//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixteen: When Two Become One // Story: Moon Rising // by kibamudkip2 //------------------------------// Lunas ears twitched as she heard her door unlock. For the past three days her sister had been locking her in her room with some advanced magic that she assumed she wasn’t supposed to know about. With every visit she played dumb, laying in her bed thinking quietly to herself about the attack in the field of nightshade. She couldn’t defend herself, she didn’t know how. With every waking hour that night replayed through her mind, haunting her, taunting her. She had been powerless to stop the attack. She had almost lost her only friend, and that thought alone threatened to crush her. Her sister was approaching her bedside. She allowed herself to lay limp as she heard gentle hoofsteps approaching her bed. She feigned sleep as a hoof brushed through her mane “Good evening Luna, tis time for the moon raising.” Celestias informed her with her sweet voice. With a grunt Luna rolled over and sat up slowly, wincing as she folded her wings against her body. Her wound ached. With eyes still closed the princess of the night fired up her horn and cast the spell that would raise the moon and summon the stars. “Yet another beautiful night, Dear sister” Celestia said cheerfully. “Yes, another night for your subjects fear” Luna grumbled. “What was that?” “Nothing Tia, twas nothing” Celestia nodded and turned to leave, but Luna’s hoof caught her shoulder “Yes Luna?” She turned to look back at her sister, her calm smile faded when she saw the pained look in her sister’s eyes. She hadn’t noticed until now, her little sister looked exhausted, and scared. How had she not noticed this? What else could be eluding her sight that she should know? She pushed the thought away. ‘What would Luna ever hide from me?’ she thought as she returned to her sister’s side “What’s wrong, dear sister?” “I can’t get it out of my head Celestia. It just keeps playing over and over. It never stops!” she was shaking “I haven’t slept for I find no solace in my own dreams, my nightmares are ones I cannot control. I see him returning to finish us, I see him taking everything from me. I feel my helplessness grow and all I wish for is relief and to not be alone” She blinked as she felt the older Alicorn’s wings gently wrap around her and she buried her face in her sister soft coat. ‘So soft, so warm, so like mother’ she closed her eyes and allowed her sister to hold her there “I miss this” she whimpered softly, but her sister didn’t seem to hear. All too soon the comforting wings were gone and Celestia was leaving the room. The remaineder of her royal duties needed to be finished up before she got some rest herself. “I’ll have Starswirl prepare a sleeping drought for you” she said with kind smile “At least maybe you can get some rest” she called as her white form slipped through the door and into the hall. The sound of the doors lock latching home echoed around the room and Luna was left alone once more while she waited Starswirl and potions. ____________________________________________________________________________________ It wasn’t long before the lock was released and the bearded stallion entered her room, pulling a small cart in his magic behind him. Luna watched as he pulled the cart to her bedside and opened the top revealing numerous corked vials and jars filled with strange liquids, clumps of fur, and she was sure that one was filled with eyeballs. She shuddered as the image of the one-eyed stallion filled her mind. “Celestia tells me you need a sleeping drought” the old pony said as we rooted through the cart and pulled out several of the vials “and I couldn’t agree more. You will never get better if you do not rest” he snorted and tapped his staff. The vials floated several inches above the surface of the cart. “Yes never get better, and never learn” “Learn?” “Yes learn you foal, there is much that we can learn from dreams. I myself have spent ages studying them. But the dreams of an alicorn in turmoil? Who knows what they could teach them” Luna wasn’t quite sure she understand or believed her old mentor but held her tongue as she watched with growing curiosity. Potions, the magic and the strange race known as Zebras. Starswirl had talked about it before with great respect. Neither she nor her sister had been able to understand why he, the most powerful unicorn in Equestrian history, had dabbled in potions. He never went into details about his reasons and on several occasions snapped at the girls for asking too much. When they had worn him down and had simply answered “There are somethings that a unicorn’s magic cannot do that the magic Zebras have mastered can” after that they never asked again. Now Luna was witnessing his mastery of potions firsthoof and she could only sit there and watch in awe. Dim lights had begun to glow from the bowl that changed ever so slightly with each new ingredient that was added. She wasn’t so sure yet about the power of potions, but they sure were beautiful. From within his beard the old pony pulled out one final vial. Inside seemed too been a small golden mist that was gently swirling around inside of its glass container. Luna stared at it with growing curiosity “Starswirl, what is that?” “This? Tis nothing. Just something to help you learn.” Came his reply as the cork was pulled. The mist slowly seeped up out of the vial and grew to nearly triple its size. It floated about the rooms lazily for only a moment before rushing into the vial the contained the nearly finished potion. A flash of yellow light filled the room and it was over. Spots were still dancing in Luna’s eyes when Starswirl handed the vial out to her. “Drink” she commanded. Luna took the vial gently between her hooves and stared at the liquid inside. She sniffed at it and blinked “Why does it smell like chocolate?” The old stallion sighed “I just mixed a copious amount hard to get ingredient together and a flurry of magic, and you want to know why it smells like chocolate? Just drink it Luna” With one last look at the vial Luna shrugged and downed its contents. “So how long before it starts to” she began before the vial slipped from her hooves as she swayed and collapsed back onto the bed, fast asleep. “Sleep well, little Princess” Starswirl whispered as he left the room, locking the door behind him “May you forgive me one day” _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna’s eyes blinked open as she gazed around. She was in the room of swirling shadows. The room where she had heard the voice that was hers and yet not hers so long ago. But something was different about the shadows that swirled around her, all through it were streaks of shimmering gold. She turned in a slow circle “Back to the depths of my mind. Is this where I will learn from my dreams?” she asked the darkness. “Our dreams” came the reply of her twisted voice in the dark. “But We will not learn from Ourselves. There is another” “Another? A new voice to add to the growing clutter of my mind?” she spat. She leapt back in fright as a haunting laugh echoed and the streaks of gold rushed together to form a large mass “Clutter?” came a new voice. The voice was soothing, calming “I would call it more of a crowd, but I don’t plan on staying long. You are far too stuffy for my taste, far to brooding. But you like to laugh, I’ll give you that much and I do so love laughter” the voice laughed. “What are you?” the Princess demanded. “What am I? Why I am your teacher of course. I am merely here to give you a little nudge at realizing your full potential” “Why yes. You are far more powerful then you could possibly imagine.” As it spoke the shadows swirls faster and began to condense “You simply need to be shown the first step” “The first step?” “Yes, for example do you know what this shadow is or more rather who it is?” The princess shook her head “Should I?” “Should you!? My dear of course you should, this shadow is you, or half of you” As the voice spoke the form of a pony stepped from the mass of shadows and stood across from Luna. It was featureless but identical to the moon princess in form. Luna tilted her head and the shadow did the same. She made several moves and gestures that the shadow mimicked instantly as if she were looking in a mirror. Slowly the pieces clinked into place. “My voice, Your voice, Our voice.” Her voice echoed as the shadow spoke with her as she held up a hoof and touched the shadows “We can stop being You and I, and start being Us” Her eyes widened with understanding. “This shadow, this voice I’ve tried so hard to force away. It’s me” “You are the moon princess touched and nourished by the light of the sun, able to use your magiks that have been touched by the light of the sun. This shadow can allow you to do so much more. Be so much stronger and far more powerful, do things you never imagined possible. If you only let it. Stop separating it from you and embrace it! Embrace you!” the golden voice, sweet as honey echoed around her “It has been locked inside of you, how cruel. Release it, release it and know its dark secrets. Let it whisper to you in the light of day, let its thoughts be your thoughts. With it you will be the mare your father wanted you to be. You will be the night and all it holds” The words of the golden voice swam through Luna’s mind her eyes dulled and she smiled slightly “Of course, everything makes sense. If I stop denying it, Tia will have to respect me for who I am and what I can do. I will be everything I was meant to be” she said with monotone voice as she wrapped her hooves around the shadow and began to pull it into herself. Luna felt a surge of energy flood through her, like a bolt of lightning, as she pulled in the remainder of the shadow. She felt strong, powerful, and she felt whole. It was as if a piece of her had been put back into place only she had never known it was gone. Gone were the swirling shadows of her mind, she could see clearly, feel the power of the night in her every bone. Far away she heard a knocking. A door? “It must be time to wake up” she said quietly. “And it is time for me to take my leave. There is nothing more I can do for you. So I bid you ado. Arrivederci” the golden voice said as it vanished from her mind. The waking world swam to her senses as she awoke, a small grin crossed her face and she slowly lowered the moon.