A New Path
Twilight returned sometime later, not sure what to feel. As she came back into the clearing where everypony else was waiting, she noticed that Fluttershy had come back, but Applejack, Spike and Rainbow Dash were nowhere to be seen. Rarity was busy sorting the contents of her saddlebags, humming and muttering to herself while trying to figure out what the best sorting scheme was for all of the big leaves and fibers. Pinkie Pie was looking bored and also a little anxious, shifting in place on her haunches, with her back resting against a tree. Fluttershy stood roughly in the center of the clearing with a bird resting on one of her hooves, which was lifted up in front of her face so they could communicate more easily.
“Where did Spike, Applejack, and Dash go?” Twilight asked with a slight edge to her voice when she spoke Rainbow’s name. She inwardly flinched at the venom in her words.
Pinkie hopped up, eager to do something. “Oh, Dashie said she wanted to take care of something. Applejack went with her to make sure she didn’t try to do anything as she said, ‘darn stupid,’ and Spike went with them, too,” she said with a small smile. That smile fell away when she looked off, presumably in the direction they had gone. “I… think he’s taking what’s going on a bit harder than the rest of us.”
Keep telling yourself that, Twilight thought regretfully before nodding. “Okay. How long have they been gone?” she asked vocally, approaching Fluttershy, who let the bird go into the air while turning to face her.
“They left just after I got back, so a little longer than you were gone,” she said before looking down and poking at the dirt with a hoof. “Um… I talked to some of the local critters. Apparently, Hollow Shades isn’t very far away.”
“Hollow Shades?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow. “Isn’t that the village founded by the, er, what were they called? Bat Ponies?”
“That’s a common nickname for them,” Twilight corrected with a nod at the fashionista. “But they’re actually called ‘Thestrals.’ They’re a reclusive bunch, usually keeping to themselves most of the time. There are a lot of negative stigmas directed towards them, too, sadly. Rumors and baseless assumptions, mostly. The only one that’s true is that Thestrals are typically nocturnal.”
“I bet that earned them brownie points after Nightmare Moon first showed up, huh?” Pinkie asked sarcastically before shaking her head.
“Yeah… Still, there were one or two that lived in Canterlot before Rainbow and I moved to Ponyville. I don’t know if they still live there or not, though,” Twilight furthered. “How far away is Hollow Shades, Fluttershy? For one thing, we need a doctor for Rainbow, not to mention we should probably get in touch with Celestia. My writing supplies were all ruined when we left the train, and I can't guarantee that something other than parchment will be legible if we send it through Spike. If the town is close, maybe we can make it there before it gets dark.”
“Ah wouldn’t count on it!” came the voice of Applejack as she and Spike came cantering back into the clearing from the foliage beyond. “It’ll be about twenty-four hours from here, give or take a few dependin' on weather and the like. If it were only one pony tryin' this trip with good preparations and no stops, they'd make it in just over twelve Ah reckon. But we're six mares and a dragon, we're sorely lackin' in supplies and preparations, and one of us is injured.”
“Wonderful,” Rarity breathed out sarcastically. “an entire day of walking through dirt, muck and other nasty substances while being surrounded by who knows what kinds of creatures.”
“It doesn’t help that we’re going to be in a Primal Zone,” Twilight furthered before biting her lip. “The regions between towns and cities often have routine patrols from each town’s weather teams, but Hollow Shades doesn’t have any railroads or major highways connecting it to the rest of Equestria. Until we’re actually there, we’re in primal territory.”
“Um, girls?” Fluttershy piped up, glancing past Applejack quizzically. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
Applejack looked back over her shoulder and frowned. “Quit yer hidin’ and get over here, Rainbow Dash!”
There was a slight rustling of leaves before Rainbow Dash slowly stepped out of the brush, eyes turned to look at the ground beneath her hooves. Everypony’s eyes widened, save for Applejack and Spike’s. Rainbow’s mane and tail were dripping with water and, to the surprise of all, more or less back to normal. There were still several spots of lilac coloring in them, but beyond that, they had been restored to their usual prismatic selves.
Rainbow looked up and locked gazes with Twilight before wilting and looking away. “...Hey,” she mumbled quietly.
Twilight felt her heart break just a little. She took a deep breath before stepping forward. “Hey, Rainbow. You feeling okay?” she asked gingerly, managing to force down her own unhappiness with the pegasus for now.
“No,” Rainbow replied quietly, looking back down to the dirt and shivering slightly. Twilight then noticed the bandages wrapped around her barrel, keeping her wounded wing held in place.
“...Everything’s going to be fine, Rainbow,” Twilight offered her assurance lightly before turning to the rest of the group. “Come on, we should probably get a move on. If Hollow Shades is as far as Applejack says, we’d best start making our way there sooner rather than later.”
There was a general murmuring of an agreement, and everypony began packing up their things to move out. Twilight observed them for a moment before she felt a presence by her side. Looking, she saw Rainbow standing there, looking at her guiltily. More specifically, the bruise on her muzzle. “I… I’m sorry I hit you, Twilight…” she choked out before looking away.
“Is that all you’re sorry for?” Twilight asked bluntly, causing Rainbow to visibly twitch and cower away. Again, Twilight felt a spear of guilt for how harshly she had spoken. She took a deep breath and trotted past Rainbow, not wanting to hurt her anymore. She slipped on her own saddlebags, which had taken a significant beating in the escape from the train and mostly held a few notepads and quills for keeping track of their supplies.
Rainbow watched her go, her ears falling flat on her head before trudging after Twilight sluggishly. She couldn’t bring herself to speak anymore as the group set off on their new path into the woods.
That evening, in Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna stood upon the balcony connected to her bedroom, looking out onto the magnificent city spreading beneath her with a thoughtful look on her face. It would not be long, now, before it was time to raise the moon to begin the night. She was simply waiting for her older sister to lower the sun. As she took in the view, she took a deep breath. She needed to enter the Dream Realm tonight. She had neglected to do so last night on account of making sure the Tantabus was properly chained up and unable to exploit the gap in its restraints again.
Now, watching the shadows grow longer and longer, the light dimmer and dimmer, she thought back on what Rainbow Dash had said once again.
“She would have made it expressly for the purpose of hurting others. But not you,” Rainbow jabbed Luna in the chest again. “Because you are not Nightmare Moon.”
Rainbow Dash was wrong about that. Her words had meant well and had worked at the moment, but she wasn’t a scholar, an alicorn or a mage. How could she know? Luna and Nightmare Moon were one and the same pony. Everything Nightmare Moon had done had been a fully aware and conscious decision on the part of Princess Luna. She thought about it for a moment and likened it to being similar to a never-ending blind rage. Instead of rage, however, it was bitterness, jealousy, and resentment towards Celestia and the sun that had burned in her heart without ceasing only ever kindled and stoked by any resistance she had encountered.
The agony of an alicorn falling to the shadows cast by their very being was that the emotions never simmered down, and much like coming down from a violent and destructive rage, the exhaustion and guilt she had felt when all of that bitterness and anger was torn away from her by the Elements of Harmony was profound.
Luna had everything to be sorry for about Nightmare Moon; letting her exist in the first place, and not realizing sooner that what she was doing was wrong. How others were able to forgive her so easily still baffled her mind… it would be a long time before she could say she had truly forgiven herself for the evils she had committed.
But Rainbow Dash had been right about one thing...
“And get rid of the Tantabus, would ya? Like, destroy it. It won’t do you or anypony else any good.”
Luna slowly lowered herself to her haunches and lit her horn. She closed her eyes and focused. After a moment, the world around her vanished and she found herself stepping into a shadowy place within her own mind. The Tantabus floated before her, undulating and quivering at her approach. It spoke to her, it’s voice comprised of hundreds of others that Luna had heard over the years. “Mother?”
“Tantabus,” Luna began, setting her jaw and stepping forward. “...In my own self-loathing, I created you. Beset by my own guilt and remorse, I made you so that you would punish me, amplify those feelings and torture me with the memories of the horrible things I have done.”
The Tantabus shuddered, a part of it’s amorphous, misty body reaching out to Luna.
She swatted the tendril away with a hoof. “But one wrong won’t cure another. Torturing myself through you won’t make sure I repeat my mistakes… I see that now. I don’t need you to remind me of what I have done…”
“Mother-”
“Stop calling me that!” Luna snapped, her horn sparking to life. “You are not my child! No child of mine would ever be raised into a parasite that creates nightmares!”
The Tantabus howled with agony when its body was enveloped in a bright white light. Smoke and sparks of multi-colored magic began to erupt from it in massive amounts.
“Such a creation could only have been born of whatever remained of Nightmare Moon! By destroying you once and for all, I cast her out!” Luna growled, pouring even more energy into the spell until she was forced to close her eyes to avoid going blind.
The Tantabus’ howl peaked, then went silent, it’s final cry echoing in Luna’s mind for several long seconds. Soon, there was no sound… save for the gentle breeze of the approaching night washing over Luna’s face. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see that she was sitting on her balcony once more.
The sky was almost dark; it was time to raise the moon.
Rising to stand tall and proud, Luna’s horn began to glow with a gentle light; gentler than it had been even before. Slowly, the moon began to peak itself up from beyond the distant horizon, painting the world in the softer shades and subtle illumination that belonged to the night and the night alone. A time for contemplation, thought, and dreams. Not for tyranny, not for jealousy or hatred, and not for revenge.
As the moon was put into motion, Luna let it go for now. She would not need to tend to it until it was time for morning to come. She looked on and smiled softly, her horn glowing once more as she tapped into the fabric of the Dream Realm. The world faded away, dissolving into a blue void around her, filled with spheres of light and color.
She reached out to one such sphere as it passed, gazing into the dream of a mare who would one-day soon become a mother, then another of an earth pony stallion joyfully prancing along the clouds. Luna put on a charmed smile for several seconds before setting her jaw. “...This is my destiny… my path. I am the princess of the night… I vanquish nightmares. I don’t create them.”
With this resolution planted firmly in her mind, she focused on a spell, pulling her along through the Dream Realm to find the dreams of Rainbow Dash. When she fell asleep, Luna would be there. They needed to talk...
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The second scene seems fine to me.
Little mistake in the first paragraph there.
8778017
Huh. How did I miss that?
Maybe because, while the original Tantabus was defeated by Luna more or less accepting herself, while here she's destroying "part of herself". Plus, while it makes sense that she'd have trouble dealing with her feelings so soon, it makes me wonder what will have to happen for her to make peace with herself in the future.
8778125
That's growth though, isn't? Learning new things and developing yourself can only take you so far: Eventually, in order to keep growing — or to heal — you have to cut away the parts of yourself that are holding you back.
The end result here seems the same as normal canon: In both cases, she's cutting away a part of herself that's holding her back. The only real difference is that one has more positive affirmation than the other, because it took place under different circumstances. If the scene feels "off," it's my opinion that it's because it seems like Luna just slices away that last vestige of Nightmare Moon and is perfectly fine. She's going to have some sort of identity crisis later, I promise you.
Aww, poor tantabus. I was hoping for some kind of better resolution for it. Especially since it was calling Luna "mother". To me, that's why the second scene feels off.
8778464
Me too...
This Tantabus seems somewhat aware... from it’s point of view it must be REALLY awful to be created with a SPECIFIC purpose and knowing nothing else, to them just be marked as a mistake an be destroyed by the one who created you and who you identify as your mother... that’s heavy...
Ehr... again what the hell are they thinking NOT calling Celestia through Spike?
With an expected delay of MORE than three days, somewhat lost in a high danger zone, that’s really Idiot Ball territory...
More over they should be relatively near the railway and could just follow it as it needs to be clear and relatively level.
On a look on speed for ponies and the likes it seems that this village should be more tha sixty kilometers away...
Again calling home would be the REALLY sensible thing to do...
8778539
Problem... no writing tools, no parchment to write on.
8778569
You have Pinkie Pie there... she is PREPARED for ANY kind of emergency like an impromptu birthday party invitations....
Twilight usually has writing implements with her.
Same as Spike.
That they have NOTHING to write on is a quite strange. also they can use more unorthodox materials.
And again going to the railway is the best option of finding help. There is MORE than one train per day and they necessarily are nearer than a two day walk in the middle of the forest...
Additionally any search party would go along the tracks.
8778670
Valid enough points, I will admit. Were I not suffering from Insomnia right now, I'd dedicate more brain power to thinking it over, but for now I amm too exhausted to be bothered.
8778670
Okay, what would you suggest as far as a 'fix' for this logical blunder of mine? I NEED them to go to Hollow Shades for the stuff I have planned to work properly, so keep that in mind.
For now, I present my best efforts at counter-points to your current points, all of which I could bring up when I write the next few chapters to help plug the gaps I have unwittingly created.
I always operated under the assumption that those things were in Ponyville or around her rock farm; the places where she has lived or lives for extended periods of time. Plus, it would kind of undermine the drama and tension of their situation if Pinkie suddenly pulled something out of quite literally nowhere. I know it's Pinkie, but thematic and contextual elements make me extremely reluctant to have her do that.
As far as Twi and Spike not having writing implements, you would be right, they typically would, but their hasty exit from a moving train with little to no prep time would have damaged a lot of those items, rendering much of it useless. Ink bottles may have ruptured, ruining parchment and over-saturating the pens, making any of those items a waste of space to really keep around anymore.
Unorthadox materials, you do have a point, and I don't exactly have a good counter.
Trains move rather quickly and have a tendency to not just 'stop' for stragglers by the side of the tracks. Plus, assuming they DID stop for ponies on the side of the tracks, for it to be a stop that actually left them in the same county as the ponies, they'd need to brake pretty hard, which would make for a bumpy ride for all of the ponies inside the train. Not great for PR or the health of the passengers.
Again, true, but here's the thing: It would take about two days or more for a search party to be fully organized and find them, possibly more in the event of bad weather. They'd need to search along the tracks to pinpoint where the mane 6 are, ensure they are alright and then figure out a safe way to transport a wounded Rainbow to a medical facility. The nearest ones would be in Hollow Shades or Manehattan, and RD isn't particularly keen on going there anytime soon. Rendezvousing at Hollow Shades would at least shave off some of the back-and-forth time.
Primal Zones aren't 'danger' zones, per se. I suppose I could have made it more clear, but it was described back in Glimpses that Primal Zones are basically just regions that aren't under direct pony control as far as weather and plant/animal life. Such regions function more akin to natural earth landscapes. This forest is a pretty mellow place compared to the Everfree (easy enough to figure out, as everywhere is safer than the bloody everfree) so while yes, the risk of stormy weather is present, it's not a guarantee or even particularly likely.
Now, granted, I am not a hundred percent sure how well each on these individual points hold up. I am open to suggestions, but the mane 6 NEED to pass through Hollow Shades before they go anywhere else for the story to roll out the way I want it to.
8778830
Well couple of things may be that in her hurry to teleport they are down a ravine or something... somewhere that could be seen from the tracks but has the tracks out of sight and so it’s dangerous to teleport to.
Making the place nearer would also work quite handily. It removes the urgency of finding an alternative like the alternative writing materials, and reduce the possibilities that they simply get the parchment from a missive by Celestia. That is the other point that is going to need to be addressed, Spike can also RECEIVE messages and it doesn’t make a lot of sense that Celestia lets so much time go without sending anything. That also would reduce significantly the issue with the search parties, as communication would be quite helpful. It seems that the best way there would be to incapacitate Spike someway...
8778928
I mainly don't want to go back and rewrite what I already have here.... it feels icky to me to do that.
8778928
I think I got it: I could reduce the time to reach Hollow Shades from 2 days to about one instead. I can work in plenty of other logical bridges on the way and I will only have to slightly rework some of the dialogue.
8778830
Why do they have to go through the Hollow Shades? The pony of shadows would still be in limbo, wouldn't he?
I am just curious as to why?
8781365
The pony of shadows is indeed still in Limbo. Hollow Shades, as far as I am seeing it, was still inhabited up until then, as it was mentioned several times as a town where ponies lived over the course of the show, including members of the apple family. As far as why: I can't tell you. Spoilers.
8781711
Okay, I guess there are living ponies there.
Hmmm... what could they be? Oh I know. Rainbow, while at the Hollow Shades, will not be able to fully recover from her injuries because she feels bad for hurting Twilight. Then again my guess might be way off.
still sad the Tantabus was not retrained for benevolent purposes...
Poor Tantabus. He was only doing what Luna intended.
Rest in peace, Tantabus.
In a sense, the Tantabus is a form of penance again for her, in a different sense. The knowledge of creating a being, even one that cannot truly feel for itself, and then destroying it, is sure to trouble one's mind. The realization of going that far is bound to have a lasting effect...though what that may be remains to be seen.
There it is. There's one of the apologies. She has a lot more to apologize for, though.