Shadows of Sins Past

The flight back to the castle was uneventful at best, the only thing in Luna's mind being the dragon she had spoken to over the course of the hours Westwood had been asleep. That conversation revealed so much to her and showed her that there was more than Equestria. The dream before that had seemed to fall into the back of her mind trying to ignore the images of the monster that was shown even if the monster was out of Westwood's seemingly well meaning character.

Princess Luna touched down on the balcony to her room, in her room was her counterpart, "Sister. How long have you been here?" She asked quizzical to the pure white princess in front of her.

Celestia shook her head, "Not long. I finished raising the sun and came here to talk about the dragon Twilight said needed assistance." Princess Celestia replied to her sister, "So how did your meeting go? Did anything happen?" She added in as she folded her legs to be more comfortable in talking.

Princess nodded, "Yes. He is an interesting dragon to say the least." Luna spoke leaving out the part about how the image she saw made Westwood to look like a beast, "He claims to be from another world and I honestly believe him. After all, you cannot feign that sort of ignorance." Luna spoke setting herself down in front of her sister to talk.

The look on Celestia's face looked grim, "He claims to be from another world. How so?" Celestia added to her questioning.

Luna looked to her sister confused, "He spoke about a world where monkeys without hair seemed to be the dominate species, there was no such thing as magic or magic creatures, and funniest of all he said that ponies and other creatures couldn't talk like we could. The world he described sounded so backwards that I almost thought he was just joking with me." Luna explained to her sister.

Celestia looked down to the floor, "Luna. There's something I should show you. You did not witness it because you were banished to the moon when it happened." Celestia spoke to Luna as she got up from the floor, "It is an event I am not proud of, but it was necessary in order to keep the peace."

With that Luna's interest was peaked, "And this has something to do with Westwood?" Luna questioned her sister following after Celestia when she had started moving.

"Yes." Celestia spoke looking to Luna behind her, "I hope that this is not the case, but it is best that you know. You were banished to the moon when this had all happened so you would have no idea what may be happening now." She spoke leading Luna through to the hall of stained glass mirrors.

Luna looked around trying to see if there was a new window painted in the hall, "Is there something here that shows what you are trying to tell me?" She asked seeing nothing new and nothing referencing a dragon outside of the one showing spike being a hero to the Crystal Empire, "I don't quite understand."

Celestia closed her eyes and after a second she opened them again with dark streams flowing from her eyes. The world around them went dark as though the moon was risen though inspecting the light source it looked like the sun had eclipsed only inside that room, "This room has two sides. One that shows the heroic actions of the ponies of Equestria." She started and the dark magic from her eyes had faded away when the room was completely shifted, "This side shows the events that I regret. The pieces of history that I wish I could take back." She continued now walking down the hall until she was halfway inside the hall.

Luna followed after and looked around the place Celestia had stopped, "Is this the one sister?" Luna asked looking at the stained glass window showing what looked like a battle between one race of dragons and a side that was composed of both ponies and a variety of dragons following behind.

Celestia nodded, "Yes. It was one hundred and fifty years ago this day. There was a race of dragons that were powerful warriors. What happened was that they had developed a high degree of arrogance that lead to them to wage war against the other dragon races. These powerful warriors had no elemental attribute, but they could use their own shadows to form weapons on their bodies limited by what they could form in their mind." Celestia spoke looking at the stained glass window remembering the conflict that happened as though it were yesterday.

Luna looked to Celestia with a question following behind, "So what happened? Why are ponies involved in a war with two dragon parties?" She asked with Celestia showing sorrow in her face and her tone.

"The other dragons had lost their numbers and the warriors had been thriving as though they had not lost a single unit. The other dragon races came to us for aid. They had thought that our magics could help bring the warriors to their knees. That assumption was correct. The warriors could not handle our magic and soon fell to nothing saving millions of lives that the warriors would have killed." Celestia then moved to the next window, in the painted glass was a small version of one of the race that had fought the ponies and dragons, "By the time the fighting stopped. There was only one of the warriors left. A baby that had not known anything of its life and what power it possessed. To save it from itself I had banished the child. Sent it to a world with no magic, no beings like ourselves and even changed the poor child to fit with the new world it would reside in a world that it would fit in." Celestia added with the stained glass window showing something that looked like a hairless ape under the picture of the small dragon.

Luna seemed confused by the images and the words that her sister spoke, "So an entire race was erased from the face of Equestria. I don't know what to say. If you let the dragons fight amongst themselves then it was possible that the warriors would have attempted to do more than just the dragons, but at the same time a race of dragons had to be killed in order to keep the world safe." Luna spoke then it occurred to her what Celestia was talking about, "Are you saying that Westwood was the child that you banished?" She asked in shock.

Celestia looked to the side, "I have a feeling that is the case. I have already heard of a mass of body parts found littered in fallen trees in the Everfree Forest. I looked to it after I raised the sun and saw it was true. I have a feeling that Westwood has unwittingly let something loose in his mind to let his power take over if only for a minute." She spoke and she took a breath letting the room once again become the bright and vibrant room that it was before she cast her dark magic to show the hidden world, "If that is the case, then a smaller scale of that war may happen again. Which means that we have to tell him." She spoke to Luna turning to face her sister.

Luna tapped her hoof on the tile floor and spoke a moment later, "I will tell him. He seems comfortable around me, and I am sure that he will listen to me. I know I will have to word myself careful so that I do not cause him to be distraught by the reality of his life." She spoke closing her eyes and slowly lowering her head down. It wasn't in a way that she was depressed, but in a way that was showing some respect for her sister.

Celestia sighed softly, "Be careful. I do not know what he would do if you revealed everything quickly. He may go berserk like his predecessors did those many years ago." Celestia added in as she watched Luna begin to leave the hall the way that they had come from. She began to worry to a degree about what could happen and what she or Luna may have to do if Westwood went berserk. Though the benefit of the dragon being on their side could outweigh many of the potential hazards that were present with Westwood's very existence.

Luna began thinking of Westwood and the life he had as a human. She wondered if that life was any better than what could have been if the drake had stayed in this world and had his life set in a different path. From the dream she saw that he had become a warrior even without the help of his own kind. Even if she wasn't there to help or pass judgement, she felt some responsibility for what happened to Westwood. It would take a lot of planning to say what Westwood actually was to him, she knew how dangerous Westwood could be now.

Once Luna had left the hall, Celestia looked up at the window that replaced with stained glass of the alternate room, the picture of Spike saving the Crystal empire being the one that replaced the scene of the battle between the single dragon race and the combined forces. Things had changed since that century and a half, she saw now that she had judged what the child would have become regardless of the consequences that may have come from it and now that the child had returned, "Who do I ask for help when the world asks me for help?" She asked herself staring at the glass pane over her seeing the picture of a dragon saving a civilization, in a way she wondered if something similar could happen with their newest resident to the world.

Luna had left the hall to go to her room, she had the lights off wondering what it must have been like for the drake that she met. She didn't know why she was thinking so much about their newest visitor. In a way it scared her since she had never thought about any being this much and in this way, "Why do I still think about that dragon?" She asked herself with a small laugh as though she were trying to get over her own head to get the point of her thoughts. She began looking forward to her next visit with Westwood whether in his dream again or in the physical realm after her duty with raising the moon or setting the moon past the horizon. Part of her wanted to just go out now and go a day without rest to see him, but her mind had felt somewhat weary from being in the realm of another's single dream for as long as she had. Only seconds had passed after setting her head down before the princess had drifted off to sleep.