Golden Prose

by Field

8

“Celestia and I came into power at an unusually young age.” The princess explained. “We were truly only fillies at the time, and although we were wise beyond our years we could still fall prey to tales older than we were. The legends of the Everfree Forest were one such case. The possibility of power that might rival our own both terrified and intrigued us.”

“We began to investigate the forest together at first but the nature of its power eluded us. It wasn’t until we began exploring alone during our own periods of control, her day and my night, that we learned our first lesson of the forest. The power only reveals itself to those free from the influence of others.”

“Celestia was the first to encounter the machinations of the forest. As I said before, we were both mere fillies then, and the burden of royalty did not lend well to maintaining friendships aside from each other. When were apart we were lonely, it was only natural to try to fill that void.”

Luna used her magic to retrieve the last scroll and unfurl it before me. It looked ancient. I was worried it might crumble to dust at any moment.

“My sister did what many foals do. She created herself a friend.”

The image on the scroll looked like it had been clumsily fashioned by a foal. Colors bled out from over the shaky lines in more than a few places. It was a cobbled together creature sporting a lion’s paw, a lizard leg, and a deer antler among other things.

“Discord…” I whispered.

“Correct.” The princess continued. “The creature of disharmony was spawned from this pictured penned by my sister’s own horn.”

A cold shiver ran down my back. I wasn’t feeling so euphoric anymore.

“For a time he truly was a friend to her, but as in all things spawned by the forest his purpose was corrupted. Using the powers granted to him by my sister’s imagination he soon embarked on a campaign of chaos across Equestria. That much of the history you were taught is true.”

“Even if our power had been great enough to do so, Celestia was unwilling to destroy the creature out of a misguided sense of guilt for bringing him to life in the first place. She was also unwilling to use the power of the Everfree again to return him. In my naivety… I thought I knew better.”

“Defying my sister’s wishes I too entered the forest to create. I wrote a tale of a relic of great power that could be used to defeat Discord. Seeing how Celestia’s creation had turned against her, I included a failsafe in my story. The relic would only be capable of functioning once, ensuring that no matter how it defeated Discord its power could not continue on afterwards. Once again… the forest had other ideas.”

“Are you telling me that you created the Elements of Harmony?” I found it hard to believe that a relic that today was the purest embodiment of the most important virtues in Equestria had been spawned from the same power I had faced off against earlier tonight.

“In a manner of speaking, yes. After we used the relic to imprison Discord it did become unusable… but only to us. It changed form and became what we now know as the Elements of Harmony. For now a benign change from its original purpose, but I am uncertain of what other corruption it may have undergone.”

“But I thought Princess Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish you to the moon after you… well, you know…” I couldn’t find a polite way to say ‘went mad and cast the world into eternal night.’

“Do not be afraid to speak your mind, Mossy Hooves. You may not be in a position to do so again.” The princess read my apprehension like a book. I wasn’t sure whether to take it as encouragement and or a warning.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me. If the Everfree Forest has the power to manifest a monster like Discord, what does it need ponies for? Moreover, what would its end goal for even doing such a thing? You talk about it like it’s some kind of sentient being, but it’s just a forest, albeit a magical one.”

“I’ve spent my life learning anything I could about the nature world and I still barely scratched the surface. Magic is an entirely different world that lurks just beneath that surface.”The princess quoted my own mentor’s words back to me, unsettling me and casting my gaze toward the floor again. “In my case I have spent many lifetimes learning about the magical world, and the one thing that I have realized time and again is that I have barely scratched the surface. I cannot tell you how the Everfree Forest gained its power. I cannot tell you what the Dark Presence that dwells there yearns to use that power for. All I can tell you is that the two are hopelessly intertwined, corrupted beyond redemption.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled loudly through my teeth. It wasn’t fair of me to get angry at the princess for not having all the answers, but the way she talked in circles frustrated me beyond measure. I might have been happier not knowing any of this at all.

“What about your banishment then? How did you and your sister spin the truth of what happened there?”

“That is where my story becomes… personal.” The princess faltered and I instantly felt a twinge of guilt in my chest.
“I had now seen what the forest could do, and worse there had been no negative repercussions from my creation of the Elements of Harmony. I had been instrumental in stopping Discord and therefore thought myself more adept at manipulating the Everfree’s power than my sister. It was a new feeling for me, but it was short lived. In the interest of hiding the power of the forest my role was minimized publically. As far as any pony knew the Elements of Harmony had always been a well kept Canterlot secret.”

I could see where this was going already.

“For a long time I had felt like less than an equal to Celestia. I was jealous that ponies played in her daylight and slept through my night. But now that the one time I had proven myself superior had been buried, I was unwilling to let it continue. I returned to the edge of the forest and began to create. Surely I had the control to create tales that would subtly increase my magical abilities and make me more than a rival to my sister.”

“And the Everfree Forest corrupted you. It gave you power, but turned you into Nightmare Moon.” I finally understood why she was telling me this story. I had strived so hard for validation from my mentor and that had only led to disaster. Luna had sought validation from her kingdom and lost herself to evil in the process. It was the same message on a grander scale.

“My sister could not defeat Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony were beyond her use and the only source of power great enough to assist her would undoubtedly corrupt her as it did me. She finally came to me at the edge of the forest, beseeching me to remember who I was and what I meant to her.”

“I had never seen my sister kneel down and beg before anyone in my life. Her sorrow radiated from her horn in a spectacular golden glow, and for a short while I was myself again. Something about it had reached out and touched me through the darkness. But I was beyond redemption and it was only a matter of time before Nightmare Moon regained control over me. There was no way I could let Celestia live her life in sorrow just to keep the darkness at bay.”

My heart ached for the princess as she spoke. I wanted to offer her some kind of comfort but I had no idea how. Besides that we were still essentially strangers, sympathies I offered would likely come off shallow. I gently touched a hoof to hers for a moment, hoping that she got the idea.

The princess didn’t seem to acknowledge me at all. She was lost in her own mind as she relived the painful memory.

“My sister was able to hold the darkness back for seven days before her strength gave out. In that time I strove to create a collection of tales to fix my mistakes. It was all I could think to do. And as Celestia faltered on the last day, I completed my final tale in which I banished myself to the moon, far beyond the reach of the forest.”

“And your sister created her own version of what had happened to try to keep the Everfree under wraps again.” I completed Luna’s thought for her, having grasped the reoccurring theme in her story. “As well as to disguise her failure from the ponies of Equestria. “

Luna nodded, finally seeming to acknowledge me again. She lifted the hoof I had touched as if she had just realized what I had done minutes after the fact. “I do not believe it was a manner of personal pride, rather an effort to maintain stability in a traumatized nation. If the authority of her leadership had suffered any more than it already had, anarchy would have ensued.”

Things were making more sense than they had at the beginning of the story, but there were still gaps that needed filling. I was feeling physically exhausted from the medication but my mind was overcoming the haze, going into overdrive trying to process everything I had been told.

“This was all a thousand years ago though. What does this have to do with what’s going on right now? How did you even know to be here in the first place?” I hoped I wasn’t speaking too much of my mind now by demanding answers, but if she was responsible for the return of these Taken then she needed to answer for it.

The princess looked down at me sadly and relaxed her wings, letting them droop rather than tucking them back to her side. I could tell there was something she wanted to say but couldn’t.

“Part of my duties as the princess of the night is to monitor the dreams of my subjects. I witnessed the Taken in the nightmare of the author, Golden Prose. Unfortunately by that point it was nearly dawn. My only recourse was to inform my sister.”

My ears perked up. I remembered the royal guard who had attacked us at Golden Prose’s bungalow. He had been one of Celestia’s guards, not Luna’s. “One of your sister’s guards tried to kill Golden Prose and I this morning! Is that how Celestia plans to deal with this? Execute those involved and sweep everything under the rug yet again?”

Luna looked dismayed. “My sister dispatched no guards to Ponyville. Above all else Celestia and her guards must remain free from the influence of the Dark Presence. One of us must remain uncorrupted. That is why it was decided that only I and this small contingent of my personal guard would come here under the cover of darkness. Do you remember anything about this guard? ”

“I didn’t really get a good look at him before he started shooting. All royal guards kind of look the same to me anyway. I do remember he had gray eyes instead of the usual blue though.” I paused for a moment, unsure if I should mention anything about the manuscript pages. “He showed up first thing this morning and tried to take over the investigation of the disappearance of one of the first Taken ponies I saw.”

“Gray eyes?” The alicorn’s own eyes widened with realization. “I have only known one pony in the royal guard with such eyes. Bronze Valor was the former captain of my sister’s personal guard.”

“Former captain? He was in active duty armor when he bucked through the front door of the house I was hiding in!”

The princess touched a wing gently to my back to calm me. “He was relieved of duty around the time I was restored from my lunar prison. I was still in a… vulnerable state at the time, so I do not know the specifics. I do not know what his reasons are for operating the way he did.”

“He just can’t have free reign like that!” I said rather instantly. “If Celestia’s real guards can’t enter the town for fear of the Dark Presence then your guards have to. He may have already killed somepony trying to get at Golden Prose and I.” I bit my tongue at the thought of Vinyl Scratch, hoping very much that I was exaggerating.

“I will send word to my sister incase Bronze Valor attempts to return to or contact Canterlot. That is all I can do for now. It is not safe to travel at night, and when the sun rises my authority will end.” Princess Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder once more and then stood up. “Rest for a moment while I prepare a scroll.”

After the princess had left the tent I collapsed onto my pillow, releasing all the tension I had been holding for the duration of our conversation. I was exhausted, but at least I could finally relax and process everything Luna had told me. I had many more questions still; chiefly how she had been freed from Nightmare Moon when the relic supposedly used to do so had come from the same place as her corruption to begin with.

I had to stay awake until she returned so I could hear the rest of the story.

When I woke up the next morning the tent was empty. The scrolls, the lanterns, and Princess Luna herself were nowhere to be found. The only thing that remained was the pillow under me. I was nervous until I saw the sun peeking through the tent flaps.

I got to my hooves and found that my leg worked perfectly. In fact, I felt great all over. If I ever saw the princess again I would have to ask her guard for the recipe for that salve.

Outside the tent I heard heavy hooves trotting on the dry dirt. One of her guards must have stayed behind to keep an eye on me. Grabbing my saddlebags between my teeth I trotted quickly out of the tent and into the sunlight… and straight into the face of Bronze Valor.

“Don’t you take another bucking step or this time I WILL liberate your head from your shoulders, colt!”

My good mood was gone.