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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2012 3:33:00 GMT -5
[45th of Summer, just a couple of hours before the raising of the sun. This is taking place after Celestia and Luna flew Mane Six to safety. Closed to the princesses for now, but they will gather the Mane Six soon, and that's were the rest of you may come in.]
Neighathorn towered majestically over Whinnyapolis, an obelisk in silver and black longing for the first rays of sun to reflect upon its brilliance. But the sunrise would have to wait just a little longer. The tower was truly magnificent. It held the halls of the authorities as well as a great collection of old books. It also served as an inn for the wealthier kind, and this was where the princesses of day and night had brought their wards back from the battle in the dead of night.
How much of a battle had it been? A lustrous figure of white restlessly padded up and down the corridors of the princesses' private quarters. She could not shake off that feeling - the feeling of that black substance, as if it was still clinging to her, threatening to strangle her ... Princess Celestia drew a gasping breath of air. Perhaps it was silly. The black thing that had covered the girls had been ominous, but nearly immobile. Yet it struck a chord within the winged unicorn.
The darkness.
She was usually the confident and collected one. The eldest. Or at least, she used to be.
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2012 12:24:15 GMT -5
The Darkness touched a pit inside Luna that she thought had perished with Night Mare Moon. She lay silently on her bed, hooves crossed and chin resting on them as she listened to the darkness war inside her, and watched her sister pace the halls. Where ever the darkness had come from it was Night Mare Moon's fault - HER fault - and now her best friend lay unconscious in a nearby room and her sister paced and gasped as if she could not keep the war inside herself.
"Celestia?" Luna lifted her head and her ears swiveled forward. "Are you well?"
Of course she wasn't well. Luna knew that. But saying anything else would admit her guilt and her darkness and she did not want to lose her sister's trust so soon after she regained it.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2012 14:25:18 GMT -5
Luna's voice snapped Celestia back into an merciless reality. So frail ... so distant ... The princess twirled around to face her - an unusually swift motion for the otherwise so collected mare. A deep frown lay over her usually serene features, mane dancing like a veil of the night rainbow. For a moment she said nothing. Then she remembered that she needed to be strong, that it was her responsibility. What ever stirred in the forest tonight must not hurt her younger sister. Not ... like it had ...
She pulled herself together somewhat, traces of an immense pain still clearly visible just underneath the surface. Celestia was fighting a flood of memories that had lied repressed for a millennia, when the history had repeated itself with Luna. That time it had all ended well. This time-
"I'm not so sure," Celestia breathed, feeling somewhat dizzy. The chock had passed, and there was no way to deny what danger might lurk in the darkness outside, waiting to swallow them.
"I do hope Twilight and the others are okay. I should never have sent them out there! What have I done?" Celestia cast her gaze to the window. No. That was unfair. She couldn't have known ... "How?" She had seen the signs, but all to late.
"I apologize, dear sister," the white winged unicorn said, voice breaking and droplets of silver shedding from her eyes. She lifted her orchid eyes and looked right at Luna. "I thought she was dead!"
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2012 15:40:20 GMT -5
The moon-bringer was only half-listening to her sister's ramblings as she thought of Twilight and the others. When Celestia first called them and asked them to go to the forest Luna was jealous - she wanted to go too. She wanted to prove her worth to her sister, to the ponies of Equestria. Save the day. Win their trust and love again. Make them forget....
As she raged in her room, throwing pillows in a childish temper-tantrum, one of her guards tried to sooth her by claiming it was too dangerous a job for a princess. She rounded on him and screamed "Too dangerous? We were Night Mare Moon!"
It was the only time she'd ever seen a guard's face become anything but complacent and calm, and she dropped the pillow she was holding.
He stood to the side of her bedroom door now, face once again trained into nothingness, but she remembered the fear in his eyes. She glanced at the pillow where it still lay, untouched on the floor, but turned them quickly to Celestia as she yelled.
"I thought she was dead!"
Luna's ears fell flat again and she huddled into the down comforter. "Night Mare Moon is dead," she reassured them both at a whisper. She would not let her darkness out again.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2012 16:16:32 GMT -5
For a confused moment, Celestia stared at Luna. Then a sincerity awoke in her eyes, and the princess of day slowly shut her gaping mouth. She wasn't aware, didn't know. The elder sister approached her sibling gently, motioning for Luna to join her on the bed, fearing that the bad news would topple the darker pony.
"You need to understand", Celestia spoke, forced to pause in order to swallow hard. This was hard. As if she was going to disturb her sister's pleasant dreams and awaken her just to see her fall into a nightmare. "This darkness ... it isn't yours. It was wielded by someone else long before Nightmare Moon. That someone is Eclipse - our elder sister."
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2012 16:34:21 GMT -5
"This darkness isn't yours..."
Luna crawled over the bed to her sister, the words ringing in her ears. Who else could hold such darkness in them? Where else could it have come from? If not her, then-
"That someone is Eclipse - our elder sister."
Elder sister? Luna sat up straight and looked Celestia in the eyes. Those lavender eyes that never lied. They had an elder sister. Why couldn't Luna remember? She did not remember their mother, either, but Celestia spoke of her often enough that Luna at least knew of her.
"Why... why have you never told us of another sister?" And a sister full of darkness. Darker even than Night Mare Moon. Luna was not the black sheep of the family after all.
"Did we... did we get our darkness from her?"
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2012 16:56:57 GMT -5
Celestia had always wanted to believe that this was true. That Eclipse had poisoned their little family, that no evil could truly rule over their hearts. “I was convinced she was gone forever. I am so sorry I never told you this, but it was her fault. It’s because of her … it’s her fault that mother is dead.” Celestia almost looked ashamed. She had so desired to spare Luna the pain. Why, she didn’t even remember Queen Gaia, and Celestia felt bitterness towards it all that urged her to give Eclipse nothing. As the winged unicorn wished it, their elder sister would be wiped from history, for she deserved no better. But there she was. It must have been her. Seeing the girls would surely confirm it, as much as Celestia dreaded the thought of her return.
“I was no more than a filly myself when it happened. My memory could never tell the entire tale, but I know this much. Princess Eclipse was dissatisfied with her position and tried to put us out of the way. But mother would not be overthrown. She preformed some kind of magic ritual that put an end to both of them – or so I thought.
I saw the signs. After sending the wielders of the Elements of Harmony away, I started to remember, to understand … It was dark magic. Queen Gaia sacrificed herself and sent her daughter to the Opaque, a dimension of complete darkness.” Celestia paused. She contemplated her own banishment of Luna so long ago. She had always found comfort in the fact that Luna would have had the starlight for company. Then, upon Night Mare Moon’s return, she herself had been punished by banishment. Not to the moon, but to the Opaque. Celestia shivered. If it weren’t for Twilight Sparkle, she would have gone mad there.
“I didn’t have any time to explain…” But they had been too late. “It felt so strange, watching them lie there in the forest.” Celestia shook her head, images of Twilight, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash lying in that dark curtain danced before her eyes. “And of what this Dark Veil is, I am not certain…” Her voice trailed off, leaving the princess silent.
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2012 17:26:45 GMT -5
The look on Celestia's face as she told her tale was too much for Luna and she turned away to stare at the discarded pillow on the floor. The Opaque. Her eldest sister had been banished to the Opaque, and Night Mare Moon had banished Celestia there. Luna had been the one to bring her back.
"Then we are the one who let the darkness out." Luna looked up at her sister even as she huddled back away from her, fearful. She was the one who sent Celestia, full of sun and glory, to the darkness of Opaque, and she was the one who opened the door between the worlds.
"Please forgive us."
Eclipse's return. The darkness in the forest. The injured fillies next door. All of this was Night Mare Moon's fault. Luna was not the princess hero, she was the evil mare of darkness again. When Equestria found out...
Luna covered her face with her dark hooves. "Please forgive us," she said again.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2012 17:54:08 GMT -5
Sorrow filled the amethyst eyes. It was true. Meddling with the doorways between dimensions was risqué, but if not for Luna Celestia would have been gone. She did not dwell on the past. What had happened - Luna's resentment leading up to the uprising and downfall of Night Mare Moon - it was all forgiven by the elder sister. Now the past was back to haunt them.
"It's not your fault," hummed Celestia, embracing Luna. "Queen Gaia wanted us to live for her, to rule side by side in her place, and so we shall." Her gaze grew firm, almost fierce. "Now ... she's out here." Celestia was sure of it. But what would they do? The winged unicorn had a sudden idea. "Luna ... remember how we searched for the Rainbow of Light, the power that now rests within Twilight and her friends? I remember mother wielding the power against Eclipse, perhaps..."
But, she died, Celestia thought darkly. She did not remember much about Eclipse, but she was certainly unlike any evil that the group had previously encountered.
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2012 22:44:06 GMT -5
Celestia's comfort and forgiveness could only do so much against Luna's guilt. She knew that no matter what happened, she had to stop Eclipse, and soon. She could not let anymore darkness seep in, lest the ponies of Equestria be always at war with the light. She knew that feeling and she did not wish it on her subjects.
"Luna ... remember how we searched for the Rainbow of Light, the power that now rests within Twilight and her friends? I remember mother wielding the power against Eclipse, perhaps..."
"But they already tried and failed," Luna reminded her. "This isn't Dischord, this is Darkness."
Her look turned inward. Whatever Celestia went through in her short banishment to the Opaque she could never know Darkness. Not the way it melted into your heart and made you feel powerful. Feared. Celestia was a daughter of the Light.
The Darkness called to Luna - little sister. And she put her hoofs over her ears to drown it out but it was inside her already, waiting.
"I must make this right," she whispered.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 11, 2012 2:36:55 GMT -5
For a brief moment, Celestia closed her eyes tightly shut, struggling not to fall into despair. She took a shaking breath, pushing thoughts, or rather, the sensation of the Opaque away. She had seen her elder sister before but only slightly remembered her as something cold. Something evil. In the Opaque she had been isolated in a complete darkness. She couldn't say that she had encountered Eclipse there, but something had been whispering through the darkness, beckoning to her, trying to creep inside her, be it an outer force or an inner darkness of her own. But it never seized her. If she hadn't come out in time ...
"This isn't Dischord, this is Darkness."
"I know," the Day Princess sighed. Her spirit was low. Whatever would they do?
"I must make this right."
Celestaia rose to her hooves. "Luna, it was only by reverting back to your old self that I could be released," Celestia said almost sternly, carefully avoiding to say the name of the place. "Eclipse is the one to blame. She must have been plotting her escape for all this time. - We were young, we were foals. And youth always learns through mistakes. We must take immediate action to make sure that we may correct this error." Yes. Eclipse was nothing more than an especially mean stain on the rug. She had to be washed out before she tainted anypony with her darkness.
"We must send word in order to barricade the way to the forest, on this and the Ponyville side both. It will be easier to hold over there, seeing as the mountain will block off most of the path," Celestia boomed, sounding more like the regal leader of ponydom than the caring big sister. "Whatever is in there mustn't come out. In the meantime we will go to Canterlot to gather reinforcements."
There was a fire in her eyes, but all the same they softened as she turned back to Luna. "But first we must address the issue to our friends. They must know what is going on." Celestia looked once again at a window. Outside the sky yearned for a morning sun. But it would have to wait. Just a little longer, Celestia told herself. The longest day of the year was starting to get followed by the longest of nights.
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Post by Becka on Jan 11, 2012 22:56:20 GMT -5
Whatever Eclipse had done - whatever Celestia thought of her - Luna could only sympathize. Because if the Opaque was all Darkness, the moon and stars were all Light - bright, sparkling light, even on the darkest night - and that could drive one mad after a millenium, as much as the darkness that inhabited one's soul. If Eclipse had been planning her escape for so many millenium then Luna could not really blame her, as her sister obviously did. As her mother must have. So much time alone would drive anypony to the brink of madness.
And Celestia did not care at all. She was in the Opaque for only a short time - cut off from the world for a few days, at most. What could she know of the Lonliness? Of the Darkness? Of the Anger and Pain and Resentment?
Luna shook her head and pressed her hooves to her ears harder, as if it would drive out the inner voice that spoke to her now. No! Her sister has suffered enough! They were as one in this cause.
As her sister's voice boomed through the rooms and the sun refused to rise Luna slowly lifted her hooves and looked out at the night, lasting much too long. Less than a year ago she had wished this on Equestria - the everlasting night. And she turned to her sister with worried eyes.
"Please. Bring up the sun. It will drive the Darkness away, and I will not let the dusk break until we've removed this fog from our forest."
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 12, 2012 1:41:04 GMT -5
Celestia studied the younger sister with wary in her eyes. Seeing her huddled over like she was in pain filled the white winged unicorn with concern.
"I will." Never had princess Celestia been too busy to do her duty as the day bringer. Not if she could help it. Luna was right, it was time for the sun to rise and shine comfort upon the lands. Celestia walked over to a bureau to get herself a tissue, lifting it with her magic and padding it gently on her face to hide any traces of tears. Then she stepped out on the balcony. Eyes closed, the horned one focused on the task ahead. Even though Celestia usually liked the serenity brought by the night, now the chilly night breeze served as a reminder for something else. Eyes fluttered open with a newborn determination. A flurry of white wings ripped open the sky as Celestia stretched them out to their full length, taking to the skies. She flew right up, hovering between the earth and the moon that would make way for the-
Celestia gasped. There was a brief moment of light, a moment of salvation, before something climbing the skies started to eat at its warmth. First the sun started to looks something like a half moon, then it shrank to a crescent. Within minutes, dreadful, long minutes, it was in place, blocking out the sun rays and casting Equestria back into darkness, the sun only visable as a striving glistening ring.
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Post by Becka on Jan 12, 2012 17:28:54 GMT -5
Luna walked out onto the balcony at her sister's gasp and stared slack-jawed at the sun as it disappeared behind the moon. The moon that she controlled - but she did not do this! It must have been their eldest sister - the one named for this strange phenomenon that was neither night or day, light or dark. Luna cowered back into the room and the safety of the bed.
The little ponies - they would think this was her doing! They would think Night Mare Moon had risen in her once again and drown out the sun as promised. This was bad. This was so very bad.
"What are we going to do?" she whispered.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 13, 2012 0:47:54 GMT -5
Princess Celestia thought she was going to fall out of the sky. Shock kept her from flapping her wings, but luckily they held her on the breeze. After taking in the scene she plummeted with full control back onto the balcony.
Even after landing the millennia mare could still feel a flutter, stemming from her hammering pulse. WHat would they do? The six young mares that wielded the power that had previously belonged to the sister needed to be notified as soon as possible, then they needed to depart from Whinnyapolis. Equestria was in grave danger. "There's no time to loose!" The die had been cast. Celestia was already on her way downstairs. "Please take the right corridor. I'll get the left," she urged her sister.
Just one floor below lay their friends, probably fast asleep.
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