Revisions of Past Mistakes

by SC_Orion

One Last Peaceful Moment

Nightfall awoke to a strange sensation. A cold chill running down her spine, and a tingling sensation at the base of her horn, accompanied by a numbness in her mouth. Her pupils narrowed as she slid out of bed, and the chilly night air hit her coat. She briefly fluttered her wings, then held them firmly against herself. She glanced around the dark room, the only light source coming from the moon, yet even that was diluted by the crystalline window which blocked some of the light.

She lit her horn, casting a dark glow around the room which managed to illuminate it better than the moon did. She tentatively stepped forwards. After she was sure nothing was immediately wrong, she made her way over to the mirror in her room, then stood in front of it. She looked at her reflection blankly.

It did not take her long to find her mouth dry. She licked her lips in an attempt to moisten them along with her mouth, then paused. Something felt wrong. Very, very wrong. She tilted her head to the left, then parted her lips and looked at her teeth. She blinked her eyes several times, then ran her tongue over her teeth. She ruffled her wings, then turned around and looked over the room more carefully, looking for something, anything, out of place, despite knowing nothing was.

After the second pass, and not finding anything out of place, she returned her gaze to the mirror, and herself. She starred at her reflection for several minutes, each one seemed like an eternity. Each second was spent going over every detail of the face that starred back at her. The longer she stood there, the drier her mouth became. She took a deep breath, then exhaled. She glanced at the reflection's chest, then shook her head and turned away from the mirror and made her way into the bathroom. As soon as she entered the bathroom, she shut the door and locked it, then stood in front of the mirror inside the room, and turned on the sink.

She let the water run for a few minutes, then put her mouth below it and drank. After she had her fill, she pulled back and wiped the remaining water off her muzzle with a hoof. She looked at her reflection and ran her tongue over her teeth, then over her lips. She kept looking at her reflection for several minutes, constantly scrutinizing it, then pulled away and left the bathroom.

She looked towards her balcony as she entered her room. She had always found it strange that every single bedroom had a balcony, but it was a castle fit for a princess, so she never gave it much thought. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand beside her bed, then walked over to the balcony door, opened it, and stepped outside, into the cool night air.

She gazed into the sky, enjoying the silence. A gust of wind sent her mane and tail billowing, if only briefly. She watched her mane as the breeze blew through it. She wondered what she would look like with a mane like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna... Even Princess Cadance's mane had become like theirs, yet hers never did. She longingly looked at her mane, and after a few minutes brushed the though aside. What she looked like was... Irrelevant. Though... She thought it would have been nice to be half as beautiful as Celestia had been... She smiled sadly to herself then looked up to the sky, at the stars. The tiny, insignificant specks of light, which in reality were bodies just as massive, if not more massive than the sun. She paused to think about it, how each insignificant speck was so much more than just a speck...

The smile left her face and she shifted her weight. There was a flash of light coming from behind her. She tilted her head to the right and glanced back at Discord.

"You know, a decade ago, I never would have imagined myself having friends, Nightfall." Discord said. "And look at me now." Nightfall remained silent. "If the Spirit of Chaos can be... Reformed... By friendship, surely you can too."

Nightfall looked back at the stars. "You are not omnipotent, Discord. You could not have known what I was thinking about. What do you want and why are you here?"

Discord slithered through the air, then curled around Nightfall's neck, like a snake, then he pressed his head against hers. "You're forgetting just how sensitive I am to magic, Twilight."

Nightfall clenched her teeth, and her expression hardened. "Twilight Sparkle is dead." She channeled magic into her horn, then teleported Discord off of her, and turned to face him.

Discord smiled slyly. "Are you trying to convince me, or convince yourself?"

"Irrelevant." Nightfall stated sharply. "You will die along with the rest of them."

Discord smiled gleefully. "So will you, Twilight. And then you will be confronted by your friends... How ever will the fallen Princess of Friendship explain that she-" Discord's expression darkened, "was directly responsible for billions of deaths."

Nightfall turned away from him. "I do not need to explain myself, or even justify it to them, if I see them again."

Discord stroked his beard. "Mmm... Yes, with the way things are going for you, you won't." Nightfall shifted her weight. "But of course, that's irrelevant, isn't it?" Discord stood to his full height, and tilted his head back. "After all, you don't even care about them here, why should you care about the ones who can remember you?"

Nightfall turned to Discord. "They are not them."

Discord eyed her for a second before answering. "You're forgetting that I was the one who designed that spell, Twilight. I believe I would understand it a bit better than you."

"You're bluffing." Nightfall accused. "I've gone over that spell hundreds of times, I understand what it is. You weren't even the same Discord who designed it."

"I may not have been the one to design it, but it did come from my mind." Discord shook his head.

Nightfall looked away from him. "It doesn't matter... This can only end with my death. We both know that, Discord." Nightfall turned back to Discord, looked him over for a second, then returned inside, shut the door, and laid down in her bed again.

---

Rarity and Eclipse walked side by side, making their way through Ponyville, towards the destination they had in mind. Ponies that they passed smiled at them and waved, or bowed respectfully to Eclipse. The sight made her uncomfortable, and once again she reaffirmed that she would have to talk to Princess Celestia after this was all over.

"Why are you scowling?" Rarity asked. Eclipse paused mid stride and turned to her. "If you don't want to help me, I completely understand, but you weren't scowling a minute ago."

"I don't like them bowing to me." Eclipse stated simply. "I don't deserve it, and when I find out who told them that-"

Rarity laughed nervously. "Princess Celestia left you in charge, not anypony else, but you Eclipse." She jerked her head to the side, and tilted it upwards. "I for one trust her judgement in this matter."

Eclipse shook her head. "She has made mistakes before. More so in my lifetime than yours, but the point still stands. She should have left Cadance or Twilight in charge, not me."

"Eclipse, I was under the impression that you had a lot more experience with being a leader than Twilight and Cadance combined." Rarity replied.

"That's true, but-"

"No buts darling! She left you in charge, and you yourself admit that you have more experience than them. I for one trust you, and know Equestria is in capable hooves." Rarity turned back and started walking.

"Honestly I shouldn't even be here in Ponyville, I should be in Canterlot... I can still get things done, but..." Eclipse mused. She waited a second to see if Rarity would reply, she didn't, then she started walking again.

After a few minutes, Rarity's Boutique came into sight, and Rarity quickened her pace ever so slightly, though still maintaining her ladylike approach. Being courteous, Rarity opened the door and let Eclipse enter first, then stepped inside herself and closed the door. Eclipse looked around. "I still don't know why you want to do this, you don't even like her."

"She can be rather... Blunt, so to say... Although she has... Um, how should I say... Improved... Some since... Well... At least she doesn't threaten us as much as she used to?" Rarity frowned at that as she made her way over to her selection of fabrics. "I want to do something nice for her, darling..." She looked through the rack of fabrics, and pulled one out with her magic to look over. She tapped her hoof on her chin, then shook her head and returned it to it's place.

"I don't think she will care at all even if you make the most beautiful dress you've ever made, Rarity." Eclipse replied flatly, then sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't be so negative. If you want to do this, I will help you."

Rarity's eyes lit up, she levitated a dark purple silk off from the rack, then made her way over to Eclipse. "Good. I would use Twilight's measurements, but well, obviously that wouldn't work. You're both more akin to Luna's size, and while she is a little bigger than you, I believe I can make it work." Rarity's smile became devilish as she levitated her roll of measuring tape in the air, then unrolled it with her magic. "Now, just hold still... This will only take a minute."

---

Nightfall glanced at Applejack as she bucked an apple tree. Even with as... Inefficient... As earth ponies were, though granted they were still better at growing food than unicorns, just not harvesting it... They still packed a punch in their kicks. She eyed the tree wryly as it shook, and then apples fell down from it, landing in the baskets set around for the most part. Yes, earth pony kicks packed a punch. She knew from experience, and depending on the pony, it could rival a kick from an alicorn.

She watched from the sidelines as Applejack made her way to another tree, then kicked it. The tree shook and shook, but no fruit came down. After a second kick, the apples rained down on her, once again landing mostly in the baskets that had been setup before she started bucking, "You do know how much more efficient it would be to have a unicorn harvest your trees, correct?"

Applejack looked at her cautiously, even as sweet rolled down her face. "That's not how we do it around here, unless something's going on that's not normal." she answered. "You should know that. If we were friends."

Nightfall's eyes narrowed, and she stood up.

Fluttershy stood up beside her, and put a hoof on her shoulder. Nightfall jerked her head to Fluttershy. The look she gave her all but said how she felt about Applejack's comment. After Fluttershy gave Nightfall a soft smile, she turned to Applejack. "That wasn't very nice Applejack! Apologize to her."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at Fluttershy. "She admitted to killing Princess Luna, and you want me to apologize to her for stating my mind?"

"I do not want your apologies." she sharply spat. "They mean nothing to me, Honesty." she said in a voice more akin to Twilight's.

"And as honesty, I can honestly say that-"

"Applejack! Eclipse wanted us to give her a chance, not condemn her."

Nightfall turned to Fluttershy and gave her a sharp look. She opened her mouth to rebuke her, but thought otherwise and closed her mouth. After a few seconds, her expression shifted to something more normal. At least for her. Nightfall's expression turned questioning. "You would..." she tilted her head to the right, "Give me a chance, on her word alone, despite what I- what we- have done?"

Applejack swallowed her pride. "I guess you're right... Sorry Fluttershy... Sorry Nightfall..."

"Even knowing what I would do in a heartbeat?" Nightfall ignored Applejack and continued.

Fluttershy nodded vigorously. "Y-yes..." she squeaked out. She showed surprising courage with what she said next. "And even if you... If you kill us, we would still forgive you! You may not be Twilight now, but you... You were at one time."

"That does not matter, what I have done is beyond forgiveness." Nightfall replied in a voice almost exactly like Twilight's.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that. "What's with your voice? You're starting to sound normal again sugarcube."

Nightfall scoffed at that. "Your hopes that I..." she trailed off without finishing the sentence.

"You're hurting. Nightfall. We can all see that, some of us more than others..." Fluttershy shot Applejack a stern glare, then softened her gaze as she looked back at Nightfall. "You're hurt, and lashing out, as any animal would... It's because of us, isn't it? We hurt you when we left you."

"Hah! You did not leave me. You are not one of my friends." Nightfall replied bitterly.

"You're wrong. I may not be your Fluttershy, but I am your friend." Fluttershy countered. Applejack took that as her cue to leave.

Nightfall didn't have a comeback for that as soon as she hoped. After a few seconds, she abandoned the idea of a clever comeback, since none were forthcoming. "What then would you have me do? Just stop, and believe that the magic of friendship will fix everything?" she said sarcastically.

Fluttershy shook her head sadly. "If you just give it a chance, it will fix everything."

Nightfall's expression became strained. "It doesn't work that way, Fluttershy." Her voice sounded like Twilight's once again. "I am old enough to know better than to believe in that."

"What about Princess Celestia? She's how many thousands of years older than you? And she still believes in it!" Fluttershy spoke with determination.

Nightfall grimaced, then her expression hardened. "My Celestia is dead." she said simply. She looked away from Fluttershy, almost spacing out. "It did not work for her in the end. In fact, it betrayed her, and sentenced her to death..."

Fluttershy didn't know what to say to comfort her, so instead, she wrapped her arms around her, and held her there. Nightfall was taken by surprise. She wasn't sure how she felt about the hug. And she wasn't sure how she felt about not knowing how she felt. After a few seconds, her thoughts shifted to the previous night.

Author's Note:

Originally I had planned to have a chapter with Nightfall, Rarity, and Applejack in Manehatton, and a chapter with Nightfall, Fluttershy, and Twilight in... Um... That one place. Smoky somethingrather. Those ideas never really took off.

The final battle approaches, it lurks just beyond the horizon... What will happen? Who will win? Is SC_Orion going to pull a sudden tragedy? Does anypony want that? Does anypony want a happy ending for everypony? What will happen to Nightfall? What will happen to Starlight? What will happen to Cadance, Shining Armor, Celestia, Luna, and Discord? And what of the Chekov's gun nopony will remember by now!? Probably not remember, at least. And was it actually a Chekov's gun, or just a side remark to be forgotten!?

Coming soon...

Comments

[Maze Tail]

Love the chapter again a great success. It really pulls on your heartstrings. Hope to see more.