The insistent light of the sun lit up the mare who had been slumbering peacefully.
She opened her eyes blearily and blinked a couple of times to try and dispel the drowsiness that was still prevalent in her head.
She immediately slammed her eyes shut when she finally took notice of her surroundings.
W-what.... how, how.... This... this can't be! I can't be back here! 'Tia said she would never....
With glacial slowness she carefully opened her eyes once again, looking around the barren place that had been her prison for a thousand long years.
"How could this have happened?" She spooked herself with her own voice, with no air to vibrate her voice sounded hollow as she could only hear it inside herself.
Did I succumb to the nightmare once again?
With growing dread she looked around the surface of the moon again, looking for something, anything to help her make sense of what had happened
And I promised 'Tia I would never let myself be taken in like that again.
She had been scared of herself ever since the day of her return, the fight she- or rather Nightmare and Celestia had fought had been brutal, on both the ponies under their care and on Celestia herself, she had been able to see it in the eyes of the older Alicorn.
Celestia had changed, and Luna had thought it especially prevalent in her eyes.
Her older sister had carried a smile on her face whenever Luna was in her presence, beaming with joy at having her younger sister back.
But eyes cannot lie, and in her sisters eyes... though she had seen joy at her return, she had also seen great pain.
If she had to banish me again, will she forgive me? Will I even survive on my own for another thousand years?
She put a hoof to her chin.
but I wasn't alone last time I was here, not really
"Nightmare!" she called out, her words still refusing to go anywhere beyond herself.
But she knew that didn't matter, as the Nightmare was a part of her, and had always responded before.
Only she- 'It' didn't, Luna's senses were met by nothing but silence, and the sight of the slow rising sun above the moon's horizon, tonight would be a full moon back on Equestria.
Fearful of getting a response, but even more fearful of being all alone she called out again.
"Show yourself monster!"
She waited for nearly an hour, occasionally calling out to the Nightmare, pacing back and forth in the dust that littered the moonscape.
--
Nothing.
She frowned, that had not been the case last time.
Nightmare had been so eager to gloat that every waking moment of Luna's imprisonment had been spent listening to taunts, sneers and gloating.
She was forced to a conclusion, one that both delighted and terrified her.
It was not Nightmare.
She swallowed a lump in her throat and sat down on her haunches, moon dust flaring up all around her before settling down again.
So why am I back on the moon?
Maybe 'Tia hates me and that's why she sent me back to the moon, what if that's what I saw in her eyes?
She collapsed, causing a shower of moon dust to cover her head to tail, as she sobbed into her hooves, shedding tears that froze solid as soon as they left her body, creating tiny crystals that looked ever so beautiful.
And I thought she looked so happy back then, I'm such a foal.
How could anypony love a Nightmare.
Luna's reaction to hearing that nightmares was the term given to bad dreams ponies experienced had been one of sad understanding.
When she had talked to Celestia about it she had cried, her drive of wanting to be as revered as her sister, falling by the wayside of not wanting to be remembered as the bringer of bad dreams.
In the time before her imprisonment, she had been the mistress of dreams.
The night had been the perfect inspiration for a lot of artists during her time away, but neither them nor her sister could ever hope to match the artistic talent or skill she had displayed when using dream magic.
In the space between a thought she had gone from pony to pony using her magic to grant them dreams that were joyous and sometimes even educational, while for others she crafted relaxing dreams, making sure that their night's rest was peaceful and undisturbed, although it garnered her no renown.
And now my sister hates me, everypony fears me and I'm stuck on my own creation.
Sitting up and looking around, sniffling her sniffles.
And this time I am truly alone.
If that's how it's going to be, I can at least make sure nopony has to fear me ever again.
"I make this vow, to myself!" She yelled, using her magic to amplify her voice, the concussive force stirring the dust even though she could still only hear her voice inside herself.
"While I could not stop Nightmare from breaking from this place, I vow that I will not!"
"No-nopony!" she faltered thinking of the six mares that had helped her conquer her own personal nightmare, and her sister, who she thought had been happy to see her back.
"Nopony need ever fear me again." she finished in a whimper.
Gingerly laying down again she buried her face in her hooves and tried her hardest not to cry.
"Luna?"
Her head shot up, fresh tears running down her muzzle.
"'Tia?!" She looked around the moon's surface frantically, searching for her sister.
"What's wrong Luna?" The voice called out, though to Luna's surprise the voice came from everywhere.
"You hate me!" She wailed, "What else could be wrong?!"
The surface of the moon shook, if Luna hadn't been lying down she would most certainly have stumbled.
"Luna..."
To her right was a pony, white as snow with a mane as pink as Luna remembered from their childhood.
"Why would you think that I hate you?" the pony asked.
"Look around!" She yelled, sweeping a midnight blue hoof across the surface of the moon.
"Why else would you banish me again?"
"Because of Nightmare." the white mare replied.
"But Nightmare Moon isn't here! It's just me!" Luna cried, losing even more tears as she stared at the younger version of her sister.
The pony-Celestia shrank.
"Luna, listen to me."
Luna just looked at the shrinking pony through her still tear filled eyes, idly wondering why Celestia was shrinking herself.
"You are not the bringer of bad dreams." the now mini Celestia said.
"Then who is?"
"Nightmare moon is." Celestia was now tiny, barely as high as the calf of Luna's hoof.
"And even you and I aren't immune from her influence."
"What?" The more Celestia talked the more confused Luna became, nothing her sister said indicated that she hated her.
"Oh little sister, I wish I could spare you this pain, but the Elements of harmony cannot destroy a creature like Nightmare." with that the tiny pony disappeared.
"What does that even mean?!" Luna went from sad to angry, it was like she was a foal again, and Celestia tortured her with riddles which supposedly had some wisdom or hidden meaning.
"It means sister.." this time Celestia's voice came from the sun. "That you need to wake up."
--
The insistent light of the sun lit up the mare who had been slumbering peacefully.
She opened her eyes blearily and blinked a couple of times to try and dispel the drowsiness that was still prevalent in her head.
She immediately opened her eyes as wide as they would go when she finally took notice of her surroundings, and the white Alicorn reclining next to her on the bed.
Luna looked around in a daze, taking in the details of her sisters room which they had shared since her return
everything looked so much clearer than normal.
The glass doors to the balcony shone, the study where Celestia usually tended to her correspondence looked even older and even Philomena looked brighter than she had ever seen the phoenix before.
"Good-morning Luna." Was all Celestia said, with her pain filled eyes.
But Luna understood the pain in those eyes now, the pain of being unable to protect somepony from the things that scare them most.
"I'm sorry 'Tia" Luna was well on her way to crying for real now, before Celestia draped a wing over her back and settled down close to her.
"There is no need to be sorry Luna, Nightmare gets to everypony."
"But I thought you hated me, I thought you'd banished me again!"
Luna leaned against her older sister, trying to seek refuge from her own thoughts.
Celestia nuzzled her gently, "Come now sister, that's all behind us, and one silly nightmare isn't going to change that."
Luna returned the nuzzle and made herself comfortable under the white Alicorn's wing.
"I love you 'Tia."
"I love you too little sister."
