//------------------------------// // Ch.1 10/11/1010 Awake // Story: Only shadows of the past... // by Phoenix Quill //------------------------------// The stars shone brightly in the sky, but nopony could tell as the air was thick with dust. Upon the surface of the moon, if you were to look close enough, you would find the princess of the night sleeping. Her breathing shallow and body as still as if she were dead. Nightmare Moon slumbered within the newly formed crater, broken as a pony could be. By all rights she should have died, but death is more elusive than one might think. Yes she lived through the first ordeal, and breathed in the thin stale air that surrounded the pale surface. She choked through the dust as the sound of cracking bones and joints popping back into place echoed across the barren landscape caused by her body healing itself while she slept. And behind her lidded eyes she did dream. ________________________________________________________________________________ Luna sat in the Night Court and stared at the oak double doors before her. And waited. Her eyes drifted out the window to her right and witnessed the sight of her beloved moon sitting high in the sky, as at peace as a ship in a calm sea drifting its way to the horizon. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she again looked to the doors. The night guards stood at attention, with their bat like wings folded to their sides and their eyes glazed open. Forever staring off into space as they waited for anything to happen. Luna stood from the throne, "Guards," the guards looked up at Luna expectantly, "announce to anypony in waiting, that night court is closed. We shall be in our office, adjusting tax codes if thou art in need of us." The guards saluted before opening the door, revealing the long lush purple carpet of the waiting hall, empty of any ponies waiting to get in at all. As they walked out to inform the snoozing secretary, Luna turned to her left and walked to the solid stone wall. She cast a spell on the wall, causing the stone blocks to slide away from her and to the right, revealing a secret passageway. Luna walked into the hall and listened as the stone slid into place behind her, blocking out all the light from the room behind her. She cast a light spell and looked around the narrow hall, it was so narrowly built that even with her wings tucked into her sides as tight as possible, she would still lose a few pinions to the roughly carved stone walls if she moved too quickly or carelessly. Cautiously she began to move, and watched as the light from her horn cast strange shadows in the chamber creating a very surreal atmosphere. Luna watched the shadows and could almost see the faces of her subjects hiding in the dark spaces, choosing to hide in the very shadows they fear because they fear the holder of nights dim light even greater for allowing the darkness to even exist. Luna shut down her mind and moved up a flight of steps, took a left at the fork in the hall, and soon she found a framed glass looking into an office space. She pressed softly on the frame to open the door through an ornate mirror and stepped into her most private of chambers, the royal Office of the Moon Princess. Softly swinging the door shut behind her, she trod across the plush royal purple carpet, sat down upon a silver colored pillow. Finally secure in knowing nopony could see her, Luna let go of the tears that she held inside. It could have been hours, days or years even that she would have cried, but it was only a matter of minutes before her tears were broken by the sound of laughter. "So this is the mighty Princess Luna, Mistress of the moon wallowing in her own tears! BAH!" Luna jerked her head up quickly and turned her head behind her, "Who dares to insult us?" she paused and rubbed her foreleg across her face in an attempt to dry her tears quickly, "Show thy face so that we may see whom it is that incurred our wrath!" The laughter echoed around the chamber, and Luna tried in vain to track down the source of the voice as she stood in the center of the room, "Over here Lulu! Can't you see me?" Luna flared her wings as she turned, spell at the ready, "What foul beast are you that dares to mock a Celestial Sister?!" The air shifted in the room, as if a breeze came through an open window when there was none to be opened. Suddenly Luna felt a tug on her ethereal tail, "GOTCHA!" Luna spun about and zapped at the offender, only to find that she had blasted a hole the size of a dinner plate into her favorite chaise lounge. "Oh, you thought I was there?" the laughter started again, echoing throughout the small room making ti sound as if there were now dozens of ponies laughing at her. Luna crouched down on the carpet and pressed her hooves against her ears as tight as she could and screamed, "STOP IT! STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Silence shattered the laughter violently. It was so quiet that she could hear her own pulse pounding in her ears. If one were to drop a pin, it would be as loud as the toll of a bell. She stood and looked around her. Luna found that she was all alone, just her and the furniture. "I can make the laughter stop." Luna turned to the voice and saw nopony, except for her own reflection in the mirror. "They don't laugh at us," Luna said to herself, "We must be tired for our mind to plague us with phantom voices on this eve," "We are not tired. We are more awake than ever." Luna focused on the mirror and saw a her reflection step closer to her behind the glass, "Nor am I a mere phantom. You might be weak and unwilling to do what must be done. But I know what bothers you, I can help you stop it." Luna stepped closer to her mirror in curiosity, as she did so, her reflection also walked closer, "What form of trickery is this?" She studied her reflection, as it mimicked her perfectly, "Boo!" The Princess fell back as her reflection laughed openly at her, "Oh my! But you made that all too easy!" Luna's horn began to glow softly as she formed a spell, "Alright thine joke is over. Step out, show yourself and end this charade!" Luna watched as her reflection began to stretch taller, shifting tones from a dark blue into a black darker than a moonless night, "This is no trickery. You called me remember?" Luna stared at the dark reflection of herself, "We called no such pony. Away with thee and let us get back to our royal duties." The image in the mirror changed, showing Luna laying upon her bed, "Why does nopony love us?" she sobbed to herself, "We just want to make them happy." The Luna in the mirror cried as she held onto a pillow stained with tears. "We would give anything for affection!" As the image faded, Luna's dark reflection came back into view, "You see, I came because you called for me. I know what you want, and I know how you can get it." Luna tilted her head at her reflection, and shivered slightly as it gave a fanged smile back at her. "How dost thou know of our desires?" The black alicorn chuckled at her, "Don't you understand, wittle woona? I am everything you want to be. I am your hopes and dreams! And I am going to tell you how to attain them all, and more..." ________________________________________________________________________________ Nightmare Moon's eyes shot open. Her breath was labored, as if she had flown around the world non stop in under an hour. She looked up and saw the stars in the sky. "I knew I would win." she said softly, "That fool of a sister went and destroyed herself with the elements." she stood up on her hooves and heard her joints pop and crack as they fell back into position. Her eyes scanned the sky, and a sense that something was wrong settled into her. It took a few moments before she realized what it was and asked aloud, "Wait, where is my moon?" The black mare searched the night sky for her glowing orb and found nothing. She nearly gave up her search when she found a blue orb in the sky. "How queer, did my magic do something to my moon?" She focused her draconic eyes on the orb and cast a spell to enhance her vision to view the orb as close as she could. That is when she noticed that what she was looking at, was the gryphon empire from several thousand miles in the air. "No, this can't be." The night mare muttered to herself as she began to look around her. Finally Nightmare noticed that she was standing in the center of a crater. She flapped her wings and flew over to the edge and looked over the horizon. Light grey dust and rocks covered the land as far as the eye could see. Only a few craters and mountains made any change on the landscape. Nightmare looked back up to the planet above, then to the surface below her. Finally realizing where she was she let out a yell of agony as loud as she possibly could. Yet, nopony would hear her scream.