NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 12

“My dearest Twilight Sparkle,” The unicorn read out loud, casting a basic ‘flicker’ spell to light the nearby candle, giving her enough light to see the words properly, “By now you will probably be needing the piece I contain in this letter and I apologise for withholding it from you for such a long time.”

Which meant that the Princess had to have had it for a while, though Twilight was not sure when she had taken it. The unicorn was not entirely sure how she felt about the fact that the Sun Goddess had effectively stolen a piece from a treasure that her dam-sire had given her, though she was sure that Celestia had had a good reason for it.

“I have had it since you first showed it to me, back when you first moved into your rooms in the school and I know you will probably be angry with me for not returning it to you sooner.” Celestia’s letter continued, “However, before you put this letter down and refuse to listen to me any longer, please read through why I thought, at one point, that it would be better for you never to complete the puzzle.”

Twilight grimaced, trying to work out why she felt like that was not the Sun alicorn’s decision to make. She was the Ruler of all of Equestria after all. What she said was law. If she had thought it for the best that Twilight did not complete the puzzle, then really the young unicorn should have had no say in that matter. That did not make her feel any better.

“It all starts in a country known as Equigypt, where your puzzle comes from. A country that ceased to exist long before Equestria was ever thought of.” Twilight knew this, Treasure Trove had told her all the tales surrounding the puzzle as a kid. She had committed them to memory, hoping that they would help her solve the secrets of the artefact that she had been working on for going on eight years. “A dark magic destroyed the land thousands of years before even I was born and was sealed away by a powerful alicorn who gave her life to do so.”

That she had not known. Her dam-sire had not told her that part, though it was quite possible that he had not known as nothing she had read on Equigypt had ever informed her of what had happened to ruin the once proud country, only that it had disappeared overnight and become part of Saddle Arabia.

“My sister, Princess Luna, went to Saddle Arabia in order to work her diplomatic magic and came back with reams and reams of notes on the magic belonging to a vizier she had met while there. I allowed her to explore that magic, hoping that it would distract her from me while I dealt with my ever increasing duties, not noticing that slowly and surely Luna was losing more and more face with the nobles as they looked upon the ‘Night Queen’ as a necessary evil rather than understanding the true balance of day and night.”

This was more honesty from her tutor on these matters than Twilight had ever experienced and she was not quite sure how to take it. Celestia had obviously needed to get off of her chest and in revealing her theft to Twilight she had obviously felt that now was the time for the truth. About everything. It was probably easier to do it on paper than it would have been to tell her all of this to her face.

“I did not see Luna’s decent from studying the dark magic that she had discovered, to using it, but I was the cause for her final fall into Nightmare Moon, for I pushed her away and when the nobles came to me, asking why we even needed the night, I did not scold them and defend Luna’s night as I should have done. Instead I allowed them to turn against her and drive her further into the darkness. It was that darkness that finally controlled her and turned her into the demon sorceress, Nightmare Moon.”

Who was due to return tomorrow during the Summer Sun Celebration if the legends were true.

“I had no choice but to banish her to the moon for a thousand years for her own protection and for that of the mares and stallions in our care. I lost my last student, Sunset Shimmer, to that same magic after she discovered my sister’s notes locked away deep within the castle, but unlike my sister, she banished herself to a place from which she could never return and where I could never reach her. I could not lose you the same way.”

Twilight blinked at those words. She had heard only brief rumours of Sunset Shimmer, who had been Celestia’s personal student before she had. The rumours spoke of an arrogant unicorn who had delved too deep into the darker side of magic and had lost her place at Celestia’s side. This was new information about that too. However she had never found the notes of Princess Luna and she did not understand how her puzzle linked to any of this.

“I know you’re probably wondering what this has to do with your puzzle.” Celestia’s letter continued, causing the unicorn to smile slightly at how well the Princess knew her, “Well, your puzzle is an artefact that was once worn by the same alicorn who sealed the darkness away in the first place and since her seal had quite clearly started to fail, I was worried for your safety. After all, the darkness quite clearly held grudges and I was frightened that either you would be lost to the same darkness when your curiosity drove you to investigate it’s properties, just as my sister had, or you would be attacked as the holder of the artefact belonging to that long lost Princess.”

That made a worrying amount of sense. Twilight had trouble bringing herself to be angry when Celestia had stolen the piece from her out of concern for her wellbeing.

“My concerns were not alleviated any when a zebra by the name of Zecora, who held two of the golden relics, a Key and a pair of Scale and came to me not long after I took you on as a student and hid the piece away. She told me that the puzzle granted one wish, but it also gave the wielder power over the darkness and granted them the title ‘Guardian of Shadows.’ Then she warned me of dark days ahead and vanished from my castle. I have had people searching ever since but no one has managed to locate her.”

She knew about the wish. Her dam-sire had told her all about it when he had first given her the puzzle, claiming it was the prize for passing the test of completing it. A test she now knew that the Princess had been preventing her from completing. She had not known, however, about the ‘Guardian of Shadows’ part and she could not help but wonder if Treasure Trove had when he had given it to her. She doubted it. He loved her and she was certain that he would not have willingly put her in any danger, but the part about ‘dark days ahead’ was worrying and Twilight was sure they probably related to what was due to happen tomorrow.

“I believed that I could make the choice for you. That if I took away a piece of the puzzle that you would be safe and I could find some other way of understanding the darkness. However, I was wrong. I have spent the last one thousand years trying to find a way to break through the darkness and free someone from them to no avail and now I have run out of time. Tomorrow the demon controlling my sister will be free once more and I had to make a choice. Allow you to complete the puzzle and claim your place as the Guardian of Shadows, as is your right and risk losing you forever but chancing that if I fall, you will be able to bring Luna back to her senses. Or keep this piece from you and send you far from the danger. I was thinking over those choices when you sent me your letter about Nightmare Moon’s return.”

Which was why it had taken so long to get her reply, Twilight now understood.

“It was actually your letter that helped me decide. That and the tale of an old stallion I once met who I believe is related to you, a Treasure Trove. He knew the Shadows better than any pony alive when I met him and we searched together for a while. He was supposedly doing it to protect his family. Now I know he meant protecting you. We turned up dead end after dead end until finally he reminded me that Unity, the power that we discovered the alicorn Princess had used to seal away the darkness, was another name for Harmony and that maybe the answers I sought were not that far away from home.”

The Elements of Harmony. That was what Celestia was clearly talking about when she mentioned Harmony. Twilight did not know what she meant by the Equigyptian Princess’s Unity, but she understood that her dam-sire had meant the Elements when he had spoken to Celestia.

“Time grows short and you will be pacing your library or perhaps working on your puzzle, waiting impatiently for my reply, but I ask you to think carefully before you make your choice. Do not rush into what seems right for Equestria, do what seems right for you. If you choose not to complete the puzzle and stay out of whatever happens when my sister returns, I will understand. However, if you do choose to stand and fight, I beg that you find the Elements of Harmony. They allowed me to seal her away and may give you, in your role as Guardian, the chance to free Luna where I cannot.

Whatever you choose, I will always be your teacher and support you through any choices you make,

Princess Celestia.”

NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 1

One thousand years ago in the Castle of the Two Princesses.

Celestia was beyond tired as she gazed up at the form of the Alicorn who had once been her most trusted companion and best friend and beheld the monstrous power of the newly forged Nightmare Moon. The dark blue coat of the mare floating in the skies above her matched the midnight blue of her mane, the stars shimmering within the flowing clouds made of the night sky matched the ones twinkling above and if it had not been for the silver armour gracing her form, Celestia would have almost been fooled into believing that the Alicorn above her had faded into the night.

She had been a foal to think that she had stood a chance of talking her sister around. Ever since Luna had gone to Saddle Arabia and come back with all her notes on the strange, dark magic she had encountered there, she had been different, twisted, and this new form, this dark dangerous form, would destroy all of Equestria and everyone within it.

And as much as it hurt to think about, the Alicorn of the Sun could not let that happen. Still she balked at what she knew she had to do. She did not even know if she could use the Elements of Harmony on her own, yet alone whether the rainbow power that protected her country was strong enough to erase the dark taint from her sister’s mind and soul and bring Luna back to her.

“Please, Luna,” She tried one last time, “You know what you’re doing is wrong. Our ponies can’t survive in your night. They need the day to grow food. Without the sun they’ll starve.”

“You lie.” Nightmare Moon bellowed back, rearing up at her. “You just want to keep them for yourself, want to keep me pushed aside forever and keep them loving only you. Well no more. I’m done playing your games, dear sister, and my night will reign eternal!”

“No, Luna.” Celestia’s voice was firm as she pushed herself to her feet, her muscles trembling beneath her pure white coat at the effort it took. She shook her head as she staggered, trying to shake some of the dust from the destroyed castle out of her glowing rainbow mane, “I’m sorry but I can’t let you kill them. Not now. Not ever.”

“And what do you think you can do against me?” The Alicorn formerly known as Luna demanded with a harsh, victorious laugh as the dark purples and blacks of her strange magic, the magic which had allowed her to overpower Celestia so easily, surrounded her once again, warning the Sun Goddess that her sister was preparing to strike, possibly for the last time. “You are weak, defeated, there is nothing in your arsenal that can handle my power now.”

“Oh my sister, how I wish you were wrong.” Celestia breathed as she called up her magic, calling on the power that she had taken in a long time ago, when she and her sister had stood side by side to defend their home from those who would have seen it destroyed and knowing that this would either end the battle or end her, “How I wish that there was another way, but if I cannot defeat you, then I have no other choice.”

“W…what are you doing?” The tainted Moon Goddess demanded as six glowing balls of light erupted from her staggering, nearly defeated sister and circled her in a steadily faster motion that soon looked like one circle of light, “No, I will not let this happen! You will not seal me! I won’t go, not again!” With her final exclamation the dark Alicorn loosed her magic, which only seemed to grow in strength as it sped towards the light, seeming to feed from the incredible power before it.

For Celestia time seemed to slow down as the tidal wave of what could only be described as shadows rained down upon her, breaking over the hastily cast shield she had erected and washing down the sides, tainting the land around her as it swept outwards.

“My sister, my precious Luna,” Celestia spoke, unsure if her words would reach her best friend from wherever she was within the crazed mind of the one calling herself Nightmare Moon, but praying they would, “I am sorry and I swear to you by everything we treasure I will find a way to free you from this dark madness. When you return, when a thousand years have passed and my seal breaks, I will have found a way, even if it costs me my life, for in losing you, I have already lost everything I treasure…”

“You think you can seal me?” Nightmare Moon snickered, “I, who defeated the Alicorn Princess of Equigpt and had the world bowing at my feet? Who talked your precious sister into turning her back on you after you did the same to her far too many times? Who could erase you and your precious Equestria off of the map with little more than a thought and a little push?! It took Her life to seal me before, you think you can do it with a light show and a prayer?”

“I don’t know who this Alicorn you talk of is or what magic she used to defeat you before, but I don’t plan on sealing you forever.” Celestia allowed, “Only long enough to give me time to find the way to exorcise my precious sister of you, demon. You who dares think that you can claim Luna’s form and speak using her voice. In a thousand years I will see you again and my sister will be freed!”

With that she let the power of the Elements loose. They erupted from their circle in a blazing beam of rainbow brilliance, cutting through the continuing surge of shadows and striking the dark Alicorn. Celestia stood firm as she heard Nightmare Moon scream as the blast hit, knowing that she had done this and if she did not see it through, it would be a betrayal just as bad as pushing Luna away until her sister had been tempted enough to fall to the ancient dark magic in the first place.

“No! Nooo!” Celestia could hear from the twisted creature above her, “I can’t…I won’t! I will not let this end this way!” The whinny, somehow, could be heard over the noise of the blast, “When one thousand years have passed I will return and I will bring my night and you will see me reign forever!”

Those were her final parting words. As Nightmare Moon tried to call up the darkness for one last strike, the magic of the Elements of Harmony blazed up and cocooned her in a kaleidoscope of colours. Celestia’s eyes watered as she beheld the great, glowing orb in the sky, which shone like the sun and scorched away the darkness lying upon the ground and the ruins of the castle.

Then it was gone. Vanished from the skies, taking its prisoner with it. Celestia did not bother to blink and clear her eyes of the sunspots. Instead she turned her gaze upon her sister’s moon and felt relief mingle with grief as she saw an image appear upon it. The outline of her sister’s head and neck, proved to her that her desperate seal had done its job. That, at least for now, Nightmare Moon was no longer a threat.

With her sister sealed away, the Sun Goddess had no trouble in raising the sun once again, as she had done every morning for uncountable years and then, exhausted, as if seeing that sun and realising that it was finally over, she fell to her hindquarters.

She did not even get a chance to utter one note of grief before she let out a startled and pained cry as the Elements, which she had found and recovered with her sister’s aid, erupted from her, forming six spheres in the air. The Element of Magic shattered, disintegrating into ashes and blowing away in the wind, while the other five, the Elements of Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity and Honesty, petrified into stone.

The heavy marble spheres slammed to the ground around the Sun Goddess, who could not take this in on top of the battle that she had just brought to an end and she stared around at them blankly, unable to comprehend what had just happened, despite the facts before her. She stared at the Element of Loyalty for long enough that the sun was high in the sky before it finally hit her and she broke down in tears, screaming out her heartbreak to the heavens above.

Her sister was gone. The Elements of Harmony, the shields of her ponies, had abandoned her.

She was all alone.

She did not want it to be so. She wanted to do something, anything to take it all back, to head off the dark insanity before it had ever been able to take root in her precious sister but it was too late and the path was set and for the next one thousand years she would have to fight alone.

“How?” She begged the skies, “How can I fight on now? How can I protect our country when the bond I thought would never, ever break has shattered? When I had to send away the Goddess of the Night? When I had to betray my sister?”

There was no answer from the skies. The earth either did not hear her or did not care to answer and the Elements, which had served her and her sister so well remained within their stone tombs and would not break their silence either.

The emptiness where once her sister would have answered ripped at Celestia’s heart as she staggered to her feet, knowing that her ppnies would need her now more than ever and trying to draw strength from her duty.

She had one thousand years to find a way to atone for her failures and with every minute that ticked by, her chances of finding the key to saving her sister from the demon that had merged with her heart grew slimmer.

She did not have a moment to waste.