//------------------------------// // Quarto // Story: Dark Side of the Moon // by Rust //------------------------------// ...Luna was not one to be described as idle. The mere moment we deemed her fit enough, she began a relentless campaign of activity. The guest room in my estate was slowly transformed, as the inhabitant began to make it her own. Luna spent nearly all her waking hours exploring the manse, learning all she could of the Kingdom, or entering a curious form of meditation involving a rigorous exercise activity. It struck me that she drove herself so hard because she was afraid to rest, to sleep. And for good reason. Luna was having dreadful nightmares. Nearly every time she dozed off, the alicorn would be transported into some great horror. She would twitch and cry out in her sleep, always the same words: "'Tia." "Elements." "Betrayed." When the nightmare had reached its climax, she would rise from slumber in a terrible fit of emotions. Those dark streaks upon her coat would swirl and lash like liquid shadow, seemingly growing to cover her in times of stress. At one point, after a particularly powerful bout of torment, she had nearly become entirely black, the color of the darkest reaches of the night sky. Though the coloration would always fade to her usual midnight-blue coat, I found the transformation unsettling, to say the least. What would happen if it were completed? Was there something else about Luna that we should know about? Was it some sort of alicorn trait? There were more questions than answers, as Luna never remembered an ounce of the nightmares, only that she had them. Fragments of her memory continued to rise from time to time. A memory of some joke, perhaps, or a forgotten twist to her magic. But her past remained as mysteriously vague as the knowledge of the planet she had come from. It was towards the end of Shadowday. I was peering intently at a small supernova in the constellation Lupus, though I was the only one who really bothered to care for such things. It was a beautiful thing to see. So entranced was I with the sight that Chives had to cough politely a few times before I managed to wrench my attention away. "Ah, yes, my apologies," I said. "There's quite a show going on at the moment, old friend. We have the most splendid angle of observation for the event. Would you like a look?" Chives gracefully declined the offer. "I am afraid there are more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. There are three officers here, constabularies from Duskshire, here to see you, sir. They say it's about the recent meteor strike." My eyes widened. Kingdom officials? Here? I wondered what interest the Nightcrown could possibly have in this. This did not bode well. Not well at all. "Chives. I ask that you keep our guest occupied. Do not let the constabularies discover her, or any trace of her presence." I swept from my study, mood rapidly darkening. Gone was the figure of Cassius, the excitable scholar and stargazing enthusiast. Cassius the Lord took his place, and he was not enthusiastic about entertaining the King's representatives. I donned a simple cape, a pale, grey-blue, shot with stripes of rich purple, the colors of my family. A minimalistic silver clasp held it around me, pinned with my crest, the Telescope and the Scroll, crossed beneath the Crown. With my lordly regalia in place, I went to the parlor, where the three officers were lounging. They were a ragged lot, stained with travel and appeared to be more than a little fatigued. I couldn't blame them; Duskshire, the largest city in the Western Reaches, was quite some distance away. "Good day to you, officers. I am Cassius, Lord of Tenebri and Protector of the Brightlit Border," I said evenly, introducing myself with my titles, as was custom. "May th' stars shine over you, m'lord." One of them, whom I assumed to hold the senior rank, stepped forward, offering his left wing. "And may they light your path onward." I met his wing with my own, and was impressed by the the strength I felt there. "Now, how do you come before me?" The officer removed a scroll from one of his comrades, handing it to me. "My name is Colonel Shaddo. I and th' fellows standin' behind me are t' be investigating th' recent astronomical anomaly. The Nightcrown asks for your assistance in our efforts, m'lord. We require food, lodging, and any information you might have on th' matter." That gave me pause. "The meteor impact? Surely that is of no consequence to the King. They happen all the time." "We have our orders, m'lord." Colonel Shaddo frowned. I had enough experience to know that was a polite way of saying 'its none of your business.' The rebuke was enough to send a twinge of concern through my head. If a Lord was being shunted out of the loop... "Of course. I can point you in the direction of the site, and give you some maps of the area." "That'd be most helpful." Colonel Shaddo leaned forwards a bit. "Can you recall if there was anythin'...peculiar that occurred after th' strike?" They know. They know they know they know they know they know! "...N-not in the slightest," I lied through my teeth. "There was a flash of light, a thunderous crash, and a plume of debris that was thrown up some distance away from the tower. I could see it from my study, in fact. How lucky indeed that it didn't land closer, or I'd have been squashed!" I joked. The Colonel joined in the polite laughter, but the smile didn't spread to his eyes. I beckoned them out of the parlor. "If you'd follow me, I will show you to your quarters for your stay. Any and all of my facilities will be made open to you, in the service of the King." And the faster I can get away, the better. They followed me from the parlor to the less-ostentatious servant's quarters of the house. Here the stone my home had been carved from was not polished or ornamented with tapestries or windows, rather, it was rough-hewn rock, dull and uninviting. While nowhere near as luxurious as the fine guest arrangements, the bedrooms here held multiple sleeping places. I had assumed correctly in their desire to bunk together, a particular habit most in the service of the military tended to pick up. "I expect you've had a long journey," I announced as the trio began to settle in. "Supper should be prepared in a few hours, and should you feel the need to rejuvenate yourselves, there is a wonderful hot spring located in the baths -- just take the first left down the hall and keep to the descending passage." "Will do, m'lord." Colonel Shaddo gave me a small salute, before closing the door. "Thank'ee kindly for the hospitality." The moment the door clicked shut, I was off like a rocket. "Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiives!" I tore through the halls with reckless abandon, knocking down several statues and toppling a suit of armor. Finally, the guest bedroom appeared. I all but took it off at the hinges in my haste to enter. Chives looked up at me, startled, from where he was folding bedsheets that Luna had been using. The alicorn was nowhere in sight. "Ah, there you are," he said. "We have a bit of a problem." "I'll say! They know something is amiss, Chives. I don't know how, or why, but they might now about," I looked over my shoulder, "our guest." "It's worse than that, Master." Chives was grim. "Luna, show us what you found." A midnight-blue head poked into the open window, upside-down. It took a moment for me to realize that Luna was hiding atop the ornamental framing, clinging to the outside of the spire itself. She easily swooped inside and presented me with a scroll, suspended in her eerie magical aura. "We found this on the ascending pathway to thine estate," she explained. "Chives thought it best that we take refuge outside," she said with distaste, as though the very idea of hiding offended her, "but then we stumbled across this. One of yonder soldiers recently arrived must have let it slip from some loose pocket." I opened the scroll. "It's a letter. From...the King!?" From the Desk of His Royal Majesty, King Noctus, the Seventy-Third of that name, Shaddo- I send word of a most troubling future. The Elders have seen signs from the stars that Prophecy of the Eclipse will soon come to pass. It will begin with a mighty meteor strike, unpredictable in timing but known to land somewhere on the Antipodes. The Elders think it to strike somewhere in the Brightlit Border, if the signs are correct. From the crater will rise the most dangerous threat to the Kingdom in known history. You are hereby ordered to destroy this threat, and any evidence of its presence. The 102'nd Stealth Battalion is to be granted for your personal command. Any and all witnesses to its arrival are to be executed as soon as convenient, and any records of their existence eradicated. There can be absolutely no exceptions. Word of this must not spread. None must know of her. Do not fail me, Shaddo. In the name of the King, - U The scroll dropped from my trembling grasp. "Black hole!" I swore loudly, then immediately clasped a hoof across my mouth at the utterance of the worst curse an Equinocti could possibly say. Chives' ears flicked to his head, and he winced. "My thoughts exactly." I began to circle, my wingtips trembling with worry. "This cannot be happening. This cannot possibly be happening," I muttered. "We are now fugitives from the law. I...I don't believe this. I know I was never the most abiding citizen...maybe a few tax evasions here or there...but this is just unbelievable! There is an unspoken death warrant upon this entire household." I paused, then brightened. "Of course! It all makes sense now!" Chives and Luna exchanged a glance. "This is obviously a figment of my slumbering imagination." Luna cocked an eyebrow. "Prithee, explain thy delusional ramblings." I dismissively waved a hoof. "I have to admit, it's been a very convincing vision, and gone on for such a long time...but I concede. It's time to wake up!" "He's lost it. He's gone bonkers..." Chives gaped at me while I continued my rant and my incessant pacing, now at an increased tempo. "What an interesting predicament. I deduce this to be a dream of some kind, though usually the realization of one's own state of dreaming tends to waken one up. Why haven't I? Some sort of lucid dream, I suspect..." "What should we do?" asked a worried Luna. "Snap him out of it." Chives suggested. "Preferably with a knock to the head, stars know he deserves one." Luna thought for a moment, brightened, then promptly magicked one of the books she had borrowed from the study, holding it menacingly above her head. "Cassius...this is for thine own benefits!" It was the Encyclopedi Equinocti, a comprehensive, condensed guide to almost our entire pool of learning and baser observations. It was easily the size of a small trunk. "Be cleansed of thine ailments!" She slammed it into the back of my skull with enough force to send me tumbling across the room, into the wall, where I slumped, dazed. Were those tiny little alicorns flying around my head? When the shock cleared, my focus found its way back to my mind, and I regained my sense of reality. "I...I...well, that actually worked. I can think clearly again," I managed. "We should hit him again," said Chives. "Just to be safe." "All right, all right!" I was a tad exasperated now. "Let us face the matter at hoof. We are now wanted dead by some unknown entity in the Courts," I glanced down at the scroll, "addressing themselves as 'U'. This U is obviously of a high ranking, being in the graces of the Elder's secrets, and with access to the King's Own Desk. And there must be some pull with the military as well, given the presence of the three soldiers we just admitted." "Well...actually..." Chives looked rather uncomfortable. "There's a little more than just the three of them." "How many?" "We counted five score," Luna explained grimly. "We spied an encampment behind the the rise to the East while we were in flight." "..." Chives prodded me with a wing. "Luna, I think you've broken him yet again. Get the book." "Knowledge is power," she rationed, hefting the Encyclopedi Equinocti once more. I flinched. "No! No, I am fine, I assure you. But...this changes everything." I made my way over to the open window, surveying my lands before turning back to the two of them. "We have to flee. The Celestial City is now the most dangerous place on the moon for us to be. They know Chives and I are aware of the impact. They are also aware of you, Luna, in some way. The scroll mentions something; something called the 'Prophecy of the Eclipse' that the Elders believe your arrival coincides with." "Where will we go? How will we return from whence we came?" Luna fretted. "I...do not know." I approached her and looked her in her mismatched gaze. "But I do know that we will discover a way to send you home, to Equus. On my word as a Lord, and as a friend, this I swear." She regarded me with wide eyes. "A...friend?" Chives clapped his hoof upon her back. "I as well, Luna." Luna's face brimmed with honest joy. "Thank you, Cassius. Thank you, Chives. We will not forget this loyalty." There was a moment of warmth shared in the messy guest bedroom. A set of formidable odds were had been stacked against us, and the mystery of Luna's arrival had only deepened. Now, a new player had entered the game, intent on removing any trace of her existence, including those who had interacted with her. But we would face this challenge, not alone, but together. "But what will we do now?" she wondered. "Now, we leave," said Chives. "We have to disappear. There's only one place for exiles and those who prefer not to be found." I hissed through my teeth. "In the White Wastes? Where pirates and beasts and all manner of dreadful horrors stalk the maria?" "Where else can we go?" he argued. "This entire half of the moon is now unwelcoming territory. We need to go to the other side, past the antipodes, past the Brightlit Border." "We will have to find a place to hide," I said thoughtfully. "They will be relentless in their pursuit." "They will try," Luna murmured darkly, and the black batches on her coat seemed to slither around a bit. "And they will fail." Chives nodded. "I'll fetch as much food as I can carry from the pantry. M'lord, you will have to retrieve some basic field equipment. Luna cannot leave this room." So it was agreed, and my servant and I set about it at once. We were ready not ten minutes later. Chives' years of practice at making meals had served him well, allowing him to package a surprisingly large amount of tuck to eat in little time at all. I had gotten the gear with ease, finding it pre-packed in a closet where it had been sitting, unused, for an unknown number of cycles. For once, I thanked the fact that I didn't get out much. Luna had demanded only one thing, though; her armor. I had gone back for it, sneaking right past the door of Shaddo and his two officer compatriots, until I'd retrieved the battered set from where it had been laid out in the study for examination. It was icy cool to the touch, and made me shiver when I picked it up. The alicorn had donned it the moment I'd returned, the many pieces flying through the air in a telekinetic tempest that arranged itself artfully around her graceful frame as if she had been born in it. I had elected to carry the equipment, and so I was laden down with three packs, on top of wearing my Lord's cape and regalia. Chives had several more, stuffed full with rations. We didn't know how long we would be on the lamb, after all. No sense in being stingy on what we bring. With a shared nod, we clambered out the window of Luna's guest bedroom and jumped into thin air, one at a time. I wheezed mightily and almost dropped like a stone, unused to physical labor of any kind, but still refused Luna's offer for help. "Might as well get used to it," I had panted as stoically as I could manage. We flew low and fast, almost skimming across the ground. The pace was as fast as I could manage, being the slowest of the group. Chives kept himself quite fit with the estate's modest gym, and he had no trouble with his load. At best, we had two hours, possibly less, until Colonel Shaddo came to dinner and discovered nothing but an empty plate and a cold kitchen. But we would make sure we put some distance between us. The advantage of a head start was our most critical element. As the shining blue gem of Equus inched it's way up into the horizon, we passed over the site of Luna's crash landing, a mighty gouge in the land at the very beginning of the maria. The alicorn did a circle over the feature, before taking the leading position in our formation. The maria marked the border of the realm. The Brightlit Border, so called, because here the sun's light would crest the horizon before any other part of the kingdom come Sunday. It was also my own border -- I had not been outside my lands since my departure of the Celestial City. The tips of my ears tingled madly, yet I flew through it, pushing forward into the White Wastes, that great uncharted beyond where danger was always just a wingbeat away, following the wake of a snarky, grumpy butler and a magical alien alicorn. I was a wanted criminal, in the friendship of wanted criminals. I couldn't have asked for better company...