The Night of Lunar Collection
"You will stand watch here, and permit no pony entrance. Fail me in this, and I'll have your families executed, and their heads displayed in the public square while you're all held starving in irons nearby. Is this understood?"
Each of the twelve stoic centurions stood as stone, only their mouths moving to acknowledge the order in perfect unison. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"This does not exclude my sister. SHE ... above all others must NOT be allowed inside." At this she could suddenly see the slightest twinges of doubt in their expressions. She sighed. No threat of death would have kept this set of guards from allowing their Sun Goddess passage. In her mind she yearned for the age when she owned command over her personal army, each unshakable warrior ready and willing to give their life if she required it. She found, in the modern age, she missed them terribly.
"Very well. If she arrives, give her this." She levitated a sealed scroll towards the commanding officer. "I do not anticipate her arrival but it's best to anticipate such things."
The dark blue alicorn moved toward the heavy iron door. Her horn gathered a sparkling indigo radiance and the door swung inward. "Take positions now." As the guards fell into a formation she entered the stone room, swinging the door shut behind her.
*****
Darkness met her, enveloped her body and swirled through her thoughts as thick as smoke. Her concentration brought the outline of the magical circle into view, a deep inset of runes surrounded the chamber. Their dark blue shine glowed more intensely as her focus intensified. When she spoke, her voice was low but strong, carrying the authority of the thousands of years in her station. The words were of the ancient Lunarian tongue, a language long forgotten by the ponies of the Sun, but still as potent as ever in their hold over forces of night.
“Hear me now subservants of Ruk, for I speak to you in my own name and in the name of my Father who created the void and the night's breath. I, who am your master, command you. Open now the gate of Orothrix and cast away the subfuscon veil. It is the appointed day and hour, and all the bindings of our covenant remain intact. You will NOT deny me of this. You will open the Tie's Way and allow passage for the one I beckon. I hold now the link that binds us. You will find her, and bring her to me.”
Her horn's glow returned as the circle of arcane symbols pulsed with a bright enough light to illuminate the ornate stone ceiling. From her saddle bag she levitated a thin chain necklace joined to a metal ring which clasped around a tiny sealed vial. Inside a sliver of ornately etched, navy blue moon-metal began to rattle against the glass. The necklace swung down over her head allowing the vial to rest against her chest. It began to glow, giving off a black light, in a pulsing rhythm to the moon princesses own heartbeat.
“I can feel it … you are here. Come to me.”
A darker patch of shade within the room twisted and expanded, slowly leaking a dim violet light, forming into a slowly spinning nebula of star light. The Princess stepped toward the spacial disturbance as the vial tied around her neck began rattle and glow more intently. Slowly the swirling groups of light combined into a larger form, pulsing in time with the glowing shard trapped inside the necklace glass. From the center of the turning mass, a crimson point of light faded into existence, quickly growing until it had reached the size of a hoof. Ever so slowly it moved away from the spinning nebula, drifting a few feet above the floor. As it floated forwards a faint indigo outline leaked out of the center of the light, much like ink twisting into a still pond. After it had fully materialized, the darkened mirror image of Princess Luna stared out at her with star glow eyes, reflecting the coldness of space through a gaze. The deep red nebula light remained in its chest and pulsed with the steady rhythm of the glowing shard around the Princess's neck.
“I'm happy to see you again Luna.” The voice was echoing and light, reminiscent of dew drops falling off the upper tier of a wind-chime to sound the lower sections as it struck past.
“I am as well. It's the first time, you know, since … ” Luna's voice stuck in her throat. She felt the tension building in her chest, and her eyes closed as she looked toward the floor.
“There, there. No need for tears now.” As the dark form moved to her side the stars of the night moved through her coat and mane, just as clearly as if one were to slowly pan a telescope across the sky after sundown. She reached out to touch the alicorn on her shoulder.
“There's every reason for tears now, and I have to shed them here and now, while I'm still able.” Her weeping brought forth an open stream from each eye that ran down her face and dropped to the floor collecting into shimmering pools at her hooves, each reflecting the star-light that emanated from her approaching companion.
“Has it gotten that bad already?” The night form took a half step backwards as her star eyes narrowed slightly.
“It took effect immediately after your departure.” Luna lunged forward placing both her front hooves squarely on the floor inches away from her darker image, and stared into the star laden eyes with tears still streaming down her own. “Please. Forgive her. Just forgive her and return to me. We can all start over and -”
“No.” The emptiness of the abyss of space was carried with the word, and the light from the starry eyes grew suddenly very cold and distant. “There was time for that before. She saw what was happening and dismissed it. I can not yet forgive.”
“Do you not remember? She didn't know it had gone that far. She never meant for it to happen that way.”
“It hardly matters what she meant. What she DID is what we shall always remember. No. I can still not forgive her for that.”
“You know that she did what she had to. There was no other way.”
“There is ALWAYS another way, and another time and another place, and although you may have done so, I can not forgive yet.”
Luna peered into the hard blue-white eyes that burned rage back at her before stepping back and lowering her head. “I … I can't even enjoy a meal. I can't relish the feeling of a warm summer wind brushing against my coat in the evening. I'm-” She was cut off as a sob wracked her frame in mid sentence.
The eyes of the darker pony image lost all indications of anger as she leaned in toward the Princess of the Night Sky.
Luna straightened and sniffed loudly, brushing tears from her face before continuing. “I'm unable to feel the joy in a song, or the camaraderie of a simple talk. I can no longer feel the wonder that came from looking up at our starry night sky. I can't hear them anymore, the stars, when they try to talk. And the worst part is that I have, until this point, been unable to care at all. Please … PLEASE. Don't let me go back to that. I don't want to live that life anymore.”
“I … oh, Luna, I'm so sorry, but we both knew it would be this way.”
“Knowing it and living it are entirely different things. Please, make this stop!” She scuffed her hoof on the floor to punctuate her sentence.
“We can't do that yet. Even if I were to say that I forgave her, it would be untrue. If I were to return now, the Nightmare would certainly return with me. We can not allow that. It can NEVER be allowed to happen again.”
“I … oh, I know. But standing here now, so close … “ Luna looked down again in silence as more tears rained down.
A pitch black hoof reached down to Luna's chin, lifting her head upward. “Our time will come, Luna. We will be whole again. Time heals all hearts, but we must allow it to do its work. It can never be rushed. That is the only way to be truly healed.”
“ … but … when?” Luna's voice came out as half whisper and half sputter.
“It will not be now. It will may not be the next time either, but it will happen. It will happen.” As she said this the dark figure began to step backwards toward the spinning violet constellation matrix. “
“NO! Please, just a moment longer … “ Luna started forward but stopped as her shadow self pointed down toward the edge of the magical circle. In her haste, Luna had almost allowed herself to step outside of the barrier.
“We both have our limits in this place. I can stay no longer. I am sorry.” As the night pony stepped backward into the spinning apex of light, streams of silvery light dripped from the stars in her eyes and floated through the air, free of the constraints of gravity.
“I am too … Goodbye.” Luna watched as the swirling circle closed with a final flashing shimmer, and the floating silver light vanished into the ceiling. The glow around the small piece of metal slowed to a halt, and the blue alicorn's heart once again became a hardened chunk of ice.
*****
As the heavy iron door creaked open, Luna muttered the spell word that instantly adjusted her eyesight to the brighter room beyond. She was not surprised to find the guards gone, nor was she alarmed to find her sister sitting just outside, her back toward the door. The white alicorn waited as her younger sister closed and locked the chamber, and only opened her eyes as Luna approached from behind.
Luna walked forward and stood parallel to her sister, looking straight ahead. There was no expression on her face as the Sun Goddess looked expectantly towards her.
Luna closed her eyes before speaking. “Perhaps next year.”
The sun princess slowly lowered her head to the floor as she closed her eyes, her brow furrowing tightly together. She remained seated as her sister made her way down the long winding marble hallway.
As she moved, Luna looked out the windows lining the one side of the hall. It would be time for the sun to rise soon. She quickened her pace. She had no desire to see the dawn, and she would have to move quickly if she were to find the names of the errant guards before she retired for the day.
