The Arcane-Faith Star Shall Aid Its Escape / And Bring About Nighttime Eternal
Assemblies were simple, boring ordeals. Twilight had sat through the welcome assembly three times already and didn’t see why her final one would be any different.
Each year followed the exact same template: Celestia gave a speech, then let the student council give their introductions, and then she invited students to stay behind and ask questions after the assembly. The speech was the same every time, the council members offered cheesy introductions that always fell flat, and Twilight had yet to see another student besides herself stay behind to ask anything.
But that was just what assemblies were: simple, boring, and predictable.
Until they weren’t.
The first thing Twilight noticed when Celestia stepped up to the microphone was her jacket. Her left sleeve—Twilight’s right—hung empty over her shoulder, the corresponding arm tucked away underneath and behind her back.
The second thing Twilight noticed was her face. There wasn’t a delicate way to phrase it: Celestia looked awful. Her skin was sickly pale and ashy, and Twilight had never seen bags under her mentor’s eyes before. Celestia was supposed to look perfect and capable and predictable. Not like this.
The third and final thing Twilight noticed was the blood.
It wasn’t obvious, and she was sure that even students in the front row would miss it if they weren’t looking for it. But to Twilight it stuck out like a sore thumb—a single, crimson smear at the corner of Celestia’s mouth. Impossibly faint, yet incredibly obvious since she doesn’t wear that shade of lipstick, she never liked red, why else would there be—
Celestia tapped the microphone and pulled her lips into a tight smile, stretching the red smudge along with it. “Good afternoon, students.” Her voice was clear and steady, but Twilight’s stomach sank at the controlled coldness in her tone, a desperate worry clawing at her insides.
The auditorium quieted, and all eyes turned to their principal.
“It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you all to Canterlot High School. I am honoured to once again have the opportunity to open our start-of-year assembly.” She glanced around the room and continued, “Each school year has its challenges, as many of my returning students may have already noticed I’m already facing”—she gestured to herself teasingly, which elicited a round of laughter from the crowd—“but I am confident that all of you have the potential to overcome obstacles and succeed here at CHS.”
That last bit wasn’t part of her usual speech, Twilight noted. It was played off as a joke, but she knew Celestia well enough to realize why she’d drawn attention to her appearance.
She couldn’t find a way to hide it, so she didn’t have a choice.
Because Celestia was perfect and capable and predictable. Assemblies were simple and boring and predictable. If she wasn’t, and if they weren’t, then what was Twilight supposed to do?
And how on earth could she help fix it if she didn’t know what was wrong?
Celestia carried on with her usual script, and for a while Twilight managed to convince herself that things were fine. The worry in her stomach settled slightly as she clung to every word of the speech and watched the little red smear bob up and down as Celestia spoke.
She was so focused on the blood that she nearly missed when Celestia stopped.
Twilight didn’t know what part of the speech Celestia was on, only that the auditorium was void of her voice. The sudden silence blanketed the room, and an awful pressure joined the gnawing anxiety in her gut.
Celestia took a step back from the mic. “Terribly sorry,” she said, her voice now laboured and strained. The audience started to murmur in confusion. “If you will allow me a moment to gather my thoughts—”
And that was all she said before the lights went out.
They weren’t stranded in absolute darkness—it was the middle of the afternoon, and the windows on the side wall didn’t have their curtains drawn—so Twilight and the rest of the crowd could still make out what was happening on the stage.
It was a terribly odd sight to behold.
Celestia’s entire body shuddered, and the arm she’d hidden behind her back suddenly jerked to the side and extended straight out. She winced as she did—the motion seemed involuntary and didn’t match the rest of her body—and Twilight’s ears registered a metallic scrape when her arm moved.
Then she noticed the gauntlet. It covered Celestia’s arm from fingers to elbow in a silvery metal that Twilight instantly recognized. The armour from her office. But why on earth was Celestia wearing it?
“Students!” Celestia commanded the crowd’s attention once again, though this time with incredible urgency. “You must leave now!” Another shudder wracked her body, and when no one moved to leave she grabbed the microphone stand and slammed it into the stage floor with a bang. “LEAVE!”
That finally did it. Students bolted from their seats toward the doors, their nervous murmurs twisting into shouts and screams. Twilight tried to follow the panicked mob but only managed to make it out of her seat and into the aisle before her knees buckled and sent her tumbling to the floor.
Shit shit shit!
Celestia needed help, but how could she do anything when her body was gripped by a paralyzing fear that sucked the very breath from her lungs? Celestia told her to leave, but how could she when her legs wouldn’t work and her eyes wouldn’t see and her ears heard nothing but the pounding of her heart and—
“Twilight!”
And then there was Sunset, grabbing at her arms and dragging her to her feet. Twilight crashed back to reality the same instant a burning pain erupted in her chest.
She took a breath before Sunset even had to remind her. “What’s happening?!” Another gasp. “What are you doing here?!” And what about what happened earlier?
“You needed help,” Sunset said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She grabbed Twilight’s hand and started to pull her toward the exit. “I’m just in the right place at the right time.”
But you would have to go out of your way to pass me, Twilight wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. “Celestia,” she choked out instead. “I have to help her!”
“Not like this, you won’t.” Sunset kept pulling her away from the stage, so Twilight tore her hand out of Sunset’s and stumbled a few steps back.
“But—”
“Twilight, listen.” A sort of desperation leaked into Sunset’s voice as she blurted out, “It’s magic. This whole thing just screams magic. And if you can’t pull yourself together then you’re just going to put yourself in danger!”
“But I don’t believe in magic,” Twilight argued. “Celestia doesn’t believe in it!”
“It doesn’t matter if you believe in it or not. It’s still happening.”
On stage, Celestia’s gauntlet lit up with an unnatural golden glow. The hair on the back of Twilight’s neck stood on end as a strange sensation swept through her like a wave of electricity. Beside her, Sunset grit her teeth.
“That’s what magic feels like,” she said. “But whatever she’s doing—”
The golden glow sputtered, then suddenly winked out. Twilight could only watch in horror as Celestia spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered backward, sweat dripping from her brow. “Leave,” she repeated weakly to the nearly-empty room.
Then the doors to the auditorium slammed shut on their own, and something exploded out of the gauntlet with a horrific metallic screech.
Twilight didn’t know what she was looking at; couldn’t process it—objectively, it was a dark-coloured smoke-like substance, but logically it made no sense at all. The thing unfurled itself above the stage until it resembled some sort of horrifying balloon, a shadowy tendril extending from the hovering mass back down to Celestia’s arm.
Her panic surged again, but Twilight forced herself to take a deep breath and squashed the panic back down into her internal problem pile. Sunset was right—she had to keep it together if she wanted to help. And the only way she knew how to was with feelings locked away in compartments she refused to ever process.
So in went fear, in went logic, in went the guilt that threatened to strangle her. She buried them down as far as they’d go and instead tried to focus on the only thing that mattered: helping Celestia.
That was the number one problem in the pile. Everything else could wait.
“Okay,” Twilight said, partly to Sunset but mostly to herself. She took another breath, slower than before, and gave her face a few stinging claps to ground herself. “Okay. Okay, okay, okay. I can do this. I’m going to do this.”
But instead of agreeing with her, Sunset narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “No, you’re not.” She grabbed Twilight’s arm again and spun her around to face the doors of the auditorium. “You are finding a way out of here while I deal with the principal.”
“But I can help!”
“How?” Sunset’s nails dug into the skin of Twilight’s wrist enough to make her wince. “By not believing in it?”
Oh.
Sunset’s expression softened a bit. “I’m not mad at you,” she said gently. “I’m hurt, but I’m not mad.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight whispered, the same time as the shadow on stage screeched again.
“We can talk after, okay?” Sunset shifted her grip from Twilight’s wrist to her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Just stay safe and let me handle—”
“Oh my god,” a voice interrupted, and Twilight’s stomach dropped. “Stop fucking flirting and help us get the hell outa here!”
No. No no no.
Rainbow threw herself against the doors again, a combination of indignation and panic painted across her face. “Come on!”
It was only then that Twilight realized not everyone had made it out.
There was Rainbow, crashing desperately into the main doors; there was Applejack, banging on the windows; there was Rarity kicking the side door, Fluttershy tugging on its handle, and Pinkie trying to unscrew the hinges with her bare hands.
Five other prisoners in the auditorium. Five people that Twilight so desperately wanted to avoid.
“Why didn’t you leave?!” Sunset yelled, and to her credit Rainbow had the decency to look embarrassed.
“I— I dunno, it looked kinda cool—”
“And the rest of you?”
The other girls halted their escape attempts and turned to face Sunset, each wearing a vastly different expression.
“I just stuck with Rainbow—”
“Well, excuse me for having the decency to check on my friends—”
“I was trying to avoid the crowd—”
“I forgot my bag!”
“Be quiet!” Celestia thundered. Her gauntlet lit up again with the golden glow as she yanked backward, pulling the shadow connected to it down a few feet. “It is taking all my concentration just to keep this monster bound—”
And then her gaze landed on Twilight.
In that moment, everything Twilight understood about fear paled in comparison to the terror she saw in Celestia. Something broke behind her eyes when she met Twilight’s, and the gauntlet’s light instantly sputtered out.
A cackling laugh tore through the air as the shadow ballooned outward, twisting and folding in on itself to form a sphere as black as pitch. As it grew, the tendril attached to Celestia’s gauntlet thrashed around and dragged her off the stage into the ground with a mighty crash.
“Celestia!”
Twilight started to run toward the impact just as Celestia screamed, “STAY AWAY!”
She froze in her tracks, and Sunset grabbed her arm to pull her back again. “You’re hurt!” Twilight protested. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to help—”
“Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia interrupted, ignoring Twilight completely. She pushed herself up on her elbows and coughed, more blood splattering onto the tile floor. “How much do you know of magic?”
“However much you’re willing to tell me,” Sunset fired back. She swung her bag around and pulled out her book and a pen. “So unless you think writing to a magical book is going to do anything, you better tell us how to help you and tell us fast!”
The hovering sphere pulsated with a rumble that shook the floor. Cursing under her breath, Celestia gave the tether between her and the shadow one last feeble tug before relenting. “Alright. This… is Nightmare.”
The shadow screeched again at the mention of its name and tried to pull itself free from Celestia’s grasp. She grunted, and the golden light returned long enough for her to drag the sphere a few feet back down toward herself.
“I’ve been keeping it sealed for nearly a decade—”
Ha! You, keep me sealed?
Nightmare didn’t speak—it echoed in the back of everyone’s head, deafeningly loud and impossible to block out. At the sound of its voice a terrible pressure surged in Twilight’s chest and she stumbled back against the wall for support, her vision ringed with black.
Don’t make me laugh.
“It talks!” Pinkie gasped, and Rarity quickly slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her from saying more.
“Unfortunately,” Celestia spat. She pushed herself to her feet to glare pointedly at Nightmare’s hovering form. “And it speaks nothing but lies.”
You flatter me, Nightmare purred. It floated down until it was nearly eye-level with Celestia. But all lies are born from fragile truths. There is no deception but your own.
The pressure built up to a near-painful level, and Twilight couldn’t tell if it was the effect of Nightmare or her own anxiety. Everything started to blur together—sounds and sight and touch all fused into one overwhelming fog.
Help, she tried to scream, but no sound came out.
You deluded yourself into thinking that you could stand against me. Only Nightmare’s voice cut through the haze, echoing in Twilight’s mind like a curse. It’s adorable that you think so highly of yourself!
Something crashed into the ground, followed by a chorus of screams.
But I am NIGHTMARE!
Another crash.
And no one can stop the inevitable!
There was a final, devastating impact that shook the entire room. And for a moment Twilight felt nothing but silence.
Then someone shouted, and the pressure suddenly vanished from Twilight’s chest. Her senses came back one by one until her vision finally focused and the terrible scene before her came into view.
Celestia lay crumpled in the centre aisle, the shadowy tether pulled taut between her and Nightmare. And standing with her back to Twilight was Sunset, her book held high above her head.
“I said,” Sunset repeated, “Shut up!”
“Don’t,” Celestia protested weakly. A stream of blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. “Just save... Twilight...”
Do you mock me, girl? Nightmare spoke again, its teasing lilt replaced with cold fury. Who are you to defy my will?
“I’m the fucking chosen one,” Sunset spat back, her fingers white-knuckled on the spine of her book. “And I’m the one who’s gonna take you down.”
Silence. The sphere stilled, its shifting shadows slowing to a stop. You? Stop me?
And then Nightmare laughed.
It laughed high and cold and mocking, its form writhing around itself in mirth. As its laughter died the sphere morphed into a new form: a faceless and shadowy humanoid bound to Celestia at its ankle.
And who told you that? it asked.
Sunset’s arm wavered. “My book—” she tried to say, but Nightmare cut her off with a cackle.
The hero of a prophecy from a magical book! Isn’t that convenient? Another round of laughter wracked its new body. Then it suddenly convulsed, and in the blink of an eye appeared directly in front of Sunset with its tether stretched as far as it could reach.
“What the—”
I’m a liar, Sunset Shimmer, Nightmare said, and thrust one shadowy hand into the book with an electric crack. And the only prophecy you fulfill is me.
And then the tether exploded.
Celestia tumbled into the side of the stage across the room with a crash, while at the same time Sunset flew backward like a ragdoll, slamming into the wall beside Twilight and collapsing to the floor. Her book landed a second later, face-down with its pages splayed and smoking.
They both didn’t get up.
Shit!
Twilight darted over to Sunset as another shockwave rippled through the air. Every window in the room shattered simultaneously, and Applejack just managed to dive out of the way as the curtain rods above detached and tumbled down. Then the walls trembled, and everyone barely had time to scramble away as a barrier of purple flame erupted upward and encircled the entire room, cutting off all methods of escape.
“What the hell did you do?!” Rainbow screamed, her voice cracking. “That just made it stronger!”
Sunset coughed and shook her head to clear it, one arm looped over Twilight’s shoulder for support. “I don’t know,” she croaked. “I thought—”
“Well, think a little harder next time! Oh, wait!” Rainbow jabbed a finger toward the flames blocking them in and yelled, “There is no next time! We’re all gonna fucking die!”
Above their heads Nightmare giggled and clapped its hands together. Even without a face Twilight knew that it was smiling. I must thank you, ‘chosen one’. You fulfilled your purpose better than I thought. It twisted around so it hung upside down and gloated, Almost too easy, don’t you think?
Before anyone could react it vanished in a puff of flames and reappeared over Celestia’s body with a pop. She tried to push herself to her feet only for Nightmare to shove one shadowy leg down on her back and slam her into the floor.
I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time, Celestia, it hissed, thrusting its arm down to grab Celestia by the neck. It’s taken me far too long to gather my power—all due to your accursed meddling in that which you cannot understand. But now, it said, its grip tightening with each word, I’m whole again. Except for one last piece.
Celestia sputtered and tried to remove Nightmare’s claws from her throat. “Don’t you dare,” she begged.
Hm, Nightmare said, unamused. I dare.
And then the pressure from earlier slammed back into Twilight, knocking all the air from her lungs and thoughts from her head. Sunset cried out beside her, but the words didn’t register—there was only pressure and pain and icy numbness centered in her chest.
This is what dying feels like, Twilight realized, dimly aware that her feet had somehow left the ground. Through hazy eyes she saw Nightmare turn to face her from across the room, one of its clawed hands stretched toward her heart.
I’m going to die.
Something inside her tugged, and Twilight felt as though she’d been lit on fire. She was freezing and drowning and burning up and breathless, unable to even scream. Everything turned to shadow as Nightmare ripped apart her very soul. And then—
And then—
And—
Light burst through the darkness, blinding and real. Whatever Nightmare had drawn out of Twilight snapped back into her as Sunset swung a curtain rod through its body with all her might.
“Catch her!”
Nightmare’s magic evaporated and Twilight dropped like a stone. Before she even registered falling she landed in a tangle of arms—caught just before her head smacked against the ground.
“Holy shit,” Rainbow breathed, her arms wrapped under Twilight’s back. Pinkie and Fluttershy mirrored her position on Twilight’s other side while Applejack and Rarity supported her hips. They quickly lowered her to the ground so she could stagger to her feet.
What the hell was that?! Twilight managed to think, just barely able to string her scattered thoughts together. Her voice was trapped behind the familiar pressure at the back of her throat, the ever-clinging curse of anxiety a noose around her neck. Shivering, she pressed one trembling hand to her chest where Nightmare had struck her but felt nothing but her heart pounding beneath her skin.
Why? she wondered. Why did it go for me?
Well! Even cut clean in half, Nightmare still remained. The two shadows twisted back together to reform into a single figure of smoke. I almost felt that.
Sunset swiped at it with her makeshift weapon again, the rod passing through harmlessly each time. “Fuck you,” she growled.
As she raised the rod over her head for a final swing it suddenly lit up with a golden light. Nightmare’s form stiffened in surprise just before Sunset slammed the rod down on its head and set it crashing to the ground.
“Bet you felt that!”
Instead of speaking, Nightmare responded with a monstrous roar. Its form exploded into smoke again and shifted back into a sphere, hovering barely an inch off the ground and struggling to keep itself together.
Celestia, it hissed. Ever a thorn in my side.
Across the room Celestia lowered her gauntlet and coughed. She stood tall and confident despite her tattered suit and injured body, her eyes burning with a fire so unlike the icy glares Twilight was used to. “Good work, Sunset,” she said, and the magic around both her gauntlet and the curtain rod vanished again. She then beckoned to the side door barely visible behind the flaming barrier and said, “Quickly now!”
Twilight and the other girls—except for Sunset, who remained beside Nightmare poised to strike—scrambled alongside the back wall of the auditorium toward Celestia. Each time Nightmare tried to rise back into the air Celestia powered her gauntlet and Sunset struck it back down with her magic-veiled curtain rod, preventing it from shifting back to its humanoid form.
“Twilight!” As soon as they reached the barrier Twilight found herself pulled into a bone-crushing hug. “Are you hurt?” Celestia asked. She pulled away to frantically grab the sides of Twilight’s face, examining her for injuries.
“I don’t think so,” Twilight managed to say. “Are you?”
Celestia shrugged off the concern and pulled Twilight back into an embrace. “Not badly,” she said. “But this isn’t about me. I need to get you and the others out of here.”
“Celestia—”
“Twilight, I can explain later. I promise. I’m so sorry for having to keep this from you—”
“I just don’t understand!” Frustrated, Twilight untangled herself from Celestia and stepped back a few paces. “This goes against everything you’ve ever taught me. Everything I believe!”
“Not the time!” Sunset yelled. She shook the curtain rod pointedly, and Celestia quickly raised her arm again to empower it just in time to strike Nightmare back down.
“A-and that! How are you doing that?!”
“Really not the time!” Rarity screeched. She threw out her hand toward the flaming wall and fixed Celestia with a panicked, slightly-manic glare. “Can’t your glowing whatever-it-is do anything about that?!”
A hollow clang rang out through the auditorium as Sunset whiffed her next swing, the rod slamming into the side of a row of seating—Nightmare had split itself in half to dodge her attack.
I grow tired of these games, Celestia, it said, a disgusted edge to its tone. The two smokey halves swept past Sunset and high into the air, whirling together to form the humanoid shadow once more.
Celestia coughed again. She sounded worse than before and looked the part—disheveled clothes and tangled hair shattered her illusion of strength. “And as I said before,” she rasped, wiping the blood from her mouth on the back of her once-white sleeve. “I will do everything in my power to stop you.”
Hm. How interesting. Nightmare raised its hands in mock surrender. Then I’m curious to see the extent of your resolve!
It then tilted its head to the side and smiled, tearing a crescent moon out of the shadows that formed its face.
I hope Twilight thinks her life is worth it.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees. Twilight froze in place, Nightmare’s words still echoing in her mind, and slowly turned her head to Celestia. “My life?”
“I’m sorry,” Celestia whispered. She raised her hand again.
“What does that mean?”
Silence. The golden glow of the gauntlet flickered in time with Celestia’s shaking arm.
Twilight took another step back, her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. She knew without turning around that the other girls all had their eyes on her—where else were they supposed to look but Twilight, someone so pitied and useless and weak?
It’s not worth yours, she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come.
Nightmare revelled in her horror, a menacing cackle spilling out of its new mouth and ringing in the back of all their heads. Can’t bear to face the truth, girl? That your beloved mentor would die for her cause? That she’d take her secrets to the grave instead of trusting you with them?
“Stop,” Celestia ordered, her voice wavering.
Let me tell you a story.
“Please.”
The story of the woman who thought she could outsmart a monster of the arcane.
The way Nightmare spoke was mesmerizing; Twilight couldn’t find the strength to look away. Figures of smoke shifted within its body as it spun its tale, featureless and familiar all at once.
The woman who believed if she interfered with a prophecy, her dear protege’s life might be spared.
There was that word again: prophecy. It sounded ridiculous to Twilight, but then again so did hovering shadow creatures and magical gauntlets—at that point suspension of disbelief was crucial to keeping her sanity in one piece.
“What was the prophecy?” she asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Nightmare smiled wider. There is meaning in a name, Twilight. A meaning that my kind is bound to heed. It extended one spindly claw toward Twilight and continued, You know the meaning of yours, don’t you?
“Evening star,” Twilight answered automatically.
And hers? The claw drifted over to Celestia.
“Divine sun.” She clenched her fists, nails digging into the base of her palms. “Just get to the point.”
Hm. Nightmare didn’t falter, its hand still stretched toward Celestia. What do you think that woman assumed, it said lazily, tracing its claw in the air around her trembling stance, when I told her my next appearance required a star?
“Don’t listen to it, Twilight,” Celestia hissed. She clenched her fist with a metallic clank, the motion sending a ripple of strain through her whole body as she reignited the magic in her glove and Sunset’s curtain rod. “So long as I still stand, no harm shall come to you nor any of my students.”
She spoke with a false bravado that Twilight nearly believed, keeping Nightmare’s attention while Sunset crept up behind it with the glowing rod clutched tightly in her grip.
That a star who believed in the arcane would be the one to inherit my destiny... When Celestia learned how fate would orchestrate my revenge, what choice did she have? It spread its arms wide as Sunset inched closer, nearly within reach. She thought that the only way to protect her beloved niece from my return was to prevent magic itself—and she actually succeeded! I cannot yet sway her star!
Sunset raised her weapon to the tune of Nightmare’s cackle, and for a single, fleeting moment Twilight thought that they had won.
But there is meaning in a name, Celestia.
Nightmare split itself apart before Sunset struck, the rod whiffing through smoke and cracking harmlessly against tile. She yelped at the unexpected impact and lost her grip, and the makeshift weapon skittered away along the floor and out of reach.
It knew all along, Twilight realized exactly as Nightmare reappeared behind Sunset, rising out of its own shadows with a wide and wicked grin. It was just toying with us!
And suns are just stars that burn too bright.
And before anyone could react it stabbed its arm through Sunset’s back and out her chest, directly through her heart.
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THAT WAS SO COOL!!!
THE WAY YOU NIGHTMARE TOYED WITH THEM
THE REASONS THE MAIN 5 STAYED BACK
SUNSET USING A CURTAIN ROD TO PLAY WHACK A MOLE WITH NIGHTMARE
AND YOU ALSO BROUGHT UP THE ETYMOLOGY OF THEIR NAMES
ITS SO FREAKING FANTASTIC
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR WRITING AND ART
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ahhh im so happy you liked it! thank you very much, it really made my evening to see such an enthusiastic comment
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whoops, thanks for catching that typo!
and yea, with this chapter, things start to kick off - glad to have you comment again, really appreciate it
Holy hell! I was not expecting that to escalate so quickly. Stabbed through the chest. Yeesh, we are mean to Sunny sometimes.
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she’s such a fun character, it’s hard not to be a liiiittle mean
thanks for commenting!
Your art is phenomenal, and the quality of your writing certainly matches. I'm absolutely enthralled by this story and am very eager to see where it goes from here!
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your comment is so nice omg, thank you so much!! i'm working very hard on this project, so please look forward to the rest of the story ^^
Woah, I wasn't expecting it to escalate so quickly
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haha yea, it's a bit of a sudden jump into the drama of it all! tho, i think it's pretty similar to the pacing of the actual episode - hope it's not too jarring
i still love the heck out of Celestia’s characterization here. even in visible distress she knows the best way to disarm people is to play it off with her natural charisma.
oh shit that escalated quickly
yeah ok sure you are Sunset, you think we don’t see you, i bet you haven’t been stealing glances at her from across the assembly hall this entire time, and as soon as danger broke out your first thought definitely wasn’t OMG I MUST MAKE SURE MY
GIRLFRIEND IS OKi’m sure this isn’t going to come back later to bite us in the ass
por que no los dos?
pretty weird way for the Avengers to Assemble
omg ponko pls
me, reading the first four chapters: hmm i wonder why this doesn’t have the slice-of-life tag
me, now: o h
11590776
haha yep, for all the “normal” life stuff twilight gets ofc theres gotta b some sort of magical monster to show up and ruin everything smh
and gosh yea i love the idea of celestia being this deeply flawed person whos been unintentionally put on this pedestal she doesnt know how to get down from… shes this weird mix of wanting to care deeply abt others but also being unable to let herself do so in a vulnerable way, and its definitely a lot easier to portray that w a principal rather than an immortal princess haha
super excited to hear ur thoughts whenever u get to the second act!
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with two more hours to get from Yosemite to home, no better time than now to start lol
also i just wanted to remark on the chapter art, because i can NOT get over how you used twilight’s hair to split the frame while having it disappear behind sunset’s ear, it’s such a damn clever way to make room for both of them in a really tight composition, like wtf??? how are you so good at like literally all the things??????
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ah im so glad u like it! actually, this card is my least fav of all of them, bc i felt that squishing them together like that looked a bit weird, but id already drawn it at that point haha… so it’s reassuring that it’s not just a two-headed girl blob or smth fkfkfjfkd
Well that escalated quickly.
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and it just keeps escalating from here :D
SUNSET, NOOOOO!
Technically, a sun is a star.
Woah o_o
I said I'd read this in some YouTube comments on your animation videos, and now I'm finally doing it. I've barely gotten any sleep but this shit makes me sooooo happy and excited you have no idea. I can't wait to read more
. So glad there's a romance tag as well. And for the best ship no less 
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thank you so much for checking it out! i hope you enjoy the story :D
Woah. That's one hell of an escalation!
Nightmare going after Sunset, I didn't see. And yet... we see her as a demon in the show, long before Midnight Sparkle shows up.
That was very cunning of you.
And yes, these chapter cards are awesome.
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thank you for all the lovely comments! im so glad youre enjoying the story :D and yes, a nice little reflection of canon perhaps… its a nice challenge to see how close i can stay to the source material while also going far enough away to tell the story i want to ^^
LMAO 😭
I expected that she will be hurt but not at this certain degree.... Hoping that she's alright...
you did not just hurt the actual version of me in a cartoon. you did not
no but i literally got heartburn after reading this first AND second time (i have a wonderful thing called GERD aka acid reflux that is chronic)
Another great chapter! I liked how the action was paced with dialogue. And how some info was given while the mystery of the story expanded with the introduction of Nightmare. That last part with Sunset is definitely a powerful cliff hanger. The prose and descriptive style worked really well with the high level of action.
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so glad u liked it! im v happy with how this chapter turned out hehe :D
The moment she said "required a star" my heart dropped. That was evil writing, I love it.