Dreams of the Damned

Chapter 2

Soaring above the clouds, Luna gazed down at the forest below. It had been a week since she had made that trip to the Crystal Empire, and she had started feeling better, but there was always this nagging feeling in her mind that she was forgetting something, and then there was the feeling that something was calling to her, that her mind was telling her to go someplace. That's what she was researching now, flying above the forests of north-western Equestria. She was getting close to where it was telling her to go, but she could see nothing but trees for miles around. She set down in a clearing close to where it was telling her to go, finding nothing out of the ordinary. She set off walking toward her destination, simply watching the moonlight filter through the pine needles. This far north winter came earlier than normal, the signs already showing, a few preemptive snowflakes falling to the ground. Winter was her favorite season, as the nights were longer, and the weather colder, which she much preferred over the hot, short nights of summer, when her power was weakest. Not that she didn’t enjoy summer, but winter was a lot more… peaceful. She wished sometimes that she could just get away from the city for awhile, and go fly out to a snowy forest and just sit there for hours, listening to the silence. But not right now, right now she had a job to do. A fox suddenly dashed across her path, spooked by something. She looked in the direction it had run from, and was surprised to find two ponies with flashlights approaching her position, sweeping the area. Even though she knew she was invisible to the average pony, she still tensed up when the beam washed over her. After a while they left, leaving Luna confused. Nopony ever came out this far into the woods except the occasional camper or research team, but the two ponies didn’t look like they fit into either of those groups. She decided to follow them, a bit intrigued. Her quest could wait. The two ponies walked for some ways, occasionally talking to each other, before stopping in front of a large cabin. Luna raised an eyebrow. How had she not seen this from the air? She had somehow flown right over it without noticing it, despite the fact that the light coming from the windows could easily have been seen for miles around. The two ponies knocked, and the door quickly opened, letting them in. Luna simply phased through the wall.

“Nothing?” A female voice said.

“Nothing.” Another voice confirmed, probably one of the ponies who were outside.

“Strange, the fields never done this to us before.” The female said again. “The equipments the latest model and in good condition, I don’t see why it would suddenly have something show up that wasn’t there…”

“Maybe it the antenna, you know how battered that thing can get being exposed to the weather.” Another male voice spoke up, probably the other pony from outside.

“No, if it was the equipment it would be showing one large mass, not one small, contained dot.” Said the female. She thought for a moment. “I’m going below, I need to talk the the tech team about this.”

“Alright, we’ll hold down the fort.” The female nodded and walked toward an empty wall, the confused invisible Luna following close behind. She walked up to a bookshelf and pressed a hidden button, a hidden door opening in the wall. Luna rolled her eyes. Really, a hidden button in a bookcase? What is it with people installing hidden switches or secret passages behind them? Luna personally didn’t have much experience with bookcases, so she wouldn't know. Behind the wall was a metal box, that the pony stepped into and pressed another button on the wall, before Luna was able to jump in just in time before the doors closed. The box lurched downward, before the doors opened to a stone hallway lit with electric lights. The pony continued down the hallway for a while, before turning into a room marked Sensors, but at this point Luna decided to split up, and took a look at the electric lights. Electricity was an emerging technology in Equestria, and while Luna had seen electric lighting before, it was in science labs and powered by a very large and very expensive mana engine, which took the natural magic given off by the planet and absorbed it and converted it into electrical energy. These lightbulbs looked nothing like they had at the labs, and gave off brighter light. Luna continued walking, now even more confused than she was before. The stone hallway opened into a large empty room, looking like some kind of meeting place. A sign read Courtyard. A few ponies stood around, a some wearing grey uniforms of some kind, obviously soldiers, while a few wore lab coats, and she spotted a squad of Changelings down one corridor, and even a small group of Griffons. Suddenly, a large group of ponies walked out into the Courtyard, escorted by some Ponies and Griffons, wearing the same uniforms as the others but white and carrying what appeared to be metal devices of some sort.  As for who they were escorting, it was a jumble of different species, including ponies, griffons and even a dragon, who all looked very weak and hungry. She swore she could she the ribs of a few of them. Then, it came to her what the ponies were carrying.

Rifles. They were carrying rifles. She had seen rifles before, back during Princess Cadence and Shining Armor’s wedding. She had seen one of the elite guards carrying them around, and asked her sister what they were. Celestia explained that they worked by firing a metal bullet down a tube (called a barrel) to hit a target at range. But they were very hard to produce and mostly unneeded, so only the most elite of squads were given them. However, these versions looked much more advanced than the ones she had seen in Canterlot. Again, another piece of tech that was much more advanced than what Equestria had. She watched as they crossed the courtyard, noticing that everyone watched them with pitiful expressions. One of the escorted ponies, a dark blue unicorn raised her head and scanned the room, her eyes resting on Luna. The pony gasped and her eyes widened in shock. Luna recoiled. How had that unicorn seen her? She was invisible! The unicorn in question was suddenly jabbed with the end of a rifle.

“Head down, keep moving!”

The unicorn obeyed, giving one last glance back to Luna before being led to a stairwell leading deeper underground. Luna followed. What she found unsettled her. They went down four levels, before arriving at a large metal door being guarded by two more white-uniformed soldiers. The sign above read Containment. One of the leading soldiers showed a pass, and they were let through the doors into what was one of the worst prisons she had ever seen, pretty much to a dungeon level. The floor was cracked and covered in moss, and water dripped from rusty pipes in the ceiling. The whole room was crammed full of cells, one eight foot square cell fit one pony, with cells stacked two levels high. At least they had stone walls between them. She passed many cells where it was unclear where its resident was alive or dead, and she was fairly certain that the red stain covering some of the walls wasn’t paint. One by one members of their group were stuffed into cells, until all that were left was the dragon and the unicorn from before.

“In you go, Princess.” One of the guards sneered, holding open the door to a larger cell and tossing her inside. She whimpered and crawled to one of the dark corners of the cell, the soldiers laughing. The dragon just watched blankly. Luna wished she could kick these guys flank. The soldiers continued on, still laughing. She just sat in the shadows and whimpered, before finally falling silent. Luna stood there for what seemed like forever, before turning to leave, but something made her stop. She turned back to the pony to her watching her, one eye closed and the other open halfway. Luna slowly walked back and forth in front of her cell, the one open eye always following her. Finally she stepped inside the cell and walked up the the pony.

“Can… can you see me?” She asked in a whisper. The pony very weakly nodded yes. “How?” She asked, but the pony just layed there.

“Who are you? What is this place? Why are you here?” She quickly asked, but the pony didn’t react to any of the questions.

“There’s no point in asking her, she can’t talk.”

Luna whipped around in the direction of the voice, but found nothing. She growled. “Who said that?”

“Take a closer look.”

Luna squinted. There, in the shadows, was the faint outline of a mare, wings at her side and a horn on her head. “Who… who are you?”

“I believe you already know the answer to that question, Princess Luna.”

“How do you know who I am?”

“It's hard to find someone inside Equestria who doesn't know who you are, Princess.” The mysterious figure said. “You live up in your palace and lower the sun to raise the moon, but one day you decided you had had enough of living in your wonderful sister's shadow and refused to lower the moon, transforming into the evil being Nightmare Moon, only to be stopped by the power of the Elements of Harmony, and banished to the moon. However, you return from the moon to once again cover Equestria in eternal night, only to be stopped by, once again, the Elements of Harmony. Trust me, I know who you are Princess.” The figure bowed. “Oh, excuse my manners, I haven’t met someone who wasn’t a prisoner like me or wanting to use me for some horrible experiment for a very long time.”

“So... what's the deal with you and this other pony over here?” Luna asked, glancing back to find to unicorn watching their exchange. “And why can't she talk?”

“Vessel never learned how.” The alicorn said, suddenly standing next to the unicorn she called Vessel. “She was born in this prison, and the scientists don't want their test subjects talking while they experimented on them.” She comforted to crying unicorn, Vessel drifting off to a painful sleep. “They only give her the bare minimum of food needed to survive, so she can’t really do much but lay here.” She sadly watched the unicorn for a moment, before turning back to Luna. “They only treat her like this because of me.” She looked at the floor sadly, before averting her gaze from Luna’s.

“Tell me, how do you contain a spirit, something that can pass through solid objects with ease?” She asked after a moment of silence.

“You… bind it to an earthly object, so that it cannot escape.” Luna said, getting where she was going with this.

The shadow alicorn nodded. “Exactly. That's what Vessel is, just a vessel, nothing more, at least, not to them.” However, she smiled. “But to me, she’s to only one I can count on in this sun-forsaken place.”

Luna stood there, watching the alicorn made of shadow. Then, her face hardened. “You never answered my question.” She said, stepping forward. “Who are you, and how do you know who I am? You said you have been in the dungeon your whole life, but you talk about me like you know me, there is no way you could have picked up that information in this place. So I ask again, who are you and how do you know who I am?”

The alicorn laughed. “Let me show you something Princess.” She walked up to the edge of the shadow, Luna watching with interest. “You see Princess, I am a being of shadow. Shadows are my home, they are where I thrive, and where I get my energy from. If I were placed in a room without darkness, I would be vaporized within seconds. However, this body that I am bound to would prolong my demise, increasing my lifespan in the light by a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the strength of the body.” She pointed her hoof at Luna, but when the shadow pony’s hoof passed into the light, it revealed itself to be not a hoof made of black shadow, but a hoof connected to a black furred leg, like the kind of a real pony, but still retaining its ghostly look. “Just like you Princess.”

“H-How do you know that?” Luna said, shocked. “O-Only I know that, I never told anyone!”

“Oh, I know everything about you Luna.  I know that if you're exposed to sunlight for more than twos days, you’ll die. I know all about your little love story with Sombra, and the child you lost. I know all your weaknesses, your strengths, and I know your limits. How far you will go to protect something you love…”

“H-How could you possibly know these things? It’s like you're inside my head…” Luna took a step backward.

“Think about it Luna.” Said the shadow alicorn, looking sad. “Do you know anyone who can manipulate shadows, leap across them, and has to equal control over both light and dark magic?”

“No!” Luna cried out. "No, no I don't! For a thousand years I thought I was the only pony who could do such advanced shadow magic, but now you come along and tell me there is another!” She stamped her hoof again. “And you still haven’t told me your name!”

“But Luna, you're the only being in the universe who can do that magic. But I can to. Think about it, I thought you would have gotten it by now.”

“You say it like were... the... same... person…” Luna trailed off, finally coming to a conclusion.

The alicorn of shadows nodded, and finally stepped into the dim light. Luna gasped. Same, fur color, same powerful wings, same pointed horn. Same muscular build, same flowing mane, same sharp fangs. But Luna noticed some small differences. Her once menacing stance was now one of uncertainty, and the same eyes that had stared down her sister were now filled with sadness and confusion. She looked like simple act standing there was causing her discomfort, wore no armor or coverings of any kind, and simply stood there as Luna stared at her in shock. Instead of the full moon cutie mark Luna wore on her flank, the mark had been replaced with a crescent moon instead, and the glowing red eyes had been replaced by bright purple orbs instead. The remnants of the alicorn who had once tried to cover Equestria in eternal night were still there, but the pony in front of her could hardly be called the same pony.

“Because, Luna, we are. Or, at least, we were, until five years ago, when the Elements hit us…” Nightmare Moon said, a sad look on her face.

“I… I don't…” Luna stammered, speechless. She didn’t know what to do. She could stay and confront her, or simply flee. She had never been good at confronting people that weren't trying to fight her, but even if Nightmare was, she didn’t feel like fighting her. So she picked the second option, and ran.

“W-Wait! I’m not going to…” Nightmare called out, but Luna was gone, having run away in panic. “P-Please come back…” These was no response, as she was talking to the wall. She hung her head for a moment, and then walked up to the wall and proceeded to bash her head into it. “Dammit, dammit, dammit! You said you wouldn’t do anything to scare her off! But now she’s…” She gulped and slumped to the floor in defeat. “And now she’s not coming back…”

Nightmare Moon sobbed into the darkness.

“Something wrong sister?” Celestia asked. “You seem troubled.”

“Why yes, sister, something is troubling me. You remember Nightmare Moon right, my little alter-ego who wanted to block out the sun and cover all of Equestria in darkness? Yea, her. Well last night I found out that she’s still alive and-”

“Luna?”

“-living in some dark dungeon, bound to some sad little unicorn how can’t talk, while some stanic ponies do horrible experiments on people.”

“Luna!”

“Oh, and also the people there have advanced technology and are probably planning something super bad, like blowing stuff up or something, and-”

“LUNA!”

“I, um… what?” Luna asked, startled, looking at her sister.

“You were staring off into space again. I called your name five times.” Celestia said, looking concerned. “Is something wrong Luna? You’ve been happy and cheerful all week, but now you seem distracted. Something bothering you?”

“I…” Luna thought for a moment. She didn’t like lying to her sister, but this was something that she wanted to handle herself. Well, not completely. “Sorry sister, I’ve just had something on my mind, nothing to worry about. Now, what were you saying?”

Celestia didn’t seem convinced for a moment, but then she smiled. “Well, alright then, if you say so. Now, as I was saying…” Luna didn’t hear the rest of the sentence, as her mind had already drifted away.