Prologue
The lovely Princess Luna looked out into the night sky and lowered her arms, she had just rose the moon and was looking forward to a night with her art pad and notebooks. It had only been a few months since she had been back from exile and while she was gone she had come up with many ideas that she had been wanting to draw and write out. Walking away from the window, Luna went to her closet to change.
"Everything is so different... I've been gone so long..." She sighed as she pulled on her silk nightgown and sleeping shorts before heading back to her bed and pulled on her knee-high star socks. She cuddled into the comforter, surrounded by old plushies and fancy yet extremely soft pillows. She was about to reach for her notebook when shrill cry sounded through the recently created psychic link between her and her sister. Sitting bolt upright, Luna used her wings to propel her off her bed and onto the floor. She quickly opened the door and headed for her sister's room, guards gasping and staring shock at the scantily dressed princess rushing down the hall.
It took less than five minutes for Luna to get to Celestia's room and a only a second for her to burst into her sister's room. She was shocked to see her older sister, broken and beaten, in the grasp of a psychotic looking Alicorn.
"Big sister...?!" The Alicorn's hadn't noticed her presence but this alerted the two mares to her arrival. Celestia gasped in horror at seeing her little sister standing there but the scarred and tattered looking mare only smiled evilly.
"Hello, little Luna...." The mare laughed loudly as she dropped Celestia to ground and headed for Luna, slamming and locking the large door behind the youngest princess with her magic.
"Who're you..?!" Luna squeaked nervously as the crazy looking mare headed for her in an agonizingly slow pace, when the mare suddenly stopped and looked hurt.
"Who am I....?" The hurt look turned to anger in seconds flat as she turned to face Celestia, "You never told her about me?! How dare you, Celestia!" Back to Luna, "I am the Everblank! I am yo-!"
"Luna, do not listen to her! Run!" Celestia yelled to her little sister as she summoned what little energy she had left into a magical ball of sunlight and used her horn to shoot it into the middle of the room, blinding everyone, "Luna, run! Find the forgotten group, Phantom Nova!" The eldest princess' words rang in Luna's ears as her brain fumbled for a teleportation spell.
"No!" The Everblank's angry voice rang out as Celestia's sun orb faded and she saw the ending of the teleport spell, "You'll pay for this, Celestia!"
A/N: Luna may seem a little OOC compared to the new episode, so just play it off as her being really shaken up about her sister....
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Chapter 1: Revival of the Phantom Novas
Luna's eyes slid open as she let forth a whimper upon falling out of her ill placed teleport spell. The spell had dropped her on a cobblestone side street in what she was pretty sure had to be Ponyville, far from her home. Suddenly, she heard startled shouts from ponies all around as icy rain began to fall from the sky. Stepping out of the ally, she watched as a large group of Pegasus ponies gathered in the dark skies above, lead by a blue one with a rainbow-colored mane. Luna couldn't make out what she was saying but by the look on her face the Pegasus was very confused and not happy; she waved her hands around, pointing at different ponies then at different areas of sky. Apparently, it was not supposed to rain today, meaning that this could only be the work of that twisted Everblank... Turning away from the scene, Luna started walking towards a nearby bench and sat down, pulling her legs up to her chest and hugging them close. She began to shiver, she was still only wearing her thin night clothes and socks, which were now soaked through. Her hair draped down around her shoulders and back like a wet blanket as she wrapped her wings around herself to try and keep out some of the icy wind. The only heat she found was from the hot tears dripping from her eyes at the memory of she sister at the mercy of that madmare, and just who were the Phantom Nova!?
"Little Princess Luna, you'll catch cold if you wait out in the rain the whole night long..." Luna was shocked into awareness at the sudden sound of the creepy and smooth female voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. The princess out from behind her wings at the mare that was addressing her; a semi-tall mint-colored pony in a black reaper's robe with only her nose and mouth showing while a few lock of purple hair fell freely from the cover of her hood.
"Who're you? How do you know me?!" Luna was too scared to see what a stupid question that was.
"Silly little Princess.... Everyone knows who you are and what you used to be...." The mint mare kneeled down in front of the cowering royal and smiled gently, "As for myself... I am Ivy Thornscythe, last active member of the Phantom Nova." Luna's eyes grew wide.
"If you are out here in such bad weather dressed like that then I'm guessing Celestia was correct in assuming that the Everblank has returned..." Ivy sounded far from pleased at this assumption but waited for the princess to respond.
"You're right... But just who is she?"
"Only the Princess of the Sun knows that for sure..." Ivy stood and offered a hand to the moon princess, "Come, we must get you something warm and dry to wear before you catch cold, Princess."
"Where are we going...?" Luna takes her hand.
"To my home. I must tell you my plans to revive the Phantom Nova but we will need new members..."
"Who?"
"I will tell you when we get there. I'm been scouting out some new recruits that seem loyal and worthy."
"Oh, that's good. Because I have no idea what the Phantom Nova is, just that my sister told me to find you guys.."
X*X
Luna sat down at Ivy's small kitchen table dressing her new friend's pajamas that were just a bit too big, it was nice to be in the warmth of a home again; even if it were only a little bigger than a shack on the outskirts of town. The little princess watched Ivy walk towards the table with a mug of tea in each hand. Luna was amazed at how non creepy she looked without the reaper robe; her mint colored coat made her long purple hair, which was styled in a long braid on the left side of her head while the rest of her hair fell free past her shoulders.
"Here you are, Princess, this will warm you up..." Ivy gently place the tea in front of her before sitting down with her own mug.
"Ivy, tell me, what is the Phantom Nova...?"
"It's a secret group of assassins founded by your sister to protect the thrown before the Element of Harmony we discovered; she used them to fight the Everblank the first. But once she had the elements and locked away Nightmare Moon, she had very little use for the Phantom Nova anymore and only used them for foreign affairs until my team was the only one left. But we split up about five years ago." Ivy took a sip of tea and sighed, "That was all until about a week ago when Celestia came to me and told me that something was wrong, then warned me to keep a look out for you because that would be the sign that I had to revive the Phantom Nova."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She said she wasn't sure yet and didn't want to worry you."
"Oh, I see.... Well, what do we do now....?"
"I have to go hire the only other surviving Phantom Nova then we'll recruit from there, I already have a team picked out from the ponies here in Ponyville. I servayed them all, they're all loyal and goodhearted people."
"Oh, that's good then. But will they come?"
"I believe so. I gave them all a notice a few days with the princess' seal, telling them they were chosen for a secret mission by of Princess Celestia and that I would come to them when the time was right."
"But my sister has been captured, how will she lead you?"
"That's where you come in, little princess... You shall lead us now but first you must sleep."
X*X
It was early the next morning when Ivy said her goodbyes to the princess before heading out the door to fetch the other surviving Phantom Nova. She took off in a fast sprint down the alley and out on the main streets of Ponyville, steel-soled slip-on shoes clacking against the cobblestone. Her purple hair flying behind her as she picked out which streets to turn on by memory, the soft drizzle in the air clinging to the short green fur on her face. A smirk played on her lips as she spotted the shop she was looking for and slowed her run to a fast walk as she neared the shop; reaching for the door.
X*X
Pinkie hummed and sang to herself as she bounced around the kitchen of the Sugar Cube Corner. Stopping suddenly as she heard the little bell on the front door ring, she wondered who could be considering the shop had only opened minutes ago. She could hear footsteps coming and stopping in from of the order counter and hit the service bell.
“Be with ya in a sec. What can I get ya?!” She called out cheerily to the customer hidden behind the kitchen walls.
“Take your time but I’ll take a Corpse-Walk Cupcake with blood orange frosting, Cupcake.” Pinkie’s body stopped in sudden horror at the name of the baked good and slight click at the end of the nickname; the strawberry pie she was currently moving, falling from her grasp. Ignoring the ruined dessert, she raced for the front desk, shocked beyond words at what she saw standing before her; her old Phantom Nova partner, Ivy.
“W-what’re you doin’ here?!” Her voice came out in a squeak as Ivy leaned over the counter and smiled at her.
“Why else, Cupcake? We got work to do so why don’t you drop that cute little act and let me talk to Pinkamena…?”
“N-no! I won’t let you! Not after all I’ve accomplished here, I won’t let her out again!” Pinkie screamed in defiance as tears began to slowly fill her eyes.
“Please…..?!”
“C’mon, Pinkie, let me out….. It’s been ever so long, hasn’t it Corpsecake…? It’s only for a second…”
Pinkie sank to her knees, terrified of the idea as she held her head to stop Pinkamena from talking.
“No, I won’t, it’s not fair! It’s my life too!”
“Exactly, you’ll still be there, she only wants to talk…” The tears slipped down her cheeks as she felt Pinkamena start to claw her way to the surface of her consciousness.
“No… I won’t let you come out and hurt people…. Not again…..!”
“Too late, Sweetcheeks, momma’s comin’ home….!” Pinkamena boasted as her part of their personality burst forth to the surface, taking control of the body. Grinning smugly, Pinkamena stood up and straightened out her frilly dress and apron before facing Ivy.
“Welcome back, Cupcake. In case ya hadn’t noticed… The princess got’s a case for us; the Phantom Novas and the Everblank are back, baby!” Ivy cooed happily as she watched Pinkie’s curly hair seem to burst and deflate in to Pinkamena’s straight mane.
“That’s Corpsecake to you, Reaper… What do you have for me?”
“Thought you’d never ask!” The anthro green mare pulled some flies out of her saddle bag and laid them out on the counter, “First off, new recruits to PN team. I’ve contacted them, saying that they may be needed to work under the princess.”
“Are they trustworthy?” Pinkamena asked as she flipped through the files.
“Oh yes, I’ve checked them all out myself. The first is a Doctor Time Shifter, a brilliant scientist and twin brother to the lovely Doctor Whooves.”
“Sounds goods, Doctor Whooves and his twin are greatly respected. The others?”
“The next is one Vinyl Scratch also known as DJ Pon-3; she’s a normally a DJ at local rave but she also has some combat experience with an experimental disc weapon. Then there’s a marine biologist name Sea Foam, trained in hand to hand combat with long daggers and lastly, Pokey Pierce, a traveling mercenary trained in polearms.”
“Good. Now, what’s their status and the status on the princess.”
“We have to personally go out to recruit out new members and as for the princess…. The castles has been over taken and now Princess Luna is in charge of the Phantom Nova until we can secure Princess Celestia.”
“Sounds fair. It’s still early morning so we should gather our recruits, meet with our new leader and then take back the castle.”
“Okey dokey, now about that cupcake….?”
“Comin’ right up, Ives…. As soon as I find a suitable meat source….”