//------------------------------// // Luna's Investigation // Story: What Is This Strange Feeling? // by PonySage86 //------------------------------// "What do you mean she's burning away your memories?!?" Luna blurts out. "We mean exactly that." Tiny Discord says while turning to look at Discord who is still clutching his head. "We are losing our memories and soon we will only remember what the Element of Sin wants us to remember." "Well alright I'll just hop back in his brain and take care of this curse like I did the last one." Luna says, trying to act nonchalant, Tiny Discord shakes his head. "We advice against that." Tiny Discord gestures to himself. "Only we can handle this." "Really?" Luna asks with a death glare that makes Tiny Discords blood run cold, he gulps hard before stammering out a reply. "W-what w-e meant w-was-" Tiny Discord gulps again as the glare intensifies. "Inside our brain is far to dangerous for you right now." "How so?" Luna asks while lowering her death glare to a regular glare. "As you saw how our brain is very disorganized and confusing" Luna nods recalling the maze of hallways and water coolers she'd seen eariler. "Well try pictureing that except everything is on fire, and that this fire could erase your very existence." Lunas eyes open wide. "What?" "The fire is burning away at our memories eraseing them, it stands to reason that the fire could erase you too." Tiny Discord says solemnly. "Are you sure theres nothing I can do to help you?" Luna asks sadly. "We wish there was." Tiny Discord chuckles. "We really mean it we are so scared right now." "Really?" Luna asks a bit surprised, Tiny Discord nods. "Yep petrified actually." Tiny Discord gives the fakest cobfident grin Luna has ever seen. "But we got this." "I don't suppose you could tell me who the Element of Sin is, so I can go get her while you deal with this?" Luna asks hopefully, Tiny Discord shakes his head. "Nope her identity is the first thing she burned up." Luna raises an eyebrow. "What's stopping her from just erasing the memory that your good now?" Luna asks with a hoof to her chin in thought. "We are." Tiny Discord says while gesturing to himself. "We are a back up for all of our most important knowledge, it how we know that our memories are being erased." "Is there anyway to recover the memories you've already lost?" Luna asks. "If we were normal ponies, no. But sense we are Discord all we have to do is jog our memory like we're suffering from amnesia, then we just destroy the source of the fire and we're good." "You get on that while I find the Element of Sin." Luna glares with stern confidence Tiny Discord grins at the Princess of Night. "Aye aye Captain." Tiny Discord salutes before vanishing into Discord head, the God of Chaos instantly teleports away. Silently Luna takes to the sky and heads toward the Everfree Forest. After both immortals are gone a golden pegasus stallion leaves his hiding spot and takes off toward Canterlot. The Everefree Forest: Near The Tree Of Harmony Luna lands softly on the ground near the Tree of Harmony, she takes a quick look around to make sure the area is as isolated as she thought it was. Once Luna is satisfied that she is totally alone she ignites her horn and levitates a small pouch from a hidden pocket on her chest piece. She opens and looks inside the pouch, resting at the bottom of the pouch are three seeds one brown, one red, and one blue. She levitates the brown seed out of the pouch and floats it down to the ground, she makes a tiny hole in the dirt with her hoof, she then places the seed in the hole before covering it up. Luna silently places the pouch back in her hidden pocket. "Ah Luna I didn't except to hear from you so soon." A female voice says from seemingly nowhere, Luna looks around for the source of the voice but isn't surprised to here it. Luna catches some movement as she is looking around and her attention is brought back to the hole she had just filled in, the ground seems to bubble like water, the bubbling ground begins to take shape, after only a minute the ground has finished forming, before Luna is a dirt replica of Mother Nature, at least her upper half. "It is an honor to see you again Miss Nature." Luna says with a respectful bow, Luna takes a moment to study the dirt construct in front of her, it truly is Mother Nature even if it is only her arms, torso and head, even though it is a much smaller version of the goddess her body is still as tall as Celestia, instead of swirling green energy her body is made of dirt and moss, while her hair is now grass instead of elegant flowers, oddly enough her eyes are still pools of water. "So how is everything?" Mother Nature asks sweetly. "Something tells me you already know how everything see." Luna says bluntly, Mother Nature gives Luna a pout. "You know I can not just give you the answers you seek." Mother Nature says sternly, Luna stomps her hooves in annoyance. "This is about your son." Luna says with a hint of anger. "Don't you want to help him?" "What I want does not matter." Mother Nature smiles confidently. "Besides I am confident my son can overcome this on his own." "But isn't there something I can do to help?" Luna asks desperately, Mother Nature opens her mouth to speak but is cut off. "Let me guess I need to find the book?" "My, you do catch on fast don't you." Mother Nature says with a smile. "I don't care about the journal right now." Luna starts pacing. "What I care about is finding the Element of Sin and stopping the bearer so I can save my friend." "Oh my little Nightflower." Luna stops pacing and looks at Mother Nature a bit confused. "You already have all the information you need to find both of those things." "What?" Luna asks wide eyed. "What do you mean?" "Just think for a moment." Mother Nature smiles at Luna the way only a mother can. "And I'm sure you'll figure it out." Luna puts a hoof to her chin and starts thinking, she starts with the journal. She looks over all the facts in her mind, her brother was on an adventure, he met Mother Nature and learned about the Element of Sin, he began researching the Element of Sin's effects, the Element of Sin didn't like that he was doing that so she cursed and killed him... Luna groans as she realizes that none of the information helps at- Lunas eyes open wide as she whispers. "He never made it back to the castle." "What was that dear?" Mother Nature asks with a hand to her ear. Luna doesn't seem to notice the question. "He died the same day I was banished." Luna puts a hoof to her chin. "And since I never saw him that day, that means he couldn't have hidden the journal in the library like I thought, he must have hidden it somewhere else." "And where might that be?" Mother Nature asks innocently, Luna seems to hear the question, but when she speaks Mother Nature can tell she's not talking to her. "He must have hidden it somewhere that the Element of Sin can't find, otherwise she'd have destroyed it by now... but where?" A lightbulb seems to go off in Lunas head, she looks straight ahead and finds her answer. "The Tree of Harmony... of course." "He hid it by a tree?" Mother Nature asks with a raised eyebrow, Luna waves away the comment with her hoof. "No... no, my brother is smarter than that, magic tree or not a journal wouldn't survive out here for a thousand years." Luna places a hoof on the tree, she can feel the magic coursing through the bark. "He must have used magic to hide the journal within the tree." "No..." Luna shakes her head. "My brother had a knack for predicting ponies moves.. maybe..." Luna looks around the clearing once more, she examines the trunk of the tree, the branches, and even the Elements. But nothing sticks out to her until she locks her eyes onto a certain container, something the Element of Sin would never have been able to find much less open. She walks over and places a hoof on the mystical chest, just like that Luna had her answer. "Twilights castle, he hid the journal in the magic of the tree and when the castle was created the journal must have gone with it!" "You're sure about that?" Luna turns to look at the goddess who just spoke, she smiles confidently. "Yes I am." Luna raises her wings and is about to take off. "Wait." Luna freezes in place, she looks back at Mother Nature a bit confused. "Aren't you forgetting something?" "You mean the Element?" Luna asks plainly, Mother Nature nods. "Do you know where it is?" Mother Nature asks with a smile, Luna frowns back. "No." Luna scowls. "Discord knew but he didn't tell me." "Why didn't he tell you?" Mother Nature asks with a raised eyebrow, Luna shrugs. "I don't know." Luna shrugs. "He's Discord he likes to be cryptic." "Really?" Mother Nature scratches her chin. "Sounds a little to simple of a reason to hide information from a friend." "Well I can't think of any other reason why he wouldn't tell me." Luna rubs her chin in thought. "Unless." "Unless?" Mother Nature asks with an encouraging smile, Luna doesn't look at Mother Nature as she continues to think. "Since he told he was going to see if he was right about some pony being the bearer of Sin right after we left your domain." Luna closes her eyes and taps her forehead with her hoof. "That means..." Lunas eyes snap open and she flicks her hoof in an aha kind of way. "He knows this pony!" "Doesn't my son know everypony?" Mother Nature asks sarcastically, yet somehow also nicely. Again Luna waves off her comment. "No I mean he knows them personally, if I'm right." Luna rubs her chin again. "Then the reason he didn't tell me sooner is because he wanted to be wrong about her being the Element of Sin." Luna stomps her hoof in annoyance. "But since me and the Elements of Harmony are the only friends he has, that I am aware of, that means it's somepony I don't know." "Too bad you can't ask Discord who it is." Mother Nature says sadly. Luna turns to look at Mother Nature, a smile of confidence on her face. "That's right I can't." Luna raises her wings. "But I know a certain purple Princess who will know. Luna flaps her wings down and takes off into the sky, Mother Nature watches her leave with a small smile on her face. Her dirt and grass body begins to crumble, bit by bit returning to its original place. Just before the face crumbles away Mother Nature speaks softly. "Glad I could help." Canterlot: Throne Room "The Element of Sin?" Celestia asks with a raised eyebrow, her gaze is locked onto the golden pegasus stallion bowing in front of her. Flash Sentry straightens up before he answers. "Yes your Highness." Flash Sentry says respectfully, Celestia rubs her chin in thought. "And this Element of Sin is burning away Discords memories?" "Yes your highness that is the jist of what I heard." Flash Sentry answers with another bow. "Thank you for all your hard work." Celestia says politely. "You are dismissed." "Good day Princess." Flash Sentry replies with a bow. He turns to head out of the throne room, but stops when the Princess speaks again. "Mr. Sentry?" Celestia calls out. "Yes Princess." Flash turns around before replying he sees that Celestia has a serious air about her. "Would you please keep this information between us?" Flash can tell she isn't really asking as much as she is telling. "Of course Princess." Flash says with a quick bow, Celestia relaxes into her throne smiles again, Flash takes this as his signal to leave. After the throne room doors slam shut Celestia simple sits still and thinks for a moment. Without saying a word Celestia levitates a quill and paper from wherever she keeps them in the throne room, she writes a quick message and then sends it off. Ponyville: Twilights Castle Luna gently lands on a small balcony high up on the tree castle, she pushes open the balcony with her magic and begins to walk inside, but before she sets a hoof inside a loud boom echoes through the air. Luna flips around to find the source of the somewhat familiar sound. She is a bit surprised to see a long seemingly lightening charged rainbow trail stretching over Ponyville. Luna concludes that it must be Rainbow Dashs Sonic Rainboom, why she caused one from what looks like Sweet Apple Acres, and why she is flying so fast Luna can only guess, if she felt like it was important... which she doesn't. Luna shrugs and turns back to the castle, she decides to just ask Twilight about it after getting the Elements identity. When Luna walks into the castle she discovers that the balcony she landed on was to the castle library, which she would remark looks almost identical to Twilights previous home, if she had ever been in Twilights previous home, regardless, Luna smiles triumphantly. "Excellent." Luna begins looking through the book shelves with her magic. Each book with her brothers name on it gets her hopes up, but none of them are the right ones. With a loud groan Luna rests her head on a desk in the center of the room, she takes a quick mental note of the bizarre decoration on the desk, some kind of snow globe full of fire, a fire globe? Luna shakes her deciding to ignore it for now. Luna buries her face into the desk and groans out loudly, "Ugh! Starry where did you hide it?!" Click Luna pulls her head off the desk after hearing the noise, she looks around for the source of the noise, after a moment she spots a bit of wall that is now hanging loosely. Luna bolts over to the wall and flings open the hidden door faster then a filly on Hearths Warming. And just like a filly on Hearths Warming who ended up getting clothes when she wanted the newest toy, Luna was disappointed. For instead of the old dusty book she was excepting to find, instead she found a gorgeous crystal that shines like the stars... Luna chuckles at how silly that is. Nether the less Luna grabs the crystal with her magic and brings it out into the open, once it's close enough she grabs it with her hoof, the crystal looks a lot like a diamond but is much clearer almost like glass, the center of the crystal is emitting a soft white light. "A secret compartment?" Luna chuckles lightly as she shakes her head. "I should have known." Crack Luna flips around, unlike earlier she can tell exactly where that sound came from. Her eyes lock onto the strange fire globe she saw earlier, her eyes widen as she spots a large crack that suddenly appeared on the side with several smaller cracks branching out from it. "Shit!" Luna quickly unfolds her wings and quickly prepares to take off, but before she can the fire globe explodes covering the library in flames.