Afraid of the Light

by BiniBean

Fire with Rage

Chapter Eighteen:

"Ugh, even in a new world they never listen. One thing I certainly need to change."

Luna, suffering from the aftereffects of the spell failing groaned as she was hit with a massive headache. She opened her blurry vision to reorient herself. Trying to remember how exactly she ended up in the position she currently found herself in. She latched onto the voice of a pony she could recognize anywhere, muttering angrily to herself.

Wait, no, that voice wasn't her sister.

Her...sister...Celestia...

No, her sister gave up.

Daybreaker.

"Ah, she is beginning to remember. Brilliant."

Luna's heart thudded in her chest as her vision cleared to find herself laying near the throne where she slammed into Daybreaker to perform the spell, except this time Daybreaker glared down at her with menacing sharp teeth that curled into a smile of victory.

"Good morning, Luna."

There was a flash of red magic, then Luna found herself being tossed like she was nothing away from the throne, further down the giant room towards the double doors before she came crashing down to the red carpet, gasping in pain. She tried to pull herself up. A task she was finding increasingly difficult as her head throbbed and her wings ached from the tumble.

"Like I said, I am not going to kill you." The voice that sounded so much like her sister, but had been warped into something else spoke. Luna looked to the throne of Equestria, staring right into the eyes of a pony who would set the world on fire in a heartbeat if she thought it was fun. "But, I am not going to let you get away with that little magic trick you just pulled either."

"Stop!" Luna shouted to deaf ears. She stumbled into a standing position and held her chin high as all royals were taught to do. She stared the monster right in the eyes, ignoring the fear she felt at events yet to come. "Just stop! You...You know how this will end. I am giving you a chance to stop this!"

"Stop what exactly? Turning Equestria into the fighting nation it was always supposed to be? Stopping the empire from conquering anyone who dares to threaten our ponies?"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Luna shouted back. "My sister-"

"Your sister chose this! I chose this! The SUN creates and destroys while the moon looks pretty. The sun does more than just keep the tides of water at bay, it allows life to flourish or die under MY control. Your little power trip one thousand years ago was nothing. Celestia was too weak to handle it properly, she should have disposed of you centuries ago to avoid this rather annoying outcome!" Daybreaker shouted back as the magic pouring from her horn grew brighter and bigger. She stopped to take a deep breath before pointing a hoof to one of the nearby windows. "Look at what your actions have caused."

Luna with deep dread limped towards the nearest window to look upon Canterlot. She didn't speak a word of the horror she saw as fireballs rained down from the sky, slamming into homes and shops. Processed guards ripping families from their homes as they burn all their possessions inside. Hurding them into groups while demanding obedience from the confused and scared public.

Of course, Canterlot was mainly a unicorn-based city. The citizens with whatever magical skill they processed tried to fight back. A weak spell there, a blasting spell here but all was in vain as guards reined down and pulled them back into line.

"This...This is barbaric." Was all Luna could muster to say as the war raged on outside.

"Life is unfair and cruel, it was foolish for either an alicorn nor a mortal to believe they could change that fact." Daybreaker replied as she rolled her eyes before looking back to the city. "Now, I have a chance to change it. Oh, one can't avoid fate as much as they try...Celestia is a fact of that. You, yourself, are an example of that truth. Great cities and countries rose from violence and I suppose, history does repeat itself."

"My sister would never do this." Luna mumbled. Her mind raced with the facts of the scenario as she stumbled backwards, trying desperately to cling to a solution that wouldn't end in more war.

But...Luna knew what she had to do. She knew what she had to order the mortal ponies of the world to fulfill. She had known it since Celestia kicked her out of the void of her soul.

"Daybreaker..." Luna spoke, Daybreaker turned with a curious yet untrusting glance to the smaller alicorn. "Tell my sister I am sorry."

Luna teleported out of the throne room before Daybreaker could even move.

---

Twilight galloped out of the Golden Oaks Library and came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street as ponies around her panicked. Including a baby dragon who ran after her and accidentally slammed into her back leg in his worry.

"Twilight? Twilight, I don't understand how the sky could look like that!"

Twilight didn't even look down to acknowledge her assistant as her eyes were trained on the burning red sun that was so clearly high in the sky with no sign of going below the horizon at all. She frantically looked towards Canterlot next only to be horrified to see fire raining down on the city from above.

"What do we do?!"

What do they do? She had no idea. For once in her life she didn't even know where to start. Write a letter to the Princess? She controlled the sun after all so she should have some sort of explanation. Then again, there was fire raining down on Canterlot so she might be far too busy to respond. Should she go to Canterlot? Wouldn't that be more dangerous than simply writing a letter? The city was partially on fire from what it looked like from such a distance, but her family-

"Twilight!"

She spun around to see her friends galloping towards her, each of them occasionally having to dodge a Ponyville resident either rushing to a loved one or to city hall for answers that the Mayor could definitely not provide on their path to her.

"Twi! What in the hay is goin' on!" Applejack demanded as she was the first to reach her, followed closely by Rainbow Dash who nearly crashed into her as she rolled and dodged a frantic Derpy hooves in the sky, then Rarity with her hair slightly out of place, then Pinkie Pie bouncing out of a nearly bush and finally a very terrified Fluttershy who seemed scared to even be moving.

"I-I don't know girls, I am trying to figure out what we should do next!" Twilight quickly spoke before looking at each of them as the worry grew. "I suppose we could write a letter to Princess Celestia or perhaps go to Canterlot for answers directly since this is anything but a natural occurrence! Usually, the Princess informs me of matters this serious but I haven't received even a letter!"

"Twilight." Rainbow Dash barked before pointing a hoof to the capital city in the mountain in the distance. "Canterlot is practically on fire! I doubt the trains from Ponyville or any city or town that can see the Capital wants to send a train up there right now even if it's for answers!"

"We are the Elements of Harmony!" Rarity bolted in with her chin held high. "The conductors must make an exception for us, darling since we would certainly be able to handle whatever...is happening here."

"Look, usually the Princess sends me a letter about this or meets with me before some...event takes place. Whether it was final exams or the Discord situation she usually keeps quite good communications. I am not sure it's safe to go to Canterlot right now, not in the way it looks from down here. I think we need to write a letter."

"UGH!" Rainbow Dash shouted before turning angrily to Pinkie whose face was scrunched in concentration. "Come on, Pinkie! If there was any better time for you to suddenly have all the answers like you freakishly do, IT WOULD BE NOW!"

Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I got nothing." Pinkie replied before slumping in defeat.

"Spike!" Twilight called out, turning again to Spike who seemed to be watching the town in its full panic, including the flower ponies crying in the street again about the misery the sun was having on the flowers. "Letter to the Princess now! Get parchment and quill from my desk-"

Twilight's words were interrupted by a loud bang coming from the library, accompanied by a flash of blue light. The group came to a stop and stared at the Library for a moment before looking at each other in confusion.

"That...looked like a teleport I think." Twilight suspected before she narrowed her eyes and started slow steps towards her Library. Her friends pilled behind her, each ready for a fight if needed except Pinkie and Fluttershy, Pinkie trying to console Fluttershy was a whole battle in itself.

Twilight used her magic to latch onto the Library's door handle before slowly turning it to push open the door. They each carefully peered their heads inside giving small gasps at the sight in front of them.

They found Princess Luna sitting in the middle of the Library with bruises along her coat and wings, her mane was out of its usual celestial wave and bloodshot eyes staring back at them. The haunted look of a broken sister, knowing she was about to condemn her sister to a thousand years of banishment.

Without a single word, she moved, causing the friends to jolt out of their confusion before trotting into the Library.

"Princess Luna! What's going on?" Twilight demanded as the Alicorn seemed to have flinched as she rose on unsteady hooves.

"I need you." Luna stated.

Author's Note:

While I do write stories for MLP sometimes, I usually draw art with short stories to accompany the picture if I have an idea I can't fully express. This is actually how this story started, it started as a one-off idea I had with a short story that I drew a picture for that eventually turned into this story! The picture I used as the cover can be found on my Deviantart below!

https://www.deviantart.com/binibean/art/Fame-and-Glory-Cover-988425578

I am more of an artist than a writer. Ha.

Also, it's my birthday today so I was happy to have finished a chapter. This one was certainly hard to write, as will the next one I suspect.

Comments

[Blood Rarity]

[Octoskan]

This story is delightful!