//------------------------------// // Chapter 16. Serenity // Story: Learning to see Luna, the story of Vivid Colour. // by Hope //------------------------------// Nothing frightened Vivid, and nothing was beyond her. A blast of void-energy narrowly missed Chrysalis, who was barely able to get out of the way in time due to her injuries. Casually, with the absolute knowledge that she would succeed, Vivid tried to form the void energy into a spell. A sort of negative-spell since it drew in energy instead of expanding it. A moment later she was stepping out of a ring of black fire at the other end of the hallway Chrysalis was fleeing down. The flames were caused by the air itself being consumed by her spell. “How,” Chrysalis gasped as she skidded to a stop, eyes wide in horror. “Because I’m better than you,” Vivid drawled lazily, as she formed a shield of nothingness behind Chrysalis, preventing her from heading back to the great hall. “Stronger. Smarter… I’ll kill you, and then you’ll never be able to hurt anypony again.” Chrysalis gasped and flung herself through a window next to her, out into open air a hundred feet or higher above the ground. As Vivid casually walked to the shattered window to watch Chrysalis flee on gossamer wings, falling more than flying, she let loose two blasts which collapsed distant buildings in the Canterlot city below the tower. But she didn’t care. She couldn’t care. The world was a bleeding seared steak, and she’d have it for herself no matter how much others recoiled. Chrysalis got away, but she didn’t care. There were so many more possibilities, so many more things to do. She dismissed the wall of void and stepped through space to reappear near Luna, smiling gently which was a stark contrast to the expression of apathy and pride on her face. As Luna watched her warily, Vivid picked up Luna’s crown and admired it, before putting it on her own head. Luna gasped in horror as she realized how badly affected by the amulet Vivid was. “Don’t be alarmed dear,” Vivid drawled as she looked around the great hall. “Just a change in leadership. I’m more capable of protecting our little ponies, you see.” “Vivid… Please, take the amulet off, you aren’t thinking clearly,” Luna pleaded as she stood on shaking legs. “WHY?!” Vivid screamed in a sudden burst of rage. Her horn lit and the whole room was engulfed in black fire for a moment before resolving into red magic which changed everything. The tapestries were remade to show Vivid looking regal and strong. In the depictions she was an alicorn, like Luna. “Why,” she repeated. “Would I do that? Weaken myself, expose our ponies to danger, just for that disgusting bug to come back and hurt them? Unless…” She paused, frowning as she approached Luna, almost stomping. “Unless she never left. Are you really Luna at all?” Luna looked a little scared, as she backed away slightly. Vivid was amazed at how small the princess seemed, how ordinary. How weak, and in need of protection. “I am Princess Luna, Vivid. I am your love and I would never hurt you. But you are scared of me. Please, take the amulet off.” Vivid chuckled as she looked around before frowning. The tapestries looked wrong. Too much, too focused on her. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, like they were all staring at her, watching. Another flash of anti-energy, and they were transformed to reveal her and Luna facing eachother wearing matching crowns. “Why?” she asked as she looked back to Luna, frowning. “I finally have the power to do anything I want. Noone can stop me. You should want this for me. You should celebrate it!” She walked closer until Luna had backed against a wall and looked slightly scared. Vivid traced her chin with one hoof. “I can see you, I can change myself, change you in any way I wish.” Luna whimpered before locking eyes with Vivid and cowering as she realized something she hadn’t noticed before. “I… Vivid, your eyes. It’s changing your eyes.” Vivid recoiled before creating a magical reflector, and realizing that she couldn’t see anything through it. She wasn’t using magic to see at all. Shivering in fear she stumbled back before summoning an actual mirror, and she could see. Ruby red irises in her eyes, not magically red but the color red. She could see that her maroon coat almost matched the red smoke floating from her eyes, and that her blue mane was falling over part of her face. Blue, but with many different colors of blue. Shifting in chopped gradients. But most of all she noticed the rictus-stiff cruel grin on her face. The grin which she did not feel herself making. It was not in her control. She ripped the necklace off and tossed it to the ground, her chest heaving as her vision faded back to comfortable black and tears began to slip down her cheeks. A few moments later, she felt a touch, which she pushed away, turning and stumbling a few paces. “It’s just me, Vivid,” Luna whispered. The tears only flowed faster, as Vivid tried to hide her grimace, her pain, and pushed Luna away a second time. “Get the guards,” Vivid hissed. “Get the guards and lock me up. Now.” “I’m not going to lock up the mare that saved me,” Luna said incredulously. “You should!” her breath was coming so quick but she had none of the confidence and strength of before. She felt sick. “You should.” “Why?” “Because that thing only gave me a push, those were all things I wanted, and that… That is treason,” she said with a stomp of her hoof for punctuation. There was silence again. Vivid could tell where Luna was, but didn’t know what she looked like, what her expression was. It was freeing. She could just not care. “Fine,” Luna whispered before walking away and grabbing the amulet, not putting it on but holding it tightly. “Fine, I’ll get the guards. Let’s sort this all out.” It took a long while, for the guards to arrive. They spoke in hushed tones with Luna before gently guiding Vivid back to her room. Not a jail cell, not the dungeon. Just her room. There, alone, she sat and weeped. She’d nearly hurt Luna terribly. She’d nearly destroyed the nation, and she had given into that terrible power with so little hesitation. She’d become evil. When the door opened she quickly dried her eyes before turning around, and waiting for the pony to state their name. The door closed. “Who is there?” Vivid asked, sitting up with a stiff back. There was a sigh. It sounded like Luna, and Vivid was soon proven right. “Why… why would you call yourself a traitor?” “Because it is what I am,” Vivid snapped. “Execute me and be done with it.” There was quiet again for a moment, until Vivid felt herself being grabbed in magic, and lifted. Then laid down on her bed. She was confused until Luna joined her, smaller than she normally was since she’d lost her power, Vivid was able to hold her. It was disconcerting. “Vivid, you understand magic. You know it can affect the mind, change how we think and feel. Those actions were not your own, and this level of anger at yourself… It’s just a performance, and there is no audience for it. Just me, and I need you now. Not to punish you.” After a moment of hesitation, Vivid embraced Luna and held her close. “She got away,” Vivid whispered. “I know. But without that amulet, I don’t believe Chrysalis will bother us again anytime soon.” Vivid shivered a little, and Luna drew the blanket over them. “What if somepony else gets the amulet?” Vivid asked. “I put it somewhere safe,” Luna said, as she scooted tighter against Vivid. “Please… hold me.” Vivid did as she was asked, but it did not help her. She put her arms around the princess but remained numb until she felt the shaking. At first, she thought Luna might be cold. But the soft sobs that Vivid slowly recognized, muffled but still present, revealed the truth. Princess Luna was crying. By Vivid’s recollection, she couldn’t think of a time she’d heard Luna cry like this. She’d spoken emotionally, but always with a poise and distance that kept her from being seen as weak or emotional. Now, she made no attempt to maintain it. “Luna,” Vivid whispered. “She almost killed me,” Luna replied tearfully. “Equestria almost fell, because I didn’t notice. I didn’t see the signs of guards becoming strangers, I didn’t hold Equestria safe… I failed my ponies.” “No,” Vivid said, softly but earnestly. “No, you did not fail them. You could not have known such a thing was possible. Now, now we will be more careful, we will make sure this never happens again, but you are not at fault.” “We… Will you be there, Vivid? Will you be by my side to face a world where our enemies may wear the faces of our own guards? Will you be there, despite your own guilt?” “I will.” Vivid realized she meant it only after she said it, and she pulled Luna closer. Tighter. “I will be by your side, not as a court mage, but as an adviser and consort. Damn what the public may think, I shall not let this happen again.” Luna grabbed hold of Vivid’s arms and pulled them tighter against her chest. “You do not have to do this… You do not have to become so entrapped in the things which ensnare me already. My world, my life.” “It is not being trapped if I choose it,” Vivid replied gently as she turned Luna onto her back and stood to be over her protectively. She then kissed Luna, hoping it was reassuring in some way. “And I choose to be yours, and be by your side no matter what we face.”