Epilogue
Days had passed. Weeks. Or perhaps only a few hours—time was still a blur, even without her looming presence. Apart from the gradual healing of my frostbitten skin, I had no clear way to gauge its passage.
Even so, my mind could not be at rest, despite everything. Should I not have felt elated? Joyful? Relieved? I was free. Free to choose for myself for the first time in… forever.
I had no reason to feel afraid anymore, no reason to jump at every shadow or subtle change in the atmosphere. I had no reason to hide or to run. No reason to feel the hairs on my neck stand at attention like well-trained soldiers.
Shouldn’t I feel any happiness at all?
This question ate away at me as I trudged through the winding halls of this dead castle, despite already knowing the answer.
Luna’s death didn’t provide me with a happy ever after. The curtains didn’t come to a close after my hard-fought victory. Luna, Celestia… I was alone. Alone with nothing but my own thoughts while feasting off the bones of a long-dead civilization. I was no longer Luna’s prisoner, but I was still a prisoner to the storm and my human limitations.
And I was still prone to anxiety, nervousness, and unease. Her death didn’t solve those issues, and I doubted that diving into this newfound fixation would only make things worse… but I had to know.
Luna had her secrets, and I was eager to unravel them all. No matter the cost.
I couldn’t help but feel goosebumps as I passed the janitor’s closet.
The ink stains looked like dried blood at a grizzly crime scene, causing my heart to race unconsciously with revulsion and fear. I knew there was no more reason to feel afraid and that no more monsters were lurking in the dark, but I couldn’t help it. Those past events were still seared into my mind, and I doubted I would ever forget them, no matter how much I reassured myself.
Stopping, I turned on the balls of my feet, staring back the way I came. Waiting. Waiting for something to rush forth from the darkness, or a bone-chilling wind to bound through the hall after me.
But nothing changed.
In.
Out.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Nothing, subtle or blatant, chased after me.
No monsters. No shadows. Only a lingering, foul odor courtesy of the inky stains that bled into the floors and carpeting.
Luna was still gone.
I turned, stepping past a discarded mop and disappearing into the maze of winding halls.
SLAM
SLAM
I swung. Again. And again.
SLAM
The pilfered steel mace’s weight was unwieldy in my grip, but it was the only thing strong enough to batter down the false wall in Luna’s room.
SLAM
My bones rattled from the force of each blow, and my muscles strained with each swing.
Even with salty sweat pouring down my forehead and stinging my eyes, I found a rhythm to the deafening clangs that filled the silence. It was enough of a distraction to make me forget—to avoid thinking about anything beyond what was behind this damned wall.
SLAM
My breath came in ragged gasps as I continued to hammer away, but I couldn’t stop. The wall had to give, had to break beneath my unwavering determination. It was only when my hands began to throb with pain that I finally stopped, my asthmatic chest heaving with exertion, and I stared with disappointment at the cracked and battered wall before me.
A sterile, heated current blew through the cracks, taunting my lack of meaningful progress as I sat down to catch my breath.
The wall was a mess of cracks and fissures, spiderwebbing out from the point of impact like veins. Chunks of blue stone were dislodged from the surface, leaving ragged holes that revealed yet more rough stonework beneath. Of the few cracks that punctured beyond the second layer, I couldn’t see anything past the oppressive darkness that remained untouched for uncountable days.
There weren’t any spells halting my progress, or if there were, the magic had seemingly died with Luna. No, this was a mundane problem.
And it only needed a mundane solution.
Food. Demolition. Rest.
My efforts had bled into an endless cycle, and I had already given up on counting the days. Beyond the foodstuffs I had gathered from the kitchen, there was little I could do to track time apart from being forced to restock or determining how much the evergrowing pile of dust and debris littered the floor below the wall.
I hardly thought of anything beyond the swings of my mace and the reverberating echoes that broke the stillness that pervaded the castle. And perhaps that was a good thing. I didn’t know what was on the other side or if I would run into something worse than disappointment.
But I wasn’t willing to dwell upon that. Not now. And hopefully, not ever.
Bringing up my hand, I brought my mace crashing down onto the false wall, shattering another small layer of stone.
SLAM
SLAM
I swung. Again. And again.
SLAM
My steel mace felt like a natural extension of my arm, perfectly balanced and responsive to my every swing, like a conductor’s baton in the hands of a skilled musician.
SLAM
The stone wall rattled from the force of each blow, with chunks of debris and dust raining down upon me as I continued to pound away. My heart raced with anticipation and anxiety as I felt it give way, piece by piece. Strike by strike.
What secrets did she seal away here? What skeletons did she keep in her closet? Questions bounced about in my skull like overactive children on a trampoline as the spiderwebbed fissure widened.
SLAM
SLAM
CRASH
Bringing a free hand to my face, I coughed. Dust and debris coalesced around me like a twister, obscuring my vision as I hacked my lungs out. I thankfully had the foresight to use towels and bedsheets as a makeshift mask, preventing the worst of it from getting into my lungs, but they still protested all the same.
…
My mace slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor loudly as I stared into the abyss.
The gaping hole was wide enough for three people my size, but I inexplicably had cold feet at the mere sight of it. I could not smell the stench of death emanating from it, nor any other putrid odors… but my instinct screamed at me to stop.
Someone—multiple people died here. I could feel this truth gnawing at my gut, and it was as persuasive now as the many times it told me not to trust anything she said.
This wasn’t some hidden treasure trove or archive of forbidden magics.
But then what? All of this effort, just to waste it all at the finish line? She can’t hurt me or anyone else ever again.
Scooping up my mace, I held it close to my chest as I waded through the rubble, entering the widened maw with trepidation.
Soon, everything became engulfed in shadow. I couldn’t see my arms or feel any walls flanking my sides, and I felt like I was walking in thin air. My stomach churned with each step as it begged me to turn back, but I was afraid to look anywhere but forward, let alone back the way I came.
The musty and stale smells of Luna’s bed chambers soon evaporated as I continued forward, replaced by complete stillness. There was no discernable scent to it, almost as if the air had been scrubbed clean with antiseptics, and my mind immediately raced to conclusions.
There are only a few reasons why Luna would keep a hidden chamber like this sterile. And none of them are good.
The anxiety felt like a knot in my chest, twisting and pulling with each breath. There was no turning back now. No-
I blinked. Blindingly bright purple light assaulted my eyes, and my mace nearly fell loose from my hands as my sight adjusted. A large brazier stood in the center of the room, burning with purple flames, which cast an eerie light across the many shelves, side rooms, and tables that huddled together claustrophobically.
Jars with strange, colorful liquids littered the room. Endless rows of leather-bound tomes and scrolls. Runic symbols carved into stone tablets that oozed with power. Ore and metal blocks painted in every color of the rainbow. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, all gleaming like stars in a nighttime sky.
Almost every square inch was jam-packed with various dangerous-looking magical artifacts, among other strange phenomena that I couldn’t begin to comprehend.
This is an honest-to-god evil laboratory! What the hell does she do in here with all of this shit?
It was all organized chaos, with the few maze-like passageways between everything barely wide enough for someone my size to scrape by. But all in all, I couldn’t fault someone like Luna for being a hoarder—knowledge was power, and she had been the big cheese for a reason.
I scoured the room, my eyes lingering on each object with fleeting interest until my gaze fell upon it—the one collection that stirred a deep and painful longing within me.
Carefully, I wedged past a row of potions, making sure not to accidentally come in contact with anything potentially dangerous. Being on edge from everything didn’t help, and I’d often catch sight of the shadows around me dancing and skittering, making my tortured imagination run wild.
She’s gone. She can’t hurt me anymore. Luna. Is. Dead.
I repeated the last phrase like a mantra, allowing me to keep my paranoia at bay as I threaded the magic needle one step at a time. And then, finally, after what seemed like ages, I reached the far side of the room.
My old iPhone was front and center upon the sturdy, black stone table nestled in the corner, seemingly spared from the ravages of time. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and smash the glass curious that imprisoned it, but I refrained from bludgeoning it with my mace.
I didn’t know what sort of protections Luna had cast upon it or any other of the assorted mementos of my past that were present. Jumper cables. An old flashlight. A white cassette tape. Christ, she even had my museum piece’s owner’s manual, vehicle registration documents, and the goddam spare tire.
How? My car should have been an empty metal husk by the time she found it. How did…
I blinked, catching sight of the journal from Luna’s memory neatly placed toward the right side. Black cover, blue swirling stars. The spiral notebook had been yet another source of Luna’s guilt, but I had no context as to why.
Carefully setting my mace aside, I began to gently flip through the pages. Each turn created a soft rustling sound that broke the eerie silence, and each moment I lingered over these faded lines, I began to feel overcome with disappointment.
Like many of its breed, the notes and wisdom held within were etched in unreadable chicken scratch. Not even being inside Luna’s memories had made a difference, it seemed, and I doubted I’d ever be able to decipher her language within, even with all the time in the world.
And soon enough, I had leafed through the entire thing, idly noticing the final page had been torn out as my fingers drummed on the back cover.
Maybe I’m overthinking things? I was able to get in here after all.
Aching desire swelled up within me as I mulled over my options.
A stockpile of forgotten memories was within arms reach, but there were far too many unknowns. Too many things that could go wrong. What if there was a failsafe? A trap? Luna would have undoubtedly made countermeasures to prevent theft, and any thief foolish enough to try would have come prepared with spells and tools of their own.
This also didn’t account for what other enchantments were running in the background here. Would my belongings turn to dust in my fingers if I removed them from their containment? Or would there be some other unseen side effect of meddling with powers I did not understand?
Does it really matter? There’s no one left. Nothing can survive outside these walls, and the stocks in the kitchens will run out eventually.
…
“Nothing ventured,” I breathed. Taking a few seconds to center myself, I slowly reached out until my fingers brushed against the glass.
To my surprise, I didn’t spontaneously combust upon touching it, nor did Luna pop out of the shadows to smother me in her embrace. And as my skin brushed against the curio’s smooth glass, I scrounged up enough courage to lift the glass casing.
And to my relief, neither of my imagined worst-case scenarios occurred.
With trembling hands, I freed the ancient relic from its time capsule and gingerly pressed the power button.
The familiar glow of my phone’s screen brought forth a flood of emotions, and I couldn’t help but stare wistfully at the lock screen. There was a haunting beauty to the thick mist that clung to the air and the veil of clouds that shrouded the city streets. And I couldn’t help but feel enthralled by the glow of streetlights and headlights that diffused through the fog and the conga line of traffic and skyscrapers forever frozen in time.
But there was always a catch, always a setback.
I almost hadn’t noticed it camouflaged in front of a white building in the far right corner of the screen—a small white bar, over three-quarters empty.
I swiped upward.
Time seemed to stand still as I delved deep into this digital tapestry. The pulse of nostalgia surged through my veins, a melodic dance of sentiment and remembrance. The pages of apps plastered on my home screen were a vessel of my personal history, a time machine that whisked me away to the chapters of my life that Luna had stolen away.
And in a sense, she had the last laugh.
There wasn’t enough time to comb through them all. I would never be able to read every book stored on my Kindle app or read every text conversation I had on iMessenger or Discord. I would never be able to play the entire library's worth of games bloating the second last page, each separated into categories and genres.
No. There wasn’t enough time. There never was.
My thumb pressed down on the photos app.
Immediately, I was taken back to a different era, where laughter and tears intertwined. Where dreams and desires were etched in pixels. Frozen moments of joy and togetherness flickered to life with each swipe, capturing the essence of long-lost friends, unfamiliar faces, and them.
My family.
Snapshots of my childhood, images of high school bravado, and my liberating college years danced before my eyes like fragments of a vivid dream. Photos from my youth, captured in a worn-out Polaroid, revealed my long-forgotten innocence and the carefree days spent under the summer sun. The vibrant hues of a family vacation, framed in bursts of laughter and joy, transported me to a time when worries seemed distant and life was simple.
A series of candid photographs showcased long-forgotten friendships frozen in a moment of pure connection. Smiles, unguarded and genuine, radiated from the screen, evoking a sense of camaraderie and shared adventures. With each swipe, the faces of loved ones, now scattered by the winds of time, came to life once more, reminding me of distantly remembered bonds that shaped my journey.
The passage of time revealed itself in the progression of images, unfolding like chapters of a personal memoir. Milestones and celebrations were captured in full fidelity, commemorating graduations, birthdays, holidays, and the hallmarks of my life’s unfurling tapestry.
Amidst the sea of images, I discovered hidden treasures—a candid shot that revealed the twinkle in my grandfather's eyes, a spontaneous camping adventure captured in a series of blurred frames, and the magic of a stolen sunset framed in pixels.
But my reverie was soon coming to a close.
A sliver of red taunted me from the far right corner just as I flicked left toward a video and pressed play.
Warmth and comfort exuded from each pixel, from the gentle ambient lighting emanating from strategically placed lamps to the inviting feel of the old but clean wooden walls and floors. I could almost smell the scent of aged timber through the phone screen as it zoomed in onto a maroon couch at the other end of the room.
Mom. Sarah.
My sister looked just like Mom in her prime—golden, flowing hair, vibrant green eyes, and sun-kissed skin, just like in the few scant dreams I had scrounged up from that awful nightmare. And my mom… her hair had greyed and her face wrinkled, but she still looked just as sure of herself as she always had.
She still hadn’t been robbed of that spark in her eyes. Not yet.
Not like Grandpa.
There wasn’t any context to this scene, but I didn’t care. We were all together, and that was enough. I committed as much as possible to memory like a sponge absorbing water so I would never forget them again.
“Danny!” My sister’s voice slipped through the phone’s speakers, causing my eyes to sting. “Don’t be a stranger! Come on!” She patted the empty seat on the couch to her right.
A moment later, my tired reflection stared back at me through the blackened phone screen.
And I didn’t know what to feel anymore.
What more was there to do? This silence was already paving the road to madness, and I had no goals to achieve. Nothing to set my sights on. No way back to my world, no one to teach me how to master the magics of this realm and learn of its many secrets.
I was a king ruling over a frozen grave.
And as I stared listlessly at my paperweight’s empty glass screen, I wished for death.
Clink-Clop Clink-Clop Clink-Clop Clink-Clop
My ears picked up on the noise, but it went through one ear and out the other. I couldn’t tear myself away from my reflection, and my fingers were clasped tightly around the expensive paperweight in my hands like the straps on a straight jacket.
There was no fear. No anger. No regrets. I was done running. Done hiding.
Clink-Clop Clink-Clop Clink-Clop Clink-Clop
The air remained sterile. Stale. I couldn’t hear any sounds of life or feel Luna’s cold wrath seeping into the room, but I knew something was behind me. The steps were slow. Deliberate. They had weight to them, but they didn’t sound like hers. They didn’t sound like Luna’s.
“Daniel?” A voice filled the empty stillness of the laboratory, soft and filled with understanding and empathy.
I turned, coming face to face with another set of hollowed purple armor. Even in spite of lacking any facial expressions or organic matter, Celestia’s aura was soothing—rippling with matronly calm. A semblance of sanity took hold, and I clenched my fists, trying to will away the overwhelming surge of emotions.
“How are you here? How are you alive?”
Her empty helmet stared at me before the armored head tilted down, peering at the paperweight that threatened to shatter in my grip. There was a tense pause of silence, with Celestia’s gaze switching between my broken phone and the melancholic expression plastered onto my face. “...Please. This world is far too lonely these days, and… I don’t want to be alone.”
I fought against the rising tide, desperately attempting to keep my composure. “So it’s done then?”
Celestia bowed her head. “She is at peace, and the remnants of ponykind are now at rest.”
“I’m sorry,” I flatly stated.
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Celestia commanded, her posture turning rigid before the weight of her burdens pushed against her spine. “None of this was your fault. You were a victim.”
“And so were you.”
An armored hoof pawed at the ground, scraping against the stone floor as Celestia fretted.
“I allowed her charade to go on far too long,” she said softly. “And you paid the price for it. Countless centuries of suffering, and I was complicit in her crimes.” Her gaze swept across the room. “Worst of all? I became numb to it, almost envious of Luna’s fixation upon you. I didn’t care what she was doing was wrong, and for years I justified her actions, knowing how much pain this isolation caused her. How much it caused me.”
“You still helped me in the end, didn’t you?” I tried to reassure both her and myself with this sudden confession. Was this her way of trying to earn forgiveness? By shifting all of the blame onto herself? Or was there more to this story?
An aftertaste of bitterness seeped into my throat, and I felt sick to my stomach. It was the same adverse reaction to seeing a sibling get punished or hurt, and only now was I starting to remember that sensation.
A pregnant pause filled the air before she continued. “Do you know how many times she’s chased you? How many times you’ve tried to escape this castle?”
I shook my head after a moment of lost thought. “No.”
“Seven hundred and fifty-three times, Daniel.” She remained still, but I could almost see her bristle as the words escaped her. “And she’s kept you prisoner for nine hundred eighty-six years.”
I balked, almost falling backward onto the table at her statement.
“But humans-”
—
“And what would thou have us do? Turn him loose to the snow? Or send him back alone to a world that has forgotten him? His family is naught but dust, taken by the ravages of time. There is no future for him there, and he would be slain within a fortnight—if not by his hand, then that of his kind’s indifference.”
—
“-can’t live that long…” My voice trailed off.
“You know yourself what Luna’s meddling can do,” Celestia shook her armored head. “And between your bouts of madness and Luna’s continued violations of your mind and soul, it is no surprise that you don’t remember the pains she had inflicted upon you.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you deserve the truth,” Celestia replied. “And I won’t deprive you of it, even if you hate me for it.” Suddenly, she stepped forward, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. “But I would ask of you one thing. One promise.”
“What is it?” My heart started to race as my mind raced to conclusions. Just what was her angle? Why did she want to paint herself as the bad guy? What did she gain from earning my ire?
“Promise me that you won’t end your life, no matter what I may show you,” Celestia pleaded. “You have tasted how bitter solitude is, so I beg of you, please.”
I wanted to run away. It was a kneejerk response, but something primordial stirred inside me, the same feeling that screamed at me to not pursue this lead. What pain would I relive with this truth? What misery would I face? Why was I now having cold feet when I was so close to peeling back the curtains?
My heart leaped to my throat as I nodded.
She stared for a moment, her silent gaze judging me for any hint of deception or slightest flicker of dishonesty. And after what seemed like a century, she finally nodded. “Follow closely, and touch nothing.”
We didn’t have to wander far.
The side passages were narrow, almost as much as the thin rows between the various magical artifacts hoarded in the previous room. No light pierced through the darkened hallway as we marched, and I had to rely upon the purple glimmer of Celestia’s armor and the sound of her hooves to remain oriented in the right direction. All the while, the scent of antiseptics wafting through the air became far more pronounced, and my throat burned from the chemical aftertaste.
But soon enough, Celestia and I came to a sudden stop.
The air felt the heaviest around the wooden door before. Heavy and stagnant, suffused with a palpable sense of foreboding and enough chemicals to mask the scent of a corpse.
Sweltering heat coalesced around Celestia as she stared at the door’s warped, weathered, and cracked surface, giving the impression of a mouth frozen in a perpetual grimace. But etched onto its panel were ornate rune carvings—the complete lunar cycle in all its haunting glory.
Sweat poured down my face, and I feared I'd spontaneously combust as Celestia’s staring contest continued.
“Forgive me.”
Celestia bowed her head, and a spark of gold erupted from her, dancing between each rune. And within an instant, she had filled each etching with meticulous precision, like an artist coloring inside the lines.
The door pulsated as if it possessed a life of its own as it creaked open, and a sense of foreboding gnawed at me. She had been tightlipped since my promise to her, and my wildly running imagination could only guess why. I gave my own grimace, squeezing my eyes shut as yet another wave of fear washed over me.
It wasn’t just foreboding and dread. There was… something. Something that I was trying desperately to remember and yet also trying to suppress. A memory? A dream? No. No. It was-
“We should not tarry here, Daniel,” Celestia said, beckoning me toward the now-open door. “My sister may be gone, but her wards still protect this place against intrusion.”
“How did you escape?” I asked again.
“I had help,” Celestia recounted. “Or, perhaps I tricked it into helping.”
“Luna’s pet monster?” I asked. I could still remember the weight of that ocean crushing me like a Coke bottle and how hot my lungs burned as they filled with its revolting black tar. Thrice, it had almost killed me, and only when I was finally in its grasp, unable to escape… it helped me reclaim bits and pieces of my humanity.
“You are not mortal by any stretch of the imagination anymore, Daniel,” Celestia sighed, “Luna made sure of that, but with her limited resources, there was only so much she could do to thwart death and keep you trapped here.”
Her gaze fixated upon something through the open door, but I couldn’t see a damn thing through the inky darkness just beyond the threshold. “She used a piece of her soul as a binding agent to anchor your soul into the material plane.”
“What?” I felt a subtle tremor dance across my lips at that revelation. “That can’t- wouldn’t-”
“There was no line she wouldn’t cross to ensure your survival,” Celestia replied. “All of your misadventures, mishaps, and despairing loneliness—it was all too much stress upon your mortal body. And Luna did not want to waste her unwavering commitment upon a withered husk.”
“She’s still inside me? Alive?” My jaw set itself, causing my face to be tense even as my shoulders slumped slightly. “Will I never be free of her taint? Or will she always be looming over me like a shadow?”
“She cannot hurt you anymore,” Celestia reassured me softly. “Nor will she haunt your nightmares and plague your thoughts. Her essence is not even an echo inside you—there is no will behind it to bind or break you. And there isn’t enough of her left to pull her back into this realm.”
With a deep breath, I exhaled a cold breath from my lungs alongside my shattered expectations. Celestia’s words held weight, but I couldn’t believe them, no matter how hard I wanted to believe her. And perhaps that was the insidiousness of it—I could possibly be the incubator of something worse than Luna. Something borne out of my greatest fears and twisted by my unconscious desires.
I wanted to turn tail and flee right then and there, but it was far too late to turn back. And I wouldn’t let Luna win again. Not this time.
“It thought I was her,” I finally responded, putting two and two together.
“Yes,” Celestia nodded. “That monster, the Tantabus… it was always her servant, and despite its original function, it would not see its ‘master’ come to genuine lasting harm. As for what happened afterward? You know the rest.”
My face tensed at her words, my ears ringing from her last terse statement. “There wasn’t another way.”
“I know,” Celestia walked forward, disappearing through the doorway ahead.
Here, the air felt the heaviest, as if it hadn’t been adequately ventilated in years. My insides burned, and my apprehension bloomed as my hands shook and fingers twitched.
Silence. My uneven breaths were drowned out by the steady white noise filling the room—directionless yet all-encompassing. Unlike the eerie, otherworldly glow of the previous rooms, the blinding whiteness that encompassed me was sterile, much like that of a hospital room’s fluorescent lights.
It wasn’t until my eyes adjusted to the light that something inside me finally broke.
My vacant stare pierced through a glassy tube.
Dull emerald eyes stared back.
…
Everything became numb. Muffled. No noise reached my ears, and I couldn’t feel a single nerve in my body as I stared at the old woman, her body suspended in bright green ichor. She had the same skin, complexions, wrinkles, and grey-white hair… she…
I shambled forward like a walking corpse.
—
A pair of dull green eyes stared right through me.
I stared back and saw nothing more than a ghost.
—
My fingers brushed against the smooth glass of the chamber. Her eyes didn’t move, nor did her chest.
…
Aching. The room itself seemed to hold its breath in sympathy. The glass between us prevented me from weaving my arms around her, and the stillness surrounding me only worsened the ache in my heart.
“-iel.”
A noise. Something brushed at my leg.
The unwelcome companion of grief whispered softly in my ear, and I began to sink to my knees, almost as if I was caught in quicksand. The tears streaking down my face mingled with my few memories of her, and I held each one tightly like fragile porcelain figurines—delicate and irreplaceable.
“...She did this,” I could only say. “She took her too. Made her suffer, and for what? Jealousy? Spite? A feeble, sick old woman… and she used her as a guinea pig! A toy! All just so she could—all of this just to manipulate me! To make me an obedient dog! She did all of this-”
“Because she was alone.”
I rounded toward Celestia, my fists clenched tightly like coiled springs. “As if that excuses what she did to me! To her!”
“It doesn’t, and it never will,” Celestia confessed. “But it is the truth. Loneliness is anathema to ageless beings like us. It is a looming shadow, a constant companion that always lurks close behind if only to remind us of our curse. Relationships always end in tragedy, friends and family turn to dust within the blink of an eye, and the pain that comes with each passing is too much to bear.”
I remained silent, my eyebrow arched as I glowered at her.
“The well was poisoned, but she still continued to drink her fill century after century. Lovers. Offspring. Adoptions. She did anything and everything to fill the void in her soul, even if it meant reliving that pain again and again.”
“And then she was banished.” My blood boiled inside my veins, and I had to restrain myself from smashing my fists into the many delicate pieces of alien machinery surrounding us. Even so, the object of my animosity was not here, no matter how loud her mocking laughter echoed inside my head.
Biting my lip, I looked toward my left, avoiding the gaze of Celestia and Mom.
Celestia nodded. “Her entire existence afterward was shaped by that millennium of isolation. She carried her burdens silently, unwilling to reach out to others… and out of that fear, she made the Tantabus. A being made to punish her for sins she could not forgive herself for. Night after night, she would command it to torture her with the same painful nightmare.
“Luna thought that this pain would help her endure any hardship, that Nightmare Moon would never manifest itself again, but we’ve both seen her darker side.”
Suddenly, she moved past me and walked toward the chamber. Craning her metal neck, her gaze met my mother’s expressionless face. “Luna never killed Equestria, Daniel. She did not plunge the world into eternal darkness. Nor was she responsible for any of the disasters that befell our world.
“You, your mother… you were the only victims of her insatiable greed.”
“What?” I breathed more than I spoke. That… that wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t. She was the crazy bitch with a god complex and child issues. She had to be the one responsible. Nothing else made sense. “But- the throne room, you said-”
“That she starved and buried our subjects under a mountain of snow? Brought ruin to countless kingdoms? Yes, I remember saying that, Daniel, and for the longest time, I thought it was the objective truth. But in the dream realm I…”
Celestia froze up, and the hum of the lights overhead became deafening.
“Celestia?”
“Don’t call me that,” Celestia croaked out in a strained voice. Her metal body had no muscles or sinew, but she still tensed and went rigid, mimicking the real thing in an unsettling manner. “I am not Celestia. I’m just a fake. A copy.”
“What-”
“She made me!” she bristled, flames burning in its chest all the while. I was afraid that the air itself would suddenly catch fire. “Repurposed and recycled a poor woman’s soul! Shoved her dead sister's idealized thoughts and memories into a hollow shell! None of these memories are mine; no part of me is me! I’m just stolen thoughts and memories!”
I blinked. My muscles were wound up tighter than a bow, and the stench of pennies and gasoline filled the air.
…
“...It hurts so much. I didn’t-” The flames in the armor’s chest flickered like a dying campfire, and she turned away as smoke billowed out of the face plate. “I never existed. My whole life was an illusion, all just to satisfy the desires of a sick mare who lived well past her prime.”
She fell back onto her haunches with a clang. “But I… I can’t bring myself to hate her. I can’t, and it hurts so much!”
Her restrained, choked-out sobs filled the now chilling air, and my arms limply fell to my sides.
“I-I don’t care if they were fake… it all felt s-so r-real. E-every emotion, every m-moment Luna shared with her sister,” the voice paused, trying to collect herself before continuing. “I wanted to believe that Celestia was me. I wanted to believe we watched the stars at night or frolicked in the fields as children. Or that we forged a great nation together, uplifting our kin out of poverty and into a golden age.”
Celestia’s gaze drifted toward the floor.
“I want to remember her. Not as the greedy and manipulative monster she became, but the kind and loving soul she used to be.”
…
My fists crunched against the metal plates of her helmet.
I could hear the bones in my fingers crack and snap against the hardened armor, but I didn’t care. Once. Twice. Three times. My bloodied fists collided uselessly against the steel plating, each hit accompanied by an explosive and pained roar that reverberated through Luna’s mad laboratory.
“Give it back!” I bellowed, my muscles coiling for another strike. Kicking, punching, screaming, my mind swirled with a maelstrom of grief and unadulterated rage. “Give me back her soul!”
“Daniel! Stop!” Celestia stomped, her voice laced with authority. Golden wisps of energy unfurled out from the gaps in her helmet before coiling around my arms like snakes. “You are hurting yourself!”
“Theif! Murderer!” I thrashed about, tugging at my bonds like a wild animal caught in a trap. “Liar! You’re just like her! You’re no different than Luna!”
“Do you truly think I chose to be made?” Celestia seethed. “Or that I wanted any of this to happen?”
“Shut up! SHUT UP!” I flailed and dangled uselessly in the air. “You told me enough! How you hated me! And your jealousy over-”
“She lied to me too, Daniel!” Steam and heat began to shoot out of Celestia’s suit, turning the room into a sweltering sweatbox. The fumes airing through the room began to make my head spin. “About many things! And I never realized the scope of her misdeeds until recently!”
I thrashed and raved angrily, even as she lowered me until we were at eye level.
“You may blame me for many of the other misfortunes that have befallen you at my sister’s hooves, but I will not allow you to accuse me of a crime I did not commit. Do you understand?”
I spat at her, my spittle vaporizing before coming remotely close to her armored form.
Celestia turned her head to the side, and a gout of steam erupted from her face plate. “I know I am not blameless in all of this, and I would gladly atone for my sins by restoring your mother to her former glory, but that is impossible. At least with you…”
She turned, her now glowing ironshod hooves brushing against my bloodied fists. In seconds, the searing pain in my broken fingers and busted knuckles numbed. It did little to staunch the anger that flooded my veins, but I was still entirely at her mercy. Useless.
“...There was something for Luna to salvage. You still had your memories, your thoughts. She—Luna was powerful, yes, but she couldn’t create something from nothing. And your mother…” Celestia gently guided my body into a sitting position, her armored hooves wrapped around my neck in a tight hug. “...She had forgotten how to breathe.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
A strangled scream escaped my throat.
Guttural. My cries clawed through clenched teeth, tearing through the air with a rawness that echoed my shattered psyche. My nerves were ablaze with searing agony, and all of my muscles tensed in tandem with my heaving chest.
It was a primal release of torment that I had been denied for so long—and one that I had no doubt experienced and forgotten before. But even as I thrashed about in my bonds, I couldn’t escape the unbearable weight of the truth that was crushing me.
There was nothing to go back to. No one to reunite with. The world I once knew was nothing more than a few lines inside a textbook. And even if I did find a way back to earth, what was the point? Nothing could fix what had happened, and if I wanted to live in blissful ignorance, I would have never left my gilded cage.
“Please.” My head dipped downward in exhaustion, draping itself over Celestia’s plated helmet.
“We can still escape this nightmare,” she pleaded, trembling. “Luna’s experiments proved that there is a link between our worlds. We can start a new life—make new memories to replace the terrible ones. There’s no need to act so hastily-”
“Don’t,” I spoke with finality. There was a growing numbness inside me. A silent, yawning abyss. Its sorrowful tendrils reached outward for a dream that would never be realized. And no matter how long I lived, I knew this ache would never fade.
“I need to see them again. I…”
“And you will someday.” Celestia’s grip held firm. “But not this day. Your story isn’t over yet.”
“When will that day come?” I whispered. “I’m past my expiration date, and I know my mind will die before my body does, just like Mom. Just like Grandpa.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Celestia declared.
I fell silent. There was no use arguing with her, not when she was adamant about her position and had the power to back it up. It was wrong to try and abandon her after everything, but what else was there for me here? For her?
I never remembered being a nihilist, but even I could see the writing on the wall.
It wasn’t until I smelled a familiar, noxious fume waft into my nose that I noticed Celestia’s armored faceplate invading my personal space.
“I will fix this, Daniel,” Celestia replied with quivering appeal. “Everything. Luna’s legacy will hold no sway over you ever again, and… I will save you. You and your mother. I will make things right for all of us, I promise. Just give me some time.”
“It’s too late for that,” my lips pursed as I averted my puffy-eyed gaze. “You even said it yourself.”
“I did,” Celestia went on. “But even with how little Luna had to work with, she was always able to achieve the impossible. Stitching you back together in body and soul, maintaining a food ration and supply for a thousand years of complete isolation, bridging the gap between our worlds…”
The stench of pennies and gasoline became unbearable, and I could taste its bitterness on my tongue.
“You’ve seen what we are capable of firsthoof,” Celestia urged, her words laced with desperation. “You know how much power we wield. Now imagine that but with the backing of your entire species. Think of how much we could achieve.”
“What makes you think you could solve any of this? How can you succeed where she failed?” I replied, my voice betraying my lack of conviction. “I’m tired, Celestia. I’m tired of paying for Luna’s sins, and I don’t want to spend the rest of my eternal life languishing in this prison, hoping for a miracle.”
“You don’t have to.”
Like a puppet with its strings cut, I slumped forward, catching myself with my hands before my face planted against the cold floor. The pain and my restraints had utterly vanished, and it was almost as if I never shattered my finger bones against Celestia’s armor.
“I won’t force you to stay,” Celestia said reluctantly, her voice betraying a sense of grief. “But can you trust a foolish old mare one last time, Daniel?”
I breathed, my lungs and throat burning. There was a feeling of fear gnawing at my insides, telling me to flee and run for the snow-covered hills, but my sentimentality outweighed it. I had already blindly placed my trust in her so many times before, and I was willing to do it instinctively again, regardless of how foolish it was.
But she’s told me the truth. No lies, no deceit. She had nothing to gain from showing me any of this. I could have been strung along with the hope of finding her or being reunited with my family again, but she didn’t.
I looked up at Celestia and nodded.
“It will take time to bridge the gap between our worlds. Months, years, perhaps decades…”
Her eyeless gaze became level with mine, and my head began to swim in a mire of fogginess. But through the swirling daze of colors before me, something stirred from behind the open gaps in Celestia’s armor. Not billowing smoke or a charging spell, but a thick, viscous black liquid.
But rather than pool into an unfathomable abyss, the oozing tar shrunk and coalesced. It was like watching a ballet, with each droplet of ink swirling and twirling in a mesmerizing dance until it rounded up into a perfectly shaped orb.
“But as long as you live, their legacy will live on.” Celestia’s magic gently floated it toward me, hovering within arms reach until falling into the palm of my right hand. “And with this? You will never live in fear of forgetting them. This, I swear.”
Delicate and weightless, like a feather. I rolled it in my palm with a thumb, feeling a tingling spark dance upon my skin. The fear inside me swelled, screaming at me to run and hide all the while—my memories flooding with the horrifying memories of drowning in the deep.
My eyes drifted between Celestia and the orb.
She gave me a choice. Luna wouldn’t.
Foolish. Desperate. It didn’t matter; I wanted to remember them in something other than a fleeting, transient memory.
I placed the orb into my mouth and bit down.
Dew-kissed petals. The distilled essence of a summer rain shower. It was like a glass of cold and icy water running down my throat, purging the awful aftertaste that had haunted me for so long.
Once. Twice. I blinked, rubbing my eyes as I stared into the elusive, foggy veil draped over an endless row of skyscrapers, their grandeur muted by the ethereal haze. My eyes became drawn to the neon signs, which glowed with a softened radiance that beckoned for me.
Raindrops danced upon the pavement like liquid pearls, creating a symphony of rhythmic patter as I stood at the corner edge of the sidewalk. All around me, footsteps echoed through the streets, muffled and hushed, as pedestrians hopscotched past the endless sea of puddles, umbrellas unfurled like protective shields against the persistent rain.
The air, laden with moisture, enveloped my senses, carrying the unmistakable scent of wet asphalt, mingling with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that made my mouth water.
A tapestry of sounds enveloped the atmosphere—the honking of car horns, the distant rumble of subway trains, and the rhythmic swishing of windshield wipers. Amidst it all, snippets of conversation drifted, carried by the wind, forming an auditory mosaic of languages, accents, and stories. It was a soothing white noise, and I basked in its comfort as it banished my lingering fears to the recesses of my mind.
It was enough to make my mind tingle with nostalgic numbness, and-
“Danny!” A hand pulls against my left shoulder, shaking me out of my thoughts. “C’mon, snap out of it! You’ve been standing here for ages!”
I turned my head, a smile tugging at my lips.
“Sorry, sis! This place… it’s like stepping into another dimension. Hard to resist the allure, ya know?” The words tumbled out of my mouth, almost like I had rehearsed the lines dozens of times in advance.
“No, no, none of this.” Sarah gave her own sly smile as she tugged at my arm. Her deep green eyes glimmered as she light-heartedly glared, strangling my half-assed protests in the crib. “Mom’s gonna kill us both if you catch the flu again. Go on, git. We’re late as it is.”
“Fine,” I laughed, but still stubbornly maintaining my ground. “But I’m gonna take one for the road first. Not every day you get to see a sight like this.”
With the mesmerizing fog as the backdrop, I captured the essence of New York City through the lens of my iPhone, sealing the chapter of our rainy day adventure with a single click.
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Spoiler in case people read this before they read the story:
So, the plunder seeds killed Celestia, which meant the sun couldn't be raised, and so eventually only Luna was left? And once she was alone she went crazy?
11601171
Thats the TLDR, but yes. There is one other small piece to the puzzle though.
So, I'm not gonna lie, I have little to no idea as to what actually happened for the majority of this story, and I'd like to think my reading comprehension tends to be, at the very least, pretty decent.
However, that doesn't stop the story from being rather mystifying in a class all its own.
The epilogue helped elucidate quite a few things, but, like Daniel, it felt like the entire story was draped in a mire too dense to navigate with any form of clarity; personally, that made the ordeal interesting, beyond all else. What truly has me feeling in a strange position is that the prose was excellent—the material thick with passion and purpose—but it's so far drenched into the bog of mystery that I'm not sure how far I'd personally delve into the story again before throwing in the towel with what, altogether little, I feel I'm able to deduce with the time I've spent.
All that being said, from what I was able to piece together, this is easily one of the most unique, captivating, and extraordinary fics that I've personally read and finished, and I think that deserves applause. Although I wish I was able to get more from the story than I did, I can't help but give credit where it's due; I stuck through until the end, after all.
Wonderfully written, and although it might just be a case of this specific story being a bit too dense for my own personal tastes, I'm definitely eager to see what other stories might follow in the wake of this story's completion.
11601196
Thank you for your input.
I do admit that the premise was originally intended to be quite different in the beginning, but I thought that it would have just been pointless misery porn with the original ending I had in mind.
That, plus having the long gaps between chapters due to life events makes this far harder to remember all of the finer details for people who haven’t gone through it a second time. There are clues hidden throughout that tie things together, but it is completely understandable with your point of view and I agree with it.
But I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the air of mystery I crafted for this story, or the many different writing concepts I’ve tried out while doing so.
This was first and foremost a learning experience for me, and I hope I can create even better stories going forward.
Great story, kind of felt like a 5 nights at Freddy's game with how I had to put together the story and that there were parts I just had go make a guess for. The fact I want to know more shows how good this was.
Keep up the good work. Also hope life is treating you well.
11601269
Thank you!
i get the basic gist of the story but theres one thing i dont understand (spoilers obviously)
Dafuq was this last bit of this chapter? Daniel bit a funny orb made by fake celestia and then... back at new york like nothing happened???????
11601279
Celestia gave Daniel the memories that Luna stole back to him, and he will use them to pass the time / remember who he is until Celestia can bring them both to earth. I intentionally left if they succeed open ended and up to the reader’s interpretation.
I feel kinda sad for Luna. She lost everything at the end. Daniel at least had hope in future.
I hope Luna have better destiny in your next stories. You are good writer!
11601296
Oh kewl. Cheers m8
11601341
Thank you! If you want to see a happier ending for luna in one of my fics, try reading Desert Sands. I promise it’s a fun read!
That's a very good fic, maybe the best I have ever read, but still, fuck you author, that was sad and depressing.
Masterpiece! 10/10
Great story, I really loved the thick mystery of not knowing what happened and trying to piece together with the little information we got.
It's also a very well written story.
Thanks for writing and sharing this with us.
personally I am a fan of the more positive ending because I was sure it would end in one of two ways
1: He would just be stuck alone in the castle and die alone or
2: he would wake from another dream but lose all his memories for good as a puppet for Luna
The ending we have now is a much better alternative though
11603069
Thank you for sticking by to the end!
Yeah buddy! That was awesome!
11603902
Thank you for reading to the end!
Потрясающий рассказ, долго ждал когда выйдет вся история на коне то я её дочитал, даже с гугл переводчиком читается легко, и будет ли продолжение этой истории?)
11608201
I don’t have any plans for a sequel yet, as I am currently working on a few short stories / side projects.
I might in the future though
11608244
Спасибо за ответ)
11608245
No problem!
Great fic dude. Sorry to hear about all the stuff you went through. Congrats on pushing through and finishing this.
11615176
Thank you for sticking by to the end!
Kina reminds me of the movie Identity. A good and deep use of unreliable narrating.
Well, holy shit.
The story gripped me all the way through, with a captivating mystery, a tense atmosphere and a solid, good story.
11636409
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Jesus fucking christ my dude. I haven't read a MLP Fanfic for a good while, and (among others) I stumbed upon this one recently.
I find it hard to express this, but: This is a masterclass example of storytelling, with a mystery which made me read through the entire fic in one sitting. I am not going to get those 6 hours back, but I do not regret it even one bit.
I absolutely loved how raw and emotional all of this was. That, despite being mostly set in horse land, it felt absolutely real. And stories that manage to execute this in a convincing manner instantly go to the top of my favorite list.
Spoiler section:
The scenes where Daniel saw his Grandpa's light fade from his eyes; the notion that his mother also had the same dreaded illness-- her confusion whilst lost in the snow; and the even more frightening notion of forgetting the people you cherish, is a feeling that scares and saddens me in a way few other things do. You managed to convey this perfectly, and I thank you for it.
Luna's madness, while of course unforgivable, can be understood. She is not a villain in the traditional sense. She, as you described, was a kind, loved and respected mare. And yet, the damage done to her psyche from her isolation never truly healed, which worsened as the centuries passed by. She longed for love, something or someone to bond with at a personal level. I believe her sister's death is what ultimately shattered her mind, for only Celestia would be the only constant, close relationship of her eternal life. To see someone like that fall into this depraved and desperate sort of madness? It's hard not to sympathise with her a little bit-- despite all her wrongdoings. She is broken and has nothing else to do or look forward to, and has fallen into a deeply-entrenched way of thinking which led her to justify and normalise her actions.
You really nailed in the vast, empty feeling of living forever in this story. The worst gift of them all: Eternity.
Her crying before meeting her fate at the hands of Daniel felt bitter, painful but also exhausting. She shouldn't have deserved it, but it was simply too much. She would have had Daniel repeat the cycle ad infinitum. It's one of those very few characters that you *want* to love, but ultimately can't because of how they are or what they've become.
The ending is bittersweet. He is granted the gift of never forgetting his past again, but at the same time, he is stuck in a desolate wasteland with nothing but an armor set imbued with his mother's soul and Celestia's memories. Only the distant hope of returning to Earth (and his reaccquired memories) gives him some semblance of comfort.
Part of me wants this to continue, to maybe finally give Daniel a true happy ending with him reuniting with his family, or at the very least with other humans. But... That'll be for you to decide.
Thank you for this story, you wonderful bastard. 9/10
11806455
Thank you so much for reading this! Writing this story was quite an uphill battle, but leaving a good lasting mark on even one person made this all worth the trouble.
I’ve been toying with an idea about making a sequel and even have some notes down about it, but I’d probably need to post it on spacebattles or AO3 due to it not specifically being in the MLP universe anymore.
Regardless, I’m glad you enjoyed this, and I hope you stick around for what I have planned next!
Holy shit. Just... Like. Wow. I'm struggling to even type this text. I don't have the necessary talent to write my feelings but know this author, you are a gem. You have a real God damn talent! And I hope you continue to write stories like this... Well maybe not like this, this was really depressing and kinda relatable in a way. Hit close to home you know.
But nonetheless 10/10. Recommend. Won't read again. Or I might cry my eyes out. Ok bye 👋👋👋
11809104
Thank you for reading, I’m glad you enjoyed this!
had a slight suspicion but the comments confirmed it or at least follow the idea that the armor has the soul of Daniel’s mother but works with the memories of Celestia, for a moment I thought that the true Celestia was dead but still lived in the dream world but I discarded it when reading the arrival of Celestia in the real world, it was a good way to justify the weakness of Celestia but the true reason is better
Then, in the end Daniel decided to believe the Robo-Celestia and was trapped in an "Eternal" dream until R-Cv1 finds a way home... or until he really dies, a hopeful ending but that can equally end in tragedy
说实话，我很高兴能看到这样一篇精彩至极的文章，当我看到最后一段的时候我才意识到我已经连续盯着手机很多个小时了。作为一个中国人，我的英语阅读水平并不好，所以整篇文章我都是用翻译器阅读的，很多细节都被翻译器忽略/歪曲了。
尽管我是通过翻译器阅读这篇我今年看过的最精彩的小说，但我仍然想对作者说：“你他妈写的真的太好了”
The above is my original text and the following is the result of my translation with the translator.
To be honest, I was so happy to read such a wonderful article that I realized when I got to the last paragraph that I had been staring at my phone for hours on end. As a Chinese, my English reading level is not good, so I read the whole article with a translator and many details were ignored/distorted by the translator.
Even though I'm reading the most amazing novel I've read this year through a translator, I still want to say to the author, "What you wrote is really fucking good."
11828426
Thank you for reading! I’m glad you enjoyed this!
Wow, just wow. It's a good psychological thriller. I liked it, definitely in the collection.
A very interesting story, and one much enjoyed
11870325
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it!