• Published 13th Oct 2011
  • 6,850 Views, 86 Comments

The LUNA Project - The Equestrian Gentlecolt



A science fiction origin story. An alicorn foal awakens alone in an abandoned world.

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Epilogue - Mankind's Legacy

A lone alicorn trotted among the immaculately-kept displays of the Canterlot Royal Museum of History, the late afternoon's lengthening patterns of shadow and light dancing playfully across her deep blue coat. She made her way purposefully, going down a certain aisle, under a particular archway, and directly to a specific exhibit, just as she had done every week for the past year and a half. Just as it had every week for the past year and a half, the crescent moon on its silver chain began to glow in recognition of her. Even after the passage of so many centuries, Doctor William Montgomery's light spell was still going strong.

It was an ingenious trick, really. Human-created enchantments had never been known for their longevity, but since this one was designed to be activated by the proximity of a particularly powerful magical being, Doctor Montgomery had taken the simple shortcut of powering it with Luna's own arcane resonance. Between innovations like that one and the distinction of being the only human to ever master unassisted arcane manipulation, it seemed only natural to name him the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era. Not to mention...

Luna's gaze drifted to the six pedestals spread evenly around the room. Six intricately-carved statues there paid tribute to humankind's greatest achievement, possibly excepting the royal sisters themselves. Harris and Montgomery's Elements, they had called them. Kindness. Laughter. Generosity. Honesty. Loyalty. Magic. The same elements that allowed the staff of the LUNA Project to work harmoniously together, even in their darkest hours, had been codified and immortalized here. The enchantments were truly powerful ones, but their greatest strength was the same as that simple light spell. Each element, instead of expending its own power, drew on the energy of its wielder. In the hooves of someone whose nature was sympathetic to its own, even a single element could be a very powerful tool indeed.

"Visiting the past again, little sister?" The gentle voice startled Luna out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Celestia in the room's arched entryway. The younger alicorn blinked and glanced out the windows, realizing that the sun had set while she had been pondering the objects around her.

"So that I may never again forget it," she replied solemnly.

Her elder sister entered the room, shaking her head, and settled beside her. Luna squirmed indignantly as a large white wing was laid across her back.

"We're not fillies anymore, Celestia," she grumbled. "You can't just... we're Princesses... this is... undignified."

Celestia just chuckled in response and pulled the wing tighter. "A wise young unicorn recently told me that having a sister is 'just about the bestest thing in the world.' I'm inclined to agree. But," her tone became more serious, "the same letter reminded me that it also takes teamwork. I think that, in that respect, we have been lax recently."

Luna glanced over questioningly, forgetting her indignation for the moment. "Where are you going with this, sister?"

The white alicorn didn't answer the question, instead gesturing around them with a foreleg. "The Elements always served us well. Together, we were unstoppable. No matter what beasts stood before us, threatening our little ponies, Harmony prevailed in the end."

"Except when the beast was one of us."

"Oh Luna," Celestia replied with a sad smile, "the monsters were always born of us, you know that. Our fears, or worries, or jealousy, or anger. It's a consequence of our nature."

"But it was only once that one of us become the monster."

"So it was, little sister, and without you by my side, I could not overcome it. But I willingly spent a thousand years alone, carefully nurturing and guiding this world down its path, teasing the threads of fate until they produced new bearers for the Elements, just to reach a single moment." Celestia put a hoof under the younger alicorn's chin, lifting it to meet her gaze. "The moment I got my sister back."

Luna had known, intellectually, that Celestia's entire gambit had been to imprison the jealous monster until it could be torn away from its host. But to hear her say it, and say it in that way, finally brought the full implications of that truth to light in the younger princess's mind. Her voice was small when she spoke, not the voice of a goddess, but that of a sister awed at the depth of her sibling's love for her. "You did it all for me. Not just to eliminate the threat, not just for Equestria, but... for me."

"All for you," Celestia confirmed with a warm smile. "My sister. And my greatest gamble of all paid off, because it was you yourself who ultimately let Harmony back into your heart."

Luna looked from her sister to the Elements arranged around them. They were the last relics left to them from those who had been their only family, and at times she could almost feel their spirits in those statues, as vain a fancy as that might be.

"They would forgive you too," Celestia said gently.

Some last remnant of self-blame finally broke in the young alicorn and she leaned into her sister, burying her face in her flowing aurora of a mane and letting long-held tears wet her cheeks. Celestia simply held her, stroking her back with a hoof until she lifted her head again.

"Thank you, big sister," Luna murmured. Celestia smiled at her again, that insufferable know-it-all smile of all big sisters, the one that she always got when one of her carefully-laid plans came to fruition. Luna couldn't even bring herself to glare at her.

"You are welcome, little sister. You are always welcome. Now come on." Celestia stood up with sudden briskness, the beginnings of a mischievous grin on her face. "There's a bright young unicorn who's on the verge of harnessing the power of the atom, and I know you've been itching to rekindle the study of long-distance communication. Sending post by dragon is terribly last-millennium, after all. What do you say we gainfully distract him with a special assignment from the Princess of the Night?"

"Oh Celestia," the blue alicorn began, but her affectionate rebuke was replaced by a slowly growing smile of her own as she stood. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Luna."

And with that, mankind's living legacy spread their wings and took to the starry night sky of their perfect world. There were still other challenges ahead of them, and other beasts would arise to threaten their lands, for nothing is truly perfect, but it would not be untrue to say that they lived happily ever after.

Comments ( 29 )

And we're done here. I might add some extras on the end or something if inspiration randomly strikes, but the story is officially over. It was quite a ride, though a slower one than I had hoped. Thanks to everyone who read/reads it!

Insanely original, well-written, and, well, it's just fucking great. I don't have a lot of words, just five stars.

I agree wholeheartedly with the above sentiments. I honestly did not see this going where it did and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't. 5 stars from me as well, good sir, for an engaging story that has kept me up far past my bedtime.

That was incredibly, insanely awesome. :pinkiehappy:

Loved it omg :heart::heart::duck:

Wow, not much else I can say about this excellent piece of writing except wow. :heart:

Simply excellent, I love this backstory for the Princesses.

350253

I threw just a few little references in there for the particularly sharp-eyed. I did indeed name her after G1's resident human heroine. Good catch. :twilightsmile:

350880 References like that are great fun to put in. In Ponies in Space, for example, I mention how Firefly "Reminds (Twilight) of Rainbow Dash". Hardly a coincidence there... Similarly, Dash mentions that the cameras all fail whenever she does one of her tricks (it's the one that's always slightly offscreen and involves an explosion).
But then, the show itself does those too. Notice that Dash's crash that out her in the hospital was an attempt at a double inside-out loop?
..well, neither did I until TVTropes pointed it out. Yet another G1-G4 link.
The king of those references, though, is probably Alexwarlorn on DA. His series has managed to make ALL the generations of the series equally valid - Pinkie's somewhat nostalgic for her white coat and wings, to give just one of hundreds of examples...

This is just too... beautiful
i.imgur.com/D1TPU.gif

Too bad I don't have the chance to read this masterpiece earlier. Bravo to you good sir

Should've... sent... a poet!:pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2::pinkiesad2:

Well played from beginning to end, a fantastic piece :heart:

That was beautiful, I haven't seen that level of quality since Nor Crystal Tears. Make more works of Successful Literature in the future!

I can't believe I didn't find this earlier. A truly beautiful story.

Sci-Fi?
Ponies?
Humans?
Happy ending?
ME GUSTA. ME GUSTA MUCHO.

It's been a long time since I read a good sci-fi. This did not dissappoint.

Well done. :heart::ajsmug::pinkiehappy::rainbowkiss::raritywink::twilightsmile::fluttershysad:

I don't recall how this wound up on my Read Later list; this last update was before I created my account, so it couldn't have been though watching the update list or anything similar. Nevertheless, I am very glad I found this story. Have a favorite and a thumbs up.

This was a very interesting and well written concept.

Comment posted by Daniel the Hedgehog1 deleted Jun 12th, 2013

Humanity! F*K YEAH! :moustache:

(The Commissariat approves, you will not be processed after all)

CM12 #24 · Jul 9th, 2013 · · 1 ·

I am not good in the way of words, so I'll just say it. Thank you so much for creating this story. It is simply beautiful and enrapturing. I couldn't stop myself from reading it in one sitting, and the world you've created is just as interesting and captured my imagination. Very well written with minimal amount of errors, captivating story, perfect descriptions. Five stars, a favorite, a like and a watch for you, my good man.

Shear and utter glory surrounded me as I bathed the Internet's greatest sensation.
The MOST EPIC story ever told.
You good sir get :moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache::moustache:

This is actually my headcanon for what Equestria is. In my case, it was the fault of the researchers who invented magic so many millennia ago. The silly buggers released a shapeshift spell, and the idea of staying a human was far more boring than becoming one of several famous creatures of myth with an inbuilt ability to harness the powers of magic without machinery. Many years later, the Precursors were forgotten by all but a green unicorn.

I liked the story. The different universe thing might have been unnecessary, since this was a multiverse with worldlines (just pick one where Sol didn't go poof), but it was a nice "Awwww" moment and a good explanation for what may have happened. It makes more narrative sense than authors accidentally paralleling a real world, certainly.

9040687
I was willing to accept that as a nameless catastrophe, personally. I don't think it was intended as the expected natural occurrence in billions of years. Maybe there was a little too much mad science; maybe a dwarf star wandered into the solar system and got eaten and triggered something. Who knows? (I did not reread the story when writing this comment; feel free to correct me if I am contradicted there.)

This was quite nice as an AU origin story.

the plot is too convoluted. it strike up too many of my retcon alarms to be enjoyable.

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