Chapter 6: Eternal

Every time Twilight woke up in a sick room or anything similar, she wished her life would be like before she started learning about combat magic. The bad days trapped in a white room definitely outweighed the good days she had with Morning Blaze this year.

The lavender mare groaned as she tried to lift her chest. Everything hurt, like she just participated in an Iron Pony triathlon or something. It took a bit of effort, but Twilight finally managed to sit upright in the bed. She noticed that this wasn’t the usual boring sick room in the castle, instead it was a much larger, but equally boring hall, full of different ponies.

Her apparent pain caused a nearby nurse to notice their young patient’s awakening.

“Now, now, Miss Sparkle. Please lay down again, you aren’t ready to leave just yet.”

It took Twilight a moment to realize what the nurse said and complied, “Where am I?”

“Ah, yes, you probably only know the castle’s sick room. Well this Canterlot’s main hospital. You got here yesterday evening after you fainted near a very injured captain of the guards.”

Instantly the purple haired student became alert again, “Morning Blaze! How is she?!”

“Hmm, you know her then. We assumed that she saved you from a monster or something similar,” the nurse looked slightly worried before she continued. “To answer your question, well, not good actually. She lost a lot of blood before a patrol of the Solar Guards found you two.”

Twilight’s heart shattered as she heard in what state her teacher was in. Just because of her inexperience. She should have known that Blaze was at her limit, but on the other hoof Nadir told her to finish Morning off.

What a good way to start the day, don’t you think? Here I am, pleasantly surprised that you not only survived, but actually won a fight against one of Celestia’s strongest subordinates. And you greet me with an unjustified accusation.

Well, you told me to finish the duel. Maybe I would have decided otherwise.

Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t say you need to use the sword, you could have just punched her into the dirt to win the fight. I can’t be blamed for your unrestrained actions.

It was true and she knew it, “I’m sorry for accusing you. It’s just… I am worried that I could hurt somepony I care about again.”

Hmm, apology accepted. We know that you are worried, but look on the bright side, she survived and it’s almost Summer Sun Celebration again.

Oh yes, you’re right.

For Twilight this year’s Summer Sun Celebration was quite special. Princess Celestia had chosen her to overlook the organization to ensure nothing goes wrong.

Meanwhile the nurse treated some of her minor cuts. The lavender unicorn noticed some similarities to a certain other nurse in Canterlot, “Might I ask if we know each other?”

The mare looked up and lifted her forehoof to her chin, “No, not that I recall. Maybe you know my sister Tender Care. She works at the castle’s aid room. I’m Soft Care by the way, nice to meet you.”

“Of course, now I see the similarities. Well nice to meet you too, you already know my name, but I’m Twilight Sparkle,” after finishing the introduction, Twilight got curious. “Was anyone here when I was asleep?”

“Your parents and the princess. The three of them were pretty worried, since they heard what we found. The princess said you should come to her chamber if you feel well enough. Since you only have minor cuts and scratches I don’t see why not.”

“Any specific reason why I should come?” Twilight started to get worried again, last time was already ground breaking for her. She feared what it would be now.

“No, I don’t think she mentioned anything, but don’t worry, she probably just wants to know what happened.”

“Well if you say so. Can I visit Morning Blaze before I go?”

“I’m afraid not, she still is being treated by our doctors in the intensive care unit of the hospital. We will let you know when she is awake.”

“Okay, goodbye then. It was nice to meet you.”

“Take care of yourself, Miss Sparkle.”

An hour later Twilight finally arrived at the Castle. It had taken her over forty minutes to get out of the hospital. She had to sign tons of documents first, it was awful.

Once again the lavender mare stood at the doors of the princess’ private chambers. She hadn’t been there for quite some time, well nearly a year to be exact.

She knocked briefly before entering the room of her mentor. Everything was exactly like last time, the clean marble floor, the cozy atmosphere and the fireplace casting a warm glow into the dimly lit room.

“Princess?” Twilight asked carefully.

Celestia sat in her usual large seat bag near the crackling fire. She turned her head to look at her guest. “Good to see you, my faithful student. I wasn’t expecting you here so soon.”

“Well, it wasn’t anything severe, so the doctors said it was okay.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, I am sure you want to know why I summoned you,” the princess paused to wait her student’s answer. After she got a short nod, she continued, “I want you to report what exactly happened in the fields below Canterlot yesterday.”

It was not entirely a surprise for Twilight, she even sort-of expected it, “O-okay. Well… since yesterday was the last training of the week, Morning had something special planned for me. She said that we would duel against each other.”

Celestia tried to piece the puzzle back together for a moment, but she had too little information right now, “What kind of duel exactly? She does not always inform me about her plans.”

“A real magic duel. For the sake of protection we both got an Arcanum pendant. Before we started Morning Blaze wanted me to forge my own blade, so that I would have to focus on two things at once in a real scenario.”

“You surely mean a steel blade, right? She wouldn’t let you work with top tier chaos magic for an energy blade.”

“Ehhehe, funny that you mention it, that was kinda the exact thing she taught me.”

The Ruler of the Sun couldn’t believe what she just heard. Even though time was running out, that would not justify the risk of a failed blade spell. The unleashed energy would have been enough to kill her faithful student ten times over. She had to have a serious talk with her longtime friend...well if she survives so to speak.

Princess Celestia quickly regained her composure, her student mustn't know what was going on behind the scenes, it was for the best. “I hope you know how lucky you were to survive a spell like this.”

“Well it worked pretty good actually. Do you want to see it before I continue?”

“What? You succeeded?” That couldn’t be... even most unicorn guards fail at such an advanced spell and her young student said, ‘It worked pretty well?’

“Is something wrong, princess?” the lavender mare was slightly confused.

“No, everything’s alright. Now, you wanted to show me your… creation?”

The technique came natural to her. She just called the sword in her mind, added a bit of energy and voila, it appeared.

Celestia’s eyes went wide at the sheer expertise the blade was crafted with. The stable chaos magic almost looked solid, well for something that is made completely out of pure magical energy, “It certainly is very well made. Do you have a name for it yet?”

Twilight nodded and said, “Yes, its name is Yoru.” She dissolved it after that and continued with her report. “Well, the fight began the same way it ended, chaotic. Morning did not show any mercy, it is really difficult to explain if you were not there.”

The princess paced around the room as she listened to what her student said, “Hmm... if you would allow, I could look into your memories directly. Of course I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important.”

“Wouldn’t that… you know leave scars?”

“No, if I have your agreement it should be perfectly safe.”

Nadir?

Yes? What do you need?

If she sees my memories, will she see me talking with you?

I can hide those specific parts, then she shouldn’t.

“Well okay princess, I trust you.”

As she agreed the tall demi-goddess got closer to her and hovered her horn over the younger mares forehead, “Good, then just relax. It should take only a few minutes.”

After a few minutes the Princess of the Sun took a few steps back. Worry and sadness were written deeply into her face. She understood why it was so hard to explain for her book-loving student.

Her attention shifted to the now crying lavender unicorn sitting on the floor. Celestia trotted over to her student and gave her a soothing hug.

“Shhh. Everything will be alright again, my faithful student. It must have been hard for you too. You just wanted to prove yourself, we pushed you too hard and I am truly sorry for that.”

Twilight’s breaths became more and more frantic between her sobs of sadness, “B-b-but what i-if she dies, ju-u-ust because o-of me?”

“Oh, don’t you worry. She is a strong mare. She’s had worse, I can assure you. But you are right, it was close this time. We should stop your lessons with her for a while, at least until she has fully recovered.”

The lavender mare managed to steady her breathing and answered a bit less angsty, “I-I understand. I hope she knows that I didn’t want to hurt her intentionally.”

“I have known her for quite some time and she isn’t really the pony to hold a grudge. After she wakes up I will inform her personally about your apology. I’m sure she will forgive you quickly.”

Their hug ended and Twilight could reply visibly relieved this time, “Thank you princess. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea. So, the second thing I wanted to regard is, if you are still willing to overlook the organization of the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville.”

“Of course, Princess Celestia. It’s true that a lot has happened lately, but I won’t let you down regardless.”

“That is good to hear. I believe this concludes our conversation here, I’m sure you have a lot to do for the festival next week,” Celestia stated smiling. She knew work was the exact thing her student would need right now. After she had seen the fight between Morning Blaze and Twilight, the white alicorn was certain her student was ready to face the dangers lying ahead.

It’s almost time, apprentice.

“I hope we can talk to the princess later, I just want to get back to Canterlot, because all ponies in this town are CRAZY!” Twilight had enough of all those overly friendly ponies. She had enough of the surprise parties, enough apple-related food for months, enough of the ridiculously timid and the pegasi with the ego of a dragon and enough of this silly boutique pony. In short, she just wanted to go home.

“Oh come, Twilight. You should really try to loosen up. This could be a great way of making friends, just like the princess told you,” Spike said in an accusing manner. He knew that she would listen if the little dragon would mention Celestia.

“I don’t need friends, Spike. My only job was to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. And. nothing. more. Besides, this isn’t our most important mission.”

He rolled his eyes. Spike knew exactly what Twilight meant. Ever since she started to read this old ‘fairy tale book’ the lavender mare was absolutely obsessed over it. He still had no idea where she even got it from, he knew all the books in their little library and that one was certainly not in it. “Oh please, Twilight. Please tell me that you aren’t talking about this old mare’s tale again.”

“What else would I be talking about? This demon, spirit, whatever, the Mare in the Moon could bring eternal night over all of Equestria. We can’t let that happen.”

“If she even exists,” the little dragon said sarcastically. “Why don’t we go back to the party? This pink pony seemed to be pretty funny.”

“No, firstly the sun will rise in half an hour and I don’t want to miss that and secondly, don’t make me think about those ponies again.”

Thirty minutes later the whole town hall was crowded with local residents. The mayor with the convenient name ‘Mayor Mare’ was standing on top of the stage, apparently to welcome the ponies and introduce the princess.

As Twilight looked out of the window, she saw the predicted stars align with the moon and the twisted face of a unicorn vanished from it. The lavender mare gulped, this was exactly like the prophecy said it would happen. Time was running out.

Her focus shifted again to the mayor beginning her speech, “Thank you for coming today. It is my great honour to welcome none other than, Princess Celestia!”

As nothing happened for a few seconds she tried again, “Ahem,... to welcome none other than Princess Celestia!”

The pony named Rarity stood on top of the balcony where the princess was supposed to be. “She’s gone!”

Maniacal laughter suddenly filled the hall, everything went darker than it already was. Blue smoke was forming on the now empty stage. The crowd was visibly confused and unsettled, where was their beloved princess and what was going on. The smoke solidified into a terrifying looking alicorn. Blue armor, enormous bat-like wings and a grin between her razor-sharp teeth.

“Residents of Ponyville, your true leader is here to reign again!” she broke out in her insane laughter again.

The polychrome haired pegasus had to be held back by her country, earth pony friend. “Who the heck are you even?!”

“Rainbow Dash! Ah don’t think that’s the right approach, sugarcube.”

“Seize her!” Mayor Mare shouted to the Solar Guards. Before they could even reach her they got hit by two, dark blue lightning strikes, sending them flying into the opposite end of the room. Neither of them rose back up again, blood began to seep out of their armor. The origin of them was the tall alicorn standing in the middle of the room.

“A thousand years gone and none of my subjects remembers me? I guess I have to teach you then.”

It was true! Why couldn’t she be wrong? Of all the times, fate decided to make her crazy assumptions true now. “You… You are Nightmare Moon!”

“At least somepony remembers. Well then, say goodbye to your precious sun, because this was the last time you saw it!” After that she turned into blue smoke again and flew out of the window. Rainbow Dash, finally able to free herself from the grasp of her friend, tried to follow her, to no avail.

Simultaneously Twilight darted out of the Town hall. She had to find some answers, but at this sight the lavender mare simply stopped for a moment. The sun and moon were at the same height in the sky, seemingly trying to get control. The whole sky was only dimly lit, not exactly dark, but not quite sunny either.

“Nadir? Are you there?”

No answer came as she ran towards the Golden Oak Library with a baby dragon on her back. The lavender mare had noticed her companion's voice being even more quiet than usual and now when she truly needed it, Nadir was nowhere to be found.

As Twilight entered the tree she was tackled by this strange Rainbow Dash. The impact threw Spike off her back and pinned herself under the blue pegasus. “Talk! What do you know? Are you a spy for Nightmare Moon?”

The issue was quickly resolved by a strong telekinetic push that catapulted the rash pegasus into the nearest wall. “Ouch. You could’ve really hurt me.”

“I was not the one attacking and accusing a random pony in her own house, was I? And don’t be ridiculous, why would I work for Nightmare Moon? I like the sun, you know?”

“Ah’m sorry for our, ahem, bold friend. She’s jest confused, like all of us, but ya’ll seemed to know at least somethin’ ‘bout this dark pony thingy,” the farm pony apologized, at least she appeared to be reasonable.

The hyperactive Pinkie Pie bounced through the room and chimed in, “Yeah, it’s not like we want night for like forever. Because then we couldn’t throw sunrise parties or sunset parties and that would be super awful.”

“Well okay, her name is Nightmare Moon, a bad pony imprisoned in the moon for unknown reasons, but she was most likely a dangerous criminal. The only known way to defeat her, are the Elements of Harmony.”

Rainbow Dash had enough of this magic mumbo-jumbo, “Could you at least try to make sense? Elements of Harmony, what the hay is that supposed to be?!”

“You’re really getting on my nerves, you know that? If you’d just be quiet, I would explain it,” She didn’t know why anypony liked having annoying friends around all the time. As the rash pegasus continued to glare at her, she explained further, “The Elements of Harmony are powerful magical artifacts, with the power to cleanse even the most corrupted pony from dark magic.”

“Uhm, I… just… umm, how do we… find them?” the yellow pegasus whispered at near inaudible levels.

“We could—” Twilight started, but got interrupted by her oh-so-well-known friend.

The Castle of the two Sisters in the Everfree forest...

“We could look at the old castle in the middle of the Everfree forest.”

“Not that we do not trust you, darling. But why there exactly? The Everfree forest isn’t exactly the safest place to be,” the fashion designer named Rarity replied.

“I can go alone if you don’t want to come with me.”

“No, Twilight. I will come with you!”

“Spike, no. You will stay at the library. I can’t risk that something bad happens to you and that is my final answer.”

“B-but,” Spike was deeply worried about his friend.

“No buts, you can guard the library for me, but nothing more. You know I just want the best for you, right?”

“Yes, Twilight…”

The lavender unicorn was determined, she would make Celestia proud and save the day, literally, “Good. Now, are you five in on this or not?”

Applejack tilted her stetson slightly forwards and spoke up, “Ah don’t like this, Twilight. This forest just ain’t natural, but we consider ourselves as your friends, if you go, we’ll follow.” The farm pony gained an agreeing nod from the rest of her friends.

“Then there is no time to lose.”

These ponies were right, this forest was dangerous. They encountered a whole bunch of terrifying monsters, like this manticore or the giant water serpent. It certainly didn’t help that Nightmare Moon set up some nasty traps, but that couldn’t be it, right? Twilight had read about the mare in the moon, she was known for her brutality and insanity. Why would she be satisfied with tricking Rainbow Dash, making a manticore angry or simply scaring them?

Since the lavender student didn’t want her ‘friends’ to see her ace in the hole, she had to rely on more conventional magic. A quick chaotic push here, a simple freezing spell there, nothing too complicated, Twilight did not intend nor had the nerves to explain higher magic to this group.

As the group neared their destination, the timid pegasus voiced her concerns, “Umm; Twilight? I know you are the magic expert, but do you really have… to freeze all those woodlands creatures? I-I know they were dangerous, but I don’t think that was right?”

It was really unnerving to talk with them, but maybe the pegasus was right this time, “Well, I guess I overdid it, but I didn’t kill them if you wanted to imply that, I would never hurt an animal for no reason. They will thaw in a few hours or something, then they will be perfectly fine.”

That relieved Fluttershy a little, “Okay, let’s continue.”

Finally the old castle came into view, they all fought through the horrors of the Everfree forest together. Maybe having friends was not so bad after all, just maybe.

As the group entered the ancient ruins of this former castle, they laid their eyes upon the exact thing they were looking for, in the most inconvenient position they could have asked for. Nightmare Moon sat lazily on her makeshift throne made out of what appeared to be pure darkness and shifted the Elements of Harmony slowly in between her magical hair strings.

The wicked mare grinned as the six ponies entered, finally things got a little more interesting, “Well, well, well, look who made it through the forest and my traps. It is wonderful to see all of you! I have to say that you mildly impressed me. Now, which one of you want to be my first playmate?” She broke out into a madly laughing fit as the other time before.

That was it! The light blue pegasus could ignore simple insults, but now this criminal was offending her friends as well, “That’s it! I will shove your sick games so deep down your own throat that you will wish to be back on the Celestia forsaken moon!”

Before any of her friend could stop her, she raced toward the wicked alicorn, which only laughed in return. As she readied her hind legs for a flying kick, Rainbow Dash felt herself unable to move all of a sudden, encased in a royal blue magic she said, “What the hay is going on? I can’t move!”

Nightmare Moon spoke again much more serious, but still with her maniacal grin, “Ah, I see you are not a pony of many words. Do you have a death wish? Do you want to die, little pegasus? Hehehe… I am not the one to deny my subjects a simple request.”

Only fractions of a second later Rainbow Dash screamed like her very soul was tearing apart. The blue demi-goddess stood before her, a two metre long, deep blue, glowing, straight sword impaling the light blue pegasus besides her. Blood started to ooze on the sides of her injury, her screams died down as life slowly drained from her body, still wrapped in Nightmare Moon’s magic. As the alicorn felt this it was enough she release the limp body of Rainbow Dash, only to kick it back to her friends. The power behind her physical attacks was ridiculous as far as Twilight could tell, the demi-goddess only lightly hit her friend, but it was enough to smash her into the wall far behind them with a sickening crunch.

The first to react was the shy pegasus, “RAINBOW DASH! NO!” She flew back quickly to feel if her childhood friend still had a pulse. She feared the worst, tears already staining the pegasus’ coat. For a good five seconds nothing happened, but then there it was! It was weak… maybe too weak, but her friend was alive!

Twilight watched Fluttershy treating Rainbow Dash’s wounds as best as possible. Apparently the timid pegasus also had medical training. That would mean nopony under her command died so far, not that she would mourn for them forever, she barely knew this group, but regardless of that, she wouldn’t simply allow anypony to harm others. Celestia taught her the importance of logic and Morning Blaze let her read through all books on combat tactics the school for royal guards had to offer. Nothing would get in her way, she was Celestia’s protege, she was Twilight Sparkle, the future’s best sorceress there will ever be, and she was Twilight Sparkle, master tactician!

“Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, you will escort Rainbow Dash back to Ponyville. I can’t let you all die here,” Twilight said determined.

The white seamstress protested, “What about you, darling? You can’t seriously think that you can defeat her all own your own.”

“Rarity’s right, sugarcube. It’s true that, Dash needs us, but if we don’t stop Nightmare Moon, she won’t be the last victim,” Applejack agreed.

The lavender unicorn smiled lightly as she drew her ace, Yoru. “Oh, don’t you worry. I’ve got a few tricks myself. I’ll join you after this is over.”

Pinkie Pie nervously bounced over to Rainbow Dash, who was still unconscious, but luckily stopped bleeding, “Please be super careful okay? This big old grumpy pants over there won’t be fun to deal with at all!”

Before they all left Rarity wanted to say one last thing to her, “I know how strong you must be, Twilight. I may be a fashion designer, but I can tell that your strange blade consists of tons of magical energy. We have our trust in you. Please, come back to us safely.”

Twilight didn’t answer, she knew she would survive and win this. The lavender mare pointed the tip of her blade at her opponent.

“Now, you are playing serious, eh? Costed me quite some time and the near death of your little friend to draw you out. Who will win, the immortal alicorn with her blade born from darkness, Nightcaller or the Voidwalker student with her black sword, Yoru?”

The notorious unicorn gained an unsure expression, “How do you know the name of my blade?”

“Oh? You don’t recognize me? Would it be better if I talk to you-”

-like this?

Insane laughter filled her mind. This can’t be.

“You… you are Nadir?! B-b-but I thought… I…”

Nightmare Moon continued to laugh before explaining any further, “Oh my dear, Twilight. It surprises me that you haven’t noticed until now. Well, maybe because I’m nearly a millennia older than you, but that is just a guess.”

“All those years… all those years you’ve spent with me, just to betray me now? Why, Nadir, Nightmare Moon… argh!”

“Hmm? Oh, you seem to misunderstand, that whole show was just to convince your friends to leave. This blue pegasus would’ve been dead minutes ago if I meant it seriously. I just want to talk to my little apprentice.”

“Nearly killing Rainbow Dash was just a show?! You are insane, you know that?” Twilight couldn’t believe it all those years she shared a mind with an insane alicorn.

“Insane? Hehe, I do try. After A THOUSAND YEARS on the moon, you tend to get a bit bored. Maybe you will understand after I tell you the truth about the history of Equestria and your mentor.”

“Celestia? What could you possibly know about Celestia? And don’t try any weird tricks! I’ll listen to you and then I will decide if I believe you.”

“Very well,” after a short flash of her horn, a second chair out of darkness appeared in front of her. “Have a seat, Twilight. It is a rather complicated story and we don’t want you getting uncomfortable, right?”

“That is already the case since we entered this damn forest and I’d rather not let my guard down right now. So let’s cut to the chase and start already.”