Luna took a deep breath. After thousands of years, it was time to tell not only Celestia, but everypony from Equestria about one of her haunting failures. To say she was nervous would be an understatement. As the clocks on all of the ships ticked over to 12 PM, Luna's camera turned on, and she looked into it as TVs and monitors and projectors all throughout the fleet of ships began to light up. Celestia was on the bridge of her own ship, and she smiled as one of the big screens in front of her lit up. She was alone, other than one of the ship's pilots, a mare sitting in one of the other bridge chairs.

Luna offered the camera a gentle smile. "Hello, everypony..." She began. "I have good news, though it is intertwined with sorrowful news" She said. Collectively, the ponies watching began to look worried, but Luna continued to smile. "You see, we are approaching Equinox, a beautiful planet just like our own. As you may know, or have guessed, me and my sister are capable of teleporting great distances, from planet to planet. Centuries and centuries ago, I discovered this planet, and I gave it its name. But... that is not all" She said. The mare cleared her throat, her jar tightening up as ancient emotions of pain and sadness threatened to bring tears to her eyes. No, she wasn't going to cry, damn it.

"As you all know, me and my dear sister Celestia had a fight in the past, a fight which ended in me summoning the spirit of Nightmare Moon, which led to my banishment in the moon" She said. "However, before that happened, one of the issues we fought over was the harsh treatment of equestria's Batponies. After all, they were my children". She smiled a little bit, saying, "I'll interrupt myself with something interesting... in case you batponies have ever wondered where you came from, you originate from the everfree forest, where you lived in beautiful treehouses... I was the one to discover you, and I was the one who rushed to your aid when I heard news of a fire in the same area of forest. To my surprise, I found out that the tribe was the last known population of such wonderful ponies, and I was the one who did my best to reintroduce you to ponykind, to keep you alive..." She said, her gaze drifting as she went over all of the memories.

Another sigh. "But", she said, "It didn't go as well as my younger self hoped. Change is slow, I know that now, and achieving harmony with ponies and batponies was as difficult as it was with Zebras, which some of you older ponies might still remember" She said, smiling a small bit. "Back to what I was saying, after discovering Equinox, I devised a plan to create a world of only batponies, and though it was incredibly difficult, I transported many of them here, and we built an empire together" She said. She paused, her smile wavering, then she said "We named it the Lunar Empire, even though I thought it was silly... I traveled back and forth between the empire and Equestria, and I suppose my absences didn't help my relationshio with my sister" She said. "When I had summoned the nightmare, I was so wrapped up in my anger that I had forgotten all about my little batponies... and when Celestia brought the elements to bear, by the time I realized, it was too late" She said.

The mare took a moment to wipe away tears she could feel approaching, then she said, "So, as you know, I spent a thousand years trapped in the moon before Twilight and her friends saved me. As soon as my power had returned to me, I traveled straight to Equinox, but..." She said, gritting her teeth as she tried to hold herself together, "It was gone. I don't know what happened to the ponies, I found little in the way of remains, nothing but some bones among the ruins. The city is still there, the empire was still there, but the ponies living within it? They had all disappeared... at first, I blamed my sister for it. But it was my fault, because if she hadn't stopped the nightmare, I would have ruined Equestria, and I may have done the same to the empire, with that monster in control" She said, taking a small break and pausing for a few deep breaths.

"Now, I do not intend to establish some sort of batpony leadership" She said, changing the subject. "The great majority of you ponies have learned that we are all equal, and those who haven't? Well, I have little sympathy for a pony who believes otherwise" She said, with a thinly veiled harshness to her words. The mare took in yet another deep breath, then let it out as a drawn-out sigh. "But I don't want to go off track too much... that is the story of Equinox to date, and I would like to welcome everypony to such a beautiful planet as we turn another page in its book" She said, smiling once more. "I am glad that my empire will be able to function as the first step to what I'm sure will become a great nation of ponies..." She said, looking rather excited to see the legacy of the Lunar Empire brought alive, if just to act as their new home.

"One final thing" Luna said, leaning on her desk. "When we land, I would like every batpony who is able to come with me into the city. I would like to tell you all about their history before we begin to restore the old city... and I suppose I should admit, I wish to see those old walls full of my children one last time" She said, feeling her voice start to crack. "T-That is all, everypony!" She said, putting on a smile as she stopped the broadcast.

Closing her eyes, Luna sagged in her chair, letting it hold her weight as she relaxed back into it. "Maybe I'll find out what happened to you" She said quietly, a few tears seeping from her eyes as she mentally explored the abandoned landscape yet again. Where had they gone? What could have happened to stop an entire empire? Was it as simple as a disease that took all of them out? Or was it something worse? Maybe it would be worth giving everything a closer look during her little tour that she planned.

Author's Note

btw thank, Zomb, for planet name