Prologue
A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits
Prologue
By CDRW
Luna
Armageddon ~ Day 1
Luna's hoofsteps echoed in the marble corridors of Canterlot Castle. The bustle of government and high society was missing, nopony else trod the hallways, and they felt like the entrance to some great tomb.
"How appropriate for my first visit," Luna murmured softly.
Perhaps it was just because of the circumstances, but she did not like this place at all. The hallways were too big, and too empty. Anypony that wasn't involved in the fighting outside had long since hidden themselves away, or fled the palace altogether. Her walk took her through what felt like miles of empty, impossibly gaudy corridors. Wall hangings stretched from floor to ceiling and a hundred paces long without a seam. Gold filigree edged the doorways, and there were stained glass windows in every exterior wall, each one painstakingly made by some craftspony to depict important events or ponies from Equestrian history.
It was all so different from what the Celestia that she remembered would have surrounded herself with. Luna's sister had always loved beautiful things, and their castle in the Everfree had been a wonderful place, but this went far beyond that. Greed and extravagance were Luna's vices, not her sister's. She wouldn't have imagined in a thousand years that Celestia would succumb to those kinds of temptations. But, she reflected sadly, it seems that a thousand years was enough to change even her.
Luna should have been flying as fast as she could to confront her sister, but she couldn't bring herself to move any more quickly. Every minute she wasted was another minute her ponies outside were fighting the royal guard, just to draw them away from Celestia. At least the sky forces hadn't been authorized to use lightning strikes. Even Celestia wouldn't do that. Right?
Luna had worshipped her when they were children, and admired her to the point of traitorous envy as an adult. She was Celestia. She was perfect. What happened? Where did it go wrong?
Where did I go wrong?
Luna stopped walking. A sudden surge of rage tore through her heart. You went wrong when you betrayed your sister and country! You went wrong when you decided to play Goddess and meddle with forces beyond your ken! You went wrong when you believed she was above doing the same!
There was a voice in Luna's head, a little pony always shouting at her, and the familiar temptation to listen to what it said. She left you! She knew you weren't Nightmare Moon anymore and she left you there! A thousand years, trapped, with nopony but yourself to talk to!
"NO!" She stomped her hoof and spiderweb cracks ran throughout the marble floor. "I shall not walk that path again." She wasn't doing this for spite or revenge, she was doing it because Celestia had betrayed the trust that her subjects put in her. She had turned her back on her responsibility and her country.
And on you, her thoughts whispered.
Luna was afraid. Afraid to go against Celestia; afraid that they might have to fight, and that she would lose; afraid that maybe, just maybe, Celestia wasn't the one who was wrong. Luna was afraid, and she was stalling.
Her stomach knotted in shame. There were ponies dying outside, her ponies, and she should be protecting them. Instead, she'd sent them into a battle they could not win in order to buy time. And yet here she was, wishing she could simply leave.
Who's turned their back on their responsibility now?
Luna gave a little shake of her head, and pulled herself up straight. "Not I." She buried her doubts and started trotting towards the throne room once more.
All of a sudden, an awful explosion rocked the palace. The sound of it rolled over Luna and nearly knocked her off her hooves. She froze. Even the insidious thoughts in the back of her head fell silent.
"No."
"She would never allow lightning strikes to be used with civilians around," Luna whispered frantically. That couldn't have been a lightning strike. There was a pegasus pony in Celestia's guard who had once done a sonic rainboom. That must have been her. Celestia wouldn't authorize lightning strikes on her own ponies.
Luna's ears were ringing and her vision spun, but she staggered forward, at first at a walk, then as she recovered, a trot, and a flat out gallop. All dignity forgotten, she careened through the corridors beating her wings to turn her gallop into long bounds. Big as the hallway was, it was still too small for a pony of her size to fly in properly. In her head, she cursed the ancestry of whichever unicorn had invented the anti-teleportation spell that saturated the palace.
A flash of light burst through the stained-glass windows, and another explosion sounded. The light cast a multi-hued image of Celestia locked in combat with Discord across Luna's coat and the floor around her before disappearing as quickly as it came. The shockwave rolled over her, but this time she was ready with her shield, a spell that nothing as insignificant as lightning would be able to penetrate.
The wave of relief she felt was almost as tangible as the explosion. Even coming through stained glass, she could tell that the light was the wrong color for lightning. They must have been sonic rainbooms after all.
The evening sunlight cast a warm glow through the stained-glass windows, mottling her fur with strange and subtle patches of color as she half-ran, half-glided along, and Luna found herself inexplicably worrying about them. The artistry was masterful. Delicate though they looked, they had somehow survived the explosions intact.
Without breaking her pace, Luna cast a spell. Her horn glowed a brilliant pale blue, and a bubble of force glazed over each one of the windows as she sped past. It wasn't much, but she should at least try to ensure they would be safe if worst came to worst. They were somepony's legacy, possibly all that was left of his influence on the world, and it wouldn't be right if they were destroyed in a conflict she had no part in.
Even with the shield in place, the windows shook when another explosion assaulted the palace and Luna's relief evaporated. One sonic rainboom is unthinkable, two is a miracle, three, impossible, the little voice said. Those are something else. As if to drive home the point, a fourth explosion sounded almost immediately. This one caught Luna off guard, and she wasn't able to put her shield up in time. She stumbled and fell. Her ears rang and her head span. Regardless, she forced herself to her hooves again and staggered on blindly.
Luna put out a hoof to steady herself against the wall, and was surprised when she felt wood. After resting for a moment or two, she was able to see straight once again. She looked up and saw that she was standing in front of a great set of double doors.
The doors were, if anything, even more ostentatious than the rest of the palace. Their entire surface was filled with carvings and decorations. Around the edges, inset a few inches, was an intricate inlay made of gold strips and obsidian interwoven together. Somehow, the obsidian appeared to be all of one piece.
Inside the border, the surface of the doors were divided into panels, each of which housed a carving that depicted more scenes from great moments in Equestrian history. Luna recognized Discord up near the top, and she also spied a swirling carving of some Windigos menacing three ponies while three more stood trapped in ice, but the meaning of the rest of those carvings was lost on her.
She had found the throne room.
Luna forced herself to not hesitate. She had already made her decision. Her course was inevitable, and its end would be determined by Celestia's choice. She took a deep breath and easily flung open the massive doors with her magic.
"Celestia, thine tyranny is come to an end this day. Surrender now so that we may avoid bloodshed!"
The throne room, Seat of The Sun, and center of all Equestria was in shambles. Hats, coats, and other personal effects of the Canterlot elite lay strewn about. A chill wind blew through the room, originating from the shattered window that had once comprised the entire wall behind the large golden throne. It picked up loose sheets of paper and caused them dance around in winding circles around Celestia's hooves.
Celestia stood unmoving in front of the window, her back to Luna. She did not turn around, or even speak. In fact, she did not acknowledge Luna's presence at all. Instead, she simply looked out the at the ponies below, fighting in the evening sunlight.
Celestia had always possessed an almost unnatural charisma. She had a gift for speech, and could sway the most hostile pony to her side with only a few well-chosen words. Luna had prepared herself both mentally and emotionally to resist the inevitable half-truths and lies Celestia would use to try and stop her from doing what she needed to. She had gone over every possible scenario, every possible line of reasoning, every possible tempting turn of phrase Celestia might send her way, and she had prepared accordingly to resist. But somehow Celestia had still outsmarted her. The thought that she might simply ignore her had never crossed Luna's mind. Even after a thousand years, Celestia still knew her well enough to stay two steps ahead.
An old feeling took Luna's heart in its icy grip. It was something she hadn't felt in a very long time, something she had vowed never to let into her soul again. Luna felt hatred. "Do not ignore Us! THOU HAST NOT EARNED THAT RIGHT!" Slowly, ever so slowly, Celestia turned from the window and looked her way.
Despite herself, Luna gasped and took a step backwards. Celestia stood there, highlighted by the yellow rays of the sun, as regal and beautiful as ever. But there was something different about her, a look that Luna couldn't decipher. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes... Her eyes pierced Luna's flesh and scoured her bones. What was Celestia feeling? Anger? Hatred? Despair? Fear? She had no idea, but whatever feelings Celestia harbored, they consumed her.
Celestia sighed deeply and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she was herself, calm and in control, with a gentle expression on her face, a pony who had never raised her voice or spoken harshly in her long life. It was only then, when Luna was freed from that gaze, that she noticed that Celestia's horn was glowing brightly.
Luna almost took another step back, afraid that Celestia was simply going to attack her right then, but the rational part of her mind regained control in time to prevent herself from showing more weakness. She would have already attacked me if that was her intention.
"Sister, thou art unfit to rule these ponies. Thou must step down and surrender Equestria to Us, for the good of all ponies, and for thine own good as well."
Celestia turned silently back to the shattered window and gazed out at the city below, then she lowered her head and sighed. "War."
Luna's ears drooped in disappointment. She is not going to give up. She had prepared herself for this moment, even told herself that she expected it to happen, but that didn't lessen the pain.
"Equestria has not experienced war in a very long time, not since you took the title of Nightmare Moon and fought me. After I banished you, my ponies prospered. We were experiencing a golden age the likes of which ponies before could only imagine. Did you know that the area around Everfree is habitable again? It was only a few generations ago that I sent ponies back there to settle it–I still remember their names–and already there is a peaceful town right at the edge of the forest. Even there, the threat of violence was almost unheard of. And yet here you stand, surrounded by chaos, having brought war into the very heart of my own city." Celestia looked back over her shoulder at Luna. "It is nothing short of a miracle that Discord hasn't broken free already."
Discord! Luna flattened her ears against her skull and bared her teeth. "Discord is here? Thou hast brought Equestria's most grievous foe here? What wast thou thinking?"
Celestia looked back out the window and said nothing for a long moment.
"It was foolish I know, but I took great pride in the fact that I did not need to hide his statue away in the darkest part of Equestria. For years I had him on display in the royal gardens as a reminder to ponies about the consequences of disharmony. But not anymore. Now, I have him locked in the vault behind the strongest shield I can maintain."
Luna's eyes were drawn once more to the glow of Celestia's horn, and then the realization hit her with a mounting wave of nausea. She is holding the entire city hostage! If she attacked Celestia, Discord would be freed. Even if Luna could somehow defeat Celestia with a single blow and raised her own shield the very instant Celestia's went down, with a civil war raging in the streets even that fraction of a second would supply more than enough chaos for him to escape his imprisonment. While she was maintaining that shield, Celestia was untouchable.
"HOW DARE–" Luna's words were cut off by another explosion. Unlike the previous ones, this was not dampened by the stone walls of the castle. It came right through the opening left by the shattered window.
Luna reeled with pain and disorientation. Through the spinning of her head, she was able to see Celestia still standing there at the window, and a rainbow colored shockwave rippling towards the horizon. A sonic rainboom.
Luna struggled back to her feet. "How, how many–"
"Five," Celestia said. "Until only recently, most ponies thought sonic rainbooms were impossible, and she's done five in as many minutes."
Luna finally gathered the courage to cross the throne room. Standing at her sister's side, she looked out over Canterlot. Below, all the fighting had stopped. Ponies from both sides lay writhing on the ground, clutching at their heads. A few even seemed to be bleeding from their ears. Up in the sky a single blue pegasus climbed higher and higher until she was nothing more than a speck before looping around to ready herself for a dive.
"Her name is Rainbow Dash. I believe your ponies call her something else though."
"Celestia's dog," Luna murmured, a little ashamed.
"Yes, that was it."
Rainbow Dash plummeted towards the ground, moving impossibly fast. Faster than gravity, faster than flight. A glowing cone started to form in front of the plummeting pegasus as she came ever closer.
Luna couldn't quite make out her expression, but she couldn't miss the moment it changed. A look, indecipherable, flickered across her face, and then she passed out. Luna reached out and tried to catch the falling pony with her magic, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash tumbled in the air before she hit the flagstones of the courtyard at full speed. She bounced once, slid to a stop next to a fountain with a statue of Celestia, and didn't move.
Luna couldn't tear her eyes from the image of the still pony below. A terrible silence radiated from her sister. The ponies who had been stunned by the shockwaves were picking themselves up off the ground and starting to gather around the body. Finally, with a catch in her voice, Celestia spoke.
"I have never known a better pony than her. For all her talk and bluster, she could never stand the idea of harming another pony, or letting one get hurt while she was around. No matter what, she always saved anypony who needed her. Then this happened. So many ponies fighting, so many hurting and getting hurt. Too big for one pony to stop. Impossible to stop. So she did the impossible. Five times. That's the kind of pony she is."
Luna finally couldn't manage to look Celestia in the face.
"I will acquiesce to your demands."
Luna's eyes widened in shock, and she wondered if she heard that correctly. Celestia might be saddened by the loss of good pony, but as an immortal, she was well acquainted with death. She would not back down because of this. If there was one thing Luna knew about her sister, it was that no matter how hard things might get, or how much heartache she might suffer, she would never break. She would never put one pony above her kingdom as long as she stood.
"I will acquiesce," Celestia continued. "Under one condition."
And the other horseshoe fell.
"What is thine condition?" Luna asked warily.
"You must know by now that the Elements of Harmony have woken. Something is coming, some storm that we will need their aid to fight." Celestia looked back towards the window and the fallen pegasus. "But now that hope is extinguished." She looked back to Luna and stared into her eyes. "Join me. Help me prepare for this danger. End this war and work beside me. If you require my surrender, I will give it. If you require my humiliation before all of Equestria to be satisfied, you may have it. Ask whatever you wish of me, but be there at my side to help protect my ponies." Celestia bowed her head and whispered, "Please, be my sister again."
Luna stared, dumbfounded. She opened her mouth to speak, to say something, anything, but she had nothing to say. Was this surrender? An alliance? A trick? a little pony whispered. How much of that was sincere? Did it matter? It was all true, without a doubt. Applejack was one of the new Bearers. Luna fervently hoped that she hadn't been injured in the fighting.
The silence stretched onwards as Luna struggled with her feelings. There were too many variables. Too many ways this was probably a trick or manipulation. And Celestia wasn't apologizing. Luna tried to recall her scenarios. She must have covered this situation at some point. But, with Celestia watching her, she couldn't remember.
"I..." Luna paused, trying to figure out what do do. "Wh–"
Suddenly, two explosions ripped the sky apart. Alarmed, the sisters looked back outside. Two overlapping rainbows sped away from the palace, and on the ground, surrounded by a group of prone ponies who were struggling to stand up again, a griffin stood on hind legs, wings outstretched and menacing the crowd, while another examined Rainbow Dash's body. Luna and Celestia looked at each other, but before they could do anything, a crash from the throne room doors made them whirl around. There, panting and barely keeping on her hooves, stood Twilight Sparkle.
"Empress...Celestia."
"Twilight?" Celestia asked in shock. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in the vault... Oh no. Twilight, you can't be here!"
"I...I tried...to stop..." Twilight mumbled, before she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
Across the palace, Luna felt a gathering inrush of terribly familiar power an instant before it was released in a blinding, pure white beam of energy that passed through the stone walls as if they were simply so much air. She threw up the strongest shield she could muster, and prayed that it was enough to stave off the attack, but it was unnecessary.
The beam of chaos energy splashed harmlessly against a wall of black magic before it ever reached them.
Celestia
Invictus ~ Day 1
Celestia picked her way tiredly through the broken hellscape that used to be Equestria. The land around her seemed a fitting reflection of her heart. What had once been a lush and fertile valley between Canterlot and Ponyville was now shattered and seared. Craters pockmarked the earth. Ridges of jagged stone clawed at the sky, and cliffs crumbled into new ravines that gaped like open sores. There was not one living tree or blade of grass in sight.
Celestia walked on with her head down, mane and tail a dull pink and dragging in the dirt. Pausing for a moment, she looked up a little and watched her little sister trying to make her way without tripping and injuring herself. Luna looked nearly as weary and bedraggled as she felt. Her mane still had stars in it, but it no longer stirred in the unfelt breeze that always seemed to gently swirl around the two of them.
Celestia took another step, and her front hoof caught on a rock. She stumbled and fell to the ground with a whoosh as the air was knocked from her lungs. There was a clatter of stones as Luna rushed back to where she lay and helped her to her feet, lightly brushing her coat with magic to clean away the dirt.
Luna's face, always so open and readable, was filled with worry. "Are you all right?" she asked anxiously. Celestia looked blearily into her sister's eyes, and saw the question she was really asking. It used the same words, but the meaning was quite different. She didn't answer, instead she took another step, and stumbled once more. "We need to keep looking."
Luna looked at her with incredulity. She was probably wondering if Celestia could even take another step, and to tell the truth, Celestia wasn't so sure she could.
"You have done enough, Celestia. Let the pegasi and griffins handle the search for survivors. They are much better equipped and able than either of us at the moment. You need to get some sleep and recover your strength."
For one muddled moment, Celestia wondered when Luna had started talking like a modern pony. How had she found the time to practice? Who had she spoken with? Ah. She remembered now. It was her. Luna had been talking to her.
"Celestia?" Luna asked in a nervous tone.
No. They hadn't had the chance to talk to each other lately. They had been too busy trying to save Equestria.
"Celestia?" Luna's voice rose a bit higher, frightened now.
Celestia shook her head, trying in vain to clear away the fog. "I don't get to sleep," she told Luna flatly.
Luna looked even more worried–if that was possible–but Celestia couldn't muster up the energy to say anything more. Several times, her sister opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself with a pensive look. She finally just moved up alongside Celestia and leaned against her side to lend support as they walked on. After a few minutes she pointed up into the sky where a flock of griffins were circling in the blood-red evening sky. "It seems they have found something. Do you think you can make it to where they are?"
Celestia didn't say anything, she simply changed her direction towards the griffins. Even though it wasn't far, their progress was painfully slow.
"Celestia?" Luna asked hesitantly. "Who was that other pony?"
Celestia didn't say anything, just took another step.
"Everypony is calling her The Witch," Luna continued as if she hadn't even expected an answer. Her voice fell to a whisper. "She frightens me. She shouldn't be able to do such things. How are we supposed to fight against something like her?" Luna looked off into the distance at Canterlot, which was now isolated from the rest of Equestria by an impenetrable magic shield. When she didn't get an answer, she simply pressed harder against Celestia's side and fell quiet.
They walked on in silence. The footing underneath was getting more difficult by the minute and Celestia had to focus every bit of her effort on not falling. Luna's gaze rested on Canterlot for a while longer, but eventually the terrain forced her to watch where she was going as well.
"Luna?" Celestia quietly asked as she lifted her hoof to step over a large stone. "Did I ever tell you that I love you?"
Her sister stiffened against her side, but didn't say anything, and Celestia didn't dare to look at her face.
"My memory isn't so good now, but I don't think that I ever did," she said. "There are so many things I should have done for you. Maybe if I had, things would have turned out differently. I'm sorry I didn't do better. I'm sorry I couldn't be the sister you deserved." Luna didn't respond, and Celestia still couldn't look at her. Instead, she raised her gaze to the griffins still circling above. She didn't know what was going through Luna's mind, but her sister didn't pull away.
The flock broke up as they approached, heading off to find other ponies for the search parties on the ground to help.
Suddenly, Luna broke the silence. "I swear by my name, my honor, and my crown that we will bring peace and prosperity to Equestria once again. We will rule side by side as princesses if you will have me. I will never abandon you or Equestria so long as I shall live. This is my oath and my covenant with you." Luna stopped, and then pressed her cheek against Celestia's stunned face. "I'm sorry as well," she whispered.
For just a moment, hope rose in her heart. For just a moment she imagined that everything could be made right, but then the events of the past fifty-seven days flooded her mind once again. What she promised was impossible. She felt Luna's gaze on her, but Celestia still couldn't bring herself to look into her eyes. "I appreciate the thought," she said dully as she took another step, "but it is too late."
At those words Luna shuddered against her side, but when Celestia stumbled again she was still there to hold her up. "I swear," she whispered.
Soon, they crested the ridge that the griffins had been circling, and found themselves looking into the bottom of a crater much like all the others that scarred the valley. This one was different from the rest though. At the bottom of this one lay Twilight Sparkle.
Celestia couldn't move, couldn't say or do anything at all. She simply stared. From up there, Twilight looked so small, as if she was still the little filly who had come to Canterlot to take the entrance exam for her school for gifted unicorns. So small and helpless.
Fear coursed through Celestia's veins. Twilight looked like she was asleep, her face the very picture of a filly resting peacefully. She never slept peacefully.
Somewhere, a rock tumbled and fell with a clatter, and that was all it took to break the spell. With a cry, Celestia flung herself down the slope. Her legs, unable to stand up to the sudden demand placed on them, buckled, and she fell and tumbled to the bottom in a heap.
Celestia struggled to her hooves. She was battered and bleeding from a large gash just below her front left knee, but that didn't stop her from limping swiftly over to where Twilight lay.
"Celestia don't! That's not her anymore!" Luna cried out, but she barely heard.
Celestia stretched out a trembling hoof and whispered "Twilight."
She was breathing. Twilight was still breathing, and Celestia's eyes were burning.
There was a sudden whoosh of air as Luna glided down from the crater edge and alighted next to her. "Celestia, don't," she said gently, but firmly. "That is not your student anymore."
"She is." Something was rising from the pit of her stomach, a tight, shaky sensation. "I taught her. She's strong. She wouldn't give up!"
Luna pressed a hoof against her shoulder. "You saw what happened Celestia. She is gone. Look around you, at what that thing has done. You know what we have to do."
"NO!" Celestia knocked Luna's hoof away and rounded on her sister. "It's still her! I taught her to be strong, and she's in there fighting!" She took one trembling step, placing herself between her sister and Twilight. "You can't take her away from me. I can't lose her, not again! I'll–" Her injured leg almost buckled. "I'll fight you Luna. I can't lose her again, and I'll fight you if I have to."
Luna took a step forward with a stricken look on her face. "Tia..."
"Please. Please don't. I'll do anything you ask, just please don't hurt her. You can have everything. I'll take her far away from Equestria and you won't ever have to see either of us again. Just don't hurt her." Celestia tried to keep the tears away from her eyes, to stay strong and face down her sister.
The look on Luna's face was one of pure suffering, but she took another step forward. "Tia. Please don't do this."
As Luna advanced, Celestia took another step backwards, and she felt her hind leg brush up against Twilight's side. Her breath caught in her chest as her student stirred.
Celestia whirled around and was instantly on the ground, holding Twilight in an embrace.
"Mom?" the young mare asked blearily.
"Impossible," Luna murmured in astonishment.
"No Twilight," Celestia whispered those terrible, familiar words. "It's just me."
"Oh." Twilight pressed herself weakly against her chest. "I had a bad dream again."
Celestia meant to say "It's ok. I'm here now," but instead of words, a sob came out, and once the first one was released, the rest poured out in an unstoppable torrent. For what felt like an eternity, she simply sat there and cried. She cried for Twilight. She cried for Luna. She cried for Equestria. And she cried for herself. "I'm sorry," she whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry."
She felt a pair of hooves wrap around herself in an embrace, and heard a gentle voice whisper in her ear. "Shh. It's going to be all right." After a long while, the hooves let their embrace go, and a moment later started wrapping her injured leg with a soft bandage.
Celestia looked up, and instead of Luna, she saw the kind face of an unfamiliar yellow pegasus. "Who...who are you?" she asked thickly.
"I'm Fluttershy," the mare said with the most gentle, loving smile she had ever seen. "It's going to be all right. I brought help."
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Dat Title
sounds promising, ill give it a read later.
Carl Sagan?
Carl Sagan.
not a sunrise...
I have no idea what's going on, but shit appears to have never been more real than it is at this moment.
Oh, and by the end of this story, you owe us a morning filled with four hundred million suns. Just saying.
Tracking, and awaiting another amazing chapter!
Beautifully spun imagery, and good work weaving in canon history. I'm intrigued to learn more about this version of Equestria you have created.
Keep including descriptions about light. I liked the idea of the stainglass window's light on Luna.
grr im so confused your forcing me to track
and like
kill him/her fluttershy
yay!!!
405018
... but a galaxy rise.
A morning filled with 400 billion suns.
The rising of the milky way.
awww man.
This was really good.
I teared up not gonna lie.
This seems like it could be amazing. I'm still waiting on that galaxy rise, though.
Confoud this story, it drives me to favorite it.
405101Thanks! I was actually pretty proud of that part because I came up with the description after pushing through some pretty severe writer's block.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
For your listening pleasure while reading.
I am not quite sure what is going on, but what I am sure of is that I am enthralled with this story.
This... this is an amazing opening, and I'm incredibly excited to read the next chapter which is already posted, but I wanted to stop and comment that I have no idea where this is going. Is this going to be an adventure to oppose Discord? This Witch person Luna mentioned? Was Discord stopped by that dark magic? I don't know what's happening. D:
*goes on to chapter 2 hoping for some clarifications*
This is a good story but it seems like we just stepped into the middle of it and not the beginning
Congratulations to your Equestria Daily feature CDRW
I can't wait to see where this story will be going, I'm always looking for some nice grimdark stories.
You asked for a comment and so here it is! I don't have much to say though, I'm just enjoying the story.
reads like the beginning of a zombie apocalypse
I don;t know what's going on. Focusing too much on Rainbow Dash bro, it gets old.
I'm interested. I am utterly lost as to what has happened, is happening, and will happen. Contrary to my reaction to most other fan fiction that leave my comprehension in the dust, this simply adds to the intrigue. I like what you are doing here. Keep up the good work and I will be awaiting an explanation to these questions in the chapters to come.
[img]C:\Users\Austin\Desktop\School Projects\2009-2010\Reaction\Joker Clapping.gif[/img]
I'm so confused but I love it.
Also is this like the Lunar Republic vs the Solar Empire?
If so I'm on Luna's side.
I... What... I am so hopelessly lost and confused. But I like it. I think...
919534 Completely agreed, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!
Seriously this is
Odd,
Where
Are
You
Planning to take
All of this masterfully crafted
Suspense and
Turmoil!?
Cause I don't have any idea
On how you managed to
Negate my sense of
Focus as well as
Undermine any
Sensibility and
Integrity I had, also you
Expelled the very thought that I could know what was going on. I feel so
Dumb.
Other than a couple of clunky sentences, this was excellent work! I'll have to read more.
These are some unusual choices you've made here. Starting at the big confrontation between Tia and Luna, especially when you're casting neither as the villain, in particular is odd. I don't see how you're going to justify how it came to this while keeping it an interesting story, not now that you've invalidated the possibility of so much suspense.
Let's see where you're taking this story, shall we?
So this was the thing that intrigued me about a year ago and forgot. I can see why.
The Witch.... Walpurgisnacht?
3264419 Maybe... or maybe it's Madoka's Witch form. Would explain why she's so powerful.
Not really. :3 But references rule.