• Published 30th Aug 2018
  • 10,622 Views, 1,254 Comments

The Untrotted Path - Luna Aeterna Solutae



At the moment before she leaves Equestria forever, Sunset Shimmer's destiny is taken away from her. A new path unmarked by pony hooves is placed before her.

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Ready To Die

This is your time to pay
This is your judgment day
We made a sacrifice
And now we get to take your life
We shoot without a gun
We'll take on anyone
It's really nothing new
It's just what we were born to do

It was Nightmare's turn to step back. She stared in abject horror at the monster before her.
“This cannot be! I barely made it out of the Soulflare with my life! You can't have survived.”

Sunset shrugged. “I'm soulbound to a phoenix. As long as she lives, so do I.”

She chuckled lowly as she shrugged back into her jacket. She settled down on her haunches and pushed her hooves into the pockets, shaking her head with a dark smile.

“Got a question for ya. Do you think even the worst pony can change? That anypony can be a good pony, if they just try?”

Nightmare didn't reply, merely taking a step forward with her horn charged with magic. Sunset chuckled at the quiet click of her shodding.

“Alright. Lemme ask a better question. Do you… wanna have a bad time? Because if you take another step forward, you're really not gonna like what happens next.”

Nightmare took another step, baring her sharpened teeth. Sunset glanced in the direction the sun should have risen from, and let out a sigh more weary than her thirty years should allow.

“Sorry mom.”

She tipped her chin and smiled. “I gotta give you credit, it's a beautiful night, Luna. The nightflowers bloom, owls are hooting… On a night like tonight fillies like you…”

Her left eye, the empty socket, snapped open. The glow of her carbuncle shone through, splashing turquoise light across everything.

”Should be burning in hell.”

Spears of turquoise magic sprang into being, and launched themselves to impale Nightmare. Twilight couldn't watch, but she had to pay witness to her mother preparing to take a life.

Bloodied, Nightmare rose and lashed out. Sunset deftly sideswiped the attack.

”GOLDEN GLIMMER'S GLISTENING GRAVITY GLOBE!”

She flicked her hoof. Nightmare's eyes widened as she rocketed backwards and shrieked in agony as she slammed into a wall that had sprouted spikes.


In the throne room, the others saw the flashes of magic, heard the shrieks. Hearts quickened as they raced through the corridors towards the high tower where the battle raged.


Truthfully, Sunset's attacks had little more impact on a mare who could stand against the Sun than a papercut. The problem was that there was a lot of them. Every counterattack was sidestepped or deflected, and every time she found secure footing the Nightmare would be slammed into sturdy granite.

“Whatever you're going to do, Twilight. Do it quickly please.”

Trusting in her daughter's safety, she threw herself fully into the attack. Her voice rose mockingly.

“Y’know Luna, I've been thinking. About you and me. Was this pre-ordained? Was this meant to be?”

She knocked aside a blade of force. “No more trying to escape, the sunrise holds no more appeal!”

Nightmare managed to nearly touch noses with her. “Do you even know if you are still real?”

Then she was flung backwards as her point of gravity shifted to the far wall. Paving stones rose to block her acceleration, forcing them to shatter against her body.

Twilight rubbed the sides of her head as she stared at the shards surrounding her. This was her entrance exam all over again. An impossible task, and no idea how to accomplish it.

Over the battle sounds, she heard voices. Her eyes widened, and a tiny spark glittered from her horn. She looked at Sunset, then her own reflection. Of course. The spark.

Five ponies talked over each other, calling encouragement. She focused on the words and let them fill her heart.

“Don't worry Twilight, we're here.”
“Don't worry, we'll be there.”
“Kick that prehistoric nag's butt Twi!”
“I don't care if she's royalty, if you don't give her a good seeing-to then I will!”
“Yay…”

Sunset flung Nightmare across the room. She skidded the last few feet on her face. She let herself drop in the same direction and slammed into her, wrapping forelegs around her neck and slamming that sparking horn with her forehoof.

Twilight's chest swelled as her friends slid into position behind her. She was the greatest arcanist since Sunset Shimmer. She bent the universe around her horn. She couldn't be stopped or tamed. “You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here!

Nightmare Moon coughed up a mouthful of blood and spluttered. “What?”

The shattered remains of the Elements around her shimmered and trembled.

Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!

Stones flew and circled her orange friend.

Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness!

The caretaker backpedaled, but stood resolute as she was named and chosen.

Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter!

Pinkie hopped in place and reached out to touch one of the floating blue gemstones with a hoof.

Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity!

Rarity grimaced at the dirty things, but accepted the gift.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!

Nightmare scrabbled, struggled, was stricken as a hoof impacted something not quite bone.

“The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”

She managed to cough. “You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!”

Twilight closed her eyes and smiled. “But it did! A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!”

She joined their ranks as slivers orbited her as well. “You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... MAGIC!

Sunset grit her teeth, but rode out the coming storm. She watched as the shards fused. Were infused. The universe trembled as six forms were flooded with quintessence, as tass formed solid into gemstones encrusting necklaces. She fought back a tear at the sight of her daughter in a beautiful tiara, her star blazing brilliantly from the crown.

Calling upon reserves, Nightmare threw Sunset. But there was nowhere to run. A blazing rainbow of pure power surrounded her. Black poured from her body, snatched away and burned.

The world went white, and time ground to a stop.


In the nameless space between, two ponies stood before another. The larger scuffed a hoof. She cast a shadow in the face of the other's brilliance, that flickered and split into two.

On the one side, a far-too skinny and badly undersized earth pony foal trembled with hypothermia and sadness.

On the other, a haughty black alicorn stood her ground and glared at them.

Twilight reached out. “Take my hoof, Luna. Your long nightmare is finally over.”

The Princess rested her hoof on the smaller mare's.

The earth pony could have taken a cast stone or a harsh word. The Nightmare could have withstood spears of iron and defiance.

In the glittering, swirling blackness of the omnimorphic spell, Twilight held the hooves of the Princess. She spoke with words as new as coursing blood. As old as the bones of mountains.

In the midst of the Spell of All Things, she wove a tapestry of land and light and shadow. Where ponies turned to the rise of Moon and Sun with equal joy. Where they lay among the lush grasses and watched the stars.

Where they gathered in their masses and stood the long vigil every year. Praying to the gods that no longer walked the Earth that a Princess they did not remember would return whole.

She spoke of beauty and pain. She painted a portrait of a sister cried out in song day by day and year by year. The sister growing more slender by the day, wasting away in pools of silver moonsblood. She spoke of ponies without number waiting to accept her back into the herd.

“It's time to come home, Luna.”

Luna nodded. Side by side and hoof in hoof they walked, and the apparitions of who she once was vanished.


When the light vanished, the six were sprawled in a ponypile atop the Princess. Sunset managed a single thought before she dropped from the exhaustion of magical expenditure and her rebirth from ashes.

Oh no, she's cute.