Cosmo Memory
A/N: This was a birthday request for a friend, to pair his OC with Luna. You know who you are.
You know, I was all but raised on tales of how Princess Luna was corrupted by Nightmare Moon and changed into the dark monster that wanted to shroud Equestria in eternal night. It wasn’t until I was older, almost 500 years following her banishment that Celestia told me the real truth. That there was no corruption involved, that Luna had simply been bitter of Celestia and wanted a bigger share of the pie for herself.
On one hoof, Celestia was right to do as she did, Nightmare Moon was a clear danger to the survival of her kingdom. On the other hoof, All Luna ever wanted was to get a bit more recognition. Many of the things that she wanted, such as an eclipse, a winter night celebration to rival Celestia’s summer sun, hell even just a slightly longer night every once in a while were actually quite reasonable requests. Celestia shot them all down however, calmly stating that she was eldest and that she knew best.
Now she knows just how naive she was, both of them do.
But before we get into all that, I should introduce myself. I am Cosmic Guardian. I suppose that you would call me an Alicorn, after all I do have the wings and horn of one, along with the immortality that goes with it. But what I don’t have is a place within Equestria. I was being groomed to take over command of the moon and the stars when Nightmare Moon’s little prophecy came true and she escaped. Remember that Celestia had intended to banish Luna for all eternity, none of that 1000 years crap that the history books will undoubtedly say she had intended.
I would have been quite well suited to the role too, my coat is even darker than Luna’s, with the occasional white streak running through my mane, a perfect replacement for Luna. My name, Cosmic Guardian indicates that I have a good control over the cosmos, and that includes heavenly bodies such as the moon. Ever since I hit maturity about 200 years ago, Celestia has allowed me to raise the moon once a year on my birthday as a treat, so I know that I can do it. This would have been the year in which I was to become the Prince of the Night if Luna hadn’t shown up. As it is, she guards her role as the lady of the night fiercely and Celestia has not spoken to her about our tradition.
Tomorrow will be my birthday and all I really know is that Celestia has a little party planned for me. Knowing her, she has hired one of those stuffy classical orchestras to play for us, a little background music because it’s not like we don’t have enough to listen to already. Personally I would have liked to get a little DJ I know to do something a bit more upbeat. But what do I get to say about anything, it’s only my birthday.
Still it would be good to actually meet Princess Luna face to face. She has only been back from the moon for a few weeks and has been in a self imposed isolation most of that time. From the pictures I have seen of her, she was a very pretty mare, her flowing mane of starlight attractive, but mostly I had always noticed her eyes, a clear crystal turquoise with a slightly sad look to them, as if she was always worried about something that was well outside of her control, but that consumed her thoughts anyway. Tomorrow I would get my chance to see them in person, and maybe even make them smile.
Despite my reservations, Celestia does know how to throw a good party. Most of the time that is. I’ve never been one for large crowds or even public spectacle, so the guest list was kept fairly short – only a few of the guards in my squad and the other royals, plus a token smattering of the Canterlot aristocracy. Of course, most of that last list were more concerned with sucking up to Princess Celestia than actually pretending that they were here to honour me. Still, I don’t need those frauds. Maybe if they had actually done something of value for Equestria, rather than live off the money that their ancestors had earned and invested.
When the sun went down however, was when the real party started. Celestia’s little orchestra packed up, and the aristocracy went home, presumably so that they could tuck their pompous little butts in bed. Luna help them if they stayed out for even a few moments after dark, they might actually live a little.
As the sun went down, the hard alcohols came out. The dainty little wines and ciders that the noble ponies tended to favour were put away, to be replaced by the hardest of the creature that my squad mates had been able to find, stuff that was worthy of being called liquor.
Also, as an unexpected surprise, Celestia brought out something I had not been expecting. It was the DJ that I had originally wanted to book. An alabaster white unicorn with magenta eyes. DJ-PON3 was quickly set up on the stage in the throne room and within moments she was dropping fat beats all over the room.
My friends disappeared for a moment, before emerging with a cooler filled with the hard booze that I had been wanting. Applejack Daniels, Naëgermeister, Stalliongrad Vodka.
While I might regret it tomorrow, tonight was going to be a blast.
It was about maybe my 5th shot of Naëgermeister that I saw her, her form slightly silhouetted against the light of her moon. Luna stood out on the balcony, her head bowed in concentration as she raised the moon. Even from a distance, I could feel the power that emanated from her slightly diminutive form. It was soft and subtle, an aura that reached out to the moon and gently caressed it into rising and beginning its journey across the night sky once again. It was nothing like my own power, with which I would tend to simply bludgeon the moon into doing my will. Luna’s grace was something else, something that I would never be able to match, even on my best day.
It wasn’t until Luna’s head turned sharply and her eyes came to rest on me that I realised I was staring at her. Those turquoise eyes flashed in annoyance at me, hinting at disapproval. She turned fully to face me, walking over as some of my buddies joked around behind me, trying to grab my attention. They would not be able to, My eyes were locked square on the pony before me.
Luna came over to me, her silvery blue tiara and amulet perfectly reflecting the night sky around them, appearing as if they had been forged from night time itself. Even though I towered above Luna, clearing even the tip of her horn, somehow I still felt intimidated by her. Here was a true Alicorn, the aura of power that surrounded her was unmistakable. Compared to her, I was still an immature child with not even a single millennium to my name, brashly seeking to find some way to prove myself.
Luna’s power was cold and measured, it promised the soft delights of a full moon, its radiant beauty and silvery light, but behind that was the coldness of the empty void. There was no doubt in my mind that Princess Luna could be as soft and kind as even the sweetest of mares, but cross her and you would feel the barren emptiness of the lunar surface.
For the briefest of moments, I think I knew what it was like for her to have been up on that moon…
“You must be Cosmic Guardian. We greet you cousin. We regret that we have not had the opportunity to meet with you before. We pray that the celebration of you birth has been a happy one.” Luna said, referring to me as cousin in the royal sense, not out of family relation.
Without waiting for an answer, Luna strode off, heading out of the archway and away from the party, not bothering even to stop and talk to her sister. Celestia and I watched her go, the sounds of the party fading away into the background.
I’m not sure how long I was staring at the arch, hoping that Luna might return. All passage of time became meaningless as I watched, trapped inside my own mind. After what could have been seconds that felt like years, one of my squad mates punched me on my shoulder, breaking my trance and bringing me back to the present.
Almost like a record spinning up to speed, the sounds of the party came back, increasing in speed and pitch until everything sounded normal again. Rubbing a hoof on my shoulder, I looked to see who had struck me. It was Iron Hoof, the practical joker. Of course it was him.
“Sorry about that Cosmo, you kinda Spaced out on us there.”
Behind him, the other members of the squad snickered and gave each other high hooves. They did this every time some of them managed to work in a space reference or pun when talking to me.
Normally I would have joined in right with them, but something was different this time. I didn’t know what, but their antics and humour just seemed infantile.
“Knock it off guys. That joke is wearing kind of thin.” I said, putting in an edge of steel into my voice.
“Aww, don’t be like that Cosmo, we were just having a little bit of fun.” Iron Hoof said, trying to get me back into a good mood.
“Sorry guys. I got something I gotta do.” I said and turned to leave. Everypony in the room watched me go, but none of them tried to stop me. Something had changed in the air of the party, melancholy had settled in rather early. As I left the hall, I could hear the music shut down and Celestia gathering the remaining guests around her.
I wasn’t interested in how ponies would react to my just leaving my own party. I had just suddenly wanted to be alone.
I wandered around the castle without meeting anypony, something that itself was slightly unusual, but in a stupor, I didn’t notice it.
After what had seemed like hours, I found my way up to one of the highest balconies in the palace, a place where I often went when, like now I needed to get away from it all. The balcony itself was bathed in silvery light from the moon, which hung full in the sky directly ahead me. While I knew it was likely just a trick of the alignment, it seemed that the moon was exceptionally large tonight.
So caught up in the beauty of the full moon, I didn’t realise that I wasn’t alone for some time. Off to one side, her head bowed before her was Luna. While she wasn’t making any noise, it was clear that she had been crying for some time.
“Luna, what’s wrong?” I asked her, approaching to a point that I could wrap a hoof around her.
Luna looked up sharply, clearly noticing my presence for the first time. “Cosmic Guardian, you scared me.” She put on of her hooves to her chest, as if to quell a rapidly beating heart.
“Please Princess, call me Cosmo.” I said, trying to put her at ease with me. “What’s wrong, why are you crying?”
Luna got up and looked out towards her moon. Her dark coat glimmered in the light, blending in almost perfectly with her night sky. “Celestia told me about how she had planned to replace me with you, that she had never intended for me to be released from the moon.”
I said nothing, just listened. Luna was clearly about to spill her heart, and to interrupt would have been rude.
“Everypony seems to think that I spent 1000 years on the moon as I am now, a pony that was free to roam around and do things. That was not the case. I was nothing more than a wisp of thought, locked away in cold unyielding rock. Do you have any idea what it is like to be trapped, blind and deaf, with nothing but your own anger? For 1000 years all I had was my anger and rage, and now I come back and find that nothing has changed, that ponies still shun my night, and that my own sister was planning to replace me. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be better if I wasn’t here. If I just up and left to some place else, would anypony miss me?”
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Luna was considering going away!
“Luna, you are wrong. There are ponies that enjoy the night for all the beauty that it brings. They look up at the sky in wonder and amazement. There are even some who are attempting to reach the moon themselves, simply because it is there. Come with me, I want to show you something.”
Not waiting for an answer, I grabbed Luna and took flight hauling her along with me until we reached one of the hills outside of Canterlot. There was no pony around besides us.
Pausing for a moment, I looked up at the moon and cast a spell upon it. Very slowly, the moon began to fade away from one edge, an unscheduled eclipse. Sure I would likely catch flak from Celestia later about this, but right now it was still my birthday and I was doing what I wanted.
“Cosmic Guardian, what is the meaning of this?” Luna asked, noticing that her moon was fading away.
“Luna, trust me. I know what I’m doing. Just watch.”
Over the course of the next half an hour, the hills around us and in fact all over Equestria came alive with ponies of all sorts coming out to view the strange lunar event. Through scrying portals, we could see that it was the same in almost every village – ponies were coming out from their homes and night time rests to see the moon.
I made sure to show Luna all the smiles and wonderment and everypony had on their faces. Some ponies even brought out telescopes to look up at the stars with.
As the moon vanished entirely behind a wall of shadow, a small group of foals came rushing up the hill towards us. One of them, a tiny filly with a golden coat walked all the way up to Luna.
“Um, Pwincess Luna. Thank you for the moon. It’s so pwetty.”
Luna looked down at the foals, each one gazing up at the sky with joy. She got down on her knees next to the foal who had spoken to her. “What’s your name little one?”
“Uh, I’m Golden Days, but I like the night best. Everything is so pwetty in the moonlight.”
A pair of adult voices came up over the hill. Moments later two mares appeared, making a beeline directly for the foals. One of them stopped when they saw Luna and me. “Oh, Princess. I’m sorry if these little ones were bothering you. They just wanted to see the eclipse so much.”
Luna waved a hoof before her. “It was no trouble, mayhap they have even been nice.”
The mare looked a little confused, but shrugged and collected the foals.
Golden Days was the last one to go. “Goodbye Pwincess. Do it again some time.” She said rushing up to hug Luna’s legs before the mare came over and pulled her away, apologising constantly to Luna.
Once the foals and mares were gone, Luna turned to me, her eyes once again shimmering with tears. “Cosmic Guardian, how did you know that would happen?”
I shook my head slightly. “I didn’t. I just knew that people appreciate the night more than you think they do.”
Luna’s eyes dried slightly. “You know, your spell was sloppy, far too much power bleed. I could train you, if you want.”
I nodded and began to cast a reversal spell over the eclipsed moon. In seconds, I felt a new wave of power envelop my own, filling up gaps in my knowledge and smoothing down the rough patches on other areas of my spells. Luna pressed her body up against mine to facilitate the merging of our magic and we both looked up as the shadows cleared and the brilliant face of the moon shone down over the land again.
Through the scrying portals that I had left open, we could hear ponies gasping and applauding the show. A few ever praised Luna for her majesty.
Time stretched out for me, the few moments that Luna’s magic was merged with mine seemed like hours. Eventually we separated and turned to each other. In Luna’s turquoise eyes I could see my own face reflected perfectly – my deep blue eyes and black coat, Very long forelock of my mane and a dash of white on the muzzle. I was sure that Luna could also see herself in my eyes.
Almost without thinking, I moved in and our lips met for a moment. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, or even a tender one, just a quick peck from somepony to another that they had just realised that they loved.
Luna didn’t respond for a moment but her eyes told more of a story that words ever could. Our lips met again and this time there was no holding back. Luna relaxed into my body, allowing me to hug her in close.
Luna eventually broke the kiss away and rested her head over my shoulder.
“Thank you Cosmo, thank you for all this.”
I didn’t respond to her, I just kept on holding the princess of the night in my hooves, allowing her to feel safe and loved.
We spent the rest of the night on that hill, looking up at the stars and marvelling in their beauty. Luna pointed out some of the lesser known constellations and I continued to show her examples of when ponies had appreciated her night.
Eventually the sun began to come up and Luna prepared to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Just as she was about to do it she stopped.
“Cosmo, would you like to do this one?” She asked me.
I didn’t wait to reply, but grabbed the moon in my magic and gently lowered it for its day time rest, making sure to apply all the things that Luna had shown me before.
As I finished, Luna came up and gave me another kiss. “Come, my Cosmic Guardian. Come and worship your princess of the night.”
Luna flew up and away from me, angling herself towards the castle. I had to leap off the hill and flap hard in order to follow behind her. Luna wasn’t even trying to loose me, but she did anyway, she seemed to be able to vanish into any shadows that were present, reappearing a moment later in another place that there was no logical way she could have reached, laughing all the way.
As I weaved through the towers, following the playful princess, I spotted another figure watching us out of the corner of my eye. Celestia had finished raising the sun and was watching us dart around like little colts and fillies.
We locked eyes for a moment, and in that moment she nodded slightly, a fractional incline of her head, but it was all that was needed. She knew what had happened last night and she approved of what I had done.
That knowledge gave me an extra burst of speed and I nearly caught up with Luna, batting at her tail with my front hooves. In response, Luna vanished, teleporting away from me before reappearing on the balcony of her chambers. She looked at me, beckoning me to come down as she folded her wings away and walked into her darkened rooms.
I followed as quickly as I could, landing and following her steps into the chamber.
Inside, Luna was already spread on her bed, enough space was left for me as well. taking the hint, I walked over to her and climbed on next to her.
She instantly draped herself over me, head resting on my chest, her ears right over my heart.
For the first time in a long time, I was not just happy, but at peace.
Everything was going to be ok.
