//------------------------------// // XVI. // Story: The Nobody's Regret // by Synthetic Soul //------------------------------// The three of us sat in silence as our chariot flew through the air, towards the castle. No one was really in the mood to talk. Not after what had happened in the Crystal Empire.               Soon enough, we saw the town, and the castle appear in the distance. The chariot descended and gently landed on the ground. Being that I was sitting nearest to the exit, I got off the chariot first. When Celestia made to exit, I took her hoof and helped her down. I then did the same for Luna. Once everyone was on the ground, the three of us began walking to the castle.               I tried to think of something to say, but honestly, I had nothing. We were all a little Somber about the loss of our comrades. When we entered the castle, I stopped and turned to face the two.               “I…I think I’m going to turn in for the night now.”               “Yes, of course,” replied Celestia. “I think I shall do the same.”               “Then, I shall attend to my duties,” stated Luna.               “Are you sure you don’t want to rest, sister?” questioned Celestia.               “No, I…I need some time to myself, some time to think.”               “Are you alright?” I asked. Luna nodded.               “Yes, I am fine. I just need some time to myself.” Luna then started walking away from us, heading towards the throne room.               “Good night Tia, Roxas.”               Celestia and I watched as Luna left us. When she was out of earshot, I turned to face Celestia.                         “Do you think she’s alright?” I asked.               “Yes. Today has been…stressful for us all. She just needs some time to decompress.” I took a moment to think about that, before I spoke.               “Yeah, you’re probably right.” I then let out a yawn, stretching my arms above my head. “Well, I need to go to sleep now.”                         “Of course. Sleep well Roxas.”               “You too.”               We then went our separate ways. By the time I made it to my room, my eyelids felt ready to drop. I went to my dresser and took off my coat. When I did, my eyes widened when I noticed something. There was a large purple bruise on my left shoulder. I hadn’t noticed it before because I hadn’t had any pain. I reached over to press my hand against it, and winced when I felt a surge of pain. I quickly retracted my hand.               ‘I must have gotten that during the fight.’               I was too tired to use healing magic; so instead, I decided to sleep it off. I went to my bed, and lay down on my back. Moments in, my eyes got heavy, and soon, I found myself drifting off. Then, I entered the darkness of sleep, leaving todays events in the past behind me.                 I slowly woke up as the sunlight reached my face through my window. I opened my eyes to see the morning. I sat up, but as I did, I felt my sore shoulder. I grimaced as I looked at it, remembering my injury. I got up from my bed, and summoned my Keyblade. I raised it up above me, pointing upward and casted heal. I then felt a tingling numbness as the bruise started to fade. Once it did, I sent my Keyblade away, and pressed my right hand against the spot, and found it to be healed.               ‘Thank god for healing magic,’ I thought to myself. I rotated my left arm a bit, before becoming satisfied with its recovery. I then walked over to the dresser, and put on my black coat. It was then that I noticed the emptiness in my stomach. I realized I hadn’t eaten in…well, since before the battle. Must have been a few days since I had a proper meal. I decided to fix that by heading to the dining hall.               I left my room, and made my way through the halls. Eventually I made it to the dining hall. I opened the doors, and made my way in. I found Celestia sitting at the table, eating her breakfast. I went up to the table, and took a seat.               “Morning,” I greeted. Celestia looked up from her food, and addressed me.               “Good morning Roxas,” she said a bit somberly. Moments after I sat down, a waiter appeared to take my order. I gave it, and he left to get my food, leaving Celestia and I alone.               “How’s your morning treating you?” I asked.               “It’s been…fine,” replied Celestia. I nodded silently. “How about you?”               “Same. I had a big bruise on my shoulder, though.” Celestia looked up, with a concerned expression.                         “You were injured?”               “Apparently so. Not sure when or how it happened, I didn’t notice getting hit particularly hard. But I took care of it. It’s fine now.”               “Good,” replied Celestia. We waited in silence as the waiter brought my breakfast. As I began to dig in, I noticed that Luna had not arrived.               I swallowed my food, and then questioned Celestia.               “Where’s Luna?”               “I’m not sure. She might still be asleep. She did have to perform her duties so soon after the battle after all.”               “Yeah, you’re right.” I turned back to my food, and resumed eating, as did Celestia. We ate in silence for quite a while, before Celestia broke the silence.               “How are…how are you doing Roxas?” asked Celestia. I looked up from my plate to look her in the eye.               “Fine, why?”               “Well, we did loose 12 soldiers, whom you trained personally. I just wanted to know how you were handling it.”                         ‘That’s right,’ I thought. As I looked back, I remembered that the twelve soldiers we brought with us were ponies that I trained. They were my students and comrades, and every one of them was now lost to us for at least a thousand years. And yet, I didn’t feel the sadness or the depression for what happened.               “I…I’m doing fine,” I replied.               ‘Twelve soldiers lost, and I don’t feel anything. What’s wrong with me?’               “Well, that’s good I guess. I think Luna’s taken it pretty hard.”               “How are you sure? We haven’t seen her since last night.”               “I could feel it, the negative emotions coming off her. It comes with being sisters.”               “I’m sure it’s just from yesterday. It may take some time, but she’ll get better, I’m sure of it.”               “Yes…of course,” replied Celestia. We ate the rest of our meal in silence.                 I was roaming the halls for some time after breakfast. I was just walking, trying to clear my head. My eyes were cast downward the whole time as I thought about the battle we had fought. Twelve ponies lost, plus the entire population of the Crystal Empire. I knew that they’d be back in a thousand years. But what would it be like for them? Were they suffering? Were they stuck in some sort of suspended animation? I didn’t know, and that’s what bothered me the most. Well, that and the fact that I couldn’t bring my self to feel appropriate sorrow. But while I couldn’t feel despair over the loss, it still weighed heavily on my mind.               I looked up from the ground when I saw something in my peripheral vision. I cast my eyes upward and saw Luna, standing and staring out of a window. I looked through an adjacent window to see what she was looking at. Outside was a bright and sunny day. The sky was clear, and ponies everywhere were enjoying it. I looked to Luna. She looked at the happy scene with a slightly downtrodden face, almost a grimace.               Wanting to know what was wrong, I walked up next to her.               “What’s going on?” I asked. Luna didn’t look away from the scene, but she did address me.               “Just…thinking.”               I looked from her to the outdoors again.               “It seems like you’ve been kinda depressed lately. It everything all right? If not, maybe you’d want to talk about it.”               “It’s nothing. You need not worry yourself about it.”               “Are you sure? I’m always there if you need to-“               “I’m fine!” snapped Luna. I took a half step back in surprise. Luna looked at me, before taking on a slightly guilty expression.               “Do not worry yourself about me. I’m alright.”               “Well…if you’re sure.” I turned and stepped away, leaving Luna to herself. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but I wasn’t about to just leave it alone. She was defensive right now, so I’d try again later, in hopes that I could coax her into telling me what was wrong. After all, that’s what friends are for.                 A week passed by, and Luna didn’t seem to get any better. She was cold around me, but even more so around Celestia. Her mood didn’t seem to improve. She didn’t talk to us when she saw us. If she did, she spoke the bare minimum.               One night, I decided something needed to be done. I stood in my room, watching as the sun lowered, and the moon rose. But what greeted me was not the usual beautiful night sky filled with shining stars and a glowing moon. It was a sloppy, pale imitation of what it normally was. The moon and the stars were dull, and they weren’t arranged in a pleasing way like usual.               I decided I needed to talk to her now. So I left my room, and headed down the halls, making for Luna’s room. I was there in no time, preparing what I was going to say. When I reached Luna’s room, I noticed the door was slightly open. Instead of knocking, I gently pushed the door open, and walked in.               I saw Luna on the far side, sitting on her balcony.               “Luna?” I questioned. She didn’t answer. I started making my way towards her. As I got closer, I heard a soft melody being hummed by the princess. I crossed her room, and made my way next to her.               “Luna?” Startled, the Alicorn looked my way, our eyes meeting.               “Roxas? What are you doing here?” she questioned.               “I came to check on you. Mind if I sit down?”               “…No…” I sat down next to Luna. As I did, she turned her attention back to the night sky. We sat there in silence for a few moments. I decided it would do us no good to just sit there and stare at the sky, so I broke the silence.               “Luna?” I questioned.               “Yes?”               “What’s going on with you? Ever since we got back from the Crystal Empire, you’ve been drifting away from Celestia and I. I get it if you’re upset about the soldiers we lost, but-“               “No, it’s not that. I mean, I am saddened by the loss of our comrades but…that is not what is bothering me.”               “Then what is it? I can tell this has been bothering you for a while now. Please, I want to help.”               Luna was silent for a few moments before she responded.               “Roxas…when you look at the night sky, what do you see?”               “What do you mean?”               “I mean, when you look at the moon and the stars, do you see…well, do you have any appreciation for the work I do?”               It was then that I felt something in the back of my mind. Something was familiar about this, but I couldn’t quite place it yet.               “Of course I do. Why do you ask?”               “I’ve noticed that no one seems to look at the night sky the same way they do the day.  Ponies always wander around outside with smiles on their faces when the sun is out. They have picnics, they play, they smile and have fun. They watch the clouds pass by overhead, and they seem to enjoy everything about the day. But when the sun goes down, and my moon rises, they all retreat indoors. Hardly anyone star gazes, or just sits to look up at the moon. They just…they ignore the work I do.”               It was then that a distant memory resurfaced in my mind. A name, a name I haven’t heard in a very long time came to be present in my thoughts.               ‘Nightmare Moon.’               I knew what was happening now. At once it all came back to me. Luna was feeling envious of her sister, and the appreciation she receives. She was in danger of being consumed by her negative emotions. She was in danger of becoming Nightmare Moon.               ‘I completely forgot about that…how could I have forgotten something so important?’               I started wondering. Should I tell Celestia? It might help, but…I didn’t think that would be the best course of action. This was a personal problem for Luna, and I don’t think she would’ve appreciated me telling Celestia her private issues. But maybe, I could help her through this myself. I just had to restore her faith in herself.               “I don’t ignore it,” I said. “I’ve always admired the night.”               “You’re just saying that,” replied Luna with distaste.               “No, I mean it. When…when I was little, my father would bring out his telescope, and let me look through it, at the stars and the moon. It was like looking at a painting done by a real artist. I could stare at it for hours on end.”               “Really?” she asked, hopeful.               “Yeah. I always loved looking up at the moon. When you look up at the night sky, you can gaze at the stars and the moon. You look up at the sun, and you go blind. You can’t enjoy it the same way as the moon.”               “I…I suppose that is true. But even if you can appreciate it, no one else does. They just sleep right through it.”               I sat there, and listened to what Luna had to say. She still doubted herself, but I was determined to help her.               “You know, the way I’ve always seen it, they sleep through the night because they trust in you to protect them. It’s natural to fear the dark, but it’s because they trust that you’re watching them, that they are able to feel safe enough to close their eyes and sleep. They know that you’re protecting them.”               Luna looked like she was seriously considering what I was telling her.               “Do you really think so?” she asked me hopefully.               “I do.”               “Ponies really trust me? I never really thought about it like that. I thought they just slept through the night because they didn’t care enough about it to be awake.”                       A small smile came to Luna’s face as she looked back up at the stars.               “You know, Celestia has always been better than me at everything. She surpassed me in magic, flight, she’s even always been a happier pony than me. I never knew how jealous I was until…”               “Until what?” I asked.               “Until Sombra got in my head,” admitted the Alicorn.               ‘Sombra,’ I thought as I grit my teeth. So he was the cause of this.               “Luna, Sombra was a sadistic asshole. He was just trying to break you.”               “I know but I can’t help but think that there’s some truth in what he said. I’m not as good, or as powerful as Celestia. She’s the eldest and will always be the eldest. She’s…better than me.”               “Why do you think she’s so much better than you? What can she do that you can’t?”               “She moves the sun! The sun is huge, it dwarfs the moon completely! It would take all of my power to do what she does.”               “Luna, you move the stars,” I told her, confused.               “So?” she questioned.               “Luna, do you not know what the stars are?”               “What do you mean? They’re just little blips of light in the sky.”               “Luna, the sun is a star. Every single star in the sky that you move is a sun of its own. Some are smaller than ours, but others are millions of times the size of our sun. It takes an incredible amount of power to move all of those stars, a power that you wield effortlessly!”               “How…how do you know this?” she asked incredulously.               “My…my people figured it out a long time ago.”               “But they disappeared before we met, which was so long ago. How did they figure out something that Equestria still hasn’t even touched on?” I looked at Luna for a few moments, before looking up at the sky.               ‘My people. I haven’t seen another human in so long. What had become of them? Did we have flying cars and robot servants by now? Had we achieved the impossible, or had we doomed ourselves with our reckless abuse of our environment? I didn’t know. I didn’t know what happened to my family, or my race. But…it was something that I wish I did.’               “If there’s one thing I remember about my people, it’s that we were smart. Smart enough to create and do things that seemed impossible. Before…before I became the only one of my kind on this planet, we had figured out so much. I have no idea how we did some of the things we did, but it always amazed me.”               Luna was silent for a while, as she just looked at me. Then she spoke, but it sounded like she was no longer sad about her own problems, and more so about mine.               “You must miss them,” she said compassionately.               “I’ve learned to deal with it. Besides, I have you ponies to keep me company now. It’s been so long, I don’t even notice the difference.” Luna smiled, letting out a soft chuckle.               “We’re glad to have you too Roxas.” We looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments before we looked back up at the sky. I could see Luna smiling out of the corner of my eye. After some silence, she spoke again.               “Thank you Roxas. You’ve really helped me. I…I feel better.”               “You don’t need to thank me. I’d be a pretty lousy friend if I just let you suffer like this.” Luna chuckled in reply.               “I guess so. But that’s one thing you will never be Roxas, is a bad friend.”               I offered her a warm smile. I chuckled a little as well. Then, the two of us turned our gazes back to the night sky.               I hoped that I had been able to change Luna’s thoughts. Discord, Tirek, and Sombra were all events that hadn’t changed, even with my arrival in Equestria. But this was something I was determined to change. I decide that I would keep this from Celestia, because I felt that if Luna and I could work through it privately, then there wouldn’t be a need for Celestia to worry. And I knew that unlike the other events, this was something I could change. I was determined to help Luna.               Looking back on it, I think I made the wrong choice. I thought I could help Luna myself. I thought telling Celestia would just add to her worry. I honestly thought I had shown Luna that her night was appreciated, and that it did matter. But there was one thing going on with Luna that I didn’t know. And it cost us all dearly.               It’s my greatest regret.