First
First
Beyond the existence of mere mortals, a raindrop collected upon high and fell. Miles it dropped, careening straight to earth, flying towards a path it did not know. It fell through a hyper maze of millions of other drops, and when all tension seemed on the edge of chaos, when everything would be ripped clean in half, the drop pattered softly against a cool, colorful window pane and rolled down the glass lazily, collecting others as it went. And as it looked in, it beheld, under the crystallized moonlight of grey shadows, a creature beyond any of its wishing or dreams.
There was an alicorn there, her face stoic and brilliant eyes wide. She was very much alone in the large room. As the raindrop gathered more and more weight, it saw the creature stare back at it with those wide, moonlit eyes: one final look, before it slipped off the slick surface and dropped to the solid earth far below.
____꜡____
“Tell us, remind us,” Luna whispered to herself, “why did it happen again?”
The alicorn trotted carefully forward to the long, sweeping glass fixture that adorned the north wall of her room. Through it, the whispers of moonlight flowed through the panes and bled upon the ground in oblong pools of quicksilver. Luna walked into the shafts of light and beheld the gentle waves of rain that poured across the stained glass and ran in their own little trails.
“Ah. It was a night such as this… Though We do believe there was thunder dancing among the clouds. Yes, so much thunder… We recall, it hurt our ears something awful.” Luna let out a long, patient sigh. As she looked up to behold the bright beam of the moon tucked away behind the thick, dark clouds, a smile cracked across her face: an ivory gem buried amongst a face of midnight ink. With a tiny nudge of her mind, she parted the clouds; something she hadn’t had to do in such a long time.
It seemed she was rather out of practice, though, as the swaths of wet, dark sky refused to budge under her magic’s whispered request. “Come now, clouds, We wish to see the moon, please,” she scolded through gritted teeth, a tiny sliver of anger shaving itself off in her mind and dropping itself in the pit of her gut as she tried once more to part the clouds. When the billows of precipitation simply didn’t move, Luna let out a hot, heavy sigh this time, and crept across the liquid shadows that streaked across the floor. It looked like she would need to get a better look at what she was trying to move.
Heading further along in her chambers, she stopped as she parted the star-encrusted curtains that covered the glass of her balcony doorway. She didn’t mind getting a little wet, to see her beloved Moon.
With a glimmer of midnight magic, the black handle turned slowly, and the door swung open to reveal a small court of white Canterlot stone, now the resting place of thousands of silver drops that pooled in various depression within courtyard. As Luna stepped carefully outside, a single teardrop from the sky fell upon her with a plop, and then another, another, ten more, twenty more, and before she knew it, the rain’s presence had enveloped her completely. She didn’t care, though. The cooling embrace of the night’s liquid silver was a godsend, compared to the stuffy air of her prisonlike chambers.
Inhaling sharply, she let the cool mist of the moist air envelop her being, and exhaled. Curiosity swept over her mind as she watched the mist from her breath catch on the night air, and dissipate into nothingness.
At that moment, a drop of cool water landed on her lip, and she licked it up. Closing her eyes, she smiled slightly as she let memory wash over her now, much as the rain that enveloped her body.
____꜡____
“Tia!” Luna shouted, her voice riddled with the glee that only a little filly such as herself could muster. Her older sister, attempting to brush her long mane of dawn pink light, held the brush in midair with a gentle sparkle of magic and smiled at her smaller resemblance.
“Yes, mine sister?” she said through an increasingly-widening smile. Luna bounded in, dancing about the antechamber, merely a hair’s breadth from knocking over statues of armor and hoof-painted vases filled with the day’s fresh flowers.
“Art thou excited? Tonight We get to perform our very first Winter Solstice Celebration and raise the moon! We get to do it all ourselves this time, you hath promised us! We art very much excited, sister!” Luna shouted, her speech edging into the royal Canterlot voice. Celestia held her smile tight as she flinched under her sister’s shouts.
“Well, yes, Luna, indeed, it is. Though We must warn thee first, there ist not many ponies who—” But Celestia was cut right off by Luna’s giggling. As she ran about the room, her wings folded and unfolded in excitement. A vase tipped upon its pedestal dangerously, but slowed to a safe stop on its own, much to the Sun princess’s relief. “Luna, We request you stop the giddy exaltations for one moment so We may—”
“Sister! Please, do halt with such negative thoughts. We wish to keep the moment happy! Oh, my, We have so much to take care of!” Luna exclaimed, and let out a loud gasp. “Ach! Sister, we forgot, we were going to meet Starswirl the Bearded at noon’s time for our practice!” And with that, the alicorn shot out of the room and took off hastily into the air through the nearest window, much to the very vocal surprise of the scullery maid that had been bringing up Celestia’s crown.
As Celestia watched her sister cross the grounds to the East tower, she sighed to herself and shook her head.
“We hope against hope that she is very much prepared for the reality of tonight…”
____꜡____
Luna was ready for tonight. She had run the Daimare spell over and over with Starswirl to raise the moon herself, and despite having practiced it with merely boulders, she was more than confident that she could manage to move a chunk of rock in space.
She stood now in her chambers, letting ponies dance around her as they prepared her mane, her hooves, her crown, and her crest. She glanced in the polished silver of the wall mirror, and smiled keenly to herself as she beheld her shimmering beauty captured within the reflection. Tonight would be, undoubtedly and resolutely, perfect.
It had to be.
As she became engrossed in how incredibly the delicate flowers of nightshade had been arranged in her short, azure mane, she noticed that all the maids that had been scrambling around her had stopped and bowed towards the doorway. Glancing about, she beheld her sister, clad in her usual gilded trappings of ceremonial armor as she stood in the doorway.
Luna merely stared, her mouth caught open slightly in awe at her sister’s appearance. Along with the ivory armor that now sheathed her long, strong body, the way her mane swirled and danced about her like the clouds of dawn’s first kiss caught her sister’s natural beauty in the most incredible way she had ever seen. She looked stunning.
“Art thou ready now, sister?” she inquired of Luna, who shook her head slightly and merely shrugged in response. A wave of doubt poked away at her heart for the first time as Luna glanced back at herself in the mirror. Compared to her sister, in these bland trappings, Luna looked like a little schoolfilly whose mother had tried too hard to make their daughter shine where she obviously did not. As Luna looked to herself in the polished mirror, she realized her upset was showing on her face. Deciding that she should probably mention it to her sister, she opened her mouth to reply.
“Er, Tia, dost We look… presentable enough?” she inquired quietly, uneasiness riding heavy on her voice. A tiny flush of red embarrassment stained her delicate features, and she shuffled a hoof lightly. Celestia merely chuckled amiably.
“Yes, my dear, We think you look rather striking. Now come, it is almost time.” Feeling her resolve strengthened for the moment at her sister’s compliment, Luna gave a curt nod and hopped off the pedestal to join her sister, trotting dutifully beside the Sun princess.
As the pair walked through the halls, Luna stared through the stained glass windows, captivated by the golden light that washed over everything she could see outside. It was simply stunning. The world outside was an incredible land of golden brilliance, captured in the striking light of sunset’s warm embrace. For a split second, Luna felt almost... jealous of her sister.
“Tia?” Luna spoke up as they rounded a corner.
“Hm? Yes, my sister?” Celestia replied.
“Why is it that the day can be so pretty? We doth love the night very much so, but, it often seems that the day holds far more beauty than our own night…” She ended her question with a small sigh, and stared behind her absentmindedly as she looked at a flower that had fallen off her mane and onto the soft purple runner.
It wasn’t until the pair had walked past over a hoof-full of posted guards that Luna realized that her sister had never even answered her question, so enraptured was she in the splendorous view that lay beyond the castle’s windows.
“Tia?” Luna spoke up again. At the younger sister’s question, Celestia seemed to almost cringe as if expecting a stinging rebuke. Or maybe Luna was imagining things.
“Well, my sister, you see…” She paused, licking her lips as they rounded yet another corner, “Both We and you are, by very nature, polar opposites. It cannot be helped, it seems Fate’s hoof itself has presented both of us with the gift of the Sun and Moon, respectively. Know that, despite it seeming the opposite, our own times of the course of the day hold in them their own beauty.” Celestia smiled down at her little sister now, a placating smile that Luna had seen many, many times before.
“Oh. Thank you, sister,” Luna said politely, in precise practice that her court assistant had taught her.
Celestia merely nodded back in agreement, and continued walking forward, head held high and straight ahead.
Luna tried to do the same, but the little coal of confusion was burning away now, smoldering in her mind as she tried to grasp what her sister had just explained to her. What she had said hadn’t really cleared up anything at all.
In fact, as she stared out the window to the incredible mountains, painted now not white with snow, but instead orange with liquid fire, confusion stirred resolutely and seethed in a bitter bile that felt very close to jealousy; resentment.
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Dream Theater = Instant like.
Omai wut hav we heer
Okay, first off, you get instant bonus points for the Dream Theater reference. "Under a Glass Moon" is one of my favorite songs.
As for the story proper, I really enjoyed it. I think the prose is a bit overwrought in a few places ("a tiny sliver of ire shaved itself off..." etc. It's right on the line between poetic and melodramatic), but overall I think you handled Luna's backstory quite nicely. I especially like how you handled her interaction with Celestia. Well done.
"Sweet I totally got something.."
*reads description*
i.imgur.com/ACPOb.gif
1172847
Care to 'splain your comment, good sir?
Dream Theater reference. Caught my attention instantly xD (Though it was the description what actually made me read this...)
When I read this fic's name, "Under A Glass Moon", my very first reaction was to start singing in my head the intro of that song (the very beginning)... Or... Well, at least that's what I had intended to do. I actually started singing "Lost Not Forgotten"'s intro... Well, both songs are kinda quite similar after all, anyway
Well... Can't say I was, by any means, disappointed. Though a little bit "melodramatic" at a few times, it's actually pretty well written, great prose, I didn't notice great grammar (or ortography) mistakes (even though I'm not the most indicated person to talk about that, english isn't my main language)... And quite a good theme you chose. Princess Luna's backstory, what happened to her before being consumed by jealously and transformed into Nightmare Moon. A story metioned many times throghout the show, yet not explored (from a "canon" point of view) as much as one might like (though, considering it's a kids' show after all...). Well handled and equally well developed so far. Aaaand a few references to the lyrics of "Under A Glass Moon" here and there (such as in Luna's first phrase, "Tell us, remind us". I nearly sang that part, until I noticed that the line after that wouldn't fit well xD), which I really enjoyed.
Definitely looking forward to read more.
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I am Relevant Heavy Metal. I post relevant heavy metal. You stole my job.
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You're a bit late to the party.. I already wrote a Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence fanfic on this site, too...
I raise my glass to you, good sir. I agree that you can wax melodramatic here and there, but it's all cool. I like where this fic is going.
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Thank you for the succinct feedback! I'll admit, my writing can get a little deep in the prose
though the good intentions are there.
Glad you wanted to sing along, I probably listened to this song some forty times or so while writing this chapter. Also glad you caught the lyrical reference. Did you notice the other subtle one in there, as well?
There will be many more lyrical easter eggs and goodies to come! Stick around!
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Actually, something about the clouds did ring a bell in my memories........ But I couldn't put my finger on what EXACT line it was. I just thought something like "half-subtle, half-obvious, reference to UAGM... Well, it WAS pretty obvious that there were going to be references, this is inspired by the song for Luna's sake xd........... Something-something-clouds stuff. Which was that line...?". The same with the "liquid shadows".
And now that you mention that line, that Luna-damned line... I really feel kinda dumb for not recognising it earlier xD
And don't worry about the "deep prose that maybe sometines gets a tiny teeny little bit excessive here and there" (?). As JapaneseTeeth says, it stays right on the line between Poetic and Melodramatic, so it's okay. It never gets... uhm... "sickening". Sorry if that word seems a bit too much, I couldn't think of anything else xD
And you wrote a SDOIT fic???
If I'm lucky, I'll probably write something over there... Something shorter than this, I hope xD
Well, now I know what to do with the rest of my evening
Or maybe not. It's really difficult for me to write short comments D: xd