//------------------------------// // 7: Reflection // Story: Among the Ruins // by SteampunkBrony //------------------------------// Among The Ruins Chapter 7: Reflections By: SteampunkBrony Edited By: BrackMadar The door to the parliament hall thudded shut behind Luna and I as we left the hall, the various representatives having all their questions answered. “Twilight, I have to ask... after all that how are you not completely insane? Er, no offense I hope...” Luna asked as we trotted through the halls. “To be honest Luna... I doubt I'm alright... do you mind if we talk in private? I don't think it would be good for the castle staff to talk about what happened in there within earshot.” I asked. “Of course, I was actually going to invite you to my chambers for tea.” She said with a smile. “Tea with the princess... geez this sounds like something out of a foal's story...” “Well, that kind of story wouldn't have someone who is probably suffering from P.T.S.D. as the guest.” Luna replied. I smiled at that, “Yeah, no kidding.” Luna relaxed a little as I said that. “Pardon the off color joke, but I wanted to gauge how comfortable you were with the idea that you'll probably need to see a psychiatrist...” “Luna, I came to terms with that before I even left Canterlot, hell I came to terms with it when I tried to figure out how Pinkie's 'Pinkie Sense' worked. Well, that and the whole Smarty Pants incident kind of clued me in that I may just be a bit insane.” “I... don't really know how to reply to that without sounding like I learned my manners from Blueblood.” Luna said, looking a little stumped. I giggled at that. “I'll take that as you agreeing with me.” I looked out one of the many windows and spotted a certain draconequis sneaking up on one of the castle staff who had decided to take a nap in the castle gardens. In his grip were a pair of cymbals and he had a mischievous smirk on his face. “I see Discord is faring well.” “He has been a boon when it comes to nopony taking naps while on the job that's for sure...” Luna replied giggling as Discord slammed the cymbals together causing the unlucky pegasus to shoot a good twenty feet into the air. I smiled as the two quickly began a game of cat and mouse with the pegasus seemingly out for blood. “I can see that.” I could see the doors to Luna's tower at the end of the hallway, as well as the eight Night Guard standing on either side of the hall. “How have the Night Guard been? I know Commander Blitz was close with them all...” “You found him then... His loss was difficult, but they forged on, even dedicated a wing of the Lunar Air Batallion to him, the Sixteenth wing I believe.” “It's good to know he will be remembered, as will everypony who was trapped in there.” I said as the guards saluted and we passed through the doors. “He was one of the few guards who didn't try to just run.” “That sounds like him, were you there when he passed on?” There was a teapot and two cups set out already on a small table that was flanked by two large cushions. “Yes, I was.” I replied, the teapot lifting off its saucer wrapped in a dark blue glow before filling the two cups. “Would you mind telling me of it?” Luna asked. “I can understand if you don't want to...” “It's alright, he asked me to pass on his last words anyhow if I survived and made it out...” I had to stop myself from going into another bout of dry heaves as I trotted down one of the market streets of Canterlot. There were hundreds of ponies lying in the street, having fallen as they ran from the cloud of toxic gas. “How could this have happened...” I muttered as I saw the scene around me. Ponies were groaning in agony as they writhed in pain from the acidic gas, most of them coughing up blood. I jumped as a grey pegasus thudded to the ground beside me, having rolled off the overhang above me. Turning to see what had fallen, I froze recognizing Shadow Blitz, one of Luna's Guards. “C-comander Blitz!” I quickly rushed to his side. “L... Luna dammit...” He muttered, wincing in pain. “T... Twilight?” “Yeah, it's me...” “It's good to see you, although I wish it was under better circumstances...” He began to cough violently, droplets of blood spraying from his lips. “And here I thought I'd die protecting Luna... oh well, I've had a good run...” I opened my mouth to say something to give him hope but he held up a hoof. “No, I'm finished, so are the rest of us... I'm just glad the Princesses are out of the city.” He said as he pushed himself into a sitting position against the storefront beside us. “I... yeah.” “You seem fine though... hey, if you survive this can you give Luna a message for me?” He asked. “Of course.” I said, sitting beside him. “Tell her... tell her to take care of Night Strike, my son... he's living in Ponyville with his aunt, but she's old and probably not long for this world, the doctors have given her four years tops and,” He began coughing again, more blood staining his coat, “And after that he'll probably end up in an orphanage. She has offered to take care of him while I was on deployment before, and he's always enjoyed it.” “I... I can do that.” I said, feeling tears come to my eyes. He was crying too, the drops falling onto his armor. He pushed his helmet off with a hoof, before leaning back against the wall. “Thank you... It means a lot to me, at least he'll be set to start up his own life when he's old enough... Damn this hurts...” “I... I know a spell that can help with that, although it will put you in a deep sleep...” I said. “That... would be great.” He said smiling. “Look, Twilight, I know it's a lot to ask, but can you see what you can do for them?” He said, nodding to the mass of ponies in the street around us. “Anything is better than dying from this gas...” “I've been doing that since I woke up.” I said, as I prepared the spell for him. “That's good...” He said. “I guess this is goodbye, for the last time... If you happen to see Night, tell him I love him will ya...” “I will Shadow...” I said as I cast the spell. “Thank you.” He said, closing his eyes as sleep overcame him. Luna was silent, a few silver tears falling to the cushion beneath her. “A true soldier until the end...” “He was...” “Thank you, for helping him... I can't thank you enough...” She said. “I'll have to find Night Strike, he'll be around ten now I think... In any case, is there anything you need to get off of your chest about your time trapped?” “There's a lot, none of it nice.” I said with a sigh, taking a sip of my tea. “A good deal of it will require quite a bit of alcohol before I'll be willing to talk about it. I gave Celestia a set of memory gems, a sort of journal, I left some things out for her sake though.” “Such as?” I sighed, “I did what I had to in there to survive, I wasn't the only thing walking the ruins after the wall went up, some ponies who were hit by the nanoswarms mutated, a few were still sentient, the rest were no better than feral beasts that would attack anything that moved... Including me.” “I take it you did what you had to?” Luna said after a moment. I nodded, feeling tears well up in my eyes at the memories. “Not only that but... well... some of the ponies who were dying from the gas... they didn't want to die sleeping...” “Did you...” “No, I couldn't bring myself to it...” I said. “When I said I couldn't most of them just asked for something sharp... I helped them in that aspect... Some of them didn't wait for me to be out of sight.” “That... I...” Luna was silent, in shock from what I had told her. The tears were flowing freely now. After a moment she came over and hugged me. “Nopony should have to go through that...” “I wish I could forget it...” I muttered between sobs. “I know the feeling,” She said, moving beside me and draping a wing over my back, pulling me close to her side. I laid my head on her foreleg as she spoke. “Back when, well before my banishment, in the days before I became the Nightmare... I was out on a walk and I came across a stallion who was dying from sickness, he asked me for something to help ease his pain but all I had was my blade... He was too weak to do it himself, and he asked me to do it...” “Did you?” “I... I did, I didn't know enough healing magic to help him. 'Tia was furious with me that I had taken a life, she didn't understand how it felt to have someone that desperate that they ask for help in ending their life.” After a few minutes I looked up at her, “Luna, do you remember telling me a few weeks before the wall went up that I wouldn't understand how you felt on the moon?” “I... yes I do actually. It stung thinking that those were my last words to you...” “Well, I think I can understand now...” I said. “Aside from a few run ins with others who managed to keep their sanity, I was alone. Before I escaped, it had been over eight months since I had talked to anypony... How did you do it?” “I... well... do you promise not to tell Celestia any of this?” “I... I promise.” I was taken off guard by the question. “While I was up there, The Nightmare, she was the only one I could speak with. She kept me company throughout my banishment, and if it weren’t for her I would have ended my life. I'm not angry at you or any of the elements for destroying her, but sometimes I wish I could still talk with her, insane as she was she kept me company those long years.” Luna said, with a small smile. “It was still lonely though, and I still hated her for getting us trapped on the moon. It's better now that she's gone.” “For what it's worth, she was a bit of a bitch.” I said with a smile. Luna snorted, “That's an understatement, I swear all she would go on about is revenge against Celestia and how she was going to bring about eternal night. I was worried her rants would drive me mad!” She smiled as she said this, causing me to giggle. “Still, it was a long time up there... It pains me to admit it but I would do it again instead of having to be trapped in the wall for two years...” “I can understand, don't worry.” I said, nuzzling her side. “There are still remnants from our battle, the Ghastly Gorge is one of them, as well as the San Palamino Desert... It wasn't just Celestia and I who fought, we both had armies at that point...” “I... The history books don't say anything about that... do you want to talk about it?” I said, she nodded before beginning. “Celestia had the information kept from them to help preserve my image when I returned, and her own. Both sides fought bravely but I had trained my troops in dark magic, and...” she sighed. “Go on.” I said. “I won't think any differently of you, not after what I've had to do...” “Times were different back then, I was different.” She looked out the window at the stars hanging in the sky. “I taught my troops everything they could learn before the battle, black magics that have long since been erased from memory. Transformation, demon summoning, necromancy... It was all brought to bear in that battle. Solar troops were turned into dark beasts and set on their comrades... Great beasts of war were summoned from the blood of the fallen... dead soldiers were brought back and forced to fight against the very nation they died protecting. The Solar troops ended up fleeing the battle into the Everfree, some getting cut down as they ran. Celestia... she did what she had to. She called down the power of the sun onto the battlefield. Fire rained from the sky and decimated my army, I fought on, eventually reaching the place where she stood. We fought for hours, spells tearing up the fields where we battled... until she managed to charge up a spell powerful enough to get past my wards. It nearly killed me but I managed to deflect it enough to miss, the scar in the ground from it is now Ghastly Gorge.” “Wow...” I muttered, having seen the massive gouge in the earth for myself. “After that I didn't have enough strength left to keep fighting. The rest you know. The battlefield eventually became a desert, the damage wrought upon it by the spells cast preventing the land from healing. The sand covered the craters and mile wide pools of glass. They say time heals all, but all it really does is dull the pain until it can be forgotten about. The badlands are another example of this, it's where we fought Discord, although there the damage was even greater.” I felt a few tears hit the top of my head and I leaned into her side. “If it helps, I forgive you.” “I... thank you.” She said quietly, a small sob escaping her lips. “I'm sure Celestia does too. She told me, a few years after you came back, how much she had missed you.” “It can't have been easy on her either... It would have been hard to be one of the few immortals left, there used to be more of us but many fell in the battle against Discord, including our parents.” “I can't say I know how that feels, but I think I will eventually...” “What do you mean?” Luna asked, looking down at me. “That bullet... well... it did more damage than I thought. Has Dr. Vow told you about what we found out?” “He has.” “Well, it seems that my nanoswarm... the bullet did kill me in a sense.” “I... don't understand...” “Before I still was mostly alive, but when I was shot the bullet did too much damage for me to be able to survive it even with the changes. The nanoswarm changed me further in order to keep me alive... in doing so it had to get rid of what was left of me.” “But you don't look any different...” “I... well, when it changed me again, it gave itself a way to talk to me. It told me what it did. My heart and spine were too damaged for it to repair so it decided it would be easier to replace my body with... well I think it would probably easier to show you. You remember that memory sharing spell you taught me?” “Yes, I do.” “Do you mind if I use it to show you what it told me?” “Not at all.” Luna said. I nodded and cast the spell, a thin tendril of purple magic extended from the aura around my horn to hers, transferring a copy of the memories of what Proteus told me. Luna was silent for a few minutes after it was done as she came to terms with the new information. “This is incredible...” She finally said. “Do you mind if I take a look myself?” “Go ahead.” I said, standing as she cast an analysis spell. “Proteus... it wasn't lying... yet you appear to be the same as you were before the changes... I'll admit I'm not sure what to make of this... although it does answer the question of why your tears weren't eating through my furniture.” “Well, it's not like it really changes anything. I'm still me, just a little less... squishy.” “I... er... again, I don't really know what to say to that...” Luna said, shaking her head. “But you're right, it doesn't change anything. Do you mind going through a few more tests?” “That's fine, although I'd rather if my friends not find out any more, they're happy enough knowing I'm back and alive. I'll just tell them we found a way to make it so that my tears no longer have the acid in them.” “That's probably for the best, for now at least.” Luna said. “Now, let's get off of these unpleasant topics. Celestia asked me to fill you in on what's happened since the wall went up.” The teapot was once again wrapped in a blue aura as it refilled our cups. “Good idea.” I replied, listening as Luna began her lecture.