And With The Dawn Of True Peace

100 years later, the Moon's surface

Princess Luna patiently but anxiously waits for the Moon to go down for the day. Since the Sun and Moon still rise and fall every day, she can only assume that Nightmare Moon was defeated by Celestia but still sighs sadly. Everypony I've grown to know and care about are gone besides her, Cadance, Twilight. However, I managed before and I'll manage again.

After some more contemplation, she feels the magical bond keeping her on the Moon slightly loosen before fading away entirely. "Here we go." Using the same powerful teleportation magic that she used as Nightmare Moon one hundred and four years earlier, she teleports down to Canterlot although she finds herself on the outskirts of the city rather than in the throne room as she intended. That's... weird. Maybe it's an anti-teleportation field? I hope everything's okay.

As Luna walks into Canterlot, she isn't surprised to see that the surrounding area is much more vibrant with even fully grown dragons flying around. Celestia always has had a knack for diplomacy and it's doubtless that Twilight and her friends helped with that.

As she enters Canterlot Market though, she stops abruptly as she spies undisguised Changelings calmly placing an order at Donut Joe's shop. As she prepares to blast them into next week though, she notices that they're laughing with the employee like old friends. This isn't good. Chrysalis' off-spring must have infiltrated Canterlot. I can't cause a scene or innocent ponies could get hurt.

Before she can leave though, Donut Joe himself leaves his shop to talk with the Changelings and her eyes go wide. She can tell from the familiar orange mane and unmistakable voice that this is the one she knew and not Donut Joe II or something but what's truly alarming is the completely black shade of fur that he has rather than his normal brown shade.

Having been bonded to a certain being for one thousand years, she is well aware of the process right before her. No! I-i-it can't be! Her mind immediately rushes through multiple scenarios but settles on one particularly horrifying scenario. If Nightmare Moon proved herself to Chrysalis by showing the captured Element Bearers... I have to be sure. She bolts for Canterlot Castle only to suddenly disappear.

After a few moments of disorientation, Luna finds herself in the "familiar" realm of Chaosville and face to face with the even more familiar God of Chaos. "Nice to see you up and about again, Moonflank."

The Princess of the Night ignores her former enemy. "What did Nightmare Moon promise you, Discord? Eternal chaos? A portion of Equestria to turn into your own playground?"

The Draconequus looks crushed. "Such accusations! You wound me, Princess." He becomes a crocodile, bites his own tail hard and proceeds to wipe off the tears but Luna only rolls her eyes. Getting no reaction out of her, the God of Chaos pouts. "Phooie, you're no fun."

Luna's glare continues. "I'm surprised, Discord. I thought that you cared about Fluttershy and I heard you were dating her. I guess your desire for chaos outweighed your love for her and you were happy to see her die."

The look of anger on Discord's face surprises her slightly. In all of the time that she has known the Draconequus, through his many failures and disappointments, she has never seen him angry. "You think I would let Flutters die just for the sake of some small chaos?! She's even better than ever. And besides, Nightmare Moon has a new name now; Void."

Luna drops her head. "Scootaloo, I'm so sorry."

The God of Chaos laughs at her. "Oh, oh you have so much to learn Lulu but it's best to learn first-hoof. TTFN."

"What do you mean by-"

With a loud crack, Luna suddenly finds herself standing in the middle of an unfamiliar building though it doesn't take a genius to recognise Rarity's typical stylings. She's never personally been to Rarity's Boutique but what other pony could have such a... unique way of expressing thier love for fashion?

"Coming, darling." Luna freezes before turning to see Rarity emerging from a side-room. "Good morning and welcome to Rarity's Carousel B- PRINCESS LUNA! It's a pleasure to see you." Luna doesn't respond as she stares in horror at the Element of Generosity. No, no, no. She can't have done it. I have to be hallucinating. There's no way even she would ever do something this barbaric.

Following the Princess' gaze, Rarity chuckles as she gestures to some chairs to one side. "I see that you've noticed Queen Void's... rather unique punishment."

Finally finding her voice, Luna forces herself to look at Rarity's face. "Pardon my language but what the hay happened to you?"

Rarity sighs as she levitates over some tea. "It's not just me, darling. All six of us are Dreads now and even some other ponies have joined us for thier own reasons."

Luna shakes her head in disbelief. "What about the Elements of Harmony? What happens if Sombra returns? What if Chrysalis finds a way to attack us? I've already seen some of her Changelings in Canterlot."

Rarity looks contemplative for a moment. "A funny thing that we discovered about the Elements of Harmony; we can still use them perfectly well. They operate based on the pony's heart, not on what they are."

Luna releases a slight breath; at least the kingdom has been protected for the last century. "Wait, if you can still use the Elements of Harmony, why didn't you try and free Scootaloo from that monster? And why weren't you worried when I mentioned encountering Changelings in Canterlot?"

Rarity sighs. "Please make yourself comfortable, Princess Luna. This will take a while."

One long conversation later

By the time that Rarity's explanation has finished, the sun is setting and Luna is silent after the multiple bombshell revelations. "B-b-but that would mean that-" She shakes her head thoroughly. "How do I know that I can trust you? Void could have brainwashed you and be using you to manipulate me."

Rarity sighs. "Void knew that you'd say that so she told me to give you this." She hands Luna a scroll before getting up and heading for the stairs. "You'll find what you want in that scroll but you'll have to forgive me for leaving, darling. A fashionista needs her beauty sleep after all." With a final wave, she heads upstairs and Luna opens the scroll.

Dear Princess Luna.
If Rarity heeded my request, this letter will reach you after you are sent to her Boutique by Discord. It's good to see you again, Princess Luna. I understand that you'll be confused and angry but I ask that you please give me a chance to explain. You will surely have noticed your inability to access Canterlot Castle earlier today and I'm sorry but I couldn't allow you to enter without first getting some context. When you decide to meet me, come to the place where your new life began and I was reborn.

Signed your old friend.
Scootaloo.

Luna takes a moment to take in the message. It's much more formal than she would have expected from Scootaloo but she hopes that it is just because she is over a century old. After taking a few minutes to collect her thoughts, she decides to first take a look around Ponyvile before she meets Void in person. She needs to ensure that her former subjects aren't being horribly mistreated first. With that in mind, she folds the scroll up and quietly leaves.

By the time that Princess Luna has satisfied herself that Ponyvile is okay, it is well after midnight when she reaches the Golden Oaks Library. When she does, she smiles as she sees a light shining in an upstairs window. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Straightening her posture, she politely but firmly knocks on the door. "Please get that, Spike.” After a few moments of waiting, the door opens to reveal Spike though he has changed.

Though Dragons age at an incredibly slow rate, and he is barely considered a two-year-old by Dragon standards at age 116, Spike is not only as big as the door but on all fours and she can tell something has... changed inside his mind. The warm and very welcoming smile that emerges when he sees her though is reassuring. "Welcome back, Princess Luna. Twilight has been desperately waiting for your return. Come in, come in."

Princess Luna follows Spike into the castle and sees that little has changed besides several new and clearly more modern additions. As she gazes around, she sees two very notable shelved books; the first being The Correlation Between Magic and Friendship by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Despite everything, Luna can't help but smile. Twilight has always wanted to have a book published.

Filed close by though is a book labelled The Rise of Modern Equestria with the author given as Void. Shaking it off, she heads upstairs where Spike ushers her in as he leaves to sleep at Rarity's. Speaking from personal experiences, he knows that conversations with Twilight can get loud and last all night.

Taking a breath to steady herself, Luna enters Twilight's bedroom to find the mare mane deep in a book regarding expanding the limits of your own magic. "Good evening, Twilight."

The book falls to the floor with a hard thud and Twilight's neck shoots up with a snap to reveal a huge smile. "LUNA!" She gives her fellow Princess a strong hug which is swiftly returned. "How've things been?"

The Princess of the night bows her head sadly. "I never heard from Tia in all those years and I had hoped that she defeated Void and just couldn't find a way to free me. Coming home and finding everything has changed this much is..."

Twilight gives her a sympathetic look. "Déjà vu?"

Luna nods before shooting her friend a worried look. "Twilight, I know that Void got to your friends but you're an Alicorn. You have to have resisted her control. We can work together to finally bring an end to that monster."

Twilight shakes her head forlornly. "I'm sorry to say this but everything Rarity told you was 100% categorically true. Everything that happened to Scootaloo, the death of Bad Winnie, what eventually pushed her too far, our torture and eventual transformation, the foal abuse we've worked extensively to worm out, the alliances. All of it is true."

For a few moments, Luna is silent before shaking her head. "I see that I was wrong. Don't worry Twilight, I'll take care of her myself and save everypony."

As she turns to leave though, the door slams shut and is magically held shut. "Twilight, please let me-" She suddenly finds herself able to access Twilight's mind and gently combs through her memories. To her horror, she finds no trace of mind control at all and finds that all of the memories are true. "H-how can this be?"

Twilight shakes her head sadly. "You need to talk to Queen Void. She will explain everything." Princess Luna nods but Twilight smiles at her. "But it's much too late to go out to the Everfree today. Can I offer you a place to sleep?"

The Princess of the Night breathes a sigh of relief and nods. "Thank you, Twilight."

Later that night, Canterlot Castle

Scootaloo heads back to her room after a dinner with the other Crusaders when a Royal Guard approaches. "Your Highness, we've received from Princess Twilight that Princess Luna returned as expected and is staying the night before moving to the rendezvous."

Scootaloo smiles. "Excellent, private. You can expect a promotion in the near future."

"Th-thank you your majesty." He salutes as Scootaloo walks into her room to find Void waiting.

As she heads to her bedroom for the night, Scootaloo casts a smile back at Penumbra. "We were right. Luna returned and is staying the night at the Library."

Her co-ruler beams brightly. "Excellent."