Songs of Innocence

Chapter 46: Luna Bay Forum

Six days ago, in Sun's dream

This is not a chapter about Sun. This is about her and Luna. And mostly Luna.

It was a normal dream. Emphasis on was. As Luna promised, she oversaw Sun's dreams, and interacted with her. This dream was no different, but what happened it before it was ruined isn't important. The two were on a cruise in the middle of the ocean, and that's all you need to know. They were lounging on some chairs on the deck, in the middle of a routine conversation, when suddenly, the wind grew cold. Very cold. But for some reason, only Luna felt it, and not only that - she heard a voice calling out to her slowly, whispering to her with a voice that sounded familiar, and also like nails on a chalkboard. 

"Mother..."

A gasp of sheer surprise left Luna's lips. She turned around, and saw someone she'd never think she would dread seeing so much. She gazed into hazy darkness in the silhouette of the creature, and knew that it was none other than Avalonia.

["Requiem" from Bayonetta 3]

The shadowy figure's eyes were spherical and ruby-like, undoubtably similar to Despoena's eyes. They gazed into her mother as she stared into hers, and the alicorn couldn't tear hers away. Her daughter was back to haunt her once again.

"Mother..." the figure whispered again. 

The waves crashing against the ship grew violent and forceful, rocking the boat. Sun took notice, but unfortunately, only after she slid off her chair. "Hey, Luna?" she nudged the alicorn. But Luna's eyes were fixed on something. Sun gasped too when she saw Avalonia standing far behind them, right on the edge of the boat, staring into her mother with a smirk, despite not actually having lips. "You've got to be kidding me." Sun uttered.

"No. This is not what you think it is, Sun." Luna said, not moving her eyes away from the phantom. "You did not cause her appearance... I did." She began to walk towards this fake Avalonia with an unflinching stride, although her face was scrunched in clear discomfort. She began to tear up as she looked in the shade's glowing red eyes, and the waves below them began to rise slowly but surely. Luna tried to cup her daughter's cheek in her hoof as a sign of affection, but it went right through the shadowy body. For a second, Luna almost tricked herself into thinking this was the real Avalonia, but in that moment, the cruel reality set in once again.

"You can't get over her either, can you?" Sun could feel the devastation Luna felt when she put her hoof through the mirage as if she was the alicorn herself. 

"Of course I can't." Luna replied, her voice beginning to break as she continued to refuse looking away from the cruel phantom of her daughter. "I am her mother, yet... I was never there for her. I just wish I spent more time with her."

"Luna," Sun replied quickly, "none of us knew that she was going to-"

"That is exactly my point! You and I knew her, but she was taken from us before we could truly know her! What I would give for a day in your place when she was alive..." Her eyes closed as she calmed down, her eyelids clenched and leaking tears like a dam held together with duct tape. "You are barely a mare, but I am an alicorn of over a thousand years of age... But... even with all the wisdom and maturity I thought that would have brought... I still cannot move on, just like you."

There was a deafening silence between them for a long time. Sun didn't think she had any response that would make Luna feel better, or even add anything. The ship was slowly sinking, but they paid that no mind. Sun only sighed. She had no way to fix the emptiness that both her and Luna felt, but she did have one thing that she remembered Avalonia told her.