Harmony Lost

Something's off. Twilight Sparkle knew this as soon as the moon didn't come out at the right time. There was a brief period of time when Luna resumed her duties where she ran the bringing in of the night a little late. That was two years ago, and never was it this late. Something must of come up at Canterlot Castle that was causing the delay.None of this mattered to Twilight. She was too busy taking this rare opportunity to admire the dusk.

“The sky sure is pretty after the sun sets,” Spike observed. Spike had a knack for saying exactly what Twilight was thinking. “I mean, we don't get to see the sky like this very often. Princess Luna is pretty good at putting up the night before anypony has a chance to appreciate the twilight. I wonder why she is running this late.”

“I don't know Spike,” Twilight answered her assistant, “but I don't think it is anything major, or Princess Celestia would have contacted me. Something probably came up causing a delay.”

Truly there was no reason for alarm. Celestia tells me everything. Unless, Twilight thought,Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are in danger and are unable to send a message to me. The harmony in Equestria could be destroyed and I wouldn't even know it!! Spike shot a look at Twilight that saidReally? and Twilight, taking the hint, calmed herself.No, that would be ridiculous. She thought when suddenly, without warning the night came.

“That was strange. Usually we see Princess Luna streak across the sky when she brings in the night.”

“Your right Spike, that was odd.” Twilight agreed. “Still, it is now night. We should get back to the library and into bed. We have a busy day tomorrow with learning those muting spells. Just think, I get to go all of tomorrow in quiet,” she said with a jest. Spike, however looked a little less enthused. Twilight laughed at her assistant. Something was starting to bug her though.Spike is right. This night did come on a little quick. The fastest it ever has. Usually it takes Princess Luna two or three passes to raise the moon. Tonight it happened without one. I got a bad feeling about this.

“Twilight,” Spike called suddenly, “watch out for the-” Twilight crashed into the door to the library. She was so lost in thought she lost track of time and where she was.

“Thanks,” she responded loosely. They had arrived home, or at least their home in Ponyville. Before they moved here they lived at the castle with Princess Celestia, but when Twilight was assigned to live in Ponyville arrangements were made for her to make her home at the library. This also made her the librarian. It was a duty that she took up without much effort as she was pretty much the only pony who used it.

When they got inside Twilight got what she was secretly dreading: a letter from the princess informing her of a crisis, and a call to arms for her and her friends. The worst part was that the letter also spoke of Princess Luna coming over in person to tell them about what's wrong. Twilight didn't have much time to read into whatever this might mean, she needed to gather the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

Luna flew by night to reach Ponyville. It was going to take less time than she thought because Beelzehoof's spell somehow made her stronger than her usual self.I hope I don't get there early, she thought to herself. She was afraid. Beezlehoof was powerful, and evil. There was clearly more to her transformation than a simple makeover. Luna shuddered to think of what else he might have done to her. She arrived at Ponyville five minutes earlier than expected.

“Maybe I will fly around a bit,” she said to herself out loud.Why am I afraid to get there early? Circling over Ponyville gave Luna more time to think.What is there to be afraid of? With that thought she was brought back to her last visit to Ponyville.

It was a year ago on Nightmare Night, a feast held in the honour of her, Nightmare Moon. Her sister had told her that she needed to get out more and mingle among their subjects. Luna was shy about the idea but Celestia was very persistent in convincing her to go. She had pointed out that the only reason Luna went mad in the first place was a lack of recognition from anypony, who were not awake to appreciate the night. On that night they would be awake. That night was the perfect opportunity for Luna. Celestia clearly hadn't forgiven Luna for Nightmare Moon, evident by bringing it up every chance she got.Well, Nightmare Moon was your fault, Luna thought,maybe if you payed a little more attention to me, none of this would have happened. Luna didn't have the guts to say this to her sister's face so she reluctantly she agreed.

Luna arrived in Ponyville to discover to her horror what her image had become in the thousand years she was imprisoned. Her image was a joke. Nightmare Moon had become a figure used to scare young colts and fillies before bed. This stung Luna greatly, but not as much as the reaction she got when she announced her arrival. Instead of mingling everypony was afraid of her and ran. The only pony not to run was Twilight Sparkle, the pony who stopped her with the Elements of Harmony, and her sister's prized student. Twilight was the only pony who was kind to her and eventually helped Luna get accepted in Ponyville. For the first time, Luna felt like she actually had a friend.

Luna snapped right back to reality when something zoomed by right in front of her.Rainbow Dash, Luna realized,had she seen me?! What was she so afraid of? They had met before, they were on good terms. The last time they met Luna scared Dash who was about to scare someone else. Afterwards they laughed about it. They really didn't talk the first time they met; Rainbow Dash had wielded the Element of Loyalty against her. Luna had not talked to anypony until that Nightmare Night.

I am afraid, she realized,of being feared, hated. Deep down Luna knew she found what was holding her back. The fear of rejection was at the core of Luna's character. She was always living in the shadow of her sister, both figuratively and literally. Luna desired to step out and be her own pony so bad but feared she couldn't. “Am I doomed to forever be hidden by the shadows cast by the sun?” she asked aloud to the night. She got no answer.

         Luna looked down at Ponyville once more. The streets were empty save for a two ponies, one dark coated and the other clearly with an orange hide. Luna knew that this pair was Twilight fetching Applejack.Everypony must already be there, Luna thought,Applejack would take the longest to get into town. The pair arrived at the library confirming Luna's suspicions were correct. With all of Twilight's friends at the library, it was time to go meet them.

Twilight and Applejack arrived together at the library and Twilight was pleased to see that they were the last to arrive. Rarity was there with curlers in her mane looking none too impressed that she was missing, as she called it, her beauty sleep. This made no difference to Spike who was standing around gawking at Rarity. Fluttershy was conversing with Owlowiscious, and seemed to be having a rather engaging conversation despite only gettingwho as a response. Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie and proving that her seemingly endless supply of energy was not confined to daylight hours. Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight had arrived with Apple Jack.

“Hey Twilight, Applejack,” she greeting.

“You came.” Twilight said to everypony present.

“Of course,” Dash answered, “when I heard Equestria was in danger, I couldn't just leave it hanging.”

         “Well what is the problem,” Rarity asked rather annoyed, “could this crisis really not be dealt with in the morning?”

“Ah am wonderin' the same thing Twilight. You were pretty tahght lipped on ahr walk here,” Applejack put in. “Just what in tarnation is the all hurry?”

“I guess I haven't told you girls everything,” Twilight admitted. “I'm sorry about that, but the truth is that I don't even know. I got a letter from Princess Celestia warning of a crisis that only we can stop. The letter didn't say what the crisis was,  but it did tell me to gather all of you here and wait for Princess Luna to fill us in.”

“Umm... Twilight,” Fluttershy said in her quiet manner, “why is Princess Luna coming over to explain? Doesn't Princess Celestia console you herself on this sort of thing?” A softthump was heard outside the door.

“I guess we can ask Luna herself.” The door opened behind Twilight. Pinkie Pie screamed and pointed at the doorway in a similar fashion to the way she reacted to Luna a year ago. Twilight was about to scold Pinkie when Fluttershy froze up letting out her silent, frightened squee. Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack got into a stance ready to charge. Rarity was the only one to speak. “My god! Its...” Twilight turned to face the doorway and saw standing there to her horror, Nightmare Moon.

The reaction Luna got was the one she expected but still hurt nonetheless. They were ready to fight her. They feared her.

“The Elements! Where are the Elements?” Rainbow Dash yelled out in a panic.

Luna answered to calm the situation, “They are safe, but they can't fix this mess. My mess.”

“Oh yeah? What does that mean?” Dash retorted. Luna just stared at the floor. What seemed like hours went by when Luna felt somepony wrap a leg around her.

“P-princess Luna?” Fluttershy asked cautiously. Luna nodded, and everypony seemed to relax. “What happened to you?” Fluttershy asked.

“I am afraid that is why I am here.” Luna answered. “It is bad, I won't lie. Do you remember how I escaped from the moon...

Luna spent the next two hours explaining the whole situation. Twilight and her friends were far more understanding than her sister, though Twilight's attitude did somewhat mimic Celestia’s.Like pupil like master, Luna thought. When Luna was finished there was silence for a brief time.

“Beelzehoof huh? Aww shit this is bad. Pardon mah french.” Applejack said breaking the silence.

“What are the fangs for?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I don't know. Beelzehoof told my sister she was allergic to moonlight and inferred that I am allergic to sunlight.” Luna replied.

“But he didn't actually say you were allergic to sunlight?” Twilight asked, eyeballing the bookshelf. Clearly she wanted to start researching this right away.

“No,” Luna admitted, “but the way he inferred it suggested that I was allergic to sunlight. He also inferred that there is more to-this.”This referred to her transformation. “It is late, and Celestia wants Twilight to go to Canterlot tomorrow at noon. I should be going now before the sun rises.”

“Wait,” Luna heard from behind her. It was Rarity who spoke up. “Your highness, it is late and you must be tired. Too tired to fly all the way to Canterlot. You must rest. Why not come stay at my house, if only for a bit before your journey.” Luna agreed to rest briefly at Rarity’s. Rarity was uplifted higher than the clouds when Luna agreed. “Princess Luna, in my store. How wonderful.”

Rarity hurried Luna out the door and down to her shop. Luna, despite an increase in strength could not resist the dressmaker's pull.

Thankfully the streets of Ponyville were empty at this time of night. Luna did not want another confrontation with anypony else. Not like this. Twilight and her friends were actually pretty understanding of the situation, but Luna wasn’t sure everypony would share their sympathy. They arrived at Rarity's before long.

“I thank you Rarity for your hospitality,” Luna said thankfully but not entirely focused. She was starting to get hungry.

“Well I wouldn't be the Element of Generosity if I didn't offer you a chance to stay at my store; being exposed to my outfits. Say princess, are you alright? You are looking pale all of a sudden.” Rarity was right. Luna looked in a mirror and she did look slightly more pale than she did a few hours ago.

        “N-no its nothing really. I am just a little hungry, that's all,” Luna replied. Luna did not feel well at all. She knew that this hunger had something to do with it. It was strange. It almost seemed as if it was trying to control her.Ridiculous! Luna told herself, and she just shrugged it off. Rarity came and wrapped her leg around Luna.

“Of course, silly me. I should have offered you something as soon as we got in. Pardon my rudeness.” Rarity said. Being this close to another pony caused Luna's hunger to flare and a flash of red before her eyes. Luna blanked out, almost responding to pure instinct for a moment before she got herself under control.

“That would be... nice. A snack would be nice,” Luna replied, and Rarity took off toward the kitchen.What in the seven provinces of Tartarus was that all about! Luna wondered.I mean, I blanked out as soon as she made contact!

“Princess, I am not sure what you like. Could you come in here and I can whip you something up?” Rarity called out from the kitchen.

“Alright,” Luna responded, and made her way into the kitchen.

Rarity had her head in the fridge looking through various leftovers when Luna entered. She was so eager to please the princess she paid no mind to what was going on around her. Had she been paying attention to detail, as was her tendency, she would have noticed that the princess almost seemed to be stumbling when she stepped. She would have noticed that Luna almost tripped on Opal's favourite cat toy left out on the floor, or Sweetie Belle had tried her hoof (rather unsuccessfully) at stitching patterns into her table cloth. All this aside there is a chance she would have noticed the alicorn peering into her window. Her attention was instead devoted to remembering how old the contents of her refrigerator were.

“What do you want princess?” Rarity called out to Luna. Luna stumbled her way over next to Rarity at the refridgerator. “See anything you like?” the dressmaker asked.

“Mmm, not really. How old are those eggs?” mumbled Luna. If Rarity had been paying any attention to anything other than finding the perfect midnight snack she would have noticed that Luna wasn’t looking at the food at all, but rather the princess was looking rather predatory at her. Alas such was not the case.

        “Eggs? Oh god don’t eat those! I can’t even remember the last time I bought eggs. Just take anything you wa-”

This was the last thing Rarity remembered of that night.

Luna blanked out. One minute her hunger flared while standing next to Rarity being told to take what she wants, and the next Luna’s hunger is gone and she has no idea where she is. She was bent over something. Something warm.The kitchen, she realized. As she raised her head a warm liquid dripped from her mouth.What the hell? Where did Rarity go? Luna looked out the window at the sky. She was able to deduce from the star positions that she could not have blacked out for any more than two minutes. Luna licked her lips.What is thi-

Luna never finished that thought. The princess found herself standing over the body of the white mare, whose coat was now stained red. The origin of the blood was a gaping wound on her right shoulder. The cut was made with giant incisors. Luna screamed.

“Ohmygosh ohmygosh! No, this didn’t just happen. Rarity, can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me!” Panic rising, hope fading. Luna turned her over and was about to write off the dressmaker completely when Luna got her wish. Rarity coughed. It wasn’t a very strong cough mind you, but it did mean that she was alive and would recover. Luna rejoiced that she had not killed one of her subjects and the wielder of the Element of Generosity. Crisis passed Luna got calculated.

“Rarity is going to be fine, but I can’t leave this place a mess. Nopony can know what happened,” Luna said aloud, “it happened so fast that i doubt even she will remember what happened.” With that Luna started her clean-up using her magic. She fixed up Rarity’s shoulder then placed her face down on her kitchen table. While doing so she caught a look at the patterns stitched into the table cloth.

“I hope that isn’t her work,” Luna mumbled to herself. She cleaned up the mess in front of the fridge, cleaned herself up, and then took off out of there like a bat outta hell.

The night was warm, kindly and inviting. Had the circumstances been different Luna would have taken her time to get back to Canterlot. It was three on the morning, and there were still ponies out enjoying the night.Lambs to slaughter, realized Luna as she sped on overhead. This was the first night of Beelzehoof’s stay in Equestria. From what Luna saw overhead his minions took no time moving in. She saw thirteen attacks up until that more point. The attacks troubled the princess, but not as much as what had happened at Ponyville.

I attacked her. I attacked her and drank her blood. I am a monster, a killer. She could have died! Luna was pulled out of her thoughts by the clearing of a throat. She had a flying buddy, and it was the last pony she wanted to see.

“Problem?” the dark alicorn asked with a smile on his face. Luna sped up to try and outfly Beelzehoof, but she never was the fastest flyer and despite her increased strength he caught up without much effort.

“I refuse to give you the satisfaction to gloat. Go away,” Luna told him feeling rather annoyed. Beelzehoof did not go away.

“Gloat? Why would I do that, my dear? Watching you discover the full extent of your curse was satisfaction enough. You and your sister most certainly provide and excellent sideshow. She folded just after you left and did not leave her victim alive. I must say you two surprise me. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.”

“You bastard! You curse me and my sister, turn us into killers, and call it an interesting sideshow? Who gave you the right?”

“You did, Nightmare Moon. Our deal remember? Did you really forget already?” Luna didn’t answer, and Beezlehoof took a breath. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” said Beelzehoof referring to the creatures prowling below; preying on ponies in the night. “Equestria, land of bogus harmony stripped down and revealed. Liberating.” Luna could take no more of this.

“Shu-” she started to shout, but when she turned to face Beelzehoof he was gone. Luna finished the rest of the flight was quiet, thankful that the whole episode with Rarity turned out fine, she thought. Little did she know, it didn't.