"Legacy"

by Novel Idea

"Legacy" Day 2

I spent the next day at home. It had been a quiet, moonless night. More ponies had been out in the streets staring up at the sky, and I was sure it was not an isolated phenomenon here. All over Equestria there would be ponies looking up to the sky at night lost as to why there was no moon, and on the other side of the world there was a eternal orb floating up in the heavens unable to set down into its normal track.

It would take time…I knew that, still impatience is a occupational hazard. Often a thief, such as myself, had merely to reach and grab or quickly magic something away. For a heist or a drawn out plan like this impatience would kill a lesser thief. They would slip up, make a mistake. I was no rookie thief.

My day was used down with Luna in the room of no magic with her. No words had been spoken during the time I had spent there. At time she had fallen into a sleep from exhaustion or a lack of anything better to do…and I was sure at one time I also had fallen asleep. It was quiet with the Princess, peaceful…things that in my mind had always been synonymous with solidarity. I’ll admit finding peace with another pony present was something that I had never known.

There was…surprisingly so, no malice or anger in the Alicorn. Only curiosity and fear…thankfully not enough to push her over into panic or violence. We had both silently come to terms with that we had not wanted to hurt one another and were content with that for now.

Then why did I feel so restless. It bothered me to no end, honestly. That though everything was going far better then I could ever plan that I was irritated, unsatisfied. I wanted something, I didn’t know what and that made me angrier. Sighing I looked at the clock, it was only half past eight at night. The “moon” would be out soon, or lack there of. But it was still far to early to call it time for bed. I fidgeted and twitched around, restless. Nothing I did could stem how badly I wished to move, to do something. As if I was the one being imprisoned, the one held against my will.

The thought of this made me freeze completely, a cold nerve tingling shiver running across my entire body. There was no way Luna would have been able to use her magic. No way to interfere with my mind. Still I had this impenetrable feeling and odd twitch. I recalled a time when a Pegasus had once told me when he was unable to fly for a few months due to a broken wing, I felt now much as he did…or how he described it. He had spoken of an insanity inducing need to move to be free of whatever it was that held him down.

I decided, quickly and rather foolishly to go to the local pub. It would be open on this moonless night, the ponies in the town would need a place to gossip. Rummaging around I found a cloak, it looked very much like my cutie mark and indeed carried the same unearthly feel about it, grabbing it by the hood my eyes fell upon the small gold lettering beneath the hood’s thick rim.

Silk D’Rouge. My name, it seemed odd being on my cloak… I felt it was out of place, something that could get me in serious trouble if it turned up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I shrugged and threw it on. If anything it was a reminder of my current lifestyle. I could afford to have a name, to have a home and objects. The past was the past…My mind drifted to those terrible times for just a moment before I shook them away opening the door. I was about to start down the black path to town when a thought occurred to me.

Moving slowly I made my way around the building to the spot where I knew Luna’s window to be. I rapped my hoof against stone and waited a moment to give her time to notice me.

“I’m going out.” I called to her, I knew she could hear me, looking up into the sky for a moment I paused to view the star which seemed to sad and foreign without their guiding moon. “Don’t stay up all night looking at a sky you can’t change.” I finished, moving away from her down the road to what I could already hear was a rowdy time.

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I’m not one to drink, and if on occasion I do choose to drink then I am one to make sure I do not abuse. The past wouldn’t let me, I knew what it meant to be opulent and inebriated by that sweet sickly swill. There was a saying on the streets, well the streets I was from… “Only the man who can afford twice as much as he drinks has a hope of drinking his fill and living to tell about it.” It was sage advice…how little did I know how much of an effect it had to me even to this day. I was no longer that colt, starving on the streets trying to survive, I was a grown stallion with wealth and power if needed. Still however those words echoed within my head as I stumbled out of the bar, the last patron to leave. I had never been so drunk in my life, admittedly…there was something bothering me, it forced me to this. At least that’s how I rationalized it.

I made my way loudly through the streets toward the dark path, it was morning now… still the sun was down and the moon was no where to be seen. I groaned a little and stumbled along in the darkness. There was something I wanted to do…I didn’t know what it was in my drunken stupor but I knew home was the way to go. So though a tripped over my cloak on more then one occasion and bumped rather loudly into several rather innocent trees I made it back to my home.

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Pressing my horn to the magical door I forced it up, and entered, tipsy falling too my haunches. I could smell the booze on my own breath, it must have been something else all together for my presence was enough to stir the Princess. I wiggled where I sat, getting myself comfortable, midnight eyes staring down Luna, who shied away slightly from me, either my appearance or smell. We sat frozen, silence…nothing but that same silence for a long, long time. I destroyed it, and to my sharp penetrating eyes Luna can not hide how she flinched away from me.

“Speak.” it was a command, the silk charisma in my voice hidden behind a drunken will. I levelled her with a cold, debilitating stare. The kind of stare that you either have the will to defeat or the cowardice to run from. Not that the little filly before me had any choice… “Little Filly?” my drunken mind focused for just a second, a Princess yes, and a variable god but this mare before me was half my size, shivering slightly in her fear… “Speak to me.” I said again the deadpan expression on my face doing nothing to warm her up.

“Thou art… drunk.” she said in that soft, naïve voice of hers that made my ear twitch and my horn itch. I gave my neck a twist, creaking the sore bones, sharply.

“Yes, Princess Obvious. That’s been determined already. Talk to me.” I ordered and she looked up at me. Her brilliant night sky coat shimmered with her little shivers. It was bizarre, for me at least, to be so enthralled by her appearance. Why did I want her to talk to me…why did I feel the need to be near this mare… I didn’t know, maybe that’s why I was here demanding her voice.

“What dost thou want from us…?” the Princess asked looking down and to the side, not meeting my cold black eyes.

“I want you to talk. Speak to me.” I said, my deep voice resounding and echoing over her tiny squeak.

An interesting thought crossed my mind. It was no small secret of the possession of Princess Luna by the Nightmare Moon, nor was it private knowledge that the Princess had spent a thousand years banished to the moon that was now absent over Equestrian skies. I stared her down and felt her waver under my gaze. Lifting a hoof I stroke my small, black and gray goatee considering the idea that had come into my head. Suffice to saya culture gap of one thousand years would provide a fair bit of shock, I was more then aware that she was not entirely caught up on the occurrences of life which happened in her absence. Perhaps she had spent her time this year, learning of the world from her older sister… in another form of isolation.

“Am I…I really am the first Stallion you’ve spent any time around in the last thousand years. Aren’t I.” I said in my deep, masculine voice. Accusing the frail Alicorn before me. She refused to meet my eyes, but I could see the darkening of her cheeks to a midnight black from a sky blue. After a minute or two she nodded, still facing away, laying down on all fours. Sighing I leaned back against the magical draining wall.

“You really don’t have to worry Princess…” I said with a defeated groan, for some reason the wall was spinning around me and chuckling, mocking me. “If I had intended to harm you I would have done it by now, I’m not one for torture.” my words, in my opinion should have been uplifting. Though I suppose the young Princess would not take them the way I had intended them. My limbs felt heavy and slow, sluggish in my drunken haze…I felt my forelegs collapse limp against the magically warmed floor. Eyes exploring the dull light purple room glowing in spots with out magic. “Just talk to me…okay…?” it was not the same command, this time I did not force her eyes to meet mine…it was a statement if it was anything.

“But what wouldst thou have me speak…” She said looking away from me, her voice was thicker now. Perhaps it was the confidence, I understood the feeling. “You hath absconded with me and trapped me here like some rat in a cage. We do not know what more you want from us.” she said, facing me with each word her voice grew louder and deeper, more like I assumed she would have sounded a thousand years ago when the Princess were something to fear and revere. A time long lost.

“First, quiet down.” I said looking at her with my sharp black eyes. “I know you have been away for a long, long time Princess but times have changed. You should relax. Second, I merely am asking for you to speak to me…converse…who knows maybe it’ll break your accent up a bit.” I chuckled, her “thee’s and thou’s” having grated on my ears enough. “Lastly, I just want to talk to you.” I said looking at her with the most bored expression my drunken face could manage.

In her courage she stood up and approached me, her voice getting louder still. Perhaps the pride of being a noble, a Princess was coming back to her. “And who dost thou think thou art! Imprisoning US!? To make demands of us!?” she was practically yelling now, her hoof pressed against my chest as she yelled, accusingly.

It was instinct, honed to perfection by my body which hid its true strength. My left foreleg spun around my back across a blade I kept hidden within my coat, the weapon spinning into place along my leg. The cold metal was against her sky blue neck, biting at her deeper then had I actually cut her. I was much like death, I could only assume, in appearance to her now as I held a dagger to her throat, much like the one that resided on my flank.

“Sit down.” I ordered and she followed. I pulled the blade from her neck and slide it back to its concealed sheath. “Now listen here, Princess.” I said, my words calm and collected. “In this room we are nothing but equals. Without your magic you’re nothing but any other pony to me. And I NEVER lose to an equal.” I threatened.

Luna, for all her worth, managed to keep some semblance of her composure as she sat down and stared at me. I didn’t blame her, this all must seem very strange to her…thousand year culture gap or not one does not run into many ponies like myself in the palaces of Canterlot.

“What…dost thou wish us to talk about…?” she asked looking down and away, worried of a drunken attack I assumed. Though I was hazy, and I’ll admit more tipsy then I’d ever like to be I was not a violent pony by nature. Just a crook.

“Tell me about the moon…” I said eyes going dreamy, leaning into the wall for warmth I rested, not noticing her flinch.

“What dost thou mean…” she said looking to me.

“I want to hear about how you felt when you were up there…What it was like to be alone like that…What could have been going through your head.” I said my voice growing lucid, losing its tangible qualities.

She looked away, then walked away from me a bit. Though drunk I could only imagine the inner turmoil going on within the Alicorn before me. Not that I was overly concerned, her feelings were not my responsibility. That baggage, the baggage I could see in her eyes as she looked deep into her heart to find strength would kill her one day, in my mind, I was doing nothing but helping her grow.

“It…it was lonely…and cold.” she whispered after a long time of silence, her speaking voice far softer and quieter then the royal voice which she had attempted to enforce just minutes ago.

“Like you’d never be whole again.” I said looking away from her down at my self, this old and tired body of mine.

There was a small gasp, I looked to her and she was facing me with this incredulous look. I wasn’t too sure if that part was real or the handiwork of the drink which was thick in my veins.

“Y-yes…” she stuttered, sitting down looking at me. For all my worth I did not pity those sad and haunted eyes. Pity would lead to guilt, guilt would lead to a mistake. Mistakes lead to death. “I…I didn’t think there would be anypony else who’d understand that feeling…” she whispered, to herself. But my trained ears could pick up any sound within a good mile radius.

I couldn’t help but scoff a little at her words. “Times have changed in deed Princess, ponies have lived through isolation to rival your own and much worse to survive.” I whispered sarcastically, not sure if she heard me. Not that I cared.

“It was like a darkness…all around us all the time.” she whispered looking out the window the moonless night, the sun’s rays could be seen rising from the east. “We were so sad….we just wanted…we only wanted to be with our people…to be able to share their happiness.” Her eyes trained off on the sun light encroaching on her beautiful stars. I looked at her for a long time, my eyes growing unfocused as the seconds passed.

“I bet you were angry too.” I said with a quiet yawn.

“At ourselves more then anything…We suppose…” she whispered looking out the window again as the fiery orb of her sister’s graced the sky and burnt away the night. “We were very lost…and now that we have found a way back into the light…the time hast left us behind…” Luna said eyes darkening with an inner sadness that nopony could fully know. “It was so cold and forsaken there, trapped in…in HER form…We never enjoyed what we had become…it haunted our every breath at the monster that hath wrapped itself around us in our jealousy. “ Luna shivered at the feeling of that other self encroaching on her thoughts. I could tell it was bothering her, I was used to the feeling, more then many pony would ever know…

I watched her for a long time, eyes tired and spent. I rapped my hoof against the stone floor beneath me to draw her attention. She looked to me, I motioned with my hoof to get her to move near me. Luna hesitated for a moment then approached, hopefully remembering that I had no intention to hurt her. She sat down in front of me and I stifled another yawn with my hoof, bringing it to my lips. I shook myself awake a little leaning forward I touched my Unicorn’s Horn to hers for a moment before leaning back down against the wall, the darkness of sleep encroaching on me.