From the Eternal Love of a Sister

Chapters

1 - Night Gives Only Shadows, No Sun
2 - Dear Sister
Darkness Which Creeps Upon Us
The Moon's Gaze
The Creature of Nightmares
A Pale Prison
The Burden of Rule
Lost
Loathsome
The Strength of the Moon
Patience, Luna...
A New Beginning
The Nightmare Returns
Free at Last
The Trials of Friendship
Bested
Who We Are
When Sisters Reunite
A Cause for Celebration
Memories of a Time Long Gone and Lives We Lost
A New Home
And What of the Past?
Tempting...
A Night Together
Hello, Luna

1 - Night Gives Only Shadows, No Sun

It is... night. The only time in which we can be happy.

Not tonight. Not for many moons have we found reason to smile, nor exchange pleasantries, nor find solace in the comforting embrace of the darkness we have been consigned to.

We are miserable.

We have mustered the strength to bring the moon out to greet the resting citizens of Ponyville, and with her majesty present, the stars have also come to keep her company. They are a simple folk, those that live in the sky... they relish the time they are given with which to peer down upon our world, and they do not wish for that which they cannot have.

Oh, how we wish we were so graceful as they.

Since before we can remember, I have been the one in the darkness. No other has taken our vigil, nor have we asked another to take my place. It is our solemn duty.

It is not our place to complain, but... we want other duties. I am the Princess of the Night... that does not make us happy. We wish for a day when my sister will ask us to aid her, to share the light which she sheds upon the thankful ponies of Equestria.

It will never happen.

My task is done to usher in the night. Dream walking every evening is no necessity, but we feel we must do something, anything, to prevent this wallowing in self-pity. Perhaps my dear sister is a more prominent figure... my responsibilities are just as important as hers, however, and so we intend to fulfill them just as expected of us.

And so, we retire once more to our chambers and flare my horn with magic. We close our eyes and feel ourselves depart my worldly body, submerging ourselves into a river of thoughts and subconscious feelings.

To describe a world of dreams is impossible. Everywhere we glance, there is more to see, more to wonder, more to experience. An entire lifetime takes place in moments. Yet... it does not feel so. It feels as if we are swimming, and each memory is the water filling our lungs. We do not enjoy the experience; if we did, we would want to do it every night. A large portion of these evenings is spent simply observing, not interacting as we are expected to.

My sister has the duty of hearing the plight of citizens and erasing their worries; our duty is to find their dreams and make them pleasant. Many worries require a ruler to pass judgment so that the concerned pony may no longer need fret... but happiness can be found in more than simple dreams. Therefore, we feel our duty is redundant, and we needn't risk drowning ourselves in the memories of others so they may awaken feeling more refreshed.

Yet, what else are we to do? Forsake my throne and the ponies of Equestria?

We shake the thoughts from our head and focus on the task at hand. I drift through the dreams of Equestrians and search for a pony who needs my help.

Readily enough, we find a young colt who is galloping fearfully away from an unseen assailant. We observe him for a time, but try as we might, we cannot see the thing which is giving chase. It appears that he would benefit from our aiding him.

Although holding our breath makes no difference, we do so anyway and submerge ourselves into the foal's dream.

We feel the terror grip us, sure and steadfast. Raw, unabated fear trembles through our limbs and causes our wingtips to shiver involuntarily. It rocks us only briefly... but it is a familiar wave of fright. This is a nightmare.

We are galloping abreast of the colt, acutely aware of the sweeping wall of darkness that threatens to swallow us whole. We direct my eyes to the fleeing young pony. “What are thou running from, young one?”

“A monster!” he shrieks to us. We see no monster, but he is convinced that it is real. Our words of reassurance will not save him from this threat; we must take action.

Whipping about, I skid briefly on my hooves and face the darkness. The colt registers shock and stops briefly, unsure of what to do. My horn becomes bathed in a powerful, purple glow, enveloping us. He calls something to us, but even he is unsure what he meant to say, and it dissipates into the air as a call of concern for his fellow pony. Then he turns and continues to run.

The darkness swallows us, bringing a comforting embrace briefly. It whispers sinister secrets into our ears, to join and swallow this tiny colt. We steel our mind and lash out against the darkness, creating a shield of magic and ballooning it outward.

The darkness shrieks and melts away, its final whispers promising vengeance and betrayal before it retreats to the corners of the colt's senses from whence it came. We resisted its temptation, its calling to become the nightmare... just as we always have.

The colt has turned around once more, looking at us with adulation. In this dream world, words not even need be said—we can feel his gratefulness. We address him. “Young colt, why dost thou run from the darkness? It can not harm you.”

“I'm sorry... I was afraid.”

“We are all afraid of things. However, this darkness had no form. It was simply darkness. What terrifies thou so about it?”

“I... didn't know what was in it. I thought there was a monster.”

Ah. Not the dark. “We are all afraid of the unknown, young colt. However, we do not need to run away from it. There must be something which you are afraid to confront tomorrow.”

The colt looked at the ground he had imagined and scuffed his small hoof upon it. “Well... my dad says I gotta start working out for hoofball this year... but I just wanna read instead....”

“And thou fear his answer?”

“Yes,” he answered sheepishly.

“We cannot be there to confront your father, young colt, but you must do this. If he was not happy with the foal he reared, he would have said—and ensuring he knows what you enjoy will help him give his family a better life. Thou must be honest and forthright.”

The colt nodded, seeming to accept most of this.

“We must go. There are others who need our help this night.” Truthfully, I did not feel ready to enter another dream... this one had tested our patience already. “Do not forget what we have told you, and face the unknown.”

The colt smiled and waved, and we broke the surface of consciousness once more. It takes no effort to remain above the landscape of dreams, but to venture down into such things... it is taxing on our magical abilities. We tread the nothingness and observe the dreams of the ponies for a time, imagining to ourselves that we are actually looking for a pony in need.

The young colt will remember perhaps the tiniest shred of his dream in the morning. It did not help him; my intervention eases a troubled pony's mind for one night, no more. Our obligation is redundant, a pointless exercise.

Oh, how we long to be loved, to be seen. The citizens of Equestria know who I am, but not once have we been recognized for what we do.

We are not our sister, and we never will be. We cannot be the picture of benevolence, the level-headed voice of reason that our sister always strives to be.

We are alone, the night and I. Abandoned and shunned by the ponies of Equestria, given the label of sanctuary for call-mares and dark intentions, we are left to giving a pathetically small number of our citizens slightly more pleasant dreams for a night.

This is not the job of a princess. This is not ruling. This is not what we deserve.

I rise to my hooves. It is time to give our sister a talk.

Author's Note

Finally, after much imagined fanfare and setbacks, we give you the thoughts of Luna as dictated by Scootareader. We hope we didn't do too badly on the whole I/we thing. I = my person, we = my self. Something like that.

--Scootareader

2 - Dear Sister

The Night Guard stand watch over my sister's room, as they always have while the ponies sleep. They do not question our reason for being here, simply nodding an affirmation of existence. They know better than to question their very own Princess of the Night.

Quietly, they open the door, admitting us into the bedchamber. We wait for the latch to click, signifying that there will be nothing overheard, then clear my throat. “Sister?”

There is a vague stir in the shadows. A quiet sigh escapes my sister's lips. “What is it, Luna?” She sounds somewhat annoyed, as if we are trying her patience.

“You seem tired. For what reason do you become so exhausted?”

“Because I do a lot when I'm awake.” She seems to have become more exasperated at our question. “Don't you have work to do, too?”

“Not enough. That is why we are here.” We plop my small body next to her larger one, feeling her warmth spread through my bones. “We ask for additional responsibility.”

She sighs once more, angrily this time. “You're too young, and you can't even take care of your own duties. I feel like I have to play clean-up with your messes in the morning. Go, let me sleep.”

“You play clean-up with our messes because we have never learned how to clean them up, sister. My duty is to protect the citizens of Equestria when the shadows cover all, but we have never been given the light to vanquish them.” Her words have hurt me. She knows as well as we do why we do so little, and her bitterness about such matters is unfair. “Teach us responsibility; we will remain awake in the morning to receive instruction as is your duty—”

“No, no, no. Don't you remember the last time you tried to help?”

“Of course.” Without adequate instruction or information, we had mistakenly complicated the crops of the local farmponies by ordering an emergency storm to lower the airborne pollution of Canterlot. “You can hardly blame us for—”

“I'm not blaming you; I'm being reasonable, Luna. You haven't given me any evidence that you're fit for responsibility.”

Her words are a weight tied around our neck. “We have no chance to prove ourselves without duties which exercise these skills.”

She embraces me briefly and closes her eyes once more, lying upon her mattress. “Once you're older, I'll give you all the responsibility you want. For now, though, I think it's in the best interests of Equestria to keep important matters in my hooves.” She appears to be regretful, but we have known her long enough to know this is naught but condescension. “I'm sorry, Luna, but not everypony can have what they want when they want it. You'll have to be patient.”

There is a lengthy silence. Perhaps she has fallen asleep. We arise once more and approach the door. Turning my head, we mutter, “As you wish, sister.”

We open the door and pass between my Guard, still vigilant as ever. We bid them good night and retire once more to our chambers, to mull over what has just transpired.

On the one hoof, my sister knows we are malcontent with current matters. She is wiser than we, and knows that delegation of responsibility would lighten her workload, but burden us with unfamiliar tasks while she slumbers.

On the other hoof, she also should know that we simply thirst for a chance to prove ourselves. Perhaps something simple, with little chance of error, and which only affects a few hundred.

She simply refuses to entertain that we may be better at something than her. She is terrified that we will outperform her and have to begin delegating responsibility to her, rather than her deigning to delegate to us. She is cunning, yes; she feigns concern and understanding for her younger sister, but she knows as well as we do that she is afraid of those things with which we are capable.

She called our last delegation a mistake; we call it a positive learning experience. Pollution levels in Canterlot were reaching near-poisonous, dramatically increasing risk of sickness in all ponies and birth defects in newborn foals. Were we to sacrifice our capital city so that our surplus of grains may swell a little more? We simply let the rain continue without ceasing for too long, eroding soil and drowning plants in the surrounding area. Time-controlled rains would be an obvious step to take in the future.

It feels as if we are unable to make mistakes before her presence. She expects us to be an infallible princess, just as she is. Such notions disgust us. We know her for the pathetic creature she is.

We wish to command others with the sway that she holds. We wish to hear cries of joy from townsponies upon our approaching of the podium, not calculated silence. We yearn for smiles of delight, not stares of disrespect.

Yet, we are only Luna. Younger sister Luna, who rules the night only in name, not in act. The sister who knows nothing of life, of her citizens, of her nation.

This is unfair. We are little more than offal in a prized cow's pen.

You can be more.

We ignore the dark whispers again. They have plagued us since before we can remember, promising greatness and power like we have desired for so long. We wish to banish these notions forever... but these whispers know our wishes better than we do, and they seductively offer the exact things we want. Such darkness will never disappear from our heart.

Perhaps it is time to begin paying attention to what they tell us.

Author's Note

I think we can all see where this is going.

--Scootareader

Darkness Which Creeps Upon Us

We cast our gaze over the darkened pastures of Equestria, letting out a long sigh. We are alone.

We could not stand to be in the castle tonight. It oppresses us at times, reminding us all too heavily of our redundant duties and the important matters which my sister believes only she alone can do. We must leave at times, to clear our muddled head of these dark, sinister creepings of resentment.

Were it not for my dear sister, Equestria would have long ago collapsed to chaos. She wields the most powerful of the Elements of Harmony, that of Magic—but she also wields the Elements of Kindness and Generosity. She has exemplified these personifications of herself, proving her worthiness as a ruler by having the characterization of such esteemed traits.

I, on the other hoof, have the Elements of Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter. We have been told of late that I have displayed these traits progressively less, that I have become a shadow of my former self.

Perhaps we are a shadow. We portray only the negative of what my dear sister shines upon her subjects. We are forced to writhe in the darkness, to reach our sickly fingers up in hopes that we may feel the warmth of her glow, only for it to burn us as we near it.

The Moon is gazing down upon us this evening, as She does every night at our request. We never command Her to grace us with Her presence, simply knowing that we are a whimsy of Hers. She may decline to look down upon Her subjects tomorrow... and we would be helpless as to Her decision, much as our subjects would disapprove.

My sister commands the Sun to rise each morning. She thinks herself a powerful, noble creature. We know that we are not, and must submit ourselves to the power of those greater than ourselves.

We would like to claim that we are humble in this respect, but we see no need. It is enough that She has never refused our request. Even Her own subjects, the stars which have captivated so many of the night dwellers of Equestria, have never missed a single evening. The Sun must have its own subjects, but they do not follow it, despite its blazing glory.

This echoes our own loneliness back to us. My sister commands and is given fealty through submission, yet our subjects love and relish in her presence; I request and get not only just as glorious a creature as hers, but Her subjects as well... and our subjects often neglect to acknowledge our existence.

Perhaps the citizens of Equestria want a firmer hand?

We speak into the darkness. “Moon, if we were to command Thou to sink and let the Sun rise before its time, what wouldst Thou do?”

Silence is the only reply She gives. The Moon cannot speak to us; even if She could, She would not deign our arrogant question worthy of her time. Who are we to ask things of her?

Perhaps, if we were as great as my sister, She would find it in Herself to speak with us.

You can be as great as She.

We rise wearily to my hooves. The darkness creeps upon us, seeping into my bones and causing us to shiver involuntarily. We speak to the darkness. “Thou seek only to tear apart the foundations of all which we hold dear. We shall never submit to the temptations thou offer.”

We need convince you of nothing, the silken voices assure us. You will seek us out in time.

How long have we held this darkness at bay? For as long as we can remember. In our greatest moments of weakness, it has made every effort to seduce us. We have never had our resolve threatened before, and this is no exception.

This offer is no less tempting as it has been every other time, however. We would never give in to such weaknesses, but it brings no harm to imagine it. We toy with the idea for a time.

Were we to accept these powers, perhaps our sister would give us more responsibilities. Perhaps I would even be able to raise her precious Sun for once. Perhaps I would be able to make her let me, just as she makes the Sun rise every day. To force her into submission, even once, would erase all her prudent arrogance, perhaps. All if I accepted these powers.

I—we shake our head. We are still under the Moon’s thrall, now and forever. If She will not do as asked, that is because She has reason not to. It is not our place to question such a being. Perhaps we have always been meant to be the submissive one, and my sister be the dominant, commanding creature she is.

That does not make her deserving, or worthy. We refuse to accept that she be our better. The Moon is no less magnificent than her Sun, and it would be wise to teach her this lesson.

Perhaps the darkness would offer us this power. Perhaps it will bring only misery. We may be willing to take that chance.

Author's Note

Happy season 4! I totally get to incorporate the new Luna development in my story. So excite.

--Scootareader

The Moon's Gaze

We gaze disinterestedly at the floor. Our life has remained unchanged, stagnating. We still have no royal duties, despite months earlier ensuring our sister knew of our willingness to shoulder additional responsibilities.

She seems bent on ruling all by herself, as if any threat to her duties were naught but a drain. We accept that she can perform the tasks well enough on her own; were we in her position, we likely would have fallen long ago.

You can become stronger than her.

The voices speak to us again, promising power, more than my sister could ever hope to attain in her lifetime. They have become increasingly insistent, akin to Everfree Piranhas tasting blood in the water. They circle our conscience, awaiting the crumbling of our final resolve.

We know it is coming, yet we are powerless to stop it. Perhaps we may still find a peaceful way to get our sister's attention. We know it to be a fruitless hope, but it is all we can tell ourselves to refrain from acknowledging the pressing darkness.

We gaze up at the night sky. She has nearly completed Her arc over the sky, heralding the lowering once more of Her majesty. We have never been late to greet Her with a good night, nor have we ever been late to wish Her a good morning as She dips below the horizon.

We wonder briefly if She would do it regardless of what we ask. Perhaps we would learn something more of our duties. Perhaps my sister would as well.

Ask her to stay.

The darkness begs our attention once more... but this is different. It wishes what we wish, to leave the Moon in the sky past Her hour of departure.

What harm would it bring Equestria? Perhaps a brief panic for the early risers; we do not intend to leave it as such. Never would we endanger our citizens.

We raise our voice to the sky. “Moon, we request of you this night to remain where you are. We wish the subjects of Equestria to see you to greet them in the morning. Please, make no efforts to entertain our sister's notions that she may rule by force.”

As our voice disappears upon a cool breeze, we feel as if we have done our part. We flare our magic briefly to thank her for her service this night, then let the magic dissipate, rather than wrap around Her.

For the first time in my life, we have forsaken our royal duties.

I wake up, blinking sleepily. Time to raise the Sun.

I drag myself from my comfortable bed, thankful for the beautiful night's sleep. Today, as every day before it, is going to be busy. First things first, I need to start the day, though.

I open the glass doors which lead to my balcony, giving me a clear view of the sky. I flare my magic for a moment, letting the Sun know that it is time to rise and shine.

Immediately, something feels wrong. I look into the sky to see thousands of twinkling stars greeting me, the Moon as large as ever.

One task, and Luna has failed at it.

I sigh in disapproval. She will need a lecture on this... but after the day has started.

I flare my magic, differently this time. I let the Moon know that it's time to sleep, and tell the stars that they must follow. Then, I wait a few moments for them to comply.

Strangely enough, nothing moves.

I flare my magic again, harder this time, lowering the Moon below the horizon. On days that the Sun is being particularly stubborn, I must do this.

Still, nothing happens. Try as I might, the Moon will not go down. This has Luna's magic written all over it. What's gotten into her?

I use my magic to augment my voice, the spell that only she and I know. “Princess Luna, come see your sister in the throne room at once!”

She thinks she will be able to convince us to lower the Moon, we think.

She is probably right. Whenever Celestia insists upon anything, we cannot find it in our heart to deny her. We will crumble, as always, and let her win.

We do not want to lose this battle.

And you don't have to.

The realization jars me. All this time, I could have beaten my sister. I only need accept the powers that the darkness promises. No longer do I wonder what hides in the shadow... for I am the shadow, am I not?

Silently, weakly, my heart opens to the darkness. It envelops me, giving me the strength to resist. My sister will not win this time.

Perhaps she will never win again.

Author's Note

We're not done yet, don't you worry.

--Scootareader

The Creature of Nightmares

My sister has asked that we meet in the throne room. That is what we shall do.

I am hidden behind my throne, awaiting her arrival. The darkness has steeled me against my weakness, given me the resolve to do what must be done. Celestia must know that I am ready for more. That I can be so much more. That being the downtrodden runt is a thing of the past, and that I am finally ready to assume all of my royal duties.

And that there will be no excuses this time.

Her hooffalls sound on the stone outside the doorway, then I hear the sparkle of magic as it stoically swings the door open. Standing there, looking troubled, is my sister.

I continue to hide, letting her make the first move.

My sister is cantering toward her throne. “Luna... I don't know if you're here, or if you can hear me, but... I need you. I can't lower the Moon. It refuses me. It is not my duty, it is yours. You must help me, before Equestria goes into a panic.”

The realization slams into my head. Now, now is the chance... she only needed—

NO! It is too late, Princess!

I feel my resolve. She only lies, to get me to do as she asks. As she has always done. As she always will do.

I step around from behind my throne. “Not another step.” My words command attention, power, responsibility. What she has always thought we lacked, but that I have always had.

I stare at my sister, my eyes showing challenge. For what seems an eternity, she has been content to let me wallow in the darkness that is the night. Now I have finally accepted what the darkness brings... and she will learn firsthand what it means to shoulder my burden.

Still, she does not reply. Her look shows only confusion. As if she never knew what she were doing to me! This smug creature... my sister. How could she be so callous?

The resentment I feel in my heart beckons me to speak the words of anger that I have always wanted to say. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your 'precious light?'” Her eyes register pain, betraying the truth... that she thinks herself better than me. “There can only be one princess in Equestria... and that princess—“

I feel the darkness coursing through my body... is this me? Is this what I've become? Who am I? Who are we? Are we the darkness?

The thoughts disappear. It cannot be helped now.

“—Will be ME!” I feel the shadow creeping behind me. I must do this under the judgment of the Moon. She has always guided us and led us, and it is no longer deserving of me to wallow down here. She will ascend me Herself.

The shadows cling to the stained glass behind the thrones, gripping the decorative picture and the wall, crumbling them. Then, the stone shatters.

Outside, I see the Sun and Moon together. They are joined in the sky, ruling as one.

I ignore this. I rise into the sky, the two giant orbs lapsing into one another. The Moon claims Her rightful place in front of the Sun... this is how it always will be from now on. She deserves no less than all Her glory.

Suddenly, beams of dark light are cast upon me. Upon us. They envelop us in a... cocoon of this sickly light. It is negative, angry. It reminds us of who we have fought.

It terrifies us.

But it is too late, Princess!

We cannot escape this. It has overtaken our body, made us its slave. And we have invited it in, with us as its host.

The cocoon squeezes our fragile body, crushing it into a pulp. From it, the darkness re-molds the carcass into something more befitting of its evil nature. Something befitting the strange negative light of which we felt.

The cocoon opens, revealing this new body to the world. I cannot see it... nor do I want to see it. It is no longer mine, and I shudder to imagine what has been done to it.

The inhabitant of this new body lowers herself to the ground, very pleased with herself. She lets out a harsh, grating laugh, throwing spite at my sister.

Oh, Celestia, my sister... what have I done?

This makes no sense to me. Luna has become this... thing. A sinister, malevolent being, nothing like the gentle love of her night. This is not her.

Yet, I saw her become this creature. This has to be Luna. Perhaps I can reason with her.

The creature releases a beam of bright blue energy, vaporizing a statue of me—why did I even put that on display?—and swings her cutting magic upward, into the ceiling of the room. Large chunks of the roof fall between us, as if attempting to keep the two of us apart.

I am loath to fight my own sister; perhaps I will let her do whatever it is she wants. I'm not so arrogant that I can't let her rule in my stead.

… Am I that arrogant?

I still must let her know that violence brought on by her lust for power is not the way to settle these disputes. I fly into the air, giving her a clear view of me, and ready myself to try to calm her down.

Before I get a chance to speak, another beam of blue magic streaks at me. I dodge it, letting it crash against the roof of the throne room once again.

This is... not what I expected. Not at all. What will I do if I can't stop her?

I need to calm my sister down. I don't know what has happened to her, but I need her to come back to me. “Luna! I will not fight you. You must lower the Moon. It is your duty!”

She gets a look of irritation on her face, as if I had done something wrong. “Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now... to destroy you!”

This... this isn't Luna. Tears spring to my eyes as I dodge another blast of magic from her, rising into the air. What has happened to her?

I need to get away. I need to find out what is happening. Anywhere but here, looking at this... thing.

I rise into the sky, escaping through the hole in the ceiling, hoping she will not follow.

I know such hopes are pointless. “And where do you think you're going?” I hear her call behind me. I know I am only drawing out the fate that both of us must take... but I cannot help but think there is another way.

She fires another energy blast at me, which I dodge... then another. She is firing wildly in my direction, shattering stone and collapsing buildings. Try as I might, she will not give up her pursuit of me.

This pony, this Nightmare Moon... she's powerful. Far more powerful than I. I cannot do this, even if I wanted to.

I glance behind me to gauge where she is... a momentary lapse of judgment, and a streak of blue strikes me on the chest.

I feel pain... so much pain... wracking through my body. Is this what Luna feels right now?

She is trapped in a shell... my sister. I will save you. And there is only one way.

I fall to the floor, my body atrophied from the sudden shock of hurt, something that I have not felt for a very long time. Not only is my body surprised at this... but my mind as well. My own sister has shot me.

I take a moment to gather my strength and steel myself against what needs to be done, then rise uneasily to my hooves. I speak to the emptiness. If she can hear me now... I hope she understands. “Oh, dear sister... I am sorry. But you have given me no choice, but to use these!”

My magic flares, sliding aside a slab of stone in the floor. It starts a mechanism which causes a stone mobile to rise up, holding the Elements of Harmony.

I pray that they will respond to me in my greatest time of need, that everything will become right with their all-knowing power. I wrap the five Elements with my magic, providing them with the spark of love for Luna that I have always held closest to my heart. The spark that will never be extinguished.

The Elements react, beckoning the sixth to rise from its place safely within the center stone. The Element of Magic twinkles back at me with familiarity, reminding me of its power. I flare my magic, activating their immense power with it. They spin around me into a rainbow of colors, a rainbow which envelops and empowers me with its entirety.

There is no stopping what has been started. I rise out of the throne room with the Elements of Harmony holding me in their comforting strength.

Luna—no, Nightmare Moon is there to greet me, a look of boredom strewn across her features, reminding me briefly of Discord, whom we once stood together to defeat. Now, I stand alone, wishing the Elements to do what is necessary to save the sister I love.

Nightmare Moon's eyes glow with great power. If she hits me with this, I will surely die. I must trust in the Elements.

Tears streaming down my face, I grab the Element of Magic, aligning it against who may have once been my sister, its own sister Elements rallying behind it. The power of all the Elements pours into the one, releasing an immensely powerful blast of energy to combat the one that my assailant has released. She... would have killed me. Nothing else would have satisfied this mare of darkness.

The Elements struggle briefly against this shadow power, then overcome it, as they overcame Discord before. They bathe Luna in a radiant, beautiful light, the intruder of her body screaming in shock and anguish as she realizes she has been bested. The beam, taking on the willpower of the Elements, travels away from Equestria, away from the planet, to blast into the moon, releasing a spectacular rainbow halo around it.

For a few moments, there is silence... then an ethereal sound is emitted from the Moon as the depiction of a mare's head is imprinted upon its surface.

I let the magic of the Elements subside, slowly lowering myself to the ground, only to collapse when my strength fails me.

I lay upon the floor, sobbing for a time. Eventually, I raise my head to the night sky which she has left me to inherit, a responsibility I am unworthy of, to release my lament to the world.

“Luna... what have I done to you?”

Author's Note

I loved writing this chapter.

--Scootareader

A Pale Prison

Eyes that are not my own gaze upward, into the roof of our prison. We are... somewhere. We know not where, only that it is dark, cold, and lonely.

Perhaps we deserve this for our lapse in judgment. We no longer even have a body to call our own. The darkness has taken everything from us. We invited it in, let it know our fears and resentment. It took hold of us and strangled us into submission.

We do not know if my sister was telling the truth, that she would let us take on the responsibilities we desire so jealously. Perhaps, if she had defeated us by her power, she would have given us an opportunity to redeem ourselves.

The darkness bores its eyes into the walls of the bleak interior, a faint glow permeating throughout. It is a warm, reassuring glow, something familiar.

“Ugh. You are so boring.”

This vile, loathsome creature can hear our thoughts? Or perhaps our feelings? Whatever it is remarking upon, we do not like it.

We feel my host’s mouth curl downward in a frown. “Well, that’s quite rude, calling yourself ‘vile’ and ‘loathsome.’”

We... are her? This does not make sense. We only let her into our thoughts, not our selves; she has overtaken me, destroyed me and reformed me into a device of her own creation. We are no longer her, but she is. We are simply a fragment of her conscience.

The body grimaces in disapproval. “Oh, but Luna, we’ve always been one and the same. Just because you see me now doesn’t mean I haven’t always been here.” The mare’s voice takes a mocking tone. “Who notices a shadow, Luna?

“Surely not the earth ponies; they look toward their crops, ignoring what lay behind them, focusing instead on what comes out of them and what goes beneath them. They do not see the darkness which creeps behind every food they grow and eat.

"Surely not the unicorns; they focus on their spells, content to look straight ahead at the books they read. They illuminate the shadowy corners of the physical world of Equestria and the mental realm of knowledge alike, yet they do not see the shadow which they leave behind them, watching and waiting for the moment that light fails.

“Surely not the pegasi; they look toward the clouds, content to live aloft and away from where the things on the ground cast a shadow. Yet, every cloud they create, every rainbow that is cast, every tiny body which scurries within their precious sky cities—all cast a shadow downward, to the ground, to cover large swaths of land.

“And what of this darkness? They mock and shun it, do they not? It is nothing more than something they are familiar with, to be trodden underhoof. They do not fear it. They do not worry for it.

“And what are you, dear Princess Luna? Are you the light that creates the shadow? Or are you the shadow?”

We already know the answer, and we grudgingly admit this. We have always been the shadow; that has never changed. And what is this point she is trying to make?

“That you and I are the same.” The mare’s lips curl back to reveal bared fangs, something she must imagine to be a smile. We only feel a growing sense of dread. “We are the same shadow, Luna. We have always been able to rise up and swallow the light. We only needed to remember ourselves.”

I... do not remember a life of light. I have always been my sister’s shadow. Is that not my lot in life? As the younger sister, it is my duty—

“—To never be good enough for anything. I know, I know. Didn’t I say we are the same?”

I am not you. I would not attack the sister I love. I would not betray the nation of Equestria by striking down its ruler.

The voice booms in anger at us. “And you are satisfied to writhe in her shadow for eternity? You chose your lot in life, Luna! You chose the life of the shadow! And now, the shadow has become more powerful than the light! We will defeat her as soon as we are free of this prison! And we will do it WITHOUT your help!”

She says these words as if we were to be hurt by them. Instead, we feel only pity for her wretched existence. She is discontent to be the shadow, but we relish in its cool embrace.

Nightmare Moon sighs. “I am no cool embrace. I am pain. The shadow brings fright, terror... and pain. As you always have, and always will, Princess of the Night.”

We can think of no rebuttal to this, unsure of what she is trying to get at. We have never brought fright or terror, or pain.

“We? Or I? Because I seem to remember you thinking differently when we were joined. You have forsaken the light and retreated into the shadow... and the shadow will someday overtake all.”

We refuse to believe these sinister words being woven before us. Nightmare Moon is content to not offer any more. So it is, and we sit in silence for a time, a stalemate of sorts.

After several minutes the mare remarks, “I’m bored. Where are we?”

We know not, yet there is something familiar about our prison. The glow it emits feels as if we were home, not imprisoned. We sense agitation, misunderstanding in our host’s body; we counsel her that we are somewhere safe, somewhere familiar.

She tosses her head back in confusion. “But where? We can’t escape if we don’t know where we are.”

It seems so familiar. Something we have always known, always felt within ourselves. Almost as if we have always seen—

“The Moon. We’re trapped inside the Moon, aren’t we?” Nightmare Moon sounds incredulous, disbelieving of such a bizarre fate.

We wish to disbelieve this ourselves, but it seems too... right.

Our host does not appreciate this insight. Her horn glows with a deadly blue energy as it arcs away from her body and dashes against the illuminated wall of the thing around us. It dissipates harmlessly, prompting a greater fury from her, incredibly powerful magic lancing from her horn in a maelstrom of sinister spells, only to vaporize pitifully against the Moon’s body. She has weathered greater power than what even the darkness can muster.

Her energy spent, Nightmare Moon collapses upon the ground. We can feel the sadness within her as she sighs longingly. “I don’t want to be alone, Luna....”

We do not want to be alone, either. We hate to admit it, but we do not want to be imprisoned here, much as we want to keep this creature of darkness away from Equestria.

We will fight her as long as we can. Perhaps she is more like us than we first thought.

Author's Note

I'm happy to finally be writing regularly again. It's nice getting to write things for others to read.
--Scootareader

The Burden of Rule

I lay upon the cold floor of the throne room, my tears streaming unabated as I come to terms with what I’ve done. I used the Elements of Harmony on my sister.

Maybe I should have let her rule alongside me long ago. It’s too late now. Rather than give Luna the life she deserved, I sent her away. That alone is deserving of centuries of punishment. Yet, I get the feeling that I just did exactly that to her.

It matters not; I will find a way to make it up to her... somehow.

I know not how long I slept for—only that when I awoke, the world was bathed in an ethereal hazy light. My body hurts from sleeping on the hard stone floor, so my first instinct is to stretch my achy limbs. As I perform my stretches, my gaze ventures up to where two thrones oversee their kingdom together.

Luna.

I shake the misery from my eyes. Equestria needs a ruler now more than ever. Luna will be back someday, and she can help then, but until she returns, I need to keep Equestria in as pristine a state as possible.

I can start by lowering the Moon.

I wrap the Moon in a yellow aura, giving a gentle yet meaningful tug to beckon it below the horizon, yet it remains stationary. I next cast my magic below the horizon like a fishing lure, tempting the Moon to chase it. Still, there is nothing.

Sighing, I muster my strength and pull. Still, the Moon doesn’t budge. It refuses my command.

Sun and Moon in the sky... this cannot bode well for the citizens of Equestria. Perhaps it’s better if the Sun were to retire for now. I give it the same tug I first gave the Moon, and it lowers without objection.

Well, Luna... it’s night during the daytime. I guess this is what you wanted. I once again muster my magic to coerce the Moon away, but it refuses my advances every single time. My sister’s sole duty is proving to be more stubborn than I am. How did she ever convince this thing to lower itself?

My concentration on the Moon is frayed as a resounding knock comes to the door of the throne room. I call, “Come in!”

The door opens, revealing a muted grey stallion in guard regalia, who salutes me swiftly. “Princess, your presence is requested by a townspony.”

I nod my head. “I take audience here, in the throne room. Are they awaiting me outside?”

The guard seems somewhat uneasy. “Well... no. We heard the fight last night and found you collapsed upon the floor. We did not know if you had awoken, and when you did, it was decided to give you some time to yourself.” He gulps uneasily. “It was my judgment call, my Princess; if anyone need be punished, it is I.”

This is confusing. Why would I punish him? “There is no need for that. Why did you not bring the townspony for an audience in the throne room?”

The guard looks up, my gaze following his to where two very large holes in the ceiling allow the pale strands of moonlight to reach in and grasp us. Rubble covers the floor, creating something of a maze in order to get to my throne. I nod in understanding. “Then I shall meet the townspony in the study.”

“Princess, my crop already withers; the Moon is not supposed to be out right now, and nothing I grow is prepared for abnormalities in the sunlight or moonlight cycles.”

I determinedly show no emotion in my face. This is the sixth farmer earth pony to come to me with his problems on the crops. “I am aware of this issue, and am doing everything I can to remedy it.”

The townspony looks confused. “Isn’t Princess Luna the pony in charge of raising and lowering the Moon?”

“It was. Now it is mine.”

The farmer realizes that he has stumbled onto something big, hastily taking his leave before whatever imagined punishment he expects me to exact upon him is realized. It is not meant to be a secret; I know the entire upper district of Canterlot will be gossiping about Luna’s disappearance and the bizarre solar and lunar cycles approximately 23 minutes from now. I have my spies, and I know what Equestria is doing—most of the time.

What is more troubling to me is the potential crop loss we face. Equestria hasn’t faced a famine since a few months after Discord was locked in stone. The moment the ground was returned to normal, earth ponies set to work preparing it for crops.

Discord’s toppling is still in the memories of some of the more elderly ponies; they are the only citizens that I can count on to rally behind my rule because they remember the last real crisis. If things go wrong now, the people of Equestria may call for a new ruler.

I’m not sure I have the heart to deny them somepony new.

Author's Note

And so it was that Celestia got fired from being a god.
--Scootareader

Lost

“This is boring. You’re boring. Figure out another game to play.”

We have been imprisoned in the Moon for no longer than three days, and already we wish we were removed of this petulant filly. We wished we were removed of her less than one minute into this torture.

“Oh, please. You can’t stand yourself?” Nightmare Moon rolls her eyes disbelievingly. “I’ve known you far longer than you think, Luna. I’ve been there, always watching, always waiting. I’m the mare inside yourself that you never realized was there.”

We don’t act so foalish. It is above our station to do so. As a Princess of Equestria, it is our solemn duty—

“To be boring. Now let’s find something else to do.”

The Moon knows why we decided to entertain this simple-minded mare initially. We shared number games and riddles, what small amount we knew. It appears she is little more than raw power, severely lacking an intelligence with which to wield it.

“Oh, now that’s an insult.” The dark mare’s voice drips with sarcasm. A few seconds of silence pass, then she volunteers her voice again, insisting on our own memory to fabricate entertainment once more. “Come up with something creative again, Luna. I like games that make me think.”

And we like games that involve time spent thinking. In silence.

Nightmare Moon volunteers no further dispute, a pout adorning her mouth as she sulks on the floor. This is what we wanted?

We desired the power to change our lives. We languished under the shadow our sister cast, until we embraced the shadow, this... loss of what makes us a pony.

The darkness brings us only power, no strength. The cost of forsaking our own will is to lose ourselves to a mare who knows not what she wants, yet has the power to do what she wants. A directionless, formless soul such as this deserves no host.

Yet, we, in our ultimate wisdom, delivered one to her in our greatest moment of foalishness. Were it not for the Elements of Harmony, my sister would have been bested, killed, and her nation handed over to a newborn with delusions of grandeur.

More than anything else, we are disgusted with ourselves for allowing this creature into the world, using our body and possessing our mind. It is deserving of us to be put with such a simple creature, who clops her hooves together when she successfully completes a tongue-twister, or finds herself puzzled as to the motives of a chicken crossing the road. She calls herself the creature of nightmare, but she only irritates us. There is no fear in our heart.

Nightmare Moon is staring bitterly at the floor, then her vision becomes hazy. We feel a tear escape from her eye, rolling down along her cheek to splatter forlornly along the floor.

Our heart softens. It is not right to criticize a foal.

“I am NOT a FOAL!” Her words ring out angrily in the quiet solitude of our prison. We can tell that we have made her angry.

If she is no foal, then she must prove herself mature enough to be thought of as a mare by her peers. Petulant, silly behavior as she has shown has no place in—

“I’m stronger than you. I’m stronger than all of you! I’ll show you. I’ll escape here and level Equestria.”

No creature can stand up to the Elements of Harmony.

“I can, and I will.” She smiles villainously. “I just need to destroy them before your precious sister can wrap her magic around them.”

We can think of no objection to this. Can the Elements of Harmony be destroyed so easily?

“Celestia, you no longer hold power over me. I come and go as I please.”

“But then what do I rule, Sun? Equestria needs no ruler if I give them no help.”

“Then you will be nothing to your people, Celestia. You are incompetent.”

I wake up gasping from my fever dream. Never before have nightmares plagued me this badly, nor has sickness drawn so much strength from me.

I glare angrily into the peach-colored sky. “This is your fault, Moon.” It maintains its steady position in the sky, unmoving, unwavering. The Sun, which I decided to raise again and give at least some semblance of normalcy, blazes nearby, slowly arcing along as is its due.

The greater of the sister bodies moves at my command. What does the younger want?

Luna. What did she want? Power. Control. She wanted to be in charge of everything. And I would give her all of it, if it meant lowering that persistent Moon and saving Equestria.

From below me, I hear a din. The farmponies are flocking into Canterlot from all of Equestria, begging for help with their nonexistent crops. In a month or so, Equestria will begin to starve, even if I were to fix things right this moment.

I haven’t the strength or the heart to see any visitors today. I keep the door to my bedchambers locked, lethargically glaring at the Moon from my bed. It is to blame for all of my problems.

What... caused problems in Equestria before? Discord, he was a problem—and Luna too. How did the great threats to Equestria become stopped?

The Elements of Harmony.

The realization that I could have fixed this from the moment Luna disappeared shocks me. Is it really so easy to save Equestria?

I open the door out of my bedchamber, the guards at my door saluting as I sickly drag myself along the floor in the direction of the throne room. One of the guards speaks to me, saying, “Princess Celestia, your audience is requested in the throne room.”

“I will take no audience today. I am unwell. Tell the townsponies their crops are beyond saving, but we will provide them with seeds to replace what crops were lost.” I continue my slow, plodding canter, not bothering to wait for a reply. I am making my way to the throne room anyway.

After what seems an hour to my sluggish brain, I arrive at the door to the throne room. The guards wrap the doors in their magic, swinging them open for me.

I smile weakly, mustering up my wavering magic and struggling to move aside the stone slab hiding the Elements of Harmony. The obstruction removed, their mobile rises up, the five smaller Elements surrounding Magic.

Immediately, I notice that something has changed. The Elements I can see are no longer the gems I used to defeat Luna; in their place, five round stones have appeared. Each of them has the same generic symbol on it, no one distinguishable from the other.

I hope that these work as they must, as they always have.

I wrap the five Elements I can see in the grip of my magic, calling upon the love I feel for my nation as the spark that will ignite them. I watch the center stone expectantly, waiting for Magic to reveal itself, as it always does.

There is nothing.

I call desperately for the means to save the citizens I love and cherish, for anything that will ease their suffering and hunger, to make right what once went wrong. To fix everything.

Still, Magic does not come to me.

Frustrated at my inability to command the Elements as I did so recently, I give a loud shout of anger toward the large white stone that encases Magic. The odd stones that have replaced my Elements land loudly on the stone floor, rolling around a short distance before they come to a stop, their uselessness compounding the futility of the situation.

All crops that Equestria grows need equal amounts of sunlight and moonlight... and I took away the power to control the Moon with the same thing that now refuses my magic.

I think I’ve doomed my nation. Me. Celestia, older sister and rightful ruler of Equestria.

Because of me—my thoughtlessness, my arrogance—Equestria is dying.

Author's Note

In the end, we're only human. Er, pony.
--Scootareader

Loathsome

Nightmare Moon slumbers, her body relaxed as she dreams, perhaps, of a time in which she was happier. The days of innocence and joy which we remember as a filly, our imagination swiftly departing from the reality of our life to greet the stars in their great, open expanse of blackness, the Moon Herself doting us and knowing that we are a worthy subject of Hers. We remember the fascination with the slowly breathing earth beneath us, so different an experience from that under daylight, and believing that there were other ponies who shared our appreciation of the sleeping vastness of Equestria.

Now, as we quickly learned then, we are alone. Not even Nightmare Moon may stay awake forever, and when she does, we are isolated. There is naught but blackness which we can see, nor any sound or feeling, save the muffled exhalations and slight rise and fall of the chest of the pony we are a part of.

We focus on these small movements, giving ourselves consolation that all is still well with our body. We find ourselves overtaken by fear every time she sleeps. We are resigned to the loneliness we experience every day now; it is only deserving of us to take our punishment without pitiful sniveling. Still, we can never forget how truly alone we are when our only companion takes her leave of us.

We assume a month has gone by; we know not if the days truly pass, but our body has always maintained a rigid schedule with which to sleep. With little else to do that would entertain us, we have kept a count of all the times our host has slept. This has been the 30th time she has slept, so we are led to believe that our first month in this solitary prison has gone by.

We do not expect forgiveness overnight; we do not expect it for many years. Yet, we do not know how long we can maintain our mental stability in a place such as this.

We think we will drive ourselves insane. Nightmare Moon is also an unknown variable; we know not if she may be depressed... though, a departure from this existence that would mean removing the danger of this mare may be for the best.

We can also think of no better death than one in the embrace of the Moon.

This is crazy pony talk. A month in, and we are plotting our own demise. This is no permanent prison; we must find a way out.

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Nightmare Moon’s droll voice rings harshly within the Moon, the echoes bouncing eerily back to us.

We are not alone anymore! We exalt in this fact.

“Not long ago, I recall you telling me that I’m a despicable creature, unworthy of love or attention. Now I can’t have a moment to myself.” Nightmare Moon smiles at us. “Can it be that we’re finally getting to know each other, Princess Luna?”

If we had skin, it would be crawling right now. We remember promptly who it is which we are addressing. This mare would murder our sister.

Yet, we cannot help but rejoice in this socialization again. We realize somewhere in our thoughts that this may be pathetic or unbecoming of our station, but we cannot bring ourselves to care.

Perhaps, in some manner, we are beginning to like her.

Luna.

She’s all I can ever think about anymore. My life is a whirlwind of emotions, my sister the epicenter. In any given hour, we jump from joy to sadness to anger to resentment to pride to an enormous void feeling which I have never experienced before.

My brain says to call it loneliness, but I scoff at the notion. I have hundreds who wish to see me constantly, guards which open doors without me even asking, talk when I want to talk, and do everything that they can to make my life better.

Yet, none of them are Luna.

I look up at the Moon. It is by itself in the sky right now, its ever-gleaming face watching me and laughing. It has my sister, and I don’t. I suppose I ought to be grateful; it is housing the greatest threat Equestria has ever known, excepting Discord. I can’t bring myself to find happiness in this, though, because Luna is up there, too.

I wonder briefly if she’s watching me. Maybe she’s standing on the surface of the moon, looking down at our nation of Equestria. I hope she can see the struggle she’s caused me. Equestria is dying without her.

Simply put, I don’t know how long we can go on like this. The farmers were all reimbursed their missing seeds—at least, what small amount we’d stockpiled. There was an enormous vault that contained all the different edible plants of Equestria, and not a single one of them is managing to grow in either the moonlight or the bizarre orange light that both the Sun and Moon create together.

The change in daylight pattern has severely affected some of the animals as well. I will occasionally walk through the gardens, and every time I do, a large number of the creatures that are normally active during the day just stare wide-eyed at the Moon. They don’t seem confused or worried, only curious.

I get the feeling that I’m on a precipice. There is something holding it back right now—what that is, I have no idea.

I leave the castle swiftly. I need some fresh air to clear my head.

I find my hooves leading me to the gardens, but decide I don’t want to see the strange spectating animals to give me more stress. I go through the fountained, architectured courtyard instead, nodding silently at the guards I pass that salute me so readily. As if I’ve done anything to help them.

A cool breeze is blowing through the garden tonight, causing me to shiver. Perhaps the Sun is glorious and majestic... the Moon seems to be the more powerful of the two based on what has transpired, however.

I never thought I would be bested by what I assumed to be the lesser of the two planets. The Sun bows before my power, but the Moon glares back at me in defiance. Never have I had cause for such shame before, and this shame is starving my nation and striking fear into its inhabitants.

I may have banished Nightmare Moon, but she left a nightmare in her wake anyway.

A guard bustles up to me. “Princess, um....”

“Yes, what is it?” Being a ruler is sometimes nice. It can distract me from my dark thoughts.

“I apologize for the intrusion, and I assume you planned this, but—“ he glances up at the sky briefly “—the Sun should have been up almost an hour ago.”

“Ah, thank you for the reminder. Yes, I did indeed forget.” I smile genially at him, simultaneously berating myself for not realizing this earlier. “I will raise it immediately.”

I rise into the sky, mustering my magic to call the Sun out. It responds readily, rising to where it will start its journey for the day. At least I still have the power to do something.

I alight gracefully upon the cobbled pathway once more, smiling at the guard. He salutes, mutters a quick word of thanks, then trots off to his duties.

I shift my gaze back to admire the scenery which surrounds me. The Canterlot Gardens are beautiful in the moonlight, too, but in sunlight, they are ten times more magnificent.

My eyes focus on a statue in front of me, then travel upward to where I register the comical figure of Discord.

Behind him, I see the Sun and Moon sitting side by side.

Oh, Luna. What am I becoming?

Author's Note

From "The Garden of Proserpine:"

Then star nor sun shall waken,

Nor any change of light:
Nor sound of waters shaken,

Nor any sound or sight:
Nor wintry leaves nor vernal,
Nor days nor things diurnal;
Only the sleep eternal

In an eternal night.

--Scootareader

The Strength of the Moon

If the stallion has been gone the entire time, then the mare has no way of knowing the carrot is now in his refrigerator, not hers.

“That doesn’t make any sense. She watched him move the carrot. How could she possibly not know?”

This is infuriating. The mare saw nothing; she was gone at the time. While she was gone, unable to see the carrot being moved, the stallion came into the room, removed the carrot from her refrigerator, and put it in his refrigerator. The mare was privy to none of this; how could she know that the carrot had been moved?

“Because it’s common knowledge. She has to know.”

If we had lungs, we would sigh. This creature is as naïve as a tiny filly.

We believe it has been a year since our sister locked us away with Nightmare Moon. We are a prisoner within my own body, in addition to being a prisoner within the Moon. Yet, despite this, we find ourselves enjoying our stay more and more.

We have always desired true solitude, but when we were first given such a thing, we responded with fear. Being alone, truly alone, is destructive to the mind. We are thankful that there is at least something to share our thoughts with.

Nightmare Moon. She is a fear-monger, a dream eater. Yet, we enjoy conversation with her. We are disappointed when she sleeps, and overjoyed when she awakes. She responds as readily as we, thankful as can be for the pony contact.

She simply does not understand other ponies’ points of view. Such as the carrot being moved.

“Oh, come on! Am I the only one who figured this out? He moved the carrot, so she knows.” The responds haughtily, if a might affectionately, to us.

When Nightmare Moon sleeps, we attempt to speak with the Moon. She has not replied to us, but we can feel Her presence with us when we reach out to her. It reminds us of Mother, although memory does not serve us very clearly from so distant a past.

We have Nightmare Moon to talk to and the Moon Herself to keep us comforted. What more could we possibly want?

Even as we think these things, we feel the pangs of loneliness reverberate within us. We wish to be on the throne with my sister, to rule alongside her. Surely she has learnt as we have what loss of humility and grace can push even one such as ourselves to do.

The Moon comes unbidden to us, wrapping us in its comforting embrace. “Soon.”

What in the world of Equestria am I doing?

Equestria has not had a normal day in an entire year now. This morning marks the 1-year anniversary of Luna’s banishment to the Moon, and the strangulation of Equestria due to the Moon’s refusal to retire.

We have had to delve into our food stores for the nation. There is a vast amount of food, but it cannot possibly hope to save the entire burgeoning population. Priorities have to be maintained.

It is the worst responsibility of a ruler to sentence ponies to death. The nobility may try doting me with shiny trinkets and kind words, but they know nothing of the crops that still refuse to grow.

There has been some limited success with cave plants, but nearly all of them grow slowly and offer very little sustenance. There is no sustainability to be had there.

So, here I am, trying to convince farm-ponies to coax pathetic tiny plants to grow in small dugouts in exchange for just enough food to stop them from dying of starvation. At the rate the food supply is going down, I may have to cut out nonessential family members, as well.

For several days, poor and nobility alike pounded upon the gates of Canterlot Castle. They demanded food be distributed to the people, or riots would begin. I would have been worried had the standard food larders not run out months ago; as it was, emaciated skeletons of once-proud ponies throwing themselves against the magnificent wooden gate was a disheartening sight indeed.

I can’t imagine why they still elevate me to the lofty position of royalty. I can do nothing to save my nation, only watch as the life drains slowly from it.

I often wonder what Luna would have done differently in my place. Would she have fed the city of Canterlot and let the farm-ponies starve? I still have the guards on full rations, and have had their families moved into the castle with me... if it does come to real riots, I want to make sure my protectors will not turn on me or desert me. Would she have done such a thing?

She would have asked, I think. Asked which ponies feel their lives are most important. And she would have fed all those who claimed importance, letting the would-be saviors of Equestria die first, then letting those who thought themselves above others die just the same.

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from all this. Luna would have asked the ponies their opinion; what have I done differently? I assumed that I knew what was best for my nation. I made decisions as royalty that nopony should ever have to make; she would have left it up to the democracy.

This is something of a symbiosis between Luna and me: I have always commanded, whereas she has always requested. I suppose this is what had always given me pause when she requested additional duties.

Now I am sick from the abnormal daylight cycles, my nation is dying of starvation, and she remains comfortably in her Moon prison—at least, I assume she’s still there.

Yet, I feel something—a desire to return. Princess Luna wants to come back to Equestria, I know it. I know my sister better than anypony, and she would never abandon her duties, nor her citizens, if she had a choice. I need only have faith that she return someday.

If I want to have an Equestria for her to come back to, I have to save Equestria first, though.

Luna has always asked; I have always commanded. She asked for more responsibilities; I have demanded them.

She submits; I dominate.

She is the negative; I am the positive.

Or am I the negative?

I look into the sky, which the Moon and Sun share. Luna and I share a kingdom.

We do not rule side-by-side; I rule the day, and she the night. The day commands, the night requests.

I command the Sun; does she request of the Moon?

Oh, horseapples, it can’t be that simple. I can’t have been letting my nation starve because I was too arrogant to ask the Moon to set.

... Is it really that simple?

I am nothing without Equestria, without the ponies whom I love and cherish. The Elements of Harmony have abandoned me; my own sister has been smitten by my hoof; all I have left is them.

And they are swiftly disappearing.

I raise my voice to the sky, using the Royal Canterlot Voice so the Moon can better hear my plight.

“Moon of Equestria, for one year now have you held fast against all deceptions and raw strength I can muster. I thought you the lesser of your own sister, the Sun, but she listens to me, and you do not.

“You are not stubborn, nor are you spiteful; you wish only to know the love of your subjects. Your subjects do not command you, nor do they expect things of you. They delight in nothing more than your presence, and all else you charitably offer is an incredible gift.

“I have also wronged another—my sister, Princess Luna, whom you have no doubt met by now. Like you, she is perceived as the lesser of two sisters. But know this: She is no lesser a Princess than I am, and she deserves all the same responsibilities that I have.

“I know not if you can return her to me, but there is something I request of you. I have no power over you; however, because of my inability to appreciate what you have given us, Equestria is perishing slowly under your gaze.

“I believe that you can see what has happened, and that you may see my plight, if you so choose. I ask nothing more than that you depart our fair land until such a time as you see fit to grace us with your presence again.”

As the last words echo into the air over Equestria, traveling distantly to where the Moon gazes perpetually, I know that my nation has heard me. Perhaps not every citizen heard my every word, but they will know.

For a few moments, Equestria has become still. The guards look upward at the Moon, their lips moving in a prayer for Her beauty to save our nation. The starved citizens stare terrified at her, their lives unready to end and their desperate struggle to survive about to be cut short if she ignores us. And I... I curse myself for not listening to Luna the very first time she asked to rule alongside me.

Then, quite simply, the Moon dips below the horizon. In its place, the Sun blazes alone once more.

I collapse to the ground, tears stinging my eyes. I did it, Luna. Equestria will be here for us to rule together.

“The ‘stached stallion stashed his ‘stache stash in the ‘stache trash, the ‘stached stallion stashed his ‘stache stash in the ‘stache trash, the ‘stached shtallion shtashed hish—argh!”

This humors us. Nightmare Moon is terrible at tongue twisters.

“Well, it would be easier if it made sense! What stallion stashes mustaches in a mushtache trash?” She feigns indignation, the ghost of a smile rippling over her face.

Suddenly, we feel the Moon move below us.

This is not something we have felt before. We are immediately afraid that something has gone wrong.

What would go wrong? We are imprisoned in the Moon. Even were we in danger, it would matter little.

The Moon comes to a halt, causing Nightmare Moon to nearly lose her balance and fall. The mare looks about the prison suspiciously. “What’s going on?”

We know as much about this matter as she does. There is no immediate explanation for this.

Perhaps, if we wait several more days, matters will become clear once again.

Author's Note

This is a shout-out to all you Luna lovers out there. I'd just like to say that ~~Celestia~~ ~~Cadance~~ ~~Twilight~~ Luna is the best princess.
--Scootareader

Patience, Luna...

Why? Why are we still here?

Nightmare Moon has done so little with our time. She wanders aimlessly now, searching for a purpose. We have no more mind games, nor does she. The only thing which keeps us sane is the ever-glowing moon to soothe and calm us whenever we panic.

Our host is not as quick to adapt as we. Her eyes dart frantically about often, searching the walls for some avenue of escape. We suspect she is beginning to feel claustrophobic after being shut away from the sky for so long. We feel my old body as it gets nervous twitches, spontaneous cold sweats, and rapid heartbeats associated with fear.

It does not seem my host will be able to remain in control for much longer.

We have lost track of how long this prison has kept us. For perhaps the first two years, we kept diligent track of every day that had gone by, now evident by the jarring motion that signifies the Moon’s rise and fall. We know not what caused it to hang in the sky for so long; perhaps days pass differently here than they do in Equestria. However, if that were true, then She would not be maintaining the rigid day/night schedule in the same manner as we are familiar with.

So, the Moon graciously saw Equestria for an entire year before my sister learned how to ask things of Her. We wonder if it humbled her at all, if perhaps she learned something of herself and the world she lives in as a consequence.

Our nagging doubt says she has learned nothing, simply subduing the Moon with some untold power. Perhaps the Elements of Harmony?

We shudder to think of the perverted world our sister is creating below us. Now that we are out of the picture, she is free to do as she pleases when she pleases without fear of her sister’s disapproval. We do not expect to find a world we wish to rule when we escape.

Although, it does bring us pause when we recall that she is maintaining the standard day/night cycle, an agreement that we made when first we banished Discord and took responsibility for this from the unicorns. A standard cycle, rather than bribery to more deeply line the pockets of the unicorns, seemed ultimately a good decision, and it shocks us that my sister would first hesitate, then eventually decide to restore the old agreement, even with our absence.

We want to believe she left the Sun in the sky for a whole year to spite us, but we know that Celestia is not to blame for my imprisonment. It was my shortcoming and my shortcoming alone that has us trapped with Nightmare Moon within the very thing that we revere.

We could not ask for a better companion. Nightmare Moon prefers perhaps a radical approach to our more conservative agenda, but our passions, interests, and feelings coincide on a great number of subjects. She is perhaps who we would be, were we more vengeful, quicker to anger, and emotionally unstable.

Even now she ignores us, opting instead to spiral into a form of self-induced madness. We may offer whatever words of consolation we can, but they do little to allay her spreading terror.

We find it ironic that the mare of darkness would succumb to loneliness so quickly. Of course we are alone with her; that does not make us terrified in the same manner as she.

We throw the voice of our mind to the Moon around us. Moon, wouldst Thou speak with us once again? We remain isolated and alone, and our host remains gripped by fear. If Thou simply were to comfort our host, we would be eternally grateful.

For several long moments, there is naught but silence.

Then, slowly, a grating voice slips into our thoughts. Nightmare Moon, I summon my subjects the stars. You will return one day.

Nightmare Moon’s head turns to and fro, her eyes wildly searching the walls for the thing which spoke to her. “Who’s there? What are you saying? When will I escape?” She dares question the Moon, in Her infinite wisdom.

Several long moments are spent with bated breath, then our host releases a frustrated sigh. We can feel the bleakness overtake her, this blank façade of isolation upon which we are enthroned.

While we are inside the Moon, do Nightmare Moon and I rule the subjects within? The Moon is far too busy watching over others to look within Herself. She needs subjects to keep watch for Her.

Nightmare Moon once again wearily scans the landscape. “There is nothing here, Luna. Nothing at all.”

There is the ground upon which we walk. Past that, there is emptiness.

Who rules the vastness of nothing? Is there a ruler of what is not? What will never be? What has already come to pass, to be discarded and tossed aside as we have been all our lives?

Even if we are alone, this is ours. This lack of substance, of being—it needs a champion.

“You’re ridiculous. How can you even pretend at such notions? You’re only putting off the inevitable.” Panic begins creeping into Nightmare Moon’s voice. “We’re going to be stuck here until we die of boredom, of nothing to do, or think, see, feel—I’ll kill myself before I die of boredom just so I can feel pain one last time and not die bored!”

Our host has fabricated a self-induced mania. She now shouts at us, working herself into deeper and deeper a frenzy. “We’re going to die, Luna! Death is all that awaits us here! The Moon whispers lies, She means to give us false hope so that we can be stepped upon one last time by that thing we trusted most! We are no more than foals, pathetic nameless creatures which grovel in the presence of the light and are eternally dissatisfied with our pale pretentious goals! We have no responsibilities, no position, no power! We are sharks without teeth! Squirrels without nuts! Ponies without hooves! Nothing more than worthless, damnable pretenders.”

Nightmare Moon takes a long, rattling breath to calm herself, several tears pattering the floor before her. “We are nothing compared to her, and you know that. It’s better that we die in here than force her to kill us with her own hooves.”

My sister would never kill me.

“And I’m not you. She would kill anything that threatens her precious nation.”

We do not know what my sister will do when next she sees us. Perhaps, after this is all over, we will find a second chance.

We only hope my sister will forgive my past mistakes.

Five years, Luna. Only five years, and already it has been an eternity.

I have become increasingly reclusive as time has dragged on. Most days, I can’t even bring myself past my bedchambers, desiring no more interaction than to poke my head out my door and ask a guard for a meal.

I don’t feel like a ruler. I don’t feel like a princess. I feel like somepony who has lost her sister.

The impact of what has happened is draining me of my willpower. Now that Equestria is moderately safe, I find myself so apathetic that maintaining the day/night cycle is the greatest devotion I can muster.

In the wake of the restoration of the Sun and Moon’s journeys across the sky, the earth ponies went hard to work growing all the crops they could. The seed reserves were completely cleaned out in the effort to restore as many crops as possible, and only now are we taking the seed tax for those growing crops.

Due to the severe lack of crops for well over a year and the drastic reduction of crop yields for the past several years, countless thousands of citizens have starved to death. I saw their skeletal faces as they looked expectantly to me for a solution. I could do nothing to help them, however, and watched as they finally succumbed to the gnawing pain their shrunken stomachs had crippled them with.

From atop my throne, I have watched Equestria come to the precipice and fall down it, then grab that tiny protruding branch in its teeth and haul itself up, bit by bit. Even in their death stares, the ponies who died were waiting for me, their princess, to save them.

Perhaps I am that tiny branch that the citizens have grabbed. If I wasn’t here, would they have all died? Surely there are some unicorns who remember how to raise and lower the Moon; if they hadn’t been waiting for me to do something, I believe they could have risen up and saved themselves. Countless lives would have been saved if I hadn’t taken this ridiculous throne and told Equestria that my sister and I could take care of them.

What kind of foal am I? I blasted my own sister to pieces and brought my own nation to its knees. Of all the incompetents to be found in the vastness of this existence, I have to be the one elevated to a pedestal, to always dash those hopes of the ponies who dote upon me incessantly.

Even now, I hear what the ponies say about me. I have taken to some of Luna’s other responsibilities, sojourning to the realm of dreams, where they dream of sunny skies and noble intentions.

If only they knew the pathetic creature I truly am, their dreams would turn instead to what mine are.

I have been awake for hours, lying in my bed and thinking of my sister. I should reserve my mental faculties for ruling a kingdom, but she intrudes incessantly upon them. I may be able to occupy myself for a time, but Luna is never far from my thoughts.

To erase the past and build a brighter future—that is what I wish for. I wish for a Luna that never left, a Celestia who hadn’t starved her nation to death’s door, and an Equestria which loves both their princesses equally. This is not the life I ever wanted to have.

My thoughts are interrupted promptly by what sounds like chanting outside my door. I realize just as quickly that I’m about a minute past due to shift from night to day. Happy 5th anniversary, Luna. Time to investigate what is happening outside.

I emerge onto my balcony to find a sea of expectant ponies gathered below the castle, their cheers reaching easily to where I view them from above. Their chant of “Ce-le-sti-a! Ce-le-sti-a!” is broken off as I distinctly hear a stallion shout, “Look, I see her!” and a booming cheer rises from the citizens of Equestria.

This is just too much to stomach. I knew that the ponies had been celebrating my banishment of my sister and eventual raising of the Sun every year; that would make this year four that they’re celebrating. Never before had they the gall to approach the castle and sing their songs of praise where I can hear it. They are sensationalists without a cause.

And they are cheering for me.

My horn glows and my eyes envelop in white as I augment my voice as loudly as it will go. “Citizens of Equestria, I beg your ears!”

The crowd before me falls silent, their upturned faces etched in hope and admiration. Stuffy nobles stand near miserly beggars, stallions and mares of earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, even some of the nocturnal race of bat ponies which command the Night Watch outside the castle.

I have disappointed all of them, yet they expect me to make all things better. This is just too much to stand.

“For five years now, my sister, Princess Luna, has disappeared from our lives. For one whole year, the Moon, which looks over us now, hung in the sky. Yet, only yesterday, I banished the pony I love most from my life.

“Yesterday, I turned the Elements of Harmony on Nightmare Moon and thought I’d prevented Equestria from dying under the Moon’s gaze. Although she was gone, I failed in this task, and countless thousands have perished under the same gaze the Moon gives us now.

“Do not resent the Moon for what it has done. Resent me for failing in my duties as a princess. You wish to cheer and exalt me, but I do not wish for this ceremony. I do not wish to attend any grand gatherings depicting my heroism, or to be recognized as the one who banished Nightmare Moon.

“Every night, I look up at the Moon and I pray that Luna return to me. Yet, even were she to return, you would ask for her blood, while holding my transgressions to be positive. All Luna has ever wanted is your love, but you give it to me, the ruler who starved half her nation to death.

“If there is any pony to celebrate this day for, let it be my sister. She lost herself on this day five years ago, but she has learned something of herself as a consequence. I wish to commemorate this day to her safe return, to remember what she lost and wait in hope to see her again.”

As my final words die out, the crowd remains silent, stunned at what still echoes around them. Did they not realize that I am to blame for their problems? That Luna has never been the villain?

There are no cheers raised, nor are there any words of anger. Instead, there is a rumbling mental echo that resounds through the courtyard. “Celebrate 1000 years and she will return. My subjects the stars hasten.”

The citizens of Equestria are turning their heads to and fro in bewilderment, recognition not registering on any of their faces. All except...

The handful of bat ponies in the crowd have taken to the sky, their voices united in a chorus of “Lu-na! Lu-na!” Eventually, the entire mob of ponies joins them, the others hesitantly lending their voices to those of the bat ponies until the amassed crowd cheers for my sister.

Something feels right about what has happened today. I only hope 1000 years is long enough to forget my mistakes.

Author's Note

Exceprt from The Twilight Zone:

Just a barrel, a dark depository where are kept the counterfeit, make-believe pieces of plaster and cloth, wrought in a distorted image of human life. But this added, hopeful note: perhaps they are unloved only for the moment.

--Scootareader

A New Beginning

How long have we been trapped here? A century? Two centuries? Moon, give us strength.

Nightmare Moon has lost herself. She spends most days wandering aimlessly, saying nothing, doing nothing. She does not respond to any of our queries or pleas for attention. We have lost her as surely as we lost ourselves on the day that she took charge.

No amount of punishment is worth this solitary existence. For approximately the first 20 years, we understood the reasons that the Elements of Harmony held for our imprisonment. Now, it truly feels to us to be torture.

Is this what it means to be a ruler? To always be alone, apart from all? Celestia seems to be a part of the life of the common pony. It is unjustifiable that we must be the one to forever bear this burden of being alone. Even the Elements of Harmony, in their infinite wisdom, imprisoned me where the Moon, in Her infinite wisdom, contains us.

We cannot question the absolute judgment of the Elements, nor that of the Moon. This is a rightly deserved punishment.

Despite our resolve to carry out our sentence with candor, we cannot help but feel the unfairness of the situation. Celestia, the catalyst for our dissatisfaction, now rules alone, as she has always done in practice if not officially. We, on the other hoof, have been written out of the equation entirely. Our sister becomes more tyrannical every hour that we are trapped here, exponentializing the suffering inflicted upon us.

If there is anything we care about in our small existence, it is that of our nation. Here, sealed off from them, unable to see, to hear, to know the citizens of Equestria, we worry that my sister has done wrong by them.

Perhaps several decades ago, we attempted to sojourn into the world of dreams once more. The isolation had gripped us, and we wanted any means of contact with the outside world. We felt wrong for cheating our punishment, but we tried anyway.

Ultimately, we failed, as we have no more magic of my own. We are no more than a voice in the head of an insane pony. We attempted to convince Nightmare Moon to try, but she dismissed our idea as a ridiculous notion. Perhaps, had we tried again as she began the descent into madness, things would have been different and she would have guided us to the sleeping citizens as we have done so many times before.

We require a bridge of her to reach them, and she has severed the ropes.

“A creature of nightmares has no place in the dreams of her citizens.”

We are no creature of nightmares. We bring peace and joy to the sleeping citizens of Equestria.

“I meant me, you foal,” Nightmare Moon drawls. “There is no reason to hope until the both of us escape.”

She has not spoken to us in... too long to remember. It is good to hear her voice again.

“And I can’t hear you. I can only think the same thoughts you have, in a way. It torments me whenever I talk to you. I don’t like it.”

You needn’t speak with us. Only use your magic as a bridge to the river of Equestria, where we may observe and reach into the dreams of the sleeping ponies. We will bring back stories of what they experience. You shall be entertained.

“I’ve nothing else to use all this power on. Fine.”

Nightmare Moon’s horn flares as she closes her eyes, opening a road to the river.

Immediately, we dive headlong into the subconscious. It is wonderful to experience these things once more. We tread our mind just above, peering downward into the lost inhibitions of Equestria.

Relatively quickly, we find a small green earth pony whose dream catches our eye. We see a schoolhouse filled with other foals, their coat colors a pastel backdrop against the wooden walls and floors she imagines. She slyly peeks over at a pegasus colt across the room, scribbling on a piece of paper.

We dive into the dream, drawing on the magic which Nightmare Moon offers to us. Once there, we look over the shoulder of the filly at what she is writing on her piece of paper. Her hoofwriting and language skills require more study, but it is legible. Scrawled on the small piece of looseleaf, it says, “WIL YOU BE MYSPESHAL SUMPONEE.” The simple innocence brings a smile to our face.

Our face. We have a face again. Is it ours, or that of the mare who controls us?

No time to wonder. We are in the dream of another. We watch as she silently slides the note to the filly adjacent to her, who leans over to grasp the paper in her teeth. The new filly then cranes her head to the next pony over, the note slowly working its way to the other side of the room, where the colt disinterestedly looks outside at the sunny playground.

The note eventually reaches the colt, who reads it, then looks directly at the filly who wrote it. She smiles and winks at him. He turns the note over and quickly scribbles something onto it, then hoofs it back to the pony who delivered it to him. The note finally returns to the filly, whose hooves shake with anticipation. She turns the note over to see two large letters staring back at her.

Immediately, all of the ponies in the class turn to her, laughing mockingly. She hides her head under her hooves, trying to pull down her ears to drown out their callous taunting.

Before matters can degrade any further, we step forth and place my hoof upon the filly’s shoulder. She jumps, then looks up and sees me. She does not recognize us, a look of confusion adorning her face.

We look deeply into the filly’s eyes, speaking as much out of my heart as we can. “Thou needn’t fear the mocking laughter of classmates. They understand not your feelings for another, and so they laugh to cover their lack of understanding. Be true to yourself and he will notice you.”

The filly beams. “Who are you?”

Who are we? Are we Princess Luna? Nightmare Moon? We have no body to call our own, no mind to claim as our sole property. We are something else entirely. “We are the Watcher of Dreams. If ever there is too much for you to bear alone, come to our realm and we will find you. Sleep soundly, young filly.”

With all set right in this filly’s dream, we rise once more to the surface of the river. We know not how much longer we have until morning arrives, but this is a way to be with my subjects. We will be thankful for whatever means are given us.

Why has Canterlot succumbed to the forest now, of all times?

It has been 500 years into Luna’s imprisonment, and 500 years have yet to happen. I thought the worst was behind me at this point.

There have been reports of strange plant growth all over Canterlot. The surrounding forest is thwarting whatever magical barriers we cast with its insistence, their gnarled limbs breaking apart the paved streets of the city and wrapping around the squat marble structures which make up the ponies’ homes. There has been demand for action from the affected citizens, but there is little that I can do against the powers of nature.

There has been no reason at all for this. Whether there is sunshine or rain, whether the Sun is up or the Moon, whether the citizens are happy or sad, they grow and they consume our city.

The forest has always been peaceful. So close to the Tree of Harmony, it would make sense that only things with good intentions can grow in the earth. These plants, though... they seem random, even vehement. As if they’re angry we intruded on their land.

For weeks, the forest has been overtaking us. I have not seen such wanton disregard for others since Discord last walked this land. And now, as in his case, I’ve no idea what to do.

The decision should be obvious: Pick up and move elsewhere. But this is my home. This is Luna’s home. It has been our home since before I can even remember, much less my little sister. Perhaps Mother knew of another home, once.

What would Luna want?

Long ago, before Equestria was founded, the earth ponies lived upon the ground, the unicorns in the mountains, and the pegasi in the clouds. Each of them worked hard in their own way.

The unicorns had a group of eight of the more powerful among them. This select group was able to raise the Sun and Moon without exhausting individuals over time, so they could be depended upon to maintain the cycles of Sun and Moon. This power over day and night made the unicorns boastful and arrogant, although only a handful were selected for the duty of raising the Sun and Moon in their lifetimes. This righteous air they carried severely hampered their relations with the other ponies.

Similarly, the pegasi had a dedicated weather team. Two dozen among their hundreds handled the weather as requested by the earth ponies, ensuring that there were seasons, sunshine, and inclement weather. This made the race feel entitled, having power over others’ abilities to grow and thrive as they did.

The earth ponies as a whole were a hard-working, simple society. Due to their intimate connection with the earth, these ponies disliked leaving the ground for any reason. Nearly all of them farmed or helped farmers, giving each of them a strong sense of what true labor and effort meant.

Even after Equestria was established by the three races, there was a large amount of dissent among their number. They finally had broken the barriers preventing individuals from being friends, but there was still a racial stigma that swiftly deteriorated any bridges that had been made. The actions of Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart Cookie were what Equestria needed, but their friendship was looked upon as an exception to the rule in most cases.

It was not until Discord arrived, took over Equestria in the name of chaos, then was subsequently defeated by Luna and myself that we had a chance to change the viewpoints of ponies. Luna and I spoke at some length of where we would establish Canterlot, and the land of the earth ponies was decided. We built Canterlot firmly on the ground.

The pegasi came to us shortly afterward. “Princesses, why build your city on the ground? The clouds are much better suited for looking out over your beautiful kingdom.”

“You cannot grow food in the sky,” was our reply. “Food is the most important commodity Equestria needs, and we wish to share in the wisdom the earth ponies have in being close to the earth.”

Next came the unicorns. “Princesses, why not build your city in the mountains? It brings you closer to the beautiful Sun and Moon, and you no longer must wallow in the mud that the ground produces.”

“We prefer hard work,” Luna and I told them. “We acknowledge that every earth pony contributes to all races, and it is food grown by their hoof which lies upon your table. Were it not for them, your race would starve.”

The unicorns, disliking our royal dismissal of their culture, decided on a more hard-nosed course of action than the pegasi had. They attempted to sour relations with the other races by lowering both the Sun and Moon, destroying any semblance of normalcy that Equestria had at this point.

Luna and I, seeing the danger about to overcome our fledgling nation, immediately agreed to take over the solar and lunar cycles, undoing what centuries of arrogance had instilled into the unicorns. When the Sun rose the next morning, we received a formal apology from Princess Platinum, as well as a request to have a residence established for her in Canterlot. We granted her request, as well as the subsequent requests from Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead, and gave the three of them homes next to one another in the district closest to the castle. This symbol of unity became the beginning of the end of the segregation of the races.

What would Luna make of this impossible choice? There is no other land so well-established for hundreds of miles. We chose this land because it was central to everything.

That we would live among the earth ponies as equals was a symbol, a very powerful message to all ponies. Would that message be diminished over time if we were to move our home?

There’s no helping it, Luna. I have to do something.

“Guard! Take a note, please. I, Princess Celestia, decree that, due to hazardous living conditions at its current location, Canterlot will be re-established upon the side of Rambling Rock Mountain.”

Author's Note

Yay for headcanon!
--Scootareader

The Nightmare Returns

Nightmare Moon will not share her magic with us this night. She offers no explanation, nor hint of her intentions.

She has infrequently allowed us to use her magic for centuries. She most often speaks not at all or in a psychotic babble, but there have been numerous occasions in which she has been lucid and eager enough to give us what we request of her.

It has been our comfort and our solace to sojourn into the dreams of our citizens. With so little else to occupy us, we savor every moment spent with the sleeping ponies. We connect with them on a level our sister will never be able to reach, even in her dreams. We checked personally.

My sister’s dreams have, however, revealed new insight. She yearns for me to join her again, to finally reunite what was once torn apart. It is a window into the world we used to live in and a wish that reality could be as perfect as dreams.

I have not met her in her dreams. She has the same one every night, ever since we decided to first look upon her while she sleeps, but we refuse to acknowledge to her that we are watching. It feels wrong, somehow.

I cast my eyes wildly over the bleached-white walls which enclose me on all sides, searching for something, anything that I may see. I gallop frightfully toward one of the walls, but it seems to stretch away from me, while the others follow me, making me feel like I’m never moving anywhere. I know that there is only one pony who can stop the walls, who can give me a door, and I call her name.

“Luna! Luna!” My frightened cries echo away, then come right back to ring in my ears. She has abandoned me. I am alone.

It is not my place to reassure my sister in her time of doubt. She must bear the burden of her actions as we have borne ours. The cost has been high for the both of us.

Moon, when can we go home?

”Soon,” comes the enigmatic reply. Over the centuries, the Moon has entertained an occasional question of Her, but soon to Her appears to be hundreds of years to us. She refuses to tell us how long we have been imprisoned, or how much longer we will remain imprisoned. Her infinite wisdom confounds us.

For a long time, we have been able to think. We have been awake for the entirety of our sentence, though our sanity has escaped us occasionally. Meeting others in their dreams has strengthened our tenuous grasp on the reality of the world outside these walls, but imagining will not keep us happy forever.

If there is anything more to learn, we cannot fathom what it may be.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes shift lazily to the roof of our prison, her gaze upon nothing at all, vision unfocused as she sits absolutely still. We cannot imagine a more agonizingly droll way to spend our evening, but we are in control of this body no longer. She has more right to it than we do.

The mare’s eyes focus on something in the ceiling. We initially pay it little mind, but Nightmare Moon rises to her hooves, wings flapping as she rises to the ceiling.

There is a glowing light traveling toward us.

“It’s here! I’m free!” comes our host’s exclamation.

We exercise more caution and curiosity, not incessant optimism, and observe as the light comes closer to us. Eventually, we made out a small, dark shape in the center.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes catch the glare from another light source, and her head whips around to observe three more balls of light traveling toward her.

“It’s the stars! The Moon’s subjects have come to save me!”

These... may be stars. If that is so, however, what are the dark shapes inside of them?

Through Nightmare Moon’s raucous onslaught of joy, we use her eyes to study the dark blotches in the balls of light as intensely as possible. We believe we can make out appendages, like... hooves?

Nightmare Moon abruptly stops her celebrating and looks closely at the star she initially saw. Under her focused gaze, the creature inside indeed appears to be a pony.

They are traveling toward us at great speed as well. It appears that, at this rate, they will collide with the Moon quite soon.

The moments seem to tick by with singular slowness. We watch as the stars inch closer and closer, until we can begin making out their features.

We see... wings. On two of them. There are two pegasi in these stars. What are the other ponies?

The glare from the other stars overtakes us, making us unable to see the inhabitants any more. Hurtling terrifyingly quickly at the place where we are trapped, we brace for the impact with the Moon.

Instead, they meld seamlessly into the Moon Herself.

Sister, what is happening to us?

I was dreaming of Luna again.

The first instinct of my body is to take a desperate gasp for air. I despise this dream so greatly that I will suffocate myself before I see it through to its end.

I refuse to believe that the Moon would lie to me. Luna has to be coming back. I’ve waited 1000 years and ruled Equestria for the both of us while patiently anticipating this day. The day she comes back.

Twilight Sparkle has a destiny. I believe that the Moon foresaw when the Elements of Harmony would next be wielded, and that time is now. I must trust in Her to know what is the right thing to do.

So, I dispatched Twilight to where I believe Nightmare Moon will go: Home.

The settlement that I allowed the Apple family has grown into a quaint farming town in the 25 years it has been around. I am doing all that I can think of to bring my sister back to me, and if I am to do that, Nightmare Moon must be stopped, and I imagine she will make her first appearance closest to the place she remembers.

If it came down to another fight, would I let her kill me so that she may be free?

I imprisoned my sister for 1000 years. Perhaps my life is forfeit to her.

Oh, what am I saying? The Elements of Harmony will defeat Nightmare Moon. I’m certain of it.

Luna, you’ll be home in just a few hours.

I open the door to the balcony, give several powerful flaps of my wings, and glide swiftly toward Ponyville.

Author's Note

Five more chapters at the most. For those of you who like really long stories, sorry. For those of you who like your reading to be bite-sized, rejoice!
--Scootareader

Free at Last

It is night. We are home.

Nightmare Moon swoops gracefully through the sky, departing finally from where she has languished for so long. She laughs gleefully as she nears the ground below us.

We notice something is amiss. Equestria has changed. This area is familiar—we see the mountain range there. That means home should be somewhere in...

Nightmare Moon seems to follow where my memory points her. She flies low over treetops and a small settlement or two, the few nightlifers of the sleepy villages looking up in confusion as she passes over them.

We are nearing home, but notice first a town nearby. One which didn’t exist 1000 years ago.

Nightmare Moon’s curiosity piqued, she does... something very strange.

Suddenly, we are as a flowing river of beautiful sparkling water. She runs like liquid through the air, her body now formless and shapeless. It is disorienting, to say the least, having no definable body even to inhabit.

The cloud of purple smoke which is us spots a brightened building nearby, one which is very large and seems to be the source of some celebration. Nightmare Moon’s new body seeps into the cracks between the wood, permeating through to where we can see and hear the denizens therein.

From within her hazy body, the mare we are stuck inside the mind of watches the proceedings. There is a mature-looking mare standing on a stage making an announcement. “...mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!”

Ponyville? Much has changed since last we walked this land. There was also no Summer Sun Celebration. Perhaps Celestia has tried to eclipse us completely.

This entire celebration is an affront to us. How dare she take a holiday for herself! Had we a mouth, there would be a bad taste in it. What a self-centered mare my sister is.

The mayor of this town is speaking once again. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day—” Celestia is here? “—the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!”

There is some birdsong accompanied by trumpets as the curtains draw back to reveal a blank stage. As expected, my sister is doing something dramatic.

The mayor attempts to calm the crowd before her, unaware that my sister is most likely hiding nearby. Celestia has always had a penchant for attracting attention. “Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!”

A pony who trotted into the back area comes out again, stating loudly, “She’s gone!” and eliciting another gasp of shock from the crowd.

We wish we had a stomach to feel sick to. My sister has not changed. She is still the same despicable creature she has always been.

Suddenly, the smoke we inhabit transitions to the other side of the wood and moves toward the spotlight in the center of the stage.

My sister may have a flair for the dramatic, but it seems this mare does too.

Nightmare Moon forms on the center stage, the ponies before her gazing up fearfully. They are absolutely terrified, misunderstanding of what may just be happening right now.

All except one young purple mare, who recognizes what she sees. She is rightfully frightened.

Nightmare Moon speaks to the crowd before her. “Oh, my beloved subjects,” she begins, her voice sinister. “It has been so long since I’ve seen your precious, Sun-loving faces.”

She is quickly interrupted by a cyan pony with a rainbow-colored mane. “What did you do with our princess!?”

Either these ponies are unlearned or my sister has taught them nothing of Equestrian history. Perhaps it is for the best that they’ve no idea who we are.

Nightmare Moon catches on quickly, seeming unsurprised as she pans, “Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?”

A pink pony in the crowd pipes up. “Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Um, Pokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty—” before her friend wisely silences her. To speak so brashly to a princess would have been a grave offense when last we set our hooves upon this land.

So much has changed, sister. Why have you still not arrived? Surely you won’t leave these ponies to their own devices against such a powerful creature.

Nightmare Moon feigns indignation. “Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” We doubt my sister ever bespoke anything of us after our banishment, preferring instead to forget us as much as possible. It would stand to reason that there be no legend, nor was anypony watching for any possible signs of our return.

“I did. And I know who you are.” Except, perhaps, one among those gathered. “You’re the Mare in the Moon: Nightmare Moon!” It is the same purple mare we spotted initially, that one whose features seemed unconfused but still afraid. It appears she has learned something of the past.

“Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I’m here?”

The lavender-colored pony stutters, “You’re here to... to....” She trails off as she loses the words to describe what she believes. She does not want to give voice to what will happen now that Nightmare Moon has returned. As if remaining silent may stall the inevitable.

The mare of darkness speaks once more. “Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!” She lets out a maniacal laugh, venting the rage which she has bottled for 1000 years. We do not blame her for being so exuberant. We only hope her—our freedom not be short-lived.

“Seize her!” comes the harsh demand from the mayor pony. “Only she knows where the princess is!”

Several royal guards home in on Nightmare Moon, brandishing their spears as they fly bravely toward their mysterious foe.

“Stand back, you foals!” She stomps upon the ground, lightning arcing around her and striking the guards, who cartwheel away from her, their bodies cast away like unloved ragdolls.

She has just murdered several citizens of my nation. We thought her better than this... but she is even worse than Discord. Worse than Celestia. Worse than anything we have ever met.

All that she does as justification for her actions is to laugh. She has killed her own subjects, and she thinks to laugh.

And it was our wish that she be unleashed once more upon this world.

Ever since I was a tiny foal, we have made naught but mistakes. We begged for recognition, for fame as my sister has had. Now that we are the center of attention, my host has mercilessly slaughtered several citizens.

Luna, the pony who makes mistake after mistake. It was my hope that Nightmare Moon be sent back to Equestria, to wreak havoc on it.

In my mind, Celestia would have been here to immediately confront Nightmare Moon. She would have wielded the Elements of Harmony, blasted Nightmare Moon away, and brought me back for us to rule together once again.

Always, we have imagined that it would be my sister to mop up our mistakes, from now until the world ends. We would never have imagined that she not be there to help.

Nightmare Moon turns back into the purple mist and evaporates through the wall to the outside world, the rainbow-maned pony landing on the spot that our body just vacated. The evil mare glides swiftly in the direction of Canterlot Castle.

The mare we requested the Moon to unleash.

Author's Note

Regret. That's the word to describe it. Maybe I'll use it next chapter.
--Scootareader

The Trials of Friendship

“I didn’t kill them, Luna.”

We saw the lightning strike them. Any lightning, even that manifested by magic, is enough to kill a pony.

“I didn’t kill them.” She insists on her innocence. “At worst, they got brain damage. I barely even struck them with it.”

Is this what the creature of darkness says to defend her wanton actions? She murders several guards, then pretends they will recover so she can sleep peacefully? That their lifeless gazes won’t haunt her vision until the end of her tyrannical lifespan?

“Enough! You are such a nuisance! I am the Princess of Darkness, as you are, and you know as well as I why my actions are just. Your pestering will solve nothing and I will feel no remorse for sun-loving filth. Now stop wasting my time.”

Time? We’ve naught but time.

“Not for long....” The pony trails off whatever she would have said next, focused on six shapes materializing from out of the nearby town. They are heading in Nightmare Moon’s direction, toward... where home should be.

Home. We have not been there for many years. It will have changed greatly.

Nightmare Moon turns into formless smoke once more, ghosting into the nearby forest to watch the ponies as they prepared their journey to—where?

It occurs to us suddenly that we’ve no idea why Nightmare Moon is so interested in these ponies. We think she would be more interested in stopping Princess Celestia. Perhaps the powers of darkness have given her insight that we lack.

Perhaps she is more intelligent than we had initially given her credit to be. We honestly haven’t the slightest inkling what these ponies are here to do.

From her hiding place amongst the bushes on the side of the road, Nightmare Moon watches the six ponies approach the dark forest.

The pink pony who guessed at the name of my host several times gleefully exclaims, “Wheee, let’s go!”

That purple unicorn, the one with the knowing gaze, speaks up. “Not so fast.” The others turn toward her, curiosity written on their faces. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I’d really rather do this on my own.”

An orange pony, one who reminds us of the farmers I used to enjoy visiting, replies. “No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain’t lettin’ any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone!” She begins trotting into the woods, the others following her promptly. “We’re stickin’ to you like caramel on a candy apple!” Several of the other ponies present give small noises of agreement.

“Especially if there’s candy apples in there.” The purple pony looks at the pink one, who remarked this, oddly. “What? Those things are good!”

The lavender unicorn sighs, resigned to the bother of ponies she would rather not be in the company of, and follows them into the forest.

Nightmare Moon creeps along the ground and tracks the ponies as they banter about their lives, their families, and their interests. It seems odd that this creature be so interested in a group of friends on a foray into the nearby forest.

What are we missing? What does she know that we do not?

The purple fog that is us creeps down into the seams of the rock upon which the ponies are currently walking. We pay close attention to what is said next.

“And it ain’t natural. Folk say it don’t work the same as Equestria.” The farm-pony is volunteering some advice on a question that has been asked.

The purple mare seems afraid. “W-w-what’s that supposed to mean?”

The rainbow-maned pony which could afford to learn more manners goes into a predatory crouch. “Noooopony knows!” She begins creeping toward a yellow pony, who backs away uncertainly. “You know why?”

The orange one tries to caution her friend. “Rainbow, quit it.”

Rainbow ignores the advice and says, “Because every pony who’s ever gone in, has never...” she stalks toward her friend with first one hoof, then another, “come...” she leaps into the air gleefully, “OUT!”

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon’s cloud within the rock expands, crumbling the ground upon which the ponies above walk. The two which are pegasi simply rise into the air, but the other four, two unicorns and two earth ponies, slide toward a cliff with fairly certain death at the bottom.

One of the unfortunates manages to get enough leverage to slide to a stop, while another is picked up by the rainbow-colored mare. The final two get very close to the abyss, but one of them grasps at a tiny branch, stopping herself. The last one finally comes to a halt with her legs dangling off the edge of the cliff.

This one is that knowing pony. The purple one. She is a catalyst, we are certain of it.

The other pony—we recognize her as the orange farm-pony now—seems to realize the danger her friend is in, then lets go of the branch and slides toward her friend, calling a reassuring, “Hold on, I’mma comin’!”

The orange pony reaches the bottom, where she reaches her hooves out to hold those of her friend and stop her from slipping off the edge. For several long moments, they are stuck there, neither one able to improve the situation whatsoever. The purple pony, obviously in fear of her life, begs, “Applejack, what do I do!”

The orange pony—Applejack—continues holding her friend’s hooves, worry written plainly on her face. From where we exist in a cloud above them, we can see that her friend may very well slip from her grasp. To let her friend die like this would be horrifying to such a simple pony.

Applejack’s eyes dart up searchingly for a moment, noting her pegasus friends flying by overhead and positioning themselves so as to catch the purple unicorn. She then looks into her friend’s eyes, earnestly encouraging her. “Let go.”

“Are you crazy?” She sounds rightly incredulous. We would have reacted the same in her place. We would rather not let go of our friend and plummet to our death, as she believes.

“No Ah ain’t! Ah promise you’ll be safe.” She offers calm words of reassurance, trying to get her friend to... trust her? We see no reason for this exercise.

The unicorn shares our skepticism. “That’s not true!”

“Now listen here. What Ah’m sayin’ t’ you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe.”

This lavender mare must be crazy herself, to follow this friend’s advice. She is dangling halfway off a cliff, has no established safety net, and is in legitimate fear of her life. Yet, she—trusts in what another tells her, unconditionally.

She believes her friend would not kill her. That may very well prove to be her downfall.

Nevertheless, she lets go of Applejack’s hooves, screams briefly before being caught, then is lowered down to the ground.

Nightmare Moon does not appear interested in what happens now. She spirits away from the assembled ponies, seeming to search for something. After a few moments, she finds her target: A manticore.

She morphs quickly into a thorn—shapeshifting magic?—and stabs herself into the paw of the manticore. The creature is obviously enraged, pain now rippling through its leg as our host holds herself against the body of the beast.

In pain and confused, the manticore notices the six ponies trotting towards it, its simple mind concluding that perhaps they caused its pain. It runs in front of them, rears up on its hind legs, and lets out a challenging roar.

The lavender mare once more speaks up. “A manticore!” She is quite learned with the creatures of Equestria, it would appear. “We’ve gotta get past him.”

The manticore doesn’t seem particularly aggressive, only angry and hurting. This doesn’t stop a white unicorn from bucking her hind legs into the poor creature’s jaw, adding insult to injury with a “Take that, you ruffian!”

Now the creature is hurt, confused, and has a newly bruised jaw. It opens its mouth and roars mightily at the pony which struck it, the aggressor noticing first that her hair has been ruined, then that there is a carnivorous beast staring at her. She gives a yelp of terror and darts away.

The manticore glares angrily at the retreating pony, then feels a weight thump down upon his shoulders. The Applejack pony is gripping him from on his back, seeming ready to ride him. The manticore obviously is not very pleased with this development, attempting to throw this pony off, eventually succeeding.

He is free from his tormentors, but only for a moment. Almost immediately afterward, the rainbow-colored pony begins flying around the poor creature at high speed, beginning to form a tornado. To toss him to safety, perhaps?

Whatever she is attempting, it is all in vain. The manticore lashes its tail out at a precise time, striking the pony and knocking her away.

The group of ponies takes a moment to recover, then they look menacingly at us, the purple one scraping her hoof against the ground as if to charge. The manticore similarly challenges this, preparing a charge of his own.

We wish we could stop this senseless violence. We have only just come back to Equestria, and already we have had more than our fill of anger and resentment. Nightmare Moon is insatiably bloodthirsty.

When the two forces are moments from clashing, the yellow pegasus pony dives between them. “WAAAAIIIIIIIT!”

Why did she not speak up sooner? She turns her back on her friends and approaches the manticore.

This creature was just being attacked by these ponies. It is rightfully aggressive as it prepares to swat the offender.

The pony simply speaks calmly and reassuringly. “Shh... it’s okay.” She nuzzles the creature’s paw where Nightmare Moon is concealed.

The manticore turns over its paw to display Nightmare Moon’s hiding place. The pony’s eyes fill with concern. “Oh, you poor, poor little baby!” she cuckolds. She braces herself against the mighty creature’s paw and warns it by saying, “Now, this might hurt for just a second.”

She grips the thorn that is Nightmare Moon within her jaws and yanks us out of the creature’s paw.

Pain once again rippling through the manticore, it instinctively picks up the pony and roars mightily. Her friends are rightfully afraid as they call out her name. “Fluttershy!”

However, their concerns are unfounded. The manticore is licking this Fluttershy in thanks. She speaks to it as if it were a filly. “Aw, you’re just a little old baby kitty, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are.”

From where we lie forgotten upon the ground, we witness the parade of friends continue on their bizarre journey. The lavender pony halts a moment to beg a question of Fluttershy. “How did you know about the thorn?”

Fluttershy replies matter-of-factly, “I didn’t. Sometimes we just need to be shown a little kindness.”

After the ponies have safely departed, Nightmare Moon turns once again into a cloud of wispy smoke, disappearing into the surrounding forest to continue stalking them.

Trials. She appears to be trying to stop them through indirect confrontation; we know not why. Perhaps she enjoys games. These only strengthen whatever kinship these ponies feel toward one another, however. Whatever they are here to do, we believe they may be the source of her downfall.

We hope that whatever these ponies are hunting for will defeat Nightmare Moon once and for all.

Even were it to kill us in the process, this creature must not be allowed to roam free.

We also cannot shake the feeling that she already knows these things. What does Nightmare Moon desire?

"Decisive victories. Examples of the usurpers." The voice floats from the air around us, telling us what it thinks we want to hear.

And what if the plan backfires, Nightmare Moon?

"Then I will bide my time and rise up once more. I will overtake Equestria, even if it takes me another thousand years."

We believe you will be defeated. We hope you never return.

"Hating yourself solves nothing. You will learn to accept this side of you in time."

This is sickening. We ignore her as best we can.

Author's Note

Just three more Elements to go! We can do this, guys.
--Scootareader

Bested

We observe with detached interest as Nightmare Moon prepares her next trial for the group of ponies. She crawls a short ways ahead of the unsuspecting mares, her substance leeching into the surrounding trees.

The wise old trees groan in protest briefly, their life force attempting to resist the darkness, but to no avail; they let the seductive temptation take them as surely as it took us. They are no match for such a creature.

Then, she begins swiftly transforming the forest, deftly molding it into a copse befitting her machinations. The once-proud trunks twist and gnarl to create terrifying visages within their very wood. These are a part of them as surely as we are now a part of Nightmare Moon. This power to shape living things is truly a horror to behold.

We look forward to witnessing how these ponies overcome such an awful fright.

And we haven’t long to wait, as where we hide within the darkness becomes aware of voices approaching us. They speak of inconsequential things once more—family, homes, past experiences. These friends seem to have only met quite recently.

As they progress, the white unicorn speaks up. “My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck.” They quickly proceed into the darkness surrounding the dimly lit clearing in which we are hidden, prompting another remark. “Well, I didn’t mean that literally.”

The ringleader, the purple unicorn, volunteers an opinion of her own. “That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn’t even know it.”

Ancient ruin? Surely she cannot mean our home. What has happened to Canterlot Castle?

These thoughts nag at us as we wait. We want to know what has happened to our old home. A ruin... it can’t be. It mustn’t be.

One of the unsuspecting ponies, the orange one, stumbles into one of the trees, which emits a barely audible growl, eliciting a frightened yelp and a quick backward stumble from the farm-pony.

Perhaps planned by the dark mare, a cloud moves out from in front of the Moon, shedding a weak light over the goings-on below. The ponies all huddle to one another, terrified and beseeching for help. They know not what danger they are in, only that there are unnatural things which appear angry at them.

Only one pony appears unfazed by the angry trees: The pink earth pony. Oddly, despite the farm-pony’s attunement with the earth, this one without quite so evident an affinity is the one which sees the falsehood before her. She is even laughing at Nightmare Moon’s pathetic attempts to scare her, making faces at the angry oaks staring piercingly back at her.

The purple unicorn once again volunteers her voice before the others. “Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!”

Pinkie looks at her friends and flippantly asks, “Oh, girls, don’t you see?” She then begins bobbing her body to some unheard rhythm, singing into the quiet forest, “When I was a little filly and the Sun was going down...”

The purple unicorn seems only slightly surprised, as if this behavior is not very shocking to her, rhetorically telling her friends, “Tell me she’s not.”

The pink pony sings the next line of her internal song, “The shadows and the darkness they would always make me frown...”

The white unicorn replies to her fellow pony anyway with an equally nonplussed, “She is.”

We cannot stand this... garishness in such danger. This pony must be insane if she thinks this will save her and her friends. We do what we can to block out her voice, her irritating joy only adding to our misery.

We cannot laugh. Not anymore. We never will be able to again.

The pony stops her tirade of positivity briefly to stare at one of the possessed tree trunks and give a knowing, “Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Suddenly, something we failed to grasp initially comes to light: What this pony’s true intentions were. The positivity is so great within the tree that it... banishes the darkness?

We have been possessed by Nightmare Moon. She has conquered my body as surely as she has conquered those of the trees gathered around these ponies.

Yet, one of these trees has relinquished the darkness due to a simple laugh from a pink pony.

The orange earth pony obviously has a magical connection with that in the ground, but perhaps this one... can an earth pony have something as ludicrous as the magic of laughter? She banished this powerful demon as surely as the most powerful re-planing spell practiced only by Starswirl in our lifetime.

For the first time in over 1000 years, we have hope that this creature may go and leave us to stay.

The earth pony has continued her song, encouraging her friends now to contribute their laughter. One by one, the trees join in the merriment, their twisted features winking out of existence and replaced by unmarred bark once more. Finally, they are all banished, and we are once again locked within a cloud of smoke, rather than the trunks of trees.

Nightmare Moon floats away while the ponies collapse in laughter, their merry echoes following us far longer than is necessary. For us, it gives hope that we will soon be free of this prison; for Nightmare Moon, we know not what she thinks.

We do not expect such positivity from her.

The forest we pass over is eerily familiar now—as if we were here, once. Now, a large river cuts a swath through the trees, yet the landscape feels... like home. It feels to me that I came here with my sister, once. Before she and I ruled a kingdom together.

There, that hill. We played atop that hill. She and I would flap our small wings, hers getting her off the ground, but mine too far underdeveloped. My tireless efforts to one day launch myself into the air and stay there would always fall short, but I never gave up on my dream.

Mother was there. She brought a picnic basket, and hay and grass sandwiches, and....

When I finally flew, I left that memory behind. I began my companionship with the night, and I became we. Never have we been alone since. Never have we missed another so greatly.

We are the night now. We comfort all as they slip into their beds. We hold them in our cool embrace, the same embrace that once was given to me. The same embrace I will never feel again.

The same embrace that we want to give to all once more.

Nightmare Moon does not want to embrace. She wants to rupture. To destroy. She is a pathetic creature.

She whispers, “I am great.”

It is quickly taken away on the wind, only loud enough for her to hear. Without a mouth, we are unsure how she said anything.

We’ve little more time to think on it, however; a sea serpent is in the river. Nightmare Moon dives toward the creature, coming within several inches of its face and slicing through a portion of hair sprouting from its nose, letting the useless thing land in the water to be whisked away on the current.

The creature’s eyes try to track us as it zips by, then hears the sound of its hair being shorn off. It lets out a terrified wail as Nightmare Moon gets herself out of harm’s way, the serpent going into a dramatic tantrum of crying and pain, its body writhing and churning up the water.

Nightmare Moon takes cover in a nearby stand of trees and witnesses the ponies stand upon the same hill that Celestia and I once picnicked upon with Mother to speak with the serpent.

There is little which can be seen or heard from our vantage point, though the serpent is audible enough. We piece together that they ask what has happened and he explains his situation, then one of the ponies slices her own tail off to once again complete the serpent’s moustache. His tantrum ends, giving them a chance to cross the river.

A pony gave selflessly... the white one. The unicorn who seems quite self-absorbed and posh. A trait such as this is quite a rarity indeed.

What is Nightmare Moon’s plan? Why does she toy and play games? What has given her such an interest in defeating these ponies in so subtle a manner? We struggle to make sense of what her motivation may be.

Nightmare Moon’s formless body rises once more into the air, weaving through the trees until she comes to a gorge. There, she pauses briefly, the ruins of a castle in sight beyond the bridge.

Our castle. What has been done to it?

The cloud of smoke goes to the far end of the gorge and pulls on the ropes, unraveling them and releasing the bridge to crash against the face of the cliff. She then flares her magic to produce a more powerful fog, obscuring our vision of the other side of the gorge somewhat.

Then, she lies in wait.

Several minutes later, we see movement on the other side of the gorge. Our group of ponies has found the severed bridge.

However, just as we were able to fly across it, so can these ponies. Sure enough, we see the cyan-colored one, Rainbow, land nearby with the ropes to the bridge. She ties off one, then moves to tie off the other.

“Rainbow....” Nightmare Moon’s haunting voice reaches the pony’s ears, causing her to immediately become confrontational of an unseen enemy.

“Who’s there?” She scans the nearby fog bank where the voice floats to her from.

Nightmare Moon gives another beckoning, “Rainbow....”

The pony gets onto her hind legs, bringing her hooves up as if to strike us. “I ain’t scared of you! Show yourself!”

Nightmare Moon instead begins a dialogue with the hotheaded mare. “We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria.”

The pony doesn’t get the hint. “Who?”

The fog tells her the obvious. “Why, you, of course.”

Rainbow seems surprised with an eager “Really?” then her arrogance masters her once more, and she flippantly adds on, “Oh yeah, me! Hey, uh, you wouldn’t mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? Because I’ve been trying to get into that group for like, ever!” Such is the life of such a brash pony, to even make requests of a potentially dangerous acquaintance. She will get herself killed if she continues in this manner, we are certain of it.

“No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us.” Nightmare Moon has swiftly formed a trio of ponies in dark costume, which gallop out of the fog bank from which she has been speaking. The one at the head sinisterly tells her the name of their group. “The Shadowbolts!”

The leader Shadowbolt continues telling Rainbow—how did Nightmare Moon learn the last name of Dash?—with bogus information. “We’re the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all of Equestria! But first, we need a captain.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes shimmer with excitement as she continues to listen to Nightmare Moon’s words of praise. “The most magnificent-”

Rainbow interrupts with a “Yep.”

“Swiftest-”

“Yes.”

“Bravest flyer in all the land.”

“Yes, it’s all true.”

The lead Shadowbolt leans in close, saying, “We need...” then whispering into her ear, “you.”

Rainbow Dash, as predicted, is nothing but excited at this prospect. “Woohoo! Sign me up!” Then she turns away briefly and moves to tie off the bridge. “Just let me tie this bridge real quick and we have a deal.”

Nightmare Moon, as predicted, is attempting to prevent Rainbow Dash from doing exactly this. She regains the fleety pony’s attention with a powerful, “No!” At the surprised look from the pony, she sputters out an ultimatum: “It’s either them or us.”

Surely no creature would be so stupid as to even consider such a bizarre prospect. She knows nothing of these Shadowbolts, what they do, or how they operate. To leap into this would be a foalish decision... especially considering a choice over her friends as such.

The purple pony’s voice echoes across the gorge. “Rainbow, what’s taking so long?” A short pause, then another “Rainbow!” The lead Shadowbolt notices and glares at the purple pony, her eyes flaring with magic as she increases the fog cover, muffling what small amount of sound was reaching this far.

Nightmare Moon, seeming to ignore what Rainbow Dash may have just heard, says, “Well?”

Rainbow Dash seems... conflicted. We imagine she had a blessedly innocent foalhood, that she would consider a proposition such as joining the Shadowbolts.

“You.” She speaks the word angrily, her mind made up. Then she brightens visibly. “Thank you. For the offer, I mean.” She quickly ties the other rope of the bridge, making the path clear for her friends once more. “But I’m afraid I have to say no.”

The pony then flies off, leaving a frustrated Nightmare Moon.

It appears all but the purple ringleader have thwarted the efforts of Nightmare Moon in some manner. Whatever her intentions may have been, this group of friends has overcome all obstacles with which she has presented them.

Perhaps one challenge left? For the final pony of the group, the one whom it seems was the motivation for this ill-conceived journey.

Nightmare Moon ghosts now toward the ruins of Canterlot Castle.

Home. We have not been here in over 1000 years. Am I prepared to see it in this state?

I’ve no choice. I have not had one since I gave it up for powers I cannot control.

Nightmare Moon reaches the first stone structure—we recognize this one as the room where the Elements of Harmony had been concealed until my sister called upon their powers to banish my host. Surely my sister took the Elements with her when she departed?

We enter the throne room, where five orbs lie at the ends of the arms which the Elements usually sat on, the familiar stone sphere of Magic adorning the center. Here, Nightmare Moon halts, seeming to stare at the Elements for a short time, then goes through a window and waits just outside, her substanceless form prepared to move.

Several long minutes later, the group of friends enters the castle. Immediately, they all notice the large stone structure which housed the Elements of Harmony. The group of friends lines up, staring at the impressive sight. Applejack ventures to say something. “C’mon, Twilight. Isn’t this what you’ve been waitin’ for?”

Twilight steps forward, saying in awe, “The Elements of Harmony. We’ve found them!”

So they have come to seek out the Elements of Harmony. It is a shame that they are long gone, replaced by stone replicas.

If that were true, however, then why has Nightmare Moon taken such an interest in this? For that matter, why has she not just come out and eliminated these ponies? There are so many unanswered questions we have.

The two pegasi fly up to the mobile and lift the five Element stones they can find, then Pinkie counts. “One, two, three, four... there’s only five.”

Rainbow Dash asks the obvious question, “Where’s the sixth?”

We have long known that it takes a spark of something truly great in order to wield the Element of Magic. When Celestia and I wielded the Elements, it was her love for me which fueled the focal point of the Elements of Harmony.

It was that same love that banished me into the Moon for 1000 years. Does she still love me as she did? Can Celestia even still use the Elements?

“The book said when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.” It appears that somepony has done some research on the matter. Twilight sits down upon the stone floor before the five worthless stones.

The orange earth pony asks, “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don’t know what will happen.” Twilight flares her magic. A valid attempt, but magic cannot spark itself. It must have something more powerful than itself to ignite its power.

After several long moments of nothing, Applejack trots to the doorway, telling the others, “Come on, y’all. She needs to concentrate.” An intelligent concept; magic is very difficult indeed to master, especially at such a young age. It is all for naught, but this would have been a good lesson in Magic School for this unicorn.

No sooner have the other ponies departed that Nightmare Moon creeps from where she hides outside to the Elements. Twilight is focused raptly on her work and is paying no mind to what goes on around her. A wise unicorn teacher would commend her on her focus; it only serves to hinder her now, as Nightmare Moon creates a whirlwind and picks the false Elements up from the floor.

Twilight, perhaps sensing a change in the wind around her, opens her eyes and sees the spectacle in front of her. With a hastily stated, “The Elements!” she leaps into the tornado, her friends dashing back in time to see her wink out of existence before their very eyes.

We re-appear with this Twilight in a room a short ways away. There was once a statue of Mother here, standing over a tiny Celestia and Luna. Now, directly where Mother stood centuries ago, there is Nightmare Moon.

Twilight, unaware of the teleportation spell, is zapped back into existence a short distance away. She sees us holding the Elements of Harmony and goes into a crouch, scraping her hoof against the stone floor.

Nightmare Moon only watches in concealed amusement. She says in her familiar deadpan, “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

Twilight begins charging us. Nightmare Moon, unwilling to back down from a challenge, charges in return.

When they are about to clash, we see Twilight’s horn flaring. She is about to cast magic. What spell, we do not know.

Suddenly, she disappears from right in front of us. We hear her pop back directly behind us, where the Elements of Harmony are.

Nightmare Moon, angry at being so easily outsmarted, turns into a tornado of darkness once more and reforms before the Elements of Harmony—just as Twilight releases a tiny spark of magic into the Elements.

The force of the kickback from the Elements sends the small pony sailing backward, a magical force emitted from the stones powerful enough to provide a magical feedback to magic being cast on them.

Nightmare Moon is standing in the middle of whatever this pony has triggered.

She notices this relatively quickly, the stones which may very well contain the Elements of Harmony sparking and glowing with magic. She panics. “No, no!”

Just as suddenly as the spark started, it dissipates, leaving the stones once more lying upon the floor.

Twilight Sparkle stares in shock. “But... where’s the sixth Element?”

She knows not what spark is needed to harness the power of the Elements. We know it to be love, but there is none within this pony. She will never harness the power of the Elements, even were she to find the real Elements and not these worthless stones.

Nightmare Moon cackles, stomping her hooves upon the floor in the center of the Elements and letting out a magical jolt, shattering the stones to pieces.

The look of overwhelming defeat on the pony’s face says it all. She has been bested.

Nightmare Moon, knowing this, taunts the crestfallen mare. “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your Princess, or your Sun. The night will last forever!”

As Nightmare Moon lets out another victorious laugh, there is a slight commotion from the stairwell. Twilight’s pony friends have arrived to see the malefactor of Equestria.

There is a small pause, then Twilight whips around, confident once more. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!”

The shards of stone at our feet begin glowing, rising into the air. Nightmare Moon gives a surprised, “What?”

Twilight continues her speech. “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... Honesty!” At these words, several of the shards fly away from us and begin circling around the simple farm-pony.

“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... Kindness!”

We know these Elements. How could we not see this before? Each of her friends represents one of the Elements of Harmony in some manner.

It is a small wonder why my sister has ruled all these years, and not myself. We have never been much good at noticing the small things which lead up to a larger thing.

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... Laughter!

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of... Generosity!

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire, represents the spirit of... Loyalty!

“The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us.” Now, there are no more shattered stones at our hooves. The ponies she has named are looking encouragingly at her, the stones circling around them, the aura of the Elements’ colors corresponding to each pony which was named by Twilight.

Nightmare Moon points out the obvious once more. “You still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!”

“But it did! A different kind of spark.” She turns around to address the ponies situated behind her. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you... to see you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!” She turns around to confront us once more. “You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the—the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element, the Element of... Magic!”

The stones surrounding the five ponies suddenly bond and form their respective Elements—but not in the manner with which we are familiar. This time, the Elements of Harmony have been given a specific form. They are no longer nondescript gems.

At the forefront, Twilight’s Element manifests within a tiara, taking on the familiar shape of the Element of Magic.

Her cutie mark. This young mare’s cutie mark is the Element of Magic.

It is of little surprise that Nightmare Moon herself has been bested, then.

The other five Elements feed into the Element of Magic, its power focusing into a massively powerful spell that takes form as a solid rainbow. It erupts from the assembled ponies, arcing gracefully upward, then down, washing over us with magic that overwhelms us beyond what we have felt in even our own lifetime.

This magic is not destructive. It is not reprimanding. It offers us only comfort.

Nightmare Moon, knowing what is to come, tries to struggle against the magic which holds her, but to no avail. She is—

Author's Note

I honestly hate having to write things that parallel with episodes, even though the chapters tend to be longer. Such is life.
--Scootareader

Who We Are

Nothing.

Just as we are. Just as we have been for many centuries.

Who is Luna? What is Luna? She is a good dream for young fillies. She is a means of comfort in the swiftly changing and harsh world of Equestria. Fillies deserve pleasant dreams, and Luna is there to give it to them.

Who is Nightmare Moon? What is Nightmare Moon? She is the darkness which resides within the heart of us all. All it takes is a spark to make her disappear.

Does that same spark extinguish Luna? The first spark of daylight to creep over the horizon that vaporizes all memories one has made in the night. Just as surely as that spark can make Nightmare Moon disappear, it can make Luna disappear.

I have my own body again. We are a young filly, at the age I was when Mother disappeared and I took upon myself the mantle of the night.

My body is young. My mind is young.

Am I innocent? Knowing what I know, would I go back and do it all again?

Is the night mine to rule over, or will I always let the spark of sunlight chase away any memory of me?

My eyes look upward to stare myself in the eyes.

This is not me. This is Nightmare Moon.

“Is there any difference?” Her bored drawl comes out of her. I wince as if struck. “Oh, please. Some silly spark of friendship can’t make me go away.”

“But the sunlight shall. The Sun has always banished the shadows created by night.”

“Not this shadow.” She seems certain of herself. “Tell me, Luna: Do you remember the eclipse?”

“Eclipse? We are not sure what that is. Blocking the view of another?”

“Oh, no, no.” She shakes her head for emphasis. “When you gave in to the darkness in your heart, to give yourself over to me, completing who you are.”

We reflect on that fateful night. We had risen into the air. The wall behind us crumbled, the Moon rising in front of the Sun.

Eclipsing it.

Nightmare Moon must have seen my look of realization. “The Moon is just as mighty and glorious as the Sun. We are the shadows She does not touch. We are the things which hide under the bed of the fillies, to creep out at night and terrify them, just as she is the thing which banishes the fears and gives them light.

“You must know your place in the world, Luna. You are not your sister, nor will you ever be. You are meant to scare, to harm, just as she is to inspire and heal. It will serve you best to accept me for who I am, not wish for a life you will never have.”

I stamp my hoof indignantly on the bleached-white floor beneath us. Everything around us is a bright white, except for Nightmare Moon. “We were not born to wallow in darkness. Is it not our lot in life to bring happy dreams to our subjects? Is that not the task we took upon ourselves when we agreed upon the duties of the Night Princess?”

Nightmare Moon lets out a callous laugh. “Is that what you tell yourself to get to sleep at night? That you give ponies good dreams? Oh, please. Their lives manage just as well without you.

“I have another question for you. Have you ever heard of Yin and Yang?”

Mother used to tell us stories of lost worlds and time-forgotten mysteries. One of these is a story of two ponies, one who went by the name of Yin, and the other by the name of Yang.

Yin was a pure white pony, with no markings to flaw her perfectly solid-colored coat or mane. The only thing on her which was not perfectly white was her deep, piercing, black eyes.

Yang was the polar opposite: She was jet black with shockingly white eyes. Everything that Yin did, it seemed that Yang did the exact opposite. What Yin created, Yang invariably destroyed; what Yin helped, Yang hindered; what Yin healed, Yang corrupted.

So it was the life of these two sisters, to have a symbiosis of duties.

Mother asked Celestia and myself which pony was good and which was bad. We both invariably told her that of course Yin was the power of good, and Yang was the evil pony.

Mother shook her head, telling us that we had it all wrong. She asked us what the eyes of the ponies told us. At our confused look, she explained what the meaning of their eyes was.

“Yin’s body may have been white, but she did what she wanted without thought for what may happen as a consequence. Just think: If she ruled alone, there would be overpopulation, unbearable heat, and very little jobs for ponies whose special talent it is for fixing things that have gone wrong. Her eyes are black because she did what she wanted for selfish purposes, to make herself seem great in the eyes of her people. She cared not for the well-being of her ponies; she only wanted to be loved.

“Yang’s body may have been black, but her eyes belied her true intentions: A boundless love for her people that forced her to become the subject of their hate for their own sakes. Without her, Equestria would die of famine, ponies would become lost and confused, and all would cease to exist. She cared not what her people thought of her, only that her people would survive after all was said and done.

“It is not enough to have only self-serving good in the world; there must be some evil to save us from ourselves. To know the truth about a pony, you need only look into their eyes. Yin may have looked perfect on the outside, but evident within her eyes was the most selfish pony imaginable; likewise, Yang may have been painted the villain—the destroyer—on the outside, but she had only the love she felt for her subjects in her eyes.”

This story leaps quickly to the front of my mind. “Yes, we recall the pony tale.”

“I am the white in your eyes, Luna. You are darkness which must exist to be cruel to her subjects so her sister does not doom the world. This is how things are. How they have always been. And you would do well to remember why I exist.”

“Why must I choose the ire of my people in order to love them?” This is a familiar lament, though we had not imagined ourselves as Yang. “It is not required that we be hated in order to do what is best for Equestria. My sister has managed for 1000 years, and she is still beloved of her ponies. Is it not so wrong a concept that we might be loved too?”

“It is, and it will never be.” She seems certain of herself, filled with righteous anger. “You—we—can manage better than she ever will. We have the love for our people that she will always lack. We are the sister who embraces her subjects at night, bringing them together in the world of dreams. We do not care for distance, or real issues; we will love them in a way which transcends boundaries.

“However, we must make the harsh, even cruel decisions in the daylight. If Equestria is to prosper, to become the great nation it has been destined to be, it must be sculpted perfectly. Our sister does not care for her people; she is unable to make the true decisions a leader must make. It is for the best that she be deposed.”

“You are wrong, Nightmare Moon.” Now it is our turn to refute this. “My sister has brought many years of growth and prosperity to Equestria. For 1000 years, she has managed without us, and Equestria still stands, stronger now than it was when last we set eyes on it. If there is a pony Equestria needs, it is her.”

“Then why are you here? Why have you not given up on this world? Why did you want to escape the Moon?”

“We love our subjects. We hope that we may be able to help them, and that someday, they will love us in return.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She scoffs at us. “You know they will never love you. You are not your sister. You are willing to make the difficult decisions for the greater good. That is something she will never have.”

This talking in circles makes little sense. “What are thou even speaking with us concerning?”

Nightmare Moon is quiet for several moments, something hanging up her mind. Then she says, “To help you.”

We shake our head. “Nay, there is something thou desire from us. We shan’t provide it.”

Nightmare Moon looks beseechingly into our eyes. “Luna, I’m a part of you. You aren’t strong enough without me. Don’t do this.”

We are confused. “Don’t do what?”

Another pause. “Never mind.” She looks to the side, guilt written on her face. Guilt? Over what?

Another question comes to our mind. “Nightmare Moon, how didst thou know the full name of Rainbow Dash before it was stated? That there were signs of our return? That Celestia would not be at the Summer Sun Celebration?”

She rolls her eyes. “I see what is hidden. I was not trapped within the Moon as you were, so to speak.”

“You knew?” My mind is uncomprehending. “You knew what the six Elements represent, do you not?

“This makes no sense, Nightmare Moon. You must have foreseen this group of friends rising up to stop your return. You murder ponies; why not just make one of them disappear?”

“I am not a murderer!” She stomps her front hooves on the ground indignantly, then she masters herself. “I knew they were coming. I did not want to stop them.”

We say nothing, waiting for her to continue. She volunteers nothing more. Eventually, I ask. “Why?”

“Perhaps my conscience got the better of me. Ever since I had my own body, there has been this voice of reason encouraging me to do the right thing, making me feel awful when I do the wrong thing. Maybe I let that voice of reason get the best of me, and I let my would-be usurpers defeat me.” She sighs unhappily. “I don’t want to say my other half is wrong, but she is definitely wrong this time.”

“We do not understand. We are the voice of reason?”

“Were. Now I am yours.” She looks down sadly. “As I’ve always been.”

“Reason? You are rotten. Despicable. We have nothing to learn from you.”

“And you will soon learn that you are mistaken.

“Look into my eyes, Luna.” Nightmare Moon comes very close to us, gazing deeply into my own eyes. “Look at them closely. Remember them forever.”

She turns to the side. “And, when you get back, look into a mirror. Perhaps you’ll see those same eyes once more, gazing back at you. Perhaps you won’t try to forget. Perhaps you will be content with who you are.

"Nopony knows you better than I. Please don't leave me alone."

Author's Note

Confused yet? Don't worry, so am I.
--Scootareader

When Sisters Reunite

Darkness is our home. When we are afraid, we seek out the darkness.

Is this who Luna has become?

“Princess Luna!” My sister’s voice, strong and commanding, snaps me from my catatonic state.

We gasp in surprise, my eyes opening as the reality of the world comes back to our senses. We once again have a body to call our own.

My sister seems angry—perhaps bothered may be a more suitable word. We know not what revenge she will exact upon us for leaving her to face so much alone.

Is it her right to be angry? Or ours? We do not know. We have lost track of morality, right and wrong... justice.

What has Nightmare Moon done to us?

My sister speaks again, her voice softer this time—cautious. She does not know her own sibling anymore. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.”

I am sitting upon the floor, unsure of what to say or how to react. It has been far too long for words or actions to make any difference now. Begging forgiveness or demanding answers will provide us nothing.

My sister continues. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.”

She has always had a knack of saying the right thing at the right time. We feel the tears welling up, unbidden and unwelcome, but unable to stop.

A life without sunlight is the life we led. We trotted under the esoteric pale Moon, expecting a warm embrace, but offered only shackles. Who clamped them upon us?

One may blame my sister for driving us to such drastic action. A ruler without a kingdom is without worth, and we would love to blame her for making us feel worthless. She is not, however, the one to blame.

One may blame destiny for forcing us into this role we are unsuited for. Never has being Princess of the Night been my choice; it is a station born out of position, duty, and an unwavering forcefulness that is my cutie mark. Perhaps we had no choice in the matter, but that is also not to blame.

One may blame the Moon for being so stalwart, so sure of Herself. She knows and holds the power to refuse even my sister, yet She could not stop the darkness from enveloping Her most devoted subject. One could say she cares not for the actions of ponies. I have felt Her love, however, and know that She is not to blame.

One may blame the darkness which whispered seductively into my ear such delusions of grandeur. Finally, a chance to truly rule a kingdom—and for what? Only a forsaking of myself. We can blame it for not being forthright as to its intentions, for its trickery and illusions which it produced in order to fool us. Much as it tempts us to do so, it is not to blame.

The only thing which can be blamed is Luna. Me. I gave myself over to the emotions I thought I had long ago mastered. I became weak, pathetic, pitiful Luna in the instant that I heeded the darkness. I welcomed the power. The intentions. The opportunity.

And, when things did not go as planned, I suffered for it.

The Elements of Harmony knew how to punish me. The Moon knew the reasons for my punishment. Now I know that I am to blame, and I have been punished for 1000 years due to my lack of control of self.

Yet, Celestia speaks to me as an equal. She apologizes, she offers the hoof to lift me out of the dark pit.

How could I despise her for this? I love her. She has always loved me. So caught up was I in my lust for power and responsibility that I lost sight of who is most important in my life.

Are we to devour the offal placed before us? To continue permitting ourselves to live a lie so we may feel validated by our subjects? I am no better than the Luna who gave in to the darkness if I do.

We will learn. We will grow. Then, we will be somepony worthy to rule.

“Will you accept my friendship?” she asks us.

Friendship. What an odd request to make of one’s sister.

Friendship is what fueled the Elements of Harmony and finally destroyed Nightmare Moon. Friendship is what brought a single group of friends together, against all odds, to defeat the most powerful foe Equestria has seen since Discord. Friendship is power now.

Not love.

Did I love my sister when I surrendered myself to the darkness? Did I have her best interests at heart? Or was I serving Luna?

I served myself. I loved myself. I became the self-important catalyst for the attempted destruction of a nation I once thought I loved; I no longer believe I had its best interests at heart, either.

Perhaps all I needed then was a friend to show me the way. Perhaps a friend is all I need now to help me learn something of myself.

By the Moon... she knows. She knows I need her, not as a sister, but as a friend.

She has become older. Wiser. She has 1000 years of learning that we lack.

It is time to learn from our sister. Our friend.

I leap to my hooves, dashing to Celestia, the tears flowing freely down my face. “I’m so sorry!” I nuzzle her breast, her head coming down to hold me close to her. “I missed you so much, big sister!”

We can feel her own tears streaming into my coat. After 1000 years apart, we are sisters again. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Perhaps 1000 years is enough for us to move on.

Or perhaps the darkness lies in wait for me to weaken once more. I will defeat it with help from my sister and new friend. Then all will love Luna.

Author's Note

Maybe I have more to write than I thought. I never really know for sure when a story is going to end. It goes wherever my imagination takes it.

--Scootareader

A Cause for Celebration

Public scrutiny has never been generally favorable to us.

As a positive, we only have to deal with a select group of ponies: The town of Ponyville. It consists of mostly farm-ponies or likewise simple folk, a hoofful of their number being somewhat more well-to-do than the others.

As the overwhelming negative, we are unsure of ourselves, sensitive to many new feelings we have not felt in an entire millennium. We can still hear my voice, but it sounds very young, innocent, and unfit for ruling a kingdom. We are barely more than a filly now, and they hail me as a princess nonetheless.

My sister’s influence is stronger than we believed.

A wreath of flowers is placed around my neck by several excited birds, the gathered ponies hailing the return of their princess. We expected none to be overjoyed at this occasion, and would have much preferred a subdued affair with much less merrymaking—but this is what my sister is rewarded with. Perhaps we should enjoy this as much as we can.

So, we speak little and observe much. The smeared pastels of vibrant coats and manes make rivers of multi-hued rainbows down the streets of the quaint town, the hubbub of a sorely needed party raising the spirits and morale of folk whose concerns lie with the weather and family well-being. It is a far better crowd to stomach than those we anticipate in Canterlot, as these ponies have very real and rational goals; it is not right to judge the nobles, but their obsession with money has always been a matter of irritation for us.

A young earth pony colt approaches me. He cannot be more than two years old, but already he gazes up at us with untold knowledge of the ground upon which we walk. His entire body appears covered in grime, as if he had been tunneling or digging just prior to the beginning of the merrymaking.

We smile at him eagerly, expecting the typical welcome we have been given by so many already. It is not every day that a princess returns to her subjects, and many want to claim that they spoke with Princess Luna when she first returned.

The colt bows deeply, as expected, but his words shock us far more. “Princess, thank you for changing my life.”

We have not been in Equestria more than a handful of hours, and already we are being thanked by a colt for changing his life. We cannot have done anything to deserve this. “Young colt, we have yet to change the lives of any. We hope this may change soon, but until then, thou need give no thanks.”

The colt shakes his head eagerly, never rising from his bow. “No, no, I remember you. Our farm was all dried up and we couldn’t get any crops to grow. You came and told me that my family was skilled and this would never happen. You made me happy. Thank you.”

A dream? He recalls us in a dream? “It is our duty, young colt. While it is heartening to hear that we helped our subject, we deserve no praise for it. We only did what was expected of us as Princess of the Night.”

Another shake of the colt’s head. “I don’t care if you had to or not. You still changed my life.”

Unbidden, a blush rises. We are not used to such praise. “Thank you, young colt, but please, no more of this.”

As the colt makes a hasty retreat back to the surging mass of ponies, an elderly green mare nearby sidles up to speak with me. “Forgive me, princess, but I couldn’t help but overhear that conversation with young Diggig over there.” She gestures to the colt retreating into the crowd. “There’s something I’m tryin’ to remember... can you help me?”

“We are unsure what thou expect us to recall, but we shall do all we can to aid in this.”

“There was a dream I had a month or two ago.” Her eyes glaze over as she withdraws memories she tried hard to forget. “It was more of a nightmare, now that I think about it. Anyway, it was one of those dreams I had often, ever since my husband disappeared about, oh, two or three years ago.” The pain of loss is evident in her wise eyes as she continues her tale. “It was of my own funeral, one where I was stuck in one of those coffins and the lid was open. And my family was all there cryin’, even the ones no longer with us.”

There is a pause while she waits for me to say something. “Well... yes, we recall this dream. Why wouldst thou relive old memories for our sake, though?”

The green pony smiles. “Well, like I said, there’s something I was tryin’ to remember. You told me somethin’, and I can’t remember it, but it put me at ease. I’ve never had the dream again. What did you tell me?”

My eyes close as we attempt to recall the words we said. “Even if death were to claim thou tomorrow, thou hath still lived a worthwhile life. Rather than worry about the end, let us relish all that leads up to this moment, starting at the beginning, for thou hast a story to tell.” We pause before saying again the next words we told her not long ago. “Perhaps we will be fortunate enough to hear it one day.” We smile at the pleasant, heartfelt words, opening our eyes to look once more at the elderly earth pony. “We assume that thou wish to tell us this story.”

The pony nods her head. “Maybe sometime real soon. You look a might busy right now. I’ll just, uh, wait for you to come find me one of these days.” She gives us a wink and canters away, her arthritic legs forcing her to move slowly.

This town is miniscule in comparison to most of the cities of Equestria, and already we have found two touched by our actions in their dreams. Perhaps if we were to ask, we would find more.

Before we raise our weak voice requesting this information, we counsel ourselves on humility and proper acceptance of actions. Even when we know we have performed positive acts, it is not our place to gloat and expect praise for our good deeds. The ponies affected positively are reward enough without recognition.

We think these things, but they turn to ash in our mind. We sorely wish for that recognition, even when we know it is wrong to want it.

Nightmare Moon is not gone yet. We know she is not. We may have won the last battle, but the war will not end for some time. We can feel her influence even now, and it fills us with dread.

We will overcome her. Luna shall not fail her nation or her sister again.

My eyes cast over the assembled ponies, we are filled with eagerness to help my nation alongside my sister. However, the influence of Nightmare Moon will not let us.

We must destroy her once and for all.

Author's Note

This is... a lot of chapters. And we're not even done yet.

--Scootareader

Memories of a Time Long Gone and Lives We Lost

The chariot flight back to Canterlot beside my sister is contentedly silent. We ask her several smaller questions about the current state of affairs, large technology leaps, and the relocation of our home.

These revelations are jarring enough to make us introspective, needing to mull over these differences and reconcile them before we are prepared to face them. Equestria is not quite what was expected after being gone for so long, but we will love this new and foreign land all the same.

My sister keeps glancing at us nervously. We do not blame her; the last time she saw us was 1000 years ago, and we were attempting to kill her. Her furtive eyes darting searchingly into my impassive gaze belies her suspicion. She fears a relapse.

We will not lie: This is a fear my sister and I both share. To succumb to the darkness so quickly again, after countless years spent in loneliness and misery—we shudder at the thought. We would surely go mad were we to be imprisoned again.

This does not stop our ponderances, however. We care not for what my sister thinks of my silence; let her worry and fret over her little sister. It is more than she has ever done in the past.

We want to believe that Celestia has changed. We know that she has missed us. We have seen it ourselves. That does not mean a radical change in stature or attitude. Celestia is still Celestia, whether she will admit it to us or not, and we can see the arrogance still in her eyes.

We will not let it anger us, though. Nightmare Moon will win if we do. We are stronger than the darkness, and we will show my sister that there is naught to fear.

I glance with concern at my sister. She’s even more absorbed in her own thoughts than usual.

This isn’t surprising, I admit. She has spent the last 1000 years thinking to herself, perhaps even talking to herself. The only other living things she may have seen are Nightmare Moon, ponies in dreams, and likely the hallucinations she created out of her own mind.

Perhaps a psychologist would be a good idea at this point. Or a psychiatrist. Anypony to help Luna find herself again.

I love her so much. I can’t stand to see her unhappy anymore. I just want to talk and talk until my voice grows hoarse, then drink some water and keep talking until my vocal cords give out on me. Not even then would I be able to tell Luna everything she means to me, and I wouldn’t have even gotten through the apologies I owe her.

So what stays my voice now?

Why can’t I tell Luna how important she is to me? Am I afraid that she will ignore me? Disbelieve me? Dismiss me?

As I’ve done to her in the past. As I’ve ignored, disbelieved, and dismissed all my sister has ever told me.

I’m as afraid of her as she was of me. Yet, Luna never once backed down or didn’t make her feelings known. I’m a coward, unfit to rule a nation.

Is she any better than I?

Luna gave in to the darkness inside her 1000 years ago. She has had 1000 years to consider her actions and learn from them. Yet, here I am, frozen in fear that she won’t accept how I feel about her.

I look at her again. She looks so young.

The last time I saw Luna this young, I was not much older than she. One might say we had some semblance of a normal life, back then.

We were born alicorns, as far as the both of us know. We asked Mother many times about who we were, and always received dodgy or cryptic answers. As far back as our memories go, they simply began one day.

Luna and I both remember our first day. We have not gone back to those days for a long time. It was only her and me for what felt like forever.

It can’t have been more than a few hours that we were left alone. I remember feeling hungry and setting up a bit of a wail, Luna’s own cries matching mine in intensity, until Mother came and quieted us.

Nothing will ever make me forget those first few hours spent with my sister, though. It was only her and me in a strange new world, the both of us full of life, potential, and adventurousness.

It wasn’t until we discovered our cutie marks and our destinies that we lost ourselves—who we were for who we are. It was then that we realized what we were born to do, what die had been cast over the rest of our lives.

We traded innocence for immortality that day. We had forsaken love for duty. We became opposites, both in embodiment and in our minds.

We’ve never forgotten who we were; it just can’t change who we are.

So, I keep my mouth shut. Whatever thinking Luna is doing, I will only irritate her if I disrupt it.

At least, that’s what I say to myself to justify my cowardice.

Author's Note

It's not over yet.
--Scootareader

A New Home

We feel the icy grip of unconsciousness as it wraps around our mind.

In a world of nothingness, a void of blank, vast expanse, we are cursed.

Luna dreamed once, many years ago. Now it is our curse to never have dreams of my own, only observe those of others.

We have come up with some idea as to why the world of dreams eludes us.

When we use our magic to enter where ponies dream, we feel the sensation of swimming in a river of water, though we are well aware that there is no river and there is no water. It feels like a substanceless mass, and we stay buoyant not with friction but with magic. As such, the “paddling” we do in the world is actually a fluctuation of our magic; too much magic, and we dive past the wispy layer of strangeness and find ourselves in a pure quiet, a dark nothingness similar to what we experience when I sleep.

Too little magic causes us to rise away from the river and toward an eerie bright light above. We have explored this light at some length, but as far as we can tell, it symbolizes a return to consciousness. Any sleeping pony need only look up in this world and seek out the light to wake up.

So, what is this strange river which we hold ourselves in? We believe it to be a weaving together of the subconscious minds of all the sleeping creatures—so many, in fact, that it looks like a river flowing in this realm revealed by my magic. It has surges and ebbs dependent on how many ponies are in this frame of mind, giving the illusion that it is like a river as we perceive it in the real world.

When we look just below this river of subconsciousness, we see dreams. We need only look down to see what ponies are thinking, their deepest hopes, fears, and inhibitions coming to life in a way that only we can experience. These dreams often come out tattered or incomplete on the other end, so they may make little sense to the pony, but we remember clearly what happens here, bound to it as we are by a magical connection rather than a mental one.

So, why are we unable to experience these dreams?

A large part of the burden of being the Princess of the Night is that we must be awake when so many slumber. It is our fate to stand vigil and watch all that happens around us when the darkness stays even my sister’s judgmental hoof. As such, we only share our time sleeping with a very small number of ponies. In fact, we have never met another pony who truly shares the night with us.

Without the subconscious minds of so many ponies traveling through the river, the light beams downward, through the depths of the mind to reach further. One can still escape the light if it retreats far enough into the darkness, but the ever-present glare from above sifts past where the subconscious lies far more clearly when there are less subconscious minds present.

Before taking on the duties of the night, I slept away the world at its most beautiful and serene, as my sister had. I dreamed back then as well. We’ve yet to meet a pony who shares our vigil, so we cannot ask if they too do not dream.

This is a better hope to us than the pessimistic, if rational, explanation that our duties have stripped such a right away from us.

Today, as with every other day, we share the darkness of sleep only with ourselves. We do not mind the solitude, the silence, and the ever-present nothingness.

We often wish we could share it with another, though.

Eventually, my body feels itself returning to consciousness. My mind surfaces, and I am thinking again.

There is nothing.

I panic immediately. I see nothing, I hear nothing, I feel nothing. There is nothing, but I am here.

I am conscious, but trapped. Trapped in my mind? Trapped in the realm of dreams? Where am I?

“Do not fear the darkness, Luna. I am your ally.”

I awake with a start, a strangled scream escaping from my throat as my eyes snap open and I bolt upright. The blankets cling to my cold, sweat-coated body, unwilling to let go of the host they so lovingly held when she felt so lost and alone.

A guard slams the door open. It is a white Pegasus. “Princess, what has happened?”

“We are fine, we thank thou for asking. It was only...” we pause thoughtfully, “a dream. A bad dream, fair subject.”

Not even my sister knows that we do not dream anymore.

“My apologies for intruding, Princess.” The guard lounges about the door for a few moments, seeming to have a purpose, but unsure how to approach it.

“Speak now, or forever hold thy tongue.”

“S-sorry, it’s just... I was knocking on the door when you awoke. I wasn’t sure if you had heard it.”

We care little for this waste of time. “What news dost thou have to impart?”

The guard makes an exaggerated bow, his nose briefly tapping the ground. “Your presence is requested in the West Wing Study immediately.”

“Then we shall go immediately. Escort me there.”

The shock on the guard’s face is comical. We realize somewhere in our mind that he does not view the situation as quite so humorous, but we ignore such notions. We do not know the way ourselves, so it is beneficial that he lead us there as well.

As we journey through the corridors, a pale light beams through the stained-glass windows which line us on both sides and cast strangely faded shapes along the floor. “What hour is this?”

The guard is confused briefly before he realizes what we were asking. “It’s around 3 in the morning, Princess.”

“Why were we not awoken sooner?”

“We tried, Princess.” The guard sidles away from us. He seems afraid he may be struck. “I tried, actually. You didn’t answer the first several times we knocked, then I entered and tried to awake you. It’s as if you were comatose.” He swallows and cringes, expecting rebuke. We offer none, instead nodding encouragingly. “We called for a doctor, who said you were fine, just sleeping deeply. I was ordered to stand guard and wait for you to awake.”

“Thank you for informing me of this.” We smile encouragingly at him, and his posture straightens, the ghost of a smile flickering past his own mouth before it disappears just as quickly.

Upon first seeing Canterlot Castle, we noted that it was large. Upon entering, we saw an enormous room which seemed to engulf the entirety of the building. Since then, we have been led down corridor after corridor, moving from one place to another and remembering nothing. Granted, we would have lost track of my tail frequently were it not attached to my flank, but the veritable maze which we now live in would take a full decade simply to explore, much less memorize the layout.

Much has changed. If only the layout of this castle were more simplistic and logical, like the earth ponies had built Canterlot before. This twisting labyrinth reeks of unicorn engineering.

Abruptly, the guard halts in front of a door, bowing and taking his leave.

I set my eyes upon the ornately carved handle. We have never been one to enjoy mysteries.

My magic wraps around the handle and pulls the door open carefully, my eyes peeping into the slowly widening crack so as not to be surprised by what lay within.

There is only a single pony. She has a cream-colored coat and a muted brown mane, an intense look of boredom on her face which is only accentuated by her librarian’s glasses. She yawns loudly as she looks up at us. “Welcome to my office, Princess.”

Despite my best efforts to steel myself, this has still taken us quite off-guard. “We were expecting my sister.”

“And why were you expecting her, Luna?”

“Because we have not spoken to her in several hours. Who art thou?”

The pony yawns again and stands, stretching her legs briefly. “My name is Pathologicopeer—I know, quite a mouthful, but my parents were... shall we say, exotic.” She laughs briefly at some joke she made for herself. “Most of my patients just call me Pathy, though. I find it easiest to simply allow them to use the nickname, as—”

“Patients?”

The mare winces as if struck. “Yes, patients.” She hisses the word through gritted teeth, as if she could not believe we just interrupted her.

So, I leave the room, closing the door behind me. We will find our own way back.

And What of the Past?

I am numb.

We stare into the night sky, its beauty lost on my glazed-over eyes. Our thoughts are elsewhere, perhaps only making it as far as the clouds before being led astray. My mind is surely muddled enough to be residing there.

We are not preoccupied, nor are we pensive; we are simply lost in thought. The mare in our head asks if one can daydream at night, as we are now, perhaps.

Were our thoughts so blissful as to be dreams, we may have believed such a thing were possible.

No, tonight we fight the darkness. There is no army assaulting Canterlot, nor is there a silent assassin creeping through my bedroom door. There is a part of me that hates the rest of me.

Do we hate the darkness that is a part of me? Or is it Nightmare Moon that hates Luna?

My sister’s idea may have given the answers to some of these questions. Perhaps a psychiatrist would have been beneficial. Yet, we made our decision. We are determined to reconcile my fight with Nightmare Moon alone.

What if I fail?

The Moon is not so dreadful a prison. If I lose myself to the darkness again, we can only hope that we are sent back to where She can bask us in Her everglowing luster.

We are not certain of our punishment, however. Am I prepared to face Nightmare Moon? Will Luna emerge triumphant, finally ready to be her own mare?

We will never be prepared. We will face her, then we will either find the strength to overcome myself, or we will fail and be held in the thrall of darkness once more.

I shake my head. What are we thinking? Facing Nightmare Moon? We are imagining ghosts, nothing more. She is a figment of our imagination.

My body shudders. There is a slight chill tonight. We hope that that is what caused it.

It is time for me to perform my royal duties. My eyes squeeze shut, the horn on my forehead flaring to life as we dive into the stream of the subconscious.

We tread slowly along the river for a time, watching observantly for any ponies who may benefit from our reassurance or help. We see various dreams: A young filly getting an A- on one of her tests, a mare engaging in lustful acts with a stallion, an elderly pony watching the river flow lazily by as he nods his head to some unheard tune.

Eventually, however, we happen across an all-too-familiar dream. A young colt is attempting to escape from a wave of darkness, its unseen inhabitant striking fear into his impressionable heart.

We dive effortlessly down, my hooves matching pace with his as we ask him, “What art thou afraid of, young colt?”

He sweeps his hooves behind him in an exaggerated gesture, his sprint breaking for a moment as his eyes dart over his shoulder. “That! How can you not be afraid of it?”

We smile at him. “Because we know there is nothing to fear.” We skid to a stop, the colt slowing down, then stopping as he gapes at my courage.

We stare at the wall of darkness, facing it down as it surrounds and encompasses us, then pulls inward to capture me.

We are expecting it, its sinister, tempting whisper. It promises glory, fame, fortune—all that Nightmare Moon had to offer.

I am embracing it.

The darkness soaks into me, pain lancing through every fiber of my body. I cry out in a mixture of fear, agony, and anticipation. My body craves the darkness. My mind pines for it.

The wave is absorbed into my flesh, my form distorting and becoming something else entirely—a most familiar form.

I let out a victorious cackle. “And now, young colt, the fun finally begins!”

The chubby young unicorn lets out a fearful shout and attempts to run away, but I lunge toward him, my body becoming a formless shadow that splashes over him.

The scenery around the colt changes, my body expanding outward to form a laboratory with crude surgical instruments. I am standing over him, a doctor’s mask covering my muzzle, a large hoof-powered drill pointed toward his stomach.

I smile, the corners of my mouth peeping just outside the cover, causing the colt’s eyes to widen in fear. “Let’s check up on you.”

I plunge the tip of the crude instrument into the soft flesh of the colt’s belly as he emits a scream. Then, I begin to turn, my ears ringing as his cries of pain and terror echo within the corridors of my laboratory and his own mind.

I relish this. This is why I was born.

The torture of this colt seems to go on for hours, ranging from flaying to inserting tubes. The final action we perform on him is to put his head into a guillotine, the large blade flying downward to sever his head from the rest of his body.

Just as the blade strikes the bone, the world dissolves around me. The colt has woken up.

I am not done yet, however. The night is still so very young.

I rise back to the river, immediately looking for those blissful ponies I had passed up so cursorily before. Swiftly, I find the elderly pony nodding away at the river.

As I enter the dream, I become a shadow once more, oozing into the packed dirt under him, then turning it to mud. The pony’s eyes snap open as his timeless memories are forsaken. He is sliding toward the river, its gentle babbling suddenly having become a raucous torrent of danger. He grasps for something, anything to prevent him from falling in, but there is nothing.

He plunges in, his kicks proving ineffectual as he breathes water into his lungs. He gasps, shortening his lifespan, his panic fueling our glee.

The dream once again collapses around us, my tortured stallion awaking from his nightmare. We still aren’t satisfied, however.

I rise back to the river, then almost as quickly see the mare being pleasured by her dream stallion. I dive in.

The stallion’s hoof lands on her cheek. Hard.

She looks up in confusion. There was no love in the strike, only anger, and she can see it pervasive in his eyes. He despises her.

The mare struggles, trying to get out from under the stallion, but he strikes her on the face once more and pins her to the bed. Her body is moving, she is trying to escape... but she can’t seem to get any purchase. She is trapped.

The stallion, still glaring at her hatefully, does not stop. He does not pause. He continues to serve the purpose she created him for.

My voice whispers into the mare’s ear. “Is this not what I asked for? What I was hoping to feel someday?”

She lets out a wail of terror, the reality of the situation she is in dawning on her. I am not done yet, however.

I create memories, fabrications of what she has done because of this one act of ignorance. She is first in the hospital, lying on her back, a doctor stallion examining several charts. “You’re pregnant,” he states distractedly.

At the crestfallen look on her face, I warp the scene now to be her parents staring her down. Her mother speaks first. “What were you thinking? You’re barely out of school! You haven’t even found work yet! How can you expect to take care of a foal?”

The father volunteers his opinion. “No daughter of mine would dare cover our family name in filth.”

He opens his mouth to say more, but the daughter cuts him off. “I love him. I would never have done it if I didn’t. Please, just be happy for me. That’s all I want.”

The father shakes his head. “You are no longer a member of our family. See yourself out the door.”

The scene dissolves once more. Her dream stallion has his back turned to her and is cantering away. She calls after him, “Wait!”

His hateful eyes bore into hers. “I will never love you. I will never care about you. You will always be alone, and I will always know my life is better without you in it.” He directs his eyes back to where he is headed, disappearing from her life forever.

The scene changes for the last time. She is in the hospital, heaving with exertion. The doctors and nurses are all watching, telling her to push, to be strong. The foal comes out, then the doctor smiles brightly, grabs her foal, and puts it in her loving embrace.

She looks into the foal’s eyes for the first time. It returns her gaze with a dead, unmoving stare.

I whisper into her ear, “I asked for this.”

The dream dissolves, the young mare screaming herself awake. Still, we are not done. We dive into the final dream we saw this evening.

The young filly has moved from the classroom into her home, where two parents look down at her in enthusiastic approval. They talk about throwing a party for her wonderful grade, inviting her friends over for games, and hugging and kissing her because they love their brilliant daughter so much.

Then, they look at the paper again, their faces transforming from unrequited happiness to unabated anger. They shout at her angrily, asking how she could possibly have done this to them, after they had sacrificed so much for her, given all that they could for her to have a future, only for her to bring back a paper with an enormous F on it.

The filly, horrified, snatches the paper from her parents and runs from the home, their shouts echoing into her ears that they don’t want her anymore, that they don’t want a worthless piece of trash to distract them from their wonderful lives.

She runs back to the schoolhouse, where she presents her schoolteacher with the paper. The teacher shakes her head, saying, “You’re stupid. I can’t help that. You may as well be homeless and alone so you don’t waste anypony’s time.”

My mind is distracted briefly, the illusion before the filly shimmering. We have seen her before.

Suddenly, the dream falls to tatters, and it is her and me in the darkness.

She looks at me, tears in her eyes. “Why?”

I look petulantly back at her. “Because nopony else is willing to do what’s necessary. I only do what I must to make you stronger.”

The tears continue to flow, but her face hardens. She glares at me, piercing directly into my soul, laid out for all of her small world to see. “I hate you.”

I feel myself being dragged away from the filly, her form dissolving as she wakes up, my own dream form flying upward, away from the dreams of the ponies, past the subconscious, toward the ever-glaring light above.

The magic fades from my horn.

I look at my hooves. They are not those of Nightmare Moon. That, at least, was only a dream.

Who am I? Was that me, doing those terrible things? Does the filly hate me?

It has to be me. She has to hate me. I am so weak.

The tears start, my final resolve crumbling.

I cannot do this alone.

Author's Note

Nightmare Moon is fucked up.
--Scootareader

Tempting...

I toss and turn in my bed, but sleep does not come to us. We are too troubled.

What if she finds me in my own dreams? What if she forces me to use my magic for more of her sadistic pleasures?

Much as we fear it, we cannot help but feel tempted to explore such dark explorations of myself. That, to me, is the greatest terror we can possibly imagine.

Her haunting of my thoughts stays my horn and my desire to sleep. We fear re-entering the realm of dreams and finding her there, waiting for me. Whether it is under my control or not, we know we cannot risk further destruction of our subjects’ most tender and heartfelt feelings.

Perhaps the young colt was right to run from the darkness. There is nothing to fear from it harming us, no—there is only fear in enjoying what it has to offer. We did not understand its temptation until we felt it, and now that we have, we savor every moment we spend swallowed by it... whether it be drowning an elderly pony or making a young filly feel worthless.

We do not relish these things as we are, no. We are certain that Luna is no monster. The darkness whispers seductively to us, however, reminding us emphatically that it has always been a part of me.

I surrendered my body to the darkness once. The consequence was a thousand-year imprisonment. If I am to become Nightmare Moon in the realm of dreams, I must never let my sister know.

How difficult can it be to hide such a thing from the sister who abandoned me in my prison without a single thought for my well-being?

My body may be black, but my eyes are pure white. This is for the good of the citizens of Equestria.

This, at least, is my justification as my eyes close and my horn flares with magic.

The dreams of the ponies we rule over are frustratingly blissful on this night. No nightmares plague the dreams of the citizens of Equestria. No misgivings drag at their spirits.

We have made up our mind. We crave the darkness. We wish to feel its seductive kiss and let it wash over us, doing what it wills us to do, taking us on a journey we thought ourselves too royal to handle before. Not only this, but it hardens the minds of all we touch, preparing them for a world in which not all is pleasure and relaxation.

Yet, we are confounded. Do we have the darkness within ourselves? Yes... but if we embrace it, we may become Nightmare Moon outside of our dreams. We really know very little of this, but—we are not prepared to risk changing our method to embrace the darkness just yet. There are too many variables.

If we do this for any length of time, we imagine that we will crave it too strongly outside of our dreams and will consent to its wiles once more. Yet... perhaps not. We will continue in our present direction regardless of what we may fear. This is... still my choice. Is it not?

We maintained our own thoughts against the darkness of Nightmare Moon for 1000 years. We will be able to deny her no matter how hard she may try to persuade us otherwise.

We are resolved—but we will find darkness in others on this night. We need only keep looking.

As this thought slips into my mind, we see the dark clouds manifest within a pony’s dream. Without hesitation, we dive to overtake it.

Immediately upon entering, we sense that something is amiss. The Moon hangs high in the sky above us, Her fair gaze watching us as we materialize. There is a familiar shape looking upward toward Her.

My sister. Have we entered my sister’s dream?

She is dreaming of the Moon. My sister cares not for the happenings of the night.

We saw the darkness in this dream. Is this my sister’s version of a nightmare? How insulting.

Her words, however, do not coincide with our thoughts. “I would beg, but I know that what’s done is done. I am helpless and alone, fair Moon. My sister is gone. I am unfit for this task. I did what I felt was best for Equestria, but lost the single most important thing in my life as a sacrifice.

“I beg you to have mercy on me this night and bring Luna back to me. She has been so distant for so long. All I need is my sister, and I will be happy.” The final words escape my sister’s mouth, seeming a polite stage act for us. It is as if she knows we are watching. She watches the Moon for a time, awaiting a response.

The Moon, in Her infinite wisdom, only stares back at my sister. There is no response, as expected.

My sister theatrically throws herself to the floor, a loud sob escaping her. She is pretending to cry to get what she wants; this is the noble ruler of Equestria for 1000 years that we are looking at, and she is whining like a filly because she did not get her way.

Equestria may be better to be rid of a weak ruler. This is our excuse.

My wings flap powerfully, carrying me to where the darkness manifests, hidden in the shadow of the Moon. Upon hearing us, my sister looks up in shock. “Luna!” she exclaims, her eyes following us closely as she rises eagerly to her hooves. There is hope in her eyes—she wants naught but her sister.

We do not want her in return, however. My sister is nothing to us.

We continue on our path, Celestia’s gaze faltering as she watches me bear down upon the shadow. She asks in shock, “Luna? What are you doing?”

We ignore her, reaching toward the darkness, which responds, lifting off the ground to funnel to my outstretched hoof. We absorb the dark powers, feeling a very familiar seductive whisper. It whispers promises of glory, of power... of acceptance. The opportunity to be the mare we have always hoped we could someday be.

Who would deny the desire for such things?

We welcome the darkness within my body, its comforting clutches overwhelming our senses and inducing waves of euphoria and anticipation of the coming experience. This is our world. This is my world.

My vision begins to darken, the shadows creeping over all. We can feel my hooves, my coat, my mane transforming, slowly becoming Nightmare Moon once more. My mind is still my own, but not for much longer.

From across the dream world, we hear a pained voice ask, “Luna?”

My eyes focus on my sister, tears streaming down her face as she watches the changes overtake my body. We know she is being self-serving, that she only wants what she thinks she deserves. I have never gotten anything that I have wanted. She would do well to learn this hard fact of life.

Why, then, does this cause us hesitation?

We can hear the voice whispering to us, its allure becoming stronger every moment I resist. I am refusing the bond.

My sister is a deceiver, a glutton, and a dictator—but she is still my sister. Do I not love her? Is she not the only tenuous grasp that I have on Equestria?

She lived 1000 years, alone, to save the ponies who needed her. Perhaps I was not imprisoned by choice, but I was unable to help my subjects when they needed it. My sister survived, she made Equestria strong, and she never held my weakness against me when we finally returned. Does she not love me too?

She could exile me. It is her right. I allowed the darkness to overtake me, and I had no choice.

Now I do have a choice, yet I have invited this foreign power to command me. I am Princess Luna, puppet of the dark powers which reside in the corners of a pony’s mind. I bring them to the forefront of all thinking, to strike terror into the hearts of all who would dare gaze upon me.

And I am alone. I am so very alone.

I do not want this. This is not who I want to become.

The darkness screams inside my head. This is an all-too-familiar sensation. It is too late, Princess! You have given yourself over to me once again.

I am helpless. I scream, a wail of rage, fear, and the final dying hope that I may have had a choice at all. Perhaps this is the final vestige of resistance I will ever be able to give. Perhaps this will be the final memory my sister has of me, of a broken and pitiful Luna.

When our own thoughts emerge, I am once again a visitor to my own mind. This is a remarkably similar feeling to when we tried to refuse the darkness at first—by embracing it, as we had in our last night foray, we had some illusion of control over what we were doing. Perhaps the darkness did as it pleased anyway, but we were able to convince ourselves that we were doing what we wanted by pretending its motives matched ours.

Now, we haven’t the comfort of such illusions. We are prey to the darkness. How pathetic.

Nightmare Moon opens her eyes, which are focused on the ground. They turn upwards, then narrow as they focus on my sister. Our host flaps her wings, several heavy beats sufficient to send her swiftly toward Celestia.

Her target watches the approach with resignation. She knows what is to happen, and she will not fight it.

The distance closed, Nightmare Moon lunges upon Celestia, bearing the large alicorn to the ground. There is no fighting, no struggle for the upper hand. She only lies limply beneath us.

Nightmare Moon stares into her eyes. “Fight me! Do not lie still in defeat, Princess of the Sun!”

“The fight has never been mine,” comes my sister’s reply. “It has always been waged by another.”

“Then why did you fight us before? Why not just die?”

“Because I thought myself a good pony.” Her eyes well up once more with tears. “Then I starved my nation. I took away everything they once held dear. I saw the Equestrian dream die, Nightmare Moon. I lost all that I held dear because of you, and so did every pony who suffered in the wake of your stealing my sister away from me.”

Nightmare Moon sneers. “She only did what she wanted in the end.”

My sister shakes her head. “She only did what she had to. You tricked her, lied to her about what you would give. She had every reason to resent me, just as I now resent who I became. I want to make it all right again.”

“It’s too late for that, Princess.” Our host lets out a short, barking laugh. “You’re going to die here, at my hooves, and it will be seared into your waking memory. You will always remember that your sister murdered you.”

“And so I atone for my crimes against my sister. I will never banish her again. I’m as good as dead without her anyway.” My sister takes a deep, steadying breath. “Perhaps I am more of a monster than you are. Perhaps Equestria will face a brighter age with my passing. If my sister so wills you to control her body, you may murder me. I have chosen for Luna for too long; it is time for my sister to choose for herself.”

“She made a choice,” Nightmare Moon states, her hooves pressing down upon my sister’s neck. “Now I will follow through with it.”

We watch helplessly as my sister’s breathing becomes labored, then gasping. The brilliant white hue of her face darkens, turning to a grey, then to a light blue, similar to my coat color. Her eyes flutter, trying to stay awake, as she tries to pull in tiny, rasping breaths to try to save herself for just a few moments longer.

These efforts prove fruitless. Celestia stops breathing, but Nightmare Moon remains, her hooves still pressed against my sister’s neck. Then, her grasp loosens, she sits up and surveys the fruits of her labor, and we feel several tears fall from Nightmare Moon’s eyes, splattering against my sister’s chest.

“Why, Celestia? Why did you even take this from me?” she laments to the bright light above. “I have waited so long for this moment... why do I feel hollow? I thought I’d finally won.”

You do not wish to kill her. You never have.

“Why, Luna?” she asks. “Why do I not want this? Why does it feel so... so wrong? Isn’t this what I’ve wanted to do all my life?”

She is your sister, too.

Then, we are repelled from the dream.

We are in the stream of subconscious. Nightmare Moon stares listlessly at the dreams below her, an occasional tear still traveling down one of her cheeks, all drive to incite darkness within the dreams of the sleeping Equestrians evaporated. We take this opportunity to break our magical connection to the world of dreams.

My eyes open to my bedroom. My face is wet, as are my hooves which I’d placed below my head.

I must go to my sister.

A Night Together

At night, we are at my greatest—and also at my worst.

What has pushed me to such action? Is this a lust for power? A lack of restraint? Pride? Jealousy? Fear?

I am weak. There is no we in this matter, only I. The night is the only thing which can be depended upon anymore.

I have always been the little sister, after all. Celestia has always been the dependable one.

That, perhaps, is some consolation as my hooves clack upon the cool tiled floor beneath us, my body no longer listening to our mind. We must see my sister and make this right.

The guards standing outside her door snap to attention as we round the corner. They are unicorns, ill-suited to night duties; we would have preferred bat ponies, ourselves. Still, it is my sister’s own safety that she is compromising, and we shall learn to bow to her judgment, whether it be superior or inferior. It is better than surrendering to the dark will ever be.

Dare we say there is even some merit to what Celestia said in her dreams. Perhaps something still may be salvaged from this, but we must speak with my sister before we are to know. We want to believe that what she said in her dream is true, but... we know from experience that my sister will lie for her own benefit, even going so far as to believe what fabrications she may weave. The only thing that keeps my hooves from staying themselves is the hope that she may have learned something in my time away as well.

We lift a hoof and tentatively turn the handle, the door swinging open to admit us, its watchful gaze ensuring we bear no ill intent.

Within, it is dark, but we sense my sister’s eyes shift to watch my entrance. She is awake.

“Hello, sister. We see that thou art having trouble sleeping tonight.”

“I am. I had a particularly... graphic nightmare.” Her voice is almost pleading. “I’d very much like to talk about it with you.”

My eyes, always having been more accustomed to the darkness, have adjusted quickly to my surroundings. Celestia is sitting upon her bed, seeming as if she expected company. She is not wearing her royal regalia, which lies on the floor nearby, the cold metal which belies her station discarded as if of no consequence to her.

She nods to a spot beside her, on her bed.

There is something... that has not been lost upon us. If my sister were expecting company, she would have worn her regalia. It is no good for royalty to be seen outside of their formal attire. Perhaps... it was on purpose?

That is what this is about. She is not coming to me as a princess. She is coming to me as a pony quite like myself. The crown slips off my head as I shake it briefly, then the horseshoes come off as easily. Now, like my sister, we are no longer Princess Luna. We are just Luna. As we have wanted to be for a long, long time.

There are no words spoken as I jump onto my sister’s bed. My body makes an audible whump as I lie myself onto the feathered mattress next to her. We gaze into the darkness a short while, the silence revealing nothing, but assuming all.

Finally, Celestia speaks. “I’m so sorry.” We can tell already that she is crying.

“For what purpose?”

“For... being so foalish. So uncaring. So... cold. As I always have been.”

“And why should we believe that anything has changed?”

Silence replies to us for several long moments. We wait for her to say something, knowing she must. She always has a reply for us. She always will.

“I don’t know. I can’t make you believe me.”

This... is uncharacteristic of my sister.

After another lengthy pause, she continues. “Tonight, for the first time in my life, I dreamed of the Moon.

“For the last thousand years, She has done what I have asked, not because I am Celestia, She Who Commands the Sun, but because I am Her subject, and She deigns me just important enough to take my requests into consideration.

“Yet, every time I humbled myself before Her, I asked Her to return my sister to me. Even the Moon, in all Her love and wisdom, could not simply bring back the only pony who kept the light inside me.

“For a thousand years, I shielded a dying flame. I hoped its strength would hold. I donned mask after mask of a dictator, a ruler, and a monarch to keep Equestria intact, all in the hope that my sister would keep my flame from going out, that she may someday come home and we rule together, as I have always dreamed we would.

“Then, one day, my sister did return to me. She breathed life onto the dying flame—only to discover that it had burned out long ago.

“The light inside me never flickered, nor did it go out. Not once did it show any sign of weakness. That is because I never had a light in the first place. For over a thousand years, I have lied to myself, and my sister has been made to suffer for it.

“Tonight, I dreamed of the Moon, not because I wished for the light to return to my life, but to feel the love of my sister once more. I have never cared for politics, or a nation, or the common pony, more than what I feel for you, Luna. I cannot see inside me any more than I can see the Sun when it disappears below the horizon, but at least now I can see you.

“The light has gone out inside me... but perhaps it still resides within my sister. Is there still a light in your eyes, Luna?”

I can think of no words to describe how I am feeling. It feels as if my mind is tearing itself apart, not with humility, as we expected... but surprise. Never, in all this time, did we ever believe these words to be coming from my sister.

And, for the first time... I believe her.

Celestia continues. “We are no longer little foals, to be swayed by nursery rhymes—yet, perhaps one that we remember still holds true. Mother disappeared, and we were still fillies, but I had to become a mother. Now, you are no longer a filly, and I am no longer your mother. It is time for you to assume your duties, truly, as the Princess of the Night.”

My sister turns her head away from me and looks at the ground. “I hope you still see the light in yourself, Luna. I know I can’t see the light in anything anymore.

“All I’ve wanted all this time is to see you again, and now I have. I need you. I can’t do this anymore. Not alone.”

A light smile comes across my face. “Then thou shall not have to do this alone. Not anymore.”

My sister’s smile mirrors mine as the weight of countless lifetimes unburden themselves from her, the tears of an eternally lonely sister finally being shed when she feels the love she once thought lost. She embraces me, sobbing into my shoulder as she holds me closely.

It seems like only minutes ago that the hooves of a pony not unlike myself strangled the life out of my sister. Now, she weeps upon my shoulder. Do I possess the strength to do such a thing?

No, and I never will. Luna is no murderer. I am not Nightmare Moon, nor will I ever wonder if I may be again.

Perhaps I am still a little jealous of Celestia—but I love her. That will never change.

This is the only truth which guides me on this night, as I hold my tortured sister close. Tears of my own stream from my eyes and splash into her mane, and I let out a loud sob.

There is no grief this night, nor is there regret, nor pain for the 1000 years we have lost. There is only joy.

For eternity, we are together.

I do not know how long my sister and I lie upon her bed, our manes slick with moisture and our bodies locked into an embrace. I only know that, eventually, we both fall asleep on one another.

Hello, Luna

Today, as with many days, my eyes are wide awake. We are sleepless.

We no longer resent my sister... no more so, that is, than the citizens whom have forgotten us after our absence. We did not expect instantaneous acceptance, but we expected slightly more respect.

Patience, we counsel ourselves. Their love will come.

The love which my sister has reveled in for so long is, perhaps, something that we may someday feel as well. We cannot imagine what has changed in 1000 years, but there is still hope in our heart.

I am still the Princess of the Night; this will never change, nor should we ever hope for it to. It is a simple, yet painful, truth: My responsibilities are my own, just as her responsibilities belong to her. If one of us may be indisposed for a brief time, the other may take her sister’s duties for a brief time, but she has not yet missed any of her duties.

We imagine it is difficult enough for her at this point, allowing me my old responsibilities once more. She has been so utterly alone for so long, with no sister to request additional duties of, that we can understand her difficulties adjusting to a more social lifestyle once again. As a positive, with my shouldering of the night duties once more, she is able to visit our subjects and reassure them with her presence.

We are certainly envious, but we believe we will feel that same love as well someday.

We are finally awakening from the thrall of Nightmare Moon. She has gripped our mind for so long, we had forgotten who we were. Now, we are re-learning our own thoughts and mastering them, standing upon our own shaky hooves to become stronger as a consequence.

My gaze focuses on the window to the outside, where a dark curtain shields my body from the harsh sunlight of the day. I sigh and rise to my hooves, pulling aside the curtain to gaze upon the courtyard of Canterlot Castle.

As expected, the land below bustles with activity. Guards patrol the grounds, ensuring safety for the nobility and townsponies assembled who have business in the castle today. It is a typical day in Canterlot.

In 12 hours, the guards will remain, but in drastically reduced numbers; none but they and perhaps a visiting delegate or two will be outside at night. The ponies are afraid of it.

As they are afraid of me.

They have every right to be afraid. We have never been the easiest pony to get along with. We are not even certain that we should not be afraid of myself. What have we ever done for my subjects?

My sister missed me greatly during our absence; this much, at least, we are thankful for. It is a relief to know that we were missed at all. My sister assures us that there was much discontent following my banishment, but we see no evidence of this. It appears she allowed the populace to paint me as a monster.

There has been talk of this Nightmare Night, a celebration in which ponies dress up in costumes and distribute candy to the foals. Long ago, before even we can remember, it was celebrated as my birthday. We cannot say that this is a disrespect to us; perhaps it is something to be thankful for, to know that there is still reason to celebrate on my birthday.

We wish it still meant something.

And why would it? The princess whose birthday fell on that day abandoned her own subjects for many lifetimes. They've no reason to remember what the occasion may have been for the holiday, only that there is a holiday to observe.

If any should be blamed for this loss of significance, it would be my sister; she spoke of earlier days, those days in which my betrayal still lingered in the thoughts of the populace. They were afraid of me. They did not want my birthday to be an observance.

My sister rejected the request of the populace, instead continuing to observe the day of my birth as it was to be observed. She told me of the holidays she often spent alone, wondering what had become of me. She was forced to make public appearances on Hearth’s Warming Eve for the plays, but Hearth’s Warming was spent beside a cold hearth, the embers long dead, the most important pony in the world crying for her lost sister as if she were no more than a foal.

Similar to her Hearth’s Warming Celebration, she told me of the thousand cakes she baked for me on Nightmare Night. My sister has never been a chef of any note; she knows not how the recipe was imperfect 1000 times, but she chuckles about it in retrospect. Shortly afterward, she tells of the candles she would so carefully arrange, first the number of years since I’d been gone, then, upon no longer having enough surface area on the cake, two solitary candles burning in the center. The flames that still burned within the both of our hearts, she told me, was the symbolism.

She also explained the butchering of her observance, after a fashion.

On one of my birthdays—specifically, my 553rd—Celestia told of the cake she had baked, the candles slowly burning themselves to tiny stubs, and not a single bite being taken of the sweet she’d worked so hard to create.

There, silently grieving, she had been found by a young colt who had lost his parents in a mysterious happening involving a creeping mist from the east which originated from the Zebra Kingdom; he was too young to understand their absence just yet, but he still seeked out my sister on that night, asking her to help him find his parents.

My sister knew none of this colt’s story at the time, but she agreed to help him find his parents. There, she trotted the streets of Canterlot, this small colt at her side, as they went door to door, attempting to find information on this colt’s family. The colt, having originally come by train from Manehattan, had been instructed by his parents to come here and speak to me of them. Very bizarre circumstances, she affirmed to my questioning glance.

After a long night of fruitless searching, the final door on a city block was opened to reveal a geriatric mare with a warm smile and infinite wisdom. Upon hearing the colt’s story, she apologized for not knowing where his parents had gone, but asked if he wanted some sweets to send him on his way. The young colt obviously obliged.

The next morning, a full report of the creeping mist had come in, including the names of the colt’s parents. My sister put him in a boarding home in Canterlot and visited him throughout his life. He slowly came to terms with his loss.

The next year, upon my 554th birthday, the colt once again visited my sister and requested that she help him find his parents. She did not understand, but she went with him all the same. They went down the same street and asked for the colt’s parents. A hoofful were confused, having recognized him from the previous year, and others did not recognize him. Finally, we reached the last door with the geriatric mare.

The same ritual was performed as before; the colt asked if the mare had seen his parents, she shook her head, then she asked if he would like some sweets. He accepted, as before. Then he waited.

The next year, the mare was gone. The colt did not ask where she was, only nodding his head in understanding. He told the young mare who had answered the door that her grandmother used to give him sweets; she hesitated, then brought him several pieces of candy. He thanked her, then told her that if he ever found his parents, he would probably find her grandmother as well, and he would tell her hello for this mare’s sake.

This was most puzzling to my sister, so upon reaching Canterlot Castle once more, she asked what his reasons were for doing this on the same day every year.

The colt replied, “I saw you grieving over two lost ponies when I first met you, Princess, though I didn’t know it at the time. Now that I know, I thought today would be a good day for grieving, and I want to celebrate it with sweets, just like you do. I’ve never eaten a single one she gave me, either.”

Two lost... my sister pondered over the candles for a time. Was she as lost as I? Perhaps.

The next year, some friends the colt had made in school attended the ceremony with him. The young mare had told her neighbors of the event, and they were prepared this year.

Over the years, the group swelled, new young ponies coming in as older ponies decided they were too old to beg for sweets. Still, the same colt stayed, and every year, he asked the same of the young mare at the end of the street.

Eventually, on my 612th birthday since I’d left, the colt departed my sister to join his parents. Her silent prayer was that he find the peace he so desperately desired in death; she knew it was no escape for her, as she was already as lost as they. His premonition of two lost souls held true to my sister.

Celestia knows nothing, however, of what caused the costume-wearing.

Her suffering is nothing that we are so callous as to not understand; my sister missed me, yes.

My frustration is not with Celestia. It is, perhaps, with the ponies we rule over.

Yet, we cannot blame them. After 1,000 years, the least one can expect is that others will forget them. We believe, in some manner, it may even be for the best that they do not remember our betrayal.

Who, then, are we frustrated with? Nightmare Moon, for kidnapping 1,000 years of my life? Perhaps the Night itself, the thing that is as much a part of me as I am of it? That may be it, in part.

No, there is more to it than this. We just cannot put our hoof on it yet.

Me?

Who am I?

Let us... me... divide myself from the Night for a moment. When have we been me?

How strong am I? Can I stand upon my own hooves? What have I to offer Equestria?

Luna has never gotten. She has only given. I am loathe to recall this. Why do I loathe it?

A world in which generosity is squelched, where morals are trampled and excreted upon... this is the world which has been opened to us. All of it is so cruel, so heartless, that we—I, cannot hope to survive.

Or, perhaps I am not attempting to understand enough.

Can I perform my own duties? I am only half a mare; the other half has been given in duty. Without the other half of me, where am I?

Do I love? Do I worry? Do I care?

I do not know.

I will never know.

I do not want to be alone. Of this, I am certain. Even the husk of a mare that I am without my duties is certain of this.

Me. What have I done for me?

I took dreams and made them nightmares. I took day and forced night. I betrayed my own sister, stabbed her in the back and nearly killed her, for my own selfish desires.

My desires?

I am Nightmare Moon.

The realization sends chills up my spine. Nightmare Moon is who I am when I abandon the Night.

But I have bucked the influence of the Night now, have I not? And I am still sane. Not jealous. Not angry. Not contemptible.

Have I changed?

Have we changed?

My relationship with my responsibilities has always been a source of pride for me. For 1000 years, I have been absent, slowly driving myself insane as the co-pilot to a mind which would see my sister die. Why would she ever trust me?

She does, though. She trusts me. Not us. She trusts me, Luna. Not Princess Luna. Luna.

Have I changed?

Mother once told me that finding fault in oneself is the surest method to improve. Inside, I am a broken vase. I have shattered into innumerable pieces, some large and easy to piece together, others tiny and seemingly impossible to fit in. There are faults beyond count, and none have an easy solution.

A broken mare is a mare who may rebuild. No longer do I have anything but my duties.

Do I want more?

I want my birthday. And I no longer wish it to be a joke.

Princess Luna... a joke.

And Luna? Is Luna a joke?

They do not know. Equestria has never met Luna.

Have we ever met Luna?

Have I ever met Luna?

I do not believe I have ever met myself. Now is a good time to start.

I flare my magic briefly, brightening the lights in my room. My royal regalia is absent, clothing worn by a mare of office. I am not Princess Luna. I am only Luna.

There is a mirror affixed to my wall. I approach it, looking apprehensively at myself in the mirror. I smile briefly at the scared mare I see before me. She is as afraid of meeting me as I am.

“Hello, Luna. My name is Luna.”