//------------------------------//
// 10 Darkness Rises 
// Story: Memoria 
// by Li Cruz 
//------------------------------//

Luna vomited as she stumbled out of the strange stone bowl. Luna began wiping herself before she realized that there wasn't a drop of blood on her. She froze at the hot breath on her neck.
She turned enough to see the fangs. She almost started like an foal but kept steady. The emerald dragon's amber bore down on her. Luna put distance a step or two on shaky legs.
"Liked what you saw, pony."
Luna's voice failed her for the moment. The dragon slithered closer, peering at her through specs.
"Monsters." The first word squeaked past her lips.
"Hm?"
"Y-you slaughtered an entire village! Monsters!"
"Ah, that memory." The dragon's expression went glacier. "Of course."
Luna attempted to pull a offensive shield but the inhibitor drained her horn. The sparking magic hurt. The dragon rolled its eyes before turning its attention to the bowl. A silvery ball was pulled from its temple with a dark claw.
With a flick of claws, the ball landed and melted into the bowl's surface. The dragon pulled off its specs and tucked it into the vest pocket. The dragon flexed its claws and Luna felt the pull. The dragon entered into the bowl, dragging her with.
Memoria's council chamber reformed around them. Luna, despite fear and anger, gawked. The room wasn't tattered and faded. The circlar table didn't exist but a series of long tables flank the sides of the throne. A white serpentine dragon with the same golden eyes as Nue talked with a younger Uzumaki as it was perched on the throne.
The green dragon stood not far off, less scarred in resplendant armor.
"My sister is late again." The white dragon chuckled. "It's amazing she ever gets anything politically done."
Uzumaki hummed. "Today is her day off and she travelled to the far side of the valley, my Prince."
The Prince laughed. "Tenpou, is this true?"
The dragon inclined its head. "Yes, my leige. Lordling Nue spent the last few months without such a break."
The Prince slapped a claw upon his muzzle. "She is just like father. They both work too much."
Uzumaki spoke, irriatation in his pose. "The valley inhabitants most appreciate it."
"I'm sure." The easy smile on the dragon Prince seemed to grow. "Here comes my sister."
Luna stumbled as the Nue without many of the gray strips passed through her. The sudden chill reminded her this was a memory. The older copy of Tenpou chuckled at her. She glared at him fully.
Nue talked in a strange language, cheer infused in her tone. Something lacking in the current version. The Prince chattered back and both hugged each other strongly. Nue in the memory was about Luna's current size was smaller than the Prince's length.
"Prince Tsukiyomi made a wonderful dragon king." Living Tenpou walked closer. "However, his reign was short. He was murdered a few years after this even."
"Where they actual siblings?" Luna's curiousity got the better of her.
"Yes. Nue is Tsukiyomi's young half-sibling. Her birth had forestalled a brewing war no one knew was going to happen." Tenpou gave a gusty sigh.
"What do this have to do-"
The doors, having closed themselves, slammed open. An earth stallion, a lovely navy color, stumbled in in full armor and bleeding. He gasped out something about one of the villages in where ever the valley was. Luna watched in horror as the stallion begged to be killed as he died.
The corpse had fallen only to stand back up. The voice that issued from it was horrible. It mocked the two nobles about how the Necromancer, the speaker, was going to gain the Valley for his master. It lunged forward towards Uzumaki. Before it hit, Nue had decapitated it with a long sword.
The corpse fell but not before Luna heard a soft thank you from its lips.
"The spell killed the body to gain control but left the soul within." Tenpou stood next to her as the memory played out. "I and a number of others not longer with us went with Uzumaki and Nue to deal with the Necromancer. That memory was the brutal last fight Nue had with that being."
Both dragon and alicorn found themselves back in the original memory room. The bowl flashed once and the energy melted away.
"I'm not sure how it is in this Equestria, but where we are from, life is much different. We are hard because we need to be hard. Think about that, Moonraiser of Equestria."
Tenpou pushed her outside the door and shut it behind her. The next time she tried for the strange room, she was unable to find that door the entirety of her stay again.