Nightmare Moon sat arrogantly on the high throne of Celestia’s Castle. I vowed that one day I would be right at her side. She rose to her hooves, preparing for the impending assault. She had been expecting this for quite some time. Her subjects have been rallying behind a single body, the only pony with the potential power to defeat her. The mare I loathed with stronger passion than I feel for others. Princess Celestia entered the castle alone, apparently very sure of herself.
“Hello, Celestia”, said Nightmare Moon, “Come to surrender?”
“Luna, please, listen to reason. I don’t want to fight you”, she said solemnly.
“No, you do not. You really don’t want to fight Me”, laughed Nightmare, “Fighting me would be stupid. What you want to do is surrender. If you don’t I’ll kill you where you stand!”
“Luna, I don’t think you have it in you to kill anypony, let alone your own sister.”
“Luna? Sister? All you do is talk about this sister of yours! What does Luna have to do with me?”, asked Nightmare angrily.
“You are my sister, Luna.”, Celestia said and voice cracking, “And I love you, but I cannot allow you to do this anymore. Equestria needs the sun, and I need you to lower the moon.”
“Ah, but why would I want to lower my lovely moon?”, she asked, “Nopony loves my moon. I can make them love the night; see it the way I do. Aren’t you the one who’s always saying that everypony should love everypony else? The same should apply to the night, no?”
“We do love the night. I love it almost as much as you do. The night is beautiful.”
“Then why does everypony shun it and sleep through it?! If my night is so beloved, then why does nopony appreciate it?!”, exclaimed Nightmare Moon.
“You know it’s not like that. They have to sleep sometimes, Luna, and it’s the perfect sleeping conditions during the night.”
“Well, now they can sleep and live during the night.”
“Luna! It doesn’t work that way! The balance of the universe is being disrupted! I don’t know how long we have before something bad happens!”
“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, because I am not lowering the moon! Only one of us will live to see daybreak. Oops! I was wrong! Nopony will see daybreak, because, the night…will last…forever!”
“No it will not, because I will defeat you and put an end to this. I will give you one more chance; Stop this nonsense, or I will be forced to take action.”
“Maybe you’re right. I’ll lower the moon. I’m finally starting to see reason. Well, I’m sorry for what I’ve done, forgive me, I’ll never do it again, I’m a complete liar, Die!” shouted Nightmare Moon, launching a blast of dark blue magic. Celestia ducked her shot, and ran behind a pillar.
“Running away, Celestia?”, laughed Nightmare Moon, “I never thought you were one to cower in fear like that.”
“Luna, I will stop you if I must!”, called Celestia.
“Stop calling me Luna! There is no Luna! She’s gone, dead, doesn’t exist, lost in time!”, shouted Nightmare Moon, “Stop calling me Luna!”
“I’m warning you Luna. I will have no choice but to banish you.”
“I AM NOT LUNA!”, she screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “YOU TALK OF BANISHMENT? WELL, TALK IS CHEAP! GO AHEAD, I PRESAGE YOU! GET IN MY WAY AND I WILL KILL YOU!”
“I’m so, so sorry Luna. Please forgive me”, said Celestia. She made a mad dash for the door, dodging blast after blast from Nightmare Moon. She swung them open and made a beeline for the Everfree Forest.
“No matter”, said Nightmare Moon to herself, “She’ll never be able to defeat me.” She sat back on her throne, being gnawed at by a nagging suspicion, a deep fear in her mind. She closed her eyes and concentrated, muttering in a strange language. Her horn became enveloped in a dark blue aura. She sat, muttering to herself for nearly ten minutes. Beams of blue flew from her wings, striking the ground. They pulsated and shook, giving off a faint smoke-like appearance.
“Luna!”, came a voice from outside, “I am not going to tell you again; surrender or you will be banished.” Celestia broke Nightmare Moon’s concentration, causing the aura to weaken.
“It’s always something”, said Nightmare Moon, abandoning her spell. She shot a beam of light at the roof, blowing it apart. BOOM!
She flapped her wings and took flight, rising through the air. She flew through the hole, looking down on Celestia. Celestia took flight herself, surrounded by six gems of different colors, purple, blue, orange, red, green, and pink. They swirled around her at high speed, tilting forward until they were in a perfect circle facing Nightmare Moon. A beam of light flew from each of them, connecting into an immense orb in front of Celestia.
“Surrender now, Luna”, she said, tears flowing from her eyes.
“Die!”, shouted Nightmare furiously. She shot a large beam of azure energy directly at Celestia.
“I’m sorry”, sobbed Celestia, sending a golden beam of equivalent magnitude in the opposite direction. They collided in midair, crashing into a multicolored sphere of vivid radiance. It then became a battle of the minds. Celestia’s beam inched forward slowly, overtaking Nightmare’s.
“Nonononono!”, shouted Nightmare Moon, “I’m losing!” She began to mutter in that bizarre language again, sending tendrils of light back down to the castle. Celestia’s beam completely overtook Nightmare Moon’s, colliding into her chest. Nightmare was filled with light, paralyzing her. In fear of losing, she started muttering faster and faster. A wisp of navy colored smoke flew from out of her mouth, crashing into the castle. The light overtook Nightmare Moon completely, causing her to scream in pain. BOOM!
Nightmare Moon flew upward, launched backwards by the power of the blast. She rose through the sky, completely paralyzed, heading to the moon. She broke through the atmosphere and smashed into the surface of the moon. Dark spots slowly appeared on the face of the moon, forming the silhouette of a unicorn.
“I’m sorry, Luna”, said Celestia, falling to the ground slowly. She settled through the hole in the roof, dropping on her flank by the throne. She began to cry, gently at first but becoming more and more vigorous. I crawled over to her and nudged her mane. She looked down at me, tears flowing from her face. She levitated me up onto her back, crying softly.
“Always has a backup plan. Sorry, Luna, but you’ve failed.” she said to nopony. Turning to me, she shot me a teary smile. “What to do with you? I’m going to assume that she wasn’t trying to make you a foal. What should I call you? Do you like the name ‘Midnight Moonlight’?” I squinted my eyes in disgust.
“How about something more recherché?”
More Silence.
“Maybe ‘Onyx’?”
“Hmph.” I grunted.
“Okay. Onyx it is. I’ll take you to the orphanage. They’ll take care of you. I suppose they may find it weird that you’re an Alicorn, but they’ll work with it.” She spread her wings and flew through the air. We soared through the sky at a leisurely speed. I leaned forward, charged my horn and shot blast of red energy, which exploded a few feet away into sparks of light.
“You’re a little magic prodigy, aren’t you?”, chuckled Celestia. Without warning, I blasted her wing with magic, setting it ablaze. We spiraled downwards at high speeds while I laughed sadistically.
“You…GAH...Menace!”, exclaimed Celestia, smashing into the ground. She rolled on her back, smothering the flames. “To think that I almost felt bad for you. Thank goodness we’re here.” I looked up and saw a small, run-down building with a wooden large sign: Bright Days Ahead Orphanage.
“Well, here you go. If we’re both lucky, we’ll never see each other again”, she said, summoning a sheet of parchment and a quill. She began to write. She turned to look at me and told me “Onyx, you are a reminder to the worst day of my life. I will never forget you. For your sake, I hope you forget me.” She knocked on the door, dropped the parchment on my chest and vanished into thin air. A mare opened the door and looked from side to side, searching for the apparent visitor. Looking down, she laid her eyes on me. She grabbed me up and carried me inside.
“Hello, little guy”, she said, “Do you have a name?” She grabbed the parchment off my chest. “Onyx, huh?”
“Hm.” I grunted.
“Let’s see… a unicorn, haven’t gotten one of those in a while”, she said, carrying me to the back. I expanded my wings, simply to prove her wrong. “Oh my! An Alicorn? That’s strange. Maybe I should write to Princess Celestia. Oh, I can do that later. I have to get you registered.”
I started to cry, unhappy with the turn of events.
“Relax, little one. You will never be alone while you’re here.”
And so began the agony of my life.
( 12 Years Later)
“Time for lunch, Onyx!” called Morning Dawn, the Earth pony who ran the crap hole orphanage I lived in.
“Have fun.” I replied grumpily, pouring over my book.
“Onyx! It’s time to eat!”
“That’s a tad bit too bad, because I’m not going to.”
“Don’t you want to come down here and spend time with your brothers and sisters?”
“I’d love to. Let me know when they arrive.” I replied, not looking up.
“This is your family! Start acting like it!” she yelled, a little angrily.
“I have no family. Not anymore.”
“Are you going to explain what you mean by that? You start to talk about your family and then you just stop.”
“Nope, you don’t need to know; it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it right now”, I muttered, “Leave me alone! I’m not hungry.”
“Okay. I’ll bring you up something later”, she said reluctantly. Finally, that mare left me alone.
“Alright, I think I have everything in order”, I said closing my book, Book of Shadow Magic. I reached under my bed and pulled out a chunk of crystal. Only time I ever enjoyed a field trip. I placed the crystal on the floor. I closed my eyes and concentrated, willing my horn to glow. I was enveloped in a red aura and the crystal began to shake. The sapphire blue crystal rose off the ground a few feet, bathed in crimson light. It melted and reshaped and grew, forming a pony. An Alicorn pony. Her horn grew to be twice the length of mine and she grew tall, about two heads taller than me. The pupils became slitted and teal and her mane became almost like stardust, filled with sparkles. She spread her wings wide, flapping them a few times to test.
“Mother…”, I said, with tears flowing from my face, “It’s working!” BOOM!
I flew backwards on my back, wind knocked out of me. My horn stopped glowing, and the crystal pony began to melt.
“NO!”, I shouted, willing my horn once more. I shaped it back, but not quite the same as before. Her horn was gone and she was only about half the size. Her coat went from a dark, midnight blue to a lighter sapphire color. The red light faded and she fell to the ground, rubbing her head and looking confused.
“What happened?”, she asked quietly.
“No! No, no. no! What in Tartarus are you?!”, I shouted in anger. Her crystal coat became a magma red.
“I don’t know! I was just like...poof and now I’m here!”, she said.
“Son of a...No! I’m sorry, mother! I’m so, so sorry!”, I whispered, slamming my head against the wall. Her coat faded from that magmic red to a midnight blue.
“Whoa! What happened?”, she asked tenderly. She dragged me away from my wall.
“Leave me alone! I failed! Once again, I’ve failed! I’m sorry, Mother!”, I repeated.
“What happened to your mother?”, she asked.
“Celestia happened.” I groaned. Her coat morphed color again, this time turning a topaz tone.
“What about her?”, she asked, attempting to rub my mane. I pushed her away, just now comprehending her miraculous body.
“What’s up with your coat?” I asked, watching as it became a golden tint.
“I don’t know”, she said, “It seems to change any time you change, like when you were mad and now you’re...happier? I guess we can figure it out later.”
“What makes you think there’s going to be a later?”
“You can’t just get rid of me”, she said smugly.
“And why is that?”
“Not before you figure out who, or what, I am. I would wager that I have some relevance to you, considering you did something to create me. You can’t get rid of me before you do whatever it is you were trying to do when you made me.”
“Already thinking about choices and self aware? Well if you’re going to be here, you’ll need a name”, I sighed.
“Didn’t really think of that, how about Sapphire Sparks? What’s your name?”, she asked thoughtfully.
“Onyx…Eclissius. Okay. Sapphire Sparks, my magnificent failure”, I said, as her coat became a grim blue and her ears flopped down, “Help me figure out what to tell Dawn.”
“Yes, Onyx, I’m not stupid”, said Sapphire glumly, “Talking about it won’t take any of my anxiety away.”
“Then get your flank over here”, I said, “Hate to do this, but it’s the only way.” She trotted over to me and grabbed my sheet off of my bed. I balled it up and shoved it in her mouth. I grabbed her right wing roughly, catching her eye.
“Dm umf!”, she grunted through the gag. I twisted it slowly, seeing as she squirmed in pain, I twisted her wing fast and heard a faint *snap* come from her wing. I winced at the nauseating sound.
“Hmmmmmm!”, she groaned.
“Sorry, Sparks”, I said, ripping the gag out of her mouth, “This is the only way to guarantee your stay.”
“Hah…. huh… Ow. You said you were going to count to three!”, she exclaimed.
“Well, I lied. You’ll be okay though, right?”, I asked, going to the door, “Remember: You crashed through my window with a broken wing. You’re parents are dead and you don’t remember how. You don’t know where you are. The only thing you are sure of is that your name is Sapphire Sparks. Got it?”
“Yeah…yeah. Got it”, she panted. I leaned out of the doorway and yelled.
“Dawn! I found somepony up here! She’s hurt!”, I called.
“What?! Are you serious?”, she asked. I heard her running up the stairs. “If this is a joke, you’re going to be in trouble!”, She burst in through the door, her coat so bright orange that it hurt my eyes if I looked for too long. Not that I liked staring at her. Her mane was bright, neon green, very cheery and very annoying.
“Why would I lie about something so insignificant?”, I asked.
“Oh my stars!”, she exclaimed, rushing over to Sapphire. “What happened to you?”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t remember”, said Sapphire, tears welling up. Wow, she was a good actress.
“Where are your parents?” asked Dawn.
“They’re… gone. Dead”, sobbed Sapphire.
“How terrible! What happened to them?”
“I can’t… remember. I don’t know, but please, help me.”
“Do you have a name?”
“S-sapphire. Sapphire Sparks. Who are you?”
“I’m Morning Dawn. I run this orphanage.”
“Orphanage! You mean there’s dead ponies here?!”, cried Sapphire, running backwards.
“No dear, that would be a morgue”, said Dawn, “An orphanage is a place for little fillies and colts that no longer have parents.”
“Ooooh. Am I going to be staying here?”, she asked quietly.
“Uh, well…the thing is, we don’t really have space here. I’m afraid I’ll have to have you transferred to another orphanage.”
“But my wing! Do you really think I can be shipped off with a broken wing?”
“No… I guess not. Somepony is going to have to double up with you…” began Dawn.
“She can stay with me”, I said, “I mean, if she has to.”
“What?”, asked Dawn, “Are you volunteering to do something nice for somepony else?”
“I don’t want to, but if it will get this situation moved along, then so be it.”
“You realize that you two will have to live in the same space, share a spot at the table, split school supplies and… you’re going to have to share a bed.”
“Fine, fine, fine, I don’t care right now”, I said, waving her off.
“Oh! That’s what this is about!” gasped Dawn. “In that case, I’ll have to keep an eye on you two. Remember, head-to-hoof in that bed, you mischievous colt, you.”
“What?! You really think this is about that?!”, I asked, outraged.
“Not that I need to be the center of attention, but can somepony please do something about my wing?”, said Sapphire, drawing attention back to herself. Dawn grabbed Sapphire up and carried her downstairs.
“Clean up your room, Onyx! You have a new roommate who needs a clean room.”
“Please die”, I muttered to myself, “Sapphire isn’t too bad. Maybe she wasn’t as big of an accident as I originally thought.”
“Onyx! Come down here and help me bandage up your filly-friend’s wing!”, called Dawn. I ignored her and sat down on my bed. I grabbed my book and cast a spell upon it. The title changed from Book of Shadow Magic to Celestia’s Fairy Tale Collection.
“Why did that fail so miserably?”, I asked myself, “We cast that spell perfectly, the crystal was immaculately cut and should have received the spell perfectly. Granted, Mother probably wouldn’t have liked being crystal very much, but We would have figured something out. Why have We failed? Are We really that incompetent?”, I began to breathe raggedly and tremble uncontrollably.
“Onyx? Are you alright?”, asked Sapphire from the doorway. She approached me and sat on the bed by my side, “What happened?”
“We failed! I’ve failed. I’m stupid and Mother is better off without me!”, I cried out irrationally. “Why did she even waste the time and magic on me?”
“Calm down, Onyx. Why do you keep saying we?”, she asked, her coat shining a deep sapphire blue. What was wrong with her body?
“What?”, I asked, “Am I using the Royal We again?”
“Royal We?”, she asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s a dialect used by royals in Canterlot. I don’t use it very often, only when I talk about… her”, I said, staring out of the window wistfully, “How’s your wing?”
“Ms. Dawn patched me up. Explain to me again why you had to break my wing?”
“If you weren’t injured, Dawn would’ve transferred you to another orphanage. As much as I hate to admit it, I need you around until I figure out who you really are. Then I have to figure out what went wrong. Until then, you are to stick close to me.” “Okay.,”, she said, moving in close to me. She pressed her side against mine. “Stick close to you I shall”, attempting to mock my Royal dialect. “Remove yourself from my side.”, I said pushing her off. Her coat became a bright, sunny yellow. “I figured it out!”, she exclaimed, “I understand my coat color!” “What is it? It’s been bugging me!” “I change color depending on your feelings!” “I don’t get it.” “I didn’t at first either, because it changes depending on your inner emotions. I’ll always know how you’re feeling on the inside because my coat will change to reflect that.” “No it doesn’t.” “It totally does!”, she shouted in excitement, “Look, you want to laugh right now! I’m yellow because you’re happy on the inside! You just don’t want to show it.” “Shut up, Sparks”, I smirked, whacking her in the face with a pillow. “Go ahead, hit me again! You’re just proving me right”, chuckled Sapphire. “Whatever, Sparks”, I snickered, “Haha; you’re a riot, Sapphire”, I laughed sarcastically. “See? You’re laughing!” “Enough Sparks”, I said, “I need to perform some spells on you to find out how We… I screwed up so bad.” “Alright, will it hurt?” “Let’s just get started”, I said, closing my eyes. My horn was illuminated in red light, and her body was hoisted off the ground. Red and black smoke swirled around her, picking up speed with each second. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”, she screamed. I pointed horn at the door, magically soundproofing it. “Sorry, Sapphire. I need to...err...scan you”, I said, sucking the smoke back into my horn. “Waaaaaaaaah!”, she sobbed. Tears flowed down her face steadily. “Please! Stop! I can’t take it!” “I’m sorry, I have to do this”, I said, “You… said… it… wouldn’t… hurt.” she said through gritted teeth. “I never said that. I intentionally ignored your question because I didn’t think you’d like the answer.” “Stop it. Please.” “I’m al-most… done!”, I said, releasing her. “Sweet Celestia! (Bad choice of words) No wonder I failed. I’m nowhere near strong enough for that.” “Why did you do that?”, sobbed Sapphire. “I had to see what went wrong. It seems my magic wasn’t strong enough to bring Mother back. I wasn’t able to get her consciousness into that crystal body. I still don’t completely understand where you came from, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” “Onyx, that hurt a lot”, said Sapphire. “Yeah, scanning every molecule that makes you does tend to do that to somepony.” “Onyx, I don’t think you understand. It hurts to move”, she said “I didn’t mean to hurt you...that much.” “What do you mean ‘that much’? Forget it.” “You know, I’m technically your father but, don’t you dare start calling me ‘daddy’”, I said sarcastically. “Never in a thousand years”, she said. “A thousand years, huh? Wonder what I’ll be doing in a thousand years.” I said. “You’d probably be dead.” said Sapphire sullenly. “You miss the wings? I’m an Alicorn. I don’t age fast.” “And I’m made of crystal. So I don’t age normally either.” “So, you’re saying that I’ll be stuck with you for all of eternity?” I asked. “Yep.” “What are you planning to do during all that time?” She thought it over for a second. “Be with you.” “What?” I said, blushing. “I want to help you any way I can, as long as you don’t intentionally hurt me again.” “Oh, uh, okay, yeah.” “Onyx! Sapphire! It’s time for supper!”, called Dawn interrupting our experiment. “Wipe your face, Sapphire. It’s time to eat.” We trotted downstairs, where I took my usual spot in the corner of the dining room. I brought Sapphire over to my area, where we began to eat the small meal of hay and flowers that Dawn was able to provide for us. We ate quickly and ran back upstairs, tired from today’s activities. “Are we really sharing a bed?”, asked Sapphire. “Hahahahaha! No”, I answered, lying down in my bed. “Okay”, she said, curling up into a ball on the floor, “Goodnight.” I watched as her coat became a gloomy blue. “Fine, get up here”, I said, “Remember what Dawn said: Head to hoof.” She stood up and jumped in my bed. “No cuddling?” she asked. “WHAT?! No…I…Do you want to go lay in the corner instead?” I shrieked as Sapphires coat turned fuchsia in color. “I was joking, you silly filly, this is much more comfortable”, she said grinning.
I was awake at the crack of dawn, just like I always was. I debated on waking up Sapphire, but I figured she’d want to sleep a little longer. I stood in the mirror, taking in the horrible mess that was my mane. I levitated a brush and swept it through my black and blue mane, pushing it out of my face and revealing my lust red eyes.
“Good morning”, said Sapphire from behind me.
“Don’t see what’s so good about it”, I said, her coat bright yellow, nonetheless.
“What are we going to do today?”, she asked.
“We’re going to school”, I said, “As much as I abhor that wretched place, it pains me to say that I need it…”
“What do you mean, ‘you need it’?”
“I have a…problem that can only be resolved at the school. I would like to skip, but the sooner I learn how to fly, the sooner I’ll be able to leave.”
“Wait, you can’t fly?”, she asked, smirking a little.
“What, can you?”, I asked defensively.
“I would be able to, had my wing not been snapped previously.”
“Almost slipped my mind”, I said, moving closer to her, “Come here, I can fix your wing.”
“Um…”, she said, backing away uneasily, “Is it going to be like last time?”
“No. This should actually feel quite pleasant, like a massage of sorts.”
“Are you lying to me?”
“No. Have I lied to you before?”
“No, but you have forced me to agree to something under false pretenses. How do I know that you’re not going to do it twice? Swear that this won’t hurt.”
“Swear? On what?”
“Something important”, she said.
“Like what? Nothing is very important to me.”
“Swear on your mother”, she said jokingly.
“Seriously?”, I asked, “Fine. I swear to Mother that this will not hurt.”
“I can’t believe you actually did it”, she said as she closed her eyes, “I completely trust you.” I pointed my horn at her broken wing and willed my horn to glow, bathing her in red aura.
“How does it feel?”, I asked.
“Oooooh! This actually feels good. It’s a little tingly!”
“See? I’m not going to try to hurt you.”
“Okay. Can I ask you a question?”
“I don’t understand. Are you asking me if you have the ability or if you have permission?”, I said jokingly.
“A simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed. My question was what do you plan to do after you learn to fly? What are our long-term goals?”
“I suppose, if you’re going to help me, you should at least know what I’m planning.” I said. “After I learn to fly, we’re leaving this pit of Tartarus to free my mother, Nightmare Moon, from her imprisonment on the moon. Any other questions?”
“Where are we going after we leave here?”
“Er… I don’t know.” I said. “We’ll figure something out. Anything else?”
“Isn’t Ms. Dawn going to find it suspicious how quickly my wing healed? I’m pretty sure that the only category that spell could fall under is ‘dark magic and shadow magic’,”
“She has too much on her mind to worry about what we’re doing. I doubt she’ll even notice. Just like at the school. Just walk in and nopony will pay you any mind.”
“That doesn’t really sound like a good idea, but you’re the boss. Let’s go.” I handed her a brush to let her tidy up her mane a little. She looked at me confusedly, then she began to glow. Her coat lit up and her mane straightened and adjusted itself.
“How do you have magic?”, I asked.
“I don’t know. Crystal magic?”
“I’ve never seen crystal energy that works like that. It better have more uses than just for mane-styling. Why are we still here? We should get moving.”
I led her out through the back door and we made our way towards the schoolhouse. Schoolhouse was not an appropriate term. It looked more like a school-mansion. Or maybe even a school-warehouse. To me, it was more of a school-torture factory.
“Welcome to my agony away from home”, I said, walking into the building, “Since I can already bench-press twice my weight and I’m a master of magic, I don’t have much use for the Earth Pony and Unicorn sections of the school.”
“Master of magic? Then how did you screw up your spell so bad?”
“That’s different!” I said, trotting up the stairs. “I was trying to do magic that nopony in history could pull off! Not even Celestia could do that on her own.”
“Relax”, she said, coat glowing a calming blue “I was merely teasing.”
“Sorry. Look, we’re here and we’re almost late.” We snuck over and hid among the small fillies that were also learning to fly.
“Everypony who wishes to fly will listen to everything I say to a T”, said the Pegasus teacher, Ms. Ariel, I think her name is.
“You will not stay in the sky for longer than five seconds if you are not of fast mind and of sharp wit. You must focus on staying in the air, but at the same time, you must focus on staying upright. Who would like to give it a try?”
“I would”, said Sapphire waving her hoof.
“What are you doing?”, I whispered, “You don’t know how to fly!”
“Give me a shot!”, she said, stepping forward, her coat shone its beautiful brave sapphire blue.
“Name?”, asked Ariel.
“Sapphire Sparks, ma’am.”
“A Crystal pony? Your kind isn’t known to actually work, only stand there look pretty. I’ve also never seen a Crystal pony with wings in all my years of teaching.”
“Well then that shows that I’m no ordinary Crystal pony then, huh?”
“Bold and cocky? Hope you’re not all talk. Why don’t you do a quick lap around and show us what a little filly like you can do. Try not to crash, I don’t want to have to clean you up off of my beautiful roof.”
“Sapphire”, I whispered to myself, “What in Tartarus do you think you’re doing?” She flapped her wings a few times to test them, and then she forced her wings downwards, lifting herself into the air. She flapped her wings and soared through the air. She leaned forward and zoomed through the sky, looping all the way around the school. She swooped and landed into a trotting walk, stopping perpendicular to Ariel.
“How was that?”, asked Sapphire.
“You did well, considering how you compensate for your weight easily”, said Ariel, watching her with respect, “I want everypony to do a quick lap around the school, just like Sapphire. In the air! Now!”
“What’d you think?”, asked Sapphire, walking over to me.
“You did well, considering...”, I lead on, “I suppose that now it’s time for me to get in the air” I slapped my wings hard, rising in the air slowly. I flapped my wings with all my might, but I simply could not get into the sky. My hooves dangled a few inches off the ground as I dragged myself through the air, falling pitifully at Ariel’s hooves.
“Pathetic”, she said, turning away, “I’ve never seen a less capable flier.”
“It’s okay”, said Sapphire, “I’ll help you.”
“No, it’s not okay!”, I said angrily, “I can’t fly! You’ve been here for a maximum of 15 hours and you can fly circles around me!”
“It’s no big deal”, said Sapphire, “I’m sure you’re better than me.”
“Don’t patronize me. I can’t even get off the ground.”
“That’s not your fault. Alicorns may have wings, but they don’t have the anatomy of a Pegasus.”
“What do you mean? What more is there to a Pegasi’s anatomy than wings?”
“Well, Pegasi have thin, light, hollow bones. Since you’re an Alicorn, and therefore have the traits of all three races, you also inherited the heavy skeleton of an Earth pony. It takes much more strength and skill to get into the air as an Alicorn.”
“How are you so smart?”, I asked, confused.
“I owe that to you. You made me, right? All my knowledge comes from you I guess.”
“Do you have cotton in your ears?” asked Ariel. “In the sky!”
“Come on, Onyx”, she said, grabbing my hoof, “You can do it!”
“No, I can’t.”
“How are you going to rescue your mother if you can’t fly?”
“Hm.”
“Onyx. You are powerful, smart, and all-around amazing! You can get in the air if you put your mind to it. Who can bench press twice their weight? Who’s a master of magic? Let’s add ace flier to that list of accomplishments.”
“Okay!”, I said, will returning back into my body, “I can do this! Right?”
“That’s the spirit! Come on, let’s get up there!”
“Yeah!”, I spouted, flapping my wings. I rose through the air unsteadily, soaring to a unfathomable height of four feet from the ground before I fell to the on my face. Sapphire’s coat shined fuchsia pink, and then converted into a light yellow.
“Are you okay?”, she asked, “At least you stayed in the air longer this time around.”
I ran at full speed, approaching the edge of the roof. I fluttered my wings a few times to prepare them, and then I jumped right off the building. I slapped my wings against empty air, threw my legs outward, superhero style, and flew forward.
“Way to go, Onyx!”, shouted Sapphire. I looked back at her with a smirk, proud of myself. When I turned back, I caught a glimpse of Mother’s silhouette against the moon. My wings locked up and I swerved down, out of control. I hit the mattress with a soft POMF!
“Gahhh!”, I shouted angrily, “I was so close! You threw me off, Sparks!”
“How did I throw you off?”, she called back, “You were doing fine until you looked at the moon. What is it about it that screws you up?”
“My mother is trapped up there! What would you do if somepony you cared about ended up exiled to the moon?” “I don’t know. If you went to the moon, I’d probably be pretty upset every time I looked at the thing”, she said thoughtfully. “Exactly”, I said, re-entering the school. I made the climb back up to the roof. Thanks to my Earth pony training, I was able to make this trip for the twelfth time, relatively unparsed. I backed up to the edge of the roof and ran at full speed once more. “Onyx! Stop!”, cried Sapphire, grabbing me before I made it to the other side, “Are you nuts? You just jumped off of a building twelve times in a row! You need to take a break.” “I can take a break when I can fly properly”, I said bitterly. “It’s 3 in the morning! You need to sleep!” “So? I still can’t fly.” “If you keep pushing yourself like this, you’ll collapse! We can’t be caught out here when Ms. Ariel prepares her class. I remember hearing her say that she gets here at 5.” “Alright, alright”, I said, turning away. I trotted a few feet away from Sapphire, and then I turned back and ran off the building, “After one more jump!” I cut through the sky, gliding to the ground, stumbling slightly when my hooves touched the dirt. “Onyx, you are completely insane!” said Sapphire, flying down to meet me. “Am I, now? Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?” “No, you don’t need to, I already know” “I’ll take total insanity if it means I can fly”, I said with a smile. “Not to burst your bubble, but that wasn’t exactly flight. You sort of just floated to the ground.” said Sapphire. “Yes, but I’m getting there!”, I laughed, “Tell me that’s not progress. Go ahead, I’ll wait.” “That’s all good and well, but we really need to get going”, said Sapphire, glowing bright yellow. “Can you stop being so happy? We’re going to get caught!” “No dice, Sapphire! I’m ecstatic! You’re right though. We should get going”, I said, trotting away briskly. “How are you still standing?”, asked Sapphire, increasing her pace to match mine. “You have to be exhausted!” “Physically? Yes. Mentally? Also yes. But none of that matters because I’m one step closer to my goal. I haven’t been happy like this in a long time! All we have to do is get back to the orphanage before my adrenaline rush dies”, I said, slowing down slightly. “You’re going to pass out soon, aren’t you?”, asked Sapphire. “That I can guarantee you. It’s alright though, I can see the orphanage from here.” “How are we getting in?” “Dawn knows that I sometimes sneak out at night. She won’t care.” “Why do you do that?” “Sometimes, I like to be away from everypony. By ‘sometimes’ I really mean ‘every second of the day’. The only time I can enjoy such solitude is at night”, I explained, reaching the back door of the orphanage. I picked the lock with magic and trotted upstairs. As soon as I saw my bed, I collapsed onto it, face first. “We made it, yay” I said unenthusiastically. “Just barely. Listen, Onyx, I don’t think this is such a good idea. These nighttime sessions.” “Nighttime sessions?!”, I asked in shock, “Please choose another phrase, one not so...eh..suggestive”, I looked at her intently while still dozing off, “You mean the flying lessons? Why not?” “We might get caught, plus it’s not healthy to go so long without sleep. Three hours is not a healthy rest.” “Be that as it may, I do better at night. I always knew that, but it wasn’t until today that I thought to learn at night.” “I’ve been in class with you for a few days now, and you seem to be doing better. Why not just let Ms. Ariel teach you with the rest of the class?” “I don’t like her. And I don’t easily take criticism from people I abhor. You’re lucky I decided to take you to her class at all.” “But I thought you said that you needed her.” “I did, until you came about. You can help me at night. I could stop going to her classes completely, if I wanted to.” “Why do you choose to keep going?” “Cut my time in half. Normally, my schedule for learning is half a week of class. One half of that time is the instructional period and the other half is practical applications. Using this method, I can double my instruction and my practice time, cutting the time it’ll take me to learn in half”, I said, eyes falling heavy. “I think it’s time for you to get some sleep”, said Sapphire, noticing my tired eyes. “Maybe you’re right. Give me a second, I’ll move over”, I said drowsily. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll sleep on the floor”, she said kindly. “No, no, I’ll… I’ll… I’ll move”, I said, fighting sleep with all my might. Sapphire rolled me onto my back and covered me with a blanket. “You need me to sing you a lullaby? Tell you a story? Maybe give you a little kiss goodnight?”, she joked. “I’m too tired to come up with a witty retort. Good night”, I said, shutting my eyes.
The next morning, Sapphire and I ate a quick breakfast, and then booked it to school. When we arrived, we realized that we had forgotten to move the mattress. Eyeing it nervously, we rushed past it, hoping to pass by undetected. We quickly ran to the roof, blending in with a group of fillies and colts. Ariel gave the entire group a long winded lecture, reminding us that if we were caught on school grounds after hours, we would be expunged from the class. After she had blown off enough steam, she began to drill us. She had designed a small obstacle course, with rings suspended in midair and hurdles for us to run and jump over, along with S-turns and cones made of cloud that we’d have to dart between.
“Along this course will be 14 flags”, said Ariel, “You have a week to learn the course and practice before the exam begins. During this exam, you will have 4 minutes to grab all thirteen flags. If you manage to get them all within the time limit, you will pass this class and become a certified flyer. If you fail, you will have to wait a full year to retake the test. I have nothing more to tell you, so I will leave you alone to practice. Good luck to all of you.”
“Is she serious?”, I asked Sapphire, getting in line to try the course, “That was the least help I’ve ever received! No tips, no words of advice!”
“Oh, and a word of advice? Try not to plummet to the ground like some of you in the group. Try to keep your horns out of the dirt.” said Ariel, smirking with a smug grin.
“What does she mean?”, asked Sapphire, “This is a Pegasus class. Who has a horn…Oh! I see.”
“You know, Sparks, sometimes you’re really smart and great to have around. Other times, you remind me of that ditzy filly at the orphanage. You know? The one who got her head stuck in the sink!” I said, watching her coat change to a dark red, “I hate that mare! She’s going on my list of ponies whose face I wish to incinerate!”
“Calm down, Onyx”, said Sapphire, looking at me as if she were upset, “Stay focused. You can’t expect to do your best if you’re seeing red.”
“Oh, ha ha, very funny”, I said, breathing deeply. Her coat shifted to a lighter shade of red, “I guess I have to start practicing, rather than training.”
“What, no training montage!?”, exclaimed Sapphire.
“What? No, get out of here Sparks.”
Our schedule for the next week was pretty repetitive: we were out of bed at 6 in the morning. After a quick breakfast, we would run to school, flexing our wings along the way to prepare ourselves for the oncoming work out. When we got there, we ran through the course quickly. For the first few days, I couldn’t get into the air by myself, but by Wednesday, I was able to take off properly. After we made it through the course a few times, we would take a short break, enjoy a light lunch, and stretched out our wings. After another few runs on the course, we headed home, where we waited for night to fall. As soon as the moon arose, we headed back to school, where we practiced a bit more. On the last night of practice, I ran through the course in 5 and a half minutes.
“Not. Good. Enough!” I groaned to myself.
“It’ll be okay, Onyx”, said Sapphire, finishing the course for the third time, each of which she completed in less than three minutes, each time, “You always do better under pressure. You’ll be fine on the exam.”
“No, no, no! I’m going to fail!” I said angrily.
“No you won’t. You’ll ace it.”
“What makes you so confident?”, I asked.
“Because, you study a lot, master everything you do and always accomplish your goals. I’ve never seen you fail at anything before, so I don’t see what makes you think you’ll start now.”
“You’ve never seen me fail before? If that’s the case, then how do you explain…you? That was a failure of course. I failed to bring back Mother.”
“Well, you should get your eyes checked. Sure, you didn’t do exactly what you were trying to do, but you succeeded in breathing life into a rock! That’s pretty cool! You took a crystal off of the floor and turned it into a friend!”
“Friend?”, I said, slightly confused, “You consider me a…friend?”
“Best friend”, said Sapphire, “Well…the best friend I can think of.”
“Thanks”, I said quietly, “You’re a good…friend, too. I never had an actual friend before.”
“That’s a darn shame for everypony else in Equestria, because you’re amazing!”
“No, I’m not all that great”, I said.
“Yeah, you are. Remind me again: What is your goal?”
“To bring Mother back”, I said.
“And?”
“Bring down Celestia”
“And?”
“Find a new home”
“What else?”
“Rule over New Equestria with Mother!”, I exclaimed.
“Ok, yeah! And you’re going to pull off every single thing on that list, even if it takes you to your death, am I right?”
“Yeah! Wait, I’m not going to die, so no?”
“Just say yes so we can move on”
“Yes?”
“So, what are you going to do in the morning?”, she asked, nudging me slightly on the shoulder.
“Ace this exam!”
“Are you going to show Ariel who’s the boss?”
“Yeah, I will! I’ll show that gritty hag what’s coming to her!”
“You sure will!”, she said, leading me down from the roof. We made our way back home. On our walk, I had time to contemplate what she said.
“Friend?”, I thought to myself, “I never did expect for that to happen”
“Today’s the day!”, Sapphire shouted, startling me and making me fall out of my bed.
“Come on Sparks, don’t do that to me!”, I told Sapphire quite sternly as I got up.
“Do what? Be excited?”, She asked.
“No. Don’t startle me like that, I was sleeping”, I said.
“Well sorry”, she said sarcastically, slightly dropping her voice and drooping her face “this day is the one we’ve been waiting for!”
“Wrong again, this is the day you have been waiting for. I just can’t wait ‘till this day is over”, I said.
“Oh, Onyx, don’t be like that…”, Sapphire said.
“Let’s just get going already, I’m not too excited for today”, I said with a slight scowl. We started off to school thirty minutes earlier than usual, after all I didn’t like how the test couldn’t be postponed until tomorrow.
“What’s the reason why you don’t like today? It’s going to be the best, you’ll test what we’ve trained and blow those metaphorical socks off Miss Ariel!”, Sapphire spouted in attempt to cheer me up.
“Somepony’s going to be there that I loathe”, I said scornfully.
“Oooooooh, is this somepony special to you?”, Sapphire prodded.
“What? No no no, loathe, not love. Exact opposite of love. Vast hatred and abhoration, you know, loathe”, I corrected.
“Who do you hate?”, Sapphire face-hoofed after she heard what she said, “Right, Celestia, sorry for goofing”
“Let’s not talk until we arrive, okay? Good”, I said. We continued to the school and approached the roof, when I heard Ariel’s voice, I assumed we were late….again. We gathered in the group with the rest of the pegasi, luckily we weren’t late.
“Today is your flight exam; everything you have prepared for is on the line. If you pass, you will hopefully become a conductive part in our community. If you fail, you will have to take the exam next year. There are many ways to fail this exam. If you do not finish in the allotted time, you will fail. If you do not collect all 14 flags, you will fail. If you fall below the cloud layer, you will fail. If you cheat, you will fail. If you are not a Pegasus, you…” Ariel scanned the crowd, “…have no reason to be here! That means you, Rayne.” Miss Ariel asserted. The class looked back at the iridescent purple unicorn, giggling at how Ariel named him specifically.
“Oh, but Miss Ariel”, Rayne said adjusting his glasses with a slight smirk, “I’m just here to watch your class. I want to see who’s going to fail this year.” “Very well then, no funny stuff. That means no magic”, She said. “Cross my heart, hope to fly”, he mocked. Miss Ariel squinted in repugnance.
“Well, along with today being your exams, we also have a very special guest joining us today. Presenting, Princess Celestia!”, Miss Ariel announced.
“I knew she would be here, why not. Just make my day worse”, I whispered to myself.
“Getting right to it, first up”, Miss Ariel paused, “Sapphire Sparks!” Sapphire readied at the starting line. With her chest puffed, front legs bent, and her wings broadened, she waited for the signal.
“GO!”, Miss Ariel shouted. She shot off like lightning, zipping around the course like a blue streak across the sky. Sapphire approached the finish line fast. She slowed to a stop, inches past the red line.
“Two minutes thirty-six seconds! Great job, Sparky!”, Miss Ariel teased smiling, ”Next up” Ariel paused, “Onyx Ecli...Onyx!”, I felt my heart drop to my stomach; I was watching Celestia’s face the whole time. The second my name was called, the smile on her face swiftly disappeared. I gained hope with her dismay. I readied myself the same way Sapphire showed me, the same way she did. The anticipation was gnawing on me.
“GO!” I pushed my hooves off the ground and shot off the roof at top speed.
“Here comes the first flag”, I reminded myself. Zooming by I grabbed the first flag. Then the second; the third; the fifth; the eighth! Finally, the last flag is in my sights. I pulled my wings closer to my body as I reached a hoof out for the flag. I gained speed with each passing second. “Almost there!”, I whispered in my malcontent feeling of the flag still sitting there. “Got it!”, I yelled to myself as I snatched it up. I turned fast to speed for the finish line. Again, reaching forward with my single hoof and wings tight against my body, I accelerated towards, and past, the finish line. I stopped to look first at Celestia’s face, her jaw was slightly dropped. I then looked at Sapphire; her jaw was, too, dropped. Last I approached Miss Ariel. She had a look on her face like she saw a sonic rainboom or something.
“What? Did I forget something?”, I asked.
“One minute and forty-one seconds!”, Miss Ariel shouted, “That’s a new record! Congratulations Onyx! I never expected you to even make it off the starting line!” I stood rigid and proud of my accomplishment. Among the awestruck crowd I heard a familiar voice.
“I must retire to my quarters, now”, Celestia whispered to the guard wearing a, somewhat, golden plate armor.
“Sapphire, we must go”, I said cautiously.
“Uh…yeah, sure….”, She agreed in confusion. We removed ourselves from the roof and promptly trotted back to the orphanage. Looking back occasionally to make sure nopony were to follow us. We arrived at the orphanage in the afternoon. I rushed off to my room and Sapphire followed.
“What was that all about?”, Sapphire questioned.
“What was what all about?”, I asked her.
“The crazy flying skills and running away and Celestia leaving?”, She asked.
“I wanted to pass…by the way, I did cheat a little”
“Cheated, how?”
“Featherweight spell”
“Not fair”
“And it won’t wear off either. I made sure of that”
“Okay, but what about leaving so abruptly like that...and Celestia…”
“I wanted to leave before Celestia stopped me. Speaking of which, we need to leave here too, as a safety precaution: I know where we can go, too”, I said.
“Wait what? Why do we need to leave all of the sudden? What’s going on here”, she asked. “Trust me; we need to leave before she gets here”, I said.
“Okay, you have my complete trust. Where are we going and what do we need to do?”, Sapphire asked.
“We are going to my home; the old castle that Mother and Celestia lived in, before Celestia became power hungry. We’ll need a plan though, an escape plan”, I said.
“Escape plan? It’s not like we’re notorious criminals in a state-of-the-art prison you know…although, I have an idea on how to get away undetected”, She said.
“Undetected? I was thinking more along the lines of we run out of the orphanage and set everything on fire as we run outside, to the Everfree Forest”, I proposed.
“That seems a little dangerous though, don’t you think?”, Sapphire questioned, “Somepony might get hurt!”
“I don’t care if anypony gets hurt!”, I spouted angrily.
“Let’s try something less…risky. Oooooh, idea! How about we combine our plans! I got the perfect idea. First, when everypony is heading off to bed, you go to the kitchen and start a small fire that’s easy to control, but that still grabs everypony’s attention. Next, I’ll make sure Dawn goes to attend the fire and try to put it out. That’s when we can slip out of the front door undetected and book it to the Everfree Forest!”, Sapphire proclaimed.
“Hmmm…I guess that could work. We’ll do it tonight”, I agreed.
“Tonight!? That’s a little soon, don’t you think? We would only have a few hours to get ready…”,Sapphire stated.
“Yes, I know. All I need is my books, so I’m set. What do you need to take? You don’t really own anything anyway, so...”, I replied.
“Nothing, I just thought that we would stay a little longer”, Sapphire said as her coat turned a melancholy purple. We sat in my room for hours, waiting. I read during my time and Sapphire sat next to me trying to understand what I was reading. Later on, Dawn called up to us to come down for supper. We strode downstairs and ate quietly. After we were done, we went back upstairs for our final hour in this wretched abyss. The time came to put this plan into action.
“I guess”, she replied. We split up and I stealthily sprinted off to the kitchen, making sure nopony were to see me. I sent Sapphire to stand guard at the front door with our belongings. I started into the kitchen as quiet as I could, until I heard something behind me.
“Hurry up, twinkle-hooves!”, I heard Sapphire whisper behind me.
“What are you doing here?”, I asked, “You’re supposed to be waiting for me at the door!”
“You were taking too long”, Sapphire replied, “What about the fire?”
“I was getting to it!”, I said angrily. Then I heard another voice in the darkness.
“What about a fire?”, somepony asked. I knew that voice. My heart plummeted to my stomach once I remembered. Dawn.
“It’s all over”, I thought to myself. I slowly turned around and looked towards the mare. Things ran through my head like what about Mother and what about the plan you fool; you are weak; you can’t even accomplish a simple goal you set for yourself; you’ve let Mother down, now she’ll never be saved! I turned my head downwards and tears started to run down my face with those thoughts in mind.
“No…NO!!!”, I heard the voices in my head.
“NO!!”, I yelled aloud. The moment I yelled that word, an explosive nova flare rushed from my hooves, setting the walls on fire. Both Sapphire and Dawn were knocked to the ground by the blast. First I looked over at Dawn. I saw the way she looked up at me; she was terrified. I felt rage and its power coursing its way through my veins. My vision was sharper and my iris’s flattened horizontally and changed to be slitted. My teeth grew sharper and felt like razors in my mouth. I turned to Sapphire and she, too, seemed to be struck by fear.
“Go now!”, I yelled to her; she laid there in dread. “RUN!”, I bellowed. She hopped up off the floor and shot out the room, out to the front of the orphanage.
“Onyx?”, Miss Dawn asked, “What’s with you!”, she shouted to me as she rose to her hooves.
“Mother is! And now you will feel our embrace!”, I barked with a demonic double-voice, lowering my head and pointing my horn towards her. A bubbling black and green aura shrouded my horn and started to flow from my eyes. I started to cry and closed my eyes. I felt the magic leave my horn and I peeked out from my watery eyelids.
“Waaaah!”, Dawn screamed quite loudly with her eyes closed. The black and green bubbling aura surrounded Dawn and her coat color seemed to change from her colors of joyful orange to a darker, bleaker greenish-orange and her mane from the peppy lime green to a maroon red color that drooped over her face. She then opened her eyes revealing her pure black irises.
“Morning Dawn, are you still alive?”, I asked
“No! I’m Mourning Gloom”, the depressing pony shouted to me. “It worked, the Persona Malformation spell, worked!”, I heard in my head.
”You did this to me?”, Dawn…Er…Gloom stood tall and yelled, “Thank you for setting me free!”
“Wait, what?”, I asked
“Celestia forced me to work here. When I refused, she made me this way; she cast a spell on me making me all nice. I hated it”, Gloom stated.
“You were hexed by Celestia? Why would she do that?”, I asked
“She is a power hungry tyrant!”, Gloom stated furiously, “She needed workers for when Nightmare Moon was banished. She chose a few to control the small things and nopony knows anything about it!”
“Well that changes a lot!”, I brightened, “Would you like to help me…remove…Celestia from the throne?”
“Yes! Just come get me when you need me, okay?”, Gloom assured. I smirked and nodded my head to the mare, happy with the new turn of events. I turned and hoofed it out of the building to the Everfree Forest; I saw Sapphire sitting there diligently, waiting for me.
“Time to go, Sparks!”, I panted, still sprinting to the freedom of the Everfree. Sapphire followed quickly behind. Once we entered the forest, we slowed down to a steady trot.
“What happened in there?”, Sapphire questioned with a petrified look on her face.
“New ally?”, Sapphire said, not understanding the events that recently took place. I was breathing quite heavily; once my heartbeat steadied, my eagle vision dampened, my teeth dulled, and the black aura went away, along with the rage I felt.
“Yes, Sparks, a new ally.”
“But, the explosion, Dawn, the walls were still on fire!”, Sapphire panicked.
“Calm down will you, everything is going to be fine! I don’t know about the explosion thing but Dawn isn’t Dawn anymore, and Miss Gloom will take care of the fire, as planned”, I smirked.
“Miss…Gloom?”
“Yes? Didn’t you hear the conversation in there, it was quite loud.”
“No, not really, could you sum it up for me?”
“Ok so when I felt angry, the room exploded and caught fire, I shot an augmentation spell at Dawn, after you left and now she’s Gloom. Ok, well she was always Mourning Gloom but, Celestia put the same hex on her, so by augmenting her persona again I reverted the first spell’s effect. Understand?”, I compacted as I could.
“No.”
“Ah, well you’ll be fine not knowing all the small details.”
“Ok fine, then where are we going now?”
“Home”
“We just left the only home we had, Onyx!”
“No, home; the castle, our new home.”
“Ok, I hope you know where it is by heart because you won’t be able to fly up and see through the canopy, it’s too thick and it’s getting kinda dark out.”
“Ok then, I can easily solve the darkness problem, stop walking and stand there” I pointed to an open spot.
“Are you going to make me a walking candle now?”
“Sort of…I did try the illumination spell on living creatures before…they were lesser creatures, like frogs, but nonetheless the spell shouldn’t do to you as it did to them…”
“What do you mean ‘as it did to them’?”
“It worked…though the latter outcome was…volatile…”
“Volatile? Like explosive? You’re not going to make me blow up are you?”, She asked with an uneasy grin.
“Of course not, dear. The spell only had that effect on a lesser creature remember? You shouldn’t explode per say…you might feel a bit gassy though.”
“I don’t remember you being so…refined and sophisticated. What happened?” Sapphires coat changed to be an emerald hue.
“I’m not sophisticated.” I looked at sapphires coat in wonder. “Are you sure your coat changed to meet my emotions?”
“What? I’m pretty sure, why?”
“Then what’s green supposed to be, unsettling and noxious? I’m quite sure that I feel optimistic about this and you feel…unsure.”
“Forget it then; why are you speaking so weird?”
“Maybe you just need to get the wax out of your ears Sparks; I’m talking like I always have. Now, stand there”, I reached my hoof out to point to the spot.
“Okay” Sapphire walked over to the area that I designated. I looked at her, concentrated, and willed my horn to glow. I noticed something about the aura, it changed. It wasn’t crimson like normal; it was still red, but it looked pinkish, like an intense pink. I disregarded the abnormality and continued the spell. I felt faint.
“Onyx? Are you okay?”, Sapphire asked as she saw my nodding off, “Onyx, hey, you there?” I felt my legs give out and fell to the ground.
“Onyx!”, Sapphire shouted, running over to me. I felt weightless and paralyzed; I couldn’t feel or control my body, but I could see everything happening before my eyes. Sapphire sat down next to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. My eyes glowed a bright red and the magic surrounding my horn struck Sapphire hard sending her back a few feet, sliding to a stop. I snapped out if it and was able to get up. I hopped up off the ground and ran over to Sapphire. She lay there unconscious. I saw her coat turn back to blue and frilled with crystal shards over her and sink back into her coat. She started to slightly glow. I stood there petrified.
“Did I kill her?”, I whispered to myself. Then I heard a small breath come from her mouth. She moaned and started to move again. I was afraid to touch her incase I really hurt her. She moved more and got up while keeping her eyes closed tightly, as if she was in severe pain, like back when I broke her wing.
“Sparks? You okay?”, I heard her pant.
“Mhmm…Uh huh. I thought you said it wasn’t going to blow me up!”
“You’re still alive, right? Plus, that wasn’t me that did that, well okay, it was but…”
“Oh, sure it wasn’t.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I couldn’t control my body…”
“Fine, just help me up. My body’s aching, so you’ll have to help me walk from here”
“Okay, but can you illuminate yourself? I don’t want to be fumbling and falling over you or anything else out here.”
“How?”
“Think bright”
“I’ll try” Sapphire started to brighten up and her crystal coat refracted the light into a million directions, like a light shining through a perfectly cut diamond.
“That’s perfect! Do you think you would be able to keep yourself illuminated like that?”
“Yeah, though it’s already draining my energy”
“Well…I can’t carry you, but I can take some weight off you”
“How are you going to do that?”
“By slightly levitating your chest so you can walk easier”
“Okay, but are you going to hurt me again?”
“No, I didn’t, but no I won’t hurt you again, if possible.” I lowered my head and cast a light levitation spell on Sapphire. I saw the burden of her weight being lifted off of her. We walked a little easier after the event that took place. I saw a pile of rocks in the distance. As we walked, it got bigger. It wasn’t a pile of rocks; it was the cave! We entered after a few moments of rest.
“The castle should be right past this cave.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive” The inside of the cave was dark and damp. I heard a soft melancholy wind whistling through along with the light trickling and dripping of water. The slow and leisurely walk felt relaxing.
“So…what are we going to do after we get to the castle?”
“We’re going to fix it up. It’s most likely still badly damaged, so we’ll have to do some work to fix it up.”
“How big was this castle?”
“You’ll see” Then I heard something. It sounded pebbles falling, or…footsteps. Something was following us and I wanted to know what.
“Do you hear that Sparks?”
“No, what is it?” The noise stopped.
“The...” I waited and listened.
“What is it? Tell me!”
“Shhhhh, okay! There was a sound, like something’s following us”
We stopped to turn and look. There was nothing there.
“I almost don’t want to find out who’s following us, let’s just keep moving.” I sped up, not wanting to turn and see something you could only imagine in your dreams. The thing in the darkest corner of your brain that interprets what you don’t want to see as fear. The thing that could possibly and will most definitely kill you without emotion or being phased. Something of myth and legend. That something could be following us. Whether it’s a who or a what matters and I hope it turns out to be a who.
“We’ve been walking for a while now. Does this cave never end?” Sapphire questioned.
“I see the end of the tunnel; it’s not too long now until we reach the end”
“If you say so…” Then I heard an even louder shuffle of rocks nearby.
“Stop!”, I halted Sapphire, “There it is again, the noises” I turned back to check.
“Sapphire, shine some light over there would you?” She pointed her body towards the dark area and illuminated herself even more. It didn’t help much. Then the noises started again, now with a deep aggressive growling following it. One paw of a creature came into view, then another, then its mouth and head. It had an elongated muzzle with its eyes nearly on its nose. It wore golden bands on its wrists and through its ears. The creature was now fully visible. Then it spoke.
“What are you doing in my home?”, it asked.
“I’m going to my home”, I responded.
“Your home? Where would that be?”, It questioned.
“I’m taking my mother’s castle as my own”
“What castle? You mean that eyesore on the horizon? Why, nopony has visited that pile of rubble since the Royal Sisters lived there. Ever since the younger one was exiled to the moon, it has been abandoned.”
“Watch your mouth when talking about Mother, don’t say something you’ll regret…”
“You come waltzing into my home and threaten me!” The creature grew frustrated. Sapphire butted in.
“We were only passing through, we don’t want any trouble”
“Silence! You will leave now or I will kill you both! I could use the dark one as a nice rug, could spruce the place up a little. Maybe you Miss…oh what was it…Sapphire? I could use you as a chandelier. That should make my place a little classier.”
“We should leave, now!”, whispered Sapphire panicked by the situation. The creature and I stared each other down. The creature’s eyes narrowed and it started to laugh.
“Aha ha ha ha ahh!” It started towards us, one leg at a time. The ground started to shake more violently with each step. Sapphire faced toward the beast.
“Please stop!”, she pleaded, “Stop! You will stop now or suffer!”.
“What makes you think I am going to listen to you?”, It snarled.
“As you wish…” Sapphire closed her eyes and her coat started to shift and change in shape. It started to grow spikes and needles, each with varying length and girth. They lay splintered against her like a flattened coat of a porcupine. I didn’t know what Sapphire was doing or how her coat is able to morph like it did.
“Onyx!”, she shouted, “Hide!” Not knowing what she was about to do or was capable of at this point, I hoofed it behind a large stalagmite. Peering out of the side I watched and shouted.
“I’m set!” The large creature then bolted toward Sapphire in a mad frenzy. Sapphire braced herself then let out a scream. The shout sounded like she was in pain but then the frayed needles on her coat shot forward into the air burying themselves along the creature’s chest and neck. It hit the ground with a loud thump, sliding about two feet, to a stop. There the beast lay on its side, eyes still open and focused on Sapphire. It attempted to open his mouth.
“Leave me”, It spoke with fainting breath. Sapphire stood enraged and panting. I walked over to her to comfort her.
“Hey Sapphire I…”, then she shot the few remaining crystals off of her back into me without turning. I fell to the ground in pain as I was turned into a ponified pincushion. The shards were lining my face and neck. I was glad they didn’t go into my eyes. I tried not to move much as I spoke.
“Sapphire”, I said through my teeth. She turned toward me, still panting. Once she saw me her eyes widened in shock.
“Well you can make up for it by GETTING THEM OUT!”
“Okay! Okay!” Sapphire raised her hoof to my face and the shards started absorbing into her hoof. At last I was freed from the horrible crystal acupuncture. After the shards were removed from my face I stood to question Sapphire.
“Why did you shoot those needle things INTO MY FACE!?”
“Number One: I don’t know what came over me and Two: You blew me up with fire before! I’d say were even...”
“Touché” We continued to walk to the exit of the cave, leaving behind the paralyzed creature. We exited the cave to the outer portion of the castle.
“Okay, so we’re out of the cave and I can see the castle from here. It’s kinda small though.”
“Small?! It may look small now but it’s bigger on the inside, you’ll see.”
“Okay, where are we now then?”
“Hold up, I’ll check.” I flew up over some untrimmed hedges and landed. “It seems that we are in the Outer Gardens.”
“Wait, the ’Outer’ Gardens? You mean there’s an Inner Gardens too?” I gritted my teeth at the ignorance of this mare.
“Yes”, I remarked sarcastically, “When there is an outer something that normally means there is an inner of that same thing.”
“Geez, sorry.”
“Let’s just find our way into the courtyard. I have a rough estimate of where to go, to get in.”
“Why a rough estimate? Why can’t we just fly over? II thought you knew how to get through here?”
“Stop nagging! I know where to go but the way might be cut off by overgrown hedges. One; These hedges have dark magic embedded in them, so we can’t just walk through them or separate them. Two; I don’t know if you noticed but we can’t fly over them either, it’s night. If we tried flying in the night, we wouldn’t be able to see anything once we got into the air.”
“So, Mister Cartographer”, she said sarcastically, mimicking me, “Where to next?”
“Okay, well, first is the Outer Gardens, where we are. Then we have to get through the Inner Gardens, the Courtyard, and then last, there the Castle doors await.”
“How big are the inner and outer areas in the garden?”
“Nearly the size of that Ponyville place”
“Okay, that’s not that big I guess”
“How would you even know what Ponyville is? You couldn’t have heard of it.”
“Remember, I know everything you did when you created me.”
“Plausible excuse”, I stated, raising an eyebrow. We walked along the hedge for a while.
“I’m getting exhausted. Between me having to be a walking lantern and not getting any sleep before any of this…”
“Oh, Sapphire, you’re fine. We are almost there.” Sapphire stopped in her stride.
“We are stopping and getting some rest!”
“No, we move ahead!”
“I refuse!”
“Then find your own way to the entrance!”, I shouted and continued to walk.
“Fine!”, Sapphire shouted back, slamming her plot on the ground in rebuttal. I walked without looking back. At this time I was too tired to care about anything but myself and my personal goals.
“I don’t need that mare! All she does is complain about doing things!” I ranted to myself.
“She wants to stay behind and sleep, I need more rest than her! Selfish filly! And we were almost there too!” I knew by the change in surroundings that I was near the Inner Gardens.
“Where’s that gate?”, I asked aloud. As I continued, I felt metal bars beneath my hooves. “What the?”, I looked down and focused on what I was standing on, “Well, I found the gate.” Beneath my hooves was the gate to the inner garden, but something was off about this. The gate didn’t fall off the hinges. It was knocked off. There were dents in the gate. Keeping that in mind, I kept on my goal.
“I need to get to the doors before the dawn…if I don’t then Celestia will find me. Wait…if she finds Sapphire…NO! I have to go back for her; I’ll drag her here if I have to!” At that thought, I stopped in my zombie leaden tracks and turned to go back for Sapphire. I ran as fast as I could to get to her so we’ll have time to get into the castle before daybreak. As I made it back in view of the cave exit, I searched the area for Sapphire. When I was in doubt that I would find her. I started to get weary and cast a spell on myself to give me keen eyesight. Still with the aid of my temporary eagle vision, I couldn’t find her. I ran around a bit longer then sprinted to the spot I last remembered her to sit at. I started to run through the spot she sat at when I tripped and fell on my face. When I stood I heard a faint moan.
“Mmhh”, I turned to see what I fell over “Onyx?”
“Sapphire? Where are you?”
“Right here!”
“Right where?”
“Here! Don’t you see me?”
“I can see everything else besides you.”
“How? I…”, Sapphire paused, “Oh I see now” Then I saw the mare appear out of thin air right in front of my eyes.
“Sapphire? Were you invisible?”
“Maybe? Yes? I don’t know!”
“How did you do that?”, I thought for a moment, “Wait, the illumination spell! That didn’t go right! Something was different about it! That had to do it. It gave you an offensive capability of those spikes and a defensive ability of your invisibility! That’s amazing!”
“Okay cool but, you woke me up from my sleep, can we both go to sleep now or are you going to kick me again?”
“Hrmm, we need to get into the castle before the break of dawn or Celestia will know where we are. If we could just make it that far then you can rest for the next two days if you wanted to. We can’t let her know where we are. Anywhere the sun touches she can see.”
“We need to go through the gardens within the next ten minutes. The courtyard is the largest area to travel over. It’s barren of life so we wouldn’t have to worry about any bushes or weeds or trees. Right beyond that is the castle.”
“You’ve explained this before”
“Ok then, we only have thirty minutes to get inside before the sun rises from the horizon.”
“From now!?”
“Yes, from now. I’m tired too, but after this we should be able to rest for a while.”
“Okay”, Sapphire agreed with malcontent. We quickly approached the Gate that was knocked down earlier. The gate was now up, on its hinges.
“Whoa, what!?”
“What’s wrong Onyx?”
“This gate wasn’t here, like this, before.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was all rusted and dented….it was laying on the ground over there”, I pointed to the spot, “I don’t feel good about this…”
“Let’s keep going, the sooner we get to the castle, the sooner I can sleep”, Sapphire yawned. That being said, I tried opening the gate. It was locked. I turned to Sapphire to state the obvious.
“It’s locked”
“Ugh! Move!”, Sapphire shoved me aside. She stood in front of the gate and turned around. She cranked her hind legs back and, with full brute force, bucked the gates open and off the hinges.
“Uhh, oh okay?” We walked through the Inner Gardens at a greater speed, keeping ourselves awake.
“I can see the next gate to the Courtyard”, we moved in unison and kept pace with one another. As we approached the gates they eerily opened by themselves; creaking as if they weren’t oiled or lubricated in decades.
“Oh ha ha brain.”
“What?”
“My brain is playing tricks on me, trying to scare me since I haven’t had sleep in a while”
“If you’re talking about the gate; it did open by itself”
“Ummm, let’s get inside the castle before we pass out of lack of sleep” We moved along the large, open courtyard quickly; nearing the big doors to the entrance of the castle. Here we stand, at last. The doors of the castle are right there in front of us, taunting us with its presence. There were two colossal statues standing on the left and right of the double doors. They stood erect; the left was a darker looking guard, probably made of obsidian, in black steel armor with tribal symbols and markings covering the breastplate. Its helmet showed it being more of a Royal Legion Warrior than a Royal Guard; it looked very aggressive. The one on the right was made of an elegant white marble. It too was wearing armor. This one had a gold breastplate lined with silver in angelic and nature-like markings. This one was missing its helmet.
“Here it is…”, I spoke in awe. I pushed on the doors hard. They didn’t budge. I tried again. The same result. Sapphire stepped up to try. She pushed and pushed, but without success, the doors stayed shut.
“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with this door? Is it broken or something?”, Sapphire asked.
“There must be a way to get them open…”, I pondered.
“Could it be a puzzle?”
“Maybe…you got anything?”
“Nope”
“Hrmmm, got it! You see how that statue has a helmet, but the other one doesn’t?”
“Yeah? What are you getting at?”, Sapphire responded.
“Are you kidding? The helmet is the key!”
“Where would we find it?”
“You remember the fountain in the Inner Garden?”
“Yeah…no….”
“Whatever, follow me, I’ll need help” We walked back to the fountain at the center of the Inner Garden.
“Shine some light on that please” I gestured towards the fountain.
“Ugh” Sapphire shined brighter to shed some light on the fountain. A golden dome-like structure sat atop the fountain.
“We need to move this to the head of the marble guard.”
“You can…I’m going to wait for you back at the doors.”
“Sapphire! Stay and help me!”
“This is your problem! You fix it by yourself!” Sapphire spouted and started towards the doors.
“Then go! I’ll figure this out by myself.” I pointed my horn to the golden dome; my horn started to glow. I focused the rest of my energy to lifting the helmet. I slowly brought the artifact off of the fountain. I levitated it to the colossuses. Sapphire was not amused by me keeping her awake any longer. I raised the gold head piece atop the marble statue. As the helmet was lowering onto the statue’s head, I felt something pull on the helmet and I couldn’t hold it anymore. The head piece crashed down on the head of the colossus. A noise, like wood falling down, came from behind the doors. I heard giant gears turning, and then they stopped. There was nothing for the next few seconds. The doors slowly opened, but not all the way. There was enough room for a single-file line to walk through. I started off first. I entered the castle and looked around. It was in pretty good condition inside besides some walls being cracked and the craters in the floor and roof.
“Sapphire, come on in, it’s safe.”
“Just point me to a bed…” I lead Sapphire over to where the barracks should be and found some beds. Sapphire ran in joy of the sight of the bed and plopped onto it, passing out once she touched the mattress. I walked over and lay on my back looking up through the crater in the wall at the stars. “They look nice”, I whispered to myself, dozing off.
A full day went by before I woke up; now it was dusk. Still tired and groggy from the long journey, I arose to my hooves and started off to the staircase. Looking up I asked to myself
“Would this lead to the watchtower? I need to see what I have to work with” I walked all the way to the top; I could see from Canterlot to Trottingham from up here! I overlooked the gardens, they need some work. Then I focused my attention to the courtyard, the area in front of the doors. There was a shadowy figure walking from the gardens into the courtyard. They stopped in the middle of the square, looked forward, and then looked up, meeting my eyes. Underneath the hooded robe, I saw them grin. They continued to walk forward to the castle doors. They stopped and raised their hoof. *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* They seemed to wait for somepony to answer. Then knocked three more times and waited. I decided to go down to the door and answer it.
“Who’s there.”
“A mutual friend…”, It was a colt.
“Name!”
“You already know me.”
“What do you want?”
“ Oooh, what a bad host. Are you going to leave me out here in the cold?”
“Fine, enter, but you will stand still once inside!”
“Thank you” The cloaked figure entered and stood where I directed.
“Now, your name” The colt pulled off his hood and adjusted his glasses.
“Now do you remember?” His voice was familiar, his coat was too. The iridescent purple coat. I thought for a moment.
“Pray tell, are you Rayne?”
“Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner winner wheat and hay dinner!”, He replied sarcastically.
“Okay, now I remember you. You were the cocky little spectator at the flight exam.”
“You must’ve gotten me mixed up with some other colt, sir. I’m not cocky, just better. Can we get down to business?”
“What business?”
“I know exactly who you are, Onyx Eclissius. I know all about you and your little girlfriend.”
“What!? Not my girlfriend!”
“You treat her like she is; then again you also treat her like a failed experiment”, I gritted my teeth, “You are the unspoken child of our Maiden, Nightmare Moon.”
“Your maiden? What are you talking about?”
“You surely know of the Children of the Night?”
“Of course. I read all about them in my books.”
“Then my name should seem more familiar to you now.”
“Not really”
“I’m the leader of the Children.”
“Wait” I pondered “you mean you’re the first Child?”
“Yes”
“Okay that makes sense now, but what do you want from me?”
“We want you to bring back your Mother; to bring her back from her exile, to rule on her rightful throne.”
“Where’s the rest of your group?”
“Here, the whole time” A few moments after he finished his sentence, two ponies walked from the shadows and four more landed from the rafters. There stood six, plus Rayne.
“I never leave home without some…protection.”
“I thought there were more?”
“Yes, there were”
“What happened?”
“Celestia locked them up”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Let’s get them out!”
“Celestia’s guards would spot us before we got near.”
“I have an idea. Stay here for a minute, I’ll be back.” I went to get Sapphire up. I walked into the barracks and saw her still asleep. I crept up to her bed and poked her in the face a few times and whispered.
“Sapphire. Sapphire. Sapphire!” She slowly awakened. “Hey! You awake?”
“Mhhh, yeah”
“I need your help”
“Ugh! What now?”
“I need to know if you can use your crystal things to make a suit for me and Rayne.”
“Wait, you and Rayne? Who’s Rayne?”
“Let’s just say he’s a long lost friend with mutual benefit of Celestia’s downfall”
“Okay, now how about the suit things?”
“Can you remove some crystals from your body?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you turn those crystals invisible…like a stealth suit?”
“I could try…”
“Good enough, I’ll wake you later. Go back to sleep.”
“Oh-kaay?” I trotted back to the Entrance Hall to speak with Rayne.
“Rayne! I have one option open. I want more choices though. I’ll keep working.”
“Good, when you need me, just talk to Atlas.”
“Who’s Atlas” Then a black unicorn with a dark grey face stepped forward. He wore a dark cloak, embroidered with tribal markings, like the ones on the colossus’s breastplate.
“Atlas at your service!”, the stallion spoke firmly.
“This is my second-in-command. I trust that he will serve you as needed. Anything you need, ask him. If you need any gear that may not particularly belong to you, we will…obtain…it for you. If you don’t need anything now, I will be leaving.”
“Nope, I’m good”
“We’ll be in touch” Rayne finished and turned to walk out of the doors “Oh, and one more thing, darkness is your friend, let it guide you” As Rayne walked out of the castle, five others followed; Atlas stayed. Once they all left, the doors closed behind them. I turned to Atlas to ask a few questions.
“Atlas.”
“Sir?”
“How many of your…uh… team were captured?”
“Eight.”
“Eight? Did she ambush you or something?”
“No, they decided it was a good idea to go on their own to face Celestia.”
“Those foals; they couldn’t fight Celestia’s army and win!”
“They didn’t listen to Rayne”
“Would they be valuable to us?”
“That is a matter of opinion. They are rebellious and ignorant. They are easily ready and willing to fight Celestia, but will not listen to you. There is also another group that split off from us.”
“Tell me more about the exiled group”
“They are nearly the opposite. They work ‘with’ Celestia and are willing to help us with anything we need, but will not fight for us. They work on the inside for us and that’s how we get most of our information.”
“Do you think they would be able to slip us a key to the cell doors?”
“I believe so”
“Good” I remarked “I’m going to the barracks to rest for a while; go ahead and get comfortable, I’ll come get you when we’re ready. If you would, please send the message to Rayne to get the key.”
“Yes sir.”
“One more thing”
“Yes?”
“I don’t trust Rayne; do you?”
“That’s a hard question”
“How so?”
“I have to trust him”
“I don’t understand…”
“He’s my brother, I have to follow him and trust his judgment.”
“Is he your only family?
“Now”
“Can you explain?”
“When we were young, our parents were taken away from us.”
“Why?”
“We worshipped Luna over Celestia”
“Wait, Luna?”
“That’s who she was before she rose to power under her new name, Nightmare Moon”
“But Nightmare Moon is my mother…”
“Yes, we loved your mother and how she proposed to rule under the New Equestria. Sadly that dream was short-lived…until Rayne found you.”
“What, am I some sort of savior? I’m the one to take you to your sacred lands and bring your oh-faithful lord and ruler back?”
“That’s not how it is at all”, Atlas glared angrily.
“Then explain yourself and be precise.”
“We need you.”
“Why me? Why nopony else?”
“You are her true child, the unnamed child. You have the strength and power to bring her back. There are only a few others that could accomplish such a feat.”
“Name the few”
“There’s Celestia, as you know, Chrysalis, Starswirl, and you.”
“Who is Starswirl?”
“He was a great unicorn, greater than the royal sisters combined”
“Was?”
“He…well, nopony knows what really happened to him”
“He just disappeared?
“You could say that”
“Alright , then, what about this Chrysalis colt?”
“Actually Chrysalis is a female”
“Who is this…Chrysalis?”
“She is the Queen of the Changelings”
“Changelings? Like shape shifters?”
“Correct”
“Interesting, what happened to her”
“We have no information on her whereabouts”
“An extremely dangerous, adversary of Celestia, whom would be an exceptional associate, is nowhere to be found?”
“She wouldn’t be able to help us”
“Why do you say that?”
“She’s power hungry and feeds on love. If she were to disguise herself as Nightmare Moon and take your mother out of the picture, everypony would love the ruler and she would grow to be unstoppable.”
“Okay then I’m the only one left?”
“Yes” I thought for a few moments and spoke up.
“So, you want me to bring my mother back so she may rule over Equestria as New Equestria? Fine, but I am going to rule by her side, no questions asked.”
“You may do as you wish once she is returned to her throne.” I nodded and turned to walk off to the barracks. I saw Sapphire standing in the doorway; looking onto me as I approached.
Sapphire backed up and sat on her bed. I shut the door behind us and quietly locked the door wedging a chair under the door handle.
“What now? We have a guard?” Sapphire asked.
“More like an overseer. I don’t like this stuff with the Children of the Night. They don’t seem trustworthy.”
“Then why are you working with them?”
“They could help rebuild the castle…or be a distraction”, I brightened with the second idea.
“What are you getting at?”
“Once the group is at full strength then I could send them to fight against Celestia’s army…they could distract them and bring the mass of her guards away from Celestia; leaving her defenseless. Yes, a perfect plan!”
“Aaaaand? Where will I be during all of this?”
“Here”
“Wait what?”
“I literally said one word. Do you seriously want me to repeat myself?”
“Don’t be an ass…”
“Watch your mouth, Sapphire”
“Give me a reason not to! You give me life then hurt me; have me help you fly and hurt me; help you escape and hurt me, heck I don’t know when you’ve ever done anything but hurt me!”
“Please don’t do this, that was the past…”
“You broke my wing!”
“Then I fixed it...”
“You turned me into a walking flashlight!”
“You can also shoot spikes and turn invisible now”
“You…you…grr…”
“Everything you said always had a good outcome afterwards”
“The point is, you kept hurting me, and you kept on promising be that you wouldn’t. You lied to me every time. And now, you want me to remove shards from my coat to make a ‘suit’ for you and Rayne? Did you ever think about what I’d have to say about any of this?” I sighed, “You’re right Sapphire, I should have asked you if you wanted to help, rather than expecting you to.”
“Maybe, you should have”
“Did I really make you that mad?”
“I bottled the anger up inside; I didn’t want you to see me get mad, but I guess that couldn’t be avoided”
“I’m sorry; nevertheless, we need to move on. Are you willing to help me?”
“Now that you asked. Give me some time to think about it. Go to sleep and I’ll get you up when I have an answer.”
“But, I…alright” I inched into my bed, getting comfortable for the difficult mission ahead. Sapphire looked at me and said, “I’ll be back in a while”, then turned and flew out of the crater in the roof.
“Where is she going?”, I whispered to myself. I looked up through the crater Sapphire flew through. I stared into the surface of the moon, where my mother’s face seemed to be printed, such as ink on a piece of paper. A piece of paper so far away. I watched the moon until it faded to black.
“Onyx, hey Onyx! Wake up sleepy head.” I heard Sapphire’s voice faintly. I peeked out from under my heavy eyelids. Lifting my head from the pillow. “Come on Onyx! I have a surprise for you. Get up!”
“Give me five minutes”
“No, get up now!” Sapphire ripped the covers off of me and rolled me off of my bed onto the floor. I landed on my back with a thud. I looked up at her as she stood over me smiling.
“What, Sapphire?”
“I brought you a present!” I looked up to find, a mannequin. It shone in the slightest bit of moonlight
“What is it?”
“Look closer!” I sat up to get a better look at it.
“Sapphire, is this the…”
“Yep!”
“I thought you….thank you Sapphire.” I looked around “Where’s the other one?”
“I only made one, for you and only you. I don’t like Rayne; therefore I don’t trust him to wear my…skin…so to say”
“When you say it like that, it sounds repugnant, call it armor, please.“
“Either way I don’t want him to have one”
“But if I’m wearing one, he’ll know…”
“Remember the invisible thing? It’s not just invisibility…as long as you wear the whole ‘suit’, you can chameleon and mimic anypony. Plus the chameleon thing hides the ‘suit’ making it seem as if you were wearing nothing.”
“Sweet! And by mimic you mean I could play as anypony I wanted to?”
“Yeah, try it out” I hopped up to my hooves and went over to the mannequin. The torso of the outfit seemed to be made out of emerald; the legs, ruby; the hoof coverings, topaz; the helmet, sapphire; and the blast shield for the eyes looked as if they were a diamond sheet, so clear you could see through it like a brand new sheet of glass. It looked gaudy, I’m not really all for the gem look, but as they say, I’m using it for function, not fashion. I removed the jewel suit from its placeholder and put it on.
“Ehm”, I looked at myself, “This thing is amazingly comfortable, despite it squeezing my crotch like a vice!”
“Sorry, I made it with my dimensions. Use a spell to loosen it up then”
“What spell, ‘ease the squeeze’?”
“That sounds good, well not good, but...”
“I was being sarcastic; there is no spell like that”`
“Make one up then”
“You can’t just make up a spell, Sapphire.”
“Just stretch the dang thing!”
“Stretch what? Rock? How do you suppose I do that?”
“I guess you’ll just have to get used to it then”
“Errh…un…comfortable”
“You’ll be fine…until you have the urge to use the bathroom”
“Don’t remind me. Now, how do I do the mimic thing?”
“Look into my eyes and use your dark magic stuff to project me into the crystals.”
“Projection. Alright.” I closed my eyes and focused on using the dark magic. I opened my eyes and looked into Sapphire’s eyes.
“Your eyes are beautiful…”, my mind started to drift.
“Pay attention! Become me, think like the pony you are trying to emulate.” I looked into her eyes and tried once more.
“Sapphire I…am I talking like you?”
“Mmph, I’m good looking!”, she smiled.
“Umm…this feels weird. How can I change back?”
“Think about being you.”
“That easy huh? Do I always have to look into their eyes?”
“Only the first time; it lets you see who they really are on the inside. Better to…play…as them.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I tried it out on a guard first”
“Didn’t he think it was odd that you just transformed into him while standing in front of him?”
“No no no, I tricked him. I asked to see the Princess and was able to look into his eyes. Once he said no, I walked away and…did the thing.”
“How can you do that? You don’t have magic; you’re a Pegasus.”
“The crystal energy stuff lets me do many things you can’t.”
“Crystal energy? I wanna call bull on that.”
“You can do three things that I can now. Turn invisible and impersonate”
“Basic math shows that you said three then told me two.”
“Then two.”
“Alright well let’s get some more sleep, It’s nearly eight-o'clock and we need energy for the jailbreak and the assault.”
“We? You mean I can come along?”
“If you want to.”
“Yes! Thanks Onyx!”
“I prefer you to be by my side, instead of Rayne. I need to tell Atlas that Rayne will not be joining us” I unblocked the door and walked to the entrance of the castle. Atlas was still standing in the same place.
“I told you to make yourself comfortable.”
“I’m fine where I stand.”
“It’s been hours.”
“My legs aren’t weak.”
“Okay, well, I need you to send a message to Rayne.”
“What do you need to tell him?”
“I’m going alone to get the prisoners, I still need the key”
“The key is right here”, Atlas tossed the key to me, “I’ll tell Rayne that he’ll be with us.” I then walked back to the barracks with the key in my pocket.
“Sapphire, get ready to go in an hour. We’ll need to leave before midnight and we won’t be back until one a.m., as long as everything goes according to plan.”
“Alright, no sleep then, I’ll just read a book until you say something” So time went on and we played the waiting game.