Alicorn Origins: Legends of Disharmony

by lunabrony

04 - A Fate Worse Than Death

Present Day

Celestia had managed for a thousand years to raise the moon. Even in her own absence the sun and moon would not have failed to be raised or lowered, the responsibility of doing that would have passed to the high council of unicorn mages in Canterlot. Their collective effort could also have done so. However in Luna's humble opinion Celestia had merely managed. She had not excelled. The moon was back in the night sky, seemingly bigger and brighter than ever in recent ponies memories. Following its trajectory with greater fidelity than ever. With the moon in its zenith, Luna was in the full of her power. She could swim in the ethereal real in the heavens, and see the dreams of ponies everywhere. Threads of nightmare, and strands of good dreams, ponies seeing their inner fears, hopes and desires, struggling with them, coming to terms with them. Luna could pluck a string here, encourage someone there, twine dreams, appear and disappear, wear a hundred faces in a single night. Being queen of the night was something she could never explain, and never replace. Always a familiar power, never dull to wield, she balanced on the landings outside hers and Celestia's quarters with no small measure of power lust. It did get a bit much at times. A good nine tenth of the castle was asleep, she sensed the sleeping minds around her. No small measure of interesting dreams, she viewed them from afar with little detail. Not always good to pry into the minds of servants. However she felt a strange noxious nightmare. Seeming to draw from this particularly splendid night, but it wasn't a good nightmare. And she felt its presence coming from her sister's private quarters. Celestia's mind. A little golden bright light entangled in thick dark lines.

Those in Lunas inner circle knew of her dream power. It wasn't a secret, but wasn't made easily available knowledge either. Dreams were personal, and prying into them was considered extraordinarily rude. Luna crept closer to Celestia's quarters. There was an unspoken agreement between them that she would not pry in her sisters dreams, but some agreements were just bound to be broken, especially under certain circumstances.

Her powers had been discovered long before she could remember, and had been honed to zen like perfection almost as long ago. Now...now she barely had to think about it any more than walking or flying or breathing. Celestia's mind was a clear and sharp diamond, no less brighter despite the many years. Unicorns lived a long time, alicorns even longer. All ponies who live long enough become proficient dreamers. Nightmares are mastered, dreams recognized for what they are. This was the first time Luna saw her sister dream, and did not know she was dreaming, for as long as she could remember. It was an unusually clear dream, vivid and sharp. Celestia was running around in the Everfree forest, the growth of which was what she and her had run from a long time ago.

"Luna! Oh, no, no... LUNA!" In the dream the young unicorn cast search spells, looking for her sister who she feared had teleported into rock, into the ground, into a tree. Praying that she was somewhere nearby. All the while running from something that was creeping. A buzzing sound.

A voice that hissed.

"Celestia, don't run…"

But Celestia did run, crying all the while. The fully grown Celestia's hooves were working as well, pushing off the covers and frantically kicking.

Luna remembered the first time they were separated. It had felt like only hours to her, trapped in the moon. She hadn't told Celestia where she ended up, to spare her sister the heartache of knowing that when faced with banishment, she had in actuality not banished her to a place of solitude, but RETURNED her to a former prison. How could she have known? But Luna had never asked what happened in the several weeks they were separated, it was a source of anguish for Celestia. In that moment, they had been separated from their parents only moments before. And now she had lost her sister.

Family, the only thing the two of them had back then, was being taken from them. One by one.

And the nightmare wasn't letting up. Celestia's head was murmuring, looking anguished, contorting as her inner filly acted out. It was a nightmare on loop, she was endlessly running, looking for her sister, blasting apart rocks and always trying to run away from something she couldn't face. It was a sick nightmare, not of Luna's making, or maybe there were still lingering traces of the vile magic she had cast when she had been the terrifying Nightmare Moon, aptly named. The nightmare would run its course in half an hour, or more, at which point Celestia would fall asleep again. It was quite a tangled mess, dreams were. Like a yarn spun together and twined into a complicated fabric. Most dreams were thin, they only seemed full and rich to the pony dreaming. So many details were lacking and the visual details were hardly there, only the ponies own mind made it possible for them recognize that blob over there as their mother. However with the moon in its zenith, even vague dreams were amplified, this was no less the case with Luna's sister.

Luna sat next to her sister, and her horn glowed. She was casting an extremely complicated spell, one that even a powerful alicorn with centuries of experience could barely pull off. It would not end Celestia's nightmare, but she could help her wake from it. When at last Celestia did wake, she'd find the room different then she left it upon retiring to her bed. It was painted many bright and soothing colors, and sitting next to her was Luna, many centuries younger. She looked barely cutie mark aged, her mane and tail returned to their pre-supernaturally infused dark blue colour.

Woona spoke. "Be still, Celestia. The night is almost over."

Celestia's eyes opened slowly as the nightmare melted away. The coils, which only Luna really perceived, were still there, the cause had not been dissolved. "Moon Pie?" A name not used in ages, long since outgrown. She was in the daze many ponies found themselves in when aided kindly out of a dream. She rose a little, sweat dripping off her and folded her wings in, the feathers unkempt. The only thing looking good was her flowing mane, which seemed to move on its own.

"Thank you Luna." She said gracefully, and without shame. It was one of the times when Celestia really seemed to look the thousand years older than Luna as she really was. "An old nightmare, I had forgotten it... I don't think I've had a nightmare in a long time either."

At that very present moment, though it took a moment to realize, they were both fillies again. Or at least appeared to be, via illusions. The same age they'd once been when their parents would rock them to sleep. The time warping spell Luna had performed was not impossible, but extraordinarily difficult. "Celly." She said with obvious relief. "I heard your distress, I couldn't help but watch. We... we need to discuss that day," she said softly. Celestia knew which one.

It couldn't really change a pony's age. It had its limitations, many a unicorn had sought to unlock the keys of everlasting life with it. However for the moment Celestia, who was no stranger to tricks done to cheer up someone, took heart. Regaining a little of the exuberance and daring she had before, though still shaken from the nightmare.

"Luna, were you spying on me?" Celly stuck her tongue out and sighed, feeling the effects of the memories. "I don't think I wanted to remember. Didn't want to remind you. You're a grown filly now." Quite a joke, they had outlived whole time periods together. Having composed herself, Celestia brought out the quill and scroll which the two of them had been working on together. "Shall we get it over with? And relive that horrible night one more time?"

Luna nodded, and took hold of her sisters foreleg. "We shall. Together."

The Dark Days

Luna had been right at her side. How dumb could she have been?! Yes, they needed to get away or be swallowed by the rapidly growing forest, a forest growing wild at such a rate that most of it would suffocate under its own random excess. Teleporting as far ahead as possible had been the only sensible choice, but Luna and she had barely become proficient at teleporting and it was hard to master. She could be anywhere. And even that was when they weren't exhausted to the point of collapse. And she also had to find her parents, she hadn't seen whether they were free from the powerful spell Discord had cast where they had lived.

While prioritizing her search for her sister, who at this moment might be stuck in a place with little air, she ran wildly from place to place. It was then that she found her. Her silhouette present against the clearing of the trees. The identification spell confirmed conflicting things. It was her mother? But no, it wasn't. Not anymore.

"Celestia..." A raspy voice hissed. Something was wrong. A shiver passed down the back of the young unicorn. It was her mother, and something was wrong, was she sick, burnt? How many healing spells could she do? She rushed to meet her.

Her mothers forelegs wrapped around her. Drawing her close. The smell was the same, the voice... raspy, but it was her mother, even the aura was familiar.

"Mom, I'm so scared! I can't find Luna, I'm looking for her!" For once, again she was the little filly who ran crying to her mother because a spell had blown up in her face.

"Ssshhh, we'll find her together. I'll want her as well..." There was something wrong about the way that was said. A tone that was not soothing or loving at all.

"Want her for what? Mother?" Then Celestia felt a strange drain inside her, the comfort and love she'd felt for her mother felt drained out of her. There was only fear.

Then she realized that the arms of her mother were hard, lined with an exoskeletal crush, punctured with holes. Her mother's horn had become crooked and bent. Her mother seemed relieved, looking fuller again but with a contented smile on her lips. Then suddenly her facial expression changed.

"No! NO!" And she slapped away her daughter, screaming. "No, not like this, no!" Crawling rapidly away from Celestia, who was approaching extreme levels of confusion. "Get away from me!"

"Mother?" Celestia cried, desperately wanting to hold her again.

"I'm not your mother anymore, she's dead, do you hear me? I'm dangerous to you! I can feel it... taking over..." Aurora looked heartbroken, and her large eyes flashed green.

Celestia tried to run, but her legs wouldn't move. She felt drained and barely alive. Aurora turned around and looked at the charging unicorn with a face full of sorrow.

"Celestia? I love you... but you need to run again. Find your sister, the others will be coming for you... RUN!" Then insect like wings unfurled, and the dark ponylike creature who was Celestia's mother flew away, in between the trees, in a path that Celestia could not follow. Then the buzzing started again, as other creatures came closer. Hundreds of them. Charging at her with gaping jaws full of fangs.

Celestia screamed.

"Mother!"

But there was no answer. Completely alone, and separated from the only family she'd ever known...

Celestia ran.

Comments

[lunabrony]

3066568 Thank you very much, I'm going to fix those right now, I edit all my stories myself and I can't catch everything!