Crysis: Redemption

Celestia was still alive. Being an alicorn can do that. No matter what kind of torture they suffered, they can survive. Anything that would dish out damage to kill other ponies would do little damage to alicorns. Only gods can kill gods. She knew that very well, for she was ancient. Older than Equestria itself, older than her planet, Equis. And perhaps older than her Sun. Millenium after millenium she saw things come and go. She saw war. She saw peace. She knew. She knew about everything that has happened in the universe. She knew her family inside and out. She knew Discord from the beginning of all things. The exodus. But what she did not know... What she did not know was Prophet. She has sensed the fabric of space tearing apart because of Prophet. However, interference was a good thing. She always liked interferences; they cause changes that creates some of the most unimaginable things anypony would bear to think of, creating rifts that allow her to take a leap forward towards new knowledge. But for the very first time, she was unsure of it. She thought she knew anything and everything, yet, she still remained unsure of Prophet. To her this was no fear… it was a terror. Knowing so little about Prophet, and his entire race, yet she was confident. She had been before but not now. She was a fool. A fool who thought she knew everything. But now she realized she is merely a child compared to other deities from other world. There was still a lot more to learn. For a moment Princess Celestia let go of her thoughts and slightly moved her head. She was in her chamber with all medical instruments standing aside of her bed. Then she heard soft crying. It was Luna no doubt. She weakly looked at her and smiled.

"Luna?"

Luna kept on crying.

"...Luna?"

Luna ignored her call, and squeezed herself little more like a little ball.

"Luna... It's all right. I'll be fine..."

Then she softly murmured, her voice barely audible. "It's all my fault... It's all my fault... I hate myself... I did this to her... I should never tell anyone about myself... I am so ignorant..."

Celestia sighed at her sister, and tried her best to calm her down. "Luna, it was never your fault... I... should have known better."

Then Luna bursted into tears and yelled, "How can you say it's not my fault! It's all my fault! All mine! I should have never told anypony about myself! I'm supposed to be stuck in a shadow! There is no victory for myself… none! That was my fate. My destiny! I should have never existed in the first place!”, “But I had a stupid, pointless hope. Hoped to have at least one pony who can listen to me, but no! Should I ever have one? Never?!  My stupid hope did this to you, Tia! Can't you get it yet?! I am the one who did.. this to you! I should have just stood like I was before! I should just take my life while I can, but I’m immortal so I can’t! Is that what you want?!" The nightly mare panted heavily, eyes wide as she breathed wildly.

Celestia stared at Luna with a shocked expression, her facial muscles frozen in place. Her lips trembled and fumbled to try to make out words. "L...Luna..."

Without a second’s notice, Luna jumped out from her sister's bed, crying frantically. She then hurriedly  flew away out through the window, not even looking back. Her shadow cast upon Celestia while she watch her sister fly. Celestia couldn't do anything but watch her sister running away. Sorrow filled her soul.

Luna flew. And her flight was very unfamiliar. Last time she flew in to the free air was a thousand years ago. She was not used to it at all. It felt weird to feel her wings clapping against the air.

As she flew, she saw Celestia's sun still pinned in the sky. The night was coming. Or do they really need her night? She decided to not care about it since her arrival. Nopony ever cared about her night anyway. So she flew. She just kept on flying, not knowing where she might end up. Then one thing struck her mind. She needed to find Prophet. She didn't know why. But talking to him made her feel he is the only one she knew other than Celestia. She wanted to be left alone, but also in other hand she just felt comfortable with Prophet. Although he did a lot of damage.

"Where could he be...?" She had no idea how to track him. But she might be to track him in night. She could use her moon to watch him. However, she was in no mood to raise the moon today. She never was. She had to come up with some way to find him.

Prophet walked until he could find someplace to hide. Entering the Everfree Forest was his idea, and after all it did gave him better cover than a open wide area. The thick vegetation in this area of the Everfree surely did grant him seclusion and cover, but just staying around the forest did not mean he has a hideout. The Everfree was dark, and had many dangerous creatures. Anything unexpected can happen here. He could see them through the darkness. He could see some of them watching him closely, and some of them running away. He did not care. They are weak, and can be killed easily. After a moment of walking, he heard a low growl from behind him. First, he just ignored it, and kept on walking in deeper. But after hearing the same noise numerous times Prophet grew ever more annoyed and spun around to see his follower, and saw a lion — a lion's head with bat wings and a  scorpion tail? Prophet stood baffled and blinked.

While narrowing his eyes he uttered, "What the...fuck?" The monstrous creature responded with bellowing roar that echoed all through the forest. Prophet was in no mood for fighting right now so he wanted to finish it quickly as possible. The lion-bat-scorpion raised its paw, razor sharp claws extended, to attack him, but the move was immediately blocked by Prophet. As he held the beast's paw with his hand, he glared at it without emotions behind him. The wild beast tried to swing its paw away to shake Prophet off to no avail. Hastily Prophet started to crush its paw with his hand with brutal pressure. The creature let out a ear piercing cry of agony and raised  its tail to stab Prophet, but he just grabbed that too. He forced the tail to his side and somersaulted sideways to twist and sever the tail off. The monster flinched greatly, bending down onto its knees to recover from the massive recoil. Prophet jumped again, this time up into the air looming over the head of his attacker, and simply impaled its brain with its own tail to kill it in an instant. It gave a brief howl before finally collapsing onto the forest floor, lifeless. A flock of birds chirped loudly to fly away from the killing.

Prophet stood to his feet. He wiped off the sweat from his forehead whilst muttering, "What a pity, creature. "

Sitting on a rock in what sempt  to be deep thought, Luna broke from her train of thought to notice a wave of birds fleeing from the distance. Birds don't flee unless they detect a threat, which remained a natural instinct for them for millennia. What could have caused such a commotion? Luna thought to herself of the possibilities. A manticore, hydra, Ursa Major. But Luna had a feeling it was something much smaller. Perhaps a manticore? But she still had hoped to find Prophet, so she flew there. After flying for some minute or two and descending down to the ground, she glimpsed upon a manticore — a dead manticore — lying stomach down on the ground, its head crushed by its own tail.And right next to it… was none other than Prophet. She her prediction was entirely correct. Prophet turned and noticed Luna looking on with a neutral expression drawn on her. It was funny, she thought, he was actually a little surprised to see her.

Prophet tilted his head. He spoke, "Luna? Were you following me?"

"No-- er, yes. Agh, I mean no! No. I... I wasn't following you." Prophet gave a very perplexed look that read ‘Are you serious?’

Luna sheepishly responds, hiding her face behind her mane. "Sorry..."

 "I wish to be alone. Leave me.."

Luna hesitantly responds, "B-But... I want to be with you! Please?"

Prophet crossed his arms and tilted his head as he spoke, "Why is that?"

"I just don't want to be alone anymore..."

"I thought you wanted to be left alone."

Princess Celestia looked out the empty window that remained opened. Cold wind was blowing in, gently taking the loose curtain with it. The air was cold, she knew what needs to be done. But she was exhausted, far more exhausted than she has anticipated. She felt her power drained quite a lot from battling Prophet and had to heal herself. Above all though, it was her sister who really broke her down. Yes, battling did drained a lot of her stamina and magic physically but what her sister said to her terrified Celestia deeply. Her words looped through Celestia’s head over and over like a scratched vinyl disc. It drained all the force that she barely kept content as if her soul had abandoned her body. It made her feel empty inside. But Celestia knew that it could not be avoided. She loved Luna. She was her only sister and sibling, but she had no idea what was really going inside her sister’s mind. Celestia always thought of her sister as a silent and lonely pony. Celestia was completely oblivious to the fact that Luna wanted to die. Her deep depression was invisible to Celestia, since Luna never really showed her full emotions until now. Now Princess Celestia thought her sister was always like that. Even before her banishment to the moon, she was same. The onset of the corrupt attitude Luna developed to become Nightmare Moon made Celestia begin to question if her sister would ever come back. But once when Nightmare Moon had spat threats of eternal night in order to get all of Equestria to appreciate her for a change, a spark was set off that forced Celestia to send “Luna” to the moon. The Princess didn’t take note of Luna’s sadness though; she instead shrugged it off the time she was used to it. She seldom cared about Luna’s problems and grew annoyed at times because of them. Celestia thought to herself “How could I be so… immature?”  She couldn’t see it…

She looked out to the window again. Her mind was still clouded with regrets and thoughts of her sister, her power was way too weak to do anything, yet something had to be done to resolve it. Or she let her subjects suffer day after day of no night. Is this what sister meant? Luna yelled about her existence was not be known or mentioned. Celestia imagined the world without her sister’s night.

Celestia laid her weak aching body down onto her plush bed, thinking aloud, “No… wait…” She realized her sister’s true meaning. IIt had nothing to do with her night disappearing! It was about her presence. Celestia again realizes she has been controlling both sun and moon for the entire thousand years Luna’s spent on the moon, and not even a single day caused any chaos. It implied Luna was useless or unfit to raise the moon herself, for Celestia can handle both the sun and moon’s raising. Another thought arose in her head: not even a single pony remembered Luna’s name the time she was banished. She was forsaken and everypony lived just fine without her presence. And even now, nothing has changed. Nearly all ponies, except the bearers of the elements of harmony and most of the Royal Guard, weren’t aware about Princess Luna’s return. Present day with Luna was virtually the same as it was in the past.

         Ever so slowly Celestia then again looked her sun, still shining in the sky. She needed to lower it down. She really wanted to see her sister doing it herself, but she insisted doing it. To be honest, Celestia was worried that she was not able to lower the sun. It was obvious that she will fail. But she had to try. Celestia rose to her hooves. She forced all her energy left inside of her and channeled through her horn. It glowed a faint goldish color. However as expected, before her horn could release the magic, her horn flickered dimly and faded away.There was too little energy to lower the sun. Celestia collapsed to the floor of her balcony as she felt sweat accumulate around her head and body, and gasped for air. She saved up all her energy left inside of her, but it did not work. Surely she has gone weak. She needed time to recover, but the time has deceived her.

Prophet watched Luna softly crying, and sighed. “Luna, I’m sorry. Alright? I know I was being a dick, but hey, I don’t mean it. I was just little angry… Luna, I just want to know what happened.” He said as he walked next to Luna. Then he sat down beside her, who was still crying. Prophet was never the best on socializing with the females.

He knelt down to her and petted Luna’s head delicately as he said, “It’s okay. It’s alright. Just tell me what happened.”

 Then she finally or barely managed to speak. Although it was really quiet, Prophet still could make out what she was saying.

She mumbled out, “My sister is hurt… She is hurt… and I did this to her.” These words struck his mind. He felt guilty although he still hated Celestia.

“Only if I said nothing, this would have never happened. It was my fault to think that I can have somepony who can listen to me… I should have stayed like I was.”

Prophet gently brushed her back, and said, “Luna it’s not your--”

“My fault… all my fault…”

 Prophet attempted to coax the mare of the night into calming down. “Luna, it’s not…”

“What are you Luna? You are nothing…” Luna recalled the words of her sister.

“Luna…”

“I am worthless..”

“Shut up!!” Prophet shouted top of his lungs this time. This wasn’t the Luna he was looking at, or anypony crying for his or her misery. Whatever they did, locking away themselves from everything and slowly breaking themselves is not going to happen in front of him. Especially Luna! And after he shouted, he realizes that he might have been made the situation worse.

Luna’s eyes widened and her pupils darted in to small pecks. She stared at Prophet with shock and nervous expression. Her body froze in solid and was trembling slightly in fear.

But Prophet continued his harsh tirade, “Stop all this stupid nonsense! You’re Princess Luna, you are not useless! You are not nothing!” With great gusto booming in Prophet’s voice, he still continued, “It is not your goddamn fault! It never was! It was Celestia! Not you!” Prophet circled around behind Luna, while Luna just kept on s

taring at him speechlessly.

"Can't you get it yet?! Your sister took away your choices, then she just tore you up into pieces! It was never your fault! You just did what all other people would have done! Hell, even I would have done it, too!" Luna was beaten down mentally by Prophet’s overpowering words and  her gaze slowly dropped down to ground instead just kept on staring at him. Prophet couldn't help himself to calm down. Whenever he saw Luna, he felt something tingling in his mind, forcing him to help her anyway he could. Now the bottled up feelings exploded right in her face.

Prophet paused before telling Luna, “'What did I call them    when I was human?

“Sympathy and empathy... Yes. I think that's what I used to call them.” Those words felt peculiar, and strange. But yet familiar.

Prophet sat down next to Luna and whispered to her, "Luna. Luna. Look at me. “ She ignored it, “Come on, just look at me..."

Luna hesitated for a moment before she could raise her head, but her eyes were still locked on elsewhere. Prophet could see small amount of tear forming beneath her eyes. Her eyes were heavily bloodshot from the tears. It was much more beautiful than any gems he could think of. And to see Luna crying made Prophet feel like human again. Did he like Luna? He couldn't really answer that question. But he did wanted to help Luna surely, and she did melt his cold metal side of his mind. So maybe... no. He liked Luna. Yes he did.

Prophet reached out his finger and gently touched beneath her eyes where her tear formed, and cleared them out.  "Luna, I don't want to see you crying anymore. Can you promise me that?"

Luna stayed quiet.

"Well?"

Luna finally spoke, "I-I promise..."

Prophet smiled behind his helmet.  "Good." He softly brushed her mane with his hand. Luna seems to blush a lot. He noticed her blueberry cheeks turning into a deep red color, and her eyes widened for a second for a shock. She did her best to hide under her mane but it was pointless. Prophet felt her heart beating as blood thundered through her whole body heating her up. This blowed his mind away. He was breathless.

Prophet thought, 'Jesus... She is just... Damn...' But he had to finish his words first before he can go in to something else. He used all his willpower to pull that out.

"Luna, you know. It's my fault too, if you think about it. I should have controlled my anger. It could have started out much better than this." Then he felt sudden pressure around his chest. It was Luna hugging him tight. And from the expression from her face, she would not release him until the world ended. Prophet looked at her with genuine expression. Purest he can ever think of in his past life. He felt warm. Not that he can feel the heat of the exterior environment. But somehow he did. Heat was not coming from outside. It was coming from inside of him. Silence embraced both Luna and Prophet with comfort. Luna felt that was well. Seconds... Minutes... Her feeling remained constant. For the first time in thousand years, she finally felt warm aura emerging inside of her, and it started to illuminated inside of her cold, lonely mind. Her heart beat gradually slowed down. Then something extraordinary happened. A small smile. True genuine, pure smile of satisfaction.

Prophet broke the silence with a "You can let go of me now."

Luna gave him a quick look and apologized still with red cheeks. "I-I’m sorry..."

"Don't be." Prophet chuckled heartily.

Out of the blue Luna suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, I almost forgot!"

Prophet looked at her with curiosity. Then Luna took out something that he easily recognized, and his belonging just seems to appear out of her tail… but why? But he didn't ask her. Anyway, it was his most trusted revolver, Majestic Six. Its glossy chrome finish shined in the moonlight gingerly. Prophet held it -- just like he had for the first time -- tightly as he felt Majestic Six’s power in his hands.

"It's my pistol... I thought you ponies destroyed it or studied it."

Luna sheepishly answered, "Well... I did my best to not let them see this thing."

"It is my most trusted weapon,” Prophet said as he carefully examined his weapon, “It never let me down. This is a piece of me. Luna, this means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." Luna continued, “So what is it?”

"It's called a revolver, and it shoots... these." Prophet took out some sort of cylinder out of its bottom, and showed her brass looking objects.

"These are called bullets This one is called .50 compact. These may look small but pack a helluva punch." Luna shuttered remembering how it almost killed her sister. She hesitated heavily.

Soon after finishing feeling up his gun he said, "Luna, you know what. I want you to keep it."

Luna's ear plucked up in surprise. “W-What?"

"I just want you to keep it."

"W-why?"

Prophet shrugged. "It's wears some of my old life. Makes me remember things. Just consider it, a gift from your new friend."

  A very surprised Luna was taken aback by the offer as her eyes widened at what Prophet said, "Your… friend?"

Prophet nodded. "Yeah. We are friends now, don't you think. "Her eyes started to flutter.

”You... You really think me as your friend?"

"Yeah, Luna. "

Then Luna's tight hug came around his neck, and she broke down into tears again. Tears of happiness. Although she technically did break her promise of not crying as Prophet watched, it was tears of happiness so they both waved that off. It wasn’t just tears of happiness, it was heartful tears.

"Thank you... Thank you... "

Prophet smiled warmly. "Oh, forgot to tell you my name, I was really ignorant."

Luna said tilted her head to the side questioning, "Prophet. That's your name, right?"

"Yeah... That's what they used to call me... Prophet. But you can call me Laurence. Major Laurence Barns at your service, Princess. " He snickered cheesily. Luna stood with regal pose and stretched out her hoof, giggling.

"It is my pleasure meeting you, Larry. Seems like we are going to be well acquainted."

Prophet narrowed his eyes at her remark, responding, "Larry? What's that for?"

Luna shrugged in reply. "Let's keep it simple, shall we?"

Prophet responded with mocking voice, "Alright, then. Woona."

"Woona? That's not simple at all." She crossed her front legs, scoffing.

"Keeps us feel little more closer. Right?"

"I think so, Larry." She nodded.

Next Prophet felt something off. The sun. The time is now 7 o'clock. Why is the sun still up in the sky at this time? Prophet thought, 'Did Celestia die? Did I kill her? Is that why the sun is still there?'

He nervously uttered, "Uhhh... Luna. Why is the sun still there?"

 Luna closed her eyes, "I noticed."

Prophet's voice started to rise. "Something to do with Celestia?"

"No, She is... fine. She is just not well. If she died, the sun might have collapsed, too."

"Then why are you not raising the moon?"

Luna's face dropped. "I...I am not worthy."

Prophet let a long sigh. He started to remember the fuming tirade he spewed at Luna just some time ago. "You are Luna. Princess of the night. That's what you are. You are worthy of controlling your moon. That's what it's all about you and whole raising sun and moon business."

Luna still denied that she has worth in raising the moon. "No, not after all I have done. I don't know."

Silence followed. The trees around the twosome swayed gently to and fro in the warm breeze. It was very peaceful weather. Once Luna had warmed up with heartfelt smiles and the like, it was as if on cue that the dismal and gloomy feeling of the Everfree dissipated. The darkness didn’t feel so strong anymore. Prophet gazed to the auburn red sky, highlighted with purplish streaks and dotted with rolling patches of clouds. He decided to turn the subject a little.

"Luna, you know. I love stargazing."

Luna's brow arched. "What does that mean?"

"I love the night sky! And I want to see yours. What do you think?"

She replied with shock, "You... You like my night?"

"Well, I mean night in general. My homeworld's night was dull. Never really saw many stars, but I like night more than day. So, I want to see yours."

She answered with saddened face. "Oh... My sky isn't very good... I never really impressed anypony with my night." She underestimated herself quietly.

"Well, I'm not a pony. And I haven't seen your night yet."

"But, why are you pushing me to do this?"

"Luna, I just want to see you happy. I want see you raise your moon. You can't be stuck like this, for rest of your life. And watching your night would make me most happy, too. Can you do that?" He looked  Luna deep in her cyan colored eyes, smiling ever so gently to try to entice her into raising the moon. It should be raised after all, maybe that would bring Celestia to ease and satisfy the citizens of Canterlot and all the other places so they wouldn’t become agitated.

Luna hesitated. "If...my night makes you happy... " She rose to her hooves off of Prophet’s touch. She sighed deeply to concentrate magic on her horn. Then her horn started to illuminate bright blue color, and glowed more with each passing second.

"I...I haven't done this for many years..." With her words, she slowly grabbed the sun and pulled it down gently under the horizon with her magic and pushed up her moon after it. Thing with such a sad memories of her. But she shook away her thoughts and continued her work. Prophet stared at her with awe. It was really amazing to see something like that. And his suit made unwanted noises, he muted them.

He turned away briefly to fiddle with his suit to try to silence it. "Immense energy pulse..."

"Mute"

He hated it when it broke his mood. But then he still gazed to the rising moon as the sun slowly falling down, shouting one last cry of light before it disappears. Then he saw millions of stars glowing themselves as if they were diamonds across the black blanket. Strangely her night was more beautiful than what he saw in the space. It was strange, but it was Luna. She is the Princess of the night after all.

"Wow... Luna... This-- is just unbelievable."

Luna deeply blushed, and her ears folded down "Really? You really like my night?"

He paused. "No, I don't like your night."

Luna worried as heart started to sink. Her voice trembled a little. "I...I knew it... I not good enough. I should have..."

Prophet then cut her words and looked to her with his head slightly tilted. "I don’t like your night -- I love it."

Luna's emotion quickly changed. "Do you mean it?" Then Luna felt being pulled up by Prophet. And he rested her on his arm.

He said, "I mean it."

A tidal wave of happiness washed over Luna and to her eyes in the form of tears again. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Prophet felt like if Luna was a little girl, and to be honest, that made her just adorable to him. And he felt little bit like what he used to be. Human. After all, he was only a human.

And prophet knew what Really Luna needs. She needs love, care, and attention. And he was going to give her his best.