It Is Always Best Forgotten

The graceful Ali-corn walked silently, still portraying that seriousness in which she had introduced herself with. Whatever the matter was, it was serious. Not because she was the ruler of Equestria was he going to suspect that being serious is a part of what a ruler should be. No it wasn't because of that, it was mostly thanks to his friends, who had a sense of worry above their heads. He could somehow sense their unease at the Ali-corn's serious demeanor. This wasn't natural to them, so it wasn't natural to him either.

Her beautiful mane swayed in the air. Strangely, this kept his thoughts busy of all things bad. It was nice taking his mind off of current events. They weren't as calming and pretty as he would've liked them to be. There was still two major parts to what was going on inside his head. The awesome and the pretty bad. The awesome told him that he was in Canterlot, and he was in front of Celestia, and also that Fluttershy was around. This was more than anything he dared dream of as a child. The awful side told him that the vision felt increasingly... dangerous... as time passed on. Not to mention that they are becoming a night's rest major topic of his restless sleep. And on a minor subject, he was hungry down to the bone, realizing that the last thing he had to eat was Fluttershy's soup which he could still picture and taste. Although that made him more hungry, it still somehow managed to keep his mind straight through the endless rumblings of his stomach which thankfully, no pony has heard of, which spared him a great deal of embarrassment.

There are two types of embarrassments that he has been able to clearly point out. Being praised, although flattering, he just didn't like for other ponies to think highly of him. That was inevitable by Rainbow Dash's conversation every time his name popped up and with a lot of help from Fluttershy as well, and also being sought as in some form, kind of pathetic. Far as he knew, no pony had eaten anything since their trip, or at least Fluttershy. They probably could've had a snack when they woke up the morning after his unexpected show down with the Shadow Bolts, which he still dreaded to think about. He wondered about what the other ponies were feeling right now.

Then his mind straighten itself out again as he realized that they might've been worried about Princess Celestia's unconventional outburst of seriousness that seemed to be so uncommon and rare that surely would be uneasy to be around if you knew the Princess herself in an everyday or regular basis situations.

Then he went back to wondering what Celestia was thinking about. Surely she knew about his father since he had been an ex guard. And maybe he could find some answers from her as well. Whatever that thing was, and whatever the visions might be, he needed to tell her, not in front of anyone though.... A great sense of danger would overwhelm him from the visions after and whatever memory he still had of them. The least he wanted was to see his friends injured. No... He wouldn't stand for that. He had to tell Celestia... she has to know about this... and if there is even the slight possibility that she could somehow help him rescue his sister... nothing would get in his way of saying it.

Except maybe, a series of unfortunate events. This later made him focus on other things like how hungry he was due to a servant pushing a cart full of sweets and other goods with his nose. He did an unexpected turn towards the servant, greeting him with some sort of new self-esteem that he'd acquired, mostly because the servant was another colt, still unsure why he felt strange around mares. Focusing on the matter before hand he did small short jumps towards the cart.

"Oh hey hey!! Psstt heeyyy!!" a big grin splattered all over his face trying to reach the servant's ears so he'd stop before leaving off on a corridor he didn't know.

The servant turned around, a humble face of a regular colt turned to him, unlike the defined and picture perfect ones of the nobility around Canterlot.

He shook his hand wildly, grinning like a mad man, trying to make himself as enjoyable to this one pony to maybe get something off that cart just because the colt liked him. This didn't turn out to effective since a strange look of "Oh my god he is so strange! Get away from me!" filled his expression.

"Oh uh... I'm sorry I didn't mean to frighten you. Ya see, I've been on this journey and I haven't had much to eat since like..." he paused recalling certain events. His eyes grew in awe at himself. "5 days now."

He turned to look at Fluttershy for the amount of day's confirmation that he'd been without eating. Then he felt pretty stupid. Very stupid indeed. Every pony was looking at him with rather amused smiles. Even Princess Celestia. It seemed she snapped out of her extremely serious, serious pants form. She had that warm smile she had greet them with before.

"Oh my, it really has been 5 days hasn't it? I guess we've just been so busy we have forgotten about it." Fluttershy said, sensing his deep wonder about the subject, although he was blushing from humiliating himself just there.

(By the way, ponies have bigger stomachs than said. If the Soup had filled him up, it would be like he hadn't eaten anything for 2-3 days. And then since Equestrian days having unspecified time calculations then who knows right?)

With everyone still watching him, and him watching them, he slowly took an apple from the cart and stuck it in his mouth and went over to them, sitting his flank on the ground waiting for some response from any pony if it was okay or not so he could just spit it out before taking a bite.

Everyone laughed at his silliness which in term made him feel good. Celestia chuckled to herself as she watched him.

"If you were hungry you should've said something in the first place. Sir Cookie, can you send that cart with us please?"

"But your Majesty. This request was from Prince Blueblood." the servant tried explaining

"I think he can wait" she said giving the servant a wink which gave him a smile.

"Thank you, your majesty"

He eyed the cart very closely as the group of ponies walked down corridors and hallways, occasionally eating one or two treats on the side which earned an amused glance from the servant pony pushing the cart.

"Princess Celestia, I was wondering... How does Canterlot stay balanced aside a mountain without as little as support?" he asked, a harmless question right? Wrong!

"Well why doesn't Cloudsdale just drift away with the wind?" she responded back with a question which confused him more than he could already possibly be. She giggled to herself, like she had somehow expected his reaction.

"Most of Equestria works with magic." Twilight said, easing his brain pain a little.

"Magic?" he quizzically asked.

"Magic is the hopes and dreams that every pony has. Although we cannot truly define what magic is, the safety and peace of Equestria lies within the wishes of all the resident ponies. All the strange and bizarre things you see in Equestria are the result of magic, the hope and dreams of a pony." Princess Celestia explained

He thought to himself, tracing back to his victories of those corrupted. Magic... The hopes and dreams of a pony... isn't that what a cutie mark is? He glanced over to his flank, the bright shine of the two small yellow shards facing away from each other. Although still a mystery, he thought of what he wanted to do with what he still had of his life. And that was much more than he could wish for. Living isolated from everyone is rather difficult, since you don't ever think of what you want; you just do what you must to survive. But this was different, if he would've been alone, he wouldn't have fought back that Ursa Minor or the Shadow Bolts. He protected those he cared about. If anything, that's what he wanted to do. That's all he wanted to do.

He noticed a definite change on his cutie mark. Two more shards appeared, those pointing away from each other but in the middle of the other one. It was like if each hand was pointing to one side. Like the compass rose hands. He didn't mention anything, Celestia's mane still distracting him from dark thoughts.

Princess Celestia stopped at a dead end.

"Sir Cookie, that would be enough of your loyal services, you can retreat to go tend to Prince Blueblood now. Thank you again." she said, waving off the servant pony that was happy to oblige eagerly.

After the servant was out of sight, Princess Celestia turned to eye the dead end. A single wall that looked no more different than any around them, shining brightly like a marble wall should. Her horn started to shine and a square part of the wall suddenly moved, dust falling from the edges. A small walk way appeared leading down in a spiral staircase, illuminated by several green torches that sunk into one block of the wall. Without a word, Celestia continued her trek down the staircase and everyone followed.

"What about the tray?"

"You can take it with you" she replied back.

He grabbed the cart with his mouth, pulling it down the staircase, making occasional bumps as it fell at each step hurting his jaws a bit more. Then it stopped as he hit flat ground. Everyone kept walking so he kept pulling the cart, looking backwards, and catching sight of the walls being bookcases of many many books, small orbs lighting the room in a soft glow.

Then his bottom hit the side of a table, catching him a bit surprised and making him jump a bit into the air and go down by hitting the rim of the cart with his chin. Not such a pretty sight.

Fluttershy instantly dashed to help him and asking if he was okay or not. He simply brushed them off by saying he was and that it was nothing. When he turned around, hitting the cart full on with his teeth wouldn't be enough to make him drop his jaw this bad. He stood before a dark blue coat Ali-corn with a sky-blue mane, a crescent moon for a cutie mark.

Luna.

He only felt himself get knocked out again by some unexpected force, but this time around, it was expected. He had this huge thing of being fan-struck to Luna, and being able to meet the Ali-corn, he would've died if it wasn't for everypony trying to help him to him up.

He looked to stare into the sky-blue eyes of the Ali-corn he had spent ages wondering and thinking about. This ultimately made him shyer than his usual self and blush. It was like gazing at the beautiful night sky. It was amazing. More than amazing, a truly marvelous spectacle by all means.

He stood up, her gazing eyes following his face. I'd be totally lying if I said he would have been composed. He was acting more like a little filly than the tough stallion he should be. He basically fell to the ground sideways again like some sort of stiff statue and rolled to the side until he hit a bookcase, then he turned his face towards the book case and covered it with the biggest book he could find. He was blushing up a mad man. It was like if her eyes had touched the inner him in a way he would never be able to explain.

He heard an unrecognizable laugh. Cute and gentle, warm and so smooth. His heart burst at the sound. Why was she tormenting him so? They had just met and she was already giving such punishing blows to his sanity of what his emotions felt.

There were just so many things he was literally dying to ask Luna. It felt like life was draining him every second he was missing the opportunity to talk to the whimsical Ali-corn that he'd spent a childhood dreaming of. He got up quickly and walked slowly and shyly towards the Ali-corn, having no eye contact, trying to be as confident; self esteemed, and composed as he could ever pull off in a thousand years. (Get it :D)

Every pony looked at him like he had finally lost his marbles, except Fluttershy. Her expression was unreadable. It was a mixture of different things. She had been able to understand him and his feelings ever since he had read her thoughts. It was like some magical bond was formed between them. Even he didn't know what he felt, but whatever it was it, her expression made him feel guilty inside.

He was still honorably excited to meet the Alicorn, A rush of joy growing ever more upon him.

"Hi sister! You brought guests as well, pretty silly ones too" her voice as beautiful as her laugh and clearly stating him in the 'silly' part.

"Well silly or not, I like him already, expected as the first born from Sir Levan and Lady Luminosity."

This struck him harder than the fact Celestia had known of his father's demise. Even he had never known his mother's name!

"Um, who?" he asked trying to see if he could poke some information out of her in some way.

"I know you have many questions, and I will answer them all. Some things you might not like what you hear." she responded as if somehow she knew what he was feeling. "Luna, could you get me the Book of Elven?"

The Ali-corn flinched as she heard the word. "Why would you need something of that sort?"

"There is something I need to see." she said calmly, trying to hide anxiety.

An ancient book got out of the bookshelves and floated in the air, into the magical grasp of Celestia and opened up at the tilt of her horn.

"This book is encrypted. Even with any form of magic, it would take a long time to guide through its pages. I haven't set eyes upon in more than thousands of years. And even then have I never read its full contents of what it holds. There are things that I did understand. These concern the fate of the future. The book itself was given to me by Sir Levan when he first arrived to me. This might take me the entire night, and I offer for you to stay within the safety of the castle, I cannot allow you to leave. So please, make yourself at home. Luna, please escort everyone to their rooms." Princess Celestia went up to Luna and whispered something into her ear, then went back to studying the ancient book.

"Princess, if it's not too much to ask... I was wondering if maybe I could spend the time with you. I won't be any trouble I swear. There are so many books I bet I can find something to read while you study." Twilight humbly asked the Ali-corn.

Princess Celestia turned her gaze from the book over to the lavender pony who was pouring her heart into the request." By all means Twilight, I've wanted to get some time with you. I would love to have you as company."

"As much as I'd like to stay, I want to fly around; I can't be cooped up in this low ceiling." Rainbow Dash stated while stretching her wings.

"Also if it's not too much to ask, I was wondering if maybe... I could visit the garden surrounding the castle?" Fluttershy asked having full self esteem towards Princess Celestia.

"Oh my, there are some amazing fashion designers in Canterlot; I wouldn't mind dropping a visit. I don't exactly want to stay in the castle after the events of the Gala." Rarity asked as well.

"And I wuz wonderin if maybe I too could go on out. I packed a bit of apple treats that I'd like to sell for the time till we get home." Applejack pleaded.

Celestial looked at the group of pony's begging eyes. She smiled and nodded. "I will have two assigned escorts for each of you though. They won't stay in your way but will supervise what you do and where you are. I cannot take any chances." she said, then turning to look at a pink pony who hadn't spoken all this time, which seemed really odd. "What about you Pinkie? Don't you wish to do something while in your time in Canterlot?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head in response of a no and yawned. "It's okay Princess, I rather just go to sleep. I'm beat."

Celestia smiled and waved the group of ponies off. Each one making their way out except for Twilight who talked about all sorts of things to Celestia as everyone left. Whole squadrons of Pegasi guards stood in the exit of the grand castle, filed neatly in two lines breaking apart as each pony made their way out of the castle. Pinkie Pie was escorted to her quarters by one guard. That just left him and Luna.

"Will you need an escort your highness?" one of the guards said.

"No thank you, I'm good for tonight." she replied sensitively as if not trying to offend them. They simply just walked away out of castle to guard any premises.

He followed the Ali-corn up multiple stairs and walk ways, and then one that lead to the outside, a grand balcony. It reminded him so much of his home.... but he knew he was too Far From Home.

A golden sunset stood over the edge of the horizon, almost escaping from sight. Luna's horn lit up in a purple glow. The constellations began to appear and the moon began to take its arc across the sky like every other beautiful night. He was at awe. He had never witness such an amazing spectacle.

She turned back to look at him, his mouth literally open in amazement. Luna giggled. "You certainly are a strange pony." she said between laughs. "And your name is?"

"I-I-Illuminous" he said stumbling at the sudden question and comment.

"That's a wonderful name." she said gently, smiling at him. He felt his cheeks grow warmer.

"Princess Luna..." he started, getting interrupted midway.

"You can just call me Luna, I prefer it that way." she said giving him another warm smile.

"Luna, in my life, I had heard many stories about Equestria from my father. Some good... but some bad."

Luna gave out a sigh as she turned away from him and stepping closer to the edge of the balcony, as she had somehow guessed what he was trying to say. "Back then I had committed a horrible mistake. I was stupid. It's just... I felt so unloved... I would work hard to bring in the night to its glory, and yet, everypony would disregard it as an inconvenience. No one appreciated what I would do."

"Your wrong." he said back to her. Catching her attention and making her look back to his gazing golden yellow eyes. "You're wrong; every day of my life I would stay awake nights just to be able to see the beauty of its wonders. I never believed my father's stories. He only spoke of the bad things. But seeing the night every day somehow made me feel like he was wrong. And being next to you now.... it only reassures me that." Illuminous' voice was strong and gentle, firm and assured of what he was saying.

Luna blushed at his praise; it only made it harder to look into his eyes. There was just... something about him.

"Thank you... that really does mean a lot... it wasn't truly my fault back then, yes I felt unappreciated. But that wasn't me...."

Illuminous walked slowly up to the Ali-corn and gazed into her eyes. "I know that feeling, more than you could possibly understand.

She looked back at him confused. Blushing as she stared into his eyes.

"I had lost all hope of anything, and even now I admit, I don't believe in anything anymore... it's just been... different... ever since it had appeared..."

"What did?"

The Nightmare.

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(Author's Note: Kay, this carried on a little longer than my usual chapters. But the more the merrier right? Anyways. I've been laying off for a while because i had to go to the doctor due to some chest pain. I might have a heart disease which will require some treatments and whatnot. But I'll do my best to try to finish up the chapters and end my story, even if it kills me... Literally.

Anywho. I hope you all enjoyed this new installment of the series. I was listening to a lot of fun songs, which inspired me to add a bit of comedy to the story. But I'm bad at making a comedy so I will only include it ever so often. Hopefully the Illuminous drawing will be done by tomorrow. And I'm hoping even more to be able to edit my 1st chapter to perfection so it can be submitted to EqD.

Thanks again for all of those who follow my story faithfully and to those who like my story, comment, and rate. Ratings are a big deal to me, if you like this story please rate it. You'd be doing me a huge favor and I'd have more morale to making these. Sometimes to tell you the truth I get a bit exhausted and ultimately dont want to do it. But I do it cuz I love it. Comment to let me know how you feel about it, I check up on the story quite often, and I love to hear feedback. Thanks again everyone!