Celestia travels across the country with only the talking head of a Lunar guard for company.
Poison Dart, Lunar guard, chose sides in the Lunar War. He chose to fly against his Princess, to support Celestia, to save Equestria. He attended the last battle with Nightmare Moon and was violently decapitated before he could make much of a difference.
But, of course, he didn't die. That would have been too easy.
Unable to relate to his few surviving friends among the Lunar Guard, and feared by his acquaintances in the Solar forces, there is exactly one pony who will talk to Dart: Princess Celestia, who banished his charge. She's strangely fascinated by this relic of her sister's powers, and keeps Dart at her side at all times. Which is why he has no choice but to tag along when she suddenly bucks her duties as the sole Equestrian Princess and takes off across the country, searching for the source of Luna's corruption. It soon becomes apparent that Dart isn't the only pony touched by the Nightmare's dark magic--and these remnants of her power aren't the only threat to their country.
Rated Teen for numerous sexual and alcohol references, as well violence and gore.
Celestia shivered in the moonlit wasteland that the Royal City had become.
Her armor, hammered gold and mother-of-pearl, was icy against her coat. Her breath puffed out in front of her, but it was hard to inhale, as if there weren't enough oxygen in the air. She could hear the few royal guards that had volunteered for this battle panting behind her.
"Remain behind us until we give thee the signal," she murmured. They were sheltered in one of the many markets. The well-kept forest that wound through the city was dead from lack of sunlight, and the bare branches didn't provide much cover. "Thou knowest just how dangerous the creature is."
There was a murmur of assent. Celestia took a deep breath, not that it made much difference, and moved towards the castle.
The clink of metal boots seemed horrifyingly loud in the silence. She tried not to wince, instead keeping her head held high and her wings spread. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had to hide her fear, her sorrow, her guilt.
Angry. She should try and look angry.
It wasn't hard once she saw what the demon had done to their--her palace. Stained-glass windows that had endured for hundreds of years were shattered. Turrets had been toppled. The dented, blood-stained helmet of a Solar guard hung above the main gates. Celestia felt a stab of true hate. A golden aura, brilliant and alien, surrounded the helmet, and yanked it down. She ran a hoof over the tattered crest on top of it, and glared into the depths of the palace. She thought she saw a flicker of ghostly blue, somewhere in the furthest reaches of the darkness, but it might have been her eyes playing tricks on her.
"Nightmare!" she roared. It fell flat in the thin air. "Thou hast stolen our honored sister, the Princess Luna, from us! Thou hast imposed Night Eternal, and slain the green things of our land! Murdered ponies in our service! Disrupted the harmony of Equestria! Thou hast issued a challenge, and lo, we rise to meet it! We are Princess Celestia, Regent of the Sun, Keeper of Harmony, Beacon of the South, Guardian of Those Who Walk in the Light! Face us in battle, monster!"
The last echoes of her battle cry died. There was silence for a long time, so long that the mares and stallions behind her had begun to shuffle their hooves nervously. Even Marble Bow, the captain of her Guard, was beginning to get restless. The carved wooden box on his back tilted, and the Lunar guard standing next to him nudged it back into position with one glossy black wing. Celestia remained perfectly still, wings spread wide, the muscles of her neck beginning to ache under the weight of her helmet.
Finally, mocking laughter rang out. Most of the guards jumped, but Celestia managed to remain stoic.
"The Solar Princess herself?" somepony laughed. "We are honored."
Suddenly, the interior of the palace lit up. They could see directly into the throne room, where a tall black alicorn stood proudly on the dais that had once held the throne of the Princesses. Her razor-edged wings were spread in a parody of Celestia, her horn blazed with harsh, silver-blue light, and her dragon eyes were narrowed in malice. She flashed Celestia a chilly grin, exposing tiny fangs.
"Step forward, then," she called. "If thou truly intendeth to challenge us, sister."
"Thou art not Luna," Celestia said through gritted teeth. She stepped forward, into the castle, and the guards followed her. "Thy reckoning hath come for thee, demon. Prepare thyself to meet the Creatress."
"We are terrified." Nightmare Moon smiled savagely.
Celestia stopped in the middle of the throne room. Moonlight poured in through windows no longer covered by shadow magic, dwarfing the golden light that her horn gave off. Small chunks of the throne lay scattered everywhere. She raised her violet gaze to the Nightmare's sea-green one, as she flicked the primary feathers of her wings. The guards drew their weapons with a rasp of metal against metal.
"We offer thee a choice," Celestia said stiffly. "Take thy leave now, and return Luna unto us, that she may lower the Moon and end this madness. We shall not pursue thee in this event. Dost thou accept?"
Nightmare Moon's mane glittered. "We do not."
"We did not expect thee to," Celestia said calmly. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, forcing power into her horn. Her magic was weak, since the source of it had been gone for so long. But hopefully, it would be enough to--
Without warning, a wave of icy, malevolent magic slammed into her, knocking her off her hooves. She struck the ground hard, feeling several delicate bones in one wing snap. She screamed as agony flooded through her. The aftereffects of the spell rebounded off of her own magical boundaries, burning like ice. She shuddered at the all-permeating cold, and cried out again, weaker this time. The cold Lunar magic seemed to be eating away at everything inside of her, leaving her empty. A void.
Celestia opened her eyes. She became aware of the screams of other ponies, and raised her head.
Two guards, one Lunar and one Solar, lay crumpled and broken at the base of the dais. Silver-blue magic still flickered around the edges of their wounds. As she watched, Marble Bow shrugged the wooden box off of his back and wrapped his amber magic around the hilt of his sword. He charged the Nightmare, the other surviving guards close behind him.
Blocking out the bolt of fear that the sight brought her, the bone-chilling cold, and the pain in her injured wing, she ignited her horn and concentrated.
A golden partial-dome of magic appeared in the air in front of the charging ponies just in time to deflect another spell. Then it flickered and disappeared. Bow skirted the dais, dashing around behind it during the brief time that the Nightmare was distracted. A Lunar guardsmare, who looked vaguely familiar, kept pace with him. Everypony else scattered, scrambling for strategic positions in the spartan throne room.
Celestia struggled to her hooves, one wing dragging. She tried to get a handle on her faltering magic, desperately wracking her brain for what she knew of combat magic.
"Princess!"
She looked up just in time to see somepony sheltered behind a particularly large chunk of throne toss her a sword. She caught it in her magic without thinking, and turned to Nightmare Moon, who hadn't moved from her spot on the dais. She was sending lances of Lunar magic out into the seemingly empty room, and she didn't see Celestia as she approached with the sword held high.
At the last second, she turned, a whip of cold energy trailing from her horn. Celestia caught it with her sword, the blade glowing briefly golden as she sliced through it. With her uninjured wing held out for balance, she lunged forward, aiming for just above the Nightmare's breastplate.
A booted hoof slammed into her wing, forcing the broken bones to grate against each other, and a flare of magic darted in between her horn and the sword. With the bond broken, the weapon clattered to the floor. Celestia yelped in pain. She horn flared and she shoved the demon away with all her strength, just as Bow and his Lunar companion leaped onto the dais with their swords at the ready.
Nightmare Moon growled, pushing Celestia off the dais and spinning to face the new threat.
"In the name of the Sun!" Bow bellowed, sweeping his sword towards her vulnerable knees. The Nightmare seized it, yanked it out of his magical grasp, and tossed it aside. Before he could retreat, or his newfound partner could come to his aid, she picked him up in a cloud of silver-blue magic and calmly flung him through one of the few windows that glass remained in. A stylized picture of Celestia raising her Sun shattered.
Celestia yelled wordlessly, concern for the stallion coloring her tone, and her horn blazed directly above her eyes. Crescent-shaped blades of golden light slashed at Nightmare Moon's hindlegs. Blood that looked black in the moonlight spattered on the stone, and she turned, howling with rage and pain. The Lunar guard spread her wings and flew after Bow, casting a panicked glance back at Celestia.
"How darest thou?" the Nightmare snarled.
"How darest thou?" Celestia countered, mounting the dais. "Thy quarrel is with us, not our servants!"
"Thou brought them. Our quarrel is with thee and thine both because of thine own choice."
"Thou shalt not harm them, demon!" Celestia shouted, punctuating the last word by locking horns with Nightmare Moon. She glared at the other mare with pure hatred. Her eyes were so similar to Luna's.
Thou art not Luna.
Not Luna.
Not Luna!
"We shall strip your foulness from our honored sister's form, even if it kills us," Celestia murmured, searching the Nightmare's eyes.
She just laughed, and what felt like bands of dry ice closed around Celestia's horn.
All control she had over her body and her magic dissolved, draining away into a concentrated form of the same savage cold that had assaulted her earlier. Her legs buckled, and as her broken wing hit the stone, she tried to cry out. But her mouth wouldn't cooperate.
She could move only to shiver, in the grip of the violent Lunar chill. Above her, Nightmare Moon laughed again.
"Squirm, sister, squirm," she taunted. Celestia's teeth chattered as she stepped over her, finally moving off the dais. There was a flash of light, and one of the guards cried out.
Celestia closed her eyes, trying to block out the hideous cold, and the way that her armor rattled against the stone. She hadn't been able to make contact with her Sun since Luna had been taken in the grip of this malevolent spirit and refused to lower the Moon. It was the source of her magic, where she drew her power from. Heat, brilliant light, diverse colors and the frenetic activity of life--that was Celestia's power. There wasn't a lot left, but she reached for it anyway, a Sun-bright coal at the very bottom of her reservoir. As soon as she released it, the cold began to ebb. She opened her eyes and hauled herself to her hooves, running off the dregs of her magic.
The Nightmare strode through the center of the room, leaving a trail of broken and dying guards in her wake, Solar and Lunar alike. One Lunar stallion lay curled into a fetal position near the dais, hissing in pain. A vicious cut in the membrane of one wing was crusted with ice. Celestia leaned towards him, hoping that her legs would hold her.
"Can you walk?" she rasped, abandoning the formal speech of the nobility for the easier peasant slang. She felt she was justified. Her magic was nearly gone, one wing was broken, and she was on the verge of either weeping for the guards she had brought into this or screaming at the Nightmare in pure hate. She hardly felt like royalty.
"I believe so, Princess," he replied wearily, climbing to his hooves.
"The box." She nodded to the carved wooden box, still lying on the floor where Bow had left it. "Please. Bring it to us."
"Of course." He gingerly folded his wings against his armor, then bolted for the box.
Celestia cringed as Nightmare Moon turned towards the sound of galloping hooves. The guard had already maneuvered the box onto his back, wings holding it in place, and was turning to hurry back to Celestia. The Nightmare's eyes settled on him. Even though she didn't have any magic left to defend him with, Celestia spread her unbroken wing in a challenge.
It made no difference. Ribbons of power, razor-sharp, spiralled out from Nightmare Moon's horn. Celestia screamed a warning, but it was too late. One of the ribbons caught the guard directly above the withers before he was halfway to her, neatly severing his head. The box tumbled to the floor as his body crumpled, and she screamed again, barely aware of power that should not have been there stirring in her horn.
It burst into golden light before the last traces of the Nightmare's magic had faded. The box clattered against the floor next to the guard's headless body, and was then engulfed by the light. It shattered, and the Nightmare squinted, shielding her eyes with one wing.
Two crowns flew towards Celestia, one smaller than the other, each inset with three gems. The frames surrounding the jewels dissolved before they reached her, and they hovered in the air around her, spinning in a slow circle. Celestia closed her eyes and felt the steady energy of the Elements of Harmony. They were like old friends, comforting and strong. Their unique magical signatures welcomed her own.
Nightmare Moon's furious voice cut into her brief moment of peace. "It is impossible! The Elements cannot be wielded by a single mare--"
"We warned thee, monster!" Celestia interrupted, her furious voice echoing off the walls of the throne room. "Thy time has come!"
The power readily flowed into her when she called it. She felt her hooves leave the ground, and leveled her horn at Nightmare Moon. The demon threw up her wings to protect herself, but it was no use.
Six beams of brilliantly-colored light flowed out of Celestia's horn, weaving together on their way to her target, and she went with them. She washed over the screaming Nightmare, swirled around her, searching for weak points. Places where she could begin to separate the spirit from her sister.
But there were none.
Celestia's search became more frantic as Nightmare Moon writhed in her prison of rainbow light. She couldn't find anything find anything useful. Luna had been well and truly trapped by this being, and she couldn't reach her. In fact, if she didn't know better, she would say that her sister had willingly bonded with the foul spirit. But that was impossible.
Luna! Luna! Canst thou hear us?!
There was no answer, and Celestia felt wetness on the cheeks of her physical body. She couldn't free her sister. But she couldn't allow the thing that had possessed her body to continue terrorizing Equestria. So many had died already, from the initial attack, and the battles in which Luna's own guards had flown against her, and the cold and the lack of oxygen and starvation as all the plants died. She could not bear to bury anymore soldiers, anymore citizens. She couldn't lead her country through another day of Night Eternal without breaking. The weight of their fear and hope was too much for her.
She made a decision.
The rainbow condensed as Celestia drew back from it and poured more power into it, immobilizing the mare inside it. It spun in the center of the room, growing paler and brighter. Celestia opened her eyes and watched it, holding it steady with her horn. It spun faster and faster, shrinking and lengthening into a spear of bright light, and then...it shot upwards, leaving a neat hole in the roof of the throne room and a lingering scream of the Nightmare's.
The moon sank at a fantastic rate, but not before shadowy new features had appeared on its surface.
The jewels floating around Celestia fell to the ground, suddenly colorless. She sagged, barely keeping herself from collapsing, as something that had become a distant memory in Equestria poured in through the windows. Sunlight.
"My Princess!" The cry drew her attention to the front of the throne room, where Bow was striding in with only a slight limp. The Lunar mare walked beside him. "We are victorious! This day belongs to the Sun!"
She stepped off of the dais. She couldn't remember ever being this tired before.
"Indeed," she said quietly, passing him as she made a beeline out of the palace. "We have orders for thee, Marble Bow."
He saluted. "Anything, my Princess!"
"Gather the dead, and bring them to our encampment. We shall oversee the burial rites."
With that, Celestia stepped out into the sunlight. Her armor felt too heavy, but she didn't care.
It was the sound of metal boots on stone that woke me.
That wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but the helmet whose side was pressing into my face certainly was. Not to mention the cold stone against my muzzle. Sacred Moon, please don't tell me I'd fallen asleep on guard duty again...
I opened my eyes. One was useless, pressed against the ground. All the other could see was a stone ceiling, full of holes, pockmarked, and bright with sunlight. Too bright. I squinted, grimacing. I had a vicious headache. I didn't actually remember anything from last night, but Morpheus must have convinced me to go out drinking with him again. I hoped he had gotten hit by a cart.
I tried to sit up and maybe cradle my pounding head in my hooves, but my body wouldn't respond. Afraid that something might have fallen on top of me while I was passed out, I thought my way around myself. Forelegs, hindlegs, wings, tail...nothing. I couldn't so much as twitch any of them. I couldn't even feel them.
That didn't bode well.
A set of silver-blue boots, the hoofwear of my faction, passed a couple inches from my muzzle. I couldn't believe that whoever it was hadn't noticed me. I called out.
"Hello?" My voice was a dry rasp. I swallowed, grimacing against the ache in my throat, and tried again.
The boots stopped. "Who speaks?"
I held back another grimace, recognizing the clipped tones and frontier accent of one of my superiors. Commander Hawk Moth. Wonderful.
"I do," I said, twitching my ear. Another attempt to climb to my hooves yielded, again, nothing.
Commander Moth remained motionless, judging by the absence of clinking armor. I rolled my eye, trying to find her, but clenched my lids together when the motion sent a bolt of agony through my skull.
"Who is 'I'?" she asked, her voice totally emotionless. My ear lowered of its own accord. I knew Moth well enough to tell when she was furious. Goddesses protect me.
"Poison Dart," I replied, doing my best to match her expressionless tone. My coastal accent contrasted harshly with the intonations of her home. Manehattan or something. One of the small townships out west. "Trained in sword and Pike. A member of Her Majesty the Princess Luna's carriage team. Assigned as combat partner to Morpheus Mist--"
"Dart," Moth muttered. I heard the click of armor against stone as she took a few hesitant steps in my direction. "Yes, I remember. You volunteered for this dark endeavor."
"...I beg your pardon, Commander. What are you talking about?"
"Comma--you do not remember?"
She edged a little closer to me, but I still couldn't see her. I still couldn't move. I found myself taking deeper breaths, in order to stave off panic.
"No, Commander. My most recent memory is--" I wracked my brain. "...being temporarily turned into a bat by Her Lunar Majesty after getting my wings tangled in the harness of her carriage."
Moth snorted, though the end of the sound was almost a sob. "Yes, I seem to recall such an event. Our Princess was in an uncharacteristically foul mood...'twas nearly half a moon ago."
My tongue suddenly seemed to go numb. As soon as I had forced a bit of feeling back into it, I managed to rasp, "You must be mistaken."
"Nay." A few quick hoofsteps, and then, suddenly, Moth was standing directly over my face. Apparently, she had yet to notice me. I saw where a jeweled eye joined the plates of her blue-and-silver armor, the strong lines of her ribcage, the flat gray plane of her stomach, and a few other things I had never had any desire to see. I averted my eye, more to preserve my own sanity than out of respect for Moth's modesty. "Where are you?"
"Directly underhoof, Commander."
She stepped back and glanced down, frowning. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and her jaw dropped just a little, to reveal her delicate fangs. A strangled sound came from deep in her throat.
"Commander?" I asked cautiously. I knew, of course, that I was devastatingly handsome, but this was the first time a mare had reacted to me quite like this.
"Dart?" Moth asked, her voice a strained whisper. She reached forward, presumably to lay a booted hoof on my pauldron. But I heard her boot connect solidly with stone, not metal. Moth's brilliant silver eyes were unreadable as she kept tapping at the ground below my neck. My ear twitched, and I felt the feathery extensions on its tip brush against the plates of my helmet. What, in the name of the sacred Moon, was she doing?
Finally, Moth leaned back on her hocks and let out a shaky breath. She absentmindedly reached up and tucked a lock of raven mane back underneath her helmet. It slipped out again almost immediately.
"This must be some witchery of the Nightmare's," she breathed. She leaned forward, and, in a louder voice, stiffly asked, "Does it pain you?"
"Does what?" I barely kept the tremble from my voice. "I feel no pain. What has happened to me?"
"Be still." Moth put a hoof on my muzzle. "I--I have no idea what has happened to you. I have to ask somepony else."
She raised her head. "Captain Bow!"
"What have you found, Captain Moth?"
I recognized the deep baritone of Captain Marble Bow, the leader of the Solar guards. But why he addressed Moth as an equal was beyond me.
"Noctus is our Captain," I mumbled underneath her hoof. "Why--"
"Noctus is dead," she replied harshly. "I lead the Lunar guards now. Those few that are left, at least."
"What--"
"A survivor?" I heard the frown in Bow's voice as he approached. His hoofsteps were much heavier than those of a Lunar guard. "I see you're Lunar, colt. Give us your name and any kin you wish contacted."
"I'm--"
"He is Poison Dart, and he is not quite a survivor, Marble," Moth said quietly. She reached for my face with her forehooves and lifted my head. I assumed she meant to give me a cushion, or take off my helmet. But she kept lifting, and turning, far past the point that my neck should have broken. And there was no resistance.
"Moth--" I snapped, terrified.
She said nothing, just settled me back to the ground. But this time, I was upright. I felt cold stone where my neck should have met my withers. My jaw locked, and I tasted blood as my fangs sank into my tongue.
Some part of my mind registered that we were in the palace. But it was ruined. Windows were shattered, and the walls were cracked, with chunks of debris on the floor. I spotted piles of golden and silver armor dotting the stone floor, and with another twist of agony inside my head, I realized that there were ponies within them.
"By Celestia's barrel!" Bow exclaimed, drawing my attention away from the bodies. I heard a clank as he pressed his forehoof to his breastplate, presumably tracing a crude Sun over his heart to ward off evil. "Sun protect us. He--what evil magic is this? How does a corpse speak and move?"
"Part of a corpse," Moth corrected at the same time that I said, in a weak voice, "I am not a corpse."
"What do we do with it?" Bow asked, leaning in to inspect me. My ears lowered automatically, though in truth, I was too dazed to really pay attention to what he was saying.
"We must take him to Celestia," Moth replied.
"I will not burden the Princess with this." Bow nudged my head--me--with a forehoof. I twisted on my neck and glared at him, almost toppling over in the process. Moth steadied me as Bow took a swift step backwards and marked the Sun again on his armor.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Moth snapped. "I realize your Princess is strained, with what has happened, but none know more about magic than she."
What has happened? I wondered, somewhere in the part of my mind that wasn't preoccupied with wondering how I was alive.
"Our Princess," Bow said, in the tone of one correcting an errant pupil. "Your charge is gone, Captain Moth. Even if she were not, she would no longer be yours. You and your fellows have raised hoof and wing against her in the name of the Sun. The Moon and its regent are now lost to you."
Moth seemed to wilt at his words. I looked up at her, denying the fact that I was afraid, and just made all the more terrified by the fact that my own heartbeat was absent when it should have been accelerating.
"Luna is gone?" I asked quietly.
She glanced down at me, and nodded, her eyes filled with a grief that I would have found staggering. If, of course, I had had any legs.
"How?" My voice seemed to catch in my throat. "What has happened to her?" I cast my gaze downwards, to the stone floor that was so terrifyingly near. "What has happened to me?"
"I will explain as I take you to Celestia." Moth reached for me once again, and settled me onto her armored back, keeping me balanced with her wings. For the first time, I noticed hints of silver in the purple-black leather. Had my wings looked silver in the right light? If they had, I could have told mares that. Maybe it would have intrigued them.
I would never get the chance to examine my wings more closely. The thought hit me harder than expected, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
"What about the body?" Bow came up beside Moth. "Is there still life in it, as well? If so, then perhaps a surgeon could--"
"Check, then." She strode towards the palace doors, pressing her wings against the sides of my neck. "It shouldn't be too difficult to find a headless corpse."
Out in the sunlight, the pain in my head worsened. The fact that I could feel bone at the base of my neck scraping against the plates of her armor didn't help.
"The Princess's encampment is an afternoon's flight from here," Moth explained. "I cannot hold you during flight, Dart, unless you wish to ride between my hooves. You will have to bite the crest of my helmet in your mouth."
"I'll stay where I am." With something solid beneath my neck, it was so much easier not to panic. Cradled in Moth's forehooves, swinging free in the air, I would be forced to confront the fact that there was nothing left of me but my head.
Sacred Moon. I was nothing but a head.
I tried not to hyperventilate (or ponder how I was breathing), instead leaning forward and gripping Moth's crest between my teeth. It was rubbery, soft. I knew that her real crest would be folded beneath her helmet, but still, I tried not to bite too hard.
"Bow will join us soon." Moth's wings snapped against the air on either side of me, lifting her hooves a few inches off the ground. "Ah. Speak of the draconequus."
Bow cantered out of the palace, which I now saw was just as damaged on the outside as it was on the inside. He shook his head, trotting up beside us.
"The body is cold, as it should be," he reported. "The heart does not beat, the blood does not flow. It appears that only the head retains life."
"I thought as much," Moth nodded. "Stay and tend to the other corpses, Bow. I will be gentle with your Princess."
He turned away. "Be certain she knows that I did not wish her to learn of this abomination."
My teeth sank a little deeper into Moth's crest, but I said nothing.
"I plan to tell her." Her wings beat harder, and she flew south.
"Some of us refused to accept that our Princess was gone, replaced by a cruel and terrible spirit. Still they served her and did her bidding, and those of us who chose to defend Equestria and its Sun were forced to meet them in battle. That is how Noctus fell--Darkling refused to see reason, and tore his throat out in the name of our Moon."
My eyes were shut against the winds that swirled off of Moth's helmet and wings, but I clenched them tighter. I knew Darkling. Actually, I knew her well--Morpheus slept above me in our barracks, and she slept next to him. Her eyes had been a pale gold. Once, she had almost broken my jaw for looking at her plot.
"I killed her, and Celestia named me captain of the Lunar guards," Moth continued matter-of-factly, raising her voice in order to be heard over the wind. "By then, there were only forty-two Royal guards still accounted for, including myself. You were one of them. At this time, it had been nearly half a moon since the emergence of the Nightmare. Hundreds of guards, both Lunar and Solar, were either dead or corrupted, and the same was true for the Equestrian citizenry. The crops had withered in the fields and the livestock had frozen. The air was thin and cold. Celestia retrieved the Elemental Crowns from the vaults of the north and hid the Princessling Cadance in the Crystal Caves of Mount Canterlot, with a smattering of nobles from all three Houses and a mixed regiment of guards.
"She called those of us who remained to her, and told us of her plan to confront the Nightmare and free her sister with the Elements. She asked us to accompany her, but told us we were not bound to it. Some turned away. More stepped forward. Many died in the battle, and I thought you one of them. I myself did not see your head severed, but I was informed it had happened. They did not use your name."
I didn't answer, being preoccupied with holding onto her crest. I couldn't believe it. Moth had explained our country's latest struggle to me in a calm monotone, describing Luna's degeneration over several days into the demon Nightmare Moon. The failure of Celestia's first attempt to vanquish her. The fracturing of the Lunar faction. But, somehow, I couldn't accept that this had happened. My Princess, Luna, Regent of the Moon, Keeper of the Stars, the Silver Warrior, Guardian of Those Who Walk in Shadow, was strong. There was no way in Tartarus she would yield to anypony, allow herself to be corrupted. Even the fact that I had apparently witnessed these events, influenced them, couldn't convince me of their reality. Maybe because I didn't actually remember them.
Not to mention that I was already struggling to cope with my current physical state. The addition of this Luna situation meant that I wasn't making headway with either problem.
Aren't I clever.
Moth banked suddenly. I leaned to the side, to see around her neck, and would have fallen off of her back if I hadn't clenched my jaw and kept my hold on the crest of her helmet. We were approaching a rough mountain, one of many. A series of grassy ledges were connected to each other with hastily-constructed rope bridges, and each ledge held several clusters of tents. Gold, white, purple, and pink--Celestia's colors--silk billowed in the wind that was near-constant this high up. The Solar flag flew everywhere I looked. I saw a few small groups of silver, black, blue, and sea-green tents, but even they had banners of the Sun flying from their poles.
"Allow me to welcome you to Camp Canterlot, Dart," Moth called back to me. She raised her wings slightly as a pair of golden-armored pegasi blew past us, hiding me. "Behold our stronghold in the days of the Lunar War. This is where we withdrew to when the Nightmare claimed the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters as her own foul nest."
I wanted to ask why she wanted to hide me from the other ponies here, but I didn't dare open my mouth.
Captain Moth spiraled down to the largest gathering of Lunar tents, which was still dwarfed by the smallest Solar cluster. She flapped twice to slow herself down before she hit the ground, but there was still a bump when she landed severe enough to jar the crest of her helmet from out between my teeth and knock me to the ground.
I bounced once, my vision jarring and my fangs locking on my tongue (again), then came to rest on my side in the grass. I glared up at the sky with one eye, but had to close it when a gust of wind blasted over me.
"My apologies, Dart." Moth nudged me back into an upright position. "I did my best to land gently."
"It could have been worse," I replied, spitting blood onto the grass. At least my blood hadn't changed. It was still darker than that of a normal pony, with a faint silvery cast to it.
"Captain Moth!" somepony called. Moth immediately stepped in front of me. I could see that two Lunar guards, a mare and a stallion, were coming towards us. The stallion had a ruddy cast to his wings and a vaguely Arabian tilt to his eyes. I didn't recognize either of them.
"Iridescence," Moth greeted them stiffly. "Dhan'kur."
They saluted, pressing the tips of their right wings to their brows. The mare, presumably Iridescence, was the first to relax.
"How many dead, my Captain?" she asked.
"As of yet, I do not know," Moth replied. "Many."
"The Moon mourns," Dhan'kur said in a heavily-accented voice.
"I am sure she does," she agreed heavily. "What of our remaining Princess? Is she within the camp?"
"Aye, Captain, you are just in time," Iridescence said. "She returned from the Crystal Caves with the Princessling and the gentry not forty wingbeats ago. They have retired to her tent."
"I must speak with her," Moth said. "Iridescence, fetch me a basket and a hoofkerchief, a large one."
She saluted again and trotted off, just fast enough to be out of range when I loudly complained, "Your plan is to carry me in a basket?"
"Dart--" Moth snapped at the same time that Dhan'kur rumbled, "Who speaks?"
"He does." Giving up and stepping to the side, she shoved me forward. I stared up at the Arabian soldier, who was not nearly as impressed as I thought he would be. He studied me for a few moments before turning back to Moth.
"He is the one they call Poison Dart," he stated.
"What are they saying of him?" Moth asked.
"They say that his head was cut off and that it was no great loss."
I scowled.
"Do you wish me to keep the secret of his survival?"
"For the moment. News of a severed head revived by by the Nightmare's magic is the last thing we want to spread through the ranks." She undid the straps and buckles of my helmet, lifting it off my head. Immediately, a gust of wind lifted my sweat-matted mane off of my forehead and eased the pain in my skull, though it had begun to diminish as soon as we left the ruins anyway. I kept my crest lowered, just in case, because I was in the presence of another male. One does not declare a challenge when one can be kicked off a cliff with a single hoof.
"Place this in the armory," Moth said, shoving the helmet at Dhan'kur. "Repurpose it. He has no further use for it."
He saluted just as Iridescence reappeared with the handle of a wicker basket in her mouth. A folded silk hoofkerchief was draped over the side, and I eyed it disdainfully.
"Pink?" I asked, disgust evident in my voice.
Iridescence set the basket at Moth's hooves. "Who said that?"
"Be silent, Dart." Moth set the silk aside, then seized me in her forehooves and lowered me gently into the basket.
"But, Captain, Solar forces wear pink--"
"We're all Solar forces now," Moth replied, draping the kerchief over me. I flicked my ears in irritation.
I heard Iridescence's voice, shocked and slightly muffled. "My Captain, what was that?"
"Tell nopony." I felt myself suddenly lifted into the air, and Moth's next words came out around what was presumably the basket handle. "We do not wish to incite a panic."
"Does the Princess know of this?"
"She will soon." Moth turned, and, if my memory served me correctly, began heading towards one of the rickety-looking bridges. "Iridescence, keep this between your partner and yourself. That is an order."
After a few moments, the sound of Iridescence and Dhan'kur muttering to each other (or, more accurately, her muttering to him) faded from earshot. The hoofkerchief snapped against the basket in the wind. I heard nothing else besides Moth's boots sinking into the grass.
"Oy, shadowmare!" A voice that I vaguely recognized as belonging to a Solar guard rang out, shattering the silence. "What have you got in that basket?"
I heard a slight sigh that might have been the wind and might have been Moth, but her hoofsteps didn't falter. He must not recognize her as the mare who had so recently become his technical superior.
"Blaze, you idiot!" This new voice was angry, rather than leering. I heard metal ring against metal as he apparently cuffed his fellow over the head. "That's the captain of the Lunar guards!"
I stared at the brilliant speckles of sunlight coming through chinks in the wicker as he added, in a much lower voice, "You never know when one of them will break."
The wicker creaked as the muscles in Moth's jaw tightened. I looked up, imagining I could see the shadow of her face against the billowing folds of pink silk.
"How long has it been like this between the factions?" I asked.
"Do not speak, Dart," she mumbled around the handle, but she answered me a wingbeat later. "Since directly after so many of our faction rebelled and chose to serve the Nightmare. A Solar guard--who, incidentally, has since died--accused us of being as tainted as our Princess. He said we were all powder kegs waiting to be ignited, and that any of us could become a raging monster at the drop of a bridle. Captain Bow rebuked him, of course, but the idea seemed to stick in the brains of those who owe fealty to the Sun."
I remained silent. It seemed that more had changed than I thought. The majority of Equestria had always feared my kind, because of the marks of our dragon ancestry. Our membranous wings, our crests, our fangs--they had marked us as outcasts among the general public. But I didn't know of a time when we hadn't had friends among the Solar Guard. We had been equals and partners to them ever since we had entered Luna's service.
"Is that why you're so frightened of somepony seeing me?" I asked at last.
"Yes," Moth replied. I heard the creak of wood and felt my basket sway in her jaws as she stepped onto the bridge. "Can you imagine the uproar that would stem from the captain of the Lunar Guard bearing a severed head through Celestia's military camp?"
Unfortunately, I could. Which was why I kept my mouth shut the rest of the way to the Princess's tent.
The wicker of the basket pressed into the side of my face, where Moth's staccato trotting had knocked me over. I had realized, very bitterly, that I had no way of keeping my balance. Maybe, if I'd had a horn, I could have braced myself with magic, but I wasn't a unicorn. I didn't know of any of my kind who were.
I felt Moth stop, and I pricked up the ear that wasn't pinned to my skull. We must have reached Celestia's tent.
"Captain Moth." There was a click of metal against metal as the Solar guard sentry saluted. Moth was his superior, and could technically command him, though no captain had issued orders to a soldier of the opposite faction for nearly six hundred years. At any rate, the soldier in me was happy that he had recognized her rank.
Moth set me down with a slight bump, and I slipped down, so that I was lying on my side in the bottom of the basket. I managed to suppress a growl of irritation, but just barely.
"I bear something the Princess needs to see," she replied in her usual monotone. "I seek access to Her Solar Majesty Celestia's temporary chambers."
"My Princess has decreed that none are to be allowed in," the sentry responded. "I apologize, Captain."
"She must make an exception in this case." Moth's voice became edged with steel. "My burden requires her immediate attention."
There was a pause. I heard a rustle of feathers, and pictured the guard shifting his wings.
"I'll grant you access," he said finally. "But first, I must inspect the basket. Even in the wake of the Nightmare's defeat, the threats to Celestia are seemingly endless."
Moth sighed. "Must you? I understand. But I must warn you--it is not pleasant, and you cannot speak of it to anypony else."
She drew back the edge of the hoofkerchief that covered the basket, exposing part of me. I aimed my one visible eye up at her.
"I'm sorry, Captain, but I resent being called 'it'," I said.
The Solar guard, who had been peering into the basket, leaped backwards with a shout. His hoof met his breastplate with a loud clang as he forcibly etched a sun over his heart.
Moth hastily flipped the kerchief back over me, without deigning to right me.
"Calm yourself, soldier!" she snapped. "It's only a bit of black magic, nothing you didn't see during the Lunar War."
"During the War, severed heads stilled and did not speak!" he exclaimed. But he seemed to be calming down. "With all due respect, Captain, why, in the name of all things beneath the sacred Sun, do you think it's a good idea to bring a talking head to the Princess?"
"Because he is a remnant of the Nightmare's magic, and I believe such an occurrence should be reported to Celestia."
"I--I will not question you, Captain," he said shakily. There was a rustle of silk and canvas as he drew open the main flap of the tent. "Only wish you luck."
"And I thank you for it." Moth picked the basket up again and trotted into the tent.
I swung in silence as we moved through the many rooms of Celestia's quarters. I listened to the rustle of fabric as more flaps were opened for us and Moth exchanged curt greetings with the other guards in the tent. Finally, I caught a smoky scent of wild roses and plains grass--scented candles, imported from the sea provinces. Celestia's favorites.
How in the stars do I know that? Had I somehow learned it during the War I didn't remember?
My basket was set down, and I heard the leather bindings of Moth's armor creak as she bowed.
"Princess Celestia. Regent of the Sun, Keeper of Harmony, Beacon--"
"We see no need for such an address," a lyrical voice interrupted quietly. "Be at ease, soldier of our beloved sister. Why hast thou come to us?"
I blinked. I recognized the voice of Celestia, but I had never heard it so heavy with exhaustion and regret.
"Before I show you, Princess, I would suggest you send the foal from the room," Moth said, matching her volume.
"Our niece is young in both body and mind, if not in years," Celestia replied. "She will not remember. Whatever thou hast come to show us, we will also permit the Princessling to see."
Moth bowed again, and I heard a soft coo that could only have come from Cadance. The silk was whisked off, and she lifted me out of the basket, the metal of her boots icy against my face. She presented me to Celestia.
I had never seen the Solar Princess so closely before, but even tired and battle-weary, she was easily the most beautiful mare I had ever laid eyes on. If I'd still had wings, they would have been up within moments. As it was, I had to fight to keep my crest down.
She was sprawled on a pile of silken cushions, in a position that would have been unbearably sultry if there hadn't been a foal nestled against her. Her legs were fantastically long and slender, her blazing white coat was unblemished, and the curve of her flank could drive a stallion to murder. Her sleek wings were folded primly, though one was swathed in bandages, and the delicate spire of her horn was nestled amid a tousled mane of pink silk, the same shade as the hoofkerchief. I'd give up what was left of me to be able to sink my muzzle into that. And if prompted me to fantasize about what Celestial wonders were hidden from me by her position.
The only things that kept me from actively drooling were her eyes. Violet and slightly canted, they settled an ache into the approximate place of my heart. Never mind that that place was no longer actually attached to me. I had never seen pain like this, or loss--though I supposed that if somepony you had known for literally thousands of years was suddenly ripped away from you, it might inspire feelings that deep.
The Princess studied me for a few wingbeats before returning the terrible weight of her gaze to Moth.
"Thou hast borne to us the head of a soldier who perished in the final battle against the accursed Nightmare," she said evenly. "Why hast thou done this?"
I finally managed to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth, and spoke before Moth could.
"Because, Your Majesty, I did not perish," I said in a soft voice. The foal Cadance seemed to be sleeping, and I did not want to wake her.
Celestia's attention flicked back to me. Being careful not to disturb the foal, she rose to her full height. She was almost a full head taller than I was. Had been.
Moth set me down, on the rich rugs that covered the floor, and then backed away. I closed my eyes and concentrated on not making a complete and utter mule of myself as Celestia approached, then lowered her head towards me. I felt the buzz of magic as she ignited her horn. Then she drew back.
"The magic of the Nightmare surrounds thee," she said. "And yet it only feeds thy faculties--it does not corrupt thee. How can this be?"
"I have no idea," I replied honestly.
She stood over me, examining me again. Finally, she glanced back up at Moth.
"We thank thee for thy delivery of this crafting of the Nightmare's," she said formally. "Thou art dismissed. Many fine geldings shall be dispatched to thy quarters this night."
I twisted around to see Moth's reaction, managing to keep my balance. She went as red as a sunset under her coat and began to stammer, eyes wide.
"Errr--Princess, I'm m-mar--"
"How foalish of us." Celestia pressed a hoof to her brow in apparent embarrassment. "Geldings art no longer an appropriate form of thanks, art they? Thou must forgive us, we art weary. We shall send thee a barrel of aged mead instead. Dost thou find this satisfactory?"
"Yes, Princess, thank you." Moth dipped her head and moved forward to collect me. But the Princess held up a hoof.
"Leave him be," she ordered. "We wish to examine him further."
"Of course."
Without a backward glance, she turned and ducked for the flap, disappearing.
I looked back to Celestia.
"Princess," I acknowledged her nervously.
"What be thy title, spell-born?" she answered.
"Poison Dart. My Lady," I hastily added.
"We though thee dead in defense of us, and yet we did not know thy name." She shook her head. "We art not fit to rule."
I had no idea how to respond to that. A comment about the sharp curve of her muzzle came to mind, but I chose not to voice it.
A loud yawn saved me from having to answer. The Princessling had awoken. She was a handsome enough foal, I supposed. Her coat was a pale pink, deepening to violet at the tips of her miniature wings. A tiny stub of a horn was almost hidden beneath a mess of rose, gold, and purple curls. Her flank was as yet unmarked, and her purple eyes were still the solid color of a newborn.
She struggled unsteadily to her hooves and looked pleadingly at her "aunt."
"Westia," she said plaintively.
"Cady," the Princess cooed back, turning to look at her. She returned to the pile of cushions, tenderly nuzzling the smaller alicorn.
After a few moments of this, I loudly cleared my throat. Celestia looked up.
"We apologize, but we simply have no time for thee right now," she said imperiously. A cloud of buzzing magic enfolded me, and I was whisked away to be unceremoniously dumped on a spare cushion. At least I landed upright. "Thou wilt be still until such a time as we call upon thee."
I stared at her.
"Princess, please," I began. "I am a talking head. I would prefer you remedied the situation sooner rather than later--as payment for my, er, great sacrifice, of course."
Celestia paused in her cuddling of Cadance.
"Thou believeth we hath the power to heal thee?" she asked quietly. "We art no goddess, Dart, no matter how much the peasantry may wish us to be. Perhaps we could restore thee to thy previous form if--if...Luna were here to aid us." She hesitated, and when she continued, her voice was thick. "Alas, she is not, as we are certain thy knowest."
"But there must be some way to--"
"We could scour thee of Nightmare Moon's foul power," she said harshly. "Remove the only thing that keeps thy lifeblood in thy braincase rather than flowing out thy gaping maw of a fatal wound. Wouldst thou prefer that?"
I took a moment to unfreeze my tongue and managed to murmur, "No, Princess, I am quite happy as I am."
"We thought as much." She settled down, but I could still see the tension in her withers and wings. Shapely parts, both, if you overlooked those bandages.
In an effort to keep my thoughts off her good wing, I looked up at the canvas roof of the tent, which rippled in the wind. I must have overbalanced, because I soon found myself on my back.
I scowled up at the rippling roof, blaming it for all my problems.
