AiE Chapter 12: Scars [Part 2]

In Loving Memory Of Brisker
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>Chainsaw(Cs): "0624!! You okay man?"
>You hear something...
>Ivy(I): "Is he okay!? I didn't want to freeze him fully."
>There are people talking around you...
>I: "Try shaking him Chainsaw."
>You feel something clasp your shoulder and nudge it back and forth a few times; it felt so warm for some reason.
>Cs: "He's freaking cold as hell."
>You wanted to move, but the most you could manage to do was turn your head to the side and crack your eyes open as the blinding light filled your vision.
"Ugh!"
>I: "Oh thank goodness he's alive!"
>You look around the room as you try to sit up; however, the pain from your hand was almost unbearable; causing you to hit the ground again while yelling in pain.
"AUGH!! IT HURTS!!!"
>Cs: "Easy there 0624! You're beat up pretty bad."
>Chainsaw and Ivy were standing over you with concern and worry as you look over your body. Looking at your right hand you saw that it was covered with dried blood, and several long cuts strayed across the back of your hand; as you twitch your pointer finger a searing hot pain shoots across your hand and halfway up your arm.
"Uggh!"
>Yeah it was definitely cracked or either broken.
>I: "You shouldn't move your right arm at all 0624; you just punched through several layers of reinforced steel with it.
"What...happened?"
>Cs: "What? You don't remember?"
"Bits and...pieces"
>You only remember snapping and fighting with Chainsaw a bit before passing out.
>And the voices...
>The voices started up after you broke down; they made everyone seem like they were out to get you, and you started seeing red while feeling a rush.
>I: "Well we were trying to increase the amount of time you could stay at sixty percent rev and you snapped again."
>Cs: "Yeah... you gave me a run for my money kid; nearly tore my head off and crushed my skull before Ivy cooled you off."
>So that explains why you felt like you came out of a glacier; Ivy froze you solid and eventually rev shut down. Your arm felt like it was put in a blender and set on fire; Chainsaw was right; you were beat up pretty bad.
>Cs: "Sorry we pushed you so hard 0624; I know you warned us beforehand."
"It's okay...I'm sorry about what I did....I didn't mean it."
>Chainsaw then patted the top of your head and smiled.
>Cs: "Don't worry about it kid; take you a nice long rest, okay?"
"Yeah..."
>You laid your head back as you let your consciousness fade away, and let the darkness take you.
-----

>Jumping awake you look around to find yourself laying on the cave floor with Luna; after you exhausted all your energy showing her memories you fell asleep with her inside wherever the hell you were right now.
>As you shake your head you take a deep breath to relax as you close your eyes.
>The dreams you've been having lately have either been strange, nightmares, or memories from the past.
>The one you just had was the later.
"*sigh* I really don't need this right now."
>You could always use some more rest, so you decide to go back to sleep; and so as you snuggle up against your pillow you bury your face in its warmth and softly sniffed its freshness.
>It smelled nice; almost like the night air...
>...
>Wait just a damn minute...there were no pillows in the cave.
>Something isn't adding up.
>No something wasn't right here at all...
>Lets see...there was only you and Luna in the cave so it was either a magic pillow willed itself into existence for your comfort or...
>Luna
>You open your eyes to see a soflty snoring Luna directly beside you.
>Evidently during your slumber you manger to fall to the floor; but, the part that you didn't get was how you managed to wrap your arms and legs around Luna like a pillow without either of you waking up.
>This is not your lucky day; if Luna finds you two like this she'll freak out, or worse she might try to kill you.
>This situation calls for masterful stealth in order to come out without harm; you would have to move your bottom leg and arm away from under Luna without waking her up.
>Okay...you can do this.
>You slowly pull your leg away from under Luna as she snored softly; her dark blue mane was flowing freely while as you stared at it. The way is floated in any direction it pleases and the unique color captured you.
>It was really good looking and you could actually stare at it a bit longer if you wanted to, but you didn't want to risk another fight with Luna so you continue easing your leg away from under her.
>As you slowly guide her body to the floor you notice her mane was floating around your face; when it brushed against your cheek you marveled at how soft it felt.
>It was almost like a cloud was slowly easing across you cheek and right to the tip of you nose.
"Wait.."
>You realized your fatal error a second too late as Luna's mane tickled your nose; causing you to sneeze uncontrollably and jerk you arm away from Luna's head.
>As Luna hit the floor with her head she let out a yelp of pain before opening her eyes to see you lying directly beside her.
>You both stared at each other a good five minutes before jumping back from one another.
>Luna(L): "What is the hairless monkey trying to pull this time!?"
>This wasn't good; you knew it wasn't intentional, but you should probably apologize before Luna loses it.
"Sorry! I seriously didn't mean to do that; it's just that when you fell asleep you fell across my lap and I tried moving you but--"
>L: "Fell across the hairless monkey's lap?"
>Shit, you mentally kick yourself for saying that.
"Wait, wait, its not what you think; I tried moving you but you were WAY too heavy so--"
>L: "Is the hairless monkey calling me fat!?"
"NO, I could easily lift you if I rested beforehand; it wouldn't have mattered how fat you were BUH!"
>When Luna had decided she had heard enough she punched you in the face; causing you to fly back and hit the stone wall behind you. Upon contact with the rock wall a small cloud of dust scattered around the cave.
"*cough!* *cough!* *hack!* What the! *cough!* hell was that for!?"
>L: "We are even now hairless monkey."
>As you get up and dust yourself off you stomp over to Luna.
"I said I was sorry, you didn't have to hit me."
>L: "And I said it was forgiven after I paid the hairless monkey back."
>You fold your arms and Luna stands her ground as you both stare daggers at each other.
"Whatever."
>L: "Fine."
"Hmpf!"
>L: "Hmpf!!"
"Have it your way Luna; I'm getting back to digging."
>You pause as you forget to call her "princess"; you brace for the crap she was getting ready to unload.
>L: "What the hairless monkey does is of no concern to me either."
>With that said Luna walked to the far side of the cave and sat.
>You stood there in disbelief; she didn't reprimand you for calling her by her first name?
>It felt...weird.
>You shake it off and decide to just start digging; the sooner you both got out of this cave the better.
>While approaching the large pile of rocks you concentrate on your hands.
"Since I'm going to be doing this for a while I should keep rev at a low level."
>Your hands start to give off a hazy aura as you rev them up to fifteen percent; and promptly started sending stones flying as you began punching through the large pile.
-----

>The sound of rubble and tiny chunks of rock hitting the stone floor was the only thing you could hear inside the cave as you tunneled through the wall of stone. A couple of hours have passed since since you began, and you were showing significant progress as you look to see that you had dug a good twenty three feet into the collapsed wall of rock.
>Luna(L): "The stupid monkey should rest..."
>What?
"WHAT?"
>Words cannot describe--
"What?"
>Did Luna just recommend that you rest? You? As in Anonymous?
"Wow...thanks Luna; I didn't know you cared about my well being--"
>L: "If the stupid monkey passes out he will be useless to me."
>Damn; almost thought she had some sort of heart for a second, but Luna made a point; you should rest for a while before you drop.
"I suppose I should..."
>You un-reved and shuffled out of the small tunnel before sitting on the opposite side of the cave Luna was.
>From the looks of things she had been resting constantly; she would however occasionally glance at you as you sat there, but would quickly turn away when you locked eyes with her.
"You know Luna, if you have a question or something you can just ask me; we're supposed to be working on getting along better."
>L: "Hmpf!"
"*sigh*"
>Well you tried.
>L: "How does the stupid monkey do it?"
"Hm? Do what? You mean rev? I already told you I was born--"
>L: "No; I mean how the stupid monkey can go on."
"You mean how I continue living?"
>L: "Yes! Does it not bother the stupid monkey that he was betrayed by his own kind and imprisoned in a cage like a vicious animal!? Does it not fill the stupid monkey with rage how they killed innocent young ones, and put contraptions in their bodies that alter the very way nature intended for them to be!? Do you not desire revenge? To get even? To avenge the innocents whose only crime was being gifted!? How does the hairless monkey live with all of that everyday?"
>You pick up a stone as you pass it between your hands while staring at the floor.
"At first when I began my time at Juggernaut I was scared out of my mind; seeing everyone else around them die and having to fight everyday to live can really fuck with a kid, and yes I did hate the scientist and government officials with a rage I feel even now!"
>At the mention of the scientists you felt a surge of anger; causing you to crush the stone in your hand. You took a minute to calm back down before speaking to Luna again.
"But I met Chainsaw, Ivy, and Flashback; then we sort of became a team, and we fought together, healed together, hurt together...and laughed together. After I met all of them my time there didn't seem so bad; and we all decided that if we ever made it out that we wouldn't let the hate we feel ruin our lives, so I try my best to live one day at a time; after all it's about the only thing any of us can do."
>Luna stayed silent and looked you straight in the eyes for a full minute; it took you by surprise how beautiful her eyes looked as they shined like jewels in the darkness of the cave. After she was done looking at you she smiled a little as she spoke.
>L: "It seems you speak the truth about how you feel; very well, shall I tell you my..."problem" as the stupid monkey so put it?"
"I was waiting until you were ready; you don't have to tell me today if you don't want to."
>L: "It is only fair that the stupid monkey be told as well; after all, I have heard the the stupid monkey's past, so in all fairness the stupid monkey should hear mine."
>You would of liked that sentence more without all of the "stupid monkeys".
>L: "*ahem* IN THE OLDEN DAYS WE AND OUR SISTER WOULD RULE OVER ALL OF EQUESTRIA LIKE GODS!!!!"
>As Luna spoke the whole cave violently shook as a shockwave erupted from her mouth, and her voice reached the same volume of a giants."
>You recognized this as the same ability she used when you first met her in the forest.
"OH MY GOD LUNA SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"
>L: "WE WOUL-- excuse me?"
>Oh thank god your ears were so close to exploding it wasn't even funny; however, a loud ringing still persisted as you tried to regain balance from being knocked over from Luna's voice.
>L: "Is there a problem stupid monkey?"
"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING LIKE THAT?"
>L: "THIS IS THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE USED FOR ADDRESSING THE SUBJECTS OF EQUEST--"
"STOP!! JUST STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!! SPEAK NORMALLY!!!"
>Christ it felt like you were in the middle of a tornadoe with the sheer force her voice would exert, and it was just as bad as Pinkie Pies babbling with way her voice would ring through your head as well.
>L: "THIS IS HOW WE ARE SUPPOSED TO SPEAKETH WHEN ADDRESSING A SUBJECT PROPERLY."
"LUNA!! Please, you don't have to use the royal voice on me; just speak to me like you usually do."
>L: "WE...I mean, I was unsure about the way to present this tale: after all, this is the first time I have went into detail about this with anyone other than my sister."
"I get it, but please just don't use that "royal Canterlot whatever" anymore; I don't know how much more my ears can take before they implode."
>Luna then took a deep breath before starting over.
>L: "Very well, I guess I should start in the beginning. Two thousand years ago when me and my sister were fighting Discord with the elements of harmony--"
>Well it's a new record; twenty seven words into someones past and you have no clue what the hell is going on.
"Questions."
>L: "What does the stupid monkey wish to acquire with his tiny reserve of brain cells?"
"Well how the hell did this happen two thousand years ago when you're sitting beside me? Who is Discord? And what are the elements of harmony?"
>L: "Did my sister not inform you of the different races of beings here?"
"I got a rundown of it, but I still wasn't told everything about all the races."
>L: "Alicorns such as myself and my sister are special hybrids of earth, pegasus, and unicorn pony; granting us with traits from all three kinds."
"Wings, horn, and such right?"
>L: "Correct, and along with these traits comes a long life; alicorns are known to live for up to a millions years in some cases."
"I see..."
>L: "The stupid monkey does not sound very surprised."
"I'm surprised, but it's just that I used to know somebody like you who was seemingly immortal."
>L: "The light haired human with the time based magic?"
"Flashback..."
>You notice Luna had stopped talking and looked at you with concern, so you wipe the troubled expression off your face.
"Sorry about that, so anyway I get the long life thing; but, who exactly is Discord?"
>L: "I was just getting to that; Long ago before me and my sister came into power the land was ruled over by Discord, but back then he was known as the lord of chaos. Discord would flip mountains, turn ponies against each other using illusions, rain chocolate milk from the very clouds, and bend reality on a whim for his very amusement."
"Sounds pretty badass."
>Luna shot you an evil glare.
>L: "What?"
"Sounds pretty horrible."
>L: "Yes....It was pretty unbearable with Discord getting out of control. His tyranny had to be stopped, so eventually me and sister rose up to oppose him using the very thing he sought after in his reign."
"Which would be?"
>L: "The elements of harmony, only those who posses the soul of laughter, honesty, kindness, loyalty, generosity, and magic can weild these ancient relics and tap into untold amounts of power. Discord knew the elements existed before anypony, and sought to destroy them all before anypony could use it against him."
"So that's when you and Celestia got to them first?"
>L: "Correct, we split the elements between ourselves and battled against Discord for the safety and well being of all Equestria; and together we managed to seal him into stone with a powerful spell."
"So...then what happened?"
>L: "After the battle the elements bestowed upon us the abilities and control of two celestial bodies: the sun, and the moon. With the old ruler defeated by me and my sister the subjects of the land saw that it was only fit to name us both as the new rulers of Equestria."
"I see, so that's how you both became rulers."
>L: "All was well as the long sought after peace was finally granted to Equestria; we were praised constantly day and night by all of the ponies, but along with change of rule came other problems."
"Problems? The way I see it Equestria should've been the utopia that it seems to be today."
>L: "There is no such thing as a utopia stupid monkey...as I was saying the problem arose when night and day were no longer five minute intervals. While the subjects took kindly to the long days that illuminated the land and filled the air with warmth; they shunned the night that lasted just as long..."
>As you continued to listen to Luna you noticed she spoke through clenched teeth and a hateful expression.
>L: "The nerve of them! After I risked my life with my sister to help free them from Discord's rein of chaos the ponies would avoid me and only give thanks to my sister! Which would not have been so bad if they had not brand me as the dark ruler, who casts darkness over the land to frighten and terrorize innocent ponies!"
"Fear for darkness is a natural born instinct for most creatures, but I guess a thousand years ago ponies were highly superstitious as well."
>L: "I tried to reason with them; to plead that darkness was not evil, and that what lies in the darkness is what means to harm them; not the darkness itself, but they would not listen. As time passed their hate for the night increased with each sunset, until I was forced to stay inside Canterlot castle."
"They imprisoned you?"
>L: "Of course not stupid monkey, my sister decided it would be best until the riots calmed down; however, days, weeks, and months had past but the ponies hate for the night still showed no signs of faltering; eventually I found myself isolated from everypony, and locked inside my room for days at a time."
>Luna stopped talking for a minute and silently slid her hoof across the floor like a sad child drawing in the sand.
>L: "My confusion and hurt eventually turned into depression, as I had no clue how to win the hearts over of the ponies I loved and cared about; while my sister on the other hand so easily gained the admiration and affections of everypone with the slightest of efforts."
"I'm sure Celestia didn't mean for it to be like that."
>L: "I know; at the time I let my pain blind me to the truth, so I suffered for it. After some time I began to shun all ponies and even sister; and started hearing things."
"Hearing things...like what?"
>L: "To this day I am unsure exactly what, but it was if the darkness inside my heart grew into a form of existence and started talking to me. It would tell me things like how the ponies were fools for fearing the night, and how my sister was the cause of it with her sunlight. I would hear these voices everyday until they consumed me and I changed."
"..."
>L: "I decided that if that was they way I was going to be treated then I would show them the difference between how I was and a real nightmare; so, I forced the moon into the sky to create a never ending night in Equestria. When my sister saw this she begged and pleaded with me to stop, but I was too far gone. I desired to see the destruction of the sun itself so I attacked sister; leaving her no choice but to use the elements of harmony against me."
"So you turned to stone as well?"
>L: "No I was banished to the moon itself; where I remained trapped for a thousand years. During that time I was enclosed in a space like this one, though I was unable to move, or speak while being surrounded by darkness where not even the sun could reach."
>Luna began shaking a little while continuing; no wonder she freaked out like that when you two first landed here. You could only imagine how maddening it would have been to go through what Luna did; while you didn't belittle your experience at Juggernaut; you didn't go through it alone for a millennium.
>L: "Eventually the elements chose new holders and became useless to my sister; weakening the hold on the banishment magic used to contain me, and after a bit of magic from myself I managed to escape and find my way back to Ponyville."
"So you were out for revenge?"
>L: "Listening to voices of darkness for a millennium drove me past the point of no return, and after I escaped I saw that after my absence the world had moved on and forgotten about me; forgotten about my will to help the ponies of Equestria, and replaced with a legend of my evil of how I was corrupted and stopped by the mighty Celestia, and banished to the moon for the sake of Equestria."
>L: "I was still fearful of the elements power as they chose six individual ponies who possessed the souls necessary to weilded them, so I sought to destroy the elements before I started my plan to rule over Equestria with eternal night again."
>It was only then did you realize what Twilight was talking about when she called herself an element representative.
"So you fought with Twilight!?"
>L: "Yes, and a few other ponies you may have already met: Applejack, the element of honesty; Rarity, the element of generosity; Fluttershy, the element of kindness; Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty; Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter, and Twilight, the element of magic. These were the brave ponies who stood up against me in my darkened state."
"Wow...so what happened then."
>L: "I tried to corrupt them so the elements would become useless, but each stayed strong in their chosen element; it was then I found myself face to face with the new element bearers. After a breif confrontation I managed to destroy the elements...or so I had thought."
>L: "Twilight did not falter and quickly brought the elements back into existence and used them on me again; I had expected to be banished to the moon again, but instead I was shown something."
"...What did you see?"
>L: "The elements showed me that what my sister wanted the elements to do was ease my heart of the pain, but since she lacked the power to do so at that time the elements sent me to the moon until somepony could."
"Twilight?"
>L: "Not just Twilight, but all six element wielders reminded me of what me and sister were before any of this started...a team of ponies fighting for the safety and well being of the ponies and places we loved so dearly."
"So then what happened?"
>L: "After I saw my wrongdoing I apologized repeatedly to my sister about everything, and started taking things slow; getting used to the sudden differences, the new towns and such. I was doing well until a certain run in with a stupid monkey that got me punished."
"How many times do I have to say I'm so--?"
>L: "At first I was worried that the ponies would come to hate me again, and I guess I let that fear and frustration grow out hand, and it eventually turned to anger directed at the hairless monkey. I am still trying to deal with issues left over from my darker times, so I want to take this opportunity to apologize for getting the stupid monkey into this situation."
>You didn't say anything and neither did Luna as silence filled the cave for what felt like half an hour."
"You know, I never talked about my past to anyone; even after I got out of Juggernaut, but since coming here I think you are the first pony that I actually took the time out to get to know on this level. It's also kind of funny that we both have scars from the past that we would rather keep hidden."
>Luna looked up at you as you continued speaking.
"What I'm trying to say is I'm glad I told you this, and I'm glad I got to meet you Luna."
>Luna slightly blushed and quickly turned away from you; did you say something embarrassing?
"Alright, I feel a little better getting it off my chest, how about you?"
>L: "D-don't think this means anything stupid monkey!"
>You couldn't help but smile at the way Luna acted when embarrassed; it was almost...cute.
-----

Anonymous stood up and dusted himself off as he walked back towards the small tunnel he made.
>Luna(L): "Where is the stupid monkey going?"
"You don't like spaces like these right? So just sit tight for a bit Luna."
Anonymous then concentrated as he revved up to thirty percent in both arms.
"Give me two hours and we'll be out of this damn cave!'
With that being said Anonymous quickly took off towards the large pile of rocks; leaving a smiling Luna behind him.
>L: "Hmpf...stupid Anonymous."
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End Of Chapter 12: Scars [Part 2]