Seeking Secrets

by Shumiry

Chapter 7

As Celestia was about to climb into bed, there was a faint knock at her door.
“Come in Luna.” she said, turning to face the door and taking a few steps away from the bed. Luna entered, a look of concern clearly etched on her face.
“We are sorry to interrupt, but we have something to ask of you.” Celestia gave a long blink to hide how she rolled her eyes at Luna's continued use of the royal We.
“Of course little sister, I'll always have time for you.” A little light stress on the “I” to make her point, which went completely unheeded by Luna. For a while the dark sister didn't speak, trying to put her thoughts in order. She'd attempted to reason out why she wanted to demolish the castle, but couldn't seem to come up with anything better than “Because it makes us feel uneasy.” However, that sense of unease was far too strong to be ignored. Whatever the reason, she would be a foal to ignore her instincts.
“There seems to be some lingering evil in the moon castle.” she said at length, “When we are there we feel a, deeply unsettling sense of disquiet. We know we sound foalish,” this last bit muttered towards the floor, “but perhaps we could make arrangements to demolish the old palace? Or at least investigate?” Celestia had started smiling while her sister talked, and opened her mouth to speak.
She had intended to say something like, “Worry not Luna, in the morning we will both go and try to discern the nature of this disturbance that troubles you so.” or something similar to allay her sister's fears. But before she could speak, a sense of foreboding settled in her gut. She and her sister had always been close, and since her return, they had been growing closer. Reading Twilight's letters together, and teaching Luna about running Equestria so that she could take part in the management of the country had both served to strengthen that bond.
What she felt now was undeniable. This was not some silly filly's fear of ghosties in the dark. This was royal premonition. There was indeed something evil in the moon castle. Her mouth snapped shut as her eyes went wide, and Luna's expression went from shocked, to grim determination.
“You feel it too, don't you?” Luna whispered, as if the source of the feeling were listening. Celestia nodded. Without another word between them, the two sisters galloped to the other end of the room, throwing open the doors to the balcony, ready to leap into the night sky. They needn't bother.
Standing on the railing of the balcony was the man Celestia had seen steal the book. Or at least, it looked like him. His body stank of necromancy, and, as she looked closer, she could almost see wisps of black magic trailing from him, like smoke from a fire. His face transformed with a horrid rictus, as he lightly bounced to the floor.
“Celestia.” he said, his voice suffused with false geniality, like he was greeting an old friend whom he no longer liked. In fact, everything he did seemed a caricature of the action itself, like he was the embodiment of mockery of life.
Not waiting to see what tricks this abomination had in store, Celestia reached for her power, ready to finish the job she'd started just days prior.
“Sister no!” Luna cried, leaping backwards away from the two of them. Too late Celestia saw the runes etched into his skin. Circuitous engravings on his body flared to life as she activated his defenses. With an inaudible crack her body went limp, unresponsive to her attempts to move, though she could still control her eyes and mouth. Nine hundred years of peace was too long, she thought bitterly, I've gotten soft.
The energy that came from the monstrosity was a mishmash of life forces, stolen from various creatures in the Everfree Forest. Celestia was silently thankful that she didn't notice any pony essence in the magic. Locking eyes with her sister, she said, with the barest hint of a tremor, “Go get them.” The mockery turned to Luna, preparing a spell for her even as his other spell still worked on Celestia. She had to respect his control, but she wasn't out of the game yet.
A blinding flash erupted between the creature and her sister, catching him by surprise, though Luna had noticed the telltale glow of the spell and shielded her eyes at the last moment. With the thing blinded, she made her escape, pained as she was to leave Celestia behind, she knew her sister wouldn't be in any serious danger. They were immortals, she would still live when Luna returned with the Elements, and they would set all this right. With the sound of a breath of wind, Luna dissipated into smoke, and vanished from the royal quarters.
It took only a second for his vision to be restored, but that had been long enough for the moon princess to escape. It annoyed him, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Turning to face Celestia, he smiled again, slowly walking up to her as the barbs of his disabling spell finally finished sinking in, and she was left utterly helpless. He crouched down, his face only inches from her own, as he withdrew a long knife, made from the thigh bone of a manticore, covered in runes.
“Funny thing about being immortal,” he said, his voice still perfectly cheery, bringing unbidden memories of Pinkie Pie to Celestia's mind. He slipped the knife between her ribs, causing the runes to activate. The pain seared through her, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She'd suffered millions of injuries in her lifetime, and had long ago learned that, especially for her, all pain was temporary. No matter how much it hurt now, it would end, and she would recover.
“Lets you experience all the pain of dying over,” the knife vibrated, striking a resonance with her bones, shattering almost her entire skeleton in an instant. The pain was unimaginable. Her resolve wavered, cracking already. As her body healed itself, it rapidly faded. But just when her last rib was repaired, it was pulled into contact with the knife again, triggering the spell.
“and over,” she was dimly aware of the pitch black sphere that enveloped her, hiding her away somewhere nopony would find her. Her bones healed again, triggering the spell to repeat.
“and over.” The voice came from a great distance. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. She would spend the rest of eternity dying. The spell paralyzing her slackened somewhat, just as the knife triggered a fourth time. Celestia screamed.
Twilight Sparkle was peacefully asleep, having gotten ahead in her studies, and was looking forward to taking a day off tomorrow to see her friends, when the door to the library's balcony slammed open. With a cry of surprise, she leapt from her bed, or tried to anyways, but her legs became entangled in the blanket and she crashed to the floor in a heap.
“Twilight!” the royal Canterlot speaking voice bellowed, Luna's control having slipped away in her panic. Through some vile sorcery, she'd heard the exchange between the Necroequicon's puppet and her beloved sister. Heard the final scream, a sound so awful, so rife with pain her teleportation to Ponyville had almost faltered.
“YeahwuzitPrincess?” the purple mare mumbled as she struggled to extricate herself from the blankets ensnaring her. Luna's horn glowed, tearing the sheets away and throwing them aside.
“We need the Elements! As quickly as possible! Our sister...” her voice cracked at the last word, and the desperation in it roused Twilight more quickly than a bucket of cold water. Looking up at Luna's face, she saw the trails of tears, flowing freely, and a cold dread stole through her chest.
“Alright.” she said, her voice hardening with resolve. Twilight was a mare of planning. She had plans for all sorts of contingencies, and an emergency gathering of her friends was top of the list. Well, second, beneath my secret stash of backup quills and parchment, unless you counted each of those separately, then it would be third... She shook her head. Looking up at Luna again, she nodded.
“You can teleport farther than I can, go get Rainbow Dash first, send her to get Fluttershy. Then get Applejack. I'll get Pinkie and Rarity. We'll all meet back here as soon as possible.” Through her tears, Luna nodded, a small smile forming. She was about to teleport when she turned and nuzzled Twilight,
“Thank you.” she whispered, her voice heavy with gratitude. Before the little pony could respond, Luna was gone. Twilight's smile vanished, replaced by a firm line. Her princess, mentor, and, if truth be told, second mother was in trouble. It was time to act. With a puff of purple sparks, she was gone.
“Grackt.” Spike snored, rolling onto his side, drool escaping his mouth as he dreamed of eating a big, juicy diamond with some kind of special filling.
Rainbow Dash stood in the center of the young flier's competition arena, the crowd cheering her name as her friends were lowered safely to the clouds. She'd done it again! There was no way those jerks were going to convince everyone I was lying this time! Her rainbow contrail was only just starting to fade, and she still had a slight ringing in her ears from the Sonic Rainboom.
“Rainbow!” Shocked, she turned to her right and saw Luna standing beside her, a grim look on her face. Why was she upset?
“Wake up!” With a start, the rainbow maned mare jerked upright, and found herself looking into the face of the midnight colored alicorn.
“Please listen. You must go get Fluttershy and bring her to the library in Ponyville. I will go fetch Applejack. Please hurry, our sister, and all of Equestria are in grave danger.”
Rainbow Dash gulped and nodded, unable to consider doing anything else. There was no arguing with the princess, and the very notion that Luna was convinced that Celestia was in trouble was unsettling enough to cause her to shiver. Without another word, the blue pegasus flexed her wings, stretching out the last of her waking stiffness, and vanished through the window. With a swirl of dark clouds, Luna too, was gone.
Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike all sat in the bottom of the library, sipping cups of coffee the baby dragon had made for them. The tension in the room was thick, and nopony was ready to break the silence just yet. A puff of starry skies, and Princess Luna appeared with a very drowsy, and apparently unstable Applejack. She wavered for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
“Yeah, les not do that again,” she mumbled, as she struggled to rise to her hooves. Just then they became aware of a high-pitched sound coming from outside. The sound grew louder until it burst through the upstairs balcony, a screaming Fluttershy, eyes shut tight, being pushed by a sweating Rainbow Dash.
“Fluttershy!” R.D. yelled, getting no response. She tried again, shaking the yellow pegasus vigorously with her forehooves, finally getting the screaming mare to open her eyes. When she saw they were no longer careening over the countryside at breakneck speeds, she stopped, a deep blush reddening her cheeks.
“Oh,” she whispered, “sorry.” With all of them present, Luna spoke, having regained some of her control in the intervening time.
“Please listen,” she said, as she struggled to keep the tears from her voice, “a monster has captured my sister. She, and the rest of Equestria are in great danger. It uses an ancient, dangerous magic. The Necroequicon.” Only Twilight gasped, the other six wore confused looks.
“I'm sorry, but, what is that?” Rarity asked.
“The Necroequicon is a book created by a cabal of dark unicorns united under Carryion, the Lord of Death, and Mephistopheles, the Lord of Deceit, two ancient, godlike beings.” Twilight rattled off, having learned about the secret in her fervent admiration of her mentor.
“Yes,” Luna chimed in, arching an eyebrow at Twilight's knowledge of what she had assumed was supposed to be secret, causing the purple mare to blush and lower her ears, “Discord, Celestia and myself all worked together to banish the two Lords, one at a time. By the time we had the book in our possession, Discord had been twisted beyond redemption by Mephistopheles' meddling. Though the Elements of Harmony revealed themselves to us, enabling us to imprison Discord, we lacked the power necessary to destroy it. So we locked it away, sealed in an ultra-secure location, that even we could not access alone.
“For whatever reason, the Ur-dragon saw fit to enchant this being with runes that let him bypass our defenses, unless my sister was deceived by some spell. Regardless, he has become a puppet to the book's will. A vessel, filled with all its malevolence and hate. And he is very,” here Luna's visage transformed into a scowl, “very, strong. You must let me fight him first. I will try to discern the nature of his powers, and his limits. It will be your responsibility to look for the opportune moment to strike.” She stared straight at Twilight as she said this last part. Twilight nodded, giving a firm solute. The faces of the other ponies had hardened into grim masks of determination. These were their Princesses, their goddesses, and this was their home. Failure, was not an option.
“I will teleport us to Canterlot. Steel your resolve my little ponies, I know not what horrors we will find. Fortunately, we seem to have some luck on our side. We are all together and well. And the night,” Luna's appearance shifted into that of Nightmare Moon, her voice taking on the Royal Canterlot volume, “is my domain!” As she spoke the last word, a swirling dark blue cloud engulfed them, and they vanished from the library.
In the basement of the moon palace, Secret Seeker stood tracing runes in the air. His finger glowed with a brilliant white light, and when he finished each sigil, it would vanish. He had forgotten the Necroequicon, focused as he was upon his own experiments, and it lay dormant on the table. If this worked... if it truly worked the way he thought it should... His finger paused mid-glyph as a shiver of excitement ran through him, then resumed its steady, careful motion.
Surrounded in blackness, Celestia's body writhed and shook, each trigger of the spell wracking her with pain. But her eyes were empty, and she didn't scream anymore...