• Published 11th Jan 2022
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From Whence We Fell - iAmSiNnEr



In a fallen world, alicorns do battle as ponies cower in fear and hide from their insane overlords. Gods and monsters roam the world, and two alicorns must face each other to save themselves and their souls.

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And Time Stopped

From Whence We Fell

By iAmSiNnEr

And Time Stopped


Midnight suspected that Daybreaker was toying with them. Daybreaker had only used one powerful spell to rain fireballs from the sky before she went on the defensive against Nightmare Moon.

As fireballs rained from the sky, Midnight dodged in between them as they whistled past her. Angling down, she spotted Nightmare Moon engaging Daybreaker in the corner of her eye as she dived down for Spike.

The dragon roared as his tail shot upwards, the spikes on it sharpened to a razor edge. Midnight concentrated as she teleported past the tail before flapping her wings hard to gain some altitude.

Then a fireball slammed into her defenses, sending her into a spiral. As she fell, another slammed into her shield, cracking it slightly as the flames burst over its surface.

“Sparkle!” Nightmare Moon shouted, diving after her. This caused Daybreaker to laugh at the sight, throwing her head up to cackle. Nightmare Moon ignored her as fireballs bounced off her own shields, pulling in her wings to dive after Midnight.

It was too late.

Midnight slammed into the ground, and she cried out as she felt her bones break from the impact. Immediately, her alicorn magic went to work mending the bones, but she still screamed in pain as the sharp ends of her broken bones cut into her.

Nightmare Moon landed down on the ground, her eyes dark and furious as she cast a dome over them to protect them from the fireballs. “You foolish, foolish mare,” Nightmare Moon muttered as her horn lit up. Midnight felt her bones start mending faster with the assistance of Nightmare Moon, and she gasped as the final one merged.

“When I said keep the dragon busy,” Nightmare Moon snapped. “I didn’t mean get yourself hit by a fireball!” Without looking, she slashed at the face of Spike with a kinetic blade as the dragon lifted a claw over them to stomp them flat. The dragon roared in pain as he stumbled backward, before tripping and collapsing into a volcano. Lava streamed down from where he slammed into it, dripping all over the dazed drake.

“He will recover,” Nightmare declared. “Get up.” With some difficulty, Midnight pushed herself up. Her eyes widened as she dived and wrapped her hooves around Nightmare Moon, before teleporting the both of them to the side.

And not a moment too soon. An enlarged flaming ax slammed into where they had been, Daybreaker holding the end of it. With a shout of effort, Daybreaker lifted it up again, before swinging it towards the pair.

Midnight’s horn flared up as she summoned Nova. Casting a spell to enlarge it, she swung the scythe to meet Daybreaker’s ax in midair, the edges glowing red as she forced magic into it to be able to match Daybreaker.

The world went white as the two weapons met.


Midnight saw a war being waged.

Two armies clashed, bolts of magic flying everywhere.

On one side, a mass of shadow laughed as his horn glowed a deep, dark red.

On the other side, she saw Daybreaker’s other self, Celestia ordering her soldiers into battle as soldiers outfitted with silver helmets, their eyes glowing green engaged the soldiers in golden armor.

And in the sky, she saw the same portal she saw a few hours ago in her dreams. A circular portal, the edges ringed with symbols.

The world shifted, and she saw the lilac unicorn again. This time, she was slow clapping with an absurd-looking smile on her face, floating beside a frozen cyan pegasus filly.

The lilac unicorn laughed.

Then the world shattered as Nightmare Moon shouted her name.


“Midnight!” Nightmare Moon bellowed. “Snap out of it!”

Midnight shook her head hurriedly, trying to clear the black spots in her eyes. She looked up to see Nightmare Moon barely holding her ground against a barrage of spells from Daybreaker. The fireballs had stopped raining from the sky, but it only seemed to have empowered Daybreaker more.

Cracks spread in the shield Nightmare Moon was casting as beads of sweat trickled down the dark alicorn’s head. “Do…something!” she grunted.

Midnight got to her hooves, her head clearing. “Move aside!” She shouted at Nightmare Moon, her own horn enveloped in a teal aura. Nightmare Moon did not hesitate, releasing her shield and diving aside as an explosion of force blasted straight at Midnight.

Midnight concentrated.

And she burst into a giant wall of shadow and darkness, the blast Daybreaker had fired going through her harmlessly. She reformed back into herself, breathing heavily. She had attempted to copy what she had seen in the vision, but it had taken more out of her than she had expected.

“Dark magic?” Daybreaker mused, suddenly beside Midnight. “Interesting.” Midnight snarled and sliced Nova to where Daybreaker was, but the white alicorn was already gone.

Daybreaker was once more in the air, lowering her ax to point straight at Midnight. “Swallow them, Spike.” The dragon had recovered and was in the process of extricating himself from the volcano. He roared in challenge and barrelled towards Midnight and Nightmare Moon, smoke trailing from his nostrils as he breathed.

And then they were falling from the sky. Midnight’s eyes widened as she realized that she had somehow been transported somewhere else, before she looked down into the wide gaping maw of Spike.

And then they were swallowed. Midnight cast a shield around her and Nightmare Moon to prevent them from travelling deeper into the drake’s throat, but she could already see the acid glands dripping the digestive acid to attack her shield.

The shield was melting, and they were going to be eaten.

But she could hold it for now, and this could be a temporary reprieve for them.

“How did he do that?” Midnight shouted at Nightmare Moon over the loud dripping noises and the growling noises coming from Spike’s throat as he attempted to force them down his throat. Unfortunately, the circular shield that Midnight had cast was too big to fit down his gullet.

“Purple dragons have a unique ability!” Nightmare Moon replied back, scowling. “Their flames can either burn or transport items, including us! He must have sent us right above his mouth so he could swallow us easily!”

“I haven’t gotten the chance to thank you yet!” Midnight yelled. “You saved my life again!”

“THEN SAVE MINE!” Nightmare Moon shouted as Spike’s teeth closed on the shield, trying to break it with pure force. “Get us out of here!”

Midnight nodded, and they teleported out, reappearing in the air above Spike.

“Dragons are resistant to magic, but if we work together we can take him down!” Midnight hollered over the gathering storm that Daybreaker was cooking above them.

Nightmare Moon nodded, and they touched the tips of their horns together as Spike looked up at them, his wide maw opening as flames gathered in his throat.

“NOW!” Midnight bellowed, and the two of them discharged two different spells that merged together, firing straight at Spike. Even as the drake realized his mistake and closed his mouth to prevent them from going straight inside of him, the spells slammed into his face and he howled in pain, the spells going to work on him. Blisters from Midnight’s spell began appearing everywhere as his skin bubbled from the acid spell Nightmare Moon had cast.

And the world was rent apart as a lightning bolt struck down from the heavens onto Nightmare Moon, making her thrash and scream as the lightning electrified her.

Then she fell, her body smoking and burnt.

Midnight dived down, and time slowed.

Her hoof seemed to be moving in slow motion as she reached out for Nightmare Moon.

And then her world vanished entirely.


She was hanging from a cliff, barely holding on to a hoof that belonged to an orange earth pony who was straining to pull her up.

She spoke. “Applejack, what do I do?!”

The orange earth pony considered her. “Let go.”

“Are you crazy?” Midnight screamed.

“No, I ain't,” The earth pony replied. “I promise you’ll be safe.”

“That’s not true!” Midnight retorted.

“Now listen here,” The earth pony looked at her dead in the eyes. Eyes filled with honesty. “What I’m saying to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe.”

And at that moment, Midnight trusted her. She closed her eyes and let go.

And then she fell.


Midnight dove straight down for Nightmare Moon, her hoof extending for the dark alicorn as they spiraled down to the ground. As soon as her hoof made contact with Nightmare Moon, she wrapped her hoof around the other mare’s, before pulling up with a grunt of effort as her wings strained to pull them both up from the momentum.

Their momentum slowed as Midnight pulled with all her might, her wings flapping uselessly against the whirl of wind that surrounded them. As Midnight strained herself, she looked into Nightmare Moon’s eyes.

Two irises filled with hurt and rage, along with deep darkness that Midnight empathized with. Those two eyes sparkled with miniature stars, and for a moment, Midnight was enraptured. As she stared into Nightmare Moon’s eyes, Daybreaker’s cackle filled the air, echoing throughout the storm that was forming around them.

And it was the laugh that gave Midnight strength as she pulled. With an almighty heave, they stopped falling, her wings beating at the air to keep them afloat. Midnight screamed, and her horn discharged a blast of raw power straight up to where Daybreaker was laughing. It connected, and for a second Midnight saw an expression of pure surprise and terror.

And then the white alicorn fell past them before slamming into the ground. The storm died down slowly, its mistress unconscious on the ground. Spike bellowed behind them weakly, but from the emotions in the bellow, he knew the fight was over.

Midnight and Nightmare Moon had won.

But why was Midnight’s heart still pumping with fear and adrenaline?


Nightmare Moon was silent as she tended to her own wounds, wincing ever so often as she cast spells on her burns and cuts from where Daybreaker had sliced at her with her ax.

Midnight refused to look at either Daybreaker or Nightmare Moon as she glared at her own injuries. None of them had come out of the duel unharmed. Her horn sparked again, and she swore silently as she knocked a hoof against it. She had discharged too much magic through it. Her horn would take time to return to full power.

“You discharged pure emotion,” Daybreaker said, her voice hoarse and tired. The alicorn’s flames had died down, and she was lying against a rock. “An emotion I had only seen once used in this manner before. And even then it was twisted beyond belief by the one it came from.”

Midnight ignored her as she concentrated on her mana well, trying to repair whatever damage the discharge of raw power had done to her leylines. They would repair, she knew, but she could not afford to let them stay that way. They still had to meet Heartbreaker, and she was already weakened. This wouldn’t do.

“Listen to me,” Daybreaker whispered. “It’s dangerous, what you’re feeling. That emotion has no place in this world. It may be just the start, or something with a dead end. Do not try and explore what you just produced. It will lead to a place filled with hate and pain.” Spike rumbled assent behind Daybreaker.

“What do you know about emotions?” Midnight snapped as she forced herself not to remember what she had seen as they fell. The way she saw Nightmare Moon’s eyes sparkling even as she fell. Those eyes. Those damned eyes.

“Quite a lot more than you would think,” Daybreaker replied. “I am thousands of years older than you, Sparkle. I have lived eons.”

“Whatever,” Midnight looked down at her hooves. They were burnt and black, courtesy of the heat of Spike’s flames. “You will help us now?”

Daybreaker seemed to acknowledge her unwillingness to approach the topic. “I will,” she confirmed. “I may be many things, but I am not one who breaks her word. I shall help you access the Engine.”

“And does that help come with helping to convince Heartbreaker no matter what?” It was the first time Nightmare Moon had spoken since the duel. “I seem to recall you bitching about details a few centuries back. Do we have to niggle over every small letter and word of our agreement?”

“No,” Daybreaker sighed as she leaned back onto the rock. “I will not bother. If it comes to it, I will fight with you against Heartbreaker. But I believe she would not be as foolish to fight all three of us. She will listen.”

“Heartbreaker has never been a logical alicorn,” Midnight said suddenly. “Her attacks have no pattern, and she’s more insane than any of us. I’ve seen inside of her eyes before. There’s barely anything left.”

Nightmare Moon laughed morosely. “Who can blame her? She found love, and then it was ripped away from her by time and our ruined world. Of course, she would go mad.”

Love.

“In any case, we need her,” Daybreaker summoned her ax and ran a hoof across the blade. It had already been magically cleaned, no traces of any blood was left. “I do not wish to try and bargain with any of the gods. She was a mortal once. Like all of us were.”

Like all of us were.

Nightmare Moon sighed. “I suppose. However, I’m not sure of her whereabouts. She never had a fixed territory. She was more of a…wanderer.”

“Don’t worry,” Daybreaker looked up at the sky. “The day draws close. Can you feel it? Grief and anger fill the air. It is almost that time of the year.”

“Where he died.” Nightmare Moon stated.

“Indeed,” Daybreaker agreed. “For now, we rest. We can head over once we are sufficiently rested.”

Midnight shrugged. “Fine.”

Daybreaker looked up at Spike. “Guard us, Spike.” With that, Daybreaker cast a dome around her before summoning a black cloud from somewhere. She settled onto the cloud as her eyes closed. Within a few seconds, they could see her snoring even as the dome prevented noise from escaping.

“She was always a fast sleeper,” Nightmare Moon murmured. “You saved my life, Sparkle.”

Midnight avoided her gaze. “I was only repaying the favor.”

“So you say,” Nightmare Moon stared at her. “I shall not pry for now. We get to the Engine first, then we shall talk.”

Midnight made a mental note to avoid that talk.

“Shut your mental barriers, keep your secrets away,” Nightmare Moon murmured as she gazed up to the moon. “That was how she fell. How I fell.” Midnight twisted her head to look at Nightmare Moon, but it was too late. She had already copied Daybreaker, except for the fact her cloud was blue.

“Figures,” Midnight muttered as she cast the same spells as the two sisters. Curling up on the cloud, she found it more comfortable than all of the spells she had cast before to make herself comfortable. Perhaps there was something to learn from Daybreaker. She closed her eyes.

Her sleep was anything but uneventful.

Author's Note:

i am attempting the impossible task of daily chapters

my hands hurt