I Don't Remember

by nitelight

Chapter 3: The First Morning

Rage. Pure, unbridled rage is what filled her. How dare her subjects treat her this way? How dare Celestia? She had paid for what she had done. A strong blast of pure magic had hit her square in the chest. If that hadn't caused enough damage that she was unable to fight, the fall down to the castle below surely would. She hovered in her spot in the sky for a moment, grinning, wings holding her steadily. She had always been stronger than her sister. Too bad her ego had blinded her into thinking she could discard her and rule on her own.

It felt good to finally get back at her. Now all of her sun-loving people would see just how weak of a leader she was. Their princess wasn't indestructible. Luna Nightmare was.

A light to her side caught her attention. Her sister. How had she gotten up so quickly? She had already covered her precious sun, and now she had acquired a new power to outdo the beauty of her night? She should be on the ground, injured, surrendering herself to Nightmare as an inferior. Instead, she was looking at her head-on. What had she gotten? Everyone in the castle had fled when their battle had started. No, when she had risen the moon. They were hiding from her night.

Celestia's power was charged up, directed at her. Please, what could she do? She had already been hit once. Another would surely take her down for good. She charged up her own spell before both were released against each other. A wave went out when the two spells collided, sending a shock to the air around them and dispelling the clouds nearby. Just then had she noticed what her sister had. The Elements of Harmony. Of course she would need an outside source to help her fight.

But cheating meant that she had the possibility to win. The elements were vastly powerful. And winning, she was. Pouring more magic into her spell was useless. And before long, it became too much for her to fight against. The power of the elements overcame her, and she was swept away in their power. It hurt. It hurt being physically ripped from your form and being transported in a flash in a place you were to be banished for a time you did not know how long would last. Stripped of her magic, of what made her her. It was unbearable.

She was sorry. She didn't mean for this to happen. She was told that she was right, that she would gain power. Why was Celestia hurting her?

---

Screaming. She was screaming. Luna shot up straight from where she had been sleeping. Breathing heavy, she looked around the room that she was in frantically. Where was she? Wasn't she just banished? Was this the moon?

The crackling fire, soft bed under her, and the warmth of the room were enough to calm her breathing down to a normal pace, though still heavy. Oh. She was back in Equestria. In her sister's room, no less. The one who just banished- no. She shook her head. She shouldn't think about that now.

But.. was that really what had happened? Or was it her fear that generated a fake memory in the form of a dream? Dreams were complicated, nightmares even more so, she'd dealt with enough to know that much.

What was she saying? This was the first time she'd dreamt since her return. How could she have dealt with them before? The heat of the room and the sweat adorning her forehead made Luna tear the sheets off her form, breaking up her thoughts. What time was it? When Celestia had left earlier, she had said that the day was young, perhaps noon, then? Had she slept all the way through the night?

There were thick curtains to the far right that extended all the way to the ground, covering doors to a balcony. Getting up was a bit of a struggle, considering how weak her legs felt underneath her body weight, but she managed to slowly drag her way there with the help of the wall. Pulling the curtain to the side, she could now clearly see that it was still night. It was beautiful.

Unlocking the door after some struggling, Luna managed to open the door and walk over to the railing protecting her from the height of the tower she was in. She did have wings to catch her if she did fall, but she didn't trust them enough to use quite yet. Flying seemed too complicated. Leaning on the rail to support her weight, she was able to fully see the land around her. From atop the mountainside, she was able to see the vast lands around her. And were they vast. She stood there simply for a few moments to survey everything before her. Directly below was the city proper of Canterlot. There was minimal movement; those up early to get to work, or those who had stayed up the night before finally making the way back to their homes. Further south, past the base of the mountain, was another town, presumably the one she had been to yesterday. She hadn't picked up the name of it, but it looked rural, land used for farming rather than the pompous royal capital she was currently in.

Her nerves were still somewhat shaken from the events of her dream, but taking in the scenery and the fresh air were helping. The warm summer air was ruffling her already messy hair as she turned to look at the moon above. Something about it was captivating. Above all else around her, even the twinkling stars adorning the sky, it was drawing most of her attention. She knew she had been banished there for a thousand years, but the connection felt deeper than that.

Did it have to do with the moon that was on her arm? In place of it, her sister had had a sun on the same spot. Now that she thought about it, everyone else she had seen had a similar mark on their arm as well. Each one was unique to the person who had them. Not one was the same as the other. What were they? Were they some sort of mark of destiny? She was drawn to the night, and her sister very clearly was associated with the sun, right down to her core. Even her magic seemed to be powered by the sun. Luna hadn't tried to use her magic. Honestly, she'd mostly forgotten about it until now. But she had a feeling it wouldn't go well. She was still weak and didn't want something going wrong. Besides, all the memory of her magic that she had was the battle with Celestia, where she had used them in offense. Was that all her magic could do? Fight?

Luna had been standing out on the balcony staring at the moon for longer than she had thought, the body starting to lower before her eyes startling her. The sun followed after it, rising slowly and blinding her as it overcame the horizon and lit up the skies. The glow of the star felt familiar to her. Like.. Celestia's aura. Was her sister raising the sun? She felt like she should have known that. And that assumption felt right.

From that, she was able to put some things together. As the Nightmare, she remembered vowing to make nighttime eternal. How could she do that unless she had control over the moon? That's why she was so drawn to it, then. Like her sister's control of the sun, she had ownership of the moon. A smile made its way onto her face. She was remembering things about herself.

But the blinding light of the sun was becoming too much for Luna. She turned quickly to head back inside and close the curtain again to settle back into the dimly lit room. Even that had sucked most of the energy right out of her. Her head hurt and her breathing was heavy by the time she made it over to the bed again. She could take another nap right then. She was so tired. Dropping her head into her hands, Luna rubbed the weariness out of her eyes. No, she didn't need to keep sleeping all day.

Which reminded her, where had Celestia slept last night? She hadn't seen any indication that anyone else had occupied the bed other than herself. Was she up all night? Slept in a guest room? On the floor? Now she was starting to feel bad with how much she was taking her sister's generosity for granted. She would have to thank her later and insist that she take her room back. Luna could sleep in a guest room if needed.

Looking around the room as if looking for something to occupy herself, Luna noticed a note on the table set beside the bed that was addressed to her. She probably should have seen that earlier.

It was straight to the point in what it meant to tell her. Celestia had come in earlier and did not want to disturb Luna in her sleep, so wrote a letter instead to fill her in on everything before she had time later in the day to see her again. The guards currently stationed outside the doors were to assist her in anything that she needed, including escorts to any place in the castle she desired. There were only a few things that Celestia had set up for her to do today, most notably, go see a doctor. But that was for later. Breakfast was the first thing she had wanted her to do. And good on her for remembering, too. It was likely that Luna hadn't eaten, or drank, anything in over a millennium. Perhaps that was a reason that she'd been so exhausted yesterday. Not eating would mean that she would have no energy to spare. She hadn't noticed her stomach growling before, but being reminded of it, she could definitely feel a lingering ache.

But as good as getting something to eat sounded, she probably shouldn't go walking around the castle fresh out of rolling out of bed. She made her way across Celestia's room again, finding taking care of herself was exerting a lot of energy that she did not have in her possession. Did her sister have handmaids that helped her with these tasks? Because her arms could only last a minute or so while brushing her own hair... Then again, her sister was very adept in her skill of magic. Luna was still doing everything by hand.

Despite her complaining, freshening herself up did not take very long, just short of an hour. Not wanting to go through her sister's possessions and be invasive, she settled on not changing her outfit. She had smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed, but other than that, she couldn't do much. Were they casual clothes? Yes. But did it matter? No. She was, after all, a princess, and was allowed to do whatever she pleased. That, and she was too hungry to care about any looks nobles would give her. She'd even put her hair up in her efforts earlier. Nothing too extravagant, but it was better than just leaving it brushed, as it had gotten awfully puffy.

There she went again, talking on to herself and forgetting what she was actually supposed to be doing. Then again, she hadn't actually been talking. She'd hardly made any noise, actually. Letting out a huff of air to calm her nerves, Luna made her way over to the door that led to the hallway outside. It wouldn't be too difficult, right? Why was she suddenly shaking? Being around people without Celestia beside her to step in if something went downhill apparently made her nerves flare up. She didn't have anyone to support her. But her sister was busy, she knew that. It's okay, Luna. They won't bite you.

Shaking harshly to steel herself, she turned the handle and opened the large door in front of her. The hallway it opened to was brighter than she remembered, the sun shining through the windows and flowers adorning the pillars in between. The men on either side glanced in her direction. She didn't recognize them from the guards she'd seen earlier. A brief look of concern flashed across their features before noticing that the lunar princess was looking at them and returned their gazes forward. They'd probably heard her screaming earlier. That was embarrassing. But no mind.

The men themselves were tall, slightly more so than Luna herself, and clad in golden armor. Underneath they were undoubtedly quite muscular, if the thickness of their biceps was any indication for the rest of their bodies. She'd hate to be on their bad side. Despite that, the marks of their arms were covered by the armor, making her unable to test her hypothesis from earlier that they were marks of destiny.

Clearing her throat, she was able to find her voice, mumbling out a quick, "Good m'rning," before turning to walk down the hallway. Did she need to ask how to get to the dining room specifically? Again, yes. But a little exploring of her surroundings wouldn't hurt anyone. Glancing behind her and, yep, the two guards were following behind, keeping a respectful distance, high on alert.

Something in her told her that they were weary of her, and not just of her safety.

She knew the Nightmare had brought evil upon the land, but was the tale really infamous enough that the common citizen would be afraid? Did they still fear the night as they had before? Maybe she was holding an unpleasant expression on her face. But it wasn't like she'd snap at them and turn evil again. Was that it? She didn't even remember specifically what she'd done. That was the worst part.

It was best to ignore it. If they were afraid of her, asking would not make the situation better. Her wings had dropped low, not quite dragging on the ground. The surrounding area's decorations had started getting brighter the lower she got in the levels of the castle. Thankfully going down was easier than going up, but she was starting to get overwhelmed. It was so bright. There were so many colors. She needed air.

The only good thing about having a city built so high on a mountain was that balconies were made common in its construction, so it didn't take her long to find one and swing the doors open and grip onto the railing for support. Her eyes were closed, breathing was heavy, and she could hear the blood pumping to her head. It was loud, but it was better than what she had felt inside. Luna had missed the guards calling out to her, not even registering that they had rushed to her side when she had hunched over.

Eating would probably take the fatigue off of her. Why hadn't she listened to what Celestia had asked of her right away?

"..rincess? Princess Luna, are you alright, ma'am?" A male voice to her right called out to her. Focus on that.

Her breathing slowed as she regained her senses. It was bright out, but not that deafening brightness that she'd witnessed a few moments ago. A shadow was cast over her, a face in front of her vision. He was talking.

"There we go. Would you like us to call a physician, your highness?"

"No. No, we art fine." Luna waved off the hand he had extended, standing to her full height again. "Thank thee, sir..?"

"Nightingale, majesty."

"Thank thee, Nightingale. Wouldst thee and thy partn'r mind escorting us to our destination from h're out?"

"Of course." The other man had responded this time. "My name is Datura, highness."

She now understood at least one reason why her sister had chosen these guards to escort her just by their names alone. And knowing her sister, she had already briefed the two on what the schedule was that she'd made for Luna, so it was unnecessary for her to specify where she wanted to go.

This time, Datura had led them through the hallways, Nightingale following closer behind Luna, just in case. The edge that they had earlier had lessened quite a bit. She didn't feel their eyes piercing into her anymore. Well, almost passing out from walking down a hallway would make her seem like less of a threat.

And soon enough, after more stairs, they arrived in a dining room on a lower level of the castle. It was grand, but small inside. Likely reserved for royalty to eat in private. Only a few people occupied the room before they entered, two handmaids and a chef, if the white outfit was anything to classify his profession by.

"Ah! Princess, you're here. I am head chef Caramel, at your service," the man called out in a bright tone, bowing his head in respect to her title. "If you wouldn't mind taking a seat, your food will be served shortly. You have my guarantee that it will be up to your standards."

He was likely here as a formality. Either that, or he had wanted to meet her in person before rumors were spread around. She would be getting a lot of attention in that way in the coming days. Luna acknowledged the man with a simple 'thank you' and 'nice to meet you' before sitting at one end of the table. One of the women had pulled out the chair for her before hurrying out with the other alongside the chef.

In the few short minutes that she had to wait, she was able to get a better look at the room she was in. Grand windows took up the whole far wall, presenting an open view of the city outside. Even the lower levels of the castle were at a higher elevation than the main city. Thick curtains and drapes hung around the room along with many hanging plants. Pretty, but a little much for a place to eat. Other than that, Nightingale and Datura were positioned at the entrance.

The three that had been in the room came back in what she'd call record time. They had carried a few trays of an assortment of dishes, told her what they were, and excused themselves. A simple process, but one she was thankful that did not take more than a few minutes of her time. The food itself was also simple enough: assorted fruits mixed in a bowl and a selection of breads, meat, and pastries. While she was hungry enough that she probably could have eaten all of it if in there for long enough, she knew that she could only stomach a small amount. She would get sick after not eating in so long. But she was thankful for a variety.

For how starved Luna felt, she was able to control the speed at which she ate with some struggle. It was slow going, but she made an effort to try at least one of everything and enjoy its flavor. There were foods and flavors that were not familiar to her tongue, so she deducted that they must not have existed a millennium ago. Most of what she had tasted was wonderful, but far too many of the pastries were too sweet for her liking. Celestia had a sweet tooth, though, and this was probably how she liked them. But for Luna, taking more than a bite would have gotten her sick. She did not want that happening.

Speaking of her sister, she had just about finished and was shifting to get up when the doors had opened again, and she walked through. Upon seeing Luna there, a bright smile appeared on her face, as if she was happy her return had not only been a dream.

"Good morning, Luna! I see you got my note. I do apologize for not being there when you woke, but duty calls." Celestia took a seat at the table as well, getting some food for herself. Far more than what Luna had. "How did you sleep? I hope you're well rested."

"We slept well, sister. We understand thou art busy with thy duties." She stood up, smoothing out her clothes before giving her sister a short bow. "We were about to leave when thee entered. We wisheth thee a pleasant day."

The shortness of their interaction was not intended. She truly did wish to spend more time with Celestia. But she was also dreading the amount of socializing that she already had to do today. They would talk more tonight, hopefully, after she was done with all the formalities.

Who knows how much medicine had modernized in the years she was gone, either. It was almost frightening, not knowing what exactly she was walking into. But it needed to be done. They needed to know if Luna was in proper health. The only questions she really wanted answered were about her magic. Getting prodded at was what she was not looking forward to.

Stifling a sigh after bidding her sister a farewell, she headed towards the entrance again, the guards standing there opening the door before her and following beside her as she started down the hallway. Hopefully this would not take all day.

Comments

[Wooden Wheel]

Just for clarity, in your fic Celestia and Luna are of the same stature as everyone else, or as in the cartoon, are the royal sisters taller compared to the others?

[nitelight]

11825055
They're taller than the average height, but not quite as drastically as in the show. Luna's also a bit shorter than she would normally be due to her weakened state. So I'd say, yes, they're around the same stature as a tall man.