Sombra's Bat

"Hmm, it is difficult," says Luna.

"It's outrageous!" I groan to her. "Despicable, even! How you can allow this is beyond me. Honestly, I'm surprised that you are so indifferent to it all."

"Indifferent, my flank. I am just as astounded at what my sister is capable of. I just cannot let it get to me like I did before."

"Princess Luna, what is your opinion on what your older sister is doing, then?" Chrysalis asks.

The alicorn princess takes a deep breath; then, discarding her regal act, she shouts furiously at us, "To be quite frank, I want that donkey to bucking think about what she's doing, get off her large rump, speak to you lot and apologise to a few ponies. Excuse me for my language, but I'm sick and tired of her caring for nopony but herself."

Chrysalis, Sombra and I are silent for a moment while we digest this before bursting into fits of laughter. I tell her, "Oh, I needed to hear that."

"Luna, I didn't know that you could go on like that about Celestia," Chrysalis adds.

"Oh, I could go on for centuries about her. Why do you think I turned into Nightmare Moon? I was completely fed up, and spending a thousand years away from her hasn't done much good either, because I've had to learn to live with it again. A dung beetle has more brain cells than she has, honestly."

"Luna," I suggest, "you know, if you wanted to, you could always turn into Nightmare Moon again and-"

"No. I did enough damage the first time around. Sombra knows how that feels, and I imagine Chrysalis does too." She bows her head, and I can only imagine what thoughts are racing through her head. How she was swallowed by jealousy, how she twisted my opinions over time and set me on this path. I look at Sombra too, and he turns slightly paler. How that works in the dream world, I have no idea, even after my work with Wishbone. I know what it means, however.

"Unfortunately, I know exactly what you are talking about, Luna. You do what you think is right at the time, and it haunts you forever," he sighs sadly.

"Some of the things I have done in order to try and find food for my young are unforgivable, and if I could I would go back in time to reverse them. That is one of the most dangerous types of magic, and I do not want to risk it, but the thought still appeals. You yourself felt grief earlier today after you saw what the Solar Guards did, Moonlight," I am reminded by Chrysalis. "They are usually hopeless, but Celestia has most certainly upped her game."

My ears fold back. "I guess."

"No," Luna confirms, "I can't turn into Nightmare Moon again. For now, I am working on a covert operation to convince Celestia to change her mind. The Solar Guards listen to me as well as her, so I could always give them conflicting orders behind her back. Who they would believe depends on where their loyalties lie."

"That's too risky. We need something better," Sombra warns. "If you do that too much, somepony will snitch on you."

"I can do nothing in the open."

"Not even sit outside the castle with a placard?"

"No. Twilight Sparkle, who is not even in Equestria's government,, has more political power than I, one of the country's co-rulers, and Celestia is her absolute idol. The same goes for Princess Cadance and the Captain of the Royal Guard. Nothing anypony else does can sway the public. Once again, I have been forced to hide in the shadows."

"Wait. That's it. Shadows!" Sombra shouts. We give him a quizzical look. A crystal appears, and he uses dark magic to make it turn black. It casts a shadow that spreads across the floor, becoming much longer and wider than the crystal itself.

"You see?" He says. "Depending on the light used and the object that created it, a shadow can become much larger than the actual light used when it was cast. Protesting in public is like stepping into the light, which casts a shadow but also reveals the details that others cannot see in the dark. We don't want Celestia to know what we're up to, and openly admitting that you disagree with what she says is only going to be counterproductive in the long run, Luna. You will not be trusted by her or any of the guards. Writing anonymous newspaper articles, for example, keeps your name clear and pushes the truth into the light instead, and the truth can cast the longest shadows of all."

"That's crazy," Chrysalis objects.

"No it's not. When ponies learn what they perceive to be the truth after being fed lies, the latch onto the truth and don't leave it alone," I counter. "During our early days together, Sombra played a little trick and the way my fellow bats reacted was horrifying." I stroke his mane gently. "Of course, I've forgiven him. He was only trying to help me get to the Crystal Empire."

"You have a point, Sombra," Luna muses.

"How is this possible? I cannot comprehend the ponies of Equestria of all places turning against the mare who has been their ruler for more than a millennia over an exposed lie. Then again, I am not a pony myself so I wouldn't really know."

I tell Chrysalis that I can see how the truth can change somepony's behaviour completely. When the bat ponies tried to chase me out of the village in the Everfree, they became far more animalistic than I thought was possible of them. When Celestia began to suspect that I was working with Sombra, she did everything she could to stop me. When I destroyed the Crystal Heart, I saw in the faces of those whom I had supposedly betrayed disgust, fear, hatred, wrath. When Sombra and I announced our long-term plan to stay together, there was joy all around, as there was when we decided that the Elite Guard was no longer needed. Ponies act differently once they hear the truth.

"It seems that I have been outspoken," Chrysalis admits. "If you think it will work, then I am sure it will. We know what we will do. Is there anything else that could help in the long run?"

"Moonlight, I showed you a mirror once, did I not?" Sombra inquires. "I cannot remember if I did."

I nod. There was a mirror on the wall in the third floor corridor. If you asked it a question it would tell you the answer, or show you scenes from the past.

"I need to show you what it can do. We might be able to find more proof behind what Celestia has been saying. It is a scrying mirror, for revealing what was, what is and what might be."

"I thought all the scrying mirrors had vanished or been destroyed!" Luna exclaims.

"Well, I have a knack for finding little things that nopony else recognises for what they are." Clever unicorn.

"Tell me what you see tomorrow night. I have other dreams to visit. I bid you goodnight and hope your dreams are peaceful." She leaves.

"I do not trust her as much as you two," Chrysalis admits. "I cannot be sure if it is her or not. If it was really somepony like that Wishbone Willow you were talking about-"

"I don't think it was."

Sombra steps forwards. "Wishbone doesn't want to bother us again. We gave her a bit of trouble last time she visited."

I continue on his behalf, "She thinks the best thing for me is rotting in Tartarus until I see the light or something. I have seen the light, and it isn't all it's cracked up to be. The actual light is with you two and Luna, I believe."

"Well thank you," the changeling answers. She disguises herself as Celestia for a moment, except she grows a brown moustache for our entertainment. "Now, did the guards say what was in that tent?"

"Various gadgets for communication and some of their plans, which we managed to obtain," I say with a grin. "They want to cut us off from the outside world, then charge in when we're at our weakest. However, for the moment we are self-sustainable, and we can always establish trade elsewhere."

"That mirror is our priority though," Sombra decides. "As soon as we have breakfast, we will take it down from the wall and ask it a few questions."

Chrysalis agrees, then leaves to enjoy her own dreams. Sombra and I are left together.

"So what should we do now?"

"What do you think, Moonlight?"

"I'm asking you what we should do."

"Well, you tell me."

"Stop," I giggle.

"Should the two of us talk about politics?"

"We've done enough of that. Maybe we should just enjoy some time together doing normal things like we used to."

I use my dreamwalking skills to change the scenery to a beautiful meadow in a forest. A stream trickles down a waterfall near us. The light of the full moon weaves its way through the leaves overhead.

"Impressive. What are we going to do here?"

A picnic basket and tartan blanket appear. Strawberries, cupcakes and daisy sandwiches are the first things I think of, and they materialise on china plates. I can smell the food somehow.

"We," I finally answer him, "are going to be happy together. This forest is somewhat like my old home, but far more beautiful. And if you look hard enough," I point into the distance, where the tall, obsidian towers of the Crystal Castle can be seen, "you can find your way home in a heartbeat."

"This is somewhere that I am happy to stay until that cursed sun rises." So we stay in the woods together, in a world of our creation.