To the moon and back

Luna sat on her bed, reading an old spell book of hers, it described how to enter memories. "With this, I can prove to my sister that Aurora is vile and give custody back to Shadow. But he has to be willing to show me his memories...this may be difficult but I'm sure I can get through to him." Before she could start performing her spell, an old voice boomed in her head.

"Why do you keep undoing what I sow?! He is only going to cause you trouble! Listen to me foolish filly! I'm going to prove to you that he is a vile creature." Luna felt herself being taken over by her old self, Nightmare Moon. She then teleported to the dungeon room and walked to Shadow's cell. Shadow tossed rocks at the cell wall till he turned and saw NMM.

He stood and frowned, "What brings you here? Are you here to kill me as you said before? It's...it's fine with me at this point...I've already lost it all..."

NMM stood there, she didn't respond and tried to recall today's events thru Luna's eyes. She frowned and shook her head, "No...this is not what I wanted...I wanted you to be different. I wanted you to show your evil but..." she slowly approached the cell doors, "...you've only shown your value. I know how it is to lose it all Shadow and I can't stand to see somepony else go thru this. I came here to show Luna your vileness yet...you have shown me your value...Luna will help you regain your daughter but it will take quite a bit to do so." She turned back to Luna and Shadow looked at her curiously.

"What did she mean by 'It will take quite a bit to do so'?" asked Shadow

Luna used her magic to enter his cell and sat on his bed, "I need to enter your memories to show Aurora's ineptitude as a mother, to enter such memories, you must allow me to do so."

Shadow sat by her and scratched his head, thinking back on what she said, "I don't see a problem with that. If it means I get to be with my daughter, what ever it takes then." He smiled and took her hand, "Thank you...I...I've said some bad things but I am really thankful you are willing to help me and my daughter. I...I love you Luna."

She smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips, he blushed but quickly felt himself getting tired, "Goodnight my love, I'll see you soon." He fell on the bed and passed out, Luna stood and began to chant an olden spell. The room began to glow and she slowly began to fade, she reappeared in a black area that had many pictures. As she walked by them, she saw that they were memories of Shadow's, she looked at each one and saw what he saw as he lived his life. "Now, where is the memory of his where Aurora left him and his daughter?" She walked around till she finally found it, she touched the picture and entered it.

It was Autta's fourth birthday and Shadow was entering the house early in the morning, he looked tired and he dropped his gear in the foyer. He looked around and saw that nopony was there to welcome him but he expected such things after transferring into the night guard. He yawned and was about to head upstairs when he remembered it was his daughter's birthday. He cursed to himself and left quickly to get her a present, he reached a local toy shop just as it opened and bought a dragon plushie, he had it wrapped up and returned home.

As he reached his home, he spotted Aurora talking to a stallion outside of his home. He knew the stallion, his name was Miles and he was a friend of his and her coworker. They would often hangout and drink together while Shadow was in the day guard so he never thought it bad, he saw how they smiled and looked at each other, it bothered him now. He would often come to his home to see Aurora while he was leaving to work and he would see him come in late to work a lot, Shadow began running scenarios in his head but tried not to get mad or jealous. "He would never do that, he is a good stallion-" just as he tried to finish his tought, he saw Miles kiss Aurora. Aurora happily accepted it and seemed to return it with gusto.

Shadow dropped the gift and closed his eyes, as if he was trying to wake up from a bad dream but much to his disgust, it was no dream. He opened them and saw them entering his home, he grabbed Autta's gift and began to race home. Before busting down the door and yelling profanity, he decided to do some recon on them. He climbed up the house and sat in wait on the roof as Mr. and Mrs. Lollipop picked up Autta, he was puzzled because Aurora took the day off for her daughter's birthday but she told the Lollipop's that she was going to go to work. Shadow didn't like how things were playing out but prayed that it wasn't how he imagined.

He made his way to his bedroom balcony and waited for what he thought would happen. He heard them enter, the sound off kissing and cooing came from the room, he bit his lip hard to keep his rage in check. He heard them talking dirty to each other and their clothes hitting the ground, he tried to think why Aurora would cheat on him. He was a good stallion, he was hardworking, fit, earned a good wage, has a good reputation, and always seemed to satisfy her in bed. What snapped him back to reality was the moaning from both of them in the room, with that he tapped the balcony door and the moaning stopped.

"Hey! Who is that?!" asked Aurora from inside, she opened the door and stepped out naked only to see a furious Shadow.

"You do know that I took the day off for our daughter's birthday as well...you fucking cheater!" Shadow yelled at her, she looked petrified and a tear ran down her cheek.

"No...you...you were supposed to come home later tonight...we agreed...no..." she mumbled as she backed away slowly as Shadow approached her. Miles stepped out and saw Shadow.

"Shadow!?! H-hey buddy...this...this isn't what it looks like-" before Miles could continue, Shadow punched Miles throat. Shadow began to beat Miles senselessly, he kicked his chest and stomped on his genitals

"You bastard!! You were supposed to be my friend!! I trusted both of you!!" cried Shadow while attacking Miles, Aurora struggled to pull Shadow away but seeing that she couldn't, her horn glowed and her magic gripped shadow and lifted him off Miles and Miles crawled away.

"You have no right to be mad Shadow! If you were home more often, if you took more of an interest in me, if you were half the man Miles is...I would have been faithful..." she began to break down and cry. "You always come home and talk about how great your night with Luna is...how amazing of a mare she is...what about me Shadow? Am I not good enough for you anymore? Am I just second to her?"

Shadow struggled to break free, "I did love you! I tried to be awake after returning home to spend time with you and Autta but the job takes a lot our of me! I don't think of Luna as the mare in my life for you already are! I take care of the bills and keep this family afloat! I've done everything I can to keep you happy but I guess I'm not good at it..." Shadow began to think about Luna and slowly realized how he felt for her, spending so much time with her made him feel happier than being with his wife. He actually loved Luna more that Aurora.

Aurora let him go and shook her head, "We are done Shadow...we are done. I'm going to pack up and move into the barracks in Canterlot castle, we can talk more later and discuss divorce and custody..." she got dressed and began to pack her things, Shadow just stood there till she left.

Luna stepped out of the picture and looked at it in disbelief, she paced about the dark space as she tried to figure out what she just witnessed, "Did...did I cause this? Did I actually ruin his family?" She started to tear up and began to fade, she reappeared in the cell with a passed out Shadow next to her. "I'm sorry Shadow...I caused all this...the hurt behind your eyes." She began to remember when he started to work for her, she was always close to him and she felt fondness for him even though she didn't know him that well. She would often flirt with him and tease him, she began to understand why he never took any advance. "I didn't know you were married...I led you away from your family..." She stood and teleported away.

Shadow awoke in the morning and saw Autta with Aurora at his cell, he stood up and saw that Aurora had was angry. "I was contacted by Princess Celestia...and I spoke with Princess Luna...you can have custody of Autta back but under two conditions," said Aurora.

Shadow nodded, "Okay, what are your conditions then."

"One, I can visit her when I feel like it."

"Okay...I can deal with that."

She frowned and looked at him seriously, "Two, Luna tells you what she told me. That is it. We don't have to like each other but you won't be liking her either after you two talk." With that, she left and a guard open the cell doors, Autta ran in and hugged her dad. He smiled and cried with joy

"I missed you so much sweetie...I was afraid I was going to lose you..." their reunion was cut short when Luna appeared

She looked sad and her eyes were red as if she was crying a lot, "Shadow...we need to talk..."