//------------------------------// // Arc II - Chapter: 6 - Something is Rotten in The State of Canterlot // Story: A DJ in the Night // by dj_neon_lights //------------------------------// A DJ in the Night By: Michael A Chapter: 6 - Something is Rotten in The State of Canterlot [Romance][Slice-Of-Life] Why does everything bad that happens to me always start when I wake up? Couldn’t they just wait until I was fully awake? Seriously, mornings suck enough as it, and adding this crap is just adding insult to injury... “Urg!” I groaned as I groggily opened my eyes. My head hurt like hell, and my whole body felt like it’d been thrown into a pack of rampaging bulls and trampled over. Wait… why did my head hurt? Wait! Where the hell am I?! All the pain was put aside as I instantly got to my hooves. Wherever I was, it was dark. Like, really dark! The floor felt cold, most likely metal. I wracked my brain for explanations. Okay, Neon… Let’s got through what happened yesterday… I remember going to the Wonderbolts thing with Luna. Then meet the Wonderbolts. Then… oh, no… My eyes went wide as the memory of being surrounded filled my mind. What had they done to me? What did they want?! My mind reeled with questions, concerns, paranoia, and fear. A thousand different possibilities of what was going to happen went threw my head, all of them ending horrible. I was so engrossed with my thoughts, that I didn’t notice the faint sound of hoof steps slowly approaching my current position. “You have awoken… good.” I jumped, turning on my heels, desperately trying to locate the source of the voice. Of course, since the room--or wherever I was--was completely black, and I couldn’t see a thing. I was scared out of my mind, but I didn’t want to let whoever had kidnapped me know that. Taking a deep breath, and summoning as much confidence I could muster, I spoke. “Who are you?! What do you want?!” My words echoed through the void before the room was once again silent. The only thing I could hear was my heavy breaths, and the heavy beats of my heart. After seemingly forever, the silence was broken by a deep laugh. The laugh was quiet at first, only a mere chuckle, but it grew. As the laugh got louder, more voices joined in the laughter, creating an eerie chorus. My head shot from side to side as I tried to see, well, anything! The laughter continued, and my heart beat faster. I was scared. Not like a foal being scared of the monster under their bed, but the fear that you were gonna die. I wanted to run; to flee. But, somehow, I knew that I was trapped and that there was no escape. The laughter suddenly stopped, and a single voice spoke up. “Do not fear, Neon Lights, we will not hurt you.” Yea, right! I’ll believe that when pigs fly! “Okay, say I believe you. Why am I here, then? Why did you take me? Where am I?!” I screamed into the darkness. “We do not want you. No, the reason you are here is because of what you will bring,” the voice said. What the hell is that supposed to mean?! I thought to myself. “You have become close to somepony whom we need to achieve our goal. We brought you here to lure them here…” What was that supposed to… oh, no! How could they have found out?! What do they want with Luna?! My brain was suddenly filled with confusion and rage. How could they have figured out that I was friends with the princess? And, more importantly, what did they want to do with her? There were too many questions that I needed to be answered, and the only way to get those answers was to talk with… whoever this is. I took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “Look, I don’t know who you are, or what you want with Luna. All I know is that it isn’t gonna work!” The voice chuckled. “I can tell that you are confused, frightened, and probably angry. But, fear not, for we shall release you once your purpose has been completed," the voice began again. "Although, that is if you behave, and don't try anything stupid. After all, the plan will work whether you are alive or dead." I froze, afraid to even move. I didn't know who I was even talking too! Every ounce of my being screamed for me to run away—to escape. But, I had to resist. I wasn't stupid—I knew how badly it would end if I tried to escape now... I had to wait; I had to plan. Reluctantly, I fell onto my haunches, letting out a loud sigh. "Fine..." The voice chuckled again, something that was starting to get on my nerves. "Good, good... Just sit there like a good little colt, and it'll be over before you know it..." Luna bounced as she trotted down the well-polished halls of the Lunar Wing of the castle. The princess' mind was still filled with the joy of the previous evening—her time with Neon still fresh in her mind. She had had a wonderful time. Nay, she had a glorious time! The pure joy that she could practically feel from Neon, the closeness they had shared, and that... hug. The princess of the night stopped trotting, her face screwing up in thought. That hug she had shared with her DJ friend had been popping back into her mind quite often that day. She had thought it strange that, out of everything, that was what stuck in her mind the most. Was it the fact that she appreciated the closeness of another pony after such a long time? Or was it something else... The princess shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her head, once again, before continuing to trot down the hallway. She didn't have a destination in mind, she only wanted to walk. It was something that calmed the princess, as most of her day was spent sitting through meetings or on her throne, and the simple prospect of walking was, sadly, a rarity. As Luna rounded another corner, she was instantly pushed back as she collided with yellow blur. Being larger than most ponies, and considerably stronger, she had only managed to stumble, while whatever had collided with her had fallen to the ground with a loud thump. Luna looked down at whatever had hit her, and soon realised that it was, in fact, a pony. A yellow pegasus stallion, to be exact. Upon further inspection, she noticed that he was currently wearing saddlebags that labeled him as one the royal messengers. She offered a hoof to the pony, who refused and got back onto his hooves on his hooves. The messenger bowed nervously, mumbling a string of apologies. Luna shook her head. Why do they always cower? Do they honestly believe I would harm them for a simple accident? She thought, before turning her focus to the messenger, who was still apologizing. She raised a hoof. "Please, cease your apologies, as we have already forgiven you," Luna said in her most calming tone she could muster. The messenger let out a sigh of relief. “T-thank you, Princess.” He bowed again before his horn ignited his magic and a scroll levitated out of his saddlebag, and over to the princess. “I was actually on my way to deliver this to you…” Luna grabbed the scroll in her own respective magic, levitating it over to her side. “Well, then it is convenient that you have bumped into us, yes?” The messenger let out an awkward laugh. “Y-yeah…” There was an awkward pause. The messenger refused to meet Luna’s gaze while Luna simply stood there awkwardly. After a few more awkward moments, the messenger finally spoke, “Well, I better get going! These scrolls won’t deliver themselves, after all!” And with that, the stallion turned around and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Luna watched him leave, letting out a loud sigh when she could no longer hear his hoof steps on the marble floor. “Why does everypony always run…?” she mumbled to herself as she turned around and began to head back to her room, the skip in her step now gone. Princess Luna opened the doors to her room and trotted inside. She smiled as she gazed at the interior, knowing that this was hers. As a princess, she didn't have many freedoms, as everything she did had an impact on somepony or something. But, here in the comfort of her room, she had freedom. And, with this freedom, she did something that she'd been holding in all day; she let out the loudest, most unladylike burp ever released. With that out of the way, the princess of the night made her way over to her bed, throwing off her regal attire as she got closer. She's pick that up later so they could be polished by the Royal polishers (yes, they had an entire division whose sole job was to polish the princess' and Royal guards armor). But, for now, all she wanted to do was rest. She jumped onto her bed, slowly sinking into its velvet material. Her bed was made from the finest fabrics and woven by the finest crafts-ponies, and Luna could not be happier with the results. The soft material threatened to pull the princess to sleep that moment. But, Luna had other plans before she let sleep take its grasp. She stretched her wings, letting the scroll from earlier fall from its position rested beneath one of them. As soon as it hit the bed, it was instantly engulfed by a midnight blue aura and lifted up to the princess's gaze. We wonder who could've sent this? She thought to herself, before smiling. We hope it was from Neon… With newfound enthusiasm, the princess of the night unfurled the scroll, and began to read... Five minutes later... That enthusiasm turned to rage. The scroll was thrown across the room in a desperate attempt by Luna's subconscious to preserve it so that I could be tested to find out who sent it before she ripped it in half. The shadows in the room danced around violently as the Princess' anger began to build, directly resulting in the chaos and power the darkness around her held. Princess Luna was pissed. Don't cry... please, don't cry! I thought as I rocked back and forth on the ground. I had spend the past few hours--at least, I thought it had been a few hours--and tried to think of a way to escape. But, my mind was blank. I couldn't see where I was, I couldn't run, and I couldn't for help... I was screwed. And, what made matters worse, was that I knew Luna would come... And I knew they'd be ready for her. I needed to be strong, I needed to plan… but it was so hard! All I could do was sit here and plan! I couldn’t warn her, I couldn’t save myself… I was stuck. I looked around again, only to see darkness. They must’ve had some sort of spell around where I was being held because my eyes still couldn’t get used to the darkness. It was like looking around a dark room, with a blindfold on, and your eyes cold. I was glad that I wasn’t afraid of the dark because I would’ve had a heart attack by now… Luna, please… just stay away! There were many things that Celestia had woken up to; assassination attempts, earthquakes, riots, wars, the list goes on. But, an angry Luna had never been one of them… and she wished that it would’ve stayed that way. Celestia awoke by being violently shaken by her livid sister. “Sister! You must arise! We have urgent matters to discuss with you!!!” Luna screamed, her hooves tightly gripping her sister’s shoulders. “Sister,” Celestia began, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “Whatever is the matter?” Luna responded by releasing her sister, and shoving a scroll into her face with her magic. “This!!!” Celestia took the scroll in her own magic, and began to read: Dear, Princess of the Night. We have your friend, Neon Lights, and will execute him at the stroke of midnight one day after you receive this scroll, unless you can stop us. We shall be waiting at the edge of the Everfree for you… do not be late. Celestia’s eyes widened, her mind shooting immediately awake. She turned her attention to her sister. “Luna, when did you get this scroll?!” “Only hours ago, sister. We have tried to trace who sent it to us but have come up with nothing. Whoever did, made sure to remove all traces of themselves from it, both magically and physically,” Luna began, “We have searched our city high and low for Neon, and have not been able to locate him. We fear that the threat is genuine, and wish to take immediate action!” Celestia was about to answer, ready to tell her sister to ready the entire army to storm the Everfree… but then she thought better. She sighed, shaking her head. “Sister, you know that we must be discreet about this, right? We cannot send the entire guard after him." To Celestia's surprise, Luna nodded in understanding. "We know that, sister. We are going to go the meeting place with a dozen of our best Night Guards and deal with the situation ourselves. If spotted, then we can play it as a training mission—we only wanted to inform you before-hoof as a precaution." Celestia blinked, surprised by her sister's well thought out response. "Well..." She began, before snapping out of her stupor. "Very well then, sister. We wish you luck." Luna nodded, before turning to head out of her sister's chambers, only to be stopped as her sister called out, "Wait!" Luna turned to face her sister, who had risen from her bed and trotted over to her. The princess of the day put a hoof on her sister's shoulder. "Be safe, please?" Luna smirked. "We shall, sister." The sound of armor being hastily put on and the sound of blades weapons being sharpened filled the air of the Night Guard’s barracks. Moments before, the Princess of the night had stormed in, demanding that all of her guards be armored up and ready for battle in less than ten minutes. Nopony asked any questions. Nopony faltered. They did what they were trained to do: follow orders. The Night Guard had a grand total of fifty guards, and twenty-five of them were currently at attendance, the rest being assigned to various jobs or home on leave. Luna had hoped for more to be readily available, but she did not want to waste time tracking down the rest of the guard. This was a personal mission, and she did not want to compromise the guard for her own personal gain. She was pissed as hell, but she didn’t let that turn into a blind rage. Anger clouded the mind, and Luna wanted her mind to remain clear. While the guard prepared, the Princess made her way to get herself prepared. With a blink of her horn, and a pop of magic, a glimmering set of midnight black armor appeared in front of her. It was like her guards armor, but lighter, allowing for more maneuverability. Twin blades sat in their sheaths at her armor’s sides, still as sharp as they’d been a thousand years prior. She’d hated her war armor. It was masterfully crafted, paralleled only by her sister’s, but she couldn’t bring herself to love something that was only meant to bring death. She donned her armor, before trotting around, getting used to its weight on her back. It was unbelievably light, almost feeling like wearing a dress. Its material had been forced by a strange metal mined from crashed meteorites. It was only fitting that it be used to make armor for the one who created them. Feeling reacquainted with her armor, the Princess trotted back into the barracks to be greeted by all of the guards standing in formation in front of her, ready for her command. The Princess smiled internally at this. The captain of the squad, an elderly, battle tested stallion named Iron Hoof, saluted to Luna, who saluted back. “Ready at your command, Princess!” Iron Hoof stated from his place at the end of the line. Luna nodded her head. “Good, good,” she muttered, walking down the line and inspecting each of the guards. The all were fully armored up, standing at attention, still as statues. “We face an unknown enemy who hath captured somepony quite dear to me.” She paused. “This mission is a personal one, and I will only take those who volunteer. You won’t be fighting for your country, but for me. I will not force anypony to run into the unknown for just me. If any of you wish to back out, you may do so now.” Nopony moved. Nopony twitched. They all stood their ground. Iron Hoof chuckled from his place in line, catching the Princess’s attention. “Princess, we took an oath to protect Equestria and our princesses. That applies to running blindly by your side to make sure that you don’t get yourself killed.” Luna smiled at this, grateful to how loyal her guards were. She had expected at least half, if not all, to back out. Okay, still stuck. I thought as I lay on the floor of my prison. I’d given up yelling empty threats at my captors, and all of my plans of escape ended, in my mind, with either me dead, or badly injured. The world around me was black, and my eyes still didn’t get used to it. I couldn’t even see my hooves in front of me! It was starting to creep me out. I was trapped in darkness. There were no walls to hold me in; no chains to hold me down; no bars to keep me trapped… there was just nothing. I was literally trapped by nothing! Taking another deep breath, I began to tap a beat on the floor. For some reason, I was getting really inspired in this void. Several new beats for future songs began to play in my head, and I was trying with all of my might to not forget them. I never had a good memory, so this was really gonna piss me off later. If there is later. Oh, shut up, brain! I am you, and you are me, so you are just yelling at yourself. I am yelling at the depressed part of me! No, you’re just yelling at yourself. Shut up! You’re the one yelling at yourself, buster. What the hell was going on? Was I starting to go crazy? I just wanted to go free, to be rid of this nightmare! I wanted Luna back… I wanted whoever was planning on hurting her to die, painfully! I groaned, rolling onto my back and staring up into the void. Then I noticed it… It started off slow, but it started to grow. The sound of chanting began to echo within my ears. I couldn’t understand what was being chanted, but it sounded spooky. I sat up and perked up an ear. Something was happening. The sound of rattling armor filled the air near the Everfree. Luna and her guard had touched down moments ago, and were waiting for something to happen. This was the place they said to meet, right? Luna thought as she paced back and forth. She was getting impatient. As if on cue, a cacophony of voices rang out from around them. “We’ve been waiting for you, Princess.” Luna jumped to attention, unsheathing both of her blades with her magic. She held them at her sides, ready to strike. “Where art thou hiding?! Show thineselves!” “As you wish… your majesty.” Hooded figures snaked out from the shadows around them, each one with a glowing horn poking out from the top of their heads. They trotted around the group, making a large circle. It was then the Princess noticed the glowing runes below them. Princess Luna reacted first, jumping into the air screaming, “Run!” Some managed to jump out of range as the ground shook beneath them before filling with an electrical current. Cries of pain filled the air, screams of those who couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Luna watched in horror as her guards bodies began to darken as their insides were cooked. Rage filled the princess as about half of her guard dropped dead onto the Everfree floor. The night air began to swim as the shadows that surrounded the group began to grow, becoming dark tendrils. Luna dived down, blades ready. The ground exploded for her impact, a large crater around her. She lunged at the first hooded figure that she saw, blades immediately digging into their skin. Blood began to drip out the pony as they were all but torn in half by the strike. Luna didn't linger, pulling out the swords and jumping at the next hooded figure she saw. Luna had frenzied, killing anything with a hood. The air around her had started to fog up, a thin mist covering the forest floor around her. She noticed but didn't pay much attention to it. It wasn't important. Several minutes went by before Luna's swords were dripping with blood at her sides. She panted, winded by the experience... Then the fog started to lift. The ponies that lay around her morphed from having hoods, to having royal guard armor. "No..." Luna muttered, slowly trotting back from the slowly growing pile of guards. A loud laugh began to echo from within the forest. "Seems like you have been tricked, my dear princess. Now you are all alone, just as we wanted." Luna's somber expression of shock and sadness immediately shifted to one of our rage. She screamed in her Royal Canterlot Voice, shaking the entire forest, "Show yourselves!" A group of five Hooded ponies trotted out of the forest, carrying a struggling Neon Lights in their magical grasp. Luna growled. “Let him go…” The middle pony in the group chuckled. “No, not just yet.” A knife floated from beneath his cloak and rested on Neon’s throat. “Now, you are gonna stand right there until we finish the spell, or I’ll slit his throat. Simple trade, right?” Luna growled, but stood still. Every fiber of her being wanted to rush forwards and rip those ponies in two, but she knew that she couldn’t react fast enough to stop that knife. So, she sat now on her flank, sticking her blades into the ground besides her. The middle pony nodded, immediately followed by more robed ponies trotting through the forest and making their way to the princess. There were four of them, each standing an equal distance away from her. Their horns ignited, blue flames sprouting from the ground around them. The flames spread in thin lines, drawing out a pentagram with Luna being at the center. Ancient marking glowed around the dark-magic star, and the air around her began to get colder. Each of the unicorn’s horns began to grow brighter, each one seeming to strain themselves while trying to contain the spell. A ball of blue magic began to grow over Luna’s head, sparking and shifting as it grew in size. Luna closed her eyes, waiting for the spell to complete. The ball of blue magic finally grew to critical mass. Luna braced herself, only to feel a weight on her side as she was thrown out of the way. She opened just eyes just in time to see Neon's body engulfed with the blue sphere. Luna's mouth hung open, tears stinging her eyes as Neon lay steaming in the middle of the pentagram. Then her eyes saw red.