The cell stank.
The whole cellblock, in fact, stank of mildew and urine and unwashed ponies. The very first Equestrians had built this castle, and if the smell was anything to go by it hadn’t been cleaned since. Certainly no one had been down here since Celestia had first been imprisoned. Nightmare Moon was probably worried that the cleaners would turn out to be on Celestia’s side. A sensible precaution, since just about everypony was on Celestia’s side.
Not that that had helped. With all of Equestria at stake, with every pony’s life in my hooves, I had failed.
Equestria’s new queen hadn’t sent anypony down with food or water either. Celestia was getting hungry, and desperately thirsty. If this was how Nightmare Moon was to kill her, then her sister had become cruel indeed. Luna had always had a bit of a vicious streak, but had never done anything like this.
I should have seen her changing. We were so close, how can I have not seen what she was becoming?
Celestia rolled over and dragged her filthy blanket over her body. Not long ago she wouldn’t have touched the disgusting thing, but after more than a week of constant night she was grateful for every bit of warmth she could get.
There was always something else to worry about. Luna was always so dependable, I never spared her a thought. Never noticed how isolated she was getting, how angry she always was.
This is all my fault.
Accustomed to the silence (save for that infernal dripping that seemed to come from everywhere), Celestia’s ears flicked up in surprise at the sound of hooves coming down the stairs. She raised her head from the floor to look at her visitor.
Queen Nightmare Moon stepped gracefully into the dungeon. Beautiful and terrible, she radiated an aura of malevolence that commanded the attention of all lesser beings. Or it would have, had Celestia not noticed the pitcher of water that her sister carried. She found she could not avert her eyes as a drop – a single blessed drop! – fell to the floor. As Nightmare approached and with the barest wisp of magic stepped through the iron bars separating them, Celestia reached involuntarily towards the vessel.
“Ah, ah, ah,” smirked Nightmare, jerking it out of her reach. Water slopped over the side, so casually that Celestia could have cried. “What do we say?”
“Please,” Celestia begged. Nightmare looked a bit put out at how quickly her sister had acquiesced, but levitated the jug over to her anyway. Celestia took it clumsily in her hooves and drank in careless gulps, precious water spilling down her face.
“I came down here to ask you a question, Celestia,” Nightmare said offhandedly. “And you are going to answer it truthfully.” It was not a question, not even a demand. Just a statement of fact, as immovable as a mountain. Criminals, traitors and all the enemies and monsters that ever threatened Equestria had learned to fear that tone. Celestia nodded apprehensively.
“What did you do to them?” Nightmare asked. Her reptilian eyes bored into Celestia’s own as if she could see right into her sister’s soul and Celestia struggled not to flinch away.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You know what I mean,” the Nightmare hissed, her voice as sharp and cold as broken glass in a bucket of ice. “You have bewitched the ponies of my kingdom. From the lowliest peasant to the greatest lord, they all worship your name and spit on mine. It has always been thus, even though I have proven myself greater in every way. So tell me, Princess, what enthrallment did you put them under? What spell, what ritual, what rite did you do? Why do they love you, and despise me?”
In a fraction of a second, several answers flashed through Celestia’s mind. The lie that would hurt (“because you’re unlovable”), the lie Luna wanted to hear (“I manipulated them”), the lie she believed (“because I’m just better than you”), even the truth (“because I care about them, and show it openly”). But after a moment’s hesitation, she decided to throw the dice instead.
“I guess they just think the sun is better than the moon.”
The look of puzzlement on Nightmare Moon’s face would have been hilarious had the situation been different. Whatever the Queen had been expecting, that was not it.
“What? Why would anypony think that?”
“Ponies are diurnal, not nocturnal. It’s just the way things are, Nightmare. The night is dark and full of terrors, a time for wolves and monsters and fear. To their little minds, I bring safety and happiness, whereas you cannot.”
“Cannot?” Nightmare lunged forward, grabbing Celestia by the throat in an unflinching telekinetic grip and slamming her against the back wall of the cell so hard she saw stars. “I cannot?”
“Do not!” Celestia choked out desperately. “I meant you do not do it.”
Mollified, Nightmare released her and Celestia fell back to the floor like a puppet cut free of its strings. “I choose not to raise the sun. I do not wish it to disturb my night, and so it does not.”
“Yes,” said Celestia, her voice hoarse. “And that is only right. The moon and the night are yours, just as the sun and the day are mine.”
A look crossed Nightmare’s face, like a fox spotting a mouse. Her mouth split into a wide grin, exposing wicked fangs.
“...Are they?” she asked, and Celestia’s face fell.
“Lu... Nightmare, please.”
“Please what, ‘Tia?” Nightmare was insufferably smug.
“Please don’t do it,” Celestia pleaded.
“Please don’t do what, sister?” Nightmare pressed, her grin growing broader each second.
“Please don’t take the sun away from me,” Celestia whispered. “It’s all I have left.”
“So it is.” Nightmare stood. “Your kingdom is mine. Your ponies are mine. Now, your sun is mine too, and when I raise it the common folk will adore me as they once did you.
“Do you see now, Celestia? There is nothing you have that I cannot take away. There is nothing you can do that I cannot do better.”
“You can’t move the sun,” Celestia cried desperately. “It will only answer to me!”
Furiously, Nightmare struck her sister across the face, knocking her onto the hard floor. Looking down on the mare, she spoke coldly. “No longer. Sleep well, Celestia.”
Gracefully, immaculately, regally, the Queen of Night and Day marched out of her dungeons, leaving the beaten sister crumpled on the ground.
But as Nightmare disappeared up the staircase, Princess Celestia smirked.
Equestria is not even close to saved yet. But at least it’ll survive the week.