Gore)2,438 words
485. Wonna by Foals Errand564 words

226. Grievous by Honey Mead

***

Celestia,

This is the most exciting things I’ve ever witnessed! A small, well, smallish, meteor crashed in the White Tail Woods just a few minutes ago! I can’t believe Luna didn’t tell me about this! Next time you have a prank for her, I am so in.

Sorry about dinner tonight. I know you were really wanted to talk, but I just can’t wait to go have a look.

I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

Yours Always,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia started to knock on her sister’s door, only to have it open seemingly of its own accord.

“Enter.”

Celestia did so, shouldering into the room with more force than strictly necessary.

Luna sat behind her desk, a pair of pince-nez glasses perched on her nose, working through a stack of paper. “To what do…” she started, only to cock her head to the right, “shouldn’t you be having dinner with Twilight?” Then she noticed Celestia’s folded back ears. “Is something the matter?”

Celestia dropped the scroll onto Luna’s desk. “Care to explain this?”

Bemused, Luna unrolled the parchment. Her brow jolting up. “I… I… Tia, this is not my doing.”

“I would have thought something like this beneath you.” Luna reeled as though struck. “I know that you are hurting, but that does not give you—”

Luna’s stomped the floor, shards of stone flying into the air. With tears stinging her eyes, she said, “I swear on mother’s grave that I had no part in… whatever this is!”

Both sisters stared into the other’s eyes, the elder searching for any hint of deception, the younger desperate not to be found wanting. Gradually, Celestia’s gaze weakened until it fell. A great sigh escaped her lips.

“I'm sorry, Luna. I shouldn’t—”

“No, I understand. Things have been… tense.”

Celestia nodded. The silence built between them, but, before it could expand into the unhealed fissures, she stepped past Luna, toward the balcony. “I should go.”

“Give Twilight my love.” Luna said, only to wince at her own words.

A slight catch in her gait was all the reaction Celestia gave that she'd had heard her. Unfurling her wings and giving them an experimental flap, Celestia spoke only a pair of words before taking to the skies. But those words left Luna slumped on her desk, struggling to hold back the tears.

“Goodnight, sister.”

— — — — — — —

Celestia’s came down to the scarred ground with all the force of a feather settling upon a blade of grass. Her eyes closed in a vain attempt to grasp the fading dregs of her composure.

Three steps and she stood over the crumpled body. She stumbled.

She fell.

Something buzzed in her ear, an inane chittering punctuated only by irregular cracks and the sizzling of charred trees. She ignored it; it didn’t matter.

A gold shod, white hoof touched a purple cheek, only succeeding in spreading the sticky red stain to her own hoof. Tears fell in silence as she scooped up the limp body, cradling it close to her chest. Burnt hairs crumbled to ash under her hoof, revealing the cauterized stump hidden beneath.

Frantically, her eyes searched for the missing piece. Finding it a few paces away, discarded and forgotten, she snatched it up in her golden field. Her magic trembled, nearly dropping the horn. She had to hold it in place with a hoof, her magic unwilling to cooperate at two separate tasks.

The sulphurous stink of melting bones and burning hair curled her nose, but she paid it no more mind than the every more insistent buzzing that wouldn’t go away.

Far from perfect, it was the best she could do.

A simple golden ring snapped into existence beside her, summoned all the way from Canterlot. Tears blurring her eyes, she could barely see to thread it with the pointed bone. Letting it go, it slid down the spiraled length, only to catch at the deformed seam.

Celestia swallowed down the lump in her throat and craned her neck to place a soft kiss on Twilight’s brow.

Something struck the side of her head. It was hot, far hotter than anything she’d touched in longer than she cared to remember, and bright, green burning through her closed eyes.

With the ponderous speed of a glacier, her gaze rose to meet the buzzing’s source. Sorrow, loss, grief: none of these met the creature’s sickly yellow eyes. In their place, only the final rage of a dying sun remained.

The buzzing stopped.

Setting Twilight's body aside, Celestia rose.

It stumbled backward, this creature with two bars of tinted, fabricated sunlight gripped in its arms. Tall: even hunched as it was, it stared down at Celestia, something between uncomprehending terror and blind rage burning in its eyes.

It charged again, slashing at her again and again and again, each swing becoming more and more frantic. Celestia ignored them for the pale, pathetic imitation they were. Her wing shot out, clipping its head and casting it to the ground.

Celestia’s eyes belied the calm, controlled voice with which she spoke. “I am Princess Celestia Sol Invictus of Equestria. You stand accused of murder. By your own actions in my presence, I find you guilty. Do you have any last words?”

If it understood, it gave no sign. Standing, its arms bisected, spreading into four. Two more of its weapons sprang to life. With an inarticulate roar, it charged again.

"Pitiful."

A gust of wind blew through the woods carrying not but ash and cinder.

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Knight of Cerebus

Knight of Cerebus #1 · Aug 7th, 2014 · · ·

So Fuzzy, remember how ages ago I begged, pleaded and specifically asked for you to release my sequel to this in tandem, and you said that sounded fine and you'd be sure to do it, and I reminded you again after a while? Unfortunately, it seems not.