The Tale of Noctis

A few days later, it finally happened, Nightmare Moon, returned. This was the moment Noctis had been waiting for ever since he learned about Luna. Little Noctis was only ten years old at the time and he had a lot to learn. He didn't know it yet, but he was going to be the one who would bring back the tradition of supporting the Princess of the Night. Noctis will be the one to pick up the family legacy, right where Nycto, his ancestor, had left it off.

Of course, Noctis had absolutely nothing to do with the return of the Princess of the Night, nor her return to the side of good, however, in the long run, he did end up helping her stay happy. Noctis had merely witnessed the events that brought the pony, that he waited so many years to see, back. He cried to himself in a very quiet manner, as tears of joy dripped from his face for what he had just seen was simply beautiful and heart warming. Soon afterwards, he went back to Ponyville to celebrate the return of Princess Luna with everyone else.

Soon after the festivities were over, a nervous Noctis approached Luna, hoping that maybe she will be able to notice his moon cutie mark, a symbol of his family for generations, hoping that maybe she will recognize him as Nocturn's descendant. He greeted Luna with his high pitched, shaky, and nervous voice, "H-hello P-Princess L-Luna. My name is Noctis... I uh, think you're a really nice pony..."

Luna, who was just sitting their, with a sad look on her face, heard the colt and then directed her attention to him. When she did, she immediately noticed the moon cutie mark. "Hello there, Noctis. Wait, is that a moon cutie mark? No... it can't be... Urm, Noctis, by any chance, are you in any way related to a pony named Nocturn?"

"Nocturn? He was like my earliest ancestor. He's as far as I can go back, in terms of my family history. Why do you ask, Princess?" Noctis was confused as to why the Princess would even ask this question, or how she would even remember Nocturn.

"I can't believe it... after all these years... your family lived on... and now you are here... perhaps it was fate that we would meet. Noctis, your family was very good to me in the past. Nocturn was the very first pony who went against the usual crowd of ponies, and stayed outside during the night, basking in the moonlight. His name really suited him well. Noctis, you have no idea how happy I am to meet you. This has to be fate giving me a chance to make up for my transgressions. This has to be fate, giving me a chance to make up for what I did to Nycto, a thousand years ago."

"Well Princess Luna, I know everything about you. I've read books about you and everything! I even read Nocturn's journal! My parents tried to hide it from me, but I still read it anyways! He said a lot of nice things about you. I don't care what anyone else says about you, Princess. I love you!"

Luna smiled at the young, ten year old Noctis, showing his innocence and his affection for her. "Well, I love you to, little one. Come with me, thou shall accompany me in my Castle, if you may be so kind. I believe I could use someone like you, Noctis. You're my key back into my life. Back into the world."

"You want me to come with you to the castle?! Am I dreaming?! Can this really be?! Wow!" Sheer euphoria exploded out of Noctis and made the Princess smile and laugh with utmost glee.

And thus, a new friendship was born. Noctis had grew close to Luna every day that went by. Luna was like the best friend he always wanted, but also like the caring mother he never really had.

Noctis and Luna had spent almost every single day with each other. The two were inseparable friends. They had studied many topics together, including Equestrian law, they had played together, they grew together. The young Noctis had the time of his life with the princess and was always very grateful to know her. It was only through her that he was able to have a nice life. With his father dead, and his mother abandoning him, and with the rest of the family turning their backs on him, Noctis would have never survived. He would have ended up a pony that was homeless on the streets, and he would slowly waste away.

The two friends constantly went on adventures as well, typically through the Everfree Forest, exploring all the mysteries that that place held. Things got especially interesting one day, however, when Noctis and Luna stumbled upon the ruins of the Castle of The Royal Pony Sisters. It had been 4 years since Luna's return, and yet, the bad memories of being Nightmare Moon had still haunted her. The Castle did little to bring back any positive memories. The Narrator will now retell the event for you all.

"Luna, look! It's your old castle from a thousand years ago! Isn't it exciting to see again?! We should really check it out!" The 14 year old Noctis had excitedly stated. Luna, however, was not as ecstatic to see the Castle that was left in ruins that she was responsible for. Seeing part of the rubble from afar, did not make her happy in the slightest, it only brought back painful memories.

Luna knew that once Noctis had his mind on something, there was no deterring him from the subject. She knew that whether she wanted to or not, she would have to go back to that Castle. "You really want to go to that Castle... don't you, Noctis?" She reluctantly asked.

"Oh of course I do! I want to see it so badly! I remember being in the castle, watching you transform back into your true self! You know Luna, I would still love you just as much even if you were still Nightmare Moon. Its the pony on the inside, that counts. And who you are on the inside is a wonderful, fun, compassionate, and loving pony who is good to everypony she meets!" Noctis did not get a verbal reply from Luna. She smiled a little, with some tears forming in her eyes, but she quickly tried to hide her emotions from him. Even though he made a good point, her heart was still filled with discord over the whole Nightmare Moon incident. The scars from that event never healed.

After not getting a reply from Luna, Noctis grew a bit sad, and realized that something was bothering her. "Luna... I know you probably still have some bad memories of that place... Being Nightmare Moon must have really hit you hard. I-I'm sorry for bringing it up... I just thought it would be fun to explore what was left in that castle... I thought maybe it would bring back some good memories... I see that it doesn't though. I'm sorry for ruining the fun, we can just go back to Canterlot now..." Noctis then turned around, and began his trip back to Canterlot, walking with his head down in sadness.

Luna could not stand to see her best friend this way, she became more concerned about his happiness than her own, and she then learned an important thing about friendship. Even she did not fully understand friendship yet, because of course none of her friends live to this day. They all perished during her banishment. However, she learned that sometimes, if you just do what your friend thinks is fun, then you'll start to have fun to because you will see the happiness on their face. She learned that friends make sacrifices for friends to keep each other happy. "Noctis... wait. I changed my mind, we can go to the Castle. I can tell how much you really want to go there, and who am I to ruin your fun? Come on, let's go!" Luna said with a convincing and genuine smile on her face.

Noctis turned around quickly and his head had sprung up, being held high, as his eyes sparkled with pure joy and excitement. Luna giggled at the colt's innocence and predictability. In the back of her mind, she knew that he would not be this way forever, but she knew very well how to make the most of it. "Do you really mean it Luna? Do we really get to go to the castle? I dreamed of going there for so long, it's not even funny!"

"Haha, of course we are Noctis! Now come on! We're burning moonlight!" Luna said to Noctis with a bit of fake excitedness. She really felt a bit uneasy about everything, and in the back of her mind had worried about her own mental stability. She was worried that she would have an emotional break down right in front of Noctis, something she did not want him to see.

The two friends journeyed to the ruins of the castle, following the same path Twilight and her friends had taken but a mere 4 years ago. Things had changed since then however. The tree branches grew longer, the darkness was more intense, the water had stopped flowing, and lastly, the bridge that the original group had crossed was all gone. Luna remembered traversing this path as Nightmare Moon, laying trap after trap for Twilight Sparkle and her friends, to try to stop them from stopping her eternal night. Noctis could sense the discord within her, but he did his best not to show his knowledge of her disturbance.

"You know Noctis, traversing this path brings back many, many memories. Not only was this the route that I took as Nightmare Moon, but this was also the route Celestia and I always took whenever we traveled from our Castle to Equestria and back. I've had many conversations on this path, I've done many things on this path, and everything here reminds me of the events that took place years and years ago."

"I didn't know you and Celestia constantly took this path! That's pretty cool actually. I'm sorry that this all reminds you about Nightmare Moon though..."

"You need not worry about that, Noctis. We are here to have fun, let us not dwell on the darkness of my past, and instead look towards to brightness of the future ahead of us! Now come, we're almost at the Castle. You do want to see it, don't you?"

"Of course I want to see it Luna! But honestly, I want to talk about this whole place some more. I want to hear What's different between then and now, concerning the Everfree and this particular path, of course."

"We can talk about it once we get to the castle, Noctis. Now come on, I have some memories I want to relive, and you have a whole new place to explore. I promise we can talk about anything you want when we get there, so long as we just keep quiet for the time being." Noctis nodded his head in agreement as the two spent the remainder of their time travelling to what remained of the ancient castle.