The Ghosts of the Past

2000 Years Ago

The stallion's mind could scarcely comprehend the sight which his eyes beheld. He felt the beginnings of panic as the scene displayed before him came into its full, horrifying spectacle.

What he saw was this: his hoof, only moments earlier a normal hoof in every manner, was now crystal.

He would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if not for the fact that it was undeniably true. He quickly glanced at his other hooves and could have collapsed from horror. The mere seconds it took to come to terms with an unimaginable sight was all that was necessary for his remaining hooves to suffer the same fate as the first. He watched with growing fear as the crystallisation moved up his legs.

Where there was once a beautiful coat of speckled grey and black, like volcanic rock; now there was only hard, dense cobalt crystal, not dissimilar from the darkest of nights, when even the moon dared not show its face. And to think, all this was caused by a spell, a simple spell intended only to create a gift for his sister.

As the change spread past his knees, the only thought going through his head was that he would never see his sisters again. Worse, they would never know what had happened to him.

Present Day

The days since the letter had passed by in a blurry, easily-forgettable haze. The regular court proceedings, mind-numbingly boring during normal times, now became unrecognisable. Each individual case could not be recalled by either Luna nor Celestia, being on autopilot as they were.

Indeed the only thing that seemed to occupying the minds of the two was the thought of the upcoming exhibition;. It weighed heavily upon both their minds at all times, keeping them distracted, although their excellent tact prevented it from showing in public. The date kept the pair up for hours at a time before finally slipping into uneasy slumber.

At long last, the day had finally arrived. Neither regal sister would have missed it for the world, even though such a relatively mundane occasion as a new exhibit in a fairly small museum would only call for one to be merely present; the particulars of said exhibit would not have been missed by either ruler for anything else in the world.

Despite the general air of partial interest surrounding the majority of the audience; two were almost boiling over with scarcely contained anticipation. Celestia seemed to be managing admirably, more than a thousand years of regency had bestowed upon her a poker face many would kill for, but it was all Luna could do to not scream out to get the new exhibit unveiled sooner. After what seemed like an eternity, the curtain was finally dropped behind the announcer and the new exhibit on prehistoric pony culture was revealed, with the flawless statue taking pride of place.

It took all of Luna's restraint to not gasp; a quick glance over to Celestia confirmed that she too was taken aback, albeit only moments passed before her previous stoic expression returned. Luna quickly composed herself, with a look around revealing that all the other ponies (excluding the Royal Guard) were far too enraptured with the statue to notice the change in expression on either sister.

The statue itself was that of an alicorn, but not Celestia or her sister; no, this statue was of a male, one even larger in stature than Celestia. The detail, in particular the mane, eyes and wings was impeccable; indeed, it was shockingly lifelike. There was not hair out of place in the mane, which seemed to have frozen whilst swaying in a breeze. The eyes were such that you could vividly imagine them swivelling, drinking in the world whilst holding it in place with their powerful gaze. Each feather in the flared wings had incredible detail, not a single one out of place and with every aspect of the plumage plain to see. The muzzle and face were carved with exquisite skill, it was caught in an expression that combined surprise, fear and worry, with an undertone of compassion and kindess that seemed to be permanently infused into his visage.

In short, the statue was so well made that it could have passed as real. The only thing that gave it away was the material it was made from; an unknown type of crystal, one that was almost translucent, yet swirled with such colour that it itself almost seemed alive. The crystal was not dissimilar from diamond, yet appeared to be infused with some sort of power that seemed to make the statue throb, as though it were alive and watching its audience as they themselves stared at it.

All these were absorbed by Celestia and Luna, they observed the body shape, the muzzle, and especially the cutie mark; a globe of the world, complete with mountains and valleys, and forests and plains.

With that, all doubt in her mind was dispelled; this statue was her brother.

Luna could barely contain herself, it was everything she could not to rush forward and hug him. Even then, she would likely have failed were it not for Celestia's wing gently holding her, comforting her, sharing their revitalised grief.

Throughout the ceremony, all Luna could think of was her brother. She knew in her heart that no statue could be this detailed, no sculptor that talented. She now realised why her brother had never returned; something had happened to him and changed him into this... object. She knew that her sister was doubtless going through the same, but she managed to hold those potent emotions back better than Luna, going so far as to shift the burden of leadership onto herself by taking all conversations, chatter and gossip herself rather than bother Luna when she was clearly going through near-unbearable emotional turmoil.

At long last, the ceremony came to a close, and the only ones left were Luna and Celestia. Their guards were still everpresent but they were guarding the entrance rather that being inside. Finally alone, the sisters stood silent in front of their long-lost sibling's image. The silence was suddenly broken by Luna; "It's him, isn't it? It's really him. It's really Terra." Her voice was wavering, as though she was on the brink of collapsing into tears.

Celestia nodded gravely; she could only imagine what Luna was going through at the moment, but if it was anything like her own feelings, it must be hellish torment. "Yes, it is. Somehow, this statue really is him." She managed to speak calmy, depite being anything but.

Luna burst into tears, her withheld sorrow finally overwhelming her self-restraint. Celestia wrapped her wing around her younger sister in a comforting gesture, as much for Luna's sake as her own.

"He said he'd always be there for us, he said he'd never leave us." Luna ran forward, and began beating the statue with her hooves in futile rage "You said you'd always be there for us! You said you'd never abandon me! You promised! YOU PROMISED!" Luna collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably, shaking with grief. The feeling of loss, abandonment and grief had entirely overwhelmed her.

Celestia watched this display, barely holding back her own emotions. She let Luna release her sorrow and anguish by sobbing until finally she spoke again. "You said that you'd never let me and Tia be alone again. Now, you're gone forever. And I've never felt more alone." Her voice was barely audible, little more than a whisper that was the only sound in the empty hall.

Celestia finally broke her silence. "Luna, there's nothing we can do here. It's time to go." She didn't want to sound harsh to her emotionally wrecked sister, but they both had responsibilities that they could not shirk, even for personal emotion.

Luna turned away from her now-eternally silent brother, speaking one final thing before she left forever. "Goodbye Terra, I love you." As she turned to leave, she heard something.

"Luna?" The sound was faint, almost inaudible. She looked around, but Celestia was already outside and nopony else was present.

"Luna?" There it was again, a whisper, just heard. But who could be speaking? It was only her in the building, unless...

She turned around, hoping against hope that her suspicion was wrong; she did not feel she could handle any more stress today. She leaned in close to her brother's sculpture. "Luna." Luna recoiled in disbelief, it couldn't be! No, it must be a trick, played on her by her own mind.

Then, she saw that the eyes had somehow, through some way, moved to look directly into her own. She must be hallucinating, these things did not happen! It, it must be false. It could not be true!

Then all her doubts were cast away and her heart plummetted as the final piece of evidence coalesced.

"Help me..."

A.N. Well, cliffhanger ahoy! I'm kidding, I hate cliffhangers as much as the next pony, but there wasn't any real way to end this chapter without one. At least my OC has finally been named. What does his cutie mark mean? How will Luna react to this revelation? Will I ever end these incessant Author's Notes!? All these and more will be revealed, next time. This is ConDec, signing off and peace out.