The Woe of Aftermath

by Twisted and Warped

Prologue

The rolling thunder of a distant battle began to grow louder as Celestia paced back and forth in the main hall of Canterlot castle. In the light of the full moon, she waited. What seemed like an eternity was only ten minutes. With every passing second she became a little more frantic.

Suddenly a door swung open and a mare came walking in the room. Her gentle hoof steps echoed in the main hall. She was a lime green unicorn with a mane that was an even lighter green. Her dark blue cloak was covering most of her body.

Celestia looked down at the mare and asked, "How did it go? Will anypony be able to find him?"

"He is far from here," replied the unicorn, "in an icy cave to the north. There is no chance it can be found by those who don't already know where it is."

"Good."

Celestia turned and looked through the large windows. From her castle she could see all the city and the mountains beyond the city walls. She could even see some small towns. However, on this night, she only saw destruction. There was fireballs flying across the sky in every direction. The magic spells from unicorns lit up the night, but there was one area engulfed in darkness.

The light stopped at the rim of the valleys. From the castle it appeared to be an endless black abyss. This wasteland was where Celestia had to go. If she was able to make it there the war could end, but she would have to pay dearly for it.

"Princess," the unicorn said, "I don't know what you have planned, but I want you to know this; the pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath. When this war is over, Equestria could be rebuilt, but never the same."

"I have always understood that." Those were the only words that Celestia was able to say. After some time had passed, she said "Gather up the rest of the elements, we will leave at midnight."

The unicorn nodded, and walked back out the door she came in.

***

Two hours passed and Celestia was standing somewhere outside the walls of Canterlot with six other. The same green unicorn as before was there, standing next to a pink poney who was also a unicorn. There was three earthponies all different shades of yellow. The sixth poney was mageta and he was the only pegasus. They were all wearing a blue cloak.

None of them spoke until a bell rang signaling midnight.

"Let's go." said Celestia as she began to walk down a narrow path.

The others followed her down the path. They did not know where she was taking them or what they had to do, but they all knew she would not ask them to come together like this unless it was vitally important.

For what seemed like hours, they walked down the path. With the chaos that was going on all around them, they found themselves dodging stray fireballs every now and then and watched them explode and leave a crater in the ground. Other than that, the landscape around them looked surprisingly untouched by the battle and the war.

Suddenly, the seven of them were standing on the rim of a dark valley. It seemed to have no bottom and the sounds of war were amplified here. The six ponies all wondered what the darkness was hiding, but Celestia knew. In the shadows lurk the most evil ponies and creatures anyone can imagine. That included nightmare moon, the one who started this war.

They walked along the rim until they came upon a path that lead down into the darkness. The six ponies stopped there, however Celestia kept walking. As she disappeared into the shadows, the other six ran down the path to catch up with her.

In the valley, they almost could not see the ground they were walking on. They all feared what could be around the next corner, or if something was following them. Even with magic, they still could see very little. The darkness had engulfed everything, and the sound of the battle grew louder with every step they took. At the bottom of the
valley, the darkness seemed to end. They saw the valley floor clearly, but the cliffs and the sky was all darkness. It was as if there was a low cloud over them.

A little bit down the valley they saw an ominous building. Its ancient walls stood out from the cliffs and gave the ponies all a bad feeling. However, Celestia began to walk towards it, and the other ponies followed, still unsure of what they had to do. None of them spoke since they left Canterlot.

When they reached the door Celestia stopped, turned and said, "Through this door is a pony that must be stopped for the sake of Equestria. We must stop at nothing to put an end to her power. Whether we fail or succeed, this war will end tonight."

Before she let any of the other ponies talk she opened the doors and walked in. They all followed. The inside of the building was empty; There was a broken chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a balcony above another set of doors. All the windows in the large room were broken. The seven of them all walked cautiously to the center of the room.

Without warning, there was a loud thundering noise and a ball of black fire was hovering above the balcony. The fire quickly extinguished and there stood Nightmare Moon. Standing in her presence sent shivers down all their spines and they could all feel her eyes piercing through them.

A few moments later she shouted, "You dare come to challenge me? I will see your end here!"

She casted a magic spell that sent lightning at them, but Celestia stopped it with a force field that surrounded the seven of them.

Celestia replied, "I will do whatever I must to save Equestria."

Now, the even more angered Nightmare Moon shot another bolt of lightning at them. However this time Celestia could not stop it. Celestia took the full power of the spell. She fell back, far from where the other ponies were.

Nightmare Moon then shouted, "You are too weak to stop me! Your power and glory ends now!"

"That is where you are wrong," Celestia whispered while getting up off of the ground.

The princess closed her eyes and began to glow with power. The six other ponies were glowing too, as they began to use their powers. Nightmare Moon took a cautious step back and only was able to watch in awe as Celestia became more powerful from the elements.

When Celestia opened her eyes, there was a great flash of white light and the world fell silent.

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