Oldnew Luna

by arandompenguin

Chapter 12: Dark Side of the Moon

They continued to lay there, as Twilight got her breath back, and for once Luna had no logical, calm words to comfort her. It was all she could do just to stop herself from shuddering at the memories of her imprisonment within her own mind, brought about by the reappearance of the Nightmare resurfaced. Luna decided she needed something to distract her from her thoughts, and wriggled out of the sleeping bag. Twilight looked concernedly at Luna as she left the tent. She had always been the calm voice to Twilight, able to console her even through her own fears. After a minute or so, Twilight decided that it would be best to leave Luna to her thoughts, and give her some time to think things through before she would try and help. Twilight too wriggled out of the sleeping bag, and left the tent. Luna was sitting on the ground, a breakfast of sorts laid out. There were two cupcakes and a leather flask of water set down, Luna nodded in greeting to Twilight before digging into her cupcake. Twilight nodded in reply and joined her.

Breakfast was a silent affair, as was putting away the tent with both of them absorbed in their thoughts. It wasn’t until everything was cleared away, and their saddlebags went through the various checks, that Luna finally broke the silence that had fallen.
“Listen,” Luna began, Twilight raised her head to look at her, “I know we both have a lot to think about, but here we are at the first location, so we can’t be worrying about the past. We need to explore.” Twilight got the impression that when Luna said ‘past’, she wasn’t referring to last night.
“Yeah, you’re right, let’s investigate this place.” Twilight said, getting more animated with each word, the prospect of finding out about magic nopony had seen for millennia excited her. Luna gave a grin at her student’s enthusiasm. They stood together, standing by the stone face on the side of the mountain.
“I guess first we need to find the cave.” Luna said.
“Yeah.” Twilight replied.

The book wasn’t very specific about how close the cave was to the stone face, but the pair were hoping that it was pretty close by; they wanted to be in and out of the cave in time to get moving away from the location. They decided to move through the bushes first, the cave would be most likely hidden from view. Twilight grabbed a stick from nearby with her hoof, checking to see whether it was thick and sturdy enough to help. Satisfied, Twilight and Luna carried on away from the face, occasionally knocking back the stray branch threatening to block their path or trip them up. Eventually, Twilight made a swing at a thick branch in front of them, only for their stick to carry on through the bushes, instead of being knocked back by the mountain. Twilight and Luna shared a quick glance, before moving forwards with renewed vigour. They cleared out the majority of bush in the way, revealing a black hole in the mountain. A smile broke out on Twilight’s face, this whole journey seemed sort of rushed, and she had no idea what her friends would think, but it would all be worth it to discover some ancient magic that was lost for years.

Luna noticed the emotions on Twilight’s face, and she too let out a small smile, for the enthusiasm Twilight had. Unfortunately, she knew that this could all be a false lead.
“Remember Twilight, this might not even be the right place, let’s not get our hopes up.” Luna said as they entered. Twilight nodded, seeing the truth in her words, but deep down she could feel that this was the right place, there was something in the air that told her. Twilight’s horn sparked, getting back into the feel of magic after having relied solely on her hooves for a few days. But as sure as the sky was blue, Twilight’s horn lit up, its glow illuminating the cave in front of them. They could see that this was a simple enough cave, just a central area with no other tunnels leading off from it. The ceiling was about twice Twilight's height, and small stalactites hung down, occasionally dripping on the floor. Twilight tentatively took a step forward, not sure what to expect. There was a shallow pool of water on the floor, that had presumably leaked in through the ceiling, over the thousands of years this cave had existed. Luna followed Twilight into the cave, both stepping into the water together.

No sooner had they stepped in, when a pulse of magic spread out from the water beneath them. Surprised, the pair jumped out of the water, just as the water set alight, burning down until there was just the stone floor beneath. There was no heat from the flames though, Twilight and Luna feeling no change in temperature, despite their close proximity to the fire. They stood, stunned, once the fire had burnt out. It was only when Twilight realised that her magical light had gone out, that she began to slowly back away from the darkness of the cave, to the relative safety of the outside world. But the cave opening had disappeared, they were trapped in the complete darkness. No matter how much Twilight tried, she could not relight her magic, every time her horn failed to respond. Luna too tried to ignite her magic and was equally unsuccessful. The pair backed up against the stone wall, neither giving anything an opportunity to sneak up behind them, not that they could see something, even if it was standing right in front of them.
“You okay?” Luna’s voice called out from beside Twilight.
“I think so, you?” Twilight replied.
Luna nodded before realising that there was no way that Twilight could see it, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Luna said.

There was silence in the cave whilst Twilight tried to build her magic for one huge burst, but Luna broke the silence.
“You know, I’m actually kind of afraid of the dark...” Luna whispered guiltily, sidling up closer to Twilight for comfort. Twilight stopped her concentration, and turned towards the source of the voice, giving out a small laugh.
“But, you’re the Princess of the Night.” Twilight replied, pointing out the obvious.
“Yes, but it is never truly dark at night, there is always some glow from the moon or stars, or from ponies’ houses, I’m afr-” Luna cut off, noticing a small glow from the opposite end of the cave, as it slowly intensified, Luna could see that Twilight too, was enthralled by the light. Eventually it got to bright to stare directly at it, like a magnesium flare, the two ponies shielded their eyes with a foreleg. As suddenly as the light appeared, it vanished. However, they were no longer in complete darkness, there was light filtering in from behind them. Luna spun around and discovered the entrance to the cave was back. At the same time, Twilight moved towards the point where the glow had materialised. Illuminated by the faint light coming in from the entrance, Twilight could see there was a small metal object. It was in the shape of a quarter circle, but the edges were ragged, as if it was blown apart, the round edge though, was almost too smooth to have been made by hooves. Twilight hesitantly picked it up, and inspected it, noticing the engraving of a flame upon both sides.

Twilight turned around, object still held aloft with a hoof, and she put it into her saddlebag in an outside pocket. She walked back over to Luna, who was sitting at the entrance, looking quizzically at Twilight as she approached.
“What did you find?” Luna asked, hope reflected in her tone. Twilight pulled the object back out and passed it over to Luna silently, letting her examine it for herself. Luna took it and stepped out of the cave, back into the light to get a better look.
“I see...” Luna said, “I think we may be onto something.” She passed it back to Twilight, who then put it into her saddlebag. Luna turned and moved back out of the bushes, back to their campsite. Once Twilight had joined her, she broke out into a wide grin.
“I think we’ve found it, the first one mentioned in the book,” Luna said, Twilight too grinned, euphoria building over their accomplishment, “And look, the sun hasn’t moved at all, time must have stopped whilst we were in the cave, that’s some intense magic in there. If we hurry now, and walk through the night, we should be able to get back to Ponyville in the early hours of the morning.” Luna gestured and the sky, and indeed the sun was in the same position it was when they had entered the cave. Twilight nodded excitedly.
“Let’s go!” Twilight exclaimed, and the two set off with renewed excitement, their sense of achievement at finding the lost magic artefact fuelling their walk.

Luna powered ahead, back through the forest, taking the route they had walked just yesterday. Twilight managed to keep up with Luna the entire time, even though her mind was full of thoughts on the object in her saddlebag. With that one object, it had not only proved that the elemental magic did exist, but also made the entire trek worthwhile. The walk back took a lot less time than their initial one out to the cave, and Luna’s predictions were correct. Just as the moon reached its pinnacle in the sky, the Everfree Forest suddenly stopped, leaving them with the view of Ponyville in front of them. A small grin appeared on both mares' faces as they moved silently through town, back to Twilight’s library. Twilight’s good mood dimmed slightly as she remembered the nightmares she had faced, and the one she would almost certainly have tonight. And with this memory came a remembrance of Nightmare Moon herself.

Eventually the two arrived at their destination, the tree housing their library. Twilight opened the door and let Luna into the threshold first, before walking in herself. They moved through the darkness to their room before turning on a small lamp beside Twilight’s bed. Twilight pulled out the small metal object almost reverently, and placed it down on the table between their two beds.
“It’s late, let’s get some rest and examine this tomorrow. You did well.” Luna said, sitting down on Twilight’s bed.
“Thanks, you too.” Twilight replied absently, a small look of concern on her face. Luna read Twilight’s face and emotions.
“Listen, I know you’re scared about our nightmares, I am too, I never expected Nightmare Moon to come back. But I’ll be there beside you, and we’ll be able to defeat her again, don’t you worry.” Luna said, rubbing a foreleg on Twilight’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Yeah... I guess.” Twilight replied, slowly nodding her head. Luna nodded back, and slowly rose to her hooves. Just as she began to walk back towards her own bed, Twilight put a hoof on her side.
“Wait... Do you think you could sleep here, next to me, tonight?” Twilight asked, loath to admit her fear, but knowing that this would help. Luna gave a small smile before turning around fully to face Twilight.
“Of course.” Luna replied and the two clambered into Twilight’s bed. As the night drew on, both mares fell into sleep.

Twilight mentally prepared herself, ready for the view of her friends burning down her house, but it never came. Instead, she found herself in a grand hall, like none she had ever seen before. It wasn’t lavishly decorated in bright royal colours with candles burning from hundreds of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Instead, dark grey and navy blue banners hung down from the gothic style stone walls, complete with stained glass. The entire hall was illuminated by some unseen source of light that muted all colours. And there, at the front of the hall, where Celestia and Luna would sit in their thrones, was an onyx throne, twisted into violent shapes, and upon that throne sat Nightmare Moon. She sat regally, darkness seeming to billow out from behind her as she stared out across the hall, and straight at Twilight. Luna slowly faded in behind Twilight, she took in her surroundings and Nightmare Moon at the front of the hall.
“This is worse than I thought...” Luna whispered, struggling not to shudder at the sight of her nemesis. Nightmare Moon slowly and gracefully got down from her throne and walked towards them with deliberate steps.
“Welcome to your Nightmare.” She said as she neared them.
“What do you want Nightmare Moon?” Twilight asked defiantly, taking a step forward, “Even if you do beat us, which you won’t, there’s no way you can achieve eternal night, the other elements of harmony will be there to stop you.” She continued, slightly shielding Luna with her body.

Nightmare Moon reached them and stopped to guffaw, “Eternal night? That’s what you think this is about? No. This isn’t about that any more, this is about revenge.” Her eyes seared with suppressed rage, “I wish for you to suffer as I have.” She paused and her eyes narrowed, “If I can’t have the night, I’ll make you fear it instead.” Nightmare Moon continued in a quiet voice that packed more venom than all of her rage and anger combined. The castle around them vanished, leaving them in darkness, the only thing visible was Nightmare Moon herself, standing haughtily above them. Then, she too faded from view, her laugh ringing out from all directions and lasting far longer than it should have. The pair moved closer to be side by side. Luna unfurled her right wing and wrapped it around Twilight, more a comfort for herself than for Twilight’s benefit. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, but it was like the cave, her magic would not flow. She pushed harder and was only rewarded with a pain in her horn.
“My magic isn’t working...” Twilight breathed, a pause later Luna replied.
“Nor mine.”
“What should we do?” Twilight asked, fear tingeing the edge of her voice.
“I don’t know...” Luna replied, fear rather more evident than Twilight’s. The pair fell into silence whilst Twilight tried to think of a solution and Luna tried to control her breathing.
“We need to wake up.” Twilight eventually said, she could feel the motion of Luna nodding her head beside her. However, no sooner had she uttered those words did a glow appear behind them.

Luna withdrew her wing from around Twilight in order to spin around, Twilight copying her motions. Up above them was the moon, much larger and darker than normal, but still instantly recognizable as the moon. The moon sat in the blackness unmoving, the light illuminating the land around them. This light did not bring comfort though, instead it felt like an omen of ill things to come. Luna suppressed a shudder once more.

Comments

[Pwnytown]

AHH! Edge of my seat suspense! Must read MOAR!

[BarrenBaron]

And how do you defeat a nearly unstoppable entity of pure, unadulterated chaos and evil? By using an even more contrived and elemental force then it that you have to travel on a soul search/improbably journey to find of course!

[foxmcloud23]

shit got real

[heste]

The plot thickens

[AetherToast]

This is two weeks but I got this to say. Author artefact isn't a word, it is artifact. With an "i".

Sorry if it came out sounding rude or snobbish but it was driving me nuts.

[Shamrocker]

"leather flask of water"

Wut.

[John Tannius]

1244372

I had the same thought. In a world where every animal has some level of sentience, where do you ethically obtain leather?