The dead of night is always the worst time for me. I am often left to my own thoughts; thoughts I cannot run from.
Some say hope is the most dangerous emotion; I disagree, for I am poisoned by regret.
I walk alone in the Everfree. I am more at home in this forest of monsters and the outcast than I am in Canterlot. I empathize with the creatures forced to hide their feral existence from Equestria. This was the last place I understood, the last place I felt I belonged.
Our palace has fallen to ruins, the statues erected in honor of the Sisters of the Sun and the Moon covered in vines and eroding with the aeons passed.
I am truly forgotten.
The last time I was here, I was not myself. I was her. Six little ponies wielded weapons I used to wield, and with those defeated the darkness consuming my soul.
How much of what the Elements of Harmony banished that day was truly me?
The Nightmare chose me for its own reasons. I worry those reasons have not gone away. Am I forever marked a victim, my emotions fodder for its horrid appetites?
The gloomy atmosphere of the dilapidated castle only serves to bring these self-deprecating thoughts further to the surface. I do not think I have ever experienced this particular sadness before; it consumes me. I am unable to sleep. Food holds no allure for me; I cannot recall the last time I have eaten.
I shake my head, my mane flowing side to side with the motion. I am only making myself feel worse with this line of thought. I should be back in Canterlot, near the warmth and light of my sister. She radiates kindness. How terrible it must have been for her to have to battle and banish her own blood. Were it not for my selfish actions and petty jealousy, the Nightmare would never have had the window into my soul.
I am a fool. That, it seems, has not changed. While Equestria moved on in my absence, I stagnated in anger, and finally acceptance during my cold, lunar exile.
Everything has changed.
I remain the same.
Fighting tears, I leave the palace, my gait quickening the further I go. Walking becomes trotting, trotting becomes cantering, until finally, I am galloping at full speed through the trees. I weave and dodge, letting pure instinct guide me.
I feel alive, my heart pounding in my chest, blood thundering through my veins. Keeping my wings tightly at my sides, I leap over a fallen tree, landing in a moonlit clearing.
I stop dead.
In the center of the clearing stands me.
No, not me. It is Nightmare Moon.
"You cannot run from your past," she chuckles wickedly.
I rear back in anger, slamming my hooves into the dirt.
"You are not real," I counter. The Nightmare that wears my visage tilts her head, her dark perversion of my form making me both angry and fearful.
"I am more real than real, Luna," she whispers, lowering her head menacingly. "As long as you exist, I am eternal."
"You are not welcome," I try, gritting my teeth. "I will not allow your existence to persevere."
"You have no say in my presence!" Nightmare Moon laughs unkindly. "I am more you than you, Princess of the Moon. Outcast amongst her own kind, unloved save for the pity your sister heaps upon you."
"That is not true!" I shout. Her words pierce my heart. The Nightmare me continues to laugh.
"I made you what you were meant to be. Pathetic simpering sibling of your celestial elder, hiding in the darkness, wallowing in self-pity. 'Nopony loves my nights!' You were useless until I made you powerful."
I shy back a step. "No," I insist. "I will not allow you in my head again. I deny your wickedness."
"I am you," Nightmare Moon hisses. "I am your deepest desires. Your darkest wishes. Your most shameful lusts. I am the real Princess of Equestria!"
"You are not real!" I shout again.
"You make me real," Nightmare Moon replies with a snarl. Tendrils of glittering cyan blue with streaks of violet begin to writhe from her spear-like horn. I flare my wings defiantly.
In the distant night sky above, unseen to either myself or the aberration before me, a star beings to twinkle.
I feel something wrap about my throat. Gasping, I rear back on my hind legs. Nightmare Moon laughs. The tendrils...
"Stop...!" I manage to choke. The invisible grip grows tighter, and the dark doppleganger takes a few steps toward me.
"Die, Luna," she hisses, and lunges at me with her horn.
The twinkling star above begins to fall.
I wrench my body to the side, fighting for air, and Nightmare Moon's attack barely misses my heart. She roars and leaps to the air, beating her evil wings, the pressure at my throat growing ever more.
"Fighting me is useless, Luna!" she bellows, hovering just above me. "I will always win, for you are weak of will!"
A sound like thunder booms through the clearing, and Nightmare Moon is suddenly knocked to the ground by a streak of hot white light. The force at my throat releases, and I gasp for air, falling to the ground as well. As I struggle to regain my footing, the white light fades, and I look upon a bat pony.
He is garbed in the armor of my Lunar Knights... from a millennia ago.
Nightmare Moon leaps to her feet and screams her rage. He speaks no words, and only throws himself at the Nightmare with a ferocity that belies the kindness of his golden eyes.
Nightmare Moon shrieks as my impossible savior drives his hooves into her chest, pummeling the fallen monstrosity with sharp, forceful jabs. She lashes at him with her own hooves, and he ducks, ramming her in the chest with his head. I hear Nightmare Moon gasp as the air is knocked from her lungs. He turns for one brief moment to look upon me.
I recognize him. How is he here? This pony that died over a thousand years ago, who used to stand at my side each and every night court I held? That accompanied me on my castle rounds?
I see Nightmare Moon gather herself for an attack, and I scream at him to watch out.
He turns around too late, and takes the full force of the Nightmare's magical assault to his chest and face. It forces him back into the tree next to me. I hear a sickening crunch, and Nightmare Moon's maniacal laughter.
His wings are broken; the leathery skin shredded by the blast. Bone protrudes from one of his hind legs, and his chest is frighteningly sunken. Blood pools at the corner of his mouth, and leaks from his nose and ears.
"Run..." he whispers, his voice wet and thick.
I begin to shake. Tears sting my eyes, but another emotion is driving me; anger. Whirling around, I come muzzle to muzzle with Nightmare Moon.
"You cannot even summon guards strong enough to save you," she mocks.
I do not answer her. I am done with words. Deep within myself, I begin to gather my power. It starts in my belly, a warm, tingling sensation. From my hooves to my mane and tail, I can feel the magic roiling through my veins. Nightmare Moon continues to laugh in my face.
"Nothing to say, Luna?" she chuckles.
"I deny you," I whisper.
My attack catches her entirely off guard. The cobalt blue blast shatters her armor. I can hear bones break. Snarling, I lunge at her for good measure, driving my horn deep within her chest. I can feel the pulsing of her heart against it. I yank my head upwards, shredding the vile organ.
"I decide my fate," I hiss, ripping my horn free of her body. It drips with blood. Nightmare Moon staggers back, seeming less solid than before. She weakly flares her wings, struggling to stay upright. "You are now the one banished!"
"You cannot defeat me," she wheezes.
"Perhaps," I counter, feeling the wind in my mane. It smells of hope. "But I can always become stronger."
"Fool's errand," Nightmare Moon whispers, her existence wavering even more. She is barely solid, now; I can see through her, like a ghost. "You will never be as loved as Celestia."
"I do not need the adoration of everypony," I reply, standing tall. "I know my worth."
"I am within you!" Nightmare Moon shrieks as she fades entirely.
"Princess..." The guard's voice is weak. I turn to him, kneeling, and assess his wounds again. They are beyond my ability to heal.
"Do not talk, brave one," I say softly. "Save your strength."
"I am glad... I got to see you... one last time," he manages, coughing. "I never... told you..."
"Told me what?" I ask, weeping openly at his devotion. I do not understand what magic allowed his presence, but I cannot deny its power. A thousand years have passed, and still he shoulders the burden of protecting me from danger.
"How much... I loved you."
His head falls to the side as the light goes from his eyes.
"No," I sob. "No, you cannot die! You are the only pony alive who understands!"
Opening my wings, I scream my sorrows into the night. The sky goes dark as the stars and moon go out. Equestria is plunged into a moment of pure darkness. I need their power. I need their light. I do not know how I know the spell I am about to perform, but I know it must be done.
I feel the energies of my stars and moon gather within me. I focus on the guard—I do not know his name, how can I not know his name?!—and imbue him with everything I have and more. I envelop his broken body with my wings, and the clearing flares with a sudden and brilliant silver light.
One by one, the stars above begin to come to life.
The moon beams down upon us, full and bright.
I hear breathing. I look down. His chest rises and falls with the peaceful cadence of a pony in slumber. No evidence of his battle remains. I send him pleasant dreams, and settle at his side, exhausted now, waiting for sunrise.
Beyond death, beyond time, I have finally found a friend.
