Luna Wants a Windigo

by Lazauya

Turning

"You didn't answer me: who are you?"

Eclipse seemed to finally register the question, although somewhat begrudgingly. "I am Eclipse. I will possess your magic."

"Why? What's going on? Where is Celestia, my sister?" Night Mare continued to pry.

Eclipse only kept up her utterly blank facade. "The name 'Celestia' belongs to no one now."

"What does that mean? You killed her?!" she asked forcefully. She realized again that this decidedly was not normal—that in the past, she would have been delighted to see her sister—or rather Luna's sister—disappear. But now it made her strangely enraged and possibly even a bit panicked.

"No. But she is mine now. And you are too," Eclipse said as she stared deep into Night Mare's eyes.

Night Mare shuddered at the sight. Many would claim that the eyes were the portal to the soul; but Night Mare could see nothing but a cold, desolate void in Eclipse's. She felt as if she could step through Eclipse's portals and find herself in hollow and terrifying world where people forgot and mutilated themselves. She wanted to run away, her subconscious mind warning her she would be sucked into that scary place. For the first time, Night Mare Moon felt true terror. "What are you?"

"I am Eclipse. I am the perfect unison of night and day."

And then Night Mare realized the truth. "Are you Twilight Sparkle?"

"That name belongs to no one now. Perhaps this body belonged to her. That is unclear to me."

Night Mare took some time to think. If Twilight Sparkle and Celestia were no longer around in the same capacity as when she was released from the moon, she had a chance to be herself. She didn't know if Luna would ever take control of her body again, but she was sure she would be able find a way to make sure that didn't happen, even if Luna didn't want it. It was Luna's punishment for trying to trap Night Mare in the mind realm. Night Mare unconsciously smirked at the conclusion.

"Come with me. You have work to do," Eclipse stated without an iota uncertainty.

"What?" Night Mare asked.

Eclipse repeated herself, verbatim, without a second thought. "Come with me. You have work to do."

"I heard you the first time, but I don't understand what you're talking about. I have nothing to do for you," Night Mare defended herself with disdain.

"You are my possession. You do as I say."

"And if I don't?"

"You die," Eclipse proclaimed.

Night Mare narrowed her eyes. "I think I'll take my chances, in that case."

"So be it."

A figure directly under Eclipse came into existence as if it were an image in a slideshow. The figure stood still in the air for a moment before flapping it's wings to stay afloat. The two floating blue windigo creatures held each other in fright. Though she didn't display it, Night Mare was shocked for a different reason: the magical prowess of Eclipse was beyond compare; performing a spell in a fraction of a second without any visible signs was something neither Luna nor Night Mare had ever seen. The figure looked around, stunned. "Where am I?" it asked in a playfully demonic tone.

The pair of friends was quick to recognize the new face, nearly fainting, and Night Mare quickly did as well. "Celestia," Night Mare said with disgust, "Have you joined her?"

Solar Flare's eyes darted around the hillside, trying desperately to figure things out. "Luna? Night Mare Moon? Who are you? How did you get here? Twi—Eclipse, what's going on?"

"Solar Flare, kill her," Eclipse demanded intensely.

"Who?" Solar Flare asked innocently.

"The black mare in front of you."

Night Mare's eyes widened at the order. "You can't be serious, can you?"

"You will die," Eclipse stated flatly.

Solar Flare wanted to figure out who this black mare was, but she didn't want Eclipse to take away her air again, so she didn't pry. She simply looked up at the black mare, charging her horn.

Night Mare raised up her magical shield, trying her hardest to thicken it as much as she could.

Solar Flare let go of her hold on the energy, a beam with the width of hair shooting out at the speed of light. Solar Flare jerked her head, slashing Night Mare's shield.

Night Mare gasped as the shield was sliced, and the weakened beam sliced her skin, leaving a shallow cut across her front. Blood slowly bubbled to the surface, slightly reddening her coat.

Night Mare put distance between herself and Solar Flare with powerful strokes of her wings. She looked up at Eclipse to find her staring down at the action, completely motionless as if she were standing on an invisible platform. The sun behind her was still blotted out.

Solar Flare was quick to react by chasing Night Mare and charging up another spell.

Night Mare noticed and quickly made her movement erratic, spinning and flipping to try and dodge the impending beam as best she could.

Solar Flare's eyes eagerly followed the flowing black mare as she tried reading Night Mare's movement. She jerked her head to the side, and let go of the energy she was building up, going for another slash.

The beam sliced through part of Night Mare's ethereal mane and scratched her helmet, just barely missing it's mark. The magic was quick to flow back into place, and her mane appeared full again. Her heart raced at the graze, and she attempted to make even more distance as she twirled away.

Solar Flare chased after her. She readied her horn again, and waited for the right opportunity. She could tell that Night Mare hadn't cracked yet, as her movements were too erratic and intentional. She needed a new strategy to catch her off guard. She let go of the charge in her horn, not intending to hit Night Mare.

Night Mare heard the charging of Solar Flare's horn, and put up a reinforced shield to block the attack. She was confused when the laser did barely any damage. Is she running out of energy? she wondered. But the thought was quickly removed from her head when a bright flash lit up her peripheral vision. She turned her head back to her evil sister and was startled to see nothing. Night Mare stopped in her tracks realizing what Solar Flare had done and began frantically looking around for where she had teleported to.

Solar Flare plunged toward her sister from her new vantage point higher up in the air. She held her horn forward and focused on creating new beam.

Night Mare looked up, and began to create a barrier to block the spell.

Solar Flare rapidly approached her sister and let her beam fire off.

Night Mare braced herself.

The beam hit Night Mare's barrier, shattering the first layer and cutting through the second. Night Mare could feel Solar Flare's magic prick her skin again, though the barrier had succeeded in negating most of it.

Conversely, Solar Flare herself hadn't been negated. She crashed into Night Mare, her horn jamming into the black mare's shoulder. Both the mares were sent flying toward the valley below, blood spilling out of Night Mare's wound. Night Mare managed to shove Solar Flare away just before they impacted.

The field they found themselves in was flattened from the shock wave, but the two took no damage from the fall. They were quick to regain their posture, glaring at each other.

Solar Flare was the first to move, and she readied her wings to take to the skies again.

Night Mare took notice. She knew she was at a disadvantage in the sky where her magic supply was more limited; it was harder for her to connect with the natural sources of magic that night mages channeled from the environment. A day mage like her sister used their own reserves of magic, so they would have the upper hand in aerial combat. But there on the ground, Night Mare had easy access to environmental magic, and she intended to maintain her stronghold.

Night Mare cast a spell of her own, and the ground around Solar Flare started to raise.

Solar Flare tried to escape upwards, but the ground spell was too fast. A pillar of earth clasped itself around Solar Flare's hind leg, and she was stopped in her tracks. She lit up her horn, attempting to cast another beam to break free. She was successful in damaging the material and almost escaped again, but the delay was enough to let the rest of Night Mare's spell reach Solar Flare, and it quickly encased her.

Blood still oozed out from Night Mare's horn-shaped hole, and she used the moment of respite to create a magic bandage. It didn't work well, but she figured it had to be good enough.

Night Mare limped over to the now-huge mound of earth. Night Mare continued to build on the structure as she maintained her hold on it, not wanting to risk Solar Flare breaking free. She made sure to insulate it with magic so that a teleportation spell wouldn't work.

Night Mare looked up to the sky, the silhouette of Eclipse still hovering over the world. It frightened her. She wondered why the being hadn't stepped into the fight. She knew that if she was facing Eclipse and Solar Flare, she would stand no chance. Does Eclipse still have faith in Solar Flare? Or does she not care what happens to her? Either way, I can't let my guard down!

Night Mare waited for some time outside the muddy dome. She built up an intense miasma of her magic to try and drown out any of Solar Flares. She wanted to reason with Solar Flare like Luna had tried before; she was very uncertain if it would be successful, and she had to be on guard as she released some of Solar Flare's bindings. Night Mare knew Luna would torment her the rest of her life if she killed Celestia, not to mention that part of her felt it was wrong, something that still confused her.

A pathway opened up to the center of the structure, Solar Flare gasped for breath and struggled, the dirt seeming to latch onto and pull her limbs back as she writhed. She tried sending magic to her horn again, but it only fizzled out under the pressure of Night Mare's accumulated aura. "Let me go! Let me go!" she yelled hastily.

Night Mare frowned. "So, do you want to talk?"

"I said, LET ME GO!" she yelled through gritted teeth.

"We need to talk about this. What happened to Twilight Sparkle? Did you do this to her?"

"SHUT UP! LET ME GO!"

Night Mare began to get frustrated. "Listen to me! Did you or did you not do that to Twilight Sparkle?!"

But Solar Flare didn't respond. She instead grunted as she continuously tried to pull herself free. Her addled mind found it to be incredibly frustrating as she would get a hoof free, only for it become stuck again as she used it to pull out a different limb.

Night Mare watched the struggle with an incredulous expression. She could tell that Eclipse wouldn't be moving for some time, so she resigned to simply sit and watch her sister has she maintained her magic superiority.

Another few moments passed before Night Mare said anything, but she knew she had to confront Solar Flare again. "Do you think 'Eclipse' actually cares about you?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up..." Solar Flare chanted silently under her breath.

"You know, before you got here, she was talking about you like a possession. I don't think she actually does care about you."

Solar Flare only continued spouting her mantra.

Night Mare sighed. "What happened to you? What really happened? Did this happen before or after Luna asked for the windigo? I presume before, but I'm honestly not—" Night Mare wondered, before noticing a sudden change in Solar Flare

Solar Flare stopped struggling, only staring blankly into space. Her expression turned sad and frustrated.

"Windigo..." Princess Solar Flare said with a hint of wistfulness. "Luna.... Are you Luna?"

"I—" Night Mare started, unsure of how to answer. It seemed like such a loaded question, like the wrong answer could set her off and make her incoherent again. But she knew she couldn't simply say nothing. "I am Night Mare Moon. Luna is... still in here—my mind, I mean. She's trapped."

Celestia looked down at her body bound by earth, and looked up at Night Mare. "Luna, what's going on?" she asked with worry.

"I'm not Luna, I'm Night Mare Moon! But Luna is still alive!"

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Solar Flare spat again.

Night Mare was taken aback. She wasn't entirely sure what had just happened to the white demon. For a moment, even through her mangled visage, she seemed sweet again, like Celestia. As if Celestia had taken control again! she concluded. But how do I bring it out? Was that just random? No! I said 'windigo' and she repeated that back to me! That's no coincidence. "Celestia, Lu—I want a windigo. Weren't you trying to help he—me get one?"

Celestia again stopped her commotion, and shook her head as if trying to brush off a day dream. "What's going on, Luna? What happened to you?"

Night Mare smiled deviously, displaying her own set of dragon teeth. "I... am wearing a costume."

Celestia was dazed. "I don't understand, I just—" Celestia started, "—AH! STOP IT!" Solar Flare finished.

"...Stop what?" Night Mare asked genuinely.

"STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD! STOP IT!"

Night Mare wasn't sure what this meant. She had a way to break through to Celestia, but it seemed like the amount of time the two had was scarce. But this seemed to actually get through to Solar Flare in a strange way. She actually responded to my question. Maybe this means she's listening to me after all... I have to choose what I say next very wisely. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

Solar Flare twitched and her mouth fumbled. "You're trying to kill me!"

Night Mare only shook her head, hardly fazed by the accusation. "No I'm not."

Solar Flare's expression soured. "What?"

Night Mare grinned internally at Solar Flare's newfound rationality."I never tried to kill you."

Solar Flare scrunched her face in pure confusion. "What are you doing now?"

"Asking you questions."

"Before you kill me?"

"No."

Solar Flare lowered her head, squinted and frowned. The Night Mare Moon-Luna-esque pony standing in front of her was saying things that didn't make sense. But she looked up to the alicorn as they started talking.

"I think you're actually trying to kill me because Eclipse told you to."

"Eclipse..." Solar Flare said longingly. "Eclipse, I failed again! I failed again!" she cried. "I'm a failure! I can't do anything right!" But she wasn't done. "You see, they're all laughing at you again! You have to show them the error of their ways!"

Night Mare shook her head. "What? What? They're laughing at me?"

Night Mare could tell, however, that Solar Flare was only replying to herself with her next words. "It doesn't matter anymore! I failed! I failed my spell to help Twilight, and I failed Eclipse! There's nothing I can do anymore, because this weird Night Mare Moon lookalike is going to kill me!"

Night Mare perked up at the revelation. She had suspected that Solar Flare had been behind the corruption of Twilight, but it wasn't clear until now. But Solar Flare also seemed remorseful. Night Mare wondered if Solar Flare wanted to amend this mistake, and if she could use the new fact to her advantage.

"Maybe we can make Twilight—er, Eclipse, better."

Solar Flare looked amazed. "We can?"

Night Mare nodded. "We can. But...."

"But?" Solar Flare asked eagerly.

"But I'll need your help!" Night Mare added, hopeful.

"Okay!"

Night Mare gave an internal sigh of relief. That worked? she asked herself. "Right, so—"

Solar Flare cut her off. "So what do we do?" she asked quickly.

Night Mare gave pause. "We... have to... get her unconscious—knock her out—so that I can perform my counter spell."

"You have one?" Solar Flare asked hopefully.

"...Yes." Night Mare sheepishly replied.

"Great!" Solar Flare struggled some more in the dirt.

"Let me get that for you," Night said as she released the spell, the earthen prison crumbling. Solar Flare walked out, shaking off her coat.

Author's Note:

So the magic system presented in this chapter is just my very lose interpretation of a possible magic system for this universe. I've actually had this idea since I began this story. Day mages only use the magic stored in their own bodies. Because of this, they have very fine control over their magic and can do very precise spells like the intense laser beam Solar Flare was using. Night mages only have a small amount of their own magic, but channel magic from their surroundings. The spells they perform can't be as precise, but are often a lot more "powerful". Think, a water jet cutter vs Niagara Falls. Both are dangerous but for different reasons. Between those two is the balance of control and power, twilight mages. Twilight is one of these. Mages are actually on a spectrum, and you can have varying degrees of control and power. Twilight mages have an equal amount of control and power, which can make them more powerful than night or day mages.

Also, I'm not really into/good at writing action, but I felt it was necessary to set up what I wanted.