A terrible curse had been placed upon Darkrim and it is up to our night princess to save him. However, what she finds in his mind could change her perception of the banished prince.
After Darkrim escaped Radifus' slimy clutches, he begins to experience horrifying nightmares. A terrible curse had been placed upon Darkrim and it is up to our night princess to save him. What she finds in his mind could change her perception of the banished prince. What memories lie behind the closed walls of Darkrim's subconsciousness? What secrets does he hold?
Darkrim smiled as he and Luna flew through the beautiful starry sky. She held him on her back so gently as if he were her own foal, showing the banished prince all of the beauties that her wonderful night could show.
The moon was at its brightest tonight and the stars themselves twinkled in a wonderful array of blinking light mimicking the slow waltz as they danced their lights across the sky.
Luna continued her flight showing Darkrim sights of Equestria which were simply marvelous at this night.
The Wild Joke, a subspecie of Poison Joke that only blossoms at night, spread across the Everfree forest gave off a beautiful pale blue glow under the bright moonshine. It looked to Darkrim as if the sea itself spread across the grassy floor of the Everfree forest.
As they moved higher the dark blue unicorn noticed Luna’s horn glowing in an array of rainbow colors.
Suddenly, from Luna’s horn came out a wonderful spectrum of colors, spreading their gorgeous shine across the sky. Darkrim watched in awe as Luna’s regal magic made the colors dance alongside with the twinkles of the stars above them.
He felt mesmerized as the beauty of the night sank into his night.
Luna couldn’t help but smile as she noticed Darkrim’s amazement of her wonderful night.
It was so long since somepony enjoyed it and the night guardian felt like all of her hard work was finally being appreciated. As she looked up to the skies above, Luna suddenly had an idea.
She smiled a playfully smile at Darkrim.
“Prey-tell Darkrim”, Luna said in her royal voice, “How would thee like to see the moon and stars up-close?”
Darkrim’s grin widened.
“Princess”, he spoke slyly, “I would be most honored”.
The second Darkrim uttered those words Luna’s horn became infused with white energy as she enveloped them in a bubble of protective magic. Luna’s wings then began to dart towards the skies above.
Darkrim looked at the lights of Canterlot slowly shrinking until they were nothing more than just a dot on the vast land below.
Once they reached this altitude, Luna turned over to Darkrim.
“Hang on, your highness” she said.
Darkrim held for dear life onto Luna. She sped faster and faster until her speed became so fast that she looked like a beam of light being shot into outer space.
Darkrim closed his eyes in anticipation as he felt a mixture of fear and excitement well up in his heart.
Soon the night regal slowed down and ultimately came to a full stop.
“You can open your eyes now, your highness” Luna said comfortingly.
Darkrim slowly opened his eyes as a miraculous sight appeared before his eyes.
Magnificent stars that shone so bright back on Equus now seemed so close to him that the prince felt like he could touch them and, yet, they were just as far from his grasp.
Beneath his hooves Equus shone in all of its beautiful glory.
Equestria was unnoticeable anymore and only a field of green remained in its wake.
From this height Darkrim saw just how many lands there were, unexplored by equine hooves.
What creatures they held, what secrets they told?
As Darkrim pondered all of this, Luna flew over to the moon.
Darkrim’s gaze was still glued to Equus as he felt they landed on something.
Luna lifted up her shield and bowed down, to let Darkrim off of her back and onto the grey surface below.
Darkrim, still in a daze, observed this new place he was led to by the nocturnal guardian. It was so much different from Equus, but it had a certain charm.
As he walked through the cold stone of the land below he felt like he was being watched. Something was lurking in the dark shades of the Moon, beneath the core.
Every now and then he could see something dark slip just past his eyesight.
He chose to ignore it and followed Luna. She sat on the lunar ground and looked up to Equus.
“It looks so amazing from up here” Darkrim commented, but Luna didn’t reply back. Instead she just looked at the Equus. The banished prince found this weird.
“Umm, Luna” he waved his hoof at Luna’s eyes, trying to get her attention. Nothing happened.
Darkrim shook and yelled at the princess, but she did nothing.
She just blankly stared at Equus.
The dark blue unicorn averted his eyes at Equus only to find, to his shock, that it wasn’t there anymore.
In its place was now a dark void, slowly consuming everything around him.
Only now did Darkrim truly realize what was going on.
He began to panic as the dark void began to slowly morph into a shape of a pure black serpent with purple eyes and purple energy coming from its mouth.
The beast unleashed a hellish roar as it rushed towards Luna, engulfing her whole.
Darkrim wanted to run and scream, but he couldn’t move his legs.
He felt trapped, paralyzed by fear.
As the monster devoured the night regal it turned its unrelenting purple eyes towards Darkrim.
With its jaw unhinged the monstrosity rushed towards the banished prince, showing off the sharp rows of its black teeth and a hellish purple glow coming from within.
Darkrim managed to scream once as the monstrosity came hurdling towards the banished prince.
He awaited the worst, but instead of ending up in the beast’s digestive tract, Darkrim woke up with a loud scream.
He panted quickly as beads of cold sweat erupted on his forehead. His screams alarmed Amethyst, who was ordered by Luna to guard him.
“What’s wrong?” Amethyst panicked “Has there been a breach in the parameter? Do I need to send out a search for the intruder?” Amethyst bombarded Darkrim with questions upon questions as he just put up his hooves defensively.
“Calm down Amethyst” he spoke quietly, in a vain attempt to preserve the rest of castle from waking up “It’s nothing like that. I only had a nightmare. That is all”
Amethyst sighed out of annoyance.
“Really dude?” she told him in annoyance “A nightmare scared you so badly you had to scream like that?”
“Trust me”, Darkrim began in an overdramatic fashioned, “If you had seen the things I saw you would have gone mad!”
Amethyst rolled her eyes.
“I am sure I would” Amethyst said. As she prepared to leave, Darkrim stopped her.
“Wait!” he yelled. The purple pony stopped in her tracks and sighed.
“What is it now?” Amethyst asked Darkrim.
“Could you please stay with me until Luna arrives? I just don’t think I could get back to sleep and could use some company” the banished prince asked as he awkwardly scratched his mane.
Amethyst looked at her watch.
It was already close to dawn, so Luna should return quickly.
“Fine”, Amethyst responded reluctantly, “but the second Luna is back I’m out of here! Got it?”
“Of course”, Darkrim said understandingly.
As Amethyst entered Darkrim’s room, she pulled up a wooden chair and sat next to his bed.
Since his arrival at Canterlot, Darkrim was given a big guest room near the balcony.
It had a huge bed in the middle, a small table and chair near the bed. On the ceiling, above, was a painting of the starry sky similar to the one in Luna’s room, and around him on the walls were various drawings of Tartarus and even a big picture of his pet Cerberus to the right of his bed, guarding him like he used to in Tartarus.
Amethyst observed the paintings of strange creatures surrounding her. She felt a bit unnerved, but attempted not to show it.
Darkrim chuckled.
“What are those creatures?” Amethyst asked Darkrim as she looked at the beasts painted on the walls.
“Those, my dear Amethyst”, Darkrim began in a slightly condescending tone, “My friends from Tartarus”.
“You’re kidding me?” Amethyst said raising one of her brows.
“Not at all, my dear” Darkrim began “That right there is Larbo” the prince said as he pointed to a creature in front of him, which resembled a rhinoceros with volcano horns “He is a real softie and quite a nice guy”.
“That thing is nice?” Amethyst asked with a surprised look.
“Do not be so quick to judge”, Darkrim told Amethyst, “Looks can be quite deceiving”.
“I guess”, Amethyst replied.
“I remember this one time,” Darkrim began retelling one of his old memories, “When Larbo and I found a lost Phoenix in Tartarus. Poor thing had a wing broken by some wicked harpies” Darkrim let out a huff of anger “The demonic things shot the poor Phoenix right in the wing, separating it from the migration!”
“Why would they do that?” Amethyst asked in curiosity.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Amethyst was starting to get into Darkrim’s story.
“Just to prove they can”, Darkrim let out a sarcastic huff, “Those damn things always do stuff like that to poor phoenixes. Every time a few of them migrate over the border of Tartarus, you could bet there would be harpies taking pot shots at them. It’s a disgusting sport if you ask me” Darkrim said in revulsion.
Amethyst nodded her head in agreement.
“So one day”, Darkrim continued his story, “Larbo and I were just casually walking by when we saw a pair of harpies tormenting this poor phoenix. He had an arrow stuck in his wing and the two beasts were laughing at its misery. Both Larbo and I were fed up with this disgusting display of torture so we went up and confronted the harpies. As soon as they saw me approaching both harpies fled the scene as fast as they could, leaving the wounded bird behind. The poor thing twitched and struggled to take flight, but it was all in vain”, Darkrim said and took in a deep sigh.
Amethyst gave him a sign to continue retelling the story.
“Anyway”, Darkrim said, recollecting his thoughts, “We saw the poor thing damaged and hurt and we just couldn’t leave it there. A weakened creature in Tartarus is like a stack of hay in front of a hungry mule. Don’t expect it to last very long. With that in mind Larbo and I knew we had to do something so we approached the injured bird. At first the phoenix was hesitant to let us come near it, but we made sure our movements were slow and assuring. Phoenixes can be very jumpy at times so you have to approach them with utmost care”, Darkrim spoke like an old stallion providing his pearls of wisdom to a young colt.
Amethyst, despite herself, couldn’t help but chuckle at his remark.
“As we approached the bird”, Darkrim continued his story, “Larbo picked up the phoenix in his large mouth. At first the bird was scared, but it seemed to trust us enough to let Larbo hold it in his mouth. He always was good with animals”, Darkrim said, reminiscing over his past, “As he gently held the bird I took a few leaves from the ground and prepared to pull the arrow. I took the tip of the torturous device with my magic and pulled, quickly releasing the bird of its heavy burden. As the arrow came out, the phoenix cried out, flaring up, but Larbo quickly consoled it. Even in his mouth the phoenix could feel the warm embrace of Larbo’s breath, mimicking that of a phoenix mother caressing its young”, Darkrim said as Amethyst chuckled once more.
The mere thought that something, that looked like Larbo did, gently caressing a phoenix, in its mouth no less, was a bit funny to her. Darkrim responded with an amused sigh.
“Chuckle now my dear, but I am dead serious”, Darkrim continued, “Larbo took care of that poor phoenix like it was his own youngling. After I put on the leaves, to relieve the phoenix of its pain, Larbo placed it on his back as we returned to Tartarus. For three weeks he took care of the phoenix, tending to its every need until it was time to release it. You should have just seen the two. They were inseparable”, Darkrim got lost in his memories once more.
“I bet he and Fluttershy would get along swimmingly”, Amethyst commented.
“Who?” Darkrim narrowed his eyes in confusion.
“She’s just some mare I know”, Amethyst brushed it off, “Anyways you were saying” she urged Darkrim to finish his story.
“Well”, he continued, “naturally, we had to release the phoenix once its wing has been healed. As the day arrived, Larbo was so reluctant to release his little friend back to the wild. He kept adding scenarios upon scenarios of what could happen to a fragile phoenix in such a cruel world. I assured him that the bird probably wants to go back to its family who miss it very dearly and it seemed to do the trick. As the bird took flight I could see a mixture of sadness and happiness in my friend’s eyes. That moment taught me something very important”,
Darkrim spoke somberly.
“What’s that?” Amethyst asked.
“We have to sacrifice so much for the ones we hold dear”, Darkrim finished. Suddenly he fell silent contemplating the things he had done.
Wishing to break the damning silence, Amethyst turned her eyes to another picture.
“Hey”, she spoke, making Darkrim snap out, “What does that picture represent?” Amethyst spoke as she pointed to a painting of a skeletal ferryman leading ponies through a river and onto the beautiful fields.
“That” Darkrim spoke slyly, “is the ferryman Charon, carrying the souls of deceased warrior and noble ponies alike to the Elysium fields”.
“Elysium fields?” Amethyst inquired.
“Oh yes”, Darkrim began to speak mysteriously, “Legend has it that all mortal ponies upon their last day shall be judged by how they lived and that those who lived in kindness, love and friendship shall be taken by the skeletal carrier and be granted eternal beauty in the Elysium fields”.
“And what will happen to those who were ‘less than favorable’ to do so?” Amethyst asked.
“I don’t know”, Darkrim spoke, “Besides it is only a legend. Nopony knows what truly happens after their final moon has set”.
“You mean sun?” Amethyst corrected him.
“I know what I said”, Darkrim replied.
As Amethyst rolled her eyes a question popped up in her mind.
“If you think it’s only a legend”, she started, “Then pray tell; why do you have a whole wall dedicated to it?”
“Simple really”, Darkrim spoke, adjusting himself on the bedpost, “It is there for two reasons. One reason is to remind me that there is always something better waiting for us”, Darkrim explained.
“And the other?” Amethyst inquired.
“The other is to remind me that nothing lasts forever”; Darkrim said as he pointed to Charon’s skeletal figure.
The rest of Amethyst’s stay was very silent. She didn’t know what to say after Darkrim spoke of such heavy subjects. As she sat there awkwardly, a loud horn began to blare though the castle, calling her to the gate. Amethyst quickly glanced at her watch. It was dawn already.
“Well it seems the princess has returned”, Amethyst spoke quickly as she rose up from her chair, “I shall send her over to you”.
“Thank you, Amethyst”, Darkrim said gratefully, “Oh and sorry if I spooked you with my previous statement”.
“Don’t worry about it”, Amethyst brushed it off as she exited Darkrim’s room. She rushed over to open the gates as the night guardian herself was walking in the castle.
Celestia was already at her post, raising the Sun, but Luna wanted to check up on Darkrim first. As she saw Amethyst rushing towards her, Luna became a bit worried.
“Your nocturnal majesty”, Amethyst spoke with utmost respect, causing Luna to smile, “Prince Darkrim has requested to see you as soon as possible”.
“You can leave us alone”, Luna spoke to the Royal Guards surrounding them.
She could notice that the Guard’s ears pricked up and she didn’t want such attention.
“As you wish, princess”, the two stallions spoke in unison and left Luna and returned to their duties.
“At least my spies are a bit more subtle”, Luna thought to herself as she rolled her eyes at the two stallions.
“So why has Darkrim summoned me?” Luna asked. She had a good feeling, but she wanted to hear from Amethyst first hoof.
“Well”, Amethyst began, as the two walked, “He screamed himself awake from a horrid nightmare”.
“Really?” Luna said in surprise “I didn’t feel anything”.
“Must be another one of Radifus’ doings”, Luna thought to herself.
“Well I sure felt that scream”, Amethyst replied sarcastically, “And then something strange happened” Amethyst continued.
“Oh”, Luna exclaimed in intrigue, “What do you mean?”
“He asked me to stay with him until you came”; Amethyst said and awkwardly scratched the back of her mane.
Luna chuckled a bit.
“And did you?” Luna asked.
“Well of course”, Amethyst responded awkwardly, “We even had a nice little chat about the paintings on his walls” Amethyst continued.
“Oh did he tell you the one about Larbo and the phoenix?” Luna interrupted her, “That one is my favorite”.
“Yeah”, Amethyst responded, “That one was nice, but then it turned a bit dark when he mentioned the Elysium fields”.
Luna sighed, “He’s quite a wise colt, isn’t he?” Luna trailed off in her thoughts.
“Is it really just a legend?” Amethyst asked a bit worried about the answer.
Luna simply gave her a smile.
“We shall all find out one day”, Luna replied mysteriously. Amethyst sighed. Luna sure did love keeping things hidden from her.
“I still don’t understand why you appointed me as his guard”, Amethyst complained, “I mean couldn’t you have somepony else do it”.
Luna smirked at her friend.
“It is because I trust you the most”, Luna explained, “You’re one of the rare members of the Royal Guard that I could truly trust with such a task”.
“I guess”, Amethyst smiled faintly.
Luna returned the smile at Amethyst.
She saw so much potential in that earth pony.
Ever since Amethyst joined the Royal Guard, Luna could see a passionate twinkle in her eye.
She always fought the hardest for what she wanted and, despite her being one of the lowest ranking ponies among the rows, she managed to rise to the top, remaining as pure as the day she arrived.
Because of her struggles, Luna respected this pony more than she did most of the Royal Guard.
“Well here we are”, Amethyst spoke as they arrived at Darkrim’s door.
“Thank you, Amethyst. For everything”, Luna bowed her head in gratitude.
“Aww, it was no biggie”, Amethyst responded as she rushed off to her other duties.
Luna knocked on Darkrim’s door.
“Come in”, Darkrim spoke as he got out of his bed. His eyes gleamed with joy as he saw Luna enter through the doorway. She smiled at the banished prince. Darkrim returned her smile, but it quickly dropped.
“I saw the shadow serpent again”, he spoke somberly as difficult memories flooded his head. Luna approached him, concerned for the prince’s well-being.
Darkrim sat on the edge of his bed as Luna sat next to him.
“It was in your recent memory, I presume”, Luna inquired Darkrim.
He simply nodded, remaining silent.
“Which one was it?” Luna asked on, slowly trying to understand the cause of Darkrim’s nightly terrors.
It was unquestionable that this nightmare was caused by his recent battle, but it didn’t seem like a typical bad dream. This shadow serpent seemed to invade his memories.
It spread through Darkrim’s mind, like a virus, consuming every memory in its wake.
Darkrim took in a deep breath.
“The night you took me to the moon”, Darkrim spoke, much to Luna’s surprise.
She was pretty certain of the serpent’s dream pattern, but this was a bit unusual, mostly because it had nothing to do with the Basilisk or his defeat.
“It must be focusing on his happiest memories”, Luna thought to herself.
“I cannot go on another night with this”, Darkrim said with a heavy heart, “It is getting to difficult”.
“Perhaps you won’t have to”, Luna spoke comfortingly.
“What do you mean?” Darkrim inquired with interest.
“Well”, Luna began, “While I was on my nightly watch, I managed to uncover a book from Starswirl’s library” Luna said, pulling out a dark blue book with a starry cover.
On the book was written “Nocta et umbra”.
Darkrim observed the book with intrigue.
“If all what I am hearing is correct”, Luna said, “We could be looking at a case of Umbra Tantibus”.
“What is that?” Darkrim asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.
“Umbra Tantibus is a very powerful curse that can only be casted by a very powerful shadow magic user,” Luna began her explanation, “the curse manifests itself in the shape of the one who casted, much like a bad copy of its creator”, Luna said showing Darkrim the picture in the book.
“If the curse becomes too powerful it could very well corrupt your entire mind”, Luna said grimly.
Darkrim’s heart skipped a beat.
“That’s quite frightening”, Darkrim responded, “but is there a cure for this horrid curse?”
“Well yes and no”, Luna explained, “You see the curse has been in your head for quite a long time now so it probably spawned a lot of smaller copies of itself through your memories in order to feed off them”
“I see”, Darkrim said in shock.
“But fear not my dear prince”, Luna spoke comfortingly, “for you have the princess of dreams herself by your side”, Luna winked. Darkrim smiled.
“And what, pray tell, did you have in mind?” Darkrim inquired.
“Well, I have an idea. If I could go inside your mind and see all of your memories I could easily find the shadow serpents and dispose of the smaller ones” Luna explained.
“But what about the big one?” Darkrim stuttered
“You’ll have to deal with that one” Luna responded.
“What? You expect me to go against a beast that is roughly the size of Equus! Are you mad?!” Darkrim lashed out in fear and anger.
“The serpent is a creation of shadow magic and it only has as much power over you as you allow it. Trust me, I know a thing or two about the influence of these things” Luna said with clear spite in her voice.
Darkrim fell silent for a moment.
He felt so scared and so lost. Not even in his dreams was his safe now!
As he contemplated, Luna placed her wing over Darkrim’s shoulders.
“I know this must be very hard for you”, Luna said comfortingly, “but trust me, you can win this fight. The shadows may seem powerful, but their range is very limited. They are only a reflection of our fears and nothing more”.
Darkrim sighed.
“You’re right princess!” he spoke with determination “I must face my fears. It truly is inescapable”.
“And I will be right by your side”, Luna said encouragingly.
“Thank you princess”, Darkrim spoke with gratitude, “You truly have helped me so much in my darkest times. I wish I could repay you somehow for your kindness”.
“Your friendship is all the payment I need”, Luna smiled at the banished prince.
“So when were you planning on messing with my head?” Darkrim asked, moving his hooves in a circular motion around his temples. Luna chuckled a bit at his gesticulation.
“Easy there, your highness”, Luna said, lowering his hooves down with her magic, “I need to take care of some business around the castle beforehand. I will be back here tonight before you go to sleep”.
“What am I supposed to do until then?” Darkrim asked in bafflement.
“You could explore the castle”, Luna suggested, “You have been her for quite some time and barely seen any of its beauties”.
“Well that’s mostly because I just don’t feel very comfortable out there. What if the Guards look at me funny?” Darkrim asked fearfully.
He feared that the Royal Guard would feel some sort of hostility towards him, considering what he did.
“Trust me, they can’t look at you any worse than they did when I had returned”, Luna joked.
“I guess you’re right”, Darkrim sighed.
“Excellent!” Luna exclaimed as she prepared to leave the room “I’ll see you tonight”.
“See ya then” Darkrim replied back to Luna as she exited his room.
“Well if I am going out, I might as well put on some clothes”, Darkrim thought to himself as he opened his wardrobe.
Inside the old hardwood closet was only one outfit, hoof stitched by somepony from the village below. Apparently she was one of the best designers in Equestria, at least according to Luna.
It was quite beautiful and Darkrim felt amazed that somepony would be so generous to make it for him, even if he didn't know them.
The outfit consisted of three pieces: a pale blue cape, which pulled off an illusion of his pale blue flames extending from his mane and right towards his tail, four horseshoes fashioned similarly as the cape and a pendant crafted in the shape of his cutie mark.
Darkrim slowly put on his outfit, in order to appear nobler to the Guards, and headed out of his room.
As Darkrim walked through the castle hallways he could feel the gaze of the Solar Guard burn a new hole in his cape. It felt like each guard was throwing daggers at him.
As he continued his walk Darkrim suddenly noticed something strange. The Guards were actually greeting him.
“Good day, prince Darkrim!” he could hear one of the older guards speak to him.
“Hope you are feeling fine”, another guard spoke to him as they exchanged glances.
Even the guards that were ‘looking daggers’ at him appeared much friendlier now that he thought about it. They were probably just doing their job.
Suddenly, Darkrim became to feel much more confident as he continued his walk through Canterlot’s vast hallways.
As he continued his walk he saw Amethyst, in her golden armor, giving orders to some guards.
“The Gryphon delegates will arrive at any point and you were sleeping?!” she yelled at the Guard, barely paying attention to Darkrim, who was observing the situation with a curious eye.
“I’m sorry, but I had to work the night shift!” the Guard protested “I’ve gotta catch up with my zzs”.
“Well you can reunite with your zzs once the delegates leave!” Amethyst argued “Now get back to your post! And if I catch falling asleep once more I will kick you so hard out of that door and back on the streets where you belong, you worm!” Amethyst foamed at her mouth.
Darkrim watched the whole scene play out with his eyes wide open.
His surprise was only matched with that of the unfortunate Solar Guard.
“Is that understood?!” Amethyst asked the sleepy guard with fury.
“Yes ma’am” the Guard saluted her and rushed to his post.
Amethyst scoffed in anger as she continued to inspect the rest of the Royal Guards.
Everypony stood up straight as Amethyst gazed upon them, with enfuriating fire flaming from her lavender eyes, inspecting every smudge on their golden suits.
“I should probably leave them be”, Darkrim thought to himself as he slowly moved away from the awkward scene.
As he returned to his path of exploration Darkrim noticed magnificent murals plastered over the castle walls, casting a magnificent shadow on the ground below.
They showed so many different scenes and different creatures, but six figures caught his eye.
These six figures were in nearly every picture and they even seemed to clash with another popular image of a being comprised of so many other creatures in, what Darkrim could only describe as ‘perfect chaos’.
These six seemed so intriguing and yet they were nothing more than ponies.
Two unicorns, one lavender and the other white, two earth ponies, an orange and a pink one, with puffy mane, and two pegasi, one of cyan fur and rainbow mane and the other of yellow fur and pink mane.
Darkrim’s interest was especially peeked at one painting he saw.
The painting depicted the six mares defeating an alicorn that looked so similar to Luna. However, something was wrong with this one. This alicorn seemed to have much darker fur than his beloved princess.
Darkrim was so caught up in these painting that he didn’t even notice the pure white alicorn with rainbow flowing mane slowly approaching to him.
“I wonder who these six were” Darkrim thought out loud as the white alicorn stood by his side.
“They are”, the white alicorn began in a gentle manner as Darkrim finally saw who was on his right side, “the Elements of Harmony”.
Darkrim’s lower lip trembled as he saw the magnificent alicorn standing by him. He suddenly dropped down to his knees. Celestia smiled at him.
“No need to bow prince”, she spoke kindly, “we are pretty much equal after all”.
“I know, I know”, Darkrim spoke quickly, “but it’s such a huge honor of finally seeing you princess”.
“Well you were going to run into me eventually”, Celestia joked, and “You are residing in my castle after all”.
“Oh, right”, Darkrim said and awkwardly returned his gaze at the mural on display, “So you are saying that those six ponies right there hold the most powerful magic in all of Equestria?”
“That’s right. Makes it a bit harder to steal, don’t you think?” Celestia smiled and winked at the banished prince.
“Oh I wasn’t”, Darkrim mumbled confusedly.
Celestia just giggled a bit at Darkrim’s faux pas. Darkrim chuckled alongside with Celestia as he realized that she was only kidding.
“You know, you are much more different than I imagined”, Darkrim said to Celestia.
“Oh”, Celestia faked surprise, “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, if I am going to be honest”, Darkrim began, “I thought of you as a much more restricted ruler, a ruler who has complete control over everything and thus has no time for jokes ”.
As Darkrim said those last words he feared Celestia’s scorn.
“Strange”, Celestia said wrapped in her thoughts, “That is the same thing my student said to me when we first met”.
“Really? I didn’t know that”, Darkrim said in a bit of confusion.
As they watched the painted glass, a sudden sound of hooves echoed through the chamber. They both turned their heads around only to see Amethyst rushing at them.
“Princess, we have a problem”, Amethyst said after she had greeted them both.
“The delegation”, Amethyst spoke, barely catching her breath, “They’ve been spotted coming to the Canterlot gates. They’ll be here any moment now!”
“What?!” Celestia exclaimed “They weren’t supposed to be here for at least two more hours”.
“Well general Switchblade has to reposition his army so they wanted to move the meeting a bit earlier. I couldn’t have turned him down! He might have gotten insulted. I am so sorry!” Amethyst apologized as quickly as she could.
Celestia sighed, “It is fine. Just please inform me next time these changes occur”.
Darkrim was surprised at how gracefully Celestia was taking this news.
He’d probably be panicking right about now, but she seemed so calm and collected.
“Understood princess“, Amethyst responded and rushed off. As Amethyst left Celestia turned her attention to Darkrim.
“Well it appears we will have to continue our conversation later”, she sighed.
Suddenly a wild idea popped in Celestia’s head as she smirked slyly.
“Although”, she began in a mischievous tone, “You could come to the meeting with me. They’re always such a drag and since Luna has left to improve security on all of the Tartarus connection points, I could definitely use the company”, Celestia explained to Darkrim.
After thinking about it for a second, Darkrim gave in.
“Well, it couldn’t hurt”, he said with an awkward smile.
“Excellent!” Celestia clicked as she moved to the throne room.
Darkrim soon followed her hoofsteps as the two Royal Guards moved their spears to let them in.
Darkrim watched in awe at the beautiful room. Just like in the hall there were murals here too.
On the right side were murals dedicated to the Sun and its glorious daylight while on the left were murals portraying the gorgeous night and its magnificent stars. A single throne was positioned in front of him and it seemed to be protected by two more Royal Guards.
“Seriously, how many of these guys does she need?” Darkrim whispered under his voice.
“Considering the number of attacks that keep happening here, I’d say I am understaffed”, Celestia joked with Darkrim.
He just let out an awkward laugh and walked with Celestia over to the throne. The guards let Celestia and Darkrim through.
She positioned herself on the throne while Darkrim stood right by her side. He was feeling so nervous that even his flames started to flicker.
Celestia gave him a reassuring smile as the trumpets signaled the incoming griffon delegation.
After the horns died down, Amethyst came in through the doorway. She was slightly surprised when she saw Darkrim standing next to Celestia, but she chose to ignore it.
“Presenting the honorable general Switchblade, noble powerhouse of the fourth Griffon Armada, conqueror of Allensword, defeater of the infamous Charibda and” , Amethyst paused for a second before she read the final part, “The lover of duchess Greta”.
Darkrim wanted to laugh at that part, but Celestia gave him a stern glare, so he withheld his laughter.
As their names were read two griffons entered the room.
One had a rough expression on his face with a red scar running through the right side of his face and dark brown feathers covering his head, while the rest of his body was a light brown color. He also seemed to have worn a golden helmet with red feathers sticking out of it and a red cape running down his back.
Another interesting thing on his attire were the golden knee pads that he wore on all four of his paws and the plentiful war medals he held so proudly on his chest, the shiniest one of them being a medal of him atop of some beast.
The female griffon wore just a scarf and a golden earring and had a more slender physique and lighter fur compared to her partner. She wore a golden laurel on her head and a white toga dress. She also seemed to have green face paint, but that might have been just her feather coloration.
The two griffons walked in elegantly and gracefully bowed to the Equestrian ruler. Celestia bowed in return. Darkrim followed her example.
“Esteemed guests”, Celestia began, “Welcome to our annual summit. May we look for an era of peace oince more!”
“We hope so too princess”, the general replied.
“Umm, princess”, Greta began, looking suspiciously at Darkrim, “Not to be rude, but who is that pony next to you?”
Darkrim hid his head as Greta pointed at him.
“He is an esteemed guest of my sister and a wrongfully exiled prince of Tartarus”, the princess explained.
“From Tartarus you say?” Switchblade said while rubbing his chin curiously “Say old boy, you wouldn’t happen to know a flamerhocerus chap by the name of Grimdor?”
“As a matter of fact I do”, Darkrim replied, much to Celestia’s delight, “He is the father of my best friend Larbo”.
“How’s old’ Grimy doin’? Is he still the same jester he used to be at the academy?” Switchblade asked with a wide grin plastered on his face.
“Last I heard off him, he was still pulling pranks even on Hadeus himself”, Darkrim replied with a pleasant smile.
Switchblade gave a hearty laughter as Celestia grinned. The only one who was bemused at this display was Greta.
“Oh that’s good old Grimy! Once a joker always a joker”, Switchblade commented with tears of laughter rolling down his cheek.
“Maybe you two can catch up later”, Greta sternly said to Switchblade, “But right now we have more important business to attend to then just simple pleasantries!”
“Oh, right”, Switchblade remembered, his wide grin slowly turning back to his stone cold expression, “Thanks for the reminder sweetie”.
“That’s why you brought me here for”, Greta joked with Switchblade as she smiled at him, before turning her attention to the princess.
“We wish to inform you, princess, that suspicious activities have been spotted near the Griffon walls”, the general said.
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked confusedly.
“We have noticed a large increase in changeling activity near the borders of both Griffonstone and Grifferia”, Greta explained, “More and more reports of these wretched beasts have been popping up near our border and while we were able to fend them off, we require some assistance from your unicorns in order to fully chase them away”.
“I will gather ten of our best changeling hunters and send them over to the kingdom as soon as possible”, Celestia said. The two griffons grunted, dissatisfied by the decision of the solar guardian.
“Forgive me princess”, Greta spoke passive aggressively, “But we believe that such a small number of ponies wouldn’t stand much of a fight against the invading forces”.
“I understand your grief, duchess”, the princess responded calmly, ignoring Greta’s disrespectful tone, “but we simply cannot spare anymore of our forces. It is simply out of the question”.
Greta wanted to protest, but Switchblade interrupted her.
“A group of ten measly warriors are supposed to stop the ever-growing changeling threat to our kingdom? Don’t joke with me princess!” Switchblade laughed off the princess’ decision.
Darkrim watched the princess with both intrigue and admiration.
Her face showed no anger or frustration. She was eerily calm with the same dignity and grace she had at the beginning of the summit, even though both griffons had shown clear disrespect.
“I can assure you that we shall choose ten of our most powerful hunters, but at the moment it is impossible to spare. A recent attack and a threat of war has placed the most of our guards at full alert. You have my royal word that your changeling problem shall be resolved, but we can onl ygive you ten of our soldiers”, Celestia responded to the two griffons.
Both of them scoffed at the idea that ten ponies could be of any help, but they didn’t want to disrespect the princess.
“Don’t think we won’t hold you to your word, your highness”, Switchblade responded half-jokingly.
“I would hope so”, Celestia said with a sly smirk.
“Fascinating”, Darkrim thought to himself.
“Now let’s talk about our monetary issue”, Switchblade said, rubbing his claws together, “Greta, if you would”
“Certainly, honey”, Greta said and shot a quick smile to Switchblade. She then proceeded to pull out a golden scroll out of her pouch and cleared her throat.
“Considering your request for protection, the Griffon Armada would like to make a request of their own”, Greta said, starting to read from the scroll, “We wish to be paid 5000 bits per year for the protection of Equestria. The transaction is to be completed on sight”.
Darkrim felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. 5000 bits was an insanely huge price! He took a concerned glance at the princess. She seemed somehow even calmer than before.
“Is her temperature below zero? How is she so calm about all of this?!” Darkrim thought.
Celestia noticed Darkrim’s confusion and just shot him a reassuring wink. She then turned her attention to the griffon warriors, who eagerly awaited her decision.
“Well that is certainly a hefty fee you are charging”, Celestia said in fake shock.
“Well, you have to understand our expenses”, Switchblade began, “We have to make our ends meet as well”.
“Oh I understand that very well”, the princess said, “It’s just that the king Taurus already offered me protection for 4000 bits”.
“What?!” both Greta and Switchblade said in unison.
“Yeah, you can even see it here”, Celestia said, as she brought up a parchment from her throne. The two Griffons read over it in bafflement.
“And also he told me something pretty interesting about the ‘ninth division’” Celestia said as she watched Switchblades face lose its color.
“Why that no good backstabbing bullhorn!” Greta foamed at her mouth.
“What did you expect?” Switchblade said “That hardhead would sell his own mother if it made him money”.
The two griffons stood now in front of the princess as Darkrim’s surprise only continued to grow. He suddenly understood why the princess had been so calm.
She had them in her hooves the second they came through the doorway.
Switchblade sighed in defeat.
“Due to these new facts we have decided to negotiate the price with your majesty. We are willing to lower our offer to 3500 bits”.
“That is certainly a generous offer”, Celestia said, “but I believe we can do a bit better. How about you lower your prices down to 2700 bits and we shall forget all about the ‘ninth division’ as well”. Greta felt like she would faint.
“Princess, please, let us be rational here. 3500 bits is a perfectly reasonable price and” Celestia cut off Switchblade right there.
“I might have accepted it if I hadn’t already seen your earnings”, Celestia said, reading the bill that Taurus provided her with, “You have 3000 bits coming in from the Minotaur Kingdom, 5000 bits from the Saddle Arabian ponies, 10000 bits from your own government and not to mention the earnings of the ‘ninth division”.
As Celestia finished, Darkrim could clearly see embarrassment washing over Switchblade. Greta was shocked by the numbers she was hearing.
“I think 2700 bits is a perfectly reasonable price”, Switchblade mumbled as he accepted the princess’ offer.
“Agreed”, Greta said, still furious that she couldn’t get the money they wanted.
“I am glad we could resolve this issue”, Celestia thanked the two representatives as they brought her the parchment, “Things go oh so much better once we compromise”, Celestia said kindly as she handed the signed parchment to the Griffons.
Once it was all signed the guards brought two bags filled with bits from the royal treasury to the Griffon.
“Thank you princess”, the general responded, “May your fields be ever so prosperous”.
“I hope there are no hard feelings towards us, princess”, Greta said as she bowed down to the princess.
“Why, of course not! You are still a very powerful ally to the Equestrian Empire”, Celestia said as she descended down from her throne and shook hooves and paws with the Griffon representatives.
As the two Griffons left Celestia and Darkrim exited the throne room.
“I have to say that was mighty impressive, Princess”, Darkrim began as the two walked through the castle hallways; “But I have to ask: What is the ninth division?”
The Princess thought for a moment as she replied, “The ninth division is a ghost division, a creation that exists solely to be funded by the griffon administration with all the proceeds going to general Switchblade”.
“What?!” Darkrim exclaimed in shock, “How can they even do that?”
“It’s a bit too complex to explain”, Celestia said hesitantly, “Let’s just say that there’s a weird loophole in the griffonian protection law that allowed this division to exist”.
“I see”, Darkrim raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “So I guess you’ll inform the griffonian government now about it?”
“Not really”, Celestia responded, “One of the reasons would be the fact I gave them my royal word, but a more important one would be that I simply do not want to mess with their business. It just creates needless drama and besides, they are a sovereign state. They can figure it out on their own”.
“Then why did you threaten the Griffons?” Darkrim pressed on.
“Well I needed something to bargain with Switchblade”, Celestia said, “He has many qualities, but his greed for bits just clouds them all. I had to make him reconsider the price any way I could”, Celestia finished, clearly showing shame for what she had done.
“Being a ruler is not as glamorous as it seems”, Darkrim empathized to Celestia.
“Only a royal could admit that”, Celestia responded with a smile and a wink. The two continued their walk, making small-talk as they went.
“Can I ask you something princess?” Darkrim said.
“Well, you already did”, Celestia joked, “But go ahead”.
“Well, back there, on the mural, I saw the element bearers attacking a pony that resembled a lot like Luna. Who was that?” Darkrim asked as he saw Celestia’s face drop.
Her expression became much more painful as if an old memory had just reawakened and was trying to break free. Darkrim saw he touched a nerve with that question.
“That pony”, Celestia began, “Was a creature born from Luna’s jealousy and my negligence. It is a beast that plagued my dear sister for more than a thousand years and it was the source of my own fear and hatred”, Celestia said with vigorous spite in her voice.
Darkrim noticed that a purple mist was trying to break out of Celestia's eyes, but she was able to control it.
She took a moment to calm down as she suppressed the dark magic trying to break loose.
“I apologize for my outburst”, Celestia excused herself.
“It’s already forgotten”, Darkrim responded.
He now noticed that the princesses certainly had an interesting past. These bright and shiny walls seemed to hide some pretty dark secrets. Then again what royalty doesn’t have skeletons in their closets?
“Can I ask you something prince?” Celestia asked Darkrim, much to his surprise.
“Of course!” Darkrim clicked.
“Why were you banished from your throne?” Celestia asked with a concerned look on her face.
Darkrim’s bright blue flames began to slowly turn dimmer and his expression began to be much more serious.
“There was a difference of opinions between Hadeus and myself concerning my behavior, as he so eloquently put it”, Darkrim scoffed, “Out of a small scuffle erupted a big argument which ultimately led to my banishment, since neither I nor he were going to compromise”.
“I see”, Celestia said, “But couldn’t you two have worked it out?”
“When it comes to her, we couldn’t”, Darkrim said.
“Her?” Celestia repeated, slightly surprised.
“We are all just fools of our emotions”, Darkrim responded, dodging Celestia’s question.
Celestia wanted to push on, but she decided to leave him be. It seemed that this was already too painful and she didn’t want to just rub salt in his wound.
The rest of their walk was very silent, until the sunset horn sounded through the castle.
“It can’t be nighttime already?” Darkrim exclaimed.
“Well the sun is slowly setting”, Celestia explained, “Would you like to come with me to see it?”
“Sure”, Darkrim responded.
As he said that Celestia led him up the largest tower in the entire castle. The spiral steps in front of him made Darkrim groan in annoyance.
“I hate stairs”, he complained as he climbed up the spiral staircase.
“Well I don’t think they’d be too fond of you too”, Celestia joked.
“Are you always in your jestering mood?” Darkrim bantered.
“That’s noting”, Celestia responded, “You should have just seen mine and Luna’s foalsitter. The guy was a pranking and joking machine!”
“Really?” Darkrim said in surprise.
“Oh yeah”, Celestia responded, “Why I remember the one time when we turned the entire council into one huge cake batter”, Celestia laughed.
Darkrim found this very peculiar as he imagined a huge meeting of nobles in their prissy suits and ties and elegant dresses being all mixed into a huge gooey blob. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the mere thought of it.
“Perhaps I will get to meet this guy one day”, Darkrim said.
“Only if you are ready to give up your sanity”, Celestia responded.
“Whaaaaaaat?” Darkrim asked confusedly.
“Don’t ask”, Celestia waved it off as she open the hatch, “Well here we are”.
Darkrim exhaled deeply from fatigue.
His breath was taken once again as he looked at the sky above.
He could see the golden Sun slowly descending beneath the horizon. As it did so, Celestia took it with her magic, focusing all she had and slowly eased it down, giving off a bright red glow which slowly turned to pink and only began to grow thinner and thinner as the last blast of sunlight illuminated the entire Great Canterlot Area with its magnificent rays.
As Darkrim watched the skies above, he noticed another pony on the tower next to theirs.
It was Luna herself, her horn glowing deep blue as she raised the crescent moon into its position.
“We should probably get going”, Celestia whispered to Darkrim as they waved to Luna. She waved back at them and entered her tower.
The three ponies met up back at Darkrim’s room.
“I see you met my sister, prince”, Luna said with a smirk.
“Well I was bound to”, Darkrim winked at Celestia as she just giggled a bit. Luna rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Well, I should leave you two be”, Celestia whispered to Luna as she left the room.
“You can stay if you’d like”, Luna said, “but I don’t know how exciting two ponies sleeping would be to you”, she joked.
Celestia laughed, “Sounds riveting, but I must retire myself. I have a pretty busy schedule tomorrow. Good night everypony”, Celestia said as she exited.
“Good night”, Luna and Darkrim replied in unison.
Once they were alone, Luna was able to do her magic.
As Darkrim lied in his bed, he noticed Luna pulling up some rather peculiar objects from her satchel and began to place them around the room.
She took out three dark blue candles with three different shapes and placed them accordingly; the one with a spiral was placed over Darkrim’s head, the diamond one was placed to where Luna would stand and the third one, with an electric bolt, was placed in between the first two.
“These candles will serve as a guiding tool for my magic”, Luna began, “Each symbol represents the beginning, the middle and the end. And these”, Luna pulled out two amulets, “Will be our connection points”.
Darkrim could notice that the two amulets were made to resemble what they held dear.
Luna’s was made to look like a pure white alicorn with the moon rising behind her and Darkrim’s was the symbol of the royal Tartarus family; a three headed beast with a head of a pony, a dragon and a minotaur, the three founders.
“You sure you are ready to do this?” Luna asked, “This magic is extremely risky, considering it hasn’t been used for over three thousand years”.
“It’s our only shot to get rid of these shadow curses, right?” Darkrim asked.
Luna nodded in confirmation.
“Then fire it up princess”, Darkrim replied.
“Alright”, Luna began, “Now the first step is to get you relaxed. You must close your eyes and think of absolute nothingness. Empty your mind of all needless thoughts and slowly go to sleep”, Luna spoke softly, attempting to ease him as much as possible.
She could hear Darkrim’s breath slowly slowing down.
He became more and more relaxed by each passing second, letting go of all of his thoughts and replacing them with the calm serenity.
“Now for the hard part”, Luna said, once she was convinced that Darkrim was in a deep state of sleep.
She opened up the ‘Nocta et umbra’ and read an excerpt from it.
“By the order of Memoriam Guard, I ask permission to enter this young colt’s mind and free it from the horror that lies behind”
As Luna recited the ancient spell, her eyes turned pure white.
Loud thunder could be heard throughout the castle and a ghastly wind blew through the hallways as Luna’s spirit was detached from her body.
She could feel her body and mind being torn one from another.
Her horn lit up and, as if it were guided by an invisible hand, her energy flowed through the candles and into Darkrim’s consciousness.
As the wild ride finally ended, Luna found herself in a cold and deserted land. There was nothing around her, apart from the sands of time.
“I must have gone too deep”, Luna thought to herself as she explored this bizarre dimension of Darkrim’s mind.
Above her was a sky filled with nothing but inky blackness. It seemed to stretch out into infinity and it would always cloud her vision, so Luna could barely see where she was going.
New lands seemed to reappear as she walked, but it was all the same. Her hoofprints disappeared as quickly as they appeared, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
As Luna continued her walk, she could feel that something wasn’t right.
A presence loomed just beneath her feet, making the ground quiver as it slithered by.
Luna was already prepared for battle as a creature jumped out.
The inky blackness of the beast’s body and the purple glow of its serpentile eyes gave it off immediately.
Still, one thing was off.
This creature seemed much smaller than the others Darkrim told her about.
“Must be a hatchling”, Luna thought to herself as she shot a beam of pure magic at the serpent.
Instead of hitting its target, the beam just went through the slithering opponent as it prepared to launch its attack on Luna. The night guardian flew up, escaping the serpent’s venomous fangs.
“Why didn’t my magic work?” Luna thought to herself.
She watched in horror as the serpent began to grow wings, much similar to that of her own and began flying towards.
Luna flew as quick as she could, dodging the beast’s unrelenting jaw.
At one point the snake like creation attached itself to Luna’s hooves, in an attempt to weigh her down. It latched on as hard as it could. Luna began thrashing and kicking at the beast mid-air, but it seemed to do no damage to the monster.
As her last ditch effort Luna’s horn began to shine white as a powerful wave of electricity was unleashed from it.
As it hit the serpent, the snake twitched and loosened its grip on Luna, allowing her to break free and making the serpent to fall down on the sand below.
Luna came close to the unconscious monster as she attempted to observe the beast that had just attacked her. Its purple energy began to glow dimmer as the serpent continued to twitch. Soon enough that too stopped.
“You don’t like light magic very much, don’t you?” Luna concluded.
The wings of the serpent were now fully gone as Luna began to walk away.
As she continued her journey Luna could see what looked like a huge metal gate, rising in the distance. Since it was her only orientation tool, Luna decided to go towards it.
Slowly, but surely, Luna made her way over to the metal gate.
She began to inspect it with her hooves, attempting to find a keyhole or any opening. The gate seemed to be completely sealed.
There was a scripture on the bottom of it showing a strange creature chanting what seemed to be some sort of tune, but Luna couldn’t interpret it.
Some of these notes seemed very strange, while others seemed way too high for any Equestrian being to sing.
As she explored this mysterious gate, Luna could hear a loud, bombastic, voice yelling from behind her.
“HALT TRESSPASSER OR FACE THE WRATH OF ISDEUH!” the voice commanded as Luna quickly turned.
Behind her stood two creatures, both so strange and yet so familiar to her.
The one that introduced itself as Isdeuh seemed to be the larger of the two.
The creature's head seemed to be covered with a helmet shaped like a dark unicorn horn. This helmet went all around his head, only showing the two red, beady eyes, peering from behind the dark abyss. His upper body was covered in heavy armor with the Royal Crest on his chest. His feet were covered by steel boots with spikes protruding from the sides and his hands were covered by a pair of gauntlets ending in sharp claws on his fingertips.
Even though the creature held a recently used halberd in his right hand, Luna could clearly see two swords comfortably lying on his hips. The beast stood imposingly towards Luna and his bombastic voice still rang through her ears.
The other creature was notably different. Unlike Isdeuh, this being had a more feminine physique. She stood at the same height as Luna, able to look her right in the eyes, while Isdeuh was a good head taller than both of them. The feminine creature appeared to be dark blue with octopus like appendages flowing from her head and onto the floor. Apart from her interesting hair, this creature also had real opals as her eyes which contrasted against her pale green skin. The rest of her body was covered by a dark blue dress, making her appear as if she were floating over the ground. Her hands were covered in white fingerless gloves which revealed a set of rings on each hand. Luna thought one of her rings looked like her cutie mark, while another resembled that of Celestia’s.
This creature kindly smiled at Luna.
“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?” Isdeuh commanded.
“My name is Princess Luna, sovereign ruler of the night and a protector of all ponies, both in the waking and slumbering world”, Luna presented herself.
“I DON’T NEED YOUR LIFE STORY!” Isdeuh yelled. As he did so the feminine creature tapped his shoulder.
“WHAT?!” Isdeuh yelled again as the other being just stared at him awkwardly.
“Oh, tone”, Isdeuh spoke softly, feeling a bit embarrassed, “I forget sometimes”, he apologized awkwardly. The feminine creature rolled her eyes.
“Umm, excuse me”, Luna said, drawing attention of the two creatures to herself, “but who are you two?”
“My name is Isdeuh Zorn”, the creature introduced itself, “And this lovely minx next to me is Eluvietta Parsaphon. Together we are the Forefront of the Memoriam Guard”, Isdeuh explained as he pointed to the feminine creature next to him.
Eluvietta extended her arm and shook Luna’s hoof.
“Pleased to meet you”, Luna said as Eluvietta only nodded. Luna was confused by this.
“You’ll have to forgive her, she tends to have a very powerful voice that has been known to drive some creatures insane, so she doesn’t speak as much”, Isdeuh explained.
“I see”, Luna commented.
“Enough of these pleasantries”, Isdeuh commanded, “I want to know, what are you doing here in Darkrim’s mind! This area is strictly off—“he began, but Eluvietta stopped him and pointed to Luna’s necklace.
She whispered something in Isdeuh’s ear.
“You don’t say”, Isdeuh commented as he observed Luna’s protection amulet.
“Pray tell”, Isdeuh turned to Luna, “where did you get that amulet from?”
“I brought it in with me”, Luna replied.
“Interesting”, Isdeuh trailed off as he turned to Eluvietta.
She nodded her head and touched Luna's forehead with her hand.
One of her rings started to fly off of her hand and it dispersed in many bubbles, each showing a scene from Luna’s and Darkrim’s time together.
Luna watched in awe as each of the bubbles awoken pleasant memories.
“Her reaction seems genuine”, Isdeuh commented, “So I’ll give her the benefit of a doubt. You can call it back”.
As Isdeuh said that, Eluvietta, much to Luna's dismay, signaled her hands towards the memory bubbles, making them condense once again in her ring.
“It seems you check out, princess”, Isdeuh spoke a bit less commanding, “but we are still perplexed as to why have you graced us with your visit. Care to explain?”
“Well”, Luna began, “It would appear that Darkrim’s mind had been plagued with a terrible curse and I can see it has begun to take its toll.”
“You mean the shadow serpents?” Isdeuh asked.
“Yes”, Luna replied, “I see you have encountered a few of them”, Luna said and pointed her hoof towards Isdeuh’s halberd.
“Unfortunately”, Isdeuh replied and wiped his halberd, “The accursed things began to appear a few months ago and have been popping like wildfire since.”
“Well I have a way we can stop them”, Luna said, peeking Isdeuh’s and Eluvietta’s interest.
“Go on”, Isdeuh signaled Luna.
“Well”, Luna began as she took a map from her satchel, “Judging by the latest nightmare, Darkrim’s source of misery can be located right here”, Luna pointed to the high point.
“Well that is quite high up the memory ladder”, Isdeuh said, “You’re going to need quite some time till you get there.”
“I was hoping you could help me out in that department”, Luna said. Both Isdeuh and Eluvietta looked at each other with a concerned look.
“Well we can’t do much, since our duties here still call us”, Isdeuh spoke, “We could open the Mindgate for you. Eluvietta here is the only one that knows the combination to unlock it, so she could help you with that”, Isdeuh explained, “but from there on you’ll be on your own.”
“Well that’s a start”, Luna sighed.
“Alright then”, Isdeuh said, as Eluvietta nodded her head. Just as she was about to unlock the door, Isdeuh gave something to Luna.
They were two black and white earplugs.
“Trust me you are going to need them”, Isdeuh said as Eluvietta shot him an angry stare.
Luna put in the two earplugs as Eluvietta took in a deep breath.
Her tendrils rose up and glowed in bright green color and her opal eyes became pure black. She began to sing in a low hum as the gates slowly trembled.
Isdeuh stepped away from the gates and Luna followed him.
“Patitur memoriis praeteritum libere vagari liberum, aperiantur portæ falle“, Eluvietta sang louder and louder as bigger chunks of the gate began crumbling down.
At one point her voice became so loud and high pitched that it actually passed through Luna’s earplugs. It was then when Luna heard Eluvietta’s powerful voice.
It sounded like a combination of so many different tones, but extremely feminine in its nature. Some frequencies resembled Luna’s own voice, while others belonged to Celestia.
Isdeuh was surprised by Luna’s look of pure amazement at her voice.
Nevertheless he placed his hand over Luna’s ears as Eluvietta sang so loud and high that even he felt a bit of a drawback.
With the final tone being sung the gates crumbled down and a blinding white light skewered their eyes.
Eluvietta bowed to the standing crowd and rushed towards them. Luna couldn’t see anything behind the veil of light.
“This is the netrance to Darkrim's hall of memories”, Isdeuh explained; “From there on, you must find Gorgus. He is the only one that can bring you higher up. Give him my best”, Isdeuh said as they waved at Luna.
“Thank you, so much, guardians”, Luna replied as she waved back as she entered the blinding light.
As she entered, the steel gate returned to its primary position and Luna was locked inside this new place.
As the blinding light died down, Luna could clearly see that she was in a pure white room. Around Luna were doors, not unlike those in the dream state, each colored differently and separated by severity.
Luna could clearly see her gorgeous moon rising above a giant door.
“This seems a bit too easy”, Luna thought to herself as she inspected the door.
The door seemed to be leaking some sort of ominous purple energy behind it.
Just as she was about to open the door, a battle axe went flying at it. Luna jumped back and looked behind her.
Her heart raced as she saw a creature at least seven feet tall standing behind her.
The beast seemed to be bipedal, much like the Memoriam guards, with the bottom half of a horse and the upper half much like that of a Minotaur, hairy and very muscular.
Volcanic fire seemed to run through the beast’s body and it wore a belt filled with various weapons, from axes to swords.
The head of this monstrosity resembled that of a fire rhino combined with bull’s horns.
In his left arm it held a war hammer filled with the insignia of both the Tartarus Royal Crest and Equestrian Diarchy.
Luna was pretty enraged by the beast’s action.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Luna yelled as she pointed to an axe firmly implanted in the doorway.
Instead of attacking her, the creature dropped down on one knee and placed its right arm on its chest.
“Forgive me princess”, it spoke in a deep baritone, “but I had to stop you from entering. It is far too risky to go inside.”
“Well you could’ve just said so!” Luna yelled.
“Oh yeah”, the creature looked down in shame and scratched the back of his head. Luna fixed sighed and straightened her ruffled mane.
She seized down the creature from head to hooves.
“You wouldn’t happen to be Gorgus, would you?” Luna asked.
“In magma and fur, your highness”, Gorgus replied.
“So what are you exactly?” Luna continued to inquire watching this beast with a puzzling look.
“Well I am a Memoriam Guide”, he said, “I was employed by Eluvietta and Isdeuh to guide you through Darkrim’s memories.”
“Already? But I met them just a few minutes ago”, Luna looked at him suspiciously.
“Well”, Gorgus began to explain, “We were told that an outsider will come in and help us to fend off this fiendish horde we have been fighting against for quite some time now. Since they allowed you to come this far, that has to be you.”
“I see”, Luna said, a bit more convinced, “Still I don’t understand why I can’t enter this door. Isn’t that the core of the problem?” she asked.
“True”, Gorgus said, “It is the place where the curse has been most aggressive and that’s why it is inaccessible. We have already lost so many Memoriam Guardians in there that it has been placed under strict quarantine."
“So what do you suggest we do?” Luna asked.
“Well”, Gorgus explained, “I believe that it would be best if we take the outdoor approach”, Gorgus stopped for a dramatic moment.
“I see”, Luna began, much to Gorgus’ dismay, “Since all the memories are connected we can use one of the least infected memories in order to get to the top. That’s brilliant!” Luna clicked.
She noticed Gorgus’ look of disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I was supposed to explain that”, Gorgus said under his breath. Luna chuckled.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby”, she waved her hoof, “now what’s the least infected memory?”
“Oh”, Gorgus snapped out of his poutiness, “That would be his oldest memory. It takes a while for the curse to affect it, so I think that could be our best bet.”
“So lead us on, guide”, Luna winked, as Gorgus blushed.
He walked up to a green door with a crown on top of it. He took out an axe with the same symbol.
“I’d suggest you step away for a bit”, he said as he prepared to strike, “It’s going to get pretty messy.”
Luna stepped back slowly as she watched the fiery behemoth rise his axe.
He swung the weapon as hard as he could and made the door literally explode in tiny shrapnel. In one fell swoop the door became dust as
Luna shielded her eyes from the oncoming debris.
“HA HA!” Gorgus laughed, “These muscles aren’t just for show. Let’s go!”
Luna dusted herself off from the sawdust and followed the creature. Gorgus jumped into a swirly portal that seemed to resonate in the darkest colors of blue, red, black and green. Luna quickly followed suit, questioning what sort of things lie behind.
As Luna finally materialized she had quite the sight to take in.
A gigantic, darkened land spread across as far as her eyes could see. Bizarre creatures of all shapes and sizes phased through Luna as she starred in awe at them. Batponies, gargoyles, skeletal ponies, Cerberus, and decaying dragons were just a few that Luna could recognize in this place.
Luna looked up to Gorgus.
“Relax, they can’t touch you”, Gorgus said, “They are just memories. We do not exist for them.”
“I understand that”, Luna said, “But where are we?”
“We are in Tartarus, your majesty”, Gorgus explained.
Luna watched breathlessly at the scenery before her in awe.
The entire ground was covered in what looked to be fire grass; the trees grew everything from golden apples to nectar: a green and white fruit resembling passionfruit.
As she watched the ground Luna noticed a few flowers started to appear. They looked like orchids, but every petal was colored differently and it was at least half the size of orchids. The flowers also bared very sharp leaves which were metallic in their appearance, giving off an illusion of a freshly sharpened sword blade.
“Is that ambrosia?” Luna asked Gorgus, pointing at the flowers scattered around the floor.
“Yes it is, but we don’t have time to admire the pretty flowers”, Gorgus rushed Luna, “Every second the serpents are growing in strength and we must stop them! So let’s get moving!”
“Of course!” Luna clicked and followed Gorgus.
As they walked through the crowd, Luna could clearly see something big was going down. All of the creatures suddenly stopped as the sound of trumpet went off in the distance.
“That sounds like our next destination”, Gorgus said as they followed the crowd.
Luna wondered what is going, but soon enough all became clear.
The crowd gathered around a magnificent castle.
It was completely carved out of red stone and it had five towers around. The peeks of the main structure were shaped like a cupola and it had three spikes on the top. Surrounding the main building were five towers with the symbol of Tartarus Guard, which was a dragon with an axe and an olive branch in his claws.
On each tower a wyvern stood in a black and white armor overlooking the ceremony.
All of the balconies were beautifully decorated by carvings of roses, lions or warrior ponies, but only the highest balcony was decorated with the Royal Insignia above it.
Upon this balcony, Luna could see two Gargoyles standing with trumpets still in their claws. As they watched on, Luna’s eyes bulged up.
From the castle and onto the balcony exited a being she knew far too well.
It was Radifus!
Luna could feel her anger slowly building up at the wretched reptilian in front of her.
As she observed him closer, Luna could notice that his scales were much lighter.
The golden spikes that adorned his tail weren’t there and even his horns still haven’t grown. The sharp row of razor sharp teeth was still present there, but even they seemed to be smaller than she remembered. Even his eyes weren’t golden now. They were pale green and actually gave off a pleasant vibe, allowing Luna to ease her anger. She could barely recognize him!
“Is that Radifus?” she whispered to Gorgus. Gorgus nodded in affirmation.
“Stunning difference, wouldn’t you agree?” Gorgus commented.
“I’ll say”, Luna said to herself as she looked on.
Radifus looked at the crowd with a smug smirk plastered on his face. It was at that moment that Luna noticed the beginning of the beast that plagued her.
Radifus coughed as the crowd fell silent.
“Presenting King Hadeus and his wonderful bride Queen Persephone in company of the newly crowned prince Darkrim, the Royal Trinity that will guide our glorious nation into a new reign of peace and prosperity”, Basilisk finished his introduction as all of ponies and creatures cheered. From the castle exited three figures.
Luna automatically noticed the young form of Darkrim, as well as the other two ponies.
A dark unicorn stood proudly to the left of Darkrim. His luscious mane was filled with black magic fire as it waved gently on the wind.
His eyes were burning with a passionate orange glow as he looked onto his people with pride and joy. His smile exposed his pearly white teeth. From his forehead emerged a twisted dark blue and black horn which seemed to actually be consisted of two smaller horns.
On his head he wore a sharp red crown made of the finest rubies bits could buy.
This was King Hadeus, the ruler of Tartarus.
He stood with his head held high and had his hoof proudly placed on the newly crowned prince.
On the right was a feminine alicorn.
She stood in an elegant pose smiling kindly at her son.
She had a grey coat with cyan blue mane. Her mane seemed to be consisted of pure ice as it flowed gently like a snowflake’s dance. A pale blue aura seemed to surround her and her deep blue eyes generated a certain kind of calmness that eased even Luna.
Her horn was curved to the back in the shape of a crescent moon and it gave off a bright shimmering glow. Her wings seemed to be completely transparent with edges as sharp as an icicle.
The more she looked at Queen Persephone the more she understood that the tales of a cold beauty living in the fires of Tartarus were true.
Around her neck Persephone wore an amulet of her cutie mark, which was a double tailed ice siren.
“My loyal subjects”, Persephone began in a gentle voice that could be only described like the ringing of silver bells, “Today we celebrate a very special occasion.”
“Our son”, Hadeus began in a bombastic voice, “Has finally been christened as a prince. On this day, his ninth birthday, we have our next ruler! All praise Necessity for giving us this wonderful gift and may we prosper even more!”
“All praise Necessity!” Radifus said and others followed him.
As the crowd cheered on, Luna could notice a creature being awfully silent. He seemed like other gargoyles, but something was off.
A devious purple glow was coming out of his eyes.
Luna nudged Gorgus.
“Gargoyles don’t glow purple, right?” she whispered to him, quietly signaling to the devious looking beast.
“Not that I know of”, Gorgus replied as he observed the monster.
Gorgus began to take out his axe, but the infected Gargoyle took notice of it, causing it to dash in fear.
“I’ll follow him in the air, you go afoot!” Luna commanded as she took flight.
Gorgus nodded his head and chased the gargoyle.
As they chased him Gorgus had to mind other creatures. Even though they were invisible to the crowd, the crowd wasn’t transparent which allowed the gargoyle to hide easier.
However, Luna was completely in her element and she could easily see the gargoyle’s purple energy.
Every time the beast thought it was safe, Luna would alert Gorgus of its whereabouts.
Eventually the two managed to chase the gargoyle out of the crowd and onto the open field.
Once the purple glowing beast was in the open, Luna darted herself in front of it, causing the monster to be flung right into Gorgus’ arms.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Gorgus said as he tightened his grip on the gargoyle.
“Let go off me, you big buffoon!” the infected being wriggled and clawed at Gorgus.
Luna walked over to the gargoyle and stared in its eyes.
It was like she could see all of the horrors and all of the sins of her past returning in one moment. She shut her eyes and averted her gaze from the monster.
“What is it, princess? Scared of the truth?” the gargoyle mocked the night regal.
As it laughed, Gorgus took the gargoyle by the foot and slammed him onto the ground. The force of the hit made the being revert to its serpentile form.
Before it could slither away, Gorgus picked it up by the tail.
“We’re not done with you just yet”, he said in a furious tone.
Once Luna fully composed herself, she focused all of her lightning magic and struck the serpent right in its head.
The beast screeched in pain as the electricity passed through its body, charring him completely.
Gorgus dropped it as quick as he could and fell down.
Luna rushed over to Gorgus.
“I am so sorry!” she began apologizing to the wounded behemoth. He just got up and brushed himself off, much to Luna’s surprise.
“Don’t worry”, Gorgus laughed, “It takes a lot more than that to keep me down!”
Luna sighed in relief.
“Note to self: Be more careful with lightning magic”, Luna whispered under her voice.
“Well one down, who knows how many more to come”, Gorgus said as he watched the charred remains of a dead serpent.
“And they are only going to get worse from here on”, Luna commented.
As they walked back Luna could feel something weird. It felt just like she was reentering the memory world all over again.
Time seemed to be sped up as Luna and Gorgus were transported to a whole different place.
She closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t get dizzy, and, as the night regal reopened them, she could see, clear as day, a luscious throne room.
The ceiling was decorated with beautiful jewels the majority of them being rubies, opals, and irantium, a precious gem made of encased dragon fire.
The walls around her were pretty bare, except of three paintings placed on each side.
The picture right to her was of a black Minotaur with golden gloves, a Viking helmet, and a battle ready Spartan armor. Under his name was written ‘Furia, the conqueror’. This Minotaur was the first one to actually conquest enough of the land so he could make a sovereign state of Tartarus. In his right hand he held a war axe and in his left he held the deed to Tartarus.
The picture to her left portrayed a pony unlike any Luna had ever seen before. His eyes were absolutely black, much like coal, and so was the rest of his coat. His mane was pale blue and really flowing around his body. On his head he wore a crown made of irantium and on his chest was the Royal armor, much like Sombra’s. Beneath his picture was written ‘Dormius, the first King’.
Luna could recall Starswirl’s stories about Dormius’ reign and his powerful forces of Shadows. He was the first pony to discover the powers of darkness and he was the first to raise a shadow army, at the cost of his sanity.
The picture in front of Luna portrayed their third founder. It was a picture of a pale white dragon with small beady green eyes.
His portrayed was made so he stood on his hind paws allowing his frontal paws to be fully opened. In his right paw, the dragon held a dove and in is left paw he held the eye of wisdom.
His underbelly was dark blue and around the dragon stood ponies, gargoyles, skeletons, eyeleeches flew up to its head and manticores stood on his shoulders.
Beneath the clustered image was clearly written ‘Terragon, the Unifier’. The dragon was the first one who stopped all the wars and ended the feud between Equestria and Tartarus.
These three were the most powerful creatures that ever lived in Tartarus and they were seen as the founders of Tartarus.
They were on the royal insignia and they were celebrated by all residents of the darkness.
As Luna observed the figures surrounding her she could see two thrones in front of her.
One was made from the finest chryscolla gems, making it resemble like an icy throne, while the other one was made from the finest obsidian crafted in a shape of rising thorns.
The thrones looked spectacular to Luna, as did the entire room, but she still couldn’t figure out why they were here.
“Um, Gorgus”, Luna began, “Do you know where we are?”
Gorgus pulled out a map.
“Well, according to this map”, Gorgus said, “It would appear we have been transported to a higher up memory.”
“But how did we get here?” Luna asked in confusion.
“If I had to guess”, Gorgus explained, “I’d say that the previous memory must have ended. Combine that with the destruction of that snake back there it must have been a powerful enough blast to send us here.”
“But how come nopony is here?” Luna continued her questions, “If it’s Darkrim’s memory shouldn't he, at the very least, be present?"
“Who says he isn’t?” Gorgus said and pointed to one of the darker corners of the throne room.
Luna narrowed her eyes in order to see the concealed unicorn’s red horn barely peeking out.
“Why is he hiding?” she asked Gorgus.
“You’ll see soon enough”, Gorgus said barely holding in his laughter. Luna was confused, but she proceeded to look on.
A few seconds past, when a grey alicorn walked in.
“Hmm, I wonder where that son of mine went”, Persephone yelled as she closed in on Darkrim.
Darkrim chuckled a bit to himself, much like a child does when he thinks he outsmarted an adult.
Luna echoed his chuckle as Gorgus winked at her.
Both of them silently watched as Persephone slowly made her way towards Darkrim. As she stood, no more than a hoofstep away from the prince, Persephone turned her back.
“He couldn’t possibly be here, could he?” Persephone jumped, but to her surprise Darkrim wasn’t there.
Instead she heard a childish laughter coming from behind her.
“Ha! I got you mommy”, a small dark blue unicorn said as he jumped on Persephone’s back. She laughed along with her child.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Persephone asked in fake surprise.
“Radifus taught me!” the child exclaimed in ecstasy.
“Really?” Persephone responded in the same tone as before.
“Mhm”, Darkrim nodded his head, "He says that it could help me get out of sticky situations."
“Well did he also teach you that young colts like yourself need their sleep?” Persephone asked.
“Aww mom, come on”, Darkrim complained, “I am a prince now! Shouldn’t my bedtime be a bit later?”
“I’ll think about it and tell you in the morning”, Persephone winked at her son, “But only if you go to sleep now.”
“Deal!” Darkrim clicked as he rushed off to his bedroom.
Luna and Gorgus followed suit with the young colt and his mother. They arrived in a big lusciously decorated room with a big bed in the middle. Persephone tucked Darkrim into his bed. He was still far too restless to sleep. Just as she was about to leave him be for the night, Darkrim stopped her.
“Mommy”, he said with a bit of embarrassment.
“Yes dear?” Persephone said.
“Could you please sing me a song? Please”, the little colt asked so nicely that Persephone had no other option than to cater to his whim.
“Fine”, she said with a gentle smile, “But only one song and then you must go to sleep.”
Darkrim nodded his head.
Luna and Gorgus looked on as Persephone breathed in deeply and began her tune.
"Listen to the twinkle of the stars
Hear their far off cries
as they sing their lullaby
they rejoice, a new prince has arrived!
A prince that will usher a reign
of peace, prosperity and other gain
for a dawn of the golden sun
Will finally shine on everyone
He shall chase away the sorrow
And bring a brighter tomorrow
To this troubled land of ours
And frees us from our darkest hours
He will be kind
He will be wise
And he will be loved by everyone
So sleep my dearest child
Let the sun and the moon be your guide
And be the prince of Tartarus’ rise”
As Luna listened to Persephone’s song, she couldn’t help but let a tear to slip out of her eye.
Her voice so enchanting, that Luna understood why they called Persephone the Queen of Ice and Song. She looked over to her right and saw that Gorgus was pretty much asleep.
She ribbed him as the behemoth awoke with a startle.
“Wow, I always forget how powerful her voice is”, Gorgus said as he stretched, “Hey how come you didn’t fall asleep?”
“Please, it would take much more than a song to put me to sleep”, Luna said and smirked smugly.
“Fair enough”, Gorgus said.
As she finished her song, Persephone left Darkrim to his dreams.
The second she left, Gorgus and Luna could feel a presence joining them.
They looked around the room, but nothing showed up. However, they could sense something lurking in the shadows. As she walked slowly, Luna noticed something in the right corner.
It was a figure in the shape of an alicorn.
Her heart raced as the moonlight outside began to slowly shine the pale blue armor with the crescent moon on the black alicorn’s torso. Luna could notice that her teeth were just as sharp as ever, as the Nightmare directed her eyes toward Luna.
“Very peculiar”, the creature spoke as Luna looked at it with fear. The night regal began to walk back, as if she were trying to run away from the monster in front of her.
“What an interesting specimen!” the Nightmare clicked, “Her fear seems to be of herself. How very interesting.”
The more this beast talked, the less Luna was afraid.
“What are you?” Luna asked as Gorgus quickly joined her.
He prepared his hammer to strike the beast in front of them.
“Don’t strike me!” the alicorn yelled as its form destabilized.
It recomposed from the fog into a slender bipedal being with a top hat and a skull cane in its hand. He had the eyes of Dormius which contrasted vastly on his pale, mask-like face which appeared to have a crack running through the middle of it. The rest of his attire was pretty much similar to a noble’s clothing; black and slick coat with a puffy shirt underneath, dark striped trouser ending with slick shoes. On his coat was clearly visible a medal of a screaming face.
Gorgus smiled as he placed down his axe.
Luna looked at Gorgus in surprise.
“Princess Luna, this is Insomnia Elysium”, Gorgus presented the tall creature as Insomnia gently bowed. He extended his long bony fingers towards Luna.
“Nice to meet you”, Luna said as he firmly grasped her hoof. She was a bit surprised at his firm grasp.
“So what do you do here? Aside from scaring innocent ponyfolk that is”, Luna said bitterly.
“My dear”, the creature’s crack moved upwards to form a smile, “That is precisely my job. Locate, expose and eliminate all signs of powerful fears that plague this stallion’s mind. Perhaps you could use my services as well”, he joked with Luna.
“I’ll think about it”, Luna responded, “So what are you doing here?”
“Well this is the birth place of his fears”, Insomnia explained.
He reached with one of his bony hands into Darkrim’s mind and pulled out a dream bubble. He then proceeded to expand the bubble, causing Darkrim’s dreams be exposed.
Inside this dream, Luna could see Darkrim as a ruler of Tartarus. Ponies and creatures alike were coming to him with all sorts of problems ranging from the failure of the crops to the war that he so blindly started. He tried to contain the unruly mass, but their problems overruled his consciousness. They were start to group up on him as a creature stood in front of them. The creature was a shadowed genral with boar like tusks, menacingly looking at Darkrim.
“For your crimes and uncaring nature, I sentence you to death! Off with his head!” he screamed as the mass of creatures launched themselves at Darkrim.
The dream stopped right there as Darkrim awoke with a gasp.
Luna was horrified by the sight she saw. Gorgus remained silent in disbelief.
Insomnia observed their utter shock with some twisted interest in his eyes as he approached Darkrim. Darkrim was inhaling and exhaling at an alarming speed, but he did not scream.
Cold sweat appeared on the young colt’s forehead as Insomnia took him into his arms.
He looked into Darkrim’s eyes with his dark pupils as if he were putting him in some sort of a trance.
Luna wanted to rush and stop him, but Gorgus prevented her.
“He knows what he is doing”, Gorgus said.
As Insomnia finished his séance, Darkrim began to feel much easier.
His eyes slowly began to shut down, until he was finally back to sleep.
Luna watched completely baffled.
“What just happened?” she whispered under her breath, much to Insomnia’s pleasure.
“Easing aura therapy”, Insomnia replied, “By sacrificing a part of my energy I managed to return Darkrim to his dream world. Sure, he won’t have any dreams tonight, but at least he will be fresh tomorrow to face them head on.”
“Well why didn’t you do that before the nightmare even began?” Luna asked.
“As I said, my job is to: locate, expose and eliminate! I can’t just use this magic willy nilly”, Insomnia explained, “Not to mention this is the first time I came into being.”
“This is how you were born?” Luna asked.
“Why of course!” Insomnia explained, “You see, Tartarus ponies do not have the same privileges as your ponies. They don’t have an omnipotent duo of princess that could create protectors to guard their minds. Like your Songbirds”, Insomnia said, much to Luna’s surprise. “How did you--“, Luna wanted to ask, but Insomnia cut her off.
“I know more about you then I had lead on”, Insomnia said in a mysterious voice, “Anyways, like I said, Tartarus beings don’t have the same privileges as your Equestrian beings, so we come into play. Isdeuh, Eluvietta, Gorgus and I are just a few of the many Guardians in this pony’s mind alone. We have been personally selected by Necessity itself to Guard this pony’s mind. However our appearance varies from the state of his mind. This is his earliest and most powerful memory of fear and that is how I came to be”, Insomnia explained with a kind smile.
“Well if you are supposed to protect him from fear”, Luna said, slowly flaring up, “Why haven’t you stopped the advance of the shadow serpents?!”
Insomnia fell silent.
His cheery demeanor fell into a grim expression of sorrow, which took its place.
“They’re far too powerful”, Insomnia spoke somberly, as he noticed some shadows on the wall slowly growing larger, “We use the same magic, so mine can only slow the advances of these beasts, but not destroy them. Even as we speak they are regrouping”, Insomnia explained as he struck the ground with his cane.
A flash of lightning unveiled the infestation in the room.
All around them serpents were crawling like maggots over a deceased flesh.
Luna backed away slowly.
“As you can see, my powers keep them at bay”, Insomnia sighed, “but they still continue to thrive like vicious vermin”, Insomnia said with disgust as he used his cane to deflect one of the serpents that got a bit too close.
The slimy reptile went flying across the room, but it got up just as fast.
Luna couldn’t believe the amount of these creatures just in this memory.
“How come there are so many of them?” Luna asked in confusion, “This is a rather old memory, there shouldn’t be this many of them!”
“That may be the case, but the memory is very strong and it contains his first fears surfacing. Two of the things these beasts seem to love the most”, Insomnia explained.
Luna watched as the serpents continued to circle around them.
“Why don’t they attack us?” she asked.
“We’re in moonlights way here”, Insomnia said as he looked up, “They really don't like that."
As Insomnia said that his face suddenly lit up.
He looked at Luna.
At first she was confused, but in a matter of seconds she understood exactly what Insomnia wanted.
Gorgus watched them with a blank look on his face.
“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Insomnia asked with his crack transforming into a sly grin.
“Definitely”, Luna nodded her head and shone him the same grin.
“Well I have no idea what you are talking about!” Gorgus said.
“Just follow us, alright, big guy?” Insomnia spoke condescendingly.
Gorgus gave him an angry look, slowly tapping his hammer against the palm of his hand.
“Alright, here’s what we will do”, Luna began to explain, “Insomnia you will have to lead the serpents in here. The moonlight won’t kill them, but it will severely weaken the horde.”
“Already on it”, Insomnia said as he began to morph into Nightmare Moon.
Luna looked at him with an expression of amusement and slight irritation.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” Night- I mean, Insomnia said angrily, “Those things will be drawn to the sheer horror this creature has over you. See”, he pointed one of his hooves at the oncoming den of black serpents who were slowly taking notice of him stepping into their domain.
Luna waved her hoof and continued.
“Gorgus, I’ll need you for this next part. More precisely your hammer”, Luna said.
“Why?” Gorgus asked suspiciously.
“Your hammer will serve as the conductor for my electricity. If I zap you with my lightning it should get more concentrated in your hammer and thus usher a powerful enough blast to destroy the serpents”, Luna explained.
“So let me get this straight. You want to shoot me with Necessity only knows how many volts of electricity in some vain attempt to destroy all those things in one blast?” Gorgus said as he tried to process Luna’s instructions.
“Precisely”, Luna exclaimed calmly, “It shouldn’t harm you, considering you were able to take a direct hit when I zapped that gargoyle.”
“I’m going to hate myself in the morning for this”, Gorgus mumbled under his breath as he shook his head, “Fine! Use me as a conductor.”
“Great!” Luna clicked.
Meanwhile, Insomnia was trying to gather the serpents. In his Nightmare Moon form the serpents seemed to flock to him, but they would not attack. Instead they stood beneath his feet, eagerly following every move he made.
“The beasts are reacting to me as if I were their leader”, Insomnia thought to himself as he stood tall and proud over the shadow serpents,
“What is it about this body that drives them to complacency? They didn’t react like this to any of my other forms”, Insomnia continued his train of thoughts.
He slowly began to back away from the serpents as they followed suit. It was like they were entranced by his appearance. He looked back as Luna winked at him.
Just as he was about to enter the moonlit are, Insomnia transformed into his original shape. The serpents, enraged, rushed towards him. Insomnia just smiled and jumped high up.
The serpents were confused only for a second as Luna charged her lightning magic. In mere moments Luna unleashed one of the most powerful blasts she could muster.
It zapped right through Gorgus’ body, making him clench his teeth in pain.
However the electricity was amplified just enough that the hammer unleashed one huge wave of energy, frying every serpent in sight. Those which did not fry at first were indirectly hit by transmitted electricity. Insomnia turned his head away as a bright flash of light filled the room. As the light died down, Insomnia opened his eyes. Next to him laid a passed out Luna and Gorgus. Soon enough they gained consciousness.
“Remind me to never do that again”, Luna commented to Gorgus.
“Agreed”, Gorgus said as he dusted himself off. His fur was still charred a bit from where the lightning had entered his body, but aside from that he was as fine as summer wine.
“I think you should see this”, Insomnia commented as he looked on the desolate land in front of him.
Luna and Gorgus looked at each other, puzzled by what had just happened.
“We must have hit another memory jump”, Luna said, “Where are we?”
“See for yourself”, Gorgus said as he showed Luna the map.
Luna examined the map as her eyes widened. Insomnia quickly joined them.
“Wow”, he exclaimed as he saw the level of consciousness they were on, “This is quite recent!”
“Yeah”, Gorgus responded, “There must’ve been enough of a release to send us here.”
“Well considering the amount we destroyed in one blast, I would certainly hope so”, Luna replied.
As the three looked around they could easily see a deserted area. It was like nothing lived in this secluded area.
The gates of Tartarus and its three headed powerhouse of a guardian, Cerberus, were just a few feet away from them and Darkrim was slowly approaching it.
As soon as Darkrim came into view, Cerberus rushed towards him and began licking his coat.
“Hey, big guy!” Darkrim said as he petted his monstrous dog.
The beast began to roll on its stomach as Darkrim scratched it with a smile.
Luna couldn’t help herself, but smile.
As they watched on, Insomnia tapped Luna on her shoulders.
“What is it?” Luna asked.
Insomnia just pointed to the gates.
As they watched on a beautiful Pegasus, descended from the skies and entered right into Tartarus.
Her marvelous white coat and feathers clashed highly with her surrounding and she seemed to have been emitting a bright glow, like the Sun itself bathed her.
Her mane was luscious, curly and tainted in gold which seem to sparkle even in a cold dark place like this. She had a very familiar physique as well as a muzzle, but Luna waved it off as nothing more than just a coincidence. On her flank was clearly visible a bloody red shield with a laurel behind it.
As the pegasus entered, she smiled at the display of affection in front of her.
“So that’s what you do when I am not around?” the pegasus spoke in a voice that actually made Luna do a double take.
Darkrim grinned at her.
“Looks like you caught me”, Darkrim said as he pulled the pegasus into his embrace, “Now the question is; what are you going to do with me?”
She smiled back at Darkrim and bit her lip.
“Why don’t I show you?” the pegasus said as she pulled Darkrim towards her.
As they kissed Luna turned her attention to Gorgus.
“Who is that pony?” she asked.
“That pony is none other than Beatrice Palghieri”, a mysterious female voice said behind them.
As the group turned around they could see a unicorn standing behind them.
Her mane seemed to be split into two parts; one was completely golden, similar to Beatrice’s, while the other part was painted crimson red. Her body was as elegant as Persephone’s and it shone in a light blue color with shining stars scattered on it. Her tail was quite luscious as it was painted in an array of bright rainbow colors. The horn of this unicorn was made of pure gold with gems of every color covering it and a rose pendant hung from her neck.
Everybody was in awe of this pony, except for Insomnia. He looked at her with incredible spite.
“Hello Hatite he said coldly, “Fancy meeting your flank in these parts.”
“Oh Insomnia”, Hatite said with a smile, “I am so flattered that your rage continues to grow.”
Insomnia growled at her, while Hatite just blew him a kiss.
Luna just looked at this display of passive aggression with slight amusement.
“Pardon the intrusion”, Luna interrupted them, “but you were talking about that pony over there”, she said, referring to Hatite.
“Oh yes”, Hatite exclaimed, “That pony over there is Beatrice Palghieri or as I know her the ‘pure beauty that shines through the Tartarus night”, Hatite explained.
“I see”, Luna continued, “And I guess your duty is to keep track of Darkrim’s love life?”
“Well that would be the overly simplified explanation of mine duties”, Hatite clarified, “I am, what you would call, his Love Guardian.”
“And an annoying one”, Insomnia commented rudely.
Luna shot him a glare.
Hatite averted her eyes back to the loving duo. Beatrice and Darkrim were happily playing with Cerberus, making Luna’s smile grow even larger.
“They look so happy together, don’t they?” Luna said to Hatite. Hatite gave off a vacant smile.
“They sure do”, she replied unenthused.
Luna found this a bit odd, but nevertheless she looked on.
As the two finished their game with Cerberus, they sat down and looked at the bleak Tartarus sky. Beatrice was nestled nicely in Darkrim’s hooves and he was gently caressing her mane.
“I wish this moment could last forever”, Darkrim spoke softly to his beloved pegasus.
“Me too”, Beatrice sighed as she cuddled closer to Darkrim.
Luna watched as tears of joy filled her eyes.
However, Hatite looked more sorrowful than joyous.
Gorgus was in a similar mood, while Insomnia remained just as cold and angered as before.
“What’s wrong?” Luna asked, confused by the grim expressions of her guides “they seem very happy together”.
“That’s just it”, Gorgus replied, “Their happiness is quite unbearable to witness once you know how the story ends”, Gorgus ended somberly.
“I don’t understand", Luna responded.
“Just watch!” Insomnia interrupted.
As Luna watched she saw Beatrice looking at her wings.
They seemed much bleaker then they were when she first made her appearance.
Darkrim seemed to have noticed that as well, as his expression moved from cheerful and smitten to sorrowful and contemplative.
“I wish that you could stay a bit longer. You know we only have today”, Darkrim said grimly to his beloved.
“I wish so too, my love”, Beatrice spoke elegantly, “but this is not our final goodbye. It is only a farewell until next time”, Beatrice said, with a kind smile and barely holding in her tears.
Before she took off to the skies, Darkrim stopped her.
“Wait”, he said and pulled a necklace from his back.
The necklace seemed to be made from irantium and it showed a unicorns horn on a shield surrounded by a laurel.
Beatrice was speechless as Darkrim placed the necklace around her beautiful head.
“How did”, Beatrice tried to ask between gasps.
“Hephaestus made it. I combined my magic and your cutie mark so you will always have a small reminder of me”, Darkrim said with an embarrassed smile.
Beatrice hugged him as hard as she could, showering him in kisses and letting her tears flow freely.
After saying their tearful goodbyes for the second time, Beatrice flew up and left Tartarus. Luna could feel her eyes watering up.
“As a light pegasus Beatrice cannot stay too long or the dark magic that flows through Tartarus could kill her”, Hatite explained sorrowfully.
“So she risks, on every Hearts and Hooves Day, her life just to see Darkrim”, Gorgus added on to their explanation.
“I never knew that”, Luna said sorrowfully, “but she’ll still get to see him next year”.
Suddenly Insomnia scoffed. His scoffs of annoyance soon turned into a maniacal laughter of pure insanity.
“Ha ha! That’s rich!” he yelled maniacally “Don’t you see, princess dearest? There will not be a next year. Isn’t that right, Hatite?”
Hatite averted her eyes.
Luna was confused.
“Why are you treating her so cruelly?” the night regal confronted Insomnia.
Hatite was hiding her face away from the others as tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks.
“Why am I being cruel?!” Insomnia yelled “Perhaps after you see a bit more, you will understand”.
As Luna watched on she saw three gargoyle guards led by an unidentifiable creature approaching poor Darkrim.
This beast seemed to be at least half a foot taller than the gargoyles. It had a grayish blue face with boar like tusks peering out of his lion like skull. It was rather muscular in its built and wore a dark red armor.
It had two, horse-like, hooves and long arms ending in sharp claws.
As Darkrim noticed this beast and his cohorts approaching, he became more nervous.
“Cerberus stop them!” Darkrim commanded at the three headed beast.
Just as the hellhound began to bark at the oncoming barrage, the tusked monstrosity ushered a different command.
“Cease, you hellish beast in the name of general Ares!” the monster commanded in a snarling voice.
The three headed dog cowered back to Darkrim.
“It’s okay boy. At least we tried”, Darkrim spoke as he petted the three headed beast.
Luna watched at the edge of her seat as the horrors unfolded before her eyes. She could almost hear Insomnia snickering and speaking under his voice, “Are you proud, Hatite?”
She watched as the general apprehended Darkrim.
“Prince Darkrim, I, general Ares Iracundia, accuse you for treacherous rendezvous with the light winged enemy! Your judgment shall be passed immediately! Now, take him away!” he commanded his minions, as Luna watched in horror.
She wanted to run towards Darkrim, to save him, but it would be all in vain.
The three gargoyles rushed quickly as Darkrim just stood there, emotionless and expressionless.
As the gargoyles placed the shackles over Darkrim’s hooves, Ares smirked, showing of the rows of his jagged teeth.
“You can’t talk your way out of this one, prince”, he spoke to prince as Luna and the guardians watched.
The night regal was horrified and Hatite could barely stand on her hooves.
Luckily, Gorgus managed to hold her in his arms.
“It’s not your fault”, he kept whispering into her ear.
Even in this state, Luna could notice Insomnia, still filled with spite, angrily approaching Hatite.
It almost looked like he was going to destroy her with that maddening gaze in his eyes.
“Insomnia, stop!” Luna yelled as she stood in front of the deranged guard.
“Why should I?! She is after all the reason this whole fiasco happened!” Insomnia screamed like a madman.
“No she is not!” Gorgus confronted him.
He was about to get his hammer out as the three felt they were being transported once more.
Luna closed her eyes as the bright light enveloped them all once again.
As Luna reopened her eyes, she could see that they were back in the throne room once more.
On the throne were now king Hadeus on the left and Queen Persephone on the right. In front of them stood Ares, as proudly as he could, Darkrim, all in shackles and attempting to make no eye contact with his parents and the three gargoyles that apprehended him.
To Luna’s left was Insomnia and to her right was Gorgus.
“Why did they capture him?” Luna asked before the trial started.
Gorgus fell silent as Hatite gave off a deep sigh.
Insomnia scoffed at her remark.
“I’ll tell you why”, Insomnia began, his long arms firmly crossed on his chest as his dark eyes gazed hollowly in front of him, “It is all because of that minx back there.”
“She is not a minx!” Hatite spoke defensively.
“Oh my mistake”, Insomnia responded sarcastically, “What should I call her then? A kind hearted angel of the heavens as you would describe her?! Please spare me. Her involvement with Darkrim brought us nothing more than trouble”, Insomnia continued, “From the sleepless nights Darkrim had because of her, through all of the fears he suffered and all culminating in this. She is nothing but a minx, but you couldn’t see that! No matter how many times I warned you, you insisted on those secret rendezvous!” Insomnia continued, but Gorgus couldn’t bare it anymore.
He noticed how distressed and hurt Hatite was.
“That’s quite enough Insomnia!” Gorgus yelled.
As the three guardians bickered, Luna watched on.
“We have brought you your son, my liege!” the general spoke with a sly grin on his face “We have caught him conversing with a light pegasus down by the Tartarus entrance.”
“I see”, Hadeus began, looking down at his son with a disappointed gaze, “Is this true prince?”
“Yes, but I—“, Darkrim tried to justify himself, but Hadeus only cut him off.
“Leave us be, Ares”, Hadeus commanded, “And free him from the shackles”.
“But your highness --“, Ares tried to protest, but Hadeus stared angrily at him.
Within his eyes Ares could feel his very soul waning away.
“Fine”, Ares said and signaled his minions to unshackle Darkrim.
“Now leave!” Hadeus yelled as Ares and his entourage quickly walked out.
As the four creatures left, Darkrim was left alone with his parents.
He looked up, finally gaining the courage to look his father in the eyes, only to see a burning gaze of disappointment peering at him.
By this point the guardians finally stopped bickering, as they watched silently the scene in front of them.
Hadeus sighed as Persephone held his hoof.
“Do you know what you have done, Darkrim?” Hadeus began slowly and calmly.
“Yes”, Darkrim replied silently.
“Oh I don’t think you do”, Hadeus, began, his anger slowly bubbling, “You have thrown your crown, you heritage and all for what? A stupid pegasus that’s what!” Hadeus continued as Persephone tried to calm him down.
“She is not a stupid pegasus!” Darkrim yelled in protest.
Hadeus scoffed.
“I am sure you think so”, Hadeus continued as he walked down from his throne and to one of his windows.
“You know what I must do now?” Hadeus continued “Your behavior has been unfit for a prince and your relationship with a light pegasus can only be seen in the eyes of the public as treason.”
“She wasn’t a threat”, Darkrim defended himself, “I loved her and I still do. I was truly happy with her. How can you punish me for being happy?” Darkrim yelled as tears welled up in his eyes.
Persephone rushed down from her throne and hugged her son.
Hadeus felt like his heart was going to break, but he knew what he had to do.
“I am sorry, son”, Hadeus began with a heavy heart, “But you know the law. I, King Hadeus, by the order of Furia, Dormius and Terragon order you to be banished from the sovereign state of Tartarus. And, this goes without saying, but, you are herby stripped of all your duties as a prince and you are to live in exile, until you have proven yourself worthy of retaking the throne! My judgment has been passed!” Hadeus finished off as Darkrim broke down in tears.
Persephone’s wings covered him as she cried in unison with her son, her cold breath barely comforting the banished prince.
Luna felt horrible that such injustice was passed down to Darkrim.
“Now you see why my rage burns for that incompetent guard over there”, Insomnia approached Luna, “She was suppose to prevent these things from happening.”
Luna glared angrily at Insomnia.
“You know I am getting pretty much sick of hearing you blame Hatite for everything”, Luna spoke with vigor, causing Insomnia to flinch, “What could she have possibly done? Perhaps she could have broken his heart so you have even more fears to deal with?”
“She could’ve stopped him from falling in love”, Insomnia mumbled.
“She is a guardian!” Luna replied “She doesn’t control his emotions!”
Insomnia wanted to retort, but instead, fell silent. He knew Luna was right. The Mind Guardians can only protect Darkrim’s inner thoughts, but they cannot control his emotions or his actions. Could he have been wrong about Hatite?
As Insomnia pondered about his misplaced anger, he began to notice something.
A shadow figure began to crawl over the walls as the memory began to fade into inky blackness.
“Looks like we have some unwanted company”, he said to Luna as the blackness began to take over.
Gorgus prepared his hammer and Hatite wiped her tears away.
The royal family began to dissolve as well and it seemed to fuse with the darkness.
Out of the infected memory, two glowing purple eyes appeared, peering back at our heroes, as it began to form the shape of a serpent. It stood at least ten feet tall glaring down at the guardians with vengeful and fearsome eyes.
“Leave this place or suffer their fates!” the serpent hissed as it showed the skeletons of different creatures all absorbed in its dark coils.
All three Memoriam Guardians looked on in horror at their fallen brethren, filling them with righteous fury.
“We shall not yield!” Luna confronted the monster.
“Then you shall perish!” the serpent spoke as it launched itself towards the guardians.
Luna and Hatite flew up while Insomnia did a back-flip and landed just away from the serpent’s mouth.
Gorgus jumped up high and took out his hammer.
He hit the serpent right in its head, forcing its upper jaw to clash with its bottom jaw, effectively penetrating it.
The serpent fell with a scream as Luna used her lightning magic to fry it.
As her scorching lightning impacted the nightmarish being, smoke arose from the serpent’s body causing Luna’s vision to be obstructed.
Once everything settled they saw the serpent lying, seemingly dead.
“Clear away from the body!”Luna commanded.
“Don’t worry he’s as dead as he could be!” Gorgus spoke from the top of the beast’s head.
As if on cue the serpent began to rise, causing Gorgus to jump off from it.
“But how is this possible?” Gorgus watched in awe.
The serpent swiped its tail, knocking Gorgus off from his feet.
It moved in for a strike, but Insomnia jumped in.
He swiped the malicious being with his cane, making it flinch. The serpent moved its attention away from Gorgus and began chasing Insomnia.
As he ran away, Insomnia began to transform into Nightmare Moon once more.
He made it just in time, as he flew up to Luna and Hatite.
However, the shadow serpent’s revenge was not yet complete as it grew wings of its own and began chasing Insomnia. He attempted to shoot any magic he could, but it only made things worse.
The best grew ever faster and Insomnia was already beginning to make amends with his fate.
Just as the serpent began to close in on him a beam of light came crashing down into the serpent, effectively causing it to fall back to the ground.
Insomnia looked to where the beam came from, only to see Hatite standing there.
“You saved me”, Insomnia spoke baffled by her actions, “and after how I treated you—“, he tried to apologize, but Hatite cut him off.
“Save your excuses for when we are not fighting for our bare lives!” Hatite yelled back and winked at Insomnia.
Luna noticed Hatite’s magic had severely injured the serpent.
She quickly approached her.
“You know light magic?” Luna asked in confusion.
“Well yeah”, Hatite replied, “I am the guardian of love after all. Light magic runs through my blood.”
As she said that Luna instantly hatched a plan to defeat the shadow beast.
“Insomnia get over here”, Luna commanded. Insomnia, in his Nightmare Moon form, flew over to Luna.
“Yes?” he asked.
“I will need you make sure the serpent chases you towards me and Hatite, mouth first”, Luna explained. Insomnia gave her a look of bewilderment.
“Are you insane? It would kill you!” he protested.
“Don’t worry”, Luna reassured him, “If everything goes according to plan we should be rid of the monster. Make sure Gorgus rides it, so we can assure that snake goes mouth first towards us. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it”, Insomnia responded as he flew down to Gorgus to inform him of the plan.
“Okay, now for the tricky part”, Luna said to Hatite, “I will need you to cross horns with me. When I say “NOW!” you will launch the strongest light magic you can. Paired with my lightning it should hit the core of the creature and destroy it on the spot! Do you understand me?”
“Yeah, I understand you”, Hatite replied, “Let’s do this then!”
Luna nodded her head as the plan was put into action.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Insomnia was explaining the plan to Gorgus.
“They want me to ride that ting?” Gorgus protested.
“Yes and there’s not too much time! It’s already beginning to wake up”, Insomnia tried to speed him up.
Gorgus quickly jumped on the serpent’s head, preparing his sword.
“I hope they know what they are doing!” Gorgus thought to himself as the shadow beast awoke.
“Well here goes nothing”, Insomnia thought to himself.
“Hey Black Adder!” Insomnia screamed at the awoken serpent “You still haven’t caught me, you incompetent slithering slob.”
A vengeful fire burned in the serpent’s eyes as it began to once again chase Insomnia, barely paying attention to Gorgus, who was firmly planted on its head.
Insomnia kept the creature in check, making it follow him, with its vicious jaws still closed.
He quickly approached Luna and Hatite.
As he did so, Insomnia made a sharp turn downwards, but Gorgus kept the serpent in check, stabbing it with his sword.
As the blade pierced through the monster’s skull, it unleashed a hellish scream, opening its jaws fully.
“Now!” Luna yelled as both she and Hatite began to fuel their magic.
From their horns exited a bright beam of light, like a spear, and entered the serpent’s esophagus.
Like a guided missile the beam quickly found the serpent’s core striking it down from the inside.
In one bright explosion the serpent unleashed all of the energy it had, releasing all that it had trapped.
The explosion was the biggest one Luna had yet seen as she closed her eyes and prepared for the final fight.
As she reopened them, Luna could feel the cold ground of her wonderful moon beneath her hooves.
“We made it!” Gorgus exclaimed as he woke up.
Luna smirked to herself as she saw the rest of her new friends awaken.
“So this is where it all started?” Insomnia stated as he looked around the deep void of the space surrounding them.
In front of him laid Equus in all of its green and blue glory. Left to Equus were three planets all smaller than it aligned perfectly with the Sun, which shone brighter than ever. Behind Equus was a formation of six other planets all varying in size, with the smallest being at least twice the size of Equus.
“Wow, it’s so beautiful here”, Hatite spoke as she looked in awe.
As they observed the space, Insomnia slowly approached Hatite.
“Hey, look, I just wanted to apologize for how badly I treated you”, Insomnia began, while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, “I was a bit angered and I projected that anger towards you.”
“It’s okay”, Hatite whispered, while blushing slightly, “You were right to be angry. I could have stopped this”, Hatite said and sighed deeply.
“Perhaps, but that is all in the past now”, Insomnia said, “And I was a fool to just chastise you for the past instead of looking to solve the problem of the present”, he finished and extended his slender arm, “Friends?”
Hatite smiled at him and extended her hoof.
“Friends”, she replied with a smile.
“Hey if you two are done making up, we still have an elder horror to take care of! Move it!” Gorgus yelled at the two as Luna was already deeply researching the moon’s surface.
“Equus is still unchanged, which is good”, she mumbled under her breath, “It will give us more time to prepare”.
Right at that moment the other three caught up to her.
“Ah so you finally decided to show up”, Luna said jokingly, “Did you two patch everything up?”
“It’s all taken care of”, Insomnia responded.
“We’re back in business”, Hatite said and shot him a smile.
“Good”, Luna said, “Now here is what we’re going to do. See that planet over there?” Luna said and pointed a hoof towards Equus.
“Yeah”, the three replied with skepticism.
“Well I will need you”, Luna pointed to Insomnia, “And Gorgus to go up to that planet once it starts to morph.”
“Wait what?” Gorgus yelled out while Insomnia bewilderedly looked at the planet and back at them.
“You mean to tell us that this one is going to be the size of a planet?!” Insomnia yelled while holding firmly onto his top hat.
“Did you think it was going to be smaller than the one we just fought?” Luna asked sarcastically.
“Well I certainly didn’t think it would be the size of a PLANET!” Insomnia protested.
“Don’t worry”, Luna said, “You two just need to keep the serpent busy for long enough. Hatite and I will protect Darkrim here. We are on a high enough plane of consciousness so we will be able to communicate with him. If we are able to just get him on our side, he will be strong enough to defeat it”, Luna explained.
“And what if he isn’t?” Gorgus asked fearfully.
“We will make sure he is”, Hatite responded.
“Can I count on you two?” Luna asked with pleading eyes.
“Urgh fine!” Insomnia said, transforming himself into Nightmare Moon once more, “But this crazy plan of yours better work. C’mon Gorgus, I’ll carry you up there”, Insomnia said as Gorgus mounted on his back.
Insomnia released a sigh of exasperation.
“Jeesh, dude. How much do you weigh?” Insomnia joked as they flew towards Equus.
“Less talking more flying. Hiya!” Gorgus said as they flew.
Insomnia grew a devious smile on his Nightmare muzzle as he gently bucked Gorgus.
As those two left, Luna and Hatite were left on the surface of the moon below, waiting for Darkrim.
It wasn’t a long wait as they saw dream Luna carrying him on her back. As they landed the dream began to unfold just like the first time.
Insomnia and Gorgus were in their position as Equus began to transform into a shadow serpent with dark wings.
It devoured the dream Luna and that was the cue for Gorgus and Insomnia.
“Let’s mess this colossal up!” Gorgus yelled as Insomnia darted down.
Gorgus took out his hammer and aimed for the serpent’s head.
The shadow beast only had a split second to react as the hammer hit its head. Even at its size Gorgus made an impact so powerful that it actually made the serpent stumble a bit.
“And it’s a homerun!” Insomnia yelled and began to laugh maniacally.
Gorgus held up his hammer in a victory pose, but their success was short lived as the serpent began to chase them.
“Round three, I guess”, Insomnia said as he flew faster and faster, just barely avoiding the ominous purple glow of the beast inside’s.
Meanwhile, Luna and Hatite managed to find Darkrim.
After dream Luna’s demise, he was running like a chicken with its head cut off, until he bumped into Luna.
“L-Luna?” he stuttered, barely recognizing the night regal, “b-b-but I saw you getting eaten back there! And Hatite, is that really you?” he turned his attention to the light blue mare.
Luna raised an eyebrow.
“What?” she said, almost shocked by Luna’s surprise, “Of course he knows about our existence. How else can we help him?”
Luna shrugged as Darkrim attempted to process.
“Wait our? So those two fighting the serpent up there are--“, Darkrim said with a surprised look.
“Insomnia and Gorgus”, Hatite finished his thoughts.
Darkrim felt his head was about to explode.
“Look, I don’t mean to be rude”, Princess Luna interrupted, “but we must get rid of that serpent as fast as we can! Those two won’t be able to hold it forever”, Luna rushed them.
Just at that moment the serpent smacked Insomnia with its tail and sent both him and Gorgus flying back to the surface of the moon.
“Sorry, we couldn’t have held it off for much longer. The horrid beast is just too strong”, Insomnia said, while trying to dust off his top hat.
Suddenly the beast showed off its wings.
Our five heroes looked on in shock and awe as the serpent formed an entire army from its wings.
Shadow serpents, in various shapes and sizes, came swooping down on to the surface of the moon and, like a hungry changeling, slithered quickly towards our heroes.
“Well if that’s how we’re going to play, then I better get us some reinforcements as well”, Gorgus said and took out his trusty hammer, ”Now to just adjust it to the right setting”, he mumbled to himself as his hammer glowed bright yellow, ”Ah here we go” he smiled as his hammer impacted.
The strike was powerful enough to cause a temporary rift.
Through the rift he could clearly see Isdeuh and Eluvietta.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Isdeuh yelled.
“No time to explain! Just get in here and help us!” Gorgus said as he fended off the serpents that began piling up on him.
“Of course”, Isdeuh and Eluvietta began to rush in to the battle.
Isdeuh's mighty halberd began to slice serpents left and right.
Eluvietta’s tentacle esque appendages began to detach themselves from her head and create her own personal army, fighting off the serpents while she herself sang the most powerful tune she could, eliminating all the serpents surruounding her.
As the all out battle royal was going on, Darkrim hid in a hole.
“Gorgus, cover us!” Luna and Hatite yelled to Gorgus.
He barely fought the serpents as he slowly approached them.
“Make it quick”, Gorgus said as he fought off the serpents, “These things are relentless”.
“We will, thank you”, Hatite said and kissed Gorgus’ cheek.
Luna noticed that, but didn’t comment, as there were more important matters to take care of.
As they walked into the cave, they saw Darkrim huddled up in a corner.
“I am such a failure”, he spoke to himself. Luna approached him slowly.
“You’re not a failure”, she said as she slowly caressed the crying pony.
“I am”, Darkrim sighed, “I failed my father, my mother, my true love and now I am failing you, all because of my stupid emotions. I should have just let them die out back when I had the chance. Then at least I could have saved all of you from all this pain and misery.”
“Nonsense!” Hatite protested “You see those creatures out there fighting for your life? They exist because of your emotions. I exist because of your emotions! If you had given up on all of those we wouldn’t even exist!” she tried to convince him.
“At least you wouldn’t be suffering”, Darkrim responded.
“Let me try”, Luna said as she covered Darkrim with one of her wings.
He looked up to her.
“Look I know better than anypony other how it feels to be controlled by your emotions”, Luna began, “My jealousy and anger have driven me to betray the ones I love. My blinded eyes couldn’t have seen that what I was doing was wrong” she said as Darkrim continued to hide his eyes in shame.
“However, if I did learn anything from my experience”, Luna continued, “it is that we shouldn’t let our past define us. We need to learn from our mistakes and continue with our lives. That serpent out there feeds on your past. It feeds on your darkness and on your regret. You must cut it down at it s core. Do not allow her to feed anymore”, Luna continued as she saw a spark of hope rising in Darkrim’s eyes, “You’re a great pony, a kind hearted, noble and a bit of a romantic, but you are not a failure! Remember what your father said? ‘You can only return to Tartarus once you have proven yourself’. So, prince now it is the time to do just that”, Luna finished as she saw that spark turn into a full blown fire, "Prove yourself to be the true prince of Tartarus' rise!"
Darkrim slowly began to rise to his hooves, as Luna helped him up.
“You’re right, princess”, Darkrim said with determination; “This nightmare ends tonight!”
Luna nodded back at him as a wide smile appeared on Hatite's face.
As they exited, the battlefield was becoming more and more heated, but Darkrim was afraid no more.
His horn began to glow a proud shade of bright red as he began blasting all the serpents’ surrounding him.
Each blast that hit the serpents would evaporate them where they stood.
They began to pile on Gorgus, but Darkrim would blast them away.
“Thanks man!” Gorgus said, as Darkrim nodded at him.
“He’s back”, Isdeuh yelled to Eluvietta as they continued to bash the serpent skulls.
It was time now.
Darkrim came face to face with his worst nightmare.
The planet sized serpent glared at him with vicious eyes as he began to strike it with his magic.
The shadow beast winced at first, but it was far from its demise.
The beast hissed and called off its minions.
The Memoriam Guardians became confused at what was going on, but soon realized once they saw Darkrim standing in front of the serpent.
Everything was silent for a moment.
“I am done cowering in fear!” Darkrim yelled as he shot a beam of pure concentrated magic from his horn, "Now I shall fight back!"
However the serpent would not be beaten that easily as it shot its own energy directly at Darkrim.
The proud prince was putting up a fight, but only barely. It seemed that the serpent was going to win, until Luna and Hatite joined in.
Darkrim looked at the both of them with thankful eyes as the three ponies launched their combined attacks at the serpent.
Even though their forces were valiant, they barely managed to equalize their strength with the serpents.
“Quick come help us”, Luna commanded to the other Memoriam Guard.
“But our magic is practically useless”, Insomnia yelled back at her.
“Well if you’re not going, I am”, Isdeuh said as he rushed to help the three defeat the giant beast.
Eluvietta soon followed.
From Isdeuh’s halberd came a bright glow of purple energy and Eluvietta let loose of her vocals, adding in to the power of their combined magic.
It was powerful, but the others could handle it.
It seemed they were overpowering the serpent, although it was still not going down.
Gorgus took out his flame sword.
“You’re not seriously going in there, are you?” Insomnia asked Gorgus.
“Hey, if I can help, even a little, I will”, Gorgus replied as he rushed towards the five creatures.
“Oh what the heck”, Insomnia said as he rushed alongside with Gorgus.
From Gorgus’ flame sword came a purifying fire and from Insomnia’s cane came out dark blue astral energy, the only non black magic he had.
The serpent’s purple energy slowly began to weaken as it retracted back to its master.
It attempted to fight off the incoming blast, but it just couldn't match the strength of seven.
It let out an ear piercing screech as the combined power of The Memoriam Guard, Darkrim and Princess Luna pierced right through the beast’s mouth and into its core, forming a spear as it did so.
Once the core was hit the beast exploded into a blinding barrage of light and finally vanished from both Darkrim’s memories and his life.
As the light settled down Luna saw herself standing at the gates of Darkrim’s memory. Darkrim, Isdeuh, Insomnia, Eluvietta, Gorgus and Hatite were all standing there.
Darkrim rushed over to Princess Luna and hugged her.
The rest smiled politely to her.
“On behalf of us all here, I wish to thank you, dearest princess”, Isdeuh began, “You have helped us defeat a great threat, but what is even more you thought us all a valuable lesson.”
“The past will always be with us, but we must not let it define us”, Insomnia began.
“We must learn from the mistakes of the past”, Hatite continued, while slightly smiling at Insomnia.
“So we can build a better future and fight off our fears”, Gorgus concluded.
“And for that we are forever in your debt”, Isdeuh said as they thanked the princess of the night for her contribution.
“Thank you all very much, but you have been a part of this as much as I have”, Luna said, “You have shown all the things Darkrim is capable of and you all represent him in one way or another. His fears, his emotions, his wisdom, his strength and his kindness I can see in each and every one of you. He couldn’t have asked for better guardians”, Luna concluded with tears in her eyes.
Darkrim sighed as all of his Memoriam Guards disappeared and returned to their posts.
“So I guess I will see you in the waken world, huh?” Darkrim said. Luna ran her hoof through his mane.
“You can bet on it”, she smiled as her eyes began to glow white.
