To Rekindle the Sun

by Donraj

Chapter 2

“Thanks again for looking at my leg,” Shining Armor said as he finally finished limping to the Golden Oak Library. “What did you say your name was again?”

The pretty yellow pegasus beside him blushed and ducked behind her long pink mane. She mumbled something indistinct.

“What was that?” Shining Armor asked.

“Her name is Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash explained from the other side and a few feet up. The annoying pegasus had thus far resisted all attempts to get her to go away. “She gets like this around strangers. Don’t worry about it.”

Shining Armor shrugged and knocked on the door. He waited for a response. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Dude, it’s a library. You don’t have to knock. Haven’t you ever been to one?”

“Have you?” Shining Armor grumbled.

Rainbow Dash started to say something, stopped and then fell silent. Shining Armor smirked as he opened the door and walked in.

The interior of the library was pitch black. “Twily?” Shining Armor called out. “Hey Rainbow Dash, where’s the—”

Suddenly the lights came on and a familiar voice shouted, “SURPRISE!”

“Meep!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Ugh, not her again,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

The pink menace struck. "Hi there!" the pink pony from before said perkily. She had popped beside Shining Armor as he walked into the party streamer filled library. "Were you surprised?! Were you, huh, were you?"

“Very surprised!” Shining Armor said. He scanned the ponies milling about the room. “Nopony told me there was going to be a party.”

“Well duh!” Pinkie Pie said with a roll of her eyes. “What kind of surprise party would it be if somepony told you about it?!”

Pinkie Pie hopped alongside Shining Armor as he navigated the room. “When I saw you and your sister earlier I didn't know you, and if I didn't know you that meant that you were new, because I know everypony, and I mean EVERYPONY in Ponyville! And if you were new that meant—”

“Twily!” Shining Armor interrupted. Can you tell me where she is?

Pinkie Pie waved a hoof at the stairs. “Oh, she said something about how libraries are supposed to ‘be quiet’ and barricaded herself upstairs. I mean sheesh, what kind of party would it be if it were quiet? Anyway, she has some sort of redirect ward set up in the bedroom so I was hoping you could go talk to her before I have to break out my Party Cannon.”

Pinkie Pie fluttered her eyelashes as she said that last bit.

“Right,” Shining Armor said as they neared the stairwell. He stopped as multiple things about that diatribe registered.

“Wait, what? Ward? Party Cannon? And how did you know she was my sister?”

Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in front of herself as if inspecting its polish. “Oh, Pinkamina has her ways,” she said coolly. The manic energy had suddenly vanished. “Pinkamina has her ways.”

With that she shoved a cup full of something at Shining Armor and gave him a flank bump toward the stairs before bouncing off.

Shining Armor tried to process what had just happened. Then he gave up and started up the stairs.

†

“Hey Twily?” Shining Armor said as he rounded the top of the stairs. “You there?”

“Mhmm,” Twilight said. Shining Armor recognized that tone and was not surprised to see his sister seated at a small desk surrounded by books and papers. A candle floated in the air nearby, its wick burning cheerily. Apparently Twilight had run out of space to set it down.

“Sorry I got separated from you,” Shining Armor said once it became clear that no further questions would be forthcoming. “This really annoying pony bumped into me and, well…”

He waved his injured foreleg gingerly. “Sprained my leg,” he finished lamely.

No response. Twilight continued scribbling notes for whatever she was working on.

“I'm fine though!” Shining Armor said. He fought down his annoyance. He knew trying to draw his sister out was probably a lost cause, but he had to try. “There was this nice filly named Fluttershy who was kind enough to take a look at it, and she says—”

Twilight looked up at that. “Shining! You're hurt!”

Shining Armor resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes, thank you for noticing. She's downstairs now. Did you know there's a party going on?”

Twilight smiled. Shining Armor couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her do that. It looked different from her normal smile and Shining Armor wasn't sure how to react to it. His sister kept on speaking.

“Well then, we should definitely go thank her,” Twilight said briskly. She stowed something into her saddlebags and walked toward the stairs.

“Lead the way, B.B.B.F.F!”

As Shining Armor started down the stairs Twilight bumped into him. He lurched forward and tumbled down the stairs.”

Twilight shouted, “Shining!” and followed him down. Her voice was concerned, but she was still smiling.

Something glowed pink inside her saddlebags.

†

“That’s the second party you’ve ruined this week,” Shining Armor groused. He was dressed in full Royal Guard ensemble. The gold armor hid most of his bruises and made him cautiously optimistic about not picking up any new ones.

His sister stood next to him in formal robes. She waved a dismissive hoof. “Having an unscheduled party like that was a safety hazard. And Moondancer will get over it.”

“Everypony was enjoying themselves!” Shining Armor protested.

“And everypony can enjoy themselves again when Pink...something, gets the proper permits,” Twilight said firmly.

Pinkie Pie popped up out of thin air right next to Twilight.

“Actually I filed all the paperwork at Town Hall ahead of time!” she perked. She produced a sheaf of forms from her mane as proof.

“Gah!” Twilight said.

Shining Armor snickered at his sister’s reaction. Pinkie Pie joined in with a giggle fit of her own. Twilight glowered and levitated the pink menace off the stage. Something in her pocket glowed blue.

Shining Armor knew his sister well enough to be cautious about unexplained magical glows. “Twily?” he asked. “What was that?”

Twilight opened her mouth but was cut off by trumpets from the balcony above.

“Ladies and gentlecolts,” said a silver maned pony in a cravat. “It is my great pleasure to…”

Twilight spoke in a strained whisper as the local politician speechified. “Shining!” she hissed.

Shining Armor turned to regard his sister. “Yeah?”

“Shining, I need you to answer an important question. Do you trust me?”

Shining Armor frowned. His sister sounded desperate, even scared. His answer came as reflex, as if he was saying the sun was bright.

“Yes Twily, I absolutely trust you. No matter what.”

Twilight smiled. A tear fell down the side of her face. “Thank you, B.B.B.F.F.”

As Mayor Mayor finished welcoming the good and wise Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle lowered her head and blasted her brother with magic at point blank range. It hit him square in the chest. The force of the blow sent him flying up to land in a heap on the balcony above at Princess Celestia’s hooves just as his monarch stepped out to greet the crowd.

Dead silence reigned. Everypony except for Shining Armor looked at Twilight. Shining Armor was too busy looking at the tiny Rainbow Dashes flying circles around his head.

“Aha!” Twilight said in a forced laugh. She continued in a flat monotone, clearly reciting a prepared speech. “At long last my treacherous plan has come to fruition and my ascension is nigh! I have overthrown your pitiful Guard Celestia, and now I claim my throne as the new queen of Equestria!”

Nopony was sure how to react to that. “Twilight, what are you doing?” Celestia said.

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. She stammered for a response. A multi color flash from inside her robes snapped her back to her senses.

“The plan,” she whispered to herself as she levitated five glowing crystalline charms of her own design out of her robes. They began to orbit around her, fast and bright.

“By friendships broken and trust betrayed I conjure you!” Twilight shouted. “By harmony disrupted I shatter your chains! Let the stars aid in your escape! Nightmare Moon, I bid you come forth!”

The glowing crystals had continued to swirl around Twilight in a colorful blur as she spoke the incantation. When she said the name of the villain who haunted every foal in Equestria’s darkest dreams they stopped abruptly. The light vanished as they turned jet black. They hovered quivering in place for a long moment before shooting up like bullets. They smashed through the ceiling of the decrepit town hall without slowing down. Plaster and dust rained down behind them.

Princess Celestia’s eyes were wide now. “Twilight, what did you just do?” she asked, very softly.

Twilight beamed. She started to say something but before she could a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane came hurtling toward her with evident mayhem in mind, Twilight reached out with her magic and telekinetically grabbed the angry mare by the tail and jerked her to a stop. She hung there helplessly, struggling and shouting.

“Well well well,” purred a new voice. “Isn’t this a surprise?”

A cold wind swept the room, extinguishing lanterns and drawing shivers from the crowd. An alicorn as black as a forest night stepped out of the darkest corner. She gave Celestia a hateful glare before favoring Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

“To think that somepony still remembers me after a thousand years and loves me enough to summon me back,” Nightmare Moon continued. “Well done, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight started to shout another rehearsed line but stopped short. Whatever she had expected Nightmare Moon to say, that hadn’t been it.

“You know my name?” she asked cautiously.

Nightmare Moon smiled. A tendril of her starry mane reached over the caress the bottom of Twilight’s muzzle.

“But of course! My sister has had some truly awful dreams about you.”

“Luna,” Celestia said with quiet authority. “Get away from her.”

Nightmare Moon’s head snapped up to glare balefully at her sister. “There is no Luna!” she bellowed. “Equestria has but one princess now!”

The two alicorns locked stares. The air positively hummed with tension as they gathered their powers. Nightmare Moon was completely focused on her arch nemesis. That realization brought Twilight back to her senses. Her eyes blazed with dark magic as she struck.

It wasn’t a blast of magical force or destructive energies. Twilight attacked Equestria’s boogymare with a spell she had adapted from a very old book written by Celestia’s own quill and hidden away in a very secure chamber in the caverns beneath Canterlot. Originally it had let the caster divest herself of her magic and transfer it to another pony. Now it did the opposite.

Nightmare Moon started to turn as the spell hit her. A contemptuous smile was already forming as she prepared to brush aside whatever feeble magic the mortal unicorn was throwing at her. That smile turned into an agonized rictus as the draining spell struck home and simply ripped away a part of the magic that made her an alicorn. Her body bowed in pain and her coat flickered from black to blue for a heartbeat as dark, dark lines crackled out from her and into her attacker. Twilight’s eyes had gone solid white, the black aura of the forbidden spell burning around them in an inverted corona. She channeled more and more magic into the attack, more than she ever had before. Somepony screamed and neither of them could tell if it was Twilight Sparkle or Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon had never been in such pain before. She found that she did not like it. In fact, it terrified her. Details about the situation spun and rotated through the part of her mind that was still able to think straight. The mental math clicked and the alicorn realized why this was happening. With a last, desperate effort she tore up a heavy part of the stage and hurled it at Celestia with all the force she could muster.

Twilight’s focus broke as she registered the threat to her teacher. “Princess!” she cried. Her spell faltered as she reflexively reached out to snatch the makeshift missile out of the air with her magic.

Nightmare Moon donkey kicked Twilight with her remaining magical strength. There was a whoomph of impact and the little pony was sent flying. Nightmare Moon staggered back herself. Her legs trembled as she struggled to remain standing. Her barding had been mostly torn away during the fight. As she looked herself over her draconic eyes widened at the sight of her cutie mark fading in and out of visibility.

“Y—You little foal!” she gasped. Nightmare Moon’s form blurred and turned into a cloud of sparkling motes as she gathered what was left of her power. She flew up and out through the damaged ceiling.

“No!” Twilight shouted over the sound of panicking ponies. There was a lavender flash and then she too was gone.

Comments

[CommisarSilver]

Whoa.

[Oddboy]

...so, that just happened. Actually, what just happened? Or rather, why did that happen?

Err... Twilight, what the fuck was that? I have no idea what is going on here, but damn if I don't want to find out.

Watched.

[Captain PonySeidon]

I am very intrigued to see where you go with this. So far it's one of the more interesting AU premises.

[josue]

6750589 dark magic draining spell tirek used a variation on the spell