Twilight Sparkle had had enough.
She was this close to getting through to Pinkie Pie, to convincing her that Princess Luna wasn't a bad pony, and then Rainbow Dash had to show up and make things worse. And now Pinkie was dashing off like the chicken she was dressed as.
This charade had gone on long enough. She'd deal with Rainbow later. Lighting up her horn, she teleported in front of Pinkie and braced herself.
Pinkie crashed into her, and as they tumbled, Twilight positioned herself so that she was on top of Pinkie.
"She's changed, Pinkie!" Twilight stressed. "She's not evil or scary anymore. And she definitely doesn't wanna gobble you up!"
Pinkie Pie stared at her for a moment, before responding, "Well, duh!"
.......wait. What?
"Huh?"
"I know that! Sheesh, Twilight, I'm almost as big as her, how's she gonna gobble me up?"
"So why do you keep running away and screaming?" Twilight asked, exasperated.
Pinkie smiled wide as she declared, "Sometimes, it's just really fun to be scared!"
Twilight just stared at her friend in shock. She.....had certainly not expected this.
"You mean to tell me...that you've just been pretending to be scared of Luna? That this was just one big joke?"
Pinkie nodded cheerfully. "Mm-hmm. And it looks like Luna's having lots of fun scaring everypony. She's really getting into it! Not bad for her first Nightmare Night!"
Twilight slowly got off Pinkie, trying to comprehend what she just heard. "Pinkie....Luna isn't pretending. She genuinely thinks you're scared of her."
"Pfft. What are you talking about, Twilight?" Pinkie rolled her eyes playfully. "Didn't you see her whole 'RAH I'M PRINCESS LUNA I'M GONNA GET YOU RAAAAHHHH!!!!!!' And that trick with the spiders? That was priceless!"
Twilight felt a rush of anger at Pinkie's ignorance. She pointed down the alley and shouted, "Look at her, Pinkie! Does she look like she's having fun?"
Pinkie, confused, followed the direction Twilight's hoof was pointing. There sat Princess Luna, her back turned and her head bowed. She looked absolutely miserable.
Concerned, Pinkie trotted over to her. "Princess, what's the matter?"
"Come to scream again, little pony?" Luna spat bitterly, standing up but not looking at her. "Do not worry. I shall take leave of this place, where you and the others may never have to see my frightening visage again."
Slowly, she began to walk away.
"Wha...leave? I don't understand.." Pinkie face twisted in confusion. "Weren't you having fun?"
Luna froze.
"Fun? Fun? Surely thou doth jest!"
Luna spun around, and Pinkie saw in horror that she had tears in her eyes. "Dost thou truly believe I enjoy frightening my subjects?! That I revel in the fact that they see me as nothing more than a monster?!"
Pinkie reeled back as if struck. "But....you're not a monster. Everypony knows that. We're just......pretending."
Luna's eyes widened, then narrowed as she sneered. "I see. So they see me not as a demon, but as an object of ridicule. Truly, I feel honored."
Pinkie cringed at the level of hurt and anger the alicorn was radiating. She looked between her and Twilight, who was glaring at her. "No! That's not....I don't...."
"Put yourself in her place, Pinkie." Twilight said, her gaze stern. "How would you feel if everyone was constantly running way from you, constantly reminding you of a single mistake you made?"
Pinkie thought about it, and as she did, her face contorted into an agonized frown. Her back hooves hit the ground and her tail curled around her body.
"I.....I would feel really bad. Like everypony hated me." she whimpered softly.
"Nightmare Moon was one of the worst mistakes I had ever made, Pinkie Pie." Luna said softly. "It cost me a thousand years. With my sister and with my subjects. And it very nearly cost the lives of innocents, nearly destroyed the very country that I swore to protect. I had hoped, that with my cleansing by the Elements of Harmony, that I would be able to start over, to finally form a connection with the ponies of Equestria, as I had longed for all those years ago. I had hoped that I would be able to earn a second chance. But it seems that, once again, I was mistaken."
Luna bowed her elegant head in sadness. Twilight moved to her side and gently placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder. She gazed at Pinkie Pie, clearly expecting her to respond.
Pinkie gazed up at Luna, her pale blue eyes brimming with tears. "I am so sorry, Princess. I wasn't trying to be mean, I swear. Nightmare Night is supposed to be fun. It's fun to be scared. I thought you knew that. I was trying to help you be as scary as you could be, so everypony could have fun!"
Pinkie lowered her head in shame. "But you weren't having fun, were you? We made you think we didn't like you, and that's not true at all! We're glad you're here, Luna! We really are.....but we didn't do a good job showing it."
Pinkie wiped her eyes and looked up at Luna, whose eyes had softened.
"Truly.....thou art glad I'm here?"
Pinkie nodded vigorously. "Of course! You're our friend!"
"F-friend?"
Luna looked to Twilight, who was smiling and nodding. She looked to Pinkie, who was smiling apologetically and holding out her hoof.
Luna considered for a moment, then slowly, she smiled, and toughed her hoof to Pinkie's.
They all went back to town square, where they explained everything. The townsponies, of course, felt terrible for the way they had, albeit unintentionally, treated Luna, and each came up to her and apologized. One colt, Pip, actually hugged Luna, and told her that she was his favorite Princess.
And so, Nightmare Night was restored, and everypony had a good time. Luna even got to scare Rainbow Dash.
Later Twilight sent a letter to Celestia about how she learned to share friendship with others, and how communication is important with others, lest they wind up unintentionally hurting somepony's feelings.
