Lunar Memory
By Mordy
Prologue: Luna Landing
The sun had set, the moon had risen and the goddess retired early. It had been quite the long and eventful day in Canterlot. What was to be a happy day filled with the smiles and joyful tears quickly became a nightmare of fear. It was the wedding of Luna’s niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadance for short, but it quickly turned sour as the beloved niece had been replaced by the changeling queen Chrysalis. Thankfully, to the efforts of her sister’s pupil, Twilight Sparkle, the queen had been revealed, her niece rescued, and the changeling invasion thwarted.
Luna however, was nowhere to be seen when these events had taken place. She was most definitely not sleeping during her nieces wedding and was most certainly not sawing logs so hard that she didn’t hear the changelings invade the kingdom. What kind princess would she be if that happened?
The alicorn princess of the night sighed dejectedly as she thought of the answer to that question, “We would be a terrible princess,” she said aloud to no pony in particular as she walked alone to her quarters. She had done exactly all of that, slept through all of the events of that day. Sure everything worked out in the end, but that didn’t make her feel any better. What if she had been there? Things could have turned out better than being such close call.
She had also embarrassed herself in front of her sister and Elements of Harmony. Her sister Celestia didn’t do it in front of everypony, but when they were alone she was scolded for not being there. And she wasn’t even mad because she wasn’t there when the changeling invasion. She was mad because Luna was about to sleep through her niece’s wedding!
Luna shivered at the thought of how angry Celestia had been. It was not often that she got angry, but it was scary when it did happen. She was thankful that Celestia had been so forgiving and was very happy when Luna was actually there for the rest of the wedding and the reception. Something she too was thankful for. It had been a lovely ceremony and very fun reception thanks to the efforts of the bouncing pink puff of a party pony, Pinkie Pie.
A yawn escaped Luna’s lips as she finally entered her room. Normally she would be up this late at night, but being awake through most of the day and a late night party had left the princess of the night tuckered out. She approached the bed made of silk colored in deep blues of the night, matching her coat. Her hoof brushed away her mystical starry mane out of her eyes as she looked at her bed like an old friend or long lost lover. Her long horn let off a blue aura as she removed her crown and regalia as she slipped under the covers for a well deserved rest.
Unfortunately, she didn’t feel that she deserved it. The lack of help she had given during the invasion still haunted her, tugging away at the sleep that she desired. Another heavy sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and thought about it all again. She wasn’t there when she was needed most, she got lost in her dreams, and everypony she cared for nearly suffered for it.
She opened her eyes and sat up, “Never again!” She was careful not to shout in her Royal Canterlot voice, “We will never allow ourselves to be away from our loved ones sides when they need it most!” She took another deep breath and whispered out to herself, “Especially you Tia. We don’t want to lose thou again. Especially not because of thee….” She shook her head as she started speaking more in her old archaic language than before. She had gotten better since Nightmare Night thankfully, but old habits die hard.
Luna then felt some of her guilt fade due to her promise and her body began to relax. She unfurled her wings and laid her head back on her pillow. A smile dared to spread across her face as sleep began to take her.
*ERROR ERROR ERROR*
MEMORY CORRUPTION DETECTED
EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN AND BACKUP PROTOCOLS INITIATED
Forgive me… it’s for your own good….
Luna’s eyes shot awake, her breathing was normal, but she felt like she had just awakened from a nightmare. She tried to remember, but found nothing. Only the guilt from the night before that had been alleviated by her promise. She felt unusually well rested. She knew she had gone to bed early, but felt like she had slept far longer than she normally did and wasn’t she supposed to lower the moon soon?
Her head noticed a faint blue light from beside her bed. She noticed there was a nightstand next to her bed. She never recalled having that before, at least not that close to her bed. She took noticed to the little black box on the stand. From inside of it were glowing light blue numbers covered by see through glass or plastic. Luna squinted her eyes at this and noticed that there were two letters glowing too. She leaned in closer to get a better look through her somewhat blurry vision. It said 8:42 AM.
Oh, it’s a clock. That’s helpful! She thought and smiled as she let her eyes close again. She was still being amazed by the advancements that had been made since her banishment.
A realization struck her like a rock and she shot up in her bed, “8:42!” she shouted out and looked out her window to see the night sky still, “I need to lower the moon!” She panicked and shot up, throwing on her regalia and crown. It seemed to be just one humiliation after another due to her over sleeping. And she wondered if ponies were going to panic if they realized the moon was still in the sky. Last thing she wanted was for them to thing she became Nightmare Moon again to bring about the eternal night. That was the last thing she needed.
A thought occurred to her as she finished dressing. Why hadn’t Celestia got her up? Why hadn’t she raised the sun or even try to set the moon herself? Sure she might have just respected Luna’s authority over it, but then she could have woken her up. Was she letting her sleep in and letting Equestria have a few more hours of cool moonlight? It all felt very odd to Luna. She started to get worried and her thought rushed to horrible conclusions like the changelings returning.
She rushed out into the hallway and slipping into her old Equestrian and even her Royal Canterlot voice, “WE’RE SORRY, WE’RE SORRY! WE OVERSLEPT AND… huh?” she was greeted by a deathly quiet hall that only echoed her loud voice through it. She expected there would at least be guards, but there was no pony in site. She shifted nervously and cantered down the hallway fairly quickly. It was well lit by magical orbs, something she never recalled being there before, but she was preoccupied by more important things. Like why the sun wasn’t up or that no pony had come and got her up when she overslept.
She got even more worried the further she got. There was still no pony around. Only the echoes of her hoofsteps could be heard and it was becoming eerie. Her canter became a full blown sprint, her eyes shifting all over as she peered down halls or peaking into rooms to see if some pony was there, but wherever she looked there was nothing. Only the empty castle walls greeted her. As she passed a window she looked up at the night sky. Countless stars covered it with its majestic beauty and she got lost in her sky for a moment. However, something seemed odd, amiss, but in her worry she shook her head and ignored it.
Finally she arrived at the back entrance to the throne room. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open, fearing the worse. It wasn’t as bad as she thought though. She had half expected changelings or some other menace inside, but it was also empty. This made her glad nothing had wormed its way into the castle, but at the same time didn’t take away her sense of dread.
The throne room was well lit, the same magical lights made it seem as if it was daytime if and could fool most ponies if they didn’t take a look through the stained glass windows and caught sight of the night sky that lingered still. She stared up at it for a moment again. A nagging feeling was at the back of her head that something was missing from her sky yet at the same time, nothing was.
She sighed dejectedly as she walked to the center of the room. Luna wanted to figure out what was amiss, but now was not the time to worry about that. There were bigger things missing, like everypony else. She turned around ready to start her search through the rest of the castle when she looked up at the throne and huge wave of relief washed over her.
Sitting on the throne was her sister, Celestia.
Celestia was a beautiful white alicorn with the sun as her cutie mark and a rainbow mane that flowed even though there was no wind. She was the princess and co-ruler of Equestria, though if you asked anypony they would say she was the real ruler. She always took charge during the day when more problems would be presented by the ponies that were awake.
It was a mixed blessing for Luna because she got to avoid most of the bureaucrats and insistent whining from the nobles. At the same time though, she rarely felt like she contributed to the kingdoms well being. The one time she could have made something herself and aid the kingdom was completely lost to her need to sleep in.
Luna approached the throne, speaking to her sister as she did, “Oh thank goodness we found you!” She was finally calming down and was only speaking of herself as more than one pony now instead of speaking in Old Equestrian, “Why did you not wake us dear sister?” She asked growing a bit worried that his might be some form of lesson or punishment from her sleeping in during the wedding. But as she approached the throne she noticed that Celestia hadn’t even acknowledged her yet or maybe not even aware that she was there. Her eyes were distant, staring out into space and she seemed lost in thought.
Luna approached the throne, “Sister?” She spoke softly as she sat just off to Celestia’s side, looking at her expectantly. More relief filled her as Celestia finally seemed aware that she was there. She turned her head and cocked it to the side slightly, part of her mane covering her right eye as she did.
She looked like she was ready to say something, but stopped and put a hoof to her mouth as her eyes rolled up to look at her forehead as she began to think. She did this for a little while, Luna not wanting to interrupt her thoughts, just stared blankly at Celestia. After a little while she looked to the floor still in thought. She looked like a child who had been given their first hard math problem and was carefully counting in their head. A few more seconds and she brought her eyes back to meet Luna’s. She stared absent mindedly at her and then a smile cracked on her face, “LUNA!” She shouted out in a cheery and almost child like voice as she raised her forehooves in the air.
This caused Luna to jump at the unexpected outbreak. She fumbled with her words to answer, “Umm… y-yes?”
Celestia smile broadened and she closed her eyes and clapped her hooves together while chanting out, “Luna! Luna! Luna!” She reminded Luna of a filly who had just learned to speak her first word and was then given praise by her parents.
Luna was a bit dumbfounded by her sister’s behavior, but then she remembered that the sun need to rise and she had to set the moon. She’d have time to question her reactions later. She reached out and grabbed her sister’s hoof with her own, “Come sister! We have no time to dally; we must raise the sun and set the moon!” She tugged on Celestia and she offered no resistance as she let Luna drag her along. As was pulled she kept chanting her sisters name while giggling like a daughter walking with her mother to the park.
As Luna pulled her sister through the halls to go to the nearest veranda so they may begin their ritual, she finally asked, “Sister… Tia, where are the guards? Where is everypony?” Her only reply back was her sisters continued happy sing song of Luna’s name. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips and she thought it best to worry about this odd behavior after their duties were finished.
After a few minutes they finally reached the doors to one of the lower balconies. No sense climbing up to the taller towers to perform duties that could be done on one of the lower ones. It was a bit of an emergency as they were very late on the lower of the moon and raising the sun.
Luna pushed open the doors and quickly dragged Celestia out. It was fairly cold out, but nothing too bad. Just a little bit nippy, a temperature she enjoyed quite a bit. She sighed and looked up to the night sky. It was inky black and filled to the brim with stars. Then that nagging feeling came back again that something was off. She finally noticed one of the things that were odd. The sky’s color for one was a near pitch black at the time being; usually it was more of a literal night blue when it was this close to morning.
She shrugged it off; she had a moon to lower! Luna quickly scanned the sky and it finally hit her was had been out of place. There was no moon. The sky was completely devoid of her most sacred orb. Her jaw dropped and she scanned every corner that she could see and finally shouted in the Royal Canterlot voice, “WHERE’S THE MOON!” She searched the sky again, turning up empty hoofed. Meanwhile, Celestia was still singing out Luna’s name cheerfully and had giggled when she used the Royal Canterlot voice.
Luna dropped her head, catching a glimpse out into the horizon as she hung it in defeat. However, she noticed something when she let her head sling down. She quickly shot her head back up to look out from the castle. Normally one would be able to look out from the castle and see almost all the land of Equestria, but that was not what was before Luna right now. All she saw was dull gray rock that stretched as far as she could see and she could also make out many craters here and there within stone surface.
Her eyes grew wide and she slowly turned to her sister, “Tia….” She whispered out to Celestia who finally stopped singing when she noticed her horrified gaze. Luna then shouted out the million bit question, “WHY ARE WE ON THE MOON!”
Lunar Memory
By Mordy
Ch1: The Keeper
Luna paced herself around the throne room shaking her head and trying to control her hyperventilating. Celestia sat on one of the twin thrones. Luna didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed that there were now two thrones instead of one from what she remembered, but this castle obviously wasn’t the same Canterlot castle. Sure, it had a lot of similarities, but there were some key differences. The throne was one thing and the strange glowing magic orbs within the halls was another. Now that she was more aware and awake she found that the banners and decorations were more in her favor now. Crescent moons decorated the tapestries and the colors that adorned the halls were her blue, black and white. There were occasionally hints of Celestia’s, but overall everything seemed more devoted to her.
Luna summed up that the castle was simply a replica adorned in honor of her it seemed. Like a getaway home though she would wonder why she’d need a full blown castle for a getaway. The journey to the kitchen would be arduous for a midnight snack. Though it would have kept her in better shape and would likely result in a tighter sexy plot than a certain cake loving alicorn.
Speaking of white alicorns, Luna had long given up on receiving any help from her sister. She was in a world of her own, one that involved bobbing ones head left and right while humming a carefree tune. Something was obviously wrong with Celestia, she could tell that much. Of course whatever it was beyond her current knowledge. She needed to figure out why they were here, how to get back, and why her sister was… mentally ill to put it nicely.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she walked up to her sister to watch her aloofness, envious of her current ignorance. She sat right in front of her and just stared complacently at her. After a moment Tia stopped swaying and bobbing and opened her eyes to stare back at her. A cheerful unworried smile plastered her face as they just stared into each others eyes. Luna actually started to feel more at ease while there eyes met.
It was then she noticed something else that was out of place. She was able to stare directly into Celestia’s eyes. Before hoof she would have to look up, but now she was able to look into them at eye level. It finally hit her that she was as tall as her sister if not taller than her now. Something she’d be very cheeky about if not for their current situation. The unfamiliarity of it was just making her more uncomfortable and annoyed than before.
She stomped away from the throne and breathed in before shouting to the ceiling, though without using her Royal Canterlot Voice, “What’s going on here?! Somepony answer me!”
Ding doo doo!
The melody of what sounded like the notes of a xylophone being struck replied back to her answer. Luna froze and her eyes shifted sporadically around the ceiling to locate the source of the noise. Then a very familiar yet unfamiliar voice rang around her in an echo that came from all directions, “Luna, please report to the Hall of Memories, thank you!”
She was dumbfounded by the reply and then called out, “Hey, who are you?! Also, where’s this Hall of Memories?” Her eyes continued to dart across the ceiling to locate the voice, but saw no pony.
It didn’t take long for her second question to be answered though. The floor underneath her suddenly lit up, revealing a line of glowing blue dots. They lead out one of the side doors of the throne room and most likely to her final destination.
She looked back up to the ceiling and hesitantly called up to it, “Uh, thanks?” She brought her eyes back to the blue dots and leaned in close to it. It was completely flat on the floor and she scraped her hoof against it, unable to move or pick it up. She looked back to Celestia who seemed to have ignored everything that had transpired and was back to her humming. Luna looked to the path and then back to her sister, “Okay Tia, you just stay there and… keep doing that. I’ll be right back!”
She trotted over to the door the dots was leading her to and she stopped to look back at her oblivious sister before making her way though the double doors.
Luna kept to the path while occasionally site seeing. Every so often she would pass by a window and be able to see the craters of her beloved moon and the beautiful tapestry of stars that coated the sky. So engrossed at the sightings of this, that she missed a turn and found that she was no longer on the path.
When she realized this and turned around she discovered a very interesting thing about her guided path. Looking down she saw that her new location that was down the wrong hallway now had the blue dots leading down the correct path from where she was. Experimentally she sidestepped to her right and as soon as she moved from her old location the path rerouted itself from her new one. A small intrigued smile crept on her lips and she started to pay more attention to her personal pathfinder.
As she walked along she looked behind her to see every step she took caused the lights to turn off behind her, preventing any possibility of accidentally getting turned around. There was no way she could get lost.
She continued to follow the waypoints as they began to take her down a spiraling set of stairs. For a moment she thought it would take her all the way to the dungeons, but she second guessed herself as everything remained furnished and decorated. The stairs and the waypoints lead her into a long hallway with a giant lunar steel double door. As far as she could tell there was no handle or anything to grab onto. Perhaps she just has to push?
The giant door was decorated with a strange symbol right in its center. A sideways crescent moon pointing upwards with what looked like a star tipped won jabbed right in its center. Upon the curves of the moon were featherlike wings. She found this symbol to be familiar, but didn’t know why.
She examined the double doors and could tell it would swing in. She tapped the metal with her hoof experimentally and then gave it a push. When it didn’t move she pushed a little bit harder, but again it remained still. Placing both hoofs one the large door she began to push with all her might yet it still did not budge.
She stopped and then snorted in her old dialect, “Why dost thou not open!”
The floor below her suddenly glowed with brilliant silver light, practically blinding her. A single line of blue light from the ceiling passed right over her then right back like she was being scanned. Once it finished, the light show turned off and then a feminine sultry voice spoke, “Welcome Luna, your looking very sexy this evening,” The giant doorway began to slowly swing inward.
Luna blushed at the compliment before looking around to see the voice’s source, but once again there was no pony around except her. She carefully trotted inside, the doors closing behind her as she passed the archway. Her body flinched when she heard the sound of them closing quite audibly. Once her heart rate returned to normal she continued inside.
Besides the extravagant carpet and the waypoints guiding to her destination, the hallway was quite barren. There were three doors in the hallway, not including the one she just came from. To her left was a door of gold emblazoned with a sun resembling Celestia’s cutie mark. On the other side to her right was a silver door emblazed with a crescent moon and stars. Obviously this was supposed to be her cutie mark and her blue dotted trail lead to that door. However, before she wandered to her destination her eyes peered down to the largest door. This door was had carvings of the moon and stars along with the familiar symbol she had seen on the door she just entered from. Lunar steel was also the make up of the giant double doors, but it was even bigger and thicker than the one she passed. It would probably take tremendous amount of force to get through it.
She stared at the door a few more minutes wondering what was behind it before shaking her head and cantering over her room. As soon as she got within hoofs reach of her decorated door it quickly shot up into the ceiling, opening the way for her. She leapt away in surprise like a frightened house cat. Immediately the gate came back down sealing off the room once more.
After absorbing everything she just saw, Luna reached out with her hoof towards the door. Once she was close enough the same thing happened again and it shot up into the ceiling. Retracting her hoof brought it back down. She repeated this a few more times with a bemused look in her eyes.
Cautiously, she walked forward, the way opening once she got close enough and she quickly stepped through. The door closed once more after she made her way in.
The room was a dome and very plain as far as she could tell. The only notable things that stood out were the emblem of her cutie mark at the center, the fake stars that dotted the domes ceiling, and at the opposite end of the room was a small throne of midnight blue with her mark engraved on the backrest. Placed on the thrones seat was a replica of her tiara, but upon the tips of this crown were little gems that let off a very soft glow like the stars.
Looking back to her guiding lights she found it ended just before the emblem on the floor. She carefully walked forward, her hoof steps clip clopping against the stones that seemed to be dark blue with the current lighting. As she stopped just above last blue dot she watched it fade away and then let off a soft sigh, a bit sad to see her strange magical guide go.
As her head went back up she was greeted with a most unusual sight. Standing right before her was… herself. It wasn’t a reflection from some mirror as far she could tell. For one it was smiling very widely at her which she was not doing and then there was the fact she could see it from multiple angles within the space it occupied above the emblem.
Then she/it started talking, “Greetings Luna!” Her copy lifted a hoof to wave at her. Luna immediately backpedaled and let off a yelp of surprise.
Once she regained her bearings she glowered at her clone and then growled out, “What art thou? One of those changelings, masters of mimicry?”
Whatever her other self was it seemed to ignore her questions, “Sorry to say I can’t speak to you in pony, but I’ve left you a recording to let you know what’s going on,” Luna cocked her head and flicked an ear at the word recording. And what did she mean by not speaking to her, wasn’t she talking to her right now?
It then continued, “So, it seems a surge happened and that has corrupted a lot of the servers. Luckily the backups remain untouched. Due to the severity of all these corrupted files I have to devote all my focus and power to repairing everything. Once I’ve got most of that stabilized I can return to my normal duties. Until then please take care of Celestia!” With that her counterpart seemed to freeze in place with her eyes closed and a bright smile on her face.
Luna stared dumbfounded, after the message that made as much sense as having a castle on the moon. Apparently to somepony, this was all very logical and she couldn’t fathom what pony would consider this to be anything, but insane.
Examining the seemingly frozen mare in front of her she finally got curious and reached out a hoof to nudge her. She soon learned that this castle on the moon would never cease with the surprises as her hoof passed right through her clone causing a small magical static discharge from the area she touched. She didn’t feel anything when she did this and she looked at her hoof to find no damage.
She just stared blankly as a set of hoof sized glowing flat boxed numbers appeared before her in three rows of three with the number zero below the nine. The numbers all went from zero to nine and her fake once again spoke, “To repeat this message press one!” It waited a bit before speaking again and repeated this wait after each successive mini message, “To hear this message in neighponese press two. To hear this message in a Trottingham accent press three,” Her final option was the most enticing to Luna, “In case of catastrophic emergency press zero!”
Luna pondered for just a moment why that option would be the very last thing somepony would say before she reached out her hoof to touch the flat square that held the zero. She amazed when her hoof touched the luminescent number that it was actually solid. The boxed number glowed brightly for a moment and a soft ding was heard for her confirmation as she lifted her hoof off of it.
The numbers and the copy of her disappeared with what looked like a teleport spell with a blue glow similar to her magical aura. She was now all alone in the room and she wondered if she was supposed to do something now.
That loneliness didn’t last long as flash of blue light appeared before her and her other self was once again before her, but unlike last time this version of her was in a much more panicked state and far more lively. Her clone’s eyes were mere pinpricks and she started to yell at her with noticeable stress in her voice. It was unnerving hearing her own voice. Actually, she didn’t think it sound like her voice at all, but ones voice did tend to sound different when coming from oneself.
“What?! What is it?! Is it a meteor shower? The shields down? Space pirates? Space dragons? Space Ghost? Supernova? Are we about to crash into a planet? By the goddess, don’t tell me those awful vampire romance novels survived the furnace!” She quickly sputtered all this out about a near Pinkie Pie rate. She was staring at Luna now with her body jittering.
The only thing Luna could think of then was to reach out and touch this fake her once again. Once again her hoof passed right through as if she wasn’t there. However, unlike last time it actually reacted to this. At first it just looked to Luna’s hoof then back to her and she yelled out at her causing Luna to jump, “Luna focus! What the hay is going on that you need me right now?!”
Luna just started back and replied with annoyance in her voice, “Thou tell us!”
The fake Luna’s eye twitched, “You had me drop everything I was doing for nothing?! I left a brief message that explained everything!”
Luna growled, “Thy message or whatever explained nothing to us!”
She gaped at this, “Explained nothing? The servers are corrupted and I need to do back ups. How could that not be any clearer?!”
“We doth not know how a servant could be corrupted and how backing thyself up will fix that. Also,” She paused thinking of much better question, “Who art thou fake?”
The other Luna blinked a few times at the question and seemed a little hurt by it. Then in a much calmer voice she asked, “You… don’t know who I am?”
“No,” She deadpanned with a hint of venom in her voice as she was not amused by any of this.
Her copy was taken aback by this and looked the floor for a moment finding her hooves more interesting before returning her gaze, “Luna, tell me, what year is it?”
She quirked her head at the question and wondered why that was relevant, but answered anyway in hopes of having her own questions answered, “It was, according to my sister, the 1002nd summer sun celebration.”
Fake Luna closed her eyes in though as she seemed to try and remember something. Her eyes shot opened, “Oh dear, that’s not good.”
Luna raised an eyebrow in anticipation for an explanation. Her copy soon gave an answer, “Okay, Luna you have amnesia. Well not really, per say, but the easiest explanation is you are suffering a form of amnesia. Oh this must all be so overwhelming for you.”
“No kidding,” Luna rubbed her head wondering how she could have lost her memory so suddenly, “How did this happen? How much time are we missing? Days? Weeks?” She swallowed and stuttered out, “Y-y-years?”
“This has to do with that corruption I was talking about. I’ll explain later though. As for your other question… years,” She answered with a frown
Luna’s gaze became distant and she calmly asked the next question, “How many years?”
“You don’t want me to answer that,” she replied while adverting her gaze.
“How many years?” She asked again with some rise of anger in her voice.
“For your own sake I am choosing not to answer. It isn’t as bad as it may seem, but the way you are now, answering that will… cause more panic than necessary. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about,” She saw Luna anger and panic rising regardless, but continued, “When I finish my duties I will come to you and explain everything. I promise! I’ll even Pinkie Promise if that makes you feel better,” She smiled at Luna, but when she just gave her a bewildered stare she then remembered something, “Oh, that’s right, you didn’t know what that was yet.”
“Thou promise to answer all of our questions?” She asked while looking at her fake sternly in the eyes.
She nodded to her, “All that I can. Until then, you need to look after Celestia. I’ll check on you every once in awhile,” Her horn glowed with an exact aura as Luna’s, but before she released her spell she then answered one last question, “Oh, my name is Memoria by the way and you can trust me because,” Memoria smiled softly at her, “You did create me and made me the keeper of your memories,” Her spell released and she teleported away.
Luna sat on her haunches staring at where her copy, Memoria, had been. She lost herself in thought at the prospect that she had made that clone of her if she was to believe her words. With a deep breath and a sigh, she started her trip back to Celestia with more questions than ever before.
Author's Note
Been awhile and sorry for the wait. Not my best writing ever, but should keep you all interested.
I'll admit, I didn't answer the years question just because I haven't decided. The amount of time passed is significant to all of this. I'll figure out something appropriate eventually.
