Veil of Thoughts
By Starwin
Atop the tallest tower in Canterlot, Princess Luna watched over all of Equestria. From way up high, everything looked so tiny, although not as small as it had looked when she had seen it from her lunar prison.
The night was dark. Only the twinkling stars above gave any indication where the ground ended and the sky began. The Moon had not yet been raised, although she would attend to that in a few more minutes. The ground was covered in shadows, broken only by a few small flickering lights where there were cities. Any pony out tonight would need a lamp or they would not even be able to see the tip of their own muzzle.
However, Luna was not just any pony, she was a princess, an immortal, a goddess given form. She was blessed with powers beyond that of other ponies. She could easily see the most distant rock, on the most distant shore of Equestria, but she was not looking for rocks.
During the night, it was her job to keep watch over the sleeping ponies below. It was her duty to keep them safe from harm. It was her purpose to protect them after the sun had gone down. Just as her sister did during the day.
Yet, a thousand years ago, she had abandoned that protection. While the ponies praised her sister for the Sun, she had thought they feared the coming of her night. Little by little her resentment began to grow. The thoughts welled up inside her like a poison, bringing out the worst of her.
Magic, after all, was tempered by emotions. The cruel fate of being ignored by her subjects, the whispered lies the other ponies said behind her back and her own greed of wanting her night to last forever, all twisted inside her. Luna had let her negative feelings become a monster. Mixed with her magic, that monster manifested itself as Nightmare Moon.
Luna flinched at the name.
No matter how she tried to forget, that tainted experience was still a part of her. It would always be a part of her. The Elements of Harmony, powerful though they were, could not take away the truth of what she had done. Not everything could simply be fixed.
Luna flapped her wings uncomfortably. Her horn glowed softly with an aura of midnight-black magic. At the edge of the world, the smallest glint of silver broke the horizon as the moon began to rise. It would be a full moon tonight, just like it had been then, on the night her sister had banished her for a thousand years. Nightmare Moon had wanted nighttime eternal and darkness forever but those were not the reasons her sister had imprisoned her in the Moon.
Luna closed her eyes, she could still hear the voices in her mind of the memories past.
“Sister! Thou must stop!” cried the memory of Celestia. “This cannot be thy kind heart’s true desire. We do not want this, thou doest not want this, not truly! Thy subjects love thee, thou would givest anything for them!”
“They mock us,” whispered Nightmare Moon. Luna shivered. The voice was still clear in her mind, the sound impossible to forget. It made her insides crawl just to hear it. Cold, empty and sinister, the voice was without compassion, a hollow echo of Luna’s own. “They look upon us and see fear. So we shalt be honest and give them fear, for it is what they want of us. We shalt be generous and give them darkness, for it is what they need of us. And we shalt be kind and give them death, for it is what they deserve of us.
“Then shall the world crumble. There will be neither night nor day and we shall have true harmony at last.”
“Sister!” shouted a voice. Luna was snapped from her memories. Her eyes flashed up to see her older sister soaring down from the sky. Luna blinked, surprised by Celestia’s presence. Celestia was the keeper of the sun and followed its cycle closely, just as Luna did with the moon.
They often saw each other during the twilight hours when the world was neither night nor day. But Luna had missed her sister this night. Celestia had been away on urgent business. Luna couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Celestia awake at night… The nighttime princess looked away. Yes, she could recall the last time. She had just been remembering it.
“My sister,” replied Luna as Celestia came to land at the edge of the tower. “Thou are’t up late this evening. We were told that thou was’t in Ponyville, dealing with a matter most important.”
“Yes,” said Celestia, her wings folding down to her sides as she trotted up to Luna. “I have just come from there. My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, is in danger.”
“Twilight is in danger?” exclaimed Luna, her eyes widening.
When Luna had returned from her banishment, she had not come home to a warm welcome, apart from her sister. While nopony would dare say anything to her face, she could see it in their fearful glances and hear it in their quivering voices. They were afraid of her.
Not until Nightmare Night, a holiday dedicated to the monster she had been, had Luna finally met somepony that was not fearful of her. She had met Twilight Sparkle. She had found a friend in the young mare, a kindred spirit. It was the first time Luna could remember smiling since she had come back. When she had told Celestia of this, her sister had simply smiled and said that she would have expected no less of her protégé.
“Tell us, what has happened?” asked Luna impatiently.
“Do you remember Aurora Winds?” asked Celestia quietly. Even though Celestia’s face was calm, Luna could hear the distress in her sister’s voice and see the anger deep within her eyes.
“Of course,” replied Luna in confusion. “How could we possibly forget the first bearer of the element of magic?” Luna’s eyes widened suddenly. She knew the truth in her sister’s unspoken words. “It has not happened again, has it? As it did before between magic and kindness…”
“No, not just like before,” said Celestia. Luna relaxed slightly only to feel the shock return even stronger at her sister’s very next words. “Twilight has fused herself with Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty. I have tried to separate them, as I did so long ago with Aurora Wind and Silver Stars but it did not work.” She gazed seriously at Luna. “I need your help sister.”
“Is there no other way?” asked Luna sadly. She had been there when her sister had faced down the abomination of magic and kindness. There had been a battle and destruction and death. It was a terrible memory, she did not want to relive it, not with Twilight Sparkle.
“There is no other way,” said Celestia. “You know this as well as I. If we let this imbalance exist… if we allow the elements to fuse… You remember. I do not need to remind you.”
“No, you do not,” said Luna looking away in shame.
“Sister,” whispered Celestia sadly, it was obvious that she had not wanted to reopen old wounds. “We did not know then what we know now. If I knew what they would do to you, what having three elements within you would do… I never would have allowed us to bear them. I do not blame you, I have never blamed you. I blame my…”
“We should waste no more time,” interrupted Luna, turning her back to her sister. “Come, let us depart.” With a quick beat of her wings, the princess of the night was lifted into the air.
A moment later she could hear her sister join the flight behind her. Celestia stayed a short distance back, giving her space. Luna’s thoughts slipped back into her memories. It was the last thing she wanted to think about right now but she couldn’t help herself.
“How can thou want this!” asked the memory of Celestia. “How can thou want to bring disharmony upon us? How can thou want to upset the balance we worked so hard to maintain. Thou hast torn the very fabric of the world.”
“Can thou not see how the world will be better once we bathe it in night forever?” asked Nightmare Moon with a sinister smile.
“No,” said Celestia. “We will not allow that.”
“Then stop us, dear sister,” replied Nightmare Moon. “Thou hast the power to kill us. Undo what thou hast helped create. Destroy us and banish kindness and honesty and generosity from this world.” Nightmare Moon’s smile widened. “And in that act, destroy thyself and rip thee precious harmony to shreds!” Nightmare Moon laughed, a cold, high-pitched, inpony sound.
Celestia stood frozen. Unable to do what was required of her.
“Thou must,” pleaded a small voice. Celestia’s eyes widened. With all of the willpower she had left, Luna had managed to show through the monster that dominated her. “To restore balance, thou must fuse us with the Moon. Make us part of the world we tried to steal away.” Luna glanced up in Nightmare Moon’s body, seeing the silver orb high above. “Let the elements slip back into the world for others to have, for we were never meant to bear them…”
Celestia hesitate for a moment but understood.
“When there is balance,” said Celestia softly as her horn began to glow. Nightmare Moon began to glow as strings of fusion magic wrapped around her. High above, the Moon began to glow too. “When new bearers appear, we will bring thee back and we will find a way to give thee harmony.”
Luna blinked away the memory and the tears. She did not want her fate to be that of Twilight Sparkle’s. She would do whatever was needed. She would put Twilight right.
What madness is this?! A chapter update?!? On a Wednesday?!?! Can I add anymore crazy punctuation to the end of this sentence?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! (apparently yes)
Yes dear readers, have a... special?... chapter. A bonus chapter if you will. Not part of 12, not yet true 13 (which is still on track for Saturday by the way) but something in the middle that is neither.
Anyhow... Enjoy
1263910
"but something in the middle that is neither."
It would be so easy to make a Twilight Zone reference here.
Ohh History
At last!
We are happily awaiting the next!
Oh you god damn tease. The weekend cannot get here fast enough.
hmmm, interesting NMM tie-in.
An intermission! That wasn't very nice!
Witchcraft, a story update that isn't written on your schedule. Oh, Twilight hates it when you don't follow the schedule. Watch out, she'll find you.
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Disturbing, isn't it?
I'm just happy there's finally a story update. Nothing new has appeared in my favourites list for days!
So, once they find out that all the Elements have 'died', what kind of reckoning will there be?
1263910 That seems to be keeping with the theme of this story, doesn't it?
We all know what this means....
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1264009 (Epic Movie Trailer Voice) A Reckoning for the Ages!!!!
And then discord comes in at last minute and kicks everyones assess
1264009
What this dude said. How badly are Tia and Luna going to clop up Rainbow Sparkle Dash's plan?
...
Dang, Rainbow Sparkle Dash is a long name.
Update????
Now I have something interesting to read during English
Here's a mustache
So, if one or more elements merge death, chaos, and bloodshed go down unless said merged elements are killed as soon as possible. Celestia intends to kill her student and Dash, at least, to maintain the rest of Harmony, and the world. Meanwhile, Twilight's sacrificed her own life, possibly/probably, to save Dash, and Dash and all the others have just dove headlong into Death in order to save Twilight. ....So one question. Spike coming along?
daum.....this is a cluster fuck of pure genius.........i have a headache now but i love itdl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Bonbon_OMG_LOVE.png
1264358 Spike never comes along. And Celestia is like 'damn it, Twi, I gave you that cell phone-I-mean-dragon so that I could keep tabs on you... I mean... so that you could call for help in an emergency. Right.'
The irony here is staggering. Celestia doesn't know that Twilight's dead, and will probably irrevocably ruin the Dangerous Forbidden Resurrection Technique.
1264109 That's more or less what I was gonna say. Except I was asleep at the time.
1264358 Well, she doesn't have to kill anypony. It's just apparently not healthy to bear more than one of the elements at a time. Admittedly, death is one way to prevent Dash from bearing Magic and Loyalty... but with the other oddities we've got surrounding the Elements at the moment, there's no guarantee that she still carries either of them.
Although the reason the Elements are out of whack could be the fusion of Magic and Loyalty. ...And I've run right back into the border between 'interesting and new' and 'obvious,' since that's pretty much been the whole story.
1264554 unless spike stops her, which means that Rainbow Light knew the princesses would screw the plan so she left Spike as bodyguard.
...
In hindsight, that was a TERRIBLE idea.
I'm scared, the chapter title is a blank line.
What is up wit the name of this chapter?
1263970
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Heh, Celestia and Luna are gonna be flipping their sts when they get to Ponyville and everypony has gone into the Realm of Death.
Curse this deceiving intermission chapter with the fancy name!
Well, it's cool, but deceiving.
1264541
XXXXDDDD
This is one of the best stories I have read in my life. Not just fanfiction, one of the best, period. Your writing is great and gets better and better, the plot starts good and gets better and better as more depths are revealed and both the way you thought this out and the way you put this together is a work of genius. And I really like what you have done with the characters and the elements. Really, this work of yours is truly great.
Five Stars.
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No! Stop touching me! I AM THE NIGHT!
Oh my. Interesting tie-in. Well played.
maybe a filter perception, as I didn't notice before? anyway, congratulations for over a thousand comments in your fic, 38 words per comment more or less
1265102
Hey! I always see your comments on Austroreah! Sup?
1265409
Oh hey. You know I've read something if you see a comment from me on it. One chapter --> one comment.
Well, at least if I've read it in the past couple months, that is. I didn't comment much my first couple weeks.
1265430
im on chapter 106 right now. dont spoil anything for me, but does it stay good? haha
1265660
It's awesomely awesome.
1265696
goooooooooooooooood i realllllllly wanna catch up
she had abandon that protection - should be abandoned.
Nice chapter!
1265719
dammit i knew it was over 100 chapters... and i havent even started
do u guys think if i started now that i would be caught up by november 6th?
cool chapter btw
1266168
idk, it depends on how often you read. Whats with the deadline?
1266688
halo is my mistress, 'nuff said
and i read stries pretty much every night i get home for a few hours, but i usually dont get "into the mood" until at least 6 o'clock but i read till 10-12
1266765
meh, you should be able to do it. just be diligent good sir
yep whaen the eliment of magic dies all hell breaks loose some fanfics: wind benith her wings magic comes from twilight
cant wait till saterday ps. ive started the fan
1264125 OH SNAP
Back story chapter? BACK STORY CHAPTER! I LOOOOOVE back story! And I love this back story!
1267229
I can say I gave a good chuckle at that gif. Well played, well played indeed!
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1267407
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But this is far from over!
My god. That is all I have to say.
Groovy
1267728 it seems the score is tied at 1 a piece