Behold, a Pale Moon
Behold, a Pale Moon
Midnight - April 27th, 2012
It is difficult to put into words the kind of emotions I felt that night as I stared up at the sky and beheld Earth where the moon should have been. Terror comes close, but it wasn’t actually that frightening. Yes, the idea of having no oxygen and the fact that I might die within a minute were pretty sobering things to think about, but it was more shocking than terrifying.
Perhaps the best word to use is ‘despair.’ It was a mix of dread and absolute loneliness, as if I had not only been abandoned, but completely and utterly forgotten about. It felt as if not only was I gone from the Earth, but all traces of my existence had vanished as well. Any hope of leaving a legacy, even a small one, had ceased to exist.
It took a dozen or more seconds for me to realize that not everything was as it seemed. For one, I had read that being exposed to the vacuum of space would cause your internal organs to expand in a presumably painful way, followed by death within a minute of exposure. As I surveyed the barren, dusty landscape, I came to realize that not only was I not feeling any internal pressure, but I had taken one or two breaths of air since my sudden and unexpected arrival as well.
I knelt down and scooped up a handful of the lunar dust, then watched as it slipped through my fingers, falling as if in slow motion to the ground. It was yet another mystery; the dust seemed to fall at an appropriate rate considering the moon’s lessened gravity, and yet my own body didn’t feel any different than it usually did. Taking a few steps confirmed my theory: I was unaffected by the moon’s lack of gravity and moved the same way I would on Earth. Something was off about all of this, and yet as I took another look at the sheer emptiness that surrounded me, I could not deny that I was most certainly on either the moon, or an incredibly advanced and realistic full-scale replica of the moon.
Luna, I thought. Earth’s moon has a name, from Latin, and it is Luna. It’s strange. Of all the things that I could have thought about, from the worry of being separated from the Equestrians, to the possibility of dying of starvation or worse, it was the names of the moon that came to mind.
It was then that I realized how terribly cold I felt. I was dressed for mid-Autumn weather in Sydney, which meant short sleeves. It also meant my bare arms, now covered in goosebumps, were being exposed to incredibly frigid temperatures.
I wrapped my arms around myself and watched as my breath condensed and became visible. It was yet another mystery as to how any of this was possible. So focused was I on how any of it could be real that I didn’t even realize I had started walking until I began climbing a sloping, rocky hill. Or perhaps it was a vast crater; it was hard to tell from my vantage point.
Upon cresting the hill, the immense feeling of isolation returned in full. The barren landscape was enormous, with nothing but dust, rocks, craters, and hills to be seen in all directions, save for up. Above me the emptiness was even greater. There were no clouds, no blue sky. I couldn't even see the sun. There was just Earth, the stars, and a great blackness that stretched to the horizon.
Maybe I am dead, I thought with a pained sigh. I sat down and stared at the vast emptiness surrounding me.
It was always one disaster after another. If I wasn’t losing everything I owned, not to mention the love of my life, over a misunderstanding, I was fighting with my best friend, trying to console a depressed Pinkie Pie, and being told to stay strong by Fluttershy of all people.
Enough was enough. I was convinced that either I was the victim of some cruel game of Discord’s, or the entire universe was against me. Neither would have surprised me.
I laid down in the lunar dust and stared up at the stars. To Hell with the game. If Discord, or God, or some other cosmic being thought that this was funny, or even if it was all supposed to teach me some grand lesson in life and make me a better person afterwards, they could all go thoroughly bugger themselves. I would never give up in my quest to get the Equestrians back to their rightful home, but I was through with being the universe’s plaything.
So I put my hands behind my head, and I waited.
Time is a difficult thing to measure when it always looks like it’s nighttime. Perhaps an hour passed, or maybe it was only twenty minutes. Regardless of how much of it had passed, after a period of time I heard soft, crunching steps near my head. With so much lunar dust on the ground, I hadn’t heard anything until they were very close by. Even so, I only jumped slightly; I had been expecting someone, or something, to show up eventually. I tilted my head back to have a look at my visitor.
Even with her image upside down, I immediately recognized who was standing over me, and it was nowhere near who I was expecting it to be.
A shimmering, dark multi-hued mane was the first thing to catch my eye. It seemed to glow with its own bioluminescence, and was a wonder to behold. A pair of aquamarine eyes, revealing a sense of regality, but also sadness, stared down at me from a head covered in blue-violet hair. A long, violet horn protruded from the middle of the creature’s forehead, and a black tiara rested just above it.
My eyes widened and, oddly enough, for the first time since arriving on the moon I found it hard to breath. I had been prepared for Discord. I had even been prepared, or as prepared as I could be, for aliens of some sort. What I hadn’t been prepared for was Princess Luna.
She wasn’t in a human form, either. This was Princess Luna in all her alicorn glory, from the glowing mane to the wings, the hooves, and everything else that came with being a pony. With nothing to prepare me for such a meeting, I did the only thing that I could think of.
I got up and kneeled before her.
The Princess of the Night eyed me cooly, a slight frown showing on her face. When she spoke, her words were quiet, but forceful.
“Who are you?” she demanded. Her wings had spread slightly in what I assumed was an aggressive manner. She continued, “How have you come to be here?”
I kept my eyes diverted from her face in what I hoped was the proper protocol in speaking with royalty. Even if I wasn’t technically one of her subjects, I still felt as if I were trespassing on her territory somehow.
“I-I don’t know,” I admitted hastily.
“You do not know what?” the princess berated. “Who you are or how you came to be here? For I asked you two questions and you have supplied me with but one answer.”
Despite the chill air, sweat ran down my forehead and onto my nose. I had seen Princess Luna on the show plenty of times. She even had one of my favorite character designs, but to be kneeling before her with her anger directed squarely on me, it was difficult to keep my composure. She seemed to radiate an aura of pure charismatic energy, and I understood then why the ponies on Nightmare Night had trembled in her presence. This wasn’t just some pretty princess from a girl’s show. This was a living example of real power.
“My name is Doug,” I breathed, trying to get things back under control. “I don’t know how I came to be here. I was just lying down and...”
“Silence!” Luna demanded. I obliged immediately.
The princess took a step closer and narrowed her eyes. It was only then that I realized her horn had been lit with magical energy the entire time.
“First you offer one answer for two questions, and then you offer three.” Luna stamped the ground with a hoof. “Two of which are completely useless to me! You have provided me with your name, but tell me what use is your name if I do not even know what kind of creature you are? Be you magical? Have you a homeland? There is far more to who you are than what you have provided me. Or perhaps that really is all there is to you – a name.” She snorted in annoyance. “You then tell me that you do not know how you came to be here, which does not tell me much but at least it is an answer. As for telling me that you were lying down, do you dare mock me? For surely you are aware that I have eyes and could see that you were lying down as I approached you!”
Never in my life would I have imagined that I would be made to look like a complete idiot by a pony princess. It was clear that Luna was both angry and not messing around, so I tried to appease her as best I could.
“My apologies,” I said, bowing again. “I am a human, a non-magical species from the planet Earth and what I believe to be an alternate dimension to your own, and I mean no harm or mockery.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “I believe I was sent to this place by some kind of magical creature, perhaps Discord…”
“Wait!” the princess ordered. Her eyes softened just a touch as she stepped closer. She was soon standing directly over me. “Why do you bow before me?” she asked. Her voice, like her eyes, had softened a bit.
I stared at the dust by my knees. “Because you are the Princess of the Night,” I answered.
A soft wing moved forward and gently pushed my face up to meet hers.
“How do you know about Discord, and how do you know of me?” she asked.
Her stare was unsettling.
Princess Luna had listened to my story with rapt attention, never interrupting and not speaking even once. Any time I came to a point where something might need a bit more explanation, I simply felt compelled to elaborate rather than being asked to. When I had finished explaining everything as best as I could, she had simply nodded once and nothing more.
She had been staring at me ever since.
Perhaps she thought I was mad. I couldn’t blame her. The roles were reversed now. Here, I was the strange visitor from another world trying to explain how I had ended up where I was. I recalled thinking that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were both a bit odd in the head when they first tried explaining things to me. Had I stared at them the same way Luna was staring at me?
“Your story is flawed,” the princess said, breaking me from my thoughts.
Great, I thought. She thinks I’m crook in the head.
Luna looked up to the sky. “You stated that you arrived on the moon and saw Earth in the sky above.” She looked back to me. “This is indeed the moon, but that is not Earth. That is my world, and somewhere up there is Equestria.”
I scratched my beard. Of course, it made sense. Why would Luna be on Earth’s moon? But if we were on her moon, then…
No. This couldn’t be some timeline from before when the show began, otherwise Luna would still be transformed into Nightmare Moon. For some reason, she was back on the moon for a second time. Before I could think further on it, she continued.
“You also claim to believe that Discord has sent you here,” she said. “That, however, is impossible. Discord has no power here.”
That got my attention. “Discord is powerless on the moon?” I pondered.
The princess shook her mane in annoyance. “Of course he possesses power on the moon! What difference does location make?” She closed her eyes, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was a child being lectured by an adult whose patience had run out long ago. “He has no power in the Land of Dreams. That,” she said, meeting my eye, “is my domain.”
I stood up quickly. “The Land of Dreams? So this is…”
“I see you are capable of working things out!” Luna interrupted in a mockingly sweet voice. “Once they’ve already been spelled out for you,” she added, pouring salt on the wound.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I’m not stupid, you know. I guess humans just have a way of stating the obvious.”
“So I’ve noticed,” Luna replied, beginning to pace back and forth. “It does not make any sense, I should have absolute control in this realm!” The princess’s eyes had widened in frustration and I felt then that an outburst was coming.
I was correct.
“Trapping me within my own dream!? Who would dare to attempt such a thing!” Luna’s wings had spread in an aggressive manner again, and her horn continued to glow. “Discord could not have done this! He may have hit me with some kind of spell, but it could not have sent me here. Not to this place.” Luna grit her teeth as hot tears rolled down her face. “Was it you, Sister? You could not have forsaken me a second time, could you?”
She sat down, her head hung low. No more than a minute ago, she had seemed powerful and foreboding. Now, she looked powerless and defeated. She gazed back up at her planet with a look of longing and addressed me.
“If what you said about how you can see the lives of my people is true, then you will already be aware that I... am not entirely accustomed to this era’s ways of socialization,” she admitted quietly, turning back to face me again. “You will, perhaps, forgive the manner in which I have treated you?”
“Uh,” I said, caught off-guard by her sudden mood swings. “It’s fine, I guess. I mean, yes, you’re forgiven.” I was certain I was beginning to sound like a fool again. “Don’t worry about it, you’ve been through a lot.”
“Indeed,” she acknowledged. “However, you are just as helpless here as I am, and probably much more so. You say you have found Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, two of the six representatives of the Elements of Harmony, and the fillies you refer to as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. You also know the location of two more, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, as well as the location of my sister.”
I nodded, hoping another outburst wasn’t coming.
“I believe I may be on Earth as well.”
I frowned, wondering what she was on about. Clearly, she was right in front of me. Thankfully, Luna did not berate my lack of understanding this time, and explained.
“We are currently trapped within a dream. My dream,” she revealed, “and also your own dream. I can not determine how or why we are experiencing the same dream, though such things are known to have happened before. The important thing is that we wake up.”
Somehow, I knew pinching myself wouldn’t solve anything, but I tried anyway.
“A valiant effort,” Luna observed with a smile. “But I believe our sleep has been magically induced, and we will not be permitted to wake up until the spell caster allows us to. Therein lies the problem; unless someone on Earth is able to break the spell, we could very well remain asleep until our bodies shut down permanently.”
I swallowed hard and sat down. The princess took a seat next to me as we gazed up at the stars together.
I needed John, Pinkie, Fluttershy… somebody. One of them had to stop the spell caster. My life depended on it.
Time continued to move ever onward. It was a strange feeling, to know that your life could be in danger, and yet not be able to see what was threatening it or do anything about it. All that could be done was to wait, and so wait we did.
“So… are you worried about the possibility of dying?” I asked Luna as we walked quietly through a lunar canyon. It was a terrible question, but it was on my mind from the moment she had explained our situation.
“Hardly,” the princess replied. “Unlike you, I do not need to eat often. I am afraid the only thing I need to worry about is not having anyone to practice socialization with when you have died.”
Who knew the Princess of the Night had a morbid sense of humor?
“What if your body back on Earth is human, like the others?” I asked. “You’ll need to eat just as much as I do, then.”
Luna looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “Indeed, a point well made. Perhaps a feast is in order, should we both make it out of this,” she mused. “What do humans like to eat? We could have apples, grapes, bananas, breads, grains, and all manner of desserts. I wonder if humans might like cake as much as my sister does?”
“Oh we like all of those,” I said. “Among other things.” I wasn't about to get into details.
We continued walking quietly for some time before Luna spoke again.
“Honestly, I am quite terrified.”
I stopped walking and turned to face her. “Terrified? Of dying?”
She shook her head. “No. It is this place. I am not afraid of dying, nor am I afraid of the moon itself. It is just… here. Being here.” She glanced up at me before looking away again. “I suppose you already know why.”
I did. It could not be easy to be trapped on the moon again after having spent a thousand years there.
“So this is not a dream, then,” I said, beginning to understand. “It’s a nightmare.”
Luna looked back at me and nodded slightly. I could not imagine how she must have felt, nor could I fathom the extraordinary amount of willpower it must have taken for her to keep herself under control. Here was a creature who was not only living within what was probably her worst nightmare, but who was also completely powerless to escape it. I had been shocked and felt despair at finding myself on the moon, but it must have paled in comparison to how she felt.
“I’m so sorry,” I began, but Luna stopped me.
“Say no more of it,” she urged. “I can see in your eyes that you care, and that is enough for me. Now, enough of this nonsense.” She pointed a hoof down the path ahead of us. “We have a lot of nothing to accomplish ahead of us, so let us get on with it.” Despite her joke, I could see that she was still a bit rattled.
“Very well,” I said, picking up on the act. “Let us go forth and accomplish nothing together, then.”
We had taken perhaps two steps when I heard a voice, as if it were both far away and underwater.
I stopped.
“Did you hear that?” I asked, facing Luna.
“No,” she answered. “What did you hear?”
I frowned. “I’m not sure. Maybe it was nothing, but it sounded…”
I heard it again, but louder this time. Was somebody calling my name?
“What is it?” Luna repeated. “Surely you heard something that time, I saw you react to it.” She, too, frowned. “And yet, I hear nothing…”
“Doug!”
It was a voice. A familiar voice, from somewhere nearby. This time, the voice seemed to affect my surroundings. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. What was happening?
I looked up and saw the magical energy around Luna’s horn, which had been glowing the entire time from the moment I had met her, go out.
“I don’t know, I hear a voice calling my name,” I explained. “I’m not sure…”
“Doug!” Fluttershy’s voice called out clearly. “Please wake up. Please!”
My vision began to fade, but not before seeing the look of dread that had appeared on Princess Luna’s face.
“No, not again!” she pleaded. “Don’t leave me here alone again!”
Her image was replaced by a hazy blackness as more sounds became discernable. There was what sounded like weeping, and movement through leaves. Other voices seemed to be quietly discussing something nearby.
“Luna!” I cried as I sat upright. I was immediately enveloped by a warm embrace, and I blinked as Fluttershy’s face came into focus.
“Oh thank goodness it worked!” she breathed as she moved in for another hug. “Are you okay?”
As I began to fully wake up and take in my surroundings, my eyes settled upon the child whom I had seen just before being sent into the Land of Dreams. She was on the ground, sitting up in much the same way I was, and was flanked by a young man and two young women.
The girl set her aquamarine eyes squarely on my own, eyes that I had just been looking into moments before waking up, with a look of knowing.
“Luna?” I asked in confusion.
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Yeesh Luna...
Well, as it turns out, Luna is a little pissy when she's afraid. But that's fine, we all have our own way of coping.
I don't know exactly how Doug came to be in the dreamscape with Luna, but I have a feeling the CMC ponyfall story will tell us some stuff.
Also, Slorg, since I know you're watching. How are the other stories coming along? Haven't heard a lot from the AJ, RD, or Celestia stories in a while. Are those coming up soon?
Nice to see an update after so long! Welcome back :D
3471509 Cowboy Appledash (AJ) is waiting on SIlverness (RD) to catch up. DragonLS (Celestia) apparently had his next chapter completed, but lost the entire thing when it didn't save properly.
Damn that's cold
3471383....I agree
Very interesting, but a little bit morbid if I must say.
Ah well, a new, thought-provoking chapter at any rate. This should be very interesting to see where this goes.
Luna and Twilight have arrived. Brilliant.
3470499
Are you giving a RUNNING COMMENTARY OF EACH CHAPTER YOU READ!?!?!
Why?
WHY?
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?
3472139
Whoa there, calm down! Here, have some cider! *Gives a six pack*
3472139 Actually, I find his/her comments useful. The easy rating system helps me identify which are the weaker chapters.
Other then the breathing in space I think seeing stars on the moon would also have tipped me off to things not being as they seemed...
Last I checked you can't see the stars unless you are under the light refracting properties of an atmosphere.
Doug certainly can't catch a break can he?
Also, why didn't he recognize the planet below not being Earth?
3472326 Because if you looked up and saw a planet that looked similar to Earth (greens, blues, browns, clouds, etc) you would probably mistake it for Earth, too.
3472262
I dunno if I'm just stupid, but that sounds like something the average person wouldn't know.
At least, I didn't. So, given a known sample of... you, me, and the author, that's a 33.33% chance, repeating, of someone knowing that.
...Basically, I didn't know that.
3472262>>3472349 Additionally, it looks like it's a debatable fact, given the quick Google search I did. Some people seem to think that they are visible when it's not 'daytime' on the moon, and there's even a picture showing Venus in one of the photos (not a 'star' but still a heavenly body other than Earth and the sun that is visible).
At any rate, I wouldn't have known that either, so it wouldn't be a concern for me (or fictional me)
3472210
But why is it the exact same formula? 3-10 letters followed by
-Edit-
So... I just read her bio... I can't help but feel that some grammar would do it a world of good. Quite seriously. I got so Grammar Nazi at it that I just started screaming. Quite loudly.
Was the title a play on a line from When the Man Comes Around?
3472476 It's explained on the guy's profile page.
3472479 While I've read most of the Graves stories, any connection to them in this chapter was unintentional (though I do throw little things into most chapters to see if people catch them or not).
humorous tidbit, I made it all the way until the line "My name is Doug" before I realized I was reading a different story than I had believed.
I was all like, Wow this sequel's prologue made a huge jump from the prior's ending.. then
--
Still a good chapter though.
dam
3472262>>3472349>>3472368 Actually, the atmosphere only m8kes stars less visi8le, due to refraction, and m8kes them twinkle. If you were on the moon, you would 8e a8le to see stars if you looked aw8y from the sun.
3477108
...What's up with the 8's?...And the dull blue text?
Sorry, but it's throwing me off.
3477137 It's cerulean 8lue, actually, and look up the handle.
3477157
The...handle...?
...Is that some sort of pun on your name having the word grip in it?
3477170
No. It's the usern8me.
3477293
...Huh. I wasn't aware that even existed. I guess you do learn something new every day.
3471523
Yeeowch, that's rough.
3477324 Go forth and read homestuck. We'll be here when you get back in a few years :P
Great chapter slorg
Poor lulu 
“Luna?” I asked in confusion.
Wow that's different from the way it's described in the Crusaders fic
3480648 Incorrect.
Upon first waking, fictional me yells "Luna!" as she disappears.
The quieter, uncertain "Luna?" is what you're referring to, and happens after the end of the Crusaders chapter.
Poor Luna! Trapped within her own psyche, reliving her long imprisonment... I hope that their magic returns to our Equestrian friends soon.