the Equestria dialouges

by Paradise Oasis

chapter eleven- revelations

Chapter eleven- revelations

I awake to the chirping of birds outside window... and open my eyes to the light of a new morning. Pulling back the sheets, I stretch my hooves and sit up. Barnacle is still fast asleep, not really surprising considering how... energetic he was last night. With I sigh of contentment, I trot out to the bathroom.

After a quick shower and grooming, I wander out into the castle proper, and begin looking for Wind Whistler. It is not long before I find my friend- coming up the stairs from her work, in her laboratories beneath the castle.

"North Star! I did not expect you to be awakened at this early juncture of the day!" She snorts in surprise. "With Barnacle's recent return from a lengthy sojourn at sea, I had assumed to two of you would be-"

"I need very little sleep, my friend." I stop her mid sentence, putting a hoof over her mouth. It amazes me to no end how embarrassingly forward this blue Pegasus can be sometimes. "Are you up for a flight to the ruins this morning?"

"I believe so." Wind Whistler replies. "I was just up doing some early morning work down in my lab. I am currently trying to get the bugs out of the Castle's improved defense systems. I still cannot get the magic-powered fireball cannons to stop firing at allied Pegasus." She scratches her chin with her hoof. "But why do you want to go back there again? We've nearly finished our work at the site!"

"I want to see if we can find the Princess again, Wind Whistler." I tell her stretching my wings. "After all that has happened, I still wish to speak with her one last time, in order to clear some things up."

"Very Well, I shall accom-pony you on your journey." She agrees. "Besides, I too wish to make a final contact with our distinguished acquaintance, so as to answer some long burning questions that have been bothering me."

Exiting the castle, the two of us take to the air, and begin our final journey to the ruins of Canterlot.

....

"Princess Luna? Are you here?"

"Your Highness! If you are present, please respond to our summons!"

For over a half hour, we call out to the lunar princess again and again, but there is once again no response to our calls. The halls and corridors of Canterlot Castle are as silent as ever, as no voice rises to answer ours.

"I believe our efforts are in vain, North Star." Wind Whistler says with a sigh. "If she were going to manifest herself, the Princess would have done so by now."

"You're right, Whistler." I reply dejectedly. "We'd best be getting back home, before everypony in the castle wakes up."

"Your haste is understandable, seeing how inhospitable and foreboding this old castle beith." A voice calls out to the two of us. "But certainly, thou wouldst have words with us before thy departure."

"Princess Luna!" Wind Whistler and I both yell in surprise.

"Verily, we hath returned to tell thee how pleased we were with thine handling of Trixie." She tells us with a smile. "That miscreant hath caused far too much pain to far too many ponies over the ages, and it was best that that ancient ghost of the past finally be laid to rest."

"So you knew everything that transpired?" I ask her, confused. "Then why did not step in before the court in your own defense? For that matter, why didn't you stop Trixie ages ago, if you knew about her?"

Luna looks away, and I begin to grow even more suspicious. Starting to become irritated, I press my questioning further. "For that matter, Princess, you never did answer my biggest question... why did you leave Ponykind in the first place, after Equestria fell? Was crawling though these ruins and living in the past, more important than helping your subjects?"

"North Star, haven't you figured it out yet?" Wind Whistler chastises me. She turns back to Luna. "You never reappeared after the fall of Equestria because you couldn't... could you, your highness?"

Luna looks at us sadly, and that's when the truth hits me like a sledgehammer.

"That final battle, when Canterlot Fell.... the history books said you battled the warlord Grogar in hoof to hoof combat, and barely escaped with your life." I stare at her in realization. "But the Luna I know wouldn't run, not in the face of Equestria falling."

"Our sister had given her life to destroy Discord." Luna Whinnies in sadness. "Could we do anything less?"

"In that final battle against the enemies of Equestria, Grogar killed you." Wind Whistler continued. "You died that day, and your spirit has been haunting these ruins ever since."

For the first time, I approach closer to Luna then I ever have before. I stretch out a hoof to touch her, and she does not flinch or recoil from my touch. And even though the Princess appears solid...my hoof passes right though her, as if she wasn't even there.

Wind Whistler is right... Princess Luna is a nothing more than a ghost.

"Tis true, we are only a specter, bound to this place by the memories of our failures." Luna turns away. "We are powerless to affect the living world, save for appearing and speaking to the living."

"All of her magic is gone, North Star, all she was able to do was converse with us." Wind Whistler whinnies. "In this state she couldn't even pick up a solid object, let alone do anything to stop Trixie "

"But... you appeared to the nobility that one time, after Grogar's defeat." I protest. "And when we met that day in the sky... you cast that spell, that let me walk on the clouds!"

"All we did was talketh to the nobility that day... it was best if Equestria believed their Princess was still watching over them." Luna paws at the ground, without even disturbing the dust on the floor. "And as for thy walking on the clouds... you did that on your own, young one. We toldeth thee that Pegasus did still hold the power to affect the weather. Even though thy kind shall never control the seasons again... more power remains in thee than thou realize."

I stop, and consider everything I have just heard. I have learned so much from Princess Luna since we began talking together... I want to do something for her in return!

"Princess, you said you were bound to this place... tell me, in what way could we set you free, so that you can move on?"

"We know not why we hath not moved on, North Star." She tells me. "It is as if some force, beyond our reckoning, holds us here."

With that, I trot off, and begin to think to myself. Behind me, I can hear Wind Whistler talking with the Princess. She is sorting out some questions she had for Luna.

"Your Highness, I was wondering.. it is said in the histories, that you and your sister raised the sun and moon. Yet modern science has proven that these two bodies do not raise and lower at all. Instead, our planet orbits the sun, and the moon orbits our planet." Wind Whistler continued, going into her full-on scientist mode. "Furthermore, we know the night and day cycle are a result of planetary rotation, and not the sun and moon's actual movement- or in the sun's case, lack thereof. How does you and your sister's dubious claim of controlling the heavenly bodies, hold up in light of the scientific facts?"

It is at that point I tune the two of them out, and start thinking about what I can do to help Luna. I can't just leave one of the Royal alicorn sisters like this... I need to find a way to set her free! If only I knew what was keeping the Lunar Princess trapped in Ponyland....

Comments

[mbpony 512]

Nice reveal...I mean a ghost is something else as I do wonder what is Keeping Luna in this plane of existance ?

Please do keep up the good work upon such a great storyline like this one.