looked around as much as she could with the added light from Rarity and Sweetie Belle's horns. The chamber was certainly spartan enough to be a prison cell. Being in the Everfree, it was understandable that she'd never found this place. Even when she and Luna had lived in the ancient castle on what use to be the edge of the forest, most of the Everfree had been largely unexplored. “I suppose that would make sense.” “Yes, now that we've found you though, we can see about setting you free...” Rarity told her. Celestia sighed. “I'm afraid that may prove the more difficult task. Without being able to sense magic I haven't been able to examine this spell at all. I don't know how advanced you are in magic, dear Rarity, but even if you are able to figure out the spell, it was cast by an Alicorn and so may be beyond your ability to break.” Rarity looked over the rune circles, noting their complexity. “Perhaps, I'm certainly not an arch mage by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think power will be the problem, however.” Celestia shook her head as much as the containment spell would allow. “This is alicorn magic, cast by an alicorn that, I'm afraid to say, is far more powerful than myself. Even trying to break it through more subtle means will likely take more power than most unicorns are capable of.” “I understand princess, but my magic's strength is greatly boosted right now thanks to these. She said reaching up and touching the necklace she was wearing. Having so often seen them wearing similar necklaces in the past, Celestia hadn't even noticed them. “What are those you're wearing?” She asked unable to hold back her curiosity. “They're something Twilight was working on, but she never finished testing them,” Rarity told her. “But what are they?” “They're Amity Arcanum Amplifiers!” Pinkie answered cheerfully. “They use the magic of friendship to enhance all our abilities.” Celestia blinked. “Twilight made them? How much do they enhance your abilities?” “Well it depends on the ability, really,” Rarity answered politely. “My magic is enhanced a great deal. In fact, I dare say that, right now, I may be the most powerful unicorn alive. That's why I don't think power will be the problem in this case.” She looked critically at the rune circles again. “No, I think that finding a way to break these spells will be the greater challenge for me right now. But perhaps if you help me, you majesty, we'll be able to figure it out.” “Perhaps. If not, you'll have to try to contact one of the court mages.” She shook her head, that could wait. “But first, tell me what's happening out there? What is Achlys up to?” “Not much, as far as we know. We haven't gotten any news from Canterlot,” Applejack told her. “So far the only thing we know she's done was eclipse the sun all day and night.” “What about Luna, have you heard any news about her?” They all looked at each other before Rarity answered. “I'm afraid not, darling. But... well, Sweetie Belle did hear what Achlys said about Princess Luna...” “Luna would never serve that witch willingly!” Celestia cut her off heatedly. “We all hope you're right, princess. But if so, then Luna has clearly been defeated as well. Otherwise she would have ended the eclipse, would she not?” Celestia sighed trying to calm herself. Rarity didn't deserve her anger. “Or she may have escaped but can't wrest the sun and moon away from Achlys's grasp...” Rarity nodded understandingly. “Either way, we just don't know.” “Did she harm Ponyville at all?” “No, She just eclipsed the sun and left. Almost nopony in Ponyville even saw her.” “That's good to hear.” “Yeah, it's great that Ponyville wasn't destroyed again or anything, but... Who the hay is Achlys!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed finally, wanting answers. “Rainbow, show some consideration, darling,” Rarity scolded her. “Don't you think we should worry about freeing the princess from this spell first?” “No, it's alright, Rarity,” Celestia said softly. “I understand you want answers, and you all deserve to know all that I can tell you.” “Well we should still get you out of that spell first,” Rarity insisted, but Celestia just shook her head. “No, I should tell you now, while I have a chance. Besides, this spell is uncomfortable at worst and I'll likely last another week or more, so we have plenty of time.” Rarity looked at her concerned but eventually stepped back with the others. “If you insist, princess.” Celestia smiled and took a moment to organize her thoughts before she began. “I don't know much about Achlys herself, but I'll tell you all that I do know. “Twenty-four years ago, an alicorn attacked Canterlot along with a black dragon. It was Achlys of course, but at the time I had no clue who she was. It was during the battle that I learned her name, as well as the dragon's name, Deimos, and where they were from. “They had been imprisoned, for nearly three thousand years, since long before Luna and I were born. They came from a time known as the Purge.” “The Purge?” “Yes, the Purge was the systematic extermination of all alicorns.” All their eyes went wide. “Why would anypony want to exterminate alicorns!?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Celestia looked at the filly sadly. “It was one of the darkest times in alicorn history. Something I have endeavored to erase from history as well as pony memory.” “You tried to cover it up?” Rainbow asked sounding surprised. “Yes, for the sake of ending the prejudice it caused. Back then, the alicorn race was far more numerous than they are now, there were hundreds if not thousands. But they were corrupt, arrogant. They saw themselves as akin to gods and treated the mortal races as little more than slaves, playthings for their amusement. Their crimes were innumerable and they were hated. The most powerful of them formed a council called the Alicorn Imperium that ruled over the other alicorns and all mortal races. But while the alicorns were treated with privilege; the mortal races were oppressed and forced into servitude. Eventually the mortal races had had enough, and the coalition of mortals was formed. “Led by Starswirl the Bearded and Solar Flare the Unicorn of Light, they hunted down the alicorns one by one, executing and imprisoning them for their crimes. It took more than two centuries, but eventually they accounted for every last alicorn. However, there was much alicorn blood in the mortal races, and alicorns continued to be born. But the hatred learned in those years was strong, and so it became common practice for any alicorn born to be slain at birth.” “That's horrible!” Fluttershy exclaimed. Celestia nodded in agreement. “Even when Luna and I were born, more than a thousand years later, we would have been slain if the ponies of Equestria hadn't been desperate for somepony powerful enough to stand up to Discord. And even once we defeated Discord, it was nearly another century before they entrusted us with ruling Equestria; though still many were against it.” She sighed heavily. “In any case, it was during the purge that Achlys was imprisoned here, more than three thousand years ago. “After she escaped, she was still greatly weakened by her imprisonment when she attacked Canterlot. With the help of the guard I managed to drive her and the dragon off, but I was not about to let such an alicorn and dragon roam freely through Equestria, I gathered three hundred of the best of the royal guard and went after them. We eventually found them in the Fetlock Hills.” “The tragedy of the Fetlock Hills...” Rainbow whispered softly. Everypony looked at her surprised that she would know about it. “My grandfather was there...” Celestia closed her eyes, letting her pain show as she recalled that day. “It was a terrible battle. And in the end, every member of the guard that went with me fell to Achlys and the dragon. Even I was badly wounded, but I prevailed.” She shook her head sadly. “If only I had acted sooner, it would have ended that day. “Before I could finish her off, the dragon appeared. I didn't have the strength left to fight him and he couldn't fight me without leaving Achlys vulnerable. It was a stand-off so Achlys decided to escape. The dragon teleported them away and until now, I never knew where they went.” Tears came to her eyes, knowing the next part would be painful for them to hear. "When she captured me, she couldn't resist telling me everything... After the battle, she was badly wounded, and still weakened from her imprisonment, she would need time to recover, years in fact. Despite my efforts to find her she managed to stay hidden while she made her plans. “She shrank the dragon Deimos back into a baby dragon, changed his appearance, locked away his memories and encased him in an egg. She then arranged for that egg to be found, seemingly abandoned, by professors of my school for gifted unicorns.” Rarity seemed to realize what Celestia was saying and her eyes began to widen as she started to guess the rest. “With Deimos hidden; she focused on concealing herself.” Celestia sniffed, trying to hold back the tears but it was futile. She knew the truth now; she'd had plenty of time to think back and see all the signs. “She transformed herself into a unicorn foal and placed herself in the care of a loving family; implanting memories in their minds of a pregnancy and birth that never happened, making them believe she truly was their daughter. She even went so far as to put stripes into her mane so that she would look more like the mare that believed herself to be her mother...” Celestia's voice broke and the growing look of horror on most of their faces told her they had guessed who she was speaking of. “Once everything was arranged, she... she created an artificial soul, a second personality and placed her in control of her transformed body, a mask to hide behind while she hid deep in the subconscious and the depths of her magic. That second personality was given the name Twilight Sparkle...” “No!” Rainbow objected. “No! She can't...! That can't be true!” “Twilight didn't know she was a substitute.” Celestia told them. “She was exactly the pony she seemed to be. Achlys was simply hiding within her, biding her time until she recovered her strength. And now that she has; she has taken back control of her body once more.” “Not Twi!” “Believe me, I understand your pain. Perhaps if we are able to defeat Achlys, there may be a way to put Twilight back in control and bring her back...” Sweetie Belle let out a whimper at that and Celestia looked down at her to see the pain in her eyes. “I don't think she's there any more...” “What do you mean?” “After... after Achlys sent you away, she... Twilight must have done something and threw her into the book cases. Then Achlys said that if she was going to cause trouble then she might as well be rid of her. She cast a spell, and I saw Twilight standing in front of Achlys. Then she cast another spell and Twilight... she... she screamed... and...” Sweetie Belle burst into tears, unable to go on and Rarity quickly went to her sister's side to comfort her. Celestia just slowly closed her eyes again. Twilight... The cave was silent for a few moments except for Sweetie Belle's sobs. “Even if we can't save Twilight, we can avenge her.” Applejack said finally sounding determined. “Aside from bein' an alicorn from thousands of years ago, what else do we know about this Achlys? What does she want? What are her motives?” Celestia shook her head. “All I know is she knows a great deal more about magic than I do, and that she was a member of the high council of the Alicorn Imperium, so she was likely one of the most powerful of the alicorns.” “Wait, if she was a member of the high council, then why in Tartarus didn't they execute her back then!? Why just imprison her if she was so dangerous?” Rainbow asked angrily. “Because it was only the most powerful alicorns that were imprisoned,” Celestia answered. “They would have executed them all, but at the time it was believed that the most powerful alicorns had the ability to reincarnate themselves; so they feared that if they were to slay them, they would just come back and take revenge.” She shook her head. “It was all a lie though.” “Why on Equis would they believe such a thing?” Rarity asked. “It's because of the ability alicorns have to heal from almost any wound. You've probably never considered that despite having lived over a thousand years, fighting in many wars, and receiving countless wounds, I have no scars whatsoever.” “Oh yeah, I never thought of that.” Rainbow said looking over Celestia's nearly pristine coat. “How the heck does that work?” “It is because of our alicorn healing. No matter the wound, we can heal completely and flawlessly, so long as we have enough magic. Myself, I have enough magic that I can, and have survived being stabbed through the heart.” Rarity's eyes widened. “That's dreadful, darling! When did this happen?” “It was shortly after Luna and I were crowned as princesses of Equestria. As I said, not everypony was happy with our rule. One group of nobles went so far as to hire an assassin to remove us. He managed to get into my bedroom and put a dagger through my heart. Luna caught him in the act.” Celestia grimaced. “We didn't know about our ability to heal at the time, and Luna... she did not take it well. She chased down the assassin, and when she caught him, I was told later that she quite literally tore him limb from limb out in the streets for all to see. You can imagine her surprise when she returned to find that I was not only alive, but had also removed the dagger and was already healing. “Our supporters later made the day a holiday they called the Blood Moon Festival. A celebration of our power and also a reminder to those who still opposed us of what happened to those who attempted to bring us harm. It was a morbid celebration and at first I was against it, though Luna found it amusing.” “Blood Moon Festival, I've never heard of it.” Rarity said thoughtfully. Celestia smiled sadly. “Of course you have; just after Luna's fall it became known by a different name: Nightmare Night.” “Nightmare Night was started 'cause somepony tried to kill you?” Applejack asked. “Yes. And it was also how Luna and I found out about our alicorn healing. Now as far as I've been able to find out; during the Purge, there was an incident where a young mare attempted to kill her alicorn master. My guess is that, like what happened to me, she probably stabbed him in his sleep and left him for dead. When he reappeared completely healed weeks later, she probably believed he had somehow come back to life. “Word then spread and because it was started by a mortal and not the alicorns themselves; ponies believed it, and of course the alicorns didn't correct them. Soon they all believed that the most powerful of the alicorns had the ability to reincarnate themselves, and so during the Purge, while most alicorns were put to death; the most powerful were instead imprisoned for all time.” “So Achlys is not only one of these evil alicorns from thousands of years ago, but she's also one of the most powerful of them as well?” Rainbow asked putting it simply. Celestia nodded. “I'm afraid so.”