Chapter 23
There were a few different ways to teleport. The easiest, and the one that Sunset Shimmer had mastered, simply created a bubble in space and then changed where that bubble (and everything in it) was located. It was similar to painting a different house number on your front door and expecting to have the building appear down the street, except unlike that, it worked and didn't violate any local zoning laws about shifting houses around.
The spell Celestia had used was called 'Any Teleport in a Storm' and was designed as way to escape to safety even when the caster wasn't sure where the nearest safe place was. It was significantly more difficult to cast than Sunset's, but also ensured that you didn't appear a thousand feet in the air, inside solid rock, or on fire.
As a result, Princess Cadance, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Midnight Twinkle arrived quite safely at their destination. However, they also had absolutely no idea what that destination was, aside from depressing, damp, dark, and probably a few other words starting with the letter 'D'.
"I hate teleporting," Cadance groaned. "I always feel like I left my lunch behind."
"Cypress trees. Overcast. Constant mist hanging over things." Sunset Shimmer looked around warily. "We've only gone about... a few dozen miles." She groaned. "I can't teleport us back!"
"Is that Canterlot?" Twilight asked, pointing into the distance. Just visible was a plume of smoke rising from the far side of a mountain range. A bolt of light struck down from the sky, painfully bright to look at even from this distance, and there was a rumble of distant thunder.
"She must be fighting Discord," Sunset said. "I've never seen a spell like that." She paused. "I can't believe she never taught me that spell!"
"I think we have a bigger problem," Cadance said. She pointed up at the gaps in the patchy cloud layer. The sun and moon were chasing each other across the sky like a cat pursuing a mouse.
"What?" Sunset gasped. "Is Discord doing that?"
"Do you know a lot of other people that could?" Cadance asked.
"But if he's moving the sun, what happened to Princess Celestia?" Midnight asked.
Sunset narrowed her eyes in the shifting light, watching the sky intently. The sun froze in place for just a moment, like a baleful eye staring down through the haze of clouds.
And on its surface, in black sunspots, was the mirror image of the Mare in the Moon.
"I'm going back to Canterlot," Sunset said, her throat dry. "Maybe she's- she might still be okay. I can help."
"She didn't want us in the way," Cadance said. "We need to respect Celestia's wishes."
"Princess Celestia makes a lot of bad decisions!" Sunset snapped. "She's a cornucopia of poor judgement sometimes! If we go right now we can... we can..." She trailed off.
"Neither of us is as strong as her. What we need to do is come up with a plan. A good plan. If we run out and get hurt, well..." Cadance looked down. "As awful as it sounds, the two of us might be Equestria's last hope."
Midnight coughed. Sunset and Cadance turned to look at the two younger mares.
"In case you've forgotten, we're here too," Midnight said. "And we're like, super strong compared to the average pony. Plus I've got adventuring experience and Twilight is very well-read."
"I do read a lot of books." Twilight agreed.
Sunset looked at Cadance, then back at Midnight and Twilight. "This isn't a good time or place for this discussion. I've been here before, and it's not safe outside even during the daytime."
Midnight looked up at the shifting sky. "Is it daytime?"
Twilight shook her head. "I'm not sure what to call it."
"If we're not sure, that only makes it more dangerous," Sunset said. "There are things here that eat ponies." She started walking, her hooves sinking into the soft, wet moss that formed the ground. "Town should be this way."
"I've never seen this many bat ponies in one place," Twilight whispered. "They're all staring at us!"
Hollow Shades felt like a dead town. The constant dampness had clearly taken its toll on the buildings, all of them looking ancient and half-rotten. The architecture itself was vertical and gothic, with overhanging eaves that stretched so far out into the streets that they nearly touched the building on the opposite side, like the buildings were stretching into a tunnel above them. Yellow eyes stared from the shadows as they passed, bat ponies watching them intently.
"They might remember the last time I was here," Sunset said. "I had to chase down a Timber Marewolf. She'd gotten infected by a forest spirit and she was going totally feral. Turned out that she'd cut down some kind of ancient tree and the ghost of the tree itself had cursed her."
"What did you do?" Midnight asked.
"Only way to get rid of a ghost is to burn the body," Sunset shrugged. "Thankfully dead trees burn really well. Unfortunately, it had been turned into lumber and used to build part of her house, so, uh, I ended up causing a major structure fire in the middle of town. I might not be super popular around here."
"Actually, I think they're all looking at me," Cadance said. "I get the feeling they don't see a lot of princesses around here."
"You might be right," Sunset muttered. She stepped over to one of the few market stalls dotting the main street. A few bits later, she had four cloaks. "Here. These will keep the rain away and make us stand out less."
"I think it's the only place in Equestria where wearing a spooky cloak makes you fit in," Cadance said, quietly, as she put her regalia away.
"There should be an inn down the street," Sunset said, after they were all appropriately dressed.
"This feels more like a proper adventure now," Midnight said. "We should visit the blacksmith, too."
"Swords won't help," Sunset said, as she led them down an almost pitch-black alleyway. They emerged onto another street, almost identical to the first, except for the signs hanging from the buildings. Sunset opened a door, letting light and sound spill out onto the street, and ushered the others inside.
"Oh, well, this is a pleasant surprise," Cadance said, looking around. Instead of a rat's nest like she had been expecting, everything was done up very tastefully in warm-looking wood and red velvet. A few ponies sat at the bar or the booths around the room, all of them speaking quietly. A mare was playing an oddly-shaped string instrument in the center of the room, the music somewhere between a harp and glass bells.
"It's not a bad town," Sunset said, as she slid into a booth, the others following. "Just keep your heads down. Their customs are a little different than the rest of Equestria and it's better just to let them do their own thing and we do our thing."
"Drinks?" Asked a mare as she stepped up to the table.
"Two ales, two teas," Sunset said. "Thank you."
The mare nodded and walked away.
"What's that?" Twilight asked, pointing to a candle-lit shrine in a wall sconce behind the bar. Flowers and small silver medals had been left in front of a small, stylized statue of a rearing pony, wings spread wide.
"A lot of the ponies here belong to the Nightmare Cults," Sunset said. "That'd be one of those different customs that I said to just ignore and keep your head down about."
"A nightmare cult?" Midnight asked. "You mean like Nightmare Moon?"
"Exactly like Nightmare Moon," Sunset whispered. "Celestia never made the cults illegal, so it's not like it's a crime. They mostly just pray to her in the same way a lot of ponies pray to Celestia."
"Why would ponies pray to Celestia?" Midnight tilted her head.
"She moves the sun," Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's pretty important goddess-level stuff."
"Celestia doesn't like it," Sunset said. "So she doesn't encourage them. She doesn't think of herself as a goddess."
"Nightmare Moon is the true ruler of Equestria," the mare said, having returned silently. She put their drinks down on the table. "When Equestria needs her most she'll return to save us."
"She's not giving us a whole lot of help right now," Sunset muttered.
"You could try praying to her, then sleeping," the bat pony suggested. "She listens to dreams and gives answers in prophecy."
"Thanks for the tip," Sunset said, frowning. The mare nodded and walked away. "Getting a decent night's sleep is maybe the best suggestion anypony's had so far."
"The first thing we should do is make sure Twilight and Midnight are kept safe," Cadance said. She sniffed at the ale in front of her, then tried it. "That's got a really strange flavor."
"They brew it with pumpkin," Sunset said. "They eat a lot of squashes and stuff here. Fruits and vegetables don't grow well locally with all the shade."
"Can I try the ale?" Midnight asked.
"You're not old enough," Sunset said. "Drink your tea. Something warm will help after standing out in the rain."
"We're strong enough to help," Twilight said. "We don't have to go somewhere safe. We should go with you so we can help."
"It's dangerous," Sunset said. "I can't protect you."
"We can protect ourselves," Midnight said. "Cadance is the one who needs protecting the most. She probably can't even cast a fireball spell."
"I'm getting pretty good at shield spells," Cadance said, meekly. "But... I don't know if I can help much if it came to a fight."
"Even if you're only throwing low level stuff around, you've got a lot of power behind it," Sunset said. "Don't forget that."
"But with me around it's also going to be difficult to travel without everypony knowing who we are."
"I'm not worried about that. What I am worried about is figuring out how to stop Discord." Sunset's horn flashed, and saddlebags dropped on the table. "Always have an emergency kit ready to summon," she explained.
"What do you have in it?" Cadance asked.
"I bet I know," Midnight said. "Marbles to check if the floor is level, iron rations, flasks of oil, a ten-hoof pole-"
"Mostly food and bits," Sunset said, interrupting her. "And a few maps."
"What about- what about shelter? Or lockpicks?" Midnight asked.
"Or books to read!" Twilight added.
"If I'm in town, I can buy those things with bits. If I'm not in town, food and water are a lot more important than lockpicks." Sunset rolled her eyes. "This isn't like the games you girls play with Shining Armor. This is real life, and nopony has ever owned a ten-hoof pole."
"Your mom is terrible at adventures," Twilight whispered.
"It's a good thing we're here," Midnight whispered back.
Cadance started giggling, and Sunset's eye twitched. She pulled out a few rolled-up maps and spread them on the table, using the cups to hold the corners down.
"We need to figure out where Celestia would have put the Elements of Harmony," Sunset said, looking over a map of Equestria. "I think it's pretty safe to say she didn't put them at the bottom of the ocean or in Griffonia."
"They've got to be in Equestria," Cadance agreed.
"It would help if I knew what they looked like," Sunset sighed. "Or how big they were, where they were kept, or how they were used in the first place."
"Well, they can't be as big as a city or they'd be hard to hide," Cadance offered. "And if Celestia was being literal about wielding them in battle against Discord, maybe they're weapons. Like, swords and axes and spears."
"I don't think so," Sunset said. She tapped her hoof on the map while she tried to remember everything she'd ever heard about them. "If they turned Discord to stone it implies that they're some kind of spellcasting focus."
"Well, according to the book I found, they're gems," Midnight offered. "Remember? It was about Luna and Celestia, and in the end how Celestia, um." She blushed. "I guess that's not a safe topic around here."
"No, but... it is a lead," Sunset scratched her chin. "Gems make as much sense as anything else."
"Maybe we should take this another way," Cadance offered. "Where would Celestia put what are probably the most powerful magical artifacts in the world?"
"In a vault," Twilight said. "Logically speaking, we're in a time of relative peace, so the most important thing is to put anything world-changing like that where nopony could get to it. She'd also want the vault to be close to her, so probably in Canterlot itself."
"...No," Midnight said, after a moment of silence. "If they were in Canterlot, she would have taken us there to retrieve the artifacts. That implies that she doesn't actually have them."
"But there's probably information about them," Sunset said. "Celestia has to have something somewhere."
"But we can't go back with Discord there," Cadance countered. "It's dangerous." She looked significantly at Midnight and Twilight.
"I've got enough money here to put them up for a month and keep them fed," Sunset said. "If it takes much longer than that to figure things out, I don't know if bits are going to be all that important at that point."
"Sunset, we can help!" Twilight said, firmly.
"Just don't argue with me right now," Sunset sighed. "Look, we're all... adults, or close enough." She looked at Midnight and Twilight. "We need to get rest. First thing tomorrow, you can make your case about coming with me and Cadance."
"I can't believe they're going to just leave us here!" Midnight huffed, as she paced in circles around the small room. It was nicely appointed, aside from the overly-high ceiling overhead and the exposed beams that made the oil lamps cast strange shadows overhead.
"I can," Twilight said, sadly. "Sunset's your mom. And Cadance is... sort of also your mom?" Her nose scrunched up. "I don't really know if it counts if they're not married."
"So what's that got to do with it?" Midnight asked.
"It's a mom's job to keep her foals safe," Twilight said. "She just wants to keep you out of danger. It's what my mom would do if she was here."
"Well, um..." Midnight stopped pacing. "I'm sure your mom is fine. She seems like a smart pony."
"But she lives in Canterlot and we don't even know what the city is like right now," Twilight said. "She could be all grey and mean like the ponies at the castle."
"If she is, then we'll find a way to fix her. With magic, obviously," Midnight said. "There's probably some kind of spell for it. Celestia probably knows it, so once we defeat Discord and free her-"
"But she didn't even try helping the ponies at the castle," Twilight pointed out.
"It might only work on one pony at a time," Midnight said. "Or maybe Discord has to be defeated first. There's a lot of reasons why she might have decided to avoid it for now."
"Either way, I want to go find her," Twilight said. "I have to know if she's okay, and what happened to my brother. He should have been stationed in the castle. And Spike! He's only a baby dragon! How is he going to take care of himself without me there?"
"What we need is a better plan than just hoping we find the Elements of Harmony and figure out on our own how to make them work," Midnight said. "If Celestia was here she could just tell us where she left them and how they worked last time."
"And she's the only pony who could, which is probably why Discord banished her to the sun," Twilight said. She stepped over to the window and moved the thick curtain enough to look outside. Midnight joined her after a moment. "There's no one on Equestria that knows where they are now."
Outside, the constant drizzle turned the dour little town even less inviting. From this higher floor they could see a courtyard that was hidden from street-level views by a tall wall. A circular pool dominated it, with a statue of Nightmare Moon standing tall in the center. Low-set mage lights made the statue look intimidating and unearthly.
"No one on Equestria," Midnight repeated, muttering. She began to get the spark of an idea. A really terrible idea. It was only a minor variation of a plan she'd come up with years ago, clicking into place like gears suddenly shifting into reverse. She smiled.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"I've got a plan. A great plan."
"I don't like that face," Twilight said. "It means that you haven't thought your plan all the way through and you're going to ignore the huge amount of problems involved."
"Don't worry, this is a really stupid plan. It's so stupid it can't possibly fail!" Midnight grinned widely. "What we need isn't Celestia. It's a pony that knows everything about Discord and the Elements of Harmony."
"That's Celestia," Twilight said, flatly. "Unless- no." Her ears folded back. "You can't be serious."
"I'm very serious. We need more firepower, and there's an alicorn just waiting in the wings who would probably be happy to help." She pointed at the statue of Nightmare Moon.
"Excuse me, sir?" Midnight coughed, getting the attention of the black-robed batpony tending to the small garden of nightshade and ferns. "I was hoping we could speak for a few moments."
The older stallion turned to look at the two young mares, raising an eyebrow.
"About Nightmare Moon," Twilight added, somewhat reluctantly.
"Ah," the bat pony said. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You aren't from around here. Many ponies come asking questions about the true and rightful ruler of Equestria."
"From what I understand, Nightmare Moon and Celestia worked together to defeat Discord the first time he appeared," Midnight said. "Do you know much about that?"
"Of course," the bat pony said. He nodded for them to follow him while he walked towards the statue in the center of the courtyard. From up close, it was even more intimidating than it had seemed from the window. "Long ago, Nightmare Moon and Celestia were friends and sisters..."
"Discord is a menace," Luna said, flatly. "You can't control him and you never have."
Celestia huffed and turned away from her sister, staring out the window. "He's nice. If ponies gave him a chance and tried to be his friend he wouldn't get upset and do things like this."
"He turned the clouds into glue!" Luna yelled. "I was stuck on a raincloud for four hours before I managed to free myself, which wouldn't have been so bad except it flipped over and I was hanging upside-down for most of that time!"
"You insulted him," Celestia said.
"Half the harvest, Celestia," Luna said. "Half of it is ruined. Do you even care about how difficult your 'friend' is making life for our parents?"
"He can fix it!" Celestia retorted.
"He probably can," Luna agreed. "But will he? And even if he does, it doesn't give him the right to ruin that much hard work in the first place. You need to rein him in before I do it myself."
"And lo, Nightmare Moon admonished her spiteful sister and warned her of the danger that she saw forthcoming. As ever, her warnings were ignored." The Bat Pony was clearly reciting things from memory.
"I was kind of hoping he'd just have some reference books," Twilight whispered.
"I think at this point they'd be holy texts," Midnight whispered back.
"What about the final battle with Discord?" Twilight asked. "We're um, sort of on a time limit for this."
The bat pony turned to them and rolled his eyes. "'Skip ahead a bit, brother.' Just like all the foals. You only want to hear the excting parts."
"It's sort of relevant," Midnight said, embarrassed. "We'd really like to hear the whole story sometime, but Discord sort of escaped from confinement and-"
"Discord escaped?!" The bat pony yelped.
"Right, yes. So we just sort of need as much information as possible," Twilight said. "You see, my-" She glanced at Midnight. "Partner? Sort-of-Sister? Classmate? Twin? One of those things. She's got this plan and we need to know how feasible it is."
"...The prophecy says that when the time is right, the stars will aid in Nightmare Moon's release and she will return to reclaim the throne of Equestria," the bat pony said. "It's prophesy rather than history, right at the end of the Book of Darkness. Then it goes on to make a few other minor predictions that make little sense-"
A strong wind blew the mists aside for a moment and pushed Twilight and Midnight's cloaks from their backs, revealing their star-shaped cutie marks.
"...The stars will aid in her escape..." the bat pony muttered. "Tell me about this plan of yours."
Inside, Midnight had spread out her scrolls. "...and you can see here that readings clearly show that between two lunar cycles, the banishment spell has weakened slightly, and successive readings show the decline as accelerating."
"So her escape is near?" The bat pony, who had eventually identified himself as Night Watch, muttered and ran a hoof down the scroll. "What's this part about blowing up the moon?"
"Well, you know," Midnight coughed. "Make plans for everything."
"Why would you ever want to blow up the moon? Millions would die and-"
"Yes, I know!" Midnight huffed. "I've heard this speech before!"
"I didn't know you actually had readings of the banishment spell," Twilight said. "If this is right, the whole thing would break down in a few years. No wonder you had all these crazy plans..."
"There's no way we'll be able to rescue Celestia on our own if we have to contend with a spell like this at full strength," Midnight said. "It's really intense. But with an old spell, fraying at the edges already? We might be able to crack it like an egg."
"I don't know if this is a good idea," Twilight said. "We don't really know what she'll be like. What if Nightmare Moon doesn't even want to help? Hay, what if she joins Discord?"
"She would never do that," Night Watch retorted. "She is Equestria's true queen and-"
"Do you have a better idea?" Midnight asked. "Because we need to do something. Even if she doesn't want to help, she can't make things worse. If nothing else, she'll probably keep Discord busy for a while."
"You know Sunset wouldn't want us to do it," Twilight said.
"We don't need her permission. She wanted us to prove that we could be useful, right? This is the way to do it."
Sunset jotted a few more items down on her wishlist. She wasn't sure that the town would even have an aether collector to sell to her, but she wouldn't know for sure until she asked.
"So you still think we should go to Canterlot?" Cadance asked. She hadn't bothered replacing her regalia. She didn't feel much like a princess right now. "But you said-"
"I know what I said. If the Elements were there, she would have used them," Sunset said. "But it's still the only place with clues. You know how much Celestia liked her secrets and her layers within layers and-" Sunset shook her head. "Is this why she had you and me splitting her duties? Did she know this was going to happen?"
"I think she knew something was going to happen," Cadance suggested. "I mean, given enough time-"
Sunset stopped and clutched her chest, wincing.
"What's wrong?" Cadance asked, standing up and taking a step towards her.
"I-" Sunset groaned as her leylines erupted in light again, the pain overwhelming her for a moment. It was so bright that the entire room was glowing with cyan light. "It's just a bad reaction to all the magic that got thrown around." Her voice was strained.
"This is happening more and more often," Cadance said, keeping her distance. "It's getting worse."
"A lot of things are getting worse!" Sunset snapped. "Right now I'm worried about Equestria getting worse, not about-" she grunted and the light coming from her body flickered. "-some stupid medical condition! I can control this. I just have to push it back and..." She closed her eyes and held her breath, sweat dripping from her body as the light finally faded away. "T-there. Done."
She was shaking like a leaf, her body clearly pushed to its limits.
"What are you going to do if that happens while we're trying to deal with Discord?" Cadance asked.
"I'll keep it under control," Sunset said. Her tone sounded more like a challenge than a fact. "But... I think we could use some help. Not for me. Two of us infiltrating Canterlot, that's not a lot of hooves on the ground. If we can hire on a couple more ponies to help, we'll have a better shot at it."
"What were you thinking?" Cadance asked.
"Well, we've got a sorceress and a paladin," Sunset muttered. "Might as well try for a fighter and a thief. Somepony strong so they can help if we run into those ponies Discord is controlling, and somepony sneaky who can help us get into the castle without being seen."
"And you were yelling at Midnight for treating this like a game?" Cadance smiled a little.
"Hey, unlike Midnight, I know what I'm doing. Sort of. I've done a little breaking and entering in my time. If I can sneak books out of the forbidden section of the library without Celestia finding out, I can handle a chaos spirit who doesn't know all of my tricks yet."
"And you still want help?"
"I hedge my bets," Sunset said, simply. "If there's anything really important that I've learned from Celestia, it's that anything worth doing is worth doing with friends. Or with mercenaries, in this case. Tartarus, if they can actually help I'll make them my new best friends."
"Ah yes, nothing quite like friendship forged in the heat of battle," Cadance giggled. "Shining Armor might be able to tell us all about that." She paused. "I hope he's okay."
"He's a meathead, but he's also got a shield strong enough that I can't punch through it without exhausting myself," Sunset smiled. "I'm sure that he's fine. If I know him, he's probably working on his own rescue plan."
"You're right," Cadance said. "I guess we shouldn't be the ones slacking, then." Her ears twitched. "You know, the bar downstairs has gotten a lot louder."
"But it's the middle of the-" Sunset stopped. "Of course. Bat ponies. They're nocturnal. Come on, I'm going to do some recruiting and I could use a cute face."
"But you've already got one," Cadance said, pinching Sunset's cheeks.
"Fine, then I can use a nice flank," Sunset said, slapping Cadance's cutie mark. Cadance squeaked.
"Just don't promise them anything involving my flank."
"It's for the good of Equestria!" Sunset said, as she walked out into the hallway.
"Listen up!" Sunset yelled, from the stairs. Heads turned to look at her, conversations dying. "Everypony, in case you haven't noticed, there's a chaos spirit out there who thinks he can rule Equestria." She stepped down to the first landing, looking out over the crowd.
"While all of you are sitting here drinking and eating, he's destroying everything that lets us live in peace and harmony. I know what the griffons say, about how ponies don't like to fight, how they just run away from danger. That's a load of horseapples. All real Equestrians love a battle. When you were foals, you all admired the fastest flyer, the toughest guards, the champion archer. Equestrians play to win all the time. That's why Equestria has never lost and will never lose a war."
Sunset threw back her hood
"I know you're scared. Everypony is scared the first time they go into a real fight. Anypony who says he isn't is a liar. But we have a duty to the ponies around us and ourselves to do everything we can to fight for Equestria."
The bat ponies watched her with rapt attention. Cadance's wings were starting to stiffen on their own. She'd never heard Sunset make a speech like this before. It made her wonder if she could get her to be that commanding in bed.
"My name is Sunset Shimmer. I'm the strongest unicorn any of you are ever going to see because there isn't anypony stronger anywhere. Behind me is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and don't bother bowing because I want ponies who don't bow for anyone or anything."
She scanned the room, trying to read the expressions on the bat ponies. It wasn't easy. All of them were equally dour and stoic.
"I know what you're all thinking. If I'm so strong, why do I need help? Well, everypony has a part to play. If we all sit back and do nothing except search for the bottom of our cups, Discord is going to come here and turn you inside out just to see what you do when your wings are tickling your spleen."
Sunset stepped down the rest of the way to the middle of the room.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to Canterlot and I'm going to find a way to solve this mess. I'm not going to sit here and hope Discord doesn't show up and I'm not going to run away. The only way to win a fight is to fight it! Thirty years from now when you're sitting here and your grandfoal comes up and asks 'what did you do when Discord came back' you don't have to tell him you hid in your cellar and waited for somepony to save you. You can look him right in the eye and say 'Son, I saved Equestria with that awful bitch named Sunset Shimmer!' Now, who's with me?!" Sunset looked around the room.
It was dead silent.
"Nopony?" Sunset asked. "None of you? Is that it? Am I really looking at a room full of cowards? I didn't think anywhere was worse than Canterlot for useless bucking ponies sitting around and doing nothing, but maybe I was wrong!"
"It's not our problem," the bartender said, after no one answered her challenge. "If Discord wants Equestria he can have it."
"If- you live in Equestria!" Sunset snapped. "This is your problem too!"
"Why? Nopony ever helped us," a pony from across the room snorted. "Make all the speeches you want, all we want is to be left alone."
Cadance cleared her throat. "As a Princess of Equestria, I could order all of you to help, but I won't. If you don't want to help you don't have to. And if I'm being honest, if saving another pony isn't enough for you, I don't think I'd want your help anyway."
"Not my princess," grumbled another pony. "I didn't vote for her."
"You don't vote for royalty," another bat pony said. "They just get foisted on you like the weather or taxes."
"If you'll come with me to Canterlot and help me stop Discord I'll pay you," Sunset said. "One thousand bits. More if we run into trouble. If you want to handle this like mercenaries, we'll handle this like mercenaries."
"Do we look like griffons?" A pony yelled. "You can't just throw bits on the ground and expect us to kneel down before you and pick them up!"
"What you look like is cowards!" Sunset snapped. She turned and stomped back towards the stairs. "Come on, Cadance. It's clear we won't find help here after all."
"I thought your speech was really good," Cadance whispered.
"I stole it from General Pot Iron," Sunset muttered. "Paraphrased it a bit. It was the speech he gave before the siege of Beakwind and Talonko during the Second Griffonian War."
"It was still really good," Cadance said.
"Yeah, well, unlike me he was talking to ponies who actually wanted to protect their loved ones."
"One egg," Twilight said, reading from the checklist. They'd gathered back outside in front of the statue of Nightmare Moon. A big open area under the sky was practically a requirement for what they were doing.
"Check," Midnight reported. She sniffed. "It's fresh, too."
"Three bits of wood," Twilight said, moving to the next item.
"We only need two for the Rite," Midnight said. She held up the sticks.
"We'd only need two if we had rat blood on hoof," Twilight corrected. "And you know how angry Celestia got last time we used blood in spellcasting."
"I think she was angry because the Succubus started hitting on her," Midnight said. "Which was kinda hot. Until she banished it back to Tartarus."
"Yes, well," Twilight blushed. "We still managed to keep it around for a few hours before she found out, and that was more than long enough for- for the experiments we had planned out."
Midnight coughed. "Yes. The experiments. And gathering occult materials like horn shavings and... other materials."
"Right, yes." Twilight agreed quickly. "Which was all we did, as we both agreed was the story."
"This doesn't seem right," Night Watch frowned. "We need more dripping candles and burning incense. It's not a proper magical ritual without so much incense that you can't see your hoof in front of your face."
"You don't need all that for an unbounded summoning," Midnight said, rolling her eyes. "All you need for the most basic form of the Rite is a chicken egg and some wood. Ebony works best, but you can use anything except pine."
"Why can't you use pine?" Night Watch asked, curious.
"All evergreens are troublesome, but pine always shatters when you do the Rite. Even balsa wood isn't as bad about it. Something to do with resonance."
"I see," Night Watch muttered. "The workings of magic are strange."
"It's not strange, it's a science. A magical science." Twilight put her checklist to the side. "Now we just need to draw a perfect heptagon." She started sketching on the ground, marking points and drawing perfect lines in chalk.
"Should I be doing anything?" Night Watch asked.
"No, you've done a lot," Midnight said. "Thanks for the ritual robes. I don't know if they're actually blessed or not, but they really help with the ambiance."
"They were passed down through the blessed children of Nightmare for a thousand years." He said, proudly.
"And they were washed, right?"
"Of course," he said. "Dry-clean only. The material is very delicate. They haven't been worn since last month's Full Moon Fiesta, and they've been washed since."
"Full Moon Fiesta?" Midnight raised an eyebrow.
"Just because we're part of a cult doesn't mean we can't have fun once in a while," Night Watch said. "We're having a chili cook-off next week. Naturally, if you manage to free Nightmare Moon from her prison, you'll be invited as guests of honor."
"I do like chili," Midnight admitted.
"Heptagram is complete," Twilight announced.
"Can we use a little incense?" Night Watch asked. "It doesn't seem important enough without incense."
"Fine, light a few sticks," Twilight sighed. "Just keep it light. I have allergies."
"I don't have allergies," Midnight said.
"Well I don't have glasses," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Guess nopony's perfect. Now, if you'd please help me instead of discussing bean soup and old dresses?"
"They're robes, not dresses," Night Watch corrected.
"Whatever," Twilight said. "Midnight, I need your help with this."
Midnight stepped into place on the opposite end of the circle. Twilight carefully arranged the three sticks into a triangle and balanced the egg on its end in the center.
"Now remember," Midnight said. "It's a reversed banishment spell combined with a channeling spell. It should be almost like a magical syphon effect. We create an area of 'low' pressure and Nightmare Moon should, for lack of a better term, flow towards it along the channel created."
"And you're sure we don't want to even try putting a few protective or binding measures in place?" Twilight asked.
"The spell is experimental enough without having to reach through a Magic Circle Against Harm. Besides, she's as strong as Celestia. Do you know any magic circles that would hold Celestia?" Midnight smirked.
"No, and she'd probably be really upset even if they did work," Twilight sighed.
"Right. We want a good first impression. The ritual robes will help with that, and so will having a high priest of her cult."
"I will be the first of my brethren to see the return of our Eternal Queen of Darkness," Night Watch whispered, excited.
"See? I'm sure she'll love it. Ready?" Midnight smiled.
"We have to wait for midnight." Twilight looked up at the randomly changing sky. "Which might be... difficult."
"Do you think it's more important to have the sun out of the sky or the moon at its zenith?" Midnight asked.
"Well, the binding spell on the sun might really mess with the ritual," Twilight said. "But we need accuracy if we want Nightmare Moon to appear here instead of in Hippon, and that means having the moon where we want it."
"You know, as random as it looks, I think there's a pattern to it," Midnight said. "Like how ponies can't really generate random numbers. They have bias."
"They always pick three or seven," Twilight said. "Even numbers don't feel random, five is right in the middle, one and nine are too extreme, so they either do three or seven."
"Exactly," Midnight said. "Because it's not really random, there's a thought process behind it." She watched the sky for a minute. "It's been day for a while, so to make it 'feel' random it'll be night soon."
"Gambler's fallacy," Twilight muttered. "In a really random event streaks are just as likely as any other series of events."
The sky darkened. The moon moved in a twitching motion like the hand of a ticking clock, swerving through the sky as it lurched.
"Start casting!" Twilight said, channeling magic into the spell. Midnight did the same, magic sparkling in the center of the circle like a field of stars as space and time warped.
The moon hit its zenith, and stopped, flashing with colors. The egg in the center of the circle cracked, the three sticks catching alight with blue flame as dark mist poured from the cracked egg into a dense cloud of smoke.
Laughter rang as if from a great distance, coming closer.
"I think it's working!" Twilight yelled.
The circle erupted with light, and the moon jerked, continuing on its path. the smoke hanging in the air solidified, a shape coming into focus, rising up and looming over them with dark magnificence.
Eyes opened, and looked down on the tiny gathering with slit, dragon-like pupils.
"My queen!" Night Watch threw himself to the ground, prostrating himself.
"Equestria?" Nightmare Moon asked, as her body reformed, showing fangs when she spoke. "And even sooner than I expected." Her voice was haughty and melodious, harder and more authoritative than Celestia's. "Soon, the night will last forever!"
With a crackle of thunder, she reformed completely, a mare as tall and imposing as Celestia without a trace of the kindness or softness that the sun princess possessed. She laughed, her voice echoing through the streets. Twilight looked at Midnight, suddenly unsure of what they were doing.
"This was a great plan!" Midnight whispered, pleased.
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Oh wow, i wonder what Yellow mom and Pink mom will have to say about that.
Think you met Midnight there.
Well, there's a confidence booster...
I can't say I'm too surprised by the bats' apathy. They haven't actually seen any effects of Discord's reign beyond the crazed day-night cycle. That's not going to outweigh generations of marginalization.
As for the Nightmare's release... There is an exceedingly slim chance that this will go well. If nothing else, the twins will be the darlings of Hollow Shades.
What can possibly go wrong?
http://www.chrisjoneswriting.com/terry-pratchett-quotes/wizards-terry-pratchett-quote8 - related.
Y'know, if all the prophecies are coming early, one has to wonder how it'll affect Tirek and Sombra.
My bet is that somehow Midnight and Twilight will cause them to appear (again) before getting into trouble before giving them a massive headache and lots of trouble. Oh, better make it double since they're two of a kind. But hey, if it's to protect the world from devastation and if it somehow unites all people in their nation they could do it. Though one of their moms would try to denounce the evils of truth and the other love one might think with those two fillies they'd be trying to reach the stars above.
Oh god help me.
Man, here I was going to greet George 'Sunset' Patton, when she had to go and hang a lampshade on it.
Um... Was Sunset with Midnight and Twilight during their ritual summon of Darth Goth?
I swear it's like those fillies go out of their way to pick the most absurd option avaliable whenever they have a problem to solve.
Well, you have to pass it through Discord before it really happen.
Sunset is going to be pissed. At everyone.
She’s pissed at the town already. She’ll be pissed at Midnight for, let’s face it, deliberately disobeying her. She’ll be pissed at Twilight for not trying to stop her, or at least not getting an actual adult. She’ll be pissed at Cadance when she inevitably tries to get her to calm down. And she’ll be pissed at Nightmare because she doesn’t need this right now.
I don’t know what’ll happen after that, but Sunset is going to be pissed.
I think I know what kind of samples those two were getting from that succubus
. Naughty best friends, those two are.
Not best friends though, unfortunately
"So, yeah eternal night and all that jazz, can you help us deal with Discord please? He's kinda on the loose, Celestia is on the sun and we really could use having the elements right now."
I wonder how Nightmare will react to that
9013075
Goddammit that was hilarious
next up nightmare moon try to make it away night only to see sun move about and says "Discord is free isent he?"
Ah, the Pratchett is thick with this one...
Well, this is certainly going to be fascinating to see how it plays out. I wonder if Nightmare Moon will be willing enough to actually assist Midnight and Twilight defeat Discord or if she'll just try to do it herself. And I wonder what the bat ponies will think if/when Nightmare Moon turns back into Princess Luna. And very nice use of the prophecy, turning away from the literal use of freeing her and going for a more metaphorical one.
What worries me is that this is routine at this point for Midnight.
A couple of chapters ago, I was worrying that as we approached the start of the canon timeline, this fic would basically become stations of canon with a few extra characters hanging around.
Not so much worrying about that any more...
Yes, this is classic 'fire?! We'll fight it with MOAR FIRE' doctrine...
I love how they do ALL of this and not once do any of them think to mention this to Sunset...
Specially since they had been studying the wards on Nightmare meant that maybe Sunset could think of a way o liberate Celestia from the sun if she saw their notes.
I'm curious what this version of Nightmare will be like though. Did she see what was happening down below? Is she completely cut off?
I'm hoping Sunny doesn't blow up from the overload with magic, since it seems like she may be so close to enacting the terms for an ascension (or dying horribly?)!
Great chapter
So how old are Twilight and Midnight at this point? I'm a little confused by all the minor and not so minor time hops?
When all you have is a nigh-encyclopaedic and absurdly unsafe understanding of magic, all the world looks like a dark ritual... Or something. Well done, girls, you have your nuke. Have you thought about how to aim it?
Well this isn't good, Sunset is having a rather bad day isn't she? So Luna's worse half is free early for a fight she can't win to be asked a questions she only can guess at. Sure she will be right about the elements still being in the everfree castle and all, but she doesn't KNOW only can guess.
Got to love the two kids calling Sunset, a high, if not epic, level caster bad at adventuring, when she is the only one with any real monster slaying background. Sure Midnight has had her fun but it's nothing compared to what we've heard about Sunset's time.
And lastly, is Sunset keeping herself from ascending? It sounds like she is forcefully keeping it from happening, and it's getting stronger as it's happening more often. I mean, I could be wrong and she is going to blow up, but this sounds like the other.
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YOU LITTLE SHIT! :P
Hel-LO, Queen Moon! And now we get Nightmare Moon vs. Discord? SQUEEEE!
Sunset's gonna be PIIISSED.
Well Sunset wanted a warrior, and if Fannon is to be believed, Luna was the fighter of the two sisters. Add in Nightmare Moon's seemingly increased power and if nothing else, Discord will be distracted.
Of course, their is a question of getting them all to work togther. Sunset and Nightmare Moon are not exactly going to get along I suspect. In many ways they are similar which means Sunset will see Nightmare as the darkness that she suppresses and thus Luna as lacking control, and Nightmare will see Sunset as someone denying the true power and freedom that comes from discarding Celestia.
FORTUNATELY we have Cadance here. Jealousy is part of love...as is envy. If Luna didn't care for the other Ponies she wouldn't care that they favored Celestia. And thus, Cadance can convince Nightmare Moon to protect that which she loves....that revenge against Celestia can wait till the ponies she wants to earn the adoration of are safe.
HOWEVER....we are one pony short of a full set.
((Note: Below this point is silly levels of speculation....but fits what the cast knows. Still 99% sure I am pulling bullshit out of my arse.))
After all, the plan is to go to get the Elements of Harmony, and their is at this stage no reason for Nightmare Moon to suspect that Celestia's actions turned them to stone. So the party will almost certainly head for the castle of two sisters. Yet...its a party of 5.
Cadance: Element of Kindness (Doesn't really need to be explained)
Sunset: Element of Honesty (Blunt, to the point, and always trying to honestly do right by her ponies after taking over from Celestia)
Twilight: Element of Generosity (This one is a stretch....but the homework incident did happen.)
Midnight: Element of Loyalty (Despite her flaws, and they are numerous, Midnight shows a great deal of faith in those she trusts, AND has stuck by them.)
Nightmare Moon: Element of Magic (As she, like Twilight in Season 1 needs to understand Friendship, to feel the spark of having friends once more)
Where is our Laughter? Even if I got the other elements wrong, if we are creating a new set of 6 elements of harmony out of these ponies, Laughter is CLEARLY the missing one.
Well one thing's for sure, Midnight won't br earning an Element of Harmony any time soon. Dishonest, unloyal, terrible at making friends, not kind to others, not generous... maybe laughter, but even that's a stretch because she's not making anyone else laugh except herself. And the audience occasionally, but metaknowledge doesn't count.
Although the title implies that both Twilight and midnight are the main characters, the way things are going it looks like Sunset will be the element of friendship/magic. She's come a long way since her jerk-ass days.
well this can only end well
All we need now for the Thousand-Year-Trifecta is Sombra and we've got it all in one quick go. Like pulling off a Band-Aid.
9013190
They're no younger than 12-ish, because Midnight complained about puberty back in Chapter 16.
9013196
Sunset's juiced up on high levels of internal and external magic, but her mind/soul/whatever isn't in the right place. Everything won't line up properly, so the ascension process keeps getting stuck.
She needs "a moment of total clarity" and "a great need". And I'm guessing the latter has been fulfilled by the currently escalating crisis.
Should I start worrying these two would become a greater treat to Equestria than everypony else including Tirek and The Shadow Pony
There's no way Nightmare Moon is going to help them find the Elements of Harmony, but this might still sort of help... her and Discord will certainly keep each other busy for a while.
calling it now, they troll her into submission
9014041
I'm betting her moment of clarity is going to be when she needs to choose to save Midnight over Cadence/Celestia or sacrifice herself in order to save Celestia, but in a way where she realizes that under all the resentment and weird feelings... she's doing it for her mom and not for Equestria.
I'm wondering who are going to be the element bearers (if any) as I just cannot figure out a good 6-pony configuration that would be harmonious...
..... No it isn't, Midnight!
Those cultists and the ritual descriptions especially are straight out the the Wizard's College in Pratchett's Discworld. I just know it.
That's just always the best way to run things. :D
The epic speech fail was hilarious, too. I like how you're playing with how these things normally go.
I am now willing to bet they actually need a 10-foot pole, or that the Twilight Twins manage to GM their way to victory, to the utter shock of their minders.
And do I want to know why they summoned a succubus? That part really sounds like it would change the story's rating...
9013106
High Priest of Nightmare: "I'm an adult!"
Sunset: "You don't count!"
Well shoot
"Sometimes"
Also, while it's counterintuitive, it's spelled "judgment" not "judgement" (yes, I know, I despise it too).
Oh, my stars and garters. YES.
So many throwaway lines in this fic NEED a mini-fic.
XD
Yeah a great plan.