• Published 19th Jul 2015
  • 486 Views, 53 Comments

Umbra Memoria - Lunaexcelsior



A terrible curse had been placed upon Darkrim and it is up to our night princess to save him. However, what she finds in his mind could change her perception of the banished prince.

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The heart of the fear

As she reopened them, Luna could feel the cold ground of her wonderful moon beneath her hooves.

“We made it!” Gorgus exclaimed as he woke up.

Luna smirked to herself as she saw the rest of her new friends awaken.

“So this is where it all started?” Insomnia stated as he looked around the deep void of the space surrounding them.

In front of him laid Equus in all of its green and blue glory. Left to Equus were three planets all smaller than it aligned perfectly with the Sun, which shone brighter than ever. Behind Equus was a formation of six other planets all varying in size, with the smallest being at least twice the size of Equus.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful here”, Hatite spoke as she looked in awe.

As they observed the space, Insomnia slowly approached Hatite.

“Hey, look, I just wanted to apologize for how badly I treated you”, Insomnia began, while rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, “I was a bit angered and I projected that anger towards you.”

“It’s okay”, Hatite whispered, while blushing slightly, “You were right to be angry. I could have stopped this”, Hatite said and sighed deeply.

“Perhaps, but that is all in the past now”, Insomnia said, “And I was a fool to just chastise you for the past instead of looking to solve the problem of the present”, he finished and extended his slender arm, “Friends?”

Hatite smiled at him and extended her hoof.

“Friends”, she replied with a smile.

“Hey if you two are done making up, we still have an elder horror to take care of! Move it!” Gorgus yelled at the two as Luna was already deeply researching the moon’s surface.

“Equus is still unchanged, which is good”, she mumbled under her breath, “It will give us more time to prepare”.

Right at that moment the other three caught up to her.

“Ah so you finally decided to show up”, Luna said jokingly, “Did you two patch everything up?”

“It’s all taken care of”, Insomnia responded.

“We’re back in business”, Hatite said and shot him a smile.

“Good”, Luna said, “Now here is what we’re going to do. See that planet over there?” Luna said and pointed a hoof towards Equus.

“Yeah”, the three replied with skepticism.

“Well I will need you”, Luna pointed to Insomnia, “And Gorgus to go up to that planet once it starts to morph.”

“Wait what?” Gorgus yelled out while Insomnia bewilderedly looked at the planet and back at them.

“You mean to tell us that this one is going to be the size of a planet?!” Insomnia yelled while holding firmly onto his top hat.

“Did you think it was going to be smaller than the one we just fought?” Luna asked sarcastically.

“Well I certainly didn’t think it would be the size of a PLANET!” Insomnia protested.

“Don’t worry”, Luna said, “You two just need to keep the serpent busy for long enough. Hatite and I will protect Darkrim here. We are on a high enough plane of consciousness so we will be able to communicate with him. If we are able to just get him on our side, he will be strong enough to defeat it”, Luna explained.

“And what if he isn’t?” Gorgus asked fearfully.

“We will make sure he is”, Hatite responded.

“Can I count on you two?” Luna asked with pleading eyes.

“Urgh fine!” Insomnia said, transforming himself into Nightmare Moon once more, “But this crazy plan of yours better work. C’mon Gorgus, I’ll carry you up there”, Insomnia said as Gorgus mounted on his back.

Insomnia released a sigh of exasperation.

“Jeesh, dude. How much do you weigh?” Insomnia joked as they flew towards Equus.

“Less talking more flying. Hiya!” Gorgus said as they flew.

Insomnia grew a devious smile on his Nightmare muzzle as he gently bucked Gorgus.

As those two left, Luna and Hatite were left on the surface of the moon below, waiting for Darkrim.

It wasn’t a long wait as they saw dream Luna carrying him on her back. As they landed the dream began to unfold just like the first time.

Insomnia and Gorgus were in their position as Equus began to transform into a shadow serpent with dark wings.

It devoured the dream Luna and that was the cue for Gorgus and Insomnia.

“Let’s mess this colossal up!” Gorgus yelled as Insomnia darted down.

Gorgus took out his hammer and aimed for the serpent’s head.

The shadow beast only had a split second to react as the hammer hit its head. Even at its size Gorgus made an impact so powerful that it actually made the serpent stumble a bit.

“And it’s a homerun!” Insomnia yelled and began to laugh maniacally.

Gorgus held up his hammer in a victory pose, but their success was short lived as the serpent began to chase them.

“Round three, I guess”, Insomnia said as he flew faster and faster, just barely avoiding the ominous purple glow of the beast inside’s.

Meanwhile, Luna and Hatite managed to find Darkrim.

After dream Luna’s demise, he was running like a chicken with its head cut off, until he bumped into Luna.

“L-Luna?” he stuttered, barely recognizing the night regal, “b-b-but I saw you getting eaten back there! And Hatite, is that really you?” he turned his attention to the light blue mare.

Luna raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she said, almost shocked by Luna’s surprise, “Of course he knows about our existence. How else can we help him?”

Luna shrugged as Darkrim attempted to process.

“Wait our? So those two fighting the serpent up there are--“, Darkrim said with a surprised look.

“Insomnia and Gorgus”, Hatite finished his thoughts.

Darkrim felt his head was about to explode.

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude”, Princess Luna interrupted, “but we must get rid of that serpent as fast as we can! Those two won’t be able to hold it forever”, Luna rushed them.

Just at that moment the serpent smacked Insomnia with its tail and sent both him and Gorgus flying back to the surface of the moon.

“Sorry, we couldn’t have held it off for much longer. The horrid beast is just too strong”, Insomnia said, while trying to dust off his top hat.

Suddenly the beast showed off its wings.

Our five heroes looked on in shock and awe as the serpent formed an entire army from its wings.

Shadow serpents, in various shapes and sizes, came swooping down on to the surface of the moon and, like a hungry changeling, slithered quickly towards our heroes.

“Well if that’s how we’re going to play, then I better get us some reinforcements as well”, Gorgus said and took out his trusty hammer, ”Now to just adjust it to the right setting”, he mumbled to himself as his hammer glowed bright yellow, ”Ah here we go” he smiled as his hammer impacted.

The strike was powerful enough to cause a temporary rift.

Through the rift he could clearly see Isdeuh and Eluvietta.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Isdeuh yelled.

“No time to explain! Just get in here and help us!” Gorgus said as he fended off the serpents that began piling up on him.

“Of course”, Isdeuh and Eluvietta began to rush in to the battle.

Isdeuh's mighty halberd began to slice serpents left and right.

Eluvietta’s tentacle esque appendages began to detach themselves from her head and create her own personal army, fighting off the serpents while she herself sang the most powerful tune she could, eliminating all the serpents surruounding her.

As the all out battle royal was going on, Darkrim hid in a hole.

“Gorgus, cover us!” Luna and Hatite yelled to Gorgus.

He barely fought the serpents as he slowly approached them.

“Make it quick”, Gorgus said as he fought off the serpents, “These things are relentless”.

“We will, thank you”, Hatite said and kissed Gorgus’ cheek.

Luna noticed that, but didn’t comment, as there were more important matters to take care of.

As they walked into the cave, they saw Darkrim huddled up in a corner.

“I am such a failure”, he spoke to himself. Luna approached him slowly.

“You’re not a failure”, she said as she slowly caressed the crying pony.

“I am”, Darkrim sighed, “I failed my father, my mother, my true love and now I am failing you, all because of my stupid emotions. I should have just let them die out back when I had the chance. Then at least I could have saved all of you from all this pain and misery.”

“Nonsense!” Hatite protested “You see those creatures out there fighting for your life? They exist because of your emotions. I exist because of your emotions! If you had given up on all of those we wouldn’t even exist!” she tried to convince him.

“At least you wouldn’t be suffering”, Darkrim responded.

“Let me try”, Luna said as she covered Darkrim with one of her wings.

He looked up to her.

“Look I know better than anypony other how it feels to be controlled by your emotions”, Luna began, “My jealousy and anger have driven me to betray the ones I love. My blinded eyes couldn’t have seen that what I was doing was wrong” she said as Darkrim continued to hide his eyes in shame.

“However, if I did learn anything from my experience”, Luna continued, “it is that we shouldn’t let our past define us. We need to learn from our mistakes and continue with our lives. That serpent out there feeds on your past. It feeds on your darkness and on your regret. You must cut it down at it s core. Do not allow her to feed anymore”, Luna continued as she saw a spark of hope rising in Darkrim’s eyes, “You’re a great pony, a kind hearted, noble and a bit of a romantic, but you are not a failure! Remember what your father said? ‘You can only return to Tartarus once you have proven yourself’. So, prince now it is the time to do just that”, Luna finished as she saw that spark turn into a full blown fire, "Prove yourself to be the true prince of Tartarus' rise!"

Darkrim slowly began to rise to his hooves, as Luna helped him up.

“You’re right, princess”, Darkrim said with determination; “This nightmare ends tonight!”

Luna nodded back at him as a wide smile appeared on Hatite's face.

As they exited, the battlefield was becoming more and more heated, but Darkrim was afraid no more.

His horn began to glow a proud shade of bright red as he began blasting all the serpents’ surrounding him.

Each blast that hit the serpents would evaporate them where they stood.

They began to pile on Gorgus, but Darkrim would blast them away.

“Thanks man!” Gorgus said, as Darkrim nodded at him.

“He’s back”, Isdeuh yelled to Eluvietta as they continued to bash the serpent skulls.

It was time now.

Darkrim came face to face with his worst nightmare.

The planet sized serpent glared at him with vicious eyes as he began to strike it with his magic.

The shadow beast winced at first, but it was far from its demise.

The beast hissed and called off its minions.

The Memoriam Guardians became confused at what was going on, but soon realized once they saw Darkrim standing in front of the serpent.

Everything was silent for a moment.

“I am done cowering in fear!” Darkrim yelled as he shot a beam of pure concentrated magic from his horn, "Now I shall fight back!"

However the serpent would not be beaten that easily as it shot its own energy directly at Darkrim.

The proud prince was putting up a fight, but only barely. It seemed that the serpent was going to win, until Luna and Hatite joined in.

Darkrim looked at the both of them with thankful eyes as the three ponies launched their combined attacks at the serpent.

Even though their forces were valiant, they barely managed to equalize their strength with the serpents.

“Quick come help us”, Luna commanded to the other Memoriam Guard.

“But our magic is practically useless”, Insomnia yelled back at her.

“Well if you’re not going, I am”, Isdeuh said as he rushed to help the three defeat the giant beast.

Eluvietta soon followed.

From Isdeuh’s halberd came a bright glow of purple energy and Eluvietta let loose of her vocals, adding in to the power of their combined magic.

It was powerful, but the others could handle it.

It seemed they were overpowering the serpent, although it was still not going down.

Gorgus took out his flame sword.

“You’re not seriously going in there, are you?” Insomnia asked Gorgus.

“Hey, if I can help, even a little, I will”, Gorgus replied as he rushed towards the five creatures.

“Oh what the heck”, Insomnia said as he rushed alongside with Gorgus.

From Gorgus’ flame sword came a purifying fire and from Insomnia’s cane came out dark blue astral energy, the only non black magic he had.

The serpent’s purple energy slowly began to weaken as it retracted back to its master.

It attempted to fight off the incoming blast, but it just couldn't match the strength of seven.

It let out an ear piercing screech as the combined power of The Memoriam Guard, Darkrim and Princess Luna pierced right through the beast’s mouth and into its core, forming a spear as it did so.

Once the core was hit the beast exploded into a blinding barrage of light and finally vanished from both Darkrim’s memories and his life.