Wild Moon

Part 1: The sun laughs, the moon cries

Some years prior....

Lost in an ebony field of jagged mountains housed a castle, etched into one such peak like a silvered cavity, and facing northward, minimizing the sun's view inside. The structure, carved through the blackened rocks from nearby angry volcanoes was pierced in places with shards of shimmering obsidian and hematite, locked in place with magic unknown to the area. Inside the mountain spread a twisted estate of macabre decor, a haunted castle deliberately painted in dour hues of greys and blacks and muted blues. No windows gave the sun its chance to inspect such decor, for the only light allowed blossomed from magic-infused mosses that would brighten and darken at an unspoken command.

The interior, littered with wrought-iron furniture and dark with scorched tapestries, only intensified the darkness burning within the one who resided there. He paced the empty hallways anew, the occasional bat fluttering just out of physical reach, the occasional spider scampering across the walls. A stray scorpion collapses under an angry hoof as the black stallion marched to his librarem Noctem, which overflowed with books reproduced from his long memory.

Ebon doors fell away at his telekinetic command and he walked purposely to an enormous map that was framed by dusty bookcases and overflowing shelves of scrolls. There, he could read the portents as the wheels of time continued to turn. As long as Order remained as he saw it some centuries in the past, he knew the time was drawing near.

The map ticked along positions of sun, moon and stars, an expansive kaleidoscope of motion beyond many scholars' comprehension. Knowledge, perhaps, lost to the busybodies in Canterlot, but they're too blinded by their own sun to understand what the night offers them.

"Let them slumber," he said to the map, "Let her muse under the golden rays of the sun that all will remain well. Perhaps she forgets the anniversary on the horizon... when on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will release Nightmare Moon from her exile and return this world to Eternal Night."

A scroll slithered out from a haphazard stack and hovered to one side and he explored the map anew. "In my travels before this castle was assembled, I would hear voices as I explored ... when the sun shone, ponies laughed and shared stories. When the storms blew, they would huddle together in fear and wait for it to pass. But in the night... where a thousand stories are told in the sky with the moon as a lantern to read them - they close their eyes to it all. And if they do not sleep, their voices rarely raise above a whisper, fearful if the shadows had ears. The calm of a clear night lost on all these generations, not understanding the tapestry she wove...."

He paused to read the scroll, then compare it's notations to the map. "Were you able to hear my voice, sister, I will be the Northern star that guides you home. May I complete the Star compass in time to fulfill the prophecy as written by the cults that remember our true names. Luna, my dear sister... wait for me, the Shadow of the Moon, Umbral."

The scroll rolled itself shut as the stallion sighed. Why was there no joy to this errand? Reuniting with Family should not be a chore. There was a time that he would laugh, he would dance, he would rear up to spread his wings for the simple feeling of power and joy it brought him. He snorted toward one of the tiny windows, which reminded him there was still a great deal of daylight left.

"The sun laughs and call this folly," he grumbled. "and the moon whispers in tears. I cannot accomplish this mission alone."

Chapter 2

The answer is blowing in the wind...

Lapis turned to exit the library when he saw the windows darken. The wind outside had picked up considerably and Umbral could hear what he thought was rain spattering the exterior. He watched as the sun was seemingly blocked, but the clouds that did so were.... brown??

Baffled, he took a hesitant step toward the windows to see the clouds were not typical weather. The wind whipped in another direction and sand blasted into the room and coated him like a layer of talcum. Angrily he shook the itchy barrage from his mane before blocking the windows with a magical barrier. He didn't conjure that sandstorm... and there shouldn't be weather ponies in this area. He flew from the library back through his facility and to the main entrance, where he tried to peer through the storm itself.

A tingle, a twinge.... of magic? Indeed not a natural storm! Incensed, he reared and spread his wings.

"BE STILL!" He thundered in the Royal Family voice, punctuating the demand with his hooves striking the hematite tiles at the entranceway, the *Crack* echoing through the jagged hills. The winds shifted once more before stopping completely, the remaining sand hovering comically before collapsing like a wave across the valley floor. The lingering hiss of the falling sand rang for a few moments before another sound barely touched the ebon stallion's ear. He guessed these were hoofbeats - whoever whipped up that storm had been startled by his order. "A trespasser," he mused aloud.

Leaping from the entranceway he started gliding in the direction of the hoofbeats. In his haste he realized he'd forgotten to disguise himself... but knew that too much magic in one day might wake up the blissfully sleeping princess. He hoped he'd have a second or two to at least mask his horn if he's spotted as a pegasus.

He closed, spotting an oddly-colored mare fleeing in sheer panic. She was apparently crazed by her fear as she would run til she ran into something, turn slightly left or right, then burst into a gallop anew. He followed her for some time in the air, noting she also never once looked over her shoulder. She ran for several miles before stumbling to a stop, breathing hard and trying to form words to calm herself down. Umbral landed, quietly folding his wings and getting a better look at the mare who tread in his lands.

She was apparently not a pony - a zebra? here? Umbral found that odd, but odder still was her coloring - she was the color of fertile earth, and her stripes the shade of new leaves. Her sky-blue mane was filled with sand and messy from the wind and her running. Her short tail drooped low, and he noted her flank bore a blackish symbol he didn't understand. He started to walk closer, hoping to get a better look.

"Who.... who's there?" she asked without turning her head. She was still trying desperately to catch her breath.

Recalling what he knew about zebras, he thought to attempt to speak like one. "Milady please, I mean you no harm. Your running is what has raised my alarm."

The zebra raised her head, ears perked. Umbral boggled, however, at the sight of her horn. Zebras could be unicorns?

"Another zebra?" she asked. "I don't speak the old way."

Umbral was even further fascinated. He walked closer. "Then why were you running?" he queried, even if he already knew the answer.

"Someone.... some-thing.... interrupted my spell. I was practicing."

"'Practicing'?"

She nodded, finally turning to face him. "Sandstorms and wind magic are my specialty," she said proudly.

The sudden turn startled Umbral. He noted that she kept her eyes closed as she spoke.

"I am known as Night Ash," she introduced herself. "I learned wind magic at an early age, and used it to clear volcanic ashes from areas near where I was raised."

"You seem far from home. There aren't many ponies of any kind in this area."

"I'm used to that," she replied without a trace of melancholy. "I have to practice in less populated areas. I don't wish to hurt anyone until I can improve my control."

Umbral stood before her. "Why are your eyes closed? The sun is not that bright, and the storm you created is gone."

Night Ash hesitated. "I'm not sure you want to know."

"And why not? Would you not want to at least see who you're talking to?"

"I wish I could, sir, but I am unable to see anything."

Umbral opened his mouth to speak, but could not. She is blind, and alone?

"It's my own fault," Night ash's voice trembled. "I couldn't even get out of the way of my own storms, and one that I had lost control...."

He saw tears starting to form. He walked right up to her this time, touching horns. "No tears. Please."

She stopped as she felt a horn against hers. "you're a unicorn..."

"I am," he lied. "You may call me Lapis."

"Lapis? so you are a blue unicorn?" she queried.

"Blue, and black," he admitted. "My eyes are blue as well. My wi- er, my withers are mostly black."

"And you're taller than me, I can tell."

"Is that magic?" Umbral didn't understand her observation.

"My eyes may not work, but there's nothing wrong with my ears." She flicked them about. "That's why I knew you were behind me, and fussing with your leather cape before you started walking toward me."

Umbral almost corrected her, but realized he might scare her further. He also had a small realization of his own... she said she needed to learn, so teaching her would certainly bring her around to his cause. "My cape? Oh, this old thing...." he rustled a wing. "I wear it everywhere, just a sentimental thing."

"You sound older than me, too." she noted.

Umbral simply cleared his throat, which made Night Ash smile.

"And as your elder," Umbral announced, "Perhaps I should bring you in and teach you better control of your magic."

"Do you live near here?"

"It's a bit of a walk, but we have time. Unless you already had a destination -"

"Lapis, I would be grateful for any assistance."

"Then follow me," Umbral suggested, the double meaning not lost to him.

"I... of course. Lead the way."

Chapter 3

Thunder and metal

The walk back to the castle was one full of simple conversations, ones that Umbral had not had with anypony in a couple of decades. His last interactions - mostly with cult followers who knew what he was - were always stilted and filled with the appropriate honorifics. Expected, of course, but even Umbral's hardened heart softened at the stories Night Ash told him of her journeys.

She spoke of where she was raised, a village on the edge of a desert, populated by ponies and zebra. She explained that the zebra tribe apparently made a pact with the village to share each other's means of survival - the zebras' herbalism and the ponies' weather control and magic. The combination proved more than successful, and the two villages merged and prospered.

She called the village Farasipunda* and mentioned her family line traced back though the village history for five generations. Her magic was used an assist for the pegasi, but her accomplishment came from using her talent to redirect volcanic ash away from her village, saving it from the cloud that would have left their village in darkness.

Umbral remained silent to that story; "saving her village from darkness" hit him the wrong way. He shook his mane clear, reasoning that in this case it was not sun and moon but a village choked by a cloud of volcanic ash.

"I've talked much of this journey," she concluded. "Please, tell me why you are living alone so far from another village."

"I am from a large family of unicorns," he began, "let's just say we had a horrible falling out. my sisters had a serious disagreement to which my brothers and I were divided. We could not exist under the same roof, much less our same village, so we went our separate ways."

Night Ash's ears drooped. "I’m ... I'm sorry to have asked."

"You were unaware."

Their trek continued in uncomfortable silence. Umbral watched his new charge as he continued her sure-footed walk to his immediate left, intrinsically trusting her ears and only the slightest pause as she walked to apparently gauge her surroundings. He kept in step with her, ears twitching to try to understand her method. He was so entrenched in the activity that her abrupt stop startled him.

"Night Ash, what-"

"We're not alone," she shushed, ears twitching even faster. She paced in a circle, head turning, mane ruffled in consternation. Umbral stopped to listen as well, but at first all he heard was the howling winds around them. He had deliberately altered the path that Night Ash had taken from his fortress but they were still among the jagged peaks. The sun had nearly set, spreading its own natural rainbow across the western horizon, and only the furthest east had the first hints of the night tapestry begun to weave.

The wind had its own voice in the valley, but its lonely howl had accompaniment of another voice - one with angrier emphasis. Its rage occasionally interrupted with a ring of metal or a guttural, primordial snarl of defiance. Night Ash's head whipped right as the snarl grew louder. Umbral's reaction only a second slower before both were knocked off their feet. Ash whinnyed in shock as she sprawled several feet before colliding into some rocks. Umbral himself staggered a foot or two before settling himself and looking around.

The growling stopped. Ash was trying not to whimper from the blow. Umbral's midnight-blue eyes darkened at the next sound.

Laughter. Not the laugh you hear over a good story or turn of phrase; this was the cruel laugh of a pony with no intention for frivolity. Umbral's horn illuminated the area, flooding it with an eerie blue glow. "Show yourself!" He demanded.

"No," came the cold-whispered answer before whoever it was swooped back in and tried to knock Umbral down. The blow was solid, a full shoulder into the larger stallion's side. Umbral staggered again, this time catching a glint of metal as the pony - a pegasus, he now knew - winged back outside of the lighted area, erupting again in cruel laughter.

"You strike me with blunt force, yet you're armed with wing-blades?" Umbral protested angrily, "You think us prey to toy with?"

"Yes,' the voice replied. "A handful of bits and I'll be on my merry way. Otherwise, I leave you begging for mercy so that you don't end up food for a straying monster."

"YOU'RE the monster," Umbral snorted, "for using a weapon outlawed!"

The laughter erupted again. "Telling an outlaw what isn't allowed? That's actually funny. Too bad it won't save you or stripes over there."

"Leave her be!"

"Oh, want her for yourself?? Can I watch? Or can I share? Love to foal me an alicorn with her...."

"Alicorn?!" Umbral gawked. The hesitation was enough for his attacker to swoop in again.

"Alicorn!" the pegasus replied. "Ain't that a kick to the rump?" The pegasus punctuated his crude turn of phrase with a powerful kick to Umbral's backside. Flat-footed, Umbral did sprawl this time, making the pegasus laugh even harder.

Umbral started to get to his feet, but was stopped as a wing-blade suddenly snapped to his throat. "Uh uh," the pegasus warned.

Only now could Umbral face his attacker. It was a pegasus, all right, a mottled mess of dried-blood red and stormcloud gray. His brilliant red eyes glimmered in anticipation of carving his new target to pieces. His mark - a black hand axe - suggested to Umbral that this would be a slow and very painful process. "so...." the pegasus leered, "Just a little off the top...? or can I have dibs on your lovely lady over there..?"

Umbral's eyes burned with rage before slowly closing. "An alicorn, you say...."

"Sure, why not?" The pegasus started to press his wing-blade against his captive's throat. "Never thought I'd ever see one, wouldn't mind tryin to make one. Even if it doesn't work, I know I'll have fun trying! So what's the answer?"

"You wish to see an alicorn.... and what would do in its presence?"

"If it was my foal, I'd raise him to bring the heavens down on the rest of Equestria and he'll THANK me for making him possible." The pegasus was quite serious despite his sadistic grin.

Umbral's eyes opened. "Allow me to save you the wait."

His horn flashed; with a muffled growl the pegasus staggered back. This was the second or two that Umbral needed to get back to his feet. "And what would you do," Umbral asked darkly, "if an 'alicorn' was the last sight you ever saw?"

The pegasus snapped to his feet, wings spread. "I'd-" he could speak no further.

His vision cleared to a terrifying sight - just in the dying embers of the day a silhouette of pure black hovered over him, draconic wings spread wide, fore-hooves reared and begging to strike. The horn seemed longer and sharper now, long enough to pierce him through the heart from any direction. The eyes glimmered a hellish-blue, catching fire as they focused downward. "And what now, bladed thief, that with a wish granted that your story ends under the Shadow of the Moon?"

The pegasus gawked. "S-s-shadow of the Moon?" he stammered. "b-b-b-but Nightmare Moon and the Moon's Shadow are old pony tales!"

"Never speak those names again," Umbral demanded.

The pegasus "knelt' before Umbral. "Forgive me! Spare my life!! I am dust to your hooves-" the groveling stopped with a slap of Umbral's wing.

"Enough," he ordered. The pegasus clamped his mouth shut. "You will follow me and my other companion back to my fortress. There you will learn what it means to be a warrior. No thief can steal a throne under the snouts of armies."

The pegasus stood, wings closed and head lowered. "Hatchet," he said simply. "I am no thief but a brigand of empty roads distant from all civilizations."

"You have much to learn, Hatchet. You will follow me."

"I will follow you..." Hatchet's voice trailed off.

"The name is Lapis," the alicorn insisted as he folded his wings.

"Lapis," Hatchet repeated mechanically.

Chapter 4

Desperate measure

The Months that followed became an interesting exercise for Umbral. On the one hoof, Night Ash's gentle spirit and eagerness to learn made for pleasant conversation as he trained her to focus her powers constructively. On the other hoof, Hatchet required a more forceful push in the correct direction. Despite absolute subservience when face-to-face, Hatchet has made several attempts to steal artifacts or even threaten Night Ash despite specific instructions. It took some... "Physical persuasion", but eventually Hatchet behaved. Umbral would reward his students with small gifts - he made "Talking books" for Night Ash and would fill rooms with furniture or sundries for Hatchet to destroy.

One thing that did impress Umbral about Hatchet was his ability to keep quiet of Umbral's true nature to Night Ash. Perhaps that point was understood immediately; perhaps the fear of the consequences was enough. Satisfied that they could care for his facilities for an evening, he told them he would be heading into the jagged peaks again to see if there were others around. Night Ash wished him well; Hatchet leered in her direction, only to be cowed by Umbral's withering glare.

The evening's journey actually took him westward, out and away from the jagged peaks he called home to a secluded forest* where one evening's scrye brought him an interesting sight- a grounded pegasus, constantly chased out of villages and forced to hide in a thicket there. The rest of that story was one he must hear...

This time Umbral remembered his disguise; his wings would vanish for now, and he would pass himself off as nothing more than a dark unicorn. He trotted into the woods, seeking the pegasus in question.

He heard her long before he saw her - a shriek of protest, followed by a string of angry curses and thrashing around caught his ear - and certainly any OTHER monster in the forest might take interest. Umbral picked up his pace, closing in on the sounds as the forest grew thicker around him, He grumbled as he shrugged off branches and kicked off vines reaching for his legs as he closed in on her tirade, not wishing to illuminate his horn and potentially startle her (too soon).

When he finally stumbled into the thicket he could just make her out in the shadows - she was fairly large for a female pegasus, amber eyes wild and her short mane whipping about with the rest of her body. Only now he could see the source of her trouble - she apparently disturbed a nest of blood-sucking stirges. She had several fully attached to her back and haunches, and she had been bucking around and slamming against the trees to try to knock them loose. The hoof-sized insects had her fast and continued to drain her despite her movement and panic. Her speech grew less intelligible and less ladylike. Her eyes remained wide in her panic, even if her body was giving out under her.

Confused to why she didn't take flight, he tried to approach her, illuminating his horn to get a better look at how many stirges plagued her. She nearly screamed at the sudden light - or at her sudden visitor? - before attempting to bolt. She turned away and simply collapsed, exhausted from trying to shake the creatures off.

Umbral almost panicked himself - was he too late? With a frustrated snort he approached her and started prying the insects off her body before kicking them into a tree or impaling them in mid-air. Dislodging one from his own flank once he had finished saving her, he finally seated himself next to her to examine her wounds.

She was still breathing; a good sign to Umbral. He debated moving her, but realized they'd both be safer back at the fortress. He tapped his horn to the side of her head to make sure she remained asleep before levitating her to his own back. She was very solid despite her heritage, her mottled coat a mix of sand and clay browns. One wing slid out of place as he tried to "rearrange" her, and the sight nearly made him drop her.

Never mind that one of the wings was broken - now he understood why she didn't fly away. Her wings were much like his - leathery, bat-like or draconine in design. He set her down again and walked around her several times, trying to detect any other magics on her. Nothing around her head, so she was not hiding a horn; nothing to her heart, which despite its depleted resources still sounded strong. All he found was a dark twinge right at the base of those wings.... a curse? A baleful polymorph? A sick twist of Poison Joke? Ever more intrigued he gathered her again and flew back to the fortress without a second thought.

Thankful for the moonless night, he could fly home unseen. This new charge, if he can convince her, will be another strong foot soldier. He would know in an hour or so, once he put her to rest on a soft couch and informed the others of his return.

Princess Celestia decided on a longer walk that morning, as she had her one night off a month where she didn't need to raise the moon.She had her best students meeting her early and she wanted a few more moments of solitude before reporting to class. She walked past many of the ornate statues dedicated to her garden from artisans all around Equestria, ranging from heroes to ideals to the bizarre. The center of the garden bore no statue but an ornate fountain carved from rare silvery marble, accented with rose quartz and living jade. The fountain had six separate streams flowing from its apex, pouring into three white and three black basins and draining into a long sluice that allowed the water to glimmer in the sunlight before filling the main basin. Here, this fountain stood as the only memory to a set of commissioned statues once stood - a combined monument of herself, Luna and their brothers. The statues had been removed to a private collection over seven hundred years ago, one that she and a very select few are permitted to view.

She sighed, missing her brothers and sister. For some reason the memories were very strong that morning, and she has trouble chasing them away. She hoped her students would provide the proper distractions when class began.

She trotted inside and through the halls to an unmarked room, where she saw one of her students already snout-deep in a book.

"Twilight Sparkle, you're very early today."

The purple unicorn cantered over to her mentor. "I had to come early - you should see the book that I found! Spike told me it was so dusty he couldn't make out the cover without sneezing!"

Curious, Celestia followed her student back to the book. "See?" Twilight beamed. "It's a book of history and legends. I didn't realize how much you had done for Equestria before-"

The book levitated away from the youngster. "It might say 'history', my student, but much of what is written in here is purely a litany of pony tales."

"Aww, I wanted to read more about the elements of harmony...."

"Another day," Celestia assured her star pupil. "Today, however, we should look closer at the elements of alchemy...."

As Celestia led her student to another bookshelf, the forgotten tome was placed among many other dusty editions. There will be a better day to read about them, my student, Celestia thought to herself.

Umbral spent a few hours in the morning reading over his charts and checking his own timetables. There was still so much that he needed to complete, so much more research.... tending to these "foot soldiers" seemed more procrastination at this point, but knowing that until he could make a proper move toward Canterlot he could not raise his magic too high. He worried as he stacked his scrolls that all the work he did on their new guest last night might have set off an alarm or two. No guards were circling the peaks, so he felt a little safer for the moment.

He needed to speak with his new guest before he started training with Hatchet. Night Ash had plenty of books to read to her and would be more interested in working in the afternoon. He had plenty of questions for the new arrival... which included why the doors to her room had been bucked off their hinges.

He glanced into the room, expecting it empty. Instead, the pegasus he had so carefully carried home was still in the process of destroying the room, despite not being in any hurry to leave it. She had managed to smash every piece of furniture not made of metal, and what didn't break ended up against, if not sunk into, the walls. She wheeled when she realized she had been watched and kicked a chair toward the entryway.

Umbral recoiled, barely avoiding the projectile as it slammed into the far wall. He tried entering the room again but this time was met with a charge. He braced, and the contact did not budge him this time. Furious, the pegasus backed up to charge again.

"You don't approve of the accommodations?" Umbral said simply. The pegasus actually hesitated. "I hope you realize nothing holds you here."

"Of course not," the pegasus spat, "but it's not like I can walk down the side of this pillar you call a castle! So what's it going to be this time, sorceror? Giving me another head? Turning me male? Tentacles instead of hooves?"

"I didn't bring you here to harm you...." Umbral attempted to explain.

"Whatever," she snapped, "That's what every horn-head tells me- hey look, zap!! she's got no mane! hey look, Zap~! now she really is the color of mud! hey look, zap!! now she's got bat wings!" She determinedly raised the damaged wing and actually bit it around the bone. "Maybe I'll actualy HAVE some luck and these stupid things could just fall off."

"And what does a pegasus do without its wings?" Umbral inquired.

"At least then maybe ponies would just leave me alone and let me get on with life."

"I didn't catch your name," Lapis attempted to change the subject.

"I think the only one you're allowed to say in front of anypony is 'Slurry'," she begrudgingly replied. "I’m nothing but a plaything for unicorns and a walking horrorshow for the rest."

"Slurry is not your real name?"

"It's the only one that sticks. Too many other names to count. My cutie mark's nothing but a gray blotch, so it looks like leftovers from a coal mine."

"So it's not a winter stormcloud? Or a cloud that swirls itself to a tornado?"

Slurry simply looked away.

"Regardless of your past, it will forever remain unchanged. Dwelling on it does nothing."

"Looking like this I don't see too much of a bright future."

"Then tell me of a future you'd seek."

Slurry looked Lapis up and down before responding. "You're not gonna twist it around on me, are you?"

"I'll do no such thing."

"Swear that you won't!"

"I swear on the very shadow of the moon that I will not harm you unless you force me."

Slurry again hesitated at the proclamation. She expected a much cornier oath. "Fine. Down the line I want to be back to my real colors and have actual pegasus wings. Maybe work freelance weather for some honcho. I just want to work and be normal, how hard a request is that?"

"Normal...." Lapis mused. "Wouldn't that be boring?"

"I'll take 'boring' over the 'excitement' I've been through," Slurry deadpanned.

"Understood. I would need time to figure out how to undo the enchantments, but for the promise that I can fix you, will you stay here?"

Slurry looked to her broken wing. "I said something earlier about not having a choice."

Lapis stepped forward. "Very well, a show of faith."

Slurry took a step back. "Don't touch me with that... that... "

Lapis stopped advancing and raised his head. "Very well."

His horn shimmered, as if it were encased in a gemstone. Slurry's damaged wing shimmered as well, bending against Slurry's will. She glowered at Lapis before realizing that the motion didn't hurt. In fact, the wing didn't hurt. Stranger still, the scars around the bone had faded. She gave the wing a test flap, then the other. Four wingbeats later and she nearly hit her head on the ceiling of the room.
She landed, unable to respond to this miracle.

"You're welcome," Lapis replied with little emotion. "Stay if you wish, but I will understand if you choose to leave." He turned toward the doorway. "If you stay, perhaps more little miracles like this can happen. Otherwise, you may leave at any time."

As he left, Slurry still could not respond. She marveled at her wings a moment, then settled down to consider her options......