Silence reigned over the encounter, the only sound in the area being the breathing of the ponies and the wind rushing through the air. The sisters were unprepared to see a physical Evil again as he was still clearly incomplete, but their eyes clearly showed the fear they tried to hide when they first realized this powerful enemy had not only come back, but already taken over much of their land right under their noses.

“Oh come on, Princesses, what’s with the silent treatment? I want to catch up now that we’re face to face again! So what happened all this time? You know, after you ripped me apart?!” The Livid Evil spoke coldly, still clearly sore about such a thing.

“You… you will not scare us, monster! We-” suddenly The Interrupting Evil pressed a finger to Luna’s lips, cutting off her tirade.

“Before you speak, I have no grudge against you, Luna. I know full well that then and now you have been given no vote into the matters of Equestria.” Luna’s eyes widened in shock, but The On-A-Roll Evil continued.“Nightmare may have twisted your doubts and envy to her goals, but what no-one realizes is that my shadows cannot create, suppress or even amplify the feelings of others. When I used a shadow on Thalya, it merely forced her to see what Tanos and his friends had done to her, that darkness was always there.”

The ponies were all terrified at the implications, turning to their Nocturnal Diarch, who seemed more frightened than them. “No… no you won’t deceive us again! We are not-”

“Evil? Luna, everyone has the capacity for good and evil, that is not a statement of physical capacity, but of mental. True, without Nightmare Moon you would have never found the drive to attempt eternal night, but the thought passed through your mind on your own because, what was the alternative?”

“STOP IT! You will not twist me with your lies!”

“I SPEAK THE TRUTH!” He picked Luna up, and when Celestia moved to help, she was backhanded away by the flat side his Greatsword. “Do not lie to yourself! Luna, I know what you have been through, my connection with Nightmare lets me know that much, I saw what had happened. The nobles of old treated you like a monster, the beast on Celestia’s Leash to scare off the big bad villains and not like the ruler you are. It was either show them a real monster, or cower away and continue to weather the barbs, taunts and stones they threw your way. Luna… no matter what you think Nightmare did, what she did for you was far better than whatever cruel, burdened future you had being known as the ‘Sun’s Bitch!’ now confess!”

Celestia got to her feet to see her sister crying her eyes out under the ruthless gaze of The Tell-It-Like-It-Is Evil, not hearing any of what he had stated before, only going on the mortified looks of the guards and even The Undead Soldiers, she rushed forward and raised her axe. “Lay your hands off her you-”

“IT’S TRUE!!” the once proud Princess of The Moon sobbed loudly. “It’s all true!!”

“Luna…?”

“I never wanted to tell you sister, but the ponies of old didn’t just sleep under my night, that was not what drove me to allow the Nightmare’s help. The ponies hated me, they insulted me constantly, whenever you weren’t around the nobles and day guard held venom in their words around me. Tia, some even threw rocks, aiming for my horn.” that shut off all attempt for the solar diarch to quell what she believed were misunderstandings or simple fear, aiming for the horn or wings of a pony showed intent to permanently cripple them. “And all the while, I was left out of every decision for the country! You always saying that you knew best! That you were the elder so you had the wisdom! I thought we were in this together and yet not only did you take everypony else’s side when I asked for a Winter Solstice to celebrate my moon, you never gave me a chance to say my piece!”

“...Luna…” Celestia said again, more subdued.

“And now it’s happening again! It’s the worse but the same! Nobles fleeing at the sight of me, those who stand their ground never making eye-contact, you allowing them to vote out all of my suggestions even when you see they are clearly biased! I saw this already with the Crystal Empire! You haven’t changed!”

Both sisters were shocked into silence at The Corrupting Evil’s next move, as he pulled the alicorn close, and into a tight and caring embrace.

“You see now? Why it is important to let these things out? To speak truthfully of this darkness, lest it eat you from within?” she nodded dumbly, prompting him to set her down. “With this, you can truly begin to heal, and repair your bond with your sister using the right pieces.”

“Why…” The Confused Evil turned to see Celestia again, completely poleaxed. “After what you told us, after taking so much you-” she turned silent as she saw the figures of Shining, Cadence and Flurry standing upon the walls alongside Sombra and Nightmare, the Umbrum seeming to radiate darkness across his body.

“I may have been truthful of my intent, Celestia, but it does not mean said intent was Malicious, I may have lead you to believe it to be so and for that I am sorry. For my armies, with how much I have worked to help heal the divide that was growing once again, I do not want today to also be of destruction, shall we agree to a draw and have our forces withdraw, at least for today?”

“... yes, we shall.” The Princess of Day nodded hesitantly, seeing that she and her sister needed time to talk out their problems.

“And as for that other statement.” The Romantic Evil leaned forward and planted a ghostly kiss upon the back of Luna’s hand, causing everypony’s jaw to drop in surprise. “When this is over, maybe we can go get dinner? See one of those new ‘movies’ the modern ponies talk about.”

Luna found it difficult to process the sudden turn of events, the being who had finally helped her release all the balled up hate, anger and sorrow she had hidden all this time, allowing her to feel free and finally move to fix the problems that caused such turmoil, was now hitting on her? It did help that despite the ominous skeletal form The Wearing-An-Undead-Monkey-Suit Evil had at the moment, Luna could see what his true self looked like with soul-vision… and he wasn’t too bad on the eyes.

Eventually the flustered Princess of Tomatoes finally stammered out a response. “Y-yes, that sounds l-l-lovely.”

“Happy to hear it.”

And with that The Fond-Farewell-Giving Evil waved goodbye to the princesses and the invasion force of the royal guard that had technically attempted and failed to breach his compound due to The Charismatic Evil’s pre-emptive entrance and way with words.

...you’re totally going to tell everyone you kicked their ass in some badass fight, aren’t you?

“I’m totally telling everyone I kicked their ass in some badass fight.”

Ah, good, we’re on the same page.

{Celestia And Luna}

“We’re going to say The Corrupting Evil beat us in some epic battle, correct?” Luna asked.

“Eeyup!” Celestia and the guard answered.

“Oh good, just checking.”

Author's Note

and no-one spoke of that emotional roller-coaster to anyone else.

NEXT TIME: possibly some actual combat!
and a crossover with Mattchilly's "The Oni of Darkness!"