//------------------------------// // Book I // Story: The Laughter and the Night // by AugieDog //------------------------------// Flame in torrents, blasting and echoing, Searing from Daylight's remorseless eyes: Night, her shackles holding the fugitive, Shivers, ignoring his jagged cries. 1. The dappled, drowsy afternoon Each evening without fail Allows herself to settle low, Her sun to dim and pale. Her blueness fades, and shadows grow, Relaxing gold to gray: Across Equestria, so fair, Another lovely day. It's then that ponies ev'rywhere Beneath the dawning night Watch silver spots bloom overhead, The stars' sweet glinting light. Content to rise like baking bread, The moon at last appears. Celestia responds with smiles While Luna laughs and cheers. The sisters dance, their diff'rent styles Reflecting diff'rent roles, And so the world around them turns While each pursues her goals. Oftentimes, the talons of history, Catching the world, spin it unaware: Past to present marching unstoppable, Crushing the future without a care... 2. At midnight's peak, a lantern burns And flickers through the dark From deep within her tower room When Luna strikes its spark. The palace slumbers like a tomb Around her and below As Luna rolls a parchment out Beneath the orange glow. Awash with dust, but there's no doubt: This scroll's the one she sought, Reviving in her memory When she and Tia fought To harness all the Harmony The Elements allowed And turned that strength upon a threat That held the nation cowed. So long ago it was, and yet, Defeating him at last, She'd always felt Bucephalus Would not stay in the past. Stony shape, so looming and thunderous, Haunting her dreamscape since she's returned, First to plant the dissatisfaction that Started her simmering, feeling spurned. 3. She hadn't wished to raise a fuss, So newly she'd arrived. Exchanging armor, black and cold, For plainer dress, she'd strived To reassure, had put on hold All complicated thoughts About the roots that caused her change: His whispered ropes and knots. Herself again, she would arrange Her face aright at dusk And act as if she'd never gone, Her heart a hollow husk. She'd greet her sister with the dawn, Excuse herself to bed, And stare at ceiling, floor, and wall, An itching in her head. For if she slept, that raspy call Would creep, would crawl, would creak, And Luna, mistress of all dreams, Would waken with a shriek. Shrouded, shadowed, whispering urgently, Never pursuing but always there, Dead, she'd hoped, for over ten centuries, Smoldering stallion of her nightmare. 4. At last, her patience snapped its seams: Unable to endure The daily onslaught, Luna looked For confirmation sure. Librarians she quickly booked From all of Canterlot To find the scroll she knew would hold The awful truth she sought. And now it lays outstretched, unrolled, Its basic meaning clear. A shiver rattles Luna's frame From cutie mark to ear. There's nowhere she can place the blame Except upon herself, And knowing that she has no choice, Her pride goes on the shelf. Despite the hour, she lifts her voice And asks: "Celestia? I'm sorry, but we need to talk For all Equestria." Ego cold and haughty's a luxury Luna decides that she can't afford: Lessons learned that lonely millennium, Fostering virtues she once ignored. 5. Awakening in quiet shock, Her sister, standing, speaks— "Of course! I'll be there straight away!"— As through the air she streaks. In Luna's room, she hears her say, "The name means much to us, But none among our ponies knows Of dread Bucephalus." "Bucephalus?" Her blinking shows Celestia's confused. "Some fifteen hundred years or more I'd call it since we used The Elements to slam the door Upon his stony face. I don't recall a prophecy That lets him leave that place." "The fault," says Luna, "lies with me Because—" She hesitates While deep within her swirling mind, They rage: the old debates. What to say? For nothing can come of it: Nothing, she's sure, that won't spawn regret. Still, the years that faithful Celestia Waited for Luna conferred a debt... 6. A sigh from Luna. "Please be kind. You know I've turned aside From all the petty jealousies That fueled my hate and pride. But when my heart began to freeze That day so long ago, It was Bucephalus, in fact, Who set my grudge to glow. Before he'd ever once attacked A village or a town, He courted me within his dreams, His touch as soft as down. Romantic in his ruthless schemes, His words rang sweet and pure As nightingales upon the wing, His whispers all allure. And I—" She chokes to say the thing. "I ate the filth he dished. Completely lost before we won, I fed him as he wished." Locked away, his voice emerged slithery, Knocking to enter her eager door. Centuries she listened and, festering, Burst into Nightmare with rage and roar. 7. In silence, Luna feels the sun Bestow a warm caress: "You loved him?" Luna heaves a snort. "I thought. But nonetheless, His plan, he said, involved a sort Of magic puzzle stone To free him, then Equestria Was ours to rule alone." "So why, then," asks Celestia, "Did he not follow through?" "You beat me." Luna gives a shrug. "There's nothing he could do." "Oh, sister..." With her gentle hug, Celestia forgives. But Luna sighs. "There's more. You see, Bucephalus still lives. Since I returned, he's called to me Each night from out his cell, Reminding me of promised deeds Both blasphemous and fell." Oh, the beast had captured her thoroughly, Spoken the words that she'd wished to hear. All she thought she wanted, he offered her, Wrapped in self-righteousness, pure and clear. 8. Her sister gasps, and Luna needs A momentary breath. "You're sure?" Celestia inquires. And Luna nods: "His death Entwines somehow with my desires. I've kept the brute alive Despite my knowing he's a fiend! I can't deny the drive To rescue what has been demeaned, To turn him from the path That so consumed his wretched soul, Enflaming him with wrath! It's hopeless!" "No." As hot as coal, That single burning word, And Luna stares, her sister's face So strong and undeterred: "There's always hope." Like steel lace— Unbreakable but soft— Celestia straightforwardly Sends Luna's heart aloft. Warmth, acceptance, love without attitude: Does she deserve it? She can't see why. Luna nods and nuzzles Celestia, Turns to the scroll with a teary eye. 9. "For here you'll find that prophecy You never knew." She flares The lantern brighter with her horn. "You'll see the way it pairs Bucephalus—'The Rage Forlorn,' It talks about at length— With me—'The Night Suspensible'— But also mentions 'Strength, The Element Insensible.'" She sighs and starts to read: "'The Element will gape the Door, The Strength the Night will need To clear the Way for Rage before The Lorn can lapse and rest.' Impossible!" She stomps. "So who's The one these words suggest? I've not found any other clues Which Element is meant! I've got to end this madness now Before my mind is rent!" Luna sags, Celestia holding her: "Ponyville beckons, I'd have to say. Trust our friends. They'll do what you need them to. Nap, then have breakfast, then on your way." 10. His whispering does not allow Much napping, but at dawn, The cosmos shifts from Luna's back: A kiss, and then she's gone. Unfurling wings despite a lack Of sleep, she soars among The fleecy clouds, the morning breeze A song too long unsung. Its perfect fit and heft appease Her inner turbulence, Caress her cares and raise a smile: Such tangy succulence! And so she travels, mile by mile, Until her fears recede. She's not alone. She does have friends To help in truth and deed. Alighting, then, her journey ends Outside of Ponyville. Determined—trust the Elements!— She starts on down the hill. Faith and reason, allies and enemies, Count on each other but argue, too. Love and hatred, friendship and apathy, Change under pressure to something new.