Prince Artemis unexpectantly meets with a mysterious mare in the dream world, seeks to find how he can reach this dimension where all of the ponies he knows are of opposite genders including his brother and... himself?
Prince Artemis is faced with a conundrum. His brother, Solaris, seems to be contacting an alternate dimension through magical dreams, and covertly meeting with an Alicorn Princess that bears a striking resemblance to him. Inspection of this causes the lunar prince to run into somepony he never will forget... himself.
A muffled cry. A panicked gasp abruptly issued out into the darkness. Prince Artemis jerked awake and flailed two sweat-soaked hooves into empty space. As his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom of the royal bedchamber, familiar blues and purples comforted his wide eyes, and a second, more controlled breath, was issued.
Though he was supposed to be the lord of dreams, that didn’t seem to stop him from being haunted by terrors that lurked beyond his control. Artemis pushed away the sweat twisted sheets, and mentally stabled himself by looking around and assuring himself on the lack of monsters in the room.
He stood, his long blue legs blending with the dim swirls of blue that covered the floor of the camber, and he begrudgingly plodded over to the heavy purple drapes that concealed the only window in the room. He squinted his eyes in preparation as he carefully nudged heavy cloth out of their position and, despite his efforts to ready himself, jumped back as harsh sunlight blasted through the small crack in the darkness, nearly blinding the night-eyed alicorn. After a moment or two of shocked penalization as his retinas screamed at him, he once again gazed out the tiny orifice to the outside world and gauged the time, seeing that the sun was lazily lounging on the orange horizon, and beginning to dip further.
As if alerted to his waking, a sharp rap on the door preceded a parade of guards and servants entering the previously dark room, accompanied by a measured amount of reflected daylight and soft torchlight that always was present in the night wing of the royal palace. Artemis turned to greet these intruders and immediately noticed that they all wore a look of worry that they were trying, to varying degrees of success, to hide from him. He sighed quietly and decided to try yet again to comfort these ponies.
“Good evening, my little ponies. I am glad to see you all here on the night of Hearts and Hooves day, even though you were welcome to take the day off!” He grinned to his staff, and as his grin was partially returned, he turned to the nearest pony to his right, a night guard mare, with a stout shield as her cutie mark, and decided a little more banter would be necessary to dissipate everypony’s doubt, including his own. “Iron Shield, I know normal procedures and all, but could you reduce my guard to minimal, and ask for volunteers? This is a night to be enjoyed by young ponies like yourself, and not locked up here with me” He smirked at the last comment, and the look of concern faded to one of appreciation, as she bowed her head and retreated from the room, followed by the three other guards.
He turned to his group of servants, still slightly uneasy from his unusual enthusiasm, and requested that he would require only one or two to help him for his nightly duties, and the others might take leave for the night, to desired effect. After the emptying of the room, he eyed the two unicorn ponies left and swiftly walked toward the adjoined bathroom to take a quick shower before beginning his nights work, followed by eight light hoofsteps. As he entered the marble room, the faucets were magically activated, his servants used to his wordless routine, and quickly beginning without a question.
His mind, now soothed by routine, turned inwards. 'He had hooves enough... but what did this old alicorn know about hearts?'
~~~
He stepped forth into the darkened atrium of the castle, his Moon slowly climbing carefully past his sleeping shroud of stars into the deep blue of his sky. His hoofsteps resounded slightly against the marble pillars as he entered the throne room, and as he seated himself atop the lofty throne of Equestria, he magically unfurled the banner behind him, baring a resemblance of his cutie mark, and announced “Night court is in session!” to the massive crowd assembled before him…
…Which consisted of the two guards stationed at the throne and the four at the door. The well trained ponies couldn’t help themselves from glancing at him, and he gave a nervous chuckle that did little to help with the awkward tension that filled the air. Inwardly facehoofing, he recomposed his look of regality, and gazed at the far wall sternly.
Embarrassment flowed through his mind, and he blushed ever so slightly at his bone-headedness. Night court was only a fantasy he had been harboring, one that would undoubtedly receive laughter from his older brother Prince Solaris, and the stupidity of his shouting it out to the empty court room had not been apparent to him before, in his thoughts, but it was very apparent now.
His guards long since locking their stares forward, Artemis schooled his mind and cleared away distracting thought as he started his actual duty, that of walking the dreams of ponies and protecting them from what they fear. The Lunar Prince bowed his regal head, closed his dark teal eyes, and his horn flashed a dark azure fire that engulfed his entire body, consuming his form and leaving nothing behind but an empty throne.
~~~
Artemis tugged his hooves firmly out of reality and stepped out into the ephemeral dreamscape and beheld the sprawling and twisting world of dreams before him. With a contented sigh, the tall alicorn made his way seamlessly through the ghostly realm, casting a gaze around in search of any alarming dreams that stood out in the nigh incomprehensible cloud of sleeping ponies’ consciences and immediately caught sight of a young foal being chased around by what seemed to be a bipedal garbage bin.
Shaking his head in disbelief, he grinned and stepped through the membranous barrier into the dream and adjusted his tall helm to not snag the illusionary doorway of the child’s room. Leaning down, he poked his snout under the posh bed and located the small colt, panting in fear and obviously shaken from the trauma of a waste container pursuing him around his house.
“Diamond Crown?” Artemis whispered calmingly, though the foal still jumped, to the greatest degree he could, given the cramped space under his bed, and turned wide eyed to him “What are you doing down here? Brave stallions like you are not usually the type to hide, are they?”
With that remark, the pink cheeks of the young colt tinted a deep red, and a surprised look of indignation lit upon his small face, as he huffed slightly, before sassing “I am not hiding, just… uh… waiting to get the drop on it!”
“Well then, here it comes back, are you ready?” Suddenly the bed vanished to reveal to the foal the large trashcan walking towards him.
“Iiiiieeeeee!” The colt had somehow manage to scale the side of the Prince and was squealing from the back of Artemis’ neck before the bed had completely vanished, much to the surprise of both of them. A wry grin played across the alicorn's face as he set his hooves wide and confronted the walking trashcan in all of its ridiculous fearsomeness.
A flash of magic ushered in a large sack of rubbish, which the Prince levitated over to the hungry opening of the waste can, and the young foal watched in awe as the mighty beast was tamed by being filled with trash, and his young eyes gleamed and turned to look at the face of his savior.
“Trash cans don’t eat up little foals and fillies; they are for filling with… well… trash. You, Diamond Crown, must do this, and you shall be tormented by them nevermore!” As Artemis was saying this, the young colt had resumed his place on the floor next to him, and drank in every word with a stunned look of admiration. When the Prince had stated this, he bowed his head to the foal and stepped backwards out the dream door, and out of the dream itself, leaving an awed and comforted conscience, and smiled at a job well done.
As Artemis once again gazed into the mist of vaporous- seeming dream worlds, something seemed amiss. A powerful amount of magic was flowing from a nearby dream, and it was warping the fabric of the dreamscape around him. He felt a powerful presence that he recognized as his brother Solaris, but when he looked for the dream, it was as if the world was bending to conceal it from his sight. With this, he realized that a spell was being used to shroud the dream from his eyes, which was well within the abilities of his brother… yet there was more than just his dream hidden in the enigmatic absence he gazed at. It seemed to occupy more room than just one dream, but could never hold two individual dreams, that would be impossible…
The Lunar Prince, now curious and anxious, magically began unweaving the spell that prevented his view of this mysterious dream, and as his horn glowed, the warping of the dream affected him even more. Then, as if tearing open a cloth bag, the dream suddenly exposed itself, and he immediately saw the dream was much different than he expected. More than that, it seemed like the dream was a conglomeration of Solaris’ dream and… somepony else’s.
At this, cautious curiosity turned into unabashed probing and Artemis quickly moved to enter the dream. As he pressed his snout to the membrane-like barrier that defined the dream, he almost could have sworn he saw, through some strange prismatic twisting of the dream world, a distorted reflection or refraction of himself entering the dream opposite him. He shook his head, steeling his resolve to figure this mystery out before something happened to him or other ponies’ dreams, and dove straight through…
Back into his throne in Canterlot Castle.
~~~
Artemis blinked, and looked around in surprise at the throne room, which was exactly how he left it except for the irksome fact that all of his guards had evidently deserted him, leaving him utterly alone. The Prince of Dreams wondered how he had suddenly lost connection with the dream world, and decided to confront his brother Solaris about it. He was also incredibly curious about the mysterious and powerful dream that the Solar Prince was having, and began to stand up.
At this, his first question was answered, for when his hoof made contact with the marble floor, a ripple of concentric rings emanated from his hoof, shaking the walls and even ceiling of the massive chamber. Artemis then more carefully examined the room and noticed some of the tell-tale signs of a dream: the details of the room seemed somewhat hazy and ill-defined; the torches cast no shadows on the now-ethereal floor; the slight shifting of the world as the fabric of the dream wavered. Despite these factors, the dream seemed much more detailed and defined than any dream he had entered before, and if this wasn’t even the room the dreamer was in!
This was highly unusual, and Artemis’ inquisitiveness was piqued even further. He quickly departed, each hoofstep bringing him closer to the private chambers of the Sun Prince.
~~~
Thundering hoof falls announced the galloping entrance of Artemis into the highest corridor in the Day Wing of Canterlot Castle, and a dozen meters or so before the ornately gilded door he managed to rein in his enthusiasm enough to slow, and magically cloaked himself so as to be unseen by any wandering eyes. He cautiously approached the perpendicular running hallway and peered around the corner both directions.
This close to the center of the dream, it was just nigh impossible for even he to tell it was a dream, and when he looked towards the door once again, he was hit by a powerful wave of magic that issued from within the room. The dream there seemed… twisted, strangely seeming as if the dreamer was in two different places at one, and yet in the same location. The source was definitely Solaris, yet it seemed… different somehow, as if he was dreaming the dream twice at the same time and folding them together in the most magically advanced dream spell he had ever seen.
Artemis was not slightly infuriated at his brother’s knowledge over him in the area of his only real specialty, the dream world. Throwing caution to the wind, he spread his wings high and magically looked straight through the wall into the bedroom, and then stopped.
What he saw shut down all that he was at that moment, and a moment later, it hit him again. A cry of shock escaped his lips, his eyes slamming shut, and hooves clumsily turning around and his body shakily accelerating away from the sight.
'How could there be two…!?! What was… how… What?!? Does that mean…'
Before the frantic thoughts could come to collusion, his long snout slammed into some unnoticed surface, the softness of which confounded Artemis, until he immediately flipped forward and landed with a solid thud on the illusionary floor. Wild eyes sprung open to asses their surroundings and saw… nothing. Artemis was alone in the hallway, and had seemed to have collided with nothing but thin air.
His first thought was that he had been attacked by magic, but upon a second consideration, he realized that he was still invisible. Looking down at his hooves, he simply saw the smooth marble floor, and a thought hit him.
'What if I am not the only thing invisible in this corridor? But if that was true, then…'
Horror flooded through the Lunar Prince as implications of these thoughtless actions rushed to him. He lifted an invisible ear and listened closely, and heard quick shallow breathing. That was not his own.
~~~
A shriek of terror erupted from seemingly empty space nearby and a bright flashed from the tip of a now revealing horn, and Artemis noted, as he matched the action, that this horn that ostensibly sprung into existence was quite long, and, as far as he could tell, was colored much like his own. This thought sprung him into action as he magically summoned a portal that would convey him to the waking world, and out of this nightmarish plight. As the tear in the world spread wide, he glanced to his left, and noticed an equal sized hole appearing, and the silhouette of a tall and graceful alicorn gradually fade into existence, and he thought back to the scene he had seen in Solaris’ room, but as this jarringly effeminate shadow quickly stepped through the portal, the shade of its coat darkened towards a familiar hue, much darker than the one he had seen before inside the far room.
And, as the tall, shapely hindquarters were about to disappear through, Artemis’ eyes glimpsed the edge of this mysterious pony’s cutie mark, and his thoughts clicked as he recognized the dark cloud and white crescent. His cutie mark was perfectly reflected, though slightly closer to the ground, and mounted on a much… curvier background…
The portal closed, snapping him into reality and jarring his thoughts into withdrawal, as his hooves met the cool metal of the throne.
~~~
Dusk Shine,
I write to you now not as your prince, nor even the brother of your mentor, but as a comrade and confidant. The confidentiality of this letter is of the utmost, as I do intend that this message never be seen by any eyes other than yours. If you have spines reading this aloud, it would be prudent to take it now and read it in privacy.
Since you helped free me from my curse me with your power over the elements of harmony, I have looked to you as a friend of mine and in our correspondence over magic that I have express realm to, I believe that I have built a strong colleague in you, and now I need your help with an issue that I am faced with.
This past night, I was, as with every night, fulfilling my duties and safeguarding the dreams of all the ponies in Equestria, but last night I encountered something I have never encountered before. I came upon a dream that was somehow woven with magic that hid it from my sight, with a spell that I could not discern. I was able to uncover the dream, but when I tried to find its source, it seemed as if it was coming from two different ponies, from two different places. It was twisted and only one of the ponies was I able to recognize, which was my brother, Prince Solaris. The other pony… I was unable to find their location, as they seemed to be dreaming from beyond this world.
I entered the dream, and found it to be simply too realistic and well imagined of a dream for even one as powerful as my brother to dream. As I searched this dream, I found the reason for this level of detail was that there were two dreamers, two actual ponies in the same dream… My brother and… Another pony.
Artemis paused as he wrote this, his mind flickering with the image of the ivory alicorn standing next to his brother, his cutie mark mirrored on her flank, his mane extended down her neck and his eyes looked at themselves set in her… jarringly beautiful face.
This pony was almost identical to Solaris, except for the fact that it was a female. The two ponies seemed to be… fornicating to some degree which is highly unfit behavior for the Prince of the Sun to be committing.
I know not what this means, and I need your assistance in finding out. This pony is not of this world, not of this dimension, and I need your help to find out what she wants with my brother, and what threat she poses.
Do not contact Solaris on this matter, instead, come to Canterlot and contact me as soon as possible, my night guards will be sent to fly to your library, and will meet you at the earliest you can.
Your friend,
Prince Artemis
Magically sealing the envelope, Artemis glanced out the window at the sun laying on the horizon, about to dip beneath the line of mountains framed by his platinum gilded window. A flash of magic shot up his fluted horn, and the letter burst into azure flames and magically trailed off in the direction of Ponyville.
The Lunar Prince walked to his doorway, opening them and stepped outwards, toward his door guard, to whom he whispered a few short orders. The guard and his partner across the doorway locked eyes, and the sentry ran off down the hall, leaving the second guard at the door of the chambers of night. Artemis then walked down the hallways of the night wing of the castle with his single escort trailing behind him.
As his routine kicked in, Artemis purposefully avoided his accustom evening meal with his brother by going directly to the royal kitchen, and received a finely arranged breakfast of hay bread and apple jam. He ate silently at a nearby open table in the chefs’ lounge, as his guard signaled all of the chefs to not worry and get to bed for the night. Artemis noticed none of this, as his mind raced through thoughts of worry and wonder.
Images of the pair of alicorns were shocking enough, but the most shocking event of last night’s dreamwalking experience was his encounter with … His double. Their actions were nearly identical, and the more he thought of it, he realized that she was doing the exact same thing as he was, spying on their siblings in their magically enhanced dream, and being shocked by the discovery of a strange alicorn kissing their brother/sister.
And the more he thought of it, he became more and more fascinated by what he felt when he thought of her… this dark and mysterious mare from another dimension.
His thoughts were cut short by a sudden burst of magical fire and the rustle of a letter appearing in front of the Night Prince, and landing softly on a small smear of jam on his plate. Wiping off this blemish, Artemis unrolled the scroll with his hoof and eagerly read the response from Dusk Shine.
Prince Artemis,
This is Dusk Shine, and I received your note. I have packed and I am already on the way, your guards said that I shouldn’t bring spines, but I did anyways. Your discoveries are frightening, and I will help in any way to solve this mystery. I will be there just before midnight, if my calculations are correct.
Dusk.
As he read the word midnight, Artemis suddenly remembered that he needed to raise the moon, and he unceremoniously grabbed the note in his mouth and bolted out the door toward his balcony. His guard sprung up, surprised by the sudden change in mood of the Prince, and hurriedly followed the long strides of the cobalt alicorn.
At the doorway to the cold night, Artemis dropped the letter from his mouth and leapt into the position for raising his celestial charge, willing the moon to climb from its rest beneath the horizon to its place in the sky. His horn glowed like a sapphire rod and his cerulean wings spread out and propelled him towards the heavens. His teal eyes closed and reopened a brilliant white, his wings flapping once, twice, and again spread out to their full extent as the moon was set in place in his night sky.
~~~
“Prince Dusk Shine has arrived to have counsel with the High Lord Artemis.” A guard called out from the door, as the great doors to the throne room opened to permit the entrance of the purple alicorn.
“AH, DUSK, I AM GLAD THOU HAST COME BEFORE ME!” Boomed Prince Artemis, his mighty voice echoing throughout the great hall, as he formally greeted his guest in the traditional Canterlot voice.
Dusk held a hoof to his ear and grimaced at the prince until he saw the wry smile that had cracked upon Artemis’ face. “GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO!” he shouted back and the Lunar Prince let out a bark of laughter and quickly descended from his great throne to join the alicorn.
“It is good to see you again; I do believe I have been doing well with adjusting, thanks to the tips you gave me.” Artemis joked as he jabbed at his companion humorously, and was met with a chuckle from the alicorn.
“Yes, much better” Dusk responded. “Though voice training is not the reason I and Spines are giving up a night of sleep for, is it?” He joked, glancing behind him to see a small dragon, curled up behind him on the soft rug. “Well, at least what I am giving up a night for” The two stallions chuckled as Dusk levitated the slumbering baby dragon on to his back, and they began trotting together down the side hallway of the throne room that lead to the night wing and Artemis’ chambers.
As they walked, Artemis and Dusk began discussing in detail the alarming experience that the night prince had endured the night before, and what magic spells could have been responsible. Artemis, though he trusted his friend, kept from mentioning any details of the second female alicorn he met, and thoughts he had on her.
“So you say that he... she... they weren't even using magic at the time, and that it was somehow just magically stayed as a fixed combination?”
“Yes.” Prince Artemis replied to the anxious purple stallion, who was pacing back and forth and unconsciously twitching his wings in apprehension. “Neither of their horns were glowing... at least as far as I could tell, though my brother and his doppelganger seemed entirely too intrigued with... each other to be casting a continuous and powerful spell that kept the dreams together.”
Dusk Shine blanched, and cautiously inquired “To what degree of *ahem* fornication were they engaging to?”
Artemis grimaced and blushed, then hastily replied “Oh no, not... They were, I believe the modern term to be 'making out'... as to say they were kissing quite aggressively, with quite a show of tongue-pony-ship displayed by both parties...” at which he blushed and grimaced even harder, and Dusk's cheeks tinted pink in embarrassment.
“Oh” he replied in a small voice, in equal parts slightly relieved and disturbed by this.
“Yeah... hmm...” the Lunar Prince trailed off.
After a brief moment of painfully awkward silence, Dusk cleared his throat and declared “I think I know how this feat might have been achieved. In our past correspondence, we have discussed the use and creation of magical artifacts, and we even set a scrying pool artifact so we could have immediate and personal conversations. While we used these so I could teach you of the modern behaviors and trends, and you could teach me the illusionary arts and dream magic, which was never taught to me by Solaris.”
“You think an artifact was made to scry beyond the limits of our dimension?” Artemis cautiously inquired.
“Yes, though it may only work through the common medium of the dream world, where boundaries are less defined, as you said yourself. This could have possibly been used with another, or had the magical qualities added, so that the dream could be shrouded from the errant eye of a dreamwalker such as yourself.”
“This obviously wasn't strong enough to stop me, though,” Artemis smirked, though there was no humor in his voice as his mind wrapped itself around this concept.
“Solaris probably underestimated your ability, or overestimated his magic when creating this, as you were the obvious reason to obscure such a dream.” Dusk sighed, and looked around the study that was attached to Artemis' royal chambers, and levitated a cushion to recline upon as his mind sagged from the lengthy calculations that uncontrollably strutted themselves around his psyche. “The effort to create one or two artifacts of this magnitude must have been immense, not to mention the research that even your brother would have to do to find such a spell. Magic that crosses dimensional boundaries sounds like dark magic, and would probably not be present in any tombs in Canterlot. The dream shrouding seems to be a bit more mundane, but the way you described it as... pockets of the immaterium itself twisting and binding, seething away from even your experienced eye. Hmm...” A puzzled look splayed across the purple stallion's face, And Artemis checked the time.
Looking out towards the west, the Lunar Prince saw the moon getting dangerously near it's setting point, and realized that he had entirely forgotten his nightly duties.
“Well, we will have to discuss this more in the evening, as I have to go set the moon and rest, but I will rise early so that I can see you for longer and still fulfill my responsibilities to my sleeping ponies of Equestria. Get some rest Dusk Shine, but stay here in the night wing and avoid approaching my brother until further notice. I have had a room arranged for you, where Spines is resting now, and I hope that you will take this opportunity to re-familiarize yourself with the machinations of the dream world, and the workings of dream magic, as I will need assistance tomorrow night.” A dusty tomb inscribed with the lunar insignia was levitated off the nearby shelf and presented to the purple prince. “Read this when you awake from your sleep, and prepare yourself in any way you can for a possible dream walk. I will make sure your presence here is unknown to the rest of the castle save my guards, and that you will not be disturbed with anything but meals until I am ready to meet again.”
Dusk Shine arose and grasped the book with his own telekinesis, and bowed his head slightly to the Lunar Prince. “I will do so, your highness, and I will keep Spines from running off as well.”
Artemis nodded and smirked, saying “Thank you, Dusk, for your help and your friendliness. It is not too often I see very much excitement or enthusiasm for tasks such as yours, but you have made this issue seem so much more manageable. Sleep well, as I will, and I will see you at an hour before sunset tomorrow.”
~~~
Artemis' sleep was fitful, pocketed by nightmarish twists of his own memories and horrified musings of his future. As he tossed to one side, he could almost feel the demonic weight of Night-terror Knight's armour digging into his body and soul, and as he tossed the other way, his dreamwalking ordeal twisted with agonizing fear and loneliness to blast the very breath from his lungs.
After several hours of pained attempts of rest, Artemis arose from his bed, and staggered to his wash chamber, were he started a soothing bath to try and relax.
As steam clouded the air in the vaulted marble chamber, Artemis looked into the ornate platinum and silver full-length mirror that had been a gift from Draconia several millennia ago. After magically clearing the glass, he gazed at himself, without armor or ceremonial garb, for what seemed to be the first time since returning. His short ethereal mane billowed behind his head, not quite long enough to brush his withers, but still longer than his brother's close-cropped mane, which seemed a waste as his god-head allowed for such a magnificent ethereal mane. To Artemis, Solaris wore himself in too military of a dignity and appearance to fit the peaceful Equestria, but that was beyond what Artemis could impress upon the Solar Prince.
“Still, I think I look much better in armour as well, so I shouldn't complain to him...” Artemis mused, slightly reveling in the shallowness and lightheartedness of this change in train of thought. As he chuckled, his voiced filled the softly lit bathchamber of the Prince's apartment and resonated in a rich baritone that almost reminded him of his brother's slightly lower voice.
As his thoughts past over his brothers chuckles, his mind leapt back into the memory of seeing his brother and that other mare in the dreamworld, and Artemis winced, turning back to look into the mirror. His mind idly played through his conversation with Dusk Shine, and his eyes widened in the reflection. Since mirrors could be used for scrying, what should keep him from making the very mirror in front of him into an artifact to peer across the unseen expanse? The idea tingled in his mind as the dark mare wisped by the periphery of his thoughts, and his heart fluttered in... some unknown emotion.
The water stopped frothing into the large tub behind him with a cerulean flash and Artemis looked into the steely resolve that showed in his reflection, and his mind expanded towards his arcane knowledge and power, the inner fire that burns within all unicorns, as well as in the unicorn component of all alicorns, and he breathed out a heavy sigh. He inhaled and opened his normally teal eyes, which were now glowing with the ferocity of miniature suns, and his horn and the surface of the mirror erupted with azure flames. No heat scorched his flesh, like a similar sized inferno of natural fire would, but the magical heat of his work made him sweat just the same.
Reaching his scrying spell through the glass, he, instead of searching and connecting it to another reflective surface in a far town or city, focused the spell on what he had felt when he had come into contact with the other side, and searched with pure will through the immaterium. Even though his godhood allowed him a near-infinite reservoir of magical energy, he could feel tongues of pure arcane power bleed from the tendril of his spell, and felt as if he were really succumbing to hemorrhages as his body gushed energy outwards.
Onwards he probed, trying as hard as he could to find the other world, where this mystery was coming from, but a nagging doubt formed in his mind as he thought.
“I never felt the other world, I just felt a reach from it. I will never make it, because Solaris only had to make it to a middle ground in the dreamworld... to think of stretching twice that is impossible, it would require all the magic of this realm and then some...” Artemis' thoughts trailed into forsakeness, as his last vestiges of hope began to tear loose.
“I could try to push to the same middle ground that Solaris used, but I doubt it will be open since he is awake and in court...” As the Lunar Prince thought this, he still dove his mind into the familiar tides of the dreamworld... his dreamworld. Since there was no direction, and very few ponies dreaming at this hour of the afternoon, the taxed alicorn had to stop to gather his bearings before using the last ounces of determination to extend the thinning tentacle of perception into the magical gulf that had been the warped pocket. Stray magic still resided there, a testament to the amazing amount of supernatural force that had resided there so many hours before.
Artemis could see where a path trailed off away from him through the pocket, but he was stretched to his limits, and was about to give up hope and leave right then.
That is, if he hadn't seen another tentacle of magic, the same color and tone, snaking slowly and listlessly just like his, but with an origin that lay beyond the opposite edge of the pocket.
The shock of seeing what his heart had feared and hoped for so deeply confirmed right in front of him made his magic freeze, as did the other tendril of arcane fire.
A second passed, a minute, an eon. Artemis lost himself in a sea of lost thought, and his grip on the spell laxed. The strain of his magical stream lessened, as he was wrapped back up and brought all the way out of the dreamworld, pulled back from the immaterium, and pushed through the surface of the mirror as if it was made of rubber.
Artemis fell dumbly to the ground, senses and thoughts overruled by a flood of emotions. He sat like this for several moments, before becoming aware that his servants had arrived and were scurrying about in search of him outside the bathchamber.
“In here...” Artemis called, sounding to himself like a drunken sailor pony who had spent too many years adrift at sea. A swarm of concerned servants and guards came to check upon him, and upon finding him whole, his guards left to settle the commotion. The four remaining servants assisted him in getting into the bath, and the Lunar routine picked up as if nothing were amiss.
~~~
After the Price had been prepared, and was standing in full dress ready for his nightly duties, he was alerted that Dusk Shine was waiting to meet with him. The news hit Artemis like a weight, as he remembered his request and how he probably had been keeping Dusk waiting for almost an hour by then.
He strode out of his chambers, his armored boots going from soft thuds on the carpet to echoing crashes in the hallway, and he paused self-consciously as the noise bothered him for some strange reason. His thoughts meandered around this issue, keeping him from noticing the rather concerned glances he was receiving from the now retiring servants, and from his royal escort of four guards at his sides.
With a quick flash from his horn, the soles of his boots emitted a muted tone as his magic enveloped them. He then nodded to himself and began trotting along the hallway again, but this time, his now magic-altered boots sounded as if they were landing on the thickest carpet, making nearly no noise.
Artemis' guards regarded this new and, to them, pointless stop and show of magic, then looked at each other with even more increased concern. The guard to his immediate left spoke up, voicing the groups curiosity asking “Sir, is there a problem?”
The vague wanderings of his thoughts fell away from him, with this brief inquiry, and he looked around at the inquirer. As he turned his head to reply, he saw the doorway arch of the throne room door, and his mind flashed with the thought of Dusk.
“Oh, yes. I simply remembered that I was going to meet Dusk Shine, not begin my dream watch quite yet” he replied to the guard, in no way actually answering his question, and he stopped walking and tuned around.
“But, sir... The moon!” a muffled yelp came from one of his escort, whom Artemis studied briefly, realizing that he didn't recognize him, and determined he was a new member of the night guard. Glancing at his cutie mark, a star streaking across his hip, Artemis said "Oh, I don't believe we have met...” leaving a vague question with his tone, and the guard's eyes spread wide.
“Shooting Star, Sir. This is my first night on escort duty, I am sorry I didn't introduce myself” The guard worriedly responded, snapping into a stiff salute, followed by an awkward bow in attempt to hide the embarrassed look of pure fright on his face.
Hearing this, Artemis filed his name and face away, and then froze, inwardly face-hoofing, as he finally processed what the guard had actually said to get his attention. He quickly looked around desperately for a clock, and locating one, blanched as he saw that sunset had occurred almost 10 minutes before, and he hadn't even touched the moon yet.
He jumped slightly and yelped, giving the royal escort quite a humorous sight and story to be told at the barracks, and he galloped back into the throne room towards the balcony. This full tilt sprint was very unbecoming of a prince, Artemis could hear his older brother scolding in his head, but he swatted the thought away like a fly, and nearly flew off the balcony when he reached it. Behind him, another humorous sight was being created, though this one was not witnessed by any pony, as the royal escort thundered in their bulky armour after the oddly acting prince.
The quick and well rehearsed task of raising the moon self-guided through Artemis, his thoughts instead focusing on the rather disturbing rate at which things were getting out of his hooves; forgetting Dusk, strangely bothersome boot steps, even forgetting to raise the moon. This lack of focus was new and unusual to the Lunar Prince, having never lost focus so dramatically and for so long.
Embarrassment flowed through him as he thought of how laughable and ridiculous he must seem to his guards and servants by now, after all of these lapses. He then endeavored to think of the cause of this mental impairment, trying to remember if he had felt this way the previous night.
As he thought back, he realized that this problem had started after his ill-fated scrying attempt in the bathroom, and he yet again inwardly face-hoofed.
A little voice somewhere in his head said “you are making a habit of that, and if your mind had a face, it would be getting very sore and tired of it by now” He then flicked that voice away like a fly again, and started trying to find the source of this voice, to see if Solaris was listening to his thoughts.
He stomped his hoof in frustration, causing the nearest guard to raise an eyebrow at the magically dampened sound and the sharp action, as he realized that he was yet again letting his brain be distracted again and stopping him from concentrating.
He raised his eyes and saw the door to his apartment's study a few meters ahead. A brief scan of the room returned the magical presence of Dusk Shine, and Artemis smiled, resolving to just discuss this distraction with Dusk as well.
Artemis stopped outside of the doorway, bowing to his guards, and simply stating “I will be studying and talking with Dusk, please encourage any passing ponies not to dawdle, and do not be alarmed by and strange effusions of magic. If anyone comes for me, knock, but otherwise leave us in peace” He looked each guard in the eye as they saluted their understanding, and he saw the hints of (perfectly understandable) anxiety and confusion in each of them, Shooting Star being the least experienced at hiding his emotions, but still putting on a good strong face.
He walked through the doorway and purposefully used his own magic the shut the door, rather than allowing a guard to do it. This was so that the guards would not be surprised that the door was glowing blue in his magical grasp. However, while his telekinesis swung the door, he also wove a sound suppressing spell into the door so no sound would leak from his study.
As his slight subterfuge completed and Artemis turned around, prince Dusk Shine looked concernedly at him, easily able to tell what the Lunar Prince was doing, unlike the guards.
“You really are worried about this, aren't you?” The lavender alicorn looked at Artemis, his face riddled with consternation.
Artemis almost avoided his probing eyes, trying to pull off an offhand chuckle and making only a stiff gurgle. His mind flashed through his thoughts, and worried was a good way to describe them.
“It is not only that, I am worrying because I have been having trouble focusing and remembering since this afternoon, when I endeavored to reach the other world through a modified scrying attempt through my bathroom mirror” Artemis poked his boot into the carpet, looking anywhere but at Dusk.
“You WHAT?” Shouted a livid purple alicorn, trying to crane his neck so he could stare the larger stallion in the eye while not bursting one of the veins standing out on his neck.
The reflections of the two princes in the tall bathroom mirror, which had been teleported to the study, showed varying degrees of fear and confusion over the issue with the scrying attempt, and the whole trans-dimensional debacle as a whole.
“Well... Even though I am the element of magic, I still can't imagine how difficult and complex what you did, reaching your will across the dimension to it's edge through the dreamworld. I definitely need to learn more about the dream world, because I didn't even know you could scry into it!” Dusk shook his head and looked away from the polished surface, mind reeling, and, of course, buzzing with idle calculations and theories on how to combine the two magic disciplines into a spell.
“Well... While I did scry into the realm of dreams, there was no way for me to do anything while there, through the mirror, at least. I was just viewing the realm, and I couldn't do the basic actions of a dreamwalker, though I had a lot more ease of movement and I could twist some magic in with my perception, if only a tiny bit. See, I can go dreamwalking, and enter dreams, but I can not use magic directly while there. In somepony's dream, I can twist their world a lot like magic, but it is simply the pliability of the immaterium. Like levitating a box, or... making a bed disappear.” Artemis smiled inwardly as he mentioned this example, though Dusk simply nodded and continued to ponder the issue at hoof. “These shows of magic are just twisting the dream by the conscious mind of a dreamwalker. I could never magically hide myself, much less an entire dream using the magic I saw. Solaris was definitely conscious in this dream, yet he still was the dreamer, and could use magic impossible for either a dreamer or dreamwalker, which makes me think he was scrying. But this is still quite bothersome, it seemed as if he had entered the dream as a definite realm, and the castle setting was a real place in the cosmos.”
Dusk Shine's eyes lit up, and turned an excited smile to the reflection of Artemis' furrowed brow and look of consternation. “I've got it!” The lavender prince exclaimed, slightly startling his thoughtful companion.
At Artemis' doubtful look, Dusk sheepishly amended “Well, I have an idea, at least. This trans-dimensional travel reminds me of my trip to the alternate dimension with all the... uhh... weird stuff. Hands and such.” Dusk Shine's face tinted as he recalled the silly and amusing travel through the realm containing bipedal forms of everypony he knew, and the short romantic spell with the guitar playing girl he had met there. “Perhaps we could use that artifact for such a spell. Rather than scry through a mirror, we could teleport into this alternate universe dream... thingy”
A light chuckle escaped the Lunar Prince, as his serious mood evaporated with the humorous charm of Dusk Shine's vernacular. Dusk looked away from the mirror and at the real Artemis, and busted out as well, building off his nervous energy and the drop of tension from the room as Artemis relaxed.
~~~
“After that... er... incident, my brother and I had the mirror transported back here, but to the deepest and most secure of our arcane vaults. We wouldn't want any other interference from world-crossing malcontents like Sundown Gleam.” Artemis shook his head at the name, as the two princes made their way down a deep set stairwell in the back of the archives.
Dusk Shine sighed, and gently reminded Artemis of Sundown's reform. The lunar prince nodded and said “That is why I said 'like', I know he is no longer a threat, I just like to be sure.” At this Dusk let the matter rest as they approached a large vault door, inscribed with concentric rings of runes. As the princes entered, they each lit a torch mounted in a brazier to their side of the doorway. As the flickering light better illuminated the massive metal circle that made the door, he realized that he did not recognize any of the runes that made up this complex sygaldry, he realized that this door had been forged an unbelievably long time ago, when artificing was done in Old Equestrian. While Dusk could not read Old Equestrian, he recognized the the script as each of the runes seemed to twist and slither slightly under close inspection, as if trying not to be read.
After a few moments, Dusk gave up on trying to read, and said to his friend “I have never been down here, I always thought it was just a store for old scrolls that didn't fit in the archives. I guess I should have known it was more than that, since I have never seen a scriv go down here when looking for information.”
Artemis simply nodded as he concentrated on the spell to open the vault door. After weaving together the spells he needed, he spoke in Old Equestrian as his horn lit up in bright azure flames and his eyes grew purple and green. He had been ready for the magical tongue, but the noise caught his companion by surprise, doubtless the first time he had ever heard it. To Artemis, the words seemed to roil and slide off his tongue like hot oil, but to Dusk, hearing the words hurt his ears and made his stomach turn. He did not recognize the Lunar Prince's voice in these words, as the sound reminded him of dragon claws scraping slate combined with bones and flesh being crushed. From the high ringing to the low gurgling, Dusk nearly lost his lunch before Artemis finished speaking, though the entire process had only taken a few moments.
There was a loud click and snap as magically artificed tumblers released and the door rolled to their right into the wall. The greenish-purple flames dissipated from around Artemis' eyes, and he looked at Dusk, who was in quite a state. “Oh, a thousand apologies, dear Dusk! I should have warned you before doing that. I have never been down here with anyone but my brother, and both of us spent millennia learning Old Equestrian from our parents as they wove the cosmos. This was the only language they spoke, and we had to create a new language when Mother made the ordinary ponies for us to care for. But still to us it is quite an ordeal to speak, since even we are much more real and bound to the cosmos than they that made it. Will you be sick?” Artemis asked this last question as Dusk heaved slightly trying to regain his hooves.
“Yeah, a warning would be nice.” Dusk responded meekly as he stood again took a few steps towards the now open entrance to the arcane vaults. He froze and turned to look at Artemis. “Is it safe to go in there? There aren't any crazy enchantments that will make me barf or anything in there, right?”
Artemis chuckled again at the younger prince's antics and nodded. “It is safe as long as you keep your hooves from the artifacts, which are always dangerous toys to play with.”
The two proceeded into the entrance chamber of the vault, the torches outside illuminating the chamber, Dusk immediately started walking down the only hall that extended from this antechamber at the back, but Artemis stopped and looked around at the floor. “Stop!” He suddenly barked, causing Dusk to jolt to a sudden stop and look back, fear playing out across his face. “What!?! You said there were no traps or anything!” Dusk yelped, looking around furiously for tripwires he had tripped or something equally sinister.
Artemis did not chuckle at this, as he was still staring at the floor around him with his brow knit. “Somepony has been in here recently, and they took something large with them, either in or out.” he said, pointing at the path where the thick dust had been disturbed by a set of hooves and a large object. “Nopony has access to here but my Brother and I, and we have not needed to store anything here since the mirror, but that was months ago...” His eyes widened, and he took off in the direction that Dusk had already started upon. Dusk took this as a sign he could move, and dashed off after the taller blue alicorn.
They passed many rooms with closed and locked doors, some bound with chains, and a few even inscribed with runes like the vault door. Artemis came to a stop by one door, secure and sturdy looking, wrapped in chain. As he looked closer, he could tell that the dust on this door had been disturbed recently as well, yet a glance at the ground below showed the set of hoofsteps continue past the door, though the path of the large object did not. A touch of Artemis' hoof to an artificed hoof lock had the door open with chains sagging to the floor, and a quick peek inside showed that the room beyond was empty. The two princes went inside, and Dusk Shine examined the ground for a first impression of what shape the object was, and looked up.
“This was the mirror, or where you placed it, correct?” he asked. The infuriated look upon Artemis' face was answer enough. “Why would a thief steal this artifact? There is no real point to stealing the gateway, since it would just be closed until the thirty moons was up, and then the thief could have just went through the mirror rather than drag it out.”
“No thief could get in here, Solaris is the only other being that could open the vault door, and the entire vault is surrounded by a magic barrier bound in the bedrock of this mountain. You can not even use magic in here, that is why we had non-magical glowstone lined into the vault walls and ceilings, since no torches can be magically carried by us into here, nor illumination spells cast.” Dusk nodded slightly as he looked around at the eerily glowing lines that neatly crisscrossed the walls and ceiling of the room they were in, as well as the hall outside. But then what Artemis caught up to him, and he turned a shocked face towards the blue alicorn.
“But I thought you said only you and Solaris could access this vault...” Dusk almost whispered, his right eyebrow quirking and twitching at the thought of his great and wise teacher secretly stealing the mirror out of the vault and dragging it with his teeth all the way out. 'Why did he want the mirror?' 'What purpose would he have that made him not tell anypony, even his own brother?' 'Why would he not even bring a servant to drag it for him?' Questions rolled and tumbled in Dusk's mind, but Artemis had no room in his mind for idle pondering as doubt and anger filled his mind.
Checking behind the door and in every corner again, Artemis turned from the room and walked out into the hallway, turning not the way to the exit, but deeper into the bowels of the vault, anger being melted into pure determination as he took off at a quick gait. Dusk scrambled to follow the blue alicorn, worry twisting on his face.
After a few dozen doors, the pair of stallions reached the end of the hallway, where a large pair of doors stood, metal and inscribed like the main vault door, except tall and rectangular rather than round. Seeing this, Dusk quickly brought his hooves to his ears in preparation as he saw Artemis' horn glow and eyes burn. Despite this, Dusk could still hear the gut-wrenching roll of Old Equestrian that fell from Artemis' tongue through his closed and covered ears.
The doors clicked and slid apart into the walls in the same way the main vault door had, but upon opening this revealed a bright and steady light that startled the lavender alicorn, whose eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom in the vaults so far. At first, Dusk thought that there was a magical fire burning in the room, despite what Artemis had said, but when his eyes acclimated, he noticed that the brighter lighting was due to the fact that the entire room was coated in gilded glowstone slabs, making the walls gleam like the sun. This bothered Artemis' eyes as well, but for more reasons than Dusk's.
Artemis slowly and humbly entered the room, as if he were entering another ruler's throne room and paying them respect. He noticed his companion mimic this a few steps behind him, and nodded encouragement to him. Artemis looked around the room and his worst fears were realized.
To Dusk, this brilliant room was breathtakingly beautiful, an ornate display of some curious but marvelous objects he assumed were artifacts. He could only imagine what power these artifacts held, to be kept so well sealed in such a wondrous room. “What are these?” He managed to get out, looking at the curved golden scepter and wing-guards that seemed a matched set for a ruler richer and more powerful than even Solaris. But when he looked down past the golden set of artifacts set on the left side of the room, he noticed the cause of Artemis' silence. On this side, there seemed to be an equally opulent set of artifacts in a darker color scheme, closer to that of Artemis' regalia, but more cast to gray rather than black, except it was incomplete. In the front of the collection of treasures was a bust, obviously made for some necklace or pendant, sitting naked and bare of any jewelry.
The sound of drops of water hitting the ground caught Dusk's attention and he turned to see tears falling from Artemis' snout that was turned down towards the ground. He began to automatically try and cheer up his weeping friend, but he stopped dead as he saw a look of pure rage splayed out across the Lunar Alicorn's face.
Studying friendship had helped Dusk to gain an amazing amount of empathy, as well as practice stopping a friend from acting rashly. Mostly Rainbow Blitz, he pointed out in his head, but humor was out of its depth, and he mentally brushed that wise crack aside.
Dusk saw Artemis tense up, and knew he was about to take off to do untold destruction, and headed him off at the pass with a quick jump and flap of the wings, placing him directly in front of the doors. “No! Stop! You can't go out there like this, I don't even know what is wrong, but I won't let you hurt anypony!” Dusk managed to shout out before the larger alicorn collided with him, knocking him back a bit, but not off balance.
Artemis was stunned by this sudden resistance of his friend, and hesitated a moment in confusion and rage at this shout. He again tried to push past Dusk, but to no avail as Dusk braced himself against the door frame. Tears fell hotly from his snout as he launched a spastic flailing assault again, this time much more desperately, as he began to break down weeping as emotions began to crash back into him. After a few more convulsions that resembled attempts to push past his friend, Artemis ended up just leaning onto his shoulder sobbing. A few awkward pats on his back prompted him to lift his head and step a respectable distance back from Dusk, and he looked into his eyes and saw a mix of worry and confusion, and shook his head. Artemis brought a trembling hoof up to his face to brush away some of the tears. He then cleared his throat, standing taller as he reined in his emotions.
“I am sorry, and, uhh, thank you Dusk. Something very wrong is happening, and I fear that Solaris has taken not only the mirror, but this.” Artemis pointed behind him to the empty bust. “Mother's amulet.”
~~~
Dusk still could not get used to Old Equestrian, and it sickened him both times Artemis used it on their way out, but he could feel anger and fear whenever he heard it, and wondered if the Old Equestrian was transmitting the emotions from the speaker to him. He filed this interesting and rather disturbing thought away for further research, that is, if he were ever able to find any books on the language, since he had found none yet.
Artemis schooled his mind to help cool his temper, not trying to ignore or banish the anger, but cooling it to a icy hot flame that wouldn't wreck his calm demeanor again, or at least not until it was safe. He was glad that this confrontation had happened in the magically devoid vault, for Artemis knew that if he had magic, Dusk would be a pile of dust and ash blowing away by now. Turning his head and looking at the pony in question, he couldn't help but feel gratitude and consideration for him. He felt that such a strong friend should be rewarded, thanked somehow, and Artemis knew what Dusk treasured most: Knowledge.
“Do not speak of anything you have just seen, for that room of the arcane vaults is for my... our parents' memorabilia.” Artemis glanced over at Dusk, who was ascending the stairs beside him, to gauge his reaction. Dusk's eyes bugged out slightly and his mouth opened to ask questions that were very ostensibly bouncing around his head, but he managed to catch himself. “Solaris and I kept the gifts that Mother and Father made us, as well as the regalia they left behind, in a small and well defended hoard, that we eventually moved to their current vault, vowing not to use these awesome artifacts without grave need, and sealed them away from the world. The Amulet Solaris... stole... was a tool used by our mother, which she used to view the entire cosmos and align it's realms harmoniously.” Artemis spat the word stole, unable to find a word that accurately conveyed the level of atrocity that Solaris had committed.
At this, Dusk couldn't help himself, and a question burst out of him. “Wait... wha..!?!” Embarrassed by his stumbling, the lavender alicorn planted his hoof firmly on the step he was about to climb, stopping the pair at the loud sound. “What I mean is, what do you mean? Your mother? A tool to move entire dimensions? Back up a bit for me!”
A smirk played out on Artemis' lips at Dusk's fumbling, never having see the alicorn get so flustered, and finding it slightly amusing despite his sour mood. “I don't have time now to fill you in on my entire family history. I'll tell you later about it, but I have no patience for such a history lesson now. Suffice it to say that my brother and I's Mother had the power to create realms, and she set them in place using this amulet. I once used it in my fit of rage before my banishment, looking for a realm of night where I was appreciated. Instead I found the realm of nightmares, and staying there watching the fears of all creatures transformed me into Night-terror Knight. I returned knowing what ponies feared and I fought Solaris. The rest is history, literally.”
This little quip did nothing to raise the spirits of either stallion, as each thought of how horrible a Night-terror Knight Solaris would make, and both shook their head simultaneously to try and dismiss the horrid thought.
“But I am going to guess that he isn't, uhh, crazy evil now, so he hasn't done what you did.” Dusk said, cringing slightly under the glare he received, but relaxing when Artemis begrudgingly nodded.
“But he might, and just because he has not yet does not mean he will not ever. Even if he is just using these two artifacts in conjunction, and not utilizing either to their full effect, he is dabbling in territory far too dangerous for anypony.” Artemis shook his head, and began climbing the last of the stairs. “I want you to go on back to your room and rest, because we will have no constructive intervention and confrontation in the middle of the night. Meet me an hour past moonset in my study and we shall plan our strategy.” At Dusk's raised eyebrow, Artemis sighed and amended “Half and hour after sunrise.”
Dusk nodded and trotted off in the direction of the night wing, the pair of night guards rousing themselves from their lengthy wait at the stairwell door. Giving curious looks to Artemis and each other, the guards formed up on their liege’s sides and wordlessly followed him out of the archives.
Artemis was still fighting down rage as he walked towards his quarters, and when his disgruntled niece came around a corner in the corridor ahead, his entire will was flexed to near it's breaking point. 'What are you doing in my wing of the castle?' 'Why are you here so late?' 'Why haven't I severed your vocal cords yet?' all these questions came out of him in one combined inquiry: “Hello Princess Bluebelle, what brings you to my wing of the castle?”
The blonde-haired and white-coated unicorn mare walked over to her uncle in a way that would seem graceful to any ordinary pony, but was betrayed by Artemis' annoyance with the brat. And obviously by his guard's annoyance as well, for as soon as she shook her mane out of the way of her eyes and her view was obscured, both guards broke their composure to blanch and roll their eyes at the detestable excuse for royalty that was attempting to parade herself for them. None of this was noticed by Bluebelle, and as she approached Artemis, she began whining. “Uncle Artyyyyyy! I couldn't find you anywhere! I have been looking for your help forever! These vagabond filth that attend the club down the road from my new west side condo keep spouting abhorrent noise they pretend is music! They stay at it all night, and won't turn it down, and I can't sleep with my windows open like I like to! Please demolish this hive of commoner wretchedness so I can get my beauty sleep!”
She continued complaining a bit, and Artemis knew that he should say: 'You are plenty beautiful, but I shall have my corporals investigate this disruption of the peace. Rest assured that this noise pollution will bother you no more.' But He was not really feeling that generous tonight.
Instead he started walking again, right past Bluebelle, causing his guards to startle and run ahead a bit, giving him just enough time without being seen. In this short period of privacy, his eyes lit up and flamed a greenish-purple as his horn blazed a brief cerulean inferno. When his guards looked back, they saw a perfectly composed prince walking away from a convulsing and horrified princess, though they did not see the throng of large spiders crawling all over her body like she saw and felt.
Artemis kept his steady pace, ensuring none of his guard would think it necessary to stop and help her. And inside his mind, Artemis smiled.
Petty cruelty was not enough to vent the icy inferno of rage Artemis was harboring inside, and his thoughts would not stop their race around his mind. At this discomfort, the Lunar Prince looked around his room to his luxurious bed, and shook his head at the thought of laying down, and placed his helmet next to his other regalia on his nightstand. He turned towards his balcony instead, and swiftly strode out into his beautiful moonlight. After opening the doorway and shutting it firmly behind himself, Artemis looked up at the source of the streams of gossamer light that streamed down to him like a waterfall.
Overhead was his charge, his duty, his companion, and source. Brilliantly the white orb overhead shone, and in this direct moonlight, Artemis' short mane billowed and glittered much more fervently. Being the Aspect of the Moon made him feel a tie to this heavenly body, like a rope connecting every fibre of his being to the sky above. His sky. His Moon. His night.
The tall blue alicorn closed his eyes and slowly exhaled through his nose, letting himself be engulfed by the void above and the brilliance of the moon. His Moon.
Artemis felt a twist of rage bitter this bath of serenity, and all the stresses and overwhelming pressure crashed on him, making his shoulders sag , tail and main drooping slightly. Nodding to himself, he decided that it would be necessary to repeat his ritual of sorts that he had started since returning from banishment.
Taking another breath, the Prince of the Night closed his eyes and spread his wings. He gathered all of the stresses, all the tension, all the pain and focused it forwards. The emotions trickled and slid towards his horn, and Artemis had to flex his mental fortitude to corral this cloud out of the tip of his horn, using force of will and mental training he had gained in the dreamworld to push.
Without flapping his wings once, the tall blue alicorn lifted into the air, as if the ground fell from beneath his hooves. Wind began to gust around his suspended form, and shadows danced from his flashing and blazing horn. The air in front of him crackled and distorted as it heated and swirled.
At last, Artemis opened his eyes, now glowing like miniature versions of his Moon overhead, and the azure fire around his horn turned black, looking more like a shadow rather than fire. In the center of the bubbling air pocket in front of him, a single black speck appeared. Looking like pitch black sand, the particle floating and swirled with the twisting of the air, until it locked in place with a grunt of effort from the alicorn.
Artemis nodded inside as his spell began to work, and pushed harder against the cloud in his mind, funneling more to his horn and compressing it. A tiny quaver of rage was forced out the end of his horn, and the black speck was joined by another of it's kind, blacker than the space between stars.
After this, the next speck came easier, as did the next, until a tiny stream of black sand coalesced in this roiling pocket of vacuum that Artemis was emptying. The black particles stuck to one another, and after a small amount of this powder had been exuded, their structure and shape became definite, like the top of a pyramid as small as a river pebble. Artemis strained as his spell to push the air away for forming a pocket of vacuum quavered to a breeze that blew past, but this was easier than blinking compared to the strain of emotionally purging into solid magical form. The pyramid stopped flaring, and continued to grow straight downwards in the square structure of a crystal, blacker than a moonless night.
Artemis continued to burn this emotion as fuel to form the solid magic in front of him, pouring out immense energy into a crystal. Feeling a sag in his endurance, Artemis directed the next of the black powder to taper down to form the bottom of the crystal. As the single particle point formed, he relaxed and stopped pouring out magic.
Turning the black crystal over in the vacuum, Artemis also ended his telekinesis and let the air rush back around the newly completed gem. With a hiss and a snap, He smiled as the particles stayed together and didn't blow away, as they would have if air touched an unfinished jewel. Hefting the pure magic crystal in his telekinetic grip, he judged it to be around a kilo, which was nothing to be scoffed at. Each grain of pure magic holds more energy than a blazing bonfire.
In terms of size this gem was as thick as a potato and twice as long, making it the size of a sandwich he had seen at a local restaurant. “Why am I thinking of food? Am I hungry?” Artemis mused, bringing a hoof to his stomach, which gurgled slightly. “Guess so, but that will have to wait.” His mood was already much better, but there was still the better part of the cloud to deal with.
Pushing thoughts of food aside, Artemis focused again on the crystal he held, lining it up with his horn as he tilted and turned his neck in an exact calculation of placement. Looking up with his magically enhances vision, he spied the tell-tale darker spot on the white disk of the moons surface, and aimed his horn and crystal directly towards it. Glancing again to sure his aim, a quick and brilliant flash of magic sent the crystal hurling into the night sky at unbelievable speed, hurtling towards the dark speck on the surface of the moon. After a few moments, Artemis furthered his magical vision, and looked closely at his target.
Looking closer, this speck was not merely dark, but black. Blacker than the space between stars. Peering even closer, the Lunar Prince saw the crystal he had just formed impact the top of this area, which, upon closer inspection, was a vast mountain of black. This was formed by a massive pile of black crystals, countless the same size as the one he had just sent, but some much larger. Artemis looked away from these, knowing that he had formed them while he had been banished to the moon, when he hadn't been blasting massive craters with his pent up magic. The smaller crystals had been formed since his return, frequently at first, up to every day in the first few weeks, but as stresses lifted and he returned to familiar schedule of ruling he needed to purge like this much less often and only when large issues or confrontations arose. This whole deal with Solaris was a particularly stressful and emotional conflict, and very dearly deserved a purge.
At this, Artemis shook his head and yet again tried to reign in all of his negative emotions that stormed around his mind. Finding them less than cooperative, and personally not possessing an abundance of patience, he simply pulled together all of his feelings on this fiasco with Solaris, and pushed them forwards, not minding if he lost a few non-annoyed emotional experiences with the rest, though he doubted there would be many from this horrific problem.
Yet again, the Lunar Prince closed his eyes, his horn flashed, and he departed the ground. Opening his eyes again, the brilliant white illuminated all around him except his now blackened horn-fire. The gasp of air from the space in front of him was accompanied by a grunt from Artemis as he strained further.
Black particles started materializing quicker and accelerated faster in frequency of appearance as Artemis was already warmed up for this arduous task. A flicker of jealousy at Solaris' mastery of such complex arcanum, as well as jealousy for the bliss that the two white alicorns wore on their faces made dark green particles appear, though they dyed black upon joining this slightly larger crystal's structure. Hate of Solaris' theft, his lies, his scheming manipulations formed a few deep blood red grains to appear, but they matched the black hue of the crystal as they joined the structure, looking like all the other rage-inspired black particles.
This crystal was half again as thick as the previous one, as well as greater in length and mass by the time Artemis felt that he was nearing the end of this supply of emotion. Tapering off with the last of these particles, Artemis felt much lighter already, though he knew this wasn't a healthy way of dealing with his problems. Forgetting and destroying the emotions didn't let him deal with them, and this has stunted his emotional recovery from banishment. What he truly needed was to talk through these issues and find a way not to storm up inside at the least incidents.
Artemis knew this to be true, but it was simply too difficult to come out of his shell and talk through issues with the royal adviser or counselors, and he had no intention of looking for an outside psychiatric counselor, though he knew they would doubtlessly help some.
'But they just don't understand! Nopony knows or could understand the loneliness and anger that festers inside you on the moon! I mourned for the victims of the Stalliongrad massacre until long after their grandchildren's grandchildren had died! Nopony feared griffons anymore, but I still remember the blood that coated their claws as they cut the wings off pegasi for trophies! I wept for the crystal ponies for centuries after Sombra's name was forgotten! Nopony is scarred by the past like I am, none of them lived through it!' These thoughts spawned a few more black specks as Artemis pondered his issue.
'They just don't understand, living for less than millennia like me. Only Solaris knows how it is, but I'll be damned before we start heart-to-hearts after this! But nopony else understands immortality and it's drain on the spirit. Perhaps Dusk will, but it would be a few eons before he grew into anywhere similar the experience, if he can become an Aspect, like so many alicorns have failed to before him. But nopony knows... I am the only pony who understands...' Artemis blinked at the last of these thoughts, as they didn't bring about sorrow in him, but hope. The trickle of black powder stopped, and try as he might, no more emotion would follow.
'Why do I feel hope at such a dismal thought. I can't just talk to myself, I already do that to no effect. But who would have a different perspective on my life, since I am the only one to have lived it?' A spark flashed in Artemis' eyes as the hopeful thoughts found their root. 'Her. If she is another version of me, she will know. We may not be mirrors of each other, but if we both did such similar things at the same time, she must have very similar experiences. She will know how I feel! And she will have to have a different point of view, being female. Of course! I must find her!'
At this bubbling surge of emotion, a white speck formed, which Artemis guessed to be hope. Seeing positive emotions leak out, he tried to stop the flow, but instead a pink particle appeared. He did not know what this was, but this caused butterflies in his stomach as another appeared. Then another and another, until a stream floated out in a cloud around the crystal. This beautiful yet foreign feeling did not leave him when he formed the solid magic, but seemed to bubble up and froth like a wellspring. The more he thought of that mysterious mare of his dreams, the more he felt this way, and the more pink particles swirled into existence.
Taking a breath to steady himself, he looked at the growing cloud and wondered what to do with it. 'Might as well add it to the crystal, so it won't blow away...' Artemis nodded, and willed the ambient particles towards the structure. But when the first pink speck touched the black crystal, rather than turn black like the other particles, this stayed the same bright and lively pink. As another touched, a small patch around these pink newcomers began to lighten, turning to a dark reddish color, but not blood red like hate. As a few more joined the structure, the entire end of the crystal lightened, the tip around the newcomers tinting to a brighter red.
Quirking his brow at this new behavior, Artemis added more particles quickly, and saw the entire crystal start to lighten, and the closer end to the pink dyed to match this pink. Adding more and more, a smile broke out across his face as the entire crystal lightened to this brilliant pink, and Artemis had no idea why, but didn't feel like stopping.
More and more pink flowed out and Artemis felt like he would never stop, but a fevered thumping from behind him broke his attention. As he felt his hold on the vacuum slip, Artemis quickly coalesced the rest of the particulate into the crystal and sealed it, immediately aiming and firing it towards the pile on the moon. Shaking his head and resting his hooves back on the deck of the balcony, he turned and opened the door to his room, and was startled by the figure of Dusk Shine almost falling out on top of him.
“HeyArtemiswhatisgoingondidyounoticethathugeammountofmagicjustnow!” Dusk spouted as he stumbled forward, obviously having been standing up on his back hooves to bang on the door. Artemis stepped back a bit and nervously chuckled at the wide-eyed alicorn that was now righting himself.
Mentally facehoofing, Artemis chided himself for forgetting Dusk would totally notice such a massive energy spike of magic when he was a few doors down from Artemis' rooms. Normally, the only ponies who would notice this disturbance would be asleep, being Solaris and the handful of master unicorns at the university, but Dusk was much more attuned to magic than any of them, and since he wasn't several leagues away in Ponyville, Artemis should have guessed he would notice.
“Aheh, umm, yeah...” Artemis fumbled, trying to think up an excuse. “I was just doing some, uhh, star magic, making some new constellations. Yeah.” He cracked a wide and guilty smile, which caused the lavender alicorn to frown.
“Come on, I am on, like, red alert danger sense with the whole Night-terror Solaris thing, so you can't do that to me!” Dusk shouted, a vein standing out on his neck as he stomped a hoof.
Artemis frowned at this, but didn't complain as Dusk had evidently taken his lie. “Sorry, I was just stressed, and I was blowing off some steam.” Artemis was glad this was less of a lie, but still didn't want to explain the entire situation right now, since he felt a burning drive to meet the mare on the other side of his dreams.
“Alright, but warn me next time. And no dark magic! If I feel dark magic coming from this room, I will assume you are being attacked and will blast your room out of the castle to a safe area!” Dusk shouted, less fierce this time, and breaking his threatening look with a wide yawn.
“A thousand apologies, Dusk, I will not disturb you again.” Artemis admonished the slightly livid alicorn, as they both walked back inside.
“And I was about to get to sleep, too...” The sleepy prince mumbled as he walked towards the door, which was still flung wide. “Oh, and sorry about your door, I was too sleepy to close them, and, ah leave the lock intact.” A sheepish grin was flashed as he skipped around the corner to avoid any retribution from the owner of the suite.
Artemis couldn't help but smile at this, and muttered “Dusk, don't ever change...”. He closed the doors and repaired the lock, rousing the two door guards from their magically induced sleep. “Well, maybe change a little.” Artemis smirked.
~~~
Artemis rolled over yet again on his large round bed, twisting the sheet further around his hooves. He grunted, and gave up on trying to settle his racing mind with sleep, as the two seemed to be at odds with each other. Standing up, he kicked a hoof to untangle it from the sheets that clung to it.
'Maybe a stroll on the moon would help. At least then I could examine that pink crystal further, and maybe clear my mind a bit.' Artemis mused, and nodded to himself as he turned to his large closet. Opening the door, Artemis lit the lamp inside and gazed at the back of the large room. Ball outfits and armour suits of different types hung around the sides, but he ignored them as he went to his target. Using his magic, Artemis brought the large mirror out of the back of the closet, and set it in the middle of his bedchamber. Walking around it, he admired the wrought black iron that framed it in the shape of a pair of alicorns. These two iron figures were standing on their hind legs, with one hoof each curled to their chest as the other was hooked around the back of the frame. There horns met in the middle of mirror at the top, making the form of an 'A'.
Sighing and smiling, Artemis squared with his reflection in the mirror, and walked towards its surface, horn glowing. As the tip of his horn reached the surface, rather than click against solid mirror-glass, it instead pierced through like the surface of a pool. The strange feeling of the mirrors magic was welcomed like an old friend to Artemis, since he had used this artifact many times over the eons to check on his charge from up close.
The length of his horn already through the surface, Artemis closed his eyes and pressed his face through the liquid surface. Upon opening his eyes once more, he was not greeted by his dim bedchambers, but instead the brilliant white expanse of the moon's surface, stretching endlessly in all directions he could see.
Many times had he used this magic portal to spend time wandering his Moon, as he found it relaxing to be near to his charge. He felt his aspect flare when he was in contact with it, as if he could do anything, and right now, Artemis felt like trying.
Closing his eyes, he imagined the pile of magic crystals, and his horn glowed as he disappeared. Opening his eyes made him dizzy as his entire field of view was filled with the void-black crystals, seeming to suck the light away from around it, and starving his eyes of sight. He quickly shook his head and closed his eyes, turning to look behind him before reopening them. White ground and starry black horizon met him, and Artemis nodded as he confirmed he had not gone blind.
The blue alicorn then turned his head back towards the pile, looking up at the top, partially to keep the anchor of night sky in his vision field, and partially to locate the mysterious pink crystal he came searching for. Spotting a tiny pink mar atop the vast mountain of black, he spread his wings and took flight, fixing his gaze on the spot. A few powerful flaps landed the Prince atop the pile with a gut twisting scrape and whine of shifting gems. Looking down at it a few meters away, the pink crystal seemed to glow, and seemed to almost leak its color into the nearby black stones. Upon a closer inspection, they gems touching the pink one were changing color, tinging pink from its contact apparently. Artemis lifted the pink stone to make sure it wasn't the light playing tricks on his eyes, but even with the original removed, its neighbors remained halfway pinkish.
“I will never understand how I do half of the things I bumble into doing, but this I know not even what I have done, much less how.” Artemis chuckled to himself, pulling his eyes starward. His gaze fixed upon the blue marble and Equestria's dim shadow below, and all of the magical adventures he had recently experienced flowed through his mind. His eyes lit up and he carried the pink crystal as he madly dashed down the slope of the black mountain, only to stop short and blink. He face-hoofed and magically opened the portal leading to his mirror, inwardly groaning that he had forgotten that this end could be opened from anywhere on the moon. Hopping through the shimmering glass, crystal in tow, Artemis went to work.
Artemis stretched his mind and latched onto the feelings he had followed in the dreamworld, seizing them as a compass arrow. Splitting his mind, he locked the direction as he simultaneously conjured up the scrying spells he had learned long ago. He sectioned that part of his mind off as well, pushing “direction” and “method” in their two little compartments of his brain to the side. Next he wove a connection to the crystal laying between his hooves, attaching the immense reservoir of power to his will, then cordoned off this as another part of his unfathomably complex plan. He strained, his mind concentrating entirely on three different complicated and difficult mental activities, and started a fourth. With all his remaining might, he wove his will into the ancient enchantments that Mother and Father had crafted in the mirror that stood before him, their final gift to him. The world sagged around him as his mind flexed beyond the limits of any mortal being and most others as well, and he locked the weave in. Then, in a supreme press of will, he brought the four sections of his mind together into one, and combined them all in the center of his being.
Flaring white shined out of Artemis' chamber, brighter than a thousand suns, and ephemeral wind emanated at gale force. In the center of this inferno of magic, a greenish-purple-eyed alicorn struggled to walk into the mirror before him. The pink crystal was flooding raw magic into him like lightning, and each step caused reality to slightly buckle and sway out of his way, making for a difficult process of locomotion. Struggling internally and externally, tears streamed down the Lunar Aspect's snout as he felt himself be ripped apart by the maelstrom of his spell. 'Just... one... step... more!' Artemis screamed into the deafening cacophony, making no noticeable noise but still pressing himself further.
Artemis had reached the blinding surface of the mirror, now in magical overdrive as universe-shaking power was pumped into it in a great torrent. His horn leaned out and touched the mirror, only to click against it, as if it were ordinary glass again.
“No!” The wide-eyed alicorn screamed, all of his hope catching in his throat at this apparent failure. “It can't be!” All of his terrible need turned to dread as he could not enter this blazing portal. Closing his eyes, more tears came, but for a different reason than the pain-induced ones. Despair wrenched his heart and his mind started to shake at its foundations.
“No. This will work.” His eyes opened again as he whispered this final decree, and despair and dread vanished from within him. Confidence and perseverance he had learned from ponies like Dusk and his brother bolstered his efforts, and iron bands of will braced his faltering heart.
Once more, Artemis pressed his horn into the blinding portal, and upon clicking against it's surface, pressed on. Where before he could barely walk in the terrible cataclysm, he now pressed his hooves firmly into the stones beneath his hooves and pressed forward with all his might.
Like glass, the resistance broke, and the Lunar Prince triumphantly cheered as he stepped out through the portal.
Back onto the moon, white and barren as he had left it.
Needless to say, there was some commotion back in the castle at this.
“Dusk, CALM DOWN and tell me again but slower and without shouting.” Prince Solaris said to his panicking former student, while rubbing his temple and attempting to shake the sleepiness from his expression. “Alright, alright!” He managed to fit in a pause of the babbling that flowed from Dusk Shine, who was currently flailing his front hooves and almost jumping around at the door of Solaris' private bedchambers. “So you made sure he wasn't in there when you cut it out of the castle and shot it to Sweet Apple Acres, right? Oh, so you just assumed that my brother would enjoy a sudden and unexpected flight of several dozen leagues at mach 7 while he was doing some magic? No no, I am just a bit tired, and alright I get that you warned him. And yes, I understand it was dark magic more powerful than you can even comprehend or explain. That was the point of the sudden trip, right? No, I still am joking, I get that this is serious. Ugh, it's like 2:30, you know that right? Yes, I will still come see, alright? No I believe you, I am just, as I have said twenty times now, VERY tired. Wha-what do you mean exerting myself while sleeping... “fraternizing”?... My dreams are not “illicit”! Nor are they any of your business... how did you even...?”
Solaris suddenly took Dusk much more seriously, and snapped awake at what was being babbled. “Oh no.”
~~~
Tears fell hot and fast from Prince Artemis' snout, striking the fine moondust around his hooves and sending the particles flying, some of which powdered his naked blue hooves, as he had taken off all of his regalia, shoes included.
“How could I fail? I just worked all of that magic, and nothing happened? HOW!?!” Artemis bellowed, disturbing all the moondust around him for several paces and sending it dancing back down to the surface, blown by the ephemeral wind that lightly billowed from the Lunar Aspect's form.
Closing his eyes and hanging his head, he continued shouting and cursing his fate, but now he had unwittingly switched to Old Equestrian. The strange twist and shake of his words caused the dust to roll away from him like bubbles on the surface of a boiling pot. The patterns that formed cut fiendishly in the moondust, making Artemis look like the center of a huge rune etched in the lunar surface, the rune for rage.
Shaking his head back and forth, tossing his mane about and flicking his wings in rage, the deep blue color of his coat darkened. As hope drained from the alicorn, the blue drained from his coat, leaving it black as night. Hidden by his closed eyelids, the pupils of his eyes shrunk and stretched, looking more like that of a cat than pony.
~~~
A black crystal shattered beneath an armor-shod black hoof and splintered into a fine powder. The powder hung briefly like a mist around the hoof before disappearing as it was drawn quickly into the dark figure. A wicked smile played out across Night-terror Knight's snout as the power seeped into him, giving him orders of magnitude more power than he had ever experienced before, and from only one single crystal!
“Hah!” He madly screamed as he shot a beam of energy at a random point on the surface of the moon before him. When the black beam touched the surface, a massive inferno of shadow billowed outwards, shaking the moon beneath his hooves. Maniacal laughter erupted from the black alicorn as he saw the massive crater he had just formed, large enough that it actually made the horizon ahead of him to dip down and appear curved.
The fiend summoned another from the distant horde, and set it before his hoof. Crushing it, he turned his sights above, to the dark surface of Equestria, so very far away. Cackling and shuddering at the pure magic that flowed through his black veins, he poured all of his newly acquired energy into a massive ball above his horn. The mania only grew as he saw the orb grow immense, larger than the shield that surrounded Canterlot before the changeling invasion. Larger than the mountain Canterlot was perched on.
Roaring with maddened laughter, Night-terror flicked his horn and sent the massive black orb of magic towards the surface, not caring who he destroyed, or what country he obliterated. His smile wilted slightly as he saw it was heading for the ocean off the east coast of Equestria.
“Ah, well, I'll kill some merponies, at least.” The monster chuckled, then smirked. “Why stop there?” He cackled as he summoned forth another crystal, but then stopped. This crystal, unlike the two previous, was not black as night, but was pinkish on one side, as if it was changing colors. The maddened mind of Night-terror Knight didn't register what Artemis knew, and simply set aside the crystal, not liking it's color.
Inside the layers of rage and hate that flowed through the form of the Lunar Aspect, The small part that remained Artemis jumped. He knew what the crystal meant, and he knew he could gain back control of himself if he could get the Daemon to try using that crystal. However, try as he might, the hate was too strong, and the Daemon had more power than him, and he could not control anything but his own thoughts, as imprisoned as they were in the bastion of hate that was Night-terror Knight.
Exasperation and hopelessness weakened Artemis further, giving the Daemon that much more control. Noticing this struggle, Night-terror laughed and smiled maliciously. “Hmm, still got some fight left, do we? Well, let's take away what you have to fight for.”
Artemis screamed inside as another massive orb of death bloomed above Night-terror's horn, this time, however, the Daemon used Artemis' alicorn vision to sight in very precisely.
~~~
“What was that!?!” Dusk Shine screamed as he and Prince Solaris galloped out to the Solar balcony, after they felt the first massive energy ball impact, and heard the thunderous explosion from leagues away. The two princes looked around wildly, and were startled when they were hit by as spray of water, like a curtain of rain from the cloudless sky.
“Holy -” Dusk gasped, and Solaris looked over and saw the him licking his lips. Solaris licked his lips, and discovered the water that had sprayed his face was salty.
“Ocean water!?! But the coast is...” Solaris asked, exasperatedly using his alicorn vision to try and see the nearest body of salt water. But there were none in sight, meaning that the water had traveled all the way from the ocean, so far away it was on the other side of the horizon. The two alicorns looked at each other, eyes wide and minds reeling.
“This is bad.” Dusk managed to say. Nodding, Solaris looked upwards to try and see a source for such a cataclysm.
“That is worse!” He shouted, pointing upwards. Dusk followed the direction of his hoof, and saw a massive black energy ball hurtling from the surface of the moon.
Directly at them.
~~~
Insane laughter rolled from Night-terror Knight's mouth as he watched the black orb fly straight and true towards Canterlot castle. He glanced over slightly, and his cackling grew as he saw the massive crater that the ocean on the east coast of Equestria was draining into. Like a foal watching fireworks, he clapped his hooves together and giggled in excitement for watching the evaporation of the entire mountain range that surrounded Canterlot.
The foalish grin fell from his face as the energy ball stopped shrinking into the distance, and instead started moving sideways, away from the surface and away from Canterlot, instead flying past into space off to the side of the blue marble.
A growl escaped the sneering frown on Night-terror's snout as he recognized the two magic beams that has altered the orb's course. One he recognized from a millennia ago, the other from not long ago at all. Artemis, buried deep inside the raging Daemon felt hope surge as he saw his brother and Dusk were going to save the day, like they always did.
Or so he thought, at least.
~~~
“We need to get to Arty's room. He is up on the moon now, and I think I know how he got there.” Solaris shouted as the two princes sagged from the massive strain they had just endured. “We can't redirect another that size, and I would prefer to keep Equestria from being further remodeled.”
Dusk Shine nodded, and the two alicorns lit their horns and disappeared.
Blinking and steadying themselves, the two princes looked around. They were on the wide open plain that bordered the massive Apple Family Orchard, and in front of them was a strange sight indeed. Looking like a slice out of a castle pie, the chunk of the night wing that held Artemis' chambers sat in the field, almost perfectly intact, save the walls and floor that had been cut to remove the section. Looking to each other, Solaris opened the door to Artemis' bedchambers, and they walked inside. Immediately, both alicorns noticed the glowing and swirling mirror that stood in the middle of the room, shooting sparks out and warping the air around it as if it were extremely hot.
“I guess that is it, then?” Dusk asked, though he didn't really need any answer, and both of them approached the brilliant portal.
“Get ready, I don't know what we will see on the other side, but I imagine we will not be safe.” Solaris stated as they stood in front of the mirror, both their manes being blown back in magical wind that pressed out of the roiling and sparkling mirror-glass.
“How will we breathe on the other side? I can think of a few spells that may work, but I have only tried them underwater, not in a vacuum...” Dusk asked hesitantly, feeling stupid that he had not prepared for this, despite him having no way of foreseeing a moonwalk.
“The mirror is magical, and grants... a blessing on those who use it. It makes anypony who travels through it to not need air on the moon... though I have no idea if it still works, with this crazy spell that Arty used on it...” Solaris gave a sheepish grin to his former student and sighed. “Here goes nothing!”
Dusk watched as his white form pressed through the surface, looking like an upended diver hitting the water in slow motion. Shaking his head and nervously chuckling, he pressed himself forwards, letting the quicksilver portal slide over his coat.
~~~
Everything shook, and Night-terror Knight looked around, panic rising inside, weakening the Daemon. Night-terror looked around and saw the ivory end of a horn poking into existence next to him. He leapt away and flapped his wings trying to fly away, but failing as his wings caught no purchase in the vacuum. Instead, the black alicorn stumbled and almost fell to the white surface of the moon.
Artemis felt this, and struggled to wrestle control from the being of the Nightmare realm. Then he recognized the source of the shaking, and stopped. Artemis realized that the Daemon had felt the opening of a portal, and thought it was just the one that Solaris and Dusk were entering. However, Artemis wasn't distracted by fumbling around, and felt that there was another portal opened, much further away, opened from a different place. This confused him for but a moment, because just as he was wondering who could be opening the portal, He felt his spell complete. Like building a bridge, his end of the spell met midway with another. Hope exploded inside him, but he had to hide it, for the Daemon was still much to strong.
Night-terror did not hesitate, and shot a blast of energy at Solaris as he exited the portal. The prince dodged to the side, but couldn't avoid the magic grip that enveloped him. As Dusk Shine emerged from the portal, Solaris was just able to shout “Wait, no!” before Night-terror grabbed him as well, freezing them in place. As they struggled, Dusk tried to cast a spell, but the Daemon was ready, and cast a spell to stop him. He then summoned two black crystals to him, and tied the immobilization and anti-magic spells for each prince to the gems.
“See, not so strong up here on our moon, are you!?!” Night-terror laughed as he watched the two princes unsuccessfully struggle at the binding. “And with you two foals out of the way, I feel like destroying Canterlot for real this time.” Looking back towards Equestria, the Daemon teleported another crystal, broke it, and began to charge up another world-shaking ball of black energy. Night-terror knew he could use the energy for a more destructive spell, but was simply having a great time shooting massive balls of pure energy at the planet below. 'Plus,' he thought to himself, so Artemis could hear it, 'It is just easier not having to actually make a spell, since I will be able to keep on going for a while with all those crystals you saved for me.'
At this, Artemis threw himself at the bars of the mental cage he was trapped in internally screaming at the Daemon. This only caused more rage, giving more power to the black terror that ruled his body now.
The hopelessness of the struggle of the three immeasurably powerful beings he now controlled made the Daemon cackle in ecstasy, so maniacally amused and excited by the destruction and fear and rage he was causing.
With an insane grin across his snout, the black alicorn flicked his horn towards Canterlot castle again, this time knowing there were no beings that could even dream of stopping such a massive amount of energy from disintegrating the capital of Equestria completely.
The hearts of the three princes sunk as they saw the black orb descend toward the surface, flying at unbelievable speed towards the ponies they knew and cared for, their subjects, their ponies, their home. Solaris and Dusk, the two still in control of their eyes, closed them, but Artemis had to watch through his monster-controlled eyes as the orb grew smaller in the distance, a juggernaut of death to the gleaming city.
~~~
But the city did not die.
No, as the orb approached, two familiar beams of magic shot up at it, sending it careening to the side past the planet into deep space.
Artemis blinked, shaking his head to make sure he was actually seeing this, not just remembering what it had looked like last time. But no, the orb had been redirected by two beams of alicorn magic, and Canterlot had been saved. Again. Glancing over, Artemis still saw his brother and friend there, still looking like they had been covered in magical tar, and still had their eyes pressed closed in dread.
'Wait, I just moved my head?' Artemis suddenly thought. 'Yes I did!' He moved his head around a bit more, looking up and down, and seeing the discarded pink crystal ahead of him, only now it had dyed fully pink, bright and shining with hope.
“Yes!” The Lunar Prince exclaimed, at which his two fellow princes opened their eyes and looked at him, noticing the change back in his voice. However as soon as he had said this, the beast recovered from the shock, and brutally forced his control back over the alicorn, barely able to wrestle power from the hope-bolstered mind of the prince.
“No! This can't be possible!” The Daemon screamed, shaking his head and blinking his eyes back into control. “Whatever foals think they can stop me can burn! I won't leave a world for them to defend!” The deranged cackling was more forced this time as confusion and doubt plagued his mind, crumbling the foundations of his control over the Lunar Aspect.
At this, Artemis started to feel panicked to a whole new level, finding that he still couldn't rip even a scrap of control, and fearing what the Daemon was planning. To the dismay of all three princes, the black horn flashed and summoned forth more crystals, this time a massive pile, hundreds upon hundreds of the crystals. Artemis was the only of the three to not completely give up hope, as he saw that all of the crystals were pink, and he was the only one to know what they meant, as the monster started speaking.
The cat-like eyes began glowing greenish-purple flames as Night-terror Knight began speaking Old Equestrian, weaving a complex spell of destruction. Then, as he started to bind the spell, he jumped madly onto the pile in front of him, crushing and smashing wildly, absorbing unimaginable amounts of energy into his spell.
The Daemon spoke the last few boiling words of the spell and thrust his horn to the sky. Still splintering and absorbing as many of the crystals as his crazed flailing would allow him, a single point of blinding white light formed above the tip. Physically shaking, the monster forced forward more of the impossible ocean of magic, growing the point into a larger and larger ball, looking like a sun, though pure white and infinitely bright, like an orb of molten iron.
With each black crystal, more hate and rage flowed into the Daemon, giving him more control, but each pink crystal flowed exponentially more power to the mind of Artemis, giving him fuel for his struggle within his mental confines. The black alicorn floated up from the surface, wings not moving, utterly motionless in the immense struggle of will and power. As his dominance was tested, the spells that bound the two princes fell, the binding broken from the crystals. At this, Dusk immediately lit his horn, prepared to fire all of the magical attacks he knew towards the hovering form.
“Stop, Dusk!” Solaris shouted, jumping in the way of the attack, at which Dusk stopped and looked questioningly at his mentor. “Nothing you could do will stop him, all it would do is make him more unstable. We need to run as fast as we can. He just used the Old Equestrian binding for 'Balefire'. No matter if he actually casts it, it is summoned and will erase the entire planet, if not the moon we are standing on as well as the sun. All we can hope for is surviving and time traveling back, but for that, he needs the moon to survive so we will have somewhere to stand, rather than flying infinitely through deep space till we both... expire. I know it's not much, but it's all we can do!” The last sentence was shouted back from the Solar Prince as he took off galloping across the white expanse, putting as much distance between him and the monster as he could.
Dusk shook his head in wonder, his mind boggling from what he was told, but blinked and cleared his mind. “Alright, let's go!” he shouted after him, nodding and taking off after him.
This all happened unnoticed by the Lunar Aspect, as a war for control raged inside him, the rightful soul of Artemis vying with the invading spirit from the realm of nightmares. The hope battled the rage, love battled hate, courage battled fear. Artemis blinked his left eyes as a tear fell away from it, trying and failing to mirror it with his right. He was pushed to his limits, but could not stop the spell, couldn't even control his face.
'No, I mustn't despair! I can do this! I can! I can. I...can?' Artemis thought to himself, feeling his grip over himself falter as he felt hopelessness invade his mind.
Gaining the upper hoof, the Daemon poured all the magical energy up into the Balefire, pumping more energy than normal unicorn will experience in their entire life directly into the inferno, growing it truly and unbelievably massive.
“Stop!” A voice bellowed out, strong and commanding, but puzzlingly feminine. Both the Daemon and Artemis looked down together in surprise, and Artemis remembered the second portal he had noticed opening on the far side of the moon.
Standing below the floating alicorn was another alicorn, this one not black but blue. Midnight blue.
~~~
“What was that!?!” Twilight Sparkle shouted in confusion to Celestia, both of whom sagged and were panting after the massive strain they had just endured. “First Luna does that crazy dark magic thing, now massive magic attacks!?!”
Celestia shook her head in disbelief, as she thought she recognized the magical signature as Princess Luna's or, more accurately, Nightmare Moon's, but it was different. She also could sense Luna's aura, but she wasn't at the source of the attack.
“Get rid of those magic barriers, we need to get into Lulu's room.” The Solar princess told her former student. Receiving a nod in return, she took off galloping in the direction of the Lunar Princess's bedchambers. Looking back, she saw Twilight following her, and warned “We can't redirect another that size, and I would prefer to keep Equestria from being remodeled.”
The two princesses entered the night wing of the castle, and came up to the large black door to Princess Luna's bedchambers and started unweaving the containment spells that Twilight had surrounded them in after a strange and massive surge of dark magic came from inside.
Once the barrier had dispersed, Twilight and Celestia burst into the room, finding a glowing mirror in the middle.
“What do we do, Prin- err, Celestia?” Twilight asked nervously, scared of what lay beyond the portal.
“We will have to go through the portal now, and stop whatever is on the other side. I don't know what is going on, I thought for a second that Luna had been taken back by Nightmare Moon, but I'm not sure.” Celestia said, walking around the sparking and shimmering portal cautiously.
“I felt that too, I think we sho-” Twilight stopped suddenly and looked up at the ceiling, eyes wide. “What now!?!” she screamed as Celestia and her bolted to the balcony to see the massive disturbance they had felt from above.
Slamming the outside door open, the two alicorns gazed upwards in awe and horror at the night sky. Where there usually was only one white disk hanging between the stars, there now was another white circle hanging right next to the moon, half again its size and growing, and so bright it made the moon and stars all but invisible by comparison.
“That can't be good...” Both Princesses simultaneously whispered.
~~~
“...You...” Artemis managed to gasp out, heart dancing as he pushed his will through the confused Daemon's hold over his faculties.
“Yes, it is I, and you are... you.” A brief flicker of happiness flicked across Princess Luna's face as she said the word you, but then her steadfast resolve retook her features. “But you are also not you right now, and that has to change. Especially with...” She looked upwards at the orb of Balefire, having to squint at it's blinding surface that was so expansive it looked perfectly flat above their heads. “...that.” She concluded after a brief pause.
“He is not changing anything right now, so you will have to talk to me, foalish interloper. Artemis is no more, I am all that is left of him, and soon, all that will be left of anything.” Night-terror Knight shouted out, his manic grin still wide but slightly strained. He could feel his grip weakening over the Prince of the Night, so he emphasized his point by tipping his horn ever so slightly at the word “anything”, making the massive sphere twitch wildly as it stayed connected to his long black horn.
“No!” Luna shouted out, eyes wide in fear of the careless treatment that the world-eating death ball was receiving. She quickly jumped up in front of the maddened alicorn, enchanting her wings to allow her flight in the vacuum. “Not all is lost, you can still fight the rage! Hope is still alive as long as you are.” She called out, speaking directly to Artemis and ignoring the Daemon entirely, knowing the ordeal he was going through, and remembering how hopeless it felt.
At this, Night-terror was wrought with spasms as Artemis felt the hope in her words, and pried loose the Daemons grip slightly more.
“Yes... but... ugh!” Artemis' face peeked through the terrible snarling grin momentarily, and Luna felt her heart flutter, only to skip a beat as the face contorted from the struggle. Settling control again, Artemis choked out a few last words, “So is... rage...”
Tears began streaming down Luna and Artemis' snouts, and a cackling laugh erupted from Night-terror. Gaining the upper hand again, he cried out “The foal is right! Hope may live with him, but so shall hate and rage! I will always be there with him, and no world will survive my wrath, whether from the nightly horrors I bring in dreams, or the destruction I wreak once I am done with them.”
“No... no...” Luna sobbed, shaking her head and loosing more teardrops. Inspiration struck, and she exclaimed “But look at the good you can do despite! I came here, and my rage was overcome by caring for you!” Her words stumbled slightly as she blushed, but she kept pressing her point. “There is no hope without struggle to gain it, you just need something to fight for, maybe some... pony.” Her heart fluttered again and tears rolled anew, this time not in despair.
“Yes! I... can...” Artemis exclaimed, feeling his form start to submit to his will as his heart swelled with hope.
“NO!” Night-terror Knight screamed out, using the last of his grip to shake the alicorn. Still controlling the horn, he let this movement distract Artemis for long enough to will some of the Balefire hovering above his head to shoot out, like a solid white-hot bar of iron. Thick as the trunk of an ancient oak, blinding white Balefire extended across the void barely overshooting the icy white cap of the planet below. Looking like a molten bar attached to the immense orb of blinding fire above their heads, Night-terror forced his control and tilted his head a tiny fraction of a degree downward. This brought the searing white-hot stream sizzling into the atmosphere, dematerializing the very air it contacted until slamming into the icy expanses of the northern pole.
“Stop! Please, stop the monster!” Luna pleaded, crying out amongst horrendous sobs as she saw the comparatively minuscule trickle of Balefire shooting out into the void on the other side of the planet, having instantly punctured it's way all the way through the land.
“...I.. can't!” Artemis gasped out, pressing his entire being into stopping the destruction, and barely being able to stop the Daemon's intentions of bifurcating the planet. But with this desperate declaration, the insane and unwavering force of rage let the Daemon cut even deeper into the surface below, leaving an enormous rend in the cap of the planet. Anypony who had ever read a map knew that the current of Balefire was dangerously close to a latitude where ponies lived, and the shadowed surface let these population centers gleam into the night, like bulls-eyes lit upon an archery target.
Luna flew up to the quivering black alicorn, and pressed her hooves to his chin in a physical attempt to halt the inevitable progress of the planet-hewing beam of light. But as her hooves touched his coat, Night-terror tossed her bodily away with a magically imbued flick of a hoof. Crashing into the moondust, Luna's mind swam as she considered the pure energy flowing through that being. She righted herself, and poured her magic into telekinetically freezing the black alicorn, but to even less avail as her magic grip shattered like a pane of glass attempting to withhold a glacier. Tears of fear and frustration beat down the well worn paths along her snout, looking up hopelessly at the world-destroying monster above her, floating in a maelstrom of magic exuded from the battle of wills.
“I can't do anything! All is lost!” The princess wailed, psychically trying to grab the Balefire, to change the direction of it's outpouring, anything, but with no success.
“Not all.. is lost! There is still... something you can do.” Artemis gasped out, his words slurring as his control of his lips faltered. Grimacing, he flicked his eyes downward, seeming incredibly saddened. Luna connected the messages and her mouth dropped open, eyes wide.
“No, I will not!” She screamed out, pain and terror ripping her voice.
“What!?!” The Daemon shouted, fighting with all his might and unable to see into Artemis' thoughts.
“You have to... kill me.” Artemis said, the finality of his tone making Luna's heart stop. Night-Terror Knight even reeled at this, not expecting such a plan from the usually light-hearted pony.
“N-no... you don't do that! You are all.. sunshine and rainbows! You ponies are weak and...” The Daemon babbled, concern washing over his mind as he felt the resolve from Artemis. In this confusion, the rightful soul gave Luna a meaningful glance, then pointedly looked at the pink crystal a few paces from her hooves.
Suddenly getting the message, Luna lifted her eyes to meet the cat like ones, and solemnly nodded.
Missing all of this, Night-terror Knight was truly panicked, and babbled on. “You can't! You won't! You... wouldn't?” Fear edged into the Daemons words at the resoluteness from his current company. Luna picked up the pink crystal as Artemis magically loosed the breastplate of the Night-terror Armour. Lining up a shot at Artemis' heart, Luna took a deep breath, shaking the Daemon and giving a better grasp to the true spirit over his form.
Artemis nodded, closing his eyes, and Luna launched the gem like a pink torpedo, shooting straight and true, until the last moment, at which she turned it slightly, sinking it a hooves-width deep into the black alicorn's abdomen below the ribs.
“Ahhh!” The Daemon and Artemis screamed out, pain searing every nerve they fought so desperately to control. Artemis, however, was ready.
As the pain exploded like an internal supernova, Artemis also felt the first few particles of the gem seep into him, shoring his press of willpower as he ripped control of his magic away from the shocked Daemon. With it, he mustered all his will and launched the great burning orb of Balefire, not at the surface of the planet, as Night-terror Knight had been attempting, but deep into the inky blackness of deep space.
The Daemon roiled, attempting to bellow “No” but unable to pry the steadfast grip of Artemis. Still shaking with pain, Artemis sighed in relief, reaching his hooves down to extract the gem and crush it, before falling limp to the lunar surface several meters below.
~~~
Artemis' eyes fluttered open a few moments later, eyes rapidly dilating and constricting as his concussed head attempted to make sense of the white and black world that surrounded him. His eyes rolled about until they lit upon a point of focus, a pair of blue hooves standing a pace or so away. Above these hooves were a set of long slender legs, supporting a pony who seemed oddly familiar yet urgently important at the same time.
“Ugh... who are...” The prince began to slur, but stopped as pain wracked his body upon his attempt to sit up. Hissing in pain, he simply slumped back down, feeling like a broken marionette with it's strings cut.
“Hold still, you are safe now.” A beautifully rich and calming voice caressed his ears, recalling memories of his mother to swirl in his shaken mind. The pony leaned closer to Artemis, and he caught a view of her face. Her beautiful, alluring, perfect face. The prince felt his heart stop and his breath catch as he took in her features, eyes rapidly running over every curve of her snout as if trying to memorize it.
“Am I dead?” He croaked, not believing such perfection existed in the mortal world.
“Not quite, and thanks to you, neither are all of us.” She smiled, and Artemis' shocked mind continued to spin as he decided that he would do anything to be the cause of such a wondrous spectacle as the gleaming grin playing out across the mare's snout. Comfort flowed over his tensed muscles from the mare as she brushed a hoof softly over his coat, her eyes examining the injuries he had sustained.
“Just relax, all will be fine now.” She breathed, though Artemis didn't pick up that this was more for herself than for him, and he closed his eyes to greet the velvety blanket of slumber that awaited him.
~~~
The next time Artemis opened his eyes, he was greeted by the same monochromatic surroundings, but this time his head had cleared slightly, and he recognized voices that were speaking urgently around him. Looking to his side, a pang of jealousy stabbed him, seeing the beautiful mare talking to his brother rather than him, but the feeling abated as soon as it formed as he saw that Dusk Shine, his close friend, was there with the two, and all three wore serious and concerned expressions.
The mare glanced towards him first, and noticing his movement rushed over to his side. The two stallions looked after her and followed to his side, but stayed a pace farther back, giving him room to speak with the beautiful mare, who now looked much more realistic, though still gorgeous beyond anypony the prince had ever seen in his life.
Taking in a breath, the blue mare looked sideways at the two other princes and spoke in a formal tone, loud enough to be heard by all. “Lord Artemis, I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and...” She noticed the confusion that played out over the injured alicorns features, and switched approach. Lowering her voice as well as formality, she softly said “I am Luna, how are you feeling? I have done all I can out here to treat your wounds, and I have even returned to acquire some pain medicine from the apothecary, which I have dosed you on.” A twinge of guilt ran across her expression as she realized she had not asked permission first.
“Thank you, fair Luna. Your care...” Artemis gritted his teeth as he inhaled, pain spiking from his ribcage evidence of broken ribs, and pain from his abdomen reminding him of his circumstances. “Wait, why are we still on the moon? If you have had enough time to go back to the apothecary, why didn't you simply bring me with?” Trying to roll on his side, Luna quickly stopped him as he grunted in pain.
“We feared to move you, but I still did try, yet to no avail. You see, as I try to open a portal, it leads back to my mirror in my room in my castle. But when either of your fellow princes try, their portals lead back to your mirror in your room. I tried carrying you through my portal, but it seems that my spell only works for me to get to my world. Your brother and his student could bring you with them but...” She cleared her throat slightly and closed her eyes, her voice quieting to a whisper. “I wouldn't let them take you away.”
A matching pair of tears rolled down one cheek of both cobalt snouts, which each pony quickly and surreptitiously wiped away as Luna stood back up and backed a half step away. Artemis could feel his heart pound a little louder as a quiver of joy and hope shot through his body, not caused by some crystal but by the genuine care and affection he felt radiate from the princess in those few words.
Looking down and away from her, he noticed the pair of stallions standing behind her and his mind snapped back into the real world. “Well...” Artemis chuckled in embarrassment, “I guess I should say sorry about that...”
At this, both of his fellow princes visibly relaxed, Dusk sighing and giving a resigned chuckle. Solaris, however, stepped forward and bent down close to his brother, his right fore-hoof gently pressing into his shoulder. “I should too, really. But at least I didn't try any planet killing with my... uh... experiments.” He chuckled, receiving a baleful glare and a shrugging off of his hoof that assured him his brother was going to be fine.
“How about you keep your so called 'experiments' to a minimum, and let's stay away from abusing mom and dad's relics while you're at it.” The Lunar Prince ruefully responded, attempting to reach up and prod his large white barrel, but his hoof stopped and was pulled back halfway with a groan of pain.
Solaris ceased being at Artemis' side as Luna suddenly replaced him, sending the Prince of the Sun sprawling in the moondust. “Are you alright?” Luna quickly asked, concern filling her voice at the injured alicorn's pain. Solaris looked up at her with wide eyes, as did Dusk, but both were completely ignored by the pair of Lunar Aspects.
“I'm fine, just a slight twinge.” Artemis did his best to lie, but Luna was having none of it, shaking her head and smiling.
“You have six broken ribs, three broken legs, a broken wing and a punctured lung at least that say otherwise. Don't try and move, get me to do anything you would like for you.” She admonished him, though her smile stayed and humor twinkled in her eyes.
“Don't say 'anything', he takes everything literally, and I'm not sure you would want to venture that far. Not without dinner first, at least.” Solaris called, now standing a few paces away with a grinning Dusk, obviously from the discussions the two princes were having. The cheeks of both cobalt alicorns tinting magenta as they pulled away from each other, realizing how unbecomingly close they had been.
“I would never...!” “I didn't mean...!” The two cried, embarrassment lacing their voices as they scrambled to explain and defend themselves. At this, Dusk Shine burst out laughing, followed by Solaris.
“You were so right! They even made the same face!” Dusk squeezed out from his barely controlled cackling. Solaris booming laugh echoed as Luna and Artemis glared at him, shame and rueful anger now etched upon their faces.
A quick flash made the two laughing princes blink, and in front of Luna floated a pair of pink crystals. Luna smiled a dangerous grin that almost looked like a snarl and simply said: “Don't make me use these.” The laughter immediately stopped, wide eyes and firmly shut mouths replacing gleeful smiles.
It was Luna and Artemis' time to laugh now at the dumbstruck looks of fear on their companions faces. “I wouldn't mess with her, she still could totally blow up Equestria.” Artemis guffawed out, sharing with Luna's mirth.
“Um, how many more of those are there?” Dusk carefully asked, “And where might they be?” Solaris added on, just as fearful of the threat.
Both blue alicorns simultaneously stated “That is none of your business.”
~~~
Artemis and Luna yet again were next to each other on the face of the moon. This time, however, Artemis was standing with the help of several magically hidden braces. This time, there also were no other ponies present, just the two lunar rulers looking up at the beautiful shadowed face of Equestria below them.
“I still can't figure out what is happening with my- our moon.” Artemis stated, breaking the silence. Luna raised an eyebrow, and he continued, “Dusk, Solaris, and I have spent all this time almost constantly trying to understand how we can meet here, and why this moon is over both of our Equestrias. All we have found so far has pointed to a merging of both moons, but...” He shook his head, his thoughts wrestling with the confusion and embarrassment at not solving this riddle already.
Luna's hoof lifted his chin, causing him to look into her eyes. 'Her beautiful eyes' he said to himself. Now that he had recovered further from the concussion he had sustained, he could see her to be real and not angelic or divine, but he still found her to be indescribably beautiful.
“Twilight, Celestia, and I have been coming to similar conclusions, and all three of our group have been able to coherently think for more than just the past few days.” Luna said, smirking as Artemis opened his mouth to respond, and pressed a hoof to his lips to halt him. “So that means you are likely correct.” He smiled and dipped his head, and Luna removed her hoof, trying to make the brushing of her hoof against his cheek and down the side of his neck seem accidental.
“I guess with all that magic and the mirrors, we just made them...” Artemis started, nodding to himself. Luna locked eyes with him and nodded at the same time, joining him and finishing his thought in unison. “...One Moon.”
