Published 'tomorrow' three days ago. I didn't lie. Nope.
Well let's put it this way. A school that celebrates every single meticulous holiday, and takes countless hours out of class for you to promote 'school spirit' with obnoxious tunes and loud propaganda announced through loudspeakers then gives you THREE bucking tests the day after Nightmare Night. Sheesh.
All anger cast aside, I was left with just sadness and loneliness. The rest of the town, nay, world was celebrating of my defeat. And that they can do. I have things actually important to attend to.
Through all the time on the moon, I kept asking myself a question. Was she truly gone? I feared I may never know. And now I knew. I regret it, yet I didn't look back.
I came down the path from the castle, through mountain, through crag, through forest. They all led to the ocean. I stood there, for a while, just listening to the waves, feeling the sand beneath my hooves, looking out to the sea. I looked everywhere, anywhere for a sign. And unfortunately, I found one.
At one of the two tips of a bay, where it leaks out to the ocean, was a large rock. The waves pounded furiously against it, throwing up their white waves. Normally one would not look twice at such a thing, but this rock was different.
If you were to look at it from the right angle, you'd be able to make out a form. But it was still hard to see; you'd have to know what you were looking for. Sadly, I did indeed find something.
The rock was stretched out in a way so that it looked as if it were reaching out for the sea. And that it was. I remembered everything. Too clearly.
I sat down by the rock, and ran a hoof down its back. It was smooth, and soft, just like she was. "I'm finally back," I managed to say without my voice cracking. "Sorry for the... delays..." I sighed. The sun was setting now, in front of the both of us. I glared at its red, mocking glow, and prayed, just prayed, that it would soon set and fade away.
"So, time hasn't fared well for you... I just wish I could see you again..." It would never be the same. I would never be able to feel her warm, gray coat, or look into those stunning amber eyes. Never would it happen again. The sun in front of me had finally set completely. It was all darkness. It was time to begin.
The routine I had practiced a thousand times before would finally be done right. With a spoken incantation she had shown me, several small fires appeared. They danced in a ring above my hoof. I made them float in midair, in front of us. I whispered softly. "Happy birthday, Lorelei..."
The pen drove furiously across the paper.
She drew next to me as I worked. The scratching of the pen was loud, but not distracting. I never knew what she drew in there. Sometimes I'd see glimpses. Mountains, ponies, rivers... all kinds of stuff.
Within minutes, the moon was finished.
"Lovely full moon," she complimented.
"Thank you." Lorelei was always polite. A one good soul among a world of corruption.
We looked up at the sky, and just lay there in comfortable silence. "So," I began slowly. "Is the glen doing well?"
"It is," she said. "But it really does not matter anymore. I am the last Noctral, and Ponykind will get around to cutting my tree down eventually. Immortality always has loopholes." She laughed. "Well, I don't think yours does."
"Oh, trust me, there's probably something somewhere." her happiness in the face of death worried me.
The wind shifted directions suddenly, and it became much colder. I inched closer to her. "Cold?" she asked. "Come with me."
We flew together to her house, outside Everfree. As we flew, I couldn't help but admire her batlike wings. No matter how many times I flew with her, I would never stop looking at them. They were so unique, like the tattered cloth of an ancient hut waving in the breeze. But they were beautiful in their own unique way. She caught me looking, and smirked as I blushed furiously.
In due time, we had arrived to her house. A lone cottage, surrounded by trees, in an open meadow by a river. I tried not to bump my horn on the roof as I went through.
Celestia stood on her balcony, overlooking the land. She'd done it. Almost. She had all the land in Equestria for her kingdom. Except... that.
There was a forest out in the distance. Normally nopony would pay it a second glance. I mean, its just a forest by the Capital. But one with a general's eye knew better. And Celestia was one of this eye.
It was perfect. In front of the two mountains' pass, in a plain, by the sea. It could not be any better. Some rulers would see the forest and see just that. But this, this would be Celestia's. She had to see this.
If you wanna do something right, you have to do it yourself. "Iron Curtain, can you guard my room? I'll be out for just a bit." the gray guard saluted, and Celestia flew off.
Is it really as perfect as she thought, or is she overimagining it? The Noctrals were indeed extremely protective of this specific area. They didn't last long, though. A pity that her general was so... destructive. He luckily got... erased by some of them.
Nope, they weren't wrong. This is amazing.
It was much more than she could ever ask for. The ground could have been salted and it would still be great. But the ground wasn't salted. Not only was it a perfect control point strategically, but in other ways as well. Just look at it. The land's fertile, the water's clear, the animals are abundant- its magnificent. This will be here capital. Screw Canterlot. This is where it's at.
She could start building tomorrow, a grand city, a wondrous architectural miracle a- what's that?
Down in the corner of her eye, in a lone clearing, was a house.
It must be deserted, one left over from the war years ago, simply just a- the door closed, just in time for her to see the flash of a dark mane.
The Noctrals are still alive?
Maybe this one will be friendly... it cannot be said for now. Best to wait...
"You really don't have to do all of this for me," I assured her. I didn't come here for a meal!
She waved me off with her hoof. "Its fine. Really."
I know I can't keep up this arguement. She's really generous.
"It'll be ready soon." She walked into the kitchen.
I looked around. It was a nice house, if run down. This whole valley used to belong to the Noctrals. Now... just Lorelei. My sister's expanded our empire, stretching out into here, this distant Everfree. But theres nopony here. Me and Lorelei, we get to be alone here... away from them.
She used to have more land. Then her family, friends, they were all killed, and yet she acts as if she's fine. She probably isn't.
If she is angry, she probably isn't exactly enraged. Nor will she want revenge. Lorelei wouldn't do that. She isn't the kind to stay mad at anypony.
I really wonder how she does it sometimes.
"Uh, Your Majesty, we found this." a pegasus scout flew into the room.
"What is it?"
He opened his hooves and let a small, round object roll delicately onto the floor. "Is that... an acorn?"
"Not just any acorn. Come with me." he went out onto the balcony, and Celestia followed. Drawing back as far as he could, he quickly threw it out into the air.
"What is it supposed to do?"
"Wait a bit... wait... there." the acorn hit the ground outside and began to hiss. After a few minutes, it blew up into a golden shower.
"We found thousands of these out in the forest. You've seen these before, haven't you? They are bombs, from the Noctrals... we can only assume some of them are still alive. They do grow on enchanted trees, but not this many! What do you plan to do?"
Celestia weighed the choices in her mind. To put down a rebellion would be a great achievement, and it would save her nation. Morale, prestige, and harmony would go up. But what if this scout was wrong? Fruit does fall off trees naturally. To relentlessly kill the few survivors of a great, unwanted war would not be the wisest thing to do. Nopony would want that.
But what if they were indeed attacking? That would be a threat to her nation. Many lives would be lost.
She decided it. The hut shall burn.
"Well, its been fun staying here, but I probably shouldn't be a burden any longer." Her cooking is... unique... edible... umm...
"You sure you don't want to spend the night?"
"Yeah, its best I leave while I can. Don't want my sis to know I'm here. She might burn your house down."
"That wouldn't be good."
"Nope. Well, I best be off. Bye!" I quickly opened the door and flew off, literally blending with the shadows. Being Princess of the Night has its perks.
I thanked the guards on the way in. Those two are the only ones who know about my... excursions. Well, off to bed.
Within minutes I was off to sleep.
How will we go about this. A full-scale invasion isn't exactly discreet. Or more importantly, practical. A small team is best. Or one pony, even.
But it was best less ponies knew about this. More knowledge can lead the population to panic, or revolt, or something. What would you do if you learned the war wasn't over? That there was still running threat of an attack? You wouldn't be happy.
Yes, its best that she should do it herself. A quick fire spell, maybe this will be over. The fire would have to be quick. A flash burn. Yes... this will work...
How to do this...
She pulled a spellbook down from the shelf. This spell... it will do nicely.
Preparation was easy. It was a spoken incantation. An earth pony could do it really, but that kind of power shouldn't just be let loose into the public. Everything would go to hell in a handbasket. Well, time to test this out.
"Lemme see if I can pronounce this right... Rah- ruh- ruhtri- ruhtra de- dyoll. Ruhtra Dyoll." A fire quickly came to life above Celestia's hoof. "How do you use this," she muttered. She waved her hoof around. It seemed to always follow her hoof. She tried putting it out with water. It didn't seem to be like normal fire. In frustration, she threw it. It hit the ground and started to burn the carpet.
"Buck!" good thing nopony's here. You need a good 'Royal' persona as monarch. She threw the bucket of water onto the fire, but it didn't dissipate. It kept burning fervently.
The fire began to spread, eventually pulling a full circle around her. The flames flared to a steady rhythm, like the beating of an unseen drum. Somewhere, Celestia could hear distant chanting on the wind, the ancient cries of a fallen nation.
The words, they did not matter. Its meaning, it came through. It filled your mind, the images of a thousand years of the sun's wrath.
Celestia walked back in horror. The fire followed her. She flew out the window. It attached to her wings, a blazing trail of smoke, a comet in the night sky. The fire, it came with her, it was her.
Wait... that's a good idea.
The drums beat ferociously into the night, a cape of flame following them.
Well, there's certainly advantages to being the younger sister.
Yeah you don't get as much power, and that's a downside, but that's the pluside also. You get to do whatever the heck you want. Like visiting random ponies in the wild at three AM.
"Lorelei!" I called up the mountain. She's usually out by now. I heard no response. She's probably tired; I shouldn't of made her cook... if you can call it cooking.
My voice echoed, lonely, off the cliffs.
I climbed up the mountain, and entered her glen. She claimed her life force was tied to a tree around here. I don't understand the importance of this meadow. I guess its pretty. There's flowers on the ground, a clear spring in the middle, a few trees all around... I guess its nice.
I'm bored. Since I'm here already, why not. So which tree was it... the one with three branches facing the lake. She said no others had branches pointing towards the lake. I can't find it. Well there's one, with two branches facing- wait, what?
I walked around the circumference of the tree, which was no easy task; that thing was huge. By the time I got to the other side, I saw the problem.
In the middle, a huge scar in an ocean of trees, was a giant burn hole. I could still feel heat radiating off of it. I turned around. There was a path of burn marks all around it. I followed it.
This seemed to be like where it started. So where did it stop? I hope Lorelei's okay. I was really scared by now. I don't know how this whole immortality system of hers works, with the tree. If it gets damaged in the slightest does she die? Is it like, it takes the whole thing to kill her? Or is it like a sympathetic magic thing, like, she might have a serious burn, but no real injuries. Or is she lying? Is she mortal? Or is she fully god? I cannot say. I want real answers.
Where her house used to be, there was nothing but a pile of ash and a scorched field. Surrounding what used to be her home, was a large ashen circle, the insignia of the sun. I looked upon it in horror.
"We did it," I heard a voice behind me. I turned to see my sister.
"Wh- what?"
"Its over. She's gone now."
"D- what?!" my sister... killed... Lorelei?
"We have the whole country now. Our nation will be safe. There are no invaders." she was mocking me. I thought she didn't know about me and her. Of course she did. She's making fun of me.
"Y- you... killed her?!" Surely she knows. She's rubbing it in my face.
"I did what needed to be done. Look out into the distance! That is all ours." She doesn't care about the nation, or the ponies living in it. She did this all to anger me, pain me, mock me.
There was a fire beginning inside of me. It wasn't fueled by sadness or any of the weaker emotions. Wrath, revenge, hatred. They brought me, they give me strength, they are my parents, my allies, my legacy.
A dull sound came from my throat, a gradual crescendo rising, the grinding of a black knife against altar stone. It rose, higher and higher, a pitch like the roar of an army.
It rose to a point and broke, a full on roar now, rushing more and more, uncontrollable, the flood, the fury, the rage.
I could feel myself rising off the ground now, my wings bringing me to witness my foe, my fiend, my torturer. My victim looked up at me in fear. She saw something I didn't. I see a fool before me. She sees an emperor, a commander, a god.
"Luna! What are you doing?! I just told you great news!"
My voice rang out stronger than ever before, a roaring ocean of untapped wild power. "I am not Luna. I am not your sister. You are a monster. I am not a sister to a monster. You killed my friend with the sun. You killed her nation with the sun. You brought me the pain, the suffering, the anger with the sun. Your sun will not rise again. Your 'nation' you just did a 'favor' is not yours anymore. The land, its my friend's. If she is not here, it is mine. I'm taking this all back."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"You very well know."
She was starting to run now. I saw a golden flash, her teleport to cower.
Driven by the rage, the sorrow, the fires, I flew. My horn glowed with the revenge of a million wronged souls, the nation of the Noctrals. They brought me power. With one brilliant flash, I was given their strength. The bat wings, the astral mane, the nocturnal eyes, they were mine, they were the gift, they were the boon.
I bore them with pride, for it would be last they would all see. Canterlot would be my first target.
By then, my 'sister' had thought she could stop me. She had the army out, a mere toy set in front of a goddess. In front of my eyes, entire legions threw their spears. A few pegasi flew at me. I pulled up a shield to greet them. They hit the blue barrier and fell, simple, disposable things.
They drew swords. I landed to confront. It did not last long though. My spells plowed through them all. I made my way up to the palace to confront my sister.
Their futile attempts were a blur in my eyes. If it moved, it would stop moving, and that was final. Within fleeting minutes, they were dead, all of them, a clear path cut to the throne. It would be mine. The city, the nation, the freedom, it would be mine.
Celestia, she was there for me. I glared at her. She looked back, eyes afraid. Her horn glowed. An invitation, yes? I started mine as well, a blast spell forming.
She did not have the same idea though. She pointed it at me, and a tendril shot and hit me. She dragged it up though, bringing her horn away. It rested on the moon in the sky. Her horn's light began to fade. She choked, tears in her eyes. "Goodbye Luna..."
I found her at the beach, by Deadmare's rock. "Luna?" I called softly. I hoped she still wasn't angry. A thousand years is a long time.
She didn't respond for the longest time. But a small sob came, eventually. "You did this, didn't you..."
I sighed. "I'm sorry I banished you. But it had to be done..."
"Not that!" she snapped. "You killed my only friend! How could you?!"
Wait, what? "Wait... that pony was your friend?!"
"Yes! And you did this to her! You killed her!" she pointed over to the rock.
"Luna... that's just a rock."
"No it isn't! I know it isn't! You burned her! She came here, to retreat, and you stopped her! I know you did it!" she was grinding her hooves into the sand.
"Tha- Luna, that's a natural rock formation-"
"No its not! You just want to forget! I know you-"
"Luna, its not that pony. She died in the fire in front of me."
"Wh- so you did kill her!"
"I do not deny it. I apologize, really."
"You don't know that! You don't know anything!" she backed down and began to cry again. "I'll never see her, ever again. She's dead now. I- wait... no. I will see her again. I WILL." She plunged into the water.
What was she doi- oh. Oh no.
She fought against the waves, trying to push in deeper. It was hard to see her, just a flail of water indicating anything. "Luna! You can't do this!"
She didn't respond. I watched in horror as she stopped struggling against the waves, and sunk down. I waited for her to come back up. A second. Five seconds. A minute. She did not arise. "L- Luna...?"
Five minutes. She still did not arise. I swam down, and brought her up. She was alive, very much alive. "Y- you..." she coughed. "You did this."
"Did what?"
"I'm not dead. I never will be. I'll never see her!"
"Luna, you aren't fully immortal."
"Yes, but that doesn't matter! I'm immortal enough! You did this on purpose!"
"Luna... it doesn't work that way. Immortality always has loopholes."
She heard that and stopped. "Oh..."
"What?"
"I know the loophole..."
She looked up to the full moon in the sky above us. She closed her eyes, and exhaled one breath. As I watched hopelessly, her body fell limp in my hooves, and the moon above me began to fade. This couldn't have just happened. Could it?
Sympathetic magic is a hard thing to do. There's no way she'd just be able to figure it out like that. Somepony must have taught her... somepony...
I could not see anything. It was all white. But after a while, it faded. I was really here. Land of the dead. I could meet her now. I do not know how, but I knew that colt in front of me was death himself. I approached him.
"Do you know a Lorelei?"
"Who?" he summoned a cabinet and filed through it. "We don't have a Lorelei here."
AN: I don't expect you guys to understand this all on your own. I will post author notes soon. Try not to think too hard about it. Happy Nightmare Night.