Chapter 17: Eclipse

Twilight gasped as she felt the magical waves Luna and Silver’s arrival unleashed. It was like pure electricity down her spine, to say that the lavender mare enjoyed that would be an understatement. Their arrival had its drawbacks though, she would have to delay the next… private session with Rainbow Dash because she also wanted to visit Morning Blaze again. The blue pegasus was so much more enjoyable as an obedient lover, another Element of Harmony she did not need to worry about. Fluttershy would likely not return from the icy hell she’d sent her to anyway.

She shoved everything aside for the moment though, Silver and Luna were more important right now. The weak thestral was instantly taken away for medical treatment, at least Silent Flare would have some company because he was still in recovery.

Now Twilight had the chance to speak with Luna, the blue alicorn was physically unharmed, but showed signs of extreme stress, apparently Celestia really was a force not to be trifled with so easily. Not that the Tactician Twilight Sparkle would ever make such a grave mistake. They would still do everything they could to overthrow her though… nothing could change that plan now.

After half an hour or so, Luna finished up her tale of blood and anger, “It was not the sister I knew anymore, even before our ways parted, Twilight. Her frustration and anger after I mentioned your name were almost… unnatural.”

“I see… maybe we can use that to our advantage later… because whether or not I trust Discord, his plan is the only option we have right now. And I have to get close to her for it to work,” the lavender mare explained. She hoped that they would find another solution soon, because nopony would be that naive and trust the draconequus, well… except Specter.

Luna snarled quietly as she heard the cursed name… Discord, she didn’t trust this situation one bit, but after everything they’ve been through, she did trust Twilight, “Discord is nothing compared to the Nightmare, if it could roam this land. Still… Prithee be careful, Twilight. You can not trust him.”

The lavender mare was intrigued by the Nightmare, sure, it was trying to make her insane and change her into the next Nightmare Moon, but on the other hoof… it’s power was beyond imagination, with that the entire world would soon bend its knee for them, “Any suggestion on our next movements?”

The blue alicorn nodded, “Indeed I have, it has been a while since we gained territory. We should plan our next raid on a smaller town.”

“Sounds like a plan. Gaining more territory would make it harder for Celestia to predict from where we strike next. Also it creates more chaos for her, and I’d never pass an opportunity to make her life more miserable. Unfortunately I have to ‘visit’ Morning Blaze now. So we’ll continue this discussion later. Take care, Luna.”

“Take care, Twilight.”

As promised Twilight approached Morning Blaze’s makeshift cell. Since Ponyville did not have a dungeon or anything even remotely similar, they had to use the underground room of the former town hall. It soon became the main building again, only with an entirely different purpose.

A bat pony mare was guarding the cell, at least one of the rebels had to make sure the former captain stayed where she was. Twilight personally enchanted the room with a few spells Luna had taught her. Not even a general could neutralize them from the inside, except if they knew how to replicate the exact signature of the spell, but that was fortunately out of question.

After the mare had assured her that nothing happened during the lavender mare’s absence, she slowly trotted inside. Her old mentor laid on the ‘bed’ of her cell, her eyes bloodshot and her coat dull. Apparently Blaze did not get much sleep the last days, at least she always had water and food. Twilight wanted an ally, maybe even a friend who could finally see the truth, and not another body on the growing pile of her sins.

Morning’s gaze was fixated on her former student, she asked with a weak and raspy voice, “What do you want, Twilight? Another visit just to taunt me?”

The lavender mare closed the cell with her magic, the creaking hinges filling the silence, “Oh Blaze,” She began to slowly shake her head. “Blaze, Blaze, Blaze… it does not have to be like this. You want to know why I am here? I will tell you the truth, about Celestia, about Nightmare Moon’s banishment and about this war.”

“Why should I listen to you?!” The yellow mare began to cough violently. “You killed your own brother! You’re a monster!”

“He just didn’t listen, Blaze. But you, you understand me, you always have. Even back then, when I was nothing but a small filly under the control of Celestia, only a tool, raised for her own, sick amusement,” Twilight answered with apparent sadness in her voice.

Then she giggled, “I remember that day like it was yesterday, the Summer Sun Celebration, it was one of the most joyful days in my life. I was just so happy to have such a good teacher and a wonderful mentor, both watching over me…. You know, Luna always had an eye on me, guided me, even back then. I was so close to telling you, to ask you what it meant, but I guess you wouldn’t have understood.”

Blaze’s expression softened as happy memories flashed before her inner eye, the training units with this little, incredibly talented filly. The entire year they have spent, so close to each other, the Summer Sun Celebration had been the day she revealed her past to a little kid, something she thought would never happen, “Twilight… I… tell me what you have to say. I want to understand your reasons… why you did those horrible, horrible things. I want to know what happened to the innocent book-loving filly that I held so dearly… and what I can do to prevent a catastrophe.”

Twilight thought about the yellow mare’s words, certainly not what she had expected, “As you wish, I will tell you everything… about the royal sisters.”

The orange mare stopped for a minute, they had been searching for a secret entrance all over the temple for more than two hours now. It was not like she was going to just give up, but it was starting to get annoying, “This darn temple thing! Why do they always have to hide their switches ‘n stuff?!”

Sharpshot sighed, the mare had a point, if there even was a hidden switch or anything similar, then they had hid it very well, “I don’t know, but if it’s that well hidden, it has to protect something valuable.” He looked onto the ground, it was covered with mossy stone tiles, strange runes were carved into them, as usual in this thing.

Then he noticed something odd, there was no blue light shining through some tiles. Sharpshot kneeled down, trying to look through the narrow slits, “I think I’ve found something…” The stallion slowly crouched forwards to discern the dimensions of this lightless secret.

It took him a few minutes, double checking everything of course, but now he knew that it was most definitely an entrance. The ‘door’ lead to the top of some stairs, that was all he could see, but it was big enough for two ponies to fit in. The entrance itself was about two meters square, it surprised him how well hidden it was.

Since they couldn’t afford to waste more, precious time, Applejack decided to deal with it an a more physical way. “Hnghh… Years of apple bucking experience! Haaaaah!” She kicked out with her mighty hooves, shattering the relatively thin and fragile plates covering the secret entrance. Even without a weapon she was a force to be reckoned with, nopony could kick like her without ending in a hospital.

“Good job, Applejack. I have never seen a kick like this before… that somepony could destroy stones with only their bare hooves, impressive!” A certain trace of curiousness apparent in his voice. He still was a discoverer of secrets and gatherer of knowledge!

The country mare rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, “Aw shucks, it was nuthin’. Just like Ah said, years of kickin’ trees.”

They began to descend the ancient stairs down into the unknown. It could very well be possible that this was just another clever designed trap, that was used to fend off unwanted intruders. Applejack couldn't even see the bottom of the stairs, so it would take a while to finally uncover another secret of this ancient civilization.

She almost slipped twice on the mossy cobblestone, it looked like nopony had been tending to this place for a thousand years… which was probably very true. Another twenty minute climb was needed to reach the bottom, to their surprise their was no trap, no terrifying monster waiting for them, or anything even remotely similar, just a lonely, wooden door, waiting to be opened.

“Well, Ah guess here goes nuthin’!” Without waiting for Sharpshot she opened the door in one go. Another unexpected surprise was that the door actually opened, not even a lock had been installed on it…

The door revealed a small room, barely big enough to be called a closet, the walls were covered with another story, this time it involved some mist monster. A barren wasteland could be seen on the pictures, the only thing that was of importance there, was the same pulsating, blue crystal they had seen earlier. Ponies found the crystal and brought it home to their queen. At first nothing happened, it even aided them, revealing new kinds of technology unheard of in their time! This little, unimportant tribe soon ascended to the ruling kind of this land.

Then the depictions changed, the crystal became stronger and stronger from all the praise and devotion the ponies offered to it. The next picture was even stranger, the crystal was inside a midnight blue mist, its form vaguely resembling that of a pony. It embraced the queen of this land, seemingly becoming one, the birth of a new Nightmare…

The pony’s look reminded her too much of Nightmare Moon. The insane eyes, the black coat colour, razor-sharp teeth and the same elegantly crafted, midnight-blue armor. The heart of it all was deep inside of the mare, instead of a heart, the blue crystal could be seen in her body, it was weird that this picture put so much emphasis on such a small, seemingly insignificant detail. The slaughtering took place in the next picture, and that was an understatement, a touch of this monster was enough to rip the very soul of a pony out of its body and into a bottomless abyss that this thing had as a mouth.

Then the creature left the land, leaving nothing but another wasteland…

Applejack was shocked, the story had repeated itself more than once, just what was this crystal? “What is this room? And who built it?”

Not even the self-proclaimed ‘explorer of secrets’ had an answer for this question. Instead he just looked around the room, it was quite empty for a hidden secret, the only thing that actually stood out was a small stone pedestal. A small, crescent moon shaped stone was placed on top of it, together with a barely readable piece of paper.

He scooted closer, examining both items. Small runes were carved into the moon shaped stone as well, he would kill to know what they meant. The almost rotten piece of paper must’ve been decorated quite heavily, he could still make out a few drawings on the back of it. The text on the front said:

That was everything he could read, the rest must’ve been unimportant if it was already gone, “Crimson soul… and mountain’s past… Hey, Applejack! Would you mind looking at this for a minute?”

A few minutes later she’d examined both things as well, “Ah shoot! Why do they always talk in riddles? Maybe this ‘mountain’s past’ means the mountain where Canterlot is built on? They obviously didn’t like Celestia very much! Jest… you know, maybe not ‘past’ in the literal sense. Maybe they jest referred to that after Canterlot became the new capital, or somethin’ Sorry pardner, that’s all Ah got.”

Sharpshot thought about the possibility for a moment, more and more pieces started to fit and his face lit up, “Yes… yes! That could be it! Some parts of the crystal caves below the mountain are glowing blood red, due to the strange color of the massive crystals. We’d have to take the way through the back of the mountain though. It could take us a while, but maybe it’s worth it.”

“Fine by me pardner. Ah will rescue mah friends, no matter what!”

He nodded absent minded, “Then it’s settled. We’ll go immediately!” Before they left he picked up the odd stone, letting it vanish into his coat, who knows if it would be useful some day.

The lavender unicorn finished up her tale of horror, blood and betrayal. It took her over two hours to explain every little, intricate detail about how this all happened and why they were doing it. As the story went on she felt more and more assured, it had been the right thing to do. Maybe Twilight had killed a few too many innocent guards, but it was necessary.

She excluded Discord’s and Specter’s arrival, no matter how safe and secure a cell would be, it was never ‘completely safe’. And right now the lavender mare had to rely on the Spirit of Chaos. Morning Blaze took the story rather well, far better than she expected, maybe even too well. Only a few gasps as she told her the real cause of the first Equestrian War.

The yellow mare had been trained for almost her entire life, emotions on a mission could mean death. Especially with the… most dangerous criminal in all of Equestria standing right before her. With every passing second it became harder to maintain this emotionless mask though, a stray tear found its way down her cheek.

The story had been horrifying to no end, no wonder her innocent, little student had lost her mind. Maybe Celestia really was the bad pony after all… No! Don’t even start with that, Blaze slowly shook her head.

“This is not real…. lies, lies told by the Nightmare! Twilight if you’d come back we could—”

Twilight’s hoof was gently covering her mouth, the captain had expected a punch, or even a strike with Twilight’s sword, but the mare almost looked… sad, “Blaze… don’t start with that. It’s far, far too late for that. I can assure you that everything I told you is the honest truth. Either I take Celestia’s head, or she will take mine… There is no other option.”

“Y-you can’t be serious! Twilight, I… These things sounded… horrible. I understand your pain, if they really are true, but… trying to kill Celestia is not the right way. I can help you, we can still fix this without another bloodshed.”

Twilight slowly shook her head and sat down on Blaze’s ‘bed’, “This won’t get us anywhere, Blaze. Either you join me voluntarily, or your mind will thank me obediently while I tear down your freewill, piece by piece.”

Her answer was whispered at near inaudible levels, “... I’ll do it.”

“Could you repeat that a bit louder, I did not quite catch that.”

“I will do this… for you. I have had enough of this war anyway, but… don’t expect me to hurt other guards. I will just help you organize and intimidating the princess... “ She hated herself for saying stuff like that, but what other possibility did she have? Blaze liked her free will.

The lavender student’s next action cause Blaze’s blood to rush immediately into her face. It was a quick kiss on the cheek, nothing more, nothing less, but for some reason, maybe because she was trapped for almost four days now, made it feel so much better. Twilight whispered into her ear, her hot breath tingling the yellow mare, “That is just the beginning. Come on, we have much to discuss.”

The once proud captain of Celestia’s Armies followed her former student like in a trance. Something was giving her a really, really bad feeling about this. She just needed to wait for Celestia to fix this… eventually.

Fluttershy and her brown earth pony companion barely made it to the shrine entrance. The last day had consisted of nothing but climbing, freezing and more climbing. Her hooves were bruised and even bloody in some places. The cold and hard stone of the mountain made it extremely difficult to just rest for a moment without fearing for their lives. It was definitely not something the still young mare would ever try again, she’d nearly fallen to her death on more than one occasion.

The giant doors were nearly twenty times the size of the yellow pegasus. One half was painted in what looked like gold, but the door itself was made out of a clean-cut, massive stone plate, it had a rising sun as its main symbol. The other half was colored in a royal blue, depictions of stars and a giant, crescent moon were depicted on it. It reminded her of Celestia, at least on part of it, but why painting the other half with the moon?

“Do… do you really think we can do this?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly. It seemed like this was too much for them to handle, but who else would do it?

“There’s no turning back now,” Rost replied, obvious doubt could be heard in his voice. “I want to save this land and get revenge, and you want to go back home.” He approached the giant set of doors and pushed against them with all his might. They slowly opened, the stone scraping against the mountain, producing an unnerving grinding sound.

A wave of cold winds hit them, they were actually colder than the already freezing wind outside. It was like the shrine itself did not want them to disturb its new masters. They pushed forward, the giant hallway was entirely black, not even the smallest light from the outside world could reach them now.

Fluttershy nearly tripped again, the ground below them having changed to ice and the wind pushed even harder against them. The path also narrowed more and more, not that the walls came closer, but the rest of the path’s sides were just… not there. A bottomless abyss took its place, now the path was barely wide enough for two ponies to walk on. Rost threw a relatively big ice shard down the abyss, to test how deep this thing actually was. They impact sound never came, it was either insanely deep or some kind of dark magic was involved.

This wandering in the dark continued for another ten minutes, unfortunately they couldn’t walk very fast either, the strong winds and narrow path slowing them greatly. The fact that the icy ground nearly removed their ability to grip onto it did certainly not make things any easier. Fluttershy picked a faint sound from inside the shrine, nearly inaudible, but still there. However, the only thing she could really focus on was the deafening howl of the icy winds.

She knew this sound though, it was often heard inside of caves or dark places, it must’ve been the screech of a bat. Before the mare could say anything to Rost, something impacted with her rosary beads. Producing a loud ringing sound and bright red light. The barrier with the unreadable runes erected itself in less than a fraction of a second. Then something impacted with it again, and again, and again. The brown stallion had the same problem, only he had no such thing to protect him, tiny claws and teeth scratched and bruised him, trying to throw the stallion off the path.

They could not defend themselves without any light, only the faint glow of the beads let her see the outlines of Rost. Every time something impacted with the barrier it felt like a nail scratching on a chalkboard inside of her mind. Fluttershy’s forehooves were pressed against her ears and she cowered on the narrow ice path, yet it did not stop. More and more ‘bats’ came to attack them. Finally her tear filled eyes could catch a glimpse of one beast, these things were nearly double the size of normal bats, their coats midnight black, their wings riddled with holes. She couldn’t explain why they were even able to fly. Their razor sharp teeth and claws were already full of delicious pony blood.

As three or four, maybe a dozen, the mare couldn’t tell at this point, impacted with her barrier at the same time she screamed. Fluttershy screamed like she’d never screamed before, the barrier grew larger and larger, reacting to her emotions, it was wide enough to reach Rost, the bats were repelled and burned by it, falling into the abyss as nothing but a pile of ash.

Before she could collapse Rost caught her, supporting her weight, “You… never fail to amaze me... Looks like they won’t come back for a while. Let’s get into the actual shrine before they do.”

The timid mare blushed a little at the compliment, but she was too tired to even think straight at this point. She just pushed on, only half conscious, they desperately needed a break. Hopefully the inside would look better, because those were just a few small animals and they were barely able to fend them off. For now they just continued their assault on the shrine.

“Girls… wait for me… I’m almost home...”

It took her a while to realize just how serious her situation was, Morning Blaze was practically a servant of her once so innocent student now. All the other members of her rebellion seemed so… nice, the seamstress with the deadly crystals and their former prisoner, Pinkamena D. Pie, welcomed her immediately after Twilight had explained the current situation. The pink mare forgave her quickly after an apology, Pinkie was just Pinkie, no point in trying to understand her.

Blaze had been talking to them while her student left with Rainbow Dash for a ‘private talk’ whatever that meant. Every single one of them followed her for their own reasons, but they trusted each other and more importantly, they would die for Twilight. They genuinely believed that their rebellion was the right thing to do and that Celestia was the villain in this story.

The biggest shocker for her was a certain beige-furred stallion that was now allied with Twilight as well. Silent Flare, who was completely fine again, joined them shortly after. His face showing a big grin as he saw the shocked expression of his old friend.

“Morning, good to see you! How long has it been? Four years? Five?” He sat down next to them, they were all waiting for Twilight in the town square which was still a beautiful place to relax despite the current situation. Pinkie nearly crushed him in an affectionate ‘I’m glad you’re better’ hug.

They were all laughing, enjoying themselves… in the midst of a civil war. The yellow mare couldn’t really understand what held the group together, but finally she spoke up, “Silent… The last time I’ve seen you was right after you killed a bunch of guards to break out of Canterlot’s dungeon… How.. I… Why are you here?”

He smirked again, “Good old times. And now I’m with our General Sparkle, that mare means trouble, but every trouble somepony is causing for Celestia is good trouble, I think that’s reason enough.” His smile faded, only a dead serious expression remained. “You made the right choice, Blaze. Things will really start soon, things neither the princess nor any of us can stop now.”

Before she could reply to his ominous message Twilight slowly approached them smiling. Following her was a very strongly blushing Rainbow Dash, but she seemed to be happy too. The yellow unicorn got a general idea of what they’ve been doing back there, considering their last encounter and their last battle.

Twilight smiled again as she touched Blaze’s chest all of a sudden. A black energy coming from her hoof, directly seeping into the yellow mare’s coat. Morning did not feel any pain though, it even felt kinda… nice. As it stopped a small, purple, crescent moon shaped crystal had formed on her chest, it seemed to be part of her for now, only protruding out of her chest about one centimeter.

It was gently glowing, producing a faint purple light, it went rather well with her coat. It also felt… warm to the touch, but again, not unpleasantly warm, just enough to make her feel more comfortable, “W-what is this?”

Her student and now superior let go of Blaze and answered in a soothing tone, “Just a little reminder that your loyalty belongs solely to us. I can channel my magic into you to give you more power should you need it. And we can contact each other at any given time, all you need to do is to touch the crystal.”

The mare was glad that Blaze was actually okay after this. It had been more of an idea than an actual working spell. Rarity told her much about her own crystals, and combined with her magic it worked great as a way to communicate over great distances. All of her friends, including Silent got one of them after it worked with Blaze. Only Luna did not need it, she could talk with Twilight whenever she wanted, they were still connected after all.

Twilight turned around after that, ready to leave. She had already informed Luna about her next actions, it was incredibly risky, it might get her killed or captured in the end, and the reason was probably insane for any normal pony. Her next move would just satisfy her own twisted vision of satisfaction.

Her friends and allies were used to her planning and only knowing about her plans while they happened, but Blaze shouted, “Where are you going?”

“Paying Canterlot Castle a long-overdue visit,” She replied, half-excited, half nervous. Twilight was not sure how Celestia would react to her presence.

‘Oh Celestia, you’re gonna love the magic that my little Dashie experienced’ Twilight thought to herself happily while she merged with the shadows beneath her.

The wards and protection spell of Canterlot Castle were a joke, even a foal with enough knowledge about chaos magic could get past it. Twilight had to be fast though, her presence alone would cause heavy ripples of magical energy, disturbing the relatively calm aura around Canterlot.

The castle was still like she remembered it, every twist, every corner of this beautiful building. This would definitely be her place to live in after this war was over. For now she just scanned for a very particular pony, her aura was by far the most dominant in the entire city, maybe in the entire land and she was sitting on some cushions in her personal chambers, perfect.

The chaotic wave that came from the unknown intruder sent a shiver down Celestia spine, she had not felt anything like this… in quite some time. She spoke up without turning around, “Who are you, and why did you enter my chambers?”

That actually managed to make Twilight chuckle a little, “Oh Celestia, you don’t recognize the magical aura of your favorite student? I have to admit that I am disappointed.”

The white alicorn jumped up and turned around without a second thought, her eyes wide, shock clearly written into her face, “T-Twilight… what are you doing here?” Her students powers have certainly grown over the last few weeks, her magic felt much more… seductive than any other she had encountered in the last millennia.

“Me? Oh, I’m just checking if you’re alright. I was worried about my mentor, you know? After the… unfortunate events of the last months… we hadn’t had the chance to just talk like two mares of our caliber should.” Twilight answered with a playful tone in her voice. The fact that she was not dead or trapped meant that Celestia really was unprepared for this moment.

“W-worried… about m-me? Twilight, I... “ Then she stopped, what could the millennia old demi-goddess say in a situation like this? Celestia did not know, and that was what terrified her. There were feelings towards... her student that she hasn’t felt for thousands of years.

Twilight sat down, crossing her legs and looking completely calm. As long as her weapon stayed raw energy, nothing was going to happen. She just wanted to play with Celestia a bit, “How has it been for you, princess? I’ve heard you are awfully busy.”

The princess did not know the reason why her student was doing this, but she wouldn’t let her leave at any cost. Celestia contacted all of her captains and generals. Everything had to be ready, her student would see the errors of her way… or end up in a cell, “Y-yes… I’m sure you can imagine why that is, Twilight. I have been trying to get in contact with you after… everything went down this path.”

“Didn’t have the chance to answer, but I’m here now, just like you wanted it. Say, is it fun to live the life of a tyrant? To manipulate others into sacrificing their own lives, despite the fact that you are immortal?”

Celestia gasped and stepped back slightly. This was again something she had not expected, “N-no, Twilight! It’s… not that simple. This land… needs me to preserve harmony, without me… without me a terrible, terrible catastrophe would surely befall this land. Look at… Luna, once the Nightmare infests someone completely… there is no turning back or cure… It’s true, I had to banish her, but countless innocent citizens would have died otherwise!”

“Heh, guess what. I don’t believe you. There would’ve been so many different options to approach the problem, yet you choose the literal worst one available. And you involved me, an innocent child at the time, wanting nothing more than to please her mentor. The most crazy part is that Luna, or NIghtmare Moon if you want to call her like that, treated me with more respect than you ever have been. We’re truly equals, despite her being immortal too, we fought alongside each other, conquered, killed… and guess who is going to pay for that?”

Her reply came as a mere whisper, “Me...” Celestia’s hopes to get her beloved student back shrunk with every word, every accusation Twilight threw at her. It was true… all of them were, she was a terrible pony… and maybe… deserved to die.

“Oh, now you play smart,” She summoned her giant, black blade, Yoru. The reflected lights dancing around the dimly lit room. “Then I think you know what happens next. I’ll make you suffer, and then take your immortality. For now your alicorn magic doesn’t allow you to die, but you will wish you were dead once I’m done.”

A stray tear rolled down Celestia’s cheek, it was exactly like she had predicted it. She uttered the one word that would end this war forever, “Maat.”

The walls around them faded, they were nothing but an illusion. Dozens upon dozens of heavily armored guards stepped forth. The inner ring next to Twilight consisting of her elite. The remaining captains, Thunder Flare whose coat was sparking with electricity and Eclipse, a black scythe floating in her magic, an aura of darkness seemed to emanate from her. Taka and Himiko seemed to be missing, that surprised her, but they had their own countries to protect, and it was a threat less to worry about. It could also mean that they were coming back with reinforcements… but that was something to worry about in the future. All three generals, even Dawn decided to join this mission. Each of them standing their ground, determination written into their faces.

“Twilight… please, just surrender. We can, and we will fix this. I will not stop until I have my old student back.”

Her familiar vortex spell began to suck the light around her sword into it. That would minimize the energy she needed to sacrifice in order to hit the generals. This would likely be her end, in case she decided to preserve her ace in the hole, “Looks like a desperate last effort… come and get me, Celestia.”