Chapter 8 (Original)
The Empty Room
Chapter 8
By Wanderer D
“Twilight... you're... helping me? How? Why?” Luna asked, her eyes wide.
“Why wouldn't she?” Rainbow-orb asked. “After all you're-”
“Secret!” Pinkie-orb shouted suddenly. “Secret! Remember! No telling! You pinkie-swore!”
“But...” Rainbow-orb tried again, only to have Applejack-orb float in front of it.
“No way sugarcube. That's not for us to tell.”
“Fine.” Rainbow-orb sighed dejectedly. It even dulled a bit.
“As much as I would like to know what you orbs are talking about,” Luna growled. “It still doesn't explain how she's here! In the outside world she's completely on the side of Nightmare Flare!”
“Nightmare who?” Applejack-orb asked.
Luna blinked. “Don't you know? Nightmare Flare. My corrupted sister!”
“See! Told you we were always the last to find out stuff in the whole subconscious!” Rainbow-orb floated accusingly in front of Rarity-orb.
“Well.” the white orb said after a moment. “Fine, you were right and I was wrong.”
“Wait, what?” Luna shook her head. “How can you be here and not know? And what do you mean you are always the last to find out what's happening in my subconscious?”
“Um... we... have been here since we healed you...” Flutter-orb offered.
“We are parts of the souls of the ponies you know as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle.” the purple orb explained, still floating in front of Nightmare Flare's avatar. “We are the wishes of those ponies that you would be healed... we represent their purest feelings and we have been here since the Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon because they wanted us to be with you.”
“With me? Why? They didn't know me back then. They barely know me now.” Luna sighed.
“We know... it takes some time for all the information of your daily activities to reach us... but it does, eventually.” Twilight-orb said. “But, for my part... Twilight... she...”
“We all saw who you were when we destroyed the shell that kept you trapped.” Applejack-orb interrupted. “Deep within each pony that night, was the honest wish that you would know true friendship and love from those around you, that you would be happy to be back with your sister and part of this world again.”
Luna nodded, tears forming in her eyes, although Applejack-orb’s interruption seemed odd to her. She glanced at Twilight-orb, arching an eyebrow.
The purple orb hovered silently, it seemed to be hesitating. Speaking slowly, as if choosing the words carefully it finally said: “I can tell you this... I am absolutely sure, beyond doubt, that Twilight Sparkle has been waiting for you to get in contact with her ever since she met you.”
Luna sighed. “I'll never get the chance now...” she sighed “..unless... I fight and win.” she looked resolutely at the orbs hovering around her. “It’s the only way I’ll be able to talk to Twilight...” she glanced with a small smile at the other orbs “And also thank the rest of the Elements of Harmony for their help.”
Nightmare Flare’s avatar resumed its push into Luna’s subconscious, but unlike its initial attack, it seemed to be carefully trying to push Twilight-orb out of the way without hurting it.
Twilight-orb hovered in front of the avatar for a moment longer. “Do you trust me, Luna?”
Luna looked at the orb deep in thought, remembering nights when she had stood apparently alone, wondering what to do and whether the world even needed her now... only for a tiny voice in her mind soothing her, telling her that it would be okay, urging her to talk to her sister when she thought things were too complicated.
It had been Twilight-orb... or at least some of it had been there. She was sure of it.
“Yes. I do.” Luna said.
“Then...” Twilight-orb said, moving out of the avatar's way. “Let her win.”
Luna felt tears well up again as she stood defiantly in front of the avatar, the other orbs hovering uncertainly behind her.
“It will be alright.” Twilight's voice said.
Closing her eyes shut, Luna stepped aside.
o.0.o
“Sister.” Nightmare Flare greeted the re-awakened Nightmare Moon. Her voice made the ponies cringe. It was harsh, and strong... aggressive. Completely unlike the calm and loving voice they had come to relate to Princess Celestia. It had a slight echo to it, as if there were two voices talking at the same time.
“Thank you for bringing me back, sister.” the dark mare replied, not taking her eyes off the five subdued ponies.
“We should see to our court.” the former Princess Celestia said. “We need to make everypony aware of the new changes.”
“Yes... but first I want to take care of these ponies.” Nightmare Moon said, stepping up to the struggling group.
Twilight and Spitfire lowered their heads at her.
“I want to get rid of them now.” Nightmare Moon declared, her horn lighting up.
Nightmare Flare stepped up next to her and sighed. “Very well sister, it is your revenge after all.”
“Please, my Queen...” Twilight said. “Can I keep her?” she caressed Applejack's chin with her hoof, earning a glare from the Earth Pony. “And I would like Spitfire to keep Rainbow Dash... we have an... experiment... to perform.”
The pegasus and the unicorn looked at the Queens expectantly.
“Come now, sister, what harm could come from letting them keep two?” Nightmare Flare asked. “The Elements of Harmony are no more. They cannot act against us, and you still can exact your revenge on the others.”
Nightmare Moon gritted her teeth, glaring down at the three remaining ponies. “Fine.” Her horn started glowing. “I will make you suffer for what you did to me.”
The five ponies screamed in terror as dark energy surrounded Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
“Girls! I just want to say... it was an honor knowing you!” Rarity gasped, then turned a teary eyed look towards Twilight who was watching with a manic smile. “Even you Twilight... before you became this.”
If the unicorn reacted she never got to see it. Black lightning crisscrossed their writhing bodies and they cried out as pain seemed to overwhelm them. They struggled to run when Twilight released her spell, but Nightmare Moon's power was too much for them. With a sudden crack, all three were gone. Only little mounds of ash remained.
“Rarity! Pinkie Pie!” Applejack shouted.
“Fluttershy! No!” Rainbow Dash cried, smashing her hooves on the floor.
All strength seemed to leave their bodies. They slumped there, just staring at the ash.
Nightmare Flare gave Nightmare Moon a hard look but said nothing.
“You can take them away now.” Nightmare Moon said.
Twilight Spark nodded, looking down at the pair. She smirked. “Yeah, these two are not going anywhere on their own.” Her horn stopped glowing as she canceled her spell.
The moment she felt the spell weaken Applejack jumped straight at Nightmare Moon. “You! Luna, how could you?!”
She was suddenly grabbed from the air and flung against the wall. She landed with a thud on the stone floor. “Sorry! Sorry!” Twilight Spark said with an impish smile. “I didn't anticipate that.”
Nightmare Flare sniffed. “Just take them away, Twilight. Spitfire.”
After all four ponies were gone the sun goddess turned to glare at Nightmare Moon. “What did you really do with them?”
Nightmare Moon seemed surprised for a second, but then she laughed. “You are very perceptive sister. I exiled them to my Moon Prison. I simply wanted to see their friends suffer when they thought they had died already.”
Nightmare Flare whinnied. “You are devious sister. Come now, our subjects await.”
o.0.o
The silence of the night was broken by the crackling and scratching sounds of wooden wheels on hard rock as the blue wagon was pulled along the road that snaked around the cliffs under Canterlot Castle.
Trixie shuddered. Whatever was calling her here was getting closer. She didn't know what her destination was... she had never been anywhere near the base of the mountain before. Ponies usually avoided the cliffs and just climbed the slope leading to Canterlot Castle.
Under the moonlight she could see the rocks older than Canterlot itself jaggedly adorning the face of the mountains. If she looked up and strained her neck, she could make out lights coming from the castle far above, but down here... only the silvery moonlight chased the shadows away.
Big Macintosh slowed down as they reached a cave. Another, smaller pass took off towards the castle above, but that was not what drew their attention.
The cave's entrance had been blocked by large metallic doors... and Trixie could feel that whatever was calling her was behind them.
WE NEED TO GO INSIDE she wrote. I CANNOT OPEN THE DOORS WITH MAGIC
Big Mac nodded. “Don't worry, Trixie.” the stallion said, shaking loose from the harness. “I’ll take care of it.”
With a screeching sound, the doors opened and Trixie's magic pushed the wagon into the cave. As soon as she was inside she jumped to the floor of the cave.
It was huge. Torches lit once they were both inside, a nifty little spell she knew several variations of to use for her shows.
The floor had a room wide circle of runes that contained smaller circles, each with their own runes inscribed on them. Trixie had seen symbols like those before, but she had never bothered to study the ancient languages. It was a shame, she now realized, as despite her usual lack of interest in the academical, she really wanted to know what it said. The chamber was vast, there were six columns all around, also decorated with runes. Entrances to smaller chambers could be seen behind each column.
“Isn't this amazing, Big Macintosh?” she said excitedly running from one side of the room to the other. When he didn't answer she stopped and looked at him. He was just looking in her direction with a stoic expression on his face.
“Oh...” Trixie sighed. “You can't hear me... I forgot... it might be for the best, I wouldn't want to bore you with my whining, and I value your company so much! If we had met when I could still speak to you I would...” she sighed again. Her horn started glowing and magic dust floated out of her wagon.
The words started forming in the air.
“Trixie... I can see you.” Big Macintosh said. “I... can hear you too.”
Trixie stared at the stallion. The dust, forgotten, sprinkled onto the floor unheeded. “Really?” she asked, almost choking when she realized that the red stallion had heard everything she had just said.
“Really.” Big Mac smiled at her. At her! He could see her!
Tears falling freely, Trixie jumped forward arms open to hug him.
Smiling, Big Macintosh also made a motion to embrace her... only for both of them to gasp as Trixie sailed right through him.
Trixie's eyes twitched. “Oh...”
Big Mac's eyes slowly widened at the tirade of insults and swearwords that followed.
“...with a bucketful of nails!” Trixie finished. She stood there breathing hard for a few seconds before glancing at the flabbergasted stallion. She blushed and lowered her head. “I-I'm sorry, Big Macintosh. I just... I thought...”
“It's okay.” the red-furred pony said after a moment. “We all get angry.”
Trixie nodded gratefully at him and both smiled warmly at each other for a couple of minutes. When Trixie realized she had been staring, she immediately looked away, flushing once more. “Ah... yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie is really thankful for your kind help.”
Big Mac chuckled. “My pleasure, Trixie.”
They started looking at the other smaller caves. Each was also intricately engraved, but unlike the entrance cave, they had some sort of shrines made out of stone at the far end.
“Trixie...” Big Mac whispered. “I think there's somepony there.” he said, motioning with his head at one of the smaller caves.
Intrigued, she followed Big Mac to the cave he pointed and carefully looked inside. A unicorn with a blue coat, slightly darker than Trixie's stood gazing quietly at one of the stone shrines.
Neither moved, but the unicorn tensed and turned around. His cutie mark was a waning crescent moon over a larger waxing crescent, his irises were an almost golden hue. His pose was aggressive and Trixie was surprised and immediately touched to see Big Mac step up next to her protectively.
“Who are you two?!” The unicorn demanded. “Leave now.”
“Now wait a minute!” Trixie said, stepping into the room and walking until she was snout to snout with the older unicorn. She pushed him back with her head, glaring. “You do not tell The Great and Powerful Trixie what to do! Who do you think you are?”
The unicorn narrowed his eyes and pushed back, his horn glowing threateningly. “Wanna bet?”
Trixie's own horn lit up. “You don't know who you are messing with!”
“Um...” Big Macintosh's cough made them look his way.
“What is it Big Mac? I'm about to teach this... miscreant... what he gets for threatening us.”
“Well... I just wanted to point out that you are able to touch him.” the stallion said.
“You... I...” Trixie stepped back. Then poked the surprised unicorn on the chest. “Hey! I can touch you!”
“You can touch me?!” the unicorn asked, dropping to his haunches, eyes wide. “But how?”
“Oh, Big Mac! I can touch ponies again!” she shouted with glee, sailing through him as she attempted to tackle him. “Huh?”
“Ah...” the unknown unicorn sighed. “That explains it. You're dead aren't you?”
“Well... you don't need to put it that way.” Trixie mumbled. “But, yes, I am a ghost.” she looked up, understanding dawning on her. “So that means that you...”
The unicorn nodded. “Just earlier today.” he looked at a corner of the cavern and they both could see a bundle of dark cloth over something.
“Eww...” Trixie stepped back, then looked at the unicorn “...sorry.”
The unicorn shook his head. “It's okay.” he sighed. “It's... not how I ever pictured I would pass on, you know? I figured by now I would be with my wife but... I can't leave. Not yet.”
“Why?” Trixie asked.
He looked at her, then at Big Macintosh. “I think I recognize you. You sell apples at the farmer's market in Canterlot. You live near Ponyville?”
Big Mac nodded. “I have sold you apples from time to time. I never learned your name.”
“Call me Midnight.” the unicorn smiled sadly. “I'm sorry I threatened you, but I thought you were agents of the Guardian.”
“Never!” Trixie shouted. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will rip his scaly hide from his bones!”
The unicorn blinked. “You've met the guardian? I guess that explains why you're here.”
“So... why are you here?” Big Mac asked, walking to stand next to Trixie.
The unicorn looked uncomfortable for a moment then sighed in resignation “Well, I need help anyway.” he stepped out of the way and motioned for them to follow him up to the shrine.
Both ponies gasped.
“Is that...” Big Macintosh started to say.
The unicorn nodded. “Yes. This has to remain a secret...”
“But-” Trixie started to say, still staring.
“No! Right now there's nothing we can do.” Midnight insisted.
Big Mac looked at the direction of the unicorns body. “I could... help take care of that for you.” he offered.
The unicorn lowered his head. “That... corrupted thing is more dangerous than you think. Leave it alone.”
A little disturbed Trixie looked from the body to the unicorn. “Corrupted? I think you have a lot to explain, Midnight.”
The unicorn nodded silently, looking down at the shrine. “Fine... it all began roughly ten years ago...”
o.0.o
Applejack was lying on the floor in the dark, staring silently at what she could see of the rug under her. How long had she been here? Hours at least... Her mind was blank. Every time she tried to think of what to do, the image of her three friends being reduced to ashes would replay in her mind and she would despair again.
The door opened and Twilight Sparkle... no... Spark... walked in.
Applejack didn't even bother to look up at her.
“Aw, what's wrong with my apple pie?” Twilight asked, walking up to her. “Feeling down?”
“Why do you do this, Twilight? I thought we were friends!” Applejack asked, without even looking up.
“Oh, Applejack. Of course we are friends.”
“Then why didn't you help us turn Princess Celestia back to normal?” the farmer pony asked, lifting her head to look at the purple unicorn.
“You have to understand, Applejack. Princess Celestia has been like my mother since I met her.” Twilight said, jumping on to her bed. “My dad became really distant when I moved here and my mom passed away shortly after that...” Twilight was silent.
“I didn't know that.” Applejack said. “But for the same reason, shouldn't we bring her back to normal? And you too for that matter?”
“Me?” Twilight blinked.
“Twilight!” Applejack finally stood up and held her friend by the shoulders. “You weren't always an evil vampire goth fillyfooler!”
“An evil...” Twilight blinked and stepped up to the mirror. “Oh. Well, I guess I could see why you would call me a goth...”
“And the fangs...”
“Oh, I can't suck anything with them.” Twilight said. “I think they just look cute.” she smiled, fangs showing just slightly as she approached the earth pony.
Applejack gulped as Twilight spark nuzzled her. “Unless you want me to bite?” the unicorn whispered.
“No! No! No!” Applejack growled, pushing the amused unicorn away. “What is wrong with you? Our friends just died! They were killed by Nightmare Moon! She's evil! You've always known that! Why can't you tell the difference now?”
“Oh, Applejack.” Twilight chuckled. “Nightmare Moon is not evil. She's just ruthless. Like all rulers should be. Besides, if Nightmare Flare is my mom, doesn't that make Nightmare Moon my aunt?”
“So a twisted little family is worth the lives of Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy?” the farmer countered. “I see you couldn't care less.”
“You seem to be handling it pretty well yourself.” Twilight dryly pointed out.
Applejack looked down. “I'm hurting, Twilight. I'm hurting more than you can imagine... earlier, when we thought we had lost you... Fluttershy just couldn't stop crying, Pinkie Pie wouldn't even smile... and Rarity... she just stared at the table... we were all heartbroken.”
“Oh. Well, this is depressing.” Twilight sighed. Her horn started glowing.
“H-hey!” Applejack shouted as she was levitated off the floor and then pressed against the wall where magical chains wrapped around each of her hooves holding her aloft once the unicorn had stopped using her magic. “Twilight! What the hell do you think you are doing! This is not funny!”
Twilight Spark had a small smile as she approached, batting her eyelashes at Applejack. “Aww, let me make you feel better, Applejack.” she said.
“N-no! I'm not into fillies!” the farmer shouted. “And even if I were, I would never like a crazy unicorn that does not care at all for her friends! The real Twilight would!” she looked deep into her friend’s eyes. “If you’re there, Twilight, fight! Come back to us!”
The unicorn gasped and stepped back. Her horn started glowing and soon a purple aura formed around her, levitating her as she threw her head back and groaned loudly, her hooves going to her head as if she were in pain.
Applejack watched in shock as Twilight twitched in mid air, then the aura blasted off and the unicorn collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily.
“T-twilight?”
“Oooh...” a whimpering voice came from the unicorn. “A-applejack? What happened? I... feel so... strange...” she stumbled as she tried to get up.
Hope flared inside Applejack. “It's okay sugarcube! Just be strong! We'll get out of this mess.”
“Mess?” Twilight looked up, confused. She looked around the room, then noticed Applejack tied to the wall. “Applejack! Who put you there?!”
“Don't worry about that, Twi!” Applejack was almost crying with happiness. “Just get me down, we need to get Rainbow Dash back and stop Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Flare?”
“Who?” Twilight asked as she made her way up to the farmer and stood unsteadily on her hind legs, leaning heavily against the wall, so that her face was close to Applejack's.
“Get me down, I'll tell you all about it...” Applejack's words were almost a whisper as she stared into Twilight's eyes.
“Applejack...” the unicorn said softly, leaning forward until their faces were almost touching.
“Y-yes?” the farmer asked just as softly, cheeks blushing, she unintentionally leaned forward just a bit, so that their noses finally touched.
Twilight stared at her for a moment before she had to stifle a laugh. She put her hoof on her mouth, but she snorted and fell back laughing.
The farmer looked down at the unicorn rolling on the floor with laughter with confusion. “Twilight?”
“I...” the revived unicorn snorted. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was hilarious!” she laughed for a few more seconds, each of which made the farmer more and more annoyed. “It-it was amazing! Your face... you should have seen your face!”
“Twilight!” Applejack snapped. “Just get me out of here!”
The unicorn stopped for a second, then looked at her seriously before her cheeks puffed up with barely contained laughter. “Oh, Applejack! You... you really bought it! Priceless!”
Comprehension finally dawned on the farmer pony. “Why you!” she started struggling against the chains. “When I get my hooves on you...”
“Oh, don't worry, you will” Twilight Spark smirked. “I expect to have all of you on me at some point in the near future.”
The apple farmer growled.
“Now... about getting my hooves on somepony...” the unicorn said, still chuckling. “What do you say to getting started?”
Applejack gulped again.
Twilight Spark took a step towards her...
Someone knocked on the door. The unicorn sighed. “Really? Don't ponies have better things to do than bother me right now?”
Her horn glowed and the door opened, revealing two pegasi silhouettes. “Twilight, Nightmare Flare and Nightmare Moon are going to speak to their subjects.” a familiar voice said.
Applejack stared, completely baffled at the pair of ponies.
“And they request your presence there.” Spitfire added. “They can't start without their daughter, right?”
“I suppose.” Twilight sighed. “I was hoping to get some studying done, you know?”
The pegasus with the familiar voice walked into the room and stared at Applejack before turning to elbow Twilight Spark on the shoulder. “Yeah, right. What type of studying were you planning on doing?”
“Oh, you know. Basic anatomy, pleasure/pain thresholds, Pavponian Conditioning.” the unicorn spared a glance at the earth pony. “Oh... do you think I broke her? But I haven't even started!” she said jokingly, eliciting a snort and a laugh from the pegasi.
Applejack realized that her mouth was hanging open and closed it with a snap. But her eyes watered as she forced herself to speak. “Why... what...” she shook her head and looked pleadingly at the pegasus.
“What’s up, Applejack? Dragon caught your tongue?” Rainbow Dash asked, her familiar cocky smile unwavering.
o.0.o End Chapter 8 o.0.o
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I think you may have just twisted my brain into a gordian knot. I am starting to wonder how many characters to can have drawing my ire before it runs out though, the abundance of evil/corrupted is nearly astonishing.
Oh well, at least there's the still adorable Trixie/Big Mac relationship going.
Wonderfully dark fic you've got going so far. I look forward to seeing how this pans out.
Twilight Spark is awesome. I love how twisted it is, and yet at the same time it still seems kind of like Twilight. Nicely done.
Rainbow is with them? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
I now hate celestia and luna......fooorrrreeevvveeerrrrr
i now love princess celestia and luna......... fooorrreeevvveerrrrr
ive read enough of these story types to love twilight forever good or bad
why are all the fluttershy emotes sad or mad but on and apple jack all weird but one and all of pinkie pies err forget the last one thats obvoius
Looks like rainbow dash
*puts on sunglasses*
has joined the herd
YYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Woah-w-w-w-WHAT?! Rainbow is with them? NOOOO, THEY GOT TO YOU TOO!!
blog.ivman.com/wp-content/Hope.jpg
First Spitfire, Now Rainbow?!
icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/1155341618648.jpg
YOU Are making me look like crap! You are awesome.
Man this story is getting better and better
So Applejack is all that's left now...
Wait.......Rainbow...Dash......is.....with...them........
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw9584-9oMBp.png
This story is really great at producing twists and turns, leaving me guessing as to what is going to happen next.
Ok so this is suspicious, when I first found this story I was curious about the romance tag and at first I thought it was probably gonna be Celestia and Twilight, since instead of Luna being in the tags it's Nightmare Moon unless Twilight has feelings for her, but than I thought it's probably Trixie and big Mac, but now I think it's Twilight that has feelings for Luna.
It's really weird, for some reason back in 2012 up to mid 2013, the most popular relationship was Twilight X Luna, and the other weird thing is that back then before Allicorn Twilight was even confirmed to be in the show, the concept of Allicorn Twilight featured a relationship between Twilight and Luna, this story seems to be one of them, not just one of them, but the first!
I still like the new new look Twilight has, even more now.
What.