What Followed The Dawn

by Anemptyshell

Born Anew

It was madness, a wicked, blackening madness. The shadows wrapped around my every inch. I was blind and deafened to what was happening in the realm of the living- the yetis, Tempest, Aris as a whole- it was all lost to me. I'd finally stopped laughing, leaving only a comfortable silence.

"Well, this is a mess, eh?" I asked the darkness. The darkness held its tongue- not that it'd ever been very conversational to begin with.

"Yes, it is."

I jumped, flailing as the shadows convulsed and ripped apart beside me. Where once there was nothing, there was a familiar form. She smirked at me as I pawed at my stamping heart.

"Jeez, gonna need to put a bell on you or something."

"You will do no such thing."

She was right. It was kind of hard to bend the mental space like that. It was even worse when it was a shared space on top of everything else. I waved in her general direction and huffed.

"So, what happened this time? I recall a bolt and laughing, and then the dark came calling as it does. Ya know?"

She nodded along. "I do. It seems there has been a fundamental change to our fused selves- an interesting but ultimately not unwelcome one."

I roll my hoof. "Go on."

"It seems, to my understanding, we are no longer two bound souls, two differing beings. However, what that means is beyond me. You can feel it, can't you? There is no I only We."

"Yeah, I was just hoping you'd know more, Nightmare."

The sum whole of the dark shuddered. A searing, all-consuming dread took hold of everything in me. I felt like I needed to vomit. The word was rejected wholesale by our very core.

"No," she said. "Not anymore." I nodded along slowly, feeling the acid in the back of my metaphysical self settle. She shook her head slowly. "You could feel that as well. You knew."

I didn't really know what to say. She wasn't wrong. I did, even if I didn't know why. I knew even before the bolt or the laughing. I was wondering how long either of us had known.

"So."

I let the word hang. She did not seem in any rush. Time was dubious inside such a realm. Mind, soul, whatever it was, played by its own rules. I wasn't much of a fan, but I had little say.

"Indeed. In a way, it makes sense. How could Nightmare Moon exist without Luna? The very building blocks of what we once were no longer exist. We, both you and I, simply wished it so. It is far easier to hold onto what we knew was real, what we thought was real."

I whistle dejectedly. "Isn't that the truth?"

"Thus, why we are here."

"So, what are you, or we, or whatever? What comes next?"

She smiles. A serene flash of fangs in the dark, one that whispers of horrors yet to come. A duality much akin to us in general. I smiled back.

"If we are no longer our past, then we have no use for the trivialities of its name, pledges, desires, or vendettas. Let us announce to the world what We have become. Let us teach the petty rabble that stole our sisters. Let us break this storm and bask in the starlight."

"Lots of hyperbole there. I like it."

There was no more use for words. The shadows faded, and the waking world returned: the stars above, the sounds of fire and battle, the whispers of nearby yetis. We took a single deep breath.

We slowly rose to our hooves. The yetis before us took defensive stances as we dusted ourselves off. The bolt lay discarded beside us, the tear in our wing gone, repaired while we talked in our mind palace.

"Well, that was oddly productive," we muttered to no one.

"Monster."

We look up to the leading yeti, brow cocked. "Beg pardon?"

"What kind of best are you?" it asked.

We mulled the question around our tongue. It tasted of blood and dirt. We could go for some water or mouthwash. We pursed our lips and nodded. "An excellent question, my good sir. You might not like the answer."

The yetis fanned out, encircling us. Our look never left the questioner. He twitched and snarled but made no sign of attack. One could almost taste the fear in the air. The fear of something new, of an unknown variable. It was enough to drive one mad.

"We are—"

The bit finally dropped, and one of the yetis leaped forward without any signal. A speak held out, poised to skewer us where we stood. The yeti didn't make it far. Still several meters out, he stood frozen in place. He struggled vainly as he was wrapped in a web of darkness. A series of wires shot out from his own shadow. I smiled a bit as I turned from the captured yeti back to his supervisor.

"—Well, that was rude. As I was saying."

"Monster, you are a monster," The lead yeti yelled, spittle flying from his sneering mouth. It was enough to cause us to grimace in return.

"No, no, no. We are no monster. We are the night, we are the shadows, we are everything caught in the light of the stars. You may serve Starlight, but we are the Starlight incarnate."

We took a step forward, wings spread wide. The yetis scrambled back. We shook our head. The dark that once consumed us was no more. Instead, our coat lightened to a near silver, and our wings sparkled like the very light of the heavens above. A tapestry of constellations much like that of Luna's own ethereal mane. We lacked the horn or the sheer presence of an alicorn, but we made up for it with enthusiasm.

"We are Noctis Stella, and we will not be denied. Now yield beast of be trampled beneath our hooves."

I couldn't help but smile as Stella and I watched from our mindscape. It was refreshing to work in tandem and no longer play Jekkyl and Hyde. I had to restrain a laugh the longer our monologue went. Both that and the name were mostly Stella's spiel. While we may no longer be tossed from one to the other, Stella had taken the lead. She deserved an outlet; hell, I did, too. But there was plenty to go around, and I at least try not to be greedy.

Stella seemed happy. The light in her eye danced. The twinkle, much like our wings, sparkled with an uncanny glow. The transformation wasn't too dissimilar to her prior form. The same cyan eyes, the same black coat, the same imposing presence. It was subtle. Her mane was shorter and lighter while still that of the night sky. Her cutie mark had also changed. No longer the moon, it was now a plethora of stars inked in dark blues. A light that shone in the dreariest of nights, a light that would watch over all those lost in the dark.

"We should wrap this up. Tempest could use the help," I said, nudging the mare beside me. She nodded back.

"True, we shall make this swift."

The yetis had mustered whatever resolve they had left. The surprise of our transformation and then the capture of the first attacker would only go so far. Thus, they rallied and looked none too pleased. That was fine. We were not happy either. We cracked our neck to one side and let the deepest dark flood forth. The shadows of the surrounding yetis, rubble, fountain, and pretty much everything within sight wiggled free of their origin and gathered beneath us. The light of our wings spread through the gathered mass and twisted towards our enemies. Their resolve wavered, and that was their last mistake.

A glittering wave erupted from between our hooves, the maelstrom of magic washing the yetis away in its path. They attempted to dip, dodge, weather, and hold. They probably would have if this were any other pony, excluding alicorns. They are a hearty sort. That was, to their misfortune, not the case. We were no alicorn, but we were close enough.

We were at least half of a half of an alicorn, which was pretty good, all things considered. Without the other alicorns and probably Chrysalis, Sombra was likely the only unicorn with more power. Tempest and Starlight, and maybe Shining, were just a little behind. That's a small pool considering. It also did not account for Discord because no one, even he probably, knew the actual limits to his powers. So, back to the yetis. They were well gone. Not dead, to our knowledge, just ripped away and out of the area stuck in the tide's current.

"Not bad," I said, patting Stella on the shoulder. She stood proud, leering down at where our foes had been seconds before.

"But of course. Now, to the arrogant brat that taints our domain with her mere existence," Stella turned us to the decimated crater that was, at some point, the central plaza.

"They're a little too good at this," I said. I motioned to the pile of stone and wood that not ten minutes ago was quite the feat in architecture.

"I would agree. Now, where is that insipid witch?"

"Mirroring Tempest, now are we?" I asked.

"As I've said before, I like that mare. She has gumption, so few have anymore. It is admirable."

I shrugged. "Fair enough."

The actual search was trifling since the explosions were less than subtle. Flying over the scarred city block and passing a score of well-to-do manors was none other than the clashing unicorns in their ragged and far too done with this visage. Tempest looked ready to keel over, and Starlight knew it.

"Surrender, you've lost. Even with your horn repaired, you are not my equal," Starlight said, walking toward her panting target.

“Like tartarus, witch.”

"Fitting last words. I will engrave them on your tombstone."

Starlight's horn glowed as she prepared the coup de grâce.

"I would not do that if I were you."

Both unicorns looked up at our stunning visage. Tempest mouthed an unsavory request for reality to explain itself. Starlight, however, looked more annoyed than anything else. She stared at us, her eyes roaming to our sparkly wings and back.

"What?" Starlight asked.

"The bit about the gravestone. We know a pegasus who would be none too pleased if you trifled with his work. We would not tread this path for all the bits on Equiss. A fool's bargain that would be."

"Stargazer?" Tempest asked. It wasn't lost on us that her question was more rhetorical than anything. A request for confirmation of the reality she thought she knew. It was a fair question.

"In part, yes."

"How!" Starlight demanded, the ground cracking beneath her hooves. Her horn still shimmered with unused power. "What did you do?"

We cocked our head to one side and hummed. "We dealt with your minions, if that is what you mean. Or perhaps you mean how we still draw breath or where our ally has gone? So many questions left unanswered. Our apologies, you farcical fop.”

"Oh, nice one," I said between snickers. Stella rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the mare, who seemed ready to burst. Be that a blood vessel or explode into a red mist, one could not say.

"No!"

Starlight fired her spell. We tutted as a wall of chaos shot from the dimly lit walls and buttresses that surrounded us. Starlight's spell collided with our construct, and the spell and wall dissipated.

"Tis that the best you can do, witch?"

"No! this cannot, this will not happen. I've come too far to be beaten by a wraith and a bat. You're just like the rest. You're just another obstacle to crush beneath my hoof. I will not be denied my revenge. You deserve far worse."

"Thus, your hubris will be your undoing, as it undid those who came before Tirek, Cadenza, Nightmare Moon. Each believed themselves untouchable. So, tell us, Cur, what makes you so special?"

"Because you're the villain here. You hurt so many. Do you think you're different just because you're no longer in Luna's head? You're still a parasite, a monster- the Mare in the Moon."

We shook our head. "If it were so easy, right and wrong were so black and white. We cannot undo what Nightmare Moon hath wrought. But we are no longer that same mare. We are not absolved, but we are no monster."

"And who are you to decide that?" Starlight asked. She had begun to charge her horn once more. In the corner of our vision, we saw Tempest preparing to launch her own offensive at the distracted mare. We shook our head. Though not happy about it, she stayed her hoof for the moment.

"We are not; we do not flee from our responsibility, but we will not sit idly by and let our sae madness consume others. If we were a monster, then what have you become? You do unto others as was done to you. A tit for tat, and eye for an eye. Are you any better, truly?"

Starlight balked. "No, I did what I had to to stop you."

"And thus, you became the same mare you swore to destroy."

"Enough!" Starlight fired a second spell, which we dodged rather than block. The spell flew high and exploded in a street-shaking ball of fire.

"Are you quite done?" we asked.

"Never, I will never stop, not until you're gone. Not until everyone you've hurt is avenged. For, for everyone, for Starburst."

Starlight was on the verge of tears. She shook in place, her horn shining brighter and brighter. The air distorted around her. The cobble beneath her melted away. If she continued, she'd burn herself out, literally.

"Will that fix what is broken? Will that rouse the dead and rewind time? Will it make you happy, bring you peace?" we asked.

"I, they deserved better."

Starlight was crying now. Her horn did not relent. She took a step forward, eyes fixed on our own, even through her tears. We took a deep breath and landed not five meters between us.

"On that, you may be right. But, even our death will not repair those broken ties, those broken homes, broken hearts."

"This is what you deserve," Starlight said, and the world went white.