Chapter 2: Memories, New and Old
Author's Note
This took way too long for me to write, but like I promised the story was not dead. I hope you all enjoy. It may be a while for the next chapter to be posted because I need to finish chapter three of Imperfect, but like I promised before I will continue to update and add new chapters in the future.
Chapter 2: Memories, New and Old
Moon and Magic
Chapter 2: Memories, Old and New
A young Twilight Sparkle ran through the halls of the lunar castle carrying a wood-backed book in her magic. Something in the book had caught her interest, and she wanted to ask her mother about it. There were only a few places her mother could be, so it only took a few minutes of searching until she found Luna on the main balcony on the front of the castle, looking out over the plains surrounding the castle.
“Mommy!” she chirped happily as she walked onto the balcony. Luna turned her head and smiled warmly at her daughter, she stretched out her wing and wrapped it around the filly, pulling her closer. That’s when Luna noticed the book.
“What do y-you have there?” she asked her daughter. Luna had been able to grow trees using her magic on the moon, but that was the most complex thing she could create. That aside, it was enough for her, since she knew how to make parchment, and could easily treat wood with her magic to create covers. When one has almost a thousand years of isolation, writing was a good way to keep one's thoughts from consuming them. However, Luna had run out of things to write about, and as a result, began to slowly slip back into insanity, or at least until Twilight showed up.
“Is it true? Are you really a princess? Is Celestia really your sister? Did she really banish you here?” Twilight rapidly inquired, looking up at her mother with big curious eyes. Luna frowned at the questions but decided it was best not to keep things from her daughter if she could help it.
“Yes, it’s all true. I am a princess, and Celestia is my sister.” She paused and took in a deep breath, “But yes, she did banish me to the moon.”
“Why?”
“I’d rather not tell you until you are older,” Luna deflected. This was one subject she didn’t want to discuss with her daughter, at least not yet. Twilight gave an unhappy pout.
“Hmph, all adults say that,” she said with a grumble. Luna couldn’t help but chuckle at how adorable her daughter’s mannerisms were. “But okay, just promise you will tell me someday!” she said in the best commanding tone a filly could muster. Luna once again chuckled at her daughter’s antics.
“Very well, I promise,” Luna assured, Twilight flashed an approving smile before she asked another question.
“Does that make Celestia my auntie?”
“Hmm, I guess it does.”
“Will I get to meet auntie Celestia someday?”
“Maybe someday.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but Luna didn’t honestly know when or if they ever would be free.
“Mommy?” Twilight asked a little nervously. Looking down, she gave her daughter her full attention. “If you’re a princess, and you’re my mommy, what does that make me?” she questioned with a bit of trepidation.
“Hmm…” Luna pondered this a moment. What did that make her? Luna looked into her daughter’s wide, curious, and worried eyes. In those eyes Luna found her answer, reaching out with her hooves, Luna pulled the filly into her chest with a hug. “It means you are also a princess.” She answered. It did not matter that Twilight was adopted, Luna had come to love the filly unconditionally in the past six months she had been on the moon with her. She might as well have been her own flesh and blood for all Luna cared.
Luna took a few sips from her cup of tea before letting out a relaxed sigh. She and her sister were sitting in the private dining room of Canterlot castle. Canterlot, such an amazing city. Her sister had done well for herself in the almost thousand years of her absence. It made Luna feel bad, because of her absence, Equestria had prospered. She decided that this was not a time to think about that kind of thing, and pushed it out of her mind.
“It’s good to have tea again.” She took another sip. “The most complex thing I could make on the moon was a tree, and only because the first hundred years of our lives were spent cutting down trees to help ponies build their homes, if only I had paid more attention to the tea I used to drink, I may have been able to grow some.”
“So is that why the moon is blue and green?” Celestia asked.
“Oh not entirely, before Twilight turned 15, the area around the lunar castle was the only place habitable for non-alicorns. A few weeks after she turned 15, she began working on a present for me. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew she was hiding something. Eventually, I found out that the dome I had created to protect the habitat had a perception filter added to it. When I removed it, I was shocked to find that the moon’s surface was no longer grey, but brown.”
“Twilight had turned the moon’s surface into soil?” Celestia concluded.
“Yes, I was very surprised, what I had found even more shocking was that she apparently created microscopic life!” Luna exclaimed.“She eventually explained to me that there were microscopic creatures, it gave me an idea of just how advanced pony society that a pony at the age of 12 knew so much.”
“She created microorganisms!?” Celestia was shocked. “How could she, when only we alicorns can create life like that?”
“As I said, Sister, she may be one of us someday.”
“You may be right. Anyway, go on.”
“Right, Twilight was very disappointed that I found out before she was finished. Apparently, she had been having trouble trying to create anything more complex than what she called bacteria. I told her that I appreciate how hard she had worked so far, and offered to help. After a year we had turned the entire moon into a lush paradise.”
“I have to say that’s very impressive. Twilight is clearly very intelligent.”
“Is it abnormal for a 12-year-old to know such information?”
“Very strange, my own school doesn’t teach that until most are around 16. It’s a field that’s only been around for a few generations.”
“She did say she has been studying since she was four.”
“Intelligent, powerful, and skilled.” Celestia listed.
“She may have that, but there are two things that concern me.” Luna expressed.
“What is that sister?”
“The first issue is her magic. I believe she has bottleneck syndrome. She probably didn’t realize it but it took almost two hours to cast the spell that released us, and I know it’s not because the spell was complex, no, Twilight is amazing with structuring spells.”
“She has a massive wellspring, but has trouble drawing upon it… the way you describe it, it sounds like the worse case of bottleneck I’ve ever heard.”
“It is bad, I still need to have her properly checked by an expert, but her wellspring is almost as big as mine, she just has a below average magicdraw rate.” Luna sighed in mild frustration. “I tried teaching her combat magic, but it took her too long to reliably cast anything beyond telekinetic attacks, and teleports.”
“I don’t think she will have need of combat magic, Equestria is peaceful nowadays.”
“You must not forget mother's prediction though.” Luna reminded, and Celestia frowned.
“A thousand year peace… it’s almost been a thousand years since the last major disaster…” Celestia looked down at her teacup, deep in thought.
“That brings me to my next issue, I fear for how she will do socially.”
“I’m sure you will be having a similar problem being gone for so long, but then again you grew up with ponies around.”
“Yes, Twilight has been with me for seven years, and from what she has told me, had no friends before that, besides her brother.” Luna frowned. “I fear how ponies will treat her knowing she is the daughter of a demon.” Luna grimaced and Celestia did the same.
“I had hidden away your name from the public in an attempt to create a separation from Nightmare Moon and Luna. I hoped that by the time you returned, I would be able to find a way to save you from the corruption, and you would go back to the way you looked before. Now, however, you are Luna again but you still hold the form of the Nightmare.” Celestia stared at her teacup deep in thought.
“If she is not able to make friends, would she still be able to use the Elements of Harmony?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know… if she were to wield them on her own she would need to represent all six of them. It’s clear she can represent magic, but the other five…” Celestia trailed off, returning back to her thoughts. After a few moments, a spark of realization flashed in her eyes. Luna noticed this.
“Do you have an idea, Sister?”
“I believe I do. Twilight gains a new star on her cutie mark when she forms a bond with a pony, and through that bond, she can emulate that pony’s traits and talents correct?”
“Yes, but only if it’s a very close bond can she emulate, what are you getting at?”
“I know of five ponies who represent the traits of the other five elements. If Twilight were to become friends with them she may be able to wield the elements on her own,” Celestia finished excitedly.
“I have to say, Sister, that is a brilliant idea but how are we going to bring them together? If we tell them what we are planning, they will think we are only using them as a weapon.”
“In many ways, we are doing just that, but we aren't just making them into a weapon to fight off our enemies, we’re doing this to make them into guardians of the world too. The longer we go without element bearers, the greater chance something that we can not stop comes and ruins everything,” Celestia said somberly.
“Yes, and that’s why I think it’s a good idea for Twilight to become the sole bearer. I know someday she will ascend and her being immortal removes the chance that we will be without the elements.” Luna looked out one of the windows in the dining hall at the night sky. The blue and green moon hung low, signifying it was time for the sun to rise soon. “I just hope she doesn’t hate me for this. If she thinks I’m trying to manipulate her into becoming a weapon, she may hate me.” Tears began to well up in her eyes at the thought of her daughter hating her for the rest of eternity.
“Twilight is smart, I’m sure she would understand if she found out, and furthermore, it’s clear that she loves you, Lulu. You shouldn’t have to worry about that,” Celestia reassured. Luna smiled at the old nickname.
“Thank you Celly, you always know what to say,” Luna replied with a happy smile. The two sat in silence drinking tea and enjoying each other’s company. It had been so long since the two just sat and talked, even before her banishment to the moon, the two never talked much. It was good to just be sisters again like it was before they became the rulers of Equestria. Eventually, Celestia let loose a sigh and stood up from her cushion.
“I think it’s time I raise the sun, I need to announce your return in a few hours, and I also need to announce Twilight’s claim to the throne, as well as crown her,” Celestia listed. Luna also stood and walked up to join her sister by the window she had trotted to.
“Let’s give Twilight some time to get settled in first before we give her a coronation.”
“It won’t be an official coronation; if she is to become an alicorn, I want to hold off on an official one until then,” Celestia explained and Luna nodded in agreement. “Now come Luna, let us do our duty,” Celestia said as she lit her horn and reached out to grab hold of the sun.
“Of course Celly, I would be glad to,” Luna smiled before she too lit up her horn and reached out to grab hold of the moon. Soon the moon was lowered beneath the horizon and the sun began to rise, and with it marked the beginning of a new day and a new era to come.
“So Cadance is also an alicorn?” Twilight asked. She was walking through the halls of Canterlot with Shining Armor towards the dining hall, where they would meet Cadance.
“Yeah, which means when we’re married, I’ll be a prince!” Shining said while giving a wry smile.
“Yeah, but I’m already royalty because mom’s a princess.”
“Doesn’t that already make me royalty, because I’m your brother?”
“Hmm… I don’t think so, I’m royalty by adoption and because you weren't adopted too you only have close association…” she explained, with a look of deep thought stretched across her features.
“Even after spending seven years on the moon, you still understand succession laws you studied when you were nine, seriously, how do you store all that information in that head of yours?” he said, before giving her a noogie. Twilight giggled and batted his hoof away.
“I don’t know, an eidetic memory I guess? Anyway enough about me, how did you meet Cadance?”
“Okay then…” he paused and thought for a moment, “I was stationed in Stalliongrad…”
Shining Armor was at his desk at his post in Stalliongrad. He was deep in thought, staring at a letter. Next to the letter was another letter just written by himself sitting on top of an unused envelope ready to be sealed inside. The letter he was currently looking at, was one he received a week ago. It was a letter that he had been fearing for the last year and had done nothing but stare at it for the past week, since he had received it. He had been unable to accept the contents of the letter, hoping it was just some cruel joke, but as the week drew on it become clear; his sister was gone.
Dear Sgt. Shining Armor,
I regret to inform you that after a year of investigation, all leads regarding the whereabouts of your sister have fallen short. As her only living relative, it is my sincere apologies that the investigation has ended. Twilight Sparkle has been declared dead, I am sorry.
--- Investigator Eagle Eye.
Dead, Twilight was dead. He was the only one of his family left, and he had no one. The only reason he was in the military was so he could make Equestria a safer place for her, but now what reason did he have to stay? He looked over to the letter sitting atop the unused envelope. It was a letter of resignation. He couldn’t stay, as he had no reason to anymore.
Shining let out a sigh and stood up from his desk while tossing the old letter into the wastebasket on the floor next to his desk. Taking the new letter in his magic, he folded it and slipped into the envelope, and then sealed it. Placing the envelope into a pocket on his uniform, he stepped out of the small office and walked through the main room of his post to the front door. Walking into the streets of Stalliongrad, he locked the door behind himself and began his trek to the Army Sergeant’s office.
Many would probably question why he didn’t appear more broken up about this, these ponies would probably have never been in the military before. In his seven years of service, he had learned to hide his feelings behind an emotionless mask. It was just that, however, a mask, and inside he was indeed broken. He wanted to cry, scream, and beg for it all to not be true, he didn’t though, because it was true, and no amount of crying, screaming, or begging could change that.
Shining had only traveled a few blocks when something stopped him in his tracks. Who’s shouting? His ears flicked and swiveled around trying to pinpoint where the yelling was coming from. There! Turning to his left, he could see an alleyway. Normally it wouldn’t be any of his concern why ponies were making noise, but something told him he needed to investigate. Without a moment of hesitation, he entered the alleyway.
“Help!” a voice yelled, and that was all it took for Shining to burst into a full on gallop, zigzagging his way from alley to alley. The shouting grew louder, and he pushed harder to increase his pace. At the tenth turn, he saw it. Before him were eleven ponies; five of them were royal guards, four of which were on the ground bleeding. There were four ponies in robes and the most he could determine was they were all unicorns. The last pony was a pink alicorn with a ring suppressor on her horn. One of her wings was bent awkwardly and was likely broken along with several gashes and scrapes along her body.
The last guard went down with a blade embedded in his throat not long after Shining rounded the corner. The hooded ponies closed in around the alicorn. She attempted to kick one of the hooded ponies but was rewarded by another one slicing at her legs with a serrated knife. She yelped and fell to the ground where a pool of her own blood began to grow.
“Come now, Princess Cadenza!” one of the ponies spoke in a feminine voice. “If you cooperate with us I promise you that when we are done with you, your death will be quick and painless,” Shining couldn’t see the pony’s face but he could tell she was smiling just by the tone of her voice.
Not wasting a moment more Shining jumped into action, literally jumping between the alicorn and her attackers. Tapping into his magic, he erected a shield around himself and the downed alicorn. The hooded ponies stepped back in surprise at the stallion seemingly coming out of nowhere. After standing around just staring at each other for what felt like an eternity, one of the hooded ponies, whom Shining assumed was the leader, spoke.
“Kill him and capture the alicorn!” at the command, all the hooded ponies rushed forward in an attempt to overwhelm the unicorn. Acting quickly, Shining flung his shield outward in a wave of force, causing the charging ponies to stagger for a brief moment, but it was enough. Capitalizing on this, Shining summoned another shield, but this one wasn’t for protecting. Turning to his nearest opponent, he swung the wall of solidified magic, sending the pony careening down one of the many connecting alleyways.
Shining armor turned around just in time to catch the hoof of one of his attackers with his own, just before it descended upon his neck. With a hard twist, Shining felt the wrist of the hoof pop, but before the pony could cry out in pain, he sent out another wave of solid magic, sending them into the wall with a sickening crack.
Sidestepping and turning around quickly, Shining just narrowly avoided two ponies attempting to impale him with daggers. Before he could react, he had to roll to the side to avoid a bolt of magic aimed at his head. Once again, he was surrounded, but it was clear that they hadn't learned from the last time, because he sent out another wave of solid magic around him. This time it knocked some of them to their hooves.
Once more, Shining armor capitalized on the situation and slammed a wave of solid magic onto the downed ponies. Wait weren’t there only four? Before he could think about it further, he felt a sudden pain in his side, followed by a feeling of weightlessness, then the feeling of slamming into a brick wall at high speed. Letting loose a groan, he pushed himself to his hooves and opened his eyes.
He was backed up against a wall with seven hooded ponies surrounding him, six of them held him at spear point. The seventh approached him wielding a curved, serrated knife. Damn, they must have had more hiding in the shadows. Whoever these ponies are, they’re smart. Shining went to cast a spell, but as soon as he lit his horn the knife-wielding pony lunged at him.
There was a grunt of pain, followed by a flash of pink, then the sound of a knife hitting the stone ground. Shining hadn't realized he had closed his eyes, but when he opened them, he found in place of the hooded pony now stood a pink alicorn. Turning to his left, he could see that the hooded pony that had just been about to kill him now laid atop two others in an unconscious heap.
Shining was very much surprised, but then he reminded himself; alicorns have earth pony strength. He turned his head back just in time to see the alicorn tackled by three of the remaining four ponies. The fourth one threw its spear at the white stallion, thankfully, the distance was far enough for Shining to roll out of the way. Once he was back on his hooves, he launched a dense wall of magic, knocking the pony across the alleyway and to a brick wall.
Shining turned around just in time to see the pink alicorn held down on her side by two of the three remaining hooded ponies. The third pulled out a syringe from their cloak. Seeing the needle, the alicorn began to struggle more desperately, and let loose a cry of panic. Before the pony could stab the needle into the struggling mare, he was slammed into the ground by a wave of hard magic.
Before the other two hooded ponies could fully grasp what had happened to their comrade, they were set upon by the white unicorn. Both were tackled to the ground, then quickly lifted in a telekinetic grip before being slammed back down into the stone covered earth. Consciousness left them almost immediately. The third pony got to their hooves and took stock of their fallen comrades. The pony let out a feminine ‘hmph’ before pulling out a golden sphere from her cloak. Before Shining could stop her, she threw the sphere on the ground and the area was filled with an intense white light and a loud bang that left his ears ringing.
After his vision had cleared, and his hearing returned to some semblance of normal, he found the alleyway empty except for himself and the pink alicorn. Even the guards that had laid dead once he arrived seemed to have disappeared. Before he could question what happened or where they all went, a grunt of pain drew his attention to the alicorn.
“Let’s get you to a hospital,” he said as he helped her to her hooves and supported her as she leaned against his shoulder.
“Thanks…” she started.
“Sergeant Shining Armor, your majesty,” he answered.
“Just Cadance…” she replied as they began walking out of the alleyway. “Thanks for saving me... They caught me by surprise and sprayed me with something, so I couldn’t cast my magic…” she explained.
“I’m just happy to help, I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing.”
“I just wish my guards had survived,” tears began to well up in her eyes, “Hover was going to be a father.” She wept as she began to stumble, “a-and… Sharp had a filly at home waiting for her to return!” she fell to the stone ground and cried in despair. Unsure of what to do, Shining did what he always did when his sister cried. He sat down on the ground in front of her and pulled the sobbing alicorn into a hug. Cadence wrapped her wings around him along with her forelegs and sobbed heavily into his shoulder.
Shining gently rubbed Cadance’s back in an attempt to calm her down. The two of them remained like this for several minutes, however, Cadance's sobs soon slowed and she slumped against Shining. Realizing she had fallen asleep, the stallion gently lifted the alicorn onto his back and made his way to the nearest hospital.
As soon as the nurses saw the unconscious alicorn on Shining’s back, they escorted him to a room immediately as he walked into the hospital’s waiting room. Once inside, he gently laid her on the cot. Once she was laying down, the nurses and doctors went to work treating the princess’s wounds. As they were doing their, job Shining slipped out of the room, where he came muzzle to muzzle with his commanding officer.
“Army Sergeant Steel Horn!” Shining exclaimed and saluted to his superior.
“At ease, Sargent Armor,” he said calmly in his gravelly voice, “I got a report that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was injured, and you were carrying her towards the hospital. I came to ask you what in Equestria happened according to the most recent reports, there was a lot of shouting about three blocks from here.”
“The princess was attacked, along with her guards…” Shining began to explain what happened. After the explanation, Steel Horn’s muzzle was scrunched up in thought.
“I’ll admit, it sounds far-fetched Armor, but by looking at the condition of you and the Princess along, with the absence of her guard’s, I’m inclined to believe you.” Steel Horn rested a light grey hoof on Shining’s shoulder, “you did an excellent job, Sergeant, I’m confident once Princess Celestia hears of this, she will be very grateful for you saving her niece.” Steel gave a genuine smile, which was odd, considering Shining had never seen him have anything but a neutral expression.
“I was just doing my job,” Shining tried to push aside the praise.
“None of that now, what you did today is something we look for in the army and guard,” Steel Horn turned to leave, “I need to go file my report to the Princess, as well as the Major Sergeant, for now, get patched up and I’m assigning you to watch over Princess Mi Amore Cadenza until further notice,” he commanded, and continued to walk back down the hall to the exit. Shining suddenly remembered his letter of resignation, and reached for it with his magic.
“Army Sergeant Steel!” he called. The grey Unicorn turned to look at Shining Armor. Shining froze before he could pull the letter out. Did he really want this? His mind turned back to Cadance, and how she would probably be dead or worse if he had not been there. What if I had kept walking? His mind returned to the present and the grey Unicorn looking at him waiting for him to say something. Eventually, Shining spoke, “thank you,” he said simply.
“You’re welcome, Sergeant Armor,” he replied, however, he suddenly smirked, “though I don’t think I’ll be calling you that after today, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Princess makes you Captain after what you did,” he said with a chuckle. Shining Armor was left slack-jawed, not only at the fact that the Army Sergeant just chuckled but also at the idea of being promoted straight to Captain. If this did happen, it would be the largest jump in rank in Equestria history. His look of surprise soon turned to a smile of pride, and he nodded his thanks to his superior. Steel Horn returned the gesture before turning once again to leave.
Once the grey stallion was gone, Shining pulled out his letter of resignation and walked over to the nearest trash can. Looking the envelope over one last time, he ignited the letter with his magic. The ashes fell into the basket before Shining turned back to the room Cadence was being cared for, and took up station adjacent to the door to stand guard, all the while a small smile graced his features. I’ll make you proud, Twily.
