Night Reigns

by tursi

Chapter 14 - Feeding the Flames

Sunset Shimmer didn't speak very much as Celestia led her deep into the ancient ruins. Her eyes kept darting to Celestia's drooping wing. The more she looked over her teacher, the more concerned she was by the cuts and scrapes that marred Celestia's coat. Although Celestia carried herself much as Sunset remembered, she could also see how tired Celestia was and how weak she had become. After scaring off the timberwolves, she'd even lost the magical flow of her multicolored mane – it had reverted to a warm pink color, as had her tail. Sunset knew a great deal about magic, and she knew that Celestia had drained herself to the point of exhaustion. Alicorn or not, she couldn't have much in reserve.

As they reached the library Sunset had to admit that she was impressed by the organization - Celestia had formed a very functional little headquarters. Sunset could clearly see where Celestia had been making plans and doing research. But Celestia didn't give her much time to look around, before they had taken five steps in her horn lit, and she levitated several books over to Sunset.

"Do you have room in your saddlebags for these?" Celestia asked. "I suppose I will need to fashion something to carry supplies with as well."

Sunset took them in her own magical field. "Let me do that, Princess. I've hardly used my magic at all today, and you should rest."

"I'm fine, really," insisted Celestia. But, she released the books and nodded. "We should take some water, as well. There is a spring in the garden room down the hall; I will show you that when we're done here."

Sunset stored the books and then began to hunt around the room while Celestia stood in place, lowering her head as she rested. After a single pass around the room gathering supplies, Sunset approached Celestia.

"Hold out your wing, Princess. I need to bind it before you injure it more than you already have."

Celestia looked a little surprised, but smiled and shook her head. "Really, dear, it's fine. We can take care of it later."

Sunset frowned "We'll be able to move faster with your wing bound, even if you won't do it for your own good. I swear I'll stand here until you let me fix it, Nightmare Moon be darned!"

Celestia chuckled softly. "For once I think I should be glad of your stubborn streak." Her horn lit and she carefully unfolded her injured wing, doing her best to hide the grimace of pain it caused.

Sunset's magic reached out, and she carefully felt along the wing, examining the injury. "I couldn't learn much new magic after..." She couldn't finish the thought. "Well, it's been hard to practice and find information about new magic. But I still found books to learn from, and I learned a bit about medicine."

Celestia nodded slowly, "You have always had a powerful thirst for knowledge. I am glad that it was not extinguished."

Sunset nodded again, satisfied at last. She levitated forward the pieces of wood and fabric that she had collected, much as Celestia had done herself only a few nights earlier. With a flash of magic the collection fashioned itself into a solid support for the wing. The new binding held the wing closer to Celestia's body, though more open. "How does that feel?"

Celestia turned her head to look over the work and nodded softly. "I daresay you did a better job than I did," she said, smiling. "It feels very secure."

Sunset nodded. "No more flying until that's healed," she ordered. Her magic flashed again, and she fashioned more fabric into a set of saddlebags and settled them across Celestia's back. They were little more than crudely fashioned sacks and Sunset blushed a little as Celestia turned her head to look at them. "Sewing and fashion I didn't study so much," she admitted.

"That's fine, dear," reassured Celestia, using her own magic to tighten the sacks. She turned towards a large map and flashed her magic at it. It glowed for a moment, and then the magic faded from the center outwards as if embers crawled across the page, leaving just the paper. "I had enchanted this map with a tracking spell," she explained. "It would not do to leave it up for others to find."

Sunset nodded and then followed Celestia out into the hall. Celestia led her quickly along the passages, finally turning into a room nearly filled with thick vegetation. Sunset could see that a path had been cut through the plants to a small hole in the center of the floor.

"Here," said Celestia. "Do you have a way to carry water?"

Sunset nodded, and removed the two canteens she had acquired in Ponyville, presenting them to the Princess. Celestia took them in her magic field and lowered them into the hole. Sunset had noticed something else while removing the canteens – the boxes from Sugar Cube Corner. She took a quick look at them, finding them somewhat crushed, but intact. She re-stowed them for later. The cupcakes wouldn't be perfect, but now was not the time for sweets.

Celestia brought the canteens back up, and offered one to Sunset. "This will be enough for now," she commented. "It should only take four or five hours to get to Canterlot, and we can refill them once we are there. Can you think of anything else we may need?"

Sunset ran her mind down her mental checklist – both the items she already carried, and the things that Celestia had added. "No," she began slowly. "I suppose we should be fine. But Princess... are we going to walk?"

Celestia nodded. "I'm sorry, dear. I can't fly, and I don't have the magic to teleport us." She raised a hoof and interrupted Sunset before she could protest. "And you don't know where we are going. Taking the train would attract far too much attention. I'm afraid I can't think of any other alternative."

"You didn't seem well enough for a long walk earlier… what if I just winked us closer?" asked Sunset. "I'm sure I could manage most of the distance."

"I'm sorry, Sunset. It's just too risky. We could land in the middle of a patrol, or any other unexpected situation. We can't afford unnecessary risk just to save a few hours." She smiled gently. "Now that I'm back in Equestria, I can recover more quickly," she said. "Besides, it will give us time to catch up."

They made their way back to the library, and Celestia led Sunset to the posted map. "We'll start this way," indicated Celestia, drawing a glowing line to the west, away from Canterlot. "Once we're far enough out, we'll circle around and enter Canterlot from the south. That should allow us to avoid Nightmare Moon if she's returning here."

"Just one last thing to fashion," continued Celestia, approaching one of the bookcases. She withdrew a folded tapestry and levitated it over her body. With a flash of magic the cloth folded around her, forming itself into a competent cloak and hood and hiding most of her bright coat. "It wouldn't do to try to stay hidden from sight as the brightest thing in the fields," she commented with a slight tease in her voice.

"Princess?" asked Sunset Shimmer. "What about the map? And all the books you took out? What if I were to scatter some dust around to hide your tracks?"

Celestia looked around. "It would be impossible to mask all signs of my presence," she noted. "And I am quite certain that Nightmare Moon has already sensed me, or at least my magic. No, at least we must keep traces of your magic to a minimum, so that they don't know that you are also here. If I know her as well as I think I do her first instinct will be to destroy, not to investigate."

Sunset looked up to her teacher. "How well do you know Nightmare Moon?" she asked uncertainly.

Celestia raised her head up, looking at the night sky beyond the library ceiling. "Like a sister," she said, very softly.

Sunset didn't notice the tear as she herself smiled widely. "So we do have a chance!"

Celestia blinked her eyes several times before she looked back down, forcing a smile. "Indeed we do," she nodded, before abruptly turning away. "But now we must make haste. We have a great distance to cover."

Sunset nodded and followed Celestia out of the library, her own expression becoming somewhat confused at Celestia's abrupt turn. The two walked quietly out of the ruins and into the forest. Sunset took one quick glance back, but Celestia never wavered. She set immediately onto the course that she had laid out in the library. Sunset flipped up her own hood, and then followed Celestia into the thick woods.

The woods did not trouble them as they advanced, and after about a half an hour of walking, Sunset spoke up again.

"Princess?"

Celestia responded without looking back. "They have started to destroy the ruins."

"Wait, what?! I didn't hear anything!"

Celestia stopped and turned around, looking back past Sunset for a moment before turning her attention down to her. "No," she replied. "The forest does not carry sound well, but I can sense it. I spent many years in that castle. Some were happy and full of hope."

Celestia turned around again, and resumed walking. "Some were not so happy. But I can sense it."

Sunset held a moment, and then trotted to catch up. "What was it like?" she asked.

Celestia did not answer for a moment, but she smiled at last. "Those were the very early days of Equestria," she began...

In those days, Equestria had been taken over by a spirit of Chaos, whose name was Discord. He took great pleasure in disrupting the lives of the ponies who lived here and had seemingly unlimited power.

My sister's name was Luna; she and I found this land and witnessed the suffering of the ponies. Even as we set hoof upon the land, we felt a draw to it, and the land welcomed us. As you know, an earth pony draws strength from the ground, a pegasus from the sky, and a unicorn from her own life force. An alicorn draws from all three, but there is a special bond when an alicorn finds her place – we say that she has 'landed'. In the right place, an alicorn's strength and power is boosted as the land itself welcomes her.

So it was when we discovered Equestria – Equestria welcomed us, and we were landed at last. But even so, we did not have the power to defeat the spirit of Chaos. He openly mocked us, and dismissed us with a snap of his fingers. More than once, in fact.

With Discord in charge, life remained miserable for all the ponies of Equestria. Even if not for the pull of the land, neither Luna nor I could bear to witness this suffering. We searched far and wide for any information that we could use against him. Then it was, right in these very woods, that we discovered the Tree of Harmony. It was ancient and mysterious, and even though we did not learn whether it fed the magic of Equestria or grew from it, we knew that it was key to keeping the darkness at bay.

I proposed that we extract the Elements of Harmony from it, and after some initial uncertainty, Luna concurred. The sincerity of our love and the strength of our desire to help these ponies fed the elements, and they in turn magnified our power many times over.

Sunset looked up at Celestia as they walked. She knew some of the story from legend, but she'd never heard it spoken from the source before. She was not certain whether any pony ever had.

"He laughed at us as we approached his throne yet again," Celestia recounted as she continued her story.

"So serious," he said. But Luna and I were serious. We knew that if this failed, that we had no other recourse. We activated the Elements, feeding into them our desire to free this land, and they chose the outcome for us.

We felt the magic flow between us, and the Elements swirled around us. The energy built until a giant rainbow fired upwards, then arced back downwards and flooded over Discord.

He was still laughing as the magic turned him to solid stone. Then, just like that, it was over.

But it wasn't over. Equestria was still in crisis and needed serious help. Of course, Luna and I wanted to help either way, but we were overwhelmed with gratitude to be asked not only to help, but to lead. We built a small palace near the Tree of Harmony and worked very hard to restore order.

I've always had an affinity for the sun, and Luna for the moon. Once landed, we discovered the ability to move them. Discord had so disrupted the natural order of things that even the sunrise was no longer predictable, so Luna and I took on responsibility for raising the Sun and the Moon in an orderly fashion, every day.

For a while, things started to look better. Luna and I each had our duties, and between the two of us, both day and night were restored to order.

But then things started to go wrong... we undertook a mission to rescue the Crystal Empire, an ancient land in the Frozen North. We... failed. After that...

Celestia went quiet for a while, as the trees thinned around them. They stepped off the road, traveling in the darker shadows. Sunset followed along quietly, waiting patiently for Celestia to continue. At last, she did.

"After that, it seemed, Luna started to get very moody and easily upset," she sighed. "I should have expected that it would have been hard on her, but I fear that I was in denial myself."

When I would ask her what troubled her, she would snap at me. She began to complain that the ponies loved me more than they loved her, and then that even I didn't love her.

Celestia's voice broke at the last, and she walked on in silence, her head bowed underneath her hood. Sunset reached up gently and touched Celestia's flank.

"I'm sorry, Princess. You don't have to continue."

"You should understand, Sunset Shimmer," replied Celestia. "There is not much more to tell you."

Luna became very withdrawn, I would rarely see her. The moon always came up at night and she would lower it every morning to make room for the sun, but often I would not see her again for the entire day.

Then one day... one day she refused to lower the moon at all. At first I thought she was joking... 'ten more minutes,' I teased her. But it only made her angrier.

She told me that the ponies would treasure her night whether they wanted to or not. She said that she was not going to share Equestria any longer, that there was only room for one Princess. Then she cast a spell – I've never seen anything like it.

It was like all the darkness gathered itself to her. Her coat went black as midnight, and she grew in size. Her mane grew and swirled with a likeness of the night sky, and her eyes... I will never forget her eyes. Her pupils narrowed like that of a dragon's, and she laughed the most horrible laugh as she told me that her only remaining duty was to destroy me.

Sunset gasped softly, "Nightmare Moon is...?"

Celestia nodded, "My sister, Princess Luna. Some know this, but it is not common knowledge."

I refused to fight her at first, and when she attacked, I fled. But she was relentless, and strike after strike came my way. Much of the damage in the ancient castle was caused during that assault. At last I turned and struck back, hoping to stun her, to make her see reason. But I couldn't do it. She overpowered me and struck me hard.

I was knocked from the sky and crashed into the castle, landing near the Elements. I saw no alternative... I didn't know what else to do. I was afraid that if she defeated me, that all of Equestria would fall. I was afraid that all we went through would have been for nothing, and that we unseated one dictator only to create another. You have to believe, it was the last thing I wanted to do.

I unlocked the Elements of Harmony, and summoned them all to myself. Pouring my love of Equestria into them, they responded to my call and activated. I flew back up into the sky and faced Nightmare Moon once again. She acted as if she didn't see the elements, and prepared another charge. I summoned up my courage and waited, begging the elements to save my sister from the darkness that had taken her.

When she struck at me I deployed the elements, pouring all I had into my wish that she be saved. But the elements did not grant my wish. The power of the elements easily overwhelmed Nightmare Moon's attack, and then surrounded her. She vanished before my eyes, and then there was a flash in the sky. When I looked up, I saw the Mare in the Moon appear across the surface of the moon.

When the spell finished, I landed and looked up at the new shadow across the surface of the moon. I stared blankly at it for a long time, only realizing with painful slowness that I had just lost my sister. I barely noticed as the elements lost their power and fell to the ground around me, so focused I was on that shadow.

I was devastated and it was a long time before I was all right again. But I swore that I would tell the legend my way. I studied the spell and learned that Nightmare Moon could return, given a certain alignment of magic and the stars. I created the legends and I searched over all these centuries for the pony who could help when she did return.

"I believed that you were that pony, Sunset Shimmer," Celestia said softly. "But I did not realize the path we would have to take to realize it. Please forgive me for putting so much on your shoulders. I promise you that we will fix this together."

"I still feel that I could have done better," sighed Sunset. "I'm sorry, Princess. I'm sorry it all turned out this way."

"It's not over yet," Celestia replied softly. "There is still time for a happy ending. I have a plan. But we will need the Elements of Harmony. Do you know where they are?"

Sunset looked away, "Not... really." She sighed softly. "I thought I followed your clues properly. I found the elements in the old ruins, and I gathered them up. I even found the 'Reference Guide'. But I was never able to make them work. I eventually allowed them to scatter."

Celestia frowned in the darkness. "They require the bonds of friendship to activate," she said gently. "I should have guided you better. But we can take our time. If we can recover them, perhaps we can activate them together."

"I might know where to start," Sunset mused. "But it will probably take a long time."

Celestia nodded, "Then we will take all the time we need."

"Princess... why are we going to Canterlot?"

Celestia smiled softly. "Underneath the city is an extensive series of crystal caverns. They neatly mask magic, and are completely abandoned. Most ponies are not even aware of them, and Nightmare Moon was not present for Canterlot's construction, so she won't know about them either. We can stay there and have easy access to supplies and information."

"And then?"

"And then we will need to locate the Elements of Harmony, and use them to free Equestria yet again."

"What about your sister?" asked Sunset.

Celestia was quiet for a moment. When she replied it was very soft. "I can only hope that Nightmare Moon did not destroy her."

Comments

[princessmercury]

ohh i liked this ch a lot!

[Obsidian Raindrop]

For a second I was pissed with Celestia. I had thought she was going to lie to Sunset and not tell her Luna was Nightmare Moon but she did tell her the truth in the end. Also again no trixie.

[Sweetblue]

“And then we will need to locate the Elements of Harmony, and use them to free Equestria yet again.”

And here we see what she truly thinks of Luna. No probing for information, no ponderings of how her people are coping. All she can think of is that Equestria needs to be freed from he wicked sister.

[CommanderBigMac]

https://m.

[PearlyDoesStuff]

6841823
Shut up about Trixie.