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// 13. Luna: A Meeting of the Minds 
// Story: Rise of Ponietheus 
// by twitterdick 
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	Luna dreamt.
In her dreams she stood on a desolate plain. The air was thick and smelled of ash. Dust bit into her and made her eyes water. She rubbed them and looked on into the wasteland. Before her lie the wrecks of charred buildings that had sunk into the dirt. All life seemed like it had been swept away. Grass was extinguished, and the black husks that had been trunks of trees stuck from the ground like the fingers of the damned. The earth - if it was earth she was seeing - appeared to whimper like an animal breathing it's last.
She was compelled to set out into the wilderness. The wreckage seemed to stretch on for miles. Bones of unidentifiable victim lay broken and spread out amount the buildings. The sun blazed like a torch in the distance, baking the sands there to a near unbearable heat. She sauntered up a steep hill before her, and there, at the top, she saw the Canterlot Castle's spire. It had been cast away from the rest of the building and cloven in two. The familiar balcony sunk into the sand and the whole structure seemed to wane. The bottom half of the spire was upside-down and lent on the top half. Both were severely burned, but the architecture and some of the coloring were still identifiable.
Luna's heart sank.
She proceeded over the hill and saw a chitinous beast at the bottom of the hill. The beast was difficult to look at, for it seemed a presence more than a being. The beast's features were at least recognizable. It was as black as shadow and quadrupedal, with ten necks ascending to ten faces. Each face bore a flat white mask that covered all recognizable features. The masks were ovaline but did not accommodate equine features. Each bore a simple outline of a basic expression.
Upon the beast was Twilight Sparkle clad in a scarlet cape. She was still and curled up, and a mirky membrane was stretched over her. Her elemental tiara was on her head. She seemed one with the beast and was both as still and as silent as the grave.
Luna felt a cold sting in her spine, and the earth churned about the beast. Her joints locked and she struggled to breathe. Her throat felt like it was going to close up. Life threw itself at the feet of the beast, and all the sand and rock around it seemed withered and hollow. Luna began choking as the beast appeared to twist and turn like it was sucking up the reality around her. Luna whimpered and her vision blurred.   
Her head stung.
Luna awoke and gasped. She was inside Ponyville's library - of all places - lying on some blankets that had been laid out on the floor. She looked around. The library was not as virulent and depraved as she imagined it should be. The books were stacked rather neatly upon the shelves, the area well lit. The Harbinger was up the loft, just sitting.
He got up. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"
Luna stared at him. Her left shoulder ached and she stretched it. She felt resistance. She winced and looked over at her shoulder. It was bruised and her left wing was bandaged. She had a terrible headache.
"Don't move so suddenly, I think you have a concussion," he said.
Luna wiped her face. "I do not want to talk to you."
"Oh," the Harbinger said. 
He was meek. She didn't like it. She expected somepony… harsher.
"Well, I'd like to apologize for hitting you like that," he said, "And for what I said about your sister. I was angry. I don't like it when beings hit me in the mouth, you see. I, uh, snapped some."
They were both quiet for a while.
He picked at the bandages on his face. "It was uncalled for on my part is all…"
Luna sneered. "'Uncalled for on your part?'" she mocked, "The storm, no, that is completely called for. But, hitting me after I attacked you, that was uncalled for?"
"I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
"Have you looked outside!?" Luna shouted. She paused. 'Anyone?' That's how Gaea spoke. She turned away and laid her head down.
He chewed his bottom lip nervously like some filly about to give a school presentation.  
Luna's head stung and she felt sick. She moaned and coughed slightly. She tried to get up again, but her joints and her nausea stopped her.
"No, really, I think it is a concussion," he said, "Your left shoulder and left wing have a couple of sprains too, but they should heal in just a few days."
Luna scratched her face and scoffed. It was like if Discord, in his prime, had turned around and played nurse.  
He came down the stairs and collected some jugs filled with water that had been placed on the table. He brought them near Luna. He looked at them, then her, then pulled a straw from the same table and placed it in the first jug.
"You should drink plenty of fluids," he said, "It helps with recovery."
Luna began laughing hysterically. She didn't know what else to do. "Are… are you serious!?" she said.
He seemed vaguely offended. "Of course I'm serious. I told you, I didn't want anyone hurt."
Luna calmed down and panted a bit. Her shoulder ached and she was horrifically confused.
"Okay, well, what did you want?" She looked out a nearby window at the storm. "That's causing quite a bit of damage, you know!"
"Oh, I know, that's why, when this is over, I'll fix it."
"What!?"
"Ok, ok, I'll show you."
He closed his eyes and lit a tiny flame on the base of his horn. "A long time ago, I gave you guys fire, so you could live better lives. Others didn't like that, so I defend you. Then, you all left without me. You forgot about me, you forgot about what I gave you, you forgot what I did for you. So, I've come back to remind you. That's all I want. I just want you to remember me. I just want you to remember my name."
The fire went out. "When you remember, I'll give you your fire back. I'll send the storm away, too."
Luna felt sick again. Her breathing picked up. She felt panic - not a physical panic, but an empathetic one. He didn't understand.
"You control that storm!?"
"Yeah. I mean, it follows me everywhere. It's just magic, you know. I used it to escape my prison and come here."
"Then why are you letting it swallow up ponies and make them afraid? Why'd you attack me and my sister?"
"First of all, you and your sister attacked me, remember!? I just wanted to talk, but as soon as I came into the room, you two just-"
"Oh, we're the bad guys here!?" Luna shouted angrily.
"Well, yeah, I mean, you guys abandoned me," he said.
"We do not know who you are!" Luna screamed.
"Calm down!" he said, raising his voice. He backed away. He seemed even smaller then, like he was disconnected and waning. He looked down and away and was quiet for a while. "How… how could you not remember me?" he said softly. 
Luna blinked for a bit and thought. How could he not get it? She brought her right hoof to her mouth and bit down as she thought. 
"How old are you?" she asked.
He looked at her and quiet like he didn't quite remember. "… around 11,000 or so…"
She nodded. Alicorns lived for so long. Perhaps he'd never seen creatures - like ponies - that didn't live that long. By his words, he didn't seem to have a concept of mortality.
"…And you gave ponies fire 'a long time ago?' How long ago? 3,000 years? 4, 000?"
He nodded meekly. "Yeah, thereabouts."
"Then…" She sighed, like she was wasting her breathe. No, he needed to hear. "Then, if what you say is true, all you physically gave fire to, all the ponies that were actually present then, would have died-"
"Died!?" he shouted. He was perked up and genuinely concerned. "What killed them!? No, no… no, if something had killed them, I'd have seen it. I'd have seen it!!"
"They would have died almost two thousand years ago. Ponies die of natural causes."
"'Natural causes!?'" he was more and more frantic, "What, you mean… you mean after a while, they just… died. Just like that!?"
Luna swallowed and scoffed. "Yes."
He was blinking and looking down. His muscles when stiff and his cheek bones clenched hard enough for her to see from the bottom floor. He whimpered slightly. He was masking it so she wouldn't hear. In that moment he seemed like a child; pathetic.
He brought his hoof to his mouth. "Oh…"
He blinked more and let his shoulder fall into a bookshelf. He propped himself up there and looked decidedly away from Princess Luna. He looked sick.
Luna shrugged and scowled. "Do you even know what you're doing!?"
He flustered and incompetently masked a whimper. He appeared to bite his lip and his legs were shaking. He looked around and his breathing picked up. Soon, however, he exhaled and tried to center himself. His cool exterior was cracked.
"Stay here," he said coldly. Then he left; he just walked outside.
Luna tried to get up again but it was no use. She'd just have to sit there. She breathed out and closed her eyes. She searched the soundscapes for Twilight Sparkle but couldn't find her. Luna rubbed her nose and sighed.