It Takes A Princess

by Casketbase77

‘s Failsafe

Luna stood attentively as Creativa chewed her out, but that wasn’t saying much because she couldn’t hear a word of it. Not over the ringing in her ears. The signal flare had been much louder than planned.

Still, despite her temporary deafness and Creativa’s furious muted stamping as wild, paranoid glances around for any sign of Order intruding on them, Luna felt giddy. The blast had been more than a challenge. It was also a litmus test. This world was stuffed to the gills with Harmony magic, and just as expected it supercharged even her laziest spellcasting.

Creativa's eyes suddenly widened at something behind Luna and she barked an inaudible order at Twilight Sparkle's double. The latter sprang to her hinds, shepherding the other ponies into a fearful looking cluster. Her bipedal balance was poor (definitely outclassed by one Lyra Heartstrings whom Luna knew), but the reason Other Twilight had forced herself upright was obvious: She was free to knock her front hooves together like flint tips, wrapping them in an unmistakable patchwork glow. Chaos mana. Hoof channeling was an inspired technique for an Earth Pony.

Creativa grabbed Luna by the collar and made either a frantic demand or an angry question. Luna wasn't sure which, and just as she opened her mouth to admit she didn't have a clue what was just said, her ears popped. She heard the little Scootaloo pegasus scream in mortal panic before the very atmosphere was vacuumed out of the area.

Luna gasped in reverse as her lungs emptied of air. The hillside had become a suffocating timeless expanse. Itw as like being banished to the moon all over again. Color leeched from the surroundings and Luna dimly felt her consciousness departing.

Then little Other Twilight slammed her glowing hooves together. The resulting PLOCK carried a wisp of unshakable pony soul. And in a sterile wasteland, a wisp had as much force as a hurricane. Luna regained her senses just in time to Creativa's horns charging up.

"Get down! He's here!!"

The Princess Of The Night ducked and rolled, affronted at being barked at like a common guardpony. Then she caught a glimpse of the tall, immaculately groomed white figure engulfed by Creativa's maelstrom of attacks. The figure stood tall, unbowed by the onslaught it was enduring. Then its padded paw extended to clamp Luna's throat, twisting hard and pinning her to the ground.

Creativa was screaming at Twiddle Spiral to teleport away. The Faithful Student helplessly rapped her hooves together, reserves empty after conjuring their previous blast. Luna squirmed helpessly, gaze locked with two narrowed violet eyes unblinking despite being under continued magic barrage. Creativa roared with desperate effort, intensifying her firepower until the white figure's free hand sharply snapped its fingers again.

Everything stopped.

Creativa's attack snuffed out like a match. She and Twiddle Spiral hit the ground like steel wool on a magnet. So did the other dozen ponies around. A few were whimpering, Most were scared silent.

The hillside was deathly still under the continued glow of the overhead moon. Then came the voice of the towering and fully visible draconequus. He droned quietly but with a white-hot harshness:

"End of the line, Creativa. Your delivery is complete and your usefulness is void."

Delivery? Luna's eyes snapped to Creativa, but any suspicion of betrayal vanished immediately. Creativa's face was contorted into helpless defiant hate. She was either unwilling or unable to respond to being belittled, but Luna was never one to hold her tongue.

"Move off me, you gaudy oaf!"

Order's eyes flickered to Luna and she tensed with eagerness. Gloat, she willed. Her head was still pinned in place, but her horn was overcharged. Enough for a point blank killshot if he bent down to address her.

He didn't. Dismissive, Order returned attention to Creativa.

"I've been more than fair with with you, Alicorn of Chaos. I let you roam free if you keep to yourself. But you don't. You lead ponies astray. I would not punish them if they came home. I only punish you."

"And Loopa," Creativa spat. "Or did you forget about her so soon/"

Something resembling regret passed over Order's flawless features, but in an instant it was gone.

"This is why I never mince words with you: Reason is lost on the ignorant. I always undo your works, I always spare you so you might repent, yet you never learn. Your lesser, she was beyond reason. You, I once had hope for. But I no longer do. And truly save my little ponies, I cannot destroy you by force. I must persuade you to give up on your own. And now I have the means to do so."

Order snapped his fingers again. He was answered by the mechanical trudge of hooves on grass. Luna's head remained titled at its useless angle, but she saw enough to boil her blood and nearly let slip her mask of helplessness.

Twiddle Spiral was on all fours again, grey from the neck down. Puppeteered steps carried her towards the Tyrant of Harmony. He halted her in front of him, ears flat and fearful , but head unbowed. Twiddle Spiral glared impotently at Order, helpless but brave. Brave for Creativa.

"You," he addressed, "are the most entrenched. The least inclined to return to your place. You consider yourself a student, and so will be tested in front of your teacher."

If Twiddle had any control over her knees, they would have begun shaking.

"Justify your doubt in me," Order commanded. "There is nowhere in this world I cannot go. No force of nature that a snap of my fingers can't command. And no foreign invader I can't humble." He made a show of adjusting his grip on Luna's neck, and she tensed to keep cool. Her tingling horn was very nearly pointed at his exposed chest.

"All I have ever done is worked to keep you safe, my little pony. I've silenced every storms and erased each predator. No words are said without my knowledge, no entity moves without my allowanc-"

“LIAR!”

Twiddle's accusation echoed over the landscape, a throaty, raw word of dissent in a world bludgeoned silent.

"Liar," she repeated hysterically. "Fraud. Deceiver."

Twiddle Spiral hadn't been a librarian for the past ten years. She hadn't touched a book in nearly fifteen. Her words had decayed into very dull daggers after all this time, but by The Pantheon she would stab them at her lifelong tormentor with all the feeble linguistic strength she still had.

"You could grey the rest of me if you wanted. Me and all the other mortal ponies. You could freeze Creativa and Luna and sit on your throne and tell yourself you won, but you won't!"

Twiddle was shouting like a mare possessed. Order's expression remained unreadable.

"I know you won't! Creativa is stronger than you'll ever be because she doesn't need to control ponies. We follow her because she's not a foalish control freak who throws a fit when his toys move on their own. And I'm... I'm not just talking about us living creatures. Heh heh heh. No, there's something else that you can't control even with all your magic. You think nopony noticed it, but I... I..."

Twiddle Spiral lapsed into a coughing fit, her hagagrd breathing sucking some spit down the wrong pip. Unable to move her body, Twiddle blinked rapidly and wheeze for air. A strand of drool hung from her lower lip, detaching to hit the grass and vanish without leaving a lasting disturbance. All the while a paralyzed Creativa witnessed her adopted daughter choke. Luna tail twitched with renewed contempt while Order waited patiently. Twiddle's hacking coughs settled into shallow breaths. Then came his retort.

"All your pain is self-inflicted my little pony. Fear, doubt... I wish to spare you from those. But you don't trust me. You don't believe I can take care of you. I understand that. But I also understand how to persuade you that I can." Order straightened up and addressed Creativa.

"You see my Cutie Mark?"

The Alicorn of Chaos nodded warily.

"What does it depict?"

Creativa glanced at Luna before swallowing dryly. "The sun," she rasped in response.

"Yes. Proof I am sovereign source of all benevolence in this world. But your Faithful Student is perceptive. She has noticed that while my dominion over the sun extends to all bodies on this globe, there are bodies outside of this globe. Bodies beyond my natural reach."

Order raised his head. For the first time since meeting him, Luna saw actual unhidden emotion on his face: Longing.

"I command the sun and earth, but not the moon. It moves while all else stays still. Ponies see, with fear and sadness, that my magic could neither redeem your sister nor conquer the last heavenly sphere. These failings are why Twiddle Spiral lacks faith. But with this..." his leonine tail gestured to Luna, "I rectify those failings."

Luna gasped as her strength began leeching away. The atmospheric vacuum was back, but this time directly where Order's paw met her neck. Luna's eyes swam and wings convulsed. Her horn still tingled though, because it wasn't Harmony being siphoned away. Order already had plenty of that. Luna's soul was going, and with it her moon magic, her lifeforce, and collapsing sense of self.

Stay awake. Find an opening.

Uncaring, Order fixed his eyes on the moon above. It shined so garishly bright above the atrophied countryside. Another finger snap turned most of Twiddle's head grey, tilting it to follow his final work. And as Luna's spirit waned, so did the full moon. Twiddle's face, her only remaining self, contorted with horror. Order ignored it, lost in victorious bliss. He was grinning now, perfect porcelain teeth reflecting the tepid twilight.

"Air rushes in to fill the emptiness, Creativa. Providence delivers a missing piece to a world that needs it. Moon magic existed. Far away, beyond my reach. But I also knew you would bring it here if I sent you. All it took was the moon mare igniting her horn. Her greatness joined mine the instant I pulled you both here."

Luna's eyes were more cataract than pupil. She lay limp as the moon settled to perfectly half full. "There!" Order exalted. "The world is mine. See, Creativa?" A finger snap flipped his lifelong enemy onto her back. "See, stranger?" He lifted Luna's sunken-cheeked husk and pointed her head to look at him. "Rest eternal, former moon mare. Be at peace knowing your sacrifice saved this-"

Luna fired.

She fired with so much force that Twiddle Spiral's petrified body was knocked over by the earsplitting decompression. A beam engulfed Order more completely than anything Creativa had ever hit him with. He released Luna in an instant, but it was half an instant too late. The pathway in his palm was still open and connected to to his victim. Order own reserve of magic bolted through Luna like a conduit to blast into his face. The feedback loop was so intense that Luna's horn hairline fractured from the sheer amperage of the cascade.

Whatever artificial gravity had been pinning Creativa to the grass, it broke with Order's concentration. She sprang up as fast as she could, sheltering her rapidly recoloring Faithful Student as the supernova subsided.

Finally released from Order's physical grip, a mummified, burned out Luna teetered where she sat. Then the atmospheric Harmony magic, no longer barred from her body, rushed in and rejuvenated her.

"Ha! A draconequus is a draconequus, no matter his color! Pride goeth before a fiery fall!"

Order hit the grass and rolled over, smoke streaming from his ruined coat. Luna fixed him with a contemptuous stare, but before she could command him to surrender, she noticed a thin, violet string of mana still connecting them. One end threaded around Order's finger. The other stretched taut to the tip of Luna's horn. The last thing she she was him giving a resolute yank, severing her soul from her body completely and metabolizing it into himself.

Creativa screamed as Luna's lifeless corpse collapsed. She was silenced when Order, fully restored, snapping his fingers once again. His breathing was heavy and his fur swam with shimmering new highlights, but he didn't appear injured. Only politely angry. Licking his lips, he pointed an arm (now tinted blue from Luna's stolen magic) at Creativa and rumbled his opening statement:

"End of the line, Creativa. Your delivery is complete. Your sucker punches are all thrown. And your ponies... are persuaded."

To demonstrate, Order spread his arms as a small greyed pegasus flittered past Creativa. It was Skitteloo, eyes dead of hope and wings magically resized to allowed her to fly. But of course; all ponies under Order's care were adjusted to be free of their imperfections. One by one, Creativa's monochrome former followers marched past her and Twiddle Spiral, glancing not at them, nor Luna's rustling corpse, nor even Order himself. They remained singular in their unhurried pilgrimage down the hillside and towards the distant villages from whence they'd came. Distance didn't factor; they knew no exhaustion. Danger didn't factor; there were no monsters or terrain that would harm them. They were firmly back beneath the care of Harmony, free from everything. Even free from freedom.

Finally, Order pointed a claw at Twiddle Spiral.

"No," she begged. "No, don't!" Her entire body lost its hue she thrashed desperately in Creativa's embrace.

"Save me!" she wailed. "Please Creativa, don't let-"

Her panic evaporated and she politely trotted off to follow the others. And Creativa let her go because while Twiddle was turning, the Alicorn of Chaos had held her once Faithful Student tighter than ever before. She had poured all her will into countering Order's mind control.

There had been no countereffect. No anything.

Chaos was well and truly gone.

Slumped and alone, Creativa's mind went defensively blank. She'd failed. Worse, she'd delivered Order the tool to claim victory. Creativa attempted to vomit, but couldn't. There was no room left in this world for such unseemliness. So she curled up instead. Just like she had on the beach. Just like she often did whenever the others were all asleep and unable to see her cry. She curled up and remained where she was.

A paw grazed her head, then left.

"Truly irredeemable." There was something close to genuine regret in Order's voice. "Even in my perfection, my touch can't save you from the Chaos you embody. Fade away, Alicorn Of Nothing. Know as you die that I truly tried to save you."
Then he was gone. A final snap signaled his retirement from their concluded struggle.

Fade away.

Creativa could no longer feel her body.

Fade away.

This was what happened to Chaos avatars whose purpose was lost.

Fade away, Creativa.

She was no longer tangible. Her pseudo-hooves were wrapped around herself and her eyelids were scrunched shut, but she could see through both. She saw Luna lying across from her, glowing faintly in the eternal half moonlight. How fitting. Creativa's last look at the world she'd lost was the sight of the pony she'd dragged down with her. Still as the grave and...

Darkening by the second?

The moonlight on Luna's corpse seemed to seep into her coat. Then all at once the energy was swallowed up. Her tail shimmered and Creativa gasped so suddenly her limbs solidified again. She had to move them from her face to witness the ongoing transformation. Luna's form was getting spindly, but also more toned. More primal. Her mane and tail had gone completely ethereal, billowing out like storm clouds. A foreleg suddenly slammed itself deep into the ground, kicking up a clod of dirt that didn't meld back into the earth. All the while, the moon continued to shine, continued to revive Luna's body like water renewing a shriveled sponge. Though perhaps it was a misnomer to say the body was Luna's anymore, because the entity sitting up, blinking its feline eyes, and gritting it predatory teeth... it was definitely not Luna as anyone knew her.

"That pompous, deluded, bastard!" Nightmare Moon cursed in a venomous, otherworldly snarl. "How dare he lay claim to my better half!? I'll rip him to pieces and drag her from his shredded scraps!"

Author's Note:

Ya'll ready for this?

Comments

[TCC56]

Oh.

Well.

That's not good.

[Bramzter]

OH YES.

[Thought Prism]

This was heavy. Let's see if Antihero Nightmare Moon can kick Order's ass.

[Casketbase77]

10342148
"OH YES" indeed.

The kid gloves are off, and they're not going back on til someone gets K.O.'d.

[Venerable Ro]

"That pompous, deluded, bastard!" Nightmare Moon cursed in a venomous, otherworldly snarl. "How dare he lay claim to my better half!? I'll rip him to pieces and drag her from his shredded scraps!"

Oh dear, it's the angry one.

[Lucerna]

So my hunch from before about Order sending Creativa to Luna and Celestia turned out to be right. You did kinda confirm that when I originally said it, but whatever. Now the real question is whether nightmare moon is something he overlooked or if it’s all part of his grand scheme. Who knows? Because it definitely isn’t me.

[Casketbase77]

10342303

[jimerjam]

I see intersting cover art "huh looks interesting"
I read the discription: HUH?????

[Lucerna]

10342313
Why thank you. I’m flattered

[Starcat5]

10342163
Please tell me that Order doesn't bother with guardponies, because I keep visualizing anypony getting in Moonie's way being turned into Chunky Salsa. I can't tell if my queasy tummy is from that, or if whatever I am currently sick with has developed a new symptom.