Another Eternity

The night grew darker still around the travelers. It crept around them, threatening to break through the flickering light provided by the campfire they huddled around. In contrast to the way the dark assaulted the bodies huddled around the fire, the stranger drew the darkness around her like a cloak. Some would argue it was a trick of the eye while others would insist it was dark magic but if the storyteller knew the truth she didn't seem quick to speak it. It was helping set the mood, as it were. While the night rolled on the speaker set into the next stretch of her story, her eyes closed as she spoke softly.

"I had a feeling."

"What?"

"I had a feeling you broke and there was this smoke that filled you up. But I wasn't thinking about you back then, was I?"

"Sister, please. You needn't keep reliving these moments. It's done now. Let it rest where it belongs."

"I'm afraid I can't let myself do that. When you learn to live as cloaked a life as I do, you never realize just how much you're hiding."

"Then tell me what you've been hiding if you must. The night is still young, after all."

Celestia steadied her breath, casting her memory back. The image was crystal clear in her mind. Interesting, how the brain chose to save traumatic events. She inhaled and the air in her lungs felt younger, crisper than she remembered. She remembered a sun a thousand years younger, an old friend long since gone, the heady aroma of dense flora, the faint tang of brass decorations in the air. She let her senses overtake her, drawing in the sweet spring air that she found herself in.

But the memory itself was decidedly sour. She had been out in the courtyard, playing chess against Starswirl (a favorite past time of his) when she felt something break. Break was the best word she could use. It was as if a sharp spike of loss tore through her heart, radiating out in waves through the rest of her body. She tried to hide the searing pain that rippled across her frame but failed miserably in the task.

"Princess? What was that?"

"I-- What was what, Starswirl?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Celestia. Was that Luna? What's happened?" It would seem as though the wizened wizard had picked up on it as well. He always was sharp as a tack.

"I... I don't know. Something bad. Something very, very bad."

"I suppose this means we won't get to finish our game of chess then."

"I'm afraid not."

Finishing the game of chess would've been nice (she knew in a few moves she'd have that silly old stallion absolutely beat) but sometimes fun had to put on hold. It was a lesson she was getting sick of learning, especially at her age, but when it involved her sister she was willing to do anything. Even if that anything was spy on her as consistently as possible. Celestia was without a doubt a favorite of the castle staff so it was more than easy to persuade them to act as informants for her when they could. There was hardly a moment where she wasn't aware of Lunas' whereabouts. It might've a little unnecessarily invasive, but she was doing it because she loved her. Luna had no idea just how powerful she was and just how much damage that power could do. And neither did Celestia.

But time passed and her vigilance slipped. After going long enough without any sort of significant outbreak, Celestia decided that the immediate danger had passed. There were still times that she could feel something creeping around the edges of Lunas' mind, something far more sinister than anything the two of them had ever experienced, but she payed it no heed. Luna was strong and despite her contrary nature, Celestia trusted her to keep a hold on things. That was one of the biggest mistakes she would ever make.

"I can't believe I just forgot about you like that. Well, I suppose I can. I was a lot more selfish back then, wasn't I?"

"Well. Yes. You were. Not that I hold it against you. We were young ponies once as well, in case you forgot."

"That's no excuse. I should've tried harder. I really should've done--"

"Celestia, stop. I tire of seeing you beat yourself up. You weren't the only one at fault, you know. There was so much more that I could've done."

"Like what?"

"Let me tell you my side of the story."

Lessons. Magic lessons. Luna hated them. There was so much useless talking involved. She wished that her league of tutors knew enough to just cut to the chase already. Show her the forms she needed to know. Tell her what words she needed to practice, what image she had to visualize to send that thrilling energy coursing through her. But they complicated it with moral quandaries and pointless philisophical debates about this or that. It was a waste of her time.

Nopony really understood that. Nopony but her. She hated having her time wasted. She had so little of it to spend in the light of the day so when she was forced to stay cooped up till the night fell it made her sick. Why was she not allowed to experience the joy and frivolity the sun promised her? Why should she stick to the shadows? Sure, they fit her the best, but wasn't it unfair? Unfair that dear Celestia got to spend the vast majority of the time in the light, whille she was relegated to the dark?

She had since learned to save her complaints, however. They were always met with stiff resistance. From the guards. From her teachers. From Starswirl. Even from Celestia.

"Luna, your posture is really far too rigid. The idea behind the spell is fluid so your form has to be as well. Try loosening up your shoulders a little, really let the magic flow through you."

Luna sighed heavily, bowing her head in frustration for a moment before summoning her determination yet again. She focused and then unfocused each muscle in her body in turn, feeling a calm slowly spread across her body. Before long it reached the base of her horn and she focused that feeling into the spell. A bright light began to cascade out of the tip, pooling around her hooves at first before steadily spilling out to cover the floor of the room they were standing it. And then, nothing.

"What went wrong?"

"I... I don't know? You did everything you were supposed to. The power needed to perform this spell should be well within your reach as an alicorn, even at your age, but something must be missing..."

"What? What could I possibly be missing? I've got the skill, the knowledge, the desire to learn anything you have to teach me. What am I missing?"

Her tutor Whitelight took a moment to consider the question, hoof raised to her chin in deep thought. Slowly it seemed that the answer came to her, along with a fear to deliver that answer.

"It's friendship. That's the only thing I can believe in. So many spells seem to use that particular magic as their rawest source of power, so perhaps..."

"Perhaps what? Is there something you're privy to that I'm not?"

"Perhaps you need to make friends is all. Proper friends. There's an awful lot you can learn when you start to make friends."

Just hearing the word made Luna want to retch. Celestia waxed poetic about the beauty and magic of friendship but she didn't buy into any of that nonsense. There were so many powerful sorcerers who hardly had an aquiantance to their name; why should she be any different?

"There is no lesson in magic, Whitelight. Do you know what I dream of when I dream of friends? Humilation. Exclusion. Betrayal. Dishonesty. Cruelty. There is no place in my heart for friendship. I have no time to worry about anything as petty as that. I hope you'll refrain from mentioning something like that in our later sessions."

And in a flash she was gone, the smell of ether and smoke filling the room. Where the Princess of the Moon once stood sat a heavy air of dread, a clear sign of things to come.

"I let the darkness around me cloud my judgement. How could I ask to walk in the light when all I saw were shadows?"

"There wasn't much you could do about that. I fear that once the Nightmare had sunk its fangs into you there wasn't much of a chance to shake it."

"That's not as true as I'd like to believe, I'm afraid. But we've talked enough, Celestia. What say you and I go for a quick little flight?"

"I suppose it's been a while since I've done nothing but felt the wind on my wings. You can lead the way. The night is your domain, after all."

After a thousand years of working ones way through the clouds flight became second nature entirely. There was no thinking about which way to pitch or roll your body, no concern for updrafts and jetstreams, only the joy of flight in its purest form. The night was full of promise and the bright moon hovered above the skyline like a gleaming beacon, drawing Celestia into the dark without fear.

Largely without fear, at least. There were still times, when she caught glimpses of Luna in just the right light, something would awaken in the depths of her heart for just a moment. Images of fangs, of wrought-iron battle armor dripping in shadow, and a palpable aura of malice. It nearly cost her her focus a few times and was starting to wear thin on her enjoyment of the moment. It seemed Nightmare Moons' appearance impacted her deeper than even she could imagine.

She was relieved when they finally touched down on some hill, far from the intrusion of civilization. It was plain that they could cover quite a bit of ground when they lost themselves in the act of flying. Luna was wide-eyed, drinking in the beauty that surrounded them. There was so much to see, really. It was something that Celestia had failed to properly immerse in the time before Nightmare Moon. Ever since then and especially after Lunas' return, her appreciation for the night had grown significantly.

And so too had her appreciation for its custodian. Luna was so young when she had been locked away and it seemed the centuries on the moon had hardly served to wear her down. Her coat shone in the night and her mane was carried like a perfect wave through the air. The sight of her standing there resplendent in the moons glow, purple coat beaming softly against the satin dark that they found themselves in, captivated her entirely.

"Do you know what the Nightmare showed me?"

"I can't imagine any of it was good."

"Oh no, it was all very sinister. But there's something very interesting that had only recently come to my attention."

"Oh?"

"It showed me what I believed to be every possible outcome, from you lying dead at my hooves to the opposite. Yet it never showed me any of this. It must've truly thought you and I were opposing forces."

"Nightmares have never been easy to reason with."

Luna seemed to find peace in this answer for a brief moment. Still something hung in the air, a jumble of words that raged insistently in her throat.

"I had never felt so alive then."

No response was provided beyond a worried look that only prompted Luna to continue.

"When I was standing above you. Seeing you beaten like that excited me. It felt right, like things were finally as they were supposed to be. It was as if there was something... spilling out of my dreams into real life. I can still see it, a danger seeping from my skull onto everything around me. Like a thick fog had rolled over my vision, as if a great dark blanket smothered the world while I slept. Do you know what that was like? I can tell you it was no way to live."

And like that silence rushed to fill the space where words had been seconds ago. Even the nights' song had been hushed, as if every insect and every blade of grass was rapt in attention. Celestias' breath hitched in her throat, pressing her brain for something to say. It was barren, laid open by the way the night had progressed. So her heart stepped up in its stead. If she couldn't form some string of carefully chosen words then perhaps the truth would work.

"There's something else I want to share with you."