//------------------------------// // Dark Moon's monstrous power // Story: The arrival of the lost Generals White Nightmare and Dark Moon // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// On the last days, both Celestia and Luna were really worried. Since the meeting with the Dragon King, Twilight seemed more distant; and when her lover asked her about Flames’s story, always avoided the subject. “Is too horrible to tell you, Celestia, please give some time to confirm… no, I mean refute what he told us. Believe me when I tell you Celestia, you don’t want to know” And of course Celestia agreed to Twilight’s desires, but what was the meaning of all that? If the Dragon King told the girls a horrible story, then why? What reasons could have Flames to tell lies about their parents? One time she decided to ask Discord, but the Chaos Spirit denied to meet her, even put a single paw on the palace. In fact, he answered by letter delivered by normal mail saying he was afraid of being tracked by Nightmare. So Celestia’s mother had Discord completely terrified, that didn’t helped at all with the situation. But at the end Celestia had no choice but agreed to leave everything on Twilight’s capable hooves and let her do all the research. After all if somepony could find the truth that was her beloved Twilight. About the Lost Generals, of course the Princesses could ask them, but a strange feeling inside them warned that if they ask, they’ll lose them again, and this time forever. Besides, they just started to be a family again, so the Monarchs do their best to live beautiful times along with their beloved parents, who will be there for them no matter what. With the time Celestia and Luna started to know them better: White Nightmare was a kind hearted mare who always had a smile on her face. Strong and athletic; with great knowledge about magic combat. As soon as she recovered completely, the first thing Nightmare did was to ask for her reinsertion to the Army where she become a well-known military strategist and fighter. On the other side, Dark Moon seemed to be the opposite of his wife: a serious stallion whose emotions were difficult to define since he always had a cold and calculating expression on him; but what he didn’t demonstrate with his expression, he demonstrated with actions. Even if he always had that strange expression, still was a loving and supporting father. A great reader who get along very well with Twilight who constantly discussed about history with him. And as his wife, Moon asked for his reinsertion to the army where he began to show how great flyer and fighter he was; and also humble. One day he was asked by the captain of the lunar guard if he liked his old position as general back; but Moon declined saying he was a leader for war times. Only war times. Soon enough, the Lost Generals were very known and respected for all the ponies who gave them the treatment of Royalty, even if they declined the title when their daughters offered it: “Sorry my children, but I’m no Queen; I’m a warrior, that’s how I like it” “Same for me girls, sorry but I don’t even have a true Royal Status since I grew up in an orphanage” And the Princesses accepted it, happy to have such humble and kind hearted ponies as parents. One day the warriors were reading at their room when Celestia arrived. “Mother, I have to talk to you” said the Sun Princess. White Nightmare smiled to her daughter a little annoyed. “Celly, I’d told you several times to not to call me that way, it sounds too distant. Please, I am mom or mommy” Celestia blushed. She felt as a little girl crying to get mommy’s attention that was truth in part. But for other side, it felt good to have a mother to ask for things. “Sorry mom, but I have something I really want to ask you” said Celestia. “Go ahead, this old soldier is here to serve you, my Princess” Celestia nodded still enjoying the situation. “Is just… I would love to… it’ll mean a lot to me if you let me try my magical abilities against yours. You know, a magical duel between you and me” Nightmare kissed her daughter’s forehead. “As you wish, Celly” Celestia smiled and left the room whistling happily. “Are you serious?” Asked Dark Moon indifferent. “You know you’ll defeat her in less than thirty seconds” “I just couldn’t resist” sighed White Nightmare. “When she approached to me in that way she didn’t seem like the wise and powerful Princess she really is; for the moment I just saw my beloved foal nuzzling against me trying to get my attention” “Flames took them away from us forever” grumped Dark Moon with fire on his eyes. “No matter how hard we try, this isn’t our place; Celestia and Luna are the same kind of weak monarchs we used to kill just for fun” “Be patient, Dark; since we don’t have anything left but revenge, we better act with caution. And once we destroy the Everfree Barrier, Flames will have no choice but accept his death. But not before we make him beg for it, oh yeah, imagine it Dark Moon: the little terrors and tortures we can do once we get him. He’ll know the true power of our rage” Dark Moon made a sadistic smile, almost the only smile he knew. But after a while, the blue Pegasus shook his head trying to calm down a little. “By the way, I’ve being reading about what happened here the last five thousand years. Perhaps our daughters know nothing about combat magic, but their protection magic is unbelievable; almost unmeasurable. They managed to seal your father’s apprentice in an ice prison. Impressive if you ask me” “Yeah, I think I heard about it too. Sombra, poor bastard, all he wanted was to restore the Empire’s former glory. But don’t worry, all we have to do is free him and make the idiot help us with our plan” “Do you think Sombra will cooperate?” Asked Dark Moon, even if he already knew the answer. “He will. Remember Dark Moon: he turns into a scared mouse every time he sees you. That time you were a little too rough with him” They both exchanged an evil smile and returned to their books; after spend all those years trapped in the Nowhere they learnt how to be patient and wait for their moment. At least they have something for sure: Flames already knew about their liberation and was scared. At the next day everypony started to prepare for an extremely rare and exciting event: a magical duel between their beloved Princess of the Sun and her mother, General White Nightmare. Soon enough, royalty and media agreed to perform the duel in Canterlot Stadium, the biggest of all Equestria. The entrances sold out in less than two days and everypony could see lots of heavy action on the betting tables. Expectation filled the streets of Canterlot the day of the event, the ponies gathered around the Stadium since the last afternoon, ready to see the action between Princess and General. Celestia entered from one gate walking with Twilight at her right and Luna at her left; White Nightmare walked along with Dark Moon. They met at the center of the arena. Twilight wished her lover the best of lucks and flew to the royal tribune along with Luna. Celestia bowed to her mother who smiled warmly. “I hope you’re ready my child; this won’t be easy for you; since you don’t know how to fight, at least for real” “Don’t worry about me mom, I’ll do my best” “Good” said the white unicorn teleporting to the tribunes with her daughter and daughter-in-law. “Dark, try to not hurt her too badly, okay?” The dark blue Pegasus extended his wings ready for the fight while the public started to mumble among themselves not really understanding what was going on. Celestia looked at her father surprised. “What?” The warrior blasted off with a powerful Sonic Rainboom that pushed Celestia against a wall, creating several cracks because of the impact’s force. The ponies muttered instantly. Not only he was capable of use that maneuver to blast off; he was at least ten times faster than Rainbow Dash; they couldn’t even follow his movements in air. Celestia looked up trying to detect her father. “Where are you hiding?” Several storm clouds, charged with pure electricity were sent against her; a surprising attack that almost hit her, but she created a force field just in time. “Okay, wow. Just… wow…” But Celestia wasn’t defeat yet, so she shot a fire tower to her father, but that wasn’t effective at all. Dark Moon quickly rose in the air creating a tornado absorbing all the oxygen around extinguishing the fire immediately. Celestia prepared her horn again, ready to send the next attack; but Dark Moon just sat on a cloud staring at his daughter with a condescending smile on his face. “I’m waiting Celly” Celestia extended her wings as well and attacked her father with magic beams, causing Dark Moon to kick several other clouds hyper-charged with electricity blocking his daughter’s attacks like nothing. And again, he disappeared into the black clouds at monstrous speed. Celestia tried to locate Dark Moon, but it was pointless, he moved too fast; or he wasn’t moving? The black clouds hid him perfectly; but she could hear him laughing softly. “Flying to reach me wasn’t the best of your ideas Celly. You see: air is my territory. The Imperial Air Force leaded by me was the most feared and threatening of all the armies. You cannot win now that you’re up here” That voice, where was coming from? Then Celestia looked up; to see a blue blur flying against her at full speed. Before anypony could tell what was happening, their beloved Sun Princess crashed to the ground causing several cracks. Dark Moon just laughed. “And with that level you want to challenge your mother? Sorry, we’re done here” But then Celestia vanished. “Illusion?” Celestia turned visible, flying to her father sending several magic beams before he could react; and this time was the Pegasus the one who crashed on the ground also creating several cracks. The General grinned excited. “The most arrogant they are the harder they fall” mocked Celestia. “Clever as your mother, and a little bit more creative too. I’m glad to see I underestimated you Celly. Now prepare yourself!” And he went back to the air with a powerful Sonic Rainboom; but this time the Sun Princess was ready and created a magic force filed just in time. Dark Moon crashed against the magical orb; but he only grinned and turned around getting lost into the clouds. Again, the powerful Pegasus was just a blue blur in the horizon, moving at full speed gathering more and more clouds. Celestia decided to finish the thing and made appear several sticky traps all over the clouds ready to immobilize her father; and just when she thought she got him, quickly realized her traps only caught his armor. Dark Moon’s armor but without Dark Moon. A giant black shadow positioned above the Monarch. Celestia gulped and turned up to see an enormous black cloud (the blackest cloud she ever saw in her life) full charged of pure electricity. And in the top of that cloud, was her father with an emotionless expression. He jumped over the cloud. A giant red lighting impacted directly over the Princess who didn’t even had the time to defend herself. The powerful impact created a huge explosion causing the dust to cover the full arena; but Dark Moon cleaned it all with a single maneuver to reveal the unbelievable sight: on the bottom of a crater, Princess Celestia lied completely unconscious and her body fully covered with burns. Dark Moon shrugged. “Next time you defy your mother, I suggest you to train your magic combat abilities Celly; unlike me, your mother never learnt to restrain herself; she would crush you in a matter of seconds” And just like that, the Pegasus walked away with his characteristic calm while the doctors took care of their Princess. He truly had a monstrous power, did he was really restraining himself? A little later, White Nightmare sat next to her daughter on the infirmary waiting for her fully recovery. Celestia was breathing with difficult, still not believing how her father let her on that state so easily. Twilight, Pipsqueak and Luna approached to the bed to assist Celestia, who thanked the gesture with a warm smile. White Nightmare just sighed. “During the Old Days, every time we attacked an enemy kingdom, our first line of attackers were the Pegasus. The attack Dark Moon used against you is called Devastation Cloud; the ultimate Pegasus technique. Now imagine a group of ten Pegasus moving ten of those things and attacking at the same time in several points of the battlefields. It was really hard to learn and required years of practice; but your father managed to learnt it at the age of twenty one, the youngest Pegasus who ever mastered the attack. He also was the military strategist who suggested using it as our first move at several spots at the time” Twilight shivered remembering King Flame’s story. What kind of civilization the ponies had during the Empire? Nopony said nothing and White Nightmare used a healing spell on her daughter. Celestia was tired, tired but thankful; leaving aside the pain, it was a great experience to face her father. Even if he couldn’t use magic, she proved to be the greatest warrior she ever met. “My father is strong, is powerful, is… is just the model I always wanted to meet. Is so good to be a family one more time” … “I told you to restrain yourself Dark Moon” said White Nightmare coldly. “And I told you that you should face her yourself; or at least explain her she is way too much under our level” “She’s our daughter Dark Moon!” “That’s why I was soft with her. I didn’t kill her because there’s nothing more repulsive and wrong than took the life of any other pony; but I also stopped when she lost conscience because she is my daughter and I love her. Still, she needed to know who she were facing. Now she knows and is happy to have such a strong father so everyone is pleased now. But really White, I can’t control myself for so long; I want to kill someone so badly” “I understand my love, but we have to be patient and save our killing instincts for the time we realize how to break the Everfree Barrier. But in the meantime, we better behave; if they found who we really are, what we have done all over the years…” “They’ll reject us, and we would lose our beloved daughters one more. But still White, we both know this isn’t our place” White Nightmare nodded and walked to bed, with her husband behind. Of course they knew that wasn’t their place. Celestia and Luna were so kind-hearted, so tender, such pure souls; and they were merciless killers, heartless murderers.