Ripple (MLP AU Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Rune shifted under Twilight's quietly furious stare. “I-I’m sorry. This isn’t even the time I meant--
“YOU WHAT?” Twilight shook Rune again and threw her on the floor absent-mindedly, landing with an audible 'oof'.
Twilight started pacing. “Oh, this is bad, this is so very bad. I told you that spell was dangerous and what do you do? You went out of your way to--”
A dark laughter echoed from every direction, one that Twilight would recognize anywhere. She froze.
“Discord.”
“Who-now?”
Twilight grabbed Rune and ducked behind a pile of rubble. Twilight whispered, “You remember a few months ago when everything looked like this?” while pointing to the pink sky filled with cotton candy clouds.
“Yeah. It was this Discord guy, right?” Rune asked.
Twilight nodded, and before she could continue, she heard someone shout “Play time is over for you, Discord!”
Twilight gasped and just about stopped herself from calling out Celestia’s name.
“Woah, how far back are we?” Rune asked, eyes full of wonder.
Twilight pulled Rune back down and put a hoof over her mouth.
"That spell of yours can change the future, right?"
Rune nodded.
"Well, for our sakes, they better not have noticed--"
Twilight felt a sudden knot in her stomach as she saw Discord looking right at them, at least for a moment as he was talking.
“You’re getting us out of here, now.” Twilight demanded in a harsh whisper.
“Okay, okay, lemme just figure this out…”
Rune read and reread the scroll countless times, but when she moved on to her 7th attempt at the spell, Twilight reached for the scroll.
"Just let me try."
Twilight quickly read through it several times. “OK, seems doable.”
Rune raised an eyebrow as a proud smile crept up her face for just a moment.
Twilight got into position. Just as she was about to cast the spell, a loud boom and bright light spooked the two. The next thing they knew, Rune and Twilight found themselves on a hard, stone floor, surrounded by candlelight and royal tapestries.
 
“Uhm, Twilight? Where’d you send us?” Rune asked a bit too loud. Her voice echoed through the huge, empty hall. It was pitch black outside.
“Could you ask a bit quieter?” Twilight asked. Rune’s eyes lit up and she soundlessly cast a rune on the floor, just big enough for two ponies to stand in.
She stood on the rune and motioned for Twilight to follow her.
“Noise-cancelling runes, my latest invention.” Rune declared proudly. However, her voice travelled to every corner of the hall, shaking the fragile decorations on the intricately-carved shelves.
“Rune!” Twilight tried to say quietly, but her voice was just as loud.
Rune stepped off, embarrassed. “Oh, nuts! That’s the loudspeaker rune. Lemme just--”
“Who’s there?” a commanding voice called out, even louder than them. Wall sconces lit up the entire hallway, one by one to reveal a tall, white pony glaring at Rune and Twilight.
 
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight ran up to her, but Celestia cast a shield, pushing Twilight back.
“State your intent.” Celestia had her wings held up to her chest.
Twilight gulped, took a step back and tried to explain. "Princess, we're terribly sorry, we didn't mean to intrude--"
"We just wanted to see you raise the Sun!"Rune exclaimed, forcing a grin.
Celestia tilted her head to the left, intrigued.
"Y-yeah, we just love the sun so much that we just wanted to ask you to raise it a little sooner!" Rune finished.
Twilight facepalmed herself, but Celestia had a pleasant smile on her face. Only Twilight noticed a slight twitch in Celestia’s eye.
"Does that also mean you... love me?"
"Y-yes, of course, princess!" Rune stammered, sweating bullets.
Celestia's smile widened, maybe a bit too much.
"Very well, then."

Rune breathed a sigh of relief as Celestia gracefully walked down the corridor. Rune and Twilight exchanged looks before quietly following Celestia to a nearby balcony. Twilight felt something lightly brush past her flank, but ignored it. “Why’d you say that?” she whispered.
"Flattery gets you everywhere, Twilight."

Within a moment, the sun was raised and Celestia was staring directly at it.
“Hm? Sister? What are you doing? It’s a little early to start the day, isn’t it?” Luna lazily wandered over to the balcony, not even noticing Rune nor Twilight, giving them the opportunity to hide.

“Of course not!” Celestia chuckled to herself. “No, no. Absolutely not.”
“Sister, we said you would stop raising the sun so early. This is getting ridiculous.”
Celestia rounded on Luna. “Ridiculous? No, sister. This glorious sunshine is anything but ridiculous.” Luna stepped back and held a wing to her chest.
“In fact, this light - this amazing light – it’s so… beautiful." Celestia turned to stare at the sky again. "Much better than all that drab darkness you love so much.”
Luna stomped her front hooves and flared her wings. “Celestia! Get a hold of yourself! Lower the sun this --”
“Was I not clear, Luna?" Celestia raised her chin and half-turned her head to look at Luna. "The sun is never coming down.”

Luna started backing up against the nearest wall. “What are you...?”
“After all, why should it? I can do whatever I want, there’s just one little pony standing in my way.” With those last few words, Celestia was engulfed in flames as she cackled. Luna held a hoof to her mouth in abject horror before taking flight.
For just a tiny moment, the fire crackling was the only audible noise.
"Where do you think you’re going?” A maniacal voice boomed through the entire castle.
Twilight peeked out of her hiding spot to see Celestia gone. A white alicorn with fire for a mane and tail had taken her place. Twilight cowered and hugged Rune, sobbing softly. Rune popped her head out and immediately understood why Twilight was so upset. It had Celestia’s cutiemark on its chest.
Its taunts were still very loud when it flew outside.
“This can’t be happening, that’s not her,” Twilight whispered to herself over and over. Rune looked at Twilight helplessly, unsure of what to do.
She barely caught a glimpse of the mayhem outside. The two Royal Sisters were blasting powerful spells at each other, mostly missing.
That was until Luna was struck by a beam of fire, which sent her crashing down into the roof below. Rune had just managed to sneak onto the balcony, making sure to stay out of sight. Below her, Luna crawled over to a concealed switch, revealing the Elements of Harmony.
Luna slowly made her way back up to the fight and kept the Elements behind her back, hesitant to move.
“What? Too scared to use those dinky little gems? Or are you just too weak to handle them?” It started roaring in laughter again. Luna shed many tears as she put the Elements in place.
“Please, forgive me.” Luna closed her eyes as she cast the spell. The monster was too busy laughing to notice the beam coming her way. Before Rune could process what just happened, a pattern in the shape of a mare seemed to burn itself onto the surface of the sun.
In an instant, the Sun fell out of the sky as Luna flew west, loudly sobbing.
Rune looked over the room as it steadily rotted away over time until all that remained was the slightly burned tapestry on the crumbled wall. Twilight peered over the hiding spot. “Is it over? What did we do?” she asked meekly.
"I don't know, we just gotta get ba--"
Rune interrupted herself. "Wait, where's the scroll?"
"I thought you had it."
"You had it last!"
"Oh, for pony's sake, Rune!" Twilight bust down the door and rummaged around the corridor.
The icy wind chilled Rune to the bone. She looked through the broken ceiling to find the midnight sky glaring back through the forest leaves.

Twilight looked around and finally recognised the decor. "This is the Castle of the Two Sisters."
Rune stopped dead in her tracks. "Twilight, we've done something big."
Twilight looked over and cocked her head.
Rune continued "I think we stopped Nightmare Moon from happening."
"What? But it's night, she must've taken over or something."
"I saw her, Twilight. She banished Celestia."
Twilight flinched. "We gotta go."
"Where?"
"Canterlot. If either princess is there, they can help us rewrite the scroll, or at least give us a place to stay."
"Are you kidding me?! Rewrite the whole thing?!"
"It's been a thousand years, Rune. It could be anywhere by now. They're the best hope we have to making things right and getting back home."
Rune looked around for a moment. Realising she had no other choice, she let out a long groan. "Fine. I'll be an old mare by the time we're done with this."