It was Home
Princess Luna sat up near the window in her room within the Canterlot Castle; looking out across the city, the new city which she could call home. It wasn’t the same though, it may be grander on every scale except for what truly made home special. Even her room was unreal to her. The elaborately decorated chandeliers, windows, doors, fireplaces, dressers, drapes, and carpets; all of it seemed so fake. Even the portraits of her hanging on the walls are recreations of the originals, which had either been destroyed or looted from ruins a very long time ago. It seems as though she’s living in a fake world, and all she has left is her sister. She loves her very much, but she can’t help but to still feel alone.
“Is it alright if I may enter sister?” Celestia asked as she knocked on the room’s door.
“You may enter,” Luna replied.
“You’re up earlier than you normally are,” Celestia said as she opened the door and entered the room.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to rest comfortably,” Luna said.
“You should spend some time out Luna; I understand that your decision still troubles you,” Celestia said as she used her magic to pick up a blue flower and place it into her sister’s mane.
“How sister, how is it that I am able to help a filly to face her greatest fears when I cannot summon the strength to face my own,” Luna said sadly.
“When this filly faced her fears Luna, was she alone?” Celestia asked.
“No, she wasn’t. She had her friend with her,” Luna said, turning to face her sister.
“See sister, you may have trouble facing what you fear most, but you do not have to do it alone,” Celestia said.
“Perhaps you are right, but I cannot let my thoughts rest on this matter. I do not have to do it alone either I will have Elder to assist me,” Luna said.
“If that is what you wish to do, but what of those others you said to help by dreamwalking?” Celestia asked.
“He needs my help Celestia, and with Elder we would be a formidable team if we encounter trouble,” Luna said.
Celestia looked at her younger sister, Luna cannot let her feelings go over Terra and she can’t blame her for it either. Even Celestia has her doubts that Terra is actually dead. She certainly will not stand in the way of trying. He was her friend too, she remembers and misses him and all of their friends from the past just as much as Luna. Except now she has more responsibility, she cannot simply leave on a quest to find a friend lost in the past. Her kingdom needs her, it sounds bad to say but it is admittedly true that the kingdom can manage without Princess Luna for a while.
“If this is what you believe you must do Luna, I will not stand against it,” Celestia said.
“Thank you sister, I am finished being sad for myself and now I call for action. I will be leaving soon,” Luna said as she exited the room.
Celestia smiled, she wasn’t happy that her sister was leaving Canterlot but rather that this time she was caring enough to ask. Even if she refused her sister’s request to search for Terra she would have left anyways. After all, Luna does have a history of going to the extreme to do what she wants. It took a moment for Celestia to realize that, even though it is highly unlikely, it is very possible for her sister to let her feelings take control once more. She cannot bring herself to banish her, not again! This time Terra isn’t here to limit the sentencing again either, and even if he was he would most likely die trying. She wouldn’t put it past him either; he always did place others before himself especially when it came to her sister. The both of them worry her, her sister’s loving obsession, and what a great evil could accomplish with a creature such as Terra.
Elsewhere in Equestria the unicorn named Elder had made his way into the Everfree forest. He could sense that there were an incredible number of evil creatures stalking him, but it wasn’t the fact he was being watched that was the trouble, it was the fact none of them had chosen to attack him. He meandered through the forest, having a difficult time locating where the old kingdom was. All of the roads and paths had overgrown and eroded away over a thousand years, it took some time but he found the ruins of the city.
Elder stood at the end of what had once been Main Street where you could see straight down past all the stone structures and houses, stalls and bustling ponies coming from all across Equestria, all the way to the castle gates themselves. Now it was all dirt and piles of degraded rubble. Still it seemed it was only a few days ago that Elder had just left this place, the glorious home it was, and now it is nothing but rocks and dust. He wondered if anything remained of his home, if there was anything left behind of is family.
Using the mountain as a point of reference, as he had in the past except there were buildings then; Elder walked down Main Street and made several calculated turns until he stopped at a specific place in a field. This is it; this was the place his humble home stood over a thousand years ago, covered in thick vines and low foliage. Elder stepped into the center of the piece of land and charged a spell, a sphere of magic energy surrounded him then burst outward; blasting away the plants and the thick layer of dirt to reveal rotted wood and old stone. Elder stood only for a moment until the stone floor gave way and fell into a basement structure.
Elder stood up and waited for the dust to clear, and there was just enough light for him to see. In the basement of his old home there was surprisingly more left intact than there really should be. Of course any furniture or clothing that was down here is all rotted out and useless. There didn’t seem to be anything of use down here anymore, his weapons and armor he had down here were most likely looted ages ago. Elder brushed away dust and ash off of the edge of a slanted table that two of the legs had rotted out and collapsed.
Lifting a framed portrait that was lying face down on the table he couldn’t even find a word to describe how he felt. Through time the picture was faded, shriveled and even water damaged, but he could still see the smiling faces of a happy family, his family; himself, his wife, and his daughter. Elder set the picture down for a moment, he had never gotten to say goodbye to his little girl, she was at school when he left. It was his fault, he wasn’t there for his family! He chose to fight that tyrant Sombre instead of staying with his family. They were supposed to be safe, protected by the alicorns. Even if Terra had gone back to save more, to stop some greater evil, it wasn’t good enough.
“I want answers!” Elder growled to himself.
Lifting the frame Elder broke it open and delicately folded the picture, then placed it into a pouch strapped to his shoulder that somepony had given him from the Crystal Kingdom. He then climbed his way out of the basement and made his way across the barren land that once was his home. If nothing could make things worse he would find something that would. Elder came across a large ravine, a chasm into nothingness, only an endless dark pit separating the city and the castle ruins; everything about it was horrid, there was no telling when it split but there was almost no doubt that it was during the attack. Even those who had a chance to escape to the castle were cut off by an expanse of hopelessness.
There seemed to have been a rope bridge across the pit, but it seemed to have fallen. Elder had no trouble teleporting to the other side, then making his way into the courtyard of the castle. There was nothing here but stone ruins and forgotten history. He wandered through the remains of the castle, or at least what could still be accessed. Honestly he didn’t know what he was searching for here, but something told him he wasn’t here by himself. Odd shadows seemed to move in the corners of his eyes, and he could swear that whispers echoed through the halls.
As Elder walked through a hallway it grew increasingly darker. He cast a light spell but it was only swallowed in the darkness to the point he could see nothing. Suddenly the hall lit, it looked as it did a thousand years ago, except there were ponies running towards him. The castle orator ran ahead of several ponies that were running, within the group were Elder’s wife and daughter. Elder tried to run to them but couldn’t move. He watched as a horrible darkness chased the ponies down the hall, engulfing everything into nothingness.The orator sprinted ahead and fell before Elder, the orator crawled and placed his back against the wall and watched as Elder’s wife and child were pulled into the darkness screaming in horror.
“Get up. Orator you coward, get up and save my family!” Elder yelled in terrible fear and rage of watching his family so helpless.
The orator did nothing, only laid there, paralyzed by fear until the darkness swallowed him as well. Elder was then able to slowly back away, the darkness getting ever closer, but he was suddenly brought back to reality. Elder was struck by a bolt of dark magic and thrown into the stone wall of the ruined hallway. He instinctively rose up and fired back at his attacker, which was the shadowy skeleton of a pony. When Elder’s bolt hit it, the skeleton blasted away into nothingness. Even more appeared at both ends of the hall, there were too many here.
Elder teleported out of the castle and into the courtyard; where he was greeted by an even larger swarm of the shadow skeletons. There was no fighting this many of them here, so he ran. He ran for the mountain, if he could make it uphill he would have a better chance of fighting them. In between running and teleporting Elder would turn to fire back at his pursuers.
Nearing the base of the mountain there was an opening to a cave. He turned and started firing back at his pursuers once more. He hadn’t noticed until now that a dark mist would rise from the earth itself and form more to take place of those he destroyed. These were weak magic creatures, but it would take incredibly powerful magic to create this many this far out. Before Elder could choose to escape up the mountain he heard a blood churning roar of anger from the cave behind him followed by a frightening rumble that grew ever closer quickly.
Elder leapt away from the front of the cave, and as the skeletons closed in on him a great burst of fire swept from the cave and destroyed the skeleton shadows. Elder rose to his hooves and backed away slowly as a grand, green spiked dragon with holes in his wings, crawled from the cave’s entrance.
“Be gone shadow filth! You shall not claim me, not then, not now!” The dragon yelled out with a deep booming voice.
Elder began to back away to the forest, trying his best not to be noticed but he was sure the dragon knew he was already there. Which he was right; the dragon turned to him and lowered its head just feet away. Elder was more than ready but not willing to have cast a defensive spell.
“Unicorn! Do not give me reason to kill you, for any creature that is an enemy of the shadow is a likely ally to me. Though I am not favorable of your kind, why do you venture into these forests?” The dragon questioned.
“I was in search of a white alicorn with a fiery mane. The ruins of the old kingdom was a likely place to find him,” Elder said, hoping the situation wouldn’t escalate to violence, but was rather surprised by the dragon’s reaction.
“Indeed it would have been!” The dragon chuckled at the thought of the foolish alicorn.
Elder didn’t know what was more surprising to him, the laughing dragon, or the fact that he may actually have a lead on the fate of Terra.