A Nighttime Festival
Blinding light. A roaring sound. Then darkness and silence.
Nightmare Moon opened her eyes.
She was in the forest and the night still reigned.
"So the elements failed you! Where are you hiding Twilight Sparkle!?" she yelled out.
She couldn't make out anypony between the trees until she noticed movement behind her.
"Think you can sneak up on me?" She shouted as she was preparing to annihilate her foe. She stopped in her tracks however when she saw who it was.
"Stop screaming already.." a young blue mare said."I've just woken up from a wierd dream."
Nightmare Moon was at a loss of words. This should not be possible. Was it an illusion? She pondered how this could be. Maybe Celestia had a hoof in this. Or the unicorns could have pulled this trick with the help of the elements.
"You can't be out here. You are trapped inside me." Nightmare Moon declared.
Luna's ears perked up." Inside you? Now you are saying wierd things. Look I'm not even sure where I am right now."
This was true for Nightmare Moon too. She looked around again and flew up into the sky so she would have a better point of view.
Not too far away she could make out some lights. "I can hear ponies laughing over there" said Luna.
"Stop spouting nonsense, I haven´t heard anything aside from you since we got here." argued Nightmare Moon but as she said it she too started to hear the laughter.
"Let's go over there!" demanded Luna.
"Yeah right. Celestia and the elements are messing with my mind, the royal guard will be alerted by now and you want me to reveal myself to the next best pony town." Nightmare Moon hissed.
"So you'd rather sit in this cold dark forest all alone?" having said that Luna got up and walked a few steps before collapsing on the ground.
"Could you even be more of a cliché type weak little princess?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"I told you I just woke up from... from a very long dream." said Luna. "Look. Until I'm feeling better could you carry me, please?"
"Stop being ridiculous!" shouted Nightmare Moon. "do you think im your servant?"
"No I.. you won't leave me alone here will you?" Luna asked in a frightened tone "just until I'm feeling better .. please!"
"Well until I know what in the hay is actually going on I better keep a close watch on you anyway. And I should be able to deal with some backwood pony settlement if need be" said Nightmare Moon. Her horn lit up and she levitated Luna onto her back. She streched out her wings and lifted off towards the laughter.
"It's a festival!" shouted Luna in delight.
"Oh really princess obvious? I would have never though of that.." Nightmare Moon had landed between some tents and had prepared for several scenarios but the ponies didn´t seem to mind a pitch black alicorn appearing in their midst.
"This place is beautifull!" said Luna "And this smell! There are all kinds of sweets."
"So now you want me to treat you to some sweets?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"Well I'm kind of hungry since I just woke up fr.."
" a very very long dream, ya i get it.."
With a simple illusion spell Nightmare Moon materalized some bits and walked to the next tent.
"Those are chocolate apples! Let's have those!" cheered Luna.
"I'm not really hungry."
"But it tastes better if you share it! Come on!"
"ugh fine.. "
With their chocolate apples Nightmare Moon trotted towards the center of the area.
"No stains on my fur you hear me back there?"
"Loud and clear ma'am!" Luna said with a salute.
"Now I need to find out where I actually am" said Nightmare Moon.
"Just ask somepony" proposed Luna.
"Well trying won't hurt I guess."
Nightmare Moon walked up to a group of ponies and cleared her throat.
"Can we help you?" a thistle coloured stallion asked.
"We just flew by and I wondered what this place is." asked Nightmare Moon
"This place? I guess you aren't from around here. Well we ponies from the villages around this forest just have a festival from time to time." answered the stallion.
"So like Hearth's Warming Eve?" Asked Luna.
"No nothing special like that. But a couple of times per year we have a festival like this at night."
"Why at night?" asked Luna and Nightmare Moon together.
"We live and work during the day.. well everyday. So we figured every so often we'd just enjoy a beautifull night. The kids can stay up late and look at the stars and hunt fireflies."
"So you celebrate the night?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"I wouldn´t say that. We just like to appreciate it every now and then."
"This reminds me of my dream" whispered Luna after a short silence.
"What does? The fact that nopony actually ever appriciated our night back then?" inquiered Nightmare Moon.
"Our night?"
"Yes ours. You do know who we are right?"
"It's all in a blurr but now I start to remember" said Luna.
Nightmare Moon felt Luna's weight shift on her back and the blue pony hopped off of her.
"Finally gonna walk yourself?" mused Nightmare Moon.
"Now that you actually mention it. I didn't know who I was."
Nightmare Moon watched Luna and something didn't seem right. Has she been so tall all this time?
"and I didn't know who you are either. But I think I do know now." finished Luna.
"Oh yeah? So tell me, little princess, who am I?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"You were in my dream. I saw you. But mostly. I saw through your eyes."
"I told you that you are supposed to be trapped inside me." said Nightmare Moon.
"No.. not trapped. I.. I though I was free for the first time." Luna said.
Nightmare Moon noticed that Luna clearly was growing. Even taller than the average mare now.
"So you say that with me you finally became free? This is an interesting confession."
"You got that wrong. I though I was free but I really was trapped. Not in a physical shape inside you. But in my own mind. My thoughs.."
Luna looked at Nightmare Moon who had gotten smaller and they now stood eye to eye.
"It wasn´t a dream was it?" Luna asked with tears in her eyes. "I really did all those things."
"Well I did them while you watched if that's any comfort to you." answered Nightmare Moon.
"You didn´t realize it yet?" Luna got closer to Nightmare Moon and whispered "You are me."
"Stop spouting your nonsense again!" shouted Nightmare Moon "Im not a weakling like you are!"
"No.. " Luna said almost crying "You are what I though I had to be.. what I wanted to be.."
Nightmare Moon was now fading. She was smaller than Luna and started to dissapear.
"You think you can get rid of me? You can`t banish me like Celestia did!" Nightmare Moon screamed in despair.
"Neither do I plan to" whispered Luna. She closed the distance to the fading Nightmare Moon and hugged her "I accept you. I know this side was and always will be a part of who I am. But I no longer can be you." With that Nightmare Moon was gone and the princess of the night stood alone in a dark and silent forest.
Blinding Light. A roaring sound. Then darkness and silence.
But the veil of darkness dissipated. Luna was in her old castle hall. And she heard a very familiar voice.
"Princess Luna. It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this..."