Lunar Slender

by Jade Ring

Gods

The fire was not quite dead yet, but if it was not tended to soon it would soon be nothing but a mass of faintly glowing embers. Princess Luna considered adding another log, but ultimately decided it would be a waste of wood. Her companions had all already retired for the evening, leaving her alone in her beloved night. She looked upwards, hoping to see the glittering stars…

But there was nothing. The thick clouds of smoke created by the still burning Ponyville obscured everything. The ruins of the town were still several miles away, but the smoke had reached even here.

She sighed sadly and looked past the fire, at the sleeping forms of Queen Chrysalis (her legs grasped securely about a thick tree branch) and Discord (snoring quite comfortably on a conjured bed of nails.) Between the always bickering pair was a tent, just big enough for two average sized ponies.

It now housed one average sized pony.

Soon, it would hold none.

Luna and her band of monstrosities had gathered Leo Heartship and Swirling Line from Appleloosa barely a week ago. While nervous and unsure at first, the pair of ponies had ultimately agreed to join the group in their last ditch effort to eradicate the menace that was slowly devouring their world.

That first day had been truly magical. The sun shone upon them all and something in the air had just put them into good spirits.

But that night Leo had received the dream.

Swirling had the same dream the very next night.

Three days later, Leo was gone.

They all knew that when the sun rose the next day, Swirling would be gone as well.

“Your highness?”

Luna started from her recollection to find the very purple zebra she had just been thinking about. “Is something wrong, Miss Line?”

Swirling Line shook her head and sat heavily next to the goddess. “Just wondering what it’s going to be like. Y’know… when it comes for me.”

Luna returned her gaze to the fire. “I wish I could protect you.”

“Me too.” Swirling Line placed a hoof on the princess.’ “But you can do me a favor.”

Luna looked at her. “Anything.”

Swirling Line steeled herself. “Finish this. For me. For Leo. For your sister. For all of us.”

Luna nodded.

Satisfied, Swirling Line yawned. “Well, guess I can’t put it off any longer, can I?” she offered a final smile and began her way back to the tent.

“Swirling Line.”

“Yes?”

“Why? Why are you so calm?”

Swirling Line didn’t even look back. “It has my babies. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be together with them again.”

Luna watched her return to the tent and finally looked back at the fire.

“It takes a very strong pony to accept her fate.”

Luna scowled at the voice that hissed from the curved horn that hung from her necklace. “It takes a stronger pony to make things right.”

From the shadows created by the flickering fire, a pair of wicked red eyes gleamed. “I will do all that I can, so long as I receive what I was promised.”

Luna nodded. “When this is over, Sombra, I give my word; I will give you a new body.”

Sombra’s reply was cut off by a piercing scream that echoed in the darkness and faded to nothing. It cut through Luna’s heart like a shard of glass when she located the scream’s source.

Swirling Line’s tent.

Chrysalis, now wide awake and on the ground, approached the cloth structure. “Is she…?”

Discord yawned and stomped over to the tent. “Oh, let’s just get this over with. Some of us were sleeping.” Without another word, he grasped the top of the tent and yanked it towards him. Like a magician pulling a cloth from a table, the tent went limp in his grasp and fluttered to the ground when he released it.

The few meager possessions the two ponies had brought with them, Heartship’s chronicle of every disappearance among them, sat next to a pair of empty sleeping bags.

One of the sleeping bags had something resting on the pillow; a photograph of two laughing foals.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The day passed in silence, and soon Equestria’s last four sentient beings stood at the threshold of the Everfree Forest.

Luna nudged the horn on her necklace. “Sombra and I will remain together. You two will set off in your own directions.”

“Split up?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Chryssy?” Discord snapped his fingers and a pith helmet plopped onto his head. “Divide and conquer.”

“Correct.” Luna watched as her evening shadow stretched before her and grew a pair of glaring eyes. “According to what Leo told us before he was taken, the last party tried to attack together and were unsuccessful. The beast took advantage of their fear of losing each other and used that to destroy them.”

“No danger there.” Sombra whispered from the shadow. “I can’t stand any of you.”

“The feeling is mutual, abomination.” Chrysalis’ wings buzzed dangerously.

“Abomination? Big words, coming from a half-breed such as yourself.”

“Enough.” Luna’s command was quiet and powerful. The two monsters returned their attention to her. “We each have our ways of dealing with the beast. Have you kept your plans to yourselves?”

Discord and Chrysalis nodded. Sombra continued to glare.

“Good. Then maybe we can catch it by surprise.” She drew her cloak’s hood about her head and gave a nod. “No matter what happens, do not seek each other out. We will either win the day, or…” she trailed off. There was no reason for her to complete the sentence. “The best of luck. To both of you.” She bowed her head. “And thank you.”

The God of Chaos and the Queen of the Changelings hesitated, then returned the bow.

Sombra’s eyes continued to burn.

Chrysalis spread her wings and zipped into the dark woods like a great locust.

Discord offered a childish wink, raised his claw, snapped, and vanished in a flash of light.

Luna took a deep breath and started walking into the woods.

Sombra’s eyes stared until the shadow faded with the setting sun.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Changelings fed on love, but they could sense other emotional spectrums if they needed to.

That was why Chrysalis was so horrified at the emotional void that was rapidly heading in her direction.

She closed her eyes and focused on the sketches she’d seen in Swirling Line’s collection. She imagined the black coat, the impossibly thin form, the pale and emotionless visage…

She felt the familiar warmth of the emerald flames as they engulfed her form, shifting her chitinous body into something new. Her horn retracted into her head, her wings melded into her body…

She smiled inwardly. She had to, since she had no mouth in this disguise. Her appearance would surprise the creature, hopefully long enough for her to encase it in a cocoon…

She looked ahead with eyes that were not there… and found it standing before her.

She froze.

The Slender One cocked its head as though contemplating this new doppelganger before it.

Chrysalis tilted her head in response.

The Slender One raised a hoof.

Chrysalis mirrored the action.

A long black tendril extended from the Slender One’s back, reaching experimentally at the clone.

Chrysalis, always up for a challenge, willed a tentacle of her own into existence and continued to mirror the creature.

The Slender One’s tentacle paused for a moment in the air, like it had a mind of its own and it was trying to decide its next course of action.

Before Chrysalis could react, it shot forward and touched its tip to the tip of Chrysalis’ appendage.

She tried to scream as the tentacles melded together but found her lack of mouth made that very difficult. She felt herself being drawn closer to the Slender One, who pointed the still raised hoof at her. She tried to change back, to change into something else, but found she could not. She raised a hoof of her own to ward off the beast.
The hooves melded just as the tentacles had.

Chrysalis’ mind broke completely as the expressionless face got closer and closer to her own.

Her vision became a field of white that faded into a starless and everlasting night.

For a moment, there were two creatures.

The next, there was only one.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Princess Luna almost screamed when the tree before her turned and looked at her with yellow eyes. “Discord!” Fear gave way to rage as she recognized the long and serpentine form of the God of Chaos. “I thought I told you…”

“Run, Luna.”

The flatness in his voice caught her off guard. “What?”

“Run. Cast that parasite into the darkness and run. Leave this world. Save yourself.” The ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “Do what I should have done, before I was bitten by that pesky bug called ‘Caring.’”

“Discord…?”

“This creature is… is beyond anything I’ve ever encountered. I can do nothing against it.”

“Nothing?” Luna scoffed. “You can change reality with the snap of your fingers. You are Chaos realized. Why can’t you…”

“Exactly, Luna; I am Chaos.” He tilted his head towards the dark woods that lay before the Princess of the Night. “But this being, this… thing is something beyond me.”

“What?”

“Order. Perfect, unwavering Order. Not good, not evil, not emotional… nothing. A blank spot on all of reality, like a drop of black paint on the canvas that is this world. By its very existence, it should be more chaotic than I am. But somehow… somehow it is the opposite.” He chuckled. “Does that make sense?”

Luna could only shake her head.

Discord shrugged. “I am Chaos. How could I possibly find the words to describe my opposite number?”

“Are you saying… are you saying that this creature is a god?”

Discord considered. “It wasn’t always. Not before it found us.”

Luna’s next question was cut off when she noticed Discord’s tail beginning to smoke. “What’s happening to you?”

Discord looked back at his tail and smiled again. “Isn’t it obvious?” His tail dissolved like dust in the air. More of him began to flake away. “It finally figured out how to take me.”

Luna started as more of Discord began to flake away. “Take you?”

“Yes, I encountered it in the woods a few minutes ago. I sent part of me to try and tell you to run.” All that remained of the Draconequus was his smiling face. “Equestria is lost, my princess. Do not lose yourself as well.”

With a final shuddering breath, the last of the God of Chaos flaked away into nothing.

Luna stared at where his eyes used to be, unable to move.

The horn dangling from her neck shook slightly. A voice whispered in her ear. “I think we’re alone now, don’t you?”

King Sombra’s blazing eyes exploded from the darkness before her. She recoiled on instinct as the very darkness around her seemed to fall upon her like a heavy blanket. The blackness became tangible and squeezed her, trying to push the very life from her. She lit her horn and waved it around trying to free herself from something that wasn’t even there.

The shade of what had once been a mere pony chuckled. “I never intended to help you save Equestria. I knew the beast would take the insect and the fool, leaving me the pleasure of ending your pathetic existence.”

Luna’s eyes flashed to pure white. “I never intended to give you a new body.” She grunted as the darkness tightened and squeezed. “Funny the way things work out.”

“Why fight, Luna? It’s over. Let me end your suffering.”

Luna’s horn blazed with light, chasing away the darkness. “It is not over. So long as I draw breath!” She took the momentary reprieve to snatch the cord holding Sombra’s horn in her teeth and savagely rip it away from her.

“Stop!” Sombra’s eyes widened in terror as she cast the horn into the dark woods.

Luna’s wings spread, her cloak flying off from the force. “You think I would let you kill me, monster? You think I would leave you as the last trace of our kind?”

Sombra could not answer, his power fading rapidly with his horn’s distance from Luna. His panicking eyes flashed back and forth from his glowing horn to Luna’s blazing eyes.

“I am Princess Luna, Goddess of the Nighttime Sky! The everlasting stars burn in my mane and the wisdom of ages lays beneath them. I am all that remains… and I see you now.”

Her last words were not directed at Sombra, but at the figure that had materialized at the edge of the trees.

Luna watched as the Slender One lifted a single hoof and brought it down with lightning quickness on Sombra’s jagged horn. Instead of breaking, the horn was absorbed into the strangely intangible flesh of the creature.

Sombra’s eyes widened in a silent scream as his essence vanished into the creature.

Luna’s shining white eyes did not leave the specter before her. She kept her wings spread, let her shining horn illuminate the surrounding area.

The Slender One did not shy from her light. It was too powerful for that now.

Luna watched as a pair of membranous bat wings sprouted from the beast’s back, spreading in a similar manner to her own. A jet black horn slowly emerged from the blank head.

The two alicorns observed each other.

“Alright.” Luna lowered her guard, her magic faded, and her wings folded against her. “Let’s talk.”

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[Rubycast]

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