Shades

The night is the most dangerous time of the cycle. It is a time where fear rules, predators roam, and nightmares terrorize the citizens to the point of everlasting trauma. The darkness terrifies the populace whether they want to admit it or not. When one stands alone in the blackness with only the sounds of the night to company you, there is nothing one wants more than the light’s comfort.

But that is when one remembers the strange beauty there is in the night. The moonlight reflecting of the dew that forms in the nights cold that sits on leaves, plants, and even the grass, making the night seem like its lit up with candles that stretches as far as the eye can see. The white moon and the stars that comforts the populace for simply being there to guide them through the night. And the dreams that little fillies and colts have. Dreams of wonder, cutiemarks, adulthood, adventures and so much more.

Luna knows of both sides of the night, its horrors, its wonders, and everything in between more than anyone. She had been the one to bring it for so long. Even with her thousand year absence, she still felt that the night was hers. Where others would find comfort in the day and it's light, Luna found comfort in her night's darkness.

She was sitting in the Canterlot throne room, signing documents while having two of her trusty night guards on each side of her. Night court had just finished. Not many comes to night court, but Luna appreciated the few that did. Times had improved since before her imprisonment. Now ponies actually bothered to come whenever she held night court.

Yet something was bothering her. Something hadn’t been the same since her return. She couldn’t place it, but it was if the world around her had become darker than it used to be.

She put down her pen and glanced around the, only lit with a few candles and moonlight, throne room. She watched the long shadows that stretched across the marble floor. Shadows of chandeliers, her throne and even her own guards. Something wasn’t right about them, but she couldn’t place it.

“Your highness, is something wrong?” One of the guards asked beside her.

Luna looked to the night guard that had asked her and gave a little smile. “No, nothing’s wrong.” She answered. The guard nodded and went back to staring through the throne room.

No matter how much Luna tried to dismiss the thought, she couldn’t shake the feeling of something being off in Equestria.

Luna yawned. It was soon time for the moon to go down and the sun to rise. She had around thirty minutes before Celestia would raise the sun. She got up and exited exited the throne room, beginning her ascension to her personal chambers, her guards following behind.

As she approached to her chamber’s doors, she turned to her following guards. “Thou both arst dismissed for the rest of this night.” The guards saluted and began walking the other way down the hall.

Luna proceeded inside and shut the door behind her. She let out a deep sigh as she looked around her chambers. The floor was made of white marble just as the rest of the castle. It had a giant dark blue rug with a crescent moon that filled most of the room. On Luna’s left were a queen sized bed with purple and blue sheets. Beside the bed were a table with a picture of her and her sister. On her right were books, scrolls and various artifacts on a massive shelf that covered most of her wall. And in the other end of the room were windows and the door to her balcony.

It was nice that Celestia had made this room for her on the day of her return, but to Luna it just didn’t feel like home. She missed their old home in Everfree. She missed the traps and mechanisms that she and her sister had played with in their youth, she missed her old room, but most of all, she missed the time before her becoming Nightmare Moon. All of the ponies she used to know were no more and she didn’t even get to say goodbye.

Luna’s tiredness seemed to disappear with her thoughts about her past home and she almost felt sick being in her room. She began to sweat and could feel her stress getting to her. She needed to get out of that room, she needed some air.

Without further thinking she ran out on the balcony, closed her eyes, spread her wings and jumped of. The wind rushed through her mane and fur. For a moment she almost wanted to let her eyes be closed. To let the wind take her somewhere else. A place where no one had ever heard of her, a place where she wouldn’t have to be reminded of her past actions, but Luna knew that she couldn’t. She couldn’t do that to Celestia.

When Luna opened her eyes, she found herself gliding in the direction of Ponyville. No, not Ponyville, but the Everfree forest. How was that possible? The wind currents should have taken her west, not south? Was her desire to see her old home that strong?

Luna squinted her eyes. There was something wrong with the shadows around Everfree. She could see the areas around Everfree were darker. As if the moon’s light barely fell on it. As she descended to investigate, she could also make out a darker shape at the outskirts of Everfree. It looked like a pony and yet not. The unnatural darkness seemed to be following it. And it seemed as if it was about to enter everfree.

Luna landed ever so carefully without making a sound, intent on following the pony-ish shape, she used her magic to blend in with the darkness. It was a kind of camouflage magic that made her almost completely unnoticeable. Only downside was she could only use it at night.

The moment Luna took her first step towards the dark shape, it turned its head towards her.

She froze. The shape was a pony stallion with glowing yellow eyes. his body was darker than the deepest pit and light seemed to be drawn to him, being sucked into his body. It was almost impossible to make out details about the stallion. His body and the unnatural shadows made it too dark to make out any.

Luna’s mind was going into overdrive with questions. First of all: how was this pony-ish creature able to see her? No creatures should be able to detect her and even less see her when she used that magic. Her sister and Discord had been the only ones to ever detect her. Secondly: was this pony the reason why she had felt that something was off? She almost felt drawn towards the stallion like the light around him was. She was certain that he was the cause.

She stared at the stallion for what felt like minutes, but was in truth only a few seconds before he turned his head back and began sprinting into the Everfree forest.

“Wait!” She called after him after, dropping her disguise. She then spread her wings once more and flew after the stallion into the Everfree forest.

Luna beat her wings faster and faster in the attempt to catch up to the stallion. But she had already lost sight of him. This should not be possible! Luna thought, frustrated. She could see as clearly during the night as a normal pony could on a sunny day. There was no way she should be able to lose sight of him even in a forest like Everfree. She kept flying with no clear sense of where she was going and then stopped abruptly in the air.

She could still feel the stallion’s presence all around the forest. She didn’t know where he was, but she knew he was there. Luna began looking around for any signs of him being around there. The forest was quiet, but nothing unnatural about it other than normal. She looked at the trees, the ground and plants, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Then she noticed something about the shadows of trees, plants, and even rocks and vines. They were all stretching towards the same path.

Shadows from the moonlight didn’t usually stretch in one singular direction. They always bend behind the light around them, but this was not the case. The shadows were defying all logic the way they were stretching.

Luna smirked victoriously at her discovery and began flying in the direction where the shadows were stretching.

Behind her, the moon had almost disappeared completely in the horizon.

Luna soon found herself approaching a cave in the other end of Everfree. It was small. Luna would have to duck if she wanted to enter. She began eyeing the cave. Something was off.

Luna suddenly felt a chill. The air itself wasn’t freezing and it was a warm summer night, so why did she feel so cold? Luna felt a shiver go down her spine and felt compelled to look down onto her own shadow. She slowly turned her head and her suspicion was confirmed.

Her shadow was contorting in weird ways and in the second she laid her eyes on the shadow, something began seeping out from it. Something black that quickly gathered up in front of her and took shape.

There he was, the dark stallion with glowing yellow eyes.

Instinctively Luna took a defensive stance. If it was a fight the stallion wanted, then he would get one. But to her surprise, the stallion just tilted its head in confusion, its face remaining expressionless.

“Who art thou?” Luna asked the stallion.

The stallion kept the same expression. Several seconds went by and then the stallion spoke. His voice hoarse, yet powerful and dark.

“Does it matter?”

Luna felt another shiver go down her spine at his voice. Her mind went blank at his response. From her experience the villain usually announced him/herself very dramatically and with great pride in their voice. That pride also went away when she started beating the living hay out of them. But the stallion’s response was the one she probably least expected. Luna asked the first thing that entered her mind.

“What dost thou want?”

The stallion kept its stare on Luna. “I have been wanting to meet you for a very long time, princess Luna.” He answered. “I want to help you.”

Luna looked in disbelief at the stallion. What would this thing possibly want to help her with. “Help us? With what?”

The moon sunk down beneath the horizon behind Luna.

“Though your nightmare is gone, you still hold on to its shadow.”

Luna didn’t know what the stallion was talking about. To the world around her and in her own mind, she was by all means, fine. She was glad to be with her sister and to be back in Equestria. And even if her subjects weren’t the friendliest, specifically the nobles, she was more than happy to have resumed her former duties.

The stallion continued. “In time your nightmare will begin anew…”

Luna’s eyes widened at his words.

“Unless you rid your shadow of this world.” The stallion finished.

Luna stared at the shadow stallion for what felt like hours, contemplating his words. She had no reason to trust the stallion, so why should she? “How do we know thou… You are not lying?”

“You don’t.”

Luna was not satisfied with that response. It didn’t help her whatsoever. She decided to humor the stallion. “And what do you want us… me to do?” Luna asked desperately.

The stallion kept silent.

Luna took a step closer towards him. “Answer us!” She yelled angrily.

The sun was starting to rise over the horizon.

“Stay in the light.”

As the stallion finished his sentence, the sun rose into the sky and its light washed over the land of Equestria.

“What dost thou mean?” Luna asked. But she didn’t get to ask anymore questions as the light hit the stallion and he evaporated into thin air. “Wait!” Luna called, but the stallion was gone and had left her with many questions.