Afraid of the Light

by BiniBean

Nightmare

Chapter Five: The Nightmare.

It was over.

The blast from moments ago still rang in her ears as Celestia opened her eyes to see the broken floor of the castle, the tattered carpet of the throne room. Pieces of the wall and ceiling around her. Worst of all, the elements around her.

She wanted to close her eyes again. Pretend the whole ordeal was some bad nightmare Luna gave her as revenge for being an awful pony, sister, or ruler. But the revenge she gave was much worse than some horrific nightmare. The nightmare was real. The nightmare had killed ponies.

She has quickly become aware of the pain in her own body. Her head was on fire, her horn hurt, and at least one of her wings was sprained. Her chest felt as if it got set on fire and stabbed, which, in a sense it had when...when Nightmare Moon blasted her right there.

She could taste blood in her mouth, it dripped down as she groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position on the broken floor, not daring to furl her wings up as she stared at the element of magic in front of her. She hadn't failed to notice its change in appearance. In all of them.

Her bloodshot magenta eyes slowly looked at the other five elements surrounding her. Stone. The once bright crystals were encased in stone. Her harsh breathing came to an abrupt stop as her eyes refocused on the element of magic. Watching helplessly as it disappeared in front of her very eyes.

She was silent, not a scream or whimper came from her lips as she stared unmovingly. Her ears flickered at the point of armour moving somewhere deep within the broken castle and heading towards her quickly. She could hear the sounds of the last of Nightmare Moon's forces crumbling as the Bat Ponies knew their leader, their cherished mother, was gone.

She spat out more blood before giving a painful look downwards to the burned hole in her chest that would have killed any moral within moments.

It wasn't as if Celestia wasn't capable of death. In fact, she was deathly close to the edge as she uselessly sat in the remains of the castle, it's just Alicorn's bodies could take more of a beating before they failed entirely.

Death...Oh, how she craved endless sleep.

"P-Princess? Princess Celestia?"

Her mind tried to ignore what she had done. Trying to push what she had just done down as she did with her parents' death, turned her head slightly to see the Captain of her Solar Guard, beaten and bloodied, standing at the front entrance out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you alright?"

Was she alright? No. When was the last time she was alright? Not since she was a unicorn. Would she be alright, a day, week, month or even a lifetime from now? No. Not ever. She spat out blood again. Taking a moment to watch it mix with the other spaces filled with blood to mix,

"I am...Injured." She replied with a quiet raspy voice before she finally had the willpower to gaze up to the moon with the symbol of a unicorn burned into it. "O-order the doctors from the nearby villages and towns to send medical assistance to the wounded guards and servants...Even the Bat Ponies."

"But your Highness, you are b-badly injured and the Bat Ponies are traitors! They fought us, they fought you! You need to-"

"I don't need to do anything." Celestia snapped in anger, she turned her head slightly again to see the Captain flinch at her harsh tone. "Follow my orders without question or be dismissed. I have magic that the others do not. I will be-"

Celestia's words were interrupted by a harsh cough that brought more specks of blood. She wiped her hoof against her mouth, blood smearing more of her fur. She gritted her teeth before crying out in intense pain as she stood up, taking deep breaths before fully turning around to face her captain, who, despite intense training, looked terrified as he gazed at her broken form. She was not the perfect alicorn they always saw. She was broken.

He also looked like he desperately wanted to ask a question.

"Spit it out, what is it?" She demanded. Too tired and weak to use the normal formalities.

"W-Well, that...Thing...The Monster that you fought...Where was Princess Luna during the fight? I m-mean, I just find it strange that her army would suddenly turn on her to follow some...being that hadn't even ruled Equestria. That no pony has seen before."

Celestia was in intense, burning pain. But despite her physical and mental anguish, she knew that she had to sugarcoat the issue.

"That was my sister, Captain." She hissed before glaring to the moon once again. She wanted to desperately fly to the moon and yank her sister back. "My...sister...simply chose the wrong path."

The Captain was smart enough not to say a word as Celestia looked back at him.

"Once the Doctors treat the worst of the injured, once they find the dead tonight. We will start our journey to the planned site of Canterlot. Tell the general to send a letter to the site. the construction must begin in the morning. No matter what materials they have. The crown will pay for all expenses."

The Captain nodded in agreement as Celestia slowly moved past him, trying her best to not focus on her mistakes and guilt. Not to focus on Nightmare Moon. On how she failed.

There was time for that later. There was always time for that later.

The curse of immortality truly.

Comments

[new55]

That was a good story goodluck with the rest of it.

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

Very vivid imagery. A couple of minor typos, but nothing a TLC editing pass can't fix.