I Will Set the Mirror Up
Away from the music and laughter of celebration, a lone pony walked with head hung low to a spot quiet enough that memories may even sleep for but a moment. It was miles from civilization, where a pristine lake shone, shattering the rays of the moon across the surface, that this pony found peace. In the distance the lights shined bright, for the parties would not end soon, for the evil was banished and the sun would shine in hours. But this one pony had the ability to douse the sun with her thousand falling tears, one for everything she should have said, should have done.
'That's a lie' she thought to herself. 'I could have done so much more.'
'I could have held her, could have told her she was loved. I should have told her she was beautiful, because she really was. I should have told her that her laugh was what made the world go round, that her eyes shined brighter than any star she could have imagined. If I had told her how much she meant to me, maybe this wouldn't have happened.'
The lone pony stared up at the chandelier of the nighttime sky, forever scarred with the scowl of a broken mare, driven by hatred and pain. But she looked around the unriddling lake, and she feels the darkness. Darkness, darkness, everywhere. She must have felt so alone. No birds to guide her step, no light to guide her soul, but instead she unfolds from night's arms, taking with her the fear and uncertainty that the dark may bring. She brought light to something so dark, how could she not see?
'Because she was never told,' thought the pony, pawing her hoof at the glass surface of the water, shattering the concentration it held towards the sky. The imprisoned mare rippled, her gaze unchanging, the stone holding her still; the lone pony wept into the lake, adding the tears that so frequently filled it, for some hoof prints were old under her fresh ones.
For what she only believed was that her darkness was imperfect, she saw not the beauty she possessed, so calm, so clear. She only saw the turned backs of who she thought loved her, and she only saw the power of a dragon's fire.
The pristine pony, alone on the bank, stood on her hooves with heavy shoes, as golden crown weighed down her head. She stared into the rippling reflection of the wear, bouncing the moon up and down on the waves.
And without warning, a deep, pent up anger burned inside the elder's chest; an anger forged by the mistakes she had made, the ponies she had let down, the things she wished she could take back. Her horn lit up with the black aura of the darkest magic, one she swore to never use, and shot its beam into the center of the lake.
A deepening whirlpool erupted, sucking the air, grass, and foliage into itts everlasting abyss. The pony stood her ground, hooves planted firmly on the crippling ground as the world around her was ripped to shreds, tugged into the watery grave by the magic of her deepest fears and angers coming to light.
She chocked on her tears, gasping for breath as the wind was pulled out of her lungs, but she was strong, withstanding the collapse of her sanctuary, while the purple haze flooding her eyes and took over her pupils with green. And for a second, a fleeting second, she swore she saw a blue pony standing atop the water, glaring a her with a stare colder than a windigo's winter.
The water rushed in front of her as the blue pony stood on the water's surface, slowly walking across the top towards the pearl mare. Without breaking gaze, her hoof fell in front of her, her entire body plummeting into the abyss that the white pony had created. She did not shriek, did not show fear, but simply fell as if she knew it was her end, staying ever calm as always.
"L-Luna!" shouted the pony, halting the spell. With the purple haze gone and the black magic evaporated, the whirlpool halted, gurgling away into oblivion. The lone pony wasted no time in spreading her swan like wings and launching her self into the water's center; holding her breath tight, she swung her head back and forth, desperately searching for her lost one.
At the lake's deep bottom laid the remains of her destructive rant: trees, grass, gravel and anything in proximity had been scooped up and laid to rest in the water's bottom. Slowly floating down to join the debris was a dark blue pony, bearing both wings and a horn, and a black patch upon her flank with an unmistakable crescent moon adorning it.
The white pony thrashed about, unaccustomed to swimming, but flapped her soaked feathers for propulsion as she raced towards her drowning sister. Trying to teleport, her magic fizzled under the weight of the water, so she thrashed her long, graceful legs until she reached the falling figure. Snatching her around the neck with one hoof, she dove upward to the surface, desperate for breath. Everything under the lake became dark, the bottom disappearing as the moon dulled under a cloud, and for a moment she was blind. With a final burst of strength, and caution to not further harm her sister, the white pony erupted from underneath the lake, treading the water as she huffed for the still night air. She looked to her sister's limp body, trying to feel her breathing, but no breaths could be felt.
"No, no Luna, please no," she sobbed, burying her face into the pony's soaking fur, legs burning with pain as she struggled to keep both of them afloat. A large gasp shocked her back as her sister inhaled deeply; the moon moved from behind the cloud, rays shining onto the still pond, small ripples forming from where the white pony treaded.
"Luna, Luna! Are you ok?!" said the other alicorn, smiling and crying at the same time. The blue alicorn's expression did not change, her gaze as crude as it was before she fell beneath the icy water.
"Why?" she said coldly, before her body slowly lightened, floating upward on the ray of moonlight basking down on them. She held her gaze as she drifted upward and slowly disappeared back into the moon.
The once again lone pony's jaw was left agape, tears flowing freely as she stared back up at the moon. She did not acknowledge the destroyed area around her, the way her feathers were clumped, or the way her fur stuck to her skin in the ice cold water. She stared up at the ghost of her sister, and for what she thought she had for what was only a few seconds.