The Lunar Hunt
Fluttershy was feeling horribly conflicted.
Normally, she’d be happy to see Princess Luna outside of a Nightmare Night situation. But the smile on her muzzle and the sword she casually held in her magic told Fluttershy that she was not here for tea and biscuits.
The kirin...or was it kuei-jin? Whatever she was, she was facing down Princess Luna with her teeth grit and a furious glare.
“Luna. Don’t even think about doing what I know you’re thinking about doing!”
“How Equestria deals with threats is not your concern, Xiao.”
Threat? Because Sun was a vampire?
“I beg your pardon, princess. But this all is terribly confusing. Why are you here with a very large looking sword?” Rarity asked. “And why are you referring to Sun as a threat?”
“Because she is a kindred and to be a threat is in their nature,” Luna declared. It was a simple statement, almost like she had asked somepony to pass her the jelly. “Now, kindred. If you don’t resist, I can promise you a quick and clean final death.”
Sun reacted to the offer about as well as expected.
“Oh, fuck right off!” she snapped. “I’m not going to apologize for existing and I’m not going to bare my neck for you! Especially when I have a possible cure staring me down!”
Luna rolled her eyes. “There is always a possible cure and they always end up being false. And then kindred like you go on to spread your contagious curse so that you’re not facing down eternity alone.” She pointed her sword at Sun, practically snarling her next sentence. “I have seen your kind bring ruin upon all that is good as just in the world! And I shall not tolerate your poison to flow through Equestria!”
That was all that Fluttershy could take.
“Princess Luna! How dare you just...write somepony off like that! You’re going to kill her just because of something she might do? And how can you say that? You were Nightmare Moon! You tried to plunge the whole world into eternal darkness! How many ponies would that have hurt?”
Princess Luna’s expression remained stoic. “My own madness was not infectious! And while I did fall, I was stopped before I could cause such damage. Vampires can not make that claim. Her kind ate a whole world!”
“Oh, come off of it!” Ming Xiao shouted. “It wasn’t just vampires that killed the world that was! Or do I have to remind you about your other great failure? The all mighty Luna, unable-”
“Don’t you dare finish that thought!” Luna shouted back.
“Unable to stop the White Howlers from dancing the black spiral!”
Luna snarled. It was a vicious thing, sounding more like it came from the mouth of a wolf than a pony.
“I will not be talked down to by a kuei-jin! Your misbegotten lineage made things all the worse in Asia! And we wouldn’t be in this situation right now if you hadn’t thrown that one in the sarcophagus! All for a plan that didn’t even work!”
“Shut up the both of you!” Sun snapped. “I don’t trust either of you and I’m not going to die for anyone!” She saved a particularly angry look for Princess Luna. “And, princess? I don’t want to fight a monarch, but if you come after me, I will defend myself.”
Luna sighed. “So be it. We shall do this the old fashioned way.”
Magic glittered around her horn and then Princess Luna began to change.
- - - -
Sun really did not want to fight a princess.
Starting an international incident had never been high on her list of things she wanted to do. Being the last representative of humanity only increased that desire...even if she was currently more equine in shape.
But when Princess Luna began to change her form, Sun realized that she was in really, really deep trouble.
Luna….grew, moving from quadrupedal to bipedal in a matter of moments. Hooves unfolded to hands and feet, tipped with razor sharp claws. The princess’s cute equine nature just vanished under a growing wolf like features.
If Luna had loomed over the ponies in the hallway before, now she towered over them. A navy blue tower of fur, muscle, claw and fang. Princess Luna was now one of the creatures that Sun dearly wished that she’d never meet again.
A werewolf.
Why, why did Luna have to be a werewolf?
It was a brutal fact that most vampires didn’t want to admit, but werewolves were very much their supernatural superior. Fast and strong and with a tendency to hunt in pack tactics, werewolves could tear through vampires like so much dead wood. The last time she had been chased by one of these monstrosities, she had barely escaped it’s claws. And this one was also a magical pony princess. Somehow. As Luna reached her full height, she let loose a horrible, bellowing roar. In the face of the monster now looming over her, there was only one option at her disposal.
Run.
She kicked on her Celerity without a second thought, turning and bolting back down the hallway at top speed. Luna’s response howl sent chills down her spine, the sounds of her claws scrabbling on the tile of the floor as she gave chase. Vaguely she was aware of panicked shouts coming from everyone around her but the details were lost in the panic of her own fight or flight response.
Hallways turned into a blur of color as she galloped with all her might, Luna’s cries and howls echoing through the halls after her. She slammed out of the building, the back alleys of Manehattan becoming just another maze to escape. She ran and ran and ran until she reached the point where she would have collapsed if she were still mortal. It was only when she couldn’t hear any traces of Luna that she dared come to a shaking stop. Judging by the glass bottles scattered around the dumpster back here, she was behind some kind of bar or club.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!” she cursed, pacing about the little alley. “Ponies are ruled by a werewolf! A goddamn werewolf!”
From where she was standing, she only had one option. She had to get to Twilight Sparkle. She was a fellow princess. If the title was worth anything, she had to have some legal authority to intervene in this situation.
“Unless she’s a werewolf herself? ...No, she wasn’t in the mood to kill me on our first meeting.”
Begging the “Princess of Friendship” was probably one of the worst plans she had ever conjured up. Still, it wasn’t like she had any other options.
“Right...which way is the hotel from here?”
Princess Luna came bounding into the alley.
There hadn’t been any warning either. The air just seemed to part before Sun as the furious hybrid of human and wolf barreled right at her, the edge of that glittering silver sword already swinging through the air towards Sun’s neck.
Sun threw herself backwards, pressing her body against the ground in a reaction of pure panic. The blade passed over her by inches, just barely missing the decapitation strike. But Luna didn’t let up, springing forward with jaws wide open. They crunched down on Sun’s upper left foreleg like a steel trap, werewolf teeth puncturing the normally resistant dead flesh with ease. Luna’s charge continued onwards, smashing Sun against the building with all the force and fury that a nine foot tall ball of muscle and teeth could manage.
Sun screamed.
Luna released her jaw based death grip, only to slam Sun back against the wall with a clawed hand.
“I’ll confess a certain amount of disappointment, leech,” Luna growled in a voice that sounded like she was gargling cement. “I was hoping that the last of the vampires would put up more of a fight.”
Though her body was still in absolute agony, Sun pushed through it to make one last attempt to save her life. “Princess...please. Twilight Sparkle is working on a cure! She told me she had something!”
“It will fail. Just like all the other attempts.”
“She fixed you! She and her friends fixed you! Don’t I deserve at least a chance to be free of this curse that I never asked for!”
“I am sorry, but I can not and will not take the chance you will spread on your curse.”
“I don’t want to spread the fucking curse!”
“For now. But can you say that will remain the same in five years? Ten? One hundred?”
“I don’t want to be a vampire in a hundred years!”
Luna smirked. “Of that, we are in agreement. Die well, kindred. May your spirit move on to join with the rest of humanity in peace.”
But before the killing strike could come, the backdoor of the nearby club swung open and a pony trotted out with a bag of garbage balanced on his back. Sun snapped her head forward, smashing her forehead into Luna’s protruding, wolfish, snout.
Luna gave a pained yelp, dropping Sun as she clutched at her nose. Sun bolted for the door, dodging past the confused pony and into the depths of the bar beyond. Even in the kitchen, she could hear the thumping rhythm of music in the next room. Even through her pain, the music was enough to make Sun seize upon an idea.
She burst through the next door, already hearing the angry howls of Luna’s wolf form pushing their way into the kitchen. The dance club was packed with ponies of all kinds, the dance floor itself full almost to the point of bursting. Though as Sun came stumbling into the room, everypony found new things to focus on.
“Stars above! Are you bleeding?”
Sun reached into her blood pool, drawing a mass of the precious vitae forth to power what she was about to do. With the blood fueling her powers, Sun opened her eyes and just let her power wash over the room. The flow of the blood through her body pounded in time with the music, the power caressing the minds of everypony and drawing all their attention to her. At the moment, she was the center of attention. The most important thing in all these ponies lives.
She just hoped that Princess Luna wasn’t a bloodthirsty one.
Werewolf Luna smashed her way through the pony sized door a new expression of rage burning in her eyes. Sun reacted as appropriate for a fair damsel being chased by a horrible monster.
She screamed bloody murder, pointing a hoof Luna’s way. “That beast wants to eat me alive! HELP ME!”
At once, the crowd’s mood shifted, becoming one of anger and indignation. Furious shouts tore their way through the room as the ponies swarmed towards Princess Luna. One pony, with a brilliant red beard and mane, even jumped onto a table, waving a bottle of booze above his head.
“It’s a monster! Kill it! KILL IT!”
Luna’s eyes went wide. “What? No, I-”
The wave of club goers engulfed Luna, her navy blue fur vanishing under the multicolored horde of angry ponies. Sun allowed herself a cheerful cackle before bolting for the exit.
- - - -
“Care to explain what all of that was?”
Deep Digger was angrier than she had ever been in her life. More confused too, but the anger took a bit of priority considering everything she had just seen.
“That, was a werewolf in full rage mode,” Ming Xiao answered dryly.
“And why is Princess Luna a werewolf?” Rarity exclaimed. “Why were you just a pile of floating organs! Just how many hidden monsters are there in this world?”
“A lot fewer than there used to be,” Ming Xiao answered. “Sun and myself are probably the last of our respective lines of supernatural creature.”
“Speaking of which, what exactly are you?” Deep Digger asked. “They kept calling you-
“Kuei-jin. It’s a portmanteau of a few different languages that effectively means ‘ghost person’. I’m what they used to have in the far east in place of vampires.”
“Fine then,” Deep Digger growled. “But I want some answers. We want some answers. Why does Princess Luna want to kill Sun so badly?”
“Because vampires helped destroy the world that was and neither Celestia nor Luna are eager to see that cycle repeat itself. They’re terrified of the whole cursed lineage starting over again,” Ming Xiao snapped. “As foolish as it might be to inflict such lofty assumptions on what is effectively a scared child compared to them!”
“You keep talking about this world that existed before. What happened to it?” Rarity asked.
Ming’s tail thrashed angrily. “We really don’t have time for this! If Princess Luna catches up with Sun, she will kill her! If you’re serious about helping her, we have to go!”
“She could be anywhere in Manehattan though!” Fluttershy exclaimed.
“I have a way to track her, especially now that I’ve gotten close. But we need to go!”
Digger’s eyes narrowed. “Lead on then.”
- - - -
“Miss! Where are you going!”
Sun stomped right past the hotel receptionist and towards the stairs, taking them two at a time. Blood marred her coat and she looked like an absolute fright, but she didn’t care, just pushing onward to Twilight Sparkle’s room. Every step of the way, she kept glancing over her shoulder, half expecting Princess Luna to pop out of the air again. Werewolves were already terrifying. The fact that they could move through….the air? Reality? Either way, it made them all the more terrifying. However, as she reached Twilight’s door the halls remained werewolf free.
“Twilight! Open up! I need sanctuary!” Sun shouted, hammering a hoof against the door.
After a few moments the door swung open, revealing the purple pony princess. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Sun’s wounds.
“Oh my goodness! What happened to you?”
Sun pushed past her, eager to get away from the halls and into a place that was theoretically safer. “One of your princesses tried to bite my head off! Literally! That Luna is a piece of work.”
“Luna can be...intense, it’s true. But why is she trying to kill you?”
“Because I’m a damn vampire!” Sun shouted. “Apparently we’re super bad as far as she’s concerned!”
“That’s...unfortunate.”
“We need to try your spell. Now! Maybe if I’m mortal again it’ll stay Luna’s hand!”
“...My spell! Right!”
Sun cocked her head. She hadn’t forgotten about it, had she? But as Twilight approached, her horn glowing, a smell wafted across her nose that she had missed in her panic to enter the room. It was not the scent that she had come to associate with Twilight Sparkle. Rather, it was the ever shifting potpourri that she had come to associate with the shapeshifting changelings. If Sun weren’t already dead, her blood would have gone cold. Where was Twilight?
When the creature was an inch away from her, she slammed her hooves against either side of the horn, snuffing out the magic with a cry of pain.
“What-”
Sun leaned in, hissing into the changeling’s ear. “I can smell your blood.” With that, she whipped the changeling across the room, its body impacting off the opposite wall. “What the fuck did you do with Twilight you little shit!”
The disguise fell away and the changeling hissed back at her. Sun, far past the point of being willing to deal with changeling trickery, charged. Much like Luna had pinned her hours before, Sun now slammed the bug against the wall and bared her fangs. There were points to be made.
“Where. Is. Twilight?” she hissed.
“I’ll tell you nothing, leech!”
“Ha! That’s rich, coming from the likes of you! I don’t think you quite realize the situation you’re in, little bug. You’re either information or extra blood and if you’re not going to tell me where Twilight Sparkle is, then you’re literal fast food!”
“You’re...not serious...right?”
Sun allowed herself a sinister chuckle. “You really don’t know what kind of monster I am, do you?”
“N-no?”
“Dinner it is then.”
She opened her mouth again, letting her fangs reach their maximum length. The changeling squealed and squirmed within her grip.
“No! Wait! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! We took Twilight Sparkle to Sugar Shine’s penthouse! Our queen meets with him there all the time!”
Sun snorted. “Finally, some goddamn compliance for a change.” Her eyes narrowed. “Though how do I know this isn’t a trap? Or that you’re not going to stab me in the back the minute I turn around?”
“I don’t want to die!”
“You established that,” Sun muttered. Narrowing her eyes, she pressed her leg against the changeling a little harder. “Take me there. Now.”
- - - -
Queen Chrysalis peered down at the unconscious form of Twilight Sparkle with a victorious smile. She intended to savor this moment, having the pony who helped ruin her plans for Equestria helpless at her hooves. Wrapped in a cocoon, she’d stay locked in a deep sleep until...well, Chrysalis would decide exactly what to do with her later.
“Do you have to keep that here?” Sugar Shine snarled.
Chrysalis looked up from her prize, letting a shark like smile play across her lips. “For now. Until I can spring my trap.”
Sugar Shine grunted in response, meandering his way over to his drinks cabinet. “I’m still not excited about this ambush happening here.”
“Then you probably shouldn’t have kidnapped your wife back,” Chrysalis mused. “Be it for Twilight Sparkle, or Sea Breeze, that vampire will come. They are quite possessive little creatures.”
“Hrmph. Well, the guards have been given a description of her appearance at least. They’ll be able to handle her.”
Chrysalis knew full well that Sugar Shine’s guards could in no way handle a vampire. But a nice trail of bodies would only add to her plan. She wanted Princess Luna good and angry for what she had planned.
- - - -
Sun wondered if there was some significance to the fact that most of her enemies chose to live in giant, fuck off towers.
This one was impressively large, though it lacked the gothic “charms” of Prince LaCroix’s edifice to his own ego. This one was far more of a modern construction of sleek steel and glass. Though the giant golden horse head situated on the roof was...interesting.
“And his place is right at the top?”
The changeling, in the guise of a green coated earth pony, nodded rapidly. “Yes! Now please let me go!”
Sun rolled her eyes. “Fine. But if I smell you again, you’re lunch, got it?”
Without sparing another word, the changeling galloped off into the night. Sun watched him go with an impassive stare. She wasn’t so naive as to believe that this wasn’t a trap of some kind. But she didn’t have any other options. It was either step into the trap or wait until Princess Luna tracked her down. Trotting into the building, she easily spied the elevators on the far side of the spacious marble floored lobby.
No guards here though.
Into an elevator she went before pressing the penthouse button. And much like it was back in her time, light and cheerful elevator music was pumped in while she rose through the floors. It seemed to be running slower than normal and by floor twenty she was thoroughly bored waiting in the metal box.
“Dun da da da, dun da da da,” she idly muttered to herself in time to the music. “I-am-here-to-kick-all-the-asses! Da da da.”
Ding.
The doors slid open, revealing a hallway full of ponies. Dressed in dark suits, most of them appeared to be unicorns. There were a baker's dozen between her and a large set of wooden double doors.
“Boy, this is taking me back.” She took a moment to wave at the assembled guards as she stepped out of the elevator. “Hey fellas! Insurance premiums all paid up today?”
“Take her down!”
Sun grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
The corridor was suddenly full of magical bolts of power. The first fusillade crashed against Sun, the tingle of magic rippling across her body with a surprising lack of effect. There was no time to wonder why though, so Sun charged at the nearest suited unicorn. Hitting him like a freight train, she spun him around and yanked him close to her body before sinking her fangs into his neck.
The delicious rush of blood gushed into her mouth, bringing with it a flood of memories of a better time in her life. It was distraction, true. But she needed the blood for whatever was beyond those doors.
“Sun above! She’s drinking his blood!”
“Forget the stunning spells! Blast her to pieces!”
Another blast of spells came screaming in. She shoved her guard forward, letting his body take the spell blasts before bounding over his sizzling body and plowing into the next group. She was a pale pink blur as she tore into the neck of another guard, slamming her twitching body into one of her fellows. Spinning about, she lashed out with a powerful buck, bones crunching under the iron bending strength of Potence. With more blood fueling her body, Sun dug called it forth, enhancing her speed with Celerity and then winding up her nimbleness within the enhanced speed. Now she was akin to a winged specter of death as she blazed through the hallway, twisting and snaking around fiery bolts of magic, hooves and fangs snuffing out the lives of those who dared to stand alongside the slaver masquerading as a businessman.
“Look out! She’s on your right!”
“AHHHH! Holy shit! My horn! She broke my horn!”
“Celestia help us!”
The bloody advance continued. Half the unicorns were down now. Maybe she could get the remainders to surrender?
Before she could even ask the question though, fire raked her side and a furious hiss of pain, rage and fear tore from her throat as the remaining six unleashed their magic, even as they backpedaled towards the sturdy wooden doors. The fire tore at fur and flesh, stirring The Beast within the depths of her soul. It both feared the flame and wished to unleash even greater violence upon the poor ponies before her. Indulging in the frenzy was always dangerous, as was the nature of giving into to base instincts and letting the higher mind fall away. But Sun needed this fight over with before Luna caught up with her and the remaining ponies were now bunkering up, flipping over a receptionist desk to fire from behind. Hesitation now could cost her everything.
So she let her inner monster off the chain.
- - - -
Chrysalis observed the entrance to the penthouse cave inwards as the kindred forced her way into the room. Blood was streaked across muzzle and face, while burns raked her side. The unfocused look in her eyes made Chrysalis all the more pleased. Frenzy. That would make the next part of her plan all the easier. It seemed that Sugar Shine’s guards had managed to accomplish something before going down under vampire fangs.
As the vampire advanced, she could feel Sugar Shine’s fear radiating off him, no matter what kind of brave face he put on. A low hiss escaped the vampire’s lips as she paced towards them, hunger and rage in her eyes. Chrysalis wrinkled her snout. Celestia and Luna were idealistic fools, but there was one thing she could agree with them on.
Kindred remained utterly disgusting creatures.
The vampire accelerated towards Sugar Shine and the CEO stumbled backwards his fear spiking.
“Call your changelings! CALL YOUR CHANGELINGS!”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes and stomped a hoof against the imported, hardwood floor, feeding ancient magic into it. The wood, while now quite dead and inert, remained a natural product and responded. A massive spike shot from its surface, punching directly into the vampire’s chest with a sickening squelch as it found her heart. The charge turned into a helpless flop, her body hitting the floor with a lame, quite helpless, thud.
“...Is she dead?” Sugar Shine asked, eyeing the vampire like she was ready to explode.
“Technically, she was dead even while running around. But no, she’s simply stunned. If I remove the stake, she’ll move again.”
“And now?”
“We go back to waiting.”
- - - -
“...You’re absolutely sure this is where Sun went?” Fluttershy asked.
Ming Xiao nodded, tucking the glittering crystal back into her dress. “Quite sure. Top floor, judging by the direction it was tugging.”
“Why would she come here though?”
“Well…,” Rarity muttered, rubbing her chin. “She moved one direction, then changed suddenly to move here. Maybe she found something out at where ever she stopped first and it lead her here?”
“Either way, our answers await inside and up,” Ming Xiao said, striding for the doors.
The four ponies trotted into the the massive tower. The lobby was eerily silent and empty as they crossed its cavernous interior. No signs of ponies were evident as they approached the elevators.
“It doesn’t look like there’s been a fight here yet,” Fluttershy observed. “Maybe we got here ahead of Luna?”
“We’ll see once we reach the top,” Digger muttered as she hit the button.
After a minute or two of waiting, the doors opened with a chime and the trio stepped inside. Rarity eyed the buttons for a moment before hitting penthouse. The doors began to slide shut...only for a glittering blue aura to size it and hold it open. A moment later, Princess Luna pushed her way onto the elevator, silver sword still floating at her side.
She was back in her alicorn form and looking quite disgruntled as she shoved her way into the middle of the elevator.
“Rarity, Fluttershy,” she said, nodding politely to them. Her gaze hardened as it passed over Ming Xiao. “Ming.” She paused when she noticed Deep Digger. “...My apologies, I’m not sure you told me your name.”
“It’s Professor Deep Digger!” she snapped as the elevator door snapped shut. “And you have some nerve acting so casual after what you just tried to do!”
“I will protect Equestria and its little ponies by any means I see fit and I will not allow the curse of Caine to spread.”
Deep Digger threw up her hooves. “Stop speaking in riddles! The only pony here who has any clue what you’re talking about is little miss detachable head over there and she’s been completely useless in terms of telling us...anything! And just what did you turn into in that basement?”
Luna swung the sword around to her front, gazing into its reflective silver surface. “...They were called the Garou, or as humans knew them, werewolves. They were...warriors. Created to protect the earth. I was their patron...in another time...another life.”
“Just what happened in this ‘other life’?” Rarity asked.
“Many, many things,” Luna answered. “But I assume you’re asking specifically about how humanity became not even a legend and how we came to this world.”
Everypony nodded.
“The story would take longer to tell than we have time for. But the long and short of it is that monsters destroyed the world. Ancient vampires- the progenitors of every line - were just one of the legion of horrors that crawled out of every black pit to snuff humanity out.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, giving a long sigh. For a moment the princess seemed weaker. Almost frail in fact, despite the weapon she carried. “The world that was died screaming. And the Garou...my Garou, sacrificed themselves to the last so that this world could rise from the ashes. I will not let that vampire become the new founder of a vampire lineage. I will not let the apocalypse come again.”
Deep Digger was about to argue the point when the doors to the elevator opened onto a scene of carnage.
Dead ponies were scattered all over the floor. Some of their limbs were bent at odd angles. Others heads seemed to be caved in. Two had stretches of red ruin where their throats should have been.
Fluttershy began to whimper. Rarity collapsed into dry heaves. Princess Luna snorted dismissively.
“Behold, the tender mercies of vampire kind.”
Ming Xiao rolled her eyes. “Yes, because your own Garou never slaughtered innocents as part of some larger goal. Or from their own hubris!”
Luna ignored her, advancing and idly swinging her sword in preparation for a fight.
Digger stormed after her. “Even if she did do this and not in self defense, then she should be arrested, not just executed! We have laws!”
But she was shoved aside as Luna stormed onwards, shoving the broken doors at the end of the hall open with casual ease, revealing an unexpected sight. Deep Digger was familiar with the general appearance of Sugar Shine from his presence in his company’s advertising. She was not expecting to see him looking disheveled and standing over the unconscious form of Sun Shang with a stake of wood jutting from her chest.
“Princess,” Sugar Shine managed to bow. “This is a rather pleasant surprise, considering the circumstances. This beast broke in and slaughtered my guards. I think I managed to kill it.”
“No, you did not. A wooden stake merely stuns a vampire, until removed.”
Deep Digger galloped ahead of Luna, placing herself between the alicorn and the fallen vampire. “I am not just going to stand here and let you murder a helpless pony!”
Ming Xiao and Fluttershy quickly joined her, staring Luna down even as she raised her blade. “Step aside!”
“No!”
“Princess...how can you be so determined to kill somepony with a curse after what you went through?” Fluttershy asked.
“You don’t understand how dangerous that creature is! Now step aside or I will move you!”
“...How did you know to use wood?”
Everypony stopped. The question had come from Rarity, who was staring intently at Sugar Shine.
“Pardon?” he asked, blinking in confusion.
“That’s clearly a shaped piece of wood you used. A proper stake. It seems an odd thing to carve in the middle of a battle. So how did you know it would work?”
In response, Sugar Shine opened his mouth and spat something into Luna’s neck. Luna whickered in surprise, crashing to the floor as Sugar Shine was engulfed in a flash of crackling green flame.
Deep Digger gaped at Luna’s neck, where a leech like….thing...was sucking away at her neck, growing more and more bloated while Luna moaned in pain. At the same time, the fire fell away from what had been Sugar Shine and what was now an alicorn sized, black shelled monster. More changelings came streaming into the room from others, swarming them in a massive wave of chittering black.
“Run!” Ming Xiao shouted before diving into the nearest group of changelings.
For a moment, she completely vanished under the swarm of changelings, the nearest of the group kicking and stomping at what Digger assumed was her body. But then a swelling form began to rise from the horde. A massive mountain of rippling green scale and muscle, it burst from the group, rising to almost ten feet tall in the center of the room. Ming Xiao gave a warbling roar of challenge to the surrounding changelings and began to tear into them with long, sweeping swipes of the rubbery tentacles that grew from every side of her body.
“Oh you Kuei-jin,” Chrysalis chuckled. “Always so dramatic.”
In the next moment, Digger was overrun by changelings, her world being obscured by black chitin.
- - - -
As her changelings tackled two of the Elements of Harmony and the professor to the ground, Chrysalis turned her attention towards the Kuei-jin
She seized Luna’s sword, wreathing it green fire. A quick buzz of her wings propelled her towards the writhing form of Ming. The Kuei-jin saw her coming and spun the upper half of her body around like it was on a top, her tentacles becoming razor sharp spears as they thrust towards Chrysalis. Chrysalis calmly hacked away at the incoming strikes, already calling upon her own ancient magics. Ming Xiao screeched in pain as fire carved through her body with ease. For as much as the Kuei-jin had considered themselves superior to the children of Caine, they shared a weakness to fire.
So, more flames were conjured and Chrysalis wrapped them into rings before snaking them around her opponent. The smell of burning flesh quickly filled the air along with smoke and even higher pitched screams. She shrunk back to her kirin form, desperately rolling across the floor to try and smother the flames.
“Take her,” Chrysalis drawled. “I’ve longed to experiment on a Kuei-jin. Perhaps there are attributes we can add to our brood.”
As Ming Xiao was extinguished and secured, the real Sugar Shine emerged from his bedroom. He eyed the unconscious form of Sun.
“What about the blood sucker?” he asked.
Chrysalis spared a glance at a nearby wall clock. “...Leave her for the sun. I want the leech to know the depths of her failure before she faces final death. Princess Luna, a Kuei-jin, and three of the Element Bearers in one fell swoop. She was an amazing little piece of bait.”
“...Are you sure that’s wise?”
“So long as you don’t remove the stake, she is helpless. Now-”
Princess Luna suddenly lurched back to life. Horn glowing, she attempted to extend her aura around everypony present. Chrysalis snarled back, igniting her own magic.
“You won’t take my prizes from me! In case you’ve forgotten, Luna, I’m a survivor! I survived the fall of the Glass Walkers, I survived the Apocalypse and I will survive you and your accursed sister!”
Aura’s clashed in the middle of the chamber, green grappling with sparkling, midnight blue. Despite her weakened state, Luna continued to put up a fight, her magic trying to worm past Chrysalis’. For a brief, heart stopping moment, it seemed like she might have had more fight than Chrysalis anticipated when a blue tendril of magic swiped across her muzzle. But Chrysalis pushed back, drawing upon reserves of magic that, unlike Luna’s, hadn’t been drained by her little parasite. But as her magic doubled back on Luna’s and began to snuff it out, the alicorn pulled it back, wrapping it around herself and Sun.
And with a soft pop, both vanished into the night.
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One sees where the Garou inherited their attitude from. And the arrogance which made the Apocalypse inevitable.
Edit: And trust Cockroach to be the totem who survived the Apocalypse. May Sun or Luna get her with an extra large size shoe, given that she's fallen even further into insanity than Nightmare Moon.
Well, Garou being Garou... Check.
Ponies being ponies, check.
MoA for Rarity Double check.
Great and fun chapter.
And sadly, can we get a slowclap for Luna?
Good job, seriously..
Seems like, despite everything, Luna’s realized that the enemy of her enemy is... well, the enemy of a more immediately dangerous enemy.
Or has at least realized that there is a much, much bigger scheme at play here that she is not presently equipped to deal with. And she will certainly not go right to Celestia for help, because then she’d be admitting that she too weak to defend her ponies (whether or not that is actually true).
I knew it, I guessed that Luna was the Celestine Luna from oWoD back when she told Twilight that the Klaive was hers in the previous version of the story, so does that mean that Celestia is Helios?
Damn it Luna your just like the Garou aren't you, quick to anger, quicker to judge and always convinced your right, this is how things like the war of rage happen.
nice roll on your spot check there Rarity
Damn it Chrysalis your the totem of the Glass Walkers you know damned well what will happen if you kill Luna.
huh sudden thought does that mean Discord is a Celestine as well?
Edit: I know it's nothing like it but Sun's fight with the goon squad makes me think of the corridor fight scene from the film Oldboy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwIIDzrVVdc
Things are getting quite interesting, looking forward to how this plays out
8686763
Garou gonna Garou.
I think the War of Rage proved the depths of their arrogant ineptitude, didn't it?
8686893
Luna is very much trapped in the past when it comes to the idea of Kindred. Much to her detriment, really.
8687862
Ask me no questions and I'll tells ya no lies. ;)
....Details will come in the next chapter.
8688612
Yes, Celestia used to be Helios.
Discord....well, I had intended to reveal this in the fic, but I've come to realize there's no real good place for it. So I'll spoiler block it here.
Discord is what's left of the Wyld.
8688696
Thanks! We're moving into the last chapter now. So we'll see how things play out soon.
8688767
IMO the War of Rage didn't even come close to hitting their low point of idiocy. It was the Impergium that was the utter nadir of their actions. Their culls effectively bred humanity to fear and hate nature. The other human derived supernatural factions inherited that. The fear of nature led to the creation of the cities the Cainites took refuge in. The Technocracy sought to master all, instead of living as a part of the whole. Humanity of the WoD when viewed as a whole group basically at best gave up on nature, and at worst... All ultimately because of the Garou's arrogance.
8688767
You glib witch, you know that if I really ask, you’ll tell me everything!
And then you’ll wait patiently as I slowly realize that in telling me everything, you’ve told me nothing!
8688767
soooo... what became of the other two?
8688767
The one thing thats sad, is that nothing is going change luna's mind. You could have had someone willing to work with you, end a bigger problem, and cut through a disease lingering with surgical precision. But pride is a dangerous thing isn't it? Look what it cost the masquerade, what its cost everyone. There really was very little left.
Even celestia is so willing to purge, rather than see what of the old world it was. And look what it is costing them? Three of the elements so far. Luna is down and out.
Harmony's funny that way, if they would see. Yeah, we sooner might get a daywalker.
8688834
No one really knows. The Garou lead most of the other shapeshifters into the depths of the Umbra on a last desperate attack against the Wyrm.
No one came back, but the Wyrm didn't entirely eat the world either so....something happened.
The Weaver and her servants just haven't been seen since the end of the world. No one knows what happened with her.
8688961
Yeah, there's no question that mistakes have been made here.