- XV -
- XV -
Celestia walked for several hours, following Luna’s route. She had been thoroughly investigating many of the buildings, and Celestia had followed in her proverbial hoofprints.
She halted before a massive building with multiple towers that projected off at odd angles from the roof, noting a sigil pointing inside. Celestia entered cautiously, noting the interior to be almost normal in comparison to some of the grotesque decorations of several buildings. This room was curious, with several sets of stairs running up into the upper levels. Celestia chose the central-most staircase and ascended into the next story, halting there. A skeletal tree had been built in this room, with runes marring the glassy surface texture. The mana lights here were acid-green, and cast the room in an eerie glow. There was a shattered mirror sitting in the center of the room. Celestia approached the pieces, examining them with interest. She gathered the broken shards together and activated the lingering spell.
A fractured picture of Nightmare Moon appeared. Her eyes were wild, darting around and never focusing, and she appeared agitated. She spoke in a rasping whisper. “Sister... I wonder if you’ll ever come here? Find this message.”
Celestia shivered. Nightmare Moon looked around, turning in a circle. The angle shifted, and she appeared to be lying on the floor, recording from a reclined position. “I built this room for you, Celestia. For you...”
Celestia looked around. Nightmare Moon chuckled. “I know I haven’t talked with you much, lately. The days blend together, here. Building consumes my time, saps my energy. Sometimes... I wish to die. It’d be a kindness.”
Nightmare’s wild gaze suddenly focused, her draconic eyes piercing through the veil of time to look into Celestia’s own. “What you did to me is cruel punishment of the worst kind. I hope you know that. I hope you understand.”
Nightmare Moon leaned forward. “I’ve always promised that your torment would end, sister. I’ve always promised to end you. Your agony might be horrific and painful, but your torment would be over in a matter of... years. Maybe months. I would tire of your torture, your suffering, and I would let you slip into death.”
“This, though?” Nightmare’s eyes widened, rolling in their sockets. “This is cruelty that I could never conceive of! The cruelty of kindness!”
Nightmare Moon’s eyes closed, and tears ran down her face. “A thousand years, Celestia! You should have killed me!”
Her deep blue eyes opened again, and Celestia took a step back, her legs shaking as she witnessed the depths of her greatest enemy’s pain and suffering. The image in the mirror faded, and Celestia dropped the pieces onto the floor once more, breathing hard as she tried to keep from sobbing.
She turned, making to leave the room, and saw a sigil of a sun, with an arrow pointing down to the floor, where a unbroken mirror waited. Celestia gasped, looking back at the shattered mirror for a moment, before sitting down.
She levitated the mirror to float before her, and activated the spell. Luna face appeared, her eyes wide and frightened. “We...I... I pray that what I hath just discovered to be a ruse... but I know it not to be so, no matter how much I wish it.”
Luna’s ears drooped. “... I failed, didn’t I? I fell into the trap of jealousy and allowed it to warp me, to drag me down into my most terrible aspect of mineself. I became the Nightmare, didn’t I?”
Celestia reached a hoof out, touching the mirror, desperate to reach through time and offer this specter of her sister’s past comfort. Luna inhaled a deep, shuddering breath. “Some memories are returning, resurfacing of... war. Death. I fought thou, sister?”
Luna shook her head, hiccuping as she held back tears. “Thou banished mine terrible aspect for a thousand years, locked me away on the moon, didn’t thee? I... do not blame thee, sister... only I know now that rescue from thou will not be coming...”
Luna smiled bitterly, her careful mask of stoicism crumbling as her lips trembled and tears fell from her beautiful, dark eyes. “N-not unless I can reach thee.”
Luna inhaled a long breath, letting it out slowly, and nodded. “I will focus mine efforts. If I can reach thee, get a message out, then assuredly thou wilt come to fetch me.”
Celestia set the mirror slowly down, doing her best to compose herself as she lifted a trembling hoof to wipe the tears from her cheeks. The trail continued beyond this room. She knew that. She’d seen the next sigil beyond this house. Luna hadn’t given up hope.
Neither would she.
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2785172
ARE YOU A MIND READER?
2785172
Looks like she did.
2788262
Gotta say, this is quite good. So it seems Luna and NMM were enjoying a kind of Jekyll/Hyde deal. If I were Celestia, I'd make certain to get a therapist or something to Luna... The whole deal HAD to have left some scars...
~Skeeter The Lurker
It will be interesting to see Celestia back in Equestria and hopefully apologize to poor Luna
2788262
Yes. Be scared o.0
T'will be cool to see where things go from hear. I wonder if Luna made her own additions to the moonscape? City of Luna? The Lunar basement? A civilisation of moon-rock golems animated by her magic?
Poor luna
Except that even if she had reached Celestia, Celestia would have to take into account the possibility of it being a trick by the Nightmare...
2788262
It is the obvious conclusion given Celestia did so in 4 to 6 orders of magnitude less time...
I wonder if the Nightmare took Luna back, or if Luna went mad AGAIN. I think you mean the former, but I am not 100% sure.