Memento Luna

Remember the moon.

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Luna stretched her wings as she flew. Even though she could fly on her own, it was rare for her to be allowed to. Everypony always seemed to insist upon her using the royal chariot or flying with guards at the very least. 'As though anything could harm me,' she thought to herself as the night air rushed past. She could feel the miniscule air currents pulling at her, shifting her, almost imperceptibly, off course. Tiny adjustments with her wings quickly corrected this.

As she pumped her wings, she thought back to her time on the moon- the stillness of everything, the lack of joy in what passed as flight. She reveled in her freedom, in the air brushing past; cold air that caressed every feather as it flowed around her, holding her back even as it pushed her forward.

Luna could feel the air growing thinner and thinner as she ascended. The stars, her glorious creations, shone brighter and brighter as she continued. Millions more were exposed to her; they were works in progress that she did not allow to burn bright enough to be seen within the atmosphere- a plethora of shining brilliance against the vast darkness. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. The all too familiar sensation of breathing without air returned her mind almost fully to her time on the moon. She and Celestia had both tried repressing these memories, but nothing ever worked for very long.

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Screams echoed across a pale, barren landscape- a horrid, twisting sound that chilled the blood. The screams were followed by an almost hollow sounding hissing noise. The blood vaporized as it touched the ground, great clouds of red steam that surrounded the writhing figure of Luna where she lay on the ground.

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Luna jerked back to awareness. She had become lost in the dreams, and her momentum had carried her far from where the memory had hit. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

As Luna flew back to where she was supposed to be, she tried to enjoy her surroundings; once they were her prison, now they were simply backdrops. She knew this, but her mind refused to accept this. She glanced around uneasily, waiting for some mysterious force to grab her and return her to the moon. "Stop being so foolish," she said to herself. She was angry that she still feared what happened so long before. "You know there's nothing bad here… anymore." She brushed away the lingering tears from her memories and looked up. The massive, pale surface of the moon slowly grew, expanding to fill her vision. The one place she had never wanted to come back to, the place to which she now returned willingly.

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She pulled herself across the lunar landscape, broken legs splayed out behind her. The cliff hadn't been enough for her to solve her problems, only to bring her more pain. It was fine though, she could wait; there had to be higher cliffs somewhere.

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Luna landed on the white rock of the moon. It was covered with ancient footprints- evidence of her previous 'visit'. She paused for a moment, taking in the all too familiar landscape. Everything was exactly as she remembered it- the placement of every rock, every indent in the ground- all frighteningly exact to her nightmares.

She pulled herself out of her daze and continued on her way. She could see the shadow of the moon, its darkness seeming to rise from the ground. Luna steeled herself and crossed over into the shadows. As she became encompassed by the cold darkness, she remembered.

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"No 'Tia, don't do it!" The dark weight had been lifted from her. Luna had regained full control of herself… and her mind. She remembered all that she had done in the name of vengeance, the ponies she'd hurt, the atrocities of the war- everything.

The elements had served their purpose and given her a moment of respite from her shadows, but they couldn't do enough. There is no harmony in siblings fighting. Combined with Luna's familiarity with her three elements, there was only so much Celestia could do.

Luna felt the darkness returning. The elements pushed it out once, but they would be unable to do so again.

"I'm sorry," Celestia said, tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry." She dug her hooves into the ground as her horn lit up, glowing as bright as the sun from which it drew power. The air filled with a blinding flash of light, then there was nothing- nothing but the dark and the cold.

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Staring up at the Earth; able to see all that she'd once had, and foolishly lost. Luna cried. She had done little else since she'd come to the moon.

She could vaguely make out the outline of Equestria; a vast, thriving mass of green, dotted with the occasional, necessary desert. She had tried, at one point, to see more using her magic. It showed her that life continued without her. Indeed, they were even happier without her there, for the threat of Nightmare Moon was no more.

That was the 'night' of her first attempt. She tried running at a massive boulder she'd found. She stretched her head out as far as she could, the point of her horn leading the way. She found herself dreaming of the release this would bring, as she ran; escape from her torturous exile- from the burning knowledge of the evil she'd allowed into herself.

The tip of her horn struck first. It shattered, dark blue fragments flying everywhere. The pain was overwhelming. She

cried out, her legs beating furiously at the ground as she tried to stop herself from causing more damage.

Luna slammed fully into the rock; a sickening thud that echoed into the darkness. When she awoke, her blood had pooled around her, her broken nose and shattered horn seeming to be the source of it. She tried to stand, but immediately collapsed back onto the dusty surface. Two of her legs stuck out at odd angles, bulges protruding from the skin. Each bulge seemed to be filled with small, pointed objects that pressed outwards, turning her normally smooth skin into a pale, jagged landscape. She touched one to see what it was and the skin broke, a warm pool of crimson spilling out amongst tiny white shards.

Oblivion welcomed her swiftly that night.

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The spirit was still there. Even banishment to the moon had done little to deter it.

Luna had first realized it was there when the dreams began again. They were the same ones she'd had before she tried to take over. They had the same darkness, the same eyes watching from every direction, staring deep- seeming to pierce into her very soul. The same voice that spoke from the shadows, cold and cruel, frighteningly charismatic. The voice was what spoke to her, giving her what she had to do for power, what she had to do to have everything she wanted; to make everypony worship her, adore her beautiful night.

The voice was what scared her the most. It sent shivers down her spine, even in her sleep she could feel herself shudder from its incorporeal caress. It pulled at her sanity, draining her of all resistance. The voice spoke of things to come, things that had already happened, events that were already being set into motion even as it described them. Every event that it told her of she'd tried to stop, only to be the cause of it. Now it spoke again and it seemed only too happy to be back.

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Luna tried shaking away the memories. They forced their way into her mind, chipping away at her awareness. The attempts she and Celestia had made to rid of such torturous thoughts had helped, but never for long. Something always came back, dragging them out. Coming here only served to strengthen it.

Her horn flared, a bright beacon in a sea of darkness. The purple glow illuminated the area around her before releasing itself. The burst of energy spread outwards from Luna, covering the ground in an eerie, directionless light. She looked around, half hoping that she had failed and could leave- permanently this time. She spread her wings, eager to leave this haunting place, when the first of the lines caught her attention.

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I'd like to thank Silverweed91 of deviant art for yet another amazing piece of fanart for my story (two pictures now and I still can't believe I'm good enough to have fanart, but I'm not complaining.) [If you're on fanfiction reading this, you have to go to the deviant art page to see it TT-TT]

I'd like to thank a friend of mine, Defening of fimfiction, also a fellow member of Dunder Shux Studios... technically the boss of the Studios... anyways, he edited this remake.

Also, sorry about the chapter lengths. I can't seem to get a decent chunk of writing done for this story.

Lastly, I direct you towards Dunder Shux Studios, which I speak about in this blog post on fimfiction (just a quick blurb about the greatest collection of brony artists in the WORLD!) [fimfiction(dotnet)/blog/51220]