• Published 2nd Aug 2017
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Evening Star Also Rises - Starscribe



Princess Luna is tired of living in her sister's shadow. She petitions Starswirl for help, and what she receives is far from what anypony expected. The real question is whether Equestria will survive her mistake.

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Chapter 57: Nightmare at Last

Outside the castle, Hayden could hear the sound of war. The steady crack of her own arquebus weapons, answered by volleys of crossbow bolts. Tonight’s rain was not of water, but of blood.

But those soldiers weren’t meant to keep princess Luna from entering the castle, not really. At the first sign of serious resistance, the fleet was to retreat to the outpost of Canterlot, leaving Celestia and Hayden behind surrounded by the enemy.

Princess Celestia sat by one of the windows near the thrones, watching the battle from below.

“How can you do that?” Hayden asked, probably a little too boldly. “Watch your ponies die, not do anything about it…”

Celestia turned. Despite her apparent confidence, her voice was pained. “Because I trust them, Evening Star. Because I know they will obey my commands, and that in doing so they’re creating the best chance for their families to survive. Were your soldiers not willing to die for a cause like that?”

“They were,” Hayden eventually said. “I understand why we can’t help them. I just… I was never good at leaving them.”

“That is why my sister led the military, and I did not. I was willing to trust the generals I had trained to do their job. But my sister… she always said our own power ought to be used in Equestria’s defense. That we could prevent much suffering and save many lives if we did.”

“Sounds like she was right.”

Celestia shrugged. “You think you’re human, don’t you? I do not know your history, but I can make an educated guess. When serious conflict came to your nation, did some higher power put themselves into combat to protect you from the consequences of war? Or did fighting one battle inspire you to change the terms of the next one?” She nodded down at Hayden’s armor.

“No nation of pacifists creates armor like that. Or like the weapons that are at this moment slaughtering ponies of Equestria. My sister is right, and by fighting she did prevent the loss of many lives. And maybe as a result the ponies of Equestria judged that war wasn’t something to fear. The nobility of Harmony—may they run forever with the great herd—scoffed at the danger of the Stonebeaks. They knew that their Alicorns would keep them safe. Maybe if they didn’t, they would’ve taken their defense more seriously.”

So you’re saying you were right to do nothing, and Luna was wrong to help people. Hayden had a hard time accepting that, but she didn’t argue the point. Just now, she needed more unity with Celestia, not less.

“Once she has been trapped, how will you cure her?” Hayden eventually asked. But the sound of violence outside was dying down. There were only a few cracks of firearms, and by the look of it the fleet was retreating. The time is almost here, then.

“I do not know,” Celestia said. “Star Swirl may have something in mind. Perhaps there is something like the method you used to treat your own infection, only at a much greater scale. Or… perhaps I’ll need to find new bearers for the Elements. I have plenty of time. A little psychohistorical engineering could be used to ensure they are available when they’re needed.” She shook her head. “You likely won’t have to worry about it, Evening Star. When my sister is trapped… I do not believe you will survive. You are not enough of your own pony, and her power will not be able to sustain you.”

Hayden shrugged. “It’s a good day to die.”

Far away in the castle grounds, the massive front doors banged. They hadn’t been repaired, just a new length of wood set in place to bar them, and Hayden could hear them coming loose in their mountings. Hayden checked to make sure all her preparations were ready—yes, Achelois was where she left it, ready to be drawn. Her last few artifacts from Earth were all concealed on her possession as well. Whether or not they were real—whether or not Hayden had ever been human or not, as the void had tried to imply she wasn’t—she felt like she was. When they buried her, she would have enough for future archeologists to know what she had been.

“I promise you this, Evening Star. Whatever my historians write of you, I will not permit them to say you were a coward.”

The doors banged again, and this time were accompanied with the tear of stone. The throne room did not have a view to the grand entrance, but she could still hear the echo of sound quite clearly.

“I do not believe she will bring her soldiers,” Celestia said. “She knows they won’t serve her here; they would only be destroyed by the proximity of the Elements. But if she doesn’t care about their lives, you may need to kill some of your old friends.”

“More blood for my hands. They should’ve been clean.” But Avalon had only the one void syphon, and she had only so many ponies who had been infected recently enough to be purified without killing them. Few soldiers had been on that list.

“Sister, the time has come!” boomed a voice. Not quite Luna’s voice, anymore. “The night arrives that has no end.” From the other end of the castle, lights started to go out. Torches that the army had brought were now extinguished, and clouds of thick darkness rolled towards them along the floor. Further parts of the throne room were already obscured—but they did not approach Celestia, or the throne.

“My sister didn’t want that,” Celestia said. “Princess Luna understood the effect of our orbit on climate. She knew that altering it in that way would bring a swift death. Baking one half, while the other half was frozen, and incredible storms tore buildings from their foundations in the liminal zone.”

Oh, right, their religion. But why are they debating it in front of me? Hayden hadn’t ever confronted Luna about the whole “raising the sun and moon” thing. It hadn’t come up often. And when it did, she hadn’t ever felt a single drop of deception from the moon princess. She really believed it, just like her subjects. I guess the demon that she’s become still believes it too.

Something was taking shape in the darkness. A dark figure silhouetted against the blackness. The one the ponies of Equestria had taken to calling “Nightmare Moon” was taller than Hayden by some margin now, taller than Celestia even. Her presence in the room alone made it hard to think.

To her surprise, Nightmare Moon didn’t try to argue with Celestia. She emerged from the shadows, darkness still concealing her hooves. Luna’s original shape was barely visible under all that darkness. It was hard for Hayden to tell if there was even skin under there, or if her dark coat swirled into the emptiness of the void.

“And you,” Nightmare Moon said. “Hayden—you stand beside the one who betrayed you. You should be fighting with me against the solar tyrant. She’s the only reason we’re in this position, you understand that, don’t you? She abandoned those parts of Equestria that weren’t pure enough for her. She wasn’t even brave enough to wield the knife herself—she let the hoof of our enemies wield it. If she had gotten her way, you and everypony you love would be dead in Icefalls.”

“I know,” Hayden said. “I hate her for what she did, Luna. If this was my world, I’d want to see her tried as a war criminal. But it isn’t—and now you’re the one attacking innocent people, not her.”

“That isn’t my name!” the dark Alicorn bellowed, and the glass still left in the windows shook in their frames. Hayden retreated a step, focusing briefly on the sword. Would she need it yet? Maybe not. I shouldn’t need it at all.

But if Hayden had relied on what ought to be done, she wouldn’t have done anything. Celestia shouldn’t have abandoned the north. Shouldn’t have treated her sister so badly that she sought the help of demons and daemons for help. But here they were.

“I’m not attacking any innocents, Hayden. You know better than most. You saw what they did to your kind. Your children, in a way. All of them come from you, don’t they Hayden? Your relationship with Nightbreeze is at the heart of all of this. In a way, I’m a better mother than you are.” She gestured a wing towards the window. “Don’t worry, they still want you back. They’ll still forgive you. When I’m done with my sister, you will see reason. You’ll see.”

“The daemon isn’t part of this, Luna. This is between us.” Celestia’s horn glowed, and a little of the smoke drifting towards them melted away in its light. “But I don’t think we need to fight, sister. I think you know how much damage you’re causing to Equestria. How many lives you’re taking. I think you want to stop. So I give you this one offer. Surrender—free the slaves you have trapped in your army. My sorcerer is already working on—”

“I’M NOT LUNA!” Nightmare Moon bellowed. “All this time you’ve spent turning the ponies of Equestria against me, sister, and you couldn’t even be bothered to learn my name! I shouldn’t be surprised—you took everything else I loved away from me. You didn’t trust me with the army, you left my pitiful domain to be pillaged by the Stonebeaks. You’re a tyrant, Celestia. I will not negotiate with you.” Her horn began to glow, the same blue as the strange moon outside.

Celestia rose to meet her, and the shockwave that came next sent Hayden flying. At least she had the good sense to cover her head, and to avoid bits of falling stone as the weakened roof caved in around them.

The Alicorns rose into the air above her, and Luna’s distant army moved out of the way. They could do nothing here against a power like this, no more than Hayden could. She watched powers that could liquefy mountains and freeze lakes clash in the air above them. If any ponies were left alive in Harmony, they wouldn’t be after tonight. The terrible clash ripped new canyons in the ground, and strange clouds began to rise up from the forest.

Luna was fighting to kill, and so she could focus all her energy, all her strength on the battle. But Celestia had another task. Luna hadn’t noticed the gemstones of the elements tucked under Celestia’s armor. Three, to be precise.

Hayden could feel the other three under her own armor, and their connection to Celestia. She could sense Celestia’s agony at what she was having to do to her sister. Some part of her wanted to lose.

If it wasn’t for what Nightmare Moon might do to Equestria, maybe she would’ve given up. Taken her death as the punishment her actions deserved.

As it was, Celestia was losing. Nightmare Moon fought her back at every turn, and it was all she could do to keep fighting. Hayden thought about flying out to help her more than once—but when the weapons of choice were blasts of plasma wider than the castle and each strike left a crater in the ground, she didn’t think even Achelois would make much of a difference.

Then Celestia crashed back into the throne room. Stone splintered all around her, and she nearly broke through into the floor below. Blood dribbled from her nose, and her limbs were cut in a dozen places. How are you still alive?

Hayden rushed to her side, lowering a hoof to help her out. “Are you…”

“Almost,” Celestia croaked. “A minute more. P-please.”

Nightmare Moon touched down on the ground behind them. For all Celestia had been beaten, the queen of the night seemed almost unhurt. Her mane was a bit dimmer than it had been, the glow from her eyes more subdued. But that was it. “I’m glad you’re here, Hayden. The time of our ascendancy has arrived. Equestria has always had two rulers. I will be glad to have you at my side.”

She glanced briefly at Hayden’s sword, then drew her own. Its blade was like her coat, darkness that went all the way down into the abyss.

It didn’t seem to have an edge—no matter how far Hayden looked, there was always a little more. So she looked away. But she didn’t move from beside Celestia.

“I know you won’t side with her,” Nightmare Moon continued. “I know you have always struggled with difficult decisions. You can’t easily command your troops to go to battle, you can’t take the lives of those who have wronged you. That’s why Equestria has always had two rulers. One is firm, the other is compassionate. There will be a place for you here.”

She lifted the sword, advancing on Celestia. The white Alicorn couldn’t even muster the magic to stay standing, not without Hayden’s help. Her limbs shook, and she didn’t look up at her sister. She seemed to be muttering quietly to herself.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Celestia said, her voice barely loud enough for them to hear over the rain and crumbling castle around them. “For the way I treated you. If I could go back, do it all again… I would be a better sister.”

“But you can’t,” Nightmare Moon said, her voice almost a laugh. “This is always the way it happens. The evil see in their last moments what could have made them just. But you chose wrong, sister. And now the payment is due. Say hello to our parents for me.”

She swung, so swift her sword seemed to wound the sky as it cut. But Hayden was just as fast—exactly as fast, to be precise. Achelois caught the terrible blade with a sound like two mountains colliding, showering them with sparks that floated like little stars.

Nightmare Moon retreated as though Hayden had just attacked her, eyes wide. “Hayden!” She was shouting now. “Hayden, be wise. I am offering you a place in my new world. I’m offering you everything we deserved, everything she denied us. You are sacrificing yourself to defend the one pony in the world who deserves it the least.”

“No,” Hayden squeaked, meeting her eyes. Celestia wasn’t the only one crying anymore. “It’s not for her.”

Nightmare Moon roared, and suddenly the sword was coming at her again. Not even trying to strike Celestia this time. The blade was almost invisible against the darkness, and Hayden had less than a second to anticipate each strike.

But Hayden didn’t have to rely on the training the Guard had given her. Hayden had all of Luna’s practice with the sword in there, somewhere. She let her instinct guide her, parrying on the left, stopping a low sweep, retreating out of range of a high-armed strike. She dodged a bit of rubble Nightmare Moon ripped out of the ground, keeping close to Celestia all the while.

“You’re my familiar!” Nightmare Moon raged. “You only exist to serve me! If you cannot obey my commands, then I’ll send you back where I took you from!”

Hayden felt something wrap around her neck. She shuddered, and the sword clattered through the stone floor, where it sunk right down to the hilt. Hayden dropped to the ground at Luna’s hooves.

The world looked suddenly washed out, and she could feel something tugging at her from behind. A door had been opened, and it wanted her back.

“No,” Princess Celestia said. “I’m sorry.” Light exploded from beside her, returning color to the world and breath to Hayden’s lungs.

She could feel the Elements, tight against her skin in her armor. Hayden had no connection to Celestia of her own—she had been betrayed by this pony, treated with nothing but contempt. But they had Luna in common. They both wanted Equestria to survive. They both hated what Luna had become, wanted to free her from its control.

That was enough.

Nightmare Moon struck out with her sword again, but in vain. This time she couldn’t even swing it—light had surrounded her. She no longer looked so very large and terrible. All the shadows of her being seemed small.

The air around them roared, and suddenly the moon was very close. Its pale surface filled the sky before Hayden, and she realized she was floating. On a surface of pale rock and craters, light bloomed from a square of towers that lit up like stars.

I’ll be back, Hayden heard, or thought she heard. Order will be established in Equestria. There will be justice. You won’t deny me a second time.

I know.

Everything went dark.

Author's Note:

Holy crap I can't believe we're almost to the end. There's one more chapter left, then this story will have reached its conclusion. Over a year later, and... we actually made it. But I'll say more about that next week.

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