//------------------------------// // Year 1000 part 1 // Story: The Reign of the moon // by Fluttering_Ashes //------------------------------// Luna sighs as she stares out at her kingdom, watching the black dot that was her dragon disappearing over the horizon. She had given Saga very specific orders, pick up Cadence (and her colt friend if need be) provide transport to Prance for an all- expenses paid vacation, and wait there for the all clear signal from either her or Discord. If that signal didn’t come well…she left that to Saga to figure out. There was a soft click from behind her as a new presence entered the room. She didn’t have to turn to know it was Discord. “Discord…you know you’re not supposed to be here.” “How can I not be? My best friend is about to-“ Luna turns on him, the smallest of frowns creasing her face. “Discord you’re not supposed to be here. You’re supposed to be in Atlantia, warning Aquamarie about this. If you’re here, and you get captured with me, who’ll be there to save Equestria if the elements fail?” Discord frowned, clearly biting his tongue. He hated when ponies made sense, where was the fun in making sense? Luna knew what was bothering him, so before he could speak she spoke up, turning back towards the window. “Discord, we can’t have the ponies of Equestria relying too heavily on one pony; not me, not you, not anypony. If you teach them to put their faith in one pony above all others, you’re teaching them to be betrayed, even if that pony is yourself.” Discord gave a roll of his eyes. He prepared to speak again but this time he was interrupted by a scroll popping into existence before Luna’s face. Luna raised an eyebrow and broke the seal, scanning through it. She smiled a little. “Oh Lyra…you never cease to amaze” She picked up a scroll she had written ahead of time and sent it off without another word about it. “Discord…this may very well be the last time you ever see me. Don’t interrupt” She added quickly, seeing the spirit of chaos start to reply “It’s not likely, but it’s possible Solar Flare is too much for Celestia to break free from, and it’s possible that she’ll end my life if she’s given the opportunity…if this happens and if the elements succeed in removing her from my sister…I don’t want you to hold any ill will towards her. She wasn’t in control of her actions, you know that. Her grief in such an event would be enough punishment…I’m sure…But should the elements fail, and the worst should happen…if you need to step in yourself…I want you to do everything you have to do to keep Equestria safe.” At this she turned to the window, smiling bitterly. “It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? If things go the right way today, you’ll get your kingdom back after all these years.” Discord frowned down at her. “…I don’t think I’d want to rule if that was how I got back on the throne…” Discord muttered finally, putting one claw on Luna’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze before disappearing with a snap of his fingers. ~~~Meanwhile~~ Lyra sulked silently in the storm powered cart, currently puttering its way away from the L.U.N.A. and towards Ponyville. Her assistant, a young flutter pony by the name of Gossamer reread the princess’s letter to her. “My Dearest Lyra, There is more to a young pony’s life than just studying. I am sending you to supervise the preparations for the Solar Eclipse celebration in this year’s location; Ponyville. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete; make some friends!” Lyra let out a groan, her hoof going to her face “Friends? Seriously? “ “Oh come on Ly, lighten up! The princess arranged for ya to stay in a library? Doesn’t that make you happy?” Lyra raised an eyebrow at the flutter pony, her semi-transparent butterfly wings sparkling in the light streaming in through the window . “Not really….if L.U.N.A didn’t have the proper books for proving Solar Flare’s return I doubt a smaller library will…still. I’m going to get done with these stupid preparations as fast as I can so I can research!” Gossamer frowned at this “But…when are you going to make friends like the Princess said?” “Gossy, I am the princess’s personal student! I will do my duty and I will see to the preparations, but the fate of Equestria does not depend on me making friends!” Gossamer broke into a fit of giggles, causing Lyra to sigh. “What?” She asked, staring down the powder blue pony. “You said doody!” “Ugh!” Lyra and the still giggling flutterpony exited the car as it pulled to a stop, Lyra made sure to thank the driver before following Gossamer into town. They passed a purple pony with a yellow propeller hat on her head. The pony frowned slightly as they passed, her propeller whirring to life. She began to follow them, floating a few inches above the road. Lyra didn’t seem to notice until the beanie wearing pony was nearly upon them, hovering inches from her tail. Finally, Lyra turned to confront their not so subtle stalker. “Can I help you?” The unicorn asked the earth pony tersely. The purple pony’s response to this was to let out a loud gasp. “I have been discovered!” She squealed, her flight path tilting sideways. “May day! May day! I’m going down!” The pony crashed into a shrub, her back legs and curly white and purple tail the only things visible before her head popped out again, giggling “I’m okay!” Lyra continued to stare for a few moments before promptly turning on her hoof and walking away “This never happened” She muttered under her breath. As she and Gossamer walked Gossamer took out a check list she had written up that morning. “Okay, first stop, the catering. The head caterer is a pony by the name of Bon Bon.” The two pushed into a little shop on the corner of one street, a sign with a large wrapped piece of candy hanging above the door. What they found were a group of about four earth ponies, running to and fro with ingredients like bags of chocolate, cream, sugar, gummy grass, and all manner of cavity inducing things. What really struck her as odd, however, was the fact that all four ponies looked exactly alike; beige colored coat, dark blue and pink swirled mane, neatly styled into little curls that Lyra wished she could put her own into. She tapped one on the shoulder as she passed “Excuse me, I’m looking for a pony named Bon bon.” “She’s in the back” The pony answered, quickly jabbing her hoof at a little door before darting off. Lyra quietly made her way to the backroom, followed by Gossamer. The two found their way into a little kitchen, every flat surface decorated by some sort of candy creation. A pony identical to the four from earlier, was quietly making a chocolate sculpture; a life size statue of Princess Luna all made of dark chocolate. Lyra stared for a moment before she cleared her throat. The pony jumped, staring down at Lyra from her ladder before quickly climbing down. “Sorry to interrupt. I’m Lyra and I’m here to check on the preparations for the Solar Eclipse celebration.” “Oh you’re not interrupting at all! You’re just in time to sample a few things!” Said the earth pony, shaking Lyra’s hoof with such enthusiasm that the unicorn felt as if her foreleg was going to fall off. “I’m Bon Bon, and I think you passed my sisters on the way in here; Bon Voyage, Bon Appétit, Bon Marché, and Sweetie Drop!” She beams at her, still shaking her whole foreleg rather forcefully as she spoke before she finally let go. Lyra’s foreleg continued to shake up and down, causing Gossamer to snicker. “Y-yes we met them…But I was actually more curious as to what you were planning for the celebration…” “Oh of course! Come on I’ll show you, I just know you’ll love these! We’ll be the best of friends in no time!” “Ugh…friends don’t give each other diabetes” She mutters softly as she and Gossamer exited the sweet shop, both with considerably heavier stomachs. Lyra’s stomach ached, she just wanted to lay down, vomit, and sleep, in that order. But there was work to be done…. “The music for the event are being handled by the town DJ Vinyl scratch and…” Gossamer paused, blinking down at the scroll, then glancing at Lyra, then quickly scrolling up the parchment. “Vinyl Scratch and who?” Lyra asked suspiciously “Technically that’s whom” Gossamer said, avoiding the unicorn’s eyes. “Gossy….” The flutterpony gave a soft sigh. “Vinyl Scratch and Octavia” Lyra’s left eye began to twitch. “Octavia..? Octavia as in ‘Musical theory 101’ Octavia? Octavia as in talent show fifth year, Octavia? That Octavia? What the hay is she doing here?” Before the flutterpony could even answer Lyra was off to the town hall where the musical equipment was being set up. A white unicorn with a neon blue mane and dark purple shades was already there, pushing a massive speaker into place. “Yo, whats up?” The unicorn asked, taking notice of her as she slid to a stop. Lyra glanced around as Gossamer caught up with her, then returned her attention to the other unicorn. “Princess Luna sent me to oversee the preparations for the Solar Eclipse celebration?” Vinyl smirked and turned towards a door way . “Yo Octy! The pencil pusher’s here!” “Vinyl! Don’t call them that!” Said a voice from behind the little curtained off stage area, a very familiar, heavily accented voice. Within seconds the gray earth pony appeared, fixing her little pink bow tie. “I mean really Vinyl they’re standing right there! Could it ki-….Lyra?”The earth pony had finally noticed who was standing there, at first she seemed stunned then she quickly hopped over and wrapped her fore legs around Lyra. “Oh Lyra it’s great to see you! It’s been too long! How are you!” “Fine” Lyra muttered through gritted teeth, trying to squirm away. Why was everypony in this town so touchy-feely? “Oh dear me where are my manners? Lyra, this is Vinyl Scratch my roommate. Vinyl, this is Lyra Heart strings, we went to L.U.N.A together.” “Oh yeah! I think she told me about you once, weren’t you the chick who was obsessed with humans?” Lyra gave Octavia a pointed glare at this, and Octavia had the good grace to look a little bit embarrassed. “I didn’t say obsessed Vinyl…I said she found them intriguing ” “Tomato, Tomahto.” Vinyl replied with a simple shrug. “Back to business” Lyra said pointedly . “Business, smishness ! Come on you two haven’t seen each other in years and you don’t even wanna catch up?” Vinyl asked with a huge smile on her face “Oh dear please just tell me you’re not still upset over that silly talent show are you?” Octavia asked giving Lyra’s hoof a little pat. Before the unicorn could answer she began to dive into the story “We were both in this talent show, it was my seventh year and Lyra’s fifth if remember correctly. We were both playing classical music. I played something I wrote myself and the judges gave me a 9.9 and Lyra played….what was it? It was some human religious thing you found wasn’t it?” “Stairway to Heaven” Lyra muttered bitterly. “Ah yes that’s right! Well the Judges gave Lyra a 9.9 as well so the whole thing ended in a tie.” Vinyl began to snicker “Lemme guess, you’re upset that they didn’t give ya a perfect score?” And that was when Gossamer chose this moment to speak up “Lyra always gets upset when she gets anything lower than a hundred percent! I remember this one time when she got an A minus on an exam she-“ “Thank you Gossamer” Lyra said with such a tone of finality in her voice that the flutter pony shut her mouth almost immediately. Vinyl Scratch was still grinning. “Anyway…” Octavia muttered with a cough, trying to return to a more dignified and professional demeanor. “We have everything all ready to go we just have to move the speakers into place and do one quick rehearsal and we should be done.” “Good, now all that leaves is…?” Lyra turned to Gossamer who was pulling out the check list and quietly marking the box next to the music with a swish of a quill. “That just leaves the décor being set up by a miss Ditzy Doo Hooves and A Miss Screw Ball” Just as she said this a buzzing noise reached the groups ears, as if somepony were fiddling with one of those tiny electric fans. The noise grew to near deafening over the course of a few seconds, Lyra heard a soft “Woah!” From behind and before she could turn around something large and heavy slammed into the back of her head. She fell over as she heard somepony mutter “Oops….my bad….” And everything went black. ~~~Several hours later, 5 minutes before the ceremony~~ Luna stood, behind the curtained balcony of Ponyville’s town hall. Far above her, she knew the moon was inching ever closer towards the sun, a black disk covering the larger yellow one. Luna sighed and set her horn alight. It was time. The counter spell was cast, the key fitting into the lock of a powerful spell cast 1000 years prior. It took only a second or two for the prisoner to realize she was awake for the first time in a millennium. Luna felt the heat increase a degree or two as the solar pony escaped, her body reforming mere inches away. “Hello Tia….” She said softly, watching the golden mare who stared her down with such hatred in her eyes. “My name is-!” “I know what you are called monster, but I am not speaking to you. I am speaking to the pony who’s body you have taken.” Luna said calmly, actually enjoying the stunned look on the creature’s face. “Tia, I know you’re in there somewhere, and if you can hear me…I just want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let this happen, I’m sorry I didn’t act sooner, I’m sorry I let you become…this thing. No matter what it does today I want you to know, I’m always going to be your sister.” Solar Flare snorts “How very touching. You know, I could kill you right now. Turn you into a little smoldering pile of ash on the floor” Solar flare smirked at her, gently tracing a hoof down the side of her face. “I know you could” Luna said softly “Tia was always the strong one.” “Exactly I always was stronger than you. So let’s see what happens when you get a taste of your own medicine. I’m going to let you live, and you’re going to watch what happens down here. Tata!” Before Luna could say another word Solar Flare’s horn flashed, just once. Ponyville disappeared and she found herself on a blank white landscape, the sun at her back, a great blue orb in front of her with Equestria resting on it. She sighed…it was out of her hooves now… ~~~meanwhile~~~ “Wakey wakey!” said a voice Lyra didn’t recognize. “Oww…” Lyra’s eyes cracked open, she found herself in a little room surrounded by books. “Oh good your up” Said a gray pegasus pony, smiling brightly. “What happened….” Lyra muttered, rubbing her aching head. The Pegasus blushed slightly, her eye drooping down towards her left hoof while the other slowly went upwards towards her right ear. “Umm….somepony…who I won’t mention might’ve dropped a very heavy disco ball on your head and you…might’ve been out for a while?” Lyra sighs and continues to rub the sore spot, it felt like a second horn was growing in! “How long is a while?” Before the gray Pegasus could answer a purple blur shot into the room. “Come on you guys! You’re going to miss it!” somepony grabbed her by the shoulders and the next thing she knew she was heading down the stairs, carried by the purple beanie wearing pony from yesterday, the walleyed Pegasus flying to keep up with them. “I’m Ditzy Doo by the way.” The Pegasus said, narrowly avoiding a light post as they flew. “Yeah and I’m Screwball!” Said the purple flying earth pony. “You don’t say…So what are we about to miss?” “The Solar Eclipse Ceremony!” “What!” Lyra was out of Screwballs forelegs like a bullet from a gun. Screwball looked at Ditzy, both hovering in the air. Screwball shrugged and they both zoomed after her. “Oh no…oh no!” Lyra muttered as the music started, the mayor finished her little speech, a pony opened the curtains to reveal….nothing. “T-this can’t be happening” Lyra whimpered. “Remain calm everypony! I’m sure theres a reasonable explanation for this!” “Oh oh I know! She’s going to pop out any minute with a cool fog effect!” Screwball cried. A flame appeared on the stage, several ponies screamed, scurrying backwards, away from the spot. “Pyro Technics! Even better!” Screwball squealed, clapping her hooves. The fire swirled into a miniature tornado, spinning violently and burning down every banner they had put up of Luna before the whole thing disappeared as the winged unicorn within spread its wings. The pony’s body sparkled in the little light, as if her skin had been weaved out of pure gold, her mane crackled and hissed, dancing like fire. “Good afternoon my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your pwecious wittle faces” Solar Flare crooned. “What did you do with our princess!” Vinyl shouted about to leap into action only to be held back by Bon Bon. Solar Flare laughed “Why am I not royal enough for you? Does my crown no longer count after being imprisoned for a thousand years? Do you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” Lyra steps forward “I did! And I know who you are! You’re the Solar Mare. Solar Flare!” The crowd behind her gasped, Solar Flare rolled her eyes, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. “Well well well, somepony remembers me. Then I suppose you also know what I’m here to do.” “Y-you’re going to…going to…” Lyra flinches away, gulping softly. “Remember this day my little ponies. For it is the day your queen returns! I expect nothing short of your undying obedience when I return, or else” She smirks coldly down at the ponies “Well let’s not make things too messy now. You’ll be my faithful little ponies or my faithful little kindling. The choice is yours” And with that the mare disappeared with a cackle and a tower of flame. To be concluded….