A Dream of Dawn

by Starsong

Whom the Stars Love

Nightmare Moon

Wake up, Luna.

Don't you think it's time to go home?

Nightmare Moon did not know the source of the voices, whether they be from her splintered personality or from the endless cosmos around her. She felt as if she were awake while sleeping—her body cloaked in darkness, unmoving, yet fully aware of her surroundings. Through her own eyes she could see nothing. But through the eyes of the moon she could see across the whole of the golden lands and she knew that she was not in the true moon.

Even there she could see the death of the stars. Distant planets and suns all dying, not in violence and decay, but simply flickering out without so much as a whimper. No power in or beyond Equestria should have been great enough to make the cosmos fall.

And yet it was falling.

What is happening to you? she thought. In waking she could reach the stars and glean their secrets. In banishment all she could do was listen, and watch.

The princess stirred restlessly within herself. A constellation tipped its pointed arrow down, as if beckoning her attention back to the fields of the otherworld. She looked. She focused. In doing so she felt as if she were falling into an endless ocean, chill and depth pulling her sight through the moonbeams and to the place where the three fillies cried against the darkness.

“It ain't fair!” Apple Bloom shouted, stomping her hooves against the ground. Once they had been left alone, the land had reverted to its lush pastoral state, but their anger cast dark and golden shades across the fields. “She didn't come all the way just to end up like this. We didn't...”

Scootaloo's wings buzzed as she railed against the almighty unknown. “What's your problem!? Just come back down here already.”

“We miss you, princess,” said Sweetie Bell.

Nightmare Moon felt a thread of warmth weave through her, head to tail. They call for me... she thought. How could they? I am responsible for their plight...

Her other voice echoed in her mind, but this time her vision of Luna was stronger--no longer the simpering and pathetic filly, but a princess of power and intent. She knew that Nightmare Moon was ready to listen.

“Our past is full of evil,” she said, “but great good as well. The time has come for you to stop running away. Return to who you once were. and take back the night.” Her mirror image leaned down and pressed her horn to her sleeping body. “You must forgive yourself.”

It wasn't Celestia who needed forgiveness. It was never Celestia who made her turn her hate inwards. Seeing what she had made her sister do only made Nightmare Moon hate herself more. And in all of her madness she searched for a way back. The way was inside of her from the beginning, but she could not see it. Not without time. Not without harmony. Not without the children to open her heart again. But there, beyond the edge of the world, she knew that she had to accept her fate, unfair as it was, and live on. For her own sake. For her sister's. For every pony in Equestria.

There would always be darkness within her. But the moment she realized that it was okay to let go, her other self vanished. She accepted herself and the fragments joined her. Nightmare Moon was whole again.

Apple Bloom waved her hooves towards the heavens and fell backwards onto her rump. “Dang it! I know you're out there. All you crazy pony spirits. I know you're listenin'!”

Scootaloo jostled her a bit. “What are you on about?”

“Where are you, you stupid beardy bell-wearing fuddy duddy!” Apple Bloom hollered. “Yer supposed to be her friend! Do something! Anything...”

The stars trembled, and then there came the sound of tinkling bells. One moment their world sank into emptiness and the next it brimmed with life and love. When the three fillies looked up, the field was full of ponies. Not mere spirits but bright and vibrant souls, fully realized into the shapes of their truest selves. Starswirl leaned down and gave Apple Bloom a push to her feet.

“I'm here, I'm here, keep your hooves on,” he chuckled. “Of course, unless you're a unicorn, it's a terrible trial to get them off in the first place.”

“A little late, ain'cha?” Apple Bloom tossed her mane back. “Nevermind. You can get her back, right? You're some super powerful unicorn wizard.”

“Either that or a total doofus,” muttered Scootaloo, while Sweetie Belle whispered something about liking his robes.

The ancient unicorn colt lifted his enormous hat and the bells shook. “How right you are,” he said, without clarifying to which filly he spoke. “The princess is not truly banished. Her imprisonment is a result of her worst nightmare... and it is something she needs to face.” He turned his head and smiled. “'The stars will aid in her escape.' That is the way it has always been, and how it will always be. Though my strength has faded some... the stars will do enough.”

Starswirl turned his horn upwards and it glowed brightly. The stars answered in quick, luminous pulses. Every pony around the fillies turned their attention to the sky. And even as cosmos shrunk, four points of light moved from their eternal cradles and gathered about the moon. Their light met it and for a moment there was nothing but white.

Then the moon's glow faded, and a shadow floated down to the ground. Nightmare Moon rose from it and looked around, bleary eyed as if she'd just awoken from a long nap. The fillies could tell right away that something had changed in her. They grabbed at her hooves and cried.

“I thought you'd gone and left us forever,” said Apple Bloom.

“We're so glad to have you back,” said Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo let go of the dark mare first and looked the other way. “Don't ever do that again.”

“It's alright, children,” said Nightmare Moon, bringing her wings down over them. “I'm here now. As I should have always been.” She turned her gaze to Starswirl. “As so many have been there for me, even when I was lost to them.”

“A promise is a promise,” said Starswirl, bringing his hat to his chest. “All the love of the stars belongs to you, Luna.”

The princess flustered, and then frowned. “I know. But the stars are vanishing one by one. My sky is becoming empty. What on Equestria is happening?”

“They are leaving us,” said Starswirl. “And all the universe with them. I do not know what great and awful power is responsible for such a thing, but I feel the answer may be found at the end of your journey.”

Nightmare Moon nodded, hesitantly. “And my sister is there?”

“She must be,” said Starswirl.

The two looked into each other's eyes. Nightmare Moon's knew what was going to happen next. There stood the stallion that had loved her, and loved life and all the world so freely. Death had only seemed to make him love more so all the things in the universe. And she knew what would come next.

“You are sure you cannot come with me?” asked Nightmare Moon.

Starswirl put his hat back on and laughed. “I'm little more than a memory, now. A shroud... a relic, a thing of another day. My time has passed,” he said, waving a hoof at the fillies. “And now the time is theirs. Make sure that they have that opportunity.”

“I will,” said Nightmare Moon, stamping a hoof. “I swear it.”

The unicorn laughed and shook his bells. “So dramatic. I suppose I'm not much better.” He turned and looked through the crowd of pony spirits. “I have waited so long, knowing that you would eventually come here. I am so glad to have gotten to meet you again.” He exhaled sharply. “My promise is fulfilled. Now a greater truth awaits me. The greatest adventure. And I've yearned so long to take it...”

Nightmare Moon touched a wing over his shoulder. “I understand,” she said. “It was good to see you again.” She made herself step back. “Farewell, my friend.”

Before she could get too far, he swept up and brushed his snout across her face. “May we meet again there, but not too soon,” he laughed. Then he tapped her chest. “But don't forget that you can always call on me from here.”

“You foal,” she muttered, looking away for a moment. She couldn't stop herself from smiling at him, though. “Go on. I know you have some poor fillies to harass, somewhere.”

“Then the best of fortunes to you all,” said the unicorn, making one final bow.

Then he turned and the chime of his bells marked each step he took. All of the spirits turned with him, and the further away they got, the more ethereal they looked. They seemed to be moving towards some great light that neither Nightmare Moon nor Apple Bloom and her friends could see.

One blonde mare stopped in front of Apple Bloom. The other fillies looked on in awe as the spirit leaned down and embraced her, whispering something. Apple Bloom's eyes widened, and then the mare was gone. They were alone again.

“What was that?” demanded Scootaloo. “What did she say?”

“She said...” Apple Bloom rubbed her eyes. “She said, 'I'm so proud of you.' And that she loved me. I don't know who she was, but... I think she's... my family.”

“And she should be proud,” said Nightmare Moon. She felt compelled to let the fillies contemplate their loved ones for a while. And she sat amongst the emptiness that each of those ponies had left when they crossed over the threshold, leaving only memories in their wake.

“So what now?” said Apple Bloom, after some time. “Where do we find your sister?”

Nightmare Moon rose and her mane flickered with the brightness of all the stars left in the sky. “We're not far behind,” she said. “I do not know the place she is in. But I know how to get there. When I was in the moon, I could see the way clearly.”

She indicated the direction with a hoof. The girls seemed confused, because it at once seemed to be simply above them and at the same time in another space altogether. The sort of space that a pony always felt with wonder and fear, not unable to look but unwilling to acknowledge it. They looked there and found a great hole in the sky, and though it was night, it brimmed with sun as if it were a summer's day.

“My dear sister's light burns brightly,” said Nightmare Moon, “and so she casts a long shadow. Through that shadow we will go, to find her.” She paused and glanced over at them. “But I cannot ask you to...”

“Oh, we're going,” said Scootaloo, thumping her hooves. “Don't think you can leave us behind again.”

“We're with ya all the way,” said Apple Bloom.

“Thank you,” said Nightmare Moon.

Then she was the night, and they the night with her. They were the shadows and could move anywhere that the light could reach—even in in that impossible place. Nightmare Moon's head grew heavy with the death of each star, each bit of shrinking heavens shooting through her like the prick of a needle. Something horrible was transpiring, and she did not know if it was something that any pony could ever have the power to stop.

Comments

[Starsong]

Short chapter, so double feature.

[Legiondude]

Double updates right as I finish Chapter 32 and fav'ing? You're amazing!

[G S tol Kriaal]

you once were. and take back

I think that's supposed to be a comma

[Alondro]

>>>Even there she could see the death of the stars. Distant planets and suns all dying, >>>

Whoah whoah! Hold on a second there! The stars in this Equestria are all full-size suns with planets? I was under the assumption that the stars in this universe were little points of magical light set in an ephemeral firmament just beyond the orbits of the Sun and Moon. Saying that this universe is a genuine multi-system cosmos changes EVERYTHING!

Then they should each have their own set of alicorns! Luna simply cannot move all the stars if this set-up is true.

Otherwise, Luna's power is many orders of magnitude beyond Celestia's. Thousands to millions of magnitudes greater, in fact.

There is also the wee problem of the distances. Speed of light thing. If the stars are going out, it takes time for the end of the light to reach Equestria. Even if the stars (and by virtue of their having planets, equal more of less to the size of Equestria's Sun) are rather tiny magical bodies and relatively close (less than 1/2 a lightyear, we're talking MONTHS before their light goes out). Perhaps the alicorns can sense them going out, but none of the mortal ponies should be seeing anything as yet.

[warpd]

So is she still Nightmare Moon now? She seems more like Luna.

[Nevarius]

BUCK YOU!
I almost cried reading this chapter

[Squirrelloid]

"...because it at once seemed to be simply above them and at the same time in another space altogether."

Wait, what? What non-euclidean geometry is this? Is Luna a Chthonic being?

[Starcat5]

The more I read, the more convinced I become that Discord reviving Twilight isn't responsible for this spontaneous Heat Death. Celestia... What are you doing?

[Riverwing]

So will she continue to be nightmare moon, or can we all call her Luna now?

[Tillion]

1969776 you bring science to a magic world...... begone with your "logic" and "sense"