The first full moon of spring was shining brightly in the sky. Luna was just ending her evening’s dance when something caught her eye – ears poking up from a nearby cloud. She continued her lazy spiraling and gliding, acting as though she had not noticed, but her heart began to pound. Could it be the same creatures from almost a year ago?
The only benefit to her banishment on the moon was giving her the ability to pull up her alter ego as needed, and one of the benefits of Nightmare Moon was being able to move about as a blackened mist. As she dipped under a thick cloud, she shifted into that thick mist and flowed toward the hiding spot of her spies. They did not move as she approached; their necks craned, looking for the Princess and wondering where she had gone to.
“Please, don’t leave.”
Three voices gasped and gave low cries, but Luna leapt in front of them and dropped to their eye level. “Please, stay. Tell me – “
“He will come for you,” the blue stallion said lowly by way of greeting. The two younger pegasi had started to back away quickly, their wings flapping frantically. “He will come for you, like He came for us. He wants the Bringer of Light, and then He will rule the world.”
Luna stared at him, dumbfounded. “What do you – “
“Heed me, Princess of Night. We will return in three days’ time after He visits. It is not safe”
And with that, the blue one sped after the other two. Luna hovered in place for a long time after they had vanished, her mind whirling with the male’s threat. She finally tore her gaze away as a realization struck her and sped down toward the castle. He said the Bringer of Light – that could only be Celestia.
She barged into her sister’s room through the open bay windows on her balcony as fear welled up in her. She galloped to her sister’s bedside, her voice shrill as she shouted.
“Celestia, wake up – Celestia!”
Her sister was awake in a wingbeat, fully alert. When she faced Princess Luna, Celestia quickly went from alert and alarmed to confused and understandably annoyed.
“Dear sister, what is the meaning of this? It’s the middle of the night-“
“Celestia, please. I need to speak with you. Remember – I told you about those ponies who I saw? You told me not to talk to them – please, let me finish! – I haven’t seen again until tonight. One of them spoke to me. He said ‘He will come for you’ and this ‘He’ wanted the ‘Bringer of Light’ so ‘He’ could rule the world. I tried to-“
“Luna.” Celestia’s voice was stern, and it stopped her panicked speech dead in its tracks. “I assure you that this pegasus spoke nonsense. Remember what I told you? They are not a part of Equestria. It is likely he was saying things to get a rise out of you. Empty threats intended to spread panic. Please, let it alone. Nothing will happen.”
“But Cele-“
“Enough!” Luna sank, her eyes wide as she stared up at her older sister. “Luna, I know you want to find out who they are, but I promise you this is just an empty threat.”
Luna stammered, shaking her head quickly. But her older sister was unrelenting in her gaze, so the younger turned tail and fled into her comforting darkness. She went first to her balcony, where she landed with a firm thud, then tore her gaze out in the direction of Ponyville. Could she involve them without Celestia knowing? Her suspicion would be aroused, now that Luna had spoken directly to her, and doubtless Celestia would be watching her every move.
Her every move, perhaps…
She trotted into her room and straight to the long desk, lifting a quill and setting some parchment before her. She began to write a letter, casting the occasional glance outside as she did to see if Celestia would come down to check in on her. After two pages, she set the quill down, rolled and stamped the scroll, then trotted quickly to her bed. A drawer opened and the scroll vanished into it before Luna returned to her balcony. She stared out into the darkness, turning her eyes to the east. Even if Celestia wouldn’t heed her warnings, she would be prepared to face this nameless threat and the strange stallion.
Celestia’s words about their origins rang truer than ever, though – for none of them had cutie marks.