Night

by Revenant Wings

II.4 - Night is Mysterious

Over the next week after Pinkie’s party I spent most of my evenings in the library reading more of the books in Twilight’s library. Twilight had been kind enough to help me find a few books on Equestrian wildlife and politics and let me read through them at my leisure. While Twilight was normally consumed by either her own studies of magic or anything else and by her duties as a princess, she was nearly always willing to help explain concepts to me. I learned more about the nature and life of Equestria from Twilight than I ever did from Luna’s history lessons and likely had a much larger variety of knowledge than I had from just the history lessons as well.

I also had a few days where I was out among the residents of Ponyville as well. What Revenant had told me was true; by the end of the week I could name almost every single pony just by looking at coat color and their cutie mark. I would sometimes peruse the flower stalls run by Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily. Some days would be spent listening to music played by the DJ Vinyl Scratch, classically-trained cellist Octavia, or the sax and guitar playing blues pony Noteworthy. One day I even went out and met up with Rainbow Dash again and watched as she and a few other pegasi worked on creating a storm over Ponyville, with the pegasi having fun by chasing me around by making a single dry spot in the middle of the rain move around and watched me race around town to follow it; I got a laugh out of it and they didn’t do it for very long so it was a good game.

I spent some time with the rest of Twilight’s friends as well. I once helped Applejack and Big Macintosh with the creation of some apple juice, apple fritters, and apple pie that Applejack planned to sell into town, simultaneously meeting the energetic fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I once spent the better part of an afternoon at Sugarcube Corner tasting various treats and meeting with both the owners – the Cake family and their two foals – as well as meeting with some of the regulars of the store: a brown earth pony stallion with a hourglass cutie mark named Time Turner and a grey pegasus mare with one eye skewed slightly off center known as Derpy Hooves. I even spent a short amount of time at Rarity’s Boutique when she had finished the two outfits she made for me; both were surprisingly comfortable and fit rather well and I was happy with the results, though when I tried to ask her about her behavior the last time I was in there she simply waved it off and said she got lost in thought and didn’t have any more of the flirtatious attitude though she did compliment me on my politeness towards her.

I also spent some time alone with Revenant Wings, finding a spot on a hill above town that none of the ponies went to very frequently and just sat there with him, watching the residents in the town below. It was a place where I could find solitude and be alone with my own thoughts, something Revenant seemed to understand I needed and said nothing to me during these times until I had decided it was time to go back into Ponyville. We didn’t talk much to each other; just about my experiences and how I was doing. At one point Revenant told me he was sending a note to Shining Armor and the others back in Canterlot to let them know how I was doing, which I told him that I was doing fine but still waiting for Celestia to finish the spell. He personally added an addendum that little trouble had been caused and that I seemed to be adjusting well to the time off before sending the letter.

A little over a week after Pinkie’s party, I was sitting at the library in the evening reading a book on Equestrian social structure. There was a knock at the door and a few moments of silence before Spike came up to the third-floor study to get my attention.

“Revenant Wings is here,” he said. “I guess he has a letter from Canterlot.”

I looked over to Twilight, who shrugged, and went downstairs to where Revenant Wings was waiting in the first-floor library. I took the letter from him, nothing it was addressed as being from Shining Armor, and we went over to the kitchen to read it.

Nemo:

I got the letter on your progress from Revenant Wings. I hope that Ponyville is treating you well. Me and Cadence have been missing you since you left, me because we were fairly close friends while you were here and Cadence because you felt something like a younger brother to her. While Celestia is unable to write letters to you herself lately with preparations for the celebration at the end of the month, she wishes you well in Ponyville and hopes that Twilight and the rest of the residents have been treating you right.

I write in part to say hello and partly to say that Princess Luna has been acting strangely lately. She has sometimes asked about you and how you’re doing, but does not offer much of a reply when we ask her why she wants to know. Even Cadence, whose magic allows her to see the relationships between ponies, has been unable to figure out why she’s acting that way and why it’s specifically you she wants to know about. I’ve heard from some of the night guard she spends a lot of time in the evenings sitting in the observatory staring out towards Ponyville. I haven’t seen any of it myself, but I do know she seems to be going to the observatory a lot more lately and refuses to speak about it.

I don’t have much time to write due to my guard duties, but I hope we’ll be able to keep in continued touch.

Best regards, Shining Armor.

“I wonder what’s gotten Luna upset,” Revenant commented. “She’s known for being one of the most stoic of the princesses and yet it seems this entire thing with you has caused her to have strange and unusual behavior.”

“Well, there’s the fact that she’s still likely upset with me for the whole thing with accusing her of Nightmare Moon yet again,” I responded.

“And yet she saved you and insisted on knowing your progress,” Revenant said. “Perhaps she’s beginning to have a change of heart.”

I scoffed. “Like that would happen.”

Revenant came up next to me and placed a wing around me. “Don’t be too pessimistic now, Nemo. Luna may have been hard on you, but that doesn’t mean she is completely against you and holding a grudge on you.”

“She’s been holding a grudge on my kind being in Equestria for over a thousand years, Revenant. I think she could possibly hold it for another thousand more.”

Revenant retracted his wing and nodded. “You have a point there.”

Just then, we heard a call from Twilight in the upper levels of the library. “Nemo! Come here, I think I’ve found something.”

Revenant looked at me questioningly. I just shrugged and went up the stairs with Revenant following me as we went into the upper study. Twilight was pouring over a book that had the image of a human on it. A closer look at the title of the book revealed it to be “A Brief History of Humans in Equestria.”

“Ever since you’ve come here,” Twilight said, “I decided to research some of the history of humans in Equestria. I was reading through this fascinating book on the subject when I found the following passage.” Twilight pushed the book towards me. “It’s from a speech written about Luna when she was pending banishment to the moon… written by a human.”

I looked over at Twilight questioningly, then turned my attention to the book and began to read the passage aloud:

Perhaps our night has caused us problems in the past, and I can agree with your feelings towards her; our night is distant, unable to reach down to her people as often. Our night is cold, not afraid to show how harsh she can be. Night is unforgiving, never holding back in her wrath, and even more terrifying than what lies beyond the darkest depths. Our night brings darkness to our lands and makes us quiver in fright… but with our night comes the moon, which brings us light. Our night is wondrous, showing us both dark and light. Our night is protective, with the moon and her ever-watchful eye. Night is honest, causing us to show our true feelings. Night is comforting, the time when we gather to rest for a new day. And night is loyal… loyal to her state, loyal to her subjects, and loyal to those she watches… and she watches over every single one of you.

I had no idea of what to think when I was done reading it. I had to wonder what exactly it was that Luna had done that could possibly inspire the person that had written this. She was distant, uncaring and unconcerned with what happened to me in the early days of my stay. She was cold and harsh and not afraid to show her anger. She was also unforgiving, placing her feelings from a thousand years ago on to me as though she expected me to follow those trends. And when she was angry I could only think of her as being the most terrifying thing I had ever seen.

“The negative stuff all fits from what I’ve seen,” I said. “But… I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything from the good portion.”

Twilight thought for a minute. “Have you… ever heard calming or protective voices in your head? Either drifting off to sleep or in your dreams?”

I had to think back over the past two months…

…that does not give my sister the right to do what she did.

…but it was hard to come up with anything…

He is my charge, and I will protect him from whatever may assault him.

…that could even possibly relate…

Hush now, quiet now; it’s time to lay your sleepy head …

…to what the person in the book was…

I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...

…oh.

I felt weakened, dizzy, and couldn’t explain why. I got up from the book.

“I… I think I need to go to bed and let this all process. I… I’ll see you both in the morning.” And I walked back over to my room, closed the door, and fell asleep in my bed without bothering to change clothes.

* * *

I stood at the entrance of an unfamiliar room. It wasn’t anywhere that I knew or could remember, and the way that everything was dull as though viewed through a set of brown shades. In front of me was a woman, the first human woman I had seen in a long time. She was fair skinned and had blonde hair and was sitting next to a crib, holding something. I walked over and looked at her and noticed that she had my skin and eye color. In her arms was a baby, not but a few months old that had my skin, my eyes, and a little wisp of hair that looked the same color as mine…

“Mother…?”

The woman cradled the baby gently in her arms, letting the infant grab her finger as it played and eventually suckled on it. Eventually the woman unbuttoned the shirt she was wearing and brought the baby to her breast where it began to suck as it let out small cooing noises. The woman smiled gently at it as I knelt down in front of her. I waved a hand in front of the woman’s face, but she didn’t seem to notice me and continued paying attention to the baby in her arms. As time passed and the infant continued to suckle, the woman began to sing:

“Hush-a-by, don’t you cry,

Go to sleep, little baby.

And when you wake, you shall have cake,

And all the pretty little ponies.

Paint and bay, sorrel and gray,

All the pretty little ponies.

So hush-a-by, don’t you cry,

Go to sleep, little baby.”

It was ironic and strange yet soothing and comforting to hear her sing. Her voice was clear and pure and she sang it with a sort of warmth and tenderness that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A little while later, the baby stopped suckling and closed its eyes as it fell asleep in the woman’s arms. The woman moved over to a rocking chair and sat down in it, rocking gently back and forth.

“Oh, Lucas,” the woman said. “Your father… I wish your father was here more often. I’m sure that if he had his wits about him he’d understand you’re a bright and wonderful son. Lucas… the light of my life. It was dark when you were born, but you have brought light into my life again. Perhaps… perhaps you will find the light somewhere, too.”

There was a hint of melancholy and sadness in the woman’s voice, and she looked off into the distance as she talked, as though barely recognizing she still had the baby in her lap. I wanted to reach out and touch her and comfort her, telling her that someone had heard her, but whenever I went to touch her she failed to notice me as though I wasn’t even there.

“She can’t see you,” came a dark voice. “None of them can.”

I turned around to see the dark alicorn with the set of dark blue armor in the corner of the room, laughing coldly.

“You again. Nightmare Moon.”

Nightmare Moon laughed coldly. “At least you’ve remembered my name; you were so close to death last time I thought it wouldn’t stick.”

“What is going on here?”

“You’re seeing your past… Lucas.”

I looked over from Nightmare Moon to the woman and the baby in the rocking chair, then back to Nightmare moon.

“What are you doing, prowling through my memories?”

“Oh… just giving you a taste of what life was like before.”

“What are you going to do to it?”

“Me?” The alicorn scoffed but a grin started to grow on her face. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t need to. This is simply a look at your past, at the life and memories you lost. Let’s continue to take a look, shall we?”

The room melted away into a different one that had a young boy sitting at the closed door. There was the sound of panicked shouting, followed by the sound of breaking glass. I could recognize the voice of the woman screaming at someone to stop, but when I went to the door I found I couldn’t open it. There was a hard thump on the other side of the door and the woman screamed in pain. I pulled and pushed the door, turning the knob, but I couldn’t get it to move. What’s more, the boy started crying and the pounding returned on the door followed by the screams of a drunken man standing just on the other side.

“Please!” I cried. “Let me out! I have to do something to stop this!”

“What is in the past cannot be changed,” Nightmare Moon replied. “It is but a memory. I must say that entering your memories you can have some frightening nightmares if they were to be released…”

I looked at the alicorn. “So… this is a dream, is it?”

Nightmare Moon nodded, the grin plastered across her face.

“So… that means I can do… this?”

I grabbed the door and pulled and the brown room gave way to a flood of light. Before Nightmare Moon could respond I ran through the doorway and found myself in the main floor of Twilight’s library, the color returning to the world. As quickly as I could, I turned around and shut the door behind me, hearing as a loud thump sounded on the other side. I opened the door to find that the door I had closed lead to the kitchen area. Without waiting for any more provocation I fled for the library entrance to leave the building.

The main door was locked and I couldn’t unlock it even from the inside. I heard a laughing coming from the kitchen and quickly closed the door again. A rumbling began to overtake the giant oak and I fled upstairs as a wave of darkness began rushing into the library, bolting up the stairs for the study on the top floor. Even then, I wasted no time and ran over to the balcony and flung open the door, racing outside and looking over the railing as the darkness consumed the inside of the library.

Nightmare Moon’s head poked out from the darkness that had covered the library. “You still think you can run away from your nightmares?” she said. “You’re stupid to think that.”

“But now that I know this is a dream, it puts us on equal footing, doesn’t it?”

“Listen to me,” Nightmare said, pulling herself from the darkness. “You jump over that railing and you’ll break your leg.”

“Not if it’s a dream,” I told her.

“I can make your mind think it’s real,” Nightmare taunted.

I watched as a bit of her mane began snaking its way towards me, but I didn’t let it stop me. I turned around and launched myself off the balcony, falling down as I remembered that I wasn’t awake but asleep and finding myself in a dream. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, but was only greeted with a soft thump on the dirt road through Ponyville.

“No!” I heard Nightmare scream. “That… that shouldn’t be possible!”

“You’ve given away your secret, Nightmare Moon,” I said. “I’m not letting you trick me with something like that.”

Nightmare growled and took flight off the balcony. She swooped down at me as I tried to run away, and nearly hit me as she dived in. At the last second, I jumped for the ground and ducked as her hooves flew harmlessly over my head. I picked myself back up, but the alicorn had already turned around for another charge. She came in too fast and before I could react she had grabbed me in her hooves and was carrying me into the night sky over Ponyville.

My hands were free, though, and I aimed my blow for her neck. My arms shot forwards and grasped her neck as tight as I could. The sudden loss of breath shocked Nightmare Moon and her front hooves released me as she choked and spluttered through my grip on her neck. But my victory was short lived as she started to shake violently as we passed back over the balcony and I lost my grip. I grabbed the edge of the balcony as quickly as I could and pulled myself up as Nightmare crashed at the open door at the edge of the darkness inside the library.

“You little foal!” she cried. “You have more spunk than I thought, but did you really think that was enough? We alicorns are immortal!”

“But you’re not immune to damage,” I said.

Nightmare Moon growled again. I decided to take the fight to her and lunged at her neck, once again grasping it and holding on for dear life as the alicorn thrashed around the balcony. But again my plan was short-lived as the alicorn bucked and threw me off and a final thrash had me pushed off her and flying towards the darkness in the library.

I screamed as my vision went totally black and I kept falling and increasing speed until I hit some sort of floor and rolled around until I finally came to a stop. Despite the blackness surrounding me, I could still make out where my hands and legs were, as though my body was the only thing that had color to it in my surroundings.

“Wha… where am I?”

The blackness stretched out before me in all directions, but it felt like I could walk through it. I walked forward cautiously and carefully, looking around at my surroundings and trying to make out what happened. For a long time I kept walking forward, but nothing after nothing greeted me.

“I… I’m not dead… am I?”

I might have been dead… but I certainly wasn’t alone.

I would have nearly tripped over the small creature if I hadn’t have looked down. It was an alicorn that looked like Luna, but the fur was a lighter, paler blue and the mane was a solid blue that was lighter and paler than the fur. The alicorn was also only about as big as Twilight was and not anywhere near the larger size of the other alicorns, who all stood at least a head taller than myself at the shortest.

“Who… who are you?”

The alicorn looked up and I saw a sort of spark of recognition in her eye though I could swear I had never seen her before. “My sister banished me to the moon when the darkness took over me. I didn’t mean to do it… I just let my hatred get the best of me…”

“But… what is your name?”

“My name?” the alicorn questioned. When I nodded her head went down and she spoke as though she was on the edge of crying. “My name isn’t important before. No one remembers me like this. They all know me as Nightmare… Nightmare Moon. But I’m not like that, I swear! I swear…”

I cautiously knelt down beside the alicorn and stroked her mane. “What… what’s your name?” she asked me.

“Well, for a while I was known as Nemo… but I think my name’s actually Lucas.”

“Lucas?” I felt the alicorn lean into my hand. “That’s a nice name.”

“I want to know yours.”

“Mine? You mean… my actual name?”

“…well, yes.”

The alicorn stared at me with her bright blue eyes. But as I was looking into her eyes, I noticed the fur become darker, the mane become more ethereal, and her voice become much older and wiser.

“My name… is Luna.”

“Luna!?”

But she wasn’t there anymore. I was awake in my bed in Twilight’s library as though nothing had happened. I pulled the covers off me and sat up in bed, hearing a scuffling of hooves outside as a light turned on and the door opened to reveal both Twilight and Revenant Wings standing in the study.

“Nemo! Are you alright?”

I looked over to them. “How… how long was I asleep for?”

“About an hour,” Revenant replied.

I looked around. “An hour…”

Twilight entered the room and sat on the bed while Revenant stood at the door looking concerned but unable to move. “Nemo…” the purple alicorn asked. “What happened?”

It took a while for the words to come out. “I… I saw my mother. She… she was singing a lullaby to me when I was a few months old. She… she called me Lucas… and said that I brought light into her world.”

“Well,” Twilight said. “The name ‘Lucas’ in some cultures can mean ‘light’ or ‘bringer of light’. And it fits you well.”

“But… but what about you shouting for Luna?” Revenant asked.

I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t know myself.

Comments

[Jormungandr]

Calling it, now - somehow, Luna is his mother.
» Mike

[Revenant Wings]

2613422
SPOILER: Nope.

[Conmankez]

Oooh, I really enjoyed this chapter! Keep 'em coming!

[Jormungandr]

2613427
Rereading other comments about the bond...

Is Luna just pissed that, because he literally cannot feel a Bond, he can't understand what's going on between them, while she does/can?

» Mike

[MuzaWaza]

More like the chapter is mysterious!

[Revenant Wings]

2613494
Half of it's a dream sequence.

2613484
I actually hadn't thought of that. However, Chapter I.6 and I.7, Luna does state her hatred of humans is based on past atrocities, so that's the official reason for the time being. I might have to incorporate that bond thing, though...

[Camshock55]

THIS STORY HAS THE GREAT POTENTIAL TO BE A ROMANCE AND BY GOLLY IT NEEDS TO BE
My suggestions:
Biased: 1. Spitfire(there's not enough around and are great in my opinion)
2. Rainbow Dash(It would make the story 20% cooler)
3. Luna (A wierd turn around of emotions with Luna could work maybe)
UNBIASED:
1. Twilight (HGGNNN to much potential)
2. Rarity (You could pull it off seein as you have rarity wanting the D)
3. Rainbow dash(there are a lot of stories involkg said pony so a LOT of inspiration plus they could develop together seeing as they hav common interests /daring do/)

[Revenant Wings]

2616210
One of your suggestions is closer than you think...

[Fireeaters]

Woona is best pony
Do moar

[Camshock55]

2617541
"G-G-G-G-G-G-GOT ITTTTT"~Deluxe 4

[Vaalintine]

Please don't have him just abandon his old life, even if it was rough. If you abandon yourself, you might as well not even exist at all.

[Even Evil Has Standards]

2801722
Baby Luna

[Relux_the_Relux]

9348789
Yeah, also named Lucas and feel the same.