Umbra Memoria

by Lunaexcelsior

Cherished memories

The ceiling was decorated with beautiful jewels the majority of them being rubies, opals, and irantium, a precious gem made of encased dragon fire.

The walls around her were pretty bare, except of three paintings placed on each side.

The picture right to her was of a black Minotaur with golden gloves, a Viking helmet, and a battle ready Spartan armor. Under his name was written ‘Furia, the conqueror’. This Minotaur was the first one to actually conquest enough of the land so he could make a sovereign state of Tartarus. In his right hand he held a war axe and in his left he held the deed to Tartarus.

The picture to her left portrayed a pony unlike any Luna had ever seen before. His eyes were absolutely black, much like coal, and so was the rest of his coat. His mane was pale blue and really flowing around his body. On his head he wore a crown made of irantium and on his chest was the Royal armor, much like Sombra’s. Beneath his picture was written ‘Dormius, the first King’.

Luna could recall Starswirl’s stories about Dormius’ reign and his powerful forces of Shadows. He was the first pony to discover the powers of darkness and he was the first to raise a shadow army, at the cost of his sanity.

The picture in front of Luna portrayed their third founder. It was a picture of a pale white dragon with small beady green eyes.

His portrayed was made so he stood on his hind paws allowing his frontal paws to be fully opened. In his right paw, the dragon held a dove and in is left paw he held the eye of wisdom.

His underbelly was dark blue and around the dragon stood ponies, gargoyles, skeletons, eyeleeches flew up to its head and manticores stood on his shoulders.

Beneath the clustered image was clearly written ‘Terragon, the Unifier’. The dragon was the first one who stopped all the wars and ended the feud between Equestria and Tartarus.

These three were the most powerful creatures that ever lived in Tartarus and they were seen as the founders of Tartarus.

They were on the royal insignia and they were celebrated by all residents of the darkness.

As Luna observed the figures surrounding her she could see two thrones in front of her.

One was made from the finest chryscolla gems, making it resemble like an icy throne, while the other one was made from the finest obsidian crafted in a shape of rising thorns.

The thrones looked spectacular to Luna, as did the entire room, but she still couldn’t figure out why they were here.

“Um, Gorgus”, Luna began, “Do you know where we are?”

Gorgus pulled out a map.

“Well, according to this map”, Gorgus said, “It would appear we have been transported to a higher up memory.”

“But how did we get here?” Luna asked in confusion.

“If I had to guess”, Gorgus explained, “I’d say that the previous memory must have ended. Combine that with the destruction of that snake back there it must have been a powerful enough blast to send us here.”

“But how come nopony is here?” Luna continued her questions, “If it’s Darkrim’s memory shouldn't he, at the very least, be present?"

“Who says he isn’t?” Gorgus said and pointed to one of the darker corners of the throne room.

Luna narrowed her eyes in order to see the concealed unicorn’s red horn barely peeking out.

“Why is he hiding?” she asked Gorgus.

“You’ll see soon enough”, Gorgus said barely holding in his laughter. Luna was confused, but she proceeded to look on.

A few seconds past, when a grey alicorn walked in.

“Hmm, I wonder where that son of mine went”, Persephone yelled as she closed in on Darkrim.

Darkrim chuckled a bit to himself, much like a child does when he thinks he outsmarted an adult.

Luna echoed his chuckle as Gorgus winked at her.

Both of them silently watched as Persephone slowly made her way towards Darkrim. As she stood, no more than a hoofstep away from the prince, Persephone turned her back.

“He couldn’t possibly be here, could he?” Persephone jumped, but to her surprise Darkrim wasn’t there.

Instead she heard a childish laughter coming from behind her.

“Ha! I got you mommy”, a small dark blue unicorn said as he jumped on Persephone’s back. She laughed along with her child.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Persephone asked in fake surprise.

“Radifus taught me!” the child exclaimed in ecstasy.

“Really?” Persephone responded in the same tone as before.

“Mhm”, Darkrim nodded his head, "He says that it could help me get out of sticky situations."

“Well did he also teach you that young colts like yourself need their sleep?” Persephone asked.

“Aww mom, come on”, Darkrim complained, “I am a prince now! Shouldn’t my bedtime be a bit later?”

“I’ll think about it and tell you in the morning”, Persephone winked at her son, “But only if you go to sleep now.”

“Deal!” Darkrim clicked as he rushed off to his bedroom.

Luna and Gorgus followed suit with the young colt and his mother. They arrived in a big lusciously decorated room with a big bed in the middle. Persephone tucked Darkrim into his bed. He was still far too restless to sleep. Just as she was about to leave him be for the night, Darkrim stopped her.

“Mommy”, he said with a bit of embarrassment.

“Yes dear?” Persephone said.

“Could you please sing me a song? Please”, the little colt asked so nicely that Persephone had no other option than to cater to his whim.

“Fine”, she said with a gentle smile, “But only one song and then you must go to sleep.”

Darkrim nodded his head.

Luna and Gorgus looked on as Persephone breathed in deeply and began her tune.

"Listen to the twinkle of the stars

Hear their far off cries

as they sing their lullaby

they rejoice, a new prince has arrived!

A prince that will usher a reign

of peace, prosperity and other gain

for a dawn of the golden sun

Will finally shine on everyone

He shall chase away the sorrow

And bring a brighter tomorrow

To this troubled land of ours

And frees us from our darkest hours

He will be kind

He will be wise

And he will be loved by everyone

So sleep my dearest child

Let the sun and the moon be your guide

And be the prince of Tartarus’ rise”

As Luna listened to Persephone’s song, she couldn’t help but let a tear to slip out of her eye.

Her voice so enchanting, that Luna understood why they called Persephone the Queen of Ice and Song. She looked over to her right and saw that Gorgus was pretty much asleep.

She ribbed him as the behemoth awoke with a startle.

“Wow, I always forget how powerful her voice is”, Gorgus said as he stretched, “Hey how come you didn’t fall asleep?”

“Please, it would take much more than a song to put me to sleep”, Luna said and smirked smugly.

“Fair enough”, Gorgus said.

As she finished her song, Persephone left Darkrim to his dreams.

The second she left, Gorgus and Luna could feel a presence joining them.

They looked around the room, but nothing showed up. However, they could sense something lurking in the shadows. As she walked slowly, Luna noticed something in the right corner.

It was a figure in the shape of an alicorn.

Her heart raced as the moonlight outside began to slowly shine the pale blue armor with the crescent moon on the black alicorn’s torso.
Luna could notice that her teeth were just as sharp as ever, as the Nightmare directed her eyes toward Luna.

Author's Note:

Just for reference, this is a chryscolla gem:

Comments

[Weavers of Dreams]

Persephone is officially on our list of great parents. And Radifus... just, wow. You've really made kind of a twist, as it seems Radifus used to be a great friend to the family. That was not expected. We were expecting something more like Jafar from Aladdin.

The lullaby in this one was a vast improvement, though the rhymes seemed just a little forced in the middle. Not bad for the setting, as it is a child's lullaby. Good work. Hope to see more songs in the future.

[Lunaexcelsior]

6247818 Thank you so much

Both Radifus and Persephone are characters which I had extreme fun while creating and they will be given their short (most likely oneshot) fics, explaining how they came to be what they are. Radifus was actually a very reliable creature in the beginning, but his later transgressions have led him on this path of darkness. Originally, he was supposed to be similar to Jafar, but I wanted to do something different with his character and give him more depth.

I am currently trying to write a Neo Basilian Empire march (for later in the series), so I will see how that works out. It is supposed to be this powerful anthem of an empire in the rise and of the true evil they posses (it's basically a combination of Nightmare possesed Tartarus monsters and Nightmare possesed Changelings)

[The Psychopath]

As Luna listened to Persephone’s song, she couldn’t help but let a tear to slip out of her eye.

Big baby.

Gem? Looks more like a cyan-colored pebble. And I see tthat you took this opportunity to develop on your characters a bit more. A slow chapter with not much, but it did help develop things.

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Commas...

One more thing: You used 'averted' wrong. It means to avoid looking.

[EbonyDanger]

Aaaahhhhh! Nightmare makes her appearance! Yes, yes, yes!