//------------------------------// // Luna's Student Part 1 // Story: Dark Hopes // by xXShadowSparklesXx //------------------------------// Four years had passed since I had seen that alicorn, but unfortunately, I never saw her ever since then. I had really wanted to thank her for helping me, because just three months after she had given me her magic, I was able to pass the test and graduate from magic kindergarten! As if things weren’t good enough, my skill in magic seemed to grow exponentially, and my sudden boost had me earning the respect of my classmates. Gone were the days of oppression and bullying, and it was all thanks to that alicorn... Well, almost all the oppression was gone. "Shadow!” I groaned inwardly as I plopped a pillow against my head, willing for the voice outside to disappear. “Come on, Shadow! It’s time to wake up!” As if waking up wasn’t hard enough, there was the singsong voice of my mother to further annoy my already cranky spirit. Resisting the urge to lash out at anything when I realised how early she had woken me up, I removed the pillow from my face and moaned loud enough for her to hear from downstairs. “Five more minutes mom…” I already knew what the answer was going to be, but hey: Doesn’t hurt to try, right? “Nuh-uh! We can’t have your eggs and hay getting cold, now can we?” Her voice seemed louder now, and I was only given a second before I realized that she had begun levitating me. Still half-asleep, I settled for returning to slumber mid-air, but I was jolted awake as I suddenly felt gravity pull me downwards. That was enough to snap me out from my bleary state, and I couldn’t help but give a tired glare to my mother for her annoying but effective methods of waking me up once I landed on the couch. “Now, don’t give me that look, Shadow. I told you that the big day was today, didn’t I?” "Big day?" I asked, trying my best to figure out what I had been missing. She did say something about going to bed early last night, but my mind only drew blanks when I tried to recall the significance of today. “What big day?” “Oh, I don’t know…” She smirked as she walked about the kitchen. “I was pretty sure I told you a week ago!” As I racked my brain for even an inkling of what was going to happen today, I unconsciously shook enough sleep from my eyes to think clearly. Even then, I still came up with nothing, so I just returned a clueless, innocent look which caused my mother to roll her eyes. "Its your sister's coronation." She deadpanned, although that was short-lived as she sprung back to her unusually excitable demeanor. "I can't believe it, Shadow! Your sister’s actually a princess now!" Instantly, realization came back to me, and I slowly nodded as my thoughts began to flow smoothly again. Now I remembered what she said last week. Goodness, why was I so forgetful? “It’s this afternoon, Shadow, so go get ready, alright? Daddy’s helping out with the coronation, so you, young sir, are going to help me to prepare some treats for her after your breakfast!” I shrugged as I proceeded to tuck in to my breakfast, rolling my eyes with a chuckle as I listened to my mother continue to ramble on in the kitchen. “Who knows? You just might grow wings and become an alicorn too! Prince Shadow Sparkle! Doesn’t that sound beautiful?!” I highly think that’s impossible, mom, I thought to myself as I took a bunch of hay with my fork. -Just before the Coronation- "Luna?” Princess Luna snapped out of her thoughts as she turned to see Princess Celestia standing beside her, concern evident on her face. “Are you alright? You seem quite distant, lately? Something about Twilight becoming princess?” Luna wanted to say that she was alright like she always did, but she soon realized that doing so was not the wisest of moves because Celestia would only get more concerned for her. Deciding that this was not really such a private matter, she sighed and surrendered. "I am happy for Twilight, dear sister, and I have nothing against her. But I just feel really… Lonely. I know I have a caring sister and a few friends in Ponyville, Tia, but I yearn for something more. I have a faint memory of a young unicorn colt that was not scared of me back when I was Nightmare Moon. I helped him out then, but I do not remember who he is or where I met him-" "And you want him as a student." Celestia finished for Luna, and the lunar princess nodded, slightly surprised at how easily her sister could read her thoughts. "Like Twilight and I. You want to be close to somepony, and you want to be his tutor. I know what you wish for because I know that loneliness, sister. After that day, I was probably as lonely as you, maybe even lonelier. Being a tutor of a pony requires much patience and care, Lulu, but don’t worry: I trust that you have the abilities to have a student of your own." Celestia felt a smirk play across her muzzle as she saw the stunned state of her sister, and she began walking off. " I mean every word, Luna. Anyway, are you still coming? The new princess is here." Luna started to walk little faster to catch up to Celestia, just in time for the doors of the room to open to reveal a lavender alicorn with a slightly nervous smile on her face as she rubbed her hooves against each other. "Hello Princesses." Twilight greeted. “Great day for us, huh?” “Indeed it is, Princess Twilight!” Luna and Celestia moved forward to embrace the new alicorn, who blushed as she returned the gesture. “Let us be the first to welcome you to alicornhood, princess.” “Congratulations, Princess Twilight. You make me proud to be your mentor.” Princess Celestia could not suppress a giggle as she saw Twilight wince at that new title, and she playfully chastised her. “I expect you to fully accept your new title, princess. No excuses!” With that, the three alicorns shared a moment of laughter. - During the Coronation - "Where is she...? Where is she...?" Standing from the cave, I continued scanning the castle, knowing that I was the only pony who had the best view of the castle. However, when I still failed to see where my sister was, I was beginning to wonder if I should have joined my parents in the crowd. I felt myself wince as I looked down from the cave as the normally grey and green colors of the castle courtyard was now a chaotic mix of colors resulting from the coats of everypony who attended. Luckily, I didn’t need to go searching through there for my sister, because soon enough, she walked out with two other alicorns onto the balcony. The thunderous mix of cheers and echoes blocked my own attempts to catch the attention of my sister as she waved her hoof to the population in the courtyard. It only took a few more moments before the dark blue alicorn beside her looked up in my direction and pointed my position out to Twilight. My sister’s grin widened as she saw me excitedly waving about to her, and she waved back. Satisfied that she had seen me, I allowed myself to look back at the dark blue alicorn, and I nodded my thanks to her, unable to shake the feeling that she just looked so familiar. I had more than enough time to pursue that thought as the three alicorns walked off from the balcony for the rest of the coronation, and I only snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the sound of wing beats, followed by the sound of hooves meeting stone. I turned around, expecting to see Twilight, but the pony standing beside me was none other than that dark blue alicorn that pointed me out to Twilight just now. "Beautiful aren't they?" I turned to see where her gaze was focused on, and I mentally berated myself for zoning out for such a long time. The fireworks were already being released, and Celestia knows how much of the display I missed just because I was thinking about the mare before me! "Yeah! It's... Awesome. I always enjoyed watching fireworks!" She gave a nod of agreement, and I immediately shifted aside, offering her some space to sit down to watch the luminous explosions in the sky. She was royalty, after all, and it was only right that I treated her with the honor she was due. "It's a really good view from here, princess. Nopony else except one other alicorn knows this place, so there's no crowd here." She laughed as she accepted the spot I freed up for her, and for the next few moments, we sat together, watching fireworks. With her being a princess, however, truly relaxing and enjoying myself here was going to be quite impossible. I couldn't help but keep sneaking glances in her direction, and I noticed that she too, had not let her mane down. "Is there... Something wrong, princess?" Luna looked at me and then asked. "This alicorn... She didn't happen to be Nightmare Moon, did she?" The word Nightmare did sound familiar, as it was what that black alicorn introduced herself as, although she never told me her full name. Thinking that we had the same pony in mind, I nodded, and I instantly felt regret start entering me as Princess Luna seemed to tense up even more. Where was she going with this? "She didn't do anything to hurt you, did she?" She asked with concern, making me wonder about why she cared so much about my well-being. Her duty was to look after her subjects, but this one-on-one attention was more than concern for citizens. It was as if she took this really personally. "Did she, young colt?" "Not really." I answered, left clueless as I watched her sink back into a much more composed demeanor. "In fact, she actually helped me out by giving me her magic!" Whether it was about me encountering Nightmare Moon or anything else, I wouldn't know, but after saying that to her, she immediately seemed to take an interest in me. "Our name is Luna, the princess of the night! And what is yours, young colt?" "My name is Shadow." I replied Luna and I spent the night talking and sharing stories with each other, watching fireworks until I felt my eyelids start to get heavy. Her stories were entertaining and interesting, but the lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on me. Something about her made me feel safe and like I was already home, and that seemed to be all the incentive my spirit needed to make me fall asleep by her side. ------- When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying down against the soft cushions of a bed. Looking around as I slowly got up to stand on my hooves, it didn't take long to deduce that I was back in my room. The idea of how I had managed to arrive safely back at home while I was asleep eluded me, but I settled for the answer that Princess Luna had taken me home instead of leaving me by the cave's entrance. I looked to my dresser table, but found that my alarm clock was nowhere in sight. Sighing in exasperation at being unable to tell the time, I opted to move to the window to see the starry sky outside. That is, if somepony had not suddenly stood in my way. The stallion was twice my size, with a jet black coat and fangs potruding from his mouth. As if that didn't make him look predatorial enough, I looked to his eyes, gasping in shock as I realized his sclera was not white, but dyed a sick green instead that made him look like what I can only describe as "demonic". "Who are you?" My words were barely a whisper, but the stallion chuckled nevertheless, apparently able to hear my awestruck gasp. "I should have remembered how silly you were, Shadow." He raised his hooves to gesture to himself, a smug grin pasted on his fear-worthy face. "Don't you even recognize yourself, you dolt?" I looked him over, starting to see a few similarities between our forms (the obvious difference in size was the biggest difference, of course), but I couldn't bring myself to accept it. How do I even look like that?! This was impossible! "But I'm here!" I protested weakly, my fear of how potentially dangerous this stallion was getting the better of me. "I couldn't-" "Give it time and you will end up like me." The other me said as he stalked towards me. "The darkness will consume you, Shadow, and you will become more powerful than you realize!" "Stay away! I will never become like you!" I yelled as I backed up against a wall. The stallion never gave up on his task of cornering me, and I could only backpedal, panic filling me as I felt the wall meet with my back. I thought I could feel the wall mocking me for being the weak colt I was, unable to even stand up against myself. "Ohh, you can say that as much as you want, Shadow... but trust me that you will become like me in every way. In time, my friend. Just you wait..." The other me said with a manic grin. By then, he was towering over me, and I felt a tear slip from my eyes as just the fearful sight of him threatened to break my mind. "There will be a war against Celestia, Shadow. You will know what is right and fight against her. Make no mistake, Shadow: this peace that you think you know of is only a temporary facade." The other Shadow said as we where face to face. "Help." My voice was trembling uncontrollably as I sniffed out the rancid stench that was his breath. He was obviously displeased about my meekness, because he began growling. "You'd better learn confidence by now, Shadow. Speak up! What'd you say?" No time like the present, of course. Following his advice, I drew in a large breath, and with all my might, I shouted out a single word. "HELP!" As if it was some sort of magic word, everything in front of me suddenly shattered like glass, and the scenery changed: I found myself floating in the sky, treated to the sight of mountains, trees, and even a couple of lakes. The entrancing view only had me enchanted for a moment before realization dawned on me like a crashing wave: I had no wings! For the third time within such a short duration, the same word left my mouth as I felt gravity begin pulling me downwards. "Help!" "Calm my child." In the midst of the screaming wind as I rapidly lost altitude, a still, small voice reached my ears, and I felt my fall cut itself short as soon as I laid eyes on the mare who caught me: It was Princess Luna. "Do not worry, Shadow. This nightmare is mostly untrue. You will not turn into the monster that you saw under the right guidance." She spoke soothingly as she released me at the entrance of the cave which the both of us were at before I fell asleep. "We've actually met a few years ago, Shadow. The pony that gave you her magic, Nightmare Moon; that was me, Shadow." "How?" I questioned, unentirely sure if I could just trust a claim like that. Both had something to do with the night of course, but was that enough to go by? Was that why Princess Luna appeared to be so familiar even when I saw her for the first time? "No offense, your highness, but you don't exactly look like her at all, other than the cutie mark being some shades lighter." Luna sighed before she answered. "A thousand years ago, life for me was so awful then. I truly thought that nopony appreciated the night that I gave them, but that they only admired the day. My sister was sure to tell me otherwise then, that ponies needed my night and that they loved it, even if they never said a word. Being the spiteful mare back then, the jealously from my sister and her day was getting the best of me, so I transformed into Nightmare Moon out of pure hatred and jealousy. Although I still loathed her for sending me to the moon then, I didn't realize that I had left my sister with so much more pressure. Till this day, I still feel guilty about the stress I put upon my sister just because I was too caught up with myself." Hearing her story, I couldn't help but sympathize with her. "If it's any comfort, princess, you weren't the only one that felt like they weren't appreciated. I get overlooked quite often too, with my brother being a prince and my sister being Princess Celestia's very own student." "And it is most commendable that you did not bow down to a desire to harm them, Shadow." Luna smiled reassuringly at me as she gave me a pat on the head. Something about her just made me feel so peaceful, and I couldn't help but smile too. "Back to my story, I came back a thousand years later. I arrived at the cave to find that I had somepony to accompany me, and you, my dear Shadow Sparkle, had made my cold heart warm again. You actually appreciated my night, and that was why I helped you with your magic then. What I find to be most intriguing is your ability to naturally subdue the dark magic that I had infused with you too. I made a bond with you that night, Shadow, and now that I am back here with a clear mind, I see that I can still give you the offer of a lifetime." I found myself puzzled as to what she was saying, opting to stay quiet to let her elaborate. "Shadow Sparkle, how would you like to be my student?"