Eyes in the Dark!

by Slick Dash

Falling

Luna's steps echoed loudly across the cavernous hall, the gaping space that had once been the ceiling, let the silvery light of the moon shine down into the harmony hall. The pedestal with its five outstretched shelves sat ahead of her, half obscured by the shadows of the surrounding spires.

Luna took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt her magic travel from her brain down to her horn and then out into the physical world. She opened her eyes and gazed up at her target -the silvery orb floating high in the sky. She bit her lip as she aimed, then fired a single shot of dark blue magic into the atmosphere. A seconds pause, then the moon's light began to intensify. When she looked down again, the princess could see far more thanks to the improved light.

With no understanding of where she was meant to be going, the alicorn decided to investigate the podium. One of the arms that had once held the elements had crumbled and fallen to the floor since she had last been here. Since she had confronted Twilight Sparkle... It all looked the same, she wasn't sure why she was surprised, it wasn't this place that had changed but her. It felt strange standing in the place where she had once -no, Nightmare Moon had once- tried to bring on eternal night to Equestria.

She reached the pedestal and stared at the shelf where loyalty had once sat. Loyalty... maybe if she had had a bit more, she wouldn't have changed, into that... that...

"Goddesssssss?"

Luna jumped, turning in a whirl of startled fear. She searched for the voice that had just spoken, the low sinister whisper. All that greeted her was the sight of the empty chamber. For a few moments, nothing, then came another noise. A low slow laugh, emitting from behind her. "Hmhmhmhmmmmm" Fear was quickly gripping the night princess's thoughts now, the laugh sounded ominously like the draconequus Discord's and the very thought of him being here, struck fear deep in her heart. Her legs shook slightly with nerves as she turned again to look upon the pedestal of the elements.

The laughter seemed to almost build as the princess stared at the stone figure. Her dark ears twitched as they sought out the source, with a trembling footstep, she began to walk around the large stone sentinel and began to inspect the small area behind. As she came closer to the shadowy space, the laugh intensified even more, still a low chuckle, but now Luna was sure she could discern that it was female, not the dark male laugh of Discord. Her legs felt weak with a fleeting sense of relief, only to be crushed by the overwhelming sense of confusion, and fear of the unknown.

As her head passed under the shadow of an overhanging shelf, the laugh died, and all Luna could hear were the faint chirrup of crickets in the far of distance.

The silence was more terrifying than the laugh. She wanted to run, to flee, to cast a teleportation spell and be gone from this place. She wanted to be safe and sound in the comfort of her royal bed sheets with the guards standing resolutely by her door. She bit her lip, thinking hard. As she did she noticed a glow against the cast stone beside her, upon inspection, she realized it was the glow of her own magic. That made her mind up! She wasn't going to let fear control her, so far there had been nothing to suggest anything wrong, only an imagined laugh, which was most likely the wind through the cracks in the walls.

As she brought her nerves under control, she also lowered the glow of her horn, but just before it vanished completely, she spotted something glinting in the corner of her eye in the dwindling light of her magic. She investigated, and found it to be a roughly etched scratching of a moon in the stone of the pedestal. Luna frowned, it was half moon just like the one emblazoned on her flank. She leant in to look closer, unaware of the still dimly lit horn atop her head. As she leant in, the tip of her magnificent horn lightly tapped the rock, and almost immediately the moon, shined silver.

Luna backed away slightly, surprised by this odd kind of magic. The light from the etched moon intensified, glowing so bright that it illuminated the back of the room, casting long shadows up the walls on the side of the hall. A single crack beneath the moon began to shine too and as Luna watched, the white light, almost like a thick slow liquid, began to run down the side of the stone structure and towards the floor.

As the pure light touched the slab on stone on the floor beneath it, a flash of light seemed to emit from beneath it, the light shone from under the stone slab and escaped through the sides of the stone as it gave way to its neighbours. After another moment, the light vanished, leaving behind nothing. Luna frowned, bewildered by what she had just seen. What had it done?

Cautiously, she took a step forward gazing at the stone slab. As her hoof touched the ground, it echoed out around her, and at the sound the floor began to shake. It built quickly and savagely, leaving the dark alicorn frozen in horror. Luna's eyes grew wide with even more fear as the stone slab beneath her shook, then fell away making her plummet down beneath the floor of the hall of harmony, and into the dark gloom beneath her with nothing more than a terrified scream.