There was a certain level of... dread? Dread sounded right. Dread, that came from silently waiting for a threat that may never come. Let it be known that Nightmare Moon handled dread like a proper princess. She was not, and would never be, nervously tapping her hooves into the stone floor or pacing sporadically. That would be preposterous. Blasphemous even.

Trying to convince the contemptible bug of that seemed to have been a foal's errand. Damn snake had corrupted her, and now she too saw her majesty as a foal to be mocked and teased. She wanted to be more angry at that, she really did. It was... hard to feel any rage or resentment towards anypony other than her sister though.

It is hard, it turns out, to stack up to a thousand years of imprisonment.

Nonetheless she gave an appropriate amount of glaring and scowling. And by that, she meant every time she heard a giggle. That changed real fast, when she felt her makeshift security slowly unravel in front of her.

The manticore she rattled up and sent out to guard had its thorn extracted. Sure, that was unsurprising. It likely got it out on its own. She made a note to reinsert it, but shortly after the illusion she left in the forest was forcibly dispelled. It felt like earth pony magic? She had little time to panic as she realized what was going on. Celestia had made her move.

"Queen Chrysalis. Gather Lord Sombron, his services are required. This castle shall not be defiled by Equestrian hooves" she growled, glaring daggers at the door.

The changeling did not wait around to figure out why, as within moments of her barking orders said purple dragon was being shoved into the room.

"What useless drivel could possibly be worth-"

"She has made her move. We must act fast, Lord Sombron. Art thou finished with this... ritual?" The dragon brought up an odd looking singed book and waved it slightly. Taking that as confirmation, she then turned to face the door.

"Time is of the essence. My magic has been suppressing the ghastly sun Celestia commands, and she has made her move. Stay here and guard the Elements while I seek my revenge" she commanded, stamping her hoof resolutely. She fully intended to bust through her own window to begin her attack, but a hand on her back stopped her. She turned, glaring daggers at Sombron.

"I do not advise this. Reconsider, as this is doomed to fail as is" he murmured, his cold gaze freezing her on the spot. Her temper spiked at his dismissive tone.

"Explain thyself, I will not suffer foolishness from my own inner council" she snarled, trying to maintain her calm. Every cell in her body screamed at her to ignore him, to fly off. Yet she could not.

"She is prepared for you. She would not address you so indirectly if she wasn't. She is not prepared for me. Allow me to go in your stead, protect the elements with Chrysalis." She glared at the window, finding herself unable to refute him. She bit back a growl, turning to blink away what was most definitely not tears.

"I cannot allow that, revenge is mine to claim. Thou would only kill what is mine to hurt" she hissed, and another security measure cut off.

"I... will not kill her. Only hurt. Maybe burn down that... mud hut was it?"

"Mud hut... Canterlot. Promise me, you wont kill her. I resent her but... I do not wish for mine own blood to be spilled..." she trailed off. Her temper flared, something inside loathing the weakness she felt. That rage spiked as another measure was shattered at her hooves.

"Just... just go. I shall stand vigil. Remind her how fragile her peace is and return posthaste. Go before I change my mind." She could hear footsteps as the dragon fled the castle, leaving her alone with the changeling. Oh, ok and the dread was back.

"Chrysalis... I know not if I will be resealed here. Nonetheless, it is not thy place to interfere. If falling to the Elements is fated, so be it. I know Sombron will survive my sister, and it is imperative he knows where to strike to break Celestia's control of the weapon. Should I fail... flee and report to him. The elements will not kill, less so a previous wielder. I will..."

"I understand, Lady Moon" Chrysalis murmured from behind her. "You both... seem quite cold on the outside, but its odd. I don't think that is all there is to it. I will make sure he knows what happens here, and if needed my hive will provide him shelter while we figure out how to best assist you."

Let it never be said that Nightmare Moon flinched at the feeling of her final defense being severed. No, this time she would gladly lop the blame on the insects careless words. Nonetheless, now was not the time for banter. She motioned for the changeling Queen to hide, and she paced back to sit upon her throne.

The next hour and a half honestly felt like a blur. The new Element Bearers arrived, though they seemed even less sure of themselves than she felt. Honestly she was envious of her sister. While she did bear a new menacing look, she was still herself. She adored cute things, and by Faust her sisters' new minions were adorable.

They were so terribly uncoordinated. The blue one was fast, but did terribly little before being repelled. She knew better than to willingly place herself under earth pony hooves, and the two unicorns seemed... well. Inexperienced was the gentlest way to put it. Peace really did take its toll on its champions, it would seem.

The effort, while inspiring, was honestly pitiful. Try as she might, however she couldn't simply kill them and be done with it. Call it foolish sentimentality, but part of her was still Luna the Dreamweaver. Killing her subjects, even ones so naive and ignorant felt... like a waste.

She couldn't really bring herself to do more than batter them around a bit, which to be fair was... perhaps not the best idea. She could not help that her heart wasn't in it, but still. Sombron was out there risking his hide while she was dragging her feet repelling a simple assault squad. No... no that wasn't what this was. It hardly looked so organized. Perhaps this was simply mercenaries? No, they lacked equipment. What in Faust's name was this farce?

She was honestly tempted to give the group pointers, and before her banishment she very well would have. Now it was different. She was no longer Equestrian nobility. Not in any true sense. She had no duty to these ponies, short of sparing them the grisly death she was more than equipped to deliver.

Things only got worse as the purple one rallied them all and actually manifested the elements. Nightmare Moon couldn't help but feel cheated. She had to lug around heavy gems, while the two pegasi and the pink earth pony got snazzy jewellery out of her old weapons.

She did always find it ironic that Equestrias chief war master got the Element of Kindness, something her sister ribbed her about relentlessly. She could almost be forgiven for letting her mind wander, as there was little she could do now that the group became enveloped in blinding light.

She could tell the changeling had fled, which was good. Best Sombron knew how stupid she was being. Perhaps after this imprisonment he could rub that in her face. Ooh, maybe she would get petrified like Discord. She tried to think of a pose, but nothing came to mind. Huh, this ensuing doom really was taking awhi-

"Are... are you ok? How did you get her- Oh-oh wow ok that's an Alicorn. Girls, I think we just... uncorrupted the unnamed sister?"

That was the blue one. Loyalty, if she recalled. She looked down and at herself. What in the... Oh Faust. Her enchantments, her armor. All of it shed away like a coat. She didn't even get to keep her flowy mane. She could feel her magic, but it was faint. This was quite possibly the most embarrassed she has ever felt. She had to hide it though, best not give them more reason to fire that ghastly beam at her again.

"Y-yes, the uh... corruption. Yes. I am purged of it. Though... I uh..." she trailed off, stunned at the sour look the orange one was sending her. Faust right, that one was the element of honesty. That made this trickier. "Listen, I cannot fight or cause issues. I have been neutralized. Now she can raise her sun in peace."

The orange ones glare lessened, and the ponies backed off to convene. Well, all but one. It seemed Laughter wished to speak. Well, she assumed it was speech. In some lost pony language. Her confusion must have shown, as Magic pulled her away by the tail while growling her name. The six mares talked away from her in hushed whispers. The orange one stood facing her, refusing to let her leave her line of sight.

She was the responsible one it seemed. Not that escape was in the cards for Luna. Faust, she had to use her real name now. She already missed the nightmare form. Attempting to get to her hooves proved a fool's errand, as her limbs almost immediately gave out on her. The yellow one, Kindness, immediately dashed to her side. She wordlessly let the mare inspect her.

"Fear comes naturally to you, yet you approach without it. Why is that, Element Bearer?" The mare's response was too soft to hear, but Luna wasn't bothered. The reasoning hardly mattered, and she could not bring herself to discourage it. "For what it is worth, I felt no joy bringing pain to Celestia's chosen. Thou art quite cute. I only dread what comes next."

She could see the confusion on the purple one's face, but before she could ask a loud explosion shook the castle. The group waited for the ground to settle beneath them, and suddenly four glares directed themselves towards Luna. Kindness and Laughter were too occupied staring at the direction the noise came from.

"Before anypony asks, no that was not me. I think." Her voice was somehow overlapped by that of Laughter's, a fact that any other time would have caused her to giggle.

Moments turned to seconds, which became minutes. The tension only rose as the girls became antsy, wanting nothing more than to investigate but being unwilling to leave her unattended. It was then that hoofsteps could be heard from down the hall.

Emerging from the entrance was Princess Celestia herself. With a big inflamed black eye and the biggest scowl Luna had ever seen on her face.

"Hello sister. I am happy to see, er... I am glad you are unhar- er... its nice weather we are having, is it not?"

"Luna... you have been back four hours and I am already sick of you."

The yellow one scurried away from her, and the six reconvened a good ways away from the pair. Quite a bit of restraint, given they were witnessing their sovereign ruler injured. Speaking of... Celestia's scowl remained unchanged as she slowly closed the distance. Luna wanted to give a scathing comment, but it all fell apart as the tall white mare collapsed all but a half step away from her. She felt her sister's neck and head rest on her back.

She could feel Celestia trembling. A knot formed in her gut.

"I missed you, my brat of a sister. Not a day went by where I didn't regret that night" her older sister hissed, and the trembling in her voice made Luna's eyes blur.

"Damn foolish Tia" she murmured as she buried her face into her sister's side. She barely registered the sounds of the Elements leaving them to give them privacy, too caught up in the sounds of her sister biting back sobs.

It was a good moment before either would speak, instead both mares simply holding each other close. The one to break the silence ended up being the eldest sister.

"I... am happy that this corruption was purged" Celestia muttered, and Luna could not respond. Suddenly it all made sense, this was not a bastardization caused by constant retellings. Celestia legitimately believed she could not have ever opposed her without being corrupted.

The realization tasted like ash, and her temper found itself rekindled ever so slightly.

"Celestia... I... before such a thing can be addressed... What has become of my friend? The one I... er... sent to damage Canterlot?" She could feel the scowl on Celestia's face.

"About that."

Luna's stomach dropped further.

Author's Note

I stand corrected. I might be continuing the three chapter per upload thing. It just... feels right. Whether those three be uploaded more than once a month is still up in the air but because of the way I am doing the POVs this just...

Idunno. It feels right.

Thank you as always for reading.

• Marlo