Revenant

by Muramasa

Moonlight Drive

Dreams are weird. Your mind just kind of makes up this landscape around you, a construct of your very imagination; you're living in your mind. The subject had always intrigued me. So much, in fact, that I wrote my final paper on them to graduate from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. So, naturally, having spent so much time on the research and science of dreams, I knew when I was in one.

It was Canterlot Palace, at the foot of a stairwell I had climbed only a day ago. It was probably the most lifelike dream I've ever had, but the deception only ran so deep; the stairs in the real world were a soft, burgundy color, but these were a subtle navy blue. The walls were the same color as well, and while the rail that ran all the way up the stairs was gold back in Equestria, this dreamworld depicted them black as a raven. Despite there being no sources of light anywhere near me, I realized, the railing still seamed to gleam as if it were gold.

"This must be some sort of side effect from the dimension switch..." I muttered to myself. As I looked around the area again, I heard a voice call from above me; I was so surprised that I jumped.

"I assure you, Sunset Shimmer, it isn't," came the voice. It was definitely feminine, and it had a silky and musical quality beyond which I had ever heard; it was so smooth it may have lulled me to sleep, had I not obviously been sleeping already. It paused for a moment, letting the air grow still, before quickly adding, "though that's a rather intelligent guess."

"I'm assuming you brought me here?" I asked, my head pointed upwards. When I got no reply, I questioned the mystery mare further.

"Why?"

"Journey up those stairs and you'll find out," she replied. I waited for further instruction, and when I got none, I gave a short shrug and began the ascent up the stairs.

It was much like the last time I did it, except this time, my eyes weren't assaulted with maroon; actually, the navy blue color was rather pleasing to the eye. As I walked up the stairs, and took in my surroundings a little closer, I noticed another interesting detail; I could barely see it, but there were stars infused within the texture of the walls, and it almost looked like they were doing a slow, synchronized dance routine. I grinned, as it was, for some reason, an entertaining sight. Eventually, I made my way to the door, and that, too, was not the same.

While the door to the balcony in the real world was infused with a golden tree, this door was infused with that same black metal that the railing was made of, and instead of the tree, it depicted a crescent moon. If another pony were looking at me, I'm sure my eyes would have lit up, because I knew then who had brought me here.

I had never met Princess Luna. I'd met Principal Luna, in the human world, but that was not the pony; the pony was serving a thousand year prison sentence on the moon, and I never knew during my apprenticeship that she was even remotely close to finishing it. Celestia told me stories, of course, but I never had anything concrete on the Princess. If she was anything like Principal Luna, she was very reserved, a little bit shy, and didn't like to talk too often, but when she needed to, could rain Tartarus upon you with an everlasting volley of words that clearly stated she was not to be trifled with. I was hoping she wouldn't show that side of her, but none the less, my confusion I had been experiencing early quickly became that of excitement.

I opened the door very cautiously, prepared for the worst and hoping for the best, and sure enough, a figure sat in chair with it's back facing towards me, slowly sipping on what I knew was tea; the aroma was magnified a thousand times through this dream world, and it was almost overwhelming. I was about to extend my greetings when she got to it first.

"You're back," she said quite simply. I waited for her to add something, but the only thing I got was the continuous sipping of tea.

"So are you," I finally replied. Once more, Luna opted to be silent. I leaned to my left a bit and spotted another chair directly across from her, and then I understood; she wanted me to sit. I casually trotted to the chair and sat down, and when I looked up, I finally got to see Princess Luna in her true essence.

Her mane was the first thing that caught my attention, because it was the night sky. Since it was night time, her mane actually looked translucent, and if not for the dark purple outline upon her hair, I wouldn't have even known she had any. The stars twinkled and shone just like the ones in the sky, and for a second I thought about the possibility that there was a whole other universe within her mane. Upon the quick assertion that the notion was absolutely ridiculous, I inspected the rest of her, though I did not blame myself for the thought.

Her fur wasn't the exact color of the night, unlike her mane, because I could still see her; however, it was close. Her eyes were much a much lighter blue, and reminded me of the ocean when the sun hit it just right during the day time. Even her cutie mark was beautifully unique; a crescent moon cast upon a splotched black.

I quickly realized that I had been staring for a long time, but I was comforted by the fact that the Princess appeared to have been doing the same thing. Once her inspection seemed to be complete, she looked directly at me for the first time that "night".

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sunset," she began. "My sister has told me plenty of stories about you." She paused to take another sip of her tea. "Although I'm sure she's told you plenty of stories about me as well." Luna held up the cup with magic as a silent offering. I declined with a shake of the head, and she shrugged.

"I'm honored you wanted to meet me," I started, "But we could have met in the real world. You didn't have to do this." Luna gave an elongated sigh and turned her gaze towards the stars.

"I'm far more comfortable here. Let me tell you, Sunset; I'm still trying to shake off my reputation as an essence of darkness with a lust for blood. When I'm here, in the dream world...I don't have to worry about that. I can be here, all alone, and not remember the other mare. Every atrocity she's ever committed does naught to weigh me down in this dream world. Plus--" Luna gestured with her hooves to the surrounding area. "--I get to change the décor." That got a quick chuckle from me, but I didn't stay to jovial for long.

"Living with a marred past," I began, my smile fading. "I know what that's like."

"I know you do," replied Luna, directing her attention back to me. "That's why I brought you here. When Celestia told me about you, and how you were looking for help, I could only think of how much I could have used it all those years ago. Although, by now, you must have heard a thousand stories. Of redemption, lessons learned, from others that have gone through what you have. You must grow tired of them." I shook my head before she finished the sentence.

"It isn't like that at all, trust me. I've always been a sucker for a good tale," I said. For the first time that night, Luna smiled, and her eyes roamed once again to the sky. She stayed silent for a moment, and I could hear the faint whisper of wind coursing through my ears.

"Would you like to hear another?" she asked. I immediately nodded, as I found that in regards to stories in the verbal medium, immortals told them best. Luna gave a deep breath and, looking out amongst her vast domain, began.

"When I first came to my senses after the other mare was defeated, I spent most of my days in Ponyville Hospital to recover. I had grown so weak from my time on the moon, and so drained from the other mare, that we simply couldn't afford to take me back to Canterlot for treatment; I had to be attended to immediately. They shipped me off to the hospital, and for the next three weeks, my only friend was the white on the walls." Luna took a sip of her tea, which I now realized wasn't getting empty, and chuckled a bit before continuing.

"You know, Sunset, when you're alone, and largely incapable on moving your body, you do a considerable amount of thinking. I still held every memory, Sunset. Every pony she murdered, imprisoned, and verbally abused, was fresh and burning in my mind. Oh, my entire body was aching with the pain of post possession, but those thoughts? Those hurt worse than anything. I felt absolutely awful. I was sick to my stomach--literally, in a few cases--and when my sister came to retrieve me and bringing back to Canterlot when the doctors cleared me...I didn't want to go back," she said. I raised my eyebrows at that statement.

"You wanted to stay in the hospital?" I asked quizzically. Luna turned to me, a very grim look on her face.

"No, Sunset Shimmer," she said curtly. "I wanted to go back to the moon."

My jaw dropped. Back to the moon? I had gotten homesick in a world with others, where I had friends; how anypony would want to go to a desolate desert with naught another soul to be found, when you had already been there once, was an incomprehensible thought. I looked up at her, my shocked expression still blaringly apparent, and whispered a word.

"Why?"

Luna looked back to the sky.

"Because I couldn't live with what I'd done," she answered simply. "Because I hated myself. Because I wanted to die, but I couldn't so I asked for the next best thing. As you can clearly see, my sister did not, in fact, send me to the moon," she said with a smile. She paused, as if awaiting a question or two from me, but the silence hung in the air even still, and so the story flowed onward.

"Instead, she told me to come with her one night. She was supposed to be long asleep, and she had this look on her face...I have seen my sister determined. I have seen her determination on the field of battle, blood gushing through the air and whizzing past and through her mane. I have seen her determination in peace, during political negotiation to preserve the well being of this great nation that only she could carry. I had never, ever seen the look on her face that night, and still today, I have never seen it again. With that commanding a countenance, I could not refuse her, and we went into the night."

"Where did she take you?" I asked. Luna, if nothing else, was a wordsmith; every sentence locked me deeper and deeper into her tale, binding me like the pages of a book. Once again, Luna turned to me. She studied my face for a moment before once again turning to face the stars and letting off a long, deep sigh.

"She took me to a cemetery, filled with those the other mare killed," she answered. My jaw dropped for a second time, once I comprehended what she had just said, but I wasn't feeling shock; boiling anger was a better word. I was about to say something, but Luna had already been expecting a comment, and she held her hoof, motioning for me to hold the thought. Reluctantly, I did, and a few minutes later, I was glad for it.

"She told me to read their names. I begged her, pleaded her, to not make me do this, that I just couldn't do it, but my sister, being my sister, would have none of it. So...I did. Graceful Shield. Dusky Ward. Starry Dust. Violet Petal. Rose Spring...I read every last one, and later, learned to remember them. I got to the last tombstone. Her name was Morning Haze. She wasn't a very particular pony, not anypony I had known, but when I saw her name scrawled upon the tombstone, a pair of brilliant red flowers laid peacefully by her grave, I lost it. I sat down, looked to my own night sky, and wailed in agony, every built up emotion bursting open like a raging river through a faulty floodgate.

"My sister watched me for a few moments, and then walked over to me, put her wing around me, and waited for me to stop. I don't know exactly when I did, but I knew it was a while, and when she finally got my attention, she pointed towards the cylindrical monument in the center of the courtyard. It read "Here Lie the Victims of NIGHTMARE MOON. As the Moon Rises, So do They." She turned to me, Sunset, and asked me what my name was, and only then did I understand why she had brought me here."

"Your name isn't Nightmare Moon," I remarked, nodding my head in understanding. Luna grinned.

"I can see why Celestia likes you so much," she began. "No, it isn't. It was my jealousy and hatred that brought her to this planet, and made her do what she did, but she is still a different mare; the other mare. She told me, that day, that these ponies were not slain by my hooves, but by the other mare's, but she also admitted that her creation was of my doing. She told me, Sunset...that I can never do it again. That she, in turn, could never do what I have done. I still visit that cemetery every Sunday night. So my advice to you, Sunset Shimmer--" Luna once more took a sip of her tea.

"--is to leave the past where it belongs. Do not focus on erasing bad times, but creating new ones. The bad times shall erase themselves, in due time."

I couldn't tell you a time where I had been more utterly captivated. Maybe it wasn't the smooth tone of her voice, or the charms of her words that only immortals seem to have. Perhaps, I think now, it was because I finally met someone who knew exactly what it was I was going through, even if it was magnified a thousand times. After a long period of silence, the Princess of the Night still gazing upon her beautifully dark domain, I spoke.

"Princess, I...thank you. I don't really know what to say after all that," I remarked. Slowly, Luna rose from her chair and began walking to the door where I had arrived. The very last thing I remembered was a sentence.

"Then don't say anything, Sunset Shimmer. But when you ever meet someone like yourself...like us...you cannot say enough."

Comments

[EchoWing]

This was a sweet chapter. The thought that Nightmare Moon actually claimed lives, though... that's frightening.

[Snowdrifter]

6947435
Even if Nightmare Moon never raised a hoof to strike someone indirectly, the loss of the sun would have devastated Equestria. Crop failures, supply shortages, and the bitter cold could well have killed hundreds or thousands. Add to that the disaster bringing out the worst in ponies, you can count on riots, vandalism, and worse. And the Nightmare would be responsible for ALL of it.

If Equiis is a sphere like Earth, the side opposing the moon would have rapidly become a broiling hellhole as the sun never moved from mid-sky. How many would have died there?

It's a good interpretation of Nightmare Moon. I approve. Have an up vote and a moustache. Again, if I did so before!

[EchoWing]

6947488 Oh, I'm not saying there wouldn't be chaos and upheaval, and that lives wouldn't be lost on account of that. I just interpreted the story as saying that Nightmare Moon took lives directly. As in, you know, personally killing ponies.

[FurryBrony]

6947488 Except we were shown that Princess Luna blotted out the sun with her moon, so it would be night time across the entire planet. Covering the sun with the moon was Luna's last act before becoming Nightmare Moon, so any deaths from that are on Princess Luna's hooves, not Nightmare's.

[Muramasa]

6947639

I like to think that Luna was Nightmare Moon at this point in all but the looks; the spirit of Nightmare Moon was in the process of taking her at this point.

[Muramasa]

6949238

Fixed! Don't know how I didn't catch that one. Thanks!

[PrismStrike]

oh wow quite beautiful. very glad that this showed up in the featured box.

[Neoarcad]

Nice. That was well done. No confusing pony and man, either, not that I saw. I was wondering why Celestia wouldn't introduce the two of them... Maybe she just wanted her sister to be able to do it her own way.

[Csquared08]

Maybe it's just that it was a Twilight chapter that it felt off? Because this felt better.

[PacifistDoodl3r]

"I can see why Celestia likes you so much," she began. "No, it isn't. It was my jealousy and hatred that brought her to this planet, and made her do what she did, but she is still a different mare; the other mare. She told me, that day, that these ponies were not slain by my hooves, but by the other mare's, but she also admitted that her creation was of my doing. She told me, Sunset...that I can never do it again. That she , in turn, could never do what I have done. I still visit that cemetery every Sunday night. So my advice to you, Sunset Shimmer--" Luna once more took a sip of her tea.

Almost really well done. Beautiful chapter but I don't know if this is just me or that last part could've been better. If instead, Luna finished her tea instead of continuing to drink it... That symbolism would've been perfect! Besides that, very few stories make me stop and think for a moment.
Well done! Can't have wait to review it when I'm finished reading.