Shards of Hatred

by ChaoticHarmony

Recollections: I

——Shards of Hatred ——

---- Chapter XV: Recollections Part One ----

---

The piercing screams subsided as Luna lifted her magic from the unicorn’s tensed body, regretting every ragged breath that Twilight Sparkle now drew. The pained and labored breathing took the place of the eerie silence that had rushed into the room after the screams had stopped, echoing back from the darkened wall louder and louder until the sound grew deafening in Luna’s ears. It only took a few seconds until she couldn’t bear it any longer and turned to leave, only to jerk back around as a coarse voice broke the cycle of agonizing breaths. “Tell me something, princess.” The word burned through the air like acid as it left Twilight’s mouth, hatred and spite so strong it almost made the regal pony recoil. “Why is it that you believe torturing me is going to fix anything? Wouldn’t it just make me hate you more? If that’s possible, anyway.” Twilight gave Luna a weak smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes.

“We don’t think such a thing, Twilight Sparkle. We know enough about your… change, to know that something as simple as discipline wouldn’t be enough to bring you back to Equestria, as it were.” She couldn’t help but give her own faint smile at Twilight’s look of immense disbelief, fading only when the unicorn’s face morphed back into its ugly mask of distaste. “Yes, Twilight, that was merely discipline. We are firm believers that one must have good manners and attitude when in the presence of a princess.” She patted Twilight on the head once before trotting over to the window, pointedly ignoring the glares that were most certainly digging into her back. “Your magic is strong, Twilight Sparkle, but we are not our sister and as such ours is much stronger.” A derisive laugh broke through her threatening words, escalating into the point of hilarity before it was finally reined in and silenced.

“Do you really think that your so-called love and friendship is the strongest thing in Equestria?” Despite her previous laughter being quelled, Twilight’s voice had a certain degree of amusement as it echoed about the room. “Do you honestly think that being friends with everypony and loving everything in the entire world will really get you anywhere, Luna?” For a few moments neither of them spoke, allowing silence to reign supreme in the room again aside from Luna’s soft breaths alongside Twilight’s slightly labored ones. “I’ll take your silence as a no, Princess. You know the… the power of hatred, don’t you? You know what it can do.” Taking the silence as encouragement, Twilight allowed her voice to grow ever-so stronger and more confident. “It even helped you take over Equestria when your sister tried to defeat you after you returned from your banish—“

“Yes, Twilight, it did.” Though her voice was soft, the weight of Luna’s admission was enough to silence Twilight into a victorious sort of listening. “The magic of hatred held so much more power than we could have ever imagined. Without her precious Elements of Harmony, Celestia didn’t stand a chance against the might we possessed as Nightmare Moon.” She tore her gaze away from the window and allowed it to settle on the mare she was speaking to, her intense stare making the pony recoil slightly. “If it wasn’t for you and the other spirits of the Elements, we wouldn’t be in our current situation. Instead, we would likely be Nightmare Moon, and most likely we would also be waging a war against Sombra and his kingdom.”

Despite the intense glare that she was receiving, Twilight couldn’t help but blurt out what she had been thinking, repercussions be damned. “A war!? Why would you go to war with the pony that you have so much in common with? You both used that power, so why wouldn’t you two rule together?”

“Because he was the pony who handed us that power, and twisted us into a monster.” Luna’s face grew painful for a moment until she could smooth it over, lowering her eyes and turning away from the mare that she had been charged to save. “Soon enough, you too will realize what it took us a whole millennium of banishment and six magical artifacts to realize. Such power comes at a price, Twilight Sparkle.”

“But how did he bring you under his rule? I thought it was you and Celestia who had banished him before.” Twilight’s hateful voice faltered on the last sentence as she fought with her naturally curious self, the latter winning out in the end.

“We were never under his rule, Twilight Sparkle. He merely showed us the pathway and we decided to walk upon it. It was then that we realized our mistake, although it was already too late. The path to hatred isn’t easy to turn around, and we alone were not enough to succeed in defeating it. Just like you alone are not enough to defeat the hatred that now consumes you.”

Twilight laughed again, all traces of her former, studious self lost in the condescending sounds of amusement. “You think that I want to defeat it, Princess? No, I welco—“ Luna’s hoof was more than enough to silence Twilight, who slowly rubbed a hoof at where the former’s blow had landed.

“Silence, Twilight Sparkle. We have heard such words before, from a pony much like you, and we will have none of it.” Luna only realized that she had been advancing on the shocked mare when the latter had let out a small squeak. Refusing to back off, she poked a hoof into the pony’s chest. “You think that it will give you everything, but you are wrong. I trust you are familiar with Additive and Subtractive properties in Alchemy, correct?” Luna didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Hatred magic as opposed to regular magic is the same concept. Whereas regular magic can create, and build, Hatred can only destroy and decay whatever it touches.”

“I doubt that, Luna. You were too cowardly to use it—“

“Do not call us a coward, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna’s horn glowed with magic as she cast another pain spell over the unicorn’s body, this one light enough so she could still understand her following words. “You know nothing of the powers you deal with. Let us show you first-hoof what happens when you fully give in, and let the hatred into your heart.” With that she changed the spell that now covered the mare, still prepared-yet-unprepared for the dive into her painful past that was buried underneath centuries of trying to forget.

---

“But, Tia—“

“No, Luna. I’ve already told you, leave him be.” Celestia looked down at her sister with a hard gaze, unyielding just like the sun that shone down upon the world every day. “He is not to be visited in any way, by any means. His imprisonment is well-deserved and will not be lifted.” Celestia lifted up a hoof to silence her sister’s forming protests, the latter closing her mouth with a snap. “I have already told you my final answer, Luna.” She winced as she saw her younger sister recoil, regretting her strong words almost instantly. “Please, sister, heed me in this matter. There is no good to come of tampering with him now, he is beyond saving.”

Luna opened her mouth to protest more, even if it would bring her sister’s scorn. However, she mentally shoved a hoof into her mouth to swallow her arguments and lowered her head in acquiescence. “Yes, sister.”

Celestia spent a few more moments staring at Luna, trying to find any amount of doubt or defiance that was present in the latter’s voice. When she was satisfied there wasn’t any, the sun goddess looked up into the sky where the Crystal Palace had previously occupied. “Very well, Luna. I must go continue the search for any survivors, please stay here and keep watch over his prison. We can’t be sure that the Elements of Harmony will contain him.”

“Yes, Sister, I will keep watch over him.” She covered her eyes with a wing as Celestia vanished in a bloom of golden light. When the sudden warmth had disappeared, Luna found herself missing its caress. Even though she preferred the cooler night, now was a time that she would much rather be with her sister and her warm embraces, especially since they had both come together to defeat one of the largest threat that their world had ever faced. “I still do not see why I cannot explore his dreams. Sombra was the first pony we have ever seen with magic like this, it would be quite interesting to discover where he had found such power in the first place.” She reached down and prodded a bit of her armor, still smoking from the battle that had taken place not even an hour ago, wincing at how close she had been to taking a magical spear through the heart. “Not even regular magic could have done something like this, Starswirl the Bearded himself enchanted this regalia to protect the rulers of Equestria.”

Luna shifted a bit under what was left of her royal trappings, lifting her hoof to also touch at the three gleaming silver necklaces that she wore. On either side of each necklace was half of a gem, each colored differently to represent an Element of Harmony. Celestia had the other halves of the gems on necklaces of her own, though instead of being set in silver bands they were placed in bands of gold, representing the sun. “If it weren’t for these Elements, neither of us would have survived that battle. Thank Faust that such a thing exists to defeat such an evil.”

She shuddered again, remembering how close they had been to being defeated. “But even the Elements had trouble subduing and imprisoning that stallion.” The seconds turned into minutes, which all seemed like hours as they ticked by with Luna watching the sun move slowly but surely to the edge of the horizon. With the battle taking up most of the day, night was soon to rise once again. It would be her world of beauty to command, though one she did not find very beautiful at the moment, what with the smoking craters and other causalities of the battle, such as the small shards of Crystals that were strewn about. “I can’t believe such a ruler would have sent his subjects to be slaughtered in such a terrible way, though I must admit they did their task in weakening Tia and I.”

As the last warming rays of the sun disappeared, Luna brought out the moon without much thought, being too absorbed in other things. “I must know where he got such power. Celestia will be searching for a while more; the Crystal Empire and Frozen North pose no easy search, especially when she is robbed of her solar powers during the night.” The gears of decision clicked in her mind as she stepped slowly towards the large slash in the ground, looking like an ugly scar scored into the earth itself that would never heal, her horn flickering with magic as she prepared to cast the spell that would send her into the dreamscape. “I must know, even if my sister has forbidden it.” With that, the spell enveloped Luna and threw her spiraling into the ever-rising blackness that was the dreamscape.

“I must know.”

To be continued in Recollections Part Two

Author's Note:

Hey guys! I'm back! Yeah, I figured I'd give you all what I had for this chapter right now, as it's already at a decent size, and write the rest of it tomorrow!

Call me lazy, but I figure ya'll want an update, right?

Also, the slacking stops now. I'm going to write this darn story and I'm gonna finish it!

Comments

[SwimmingDalek98]

Huh... another 'Sombra made Nightmare Moon'. But... this is better. She didn't even KNOW it was happening until it was too late... Me likey.

[MerlosTheMad]

You're featured again Chaotic! Good jorb.

[ChaoticHarmony]

2802501 Yup, my story got to the point where it's like "Yo, you got an update? K feature."

[MerlosTheMad]

2802550

You are the envy of all authors that just fall shy of that Sire.

[DarkAura89]

I wonder how you knew we wanted an update...

I wonder where you found that motivation to finish...

I wonder if Plushling still has those 50 bits with your name on them...

Oh my... am I being snarky again

Glad to see an update though!

[ChaoticHarmony]

2803259 Are you happy now you slave driver you?

[DarkAura89]

2803277

As I recall, I said I had faith that you could finish this story within 3 weeks if you put your mind to it my good friend. I recall no coercion whatsoever.

So far, you seem to be rewarding my faith in you.

[mangophd]

Thank Faust that such a thing exists to defeat such an evil.”

I see what you did there.

[DarthWill3]

Nice lecture on the basis of hatred magic, Princess. I'm sure Twilight will find that most interesting.
Uh oh... Curiosity killed the cat.

[eeveeextreme]

I trust you are familiar with Additive and Subtractive properties in Alchemy, correct?

Yes, very much so