'What's that noise?' Rune asked himself, his body was too numb and beaten to speak; all he had were his thoughts.

I bEsToW mY bLeSsInG!" A voice Rune recognized echoed around him.

'Midnight?' Rune lacked the strength to open his eyes to confirm his thoughts. 'What are you doing here? Run!"

"tO dAwN rUne!" Midnight's voice shook the room.

Rune could no longer hear any noises. All was silent, and dark. Rune felt as though he was floating in an endless abyss, but something changed. He suddenly felt warm, as if a strong ray of sunlight. His bruises felt relaxed, his blood flowed back into his body, cuts closed, and bones fixed and set back into play. This warmth, this light was healing Rune. When he finally managed to open his eyes, the first thing Rune saw...was Midnight's limp body on the floor.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What's happening?!" Nightwing asked, rubbing the tears from his eyes. "I can't stop crying!"

"It's the Oracle." Calligraphy answered, tears flowing down her face as well. "She must have given her Blessing."

"To Bru?!" Nightwing snapped.

"No." The Aries seat answered, clear droplets of tars dropped from its cloak hood. "But we must hurry!"

The three picked up their pace and were charging towards the castle at full gallop.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"It happened!" Wave couldn't stop crying either. "Midnight's..."

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"The Children have always had an Oracle since the beginning." Wave explained. "When the Oracle chooses a successor, they bestow their Blessing. The former Oracle dies, and all the Children share what we call The Bond of Tears. All Children, no matter where they are, are all crying and mourning her."

"You mean that filly-" Twilight tried asking.

"It means Midnight's dead!" Wave's tears kept pouring.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"The Oracle has chosen a successor!" Greene announced before the mourning Children back in the kingdom. His face and beard drenched in tears. "Praise the Oracle! Praise Midnight! Your sacrifice shall be remembered!"

"Praise the Oracle!" The crowd chanted. "Praise Midnight!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Damn it!" Bru cursed aloud, tears pouring, he knew what that meant.

His plans, years in the making, countless sacrifices made, all in ruin. Now Midnight was dead and Rune, this outsider, not even one of the Children was the new Oracle. He wasn't going to stand for this.

"I refuse to accept any of this!" Bru stormed over towards Rune, who remained expressionless and stared only at Midnight's body. "Rune! You are going to give me the Blessing! Right now-"

Before he could finish, a large blue arch of magic sliced past him, just barely skimming his body. Behind him, the back wall and a large section of the ceiling looked as though it were cut by a massive blade edge.

"I'm sorry." Rune finally spoke, but his tone was emotionless. "I meant to slice you in half."

Bru wasted no time jumping back from Rune. But the moment Bru's hoof touched the ground, Rune was already in his face.

"I won't miss again." Rune said, swinging his hoof which was now covered in shadows and darkness to form a type of dragon-like claw. The claw grabbed at Bru's head and slammed it down on the stone flow, the impact caused several cracks and a small indent to form.

In response, Bru's rear leg came up and knocked Rune on the side of his face, pushing him away from Bru. Quickly getting to his hooves, Bru lit up his horn, but instead of blasting at Rune, he aimed for the glass ceiling. With a bolt from his horn, Bru shattered the ceiling, several large and small fragments of glass rained over Rune, impaling his body. But despite this, Rune made no noise nor indication that he was hurt or in pain; he wasn't even bleeding. Only more shadows circled and coiled around Rune, enveloping his body and pushing out the glass.

As the shadows consumed him, Rune's body began to change in appearance. His forehooves became more like a lion's paws. His coat became heavier and darker shades of blue. His mane grew longer, reaching down his back, and was like black fire. His tail shed fur and became more serpentine. And finally, two ram-like horns curved on the side of his head. Finally, his eyes burned with a white and orange glow.

"A Lunar?!" Bru commented. "The Oracle's Blessing is strong indeed to give a outsider like you a Lunar. You should feel honored, a Lunar is one of the highest achievements the Children can achieve." Bru looked around and knew he couldn't fight inside. "Let's take this outside."

Darkness wrapped around Bru and his form became that of his Nightmare form. Slowly rising in the air, Bru flew towards the open ceiling, with Rune following after; both not letting the other escape their sight. Comet, still standing this whole time, merely watched as both Bru and Rune disappeared from view.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What's going on?!" Armor asked, looking around the throne room.

Looking around, Armor saw that every one of the invaders that have attacked suddenly began to cry uncontrollably ever since the castle shook with a large magical pressure. Even those like the pony he defeated and knocked unconscious, was crying.

"It's probably better if you didn't know." Nightwing answered, walking into the room with Calligraphy and the Aries.

"Nightwing?" Armor asked, then quickly readied his horn. "Stay right there!"

"What are you doing dipshit?' Nightwing asked, his tone mildly annoyed.

"How do I know you're not with them?" Armor asked.

"Well yes and no." Nightwing answered. "I am one of them, but I'm trying to stop them. And I'm sure you felt that massive surge of magic."

"You'll forgive that I don't believe-" But before Armor could finish, Nightwing swept his wing, sending a small projectile past Armor's face.

Looking behind his, Armor saw one of the Children that tried to attack him from behind, but it had a feather shaped dagger in its head. The pony fell over dead.

"You're welcome asshole." Nightwing nodded.

"Okay, I believe you." Armor nodded. "But first tell me what's going on."

"Long story short." Nightwing paraphrased, gesturing to Calligraphy and the Aries. "We're part of an ancient kingdom that worships Princess Luna, some of us decided to go to war with you guys and trapped those who wouldn't back in our kingdom. So now some of us escaped and are trying to stop their leader Bru from killing Celestia and becoming a god."

"But it seems you were too late." Armor argued, whatever this Bru was doing, probably happened!"

"Not entirely." The Aries stepped forward. "The Oracle has given her Blessing to another, but it wasn't Bru."

"Then who?" Armor demanded.

"Rune." Calligraphy answered. "It's the only explanation I can think of."

"Rune?!" Armor asked. "Dawn Rune? He's one of you? And he's now some god or something?!"

"Yes and no." Nightwing explained. "As far as I know, Rune isn't one of us, and so he can't control the Blessing."

"If we don't stop him soon." Calligraphy finished the explanation. "Rune will become too overwhelmed by the Blessing's power and die."

"Then we have to stop him." Armor said.

"Not yet you don't!" A voiced pierced the air.

The ponies turned to see Comet, and she wasn't too happy. Her mane was a mess and a murderous glare gleamed in her eyes. Spreading her wings to extend her shadow, pointed tendril shot from the ground at the group. Luckily they were all able to dodge. But Comet soon ignored the other ponies when she saw Calligraphy. Soon Calligraphy became the target of all of Comet's attacks.

"Because you brought him to us!" Comet shouted. "Bru was to be the Oracle, our savior. Now you've killed us all!"

Comet's attacks became faster and faster, more and more tendrils struck at Calligraphy, but because Comet was blinded by her anger, her aim was off. Calligraphy barely had to dodge the attacks as most missed on their own. Calligraphy ignited her horn in a greyish green color; seeing a clear shot through all the tendrils, Calligraphy fired a small blast of magic, striking Comet in the chest. Not enough to kill, just enough to knock her down.

"Okay now we have to stop Rune before he kills himself." Calligraphy said.

"Or use the Oracle's Blessing to destroy all of Canterlot." The Aries added.

"That reminds me." Armor pointed his horn at the still hooded Aries. "Who are you, take off the hood."

The former Aries seat lifted its hood, revealing that it was a mare. A brown coated unicorn mare with a flowing light blue mane.

"Easy there Captain Armor." The mare said. "There's no need to worry about me."

"What's your name?" Armor asked, he could've sworn he's seen this mare before.

"You can call me Rem Sleep." The mare nodded. "I am, or was, a Children of the Night. But almost twenty years ago, I was banished. I've lived in Canterlot ever since in hiding."

"So you're here for revenge?" Armor asked.

"In a manner of speaking." Rem chuckled. "But it seems Rune beat me to my target. So I will let Rune have Bru."

"Aren't you gonna help?" Armor asked.

"There's no need." Rem smiled calmly, but then her eyes and expression became murderous and cold. "But don't misunderstand, if Rune can't beat Bru, I will kill Bru!"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The sky was erupting with wind. The clashing magics of Rune and Bru collided, sending shock waves small and large rupturing the sky, clearing and slicing the night clouds away. Every time one of them shot a blast of magic, the other would either dodge or knock it away. But Bru was struggling to stay a step ahead of Rune. Normally, Bru should be dominating the battle, but because of Rune receiving the Blessing, Bru was barely able to get a decent hit on Rune. But it wasn't until the last few attacks, that Bru noticed that Rune was easier to dodge than he thought.

"It seems my hunch was correct." Bru commented, looking at the destruction all of Rune's missed attacks have done to the area. "You have all the power the Blessing has given, but you lack control. So I will defeat you, and you will give the Blessing to me. The only redeemable thing is you have gained the power of a Lunar. But let me show you a real Lunar."

The night shadows caressed Bru's body. His fur became more smooth, polished, and hardened. His hooves subtly curved to a point, and his ears retracted to his head until his ears were small holes on the side of his head. The last thing was his tail hair all but fell off and instead, a large scorpion-like stinger was all that remained. Bru stared at Rune, his eyes a burning indigo.

"Now allow me to teach you how to use a Lunar." Bru said, with a kick off the air, he charged head long towards Rune.

Before Rune finished a blink, Bru brought the side of his arm across Rune's neck. The impact knocked Rune against the stone wall hard enough to form an indent and cracks in the stone. Bru, not wasting any time, charged his horn and blasted orbs of blue magic that sparked with greenish sparks at Rune. Rune raised his head and with an ignition of his horn, the orbs dissipated. A claw-like shadow spewed from Rune's lit horn and went at full speed towards Bru.

"Not a second time!" Bru announced, his horn's magic smacking the shadow with an invisible force, redirecting it away from him.

Arching his head upwards, Bru levitated the chunks of nearby rubble. Swinging his horn downwards, the chunks of rubble flew towards Rune. Unlike the last attack, Rune broke free of the stone wall and dodged the attack. With a quick flash of black light, Rune vanished from sight. Quickly reappearing behind Bru, Rune arched his body in a small forward flip, swinging down his rear hoof. Quickly turning around, Bru brought his two forehooves upwards in an crisscross, blocking the kick. Then without so much as a shift of his body, Bru's scorpion-like tail came from his right, ready to sting Rune's side. Rune, in turn, swung down his elbow, knocking the tail under him. Bru then did a small spin and delivered a direct kick to Rune's exposed stomach, the force of the impact knocked him through the air to the ground, crashing into the Canterlot Royal Garden.

"You have no idea how lucky you are Dawn Rune." Bru said, landing to the ground, walking through the garden maze in search of Rune. "In over a day, you have discovered out ancient culture, learned our history, uncovered my plan, years in the making mind you, and now here you are, an outsider with no Children blood in you and you're now the Children's new oracle. You can understand why I can't allow this."

As Bru made his way through the maze in search of Rune, Rune silently moved from one shadow cast by the many marble statues to another. Because he was in the heat of the moment, he didn't notice it, but now that Rune had a moment to think, he realized his pulse was hammering and his heart was beating far too many beats per minute and was beating irregularly.

'I don't have much time.' Rune thought, trying to relax himself. 'I don't think my body can hold onto this much power for too long.' Rune then looked up at the full Moon. 'It's a good thing it's a full Moon, maybe that's what's making this easier to control.'

"Come out Dawn Rune!" Bru called. "I'm growing tired of this game."

"Maybe we should play a new game!" Rune announced, jumping into the air, over the hedge wall. Igniting his horn, Rune lifted several of the marble statues that filled the maze and garden. "Let's make it rain!"

Swinging his horn down, Rune's magic shattered the marble statues into hoofful size chunks. As they flew downwards at Bru, they burst into a black flame.

"Black fire?!" Bru noticed with surprise, jumping back and around, whatever he could to dodge.

Jumping behind several high hedge walls, Bru hid himself from Rune's line of sight.

"Interesting." Bru's voice echoed, making it difficult to pin point. "You're the second pony I've met to use black flames. But it doesn't matter, from what I can guess, you can't control the Blessing, nor can your body hold on to it. Did you really think you can control the power of the Blessing right off the bat?! Foolish child. An Oracle spends years mentally and magically preparing their body for the Blessing. A whelp such as yourself could never hold it in."

Bru was right, Rune felt as if his body was gonna drop any moment, he had to endure it a little longer.

"Then I'm thankful I'm so stubborn." Rune said, finding where Bru was and charging at him.

Kicking off the ground and in a forward spin, Rune arched his horn and made a crescent shaped arch of magic that cut forward. Bru leaped out of the hedge wall and did a similar attack. Both arches collided and dissipated.

"As much as I would love to wait and see your body burn out." Bru bragged. "I cannot let you die just yet, you will give me the Blessing."

Bru pointed his horn and let loose a blast of a dark blue liquid-like blast at Rune. The attack washed over him and followed with an isolated explosion, starting from Bru and ran past Rune. The blast knocked Rune back against a nearby statue. Surprisingly, the statue, which looked like some female creature made up of an assortment of other creatures, neither chipped nor cracked.

"That'll do!" Rune said aloud, quickly grabbing the statue with his paws, yanking it from the ground.

Jumping back at Bru, Rune raised the statue in paw and swung hard against Bru. The impact of the large statue made a loud cracking noise. Not of the statue, but of Bru's body. The force of impact knocked Bru through the hedge wall and hard against the side of the castle walls. Despite the sudden crack of what could be assumed to be Bru's ribs, he got up quickly. Looking around, Bru couldn't find Rune around.

"Where did he-" Bru asked but the felt a large amount of magic above him.

Looking up, Bru saw Rune with a large amount of energy charging in his horn.

"One last blaze of glory?" Bru asked himself. "Foolish child!"

Bru blasted all he could into this attack. Both Bru and Rune were aware that this would be the final attack. The two's magic collided with a flash of grey, blue, black, and orange colors and pulses of magical energy. The force of the magic was pushing Bru into the ground and pushing Rune farther back. But in this mass of magic, both Rune and Bru felt something, something familiar. Within the blast and waves, their horns let out faint sparks. Images began flashing into their heads, though neither ponies could understand it, the images seemed familiar, yet odd. As if they forgot something but couldn't remember it.

"What is this?!" Rune asked aloud.

"These images?" Bru asked himself, thinking about them but focusing more on his attack. "I swear I've seen them before. But where?"

Bru also noticed another thing, he was being forced back, he was losing. He couldn't understand it.

'How?!' Bru shouted in his head. 'How could I lose to this, this outsider!? This nopony who stole my power from me!' But then a final image flashed through his mind. A unicorn pony with a long flowing mane and almost fiery eyes. 'No! It's not possible! They're both dead.'

Rune let out one last impact of magic, everything he could into a final push. And it worked. Bru found himself overwhelmed by the attack, his magic lost, and he was blasted into a large crater. But having used up all he could, Rune couldn't keep himself in the air. Despite trying to gently lower himself, Rune dropped with thud, only several feet from Bru.

"It's impossible." Bru weakly said aloud. "How could I have lost?"

Turning his head, Bru saw something even he didn't expect. Rune, too weak to get up, was using what little strength he had left to drag himself over to Bru.

"Who?" Rune weakly asked. "What are these images I'm seeing? Who is that unicorn with the fiery eyes?! What is all of this?!"

"It seems I was wrong about you." Bru asked. "You are not who I thought you were...I had hoped, but doesn't matter...Dawn Rune, I hate you. You single hoofed the destruction of my kind and we are now going to rot in some cell or be subject to genocide by the Sun Tyrant. All those lives I was going to save, all wasted."

"No!" Rune could barely shout, he was still crawling. "You gave up on you're kind when you chose your pride over what was right."

"Master Bru!" Comet and Soul's voice sounded, coming closer.

Between Bru and Rune was a beaten and bruised Comet and Soul.

"Master Bru." Come grabbed hold of Bru in her hooves. "We have to go, I will not let you face a cell to rot in."

"What about him Master Bru?" Soul asked. "Should I kill him?"

"There's no point." Bru ordered. "Out of a courtesy, I will allow the child to live. Only I am allowed to kill him. He is the only pony to have bested me...Well, second......Comet, get us out of here."

"Yes." Comet nodded, spreading her wings to cast a large shadow over the three. As the shadows spread, Bru, Comet, and Soul sank into the shadows until they were gone.

Rune's body was feeling numb, his eyes were feeling heavy and breathing became difficult. The sound around him were becoming faint and he was drifting away. Before his sight left him, he saw a pony, he couldn't tell the color or even gender, but he saw a unicorn's horn and a flowing mane.

Though he couldn't distinguish the voice, he heard, "Do you want to save Midnight?"

Rune could only nod.

"Then will the Blessing into her." The voice said. "The color has not left her face, she can still be saved."

A thin stream of tears began to pour down Rune's face. He could save Midnight.

"I...Bestow...my Blessing...to...Mid..night..." Rune said weakly.

Author's Notes:

Epilogue chapter coming soon.