Luna watched as the beacon light she walked from faded from view. From here, it seemed like it would take every ounce of her being to summon such power, to transport herself from a balcony ledge in a castle on the side of mountain to the sunlit crater in once she roamed around in, but funny enough, it felt second nature to her, as if returning home to go back and retrieve something, but then realizing she didn't do this everyday, or any day in that matter. Looking up at space, she focused on the stars and the blackness of the void, then looking down at the brightly lit white rock she stood apon. "Well.....it hasn't changed much....but it was home" she thought out loud.
She looked down at her hooves, shuffling them as she watched the dust slowly rise and seem to disappear into thinness of space. She tilted her head upward to finally see the earth, just on the brink of sunrise, guessing Celestia had just woken up, had her coffee and just started raising the sun. Looking back forward, she finally focused on the horizon ahead.
"I left them here a long time ago.....why do I need them again?" She once again thought out loud, but then taking her first step forward without thinking twice.
She walked a few steps before she arched her legs and hoped from the rock she stood on, a trial of dust left her wake where she jumped from. From that, she started to hop forward, turning her head from side to side as she did so, as if expecting to see something, as if some pony was to greet her there, but instead she seen just more horizons of white moon rock and the blackness of space and stars.
As she continued jumping in the crater she couldn't help but think of old memories of her days here fighting with her own self for a thousand years, her mind finally in a twist before her days were up, and she finally went back to ponyville at Nightmare Moon. She tried to shake off such thoughts of lesser days, as of course, she reminded her self that such things were behind her. Before she could bring up another thought to her mind, she had finally hopped to the end of the crater, coming to the spot where she had brought herself all the way out here for, as she looked around once more in all directions she looked in before, seeing nothing new than before. She looked down at her hooves again, but to see a darker shade of white than the rest of the rock she had seen before it. Running a hoof over it, it was softer than the rock she was on, it gave more dust than the rest of the steps she took and what seemed to be wet soil was stuck to the side of her hoof.
"Well.....this is it" she thought to herself, before finally poking her hooves into the soft patch below her. She started to dig, her face focused below her at her hooves, watching beyond her hooves to see what lied underneath.
She hit felt herself hit something after some time of digging, her horn started to glow a purple-blue as she used her magic to unearth what lied beneath. She finally pulled up a sizable wooden box, it was brown in color but had black stars embedded into it. She waited for the dust to clear before she walked a few feet from the hole and placed the wooden chest down onto the moons surface. Her horn glowed once again as she looked at the gold colored metal keyhole that was in the center of it. The keyhole began to glow blue as the top opening half of the chest let out a gap, then began to open slowly. Luna put a hoof on the top, let out a silent sigh and opened the box. She looked inside to find a metal helmet and four hoof links shining at her when the reflection of the suns light.
"Well... I had to come back here sooner or later, I can't run from them forever, I can only learn from my own past...".
The four metal pieces of wear began to glow as she pulled them from the box they sat in. With some sort of strange comfort she closed her eyes and she felt the helmet slowly descend into her head, the links clamping back ontop her hooves, feeling how cold they felt against her. She opened her eyes to see nothing changed. She wasn't Nightmare Moon once again.
She didn't hear anymore voices in her head. She just felt cold pieces of metal rest on her. "Finally got these old trinkets back.." She said with a slight sad sigh.
"Trinkets of just old, sad memories" she couldn't help but feel like as if she was supposed to feel something while wearing these, the only feeling she had was just being cold and the feeling to want to go back home.
Only this time, she could actually go back while wearing these.
"I guess I got what I came here for.... I got these just for them to stand and rust under a glass display...but for them to celebrate me now as I am now, in stead of fear me as a monster? It will be a great day indeed!"
She said with a great smile across her face. The Great Summer Sun Celebration was happening in just a day, and she had finally gotten what she felt would be the center piece of the royal family archives, Nightmare Moon pieces itself. Years ago when the Summer Sun Celebration she tried to take over failed, and she was stopped by the elements of harmony holders, she hid the pieces of her old self here, never thinking about ever needing to return and wear them once more. Finally looking around once more she let out one more sigh readying herself to hop back to the end other end of the crater, not before looking back at the chest, when something small caught her eye. She turned her body to the hole she dug earlier that held the box. She gave a hop to the front of the hole and looked down at it. Beneath the dust, she noticed a reflection of silver of some sort, just a small, coin sized patch.
"Huh?...." Luna said out loud before leaning into the hole and moving her hoof over the patch. She wiped away the white moon dust just to find the patch of silver get bigger. Leaning back and looking at it she tried to pull up whatever this was but couldn't find an edge of it. She finally took a step back as she looked at the reflective surface, her horn began to glow as she began to pull up the object from beneath the moon rock and dust it laid under, she began too pull as it started to break free, dust and rock floating into space as it fell off this thing. As she felt it move, she stopped quickly for a rest, too look at what this thing that she was unearthing, but instead it just kept floating upward. This was not her doing. She gave a shocked looked as she quickly step'ed back from the metallic object rising in front of her, with out her consent. She shielded her eyes with her hoof as dust flew everywhere, more then she had seen from the surface of the moon while she was there. She hesitated to open her eyes after she felt the dust clear but she finally gathered courage to do so. When she finally looked at what was in front of her, she was met with what looked like a metal coffin. It was silver, round in the front side and seemed flat on the back, like a coffin would be, but she looked and read the words "ZERO" in front of it, written in a red hue, in metal letters. "What..... in the heavens?" Luna gazed at it, not knowing what to think of anything that just happened to appear.
She stepped with hesitance toward the metal box which floated upright facing her. She slowly trotted around the box, never taking her eyes off of it, to see it seemed to just float there, not knowing of her presents. She faced the front of it once more, only to stop and keep staring at it a little longer. Finally she stepped up and looked at it straight on. Suddenly what looked to be air released from the sides of the unit, Luna jumping far back as this happened.
"Hello? Is any pony there? I demand you show your self to me at once!"She said in a stern but shaken voice.
The box stood still for a moment before the lid of the box floated off. Luna stood her ground, But felt her body tense up in a nervous feeling. The lid finally floated off from the unit completely to reveal what looked like to Luna, A red mirror. The mirror was transparent, and through the other end of the mirror just looked like, once again, the bottom of a coffin, in witch something would lay.
The mirror it looked, was a dark crimson red, filling the entirety of the unit. Luna noticed it didn't look like anything alive came from the box, she looked at it, and then saw her own reflection as she slowly walked to the unit. As she got closer and still looking inwards, she could see the sun shining, the earth being embraced in the suns light, the space between them, and of course, herself. When she finally looked at her self,she noticed she was still wearing the Nightmare pieces, but seeing just how they looked on her now. The helmet fit fine, but it didn't look like Nightmare Moon. It just looked like Princess Luna wearing one of the palace guards headgears. As for the links them selves, they just looked like metal bands around her hoofs and nothing more. Her reddish reflection let out a small frown, but one not of sadness, but of one wondering why you fought over these in the first place. She looked onward at her self, still looking at herself, still looking at her self as a whole, but then noticing her face becoming distorted. She looked onward farther and watched as her reflection, the earth and the sun all seemed to melt into each other, the mirror suddenly began to float towards her, but not as one solid object, instead as mounds, beads and other misshapen red things began to float out of the box, then she realized it wasn't a mirror at all, but some kind of red water, breaking apart and floating into space. Luna stepped to the side of the box, as she watched the water float ahead, but as she watched them on, they didn't just go into the void of space, but instead straight forward and then down into the moons surface. She walked up to the water and looked at where it landed, as it then sank into the surface it self. When it was planted, the wet spot of dust let out a dim red glow before fading out, just to become what looked like normal white rock once again. Surprisingly undaunted by what she just witnessed, she turned her body back to the box itself. She seen it only in the distance, as it was floating into the void of space freely now, with nothing making it stand in front of her.
Luna had finally had enough of what she had seen. Hoping it was all over, she gave quick hops to reach the other end of the crater."What have i just seen?... What do i tell every pony?... Do i tell any pony?" She said to her self in a worried tone. Finally reaching the end, She braced herself and looked back seeing nothing but the space and moon horizon,witch was finally a welcomed site. She quickly gathered her strength and mind together as she teleported her self back onto the castle balcony. She breathed in a deep helping of air, before looking up at the sun above her, green trees in the valley below and her room behind her. She walked into her room, sat all her Nightmare Moon gear on the chair next to her bed, and before drifting into sleep, she let out a sigh of relief.
..........
Luna finally awoke to a new sun greeting her, she looked out her window with sleepy eyes to see a blue sky without any clouds and what seemed to be a bright day. She looked at the chair that she placed the helmet and links on and seen them shining just like when she had retrieved them yesterday. She got up from bed and brushed her hair, washed her face, fixed herself up, nothing out of the usual. she walked back into her room and looked at her old wear one last time before using her magic to levitate hem behind her as she walked out of her room and into the hallway. She walked down with a small smile and a slight skip to her trot as she came to the main hallway doors, she looked around and noticed that the royal guards that usually greet her good morning weren't there, when suddenly she realized what day it was.
"Oh! it's the Summer Sun Celebration day of course! That's the whole reason I went through all this..... I guess they went to enjoy the festivities", She gave herself a quick thought as she opened the doors and walked inside. While walking to the archives room she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Seeing streamers, some balloons, and some plastic plates and cups, evidences of a social gathering. Walking past all this, she finally reached the doors of the family archives room. Looking up at the tall doors, she let out what thought would be her final sigh before opening the old wooden doors. once inside, she looked at such things like some crowns from past ancestors, King Sombra's dark crown, complete with its jewel, some old objects recalling from when Discord turned everything into madness and some books, re-telling her own story from when she was Nightmare Moon. She looked at an empty glass display, ready for something to be put into it, ever that day come, and Luna thought it was a day she felt it was right.
Lifting the glass with her magic, she laid the helmet and cuff links one last time down onto the display table, laying them in a presentable fashion. She put the glass back over it and stepped back to look on and dawn in her past. She wasn't able to recall her thoughts for long as she heard some pony walk in. She looked at the door to find her older sister walking into the room, usual fashion, she looked relaxed and calm, not showing any signs of exhaustion from raising the the sun and talking to every pony from the earlier celebration.
"Oh! Luna, where have you been all day? I've been looking for you" she said to her moon sister, walking towards her with a slight smile.
"Oh hello sister! You've been looking for me?"
"Of course i have! You remember what day it was today, right?". Luna let out a small chuckle.
"Well i'm glad i haven't been forgotten"
"Of course i haven't!.... Luna... What's in that display case?"
Celestia looked onward on the glass. Her face then made a slightly surprised expression as she realized the contents inside that she was looking at. Luna looked at her sister, let out a small sigh and smiled.
"Yes....It's what you think it is" Luna turned too look at the glass.
"i know how you always love to add history to this place....So i thought it was time. I went last night to pick it up" turning to her sister with a happy embrace. "....Happy Summer Sun Celebration?" Luna said with a smile, but awaiting the reaction of her sister.
"Oh......This is......Great!" Celestia said with hesitance.
"Are you not happy with this sister?.." Luna's worried smile quickly turned into a slight frown.
"Oh no......this is great!......it's just ........"
Celestia stopped, turning her body away from her sister.
"You didn't have to go all the way too the moon again, i thought you were done with that place"
"I went up there to get these and...."
"And what?" Celestia turned back to her sister half ways.
"I......I guess i did it to make you happy...." Luna said softly, looking down out of a sudden sadness she felt wrap her body.
"My dear sister.....you didn't need to remind yourself of that dreaded past we went through, we are done with that, but bringing these here..... this just brings those thoughts closer to home"
Luna looked up at her sister, now with a more stern face than before.
"Isn't this what this place is for? Not to run away from our past but look at past adventures and log them for all our kingdom to see one day?"
As her words were leaving her lips, Celestia turned to her sister, the tension in the room grew thick and her expression turned into a somewhat angry one.
"Luna.....all these knickknacks... are just that. Just things ment to collect dust, and become dust themselves, just worthless trophies, sister"
Luna gave a shocked look at her sister, not quite in belief at the words she had just spoken.
"I go all the way to the moon just so you can say to me I should be dust?"
"No Luna..... Not you, the old you . Nightmare Moon...."
Luna turned away from her sister, fighting back tears as she thought of what to say.
"All that... What i did, I finally come back after a thousand years, tried to make the night last forever and i finally see the light.....You. My own sister, And this is what you think of my return all this time?! Just an old memory that collects dust and that will become nothing to you but an old trophy to you?" Luna shouted, hurt, and confused at these few words her sister has said to her.
Celestia looked at her sister, letting out a sigh and looking at her with a more calm expression.
"Luna......No........You are my friend... i'm glad to have you back. The real you. But all this?" She turned to look at everything in the room. "All this?.....Just lies my dear sister"
"What in the heavens are you talking about? Lies?! Just like, all this didn't happen?" Luna shouted out once more, stepping away from the sun princess.
"No Luna.....Who came before us?" Luna's face gave an expression of confusion. "our parents of course..."
"...Do you remember them?". Luna looked at her sister with more confusion. "No......they.....well....maybe once, when i was a filly.....then they...". She looked down, a tear running down her face, but not sure why.
"Sister, what is all this? What are you talking about? Our parents!? Lies?!" Luna looked up at Celestia, her sisters face expressionless. There was a brief silence.
"Luna....Did you see anything while you were up there?" She asked the confused and sad moon pony.
"I........"
"Please sister......the truth".
Luna closed her eyes tightly and looked down. "Yes sister.....I did"
"Don't tell me what it was".
Luna opened her eyes and looked up at her sister, expecting her to ask what she seen and thinking of a way to explain it all. Luna then walked beside her sister and looked at her with a puzzled look.
"Sister......what are you not telling me?..."
Celestia turned and faced the door.
".....They live such easy lives....". Luna just looked onward at her sister.
"They can live.....breathe......be born.......love, make relationships and families of their own, and finally, they can die. They can die in peace and go on"
Celestia began to stare at the door, Luna still stood beside her.
"What?.....Of course they can do that....That's what we all do"
"All of us......but us"
Celestia walked in front of her sister and looked her in the eye. "Why do we do this Luna?"
"W-Why....why do we do what?"
Celestia's expression turned into a sad one.
"Why do we raise the sun and the moon?" Luna paused and gave it a thought.
"....so they can live, plants run on sunlight but the moonlight gives them a rest, just like everything runs in this world." Luna responded in an honest tone.
"....And if we didn't?"
Celestia said in a monotone. "I....I never thought about it"
"What if we walked away from everything? Just gave it all up?" Her face now turned into a tried look.
"What if we were finally free? just to be like them?....that freedom to let go and finally die in peace?" her tone a sad one but her face keeping the tired look.
"But then....everything would die". Celestia let out a chuckle.
"And that's a bad thing?". She gave her wings a flutter.
"What if somepony tried?"
"Tried to what?" Luna looking at her sister with a growing slight fear.
"Some ponies like us.....what if they walked away?"
"That's impossible....and if somepony tried, we have heirs to our throwns, in this case, you've been training Twilight for years...."
Celestia let out an actual laugh.
"I said what if, not what would happen". her face went back into a serious tone.
"But......". Luna gazed on.
"But.....what?"
"But......You have the right idea"
She started to walk to the door. "What if the time came.....and there was no pony like you and me to save everypony? ....But they had a fail safe plan?"
Luna let out a another confuse look. "Why would they need such a thing?"
"Just in they truely became tired of it all....." Celestia broke her stern face and faced her sister.
"Remember mothers garden?"
Celestia asked her sister with a growing, but small smile.
"Yes.....what about it?"
"Remember she had an old one? she tried and tried for years before we came along to make it grow....But soon after i was a couple years old and you were just born, she gave up on it, and she decided to plant a new one....that's the garden in the back now, years later, here we are now, and it's looking better than ever....but leting something go but to try something new? that's called a failsafe"
Luna didn't think to much of her sisters words, and she was now starting to think she had finally lost it, she thought she was a mad pony.
"....Alright sister......i think i get what you are saying"
Luna lied through her teeth.
"If you are tried from today, all you had to do what tell me, and i'll raise the moon, and you can get some rest"
Celestia smiled, closed her eyes and looked down.
"Sister......i can't wait for our day of rest." Luna smiled softly at her sister.
"Luna......"
Celestia turned to her sister.
"I love you.....very much so....i didn't mean to hurt and confuse you with my words and ramblings..." Celestia softly cooed and smiled at her sister, lifting any tension that was left in the room
"You probably think me a mad pony....i think you're right, i think i just need some rest"
Luna smiled and began to walk her sister out of the room. "Before you sleep yourself.....You really should visit our mothers garden, it's looking better than ever, she would have loved to see it, and see you in it"
Luna smiled while rolling her eyes. "I go there to think about our past, and our future, knowing its not going to be so bleek."
The sun pony said while resting her eyes.
"Alright sister....if that will make you sleep easy, i will see to it soon"
Celestia smiled brightly and walked for the door. "Thank you sister for the chat, i hope you enjoy the rest of your night" She opened the door and stood before walking out.
"Luna?"
Luna looked up.
"Yes dear sister?"
"....Happy Summer Sun Celebration"
..........
Luna stood happily, but still puzzled, thinking of her sisters rambling from earlier. Luna was walking up to the garden's gates, the day was over and she had just finished raising the moon. The nightfall was thick and it seemed every pony turned in early after the days celebration. Luna's mind couldn't help but not keep it'self off her sisters words, fail safes, freedom in death, to Luna, those words ment she never seen her sister so worn out after an event. She arrived at the gardens gate, she watched as the iron bars glowed her blue-ish purple as her magic opened the gate. Apon entering, she was greeted with a pleasant scent of sweet flowers and fruits, her eyes gazed at the many colors of greens, blues, yellows, and reds that made up the gardens flowers, trees and other plant life that grew.
As she walked down the stone path, she thought of the old dead garden that used to be on the other side courtyard that wasn't there any more, then looking around and thinking about how they moved everything here, and then she thought of the words fail safe.
"Fail safe......huh. Maybe i should think of my own fail safe.....maybe take in a student of my own, like my sister did with her now good friend Twilight"
She said out loud with a tried sigh. She reached the center of the garden she was met with a statue of ponies, both of them stood on their back hooves and geared toward each other. She looked up at it and then laid down in front of it and just looked at the two stone ponies. the base was covered in a moss and blue flower buds grew from it. She noticed a bud still in full bloom, she watched as it glowed as she used her magic to pick it and bring it closer to view.
"You're lucky little one....you can just sit and enjoy your time here, and enjoy night and day, while i have to worry if my dear sister has gone mad"
She spoke to the flower in a joking tone, all while thinking just briefly about her sisters mad ramble. She watched as it glowed again as she began to put the flower back in the spot she picked it from, when before she could, she noticed that something was somewhat underneath the moss.
"Huh?....this statue has an engraving?"
She quickly thought to her self before watching her magic begin to pull off the moss.
"I never knew something was written on here!"
She torn off the green plantlife just to be met with a single word. Luna hurried to her feet, but left speechless. Written in what looked like red metal letters was the word. "ONE". It was the only word she found when she pulled of the moss. Luna went blank but something compelled her to pick the flower she had just admired. She brought it to her face for yet again a better view. She turned the blue flower upside down to look at its stem. The stem slowly began to drip what looked like some kind of red-ish water onto the floor.
Author's Note
This took far too much time than it needed xD sorry if anything looks weird, i wrote this a night ago all on my phone.
