//------------------------------// // The Champion's End // Story: Luna's Story 2: Wrath of the Moon Champion // by Aegis Shield //------------------------------// Luna’s Story 2: Wrath of the Moon Champion Part 10: The Champion’s End Stalwart Hide stood in the rain, over a fresh grave. His mane was a mess despite his helm, and he looked terrible. Here lies Trixie Lulamoon, it said. The last of her kind in a long line of those loyal to Princess Luna. There were two dates, and a dash between them. Simple, to the point, and it didn’t mention she had been executed by beheading. Nor that she’d murdered over a dozen ponies. The stallion had made sure she’d received a proper burial, and that none who hated her knew where the plot was. There had been enough heartache, and it was time to put her to rest. Stalwart Hide’s armor pink-p-pinked in the rain while he stood there staring at the freshly dug earth and tombstone. He didn’t know what to feel. She wasn’t evil, just… confused. She’d done all those terrible things, even sending him to the hospital, but he’d fallen in love with her anyway. Why? What had she done to deserve any sort of adoration from him? He moaned miserably, kicking a stone into the treeline. He tilted his head back, squeezing his golden eyes shut and letting the rain sooth the hot misery in his face. Why did he mourn for her? She was a monster, wasn’t she? He could feel his abs and chest quivering. He would not cry. He would not-- the Captain of the lunar stallions suddenly fell to his knees and sobbed aloud. He didn’t even know why. He just had to cry, cry it all out. His wings opened and pressed against the muddy ground to steady him. The ancestors were strangely quiet. This was not their field to offer aide. While he wept o’er the grave, a long and black wing slowly extended over him to block the rain. He looked up quickly, rubbing his muzzle. “P-princess Luna!” he gasped, making to rise quickly. She stopped him, pushing him gently back to his knees. She wore a strange, silken veil over her face. It sprouted from her crown and hung down past her chin, a thin-woven shroud of mourning. He looked up at her in wonder. “What are you doing here?” he asked in foal-like confusion, whispering at her. The princess of the night looked down at the stallion, trying to remain upright and regal. But, she just could not do it. Keeping her wing extended over him to block the rain, she told him everything. About the original Moon Champion. About her descendants growing connected to Nightmare Moon. About how the whole thing had poisoned Trixie into a terrible, supremacist attitude in all she did. She told him of how, as Nightmare Moon, she had fed the entire family line the lust for battle, vengeance, destruction. Warped her beautiful Moon Champion’s line into jagged weapons of war they were never meant to be. He stared at her in slowly growing horror, then teary confusion, then in quivering rage. “And that is how--!” Crack! He’d slapped her. Right in the face. She yipped in surprise, not expecting the pain. She touched her cheek in confusion. “Go away.” He whispered, touching his chest. His armor collapsed into itself and the ancestors quieted further. His black mane was weighed down by the rain as he stepped out from under her wing. Luna stared at him, wounded. “I’m not your lunar stallion right now. S’my day off anyway. Go away.” He asked, hunching forward a little. “Stalwart Hide, I understand that you are sad for her death. I know exac--!” “You’re immortal!” he barked at her savagely, turning to snap his wings open aggressively. “You know nothing of death! How fragile life is to those of us that don’t live forever like you do!” he coughed, shaking his mane and setting her with a glare. Luna had never felt so far from one of her beloved lunar stallions. She closed her wings slowly, her head hanging. “I have buried more friends than you will ever know.” The alicorn whispered. She turned to leave. “I can only hope—“ “No! Shut up!” Stalwart Hide struck her with another arrow of hate. “You ordered her executed, now you live with it!” he spat at her, losing his head entirely. “Go away!” The stallion must’ve been mad with grief, telling his princess off like that. She recoiled a little at his anger, leaning back and lifting a hoof. He snapped his wings closed, turning away from her to stare at the grave some more. She could see his shoulders shuddering with silent weeping. Not wanting to make it worse, the alicorn turned and left him to his mourning. When she reached the edge of the private graveyard, she found the waiting Aegis Shield. “How did he take it?” the stallion asked slowly, standing under a tree where she’d left him. “Only as well as he could have. He was lovesick, and I took her away.” Luna said glumly, sighing. “He’s mourning.” They walked, side-by-side, until they reached the path and walked along it. “We wouldn’t be surprised if thy friend left the corps for our actions.” She slid into her old dialect, sighing sadly. There was a long silence, and Aegis Shield looked up at his princess. “Luna, did Stalwart Hide ever tell you how he got his cutie mark?” he asked her. She shook her head no, her brow furrowing. “An old house collapsed on him when he was just a little colt, and he walked out of it alive.” “A old house?! How?!” she gasped, eyebrows rising. “How did he survive?!” “Nopony knows. Even something as big as a house falling on him didn’t keep him down. No matter what abuse he took, he would always get up again.” Aegis Shield said stoically, walking shoulder to shoulder with her. He swallowed a little, then looked at the path. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is he won’t be like that forever. He’s very tough. He can take any abuse the world throws at him, and keep going strong.” He smiled at Luna gently. “Give him time, he’ll come around.” Luna nodded slowly. They stopped next to a fountain, having come back to the streets of Canterlot. She stared into the rippling waters for a time, then looked skyward. The silence was long, but the sound of rain was soothing. “Come to my room this coming dawn.” She said to Aegis Shield. “I… don’t want to be alone.” She said it in a vulnerable way. “I won’t tempt you with romance, I just… want you to be there. To... hold me.” She turned her ears back guiltily. Her lover nodded slowly, leaning and rubbing his chin on her mane a bit. She curled her head about to touch his. They shared a quiet moment. A Few Days Later… “You are sure this is what you want to do, sister?” Celestia asked. “This is a powerful artifact, surely it could be used for good again someday?” the white alicorn watched her sister shake her head sadly. “No, it was rightfully hers, and we cannot continue the cycle with any relatives she might’ve had.” Luna said slowly, giving her sister Trixie’s lunar medallion. All the power of the ancestors, locked away for good. “Do it.” She nodded in confirmation. Celestia stepped forward to the edge of the balcony. Heaving a sigh of effort, she lifted the medallion with her pearly aura. It hovered for a moment and then, quite suddenly, rocketed skyward and into the sun. Luna felt the ancestors within finally reach their complete rest. She sighed with relief. It was done. The daytime princess extended a wing and embraced her sister. Even now she could feel her quietly shaking. “Lulu…” she cooed softly, stroking her sister’s mane. “Tia, it was so hard…” Luna whispered. “Just sitting there while it happened…” “It had to be done. For the peace of mind of our beloved subjects.” Celestia gently smiled in the timeless way she often did, wrapping her sister in her wings for comfort. Luna leaned into her, an ink blot pressed up to a golden drop of autumn rain. “Their wounds will heal in time.” She said sagely. “Yes.” Luna said quietly, resting her head on Celestia’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time, until it was time to lower the sun and raise the moon. Later… Stalwart Hide stood in front of the name wall in the lunar barracks in the middle of the day. All the lunar stallions were sleeping, and the princess as well. Looking around and making sure nopony was around, he slowly opened his rune books and mumbled through the lines of ancient Equestrian. Phoneticizing a quick alphabet, he composed something with pen and quill. Then, he reached into his saddlebags and squinted into a corner. Working with sharp, thin tools, he carved a new name. Trixie Lulamoon the Last Moon Champion. Satisfied with his work, he blew on it to get rid of the stone dust. Working slowly to get rid of the evidence so it wouldn’t draw any eyes, he put his tools away and closed his saddlebag. He leaned back, sitting on his haunches, admiring his work. The Next Evening… Stalwart Hide reported for duty early. Princess Luna and Aegis Shield were already set up for the Midnight Court. There were states-ponies rushing about and filling out the evening’s opening ledgers. Squires with fresh paper, quill, and ink were rushing back and forth. “Stalwart Hide.” Luna said, betraying surprise with her tone. “Thou aren’t due for duty for another half an hour!” “I have an appointment.” He said with a slight smile. The princess seemed startled by this. She turned and rather clumsily ruffled through the stack of papers up next to her on the throne. After a long and rather comical struggle, she came up with her blue sheet (blue sheet being her night’s appointments). Sure enough, there he was at the top of the list. Well, ‘list’ was generous, there were only three ponies on it and the other two weren’t due for hours. She looked down at him, blink-blinking, then slowly set the paper aside. “Hast thou come to curse me and quit the lunar stallions?” she said softly, turning her ears back in a sad expression. Right away she’d gone to her worst case scenario. “No, I came to receive my punishment.” He said, smiling at her gently. “For what?” She asked, again startled by his behavior. Aegis Shield cocked his head in confusion. What was his comrade doing? “Thou hast redeemed thyself for all thy transgressions…” she trailed off, confused. “Well, let’s see…” Stalwart Hide said, cocking his head and looking at the ceiling. “Fraternizing with the enemy, bathing with the enemy, doing nothing about a murder right before it happened, striking a royal in the face and cursing her name, and--” he went on down a list, some of the items of which were as silly as stealing an extra piece of pie at the dinner table. Aegies Shield mouthed the words ‘bathing with the enemy’, just to see what they tasted like. He found himself slowly smiling. Was this Stalwart Hide’s strange way of offering an olive branch after what had happened at the cemetery? “Stallion!” Luna said, rising from her throne. “We’ve already redeemed thou, and thy grief was more than enough to cover for thy… lack of control!” she tried to put it gently, a certain warmth touching her face. She hadn’t been expecting such an official apology, much less in the midnight court. Much less… at all. She didn’t know what to do with herself, but her hooves were carrying her down the stairs of the dais to stand in front of him. Stalwart Hide knelt on all four legs, bowing his head. Then, much to Luna’s vast annoyance, spread his wings upon the ground. Damn that Hammershot and his infectious, ancient expressions. He looked up at her wordlessly, and she stared down at him. His eyes were pleading. “Go on.” He whispered to her, bowing his head. Was this his way of apologizing? She couldn’t tell. Not knowing what else to do and knowing it was what he wanted, the princess of the night reared up and flared her wings. Just then, Hammershot appeared in the doorway of the throne room with a message for her majesty. He rounded the corner just in time to see Luna’s dinner plate-sized hooves come crashing down on Stalwart Hide’s wings, and hear his belting cry of pain. The stallion dropped his scroll in shock, turning as white as a sheet. One of the statesponies had to fetch it from the floor, for the lunar stallion just stood there slack-jawed and frozen to the spot. Stalwart Hide clenched his teeth, hissing a little. After the short, jagged cry, he’d refused to make much sound at all. The body was a machine, and the pain caused tears. He shook his head quickly, rising up and gingerly folding his poor wings. Without another word, he went and stood at the left side of the dais. He stared at the rest of the room like he bucking belonged there, and the light flicker of gold in his eyes dared anypony to question it. Luna flicked her confused gaze at Aegis Shield. Had she just mended something by stomping on it? She’d never done such a thing. Her lover shrugged rather openly, smiling and gesturing with his muzzle that she return to her throne. She did, seating herself regally upon it. Looking down at the back of Stalwart Hide’s head for a long time, she slowly relaxed. In some bizarre and twisted way, everything had calmed down again. After a long time, she looked up and saw Hammershot. Frowning, princess Luna silently gestured to one of her statesponies. The mare approached the frozen lunar stallion, poking at him a little. Hammershot had turned into a statue all by himself it seemed. She gave him a brave shove, and one of his wings held him up at a rather impressive forty-five degree angle. He was that rigid. “Well what do you know, fainting pegasus syndrome.” Luna said with interest. “Leave him like that, we shall see how long he stays that way.” She smiled at the rather dirty look Aegis Shield gave her, but planted her royal rump on her sitting pillow none the less. It made the usually droll midnight court far more interesting. Stalwart Hide allowed himself a small smile. THE END =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A/N: Be sure to read the next part, "Long Live the Night"!