De Luce et Tenebris Umbra

De Luce et Tenebris Umbra
Out of darkness and light comes a shadow

Somniorum Porta Praeterita et Futura
Dreams gate, past and future

Dreams can be a link to the past, revealing once hidden information. But if your mind is in tandem with the energy flow of the universe, then they can show you the future.

I ran through the forest, the trees and brushes flying past me in a blur of colors in the dim twilight. I have to keep on running, until I break the tree line. I know that some of the Jayeer managed to escape my grasp in the last engagement, their raptor-like physique's allowing them to escape my grasp, but I don’t have time to worry about them now; there are more pressing matters to attend to.

I keep on running, my lungs burning as if they’re on fire, my throat is dry, and my eyes are stinging from the smoke and fumes. I just catch the movement in my peripheral vision as a figure flies at me from my right. I easily sidestep and pivot despite my exhaustion, bringing my armored gauntlet down on the Jayeer’s head, pulverizing the skull, and turning the brain into a slimy soup.

I grab its shoulders and throw it with ease towards another approaching figure on my left. The sounds of bones breaking and death rattles are lost in the howling wind as I leap forward to escape the burning forest’s choking embrace. Those were the last two nuisances I would have to eliminate on the road to my target. I can see the trees thinning through the smoky haze, and so I take one final leap to escape the forest and enter the charred field.

He stands there, waiting for me...ever waiting. Slightly leaning and holding the wound in his side, he favors his right leg as his hood falls from his face. His gaze is the same as ever, ever furious, ever hating, ever questioning, “HOW,” his voice seething with rage, “Did YOU… manage to… DO… SO MUCH!” He rasps the final words, and coughs repeatedly as he spits out blood.

I stare at him, and then turn my gaze to the sights and sounds surrounding us, stretching out my arm as I do so. To the flaming lands and toxic clouds of gas and ash, to the glassy fields that are all that remains of the life on this planet.

“Because, I HATE seeing THIS! This destruction, the death. You wreak havoc everywhere you go! There was no safety, no mercy, THERE WAS NOWHERE THEY COULD HIDE OR RUN FROM YOUR FORCES!” I turn my gaze back to him as he lifts his hood and pulls down the mask. “Here is where it ends, for the both of us.”

He just chuckles; he chuckles every time, raising his guard as he does so.

“So be it, you insignificant shadow. Let us see then, who is truly better fit to survive.”

He begins the old Creed of Balance to signify an end for a new beginning.

“The balance between the Light and the Dark,” he begins.

“Begins when there is choice,” I continue, dropping my blades as we start to circle each other.

“Just as Light cannot exist without Darkness...”

“Each one tempers the other, creating Shadow in between...”

“The Shadows are ever neutral...”

“Just as Shadows cannot exist without light…”

“Shadows cannot exist without Darkness...”

“The Shadows surround the remaining Lights to fend off the Darkness...”

“A simple choice is all it takes…”

“To become Light or Dark...”

“But with only one...”

“It cannot balance the other.”

We stop our circling and he takes the opportunity to dispose of his cracked and twisted armor; as I look down to see mine, also blackened and cracked, I disengage the straps to drop it so it wouldn't hinder me, letting it fall to the earth. But like his pure black armor, mine is a swirling mix of black and gray.

“After so long… it finally ends,” I whisper and then look up, preparing myself for this final confrontation.

The battle itself is a blur, a blow landed here, a slash avoided, a stab parried, the endless circling and whipping of the wind, continuing until we finally cease exchanging blows. I come back to my senses to realize that we are both exhausted, but even then the fighting will not cease. I can feel the blood oozing from the gashes, the creaking of my bones at fracture points. My vision tinted red at the trickle of blood running into my eye, of which no amount of blinking would remove. I see his face and realize that he is scared… scared of dying. We may be immortal, but we’re certainly not invincible, we haven't been ever since that accursed war...

I feel saddened as I continue with my plan, unable to find any other successful outcome. I clench my right fist and focus all of my remaining energy into my last resort, and gain a calm determination. Looking up I can see his fear turn into hope as he realizes that I have only one chance. Then he raises his own hand in unison with mine as we draw for a final strike.

---HPOV---

I raised my hand to mirror his, and signal the beginning of our duel. We dashed forward with our last bits of energy, the ground pulverized beneath our feet. If I can just block his attack then I have a chance to attack him with my hidden dagger. Within my own mind I was chuckling at his trust that this fight would be fair. As a being of the blackest darkness, I had an almost unspoken duty to cheat.

He lunges forward and… SLIPS! ‘Of all the ways he could die, he would die by a slip! No matter,’ I curl my mouth into a cruel sneer as I twist right out of the way of his strike and start to unsheathe my dagger. My smile is triumphant as I begin to raise it,… only to have my arm disappear in a flash of red mist.

I stared at the stump in shock, until my gaze travels farther downwards. I could feel the warm fuzzy feeling in my chest as it was spreading from a gaping wound where my heart was supposed to be. His arm was protruding from my chest!

I raised my eyes to his face and saw a tired, sad look in his eyes, eyes that had seen horrors beyond imagining, and yet felt the warm touch of joy. Eyes with a fierce coldness that backed every decision, the ¾ face mask revealed nothing else. He had tricked me! Made me believe that his strike was on his right arm; taking advantage of my delay with the dagger.

I smiled at him and said as I collapsed into ash, “Sneaky Bastard.”

---SPOV---

Being in such exhausted states as we were, I was not surprised to see him fall for my deception. I was surprised, however, at the dagger that was currently sticking out of my side, leaking what little life I had left into the world. I could feel the cold numbness spreading, as I watched him crumple into ash, muttering, “Sneaky,” as his last word. Crumpling to my knees, I observed what remained of my foe, only to see it shift and stir as the Darkness attempted to escape. I couldn't destroy it, not in my state, but I could seal it. With that, I reached into the pile of ash, mentally grabbed what remained of it, and absorbed it, sealing it away inside me until such a time as I could seal it away properly, or destroy it. Then a sharp pain erupted in my chest, causing me to keel over.

At the same time, the ground began to shake, as is something was moving the very planet itself by walking. In the background I could hear a voice calling out to a name, a name I recognized, a voice I recognized.

“Wake up Ghost! Wake up! It’s just a dream!”

“Now Luna remember, this chamber shall only open when the time comes,” teased her father.

“But father, why can we not open it now?” begged Luna, almost bouncing with curiosity.

He sighed, ‘Curiosity robbed the cat of its meal when it lost track of what was happening around it.’ In Luna’s case… sometimes things had to be repeated,...in greater detail. “As I said, it shall only open when time is right, and the information is nee…” He stopped Himself, but too late.

“When it is needed?” Luna was confused. “If the,” Luna stopped, remembering her mother’s lessons on the RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice), “If thou chamber’s information shall be needed, then should we not be prepared ahead for the fact?”

He shook his head sadly, “No Luna, this is something that nopony can prepare for.” He thought for a moment looking for the proper comparison.

“It is somewhat similar to your magical growing spouts,” He finally said with a chuckle. Then he turned away from the chamber and started a slow walk back to the sun-room by the Palace gardens. There, Celestia and her mother were having a debate to prepare her for the many courts that would she would have to attend to during hers and Luna’s eventual rule.

Luna however, stayed next to the chamber entrance as a tapestry was lowered over the door. Her face was flushed with embarrassment and she was pawing at the ground nervously. Her last MGS had blown a hole in Celestia’s chambers, creating cause for a remodeling of the balcony to make up for the increased space.

By the time she recovered her composure and looked up, her father was already far down the hall. She quickly set off after him not wanting to be left behind, and now that her initial embarrassment was gone, she was more determined than ever to discover what important secret information resided within that room.

When He heard quick hoof steps catching up to him clattering on the stone, he stopped and turned waiting for Luna to catch up. He immediately registered the “I’m hungry for more knowledge and will pester you with questions and puppy eyes until you spill out all of your deepest secrets” look.

He maintained his calm and regal shell, but was panicking on the inside. He needed to get Luna’s mind off the room quickly, or else it was going to be a very, very, long night. He thought frantically jumping from one thought to the next, until he stumbled over a memory from the week before. Luna had been repeatedly trying to modify the night sky and create here own personal canvas. As ponies often ignored the night, she wanted to make it more desirable. But even after many weeks, she still had not managed to do so, so He had promised to teach her how sometime soon. Though it was soon forgotten when he had revealed the secretiveness of the chamber, so hopefully he could reverse the situation in his favor.

As He ran through what he was going to say, and gave one final hopeful wish to his wife, as Luna finally closed the remaining bits of distance between them.

“Father,” she began, already beginning the large, watery puppy eyes, and quivering lip; about to start her barrage of questions when he cut her off.

“Luna dear, does thou still wish to learn to create thou’s personal canvas of the Night Sky?”

“Oh Father! Yes, yes please!” Her puppy eyes and questions were quickly abandoned at the prospect of learning this long sought after skill. Now she really did, literally, start hopping around him in excited spinning circles. Just watching her go around, and ‘round, and ‘round, and ‘round, and ‘round was starting to make him dizzy. So he used his magic to catch her in midair, and turn her so he could look at her in the eye.

“Come now, I said I would, and so I shall,” he said smiling, “We shall begin your lessons tonight, as soon as you raise the moon."

Luna was about to scream with joy, but he quickly covered her mouth with his hoof.

“Come, we must hurry or your mother will not be pleased at our delay for your court lessons.” Luna nodded, he released her, and they both started a quick canter down the hall. He was hurrying along, but by the sound of things, Luna was either running in circles, or bouncing off the walls. He feared to look back, lest he lose what sense of balance remained from earlier.

Celestia was just finishing an economical debate with Mother when Father and Luna walked in. Her father seemed to be immensely relieved and yet worried at the same time. Then there was Luna, practically floating with excitement behind him. Celestia knew why he was nervous, as he had made Luna miss out on the entire lesson, something her mother was not pleased about. But looking towards her, Celestia could see that she was more amused by the sight of a relieved father and floating Luna than irked.

Celestia could tell that something important had happened, and her curiosity grew almost to the point of showing, almost, but she quickly reined it in and contained it. Maintaining her regal form as her mother had taught her, not allowing her emotions to get the better of her. The curiosity was still there though, so she filed it away for a later date. For now she would just enjoy the sight in front of her.