Silence. Silence is the complete lack of any sounds, yet at the same time, it can be more deafening than an explosion. Such a natural concept, yet so paradoxical. This anomaly is what occurred for the next 30 seconds after my revelation. Eventually my eyes began to moisten again, as the pain once more assaulted me. The roar of nothing was interrupted by me suddenly being embraced. Not by Twilight, but by the princess.

The ruler embraced me, much like Twilight had. As she hugged me, she spoke to me.
“It will be ok. I’m sorry.”
I was somewhat surprised. After all, not 10 minutes ago she tried to execute me for my resemblance to these moonlight beasts, and now she was here, comforting me. Despite the strangeness of being hugged by someone who just tried to kill you, it felt nice.
I embraced her back, and whispered a thank you. Soon after, Twilight joined in the hug, and I began to feel a little claustrophobic, but I could live with it. Another 10 seconds of hugging had passed before they let go of me, and began to ask questions again.

“I know it must be painful to relive, but I must know more. I’m positive Twilight is just as curious as I am too. ”
“Of course, ask away. Best way to ease tensions and forge friendships is to know more about the other, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask a few myself.”
“Of course. First of all, what was it that you were trying to do that led to this downfall? ”

“My people were on the verge of collapsing. War and disease ravaged us, and corruption in our government bled us dry. That’s when we discovered the blood of the great ones. Being’s who evolved to the point of ascending to a higher plane. We figured that if we could figure out how to do that with our kind, war would no longer be needed, disease would vanish, and governments would be irrelevant, so corruption would no longer be a problem. So we began to experiment.”

“ However, it backfired. While for a time our research blossomed, and we found a possible lead. The blood they left behind. While for a time it worked, eliminating disease and war, it would come back and bite us. The blood would cause a user to become addicted, requiring more and more. Eventually they would become drunk with bloodlust, and lose their humanity, transforming into beasts. We went to war, trying to stop the spread, but it was too late. Everyone was starting to become blood drunk. What is worse, my church had began to corrupt, authorizing inhumane experiments without my knowledge, and covering up the scourge of beasts. Eventually, it led to the city falling to chaos, and finally being destroyed. There were no survivors.”

Celestial looked at me with pity, like she knew what it was like to fail as badly as I did. “Anyways, I think I get to ask a question. Who is Luna, and what happened to cause the moonlight beasts?” Celestial sighs, and begins to recount.
“Luna is my sister. Many years ago, we had to fight many powerful beings to help protect our home. First was discord, spirit of chaos. Defeating him earned us a position as the duel rulers of Equestria. Next was a centaur, hellbent on stealing the magic from every pony. Then came the unicorn, corrupted by dark magic. And while we were doing that, we had to come back every so often and rule. I would deal with the more political side, while Luna would deal with the more militaristic side. That eventually lead to people adoring me, and fearing her. They saw me as their leader, making their lives better, and her as the warrior destroying our enemies and any creature that stood in her way. As time progressed, more and more began to prefer me over her, leading to resentment and jealousy. I was unable to see her pain, being blinded by their adoration. During that time, a powerful demon made itself known to her, and began to try to convince her to betray me. She refused, but every day her patience grew thinner. ”

“ Eventually she snapped, after some ponies began to make attempts on her life, to ensure that I was the only ruler. When she brought it up to me, I made the mistake of brushing it off, as she had brought it up during a very important meeting with some nobles. This caused her to snap, stating that if the ponies wanted to fear her, than she will give them what they want. In her moment of passion, she her defenses were let down, and seeing an opportunity, the demon managed to possessed her, transforming into a dark warrior known as nightmare moon. She rose the moon into the sky, blocking the sun, and rallied her most loyal warriors under her. She took any local fauna and used her magic to corrupt them into loyal, bloodthirsty followers: one of the most dangerous of which being the moonlight beasts. And she declared war. For 10 days we fought, until it ended with a duel at our castle. I did not want to hurt her, but she did not have the same qualm, and began to win. In desperation, I grabbed 6 powerful artifacts that we had used to defeat many of our previous foes: the element s of harmony. Using them, I banished her to the moon, saving the world, but condemning my sister. I promised that one day, I would get her back, no matter the cost, and I would never ignore her again. ”

“Then, 1000 years later, she came back. Even more bitter, she defeated me and trapped me within the moon. It was only thanks to Twilight and her friends finding the elements, and purifying my sister from the demon controlling her that I was able to escape, and finally reunite with my sister. I promised her, I would never abandon her again. I am beginning to reintroduce her to the diarchy, and we have been spending more time together in the past month than we ever did before the nightmare. In fact, tomorrow we go bowling.”

As she finished the story, I was shocked. She went through so much. She really did understand the pain of my failures. And what’s more, she has shown that she has learned from her mistakes. Just as I have. “ thank you princess. I have no more questions, so feel free to ask me as many as you want.”
“I don’t have any off the top of my head. Do you Twilight?”
I feel bad, as I had almost forgot Twilight was in the room with us.

“Nope! I mean, no princess Celestia.”
Celestia rolls her eyes and chuckles a bit, before looking between us.
“I do have one favor though. I would like you to come to canterlot for a bit. This way we have better equipment to run a few tests, and possibly introduce you to the world at large. Twilight, you and your friends can come along as well if you would like to.”

As Twilight nods her head excitedly, I chuckle. “Of course your majesty. It would be my honor.”
“Oh, no need for that Laurence. We’re friends now, just call me Celestia.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll go tell my friends about it and see if they wanna come. I’ll be back in a minute.”
As twilight leaves, I can’t help but feel exitment, as well as a bit of anxiousness. But whatever happens, I will be ready for it. After all, how much can go wrong in a capital city, run by 2 godlike beings?

Author's Note

I put a bit of a twist on the nightmare moon story, hope you all enjoy. Leave any criticism or suggestions in the comments!