Eclipse
Chapter Eight: Eclipse
Celestia ran. The dark, dense woods boxed her in, giving her no room to maneuver. This was their ideal terrain. She fled, but to no avail; all her movements felt sluggish, uncoordinated. The colors seemed muted, almost like the life had been sucked from the world around her. Just like it would be from her, any second now; she could feel their hot breath, hear their excited growls.
There, up ahead, was a clearing. If she could just reach it, she could esc—
The wolf collided with her, sending her sprawling. The rest of the pack immediately followed, encircling her. They dove in for the kill; she felt them ripping at her, tearing at her flesh, until—
Celestia ran. The wolves were after her, and they were gaining. She needed to slow them down somehow, but there was nothing she could do. One grabbed hold of her tail. She bucked out, and felt its face cave in. The brief pause proved to be her undoing, as four more took the fallen wolf’s place. Her wings instinctively flared as she prepared to fight. Catching sight of her wings out of the corner of her eye, her panicked thoughts ground to a halt. Wait, I could jus— Then they took her down. Jaws closed around her neck, and—
Celestia ran. Right behind her, wolves! She had to escape! But the multitude of trees kept her from reaching any appreciable speed, and the wet leaves were treacherous underhoof. They were going to catch her any second now, she could tell. Got to escape! Run! Got to escape! Ru— What am I thinking, I’ve faced worse than wolves before. Something’s wron— One of her hind hooves got trapped in a root. She screamed in pain and shock as her leg dislocated. The wolves pounced on their fallen prey. There was a wet crunch, and—
Celestia ran. The woods were too dark to see more than vague outlines of the trees and branches as she fled. So, make some light. She tried, but the spell fizzled. Even the brief glow of her horn was enough to ruin her night vision, and she crashed, face first, into a tree. She fell in a heap. Is this really how it ends? Lost in the woods? What about all the ponies depending on you? What will happen to them? The wolves surrounding her all flinched, as she flared as bright as the sun. Celestia looked at them, and saw not predators, but targets. She was on her hooves in an instant. There were nine targets to deal with. Nine hoof sized orbs of pure white fire sprang into existence, turning the darkness bright as day. They hungrily sucked at the air, filling the night with a low roar. Before any of the wolves could react, she sent a globe of fire crashing into each of them. They burnt through hair, hide, and bone as if they weren’t even there, and left smoking, perfectly round holes through each of them.
Celestia ran. The woods were too dark to see more than vague outlines of the trees and branches as she fled. So, make some light. She tried, but the spell fizzled. Even the brief glow of her horn was enough to ruin her night vision, and she crashed, face first, into a tree. She fell in a heap. Is this really how it ends? Lost in the woods? What about all the ponies depending on you? What will happen to them? The wolves surrounding her all flinched as she flared as bright as the sun. Celestia looked at them, and saw not predators, but targets. She was on her hooves in an instant. There were nine targets to deal with. Nine hoof sized orbs of pure white fire sprang into existence, turning the darkness bright as day. They hungrily sucked at the air, filling the night with a low roar. Before any of the wolves could react, she sent a globe of fire crashing into each of them. They burnt through hair, hide, and bone as if they didn't even exist, and left smoking, perfectly round holes through each of them.
Celestia’s sides were heaving. That was much too close. But... How did I get here? ...What’s happening?! As she watched, the corpses began to melt into the ground. Soon everything else did too, trees and rocks softening and blending into the ground.
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She didn’t wake from her nightmare as much as burst from it. Globs of darkness were flung through the room where they hissed and spat as they evaporated. Thoughts about what they could be were far from her mind at that point; there was something far more distressing that had her full attention.
A feeling of wrongness permeated the air. It felt almost like her sun was up, but it was the middle of the night. She reached for the strange aura in the sky, but it slipped from her grasp, like water from oil.
It’s a combination of our auras! That shouldn’t be possible! What’s even going on? I’ve got to find Luna, maybe she saw what happened.
She stumbled out of her room, trying not to display her unease which grew with each second. Her composure only lasted until she heard the first shriek as she passed the staff quarters. She bolted to help. Slamming open the door, she was shocked to see the room’s inhabitants being engulfed in darkness. Some seemed to be struggling against it, while others simply lay like the dead as it swallowed them. On the far side of the room an earth pony mare was trying to help one of the afflicted.
“Who’s there?” she demanded. Celestia sent a globe of light to the center of the room, drawing a gasp from the mare. “Princess! Oh, thank goodness you’re here! Can you help them?”
She nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
She went to the nearest victim, and studied him. This dark fluid obviously can’t be removed by hoof; she wouldn’t need my help otherwise. First order of business needs to be stopping more of it from spreading, so, where’s it coming from? The inky blackness looked like it was seeping out from between his feathers, leaking from under his coat. As she watched, he started to cry. The tears were midnight black, and they coalesced into the rest of the cocoon engulfing his body.
I’ve got to get rid of this, and fast! She sent out tendrils of magic to probe the creeping darkness. It felt cold, but also strangely familiar. More than anything though, it was monstrously complex. She turned the feelers more tangible, and tried to pull, but they just slid through. Yeah, that would have been too easy. She examined the magical construct more closely. It doesn’t seem designed to harm the pony. But what is it supposed to do? She couldn’t make heads or tails of it, there looked like there was some kind of transformative effect... but it wasn’t the main focus of the spell. She looked even deeper, actually within the pony’s body. The spell was centered around the heart, she saw, and it seemed to be made of... loyalty? No. That isn’t loyalty. That’s a mockery of it. It’s... How do I get rid of that? It’s siphoning off of them, and powering the spell, but it’s attached to them too closely. Attacking it directly would just be too risky!
The darkness was up to his neck now, and steadily rising. I’ve got to do something! Maybe... She wove a spell. This wouldn’t try physically touching it, but attempt to draw it away. She imprinted the bed beneath him with as close an approximation of the darkness that she could make, as well as a huge quantity of pure loyalty. Please, just stick together.
She reached down through the darkness and pulled the stallion up. The inklike substance flowed closer to the bed — only to rush back, and swallow his face completely.
“No! Don’t you die on me!”
Her ears flicked. Wait... is he still breathing? She placed him back on the bed, and leaned in to listen. He was breathing; somehow, the black fluid wasn’t smothering him.
She felt the transformation aspect of the spell activate, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. All across the room, and in many other areas of the castle, she noticed similar effects activating. She took a step closer to the door, and forcibly teleported the mare from across the room behind her.
“Woah, what—”
“Stand back; I don’t know what will happen.”
The sleeping ponies started twitching, then went still. The darkness drained back into their bodies, but not without leaving behind changes.
The first one that Celestia noticed was that they looked grey. Oh Stars, not again! He can’t be back. I— We would have known. But he was never one to follow the rules... And the auras feel messed up, who could do that but him?
Thinking quickly, Celestia cast the reversion spell, hoping it would work this time. It crossed the room like a wave, flowing straight through the changed ponies, instead of pushing out the supposed influence as it should.
They seemed not to notice the ineffective spell; all their attention was focused on Celestia’s light hanging in the middle of the room. Rather, they were focused on avoiding it. Most of the pegasi, like the stallion she had tried to save, were covering their eyes — which Celestia saw to have pupils more like a cat than a pony — with their now batlike wings. The earth ponies resorted to using their forelegs. Most of the unicorns, however, were busy unraveling it. As she hadn’t bothered to make it resilient to a magical counter spell, it quickly failed, plunging the room once more into semi-darkness. They turned to face the door, and Celestia readied herself to defend her charge.
As one, they began to walk slowly to the door. Keeping herself between them and the mare, she slowly backed out into the hall. “Stay back, I’m warning you.” They continued on, not caring that their princess and the most powerful being in the world had ordered them to stop. She prepared a spell to knock them back if they got violent. They stared, dull eyed at her as they shuffled through the door. Five more steps and I’ll do it. Four. Three. Oh Stars. Two. Abruptly they turned down the hall and continued on.
The mare looked between Celestia and the receding group of ponies. “Should we follow them?”
“No, you could be hurt. You need to get somewhere safe...” They’re headed that way, and if this did happen to almost everypony that was asleep, avoiding the areas they’d be coming from would be the best choice. To the throne room then. “You should head to the throne room.”
“Yes, Princess.” She headed off in that direction.
“Wait!”
She turned back, and headed over. “Yes?”
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” Celestia laid her horn across her withers, and a soft golden line of light appeared on the floor to her right. “That line will take you to the throne room, and if you step on it, I’ll know you’re in trouble. Also, if anything else steps on it, it’ll turn red to warn you.”
She looked up in awe. “Thank you, Princess!”
“Don’t thank me yet. You seem like a very level headed pony, so I need you to count on you to take care of anypony you find that isn’t stricken with whatever this condition is. Hopefully I’ll find some guards to send your way.”
“Don’t worry, Princess; you can count on me!” She set off again.
Hopefully Luna hasn’t left yet. Together we can stop this, whatever it is. She cast her thoughts out, searching for Luna’s mind.
Silence.
Her fear ratcheted up to a whole new level. She hasn’t not been there since... fifty maybe sixty years ago. That just doesn’t happen. Asleep, unconscious, it didn’t matter, she’s still there.
She broke out into a gallop, rushing through the halls towards Luna’s room. A few times she was forced to leap over groups of changed ponies in her path. They didn’t so much as look up, nor did she spare them a second glance. Luna was in danger, or worse, something had already happened to her. She burst into her sister’s room, and looked for her. She wasn’t there, but the window was open, the curtains flowing in the soft night breeze. She looked out the window, at the cleared section of forest, and the foundation of the admittedly extravagant temple being built there.
There had to be some sign of where her sister was. It had been a while since she had cast a locating spell, but it was simple, really. She envisioned a pathway that followed where Luna had gone, starting a few hours ago in this room.
A hazy beam appeared in the room, starting at her sister’s desk, before crossing the room several times. Looks like she was pacing. Then flew off. She was about to follow the path of the beam, when behind her there was a crash. She wheeled around, ready to defend herself if need be. Thank the Stars.
The door slammed closed. “Sergeant Thundertop, reporting for duty, Your Highness!” He threw a quick salute. “We believe the castle has been secured.” He stood perfectly straight, only briefly glancing at the ribbon of light passing through the room and out into the night.
“I hope by secured you mean that all the changed but not hostile ponies have left.”
He nodded. “Yes, Princess. Captain Hurricane’s orders. What would you have us do?”
“Have Sergeant Biting Wind and Sergeant Downdraft gather their troops; they need to make sure that everypony in the throne room is safe.” There, promise fulfilled, if a little later than I’d hoped. “You and your ponies need to guard the grounds, just in case they come back in a less hospitable mood. Then have Hurricane and her battalion fan out and see just how widespread this attack... no, phenomena, is.”
“I’m sorry, Princess, but Downdraft is, well, one of them now. As are nearly a third of all our number.”
So many. “Please, do the best you can to keep everypony safe. Dismissed.”
“Yes, Princess.”
Celestia turned back to the window, and the path that led to her sister. I’m coming for you, Luna! Hold on!
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This is not good, not good at all. The path of the beam was weakening. Already it was dimmer and thinner, but up ahead she saw that there were holes in it too. She put on a burst of speed, and the air around her screamed its displeasure. She ate up the remaining distance in roughly a minute. The beam of light had faded away to nothing. There was nothing of note nearby, except for a town off in the distance.
Luna, where are you?
She threw out her magical senses, searching for anything that could give her a hint to Luna’s location.
Oh, Stars! What in Tartarus is that? In the town directly in front of her was a knotted snarl of magic shot through with angry reds and jealous greens. It was so fundamentally wrong that it barely seemed possible. What Discord had done was strange, random, sometimes incredibly dangerous, but never truly malicious. This, though, seemed to want nothing more than for every evil in the world to befall you. Preferably at the same time. It reached out in all directions, small tendrils of power that stabbed out into the distance.
Then it pulsed, and moved. It ripped across the distance, rapidly closing on her.
Celestia shot up as fast as she could, and surrounded herself with as strong a shield she could make. She braced for impact. As it got closer, she saw what was giving off the field, a dark and glittering tornado. It roared below her by thousands of hooves, racing back along the path of the beam, leaving a trail of dark magic that warped the ambient magic of the world.
It’s headed right for the palace! She looked around for a moment, hoping for some sign that her sister was safe.
Such a sign was not forthcoming.
I’m sorry, Luna... They need me.
She turned back, and gave chase to the maleficent whirlwind.
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In the distance the twister had stopped and simply disappeared. She was still out a few minutes by air, but now that she could see the palace, she teleported the rest of the way. It was off a slight bit, and she fell a dozen hooves onto the roof, cracking the slate tiles. She easily absorbed the fall, and was off in a flash to alert the guards.
Pop! “Somepony get me a guard! There’s so—”
At least three spears stopped in their flight towards her, various auras holding them in place. They quickly returned to their respective owners.
Hurricane burst into the air. “You four! What were you thinking?! You almost killed Princess Celestia! You’re going to be court martialed and—”
“That’s enough, Captain Hurricane. I’m fine, and it’s good to see that your guards have both great reaction time and control. They’re going to need it. Have every available unicorn ready to set up a shield; something powerful is coming this way.”
Hurricane landed in a bow in front of Celestia. “We know, Princess. Our scouts reported a highly suspect tornado. We sent some ponies to investigate; they should be back in a few minutes.”
“Captain, whatever that thing really is, it is far too dangerous to risk anypony else on. Once I leave, call everypony back to the castle. Put up the shield. Nopony in or out until I give the all clear. This is something only I,” or Luna, “can face.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Make it so.” In a blaze of light, she vanished, and reappeared ten thousand hooves in the air. A purplish haze marked her destination. She dove, gathering speed. If she had learned anything about combat, it was this: Strike first, strike hard. Make your first blow your last.
To that end, she gathered all her power, ready to obliterate whatever was threatening her ponies. Through her watering eyes, she spotted motion. It looked like there were ponies down there. She revised her plan of attack from a crushing hammer blow to a piercing lance; collateral damage would not do.
What were they doing, though? It looked almost like they were razing what little of the temple had been built. But why would they go after that, not a target that makes any sense? Unless... they’re trying to get to me? Who would want that though? She hoped it would become apparent soon, as she was only moments away from needing to either pull up, or attack.
A wall fell, and revealed the source of the disturbance. Another alicorn? No, that’s Luna! What happened to her? She looks different.
She let her power fade, and called out, “Luna! I’m so glad I found you! I was so worried—” A massive force crushed her to the ground, pinning her there. She let out a muffled “Oof!”
“Is that so, ‘Sister’?” Luna didn’t look away from the ponies that were busy reducing the temple to rubble. “Because from here, it looked like you were choosing them again.”
Luna’s horn was glowing. The aura surrounding her body was the same color. Celestia put two and two together, but they didn’t seem to work out to anything that made sense. “Luna, what’s going on?”
The force doubled; she felt her ribs groaning in protest.
“Who gave you permission to speak? As I was saying before you so thoughtlessly interrupted: You gave up on me. I could tell what that spell you were following did. You knew that I was there, somewhere. But did that wasn’t enough for you was it? If I really mattered to you, you wouldn’t have come back. You would still be out there, looking.”
“Luna, listen to yourself! I had to come back, there was no sign of you and this was heading straight for the palace. I had no choice!”
“There is always a choice, and you chose them. You always chose them. Just like they always choose you. But that ends now. You are finished. You can’t blind them to the truth any longer. I am your better, and I always was. You made the clumsy mistakes, and I always had to save you.”
“All of this can’t be your doing. What’s behind this?”
“You underestimate me, ‘Sister’. All this is mine. The sky is mine, the ponies are mine, and you are mine too.”
“Luna, this is insane! Something’s wrong with you. You need help!”
“It looks to me like you’re the only one that needs help. Look at you. You can’t even stand. I, on the other hoof, have put you, in your rightful place. You were supposed to be the solution. But you turned out to be even worse.”
“What are you even saying? Luna—”
“STOP CALLING ME THAT! They only named me ‘Luna’ because of you. You remember, don’t you? They thought it was cute. ‘You are named after the sister of the stars,’ they once told me. Well, I’ll have none of it! I’m disgusted to be associated with you. I’m leaving that behind now. Just as the day is gone for good, that name will be too. I am reborn as Nightmare Moon!”
“Lu- Can’t you see how wrong this is?”
“You think it’s wrong to claim what’s rightfully mine? You think it’s wrong to have ponies adore me too? You think it’s wrong for the night to last forever?”
“Night... Forever? That’s insane! You’ll kill everypony, everything!”
“You would think that. You think you’re so special, but I can do what you did, only better. Look at what I’ve done.” She pointed at the discolored moon. “Behold! The glory of the night, my glory.”
“All I see is a pony that refuses to see reason. That... That travesty won’t last a week. Please, stop this!”
“Stop? I’ve only just begun!”
“I’m begging you. Don’t do this.”
“What, and let you take back your place in the spotlight? Over my dead body.”
“Don’t make me stop you. Don’t make me fight you. We’ve always been close, but I won’t stand for this.”
“Stop me? ‘I won’t stand for this.’ Ha! You can’t even stand.”
“I... will do... what I must!” She smashed through Luna’s restraints in a blaze of power and stood, panting. “Now end this, or I will end it for you.”
Luna, no, Nightmare Moon, threw back her head and laughed. “Go ahead. Try. Raise the sun.”
Celestia violently shook her head. “That’s not what I wanted at all! It’s supposed to be night now. Just put things back right.”
“Are you daft? I did not ask you; that was an order. Try. To. Raise. The. Sun. Or do you want me to do something drastic?”
If this doesn’t qualify as drastic in her eyes, I certainly don’t want to see what would! She reached beyond the curve of the world, and found her charge. She pulled, as if starting a new dawn. A light pink glow appeared low on the eastern horizon.
Then promptly slid to the north. Celestia was stupefied; never before had something gone wrong when raising the sun. She tried again, harder this time, trying to drag it into place, but to no avail. It was like trying to push water up a hill with her bare hooves.
While she fumbled with the sun, Luna laughed like a madmare.
“I can keep you from the sky! Anypony can see that I am your better. Yes, the night will last forever!”
“We could have talked about this, but you’ve gone too far: you’re risking lives, and done Stars know what to the ponies here and at th—”
She was struck from the side by an unrelenting force, sending her through a scaffold and miraculously not into anypony. She came to rest against a pile of rubble. As she lay there, stunned, one of the changed ponies walked up and mechanically dropped a piece of the fallen scaffold on her, then walked off to retrieve another.
Shaking off the attack, she regained her hooves. Luna was walking through the path of destruction towards her.
“Any more of this and I will fight you.”
“You seem to be operating under the impression that I want to avoid that.” Her wings flared, and the sky filled with storm clouds. “You’re wrong!” She punctuated her words with a massive bolt of lightning.
Celestia barely had time to throw up a basic shield before it hit. The bolt skittered off the surface, and flew off at a random angle.
“Come now, if all you do is defend, how will my victory be remembered as glorious?”
That... that can’t be my sister. There is just no way. She pushed her senses through the barrier, searching for a weakness to exploit. What she found though almost made her drop her barrier against the onslaught of attacks.
Hanging like a tattered cloak around the pony before her were three of the elements. What had once danced along her coat like a second skin was now a shredded ruin. Kindness was worn down to nothing, and was completely detached from her, only held from escape by wispy filaments of Loyalty. The Element of Magic itself was separating from her, seemingly repelled by the new veneer that clung to her sister. A pathetic mixture of envy, rage, and sorrow permeated her being.
Everything that made her her is gone.
My sister is gone.
Nightmare Moon paused her attacks momentarily. “Pretty princess not like what she sees? Your tears betray you, as you did me! That is how history will remember you — Celestia the Betrayer.”
“No, the only ‘betrayer’ here is you!” She punctuated her words with a gout of blue fire.
Less than halfway there, it froze into a solid block. “All these years, and you still think that is an effective attack? This will be over—” her eyes widened before she dissolved into a purple mist. A hunk of marble that must have weighed tons crashed into the place where she had just been, and embedded itself a full ponylength in the ground.
No sooner than the dust had cleared, the bolder vibrated, crumbled, and exploded, throwing rocks everywhere. Celestia was pelted by the stones, several striking her head, briefly stunning her. Many of the surrounding ponies weren’t so lucky. They went down before staggering to their hooves again, and limping off to continue their work.
Nightmare Moon reformed behind the crater excavated by the detonation. “Oh, so this will be a memorable fight after all.”
Got to distract her. Maybe knock her out, try to fix this. With a blinding flash, her shield went up. Masonry crashed against it, but she didn’t care. It was a ruse. She just hoped that the golden barrier would make it too hard to notice any flaws in her construction of the illusory replica of herself.
From on high, her eyes locked on her adversary, who was still facing the wrong direction. That didn’t last more than a second though. Damn, she’s good. Whoa! A swarm of ice spikes, each the size of her leg, hurtled towards her. She quickly tucked in her wings to provide a smaller target, and dove. The majority of the barrage missed her, but a couple passed through her tail, and one went between her neck and shoulders, grazing her.
She couldn’t let that bother her though; she had a goal to achieve. She leveled off, the speed from her fall driving her towards her quarry quick as an arrow. She could tell she had Her full attention now, barreling towards Her so fast. She wouldn't suspect a second distraction, would she?
Golden chains of force snaked out of the shield behind her. Celestia commanded them with a single commanding thought: bind. Then she reached out through the swirling miasma of corrupt magic and locked it down to prevent any escape through teleportation.
The chains wrapped around each limb, and pinned her wings against her barrel. She roared her defiance to the sky, and struggled mightily against the restraints. The one holding her left hind leg shattered under the strain, only to be replaced by another, then another. The new additions bound her legs together, and she fell heavily to the ground. A bluish glow appeared inside the chains, and pushed outwards, but it was no use there was no room to gather force or momentum.
Celestia landed beside her demented sister. She was screaming curses of outrage, her voice colored with contempt. Her sister’s aura clamped down around her muzzle, and she went silent, rather than mumble incoherently. Instead she fixed her captor with a gaze of pure hatred. Celestia took a step back in shock. Oh Stars, what happened? Those eyes aren’t even equine anymore!
That momentary shock was enough; the will holding her wavered, and so did her body. It transformed into a haze and sunk into the ground.
What just— Where did she go? She cast out her magical senses to find her fleeing opponent, but they were instantly overloaded. The fog engulfed her, and the temperature plummeted. She had never felt so cold; a snowy mountaintop felt like a balmy summer day in comparison. The sudden shock took her breath away. She let out a gasp which promptly froze. Ice formed on her tongue, and had her eyes not reflexively closed they would have iced over as well. Her body screamed for her do something, anything to get out of this freezing deathtrap. She took a step, stumbled, and tried to right herself with a flap of her wings, but they spasmed. She fell in a twitching heap, her shivering doing nothing to alleviate the unnatural cold.
The pain seared away all rational thought. Everything ceased mattering, her world was the pain and her desire for escape. It was hopeless, she’d lost all sense of direction, and actually moving was in the realm of fantasy. Her mind offered her one last thought: This is how it ends - for all of them.
A roar of defiance ripped from her. It could not end like that. She would not allow it. Now with a focus, her magic was able to manifest. Her body grew warmer and her convulsions stopped. The oppressive presence doubled its efforts, but it was in vain; there was no stopping Celestia now. She began to glow faintly, then progressively brighter. Flames licked along the surface of her body. Her normally pink mane and tail deepened to a fiery red, then ignited. The transformation swept across her form from both sides, and when the two fronts of fire met it exploded outwards, pushing back the darkness.
With one mighty downstroke she punched through the freezing fog. Barding of fire armored her, and flame danced between her primaries as she ascended, trailing drops of molten gold. The haze rose after her, shrinking down and condensing into corporeal form.
“You think that can stop me? You’re delaying the inevitable, ‘Sister.’ Look at you, fleeing like a coward.”
“Fleeing... or drawing you off?”
Nightmare Moon looked around. Their brief flight had actually taken them quite a distance over the Everfree forest.
“Here, there, it matters little. You will still lose. Then the night will last forever!” She threw back her head and laughed until it was cut off by a shield materializing around her. “So, you seek to hold me. Like everything you do, it is a most unwise plan of action.” The stars in her mane glinted like diamonds as they flowed to the edges.
Her mane separated into three star tipped whips which went to work breaking the shield. Each crushing blow spread cracks farther and farther over its surface. Under such immense strain it simply shattered. Celestia began to conjure another, but the Nightmare was too fast. The flail like strands were already partially through its radius. They peeled it back easily, like the rind of an orange giving way to a knife. Then they came after her.
She threw herself into a corkscrew to avoid the first, then teleported away as the second intercepted her path. In the split second it took to regain her bearings, the third stabbed out at her. Purely by reflex, a wall sprang up between her and it. Unfortunately it crashed through the wall, and hit her dead on, throwing her back through the sky. Her barding guttered and died from sustaining such a ferocious hit.
She shook her head to clear it from the tumbling, and righted herself in the air. Clearly, static blocks are out, she thought as the other two stretched out to attack her again. They came in like pincers, but Celestia batted them off course. They corrected, and came at an even steeper angle. Without the time to redirect them, she grabbed and threw herself out of the way with a burst of telekinesis. They passed through where she had been just an instant before, partially obscuring her view of her attacker.
I need this fight on my terms – now! She directed a beam of pure force at Nightmare Moon, and the challenge was met. The beams locked. It became a struggle determined by whoever had the greater power. This was a fight that Celestia knew she would win; her sister was stronger that most unicorns by an order of magnitude, but she was stronger still.
Slowly, the darker beam was pushed back. If I can get her to waste everything she has on this, maybe there’ll be a chance. The opposing ray of power subtly changed, she could feel the difference at the point where they converged. It gained rage, and relentlessly smashed its way up the stream of her magic. She pushed harder against it, and turned it back. Then it gained something else, jealousy, whether for her greater magic or for some other aspect she couldn’t tell. The foreign type of magic worming its way up hers felt revolting. She redoubled her efforts, and drove the offensive beam back.
The strain that Celestia was under was immense, but bearable. Any second now, it’ll be over. I’ll find some way to purge the darkness from her, and everything will go back to normal. Just a few... more... hooves!
Except it stopped. Something else joined in on the other side of the attack. It felt like desperation. That’s not right! Magic doesn’t work like that! But there it was, barreling down on her. Her mind raced for an escape, but she was a hair's breadth from being tapped out. Only one option seemed workable, and it was so stupidly, beautifully simple that it might just work.
She conjured a pile of dust next to her sister’s face, and blew it at her with a gust of wind.
A few things happened in the space of the next second. First, Nightmare Moon flinched. This knocked the two gargantuan beams out of alignment. The force of Celestia’s attack pushed it further and further off course and it missed her by a wide margin. It kept traveling, though, an colossal force with nothing to stop it. It cut a huge gash in the earth, obliterating a massive swath of land. Then its edge clipped the shield surrounding the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, shattering it instantly. It continued on unabated, as if smashing through scores unicorns’ work was inconsequential.
Nightmare Moon raged as she cleared her eyes. “YOU LOWLY CRETIN! I HAD YOU AT LAST! MY VICTORY IS NIGH, AND SUCH A PATHETIC TRICK WILL NOT SAVE YOU THIS TIME!”
She faded into a fog once again, but this time faded from view as well.
Did she turn invisab— She’ll freeze me again! She focused on fire, and called it to herself. The barding kindled anew, but it was dimmer than before. She steeled herself for what was to come.
The wind began to blow away from her. It wasn’t a natural breeze, she could tell that immediately. It intensified, howling around her, pulling at her fur. Her armor sputtered and died, and breathing became a chore. It was like suddenly being flung high above where any pony had the right to be, and it was getting worse.
Celestia started pulling air to herself, but she only succeeded in slowing the exodus. She dove for denser air. She needed to breathe, and she felt that she was on the edge of stalling out. She nearly made it to the ground, but the inexorable pull finally stole all of her lift. She fell for a second before landing in a clearing. The impact drove the already sparse air from her lungs.
She lay in the dirt, wheezing, as Nightmare Moon slowly faded back into sight.
“A fitting end for one who burned too brightly. Snuffed out. You will be forgotten. But I will...”
She stopped listening. The sound barely reached her anyways. She tried to think of some escape, but her mind wouldn’t cooperate. Her thoughts swirled ineffectively, always coming back to one in particular. I can’t let my ponies down, not so soon after they started working in harmony. Something about it... it seemed important. She spared a glance at the still pontificating Nightmare. There was no harmony here. She’d shredded it, and... and... It was right there. Barely hanging on. Just waiting to be made whole.
If she had thought about it, she would have dismissed the idea as crazy. It wasn’t possible to use Elements that weren’t the greater part of your nature. But she didn’t think. She just grabbed at them. They looked so lonely, and so pretty...
Nightmare Moon didn’t even notice their absence; they only remained on her out of habit, not a real connection.
As they floated over unobserved, she reached out a hoof. I just wanna touch it. Looks like a soft blanket. The three Elements made contact with her outstretched limb. It wrapped around and hugged her tight, then spread out and flowed over her granting new strength. Her wings shot up, and air rushed in. She breathed in the dankest, sweetest breath of her life.
This would be easy. She had the Elements now. There was no problem that they couldn’t fix. The armor of negativity around her sister would be foals play for something that could defeat a reality ignoring god from beyond the world.
She pulled, and they responded. The link slammed open and power thundered into her.
Simply put, it felt divine. This was the power to change the world. She just needed to know what to do, so it fed her information. In a heartbeat she knew everything there was to know about the magic clinging to her sister. She knew how to dispel it, weaken it, strengthen it, replicate it, move it somewhere else, bind it to a tree, like that oak over there. It weighed sixty three thousand one hundred ninety two and three sixteenths pounds. There was currently a ladybug on one of its leaves. It was thirsty. It could get a drink from the bucket of water that had just fallen over in the castle. Based on its projected airspeed, crosswinds, and the puddle’s rate of evaporation, it would make it there nineteen minutes after its depth was no longer dangerous.
Too much! It was too much! It was tearing her mind apart! But the deluge of information continued unabated. She had thought that the sense of clarity and insight from the other times they had been used was the extent of it, but she was finding out that it wasn’t even half of the full experience. It seared through her. Where the pain from the bitter cold had been immense, this was something else entirely. It tore at her soul, bits and pieces of her were swept off in the flood.
Let it end! Just make it stop! Make it stop!
The Elements gladly set to work. The pent up power rushed out in a prismatic lance. Her supernatural acuity let her see just what the spell was designed to do. From the outside, it was impervious to any and all attacks, but on the inside where she was... It was a delicately balanced work of art. A finely balanced network of leylines, support structures, power transfer and dispersion junctions. Everything interconnected in the grand spell. She could see it all, just like everything else, but change it? Such a thing was beyond her. Even the smallest error, one crossed line, one missed connection, and the energy released could wipe out everything in a hundred miles.
She was reduced to an observer. The chromatic spear pierced the Nightmare’s side, and her mouth formed an “O” in shock. The magic then turned upwards, and shot to the moon. Celestia, Nightmare Moon, and the moon were linked like that for a moment. The Nightmare’s body crumbled and was drawn along the beam. As it broke down, an image formed on the moon, and its color faded back to normal.
Then it was over. The flow of energy stopped. In the palace, six gems became little more than rocks, to the surprise and dismay of everypony that was there to see it. In the forest, Celestia toppled over, unconscious.
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With my freakish ability to recall obscure facts that I have only heard once I WILL RULE THE WORLD. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Also this chapter is the best yet. I love the mane whip thing. I was already going to use that in my own story, but now I may have to steal the "stars moving to the edges" thing, that was a great detail.
2070756
Antiquated ruling the world?
2070766 My political stand would be. I promise to create an initiative to find the portal to Equestia! MLP will be dubbed into every language! Plushies for All!
2070794
Never mind, Antiquated 2016!
FEATURED BOX.
Also, I love this chapter. The whole repeating nightmare thing I always enjoyed.
2071199
For over an hour!
And I liked that part too!
Also, SPOILERS IN THE COMMENT SECTION!
Well dang. I think I like that interpretation of the Elements. After all, knowledge is power.
Apart from a few cases of telling the reader something was random, I don't have much technical critique. NMM seems just a bit fixated on "forever" rather than "night" - there's more repeating of her signature line, and much less of "I will make them see" or even "nopony appreciates my work." Celestia's "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this." felt forced, since she's just casting a spell, not giving an object - I might have used a reference to the legend of the Minotaur by having a spool of thread unroll in front of the refugee to guide her to a safe place. Aside from these, though, I'm impressed and I eagerly await the next chapter.
2073094
Or do you mean "something random"? I assume you mean that paragraph with the ladybug. I was trying to show information overload.
Chapter 9 is... tough to write. I'll probably take a while. Likely more than a week.
That is why you need an Eagle Scope to go along with the Fountain of Hui.
2080442
You... I like you.
2080493
Thanks
2223123
Thanks! And that's only chapter one, just you wait... It only gets better.
2254663
So... did I manage to avoid that fate?
As for that first thing... I'm so sorry. So, so sorry. It just popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. I'll probably take it out in an edit at some point.
Also, huzzah! Someone finally got one of my DT references. Well, aside from Cyne. You probably missed a bunch of them in chapter seven though.
As for telekinesis...
What we see in the show is what I consider normal, day-to-day telekinesis. It puts a small force, equal to gravity (when holding something steady), on an object. I envision the "normal" version vs the "burst" of telekinesis as the difference between holding something and gently passing it to someone and hitting it at them with a baseball bat.
Anyways, I'm glad you like it so far. Next chapter's at 11K right now, and I don't know how much more there is to go. I would guess, but the scene I guessed 1000-1600 words for turned out to be... um...the 11K.
2312098
Thank you, kind sir.
It's not really required reading, but I recommend it. You won't understand certain references, and Paradise is a really good story. (Important to note: Paradise is an unfinished story, and my story will eventually end up diverging with its canon. SlyWit is loathe to give any spoilers, so I don't really have much special knowledge of where it's going. I only have my assumptions.)
Anyways, have fun with the sleeping.