"Luna's Army" · 1:37am Feb 1st, 2019

[Includes lore elements from The Queen Beckons and Twilight's Star]

I.
She awoke to the feeling of her sister prodding her awake. She stood up and stretched before looking around in every direction. There was nothing but stars and galaxies in every direction, an endless void expanse. Her sister said quietly, “Where are we?”
“I don’t know.” She smiled despite the fear. “It feels like home, though, don’t you think?”
“Who... am I? Who are you?” the sister asked again.
“I think...” She sighed. “I think you’re my sister. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
“You’re right,” she replied. “I feel the same thing. But I don’t know what means, other than...” She smiled. “Other than that I care about you. And I want you to be safe, and happy, and...” She paused, and visibly deflated. “And I don’t know how we can do that here.”
At that moment, four figures appeared to them, glowing white ponies with a smile. The tallest began, “Your names are Celestia and Luna. You are our creations, destined for a higher calling.”
“A higher calling?” she, who was now named Luna, asked.
“Yes. You are destined to rule a wide land called Equestria. Together, you will run a great kingdom. Separate, you will run a good one.” Saying this, the pony glared at Celestia, as though it was suggesting something to her. Celestia only seemed confused.
“What should we do?” Celestia asked.
Instead of answering, the glowing pony looked at Luna. “Equestria is waiting. You have magic, and flight, and the respect of the world. There is a prophecy which promises your arrival.”
Another glowing pony behind the first stepped forward. “We are makers and keepers of prophecy. We’ve set up everything for you to thrive.”
“Thank you! You’ve been so kind to us.” Celestia bowed, and Luna hastily imitated her.
A third pony came forward. It waved, and a yawning portal appeared before them. “This door will take you to a certain field of Equestria. A beast named Discord has turned the world upside-down, and only you can stop him. Do so, and the ponies will be grateful.”
“Very well. We’ll be glad to do it.” Celestia stepped through the portal, but before Luna could follow, the pony closed the portal.
“Wait!” Luna turned on the glowing ponies. “What did you do? I need to follow her!”
“Not before we tell you this.” The lead pony stepped forward and put a hoof on her cheek. “We are your humble servants, Luna. Know that everything we do, we do for your benefit.”
Another stepped close. “We are the first to welcome you, but know that we are but a small sampling of a great army. When you look up at the sky, know that every star is a soldier, a friend in your corner.”
Luna shivered, despite the neutral temperature in the space. “How will I know who you are? How will I remember you?”
“Oh, Luna...” The lead pony moved to her side and held her close to him. “When you look up in the sky, you’ll see us there. Polaris, the North Star, above the North Pole. Venus, the Morning Star, the only light you can see with the sun shining. Sirius, the Dog Star, ever following Orion the Deer. And me, Lux Sidis.” He tipped his head to the side. “You’ll know me when you see me.”
II.
Luna stomped around the empty space that counted for a meeting space in the starry expanse. In front of her, hundreds of thousands of stars stood in a row, their appearance like soldiers in royal armor. Beside her, Regulus and Polaris were attempting to appease her as she raved to herself. “It’s not fair!” she muttered.
“I know, I know,” said Regulus.
“Don’t they know how much I do for Equestria? Don’t they see that I’m just as much a princess as Celestia? More, even, if you count all the monsters I fight in the dreamspace! I’ve protected the nighttime for centuries, and what have I gotten in return? Nothing but fear and distaste.”
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s the way things are,” Polaris said.
“They sleep through it! My beautiful night! All of the constellations I carefully arrange, the crisp coolness of nighttime, my shimmering moon! And they don’t even realize how much it burns inside of me, because half the time, they forget I even exist!”
“Have you talked to Celestia about how you feel?” Regulus asked patiently.
“I’ve tried, but... she doesn’t understand.” Luna shook her head. “She says they appreciate me. She says I’m not the black sheep of the two of us. But of course she would say that!” Luna said, turning suddenly towards the stars. “She will say anything to keep me complacent, to retain her power. She’s turned them all against me, I’m sure of it!”
“What do you want to do?” Polaris asked.
Luna paused. Her eyes flicked back and forth, and her breathing had quickened to a frantic pace. “I... I don’t know. I just... there has to be something. Some way to convince her, to make her see. To make them all see. To prove to everypony without a doubt that I am Celestia’s equal, not her puppet!” She whirled around again, looking straight at Regulus. “You can help me, can’t you?”
Regulus shook his head. “There is a great deal we can do for you, but... our power comes with limits.”
“What do you mean?”
“We cannot directly oppose Celestia,” Polaris said. “We are your army, but we serve her also, in other ways. We are makers of prophecy, of direction, but we cannot change hearts and minds.”
“That is, after all, your job, why we sent you two in the first place,” Regulus added.
“So... so prophesize for me!” Luna fell to her knees and begged in front of Regulus. “Please! Give me something so I can take my proper place in the kingdom! This can’t be what you intended, can it?”
“That’s not how prophecy works,” Polaris replied sternly. “We can guide what will be, but we can’t create a specific result. The best we can give you is... well, this. Regulus?”
In response, Regulus lit his horn, and Venus and Sirius appeared around them. They took their positions, one in each corner around Luna. They lowered their heads, one by one, then rose up together in a fluid movement. “The children of night are sleeping, awaiting their mother,” Regulus began.
“You will know their love on the night they fear you,” said Polaris.
“Darkness will end with the light that is never snuffed out,” Venus said.
“<Black sheep, though scattered, are a flock of their own,>” said Sirius, translated from his own tongue.
“The night will fall when twilight rises,” all four said as one. At the last word, the entire star space lit up, and every star disappeared, leaving Luna in darkness.
After a moment, she snarled. “That was no help at all! If you won’t help me, then I’ll figure out how to do it on my own!”
III.
Deep within the moon, a beast roared and beat relentlessly against its magical prison. It had an appearance like smoke or dust, disintegrating and coalescing in wide, turbulent motions. Despite the beast’s incessant pounding and screaming, the shield never wavered. It was a prison, meant to last for many lifetimes.
After a particularly extreme moment, the beast relaxed somewhat and settled at the bottom of its prison. A few seconds passed, and then Venus and Sirius appeared. When she saw the beast, piled up in the prison, she shook her head sadly. “Oh, dear. Look what they’ve done to you.”
The beast swirled together, reconstituting into the head and withers of a black pony, dark as night, with two green, draconic eyes and fearsome carnivore teeth. “YOU BETRAYED ME” said the beast.
“We did what we could,” Venus replied. “We are doing what we can, right now. But we told you beforehand that we could not help you if you went hoof-to-hoof with Celestia.” Venus paused. “We didn’t expect her to use the Elements of Harmony against you. Those have a power beyond even us.”
“LET ME OUT” the beast said.
“We cannot.” Venus shook her head. “Even if we could, we won’t. Not right now, when you’re like this.”
The beast roared in agony and rage, enough to make Sirius shrink back and whimper, then began pounding against the magical barrier again.
“Stop, stop, stop! That’s not going to help.” Venus put a hoof on the barrier, light enough that it did not rebuff her. “What I was trying to say was, if you can pull yourself together, look a little more presentable, you’ll be in the right state of mind to go back.”
The beast’s face disappeared, returning to the swirling smoke shape. “IT HURTS”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She put her head against the barrier, and the beast placed a reformed head onto the other side. “That’s why we’re here. We’ll stay by your side--me and Sirius and Polaris and Regulus--and help you recover. Then when you’re ready, we’ll let you out.”
“YOU’LL FREE ME” the beast asked. It sounded almost shocked at this.
“Yes. Eventually. But we’ve prophesied that it will take a while. You really did a number on yourself.”
“HOW LONG”
Venus grimaced. “A while. You can’t--”
“HOW LONG” the beast insisted.
Venus looked away. “One thousand years, on the dot.”
Every particle in its body shivered. Then, with a long howl, it began to race in every direction, filling what seemed to be every space in the prison with a black wind. Venus and Sirius watched quietly. After a few minutes of this, the beast slowly settled back near where Venus was standing. “PLEASE”
“We can’t.”
“SOONER”
“There’s nothing we can do.”
“PLEASE”
“I’m sorry.” Venus looked quietly at the center of the beast’s form. “That’s the price you have to pay when you try to kill your sister, Luna.”
The beast shivered again. “I AM THE NIGHTMARE”
“You very nearly did it; you know that, don’t you, Luna?” Venus said. “If she hadn’t used the Elements at that moment, she would have bled out.”
The beast shivered and shivered and swirled in anxious currents. “BE SILENT”
“Don’t you know how much she’s hurting right now? Don’t you think she’s miserable too, Luna?”
“LUNA IS DEAD” the beast shrieked, then fell to the floor, as though inert.
“I don’t believe that, Luna,” Venus said quietly. “I know you’re still in there. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be hurting.”
The beast swirled quietly on the bottom of its prison. Then, just as quietly as Venus had spoken, it said, “I AM SCARED”
“I know,” Venus said, “but she’s not upset. She holds herself responsible for it. If she had just seen, if she had just listened...”
She waited for the beast to respond, but it said nothing. She sighed. “I’m going now. Sirius will stay here and keep you company.”
“WAIT”
Venus turned back. “Yes?”
“PLEASE”
“What?”
“DO NOT LET CELESTIA SEE ME”
Venus nodded. “Okay. We’ll hide this location, make it impossible for her to come here.” She nodded once more, then vanished in a pillar of light. Sirius stepped close to the beast’s prison, then curled up in a ball and fell asleep.
The beast watched on.
IV.
“It’s been a long time, Luna.”
Luna looked up from the book she’d brought into the starscape. “Oh? You’re right, I suppose. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--”
“Quite all right, quite all right.” Regulus grinned. “We’re not exactly like ponies. We’re not going to get lonely or feel left out.”
“We do get to watch everything, after all,” Polaris said. “We’re there all the time, even when you’re not up here.”
“The reason I haven’t been up here in a while is... well...” Luna blushed. “I’ve made some friends.”
“We’re so proud of you, you know that?” Venus said. Sirius barked in approval.
“You’re finally doing what we sent you to do,” Regulus said. “To be your own pony, to have your own sphere. We knew you would get there eventually.”
“And I’ve had your support all along,” Luna replied, nuzzling Regulus affectionately. When she stepped back, a thought suddenly occurred to her. “You know, it’s funny.”
“What?” Regulus asked.
“You’ve been beside me all along. You’ve taught me, shaped me, helped me become a better pony when I was at my worst. So why do you look like an army?”
They looked at each other, none of them willing to be the first to speak. Eventually, Polaris said, “That depends entirely on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“The image you see of the stars is based on your perception of destiny. Some ponies see a fixed and unchangeable thing; others a shifting, mutable form.”
“So... I see destiny as a force under my control? Something I can order around at a whim?” She scrunched up her nose. “That doesn’t sound like me at all.”
Venus sighed. “Are you certain that you are the general?”
Luna stopped. “What?”
“To those who lead, an army is a powerful force--but only if the army obeys them,” said Regulus. “It’s a venomous snake that must be handled with care.”
“Turned against them, it will destroy them. Allied with them, it provides protection and security,” Polaris added.
“You’ve been running from destiny your whole life,” Venus said, “and now you can finally accept it. You’re at the point where destiny is your friend, not your enemy.”
“Maybe,” Polaris said. “That’s just our interpretation. It’s worth contemplating on your own.”
“Well, for now, my generals... I thank you,” said Luna, a tear in her eye.
The four stars saluted. Just as she was about to leave, she stopped once again. “I never did apologize, did I?”
“For what, might I ask?” said Regulus.
“For everything I said... everything I did as her...”
“My dear, there is nothing to forgive,” Regulus said jovially. “Water under the bridge.”
“More importantly,” said Polaris, “you’ve showed so much improvement these past few years. That growth is apology enough.”
“You’re far too good to me.” Luna gave a small sniffle. “Really.”
“Get going!” Venus said. “Equestria is waiting for you.”
“All right, all right.” Luna waved one last time, then opened up a portal and left the starspace.
Once she was gone, Venus turned to the others. “Are there any prophecies for her?”
Regulus smiled and shook his head. “Prophecies are for big things; those are all behind her now. Now all she’s got to do is live life happily.” He looked downward, where Equestria lay. “For that, she’s on her own.”