For you... Mother

(Luna narrates)

We remember it like it was just yesterday; the day that we had returned to Equestria… as Nightmare Moon. We remembered when our sister, Celestia sealed us within the moon when we were filled with jealousy and rage. But after we returned, a group of ponies came together and used the Elements of Harmony to not only defeat us but extinguish the darkness that controlled us for all of these years. We were all so grateful for Twilight and her friends, and we owed them our life. So why… why would they do such a thing? It didn’t make any sense.

We knew... of a small family of two; a pegasus and a unicorn. They were quite an unusual pair of ponies living in a normal town. But since I was brought back from the darkness, we began to realise something about Ponyville. While many ponies seemed to be kind and always treated each other equally, the same could not be said about the gray pegasus mare, Derpy Hooves. It seemed that many of the town’s resident had come to dislike her because of how clumsy she was and the way she acted; and those who were too young to understand were taught to think the same. I soon noticed this and the number of those thinking this only kept increasing. This began to worry us. But as for her young foal, Dinky, I’ve noticed how she was picked on, teased, and kept being bothered by other foal talking bad about her Mother. Not to say that something wasn’t done about this sometimes, but the effort behind it was completely lacking.

We don’t know exactly what had happened to Ponyville’s morals about a single pony, but it troubled us so. Even Twilight and her friends didn’t seem to show too much compassion and care towards Derpy and none of them seem to care much for her feelings. They were just like everypony else in this town; it didn’t make any sense. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. We have the ability to wander through the night and witness many dreams without interfering the dreamer. But on some certain nights, we’ve seen something… disturbing. Dreams… dreams that ponies of the town had that were about Derpy going through some gruesome torture whether it was short or really long. Some were so horrible that even we had to look away; and the worst part is that these weren't even nightmares, and some of these dreams belonged to some of the foals as well.

One day, we were so troubled by this that we talked it over with our sister, Celestia. We figured that maybe she would know what to do about this. However, all she told us was to not worry; that all of this will be over soon. We weren't quite sure about what she meant by that but we continued to bring it up to her for a while hoping to get a better solution from her. But she always calmly gave us a similar answer each time. Well, at least she was patient about it. Despite us continuing to see reactions and actions of others towards Derpy, we soon decided that maybe sister was right, that maybe there was nothing to worry about; that nothing terrible would happen to her. After all, Derpy Hooves was probably one of the most sweet, honest and most cheerful pony that we’ve ever seen; and her daughter was not falling too far in her footsteps. But that didn’t prepare us for what happened that fateful day.

That very day when Derpy accidentally caused that widespread town fire that could have been worse. Everypony’s hatred and disrespect of Derpy intensely heightened that day. We even witnessed when the town Mayor slapped Derpy across her face with her hoof. She seemed to be the one who was the most angry with the mare; she definitely showed it. Things seemed to become a bit awkward afterwards, and it was uncertain of what would happen in the following days. Derpy and her young foal continued to mind their own business though and both were staying content of their situation not caring about what anypony said. We understood what Derpy did was major, but it wasn’t like she did it on purpose. And hopefully nothing was going to happen that would ruin this moment. But a couple of weeks after the town fire, something terrible did happen.

One day out of nowhere, Derpy was brought into custody by some of Celestia’s guards while hanging out with her daughter and was taken away from her… just like that. It turned out that she was sentenced to be executed in public on Ponyville grounds, and the order was carried out… by our sister! That was it; that was the last straw for us. We were done hanging back and waiting to see how things turned out, we needed to speak with our sister about this and find out what was going on. We were slightly pissed as we busted the doors to the throne room open and saw our sister sitting proudly upon her royal seat. We spoke our minds and shouted out to her…

“Sister, we need to talk… right… now!”

She didn’t appear to look so surprised; in fact, it’s like she was expecting us to come to her. She looked over at the soldiers that were standing guard and ordered them...

“Would you all mind leaving us for a second. It appears that my sister has something on her mind that she wish to discuss with me privately.”

“Understood, your highness.”

After they had all walked out of the room, it was just us and our sister at a stand off. She walked down from her throne and stood a few feet from us as she asked us...

“What is it that you wish to speak to me about, Luna? If something is bothering you, I’m pretty sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Would you shut up already with that 'no need to worry about' junk! You know just as well as we do of what the hell is going on!"

Our sister’s face didn’t change as she looked down upon us pretending to be oblivious about the subject of our conversation. How could our own sister be behind something that’s so unfair?

"Why sister? Why are you allowing such a thing to happen? You're better than this! We know about the huge devastated event that Derpy caused; and if she has earned some kind of punishment because of it, then so be it. But this... this is unnecessary! It was probably an accident anyway! She doesn't deserve this; she hath done nothing wrong!"

We were hoping that we were getting through to our sister somehow since she cared for us so much; but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

"Do you even hear what you are saying, Luna?"

"What?"

"It's not just because of what happened that day, but also of what has happened in that town for years. Everything that mare has done has been considered an 'accident', and it has driven the ponies of that town bonkers. Those moments have caused many damaged property in which so much bits has been used to fix, many injuries to fellow ponies and required even more bits to care for them, and her lost sense of direction that has caused confusion and annoyance to those at her job and customers. I'm actually surprised that we decided to put up with it all this time; but after what happened with the huge fire spread, Ponyville has finally had enough of her and requested to me that she be put down for good; and I couldn’t have agreed more."

So all this time, this is what our sister meant all along; about it would all be over soon. No, the town fire was not a set up unfortunately, but this was not something that Celestia would do… well, that’s what we thought at least.

"We beg of you, sister, please reconsider your decision. She’s just one pony!"

"One pony that has obliviously caused too much damage for them. If this keeps going on as a regular basis, Derpy is going to bankrupt that town; or worse… she may actually kill somepony.”

How could we say no to that? It was true that some of the things Miss Derpy hath done nearly endangered the lives of many, but… we couldn’t deny it. But we still couldn’t allow our sister to do this.

“So tell me, Luna, do you think its a good idea to spare one pony’s life at a risk of the lives of many others?”

“N-no, of course not; but you have to understand…”

“I understand completely, and so does the rest of that town. And I should also let you know that it was Twilight and and her own friends that came to me exclusively as a favor to the Mayor to give them the right to hold the execution, and I approved.”

That very fact shocked us. Who would’ve thought that Twilight and her friends would be the ones to personally suggest such a thing.

“Wait, even Twilight and her friends are in on this?!”

“That’s right. Are you surprised?”

But there was still the matter of the mare’s young foal.

“And what about Derpy’s daughter, Dinky? What happens to her… after you have her Mother killed?!”

You wouldn’t believe the answer our sister gave us.

“Well… we talked about it and did some careful thinking. And based on Dinky’s recent behavior that I have been getting from her teacher, there’ a chance that Derpy’s clumsy genes are starting to take effect within her. This could cause a bit of a problem for Equestria in the future; so…”

Our eyes grew wide, and our anger began to show once again.

“Oh hell no, you are not planning of ridding the foal as well?!”

“It’s a small sacrifice to make for the safety of this land; it’s just a shame that she had to be born out from that retarded mare’s body.”

We could not allow this to stand! Killing off a foal because it supposedly is becoming like their parent?! Now we knew that they were going too far!

“This is insane; how can you let this stand?! The Elements of Harmony are not supposed to subject to such matters! What kind of message are we giving the rest of Equestria with this kind of judgement?! Executing a single pony for accidentally causing trouble in many places she goes, and executing her only daughter… just because she might become like her?!”

“There’s nothing you can do now, Luna, the execution will carry on as planned. It’s about time that you just accept that fact and move on.”

We couldn't accept it; not ever. What our sister and Ponyville decided was ridiculous and we couldn’t allow it! Our power began to circulate through our body and our eyes glowed ever so bright as we rose up in the air and demaded to our sister in our commanding voice.

“NO! WE WON’T ALLOW THIS EVENT OF TRAVESTY COME TO PASS! WE WILL STOP THIS ENTIRE EXECUTION BY OURSELVES IF WE HAVE TO. AND YOU NOR ANYPONY ELSE WILL STOP US!”

Unfortunately, our sister was not worried.

“I had a feeling that you might have thought that; but I’m afraid that you won’t be doing such a thing.”

“AND WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE OF THAT, SISTER?!”

“Because of these.”

Our sister used her magic to bring out a small treasure box where inside housed the Elements of Harmony.

“THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?!”

“I love you very much, Luna, and you have no idea of how grateful I was that very day you came back; but if you try to do anything to prevent this event from happening, I will personally have Twilight and her friends use the Elements to subdue you… at least until after execution anyway.”

“You wouldn’t dare?”

“Do not try to test me, Luna. We all know what happened last time you tried such a thing.”

“Fine, sister, do whatever the hell you want. But do know this… one of these days, you are going to regret ever making a decision… as foolish as this! ”

There was absolutely nothing could do. Our arrogant sister couldn’t see the major mistake that she was making; claiming that executing Derpy and her Daughter would be the best for Equestria. That was the most stupidest piece of crap that we’ve heard! However, even though we thought that they were simply going to let that mare speak her last words to the public before she was executed, what the town did instead was… a nightmare.

Never did we see such a huge act of sin-driven monstrosity. Everything that they did to that mare just to get rid of her was a huge, terrifying shock us. Never did we think that Ponyville would degrade themselves to doing such a thing; especially the Element of Harmony bearers. But after that day, guess we were proven wrong. Thankfully, the only good thing that came out of all of this is the fact the little foal Dinky had managed to escape their grasp and ran into the forest, and of course it was because of us that they never found her. Dinky was devastated, afraid, and angry at the same time, and we could not blame her feelings. What happened to her was unforgivable to her, and once she she gave in to her inner darkness, we granted thy young foal to seek her vengeance. There was no way we could do such a thing to Ponyville because of what they did for us, so that’s why we left that job to her and allowed her to drown her sorrows through blood and slaughter.

Of course it was only because we lended her some of our power that she was able to succeed, but it was her drive for revenge that helped her get the job done. Of course we knew that our idiot sister would try to stop her if she found out, so that’s why we used our power to summon random shadow creatures that kept appearing in Canterlot and frightening the residents. We knew that Celestia wouldn’t abandon her home; so instead she sent many of her strongest and most resilient soldiers to Ponyville. She even sent her special elite assassin squad as a last resort, and they almost succeeded in taking her out. But thanks to our support, she survived. May those soldiers rest in peace. If there were specific ponies that didn’t deserve this fate were the young foals of the town. Although, the ones Dinky killed was her decision alone, and we chose to not question it. We had some of our shadow creatures take away the young foals and brought them to safety while young Dinky did her dirty work. It wasn’t easy to do all of this without our sister knowing, but in the end she completely fell for it. She even realized the Elements of Harmony were missing as well, and she didn’t even suspect us of doing it… which we did.

By the time Celestia got to Ponyville after we secretly called off our creatures, she was too late. Dinky had already did what she wished to accomplish, and her Mother was finally avenged. And by using the extra power that we bestowed upon her, our sister was now striped of her magic, and was no longer a threat to the young foal. As she rested along with the other foals that were spared, we calmly went down to the gorific surroundings where the few survivors and our sister were lying… weak and defenseless. Once Celestia saw us, she felt somewhat relieved.

“L-L-Luna… y-you’re here, but I’m afraid… that its too late now. Twilight and the others… they’re all gone… and my magic has been dissipated. But… perhaps you can still finish the job. The murderer is strong… but now weak. You must find that foal… and make her p-pay.”

But unfortunately for her, she soon found out the shocking truth as she saw some of the same night creatures shadow creatures that attacked Canterlot gather up behind us.

“L-Luna? Wait… don’t tell me…”

“Trust me, sister, this whole ordeal pains us as much as you do… but it had to be done.”

“The shadow creatures... were your doing; and… you actually helped that foal murder this town? And… you’re the one who took the Elements of Harmony, aren’t you?”

It was nice to realize that our sister had all of the facts straight. It would be bothersome to explain everything.

“Don’t worry, they have new owners now. But interestingly enough, Dinky now bears the Element of Magic. At least this way the harmony of this world won’t be unbalanced.”

Our sister scowled upon us feeling a bit enraged that we allowed such a thing to happen let alone help it along; but she was one to talk.

“How could you do this, Luna? How could you betray me… and the others? How could you help that little murderer kill off our own kind?! How could you let her kill the very ones… who saved you from the darkness?!”

“Do you think that we wanted this?!” we strongly protested, “Do you think that we would do such a thing without reason?! We warn you that one day you would regret making such a foolish decision, didn’t we? What you and this corrupted town did to this filly was far worse than anticipated. But its too late to take it back now. We didn’t want this to happen either, believe us; but… you gave that foal no choice. Her Mother meant everything to her, so by taking her away… you took her only source of happiness. She eventually realized it and decided to to return the favor… and we didn’t stop her.”

We would miss Twilight and the others greatly, but… their antics were unforgivable. They… they deserved their fate.

“Luna… you have m-made a grave mistake. Allowing that… foal to get what she wanted… you’ve doomed all of… Equestria. Do you know what happens now that you've delved into matters not concerning you?"

"What, dear sister?! Tell us what! You think the rest of the world is going to be against us... against Dinky?! Once all who live in this world hear about what you have promoted, they'll all be against you! Besides… all is not lost. The new bearers will carry on the responsibility, and we will take over your duty of sun and moon as you have before we returned."

“I c-can’t believe you… you don’t care about anything that I’m saying, are you?”

Guess now she knows how we have felt all of this time. Perhaps now she’ll learn from her actions.

"Face it, sister, you’ve dug yourself down to the very bottom of thy low barrel. But... if you choose to cooperate and come on our side, things won't have to be so... lonely for you."

But unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she was going to learn any time soon.

“You’re… s-s-still my little sister… and I s-s-still… love you… but I will never… be on the side th-that you have chosen.”

“Well… that a real shame, now isn’t? Too bad it had to be this way.”

Everything that happened that day… we did not wish to happen; but what Ponyville did that day that our sister not only allow but joined in too, it went against many things that we stood for. Miss Derpy Hooves was no exception to that fact, and neither was Dinky; and we would’ve done the same for any pony in that town if the same situation happened to them. Speaking of which… allowing that foal to release her rage upon her former home was for the best, and maybe then the rest of Equestria would not allow such foolishness to overcome them.

Before long, the news of what happened in Ponyville reached to the citizens of Canterlot thanks to the voice of Dinky herself. Once they heard of what happened, they were devastated and appalled. How could Ponyville ever become the way they did? Perhaps it was Derpy’s antics that drove them to insanity. And while most grieved for Ponyville’s demise, they understood Dinky’s demands and reason; especially since we were by her side. And as for our sister, as expected… they all lose respect for her. As for the still large groups of Celestia’s guards that were still alive… once they saw that Celestia was no longer in power and knew what Dinky was capable of, they swore their loyalty to us. We knew this was going to happen; how unfortunate for our sister… the ruler of the sun. Oh well, guess now we will have to be the one to raise the moon and the sun. We always wanted to do that.

It’s been 3 days ever since Dinky had her revenge upon Ponyville; mainly killing off the bearers of the Element of Harmony who played a big part of executing her Mother in the most brutal way possible as well as the Mayor who in Dinky’s retrospect was a total bitch. Once most of Equestria found out what happened and who the responsible one was, they were all shocked and a bit afraid of how violent this filly became. But eventually, they accepted the truth and came to respecting her for her Mother more than they feared her; mostly because Princess Luna was right by her side.

There were those who didn’t take it as well, like those in Appalooza, or the Pie Family, and other close friends. But they knew what those they loved had did and how hard it was for Dinky to take it all in; so while they grieved for those they lost, they knew that it was just their unfortunate fate.

As of now, Dinky and the rest of the foals spared from Ponyville had moved into the Canterlot Palace with Luna’s approval, and Dinky stood by Luna’s side as the newest upcoming ruler of Equestria. Those foals lived and thrived there as their new home and they were allowed invite any others in Canterlot to play with them if they want. It was a wonderful new life they’ve gained. But what of Celestia?

Presently, we find Dinky temporarily leaving the throne room and was heading down towards the nearly abandoned dungeon area below the castle. She walked amongst the dim lit halls not feeling scared of its creepy surroundings. She approached a single cell that was guarded by a different group of Night Pony Guards every few hours; a cell that held the once proud ruler of Equestria… Princess Celestia. The guards stepped to the side as Dinky came up to the cell and saw Celestia in a laying position on the floor.

“Good day to you, Celestia. As always I’ve given you time to think through things. Have you decided to prepare for a full apology to me and to give your loyalty to the new Element bearers and your sister?”

Celestia slowly picked her head up to glare at the young filly with much anger in her eyes. She stood up and took a few steps towards the cage front and said, “Apparently… you still don’t seem to understand… little filly. I give my loyalty to nopony; especially one who murders a whole town and strips me from my magic. And you can tell my little sister that until she comes back to me and has you dead at my feet… I no longer have a little sister.”

Celestia didn’t hate her sister for what she did, but she was devastated of what she allowed to happen. She figured that her real sister wouldn’t do such a thing; so unless she came back to her, she wasn’t her real sister. Dinky shook her head and sat down while lecturing the imprisoned princess.

“You know… you should count yourself lucky that Luna cares for you and still loves you as a sister and had me spare you. If it were up to me, I would’ve killed you long before we placed you in this cell. All of Equestria knows of your wretched doing now and most of them have lost their respect for you, and we can’t exactly release you while you’re still like… this. So I’ll ask again; are you ready to give me a full apology and then give your loyalty as you bow down to us? If so, I’m willing to turn the other cheek and no longer treat you like the trash I think you are.”

Celestia had her face right against the bars of the cell staring intensely at Dinky. She gave her usual answer as she had since she was imprisoned,“You… you will never… get me to bow down you… or anypony who sides with you. I would rather rot and die here in this cell… then to give in to you and your s#*+ty demands! Do you hear me, never!”

Dinky smirked and chuckled a bit as she turned away from Celestia and said, “Very tempting, Princess; very tempting.” She then began to walk away from the cell as the guards went back to their positions. DInky then stopped and looked back at Celestia stating, “I think we’re done here for today. Here’s hoping you’ll calm down by tomorrow.”

Celestia lightly growled as the young filly walked away from her and out of her sight. She wanted to do something about her situation, but she knew very well that was impossible.

Once Dinky got back up to the throne room, she smiled a bit seeing some of the other foals playing with each other without a care in the world. She was headed towards the throne itself where Luna was waiting to rest her head; but suddenly Sweetie Belle came up to her from behind.

“Hey there, Dinky.”

Dinky got a little smooch on the cheek from her and it made her feel a bit more content. She smiled back at Sweetie as she returned the favor. “Hey, Sweetie,”

“A couple of my friends and I were going to go fetch some Ice cream down at the ol’ Ice cream parlor,” said Sweetie as she placed her hoof around Dinky’s neck, “Maybe you’d like to join us? And maybe later... we can have some time to ourselves?”

DInky was almost tempted from the way Sweetie was grazing her hoof across her chin and staring and giving her bedroom eyes. But Dinky just softly pushed her away as she sighed and said, “Sorry… I’m not interested at the moment. Maybe we can get together later.”

Sweetie was a bit disappointed, but she respected Dinky decision, “Suit yourself.” She hugged her and then walked towards the exit waving to her, “See you later then.”

DInky was trying to not show it, but she had a lot going on in her mind that day; and as she laid beside Luna on the throne, Luna could tell that something was up… but she chose to not bring it up just yet.

“So… did our sister somehow come to her senses yet?”

Dinky scowled slightly as she answered, “As I expected, she still denies our request. I think that royal whore was more pissed off than the last time.”

“Oh well,” Luna sighed, “its only been three days. We know she’ll come around one day or another.”

“Or… we could just save us the effort and put her down like the dog she turned out to be,” said Dinky without a change of expression.

“Just give it time, young Dinky. There is nothing she can do to change the past… nor does she have the means to hurt you. Even if it takes years, our sister will see things our way.”

“Whatever you say.”

Dinky laid her head down to rest, but her eyes didn’t close. Even though everything was done with and her revenge was complete, she still felt like something was missing that was making her till feel a bit empty inside. Thinking back then… when she was in a serious conversation with her Mother; she remembered what a frightful moment that was for her.

(flashback)

“Mommy… why do a lot of ponies in this town hate you? Did you do something wrong? Is it something I did? I don’t understand.”

“What, d-d-don’t be silly, Dinky. They don’t hate me, they just… dislike some of the things I do. It’s just a normal thing.”

“But Mom… yesterday I saw some ponies throw a bunch of fruit at you, and calling you weird words out loud.”

“Don’t worry, they didn’t hurt me; in fact, those fruit were delicious. It was like having a fruit smoothie.”

“I also overheard some ponies that threatened to hurt you… beat you up… or even… kill you.”

“K-k-kill me?”

“Even some of my classmates ridicule you, and they won’t be my friends because of you. They think I’m stupid, and retarded… just like the other ponies say about you. I’m scared mommy, why do they hate us so much?”

“Its okay, it doesn't really bother me that much. I know that I’m not perfect, but then again no pony is. I don’t want to worry too much of what others say about me, and you shouldn’t either. Everything will be fine as long as I have you, my little muffin.”

“But… what if somepony… does try to kill you? What will I do without you? I don’t want to lose you! You’re everything to me!”

“You won’t lose me, okay? Nothing is going to happen that will split us apart. I bet on my cutiemark and my screwy eyes that everything will be alright.”

“You… p-promise?”

“Y-yeah… I promise. Just promise me that you won’t get angry at others and you won’t try to get revenge on anypony that tries to hurt me or you. It’ll just cause more trouble.”

“Okay… I promise.”

“Dinky… Dinky?”

Dinky heard Luna call out to her in the midst of her spacing out.

“Huh… wha?”

She looked up beside her and saw Luna looking down at her with much concern. “Dinky, we noticed you were spacing out a bit. Is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah, just thinking back on things.”

Dinky was hiding it… a certian feeling that she was holding back for some time ever since she came into her position of power. But thinking back upon some sweet moments from the past, she hesitantly looked back over at Luna and said...

“Princess Luna… you know… during most of my life as a younger foal, I always thought that I could seek comfort of everyone in Ponyville. I thought… that everypony there loved me and cared about me; mostly because I thought that they all loved my Mother too. But I eventually that I was wrong… so wrong.”

Luna was quite curious of where Dinky was going with this conversation. Was there possibly something that she was trying to explain?

“Everypony despised my Mother and they never really loved either of us. My Mother promised me that nothing was going to happen to us and that we would always be together; but I guess that was a lie too. She just didn’t want me to worry too much and be scared all of the time. That’s why I loved her so much, she cared about me so much and never wished to abandon me. She was the only one that truly felt that way about me.”

Luna suddenly noticed that the hatred demeanor in Dinky’s expression was slightly fading as she carried on.

“After seeing her brutally killed in front of my eyes, I felt that I was all alone… that there was nopony else out there that would care about me again.” She then smiled as she gaed upon the Princes of the night, “But then you came. You protected me and chose to care for me and stuck by my side. You even betrayed your own sister just to help me because you knew I didn’t deserve the fate I was given. You’re the only one who cared for me after my Mother was killed, and now even more in Equestria feels that way about me. This is… the best feeling I’ve felt in a long time.”

Tears then began to fill up in Dinky’s eyes as she was trying to get something else out of her system. “I’ve missed my Mother… so much, and I’ve appreciate everything you’ve done for me to help rid myself the source of my pain. So... if you don’t mind me asking, is it okay… if I called you… M-M-Mom?”

It was then Luna became shocked at Dinky’s sudden request. It was a bit weird for her to see Dinky like this after everything she’s been through. But with tears filling up in her eyes as well, she smiled as she held her forehooves out the young filly. Dinky dashed into her arms latching onto her releasing the rest of her tears into Luna’s bosom. Luna comforted her... brushing her hoof down her back to calm her down and holding her close.

“There is no reason to fret anymore, young Dinky,” Luna whispered happily, “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

And that…. was all Dinky could’ve asked from her. “Th-th-thank you.”

The hatred for Ponyville and its citizens still remained in Dinky’s heart and it almost seemed that it would never go away, but her overall anger was beginning to subside. The source of Dinky’s emotional pain was finally gone, and a new rise of power upon the land of Equestria. Dinky ended up loving her new life, but she still had a while to go before her full sanity could return. However, Luna and Dinky’s new friends and supporters would always be there for her and to comfort her in the way her old home never gave her. And with that, her Mother’s spirit could finally be at peace…

… and so was she.

Art by: ro obsidian solitaire