What Moonlight Made Her

by Storybelle

Chapter 13. Reach for the Moon

Moon Shadow hurries to the observatory as quickly as she can. She’s late to start work and with shadows and nightmares everywhere she turns these days, she can’t afford to spend too much time away from the dreamworld. Who knows what ponies are facing without her?

But the only time she can see the stars is at night. So she’s risking a lot by bunking off work and instead racing towards the Royal Canterlot Observatory on the edge of the city. She needs to talk to North and urgently. She'd woken up from her dream, terrified and barely able to hide her panic from Tea Leaf. She'd pleaded needing to leave for work immediately and left her mother to head home to sleep by herself.

She pushes her feet a little harder as the gleaming white dome of the Observatory comes into sight. A little breathlessness at the other end will be worth it if she can make up as much time as she can.

Or at least, that’s what she tries to remember when she arrives at the main doors, feeling like her lungs are on fire.

“Miss?” The guard on duty eyes her worriedly; either because he thinks she’s faking and will push past him to steal telescopes and…whatever else it is they keep in observatories, or that he will soon have a dead mare collapsed at the front entrance.

“I’m fine!” Shadow gasps, trying to slow her racing heart. She fires up her horn to pull her ID from her saddlebags. “Honestly. I’m fine. I came from the station…”

“The train station?” The guard asks incredulously as he inspects her ID. “That’s several miles across the city! Did you run here?”

Moon Shadow barely has the energy to give him an obvious ‘duh’ expression.

“Well, uh…Come on through then,” he says hesitantly, returning her ID to her. Moon Shadow takes it and tries to put her tongue back in her mouth.

“Where…” She stops and then tries again with more saliva. “Where is Northern Lights?”

---

“Shadow?” North asks in confusion, as she sees the tired mare being led by a security guard. “When did you get back from Manehattan? And what are you doing here?”

No wonder she’s surprised. Moon Shadow has never made it to her place of work before and North has never asked, always presuming she’s at night court.

“Just…came to see your work,” Shadow says, with a nervous glance at the guard. He doesn’t seem keen to move anywhere, discreetly watching her. North spots this and rolls her eyes.

“She’s fine, Spot Check,” she says. “She’s from Night Court. She’s a friend of mine.”

He studies Moon Shadow for a second but then obviously figures that a mare stupid enough to run across town instead of taking a cart isn’t that much of a threat. He shrugs and walks away from the two mares.

“Shadow, why are you really here?” North asks, seriously. Shadow is mostly paying attention to the bottle of water on North’s desk.

“Uhhh…” she says. It’s kind of hard to remember with the dryness of her throat aching like there’s sandpaper sliding down it. North sighs, gesturing towards the bottle and Shadow almost snatches it up and gratefully upends it.. North waits impatiently while Shadow drains what’s left in the bottle.

“Ah, that’s better,” Shadow says in relief, tossing the bottle into the nearby trash.

“Shadow, I know you ran all the way here for a reason,” North says, irritated. She looks extremely professional with her crisp, white lab coat and a pair of glasses perched on her nose. Her mane is even tied back into a smart looking ponytail. Sometimes Shadow forgets her friend is a very clever scientist. “What is it?”

“The stars!” Shadow says, remembering the reason for her frantic dash across the city now that her thirst has been quenched. “You have to show me the stars.”

North hurriedly looks around to make sure no pony can hear them but her colleagues are all too lost in their own work to have heard moon Shadow.. “You mean to say the ones that were moving?” she hisses.

“You could show me some stationary ones but that won’t really help, now will it?” Shadow replies. North gives her the same look she always gives Shadow when she’s extremely unamused by sarcasm.

“Come over here,” North whispers, urging Shadow over to her desk. Shadow slips into the swivel chair and gleefully spins on it while North rushes to gather some papers from a locked cabinet.

“You keep it locked away?” Shadow asks, as her spin comes slowly to a halt. North raises an eyebrow at her.

“Obviously. Either I’m mad or this is an actual major development…either way, I don’t want other ponies seeing it,” North says, placing the stack on the desk in front of Shadow.

“Now do you see this?” North says, placing a hoof on the top paper. Shadow stares at it but it just looks like a usual chart of the night sky. Lots of black, lots of stars. Not a lot else.

“What exactly am I meant to be seeing?” Shadow asks, after a few minutes of staring at little blobs. North grits her teeth but then shifts the top sheet aside, so it’s lying beside the one underneath.

“Ok, look at both of these. Do you see any differences?” Shadow looks again. It takes her another few minutes of squinting and careful studying but she eventually notices a minor difference.

“This one!” she says, prodding at the paper. “This star has moved.” North nods, apparently pleased.

“Yes, but not just that one.” North moves the papers around, pulling out three different charts and laying them in front of Shadow. “This one, this one and this one have also moved. Four stars in total. All moving their way across the sky.”

“But why these four stars?” Shadow asks curiously. “What are they moving towards?” There doesn’t seem to be any order to it. Four stars moving in different directions across the sky. And why just four? That’s not very many: surely it’s not cause for concern.

North frowns. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, I can’t tell yet. They only started moving last week. I’d wait to see what, but by then it might already be too late.”

Shadow looks at the charts, tracking the progress of four stars across the sky. Would that be all it took? Four stars, high up in the heavens, bent on letting a tyrant loose from her prison? She carefully moves all four sheets into some sort of order and then changes their positions, again and again.

“What are you doing?” North asks, curiously. “Making a puzzle?”

“Maybe,” Shadow mutters, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “Which direction is this star moving?”

“East,” North says, leaning over to help. “No, that one is upside down. And that one, that’s no good.” Shadow sits back as North adjusts the papers.

“Ok, so this one is going this way?” she checks. “And all the others have moved in a particular way. If we presume they’re going to keep heading in the same directions, and not veer off course at any point, where will they end up?”

North frowns and trots off to a large map on the wall, picking up a box of pins on the way. To Shadow it just looks like more stars but North seems to understand it perfectly, carefully finding the four stars and placing pins in them.

“This is the sky above Equestria,” North says, gesturing to the large chart. “And these are the four stars. It looks like they each started from a corner of the Everfree Forest.”

“Do they have any relevance at all?” Shadow asks. She knows that the constellations were long ago made by Celestia and each one had a name and a story. The most famous ones are as well known by children as the Easter bushwoolie or their favourite fairy tales. They even do astronomy courses in schools nowadays, teaching foals the basics of stargazing, the history of the night sky and even a little bit of navigating by stars.

“Not as far as I can tell,” North says, shrugging. “They’re just stars. They’re brighter than most but that’s nothing special.”

“So…what are they heading towards?” Shadow persists. She wants to know what the stars are doing. If they are going to release Nightmare Moon, maybe she can stop them if she knows how they’re going to release her.

“Well…the only thing they could be heading towards is the moon,” North says. “But that’s impossible. Stars are actual bodies in the night sky. If they moved towards the moon, there would be a collision. It makes no sense…Shadow?”

Shadow is staring at the wall, summoning every bit of knowledge that she has ever heard about stars or Nightmare Moon. Trying to make some sort of sense out of this. It has to be connected. Stars can’t move independently of Celestia. And Moon Shadow really doesn’t think that this is unrelated to everything happening in the dreamworld right now. She’s not one for coincidences, especially not in her job.

It doesn’t make sense...unless those stars aren’t normal stars at all.

They’re brighter than normal stars, North said. Of course that could mean anything but Shadow knows this means something more. What if they’re magic instead? Magic meant for a specific purpose. That’s why they can ignore Celestia. The princess moves inanimate bodies across the sky. But sometimes magic will do exactly what it wants to.

No, it’s more than that, Shadow realises. There was another alicorn, one who moved the night sky. It makes sense that the stars are loyal to her, their true princess.

“Nothing,” says Shadow finally. “Just thinking, that’s all.” Northern Lights anxiously bites her lip.

“I was thinking that maybe I should tell somepony,” she whispers, eyes flicking to her fellow astronomers as though one of them might be listening. But everypony just calmly strolls back and forth across the observatory, with no idea that the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance.

“No!” yelps Shadow. “I mean…don’t, not just yet. Please,” she begs when she sees North’ face. “Just for a little bit. I have an idea but I have to check it out first. Just trust me.”

North looks torn, staring at Shadow’s pleading eyes. But she huffs and relents.

“Alright,” she says reluctantly. “Just a little bit longer. I can’t take this anymore, Moon Shadow!” Shadow gratefully throws her forelegs around her friend.

“Thanks,” she says. “I swear you’ll only have to put up with this a few more days.”

“Alright. But shouldn’t you be at work?” North says, turning to look at a clock on her desk. “It’s gone eleven already…Moon Shadow?”

There was just an indigo tail vanishing out of the door when North turned back around. The security guard didn’t even blink as Moon Shadow barrelled out of the main doors and took off back towards the castle.

---

Shadow’s night continues to be one of the busiest she’s ever had. There are more nightmares than usual and she barely has a chance to breathe before she has to hop to the next dream. By the time Celestia raises the sun, Shadow’s about ready to collapse.

She stumbles in the door on lead hooves and Tea Leaf catches her just before she falls on her rump inside the kitchen door.

“Bed!” instructs Tea Leaf. “Now!” Shadow protests but Tea Leaf has Earth pony strength on her side and easily manoeuvres her stubborn daughter into her room and under the covers.

“But!” Shadow says in protest before she finds Icarus dropped onto her barrel. She squeaks as he digs his claws into her fur. He glares back at her, unbothered.

“Icarus, make sure she stays!” commands Tea Leaf. “I’ll be back after work. You sleep. Good bye, darling!” Tea Leaf vanishes, closing the door behind her. Icarus pads around on Shadow’s chest before settling down.

“Traitor,” mutters Shadow. Icarus only flicks his tail at her.

Shadow lays back, heart thumping, as she waits for the front door to close. She doesn’t dare sleep, not with the memory of that toothy mare fresh in her mind. She’s already exhausted but she has no guarantee that when she falls asleep it’ll be Kimono greeting her, instead of a hungry grin.

Tea Leaf potters about in the front hall, collecting her saddlebags and closing windows. Shadow hears the open and shut of the door and then waits a few more minutes, just in case Tea Leaf is tricking her. But when there’s still no sound from anywhere in the apartment, Shadow levitates a complaining Icarus to the pillow and slides out from her bed.

A few minutes later she’s out the door and on her way to the library. She has research to do and she has the best resources in Equestria available to her, just a few minutes walk down the street.

The library is already bustling as Moon Shadow arrives. There’s reading hour for foals from the nursery and a book club for the elderly runs here once a week as well. That’s not even including the tourists, the students, the school groups, the young mothers with children and ponies in search of their next good book. Moon Shadow weaves her way through to the front doors and deeply inhales the comforting library smell as she steps through.

“Morning, Amber,” Shadow says, briskly trotting past the front desk. Amber’s eyes widen slightly at the sight of her but she manages a weak ‘Good morning.’ Moon Shadow doesn’t notice the librarian’s unusual response, too intent on her mission.

Shadow heads through the stacks, in search of any mare tale books she can find. There must be something useful about Nightmare Moon in one of these books, that doesn’t mention her eating candy instead of foals. Even if it is just a legend, there has to be some truth in it somewhere.

She starts in the foals’ section, bypassing the Harry Trotter and Canterlot Towers books, so she can gather any books that might hold a mention to a thousand year old tyrant trapped in the moon that’s actually horribly true. A couple of young fillies gawp at her as she whips by but Shadow ignores them. She can’t look that awful.

From there she heads to History and Culture. After that, she browses the Magic section and the stack of books she’s carrying is up to at least a dozen. A few library patrons stare, gobsmacked, as she levitates her collection over to an empty table and sits down in a chair, clearly intent on reading them one by one.

It doesn’t take her long to disregard the foals’ books and Mother Bumpkin’s collection of mare tales and legends is soon tossed aside as well.

Nothing. She’s got nothing. So much for the wide, vast resources of Canterlot Library.

Groaning she drops her head onto the table and resists the urge to fall asleep right then and there. She must be tired if the hard wooden desk feels comfortable.

She’s about to get up to replace all of her books when a shadow falls over her.

“Here again?” Midnight Tale asks in amusement. She looks much the same as the last time Shadow encountered her in this very library. Her wild, thick mane is tied back with an actual clip this time and as usual, there’s a smudge of ink on her cheek. Shadow’s still not sure how Midnight ends up with so much ink on her face.

“Mids!” Shadow squeaks, bolting upright. “Yeah, I’m...reading.” Midnight raises an eyebrow, a move that she has long perfected.

“What are you doing?” asks Midnight, eyeing the piles of books around Moon Shadow. “Shouldn’t you be in bed? Asleep?”

“Just some research,” fibs Shadow. “Magic research. Nothing major.”

Midnight picks up ‘Mare tales and bedtime stories for good fillies and colts’ and raises an eyebrow.

“It’s relevant, I swear,” says Moon Shadow, after a beat. Midnight looks at her and then shrugs, replacing the book on the pile. She’s clearly too used to Shadow’s odd habits if she's not going to question it.

“If you say so,” she says. “Do you need any help? I’m pretty good at researching. You know, for my books and all.” Moon Shadow hesitates. She’s wary of bringing Midnight in and making her even more curious of Shadow’s more questionable activities than she already is. But on the other hoof, she’s stuck and if she can’t ask Midnight, then there’s no pony to help her. And Shadow is really, really tired of doing all this alone.

“Ok,” Shadow relents. “I’m looking for stuff about stars and things, as well, if you can find a dummy’s guide or something. And do you know anything about Nightmare Moon?” Midnight stifles a giggle.

“Nightmare Moon? Exactly what kind of research are you doing there, Shadow?” she says, prodding at a tower of books with a hoof. Shadow whisks them away before she can knock them over.

“It’s not related,” Shadow lies. “It’s a lot of different things.” Midnight grins and then nods.

“Ok, ok, I’ll look,” she says, looking thoughtful. “Stars and Nightmare Moon?”

“And a map,” Shadow says, remembering. “An old one of Equestria. If they have one.”

“If they have one,” Midnight snorts. “In one of the largest and best libraries in Equestria. I’ll look. Like a hundred years old?”

“More like a thousand?” says Moon Shadow and tries not to buckle under Midnight’s questioning look.

“Fine,” Midnight says, trotting off in the direction of the Science section. “I’ll see what I can do.”

It doesn’t take her long to return with a small selection of books on her back and a large map clutched between her teeth.

“Will this do, your ladyship?” Midnight asks loftily, after she’s spat out the map onto the desk.

“Isn’t that like, really old?” Shadow asks, concerned for the fading scroll on the table.

“Probably,” says Midnight, pulling a variety of disgusted faces. “It tastes ghastly.”

Shadow rolls her eyes and magically lifts the pile of books onto the table. ‘A beginner’s guide to constellations’ is the first one she sees, followed by ‘Studying the night sky.’ There’s another book, which looks way too scientific and wordy for Shadow to understand and underneath that…

Midnight grabs it before she can, looking smug.

“Where did you get that?” Shadow asks, staring at the beautiful bound book Midnight has in her hooves.

“This is ‘Predictions and Prophecies,” says Midnight. “And it’s in the selection of Celestia’s own books. I don’t know who wrote it, there’s no author’s name attached to it…” Moon Shadow grabs it out of Midnight’s grasp and levitates it over to her side of the desk to hurriedly scan through the pages. She doesn’t have to look far.

“Find anything good?” Midnight asks, taking the empty chair next to her friend. Shadow doesn’t answer, too busy reading the text under an image of two alicorns; one pink and one blue.

Like Midnight had said, there’s no author attached to the book. But for something this old and of this nature Shadow can take a guess at who wrote it. At some point, somepony who would have been in great pain and drowning in grief and guilt may have chosen to write it all down. Nopony would know. After time it would pass into history. Then a myth. It probably got twisted along the way, Shadow thinks. It wouldn’t be hard. Somepony telling their grandkids a story their grandparents had told them about a dark pony of the night and before you know it hundreds of years later, it’s a holiday and a full on fairy tale.

But this clears one thing up at least as Shadow scans the page. Why Nightmare Moon was only banished.

Sisters, Shadow thinks. Sisters who had once worked together to keep Equestria in harmony. One for the day and one for the night.

No wonder Celestia had been unable to kill her.

Moon Shadow hurriedly reads on, eyes flicking over the pictures. There’s not a lot new here that can help her. Great evil banished, Equestria ruled in peace once more, blah blah blah. She wouldn’t be concerned if it weren’t for the mare’s ominous warning in her dream. But she’d implied that Nightmare Moon is coming back. And that her return signals a whole mess of other stuff returning with her. She’s about to close the book and give up when her eyes catch a small footnote at the bottom.

Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night-time eternal.

The longest day of the year? Moon Shadow looks again but the small black type isn’t lying to her. Her tired eyes aren’t tricking her either. It still says the longest day of the thousandth year.

Last time Moon Shadow checked the longest day of the year is the Summer Sun celebration.

Which happens to be roughly thirty two days away.

Thirty two days to total destruction.

This is not good.

“Are you okay?” Midnight asks, seeing Shadow’s stricken face.

“Fine!” says Moon Shadow in a not fine, too high pitched voice. She’s trying to deal with the fact that it was casually shoved down the bottom as a bucking footnote. “Extremely. Could you please pass me one of those constellation books, please?”

Midnight does so, moving ‘A beginner’s guide’ across the table. “Can’t you ask Northern Lights about stars? I mean, it is her job.”

“I’m just doing some studying on my own. I went to the observatory the other night and I got curious,” Shadow says, sifting through pages. Sweet Celestia, for a beginner’s guide this thing is lengthy.

“Wow, you actually went there?” Midnight says, in amazement. They’d never tell North as much but they occasionally stop listening when she talks about the more technical parts of her job. “How come?”

“I was passing by,” says Shadow absently. “I think I’ll check this out.” Midnight stares as Shadow gathers up all of the rejected books and shoves them onto a nearby cart.

“Okay…” she says slowly. “Are you coming for brunch tomorrow? If you’re not still doing this whole ‘not sleeping, undead vampony’ bit by then.”

“What?” Shadow says in surprise. “What do you mean?” Midnight raises a single eyebrow once again

“Have you seen yourself lately?” she asks, sceptically and pulls a small hoof mirror from her saddlebags.

Moon Shadow gets one look at the haggard, unkempt mare in the mirror and shrieks loudly enough that every librarian in the vicinity winces simultaneously.

Author's Note:

I spent a horrendous amount on having two - yes, only two - ponies shipped to my country from the US. Damn my pony collecting habit. (But I also don't care cause they're gorgeous!!)

The next chapter will take a little longer as I have other deadlines to hit but I'll try to not take too long. We're really starting to pick up now. Here on out it's a snowball of action and shit going wrong for Shadow.

To everyone who faved this after the last chapter, thank you so much! It made my day to see those notifications.