Nightmare's Reign

by NorrisThePony

Moonfall: Pt. 1 (VII)

Placing a hoof slowly into the shimmering water in front of her, Luna cautiously took a step into the river and found that it was quite shallow. Hopefully, it would remain as such, and she could simply wade to the other side of the river instead of having to swim over some deep, unknown waters.

"I wish you could just fly across." Nightmare Moon groaned from further on above. Luna had quickly found out that, along with her magic, she couldn't fly either, no matter how hard she beat her wings. Nightmare Moon, on the other hoof, was not a pony and therefore was unaffected by whatever was jamming Luna's magic. "Seriously, why can't an Equestria Princess best a puny little anti-magic spell?"

"My frequency of magic is entirely different from yours." Luna defended herself, annoyed with the simplicity in which Nightmare Moon was flying, while she couldn't even lift herself a foot off the ground or levitate a feather. Supposedly, centuries of living in the Underworld had allowed her companion more than enough time to get used to the vast difference to Equestria and overall meta-physicality that the Underworld was made up of, but regardless it looked as though casting magic here was made intentionally impossible.

"I thought alicorns are supposed to be tough, especially you. So far, I'm just not seeing the 'omnipotence' you're credited with."

"Alicorns aren't omnipotent." Luna corrected. "We're ageless. That's not the same thing."

"Well, excuse me princess, for assuming you were more powerful and strong than some ordinary mortal."

"That doesn't make me immune to all limitations." Luna pointed out. "That being said, regardless of the severity, if this were Equestrian soil I can guarantee I wouldn't be nearly this grounded. It seems like my magic doesn't react well to the abstract nature of this place."

And, indeed, it seemed like abstract was the best way to describe it. Sometimes, it seemed as though the confusing, nonsensical nature of the Underworld was something from a pony's nightmares, and Luna had seen plenty of those in her time. Was this what her nightmares were like? All the strange things, and the even stranger ponies, it was a far cry from the orderliness and predictability of Equestria.

Continuing her wading forwards through the water, Luna looked forward at the other side of the river, which looked every bit the same as the one she had left behind, right down to the same flimsy archway which presumably led beyond whatever intermission this place was supposed to serve as. As she had suspected, the depth of the water she was crossing was consistent, which would mean crossing it would not require swimming.

"Hey, Luna!" Nightmare Moon breathed in awe, causing Luna to draw her attention away from the opposite shore, craning her neck backwards to see Nightmare Moon's amazed face staring directly down at the water below her. "Look at that!"

"What?" Luna asked intently, looking down herself and seeing nothing but her own face reflected back in the mirror like surface. Instantly, she froze her journey across the river and peered downwards into her own face for a long while. The more she focused, the more she realized there was something else after all...something moving in the shimmering waters. Nightmare Moon was looking down in an almost trance-like gaze, but as a direct contrast to her hypnotized glare was an almost...loathing expression. Whatever it was she was seeing infuriated her and encapsulated the entirety of her attention.

In complete juxtaposition, Luna felt a tear fall down her face as she beheld the white mare looking back at her from the other side of the water.

"Celestia!"

Her sister was smiling, a solemn, sorrowful looking smile, as if to guise whatever it was she was actually feeling as she looked back at the pony who had betrayed her. The image of her sister was clearly visible in the motionless depths of the mirror-like water. She was as discernible as Luna's own reflection before she had entered the river. She was wearing her crown and necklace which symbolized royalty, but the traditional garments were laced with flowers; they could have been white lilies, but Luna had never been well-versed in that subject. What she did notice about them was that they had been quite prominent in the bouquets surrounding her poor sister's fallen body back in Equestria.

Bringing her head lower towards the water, Luna extended a hoof to touch her sister's face, but merely succeeded in creating ripples on its surface and temporarily obscuring Celestia from view. Whatever purpose the river was supposed to serve, it was evident that it had the ability to show her the face of the one pony she loved most, and perhaps nothing more. It was likely she could not even speak with her sister. Regardless, Luna tried.

"I'm sorry, Celestia! I am so, so, sorry!" Luna sobbed, her falling tears succeeding in slightly distorting her view of Celestia. "I never wanted any of this!"

Celestia didn't vocally respond (or perhaps she did and Luna could not hear it) but instead maintained the same broken smile, and offered an understanding nod, indicating that she had indeed heard. The two sister's locked eyes, the sympathetic Goddess of the Sun and the guilt-ridden Goddess of the Moon, both mere variations of the same crippling sorrow. To Luna's shock, Celestia did not look as angry at her as she had predicted she would, although the disappointment and hurt in her sisters eyes was obvious.

"I am going to fix this." Luna promised, rubbing her eyes clear of any tears and sniffling. "No matter what the cost to myself. I swear, Celestia, I'm coming for you."

Nodding again in understanding, Celestia maintained her heartbreaking smile. Behind the white form of her sister, an even whiter light was building, growing in intensity as if a sun of pure energy was rising behind her sister, reducing Celestia from a pony to an outline to nothing at all. Luna watched her disappear, watched everything disappear, and squeezed her eyes shut, not fully knowing why. Still, the blinding light was there. It was a sight not seen through her open eyes but a part of her mind as much as her guilt or her fear or the cooing voice of Nightmare Moon. In time, even it started to fade to darkness, as an unnatural calm replaced her panic, and her fervent mind began fading away like the last traces of sunlight before dusk. A slow, soothing, beautiful sight.

Suddenly, Luna flung herself up, coughed out a torrent of water, and looked around. She was in the middle of the river, exactly where she had been, but Nightmare Moon was staring at her in complete disbelief and shock, still hovering just above the water.

"What happened?"

"You're an idiot," Nightmare Moon spat, turning around and continuing her flight across the river. "I don't even want to ask, but what was that all about? You just...sorta, almost drowned."

"What?!" Luna exclaimed, standing completely erect now and looking down at the water in disbelief. "But...how? One minute you told me to look in the river...and, I saw my sister in the reflection of the water, and then..I must have passed out..."

"Just. Stop." Nightmare Moon gibed, bringing a hoof to her face and freezing her flight. "The water probably induced some hallucination that made you oblivious to the fact that you were trying to KILL yourself, and apparently made me look like a senseless twit petty enough to get caught up on the damn scenery."

Nightmare Moon took a deep breath and continued forwards.

"But...Celestia..." Luna began, but halted when Nightmare Moon looked back to give her a disapproving glare. Did that mean that what she had seen...that Celestia had been a mere hallucination? Was she truly becoming mad, or was this some strange, final trap designed to prevent entry to and from Tartarus? Why would such a thing be necessary? If it was madness, at least she wasn't far gone enough and she had managed to snap out of whatever reverie she had been under.

As if sensing Luna's puzzlement, Nightmare Moon said it aloud, although the tone she used suggested that she was merely guessing.

"This river. It's designed to kill ponies before entering Tartarus. You're forced to cross through it and when you do, it tempts you into drowning yourself without even knowing you're doing it. That's why it jams any magic, to prevent unicorns from teleporting across or pegasi from flying. Thankfully for me, I'm neither, but you're basically both."

"But why?" Luna asked. "Why kill them, I mean."

"A surprisingly good question. If I were to guess, I would say it's to stop ponies like you from trying to do exactly what you're doing. That is, interfering with the affairs of Tartarus. As a dead pony in Tartarus, you couldn't possibly alter the balance of anything, but as a live one from the outside, you're quite dangerous."

"Dangerous how?"

"Dangerous in the sense that you potentially have the ability to resurrect any evil being kept there, and send em' back to Equestria to continue whatever spree of terror got them killed in the first place."

"I see," Luna nodded.

"Just...avoid looking down at the water and you should be fine." Nightmare Moon suggested, and Luna did just that. The remaining journey across the river was entirely uneventful, and in time the two alicorns were both once again standing on solid ground. Being thrust from cold water into even colder air was not quite Luna's idea of comforting, but from the looks of things, Tartarus was only a gateway ahead.

"This is it, Luna." Nightmare Moon declared, staring straight ahead at the rickety archway. "There's no going back from this now. One step through that gate, and your fate is basically sealed. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I am." Luna nodded, taking a determined step forwards, followed by another, and another, until the arch was passing by on both sides. As she paced through it, the half light of the starlit river gave way to an eerie purplish glow, as the clearing faded into cavern walls and sharp spires of stone. Looking around in fearful awe, Luna did her best to stay composed as she entered the gloomy land of the damned. Nightmare Moon was walking right beside her, with a completely apathetic expression, as if she'd been here so many times it was like crossing a street. To Luna, it was the culmination of all her life's achievements and failures crumbling away into the prison of stone and purple fire that made up her new home. She didn't need to turn around to know that the archway was gone, but doing so anyway confirmed her suspicion. In its place was a stone wall, untarnished as if nothing had ever been there.

"No turning back." Luna breathed, slowing her quick breathing to steady but evidently disturbed inhaling and exhaling.

"You alright?" Nightmare Moon asked, not a trace of insincerity in her voice. "I know this place can be a little disarming."

That was one way of putting it. All around her, Luna saw nothing but rock and fire. Sharp, spiky spears of stone formed the ceiling, walls, and even the majority of the floor Luna was walking on, with the thankful exception of the road she was following. She must have been on some raised area, because the road gave way to a long fall, so far she could see no end to it. Other raised areas poked out of the dark abyss, some were connected to her area by rickety bridges and others were simply isolated. The occasional house or pony-built cave was visible on them, showing signs that despite its hostility, ponies still lived here.

Thankfully, Luna saw none of the 'unending torment' and 'ceaseless agony' that paranoid subjects seemed to love writing of back in Equestria. As Nightmare Moon has previously stated, this place resembled a prison and nothing more. Of course, the waterfalls of lava pouring down from the cavern roof sort of betrayed any sense of earthly habitability.

Straight ahead, separated only by a hundred feet followed by a short, rickety wooden bridge, a tall, Gothic looking palace stood, looking quite out of place beside the harsh stone and pouring lava. A dozen grey brick spires rose all around it, like a grove of trees surrounding the epicenter of the castle, the tallest of the spires, which soared almost to the roof of the cavern.

Directly above the middlemost section of the castle grew what looked like the roots of a great tree, but they were pulsating with a brilliant white light. The roots unfurled for long distances across Tartarus, and gave the dark cave the gift of light. There was something familiar about their majestic aura; as if Luna had seen whatever tree they were meant for many times before.

"That right there..." Nightmare Moon explained, pointing at the roots. "Is the Tree of Harmony. You know about it, I'm sure."

"Yes I do." Luna said. "Another Underworld-Parallel? Like the Everfree or Canterville?"

"Nope, that's the real article. That old tree's roots go deeper than most ponies give it credit for. But it serves a much more important purpose down here."

"And what might that be?"

"Transportation, interestingly enough. It's the celestial road out of Tartarus. One-way ticket back to the land of the living."

"Really?" Luna said skeptically. Could it possibly be that easy? Could she actually go home after all?

"Yep. Provided you're not dead. If you are, well, I'm not quite sure what happens, considering I'm still alive. You should check it out, and tell me what's on the other side."

"Perhaps." Luna muttered, not extremely interested in finding out anyways. What did interest her was the towering, cathedral like building in front of her, and the rickety bridge separating her from it. Peering over the edge at the infinite dark abyss, Luna groaned and fed magic to her horn, which miraculously seemed to work here. In a flash, she had teleported across it and was now standing on the steep, cracked steps leading to a tall, sturdy looking red door.

"Here we go." Nightmare Moon breathed, also teleporting next to Luna.

Frozen in place at the foot of the stairs, Luna simply stared straight ahead at the tall door, at the enormous spires towering on both sides of her, at the throbbing light of the Tree of Harmony's roots far above. She knew nothing about what was going to be on the other side of that door, who was going to be on the other side...she had placed all her hopes on the assumption that whatever demon ruled this realm would have the mercy to help her, and only now did she realize that such an assumption was simple folly. But the Tree above her...she could go home, and forget all of this, and simply deal with Celestia's death...

And, by extension, leave her sister to wallow in a punishment she deserved. As well as leaving her subjects to slowly die and freeze under the feeble light of the moon, assuming they did not try to have her executed for her crimes—which she was aware could very well be known by now. No. She had to do this. If she didn't take this risk, then she would bring about the end of all creation. One risk seemed necessary to take when compared with the inevitability of apocalypse if she chose not to act at all. And, if the ruler of Tartarus proved to be unwilling to help, the tree above was still an option.

Luna took one deep breath, flared both her wings, and turned to face Nightmare Moon.

"After all this, you stand next to me as I go to my death. You have helped me through this, and I feel the obligation to offer you my thanks."

"Uhh...wow." Nightmare Moon blinked, taken aback. "No problem, I suppose. Y'know something, Luna? I hate to say it, but I've enjoyed your company. I daresay I'll miss you."

"Likewise." Luna said, grinning slightly and awkwardly for but a second, before re-assuming her solemn expression and walking up the stairs to the door ahead. Nightmare Moon remained where she was, standing on the precipice of the first step. Luna gave her one last smile, and then turned around and grabbed the door with her magic and took a deep breath.

"Luna, wait! Don't! Don't do this, please!" Nightmare Moon suddenly cried out, dashing up the stairs after her. "The tree's there! Just go home!"

"Why?!" Luna exclaimed, whipping around to face her. "Why not? What lies beyond?"

"I said I don't know! But it can't possibly be good. Luna, you've trusted me this far and I appreciate it. I appreciate it so much. You're the first mare to ever grant me the chance for...for friendship."

"I know. But this is something I must do, regardless of the risk. If something should happen to me, it would not matter to Equestria in the long run anyway. They would find a way. Life always finds a way."

"That might be, but this isn't the answer. Turn around, and think about yourself; not about Celestia, not about the sun, not about your subjects. Think about what is best for you."

"I cannot." Luna said simply, and with that, pushed the door open, and strode confidently into the main hall of the palace. It was dark, pitch dark, not a light was shining save for the dim glow of the outside world, splayed across the marble floor as checkered patterns formed by the tainted glass covering all walls. A backwards glance showed her that Nightmare Moon was gone.

Judging by her echoing hoofsteps, the main hall of the castle was immense; easily dwarfing the throne room in her own castle back in Equestria. Casting light from her horn, Luna turned to one of the walls and examined it under the light she was creating. All along the walls were large, unlit candles held in regal looking sconces, as well as beautifully painted depictions of scenery and architecture. Whoever the Lord of Tartarus was, he certainly had a fairly tame knack for interior decorating.

Suddenly, one by one, the candles inexplicably burned to life, each slowly revealing a bit more of the main hall in a perfectly synchronized sequence. At the end of the hall was one final patch of darkness, from which emanated a familiar, malicious chuckle.

"It's him." Nightmare Moon's voice whispered, Luna relieved to hear it.

"Hello, Princess Luna." The tell-tale voice of Discord spoke, and the snapping of his fingers echoed across the room as the last bit of the hall lit to show him lounging lazily on his throne, a silver and red affair with what vaguely resembled antlers protruding from the top. "I've been expecting you."

She should've known. In fact...why hadn't she? It was so obvious...Sombra had been in the Underworld, and she had never once factored in the fact that Discord would be too, at least not to lengths that warranted being concerned. In the frenzy that was the last ten days, she had completely forgotten her brief layover in Equestria, it seemed like so long ago but really it was less than a week that her hooves had first touched down in the Whitetail Woods, and even sooner that she had obliterated Discord's stone figure in the castle throne room. Was it possible that his chaotic influence had spread so far that it had completely deprived her of the thought that he would be present here? Or...was she really just that dense?

"You!" Luna snarled, baring her teeth and charging her magic as the draconequus smiled at her from his throne. Luna immediately assumed a defensive pose, putting all her magical energy into forming a barrier between herself and her foe. "What are you doing here, Discord?"

"Discord?" The draconequus asked innocently, a mischievous grin cracking across his face. "Why, I know of no Discord! I am Death! The Lord of the Underworld! Tyrant of Tartarus! Self-Proclaimed Fanatic of Chocolate Milk!"

"What is it you want, Discord?" Luna interjected.

"What do I want?" Discord laughed, flicking his wrist and materializing a milkshake which he took a long sip from. "Oh no, you've got it backwards, my dear Luna! What is it you want, crawling into my kingdom like this?"

"Your kingdom?!" Luna exclaimed. "Why would the God of Chaos want to rule over the land of the dead?"

Discord simply yawned, shrugged, and promptly snapped his fingers, causing a massive wall of fire to encircle Luna's protective form. Her shield instantly evaporated and she could do little to defend herself as Discord stepped down from his throne and walked straight through the flames towards her.

"Boredom, my dear." Discord said. "Luna, it's been such a long time! How have you been?" Discord asked, with a tone that one would expect him to use when greeting an old friend. "I've been doing great, you know, being dead and all. Thank you, by the way, for that."

"I'm sorry, Discord. I really am. I had no choice." Luna said stoically, relaxing slightly and doing her best to remain calm and collected as she looked into the draconequus' eyes. He was masterful at disguising it, but Luna knew that he was absolutely furious with her right now.

"Oh of course, Luna! I understand completely." Discord began, slithering closer and closer to Luna until he was standing directly above her.

"We need to go now, Luna!" Nightmare Moon hissed, and Luna could not have agreed more. Praying Discord could, in fact, not hear Nightmare Moon, Luna scanned her surroundings as inconspicuously as she could. If she simply darted away without knowing which direction she was going, there was a high chance she would end up getting cornered.

"Keep him distracted. Don't look around for an exit, leave that to me."

"What is it you want from me, Discord?" Luna asked, clearing her throat and locking eyes with the draconequus, as if they were business ponies in a negotiation.

"Again, you've got it backwards, Luna." Discord said. "But I know all about you. What you want from me."

"Then you know about Celestia..."

"And Nightmare Moon." Changing his voice as if he were addressing a different pony, Discord shook his head in an almost disappointed fashion. "I'm surprised by you, Nighty. Betraying me like this. I was hoping you wouldn't, but oh well."

"So you can hear me in here." Nightmare Moon said, disgust in her voice. "I was wondering."

"Looks like now I'll have to kill you both." Discord lamented disinterestedly.

Despite offering no clue as to his assault, Luna rolled to the side just as a beam of chaos energy slammed into the ground where she had been moments prior. Taking to the air in a heartbeat, Luna beat her wings hard and recast her shield as she flew. She noticed that her magic was much weaker than it should have been, it seemed as though some outside influence was draining her ability to cast it properly, a more than likely conclusion, considering how the river had managed to jam her magic completely.

"Get to the tree, Luna!" Nightmare Moon screamed, and below Discord laughed wildly.

"Where are you going, Lulu?!" He called after her joyously. Ignoring him, Luna rose higher into the dark recesses of the ceiling, scanning the architecture for an end to the tall spire that led her closest to the roots of the tree, only to be greeted with nothing. She had apparently flown so high above the candle fixtures below that all around her was complete darkness, and with all her magic focused on her shield, she had no way of illuminating the pitch black area around her.

A few stray bolts of energy blew past her on both sides, before one managed to successfully strike her shield and shatter it. Only momentarily dazed, Luna swiftly regained her flightpath and continued flying upwards faster than she ever had before. In fact...she was flying too fast...almost as if she were falling...

In shock, Luna stopped beating her wings and realized she was still moving...no, falling. Changing the angle of her wings sharply, Luna arched through the darkness in a less-than-graceful maneuver which pulled her out of her downward trajectory and left her staring in surprise at the castle from far, far below.

"He's the Spirit of Chaos." Nightmare Moon reminded, only seconds before a brilliant flash cut nearly blinded Luna as she was teleported back into the throne room by magic that was not her own. Before she even had a chance to react, she felt her entire body get thrown to the side, crashing through the stained glass and falling hard against the concrete railing of the balcony protruding over the abyss of nothingness below. Upon impact, the balcony exploded and large chunks of concrete fell down and down in to the abyss below. Leaping to her feet, Luna whipped around to face the glass window she had broken through and assuming a defensive stance. Discord was still laughing, still smiling, and simply walking at a casual pace through the broken glass.

A flick of his wrist sent the shards of glass flying at her, and despite her shield—which she managed to create just in time—several punctured straight through the magic dome and struck her like arrows. Grimacing in pain and fury, Luna responded with her first assaulting move against Discord, which was nothing more than an embarrassingly underpowered magic beam much lower than what she could have been able to cast had it not been for the shield she was struggling to keep alive. Nevertheless, the element of surprise seemed to aid her, and her assault actually managed to make contact with Discord. Less encouraging, however, was the fact that he did not even remotely react to it. Again and again she struck him, even floating bits of broken mortar and flinging those in his direction. All made contact and yet did not damage him even slightly.

"He's dead already, genius." Nightmare Moon piped. "You can't hurt him!"

"Discord, please!" Luna screamed, backing away until she was hanging over the edge of the now railing-less balcony. "I just want my sister! Please, I beg of you!"

"And why would I help you?" Discord sneered, and the glass shards once again rose from the ground and floated next to him, some dripping with Luna's blood. "I don't care about Celestia and I don't care about you! If only Nighty would've told you I was the one you would ultimately blindly run to. She knew the whole time, you know. If only you wouldn't have been such an overly trusting moron."

"Is...is that true?" Luna asked the demon within.

"Luna, I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to come to this."

"You knew!" Luna spat, forgetting about Discord completely. All the times Nightmare Moon had helped her, after everything, and she had not once mentioned to Luna the fact that she couldn't possibly win. "You knew and you said nothing! You were helping him?!"

"I was helping MYSELF!" Nightmare Moon screamed back. "You were the one who wanted to come down here anyways! I tried to tell you, I tried to warn you..."

"I trusted you..." Luna muttered, the words gaining even more impact as they left her mouth, and thus fueled her growing anger even more. "I trusted you!"

"You...shouldn't have."

"Are you two finished?" Discord interrupted, the glass still floating around him. "I've waited far too long for this moment to have it spoiled by your boring conversations about your trite little lives."

"I killed you three days ago," Luna pointed out, taking one last step back until she was practically leaning over the edge.

"How typically boring of you to assume that 'eternity' only flows forwards. But you'll know all about that, soon."

With that, Discord finally unleashed the torrent of glass, which were much more successful now that Luna's shield had dropped significantly in strength. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Luna leaped over the balcony and once again unfurled her wings, which were spilling out feathers now with every frantic flap she took. Discord still made no move to follow her, something which she was torn between being fearful or relieved over. Higher and higher Luna flew, and she was flying outside and along the center spire, so she knew for a fact that she was ascending this time, and not being fooled by some chaos trickery. Straining under the effort of flying upwards at an almost ninety degree angle, Luna was practically counting down the distance from herself and the roots.

Five hundred feet...

The stone bricks of the large center spire were no more than a blur as the Princess of the Night ascended, the distance between herself and escape shrinking with every second of flight. Discord was nowhere to be seen, but Luna dared not tear her watering eyes from her destination ahead to look around. Instead, she intensified her shield as she flew and simply prayed for the best.

Four hundred feet...

A heavy explosion rung out close by, and a sudden thumping noise caused Luna to cry out in surprise as bits of mortar bounced off her shield. A large section of the spire above her started to fall, but soared directly past her and failed to strike. A few more bolts of chaos energy struck her shield and temporarily altered her straight-up ascent into a frenzied act of desperation as she swerved to avoid any further blasts, fearful that they might succeed in blasting open her shield and leaving her further vulnerable to attacks.

Three hundred feet...

The peak of the spire was passing now, and before she knew it she was above the highest point of the building. Granting herself the temporary luxury of examining her surrondings for danger, she saw only the vast expanse of Tartarus sprawled around her, not unlike Equestria had been when she first made her return from her seven day banishment on the moon. Had that been only three days ago? It seemed to her like a distant legend from a forgotten time.

Why was Discord not chasing her? If he truly had been waiting for her for as long as he said he was, why then was he making little to no effort to kill her?

Two hundred feet...

The muscles in Luna's wings were screaming out now, it had been ages since she flew at such a harsh angle at such great speeds, and the fact that she had not rested, eaten, or drank for more than a week further exemplified her exhaustion. Only a little further, only a couple hundred feet, and yet they dragged on and on as if she was flying across a vast ocean, the tell-tale roots above like mirages in an endless desert. Suddenly, a blast of magic rung out again beside her, and she reeled her flight path to avoid an unexpected torrent of dozens of attacks from Discord, who had teleported right next to her and was laughing wildly.

"Keep going, keep going..." Nightmare Moon chanted frantically, her voice nothing short of a panicked shrill. "You're almost there, Luna, come on!"

One hundred feet...

The torrent of assaulting chaos magic was enough to shatter her barrier and leave her vulnerable, and Discord could see it clearly. She could do it, only a few more feet, the distance was minute, the reward for her straining ascent exemplary. If she could just avoid getting struck down for one hundred, no, fifty feet...

Luna screamed out in shock and pain as one of the beams finally struck her in her already weak wing, and a panicked sideways glance showed her that is was gone, completely gone, disintegrated completely by the blast.

"NO!" She screamed, and forced magic into her horn already depleted of energy. Anti-gravitational spells were among the most difficult a pony could pull off, but adrenaline coupled with will was enough for her to pull off one and continue her ascent. The downside, however, was that she was now completely open to further assaults, meaning she had to rely completely on physically dodging any and all attacks Discord flung at her.

Fifty feet, forty, thirty. Luna spread her arms out in front of her, getting ready to grab the roots of the tree, getting ready to make her escape. Discord was still laughing insanely, and with a snap of his fingers, Luna's levitation spell instantly dissipated, the previously decreasing distance between herself and the tree now growing and growing, until now she was falling, tumbling downwards, trying in vain to glide with a wing that was no longer there. Instead, she swirled down and down, the spire now passing alongside her, the end of her journey slowly but surely leaping towards her as she fell.

"NO!" Nightmare Moon shrilled, furious, disappointed, and completely void of any further hope.

From this angle, Luna could see that the great hall had some portions of glass on its roof, and with effort she managed to orient herself towards one, a difficult affair considering she only had one wing to work with. Nevertheless, her course of descent was set, her horn biting back in protest as she forced magic towards a final defensive spell to protect her from being struck dead by the force of impact. This would be it. She could survive the fall, but what happened after that was out of her control; no wings, no magic, any chance of her defending herself she knew was completely impossible. Perhaps it would be better to simply let herself hit the marble floor and be done with it, but some inner force told her that was not the thing to do. Right to the bitter end, she would fight for her life, and by extension her sister's.

Crashing through the glass, Luna let her culminating magic explode into one last defensive shield, and closed her eyes and flinched as she prepared herself for impact. When it came, despite not being immediately killed by the fall, Luna felt nearly every bone in her body quake as she hit. The debris of the marble floor where she fell was flung into the air, shattering even more glass and creating a deep crater in the floor in which the moon princess lay. Stunned, she tried to stand but couldn't find the strength to pluck a grape, let alone rise to her feet and fight a fully-powerful spirit of Chaos. Instead she lay with her sides heaving, as the bitter truth dawned on her, that these were her final breaths, that she had failed and this was it, the end, the end of all things and all hope.

"Luna! Get up, get up damn it!" Nightmare Moon yelled, even her voice coming out as a distorted and echoed din. "Please get up! You must!"

The sound of two feet striking the floor rung out, and Luna struggled to open her eyes and orient herself towards the sound. Her body screamed in protest at the action, but she cared not. There he was, pacing towards her, and then a mist of purple appeared and there she was, too.

"Leave her alone!" Nightmare Moon commanded, flaring her wings. "If you must, take my life, but don't hurt her!"

Rolling his eyes, Discord swiped his hand and sent Nightmare Moon flying away, crashing against the stone wall, where she leaped to her feet at once and charged towards Discord but was instantly frozen in place by his magic. Discord continued his walk towards Luna, and before she knew it she, too, was enveloped in his magic and levitated through the air until she was floating directly in front of him, struggling in vain to break free, trying to unleash magic from a horn that no longer had anything to unleash, kicking with feet that no longer possessed any strength.

"Luna!" Nightmare Moon gasped. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! You'll be with your sister soon, you'll be with Celestia..."

"Oh, will she?" Discord sneered. "Last I checked, Celestia wasn't a murder who deserved to spend HER eternity in Tartarus. Luna, though..."

Turning his attention back to the blue alicorn imprisoned in his grasp, Discord grinned and rose a hand in front of himself, and suddenly Luna was thrust into a sensation of being drained of something; there was no pain, no visible injuries other than the bloody cuts left behind by the glass and the countless burns and bruises scaring her sides, and yet she knew that whatever Discord was doing, it was killing her. As she continued to struggle, she noticed that a faint glow was starting to build on Discord, his very flesh illuminating, yes, it was certainly glowing.

Glowing.

Glowing with life.

"No..." Luna managed to croak as the light grew brighter. He couldn't be...it was impossible...

His work apparently complete, Discord flung Luna aside with a careless swipe, and when she hit the marble floor, everything exploded into darkness, for but a second, before she once again opened her eyes feeling completely free of the injuries she had just sustained. The world was blinding at first, but slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw her own crippled and broken body lying on the marble floor several feet in front of her. Nightmare Moon was laying with her head in her hooves, and it looked to Luna as if she was weeping. The black alicorn was glowing with light, the same light that Discord, still standing in the center of the throne room, now possessed. The light which signified life. The light only the dead could see.

All the pain of her crippled body behind her, Luna rose to her feet and charged at Discord, screaming a furious battle cry, all her injuries now gone and pure anger fueling her attack. Discord took one last look at the blue alicorn, gave her an almost sympathetic smile, snapped his fingers, and Luna's entire world vanished.

Comments

[Razzy]

Well, she done goofed.

Cya
Raziel-chan

[Ice Star]

I like that this is like Dante's Inferno but not as filled with unsubtle Dante/Virgil.