Day 275-Missing Again
After three weeks, I keep on believing that Solaris would finish her mission and RTC, yet, just as before, they always turn up fruitless. Today, though, all of us have been summoned to the Round Room for an important announcement, and I must say, the Round Room looks a little bit lonely without all thirteen of us, but whatever Vanitas has to give out will put it out of my mind.
"Solaris is gone," announced Vanitas. Immediately, all of us were surprised by this news, while I was surprised and shocked, because she must have lost track on her mission again.
"Now, wait a minute," said Prince Blueblood. "Are you saying she's neglecting her responsibilities?"
"As if," scoffed Diamond Tiara. "We don't know why she chose to leave us."
"It doesn't matter," said Vanitas. "What matters is this: nopony is to look for her without my consent." I saw his statement like we're shunning her, yet me and Discord respect her.
"Why not?" I asked, hoping I'd get a real reason for why we can't find her.
"Your 'friend' is to be left alone for the time being," said Queen Chrysalis, my horn beginning to glow upon hearing her put some type of emphasis on the word "friend." "Or do you want a punishment, perhaps?" The magic emanating from my horn began to fade as she said it, because I don't want to be turned into a Dusk for attacking one of our own, but my mind was still focused on one thing.
"I just want us to look for her!"
"Why would we do such a thing?" I decided to drop the arguement, because right now, it's getting me nowhere.
"All will be told when it's time," resumed Vanitas.
"Meaning, if the time doesn't come, things may go back to normal..." mumbled Discord. I don't know what he meant, but I remember him telling me that I should stay out of one's personal business, so I ignored my eavesdropping on him.
"Lord Vanitas has spoken," announced the Queen. "Do as he says, or else." I really didn't want a punishment, so I should do what I'm told and just wait for Solaris to return on her own.
***
Moondancer was on a mission and found herself in Ponyville, which right now is filled with angry and bitter ponies and a variety of percipitation. There, she had a memory of Twilight Sparkle expressing her desire to stay with her new friends and Princess Celestia announcing that she is to study the magic of friendship in her new home of Ponyville. After the memory ended, she found a rotten apple in a cart and levitated it with her magic and used it to rejuvenate it back to freshness, making her remember the apples she brought to Solaris when she was in a coma.
"Solaris..." she solemnly said. Then she saw a figure out by the lake where they agreed to hang out the next time they got a vacation. Although the hood was up, she quickly recognized the figure as Solaris and galloped over to her. When her hood was removed, what Moondancer saw wasn't really Moondancer, but a hunched old balding man with golden eyes.
"Apparently, you should have known about this," said the old man. Moondancer was confused until she heard another voice.
"Why should I?" She turned around to see Princess Luna approach the old man and began to circle around her.
"Because, if you can remember, you traveled to various worlds before returning here." As he continued talking, Moondancer began to suffer a sharp pain her head, like his words are starting to pierce her brain. "And in all those worlds, all you ever saw was the darkness in those worlds. That's been in your heart all this time: the dark side of those memories. Your memories of your parents are gone--all of them." As she was down on her hooves, she transformed into Solaris, but talking with both her voice and Luna's.
"You're lying! I remember my parents as I remember them now. They were...were..." As she choked on the last word, she morphed into the Princess of the Night. "the only ones we ever cared about." She was on her side now, attempting to ease the pain in her head which won't go away.
"Then who was responsible for your loss? Maybe you didn't realize it yet. It was you who killed your parents." Luna then turned into Twilight and then passed out, unable to take it anymore.
***
Luna found an unconscious Solaris out by the side of the lake, and wrapped her forelegs around her, with her head resting on her chest.
"Who am I?" asked Solaris mid-sleep. "What is my...purpose in this world?" Luna moved the red locks from her shut eyes as she remembered an important meeting...
***
Luna was sitting at a table designed with regal adornments sitting across Caelum.
"I'm grateful to talk with you again," said Caelum.
"I made a promise with my sister," said Luna.
"To see Twilight Sparkle complete the spell. I know. Truth is...I don't see her doing it yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Part of Twilight's memories are lost."
"How is that possible? Her memories are still intact, even after turning into a Heartless and back again."
"They're escaping from Twilight's Nopony into a third pony--and they're beginning to take place in her." Luna pondered something over.
"Can't you just retrieve the memories?"
"If they're separate...then it'll be possible to use one of my memory-related spells to send them back to Twilight. Yet, if they join with her existing memories, things'll just get worse. I'd have to unravel her memory before Twilight restores her friends...what's supposed to take a day here may take weeks. Celestia would be worried."
"What do we do then?"
"If I just go ahead and fix her memory...then I only see Twilight returning to Ponyville to discover that her friends won't remember her anymore. I just can't do that to her. We've got to hurry, though. She'll figure out the spell once she fixes her friends. I just can't get over how Twilight's Nopony and the other one are trying to become actual ponies. Sadly, the only way to this...is for both of them to return to Twilight. You saw her face was featureless at first, right? But now you saw somepony. That means part of Twilight's memories are within her. Part inside her, most, if not all of them, inside Twilight...others, if not the same inside Twilight's Nopony... I just can't do it. All I can do about it is pick up what's left behind once the spell is completed."
"Okay."
***
Luna suddenly saw Moondancer run to a stone bridge to Ponyville, but used her magic to open a Corridor of Darkness and entered it, causing the Corridor to fade away. She then looked down at Solaris again, who was still in a deep sleep...
***
The sun was starting to set in Equestria and Moondancer, Solaris, and Discord were sitting on one of the branches of a tree near the lake, watching the splendor of the sunset, being much more breathtaking than the sunsets in Twilight Town. Out of all of them, Solaris is filled with concern.
"Was I not meant to exist after all?" asked Solaris.
"Well, what do you really want, Solaris?" asked Discord.
"I just...want to be with both of you." Solaris then put her hooves together, with Moondancer placing her hoof on top of the alicorn's.
"Then return with us," said Moondancer.
"No..." Solaris solemnly said. "Not the way I am right now. But...what'll it take to be just like you?" All three of them struggled with this question as they tried to enjoy their last remaining minutes of the setting sun.
***
After my mission, I went to the clock tower, and to my surprise, Discord was there, nibbling at his ice cream.
"Hey, you're really here," I said. To tell the truth, I haven't seen him up here much, either.
"That long, eh?" asked Discord. I ignored the fact that I haven't seen him at the clock tower for three weeks and took my spot on the clock tower.
"I went to the lake in Equestria today for my mission. I saw a mare who looked sorta like Solaris...but I didn't get up close enough to figure out if it were true. I think I was seeing things. And you know, I'm not even sure my mission actually happened. It felt like it was a dream or something. And this is going to sound insane, but you know how we promised we'd go to the lake? Well, I think I saw her there because I wanted her to be there with us." I then saw Discord stand up on the ledge.
"Wanna find her?" I suddenly got worried.
"What!? But Vanitas' orders..."
"Screw Vanitas' orders. Starting tomorrow, we're using our spare time from work to come here and instead use that to find Solaris." I then stood up as well, knowing that we'll be sacrificing our time for something that's actually important to us.
"Yeah, let's do it!"