Unforseen Consequences - The old castle(pt.35)

>Luna looks at the sky and sighs ”We should probably go back to the castle, the sun will start setting on soon, and my sister should really be mad at this point”
“Really? Come on, we can do something else before we go!”
>Your beloved blue horse looks hesitant, but you can tell that part of her actually wanted the same as you “I don’t know, Anon, Tia is waiting for us and…”
“I bet she can wait a little longer, and tell you what, why don’t we do something or go somewhere that you really love? Like your favorite spot in Ponyville!”
>”My favorite place? Hmmmm” Luna rubs her chin, then looks at the Canterlot mountain, then at the everfree and finally to you. “There’s one place, but I don’t know”
“Oh come on, pleaaaaaase?”
>You give her the cutest, more adorable pleading eyes that you can come up with. And it works as you can see Luna crumble under your adorableness
>”Hnnng… Okay but you have to promise to behave” She finally accepts, and you can tell that she was happy since she was trying to hide her own excitement.
“I swear that I won’t cause any trouble!”
>Luna smiles at this “Very well, then…” she covers you under her wing “Brace yourself, because we are going to a very special place!”
“Special pla-?“
>As it has become usual with these ponies, Luna doesn’t wait for you to finish your sentence, in a blink of an eye you get teleported from the front of Fluttershy’s cottage to a very dark forest
>You look around. Very similar to Luna’s secret garden; Tall trees, very thick and dark foliage covered everything, beasts sounds can be heard in the distance….
>But you don’t get the same feeling of security that you had inside Luna’s garden… this was something else, the air was messed up, hell even the sky seemed to move differently… was this?
“Is… Is this the Everfree forest?”
>”That is correct!” You hear Luna exclaim with a very powerful voice from behind you  “But I didn’t bring you here today so you can enjoy the mysterious wonders of the Everfree Forest, No, this is something different! Now turn around my child and behold…”
>You obey Luna and slowly turn around to see… Holy hell!
>”The place where your mothers grew up in, the place that holds some of our most precious childhood memories, the place that we used to call home! The castle of the two sisters!”
“I-I…”
>You were left speechless, among the darkness of the forest a clearing opens up, revealing some massive ruins.
>She called it a castle? This was more like a small citadel, it was bigger than Canterlot castle, bigger than the one you saw in Ponyville…
>The ruins were in pretty bad shape, certainly there were no efforts to restore it to its former glory and nature seems to have reclaimed most of the grounds surrounding it, or at least what it could. The castle grounds were surrounded by a cliff.
>But Luna’s introduction made you think, this was their home? The ruins seem really old, but that’s not the problem, the issue here is…
“Why did you leave this place?”
>Luna ignores your question as she starts trotting to the castle “Come my child! I can barely wait to show you my old home!”
>You follow Luna through a small bridge that she insists is not safe, so she carries you on her back… goddamn she was soft.
“So, this was your old home? The one that you told me when we were with Wind Rider?”
>Luna nods, you can’t see her face since she was focusing on the road ahead, but you feel that she was carrying a sheepish smile with her “That is Correct! And I am very happy that you remembered that because that means that you actually pay attention to what I have to say!”
>You let out a small chuckle while still admiring the view
“Why wouldn’t I? I mean, for starters you are my mom, then there’s the fact that you seem like a really interesting pony… I can’t wait to hear your stories about this castle”
>Luna stays silent for a moment before finally speaking with a softer tone “Thank you my child, I really appreciate your words… And believe me I do have tons of fun stories to tell, not only about this castle, so if you ever want to hear one-“
“You can be sure that I will ask you sometime, trust me, if there’s one thing I love is learning”
>Luna lets out a giggle and claps her hooves on the ground ”Then I will love to share my stories and adventures with you, my little star. And you know, you can always ask Tia too, if there’s one thing that  mare loves to do as much as she loves to make me angry, is to teach young foals about basically anything that their young minds can question”
>Then there’s the fact that they are immortal beings that have ruled this kingdom for millennia, they surely must have some crazy ass shit to tell.
“In that case… I think I’ll nag her about that when we get home”
>”That will have to wait… I think… I mean, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor must be there already and I think that it will be better if you spent some time getting to know them before you inquire with those kinds of subjects…. And now that I think about it, don’t you have homework to do? And your private lessons?”
>Oh shit, that’s right but eh, the former was just math and the latter… well you can handle eyebrows without too much problem, but fuck this shit, you have to change subject and you better do it in a smooth way
“Yeaaaah…. Oh look! We are already here!”
>You frantically point with your hoof the fact that you were at the gates of the castle ruins
>”Don’t you even think for a moment that you will get away from doing those things… but yes, you are correct in your observation so…” Luna gently puts you on the ground using her magic and clears her throat “Prepare yourself, my child, because we are about to enter to the castle of the two sisters!”
>With that cute introduction, Luna opens the doors from pair t pair, and the very first thing that you see is of course the great hall
>Just like the outside, the inside of the castle was in pretty bad shape, the room must have been pretty spectacular in its hay day, it had these huge banners and tons of entryways leading to hallways that were going to god knows where.
>When you get there, you see Luna leaning against a wall with a huge smile on her face, standing directly under a massive banner.
“Soo ummm, where do we go next?”
>”Ohhhh, I am sure that we are about to have a great amount of fun together my Anon!” Luna again motions you to follow her through one of the hallways… well shit, it looked really creepy since none of the hallways were lit
>Luna smirks at your obviously nervous face and nuzzles a little on your mane “Do not fear my child” her horn begins to glow and in an instant, every torch in the hallway was now lit with a dim blue light.
>You follow Luna across the hallway, always keeping close to her since while you could see your way now, this hallway was still creepy as fuck. But to your surprise it doesn’t take much to arrive to your destination which was…
“A throne room? Wow, this place must have been huge!”
>The throne room was kind of similar to the one in Canterlot, it had two thrones, and you could easily tell which one belonged to which sister since they had banners at their sides. From the perspective that you were looking at them, the left throne belonged to Luna, and the right one belonged to Celestia.
>You also felt that it was quite the sight thanks to the massive pillars that ended in a giant dome, made of what seemed to be stained glass, but now… it looked more like a bomb fell in this place
>But you have to admit, if you were like an actual kid, this place would be the shit to invent ghost stories around it; it has this really creepy but cool vibe around it. Like this place has seen tons of stuff across eras.
>Hell you are sure that your little bat would love this place… you really need to ask Luna if she can hang with you two sometime
“Soooo how old is this place?”
>”Well… Very old, and that’s all I have to say about it, now come my child!” Luna pulls you towards the thrones “These were the thrones that I and my sister used to sit on, they might not look like much, but I have yet to find a seat as comfortable as these!”
>Well… that was… something. You just nod and pretend to be interested
>”But wait! There’s more than the eye can see, because these seats are not only comfortable!”
>You raise an eyebrow and let out a small chuckle
“They are EXTRA comfortable?”
>”Well…yes… but that’s not what I meant, just look closer, do you notice something odd with the thrones?” Luna gives you a big grin while wiggling her eyebrows
>You lean forward and rest your head on your right hoof so you can inspect the throne better… Time certainly had its way with it, stone was super old, and even some plats were starting to grow, and…
“Hmmmmmmm”
>”Yesss? Have you noticed?” Luna softly whispers in your ear while she starts to hug you like a plushie
“There’s this… Opening around the throne… it doesn’t seem like it because it's old… But more like…”
>”Like a door?” Luna places her hoof on the throne and firmly pushes it
“Yeaaah, but how did you know what I was going to saaaaaaaaaaaaay~”
>And just like that a trapdoor activates throwing you and Luna into a slide that lead right into the big hallway.
>”Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~”  Luna was laughing pretty hard while still holding you close to her chest
>You on the other hand, were pretty startle by all of this, but dared not to say anything since your “mom” was having such a great time
>”That was a classic! I can’t believe that the throne trap still works!” Luna was rolling around and still giggling like an idiot… and she of course was still holding you
>Not that you actually mind, Luna’s hugs are a miracle of the universe
“So umm… what was that? Do you also have traps installed on your thrones back in Canterlot?”
>Luna reduces her laughter to a soft giggle “That was a trap door, you dummy!”
“Well, I can certainly tell that… I meant that why was it installed in the first place?”
>Luna gently boops your nose with her left wing ”You see, back in the day, like really back in the day… when I was younger, Celestia and I were the best tricksters in Equestria, we had so much fun playing little pranks to other ponies and to the each other that we placed tons of little traps inside this castle… the slide was my favorite one!”
“That… well, that sounds like Celestia alright, but you? I never took you for a prankster”
>”Pu-lease, Anon! I’m as good if not better than Tia! Maybe one day I can show you what a prank really looks like” Luna nuzzles on your mane while letting a somewhat devilish laughter
>”Oh! I know about a place that you will surely love!” Luna stops laughing and still hugging you pretty tightly she dashes across the hallways until both of you get to a very small study.
>It had some bookshelves, pillows and in the center of the room there was a small podium with a very thick book resting on top of it, but more than anything you are surprised by how well preserved this place was…. It's almost as time never touched this room
“What is this place?”
>”Oh this is the study that Tia and I used to relax- And look! Our old diary is still here!” Luna dashes towards the diary and rapidly opens it
>Meanwhile you start inspecting the books that were in the bookshelves. They were old as fuck, but one of them calls your attention
“The wonders of magic by…. Starwshirl the Bearded….hmmm”
>Now, for some reason you were curious about what it could have, if anything to see if Starswhirl’s poor ability to record his discoveries is something that is a constant across all his works or just an exception that maybe was used to introduce young foals to the real science of magic
>You grab the book with your magic and lie down in the floor, facing the bookshelves
>You open the book and start reading it while Luna keeps eagerly reading her journal, sometimes she giggles about something that she read, but you kept your focus on your own lecture.
>Well, this certainly was about different subjects than the book that Moon Dancer gave you, BUT it was still shit in terms of actually developing a functioning hypothesis, his methodology and conclusions didn’t seem to follow his initial question…
>Just like his other book you could tell that there was some brilliance and tons of enthusiasm in this work, when it was subjected to the objectivism and scrutiny of real science this was, well… lackluster to say the least.
>Luna seems to notice that you were really into the book and decides to ask you “What are you reading my child? I hope that it's nothing disturbing”
>You don’t turn to face Luna as you continue reading
“A book by Starswhirl  called the wonders of magic or something”
>Luna lands, lies down, and rolls over so she’s belly up on the pillows ”I hope that you like it, I was acquainted with Starswhirl and let me tell you, he was a genius!” she finally says with a soft tone
>You roll your eyes and fake a cheerful answer while still focusing on your lecture
“Yeah, he’s truly something else….hmh? What’s this?”
>”What’s the matter, Anon?” Luna stands up and walks towards you
>A certain phrase catches your attention
“… For this reason I have to conclude the following as an universal truth in the matters of all things magical: No magic action can be put into effect without a magical user causing said magical effect…”
>Luna tilted her head in confusion and lies at your side, covering you under her wing “I can see that you are disturbed, but I cannot understand why”
“I’m not disturbed… well, not exactly… I’m just baffled because I’m sure that this must be wrong”
>Your “mom” raises an eyebrow at this “Wrong? How so, this is Starswirl the Bearded that we are talking about, his magical teachings have been the base of our understanding of magic for centuries”
>You sigh, well you already told her that this guy should be wrong, so let’s go the full mile
“Okay, maybe I can be wrong too since I admit that my knowledge in magic pretty low, but based on everything I’ve seen, magic acts like a distributed parameter system, not a lumped elemental model”
>”A what now? Are you feeling alright my child?” Luna was now looking at you with concern about your current state of mind
>You sigh again and give her a small smile
“I’m alright, but lemme explain: From what I’ve seen, magic is a non-linear system and that means that the initial condition, that is to say an initial casting of a spell will cause large variations in the long term behavior of the system, the system being of course the spell, or the object that the spell was casted on.”
>Judging by her expression, Luna was not following your explanation
“Ok, like, what Starswhirl says is that you cast a spell and therefore magic happens right?”
>Luna slowly nods
“But that’s not always the case, sometimes when you cast a spell it might go wrong, or cause other effects, or simply not happen at all… or create something bigger, that is to say, we may not be able to predict what the spell is going to be like since the variables that happens in between the time that you cast the spell and when the spell actually happens are infinite… chaos in other words”
>Luna rubs her chin for a moment before giving you a little kiss in your forehead “I’m not going to lie to you, I didn’t follow most of what you said, I think that Tia would be better fit for a conversation like this, but I did understand that one last part…and that is chaos. While my knowledge in magic is limited I can tell you that pony magic does not work in chaos. Quite the contrary, it's harmony”
“But… what about Discord? His magic seems to contradict everything that I’ve read here”
>Luna gives you a gentle pat on the head “Discord’s magic is quite different from ours, maybe your theory about magic-“
“Hypothesis, actually”
>Luna narrows her eyes; she didn’t like your correction
“Sorry”
 >”As I was saying…. Maybe your hypothesis would be better fit to explain how Discord’s magic works… if such thing is possible” she chuckles to herself
>Fuck, you win this time you old mad horse… but if he’s right…. Maybe you could actually explain magic, pony magic since that would mean that it works as electricity, or at least follows the same basic physical principles of it, and if it works like electricity then that means that magic IS a form of energy, and if it's energy…
>You know what fuck it, you will think about this some other time, you actually have to do the math for this… unlike this fucking hack called Starswhirl
>You actually have something to ask Luna now that you remember
“Hey mom, can I ask you something?”
>Luna rubs her muzzle against your cheek “Why, of course, anything you want”
“What is Nightmare Moon?”
>Luna instantly flinches at the question, she stands up and you could see she was filling up with anxiety “W-why do you want to know that?”
“Because it's been brought up several times already, and the only thing that I can deduce is that it has to do something to do with you, but… listen are you ok? If it's a touchy subject then you don’t have to tell me anything about it”
>”I…” Luna starts breathing heavily, she walks away and focuses on the single window that the study has “I…” she takes a big breath “I have to tell you about it… it is no secret to anypony, it's just… I had hoped that you wouldn’t ask about that so soon”
>You stand up too and walk towards Luna, sitting by her side and giving her a hug.  Why the fuck did you ask that? Now she was clearly heartbroken, agh! You hated seeing her like this!
“As I said, if you don’t want to tell me then its fine, it's just that I’m surprised that you reacted like this”
>Using her hoof, Luna pulls you closer to her chest and gently nuzzles into your mane “And as I said, this is something that I have to tell you about” She sighs heavily and stays silent for a moment ”But I have to do it… I just..."
 “You don’t feel ready?”
>Luna slowly nods
“Ok… If you really have to do it, why don’t you take your time? Tell me when you feel ready”
>Luna stays silent for a moment, holding you close to her chest “I… think that… I might have an idea that could work… for the both of us…”
“Oh?”
>Luna breaks the hug and lies down in front of you,. She was holding direct eye contact with you ”Before I tell you what I have in mind, you need to know that it will most surely be scary”
>You give her a confident smile and a wink
“I’m used to scary stuff remember? My world was destroyed and all that”
>”Ohhh…. right… I forgot… again” she looks away feeling awful that she reminded you about your “old world” and you in turn feel awful that you just fucked it up again
“I was joking! You know that I don’t mind, please tell me your idea”
>Luna slowly turns and looks at you with a very serious glare “That wasn’t funny”
“I-I know… I’m sorry”
>She continues to glare you for a few more moments before continuing “As I was saying, this will be scary but if you feel like you could handle it… maybe I could show you about Nightmare Moon in your dreams?”
>In your dreams? What the fuck was she talkin abo- ooooooh that’s right she can enter your dreams…
>You really don’t like that idea that someone else would wander inside your mind but what else could you do? She clearly was getting all emotional, this a really touchy subject for her… and you honestly don’t want to see her sad.
>You close your eyes and reluctantly nod
“Very well, mom… I’m fine with this”
>”Thank you my little star” Luna embraces you in a warm hug that lasts quite some time, and when she breaks the hug she softly whispers into your ear “I think it's time we go back home”
>You nod, and not say anything else
>You walk out the castle, but before Luna teleports you away; she takes one last look at it…. Her face was pure melancholy and nostalgia, a tear was running down her cheek.
>You look around and while the Everfree Forest was still as creepy as ever but you also notice something else… even for a brief moment you could’ve sworn that you saw a pink unicorn staring directly at you.
>You both end up in Ponyville where the two of you take the train to Canterlot. Dude, first class sure is the shit, but you couldn’t enjoy it completely because, despite how hard she was trying to hide it, Luna was feeling really anxious about this whole thing.
>You arrive at Canterlot Castle, judging by the sun, you still had some hours to go before the night arrived.
>When you open the doors to the castle a familiar voice greets you “I hope that you two had fun together, they say that Ponyville is quite beautiful this time of the year” It was Celestia, and she wasn’t looking too happy with Luna
>”S-Sister! Have you been waiting for us?” Luna asks with a meekly voice and…
“Hey!”
>She puts you in front of her so you could act as a shield to protect her from Celestia’s wrath
>Celestia raises an eyebrow at her sister and using her magic, she gently removes you from Luna’s grasp and gently places you on her back “Now my sunshine, why don’t we go to a comfier place so you can tell me about your day, while Luna here finishes her royal duties”
>”B-but sister!” Luna tries to protect but is met by Celestia’s icy stare “O-Ok…” Luna lowers her head in defeat and flies away
>Celestia lets out a small giggle “Do not worry my dear, she will be better by dinner… and I hope that this time we have dinner, considering that most of the time something prevents us from that, but anyways, on we go! It's time that you get to know my own personal study!”
>And with that Celestia starts walking with you on her back… but you still had your mind busy with just one question: What or who the hell is Nightmare Moon?”