//------------------------------// // The Explanation // Story: A Beautiful Night // by bakersong //------------------------------// As she awoke she could remember the events of the previous day, the waiter humiliating them like that. This had brought back her feelings of loneliness and sadness. Though she could also remember Song walking her to his house and laying her down in his bed, then singing his lullaby to her to help calm her down and let her go to sleep. Still having her eyes close she reached out expecting to wrap her hooves around him, he liked to just lay there and watch her sleep a few times. But all that she encountered was an empty space next to her. She jolted up with eyes wide open, he was usually next to her when she woke in his house, but before jumping to conclusions she looked around to see if he had left a note. When she didn't find a note, she decided that he must have went to go make her a surprise breakfast to make her feel better. So when she started to walk down stairs she kept sniffing the air to see if she could pick up on cooking food, and she kept her ears perked trying to hear any kind of movement. But when she didn't smell or hear anything she started to panic, he would have left a note like he usually does when he leaves to go on an errand. "Yeah that must be it, he just forgot to write a note thinking he would be back before i woke up." She said to herself, and she let out a small sigh. She was hungry though, so she went to the kitchen and started to prepare her something. Lucky for her that he had shown her were everything was just in case she wanted to cook something. So she gathered up the ingredients, which were simple to begin with. A bowl, spoon, milk, and her favorite cereal which he had personally bought just for her. After eating she cleaned her mess and was about to wash the dishes. But as she put her spoon and bowl in the sink and turned on the water, she looked out the window and she saw the cave. She didn't think much of it right now, but just as she looked down to turn off the water something caught the corner of her eye. Somepony was laying outside the cave, and she looked closer and she could make out the unique cutie mark. "Oh no Song!" She yelled running outside. She had fear in her eyes, and as she reached her prince the fear amplified as he was not moving. He was a sickly pale shade of his normal brown coat, she was now on the verge of tears. As she gently rolled him over and listened to his heart beat, to her relief there was one. "Song please wake up, please! Tell me who did this to you?" She screamed still in a state of fear and panic. His eyes slowly opened and focused a little, but before passing out he gave her a weak smile. Both him and her sister told her that if he needed to see a doctor to take him to the palace. As they explained that only a skilled doctor knew about his situation. So she used her magic to pick him up and she flew away carrying him gently in her magical grip. Once she landed two guards came to greet her, but upon seeing the unconscious unicorn and her worried expression they stopped in mid step. She looked at them and ordered them to take him to the doctor that they told her, and they gave a nod and carefully picked him up and carried him away. As they did that, she did want to follow but she had to tell her sister about it. "Luna, what's wrong?" Her sister asked as she busted through the doors to the throne room. "I-it's Song, something happened to him last night." She said her voice full of worry, and she was on the verge of crying like she never had before. "Let's go, and i'm sorry about this but this matter is very important. I hope we can reschedule this meeting?" Her sister asked to a pink alicorn, who she remembered was named Cadence. As it turned out she had a niece and nephew, but she didn't think about it as her thoughts went back to Song. "I understand aunt Tia, aunt Luna needs you right now." Cadence bowed a little and walked towards the door. "Let's hurry, and tell me what happened." Her sister changed her tone to one of more seriousness, from the kind and wise tone she normally used. As they ran down the halls taking every turn, she told her sister about the events of yesterday. Then what happened when she had awoken. When she told her sister about the condition he was in the expression on her sister's face was one of shock. "That sounds like he had no magic energy left. This is bad, i knew the creature has been feeding off his magical energy for food, and i even witnessed this happen. But the creature only took a little bit of his magic energy, this sounds like the creature had drain him completely. Its lucky the creature still wants him alive, other wise Song would be..." Her sister trailed off, but she understood what she was saying. A unicorns magic is a natural energy that a unicorn has within them, but they can also draw out extra energy from the air. If the Unicorn is drained of their magic then chances are they might not make it without getting a magic kick start. Though from what she knew the creature had made him immortal to feed off his magic eternally, so it would not make sense for it to just kill him. This brought some relief, but until she knew what his condition was her fear still overpowered her. "How is he?" She asked still panicked. "Oh, princesses. I've been expecting you, and to answer your question he is in critical condition. Even though he was granted ever lasting youth, that doesn't mean he still can't die of other causes. As i'm sure you've guessed his magic had almost been completely drained, only a little of it was still there. If the creature hadn't left him with that, he would have already died. Though it was enough to were he will be fine, but that's still up to him. I think it would increase his chances if you go ahead and visited him, and i mean both of you. Though be careful, he is very weak." The doctor then lead them to a private part of the palace infirmary. There laying hooked up to some machines, was him. Seeing the strong, kind, and sweet unicorn lay there brought tears to both of their eyes. But for different reasons, hers was because it was her prince, her knight, her love. For her sister it was because she never liked seeing any of her citizens in so much pain, and this unicorn had already had enough torment. "I should have put a stop to this long ago, but i never found a way to defeat the creature." Her sister said quietly. She ran up to his side, now freely crying as she looked over the broken form of the strong unicorn who had so many times wrapped her in a strong embrace. Though she knew that if he recovered he would still be that strong, but looking at him now still so weak. As she stroked the side of his cheek his eyes slowly opened, and he gave her another weak smile, but seeing the tears in her eyes made that smile disappear. "It's okay my princess. I'll be fine, don't cry.' He said in a weak concerned voice. "Please don't speak my prince, you need to save your strength. You should get more rest." She said trying to hold back the tears. "Only if you give me a smile?" He asked, so she gave her best smile that she could muster and that satisfied him. "Thank you, and i can't believe i couldn't see you awake in that cute way of yo..." Then before he finished he drifted off to sleep. "Listen Luna, i know that after you get done here, after you know he's going to be okay. That you would want to go face the creature, but i know that he had told you to stay away because it was to dangerous. Did he every tell you why?" She turned to her sister and gave a shake, though she knew her sister was right. The first thought that popped into her head when she remembered the creature was she wanted to go and kill it. "It's because as far as anypony knows, the creature has no weakness. And if what Song had told me is true, the creature is growing tired of just his magic. It wants more, and so he prevents any unicorn going in the cave, as it seems that it's only restricted to them. But if one of us went in, who already are immortal and have more magic than regular unicorns, then it would kill Song and use us as host for it's feeding. That's why he was willing to move into the palace, so to make you stay away from it." Her sister explained. "So, if i go in there it will kill him? And even if i do it won't do any good, because no pony has discovered it's weakness? Is that it? Then what can we do?" She asked her crying was getting worse. "The only pony that might know anything is laying there almost dead. I know that he know's the creatures weakness, but he refuses to tell even me. As i assume, it's only to protect me and other's. I would send a royal guard in, but like i said he refuses to let anypony set one hoof in the cave. He once told me that even if he knew the weakness, it would take more than the whole royal army and myself to defeat it." Her sister wrapped her in a warm and comforting embrace. "I am truly sorry i cannot tell you more, and for what had happened to him." "It's okay, it was not your fault. I will get the weakness out of Song and then go and make the creature pay." She said angrily. "Please promise me this sister, don't go into the cave. Because i do not want him to worry about you once he wakes up, after i know you will put a sleep spell on him. And in his current state any extra concern might cause him more harm, and this will especially be true if he heard that after he told you about the creatures weakness, and you went to go fight it." Her sister looked her straight into the eyes with concern, anger, sadness, and commanding all at once. "Yes, i promise that if he tells me what the weakness is i will not go into the cave." She said, and she turned back around staring at the sleeping unicorn. Fresh tears rolled down her face as she did. "Though i should have been there, it's my fault that he got this way. No matter where i go i seem to hurt everyone i love." Her voice ringed of sadness and guilt. "Don't ever say that, remember what you made me promise you?" She looked and saw his eyes open, as he asked still weakly. "I thought you were asleep?" He just stared at her waiting for a response. "Yes, i do remember. I remember asking you to promise that you would never doubt yourself again." This cause him to give a slight nod. "Yes, and i want you to make me the same promise." He said trying to add strength to his voice. "Only if you promise to tell me and my sister the creatures weakness." She looked at him, his tired eyes widened in surprise. 'I don't know any more than anypony else." He responded. "Then i cannot make that promise, as it was my fault that you ended up like this. For now i know that the creature must be hungry for my magic, and i figure it was because of that you got hurt." She said looking away. "Please don't blame yourself, and please stop crying. I will tell you if you stop blaming yourself, and if you make me that promise." He said no louder than a whisper. "I promise, now go back to sleep my prince. You do not have to tell me until you've recovered enough strength." She said, her horn started to glow and his eyes slowly shut. The last thing she made sure he saw was her smiling though. "Listen, why don't you stay here? I have to finish a couple of things, and don't worry about raising the moon tonight. I'll take care of it." Her sister said, and she just turned and nodded. "Don't worry he is very strong, he will pull through this." "I know, but still seeing him like this is still so strange. Even when he's sleeping he doesn't look like this, and i could hear that his spirit is starting to break. It was already weak from the two centuries of torture that the creature had put him through." She said quietly, she felt a hoof on her shoulder and she looked again and met concerned eyes. "I already saw that, but what you didn't see is that for the past months his spirit was getting repaired by you. By your love for him, i don't think you realized that. So as long as your by his side his spirit will never be broken, and you should get some rest yourself when your ready." With that her sister returned to her duties. She stayed there by his side for hours, to help pass the time she talked with the doctor about his condition and other things. Then when the doctor said that there was nothing left to do he had to go home. Which left her alone with her sleeping prince, so she started to sing the lullaby that he always sung to her. As she sung she started to fell better as she saw him smile in his sleep once the song registered in his unconscious mind. But she also felt warmth in her chest, as if magic was building up. She put it off as her just feeling happy about being able to make him smile in his sleep. By the time she had finished singing she looked at him and saw that he had more color to him, and he was still smiling. She suddenly remembered that she had created a new spell that would allow her to go inside dreams, and so she prepared herself for the spell. As she felt her magic in her horn she let our a small grunt of concentration, even being an alicorn still didn't mean that casting a new powerful spell would be easy. Then she entered into his dream. ------ "Luna? What are you doing here in the cave?" He asked her once she appeared out of no where. "It worked, i'm inside your dream!" She said excitedly. "Wait, what? This is a dream? And if so how did you get in then?" He asked confused. "Well it's a spell that I've been working on." She said. "Okay, then why are you here then?" He asked still confused. "Well i just wanted to talk to you, but since your asleep then i figured that it would be a good time to use the new spell.' She answered. "Now you have to tell me about the creature's weakness like you promised." "Can't that wait until I've woken up?" He looked at her, and she just shook her head. "Alright, then hold on let me just..." Trailing off concentrating, and all of a sudden they were in their normal spot. " There that's better, and before you ask have you ever heard of a lucid dream?" "Well of course, it's when you know your dreaming and have control over it. And i figured that's what happened, that when i told you that it was a dream you became aware of it." She answered. "Yeah, now sit and let me explain." He said as a table and chairs appeared, with some food on it. "Now i do know of the creatures weakness, but are you sure you want to hear it? Because if so you have to promise me that once i tell you that you will never set hoof in the cave." Looking straight into her eyes giving her a serious stare. "You don't have to worry i had already promised my sister this. But i will also promise it to you as well." She replied. "Okay good, now let me explain this first. After i made the deal with the creature i went to go check on my foster father, as you know he didn't make it. So when i went back to tell the creature that since he had died the deal was off, but the creature was smart enough to make sure that i couldn't leave the contract. As it turned out the full deal was that, if he died then the creature could not inhabit me only use me as a source of food. This satisfied it for a hundred and fifty three years, but after that it's hunger grew and that's when i started to put up a protection spell on the bottom entrance of the cave." He stopped for a minute, a slight grimace of pain came across him. "Are you okay?" She asked concerned that he felt pain in his sleep. "It's nothing to be worried about, even here the magic drain is affecting me a little. Now let me continue, like i was saying there was no way out of the contract unless another unicorn with more magic than me came into the cave and became the host of the creature. Or at very least made a deal with it like i did. Now before it's hunger grew i was already looking for it's weakness, in matter of fact i have since that day. I eventually came across an old skeleton of a unicorn, who i discovered was one of the unicorns who had discovered the cave. Now how i found that out was she had left a journal, and in that journal she described the creature and how it had managed to capture her and made a similar deal with it." He again stopped a sad look in his eyes. "What? You can tell me." She said, but she didn't want to push or rush him. "Her deal was that if she became a feeding source that the creature would have to leave her fellow unicorns alone. She then goes on to say that she was living in the cave to slowly kill herself, and that she was now righting to inform anypony who had fallen under his control as she did. The journal described a chamber with a massive night gem in the center." He pointed to her necklace as he said that. "Upon her discovering it, she also discovered that the creature was connected to it somehow, and she believed that if you destroy the gem then you destroy the creature." "Is that what you believe as well?" She asked. "Yes, and i followed her instructions to find the chamber. Now the reason why she didn't try to destroy it was because she was already dying and had no strength left. The reason why i kept this secret was because i did try to destroy it myself, but the creature stopped me. It's magic is to strong to fight alone, and i now know that it would take a lot more magic to destroy the gem itself anyway. Because the gem is protected by one of the most powerful protection spells i ever seen. Then if you managed to take that down, you still have to deal with the creature." He paused and gave her a look. "I'm sorry but i'm not giving you the journal, nor am i telling or showing you the chamber, and now that you know what will you do when you wake?" "i shall keep my promise to you and my sister, i will not step a single hoof in that accursed cave.' She looked him in the eye to let him know that she meant it, at least until he took her in. "But i do still think if you just trust me and show me the chamber, together we could stop the creature and set you and the spirit of the unicorn free." "And tell me. do you know what will happen if i get set free from my contract?" He asked, she swallowed. "I might have an idea." She answered nervously. "Well i'm sure you know that i will lose my immortality right?" She gave a nod. "So even if i still age normally and not age rapidly, i will still age and eventually i will die." He said making sure she was looking him in the eyes. "Please don't say that, you remember you promise that you will stay with me forever right?" She asked tearing up. "How could i forget, but i'm afraid that's a promise that i might not be able to keep physically. But if i do die when i'm relished then i will always be with you in spirit. You need to remember that, because even if i die i will always protect you." He leaned over the table and kissed her. "Now it's time for you to wake up." Then everything went black and she woke up with a start. He was still sleeping, but his smile was still there. She leaned over and gave him a kiss, and then looking at him. Now she understood why he liked to watch her sleep. "Thank you for finally trusting me with everything, just like i trust you." She whispered.