//------------------------------// // A Word // Story: Left Behind // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Moon felt cold, like whatever fire was keeping her active had gone out, leaving only inert embers behind. Still, she had come to Canterlot to get answers. The archive was vast, but with some searching magic, things would go by more easily. Without the echo of Celestia, the archives had recovered their pitch blackness. Moon's blue orbs made sure that everything would be illuminated. The shelves and books that had been rearranging themselves on their own had all frozen in place shortly after 'Solar Flare' had been defeated, but the particles of her body remained in the air, floating around independently of each other. Whether that meant the magic was stagnant or she was going to reform was up to time. Moon checked hundreds of books on her own, growing increasingly aggravated by the lack of knowledge she was getting. She did, however, notice that many shelves weren't filled, and quite a few of them had the books fallen over into small stacks. Somepony had taken them all, or Solar Flare had transported the important books to her new castle. Angry, a tired Nightmare Moon kicked over a shelf, causing it to shatter and take two other shelves with it. "The artifacts must be around here somewhere. If I can't get the knowledge I seek then I can at least loot valuable tools from her vaults," Moon growled weakly. One of the blue orbs flew up in the air and began blinking rapidly, garnering the alicorn's attention. She quickly flew towards it and followed it past several frozen books and shelves. She ended up at the remains of two doors made from bronze. They had been melted off of their hinges. Upon closer inspection, these doors had melted a very long time ago, and because of the echo's spectral nature, it was unlikely to be it. The chamber beyond was as crude as it was dirty: A simple hallway with a rounded ceiling and filled to the brim with dust, cobwebs, and rotten, wooden stands and displays. "Let's see...Horn of an In-between, enchanted armor, enchanted armor, Broom from the witches of the Volcano of Gloom." Moon cleared her throat and shook her head. "Corrupted remains of the crystal heart..." She scoffed. "It came back, then?" She looked next to the dimly lit shard of crystal to see a fragment of a horn. "Sombra's horn?!" Moon cried out. She quickly scooped it in her magic and was about to seal it when she realized that it was just a fragile, worn-out thing. "As useless during battle as you were afterwards." The alicorn threw it angrily at the wall, shattering it easily. "Grogar's bell...thought it was lost." She continued. "Stinger Scepter from Queen Bumble...How did you even get this?" She noticed two broken medallions lying in heaps on the floor, buried by wood mulch. "The seals for Accord and Discord. Pure chaos and order magic." Moon poked them with her hoof. "Drained now." Nightmare Moon looked back at everything and frowned. She hadn't named most of what was in there, but it would be a waste to leave these artifacts here, even if most of them were now useless and drained of their magic. More importantly, she didn't want the griffins getting to them. The statues wouldn't always be around or even be efficient in stopping them forever. She focused and drained the magic from the surroundings as best she could and teleported everything to her castle. In doing so, her horn made a 'pop' and smoke came from it. Searing pain surged through her body, but she pushed through. The mare had pushed herself too far. "Those twin moons...they drained me too fast...Gh..." A loud bang echoed through the archive, and then the alicorn remembered: The statues! They were still around! She had only temporarily disabled them. The doors were pulled open by the monstrosities, and Moon took the opportunity to escape scurrying past their legs like a mouse and bolting up the dark chasm. She was back in the former entrance of the castle and took a moment to recuperate. After several minutes had passed, the mare was approached by several of the blue orbs she had left behind. These ones wanted to show her something too. The exhausted mare groaned whilst rolling her eyes and followed after them. They led her to the higher floors of the castle, each hallway and room more rotten and pungent-smelling than the last. Moon froze when the stench of ash reached her nostrils. The hallways were black, like something had burned them, and the orbs were going down it, illuminating every bit of extensive damage it had suffered. Somehow, the floor wasn't giving way under Moon's weight, but still, she crept slowly. Everything had been burned away. There were fragments of glass all over the floor from the buried windows, and metal armor had been melted down into a misshapen pile. At the end of the hallway stood an open doorway, and beyond it was an immense room. The ceiling had caved in, crushing whatever was beneath and blocking off the majority of the room. The only thing intact was a vanity mirror that had been punched. Angrily. The wall looked like a small meteor had crashed into it, and cracks wormed their way in every direction. They even stretched across the ceiling and the floor. The vanity itself was mostly intact. The white paint was starting to peel off the wood, but there weren't any other signs of damage. Sitting underneath shards of the mirror was a charred book that Moon was careful to free of its confines. It was large and heavy, easily containing thousands of pages. Flipping through them, Moon realized that a lot of the pages had suffered burns. The intact pieces held only a seemingly random assortment of words that didn't make sense. It was unfortunate, but even if she had her magic back, Moon wouldn't be able to repair the book. Far too much time had passed. However, there were still quite a few pages left intact or only somewhat burnt yet still held comprehensible content. Most of the pages were recountings of daily annoyances by Celestia, meetings and discussions with representatives of other countries, and talk of a 'student' sent to Ponyville. A pile of ash had fallen out from between the pages when Nightmare Moon raised and opened the book. She surmised that they were possibly the letters Celestia was referring to in her book. Moon chuckled. This was Celestia's diary. A mare her age was still writing things like this. Disgusting. At least Moon might still be able to gauge some value in the knowledge acquired here and be able to find the new castle Solar Flare's echo had mentioned. An entry caught the alicorn's eye, so she delved in. I find myself worrying. My sister was meant to return last night, but I did not sense her return nor did I feel my banishment spell dissolve. Did she somehow learn new magics while sealed away? I realize now that I was not prepared to face her a second time. She would have likely had me suffer the same fate she had. An entry ten days later. I look and I find nothing. There are no signs of Luna anywhere. What is she doing? Is she hiding somewhere, biding her time? I wish you would come to me now, sister. Having to be separated from you for a thousand years, by my own hooves, is a searing pain I cannot withstand for much longer. Moon flipped through the pages, many were further complaints or worries about Luna's whereabouts. An entry was made two years afterwards and was slightly charred, but the alicorn could fill in the missing words. Several cells have been dismantled regarding my sister. Why they have started to worship her like some kind of mythical demon or spirit or whatever it is they call her, I cannot fathom. It's like she is playing for time and is purposefully running me ragged, but a curious thing happened today after my guards informed me of this strange cell. A bizarre stallion approached me for an audience and told me to step down, if for no other reason than to guarantee the autonomy of my ponies. His ragged appearance was something I wouldn't forget: Mane and tail and coat unkempt, dirty, and rags covering his body. I offered to give him time at the castle to recoup and take care of himself, but he refused, asking me once again to step down. I politely rejected the notion after having to silence the others waiting for an audience and my guards. All of them were yelling angrily at this poor stallion. I told him that now isn't the time for me to step down and that I must continue to watch my ponies, but I do not govern every aspect of their lives. If he wished to leave and go elsewhere then he was free to. I fear this bodes ill for the future. Later pages continued the basic trend until a single page had been dented in with thick amounts of ash used to write. "Give her back!" in large letters. Moon went through the following pages, but they had all been mostly burnt away, leaving the alicorn to ponder the contents and to go through them again, hoping to piece together missing information. "Going on a nostalgia trip?" a voice asked. Moon immediately spun around, surprised by the sudden question. Out of the rubble walked a wispy being of shadows that was only vaguely shaped like Celestia. "Is this another echo?" Moon asked. "You broke the seals to the old archives, though. This is a surprise. They couldn't be broken for millennia," the entity stated in awe. "Bravo. Why, the thought that Celestia's remnant magic would have coalesced into an echo is inconceivable." It leaned forward and grabbed its chin. "It is still a surprise that such a thing even happened. Did she plan that?" A yellow eye appeared through the haze, staring at Nightmare Moon. "I see the poison is leaving your system." It spat, creating a brief trail of ink-black clouds away from it before they coalesced back into its body. "That shouldn't have happened." "You? How?" The figure shrugged. "Magic." Moon rolled her eyes and placed the book under her wing. "Another attempt to kill me? Did you seal this place up?" The entity shook its head. "Can't do those seals." "Why are you even chasing me? You've tried to be rid of me twice already, and I suppose you are the ones that have been destroying and hiding everything, like you did this castle," Moon stated as she gestured to the room. The figure looked down and held its chin up with a hoof. "Ones, hm?" it muttered. "This castle being here is the work of an alicorn." Moon gave pause. "What?" she asked. "Oh yes. Dangerous monsters, alicorns. She went mad and started to warp the lands of Equestria. New landmasses were born, cities were buried, lakes dried." It shook its head. "All those ponies dead because of her," it spat. "Couldn't leave well enough alone. Another alicorn that tries to control and conquer everything." It looked up at Moon and pointed a foreleg at her. "And you're no different. On your quest to reach this place, you almost destroyed the griffins' new home, and then you broke seals that have remained standing for years and freed an echo of the Solar Tyrant." Moon leaned forward. She felt her hatred bubbling back up, but the intensity just wasn't quite what she was used to. It was a dim flame. "I destroyed that echo," Moon flaunted. "Something you seem fully incapable of doing, foal." She stood tall and stomped towards the entity, causing it to shrink back in surprise. "You have nothing." "You think you destroyed it? Idiot! You just freed it! Did you even seal the archives back up? Now it's going to wreak havoc on Equestria again! No regards to the well-being of other ponies." It pushed back against Moon, broadening its chest. "Always obsessed with their own powers and spreading it around." Its anger quickly broke into a fit of laughter, keeling over several times before waving 'goodbye' to a baffled alicorn and dissipating into a tuft of smoke. She couldn't make heads or tails of this entity. Was it angry? Was it serious? Nonchalant? Was it just mocking her? Nightmare Moon readjusted her right wing and was reminded of the journal hidden underneath. At least she had gotten something out of this whole mess, and lost much more. All that was left was returning to the surface and finding Sunny...then going home. Home. Moon wasn't sure what that meant anymore. She tightened her wing against the journal as she went back through the buried castle.