Luna found it apt that she stood in the ruins of her past.
She closed her eyes and sighed softly, as leaves skirted around her legs. The kiss of the early autumn wind nipped at her ears like a playful puppy. The fading rays of the evening sun crawled through cracks adorning the walls. Were the windows still intact, the sunlight would have shattered against the panes to refract into brilliant hues that would dot the pristine tile floors.
But there was no glass or tile here. Just half-ruined walls covered with dust and spider webs.
She tilted her head up to look at the orange sky, dotted with white puffy clouds. It wouldn’t be long before the night fell.
Her attention was pulled momentarily by the sound of hooves crunching on leaves near her. “You know, ponies have tried to contact me in some of the strangest ways, but I think this has to take the cake.”
Luna hummed. “I do apologize, but you are quite the hard mare to reach, Ms… Do? Or would you prefer Yearling?”
“I appreciate the compliment, Princess. And Daring Do is fine.” She paused to look around the site. “I assume this is business related, after all.”
“In a way.”
Daring joined Luna in the middle of the ruins, staring up at the sunset.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Luna sighed wistfully. “It was even more vibrant when it was whole.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Daring replied, squinting towards the sun. “This Castle is yours, isn’t it?”
Luna frowned. “Yes. It belonged… belongs to me and my sister. I understand that Celestia abandoned it sometime after my banishment and has left it in its current state.”
“Shame,” Daring said. She scuffed a hoof against the dirt before speaking again. “If I may ask, why did you ask me to come here? Sorry to be so direct, but it’s not every night a Princess visits your dreams and asks to meet.”
Luna chuckled softly. “Quite astute. Ms. Do, it is my understanding that you have a certain appreciation for the past, whether that be artifacts or legends.”
Daring’s chest puffed out as she smiled. “That puts it lightly, if I do say so myself.”
“I seek your assistance in…” Luna tapped her chin in consideration. “Disposing of certain items.”
Daring raised an eyebrow.
Luna’s horn glowed, and she levitated over several large cloth bags hidden behind a rock. She nodded, granting Daring’s permission to look through them.
The pegasus pulled the first one open and let out a sharp gasp. “Princess, is this…”
“Yes.” She fought the urge to clench her jaw. “This is the armor I wore when I became Nightmare Moon.”
Daring snapped on a pair of gloves, procured from a vest pocket, and removed the first piece of armor. The helm glowed faintly in the dying light of the evening, rays bouncing off its smooth and polished surface.
Luna watched her work with amusement. “The armor has been through much worse than a pair of hooves. It is far from shattering into a million pieces.”
“Call it a force of habit then.” Daring set the helmet back into its bag, turning her attention to the longer object next to it.
Sunlight glinted off the sword, bouncing off into the sky. Daring let out a low whistle and ran a hoof along the flat side of the sword. Luna watched the archeologist handle the blade like one would handle a newborn.
Near the hilt was a single word, carved right below the guard: Eyasluna.
“Young hawk moon,” Daring translated.
“A reference to a title long forgotten.”
Daring nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “I’m familiar. Ancient titles referred to Celestia as the young eagle, and you–”
“-the hawk,” Luna affirmed. “Though it has been many years since we have borne those titles.” Her grin wavered. “I’m afraid I may have taken to the name… a bit too well. Hence my original request.”
“You want to get rid of this stuff,” Daring guessed.
“Are you familiar with the Hawk’s Funeral?”
Daring’s eyes widened. “Princess, you can’t be serious! One of those hasn’t been done in hundreds of years!”
“Then perhaps you’ve forgotten the context.”
“I think I remember it quite well,” Daring countered. “Princess… What exactly are you planning on burying with this?”
Luna tilted her head. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“You want to destroy these?” Daring cried incredulously. “These relics, they belong–”
“In a museum?” Luna scoffed. “Please. This world has more than enough reminders of the atrocities I committed as Nightmare Moon.”
Daring was quiet for a second. “History is full of such reminders, Princess. We can’t ignore them.”
“I have no desire to be a young hawk,” Luna said. “That mare is long since dead. I see it fitting that her armor be buried with her.”
“I…” Daring sighed and bowed her head. “As a historian and archeologist, I vehemently disagree with this.”
“Noted.”
“But, if you are so bent on destroying these, then I guess I’d better be there to make sure you do it right.”
Luna gasped, hoof flying to her chest. “Why! I lived through these traditions! You dare to suggest I would conduct them incorrectly?”
Daring cracked a smile. “No offense meant, Princess. But the materials needed for this aren’t exactly common anymore, not to mention that something like this would definitely not be approved by Celestia.”
“Bah. What would my sister know,” Luna grumbled.
“Not my job to say. But if you do want to do this, and again, my stance is that this is a big mistake, I can arrange it.” The pegasus pulled off her gloves and stuffed them in a pocket. “I’ve got to make some calls, but I’ll be in touch. Should I send a letter?”
“No need, I’ll simply find you.”
Daring shuddered. “...Right, you’ll just poke into my dreams again.”
Daring straightened herself, giving Luna one last fleeting glance. “Your majesty, do you… really think this is what you want?”
Luna didn’t answer.
Eventually, Daring flew away, leaving only the wind and leaves to keep Luna company.
Eyasluna.
Young hawk moon.
What a silly notion.
Luna stared at the ponyquin in front of her, fully dressed and suited in her Eyasluna armor.
It stared back at her.
For a second, she considered blasting the entire thing into a million tiny pieces. But with the patience Celestia had taught her, she refrained.
The stories of Nightmare Moon had run rampant in the years of her banishment. Stories of the noble and benevolent Celestia banishing an evil that Equestria had never seen before were written and etched and painted. Legends that birthed myths, myths that birthed tales. Luna had seen them all now.
She had seen how time had made folly of it all.
A painting was hung in the Canterlot Museum of National Art. Her features had been reduced to black, wispy tendrils, spilling out of a twisted suit of armor and brandishing a sword of stars. Bearing down upon a calm, serene Celestia, about to unleash the fury of Harmony on the creature above.
It was wrong.
It didn’t capture the fury Luna had felt then. It didn’t capture the pain in Celestia, fully aware that the course of history would be forever altered by her actions. It didn’t show the jealousy, the vanity, the anger that had fed itself into that moment.
The Eagle and the Hawk.
Luna frowned as the name of the painting echoed in her mind. Eyasluna, a word now forever tainted to mean all things dire and evil.
A legacy, shattered.
A destiny undone.
She wouldn’t stand for one more relic that stood for nothing.
Her horn lit up as she began stripping the mannequin of its garments, frowning the entire time.
Young hawk moon.
Perhaps once. But never again.
The waves crashed into the shoreline again and again, as if trying to crawl their way up the sands to rest at Luna’s hooves.
Daring was waiting for her at the agreed upon beachfront, with the gathered supplies and materials.
“I hope you’ll find them acceptable,” was all Daring had said, before retreating to a nearby fallen log to scribble in a small book.
The boat laying in the sand was… far better than what Luna had been expecting.
It had been carefully sculpted, the wood painted and hardened using techniques long fallen out of favor. Patterns had been carved by horn into the sides, intricate and precise. The armor had been carefully laid within, nestled in a small pile of flammable materials.
“I’m impressed. How did you procure a raft on such short notice?”
Daring glanced up from her book with a wry grin. “I know some ponies. Called in some favors, spent some bits, nothing too out of the ordinary.”
“...the wound on your face suggests otherwise.”
“Oh, this?” Daring laughed amicably. “It’s nothing. Just got a little bit sidetracked. Tends to happen in my line of work.”
Luna hummed.
“I hope it’s all fit for your requirements?”
“Very much so,” Luna confirmed. “Shall we begin?”
Daring hopped off the log, shedding her pith helmet. “Grab the other end and we’ll push it towards the water.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, then lit up her horn to heave the entire watercraft in the air.
“...ah, right,” Daring coughed bashfully.
With a wry grin, Luna easily guided the boat to the water, where the waves beckoned hungrily.
Daring sighed, trotting up to her side. “Princess, I’m still not convinced that all of this was a good idea.”
Luna didn’t immediately reply, instead glancing up towards the moon overhead.
“Before you go through with this, I have to ask. What’s the story?”
“Hm?”
Daring gestured to the armor. “The story behind that armor. Who made it? What was it for?”
Luna snorted. “What does it matter? You know very well what it means now.”
“I’m not interested in what it means now. I’m interested in what it meant then.”
The stars glittered above them, as if the universe was leaning in to listen.
“Hm…” Luna stared off at the distant waves, crashing again and again towards the shore. “The armor was crafted many thousands of years ago. Lord Cold Quench, last of the Gilded Legion, first of the Tomorrow’s Guard. He was like a grandfather to many, and from the forges of Golden Blade, he cast the Eyasluna.”
The blade glowed faintly in the moonlight, as if responding to her name.
“There wasn’t much of an occasion. I was roaming the halls when he stopped me, gazing at me through his glass eye and grizzled beard. ‘Lass, ye be in need of a blade,’ he said. And with that he took to the forge, not emerging until he had a sword in his hoof.”
Daring gently removed the blade, wrapped in some cloth. “It’s a marvelous blade. This is one of the best crafted swords I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Luna sighed fondly. “Aye. Once I learned the art of fighting, I spent many hours in the armory. Lord Quench knew the story of every blade and arrow within, each one crafted meticulously and precisely.” Her smile twitched into a frown. “But now the name is mired, dirtied by a fatal mistake I made thousands of years ago.”
Daring ran a hoof along the flat side of the sword. “Maybe not.”
“Pardon?”
“Maybe not,” Daring said again, eyes flicking up towards Luna. “I mean… Obviously everybody knows now what happened with Nightmare Moon. But this sword, this armor. It’s more than a reminder of that. These relics, they have stories in them. And if you destroy them, they’ll burn too.”
Luna squinted at the pegasus.
“I mean, think about it. How many swords and armor in this condition exist today? And one made by Lord Quench for that matter.” She raised the sword slightly and it glowed brighter in the moonlight.
“I…”
Daring’s eyes softened. “Princess, I know you’ve lost a lot. But in these things are memories, memories of ponies that you knew and respected and loved. Do you want to destroy those too?”
Eyasluna.
Young hawk moon.
“If you’re still unsure, it doesn’t have to be given to a big museum. I have a small collection of items for myself, I could keep it safe if that’s what you’d prefer.
‘Eyasluna, lass. It means young hawk moon. That is what you are. One day, young hawk, ye will sail beneath the silvered moon. And ye will spread your wings to touch the stars.’
The echo of a thickly-accented, gravelly voice rode gently over the distant crackle of a fire, accentuated further with the sound of hammers clanging against metal. The ghost of the memory clung for a second before dissipating, leaving a tiny ache in Luna’s heart.
She blinked and her expression changed again. “Well. Is that what all of this is for then? You wish to put my items in your own collection?”
Daring’s eyes widened. “No, that’s not what I mean at all!” she blurted. “I was only–”
Luna laughed, smiling kindly. “I jest,” she reassured Daring. “But… you’ve swayed me with your words.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes. Perhaps Lord Quench would have preferred for his works to be destroyed in a Hawk’s Funeral, but I’d prefer to honor his memory in a more tangible fashion.”
The hungry sea roared as another wave smashed into the shore. It would have to be fed another day.
Daring nodded rapidly, gently removing the armor pieces and sword.
“You may keep or give them as you see fit,” Luna said. “I trust that they will be in good hooves with you.”
“Of course. You can count on me,” Daring said, barely able to hide her joy any longer. “But, uh. What about the boat?”
Luna shrugged. “I… don’t know. Perhaps a refund is in order?”
“Nah, those ponies can make six of these a day. Say, I got an idea. Why don’t we launch this thing anyways? I’d hate for a good sacrificial boat like this to waste away in a storage room somewhere.”
“I…” Her eyes flicked up to the sky. “Oh, why not. Let us proceed.”
It didn’t take long for the boat to be shoved into the water. The ocean quickly claimed it, drawing it further and further away from the coast.
“Your majesty,” Daring said, presenting a bow and arrow.
Luna took the weapon in her magic, squeezing one eye shut and aligning it with the distant boat.
Daring lit the arrow on fire, then signaled to Luna to fire when ready.
The princess took a deep breath, holding it for a second as the waves beat against the sand. When she exhaled, she let the arrow loose, letting it fly along with a single word: Eyasluna.
