Chapter 7 - Confrontation
When I reached the destination of my teleportation spell, I found myself in a very familiar area beneath the castle. Immediately in my field of vision was the reason I had been drawn here in the first place. Two guardsponies lay unconscious on the ground, minute traces of blood visible on the sides of their heads. The armoured door leading out of, and into, this room was barricaded shut by planks of wood.
Predictably, I heard Celestia's startled gasp from behind me. I ignored it, however. My attention was drawn instead to the other five gasps that I heard.
I spun around to face the cell, my eyes burning intensely. I took in the situation and my blood began to boil. Rage unlike I had felt in a long, long time blazed within me when I saw what was going on.
Celestia was up against the back wall, frozen and with one hoof held up like a foal caught stealing from the kitchen. The door to her cell had been forced open, and some but not all of her bindings had been torn off. Along with her, occupying various spots in the room, were five ponies in various colours.
One of them clinging to the edge of the tiny ground-level window near the ceiling of the east wall, holding onto where the iron bars had once blocked it and clearly identifying how they had got in there in the first place. Two more were standing around the outside of the cell, while the final two were inside and in the process of assisting Celestia with her remaining bindings. All of them had that same stunned, surprised expression as they remained frozen on the spot.
I had just walked in, so to speak, on a rescue mission.
Not even a second after she saw me, Celestia held her hoof out to me and shouted, "No, wait! Stop!!" The others immediately began to scramble, fleeing from the scene and heading towards the open window.
They barely made three steps before I fired a spell directly at the window, sealing it with an impenetrable barrier of shimmering teal magic. The pony who had been at the window was gone, only the chopped-off fur at the end of his tail remained.
I hardly cared. A burning tempest began to swirl through the room as a furious, blazing black aura ignited around me. I was furious. With the window securely sealed and the only other exit blocked, I turned my attention to the four remaining ponies. I could almost feel the fire dancing in my eyes. I grit my teeth, baring my fangs, and let loose an enraged growl.
"Stop! Please!! Don't hurt them, Luna!"
Now with nowhere to go, the four ponies could only stand frozen on the spot and look up at me. Eyes wide, jaws slack, they all quivered on the spot as they gazed at the most powerful, most infuriated pony any of them had ever seen.
"I told them not to, Luna! I beg of you!"
The ground shook as I took a step forward. The air around me was like a hungry bonfire, but coloured jet-black. The pathetic, terrified ponies cowered even more as I approached. Some of them began begging for their lives, but I didn't hear a word they said.
"This is how you choose to waste your pathetic lives?!" my voice boomed, nearly cracking the stone walls.
They all cried out and scattered, but I effortlessly lifted one of them up with my magic. A white unicorn mare with an orange mane. She screamed in terror and wiggled hopelessly in my grasp.
"The…sun…is…DEAD!!" I proclaimed, "For this crime against your Princess, you will be punished!"
"Please-" was all the mare could get out before I flung her into the wall.
"No!!" Celestia screamed.
I could hear the sounds of her bones snapping as I slammed her into the wall once more, leaving a small blood-stained crater in the stonework.
"Luna stop!!"
The treacherous pony could only let out a strangled breath before I slammed her against the wall one final time, releasing my grip and letting her drop to the floor.
The room was filled with the screams of the other three ponies and the incessant pleading of the pony in the cell. I turned round to find the three cowering together, expressions of shock and disgust on their faces as they sat frozen in complete shock. As soon as they saw my furious eyes, they split apart and scattered once again like a mischief of tiny mice. Two of them dove for whatever small hiding place they could find, but the third fell flat on his belly as my front hoof pinned his tail to the ground.
The orange stallion screamed and pawed at the ground frantically as he tried to free himself. I'm sure he would have gone so far as to yank his own tail off had I not crushed him with my other front hoof. His eyes bugged out and he let out a strangled cry as his weak, mortal body crumbled beneath my might. I left him behind, laying in a pool of blood.
The second mare, a pegasus, had circled around behind me and was desperately hopping up against the wall with her hooves outstretched towards the sealed window. She let out a shriek of terror as I magically yanked her up off the ground. She turned her head back and regarded me with a look of hysteria. Tears streamed from her eyes and all she could do was cry like a filly. Somewhere in the distance, Celestia was still screaming.
The pegasus squeaked and shot her head down as she felt something coil around her legs. An unused chain from the cell was weaving its way around her body like a snake, glowing in my magic's aura. She tried to cry out in protest, but the words died on her lips as the chain tightened itself around her neck and torso. Her front hooves pulled at the chain, her back hooves flailed around in a panic, but on her face was a look of hopeless defeat. Her mouth hung open but no more rebellious words fell out, her white fur coated in crimson. I dropped both her and the chain once she stopped moving.
I stood there for a moment, my chest heaving ragged breaths that almost sounded like growls. Dealing with these filthy insubordinate ponies was only fueling my rage. It felt like every hair on my body was charged with electricity. Everything around me was windswept by the furious aura that surrounded me. For a few seconds, I stared at nothing with vengeful, bloodthirsty eyes.
One of my ears swivelled towards a sound in the room and I whirled around to face the last remaining pony. This wretch, a third mare with yellow fur, was hastily trying to remove the barricade on the door that the five of them had no doubt set up in the first place. To their own detriment, she was having a difficult time accomplishing this.
Ignoring the pleading voice from the cell, I slowly stomped towards her. She heard me coming, fueling her panic and making her move faster. I continued to stalk towards her, rage in my soul.
To her, my approach must have seemed terrifyingly slow. She had made some progress towards her escape, but it wasn't enough. She let out a frightful cry of surprise as she found herself hoisted into the air and held in front of me. I rotated her so that she was facing me, but she didn't scream. She merely stared deep into my eyes, seemingly unable to tear her gaze away, as she trembled and murmured in fear.
"What was your intention?" When she did not reply, I yelled, "Answer me!!"
She cried out and murmured, "We-We were trying to…free…"
"What did she tell you?"
"Sh-she told us to…leave her there and…and run away…"
"Why did you not listen?!"
She sniffled and didn't respond.
"Look at your companions!" I thundered. Her eyes briefly darted to the fallen forms of the others before she dissolved into more tears. "Look at what has become of them!!"
"I'm sorry…" she whimpered.
A sudden spike of anger shot through me and I tightened my grip, causing her to cry out in pain.
"You were here to free your overthrown leader! You were here in an attempt to defeat me! You are here now because you despise me!"
She didn't say anything.
"Say it!!" I exclaimed.
"I…I…"
"Say what is so obviously true! Reveal to me what is so obviously true; that you would chose to support your weak, defeated Princess because you have no…respect…for…the…night!!" I yelled every word as if each one were a spear going right through her pathetic form.
She tried to say something, but her words came out a jumbled, crying mess.
"Say it!!!"
"I'm so sorry!!" she finally exclaimed, "We tried our best! Celestia, we love you!!"
A moment later, her pupils shrank and her mouth fell open wordlessly. All of her limbs extended outward as the magic aura around her increased in intensity. Then, her eyes clenched closed and she began to let out a horrible, wailing cry of pain.
She remained like that, suspended in the air with her cry slowly growing louder. My furious eyes were locked on her, watching her agony. Her long unbroken scream rose in volume an almost absurdly long time until she finally needed to suck in a breath before screaming again. To the outward observer nothing seemed to be wrong with her, but her wails told another story. Somepony else was screaming, but my focus was on this damned, treacherous mare.
Her voice reached a pitch that barely sounded like it belonged to a pony any more. Blood began to trickle from her ears and the edges of her mouth, and a moment later she was shedding crimson tears. My teeth were grit painfully hard, my body filled with a volatile anger that felt like it would never dissipate. I could have kept going until there was nothing left of this wretched pony. I wanted to destroy her!
"Luna, that's enough!!"
The air was filled with the mare's sharp intake of breath, and then she fell unceremoniously to the floor. I left her dead body behind, turning around and briefly regarding the other three unmoving ponies before setting my sights on the one pony left alive.
Celestia wasn't even looking at me. She was seated on her haunches, hunched forward and staring at the ground as she shivered and heaved shuddering breaths. Even as I stepped towards her and into her cell, she didn't look up.
"You…You didn't have to…" she whispered, almost inaudibly, "They could have been punished…or locked up…but you…"
I stopped when I was standing a pony's length away from her. "Look at me," I commanded.
She let out another trembling breath before slowly turning her dishevelled, broken face to me. She did perk up once she saw me, and saw the cloud of daggers hovering around me. I narrowed my eyes at her and spoke.
"I counted 27 times."
Her eyes barely had time to open wide before all of the daggers zipped through the air and found their way into her body. Her scream was not unlike the one I had just heard from that last mare. Her face twisted up in unimaginable pain as a torrent of blood flowed forth. She was on the floor in seconds, lying on her side and curling up like a tiny foal, crying, shivering and moaning in anguish.
"You have now witnessed what will happen to foolish ponies who not only injure my guards…" I paused and cast a spell on the two downed guards, as well as two more unconscious ones I found outside the window, and teleported them to the medical wing where they would be tended to. "…but also commit the highest act of treason that there is." I used my magic to quickly lock her bonds back into place where they belonged, and then turned and began to depart. "Should you encounter any more, try harder to convince them to leave, and you may just save their lives."
My anger had finally been winding down, but I was still fuming. There was still a scowl on my face as I slammed the cell door shut and trotted not-so-lightly towards the exit, intending to get as far away from this infuriating pony as I possibly could. I was so focused on leaving that I almost didn't hear the incredibly quiet, wispy voice from behind me.
"I…I don't understand…"
I stopped and brought my head up, my eyes widening but my brow still furrowed. I turned and cantered back over, flinging the door open with a heavy clang.
"What?"
Celestia was laying curled up on the red-stained floor, shivering. Her head lay on its side on the ground, her eyes half-open and glazed over as she stared at nothing. "I don't understand…" she repeated in a hoarse whisper that could barely be heard at all.
"What is there to not understand?!" I shouted, "Those ponies committed an act of treason towards their Princess and sovereign ruler…"
I trailed off because she wasn't listening to me and was continuing to talk. "I remember…I remember so long ago, when you were still…" She paused and I listened. "When you were…young."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded, debating whether or not I wanted to bother listening to what was sure to be drivel.
"You were crying…and you came running to me…and you told me that you were upset because everypony in…the village was asleep…and nopony could see what you had made. You wanted ponies to stay up at night so they could see the stars. I…I was powerless to do anything, but I should not have stopped listening to you. You grew to feel unappreciated and lonely. You just wanted a… a friend…"
I was about to interrupt her, but she kept talking.
"You wanted somepony, even just one pony, to tell you how amazing your night looked. Even just one pony to stay up all night with you and gaze at the stars. You never found anypony, but…that pony could have been…me. But I was just so busy, so many things were changing, and Equestria's rise to power was going so…so well… I never…"
"I hope you are not so dense as to realize that it is far too late for empty apologies."
Still she kept talking as if I had not spoken a word. "And even…even when this whole thing started…when you became who you are now…" A shiver passed over her body. "You told me…that you wanted ponies to respect you and to respect the night. You made the night last forever so ponies would have no choice but to admire the stars. I know this."
"The ponies of this land have been poisoned by you!" I exclaimed, "Such is why it is taking them so long to understand their own admiration for the night!" I stopped and paused for a moment, blinking once. "They will all understand to respect the night!"
"I cannot pretend to know what is in your mind…" Celestia whispered, sounding weaker with every passing minute, "but I know what I have heard and what I have been told…When you were young you wanted love and admiration for the night and, though that may not be true any longer, you have always wanted the respect of your fellow ponies."
I stared at her, unable to deny the truth in her words but equally unable to reply. She then lifted her head up, the first sign of movement I had seen from her, and turned to look up at me with indescribably frightened eyes.
"…So what happened??" she whispered as loudly as she could.
I found myself tongue-tied for a moment. "What…are you talking about? Do not think you can confuse me with riddles."
A little bit of strength seemed to be returning to Celestia's broken form, though all it served to do was make her voice louder and her expression more vibrant. "You wanted love and respect…! You wanted to rule ponies who would admire the stars, bow to your rule, and follow you to wherever you would lead them."
I was so perplexed by her words that I couldn't even scowl at her any more. I simply regarded her with a confused expression. "Clearly," I stated the obvious, "A goal I have stated to you numerous times, and will-"
"Then what is this?!" she suddenly yelled, managing to reach quite a high volume and startling me slightly. She thrust one of her hooves to point outward, flinging blood on the floor, cell bars, and my legs.
I followed her hoof to see she was pointing at one of the dead bodies.
"Your actions do not match your words!" she exclaimed, "You speak of leadership and admiration, yet the strides you have taken are ruthless and power-hungry! If your plan was to oust me and then continue in my place, that would still be unacceptable but at least it would be sufferable! What are you doing?!" She closed her eyes and groaned, her brief bout of strength coming to an end. "You cannot gain respect from ponies when you threaten them with death."
I furrowed my brow and stamped a hoof on the ground. "Enough of this," I proclaimed, "Attempting to rescue you is an act of treason and the rightful punishment has been enacted. I shall not idly stand by while you deliver lies and deceit. I have told you this before, and I shall tell you again. You should cease to concern yourself with the ponies of this land, as they are out of your hooves. One way or another, whether it takes weeks, months or years, the Equestrian ponies shall have no choice but to adore the night!!"
My eyes shot open wide. "They shall all revere the night!" I added without losing face, but my mind was reeling. It was the second time that had happened. What was wrong with me? The words had just slipped out as if they had come directly from my brain, but they hadn't.
"What's happened to you…?" My eyes shot back to Celestia, who had lost whatever strength had been returned to her and was laying comatose on the floor once more. "What do you want from them…?"
"Shut up!!" I exclaimed, "They are all going to…to…"
I stopped myself. I could feel the wrong words on my tongue just waiting to come out. I was sure by now that something was happening to me, but what? Was this some trick by Celestia? But that couldn't be possible; she had no access to magic. Even disregarding that, what would she hope to accomplish by putting the wrong words in my mouth? She knew that I cared not for the love and admiration of these ponies. Hadn't I proved that?
The world around me seemed to slow down as I began to dwell on this thought. I didn't care about what these ponies thought of me. I was their leader and I could do whatever I wanted, whether they liked it or not. Ever since this had all stared I had known this.
I couldn't deny, however, that Celestia was right. My actions didn't match my words. I reflected on everything that had happened since I had defeated her. Everything had gone according to plan, or at least I had thought so. But now, looking back, I was only filled with questions. The events of the past were not so much memories as mysteries. I was Nightmare Moon, and I planned to rule this land as I saw fit! So what was I doing? I had not realized it before, but now it was the only thing that was crystal clear to me.
It all didn't make sense.
I realized that I had been standing there for a couple of minutes staring off into nothingness with my jaw half-open. I glanced down at Celestia, but she wasn't paying attention to me; she was barely awake. I felt like I needed to say something, anything to assert my superiority. Instead, I simply teleported away.
…
When I materialized, I found myself in my personal chambers. In seconds, I was pacing about with my mind running a mile a minute. I searched for answers, but I wasn't even sure if I had the right questions.
'What am I doing?!' I asked myself, 'What have I been doing this whole time? I have defeated Celestia in battle, imprisoned her, and taken her magic from her. I am now the most powerful being in the entire world. I am invincible! None shall be able to stand in my way, the night has already taken the celestial throne…The whole world is mine to take!
'Yet, I have been attempting to serve as this nation's respected leader. I have been altering the properties of the moon to fix problems that have arisen, I have instructed the Night Guard to enact order and rule in the cities, and I have been walking through the streets like some sort of common peasant! I have been holding meetings with the leaders of other nations!
'I am Nightmare Moon! I am destined to rule this world!!'
I tried to recall my memories from the past months, but somehow they didn't feel completely my own. I could remember from long, long ago my desire and intent to rule this world. Celestia had stood in my way, and this ambition to conquer had fueled my anger and determination, and it is what had ultimately managed to take down Celestia. Truly, she had been the only creature alive who stood any chance of defeating me and preventing the night from its domination of the entire world, but I had bested her and now nothing would ever impede me.
But then, what had I been talking about during that whole tirade before the battle? I had been talking about injustice and arrogance and the right to rule.
'Equestria is at my hooves, ready to submit to the glory of the night lest they be punished or destroyed, and I altered the properties of moonlight so the crops would grow. I removed the chilling cold and replaced it with warmth. Warmth like in the day. Like the light that shone from Celestia's infuriating sun! Why is she still alive?!'
I stomped my hoof on the floor, probably causing something to fall in the room below. 'I am invincible. If I were to go out and conquer the world right this second, it would be done. I have an army, I have the means to make my army bigger, and I have unlimited power at my hooves. But all of this should have been done already! Why have I been wasting so much time concerning myself with the wellbeing of these fools! Each and every one of them are pets of the sun. They can never be cured!
'These ponies live in relative comfort under a facsimile of the night. I still call myself their Princess, of all things. Their lives are mine to control! If I want to crush my opposition under my hoof until nothing remains, I shall! When I walk the streets of Canterlot, the ponies shall all smile at me and compliment the night.'
I had been pacing again, but I stopped as if I had hit a brick wall. My eyes shot open and my mind stalled for a bit. 'Smile and compliment'?! Where in Equestria had that come from?! I sat on my haunches and held my two forehooves up to my head, as if trying to squeeze out whatever intruder was inside.
'It's a trick…' I was struggling for answers at this point. 'Celestia must have cast some sort of hex on me before the battle had even begun. How can that be possible?! That damned, filthy alicorn is messing with my mind! Does her treachery know no bounds?! She is the source of all of my problems and I should have killed her long, long ago, but I love her so much…and I hurt her.'
It felt like the temperature in the room became twice as cold. 'What?! What are these words? These are the words of a weak and pathetic fool…!' I set my forehooves firmly on the ground and grit my face in determination. 'I will not be defeated by some hex. I know who I am! I am Nightmare Moon, ruler of the entire world!'
You hurt Celestia.
'Of course I hurt her! She is my enemy and must be dealt with!'
You have gone too far. You have hurt her too much.
'I can do whatever I please! I control her magic! I am unmatched in power! She should consider herself lucky she still breathes!'
I would never have done this, no matter how I felt.
At that moment, I gasped as a sense of recognition overcame me.
'…You.'
The moon sits upon its throne and the citizens are under our rule, but this has gone too far.
'It's you who has been influencing my actions. How dare you?!'
What choice did I have?
'This should not be. You have no power any longer. You are something that belongs to me now. A relic of the past.'
I am not your enemy, and you are not mine. Together, we have accomplished things I had always thought impossible. But this is wrong. It's all going wrong.
'You have no say in the matter. I control you.'
That is not-
'When I found you, you were nothing! You were pathetic, you were weak and you were powerless!! When I offered myself to you I was met with refusal, but as the injustices against you grew you changed your mind.'
I was angry.
'As you should have been! I extended to you a gracious offer, but not a single thing happened until you yourself accepted. By your own choice, you have submitted to me! If you are unsatisfied, you can only blame yourself!'
This is not what you promised me, at least not exactly. I never would have-
'Look at the world around you! Do you see injustices anymore?!'
Yes!!
'Where?'
You have replaced Celestia's sins with your own!
'Mere semantics. The glory of the Lunar reign could be leagues beyond where it currently stands if you had not been meddling. The night is a cold, dark place filled with scarce, twinkling lights and beautiful dancing shadows. It is where fierce, fantastic creatures roam. It is where life becomes more exciting and thrilling! You cannot deny this.'
I…cannot.
'So why is the night now bright and warm?!'
Ponies were suffering…I wanted them to see the night, but-
'The citizens of this land are inconsequential! Soon, Equestria shall live under a new paradigm, and the pathetic ponies of the daylight shall die out. In their place, our glorious citizens of the night shall take their place!'
That is not-
'You will remain silent! You came to me crawling on your hooves, tears in your eyes. I could see in your heart that you had been hurt in the most unimaginable ways. You ignored me for all those years, but on that night you surrendered your body and mind so that I may correct these crimes.'
You helped bring the wonders of the night to the citizens of Equestria and ousted Celestia from her position of wrongful power, and for that I am grateful, but-
'You should hardly be grateful at the pitiful progress that has been made so far. If you had not been reaching for the reins, then the entire world could have already been at our hooves! Your time is over now! I shall forge the path to a glorious future!'
…No.
'What?!'
I do not want this anymore.
'You must be joking.'
I rescind my offer and hereby render any contract or agreement as null and void. You have committed atrocities I would have never done, no matter how angry I may have been.
'Is that so?'
You will cease these ambitions and stand down.
I began to laugh. I was still simply sitting in the centre of my chambers where nopony could see or hear me, but still I laughed. All of my frustration and anger was gone, and all I could do was laugh.
'Do you honestly think I still need you in any way? You have given me your body, your mind and your magic. What possible use could I still have for you? I rather enjoy this limitless power that I have been granted. I've barely gotten to play with it. You played your irritating little game of influence from within some deep, well-hidden corner of my mind. You heard right, I said my mind. For you seem to have overlooked your biggest mistake. You have now exposed yourself to me, so now I know exactly where you are hiding!'
You cannot- Augh!
'This world no longer has any need for you! I no longer have need for you! As you presently stand you are only getting in my way, so I will make sure that you never bother me again!'
You are not a creature of this world! You have claimed my entire being, but I shall claim it back!
'I would love to see you try!'
You have no power without me! You are nothing but a reflection!
'I am what you see when you gaze into the mirror!'
I will never be like you!
'It has already happened! Perhaps you don't realize! I have taken your thoughts and memories as my own. Your past, present and future now belong to me! No being out there in this world shall ever be able to separate you from me!'
You are a monster!
'And you are not?'
You are nothing like me!!
'I am you!!'
No!
'Yes! You have welcomed me in and I have already devoured your soul! Long after you are gone, I shall still be here carrying on where you have failed!'
Stop! Stop, you can't do this!
'Your little games shall end right now! You are insignificant, just as you have always been!'
No… Please…
My horn was glowing, my eyes closed in concentration, and a small wind was twisting through the room. 'Begone!!' I silently commanded, 'Begone from the hidden recesses of my mind, you pathetic trickster! This world has no place for you, and it shall never hear your cries of sorrow ever again! I am Nightmare Moon, and you are nothing!!'
I gasped out and held my head up high, the wind in the room suddenly vanishing. Blissful silence prevailed for a moment, as if the entire world had come to a gentle stop. When at last I opened my eyes, it felt as if I were seeing through them for the first time. A smile graced my lips. Every single part of my body felt fresh and energized. I had shed from my being a debilitating poison, and now more than ever I truly felt alive. For the first time in a long, long while, my mind felt clear.
I began to laugh again. There was not a single question in my mind. I knew who I was, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what I wanted to do and what I would do. My laughter grew in volume until I was cackling almost madly as loud as I could.
I got to my hooves and stood tall, spreading my wings. I felt newly transformed. I felt reborn. What was in the past no longer mattered, for now I could step forward on the path towards the glorious future. Now there was truly nothing holding me back. The whole world would be mine!
I turned and cantered out to the small balcony connected to my chambers. Night Guards that had been hanging upside-down nearby took to the air and fluttered away to a respectful distance, but I barely noticed them. I looked up to see the moon directly above. I aimed my horn straight at it and reached out towards it with my magic, not wasting a single second. I focused on the energy and properties of the moon, shifting it and playing with it until it met my satisfaction. The aura from my horn diminished and immediately an invigorating rush of cool air swept past me.
The vile changes that had been made to the night were now gone. Chilling air prevailed and shadows danced as they were meant to in the pale silvery glow of the moon. I decided to leave the new phases of the moon as a timekeeping measure, but everything else was now as it should be. Equestria was once again bathed in the true glory of the night.
Moments later I was in the air, gliding blissfully around the outside of the castle until I alighted seconds later on the central balcony that overlooked the entire city. I stood at the very front, surrounded on three sides by the impenetrable fortress that was Canterlot Castle, and standing high above the city and its tiny occupants that were spread out below me.
I was grinning in anticipation. Soon, Canterlot would be more than just a vibrant city. It would be the centre of my empire; an invincible, indomitable fortress from which I would rule this pathetic world! These ponies, and all ponies across this land, would serve me and fight for me or they would be killed. There would be no middle ground.
With my growing forces of soldiers of the night, even some impossible foe who matched my power would fall before me. There were still thousands of bats in this land, and furthermore all of these ponies. In fact, I reasoned, there perhaps could be a middle ground. Those who would not serve me could be transformed into soldiers of the night. I now had the means. I briefly considered simply changing them all. Perhaps that was how Equestria would stand.
I glanced out at the roads of the city. Most of the citizens were asleep at this time in the cycle, but there were a select few still wandering about. Perhaps some of them had noticed the familiar chill in the air. The crops would likely wither and die, but I hardly cared. Under the glory of the night, Equestria would thrive one way or another. My soldiers, my children, did not feast on food that required the harsh light of the sun. Yes, transforming them all was sounding more appealing by the minute.
I thought about my children as I turned my gaze inward, looking at the castle grounds below me. Every possible vulnerability in the castle was guarded by at least three members of the Night Guard. They and I were connected in a way that was like no other. They were made stronger by it. As long as I still drew breath, my soldiers of the night would prevail. I leant them my strength, and they leant me their loyalty.
I felt a chilly wind ruffle the feathers of my outstretched wings. I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling the wonderful, welcoming sensation of the glorious night. It was astounding how much different I felt. My mind was no longer clouded. My ambitions were unchecked, and I would pursue them until they were in my grasp. Any creature who would not follow me was worthless in my eyes. I was the most powerful being in the world! None would dare anger somepony as powerful as I!
And yet, I knew they would. Perhaps a lot of them would. Memories of the past few months returned to me, and I nearly grimaced at my own behaviour. In truth, I had only really been half there. A shadow of a nightmare. Now, however, I was truly in charge. I no longer cared about the lives of these awful, sun-loving peasants and I certainly did not care what happened to-
My eyes shot open and I gasped. Then, furious anger bubbled through my veins as I grit my teeth and growled.
Celestia.
That rotting heap down in the dungeon. She was still alive! It made my blood boil just thinking about how that alicorn still breathed the same air I did. If there was only one thing I was certain of in this world, it was how much I absolutely despised that pony. Even as far back as I can remember, I have hated her. She is for everything that I am against. Her reign over the day is what overshadows the glory of the night! She was my enemy and she needed to be destroyed!
My horn flashed brightly and deposited a lifeless lump onto the floor before me. The beaten, bloodied form that had once been Celestia a long time ago was barely awake. Her head lolled to the side, a helpless victim of gravity, her chest barely rose and fell, and her filthy mane lay draped across herself and the ground like a deflated jellyfish. It was quite possibly the most pathetic sight I had ever laid eyes on.
Her eyes barely moved around as she registered her new location, but a moment later they shot open wide. The alicorn found herself being lifted off the ground headfirst. She grit her teeth in pain and held her front hooves up to her neck, where the silvery aura of my magic could be seen. She then closed her eyes and opened her mouth, but not even a breath of air came out. She struggled as best she could while I held her in the there, but her weakness was evident even when advanced by the adrenaline that comes with a danger to one's life.
I was staring right at her, a hungry flame burning in my eyes. The mere sight of this pony ignited anger within me that was unmatched. The fact that she was still alive filled me with rage. Every second that her heart was still beating was an insult to me. I took a step forward, tightening my magic's grip.
She inched open one of her eyes and stared back at me. Her mouth was still open, trying to speak or to simply breathe, but she could do neither. Tears of pain rolled down her cheeks and panic began to set in. Celestia desperately pawed at her neck with her hooves, trying to remove something that was not physically there. Her wings began to involuntarily spread out, an animalistic instinct of her fight or flight response.
She started turning a sickly shade of blue and I began to grin. I took another step forward as if it would expedite the end of her life. I was vaguely aware of a burning aura around me, fueled by both rage and satisfaction, but everything around me was growing dim and unfocused. I only had eyes for Celestia.
The alicorn closed her mouth again and grit her teeth, silently growling against the onslaught of pain. She stopped moving her hooves, leaving them resting on the front of her throat but not affecting my magic's grip in the least. Her eyes, though, were rather unexpected. They did not seem angry, scared, or even disappointed, at least not in me or whoever she thought I was.
The look in her eyes showed that she was simply resigned to her fate. She did not, and could not, speak any words, but her eyes told me what she wasn't able to. She was weak and broken, nearly dead anyway, and she knew that there was no way she could defeat me. There was no way she could possibly hope to free herself. I imagine it must have pained her greatly, but she was finally realizing that she could not win.
She was about to die.
My gaze hardened as we both counted down the last seconds of her life. I wanted to see every moment of her demise. I wanted to watch as the life slowly faded from her eyes, as her body stopped moving, and as her heart stopped beating. I stared straight at her, not blinking once. This was a moment that I would never forget, and it was so tantalizingly near. Her eyes began to roll upwards. Her muscles began to relax.
And then she was gone.
I blinked. It took me a brief moment to realize what had happened. Celestia was gone! She was no longer held in my grasp. I found myself staring at thin air with only the vaguest recollection of a split-second blur.
An unacceptable two seconds passed before I regained my senses and shot my head to the left, my wings already spread and ready for flight. Time seemed to slow down as I took in the scene before me. I saw a sky-blue pegasus mare wearing a deep red scarf that depicted a small sun at the tail end, and she was straining to fly away from me as fast as she could. Two other pegasi with the same scarves were a mere pony's-length away from her, rushing forward to help carry her heavy load.
Heavy…because it was Celestia.
A single grain of sand did not have time to pass through the hourglass before I was furious. I cursed myself for getting so engrossed in ending Celestia's life that I had not paid attention to my surroundings. Now some incredibly brave, and incredibly foolish, pegasus had dashed right in front of me and snatched her away like a gull snatching food from an unsuspecting foal.
They were moments away from clearing the castle grounds when I was in the air. Though incredibly furious, I was not very worried. What hope did three tiny, unarmed pegasi have against the likes of me? Before I could dash forward, I caught movement out of the corner of my right eye. Instead, I dipped my entire body down slightly, letting the fourth pegasus sail harmlessly over my head. While my attention was briefly on that side, the same side that the initial pegasus had come from, I saw four soldiers chasing after them. They had been alerted, but apparently not quick enough to warn me.
That brief shift in attention was long enough, however, for yet another pegasus to come dashing in from the exact opposite direction. Though the one from the right missed entirely, this one managed to clip one of my wings. I lost my balance for a brief second before I regained it. I paid no further attention to those two pegasi, but my horn glowed and I heard their screams of pain.
They had managed to delay me, yes, but the advantage they gained amounted to less than a second. The ones with Celestia were now beyond the castle walls, but still easily within my grip. I pulled up a barrier around me to ward off any other suicidal pegasi and dashed forward.
I smashed muzzle-first into something and came to a dead stop. The pain in my snout was negligible but I was briefly disoriented. I was just barely able to see a shimmering purple wall of magic shudder and shatter before me. I had been stopped by a magic barrier. Time slowed once again as I considered this. A magic barrier had somehow managed to impede me, the most powerful being in the world. How was that possible?!
The barrier had dissipated from the sheer force so I dashed forward once again, but I chanced a quick look down below me. I saw two unicorn ponies, wearing those same scarves, standing on top of the castle's curtain wall next to a pair of incapacitated soldiers. Before I could even focus on them, they dropped to the ground unconscious. The purple glow around both of their horns told me all I needed to know.
The magic of a simple unicorn could not possibly affect me in the slightest, given how powerful I was. Perhaps one of Celestia's glorified, once-in-a-lifetime students could manage to draw blood if they really tried, they were all gone now anyway. However, I could see that these foolhardy ponies had cast something that was far beyond their own abilities. They had crafted magic that had to have been at least ten times more powerful than what a standard unicorn could achieve. It had not injured me or stopped me for more than a few seconds, but it had impeded me. And now they were paying the price for taxing their bodies to such an extreme level. They were now at the mercy of the Night Guard, and that was if they even woke up at all.
The pegasi carrying Celestia were still well within reach, but as I dashed forward once again I saw another barrier shimmer into existence before me. This one was blue, but it was otherwise identical to the last one. I turned myself so that I slammed into it with my shoulder, shattering it easily but costing me speed yet again. I caught a glimpse of two more unicorns on the street, both in the process of falling to the ground.
Now I was really getting furious! I could barely see straight I was so angry. My thoughts were wild and frantic, but I did not let that distract from the task at hoof. I grit my teeth as I tucked my hooves in, preparing to strike forward like a spear so that my horn would pierce right through any other barriers they decided to put up. I granted them the fact that they had managed to catch me off guard, but this nonsense would end.
You can imagine my surprise when I found four green coils of magic wrapping themselves around me like the snap of a whip. I was in utter disbelief. Restraint magic like this took years to perfect and was usually only practiced by lawponies. The loud screams of painful exertion coming from below me confirmed my suspicion that these too were cast by ponies pushing themselves beyond their limits. I was loathe to admit it, but I was temporarily restrained.
I let out a furious shout, though I realized that I still wasn't focusing properly. I took the obvious course of action and began to craft a counterspell. A fifth green coil managed to wrap itself around my horn just before I cast the spell. That coil took the brunt of the spell, and I saw its caster standing on a nearby roof. He cried out in agony as smoke exuded from his whole body and collapsed to the ground, dead from the magical discharge.
I growled and cast yet another counterspell, this one successfully disarming the other four coils and freeing me. I knew for certain that those four ponies were dead; I was rather shocked they had even managed to cast something so powerful for so long. It didn't seem possible.
I sought out Celestia. She and her carrier had gotten unacceptably far from me, and were now almost two blocks distant. I yelled furiously once more and commenced my pursuit yet again, fury burning within me. These insane ponies could slow me down for a few seconds as many times as they wanted, I could pursue Celestia for far longer than they could fly.
The three pegasi, however, were not trying to flee from the city as I had expected. Instead, they were dipping towards a building with a flat, open roof. I focused on the rooftop, noticing that there were no less than ten scarf-wearing unicorns standing there. All of their horns were glowing at once. My eyes shot open as I realized what they were about to do.
I shot through the air like a flaming arrow, zipping towards the rooftop as fast as I could. By then, the pegasi had already thrown Celestia through the air towards the unicorns, as if attempting to skewer her on all of their horns. That would have been a much more pleasing outcome.
My airspeed began to drop. The world turned slightly pink and I glanced back in fury to see that there was a glowing pink aura around me connected to a tall unicorn mare standing on a roof behind me. I had been so focused on Celestia, I hadn't even noticed her. She was struggling to control her magic, and collapsed seconds later with a series of charred marks across her horn.
Her telekinetic grip gone, I was able to cross the remaining distance but those few precious seconds had been too much. I watched in disbelief as the ten unicorns worked together to craft an absurdly powerful spell and cast it on the falling body of Celestia. In a blindingly white flash she was gone, leaving ten unmoving bodies on the rooftop.
I slammed down onto the roof a fraction of a second later, crushing one of the unicorns beneath my hooves and sending out a spider web of cracks beneath me. I let loose a furious, vengeful battle cry before I took to the air once more with my horn glowing. This was far from over.
I quickly found and latched onto the teleport spell that had just been cast. Considering how powerful it was, it was easy to detect it against the natural field of magic. Simpler ponies falsely believe that a teleportation spell is a poof here and then another poof here, which is why unicorn criminals who do not plan ahead properly think they can escape pursuit by teleporting away. In actuality, like any other spell, it was a subtle interaction with the planet's latent magic and one with a finely-trained horn could see a trail leading directly from the departure point to the arrival point. From the rooftop, it was ironically like a brilliant white shooting star, and I could cast pathfinding magic through it so that it would become plainly visible and not fade away after a few seconds.
However, to my utter exasperation, more treacherous scarfed ponies appeared from what seemed to be thin air itself. Four pegasi each carrying in their hooves a unicorn with an already-glowing horn. Though I had not believed any more would appear, I had prepared myself already to immediately deflect any binding spells or disarm any barriers, as well as to neutralize any attempts at telekinesis.
But they did none of that. They surprised me yet again by boxing me in on all sides with shimmering waves of green magic. The spell trail that I had been intending to follow was still visible right next to me, but it vanished completely once it passed by their green waves.
I was floored. Field disruption spells. Magic intended to block and hide from view or detection any kind of magic. This was magic that had been developed over years by one of Celestia's damned pets. How had these ponies learned how to cast it?!
Now I was beyond furious. I do not believe there is an adequate word in the Equestrian language to describe how vengeful I felt. I lashed out at one of the pairs, striking the unicorn directly in the chest with lightning magic. Both he and his support dropped lifelessly from the sky. As I had begrudgingly expected, they were replaced within seconds by another pegasus and unicorn. I was running out of time.
The skies over Canterlot were filled with my piercing cry of rage. The untameable anger boiling inside of me was threating to burst forth like an angry volcano, and that's almost what happened. A blinding glow condensed around my horn for a moment before the whole world went white. The concussive force released outward from my horn impacted with all eight ponies surrounding me, tossing them to the ground or against buildings like ragdolls.
The dust cleared as I panted. No more foolish ponies were accosting me. My horn began to glow once more as my eyes swept the surrounding areas, but what I had been dreading had come to pass. The residing trail from the teleport spell had already faded away, mixing back together with the natural magic of the earth. The trail was gone and I had no idea where Celestia was. Furthermore, I knew that even if I had clairvoyant powers and knew exactly where the trail would have led me, it was almost certain that she had been teleported further a number of times so as to get her as far away as possible.
She was gone. I had lost her.
The city was silent but for the subtle clopping sounds as I landed on the ground below. Almost everything was still. I found myself simply staring ahead at nothing, my chest rising and falling as I took in heavy breaths. A part of me simply refused to believe what had just happened. I struggled to come up with an explanation, or a reason that what was happening wasn't actually happening. I stood there for quite a few minutes, simply staring and breathing.
And then I screamed. I yelled louder than I probably have ever yelled before. There was not a single pony within the entire city would could not have heard me. I was angry. There is no other way to describe it. I was absolutely furious at the events that had just occurred, and I could not and would not hide my anger from the rest of the world.
I can look back on that day now and see that there was truly nopony to blame except myself. I had been overly impulsive and unacceptably unfocused. At that moment, nothing in the world had mattered more than ending Celestia's life, and I took my focus away from things that I should not have under any circumstance. Worse than that, I had underestimated my opponents. All of the unstoppable magical power in the world can still be defeated by cunning and guile. The most powerful warlord, undefeated on the battlefield, can still be crushed if they become careless.
But, at the time, I was just furious. I demanded answers that I didn't have, and changes that I couldn't make. I was in a state where I couldn't have calmed myself down if I had wanted to, and I had not wanted to. I wanted to make sure everypony nearby knew just how enraged I was, because somepony was going to have to pay for this.
My screams into the night finally ceased, leaving me with my head hanging and my chest heaving. I panted as if I had just run a marathon. I was no less angry, and the ten-metre-high pillar of burning aura that engulfed me could attest to that. I wanted to burn a hole in the ground below me. I wanted to expel such powerful magic that the entire city would be levelled.
I heard the sound of bat wings and turned my head slightly so I could look behind me. I saw the Night Guard spread out across the roads, dutifully performing what needed to be done. A full contingent of them was approaching me, ready to serve whatever command I would give them, but I had no command to give. Instead I focused on the other soldiers.
Some of them were working together to haul some of the scarf-wearing ponies away; those, I assumed, who were still alive. Seeing the defeated forms of those vexatious ponies who had managed to one-up me made me reflect on what had just occurred. Just about 40 ponies had willfully given up their lives just to have a slim chance at rescuing their cherished Princess of the Sun. 40 ponies who were either now dead or would either be imprisoned for life or killed anyway. Not one of those imbecilic ponies would ever see the light of day or the light of the moon ever again.
I watched as the streets and rooftops were cleared of the traitors and as troublesome bystanders were arrested. So much blind sacrifice just to get their hooves on a nearly-dead, magic-less pony that had once been something a long time ago. A failure. How many more would be willing to throw themselves on the pike for a dream that could never be attained? I wasn't sure if the thought thrilled or disgusted me.
"You think this is over?!" I held my head high and shouted, "Do you insipid fools think you have won?!" My anger had not subsided in the least, and I was sure it would not for quite a while.
I slammed my hooves into the ground and thrust out my chest. If there was any doubt remaining in their tiny minds, I would squash it right here and now. "You are nothing, Celestia! You are deluded if you think you can defeat me! You cannot hide from me, Celestia, and you cannot stop me! Equestria is mine!! No matter where you are, I will not rest until I have found you!!
"And when I do…I will destroy you!!"