//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Moon Kingdom Chronicles // by Rehlia //------------------------------// The mare awakened to a grey, empty plane. She watched it through half-lidded eyes, traced its lines into a horizon of cracks, sandy slopes and clusters of white and gray stone. As far as she could make out, there was no end to it. There was a faded, dim light coming from everywhere at once, barely enough to see her surroundings, and the sky above the plane was completely black. A stuttering cough sat deep in her chest and she hacked and heaved and finally fell back to the hard ground, shuddering with fatigue. There was no sound. Not even her coughing could be heard. The silence engulfed her like cotton, like clouds pressing on her ears, her snout, her body, her entire being. The silence was so heavy it was almost, almost a sound of its own. She was engulfed and could not breathe. There was no energy inside of her to fight it. Her eyes closed and she lay on her side, breathless and lifeless. Time passed. Nothing changed. The mare slowly opened her eyes again. She could not breathe, but she was not dead. The silence was absolute. The plane was dim and barren, the sky pitch-black. During the time she had laid there, everything had stayed exactly the same. There was no indication any time had passed at all, and only her feeling of being rested, of being not quite so exhausted anymore, told her that minutes and hours did indeed pass by. After another while, the mare finally rose. No breath filled her lungs, but her head was clearer and her legs not quite as leaden anymore. When she looked around in curiosity, she saw that the plane stretched endlessly into every direction. On and on it went, sandy, grey slope after sandy, grey slope, until it met with the tenebrous sky. Underneath her, not even her own hooves made a sound as she turned. Something within her noted this as unusual, as strange. She looked down in surprise and saw her own shadow. Pale and diffuse in the low light, spreading in several directions at once, it met four indigo hooves. Wisps of pale blue mane hung into her eyes as she lowered her head. She watched her shadow, followed it with her eyes as it stretched outwards. Her head was crowned with a long protrusion; she had a horn. On her back there rested two large shapes she identified as wings. When she turned her head to observe her own body, her wings folded themselves without the rustle of feathers, sending a burn into her shoulders. She winced and briefly closed her eyes. Once the pain passed, she resumed her examination of her own body. On her flank was a dark spot crested with the thin sickle of the moon. She observed the outlines of her body, it’s shape and colours, and a memory formed; her name was Luna. Luna frowned. Where was she? What was this void with its grey surface and diffuse light? She lifted her gaze until it met the deep, dark sky. A small gasp escaped her, unheard, soundless in the stillness of the air. She looked up into the faintly glittering, vast expanse of space. In its middle hung a round sphere covered with greens and blues and swirling wisps of white. A planet she knew well as she now remembered, for one of its continents was Equestria, her home. Luna came to understand she was on the moon. She did not come to understand how or why. Had an enemy befallen her beloved Equestria and sent her up here? In this case, her sister was in danger and she needed her help. Because of course she had a sister, her name was Celestia and they ruled Equestria together in peace and harmony. How could she have forgotten? She needed to return if her sister or her country were in danger. Besides, as much as Luna loved her moon, she did not want to stay on it for a prolonged time. It was beautiful of course, but empty and barren, quiet and cold and without life. She started to gather her magic to form a teleportation spell, but quickly realised that despite her time of rest, she did not have enough power to do so. Her magical reserves were drained completely, her horn and wings and body had barely enough energy left to move. The state of her mane was a sure enough indicator of her complete magical exhaustion, she had noticed it’s flatness and pale blue colour and should have known what it meant. It was rare for her to revert to this state; nevertheless, it had now happened somehow. Luna frowned again at her inability to remember what had led to her predicament. There was no doubt in her mind that the memory would return eventually; her head felt undamaged and even though she was dizzy, the visual cues she had encountered so far had helped her recollect important information swiftly and without problem. This at least meant that long lasting problems with her memory were unlikely. It was still cumbersome and frustrating not to know what had happened. Stranded for now she decided to inspect her own body more closely. Her hooves were undamaged, but her legs felt sore, as if she had exerted herself. This feeling was even stronger in her wings, where her muscles prickled and burned underneath her feathers when she stretched them out. Her mane was the flat, pale blue she noticed earlier, the complete magical exhaustion she had at first failed to recall. Testing her strength, Luna sparked her horn. The tiny glimmer of light felt unbearably bright to her eyes after the dimness of the moon surface. It formed a small circle around her and sharpened the shadows at her hooves, creating an ominous atmosphere. She allowed the spark to extinguish. Her magic was functional, only depleted. This meant that long lasting magical damage was unlikely as well. She would need rest and time to recover, but ultimately she should be able to return to her old form. Although anxious at her situation, Luna lay down once more. One last look at her home planet hanging in the middle of the dark expanse of space, and she closed her eyes and lay her head on her forehooves. Sleep came easily to her, swift and dreamless. She woke to find her situation unchanged. Out of reflex she tried to sigh, only to notice that she still had no air to breathe. Immediately, she sparked her horn and formed a bubble around her, filled with precious oxygen. For the first time since she awoke on the moon, Luna drew a deep breath, and was met with no resistance. Air flowed into her lungs, stale and with the distinct smell of magical conjuring, but air all the same. It felt sweet and precious to her. She allowed herself a smile and it blossomed into a blessedly audible laughter. Rest and air had helped her feel refreshed and strengthened. She climbed to her hooves, delighted at the muted clip-clop of her hooves she could now hear in her atmospheric bubble, and once more focused on the planet above her. By now, she could not see Equestria anymore. That meant the sun and moon were still moving in the sky and the night had passed from her home and on to the other side of the planet. Immediately, her mind was overwhelmed with questions. How did the moon move without her to do it? This time, Lunas frown was deep and mixed with concern. The moon had not been risen by anyone but her in a long time, not since Discord. The wretched creature had taken the control over the heavenly stars from the unicorns and after that, she and her sister had brought forth day and night with their magic. Had Discord returned, his seal been broken? Luna shook her head, it could not be Discord. The progression was too smooth and calm for the incarnation of chaos. When he had dominion over the heavens, he had pushed day and night around within minutes and had not cared for the natural order of things, the merry chase of sun and moon erratic and turbulent. So it must be something else. The thought scared her. If it was indeed a foe that had taken control over the moon and flung her to its surface, it must be incredibly powerful. Discord had been bad enough, but his own hubris and careless, chaotic nature had been his downfall. An enemy with the power to move sun and moon, but with a stable enough mind to ensure their natural progression - that was another order of dangerous. Focusing her magic, she tried to reach out for the moon and move it. It felt like trying to grip a smooth globe of ice with polished hooves, she could touch it, but she was unable to establish the grip needed to actually move it. This was even more concerning. The moon was hers. Even stranded on its surface and with weakened magic she should have been able to move it. She unfurled her wings. They were still somewhat sore, but she had energy enough to fly at least. If such a dangerous enemy had indeed befallen Equestria and taken the sun and moon away from her and her sister, she had to try and return immediately, no matter how tired she still felt. With powerful strokes, she lifted herself off the ground, helped along by the low gravity. It did not take her long to climb high in the moon's thin atmosphere, leaving the dusty surface with its dim glow behind her until she was close to the darkness of space and could see the twinkle of stars. This was the point Luna could not pass. She tried everything. Pushed her wings until they ached and screamed with the exertion, gathered the bit of magic she had recovered and tried to push through or teleport herself past the boundary and into open space, if not back home. Nothing worked, and it was not for lack of trying or her own exhaustion. Something was blocking her. She was trapped on her beloved moon, apparently free to roam its surface and a large part of its thin atmosphere, but ultimately unable to leave. When she tried to send a beam of light towards her home planet, as a sign that she was here, the magic did not go further than the boundary she had discovered, instead dispelling in a subtle rainbow sheen. Luna stared at the point where her beam of light had vanished into a hint of colours. She knew those colours, that rainbow shine, muted as it was. It was unmistakable even in its subtlety. Memory crashed into her and she forgot to flap her wings, all magic and her atmospheric bubble fading, falling back to the surface of the moon. She did nothing to break her fall. Her eyes were unfocused, directed inwards as she raced towards the ground, the low gravity slowing her fall significantly, but not enough. She remembered. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light? There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess will be me!” Shadows, lightning and pain. Her own body stretching into a grotesque caricature of her former self. Poisonous laughter dominating her thoughts and spilling from mutated, black lips. Struggling against what felt like slick, black tar in her own mind, jealousy concentrated and used by a parasite that was stronger than her. Fighting not only in her own mind, but against something outside as well, the source of all her jealousy and bitterness. Winning, and the sweetness it brought, a sweetness that could not fully pierce the clouds that shrouded her own mind. And then, finally, a bright, concentrated beam of multicoloured light, behind it a face she knew almost as well as her own, and her desperate attempt to reach past the parasite in her mind, to reach the Elements of Harmony as they were already wielded against her by her sister. A spark of connection, tearing apart as soon as it was formed, and tearing the parasite with it. And then, nothing. Luna crashed into the lunar surface, sending dust and crumbling rock into a miles wide radius. Had there been enough atmosphere to carry sound, the resulting boom would have shattered her eardrums. Pain shot through her body and went unacknowledged. She lay in the crater of her own fall and cried. The Nightmare had fled her as she reached out for her connection to the Elements, her feverish mind making a last, desperate attempt to undo what it had brought upon itself. It had been enough to leave her free of her hatred and the darkness that had taken her, but not enough to stop what had already begun. She was trapped on the moon, sealed by the Elements of Harmony, because she had allowed herself to become a monster. Luna stared at the blue sphere above her, now even more unreachable than before. She had allowed herself to become a monster and attacked her own sister in her bitterness. Had callously declared herself the sole ruler of Equestria and brought forth an eclipse to make the night last eternal. A bitter laugh escaped her, silent as there was no air, but there all the same. The irony was so fitting, Luna thought. Nighttime eternal she wanted, and nighttime eternal she got. As the sun and moon revolved around the planet, they stayed opposite of each other, never meant to meet in the sky. As long as she was on the moon, the night would truly last forever, at least for her. She lay in the crater for a long time. At last, she pushed magic through her horn and allowed herself to heal, knitting back together her broken spine and fractured wings. She had never felt more exhausted, not even when she first woke on the barren plane of the moon's surface. The guilt of what she had done was heavy on her mind. It was a fitting punishment, she supposed, alone and powerless on the moon she had tried to force upon the world. Briefly, the question how long her seal would last entered her mind, but she did not dwell on it long. If it was anything like most powerful seals, it would likely be a thousand years until she would be allowed to leave. A thousand years on her beloved moon, all alone, in silence. The thought was unbearable, impossible. It would drive her mad before the first year was over. She finally rolled over and left the crater of her fall, wandering aimlessly in a random direction as she thought. For how long, she didn’t know. If she was cleansed of her hatred and rage, but still stuck on the moon, then there must be a reason for it, she decided. The Elements of Harmony were harsh in their punishment, but not unnecessarily cruel. There had to be a deeper meaning to this. Luna didn’t count her steps as she walked, but the next time she looked around, Equestria was no longer visible anywhere above her. The dark side of the moon, the ponies used to call it. It was darker here, although not by much. The stars in the sky were clearer, more easily visible now that they did not share it with the planet. Their stark beauty, resplendent as they sparkled uncontested within the inky expanse of space, brought her no joy. She resumed walking. Her banishment had a purpose, but she did not know what it was. The only logical solution was for her to find out. That would be the first thing she could do while she was here. Her head started spinning again at the implication of a thousand years that needed to be filled. What would she do? Finding a purpose would fill only so little time, and what else could occupy her here for so long? The thoughts chased themselves in her head without ever reaching a conclusion. She stopped. She could once again see her home above her, the planet dotted with clouds over the continents. How long had she been walking? How long had it been already? Luna felt a jolt of homesickness, mixed with fear. She had completely lost track of time and her thoughts were a mess. If she did not return home soon or alternatively find something else to occupy her, she would lose herself again. It made her skin crawl. The memory of that black, sickening fog in her mind, fueled by her own emotions and yet separate from her - no. She could never lose herself like that again. Gathering her magic, she shot more light out of her horn, in long and short intervals. The light dissipated as soon as it reached the invisible barrier that made her seal. Leaving was no option, and neither was signalling anyone on her planet, as far as she could tell. Whatever she was to do, it had to be on the moon. Although there might still be another way left to send a signal back to her home. Focusing her magic, this time in her hooves rather than her horn, she imposed her will onto the barren surface of the moon until a fragile, blue flower popped out of it. Finally, despite everything, Luna smiled. She would make them see her.