In the Shadow of a Special Day

by preaplanes

Chapter 1: Duel in the Darkness

Luna spent the next forty minutes cramming facts and practices about modern weddings into her head. As she flipped her book shut there was a knock on the door as Celestia stepped in. “Come, Luna, you're going to be late to the wedding,” she said in an annoyed tone. “Okay, Tia, I'm coming” the blue alicorn replied, hopping down from her desk and over to her sister's side.

The two walked at a swift pace toward the wedding. “Oh keep up, Luna” ordered the princess of the sun. Luna kept pace with the larger Alicorn, but something wasn't sitting right with her. Yes she was cutting it close, but Celestia rarely spoke to her in a tone as harsh as this, at least not since the incident over a thousand years ago. For that matter, she was presiding over the ceremony. If she wanted to let Luna know she was cutting it close, why would she fetch her herself and risk being late herself, rather than sending one of her royal guard to do it for her? Or even if she wanted to do it personally, why would she walk instead of teleport and waste precious time? While Luna pondered this, Celestia made a noticeable turn down the wrong corridor. Luna narrowed her eyes in suspicion for a split second before feigning a lack thereof.

The castle was massive, with many chambers and areas that hadn't been seen by anypony in years. It was down one of these paths that the royal sisters now walked. Shadows crept along the walls. There were no lights or torches, merely a few candles enchanted with “eternal flame”. In truth it only lasted about a century, but for most ponies that was semantic. Still, it was not nearly enough to drive back the darkness of the corridor.

Far out of sight and earshot of everypony else Luna suddenly stopped in her tracks, Celestia not taking notice for a dozen or so feet, where she stopped. “Come little sister, we're going to be late.” she said sternly, her voice echoing off the dusty marble walls.

Luna scoffed. “Oh sure, and that means walking down a hallway that hasn't been used in who knows how long? You're not my sister, she always calls me 'Nana' when she's cross with me, not to mention her nyctophobia.”

“Come now, Nana, you're trying my patience” Celestia barked angrily, punctuating by stomping her hoof and breaking a dusty porcelain tile beneath it. But Luna only grinned. “Got ya” she smiled, suddenly at point blank range as she blasted her sister with a duke blue bolt of potent, concussive magic. The bolt shattered tiles as if they were glass, reverberating in a deafening cacophony of sound against the walls and snuffing out each candle as it crashed into the white mare, dipping the hall further into the darkness. It knocked the wind out of "Celestia", sending her careening down the hallway, a dark glow disappearing rapidly into the distance, Luna already flying in hot pursuit.

The bolt reached the end of the corridor well before Luna could, Celestia crashing into rough grey stonework with a sickening cracking of rock and bone. They had reached a wall built into the mountain that Canterlot rested upon, thick windows carved into stone overlooking a dead drop into the valley below. The windows faced away from the sun at the moment, leaving only indirect light which was further dimmed by Shining Armor's shield.

Celestia leapt to her hooves and snarled in fury as green flames surrounded her, revealing her, or rather, his true form: a black, twisted creature of hate; a parasite that fed on what made the world good. “I'm going to tear the throat out of that smug little foal, after I gore her with my own horn,” he growled.

A black cloak of mist interrupted his thoughts as it blotted out the already dim light. “You've made us cross,” a voice called out from the blackness. “Now we'll have to explain to Celestia why we weren't at the wedding she so looked forward to, and we are loath to tell her such a thing.”

The creature fired an acid green bolt of magic down the corridor he had just been. He hit nothing. The voice called out again, seemingly from every direction. “You're a changeling. It's been so long since we last grappled with your kind. We suppose this explains our reports of Twilight Sparkle's odd behavior a bit better than simple jealousy.”

The changeling snarled and kept his ears open, listening for the mare's hoofsteps or the beat of her wings, or the sound of a spell. “I'm curious as to why you would target us personally, were you hoping to distract us? Who are you that you think you can impersonate our sister?”

The changeling needed to buy more time, so he decided to play the princess's little game. “I am Cocoon, the foremost assassin among the Changelings. I was dispatched to kill you.” he said bluntly.

“And why?” she replied. Cocoon heard a hoof tap to his left, thirty feet away.

He sneered. “Because you're too big of a threat to leave...” he said, leaping towards the princess and tackling her to the ground, his teeth inches away from her face, “... and too unloved to consume!” He brought his neck down, and thrust his horn upon her throat.

Nothing. His horn hit the floor but there was nothing. The sensation of puncturing the skin, of driving through his victim, of piercing bone, none of that was there. Nothing but a puff of air and the sound of his horn hitting the cold hard ground.

“I felt that. I felt you. That was a neat trick, freak. What did you do?” he said, listening once again.

“From what you just experienced? There are two ways we could have done that, but you'll never need to find out which.”

A faint glimmer of blue light. A muted sound of static. Cocoon launched himself once more into the darkness. In a flash, the two were locking horns, magic illuminating the walls. “What can you do? You're alone and unloved. The people do not love you, your sister does not love you, and you're so cold that you hold no love for anyone, not even yourself! Both you and the sister you hate will fall this day!”

Luna glared angrily. “You know nothing of us.” she said, ducking down and bringing her magically empowered horn up into the carapace beneath his chin, shattering it and sending him reeling, tumbling over onto his back in defeat.

Luna looked out the window, able to see through the darkness just fine as the demigoddess of the night. Changelings were now breaking through the shield. The princess glowered at this, turning to face the defeated assassin. “We have three parting statements for you. First, we lied of our sister's nyctophobia, it was a two layered trap, one you had already supposedly sprung. Being an imposter, and a rather poor one, you would have feigned anger or fright instead of confusion, adding suspicion to your claims even if you hadn't called me 'Nana'. Second, you say we do not love my sister, that we hate her? That she hates us? No.” she said, smiling for a moment. “I love her very much, and she loves me. I'll never forget that again.”

Cocoon rolled over onto his legs, trying to stand up, barely conscious through a bad concussion and several cracks in his bone from the blast he took. He groaned, having difficulty breathing, the taste of blood in his mouth, and unfortunately for him, this time it really was his own. Luna scowled at him. “And thirdly, you were wrong about one other thing. We are never alone.” she said as she turned about and walked down the hallway. “We always have friends in the darkness.” her voice echoed as several pairs of dragon-like eyes fell upon him, converging and surrounding him rapidly. A vile scream pierced the night.

Luna walked down the hallway as Fletch arrived and bowed before her. “Your highness, the changelings are through the shield and a battle has begun. What are your orders?”

Luna pondered this for a moment before replying. “Celestia's guards are more numerous and better practiced at defensive battle. Dispatch any stragglers or scouts who wander away from the battle, and I want that... thing brought to the dungeon and chained by the holes in his body, make sure he can't magic, break, or shapeshift his way out.” Fletch saluted and began to take off. “Oh, and one more thing,” Luna said, “make sure you and the rest of the lunar guard are prepared to counterattack.” Fletch's only response was a devilish grin as he flew down into the darkness. Luna smiled to herself. “Nothing wakes you up quite like adrenaline” she laughed as she too slipped into the shadows.

This battle was Celestia's to win, but the war belonged to Luna.

Comments

[Hazy Answer]

Well, I liked it. There were a number of spelling and grammar mistakes, but the story was pretty good. It's a better explanation of Luna's whereabouts than the "she was asleep the whole time" theory that's been going around.

[Nexodas]

I like it.

[preaplanes]

498516 Well to be fair it was written at 4:00 AM on an insomnia bout. Would you mind listing some of the more noticeable ones?

498538 That's a thing? Well dang, I'll have to change that. *ponders*

[Ponydora Prancypants]

498551

How about "Bodkin" (a type of arrowhead) or "Fletch" (fletching is the feathers at the back of an arrow) or "Longbow" or "Silverbolt" (after a crossbow bolt)?

[thewookie1]

498551

But I like my hometown being important!

[preaplanes]

498563 I think "Fletch" works. To quote Shakespeare in Doctor Who as he stole a line from the Doctor, "I'll have that off you." Then again, the Doctor took that one from Shakespeare in the first place, but Shakespeare heard it from... bah, wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

Yay going off on tangents!

[preaplanes]

498595 Yeah but as Rarity learned, you can't make everypony happy all the time, so I'll change it this once and not again.

... and the mentioning of a "defunct automotive company" was quite enough for me to make up my mind. cache.ohinternet.com/images/6/61/Cannot-unsee_cat.jpg

It was more the theme I was going for next chapter that is in question. "Fletch" still keeps it well enough.

[dancing mop]

heh, its not bad. Needs some more characters for Luna to interact with, maybe a little editing to eleminate grammar mistakes, and it'll be a hell of a fic.

[Hazy Answer]

498551

Hmm. I've looked through and found some mistakes, but it's not as many as I thought. As I said, it was a good story anyway, and I hope you'll add to it. Luna kicking flank is something that doesn't come up nearly enough.

From the prologue:
Contrary to popular belief, he didn't pass out just because her moon went down - Should be she

she certainly didn't wake up during the night she herself brings to the world - mixed tenses

Chapter 1:
Luna suddenly stopped in her tracks, celestia not taking notice - Capital letter for Celestia

The princess glowered at this, turning to face the defeated assassin. “Three parting statements parting words." - What did she say? Doesn't make sense to me.

[preaplanes]

498753 Caught that last one already, but I'll get right on those other three. Thank you very much! ^_^

[TheKageKitsune000]

I am liking where this is going, sure to be an interesting story.
Also you are doing a really good job for your first fimfic, I only saw a few errors and it looks to be really well written.

[Csquared08]

So this is what Luna was doing? I'm okay with this.

[ChakatRedstripe]

I much prefer this version of what Luna was doing, it definitely beats out the "she was asleep" that most give