> chapter 1: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46728637/
>
> Chapter 2 to this, rather sad story
> characters include:
> Starduct
> BlackNight
> Guards
> Princess Cadance
>
> THIS STORY CONTAINS DESCRIPTION OF INJURIES! PLEASE DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THAT TYPE OF CONTENT
>
>
> —-
> How long has it been?
> Days? Weeks? Months? Years?
> For all stardust knew, it could have been generations since she was banished to the forever abandoned tunnels under Canterlot Castle.
>
> She limped through the castle tunnels, her horn still illuminated, providing light as she continued to walk down the long, daunting hallways. She had a pretty extreme limp, and her wings still dragged along the floor behind her even so many moons later.
> Her broken leg had healed incorrectly, which resulted in her leg being misshapen, with a large lump on the front of it.
>
> Due to this, her fur didnt grow back there, showing the reddish skin underneath.
> Her wings had also healed incorrectly, and they were still dislocated, which meant they were practically useless. Rendering her having the same advantages as a beginner unicorn.
>
> Stardust decided to turn down a small hallway, looking at the patterns of the natural cracks on the walls, looking close at the foliage as well as the vines and cobwebs that grew above her.
>
> “This is just sad…” An echoey voice sounded, which caught Stardust off guard. It seemed like it was in her head, but it was actually out loud.
> This was the secret Twilight had mentioned before she was banished here.
> She had a similar situation to Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon. She had an evil subconscious that could force a transformation whenever they were powerful enough. Taking over her body.
>
> Stardust hadn't heard another voice in this place for ages, so even if it was the very thing she was trying to prevent, it was nice to hear someone different.
> Knowing that her subconscious being could hear her, she spoke up.
>
> “What do you mean? I was sent down here for a reason… Twilight was right. If creatures see me, then who knows what will happen?” She spoke with a shaky voice, almost as if she was about to start crying.
> Her bloodshot eyes looked around at the area, looking out for the faint image of her ‘other being’ that goes by the name of BlackNight.
>
> After a bit of looking around, she felt a cold hoof on her shoulder, she turned to see Blacknight staring back at her.
> She was also an alicorn, but she was a dark grey. Her hair was a gradient of different shades of purple, with a much darker purple streak going through the middle.
> Her mane flowed the same way Princess Celestias did.
> Stardust’s mane did the same thing, but due to how full of dirt and grime it was, it became too heavy to flow the way it did.
>
> Blacknight’s hooves had 4 black stripes, and at the end of her forelegs, down to her hooves, it faded to a lightish shade of purple. Her tail was a lot different to any pony, looking more similar to a lion's tail, the hair at the tip of her tail flowing the same way.
> Her wings were also purple, with the tips fading to a darker purple at the ends.
> The grey alicorn’s eyes were fully red, with black slits for pupils, and her curved horn had a purple tip to it.
> Apart from the major colour difference, and height difference, Blacknight and Stardust looked almost identical.
>
> “Yes, having an alicorn around, that was birthed by King Sombra may be terrifying. But, there are other ponies out there that have a curved horn. Hell, one of the legendary pillars: Mistmane, has a curved horn. So what difference will it make?”
> Blacknight spoke up again as she looked down at her goody-two-shoes counterpart. Her wings spread as she stood proud.
>
> Stardust gave a sigh and looked down at the floor.
> “Even if we could convince creatures that we aren't as bad as people think, we aren't powerful enough to get out. Princess twilight took away our magic.”
>
> “Correction, twilight took YOUR magic, not mine. We are 2 separate beings sharing a body. I still have all my magic, otherwise, how would I be doing this and talking to you?”
> Blacknight stated, causing stardust to be both relieved and angry. The red alicorn got into a defensive stance, shouting at the grey alicorn.
>
> “Well if that's the case, why didn't you come to me before and try to HELP me?!”
>
> “Because if i had come out any sooner, you wouldn't have listened to me, and focused more on trying to find the exit, you wouldn't have listened to me before when i tried to talk to you. Why would I try when you were too busy panicking and trying to find a way to get out?”
> Blacknight responded with an eye roll. Her wings closing against her sides, and slightly covering her cutie mark, which was 4 stars that were being cast over with a black shadow.
>
> Stardust rolled her eyes in response before looking at her evil counterpart in the eye.
> “Let me think… Maybe because all you’ve ever said to me, whenever you’re talking to me, is taking over all of equestria, including the Crystal empire, and becoming ‘Queen’. Unless you plan on abandoning those plans and actually helping be and being good for once. Maybe Celestia and Luna can finally separate us, and we can live our own lives.”
>
> Stardust responded with the hopes of striking a deal with Blacknight. As long as she abandoned her plans of becoming, possibly the most terrifying and horrible ruler of equestria, and maybe even taking her side and helping each other. Then once they find princess Luna and Celestia, they can find a way to separate the 2 and work together against twilight.
>
> After a moment of pondering, she looked down at Stardust, raising an eyebrow.
> “If I help you, and we are separated, we will work together to make new rules for equestria. Not only to keep each kingdom a safe place for their respective creatures, but also safe for if creatures visit each other's kingdoms. That will be YOUR job…
> But we also need to implement rules for trouble makers. That can be my job, at least then I can think of SOME torment for creatures, at least, the bad ones. Does that sound fair to you?”
> Black night asked with a slight squint of her eyes. She knew what she wanted to cause pain and suffering, and if she could do it in the way of punishing criminals. Then so be it.
>
> Stardust gave a nod after a bit of hesitation. There were a lot of troublemakers out there that were not being punished in any way, shape or form. The red alicorn tried to stand up as straight as possible, before a purple aura surrounded her. She began to transform.
> Her fur changed to grey, her hooves changed to purple, and her eyes turned to fully red. Soon enough, she began to transform into BlackNight, and Stardust was now the ghost-like figure in front of Blacknight.
>
> “Heheheh, good to be back. Alright… The first thing we need to do is get out of here.”
> Blacknight spoke out loud. Mostly to herself, but to also explain to Stardust what she had in mind. Her curved horn lit up with blood red magic, the room being filled with red light and allowing a way to visualise where they were.
> A small stream of magic flowed from the back of her eyes like King Sombra. Stardust also had this magic mist coming out of her eyes, but it was almost bubblegum pink.
>
> Blacknight gave a sharp, toothy grin and shot a magic attack at a nearby wall. Expecting a sudden explosion of rubble, stone and foliage. A magic arch was shown on the wall. It was the exit!
> “You did it! We can get out of here!!”
> Stardust exclaimed with a huge amount of relief, tears of joy or relief flowing from her sore, bloodshot eyes.
> Blacknight looked over at Stardust with a soft sigh.
>
> “Wipe your eyes dear. We have work to do. For starters, we need to find the princesses, but until then, you can't move much, so stay in our body for now and save your energy.”
> Blacknight instructed, as Stardust faded into nothing. She had moved back into the body of the alicorn, playing the role of ‘passenger’ as BlackNight walked toward the doorway.
>
> Her blood red magic grabbed a hold of the handle of the door, pulling it open and revealing the abandoned room Stardust and twilight first came to.
> Stepping out, the grey alicorn looked around cautiously, as she stepped out of the tunnels and back into the castle.
>
> She looked around for a moment and saw a broken window on the wall of the room. Spreading her wings, Blacknight took flight, slipping through the window without making a sound, and flying high above the castle before anypony could see her.
>
> “Ok so we’re out of there, what now?”
> Stardust asked in Blacknight’s head, her voice echoing in the grey alicorn’s head.
>
> “Now, we find the REAL rulers of equestria…”
> Blacknight said in a stern tone before casting a spell, shooting it into the air. It wasn't anything to worry about, as it was a tracking spell.
> It began to float in a certain direction, toward Celestia and Luna’s current location.
> BlackNight followed suit and occasionally looked around at the views below them. It was the middle of the day, and Blacknight was hardly ever in control, so she took this as an opportunity to see what everything looked like.
>
> “Huh, so this is what things look like during the day.”
> Stardust spoke up after a while, this statement caught BlackNight off guard, before she remembered that the princesses were worried about Stardust, and kept her inside during the day. Only letting her go out at night when the streets were less crowded.
>
> Stardust was always allowed out of the castle during the night, as long as she wore something on her head to hide her horn, and come across as just a nicely patterned pegasus.
> She would sometimes wear a beanie, or a nice straw hat in the summer.
>
> Blacknight soon snapped back to attention as the tracking spell suddenly made a sharp turn.
> “It's going toward the Crystal Empire…” Blacknight said to herself, before she followed the spell.
> As she grew closer toward the kingdom, she was struggling to fly due to the storms that happened outside of the empire’s barrier. Blacknight gave a grunt and cast a small bubble around herself, not only to keep warm, but to allow her wings to flap with less difficulty as she made her way to the kingdom’s own barrier.
>
> “WAIT!!” Stardust cried out, causing blacknight to come to a halt. “We need to wear something on our head. Keep the horn hidden. At least until we find the princesses, because there's still a risk of ponies becoming scared of a strange alicorn coming into town.”
>
> BlackNight went to speak up, but she eventually agreed with her red alicorn counterpart.
> She decided to summon a small, black beanie, and put it on her head in a way to hide her horn comfortably. She also summoned a scarf and a type of jacket, to look less suspicious.
> As well as a saddle bag with a plain pin on it.
>
> She let the bubble vanish, and made her way to the barrier, struggling against the storm.
> Some royal guards saw Blacknight and 2 of the guards rushed out and assisted BlackNight into the crystal empire.
>
> She nodded a thankyou to the guards and went to turn away, but the guards stopped her, having curious looks on their faces.
> “Ma’am, may we ask why a pegasus like you is doing out in the storm instead of coming by train?” The male guard spoke up, looking rather concerned.
>
> Blacknight gave a dismissive wave.
> “I prefer to fly everywhere, in my opinion, it's faster. I've flown here before, the storms seem to have gotten a little bit stronger than when I was last here.”
>
> This seemed to convince the guards and they let her go. Once the grey alicorn was out of sight, she took the scarf and jacket off, as inside the crystal empire, was actually rather warm, and she didn't really need them, but as per stardust’s request, she kept the beanie on.
> As she trotted through the streets of the crystal empire, the residents seemed to give looks of confusion and wonder as they admired BlackNight’s markings.
> The grey and purple alicorn adjusted her beanie as she made her way through the town, secretly looking up at the tracking spell as it made its way toward the castle.
>
> Some ponies seemed to look at BlackNight a lot longer than others, mostly because it's not every day that such a large pegasus comes to town, not to mention a pegasus with such unique markings.
> “Seems like they like you” Stardust Spoke up with a soft giggle, which caused BlackNight to snicker a bit herself in response.
> She seemed to be enjoying the attention a little bit, and even waved back to some of the ponies that waved to her.
> “Now just imagine how upset all these happy faces would be, if you actually DID take over the entirety of Equestria. These ponies seem to love the way you look and find you really interesting. These ponies would love to get to know you, even having the confidence to give you a wave hello! And crystal ponies are so shy!”
> Stardust spoke up again, and it made the grey alicorn pause in surprise. Stardust was right.
> That wasn't why they were here though. She continued to secretly follow the tracking spell as it made its way into the castle.
> Once they were in, and out of sight of the residents, blacknight spoke up again to Stardust.
>
> “Ok, so the only way we can get the message across to Celestia and Luna. You will need to take over. Show the princesses what Twilight has done to you. They’ll understand.”
> Blacknight spoke in a soft tone, her ears folding back as she took the beanie off. The guards, cadence and shining armour knew who Stardust was and they didn't need to worry about their horn being on show.
>
> “Alright, hopefully with this, the princesses will separate us so I can recover properly…” Stardust spoke up, before taking over again. Wincing in pain as she lifted her bad leg off of the floor, and her wings fell to the ground with a soft thud.
>
> “The princesses are in the throne room, you can get there on your own right?” BlackNight asked, with a hint of concern in her voice.
> This made Stardust smile.
> “Yeah i'll be ok, i've walked up plenty of stairs in this condition over the last however many years.”
> Stardust explained as she began to make her way to the throne room.
> On the way there she came across a pair of guards, who seemed shocked to see Stardust in such a state. They dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to Stardust’s aid.
>
> “Princess Stardust! How long have you been like this? How did you get here in such a state?!”
> One of the guards asked in a shocked tone, as they helped Stardust walk.
> “That doesn't matter right now, just help me get to Princesses Celestia and Luna… Please..!” Stardust asked, and the guards obliged, helping Stardust walk up all the stairs, and get to the throne room.
> The door burst open with one of the guards bucking it open, catching Celestia, Luna and cadence by surprise.
> Both of the guards looked rather worried as they ever so gently let go of Stardust, seeing if she can stand on her own, before returning to their post with a bow.
>
> “My dear stardust! What happened?!” Princess Cadance asked, rushing forward and seeing Stardust in her broken state.
> The incorrectly healed wings, and leg, her grime filled mane and tail, her matted fur and bloodshot, baggy eyes.
> “It's been thousands of years, why didn't you try to contact us when this happened?!” Cadence continued, as she held Stardust close, letting her rest her legs.
>
> “Princess Twilight banished me to the abandoned tunnels of Canterlot Castle… She absorbed a lot of my magic into her own horn, leaving me with only the basic spells like telekinesis and summoning food and water. I don't know how long I was down there. But twilight did all of this to me. She broke my wings, and I broke my leg when she threw me down the stairs…”
> Stardust explained, as Princess Luna grew more and more enraged, after hearing how poorly her student has been treated.
>
> “And I need your help. BlackNight was the only way I could get here. And we were thinking, if we were separated, and given our own bodies, then we could work together. Not only to help me recover properly, but to stand up to twilight.. Maybe..?”
>
> The 3 princesses looked at eachother and gave a nod.
> Slowly walking toward Stardust with their horns ignited…
>
>
> —-
> I hope you all enjoyed the story, this was a lot of fun for me to write, as i have never found a good opportunity to get BlackNight involved.
> Chapter 3 will be coming soon!
>
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>
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