Chapter Six: Beneath the Moon
The Moon shone brightly overhead as Tartanis descended into the cave. They were here; they had to be. Moving quietly, and keeping to the shadows, he proceeded down the dark and dank passageway, until he saw the faint light of a fire glowing from around the next bend in the tunnel. Listening carefully, he could hear familiar voices coming from up ahead.
“So, where do we go now? We can’t stay in this filthy cave forever. We may have gotten a head start, but they have to be catching up as we speak.” One of the voices said. This was the right place.
“I've finally found them.” Tartanis thought, a sense of relief flooding through him. “Now, I might stand a chance at keeping her safe…” He began to turn the corner, but something held him back; some unseen force held him in place.
“So, this is where they've been hiding…” A dark and sinister voice echoed in his mind “I must thank you for leading me to them. Now then, you have served your purpose. And now for your reward: I will allow you to watch as she dies.”
Tartanis slowly walked around the corner, to see the five of them sitting around a small makeshift campfire.
“Wait… Who’s there?” She asked as he rounded the corner. She relaxed somewhat when she saw him, however. “Oh, it’s you. What are you doing here? And where are your friends? Weren’t you looking for…” Her voice trailed off suddenly. Looking down at his hooves, Tartanis saw what had drawn her attention: Long tendrils of dark mist had begun to form around his hooves, and beginning to lengthen, making their way towards the six ponies.
He just stood there and watched as the darkness surrounded them, and began to constrict, slowly but surely squeezing the life out of them. She was the last to die, never taking her eyes off of him as she slipped away into the void. She said only one thing as she died. “Why…? Why would you do this…?” But he just stood and watched as she died. He could only stand there, watching helplessly, as his beloved Rarity was lost to him forever.
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As I walked out into the field, I was struck by how bright it seemed, despite the fact it was quickly approaching midnight. Looking up, I saw why, a beautiful full moon shone overhead, its serene light only complimented by the shining stars that surrounded it. Looking up at the night sky, I felt something stir deep within my heart. Never once taking my eyes off the beautiful moon that hung overhead, I began to sing a simple melody; A simple song that came from deep within the memories of my heart…
“I had a dream that I could fly…”
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As she passed over that field full of memories, Luna faintly heard something: A song. But this wasn't just any song… This was a song from her past, a song that carried with it memories both happy and sad. She circled back to land when she saw him, looking up at the Moon. Then, just as quickly as he had begun, he looked down, his eyes meeting hers. “This is it.” Luna thought “We meet at last.”
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Alexander was on his way to the field when he ran into her. Literally. After regaining his footing, he realized that he recognized the young mare he had collided with.
“You!” They shouted simultaneously.
“What are you thinking, running around like a madpony?!?” Colgate “asked” him.
“Me?” Alexander replied, “I might ask the same of you! Besides, you have no right to act that way after what you did to the Princess!” The young pony seemed to shrink back a bit at this.
“That’s why I was running so hard... I shouldn't have acted the way I did towards Luna, and I was on my way to go apologize to her.” Colgate said, all aggressiveness gone from her voice. “I’m sorry I ran into you. I don’t believe we've ever been properly introduced. I’m Colgate, as you know. What’s your name?”
“I am Captain Sol Alexander of the Canterlot Royal Guard. And I have just as much reason to apologize as you. Neither of us were paying attention, so it was as much my fault as it was yours. And I’m happy to hear that you’re going to apologize to Princess Luna. I was just on my way to find her after she fled her room without telling me her destination.” Colgate seemed to cringe at that. “I made her run away…?” she thought, feeling even guiltier for her actions.
Seeing the young Unicorn feeling so down, Alexander decided to try and help. “Tell you what Colgate, how about we go speak to Princess Luna together? I saw her flying off this way, so why don’t we go find her together?”
Colgate seemed to perk up at this. “Okay, that sounds alright… Alexander.”
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When I saw her standing there, my heart stopped. As far as I could remember, I had never seen her before, and yet… I knew her. Somewhere deep inside in my heart, I could remember her. I could remember… Hope. I was shaken from my thoughts when I heard her ask me a question.
“Seraph… Is that… Is that you?” She asked me, looking as though she was about to cry.
“Who’s Seraph?” I answered.
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There it was; the answer she had been dreading. This young stallion had no idea who Seraph was, let alone the fact that they looked so much alike. They looked absolutely identical, right down to the cutie mark, but this pony was not Seraph. Seraph always seemed so calm, so... Sad, and yet… she felt none of those things from this young Pegasus. Trying not to lose the hope she so desperately needed, Luna introduced herself.
“I am Princess Luna. Who might you be? And why are you out here so late, all alone?”
“I’m Silver. Silver Dawn. And as for why I’m here… I’m not quite sure. A white Alicorn told me to come here, so… here I am.” He said.
“A white Alicorn?” Luna thought to herself. “This has to be Celestia’s doing… Unless…” But her thoughts were interrupted as Silver continued.
“Other than that, I suppose I've just been looking at the moon.” He said, looking back up. “Whenever I look at it… I don’t feel alone, even if I’m by myself. I feel… alive.” This caught Luna’s attention.
“Silver… Why were you singing earlier? And where did you learn that song?” Luna asked, becoming more and more curious about this strange young pony.
“I don’t know, to be honest.” He answered truthfully “Ever since I arrived here, I haven’t been able to remember a thing. And yet, when I looked up at the night sky, I felt something. I think it was a memory, but… when I was singing, I felt happy. Like everything I had ever hoped for came true. I think that song used to be really important to me, before I lost my memory. I think… It gave me hope.”
Luna could tell from his voice that he was being honest with her, and that gave her hope. Maybe this was Seraph, and he had just forgotten what had happened. But if that was true, then where had he been all this time? How had he survived Nightmare Moon’s attack? And who were the other two ponies who fell alongside him? All of these questions floated around in her head, and Luna didn’t know the answer to a single one of them. She could be wrong, but there were just too many similarities between Silver and Seraph to be certain either way.
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I had answered her questions, and yet a question of my own had been gnawing away at me.
“Luna… I've met you before, haven’t I? You were the one who me and the others here, weren't you?” She hesitated a moment before answering.
“Yes, I was the one who found the three of you here. At first I thought you were falling stars, but once you landed in the field, I realized that you were not falling stars, but three young ponies instead.”
“That’s what I thought.” I answered, my suspicions confirmed. ”In that case, I have another question for you: What where you doing out here? It can’t have just been a coincidence that you were the one to find us.” I didn't want to pry too much, but I felt the need for answers. I needed to know everything I could about what was going on.
There was a brief silence before she answered me. “To be honest, I was thinking of running away. I was trying to do just that tonight. The past few years… haven’t been easy for me.” She looked away, as if ashamed of her words. I didn’t know that much about her, but that look, that… Pain I felt emanating from her heart… That was the moment I decided that she needed help. Luna needed a friend, and I was determined to be there for her.
“What happened?” I asked. “What is it that’s weighing you down?” The moment I said this, I knew I had taken a step in the right direction.
“You… You really don’t know?” She asked me. “That’s right,” she said to herself, her small smile marred by the shining tears that had begun to travel down her face. “You haven’t been here very long, so how could you know. Well… It all started a thousand years ago…”
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He shot up out of the bed, covered in sweat and his whole body shaking. He knew immediately it had just been a nightmare, but… it felt too real to just be a dream.
“What’s happening to me…?” Tartanis thought to himself. “Why is this happening to me…?” his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Regaining his bearings, Tartanis quickly took in his surroundings. He was in a small bed, in what appeared to be a room carved into the trunk of a tree. The knocking at the door repeated, but this time he could faintly hear a voice on the other side.
“Excuse me…? Is everything all right in there?” Getting out of the bed, Tartanis walked over to the door and opened it, revealing a young yellow Pegasus with a pink mane. “Oh my!” She yelped. “I’m sorry; I didn't mean to wake you up… I heard a commotion, and got worried…”
“It’s okay.” Tartanis said, trying to comfort the young mare. “Just a bad dream, nothing more. Sorry to worry you.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” The mare said. “I’m just happy that it was nothing but a bad dream. I would have had one myself, if I had gone through what you did.”
“What do you mean?” Tartanis asked, curious.
“Well, you were stumbling around in the dark, and it looked like you had been wandering around in the Everfree Forest all night! If Melody hadn’t seen you…” But that was all Tartanis heard. The moment the young mare mentioned the Everfree Forest, it all came back to him. His flight from Ponyville, his wanderings in the Forest… And the letter. Seraph’s letter.
“Excuse me… Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” The mare asked.
“Yeah… just a bit lightheaded.” Tartanis answered. “I… I think I should…” Even as the words left his mouth, he could tell he was wrong. The world spun around his head, and everything seemed to turn on its side. He never even felt the impact as he hit the floor.
The young mare gasped in surprise. “Melody!!! Help!” She called in panic. The last thing that Tartanis saw before he lost consciousness was a young, tan mare appearing behind the yellow Pegasus.
Seraph’s words echoed in his mind as conscious thoughts gave way to dreams. “If you continue to worry over what happened in the past, you won't be able to protect those who truly matter in the present.”
“A new beginning…” The words resonated clearly in his mind, as everything else faded to black.
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I could feel nothing but pity as she finished her story.
“A thousand years…” I repeated, shocked by Luna's tale. It was just… Impossible to comprehend how horrible it must have been; A millennium alone in the cold, silent desolation of the moon. “I’m so sorry, Luna…”
“It’s okay… It wasn’t your fault… It was mine.” She said, tears welling up in her eyes once more. “I should have… I shouldn’t have let my anger take hold of me… I shouldn’t have given in to the darkness… I should have listened to my friends. But now, they’re all gone. Colgate, Snowdrop, Seraph…”
“There’s that name again.” I thought to myself. “She never mentioned him during her story, but… Seraph. He meant a lot to her. And she thought that I was him…” But the mystery of Seraph would have to wait. Looking over at Luna, I could see tears beginning to flow freely down her face. Reliving her exile had only put an extra burden on the already emotionally-scarred mare. “Luna…” I asked. “Do you still have any friends? Or are you still alone…?”
“No.” She answered sorrowfully. “I don’t have any friends. Not anymore…”
“That's not true." I said. As she turned and looked at me, I felt a sense of courage welling up inside me. "You do have one friend left."
"Who would that be?" Luna asked, daring to hope, but still too afraid to believe.
"Me." I said "If it weren't for you, I might not be here. I owe you my life." Looking deeply into her beautiful blue eyes, I knew I had made the right decision by travelling to that fateful field of flowers on that serene moonlit night. "I won't abandon you, Luna. Not now, and not ever. I'll stay by your side... Forever and always."
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She couldn’t believe her ears. For the past millennium, everypony who heard her story saw her as the villain. Everypony including her. She had shared with Silver her greatest mistake, her greatest failure, and yet… She didn't hear any anger in his voice. He wasn't mocking her, or speaking in sarcastic tones laced with veiled hatred. He… He honestly wanted to be there for her. He wanted to help her, instead of simply pushing her to the corners of his mind.
“Why…?” Luna asked, voice filled with disbelief. “Why would you want to help me…? All my friends end up dead... What if I lose control again…? What if she takes over again…?” As he answered, she saw something in his eyes that even she couldn't begin to muster: Hope.
“Luna… Everyone makes mistakes. But it isn't our mistakes that show who we truly are. It’s how we react to those mistakes, how and why we try to fix them, that shows who we truly are. If Nightmare Moon truly held any power over you now, it would be her that I’m speaking to. She’s gone, Luna. And she’s never coming back.”
“But… If she truly held no power over me, then how did she come to be in the first place?” Luna asked, sinking deeper into her pit of depression. She sank to her knees, looking up at the bright moon overhead, as the darkness of self-doubt began to flood into her mind anew. “When I returned from the moon, she took over again so quickly… She was waiting, biding her time, and allowing me to serve her sentence… What’s to say she isn’t still waiting…”
As the dark clouds that filled her mind threatened more and more to overwhelm her, Luna felt more alone than ever before. She had been returned from her exile, but what was the point? What was the point of returning home if she would be as alone as ever…? “Maybe I should leave…” She whispered to herself “For the good of everypony… Maybe I should just… Fade away into the shadows…”
But just as she felt that all was lost, that she should just leave, she felt something: The soft feathers of a Pegasus’s wing draped across her back. “Luna…” Silver said. Turning to face him, Luna realized he was no longer standing; he was laying down right alongside her, his soft, feathery wing draped over her in a warm embrace. “I wasn’t there those thousand years ago. I don’t know what it was that caused you to first change. But, Luna, I do know this: You are not alone. We’ve only just met, and yet… I get this feeling that I know you. I know who you are, what emotions are contained inside your heart. I may be wrong, I may just be mistaken, but there is one thing that I know I am not mistaken about. You are not Nightmare Moon.”
Luna heard, but she still found it hard to believe. She said nothing, but her actions spoke louder than any words. She moved closer to Silver, accepting his embrace, and gently laying her head along his neck. As she lay there, looking up at the moon, not a single thought of her dark past entered her mind. Instead, as she drifted off to sleep, one of her fondest memories of the past resurfaced…
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He had only been in the castle a few nights, and yet this strange young stallion, “Seraph”, continued to pique the curiosity of the young Princess of the Night. They had met before on previous nights, but tonight was… different. She never knew what to expect when they met, but that night held a special surprise, one that forged a memory that would stand the test of time as the centuries passed. As Luna entered the royal gardens, on her way to their meeting place, she heard something strange: A faint melody, echoing through the night.
“I had a dream that I could fly,
I can feel each moment as time goes by…”
As she approached, Luna saw him sitting there on a bench, looking up at the bright moon overhead, and singing the hauntingly beautiful song to the stars overhead.
“We’d never be too far away;
You would always be here, I heard you say…”
Sitting down beside him, Luna felt an aura of…Sorrow emanating from him. This song held memories, ones that could never be forgotten.
“I never thought… Thought that it would be our last goodbye…
I still can dream… That one day love will fall out from the sky…”
Looking down from the moon, she was surprised as he turned to look at her… With tears in his eyes. Before she could say anything, he stood up and began to walk away. Just when she thought he would leave without saying a word, however, he turned and asked her to make a simple promise, one that she would hold for a millennium to come.
“Luna… Promise me that you’ll never forget that song. It may not mean much, but… That song is an important one, for both you and me.” He said, a look of sadness in his eyes. And yet, she could tell that beneath that look of sadness, another emotion was starting to take hold in his heart…
“Hope” Luna thought to herself… “I will,” she said to him “I won’t forget the song, no matter how many years may pass.”
“Thank you, Luna…” Seraph said “It means a lot to me…”
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I suppose I should have felt… Embarrassed. But… I didn’t know why, but despite the fact that Luna and I had only just met, laying there with my wing around her, and her head resting on my neck… It felt so natural. So peaceful. That was the first night we spent any real time together. That was the first night where we were able to just lie there, looking up at the moon and stars, and know that… Everything would be all right.
That night, I felt something stir deep within my heart, something I hadn’t felt in far too long. “Luna,” I thought to myself “I don’t care if Nightmare Moon returns. I know that, in your heart… This is the real you.” Looking up at the moon, I made a vow to myself that night. “No matter what happens, no matter what might try to come between us… I’ll be there for you. I swear that you will never be alone again.” We sat there for a while longer, neither of us saying a word. This was our time, and we didn’t want to waste even a second of it. As she slowly drifted away to the land of dreams, I just sat there, hoping that this moment would never come to an end.
As the stars overhead twinkled, and the bright, serene light of the full moon kept watch over us, I whispered a few words into the Princess’s ear. “Luna…” I said softly…
“I love you.”