“Guys, wake up, we have arrived.”

Luna and the others rose, looking out the window to see that darkness had befallen the train, Luna’s eyes widening as she looked upon the darkened wood. They all left the train after collecting their things, Fuedal speaking with both Fluttershy and Death Petal as they walked, while Luna kept her head on a swivel as she looked at the darkened wood around her.

The trees were old, very old, some looking as old as the night goddess herself as they walked through them. And as they walked, Luna could see many forms of wildlife darting among the trees, many of these creatures looking like they had adapted to the nighttime surroundings, their movements showing that they could see quite well in the dark.

“You know it took forever to convince the ponies of Equestria to build a train station here,” said Fuedal with a grin, “they kept going on and on about superstitious nonsense and other such dribble, but we eventually convinced them to do it.”

“What sort of superstitions,” asked Luna, who couldn’t fathom why anypony would not want to work in this old and lovely woodland.

“A lot of crazy theories, they used to think the forest was cursed, or that we thestrals were waiting in the tops of the trees, waiting to grab ponies who were foolish enough to wander through our wood alone.”

“How interesting,” said Luna, grinning as they made their way, smiling as they passed a particularly tasty looking herd of elk, one which she was being drawn to hunt after.

But she knew she couldn’t, instead contenting herself with following her mates as they headed deeper into the wood. “It is such a lovely forest…and its leaves seem to add the most beautiful shade of red to the light of my moon.”

She kept walking for a while, then noticed that she was no longer being followed and quickly turned, looking to see her mates and Fuedal’s parents staring up at the sky in fear. She then thought about what she said, her eyes widening in shock before she leapt into the sky and got above the cover of the canopy.

When she looked up at the moon she gasped, for it looked like veins of blood were moving towards the center of her moon, an image she had only seen once before, over a thousand years ago when her sister had first asked her to repress her nature.

She knew what this meant, but she had thought this event wouldn’t be happening so soon in this lifetime…unless…

She leaped down from her perch on the trees, waving a wing to her mates to bring them close before whispering to them as they got close. “I know you three must be afraid, but…but I know what this means.”

“Princess, what the hell is going on!?”

Twilight was running after the princess, having caught her after noticing the moon had been starting to change, as had the rest of nation.

“Something that has not happened in over a thousand years, around the time I told my baby sister she must repress her nature as a thestral, which lead to my dear sister becoming nightmare moon.”

“Wait…so does that mean she is becoming nightmare moon again, do I need to gather the elements of harm…”

Celestia cut her off, “no Twilight, she is not becoming Nightmare Moon again…Instead, she is becoming something she was meant to be, something I wish she didn’t have to become.”

They stopped when they reached the balcony where the two sisters usually raised and lowered the sun and moon, both of them looking up at the moon as Celestia began to speak. “I have never really told you about my parents, have I Twilight?”

“No,” said Twilight, “no I don’t think you have.”

Celestia smiled, “I had figured, so let me explain now. My used to control the sun, before I took over the day for her, but my father…he always favored the night, due to him a unique breed of Alicorn known that he called thestracorns.”

“Wait…like Death Petal?”

Celestia nodded, “yes, indeed very much like Death Petal. But truth be told he was really the first of his kind, and when it came to which pony took after which parent…Luna always took more after our father.”

She stayed silent after that, letting Twilight work out what she meant till finally the young mare gasped, looking at her mentor with shock. “Wait, you mean that the moon turning red means she’s going to…”

“Become another Thestracorn,” finished Celestia, “yes, it almost happened before, well…before I decided to stop her, and my father said a similar event happened when he became what he is now.”

“But then why did you stop her,” asked Twilight, “I mean if this is a natural thing, why stop her from embracing her true self?”

“…because even though he was my father, he…his habits always disgusted me, for I couldn’t help but associate them with the acts of a monster. And the idea that Luna, my precious baby sister, might become such a creature, it terrified me, terrified me so much I forced her to repress her nature, no matter how much she pleaded with me to let her feed.”

Twilight let that sink in, letting her mind process the ramifications of what this meant. Celestia was afraid of her father, and by extension, Luna when she finally changed. It was strange, but expected, after all, Thestrals were some of the most misunderstood of the pony sub-races, and were one of the few that lived in the kingdom that actually needed meat and blood to survive.

But she could pose concerns like that later, for now her princess needed comfort, and if the moon was anything to go by, Luna was soon to become what she was meant to be…for good or bad.

Luna found herself standing upon a great stone structure, her mates by her side, and the entire population of the Dark Wood, every pony looking worried as they stared up at the moon, till Luna cleared her throat to speak.

“My ponies, I know you must be frightened by what is happening to the moon, but you need not fear, for this is in fact a good thing for us, and especially for me.”

All the thestrals look confused, so Luna continued to speak. “As you all know, over a thousand years ago I became the monster known as nightmare moon, a ravenous monster who was bent on creating night eternal who was supposedly driven by jealousy.”

She paused, letting that last word sink in, then continued. “This however was not the only reason, for as you know, I am also part thestral, and in fact, I was approaching an event in my life my own father went through, an event he called The Change.”

“When this event happened to him, he went from being an ordinary Alicorn; to becoming a being he calls a Thestracorn. As the name implies, this species of alicorn emulates the aspects of not only the three tribes, but also emulates the aspects of Thestrals, and before I became the creature nightmare moon, I was supposed to change into this legendary creature.”

All gathered gasped at this news, even her mates, but she continued through it. “However, my sister viewed what I was becoming as a curse, and, due to this fear, she forced me to suppress my nature, which eventually drove me mad.”

She smiled, looking up at the moon as a tear fell down the side of her cheek. “I had honestly thought that I would have to wait another thousand years for this event to happen again, but now, today of all days, the change is happening again.

She then looked down, her smile becoming wide as she leapt to her hind hooves, spreading her forelegs and wings wide as she loosed with the Royal Canterlot Voice. “SO EAT, DRINK, AND MAKE MERRY, FOR TONIGHT IS MY REBIRTH AS THE TRUE GODDESS OF THE NIGHT!!!”

The crowd roared and cheered, and then began flying about, thestrals brining out food, drinks, and instruments as they began to celebrate, Luna and her mates coming down from the large stone structure began to glow, blood beginning to leak from it into the pools below.

As the party progressed, Petal was amazed at how…open everypony was being around each other, especially some of the larger couples (it seemed that the culture wasn’t as monogamous as Fuedal had led her to believe.)

However, she was not ready for the sight of several ponies actually making love on the grass in the open clearing, causing her to back up till she bumped into Fuedal’s mother, who smiled at her before speaking. “You’re not used to such displays being conducted in public are you?”

Petal shook her head, which caused Sin to chuckle, “believe me, this party will probably be quite tame to the ones I’m used to, because sometimes they get downright wild. But we have the goddess watching us tonight, so I don’t think anything too crazy is going to happen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find my husband.”

Sin left Petal then, only for Fuedal to show up moments later and begging nuzzling into her side, “Hey you.”

“Fuedal,” she squeaked, noticing that he was hard and trying to push him away, “you’re showing yourself!”

“I know,” said Fuedal huskily, grinning a bit ash he began nudging her to a nearby crop of bushes. “But I can’t help myself; it’s been so long since I’ve been at a party like this, and having you here with me is driving me crazy.”

Petal made to speak, but then she felt the burning between her legs, as well as a tingling coursing through the entirety of her body, causing her confusion. “What is this?”

“It’s the magic of the forest,” said Fuedal, flipping her on her back and smiling down at her. “When thestrals start to party, the forest reacts, filling the air with life and fire, making us wild.”

With that, he plunged himself into her depths, Petal crying out in pleasure as she surrendered to his wild passion. A distance away, she could see Fluttershy being similarly tended to by Luna, who was growling like a mad beast as the moons light began to grow brighter and brighter.

She didn’t know how long they mated in the bushes, but as the night wore on both her and Futile became more and more aggressive in their love making, occasionally trading places as one or the other would pin each other down, growling all the while.

Finally, after what seemed like her fifth orgasm, Petal heard a gasp from a distance away, and looked to see Luna had moved back to the platform, her eyes turned to the moon and her horn glowing so dark it was almost black.

Then, suddenly, the moon burst with light, and a red beam shot down from it, striking the platform and enveloping Luna in its light, leaving nothing but a silhouette visible.

As the gathered watched, the silhouette began to convulse, parts of it changing shape till finally its eyes opened, shining white as a feral roar loosed from her mouth and a shockwave was flung out from her, causing all gathered to be flung off their hooves.

When they got back up and looked to Luna, many a Thestral gasped, for their night mother had undergone a drastic change. Her fur was a darker shade of blue, even darker then the blue of her old coat. Her eyes, once like other ponies, were now slitted like that of Thestrals, and glowed a bright neon teal color, showing her excitement.

Her fore hooves now were like theirs, claws digging into the stone pedestal as she gazed out at all of them, but the most glorious change was to her mane and tail, for instead of just stars in her mane, mini constellations could be seen within, from the Ursa-Minor, to the constellation Cancer.

“My mates,” she said in a calm voice, “come to your matriarch.”

Hesitantly, Fuedal, Petal and Fluttershy walked up to her, and when they got close enough, they saw that her fangs were now showing, and her ears were tuft like theirs. When they reached her, she nuzzled them gently, letting her sent wash into their lungs before pulling back and speaking to the gathering at large.

“My dear children, this night has been successful, and I am now as I should have been so many years ago. Please, keep celebrating, and do not worry, I will not be far away, but I would like to take the time to exercise my new form with those I am close to.”

A cheer went out from the crowd, and then they began to depart, heading deep into the woods as the festivities continued on in earnest.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, was struggling with several parts of the chapter, but now its finished, hope you all enjoy.