The Princess of the Night

Chapter 7 – A Risky Move

Luna woke up suddenly, without any apparent reason. Something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard a scream. She rolled over in the bed to ask Gerard when she figured it out. She was alone. It was not strange for Gerard to take late night walks, yet the woman felt an odd sense of foreboding and so Luna decided to locate him with her magic just to make sure he was ok. However, when she sent tendrils of magic out across the fields surrounding the house, she could not feel him. Just as she was about to recall her magic, it found a residual patch of energy.

"I wonder what is going on?" thought the princess, worried.

Luna teleported to the place where she last felt his presence, on the shores of a crystal clear lake, in the shade of an ancient willow tree. She began to weep when she noticed that she was standing at the exact point that their eyes had first met on that fateful night, all those decades ago. She stomped her foot in frustration and despair, but there was no force behind it.

The princess felt her legs beginning to buckle, and when she hit the ground, she was in the kitchen, next to the table where she had told him her story. On that table, she saw a piece of paper. Upon closer inspection, she found it was a letter from Gerard.

"My dearest princess Luna,

I'm sorry to have left without saying goodbye, but I knew if I did, I would never have left. You and I both know that we cannot go on forever making me young when I grow old. We need to find a more permanent solution. It is for this reason that I have left. I cannot find the answers I seek in my world, so I will attempt to find them in yours. I have travelled to Equestria in the hope of finding immortality. Do not fear princess, for I am sure we will meet again. Your imprisonment will not last forever, and I eagerly await your return.

Just in case you are not one hundred per cent sure of my commitment, I want you to go to our room and look inside the bottom drawer of my bedside cabinet. Inside you will find a gift. Keep it safe until your return, because there will be use for it when we meet again, with your consent of course."

Luna's heart was in her throat as she read the letter. A gift? What could it possibly be?

"Finally, I would just like to thank you. For everything. You were the only creature on this planet that gave me a chance, even after you saw my past. No one has ever done that before. For the last sixty years, you have made my life worth living.

I must go now, but not before I say one last thing. Luna, Princess of the Night, I love you.

Yours sincerely,

Gerard."

Luna's heart raced as she finished the letter. He loves her? In sixty years, they had never said that to each other. They had always known their feelings for each other without the need for words. It was such a shock to finally see it, written in his handwriting, there in front of her.

Luna suddenly remembered the gift that the letter had mentioned. He said that there would be use for it, with her consent. This confused the mare. In the end, she decided to just see what the gift was, hoping that it would make more sense then. The princess teleported to their bedroom, quickly opening the bottom drawer of the bedside cabinet to find a small box. Intrigued, Luna floated the box closer to her, anticipation rising like bile in her stomach.

The lunar princess slowly opened the box to reveal a golden ring, with a single diamond in its centre. But it was no ordinary diamond, it was a deep midnight blue, and when it caught the light the sparkles reminded her of the night time sky. Choking back tears, the princess said to the empty room; "Oh Gerard, I do."

"I must go now, but not before I say one last thing. Luna, Princess of the Night, I love you.

Yours sincerely,

Gerard."

Gerard looked at the letter as it lay on the table and, not for the first time that night, considered crumpling it up and returning to bed. But, as he rose from his chair and shrugged his backpack on to his shoulder, he knew that he could not, there was too much at stake. He didn't want to die, now that he suddenly had something worth living for. With newfound determination, Gerard quietly returned upstairs and kissed the sleeping mare lightly on the lips. He knew that he probably wouldn't get the chance to do so again for almost one thousand years, and that was assuming everything went according to plan.

With that, he focused and in a flash of light, Gerard appeared on the shore of the lake where he and Luna first met. He quickly set about preparing the area for the spell he was about to cast, which would hopefully transport him to Equestria, his lover's homeland.

It was a hybrid of both Equestrian and human magic, the likes of which had never been seen before and would likely never be seen again. Once he was finished the ground was a myriad of symbols, sigils and runes. Gerard sensed Luna was close to waking, and began to chant in an ancient language, a note of urgency in his deep voice.

The light breeze that was blowing became a howling gale, though only within the protective circle enclosing Gerard. Storm clouds gathered above his head. Outside, all was still. Gerard could feel his energy leaving him and as the spell reached its climax, his entire body stiffened and he let out an almost inhuman scream as a bolt of lightning struck him and disappeared.

Gerard was surrounded by a white fog, which upon further inspection was found to be insubstantial. Intrigued, he began to further explore his surroundings. However, there didn't appear to be any, not even a floor to stand on. Perfect. It was exactly as he had expected, this space between dimensions. However, Gerard knew he could not rest yet, for there was still work to be done.

He focused, and his whole body felt as if it were on fire as his limbs and torso morphed and changed, assuming their new shape. Gerard fell on to all fours as his face began to change, contorting into a muzzle. It felt as if someone was pulling a large nail out of his brain as a horn began to form on top of his head. With one final gasp of pain, the transformation was complete, but Gerard did not have time to admire his handiwork. Gerard wearily rose, hoping that this would be the last task that he would have to perform this night.

His newly formed horn glowed brightly and Gerard suddenly found himself falling at dangerous speed. Using magic to slow his descent, Gerard deposited himself softly on the snow-covered ground. He could see the light of a fire emanating from a nearby cave. Knowing it was his only hope for survival, Gerard willed his horn to emit a bright glow while saying one word before passing out.

"Help."