Oneirophobia

by Valorousspectre

Domestic Warzone

The halls were a battleground, foul smelling corpses and noxious fumes and ashes. Broken bricks and shattered stones. Fallen candelabras, burning curtains, molten gold...

Talisman closed his eyes, trying to ignore the sickening smells assaulting his nose, and the horrifying visuals out of his head.

"Goddess Twilight... what happened to you?" He whispered softly to himself, under his breath. Celestia glanced over at the unicorn, worried.

"We'll get her back little one," Celestia said softly as the trio passed through the ruined corridors, although it sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself more than Talisman, and this was something Luna picked up on. She shot a concerned glance at her older sister. She looked tired, worn.

Defeated.

It had been thousands of years since last the mighty Princess of the sun had doubted her power. Through the war with the dragons, lasting for centuries, she had never doubted her power. During the tense cold war with the Gryphon empire, Celestia had never doubted her power. Even when Luna had become the twisted form of her old self, Celestia had never once doubted her power. She had experienced self doubt. Indeed, that came hand in hand with being a ruler. Self doubt she felt on a daily basis. It had been eased somewhat since her sister had returned, but it would always be there. In times where her benevolent attempts to help everypony failed, however, she had always had her massive power to fall back on. All the power of the sun at her disposal, and there wasn't much stronger. The last time she had doubted her power had been the one time it was able to be turned against her.

The first Discordian war.

He had been the only being that ever made her doubt her power, giving that his powers were completely unpredictable and entirely up to his whim and seemingly had absolutely no limits, even to the laws of magic and nature. He'd turned her power upon her and her sister, burning the both of them.

It was the only time Celestia had ever been burned.

But this was for a completely different reason.

"Sister?"

Celestia started and looked at Luna.

"Yes Luna?" She responded almost automatically.

"We will get her back sister," Luna said firmly, "I promise you."

Celestia took a moment to compose herself before smiling.

"I know Luna," She lied smoothly, "She'll be okay."

She let Luna take the lead before sighing softly under her breath.

"I hope..."

~*~

"Spirits! She's more powerful than I thought."

You think? I really hope you know what you're doing, because another blast like that will kill us.

Demon jerked his head away from another blast that skated by his ear before leaping out of the way of another, trying to ignore the maniacal laugh from his opponent.

"Just help me move faster will you? When I said work together, I didn't mean shove everything on me. Help me out here!"

Ugh, fine. You're damn lucky I need you to survive.

In a blindingly fast move, Demon suddenly blurred into action and promptly hit the wall, cracking the stonework.

Twilight stared at the dazed creature before her, blinking.

"Really?" She asked bluntly, "Am I really wasting my time with you? You can't even move right, you have to hit the wall."

Demon didn't respond

"I'm just... You know what? I'm not even going to start. I have an entire castle to destroy, monarchs to overthrow and a nation to essentially demolish. I'm not going to stand here and play with you anymore. "

Demon blinked owlishly and shook his head.

"No... You're not going... anywhe.. Ugh."

He staggered and Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Come back when you actually know what you're doing."

Twilight turned around only to come face to face with Princess Luna, Celestia behind. There was a long silence as the ponies stared at each other.

"Well," Twilight said, "That saves me the trouble of searching for you."

"Likewise," Luna said plainly.

"Twilight..." Celestia said gently, putting on the facade she had for centuries, that of a cool, calm leader, "This is not you. Why have you let it control you?"

The thing that was once Twilight looked now upon the monarch of the sun, thoughtfully for a moment. Celestia couldn't help but feel a swell of hope in her chest as her student looked troubled for a moment.

Hope that was shattered in an instant as it started to laugh.

"I'm terribly sorry princess," it replied mockingly, "Twilight Sparkle isn't here right now. She can't hear you. She can't even see you. Would you like to see what she sees?"

Its face morphed into a grin. A maniacal, homicidal, nihilistic and completely insane grin, eyes and horn crackling with energy.

"I could show you you know. It wouldn't take much effort. This vessel is so powerful. So powerful, in fact, I'm certain she will even allow me to surpass you!"

Most would expect Celestia to crumble, to shatter into a thousand pieces as the creature before her, the visage of her best friend and beloved student, rejected her and then insulted her, challenged her. Celestia was known as a loving monarch, the ever warm and strong sun Princess, nurturing and loving as the celestial body she was so innately tuned with. But this had quite the opposite effect on her. A white hot rage raced through her before she could quash it and she growled, the challenge met as her own horn and eyes erupted into bright fiery ribbons of pure magic, Talisman snatched away at the last second by a wide eyed, panicking Luna as she teleported to the far side of the room, followed by an alarmed Demonheart, now back in his own form.

"You test your magic against me?" Celestia intoned in the rarely used Royal Canterlot Voice, the powerful voice storming over the entirety of the ruined palace, "The teacher and the student? I WILL cut you to ribbons! Burn the ashes until there is nothing left! I will raze this castle, nay, this very mountain to the ground into the pits of the fiery infernos of the underworlds before I will allow you to keep my student!"

The vessel that was Twilight responded in kind, ribbons of dark purple magic interspersed with streaks of jealous green mingling in with the shafts of mighty white light.

"But would you destroy her in the process?" It asked, silibant voice crackling with mirth as ribbons of black magic twisted around it, cracking the stonework below its hooves.

"If I must, I will," Came the snarled, angry reply. For a moment, the creature looked startled, before becoming angry.

"Fine."

The roof above them was suddenly blasted apart and waves of white hot light poured forth, the sun burning mercilessly red behind them, obeying his master's beck and call and smiting her enemy. The creature responded with a burst of black, firing straight up like a glob of slime as it stuck to the whole in the ceiling, thick and blocking the light and heat out. In response, Celestia hurled a ball of liquid fire at her enemy, countered by a wall of water appearing out of mid air. Luna, Demon and Talisman drew back a step or three as Celestia summoned a long swathe of fire and it froze, hanging in the air in the form of a rough, fire composed spear and she hurled it at her opponent, only just barely missing as it deflected it almost desperately with a burst of black.

Then it was its turn.

It hurled a ball of toxic green sludge at the fire monarch, who incinerated it without thought. But as she did so, shadows reached up clawed hands from beneath her and reached for her, grabbing her legs, her flanks, one her tail and one reaching for her throat. With a burst of light that would blind even angels, the shadows were banished. But the creature had one last trick up its sleeve. With a maniacal fit of laughter, a globe of darkness burst forth from Twilight's horn, engulfing her and her mentor in a sphere of absolute black. Luna gasped, eyes wide and Tal looked on, pained. Demon twitched and his ears flicked up from where they had fallen. Several muffled sounds, such as explosions, screams and painful thuds sounded and the sound of something burning, but not the crackle of flames, just made it through the sphere.

And slowly, it began to fade, revealing the grisly scene.

Talisman turned away, tears in his eyes. Luna gasped, tears already flooding down her face. Demon didn't seem to notice.

Celestia had been defeated. Worse, she was dead. Standing over her was the triumphant form of Twilight Sparkle, or what was once Twilight Sparkle. It glittered with evil energy over the skeleton of the once great monarch, a foul sludge under its hooves that stank of death and decay. The stonework was stained with the dark blood of Celestia's destroyed form and the stones themselves were blackened and cracked.

"The reign of these pathetic ponies is over," Twilight intoned gleefully, "This is MY land! And it's my world now!"

Demon suddenly twitched again.

"It's a trick," He murmured. Luna didn't seem to hear him, falling to her haunches is shock. Only Tal, now on the floor, heard him.

"What?" Tal asked in disbelief, "That looks fairly freakin' real to me. Look at it!"

Demon scowled and looked at the now laughing creature.

"No. Spectre knows this entity. He's like him, a demon from the underworld."

"oh, so your evil twin knows him. That's great! What does it matter!?" Tal nearly yelled hysterically, "Celestia is dead, and Luna isn't here anymore, look at her!"

Demon shook his head again.

"He specializes in illusions. Nothing there is real. Certainly, I wouldn't put it past that Celestia is defeated, but I don't think she's dead."

"And how would you know that?" Tal snarled as Twilight turned its attention to them.

"Because he's a drama queen," Demon said, glaring at the creature with a small smile, "Because he loves theatricality. It's the source of his strength, but also his greatest failing. He's too obsessed with ponies and creatures seeing his power, showing off. He wants the Princesses to be seen as defeated, not killed."

"Oh, is that Spectre talking to you?" The creature smirked, stepping towards the pair, magic beginning to spark around it, restoring itself to its massive magical overload, cracking the stones beneath it, "He's a demon you know. They're prone to lying. When the pony people find out their own precious princess' student killed her, they'll turn on the other one, unable to protect them. Weaker, unwanted."

Tal shook his head, limping up to his hooves.

"No. Not dead. More likely, you'll put them on display, and then execute them publicly. Or, to suit your own twisted avarice, you'll display them like trophies. It's so obvious now."

The muscles in Twilight's face twitched as Luna fell to the floor, unthinking and unhearing, only seeing the memory of what was left of her beloved sister.

"You are becoming an annoyance," Twilight snapped, clearly losing a battle with her emotions. Demon took a small step forward, glancing at Tal the same moment Tal glanced at him. A silent agreement passed between them. "I hate annoyances."

With a sudden blur, Twilight shot forward, a rabid, angry cry ripping through her throat. Demon at the same moment blurred as well, his eyes blasting red and a yelp of pain coming from him as he felt Twilight's horn pierce his flesh and hit bone, his ribcage protecting him from the worst of the damage as Talisman, in an incredible and almost impossible show of resilience and determination, leapt over the big stallion and slammed his head into Twilight's, his horn bursting with light as they both toppled to the floor, the magic from around Twilight fading, and subsequently, the illusion that had been cast around Celestia, as her inert form became clear, swimming into view like a mirage vanishing in reverse.

Battered, beaten and broken, but very much alive.

Demon staggered back, Twilight's horn having left his body as she'd fallen, and limped over to Luna, nudging at her neck and shoulders as she wept her innumerable sorrows to the uncaring stone ground.

"Luna..." he managed to husk out, "Luna, open your eyes. Your sister..."

That was all he managed before he passed out, just as Luna opened her eyes, anger sparking in her. Could they not let her mourn in peace? For her only family?

And saw the truth of things.

With a cry, she flew to her sister's side, falling beside her and putting her ear to the older alicorn's chest, and almost crying in relief as she heard a heartbeat, and turned her cold, black gaze unto the... sleeping unicorn?

Twilight twitched now and then. For the battle had yet to end.

The fight for Canterlot had ended. The war for Twilight had just begun.

Author's Note:

OHMAIGOD I'm sorry this took so LONG!

Ugh

For a long time, I'd lost motivation. I had no want to write this scene, I had no reason and I had so many reasons to avoid it. No motivation, no feeling of needing to, resentment to everyone else that could write such amazing stories without breaking a sweat, you know. Envy, Sloth, Gluttony. That stuff basically. But I had a great day today, so here you go! Much more epic than originally planned, complete with WARTORN BATTLEGROUNDS AND EPIC MAGICAL DUELS!

Hope you like it!

Comments

[Resurgent Wanderer]

Glad to see your getting back into the swing of things mate!

Now I need to do the same...

[Valorousspectre]

3351762 No, more than likely you read Noctiphobia, which features Talisman in it for a time in the later parts of the story.

[-Brutus]

That small world is crazy o.O.