Not so Sunny Discoveries
It was about a week after winter had begun that Princess Luna came to pick up the books I had retrieved from the castle. After letting Selene know of her coming visit we made plans to get her out of the place for much of that day, and the Crusaders volunteered to show her around a bit. She was a bit wary at first, but after seeing how much she would be covered up by the winter clothing she started looking forward to going out without being discovered.
Of course I made sure to give them a few bits to spend as well, and I guess that the most likely place for them to do that would be Sugarcube Corner. She had actually gotten used to Pinkie enough that she actually spoke to her occasionally, though the pink mare made sure to not get to overboard with her. Asking her to treat Selene as if she was worse off than Fluttershy was definitely the right thing to do.
The day Luna was scheduled to arrive they all went out early so they could get as much time to show Selene the town as possible. I wondered how she would react to going to school now that she was actually going outside now. Scootaloo moving into the room next to hers when winter began really did a lot to help her get used to the idea as she now had someone else getting her to open up more on a constant basis.
It was starting to get pretty late and I was beginning to wonder if the princess was actually going to show up. I was about to put away the snack and drinks I had prepared for her when I felt her and what I assume were her guards enter my territory. I went up front to open the door just as they landed, to the surprised looks of her guards at the timing one of which looked familiar.
I bowed to the princess as she walked forward and I invited her inside. I was a little unnerved at her size now that I was standing on my own and looking up at her. While I wasn’t much smaller than the other ponies, barring Big Mac, I felt tiny standing next to her. Showing her and her guards to the sitting room I offered her some of the snacks I had prepared as well as some tea suggested to me by Fluttershy.
After she took a sip of the tea she got down to why she was here. “We are here for those books you took from our old home. We would also appreciate it if you tell us what you learned from them as well.” I nod as I levitate the books from the nearby study and set them in front of her. I also bring out the book I had moved all the undead related spells I knew into. “All of the spells I felt I needed or would actually use I had copied into here. There weren’t many that I saw a use for or could even stand to look at, a couple of those books made me feel ill just reading.”
The princess paged through the book and examined each one in turn. She shuddered at the first page which is where I placed the spell I had saved Scootaloo with. She raised an eyebrow at the next one, which I remembered to be the flesh-sculpting spell with my own additions to it. “This is a rather ingenious use for what would normally be a most heinous spell. Normally we see it used for creating necromantic golems and other undead monstrosities instead of for healing like you seem to have done.”
I just smile as I remember the earlier issues I had with it. “Yes, I can see why as it isn’t a very pleasant feeling having it used on you while alive, I found that out firsthand after dealing with a few wounds caused by the previous tenant of this place. Bound spirits with a kitchen full of sharp objects do give you a good opportunity to test out spells like that.” She actually chuckles a bit at that. “Yes, I had heard about that from my sister when she brought that horrid tome you and her student to the castle.”
I wondered for a second what they did with that thing, hoping that they destroyed it as there couldn’t have been any good reason to keep it around. The princess didn’t react to any of the other spells in there, as they were mostly ways of finding and removing undead which were no threat at all. She returned the book, satisfied with what she found. She looked as if she was about to leave so I decided to ask her an important question.
“Princess Luna, if you don’t mind I have an important question to ask you about a nearby town that you might know something about.” She cocks an eyebrow before responding. “You may ask, though my sister or her student would most likely be able to tell you more as I have been away so long.” I shake my head before continuing. “Twilight knows almost nothing about this place as it seems to have been erased from history. It’s about Sunny Town.”
The Princess of the Night was definitely not expecting that name as she rose to her full height in surprise, her eyes wide and wings flared out as she responded in a low voice. “How do you know of that name? It should be lost to the memories of every being for as long as it takes for that place to repent.” She actually looks a bit scared that I know of the place so she probably won’t like what I say next.
“It’s because that place is on the edge of the land that came with this manor and I found it when I was setting up something out there. Not only that a local filly was almost killed by that place when she stumbled on it by accident. Whatever was done to that place is either wearing off or had a big weakness in the spell laid upon it, and yes I know the reason as to why it was put there if not how.” She looks as if she might be sick at this news and sends her guards out of the room before she responds quietly.
“I had hoped that the town would have learned to change their ways after all this time. To hear that it is still there, but is actually a threat to others is very disturbing and something must be done about it. Tell me everything that you know about that place.” I hear a hint of anger on the edge of her fear as I think through what I know and what I have been guessing at.
“I haven’t been able to study it as much as I want to as it only seems to appear on the day and night of the new moon. Since you placed the curse on them I assume this is because it is when your influence is at its weakest.” She gives a hesitant nod at this, probably not wanting that information widely known. “Strangely enough it is only at night when they look like undead, during the day they look completely normal. From talking to one of them I found that they are also trapped in a time loop repeating the same day over and over.”
Once again the princess is surprised into flaring her wings again. “You actually talked to one of those monsters!?” I shake my head at her reaction. “This one isn’t the monster you think she is; she actually grieves over what happened and actually hates herself for not protecting Ruby. Also if it wasn’t for her the filly from town would never have escaped.” I can see pain fill Luna’s eyes at the name of the murdered filly as well as regret at her reaction.
“There are really only two other things I know of the town, the first is that there seem to be two types of ponies trapped there. There are the townsfolk who at night appear as black-fleshed zombies.” I pause as I think of the other kind. “The other kind doesn’t seem to have a form during the day and at night appear as skeletons of which there are very many. They don’t seem to share the same feeling as the ones from the town do.”
I wait for Luna to reach the same conclusion that I did and her eyes shrink into pinpricks when she realizes what it could mean. “Oh please no.” I nod and continue. “Yes, I believe that those ones are the remains of ponies that found the place but were not able to escape its clutches.” I notice that the princess’s eyes start to tear up at this news as she never knew that those she had punished were able to continue hurting others.
“The last thing I know about the place I’m not sure what to make of. It seems that Ruby is still there.” Luna looks at me oddly when I say this. “What do you mean by Ruby is still there? Her murder was the reason for that place being cursed.” I can only shake my head in confusion. “I’m really not sure myself as I had only glimpsed her once. But according to the filly who met her she is currently a ghost, though she never said why she was still around.”
The princess sits there quietly as she takes in everything that I’ve said. I wonder what she will do with this information, especially as she is the one responsible for everything there in the first place. “We need time to consider what to do about Sunny Town. To find that not only has the town lasted this long, but is still hurting others is not what I wanted to happen.” I nod at this as it is a lot to take in, especially as she wasn’t expecting it.
“Yes, something needs to be done about that place, even though it is a bit safer as they don’t seem to be able to enter the area that is part of my home.” She looks at me oddly at this. “What do you mean by that? Why would your land be safe from them?” I wonder how much to reveal, but decide that hiding things from the princess is probably not a good idea.
“Well did you happen to notice anything strange when you approached my home? Something that felt different from what you would normally feel?” She nods at this so I continue. “Well I had a family relic that allows me to create what is basically a ‘home territory.’ I’m not sure all it can do, but I have found that I can draw stored power from it, and influence the strength of most magic forces within it, which came in handy when Discord showed up. Well it seems that the undead of that town can’t see into it. I’m not sure if it’s because of that, or if they are blind to things outside of a certain range of the town.”
She just shakes her head at this. “You’ll have to tell me about what happened with Discord sometime, but for now the town takes priority.” I nod and continue on what I was saying before. “Well as I see it there are two main things to accomplish, first is removing the threat of the town by either sealing it away again, or destroying it. I’d suggest the second as that kind of curse is an abomination.” The princess nods at this though doesn’t look as if she agrees.
“The second thing is to do something about the innocent beings that are connected to the town. What I don’t know as I don’t have enough information on what can be done.” She looks thoughtful at this, but also sad at the same time. “That may not be possible for them as there may not be anything left to help.” I sigh as I was thinking that as well.
“Yes, there seems to be nothing left of who they were with the skeletal ponies. For Mitta and Ruby though there may still be something that can be done. Mitta seems guilty only of not protecting Ruby even though she would have joined her if she did but she also saved others from the town and was punished for it. Ruby is still an unknown as well as I have yet to speak with her and find out more about her.”
We would have continued planning a bit longer, but fate decided that things had been too peaceful around here lately. For at that moment Selene and her friends decided to return and walked into the room. I wondered where Luna’s guards were at the time as they were obviously not outside of the room anymore. When Selene caught sight of Luna she froze in place and stared at her with her eyes wide and irises like pinpricks. Luna for her part just looked at her curiously, not expecting a filly to show up in my house.
Soon enough she takes off screaming out of the room and I can hear her hoofsteps heading upstairs before a door slams. I see Scootaloo peek in and I shake my head at her and gesture for her to go upstairs as well. Luna just turns towards my with a strange look on her face and I sigh again and explain. “I found her abandoned by her family a while back and have been taking care of her since then. She has problems being around others but she has gotten better recently; that was actually the worst reaction I’ve seen from her so far.”
I hold back on as much information as I can and just hope that Luna doesn’t notice. Her response dashes any hope of that. “She was an odd little filly, yet we feel as if we have seen her before. I was almost as if we were looking in a mirror when we saw her.” I raise a paw to my face as she says this and I just know she is about to make a connection that I don’t want her to make. She goes from looking in the direction she vanished to me as she does so.
“Who is she and where was it you found her, for if that was who we suspect…” She left the sentence hanging and I just sigh before I explain. “I didn’t think you or your sister would find out about her this soon, but it was inevitable that it would happen sometime. Firstly she isn’t who are what you think she is as that was all you and I’ve heard you accepted that.” I fix her with a glare which shocks her out of the anger that was rising a second ago.
“When I found her she had absolutely nothing. No name, no home, and nobody to take care of her. She didn’t even have any memory of anything before that day she found herself in the castle, yet she did have knowledge of some things that she shouldn’t have, Sunny Town for one thing.” Luna’s face is unreadable now as she processes everything I am saying.
“The worst thing is she has an instinctive fear of you, your sister, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She doesn’t know why either, yet she has been able to handle being around Pinkie pie recently. What you saw wasn’t her true form, but an illusion to hide what she is in case she was discovered before she was ready. Also she has taken up a name of her own, so what you were thinking before isn’t her, she is now Selene.”
Luna winces at this as she realizes the implications of that name and obviously isn’t happy about it. “But why is she here even? If what you say is true then how did she come to be?” This is something I had been wondering myself, though I did have a guess. “I am not sure myself, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the Elements of Harmony. Without being able to study them, and testing them is right out anyways, I can only guess which is why I believe she is a completely different pony.”
“I only know of two instances of the Elements being used, on you and on Discord. With Discord it changed him from a being of complete chaos into an orderly statue, which in a ways brings balance to him. With you though it seemed to return you to what you were before you became Nightmare Moon, yet at a reduced size and drained of power.” I look to her for confirmation on this and she nods, seeming impatient for me to continue.
“Well if the Elements are supposed to bring harmony or balance to what they are used on, where did what they remove from you go? I think that they use the power and mass they removed from you to create Selene, which would be why she had some of your knowledge but not all of it. Essentially they took the corrupted parts of you and purified it while giving it form. In this way the damage caused to and wrought by you could be healed and given a chance to redeem itself.”
The look on Luna’s face would be hilarious if the situation was different. As it is it is something I would rather miss out on if it would spare me the drama that comes with this situation. I’m not sure how long I waited for her to respond, but the implications of what I said do make things complicated.
Eventually she recovers enough to speak again, though she seems to be channeling Fluttershy at the moment. “We think we need time to think on what you have said, this is just too much right now and we don’t know what to do.” I nod to her. “Take as much time as you need, remember that she is terrified of you right now and needs time to get over that fear.”
She starts to head out, but before leaving turns to one of her guards that had reappeared again from wherever they went. “Lieutenant Rose, you shall stay here and keep watch over the filly Selene until further notice. Keep watch and make sure no harm comes to her until we give you new orders.” With that she leaves with the other guard leaving the surprised guard that I thought looked familiar, as well as me having not expected that.
I break free of the shock first and shake my head in annoyance though it was better than what I was expecting to happen. “Well I guess I have to deal with having only two spare bedrooms now. I thought I recognized you earlier, and already a lieutenant?” I head upstairs to deal with the panicked filly, leaving the thestral guard just staring after the princess.
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That Author's Note...
Rosie's back
Kinda difficult to repent if they just repeat the same day over and over again with only one of them even realizing that's what's going on