//------------------------------// // Hidden truths // Story: Kingdom of the Moon // by PheonixCircle //------------------------------// "Sister, answer me." Hearing Celestia's voice was a huge shock for Luna. She didn't expect her sister to look for her. "Yes, I am here Tia. What is it?", she answered Celestia, her voice steadier than her hooves were. Luna was asking herself what her sister could possibly wish from her as she walked to the door, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "It is almost time for the night and you weren't in the throne room. I asked you to come earlier to make a smooth transition between day and night, didn't I?" Her sister's voice wasn't sounding as angry as the sentence suggested, rather it sounded worried. Did she believe that Luna was opposing her sister after she just returned from her banishment? "I am sorry. I was... reading. One of the books about the history of Equestria. I have to get to know a thousand years worth of wars, treaties and progress. It is quite a bit but it is also extremely interesting. So interesting in fact that I lost myself deep within it. That is why I didn't answer immediately." Luna said, hopping that this would be the only time she needed an excuse. "I understand.", Celestia answered, her voice sounding relieved. "But please try to come down on time tomorrow. I may be able to steer the course of both the sun and the moon, but it is very exhausting. I could use some rest." "I will, I promise. Could you give me five minutes before I come down?" Luna asked. Celestia was agreeable with it and Luna heard her leave. She sat down, sighing and asking herself one thing: "How long can I keep Winterwald a secret from my sister?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia was deep in thought as she walked through the halls of the castle. Her sister was keeping something from her, she knew as much. But she had no idea what it possibly could be. And no reason why she would keep something a secret from her in the first place. She reached the throne room a bit later. She sat down on the throne, looking at the door and awaiting Luna's arrival. Exactly five minutes later her sister entered with a tired look on her face. Celestia was thinking about sending her sister back to get some rest but she urgently needed some herself. As Luna sat down they sent the guards out. Their horns began to glow and the transition from day to night began. The sun sank behind the horizon as the moon was rising above it on the opposing side. If there would have been a pony on the moon they would have noticed a dark glimmer, the power of two ancient alicorns mixed together. The sun itself was surrounded by a white shimmer. But neither were visible from Equestria. Celestia looked at her sister. "Will you be all right?" Luna nodded. Her breath was a bit heavier than before, but it was no different the nights before the destruction of Nightmare Moon. "Then I wish you a good night" Celestia said before leaving the throne room and sending the guards back in. She went to her room and the view of her bed let her sigh. She dropped on the cloud-like mattress and fell asleep almost immediately. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It wasn't a long time after the elder died that Moonprayer sent her letter through the blue fire. At this moment in her grief it was a frightening, gloomy fire and the dim light it emitted just supported the tragedy that had partaken this afternoon. "I hope she comes. She has to, it is a funeral of one of her most loyal subjects" , she whispered, not eager to disturb the calm atmosphere inside the chapel. The letter she put in the flames laid there for a moment before it dissolved into ash and finally vanished entirely. But Moonprayer didn't notice it. She had turned her back towards the stone goblet and was leaving. A few steps before the door she turned around and whispered a barely audible "She has to.", before finally leaving. She walked down the street towards her house. She was deep in thought and didn't notice the ponies around her, showing their sympathies. The only one she noticed was the mayor: She was standing in front of her door, blocking the way. "Mayor, whatever it is, it has to wait. I am in no condition to do anything more today." "I just wanted to offer you my condolences", the mayor said. Then she approached, her head just beside Moonprayers, and whispered: "I know that there are things amiss with the princess and her plans. And I know that these plans involve you. Just remember that I have my eyes set on you should you try anything funny." "Leave", Moonprayer said with her voice remaining calm and steady. The mayor did as told and Moonprayer entered the house, closed the door and dropped on the floor crying. After she just had lost her grandmother, her only family, she was threatened! She needed rest. She went to her bedroom, laid in her bed and cried herself to sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna was watching over the dreams of all ponies and non-ponies the moment Moonprayer fell to sleep. The new light in the web she saw when she concentrated on her dream was a dim crimson red, a hellish nightmare, and Luna dropped all the other, less extreme nightmares to be fully prepared for whatever was happening in this dreamt hell. She was very surprised when she saw Moonprayer over the corpse of the elder, crying, while at the same time the villagers were walking around her and the mayor was judging her for treason and betrayal of the village. Moonprayer was then surrounded by guards, faceless monsters in heavy black armour and armed to the teeth. Luna, normally never solving problems the way she did now, let the dream dissolve and put Moonprayer and herself in a dreamy recreation of the chapel. "What has happened that affected your mind in such a way?", she asked the young priestess. The priestess, still trying to comprehend what had happened, shook her head before realising that the Princess was indeed speaking with her through the dream. "After you left, my grandmother died. I wrote a letter and put it into the fire. When I returned the mayor...she was waiting for me in front of my house. She implicated that she would do something to me if I dared to do something... funny. Why would I do that? Why would she think I was up to something? It makes no sense!" Luna was a bit startled. She never thought that the mayor would take such drastic measurements over a hunch. "I believe the threat is my fault. I believe she saw the look I had on you during the speech. I will talk to her, don't worry. I will set things right." Moonprayer looked at her, questioning her liege's word, then was looking at... nothing. Luna has already vanished from her dream. And the next moment the room changed, and a calm forest with strange trees and a waterfall appeared. A gift from Luna to the grieving pony. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night came to an end. While Celestia was going to the throne room to start the transition from night to day, the mayor woke up as if she had been put through a grinder. Her head was heavy, her eyes burning and her back hurt as if she had carried a huge rock up a mountain. She went ahead to get ready for work, already planning the first things to do this day. As she thought about Moonprayer and how she could possibly hinder her to take over the village or worse, she started to shiver. She didn't know why but as she felt the cold sweat on her forehead, she realised that she was afraid. But what could she possibly fear from a priestess with no family? She had the guards on her side, the people, the militia. The priestess would have no chance if anything would ever happen. The mayor, ready to start the day, smirked at this thought. With the soldiers at her hand, she might even be capable of defending herself against the imposter-queen. Why should they be ruled by someone who was away a thousand years and didn't even bother to tell them the truth, but just keeping it for herself? If this alicorn would ever try to put the priestess in the mayors seat, she would take the guards and defend herself in the stronghold at the mountain further west of the village, inside the valley. The well trained guards would suffice to defend themselves against any threat to try to attack them there. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna was heading back to her room. She had a few hours before the funeral would start, and she needed some rest. She ordered the guards that she didn't want to be disturbed, she needed the rest. She took off her crown and read the letter, which contained the invitation to the funeral, then went to bed. Being part of the dream-web herself was always a special feeling for Luna. Being able to sense it awake, she was well aware that there was more. She always tried to break out of her dream so she could guard the dreams even while she was asleep, allowing her to rest during the night, but as always, the borders of her dream threw her back. Luna smiled, knowing that it wasn't the web that hold her back. The power she possessed were convenient but if she would ever be lost in the web while dreaming herself, she believed, she wouldn't be able to return to her body and wake up again, leaving herself in a dormant state. If she had known that her dream lit in a different light than the others, brighter and comforting everyone's dream in it's shine, she would have reached a new state of enlightenment her sister had reached when she found out about herself being able to move the moon as well, allowing her to predict the future in an unnatural accuracy. But this was a gift she would receive in a future far away. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pegasi of Westbrucke were starting the rain as Moonprayer reached the cemetery. Her grandmother would be buried in the tomb next to the entrance. Moonprayer walked into it, entering past the two stony unicorns holding up the moon that were framing the door. As she walked past the graves of her ancestors she asked herself how long it would be until she would be buried here. Would there be a ceremony, were her children here, if she ever has any? She didn't know, and the unpredictability of her future made the situation only worse. She banished these thoughts to a secluded area of her mind. She saw only two other ponies inside the tomb. The mayor, to hold the speech as it always has been in the past, and the keeper, to make sure that everything goes as it should. Moonprayer was anxious. She has been just on time, and the queen... princess... wasn't here yet. She started to doubt her liege's words, as she heard the door open. As Luna entered the tomb the atmosphere changed immediately. The walls got darker, the air thicker and sadness seeped into the hearts of the others. The princess approached the corpse, bent over the elder, and kissed her forehead. A tear dropped on the kissed spot, and a faint sigh filled the room: A sigh of relief, from the dead pony. Moonprayer watched over all this with interest. She had never seen anything like it but it was the first time she saw a grieving alicorn. She then turned her head to the mayor and as their eyes met, the mayor turned hers away before realising that she had a speech to hold. It was a short speech. She just told about the achievements of the elder, which were unexpectedly numerous, and finished with "A great asset to the village has been lost. May the moon guide her to the realm", which was followed by the others repeating the last sentence in mourning whispers. Only the princess kept silent. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna was well aware that her silence could be taken as rudeness but she thought that it wasn't right to participate in the traditions of the village just yet. She just knew too little about them. But there was one thing she wanted to say nonetheless. "The family of priestesses has only one member left now. The elder has left her granddaughter with several burdens, but this is merely the price that has to be paid for the love she gave. And burdens can be conquered, in contrary to the love, a love only a deep bond could awaken." She turned her head towards the young priestess, "You were given a great gift most ponies are lacking. It is the gift of love. You are capable of trust where others aren't." Then she looked at the mayor and with a cold tone said: "I want to meet you at the town hall. There are urgent matters concerning Icewind. And Flankrium, too. I will meet you there, in half an hour. Do not come too late." As she said it, the air grew even colder. The atmosphere around changed from pure sadness to a mixture of both grief and wrath. Luna exited the tomb, leaving behind three rather confused and shaken ponies looking at each other in disbelief, while all were thinking the same: 'Angering her could be the biggest fault somepony could make.'