• Published 2nd Dec 2012
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Xenophilia: Further tales. - TheQuietMan

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15: When I wake from slumber your shadows disappear.

When I wake from slumber your shadows disappear
Chapter published 15th Sept 2013

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As mist rolled and twisted around her dark blue hooves, Princess Luna walked alone through the corridors of Canterlot Castle. Turning corner after corner she found no pony present; no guards, no staff and certainly no sign of her sister, no matter how hard she looked.

Pushing open a door that she was sure would lead to the throne room, she instead found herself walking into the palace’s main kitchen. Looking around at the deserted room, the large double doors swinging closed behind her, she again found no staff, not a single sign of life. Rushing to the back of the room she pushed open another door, expecting to see a service corridor. But instead found one of the guest bedrooms, its empty four post bed bathed in soft moonlight in sharp contrast to the bright sunlight flooding the kitchen from its large bank of skylights.

Retreating, heading back the way she had come, pushing open the main door the the kitchen to head back into the corridor, she suddenly found herself standing in the middle of the palace’s secondary library.

As she turned back towards the door the room moved from bright daylight to the gloom of night, candles around the edges of the room bursting into flame as the room’s large stained glass windows fell dark. Turning in place again, she found mist pouring in through the doors and from between the towering bookcases all around her.

Catching movement in the corner of her eye, she span in place, the candles extinguishing and daylight returning to the room. There, past the the stacks, between the huge shelves holding tomes of ancient history, was a pegasus stallion.

Briefly catching her eye, he turned, cantering off down the aisle, turning to look back at her over his shoulder for a second before disappearing into the darkness at the edge of the room.

Though she had only seen him for but a moment, Luna was taken by how... gorgeous the stallion had been. A sleek black coat with an elegant sheen, well muscled, not an extra ounce of unnecessary body fat. His wings, what she had seen of them, were were just... just perfect. The very tips of his feathers shining in the light, a glossy black so perfect it was like they crafted from the finest polished black marble. As he’d disappeared into the gloom, she’d caught sight of his short brown tail, ruffled and dashing, much like his matching short tousled brown mane.

But his face... it was the face of... the face of... it just... just.. perfect, it was perfect.

Spurred into action, Luna ran along the aisles, hoping to catch him, needing to catch him.

Occasionally she’d catch a glimpse of his tail, disappearing around a bookstack, but no matter how she pushed herself he was always just that bit too far, just about vanishing from her view at every turn.

Unable to spread her mighty alicorn wings in the cramped space between the shelves, she instead leant forward, breaking into a full gallop. Thundering around the next corner, carelessly smashing into bookcases and leaving a trail of scattered books in her wake, she suddenly found grass below her hooves, lush green pasture and gently sloping hills all around her.

For behind her came a low deep voice, the accent course and guttural though the timbre was full of joy, a sound that made her heart beat with excitement.

“Moonshine. Over here.”

She turned... or maybe she hadn’t... maybe she’d remained motionless and the world had turned around her. She just didn’t know anymore. Either way, she didn’t care, because he was there, standing in front of her. Not running, not moving at all, just standing there, holding out a fine fluted glass filled with a sparkling golden liquid towards her with one of his wings.

She didn’t think, she just moved, or maybe somepony moved her body for her. One of her own wings reached towards him, surprising Luna with the darkness of its colour. She had not been that rich dark shade for what felt like a lifetime now. Her unfamiliar wing took the proffered glass from his own, lifting it to her lips so she could sip at its delightful smelling bounty. She could taste it, feel the liquid moving over her tongue, working its way around her taste buds. The sharpness, the sweetness, a delicate honey mead, chilled to perfection.

As the glass moved away from her lips, she could feel them twist into a smile, could feel the waves of love filling her heart. She didn’t know who this stallion was, even though everything about him seem just so familiar, but she knew, she just knew, what he meant to her.

At this moment, he meant everything.

“I wished to show thee this.” he said, smiling at her over the lip of his own flute. “This doth be the land from which mine family hails.”

Leaning down he let his now empty glass rest in the grass beside him, next to an open picnic basket laying by his hooves, the wicker basket containing several simple sandwiches and few unlabeled bottles of various honey coloured beverages. Lifting his now free wing, he spread it wide, indicating the peaceful vista all around them.

”Over there, to the east, lie the mighty Norfolk Trotters, home to my family for untold generations. One of the few lands that could ever hope to come close the magnificent beauty of your own fine Equestria, I would warrent”

She turned, looking to the east. Dotted across the vast pasture were small copses of trees, many young deer jumping and playing between their trunks. Beyond that could just be seen the tops of a number thatched roofs, smoke pouring from the occasional chimney, evidence of a decent sized town.

“And should we take wing north for but a few hours” he swept a wing northwards, Luna’s eyes following to take in the great rolling hills in that direction “we’d come upon the majestic Shetlands, where my distant ancestors roamed the highlands for many a century.”

Turning back to face her, he graced her with a smile that almost made her dizzy.

“Thou might even have met a number of them, mayhaps, back in the day.”

“Mayhaps we did” she heard her own voice say “if we’d have ever dared dream that one day their line would sire one such as yourself, we would have bestowed upon them a thousand boons in gratitude.”

“My lady” he stepped towards her, reaching out to touch her face with a wingtip, her head moving to allow his feathers to brush against her cheek “Thou do me and mine great honour. If my ancestors had know that you would, these years later, feel fit to grace one such as I with your favour, their cheers would still echo through the mountains high and valleys wide to this very day.”

As she opened her mouth to respond, she coughed, finding her mouth, her nose, all filled with acrid smoke. Blinking to clear the sudden sting from her eyes, what she found around her, instead of lush pasture and rolling hills, was burning houses and a sky obscured by smoke.

Around her lunar pegasi charged about, the surrounding flames reflection from their highly polished armour. Orders were shouted, responses called, plans made. A gathering of guards, almost all mares, their uniforms bearing the symbols of the higher ranks, gathered around a large map that had been spread on the cobblestones before them, broken pieces of masonry holding down the corners.

As she moved towards them, one of the guards, a high ranking stallion, turned from the map and came to her side. Tapping a forehoof against his chestplate he dispelled his armour’s glamour, his regulation uniform gray coat, as well as the purple around the edges of his bat wings, darkened to jet black while his long purple tail contracted into a short ruffled brown mess.

“My Lady. General Twister brings news from beyond the Foal Mountains. It seems that the Baltic Marelands are already lost to us, as she believes the Hollow Shades will be by morning.”

“Pay it no heed.” she again heard her own voice, now hard and without emotion “They are of little importance. We have already pushed the Tyrant Sun’s forces back to the west. We should take the chance to crush her before she moves over the Unicorn Range.”

“But, my Lady, we lost many of our number in that action, we do not have the marepower to immediately press our advantage, not without reinforcements. We should order them to hold position and await the arrival of the third legion.”

“Nonsense,” she shouted, “Order them to press on. Call upon all nearby floating cities, have them send their entire defence forces to the Unicorn Range at once.”

“Art thou mad?” he shouted back. “And what of Maelstrom? The attack earlier this day has already decimated their defences. Without at least the unit of Spartan Stallions that they hold in reserve they will be utterly defenceless. Princess Celestia’s forces will-”

“DO NOT call her that in my presence!” she screamed, her stallion pushed back on his hooves by the very force of her voice, “We care not of one pitiful little city while we have the chance to crush the Tyrant Sun once and for all.“

“And how many will die in the process? How many more lives will thou cast away with thy bloodlust?”

“Silence” she commanded “The moon grows high, and We will not hear any more of your useless prattle about ‘reconciliation’ or ‘compromise’, those words mean nothing to me now. We must move, and we must move now! The moon, and my own powers with it, will soon reach their peak. On this eve We will finally crush my accursed sister, once and for all. This night will go down in history, the night the Princess of the Day was defeated, her last breath trampled from her chest under my very own hooves. The history books shall remember this night, this battle under the moon’s apex, as my... as Equestria’s finest hour.”

Turning to the ponies around her, the soldiers in armour moving with purpose amidst the smoke and burning buildings, she reared up onto her hind legs, kicking her forehooves towards the sky as she roared at her lunar companion.

“For We...” she bellowed, “We are NIGHTMARE MOON.”

******************

Jolting upward from her bed, forehooves reaching to the ceiling, Luna sprang awake.

Covers flew, curtains billowed in the sudden breeze from her unfurled wings, from her bedside table a half empty glass of Sweet Apple ‘Shine fell to the floor, its spilled contents hissing and bubbling against the polished ebony wood floorboards.

As reality slowly returned to her senses, her dreams, her memories flitting away as the truth of her situation flooded her brain. She was in her chambers in Canterlot castle, she was alone. Reaching over to the far side of her bed, she stopped. This bed, this very piece of furniture, now and had always only held one body. One sole, single, solitary form. There had been no other, why would she ever think otherwise?.

For the rest of the day she cried, uncontrollably and without rest, until the time for the night to make its appearance arrived.

And she had no idea why.

Author's Note:

I challenged myself to have this 1000 word chapter written, edited and posted from beginning to end in the time it took this concert video to play through once.

I failed, it took just under two play-throughs. It also took almost 2000 words. Oh well, I still think I did okay.

Interestingly the fourth song they play has a bodhran solo and the fifth has a major connection to Spinel’s The Blank Plague.



EDIT: Yes, I know it's full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. I'll probably catch them on a pass through later in the week.

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