Heir of the Nightmare

Chapter 21: Mind Games

Luna

The moment that Luna saw light start to bleed through the darkness, she knew something was wrong. It was not the gentle silver light of her Moon nor the warm golden hue of Celestia's Sun, and it wasn't even the cutting crimson of Nova's Stars.

She peered into the darkness and made sure to nudge Cadance. Cadance staggered a bit, trying to find her footing in the infinite black, and her head popped up when she too found the flickering light.

Then the voice greeted them.

"Welcome great alicorns!" The voice boomed from the surrounding darkness. The voice...was familiar...but it was gravelly and rough. Luna couldn't place it. "Join me in my revels!"

The small glimmer of fire that Luna had seen suddenly exploded in front of her and Cadance, growing instantly to loom over both of them in a towering inferno.

Once Luna's eyes adjusted to the fiery light, she peered up at the figure seated above them and let out an involuntary hiss. Her eyes flashed, becoming the draconic slits of Nightmare Moon even while her coat remained dark blue.

A feeling of hatred that Luna had not felt in a millennium instantly overwhelmed her.

She didn't bother to give the pony a reply. Luna conjured a blue steel spear with her magic and sent it whistling through the hot air. Luna heard a thud as it passed through her foe harmlessly and embedded itself in the burning throne behind him.

"Princess Luna, Night Mare of the Moon! You should know better! You cannot kill that which is already dead!"

Moloch leered down at her from his seat. His smile mocked her as she glared up at him. He glanced down at the spear that should have pierced his chest and grabbed it with his magic. He pulled it out and tossed it to the side as if it were a passing interest instead of the weapon that would have pierced his heart and kill him. Again. "For shame, princess! Attacking your host after he welcomes you into his hall! Your sister was never so ungracious. She, at least, had manners."

Luna's hated foe did not look as he had when she had killed him a thousand years ago. His once snow white coat was now the color of burnt bone, smoldering and malformed. The immaculate robes of House Platinum that he had proudly worn in life were now tattered and black. His lips were cracked and his eyes were nothing but pits of fire. He sat back in a throne made up of burning planks, the same as the pyre that he had died on a millennium ago. Although the flames leapt and licked at his body, he did not seemed distressed in the slightest.

The only thing that seemed the same was his arrogant posture and the old pin that had tormented Luna centuries ago; a golden sun with six swords instead of sun rays, it gleamed and shined as if it were freshly made.

Cadance glared at him in disgust and was obviously revolted by the stallion's current state. She straightened her posture and fanned out a wing to flap away the acrid smoke. "Who are you?!"

"Who am I? I am Lord Moloch!" He said pompously. "In life I was the great duke of Rainbow Falls and the revered leader of the Knights of Ra!" Moloch's gaze morphed into a lustful sneer as he eyeballed Cadance's body. "Why, my beautiful mare, you would have been welcomed among our pantheon...in more ways than one."

Cadance was abhorred by his insinuation. Her face twisted angrily and her ears twisted back as she tried to form a scathing reply, but she instead turned away from the dead stallion in disgust. Cadance, to Luna's approval, looked to her for answers instead of Moloch.

"Luna...who is this?" She asked, rightfully distrustful of the specter.

Luna spat spitefully at him before answering, her scathing gaze boring holes into the stallion. "That is Moloch, a stallion I killed the night I was banished to the Moon. He was the leader of the Knights of Ra, the fools who had foalnapped Twilight and attempted to murder her like so many other innocents. They worshipped Celestia as a sun goddess and sacrificed thestrals to a golden idol of her." A feral grin crossed her face. "I killed his followers and left him on his own pyre to burn."