A Fate Worse Than Death

by Depechemare

Princess Celestia's Mistake

Princess Celestia looked across the horizons of the Everfree from her balcony whilst her rising sun painted it in an almost godlike glow and smiled with a content feeling she had not felt since before Starswirl had become bedridden and slipped into a coma over a year ago.

It was obvious to her that her Kingdom despite its flaws and its kinks was still quite beautiful and she was positive that despite the distance her sister had been receiving in court recently and despite the obvious distance her fiancé Reach had been giving her that the future was looking bright indeed for Equestria.

Speaking of Reach she detected a certain pony attempting to sneak up behind her and she playfully spun round and with the tip of her horn she touched the plate mail of Reach’s golden armour and announced “Thou art dead” along with a small chuckle from which they both emitted, Celestia’s being more light and Reach’s more deep.

He huffed after and removed his helmet, showing his face in all it’s majesty. He was a tough looking stallion, tall with a grey mane with a almost shiny charcoal coat but when Celestia gazed upon his soft brown eyes she knew better than anypony else the love that was tucked away in there, the love he only brought out for her.

Using his magic he set the helmet atop the balcony’s stone and retorted “Thou art mistaken, I am merely gravely wounded from thine blast, it was only a stage in my cunning plan” which was of course complete and utter nonsense but nevertheless it was a soothing nonsense that was what Celestia loved him for.

“Thou is too playful with your Princess Reach, what if we were to face a situation where you had to sneak up on me for real?” Celestia teased playfully as Reach pulled her into a swooning embrace. “Now I wouldn’t doubt me too much when it came down to defending thy grace from saber-tooth lions or timberwolves, sneaking is for cowardly plotters, real stallions fight for thy liege.”

Celestia was about to retort in protest then he leaned in and shut her up with a kiss, not the kind of heart warming and melting one but the rough and verging on seductive one which made many a maids eye flinch on the off chances they ever caught them making out behind an empty corridor.

She pushed herself away blushing and replied in pretend shock “My word Captain control thine self! To think that we are thous Princess! It is, why it is simply disgraceful thous behaviour to us.”

He grinned like the devil himself and replied “Oh I’d call it something a bit different from disgraceful… Celly” and with that he leaned in and before having the chance to whisper any lewd and wonderful things was interrupted by a pop of magical blue energy that immediately caused him to wheel away from Celestia, suspecting danger to simply appear out of thin air as it had a knack for doing around the two sisters.

Speaking of sisters it was the younger sister of Celestia who had decided to pay a rather untimely visit, Princess Luna. Whilst the Princess had been known for her ferocity in battle as well as in court and her regal demeanour in recent years she had become some what of a recluse and in some instances shy, as she was when she saw how hurriedly Reach had been pulling away from her sister and blushed.

“S-Sister we must speak with thou on the new mansion taxes on the nobility’s homes, it is simply not fair for them to be paying so little when times are this hard on the common peasant” she explained as Celestia gave a frustrated sigh and regained her lost composure.

Reach in the mean time had returned his helmet to his brow and with a click of his hooves and a salute he bid “I shall leave your royal majesties alone to discuss important matters, please contact me in the grounds if thou requires mine services” but before he could leave Celestia shook her head, the way she saw it Reach had been distancing himself lately and now when he did some romantic gesture her stupid sister decided to teleport in and ruin it.

“We can discuss this later Luna, Reach and I were discussing some rather… delicate matters that we feel are more important at the moment, taxes can wait another day.”

Luna was not as tall as her sister or as Reach for that matter but she was very composed and also a little oblivious at times and so replied “Of course, please continue” and without a word she stepped back and waited a few seconds, only to watch with confusion as Reach and her sister stared at her.

Luna was unsure what they were staring at her for and so Celestia spelled it out more clearly by saying “We will talk with thou later Luna, Reach and ourself wish to talk in private” and with that Celestia began to look cross and furrowed her brow, much to Luna’s discontent and frustration.

“V-very well then” she bid before starting to walk away. She could hear them whispering behind her and in a fit of mis-understood rage she turned and without seeing the full picture declared “I know what thou art doing sister but I was hoping we could be more civilised on this matter instead of straight up insulting me as you have!”

Celestia was getting hot and flustered, on one hoof thanks to the fact Reach was here beside her and on the other because her sister was choosing to turn a potential special moment with a beautiful sunrise into a talk about tax which she endlessly prattled on about.

“Luna thou art paranoid and completely blind, we don’t know what has gotten into thou these past few months but all this moping and sulking is childish and we cannot abide by childish behaviour in court, go to bed little sister and let the grown ups do all the real work” and with that she turned to Reach who was looking himself a little stunned and sorry for Luna and kissed him harshly, almost as if the kiss was a direct insult at her sister, which he had no doubt it was meant to be.

Princess Luna’s cheeks filled with colour and her legs shook with anger but at the same time her eyes filled with tears and ignoring doors as she had coming in, with a pop she had teleported across the castle to her room where she could lose that composure as well as her temper.

Reach breathed in a deep gulp of air when she had left as did Celestia who apologised, “We art so sorry Reach, that was highly uncalled for of our sister, sometimes she is just so insensitive towards others and can be a complete and utter baby. To be honest I believe that’s why the court is falling through her hooves.”

Reach just stared in disbelief and pushed himself away from Celestia with his own expression now stained red red but filled with anger and what could only have been disappointment. “Celly thou may not have been told this but at times thou can have a very mean streak. What thou perpetrated upon thine own blood was embarrassing, she is equal ruler to you and you showed her up in front of a mere Captain, regardless of our bond and the fact you did that makes me wonder if thou hast done this before?”

Celestia was to put it plainly utterly bewildered by these accusations and it showed on her face, her mouth beginning to gape. Reach retracted his grip around her and turned to the corner of her room where he had propped his spear during their little game of “sneak up and assassinate the Princess” which was now soured.

“I shalt be patrolling the throne room, please go and make right decision with thine sister and please for Ancestor’s sake if I hear and explosions keep the debris field contained” and with that he left in a bad mood and saddened at his love’s cruelty.

Celestia herself was beginning to feel physically sick on thinking back to what she had said to her sister, the one pony she could trust besides Reach, the one pony who had been through ice and fire with her to defeat evil and rescue thousands from peril and she had talked down to her as if she was 4 and not grown mare.

“I have wronged her in truth, I should… I should really kick myself and go apologise” she thought, her expression becoming sullen as she flicked her pink mane out of her eyes and summoning her magic. With a small pop and a burst of golden light she was in her sister’s bedroom where she had entirely expected to see her crying into a pillow or something equally as heart wrenching but no, suprisingly instead she saw nothing but a destroyed bedroom.

“She must be uber angry” Celstia thought as she gazed upon the broken furnishings and cut up curtains. She exited her sister’s chambers to go and search for and apologise in full to her but the search she was about to discover would be very difficult.

She started with the observation tower which they both used to look over the land and stargaze and not finding her there she searched the Night Guard barracks, finding them strangely completely empty. "This is just so strange" she thought as she finished checking her own guards barrack to find them also deserted, it was as if every guard, servant and worker had dissipated along with Luna.

After checking the gardens she caught the attention of a rather queer sound that kept repeating itself over and over again, some kind of ringing sound that she couldn't put her hoof on until finally she recognised it as the ringing of steel on steel, that of swords and spears clashing.

Suddenly a huge explosion rocked the ground as the throne room's roof half collapsed and half exploded outwards into the sky and the screams of ponies could be heard coming from the east part of the castle. “Luna! Reach!” was the only thoughts that were contained in Celestia’s mind as she without any thought spread her wings and in much haste sped towards the throne room.

Flying through a broken stained glass window she found a sight of chaos with what appeared to be the day guard and the night guard attacking one another in an all out Battle with Captain Reach and Captain Aquila at the fore, leading their respective troops. The battle was bloody with many ponies either locked in sword combat or clashing hoof to hoof against one another.

“Protect the elements!” Reach shouted as he drew his sword and stabbed the nearest Night guard, a bat pony through the chink in his armour before continuing with his momentum and clashing swords with another night pony.

Celestia was about to do something when suddenly the sinister and almost sickly twisted voice of her sister rang in her ears and announced between the two of them “We see you came to witness our revelation Big Sister. Thou art a foal, thinking we would turn our head to the ponies in court and in the Kingdom bowing to thine every whim and basking in thine glorious sunlight. Well no longer! There can only be one Princess in Equestria and that Princess is ME!” and with that Luna stomped her hooves and the ground crumbled and rocked again, causing guards to lose their balance and topple, only to be grappled and stabbed by their aggressors.

The air grew cold as black shadows grew around Celestia’s sister, much to her horror and began to infuse themselves with her as through a hole in the wall Celestia noticed an unscheduled eclipse cutting off her sunlight and plunging the whole castle and Equestria into darkness.

“Stave this bucking madness” Reach shouted as his sword clashed with his counterpart, Captain Aquila’s sword. “Long live the night!” he shouted in retaliation as his horn surged and knocked Reach back a few metres with a small and controlled blast.

Celestia desperately wanted to intervene but at that moment the shadows finished mutilating her sister’s body and left behind a terrifying, jet black, sharp fanged Alicorn mare with an eerie flowing mane that was totally wrong on her, "Everything here is totally wrong with her" Celestia then thought as the nightmare that was her sister gazed upon her.

She cackled in madness, an insane cackle that resonated through the halls as serpentine eyes sought out Celestia whose feelings at that moment were very much on the side of running very fast and very far away, to make time to formulate a plan.

Celestia didn’t think twice about her current weak plan and instantly took off in the opposite direction as a beam of raw magical energy surged past her and caused a tower to explode outwards, showering her and some ponies below in debris, many of whom were crushed instantly.

“Come to Lu-Lu Tia” a maniacal voice chanted from behind, her sister matching her pace in the air and shooting wild beams of energy at everything around her, destroying their home that they had worked so hard to build.

“Luna please” Celestia begged as she zipped over the castle but she got no words from her sister other than “Hold still you wretched maggot” as her sister attempted to shoot a hole through her chest and send her flying into oblivion.

In truth Celestia was terrified, everything was going wrong now, her sister had turned berserk thanks to her cruel words and her guards and her love were dying below to protect the elements which… “That’s it” Celestia thought just as a bright blue bolt of energy deflected off her regalia, causing her to cry out in pain as it seared her flesh and stunned her, then causing her to plummet back down to the throne room through the hole in the ceiling to where the last dredges of battle were taking place between a dwindling number of guards.

“Celly!” Reach cried out as he limped over to her, a spear now in his hoof and a deep slice across his flank. He had however defeated Captain Aquila who lay dead in the corner and now without their leader the remaining Night forces were beginning to panic and lose more than juest the battle.

“Love thou needs to wake up! Thou must fix this right now! Thou needs to fix Luna before any more damage occurs, if we don’t do something we’ll AHHH!!” he cried as he was knocked back by a huge boulder of debris, shot with telekenetic energy as Luna landed across the room, met by four remaining Day guard who charged to avenge their Captain and protect their Princess.

Princess Celestia coughed and came to, trying to see where Reach had gone and what was happening. She shook herself and felt her broken ribs which made her hiss in pain before looking over at Luna just as the last guard standing cried “Run M’lady!” before he was in an instant vaporised by a blast of pure blue magical energy that caused such a scream it would haunt Celestia for years to come.

“Luna strolled casually over to her sister whom tried to move back and stood on her stomach with a sadistic grin, watching as Celestia wretched and cried in pain. “You whorse, thinking thou was our better hmm? Well we sure showed thou didn’t we? To think thou believed you could get to the elements in time and simply poof us away, pathetic” and with that she grabbed her sister with her magic by the head and levitated her up to her level.

“Luna p-please” Celestia begged as she felt the pressure on her head cause her jaw to pop loudly. Luna laughed however and replied “Please you pathetic shit, call me Nightmare Moon, your future ruler. That’s right Tia you will get to watch eternal night as it kills off our ungrateful subjects and watch as those who can scratch out a meagre existence wallow in misery under our divine power!”

Princess Celestia wept suddenly, she wept for her love, crumpled in the corner, she wept for her servants and guards either slaughtered or dying and most of all she wept for her dear sister whom she had lead to this breaking point which she had never seen coming, whom she had ignored until she had snapped and gone to this horrifying extreme.

“W-We, p-please forgive us Luna… please j-j-just kill us quickly sister” she cried in both physical and mental pain as Nightmare gave the most horrific smile, her sharp razor teeth and fangs showing and replied “Thou hast no ears oh ex-sister of mine, we are going to keep thou as our pet, but we only realised now that pets have no need for horns and magic so instead of waiting let us correct this now!”

Celestia took a moment to realise what her sister was saying before she shriek as she felt muscle and sinew begin to collapse as she felt her horn begin to tear from her head before by some mercy Nightmare was knocked back by a small blast of silver magical energy as Reach, stood before her, spear raised unsteadily and horn charged.

“Stay away from her you bitch” he coughed, spitting out teeth as he limped over to Celestia, shielding her with the strongest protection spell he knew as Nightmare stood, flank charred and teeth barred.

“Why thou little… thou little Roach!” Nightmare cried as her full magical fury bore down upon his shield which after a full few seconds collapsed and caused him to instead cover Celestia with his own body. Celestia cried as he screamed in pain, his back being seared by the blue fires of starlight in order to protect her.

Nightmare Moon chuckled and after a moment to ensure no other surprises were coming about, lifted Reach from Celestia and raised her horn to his chest. “What was that little game thou plays with our sister? Thou surely knows the skank over there thou’ve been having for the past year in front of everypony” Nightmare taunted “oh I can’t remember but it usually ends like this” and drawing her head back Nightmare made to impale Reach’s throat when suddenly she found her head locked in place as well as her body.

“What” was all she was able to say before her eyes drew behind her to gaze upon her old mentor, the supposed to be bedridden and dying Starswirl now awake and using his all powerful magic to lock her in place.

He said nothing as he activated the vault with the Elements as Nightmare tried to use her magic, tried to do anything, nothing being available to her. Celestia meanwhile simply watched and Reach fell away as Nightmare's magic dissipated and crumpled again, possibly passing out for a second time.

“So d-dissapointing” he sighed almost with a fragile temperament as he levitated the elements around him. Nightmare cried in sheer fury and with a surge of magic she overloaded the elderly Wizards spells, making him wince as she lunged at him, teeth bared and hooves outstretched just as his wielding of the elements took effect.

She didn’t get far as Reach had arose and using whatever was left inside of him he literally threw himself at her, supported by the dredges of his magic and she was knocked down alongside him in a tangle of hooves a few metres in front of Celestia who tried then to levitate Reach away, in shock finding her magic was dysfunctional thanks to Nightmare's torture.

With Starswirl’s eyes glowing white and the power coursing through him he shot a beam of bright, magical energy that seemed to dance before Celestia which cut right through her sister who cried in fear and anguish, screaming her hate to Starswirl and her sister before she dissipated.

To Celestia’s woozy shock and panic however the beam flew right through her sister and into her love Reach as well and in searing pain he looked upon her one last time with eyes that to her cursed her and told her “This is your doing” before he melted before her, into the light which shot towards the sky, towards the moon.

“Nooooo!” Celestia cried, wincing as she attempted to stand, instead slipping back down as her tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she was forced to watch the two ponies closest to her disappear into the heavens. Similarly she heard a groan and with a crumple the elderly Starswirl collapsed, wheezing with much strain and his hooves shaking.

Despite the shock and the pain and the hurt Celestia felt she crawled over to him as he gazed upon her with eyes that were not afraid of death but of something else entirely, something far worse.

“She will return in a thousand years when the stars aid in her escape… C-Celestia thou must prepare she is twisted, the old Luna is buried deep. H-How could thou h-h-have l-let this happen?” he wheezed as his breath became ragged.

Celestia buried her face in her old mentor's shoulder and cried “It’s all my fault, all mine, I need to bring them back, I need to talk sense into my sister and Reach he’s up there, he got caught in the magic he’s…” but Starswirl cut her off saying “He is dead Tia, l-let go and grow up, Equestria needs y-you more than ever n-n-n-now… don’t make t-t-the same mist-mistakes ag” but the Unicorn couldn’t say anything, he was so trembly Princess Celestia feared he was about to combust but with a short and sad sigh he left this world, not in peace but with the worries of great darkness and great pain on his shoulders.

Celestia sniffed and looked at the inanimate objects that were the Elements. She tried to connect to them with her magic, her horn still feeling jittery from when it was almost ripped out of her head and her magic fluttering at times. Nothing happened and she hissed as she realised that without her sister, her other half, the elements were likely to not respond to her or to work again unless they found new bearers, bearers who were deserving of the Harmony they brought.

“Luna…” Celestia whispered and then “Reach” before finally weeping “Starswirl” and giving in to the pain inside her and wailing to the heavens like a banshee for she was now more than ever so truly alone in this world and had no idea what to do.

Her sister also felt the same pain but just not in the way in which Celestia was feeling it.

From atop a newly created crater on the moon the enchanted and snarling Nightmare Moon screamed at the planet she had moments ago been on “Curse you! curse you all! I will rise again! I will kill you all I will make Equestria weep in fear and pain and I will boil you blood I will snap your bone and I’ll start with your little plaything sister!” she cackled, turning to the crumpled and unconscious heap behind her and laughing deeply.

Back on Equestria a few ponies picked their way through rubble and debris to get to their Princess as she lay sobbing in the debris just as it began to rain, the rain painting everything shiny and causing blood to soak the floor. What remained of her guard, a few recruits who had fled in terror and maids and scribes fortunate enough to not get crushed in the battle strolled up to her in fear and shock.

Celestia looked at them through bleary eyes and they stared almost frightened of her before one small maid asked “What should we do Princess?”

Author's Note:

I'm not going to complain that this is my very first story on this site and that you should be gentle and not judge it. I would genuinely like to know any punctuation, grammar and structural mistakes as well as feelings towards the vibe of the story so please comment below with feedback.

UPDATE: Edited some things and generally tried to make the chapter flow better.