The chapter in which some stuff happens
1 day after.
11:37 pm.
Nighttime.
Time for little ponies to go to sleep.
Somewhere in the small town of Manehatten, a Pegasus filly snuggled deeper into her bed, long asleep, dreaming the dreams of an innocent foal. Her mother and father were downstairs, asleep on the sofa, snuggled up against each other, without any worries.
Meanwhile, in Cloudsdale, a young mare named Firefly left a bar together with her friends. They were celebrating the final defeat of the Nightmare the day before. Although having only joined the military a few months ago, Firefly had seen quite a few things she'd rather have not while protecting her home against the princess of the night. But now it was over. They laughed and they sung, and dreamed of the better life to come.
At the same time, Steel Plate of the Royal Guards finally made his way home after completing his work. The earth pony had spent the whole day and the previous night helping to bring the leftovers from the final battle between day and night away. Although his Princess had ordered him to go home and sleep after the fight, he insisted that he had to help cleaning up the streets of Canterlot, so that the city could move on to better times faster. He was tired, but glad to have been able to contribute his part to a better future.
Also in Canterlot, in the residence of the Starlight family, a unicorn mare called Shining glanced out of the window. She had lost so much in the battle the day prior. But in all her pain, Shining Starlight knew that other ponies had lost even more. So she cried for the fallen, for the ones who lost friends and family in the war. But she also cried for the father of her unborn foals who had to leave because he wouldn't be accepted by other ponies. She cried for her brother, as well as the mare who used to be a sister to her, both lost, seemingly forever.
And in the north, the bat pony Dusk laid under a tree, curled up and afraid. Afraid that he'd be found by ponies. Afraid that ponies found out about his bastard foals. His race had chosen the losing side in this war, and now he paid the price. He knew he could never return. And he knew Shining would find another stallion to father his foals. He had nothing left to live for. So he cried himself to sleep, hoping for better times to come.
Their hopes laid in the future, and their pain laid in the past and present.
My hopes lay in pieces, my pain is everywhere.
I have nothing left.
Not my title as a princess, not my friends, not the stallion I loved…
But THAT is your own fault, Lulu. A dark voice in my head coos. Remember, YOU killed him. Wasn't that what he said? 'I will always love you,…' Nightmare Moon imitates him with a chuckle. 'but it was YOU who killed me. It was neither Celestia nor Nightmare. It was YOU and you have to accept that.' And then she begins giggling like a schoolfilly he kissed you and died. Hilarious! Isn't it always fun to remember that old joker?
"Shut up!" I hiss. "You never really knew him. He was special. He DID love me. And I loved him."
The eternal darkness before me parts to reveal a grey unicorn stallion with a deep blue mane standing there.
"Golden? Golden, listen to me, I didn't want this! I never wanted any of this to happen! Believe me when I say I love you!" I cry.
The little spark of joy I felt at seeing him instantly vanishes when he asks me Then why did you kill me, you insane beast? with Nightmare's voice.
While Golden Coin starts to laugh manically and turns into my personal nightmare, I let myself fall back into the darkness and cry. I cry for him, I cry for his sister, who would always hate me, and I cry for all the others whose lives I destroyed.
I think of every single face of those I betrayed.
My sister, Celestia.
My fiance, Golden.
My would-have-been sister in law, Shining.
My friend, Stardust.
It is then that another picture jumps into my head. The picture of a lavender unicorn foal with a purple and pink mane. I don't know why. I have never seen this foal, yet it seems so familiar. I wonder if maybe I killed his parents in front of him. I wonder if maybe I killed this innocent foal itself.
The thought alone almost makes me throw up.
Then, suddenly, I notice the darkness part once again, and again, I see an image of Golden Coin smile at me. He nods his head, signaling me to follow him. Then he winks and turns around.
I don't follow him.
"That trick won't work twice, you dirty piece of shit! Are you taking me for a fool, Nightmare Moon?" I shout at the illusion.
Behind me, Nightmare stops laughing and looks at me questioningly. What?
"Don't try to play innocent! Your disguise won't work twice! You fooled me once me once, you won't fool me again!" I cry, turning around.
You mean you saw that son of a mule Golden in HERE? Are you sure? she growls.
"Don't try to fool me! I know it was your doing!" I shout angrily.
The problem is it isn't! Nightmare hisses before vanishing.
Again, I am alone. Alone with my thoughts. Alone with my pain. Alone with my guilt.
It's interesting how time seems to pass both slower and faster than normal when you're alone in the darkness of your own subconscious while your body is part of the moon and thus immovable.
At some point, my thoughts are interrupted again when Golden emerges from the shadows for a third time. But this time, I stay quiet.
He smiles at me warmly and whispers "Hold on, princess, your knight without armor, much less a shining one, is here to save you."
He then proceeds to glide over to me and grab me in a tight hug.
"It actually IS you…" I sigh, nuzzling his neck. "But how? You di-" He silences me with his forehoof. "It's OK, Lulu, I will explain everything if you just follow me."
He takes my hoof and leads me through the strange light he came from and into a world I wouldn't have expected to see anytime soon. And by soon I mean one thousand years.
"It's the night sky." I whisper, not trusting my eyes.
"We're on the moon." Golden explains "Your body may be in here," he says and stomps on the ground "but your mind can wander around freely. And for the moment, don't worry about Nightmare." He adds after seeing my concerned expression. "She is being taken care of. I got your subconscious' entity to distract her."
He kisses me on the nose. "As for my presence, you remember our last kiss, right? It's just a ripoff from your dream walking spell and it needed direct contact, but it works. But technically, I'm still dead." At seeing how distraught I look, he quickly hugs me again. "Hey, don't cry! Look at the sunny side, we have a thousand years just to us."
"Also, this is your sister's first night, so please do her the honor of watching. Of course it couldn't compare to one of your beautiful night skys, but it's still quite impressive how she got it that good on her first try. What a wonderful night, even if it isn't yours."
I smile weakly as I stare at Celestia's work. "It is quite impressive, you're right. But she got the stars all wrong. They should be many and spread widely, but Tia just ignited a few and put them together in a few big groups. I guess she hasn't got the energy for day and night, so she tries to create a few big lights instead of many small. Not a bad idea, although I would suggest to focus on smaller orbs. Most ponies sleep at night" I sigh at saying this, for it was the reason for my corruption. "So they don't need much light. And the sky wouldn't seem so... Artificial."
I begin to frown as another thought crosses my mind. "But what if Nightmare finds you? That beast will kill you without a second thought."
Golden smirks and pulls a small notebook out of his mane. "Is that my memory?" I ask, perplexed.
He snorts and nods his head. "It's a part of your memory. Specifically, every meeting we will have in here. That is, if you give the permission for your memory to be fused into this book. Your subconscious already agreed."
I laugh as I start understanding his plan. "And if you have the memory, I won't remember unless you are present, so she can't find you through me! Did you really plan all this in just one day?"
Suddenly, his expression changes to a serious one. "I didn't. I have been planning on being here to keep you sane for rwo weeks now. I need you sane for somepony else just waiting for your return. You have to give me another memory."
"What do you mean?" I ask , worried.
"Our foal." He says.
Author's Note
A/N
Don't worry, the story will eventually go on. But in an other way than you might expect. This is meant as a oneshot. But it takes place directly after a story I'm currently writing, so you could look at it as some sort of… teaser. Yeah, that seems fitting.
Two facts at the end:
Golden Coin is my statement that this whole name-destiny connection thing can't always work. It isn't mentioned here, but he has a Cutie Mark in mind magic.
Yes, Twilight is time travel adopted.
Secret 3. Point: there might have been a few spoilers in this… sorry for that…
