Luna curled her head down upon the thick, rain-soaked mud. The drop after drop of water pouring upon her felt like like a million little punches against her skin. She tried to open her eyes again, but the horrible mix of rain and tears stung. She jerked about before taking a huge breath. She then rammed her horn straight down into the ground.

"Strawberry..." she moaned. She pressed herself down deeper into the mud. I... I... I can't believe... I can't think that... She sniffed again and again. She took a little bit of control and slowed down the tears. She moved up, and then the mud seemed to suddenly dissolve.

The thick white mist enveloped everything once again. She held her face in her hooves. "Oh, oh, Strawberry, I didn't..." she muttered. She then stopped. No. I knew. I need to be honest with myself. She put her hooves down. Her contorted face melted into a look of weak determiantion.

I knew. I always did. He's... he's a unicorn. He's weak. He's imperfect. He's moral. He was made that way, and that's the end of that. On the inside... She could still feel Strawberry's curvy edges along the tips of his hooves going up her back and around her neck. In his heart, he's perfect. His love is perfect. It will last forever. But he won't. He "is loved". That's all that matters. She bobbed around in the thick mist.

"No... I can't... I can't think like that!" she suddenly called out. She jumped up ahead, and the shadowy visage of Strawberry's tombstone reappeared. "There has to be some way I can fix this. I can do something to him. I can help him. I can cure him. I can change him. I can make him into... to..." She nudged her head against the stone. She didn't cry, but she felt as if she was losing a piece of herself with every breath. "Nothing will stop me. I don't care what rule I break or what spell I have to do or what line i'll have to cross--" Her voice built up. "I don't care who I'd have to hurt!"

*Click*

Luna paused. The mechanical noise attacked her from all directions. She felt the mist spray her directly in the face, and she strained to even breathe. She collapsed onto the ground-- feeling that sloppy mud rubbing all across her hooves once again. She suddenly saw the stone once again.

Strawberry Dawn
March 1, 1056 - ∇∇∇ ∇∇, ∇∇∇∇

For crying out loud, what does that horrible little thing mean! What is going on here! She stared, and then the gravestone date changed once again. The mysterious triangle symbol dissappered and reappeared as year after year and month after month popped through-- from 1099 to 1111 to 1105 and onwards. "I... uh... Like I said?" she muttered in confusion, "I'll do anything for him." She then put the confidence back into her words. "They'll be some way to make him stay with me. And I'll do it. I don't care about the consequences!"

*Click, Click*

She jumped back at the awful noise. She fell backwards right into the mist. She suddenly felt something cold, hard, and damp. She spun around. She couldn't see anything except the floor. Yet she didn't know if she wanted to see anything more.

Luna's eyes traced down past the edge of her hooves along the little red trails dotted across the stone. Paint? Or... It can't be... She leaned forward a little bit more. Blood? She flashed back to that horrific incident three days ago at the royal orchard. She recalled the poor little earth pony that found his hoof caught inside the massive water wheel well and then was scraped against the wood and metal sidings like a puppy with a chew-toy. That spatter, that dry staining... It... It is. It's blood.

She crawled along the ground and moved her eyes down along the drips scarring the concrete. She stopped. She head a faint clink. She spun around, and she then saw a little metal something drop onto the ground. She leaned forward. A pool of blood coated the knife's serrated end and slowly oozed down upon the concrete. Little bluish-red nubs of something soaking wet stuck at the blade's edge.

"I..." she said, and the full weight sunk in, "I said... that I... wouldn't 'care who I'd have to hurt'... I said... that..." She was an alicorn. She didn't have a way around that-- or at least she hadn't heard of one. Making an ordinary pony into an alicorn, though, that spell had some... checkered history to it. Yet it was indeed rumored to be possible.

No, no... That was just an old fogey's tale. The very idea! Some old butcher turning his shop into a torture chamber as he carved the wings off of a pegasus and enacted some kind of necromancy using the blood of a real alicorn... No, don't be silly! Luna shut her eyes tightly. She opened them again. The bloody knife stared back at her in the face. No, this... This isn't a possibility. This isn't 'most likely' to happen-- there's no chance it would happen! I don't even know what's going on here. It's madness!

She got up. She turned and stepped to her right into the wall of mist. She suddenly leaned up against a railing. She looked down, and she saw her future self arguing with Celestia. The other Luna's face burned with rage. She hopped up and down and then smashed her front hooves against the floor with full force. Celestia magically brought forward a scroll. The other Luna then flung a hoof up to seize the scroll. She tore it into hundreds of pieces.

Luna turned away. She then saw her future self appearing besides a roaring fireplace. The other Luna tapped her hoof impatiently as she flipped through an ancient book. The other Luna reached the end, and then she poured through it a second time. She then picked up the book and hurled it into the fireplace.

"No, no..." Luna muttered. She buried her head into her hooves. "I didn't mean that I'd do anything to keep him alive... I didn't... I did... I did mean it..." I love him. Of course I'd do anything for him. No, I wouldn't. I shouldn't sound so crazy! She slammed her body against the ground. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

*Click, click, click*

She thrust her hooves against her eyes and pressed down deep. She could feel that terrible clicking chattering her teeth. The mist then twirled about her head. She stood up once again.

She looked on to see the familiar clearing where Strawberry and her had had their first date. A rustled moved past Luna's shoulder. She spun around, and she then saw Midnight bouncing about. Her daughter had blossomed into a wonderfully pretty mare. Midnight's mane seemed to go on forever as it fluttered across her long, slender body. Her spots seemed to vanish and then appear again at every move. Luna then saw her future self following right behind.

Midnight kicked against a hunk of dirt and then hopped up atop a little maple tree. She then twirled around and ping-ponged from tree trunk to tree trunk. The other Luna flew straight up-- laughing all the while. The two alicorns then skated right across the top of the lake-- their hooves just barely scraping the top of the water and shooting out light sprays behind them.

"It... it will..." Luna began. The alicorns made symmetric moves like two ballerinas, and then they sailed straight up into the air. "It will all be alright. It should be. Twenty years with Strawberry might as well be two thousand years. And he'll always be there-- in me and in her." Her smile struggled, but it still quickly faded. But I'll still... I'll still bury my own husband. And if I really do this, if I really... really accept him into my life like this-- it will mean...

The future Luna and her daughter zoomed through the treetops. They then sailed twoards Luna, and she ducked as they rocketed past her. She laid back against the ground, and she sighed. It would mean missing him, wanting him, and needing him without getting him... forever.

The mist whooshed past Luna once again. She blinked. She looked upwards at her daughter as she fluttered about inside some cold, blank white waiting room. Midnight tapped her hooves in frustration, and then she landed right upon one of the chairs. She bobbed her hooves underneath the seat and repeatedly bonked the wall behind.

A puffy cloud dropped down atop Luna's face. She jiggled her head, and then she looked out at her daughter once again. Midnight stared blankly at the future Luna as she walked in through a side door. The other Luna tried to put on a brave face, but then she rubbed her right hoof against her face. Midnight started to pant. The future Luna dripped out a few more tears, and then mother and daughter shared a tender hug.

"No... no..." Luna moaned. She collapsed upon the cold tiles and narrowed her eyes. She glared across the waiting room floor at her future self. "What did you do to my Midnight! What did you let happen to her! What's wrong with my DAUGHTER!"

Another wash of mist poured out from the sides of the room. Luna twisted her head, and she looked out at the cozy little living room. She saw Midnight pacing back and forth atop the frizzy red rug. Midnight then screamed at somepony on a couch-- waving her front hooves into the air. Luna walked over to see... Twilight.

Age had ravaged the purple unicorn's pretty looks. Luna's eyes traced down the piles of wrinkles across Twilight's face over to her mane-- still long and flowing, but splatted with gray all over. Luna eyed one of Twilight's front hooves, which seemed to be curled in an unnatural position at the end.

Twilight suddenly stood up. She pulled up a set of tall glossy books littered with medical diagrams and tapped along the side. She looked as if she wanted to yell at the top of her lungs. She then dropped the book right on the floor and stepped on it. Midnight stared at Twilight, and then Midnight pulled up a much older, battered orange book from underneath her. Twilight muttered something.

"Excuse me!" Midnight remarked.

"Princess," Twilight replied, and her voice showed as much age as the rest of her, "I'm afraid that it just doesn't matter. For an ordinary alicorn, yes, it would..."

"Ordinary alicorn!" Midnight called out. She moved over and leaned up just inches from the purple unicorn's face.

"You're not an ordinary alicorn," Twilight calmly responded.

Luna strained to hear the rest, but the mist had returned. Luna waved her hooves about, and she came upon another medical room. She saw her daughter sitting on a simple chair besides the table. Luna's eyes traced along Midnight's body over to her right hoof. Something small and shiny went into Midnight's skin. Luna tried to focus, and she then saw a tall yellow pegasus. She looked up at his face, but all she could make out was his surgical mask and stethoscope.

"No, it's just, not... NO!" Luna screamed, "She's an alicorn! She doesn't get sick! She doesn't hurt!"

Luna tried to embrace her daughter, but the vision just faded as soon as her hoof touched. Luna coughed as the mist seemed to pour upon her even thicker than ever. No she's... I can fix her. I WILL fix her. She jumped forwards.

Luna rubbed her hoofs against the ground, and she felt hard wood with a touch of something sticky. She gazed outward, and the mist slowly began to clear. Luna's eyes traced along golden stripes and thick black plates with the occasion white tape marks. It's a... stage. She then ran her eyes upwards along the shifting red curtains. Luna ran closer, but the stage remained yards and yards away at every step.

Some commotion happened around Luna. She bounced around left and right at tried to look about. She then saw a gaggle of ponies sitting down in ornate seats. Almost all of them shifted about and suddenly applauded. The tall red pegasus besides Luna jumped up and whistled. Luna then looked back at the stage.

Midnight stepped up from the back of the stage to the lone microphone. Luna couldn't help but smile at the huge, poofy black dress that stretched across Midnight's shoulders and down her sides. Luna gazed at the dozens of sparkly diamonds going across Midnight's neck.

Yet Luna's heart seemed to stop as she looked upon her daughter's face. Midnight's beauty shone through, but age had made its mark. Luna noticed the wrinkles immediately, but she feared much worse. Luna's eyes covered every last inch of Midnight's face, and she came upon one of two of those discolored spots that Strawberry had suffered from. Is that it? Or are you hiding them all with makeup? Oh... oh sweetie... No... NO!

Midnight opened her mouth. A powerful melodic blast ripped through the audience. They applauded for a second time. She gripped a hoof against the microphone, and then she curled her body a few inches around. The song seemed to flow through her very veins before she belted it out once more.

"Looooooooooooookinggggg frooommmmmmmmmm--" Midnight sang. Luna felt so struck by the depth and the sort of hunger in each word. "A window-- aboooovve--"

"It's... It's our song!" Luna called out. She made a girly giggle and bounced up and down. Oh, you're just so beautiful... Every part of you, every piece of you...

"It's like a story of love," Midnight sang. Luna cooed along with the melody. She almost cried at the emotion her daughter put into that last final word. "Can you heeeeeeear meeeeeee..."

*Snap*

Midnight jumped back. The crowd bounced about. Luna had no idea what had happen. She walked futher to the stage, but it didn't even get an inch closer. She squinted. Midnight leaned over and nestled her right hoof against her face. The microphone let out a couple of sparks. Luna saw a little red glow going through it.

A tech pony jumped up from the bottom of the stage and seized the microphone. Midight then stepped a little bit closer to the audience. She let out a triumphant pump of her hooves into the air. The crowd went wild.

"Looks like the groove got to a little too much, didn't it? I guess the club can't even handle me!" Midnight called out. The crowd erupted. Whistles and cheers flew all across. Luna's eyes then moved right across her daughter's body towards the tip of her right hoof.

"She's bleeding..." Luna muttered. The mist fluttered back behind her. She kept on gazing at her daughter. "She's mortal..."

Luna shut her eyes tightly. She truly could barely stand anything more. She opened them again, and she saw herself again. The other Luna walked through a patch muddy grass as the rain poured upon her. The other Luna's tears dripped one by one across her face and down-- mixing in with the rain.

"No! I've seen this!" Luna screamed. She bucked up on her hind hooves. "I can't bear to see it again!" She panted. She saw her future self take out a different rose-- this one marked in a striking dark pink-- and lay it upon a gravestone.

I... I have to see... I have to know... Luna walked up. She stood exactly besides her future self, and she leaned down in exactly the same pose. The little bits of mist from in front of them cleared.

Strawberry Dawn Midnight Dawn
March 1, 1056 - September 23, 1099 February 14, 1074 - November 1, 1244
He is loved. She is loved.

Luna wanted to scream her lungs out. She wanted to beat against the ground until mud flew everywhere. She wanted to cry so much that it burned her face. She never had a chance.

The blue alicorn landed on the stone ground with a soft thud. She flew her head back and forth, and she kicked with her hooves. She felt somepony's hooves going along the sides of her face.

"Your majesty!" Vance yelled. He put his hooves around her neck for a moment to make sure that she could still breathe. Luna suddenly shot upwards. She blinked for what seemed like a thousand times. She then panted, and she glanced all around the gigantic mechanical sphere in front of her.

"Vance... we... we..." Luna muttered. She paused for what felt like years. The stallion stared at her with eyes like dinner plates. "Thank you."

(To Be Continued)