Itachi was released from Luna's levitation spell and collapsed to the floor in an instant. Eventually, he managed to will his way into a standing position and faced the assembled ponies. Each and every one was looking at him with a mix of fear, confusion, and disgust, except for Luna who continued to look at Itachi with the deepest sorrow.
"What was that we saw?" She asked in a quiet voice.
Itachi paused for a long while, looking at the ground, trying to find the words to soften the impact of what he was about to say. Unfortunately there were none, "What you saw is the darkest night of my entire life, the massacre of the Uchiha clan."
"Did you really…?" Luna asked, her eyes begging him to say no.
He lowered his hand from his left eye and reopened it, "Yes I did. In one night I killed my entire clan down to my little brother."
"Why?" Twilight asked her own confusion and shock at what she had seen showed all over her face.
"…You wouldn't understand it, none of you can."
"And why are we so incapable of understanding your reason for cold blooded murder?" Celestia demanded, anger coloring her voice.
"Tell me Celestia, how many wars have you had in this world in all of your history? How many of your friends and family died before your eyes? How much have ANY of you suffered in your lives?" Itachi retorted, his own anger beginning to edge in.
"I've suffered Itachi, you know that. I'd lost every friend I ever had in this world until you came along." Luna said.
"What happened to you is completely different, it's not the same."
Itachi was ready for many things at this point, yelling, shouting, accusations of the worst kind, but being suddenly thrown across the room and pinned to a wall was not one of them. He smashed into the stone hard; dazed from the impact it took him a second to figure out just what the hell had happened. Luna stood across from him her eyes and horn glowing, the sorrow that had dominated her before was gone replaced instead with white hot anger.
"Not the same!? NOT THE SAME!? What happened to you is no different than what happened to me!" Luna shouted as she strode towards the pinned ninja refusing to let him out of her magical grasp. "Unless your entire personality has changed since coming here, you're just as kind as I am. I don't know what possessed you or influenced you to do what you did, but somepony like you does not just suddenly change into a cold blooded killer!"
Itachi just kept staring at her as she continued to walk forward, finally stopping 5 feet from where he was pinned. "And what if I did? What if my kindness was just a facade?"
"….Then you're no better than Nightmare."
Luna's words struck a chord deep within Itachi, suddenly all the emotions he had been suppressing for the last eight years surged to the front. His cool emotionless demeanor went right out the window. "Don't- EVER-compare-me–to-it!" He yelled, biting off each word.
While he was speaking a red glow of energy began to shoot around his body shattering Luna's magical hold on him. He then dropped to the ground his gaze boring into her as the energy flared around him, forming a partial skeleton around him. "I am NOTHING like Nightmare! There isn't a punishment possible for the things it's done…"
"And what about for the things you've done?"
Itachi continued to glare at her, "I live with my punishment every day of my life. There hasn't been a time when I haven't felt it eating at me. At least not until I-"suddenly Itachi started and stumbled backwards clutching his hand over his left eye, the backlash from the Tsukuyomi he had used earlier was more than any he had ever felt before. The backlash, combined with his low chakra reserves and near total exhaustion was too much. Itachi fell to one knee as the skeletal ribs of Susanoo disintegrated from around him.
Luna charged forward at the fallen ninja, she might never get a better chance to do what she planned. As she approached him, her sister saw what she was about to do and started to shout at her to stop, but it was to no avail. Itachi had both eyes closed and was too busy trying to deal with the pain of the backlash to notice her. She then touched her glowing horn to his forehead forming the strongest magical connection between the two that was physically possible. Itachi's own eyes started to glow as the magic entered his mind.
He could feel Luna's presence in his mind and he tried to force her out, but he was too weak after having dealt with Nightmare to throw her out through sheer force and her determination was too strong for him to offer any more than token resistance as she surged through his memories. He could only watch in his mind as she saw everything, his childhood with Sasuke, The impossible choice that had been forced upon him, the tears he shed as he fled the scene of the massacre, his decision to become a criminal to protect his brother and village, and last but not least his battles with his younger brother. The battles designed to make Sasuke stronger through his hatred of his older brother who truly cared for him more than anything in the world. Then finally she lingered on Itachi's final battle and last words to Sasuke before collapsing with the plan of dying then and there.
Eventually she pulled out of his mind letting him rise to consciousness again; Itachi opened his eyes once more to Celestia's throne room. He was surprised to find Luna embracing him in a hug, he could feel her tears running down onto his back as she whispered, "I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea… you've suffered terribly, you've lost everything you ever cared for…"
Itachi put his arm around her returning the hug as whispered back, "Thank you…thank you so much." And with that his exhaustion got the better of him and he began pitch forward as he slipped into unconsciousness.
However Luna was there and caught him as he fell, she laid him gently on the ground as she turned to the two guards that had shown up when she had thrown Itachi across the room."Please take him up to my room and lay him on one of my couches, he needs rest badly."
Celestia looked at her sister dumbstruck," Luna, What are you doing?"
"He protected us from Nightmare; he's exhausted, the least we can do is let him rest."
"Yes, in the dungeon where he belongs! He's a cold blooded killer, and yet you're apologizing to him? Just what did he do to you?"
"Nothing sister, it's just that….he's suffered more than any of us can imagine. After what I've seen, I can see what he meant by saying we couldn't understand his decision."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?"
Luna paused, watching the guards carry Itachi away, "Tell me Celestia, if you had to choose between killing everyone in our family or Equestria being destroyed and thousands upon thousands of ponies dying, which would you choose?"
Celestia was taken aback by the question, "I-I don't know I don't think I could make a choice like that…"
"That's the exact choice Itachi had to make, he just had the strength to make it and live with the consequences. He's one of the kindest, most peaceful people I've ever seen and yet he's been forced to suffer greatly for the sake of the people he loved."
"He killed his entire clan Luna!"
"Only to prevent a war that would have consumed countless innocents and destroy the village he called home. He had an impossible choice to make sister, you have to understand that."
The two sisters paused for a while before Luna spoke again," He's a lot like you, you know… An older brother prepared to do anything for the sake of his younger sibling. Always there for him even if he hates him.."
"I don't know Luna, I'm not sure I can trust him anymore, not after what I've seen him do."
"If you won't trust him, trust me… please."
Celestia finally relented, "Very well, BUT tomorrow I expect an explanation from him for both me and the elements of harmony."
"Thank you sister.." Luna said as she hugged Celestia.
The two royals still had official business to attend to and the elements of harmony would need time to deal with what had happened today. Celestia turned to her student, "Twilight, I'm so sorry you and your friends had to go through any of this, are you sure you'll all be alright?"
Twilight nodded, still a little numb from what had transpired in front of her and her friends. "I think we can make it until tomorrow. Unfortunately I think we might need to drag Fluttershy out of here." She looked over to the yellow Pegasus who continued to hide in the corner after everything that had happened. It took the combined efforts of Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but they finally got her out of the throne room.
A few hours later night was beginning to fall and Luna, having finished whatever royal duties had required her attention, decided to go check on Itachi before raising the moon. As she walked into her room she noticed he wasn't on her couch but his coat was. She began to panic a little until she noticed him standing out on the balcony of her room tossing a knife thing into the air over and over again, obviously lost in thought.
She walked out next to him, "So what did you tell them?" he asked turning to look at her as she stepped out.
"Just enough to keep my sister from throwing you into the dungeon. I figured you'd want to tell them yourself, after all it is your life you're going to have to explain."
"Thanks." He said finally catching the kunai and putting it away in the pouch he had strapped to his right leg.
"…I'm sorry about what I did earlier. I don't know what came over me."
"It's quite alright Luna. Actually, I'm quite thankful that you did what you did."
"R-Really?"
Itachi sighed watching the setting sun as he spoke "No one's ever known the truth about what happened that night, or the truth about who I really am. Certainly no one's ever apologized for what happened to me, I truly do appreciate what you've done for me today."
"You're welcome. But…. how were you able to live with yourself after that night?" Luna's hooves shot up to her mouth, she hadn't meant to say it so plainly.
"Remember what I said about my life being about playing the cards I've been dealt? I lived my entire life trying to make up for what I did, for what I forced upon my brother. I did everything I could to make him strong enough to kill me, so that he could return to Konoha a hero and rebuild the clan. In the end though, I failed Sasuke, thanks to my 'death' he's now more vulnerable to manipulation than ever. I've been dominated by guilt most of my life but.." He turned to look at her smiling "since coming here I've been content for the first time in many years."
Luna looked at Itachi with an odd expression on her face. She had no idea that her world had had such an effect on him. She looked out at the sky and noticed the sun was almost completely gone from the horizon and that her moon must soon take its place. "Sorry Itachi if you'll excuse me for a few seconds, I have to raise the moon to bring in the night."
She then began to concentrate reaching out to the celestial object she had been imprisoned on for so many years. Her power began to surge around her, and then with the strength of her magic raised her moon into its position in the sky.
Itachi laughed when she had finished her task.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing, you just remind me of the Rikudō Sennin, raising the moon into the sky like that."
"The Riku- what now?"
"The Rikudō Sennin, the sage of the six paths, he is the founder of the ninja world, my ancestor, and the most powerful shinobi to ever live. It is said he created the moon from the earth and placed in the sky, on his deathbed no less."
Luna was surprised at hearing him compare her to his ancestor. But she was nonetheless pleased by his compliment to her.
Both just stood watching the night until Luna finally broke the silence. "Hey Itachi?"
"Yeah?"
"Just how did you beat Nightmare?"
"Sorry, can't tell you. Some things are just better left unsaid, though I will tell you it certainly did a number on me."
"Awww come on!"
Itachi tapped her lightly on the forehead with two of his fingers smiling as he said, "Sorry Luna, maybe next time."
And with that he walked back inside, leaving Luna standing alone on her balcony. She then spent the next few minutes looking over her beautiful night, not even noticing she had been smiling the whole time. She then followed Itachi's example and headed in, leaving the moon to watch over Equestria while she slept. Itachi was already passed out on the couch, he wasn't kidding when he said the battle had done a number on him. As she settled down in her bed to sleep, the moon outside had never been brighter.
The next day Itachi was led by Luna to a room containing both Celestia and the elements of harmony. Everypony there was avoiding his gaze; Fluttershy couldn't even be seen she was hiding behind the others so thoroughly. Luna walked over and took her place, standing at her sister's side.
Celestia finally looked the ninja standing before them, "Itachi, I don't know exactly what my sister saw when she looked into your mind. But whatever it was it convinced her that you were not as you appeared to be in those visions Nightmare forced us to see. While Luna has attempted to speak in your stead I feel as if it would be to greater effect if you were the one to explain it to us all."
Itachi proceeded to do just that, explaining everything to the best of his ability. He outlined the bloody history of the Senju and the Uchiha, the events that led up to the founding of Konoha and resentment it caused among his clansmen. He finally came to the coup his clan planned against the Senju dominated Konoha. "Should a clan as powerful as the Uchiha rise up in an open full on revolt, it would have destabilized everything and thrown the village and the country of fire into chaos. Undoubtedly should that happen the other nations wouldn't hesitate to attack with Konoha in such a state. It would mean the beginning of the Fourth Great Shinobi war, and the destruction of my home."
He paused for the first time in many minutes. He finally began speaking again in a much quieter voice, "Could you weigh your family and friends against the home you love and the lives of innocents on a set of scales? Because that's EXACTLY what I had to do. Would any of you have acted differently in my position?"
He let the rhetorical question hang in the air for a bit. "I didn't do it out of hatred or for my own gain. I did it because I had no other choice." As he spoke the last sentence tears began to well up in his eyes, the tears he hadn't shed for eight years. Finished, Itachi turned to leave. He knew it would take them time to digest what he had just told them.
Just as he was about to leave he was stopped by a question, "Why did you leave your brother?" Celestia asked her expression somber.
Itachi stopped at the entrance, turning just enough to make eye contact with her. "Because he meant more to me than anything else in this world and I was willing to sacrifice anything for him, including myself." And with that he left, leaving the ponies to comprehend what he had just told them.
"I-I don't understand it…" Pinkie stammered out, her mind reeling from the stories and descriptions she had just heard. Her mane was fully deflated and the sadness that had fallen over her seemed to be spreading. "How can fate be so cruel to somepony?"
Nopony had an answer for her until Luna spoke, "His world is drastically different from ours. Not everypony there is as kind as we are, or he is for that matter. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, all they can do is have the determination to live with it." seeing that what both he and herself had said wasn't having too much of an effect she made a decision, hoping Itachi wouldn't be too angry at her for doing this. Words were fine and all, but seeing was believing as her horn began to glow with energy. She would show them what she had seen, and make them understand the darkness that Itachi carried with him.
It was raining in Canterlot, not that it never happened but with magic usually controlling the weather it was a rare occurrence. Even rarer was the weather forming of its own accord, as Itachi had been telling his story to the ponies storm clouds had formed above the glistening city. He now stood out in the middle of the royal gardens looking up into the rain that fell upon him, smiling sadly. He turned to face a noise he had heard behind him and found six ponies slowly making their way to him in the rain. Twilight was the first to speak. "Itachi… we just wanted to say thank you for saving us from Nightmare. And also I'd like to say I'm sorry for what happened to you. What you went through was…was just…"
"Horrible." Rainbow Dash finished for her.
"Thank you, I appreciate it, I really do."
"So what do you plan to do with yourself now sugarcube?" Applejack inquired.
"I don't know probably what I've always done, live my life the best I can. I was actually planning on returning to Ponyville after this, if you guys will have me that is."
"Of course we will silly!" Pinkie pie piped up, her mane finally starting get some of its former bounce back.
"Yes what Pinkie said, now can we PLEASE continue this indoors? My beautiful mane is getting ruined out here!" Rarity yelped looking distressed. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both looked at her with the same of expression of disbelief at her ability to care about her looks even in this situation.
"It's alright you two." Itachi said to Dash and Applejack. "It is quite cold out here, lets head in before someone catches something."
As they all headed in the sky continued to weep. The world of Equestria was crying not only for the suffering its newest arrival had endured in the past, but for what was to come...