Sunset of an Eternal Night

by RedPegasus

The Shadow of Nightmare

The endless night remains permanently drawn high in the sky, covering in a gloomy cloak everything that comes into view.

This gloom is only reinforced in the middle of a feared and renowned forest, more even in the ancient ruins of what promises to have been a majestic castle.

This is what the pearl-furred unicorn looks at, unable to see anything beyond her own nose. Her white fur is hardly a ghost in the darkness of the place.

This changes when a light is turned on in front of her, is the unicorn with amber fur and mane of fire, who illuminates her horn with an intense light, enough to remove the shadows and let her see the place.

The interior of the castle does nothing more than reflect the decay of the exterior of it. Ruins of what is no longer. Barely a few excuses of walls remain standing trying to maintain the shape that the place once had.

There is silence as none of the unicorns speaks, the pearl one approaches her companion feeling as much or even more fear than she has already had during the entire trip.

The other pony just leaves her eyes straight ahead, her attention fully on a structure. A kind of pillar, but very low, at the bottom of which lies a large stone sphere. From its base it gives off 5 extensions, like arms, or bridges, that connect with what could be called bowls, and in each one it carries a stone sphere smaller than the one that lies on top.

A smile is drawn on the amber unicorn, immediately her magic surrounds each object at those points, and with some care but haste, she lifts them. She keeps them in the air for a moment, as if wanting to study them, and finally brings them closer and leaves them in front of her to see them more closely. Her smile only grows, adorned with a certain malice in her eyes.

"Su-Sunset…?"

The voice of her companion makes the amber mare turn slightly, but her smile is still very present.

"what are you ...?"

"Here they are." Sunset responds. "The Elements of Harmony."

As she says this, she turns again to continue seeing those stone spheres, each adorned with a kind of symbol in its center.

"A-Are those ...? I-Is that what you came for? Are you sure…?"

"With this I will defeat Nightmare. And then I can take, what is my right."

Rarity doesn't seem to fully understand the situation, at the same time Sunset is only seemingly lost in thought while observing the elements. Neither of them say anything for a moment, and before Rarity can ask anything more, a wind is blowing through the place.

Both unicorns are altered when they feel the current, Rarity's mane bun ends up unraveling and her mane flies in the wind just like Sunset's. Neither is able to ask anything before shadows rise from the floors, walls and ceiling, gliding through the air in a spiral that centers on the same point at the top.

"WHAT…?! WHAT HAPPENS?! SUNSET?!"

The amber unicorn does not respond, her gaze becomes severe as she sees those shadows unify and take on a shape, an easily recognizable shape. Its totally black image, shades of a dark blue are the only thing that allows it to be distinguished from the darkness. Two intense crystal highlights reflect eyes on her apparent face. Its horn soars high and its great sinister wings spread throughout creating an even darker shadow over both mares if possible.

Sunset keeps looking stern, while Rarity reflects the worst terror on her face.

"NI-NIGHT-… NIGHTMARE MOON!"

The white one screams almost leaving her own soul in her voice as she kneels on the smallest and trembling ball she can.

"… it's not Nightmare Moon." Sunset speaks in a cold, almost whispery voice.

Soon the voice of Nightmare Moon herself echoes through the place.

"BAH HA HA HA HA. YOU FOOLS! Do you think you can just take the Elements of Harmony without me knowing?!"

"Nightmare Moon imbued this place with her magic to make sure no one took the elements. That's a Shadow of Nightmare" Sunset explains, frowning at the reentine apparition.

Rarity's only response to hearing that is to scream and try to run out of the castle, but a curtain of darkness rises over the top of the entire place, obstructing any exit, and enveloping the entire castle in a dome, a bubble made of pure darkness.

Curiously, this causes the interior's own gloom to fade, thus making the place easily visible. Although this does not calm the terror of Rarity who is frozen and paralyzed in the place, trembling more than ever and seems to be about to fall unconscious.

Shadow Nightmare keeps her apparent eye on Sunset, who is not intimidated by her presence.

"Well little pony, do you think you can challenge me? The sovereign of Equestria?!"

"Oh yeah you scare me!" Sunset shouts sarcasm in her voice, then directing the elements into the shadows and smiling superiorly. "I'll see you in hell bitch!"

Sunset's horn glows with an intense celestial flash, and the five elements rotate to point to the shadow, and soon they are covered in the same celestial glow.

Nightmare's shadow flinches back, and Rarity forgets her fear when she sees the elements glow. Security, and a certain malice, are reflected in Sunset's look and smile as she waits for the magic of the elements to unleash.

The light of the five spheres covers the place, but as soon as it started, the light turns off, the five stone spheres stop shining and are only held by Sunset's magic. When she saw what happened, she erased her smile, her face was filled with concern and amazement.

The shadow of Nightmare wastes no time and intons an evil laugh, just before releasing a blast of darkness from its body directly towards the amber unicorn. Sunset is too shocked to react, she flies back from the blow, and the five elements fall to the ground.

"Sunset!" Rarity exclaims and then runs towards her and bows. "Are you okay ?! Does something hurt?"

"gh…! What… what happened? The elements…"

She either finishes asking her question. The shadow laughs evilly again before letting its voice be heard again.

"BHA HA HA HA HA! Did you think you would get here, take the elemets and just win?! STUPID PONY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE THE ELEMENTS!"

Sunset tries to get up. "Use them… ah! I forgot…! this is Equestria, the elements don't release their magic by themselves…! And I don't know how to do it here…" She reproaches herself as she tries to stand up.

Shadow Nightmare smiles. "It's a shame you won't have time to learn."

Again, from the body of the shadow comes a blast of darkness that advances towards both unicorns. Rarity falls backwards and Sunset forces magic on her horn, managing to teleport both of them before the darkness hits them.

They both reappear at the opposite side of the room, but Nightmare's shadow immediately resumes its attack, this time Sunset pushes Rarity to the side and she jumps out of the way, the blast continues long but takes a turn and goes again towards Sunset, thus managing to hit her and crash her against a broken column of the place.

"Sunset!" Rarity exclaims, full of concern.

Sunset gets up and touches her head, hears a noise behind her and when she turns around, she realizes that the column she hit is falling, right towards her. Her pupils contract and she forces herself to teleport again.

The column falls and shatters on the ground. Sunset reappears and her face shows surprise, shock, and the recent fear of nearly being crushed. More before she can recover, the nightmare's shadow approaches from behind her. Sunset turns around, but sees only a black spot approaching until she is completely blinded.

A flurry of shadows crosses Sunset, her body does not seem to receive any damage, but the heartbreaking scream that she exhales shows the strong pain she feels with it. Rarity sitting on the side can not do anything but watch the scene, Sunset's scream alters her and she forces herself to cover her face so as not to witness that scene.

When the attack of those shadows ends, Sunset slowly stops her screaming, and falls to the ground feeling very weak. Nightmare's shadow begins to laugh and remains on the ground, hinting to be staring at the fallen pony.

"Forget it filly! There is no way you can stand up to my power."

Sunset opens her eyes and glares at the shadow, moves her trembling paws, and makes a tremendous effort, barely managing to lift the front of her body.

"And you thought you could use the Elements of Harmony against me." The shadow scoffs. "You're not ready for that kind of power."

Something in that sentence hits Sunset's conscience. Memories come to her head, memories of a princess Celestia staring at her in disappointment.

"You are not ready for that kind of magic."

"You are not ready to understand."

"You are not ready to be a leader."

"You're not ready-"

"You are not ready."

A discharge of force runs through the body of the unicorn and manages to stand up.

"I'm not… ready?" Sunset asks quietly. "I'm not ready?!" Her voice gains strength as she screams. "I'm ready for anything! And you know it!"

Sunset yells in a voice that grows in frustration. Although she doesn't seem to be talking to Nightmare.

"You're just… scared… scared because you know, that I'm better than the rest, that I AM BETTER THAN YOU!"

Both Nightmare's shadow and Rarity look at the fire-mane pony with some bewilderment.

"You are delirious." The shadow speaks.

"I will prove to you that I am better than you!"

Full of determination, she gathers the magic in her horn and then attacks with magic rays in the shadow, the shadow does not move away or block the attacks, they go through it creating holes in its body, plus the shadow only gives an evil laugh and reforms.

"Your magic is weak, it doesn't compare to the power I possess. You are just a little unicorn. You will NEVER have the power in you to stand up to me."

As Nightmare's shadow brags about all of this, Sunset loses the strength she had gathered and falls back down. Still, with her mind a bit calmer, and after hearing the shadow's words, she has a more recent memory, the voice of the zebra, Zecora.

"Using the power within is the skill of your race, but mine uses the magic of every natural piece."

"You seek to control your inner strength, while I seek the power of the forest with respect-."

Focusing on those words, Sunset lights up her horn again.

"HA HA HA HA HA! What an insistence! I would finish you now if I did not find your stubbornness, funny."

The amber pony doesn't listen to her, she keeps focusing her magic, and soon something starts to happen. Rarity is the first to notice, feeling a slight tremor under her hooves.

* O * or * O * or * O *

In the distance, submerged in the darkness of the forest and the night, illuminated only by the small flame of a candle, the zebra that inhabits this wild land seems to be meditating, but it opens its eyes in a hurry when it feels something.

* O * O * O * O * O *

A light but constant wind begins to blow from the forest. Soon there is a slight flash coming from every corner of Everfree, it travels through the land and trees.

What could be described as a bright green ring of light, crosses the entire forest, each rock, each river and lake, closing more and more, having in the center the bubble of darkness that covers the old castle.

* O * O * O * O * O *

Sunset continues to force her magic, and Nightmare's shadow does nothing but stare at her, but her attention on the pony shifts when she soon feels something, virtually hitting her barrier of darkness.

* O * O * O * O * O *

From the outside, the ring of light collides with the bubble of darkness and causes a kind of jolt in it, after a few seconds of what seems like a struggle of forces, the ring manages to move over the bubble to its abyss, and there, close by full…

* O * O * O * O * O *

A beam of green light pierces the roof of the castle and falls directly on Sunset's horn.

Rarity is shocked, although her body reacts by hitting the wall. The shadow of Nightmare rises in the air and recoils, his simulated eyes seem to want to reflect astonishment.

Sunset's mane flames, it and her tail dance wildly but harmoniously, as if they were real flames. The green light is focused on her horn and her magic takes on that color. When she opens her eyes they glow pure white and her expression shows effort, anger, pain, and determination.

Nightmare's shadow attacks by launching a dark blast, but Sunset repels it with a beam of light that not only repels the blast but also hits the shadow and the star against a wall, causing it to disintegrate.

Still the shadows move along the walls and rejoin to form a new body, which Sunset repels and destroys again.

They do it again, and again, and repeat. And then Sunset focuses the magic, her horn is surrounded by a sphere of green light that rotates on itself. The castle begins to fill with that green energy. As if it were a liquid, it rises and gets into the place through every hole, opening and crack in the structure.

Sunset's body begins to float and she grits her teeth as the light from her horn grows. Rarity overcomes her surprise, and worried gallops under her and looks at her with fear and concern.

"Sunset!"

The amber unicorn does not hear her, instead she lets out a loud cry and the energy of the castle rises above the floor and walls rising like a pillar of light upwards.

Nightmare's shadow lifts and shakes its paws while singing a scream and disappears.

Rarity just watches as both she and Sunset are consumed by a white burst, and then everything goes black ...

* O * O * O * O * O *

Far from there, submerged in the deep gloom of her living room, Nightmare Moon gives an exclamation and her head shakes in such a way that her helmet falls off, and she bounces down the steps, to the ground.

The night ruler leaves her head on her side, lowers, the darkness of the place almost merging with her face. After a disturbing silence, she opens her blue eyes, and from what could be her mouth, a bright blue thread emerges and falls ...

* O * O * O * O * O *

Somewhere in Equestria, large metal pillars are seen, equipped with cables, which connect to quite large spheres, which generate a whitish light.

This light is what illuminates the apple trees below these towers.

In the distance, a virtually uncountable number of apple trees stretch as far as the eye can see. And all this 'sea' of trees is covered by those pillars and those spheres, which illuminate almost one hectare of them, creating a kind of artificial day.

Along this apple field, its can see dozens, maybe hundreds of ponies moving around. Some collect apples in baskets, others cultivate the surrounding land preparing new crops, there are also others who take care of the farm animals of the place. Cows, pigs, chickens and sheep, among others.

The baskets of apples are carried from one area to another, some are stored in one of the barns of the place. Others are taken to a closed building, inside which are several different machines. One of these turns the apples into juice that is served in bottles, and these are sealed. Another machine does the same, but turning the fruit into mush that is closed in a jar. A more complex one peels the fruit and wraps it in plastic, with a section that cuts it in half, or into pieces, into bars, all closed in preservative plastic wrappers.

The ponies carrying the apples leave their baskets full of apples at the entrance for another pony to collect them, then return to the orchard and repeat the movement.

A kind of motor is heard, followed by a soft horn that immediately catches the attention of every nearby pony, and makes them stop their work to see a vehicle approaching, a kind of float, shaped like a green apple, and so polished that it shines in the light, the entire base is painted gold and decorated with some jewels. This float has a cylinder engine attached to its rear, which allows it to move by itself without having to be pulled.

All the ponies on the farm approach the vehicle, and then the door opens, leaving two unicorns, clearly twins, with pale yellow fur, whose mane and tail are soft red with a white line in the center. Both wear elegant business suits with matching hats, each one can be seen hanging a watch on a chain in his pocket, albeit on opposite sides.

Both unicorns are silent with their hats covering their eyes, their body gesture is serious, almost cold, that, until they both look up in high spirits.

"Good evening Apple family! Here are Flim!"

"And Flam! Your invaluable market partners!"

The ponies around them begin to murmur in a semi-loud voice, with tired and frustrated faces, although among so many voices it is not understood what they are saying. Still this does not lower the good spirits of the twins.

"And we bring you great news!" Says Flim "Trottingham and Manehattan have extended their contract and asked to double the shipment!"

There is a collective response, which is a frustrated wail from all the hardworking ponies.

"Therefore we will need you to double the production of all our products, for the following week!" Announces Flam.

Again there is a moan, and many of the ponies bow their heads wearily, and some in annoyance.

Flim speaks again. "Now we want to know how our majestic 'FlimFlam Sun Night Lamps' are doing."

There is silence while both unicorns seem to wait for an answer, the rest of the ponies look at each other for a moment, until one of them answers, his voice muffled.

"They are very good."

"Fabulous!" Flam exclaims. "Then we will check the rest of the factory. Are you following me, Flim?"

"I follow you Flam!"

Both brothers begin to walk with a firm, energetic step, almost dancing, and all the ponies in the place separate to give them space.

With that the 'reunion' seems to end, as each pony returns to their own work.

This is what a young mare with orange fur does, wearing an earth-colored suit, quite unkempt, which covers her entire body except for her hooves. Her blonde tail is wrapped in a net, like her mane, she also wears a hat that matches that suit, tied with a ribbon.

Her face is rough, her eyelids semi closed over her green eyes, denote fatigue, and at the same time frustration. She walks up to one of the trees which has several empty baskets around her. She turns around, takes a slight look at the trunk, and then raises her hind legs, with a loud bang she shakes the tree and makes all the apples fall into the baskets.

Repeat this action with nearby trees, each of which has baskets prepared underneath. A sigh escapes her as she takes a moment to look up at one of those great spheres of light that illuminate the trees.

After a moment, when she seems to think of something depressing, she goes on with her work. a couple more trees kicked, and when she turns one her expression is filled with astonishment and fear, for a few meters ahead, lying between the apple trees, lie two unconscious mares, and five spherical stones lying on the ground .

The orange pony immediately runs towards them, watches them, gets closer, checks them and moves them a little. Filling with panic, he runs to the farm, leaving both ponies there ...

Comments

[Zhafran]

What exactly Sunset do to collect the green magic?