Appointment with Evil

by Bronyxy

Rating: everyone
Tags: Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, Drama, Adventure, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 5778

Something strange is happening down in the Everfree Forest, so Luna goes to investigate, but is unprepared for what, and indeed who she is going to find.

Something strange is happening down in the Everfree Forest, so Luna goes to investigate, but is unprepared for what, and indeed who she is going to find.

* Featured at #3 on the banner 05/20 - 05/21 - thank you all! *

Published 2021-05-20 15:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-05-20 15:50:01 UTC

1 The Fault in her Stars

The single frail light source wavered occasionally, as if nudged by an ethereal breeze.

Shadows danced around the perimeter of the room; from bookcases lined with dusty tomes to the windows and back again, keeping perfect time with a rhythm that was neither heard nor seen in this dimension.

The room’s sole occupant sat before a wooden table at its centre, facing the candle that stood proudly atop a simple wooden candle holder, tarnished and stained by centuries of use.

Although her muzzle pointed directly at the candle, her light blue eyelids were closed and her mouth moved soundlessly, repeating magical incantations that owed their origins to times long before the unification of the three tribes.

Had anypony been in the room with her, they would have doubtless been awestruck by the way the flickering candlelight combined with the gently twinkling starfield in her mane, creating the most magnificent aura around her. However, the spectacle had not been created with visual effect in mind, and indeed if anypony had found their way uninvited into her private study at the top of the highest tower in Canterlot Castle to witness it, they would have felt the full wrath of the Princess of the Night for their impertinence.

Finally, her lips stopped moving and her eyelids fluttered open, casting her eyes down to the illuminated script in a long-forgotten language resting before her on the table.

Satisfied, she nodded her head contentedly and let out a happy “hmm”, rolling the ancient scroll up once more so it could be safely stowed away in its correct place, ready for when she needed it again.

She rose serenely, careful not to get up too fast in case one of her legs gave a twinge and caught her off balance. Experience had taught her that, having been in the same position for so long during her meditation that such incidents were not entirely unknown, and had no desire to conclude her magic working with a painful stumble or a fall.

Grateful to stretch her legs, Luna pointed her horn towards the wall sconces, lighting each in their turn, and finally sending the troupe of dancing shadows, who had been her companions for the entirety of the working, to their well-earned rest. She then set about tidying up the magical artifacts that had helped her with the spell casting, and even cleaned up the neat piles of ash that had fallen from the incense sticks as they had burned down.

The night’s working had taken its toll on the Princess, and although hungry, she wanted more than anything to get some exercise, so opened the doors to the balcony and stepped out to feel the refreshing chill of the night air on her fur. She drank in the crisp air, instantly purging her lungs of the heady scent of incense that had pervaded her study during the working, and making her feel alive once more.

Luna turned to close the balcony doors, lest some mischievous breeze enter in her absence, seeking to rearrange her carefully ordered scrolls and other irreplaceable arcane works. Happy that all was secure, she then turned to face the landscape rolling away from Canterlot as it glowed invitingly under the comforting light of the moon. Hooked by the lure of the open skies calling to her, she unfurled her wings and after one final sniff of the air, began the loping wingbeat that would carry her effortlessly upwards, clearing the balcony railings with ease and drawing effortlessly up into the night beyond.

Beneath her, Canterlot slumbered. Largely unseen, guards remained alert on night watch; thestrals and bat ponies who had sworn allegiance to her personally, all of whom she trusted with her own, and her sister’s lives. For, despite Celestia having sent her to the moon, Luna had long since shed the jealous ambition that had created Nightmare Moon, and had now come to love her sister unquestionably more than any other pony.

Around the city, isolated braziers burned for the benefit of those seeking warmth, or those who lacked the benefit of night vision and needed light to find their way home. Whilst she recognised the need for such things, Luna became happier as she left the city behind and headed out over the countryside, where there was no light pollution, allowing her night sky to be appreciated in all of its subtle beauty, even if she was the only one to see it.

She was content, but not complacent; happy to treat herself to a little recreational time, but without ever losing sight of her responsibilities as protector of Equestria from the realms of darkness.

The stars were looking beautiful; not the best she had ever done, but certainly nothing to give her any displeasure.

At peace with the world, she increased her speed into a dive, then pulled up to execute the first half of a loop before experiencing the ecstasy of weightlessness at apogee, hanging inverted waiting for gravity to be switched back on again. She giggled in her exhilaration, looking backwards over her shoulder just for the joy of seeing her sky from a unique perspective.

Then she saw it.

Over at the southern horizon, something was amiss. The stars she had placed there at the beginning of the night in honour of a friend from long ago were not there.

Quickly, she sobered up and righted herself, aiming for a cloud upon which to land and take stock. She had to climb to find one, but did not object to the extra exertion as it presented her with a better view to the south.

Alighting with well-rehearsed grace, she was now free to focus on what she had seen; it looked like a really major storm was brewing and obscuring the stars, yet no such storm had been forecast. The location, she calculated, was somewhere near the Everfree Forest, and that meant her dear friend Rainbow Dash would be on the nearest weather team. Perhaps she was trying to wrangle an unscheduled storm with too few ponies and may need her help?

With the thought of brave weather ponies being pushed to cope with an unexpected storm, especially at night when they should have been in bed, Luna made up her mind and set course southwards to go and lend a hoof.

The nearer she got, the darker and more ominous it seemed; also, curiously it did not look like the kind of storm front that swept forward in a linear manner, moreover it seemed to be rotating.

Certainly, dust devils were relatively commonplace in Equestria, and there had been occasional isolated reports in the past of tornadoes, but this felt wrong.

Her sixth sense was firing ripples of warning prickles down her back, telling her to back up, so she began back winging, only to find that she was still being drawn in.

She tried harder, but again to no effect, then tried to turn around so she could accelerate away from the force drawing her in, but even with all her strength, the battle was over before it was barely begun.

With options running out, she aimed towards the ground where a gathering of sporadically spaced trees and buildings could provide her some sort of cover, pounding her wings furiously to make some headway.

This time she was at least partially successful, in that although still being pulled backwards toward the storm, she was able to lose height, but the closer she became drawn into the storm, the harder it was to pull away in any direction.

In desperation, she suddenly furled her wings and curled up tightly, creating a completely unaerodynamic dead weight that fell freely and began to pick up speed downwards. Keeping a watchful eye on both her rate of descent and the ground beneath her, Luna monitored the progress of her near suicidal dive, and within the last few seconds before impact, spread her wings, skidding perilously on her wingtip into the lee of a derelict stone-built cottage.

The sudden stillness came as a shock; an island of relative calm amid the dangerous winds that raged all around. She caught her breath in sudden gasps, grateful to have found respite, but equally aware her shelter could not be considered a permanent solution, and that she had no immediate plan other than not to get caught in the winds again.

As her breathing began to slow into a regular panting, Luna extended each of her wings in turn, checking for damage, and was relieved to find nothing seriously wrong, beyond some mild sprains. She had won the first battle, but the outcome of the war still remained to be decided.

2 Way Through the Woods

Luna tested a foreleg around the corner of the stone walled building that was giving her cover, to feel the extent of the wind against which she would have to fight if she ever wanted to leave this temporary sanctuary. To her surprise, it wasn’t too bad, so she ventured peering her head round and again it felt nowhere near as dangerous as she had initially feared, based on her experience of getting there in the first place.

Concluding that the strength of the wind was being dissipated by proximity to the ground, she emerged cautiously to try and make sense of the storm, ensuring that her hooves were securely braced just in case a gust caught her unprepared.

Looking around for landmarks that would show her where she was, she noted nothing that could be identified as a town or village, so she wasn’t near Ponyville. However, when turning her attention to the centre of the storm, she realised with a horrifying jolt that it appeared to be directly above the Castle of the Two Sisters. This could not be coincidence, and suggested strikingly that this was no mere meteorological manifestation, but something borne of magic.

Luna had enjoyed a happy foalhood in this castle, but it had also become the crucible where her jealousy had spawned and come to feed off itself, until that fateful night when she had tried to destroy her sister.

She now knew that whatever this was owed its existence to the dark side of her personality. It was all her fault; would she ever be free of the curse of her past actions?

“Tantabus!” she called, “Begone with thy devilment!”

Luna waited, but there was no reaction, so she tried again, but this time with the full Royal Canterlot Voice.

Still no response.

The Tantabus would at least usually acknowledge her, so she would know why she was being punished, but this was clearly something else.

Flying was clearly out, but the wind at ground level seemed to suggest that it should at least be possible to navigate on hoof with care.

She thought about returning to Canterlot to brief her sister, but was concerned how far the storm may have grown in the time it would take to deliver the message.

She thought too about trying to find Ponyville where she could warn Twilight or the Mayor and initiate an evacuation, but reasoned that if the storm had got that far already, then they would be certain to have appropriate plans well in hoof by now.

No, this was not where her priorities lay, she would go on; whatever this was had to be to do with her, and she was therefore the only one who could sort matters out.

Luna puffed out her chest, raised her head resolutely and set off for the castle she had once called ‘home’.

Progress through the Everfree could not have been described as easy, but the forest did at least offer her protection from the strong winds, although this came at the price of so many paths being blocked with fallen and uprooted trees.

Above her, the wind whipped relentlessly at the leafy upper branches of trees, the trunks of which creaked and groaned, begging the torment to cease. Every once in a while, a tree trunk gave up the fight to remain stoic, and a loud cracking sound would signal their final epitaph as they were ripped asunder, their final screams smothered by the howling wind as the forest bore witness to their violent demise.

No creatures showed themselves, even the most fearsome of predators having found somewhere to cower for their own self-preservation; Luna was alone in a forest being ripped apart around her.

Soon, she reached the edge of the forest, the dividing line between the ambiguous protection afforded by the trees, and the exposed ground that marked the approach to the castle. Despite the dangers of falling trees in the forest, Luna had become increasingly consumed by worries about the final part of her journey being across a bare landscape, strafed by a wind strong enough to carry her away, for indeed, such a barrier would surely be enough to prevent her from completing her quest.

Peering tentatively from between the protection of two sturdy trees, Luna stared towards the ruins of the old castle and confirmed her fears that the ground did indeed offer no shelter. However, to her surprise, what trees she could see were not bent over in imminent danger of destruction, but instead looked serenely calm, offering little more than the casual wave of a branch in greeting.

Luna furrowed her brow, momentarily perplexed as to why the storm should have abated so abruptly. Her initial thought was to attribute it to magic, then she entertained whether it could just be the eye of the storm, before considering warily that it could be a tricky combination of both. Whether controlled by freak air currents or by somepony’s intervention, she knew that whatever force had gifted this limited area of calm may change its mind at any moment, allowing the storm to roll back in, leaving anything, or anypony inside exposed to the devastating winds raging beyond.

Fearing that time may not be on her side, Luna took the chance to step out from the cover afforded by the forest and into the clearing.

The wind was eerily still.

Around the perimeter of calm, she could see a sheer turbulent wall of grey rising up, looking as imposing as the walls around a prison courtyard, assuring inmates that there would be no escape.

The way to the castle looked clear, but at the forefront of Luna’s mind was the concern that all could change in an instant, potentially catching her in the open. Without a second thought, she focused her eyes, leaned forward and flapped her wings urgently, speeding off at the lowest level possible towards the protection of the castle, where she felt sure she would start to get to the bottom of the weirdness that was overtaking the Everfree Forest.

3 Back on Home Ground

When Luna was younger, there had been an influx of predators into the Everfree, and her parents had reluctantly restricted her to flying only with a contingent of guards, just in case she was attacked. It wasn’t long before the young Princess had tired of this idea and learned to fly instead through the castle’s many corridors and passageways. She had even set up informal racetracks that she would time herself through, much to the alarm of the guards who got used to throwing themselves onto the floor or pinning themselves against the walls as she sped past.

Although the guards were patient with the adorable little Princess, her parents were less amused, and consequently Luna had developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the secret passageways, so she could get away and pretend she had been somewhere else when certain ‘incidents’ were alleged to have happened.

As she grew older, she never quite matched the physical size of her sister, which turned out to be an advantage, because although Celestia was the more powerful flyer in the open air, she was unable to extend fully her wings to fly through the castle. As a result, she was always defeated by Luna, who had developed an ability to judge very finely her own size in confined spaces, and careened down corridors with mere inches to spare at her wingtips.

Even when fully grown, Luna had still enjoyed flying at high speed through the castle in an endless quest to better her performance over those same racetracks she had set up when only a filly. This had given her a remarkable knowledge of the castle at the time, one that was now completely unrivalled by any living pony in Equestria. This then, was her old home, and somewhere she felt safe.

Barrelling towards the castle so close to the ground that her retracted hooves were clipping off the heads from clumps of dandelions, she noticed that the main double wooden doors were closed and looking as solid as ever, but to one side an access door hung off its rusted hinges. It would be tight, but she’d done this before, although the last time had been over a thousand years ago. Rolling through 90 degrees and tucking her wings in just enough, she sped through the doorway and into the passage beyond.

In sharp contrast to the outside, the interior of the castle was shockingly dark, and it took Luna an agonisingly slow moment for her eyes to adapt, even with light streaming from her horn. In the meantime, she kept flying by memory, praying that nothing would be in her way.

The passages were damp and fetid with the smell of decay hanging heavily in the stale air. Metal fittings were fighting against the relentless growth of rust, and once beautiful pictures were now covered in mould. Luna lamented the pitiful sight, but right now, she had bigger problems on her mind and sped on.

The further she penetrated the castle, the more the absence of anything unusual became obvious, and she slowed her flight, considering that based upon what she had seen, she was unlikely to encounter anypony, or any other creature that she needed to overwhelm with the momentum of a surprise attack. Also, she knew that it would only be a matter of time before she encountered a blockage that she wouldn’t be able to avoid colliding with; she had been lucky thusfar and knew her luck would not last indefinitely, especially as parts of the castle had clearly collapsed.

Slowing down, she made a plan to visit each of the castle’s key rooms sequentially; and set about a whistle stop tour of each, heading for the throne room first as the most logical centre for any activity in the castle. She entered the once revered seat of power; the roof still bearing the scars from her short battle with her sister, the tapestries in tatters and the floor covered in stone debris. It was a truly sorry sight, but gave no clues as to what was going on outside.

The picture was the same in the library, the drawing room, the kitchens and even the garrison.

Finally, she headed for the Ruling Sisters’ private chambers; the two suites of rooms she wanted to revisit least.

Luna entered Celestia’s chambers with sad reverence, head hanging low with the guilt of what she had done all those years ago, but instead of seeing a snapshot of her sister’s disappointment, room after room was bare, stripped of possessions. With a sense of relief, she suddenly realised that Celestia must have taken all of her belongings to Canterlot, and her spirit lifted fractionally.

As she walked slowly from her sister’s chambers, Luna braced herself for the last place she wanted to see. She walked down the stone corridor like her hoof guards had suddenly been fashioned out of lead and finally stopped outside a door bearing a crescent moon motif. Taking a deep breath, she gave it a gentle nudge and braced herself to confront something she had left behind a thousand years ago, and never wanted to see again.

The door stuck partway, prolonging the agony, and Luna took the unexpected opportunity to reach up a forehoof and brush away the stinging sensation in her eyes. When she pulled it away, she couldn’t bring herself to look and see that it would be wet with the bitter tears of regret and self-recrimination she knew were there. Summoning her courage, she gave the door a slightly harder push and closed her eyes as she heard it open, afraid to see anything that would remind her of the bitterness, anger and jealousy that had all but destroyed her and so very nearly killed her sister.

Finally, she opened her eyes and looked dead ahead, then all around. This room had been emptied too; maybe Celestia had thrown everything out in an effort to purge herself of any memory of her wicked sister? Luna wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. Courage returning, she entered and went into every room that had once been her private domain, noting it all to have been stripped bare, just like her sister’s room.

Whatever she was looking for wasn’t here.

Luna walked over to the balcony to take a deep breath and clear her head from the horrors she had thought she would see, so she could be clear to focus on what to do next.

She looked out of the window.

Her heart skipped a beat at what she saw.

Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

4 Face to Face

Luna stared open mouthed at the sight before her.

Bright lights flashed from the windows of a nearby building.

Suddenly she twigged, and castigated herself for having overlooked the obvious.

She tried to work the handle to open the balcony doors, but they were stuck fast with age. Fearing that if she forced them, they wouldn’t close again, she left her chambers and shut the door carefully behind her, then walked slowly out of the castle and across the courtyard to the building from where the lights flashed, drawing her as a moth to a flame.

Luna walked slowly but with unmistakable purpose, knowing now where she was going, and taking the opportunity to make peace with the actions in her life, just in case she may be required to deliver herself to a fate from which she may never return. Although this may be the last walk she would take, she was not scared; she had long since reconciled herself to this time arriving one day; everypony has to face judgement.

She mounted the stairs, knowing that her destiny lay less than a minute away from her, in a large, vaulted room on the second floor, at the far end of which was a large round raised dais showcased against a large, curved bay window.

The stairs ended and she entered the long, pillared room, looking unflinchingly ahead at the moonlight filtering through the blue smoke that swirled around, partially masking a figure stood on the stone dais.

She knew who this was, although she never thought they would meet face to face.

“Ah, Luna” the sinister voice crowed as her visitor drew closer, “How nice of you to visit.”

“Cease your nefarious activities and release Equestria” Luna demanded.

“Or what?” the familiar figure responded brazenly, immediately challenging Luna’s authority.

“Your business is with me. Now I am here, you do not need to imperil the innocent ponies of Equestria.”

“I don’t think I will” replied the voice with an oily self-confidence, “I think I would rather keep it going, just to remind you who you are dealing with, and why I am superior to you.”

Luna stood her ground, head raised defiantly, determined not to be browbeaten.

The mists thinned a little, permitting Luna the first glimpses of her adversary, instead of being just a silhouette juxtaposed theatrically against a swirling blue backdrop. There was the light blue helm, the black horn, black fur and reptilian eyes that had once been hers. She had seen this visage in the mirror during the time she had been Nightmare Moon, but suddenly appreciated just how intimidating it looked when faced with her as an adversary.

“How are you here?” Luna asked, genuinely puzzled.

“Questions, questions” Nightmare Moon dismissed with a bored expression, before snapping her attention back quickly, “But I will indulge you, seeing as we are such close friends.”

Luna kept her attention on the jet-black mare whilst carefully scanning her peripheral vision for traps.

“You see” Nightmare began, “You and your friends were so full of yourselves when you thought you had defeated me, that you all forgot what had been left behind when I was so painfully ripped in half. You were released in pony form; the goody-four hooves part of us that stands before me now, whilst my true essence …”

“The evil part, you mean …”

“If you put it that way, then yes. Those remains stayed here, completely undisturbed. They contained my feelings, my emotions and my magic, but left me without a body, for a time at least.”

Luna gasped, “But that should be impossible …”

“You forget, dear Luna, how we escaped from the moon. That too was considered impossible until there was an alignment in the stars. Now, thanks to this nice big window behind me” she gestured expansively with a forehoof to the moon that was bathing her in its ethereal glow, “I continued to have access to the stars, and through them, access to all the dark magic that you do not even realise you have lost …”

Luna blanched, “You were able to restore your physical form …”

“Quite so. And you know the fun thing about it? You don’t even know the spells I used, so you cannot hope to reverse them!”

Luna’s heart sank and her head drooped as Nightmare revelled in her triumph and began cackling insanely.

“What do you want?” asked Luna.

“Oh, please. That should be obvious” Nightmare gloated, refusing to release the Princess from her steely stare, “Eternal night, obviously. That is what we both wanted, after all. But first, I have some unfinished business with Celestia; I want her to endure the pain of being banished to her beloved sun, but not for a thousand years, oh no, that’s nowhere near enough for the revenge I wish to exact on her. After a thousand times a thousand years I may be prepared to listen to her beg, to see the desperation on her muzzle and the terror in her eyes, then throw her back to do it all over again and again until she goes quite mad!”

“Only one of us sounds mad” said Luna calmly.

“Really?“ Nightmare sneered, “Well in that case I remind you of my earlier question; what are you going to do about it?”

Luna was stunned. What was she going to do? Her wicked alter-ego was right, she had forgotten all the evil spells she had learned in the build up to her confrontation with Celestia.

“Come to me, Luna” said Nightmare menacingly, “You cannot hope to defeat me. Come and join back with me, so together we can become greater than either of us alone.”

“Never!”

“I said, come here!” screamed Nightmare, “I command you!”

“No!” asserted Luna, stamping a forehoof down firmly on the stone floor and staring unwaveringly back into her opponent’s eyes.

“Do not test me, Luna …” she warned.

“Or what?” the Princess shot back, “If you hurt me, then you will never be able to rejoin with me.”

Luna looked at Nightmare Moon, now almost completely silhouetted against the descending moon, then lowered her head, pointed her horn and fired off a bolt of light blue magic.

5 Unfinished Housework

Nightmare Moon recoiled and snarled as the blast of light blue energy flew over her shoulder.

“Ha!” she retorted, “You missed; I will finish you for your impudence!”

Luna was unperturbed and said calmly, “My aim was true.”

Nightmare turned to see a magically conjured set of drapes closing across the massive window behind her and screamed. She pointed her own horn towards them, but it only managed to light with a faint glow and no spell emerged, the drapes continuing towards each other until they had all but blocked out the light.

Luna cast a light spell against the sudden darkness that had descended following the loss of moonlight from outside, and watched as the jet-black mare began to fade before her eyes.

“No … !” she shouted, her muzzle contorted into an expression of terror, “You’ll ruin everything …!”

The Princess slowed the progress of the spell and the drapes stopped within a fraction of their meeting, leaving only a small shaft of moonlight still falling onto the image of the ghostly looking alicorn.

“The stars were aiding you again, were they not?” deduced Luna, “Cutting you off from them has taken away your power.”

The increasingly transparent image of Nightmare Moon held its pose as if frozen, and said nothing.

“Were I to guess, I should venture to suggest that the storm outside had abated too” said Luna, “Since you were no doubt powering it from the same source.”

Nightmare stared back defiantly at her victor, her voice faint, “I am part of you, Luna, whether you like it or not. I will always be in your head …”

Having heard enough, Luna closed the drapes fully and the ghostly effigy vanished, along with its hate filled rhetoric.

She approached the dais and saw shattered remains of light blue fragments of discarded armour and black shreds of something else which, if she had to guess, would say contained the distilled essence of evil from Nightmare Moon. They had lain there ever since Luna had been freed by Twilight and the other Element Bearers, waiting patiently to be activated by the moon and stars as they drifted into a suitable alignment just outside the window.

Shaking her head, Luna left the sorry scene and went to find a bin to sweep the remains into, so she could ensure they would be finally destroyed, along with all memories from a past that she was desperate to forget.

Five minutes later, she returned with a sack and a small brush to complete a job that should have been done years ago, but as she drew nearer, she noticed moonlight spilling in through a large rip across one of the drapes. Where the moonbeams should have been illuminating the discarded remnants that encapsulated the spirit of Nightmare Moon, they now shone instead onto an empty stone dais.

Quickly, Luna dropped the sack and lit her horn as she began to cast a number of search and trace spells, but try as she might, the trail had been covered by a dark magic unknown to her. With every minute that she tried frantically to pick up the scent, the trail grew colder, until finally she had to admit to herself that the last vestiges of hope had gone.

Having been so close to ridding Equestria of Nightmare Moon and losing the opportunity at the final moment, she screamed at the top of her Royal Canterlot Voice out of sheer frustration, punctuating its final dying note by stamping her forehooves violently onto the floor.

Luna cursed under her breath as the adrenalin faded away, and looked around for any other clues she may have missed.

Something about the window intrigued her, so she went over to take a closer look and satisfy her curiosity. It was a large bay window with prismatically shaped panes arranged in an exact arc around the dais.

“Clever” she observed, noticing how the light from each pane focused onto the exact same point at the centre of the dais, amplifying the energy many times over.

“So that is how she did it” Luna acknowledged begrudgingly, “… and also why she could not move off the dais without losing her power.”

The Princess stepped back to put some distance between her and the window, then loosed off a single bolt of energy that blasted every pane into tiny shards in a single instant, leaving only the skeletal remains of shocked, bare frames as witnesses to the mass destruction.

Far away in Canterlot, Celestia paced the balcony of the Royal Castle, fretting at the lateness of the hour and the absence of her sister, fearing the worst. She had been dogged by bad dreams, and although she loved Luna with all her heart, could never forget why she had banished her to the moon all those long years ago.

Suddenly, the moon fell from the sky as if yanked sharply on a length of string.

Celestia stared, looking somewhat startled to see if this near comical act would be followed by something random that would indicate Discord’s intervention, but it did not come. With a warm feeling spreading through her, she realised that her sister must have suddenly become aware of the time and rushed to execute her duties.

Luna was safe; that was enough to know.

Celestia shook her head with a soft smile; moonset had been almost one hour and three quarters late; perhaps Luna had gone off on her travels and caught up with friends or had fallen asleep somewhere? She would tease her little sister about this one when she eventually returned.

Meanwhile, deep in the Everfree Forest, Luna could not shake off the picture in her mind’s eye of the familiar blue smoke belonging to her evil twin, searching for somewhere else to regroup and build up strength once again. She knew it would happen, but when and how this evil mare would reappear to threaten Equestria again would continue to taunt her consciousness. Nightmare Moon was in her head, just as her adversary had said she would be.

This was not over, but equally there was nothing more that could be done about it right now, so she turned her back on the ruined castle and raised her head to give a disgruntled huff before taking off for home. Perhaps she would stop off and see friends in Ponyville on her way?

She thought immediately of Rainbow Dash, then smiled to herself; what were the chances she would even be up at this time?

Then her mind switched to somepony who would definitely be in need of some calming down after the moon had been late to set.

With a little chuckle, she set course for Twilight Sparkle and hopefully some of Spike’s pancakes. It had been a busy night and to cap it all, she had missed both lunch and dinner.