//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Luna’s Quest // Story: The Night's Light // by Keeper of time RD //------------------------------// The dark figure flew through the caves, rounding a bend and leaving the last traces of the moonlit night behind. Below the mare were the occasional stone marker, glowing with a soft silver light, marking the path. Not that she needed them, she had flow this path enough times now that the cave was becoming like a second home to her. Further in and beyond yet another bend, the caves opened up into a truly vast cavern. The ceiling, the walls and even the parts of the floor far enough away from the glow-stone markers all sparkled like a sea of stars, giving the Starlight Caverns its name. More or less in middle of the cavern was a small town perhaps big enough for a hundred or so ponies. The glowing stone markers scattered about made the town seem like an island of dimly lit gray stone floating in a field of stars. Strategically placed glow-stones in a stream, made the underground river going through the middle of the town shine with soft silver and blue light and, though dim by most ponies’ standards, it was the brightest feature in the underground town. Beyond the town, by the back of the cavern, was Starlight Castle, built from the same glowing stone as the marker stones, causing it to glow with a soft silver light that made seem like a ghostly guardian watching over the town. The castle’s most noticeable feature was that one of its spires continued all the way to the cavern’s ceiling. Being the only part of the cavern’s ceiling illuminated by the silver light of the glowing stone, that disk of gray stone around the spire seemed like an artificial moon within the Starlight Caverns. Descending into the town, and landing on the bridge basically in the middle of the village, the gleam of figure’s silver shoes reflected the soft light coming from the nearby stream. Pausing for a moment, the pony with midnight-blue fur looked over the edge of the bridge and stared into the glowing waters flowing below. In the darkness the two local ponies crossing the bridge might have been mistaken for pegasi. At least until one took the time to notice the leathery wings and nocturnal eyes that marked them as bat ponies. Taking notice of the new arrival’s feathered wings, crescent moon cutie mark and ever flowing mane that sparkled like a vision of the night’s sky, both of the bat ponies gave a respectful bow as one of them greeted the mare, “Princess Luna.” The alicorn princess of the night looked up from the flowing waters only long enough to give a nod and smile before returning her gaze to the calming dance of lights within the waters flow. As soothing as staring into the water’s glow was it wasn’t enough to conquer the troubles in the back of her mind. Breathing a heavy sigh Luna turned away from the stream and walked the main road of the underground town. Halting her journey in the darkness halfway between the town and Starlight Castle, Luna beheld the place where the ground was dark enough for the star-like light of the minerals in the rock could be seen. The Starlight Caverns truly were a place of entrant night, and yet even it paled in comparison to the true beauty of the night. With that thought the princess of the night resumed her trek toward Starlight Castle. The entry room of Starlight Castle was a grand hall with several lesser halls branching off to the sides and a grand staircase in back that branched off to the left and to the right. On the pillars along the sides of the grand hall and the walls between them hung tapestries, alternating between the lunar emblem and pictorial depictions of the story of Nightmare Moon. The largest of tapestries was the one hanging front and center on the wall above the grand staircase, which depicted the elements of harmony defeating Nightmare Moon and purifying Luna. Another noteworthy detail of the castle was that with the ceiling, walls and floor all glowing with the same soft silver light, not a single shadow could be found within the castle. “Welcome back your highness,” said a lone saluting bat pony, dressed in the armor of the night guard, his extra-ornate helmet marking him as a captain. Returning the salute, Luna responded, “At ease Captain Shadow Wing. I see the tapestries hath arrived.” “The first shipment anyway. You’ll find the ones depicting the sprits of harmony and their elements individually also arrived and we put them up in the throne room, as ordered, princess,” Shadow Wing said, motioning to the left path of the grand staircase. Seeing that his princess seemed more interested in the decorations in this room than going to inspect the throne room, the captain added, “They are well done aren’t they? I am curious as to why you wanted these displayed here in the entrance hall though.” “The mistakes of the past are easy to repeat if one allows themselves to forget them. I should also think that the lesson that ‘power is corruptible’ is a worthy one to display for any whom would learn from another’s mistakes.” “I see, a wise decision, princess. I must say I like what you’ve done with the place. Before your return Starlight Castle always felt more like a shrine than a castle. It’s good to finally have the ruler it was built for walking these halls,” Shadow Wing said, offering a smile. Shaking her head Luna responded, “Thou give me too much credit, captain. This place was build while I was in exile and hath been running itself just fine for over seven hundred years. It hardly seems to need my presence, that and all I did was get rid of some statues and started trying out some paintings and such, a slight change of decor at best.” “Even little changes can make a big difference in how a place feels. Regardless, I have nothing else to report. How were your rounds, princess?” Luna hung her head slightly as she answered, “The rounds were dreadfully boring. As always, the dream-walking provided the only excitement of the night, and I do believe we hath already agreed that sharing the contents of other ponies dreams without their permission would be improper.” Nodding the captain asked, “That we have. Is there anything else I can do for you, your highness?” Pondering the question for a moment, Luna’s gaze became unfocused before snapping back as she answered, “Indeed there is, tell the kitchen staff that I shall not be having dinner here tonight. There is something I wish to discuss with my sister, and I think I shall pick up something while I am in Canterlot instead.” Giving a quick nod, the bat pony took wing and flew off with all due haste to fulfill his orders. Now alone, Luna retreated to her personal chambers. Within Luna’s chambers were the things one might expect, a large soft bed, dresser, nightstand, shelf with ornate crowns she only had to ware once in a blue moon on special occasions, desk, and that sort of thing. One object that might have seemed out of the ordinary was a lone mannequin that wore not cloth, but silver-modeling clay currently shaped into the form of armor. For a moment the princess of the night was tempted to take another stab at molding the clay. Nay, every time I endeavor to make something in my style it always looks too much like that cursed armor it is destined to replace. If only I could find the inspiration to design new armor that embodies my essence, yet resembles not the armor I wore as Nightmare Moon. Luna thought to herself, turning away from the mannequin. Instead Princess Luna went to the door at the back of her chamber. Beyond that door was a tower-like room, with a spiral staircase along the outer wall. Forgoing the stairs Luna spread her wings and flew up the empty middle of the room. She ascended she passed small slit like windows that would have allowed one to look out and see the Starlight Caverns, although Luna didn’t need look through them to know she was ascending the inside of the spire that went all the way to the roof of the caverns. Halfway up the spire there ceased to be windows as the spire continued upward, through the mountain. A brisk wind blew through the lone doorway at the top of the spire. Beyond that doorway Luna emerged into a room with only three walls, instead of a fourth wall there was a short balcony extending slightly beyond the reach of the ceiling. A small amount of snow clung to the balcony’s guardrail despite the session, for the balcony was simply above the mountain’s snowline. Also carved into the side of the mountain were two small shelters, to either side of the balcony. The shelters were only large enough to house a single pony, and positioned in such a way as to give full sight of the balcony itself and the opposite shelter. Within each was a bat pony of the night guard sitting, warped in a heavy blanket. Both gave a respectful bow to their princess before returning their gaze outward, watching over the ‘back door’ to Starlight Castle. Conjuring up a feather pen and parchment with her magic, Luna wrote down some instructions, then summoning an envelope, she placed the piece of paper inside and added a wax seal bearing the emblem of a crescent moon. Levitating the envelope over to the guard on the right, Luna said, “When thy shift is over pass these orders along to the captain.” “Yes, your majesty,” the guard answered. Quickly taking the letter, his head disappeared into his blanket for a moment, as he slipped the envelope into his armor. With the last of her affairs at her own castle complete, Luna spread her wings and took to the air for the short flight to Canterlot. * * * * * * * With the golden glow of her magic, Celestia raised the sun, beginning another day. “It’s nice of you to join me this morning, sister. So, what can I do for you?” asked the princess of the sun. “Is it that obvious that I desire something of you?” Luna asked. The white alicorn chuckled, “You’ve never been one to stay up late when you didn’t have something important to do during the day, sister.” “Fair enough, and thou art correct. I hath a favor to ask of thee,” Luna conceded. Leaving the balcony, Celestia led the way into her privet chamber. “Well?” was all she asked, in a soft voice. “I wish for thee to once more guide the moon at night.” Choking momentarily on her tea, Celestia sputtered and coughed for a few seconded before she could respond. “But that is your job sister. Why would want me to do it for you?” “As thou knows, ever since nightmare night, I hath been trying to acclimate myself to this new, modern Equestria.” “I thought you were finding things to your liking?” Celestia asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Do not get me wrong sister. That ponies have found a way to use electricity without magic, and used that knowledge to build cities that seldom sleep, is indeed comforting. However I hath found that the cities’ new ‘nightlife’, as they call it, has nothing to do with the night. Nay, with all the light from their street lamps I find the ponies of the cities seldom even see the stars of night, let alone appreciate the night’s sky. And you shall have to forgive me if I fail to see the difference between the drunken dancing and music, under the electric lights of new, from the drunken dancing and music, by the light of the tavern’s fire of old.” “I think the music sounds better,” Celestia offered with a forced smile. With a slow shake of her head, Luna continued, “Regardless, when I meet them at night they are but shells of themselves, only trying to unwind from the day. When I meet them in their dreams they are more themselves then even they know while they are awake. And when I stay awake late into your mornings and even day, and try to see the side of them I never get to see, they see only this crown and act differently anyway. No, if I am to ever earn their love and adoration, I must meet them on their terms, during the day, and not as their ruler. Thus I wish to suspend myself from service, that I can not clam rule over them while I learn from them. So sister, will thou permit me this reprieve from by duties?” A frown appeared on Celestia’s face as she responded, “Before I answer I have two questions for you. First, what of your dream walking? For a thousand years our subjects have had to face their nightmares alone, for I was unable to perform that task in your stead.” “Continuing that one aspect on my duties will not interfere with my plans.” “Wouldn’t that prevent you from sleeping at night? Do you truly plan to be awake both all day and all night? You know that’s not healthy after a few days, even for us.” Luna chuckled, unsure if her sister was leading her on or truly ignorant of the fact she then stated, “The waking trance I use to dream walk is for convenience, I can perform my duty as the guardian of dreams while I actually sleep. It will merely be harder to get my attention for the matters of the waking world. A moot point if thou are performing the remaining duties of the night.” A smile crept on to Celestia’s face as she asked, “Alright then. My second question is, if I do this for you, will you return the favor and pull double shifts that I might take a vacation when you return to service?” Removing her crown and placing in on a pedestal that previously held only a candlestick, Luna answered, “Thou took responsibility for both day and night for a thousand years, if anypony deserves a vacation it is you, sister. I shall indeed return the favor when I take up my crown once more.” “I wish you the best of luck, Luna. Though I will miss your beautiful nights. Even in a thousand years I never did figure out how you make the stars shine so brightly,” said Celestia, as she gave her younger sister a bow. Luna sighed and responded, “Indeed I noticed thou never bothered to clean up the stellar haze in my absence.” “Stellar haze?” “Forgive me sister, but I must retain some trade secrets of the night,” Luna answered with a mischievous smile. The two laughed together for a moment, before Luna returned to the balcony, and spreading her wings took flight, leaving Canterlot behind. Looking to the small black crown that had been left behind, Celestia pondered aloud, “I wonder if she knows that crowns aren’t really considered that important a symbol of rule as they use to be… Oh well, I’m sure she’ll figure that out soon enough.”