After Midnight

Chapter Eight- The Prince Orion

Orion didn't look surprised to see Luna. The look on his face was more of...relief.  Luna wished that she felt the same. It wasn't that she was upset about him being from another dimension, it was because he hadn't told her. That explained the relief. Orion's brother had told him not to tell anyone about where he can from, and now he didn't have to. But there was still something that had to be said:

"I am so sorry, Luna."

"You did what you thought was good, Orion. I forgive you."

"Let this be the last secret kept between us."

"Agreed. But there is one thing I need you to know..."

"What would that be?" 

"You look really great in royal clothes."

Orion grinned, but his brilliant smile faded too soon as he seemed to remember what ominous knowledge he and his brother shared. "Luna, could you hear Solaris and I talking?" When Luna nodded, Orion took a deep breath. "Then you understand that there is a danger in my homeland of Equus, and that travel between the worlds may bring that danger here?"

Again, Luna nodded yes, but she was no longer so sure that she did understand. "Orion....who are you? You are talking about a different life than the one I knew you had!" 

The look on Orion's face was one of heartbreak. "Luna, you know me. But....I am no simple painter." He sat down with a sigh, and Luna did the same. "Since the beginning of Equui history, we have experienced a very strange affect every thousand years or so. Out of nowhere, there will be a snowstorm; or a dragon will materialize in the sky and then dissapear; or, more recently, the moon will cover the sun."

A chill ran up Luna's spine. He had said the moon had covered the sun. Just like the day the Nightmare had taken over....

"Until about three thousand years ago, we had no idea how this came to be. But then, the late Swirling Comet was found by my brother. She was the most gifted unicorn I had ever seen, and proved to be instrumental in solving many mysteries. It was she that came up with the idea that there must be a world parallel to our own, and that those freakish events must be because of what had happened in that world. She worked on that theory, despite constant ridicule, for the rest of her life. At long last, she brought proof of the other world: a dimension mirror, through which the other world could be clearly seen. We could see two great alicorns, and Solaris and I were shocked at how much they looked like our own parents."

Luna's eyes were closed, imagining what parts of Equestrian history Orion might be speaking of, until he said that last part. If Solaris and Orion were parallels of Celestia and herself, then their parents must have been parallels of...

"You saw my parents?!? King Sirius and Queen Solstice?!?"

Orion nodded, grief coming into his face. "I saw them. I was watching the mirror when...." He bowed his head. 

"So...you saw me before you ever met me here?" 

"Only for a few moments. Swirling Comet kept the mirror going with her own magic, but she died soon after my brother and I were crowned. We weren't able to access the mirror again until recently, when it suddenly lit up one day. My brother took one look and took off. When he returned, he had with him a lavender unicorn colt. Later, Solaris told me that the colt's name was Dusk Shine, and he had the potential to be even more powerful than Swirling Comet, as it was the colt's magic that had brought the mirror back to life."

Luna was thoroughly engrossed in Orion's story when he paused. She looked incredulously at him. "Our worlds are so very similar, but so very different...." Then a thought struck her: if Orion was the Eqqus version of her, then he may very well have had a close parallel of her life.

Which meant he may have had a Nightmare of his own.