- II -
- II -
The hoofprints trailed away into the distance, leading Celestia onwards towards a slowly approaching line of utter blackness—the line between day and night. Celestia wasn’t surprised. Of course the trail would go towards a place where the night would literally last forever. The light side of the moon, in any case, was growing tiresome to Celestia’s eyes. The grey dust and rock reflected light extremely well, and the bright and constant light was starting to become aggravating to her senses. At least on the dark side of the moon, she could simply cast a spell of light to push away the shadow. Doing the opposite was more of her sisters’ forte.
The thought of Luna made Celestia glance spaceward again, towards the hanging orb of blue—so near, and yet, so far away at that moment from her. She forced a smile, thinking of better days, and continued her walk.
Things had been better since Luna had returned. It had taken her months to regain her strength fully, a slow process of recovery even for one as powerful as her. The Elements of Harmony had cleansed her body of all magic, reducing her to nothing. Thousands of years of the slow build of magics in her system, reserves of untapped power, magics ancient and terrible, undone in an instant of incandescent, whirling harmony. Of course, that had also banished the Nightmare from her as well, returning her to her old self, a thousand years out of place and with little memory of her darkest hour.
Darkest hour being a turn of phrase. Luna had been Nightmare Moon for a long time. Luck would have it that she couldn’t remember much of her atrocities, nor her exile. Celestia counted it as a blessing. She’d never wish such a thing on Luna. Many claimed that the Elements of Harmony were a dumb tool, a weapon that simply acted on the idea of Harmony: purifying, making clean and whole, or destroying where it could not make orderly. Celestia felt differently. There was no reason for Luna to forget her time as Nightmare Moon after the Elements of Harmony cleansed her, yet she had. There was something merciful about that fact, something that hinted at a greater direction by the Elements than brutally powerful magics.
Luna’s memories had surfaced only in her sleep: terrible nightmares of twisted landscapes and shadows. Celestia had comforted her sister as best she could, but there were things that she simply couldn’t understand. Her sister, in some senses, was very alone in her recovery, though she had servants, doctors, wizards, and psychologists overseeing her throughout every step. Celestia, despite all her strength, was still but one pony.
She smiled to herself, remembering Luna’s insistence on leaving Canterlot on the eve of Nightmare Night. It was a holiday for her, in a sense, and she wanted desperately to experience life away from the poking and prodding of the court physicians and mages. Her mane had regained it’s astral aspect a few days prior, and she used it as a way to prove her returning strength and her readiness to be away from her suite of chambers where she’d been “exiled for a thousand days!”, as she so dramatically enjoyed shouting.
Celestia had relented, and Luna had gone to the Nightmare Night festival. The Lunar Guard had reported that the evening had started off... awkwardly. Luna’s lack of modern social graces had been a sticking point, apparently, and it didn’t help that she felt the need to use the Royal Canterlot Voice at every opportunity. As she had expected, though, Twilight Sparkle and her friends helped Luna overcome her difficulties, and she ended up enjoying her festival. She had returned with a rare smile on her face, filled with joy and stories of screaming fillies, delicious treats, games, pranks, and friendship.
Celestia nearly flew down to Ponyville and knighted the whole populace on the spot. She’d restrained herself, but her mood for the rest of the week had been a good one, even during court proceedings.
Celestia’s meandering thoughts halted as the hoofprints she was following changed direction abruptly, turning on a more direct course for the darkness. Celestia frowned slightly, wondering what prompted the sudden shift, and continued to follow them. She approached the edge of the twilight zone between night and day, growing nearer to the darkness. She carefully cast a spell of light, summoning a glowing sprite of energy that bobbed over her head, illuminating the area as she moved closer.
The shift was a subtle one, the light fading away as she trotted closer to the black, her own magic light seeming to grow stronger. She shivered slightly as the temperature noticeably dropped, and she adjusted the spell she’d woven around herself to maintain her own body’s temperature. Comfortable again, Celestia followed the line of hoofprints into the darkness.
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OOOOOO.
HELL YES.
Faved and tracked.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Update: Yeah. This is gonna be a DAMN good one.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Ah yes, the re-straeohing.
Dis gon b gud
i.imgur.com/O1t1tKF.jpg
Somewhat hilariously, I actually have more favorites than likes on this story. That's a new one!
Looking pretty good so far Props. Got nothing to complain about story-wise, except that there isn't a third chapter.
As for the technical side:
It'd probably be better to say who claimed this, i.e. Scientists claimed. . . etc. It's not necessary, but as the Elements of Harmony only resurfaced recently, I imagine that only relatively few people would know enough about them to make such a judgement.
Did you mean for dramatically to modify enjoyed? I guess you can dramatically enjoy something, but it's hard to visualise. Might want to play around with the phrasing here.
Otherwise, it was all pretty good and I'm looking forwards to more
2726495 I second this motion of goodness to come!
Awww, this isn't some sort of misguided penance, is it?
I really really should finish Austraeoh. I'm more than halfway done...