Shades

Luna was lying on her bed in her room, thinking. She had grown more accustomed to her room, but she still didn’t like being there. Even after several modifications, like painting the room a dark blue and enchanting the ceiling with stars that twirled around so it resembled her night sky, it still didn’t feel like hers.

Weeks had passed since Luna’s encounter with the shadow pony in Everfree and she couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said. His words were echoing through her mind on a daily basis and puzzled her to no end. What did he mean?

Over the weeks, Luna had also tried to socialise more, but hadn’t been very successful. The only time she had actually managed to socialise was on Nightmare night. A smile crept up on her face as she remembered the laughing fillies and colts, the fun games she played and how much she was looking forward to next years Nightmare night.

But tonight was not a time of fun and games unfortunately. Tonight was the day of the grand galloping gala. There had been a ruckus in the castle for the last week with staff ponies and Celestia organising and preparing for the gala. Luna was a little excited to go to the gala at first, but now she was a nervewreck.

She had been trying to decide on a dress to wear for more than an hour, but didn’t know what to wear. Eventually she had decided not to wear a dress since her sister weren’t either. That decision eventually ended up with her not wanting to attend the gala at all.  She wasn’t fond of making new pony friends. Even after Nightmare night she still felt as an outsider. One that might never quite fit in. And now the gala had begun, so there was no turning back.

Her thoughts were once more drawn to the shadow pony. She hadn’t told anypony about her encounter in Everfree. And that was probably for the best for now. She needed some information first if she wanted to discover who this pony was and his intentions. She had tried flying over Everfree and any other places that would prove a good spot to hide, searching for suspicious looking shadows, but she found nothing out of the ordinary. Other than her still having the feeling that Equestria was too dark. She wondered about his words. “Stay in the light” he had said, but what light? Was there nothing more she could do to prevent what he predicted was to come? What was annoying Luna even more was that she had no idea if he was telling the truth or simply trying to trick her.

A knocking on her door ripped Luna from her thoughts. Who could it be at this hour? She thought. She sat up on her bed. “Come in.” She said and the one outside her door complied.

The door opened and in came Celestia with a warm smile occupying her face. “Good Evening, Luna.” She said warmly.

Luna looked lazily at her sister. “Good evening.” She replied, no emotion other than slight annoyance in her voice. She knew what her sister had to say. Ever since Luna had made the decision not to attend the gala, every few or so hours Celestia would come trying to convince her or bait her into joining or conversing with some ponies.

“I was wondering if you might reconsider joining the party.” Celestia kept her warm smile as she spoke. “I have a lot of ponies who would like to meet you.”

Luna simply rolled her eyes. “No thank you, sister. We’re not in the mood to meet our subjects this night. We have thoughts occupying my mind.”

Celestia’s smile faded slightly and she raised an eyebrow. She walked inside the room and sat down on Luna’s bedside. “What kind of thoughts?” She asked.

Luna laid down on her bed and turned her head away from her sister. “Troubling thoughts…” She  simply answered.

Celestia’s eyebrow arched. “Care to tell me about them?”

“No.”

Celestia looked worried at Luna for a few seconds after which she rose from the bed and walking towards the door and then looked back at Luna with a small smile. “Okay, Luna. But you know that you sooner or later have to socialise with our subjects.”

“We know.” Luna muttered in reply.

“Twilight and her friends are out there you know.” Celestia continued. “You could join me in welcoming them.”

Luna felt slightly tempted to take Celestia up on her offer. She wanted nothing more than to be a part of the present, but that was much harder than it sounded. Of course the gala mostly consisting of stuck up nobles didn’t help either. Luna had recently met prince Blueblood who in her eyes had been the epitome of how a pony shouldn’t be. And she had felt almost compelled to royal canterlot voice all of his snobby behaviour out of him. She had eventually decided against it, but she would teach him a lesson at some point.

Luna sat up and looked back at her sister. “We’re sorry, sister, but not this night. Tonight we just want to be alone.” She laid back down on the bed.

Celestia gave her another worried look, then nodded and walked out to rejoin the gala.

Luna kept lying there on her bed for a few minutes until a thought struck her. Maybe I can find a clue where I last saw him? It was a plausible plan. She hadn’t been at that place since their meeting. She had looked everywhere but at that cave. Luna shook her head at her poor detective skills. It should have been the first thing she should have done since she started searching.

Luna smirked victoriously. Looks like I have some work to do.

Celestia eyes were focused on the floor as she found her way back to the gala. She still had to attend and welcome everypony that arrived. But her sister’s continuous refusal to attend the gala had saddened Celestia greatly. She had hoped that she and Luna could have held their first gala together in Canterlot, but this was not the case. She was worried about Luna. She was worried that Luna might be isolating herself too much in her own company.

In her absent mind Celestia didn’t notice the many ponies that tried to start up a conversation with her. She simply gave a polite nod out of reflex and continued her way back to her position of welcoming ponies. That is until a familiar voice caught her attention.

“Princess Celestia!”

Celestia’s ears perked and she was ripped from her thoughts concerning her sister as she heard the voice of her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Celestia smiled warmly as her eyes fixed on the lavender unicorn that came trotting up to her. “Hello again, Twilight. Are you and your friends enjoying the gala?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof and smiled sheepishly. “I’m enjoying the gala, but I have no idea where most of my friends are. I haven’t seen Rarity, Fluttershy or Applejack since we got here.”

“I’m sure they’re having fun.”

Luna landed outside the cave on the exact same spot she had been when she had met the shadow pony. She scanned the area, searching for any clues, although not expecting to find any. The pony she was tracking was a shadow after all.

She began to examine the ground in true detective style by stretching her neck closer to the ground and began examining the ground by staring at it intensely and searching for anything that could help her find the stallion.

After around five minutes of wandering around looking like a pony who had lost her glasses, Luna stopped. She had found nothing in her search and it frustrated her greatly. She wanted, no, needed to find that pony.

With a frustrated groan, Luna sat down while keeping an angry scowl on the ground in front of her. She had hoped this would have gotten her anywhere, but this seemed to not be the case.

With lazy eyes she looked to the cave in front of her. It was just as she remembered it. Barely big enough for her to walk through and she would even have to duck so her horn wouldn’t get stuck in the ceiling. Then Luna noticed something and she arched an eyebrow. The mountain rock that made the cave was darker in color than the the mountain it was attached to. And she also noticed something else. As she gazed into the cave, she saw nothing but darkness and that was the weird part. Luna had perfect night vision, so she should have been able to see right through the cave and yet she couldn’t.

Luna smirked at her discovery. She had finally found a clue. So without further thinking, she began walking towards and inside the cave.

“Ow!” Luna yelled as she hit her head against the ceiling. She ducked and continued walking. It felt like the cave was going on forever. After a few minutes of walking she looked back to the entrance only to discover it was gone. She gulped and continued onward. Luna had never been afraid of the dark, but that was because she had always been able to see in the dark. This was new and frightening.

She kept walking. Where is this infernal tunnel leading me? She heard rumbling rocks. As if the rocks were rolling down a cliff, but dismissed it. I just hope it will lead me towards hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” Luna didn’t get to think any further as her hooves ran out of ground to stand on and she fell down a hill inside the cave.

“OW! Uh! Ah! What in? OW!”

Luna eventually rolled out of the dark cave and into an opening. “Ow…” She groaned. Her body felt beaten and bruised from the fall. She also felt dizzy and a weird feeling of blood rushing to her head. Then she discovered her landing position. You have got to be kidding me. Luna had landed with her horn first put deep in the ground. “Hnnngh!” She groaned as she tried to pull her horn out of the ground, but came up with no result. Okay, again! “Hnnnnngh-agh!” She pulled out her horn with great force, so much so that she stumbled to her hind legs and fell onto her back. “Ow…” She groaned in pain once more.

Luna layd there for a few seconds until she heard a noise. It was the sound of water dripping down. She opened her eyes, rolled onto her side, despite her body’s slight protesting, and gasped at the sight. She was inside a large cave. The ground was covered in purple and blue grass. There were luminescent gems in all colors in the walls and ceiling that lit the cave. In the middle was a pond that filled most of the cave. But the water was a weird color. It was like a mirror with red stripes that flowed through it like fish and the water was also glowing. The only indication that is was liquid was an occational drop of water that fell from one of the gems near the ceiling into the pond.

Luna curiously got up and began walking through the cave in awe of the sights and stopped in front of the pond. She stretched her neck and looked at her reflection in the water. She snorted at the sight. Her mane was disheveled and brown from dirt. Luna lit her horn and removed the dirt from her mane. What an unpleasant fall. She thought to herself. She glanced around the cave and smiled a little. It was a beautiful cave. At least this trip wasn’t for nothing after all. I’ve got myself a new place to be alone. Luna felt a shiver go down her spine.

“Hello again, princess Luna.”

“Agh!” Luna jumped into the air, turned and ignited her horn out of fright. Her eyes were met with the entrance she had dumped out of, only this time there was two glowing yellow eyes in the entrance. Luna gasped. Can it be?

A familiar figure walked out of the blackness of the entrance. His dark body seethed as he entered the light and smoke dripped off of him, like drops of water, with every step he took.

“What a pleasant surprise.” The shadow stallion said, his voice reverberating through the cave. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come back.”

Luna took a defensive stance and scowled. “Dost thou have any clue how much we’ve been thinking about thee and thou infernal riddles in the past weeks?!”

“How flattering that you have been thinking of me.”

Luna could feel her cheeks heat up, but shook her head free of it. “Thou knows what we mean! WE HAVE COME FOR ANSWERS!” She yelled with her canterlot voice, making the cave shake underneath its volume.

The stallion tilted his head. “How adorable.” He taunted. “You act like a filly with a temper tantrum.”

Luna could feel her heart pound harder and her face heat up once more, and she started counting the various harmful spells in her arsenal.

“But if answers is what you seek, answers is what you’ll get.” The stallion continued and started walking towards the pond in the middle of the cave.

Luna kept her guard up and her eyes kept on the stallion like an owl looking at a mouse as he came closer. Her jaw dropped as the stallion passed her and walked out onto the water as if it was solid, and proceeded to walk to the other side in a calm manner and then turned to face her once more.

“But there are some questions that I cannot answer.”

Luna straightened up, but kept her scowl. “Can’t or won’t?”

“A little bit of both.” The stallion answered.

Luna snorted in response. She was not very happy with that answer. But then again, she had found him. The pony that had haunted her mind for weeks was now standing in front of her, willing to give her answers. There were of course still the possibility that he was tricking her, but nothing indicated anything of the sort. It was her own choice to come back here. Luna smirked. Perhaps this will be a good night afterall.