Canterlot, Afternoon

Ever since the attack, and especially after the Ponyville incident, Luna took on more duties in the wake-world. The ponies needed to feel protected, and when the supposed enemy hides from Celestia’s sun, the Princess of the Night needs to show herself as well. She went to give her guards new orders.

All group leaders of the Canterlot Lunar guard—around 20 stallions and mares—gathered in her office. After the last one entered, she said, “Everypony, listen carefully! I know that we all had a few stressful weeks lately, but l want all of you to remember one thing.

“We are not going to see vampires as a whole as enemies. Most that we’ve discovered are peaceful citizens of Equestria, and the crimes of a few single individuals shall not taint all of them as monsters. And as such, it is our duty to protect them the same way we protect everypony else!

“So here are the new orders: Groups one to five will patrol the business areas. Make sure nopony breaks into a store because it’s allegedly or factually owned by a vampire, or to frame them for anything.

“Groups six to twelve, you will receive a list of known vampires residents and will protect the area around them. We don’t need a series of murders—committed either by ponies who see all vampires as monsters or by vampires themselves—to further complicate matters.

“Thirteen to fifteen go to the public areas. Market places, main roads… Make sure that you are seen. It will help to calm everypony down to see that the royal guard supports the normal EUP.

“Sixteen, your group will split up. One of you each will go and help secure an entry point to the city. Normal ponies aren’t that observant at night, so your group will make sure nopony who shouldn’t enter the city comes in. We still don’t know what happened to Chrysalis, and we can’t afford even a single changeling, or other enemy for that matter, to gain access to the city and cause more chaos.

“The rest of you will search the city and surrounding area for activities of groups who formed with the intention to ‘cleanse’ Equestria of vampires. Reports of atrocities committed by such groups like ‘The Hunters’ in Manehattan or Las Pegasus already showed that they don’t kid around.

“There were also reports that in many rural areas, a group called ‘Silver Eyes’ searches for vampires. A small number of murders can be linked to them, but all victims were later found to be vampires who killed innocent ponies or turned them into vampires. Still, we cannot allow them or any other group to execute equestrian citizens. If you find anypony associated with any of the groups I mentioned, arrest and interrogate them.

“Are there any questions?”

“No, your Highness!” all captains answered in unison.

“Good. I’m sure that you will be successful in protecting all citizens.” Luna left the room and made her way to the main city. After Moondancer gave them the cure for Tia, both stayed in contact. Luna needed a contact who could help her gather informations about vampires, and Moondancer was a pleasant conversation partner. Luna wanted to visit her later, but both of them had other duties to deal with before that.

Even thought she had many friends now, the Canterlot library was still one of Moondancer’s favorite places. And since there were still a few hours left until Princess Luna wanted to visit her, she found herself in her favorite spot again. Not that she wasn’t happy about the access to the archives she was granted recently, but she didn’t want to abuse that privilege too much.

“Excuse me, but somepony asked me to give you this.” A mare she didn’t know was standing behind her and levitating a letter in front of her.

Moondancer said annoyed, “and who?”

“They said it would be clear after you read it. Sorry, I didn’t think it was important.”

Moondancer took the letter, thanked the mare and waited until she was alone again to open the letter. It was only a brief message

Moondancer,

Return to your residence

Don’t call for help

Don’t waste any time

Go there directly

Instead of a signature, there was just a seal depicting an eye under a crescent moon at the end.

Moondancer’s House, Dusk

Luna knocked at the front door, and Moondancer promptly opened. “Good evening, your Highness. Please, come in.”

Luna nodded and entered. But something seemed off. The way Moondancer looked outside before closing and locking the door, how she couldn’t stay still...

“Why are you so nervous today?” Luna asked Moondancer.

“I… I got a message for you. You already know that we vampires organized ourselves in order to hide. Well… it’s not just a little thing, it’s almost like another government. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you that earlier, but it is forbidden to reveal Noctris’ existence to diurnals.”

“Oh, I understand. You couldn’t be sure if I can be trusted and had to be cautious. But I guess they didn’t give you permission just so I know their name, right?”

“Apparently there is an important Nocturnal—that’s how we from Noctris collectively refer to ourselves—who wants to meet you in order to explain everything to you… tonight. Before you ask, I wasn’t told who.”

Luna thought about what she just heard. It seemed suspicious, extremely suspicious even. A vampire suddenly wants to meet her on such a short notice. But on the other hoof, it could deescalate the entire situation.

Luna asked, “And where is that meeting supposed to take place?”

“They said that they will be waiting for you at your old castle in the Everfree forest, and you will be brought somewhere else from there. As a precaution, so that the meeting isn’t stormed by Equestria’s army. You are also supposed to tell nopony about it.”

“The past times when diurnals learned about vampires ended really unpleasantly, I presume.”

“It always ended in bloodshed and massacres, until now. This is the first time it actually looks like we might have a chance at a peaceful relationship. But they fear that, if they just appeared one day in front of Celestia, it will be impossible. But if you, the Princess of the Night, support it, it might actually work.”

“Sounds reasonable. Anything else?”

“They mentioned something, but it didn’t make sense to me… If you choose to come tonight, they will answer all of your questions about Daybreaker...”

“Was that all?” Luna asked harshly.

“Y-Yes!”

“Then I have to leave immediately.”

Luna arrived at her desolate old castle shortly after nightfall. And just like Moondancer said, somepony stood in front of the entrance. When she stood before the stranger, she noticed the distinct, blood red eyes of a vampire.

“Good night, your Majesty,” he said while kneeling, “It is an honor to meet you.”

“Are you the pony who wanted to meet me so badly that they scared one of my friends?” Luna didn’t want to waste any time, so she chose not to correct him for using the wrong title.

“Oh, sweet night, no! I’m just here to bring you too her. So, if your Majesty is ready…”

“Lead the way, then.”

The vampire nodded, stood up and walked into the Everfree Forest. Luna followed him in silence. The Forest changed quite a lot since her banishment. 1000 years ago, she knew every inch of it, because she often wandered around in it after arguments with Tia… and they had a lot of arguments.

Luna wondered if the old, gigantic tree in the middle of the forest was still alive. The animals back then loved it. The dripstone caves probably looked a lot different now, but she didn’t come around to search for them again yet. And searching for the openings she visited back then was pointless, even she realized that.

Canterlot didn’t change at all in her absence, and that she didn’t recognise all the places only founded after her banishment was bearable too, but seeing the forest she lived in for almost a century changed so much that she couldn’t recognise anything anymore still hurt. It was still the Everfree in it’s wild, untamed glory, but not the forest she called home.

But when she stood before the crevice the vampire led her too, she recognized it immediately. She whispered, “Oh, that’s got to be a joke…”

“Here we are,” the vampire said, “She will meet you at the other side. You arrived earlier than expected, so she may not be there yet. I will leave now. It was an honor to meet you.” He bowed a final time before quickly vanishing in the Everfree.

Luna took a deep breath before going through the crevice. She mumbled, “Why this of all places? Why the damned Moon Pond—the one place in this enormous forest I never wanted to see again?”

The moon shaped pond still looked exactly like her cutie mark, and the same light blue, glowing flowers grew around it. A few meters behind the pond, the trees started growing again, but the opening was still there, even after 1000 years. The water showed a clear reflection of the moon. Luna walked forward and stared into the pond. Not only did she have to visit this cursed place again, whoever wanted to meet her had the audacity to let her wait.

“As peaceful as on the night we met, wouldn’t you say?” a familiar voice said from the direction of the crevice she came through.

Castle of Friendship, Night

Starlight’s new kite was almost finished. It took a lot of time and effort, but she wanted to complete it that day. But then Trixie wanted her help with a new show, and of course she helped her friend. It was a lot of fun, even though it cost her the whole morning.

And she agreed to join Maud in the caves days ago. Starlight was surprised to learn about Maud’s vampirism, but she didn’t really care. Maud was still Maud, and their friendship wouldn’t end just because of a few bigger teeth. And Starlight could imagine worse secrets.

And then she had to gather the materials. Sticks for the spine and crosspiece, strings to bind them together as well as for the bridle and line, the right cloth for the sail, decorative bows for the tail. The sun had already set when she finally found everything and returned to her room in the castle.

But now it was done. She had to work into the middle of the night, but she did it before midnight. So, technically she managed to finish it on the day she wanted to. The first flight had to wait for tomorrow though.

After eighteen hours awake, she just wanted to sleep. She started to walk to her bed, when she noticed something in the corner of her eyes. Something was blinking in her mirror. Her cutie mark. “Oh, come on!”

Starlight went to Twilight’s bedroom. She was already asleep, but Starlight was sure that she wanted to know about the friendship mission… despite it’s inconvenient timing. “Twilight!” Starlight knocked on her door. “Twilight, wake up! The map is calling!”

“What…now?” a half asleep Twilight asked through the door.

“Yes! I’m as happy about it as you are… Listen, I’ll make tea and wait in the throne room to see who else is so bucking lucky to be called on a friendship mission in the middle of the night, and you can either come too or go back to sleep.”

“No, I’m coming… Just give me a moment.”

“Take your time, I’ll wait there.”

The whole castle was illuminated by windows and sunlight, which was an elegant solution during the day. No need for torches or LECs, but now it was night—and a cloudy one too—so Starlight had to light her way to the kitchen with her magic. Not that it was a particularly exhausting spell.

Neither was the levitation spell Starlight used to make the tea. Lifting a kettle, lighting the fire, drawing the water… it was an easy task. She wasn’t as good as Spike though. His tea even impressed Rarity. If he had that knowledge when he moved to Ponyville and just happened to be lucky or if he acquired it specifically for the purpose of impressing her, Starlight didn’t know. She didn’t care for his crush, it was not on her to judge.

But what her tea lacked in taste or artistic appeal, it made up with in strength. The strongest coffee in all of Equestria has nothing against my Sleep-Killer. She may not yet know the spell to keep herself awake, but her tea was a good substitute for the time being. Figuring out how to disable the safety measures on Starswirl's time-travel spell had been a lot of work, and even though she wasn’t proud of what she did, she gained a few useful skills along the way.

Levitating the tray with the tea with her magic, Starlight made her way back to the throne room. She arrived at the same time as Twilight in front of the door. “Good Morning, Twilight”—she looked at her cutie mark—“It seems as if you won’t go with me on a mission.”

“Yeah. Let’s see if the map sends you on another solo mission.”

They opened the doors and entered. The glow of the map filled the entire room. Two cutie marks hovered over it.

Twilight sat in her throne, yawned and said, “The map is sending you on a mission with Fluttershy?”

“I guess so,” Starlight answered. She placed the tray on the table, poured two cups of tea and gave one to Twilight before drinking her entire cup in one go. “And into the Everfree Forest, too. She will be thrilled to see that.”

“How did the blinking wake you up? It’s not that bright...”

“Oh, easy question: It didn’t. I was still awake.”

“You mean you didn’t sleep at all in almost eighteen hours?”

“Yes,” Starlight downed her second cup, “So, should we wait for Fluttershy or assume that she didn’t notice yet and go get her?”

Fluttershy came into the throne room fifteen minutes later. Starlight turned to her and said, “Hey, Fluttershy! We just wanted to pick you up.”

“Uhm… I’m sorry if you had to wait too long. I came as fast as I could…”

Twilight, sitting in her throne, said, “It’s no problem, Fluttershy, we weren’t waiting that long.”

Fluttershy reacted with a sleepy “Yay! So, what does the map want?”

“The map,” Starlight answered before Twilight had the chance to, “wants us both to go into the middle of the Everfree Forest! Aren’t we just the luckiest ponies in Equestria?”

“I-I-Into the Everfree? At Night? Can’t we wait until it’s morning?”

“I’m afraid it would be a bad idea to wait,” Twilight said, “The map wouldn’t call that late if it wasn’t urgent.”

“But don’t worry, half of the creatures can’t resist your charm and won’t attack us, and I will keep the other half away with my magic… or just teleport us away, if you prefer. Or you could use that Stare I’ve heard so much about” Starlight said.

Fluttershy calmed down a little bit. “Okay… And where exactly do we need to go?”

The three looked at the map. The cutie marks hovered, rotating in a very small circle, close over the ground.

Starlight sighed. “It won’t get more exact… should be half an hour or so from the Castle of the Two Sisters. Somewhere in nowhere…Fluttershy, none of your little friends ever mentioned something there, did they?”

“I’m afraid not.” Fluttershy turned to Twilight. “Did you read anything about it?”

“No, the Everfree isn’t really well mapped. We know of some broad things, but nothing in that area.”

Starlight walked towards the door, opened it, turned around and said, “Then let’s go. I don’t want to waste anymore time than necessary. We go out there, do whatever it is the map wants us to do, and come back as fast as possible.”

Twilight nodded. “And I’ll wait here. I’m curious to hear that, too.”

Luna slowly turned around. She recognized the voice, of course. She refused to believe it. She can’t be back, she thought, the Elements freed me of that part of myself! But there she stood in all her gloomy glory, her face showing no emotions, a little bit taller than Luna was.

Nightmare Moon had returned.

She began approaching Luna, calmly talking to the Princess. “I’m really glad you found your way here. I know you probably…”

“Shut up! Don’t say another word! I have enough to worry about already… An assassination attempt on Tia, vampires being a reality, some of them reacting very aggressively, groups roaming the land and killing my subjects in order to fight these aggressive blood suckers, an anonymous vampire wanting to meet me here, threatening a friend of mine to bring me out here… I am not willing to add a stupid hallucination to that list!”

Nightmare Moon stopped dead in her tracks, looking at Luna with wide eyes. Luna began to shake. This is exactly why she didn’t want to revisit this place. The first time she imagined Nightmare Moon was here. She feared that she would return, and her fears came true.

Luna shouted, “Why are you back!? And why now? I’m just starting to get my life back together after you ruined it! I even created a Tantabus to torment me for the crimes I committed when I listened to you…”

She shook her head, giving of a weak laugh.“Great, look at me! Shouting at myself again! Maybe I’m just as crazy as I was 1000 years ago when we met! But guess what, I won’t listen to you anymore! You are just a fabrication of my mind, you have no control here! Go away!”

For a few seconds, nopony said anything. Then, Nightmare Moon cautiously said, “Luna, I am not a hallucination. I am real. And I am so terribly sorry for what happened, but I’m not here to ask for forgiveness.”

Luna started pacing back and forth, her hooves trampling the grass and flowers in her path. “Good, because you won’t get any! And don’t believe for a second that I fall for that ‘I’m sorry’ act! Or that you are real. You are just my dark side! Another personality I came up with because I was lonely! If I had been a filly, I would have called you an imaginary friend for Gaia’s sake!”

She stopped, pointed her hoof at Nightmare Moon, and said, “And now buck off! I don’t want you around when whoever arranged this meeting here shows up!”

Nightmare Moon didn’t move.

“I said get lost!”

Slowly shaking her head, Nightmare Moon said, “It is I who arranged it. You can wait all night if you don’t believe me, but nopony else will show up.”

Luna turned away, trotted to the pond, and said, “I won’t believe you… I refuse to believe you…”

“But why?” Nightmare Moon asked, making a step forward, “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I’m telling the truth, that what I said back then is true? That I’m a Mare of the Night, and not a product of your own mind?”

“Why—” Luna gave of a sad chuckle, a tear running down her face “—Because you are the only thing I have left…”

“What did you say?” Nightmare Moon asked perplexed.

Luna swirled around. “I said you are the only thing I have left! The only special thing I ever did was becoming you! The only memory left of me is being you!” Luna took a few breaths to stop using the royal canterlot voice. It would just have been a wasted use of magic.

“Think about it! What else is there? Raising the moon? My sister was able to perform that duty as good as I ever did, just for ten times as long! For the next 1000 years, she will be more the Princess of the Night than I am myself! And even then I will forever live with the knowledge that she could easily replace me again!”

Luna took a step forward, glaring at Nightmare Moon.

“The times I fought alongside my sister in battle, against Sombra, Discord, Tirek… All nothing more than fairy tales, and even when they show up again—proving that they exist and we did conquer them—the Six Bearers get tasked with battling them, gaining all the praise and glory for it, and pushing our victories more and more into the realm of legends!”

Another step closer.

“Guarding the dream realm? While it is true that it is a difficult task, one only few could perform and that even my sister couldn’t do without my help, there is a little problem: Equestria survived without it for 1000 years, showing how irrelevant my efforts really are!”

She stepped closer once more, gesturing at the forest around them.

“And what about my former home, my beloved Everfree? Changed beyond recognition! My castle? A desolate ruin! My stars, the pictures I created with great effort? Moved around, and now I’m forced to keep these… botched constellations in place! I can’t even restore them to their former glory because the ponies got used to them!

“And on the other hoof? My sister still has everything! Her city, Canterlot, is unchanged! Everypony loves her, even more than before! She rules unopposed, everypony recognised how demanding her duties are, everypony respects her! She is so worshipped that she is part of multiple common expressions!”

Luna now stood in front of Nightmare Moon and said to her, “And now you are supposed to be another being too? The only thing I am remembered for, the only thing of importance I ever did, and it wasn’t even me? That’s why I can’t believe anything else than that you are the manifestation of my jealousy.

“I know everypony believes that I’m no longer jealous, that I’m freed of that since Twilight separated us with the help of the other Elements of Harmony, but I also know how wrong they are. I admit it, I’m still jealous.

“But you? You don’t help. Giving into my jealousy, letting you out… It didn’t help at all. You attacked and tried to kill my sister, giving her no other option than to banish us, something that still causes her great pain… You are nothing more than a monster. Just go.”

Now, Nightmare Moon started to move. She slowly circled around Luna and said, “I came here prepared for a lot. But you thinking I’m just a figment of your imagination… That possibility never crossed my mind. Of course you are right with something, I am a monster. I committed terrible crimes. But I won’t just take accusations that aren’t true.

“I never attacked Celestia, you did. I merely gave you the strength and confidence to do what you wanted to do anyway. So you can rest assured, that particular thing you can claim all for yourself.

“Also, the only reason half of Equestria didn’t go mad without you guarding the dream realm is that my kind did everything they could to protect them in your stead. Something that required the attention of over two dozen of them every night, for the work you can do on your own. You don’t even realize how powerful your dream-magic is, do you?” Nightmare Moon stopped and stared into the forest behind Luna. “But it seems I lied in one regard.”

Luna followed Nightmare Moon’s gaze, trying to find whatever caught the monster’s interest, “Oh great, just one thing? And what would that be?”

“We aren’t alone.” Nightmare Moon casted a spell and two ponies with very terrified faces appeared in front of them.

Luna recognized both of them immediately. “Starlight? Fluttershy? What are you doing here?”

Fluttershy just dropped to the ground, covered her face with her wings, and shivered.

“The… the map send us here…” Starlight seemed very keen on keeping her composure. She took a deep breath before asking, “Princess, please forgive my question, but why are you talking to Nightmare Moon in the middle of the night… in secret… in the Everfree forest?”

Luna was perplexed, her voice doubtful. “You can see her?”

“Yes, yes I can. And to be honest, it scares me. A lot. I’m just too tired to have a panic attack.”

Nightmare Moon sighted and said, “I told you I’m real, Luna. Do you believe me now?”

Luna ignored her and kneeled down to talk to Fluttershy, “And you? Can you see her too, Fluttershy?”

“Y-y-y-y-yes! Please tell me that this is just a horrible dream… please let this be a dream…” Fluttershy continued her plead under her breath.

Luna stood up again and angrily faced Nightmare Moon, “Great, you traumatized her. You proved that you are real.”

“Good to hear you finally accepted that,” Nightmare Moon said. She began concentrating magic in her horn, and in return, Luna and Starlight charged their horns as well, ready to open fire.

“What are you doing, monster?” Luna demanded to know.

“Helping your friend,” Nightmare Moon replied, “So if you could just step aside…”

Starlight charged her attack more and more. “How can we know you won’t kill her to weaken the Elements?”

Nightmare Moon sighed and said casually, “The real elements, the physical artifacts that originally gave them their power, are no longer useable anyway, so what would I gain from killing her. Besides, you are both extremely strong unicorns, and on this distance, there is no way for me to conjure up a shield. Just kill me if I try anything shady.”

Luna and Starlight looked at each other, nodded and stepped aside, but kept their magic charged, ready to unleash enough magic to end Nightmare Moon’s existence in an instance.

Nightmare Moon looked down at Fluttershy, who still shivered and muttered “Let it be a dream… please, just let it be a dream…” over and over again. Moon concentrated her magic in a small ball at the tip of her horn, then send it out. The magic formed a cone over Fluttershy. After five seconds, Fluttershy stopped, Moon let her spell end and stepped aside to give Fluttershy some room.

Fluttershy opened her wings and stood up, a confused look on her face.

Starlight asked her, “Fluttershy, are you alright? Did she do anything funny?”

“I don’t know… I’m not afraid anymore… or at least I’m not panicking…I’m... ok, I would say.” Fluttershy actually stared at Nightmare Moon when she asked, “What did you do to me?”

Nightmare Moon said, “I took your fear away. I can do more things than poison dreams, you know? Silencing a pony’s fear is an easy task for me. It won’t hold forever, in two hours it will start to gradually return.”

“That’s… almost kind,” Fluttershy said, “Why would you do that?”

“What would I win by not doing so, despite me being able to? Everypony would just continue to see me as a dangerous monster that can’t be talked with. But since you apparently were sent here by the friendship map, you are supposed to solve a friendship problem, right? And the only two former friends here are myself and Luna.”

Starlight looked from Nightmare Moon to Luna and back and at Luna again. She asked, “Wait, former friends? Could somepony explain that?”

With remorse in her voice, Luna said, “What can I say, my sister and I had a lot of arguments, nopony had any interest in being my friend, and one night I met her at this very place. Finally somepony to talk to… If you’re lonely, anypony can seem like a good friend.”

Starlight doubtfilly looked at Nightmare Moon. “Even something like her?”

Luna didn’t stop aiming at Moon’s face. “Oh, she can pretend to be really nice if she wants to, believe me. But we shouldn’t drop our guard.”

“Wise decision,” Nightmare Moon said, “I would do the same in your situation. But could we start to discuss the matter at hoof, or do you want to keep the spells charged until you both run out of power and have to drop them out of exhaustion?”

Luna took a few deep breaths, then dropped the charge in her horn and said, “Fine, we don’t really have a choice. But don’t take that as a sign that I trust you again.”

“I understand,” Nightmare Moon nodded, “Let me begin by formerly introducing myself. I’m Shaded Moon, the Queen of Nachtmares and one of the Three Majesties Noctris’. I won’t expect the title, but if you could stop calling me Nightmare Moon, that would be appreciated. Nightmare isn’t my name, it’s the name of my tribe. Like you—” she pointed her hoof at Starlight “—are a Unicorn, yet you aren’t called ‘Unicorn Glimmer.’”

Starlight asked, “But didn’t you call yourself Nightmare Moon when you attacked Celestia?”

Shaded Moon replied, “Oh, that was Luna’s idea.”

Fluttershy and Starlight looked at Luna, who said, “I thought it sounded intimidating, ok? Anyway, you know my name, and these are...”

“Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness,” Shaded Moon interrupted Luna, “and Starlight, owner of a Equestrian Pink Heart of Courage for her part in overthrowing Chrysalis, I know.”

Luna said sarcastically, “Of course you do! So, you promised me information about the vampires in your message.”

“On Noctris, yes. To begin with, comparable to Equestria, it is populated by three kinds of nocturnals. The vampires, my own tribe—the nachtmares, and the werewolves.”

Luna lifted her hoof to gesture Moon to stop. “You want to tell us that werewolves are a thing too?”

“Precisely, yes.”

“Just perfect—” Luna put a hoof to her forehead “—another problem. Go on.”

“We have underground cities all over Equestria and in the wake of recent events, like the fact that vampires are now known to exist everywhere and the increase in Hunter activity, we decided to just reveal ourselves completely before things escalate even further.”

Fluttershy had noticed something, and now she said, “You said you were one of three majesties. What did you mean by that?”

“Every tribe has their own Majesty. I am the queen of the nachtmares, Dracula is the king of the vampires, and Gala Frey the current queen of werewolves. Any important decision is made by the three of us together.”

Starlight asked, “So, basically like our princesses?”

Moon thought about that a moment. “Comparable, but not quite. The three of us each have one vote on any given issue, and two votes are enough to make a decision all three are bound to follow. We three are equals, opposed to the equestrian princesses, who have more clearly separated competences.”

“And what does Noctris want from Equestria?” Luna asked.

“Peace, mostly. You now know that we exist, and we hope that you can just accept that we exist. We have no interest in a war with Equestria. It would just be wasted lives and resources.”

“That’s all?”

“Well… No. We request that our police forces are allowed to operate in Equestria on cases relating solely to Noctris. Escaped vampires, hunters killing nocturnals, that kind of thing. But that is a topic for another day. You’re here to learn something about Daybreaker, right?”

Luna and Starlight got nervous when they heard the name. Luna asked sternly, “What do you know about her?”

“She is a fire demon with the ability to possess living beings and to enter their dreams. A long time ago, we managed to defeat her and seal her away, but now she is waking up and tries to break out. If she does, that will bring forth the end of the world.”

“And we are supposed to believe that?” Luna said.

“You both saw her when she entered Starlights dream, do you really think the world would be safe if she can fully break free?”

“And why,” Starlight asked, “is she breaking out now?”

Shaded Moon looked a bit lost when she said, “Honestly, I don’t know. A few months ago, something happened that allowed a small part of her to escape and enter your dream to haunt Celestia, and afterwards we destroyed that part within weeks and improved the seal. But she just continues to grow stronger, and keeping her locked up gets more difficult with every day. Something, or somepony, in Equestria appears to help her, and our only chance to stop her is to find and stop her helpers.”

Luna’s patience began to fade. “And why does she want my sister?”

“Think about it, Daybreaker is a fire demon, and Celestia controls the sun, and as an alicorn, her body can bear all of Daybreaker’s powers without just burning to ashes. Celestia is the perfect vessel for Daybreaker.

“But now I need to know, Luna, are you prepared to give us, give me another chance? Noctris really wants peace, and I do too. And as a sign of our good will, I can tell you something.”

“And what?” Luna demanded to know.

“After Starlight and Thorax overthrew her, Chrysalis had the misfortune to run into one of our patrols and was promptly overwhelmed and imprisoned. You can stop looking for her, she won’t cause you any more troubles. And for that, I have proof.”

Shaded Moon teleported something in front of her and levitated it for all to see. It was Chrysalis crown, the moonlight sparkling on its pearls. Shaded Moon continued, “You can keep it as a trophy, if you want. Chrysalis has no use for it anymore.”

Starlight gave of a sigh of relief. Chrysalis swore to take revenge on her before fleeing from the changeling hive, and ever since she awaited the former queen’s return. But now, there was no reason for that anymore. She took the crown and put it in her saddlebag.

“That is all well and good,” Luna said, “But what would you do if I say no? That I refuse to give you another chance?”

“Then, old friend, I would go to Canterlot and inform Celestia about the request for peaceful relations with Equestria personally, and if she would react aggressively—which, lets face it, she would attack me before I could finish a single sentence—we would have to consider a declaration of war.”

“I don’t really have a choice, is what you want to say, right?”

“Not really, at least not any good ones. So, will you help me and forever be remembered as the princess that forged a peaceful bond between Equestria and Noctris?”

Luna wasn’t sure, so she turned to Starlight and Fluttershy and said, “The map send you here, so what would you advise?”

Starlight said cautiously, “Well, she didn’t attack us, although she’s probably strong enough to stand a chance, and her offer sounds reasonable… and if she’s telling the truth about Noctris and Daybreaker, not helping her could doom Equestria.”

“And everypony deserves a second chance,” Fluttershy added, “Even Discord saw the errors of his ways and is now our friend, so why shouldn’t she be able to change too? You two were banished for 1000 years together, after all.”

Luna considered what they said, and found no logical flaws. But Shaded Moon had already tricked her once, and she could just be about to do it again… On the other hoof, Moon betraying her again was a possibility, but she had to agree that it was a certainty that Tia would attack Moon the moment she saw her. And if what she said about Daybreaker was true, she was a far greater enemy than Moon could ever be.

Luna made a decision. She turned to Shaded Moon and stated, “I will give you a chance, but you have to give me some time to think everything through. And you have to give me more proof. Right now, I only have your word for the existence of werewolves, for example. And we need a way to communicate, since nightly meetings in the Everfree aren’t practical.”

Shaded Moon said, “Of course, I accept your conditions. The safest way to talk would be in the dream realm. Just give a signal and I will come. Or, if you want it less personal, I could send a letter to your friend Moondancer, detailing a spell comparable to the way Spike and Celestia send letters.”

“Do that, I don’t want you anywhere near my mind. But whatever you did to make her so afraid, don’t do it again.”

“Fair enough. Until we meet again, Luna,” Shaded Moon said before disappearing with a teleportation spell.

Starlight’s and Fluttershy’s cutie marks blinked once Shaded Moon was gone. The unicorn noticed it first and said, “Oh, thank Ce… It seems it was the right decision, Princess Luna. Our friendship mission was a success.”

“Yay!” Fluttershy exclaimed, then turned to Starlight, “But could we tell Twilight about this after we got some sleep? ”

“Good idea, but how much exactly should we tell her?”

Luna answered the question, “You can tell her basically everything, but please leave out my rant… I simply overreacted, that’s all.” She didn’t sound completely convinced, but quickly went on to say, “And make sure only the Elements know about it. Nopony else, not even my sister, should know about this right now. I will personally visit you tomorrow in the castle to talk with all of you. You all helped me deal with her once already, and I hope you will do so once again.”

Author's Note

LEC = Light-Emitting Crystal