In Equestria the moon was just a little speck of light peeking out of the wispy clouds. Fog covered the ground and swirled around the tree trunks and ferns. Medieval Canterlot was glowing through the trees near where a little filly was sitting. The moon reflected in the lake the saddened filly was sitting next to.
Looking into her reflection, she only saw her flaws. Her less then perfect tangled mane, her ugly face. Her sister was much prettier. Her sister got all the glory. Her sister got to raise the sun. Her sister was perfect. The filly's wings drooped and her big blue eyes were dim. She used her magic to draw a little in the sand. All she could draw was a frown. She scuffed the sand with her hoof.
'All of our, no, more like all of *her loyal subjects adore her.' the filly felt tears swelling in her eyes, 'I am just a prop. A little accessory to keep around so I will do the job Celestia doesn't want to do!*'
With a grunt, the dark blue filly stamped out her reflection in the crystal clear water. She got up from her spot in the sand and paced around the shore of the lake.
"Stop thinking about her Luna." the filly said to herself, "That is what you came out here to do right? Get away from her, not to think about her!"
Luna hoofed a pebble into the lake watching the ripples in the water, one after another splashing waves onto the shore. She took off her horse shoes, tiara, and necklace and tossed them onto the sand beside her. She walked slowly into the rippling blue pool feeling the cool water wash over her hooves and take some of her sadness away. Trying not to think about Celestia, the filly took up some water in her hooves and splashed it on her face, wiping the reminisce of tears off her face. Luna loved the feeling of smooth pebbles under her hooves. A few little minnows came up to nibble at her hooves and legs. She smiled and giggled a bit.
"Hello. You tickle!" Luna smiled, "I am going to stand up now." Luna slowly moved her legs and the minnows detached from her hooves and swam away. She stood up and walked to shore. She shook out her mane, sending little bits of water sprinkling all over the sand and back to the lake.
As she walked over to her tiara and other princess trinkets she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a shiny little something, heaven knows what it was. She looked away from her pile of things and walked towards the corner of the woods that had glinted. She looked through the bushes and ferns intent on finding the mysterious object. After a while of looking she didn't find anything and turned around to go back to the lake. She turned and fell right over a tree root.
"Oof," she gasped for breath as she hit the ground, "where did that root come from-" Again something glinted out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a brown scratched fiddle. She stood herself up and picked up the wooden instrument. It was hoof-made, she was sure of it. Next to it there was a bow made out of a tree branch and some string.
"Hm," Luna picked up the bow and moved it across some of the strings. It was off-tune and hurt her ears. She cringed.
"I am sure I saw a book in the royal library about violins." As she held the fiddle suspended in her magic's blue glow, she flew off into the distance towards the castle. She didn't want to go back, but she wanted to go and find out more about this wonderfully carved instrument.
The cool night breeze felt so good against her face as she flew through the night sky. As she flew around clouds she felt as if she was walking on air. The stars twinkled and shined as the clouds floated over them. Luna was flying so close to them that she could almost hear them whispering to her. Words of encouragement, words of love. The clouds reached out and kissed her face as she flew past and the air smelt of dew drops and cloud wisps. This was the most content she had felt in a long time. Almost like nothing mattered. Her problems all melted away and the burden she had been carrying on her shoulders for ages was for a time lifted off and she was free to soar.
She suddenly rammed into something hard and white. She shook her head in shock to find it was Celestia. Her burden quickly returned to her and she felt weighed down by jealousy and hate.
"I was looking for you. Come along, we have royal business to attend to." Celestia said abruptly and took Luna's hoof like a mare would to a foal.
Luna wriggled her hoof out of her sister's grip, "What royal business?" she asked with a scowl.
"The council has an important announcement to make. It is urgent they said and they need both princesses attending."
Luna sighed. She hated, absolutely hated council meetings. She had to wear all of her best clothes and sit up straight and all of that junk. She flew the rest of the way to the castle with her head hanging low on her shoulders and storm clouds roaring and rumbling in her brain. Just as she had forgotten her problems she had to bump into them.
"What is that scratched up old instrument you have there?" Celestia asked gesturing to the violin Luna had picked up in the forest.
"Oh, yeah," Luna said almost forgetting it was still suspended in her magic floating by her side, "It's just a fiddle I found."
"You know, we could just buy you another one. That one looks old and worn out."
"NO!" Luna burst out, "I mean, I want this one."
Celestia shrugged it off and kept on flying with her sister flapping along side her.
Celestia flew her sister to the castle where they were met by several guards and Celestia's assistant. The guards quickly closed the grand front gates of the castle and escorted the two royal sisters to the entrance to the castle. Luna was still annoyed at her sister and didn't want to even be around her. As they walked through the gardens of the castle courtyard Celestia was jabbering about royal business with her assistant.
'What does she see in being a princess?' Luna thought, 'All it is is being fussed over and having high status.'
They approached the front gates and several servants came to meet them.
"Take Princess Luna to get ready for the council meeting." Celestia said as she walked past.
A two mare servants walked up to her Luna stamped her hoof down. "I can get dressed myself." Luna snorted and walked off leaving the two mares confused on what to do. Down the long corridors and past doors she stomped until she came to on with all of the phases of the moon over the door frame. There were ancient ruins carved around the door posts. When she was younger she would try to figure them out but she never could decipher them. She opened the door and slammed it hoping that Celestia could hear it from where ever she was in the vast expanse of castle.
Before Luna did anything she set the fiddle and bow on her bed. This was a precious work of art even if only she could see it. She then walked over to her closet and looked through all of her clothes. She never wore any of them anyway. Most of them looked like something Celestia would ware, white with pink accents or pink with white accents. This was probably because most of them were Celestia's at a time but they had to use them some how so Luna got them.
"I wish somepony could actually use these dresses but I wouldn't be caught dead in them!" Luna said putting them back.
She looked through her closet and found the most plain dress ever but I was to her liking so she went behind her dressing screen. She quickly slipped her dress on and grabbed her horseshoes and tiara. She put them on and trotted out the door. She moved down the long halls filled with portraits of old ponies that she is supposed to know but she obviously didn't pay enough attention in her tutoring sessions. Who cared about those things anyway, Celestia was the one everyone looked up to. She was really the only one in the entire kingdom who needed to know those things, except maybe Starswirl. Starswirl the Bearded was the smartest stallion in all of Equestria, and probably the craziest. I mean, who else would make mirrors to other worlds?
Luna turned a corner to see the council room doors standing open waiting for her. Luna sighed. Two or three long hours of talking that will have no effect on her what so ever. As she walked in the guards at the doors started to announce her arrival but she cut them off.
"Everypony can see me, thanks." she trotted over to her seat next to Celestia and plopped down into it. All of the royal advisers were there, Battlehoof the adviser of war, Masterdivider the adviser of distribution, and Peninsula the adviser of land are just a few to name. As she sat down Celestia sat up and started the council meeting.
"Hello everypony," Celestia said with a batting of eyelashes, "Sorry to call you all so late at night but the head of our council, also the adviser of magic Starswirl the Bearded, has called this urgent meeting." Celestia nodded to Starswirl and then sat down with grace and poise. Luna held back a snort and eye roll. Starswirl stood up and looked around the council room.
"I have some urgent and terrible news to share with you all." Starswirl's raspy voice was trembling like he had been through some sort of ordeal. He officially had Luna's attention, "A new evil as invaded Equestria." There were gasps heard from all over the room.
"What type of evil is this Master Starswirl?" Celestia asked in her perfectly smooth voice.
"My new mirror has brought a horror from another world to our land." he used his magic to show an almost lifelike image of a black foal about the age of Luna with a red tipped horn. It was just a tint yellower then normal considering it was a spell "He might seem innocent but this foal has mastered dark magic and can make anything do whatever he pleases." The black foal in the image turned innocent ponies into stone or kept them as his slaves.
"His best weapon are his powers to summon dark crystals. They can capture a pony and are virtually unbreakable." Starswirl ceased his spell and the image disappeared.
"How do you suggest we get rid of this menace?" Celestia asked the entire council.
"I suggest we find the little brat and stomp him out! No chance we can keep him in a prison cell for long." Battlehoof said grinning and tapping his hooves together plotting.
"Battlehoof!"
"Sorry Celestia." He said slumping down on the table. He was the best adviser there and that was because he always suggested battle and the look on his face when he was denied was priceless!
"Battlehoof is right about one thing Princess." Starswirl looked at Celestia.
"He is?"
"I am?" both Celestia and Battlehoof looked at each other, puzzled.
"Yes, he cannot be contained. We ether send him back home or dispose of him." Starswirl said with a hint of worry in his raspy voice.
"I can send out my troops to look for this menace." Battlehoof said with a little smile coming over his green muzzle.
Celestia sighed, "OK Battlehoof." Celestia and Battlehoof never saw eye to eye but he was the best pony for the job so she had to put up with him. The only fun part about the council meetings were watching them bicker and seeing a normally cool Celestia snort and stamp her hooves in anger.
"Council pony Metal Mage?" Celestia looked over at the adviser of weapons and welding, a blue stallion with a white mane who normally kept to himself.
"Yes Princess?" he said straightening up and unknowingly straightening his bow tie.
"I would like you to work with Starswirl to make a weapon strong enough to break his dark crystals." Celestia said nodding to both Metal Mage and Starswirl, "The rest of you, keep on a look out for this foal and dispose of him if you see him. Council dismissed."
Slowly all of the advisors stood up and filled out of the council room and out into the great hall. Luna stood up and when nopony was looking she shook herself out.
"Ugh, this dress is so itchy! This is why I don't normally wear clothes." She snorted and looked at the floor.
Celestia came up to her, "You know we need to be our best for royal business."
"Yes sister, but isn't it unnatural for ponies to wear clothes. I mean it just doesn't seem in our nature."
"Just let it go Luna." Celestia said annoyed, "You are going to have to live with it if you want to be royalty."
"Well, maybe I don't want to be royalty!" Luna said in disgust. She ran down the halls with the ancient portraits of ponies and through the corridors until she came to the door of her room. She quickly opened the door and slammed it not caring if Celestia herd it or not. She tore off the dress and threw it on the floor. Tears swelled in her rage filled eyes but she didn't feel them. All she felt was her rage. She snorted and stomped her hooves. Luna ran over to her mirror for a second and saw something that stopped her in her tracks. Something that scared her more then anything had ever scared her in her life. She saw herself.
Luna had started to transform into a monster. Her eyes had turned to slits and her coat a darker shade of blue, almost black. Her front teeth had started to sharpen and when she ran her tongue over them she nicked herself. Her wings had a bat-like quality and were transforming as she stood there and stared at herself. Luna backed up from herself, or, it looked like herself. Her reflection cackled sinisterly and narrowed its eyes. Luna let out a scream and as she herd hoof steps down the hall her morphed reflection disappeared to show her normal self. Suddenly, a golden aura of magic turned the handle of the door.
"Luna! What is going on?! Is the holder of dark magic here?" Starswirl said as he barged into the room.
"No Starswirl. He isn't here." Luna said still shocked from the thing she saw in the mirror. 'Did I really look like that? How could I be a monster?' she thought.
Starswirl walked over to Luna who was sitting on the floor in shock, "I can tell there is something wrong my princess. What has happened to you?" He asked with surprising comfort in his voice.
Luna sighed, "Has anything ever confronted you in a mirror?"
Luna and Starswirl were searching through the library's archives looking for anything having to do with talking mirrors or mirrors acting strangely. Luna was on the far right side of book shelves starring up to the ceiling. There were so many books. How could she get through them all? None the less she started looking through the hard-backs. Tales of the Crystal Empire, Maps of Northern Equestria, How to Shine Doorknobs,
"You really have a book on how to shine doorknobs?" Luna asked lifting one eyebrow and giggling a little.
"Give me that!" said Starswirl plucking up the book and re-shelving it not before he kissed it's cover.
'I was right, this pony is crazy.' Luna thought picking up the next book.
Just then she remembered something, 'The violin book!' Luna flew up to the top shelf of old books on the far back shelves of the library. These were the oldest of the books in Starswirl's personal collection and only he and the princesses were aloud to even touch them. She looked through the dusty scrolls and hardback books and finally found the one she was looking for. It was a brown book with singed pages and silver binding. She levitated it with her blue aura and flipped open the dusty pages. She sneezed and coughed as she shooed the dust away with a hoof, the other covering her eyes. Once all of the dust had died down she went through the pages looking at how to tune the strings and all of the notes to play.
Luna flew down to where Starswirl was sitting books flying around his head, "Starswirl." she said flapping to a stop near him.
"Yes." he said not looking up from his books.
"I was wondering if I could use this book."
Starswirl looked up from the books he was studying, "May I see it?"
"Sure," said Princess Luna letting him hold the book. He rubbed his hooves over the cover.
"Hm, I don't need this book. You can have it." and he returned to his books.
"What, really?" Luna was shocked. Starswirl never any of his books go, "Are you sure?"
Starswirl put down his books completely. He stood up and put one hoof on Luna's shoulder, "I saw the violin. I know you want to try it out and I believe that it would be a good outlet for your jealousy and anger."
"What do you mean?" Luna said confused.
"I have found the answer to our mystery." Starswirl said, "You really were turning into what you saw. The cackling image was what was happening inside of you, you are a monster inside princess."
Luna was shocked. Was that true? She was a monster?
"Now, that doesn't mean we can't stop the transformation soon in it's process. Your jealousy is taking you over from the inside out. The only proven way to stop this is to find an outlet for the monster inside you to escape."
"And you are suggesting the fiddle I found."
"Yes." Starswirl nodded, "Through that you can let your feelings escape."
"Is it OK if we keep it a secret though, Celestia is not to fond of it and she might be upset if you were to help me with something she didn't approve of." Luna said looking down at the floor.
"What is there not to like? The fiddle is a beautiful instrument." Said Starswirl.
Luna sighed, "On our way here she told me I should get rid of it! She said she thinks they are a commoners instrument and a princess should not be playing an instrument meant for public houses and late night tales." She herself didn't know why she would say those things about the beautiful instrument.
Starswirl sighed, "You know I don't like to keep secrets from Celestia."
"Yes, I know." Luna said.
"But, I think I can, just this once." he smiled and winked at the young princess.
"Oh thank you Starswirl!" Luna leaned forward to hug him around the shoulders. He was almost like a father to her sometimes, probably because he had practically raised them. She hopped back to her spot next to him and ran out of his library.
As she flew out the door she yelled to him, "I will be out practicing my outlet!" She smiled as wide as she could as she pelted down the halls and into her room. She flopped on her bed next to the fiddle and clutched the book between her hooves. She squee'd as she rolled all over her bed. Just then she herd hoofsteps coming down the halls. She quickly opened her eyes and sat up. Luna slid the book and the fiddle underneath her pillow then assumed a natural position. Just then Celestia knocked on her door frame.
"Time to lower the moon to make way for my dawn!" Celestia smiled as if the sun was the best thing in the world. Personally, the dawn was Luna's least favorite part of the day. She had to see all of the citizens of Equestria bask in the daylight while right before they had ignored her night. "Come on, let's go!" Celestia high-stepped down the halls with Luna trudging behind her. As they approached the balcony, Luna looked up at Celestia.
"Sister," Luna said as Celestia turned her head.
"Yes Luna."
"What would happen if I didn't lower the moon and you raised they sun anyway?"
"Pff, what a stupid question. Like I would ever do that. Now, be a dear and lower the moon."
Luna snorted, but walked out onto the balcony anyway. She recited the spell to lower the moon. Her horn glowed a beautiful blue and intern the moon was encased in an aura that sparkled and twinkled like the stars near the silvery orb of the night. She moved the moon downwards in the dark blue sky. In tern, the stars followed it's glow until they all diapered under the horizon. Luna stepped back and Celestia walked to the very edge of the balcony.
"Hey look everypony! It's the princess!" hollered a stallion from below. Luna didn't even want to look. She knew they were all gathering to watch Celestia raise the sun. They called her the princess, what about her? So to her room she went wishing the time for night would come soon so she could fly away and forget her troubles.
