Six ponies that don't really know each other yet, but might, in other circumstances, have become friends, approach the ruined castle of the two sisters. Within, the magnificent, dark form of Nightmare Moon watches. She knows her sister well. These ponies, whoever they are, are meant to take up the elements of harmony and defeat her.



But she, wise and powerful ruler of the night that she is, has other plans. She must prevent them from reaching and bonding with the elements. She had considered sending her magic out into the forest, to stop them from coming here at all, but a chance glimpse of the crumbled statues and ruined stonework of her once grand hall has changed her mind. She has spent the last few hours weaving a treacherous curse upon the castle, waiting for it's victims to wander in.



As soon as they step through the ruined doors, the six mares are grabbed by an invisible force, and dragged off to separate portions of the castle to be dealt with. She'll take no chances on them helping each other.



That done, she turns her attention to the first victim. The blue pegasus mare begins to look for the others immediately. She will need to be immobilized.




! !


Rainbow Dash finds herself hovering above the castle's roof, with no idea where the others are. She swoops down over the walls, searching and calling for her companions. Briefly, she touches down on the crumbling battlement.



Her hoof connects with an ominous, final sounding clack of stone.



The hot-headed mare doesn't notice for a few seconds, to busy looking around to notice the purple light beginning to creep up from her hooves. She also doesn't notice the subtle stiffening feeling, the creaking reluctance to move, that is settling into her limbs and jaw. Ignoring the ache in her teeth, she raises her wings, and leaps dramatically off the building to fly again.

Or, at least, she tries to. With a jolting yank and a crackling sound, she is brought to an abrupt stop by her rear hooves, which refuse to leave the spot they were planted in. She flops awkwardly forward over the wall, hanging by her legs. Baffled, she beats her weirdly uncooperative wings to bring herself back upright, and looks back towards her haunches.



In the dark, it's hard to see what's happening to her. She can see the glowing purple tracing it's way up her legs, but not what it's leaving behind itself. Unseen, the line of magic is burning away at her flesh like an ember at the edge of a paper, leaving cold, hardening stone behind. But the curse is not merely petrifying the poor mare. No, it is doing something much more invasive. It begins to take hold of her form, pressing against the edges of her, changing her. Reshaping the very concept of her, body, mind, and soul, into something more fitting.



Her teeth ache. She winces as they scrape against one another, grating like two rocks being touched together. Her jaw feels stiff and misshapen. Raising a hoof to rub at it, she feels her front teeth with her tongue, and finds to her confusion that they have elongated into a sharp, bucktooth like point. She can't feel the gaps between them any more, as they merge into a solid block. The lengthening of both the top and bottom teeth soon forces her mouth awkwardly open, no longer able to close properly.



Confusion rapidly turns to fear as she realizes something terrible is happening, but her tongue won't move, and her voice cracks. It is already to late to call for help.



She beats her wings, struggling to escape, but it's no use. The flapping slows, coming to a creaking halt as her feathers begin to harden. much to her horror, her forelegs seem to be pulled unnaturally up and back, twisting out to her sides. As they are forced into contact with her stone feathers, the two sets of limbs begin to meld. Yanking at them does no good, and she can feel her forelegs loosing form, becoming extensions of her now bird-like wings. Below her, her hind hooves have cracked and split apart, shaping into talons that now grip the stone. She feels the creeping fear that they will never let go. Not unless her mistress commands it.

The growth of her teeth forces them out from her mouth, pushing out from her lips into a grotesque beak. The crunching of stone forces her mouth open wider still, stretching her jaw until it feels like her skull with crack open. her eyelids are stiffening, open wide and unblinking.



As her torso becomes cold, immobile stone, she feels something in her head. A crawling force bleeds into her mind, seeking out her memories, and her name. It finds it.



Suddenly, in her mind, their is a sharp strike and a crack. And with the ringing echo of a hammer blow, something is gone. The rapidly hardening statue that was once named Rainbow Dash struggles to remember first it's name, and then what a name even is, as more of it's identity is chiseled uncaringly away. New instructions are being carved in place of any useless notions of ponyhood, or family, or personal worth. The gargoyle will stand watch, eternal, until it's queen commands it to guard the castle from intruders.


The last flickers of a pony mind struggles against the new identity, but it is far to late. The statue's being is written in stone. A cruel beak finishes it's emergence, wings and a bird-like neck crack into frozen, immovable place, and the magic overwrites the fragile soul within. A red eye glows malevolently for a moment, and then fades. Sinking into slumber, until the guardian of the keep is called on again.



The magic harvested from the transformation is channeled into the castle around it. Some of the stonework begins to repair itself. Nightmare moon smiles, pleased at the beginnings of her hall's restoration, and then turns her attention to the next addition to her decor.



There is a white mare trotting through an old, derelict garden. It looks like it could use a new water feature.