Those Forty Years

by Spell Writer

Radiant 4 - Pride of the Sun/Struggles of the Moon

Author's Note:

Inspiration is lovely isn't it?

Enjoy.

It was dark, almost pitch black. Luna was stuck seeing nothing but the glistening surface of the shadowy gemstones around her, reflecting her crying and scared face right back toward her. There is nothing she can do, her sister is just… too strong.

“M-mommy will fix this. Mommy always fixes stuff like this,” Luna says to her reflection, a little tremble in her voice as it cracks slightly. The last thing Luna wants is for her sister to be banished… or worse. Twilight won’t be happy when she sees the town’s state, and Celestia, or whatever controls her, won’t back down.

Her reflection smirks as it watches Luna’s curled-up form. Her reflection begins walking out from the dark crystals. “So that’s it, hm? Just going to let your sister win?” Luna(?) says with a smile.

“Oh, that’s no different now, is it? She’s always been prettier, better at almost everything except magic, and now you don’t even have that.” Luna(?) hums as she pushes the filly.

But there isn’t a response. Luna shook her head. “Mom may not be my actual mom, but she taught me more than anyone ever could. I know better than to give into YOU.” She says with a glare as she perks up at the presence of the other Luna. “You’re nothing but the dark, little tiny bits of my heart that are jealous of what my sister has. You are NOTHING compared to everything else going on right now, and the fact that you even dared to show up shows me how desperate you are to keep existing, Nightmare Moon.” She says with a happy smirk

Nightmare Moon is flabbergasted, attempting to speak… however, Luna has none of it. “The fact that you’re around means nothing to me. You’re just a dumb imaginary friend I made up, and all you did was make me even worse. Yes, I’m jealous of my sister’s relationships with all her friends, jealous that she’s so perfect at everything. Jealous that she was mom’s favorite and got to do basically whatever she wanted.”

With a huff, Luna continues, gently glowing with magic. “But she’s still my sister. She’s still family, and I will NEVER stop caring about and loving her, even when she’s like this.” She says as she stands up, sniffling a little bit but putting a brave face on.

“Fine, but don’t forget who got you through all that time. Who was there for you? Not Twilight, not Dad, not Mom, and certainly not Celestia. I’ll be waiting for the day you need me again.” Nightmare Moon says as she sinks back into the crystal.

“And when that day comes, I’ll make you regret abandoning me.” The ‘Imaginary Friend’ says as it returns to the reflection.

Luna shakes her head. “Alright… Celestia needs me, and I’m stuck in here. Come on, think. Thi-” Suddenly, the crystal wall crumbles to bits. Luna makes a confused “Wha?” as it happens.

Behind the crumbling wall is a heat-exhausted Queen Amore, already nearly unconscious. Her horn sparks gently, showing how intensely used it was to break the magical seal. The heat that surges through the crack is almost unbearable, Luna shuddering as she sees what’s going on.

The entire city is on fire, not just the flammable things. EVERYTHING is on fire. Fire comes from the crystal houses, the snow, and even water as the oxygen combusts from the intense heat. The only reason the ponies themselves are safe is due to all the unicorn’s magic, and it’s fading fast.

Amore would struggle and grunt to speak. “C-lestia is… in the throne room.” A dry cough escapes the Unicorn Queen. “Please… you’re our last hope.” She then gives Luna a Crystal. “This… is a siphoning Crystal… if you can pierce Celestia with it, the crystal will do its job and change all that negative magic into magic born from love and happiness.”

Luna shakes her head. “Wha? NO, I don’t want to hurt Celestia! I… I can’t!” But Amore has finally passed out from heat exhaustion, leaving Luna no chance to discuss this. Luna whimpers a little as she picks up the crystal before helping Amore to the last cool place in the castle.

Luna slides Amore into the broken magical circle, and with a little bit of hornwork, she completes it, minus all the dark magic, of course! The temperature inside the magic circle quickly begins to regulate and cool down, and Amore’s figure and breathing look better by the moment. The magical sigil was already pre-made with temperature regulation too! After all, Celestia didn’t want to hurt Luna either.

Luna then looks towards the city… and then down the stairs as she trots towards the throne room. She knows her sister would never actually kill anypony over something so petty… Right?

Luna begins to run as fast as she can towards the throne room as soon as that thought crosses her mind. The heat is getting to dangerous levels at this point, so there’s no time to waste. It doesn’t even cross her mind to wonder why she isn’t feeling the heat. She feels fine, maybe a little uncomfortable, sure, but overall okay.

Little did Luna know how much her sister needed her.

---

“STOP! Please!” Celestia says to the fiery pony in front of her, tears welling up in her eyes. The pair are in a dark, pitch-black space representing Celestia’s mind. “I don’t want this anymore! Stop hurting everyone!”

But the fiery pony scoffs in return. “You wanted this, didn’t you? Sure, you said that you want to make your mother proud, but it wasn’t me that started setting everything on fire.” She cackles a little.

Celestia winces a little. “I… I was just mad! You c-can’t seriously take the emotions of a teenager that seriously—”

The fiery Celestia clicks her tongue. “Ah ah. Don’t go blaming this on me, Celestia. This? This is all you.” She says as she circles Celestia, her flames gently brushing against the young mare. “All I did was give you the power to make your mother proud. Now who is the one that got so wrapped up in it that they let me take over? Oh, right, that was you too!”

Celestia’s head droops down, a tear dropping from her eye. “S-she’s not my-”

“Ah ah, no lying. You’ve long seen her as a mother. Not to mention she did adopt you too. So let’s drop the act.” The fiery Celestia says with a glare. “It’s unbecoming of the destroyer of the world, after all. There’s no reason to leave anything after all of this. Your mother won’t ever forgive you, everyone will abandon you, and best of all, it’s all. Your. Fault~. Celestia, the pony who loved herself so much that she ended up destroying everything in her own sun’s fire~.”

Celestia silently sits there. Unable to think of a single retort.

After a moment, the fiery Celestia grins before breaking the silence. “That’s what I thought. Now what is a good name for us now? Hmmm… I know… Call me, Daybreaker. With me, Celestia, we will destroy every single pony that dared to doubt you as the supreme and all-powerful pony you are!” She laughs maniacly as she holds Celestia close to her.

Celestia silently stares at the void beneath her, not reacting to anything the crazed creature beside her is doing. Celestia can do nothing but silently sob to herself.

“I’m so sorry, everypony. Please survive. Please…” She says as ‘Daybreaker’ disappears, only able to watch as she continues to do horrible things.

---

“Hm… The guards are late.” Says Twilight to Uni.

“I’m sure they’ll be on their way,” Uni says, stretching in the middle of the poacher’s camp. Twilight had already tied up and restrained all the poacher ponies. Some are unconscious, while others are awake but restrained well enough to be a non-threat. “Besides, with all the magic you used on tying them up and non-lethally knocking them out, we’re stranded out here until you can get a snack.” She says as she sits back, the fire crackling a little bit.

Twilight sighs. “We are REALLY far from the Empire. I hope Celestia and Luna aren’t worried or anything.”

Uni giggles. “I’m sure they’re just arguing about who gets to go out and eat with you tonight.” She says happily

Twilight blinks. “Why not both of them? We could go out as a family!” She says with a sigh.

Uni hums. “Oh, Your Majesty, I don’t think you three have had a single family dinner since you adopted them. Celestia only shows up when it’s just you two, after all. Granted, you aren’t the best mom in the world either, so I totally get it.” The spirit pony says as she grabs a tiny flicker of fire.

Twilight sighs. “Spike aside, I’ve never taken care of foals. Honestly, I didn’t ever expect to have my own, either! This is all new to me, and well—no offense Uni, but you give horrible parenting advice.

Uni giggles a little “I’m only here to advise for the sake and well-being of harmony across the land. Your family problems aren’t mine. Although, if you’re asking as a friend? I think you and Celestia should have a long talk. Probably. Either that or just zap her with some magic and make her adjust or something. Could also erase her memories of her previous parents.” She shrugs.

Twilight blinks flatly at Uni before looking over to a poacher. “See? Horrible parenting advice.” She says before she giggles.

Uni smiles and laughs too. Although, she thought her advice was pretty good. Maybe she is out of touch?... Nah, everyone else is wrong.

---

Luna rushes through the castle before she suddenly loses her footing, sliding down the melted stairs and yelping as she’s launched out of an open window! With a quick flap of her wings, she barely catches herself as she falls hard on the crystalline floor below. She groans and sits up, seeing the flames and fire around her. The city can’t take this heat much longer. Most of the houses are already melting and turning into molten crystals, and many ponies are on the verge of death.

Luna whimpers and quickly runs to a nearby citizen, the poor stallion suffering and sweating. “No… I’m too late already…? N-no.” She whimpers out.

Luna’s mind races, the filly trying to think of anything she can do to save the crystal ponies, with idea after idea running through her head rapidly to no avail. “AGH, I’m too young for this! Someone else should be playing the hero! Not a five and a half-year-old filly!... Er, seven. I’m Seven. Not five and a half.” She says with a giggle before realizing this isn’t the time to be lying about her age.

Luna then remembers. “The sigil! If Celestia can pull it off, then I’m sure I can.” She says, quickly grabbing a large shard of crystal that hasn’t fully melted. Luna grunts as she carries it with her magic. It’s well over five times her size, yet she’s managing to levitate it with her magic! All that practice is paying off!

“Now I just gotta…” She says as she starts to quickly turn the entire Crystal Empire’s roads and walkways into a large magical sigil. Ponies that haven’t fallen unconscious are watching her, some attempting to join in copying her movements, using whatever strength they have left to save themselves, their friends, and their families.

Luna works quickly, Lines here, lines there, showing a pony what to draw and how and even guiding the crystal ponies that have fallen to stay off the main pathways. Luna’s mind continues to work on overdrive as she begins to sweat. Not from the heat but simply from how hard her job is! The Crystalline City isn’t small by any means, and now she’s drawing a gigantic magical circle that encompasses the entire thing?!

Luna’s magic sparks and shudders under the weight of the massive boulder of crystal she’s carrying around. The spike has to be huge so that the sigil can be engrained deep within the city’s core. If it’s too close to the surface, then the spell will melt away before it has a chance to cast. If it’s too deep, the magic won’t have an effect. It has to be perfect, absolutely perfect, with no exception. Even now, she’s telling the ponies to make it a little more shallow than it needs to be so she can complete the circle itself.

With tears and nearly failing magic, Luna manages to complete the circle, resulting in a massive amount of her magic draining almost instantly. “AH!” she screams out before falling to the ground. A small groan escapes her lips as she struggles to recover from the sudden loss of magic.

A bright flash of light sparks out as the city returns to normal, all the fires, the horrible heat, and even the ponies being reset to the state they once were. The only change is that a beautiful snowflake pattern has appeared in the crystal underneath the streets, gently regulating the city’s temperature for all the crystal ponies and the structures within the Empire.

The spell would now be a permanent fixture of the city. It could be blistering cold, but the crystal ponies would never feel it. Sure, other creatures and normal ponies would get cold, but crystal ponies within the city’s borders could survive the harshest winters and blazing summers without batting an eye!

This change, of course, did not go unnoticed as a loud explosion appeared above Luna. Celestia landed on the ground before Luna with elegant yet frightening grace, a piercing glare showing from the small alicorn’s older sister’s eyes.

Luna now had to face the biggest trial of her life… Defeating her sister without a single drop of magic and barely being able to stand. If the little filly knew any curses, she’d likely have said one out loud by now.

With a struggle, she manages to stand up, her legs shaking simply under her own weight. Just as she’s about to speak, Celestia cuts her off with a glare and a burst of hot, burning magic that singes her coat. “You ruined everything. EVERYTHING. Just like you always do. You couldn’t even sit in a little prison like a good filly, could you? Well now… I don’t care if you were or are my sister. You’ll burn.”

Luna quickly dodges out of the way of a violently hot blast of magic. She may not have any unicorn magic left, but that doesn’t mean she can’t fly! Luna attempts to say something again, only to get cut off by another attack… and another.

The battle between the Blazing Sun and the Little Moon has begun.

---

The page turns… it’s hot to the touch.

Comments

[RaymanRock]

Hello thank you for continuing this story, 2 chapter in one day is a lot dont forget to take care of yourself.

[Turbotune]

What's this?
Why, the necromancy continues on our beloved tales! And it doesn't disappoint!
Great to see that even its prequel's author is gone, you're still here to keep on writing after almost five years!

[Spell Writer]

11656087
I’m pacing myself. No schedule or anything. Just really don’t like leaving things unfinished

11656239
Welcome! My necromancy only gets stronger by the day.

[Thyrrnatf]

11656259
Wait what magic is this two chapters 😱

[Spell Writer]

11656398

As Luna would say, the Fun has been doubled!

[Eris Dis Harmonia]

Hah! It lives! Now to dance a little jig.

[KittyrinnAiko]

Uni giggles a little “I’m only here to advise for the sake and well-being of harmony across the land. Your family problems aren’t mine. Although, if you’re asking as a friend? I think you and Celestia should have a long talk. Probably. Either that or just zap her with some magic and make her adjust or something. Could also erase her memories of her previous parents.” She shrugs.

I'm beginning to think this Uni pony knows nothing of harmony.